Wednesday January 11 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73990
00 to subscribers
The only five exercises
to do for peak fitness
Britain ready to lead way by sending Challenger tanks to Ukraine
George Grylls
The UK is poised to become the first
western nation to send tanks to
Ukraine as Kyiv prepares for a major
counteroffensive in the spring.
The British army is set to send about
a dozen Challenger 2s, with a formal
announcement expected next week.
The tank, which first entered service in
Overloaded
NHS turns
to cabins
in car parks
Fresh round of strikes planned as talks falter
Kat Lay Health Editor
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
NHS patients face being treated in
temporary cabins set up in hospital car
parks under plans to tackle the crisis in
the health service.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary,
outlined proposals to ease pressures as
the NHS contends with staff shortages,
record waiting times and a particularly
bad flu season.
Barclay pledged £50 million to pay
for temporary buildings to create extra
space for overcrowded accident and
emergency departments as he ac-
knowledged that patients’ recent expe-
riences had “not been acceptable”.
He also told the Commons that
hospital inspections would be scaled
back to ease the pressure on staff .
His comments came after meetings
between ministers and unions failed to
avert a new round of strikes. Ambu-
lance workers will walk out again to-
morrow. Unions said they were dis-
appointed by a lack of concrete offers,
although both sides hailed “progress”
after months of ministers refusing to
directly discuss pay.
Barclay acknowledged that existing
measures to ease pressure on the NHS
had not been quick enough. A scheme
to discharge elderly patients swiftly has
struggled amid difficulties in recruiting
enough home care workers.
Barclay said the government would
now fund “more physical capacity in
and around emergency departments”,
Oxford boss wants ‘streaming spires’ — and more state pupils
Nicola Woolcock Education Editor
Oxford’s new vice-chancellor, the first
from a British comprehensive, has said
there is no “conspiracy” against private
schools but that the university will
continue its drive to attract more state-
educated pupils.
Professor Irene Tracey told The
Times in her first interview that the
1,000 excess
deaths each
week as the
NHS buckles
Excluding pandemic, figures are worst since 1951
Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor
Thomas Saunders
Kat Lay Health Editor
Fifty thousand more people than
normal died over the past 12 months,
with NHS delays blamed for one of the
most deadly years on record.
Excluding the first two pandemic
years, 2022 brought the highest excess
deaths total since 1951, according to an
analysis by The Times.
There were 1,600 more deaths than
usual during Christmas week as long
waits for ambulances, cold weather
and surging flu infections increased
mortality rates by a fifth.
Covid accounts only for a minority of
recent extra deaths, focusing attention
on “compelling” evidence that the crisis
in the NHS is killing hundreds of
people a week.
Untreated health problems as people
were urged to stay away from surgeries
and hospitals during the pandemic are
thought to be contributing to the deaths.
Experts have also cited lingering after-
effects of Covid infection.
Figures published by the Office for
National Statistics yesterday showed
the third consecutive week of more than
1,000 excess deaths in England and
Wales and confirmed that last year one
of the highest death totals in Britain was
recorded.
Ministers say that countries across
Europe had high excess deaths last
year, pointing to a big increase in flu.
But others pinned the blame on the
government’s handling of the NHS,
Tuesday January 10 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73989
1994, is equipped with a 120mm gun.
Only one has been destroyed in com-
bat, in Basra, southern Iraq, in 2003,
after being hit by friendly fire.
The United States, Germany and
France have all promised to send
armoured vehicles to Ukraine as west-
ern countries become increasingly con-
fident in calling President Putin’s bluff
that providing offensive weaponry to
and said that temporary structures
could provide this “in weeks not
months”.
He said trusts could use their “discre-
tion” on how to use the buildings to ease
A&E pressures, which could include
the creation of new “discharge loun-
ges”. Such buildings are most likely to
be set up in hospital car parks.
A spokesman for the Royal College of
Emergency Medicine said last night
that using similar spaces for patients
who needed A&E care had been “tried,
tested and not worked many times
over”, adding: “These are not effective
and will not reduce ambulance waiting
times. These only move corridor care
into temporary structures built in car
parks that become rapidly full.”
Saffron Cordery, the interim chief ex-
ecutive of NHS Providers, said ques-
tions would “rightly be asked about
how quickly and efficiently the NHS es-
tate can be restructured to implement
these changes given the pressures we
are being confronted with right now”.
Barclay did not set out how much
additional space the units were expect-
ed to create, but said modular designs
and modern methods of construction
standardisation could reduce costs by
35 per cent and get sites “up and run-
ning at a far earlier stage”. A 20-bed
ward at North Middlesex University
Hospital was created in 16 weeks during
the Covid-19 pandemic, at a cost of
£1.7 million.
Admitting it was “an extraordinarily
£2.50 £2.
Kyiv would provoke a response. The US
is sending 50 Bradley fighting vehicles,
while Germany is providing 40 Marder
infantry fighting vehicles. France is giv-
ing an undisclosed number of AMX-10
RC armoured combat vehicles as well as
Bastion armoured personnel carriers.
President Zelensky has been lobby-
ing for tanks since the war began,
requesting Leopards from Germany
The Duke of Sussex said the Queen “has done everything that she can to improve her own reputation for her own sake”
Villainous Camilla was a danger, says Harry
Alistair Dawber Washington
Valentine Low
The Duke of Sussex described the
Queen as “dangerous” yesterday as he
criticised her attempts to rehabilitate
her image after becoming “the villain”.
In the latest television interviews to
publicise his memoir Spare, which is
released today, Prince Harry accused
his stepmother of doing whatever she
could to salvage her reputation in the
years before she married Charles.
The duke also declared that he could
never return to Britain as a working
member of the royal family because of
the destructive influence of the press.
INSIDE
TIMES2
and M1 Abrams tanks from the US. A
donation of Challenger 2s from Britain
could lead to both nations increasing
their levels of support.
Although no final decision has been
made, Kyiv officials expect a formal
announcement about British tanks at
the end of next week when defence
ministers meet for the Ramstein con-
ference. The Ukrainian army has set
During an interview with Anderson
Cooper for the US programme 60 Min-
utes, Harry said of his stepmother: “She
was the villain. She was the third person
in [my parents’] marriage. She needed
to rehabilitate her image.”
That, he said, “made her dangerous
because of the connections she was
forging within the British press”. He
added: “There was open willingness on
both sides to trade information. And . . .
there was going to be people or bodies
left in the street because of that.”
In another interview on Good Morn-
ing America, Harry was read an extract
from his book saying: “In a funny way
I even wanted Camilla to be happy.
£2.50 £2.00 to subscribers
(based on 7 Day Print Pack)
We xennials
are ruling
the country!
Esther Walker
Sale now on
itself the goal of expelling all Russian
forces from Ukrainian territory by the
end of the year and says that it needs
tanks to liberate land south of Kherson
and around the Donbas.
Major General Kyrylo Budanov, the
chief of Ukrainian defence intelligence,
suggested Kyiv was planning to launch
a major offensive in the spring when the
Subscribe and save up to 50% on
Britain’s No 1 quality news titles Page 2
Maybe she’d be less dangerous if she
was happy.” Another excerpt read: “I
have complex feelings about gaining a
step-parent who I thought had recently
sacrificed me on her personal PR altar.”
Harry said he and the Queen
“haven’t spoken for a long time”. He
added: “I love every member of my
family, despite the differences, so when
I see her we’re perfectly pleasant with
each other . . . I don’t look at her as an
evil stepmother. I see someone who . . .
has done everything that she can to
improve her own reputation and her
own image for her own sake.”
numbers recruited from private schools
would reflect increased competition,
and an ambition to find “the best kids”.
At her inauguration yesterday she
said Oxford should become the city of
“streaming spires” by using technology
to transform learning and disseminate
knowledge, reaping the benefits of
changes during the pandemic.
Tracey, 56, who will receive a salary
where there are long waits for 999
ambulances and emergency treatment
in hospitals.
Today 999 call handlers will join
paramedics in a second day of strikes in
the ambulance service as an estimated
25,000 staff walk out. With ministers
publishing draft laws to restrict strikes in
the NHS and other public services,
health leaders have accused the govern-
ment of using the powers to “silence
workers in their hour of need”.
Adrian Boyle, president of the Royal
College of Emergency Medicine, said
the latest death figures were “shockingly
high”. He acknowledged that it was
“extremely difficult to determine the
causes” but pointed to studies showing
deaths rose with longer waits at A&E.
“Our own analysis indicates that an
estimated 300-500 patients are dying
per week across the UK associated with
long waiting times in emergency
departments,” he said. “This is awful,
distressing and completely unaccept-
able. The health system is not function-
ing as it should. Our priority should not
be to quibble about the data but to miti-
gate the harm of this crisis.”
Overall the 656,735 UK deaths last
year were 51,159 above the pre-Covid
five-year average. The figure was
exceeded only in four years prior to 1951
since records began 130 years ago.
Although 2020 and 2021 brought
higher excess death totals as the
pandemic hit, excess deaths last year
were predominantly not driven by
Covid. Stuart McDonald, a partner at
of £390,000, said all students must be
taught about free speech and how to
give and receive criticism. She pledged
to seek talks with ministers about the
devaluing of the tuition fee and funding
shortfall. The neuroscientist grew up
and studied in Oxford and was the
warden of Merton College, her alma
mater, until last month.
She said: “We don’t have state-school
Actress’s road ban Honeysuckle Weeks, who appeared in the TV drama Foyle’s
War, has admitted driving while twice over the alcohol limit. She said she had to
flee a friend’s house as she feared being coerced into a threesome.
quotas but will keep encouraging more
to apply. There is no conspiracy against
the privately educated but there is more
competition. I’ve done admissions for
25 years so I can absolutely speak at the
coalface about how we do it.
“There are no quotas. There are no
biases, it’s so thorough and fair, and we
work our socks off to make sure that
we’ve got the best kids . . . Inevitably, as
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Are you
too casual
at work?
Times2
we’ve opened up and done so much
more on engagement, you’re going to
have more competition and that’s going
to be reflected in the numbers.”
Tracey described herself as a defender
of free speech, saying: “The earlier we can
teach students how to deliver and how to
receive criticisms would be very helpful
for them in being prepared for life.”
The prince of
sales: Harry’s
royal memoir
breaks record
Valentine Low
Prince Harry’s memoir became the
fastest-selling non-fiction book as
400,000 copies across all formats
were snapped up on the first day of
publication yesterday.
The record sales for Spare were
disclosed as more revelations emerged
from the book, including Harry’s claim
that the Sandringham meeting which
decided the future for the Sussexes
three years ago was “a fix”.
Harry also said in an interview that
he revealed that he killed 25 Taliban
fighters in Afghanistan to help his
“healing journey”.
Larry Finlay, the managing director
of his publisher, Transworld Penguin
Random House, said: “We always knew
this book would fly but it is exceeding
even our most bullish expectations. As
far as we know, the only books to have
sold more in their first day are those
starring the other Harry [Potter].”
Spare, which has a recommended
retail price of £28, is being sold for £14 in
Waterstones and WH Smith as well as
online at Amazon. Philip Jones, editor
of The Bookseller, said it was “quite
normal” to have a “big hardback” that
booksellers thought would do well
offered at half-price by big retailers.
Spare’s sales figure of 400,000 across
hardback, ebook and audio formats was
confirmed by Transworld. It was
dwarfed, however, by Harry Potter and
the Deathly Hallows, which on its
first day of publication in 2007 sold
2.65 million copies in Britain and about
15 million worldwide.
In an interview with People magazine
Harry said he hoped his book would
“turn my pain into purpose”.
y(7HB7E2*OTSPNK( |||+z!$
2 Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

News

Surging Times MRI knee scans for migrants

Millions more readers turned to The Times who say that they’re under 18
and Sunday Times as news events made history
home secretary, is expected to overrule person refuses to be scientifically
last year. Taken together the titles reached: Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor
the advice, with those suspected of assessed.”
Migrants who claim to be children to lying about their age forced to have the The Home Office wants to introduce
15 million 17.4 million raise their chances of being granted checks. biological scanning to carry out age
12% asylum in the UK will have to have MRI A government source said it would be assessments to prevent asylum-seeking
digital readers readers a scans and x-rays to check whether they pointless to allow individuals to opt out adults posing as children to get prefer-
a month month 10% are lying. of scientific age assessments. ential treatment. Unaccompanied child
A report by scientific advisers com- “The majority of our international asylum seekers are more likely to be
a rise of more an increase of missioned by the Home Office partners use scientific age assessments granted permission to stay in the UK,
than 12% almost 10% approved the use of MRI scans of knees and so we welcome this report,” the leading to increasing numbers of adult
and collar bones and x-rays of wisdom source said. “But clearly it’s not tenable migrants claiming they are under 18,
teeth, wrists and hands to assess the age that a migrant who is claiming to be a according to the Home Office.
of asylum seekers. child can simply refuse to undergo a Figures published by the department
No1 The Times and
Sunday Times are
the No1 quality newspapers in
70% At 70%, the titles
have the joint
highest composition of ABC1
However, it said the Home Office
should first gain the consent of individ-
scientific age assessment. This is about
ensuring we have a consistent and ro-
have shown that just over half of asy-
lum seekers whose age it challenged
uals before biological age assessments. bust asylum system.” were ultimately found to be over 18.
Britain, reaching 3.9 million readers, comprising managers The committee also said that none of Alp Mehmet, chairman of Migration A Home Office spokesman said:
readers a month — 1.3 million and professionals, in the the biological methods available could Watch UK, which campaigns for lower “Through our Nationality and Borders
more than the Telegraph newsbrands market predict age with “precision”. It said that immigration, urged the government to Act, we will introduce scientific
asylum seekers who were asked to ignore the advice. He said: “It is surely methods to assess the age of asylum
And The Sunday Times is the longest-read printed newspaper, with an undergo the checks should be given in the interests of minors to have sup- seekers. We will now consider the [com-
average time spent of 82 minutes Source: PAMCo Q4 2022 readership report “clear information explaining the risks portive evidence confirming they are mittee’s] recommendations.”
and benefits of biological evaluation” so indeed children. In the event of anyone Enver Solomon, chief executive of
they could give “informed consent”. refusing to be scientifically assessed, the Refugee Council, said: “We wel-
Save up to 50% with a subscription to The committee recommended there
be no “automatic assumptions or con-
the government must have the courage
and political will to take a common-
come the committee’s confirmation
that scientific age assessments are not a
The Times and The Sunday Times today sequences” if they refused to give their sense approach based on physical standalone solution and they should be
THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE consent to the x-rays or MRI scans. appearance. It would be absurd to have used with caution [with] other methods
However, Suella Braverman, the to accept a claimed age just because a rather than on their own.”

Asylum seeker ‘stabbed nightclub DJ’

7am Steve Barclay, health secretary Will Humphries legal dispute later arose over his manslaughter but denies murder, was
12pm Matt Chorley and Tim Shipman Southwest Correspondent claimed age and a court hearing was wearing an Afghan flag round his neck
review the exchanges at PMQs held to determine his date of birth. when he fled on foot following the
2pm Kait Borsay chats to the writer An Afghan asylum seeker who told Checks were carried out and a court alleged murder outside a Subway sand-
and actress Sabrina Ali police he was a juvenile murdered a determined he was born in October wich outlet in Bournemouth at about
nightclub DJ by stabbing him as he 2001 and therefore 20 at the time of the 4.30am on March 12 last year.
3.35pm The wildlife presenter Michaela Strachan, acted as a “peacemaker” in a fight over alleged murder, and had been 18 when In CCTV footage Roberts, from
right, tells Jane Garvey and Fi Glover an electric scooter, a court was told. he came to the UK. Bournemouth, could be seen stagger-
about the latest series of Winter Watch Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai, 21, twice Salisbury crown court was told that ing before collapsing seconds later.
7pm Lucy Fisher and Patrick Maguire plunged a knife into the chest of Roberts intervened in the argument The court was told Roberts and Med-
look at the big stories of the day Thomas Roberts, also 21, when he tried between Abdulrahimzai and James way had visited several bars and clubs
to stop the dispute between his friend Medway. Moments later he suffered and were looking for a taxi before the
and the Afghan citizen. two stab wounds to his chest, with one argument over the scooter.
T O D AY ’ S E D I T I O N When police officers arrested Abdul- slicing through his heart. The court was told Abdulrahimzai
rahimzai he told them he was 16 years Nic Lobbenberg KC, for the prosecu- will argue a “loss of control” defence.
old and had entered the UK aged 14. A tion, said Abdulrahimzai, who admits The trial continues.
Satellite launch Biden pressure IMF accused of
in Britain fails over Bolsonaro inquiry snub
The first attempt to
send satellites into orbit
President Biden is
facing calls to extradite
The International
Monetary Fund has
continued from page 1
Thousands of excess deaths Excess deaths Security bill ‘a
Deaths exceeding the
from Britain failed
because of an engine
malfunction that is
the ex-Brazilian leader
Jair Bolsonaro, who
flew to Florida last
been accused of
avoiding scrutiny after
refusing to appear in
LCP analytics who works on the Faculty
of Actuaries’ Continuous Mortality
Investigation, said that even looking at
five-year average
Excess
700k chilling threat
under investigation.
Virgin Orbit’s rocket
month. Supporters of
the populist stormed
front of a cross-party
parliamentary
figures adjusted for age, 1963 was the
last time deaths had jumped so much
deaths 650k to journalism’
did make it into space Brazil’s Congress, committee to discuss above the rate three years earlier. 600k
on Monday night after supreme court and its criticism of the “Had we not just had two years of Fariha Karim
it took off from presidential palace on Truss government’s very extreme mortality, 2022 would Five-year 550k
Cornwall. Sunday. mini-budget. really stand out,” he said, adding that it average Nearly 40 media organisations and
was most unusual for there to be month 500k writers have criticised the National
after month of high deaths. “At the start 2000 05 10 15 20 Security Bill for placing public interest
COMMENT 23 LEADING ARTICLES 27 SPORT 56 of the year we were seeing fewer deaths Five-year average remains constant from 2020 onwards journalism and whistleblowers at risk.
THUNDERER 24 MARKETS 42-43 CROSSWORD 66 among older people because a lot of The Foreign Press Association, PEN,
LETTERS 26 REGISTER 49 TV & RADIO TIMES2 those people had frankly already died the causes of the excess, but I find evi- the International Federation of Jour-
[of Covid], but it was clear even then dence around delayed admissions com- nalists, Reporters Without Borders and
FOLLOW US that we were seeing higher deaths pelling”. He said that since the summer the Commonwealth Press Union are
thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimes among younger people. Since the there had been more than 40,000 ex- among the groups to say that the bill,
spring and beyond we’ve had fairly cess deaths in England and Wales. Ad- which is expected to become law this
consistently high levels at all ages”. justing for an ageing population and year, will have “a chilling effect on the
THE WEATHER McDonald said “it’s undeniable that subtracting Covid “still leaves an legitimate flow of public interest infor-
the NHS crisis is part of the story”, average of around 450 excess non-Cov- mation, creating a blueprint for author-
adding: “Access to healthcare has been id deaths each week since June”. Spie- itarian governments to threaten jour-
a problem all year and that’s been gelhalter said “multiple factors will be nalists, activists and whistleblowers
5 increasing — waiting times for contributing to this: early flu, Covid, the with lengthy prison sentences”.
ambulances [and] A&E. We also know impact of disrupted care in the pan- In a letter to The Times published
34
there are people who should have got demic, and the acute crisis in the NHS”. today, signatories including Martin
4 32 diagnosed with high blood pressure or Wes Streeting, the shadow health Bright, editor at large of Index on Cen-
should have had a statin who missed secretary, blamed “13 years of Conserv- sorship, Michelle Stanistreet, general
out [when the pandemic began].” ative mismanagement of our health secretary of the National Union of
7
The Times reported last year that service”, saying: “The NHS is in the big- Journalists, and Quinn McKew, execu-
6
9
Professor Sir Chris Whitty, the chief gest crisis in its history and the crisis tive director of Article 19, say they write
8 medical officer for England, had been has a cost in lives.” “as a group of global journalism and
10
raising alarm in government about an The Department of Health said: media freedom organisations to ex-
36 increase in heart deaths in the middle “There are a wide variety of factors that press our serious concerns about the
age linked to missed care during the may be contributing to excess deaths National Security Bill currently before
pandemic. and the health and social care secretary the UK parliament, and the risk it poses
Rain and blustery showers Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, a continues to receive regular briefings to whistleblowing and public interest
spreading eastwards, heavy and statistician at Cambridge University, on Covid and flu cases.” journalism”.
wintry in places. said it was “very difficult to divide up
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Johnson airbrushed from history
The former PM has
mysteriously vanished
from a minister’s photo,
report Geraldine Scott
and Jack Blackburn
The art of political photoshopping is
well known and well honed. Joseph
Stalin erased new enemies from old
pictures, David Cameron super-
imposed a poppy on his lapel for
Remembrance Sunday, Nick Clegg was
reimagined as the Game of Thrones
hero Jon Snow, and the North Korean
government has been manipulating
photos for well over a decade.
Now Boris Johnson has found him-
self the target of the airbrushing wand,
as the former prime minister was edited
out of a photograph with one of his
longest serving cabinet ministers.
Grant Shapps, the busi-
ness secretary, cele-
brated the ultimately
unsuccessful rocket
launch from Spaceport
Cornwall with a photo-
graph from a visit to the
site in June.
In it, he is shown next
to the LauncherOne
rocket during a trip
as transport secretary
under Johnson.
He tweeted, before the
launch, that the govern-
ment was “delighted to be
backing the FIRST ever satellite launch
from European soil”. In the accompa-
nying image, posted on his Twitter ac-
count on Sunday, he appeared alone
with Spaceport staff, a gap left where
his former boss once stood.
Shapps insisted yesterday that he did
not know the image had been edited.
But those looking closely could still
spot Johnson’s floating left elbow. And
around the body of the LauncherOne
were telltale blurred edges.
Johnson has been keen in the past to
compare political opponents to Stalin.
Irish Giant’s skeleton granted privacy £10 vase by Sir Grayson
Jack Blackburn History Correspondent
Kat Lay Health Editor
When a museum withdraws an exhibit,
it is usually the prelude to a debate as to
whether or not something has been
“cancelled”. However, the Hunterian
Museum at the Royal College of
Surgeons of England has an exhibit
that has, if anything, cancelled itself.
The 7ft 7in skeleton of Charles Byrne,
the “Irish Giant” from the 18th century,
will not be displayed when the museum
reopens in March, almost 250 years
after Byrne said that he did not wish to
be used by anatomists.
While his withdrawal from public
display is in keeping with his wishes, his
remains will still be kept available for
“bona fide medical research”. A portrait
featuring the skeleton by Sir Joshua
2GM
Boris Johnson was cut out of a picture of Grant Shapps visiting Spaceport Cornwall, just as Stalin photos were doctored. Johnson was at the Carlton Club last night
Now he finds himself compared to one
of the Soviet dictator’s key lieutenants.
Nikolai Yezhov is one of the most
notorious figures in 20th-century Rus-
sian history. As head of the NKVD
between 1936 and 1938, he organised
much of Stalin’s Great Purge, which led
in the torture and death of millions.
However, being an associate of Stalin
was n full of peril. Yezhov fell from
favour, was tortured into a confession
of anti-Soviet activity and executed in
1940. He was subsequently airbrushed
from an official photo featuring both
Reynolds, first president of the Royal
Academy, will be displayed instead.
The decision is a victory for a cam-
paign to have Byrne’s body removed
from public display, a movement that
counted the late author Dame Hilary
Mantel among its supporters.
“We are delighted to hear the news
that the battle that we and others have
fought to have Charles Byrne’s skeleton
removed from the Hunterian has final-
ly been won,” Len Doyal, emeritus
professor of medical ethics at Queen
Mary University of London, said.
Byrne suffered from an undiagnosed,
benign tumour on his pituitary gland
that caused him to have acromegaly
and gigantism. He was rumoured to be
able to light his pipe from a street lamp
without standing on tiptoe.
Byrne asked for his remains not to be
men, earning Yezhov the post-
humous nickname The Vanishing
Commissar.
In one of the earliest examples of
photo tampering, the US president
Abraham Lincoln attempted to
bolster his image during his 1860
election campaign. It led to claims
that although his face was used on
an image of him standing regally,
the body was that of a Southern
politician, John Calhoun.
George VI was removed from a
photograph in which he was
standing with his wife, Queen
Elizabeth, and the Canadian prime
minister William Lyon Mackenzie King
in Banff, Alberta. It was used on King’s
election poster, prompting claims that
the editing was designed to show him in
a more powerful light.
In the original Spaceport photo-
graph, Johnson stands alongside
Shapps with his brow furrowed and
arm raised, wearing a jacket embla-
zoned with the words “prime minister”.
A source close to Shapps said: “Grant
wasn’t aware anyone had edited the
picture. He removed it as soon as it was
pointed out. Obviously he wouldn’t
taken by anatomists, and rejected an
offer to buy his corpse from the surgeon
John Hunter, after whom the Hunter-
ian Museum is named. Instead he
wished to be buried at sea when he died
in 1783, aged 22.
However, Hunter took possession of
Byrne’s remains and had them de-
fleshed. It became the centre piece of
his collection but, while it has contrib-
uted to medical research, the skeleton
has led to centuries of controversy,
which was resolved during the recent
£4.6 million redevelopment of the
museum in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
The board of trustees agreed not to
display the skeleton but decided to keep
it available for research.
Doyal suspects the museum will still
let students see the skeleton in private
and called for Byrne to be buried at sea.
endorse anyone rewriting history by re-
moving the former PM from a picture.”
In the Commons, Shapps added: “I
would never knowingly remove the
former prime minister, who I served en-
thusiastically, from anything that I put
out, if I knew it was going out that way.”
Shortly after becoming an MP in
2005, Shapps had a second job as a
Perry could fetch £80,000
Jack Malvern
A vase featuring a crumpled car and a
bare-breasted woman is expected
to fetch up to £80,000 after it
was identified as an early
work by the contemporary
artist Sir Grayson Perry.
The vendor picked up the
work for nothing in the early
1990s, when Perry was offer-
ing his smaller pots at a car
boot sale for £10. Eastbourne
Auctions in East Sussex, which
is selling the work today, said
Sir Grayson Perry made the vase
when he was a struggling potter
3
News
“multimillionaire web marketer”, in
which he posed under the pseudonym
of Michael Green. He has long been a
key ally of Johnson’s, first backing him
for leader in 2017, after he helped to lead
a plot to oust Theresa May as party
leader. He became known for his
spreadsheet skills during Johnson’s
2019 leadership campaign, totting up
the supporters he had secured.
While some Tories might want to
erase Johnson from their memories,
one ally said: “You can’t get rid of him
that easily.” Last night Johnson was
mobbed as he arrived at the Carlton
Club in central London, where he was
guest of honour at a dinner. Most of
those present seemed to be journalists
and anti-Brexit protesters, however. It
comes amid speculation Johnson could
launch a comeback, with his backers
predicting a return either before or
shortly after an election in 2024.
After the Virgin Orbit launch failed,
Shapps told Sky News: “It didn’t work.
I’ve no doubt that they’ll pick them-
selves up, dust themselves off and
they’ll go again once they find out what
exactly went wrong with it.”
that the vendor acquired the 44cm vase
after Perry left it behind at one of his
exhibitions in Essex. The work depicts
the M11 protests, including a chest-
nut tree in Wanstead, east
London, felled to make way
for a new link road.
Perry’s breakthrough
came after he won the
Turner Prize in 2003,
which he collected in the
guise of his alter ego, Claire.
He was knighted in the new
year honours last month.
Jeanette May, who is auc-
tioning the work, said: “He
created this work when he was
really struggling.”
4 2GM
News
News Royal family
William didn’t tell me he was
Charlotte Wace, Ben Ellery
The Duke of Sussex found out that his
brother was getting married only at the
same time as the rest of the world.
Harry, 38, had not long returned
from a trip to Lesotho with the future
Prince of Wales, who “never men-
tioned” it before the official announce-
ment of the engagement in 2010. The
Duke of Sussex also claims that the
court circular — the official record of
royal engagements — is a “scam”, with
some in the family including “blips” to
boost their tally. His book, Spare, was
officially released yesterday, although
many claims were known after the
Spanish edition, En La Sombra [In the
Shade], went on sale last week in error.
bible bashing
At his school, Ludgrove, Harry prowled
the corridors at night. “There was one
particular teacher who, whenever he
caught me, would give me a tremen-
dous clout, always with a copy of the
New English Bible,” he says. “The hard-
back version. It is indeed, I always
thought, a very hard back. Getting hit
with it made me feel bad about myself,
bad about the teacher, and bad about
the Bible.” But, Harry adds, he would
“flout the rules” again the next night.
close shave
Harry writes that he screamed in
horror and ran to find his brother after
friends at Eton shaved his head.
Another pupil fetched some clippers
and he was pushed into a chair. “When
the cutter was done I looked down, saw
Harry’s guard carried what appeared
to be a gun box after the duke left The
Late Show, in New York, this week
a dozen pyramids of ginger on the floor,
like red volcanoes seen from a plane,
and knew I’d made a mistake. Of course
there was nothing Willy could do.
Instead, he laughed like the others.”
blood sport
Harry says his head was shoved into a
stag carcass after he shot his first deer at
Balmoral. “I couldn’t smell anything,
because I couldn’t breathe. My nose
and mouth were full of blood, guts and
a deep, unsettling warmth.” He writes
that it made him feel close to God.
he chose his burial spot
At the Royal Burial Ground, near Frog-
more House during the Duke of Edin-
burgh’s funeral in 2021, Harry recalls
choosing it as his own resting place.
“(We) were now smack in the middle,
more up to our ankles in bodies than
Hamlet. Come to think of it . . . didn’t I
myself once ask to be buried here?
Hours before I’d gone off to war my
private secretary said I needed to
choose the spot where my remains
would be interred. ‘Should the worst
happen, Your Royal Highness . . . war
being an uncertain thing.’ ”
queen not a hugger
Unlike his wife, Harry’s “granny” is not
a tactile person, the memoir says.
“There was a famous story about Mum-
my trying to hug Granny. It was actual-
ly more a lunge than a hug, if eyewit-
nesses can be believed; Granny
swerved to avoid contact and the whole
thing ended awkwardly. Every time I
tried to picture the scene it reminded
me of a thwarted pickpocketing. I won-
dered if Pa ever tried? Probably not.
When he was five or six, granny left
him, went off on a tour, and offered him
a firm handshake when she returned.”
balmoral eau naturelle
Visitors to the late Queen’s Scottish re-
treat were concerned by what came out
of the taps. “Brownish, suggestive of
weak tea, the water often alarmed
guests ,” Harry writes. “Pa would smile
and assure them that nothing was
wrong; on the contrary [the water] was
filtered and sweetened by the peat.”
phil the grill
Prince Philip loved the barbecues he
hosted at Balmoral and had a trailer
built to carry all the equipment.
Harry reveals that his grandfather
was a dab hand at making spaghetti
bolognese on the coals, while the
Queen’s speciality was salad dressing.
charles’s headstands
Reminiscing about Balmoral once
more, Harry writes of his father’s exer-
cise regime to ease aching joints. “Open
the wrong door and you might burst in
on Pa while his valet was helping him
dress,” he says. “Worse, you might blun-
der in as he was doing his headstands.
“Prescribed by his physio, these exer-
cises were the only effective remedy for
the constant pain in Pa’s neck and back.
Old polo injuries, mostly. He per-
formed them daily, in just a pair of box-
ers, propped against a door or hanging
from a bar like a skilled acrobat.”
middle market musk
Harry recalls Charles coming into the
Balmoral bedroom he shared with his
brother smelling of Eau Sauvage, a £74
Dior perfume advertised by Johnny
Depp. He writes: “He’d slather the stuff
on his cheeks, his neck, his shirt. Flow-
ery with a hit of something harsh, like
pepper or gunpowder.”
penis pillow
Harry uses his book to speak honestly
and in detail about his suffering caused
by a frostbitten penis after a North Pole
expedition in 2011. Later there is
another reference as he describes how
a friend created a “cock cushion” from
“the softest fleece” for a trip to Antarc-
tica to protect him from developing a
second dose.
The Duke of Sussex was presented
with the aid by a “close mate” before a
335km charity hike for injured veterans
across the continent in 2013. Harry suf-
fered frostnip during a similar charity
event in the Arctic in 2011.
engagement snub
Harry found out about William’s
engagement with the rest of the world,
despite a trip abroad together. “Soon
after we returned to Britain the Palace
announced that Willy was going to
marry. News to me. All that time in
Lesotho he’d never mentioned it.”
pre-wedding jitters
William and Catherine’s nuptials were
the “wedding of the century” but Harry,
the best man, reveals that his focus was
on trying to calm the mood as the
brothers surveyed the crowds in front
of them at Westminster Abbey. “I was in
danger of becoming as anxious as the
groom,” Harry says in Spare.
“So I started pacing, shaking my
arms, listening to the crowd murmur-
ing in the pews. They’d been seated two
hours before we arrived. You just know
many of them need a pee.”
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
the only other solution middle-aged white men”
His waspish they would accept was
Option 5, departure.
who had consolidated
power through “bold
account of At that point the
Queen’s private secretary,
Machiavellian
manoeuvres”.
the flies Sir Edward Young — who
Harry refers to only by
He writes: “The Bee
was oval-faced and fuzzy
on the wall the nickname he gave
him, “the Bee” —
and tended to glide
around with great
he Duke of distributed drafts of a equanimity and poise, as
T Sussex claims in
his book that the
Sandringham
meeting where
the royal family thrashed
out the terms of his and
his wife’s departure from
statement announcing the
implementation of Option
5. Harry writes: “Wait.
I’m confused. You’ve
already drafted a
statement? Before any
discussion? Announcing
if he was a boon to all.”
Of Case, the former
principal private
secretary to prime
ministers David Cameron
and Theresa May and now
the cabinet secretary,
Britain was a “fix” Option 5? In other words, Harry writes: “The Fly
(Valentine Low writes). the fix was in, this whole had spent much of his
He believes that despite time? This summit was career adjacent to, and
a pretence at talking just for show?” indeed drawn to, shit. The
through different He was assured there offal of government and
scenarios, the plan was were draft statements for media, the wormy
always that the royal other options. But they entrails, he loved it.”
family would refuse to were not printed because He says Alderton, a
compromise. The summit Young told him his career diplomat who
in January 2020 was printer was “on the blink”. served as ambassador to
meant to consider five The passage highlights Morocco, was so “weedy”
options for how the Harry’s attitude to some and “self-effacing” one
Sussexes might step back senior courtiers. Simon might be tempted to push
from their royal duties. Case, William’s private back. “That was when
They ranged from secretary, is referred to he’d put you on his list,”
maintaining the status only as the Fly, while Sir writes Harry. “A short
quo, Option 1, to full Clive Alderton, Charles’s time later, without
departure, Option 5, private secretary, is called warning, he’d give you
Harry writes in Spare the Wasp. They were, such a stab with his
that the family discussed Harry said, “three outsized stinger that you’d
the options for an hour. cry out in confusion.
They pressed the Sussexes Harry also spoke to the US Where the f*** did that
to stay but barring that magazine People, right come from?”
WASP CLIVE ALDERTON BEE EDWARD YOUNG
FLY SIMON CASE
fashion police
William was unhappy at what he had to
wear to his own wedding. “He was
Duke denies he ‘boasted’
wearing the red uniform of the Irish
Guards, not his Household Cavalry
frock coat. He’d asked Granny if he
could wear his Household Cavalry kit
about killing 25 Taliban
and she’d turned him down. As heir, he Keiran Southern Los Angeles adding: “There’s nothing boastful
must wear Number One Ceremonial. about it.”
“Willy was glum at having so little The Duke of Sussex has denied “boast- Harry blamed the media for twisting
say in what he wore to get married, ing” about the number of Taliban his words. “Because they had the con-
at having his autonomy taken from fighters he killed in Afghanistan and text. It wasn’t like ‘here’s just one line’,
him on such an occasion. He’d accused the media of putting his family they had the whole section, they ripped
told me several times that he felt in danger by twisting his words. it away and just said ‘here it is, he’s
frustrated.” Harry, 38, was criticised by military boasting on this’. And that’s dangerous.”
veterans for revealing in his book that Colbert agreed that it was “danger-
court circular criticisms he had killed 25 insurgents while on ous” because the words made him and
The court circular is a “scam” and a missions in an Apache helicopter. his family a “target”. Harry replied:
“joke”, Harry writes, claiming that In a teaser clip of his appearance on “And that is a choice they have made.”
certain royals are “obsessed” with it, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the The duke said he had shared the
“feverishly striving” to have the prince said that after the contents of number of fighters he had killed to help
highest number recorded each year Spare were leaked last week the media veterans to “share their experiences
and “succeeded by including things spread a “dangerous lie”. without any shame” and “reduce the
that weren’t, strictly speaking, engage- He said: “Without doubt the most number of suicides”.
ments, recording public interactions dangerous lie that they have told is that Harry also gave an interview to
that were mere blips, the kinds of I somehow boasted about the number People magazine in the US, in which he
things Willy and I wouldn’t dream of of people that I killed in Afghanistan.” said he hoped his book would “turn my
including.” Colbert described the passage as a pain into purpose”.
“very thoughtful description” of the
experience of having killed in action,
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
getting married, Harry claims
Somehow shops still have
copies of memoir to spare
Tom Ball Northern Correspondent
Emma Penney Times Radio
When Princess Diana’s authorised bio-
graphy went on sale in 1992, queues of
people lined up outside bookshops to
get their hands on a copy. But no such
queues were seen yesterday when her
son’s memoir, Spare, went on sale.
Waterstones on Deansgate in Man-
chester opened an hour early at 8am for
the release of Prince Harry’s book. In
that hour, the store sold five copies, a rate
that continued throughout the day.
The stack of Spare copies by the en-
trance remained largely intact, al-
though staff said online sales were
strong. Like other bookshops, Water-
stones is selling the book at half price
following leaks before publication.
Other bookshops around the city,
including EJ Morten in Didsbury, were
not stocking the new release. And at
2GM
Spare displayed alongside How to Kill
Your Family, written by Bella Mackie
Waterstones in Piccadilly, central
London, there was no queue.
A bookshop in Swindon set up a dis-
play of the memoir next to Bella Mac-
kie’s book How to Kill Your Family. Alex
Call, 35, the owner of Bert’s Books, said
Mackie’s book “was already in our
window because it was our bestselling
book of 2022”. He added that there had
been a “little bit of interest” in Spare,
with a few copies being sold.
Tailor fixed bridesmaids’
dresses at eleventh hour
Ben Ellery
The tailor brought in to alter brides-
maids’ dresses for Prince Harry and
Meghan’s wedding said he understood
why the Duchess of Cambridge had
been upset about them, because they
were a “mess”.
Ajay Mirpuri, 45, told The Times he
and his team worked until 4am making
sure that the dresses — which, like
Meghan’s wedding dress, were made by
the French fashion house Givenchy —
were perfect for the big day.
Harry revealed in his memoir, Spare,
that Catherine had texted Meghan to
say that “Charlotte’s dress is too big, too
long, too baggy”, adding: “She cried
when she tried it on.”
Meghan replied that Mirpuri had
been waiting at Kensington Palace “all
day” for her to bring Charlotte to have
it altered. Harry said he later found
Meghan “sobbing” on the floor, and the
following morning Catherine came
with flowers to apologise.
Mirpuri, who runs Mirpuri Bespoke
in Bond Street, London, said: “At the
end of the day [Catherine is] a mother,
first and foremost, and her daughter’s
about to — at three years old — go up
on the world stage and be pictured from
every angle. If the dresses don’t fit, of
course you’re going to be nervous.”
Mirpuri, whose customers include
the actors Sir Michael Caine and Tom
Cruise, developed a relationship with
Meghan after altering a Burberry dress
for her before her engagement to
Harry. He said that he was initially
brought in to fix the bridesmaids’ hems
but “as soon as we saw them, they were
far too big and far too long and it turned
out to be a lot more than that”.
He added: “I’ve no idea what meas-
urements Givenchy had received, but
with our experience and knowledge we
could see straight away that all six
bridesmaids’ dresses had to be fixed, as
they weren’t going to fit.
“The whole thing was ill-fitting. In
my field, you pick up a dress and you
can see the length, you can see the di-
mensions. Meghan was great. People
King picks France for first state visit
Charles Bremner Paris
The King has chosen France for his first
state visit abroad, with his arrival
planned for March 27 on a trip expected
to help to restore frayed ties, according
to French media.
President Macron’s aides said he
greatly appreciated the king’s gesture in
accepting his invitation to come to the
country to which the late queen made
more state visits than any other.
“It’s an extremely strong symbol
because it will be the first official visit by
Charles III. The event will be happen-
ing when the king is not yet crowned,
which shows that France is a priority
for him,” an adviser to Macron told Le
Parisien newspaper.
The visit would “show the age-old
attachment of his country to ours,
beyond Brexit, and to mark family
continuity because Elizabeth II was a
Francophile,” the official said.
Rishi Sunak is expected in Paris
earlier in March for an ice-breaking
The team at Mirpuri Bespoke worked
extensively on the Givenchy outfits
were arriving for fittings and she was in-
troducing us to them, she gave us a bit of
guidance. We had to take in shoulders,
bodies and we had to make them short-
er. Basically, we had to recut the dress-
es. We were working to four o’clock in
the morning. The dresses were a mess,
there’s no denying that. We just had to
fix them.
“[When] tacking a white dress you
don’t get second chances. You can’t
stain it. You have to be absolutely
clear on what you’re doing.
“It’s only the talent of our team and
the hard work that we put in those
four days [that turned] those dresses
from what they were to
what they ended up
being.
“I’m not taking
anything away from
[Givenchy] and the
dresses were beautiful.
I don’t know what
went on before so I
would never criticise
anybody.
“We were faced
with a problem. It
was a big chal-
lenge, it was a big risk,
and we came good.
“Meghan and Harry
Franco-British summit, Le Parisien
said.
The Times reported in October that
Canada and the Caribbean were also
being considered as the King’s first
overseas trip. The British embassy did
not react to the latest report but Paris
had been expected to be chosen
because of historic links and the need to
restore relations after friction between
Boris Johnson and Macron. The states
have been at loggerheads over migrant
Channel crossings, fishing and the
Northern Ireland protocol.
Macron regards Brexit as a disastrous
error and was reported to have called
Johnson a clown. Liz Truss annoyed
Paris by saying she did not know
whether Macron was friend or foe. Sun-
ak has said he wants to mend fences.
The Queen made five state visits to
France, the first to Paris in 1957 and the
last to Paris and Normandy in 2014. No
foreign sovereign has visited the Élysée
Palace more often.
The Paris stay will include a state
5
News
News
were very grateful and sent us a card
afterwards.”
After four days of working on the
dresses, Mirpuri and his team left
Windsor at 10pm the night before the
wedding.
“Did anyone on the day complain
about the bridesmaids’ dresses and how
they looked? The answer is no,” he said.
He saw no evidence of the rift between
the duchesses that Harry wrote about
in his memoir.
“I read the excerpts in the book relat-
ing to us. Everybody was lovely in my
presence. What goes on behind the
scenes, I have no idea,” he said.
“But in my presence, everybody was
co-operative. Everybody was helpful,
but it was stressful, as any wedding is.
There was a lot going on for them.
“It’s a family — I don’t see them as
Sussexes or Cambridges. It’s their situa-
tion, their challenge to deal with, and
they’ll deal with it in the best way they
know how.”
Since Harry and Meghan
have left for the US Mirpuri
has continued to work for
Meghan. “I did some work for
the family and they said the
alterations to the dresses
would be mentioned in
the book.
“I really didn’t think
anything of it at the time.
I didn’t realise it was by
name or anything like
that. If this book had not
come out, no one would
have known anything and
everyone would have said,
‘Well done, Givenchy,
you’ve done a great job’.
But it really wasn’t them.
“I have the utmost re-
spect for the family and
for the monarchy and every-
thing that it stands for.
“It was just a privilege to be
able to be of service in our
own small, little way in our
little business.”
Givenchy did not respond to
a request for comment.
banquet at the Élysée and possible
visits to the National Assembly and the
Senate. The King and Macron are also
expected at a hospital or a school or
similar institution.
The Queen will follow a programme
with Brigitte Macron.
Macron said when he attended the
Queen’s funeral that he had invited the
new King to France and signalled his
wish for reconciliation with a tribute to
his mother. “Her rare and powerful
words, her unwavering dignity made
her the constant symbol of the United
Kingdom,” he said. “We are grateful for
her deep affection for France.”
France has been closely following the
tempest over Prince Harry’s outbursts
against the royal family, viewing it as
another episode in a soap opera over a
dysfunctional family. Commentators
and the public always made a distinc-
tion between the late Queen, who was
admired, and other members of the
family. The King has received favour-
able coverage in the French media.
6 2GM
News
Oxford ‘needs more cash for courses’
Nicola Woolcock Education Editor
The new vice-chancellor of Oxford
will seek meetings with the govern-
ment on university funding to sustain
the quality of its courses.
Professor Irene Tracey said the cost
of running the university’s degree pro-
grammes was significant.
One of her predecessors, Andrew
Hamilton, said ten years ago that
degree courses at Oxford cost £16,000
a year to run. Since then the annual
tuition fee has increased by only £250,
to £9,250, a sum that analysts say is
worth about £6,500 at 2012 prices.
Tracey, 56, told The Times: “There’s
no doubt the whole sector is struggling
in every regard. It’s not just about the
fees. It’s not just about the cost of living
and the energy crisis. The cost of
running courses in the university is
significant. The amount of time and
effort and finances that are poured
into it are great but it’s all at great cost.
So there’s no doubt sustaining that
model will require thinking boldly
about how we are supporting that
activity financially.
“It’s a question of having those con-
versations with the government. This
is a really good time, I would say this
year, to start to have some more active
conversations about that.”
In her inauguration speech yester-
day, Tracey made it clear that she
wanted Oxford to monetise its expert-
ise and bring in more income from
“spin-out” companies to subsidise the
university.
She described Oxford’s endowment
pot (worth £6.3 billion, including those
of its colleges) as “woefully small
compared to our competitors in the
USA”.
The university is creating an inno-
vation district about eight miles from
the city centre, to provide more oppor-
tunities to create spin-outs. This was
“fuelling a real thirst for entrepreneur-
ship” and creating employment
through “porous boundaries between
academia and industry”, she told those
at the ceremony, held at the univers-
ity’s Sheldonian Theatre.
“Sustaining our excellence and glob-
al position as one of the world’s leading
universities for generations to come
will be challenging without growth
and diversification of our funding
streams,” she said.
Historically, the stereotype was that
Oxford was renowned for the arts and
humanities whereas Cambridge was
stronger in science. However, a team at
Oxford was behind the AstraZeneca
coronavirus vaccine.
Tracey told The Times: “We knew
that we were really strong and we were
attractive to an international science
base. We didn’t do a good enough job
talking about what we did to different
types of audiences.
“That’s probably why there was a bit
of a perceptual mismatch and I think
when you’ve got such a run of people
One in three has a degree or similar in race for qualifications
Nicola Woolcock
More people have a degree or equiva-
lent than ten years ago and fewer have
no qualifications, census data shows.
The Office for National Statistics
said that there were 11.5 million school-
children and full-time students in 2021
in England and Wales, accounting for
20.4 per cent of the population.
Of those aged 16 and over, 33.8 per
cent had at least a level 4 qualification,
such as a higher national certificate or
diploma, a bachelor’s degree or post-
graduate qualification. In 2011 the
Lord Patten of Barnes, right, Oxford’s chancellor, said its vice-chancellor, Professor Irene Tracey, second left, faced headwinds
[from Oxford] going into politics and
that side of life, which is very public,
who were drawn from the humanities
then it tends to give an impression that
that’s where we’re going.
“But the pandemic unveiled the fact
that, of course, there’s that huge
research base here, which didn’t
happen overnight.”
One of Tracey’s first actions as vice-
chancellor has been to commission
independent analysis of staff pay and
conditions, a timely decision as
another wave of academic strikes is
imminent at universities across the
country.
Of her upbringing in Oxford, she
said: “Not to detract from the other
vice-chancellors that I’ve worked
under for most of my career in terms of
their genuine desire to engage
with the city, but I do have a unique
window on it.”
In her speech, she said: “The uni-
versity’s impact is far greater than our
contribution to the skyline or tourist
coach parties. We support more than
28,000 jobs and, pre-pandemic, con-
tributed £16 billion per year to the UK
economy.
“I am also acutely conscious of the
tensions. There is intense pressure on
affordable housing in our city. That is
why we do our best to house as high a
proportion of our students as possible,
more than any other large UK univer-
figure was 27.2 per cent. The ONS said,
however, that this gap was partly down
to changes in the way questions were
structured. The total was highest in
London, with 46.7 per cent of the popu-
lation holding such qualifications com-
pared with 28.6 per cent of residents in
the North East, the English region with
the lowest proportion.
Some 18.2 per cent of people, or
8.8 million, in England and Wales had
no qualifications, down from 22.7 per
cent in 2011. The highest proportion
with no qualifications in England was
21.1 per cent in the West Midlands.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
sity. But we want to do more.” She
added: “The city and community must
also recognise the challenges we face
as a world-leading university embed-
ded not in London, Boston or San
Francisco but in a relatively small and
beautiful town on the edge of the
Cotswolds.
“Oxford’s size cannot be a limiting
factor in creating opportunities. Let us
help each other and be ambitious and
imaginative for what we can co-create
here, alongside our local partner in
Oxford Brookes University.”
Also speaking at Tracey’s inaugura-
tion ceremony, Oxford’s chancellor,
Lord Patten of Barnes, said: “I wish to
thank Merton [college] for giving up a
fine warden to allow us, I’m sure, to
appoint an equally fine vice-chancel-
lor.” He said Tracey — and the univer-
sity — faced headwinds of a lament-
able national economy and the painful
impact of inflation plus the impact of
having had nine education secretaries
in seven years.
Co-operation was needed between
the university and its colleges, Patten
said, but the recent dispute between
Christ Church and its former dean —
in which it was criticised by the
Charity Commission over its handling
of the disagreement with Martyn
Percy — raised questions about the
role of trustees at colleges.
The commission said Christ Church
was guilty of either mismanagement,
misconduct or both, and that the
college’s trustees had not managed the
charity’s resources responsibly or
ensured it was accountable.
Profile Patten said: “One recent unfortu-
nate college dispute . . . inevitably and
P
rofessor Harvard. She said her undergraduate and wholly correctly attracted the interest
Irene Tracey immersion in Oxford graduate studies at of the Charity Commission. The
describes gave her an “intimate Oxford were in commission, after a show of consider-
herself as the knowledge, plus an biochemistry, where able patience, reached the under-
“ultimate emotional sense, of her research focused standable conclusion that it raised the
insider”. Born and how this place ticks on the early use of question of the role of trustees at our
schooled in Oxford, and of how to get magnetic resonance colleges.
she became an things done in such a imaging to study “At the very least, I believe that the
undergraduate at the complex and devolved disease. She was a Conference of Colleges will wish to
University of Oxford organisation”. It also founding member of engage with the Charity Commission
and has worked there meant she knew the Oxford Centre for — which is doing its duty in a spirit of
for 25 years (Nicola “where the bodies are Functional MRI of the goodwill — to consider how the ques-
Woolcock writes). buried” and she said Brain (now the tions that arise can best be resolved.
No previous vice- one of the biggest risks Wellcome Centre for Other charities will inevitably watch
chancellor, perhaps, was complacency. Integrative what happens with great interest.”
has been so steeped in Tracey has Neuroimaging) and Tracey, whose parents came from
the town and gown certainly been at the was its director from Liverpool, is the youngest of six child-
sides of the city. She coalface. She is 2005 to 2015. ren and credits one of her sisters for
went to a local professor of Her research team helping with childcare at a time when
comprehensive, anaesthetic has contributed to a she and her husband were developing
Gosford Hill, and is neuroscience in the better understanding their careers.
thought to be the first Nuffield Department of pain perception, She has three children with her hus-
Oxford vice- of Clinical pain relief and the band, Myles Allen, who is professor of
chancellor not to have Neurosciences, a 550- sensation of pain geosystem science at the university
attended a selective or strong department using neuroimaging. and is director of its Oxford Net Zero
private school. she led for four years, It has also looked in initiative.
In her inauguration and says she plans to the altered states of Tracey describes him as “the one
speech Tracey, 56, continue teaching. consciousness individual without whose constancy,
said she had “escaped Until last month she induced by love and support — as well as his devo-
the ring road” only was warden of Merton anaesthetics. tion as a father to our three fabulous
once, for a couple of College, her alma Tracey was made a children and all the while being a
postdoctoral years at mater. Her CBE last January. climate warrior — I would not be
standing here today.”
Nick Hillman, director of the Higher south is a serious issue. Alongside edu- age for many years now.” He added: “At
Education Policy Institute think tank, cation it is the most significant driver of the Convention of the North later this
said: “London does well partly because why productivity is lower here than in month we will be pushing hard for
people move there but also because the London and the South East. Michael Gove [the levelling-up secre-
education system in the capital is very “More skills devolution is already on tary] to rapidly devolve skills budgets as
good, thanks to conscious decisions by the cards for Greater Manchester and it part of supercharging all of the eco-
policymakers over many years. cannot come soon enough. Whitehall nomic drivers for the north.”
“If other areas are to compete with continues to make unwise decisions in In Wales, Cardiff had the highest pro-
London they need similar levels of in- this area and our metro mayors would portion of people with a level 4 qualifi-
vestment and commitment. The jury is be far better placed to join the dots cations or above at 40 per cent. Blaenau
out on whether that is likely to happen between skills policy and local industry Gwent was lowest at 21.6 per cent, and
given recent political changes.” need. Skills levels in key capabilities in also had the largest proportion with no
Henri Murison, chief executive of the the northern economy, including ad- qualifications at 27.9 per cent.
Northern Powerhouse Partnership, vanced manufacturing and energy, In Scotland, the government delayed
said: “The skills gap between north and have lagged behind the national aver- holding the census for a year.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
TV star tells
court: I drove
drunk to flee
a threesome
Jonathan Ames Legal Editor
A star of the television drama Foyle’s
War has admitted driving her car while
being more than twice the legal alcohol
limit, saying that she was fleeing a
sexual threesome.
Honeysuckle Weeks, who appeared
in ITV’s award-winning detective
series, told a court that she had no alter-
native but to get behind the wheel of
her car because she feared she would be
coerced into a sexual encounter with a
male friend and his lover.
Weeks, 43, who is on welfare benefits,
told Worthing magistrates’ court
that she had been drinking with
friends in November and was
invited to stay for the night.
But her friend invited his
lover to his house in Arun-
del, West Sussex, and
Weeks became convinced
that she would be co-
erced into a sexual
act with the couple.
The actress said
that she left the
house and ac-
knowledged that
despite being
drunk she drove
her silver Honda
CR-V SUV. She re-
versed into a parked
car before driving
away but returned 15
seconds later. An off-
duty police officer
who observed the in-
cident stopped the
car and realised that
the driver was drunk.
After failing to
submit to a roadside
breath test, Weeks
was taken to a police
station where a
breath test registered
that she was more
than twice the legal
Petrol is cheapest since Russia invaded Car park fees set to soar
Ben Clatworthy Transport Correspondent
The price of a litre of petrol has fallen to
its lowest since Russia began its assault
on Ukraine last February.
The average pump price across the
UK has fallen below 150p for the first
time since February 24.
The price of petrol and diesel soared
after President Putin launched the in-
vasion, hitting 191.53p a litre on July 3 —
taking the cost of filling the average
family car tank over £100.
Luke Bosdet, a spokesman for the
AA, said: “A 41.8p-a-litre crash in the
average pump price of petrol is a huge
relief for drivers, cutting £22.99 from
the cost of filling the typical 55-litre car
tank.”
But he said that petrol prices were
“still historically way above” what they
drink-drive limit. Weeks, of Byworth,
West Sussex, admitted drink-driving
yesterday. She told magistrates that she
had been “expecting to stay the night in
a friend’s house in Arundel, but the man
in question invited his lover to the
property and I was in danger of being
coerced into sexual actions with them,
which I found extremely unwelcome”.
Weeks was said to have no regular
income from acting and to be receiving
universal credit. She said that she
needed her car to take her son to school
every day. However, the magistrates
banned her from driving for 20 months
and fined her £120 with £85 costs
and a victim surcharge of £48.
She agreed to undertake a
drink-driving awareness
course that would reduce her
driving ban by 20 weeks.
Weeks had been resi-
dent at the Chichester
Centre in West Sussex, a
low-security unit for the
treatment of drug and al-
cohol problems, the
court was told. The ac-
tress said she was no
longer living there.
In 2016 she dis-
appeared during a
stay as a voluntary
patient at a care
centre near her home
in West Sussex. At the
time, police issued an
appeal saying that her be-
haviour had been “con-
cerning”. She was found
safe and well.
Weeks joined the cast
of Foyle’s War, set during
and after the Second
World War, from its
launch in 2002. She
played Samantha Stew-
art, a member of the
Mechanised Transport
Corps who was seconded
to the police and worked
should be, adding: “Indicative of the
chaos of UK pump pricing and the
rampant exploitation of drivers by
many fuel retailers, the AA spotted
supermarket and non-supermarket
retailers yesterday charging less than
140p a litre in south Wales and North-
ern Ireland.
“How fuel stations in areas of big
populations and high volume sales can
charge well over 10p more for fuel than
in rural parts of the UK is a question
that the Competition and Markets
Authority will have to address.”
The big increase in fuel prices last
year forced Rishi Sunak, when he was
the chancellor, to cut fuel duty by 5p a
litre in his spring statement. The
measure was designed to save motorists
6p once VAT was factored in, but sharp
rises in the wholesale price of oil quick-
Honeysuckle Weeks starred alongside Michael Kitchen in the TV series Foyle’s
War which began in 2002. She made no comment as she left court yesterday
as a driver and assistant to Detective
Chief Superintendent Christopher
Foyle, played by Michael Kitchen.
Weeks has appeared in other televi-
sion series, including Midsomer Mur-
ders, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries and
Death in Paradise.
She married Lorne Stormonth-
Darling, a hypnotherapist, in a Bud-
dhist ceremony in the Himalayas in
ly erased savings. The freeze ends in
March.
Diesel now averages 172.21p a litre,
having been 153.05p when the Russian
invasion began, according to the AA. It
hit a record of 199.07p on July 1.
Last month the Competition and
Markets Authority said drivers, partic-
ularly those with diesel cars, were the
victims of “rocket and feather” pricing,
in which pump prices quickly reflect
rising wholesale costs but are slow to
fall when costs drop.
Motorists can expect a sharp rise in
fuel prices, however. After the autumn
statement the Office for Budget
Responsibility warned that fuel duty is
expected to rise by 23 per cent in 2023,
adding 12p a litre to the cost of petrol
and diesel.
2005. The couple were married in the
UK two years later at a ceremony in
West Sussex. They were understood
to have split in 2019, with Weeks tweet-
ing a picture of a sign bearing the
initials L&H with pink hearts burning
on a bonfire and captioned: “By bye
marriage.”
Weeks made no comment as she left
court.
as councils run out of cash
Ben Clatworthy
Motorists face double-digit rises in
parking charges as councils scramble
for ways to boost their coffers.
Southend, York, Rutland, Thanet
and the London borough of Waltham
Forest are among the local authorities
that have announced they will increase
parking fees by about 10 per cent from
April. In Cornwall, charges will rise by
29 per cent at the most popular tourist
spots, taking an hourly ticket to £2.20.
In Dudley, in the West Midlands, the
price of an all-day ticket will rise by 43
per cent to £5. Bristol city council will
double the cost at some of its car parks.
Government figures show that local
7
News
Hungry seal
angles for
residency at
fishing lake
Ali Mitib
A hungry seal has forced a popular fish-
ing lake to shut for three weeks after
eating £3,000 worth of fish.
Nick North, owner of Marks Hall
Fishery in Rochford, Essex, has had to
turn anglers away after the 1.5-metre
long seal moved into his lake. It has
evaded two attempts at capture by the
RSPCA, Essex police and British Divers
Marine Life Rescue.
The grey seal, believed to be about a
year old, was first spotted swimming up
the River Roach in Essex on December
6, having probably swum in from the
North Sea. It was then seen in Marks
Hall Fishery on December 12.
North estimated that he had lost
£2,000-£3,000 in fish stock and more
than £500 in day tickets to the lake. He
was not receiving compensation.
The businessman, who has leased the
The seal has evaded capture attempts
lake from Rochford district council for
12 years, has had to wait for environ-
mental agencies to make a third
attempt to capture the seal. The seal has
a cut on its head and tail and a suspect-
ed blind eye, injuries that were of con-
cern but deemed not life-threatening.
The divers rescue group said that “all
agencies involved appreciate the detri-
mental effect on the other species in the
lake”. It added: “Seals are capable of
living healthily in freshwater, however,
it is obviously not a natural location for
this one. We need to give it a short
period to settle again after the last two
attempts.”
North, 67, was worried that after eat-
ing carp weighing 10lb the seal could
turn its attention to the larger, more
expensive carp in the lake, which can
weigh up to 30lbs. It was “pretty stress-
ful” to be told that the seal, by virtue of
being protected by English law, had
more rights than the fish in the lake.
authorities make almost £1.8 billion a
year from parking fees.
Jack Cousens, head of roads policy
for the AA, told the Daily Mail: “Resi-
dents could soon ‘vote with their
wheels’ and decide it’s easier to avoid
the town centre and shop online.”
Families across the country are also
braced for a 5 per cent increase in
council tax bills from April.
A spokesman for the Local Govern-
ment Association, which represents
hundreds of councils across England
and Wales, said local authorities were
under intense financial pressure,
adding: “The cost of providing public
services has dramatically increased
with rising inflation.”
8 2GM
News
News Politics
999 warning as
call handlers join
ambulance strike
Eleanor Hayward Health Correspondent
Control room staff who answer 999
calls will walk out today alongside para-
medics in a strike escalation the NHS
said would “intensify risks to patients”.
Up to 25,000 ambulance workers are
striking across the country, including
call handlers, who were not involved in
the first day of action, December 21.
Ambulance bosses urged patients to
be “really helpful” by not calling 999
unless their lives were in danger, warn-
ing that only about half of vehicles
would be available and anyone whose
condition was not life-threatening was
“unlikely” to get an ambulance.
Control room staff, who answer 999
calls and dispatch vehicles, will join
picket lines in staggered six-hour shifts.
The strike by members of the Unison
and GMB unions will affect all NHS re-
gions except the East of England.
Christina McAnea, the head of Uni-
son, said involving call handlers would
“put additional stress on the system”
compared with the previous strike, and
that because hospitals had fewer empty
beds than before it would be “more dif-
ficult” for them to cope.
“When you speak to NHS employers,
they’re particularly worried about the
impact of bringing out call handlers,”
she said.
Patients will be guaranteed a re-
sponse only if they have an immed-
iately life-threatening condition, such
as cardiac arrest. Such calls are known
as Category 1.
Unions have made local agreements
to exempt paramedics from picket lines
to respond to the most severe Category
2 calls, including those for strokes and
heart attacks. But thousands of patients
with Category 3 or 4 conditions, such as
falls by elderly people, will have to make
their own way to hospital or wait until
Thursday for an ambulance. NHS
90-year-old’s three days in A&E chair Quentin Letts
Eleanor Hayward
A grandmother with suspected sepsis
was forced to spend three days sitting
on a chair in an overcrowded A&E
waiting room.
Morwen Griffiths, 90, woke with
breathing difficulties and a high tem-
perature but was told there “weren’t
any ambulances”.
Her family drove her to Glangwili
Hospital in Carmarthen,
South Wales, but there
were no beds available
and patients were
stranded in corri-
dors. Despite
having low oxy-
gen levels, she
was left sitting
on a chair in the
emergency unit
for three days.
Her grand-
daughter, Caryl
Griffiths, 27, said:
“The GP wanted us to
go straight to A&E with
her. We were told there
Call handlers who take part will give
the strike a bigger impact, Unison says
trusts fear that today’s strike will be
more disruptive than the first one in
December both because more staff are
involved and because hospitals are bus-
ier than they were before Christmas.
Members of the armed forces are on
standby to drive ambulances if needed,
despite anger from some soldiers that
they are being used as “spare capacity”
to fill in for striking public sector staff.
Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of the
London Ambulance Service, said:
“Hospitals are really, really full, so I
would just ask the public to be really
helpful again tomorrow and only
phone us if they have a life and limb-
threatening emergency.”
He said the service expected only
about 200 ambulances in the capital to
be available — roughly half — and that
striking call handlers could be called off
the picket line.
He said: “If our call-answering time
takes too long then staff will come from
the picket line back into answering the
phone, so that we can know that we can
provide life and limb-threatening cover.”
Miriam Deakin, of NHS Providers,
an organisation for NHS trusts, said to-
were no beds in her usual hospital in
Aberystwyth so he said, ‘I think there
might be more of a chance in Glangwili
in Carmarthen’.
“As soon as we arrived . . . I’m
basically speechless still trying to
explain the situation of seeing ten
standstill ambulances and the A&E
room absolutely packed.
“It was surreal. It was just patients be-
hind each other on the corridor,
people in front of the toilets,
people just queuing any-
where you could find
some room. To watch
someone as ill and
as close to me as
my mamgu going
through it, was
tragic.”
Hywel Dda
University
health board,
which runs the
hospital, apolo-
gised for the waits.
Caryl Griffiths cares for
her grandmother Morwen
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
day’s strike would “hit the NHS harder”,
adding: “With more staff expected to
strike this time, the NHS is in an even
more precarious position. Since the last
strikes, delays transferring patients
from ambulances to hospitals have got
worse as pressure across the whole of
the NHS increases.
“Trust leaders are working hard to
minimise the impact on patients and to
support staff during the industrial
action but they are braced for another
day of significant disruption and
knock-on effects.”
Matthew Taylor, chief executive of
the NHS Confederation, said: “With
prolonged NHS staff strike action in
the offing, the fear is that the risk to
patients will intensify in the days and
weeks ahead.”
The strike comes amid record waits
for ambulances and entry to A&E de-
partments which doctors have warned
are causing 500 deaths a week. The
NHS issued a rare safety alert after inci-
dents of patients suffering heart attacks
because they did not have sufficient ox-
ygen supply while in corridors or A&E
waiting rooms waiting for a bed.
Another day of ambulance strikes is
due to take place on January 23, but the
unions said these would be called off if
the government made an improved pay
offer. There is cautious optimism about
a pay deal for NHS staff after talks on
Monday after which both sides said
“progress” had been made.
Steve Barclay, the health secretary, is
considering union suggestions of back-
dating a 2023-24 pay rise to the start of
Sunak flies into a transport storm
this calendar year, a way of boosting
pay now without reopening this year’s
settlement.
McAnea said: “We can do a deal with
the Department of Health but it only
D owning Street
has defended
Rishi Sunak’s
decision to fly from
London to Leeds, after
(Henry Zeffman
writes).
A photo published
by No 10 showed the
prime minister
plane for the journey
to visit a healthcare
centre in Chapel
Allerton, a suburb of
Leeds, on Monday.
works if you’re able to free up money Labour said it was an boarding a Royal Air The planes are used to
from the Treasury, so we recognise we “extravagance” Force Envoy IV CC “transport key
have to engage with the Treasury.”
“Delays in ambulances and A&E are
the worst on record. More than one in
four patients arriving at A&E by
ambulance last week had to wait at least
an hour to be handed over to hospital
Shapps, annoying as
staff.”
In the last week of December, 2,674
ambulances waited more than an hour
he is, could have a point
each day on average, which is twice as
many as the peak last winter. levels”. Opposition MPs did not take
Health bosses are urging patients to Political Sketch this idea calmly. There was neck-
seek emergency care as usual when clutching on a scale not seen since
ambulance staff strike in England and Prince William last met his brother.
Wales today but have warned that some One Labour man, Sam Tarry, said
people will have to wait longer than it was worse than living in Vichy
usual. Dr Vin Diwakar, NHS England France or Franco’s Spain. Another,
N
medical director for secondary care, ot since Tom Daley Richard Burgon, called our
said: “The message from the NHS to wriggled into his government “the most authoritarian
patients is clear — if you need emer- skimpies at the regime in living memory”.
gency care, please come forward. Olympics have so many Recipients of trade-union funding
“This means continuing to call 999 people gone off the screamed that a “draconian”
for life-threatening emergencies as well deep end so spectacularly. outrage was afoot from the “rancid”
as using 111 online for other health Grant Shapps stood at the Tories. A Scots Nat, David Linden,
needs where you will receive clinical dispatch box to discuss the strikes. spat out that Britain was “a silly
advice on the best next steps to take. The business secretary proposed little island”. Double the diazepam
NHS staff have worked hard to that vital workers in sectors such order, doctor.
minimise disruption but it is inevitable as recue and emergency should in Shapps is, it must be conceded, an
there will be an impact on services.” future provide “minimum service irritating fellow. That puppyish
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
military and the government
diplomatic personnel reveal how much
around the world money was “wasted”
quicker and more on the half-hour
efficiently than flight.
before”, according to She said: “Patients
the RAF. and staff are crying
Angela Rayner, out for action . . . in
Labour’s deputy the midst of a crisis in
leader, demanded that our NHS while the
bounce he has, the implausibly
sandy hair, the grin stretching to his
cheek bones: these things can soon
make you snap your pencil.
The Dalai Lama, if exposed to the
Rt Hon gentleman for more than a
few minutes, might start kicking the
temple lhasa apso. Shapps could
make Justin Welby say the F-word.
He could drive Liz Hurley to a
nunnery and he could have snails
doing somersaults into the nearest
bubbling skillet of sauce
bourguignonne. You wouldn’t want
Shapps in a Nato war room. His
incessant zing might make a
marshal of the air force smash the
table with his fist, accidentally
hitting the nuke button.
Even so, Labour and the Scots
Nats should probably not have risen
to the bait. In a lunchtime statement
Shapps put his initial proposal in an
artfully constructive tone. He
presented himself as Mr Reasonable,
his door ever open to talks, the
honest broker whose belief in the
right to strike was cemented to his
core. And yet, and yet — at this
point he pursed his lips with
statesmanlike maturity — any fair-
2GM
Rishi Sunak prime minister jets
cut the from London to Leeds
time of his for a photo op.”
journey to By train the
Leeds by journey takes
boarding a about two and a
plane but half hours.
has fuelled Sunak’s spokesman
criticism said: “The transport
the prime minister
minded observer would have to
admit that ministers had a duty to
the public. He, personally, did not
wish to see people die of heart
attacks or strokes because some
ambulance crew had gone on strike
without informing local health
managers. If minimum services
were not being provided, it was his
responsibility to act. Shapps trusted
that his opponents would see that
this was only sensible.
All this was put in the lightest of
voices, moderation ironed to his
brow.
For Labour’s Andy McDonald
(Middlesbrough), it was not sensible
at all. It was Too Much. It was
Beyond A Joke. McDonald, not
necessarily one of Westminster’s
more refined specimens, cupped his
lips with one hand and bawled
insults at the minister. The other
McDonald hand scratched at its
master’s itchy undercarriage. He
accused Shapps of “declaring war on
working people”.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy
leader, called the proposal a
“Sacking Nurses Bill” and accused
Shapps of being “utterly stupid”. He
takes will vary, and
always be done in the
interest of what’s the
most effective use of
his time, enabling
him to get around
the entirety of the
UK when there’s a
great deal of pressure
on his time.”
was “playing politics!” How
troubling to think of the cathedral
of our legislature being used for
such a purpose.
Shapps, enjoying himself more
with each of these Technicolor
sallies, replied that the minimum
service levels he was seeking were
already agreed with unions in
modern European democracies
such as France and Spain. It was at
this point that Tarry leapt in to
denounce the Vichy and Franco
regimes.
Shapps quietly suggested that
France and Spain had “moved on
just a little bit” since those
governments.
Laura Farris (C, Newbury), an
employment lawyer, noted that
minimum service levels were
found in South Africa, Argentina
and elsewhere. Well, what do you
expect from a bunch of Boers and
Third Reich-fancying Peronists?
As for the Sunak government,
Comrade Burgon was surely right.
We are in the grip of despots. Rishi
would clearly be a goose-stepper, if
only he didn’t wear such tight
trousers.
Lords could impose
year’s delay on law
to restrict walkouts
Steven Swinford Political Editor
NHS leaders accused the government
of using new strike laws to “silence
workers in their hour of need” as oppo-
sition threatens to delay the legislation
for more than a year.
Grant Shapps, the business secretary,
yesterday published legislation to force
unions to provide a minimum level of
service when they strike. It would cover
six sectors: transport, NHS workers,
firefighters, education, border security
and nuclear decommissioning.
Under the proposals employers will
be able to sue unions that fail to provide
a minimum level of service and sack
employees. Labour opposes the legis-
lation, accusing the government of
going from thanking workers to sack-
ing them for striking.
The plan is expected to meet strong
opposition in the Lords, with some in
government concerned that it could
take more than a year to pass. No 10
hopes the legislation will get through
this year, although even then unions
may mount a legal challenge.
The NHS Confederation, represent-
ing health service leaders, criticised the
plans. Matthew Taylor, its chief execu-
tive, said: “There are rising waiting lists
and treatment backlogs, a vacancy
crisis with 133,000 posts unfilled,
under-investment in the infrastructure
and NHS pay that has failed to keep up
with the rising cost of living.
“This new legislation will not change
that as it does not address the funda-
mental concerns facing NHS staff. In-
stead, it could be seen as an attempt to
silence workers in their hour of need
and sweep the problem under the rug.”
Shapps told MPs that the govern-
ment “absolutely believes in the right to
strike” but is “duty-bound” to protect
lives and livelihoods. The government
plans initially to introduce legislation
for ambulance staff, firefighters and rail
workers. Ministers will consult on appro-
priate minimum service levels. Planss for
education, border security and nuclear
decommissioning, will be held back in
the hope that deals can be reached.
Paul Nowak, head of the TUC, said
PM may need Truss’s plan
if peace doesn’t come soon
Analysis
J ust 127 days after Liz Truss
entered Downing Street and 78
days after she left, the anti-strike
law tabled in parliament yesterday
may become the most enduring
legacy of her brief period as prime
minister (Henry Zeffman writes).
It was Truss, not Rishi Sunak, who
proposed an aggressive approach
during the Conservatives’ summer
leadership campaign, promising to
get minimum service requirements
into law within 100 days.
Sunak initially adopted a more
emollient approach as prime
minister. Last month his tone
changed, announcing at a session of
PMQs that he would re-examine
Truss’s plans. It had become clear to
Sunak that the unions’ demands for
higher pay was incompatible with
the central creed of his premiership:
that inflation will come down if the
government shows fiscal restraint. It
9
News
News
What happens in Europe?
France
Minimum service laws were first
introduced in France in 2007, giving
transport authorities explicit legal
powers to force striking workers to
come to work if they fail to provide
a minimum level of service. The
legislation has never been used.
Spain
Last year Spain’s transport ministry
introduced a new minimum service
law for flights to deal with industrial
action by Ryanair cabin crew. The
government also reserves the right
to impose compulsory arbitration in
the event of harm to the economy.
Italy
Essential public services, including
health, water, energy and public
transport, have to retain a
minimum level of service. Armed
forces and police are banned from
striking.
that the new legislation would “poison
industrial relations”. He added: “This
legislation would mean that, when
workers democratically vote to
strike, they can be forced to work and
sacked if they don’t comply. That’s
undemocratic, unworkable, and
almost certainly illegal. Let’s be clear: if
passed, this bill will prolong disputes
and poison industrial relations —
leading to more frequent strikes.”
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy
leader, described the legislation as “an
attack on the fundamental freedom of
the working people.”
Shapps said similar laws were already
in place on the Continent. He told
MPs: “Labour will have to explain
why their leader, without hearing any
details of this legislation, had already
pledged to stand in the way of this
legislation.”
also became clear to Sunak that the
unions were prepared for a long haul
and that a de facto general strike was
incompatible with his mission to
bring calm to the country after a
year of political turmoil.
Still, there is something slightly
jarring about the strike laws being
tabled precisely at the point of
cautious optimism in government
that deals might be struck, at least
with the health unions.
The reason the move is not more
immediately incendiary is because
the legislative process is long. The
bill is likely to take a while in the
Lords and few expect the minimum
service rules to be in law before the
summer.
It is presumed that Sunak would
wish for a compromise to end many
of the disputes by then. However, if
strikes are still going on and he
needs to invoke the new law, another
confrontation with the unions would
be the least of his political problems.
10
News
Taxman is taken to task by MPs
after failing to collect £42 billion
David Byers Assistant Money Editor
Failures at HM Revenue and Customs
mean £42 billion in taxes have not been
collected and people are being let down
by poor customer service.
The taxman has been criticised by
the Commons public accounts commit-
tee for not dedicating enough resources
to tracking down lost or stolen revenue,
which it says works out as 5 per cent of
the country’s entire tax burden each
year. A total of £4.5 billion of the miss-
ing money was taken from the Covid-19
support schemes administered by the
department during the pandemic.
TaxWatch, an investigative think
tank, said that if the £42 billion of tax
owed was divided evenly among the
34 million income tax payers in 2022, it
would amount to £1,235 each.
The committee also demanded that
HMRC publish a three-year plan to
revive its troubled customer services. It
highlighted that staff numbers had
been cut by 24 per cent in the past five
years, from 25,500 to 19,500, while per-
formance continued to deteriorate.
The 22-page report also criticised the
department for lagging behind inter-
national counterparts such as Ger-
many in its attempt to stop businesses
committing VAT fraud.
“The eye-watering £42 billion now
owed to HMRC in unpaid taxes would
have filled a lot of this year’s infamous
public spending black hole,” Dame Meg
Hillier, chairwoman of the committee,
said.
“But the public purse will continue
missing out on billions of desperately
needed revenues. Meanwhile taxpay-
ers battle customer services that need
improvement.”
In October, The Sunday Times re-
vealed that a £100 million anti-fraud
taskforce set up by Rishi Sunak as chan-
cellor had been disbanded. It had re-
couped less than £625 million stolen or
overclaimed from Covid-19 support
schemes administered by HMRC, in-
cluding the furlough scheme, the self-
employed income support scheme and
the Eat Out to Help Out programme.
Last January, Lord Agnew of Oulton,
the counter-fraud minister, quit at the
Lords dispatch box, attacking the
“desperately inadequate” efforts to stop
taxpayers’ money being stolen.
In its report, published today, the
committee urges HMRC to set out
“what level of investment” its compli-
ance team would need to track down
lost or stolen tax, to set formal targets for
what money it should get back, as well as
to report more accurately on what
money is actually owed. The committee
added it was “disappointed” in HMRC’s
plan to recover only a quarter of its
£4.5 billion losses to Covid-19 fraud.
“We recognise the problems HMRC
faces — due to poor controls, the horse
What that could pay for
Subsidising the energy costs for all
households for 18 months
(calculations by consultancy
Cornwall Insight in November)
6 The annual wages of three
quarters of staff in the NHS
(Department for Health and Social
Care figures)
6 40 per cent of the annual state
pension burden (HMRC figures)
6 The annual tax shortfall caused
by Brexit (Centre for European
Reform)
6 The annual GDP of Bolivia (IMF)
has bolted — but we believe there is a
moral duty to pursue fraud. HMRC
must ensure dishonesty is not seen to
create advantage,” Hillier said.
The Times investigated poor cus-
tomer service at HMRC during the
summer, revealing chronic delays at
more than half of the tax office’s depart-
ments, with some queries taking almost
a year to answer.
In one example, Jeff Preston, 66, was
unable to register the estate of his late
mother Joan, who had died aged 98, to
execute her will in Scotland because
HMRC had lost it. After months of calls
2GM Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Quintagram® No 1522
Solve all five clues using each
letter underneath once only
1 In good shape (3)
---
2 Senior academic (6)
------
to HMRC, in which he could not find 3 Light motorcycle (7)
out what happened, Preston eventually
hired a solicitor to represent the family. -------
HMRC apologised after being contact- 4 Assimilating knowledge (8)
ed by The Times.
Experts welcomed the report and --------
backed its calls for urgent action. Alex 5 Selling online (1-7)
Dunnagan, of TaxWatch, said £42 bil-
lion of unpaid tax was “ staggering”. --------
Susan Ball, president of the Char- A A A C D E E E
tered Institute of Taxation, said: “The
delays that taxpayers and their advisers E E F G G I I I
face are not acceptable. Our members I L L N N N O O
tell us every day of the delays getting
answers and action from HMRC.” R R R R S T T T
Christine Jardine, the Liberal Demo- Solutions MindGames in Times2
crat Cabinet Office spokeswoman, said: Cryptic clues page 10 of Times2
“Ministers need to immediately get a
grip on this situation, anything less
would be a failure for millions of people Uranium at Heathrow
struggling with the cost of living crisis.”
A HMRC spokesman said the de- Counterterrorism police are
partment had cut the “tax gap” — the investigating after Border Force
difference between the amount of tax officers seized material
owed and that which is actually collect- contaminated with uranium at
ed — by 30 per cent. “We continue to Heathrow. The package
prioritise collecting unpaid taxes, originated from Pakistan, arrived
which is why are adding further people on a flight from Oman and was
to our compliance teams as well as roll- destined for Iranian nationals
ing out our digital offer to ensure every- when it was picked up on
one pays what is due,” he said. “The December 29, according to The
Covid support schemes protected mil- Sun. Scotland Yard said the
lions of jobs and businesses during the amount of contaminated material
pandemic. We also minimised fraud was “extremely small” and posed
through compliance checks and have no threat to the public. No one
protected £1.2 billion so far.” has been arrested.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 11

News
What went wrong
Low Earth orbit
311 miles

Outbound
flight
Return 6 Second stage fails to
flight IRELAND guide the rocket to
UK its designated orbit

Drop Spaceport
point Cornwall
5 Second-stage
engine ignites
but suffers an
FRANCE unknown
AT L A N T I C “anomaly”

Elation turns
OCEAN

LauncherOne
flight direction
7 Midnight: 747

to despair as
returns to
Spaceport
SPAIN Cornwall in
Newquay
PORTUGAL

Cornish space 1 Jan 9, 10.02pm: Jet launches

from Spaceport Cornwall. It
4 Stage 1 separates
and falls into ocean
3min 13sec
64.2 miles
8,299mph

launch flops
climbs to 35,000ft

Kaya Burgess Science Reporter
Callum Jones
US Business Correspondent
Tears were shed in mission control by
“gutted” crew members as they learnt
that the first attempt to send satellites
into orbit from the UK had failed — but
officials said it still counted as the first
space launch from British soil.
Virgin Orbit’s rocket did make it into
space on Monday night after taking off
from Cornwall, but did not make it into
orbit owing to an engine malfunction
now under investigation. The an-
nouncement shortly before midnight
prompted groans from a 2,000-strong
tumbled when New York’s Nasdaq ex- 3 11.10pm: Main engine 8 Multimillion-pound cargo of nine
change opened yesterday, down 20 per successfully starts satellites left to break up in the
4.8sec atmosphere or lands in the sea
cent on Monday and 83 per cent since
its market debut. Investors had been 6.86 miles
primed to expect up to six launches in 453mph
LauncherOne 70ft long
last year. It managed two.
One hour after take-off, just before 24.3 tonnes
Dan Hart, the Virgin Orbit chief ex- rocket drop, the pilot tilted nose 2 Rocket under left
ecutive, said the company knew it had wing detaches
of 747 to 32.5 degrees Time: 0sec
not given customers “the launch ser- skywards (close to the
vice they deserve”. He added: “We will Altitude: 6.67 miles Man to
maximum the aircraft Speed: 499mph
work tirelessly to understand the can cope with) scale
1st stage 2nd stage
nature of the failure, make corrective 32.5°
and payload
actions, and return to orbit as soon as
we have completed a full investigation
and mission assurance process.” Cornwall,” she said. “[But] we’re feeling
An air accident investigation is ex- Behind the story awful, I’m not going to lie. It’s gutting.”
pected to be held by bodies that could She added, however: “We’ve proven

A
crowd who had been on site since 7pm. include the Civil Aviation Authority 27 per cent the engine meant that failures are expected. we’re a spaceport. We launched last
The rocket’s cargo of nine satellites is and Department for Transport and US chance of it could not reach its The next phase is a night . . . we can do it again.”
thought to have fallen back into the investigators. They will assess whether failure. orbit and the rocket, six-minute burn by Josh Western, 30, co-founder of
Earth’s atmosphere to burn up. Their any debris made it back to Earth and Buried in with all nine satellites the second-stage Space Forge, creator of the first Welsh
value has not been publicly confirmed, where it might have fallen. the still on board, plunged engine, when 6.75 of satellite, which was lost on Monday,
but the mission was insured. The Boeing 747 carrying the rocket documents submitted back down. every 100 missions said he would be happy to launch
A UK Space Agency official said took off at 10.02pm. The rocket de- to the Civil Aviation The first phase of are expected to fail — another satellite on a Virgin mission.
Spaceport Cornwall fulfilled its func- tached and ignited its first-stage engine Authority ahead of the launch, carried the same rate as for Emma Jones, who worked on the
tion perfectly and said the UK had now at 11.10pm. However, an “anomaly” in Britain’s first attempt out using a Boeing the final phase, a Dover pathfinder satellite, said: “We
achieved a space launch and had the ca- the second-stage engine prevented the to launch satellites 747, is fairly routine. 30-second burn to cracked open a bottle of champagne
pability to “dust ourselves off and go rocket from reaching its orbital speed of from UK soil, a risk The complications precisely position the and said: ‘Let’s do this again. It’s not
again” for more launches. There are 17,000mph and altitude of 550km. The analysis laid bare the begin at the point spacecraft. over yet.’ ” The Ministry of Defence, the
hopes Virgin Orbit will return to engine only fired for one minute challenges of getting a when the rocket’s Investigations are Sultanate of Oman and the US
Cornwall this year. rather than the planned three. It rocket into orbit engines take over. now under way to National Reconnaissance Office also
Risk assessment documents is not clear whether it cut off (Kaya Burgess writes). In the first phase, assess what precisely lost satellites.
seen by The Times show that early, or if mission controllers Virgin Orbit the rocket detaches went wrong with the Asked about the scene in mission
Virgin Orbit gave its missions a stopped it on realising that planned for 17 from the plane to second-stage engine, control, Matt Archer, head of commer-
27 per cent chance of failure and something was wrong. launches from British free-fall for five amid speculation that cial spaceflight at the UK Space Agen-
expected four of its 17 launch- Melissa Thorpe, the head soil between 2022 and seconds before its it could have been an cy, said: “Definitely tears. Definite hug-
es from UK soil before 2030 of Spaceport Cornwall, had 2030 and expected first-stage engine issue with the mixing ging and consoling. When you’ve in-
to fail. Virgin Orbit’s stock been working towards four of these to fail. ignites. This is of the engine’s fuel, a vested that much time, energy and
this launch for nine It was the historic assessed as the combination of liquid emotion, understandably people are
Dan Hart, CEO of years. “We’ve done first attempt that was riskiest part of the oxygen and the upset . . . we will dust ourselves off and
Virgin Orbit. Top, everything we said the first to fail. mission. Out of every kerosene-based go again. That’s space.”
a crowd watches we were going to Some “anomaly” in 100 missions, 13 propellent RP-1.
the 747 take off do at Spaceport

Rocket science teaches us that failure is just part of the solution

It is a “glass half full” versus “glass
Alice Bunn half empty” story. The spaceport
Comment operations were flawless on the last
night, the first stage was impeccable,
but we ran into problems at the
ignition. But at some point during the
firing of the rocket’s second-stage
engine, with the rocket travelling at
more than 11,000mph, the system
experienced an anomaly.
over all the data they received, trying
to figure out what happened.
And one would hope that most of
the satellite manufacturers have a
flight spare or the ability to rebuild
on its first flight but has had four
subsequent successful flights. The
failure was a surprise to everyone
given it has had four successful flights
in a row.

T
he failure of the mission is a
bit crushing, but we know
not to celebrate too early in
the space sector. It is always
important to wait until you
get that positive signal from the right
orbit. Sometimes these things happen
when you are working at the cutting
edge of technology.
second stage.
Until Virgin Orbit does its full
analysis we will not really know what
the cause of the failure was, how
quick it will take to remedy and how
quickly we can expect them to get
back on the launchpad.
We know the flight went through a
successful stage separation and
There are all sorts of things that
could go wrong at the second stage.
Did the fuel come in properly? Was it
the ignition? Sometimes there can be
an issue from the ground station,
about the commands being received.
The mission tracking was
happening from Goonhilly Earth
Station in Cornwall. They’ll be poring
the satellite pretty quickly.
As with all these missions, the
margins are so tight, you do not want
to take any extra fuel than necessary
and are always trying to keep the
weight to a minimum, so you are
always operating at the cutting edge.
It really is rocket science.
Virgin Orbit did suffer a problem
Looking forward, we have the
conditions and regulations in place
for launches, the spaceport conditions
were really good, so we have to hope
we will see them return pretty soon.
Dr Alice Bunn is chief executive of
the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
and president of UKspace, the trade
association for the UK space industry
12
News
Just Stop Oil backer’s firm
donated £360,000 to Labour
Henry Zeffman Associate Political Editor
Sir Keir Starmer and Labour have re-
ceived hundreds of thousands of
pounds from a multimillionaire busi-
nessman who also funds Just Stop Oil.
Dale Vince, who owns the electricity
company Ecotricity, has given to both
causes, even though Starmer has criti-
cised the activist group.
Since the last election Ecotricity has
given Labour £360,000. Vince’s com-
Dale Vince said he thought Sir Keir Starmer would be “a great prime minister” pany gave Starmer £20,000 when he
was running for the leadership in 2020
and £10,000 to Angela Rayner, his
deputy, last October.
Vince, 61, is also the owner and chair-
man of Forest Green Rovers, a League
One football team that under his watch
has rocketed up the divisions as well as
serving fans only vegan food and play-
ing in kits made from bamboo and
waste coffee grounds.
He differs from Starmer in his
approach to Just Stop Oil, the activist
group whose campaign against fossil
fuels has included protesters glueing
themselves to roads and throwing soup
at works of art in public galleries.
Asked about Just Stop Oil last year,
Starmer said he backed the govern-
ment’s plans to impose tough sentences
on climate protesters who blocked
roads. He said: “I think it’s arrogant of
those glueing themselves to the road to
think they’re the only people that have
got the answer to this. They haven’t got
the answer.
“I don’t know how they can look in
the eye the families who’ve got some-
one in the back of an ambulance. They
certainly wouldn’t be able to look me in
the eye if it was my mum.”
Vince said he had given Just Stop Oil
“tens of thousands, probably” to “help
them get started”, having done the
same for Extinction Rebellion.
Defending their disruptive tactics,
Vince told Sky News: “We reach a point
where taking to the streets is really
all we’ve got. Most people have no
power to change what’s happening,
and we can see the direction of travel is
a disastrous one. So I understand why
organisations like that do the things
that they do.”
Vince said he had “disagreements
with them from time to time . . . when
they were smashing bank windows I did
say publicly I didn’t think it was the
right thing to do”.
However, he added: “Whereas big
business has different powers to pursue
its agenda, we have no real answer to
Freeport scheme takes in
Liverpool and East Anglia
Oliver Wright Policy Editor
Ministers have given the final go-ahead
to two new freeports as part of Rishi
Sunak’s long-held ambition to use
Brexit to attract foreign investment to
some of the UK’s most deprived areas.
Under plans announced yesterday,
Liverpool will join the Suffolk port of
Felixstowe and Harwich in Essex,
together dubbed Freeport East, in
getting £25 million of seed funding.
The policy was championed by
Sunak before he became a minister,
when he proposed a series of freeports
to drive economic growth by taking
advantage of the UK’s position outside
the EU customs zone. Businesses
setting up in freeports are able to
import raw materials into the UK
without paying customs duties and
then export the manufactured goods
abroad, reducing costs to industry.
Firms in the new investment zones also
benefit from a range of tax breaks,
including relief from employer national
insurance contributions, business rates
and stamp duty.
The freeports announced yesterday
will join those in Teesside, Plymouth
and the Solent that are already opera-
tional, with further announcements
expected. But critics say that unless
Sunak goes much further in reducing
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
that except sometimes to take to the
streets. We’ve reached a point where
taking to the streets is the only power
we’ve got. We’ve just given permission
to a new coal mine in the teeth of [the]
climate crisis. What are we to think and
do about that?”
Vince said he had donated to Labour
to “help them win, to help them into
government so they have the chance to
deliver their agenda, which is my agen-
da, social justice and a green economy”.
He said he had spoken to Starmer
twice and met him only once.
“I’m a particular fan of his, the way he
goes about things and the things he
says,” Vince said. “I think he’d be a great
prime minister.”
Questioned about why Starmer took
money from Vince despite their differ-
ent opinions of Just Stop Oil, Jon Ash-
worth, the shadow work and pensions
secretary, told Sky News: “I think that
shows you that people cannot buy our
policies, because you’ve got Keir Starm-
er disagreeing with somebody’s posi-
tion who has donated.”
6 Ed Miliband has promised that La-
bour’s next manifesto would be the
strongest ever on climate change, as he
accused Rishi Sunak of being silent on
environmental challenges.
Speaking at the launch yesterday of a
new pro-environment group, the La-
bour Climate and Environment Forum,
the former party leader said the prime
minister “doesn’t get” green issues.
“I’ve got lots of bad things to say
about Boris Johnson, but at least he
talks about this agenda. Sunak doesn’t
even bother to talk about this agenda,
never mind act on it,” Miliband said.
He said Labour would “move into the
void” as he listed three examples of the
“great disappearing Tory climate agen-
da”, citing Sunak’s equivocation over
attending last year’s Cop27 climate con-
ference, the government’s approval of a
new coal mine and the environment
barely being mentioned in the prime
minister’s new year speech.
Behind the story
he realisation of
T freeports owes as much
to the rise of Rishi
Sunak as it does to the
idea’s merit (Oliver
Wright writes). Sunak articulated
the concept in 2016 when he was
a backbench MP, arguing that
the UK could take advantage of
Brexit freedoms to revitalise
manufacturing and deprived
areas. Sceptics said changes were
unlikely to be transformative and
that many of the tax breaks were
possible within the EU.
Freeports quickly became
talismanic to Brexiteers. Under
Boris Johnson the plan was fast-
tracked and the first freeports
were announced in 2021.
regulation and planning rules, the
freeports will never reach their full
potential.“It is critical that they are
accompanied by a real deregulatory
agenda,” said Eamonn Butler of the
Adam Smith Institute.“If you look at
the success of places like Singapore and
Dubai, you see what can be achieved.”
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Life in refugee camp is worse than prison, says Shamima Begum
Duncan Gardham, Dominic Kennedy
Shamima Begum has claimed that the
refugee camp in northern Syria she is in
is “worse than a prison”.
Begum, 23, spoke in a BBC podcast
released today as she fights to have her
British citizenship restored.
She was a 15-year-old schoolgirl
when she left Britain to become an
Islamic State bride. Her lawyers have
appealed against a decision by Sajid
Javid, then the home secretary, to re-
voke her citizenship on security
grounds.
She was discovered by The Times in
Clear the way Cashmere goats resting in the gorse on East Cliff, above Bournemouth beach. They were introduced in Dorset to keep the vegetation down naturally
Girl, six, crushed by rotten tree
that council failed to chop down
Tom Ball Northern Correspondent
Kevin Donald
A six-year-old girl was killed as she
played “ballerinas” with her friends in
the school playground when she was
crushed by a decayed tree that a council
had failed to cut down.
The parents of Ella Henderson, a
year two pupil at Gosforth Park First
School in Newcastle, told a court they
expected her to be safe when they
dropped her off at the school gates.
But just before the end of the lunch-
time break, a large section of a rotted
willow tree crashed on to Ella and her
friends amid 32mph gusts of wind.
The other children were able to climb
out from under the tree but the largest
and heaviest section fell directly on to
Ella, South Tyneside magistrates’ court
was told. Despite the swift intervention
of emergency services, she died in
2019, pregnant in a refugee camp. She
told the BBC about being stranded in a
camp: “This is, I feel, worse than a pris-
on. I think it’s because at least with pris-
on sentences you know that there will
be an end but here you don’t know if
there’s going to be an end.”
Begum accepted that people saw her
as “a danger, as a risk, as a potential risk
to them, to their safety, to their way of
living. I’m not this person that they
think I am being perceived as in the
media, you know. I’m just so much
more than Isis and I’m so much more
than everything I’ve been through.”
She understood public anger but said:
hospital the following morning, on
September 26, 2020. The cause of death
was given as crush asphyxia.
Newcastle city council, which was
contracted by the school to main-
tain the trees on its premises,
admitted failing to ensure the
safety of Ella and others at
the school.
The court heard that the tree
had been identified as show-
ing signs of decay by a quali-
fied arborist as early as Feb-
ruary 23, 2018. A further in-
spection was ordered, but
the team that carried this
out was less qualified and
spent only a minute in-
specting the tree. It
Ella Henderson and
her friends were hit
by the falling tree
Shamima Begum
left Britain in 2015
to travel to Syria
“I don’t think it’s actually towards me. I
think it’s towards Isis. When they think
of Isis they think of me because I’ve
been put on the media so much but
what was there to obsess over? We went
to Isis, that was it. It was over, it was over
and done with.”
Begum features in the second series
meant the willow, which had a 35-
degree lean and significant decay to its
stem, remained standing when it
should have been safely felled.
Ella’s parents, Neil and Vikki
Henderson, who have another
young daughter, watched the
proceedings via video link. In
a statement read to the court,
Mrs Henderson said that for
the two years since her daugh-
ter’s death their lives had re-
mained “still, always with a
six-year-old who will never
get her front teeth”.
She said: “When you lose a
child you live two lives: the
one you should be living and
the life you have to live.
“Knowing how happy
we would be and what
we would have done in the
last two years compared to
of I’m Not A Monster, hosted by Josh
Baker. The show will also be broadcast
on BBC Radio 4 with discussions on
Radio 5 Live. A feature-length film will
follow on BBC iPlayer.
Sources at the corporation insisted
the series was not a platform for Begum
to give her unchallenged story.
Begum said she stuffed her bags with
chocolate bars when she left to join Isis.
“I just like bought candies that I knew I
wouldn’t find in Syria: mint Aero, mint
chocolate, like, a lot. You can find a lot
of things in this country but you cannot
find mint chocolate,” she said.
“People used to say ‘Pack nice clothes
the life we’ve had to live couldn’t be fur-
ther apart. She should have been so safe
at school and knowing that I’m the only
one who doesn’t get to pick their child
up every day is just the worst feeling.
“When I pass schools on the way
somewhere and hear that innocent
noise of children playing, I think, ‘That
was all she was doing — she was just
playing ballerinas with her friends’.”
Zoe Passfield, the district judge, im-
posed a fine of £280,000 on Newcastle
city council, plus £8,201 in costs.
Pam Smith, chief executive of New-
castle city council, said that since Ella’s
death “new procedures” had been put
in place. Smith added: “Ella’s death was
a devastating tragedy and our hearts go
out to her family and friends. We fully
accept that there were failings in our
processes, which is why we have taken
the opportunity to plead guilty . . . at the
first available opportunity.”
13
News
so you can dress nicely for your hus-
band’.” She married a Dutch jihadi and
had three children, who all died young.
Begum, a pupil at Bethnal Green
Academy in east London, left with two
female school friends in 2015. They flew
to Turkey and made their way to the
main bus station in Istanbul. “While the
world was looking for us, we were just in
the coach station,” she said. “Then we
contacted the smuggler who’s going to
help smuggle us across the border. It
was so scary because at that point we
were in unknown territory.”
She added: “My family thought I was
too weak to do something so crazy.”
Bookings
take off as
Britons run
for the sun
Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Wet and windy weather at the end of
the Christmas break appears to be en-
couraging Britons to cast their minds
forward to their summer holidays.
Despite the cost of living crisis, travel
bookings have surged, with easyJet
Holidays and several other travel
agents reporting their busiest days of
trading since the pandemic hit.
The first Saturday in January is
dubbed “Sunshine Saturday” in the
travel industry, as it usually heralds a
surge in bookings. Over the past two
years sales have been weak because of
Covid but last weekend bookings
bounced back.
Garry Wilson, the chief executive of
easyJet Holidays, said: “We know that
as January sets in, people like to book a
holiday to look forward to. We’re really
excited to have seen our best sales day
since we launched our business back in
2019. With the cost of living still very
much at the top of the agenda, people
are still prioritising holidays. We expect
demand will continue with great value
playing a more key role than ever.”
The company said the Spanish
islands of Tenerife, Palma and Lanzar-
ote were proving the most popular
beach destinations, while Amsterdam,
Paris and Reykjavik were the most-
booked city break destinations.
Cyprus achieved the biggest jump in
bookings compared with last year. Most
customers booking beach holidays
were opting for all-inclusive options to
keep a lid on costs.
The eco tour operator Responsible
Travel reported a 21 per cent increase in
bookings compared to before the pan-
demic, meanwhile, and Macs Adven-
ture, a tour operator that offers self-
guided trips, reported its best-ever sales
on Friday. The long-haul specialist
Travelbag also reported a “positive
start to the new year”, with the average
value of bookings exceeding pre-
pandemic levels.
Retailers said the surge of bookings
were boosting sales of travel gear. John
Lewis reported that searches for suit-
cases were up 30 per cent during the
weekend, while sandals surged by 60
per cent and sunglasses 150 per cent
compared with the previous weekend.
It said sales in its travel category overall
had more than doubled compared to
the same weekend last year.
Beth Pettet, head of fashion brands at
John Lewis, said: “We could certainly
see our customers were thinking about
sunnier climes at the weekend, likely
shopping for their holiday moments
coming up this year.”
14
News
Plea to save Madagascan wildlife that
would take 23 million years to replace
Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent
Scientists have called for Madagascar’s
unique wildlife to be protected after
finding it would take 23 million years
for evolution to naturally replace the
island’s endangered mammals.
Madagascar split from mainland
Africa and Asia more than 80 million
years ago. Its flora and fauna have since
travelled their own evolutionary paths.
It is the world’s fifth-largest island, with
ecosystems ranging from mountainous
rainforests to lowland deserts. Mada-
gascar boasts scores of species found
nowhere else on Earth, including the
ring-tailed lemur, the cat-like fossa and
tenrecs, small mammals some of which
resemble hedgehogs.
For the new study, published in Na-
ture Communications, scientists exam-
ined how long it took Madagascar’s
mammals to emerge then estimated
how long it would take for similarly
complex species to evolve in their place
if those listed as endangered were to
vanish. The estimate of 23 million years
is longer than has been calculated for
any island. Previous work found it
would take eight million years to recre-
ate the variety of bird life listed as en-
dangered in New Zealand.
Dr Luis Valente of the Naturalis Bio-
diversity Center and the University of
Groningen, the study’s senior author,
said: “It was already known that Mada-
gascar was a hotspot of biodiversity, but
this research puts into context how
Madagascar is home to the brown mouse lemur, top right, the sucker-
footed bat and the lowland streaked tenrec, which is close to extinction
valuable this diversity is. These findings
underline the potential gains of the
conservation of nature [there].”
Steve Goodman, of the Field
Museum of Natural History in
Chicago, a co-author, said: “There are
lineages of unique mammals that only
occur on Madagascar that have gone
extinct or are [close to] extinction. If
immediate action isn’t taken, Madagas-
car is going to lose 23 million years of
evolutionary history.”
The researchers created a database
of every mammal species to have lived
on Madagascar over 2,500 years, which
is how long humans have been present
there. The study results do not mean
that if the lemurs and tenrecs and fossas
vanished, evolution would recreate
them. “It would be simply impossible to
recover them,” Goodman said.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Combat waste
with a can of
Waitrose wine
Andrew Ellson
Consumer Affairs Correspondent
Waitrose is to become the first super-
market to replace small wine bottles
with cans, saving 320 tonnes of packag-
ing in the process.
From next week all small bottles of
wine apart from champagne, prosecco
and cava, and rioja because of appella-
tion restrictions, will be replaced by
aluminium cans to reduce the com-
pany’s carbon footprint.
Barry Dick, the beer, wine and spirit
bulk sourcing manager at Waitrose,
said: “We’re delighted to pioneer this
move and make reducing waste even
easier for our customers.
“Aluminium cans weigh significantly
less than glass and create less than half
the amount of carbon dioxide than the
equivalent single-use glass bottle. Cans
can also be recycled an infinite number
of times.
“We know that more people are
buying their drinks in canned formats,
from cocktails on the go to craft beer,
which is why making this shift in our
wine category makes sense.
“Picking up a can of wine is a great
way to enjoy wine in moderation,
especially if you’re heading to a picnic
or a social occasion. It also enables
customers to try a new variety without
worrying about wastage or cost.”
Last year Waitrose customers bought
nearly three million small bottles of
wine.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 15

BBC accused of giving Pride group ‘too much power’ over content
Fariha Karim
The BBC has been accused of allowing
an internal LGBT staff network to
wield “unwarranted influence” on its
coverage and working culture.
Malcolm Clark, a former producer
for shows such as Tomorrow’s World
and Horizon, said that BBC Pride, a
volunteer-run network for LGBT
people, told him that it had sought to
intervene when the broadcaster was
covering trans subjects, and that it had
requested changes that were not always
made. Clark, a co-founder of the LGB
Alliance, a national advocacy group,
said that BBC Pride had become overly
powerful, often at the expense of gay,
lesbian and bisexual people who did not
believe in the gender-identity politics
espoused by some in trans groups.
He said that Phil Harrold, the BBC
company secretary and chief of staff for
the director-general Tim Davie, was
the “executive sponsor” of BBC Pride.
“Critics of the corporation have
claimed its Pride Group, for LGBT staff,
wields outsize and unwarranted
influence on the working culture and
editorial output of one of the world’s
most respected media organisations,”
Clark wrote in an article for The Critic.
“I know from talking to BBC insiders,
who can’t speak openly for fear of losing
their jobs, that this is true.”
Clark, who is a film-maker, said that
he had recently been at an event in
Glasgow where he met Nathan Wren, a
BBC science producer.
Wren, he said, disclosed that he was
co-chairman of BBC Studios Pride.
BBC Studios is a commercial subsidiary
of the BBC. Clark said that Wren told
him “we only intervene when, say, a
trans subject is being covered and then
we’ll press to ensure trans voices are
being heard” and that “we often ask for
changes and they don’t happen”.
Clark said: “It was remarkable. He
implied that they sometimes ask for
changes and they don’t always get their
way. That was proof that they are influ-
ential. In my day, no staff organisation
would think that they would have any
editorial influence. It’s ludicrous. I
know from staff who speak to me they
News
know they can’t say anything . . . against
their manifesto or they will be labelled
[as transphobic].”
A BBC spokeswoman said: “BBC
Pride is a volunteer-led staff network
which aims to support all LGBTQ+
staff. It is not an editorial team, has no
role in directing editorial content.”
A BBC Pride member said: “To my
knowledge, no, there is no evidence of
BBC Pride influencing output. The
closest we got was when we said ‘can we
sit in on an editorial meeting’ to see
what it’s all about.”

HMS Terror
wreck

50 miles
King
William
Island
Carave

Doc HMS Erebus

Pta. de wreck

Search
areas CANADA

Treasures frozen in Cabo de São

what could be the
time are given up by second lieutenant’s
cabin, continued the
excavation of what is
HMS Erebus wreck believed to be the third
lieutenant’s cabin and

I
n diving suits
heated with warm
water as protection
from the freezing
temperatures of the
Canadian Arctic,
archaeologists have
recovered a hoard of
rare artefacts from one
of the best-preserved
wooden shipwrecks in
the world (Keiran
Southern writes).
Over the course of a
year, they recovered 275
artefacts from HMS
Erebus, which was
discovered on the Arctic
sea bed in 2014.
It is believed to have
been crushed by ice
after leaving England in
May 1845 alongside
HMS Terror in search of
the elusive Northwest
Passage between the
Atlantic and Pacific
oceans.
Both ships, which
were under the
command of Sir John completed excavation of
Franklin, disappeared part of the captain’s
along with the crew of steward’s pantry.
129 men. A message left The work has been
by the ships’ captains laborious. The folio was
said that the vessels excavated bit by bit with
were abandoned on a spoon, according to
April 22, 1848. CBC News.
Erebus was discovered As well as the folio,
90 miles from where it other items retrieved
was believed to have from the deep include
been crushed by ice an eyeglass lens, serving
while Terror was found dishes, plates and a
30 miles north of its lieutenant’s epaulets.
companion ship in 2016. The artefacts, which are
Among the artefacts across a folio — a which rests twice as jointly owned by the
found by archaeologists leather book cover, deep as its companion. Canadian government
from Parks Canada was beautifully embossed In April and May of and the Inuit Heritage
a folio that could — with pages inside. last year Parks Canada Trust, are being
contain handwriting It actually has the archaeologists and conserved in Ottawa.
from a crew member. feather quill pen guardians from the Inuit Parks Canada said it
“It’s probably the still tucked inside hamlet of Gjoa Haven had recorded physical
most remarkable the cover like a journal established an ice camp changes to Erebus that
find,” Ryan Harris, that you might write in over the site of Erebus were probably caused by
one of the divers and put on your bedside before returning in waves generated by wind
who has been table before turning in.” September to dive to the storms.
excavating the Artefacts are being found Archaeologists are wreck. The team Climate change may
ships, told on HMS Erebus, lost in exploring Erebus first as completed 56 dives in 11 be hastening the vessel’s
CBC News. 1848 under the command it is deemed to be more days, Parks Canada said. deterioration,
“We came of Sir John Franklin, left vulnerable than Terror, They began excavating archaeologists said.

Stay in custody, court tells influencer
David Brown
A British online influencer under
investigation in Romania for alleged
human trafficking and rape was back in
police detention last night having lost
his bid to be freed from custody.
Andrew Tate, 36, arrived for a private
hearing at Bucharest’s Court of Appeal
yesterday carrying a copy of the Quran
while handcuffed to his brother,
Tristan, 34. They were arrested on
December 29 at the headquarters of
Tate’s Hustlers University, which was
also used for his online pornography
business.
A judge ordered that the brothers,
Andrew Tate’s girlfriend Georgiana
Naghel, 28, and Luana Radu, 32, a
former Romanian policewoman, be
held for 30 days because there was a
risk they might try to escape. It was
unclear if the women had been charged
with any offences.
Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for
Diicot, the Romanian anti-organised
crime agency, said that the court had
rejected Tate’s appeal against a judge’s
decision to extend his arrest from 24
hours to 30 days.
Eugen Vidineac, the Tates’ lawyer,
said that he was disappointed with the
“excessive” decision to keep the group
in custody. Vidineac told local media
this week that there was “not a single
piece of evidence” for rape except the
alleged victim’s statement.
Prosecutors from Diicot searched
Tate’s Bucharest headquarters in April
after a 22-year-old American woman
claimed that she was held against her
will in a nearby house. Six potential vic-
tims have been identified, police said.
Tate, a former kickboxer from Luton,
moved to Romania in 2017 after being
expelled from Channel 5’s Big Brother
show when British police told produc-
ers that they were investigating rape
allegations against him. He was not
charged with any offence.
Tate built up a large following online
before being banned from Twitter for
misogynistic remarks and hate speech.
He then focused on his Hustlers Uni-
versity, offering advice on get-rich
schemes in exchange for a monthly £41
subscription. He told followers last
year: “I am no longer an atheist. I am an
orthodox Christian. For that reason, I
go to church twice a week.” He alle-
gedly claimed to donate more than
£16,000 a month to the Romanian Or-
thodox Church. Last autumn he an-
Andrew Tate, centre, arrives at court
in Bucharest with his brother, Tristan
nounced his conversion to Islam, say-
ing modern “Christianity don’t mean
anything” after an American church
appointed a drag queen as a minister.
Tate was reinstated on Twitter after
Elon Musk bought it and has 4.5 million
followers. He often refers to the 1999
film The Matrix, and themes centring
on a supposed secret world order. His
account tweeted the evening before the
hearing: “The Matrix does not play fair,
they play to win,” in reference to the
prosecution case.
Romania’s organised crime police
claim that his victims were subjected to
“physical violence and mental coer-
cion” and sexually exploited. They were
lured into performing pornographic
acts, intended to reap substantial finan-
cial gains, it is alleged. Both brothers de-
ny the allegations.
16
News
Troops found guilty in Japan could be hanged
Richard Lloyd Parry Tokyo
Troops sent to Japan could be hanged if
convicted of capital crimes, under a
defence deal to be signed today by Rishi
Sunak and Fumio Kishida, the Japa-
nese prime minister.
British negotiators failed to persuade
the Japanese to give visiting troops
immunity from the death penalty
under the terms of a reciprocal access
agreement, which is to be signed by the
two leaders in the Tower of London.
The deal is important to the increas-
ingly close military relationship
between the two countries and forms
part of Britain’s strategic “tilt” to Asia,
intended to counteract Chinese mili-
tary assertiveness.
The treaty will set out rules on mat-
ters such as immigration procedures
and the transport of weapons. It will
also set out the legal rights of military
personnel and contractors when they
visit Japan for training and exercises.
Australia, the only other country to
have a reciprocal access deal with
Japan, took seven years to negotiate it,
mainly because of its opposition to the
death penalty. Australia settled for the
same compromise as Britain: visiting
troops who commit offences while on
duty, or whose victims include only
their own countrymen, will be dealt
Iron-clad agreement
Rishi Sunak will host Fumio Kishida
at the Tower of London today to
mark the signing of an Anglo-
Japanese security pact. They will
see armour given to James I in 1613
by the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada.
The lacquered iron helmet and
cuirass laced together with silk was
brought back by Captain John Saris
of the East India Company, who was
sent to Japan to establish diplomatic
links. It represents the first trade
deal between England and Japan.
with according to the legal system of
their country. However, military per-
sonnel who are off-duty will be subject
to the Japanese justice system — mean-
ing that a British soldier who murdered
could face capital punishment.
Japan hangs those convicted of
“aggravated murder”. In practice this
means mass killings, the murders of
children, and those carried out for mo-
tives such as claiming life insurance.
The last hanging, in July, was of a man
who drove a lorry into a crowded shop-
ping street in 2008 then stabbed pas-
sers-by, killing seven people. There are
107 people on death row.
Sources linked to the negotiations,
Feather cut Mark Hume, a chainsaw artist near Hawick in the Scottish Borders,
sculpts mammals and birds, such as this buzzard, from solid blocks of wood
Family’s fear for volunteer
Briton missing in Ukraine
Mario Ledwith
The family of a British aid volunteer
who has gone missing on the Ukrainian
front line have expressed fears for his
safety, as they praised the humanitar-
ian work of an “extraordinary person”.
Christopher Parry, 28, has evacuated
more than 250 civilians from the war
zone since last March, often putting
himself in the line of fire to carry out
rescue missions.
The software engineer was reported
missing after leaving the city of Krama-
torsk at 8am on Friday with Andrew
Bagshaw, 48, who was born in Britain
but lives in New Zealand.
In a statement released through the
Foreign Office, his family said: “We are
very worried and concerned about the
health and whereabouts of Chris right
now. He is an extraordinary person
who is compassionate and caring and
would not be dissuaded from his work
in Ukraine liberating elderly and dis-
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
said the Ministry of Defence believed
that the agreement’s benefits out-
weighed the small risk that personnel
could be hanged. British military per-
sonnel already operate in countries
that have capital punishment, with
much less rigorous legal systems than
Japan, such as in the Middle East.
The MoD believes that if a capital
crime were committed by a British ser-
viceman or woman, diplomatic pres-
sure could be applied to ensure that it
did not end in a hanging. The deal con-
tains a clause that allows visiting com-
manders to decline to co-operate with
the Japanese authorities if a member of
the services faces execution.
abled people, which we are very proud
of. We, his family and partner, all love
him very much and would be grateful if
our privacy could be respected.”
Parry’s father, Robin, said relatives
had been watching updates on his son’s
work on the social media pages he uses
to crowdfund humanitarian work.
Parry, a former coach at Cheltenham
Running Club who is originally from
Cornwall, was travelling with Bagshaw
to Soledar in the eastern Donetsk re-
gion in a black Land Rover when they
lost contact with friends.
Christian Campbell, a fellow human-
itarian worker, said the pair had gone to
a village to carry out an evacuation
when Russian forces mounted an
offensive. Russian state media de-
scribed the men as “mercenaries”.
A Foreign Office spokesman said:
“We are supporting the families of two
British men missing in Ukraine.”
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
‘Fake psychiatrist’ was paid £1m for 20 years in the NHS
Tom Ball Northern Correspondent
Ian Leonard
An “accomplished forger and fraud-
ster” spent two decades working as a
psychiatrist for the NHS earning more
than £1 million after falsifying her qual-
ifications, a court was told.
Zholia Alemi, who was born in Iran
and is believed to be 60, is alleged to
have duped the General Medical
Council into granting her registration
as a doctor before working for various
trusts around Britain.
Alemi, of Burnley, claims to have ob-
tained her doctor’s qualification from
the University of Auckland in 1992. But
the prosecution alleges that she never
passed the six-year Bachelor of Medi-
cine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB)
course needed to be a doctor, having
failed her exams before coming to the
UK three years later.
All the charges against Alemi date
from September 1995, after she had ar-
rived in Britain from New Zealand, to
June 2017.
Christopher Stables, for the prosecu-
tion, said that Alemi was a “fraud” who
TMS
diary@thetimes.co.uk | @timesdiary
Five stars that
wink at Harry
Within minutes of “that book”
hitting shelves, the Amazon
reviews were in. One five-star rave
called Spare an “emotional human
story with unprecedented insight”
and advised that “leaked excerpts
don’t do his story justice”. The
review was written by “The Duke
and Duchess of Sussex”, who have
an Amazon blue tick verifying
their “influencer” status. Is this
the real H&M? Well, the same
reviewer(s) posted this on a
previous purchase: “Absolutely
horrible phone case I wasted my
money on! Barely had it for a day
and already has scratches and
dents on it.” They added: “I will be
complaining a lot.” Sounds like the
real McCoy.
hypocrisy on wheels
Many are unaware that ministerial
cars are not there to carry the
people in government, but their
papers. At times this can really
embarrass the officers of state. On
his News Agents podcast, the
journo Jon Sopel was reminded of
a bizarre moment in his youth
when he was interviewing
Labour’s Michael Meacher. “We
were walking back from a
restaurant and I was suddenly
aware in the periphery of vision
that there was something behind
us,” he says. It was Meacher’s
government car, but its presence
rather undercut the environment
minister, who was telling Sopel:
“We’ve got to use cars less: we’ve
got to get on our feet!”
Tony Blackburn thinks that today’s
DJs can be stifled personalities,
but his Radio 2 show
demonstrates that he doesn’t
suffer from this. Which
other presenter would have
introduced Moloko’s Sing
it Back by saying
“Wouldn’t it be lovely to
hear Putin say this?” It
17
News
had secured entry on to the GMC regis- wealth Route — a legitimate route, Zholia Alemi is All of this was confirmed by university
ter of medical practitioners by forging closed off in 2003 — which could only accused of duping records, he added.
her qualifications and other documents. be achieved if an applicant held a the General In 2019 police had raided a property
On the opening day of the trial at MBChB. However, her application had Medical Council owned by Alemi in Omagh, Co Tyrone,
Manchester crown court, Stables said: included spelling and grammatical and discovered what was described as
“She is a most accomplished forger and errors, with an alleged letter of verifica- a “forger’s kit”. Stables said an expert
fraudster, but . . . has no qualification tion for her degree from the university’s witness would give evidence that items
that would allow her to be called, or in School of Medicine coming from a fac- found at the house in a briefcase —
any way to be properly regarded as, a ulty “regitrar” instead of registrar. tion did not make her a doctor and which included dry transfer letters
doctor.” Stables said the documents that Alemi was never awarded anMBChB purchased from WH Smith and
Stables said that Alemi had used de- Alemi sent to the GMC were “forgeries” by the University of Auckland after fail- blank degree documents — had been
ception and fraud to obtain employ- and were not issued by the University of ing her second year exams and “pro- used to make Alemi’s fake university
ment and a “conservative estimate” of Auckland. Alemi had first enrolled at ceeding no further”. certificate.
the money she had fraudulently ob- the university in 1988 for a Bachelor of He said: “She never graduated as a Alemi denies 20 charges of deception
tained was “somewhere between £1 Human Biology course, which she doctor. And that is why she forged the relating to forgery and fraud.
million and £1.3 million”. gained, after failing some of her exams, degree certificate to send to the GMC The trial, which is expected to last
He said that the defendant’s case was in 1992. Stables said that this qualifica- with her application for registration.” several weeks, continues.
that she was appropriately qualified
and that documents demonstrating her
qualifications were all genuine.
Her motive was “irrelevant”, he told
the jury; she “may simply have wanted
desperately to be a doctor” and, having
failed her exams, forged her qualifica-
tions. However, the fact remained that
the money she obtained came through
dishonesty.
Alemi was allowed to join the GMC’s
medical register by the Common-
was a smashing link, even if the
song’s opening lyrics aren’t exactly
about geopolitical conflict and one
suspects that Mr Putin would lend a
less sultry air to the words: “When
you are ready I will surrender, take
me and do as you will.”
explorer’s limit
Colonel John Blashford-Snell
conquered the Blue Nile but had
mixed success with frozen water.
Ski season hasn’t interested him
since he was a young Royal
Engineer in Cyprus, where he
created and tested a new slope in
the Troodos Mountains. “Alas my
navigational skills were lacking,” he
says. “I plunged downhill,
demolishing numerous newly
planted fir trees before crashing
into a bank of snow.” Though urged
to do it again for the cameras, he
declared himself the “wrong shape”
for the sport. “I have stuck to
white-water rafting, where we
bounce off rocks,” he says.
It’s Hanks all round in new film A
Man Called Otto, where the
younger version of Tom is being
played by his son, Truman. It was
the director’s suggestion but
Truman is a cameraman and so his
father advised him on the essentials
of learning lines and being
enthusiastic on set. He summarised
it in a phrase: “You don’t have to be
qualified. You have to be colourful.”
laughter is best medicine
BBC correspondents laugh in the
face of adversity. After the cancer
veterans Nick Robinson and
George Alagiah formed a
Survivors’ Club, the concept is
spreading. Rory Cellan-Jones, left,
a former technology
correspondent, has brought
together a judge, a comedy writer
and his former colleagues Mark
Mardell and Jeremy Paxman to
form a dining club for
Parkinson’s sufferers. “We’re
pondering a podcast,” he says.
The name of this enterprise:
Movers and Shakers.
jack blackburn
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
High and dry Heavy rain has led to flooding in parts of the UK, including Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, where the River Severn burst its banks.
Warhammer’s miniature
figurines net big figures
Dominic Walsh
The Superman actor Henry Cavill
once called them “plastic crack”.
The legions of Warhammer
fans clearly agree as Games
Workshop, the owner of the fantasy
games, announced record revenues
yesterday for the first half of the
financial year.
The company was founded 48
years ago by three friends who made
and sold wooden board games from
their homes. Games Workshop
secured the European distribution
rights to Dungeons & Dragons, the
role-playing game, and opened its
first store in Hammersmith, west
London, in 1978.
Warhammer, which was
created in 1983, is sold in its own
chain of 517 shops in 23 coun-
tries, although the total
number of stores
where customers can
buy figurines is
more than 5,000
around the world.
The company
says it makes
millions of models a
Four guilty over Rolex death ambush
Nadeem Badshah
Four people have been convicted
after a man was stabbed to death after
a woman saw pictures of his Rolex
watches on social media.
Saul Murray, 33, was drugged with
the sedative GHB, stabbed and left
for dead at his home in Luton last
February, Bedfordshire police said.
Murray posted images of himself
wearing two watches on Instagram
that were spotted by Surpreet Dhil-
lon, 36, Luton crown court heard.
She spoke to him on WhatsApp
2GM
year and at the present share price,
the company is worth a shade under
£3 billion. Games Workshop said yes-
terday that its revenue in the six
months to November rose 7 per cent
to £226.6 million — the first time its
half-year revenues have topped
£200 million.
Coming up for the company is a
tie-up with Amazon, with Cavill, 39,
set to star in and produce films and
TV shows based on Warhammer
40,000 games. The actor said last
month that for “30 years I have
dreamt of seeing a Warhammer uni-
verse in live action”.
He told fans that he promised “to
bring you something familiar.
And I endeavour to bring you
something fantastic that is, as of
yet, unseen.”
Cavill said: “I have loved War-
hammer since I was a boy, mak-
ing this moment truly special
for me. The opportunity to
shepherd this cinematic
universe from its incep-
Henry Cavill is to star in
and produce a series of
Warhammer fantasies
before Dhillon and Temidayo Awe,
21, met Murray at his flat. Both
women were convicted of man-
slaughter and conspiracy to commit
robbery along with Cleon Brown, 29.
Ikem Affia, 31, was convicted of
murder, possession of a knife and
conspiracy to commit robbery.
CCTV video showed the two
women entering Murray’s flat just
before 11.40pm, Bedfordshire Police
said. One woman propped open the
communal door with a broom as the
other left shortly before 2.30am.
She returned with Brown and
19
News
Justice fight
for woman in
1923 hanging
Jack Blackburn
History Correspondent
On Monday a small group gathered
at the City of London cemetery. It is
not unusual to have a eulogy, letter
readings and a rendition of Abide
With Me there, but in this case the
deceased had been dead for 100 years.
They were there to remember
Edith Thompson, a woman thought
to have suffered one of Britain’s
gravest miscarriages of justice. This
year the mourners had reason to
believe that there might be redress.
The Ministry of Justice is reconsid-
ering an application to pardon
Thompson. The case was a cause
célèbre in 1922, when she was 28. She
was convicted of the murder of her
husband, Percy, and executed 100
years ago this week. The killing had
actually been carried out by her 20-
year-old lover Frederick Bywaters.
“She was hanged for being a
woman,” said René Weis, an emeritus
professor of English at University
College London, who has paid for
solicitors working on the case.
tion is quite the honour and the
responsibility.”
Kevin Rountree, the chief execu-
tive of Games Workshop, said he was
confident that it would “bring the
worlds of Warhammer to the screen
like you have never seen before”.
Alex Chatterton, a City analyst at
the stockbroker Panmure Gordon,
pointed out that Amazon had paid
$250 million for the rights to produce
Lord of the Rings programmes for
TV. “While we do not believe the deal
between Games Workshop and
Amazon will be anywhere near this
figure, we do believe it will be a
material contribution,” he said.
In an appearance on The Graham
Norton Show last year, Cavill said:
“You put them together in little ar-
mies and you fight against someone
else’s army. It’s fun. It sounds
ridiculous but it is fun.”
The actor is not the only celebrity
with a penchant for Warhammer,
though not all the big names admit to
it. The list includes Vin Diesel, Trey
Parker, the co-creator of South Park,
and Ed Sheeran, the singer. The late
Robin Williams was also a big fan.
Affia, and all four left 20 minutes
later, with one of the men carrying a
large knife, officers said. Murray was
seen running towards the door before
losing consciousness and collapsing.
Affia and Brown, of Hackney, east
London, Dhillon, of Forest Gate, east
London, and Awe, of Gillingham,
Kent, will be sentenced on March 3.
Detective Inspector Dale Mep-
stead, from the Bedfordshire, Cam-
bridgeshire and Hertfordshire major
crime unit, said: “All four . . . had
agreed to use force and threats to get
what they wanted.”
20
News
Ex-mayor digs in over cricket row
Jack Malvern
A former mayor is defending herself
after a row about a Dorset cricket pitch
became the subject of a national outcry.
Kelly Webb, who was mayor of Wim-
borne until 2019, is one of three neigh-
bours of a longstanding cricket club
who complained that players were
striking sixes on to their properties.
When Colehill Sports and Social
Club found it would cost up to £35,000
to erect protective netting, it decided to
cancel all adult matches rather than
provoke further claims for damages.
The disappearance of adult cricket
from the ground for the first time in 118
years prompted expressions of disbelief
from sportsmen including Ben Stokes,
the England cricket captain. Michael
Vaughan, the England captain from
2003 to 2008, wrote: “What an utter
joke. You buy a house next to a
cricket ground. What do you
expect?” More than 22,000
people have signed a petition
to “save cricket in Colehill”.
Webb, a councillor and
former bank manager in the
town who bought her house
next to the ground in 2014,
said she had complained but
had offered to help pay for
the netting on her side of
the pitch. “I was talking to
the cricket club last year
and offered to help pay for
the fence as 95 per cent of
the time they play, balls
end up in our garden,
front and back,” she said.
“Our exchanges have
Cricket has been played at Colehill for 118 years but neighbours including Kelly Webb, left, have complained
been very cordial and last I heard
from them was last April when
we were discussing other
sources of funding.”
She said she had
heard nothing since.
The club committee
said that it had decided to
restrict cricket to under-15s
“with a heavy heart and as
an absolute last resort”.
The committee said: “A
ground of our size and
nature relies on having
understanding neighbours who are pre-
pared to accept the occasional incon-
venience and want to embrace living
next to a cricket ground. We have many
neighbours who follow this mantra, but
we are also encountering those who
want to adopt ‘compensation culture’.”
Daryl Rees, 43, whose son Dylan, 18,
played at the ground, said that it would
deprive Colehill of a valuable commu-
nity tradition. He said that the adult
matches were cherished not just by
sportsmen but spectators “who like to
come out and have a beer”.
Some neighbours of the club wrote
on the petition that they had no objec-
tion to cricket. One, named Roy H, said:
“I live right next to the ground. Cricket
balls come into my garden all the time
and it’s to be expected. I have no prob-
lem with it at all. If you buy a house next
to a cricket pitch you benefit from the
green open space and the buzz and life
of the cricket being played.
“If you buy a house next to a cricket
pitch you have to accept the pros with
the very occasional con of a ball coming
into the garden or hitting the house.”
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Army cadets
‘assaulted’
by sergeant
George Grylls
A 17-year old cadet was grabbed by the
neck and forced to “leopard-crawl”
round a running track after a military
instructor discovered he was wearing a
woolly hat under his helmet, a court
martial was told.
Four teenage soldiers accused Lance
Sergeant Ryan Harley, 36, of “manhan-
dling” recruits and behaving in a “force-
ful” manner after he also allegedly kick-
ed a number of young female soldiers.
Harley, of the 1st Battalion Irish
Guards, is facing claims that he abused
recruits weeks after they began their
training at the Army Foundation Col-
lege in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. He
faces four charges of ill treatment of a
subordinate at Bulford military court.
Harley denies the allegations.
Lieutenant Jamie Brotherton, RN,
for the prosecution, detailed the allega-
tions of abuse against four soldiers aged
16 or 17 over a three-month period in
2021. He said Harley’s punishments
went “far beyond what was expected”.
In one incident, Harley allegedly
assaulted a female soldier who did not
know how to complete a drill. “He
screamed, ‘Stop!’ She didn’t stop. He
grabbed her by the webbing, picked her
up and kicked her in the leg,” recalled
Craftsman Joel Ellwood, 17 at the time.
“After, she just looked white. She was
stunned. I believe the manhandling . . .
was too far.” The trial continues.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
The letter will form part of the church’s attempt to address its “shameful past”
2GM
Church displays slave’s plea
in £100m push to say sorry
Kaya Burgess
Religious Affairs Correspondent
The Church of England is to display a
letter written in 1723 by a slave asking
for help obtaining his freedom, as part
of a £100 million drive to apologise for
its historical links to the trade.
The letter from Virginia is believed to
be the earliest known plea of its kind
and will go on show at Lambeth Palace.
Church leaders have acknowledged
that the cost of the programme is a lot
when many parishes are struggling.
The Church Commissioners, who
handle more than £10 billion of assets
for the church, announced the fund
after researchers found that much of
this wealth could be traced to 18th-cen-
tury slave trade investments.
Welby said: “I am deeply sorry for
these links. It is now time to take action
to address our shameful past. Only by
obeying the command in I John i, 6-7
and addressing our past transparently
can we take the path that Jesus Christ
calls us to walk and face our present and
future with integrity.
“It is hard to do this at a time when
resources in many parishes are so
stretched, but by acting rightly we open
ourselves to the blessing of God.”
The Rev Marcus Walker, chairman of
the Save The Parish group, which wants
more resources to aid struggling par-
ishes, said: “After decades of telling us
that there is no money to fund the
The appeal for freedom
August the forth I723
to The Right Raverrand father in god my
Lord arch Bishop of Lonnd this corns to
sattesfie your honour that there is in this
Land of verJennia [Virginia] a Sort of
people that is Calld molatters [mulattoes]
which are Baptised and brouaht up in the
way of the Christan faith and followes the
wayes and Rulles of the Chrch of England
and sum of them has white fathars and
sum white mothers and there is in this
Land a Law or act which keeps and
makes them and there seed SLaves
forever —— and most honoured sir a
mongst the Rest of your Charitabell acts
and deed wee your humbell and poore
partishinners doo begg Sir your aid and
assisttancce in this one thing which Lise
as I doo understand in your LordShips
brest which is that your honour will by
the help of our Sufvering [sovereign]
Lord King George and the Rest of the
Rullers will Releese us out of this Cruell
Bondegg and this wee beg for Jesus
Christs his Sake who has commaded us
to seeke first the kingdom of god and all
things shall be addid un to us
and here it is to bee notd that one
brother is a SLave to another and one
Sister to an othe which is quite out of the
way and as for mee my selfe I am my
brothers SLave but my name is Secrett
and here it is to bee notd againe that wee
are commandded to keep holey the
Sabbath day and wee doo hardly know
when it comes for our task mastrs are has
hard with us as the Egypttions was with
the Chilldann of Issarall god be marcifll
unto us
21
News
churches and priests who keep the
church alive on the front line, suddenly
they’ve found £100 million behind the
back of the sofa.”
The church’s endowment fund can be
traced to Queen Anne’s Bounty in 1704,
set up to support poor priests. A report
said: “The origins of the fund partly
came from the abhorrent practice of
enslaving people 200 to 300 years ago.”
Most of this came from investments
in the South Sea Company, “a company
which for many years shipped enslaved
human beings . . . in appalling condi-
tions”. Researchers including the Right
Rev David Urquhart, a retired bishop of
Birmingham, noted: “The church’s in-
volvement in the trade in enslaved
people in this way shocked us.”
The new programme would support
“communities affected by historic slav-
ery” and help “parishes to research and
address their historic links”.
Lambeth Palace, the seat of the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, will host an exhi-
bition with material from its archive, in-
cluding the 1723 letter which pleads:
“Releese us out of this cruell bondegg.”
A church spokeswoman said: “The
letter was written . . . to the Archbishop
of London, which we interpret as being
the Archbishop of Canterbury. As far as
we’re aware it is the first known letter
from an enslaved person asking for help
securing freedom for a group of
people.” No response from the church
was recorded.
22 2GM
News
Lessons learnt from
Covid help experts
track more viruses
Tom Whipple Science Editor
The UK institute that led the world on
sequencing the coronavirus that causes
Covid-19 is set to apply the same genet-
ics approach to other viruses, in the
hope of “supercharging” our under-
standing of disease dynamics.
The Wellcome Sanger Institute near
Cambridge has announced that it is
beginning a project to investigate rou-
tinely sequencing the genomes of other
common infections, including influ-
enza and rhinovirus, to build a nation-
wide genetic surveillance system for
respiratory infections.
Dr Ewan Harrison, head of the insti-
tute’s respiratory virus and microbiome
initiative, said the pandemic had shown
just how useful it could be to under-
Sequencing at the Wellcome Sanger
Institute’s campus near Cambridge
stand infections at a genetic level, from
tracking variants to tracing outbreaks.
“For the first time in human history,
large-scale genomics has provided gov-
ernments and policymakers with full
warning of what’s going to happen
within an epidemic,” he said. “That’s a
really important and profound change
in science, but also public health policy,
and it’s now something that it is really
important to further build upon.”
The Wellcome Sanger Institute has
been integral to Britain’s genomics sur-
veillance during the pandemic. Most
countries focused on testing people to
see if they had the coronavirus, but UK
scientists conducted mass sequencing,
reading the whole genome of hundreds
BioNTech to buy British
AI start-up for £562m
Alex Ralph
BioNTech, one of the leading corona-
virus vaccine makers, has agreed to buy
a UK artificial intelligence start-up for
up to £562 million.
The purchase of InstaDeep is the
biggest acquisition by the German bio-
tech company, which partnered with
Pfizer on the coronavirus jab and aims
to use machine learning to accelerate
drug discovery.
InstaDeep was founded in Tunisia in
2014 and incorporated in Britain, where
it has its headquarters, the following
year. It has offices in Paris, Tunis and
Boston, and employs about 240 people.
The company was co-founded by
Karim Beguir, 46, its chief executive, a
British citizen who was born in France
and grew up in Tunisia. InstaDeep
declined to comment on the sharehold-
ings of individual investors. InstaDeep
raised £74 million a year ago in a series
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
of thousands of samples. Globally,
many scientists were sceptical of the
value of the work. However, it proved
its worth in identifying new variants
and gave scientists a rapid understand-
ing of their properties, allowing them to
track their transmission even when
they were only a few infections amid a
wider outbreak.
The other benefit of sequencing
came from understanding how the
virus spread. The small changes in the
genetic information between different
infections meant that the sources of
individual outbreaks could be located.
Judith Breuer, professor of virology
at University College London, said this
would be useful with other pathogens.
Using standard PCR techniques such
as those used for mass testing in Covid,
it was impossible to get all the informa-
tion researchers would like, she said.
“We have no idea, when we identify two
rhinoviruses on the intensive care unit,
whether those were brought in or
acquired from relatives or whether they
were transmitted between the patients
— because we’re not sequencing.
“The power of this study is we can
find out what is related to what, and see
transmission patterns.”
Harrison said researchers hoped to
establish the protocols and techniques
that mean such approaches can be used
round the world on many pathogens at
once. Because of the level of investment
in research during the pandemic, the
coronavirus is understood better than
many older infections.
“Take RSV [respiratory syncytial
virus]. This causes hundreds of
thousands of cases globally, probably
millions of cases . . . and really causes
severe infections, particularly in young
children,” he said. “But we have very,
very limited understanding compared
to Covid about how these viruses
transmit.
“We hope that by expanding our
ability to sequence these viruses rou-
tinely, we can build on the work that’s
going on for Covid and hopefully super-
charged research efforts . . . to under-
stand the transmission of these viruses,
but also to help develop new treatments
and vaccines.”
B investment round, led by Alpha Intel-
ligence and CDIB, and backed by BioN-
Tech and Google among others. It
follows a collaboration between Insta-
Deep and BioNTech that created a
warning system to predict variants of
the virus.
Ugur Sahin, BioNTech’s chief execu-
tive and co-founder, said: “The
acquisition of InstaDeep allows us to
incorporate the evolving AI capabilities
of the digital world into our technolo-
gies, research, drug discovery, manu-
facturing and deployment processes.”
Pharmaceutical companies, includ-
ing GSK, one of Britain’s two big phar-
ma groups, are increasingly investing in
AI to improve the risky process of dis-
covering new drugs.
BioNTech will pay about £362 mil-
lion in cash and shares to acquire the re-
maining InstaDeep stock it does not
own and up to £200 million in perform-
ance-based payments.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Every soldier I’ve known
has kept a kill count
Anthony Loyd
Page 24
Tory MPs risk being usurped by their party
The Conservative Democratic Organisation is a Bennite attempt to grab the levers of power and get rid of Rishi Sunak
Daniel
Finkelstein
@dannythefink
I
t’s not even entirely obvious that
the primrose was really Benjamin
Disraeli’s favourite flower. At
some point he’d clearly told
Queen Victoria that it was. But
he told her all sorts of stuff as long as
it sounded good.
In any case, when he died the
Queen sent a wreath of them to his
funeral. And when, in 1883, an
organisation was established to
celebrate Disraeli’s life and propagate
his myth, it was named the Primrose
League. It was to become one of the
most successful political
organisations of the late 19th and
early 20th centuries. It lasted until
2004, when it was disbanded.
Now a new Conservative
organisation, headed by the Tory peer
and donor Lord Cruddas, has been
established which claims the Primrose
League as its inspiration. Called the
Conservative Democratic
Organisation, it features the “historic,
patriotic and democratic Primrose
League” on its website, alongside a
call for greater control of the
parliamentary party by members who
“feel ignored, steamrollered and held
in utter contempt by party leaders”.
But the real inspiration of the
Conservative Democratic
Organisation isn’t Disraeli, or even
Randolph Churchill (whom they also
cite). It is Tony Benn.
The first meeting of any branch of
the Primrose League was in the
Freemasons’ Tavern, near Covent
Garden, on April 19, 1884, the third
anniversary of Disraeli’s death. But the
gathering wasn’t referred to as a
branch meeting. Local groups of the
league were called “habitations”. This
odd name is because the league was
conceived of as a rather bizarre and
romantic chivalric order. Subscriptions
were referred to as “tributes” and
there was an elaborate medieval
structure ruled over by a grand
ruling council of knights imperial.
The order was primarily social, with
picnics and walks, and the chance for
members of the middle class to meet
members of the aristocracy, who
possessed not just status but the allure
of celebrity. It owed much of its
success — it rose to two million
members — to its inclusiveness. It
allowed Roman Catholics and, most
importantly for its size and influence,
women to play leading roles.
The Primrose League was many
things, and certainly it played a big
role in providing Conservatives with
canvassing support and linking it to
an emerging middle class. What it was
This sort of thinking is
completely alien to the
Conservative tradition
not was a model for a modern,
democratic Conservative Party.
Indeed the party leader, the Marquess
of Salisbury, approved formal
recognition of the Primrose League
(despite thinking it vulgar) as a way
of forestalling any move to empower
local Conservative associations.
The argument of Salisbury was
that in a parliamentary democracy,
members owed parliament their
independence of judgment, as was
famously argued by Edmund Burke.
MPs could not possibly be dictated
to by extra-parliamentary bodies.
And this position was precisely what
Tony Benn sought to overturn when
he led the efforts of the Campaign for
Labour Party Democracy in the early
1980s. The Bennites argued that
parliament was the creature of
wealthy elites and not, therefore, the
real voice of the people. Yet Benn was
uncomfortable with the unmediated
voice of the shopfloor as the ultimate
source of law. There was a need for a
body with greater legitimacy.
His solution was for parliament to
continue but to be controlled by the
mass party. A crucial move — one
that sounded a mere matter of words
but was so much more — was to
change the party constitution to
make the leader of the Parliamentary
Labour Party into the leader of the
Labour Party. The Bennites then
successfully pressed for this leader to
be elected by the members and trade
unions as well as MPs.
This was accompanied by moves to
make it easy to remove MPs who
displeased local activists and by an
enhanced emphasis on the decisions
of party conference. When one of
Benn’s circle, Jeremy Corbyn, became
leader he pledged that his own policy
on Europe and nuclear weapons —
the policy of MPs in parliament —
would be determined not by his
conscience or theirs but by
conference voting.
The Conservative Democratic
Organisation promotes some
unremarkable ideas. A party policy
conference to be held in a more
affordable location, for instance. And
better arrangements for the
accountability of party officers
carrying out party tasks. But its
overall ambition is much greater and
more worrying than that. The aim of
the CDO is to reduce the role of MPs
in the selection of the party leader —
already, in my view, too small — and
to allow local associations much
greater freedom in selection and,
crucially, deselection of MPs.
Comment
Tony Benn campaigned to make Labour
MPs accountable to the mass party
The political objective is to make
MPs mere delegates of the party
membership and to tie them to
leadership and policies determined
outside parliament. Just as once was
the case with Tony Benn, the
political thinking that underpins this
is the idea that MPs are an elite
while the party members represent
the voice of “real” people. This is an
astonishing doctrine.
Such thinking would have been
completely alien to the Primrose
League and is alien, too, to
Conservative tradition. Confusing
party democracy with democracy for
everyone is a classic error. And it is
incompatible with a parliament in
which conscience and judgment is
exercised. Members of parliament
must be accountable to all their voters
and be good representatives of them.
The CDO seems to be suggesting, and
23
would certainly in practice ensure,
that where the views of the party and
their consciences diverge, they would
be required to please the party.
For all its constitutional posturing
and use of inapt historical analogies,
the CDO leaders’ real agenda is
nakedly political. They wish to replace
Rishi Sunak, regarding his
premiership as illegitimate. And in his
place they desire the return of Boris
Johnson. They openly argue that last
October, in circumstances where the
creation by Johnson of a broad
ministry would have been impossible,
the membership should nonetheless
have been able to install again as
leader someone the MPs removed.
In pursuit of this regrettable
objective they propose permanent
changes that would be a danger to
parliamentary democracy and to
pluralism for decades to come.
Changes that might suit a presidential
system but do not suit ours.
Yet still they might succeed, if not
in restoring their lost leader then in
installing their Bennite party
constitution. With funding and even
moderately competent organisation
their agenda might easily gain
traction in the party. What party
member, after all, doesn’t wish more
power for themselves? And arguing
for the preservation of the delicate
balance between MPs and the party
can seem like the support of elitism.
It is not to show disrespect for party
members, whose role is important, to
argue that it is an error to confuse
their will with the “will of the people”.
The lesson of repeated elections is
that voters do not always share the
enthusiasms of activists. As the fate
of Jeremy Corbyn demonstrated.
The Conservative Democratic
Organisation is not the Primrose
League. It is Tory Momentum.
24
Comment
Every soldier I’ve known has kept a kill count
Outrage over Harry’s 25 dead Taliban is hypocritical but may reflect unease with today’s warfare
Anthony
Loyd
@a_loyd_times
S
oldiers have always counted
kills. As units or as
individuals, they write up
body counts to give
themselves a sense of
meaning, or purpose or progression;
or sometimes power or skill. It is an
integral part of war. Some men later
reflect on taking life to unburden
themselves. Others choose to kill
and keep silent. A few talk about
killing to make money. Whatever the
reason, ever since one man clubbed
another to death, combatants have
counted heads, scalps, ears or bodies.
Scythians, Romans, Native
Americans, Anglo Saxons, fighter aces,
bomber crews, US grunts and British
generals: they all kept tally. “Body
count” is as old as war itself. Every
wartime army I have encountered in
35 years’ work in conflict has a
subconscious “kill count” doctrine in
their operational orders, whether
they admit it or not. It’s war, after all,
so go out and get some.
Yet since the Duke of Sussex
revealed that as an Apache
helicopter co-pilot and gunner he
had done the job he was trained by
the military and sent by the
government to do, killing 25 Taliban,
he has been criticised by members of
the military establishment. The most
common accusations are that he
Matthew Parris Notebook
It’s surely
harder to
drive a coach
than a train
L
anding at Luton airport on
Thursday I flew into a
trainless UK but I’d bought
a National Express coach
ticket to Chesterfield. This
was my first coach expedition for
some years; it may be the first of
many for lots of us, so I was curious
to try it. Summarised verdict: good,
unexpectedly punctual, comfortable,
quiet — but slower and you can’t
stretch your legs.
En route we stopped at Milton
Keynes, Leicester and Nottingham
— and here’s what struck me. The
driver does everything. He drives, he
loads cases into the hold and unloads
at each destination, he checks
passengers on and off, and while
driving he’s also responsible for
supervising a coachload of
passengers behind him. He must be
expert and attentive at the wheel,
taking split-second decisions
continuously and encountering
everything from fast motorways to
boasted of the kills, and broke some
unwritten code of soldierly conduct
in referring to them at all.
Few critics appear to have read
what he wrote — a measured and
reflective account, a little dull and
certainly devoid of boast, in which he
recalled the post-mission analysis of
gun camera footage. “The Apache
saw it all,” he wrote. “Everything I
did in the course of two combat tours
was recorded, time stamped. I could
always say precisely how many
enemy combatants I’d killed. And I
felt it vital never to shy away from
that number.”
As an infantry platoon commander
in the late 1980s, I remember a wall
in the lecture hall at Lydd training
Honour divides a
soldier from a killer as
they face mortal risk
camp where my battalion was being
prepared to be sent to Northern
Ireland. It was decked with close-up
colour photographs of the eight
members of the IRA’s East Tyrone
Brigade killed in an SAS ambush at
Loughgall a few months earlier
during an attack on a police station.
They had all been shot in the head,
multiple times, at close range. The
wounds were hideous. The same
images of mutilation were replayed
to us at the start of training videos to
the soundtrack of Another One Bites
the Dust. There was no utility to the
display. It was army kill-count
crassness at its worst.
Kill counts — today more often
referred to by the Orwellian
stop-and-start driving through busy
urban streets. Surely this is as skilled
as, and certainly it’s more laborious
than, a train driver’s job?
So what is he or she paid? £24,879
per annum, and up to £31,000 with
experience. A train driver? £48,000
and up to £65,000 with experience.
Something here doesn’t look right.
Show your faith
ve been following the debate
I’
among politicians and on our own
Times pages about assisted dying,
and (although I’m on the other side
of the argument) was particularly
struck by a letter last Thursday
from the chief executive of
Humanists Against Assisted
Suicide and Euthanasia. I was
struck because we do need to know
where people are coming from
in this debate and I grow
suspicious of apparently
pragmatic or even scientific
arguments against assisted
dying that turn out (on
further inquiry) to come
from religious people
whose church believes
the practice to be a
mortal sin.
It may be a mortal sin,
though as a non-believer
I doubt this, but here’s the
point: if you believe
assisted dying is against
God’s commandments you
euphemism of “enemy neutralised”
— are often included in the official
military citations for gallantry
awards. As an institution, the
military’s core is imbued with body-
count culture. To say different is not
just disingenuous. It is an outright lie.
Contrary to Prince Harry’s
forgetful have-a-go military critics,
former soldiers also regularly
mention in books and on camera
how many people they have killed,
and sometimes how they killed them.
Patrick Hennessey, the Grenadier
Guards officer whose book The
Junior Officers’ Reading Club so
beautifully encapsulated the horror,
tenderness, violence and fun of a
2007 infantry platoon commander’s
tour in Helmand, described the Zen-
like certainty of taking a shot at the
beaded skull cap of a Taliban
carrying an RPG. Hennessey rued,
when told his company had killed
between 180 and 190 Taliban, that
“we didn’t get a double century”.
Rougher stories of killing abound,
and the public love them. Andy
McNab and Chris Ryan, the two SAS
soldiers whose accounts of a failed
patrol in Iraq in 1991, call sign Bravo
Two Zero, opened the gates to a
flood of one-man, shoot-em-up tales
of derring-do and ultra-violence by
former soldiers, made no attempt to
shrink from body counts. McNab
claimed the SAS patrol had killed or
wounded 250 Iraqis. Ryan described
killing one sentry with a knife.
Recent accounts in the same genre —
Sergeant Dan Mills’ account of action
in Iraq, Sniper One, and Craig
Harrison’s The Longest Kill —
describe killing in even baser detail.
Rather than criticise these former
should list that among your
objections to the practice — arguably
at the head of a list on which
subsequent objections are surely
superfluous. If a person arguing in
favour of assisted dying turned out to
have a financial interest in the
practice, we’d expect them to declare
it. There is something sneaky,
something subterranean, about those
believers who avoid mentioning God
or sin in their arguments against
things such as assisted dying, suicide,
abortion or homosexuality. Before we
examine their pragmatic arguments,
we need to know and judge for
ourselves whether the real
motive is faith-based.
Undercover Christianity (I react
strongly against CS Lewis) is a
form of deception.
Differential test
m slightly unsettled
I’ by plans Rishi Sunak
foreshadowed last
week to make
schoolchildren continue
learning maths until
they’re 18. I was very
good at maths up until
my GCE O-levels, and got
a distinction. Arithmetic,
mental arithmetic, geometry,
algebra, trigonometry — no
problem, sailed through. So
I carried on with maths
towards A-levels:
servicemen, the public lapped up
their stories, egged on by a media
and entertainment industry which
recognises the thrilling appeal of
state-sanctioned killing. The profits
can be huge. Book sales made both
McNab and Ryan millionaires. In
fact and in fiction, we are obsessed
by soldierly killing.
Lost in the hypocritical froth of
those denouncing Harry is a deeper
truth. It concerns “honour”. Honour
divides a soldier from being a
common killer because they face a
mortal risk. In essence, it is okay for
soldiers to kill so long as they may
also be killed.
Harry made no claim of courage.
His Apache exemplified the high-tech
overreach in the US-led coalition’s
abilities to kill Pashtun insurgents
across a battlefield with a heavy
civilian presence. The M230 chain gun
with which he killed 25 people can
fire up to 625 rounds a minute, which
typically fragment on impact with a
lethal radius for anyone standing
within five feet. The Taliban, armed
with AK-47 assault rifles and RPGs,
posed minimal threat to the Apache.
Harry could kill without fear of dying.
And kill he did, as he was sent to do.
Are his military critics really so
angry because he broke some non-
existent code? Or because his
account of killing so easily in a
faraway land, in a war that was lost
despite the overwhelming advantage
in technology, is the reflection not of
a knight, but of a military machinist,
taking multiple lives without the fear
of dying: a modern war story of the
soldier who kills without honour?
confidently, until I hit calculus, and
crashed. There’s something about
calculus, a step-change, that some
minds take in their stride while others
simply can’t. As through a one-way
mirror, you calculus whizzos can see
us floundering on the other side of
the glass, but we can’t see you and
your mental processes. It’s humbling
for a boy who thinks himself clever to
come a complete cropper this way.
Staring competition
ometimes, no further comment
S is needed. I was on a Tube train
before Christmas staring above
the seats opposite, as you do, at that
infuriating STARING poster that
Transport for London displays.
“Intrusive staring of a sexual nature
is sexual harassment and is not
tolerated. See it or experience it on
public transport? Text what, where
and when to 61016. In an emergency
always dial 999.”
My next Tube ride found me staring
at a different poster above the opposite
seats. The advertiser was Genie
Connections. “Had flirty eye contact?”
it read, on a picture of a cheeky-
looking girl gazing intently at a
cheeky-looking boy, who is returning
her glance. “Making the first move is
easy with Genie. Have your Bluetooth
on, they’ll stay in our app’s history,
and you can connect now or later.
Never miss that moment to connect!”
It’s a mad, mad world, my masters.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Drake was a rogue
but don’t write him
out of our history
Roland White
L
egend has it that, in times of
great peril to the nation, Sir
Francis Drake will return
from the dead and rescue us
all (presumably supported
by King Arthur, who also offers
much the same service). All we have
to do is to give a few hefty beats on
his legendary drum.
At least, that was the deal until fairly
recently. Because if Drake turned up
now, like Lord Flashheart in
Blackadder, he’d be sent packing or
possibly even arrested for historic
offences. The supposed saviour of
the nation and great explorer is the
latest figure to be cancelled.
Sir Francis Drake Primary School
in Deptford, southeastLondon, has
voted to change its name to the
rather bland Twin Oaks Primary
School because Drake is “at odds”
with the school’s values. To be
honest, I would hope that the vast
majority of people in modern Britain
would be at odds with the values of
Drake. He was a man of his time: a
chancer and a rogue.
For a start, he was an early tax
evader. He deliberately did not keep
People with flaws and
repellent opinions can
still be a force for good
an inventory of the loot he seized
from the Spanish in case they tried
to tax him, or — worse — demanded
it back. He had a former friend and
colleague, Thomas Doughty, executed
on trumped-up charges of witchcraft.
More to the point for the teachers,
parents and children who voted to
replace him with two oak trees, he
was a transatlantic slave trader, who
transported slaves from West Africa
to the Spanish and Portuguese
colonies of South America.
All of these flaws have long been
acknowledged, yet have usually been
balanced against his obvious
achievements. It was Drake, as second-
in-command of the English fleet,
who devised the plan which routed
the Spanish Armada. It was Drake
who became the first Englishman to
circumnavigate the globe.
On a rather more parochial level,
it was Drake who, as mayor of
Plymouth, is said to have introduced
that city’s first municipal water
supply. The construction of so-called
Drake’s Leat has been celebrated
annually by civic dignitaries.
History is complicated. Great
figures are complicated. People with
obvious flaws and repellent opinions
can still be a force for good. That in
itself is a valuable lesson for young
children. So please, let’s not write
Drake completely out of our national
story. Apart from anything else, it
would be a belated victory to
another group of enthusiastic slave
traders — the Spanish.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
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Gen Z has lost patience with softboi Harry
He was a flag-bearer for millennials but his inconsistency and self-indulgent regurgitation of grudges have put us off
Pravina
Rudra
@pravina_r
W
hatever older
generations might
have said about
Prince Harry in
recent years, he
could rely on millennials such as me,
and members of Gen Z, to be his
bulwark. The more he was ridiculed,
the more firmly we defended him.
What he was railing against — the
monarchy, racism, the stiff upper lip
of our elders — are viewed by our
generation as having their roots in
capitalism, colonialism and
conservatism, all anathema to
progressive young people.
We looked away from Harry’s
more mawkish moments and
contradictions. Sometimes quite
literally. I have friends who refused
to watch his and Meghan’s Netflix
documentary because they knew
they’d be forced to renounce him.
But something has changed since
the publication of Spare and its
surrounding publicity. Previously,
following any royal news, Instagram
was chequered in squares of
solidarity with Harry and his wife.
Now there is a general sense of
amusement at anecdotes about
frostbitten extremities, and of despair
that he has made erstwhile defenders
look stupid. As little as a month ago,
Harry had a 20 per cent net approval
rating among young people, but at
the end of last week this slipped to
zero, according to YouGov.
Harry derived a lot of support
from my generation because we
appreciated his openness around
mental health and the long-lasting
effects of his adolescent grief. But his
repeated regurgitation of dated
family grudges, some as petty as
getting a smaller bedroom than his
brother when they were children, is
frustrating to watch. It plays directly
into a stereotype of therapy we try to
It feels as though he
has read a SparkNotes
on being ‘woke’
dispel — that it’s self-indulgent and
allows you to play the victim for
ever more. Any Freud-versed
millennial knows the mantra that
our parents often pass on trauma
they received from their own
parents, but Harry continues to lash
out at his father, and not privately
but in the public eye.
For a lot of young liberals, it
increasingly feels as though Harry
has read a SparkNotes on being
“woke”. His ability to articulate
summary points and surface-level
insights kept us nodding along with
him for years. But the probing
afforded by 416 pages of memoir
makes it clear he is not aware of the
nuance or deeper introspection
needed to combat injustice.
There is especially increased
scepticism towards Harry among
young women. Harry’s
preoccupation with defending his
wife’s privacy once earned him our
admiration. But in Spare, he reveals a
gamut of detail about women he has
met, so disrespectfully it feels he has
rendered them collateral damage in
his quest to tell a good story. Surely
he knew that referring to the older
woman he lost his virginity to aged
17 would provoke reporters to go
after various equestrian-inclined
women in an attempt to work out
who she was? Was it necessary to
share that Courteney Cox, the
Friends actress, gave him magic
mushroom chocolates when he
stayed at her house in LA?
Elsewhere, he refers to his
brother’s “alarming baldness, more
advanced than my own” and Kate’s
“baby brain”, the kind of
commentary that a perma-online
generation can see from a mile off as
outdated and gratuitous. It becomes
clear there is a gulf between Harry
and the enlightened, rarefied,
21st-century man he wants to be.
Millennial women increasingly
attach the label “softboi” to men who
are performatively feminist or
emotionally vulnerable in order to
attract kudos but who cannot live up
to the reality they present. Harry
bears increasing resemblance to this
archetype.
Ultimately, Harry was lent
millennial support because we
assumed he’d be our flag bearer on
the world stage. He has condemned
Harry is not aware of
the nuance needed
to combat injustice
“the Firm” with such intensity that
people assumed they could rely on
him, when he was finally asked “Do
you believe in the monarchy?”, to
self-identify as a republican. But on
ITV he told Tom Bradby: “My
problem has never been with the
monarchy.” For a cohort whose
desire to abolish the monarchy was
buttressed, even triggered, by the
royal family’s treatment of Harry and
Meghan (since their Oprah
interview, memes about turning
Buckingham Palace into a Greggs or
a location for Love Island are
routinely swapped), that is a betrayal.
Again, Harry was initially
outspoken about the racist treatment
25
Comment
of his wife. Yet to Bradby he
defended Lady Susan Hussey over
her questioning of Ngozi Fulani’s
origins and said the royal family
were guilty of “unconscious bias”, not
racism. The sentiment is increasingly
that Harry is “woke” foremost when
it comes to how he and his wife have
been treated, but he’s not for a
broader societal reckoning.
The question which follows is of
course whether this chapter of
Harry’s verbal incontinence will prove
a watershed for how my generation
perceives Meghan, too. I suspect not
— yet. No matter how much she
rankles, or how grave the allegations
from the “mainstream media”, many
consider the tabloid treatment of her
so egregious they feel compelled to
offer her a shield. And because
Meghan is a gushy American, many
of her inconsistencies, especially over
privacy, can be laughed off as “lost in
translation” rather than inherently
problematic.
This is not least because she is
mixed race, and whatever might be
her position now, she was not born
into privilege. Harry, however, is a
British prince. He has no excuse —
and millennials have stopped giving
him the benefit of the doubt.
26
Letters to the Editor
Whistleblowing bill
Sir, We write as a group of global
journalism and media freedom
organisations to express our serious
concerns about the National Security
Bill before parliament, and the risk it
poses to whistleblowing and public
interest journalism. Although we
understand the government’s aim to
update its espionage laws to protect
national security, the bill contains
broad definitions that we believe will,
even if unintentionally, have an
impact on legitimate whistleblowers
and public interest journalism.
Clauses intended to target spies
acting on behalf of foreign states
could also bring individuals working
for international media and non-
governmental organisations, many of
which legitimately receive funding
from foreign states, within the scope
of the bill. This could have a chilling
effect on the legitimate flow of public
interest information, creating a
blueprint for authoritarian
governments to threaten journalists,
activists and whistleblowers with
lengthy prison sentences.
We believe the government can
strengthen its espionage laws for the
modern age while ensuring that there
are meaningful and robust
protections for those acting in the
public interest, specifically
whistleblowers and journalists.
Romana Cacchioli, PEN
International; Rebecca Vincent,
Reporters Without Borders; Deborah
Bonetti, Foreign Press Association;
Liz Corbin, European Broadcasting
Union; Owen Meredith, News Media
Association; Lord Black of Brentwood,
Commonwealth Press Union
Plus a further 29 signatories at
thetimes.co.uk/letters
Defence spending
Sir, Max Hastings makes a powerful
case for strengthening Britain’s armed
forces (“It’s time for realism about our
armed forces”, Jan 10). His argument
applies to other nations, not least
Australia. At least Britain belongs to
that minority of countries that spend
at least 2 per cent of GDP on defence.
My nation, which is exposed to
increasing strategic and economic
pressure from China, spends only
1.96 per cent of its GDP on defence.
True, it intends to spend more and,
pursuant to its Aukus agreement with
Britain and the US, may have its own
nuclear-powered submarines in due
course — but not for several decades.
As Hastings suggests, America’s allies
have sheltered under its military
umbrella for too long and must bear
the financial burden more.
John Kidd
Surfers Paradise, Queensland
Corrections and
clarifications
The Times takes
complaints
about editorial
content
seriously. We are committed to abiding
by the Independent Press Standards
Organisation rules and regulations and
the Editors’ Code of Practice that IPSO
enforces. Requests for corrections or
clarifications should be sent to
feedback@thetimes.co.uk
Stemming the exodus of doctors to Australia
Sir, A survey of nearly 1,800 final-year
medical students in 1966 for the Royal
Commission on Medical Education
found that a third were considering
emigrating. Most did. More than half
a century on, and many short-term
fixes later, history is repeating itself
(“Thousands swap NHS grind for life
down under”, Jan 9). Creating the
NHS is something of which this
country can be truly proud. But we
cannot go on like this. If those we
train to high standards in health
professions cannot practise to those
standards, they will go to where they
can. They and the public deserve
better. A long-term strategy for health
and social care, learning from
countries that do not lurch from crisis
to crisis as we do, is long overdue.
Sir Peter Rubin
Emeritus professor of medicine,
Nottingham University; London SW1
Sir, I have every sympathy for junior
doctors, who start after many years of
training on an hourly rate of £13 an
hour before tax. By comparison the
companion I employ for an elderly
relative earns more than £20 an hour.
You report an exodus of junior
doctors to Australia for more realistic
pay and conditions. Who can blame
Fallout from Brexit
Sir, Sadly, your report “Foreign
investors turning away from unstable
Britain” (Jan 9) came as no surprise.
The economic damage from Brexit
was predicted. As you point out,
Make UK has “blamed the impact of
Brexit on trade costs and customs
barriers”. This has led to an inevitable
fall in investment, which the Bank of
England has estimated to be almost
25 per cent in the five years to 2021.
The political impact has been equally
damaging when, as the The Economist
noted recently, “support for Brexit
became a requisite for office”. This is a
direct consequence of the suspension
of our tradition of representative
democracy. All the main parties
supported Remain but a narrow vote
in favour of Brexit was sufficient to
effect fundamental constitutional
change despite the referendum being
advisory (which meant no sensible
thresholds were set).
Britain’s remarkable record in
leading the EU for inward investment
was predicated on its competitive
position inside the single market.
Unfortunately we must now expect
further surveys demonstrating our
BIRTH-
CONTROL BOOK
‘OBSCENE’
from the times january 11, 1923
At West London Police Court
yesterday, Mr Boyd heard an
adjourned summons against Guy
Aldred and Rose Aldred (or
Witcop), of Richmond Gardens,
Shepherd’s Bush, for keeping at that
address copies of a certain obscene
book for sale and gain, the
defendants being called on to show
why such books should not be
destroyed.
It was stated that the book was
called “Family Limitation”, and was
written by Margaret Sanger, an
American. Mr Harry Myers, for the
defence, argued that there was
them? We must pay junior doctors a
realistic living wage but they should
also have to sign a contract when
starting medical school to work for at
least five years for the NHS to repay
part of the cost of their training.
Dr Klaus J Misch, FRCP
Epsom, Surrey
Sir, Nurses and doctors who choose
to work abroad not only leave behind
the NHS with all its failings but also
(provided they do not return) their
not inconsiderable student debt,
which is eventually written off. For
many it is a win-win situation: better
quality of life, better pay and no debt.
A solution to deter this brain drain of
shortage specialties would be for the
NHS or government to write off a
proportion of student debt (say
£10,000) for every year of continual
full-time service in the NHS after
qualification. If doctors or nurses took
a break, worked part-time or went
abroad they would no longer be
eligible. This arrangement would feel
like a significant pay rise without any
increase in headline pay, as the
beneficiaries would no longer need to
service the debt. This would
undoubtedly help with morale,
recruitment and retention in the
loss of attraction to foreign
companies, allied to continuing
underperformance.
Andrew Fraser
Chief executive of InvestUK
1994-2000; London SW19
Sir, Hugo Rifkind is right to highlight
the present lack of debate about
Brexit (“Sunak and Starmer can
barely say the B-word”, Jan 10). Like
the small majority of the electorate
who voted in the 2016 referendum I
voted to leave the EU. Since then I
have often asked myself if my vote
would have been the same if I knew
then what I know now; the answer is
no. I wonder how many others have
reached the same conclusion.
Christopher Patridge
March, Cambs
Sir, As Hugo Rifkind demonstrates,
we Remainers have learnt nothing
from the referendum. We lost because
we saw it as an economic argument.
The case for leaving was simple and
was based on the need to reinstate
Britons’ ability to choose which
politicians make the laws they live by.
By any measure Brexit achieved this.
Andrew Wauchope
Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Oxon
nothing in the book which was
obscene. It was written by a woman of
refinement and education, and the
ideas advocated therein were those
which could be found in many
medical books. Its object was to
explain to ignorant women how they
could avoid large families.
Evidence for the defence was given
by Sir W Arbuthnot Lane, consulting
surgeon to Guy’s Hospital, who said
that in his opinion the book was one
that ought to be in the hands of every
young person about to be married. He
saw no harm in it. Mr Harold Cox,
who was also called for the defence,
said it was a “gross injustice” to call
the book obscene.
The Magistrate: “Would you put
such a book in the hands of a girl or
boy of sixteen?” Mr Cox: “All over
London you see books of a lustful
tendency, and there is nothing to
prevent a boy or girl buying them.
This is a book written for the
edification of poor, ignorant women
Letters to the Editor should be sent to
letters@thetimes.co.uk or by post to
1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF
years immediately after qualification,
which is when most doctors and
nurses become disillusioned and
change jobs or move abroad.
Matthew Porteous, FRCS
Pakenham, Suffolk
Sir, GPs have become part-time,
leading to inflexibility when demand
peaks, and the push to specialise has
created the need for multiple
appointments; then we wonder why
there are none (Wes Streeting
interview, Jan 7; letters, Jan 9).
There are two options for general
practice. We can recognise primary
care as a specialty in its own domain
and then pay an NHS-funded fee for
service. At present income is not
dependent on the number of patients
seen. When working with such a
system in Australia I found that a
busy day was a joyous one with a
fuller wallet. The other option is to
scrap primary care and move GPs
into hospital-type settings. Most GPs
no longer want to run a practice as a
business and prefer to be salaried and
part-time working within big teams.
Patients want to go where the
scanner is housed.
Dr Gerard Bulger, FRCGP, FRACGP
London EC1
Private healthcare
Sir, Wes Streeting has lost my respect
after his unwarranted remarks about
Rishi Sunak’s use of the NHS. Giles
Coren is right: such comments are a
sign of pure snobbery (“So Rishi may
use private healthcare? Good for him”,
Jan 10). If one speaks without a
definable regional accent, pays one’s
taxes when asked, does not approve
in the main of strikes, is able to afford
private medical insurance one stands
condemned. Too many Labour
politicians like Wes Streeting boast
about being on the side of the
“ordinary working man” as if they are
the only people who are. Giles Coren
is correct to call out the politics of
such snobbery and envy.
Simon Evers
Weston Turville, Bucks
Sir, Giles Coren says he sometimes
uses private healthcare so that he does
not burden the state by hogging seats
in NHS waiting rooms. I had rather
foolishly believed it was because he
wanted to shorten the time between
diagnosis and treatment.
John Arbuckle
Glasgow
to teach them how to limit their
families.”
The Magistrate observed that he
had to consider not only the
pamphlet or book itself, but the
manner of its publication. It had
been said with truth that dirt was
only matter in the wrong place. The
eminent persons called for the
defence had stated that the only
object of the book was to give
persons of a certain age certain
necessary information and advice
on the subject of birth-control. That,
no doubt, was true, but the whole
question was whether such
information had been published
indiscriminately. He was of the
opinion that publication had been
indiscriminate, and therefore he
should direct that the books be
destroyed.
Notice of appeal was given.
thetimes.co.uk/archive
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Marbles ownership
Sir, The trustees of the British
Museum are in principle prevented by
law from returning the Parthenon
marbles. However, they do not “own
the friezes” as your leading article
claims (“Homeward Bound”, Jan 5).
Elgin did not have legal title to them
and could not pass title he did not
have. In 1811 Robert Adair, the British
ambassador to the Ottoman empire,
reported that the Ottomans
“absolutely denied” that Elgin had
“any property in the marbles”. That
same year, Elgin wrote to Spencer
Perceval, the prime minister, also
admitting that the Ottomans denied
that those who gave him the marbles
“had any right to dispose of them”. In
any event, in the Temple of Preah
Vihear case in 1962, the International
Court of Justice confirmed that parts
of public buildings belong to the
sovereign territory in perpetuity. They
are, so to speak, immoveable.
Catharine Titi
Research associate professor, French
National Centre for Scientific Research
Sir, Regarding Robert Tombs’s letter
(Jan 10), may I also suggest the return
of the Lindisfarne Gospels to
Northumberland, where they were
created in the early 8th century.
Phil Thirkell
Newcastle upon Tyne
Vermeer’s genius
Sir, Gregor Weber’s theory about
Vermeer’s introduction to the camera
obscura is exciting (“Vermeer was
exposed to camera by Jesuits”, Jan 7).
However, even if Vermeer was
delighted by his new acquisition, he is
unlikely to have used it very much,
because a box camera’s screen is so
small. Vermeer needed only a convex
lens and a pair of curtains to set up a
room camera obscura wherever he
chose, and then he could work
directly from a projected image of his
whole motif. Delft was a centre for
lens grinding, and curtains are listed
in the inventory of his belongings.
I have shown how Vermeer could
have transferred a paint tracing by
“printing” it on to a prepared canvas
(Traces of Vermeer, OUP 2017). This
would correct the orientation of the
image, and provide a tonal base layer.
He could then work in colour on top
of this, out in the light of his studio.
Prints made in this way show striking
resonances with Vermeer’s own
roughly made beginnings, as seen in
recent scientific investigations, and
could be additional evidence to
confirm his use of optics when
making his luminous paintings.
Jane Jelley
Oxford
Heroic hornbeam
Sir, Hornbeam produces not only
useful hardwood (Nature notes, Jan 10)
but invaluable seeds: large and hard,
they appeal to hawfinches, which with
their powerful beaks (exerting 4kg per
sq cm) thrive on them. Planting more
hornbeam might help to reverse the
birds’ red-list status.
Peter Saunders
Salisbury
Soft soap solution
Sir, In addition to the evocative scent
of Imperial Leather (letter, Jan 7)
there is the advantage that if it is
placed with the label facing down it
prevents the bar from becoming
mushy in a soap dish.
Nigel à Brassard
London
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Daily Universal Register
UK: Ambulance staff in England belonging
to the Unison and GMB unions go on strike,
as do secondary school staff belonging to the
Educational Institute of Scotland union.
Nature notes
The dragonfly
scooted over the
bridleway. Though
it was a cold day in
January, the insect
was flying
vigorously at a
height of six or seven metres. Was it a brown
hawker? No. In fact, it wasn’t a dragonfly at
all, but a field maple seed. Like its larger
cousin the sycamore, the field maple
produces winged seeds that have evolved to
hitch a ride on the wind. Caught on a fresh
breeze, this particular field maple seed
twirled overhead like a helicopter before
spinning out of sight. Some field maple seeds
can travel a hundred metres from their tree
before falling to the ground. These
ingenious, flying seeds are known as
samaras. jonathan tulloch
Birthdays today
Rachel Riley, pictured,
TV presenter,
Countdown (since 2009),
37; Chris Beardshaw,
garden designer and TV
presenter, 54; Mary J
Blige, singer, Be Without
You (2006), 52; Geraint
Bowen, organist and director of music,
Hereford Cathedral, 60; Sir Chris Bryant,
Labour MP for Rhondda, shadow leader of
the House of Commons (2015-16), 61; Anna
Calder-Marshall, actress, Wuthering Heights
(1970), 76; Brian Cantor, metallurgist,
trustee, Science Museum Group, professor of
materials, Brunel University, 75; Jean
Chrétien, OM, prime minister of Canada
(1993-2003), 89; Jason Connery, actor, Robin
of Sherwood (1986), 60; Newton Faulkner,
singer and guitarist, Hand Built by Robots
(2007), 38; Caryn Franklin, fashion
commentator, 64; Melvyn Hayes, actor, It
Ain’t Half Hot Mum (1974-81), 88; Emile
Heskey, footballer, Liverpool (2000-04) and
England (1999-2010), 45; Prof Sir Tony
Hoare, emeritus researcher, Microsoft
Research, Cambridge, and developer of the
sorting algorithm Quicksort, 89; Richard
Hughes, flat racing jockey and three-time
champion jockey (2012, 2013, 2014), now
trainer, 50; Brian Moore, rugby union
player, England (1987-1995), and rugby
presenter and pundit, 61; Sarah Olney,
Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park,
46; Vicki Peterson, guitarist and singer, the
Bangles, Walk Like An Egyptian (1986), 65;
Bryan Robson, footballer, Manchester
United (1981-94) and England (1980-91), and
manager, 66; Tom Rowlands, musician, the
Chemical Brothers, Block Rockin’ Beats
(1997), 52; Arthur Scargill, trade unionist,
president, National Union of Mineworkers
(1981-2002), 85; Adrian Sutil, Formula One
racing driver (2007-11, 2013-14), 40; Jamie
Vardy, footballer, Leicester City, England
(2015-18), 36; Lotte Wubben-Moy, footballer,
Arsenal WFC and member of the Euro
2022-winning England national team, 24;
Joel Zwick, film director, My Big Fat Greek
Wedding (2002), 81.
On this day
In 1973 the Open University awarded its first
degrees. After two years of home study, 867
of 1,000 students who sat their exams
graduated. The body was established by
royal charter on April 23, 1969.
The last word
“The less we indulge our pleasures the more
we enjoy them.” Juvenal, Roman poet and
satirist (AD c 60 – c 130), Satires
The government’s proposed law requiring unions to guarantee minimum service
levels is right in principle, even if it comes too late for the present wave of strikes
It is unfortunate that the bill requiring trade
unions to provide minimum service levels during
strikes was introduced to parliament in the very
week that the first signs emerged of a possible end
to this winter of discontent. Even so, Rishi Sunak
is right to forge ahead with delivery on a long-
standing Conservative manifesto commitment.
The present wave of strikes, which includes
threatened walkouts by railway workers, NHS
staff, ambulance drivers, firefighters, teachers and
border officials, has already brought considerable
disruption and heavy financial costs for millions of
people and thousands of businesses. The govern-
ment has a responsibility to balance the right to
withdraw labour with the need to protect the lives
and livelihoods of others.
The proposed legislation is right in principle.
There is no doubt, however, that the challenge will
be to ensure it works in practice. The government
intends to consult on an “adequate level of cover-
age” for fire, ambulance and rail services, based on
minimum safety levels, to ensure that lives are not
put at risk. Other sectors covered by the legis-
lation include education, nuclear decommission-
ing and border security. Under the law, employers
will be able to sue unions and sack staff if they fail
to deliver on minimum service requirements. Em-
Britain is right to send Challenger tanks to Ukraine. If only it had more to give
The Challenger 2 tank is a beast of the battlefield.
Weighing in at more than 70 tonnes when clothed
in the latest armour, and equipped with a lethal
120mm gun, it can make mincemeat out of Soviet
era rivals like the T72. Good news then that some
of these monsters may be soon making their way
to Ukraine to take on Putin’s invading army. The
government will be gratified by the positive cover-
age this rumoured donation has garnered, a pleas-
ant change from strikes and patient waiting lists.
While the Americans, Germans and French
have promised only thinner skinned armoured
vehicles to President Zelensky’s embattled forces,
Britain is reported to be upping the ante. If so, it
will be the first western power to offer Ukraine
western-manufactured main battle tanks (MBTs),
maintaining its public relations lead over Berlin
and Paris as that country’s most stalwart Euro-
pean supporter in the face of Russian aggression.
But this headline-grabbing move illustrates deep-
er truths about the West’s equivocal stance on aid-
ing Ukraine and the limitations of British power
after decades of parsimony in defence spending.
Nato has until now refused to supply tanks to
One failure should not stop the UK from reaching for the stars
Everybody remembers that the Soviet Union was
the first country to put a satellite into space, and
most would assume, correctly, that the United
States came second. Only rarely, though, is it re-
called that the United Kingdom was behind the
third. Ariel 1 may have been launched from Cape
Canaveral, but it was ours. Although never a huge
player in the global space industry — the British
Black Arrow rocket did reach orbit in 1971, but
started from Australia — the UK was there at the
start. It will also be there in the future.
The failure this week of Virgin Orbit’s Launch-
erOne was devastating, if not quite as devastating
Union Dues
ployees would also lose blanket unfair dismissal
protection if they were told to work but refused to
do so. Unions would have to pay damages.
Defining minimum service levels will be easier
in some sectors than others. So far during the
strikes by health workers, there have been few
issues with patient safety after the Royal College
of Nursing and unions representing ambulance
workers all reached voluntary agreements with
hospitals to protect emergency services and life-
saving care. But negotiating a minimum service
agreement to cover rail will be trickier, given the
involvement of multiple employers and unions
and the interconnected needs of what is effective-
ly a single network. It is impossible to run a rail
network, for example, with only 20 per cent of the
signals in operation, while agreements on services
would have to be negotiated line by line.
The unions argue that the proposed law is
counterproductive. They say that not only will it
antagonise union members and lead to a further
deterioration in industrial relations, but it will in-
evitably lead to increased disruption as the walk-
outs will be spread over more days. These objec-
tions are unpersuasive. The reality is that several
other European countries have long had similar
laws in place. Spain, for example, passed a law last
Tank Taboo
Kyiv, except for legacy Soviet models still in the
hands of eastern European members. Donating
modern MBTs such as Challenger 2, the American
Abrams and Germany’s Leopard 2 has been re-
garded as a step too far, an escalatory act that
might somehow ignite a new level of conflict. But
in their reluctance to provoke Russia even as they
seek to prevent Ukraine’s defeat, the western pow-
ers may be prolonging a war that will bleed both
sides for months and maybe years to come.
Modern MBTs have been considered off limits
because they are deemed offensive weapons. Yet
tanks can be employed offensively or defensively.
And what is morally offensive about a state retak-
ing territory seized by an invader? In the broadest
sense, all Ukrainian actions are defensive, even
armoured thrusts designed to liberate the home-
land. The deadly accurate US Himars rocket
system has wreaked havoc among Russian forces,
being able to penetrate far behind the front line.
Yet its participation is now taken for granted. The
shyness of Washington, Berlin and Paris in supply-
ing tanks is misplaced.
But while Britain deserves credit for the offer to
Watch This Space
as it might at first seem. Those gathered at Corn-
wall Spaceport were understandably distraught.
Yet rockets of this sort are expected to fail almost
one in four times. It is unfortunate that this failure
curtailed what could have been Britain’s first
domestic launch, but the rocket did technically
reach space before malfunctioning, making it the
first object launched from British soil to do so.
Every space programme suffers failures. The
first of Nasa’s crewed Apollo missions, which
would eventually put man on the moon, did not
get off the ground after a fire killed its crew during
testing. Disaster struck the Shuttle programme
27
Leading articles
year requiring airlines and their staff to provide a
minimum level of service. In France, local author-
ities have the right to “requisition any property or
service, require any person necessary” to main-
tain public order, hygiene, tranquillity or safety.
Besides, the legislation is unlikely to reach the
statute book in time to have a bearing on the
present wave of strikes. Although the bill is guar-
anteed an easy passage through the Commons, it
is certain to run into opposition in the Lords.
Labour has said it will oppose the bill, and has
pledged to reverse it if it comes to power. That sug-
gests it could be the summer at least before the bill
becomes law. It must be hoped that the present
disputes will have been resolved by then.
Indeed, the government has already signalled a
willingness to compromise with health workers by
agreeing to discuss the possibility of a lump sum
payment or backdating a future pay deal. Minis-
ters have also met with representatives of rail and
education unions this week in an effort to avert
strikes. That may not have been enough to halt
planned walkouts starting this week. In particular,
unions continue to resist the government’s insist-
ence on measures to improve productivity in
return for higher pay. This is unreasonable. It is
time for the unions to show flexibility too.
supply Challengers, the reality is that it has
precious few to offer from its own stocks: a few
dozen at a stretch, but not the hundreds Ukraine
needs to reverse the Russian gains of last year. The
British Army has just over 220 Challengers, many
of which are in storage or long-term maintenance.
There are just over 40 deployed in Estonia and
Poland. No other country operates them, except
Oman. Britain could ask Jordan to sell back some
of its older Challenger 1s but this would take time
and money. A large-scale Ukrainian armoured
offensive would need an injection of hundreds of
modern tanks, which means Leopards or Abrams.
A handful of Challengers will make little
difference.
Rishi Sunak’s commitment to defending
Ukraine and his willingness to break Nato’s “tank
taboo” is to be welcomed. A European democracy
is facing an existential threat from a ruthless dicta-
torship. The hope must be that Britain’s gesture
will encourage allies to think again about handing
Kyiv the tools to finish the job. The armoured sal-
vation of Ukraine ultimately lies in the hands of
the Americans and Germans.
with Challenger, on the way up, and Columbia, on
re-entry, losing their crews. Russia’s Soyuz 11 de-
pressurised after undocking from a space station.
Its crew of three are the only humans to have died
in space. Spaceflight has never been easy.
In perhaps typical Richard Branson style, the
Virgin Orbit endeavour was heavily hyped, but is
only a small part of the UK’s space ambitions.
Future unmanned launches are planned from
both Sutherland and Shetland, both of which in-
volve more traditional vertical take-off rockets.
Britain will be back in space before long. The sky
is not the limit.
28 2GM Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

World
Brasilia riot storm
follows Bolsonaro
to Florida hideout
United States
Jacqui Goddard Miami
He promised to make his country great
again, but spread false claims of elect-
ion fraud, was accused of fomenting a
popular uprising, then fled to Florida to
lick his wounds.
In a case of “familiar plot, different
protagonist”, Jair Bolsonaro, the former
president of Brazil, is thousands of
miles from his homeland, five minutes
from the home of Mickey Mouse, and
two hours from another accused insur-
rectionist — Donald Trump — learn-
ing the ropes of a life in exile.
His digs are an eight-bedroom holi-
day villa rented from José Aldo, a
retired Brazilian mixed martial arts and
cage-fighter, and billed as “the perfect
place to call home on your Orlando
vacation”. It is inside a resort that fea-
tures an aqua park with water slides and
a free shuttle to Walt Disney World.
It a far cry from the Palacio da Alvo-
rada, or Palace of Dawn, the architec-
tural marvel in Brasilia that was his
home for four years. Bolsonaro is recu-
perating here after a night in hospital
for stomach pains, posing a headache
for President Biden as calls grow for
him to be extradited to his homeland.
“Florida should not be a place where
we give safe harbour to fascist leaders
inciting people to go out and storm cap-
itols,” said Maxwell Frost, a Florida
Democrat congressman. “Bolsonaro
should be sent to Brazil immediately.”
Bolsonaro, 67, a right-wing authori-
tarian who lost his bid for a second pres-
idential term in October, flew to Florida
last month, two days before he was due
to hand over to Luiz Inácio Lula da Sil-
va, his leftist rival. He had initially con-
tested his defeat, called for ballots cast
on digital voting machines to be an-
nulled — alleging without evidence
that a software bug had corrupted them
— and has never explicitly conceded.
Warrant for justice minister
The President of Brazil’s supreme
court, Alexandre de Moraes, has
ordered the arrest of Anderson
Torres, the former justice minister
under Jair Bolsonaro and, until
Sunday, head of security forces in
Brasilia (Stephen Gibbs writes).
Torres was fired from his Brasilia
post after the riots and it is
understood he recently left the
country and is now believed to be in
the United States.
Demonstrations have been held in
Brazil’s largest cities of Sao Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro calling for those
behind the storming of key
government buildings last weekend
to be prosecuted.
More than 1,000 people alleged
to have taken part in the riots in
Brasilia are being held by police,
most in a gymnasium in the capital.
On Sunday, thousands of his sup-
porters stormed and ransacked Brazil’s
Congress, Supreme Court and presi-
dential palace in scenes reminiscent of
the insurrection by Trump supporters
at the US Capitol two years ago. “He
basically used the Trump playbook to
inspire domestic terrorists to try to take
over the government,” said Joaquin
Castro, a Texas Democrat congress-
man who has called for Bolsonaro to be
extradited. “He’s a dangerous man.”
The scenes in Brasilia pulled into
focus the close ties between Trump-
world and Bolsonaro, who modelled
himself on his American counterpart to
such an extent that he was referred to as
“Trump’s mini-me” by commentators.
In 2020, Trump hosted Bolsonaro at
Mar-a-Lago, his Florida residence. In
October, shortly after the Brazilian
vote, Eduardo Bolsonaro, the former
president’s son, was fêted at the resort
by Trump and Jason Miller, his
one-time campaign spokesman,.
Trumpworld exported its strategy of
delegitimising an election before it
even happened to Brazil, where Don
Jnr, Trump’s son, last year attended
events that sowed misinformation
about voting integrity and election-
rigging, branded Bolsonaro’s rivals
criminals and amplified his nationalist
agenda.
Bolsonaro repeatedly met Trump’s
circle including Steven Miller, his
former senior adviser, and Steve Ban-
non, a former White House chief strate-
gist who was central to the insurrection
at the US Capitol and who spread un-
founded claims of Brazilian election
fraud on his War Room podcast.
Lula has accused Bolsonaro of
having stoked and encouraged the up-
rising, a charge Bolsonaro has rejected,
stating on social media that peaceful
protest is integral to democracy but
vandalism and storming the seats of
power are “exceptions to the rule”.
Brazil has not requested his extradi-
tion, but Bolsonaro is not likely to re-
main long in Florida; visa restrictions
could limit his stay to a few weeks.
Despite the “gourmet kitchen” and
availability of “in-home dining ser-
vices” at his resort, Bolsonaro has been
pictured dining alone at a Kentucky
Fried Chicken. He was also captured on
video at a supermarket strolling while
an aide wheeled a trolley.
Brazilian well-wishers have gathered
outside his villa. “There he is. There’s
our president,” a man shouted as he
signed shirts and posed for pictures.
Bolsonaro, who has had five opera-
tions since he was stabbed in the stom-
ach at a rally four years ago, claimed
that a flare-up of abdominal issues was
the cause of his hospital stay. “Grateful
for the prayers and messages of prompt
recovery,” he wrote in a message to fans.

Mardi Gras parade ditches Mel Gibson Forget dot com, Americans
United States
Alistair Dawber Washington
Mel Gibson has been dropped by the
organisers of the biggest Mardi Gras
parade in New Orleans, hours after
they named him as a co-grand marshal.
The group behind the parade, Krewe
of Endymion, faced an outcry over the
actor’s history of racism and sexism.
The organisers said they removed the
Oscar winner because of safety con-
cerns after “threats”.
The annual parade typically has 80
floats, 3,200 riders and celebrities who
are named as grand marshals. Dan
Kelly, the organisers’ president, said
they had received “significant feed-
back” and “some of this commentary
included threats and caused us great
concern. In the best interest of the
safety of our riders, special guests and
everyone that welcomes us on the
streets, Mel Gibson will not ride as a co-
grand marshal for our 2023 parade”.
The star of Mad Max, Lethal Weapon
and Braveheart verbally assaulted a Los
Angeles county sheriff’s deputy in 2006
with antisemitic and sexist insults. He
issued two apologies through his publi-
cist before going into a recovery pro-
gramme for alcoholism.
In 2010 Gibson threatened Oksana
Grigorieva, his girlfriend at the time,
with rape. She released a tape in which
he apparently told her: “If you get raped
by a pack of n***ers it’ll be your fault.”
Gibson pleaded no contest to a charge
of battery after assaulting her later that
year and charges of domestic violence
against him were dropped.
Winona Ryder, who has Jewish heri-
tage, claimed in 2020 that Gibson had
called her an “oven dodger”. His repre-
sentatives described her claims as “100
per cent untrue”.
On Monday the Anti-Defamation
League, the Jewish Federation of
Greater New Orleans, the Greater New
Orleans Clergy and the Jewish Com-
munity Relations Council issued a
statement saying they were appalled
that organisers had nominated Gibson,
67, for a role in the parade. “Mel Gibson
has a long history of making antisemit-
ic, racist and misogynistic slurs,” they
said. Gibson has not commented.
Will Pavia New York
A few years ago a group of New York
ham radio enthusiasts decided to
address a glaring problem. “There were
not enough Morse code operators on
Long Island,” said Howard Bernstein,
70, a retired chemicals importer.
Amateur radio operators were once
required to learn Morse code by the
Federal Communications Commis-
sion, which licensed them, but this pro-
vision was dropped in the 1990s and the
code was no longer a staple of maritime
and military communications.
Perhaps Morse code operators were
destined to diminish in the age of Twit-
ter and the internet until, like endan-
gered birds, only one or two were left to
call out to an uncomprehending world.
Instead, after they founded a Morse
code club and began offering online
tutorials, they discovered a new gener-
ation desperate to start communicating
in dots and dashes.
“There was an explosion of interest,”
Bernstein said. “We just so happened to
be at the right place at the right time.”
The Long Island CW Club — CW
being the abbreviation for Morse trans-
missions — now has 3,340 paying
members. “We have 90 new members a
month coming in,” Bernstein said. The
club boasts 75 Morse code teachers and
offers 77 classes a week.
Nor is this revival limited to Long
Island. At the headquarters of the
American Radio Relay League in
 the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
are making a new dash for Morse code
Connecticut, Bob Inderbitzen speaks of
a “Morse code renaissance”.
Each February the league stages a
48-hour contest in which
amateur radio operators con-
tact as many other opera-
tors as possible. Between
2020 and last year the
number of participants
grew by 10 per cent, to
4,872, and more of them
were using Morse code.
Part of the growth is
attributed to a new
pursuit that combines
Samuel Morse invented
the code that would bear
his name as far back as 1838
2GM
Pro-democracy demonstrators march in Porto Alegre after
supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s former leader, stormed
Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace
on Sunday. President Lula accused his predecessor of
stoking and encouraging the uprising — claims Bolsonaro
denied from his hospital bed in Kissimmee, Florida
amateur radio with mountaineering
and journeys into America’s national
parks. A programme called Summits on
the Air encourages participants
to broadcast from mountain-
tops and maintains a
leaderboard of the most
prolific contestants.
Another programme
involves parks while a
third requires commu-
nications from light-
houses. They encour-
age the use of small,
lightweight radios on
which voice communica-
tions do not travel very far,
Inderbitzen said. “But if all
you are listening for is a very
Sordid secrets of
Pompeii revealed
Page 31
slight tone, it’s easier to convey intelli-
gence over long distances. You can be
on a mountaintop with a radio that sits
on your knee, attached to a wire anten-
na you have strung up in a tree,” he said.
“You don’t want to lug a computer up
there.” But a small radio, no larger than
a cigarette packet, can broadcast Morse
code all over the world.
Bernstein, who learnt Morse code at
the age of 13, compares it to learning a
spoken language. He thinks some new-
comers are nostalgic for the communi-
cations of another era. “I think people
are getting tired of cell phones,” he said.
In place of a tweet, they could exchange
greetings in dots and dashes with some-
one halfway across the world who was
really listening, he said.
Nato to send Kyiv
modern tanks as
new attack looms
Ukraine
Oliver Moody Berlin
Michael Evans, Samantha Berkhead
Europe is closer to sending Ukraine
modern battle tanks as Nato prepares
to redouble military support in antici-
pation of a Russian spring offensive.
Among the heavy weapons under
consideration are Stryker armoured
combat vehicles from the US, Archer
artillery guns from Sweden, Challenger
2 tanks from Britain and German-
made Leopard 1 or 2 tanks, as inter-
national pressure mounts on Berlin to
release them.
Ukraine’s supporters, led by Lloyd
Austin, the US defence secretary, will
discuss a new package of weaponry
donations at the Ramstein airbase in
Germany next week as part of a push to
supply more advanced systems.
Moscow is expected to begin mobilis-
ing as many as half a million additional
soldiers for a renewed onslaught after
losing ground in the Kherson and
Kharkiv regions. In recent months it
has concentrated forces around the
town of Bakhmut, where the Russian
army and Wagner Group mercenaries
have eked out territorial gains with
significant losses on both sides.
The British Ministry of Defence in-
telligence unit said yesterday that the
Russians had made “tactical advances”
in their efforts to encircle Bakhmut and
were probably in control of most of
Soledar, a smaller town to the north.
The Wagner Group said last night that
its troops had captured Soledar.
President Zelensky said in a video ad-
dress on Monday that there was “almost
no life” and “no whole walls” left in Sole-
dar, which he said was “covered with the
corpses of the occupiers”. Before what
may be a decisive phase of the war, Nato
members are reaching into their arse-
nals for more weapons to send Ukraine.
Over the past week alone, France has
announced a consignment of AMX-10
RC “light tanks”, the US has said it will
send 50 Bradley infantry fighting vehi-
cles (IFVs) and Germany has consented
to donate up to 40 Marder IFVs, which
Kyiv has been requesting since the start
of the invasion. Germany and the US
15m viewers join groggy
bear waiting for summer
Will Pavia New York
At the end of last month a family in a
small town in Connecticut were joined
by an enormous black bear that made a
bed of leaves beneath their deck and lay
down to see out the winter.
The visitor gave no notice of his arriv-
al, and has done little to acknowledge
the Dashukewich family beyond star-
ing at them sleepily. Nevertheless, he is
now a star, the protagonist of what
might be known in Hollywood as a
sleeper hit. A video of the bear has
attracted 15 million views on TikTok.
For Vincent Dashukewich, the first
29
Now Biden faces inquiry
over cache of spy files
Page 32
Behind the story
A
German
social
media
influencer
embedded with
Russian forces in
Ukraine has won
more than
200,000 followers for her videos
pushing Kremlin lines. Alina
Lipp, 29, whose father is Russian,
claims to be an independent
reporter, but has repeated
Russian disinformation.
A survey for Cemas, a think
tank, found that a large minority
in Germany believed Russian
propaganda: 19 per cent thought
the invasion was an unavoidable
response to Nato provocation
and 18 per cent thought Putin
was fighting a hidden global elite.
Stryker
Crew 2 Top speed 60mph
Length 6.95m Height 2.64m
Width 2.72m Weight 16.5 tonnes
Cost $4.9m Capacity 9 soldiers
Armed with .5-calibre machinegun
also agreed to send Patriot missile
defence systems. The Pentagon is plan-
ning to bring Ukrainian troops to the
US for training on the systems.
Nikolai Patrushev, the head of
Russia’s security council, told the Argu-
menti i Fakti newspaper: “The events in
Ukraine are not a clash between
Moscow and Kyiv. This is a military con-
frontation between Russia and Nato,
above all the United States and Britain.”
indication that he had a guest came
when his pitbull became strangely re-
luctant to go outside. His girlfriend,
Olivia Unwin, went to investigate and
came back shouting about a bear.
Dashukewich told the local news-
paper CT Insider: “I turn my head to the
right and there is a bear just staring
right at me. He was absolutely massive.”
Wildlife officials said a loud car horn
or leaf blower might encourage the
bear to go elsewhere, or they could ar-
range its removal. But Dashukewich
said: “Hey, he’s a hibernating bear. Why
even mess with him right now? We’ll
just leave him be.”
30
World
Snow saviours Rescue teams from Pec pod Snezkou in the Czech Republic practise their skills in the Giant Mountains, the country’s most avalanche-prone region
Daughter of former president is
jailed for anti-Iran ‘propaganda’
Iran
Abbie Cheeseman Beirut
The daughter of a former Iranian presi-
dent has been sentenced to five years in
prison for “propaganda acts” after
being arrested in September for taking
part in the mass protests that have
swept the country.
According to her lawyer, Faezeh
Hashemi, 60, was accused of encourag-
ing people to take part in the unrest that
began after the death of Mahsa Amini,
22, a student being held for not wearing
her headscarf “properly”. Hashemi said
that she would appeal.
Her late father, Akbar Hashemi Raf-
sanjani, who was in office from 1989 to
1997, was considered a moderate and
advocated for improved ties with the
West. She has long been a women’s
rights activist.
Hashemi, who was arrested 11 days
Beijing claims its laser-driven drone will fly for ever
China
Michael Evans
China is developing a drone powered
by high-energy laser beams which can
remain airborne for unlimited periods.
Drones have proven devastatingly
effective on the modern battlefield,
especially in the Ukraine conflict. But
like combat aircraft, their range and
operational endurance are restricted
by their power source.
A drone that could effectively fly for
ever would offer its operators a huge
after the Amini protests began, was
charged with “collusion against
national security, propaganda against
the Islamic Republic and disturbing
public order by participating in illegal
gatherings”.
International condemnation of Iran’s
treatment of protesters grew after the
execution of young demonstrators over
the weekend.
The UN human rights chief
said yesterday that the execu-
tions amounted to “state-
sanctioned killings”, con-
demning Iran for violating
international human
rights law. Iran has been
“weaponising” criminal
procedures to strike
fear into the heart of
the country to quell
the movement
against the regime,
advantage in surveillance and intelli-
gence-gathering missions.
Researchers at the Northwestern
Polytechnical University in Shaanxi
province have succeeded in converting
light energy from a laser into electricity
using a photoelectric conversion
module that could be fitted to a drone,
according to a report in the South
China Morning Post.
Lasers can be diverted by changing
atmosphere and air turbulence. But the
researchers, led by Professor Li
Xuelong of the university’s school of
Volker Türk added.
Only few details are known about the
conditions of detention for protesters,
but stories of solitary confinement,
sexual assault and torture have
emerged.
Mohsen Jafari-Rad, the Iranian film
critic and director, has become the lat-
est to have taken his own life after being
released from prison, according to the
opposition news channel, Iran
International, which is based in
the UK.
Houshang Golmakani, a
journalist from the Film maga-
zine in Iran, broke the news
on Instagram. He wrote:
“After two weeks of incar-
ceration, he could final-
Faezeh Hashemi has
long been an activist
for women’s rights
artificial intelligence, optics and
electronics, have devised a way of
adapting the shape and density of a
beam so it can be adjusted to reduce the
impact of weather patterns.
Although there is no evidence that
China is close to producing a drone
with limitless endurance, the research-
ers have apparently demonstrated the
technology to make this feasible.
By contrast, the Reaper drone that is
the United States’ most-deployed
unmanned aerial vehicle, has an
operational endurance limit of about
ly prove he was not present in the dem-
onstrations, but . . .”
Despite international condemnation
and increasing sanctions against Iran,
the regime has shown no sign of slow-
ing its bloody crackdown on dissent.
The Iranian Mehr news agency re-
ported yesterday that the prosecutor-
general had ordered police to “firmly
punish any hijab violations”, despite the
infamous “morality police” being less
visible on the streets lately.
“Courts must sentence the violators,
as well as fine them, to additional penal-
ties such as exile, bans on practising
certain professions and closing work-
places,” it quoted the judiciary.
Four people have been executed as a
result of the protests. Scores more have
been sentenced to death or are facing
charges that automatically attract the
death penalty. Iran has arrested thou-
sands in connection with the protests.
40 hours and is powered by a turboprop
engine. America’s longest-range drone,
the Global Hawk, can fly at high
altitudes for more than 30 hours and is
powered by a Rolls-Royce turbofan
engine.
The Wing Loong drones fielded by
China are said to have an endurance
capability of about 40 hours and are
powered by a turbocharged engine.
Until now, the focus of government-
funded researchers both in the West
and China has been on developing
lasers for use as anti-drone weapons.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Pilot a pawn
in US-China
war game,
says lawyer
Australia
Bernard Lagan Sydney
A former fighter pilot with the US Mar-
ines accused of training Chinese pilots
to land on aircraft carriers is a “pawn” in
the stand-off between America and
China, his lawyer has claimed.
Daniel Edmund Duggan, 54, is fight-
ing efforts to extradite him from Aus-
tralia to the US, where he faces charges
of breaking American arms control
laws. An indictment unsealed by a US
court said that Duggan, who has re-
nounced his US citizenship, “provided
military training to People’s Republic of
China pilots” through a “test flying aca-
demy” in South Africa between 2010
and 2012. He was allegedly paid more
than A$110,000.
Duggan was arrested by the Austra-
lian authorities at the request of the FBI
in New South Wales in October, pend-
ing a formal US extradition request
that has since been received by the
Australian government. His arrest co-
incided with warnings from the Austra-
lian, British and New Zealand author-
ities that former military pilots in the
West were being offered lucrative con-
tracts to train Chinese pilots.
Dennis Miralis, Duggan’s lawyer, told
reporters after a brief court hearing in
the Sydney Downing Centre district
court yesterday that his client was
being held in a high-security Australian
prison and was considered a serious
security risk. The “arbitrary” arrest ap-
Daniel Duggan is
said to have taught
Chinese pilots
how to land on
aircraft carriers
peared to be an attempt by Washington
to gain leverage over China, he added.
The American authorities allege that
Duggan was paid for his expertise and
military experience but had not sought
US government approval to train for-
eign pilots. Duggan has repeatedly de-
nied the allegations, but will remain in
custody at least until he returns to court
on February 13. A magistrate must
decide whether he is legally eligible “for
surrender” to the US.
Duggan spent a decade with the US
Marines and flew the AV-8B Harrier II
attack jet, which is based on the RAF’s
pioneering vertical take-off and land-
ing aircraft. He was a senior instructor,
rising to the rank of major and spent
time as an exchange pilot with the
Spanish navy, carrying out several hun-
dred landings on seven different air-
craft carriers, according to the US mili-
tary website the War Zone.
Later Duggan moved to Australia,
where he ran Top Gun Tasmania, offer-
ing joy rides on former military jets. It
promoted itself as “Australia’s premier
adventure flight company”, and em-
ployed former military pilots from the
US, Germany and Britain.
His arrest in October happened in
the same week that the Ministry of De-
fence confirmed that British former
frontline military pilots had been hired
“to help Beijing develop its tactics and
technological expertise”. The pilots in-
volved were mainly former fast-jet
crew and all began working for China
from the end of 2019.
Some of the British pilots were
engaged via an intermediary, the Test
Flying Academy of South Africa, a
privately run training centre.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Frescoes come with a frisson
as Pompeii villa goes on show
Italy
Philip Willan Rome
One of the most impressive private
homes in Pompeii, the House of the
Vettii, famous for its abundance of erot-
ic images, has been reopened to visitors
after 20 years of restoration work.
First excavated between 1894 and
1896, the elaborately decorated domus
is testament to the social mobility of
ancient Rome. Owned by freed slaves,
Aulus Vettius Conviva and Aulus Vetti-
us Restitutus, the house’s frescoed walls
and marble and bronze statues were a
reflection of the wealth the men had ac-
crued through the Mediterranean wine
trade.
The building had been restructured
and its decoration enriched in AD62
after an earthquake, before it was
buried in the eruption of Mount Vesuvi-
us 17 years later.
It is known for a painted figure of
Priapus, the Greek god of fertility. He is
seen weighing his outsized phallus on a
set of scales against a bag full of money,
an image intended to evoke the pros-
perity of the house’s residents.
Gabriel Zuchtriegel, director of the
archaeological site, said the house en-
capsulated all levels of ancient Roman
society, from the freed slaves who had
found wealth to the room where a
Greek slave worked as a prostitute.
Her room, in the servants’
quarters near the kitchen, is dec-
orated with erotic images. An
inscription discovered on a wall of
the entrance hall gives her name,
Eutychis, and describes her as a
“Greek of beautiful manners”
whose services are available for
two asses, a local currency.
Other inscriptions previously
found in Pompeii list sexual ser-
vices costing from one to 16 asses.
Two asses, historians say, was
equivalent to the cost of a glass of
wine or a loaf of bread.
“The owners, liberti (freed men)
and therefore ex-slaves, are an
expression of social mobility that
would have been unthinkable two cen-
turies earlier,” Zuchtriegel said. “They
became rich by trading in agricultural
products from the area around Pom-
peii, but it seems that prostitution was
practised in their home by a Greek
slave, who belonged to the weaker
sectors of society.”
Zuchtriegel said the sculptures and
Spain’s cocoa conquest is first in Europe Builders unearth Holocaust
Spain
Isambard Wilkinson Madrid
valuables buried by family
For centuries scientists have tried to
cultivate cocoa beans in Europe to
satisfy the continent’s lust for choco-
late. Now a team of horticulturalists in
Spain claims to be the first to have pro-
duced a significant cocoa crop.
Beans grown in Malaga will be used
by Andalusia’s only surviving chocolate
factory to make a limited supply of
gourmet confectionary this year.
The Spanish brought the cocoa bean
to Europe after discovering it during
their colonisation of the Americas.
Iñaki Hormaza, head of Malaga univer-
sity’s Institute of Subtropical and Medi-
terranean Horticulture, who leads the
project, is proud that Spain has been the
first to grow it successfully in Europe.
The organisation has cultivated
paintings found in the house were of
exceptional artistic quality, illuminat-
ing the interplay of Greek and Roman
cultures and the economic and social
life of the time.
“Pompeii is unique in the world and it
is a place where we can come into
contact not just with the historical and
anthropological value but with the eco-
nomic value of our culture,” Gennaro
cocoa trees in its greenhouses near the
southern coastal city since 2019 but
only in the past few weeks managed to
harvest about 100kg of beans. In the EU
the minimum cocoa content for milk
chocolate is 25 per cent, although prod-
ucts sold in Britain are subject to differ-
ent rules.
“We are growing about 80 cocoa
trees in two greenhouses; one heated
and one unheated. What makes this
first harvest particularly successful is
the fact that it has been achieved not
only in the heated greenhouse but also
in the unheated one,” Hormaza said.
“There have been many attempts
since the 18th century in the open air
and in unheated greenhouses, includ-
ing in Malaga, but they have not
worked until now,” he added.
Hormaza said the managers of La
Despensa de Palacio, the only choco-
The Death of Pentheus, King of Thebes, at the hands of followers of Dionysus,
features among many erotically charged frescoes in the House of the Vettii
Sangiuliano, the Italian culture
minister, who grew up in nearby
Naples, said. “Italy is a cultural
superpower because history has
gifted it something quite unique.”
The restoration was funded from the
archaeological park’s own resources
and comes after a €105 million invest-
ment in the site by the European
Union’s Great Pompeii Project.
The work involved improving the
building’s protection against the ele-
ments, strengthening its structure and
planting ancient species in the court-
yard garden.
Restorers also removed harmful
late factory left in Andalusia, had been
interested in producing cocoa to make
gourmet chocolates. They provided
some of the four species of cocoa plants
successfully used in the experiment.
“We have already given cocoa beans
to La Despensa de Palacio and staff
there plan to produce the first choco-
lates early this year,” Hormaza said.
“Depending on what the market will
pay, we will see if it could be profitable.”
Although a local harvest would be
more ecological by reducing the carbon
footprint, it would be challenging to
grow a crop that suffers in tempera-
tures below 15C. In Malaga it can drop
to 9C and below in January.
The European chocolate market was
valued at €42 billion last year, and the
continent imported more than 2.2 mil-
lion tonnes of cocoa beans, more than
half of global imports.
layers of wax that had been applied to
some of the frescoes in a misguided
intervention by earlier generations of
restorers. Intended to preserve and
brighten the colours of the frescoes, the
technique had ended up obscuring
some pictorial details representing
fantastical architectural designs and
mythological figures.
“From today the public can once
again admire an environment that is
unique of its kind, and that has been
inaccessible for 20 years,” Sangiuliano
said. “I thank the staff of the archaeo-
logical park for making possible this
authentic gift to the world.”
Poland
Oliver Moody Berlin
A hoard of more than 300 treasures
thought to have been buried by Jews
after Nazi Germany invaded Poland
has been unearthed
during building work
in Lodz.
The find includes
silver-plated artefacts
such as ewers and a pair of
menorah, which have since
been cleaned up and used
The items are thought to
have been hidden by a
Jewish family to avoid
confiscation by the Nazis
31
World
Vatican will
hold inquiry
into fate of
missing teen
Vatican City
Philip Willan
A Vatican prosecutor has agreed to
reopen the case of a schoolgirl whose
disappearance has remained shrouded
in mystery for almost 40 years, tarnish-
ing the reputation of three popes.
Linked variously to Cold War poli-
tics, terrorism, mafia finance and cleri-
cal sexual abuse, the Emanuela Orlandi
story has been a moral albatross around
the neck of the Holy See.
Alessandro Diddi, the Vatican pro-
moter of justice, ordered the Holy See’s
first official inquiry into the fate of
Emanuela, who was 15 when she van-
ished from the streets of Rome on June
22, 1983, after multiple requests from
her family.
Diddi may also have been prompted
by the fallout from a Netflix docu-
mentary series, Vatican Girl: the Disap-
pearance of Emanuela Orlandi, first
shown in October, and by a call from
opposition MPs for a parliamentary
inquiry into the case, long a friction-
point between Italy, which has pursued
Emanuela Orlandi
was living at the
Vatican when she
disappeared
the case for decades, and the author-
ities in the city state. The documentary-
makers interviewed a friend of Emanu-
ela’s who revealed that she had confid-
ed a week before her disappearance to
having been sexually “bothered” in the
Vatican gardens by someone close to
the Pope, at that time John Paul II.
The Orlandi family has a long tradi-
tion of service to the Vatican, where
Emanuela’s father, Ercole, was a papal
messenger, and lived within the walls.
Yesterday La Stampa published a
transcript of a conversation between a
Vatican official, identified only as
“Excellency”, and Monsignor Pietro
Vergari, once a suspect in the case. Ver-
gari was rector of the Church of
Sant’Apollinare, adjacent to the music
school where Emanuela was last seen.
During the call, he sought guidance on
answering investigators.
“Look, your telephone is being
tapped,” the Excellency was quoted as
telling him. “Keep quiet and that’s all.”
to celebrate Chanukkah in the city,
70 miles southwest of Warsaw. Lodz
was home to one of the largest Jewish
populations in Europe, about 230,000
people — a third of the city’s residents
— on the eve of the Second World War.
In September 1939 the city fell to
the Wehrmacht and over the
next year all its Jewish residents
were squeezed into a cramped ghetto
and later deported to the death camps
at Chelmno and Auschwitz. Only
10,000 or so survived the war.
The items were discovered by
builders renovating a block of
flats on Polnocna street, a little
outside the ghetto area. They
will be restored and displayed in
the Museum of Archaeology in Lodz.
32
World
Kiwis clamour to keep hens as pets amid national shortage of eggs
New Zealand
Bernard Lagan
New Zealanders are rushing to buy
hens as a severe egg shortage grips the
nation after confined battery cages
were banned.
Commercial egg producers had
about three million hens but that num-
ber has plummeted since the ban —
first proposed a decade ago — came
into effect this month.
Work is a cabaret The Blanc de Blanc Encore circus show returned to The Grand Electric in Sydney this week after a sold-out run at the city’s Opera House in 2019
Biden faces inquiry over
secret files at his office
United States
Alistair Dawber Washington
Classified documents dating from Joe
Biden’s vice-presidency that were
found at a university office he used
before launching his bid for the White
House include intelligence briefings
about the UK, according to reports.
The Department of Justice has begun
a review of how the documents came to
be at an institute at the University of
Pennsylvania that is named after the
president.
The discovery has echoes of the reve-
lation last summer that Donald Trump
had taken more than 300 classified
documents to Mar-a-Lago, his Florida
residence, when he left office in 2021.
A special prosecutor is investigating
Trump’s case and is considering whe-
ther to take further action, possibly in-
cluding criminal charges. Trump said
in November that he would seek the
presidency again next year, and has dis-
missed the action as a political smear.
The FBI searched Mar-a-Lago after
suspicions were raised that Trump had
The Egg Producers Federation has
said that more than 75 per cent of egg
farmers have had to stop production or
change their methods.
The battery cage housing system is
used for various animal farming
methods, but mainly for egg-laying
hens. The name arises from the
arrangement of rows and columns of
identical cages connected together.
The ban, primarily on animal welfare
grounds, means that commercial egg
retained a number of materials that
ought to have been passed to the
National Archive. The FBI is not in-
volved in the Biden case.
The former president has been quick
to call for a similar investigation into
the Biden documents. “When is the FBI
going to raid the many homes of Joe
Biden, perhaps even the White
House?” the former president asked on
Truth Social, a social media platform,
on Monday night.
However, the spotlight turned back
on to Trump yesterday when the
former finance chief of his sprawling
business empire was sentenced to five
months in prison for tax fraud, which
prosecutors said had lasted for 13 years.
Allen Weisselberg, 75, was expected
to report to the notorious Rikers Island
prison in New York last night to begin
his sentence. The executive had been
the star prosecution witness in the case
against the former president’s com-
pany, which spans property, licensing
deals and media operations.
In return for a relatively light sen-
tence, Weisselberg pleaded guilty in
producers must use less crowded
“colony cages” or free-range set ups.
The number of egg-laying hens
across New Zealand have dropped to
fewer than 2.5 million, resulting in
empty shelves in supermarkets, which
have introduced limits on how many
eggs shoppers can buy.
Industry leaders expect it will take a
minimum of five months to alleviate
the shortage. Even the national dish,
the meringue-based pavlova, is under
August to 15 felonies in a deal with pros-
ecutors. The deal required him to testi-
fy truthfully at the trial of the Trump
Organization, pay $2 million in back
taxes, and waive any right to appeal. He
is likely to spend about 100 days behind
bars once his presumed good behaviour
is taken into account.
Last month two Trump Organiza-
tion companies were convicted on mul-
tiple charges of tax fraud and falsifying
business records.
It was reported yesterday that the
documents found at the office Biden
used after leaving the vice-presidency
in 2017 included US intelligence mem-
os and briefing materials that cover
Ukraine, Iran and Britain, according to
CNN. It is not known specifically what
the papers concern.
Richard Sauber, Biden’s special coun-
sel, said that “a small number of docu-
ments with classified markings” were
discovered as Biden’s lawyers were
clearing out the offices of the Penn
Biden Centre. The documents were
found on November 2 in a “locked clos-
et,” Sauber said.
2GM
threat. Cowells, a company in Dunedin,
has supplied pavlovas for decades.
Matthew Heaton, the owner, said that
without egg whites there was no way of
making the dessert and that the rising
cost of the ingredient was a concern.
“If you keep putting the price up, all of
a sudden demand can drop,” he told
Radio New Zealand.
Interest in online auctions for chick-
ens has more than doubled because of
the nationwide egg shortage, causing
Limb-rotting ‘zombie drug’
aggravates US opioid crisis
Alistair Dawber
America’s opioid crisis has intensified
as dealers increasingly cut the deadly
drug fentanyl with an even more dan-
gerous substance that can lead to skin
disease and amputations.
Xylazine, which is known by street
names such as “tranq”, “tranq dope”
and the “zombie drug”, is being used to
bulk up supplies of fentanyl, a synthetic
opioid. The tranquilliser causes injec-
tion-site wounds to erupt with a scaly
dead tissue called eschar. Untreated, it
can make amputation of the affected
area necessary. Users say the wounds
are extremely painful.
Xylazine induces hours-long black-
outs in users. When they come to, the
high from the fentanyl has long passed.
The drug is a sedative and resists the
standard treatments to reverse opioid
overdoses.
Overdose deaths in the US involving
opioids increased from just over 70,000
in 2020 to almost 81,000 in 2021.
Deaths caused by an overdose of
synthetic opioids such as fentanyl were
the biggest contributor to the overall
number of fatalities.
Tracey McCann, a 39-year-old user
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
concern for the SPCA, New Zealand’s
leading animal welfare agency.
“You have to think about the whole of
their lifetime,” Marie McAninch, the
organisation’s farmed animals expert,
said, noting hens may live for ten years.
Switzerland was the first nation to
ban battery cages, in 1992. Most of
Europe, including the UK, banned the
use of battery cages in 2012; Mexico,
Israel, and Canada have also banned
the system of keeping animals.
Girl linked to
cocaine gangs
is shot dead
Belgium
Bruno Waterfield Brussels
An 11-year-old girl whose family was
linked to Moroccan cocaine gangs has
been shot dead in Antwerp.
Firdaous El J was shot dead at a rela-
tive’s home in the suburb of Merksem.
“What I feared for a long time has
happened: an innocent victim has
fallen, a child,” said Bart De Wever,
Antwerp’s mayor. He said the motive
for the shooting was a “settling of
scores” between rival gangs including
the so-called Mocro-Maffia operating
in the Netherlands and Belgium.
The girl’s relative was said to be
Younes El Ballouti, 24, known as “El
Magico”. A fugitive and convicted
cocaine smuggler, he was kidnapped by
mafia rivals in 2017 only for his release
to be negotiated for a price of €5 mil-
lion, police sources said.
The killing has shocked residents of
the port city, where customs officials
have seized 110,000kg of cocaine in the
past year. In Rotterdam, 50,000kg were
seized, officials announced yesterday,
making the two ports the biggest gate-
way for trafficking into Europe.
Vincent Van Quickenborne, the Bel-
gian justice minister who lives in pro-
tective custody after an attempted kid-
napping last autumn, said: “The police
are doing everything they can to track
down and punish those responsible.”
of fentanyl in Philadelphia, told The
New York Times she switched dealers
after developing crusty sores on her
arms where she injected fentanyl but all
the supplies she found elsewhere
caused the same problem. “I’d wake up
in the morning crying because my arms
were dying,” she said.
According to Prevention Point Phila-
delphia, which works with drug users,
more than 90 per cent of fentanyl sam-
ples now contain xylazine.
“It’s too late for Philly,” Shawn West-
fahl, an outreach worker with the
group, told the newspaper. “Philly’s
supply is saturated. If other places
around the country have a choice to
avoid it, they need to hear our story.”
The drug is believed to have first been
used in Puerto Rico, before arriving in
Philadelphia in the early 2010s. It was
thought to be largely contained to that
city but in recent years has been found
in illicit supplies of other drugs in New
York and Massachusetts. In June, tests
of illegal supplies of fentanyl found that
xylazine was present in 36 US states.
The US Food and Drug Administra-
tion issued a warning in November
about the dangers of xylazine and its
widespread presence in drug supplies.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
world markets (Change on the day)
FTSE 100
7,694.49 (-30.45)
8,000
7,500
7,000
6,500
Dec 9 16 23 Jan 3 10
Carmakers put the brake on electric revolution that few can afford
Robert Lea Industrial Editor
British and European manufacturers
are slowing down production of electric
vehicles because they are too expensive
for the vast majority of motorists, an
industry body has said.
The Advanced Propulsion Centre,
which distributes taxpayer money to
push the automotive industry towards a
zero-emission future, said in its latest
quarterly review of the market that
IMF accused
of hiding from
budget inquiry
Fund must be called to account, says ex-minister
Alex Ralph
The International Monetary Fund has
been accused of “ducking” public scru-
tiny after rejecting a request to appear
in front of a cross-party parliamentary
committee to discuss its criticism of the
Truss government’s mini-budget.
The Commons’ Treasury select com-
mittee has been pressing the IMF to
give it on-the-record testimony after its
unusual intervention last year.
The Washington-based fund, of
which the UK is a founding member,
had said after Kwasi Kwarteng’s an-
nouncement in September that it was
“important that fiscal policy does not
work at cross purposes to monetary
policy” and had asked the chancellor,
who was later sacked by Liz Truss, to re-
evaluate his plans.
Writing in The Times today, Harriett
Baldwin, the Conservative chairwom-
an of the Treasury select committee
and a former Treasury minister, has
called on the IMF to change its policy to
allow its most senior officials to appear
on the record before parliamentary
committees of member countries.
She said she understood that the gui-
dance to IMF staff on interacting with
legislators stated “officials cannot be
compelled to testify before legislative
bodies”. However, she added that the
guidance and precedent “doesn’t justify
such an important international body
ducking public scrutiny from elected
politicians”.
Baldwin added: “If they won’t, per-
haps they could use the same discretion
and avoid on-the-record commentary
outside their normal on-the-record re-
porting cycle.”
Her criticism comes as IMF officials
2GM
commodities
Dow Jones Gold
33,704.10 (+186.45) $1,875.77 (+4.77)
35,000
32,500
30,000
27,500
Dec 12 19 27 Jan 3 10 Dec 13 20
British factories would produce
280,000 fully electric cars and vans in
2025, out of a total production of
1.1 million. It previously forecast
360,000 battery-only vehicles to be
produced out of a total one million.
If correct it would mean only a quar-
ter of UK assembly output will be elec-
tric within two years, compared with
the prior forecast of more than a third.
In its report the centre said: “An un-
certain economy is expected to drive
are due to meet the committee privately
today, as part of a wider visit to London.
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the IMF’s
chief economist, held a private video
call with Baldwin last month.
In the fallout from the mini-budget,
Gourinchas said in October that if cen-
tral banks were trying to tighten mone-
tary policy at the same time that fiscal
policy was stimulating demand “it’s like
having a car with two people in the
front . . . each trying to steer the car in a
different direction. That’s not going to
work very well”.
In the mini-budget Kwarteng an-
nounced £45 billion in unfunded tax
cuts, including scrapping the top rate of
tax for those earning £150,000 or more,
cancelling a planned increase in corpo-
ration tax, bringing forward an income
tax cut and reversing the rise in
national insurance contributions intro-
duced in 2021, among other proposals,
but much of it was later scrapped.
The IMF had said the policies would
increase inequality and “given elevated
inflation pressures in many countries,
including the UK, we do not re-
commend large and untargeted fiscal
packages at this juncture”.
The crisis that followed the mini-
budget led to an emergency £65 billion
intervention in the bond market by the
Bank of England to reverse a run on gilt
markets and prevent a credit crunch for
households and businesses in the real
economy. Truss was forced to step
down as prime minister after just 44
days in office.
Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the
IMF, tweeted in November that she
welcomed the autumn statement of
Jeremy Hunt, which was “prepared at a
Brent crude (6pm)
$ $80.55 (+0.74)
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27 Jan 3 10 Dec 13 20 27
buyers towards cheaper models, and re-
duced BEV [battery electric vehicle]
production is planned on that expecta-
tion. Buyers are expected to stick with
cheaper options for longer. Although
BEV production is reduced, overall
production is increased, with more
plug-in hybrids and hybrid vehicles
[both of which include petrol engines].”
This was not just a UK phenomenon,
the centre said. It is now expecting elec-
tric vehicle production across Europe
Fashion statement The Manchester-based online clothes company Boohoo Group is preparing to lose 100 jobs from the
e-commerce, buying and design departments of its London office as it moves the brands it has acquired online. Page 34
Fed chief: leave climate to politicians
Mehreen Khan Economics Editor
The world’s most powerful central bank
should not get involved in the business
of climate change, Jerome Powell has
said, in a veiled rebuke at rate-setters in
the UK and Europe who have pushed
green policies.
Powell, the head of the US Federal
Reserve, said “we should ‘stick to our
knitting’ and not wander off into policy
areas” that were not related to its target
of keeping inflation at moderate and
stable levels.
“We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate
policymaker’ ”, Powell told an audience
of central bankers in Sweden. His re-
marks clearly distinguish the Fed’s
approach to climate change from other
central banks such as the Bank of En-
Business
currencies
£/$
$ $1.2151 (-0.0054)
120
100
80
60
Jan 3 10 Dec 13 20 27 Jan 3
to be one million units lower than
expected at 12 million. It added: “A re-
covery for 2030 that gets BEV produc-
tion back on track is uncertain due to an
uncertain geopolitical situation and
potential supply issues.”
The centre has warned that the sup-
ply issues, especially the availability of
lithium, a key ingredient in batteries,
could put the brakes on the fuel transi-
tion and lead to more manufacturers
looking at accelerating plans for hydro-
gland and European Central Bank, who
have taken a more activist role in pro-
moting green goals.
The former Bank of England gover-
nor Mark Carney pioneered the Bank’s
shift towards assessing climate-related
risks to the economy and financial sta-
bility in 2015.
This has been followed up by the
ECB, which under its president, Chris-
tine Lagarde, has made climate change
a priority for the institution, calling on
the bank to “incorporate climate
change into everything we do”.
Powell pushed back against the idea
that climate policies were the preserve
of central bankers, calling it an area for
politicians to legislate on. “Decisions
about policies to directly address cli-
mate change should be made by the
33
£/€
$ €1.1317 (-0.0028) ¤
1.300 1.300
1.200 1.200
1.100 1.100
1.000 1.000
10 Dec 13 20 27 Jan 3 10
gen vehicles as an alternative. In the
UK, production of electric vehicles is at
a crossroads. BMW has confirmed it
will halt production of the electric Mini
at its plant at Cowley in Oxford, and
move the production of its next-gener-
ation zero-emission Mini to China.
Nissan produces the all-electric Leaf
in Sunderland but has been concentrat-
ing on expanding production of the
next-generation hybrid version of the
Qashqai, the UK’s best-selling car.
elected branches of government and
thus reflect the public’s will as ex-
pressed through elections,” Powell said.
The Fed is unique among major cen-
tral banks by having two explicit tar-
gets: controlling inflation and ensuring
full employment.
By contrast, the ECB has a price sta-
bility mandate and a secondary target
to support the “general policies” of the
eurozone, which since 2019 include the
transition to net-zero emissions.
“The public reasonably expects
supervisors to require that banks un-
derstand, and appropriately manage,
their material risks, including the
financial risks of climate change,” Pow-
ell said. “We should not be getting
ahead of where the public is in terms of
the mandate,” he added.
34
Business
Need to know
1
Failures at HM Revenue and
Customs mean £42 billion in
taxes have not been collected
and people are being let down by
poor customer service. The
Commons public accounts
committee criticised the taxman
for not dedicating enough
resources to tracking down lost or
stolen revenue, which it says
amounts to 5 per cent of the
country’s annual tax burden.
The International Monetary
2
Fund has been accused of
“ducking” public scrutiny after
rejecting a request to appear in
front of a cross-party
parliamentary committee to
discuss its criticism of the Truss
government’s mini-budget.
British and European
3
manufacturers are slowing
down production of electric
vehicles because they are too
expensive for most motorists, the
Advanced Propulsion Centre,
which disburses taxpayer money
to push the automotive industry
towards a zero-emission future,
has said.
The world’s most powerful
4 central bank should not get
involved in the business of
climate change, Jerome Powell,
the head of the US Federal
Reserve, has said in a veiled
rebuke at rate-setters in the UK
and Europe who have pushed
green policies.
Amazon, the American
5 ecommerce giant, plans to
shut three UK warehouses,
putting about 1,200 jobs at risk
and further straining relations
with union bosses.
Businesses with connections
6 to a fundamentalist Christian
sect are suing the government
in a High Court dispute over
Covid-19 tests. Sante, a partnership
linked to the Plymouth Brethren
Christian Church, profited from
hundreds of millions of pounds of
pandemic contracts and claims the
Department of Health and Social
Care wrongly terminated a
contract for 68 million lateral flow
tests.
The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s
7 biggest charity and a major
institutional investor, has cut
its exposure to listed equities to
the lowest this century and said it
is braced for “an extended period
of sub-par returns”.
The stockpicker Terry Smith
8 has raised questions about a
spree of acquisitions struck by
Unilever in a further attack by the
star fund manager on the
FTSE 100 consumer goods giant.
Majestic Wine uncorked the
9 second-biggest Christmas
trading performance in its
history as sales last month rose by
21 per cent compared with pre-
Covid levels.
10 Byron Burgers has
undergone its third
restructuring in five years
after customers continued to shun
its £13 burgers in favour of new
mid-market rivals. Byron’s owner,
Famously Proper, has filed an
intention to appoint
administrators at the High Court.
Recession fears stall global
Tom Howard
Robert Walters, the FTSE 250-listed
recruiter, warned of a slowdown in
global hiring yesterday, dealing a reality
check to the recruitment sector that
sent shares into retreat.
The firm, which specialises in white-
collar placements, expects full-year
profits for 2022 to come in slightly
below market expectations due to a
“difficult” market after cautious com-
panies paused hiring in the face of a
looming recession.
The company blamed a softening of
activity levels towards the end of the
year for the profit warning that lopped
9 per cent from its market value in early
trading. Shares recovered to close
down 18p, or 3.3 per cent, at 522p.
Sentiment in the sector was further
weakened by jobs data from KPMG and
REC which showed that the number of
people being placed in permanent jobs
in the UK fell in December for a third
successive month. The economic un-
certainty has put pressure on hiring
budgets and left candidates more reluc-
tant to move, the researchers found.
Reflecting that, other recruiters were
caught up in the sell-off. Page Group,
which runs the Michael Page and Page
Personnel agencies, fell 34½p, or 7.3 per
cent, to 439½p; Hays, Britain’s biggest
recruiter of accountants, reversed 8½p,
or 6.9 per cent, to 113p; and SThree fell
30½p, or 7.3 per cent, to 386p.
Robert Walters founded his epony-
mous company in London in 1985,
having originally trained as an account-
ant. At the end of last year it had almost
4,400 employees across 32 countries.
The group is a leading recruiter in
specialist areas such as law, engineer-
ing, technology and finance in 30 coun-
tries. Its operations on the west coast of
the United States are focused on the
tech sector, where the likes of Amazon,
Meta, Twitter and Salesforce have an-
nounced mass layoffs.
The group reported a 22 per cent rise
in net fee income between July and
September, compared with the same
period a year earlier. Growth slowed to
11 per cent in the final quarter of 2022,
with net fee income totalling £105.3 mil-
lion versus £95.1 million in the same
quarter of 2021.
There was a noticeable drop-off in
Asia Pacific, its largest market, where
net fee income rose 4 per cent in the
fourth quarter to £46.8 million. In the
third quarter it recorded income
Bank’s warning over growth
and eurozone stagnation
Mehreen Khan Economics Editor
The eurozone economy will stagnate
this year, the World Bank said as it cut
its growth forecast for the global eco-
nomy and warned of a “sharp and long-
lasting slowdown”.
In the first set of projections from a
big forecaster this year, the bank said
that every region would suffer from
falling income levels compared with
the decade before the pandemic, hurt-
ing the poorest countries the most.
It cut its global growth forecast for
this year to 1.7 per cent, down from
2.9 per cent last year as well as the pro-
jection of 3 per cent it made in June for
2023. It would mark the third weakest
year for global growth in three decades,
eclipsed only by the pandemic-hit 2020
and the financial crisis in 2009.
Of the rich-world economies, growth
in the eurozone is projected to be 0 per
cent after an expected 3.3 per cent ex-
pansion last year, as the single-currency
Hire and lower
Jobs
Any reading above 50 = growth
since previous month
GROWTH
CONTRACTION
Permanent
placements
index
Temporary
billings index
2018 19 20 21 2022
Sources: KPMG and REC
(UK Report on Jobs), Refinitiv
growth of 21 per cent. “The global mac-
roeconomic backdrop became increas-
ingly uncertain as the quarter pro-
gressed resulting in a softening of re-
cruitment activity levels across many of
the group’s markets,” Robert Walters,
the chief executive, said. “Nevertheless,
the group continued to see growth,
albeit more muted, across all regions
and all forms of recruitment.”
Walters, 68, conceded that the drop-
off in trading towards the end of the
year meant that the group’s profit in
2022 would be “slightly below current
market expectations”.
Analysts had pencilled in an annual
area suffers from the impact of rising in-
terest rates and high energy costs.
Growth in the United States, the
world’s largest economy, is expected to
slow to 0.5 per cent this year, a 1.9 per-
centage point downgrade from last
summer. Japan is projected to expand
by 1 per cent. The World Bank, which
mainly focuses on developing and
emerging economies, does not produce
an individual forecast for the UK.
Russia will be the worst-performing
big economy, as the impact of sanctions
contributes to an expected contraction
this year of 3.3 per cent. China is projec-
ted to grow by 4.3 per cent this year, up
from 2.7 per cent in 2022, when much of
the country was put under restrictive
quarantine.
The bank said a resurgence in Covid
cases, another crisis in energy markets
or new geopolitical tensions would tip
the world economy into its second re-
cession in the past decade, the worst
run for global growth in 80 years.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Pay
80 Any reading 80
above 50 = growth 75
70
since previous
60
month 70
65
50
60
40 GROWTH
55
30
Permanent 50
salaries index
20
45
CONTRACTION
10 Temporary
40
wages index
0 35
2018 19 20 21 2022
profit of about £60 million for 2022 but
knocked off 5-10 per cent from esti- Boohoo to cut
mates after the update. Some trimmed
back their forecasts for 2023’s profits.
As lockdowns ended and economies Boohoo Group, the online fast-fashion
reopened, businesses went on rapid hir- retailer based in Manchester, is prepar-
ing sprees as they tried to prepare ing to cut 100 jobs at its office in Soho,
themselves for a post-pandemic boom. London (Isabella Fish writes).
That intense competition for talent Most of the jobs under threat are in
led to steep wage inflation, particularly the ecommerce, buying and design de-
in white-collar sectors. Last summer partments. A consultation phase began
Alan Bannatyne, Robert Walters’s chief last week but a decision on the final
financial officer, said that candidates number of has not been made.
were typically getting a rise of between From February 20 teams from
20 per cent and 25 per cent when they brands that Boohoo bought such as
switched jobs. Burton, Coast, Dorothy Perkins, Karen
City PR firm snaps up rival
and lands £35m for founder
Helen Cahill when it emerged he had helped compa-
nies to secure PPE contracts from the
The City PR firm Tulchan Communi- government during the pandemic.
cations has been bought by rival Teneo Tulchan’s big clients include Unilev-
in a deal that will net Andrew Grant, its er, Legal & General and Marks & Spen-
founder, about £35 million. cer. Teneo will aim to gain ground
Teneo has bought Tulchan at a valu- against UK rivals such as Brunswick
ation of about £70 million after Grant
appointed Evercore, the merger advi-
sory specialist, to explore a sale of the
and FTI Consulting with the acquisi-
tion, which was first reported by the
Financial Times.
business some 18 months ago. Grant, 59, said the “shape and scale”
Tulchan was founded in 2000 and has of the industry had changed since he set
more than 70 public relations staff work- up Tulchan. He is expected to stay on
ing in London and Singapore. Ten part-
ners will each receive at least £1 million.
It advises companies in the public and
private sectors on communications
around mergers and acquisitions, public
with other members of its senior team.
He said: “We know that our clients are
increasingly seeking a broader range of
communication expertise as well as
international representation.
offerings and reputational crises. “Combining Tulchan with Teneo’s
Grant brought in Lord Feldman of platform, both in London and interna-
Elstree, a former chairman of the tionally, will transform the expertise we
Conservative Party, as managing part- can bring to our clients as well as offer
ner in 2019 to help to grow the business. outstanding new opportunities for our
The appointment caused controversy colleagues.”
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
recruitment
100 staff at London office
Millen, Oasis and Wallis will move
under the Debenhams.com umbrella.
Boohoo said the job cuts were in line
with its focus to improve its operational
performance, as set out in its half-year
trading update on September 28.
In February 2021 Boohoo agreed to
acquire Arcadia Group’s Burton, Doro-
thy Perkins, and Wallis brands for
£25.2 million moving them online only.
Boohoo bought Debenhams for
£55 million in January 2021. The online
continued from page 33
IMF accused of hiding
difficult time for the UK economy,
against strong global headwinds. It
strikes the right balance between fiscal
responsibility and protecting growth
and vulnerable households”.
Baldwin said that “other than that, it’s
been impossible for us to get the IMF to
utter any opinion of current UK fiscal
policy on the record”. She added that
when the IMF “talks, people listen,
because some of the world’s brightest fi-
nancial and economic brains are work-
ing for it. It is a critical part of the world’s
financial architecture”.
The IMF has given evidence to the
Treasury committee on other occa-
sions, including about the economic
impact of coronavirus in 2020.
The IMF’s guidance states that staff
can offer to meet informally with legis-
lators and it is a “good idea to verify the
ground rules beforehand, for example,
whether or not the proceedings of dis-
cussions will be published”.
The IMF was approached for com-
ment.
Robert Walters
share price 900p
800
700
600
500
400
300
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2021 2022
business and the intellectual property
of Oasis and Warehouse were bought
out of administration in a £5.25 million
cash deal with Hilco Capital.
Boohoo told The Times: “Our people
teams will be supporting those potent-
ially affected [by the job cuts]. We are
committed to our portfolio and believe
that all of our brands have a significant
role in the ongoing success of the group
and are maximising their individual
potential for growth.”
Microsoft moves in on $10bn
backing for chatbot ‘sensation’
Callum Jones
Microsoft is weighing up a second
investment in the developer behind the
advanced ChatGPT chatbot, this time
for $10 billion.
OpenAI, a company based in San
Francisco, received $1 billion from
Microsoft in 2019 and in November its
artificial intelligence bot caused a
sensation upon its release.
According to the news website Sema-
for, which cited sources familiar with
the latest deal, Microsoft would reap
75 per cent of the start-up’s profits until
recouping its investment. Other firms
are also expected to participate.
The deal is said to value OpenAI at
$29 billion, in line with previous reports
that it was considering the sale of a
batch of existing shares to investors as
part of a tender offer. Such a valuation
would make the company one of Amer-
ica’s most valuable start-ups.
OpenAI did not immediately re-
Amazon’s
warehouse
closures put
jobs in peril
Alex Ralph
Amazon plans to shut three UK ware-
houses, putting about 1,200 jobs at risk
and further straining relations with
union bosses.
The American ecommerce giant has
launched consultations over the clo-
sure of sites this year in Hemel Hemp-
stead, Doncaster, and Gourock in Scot-
land. But it said all workers at the sites
would be offered roles at other Amazon
locations and also revealed plans for
two new sites in Sutton Coldfield, in the
West Midlands, and Stockton-on-Tees,
Co Durham, which will create 2,500
jobs over the next three years.
Amazon also announced the closure
of seven delivery stations. The sites em-
ploy at the most a few dozen workers
and staff will have the opportunity to
transfer to other stations. A spokesman
said: “Amazon will open new delivery
stations in Havant [Hampshire] and
Aylesford [Kent]. They will replace ex-
isting, older delivery stations in Ports-
mouth and Aylesford. A further five
delivery stations in Huntingdon [Cam-
bridgeshire], Horley [Surrey], Newcas-
tle, Birmingham and Hemel Hemp-
stead will also close.”
The plans prompted the GMB union
to call it “a real kick in the teeth for Am-
azon staff who worked themselves into
the ground during the festive rush”.
Workers at Amazon’s distribution
centre in Tilbury, Essex, are said to be
close to balloting for strike action over
pay, and Stuart Richards, an official at
GMB, told The Sunday Times he ex-
pected this to be followed at other cen-
tres operated by Amazon. The com-
pany, which refuses to recognise trade
unions, is facing unrest after it raised
pay by as little as 35p an hour at some
sites last summer. It has subsequently
given employees a £500 one-off bonus.
Workers at its internal distribution
centre in Coventry, which employs
2,000 people, are set to stage the first or-
ganised strike at an Amazon facility this
month after 180 members of the GMB
union balloted for industrial action.
Amazon said it was “evaluating our net-
work to make sure it fits our business
needs and to improve the experience for
our employees and customers”.
spond to a request for comment. Micro-
soft declined to comment.
ChatGPT impressed users with its
ability to swiftly offer detailed answers
to questions, coherently summarising
publicly available information, and
attracted a million users days after its
launch. Bullish analysts have suggested
the tool could revolutionise the online
search industry. Microsoft is widely ex-
pected to integrate it into its Bing
search engine.
OpenAI was founded seven years
ago as a non-profit research institute
focused on ensuring that artificial gen-
eral intelligence — autonomous tech-
nologies that could outperform
humans — could be created safely for
the benefit of all. It created a for-profit
arm in 2019. Elon Musk was one of its
founders but departed in 2018, citing a
conflict with his AI work at Tesla.
OpenAI is also behind DALL·E 2, an
image generation tool that creates pic-
tures from users’ words.
Smith sticks the boot
in from paradise
business commentary Alistair Osborne
P
eople often ask: how
exactly does fund
management work? Well,
what about this for an
example. First, bank a
£36.4 million payday from your
Mauritian hideaway. Then release a
19-page letter to investors
explaining how the value of their
fund fell 13.8 per cent last year.
Who is this stockpicker, you ask.
Fundsmith’s Terry Smith. And, put
like that, the juxtaposition is a bit
unfair on our Terry. His pay was for
the 12 months to March 31, while
last year’s performance needs a bit
of context: a rare downer from the
equity fund that since its launch in
November 2010 has still delivered a
cumulative 478 per cent return.
Even so, it probably wasn’t the best
week to be disclosing his latest
wedge, even if he does pen a more
readable investor letter than most
(page 39). It’s far from a mea culpa.
Smith has a three-step strategy: “Buy
good companies, don’t overpay, do
nothing.” But he says it’s “inevitable”
there’ll be an occasional lousy
performance. He reckons that last
year “unless you restricted your
equity investments to the energy
sector, you were almost certain to
have experienced a drop in value”.
Energy rose 59 per cent but
everything else was down: about 40
per cent for consumer and
communications services.
Two key themes emerge. First,
Smith’s contempt for central
bankers. Second, his love/hate
relationship with Unilever. The
former gets the boot for presiding
over an era of “easy money”, with
low interest rates dating back to the
so-called Greenspan put: the notion
that they were the “palliative” for
the sort of market volatility that
came with 1997’s Asian crisis.
He’s right that central bankers
doubled down on that for the 2008
financial crisis, adding quantitative
easing to the mix — and then
souped that up some more for
Covid. Then came Russia’s assault
on Ukraine to expose the downside
of “almighty stimulus”, with central
banks finally forced to jack up
interest rates to tame inflation. That
particularly hurt the one-fifth of
Smith’s fund in tech stocks, even if
the likes of Amazon, Microsoft and
Meta are hardly the blue-sky sort.
As for Unilever, he wonders why
activist Nelson Peltz can turn up
and get a seat on the board, unlike a
12-year investor like him (not that
he wants one). Having lashed out at
its boss, Alan Jope, for last year
delivering a “near death experience”
with his abortive £50 billion tilt at
GSK’s consumer health wing, Smith
bridles at being “asked to suspend
disbelief” that Peltz’s arrival “was in
no way linked” to Jope stepping
down (even if not yet).
Then, there’s a justifiable rant
over Unilever disclosing the price of
only three of 27 beauty acquisitions
over the past eight years, where its
silence over the €2.3 billion Carver
Korea and the reportedly $1 billion
Dollar Shave Club — both bought
by Jope’s predecessor, Paul Polman
— suggests they’re terrific duds.
Unilever has merely disclosed
€16 billion of capital invested in 29
buys across the group since 2017.
On top, Smith has another pop at
35
Business
Unilever’s ludicrous “virtue
signalling”, this time over Lux soap.
It’s not just for washing, apparently,
but “inspiring women to rise above
everyday sexist judgments and
express their beauty and femininity
unapologetically”: a “purpose”
agenda, incidentally, that’s hard to
square with the group continuing to
sell Magnum ice creams in Vladimir
Putin’s Russia. Still, one point Smith
doesn’t make: Unilever shares rose
6 per cent last year. Shame he can’t
say the same about his fund.
Tarnished nickel
ot everyone goes around
N “setting the global standard”.
But then how many can
match the London Metal Exchange:
an outfit that turned itself into a
cast-iron case for a regulatory
review by cancelling $4 billion of
trades in the nickel market?
The move last March followed
Putin’s assault on Ukraine, when a
short squeeze sent nickel prices up
270 per cent to $101,365 in three days.
It badly tarnished the exchange’s
reputation. So it’s right it gets
independent scrutiny (page 43). A
report by Oliver Wyman says that
the LME, led by chairman, Gay
Huey, Evans and chief executive,
Matthew Chamberlain, lacked
visibility on the size of two large
short positions held in the over-the-
counter derivates market. It meant it
was “not able to fully assess the risks”.
It was beyond Wyman’s remit,
though, to look into the key issue:
who held the shorts and whether
the LME’s cancelling of the trades
could have been influenced by its
owner, Hong Kong Exchanges and
Clearing. At the centre of the
brouhaha was the Chinese nickel
producer Tsingshan, founded by
Xiang “Big Shot” Guangda. He was
sitting on a vast short position,
facing margin calls heading for
$8 billion. So is it relevant that four
of the LME’s nine directors worked
for or had links to Beijing-controlled
HKEX? Market players thought so.
At the time, Clifford Asness of the
AQR hedge fund accused the LME
of “reversing trades to save your
favoured cronies and robbing your
non-crony customers”. The findings
of two bigger investigations await:
by the Bank of England and the
Financial Conduct Authority. They
must not duck the key issue.
Virgin lost in space
houldn’t it be renamed Virgin
S Sub-Orbital? Shares in the
US-listed group fell more than
20 per cent in pre-market trading,
before recovering to a more gravity-
defying 12 per cent drop. Let’s hope
the Sir Richard Branson-founded
Virgin Orbit learns from its
“anomaly” and has another go at
putting Britain on the satellite
launch pad. Even so, you can see
why his Virgin Galactic outfit is not
shooting for a Musk Mars mission.
It’s only designed to take civilians to
the edge of the upper atmosphere —
sub-orbital space — and return to
Earth. Lucky that.
alistair.osborne@thetimes.co.uk
36 Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

Business
Britain’s airlines and airports lag behind rivals for punctuality
Robert Lea Industrial Editor
No UK airlines feature in the top 20 in
the world for being on time and none
are in the top ten in Europe.
Annual statistics from OAG, the avi-
ation industry’s flight data specialists,
also show that of the world’s 20 largest
airports, Heathrow comes in 20th with
only three out of every five flights
taking off or landing on time.
Although the figures are skewed by
the stop-start reopening of the sector as
Covid-19 receded, and by a large differ-
ential in the size of carriers’ flight
schedules compared to pre-pandemic
times, the performance of the UK seg-
ment of the industry does not compare
well with its peers and competitors in
mainland Europe.
On-time performance is calculated
as flights departing or arriving within 15
minutes of the scheduled time.
Before the pandemic Jet2, the provid-
er of holiday flights mainly from the
north of England, was among the lead-
ing 20 airlines for punctuality in the
world. In 2022 it fell down the rankings
after its performance slipped to just two
in every three flights being on time.
Even among the world’s low-cost
carriers it is only 17th, having fallen
marginally behind easyJet on 67.5 per
cent.
That position represents a recovery
for easyJet after its poor performance in
spring, which cost Peter Bellew, who
was the airline’s chief operating officer,
his job.
Among the very largest carriers, Brit-
ish Airways slipped from 14th before
the pandemic to 17th as its percentage
of flights that were on-time fell from
74 per cent to 64 per cent.
The OAG league tables do not in-
clude data from Ryanair, which has
been Britain’s busiest airline in recent
months, because it does not disclose
enough information. Eurowings, the
German budget airline, was Europe’s
most punctual carrier, and the best
global low-cost one too.
The best big airline and big hub for
punctuality were All Nippon Airways
and Tokyo Haneda Airport.
Heathrow lurched from crisis to cri-
sis coming out of the pandemic, but ac-
cording to OAG, in 2019 Heathrow was
outperforming both its main rivals,
Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amster-
dam Schiphol. While both those air-
ports had a poor year, they were not as
bad as Heathrow’s.
Last year just 61 per cent of flights at
Heathrow were on time. In 2019 that
figure was 75 per cent.
At Charles de Gaulle, its perform-
ance has deteriorated to 63 per cent on-
time from 73 per cent while Schiphol
fell to 65 per cent from 71 per cent.

Christian sect
in £100m High
Court case over
Covid tests deal
Government cancelled
lateral flow contract
over ‘false’ information
on working conditions,
James Hurley writes
Businesses with connections to a fun-
damentalist Christian sect are suing the
government in a High Court dispute
over Covid-19 tests.
Sante, a partnership linked to the
Plymouth Brethren Christian Church,
profited from hundreds of millions of
pounds of pandemic contracts and
claims the Department of Health and
Social Care wrongly terminated a con-
tract for 68 million lateral flow tests.
The government refused to accept
tests supplied by Sante Global and Ster-
ilab after it alleged that the Chinese
manufacturer provided “false and mis-
leading” information about working
conditions, court documents show.
Sante and Sterilab, whose owners are
connected to the evangelical group,
also known as Exclusive Brethren,
which follows a doctrine of separation
from the outside world, are seeking re-
payment of the test costs and damages
for alleged “wrongful rejection” of the
goods as well as losses linked to storage
and insurance costs. The pair are also
involved in at least one other procure-
ment dispute with the government.
The government claims it would not
have awarded the contract, worth
about £100 million, to Sante and Steri-
lab had it known the “true state” of
working conditions at the test manu-
facturer, Xiamen Boson Biotech. It
alleges that audits revealed “grave
professional misconduct” by Boson,
including “repeated and systemic” non-
compliance with Chinese labour laws.
The disputed contract is just one of
several pandemic-related deals that
companies linked to the Exclusive
Brethren secured. Last year, The Times
revealed that businesses connected to
the group won as much as £2.2 billion
worth of contracts for PPE, masks,
visors, aprons, tests and ventilators.
Sante was incorporated as Unispace
Health Products in May 2020. A related
company, Unispace Global, was identi-
fied by the National Audit Office as the
single biggest beneficiary of Covid PPE
procurement, receiving a total of
£680 million across seven contracts.
Unispace was referred via the contro-
versial VIP lane, which offered acceler-
ated assessments of offers to provide
PPE at the start of the pandemic.
Sante’s partners include Gareth and
Charles Hales, sons of Bruce Hales, the
worldwide leader of Plymouth Brethren
Christian Church. Pandemic contracts
appear to have been transferred to
Sante after Unispace, an Australian
office design company founded by
Charles and Gareth Hales and Anthony
Hazell, was sold to a private equity firm,
PAG, in February 2021.
In its first annual accounts, Sante re-
corded sales of £731.3 million, from
which it made a pre-tax profit of
£84.1 million. One member of the part-
nership, thought to be Gareth Hales,
received £32 million in 2021. Sante’s
former partners include Devon
Advisory, a company also incorporated
in May 2020 and controlled by Hazell.
Devon Advisory recorded £11 million in
the bank in its inaugural set of accounts.
Hazell is also chairman of Manor
Gospel Trust, a charity that provides Businesses connected to the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church secured Covid-19 deals totalling about £2.2 billion
and maintains Brethren-owned halls.
Its income rose from £1.2 million in 2021 The evangelical group has connec-
to £14.2 million in 2022. Donations Behind the story tions to the Conservative Party, and
from related parties rose from £64,727 MPs have lobbied for it to be given
in 2021 to £9.8 million last year, which he Plymouth with outsiders; they network of 43 private charitable status. After winning the PPE
was used to repay all its loans.
The church would not comment on
whether the increased donations from
related parties was linked to church
members’ success with Covid contracts.
It said its charity work had been able to
fund initiatives such as providing
T Brethren
Christian
Church, also
known as
Exclusive Brethren,
dates back to 1820s’
Ireland. Now led by
do not vote and
cannot belong to
secular organisations.
Brethren businesses
have long been
involved in areas such
as manufacturing,
schools in the UK.
The group has
about 43,000
members, including
15,000 in Australia,
where it has its
headquarters. A
deals, Sante hired Fullbrook Strategies,
the lobbying firm of Mark Fullbrook,
briefly Liz Truss’s chief of staff.
Sante and Sterilab claim that there
were no grounds for the government to
terminate the tests deal, and that the
state had no entitlement to rely on the
humanitarian relief following the Bruce Hales, it is the clothing and spokesman said its audits in order to reject the tests. They
Russian invasion of Ukraine, food box- most hardline of the distribution so were members had lived also dispute the government’s reading
es to vulnerable families in the UK and groups associated well placed to tender and worked in of the audits, and whether any Chinese
supporting emergency services. with the Plymouth for pandemic communities across labour laws were in fact breached.
Unispace has said its founders met Brethren sect. contracts. Brethren the UK for nearly 200 The government claims the compa-
through the church in 2008, although it Its doctrine of also have their own years. “Similar to nies have “no entitlement to the relief
denies that the company is owned or separation from evil other religions, we sought” as the alleged breaches by their
run by the Brethren directly. means that members’ have our own manufacturer gave it the “right to ter-
Research by this newspaper and the engagement with TV, traditions that relate minate” the deal.
Open & Candid website, which investi- radio and the open to our faith, and we Boson, Sante and Sterilab did not
gates the Exclusive Brethren, found last internet is restricted. strive to live a respond to invitations to comment. A
year that former directors of Unispace Members should not community-minded government spokesman said: “We can-
are connected to at least 45 companies eat with people not life, underpinned by not comment on ongoing legal pro-
linked to the Brethren that have won in the Brethren our core values of ceedings.” A spokesman for the Plym-
coronavirus contracts. There is no community, and there care, charity and outh Brethren Christian Church said:
suggestion that the sect co-ordinated are restrictions on compassion.” “Like any other religious group, many
applications for contracts or of any being in business with However, critics of our members run their own busi-
wrongdoing by Unispace, Sante, Steri- non-members. have accused the nesses, and these organisations are sep-
lab or the Exclusive Brethren. Members should group of being too arate from the church. Any contractual
The church said members’ businesses not live in houses that Members of the church controlling of agreements between the government
were separate from the church and it share a common wall preach on the street members’ lives. and these independent businesses are
had no involvement with contracts. completely unrelated to the Church.”
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
David Smith
Strikes aren’t the cause of the
recession – but they’re not helping
‘‘
For UK economy-
watchers, figures to
be published on
Friday have taken
on great
significance. Though they will not
provide the definitive answer on
whether the UK has formally entered
recession, two and a half years after
entering the last one, they will
provide a pretty good indication.
The figures for monthly GDP in
November will tell us whether
economic activity is heading for a
second successive quarterly fall, after
the 0.3 per cent drop in the third
quarter of last year. That would meet
a commonly used recession definition.
Some economists think it will be a
dead cert, others a close call. All can
agree that the economy stopped
growing around March last year and
has been flatlining, at best, since then.
Non-economists would say it is not
surprising the economy is in trouble
given the wave of strikes crippling the
railway network and large parts of the
public sector. The UK has been
flirting with a repeat performance of
the “sick man of Europe” act it was
once famous for.
That the strikes are having a
negative effect is not in doubt. Ask
the hospitality sector, battered from
all sides and reeling from lost
revenues because of train strikes. This
winter of discontent is having a real
impact as well as causing massive
inconvenience.
It is, however, not as
straightforward as it may appear.
When the trains are not running,
economic activity is displaced rather
than cancelled; hence all those stories
and surveys about suburbs and
smaller towns doing well while city
centres suffer. For those who can,
working from home — the economy’s
lifesaver during the pandemic
— means it is possible to
function, even when
the trains are not.
Simon French,
chief economist at
Panmure Gordon
and a regular in
these pages, has
attempted to put
numbers on the
impact on GDP of
the strikes since the
The miners’ strike led by
Arthur Scargill in 1984
took 1 per cent off GDP
summer. His best guess is that they
have knocked a net 0.25 per cent off
GDP, though that effect could be
getting slightly bigger with the recent
intensification of strike activity. The
strikes are contributing to the
economy’s weakness but are not its
cause, where the main factor is the
energy shock, which through the cost
of living crisis is driving union
militancy.
For really big impacts on GDP of
strikes, you have to go back. Before
the pandemic, the biggest modern-
day quarterly fall in GDP was in the
first quarter of 1974, 2.8 per cent,
when in response to a miners’ strike
and the oil crisis the government
imposed a three-day week.
Everybody knows about the winter
of discontent of 1978-79 — the dead
not being buried, rubbish piling up in
the streets, etc — which helped to
propel Margaret Thatcher to election
victory in May 1979. Its effects can
clearly be seen in the economic data.
GDP fell by 0.5 per cent in the first
quarter of 1979, the height of that
winter of discontent, but bounced
back by 4.4 per cent in the second
quarter, as the days lost due to
industrial disputes fell sharply.
Not a lot of people know, to
channel Michael Caine, that there
was another wave of strikes soon after
Thatcher was elected. In August and
September 1979 she faced her first
big union confrontations. September
that year was extraordinary, with
11.7 million working days lost due to
strikes, four times the maximum
monthly number during the winter of
discontent and a record in data that
stretches back to 1931. The result was
a 2.2 per cent drop in GDP in the
third quarter of 1979, though that did
not mark the start of the first
Thatcher recession, which was at the
beginning of 1980.
The next episode was a
few years later and the
miners’ strike of
1984-85, led by
Arthur Scargill.
When many
miners walked
out in March
1984, the loss of
their production
— in a country
still quite reliant
on coal — resulted
in a 1 per cent drop
in GDP in the second
quarter of that year.
There are several reasons why we
are not seeing those effects now. In a
mainly non-unionised economy,
strike action is a shadow of what it
used to be. The Office for National
Statistics will soon provide new data,
but its latest figures show that a total
of 1.16 million days were lost because
of industrial disputes between June
and October. That, over five months,
is higher than the pre-pandemic
norm but low in comparison with
strike waves of the past.
GDP is not everything, however,
and while the walkouts have not
caused a recession that may or may
not become a certainty this week,
their effect is more insidious. Train
strikes mean people can no longer
trust what for many was an essential
service. Event organisers now play
roulette, hoping that they do not
settle on a date that coincides with
fresh stoppages.
Everyone else prays they will not
need the NHS at this time. The strikes
have exposed deep structural
weaknesses in the affected sectors.
National rail use appears to have
settled at between 80 and 85 per cent
of pre-pandemic levels, pending any
further permanent reduction because
of the strikes. The Institute for Fiscal
Studies exposed what it described as a
“concerning” puzzle for the NHS
which, despite more staff and funding,
is treating fewer patients in most types
of care than before the pandemic. The
answer may be a prolonged Covid
hangover and an inability to discharge
patients from hospitals into care, the
perennial problem.
Rishi Sunak’s government,
meanwhile, in its conduct of the
disputes, is doing little to embellish its
reputation for competence, though it
appears to be inching forwards.
Reform is needed but trying to
shoehorn it into fractious pay talks at
a time of double-figure inflation, or
more usually non-talks, will never
work. Ministers have been confusing
stubbornness with strength. One of
the country’s strengths in the post-
Thatcher era was improved industrial
relations. Presiding over a country in
which nothing
’’
seems to work, and
strikes have become
the norm, is the last
thing the UK needs.
David Smith is Economics Editor of
The Sunday Times
david.smith@sunday-times.co.uk
Ed Warner
Nephew’s share-dealing
debut was a success but
what’s in store for 2023?
I
t’s just over a year since I
bought my teenage nephew a
book on investing in shares for
Christmas. He’d used his mum’s
details to open an account on
one of the popular trading apps that
was then sweeping his sixth-form
common room. Boxing Day at the
football was time to check in on his
first 12 months as a master of the
universe.
I set out Uncle Ed’s advice to him
in The Times last year: “Start
modestly, use a stop loss, don’t just
follow your mates (what do they
know?), do some research, however
rudimentary, and focus on
companies you recognise and think
you can learn to understand.
“Don’t be tempted to leverage
your bets by trading on margin. And
don’t come to me for individual
stock tips as I wouldn’t want to fall
out with you when they go wrong.”
My nephew tells me he’s grown his
few hundred quid by 14 per cent,
more than decent given the
rollercoaster year for equities since
the unexpected war in Ukraine. Just
turned 18, he’s now opening an
account in his own name and is
pump-priming it with birthday
money. His greatest success has
been buying into energy companies
when their prices fell back in
September on recession fears, while
his biggest loss was from buying a
medical stock before quarterly
results without understanding that
the jump in its profits he anticipated
was still short of analysts’
expectations.
He claims to have read the book I
gave him — a slightly unexpected
triumph, I confess — and bemoans
the difficulties in finding what he
describes as “valid information
online on what to do and how to
start investing”. Media paywalls are
expensive for those starting out
modestly. My nephew’s lesson for his
contemporaries: “Don’t be greedy
and hold too long — profit is profit.”
The lad could yet go far.
This year will present very
different challenges to him and all
investors. The energy-heavy FTSE
100 index may now be only a couple
of percentage points off its all-time
high, but the general state of share
prices is better measured by the
S&P 500 in the US and the FTSE 250
in the UK, both closer to 20 per cent
from their peaks. It’s no surprise
given the growth crunch, high
37
Business
inflation and a doubling of
government bond yields in America,
and a trebling here in Britain.
Whereas a year ago US shares had
only rising profits to counter
historically high valuations and the
prospect of dearer money, now
interest rates are much closer to a
peak and valuations have moderated
— but the profit outlook is gloomy,
if not entirely bleak. Here, the prop
of strong dividend growth has been
kicked away from under equities,
leaving their 3.5 per cent yield less of
a magnet for investors than the
same level was a year ago.
All of which looks like a welcome
reversion to something
approximating normal investment
uncertainty to my increasingly
rheumy old eyes. I expect the
coming months to be marked by
profit shocks that grab headlines,
outweighed by the majority of
companies quietly benefiting from
sound housekeeping, in cutting costs
and pushing up prices. Overall,
profits may be a positive surprise.
Flotations will reappear, slowly at
first but with increasing frequency
as the year progresses. The
dominant force, though, will be
mergers and acquisitions — driven
both by corporates themselves, and
by the global private equity industry,
which is awash with cash and eager
to recommence investing in spite of
the challenges posed to its existing
portfolios of companies by the
economic convulsions of last year.
If I could persuade my nephew of
one dull but potentially rewarding
strategy for the year it would be to
look at the opportunities presented
by discounts in the listed investment
company sector. Analysts at Numis
calculate that these have ballooned
to about 13 per cent, their widest
since the global financial crisis. This
average covers a very wide
underlying range, throwing up
opportunities to buy exposure to
assets at knockdown prices and wait
patiently for a reversion. Not
exciting, I grant you, and not
without its challenges, as Patrick
Hosking wrote in this slot yesterday.
It’s hard to explain in the common
room. Maybe not one for his
sophomore trading year.
Ed Warner chairs a number of
company boards, including two listed
investment companies. He is writing in
a personal capacity
38 V2 Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

Business
hour, keeping up to date
is essential. Get the
latest news and market
Hard times to
Business reaction by 8am, and
analysis at 12.30pm,
Patrick Hosking Financial Editor
The Wellcome Trust, Britain’s biggest

briefing direct by email from the

Rarely has the outlook
for the global economy
looked so uncertain as we
enter the new year. War,
political and trade tensions,
Business Editor, Richard
Fletcher, and Business
News Editor Martin
Strydom.
the battle to bring down
inflation ... with the Sign up at home.thetimes.
situation changing by the co.uk/myNews
charity and a major institutional inves-
tor, has cut its exposure to listed equi-
ties to the lowest this century and
warned that it is braced for “an extend-
ed period of sub-par returns”.
The trust reported an overall invest-
ment return of just 1.7 per cent for the
year to September, an abrupt come-
£39.7bn
Size of portfolio as
down from the previous year when it at September 2022
smashed all recent records by posting a
34.5 per cent return, netting £10 billion
in capital gains plus dividends.
The lacklustre return this time would
have been sharply negative but for the
slide in sterling over the period and
Wellcome warned that the subsequent
rally in the pound had wiped £1.5 billion
from the sterling value of its portfolio
since its year-end.
Wellcome said it had seen the most
challenging conditions since the finan-
cial crisis with “nowhere to hide”
because of “nasty” falls in government
11%
Average annual real
bonds, credit and equities. After taking return since 1985
account of inflation, the real return was
-5.9 per cent.
Nick Moakes, chief investment offi-
cer, told The Times, he doubted that
what he called “the bloating of valua-
tions” of the past decade had been com-
pletely reversed by the sell-off of the
past year. It took a long time for excess-
es to work through, he said.
If the trust could achieve real returns
of 4 per cent a year over the next ten
years, that would be a good result, he
said. Since 1985 it has averaged stellar
£4.7mSalary of the
real returns of 11 per cent a year.
The trust’s performance is closely highest paid
watched, not just because it bankrolls investment chief
almost £1.4 billion a year of medical and
other research, but also because it is
one of the most open of sophisticated
institutional investors, giving insight
into how it makes money.
It was created by the will of the phar-
maceuticals tycoon Sir Henry Well- The closure of the Wellcome Trust’s
come in 1936 to improve health by sup-
porting scientific research and the total return from public equities, un-
study of medicine. It initially used divi- derperforming the global index it uses
dend income from his company Well- as a yardstick, which chalked up a
come but shifted to a wider investment -3.7 per cent return.
approach after Glaxo bought Wellcome “This is clearly a disappointing result,
in 1995. although our focus remains on long-
By September, just 34.5 per cent of its term absolute returns,” it said.
£39.7 billion portfolio was invested in In the course of the year it cut its
public market equities, down from holdings in directly owned shares by
41.9 per cent a year earlier, 50.5 per cent £1.6 billion. Its pot of shares managed
in 2019 and as high as 69.2 per cent in by outside fund managers did very
2005. poorly, with one long-time manager
Wellcome said it made a -12.7 per cent registering a -37.4 per cent total return.

Floating proved difficult as

storms rocked the markets
Jessica Newman
The amount of money raised by com-
panies joining the London Stock
Exchange dropped more than 90 per
cent last year as management teams
shunned public markets amid eco-
nomic and geopolitical uncertainty.
Just 45 companies floated last year,
against 119 in 2021, according to the
latest IPO Eye report from EY, the
accountancy firm.
The money raised by those new join-
ers fell to £1.6 billion, down 90.2 per cent
from £16.3 billion in 2021 in what was a
bumper year for initial public offerings.
Market sentiment has receded sharp-
ly over the past year as a gloomy back-
drop of rising interest rates, looming in-
flation and the war in Ukraine forced in-
vestors to turn to less risky asset classes
while many companies shelved their
float plans amid doubts about the valua-
tions that they might achieve if they
went ahead with listings. Last summer
Mishcon de Reya paused its £750 mil-
lion float plans because of “market con-
ditions”. It would have been the seventh
legal services firm to list on the London
exchange.
EY said the market had “minimal ac-
tivity” in the final quarter with nine
companies making their debut to raise
a total of £380 million. London’s Alter-
native Investment Market had only two
joiners in the final quarter that raised
£24 million combined.
Scott McCubbin, EY’s UK and Ire-
land IPO leader, said: “The outlook for
2023 remains uncertain, as the contin-
uation of the prevailing headwinds ex-
perienced in late 2022 are likely to lead
to depressed IPO activity early in the
new year.” However, he believes there is
pent-up demand for public listings and
even potential for an upturn in the
market in the second half of the year
without further geopolitical shocks.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
come, says Wellcome
Medicine Man gallery in central London in November resulted in accusations from some corners of “cultural vandalism”
The trust is in the process of sacking
some outside hedge fund managers
after what it called “very disappoint-
ing” performance. Although these
managers had the opportunity to take
down bets on share prices, they failed to
capitalise on plunging share markets,
producing a -13.3 per cent return.
“Some of them we’ve decided are not
fit for purpose,” Moakes said.
Some individual stock reversals also
hit the trust. Doordash, the US home
delivery service, was “a major drag on
City regulator’s stress warning to banks Goldman’s high-flyers will
Ben Martin Banking Editor
City regulators have told banks to brace
for a “prolonged period of stress” and
have criticised lenders for failing to heed
a warning about risky exposures that
were building up in their businesses.
The Bank of England’s Prudential
Regulation Authority said that deposit-
taking groups should expect “increased
engagement” from the watchdog about
the credit risks they faced as the eco-
nomic outlook darkens.
“The impact of increasing interest
rates, inflation and high cost of living,
geopolitical uncertainty and supply
chain disruptions is expected to pose
challenges to firms’ credit portfolios,”
directors from the authority told chief
executives of commercial banks in a
letter. “Firms need to be ready for a pro-
longed period of stress.”
They also told banks that they
needed to do more to improve their risk
management systems.
A year ago the authority had cau-
tioned that the collapse of Archegos, an
the portfolio,” it said. The company,
which floated in 2020, saw its shares
crash by 76 per cent amid the sell-off of
growth stocks. Previously, Doordash
has been a huge profit generator for
Wellcome.
The board defended its decision to
close its Medicine Man gallery in its
London museum in November, for
which it was accused of “cultural van-
dalism”.
“We are determined that our ap-
proach includes people traditionally
investment firm that inflicted heavy
losses on some banks when it went
under in 2021, had revealed deficiencies
in lenders’ internal processes. The
watchdog said it had “specifically asked
firms to consider concentrated and lev-
eraged exposures and to improve coun-
ter-party risk management” after the
Archegos debacle.
Andrew Griffith
said the UK would
not rush into a
cybercurrency
However, turmoil last March in the
London Metal Exchange’s nickel
market and ructions in the gilt market
after September’s ill-fated mini-budget
“demonstrated that firms continue to
unintentionally accrue large and con-
centrated exposures to single counter-
parties, without fully understanding
the risks that could arise”, the authority
excluded from conversations about
health, science and medicine,” Sir Jer-
emy Farrar, the director, said.
Farrar, who leaves next month to be-
come the World Health Organisation’s
chief scientist, received a 4.4 per cent
pay rise to £538,000, according to the
report.
The two highest-paid investment
chiefs at the trust received £4.7 million
and £4.4 million respectively, down
from £7.9 million and £7.8 million last
time.
said. “In 2023, firms must ensure that
those lessons from past crises are defin-
itively learnt in full, and thoroughly
embedded across the first and second
lines of defence.”
In a separate letter to the bosses of in-
surance companies, the authority said
the market fallout from the mini-bud-
get had “highlighted gaps in insurers’
liquidity risk frameworks”. The watch-
dog also said that insurers’ “exposure
management capability” for non-natu-
ral catastrophe risks, including cyber,
“remains immature”.
The authority said it would cary out
consultations this year on new rules on
diversity in the financial industry.
It came as Andrew Griffith, the City
minister, told the Treasury select com-
mittee that the aim behind the plan to
scrap the EU cap on bankers’ bonuses
“is not to seek to increase total compen-
sation” for financiers. He also said the
case for a digital pound remained “an if
and not a when” and that the UK would
not rush into a cybercurrency: “I would
rather be right than be first.”
Star stockpicker
renews attacks
on Unilever deals
Ben Martin Banking Editor
The stockpicker Terry Smith has raised
questions about a spree of acquisitions
struck by Unilever in a further attack by
the star fund manager on the FTSE 100
consumer goods giant.
Smith, whose £22.5 billion Fund-
smith Equity fund is a leading share-
holder in Unilever, said the company’s
wellbeing and beauty division had
bought 27 businesses in the past eight
years but in all except three instances
had not disclosed the price it had paid.
He also suggested there was a lack of
transparency about the performance
of these purchases after the deals
completed because only a “minority” of
the companies were mentioned in
subsequent annual reports published
by Unilever.
In his annual letter to the
fund’s investors, Smith
asked: “Whilst I am sure
Unilever complied
with their disclosure
obligations, is there
some reason why
we shareholders
can’t know how
much of our
money they
spent? Shouldn’t
we have some idea
how Unilever and its
management have
performed before they
are allowed to do any more
acquisitions? Unilever’s low
return on capital might be a clue.”
It marks an escalation of Smith’s
criticism of the group behind Domestos
and Ben & Jerry’s, after claiming in his
letter a year ago that Unilever, which is
valued at more than £100 billion, was
“obsessed with publicly displaying
sustainability credentials” and had
“clearly lost the plot”.
Smith, 69, is one of Britain’s most
popular fund managers and a veteran
of the City, having previously run the
stockbroker Collins Stewart and Tullett
Prebon, an interdealer broker. He made
Unilever owns about 400 household
brands, including Ben & Jerry’s
have to tighten (seat) belts
Callum Jones
Goldman Sachs’ high-flyers might have
to curb their spending after the invest-
ment bank said it was looking to cut
down on expenses, including a review
of private jet use.
The Wall Street giant is preparing for
a possible recession and has cut jobs as
it wrestles with a broader decline in
takeovers and stock market listings.
“We’re looking at expenses in every
corner of the firm,” the bank told the
Financial Times, “so it’s ridiculous to
focus on any single segment or item”.
Goldman Sachs has a market value of
about $120 billion and employs about
49,000 people worldwide. It is more
reliant than any of the other big Amer-
ican banks on services such as invest-
ment banking and trading.
Marcus, its online lender in Britain,
was launched four years ago and has
about 750,000 customers.
39
Business
a name for himself in 1992 when he lost
his job as head of research for UBS
Phillips & Drew after writing a book
that criticised widespread accounting
practices used by British companies.
He founded Fundsmith in 2010 and is
now based in Mauritius. While his main
Fundsmith Equity vehicle lost 13.8 per
cent last year after his growth investing
style struggled amid rising interest
rates, it has generated cumulative turns
of 478 per cent since its launch.
Accounts filed for the UK-based Fund-
smith LLP show Smith took home at
least £36.4 million for the year to the
end of March, his biggest ever payout.
Since Smith’s criticism of Unilever
last year, Nelson Peltz, the activist in-
vestor behind Trian, has emerged as a
top shareholder in the consumer goods
group. Smith said that during the first
eight years Fundsmith had
been a shareholder “we did
not hear from Unilever”
and that even after
contact was estab-
lished, concerns his
company raised
were “ignored”.
Peltz, 80, mean-
while, was made a
non-executive on
Unilever’s board in
May. Smith said he
did not object to Peltz
becoming a director
but added: “What I find
questionable is that compa-
nies mouth platitudes about
wanting to attract long-term sharehold-
ers, yet based on our experience we tend
to get ignored, whereas an activist who
has held shares for fewer months . . . gets
invited to board meetings.”
Smith also addressed the underper-
formance of his fund, which he said was
unwelcome but “nonetheless inevita-
ble”. He said: “I will leave you this year
with a quote from Winston Churchill:
‘If you are going through hell, keep
going.’ At Fundsmith we intend to.”
Unilever declined to comment. At an
investor event held last month it told
shareholders that acquisitions it had
made since 2017 had grown by 14.8 per
cent.
Goldman has moved to aggressively
cut costs after a sharp slowdown in
investment banking activity called time
on a bumper run during the early years
of the pandemic, and knocked its profits
by 45 per cent during the nine months
to September.
The bank is scaling back its ambitions
for its lossmaking consumer unit, and
reducing its workforce. It is expected to
start cutting 3,200 jobs, about 6.5 per
cent of its staff, and start informing those
affected today.
Ericka Leslie, the chief administra-
tive officer at Goldman and a key figure
in the review, is said to be scrutinising
the bank’s spending on a variety of
areas, including two Gulfstream jets it
acquired in 2019.
Goldman declined to comment.
Shares in the bank, which is due to re-
lease quarterly earnings next week,
closed $4.32, or 1.2 per cent, higher at
$357.32 in New York last night.
40 2GM Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

Business

T
the same
day she
found
she had
Phoenix bid
cancer
and
needed
for Dignity
Enterprise major

Network
surgery

Ray of hope
Small and medium sized
firms will contribute more
of UK business turnover by
2025 as they bounce back
quickly from the recession,
Red tape
UK companies that supply
looks to be
large German businesses
are being questioned about
their supply chains in
greater detail after a new
a dead cert
The joint venture has attempts to turn the company
law took effect on January 1 around through “substantially” low-

researchers predict
True grit
Entrepreneur Rachel
Watkyn acquired her new
company, Know the Origin,
Sign up now for The Times
Enterprise Network’s
weekly newsletter for tips
and insight from Britain’s
leading entrepreneurs
thetimes.co.uk/newsletters
offered £263m for the
funeral firm, with few
obstacles in the way,
Alex Ralph writes
When the largest shareholder of
Dignity moved to seize control of
the board two years ago it vowed it
was not seeking a takeover of one of
Britain’s biggest funeral companies.
In an open letter to shareholders
in March 2021, Phoenix Asset Man-
agement gave investors “peace of
mind that we won’t use this situation
to make a bid for the company”.
With the fortunes of Dignity
having not revived, and Gary Chan-
non, Phoenix’s chief investment of-
ficer, having come and gone from
Dignity’s board after overhauling
the leadership and strategy, a
£263 million takeover approach for
the London-listed company from a
Phoenix joint venture consortium
emerged last week. Castelnau
er prices to increase the number of
funerals and market share have been
hindered by competition and rising
costs. Davidson, 37, said at the third-
quarter update in November that it
was beginning to see positive signs.
But in a gloomy outlook for Digni-
ty, Peel Hunt said: “The cashflow of
the business has reduced due to the
lower profitability and need to in-
vest in the estate. The issues are ex-
acerbated by the need to service the
bonds, which are trading below par.”
Phoenix owns 29.7 per cent of
Dignity and the intentions of John
Jakes, 66, the Monaco-based entre-
preneur behind Acorn Mobility
Services, Dignity’s second-largest
shareholder with 19.5 per cent, who
has been building his stake recently,
remain unclear. Jakes did not re-
spond to a request for comment.
Dignity is based in Sutton Cold-
field, near Birmingham, and oper-
ates about 756 funeral directors and
46 crematoriums. Co-op Funeral-
care is the other dominant operator.
Peel Hunt said there was “no com-
petitor of sufficient scale to make an
offer that would not fall foul of the

756
The number of funeral directors
operated by the company
Competition and Markets Author-
ity”, meaning any competing offer
would need to come from a financial
buyer or an overseas player. Yet the
level of equity required is also an Parties went
issue, particularly given Dignity’s

Group, a London-listed investment

company managed by Phoenix, and
SPWOne, an investment business
created by Sir Peter Wood, the
veteran insurance industry entre-
bonds, Peel Hunt said. Dignity has
received approval from bondholders
with a swing
to sell crematorium sites, but noth-
ing has materialised. Dignity owed
about £522 million on its bonds in
for Majestic
the summer and had cash of about

preneur who founded Direct Line
and Esure Group, has made a 525p
per share cash proposal.
Channon, 55, and Wood, 76,
believe taking Dignity private will
allow the debt-ridden, lossmaking
funerals company to rise again away
from the public markets. In the
boardroom battle two years ago,
when Channon succeeded in oust-
ing Dignity’s executive chairman, he
was accused of trying to take control
without paying a bid premium.
This time, though, amid pressure
over its bonds and its shares having
fallen by about 30 per cent last year,
Dignity’s board is minded to re-
commend the approach, the consort-
ium’s fourth since October, to share-
holders, should it receive a firm offer.
The consortium has until Februa-
ry 1 to make a firm offer or walk
away, and with shares in Dignity
having dropped below the proposal
price to about 502p, the market is not
pricing in a bidding war. Charles
Hall, at Peel Hunt, the City stock-
broker, has told clients the approach
was attractive and a counter offer
looks unlikely given the dominant
shareholding of Phoenix, Dignity’s
struggles and the lack of buyers.
Since Kate Davidson replaced
Channon as chief executive in June,
£29 million at the end of September.
One source, who asked not to be
named, said the consortium’s ap-
proach was a lot less than Dignity
was worth but Phoenix had pursued
a disastrous strategy. “They started
cutting their prices in the funeral
business when they got control and
they really believed that the market
share would explode.” An investor,
also speaking confidentially, said
they believed Phoenix “did a disser-
vice to shareholders by stopping pre-
vious management from splitting
the business” between its funerals
and crematorium operations.
Wood, whose SPWOne made a
cornerstone investment of £25 mil-
lion in Castelnau, believes Dignity
has “long-term growth potential —
the signs are clear to me”. “But the
changes and significant develop-
ment work and investment needed
to enable this growth mean the best
way forward for Dignity is as a pri-
vate company”.
Channon agrees, and has offered
shareholders who want to stay the
option through unlisted equity in the
consortium’s joint venture vehicle or
listed equity in Castelnau. “Share-
holders who want immediate liquidi-
ty can take cash for their shares at a
23.4 per cent premium,” he said.
M
ajestic Wine uncorked
the second-biggest
Christmas trading
performance in its
history as sales last
Switch from
Tom Howard
AO World’s “pivot to profitability”
looks to be paying off, with the online
retailer of electrical products making
more money over the holiday period
than it expected.
Between October and December UK
sales were down 17.2 per cent compared
with the same period a year earlier.
However, this was in line with what the
market had expected after John Rob-
erts, the chief executive, announced
over the summer that he was abandon-
ing the company’s pursuit of growth
over profits.
As the cost of living crunch started to
hit home, Roberts, 49, said in August it
was time to “batten down the hatches
and focus on core fundamentals, not
raising your sales or getting distracted
exploring new opportunities”. He
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
month rose by 21 per cent compared
with pre-Covid levels (Dominic
Walsh writes).
The chain’s performance over the
eight weeks to Boxing Day was also
ahead year-on-year, with sales up
0.2 per cent compared with the
same period in 2021 as Majestic
achieved its highest market share.
The company, which has 202
stores, including two in France, said
its market share gain had been
achieved despite heavy promotional
activity by the big supermarkets.
Majestic said that despite the
growth to profit is a winner for AO
cancelled in-store trials with Tesco and
ditched deals with some big house-
builders to kit out their new homes with
washing machines and fridges.
AO also moved to cut costs by lower-
ing its headcount, reducingBwarehouse
R A Z I L I
space, using fewer trucks and bringing
in a delivery charge, which analysts said
had “improved order economics”.AItNex-
pects that its cost base next year willBelo
be
at least £30 million lower than it was at
the beginning of 2022.
The Bolton-based company was
founded as Appliances Online in 2000
by Roberts, a former kitchen salesman, Cabo
when he agreed to a bet with a friend
that he could not make money selling over the holiday period. As well as the
fridges on the web. AO sells everything rush for new games consoles and
from fridges and freezers to televisions speakers, AO said energy-saving appli-
and mobile phones.
Despite the planned drop in revenue, of higher gas and electricity prices.
the company enjoyed decent trading
2GM
inflationary backdrop it had sought
to “keep a lid” on prices to help
hard-pressed consumers, with
wines, beers and spirits 2 per cent
cheaper compared with last year.
It said that customers left buying
late last year, with the retailer
recording the busiest trading day in
its 42-year history on December 23
as shoppers made a dash for deals.
Among the top sellers was English
sparkling wine, where sales were up
19 per cent, while Spanish cava did
even better, up 29 per cent. The
World Cup also boosted beer sales.
Share price
100p
80
Carave 60
Source: Refinitiv
Doc 40
Pta. de
20
0 Most of the City analysts upped their
Cabo de São Jul
Apr Oct Jan
2022 2023
ances had sold well amid the backdrop
John Stevenson, a retail analyst at
Majestic’s top sellers included English
sparkling wine, from producers
such as Chapel Down based in Kent
Majestic was for a short period
part of Naked Wines but in 2019 it
was split off from the online retailer
in a deal backed by Fortress
Investment Group. John Colley, 51,
chief executive of Majestic, said the
move back into private ownership
had returned the chain to growth
and stability, and it was planning
five new stores as part of a wider
target of adding 20 branches.
Peel Hunt, said that the fall in sales
meant AO did not need extra ware-
house space or temporary workers over
Christmas, both of which can be expen-
sive. “The outcome is a more profitable
period than anticipated,” he said.
Previously, AO had told shareholders
that its adjusted underlying profit for its
present financial year, which runs until
March, would come in at close to
£30 million. It now thinks it will be
between £30 million and £40 million.
forecasts to about £35 million.
“We remain cautiously optimistic
and yet mindful of the continuing
macroeconomic uncertainty and tough
consumer environment,” AO said.
Shares fell 3¾p, or 5.4 per cent, to 65¾p,
leaving them a third below where they
were this time a year ago and valuing
the business at £379.9 million.
IMF cannot duck
public scrutiny
from politicians
Harriett Baldwin
Comment
W
hen the International
Monetary Fund talks
people listen because
some of the world’s
brightest financial and
economic brains are working for it.
It is a critical part of the world’s
financial architecture, and the UK is
proud to have been a founding
member and now one of 190
countries that are shareholders.
The Treasury committee benefited
from their insight when Gita
Gopinath, then chief economist and
now deputy managing director, spoke
to us on the record in 2020 about the
economic impact of coronavirus. In
2002, Horst Köhler, who was the
managing director, gave evidence in
public to the committee.
The IMF was in the news in the UK
again after they took aim at the
former chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s
“mini-budget” in September. “We do
not recommend large and untargeted
fiscal packages at this juncture,” the
IMF said on September 27, “as it is
important that fiscal policy does not
work at cross purposes to monetary
policy. Furthermore, the nature of the
UK measures will likely increase
inequality.”
Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, the
IMF’s chief economist, said that if
central banks were tightening
monetary policy, but fiscal policy
“stimulate[s] aggregate demand, it’s
like having a car with two people in
the front . . . each trying to steer the
car in a different direction. That’s not
going to work very well.”
However, following the autumn
Byron Burgers serves up
yet another rescue deal
Helen Cahill, Dominic Walsh
Byron Burgers has undergone its third
restructuring in five years after custom-
ers continued to shun its £13 burgers in
favour of new mid-market rivals.
Byron’s owner Famously Proper has
filed an intention to appoint adminis-
trators at the High Court after appoint-
ing restructuring experts at Interpath
Advisory to make another assessment
of how to stabilise its finances.
It is understood the chain will prob-
ably remain with its present owner, the
private equity firm Calveton, as part of
a pre-pack administration deal.
Byron has been through multiple
insolvency procedures and came under
scrutiny after the death of a teenager
who had an allergic reaction to one of
its burgers in 2017. The burger chain’s
restructuring started in 2018 when it
launched a company voluntary
arrangement that led to 16 sites closing.
The chain underwent another over-
haul during the pandemic as it entered
a pre-pack administration and was
taken over by Calveton. The restructur-
ing involved the chain cutting 650 jobs
and closing 31 restaurants.
Byron opened its first restaurant in
2007 and five years ago employed about
41
Business
budget, the Treasury committee has
been unable to secure on-the-record
testimony from the IMF.
Gourinchas has been kind enough
to speak privately, and officials from
the Article IV team [which holds
bilateral discussions about policies
with members], who are in town this
week, have agreed to meet us
privately today.
The estimable head of the IMF,
Kristalina Georgieva, tweeted in
November that she welcomed the
chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s autumn
statement, which was “prepared at a
difficult time for the UK economy,
against strong global headwinds. It
strikes the right balance between
fiscal responsibility and protecting
growth and vulnerable households”.
But other than that, it’s been
impossible for the committee to get
the IMF to utter any opinion of
current UK fiscal policy on the
record.
I understand that the guide for IMF
staff outreach to legislators says
“officials cannot be compelled to
testify before legislative bodies”. But
this guidance and precedent doesn’t
justify such an important
international body ducking public
scrutiny from elected politicians.
Like the Treasury committee at the
beginning of the millennium, we call
on the IMF to change its policy to
allow the most senior officials to
appear on the record before
parliamentary committees of member
countries.
If they will not, perhaps they could
use the same discretion and avoid
on-the-record commentary outside
their normal on-the-record reporting
cycle.
Harriett Baldwin MP is chairwoman of
the Commons Treasury select committee
Byron Burgers had more than 70
restaurants at its peak. It now has 21
1,800 people, but the chain has been
outcompeted on price by new high
street rivals including Five Guys, Shake
Shack and Patty & Bun.
The chain has also suffered from the
headwinds impacting other companies
in the hospitality industry. The sector
was buffeted by coronavirus lockdowns
and now faces a decline in consumer
spending from rising interest rates and
energy bills.
Byron once generated sales of
£90 million from more than 70 restau-
rants. It now has 21.
42
Business Markets
Emma Powell Tempus
Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tips
Electronics supplier needs to deliver
rs group
Market cap Q3 revenue
£4.47bn growth 8%
S
upplying components “just in
time” means global industrial
distributor RS Group can
charge a premium for the
speed and breadth of
products delivered. But it also means
the FTSE 100 group is acutely short-
sighted over future revenue. As
global recessions take hold, investors
have become more wary of the
group’s ability to sustain sales growth
as manufacturing output declines.
Even bullish guidance could not
draw more positivity from investors.
RS, formerly Electrocomponents,
expects profit this year to be at the
top-end of the consensus range of
£350 million to £375 million. Gaining
market share and mitigating cost
inflation with higher prices has
helped to counter weaker sales.
Still, top-line growth has slowed.
An increase in revenue of 8 per cent
in the latest three months was
almost half the rate recorded over
the September quarter. What’s more,
price inflation has done almost all of
the heavy lifting, up in the low
double digits during the quarter.
Fluctuating sales volumes have an
outsized impact on RS’s bottom line,
stemming from a relatively high level
of fixed costs within the business.
When organic revenue fell by an
aggregate 10 per cent in the
aftermath of the last great financial
crisis in 2009 and 2010, adjusted
games workshop
Half-year Dividend yield
revenue £227m 2.9%
ames Workshop is burdened
G by its past glory. A boom in
sales at the fantasy figurine
maker during the pandemic has
given way to a slowdown in global
growth rates, compounded by a rise
in the costs of raw materials, labour
and transportation.
Pre-tax profits fell 5 per cent in the
first half of its financial year, albeit in
line with management guidance.
Hobbyists are loyal but not above the
wider strains on disposable income.
But note that analysts at Panmure
PRICES
Major indices
Relatively stable
Share price
Source: Refinitiv
2022
Apr Jul
ADVICE Hold
WHY The company is in good
financial shape to withstand a
downturn but deserves its
weaker valuation
operating profit fell by 30 per cent,
brokerage Shore Capital calculates.
RS Group has two main sources of
weakness: Asia Pacific and the
electronics business, which caters
mainly to design engineers. Sales in
the former fell 8 per cent in the third
quarter. Zero-Covid rules in China
played a part, as did a shortage of
some computing products. Looser
Gordon expect sales and pre-tax
profits to edge ahead by 10 per cent
and 4 per cent respectively this year.
The release of a new edition of
Warhammer 40,000, one of the
group’s two core products, could be
due this summer, the brokerage
believes, and that could provide
another boost to sales.
The company’s market value has
rightly come down from the
pandemic highs, when the shares hit
a valuation of just over 47 times
forward earnings. That multiple now
stands at 23, back at about 2019
levels. That does not reflect the
inroads made into international
markets and online expansion since
then. For investors willing to play the
Quarterly revenue growth by region
£13
EMEA Americas Asia Pacific
Mar
12 2022 19%
33%
23%
11
Jun
16%
24%
10 13%
Sep
9 14%
19%
6%
8 margin of 12.5 per cent last year was
Dec
12%
6%
7 -8%
Oct Jan
rules in China could help to lift sales,
but weakness in the electronics
business will be harder to shift.
Electronics, which accounts for
roughly a quarter of sales, recorded a
decline in volumes in the company’s
third quarter and a 4 per cent
contraction in like-for-like revenue.
The business is more closely geared
towards capital expenditure budgets,
so more vulnerable to a fall in
consumer demand.
The shares have fallen by just over
a quarter since November 2021 and
now change hands at 16 times
forecast earnings. Investors are right
to discount the shares, without
pricing in a doomsday scenario for
RS. The core industrial business,
long game, there are still solid
returns to be mined. Building the
business in the Asian market is one
fount of revenue growth, particularly
as the Chinese economy reopens
after Covid. North America is the
biggest contributor to revenue, which
illustrates the rewards to be gleaned
from geographical expansion. Online
sales had grown to 22 per cent of the
total last year.
In December the group agreed a
licensing deal with Amazon to
develop films and television shows
based upon the Warhammer
universe. Licensing the company’s
intellectual property might be a less
steady source of income than retail
sales, but it is almost pure profit. The
London Financial Futures
© 2023 Tradeweb Markets LLC. All rights reserved.
The Tradeweb FTSE Gilt Closing Prices information contained
herein is proprietary to Tradeweb; may not be copied or
re-distributed; is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely; and does not constitute
investment advice. Tradeweb is not responsible for any loss or damage that might result
from the use of this information.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
which accounts for three quarters of
revenue, distributes parts used to
repair and maintain manufacturing
facilities. The average order size is
only £250, manufacturers spend out
of operational rather than capital
expenditure budgets. That means
sales are less closely tied to output,
but then it does not completely
insulate RS’s sales volumes against
manufacturers shuttering production
facilities entirely or going bust.
Lindsley Ruth and David Egan,
interim boss and former finance
chief, have put the business on a
better footing to withstand the
downturn. An adjusted operating
double the level in 2015, during
which time sales have grown at a
compound annual rate of 11 per cent.
Free cash generation has stepped
up, with the group in a net cash
position. That leaves room for
acquisitions to expand its services
business, which includes production
design and procurement, the “value-
add” that RS hopes will give it an
edge over rival distributors.
Self-help initiatives, like
automating some distribution
facilities, and sales price inflation
helped RS push its margin forward
during the first half of this financial
year despite higher wage and
logistics costs. The question now is to
what extent price inflation will
continue to mitigate slowing sales
volumes and whether RS will need to
rein in spending on growth plans,
that include growing online sales and
broadening product ranges.
group is highly cash generative, with
net cash building to £68.1 million at
the end of November, from
£41.4 million at the same point in
2021. That means dividends are also
pulling more weight in the total
return delivered to shareholders.
The house broker Peel Hunt
expects this year’s dividend to total
295p a share, which would leave the
shares offering a dividend yield of
3.4 per cent at the current price.
ADVICE Buy
WHY Expansion and licensing
deals could boost the shares
Commodities
news in brief
Bond fund flows return
British investors are starting to
trickle cash back into bonds and
shares for the first time in six
months, according to data from
the Investment Association. A
net £389 million of funds were
bought by UK investors in
November, the first time buyers
outweighed sellers since April.
Bond funds were popular while
investment into equities was
patchy. Net purchases of US
equity funds were strong but
UK share funds continued to be
shunned, with the UK All
Companies category recording
net outflows of £976 million.
Plus500 wins on losses
Have-a-go traders who lost
money betting on the direction of
volatile financial markets last
year boosted revenues at Plus500
by about $193 million. The FTSE
250 group, which operates a
trading platform for derivatives,
said the lift it had received from
“customer trading performance”
helped propel its annual revenues
to about $832 million in the 12
months to the end of December,
up from $718.7 million a year
earlier. Plus500 shares closed up
79p, or 4.6 per cent, to £17.90.
Coinbase cuts 950 jobs
Coinbase Global will cut about
950 jobs — 20 per cent of its
workforce — in the third round
of layoffs for the cryptocurrency
exchange since last June. The
nascent sector, which is already a
casualty of rising interest rates
and worries of an economic
downturn, suffered a blow when
the exchange FTX filed for
bankruptcy protection in
November. Shares in Coinbase
rose $4.96, or almost 13 per cent,
to close at $43.23 in New York
last night.
Student landlord boost
Unite Group expects it will be
able to increase its rents by a
little more than expected in the
next academic year as it lets out
student halls quicker than
anticipated. The landlord has sold
70 per cent of its 70,000 beds for
the 2023-24 academic year,
compared with 60 per cent at this
point 12 months ago. Bosses had
forecast rental growth of
4.5-5 per cent next year, but they
now expect growth of “at least”
5 per cent. Its shares closed down
13p, or 1.4 per cent, at 926½p.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 43

Markets Business

Investors alight after profit

warning from Hornby
Jessica Newman Market report

A
profit warning from
Hornby pushed the MARKETS
Scalextric maker’s shares
down to levels not seen
since the summer of 2018.
The company, which also makes
Lessons after nickel debacle
train sets and Airfix models, spooked
the market as it warned of a “modest” he London Metal that the existence of
pre-tax loss this year despite third-
quarter sales, which covers the
Christmas period, being ahead of last
T Exchange has
been urged to
improve its ability to
short bets, in
particular two large
wagers against nickel,
year. It said those sales figures were spot distortions in its and dwindling
“behind budget” because of the tough markets by an liquidity had
economic backdrop facing its fanbase independent review contributed to the
of miniature model enthusiasts. into a crisis that difficulties. The
The warning knocked investors’ disrupted nickel situation was
confidence as well as the shares, trading last year exacerbated by a lack
which tumbled 4½p, or 15.5 per cent, (Ben Martin writes). of overall visibility on
to 24½p. The wider market was also The LME was The London Metal the shorts that meant
unsettled by the uncertainty over thrown into turmoil Exchange was forced the LME and other
interest rates as investors couldn’t in March when the to suspend dealings market players “were
price of its three- not able to fully assess
England Patriots, are by rumours over the month nickel futures worth of trades, the risks”.
Brady takes also among those with state of its balance Wall Street report contract experienced causing anger among It made a series of
stakes in FTX. sheet. Its investors are an unprecedented investors who lost out. recommendations to
big hit from Brady and assumed to be sitting Indices enjoyed a positive session as spike above $100,000 Oliver Wyman, the the exchange,
Bündchen, above, who on stakes that are investors bet that inflation will fall a tonne. This consultancy firm, was including that it
FTX collapse announced they had effectively worthless. again when the figures are released prompted the hired by the LME to tightens its rules “to
finalised their divorce John Ray, FTX’s new this week, leading to lower rate rises exchange to conduct an inquiry prevent risks of
he American in October, were chief executive, who from the Federal Reserve. The Dow temporarily suspend into the debacle and market distortions”

T football star
quarterback Tom
Brady and his former
among the stars of
FTX’s advertising and
marketing campaign.
was the liquidator to
Enron, the fraudulent
energy company, said
Jones industrial average rose 186.45
points, or 0.6 per cent, to 33,704.10.
dealings and cancel
billions of dollars-
its report was released
yesterday. It found
and improves its
volatility controls.

wife, the model Gisele Brady, 45, owns last month: “At the end
Bündchen, are among 1.1 million shares in of the day, we’re not shrug off hawkish comments from Next shed 188p, or 2.9 per cent, to last year and ahead of analysts’
FTX shareholders hit FTX’s trading business, going to be able to two of the Federal Reserve’s £62.66 after Investec flagged its forecasts. The shares rose to their
by the collapse of the according to recover all the losses policymakers, who said that US concerns about the retailer’s online dearest price in a year, closing up
cryptocurrency bankruptcy court here.” interest rates were likely to hover business losing momentum. Investors 165p, or 13.9 per cent, to £13.50.
exchange (Callum filings. Bündchen has Sam Bankman-Fried, above 5 per cent for a “long time”. It dumped their shares in Softcat on Supreme’s shares popped 13p, or
Jones writes). 680,000 shares in the 30, the founder of FTX, meant the FTSE 100’s five-day advice from UBS, causing the IT 12.8 per cent, to reach 114½p as the
Trusts and same unit. has been charged in winning streak came to a halt as the services group to end the day down Manchester-based company, which
companies linked to FTX, once valued on the United States by index retreated 30.45 points, or 60p, or 4.8 per cent, to £11.83, while manufactures and imports products
investors including the the private market at prosecutors who 0.4 per cent, to 7,694.49, while the Clarkson shed 250p, or 7.8 per cent, from lightbulbs to vapes and batteries,
PayPal co-founder $32 billion, filed for accused him of staging FTSE 250 fell 88.42 points, or 0.5 per to £29.35 as HSBC swapped its “buy” said it was “well placed” to deliver
Peter Thiel, the hedge bankruptcy in one of America’s cent, to 19,390.97. recommendation for a “hold.” full-year results in line with the City’s
fund tycoon Dan Loeb November after facing largest financial frauds. RS Group, formerly International Distributions expectations. Less spectacular but
and Robert Kraft, billions in customer He pleaded not guilty Electrocomponents, was the biggest Services lost 12½p, or 5.3 per cent, to still impressive, Marks Electrical
owner of the New withdrawals, prompted this month. faller among the blue-chips, dropping 221¾p after Barclays cut its earnings powered up 3½p, or 3.9 per cent, to
46p, or 4.8 per cent, to 906½p as it forecast as they reckon Royal Mail’s 93½p after the white goods retailer
The day’s biggest movers reported a 4 per cent dip in third- performance has further deteriorated posted revenues of £29 million in the
quarter sales of its electronic given the strike action that took place three months to the end of December,
products. Anglo American was down last month. Topping the FTSE 100 up a third on the same period a year
88p, or 2.5 per cent, to £34.93½p after leaderboard was Admiral Group, earlier.
silver and platinum prices fell as after Deutsche Bank raised its “hold” Hostmore’s shares hit a record low
investors gauged risks to demand, rating on the insurer to “buy”. The after the company, which owns the
while Ocado slipped 23p, or 3.1 per shares ticked up 64p, or 2.9 per cent, chain formerly known as TGI Fridays,
cent, to 720½p as data from to £22.72. Elsewhere, GlobalData announced that its boss Robert Cook,
NielsenIQ suggested weak confidence wowed the City as the analytics firm who has been in the role for just over
around personal finances and a says it expects to deliver £242 million a year, is stepping down with
squeeze on disposable income would in sales for the year ending December immediate effect. The shares closed
hold back growth in food retail sales. 31, which is 28 per cent higher than down 2p, or 13.4 per cent, to 12¼p.

Gold/Precious Money rates % Dollar rates Exchange rates

metals
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prices are from Monday.

Sterling spot and forward rates Other Sterling

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deposits %

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for information
purposes only. No offer is made by
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the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 45

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should contact their fund manager.

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or this publication
46 Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times

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the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 47

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the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Heiress who claimed to be
Hawaii’s last princess
Abigail Kawananakoa
Page 50
Obituaries
Jim Garrett
Advertising guru behind After Eight and other campaigns who took on the thankless task of making Ted Heath more voter-friendly
Long before the Conservative Party
turned to Saatchi & Saatchi for the
“Labour isn’t working” ad campaign,
which helped Margaret Thatcher to
win the 1979 general election, there was
Jim Garrett.
Arguably Garrett’s brief as a political
ad-man was a much harder sell — to
persuade the nation to elect Ted Heath
as prime minister, rather than the more
voter-friendly Harold Wilson.
Heath had lost the 1966 general
election by a majority of 98 and was
perhaps lucky after such a landslide
defeat not to have been challenged and
replaced as party leader. However, he
survived and, with the next election
looming, in 1968 Garrett was asked by
his friend Geoffrey Tucker, an ad man
seconded to Conservative Central
Office as director of publicity, to assem-
ble a team of communications advisers
to help get Heath elected.
In an age before spin doctors and
image-makers dominated the political
landscape, Garrett was a big beast in the
advertising world, running Britain’s
largest production company, with an
enviable track record for producing
memorable TV commercials, including
campaigns for Benson & Hedges and
After Eight.
When he arrived at Conservative
Central Office, he swiftly realised that
although the party was skilled in the
use of such old-school campaigning
tools as posters and rallies, there was no
television strategy. “The ruling genera-
tion of the party — many of them pre-
war, pre-television in outlook — had
little experience in TV,” he found. “Yet
they had an annual allocation of free
airtime, the programmes were pro-
duced free of charge by the BBC and
aired simultaneously on the BBC and
ITV at peak time. It was a unique media
gift that was totally undervalued other
than by Harold Wilson.”
Nobody was better qualified than
Garrett to take on the task of using the
medium of television to repackage the
unpopular Rt Hon Edward Heath —
He was the first British
ad man to set up an
office in New York
whom the polling data suggested was
perceived as remote, stiff and snobbish
— and replace him with something re-
sembling “the people’s Ted”, who was to
be accessible, affable and familiar.
Garrett put together a team that
included Dick Clement, the creator of
popular TV sitcoms from The Likely
Lads to Porridge; the film director
Bryan Forbes, who would later move to
Hollywood, where his credits included
The Stepford Wives; Ronald Millar, the
future speechwriter to Margaret
Thatcher; and the fashion photo-
grapher Terence Donovan, whose
images of Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and
Julie Christie helped to define the
“swinging Sixties”.
Garrett and his team created a series
of party political broadcasts that
showed different facets of Heath — at
work in his constituency as an ordinary
MP; as a national leader on a tour of the
industrial northeast; and as an inter-
national statesman meeting President
Nixon and the senator Edward Kenne-
dy. The team also commissioned a
theme song, which was played at
hustings and in the broadcasts,
designed a logo and created a stage set
for use at meetings around the country
during the campaign.
Against the predictions of the opin-
ion polls, the campaign achieved its ob-
jective and Heath won the 1970 general
election, his one and only victory amid
three defeats at the hands of Wilson.
Yet as Garrett admitted, it was an up-
hill struggle. “Heath was not an easy
man,” he recalled. “He was remote and
suspicious of anything to do with com-
munications. He thought he could
communicate with the public via a
letter in The Times.”
Garrett’s own politics were intrinsi-
cally Conservative. One of his earliest
memories was leaning out of the
window of the family car and shouting
“Vote for my Daddy” at high street
shoppers when his father stood for
election as a Tory councillor. Yet he was
also an active trade unionist who had
been a shop steward in the film union
ACTT, which was affiliated to the
Labour Party, and later a member of its
general council and a vice-president.
Nor did Garrett tell Heath that as a
young man he had voted for Attlee
rather than Churchill in the 1950 and
1951 general elections.
Unlike later image-makers who were
showered with knighthoods and peera-
ges by Thatcher, Sir John Major and
David Cameron, Garrett received no
such recognition. All he had to show for
playing kingmaker to the new prime
minister was a letter Heath wrote him
two days after polling day which read: “I
am writing simply to thank you for all
your help and wise advice throughout
the campaign and indeed before it. As
regards the broadcasts themselves, I
have heard nothing but praise for all of
them, and that is no mean achieve-
ment. There is no doubt that they
Register
Jim Garrett was behind BT’s adverts
starring Maureen Lipman, above, and
formed crowds into an “X” for Halifax
played a major part in our success.”
Away from politics, his business
thrived. He was the first British ad man
to set up an office in New York and work
poured in from the big Madison Avenue
agencies, later depicted in the TV series
Mad Men. Multinational clients includ-
ed Gillette and Polaroid and he even
managed to work for both Pepsi and
Coca-Cola.
From the 1960s through to the 1990s
his ads were never off British TV
screens. He employed directors such as
John Schlesinger, who won an Oscar
for Midnight Cowboy, and Nicolas Roeg,
whose film work included Don’t Look
Now and The Man Who Fell to Earth.
Richard Loncraine, recruited from the
BBC features department, was a main-
stay before he went on to direct Band Of
Brothers for Steven Spielberg and the
Bafta-winning adaptation of Richard III
starring Ian McKellen.
A show reel of Garrett’s greatest hits
From the 1960s to the
1990s his ads were never
off British TV screens
included BA’s Manhattan ad, the BT
commercials starring Maureen Lipman
and the first Halifax building society ad
to use a crowd of people to form the “X”,
which went on to become a familiar
trope.
The wonderful Clement-directed
“you don’t have to be big to be beautiful”
campaign for Tom Thumb cigars star-
ring Dudley Moore was another
Garrett production, as was the first Aids
awareness information campaign,
directed by Roeg.
49
He is survived by his Czech wife,
Margot (née Fleischner), who arrived
in Britain in 1938 as a refugee at the
age of ten. They were married for 68
years. He is also survived by their two
sons, Stephen and David, both of
whom work in the film industry.
James Leslie Michael Peter Garrett
was born in Bristol in 1928. His father,
Reginald, was a Cambridge-educated
Catholic schoolmaster with a small
private income from the family’s inter-
ests in the wine trade. His mother, Eve,
was the illegitimate daughter of an
actress and a member of the landed
gentry whose family fortune had been
made in coal mining.
He grew up comfortably in a house-
hold with several maids and a nanny,
paid for from a trust fund established
for his mother. When the Second
World War intervened, the family was
evacuated to the Welsh market town of
Builth Wells, where they rented a
smallholding with cows, chickens,
ducks and geese.
At Builth Wells County Grammar
School and later Bristol Grammar, he
was a decent schoolboy goalkeeper and
cricketer but decided early on that he
did not want to go to university. He
thought it was “a slippery slope to
becoming a schoolmaster,” and feared
turning into his father.
A history of rheumatic fever meant
he failed his army medical and was
spared National Service. With no idea
what he wanted to do, he moved to
London, where in 1949 he landed a job
as a junior assistant director with the
newly established British Transport
Films, set up to promote the nationa-
lised transport industries.
He spent six years there before join-
ing Pearl & Dean, the cinema advertis-
ing producers. Three months later
commercial television was launched in
the UK and with the new opportunities
that it opened up, he became a senior
producer at TV Advertising (TVA), the
biggest commercials production
company in London.
Within three years he had taken over
management of the company. He
launched his own company in 1963
with a staff of eight, which included
Richard Lester, who would go on to
direct the Beatles’ films A Hard Day’s
Night and Help!
He also employed Ken Russell to
direct commercials and, working out of
two rooms in a studio in Kensington, by
1966 Garrett was running the largest
production company in the UK.
The 1970 general election was the
only party political campaign he ran
but in 1975 he was part of the team that
produced pro-European broadcasts for
the referendum on Britain’s continued
membership of the EEC.
By the 1990s other production
companies had overtaken Garrett and
he downsized. He eventually retired in
2003, closing the company that had
borne his name for 40 years. When he
did so Campaign, the ad industry’s
house magazine, paid fulsome tribute,
conferring the honour which succes-
sive governments had failed to bestow,
by calling him “Lord Jim”.
Jim Garrett, advertising man, was born
on October 20, 1928. He died on January
2, 2023, aged 94
50
Register
Abigail Kawananakoa
Hawaii’s mischievous ‘last princess’ who argued for the restoration of its monarchy and inherited a multimillion-dollar fortune
Abigail Kawananakoa was, to para-
phrase Rudyard Kipling, the woman
who would be queen. Yet she admitted
that even if the Hawaiian monarchy had
not been overthrown by American
businessmen in January 1893, there was
no guarantee that she would have
ascended the throne in the Iolani Palace
— the only royal palace on US territory,
which was built in 1882 by her ancestor
King Kalakaua — as her cousin would
have been in line to rule ahead of her
under the rules of succession.
Kawananakoa held no official role in
Hawaii but claimed to be its “last prin-
cess” and was regarded by many as
such, forging a reputation as the living
symbol of the bygone Hawaiian monar-
chy. She could claim to have sat on the
throne, as it were, having posed on it in
1998 for Life magazine. Several of its
fragile threads were damaged during
the photoshoot and she was forced to
resign as president of the Friends of
Iolani Palace, a post she had occupied
for a quarter of a century. “They asked
for my head and I gave it to them,” she
declared melodramatically.
Much of her time was dedicated to
equestrian pursuits and she specialised
in quarter horses, an American breed
that excels at sprinting short distances.
One of them, A Classic Dash, won
$1 million in 1993 in the All-American
Futurity in New Mexico, while another,
Evening Snow, became the first quarter
horse to run the quarter mile in under
21 seconds in 1996.
Kawananakoa was also known for
her philanthropy, which was often
spontaneous rather than planned.
Every morning she read the newspaper
from cover to cover and then contacted
those most in need, particularly fami-
lies struggling to pay medical expenses
for critically ill children. She also pro-
vided scholarships for native Hawaiian
students and, having patched up her
relationship with the palace, became a
key benefactor.
At times there was an element of mis-
chief, however. On one occasion she
successfully bid $100,000 at a fund-
raising auction for the right to host a
fancy dinner on the palace terrace but
later refused to host it, saying that her
Paul Bidwell
Archaeologist behind the excavation of Hadrian’s Wall on Tyneside, as well as the reconstruction of the Roman buildings there
The epitaph si monumentum requiris
circumspice — if you seek his monu-
ment look around you — might well
have been applied to the Roman
archaeologist Paul Bidwell. On taking
up a museum position in urban Tyne-
side in the early 1980s, Bidwell courted
controversy by arguing that the Roman
buildings that once stood there should
be reconstructed to full scale on the
original sites, to make the poorly pre-
served forts at the eastern end of Hadri-
an’s Wall comprehensible to visitors.
Consents were obtained after often
bitter struggles and in one case a
lengthy public inquiry. The reconstruc-
tions are now one of the key visitor
attractions of the Tyneside part of
Hadrian’s Wall. They include, at South
Shields, a fort gateway and a palatial
Roman commanding officer’s house
and, at Wallsend, what is still the only
full-height reconstruction of part of
Hadrian’s Wall itself, complete with
walkway and battlements — in
informed defiance of the prevalent
counter view that Bidwell had found on
his arrival in the north that the wall had
no fighting-platform. Few archaeolo-
gists have had such a permanent
impact on an urban landscape.
Finding the remains of Hadrian’s
goal had been to ensure that it never
happened and describing the idea of
renting out the palace as sacrilegious
and crass.
When a Catholic bishop asked for
$100,000 to mark the canonisation of
St Marianne in 2011 she offered to con-
tribute but only if there could be a photo
of Pope Benedict XVI accepting her
cheque. She was disappointed when the
bishop agreed. “She was really hoping
they would tell her to buzz off,” her law-
yer said. Meanwhile, she was happy
when the Dalai Lama refused a gift in
2012. “She was so pleased that some-
body actually had some integrity,” the
lawyer added.
Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike Kawanan-
akoa was born in Honolulu in 1926, the
daughter of Lydia Liliuokalani Kawa-
nanakoa, who was known as Princess
Liliuokalani despite being born after
the overthrow of the monarchy, and her
first husband, William Ellerbrock, a
sugar-plantation heir.
Every morning she read
the newspaper and then
contacted those in need
The family’s wealth had been accu-
mulated by her great-grandfather
James Campbell, a Scots-Irish industri-
alist who made his fortune from sugar
and land and had married a local
woman. His daughter, also called Abi-
gail, married Prince David, heir to the
Hawaiian throne; they were Kawanan-
akoa’s grandparents.
After Prince David’s death his widow
adopted the six-year-old Abigail. “It
was a strictly Hawaiian arrangement,”
she said in a 1985 interview. “The eldest
child always went to the grandmother.”
By effectively moving up a generation
she perhaps had a stronger claim to the
throne than her three cousins, Edward
(“Dudie”), Virginia and Esther, who
were all raised with her and who prede-
ceased her. More recently she told
Honolulu Magazine that had the mon-
archy been restored it would have
passed to Edward, but added: “Of
course, I would be the power behind the
Wall undervalued when he arrived in
the region, Bidwell fought unflaggingly
to persuade planning authorities that
the wall should be excavated and dis-
played wherever the opportunity arose.
It was on Tyneside that he made one
of his most remarkable discoveries — a
previously unsuspected defensive
entanglement between the Wall and its
frontal ditch — which he argued indi-
cated that it must have been possible to
engage attackers from the wall-top.
Born in 1949 in Bournemouth, Paul
Thomas Bidwell was the son of Peter
Bidwell, a physiotherapist, and Jane
Woodrow, a nurse. He read law at Exet-
er University, but instead of pursuing a
Kawananakoa in 1954 with a portrait of Kaiulani, Hawaii’s last heir apparent
throne, there’s no question about that.”
Their grandmother was Hawaii’s
reigning hostess, entertaining heads of
states and living in a manner that re-
flected her regal birth. “We had a pretty
strict household. Grandmother never
let us forget our heritage,” she recalled.
Her large house was later sold to the
Hawaii Conference of Seventh-Day
Adventists. “I miss that big place and
the people who used to come there,” she
said, recalling how Hawaiians gathered
to serenade her grandmother on her
birthday every January.
She was educated at Punahou, a pres-
tigious prep school in Honolulu, arriv-
ing each morning with a chauffeur in
livery and a governess. The English
nannies imported by her grandmother
only lasted three weeks. “Grandmother
had to give in to Japanese maids,” she
said, adding that “collectively we could
be very naughty”.
Her parents divorced and her mother
married Clark Lee, a journalist who was
assigned to China. They took Abigail
along and she attended the Shanghai
American School. She was sent home in
Paul Bidwell in
1983 working on
the site of a
Roman bridge in
Chollerford,
Northumberland.
The bridge,
which was built
in about AD 220,
crosses the River
Tyne not far from
Chesters Fort on
Hadrian’s Wall
legal career, as his family had hoped, he
joined the Exeter Museums Field
Archaeological Unit at the beginning of
a six-year campaign that uncovered the
baths of the Roman legionary fortress
at Exeter.
He arrived in the north in 1980 to ex-
cavate inside the Roman fort at Vindol-
anda, amid some suspicion: here was
someone from outside the tight-knit
academic community of Hadrian’s
Wall, an unknown southerner, under-
taking an ambitious excavation of one
of its best known sites. The promptly
published report, The Roman Fort of
Vindolanda (1985), was the first book-
length report of a single excavation on
1939, just before the outbreak of war in
Europe, and completed her schooling
at Notre Dame convent school in
Belmont, California, returning to
Hawaii towards the end of the war.
Her grandmother insisted that she
must work and she joined Bishop Bank,
a forerunner of First Hawaiian Bank,
and then the Territorial Legislature.
Previously she had undertaken a series
of holiday jobs, including cleaning
horse stables at a ranch on the Big
Island that fuelled her love of horses.
Before long she had taken off for
Europe with her cousins, planning to
spend three months exploring the con-
tinent. “It took six years,” she added.
Denby Fawcett, a friend and journal-
ist, recalled: “Kekau [as she was known]
was a beautiful blonde woman, a skilled
rider and movie star-like presence who
was often at the stables and in the park
to watch the polo matches and polo
player Peter Perkins, with whom she
was in love.” Perkins had moved to
Hawaii in 1952 for polo. Their
engagement was announced in the
press, but the wedding never happened.
the wall. It displayed a new level of
structural and artefactual analysis and
challenged generally held beliefs.
In 1983 he joined Tyne & Wear
Museum Service as an archaeologist
based at Arbeia, South Shields’s Roman
fort. He remained there for the rest of
his career, retiring as a senior manager
of the museum service in 2013.
At South Shields he initiated a pro-
gramme of large-scale excavation that
would continue for 30 years. Bidwell
won widespread, though far from
universal, support for the policy of sup-
plementing excavation with recon-
struction because the reconstructions
were designed with academic rigour
only after exhaustive excavation of the
site and the gathering of every scrap of
available evidence.
The ever-growing army of paid pro-
fessionals and volunteers that Bidwell
assembled for the work at South
Shields and Wallsend included local
people from diverse backgrounds. His
pioneering mobilisation of the sur-
rounding population in his excavations
formed the template for what would
now be called community archaeology,
an achievement recognised in his
award of an OBE in 2012.
Although best known as an archaeol-
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
After her mother’s death in 1969
Kawananakoa began to receive large
sums from the Campbell estate, much
of which was spent on quarter horses.
Although they were successful, the
prize money was a fraction of her outlay
and in 1997 she filed for bankruptcy
protection. “She had lavished millions
of dollars on the horses. She also spent
money on friends, buying them homes
and treating them to trips and enter-
tainment,” Fawcett explained, adding
that she also owned expensive stables
in Hawaii, California and Washington.
The terms of the estate dictated that
it was to be wound up 20 years after the
death of James Campbell’s last daugh-
ter. Beatrice Campbell died in 1987 and
in 2007 Kawananakoa inherited an es-
timated fortune of $215 million (then
£108 million), which helped not only to
clear her debts and back taxes but left
her able to indulge in her philanthropy.
“All I can say is for the rest of my life and
whatever means I have at my disposal I
will use for the benefit of the Hawaiian
people,” she told Fawcett.
In 2017 she married Veronica Worth,
her companion of 20 years. Around the
same time she suffered a stroke and Jim
Wright, her lawyer, asked the courts to
intervene, suggesting that Worth had
ulterior motives. That led to a bitter
legal battle with Worth claiming that
the lawyer was trying to take control of
the estate for himself. After three years
of hearings a judge put Wright in
charge of her affairs.
Although the Hawaiian monarchy
had long since vanished, Kawananakoa
was in favour of its restoration for cere-
monial purposes. “Many countries in
Europe still have a royal family, even if
it has no power. People there look up to
their royalty; many Hawaiians still look
up to the few of us left who are related
to the Hawaiian monarchy,” she said.
“We were a country of our own at one
time. The least we could do is restore a
living symbol of that country, with all its
grace and dignity.”
Abigail Kawananakoa, philanthropist and
Hawaiian princess, was born on April 23,
1926. She died of complications from a
stroke on December 11, 2022, aged 96
ogist of Hadrian’s Wall and the Roman
army, Bidwell’s research interests were
wider. He was equally at home with the
“civil” archaeology of southern Britain
and remained active in his old stamping
ground in the southwest. Unusually he
was both a talented excavator and a
renowned pottery specialist.
He was a Stakhonovite worker, pro-
ducing an immense number of reports
and research papers, and several
successful popular introductions, nota-
bly Roman Forts in Britain (1997). He
never married, but leaves a partner,
Hilary Fawcett, with whom he formed
a happy relationship in later life.
For all his team-building ability and
fearlessness in fighting for archaeologi-
cal causes, Bidwell was essentially an
introvert. He was happiest when
immersed in his books or in classical
music or engaged in serious discussion
with a few archaeological friends down
the pub.
Paul Bidwell OBE, archaeologist, was
born on June 19, 1949. He died after a
short illness on November 5, 2022,
aged 73
Email: obituaries@thetimes.co.uk
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Lives remembered
Fay Weldon their house and starting again,
freed from all responsibilities.
Richard Co- On another novel, after I
hen writes: I plaintively objected to the hero-
read with ine’s husband (with whom I
great sad- shared the same first name)
ness of the being a caricatured wimp, she
death of Fay responded by minimal rewrites
Weldon but having him commit suicide
(obituary, on the final page.
January 4). I
was her editor from Praxis, her Julia Claydon, former librarian of
1978 novel, to The Heart of the Bromley House, writes: Fay
Country in 1989, and counted Weldon, when asked in 2001,
her a loyal friend. Her The Life kindly agreed to be the second
and Loves of a She-Devil went honorary female president of
through five editorial rewrites, the historic Bromley House
at the end of which she asked if Library in Nottingham. It was
we couldn’t go on with a sixth or established in 1816 as a subscrip-
seventh, as she was enjoying the tion library and she was the first
process of playing around with president of national acclaim.
what she had written so much. It She did a great deal to raise its
was a novel, she told me, she was profile, attended many events
inspired to write because she and wrote wittily for the news-
believed that most women with letter. After her two year stint
a husband and family cherished she had so enjoyed the experi-
the fantasy of burning down ence she recommended us to
The perfect gift
for new parents
‘She has her father’s eyes and face
shape but her mother’s lips and nose’
PIPPA SUZANNE DRACOTT WAS BORN ON MAY 28, 2020, AT BROOMFIELD HOSPITAL
IN CHELMSFORD, ESSEX, TO CLAIRE, 30, AND GARY DRACOTT, 30
Celebrate the arrival of a newborn in
Readers’ Lives, a service in contracted tributes
Call 020 7782 5583 or email
readerslives@thetimes.co.uk
our next president, Penelope
Lively.
Jane Corry writes: Fay Weldon
was encouraging to would-be
authors. In the Nineties I was
sent to interview her by a
national newspaper. We bonded
over a packet of chocolate rais-
ins, which she was eating when I
arrived (she kept inviting me to
have one and it seemed rude to
decline.) At the end of the inter-
view, I shyly asked if she’d mind
reading the first chapter of a
novel I was writing. Fay kindly
agreed and gave me some
advice. Some years later, when I
was published, she gave me a
quote for the front cover. I was
also a regular guest at her gar-
den parties. One might find
oneself seated next to a vicar on
one side and an LA film produc-
er on the other. She also came to
speak at two weeks’ notice to
our Sidmouth Literary Festival.
50%
discount for
subscribers
David Gold
Stuart Harri-
son writes: In
1998 when
Oxford
United were
in free fall
from the old
First Divi-
sion after
Robert Maxwell’s death, David
Gold (obituary, January 4) ar-
rived at the old Manor Ground
in his chauffeur driven Rolls-
Royce as chairman of Birming-
ham City. Oxford supporters,
who had formed FOUL, Fight-
ing for Oxford United’s Life,
released a pop record to raise
funds. I asked Mr Gold if he
would buy one; he bought 100.
@ AUDLAND
Court Circular
St James’s Palace
10th January, 2023
The Princess Royal this
morning departed from
Heathrow Airport, London, for
Cyprus and was received upon
arrival this evening at Larnaca
International Airport by the
British High Commissioner to
the Republic of Cyprus (His
Excellency Mr Irfan Siddiq).
Her Royal Highness
afterwards attended a
Reception and Dinner given by
the British High Commissioner
at the Residence in Nicosia.
Commander Anne Sullivan
RN is in attendance.
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Births, Marriages and Deaths
THE HOLY God asks, “Who compares
with me? Is anyone my equal?” Look at the
evening sky! Who created the stars? Who
gave them each a name? Who leads them
like an army? The LORD is so powerful
that none of the stars are ever missing.
Isaiah 40:25-26 (CEV)
Bible verses are provided by the
Bible Society
Births
JENKINS on 20th December 2022 to
Nadia Tawfik-Jenkins (née Tawfik) and
David Alan Jenkins, a son, Casper Harold
Tawfik Jenkins, brother to Layla. Second
grandchild to Denise and Adel Tawfik and
Miranda and Laurence Jenkins.
Forthcoming Marriages
MR T. J. MASON
AND MISS O. K. GURNEY
The engagement is announced between
Thomas, eldest son of Christopher and
Johanna Mason of Whittlebury, South
Northamptonshire, and Olivia “Libby”,
daughter of Jonathan and Margaret Gurney
of Wicken, South Northamptonshire.
Deaths
Claire Elizabeth died on 23rd
December 2022 surrounded by her
family after a short illness. Beloved
sister of Rupert and William and aunt
of Edwin and Esmé. Funeral at St
Peter’s, Greatworth OX17 2DU, at 11am
on Friday 27th January: and then at
St Peter’s, Heversham, Cumbria, at
11.30 am on Saturday 28th January,
where she will be laid to rest
alongside her parents.
BARTLEET Betty Evelyn (née Ramsey)
died peacefully on 28th December 2022,
aged 85, after a brief illness. Beloved wife
of Tony (deceased), sister of Harold (Jack),
mother of Grahame, grandmother of Ned.
Funeral at Efford Crematorium at 2.45pm
on 19th January. No flowers. Donations to
Alzheimer’s Society.
BARTLETT Gwyneth (née Glynne-Jones)
died peacefully on 16th December 2022,
aged 88, after a full and active life. No
flowers. Donations, if desired, to the Simon
Trust (Autism) CIO or Help in Elstead.
Funeral on 12th January 2023. She leaves
two daughters, four grandchildren and
many friends and family who have happy
memories to treasure.
BONN Edwina Sylvia, Dame Grand Cross,
with Collar, Royal Order of the Drum, of
Milton Lodge and formerly of Doverhay
and Jersey, CI, died peacefully, aged 89, at
Pitlochry on 8th January. Formerly the
Viscountess Savernake (née de Winton-
Wills), daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir
Edward de Winton-Wills, 4th Baronet of
Hazelwood, Laird of Meggernie Castle,
Scots Guards (commander; Royal Garrison
of HM King George VI at Balmoral Castle;
1943) widow of Major Christopher Leslie
Leo Bonn, Welsh Guards; a former extra
equerry to HRH The Prince Philip, Duke of
Edinburgh; and adjutant, Eton College; dear
sister of Venetia and beloved mother of
David, Sylvia, Carina, Philip, Camilla, Melissa
and Melanie. Funeral to be held at
Innerwick Church, Glenlyon (inquiries to
Gaulds of Crieff).
CHERRY John Loraine died peacefully on
28th December 2022, aged 83. Adored
husband of Scilla, father of Tarquin and
Amanda, and Grampa to Kitty, Zander and
Charlie. Family funeral. A celebration of
John’s life will be held on Tuesday 30th
May at noon at St Mary’s Church, Iping
GU29 0PF. Donations to Alzheimer’s
Society. Inquiries: W Bryder & Sons,
Petworth, 01798 342174.
DOWSE Deirdre (née Cleverley) on 3rd
January 2023, aged 91, of Charlton,
Northamptonshire. Peacefully at home on
3rd January 2023. Beloved wife of the late
Michael, mother and grandmother. All
funeral inquiries c/o Edd Frost &
Daughters, family funeral directors of
Banbury. Tel: 01295 40 40 04.
GUEST Juliet (née James) died in her
sleep on 19th December 2022, aged 91.
Adored wife of the late Patrick, greatly
loved mother of Peter, Matthew and David,
grandmother and great-grandmother.
Funeral to be held at Colchester
Crematorium on Friday 20th January, 11am.
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Birkin & Sons, Coggeshall.
HILL James Richard Ledger, peacefully on
4th January 2023 with family close by.
Beloved husband of Marie-Thérèse, father
of Christopher and Philip, grandfather to
Sebastian, Alexander and Clementine.
Private family funeral at Hursley Church on
Thursday 19th January. Donations to
Brendoncare. steelsfunerals.co.uk
JOANES
Andrew died peacefully on 31st
December 2022, aged 90. Much-loved
husband, father and grandfather.
Funeral at Christ’s Chapel of God’s Gift
at Dulwich on 24th January at 11am.
JONES Mary (Molly) died peacefully on
29th December 2022, aged 98. Beloved
widow of Fred, dearest mother to Rod,
Chris and Tim, and much-loved mother-in-
law, grandmother and great-grandmother.
Funeral at Monken Hadley on 23rd January.
No flowers please, donations to Cancer
Research UK.
LIVINGSTONE Dr Elizabeth Anne (Betsy)
died peacefully on 1st January 2023 at
Iffley Care Home. The funeral will be held at
Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, on
Candlemas Day, 2nd February 2023 at
2.30pm. All inquiries to S&R Childs, Rose
Hill, Oxford. Tel: 01865 772780.
OWEN Brigadier Michael (late RAOC) died
on 31st December 2022, aged 86, after a life
well lived. Much-loved uncle and friend.
Cremation followed by service at St Anne’s
Church, Bagshot, 11.15am on January 30th.
No flowers please, but donations if wished
to myaware.org.
PURVES James Hamilton died peacefully
at home on Tuesday 27th December. A
loving husband to Angela and father of
Annabel and Nick.
REMINICK Charles Gilbert died
peacefully at home on Friday 6th January
2023. Born 5th August 1930 to Philip and
Sadie Reminick in Brooklyn, New York.
Retired senior partner of Reminick, Aarons
& Co, certified public accountants. Retired
treasurer of the New York Friars’ Club. He
leaves his devoted wife Dorothy and his
beloved Yorkie, Maggie May.
RICHARDS John Corley died on 22nd
December 2022, aged 68. Dear partner of
Minna, brother of Sarah (Sally), son of the
late Ray and Patricia Richards.
SKELDING Simon of Somerset, formerly
Cornwall, died peacefully on 26th
December 2022, aged 78. A dearly loved
husband, father, best friend and super
gramps. Funeral service at St Andrew’s
Church, Compton Dundon, Somerset, on
Monday 16th January 2023 at 11am. No
flowers. Donations payable to Prostate
Cancer UK c/o Forsey and Son Funeral
Directors, Pound Pool, Somerton, TA11 6LZ.
STUART Margaret-Anne, Viscountess
Stuart of Findhorn, died peacefully in
London on 5th January 2023. Funeral
service at the Brompton Oratory, London,
SW7 2RP, at 11am on Tuesday 24th January
2023.
In Memoriam — Private
MOSSMAN TIM Always in our hearts
and thoughts.
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the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 55

Weather
Today Rain and blustery showers spreading eastwards, heavy and wintry in places. Max 11C (52F), min -2C (28F) Weather Eye
Paul Simons
Around Britain Five days ahead Wind speed Sea state Orkney Shetland
Key: b=bright, c=cloud, d=drizzle, pc=partly cloudy Generally unsettled with 34 Calm
du=dull, f=fair, fg=fog, h=hail, m=mist, r=rain, (mph) 24 6
sh=showers, sl=sleet, sn=snow, s=sun, t=thunder rain and showers, wintry Slight 24
*=previous day **=data not available in the north and windy Temperature Moderate
Rough
Temp C Rain mm Sun hr* at times 28 (degrees C)
7
midday yesterday 24 hrs to 5pm yesterday
6 30
5 R 6.8 1.2
Tomorrow Flood alerts and warnings
Aberdeen
Cloudy with showery rain across
Aberporth 12 C 9.6 0.4
southern and western Britain and At 17:00 on Tuesday there were 28 5
Anglesey 12 C 13.0 3.7 Ireland, wintry over higher ground in flood warnings and 97 flood alerts in 4
Aviemore 6 C 0.4 0.1 Scotland. Drier and a little brighter in England, 34 flood alerts and one flood
the northeast during the morning.

G
Barnstaple 14 C 2.8 ** 35 C F reenland might not be an
warning in Wales. There were six Aberdeen
Bedford 9 C 5.4 ** Max 13C, min -2C 35 95
flood alerts and no flood warnings in obvious place for
Belfast 12 C 9.4 0.8
Scotland. 30 86
Birmingham 10 C 6.6 **
For further information and updates 25 77 farming, an Arctic nation
Bournemouth 13 C 4.4 3.7 7 NORTH largely covered by
Bridlington 6 C 6.8 **
in England visit flood-warning- 20 68
information.service.gov.uk, for Wales SEA 15 59 glaciers with bitterly cold
Bristol 12 C 5.4 1.9
naturalresources.wales/flooding and 5
Camborne 13 M 6.2 **
10 for Scotland SEPA.org.uk Edinburgh
10 50
weather. But the southern coastal
Cardiff 12 C 10.8 2.1 35 Glasgow 5 41
Edinburgh 7 C 3.2 1.0
12
0 32
fringe of the country supports grass,
Eskdalemuir 4 R 18.6 **
4 26 -5 23 flowers and shrubs where Norse
Glasgow 5 R 16.4 0.9
12
-10 14 settlers established farms to raise
Hereford 12 C 4.2 ** Londonderry
Herstmonceux 9 R 8.4 1.6 ATLANTIC
-15 5 livestock 1,200 years ago.
Ipswich 7 R 8.2 **
Newcastle In modern times rising
OCEAN Carlisle
Isle of Man 11 DU 15.0 3.2
Friday Belfast temperatures in southern Greenland
Isle of Wight 12 C 6.6 ** 7
Jersey 12 PC 3.2 1.6 Staying mainly dry in the south with 7 7 have led to an increase in the
sunny spells, but a few blustery
Keswick 8 R 27.2 ** showers in northern and western areas
7
rk
York growing season by about two weeks,
Kinloss 6 C 2.6 0.7 and near the east coast. from late May to September, and
33
Leeds 8 R 20.2 ** Max 11C, min -3C
Lerwick 6 C 4.6 0.4 Manchester Hull
although the 60,000 population of
Leuchars 5 R 2.4 0.0 Liverpoo
Liverpool 8 Greenland relies on food imports,
Lincoln 7 D 7.8 ** Galway IRISH 31
the changing climate seemed to
Liverpool 9 R 14.2 ** 7 SEA Sheffield
London 9 D 4.2 1.9 Dublin
Llandudno
9 offer fresh opportunities for
Lyneham 11 C 5.6 3.1 growers. Farms can grow potatoes,
Manchester 9 R 18.4 0.9
Margate 8 C 0.0 **
8 6
Shrewsbury
Nottingham cabbages and some other crops, and
Milford Haven 12 C 9.8 ** 10
Norwich
the yield of potatoes per hectare is
Newcastle 5 R 9.2 ** 37 7 only slightly less than for Finland.
Nottingham 8 R 13.6 1.0 Birmingham
Orkney 6 C 6.2 1.4 11
Cork
Cambridge Trials are under way to grow
Oxford 10 C 3.6 ** 7 carrots, turnips and barley for feed
Swansea Oxford 9
Plymouth ** ** 5.4 ** and there is even a commercial
Portland 12 M 3.0 ** Cardiff
Scilly, St Mary’s 13 M 2.4 **
Saturday Channel Islands CELTIC 10 beehive that supplies honey, with
Shoreham 10 D 6.6 1.4 Cloudy with rain in many areas at first.
SEA Bristol London bees that thrive on wildflowers.
Rain clearing eastwards to leave a
Shrewsbury 9 D 9.8 4.3 10
Snowdonia 10 R 47.8 **
mixture of sunny spells and blustery
showers, most frequent and wintry in Southampton
Sheep and cattle are kept in barns
11 over winter and let out to graze
Southend 8 R 4.6 1.3 the north and west. eter
Exeter
South Uist 7 PC 5.4 ** Max 12C, min -4C 29 Plymouth Brighton grasslands in summer. With the ice
Stornoway 6 R 4.6 **
Tiree 9 R 14.8 0.3
cover melting, more land is
Whitehaven 6 C 41.2 0.4 5
11 becoming exposed for farming.
CHANNEL 32
Wick 6 R 1.2 ** 38 Farmers had hoped that the
Yeovilton 13 C 1.4 1.9
steadily rising temperatures and
6
11 General situation: Heavy and blustery spells of rain. Heavy at times with Argyll, Cen Highland, NW Scotland, shorter winters would spur a growth
The world showers spreading eastwards. hail and thunder and wintry over N Isles, NE Scotland: Scattered wintry in agriculture but all is not well in
All readings local midday yesterday
London, SE Eng, E Anglia, E Mids, higher ground. Drier later. Strong west showers. Strong to gale force west to the new climate regime of
Alicante 19 S Madeira 19 B 12 Cen S Eng, Channel Is: Sunny spells to southwesterly winds, gale force southwesterly winds. Maximum
Amsterdam 6 S Madrid 9 S
Greenland. The weather has become
at first, but turning cloudier with along the coast. Maximum 11C (52F), 9C (48F), minimum -2C (28F).
Athens 13 R Malaga 20 S
showers or spells of rain spreading in, minimum 2C (36F). Republic of Ireland, N Ireland: Sunny more unpredictable, with summers
Auckland 19 C Mallorca 17 PC
perhaps heavy with hail and thunder. NE Eng, Borders, Moray Firth, intervals, but rather cloudy with that are sometimes dry and other
Bahrain 17 PC Malta 15 PC Sunday
Bangkok 30 PC Melbourne 20 PC Remaining unsettled and chilly with
Freshening southwesterly winds, Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Dundee: scattered blustery showers, some years too wet from rain. Serious
Barbados 28 PC Mexico City 21 S blustery wintry showers in many strong at times and gusty. Maximum Bright spells at first with blustery heavy with hail and thunder and drought began in the summer of
areas. Some drier and brighter spells 11C (52F), minimum 4C (39F). showers spreading in from the west, perhaps wintry at times. Fresh
Barcelona 14 PC Miami 26 PC
in the southeast. Wales, SW Eng, Midlands, Cen N Eng, heavy and wintry at times. Fresh to southwesterly winds, strong to gale
2006 when it did not rain for three
Beijing 3 S Milan 14 S
Beirut 17 PC Mombasa 27 PC Max 10C, min -5C NW Eng, Lake District, SW Scotland, strong southwesterly winds. Maximum force along the coast. Maximum months and almost killed the grass.
Belgrade 6 B Montreal -2 SN IoM, Glasgow: Scattered showers or 7C (45F), minimum -2C (28F). 11C (52F), minimum 1C (34F). Dry summers also left dire
Berlin 7 C Moscow -14 S shortages of hay for winter feed so
Bermuda 19 B Mumbai 31 S
Bordeaux 13 C Munich 5 DU
4 Tides Noon today farmers have had to import animal
HIGH
Brussels 7 R Nairobi 25 B Tidal predictions. feed.
7 PC 11 PC Heights in metres 1048
Bucharest Naples
4
HIGH In stark contrast, the past two
Budapest 6 R New Orleans 15 S Today Ht Ht 1016 1032 1040
Buenos Aires 31 S New York 7 PC 6 Aberdeen 03:54 3.8 15:53 4.0 summers have been exceptionally
1024 1032 1024
Cairo 18 PC Nice 16 S Avonmouth 09:38 11.8 21:59 11.5 LOW 992 rainy. In this unpredictable new
Calcutta 25 S Nicosia 18 PC 1008
0 B 8
Belfast 01:32 3.1 13:47 3.5
976 climate many farmers have simply
Canberra 28 S Oslo Cardiff 09:22 11.0 21:44 10.8 1000
Cape Town 24 PC Paris 6 D 08:08 5.1 20:31 4.8 1000 984
given up and the number of farms
Devonport
Chicago 5 PC Perth 34 S
Dover 01:20 6.3 13:31 6.0 992
1008 LOW has declined sharply in recent years.
Copenhagen 7 PC Prague 5 B 1016 These changes also reflect the
Monday Dublin --:-- -- --:-- --
Corfu 11 B Reykjavik 3 S
Delhi 13 FG Riga 1 R Another unsettled day with showers Falmouth 07:39 4.8 19:59 4.5 1016 widespread changes in weather
or longer spells and of rain, wintry Greenock 03:01 3.1 14:53 3.6 LOW 1024
Dubai 27 S Rio de Janeiro 25 C
over higher ground in the north. Cold front systems across Arctic regions, with
Dublin 13 B Riyadh 18 PC Harwich 01:51 3.7 14:18 3.6
Faro 17 B Rome 13 S
Max 9C, min -6C Holyhead 00:39 5.0 12:51 5.3 1032 Warm front more rain, storms, rising
Florence 10 S San Francisco 16 C Hull 08:50 6.6 20:49 6.9 Occluded front temperatures and melting ice.
Frankfurt 7 B Santiago 28 S Leith 05:08 5.0 17:17 5.1 HIGH Trough
Geneva 7 PC São Paulo 20 D Liverpool 01:24 8.4 13:36 8.6
Gibraltar 19 PC Seoul 4 S 4 London Bridge 04:09 6.5 16:30 6.6
Synoptic situation Highs and lows Hours of darkness
Helsinki -4 SN Seychelles 29 PC Lowestoft --:-- -- 12:17 2.2 24hrs to 5pm yesterday Aberdeen 16:21-08:10
Hong Kong 18 R Singapore 27 SH Milford Haven 08:41 6.4 21:01 6.1 Low pressure to the north and Belfast 16:51-08:10
Honolulu 24 PC St Petersburg -8 SN high pressure to the south of Warmest: Chivenor,
6 Morecambe 01:35 8.4 13:47 8.7 Devon, 14.1C Birmingham 16:46-07:43
Istanbul 13 S Stockholm 2 DU
7 Newhaven 01:28 6.2 13:35 6.1 Britain and Ireland will lead to a Coldest: Aonach Mor, -3.1C Cardiff 16:56-07:43
Jerusalem 18 S Sydney 23 PC blustery westerly wind flowing Wettest: Capel Curig, 47.8mm
Newquay 07:33 6.5 19:54 6.2 Exeter 17:01-07:41
Johannesburg 27 S Tel Aviv 18 S in from the Atlantic. This will Sunniest: Hawarden,
Oban 08:07 3.8 20:31 3.5 Glasgow 16:38-08:10
Kuala Lumpur 27 SH Tenerife 22 PC Clwyd, 4.5hrs*
5 Penzance 07:07 5.1 19:25 4.8 bring generally mild and windy Liverpool 16:46-07:52
Kyiv ** ** Tokyo 10 PC conditions. Several troughs will
Portsmouth 02:00 4.4 13:58 4.3 Sun and moon London 16:44-07:31
Lanzarote 21 PC Vancouver 8 C be the focal point for heavy For Greenwich
Shoreham 01:28 5.8 13:33 5.6 Manchester 16:43-07:49
Las Palmas 21 PC Venice 10 S blustery showers with hail Sun rises: 08.01
The Times weather Newcastle 16:32-07:54
Lima 20 M Vienna 7 B Southampton 01:38 4.3 02:25 4.3 Sun sets: 16.13
08:46 8.5 21:08 8.2
and thunder, especially across Moon rises: 20.57
Norwich 16:33-07:31
Lisbon 15 D Warsaw 6 B page is provided Swansea
Wales and southern and central Moon sets: 10.42 Thu Penzance 17:11-07:47
Los Angeles 14 M Washington 9 PC Tees 06:17 5.0 18:20 5.1
19 S 6 PC
by Weatherquest England during the day. Last quarter: January 15th Sheffield 16:40-07:46
Luxor Zurich Weymouth 09:05 1.9 21:30 1.6
56
Sport
‘I pushed too
hard and lost
all perspective’
Tommy Fleetwood lost
his mum last year but
has found the strength
to chase majors in 2023,
he tells Rick Broadbent
In the aftermath of his first win for
three years, Tommy Fleetwood posted
a social media message. “The moment
of victory is so beautiful but far too
short to live for,” he wrote in November.
It was a profound line that hinted at
head-wrecking fare on the course and
heart-breaking days off it.
Starting on Friday Fleetwood, 31,
captains Great Britain & Ireland
against Continental Europe in the Hero
Cup, the new three-day team tourna-
ment in Abu Dhabi. His opposite
number is Francesco Molinari. The
duo merged into “Moliwood” in 2018
when they were the stars of the Ryder
Cup triumph in Versailles, even ending
up in bed together for another social
media moment as they rated each
other’s performance. The hits have
since been tempered by misses.
Molinari, 40, almost won the Masters
in 2019 but succumbed to Tiger
Woods’s tidal wave on the Sunday. Two
years later he had dropped from the
world’s top ten to beyond the top 200.
Fleetwood’s struggles have been far less
dramatic, but he slumped out of the top
ten during the pandemic, lost his US
PGA Tour card in 2021 and was ranked
as low as No 50 last February. It meant
that his win at the Nedbank Golf
Challenge in South Africa represented
a significant comeback.
Days after the Open at St Andrews,
when he finished strongly for a share of
fourth place, Fleetwood’s beloved
mother, Sue, died of cancer, aged 60,
and he did not play again until the
BMW PGA at Wentworth in
September.
“Everybody has things going on in
their lives,” he says. “These are tough
times for everybody. Lots of people
would ask about my mum because my
parents are such a big part of my life and
people had not seen them around, but I
didn’t want to ruin anyone else’s day by
saying, ‘She’s got cancer and she’s really
Rees-Zammit likely to miss first two Six Nations games
Rugby union Louis Rees-Zammit
appears increasingly unlikely to be fit
for Wales’s opening Six Nations
games against Ireland and Scotland
next month.
The Gloucester wing, 21, suffered
an ankle injury during his team’s
Gallagher Premiership defeat away to
Leicester Tigers on Christmas Eve
and although he is making progress
in his recovery, the game against
Ireland in Cardiff on February 4 looks
to be too soon for him to be ready.
“He is doing all right,” George
Skivington, the Gloucester head
coach, said. “I think he will be
struggling.’ I love playing golf and it’s a
great way of staying in the present, but
what I wanted to do after the Open was
[be with] family.
“She will always be there. And in
South Africa it was one of those
moments when she was at the forefront
of my mind, so it was emotional. It’s a
place where I have fond memories and
so I drew on that and thought I could do
her proud.”
Amid the power struggles, inflating
prize funds and the tit-for-tat of glum-
faced millionaires, Fleetwood knows
golf is his life’s work, but not his life. “My
dad’s done really well,” he says. “He’s
not the type to pick up the phone
if he’s having a sad moment
or tell anyone if he’s strug-
gling behind closed doors, but
I am constantly impressed by
how he has handled things
and who he is. He’s coming
out in the next few weeks and
that’s great.”
There have been many
promising signs for Fleetwood
over the past 12 months. Back
up to No 24 in the rankings, he
had a good year at the majors,
with a fifth place at the US
PGA Championship and 14th
at the Masters in addition to his
run at St Andrews.
And the Hero Cup, a revamp
of the Seve Trophy with Friday four-
balls, two sets of foursomes on the
Saturday and Sunday singles, is a nice
opener to a Ryder Cup year. The
drubbing by the United States at
Whistling Straits in 2021 could be re-
dubbed the “sore from the shore” for
those who experienced it, but the
make-up of the teams who will gather
in Italy at the end of September is mired
in off-course detail.
Depending on boardroom discus-
sions and the Sport Resolutions hear-
ing into DP World Tour sanctions
against LIV Golf players, it is feasible
that Europe could be permitted a con-
tingent from the Saudi-backed tour
while the United States are not.
Fleetwood echoed Jon Rahm’s
remark that both teams should share a
selection policy. “Is it Europe against
America or the European Tour against
the PGA Tour? I’m not sure. But
whatever the rule is, it should probably
available mid-Six Nations. That is a
rough guide and not set in stone,
though.”
Rees-Zammit, who has won 22
Wales caps, will sit out Gloucester’s
Heineken Champions Cup games
against Leinster on Saturday and
Bordeaux Bègles on January 21.
He would be a major attacking
weapon for Warren Gatland, the
Wales head coach, who is due to
name his Six Nations squad next
week. After the Ireland game, Wales
take on Scotland at Murrayfield seven
days later before hosting England on
February 25.
His rise and fall and rise
Fleetwood's year-end
rankings
23rd
2014 16 18 20 22
be the same for both teams,” Fleetwood
says.
“We are in a transitional period [in
Europe]. A few guys who have been in
the team for so long might not be play-
ing, or even involved. That might be a
big miss, might not be, but I think Luke
[Donald] will be an amazing captain
and I have a lot of faith in the vice-cap-
Broady out of Melbourne
Tennis Liam Broady suffered a defeat
in qualifying for the Australian Open
after a battle against Colombia’s
Emilio Gómez which lasted almost
three hours. Gómez took the final
three points of a tie-break to prevail
6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (10-7).
Broady had fought back from 3-1
down in the deciding third set to lead
4-3 but Gómez then broke back and
each held serve as a second
consecutive set went to a tie-break.
The result means that no British men
have made it through qualifying with
Ryan Peniston having lost 7-6 (7-5),
6-2 to Canada’s Alexis Galarneau.
Fleetwood’s desire to pay tribute to his mother, Sue, pictured below with
him and his father, Pete, helped the player to win in South Africa, above
tains. I think the team shapes
up well.”
It clearly matters hugely to
Fleetwood, who gets the emo-
tion and camaraderie of the
Ryder Cup. “There’s no doubt
about it — losing stinks,” he
says. “We never even got out of
the gates last time and got bad-
ly beaten [19-9]. But I look back
on that Ryder Cup and Paris
and the favourite place I have
ever been in golf is that team
room, [due to] the bonds and
memories we made. On that 18th green
at Whistling Straits [thoughts] quickly
turned to this time.”
Only six players will qualify for
1st Europe’s team this year, with half being
picked by Donald. Those in the qualify-
20th
ing spots at present are Rahm, Rory
40th McIlroy, Shane Lowry, Viktor Hovland,
Alex Noren and Adrián Otaegui. Fleet-
60th
wood, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell
80th Hatton will make the cut barring disas-
100th
ters, with Sepp Straka, Seamus Power,
Thomas Pieters and Adrian Meronk
120th the other Europeans in the top 50.
It means this weekend is a chance for
Bob MacIntyre, Jordan Smith and
Guido Migliozzi to catch Donald’s eye
in a team format. And then there is
Molinari, who is still a threat, according
to Fleetwood. “He was doing good
things last year and the results just did
not come, but I feel it could change at
any time for him,” he says.
Last year the Southport-born Fleet-
wood and his family moved to Dubai,
Pakistan give up on Arthur
Cricket Pakistan appear to have given
up on reuniting with former head
coach Mickey Arthur, who remains
committed to his job at Derbyshire.
Arthur, 54, was previously in
charge of Pakistan from 2016 to 2019,
winning the Champions Trophy, and
was reportedly top of the PCB’s
shortlist when Saqlain Mushtaq was
sacked in December. The experienced
South African signed a new three-
year deal with Derbyshire at the end
of the season.
The PCB said it “will continue its
search for the right person to fit the
slot of the national team head coach”.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
where he has a second academy at
Jumeirah Golf Estates. “It’s been great
for my golf,” he says. “I get to play on the
Earth Course a lot and it helps to prac-
tise on a Tour course.”
What the Middle East location does
not mean is that he is LIV Golf-bound
and he says the Saudi-funded start-up
was never a “big deal” for him. “My
goals in life are to win majors and I want
to do everything I can to be the best
player in the world. The decisions
where I play and where I base myself
will always work around that. It’s
interesting to see where golf is heading
but I hope what happens is to the
benefit of the entire game.”
He believes at least one major is still
within him — he has been runner-up at
the Open and US Open — but will now
wallow in any success that comes.
“There’s a big difference to it being
three years since you won and just
recently,” he says of his tearful triumph
in South Africa.
“You need that element of being hard
on yourself and unaccepting of things,
but you can push too hard and lose per-
spective. I’ve had moments in my game
when I’ve not been happy and have just
lost that. Some days you achieve great
things, most of the time you don’t.”
Fleetwood, though, is better than
most at seeing the bigger picture. It is
there in family photos, in the memories
of Paris and in the desire to wrench
every success from his talent in 2023.
More “beautiful” moments may not be
far away.
Kohli hits century in win
Cricket Virat Kohli scored his 45th
one-day international hundred on his
return to the national team as India
beat Sri Lanka by 67 runs in the first
match of their three-match series.
Kohli, who missed India’s 2-1 win in
the T20 series against Sri Lanka, hit
an 87-ball 113 to put India in control
in Guwahati. India reached an
imposing 373 for seven with openers
Rohit Sharma, who made 83, and
Shubman Gill putting on 143 off 118
balls for the first wicket.
Dasun Shanaka made an unbeaten
108 off 88 balls but Sri Lanka fell
short on 306 for eight.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 2GM 57

Racing Sport
3.45 Handicap (£3,402: 1m 2f) (10)
Lingfield Park
Rob Wright

7.30 Fillies’ Handicap (£6,281: 6f) (9)

2.15 Handicap (£8,208: 1m 4f) (9)

12.45 Handicap (£4,187: 1m) (7)

6.00 Handicap (3-Y-O: £3,140: 1m) (7)

Kempton Park 8.00 Handicap (£6,281: 2m) (9)

Rob Wright
2.45 Handicap (£4,187: 5f) (8) 6.30 Handicap (3-Y-O: £3,140: 6f) (10)
1.15 Handicap (£4,187: 7f) (7)

5.00 Amateur Jockeys’ Handicap

(£5,960: 7f) (7)

Course specialists
1.45 Novice Stakes (£4,320: 6f) (10) 3.15 Handicap (3-Y-O: £3,402: 1m 2f) (5)
7.00 Maiden Fillies’ Stakes
(£3,780: 1m 3f) (10)

5.30 Handicap (£3,140: 1m 3f) (12)

Yesterday’s racing and other results

Doncaster 2.10 (2m 5f 137yd) 1, Barrier Peaks (T 8.30 (6f 16yd) 1, Fylingdale (D Allan, 10-1); 2, Hartlepool..........24 4 7 13 24 45 -21 19 Banbury Utd......25 10 6 9 35 32 3 36 Cheshunt ............ 25 7 2 16 30 48 -18 23
Scudamore, 13-2); 2, The Imposter (11-10 fav); Peachey Carnehan (12-1); 3, Admirable Lad Gillingham..........23 2 8 13 7 28 -21 14 Southport...........24 10 6 8 35 32 3 36 Weymouth.........23 5 3 15 25 46 -21 18
Going: good (good to soft in places) 3, Bellamy’s Grey (6-1). 15 ran. NR: Jack The (22-1). 12 ran. NR: Astrophysics, Big Impact. P’borough Sp....25 10 6 9 33 32 1 36 Hungerford .......24 4 4 16 18 33 -15 16
12.15 (3m 84yd) 1, Aazza (Dylan Johnston, 7-2); Farmer, Mojito Royale, Mr Craftsman, Start 1 l, l. T D Easterby. National League Aldershot Town 0 Gloucester City 26 10 5 11 38 42 -4 35
2, The Wise Traveller (10-3 fav); 3, First Man (28-1); Point. 5l, 4 l. D Pipe. Placepot: £47.40. Quadpot: £25.00. Dagenham and Redbridge 2; Notts County 1 Alfreton Town...23 8 9 6 30 24 6 33 Scottish Challenge Cup quarter-finals
4, Young Moloney (18-1). 19 ran. 20l, l. R Dobbin 2.40 (2m 161yd) 1, Hermes Du Gouet (Charlie Boreham Wood 1; Wrexham 2 Bromley 1 Kiddrmnstr.........25 9 6 10 24 27 -3 33 Hamilton Academical 3 Clyde 2; Queen of the
12.45 (2m 4f 181yd) 1, Feel Good Inc Deutsch, 6-5 jt-fav); 2, Ioupy Collonges (6-5 jt- Football Hereford FC.......24
Spennymoor ....24
9
7
5
10
10
7
31
31
28
33
3
-2
32
31
South 0 Kelty Hearts 0 (Queen of the South
(R P McLernon, 9-1); 2, Issuing Authority fav); 3, Big Blue Moon (40-1). 10 ran. 8 l, 13l. P W D L F A GD Pts win 4-2 on pens).
(4-6 fav); 3, Storminhome (7-1). 11 ran. 1 , l. N Miss V Williams. Carabao Cup Man Utd 3 Charlton 0; Notts County.....27 18 8 1 69 25 44 62 Leamington.......25 5 14 6 21 22 -1 29
P Mulholland. 3.15 (3m 54yd) 1, Raddon Top (J M Davies, Newcastle 2 Leicester 0.
6 Reports, pages 63-65
Wrexham............25 18 5 2 64 21 43 59 Bradford (P Av) 25
Curzon Ashton..23
7
7
7
6
11
10
24
22
32
25
-8
-3
28
27
Cricket
1.15 (2m 128yd) 1, Hidden Beauty 3-1 fav); 2, New Age Dawning (7-1); 3, Classic Chesterfield.......23 15 4 4 49 27 22 49
(P J Brennan, 12-1); 2, Passing Reflection (28-1); Ben (15-2). 8 ran. 8 l, 2 l. C J Down. Papa Johns Trophy Lincoln 1 Accrington Woking................25 15 4 6 45 25 20 49 Boston United...26 7 5 14 36 44 -8 26 India v Sri Lanka, first ODI
3, Kellahen (7-4 fav). 16 ran. NR: Belleloise, 3.45 (2m 161yd) 1, Moorland Rambler (David Stanley 1 (2-2 aet; Accrington win 3-1 on pens); Barnet..................24 12 5 7 44 41 3 41 Buxton.................23 6 8 9 24 32 -8 26 Guwahati (Sri Lanka won toss): India beat Sri
Spirit Of Regulus. 4 , 5l. F O’Brien. Noonan, 5-2 fav); 2, Global Agreement (14-1); Bolton 1 Portsmouth 0; Bristol Rovers 0 Southend............25 10 8 7 33 21 12 38 Kettering ...........24 6 7 11 22 38 -16 25 Lanks by 67 runs
1.50 (2m 4f 115yd) 1, Bold Endeavour 3, Lock Out (7-2). 6 ran. NR: Heva Rose. 3 l, 5l. Plymouth 2; Cheltenham 3 Salford City 1. Dag & Red..........24 11 5 8 39 38 1 38 Farsley Celtic....24 5 6 13 26 43 -17 21 India 373-7 (V Kohli 113, *R Sharma 83, S Gill
(N de Boinville, 5-6 fav); 2, Baron De Midleton Mrs J Williams. Wealdstone........25 10 7 8 32 36 -4 37 Blyth Spartans..23 4 7 12 22 36 -14 19 70; K Rajitha 3 for 88); Sri Lanka 306-8
League Two AFC Telford ......24 2 7 15 16 42 -26 13
(9-1); 3, Famous Bridge (9-2). 5 ran. 7l, 7 l. 4.15 (2m 161yd) 1, Heros De Romay (David Eastleigh.............26 10 5 11 32 33 -1 35 (*D Shanaka, P Nissanka 72; U Malik 3 for 57).
N J Henderson. Bradford (1) 1 Rochdale (2) 2 Bromley..............24 9 7 8 33 31 2 34
Bass, 85-40); 2, Pentire Head (2-1 fav); 3, Kayf
2.25 (3m 2f) 1, The Questioner (C Nichol, 7-4
fav); 2, Lyrical Genius (7-1); 3, Taste The Fear
Dancer (4-1). 7 ran. Nk, 4 l. K C Bailey. Eisa 29 Henderson 63, 70 Boreham Wood24
Solihull Moors...24
8
9
9
6 9
7 28
36
25 3 33
34 2 33 National League South Dover Athletic 1 Snooker
Placepot: £138.80. Quadpot: £6.70. Taunton Town 0.
(15-2). 6 ran. NR: Ballaquane, Grange Road. Altrincham.........25 8 9 8 37 45 -8 33 Cazoo Masters last 16 B Hawkins (Eng) bt
P W D L F A GD Pts York......................26 8 8 10 32 30 2 32
Shd, 31l. O Greenall & J Guerriero Southwell Leyton O.............25 17 5 3 36 13 23 56 P W D L F A GD Pts M Allen (N Ire) 6-0; M Williams (Wales) bt D
3.00 (2m 3f 88yd) 1, Clear White Light (B S FC Halifax...........25 9 5 11 24 32 -8 32 Gilbert (Eng) 6-2.
Stevenage..........24 15 6 3 35 17 18 51 Dorking ..............27 8 6 13 44 64 -20 30 Dartford..............27 18 3 6 57 26 31 57
Hughes, 11-2); 2, Garde Des Champs (9-2); 3, Going: standard Northampton....25 13 7 5 40 26 14 46 H & W’looville ... 25 16 4 5 56 34 22 52
Nora The Xplorer (22-1). 13 ran. NR: Betty’s Banjo, Maidenhead .....26 8 5 13 27 37 -10 29
5.30 (4f 214yd) 1, Mehmo (Alexander Carlisle.................24 10 9 5 37 25 12 39 Yeovil...................24 5 12 7 20 22 -2 27 Ebbsfleet ...........24 16 3 5 54 27 27 51
Fringill Dike, Vintage Fizz. l, 8l. A Keatley. Voikhansky, 11-2); 2, Hit Mac (15-8 fav); Bradford ............. 24 11 6 7 31 25 6 39 Chelmsford .......24 13 5 6 33 20 13 44
3.30 (2m 128yd) 1, Willmount (J E Moore, 5-2 3, Gunnerside (2-1). 9 ran. NR: Dodgy Bob, Ellie Barrow.................25 12 3 10 32 30 2 39
Aldershot............25
Oldham ............... 24
8
6
2
6
15
12
32
30
44 -12 26
40 -10 24 Worthing............26 11 10 5 43 38 5 43 Fixtures
fav); 2, Luckie Seven (11-2); 3, Pertemps Piper. Sh hd, 2 l. M Appleby. Salford City........24 11 5 8 32 24 8 38 St Albans City....25 12 6 7 40 23 17 42
Gateshead..........25 4 10 11 31 41 -10 22
Diamond (25-1). 14 ran. NR: Beachcomber, 6.00 (1m 4f 14yd) 1, Bond Spirit (D E Hogan, Swindon..............25 10 8 7 28 25 3 38 Torquay..............26 5 7 14 29 49 -20 22 Oxford City ........ 27 11 9 7 44 37 7 42
Beep Beep Burrow, Townhill. 13l, 1l. N P
Mulholland.
3-1 fav); 2, Raffles Rebel (7-1); 3, Miss Sligo (5-1).
13 ran. 1 l, l. L Allan.
Mansfield............25
Doncaster...........25
11
11
5
4
9
10
35
30
34
35
1 38
-5 37
Maidstone .........27 5 6 16 31 59 -28 21 Eastbourne .......26
Braintree.............25
12
10
3
7
11
8
44
38
40
34
4 39
4 37
Football
Scunthorpe........26 4 7 15 32 53 -21 19
Placepot: £43.00. Quadpot: £41.10. 6.30 (1m 13yd) 1, Finery (Erika Parkinson, 13-2); Walsall.................23 10 6 7 29 21 8 36 Bath City.............25 9 8 8 36 34 2 35 Carabao Cup quarter-finals Nott’m Forest v
2, Wadacre Grace (11-4 fav); 3, The Flying Ginger Sutton United ... 26 10 6 10 27 33 -6 36 Tonbridge .........26 10 4 12 37 44 -7 34 Wolves (7.45); Southampton v Man City (8.0).
AFC Wimbledon 25 9 8 8 29 28 1 35 National League North Buxton 2 Chorley 2; Farnborough.....22 9 6 7 27 23 4 33
(12-1). 7 ran. NR: Biplane. 1 l, sh hd. M Appleby. FA Women’s League Cup Sunderland v
Exeter 7.00 (7f 14yd) 1, Tiger Crusade (Daniel Stockport ...........23 10 4 9 33 23 10 34 Hereford FC 2 Farsley Celtic 0. Welling................24 8 8 8 33 37 -4 32
Tranmere............25 9 7 9 27 22 5 34 Leicester (7.30); Charlton v C Palace (7.30).
Going: heavy (soft in places) Muscutt, 10-1); 2, Spirit Of Nguru (3-1); 3, Anif P W D L F A GD Pts Dover Athletic...25 8 7 10 30 33 -3 31
Grimsby...............23 8 6 9 26 27 -1 30 H H’pstead Town 25 8 6 11 28 35 -7 30 Scottish Challenge Cup quarter-final
1.00 (2m 7f 25yd) 1, Burrows Park (Ned Fox, (10-1). 9 ran. 1l, 1l. D M Simcock. Darlington..........26 14 5 7 50 35 15 47 Queen’s Park v Raith Rovers.
7.30 (1m 13yd) 1, Zealot (Alistair Rawlinson, Crewe...................23 7 8 8 19 27 -8 29 Dulwich Hamlet 22 8 4 10 32 38 -6 28
14-1); 2, Lanspark (16-5); 3, Imperial Storm (6-5 Newport .............25 6 8 11 24 28 -4 26 Brackley Town..25 13 8 4 31 19 12 47
Taunton Town...19 6 7 6 18 18 0 25
fav). 6 ran. 9l, 1 l. Miss V Williams.
1.35 (3m 54yd) 1, Blackjack Magic (Aidan
9-4 fav); 2, Dingle (5-2); 3, Tropez Power (9-2).
6 ran. 1 l, 1 l. M Appleby.
Harrogate ..........24 6 5 13 31 39 -8 23 Kings Lynn ........22
Chester FC..........25
13
11
6 3 41 21 20 45
10 4 39 23 16 43
Slough Town.....25 6 7 12 30 48 -18 25 Snooker
Colchester..........25 6 5 14 24 32 -8 23 Chippenham .....23 6 6 11 21 33 -12 24
Coleman, 5-2); 2, Rose Of Arcadia (6-4 fav); 3, 8.00 (2m 102yd) 1, Tiger Spirit (T Eaves, 16-1); Crawley...............24 5 7 12 26 39 -13 22 AFC Fylde............21 13 3 5 36 21 15 42 Cazoo Masters Alexandra Palace
Scarborough ....25 12 6 7 45 40 5 42 H & Richmond...23 6 5 12 29 40 -11 23
Anglers Crag (3-1). 4 ran. 1 l, 62l. A J 2, Smart Boyo (3-1); 3, Bird For Life (9-1). 10 ran. Rochdale.............25 5 5 15 21 37 -16 20 Last 16 J Trump (Eng) v R Day (Wales) (1.0);
NR: Zuckerberg. 1 l, 3 l. M Herrington. Chorley................25 10 8 7 36 25 11 38 Concord R’gers.22 6 5 11 22 36 -14 23
Honeyball. K Wilson (Eng) v S Bingham (Eng) (7.0).
58
Sport
Archer makes
instant impact
on T20 return
Cricket
Elizabeth Ammon
At the start of an Ashes year it was the
sight that every England fan wanted to
see: Jofra Archer in a competitive
match looking quick and threatening.
It had been 541 days since Archer last
played a competitive match — for
Sussex back in July 2021. But after a
friendly intra-squad game for England
Lions v England in November, he was
finally back in a game that mattered,
taking three wickets for 27 from four
overs in the opening match of the new
South Africa T20 competition.
“Buzzing, buzzing, buzzing to see
Jofra back on the field,” Ben Stokes, the
England Test captain, said on Twitter.
The 27-year-old fast bowler has not
played for England since the tour of
India in March 2021, but his return to
full fitness could be crucial for his
country’s hopes against Australia in
June and July and then in the defence of
their 50-over World Cup crown in India
in the autumn.
After that previous England game he
had to have surgery on his right elbow
but recovery was slow and he managed
only two first-team games for Sussex in
the summer of 2021. He had a follow-up
operation on the elbow in December
2021 which ruled him out of last win-
ter’s Ashes. And then just as the elbow
had recovered, he was diagnosed with a
stress fracture in his lower back which
ruled him out of the summer.
Archer was a late wild card pick by
MI Cape Town for this tournament,
where he is playing alongside his
England team-mates Olly Stone, Sam
Curran and Liam Livingstone. After
such an extended period of absence,
Archer and the England management
are very keen to manage his workload
to try and ensure that he is fit and firing
for the Ashes and World Cup.
It is not expected that he will play all
of his team’s ten group matches: maybe
only half of them. He will then join up
with the England ODI squad between
the group and knockout stages to play
three ODIs against South Africa.
Archer will rest for most of February
— he is not included in England’s Test
squad to play in New Zealand — but is
expected to be part of the England tour-
Leicester expect no more poaching of staff Tom Willis set to return
Rugby union
Will Kelleher
to England with Saracens
Deputy Rugby Correspondent
Leicester Tigers are confident that they
will not lose another coach to England
before the end of the season, having had
no approach from the RFU for Richard
Wigglesworth or Aled Walters.
Their head coach Steve Borthwick
and the defence coach Kevin Sinfield
left the Gallagher Premiership
champions to lead England’s new re-
gime after the RFU sacked Eddie Jones.
But Borthwick is expected to want
Walters, whom he brought to Leicester
as head of physical performance in
2020, and Wigglesworth, who ran the
attack while playing before taking over
from him as interim head coach, in the
summer and for the World Cup.
For now, he has appointed Nick Ev-
Monthly award for Brook
England’s Harry Brook has been
named as the International Cricket
Council’s men’s player of the month
after his outstanding Test series in
Pakistan. The 23-year-old, who had
played only one red-ball match for
his country before the tour, scored
centuries in Rawalpindi, Multan and
Karachi, scoring 468 runs at an
average of 93.60.
He edged out Pakistan captain
Babar Azam and Australia’s Travis
Head for the award, which combines
the votes of media experts and
formers players with a public poll.
England all-rounder Charlie Dean
missed out on the women’s award,
won by Australia’s Ashleigh Gardner.
ing party to Bangladesh in March and
then will play for Mumbai Indians in
the IPL in April and May. It is not clear
yet when or where he might play any
red-ball cricket before the Ashes unless
he plays against Ireland in the four-day
one-off Test at the start of June.
Brought on yesterday in the third
over at Newlands against Paarl Royals,
Archer took a wicket with his third ball
— a fast ball that hurried Wihan Lubbe,
who edged to mid-on. Archer didn’t
reach his top speed of over 90mph, but
he was the quickest bowler on show,
bowling at 86mph with good control
over his line and length.
After bowling a wicket-maiden,
Archer’s second over went for 13, in-
cluding a six back over his head struck
by England captain Jos Buttler. He was
brought back on in the 14th over and
conceded an unlucky boundary when
Buttler tried a ramp shot, got himself in
a tangle and the ball came off the back
of the bat and went for four.
In the 19th over, Archer took two
wickets in two balls, the first with a
short ball that David Miller could only
carve to a sweeper in the deep and the
second from a well-executed slower
ball which foxed Ferisco Adams, who
chipped tamely to extra cover.
Paarl Royals’ score of 142 for seven, in
which Buttler top-scored with 51, was
knocked off easily by MI Cape Town.
ans from Harlequins as his temporary
attack coach for the Six Nations and
Leicester do not expect any more im-
mediate raids for their backroom staff.
“For the remainder of the season,
certainly, we are set with Richard Wig-
glesworth as interim [head coach], with
Aled Walters stepping up and running
the programme with him and Matt Ev-
erard taking a step up as well as the
other assistant coach,” Andrea Pin-
chen, the club’s chief executive, said.
And while Pinchen’s plans have been
ripped up this year, she holds no bitter-
ness towards the RFU. “Did I want Kev
and Steve to leave? No. Did I want them
to leave mid-season? Of course not,”
she said. “I could sit here and say ‘the
RFU are all right because they’ve got
their men’ but it’s just a waste of energy.”
Wigglesworth said that he would be
shocked if Borthwick did not select a
18
Times Archer has
taken three or more
wickets in a T20
match
Archer took a wicket with his third ball and went on to take three wickets in four
overs for MI Cape Town in his first competitive match for more than 18 months
strong Leicester contingent in his first
England squad, which will be
announced on Monday. Dan Cole, Dan
Kelly and Anthony Watson are in the
mix for recalls, with Freddie Steward,
Jack van Poortvliet, Ben Youngs, Guy
Porter, Ollie Chessum and Joe Heyes
all named in Jones’s last squad as head
coach. “I would be very surprised if
[Borthwick] doesn’t take a few of our
boys,” Wigglesworth said.
Meanwhile Pinchen thinks that
Premiership Rugby would be “naive”
not to change its decision to raise the
salary cap back to £6.4 million in 2024.
In June 2020 the clubs agreed to re-
duce the cap by £1.4 million for three
seasons, at which point it would return
to its old level for the 2024-25 cam-
paign. For the cap to stay at £5 million,
ten out of thirteen shareholding clubs
needed to vote in favour; only nine did.
Will Kelleher
Tom Willis, the former Wasps No 8, is
set to return to England and agree a
deal to join Saracens next season.
The 23-year-old, who is the younger
brother of the England flanker Jack, 26,
moved on a short deal to Bordeaux
Bègles when he was one of 167 players
and staff made redundant by Wasps at
the end of last year.
He has been in strong ball-carrying
form for Bordeaux in France’s Top 14
and is on the radar of Steve Borthwick,
the new England head coach. It is un-
derstood that Borthwick has contacted
the French club to request that Willis is
released in the event that he is selected
in England’s Six Nations squad next
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
F1 drivers face
punishment
for protests
Formula One
Martyn Ziegler Chief Sports Reporter
Formula One drivers have been
warned by motor racing’s president
that they could face sanctions if they
use the sport’s platform for their “pri-
vate personal agenda”.
Mohammed Ben Sulayem, the presi-
dent of the FIA, spoke out on Monday
after last month’s announcement of
new rules requiring drivers to obtain
permission before displaying political
or religious statements.
F1 insiders insist that drivers will not
be prevented from making statements
or gestures promoting equality or envi-
ronmental causes — for example Lewis
Hamilton wore a rainbow helmet at the
inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
and will be free to do so again. The driv-
ers have to seek permission from the
motor racing authorities first, however.
Ben Sulayem, speaking to the media
at the Dakar Rally, told drivers to con-
centrate on the sport. He said: “We are
concerned with building bridges. You
can use sport for peace reasons . . . But
one thing we don’t want is to have the
FIA as a platform for a private personal
agenda.
“[It] will divert from the sport. What
does the driver do best? Driving. They
are so good at it and they make the
show, they are the stars. Nobody is stop-
ping them.
“There are other platforms to express
what they want. Everybody has this and
they are most welcome to go through
the process of the FIA. If there is any-
thing, you take the permission. If not, if
they make any other mistake . . . it’s very
clear what you get.”
The FIA has said its international
sporting code has been updated to re-
flect “the political neutrality of sport as
a universal fundamental ethical princi-
ple of the Olympic Movement”.
Sebastian Vettel, who retired last
year, has highlighted issues from
LGBTQ rights to climate change.
Ben Sulayem denied that the FIA was
trying to silence drivers but said he
wanted to “improve and clean up” the
sport. “The FIA should be neutral,” Ben
Sulayem, a former rally driver from the
United Arab Emirates, said. “We need
the superstars in to make the sport.”
Hamilton wore a T-shirt at the 2020
Tuscan Grand Prix with the words
“Arrest the cops who killed Breonna
Taylor”, in reference to a black woman
in America who had been shot dead by
police. Insiders say such statements, or
directly political ones targeting individ-
uals, will be seen as going too far.
Monday. There are no guarantees that
Willis will be picked by England, given
he is competing with Billy Vunipola,
Sam Simmonds and Alex Dombrandt
at No 8 and many others across the
back row.
Borthwick has made the same request
to Toulouse for Jack Willis, who moved
there in November for a brief stint.
The England head coach can pick
French-based players who were forced
to move from Wasps and Worcester
Warriors after the clubs entered admin-
istration and were removed from the
Gallagher Premiership. The RFU in-
voked its “exceptional circumstances”
regulation for players at the affected
clubs. Usually those playing outside the
country cannot represent England.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023 59

Rugby union Sport

A true English master of the sidestep

Stephen Jones pays a Duckham at his
elusive best for
heartfelt tribute to the England during
their barren
great David Duckham, a period in 1975
wing so stylish he was
adored even in Wales
David Duckham, who has died at 76, is
rivalled by only Jeremy Guscott as the
greatest attacking runner that England
have ever produced. Had he played in
another era, he might well have been
festooned with individual and team
honours and, yes, been knighted. He
was as special as that.
He played 36 times for England in a
period from 1969 to 1976 and, by the
accident of birth, his timing was awful.
England took the wooden spoon in four
of the seven seasons in which he ap-
peared, winning only 11 matches.
Selection was random, a lottery. Half
backs came and went; Duckham was
often frozen out on his wing.
He was never given to anger or short
temper. But he did once write: “To say
England’s performances were incon-
sistent, during my time in the side,
would be a grotesque understatement.”
As it is, we are left with glorious
memories of Duckham, long blond hair
streaming in his wake, ghosting and
sidestepping the defence as one of
Coventry and
England’s most
beloved. Thank
goodness he
made the 1971
British & Irish
Lions tour to
New Zealand
and took the op-
portunity to join
the pantheon as
a world star. And
perhaps bizarre- His popu- ans game. The All Blacks were the least porter and was treated with due rever- creature comforts, and which provided
ly, he was also larity in popular team ever to visit. Keith ence. He was also a successful business- nothing comforting for the opposition.
adored in Wales Murdoch, the prop, was sent home after man and, as recently as last year, when Again Duckham stood out for his
Cardiff, and reached an punching a security guard in a Cardiff he appeared on The Times’ Ruck pod- stylishness.
throughout all-time peak hotel. Three days before the Barbarians cast, was still well up to date with the He was appointed MBE for services
Wales. when he match, the prop John Ashworth kicked modern game — he admired without to rugby, and was one of the prime mov-
Duckham played for the Barbarians against New JPR Williams in the face in the match reservation the present players, ers in the rugby charity Wooden Spoon,
played in an era when the England- Zealand in 1973 in Cardiff. He took no against Bridgend — Williams had to although became just a little reserved which raises money for disadvantaged
Wales rivalry was biting — as it has part in the famous try by Gareth have a long crescent of stitches. when he was asked if he would like to children. He was a noted public speaker.
been, frankly, in any era. But he was un- Edwards, which is about to reach its Ashworth was not banned and a few play on the wing these days. He was unfailingly modest, interest-
questionably taken to Welsh hearts and 50th anniversary. Where was he? “I was days later appeared for New Zealand He had already had the individual ed in others, gracious to all opponents.
was as popular as any of the stellar standing and applauding,” he said. against the Barbarians, and the crowd day of days, in another feisty match, this Of Gerald Davies, whom he marked so
Wales players of the 1970s. But he was the player of the match. wanted to see New Zealand put away as time for the Lions. In Greymouth on many times, he said: “You know exactly
England were notorious then for He made three runs involving sidesteps well as to see entertaining rugby. And New Zealand’s west coast, he scored six what Gerald is going to do. He is going
playing slow, forward-based and every bit as jagged and breathtaking as Duckham helped them on both an tries against West Coast/Buller. He was to run at you at pace, then step off his
kicking rugby, whereas Wales were those unleashed by Phil Bennett at the artistic and a visceral level. It was untouchable that day on a heavy sur- right foot. Trouble is, you know you
dazzling, and Duckham, although of start of the Edwards try and his magnificent. He took New Zealand to face. He was unplayable, untackleable. can’t do anything about it.”
Midlands birth, appeared to have so dummies, sidestepping and accelera- the cleaners. He had more possession for the great It was a strange old era: fun, some-
much in common with the gifted backs. tion into space bought roars of The memories lasted, he was a popu- Coventry club, for whom he played for times flat-footed. But David Duckham
He autobiography was entitled Dai for astonishment and joy from the stands. lar figure throughout rugby, making 12 years from 1967 in the old Coundon gave the game something that was
England. There was a real edge to that Barbari- tours on business or simply as a sup- Road stadium, a place without many eternally heroic.

Cowan-Dickie set to miss Six Nations because of ankle surgery

John Westerby
Luke Cowan-Dickie, the Exeter Chiefs
hooker, looks likely to miss the Six
Nations Championship after scans
revealed that the ankle injury he sus-
tained against Northampton Saints on
Saturday will require surgery.
The 29-year-old, who played in all
four of England’s autumn internation-
als, rolled his ankle after he was tackled
from behind and was due to see a
surgeon yesterday to discover the full
extent of his injury.
Rob Baxter, the Exeter director of
rugby, does not expect him to be ruled
out for the rest of the season, but it
seems unlikely that he will be available
to Steve Borthwick, the new England
head coach, for any of the Six Nations,
which England begin at home to
Scotland on February 4. “It looks rela-
tively bad,” Baxter said. “It was
awkward. There was someone falling
on the back of his leg, he ends up with
his ankle crossed and one foot twists
underneath him.”
This will be Cowan-Dickie’s final
season at Exeter before he moves to
Montpellier in the summer and Baxter
knows his hooker will be desperate to
return to action to contribute to the
Chiefs’ efforts later in the season.
“He was very annoyed on Saturday,”
Baxter said. “I sat with him in the physio
room with the medical staff; his ankle
was swelling. He really wants to have a
big impact at the end of a season when
he’s leaving. I think there’s a lot of the
season left in him, but we need to get
the ball rolling so we can get that rehab
[time] down significantly.”
Cowan-Dickie started the first three
autumn internationals before coming
off the bench to replace Jamie George last summer, could step up to
in the 27-13 defeat by South Africa. take Cowan-Dickie’s place.
Gloucester’s Jack Singleton, the George Skivington, the
third-choice hooker in Eddie Jones’s Gloucester head coach,
autumn squads and an unused expects McGuigan, 29, to
replacement in the defeat by be in Borthwick’s plans
Argentina, is out for the after he attended the
season after having surgery fitness sessions
on a leg injury. undertaken by
George McGuigan, England players
who moved to Glouc- last week.
ester last month after “He’s been one
scoring six tries in nine of the most con-
Gallagher Premiership sistent hookers
matches for Newcastle in the league for
Falcons, and Jack Walker a good while,”
of Harlequins, who went Skivington said.
on the tour to Australia “Cowan-Dickie’s
out and Singo’s out,
Cowan-Dickie leaves so he’s got a very
Sandy Park on crutches good chance. He’s
on Saturday evening a very strong
scrummager, he’s a good [lineout]
thrower, he’s physical and he’s a hard
worker. He scored a lot of tries in the
Premiership before coming to us, so
hopefully we’ll see some of that as well.”
Borthwick could get better news
from Northampton Saints, who are
hopeful that Courtney Lawes will
return against Munster on Saturday.
Lawes, 33, who captained England to
victory in Australia, has played only
twice this season, missing the autumn
internationals after problems with his
head and neck, then injuring his glute-
us muscles last month. “He’s getting
closer and closer,” Phil Dowson, the
Northampton director of rugby, said.
“He’s finished training today, he’s done
a full session. It’s been a long time and
there have been lots of bumps in the
road, so we’re going to wait and see how
he goes [today] in training.”
60
Sport Football
Note to Chelsea: this
is what a well-run
club should look like
Data-driven models of
Brentford and Brighton
show it’s not just money
that brings success,
writes Martyn Ziegler
If there seems to be little logic and
planning in Chelsea’s lurch from one
high-profile transfer target to the next,
the very opposite is the case among
those Premier League clubs who are
achieving remarkable success on a
limited budget.
The league table of spending on
wages and amortisation — which
reflects spending on transfers over
several years (for example, a £20 mil-
lion signing over four years would be re-
corded as £5 million per year) — makes
for grim reading for fans of Chelsea and
Everton over this season and last.
By contrast, the data-driven ap-
proach taken by those strategic think-
ers at Brighton & Hove Albion and
Brentford has made them a shining
example for those who are convinced
that success cannot only be bought and
proves that there is another way.
The secret is not simply crunching
data; patience, vision, strategy and
long-term thinking are also crucial. At
Brighton, for example, a lot of time is
spent on succession planning: if a key
player or executive gets bought or is
poached, for example, who will step
into their shoes? Succession plans for
about 30 individuals at the club are
regularly reviewed.
The perfect illustration of this
came when Graham Potter
moved to Chelsea. Brighton
had long been monitoring
Roberto De Zerbi after
his success in Italy
managing Sassuolo,
despite their scant
resources, and
continued to do
so when he moved
to Shakhtar Donetsk.
Once Potter decided to
go, they moved quickly to
get their man.
But of course, the data
is the key. Tony Bloom,
Brighton’s owner, and
Matthew Benham, his
counterpart at Brentford,
made their fortunes in the
betting industry, and not
just by taking gamblers’
money: they both used
data to win bets too.
Omar Chaudhuri, the
chief intelligence officer at
the sports intelligence agency
Twenty First Group, said:
“Brighton and Brentford are
held up as the poster boys for
that type of approach and it is
no surprise that their owners
have a background in the
betting industry where
your whole business lives
or dies on getting the
Brighton quickly
brought in De
Zerbi, right, after
Potter departed
What teams get for wages
This table shows Premier League
wages for 2020−21 − the most recent
available accounts for most clubs − and
how it relates to current league
position, stressing the extent to which
teams like Brighton and Brentford are
overachieving, although Brentford's
wage figure here is for their final year
in the Championship, so it is likely to be
significantly higher now. Newcastle's
wage bill will also be much higher now
as the club have been bought by Saudi
Arabian owners since the period
covered by these accounts
Wages and amortisation*
Rank (Difference in Wages, £m
this table to current
league position)
1 (-1) Man City
2 (-8) Chelsea
3 (-1) Man Utd 443
4 (-2) Liverpool 419
5 (4) Arsenal 342
6 (1) Tottenham 279
7= (-6) Leicester 264
7= (-11) Everton 264
9 (-10) Wolves 201
10 (-1) Aston Villa 194
11 (-6) West Ham 187
12 (0) C Palace 176
13 (-7) Southampton 171
14 (11) Newcastle 169
15 (7) Brighton 155
16 (2) Leeds 146
17 (8) Brentford 98
*Amortisation is the value of player transfer
fees when spread over the full periods of a
player's contract. Promoted clubs (not listed):
Fulham, Bournemouth, Nottingham Forest
right data. Thinking hard about
how you use data is in their DNA
and it can get you a competi-
tive edge.
“A lot of clubs have quite
traditional set-ups and try-
ing to bring data into that
status quo can be challeng-
ing and seen as an after-
thought rather than funda-
mental to the process. The
right people and the right
skills are critical.”
Under the table of wages
and amortisation combined,
Chelsea and Everton —
along with Wolverhampton
Wanderers — are the
worst-performing teams this
season in terms of a return on
their spending. That may seem
obvious, but that was also the case
last season for both clubs in terms
of number of points secured, even
though Chelsea finished in the top
four.
By contrast Brentford and Brigh-
ton are eight and seven places respec-
tively higher than their position in the
spending table this season, and it was
the same in the previous campaign,
where both finished six places higher
in the Premier League than the
spending table.
Insiders at the clubs accept there is
less expectation from their
fans to sign well-known
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
players. In fact the opposite may be
true, with supporters being intrigued at
a virtually unknown arrival and then
following his development closely.
At Chelsea and Everton, the pressure
to snap up established names is huge.
For example, bringing in Kevin Schade,
the 21-year-old Freiburg forward just
signed by Brentford, who registered the
second-fastest sprint in the Bundesliga
last season, would hardly have an-
swered the clamour for new blood at
the more established clubs.
The same could be said for Kaoru
Mitoma, the 25-year-old Japan forward
signed by Brighton for £2.5 million; he
has made a dramatic impact this
season. Pascal Gross is 31 and has never
won an international cap, yet by some
measures the Brighton midfielder has
been one of the top performers in the
519 Premier League over the past five sea-
496 sons. Ivan Toney, 26, was a striker who
failed to make it at Newcastle United,
but Brentford saw enough to suggest he Net transfer spending
could shine in the top flight. Since summer 2021 by clubs
Yet Chaudhuri believes that the data
ever-present in Premier League
approach can be, and has been, success-
fully harnessed by the top clubs too. in that time, £m
“It is very hard as owners and execu- Man United 304
tives to cut through that expectation Chelsea 256
[from fans] but if you have a firm belief Newcastle 228
in what you are doing and that it actual- Arsenal 221
ly works, then given the right people West Ham 202
and the right skills you can get success,”
Tottenham 173
he said.
“One big club that has taken a data- Crystal Palace 99
driven approach and succeeded is Liverpool 96
Liverpool and if any club has a fanbase Wolves 73
with expectations it is them.” Southampton 72
Chaudhuri cited the example of Liv- Brentford 71
erpool signing Andrew Robertson, 28, Leeds 53
from Hull City and Georginio Wijnal- Aston Villa 27
dum, 32, from Newcastle — both
Man City 23
players had been relegated before the
club moved in to buy them. Everton 12
“Some clubs might discard the idea of Leicester -1
signing them just because they had Brighton -57
been relegated but Liverpool saw the
quality of those players,” he said. Brentford and Brighton outperform, given their levels of spending, by making
Of course money still remains the
heart of it all. By and large, the wages
and spending table is a good guide to
final league position.
. . . and speedy Schade could
Newcastle are the best-performing
club this season compared with their Constantin Eckner stars such as Brighton & Hove Albion’s
spending in 2020-21 but since then a World Cup-winner Alexis Mac Allister
Saudi-backed takeover has occurred Brentford’s announcement last week — signed aged 20 from Argentinos
with new money bringing key person- that they had signed Kevin Schade on Juniors — or Brentford’s Ivan Toney,
nel into the club: head coach Eddie loan from Freiburg was greeted with 26, who was plucked from the lower
Howe, sporting director Dan Ashworth none of the fuss that accompanied leagues with Peterborough United.
and a number of players. Liverpool’s £37 million deal for Cody For a start, although Schade’s move is
But even at St James’ Park the Gakpo, or Chelsea’s £35 million initially a loan, Brentford are
success is not just about cash. Howe and signing of the Monaco defender obliged to make him their record
Ashworth achieved remarkable results Benoît Badiashile. signing in the summer for a fee
with limited resources at Bournemouth And why would anyone outside that could rise to £22 million if all
and Brighton respectively and their that corner of west London get ex- performance-related clauses
approach in the North East has revital- cited about the temporary sign- are triggered. It would al-
ised a club that was dispirited and drift- ing of a 21-year-old winger so represent a record
ing under the former ownership of with two goals this season sale for Freiburg,
Mike Ashley. from a relatively unfash- who are second
The time factor is also significant: ionable, if at present highly behind Bayern Mu-
Brentford and Brighton could afford to successful, Bundesliga nich in the German
build slowly and not expect overnight club? Yet there are those top flight after a
success. Potter may be finding that in Germany who have superb first half
patience is a scarce commodity at followed Schade’s devel- of the season.
Chelsea, where price seems to be every- opment closely and believe that in Schade, who
thing and value nothing. a year or two his signing will be will sign a five-year
If there is one lesson for Todd Boehly, viewed as the sort of inspired contract, has missed
Chelsea’s co-owner, it may be that the talent-spotting that un- several weeks of the
most important next signing will not be earthed Premier League season with an abdomi-
João Félix or Marcus Thuram, but nal muscle strain. How-
someone with thick glasses, poor Schade’s loan move will ever, he shone in Frei-
fashion sense and a PhD in statistics. become a permanent one burg’s 2021-22 campaign
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
shrewd transfers such as bringing in Japan’s Mitoma, left, for only £2.5 million
be the latest big discovery
as they qualified for Europe by finishing
sixth and that attracted Brentford’s
attention. They tried to buy him last
summer and only Freiburg’s initial
refusal to negotiate delayed the move.
Brentford’s description of their new
signing on the club website pointed to
what caught their eye. It told fans: “Last
season, Schade registered a top sprint
speed of 36.37km/h, which was the
second-fastest recorded in the Bundes-
liga all campaign.”
But Schade, who made his debut in
the FA Cup defeat by West Ham United
on Saturday, is much more than a
sprinter on the right wing. The son of a
German mother and Nigerian father,
he can drive towards goal with force,
which gained him notoriety at youth
level — where he scored up to 30 goals
per season.
On paper, Schade usually played as a
right winger in Freiburg’s 3-4-3 system,
but the head coach Christian Streich
did not want his wingers to be glued to
the sidelines. Instead, Schade was asked
to stay in the half-space close behind
the centre forward. In more crowded
areas, he had to be smart in his move-
ments on and off the ball. That experi-
ence could help him fit into Thomas
Frank’s system instantly, as the Brent-
ford manager has moved from a 4-3-3
to a 3-5-2 in recent games.
Theoretically, Schade could fill the
role of wingback, but he would fare
much better up front, especially as
Brentford tend to build through the
middle, rather than pepper crosses into
the box. His dribbling may give him an
edge over Toney, Bryan Mbeumo and
Yoane Wissa — with more than 1.6
completed dribbles per game, he ranks
in the top 5 per cent in Europe’s top lea-
gues, according to FBref.com, the sta-
tistics website.
Schade’s ability to outpace but also
outmanoeuvre defenders made him
one of the most exciting wingers in the
Bundesliga. An underrated aspect of
his game is his physicality in aerial du-
els, winning 4.83 on average per game.
At 6ft, he is not strikingly tall but his
athletic attributes come into play when
he needs to compete in the air.
It would not be a surprise to many in
Germany if his value is considerably
higher within a couple of seasons.
Why Bale was always
up against it in Spain
Lofty expectations and
the stigma of being an
outsider gave the Wales
star too much to do at
Real, Tom Allnutt says
Gareth Bale was on the periphery
again, standing a couple of yards away
with his arms folded and his white shirt
suspiciously pristine. Wearing an awk-
ward smile, he watched as Zinédine
Zidane was tossed into the air, the other
Real Madrid players all tangled
together beneath the Frenchman,
celebrating another La Liga title.
Bale always wanted to be at the
centre of things at Real. He was billed as
the heir to Cristiano Ronaldo. Real’s
president, Florentino Pérez, declared
that the Welshman would one day be
the best in the world, a future winner of
the Ballon d’Or. When Bale arrived in
2013 from Tottenham Hotspur for a
then world-record transfer fee of
£85 million, he saw himself not as
Ronaldo’s supplier but his successor.
There is something symbolic then
about Bale, 33, retiring before Ronaldo,
even if the 37-year-old Ronaldo’s move
to Saudi Arabia signals the end of his
own career at the highest level. The
player Bale was meant to take over from
has, in the end, outlasted him.
Ronaldo outlasted Bale at Real too,
not in terms of contracts but influence.
When Ronaldo left for Juventus in the
summer of 2018 he was still the
talisman around whom everything
revolved. Bale scored twice in the
Champions League final against
Liverpool, including that wonderful
bicycle kick, but he had been on the
margins since the spring, his spectacu-
lar contribution in Kyiv coming as a
vengeful substitute not a starter.
Against those loftiest of expecta-
tions, Bale was always up against it in
Spain. He won five Champions League
titles and three La Liga titles. He left
with more goals for Real than the
Brazilian Ronaldo, more assists than
David Beckham, more trophies than
Zidane and more goals in Champions
League finals than anyone, except
Cristiano Ronaldo. Yet still it was not
enough. From abroad, Bale looked
underappreciated. From Spain, Bale
looked to be underperforming.
Injuries played a role, causing suspi-
cion and frustration. “Every minute
Gareth played has cost Madrid
€23,800,” the Diario AS newspaper
wrote in 2020. For Bale, there was the
damage to his body but also his belief.
Some said that even when fit, he no
longer trusted his calves to endure
those trademark, lung-busting runs.
Félix is poised to boost Potter’s attack
Tom Roddy
João Félix was last night undergoing a
medical in London as his loan move
from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea edged
closer to being finalised.
The 23-year-old forward left the
Spanish capital yesterday after Chelsea
reached an agreement to sign Félix
until the end of the season for a fee of
about £9 million. Chelsea will need to
have registered Félix with the Premier
League by midday today in order to
have the Portugal international avail-
able for tomorrow’s derby against
Bale endured some tough days at Real
‘He failed to reach his level’
Julen Lopetegui, Gareth Bale’s
former manager at Real Madrid,
believes that the Wales winger did
not reach the level he was capable
of (Graham Hill writes).
Lopetegui, now in charge of
Wolverhampton Wanderers, lasted a
little over four months at Real and
was sacked after a 5–1 defeat away
to Barcelona in October 2018.
“Maybe he didn’t get to the level
you can imagine when you see a
player like him,” Lopetegui said.
“Sometimes players with a lot of
strengths go far. It is not just about
the strengths, you have to be able to
show them. But he was a fantastic
player and I wish him the best.”
Would a different manager have
extracted something more? Bale
thrived in the early years at Real under
Carlo Ancelotti but felt most loved by
Rafa Benítez, the coach who offered
him that central role he craved. When
Zidane was appointed, Bale was back
out on the wing. For a while, Zidane
turned to Bale only in the biggest
games, when he thought his focus
would be sharpest, and then in the less-
er ones, when he felt defensive lapses
would go unpunished. In the end, he
hardly played him at all. Zidane would
always be the winner. He was the
epitome of Real, Bale was an outsider.
In that sense, Bale was harshly
judged. His lack of Spanish was over-
played and his love of golf extrapolated,
used as evidence of disinterest. His
Fulham. Graham Potter’s team have
won only one of their past eight Pre-
mier League games and are likely to be
without Raheem Sterling and Christian
Pulisic, who suffered injuries against
Manchester City last week. Chelsea
benefited from the return of Ruben
Loftus-Cheek to team training yester-
day, with the midfielder having been
out since injuring his calf in November.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang could
be available after missing Sunday’s FA
Cup defeat to City with a back injury.
January signings David Datro Fofana,
who made his Chelsea debut against
61
Sport
passion for Wales became a problem,
the contrast in his performance and
demeanour clear for all to see. “I defi-
nitely have more excitement playing
for Wales,” he said.
For a while, those issues bubbled
under the surface but as Bale’s Real
career deteriorated, both sides dug in.
Bale’s agent, Jonathan Barnett,
described the club’s critical fans as
“disgusting” and Zidane a “disgrace”.
Bale celebrated Wales’s qualification
for Euro 2020 with that infamous
“Wales. Golf. Madrid” banner, listing
his priorities. AS responded with the
headline “Disrespectful. Misguided.
Ungrateful” while Marca mocked up a
picture of Bale sucking blood from the
Real badge, like a parasite.
As his relationship with the club and
media soured, Bale’s ambition to be at
the centre of things and the successor to
Ronaldo evaporated. After Ronaldo left
in 2018, there was an opportunity for
Bale to step forward, a chance he might
once have seized. How would Bale be
viewed now if he had enjoyed the years
since that Karim Benzema has? After
Ronaldo, it was Benzema who became
the team’s new juggernaut, Benzema
who won the Ballon d’Or.
Instead, Bale began to revel in his role
on the periphery. He left games early
after being substituted. He pulled faces
for the cameramen. He pretended to be
asleep on the bench. When the crowd at
the Santiago Bernabéu whistled, he
smiled. The criticism was exaggerated,
the tone unpleasant and it was hard to
see where the winners were. Not Real,
not Bale either.
When Bale announced his retire-
ment on Monday, there was recogni-
tion of the early years and fondness for
the special moments. Some saw both
sides. “If you ask me as a Madrid fan
would I sign Bale again? Absolutely,
with my eyes closed,” Álvaro Benito,
the former Real midfielder, said on Ca-
dena SER radio. “Has he been a key
player in a glorious period for the club?
Without a doubt. Do we all have that
bad taste in our mouths because he
could have done more? Without a
doubt.” Some were less forgiving. “Bale
leaves a legacy in titles but has little
place in the hearts of the Madridistas,”
sports journalist Tomás Roncero wrote
in AS. “There must be a reason for that.”
For others, there was nothing more
to say, a sense that Bale was gone from
Real when he joined Tottenham on
loan in 2020, gone when he almost
went to China the year before and gone
when he was standing there with his
arms folded, watching on while his
team-mates celebrated winning the
league. Perhaps Ancelotti put it best:
“Bale is part of the history of this club.
He has written some great chapters.
Let’s recognise that.”
City, and Benoît Badiashile, the centre
back, were also involved in the session.
Chelsea’s owners are keen on
strengthening the squad further with a
back-up to Reece James at right wing-
back, as well as a wide player. Senior
officials held positive talks with Darijo
Srna, the Shakhtar Donetsk director of
football, last week over their interest in
hijacking Arsenal’s move to sign
Mykhailo Mudryk. Chelsea are also in
negotiations to sign the Borussia
Mönchengladbach forward Marcus
Thuram and are considering a move for
PSV Eindhoven winger Noni Madueke.
62
Sport Football
Beckham Jr proves to be chip off
the old block as dad watches on
Alyson Rudd joins a
record crowd of 553 at
Erith & Belvedere to
watch Romeo make a
promising debut
O
ne of the best football-
meets-Shakespeare jokes
of the new year involves
Romeo Beckham asking
his new club what shirt
number he will wear and being told to
“wear four out there Romeo”.
In the end, the 20-year-old son of
David Beckham wore the No 21 shirt
for the second-round match of the
London Senior Cup, having been
signed on loan for six months by
Brentford B, the west London club’s
development team. His debut came
last night against Erith & Belvedere at
the Park View Road stadium that the
club share with Welling United in
northwest Kent.
Brentford B are holders of this
particular cup, but that was probably
not why there was a record crowd at
the home of the Southern Counties
East League Premier Division club.
An hour before kick-off, young
children milled about excitedly,
asking for something to write with in
case there was the opportunity for an
autograph. The club’s historian was on
hand, full of pride in the national
attention being given to what would
normally not be considered a
desperately glamorous fixture.
The club’s average attendance at
Park View Road is 160. Last night, it
was 553 — their record for this
ground — and they were rewarded
for turning up in the swirling rain
with goals from the home team at the
start of each half and, perhaps more
importantly, with the chance to see
not only Romeo, but also David
Beckham, who was smuggled in
round the back at half-time.
During half-time, Romeo had
stayed on the pitch and, as he passed
the ball among the substitutes, it was
clear that he has the relaxed gait of
his father. Romeo finally came on
shortly before the hour mark amid
some confusion as to his position, but
he settled on the right wing — of
course — and looked a little self-
conscious. This was understandable as
his father, hitherto hidden, now came
Reading captain: I faked injury to hide pregnancy
Molly Hudson
Emma Mukandi, the Reading captain,
has criticised the club for their support
of her as a new mother, and questioned
the level of maternity conditions avail-
able to Women’s Super League players.
Mukandi, 30, gave birth to her
daughter Innes in November 2021 and
re-signed for Reading in July 2022 after
having eight months out of the game.
Speaking on Off the Ball’s COYGIG
Podcast, Mukandi details the many
issues facing pregnant players and new
mothers that she encountered, includ-
ing having to fake an injury to hide her
pregnancy before the ten-week scan,
the lack of childcare provisions and
Reading not allowing her child to be at
the training ground.
Mukandi’s pregnancy came before
an FA overhaul, which was announced
Beckham came on to play on the right and displayed poise and passing reminiscent of his father, who was in the crowd, inset
into view to assess his offspring and
was mobbed by the locals. What
Beckham Sr would have noted was
that Romeo is technically proficient.
His passing was top notch and he
took the corner that led to the
Brentford B equaliser as they came
back to win 3-2. And it was a fine
debut considering he last played a
competitive game in September.
Romeo is on loan from Inter Miami
II, the American club’s development
side, where he plays in the MLS Next
Pro. He scored twice and provided ten
assists last season. Such statistics are
important as they prove he earned his
place due to more than the fact his
father owns the club. Romeo has
modelled for Burberry, had tennis
lessons from Andy Murray, and been
photographed in most of the places
last February, that introduced a league-
wide maternity policy for the first time
in the 2022-23 season.
Under the new agreement, a player
going on maternity leave will be paid
100 per cent of her weekly wage, as well
as any other remuneration and bene-
fits, for the first 14 weeks before revert-
ing to the statutory rate. “I think at the
time, there was nothing in the contracts
to say there was anything in place so I
didn’t want to tell anybody in case it
didn’t go down well,” Mukandi said.
“Then I had to fake an injury because
I didn’t want to tell anyone I was preg-
nant until the ten-week scan. It comes
down to [the] club you’re at. If you’re at
an Arsenal or a Chelsea or a Manches-
ter City and you’ve got loads of money,
great facilities and that, having a baby
there is not an issue at all but I think the
lower down the league you go . . . it’s
the rich and famous tend to be
snapped, but is reportedly deadly
serious about his football career,
which began at Arsenal in the youth
team nine years ago, but lasted just
one season. Thomas Frank, the
Brentford manager, described Romeo
as “an interesting player” and did not
rule out progress to the first team.
This was no marketing gimmick,
this was the real deal. Indeed, Romeo
was not even the only son of a former
player who featured for Brentford B
last night. At No 15 was Max Dickov,
son of Paul Dickov, the former
Manchester City striker. At No 12 was
Kyreece Lisbie, son of Kevin Lisbie,
the former Charlton Athletic forward.
The real pressure, though, when it
comes to comparisons, lies with
Romeo. “His father was an
easier for club CEOs to be like ‘No, this
isn’t happening.’ I don’t think there is
enough stuff in place to make women
think ‘I could do it [have a baby].’ ”
Toni Duggan, the Everton forward
who is pregnant, has described similar
struggles over when to inform the club
of her pregnancy and had to tell the
club doctor before her own family.
On the effects of childbirth on
players, Mukandi said: “There’s no re-
search on it, especially for footballers. I
think they’ve done a study on running
and just getting back running but we’ve
[also] got contact and trying to kick a
ball at the same time when you’ve a
really weak pelvic floor.”
Mukandi believes the new 14-week
full-pay maternity leave does not go far
enough because of the demands of the
profession on footballers’ bodies and
the level required to return to training.
2GM
unbelievable player, with an
unbelievable character, who had an
unbelievable career,” Neil
MacFarlane, the Brentford B
manager, said. “We push the players
like they have never been pushed
before and he [Romeo] has been
incredible and bought into the culture
and he should be proud of his debut.”
As he took his place in the dugout,
it is fair to say there were more
photographers interested in a subs’
bench than there had ever been
before in this stadium. That Beckham
is Romeo’s father was of practical use
given that Lee Dykes, the Brentford
technical director, knows the former
England star and was alerted by him
that both parties would benefit from
the loan. After the Brentford win, it
was clear the deal holds real promise.
“Who has even come up with that?
Surely not someone who has played
football and had a baby. Is that a man?”
She also claimed that Reading had
not allowed her child at the training
ground. “They basically said it was a
club policy and that they didn’t have the
right insurance to cover it but I just feel
like that’s a bit of a cop out,” she said.
“They never came and spoke to me. It
was just this email that got put out. I
thought, if this is about me, why didn’t
we have a conversation about it?”
An FA spokesman said: “A new mini-
mum standard maternity policy was in-
troduced before the start of the 2022-23
season. It is at the discretion of clubs,
who directly employ the players, if they
choose to go above and beyond the
regulations set out within our policy.”
Reading have been approached for
comment.
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Inter Miami
still confident
of Messi deal
Matt Lawton
Chief Sports Correspondent
Inter Miami remain confident of sign-
ing Lionel Messi despite renewed
efforts by Paris Saint-Germain to ex-
tend the 35-year-old’s contract for
another season.
While sources at PSG have indicated
that they hope to make an announce-
ment about the Argentina star’s future
in the next few weeks, the Miami man-
ager, Phil Neville, has said that the MLS
club remain focused on luring Messi to
Florida.
The principal Miami owners, Jorge
Mas and David Beckham, were in Qa-
tar for the World Cup and The Times
understands that meetings that took
place during the tournament left them
convinced they had their man.
However, Messi’s success in lifting
the World Cup with his Argentina
team-mates — not to mention Cristi-
ano Ronaldo’s move to Saudi Arabia —
has persuaded PSG’s Qatari owners to
increase his salary, which is already in
the region of £35 million a year.
“For us, the landscape’s not changed
at all,” Neville said. “With any deal for
any DP [Designated Player] of the level
you’re talking about, it is complicated; it
takes time.
“Rest assured, we’re working every
second of every day to bring in the best
players and I think he’s one of the best.
In this league, the DPs make the
difference. I think we’ve got massive
ambitions to be the best team in the
league this year and for that we will
need the best players.”
MLS clubs are allowed to acquire up
to three Designated Players whose wa-
ges fall outside of the league’s salary cap.
Neville was speaking at a press con-
ference to mark his side’s return for pre-
season training, with the MLS season
due to run from late February to mid-
October. Messi is contracted to PSG
until June, but Miami have made no
secret of their desire to sign him while
the former Barcelona forward, whose
family have a home in Miami, has
expressed a wish to one day play in the
United States.
In an interview with the Miami Her-
ald in June 2021, Mas revealed their am-
bitious plan to recruit a player widely
regarded as the greatest. But Nasser Al-
Khelaifi, the president of PSG and
chairman of Qatar Sports Investments,
has said that he hopes to extend Messi’s
contract, perhaps forcing Miami to wait
a further year, but would wait until after
the World Cup to discuss the player’s
future with him.
Polish FA ‘want Gerrard as
national team’s manager’
Steven Gerrard is one of the Polish
FA’s favoured candidates to become
manager of the national team as they
prepare for Euro 2024.
The former England midfielder was
sacked as Aston Villa’s manager two
months ago and has emerged as a
surprise contender for the Poland job.
The Polish news outlet Meczyki
reported that the national federation
had approached Gerrard about
succeeding Czeslaw Michniewicz after
his contract was not renewed in the
wake of Poland’s elimination from the
World Cup in the round of 16.
It seems unlikely at this stage that
Gerrard would take the job but it is
understood he will consider his next
move carefully after the way his
tenure at Villa Park came to an end.
Gerrard was sacked in October
shortly after his Villa side had lost 3-0
away to Fulham.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
Burn puts Newcastle ahead, the full back scoring his first goal for the club after unlocking the Leicester defence with a fine dribble. Joelinton added a second to ensure the home team’s place in the semi-finals
Burn’s night of joy for Newcastle
Henry Winter
Chief Football
Writer
Newcastle United
Burn 60, Joelinton 72 2 unrecognisable. During Newcastle’s
Leicester City
0 Cup, Littlewoods Challenge Cup, Rum-
Dan Burn dreamt of moments like this,
scoring his first goal for Newcastle
United in front of his beloved Gallow-
gate End. “He’s from Blyth, you’ll never,
ever beat Dan Burn”, the Gallowgate
sang back at the 30-year-old defender.
Released by Newcastle at 11, Burn’s
long journey back to his home ground
via working at Asda, non-League and
up the pyramid, makes an emotional
story and he celebrated his goal with a
smile as wide as the Tyne. Even Burn
surely could not have dreamt that his
debut goal would come via an elegant
dribble and then a finish with his sup-
posedly weaker right foot.
Newcastle fans dream of moments
like this, their side playing with real
authority in the second half, the excel-
lent Joelinton adding a second and
Miguel Almirón earning a standing
ovation for his twisting runs as Eddie
Howe’s side reached the semi-finals of
the League Cup for the first time in
continued from back
New safety review at Hillsborough
the SGSA said. “[We are] now working
with the club, Sheffield City Council
and the safety advisory group [SAG] to
review the event, learn any lessons and
ensure a safe environment for football
fans.”
The Times revealed on Sunday that
the FA is liaising with Wednesday, the
SAG and Newcastle over the incident.
The Newcastle United Supporters
Trust (NUST) is also eager to be includ-
ed, so that it can give a voice to the 4,500
Newcastle fans who were at the match.
Supporters were forced to rip netting
from seats in cordoned-off areas to
alleviate overcrowding at the entrance
to the tunnel and on the stairway in
front of it.
The Times can reveal that the NUST
has only been involved in conversa-
tions with officials from Newcastle. It
passed on emails from more than 50
fans who were in the away end.
2GM
47 years. “It’s been too long,” the New-
castle manager said.
The competition has undergone so
many changes since Newcastle were in
the last four that it is almost
long wait, the competition has gone
from unsponsored League Cup to Milk
belows Cup and Coca-Cola Cup. It then
went on to become the Worthington
Cup, Carling Cup, Capital One Cup,
EFL Cup for a season when the league
couldn’t find a sponsor, and now
Carabao Cup. At the time of that semi-
final in 1976, Queen’s Bohemian Rhap-
sody was at No 1, a pint of beer cost 33p,
the average house price was £12,704
and Howe hadn’t even been born.
Leicester City had a promising spell
midway through the first half and a
couple of chances when Jamie Vardy
came on but Brendan Rodgers’ side
lacked personality and players pre-
pared to take responsibility. Leicester
are still in the FA Cup but their season
is drifting badly and too many of their
players are either underperforming or
preparing to move on. Youri Tielemans’
decline is particularly sad to behold;
there used to be an elite player in that
No 8 shirt.
They were swept aside by Newcastle.
Burn was enterprising from left back,
while the interchanging and under-
Overcrowding
West Stand
3
Away fans
entrance
2 two stewards did nothing to direct fans
1 most overcrowded area, at the front of
Home fans
entrance
Leppings Lane
1. Approximately 4,500 Newcastle away fans
pack into narrow concourses - outdoors for
lower tier and indoors for upper tier
2. Stewards stop fans from entering stand
and are trapped in tunnel between
concourse and lower tier until kick-off
3. As fans enter stand, entrance becomes
overcrowded
The most concerning allegation is
that supporters with seats in the corner
of the lower Leppings Lane end were
being guided through the central tun-
nel. Evidence is also being sought to
standing between Joelinton and Joe
Willock was a constant, positive feature
of Newcastle’s game. Over on the right,
Almirón shone while Kieran Trippier’s
influence on the team from right back is
immense. He is a winner, a fighter, a
defender and a creator. Trippier
embodies the best qualities of Howe’s
team, Newcastle’s captain setting a high
standard for himself and others. He is
one of the most important signings in
Newcastle’s history. Trippier took a
knock that might have forced others off
but quickly signalled to Howe his deter-
mination to continue. Every dressing
room needs strong characters and
Trippier has been vital in Newcastle’s
resurgence.
It is Newcastle’s first cup semi-final
since 2005, when they reached the last
four of the FA Cup, and their fans are
loving this new explosion of hope.
Supporters again flocked in their tens of
thousands to their sporting cathedral
on the hill, many stopping off outside
the ground to drop off donations at the
foodbank. A young lad emptied the
coins from his piggy bank into the
collection bucket before heading into
the Gallowgate to peer through the
flags and watch Almirón tearing into
Leicester down the far end.
Almirón was a fast-moving night-
mare for Luke Thomas and Wout Faes,
either outrunning them or tricking
corroborate a claim that tickets were
sold for cordoned-off areas.
Newcastle supporters have said there
were plenty of stewards and police offi-
cers outside the ground, but not enough
inside. A female fan who attended the
game with her 15-year-old son said that
towards their seats and away from the
the Leppings Lane end. The NUST has
also received complaints about over-
crowding in the upper concourse of the
same end at half-time.
Spirit of Shankly, a Liverpool sup-
porters’ union, included the incident in
the minutes of a meeting it held on
Monday night.
Wednesday are still to release a com-
ment but it is thought that the club have
opened an internal investigation.
The NUST has more than 10,000
members and liaised successfully with
Leeds United officials last season to
alter ticketing arrangements for away
fans at Elland Road.
Carabao Cup quarter-final Sport
them with a feint or a touch. He helped
Willock to create a chance that was
squandered by Sean Longstaff. Howe
had fielded a weakened team in the FA
Cup on Saturday and was punished by
Sheffield Wednesday but last night he
unleashed his first-choice XI. Almirón
was soon leaving Faes on the floor and
setting up Callum Wilson, whose shot
was blocked. The Parguay star was
pulling all the strings, soon switching
play wide to Burn.
Newcastle’s towering left back em-
bodies the belief that Howe has instilled
in the team. At one point, Burn dribbled
past Marc Albrighton and Ayoze Pérez,
who waved his hands in disbelief rather
than chasing back. Newcastle varied
their set pieces, setting Leicester
further challenges. Bruno Guimarães
shaped to lift in a free kick before
squaring it short to Trippier. He
whipped it to the far post for Burn to
attack. Leicester withstood that move
and the Newcastle storm, and briefly
broke out themselves. Patson Daka was
too isolated up front, however, and
wasted a rare opportunity by passing
instead of shooting.
Newcastle were too strong for
Leicester after the break, laying siege to
Danny Ward’s goal in front of a Gallow-
gate End at fever pitch. Leicester’s goal-
keeper pushed Joelinton’s shot against
the post, then punched away Long-
Football chief accused of
improper conduct by agent
Adam Sage Paris
The chairman of the French Football
Federation is facing calls to resign after
a female agent went public with allega-
tions of improper conduct.
Sonia Souid, 37, said Noël Le Graët,
81, had told her that he was prepared to
support her plan to develop women’s
football in France, but only if she
became “close” to him.
Souid explained that she had
approached him with her plan in 2013.
She said Le Graët had invited her to his
flat, telling her that Brigitte Henriques,
then head of women’s football at the
federation, would be there too. But
Henriques never arrived and Souid
found herself alone with Le Graët.
63
staff’s fierce effort. But Ward had no
chance on the hour when Burn, of all
people, came calling. Newcastle’s
strong press turned the ball over,
Willock winning possession off Timo-
thy Castagne, who had struggled all
evening. Joelinton took the move on
down the left, inviting Burn to drive
into the area. He was too powerful and
determined for Castagne and Wilfred
Ndidi, too clever for Daniel Amartey.
Burn stroked the ball between Amar-
tey’s legs and past Ward.
If Burn has proved an inspired sign-
ing by Newcastle, Howe’s work with
Joelinton has proved equally inspira-
tional. His workrate is terrific and his
adaptation to a midfield role has been
effortless. He charged upfield and took
his 72nd-minute goal in style. Almirón
did the damage, releasing Joelinton,
who took a touch and drove the ball
past Ward to seal the victory.
Newcastle United (4-3-3): N Pope 7 — K Trippier
8, F Schär 7, S Botman 7, D Burn 8 — S Longstaff
7, B Guimarães 8, J Willock 7 (J Murphy 90min) —
M Almirón 8 (A Saint-Maximin 84), C Wilson 7
(A Isak 78), Joelinton 8. Booked Longstaff, Burn,
Botman.
Leicester City (4-2-3-1): D Ward 6 — T Castagne 5,
D Amartey 6, W Faes 6, L Thomas 6 (K Iheanacho
68, 4) — Y Tielemans 6, W Ndidi 5 — M Albrighton
6, A Pérez 6 (N Mendy 84), H Barnes 5 — P Daka 5
(J Vardy 64, 5). Booked Pérez, Amartey.
Referee D England.
Attendance 52,009.
“If we are close enough to each other,
I will manage to put your ideas into
practice,” Le Graët said, according to
Souid’s account of the meeting.
Souid said: “I realised that the only
thing which interested him were . . . my
two breasts and my arse. He just saw me
as a girl whose only purpose was to get
into bed with him.”
Le Graët was questioned yesterday
by government inspectors investi-
gating claims that he also harassed
female staff at the federation. Le Graët
has denied all the allegations.
Last week, Le Graët had to apologise
for saying he would not even have taken
a phone call from Zinédine Zidane, the
former France midfielder, in connec-
tion with the France manager’s job.
64
Sport Carabao Cup quarter-final
Rashford turning United’s nearly
Manchester Utd
Antony 21, Rashford 90, 90+4 3 lowed up his trickery with a shot at goal,
Charlton Athletic
0 created, Garnacho squared to Diogo
Paul Hirst
Marcus Rashford was on the pitch for
little over half an hour, but that was
enough time for him to fire Manchester
United into the semi-finals of the Cara-
bao Cup and serve a warning to the
noisy neighbours down the road.
Until the arrival of Rashford, Ca-
semiro and Christian Eriksen from the
substitutes’ bench, United looked a lit-
tle unconvincing in their quarter-final
meeting with Charlton Athletic, who
were backed by 9,000 vocal supporters.
By that point, Erik ten Hag’s team
were 1-0 up thanks to Antony’s glorious
curling effort, but they still needed a lit-
tle something extra, a little push to get
them over the line, a ruthlessness that
had until that point been absent.
Rashford gave them exactly that,
deftly nudging the ball past Ashley
Maynard-Brewer in the final minute of
normal time before beating the
Charlton goalkeeper with a finish that
was brutal in nature.
It was a timely double given the pre-
carious nature of the scoreline against
the League One side and apt in the
sense that it reminded the Manchester
City players and supporters what Rash-
ford is capable of before Saturday’s
derby at Old Trafford.
Of the players in Ten Hag’s squad, no
one will be as pumped for the derby as
Rashford. As a local lad, it means more
to him and he will come back here on
Saturday lunchtime with an extra
spring in his step, having scored in six
successive matches.
He has scored in his past eight home
games and his tally for the season now
stands at 15, triple his return from last
season. Everything he touches at the
moment turns to gold.
“When he gets himself into that posi-
tion, one-on-one in the box, he will
score,” Ten Hag said. “That’s what he’s
doing at the moment. If he keeps the
focus and puts the same effort in, then
he will continue scoring.”
This was the eighth successive vic-
tory for Ten Hag. It is a feat that has
been accomplished only twice in the
post-Ferguson era.
The first instance came in José Mour-
inho’s maiden campaign as manager,
when he won nine in a row. The second
eight-match winning run came with
the sugar rush that followed Ole Gun-
nar Solskjaer’s appointment as interim
manager in the winter of 2018.
United were the nearly men under
Solskjaer, losing in three of their
four semi-finals and losing in
their only final, in the Europa
League. Ten Hag will be hoping
his men fare better at the busi-
ness end of the Carabao Cup and
the other two cup competitions
his team remain in.
Until the late fireworks, this
was a functional performance
from a much-changed United
team. Other than Antony, the on-
ly other standout player in the
starting XI was Alejandro Gar-
nacho, the tricky winger
who gave Charlton right
back Sean Clare a torrid
time.
The 18-year-old, support-
ed by debutant Kobbie
Mainoo, beat Clare three
times in the opening
15 minutes.
Mainoo, a 17-year-old
midfielder, was given
his United debut
2GM Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
On two of those occasions, he fol-
but he was unable to test the goalkeep-
er. For the other opportunity he
Dalot, but the full back put his shot into
the crowd.
Ryan Inniss threw himself into the
path of Fred’s goalbound shot after
Tyrell Malacia enjoyed some success
down the left.
Thanks to some tight marking, Anto-
ny had enjoyed less success down
United’s right, but as soon as Charlton
let him off the hook, he made them pay.
Corey Blackett-Taylor could not de-
cide whether to follow Dalot’s run into
the box or stick with Antony on the
wing. In the end, he did neither, which
allowed the Brazil star to cut inside on
to his left foot and curl a delicious shot
into the far corner.
United looked for a second. Fred
came close, smacking the post with a
curling 20-yard free kick.
It was not all going to plan for United,
though. Dalot pulled up with a muscle
injury 11 minutes before half-time and
was replaced by Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
Charlton started the second half
strongly. Miles Leaburn outjumped
Lisandro Martínez and flicked the ball
to Scott Fraser, but the midfielder, off
balance, cleared the bar with his shot.
Charlton were beginning to grow in
confidence. Blackett-Taylor was giving
Wan-Bissaka a testing time and Charl-
ton’s midfielders kept the ball better.
Ten Hag called for reinforcements,
which was galling for the Charlton
manager, Dean Holden.
“I thought we were getting a grip on
the game, then I turned to my left and
Erik’s bringing on those three — Ca-
semiro, Rashford and Eriksen,” Holden,
a United fan, said with a smile.
The Charlton supporters appealed
for a free kick near the edge of their area
when Casemiro crashed into Jesurun
Rak-Sakyi, but the referee waved play
on.
Casemiro shifted the ball to Eriksen,
who set Garnacho free down the left.
Inniss tried to force Garnacho out
Manchester United (4-2-3-1): T Heaton 7 —
D Dalot 6 (A Wan-Bissaka 34min, 6), H Maguire 7,
L Martínez 7, T Malacia 6 — S McTominay 7, Fred 7
(C Eriksen 60, 6) — Antony 8 (M Rashford 60, 6),
K Mainoo 6 (Casemiro 60, 6), A Garnacho 8 —
A Elanga 6 (F Pellistri 85). Booked Malacia,
Maguire.
Charlton Athletic (4-3-3): A Maynard-Brewer 7 —
S Clare 5, R Inniss 7, L Ness 6, S Sessegnon 6
(J Stockley 82) — A Morgan 6 (J Payne 66, 5),
G Dobson 6, S Fraser 5 — J Rak-Sakyi 5
(A Henry 82), M Leaburn 7, C Blackett-Taylor 6
(E O’Connell 61, 5).
Referee J Gillett.
wide on to his weaker foot, but the which is similar to the terms of his deal release clause, which is why they and
Argentinian outsmarted him, moving
inside, and striking a sweet right-foot-
Ten Hag closes with Al-Nassr, the Saudi Arabian club,
who released him from his contract
United have had to negotiate the
player’s release.
ed shot that would have nestled into after signing Cristiano Ronaldo on a When asked for an update on the
the far corner were it not for an out-
standing save from Maynard-
in on loan deal free transfer.
Weghorst appeared to wave goodbye
status of the deal last night after
United’s Carabao Cup win over
Brewer.
The Charlton fans still be-
lieved their team could take
for Weghorst to the Besiktas fans after scoring in
their most recent game but the club
have repeatedly said that a deal has not
Charlton Athletic, Erik ten Hag said:
“No, unfortunately I can’t.”
The United manager has repeatedly
the game to penalties, but yet fully been agreed. Besiktas re- stated his desire to bring in another
Rashford had other ideas. Paul Hirst inforced that point further yesterday striker in the transfer window after
Facundo Pellistri, who when they released pictures of the releasing Ronaldo from his contract.
had come off the bench Wout Weghorst’s loan switch to Man- player training at their base in Istanbul. Although his team won 3-0 against
for his debut, angled his chester United moved closer yesterday Weghorst scored two goals for Burn- the Sky Bet League One side, Ten Hag
run from the right flank to after Besiktas agreed to accept £2.5 mil- ley last season but decided to leave on a said he was not satisfied with his side’s
find Rashford and he lifted lion in compensation for the Holland season-long loan to Besiktas in July finishing.
the ball over Maynard- striker. after the club’s relegation to the Sky Bet “I was unhappy that we were not clin-
Brewer. The four-month loan deal for Weg- Championship. The deal between ical in front of goal,” Ten Hag said. “We
The England forward horst will not go through, however, Burnley and Besiktas did not include a created a lot of chances. I think we
showed his class again in until the Turkish club sign a replace- should have scored more in the first half
injury time, cush- ment for the 30-year-old. Besiktas have Weghorst’s loan to and second half. Alejandro [Garnacho]
ioning a Casemiro lined up free agent Vincent Aboubakar Besiktas lacked a had a shot saved and Fred hit the post
through-ball on as a replacement for Weghorst but so release clause but we were not clinical enough.”
the half-volley far they have been unable to agree United will have to be at their most
with his right foot, terms with the Cameroon striker. ruthless in their next fixture, the derby
before finishing powerfully Aboubakar is thought to be demand- against Manchester City at Old Traf-
with his left foot from 12 yards. ing a contract worth £75,000 a week, ford on Saturday.
the times | Wednesday January 11 2023
men into winners
6 Rashford came off the
Rashford has scored in
six successive games for
United since the World
Cup, in all scoring
seven goals in six
games
Wolves want answers on offside goal
Graham Hill
Julen Lopetegui, the Wolverhampton
Wanderers manager, has contacted the
referees’ chief, Howard Webb, to ask
why what could have been his side’s late
winner away to Liverpool in Saturday’s
FA Cup third-round tie was disallowed
after a VAR check.
Toti Gomes, the Wolves defender,
looked to have given Lopetegui’s side
the lead in a match which ended 2-2.
But VAR ruled it out and Lopetegui said
that he has emailed the Professional
Game Match Officials Board
(PGMOL), where Webb has recently
been appointed chief refereeing officer.
Wolves seemed to have scored in the
80th minute but Matheus Nunes, who
had taken the corner, was adjudged to
be offside when the ball came back to
him and he crossed it back into the box.
VAR stuck with the original decision
2GM
but Lopetegui disputes it. The Spaniard
has attached footage of the incident —
taken by Wolves’ tactical camera —
which he says proves that Nunes was
onside and the goal should have stood.
Lopetegui wants answers from both
the PGMOL and the FA. “Of course I
have seen the images on the internet
and I have my opinion,” he said. “We
have sent to the FA our comments and
FA Cup third-round replays
Kick-off 7.45pm unless stated
Jan 17 Accrington Stanley v Boreham
Wood; Wigan v Luton; Wolves v
Liverpool (BBC1); Forest Green v
Birmingham (rearranged after game
was called off); Swansea v Bristol
City; West Brom v Chesterfield (8pm)
Jan 18 Leeds v Cardiff (ITV4)
bench to prod home
United’s second, killing
off Charlton’s hopes of a
comeback, before
scoring their third, left
we are waiting for an explanation. I
spoke after the match but it’s very clear
something has happened.” Wolves
hope to have received a response before
the replay at Molineux next week.
There will be no such issues in
tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-final
away to Nottingham Forest because
VAR will not be in use. Lopetegui says
this game will be tougher than the one
at Liverpool, as there is more at stake,
with a semi-final spot up for grabs.
“This is very important game for us,”
Lopetegui added. “We will forget the
Liverpool issues and put all our focus on
the game.”
Steve Cooper, the Forest manager, is
hoping to lead his side to a first semi-
final in 31 years and said the competi-
tion still has prestige. “Manchester City
have won it a lot, and Liverpool [too],” he
said. “You look at the recent list of win-
ners and it obviously means something.”
65
Sport
Phillips ready at
last to make first
start under Pep
Midfielder is facing a City conducted a thorough assessment
of his abilities last season. Txiki Begiris-
tough task to dislodge tain, the City director of football, and
the club’s vast scouting network cast
Rodri from the City their eye over him many times. They
even consulted Gareth Southgate, the
team, writes Paul Hirst England manager, when they were
considering signing Phillips as a
In the middle of summer, the Beijing replacement for Fernandinho.
sun can be particularly punishing, as But regardless of how many admirers
Samir Nasri found out to his cost in he has at City, the fact remains that
2016. Before Pep Guardiola’s first pre- Phillips has a huge task on his hands in
season tour with Manchester City, dislodging Rodri from the team.
medical tests showed the Frenchman Can he win that contest? “Why not?”
to be a little overweight. Guardiola said. “It depends on him,
So for a portion of the two-match how he is able to fight with Rodri. He
trip, the attacking midfielder trained has to fight with Rodri for the benefit of
away from the rest of the first team, all of us. All big clubs have that [compe-
running drills at the National Olympic tition]. Rodri must have the feeling
Centre in the 30C July heat. Nasri did there is someone close to him.”
not play a minute of the tour and five Guardiola said that Rodri and
weeks later he joined Sevilla on loan. Phillips could play together occasion-
When Kalvin Phillips returned from ally, but if that were the case the
his post-World Cup holiday, the City Catalan would have to drop one of his
and England midfielder was subjected attacking midfielders, such as Bernardo
to the same medical tests and he too Silva, Kevin De Bruyne or Ilkay
was found to be overweight. Gundogan, which is unlikely.
There was no chance of There is an acknowledgement
Guardiola subjecting Phillips within the club, however, that
to the same castigation as Rodri will not hang around
Nasri, although it must Southampton forSpaniard ever. The 26-year-old
have been humbling for has a contract
him to have been outed v Man City at the Etihad Stadium
as overweight by his Tonight, 8pm until 2027 but there is a
manager in a press con- feeling at the club that
ference over Christmas. TV: Sky Sports Main he has a career path
Four days after Guard- Event/Football planned out that involves
iola revealed that Phillips Radio: talkSPORT and him returning to his native
was out of shape, he was BBC 5 Live country at some stage.
named on the bench for the 3-1 Either this summer or next,
away win against Leeds United, his Barcelona will be looking for a
former club, in the Premier League replacement for Sergio Busquets,
on December 28 and a week later he and there is no doubt that Rodri
came off the bench in the 1-0 victory could do the job.
over Chelsea. The first task for Phillips is
Now, after overcoming a dislo- to catch up on what he
cated shoulder and a series of has missed so far.
other niggling injuries, the “There are patterns
27-year-old is finally set to and movements
make his full City debut in that he will learn
tonight’s Carabao Cup with games,”
quarter-final away to Guardiola
Southampton. said.
“He is ready,” Guardi- “He arrived
ola said of player he signed and had inju-
from Leeds for £42 million in ries which
July. “I am pretty sure it is frus- meant he couldn’t be there but
trating for you when you come step by step he will get there.
to a new club and cannot play, “Kalvin is better than Rodri
but the shoulder is the main with the quality of the long balls.
thing. It’s just a question of time, When it comes to the shorter game,
minutes, the number of games
we are going to use him.”
That is an issue that will be
Rodri is better.
“Kalvin is an intelligent guy. He is a
national team player and when
occupying Phillips’ mind too, England reached the [Euro 2020] final,
given that he has made only six him and [Declan] Rice both played
substitute appearances so far. amazingly.
“He has many attributes to make me
Phillips was overweight on believe he could settle perfectly with us
his return from World Cup and I’m convinced he’s going to do it.”
continued from back knows that a defeat by City could mean
Jones: This is toughest challenge the fans turning on him once more. He
is coming under pressure only weeks
and lost to Chelsea. Guardiola said he after replacing Ralph Hasenhüttl. Even
noticed that a lot of his players were in victory in the FA Cup at Crystal Pal-
tired last week after their 1-0 win over ace on Saturday, Jones was subjected to
Chelsea in the Premier League, which taunts from the away end over his style
is why he made seven changes for the of play and in-game management.
4-0 FA Cup victory against the same “You have to have a thick skin to be a
opponents three days later. manager, never mind a Premier League
He must decide whether to recall Er- manager and a manager under pres-
ling Haaland and De Bruyne tonight, or sure,” he said. “This is the toughest
leave them on the bench so that they challenge I have faced: one, because it is
are fresh for the derby. Meanwhile, Nat- the next one, and two, because it is the
han Jones, the Southampton manager, Premier League.”

Sport
Archer’s back
with a bang
After 541 days, England fast bowler returns
from injury hell and takes three wickets
Elizabeth Ammon
Jofra Archer took three wickets on
his return to competitive cricket
after 18 months out with injury in
a significant boost for England’s
hopes of a successful year.
Archer played a friendly intra-
squad game for the England Lions
in November, but his appearance
in South Africa’s T20 franchise
was his first competitive bowl for
541 days, since July 2021.
England will contest the Ashes
at home in the summer and then
try to defend their World Cup title
in India and Archer’s skill and
pace is seen a crucial part of that.
Ben Stokes, the Test captain, said
that he was “buzzing, buzzing,
buzzing” to see Archer’s return.
Guardiola: I’ve got ridiculous plans in mind for the derby
Paul Hirst
Pep Guardiola hinted that he may go
with a left-field team selection for the
Manchester derby on Saturday after
admitting that some “ridiculous”
thoughts about his starting XI had
occupied his mind in the past few days.
After tonight’s Carabao Cup quarter-
final against Southampton, City face
Manchester United in what will be their
Times Crossword 28,497
1 2 3 4
9 10
12 13
14 15
19 20
21
22
25
27
third game in seven days. Guardiola has . . . ridiculous ones for the match against
occasionally sprung a surprise with his United, but I still haven’t watched their
starting line-up in big games and that past few games,” Guardiola, the City
may be the case this weekend depend- manager, said.
ing on the research that he does on the “I have to see the way they play at
opposition in the build-up to the match home and if they changed something
at Old Trafford. [under Erik ten Hag]. I still have to
“I would like to arrive against United review it. That is why I don’t have a clear
with all the players having a similar line-up against United.”
amount of minutes in their legs, Guardiola, regarded as one of the
because I have a few ideas and thoughts most accomplished tacticians in foot-
across
5 6 7 8 1 Group of cottages in Perth or
Penicuik? (6)
4 Hymn is able to delight, though
king has left (8)
11 9 Woman binding books, works of an
explicit nature (7)
11 Comparatively slender maidens
visiting German city (7)
12 Reportedly witnessed
embarrassing display of emotion
(5)
13 Reverse old carriage out of sight of
the house (9)
16 17 14 Airborne soldier’s girl adopting
name of some French poets (10)
18 16 Increase in cost of healthy exercise
(4)
19 Variable food leader spat out?
That’s disgusting (4)
20 Person like Linnaeus, one without
cover crossing a lake (10)
22 Great month to introduce a star! (9)
23 24 23 Eg Hammerstein’s very big estate,
perhaps (5)
25 Escapologist’s dog losing direction
in India (7)
26 26 Empress’s army penetrated by
nerve gas (7)
27 Compliant, having the last word?
Clever (8)
28
28 Explosive device Aussie native kept
in castle, perhaps (6)
Wednesday January 11 2023 | the times
Rashford scores again
Striker grabs two more as United
cruise into Carabao Cup semis
Hillsborough
safety review
Martin Hardy
The Newcastle United Supporters
Trust has received more than 50
detailed complaints regarding over-
crowding during the club’s FA Cup
third-round tie at Hillsborough on
Saturday. It is investigating claims that
fans with tickets for the wide areas of
the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield
Wednesday’s ground were directed by
stewards through the central tunnel.
The trust is also looking at allega-
tions that Newcastle supporters had
tickets for seats in the lower level of
Leppings Lane that were covered by
safety netting.
The Sports Grounds Safety Author-
ity (SGSA), the government’s advisory
body on safety at sports grounds,
expressed its concern yesterday about
images in which Newcastle fans could
be seen in overcrowded areas of
the lower concourse, the scene of the
Hillsborough disaster in 1989.
The SGSA has revealed that it is now
involved in the investigative process,
working with Wednesday — who are
yet to release an official comment — to
ensure another incident does not occur
at the ground where 97 Liverpool fans
were unlawfully killed when their team
played Nottingham Forest in an FA
Cup semi-final.
“We are concerned by reports of
overcrowding and crushing at Hillsbor-
ough stadium on Saturday evening,”
ball, has made alterations to his side in Guardiola has occasionally switched
big games with mixed results during his to a 3-3-3-1 formation, too, mostly with
6½-year spell in charge of City. success. Not all of his tactical rejigs
In January 2020, Guardiola oversaw have worked, though. City lost a
a 3-1 win against United at Old Trafford Champions League quarter-final to
in the Carabao Cup after deploying Lyon in August 2020 after switching to
Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as a three-man defence.
two false nines in a 4-4-2 formation. In the Champions League final the
The following month, he used the following year, Guardiola played with-
same system in the 2-1 win away to Real out a recognised holding midfielder
Madrid in the Champions League.
down Yesterday’s solution 28,496
1 Article on old Persian monarch’s B A C K P A C K P HOB I C
O A A O I A U L
religious system (9) D A P HN I S A NDCH L O E
2 Cricket side in wizard place initially E A E T K L A
enjoying bracing air (5) G OB SMA C K E D D E R V
A A A G H T E
3 Ancient drug injected into prudish S Y NON Y M ROOS T E R
woman (8) A I A A N R
5 Clot aunt again dispersed, using F UN F A I R L E EWA R D
I A N I Y I R
this? (13) E A S T O N T H EMON E Y
6 Limited number concealing onset L P P A Y O E
of such longing (6) D O L L A R D I P L OMA C Y
7 Bell towers river god observed on E I W E E N R E
R A T I NG P R E S UME D
the Italian island (9)
Check today’s answers by ringing 0905 757
8 One invited into Jane’s lofty 0141 by midnight. Calls cost £1 per minute
dwelling (5) plus your telephone company’s network
10 Senior diplomat’s fuss over retreat access charge. SP: Spoke 0333 202 3390.
set up by American singer (13)
15 Again experience strong emotion Newspapers
touring City area (9)
17 Host in French land given time for support recycling
The recycled paper content of
second run (9) UK newspapers in 2020 was 67%
18 Broad view of girl kept by dad and
mum (8)
21 A number of sailors in charge of a
plant (6)
22 Unstressed vowel we analysed
originally after school (5)
24 Outstanding feature primarily of
cotton twill fabric (5)