The Guardian World News

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• US government shutdown averted by late night drama
• NoW apologises over phone hacking
• Man held after nuclear sub death
• At least 20 killed in Syria clashes
• 100 more bodies found in Ivory Coast
• Nato voices regret for rebel deaths
• Business chiefs fear for UK economy
• Portugal bailout terms 'must be strict'
• Funerals held for Rio victims
• Clarke: PM treating Lansley unfairly
• JP Morgan head pockets 51% pay rise
• Fuel price hike hits shopping malls
• 'It hurts to see my friends, brothers, killing each other'
• 'Our family will never be the same'
• I was lost in a ravine for eight days
• Dearly beloved… fight!
• David Lacey
• Poland's PM wants more from east
• Q&A: Mark Thomas
• Fisherman's death unites community
• In search of the pale king
• Spam filter working?
• Cycle helmets are a personal choice
• Beauty tips: Concealer pens

US government shutdown averted by late night drama Posted: 08 Apr 2011 08:35 PM PDT Obama and Democrats forced to accept $39bn package of cuts while Republicans gave way on health care for women A shutdown of the US federal government scheduled to begin on Saturday was averted after the Democrats and Republicans reached agreement only hours before midnight on budget spending cuts. The shutdown would have triggered major disruptions across the country and could have set back the country's fragile economic recovery. Hundreds of federal agencies would have closed down and about 800,000 federal staff faced suspension. The deal came after days of negotiation between Obama and the Republican House Speaker, John Boehner, and the Democratic leader in the Senate Harry Reid. A deal had appeared to be tantalisingly close several times but was not finalised, until Friday night. Boehner, an hour before midnight, told journalists in Congress: "I am pleased that Senator Reid and the White House have come to an agreement that will cut spending and keep government open." It would have been the first federal government shutdown since 1995-96 when there was a stand-off between the Republicans and the Clinton White House. Barack Obama tore up his schedule for Friday, including the start of a family weekend break in Virginia, to concentrate on negotiations with Republicans. He had hoped to reach a compromise Friday morning but discussions dragged out throughout the day. Obama portrayed the compromise as a tribute to US democracy as he said: "Tomorrow ... the entire federal government will be open for business." Reid, like Obama, paid tribute to the Republicans in spite of the repeated clashes over the last week. "This has been a long process," Reid said. "It has not been an easy process. Both sides have had to make tough choices." The Republicans forced the Democrats to agree to $39bn (£23bn) in spending cuts in this year's budget to September, $6bn more than the Democrats were prepared to accept earlier this week. In return, the Republicans dropped a demand to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, an organisation providing health care for women. Republicans objected to the organisation's links to abortion. Boehner had as many problems in negotiations with his own Republican party as he did with the White House and Democratic members of the House. Many Republicans were elected in November with the support of the Tea Party movement who have demanded huge reductions in the federal deficit. After reaching a deal with the White House and the Congressional Democrats, Boehner had to take the proposal to Congressional Republicans for final approval. Boehner said Congress would pass a temporary spending measure to keep the government open until mid-way through next week. This would allow time for passage of the budget bill covering spending up until the end of the fiscal year in September. The deal came after Obama spoke twice by phone Friday with Boehner. The Republicans faced being blamed for the disruption if they had not reached a deal. But Obama could have suffered too, accused of weak leadership, unable to prevent a government shutdown. About 800,000 federal employees would have been suspended without pay from Monday, more than a million troops at home and abroad would not have received pay, tax offices would have been disrupted and, in Washington DC, rubbish collection, parking control and other services would have ceased. Pollution checks by the Environmental Protection Agency would have stopped across the US, as would monitoring of Wall Street transactions. The White House, Congress, the Pentagon and hundreds of other bodies would have had to reduce staff. The immediate impact of a shutdown would have been felt by tourists hoping to visit some of America's most popular attractions, the 400 national parks, monuments and historic sites. Queues grew at passport offices on Friday as tourists and people traveling for business or other reasons put in their applications afraid of a closedown. The dispute offers a glimpse of bigger battles to come over the 2012 budget, in which Republicans are likely to seek much bigger cuts. A Gallup poll published on Friday showed 58% of those surveyed favoured a compromise in this week's row, with 33% backing the Republicans to hold out. US politics Barack Obama John Boehner Republicans US Congress Democrats Obama administration United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

NoW apologises over phone hacking Posted: 08 Apr 2011 05:35 PM PDT Admission of liability over phone hacking likely to cost News International millions of pounds in compensation Rupert Murdoch's News International has issued a public apology to eight victims of phone hacking, including the actor Sienna Miller and former culture secretary Tessa Jowell, and admitted for the first time that the practice was rife at the News of the World. In a move likely to cost the company many millions of pounds, it said it would offer compensation to some of the 24 high-profile figures who have started legal proceedings against the paper in the high court for breach of privacy. It also admitted its previous investigations into hacking had not been "sufficiently robust". The unprecedented statement of contrition is a remarkable volte face for the country's most powerful news organisation that was claiming until the start of this year, in the face of growing evidence to the contrary, that hacking was the work of a single reporter. It comes as a Scotland Yard investigation into phone hacking gathers pace. The News of the World's chief reporter, Neville Thurlbeck, was questioned by police on Tuesday, as was Ian Edmondson, who was sacked as associate editor (news) in January. The company said it had decided to offer an "unreserved apology" in certain cases but it would continue to fight others, including claims brought by Steve Coogan and the jockey Kieren Fallon. "Past behaviour at the News of the World in relation to voicemail interception is a matter of genuine regret," it said. "It is now apparent that our previous inquiries failed to uncover important evidence and we acknowledge our actions then were not sufficiently robust." At least one of the victims indicated privately that she was unlikely to accept News International's offer, although others – including Miller – are believed to be considering the proposal. Lord Prescott, who is suing the Metropolitan police over its handling of the original 2006 phone-hacking inquiry, said: "The NoW has now admitted mass criminality." He repeated his call for Murdoch's bid for BSkyB to be blocked until the hacking allegations have been investigated fully. The eight people to be offered compensation, likely to be an estimated £100,000 each, include Joan Hammell, one of Prescott's former advisers, and Jowell's estranged husband, David Mills. Jowell was the minister responsible for media policy at the time of the alleged hackings. The others are football agent Sky Andrew, Andy Gray, who was sacked as a Sky Sports presenter this year, publicist Nicola Phillips and Kelly Hoppen, the interior designer who is Sienna Miller's stepmother. News International insiders said more offers are certain to follow. The action is an attempt to prevent further damaging revelations about hacking at the paper emerging in the course of court hearings, the first of which is due in the autumn. Over the next few weeks, NI will be forced to hand over hundreds of internal emails sent by reporters and executives relating to Miller and Andrew in order to comply with a high court order. They could reveal how much senior executives at the paper knew about the activities of Glenn Mulcaire, the private investigator who worked for the NoW. Asked at a New York media conference about the damage hacking has inflicted on the company, Rupert Murdoch's son James, who was promoted last week to become the third most powerful executive in his father's media empire, said it had isolated the issue. He said: "What we were able to do is really put this problem into a box. If you get everybody sucked into something like that, then the whole business will sputter which you don't want." But Rod Dadak, of law firm Lewis Slikin, said dozens of potential victims would now scramble to launch legal claims in the expectation of receiving generous payouts. That could leave NI facing a bill of up to £40m. "The admission of liability is just the beginning," he said. "The list of people who will now claim their phone may have been hacked will grow immeasurably." Evidence seized from Mulcaire by the Met suggests that he targeted more than 3,000 people on the instructions of executives at the paper. MP Simon Hughes was one of the original hacking victims named in the indictment against Mulcaire and Clive Goodman. He said yesterday: "It was always obvious that other people must have been involved in the phone hacking and other victims must have had their privacy invaded. It is in the public interest that we get to the bottom of this." Andrew Neil, an ex-Murdoch executive who edited the Sunday Times for a decade, said: "This is one of the most embarrassing apologies I've ever seen from a major British corporation. I don't think NI had anywhere else to go. The evidence was piling up against them. It may cost them a lot more than they think. There are plenty of other people involved. They are trying to close it down with their chequebook but I don't think they're going to succeed." Charlotte Harris, of Mishcon de Reya, who represents Andrew, said: "An admission from the News of the World is something we've been working towards for years now. They persisted with their 'one rogue' defence for far too long. It was clear for a very long time that the practice of phone hacking was rife and that the News of the World should take responsibility. I hope these apologies do not come at the cost of finding out precisely what happened and who was responsible for covering it up." James Robinson guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Man held after nuclear sub death Posted: 08 Apr 2011 05:35 PM PDT Royal Navy serviceman held after an officer died of gunshot wounds on board the nuclear-powered submarine HMS Astute A Royal Navy serviceman is being held on suspicion of murder after an officer was killed and a second was seriously injured in a shooting incident on board a nuclear-powered submarine. A group of children had just left HMS Astute, which is docked in Southampton on a goodwill visit, and a party of dignitaries was being shown around when the incident happened. Among the visitors on board was the leader of Southampton city council, Royston Smith, who last night said he had helped wrestle the person allegedly behind the shooting to the floor. The Ministry of Defence said reports that the shooting followed a row over use of the submarine's five toilets during the civic visit would be investigated. A police spokesman said: "Hampshire police were called by their Ministry of Defence colleagues at 12.12pm today and are liaising with them to establish the exact circumstances of the incident." An MoD spokesman said: "Two Royal Navy personnel have been involved in a firearms incident at Southampton docks where HMS Astute is alongside. Sadly, one has now died as a result of his injuries. "The Royal Navy is now attempting to inform their families as a matter of urgency. A third Royal Navy serviceman has been arrested by Hampshire constabulary and is now in custody." Last night, there were calls for an inquiry to establish if the public was put in danger, and campaigners said the incident should prompt a rethink about the wisdom of using nuclear submarines. The police and navy emphasised that submarine security was not breached and were convinced it had not been a terrorist incident. A navy spokesman said: "There is no nuclear incident ." It is understood that the two victims were male officers and that the weapon used was an SA80 rifle. Smith, 46, described how the alleged gunman burst into the control room in body armour and camouflage gear brandishing the rifle. He said he had heard six shots. "I heard a hiss which meant one had flown just passed me," he said. "I charged at him, pushed him against the wall and, at the same time got hold of his weapon. We had a tussle and I think I was shouting quite a lot. "I have no idea why it happened. It is unprecedented for something like this to happen on one of our submarines." He played down the idea there had been a row over the toilets. Police said the second man hit by gunfire suffered "significant injuries" but described his condition as stable. John Denham, the Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, expressed concern about security. He said: "I will be asking ministers to ensure this incident is fully explained." Di McDonald, chair of the Nuclear Information Service, which promotes awareness of nuclear disarmament, said the incident ought to prompt a rethink on the value of confining men in such an unnatural environment. Liam Fox, the defence secretary, said: "It is right and proper that a full police investigation is carried out." Astute, which has a crew of 98, was the first of a new class of submarine. The visit to Southampton was billed as the first chance for members of the public outside Scotland and the north-west of England, where she was built, to see her. She was launched in 2007 and commissioned last year, only to hit the headlines when she grounded off Skye in October. Military Steven Morris guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

At least 20 killed in Syria clashes Posted: 08 Apr 2011 05:37 PM PDT Protests move closer to the centre of Damascus as Bashar al-Assad's concessions fail to quell calls for reform Anti-government demonstrations have spread across Syria with the highest turnout yet in a month of unrest, despite a heavy crackdown by security forces in Deraa in which at least 22 people were reported killed. Residents in Deraa said troops opened fire on thousands of protesters, and ambulances were prevented from reaching the scene. A man who helped carry the dead and wounded to hospital said he had seen security forces shooting live ammunition. "My clothes are soaked with blood," he told the Associated Press, asking to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals. LFriday night the death toll around the country was rising, with activists reporting more and more citizens taking to the streets. Demonstrators are calling for President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for nearly 40 years, to step down. Assad has made a series of concessions to quell the violence, including sacking his cabinet and firing two governors, but protesters say he has not gone far enough. The unrest moved closer to the centre of the capital, Damascus, on Friday, where force was used against demonstrators in the Kafer Souseh and Harasta areas. A witness told the Guardian by phone that 4,000 people had gathered in Harasta, which has not seen demonstrations on previous Fridays. They carried olive branches and chanted "freedom". "It was peaceful until security forces attacked and some shots were fired," said the man, who asked for anonymity. "I saw six people shot, three of them with two bullets each." A witness in Kafer Souseh said protesters leaving al-Refai mosque after prayers were beaten by security forces using batons and stun guns. He said he saw several "badly beaten" bodies which looked "lifeless". "There were protests everywhere and from what we have seen the numbers were larger than last week," said Razan Zeitouneh, a lawyer and human rights activist in Damascus who is monitoring the movement. Protests were also held in Douma – which was largely peaceful after a brutal crackdown last week – Homs, Hama, Jableh, Banias, Deir Ezzor, Qamischli and small villages and towns around Damascus and Douma. Phones and internet services were not working in Douma. State media again disputed that security forces were responsible for the violence in Deraa, saying gunmen had fired on protesters and police. "This expresses clearly and openly that there are some people who wish evil on Syria," a TV anchor said. Thousands gathered in the Kurdish towns of Qamischli, Amouda and Derbasiyyeh hours after Assad announced he would grant nationality to 200,000 stateless Kurds. Kurdish activists said the reforms were inadequate. "We are part of the Syrian people and we also want the regime to lift the state of emergency and demand the enactment of new laws allowing for political parties," said Massoud Akko, a Kurdish journalist and activist. "We need cultural and political rights, not just nationality." Other moves that failed to stamp out protests included sacking the governor of Homs, where people again took to the streets. Assad has reached out to niche groups, including conservative Muslims, by reversing a ban on niqab-clad teachers in schools and closing Syria's only casino. But protesters complain that he has still not lifted a 48-year-old emergency law, released political prisoners or allowed political parties to form. Anger is also rising at the continued use of force which local human rights organisations say has killed at least 173 people. "I don't see how this ends," said Zeitouneh. "The authorities keep lying and giving promises that won't satisfy people while the bloodshed continues to anger more people and encourage them on to the streets." Katherine Marsh is a pseudonym for a journalist working in Damascus Syria Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Protest guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

100 more bodies found in Ivory Coast Posted: 08 Apr 2011 09:06 AM PDT UN says killings it is investigating in the west of Ivory Coast appear to have been at least partly ethnically motivated UN investigators have found more than 100 bodies in Ivory Coast, victims of what seem to have been ethnically motivated massacres. Some appeared to have been burned alive and others were thrown into a well, said a spokesman for the UN high commissioner for human rights. The killings occurred in three locations in western Ivory Coast and may have been carried out by Liberian mercenaries, according to the UN. The bodies were found on Thursday. The discovery came as Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognised president of Ivory Coast, said he would not try to capture Laurent Gbagbo, who has refused to leave power and is hiding in a bunker under his personal residence. Ouattara's forces have blockaded the compounded. In his first televised address since the siege in Abidjan began this week, Ouattara said he would focus on returning the country to normal to ease the plight of civilians. The UN team's discovery underlines the need for an urgent resolution to the crisis, which was brought about by Gbagbo's rejection of the official election results last November. About 40 bodies were found in Blolequin, west of Duékoué, where another 229 corpses were discovered last week. A further 15 bodies have been discovered in Duékoué and another 60 in the nearby town of Guiglo. Most of the victims appeared to have been shot while fleeing and wore civilian clothes, the UN said. Some of the dead were from other countries in west Africa. Forces loyal to Ouattara were partly blamed for the massacre in Duékoué discovered last week. It occurred when Outtara fighters were trying to take over the town. The International Committee of the Red Cross reported at the time that the death toll could be more than 800. It is not yet clear who carried out the massacres uncovered on Thursday, though the UN said that in Blolequin people from the Guere ethnic group – who are considered pro-Gbagbo – appeared to have been deliberately spared by the Liberian militias. "With these very ugly tit-for-tat killings in Duékoué ... [and] 100 more bodies found just yesterday, you're talking about quite an escalation," Rupert Colville, the UNHCHR spokesman, told reporters in Geneva. He said all the incidents appeared to have been at least partly ethnically motivated. There are deep rivalries in the cocoa-growing area, mainly between the Guere and mostly Muslim farmworkers whose parents or grandparents came from Mali or Burkina Faso and who are still accused of being foreigners. Liberian mercenaries have previously been drawn into the fighting, which has claimed many lives over the past decade. But the ethnic and religions tensions are also echoed at the national level – and have played a key part in the current conflict. Ivory Coast has a Muslim north and Christian south, and more than 60 different ethnic groups. During his decade-long rule Gbagbo, a staunchly Christian southerner, tolerated and encouraged an increase in xenophobia, mainly aimed at Ivorians whose parents came from neighbouring countries, as well as the French. Muslims from the north – Ouattara's main constituency – were also discriminated against, causing much resentment and a brief civil war. Following the rapid advance of Ouattara's forces through the country last week, Gbagbo has been confined to his well-equipped bunker with his influential wife, Simone. UN and French peacekeeping forces have attacked his military depots to reduce his firepower. But Gbagbo refuses to surrender, insisting he won the November poll and blaming France for his predicament. Until the election he had managed to stay in office five years after his mandate expired by repeatedly postponing elections. Many of Gbagbo's top generals and troops have deserted him, but about 200 soldiers and militiamen equipped with heavy weapons are guarding his home in the upmarket Cocody suburb, according to the French military. The Gbagbo loyalists repelled an assault by Ouattara's fighters on Wednesday. Ouattara is keenly aware that killing Gbagbo, who won 46% of the vote in the November run-off, could turn him into a martyr for his supporters and trigger terrible violence. In a television speech Ouattara said his surrounding forces would wait for Gbagbo to run out of water and food, while at the same time securing the streets of Abidjan. Most people stayed at home for most of this week due to heavy fighting, looting and random attacks by militias. On Friday, with a lull in the clashes, some ventured on the streets to look for food and water, which is being sold in small amounts. Ouattara has said he will soon end the ban on cocoa exports that he announced in January. He has asked the EU to lift sanctions on the main ports that had been intended to force Gbagbo to stepping down. Ouattara asked the Central Bank of West African States to reopen its branches in the country to allow salaries to be paid. He has denied that his forces carried out massacres but pledged to hold a public inquiry into any human rights abuses committed during the conflict. Ivory Coast United Nations Alassane Ouattara Laurent Gbagbo Xan Rice guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Nato voices regret for rebel deaths Posted: 08 Apr 2011 08:00 AM PDT Deputy commander says fighter pilots didn't know rebels had armoured vehicles in advance of fatal attack near Ajdabiya Nato has said it "strongly regrets" the loss of life caused by an attack on Libyan rebel forces in the east of the country in which at least five people were killed, saying it had not been told the rebels had tanks. The apology came from the Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, hours after the British deputy commander of the Libya operation refused to say he was sorry. Rasmussen said: "This is a very unfortunate incident. I strongly regret the loss of life. The situation on the ground is very fluid. We have seen in the past that tanks have been used by the Gaddafi regime to attack civilians." The attack on Wednesday happened between the towns of Brega and Ajdabiya. Local doctors reported 13 deaths. A similar attack by Nato planes five days earlier killed a reported 10 rebel fighters, and the latest bombing enraged those fighting Muammar Gaddafi's forces. Earlier, Rear Admiral Russ Harding, the British deputy commander of Nato's Libya operation, said the alliance's jets had carried out 318 sorties and struck 23 targets across Libya in the past 48 hours. "It would appear that two of our strikes yesterday may have resulted in [rebel] deaths," he told reporters in Naples, where the operation is based. "I am not apologising. The situation on the ground was and remains extremely fluid and until yesterday we did not have information that [rebel] forces are using tanks." The tanks had been seized from Gaddafi's forces and were being used for the first time by the rebels, whose communications with Nato are patchy. Harding said Nato's mission was to protect civilians from attack and "when you see their tanks coming up, those are the vehicles that can cause the greatest harm to civilians". Rasmussen, in a clear attempt to correct the impact of Harding's comments, added: "We are conducting operations in Libya in accordance with the UN security council resolution with the aim to protect civilians. This is also the reason why our aircraft target military equipment that could be used to attack civilians, but I can assure you that we do our utmost to avoid civilian casualties." News of the Nato attack came as wounded rebels were taken to Ajdabiya. A hospital nurse in the town told Reuters that at least five people had died, while the BBC quoted doctors putting the toll at 13. Rebels outside Ajdabiya were painting vehicles peach colour on Friday to try to make them distinctive from the air. The MoD is providing 500 satellite phones to help the rebels, who have already been given sophisticated communications equipment by the Foreign Office. Britain is also sending armoured vehicles to eastern Libya to protect the UK delegation to the Transitional National Council, headed by senior diplomat Christopher Prentice. A rebel reconnaissance party sent from Ajdabiya to Brega came under attack 12 miles from Ajdabiya, suggesting Gaddafi's forces had advanced. Last night Nato hit weapons depots belonging to forces loyal to Gaddafi near Zintan, a resident said. "The depots are situated 15 km southeast of Zintan. We could see buildings on fire in the distance," he told Reuters. "We counted 14 explosions. Rebels believe some of the depots were destroyed, but not all. We are talking about huge facilities." Earlier, pro-Gaddafi troops pushed into eastern parts of rebel-held Misrata and engaged in street battles with rebels that forced residents to flee. In one skirmish, rebel forces surrounded a group of pro-Gaddafi snipers. Residents say that they and thousands of migrant workers trapped in the city face shortages of basic foods and have only sporadic supplies of water and electricity. Doctors say the hospitals are overwhelmed. The International Committee of the Red Cross said it expected a humanitarian vessel it had chartered to reach Misrata by midday today but gave no details of the relief cargo it was carrying. American journalist James Foley taken prisoner by forces loyal to Gaddafi has been located and is expected to be released in Tripoli, US website GlobalPost reported. A spokeswoman for Unicef has said snipers were targeting children. Marixie Mercado said the organisation has received "reliable and consistent reports of children being among the people targeted by snipers in Misrata". TThe US general who led the Libyan mission before Nato took it over has said it was possible that American ground forces could eventually be used in the country. "I suspect there might be some consideration ([of ground forces)]. My personal view at this point would be that that's probably not the ideal circumstance, again for the regional reaction that having American boots on the ground would entail," General Carter Ham told a Senate Aarmed services committee hearing. Meanwhile, there were signs that a peace plan proposed by Turkey was gaining traction before an international meeting in Qatar next week. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, has proposed that Gaddafi remains in power while a ceasefire is declared in the cities surrounded by forces loyal to him, including Misrata. Humanitarian corridors would be established to allow aid to enter and negotiations leading to a new political process and free elections would begin. British diplomatic sources have told the Guardian: "There are some good elements in this and next week we will be able to sit down with Turkey and others to talk through all the issues. "There's a lot in it which seems sensible, although our position is that Gaddafi should go immediately and it seems unlikely that his remaining in power would be acceptable to the Libyan people." One source conceded that the current state of military action had reached an impasse. "The fighting seems to have coalesced." Arab and Middle East unrest Libya Nato Middle East Peter Walker guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Business chiefs fear for UK economy Posted: 08 Apr 2011 12:42 PM PDT Entrepreneurs and executives who supported chancellor's aggressive measures now concerned about weak growth Some of the UK's most prominent business leaders, including individuals who gave their personal stamp of approval to the chancellor's aggressive spending cuts, have said they have growing concerns about the state of the economy, warning of weak growth and rising inflation ahead. Archie Norman, the former Tory MP who now chairs ITV, said the government's growth targets were too optimistic. The former Asda boss Andy Bond, Carphone Warehouse founder Charles Dunstone, Tory peer Lord Wolfson, who runs Next, and Yell chairman Bob Wigley predicted tough times ahead as soaring inflation dents consumer spending power, although they continue to support George Osborne's austerity strategy. Bond expressed doubt about the ability of the private sector to create as many jobs as hoped. "I don't think the private sector is going to be able to pick up the slack in this climate," he said. Bond, who ran the UK's second largest supermarket chain for five years, forecast a two-year "retail recession" earlier this week. He was one of 35 bosses who signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph six months ago supporting George Osborne's plan to slash the deficit and arguing that businesses "should be more than capable of generating additional jobs to replace those lost in the public sector". Luke Johnson, the entrepreneur and former owner of Pizza Express, said the government should "stick to its guns" but added: "I admit the recovery is weak, but we have to stay the course. If we waver, living standards would deteriorate even further." Their comments come at the end of a week in which major high street names including Halfords, Mothercare and HMV said sales had slumped and the off-licence chain Oddbins toppled into administration. The fragility of the recovery is spelled out by the number of public companies warning of falling profits, which hit a two-year high in the first three months of the year. The new tax year on Wednesday triggered sweeping changes to the tax and benefits system that leave the average household about £200 worse off. The measures kicked in as figures confirmed that take-home pay fell for the first time in three decades in 2010 because prices climbed faster than incomes. The Office for National Statistics measured a 0.8% decline and predicted that would worsen to 2.0% this year. With retailers' costs rising sharply, at a time when anxious shoppers are tightening their belts, they are on the front line of the battle over whether the government's policies have pulled the economy back from the brink, or driven it towards a fresh disaster. Rocketing global oil prices caused by the unrest in the Middle East, and record cotton prices, are adding to price pressures that have sent inflation to 4.4%, more than double the Bank of England's target. Wolfson, a government adviser who also signed the Telegraph letter, said it was "not a question of being pro-cuts" but "recognising the alternative is even worse for business". He said inflation was the biggest problem: "We believe inflation is exerting a greater burden on our customers' finances than government cuts or lack of credit." The toxic cocktail means prices – also fuelled by higher VAT – are rising across the high street. Next has pushed its prices up by 8% while at Marks & Spencer the average is 6%. To keep a lid on inflation, M&S is looking to shift some of its manufacturing out of China to central Asia where manufacturing costs are lower. Norman said he had little sympathy for what he called "special pleading" by some retailers as he agreed with Wolfson that the main worry was inflation, rather than cuts. He added: "A lot of people like me are worried that government projections for growth are too optimistic." Dunstone said: "It's going to be tough for the retail sector but burying your head in the sand and hoping things get better never works. We have to take responsibility for our destiny." Wigley said the chancellor had introduced business-friendly measures but life for small firms was "difficult". George Osborne Tax and spending Spending review 2010 Archie Norman Luke Johnson Retail industry Office for National Statistics Zoe Wood Richard Wachman guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Portugal bailout terms 'must be strict' Posted: 08 Apr 2011 07:47 AM PDT • Plans that caused government collapse will be starting point • Spain says bailout 'completely out of the question' Portugal has been served notice that it will need to endure years of unprecedented austerity, spending cuts, and tax rises if Europe is to rescue it from national insolvency to the tune of €80bn. The daunting terms of the proposed three-year bailout were spelt out by EU finance ministers meeting in Hungary. It was clear that while the 17 countries of the eurozone are to bear the brunt of the bailout, Britain will also be liable for several billion euros in loans to Portugal through its participation in the emergency fund managed by the European commission. Senior EU officials said the terms for the bailout were to be finalised by mid-May, a fortnight ahead of early elections in Portugal following the collapse of the centre-left government of José Sócrates, toppled last month when the opposition rejected his minority government's austerity package aimed at fending off the need for a European rescue. If the main political parties could not agree on Sócrates's cuts package, they will now have to agree on a more savage programme dictated by the EU. The Sócrates proposals will be merely a "starting point" for the austerity measures to be agreed with the European commission, the European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, said Olli Rehn, the economic and monetary affairs commissioner. The Finnish finance minister, Jyrki Katainen, went further. "The package must be harder and more comprehensive than the one the parliament voted against," he said. "The package must be really strict because otherwise it doesn't make any sense." European leaders insisted that Portugal's main and intensely hostile political parties bury their differences to reach agreement on the pact with the eurozone – a tall order in the midst of an election campaign. "We call on all political parties in Portugal to swiftly conclude an agreement on the adjustment programme and form a new government after the upcoming elections with the ability to fully adopt and implement the agreed fiscal consolidation and structural reform measures," said a statement from the EU finance ministers. It was clear that there will be no bailout unless the Portuguese parties reach a consensus on terms tougher than those that brought down the Sócrates government. "After an agreement has been reached with the Portuguese authorities and supported by the main political parties, the programme will be endorsed" by the EU, the statement said. Rehn added that a Portuguese cross-party consensus on the harsh medicine being prescribed was "essential." While the aim is to agree the "strict conditions" for the bailout pact by mid-May, the programme would come into operation after the election on June 5. This way, whoever wins the Portugal poll will not be able to disavow the EU-prescribed programme, avoiding an Irish scenario where the Enda Kenny's new government is seeking to amend the terms of its €85bn bailout negotiated by the fallen Cowen administration. The Portuguese will need to embark on "ambitious fiscal adjustment to restore fiscal sustainability", "an ambitious privatisation programme" as well as labour market reform and policies combating "macro-economic imbalances", and disburse state aid to keep the banking sector "liquid and solvent" – measures that should please the big European banks exposed in Portugal. After a decade of stagnation in western Europe's poorest country, the tough terms being pressed on Portugal look certain to prolong the agony and will spur mounting demands that the most vulnerable members of the eurozone should be allowed to default on or restructure their debts, with investors for once being included among the losers from a rescheduling. While EU leaders maintain that the third eurozone bailout of a small "peripheral" country in less than a year will stabilize the single currency and end the crisis, the countries being rescued are condemned to years of hardship, generating much bitterness in the EU. In a portent of the rising political animosity within the EU, the former Portuguese prime minister, Mario Soares, last week accused Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel of dictating policy to the rest of Europe. "Nowadays all [EU member states] are more or less dominated by Germany and Chancellor Merkel who has forgotten what Germany owes to the European Community and now considers herself as the owner of Europe – supported by her helpful ally, President Sarkozy." Not Spain Ministers tried to drive home the message in Budapest that the contagion that has spread like a virus across the eurozone's southern periphery would not hit Portugal's larger neighbour Spain, which has scrambled to reform its labour market, pension system and savings banks this year to avoid a similar fate.Spanish economy minister Elena Salgado said a bailout for her country was "completely out of the question", and the European economic and monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn told reporters he was sure Spain would not require assistance. For now at least, markets seem to agree. The spreads between Spanish bond yields and those of the German Germany's benchmark bonds – a key measure of investor confidence in Spain's finances – have changed little since Portugal announced on Wednesday it would seek aid. European debt crisis Euro Portugal European monetary union Europe Europe Ian Traynor guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Funerals held for Rio victims Posted: 08 Apr 2011 09:37 AM PDT Girls were the main target of killer say pupils from Tasso da Silveira school At a sun-scorched Murundu cemetery in west Rio de Janerio, the families of three young girls gathered to say their final farewells 24 hours after the worst school massacre in Brazilian history. Crying relatives packed into three cramped chapels and huddled around open caskets filled with white petals and the corpses of their loved ones. Laryssa da Silva Martins, 13, Gessica Pereira, 15, and Mariana Rocha de Souza, 12, were among 12 students shot on Thursday when Wellington Menezes de Oliveira, 23, burst into their school in Realengo, western Rio, and opened fire with two handguns before killing himself after being shot by police. The three girls were the first to be buried. Laryssa lay in chapel one in a shiny white coffin. "She was so sweet and so calm. She was daddy's favourite. She wanted to be in the navy," said her aunt, Sandra Tavares, 52, as the coffin was closed. Next door, in chapel four, lay Gessica. Next to her coffin a blue metal sign was screwed into the wall. "Death separates us from our loved ones but God has a plan," it read. "Be strong and have faith." Gessica's friend, Ingrid Ribeiro, 19, wiped tears from her eyes with a green flannel. "The family is devastated. She was just a child." Around her, hundreds of elderly mourners sat trembling, weeping and wailing. Friends of the third child, Mariana, reacted with anger and tears. "The government should be ashamed – where is the security in our schools? Where is it safe anymore? The moon?" questioned a 44-year-old bricklayer, Gilmar Moreira, father of the victim's best friend. Laryssa was the first to be buried, just after 11.30am. As her coffin was slotted into a concrete draw, mourners erupted into a round of applause that echoed across the dusty cemetery. Gravediggers sealed grave number 347 with grey putty. Overhead a police helicopter tossed red and yellow petals into the wind. Rio's security secretary Jose Mariano Beltrame attended two burials at the Murundu cemetery and stood in silence, wiping tears from his eyes. "We show our feelings," he told the Guardian, his voice cracking. "It is uncontrolable." Beltrame described the shooting as the "cowardly act" of a "sick person." Eduardo Nascimento, whose teenage niece, Milena is to be buried this afternoon said: "We believe she was shot in the chest. Just one shot, but it was enough to take her." Edvaldo dos Santos whose daughter, Mariana was killed in the shooting, said: "It is difficult. I never thought something like this would happen at school." Students said Oliveira had entered Tasso da Silveira school at about 8am on Thursday claiming to be giving a lecture. After talking to a former teacher he made his way up a flight of stairs to classroom three where students, mostly girls, were lined up. He shot many at point-blank range in the head and chest. Mateus Moraes, 13, told the O Dia newspaper that Oliveira had deliberately killed a number of girls but spared the boys. "He killed the girls with shots to the head," Moraes said. "The boys, he just shot to injure, in the arms or the legs. "I asked him not to kill me and he said: 'Relax, fatty, I'm not going to kill you,'" added Moraes. "As he reloaded the gun I just prayed. God saved me." Grisly photographs taken inside classroom three were printed by one local newspaper and CCTV footage showing part of the rampage was also leaked, although editors decided most of the images were too disturbing to publish. The photographs showed open textbooks and backpacks scattered on top of a jumble of blood-stained chairs and desks. Golden bullet cases littered the floor. Jade Ramos Araújo, 12, was sitting a science test when Oliveira burst into her classroom wearing a dark blue jacket and with an ammunition belt strapped to his waist. "He was shouting at the children: 'Face the wall because I'm going to kill you,'" she told the Brazilian news website IG. "The children shouted, begging: 'Don't kill me, young man.' "It was like a waterfall of blood, with blood flowing like water. The were lots of dead people on the stairs, more girls than boys." Another 12-year-old student said the gunman had been well dressed. "He came into our room and said he was going to kill everyone. I thought I was going to die." Asked if she would return to the school, the girl shook her head amd said: "I am leaving." Brazil's justice minister, José Eduardo Cardozo, promised a government "crusade" against gun ownership. "We have to fight strongly against this culture of armament, against this culture that makes people … commit this kind of atrocity," he said. Brazil Dilma Rousseff Tom Phillips guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Clarke: PM treating Lansley unfairly Posted: 08 Apr 2011 11:24 AM PDT As top Tories draw up list of undermined ministers, allies say health secretary has been 'abandoned' over reforms Kenneth Clarke has complained in private about the treatment of the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, amid mounting concerns across Whitehall that Downing Street abandons ministers when opposition grows to agreed policies. The justice secretary, who made his name as a radical health secretary under Margaret Thatcher, has told colleagues that the treatment of Lansley is unfair. Allies argue that Lansley has been humiliated in the past 10 days in an operation orchestrated by No 10 and George Osborne, amid alarm among Tory leaders at the backlash against the health reforms. Downing Street also felt it had to act after the Liberal Democrats voted against the reforms at their spring conference. The chancellor's circle were first to let it be known that the health secretary's controversial proposals to hand 60% of the NHS budget to new GP-led consortiums would be delayed. On Wednesday Lansley had to appear alongside Cameron and Nick Clegg to announce that the passage of the health and social care bill would be paused for two months while a "listening exercise" is held to take on board the concerns of health professionals. One figure familiar with the thinking in Downing Street explained the approach, saying: "We have to get the bill through the House of Lords which means we have to make changes. It is as simple as that. It was a case of summoning a cabinet minister to No 10, giving him a pen and notepad and telling him what will happen. That is what you have to do. David Cameron does not want to go into the election 20 points behind Labour on health." Senior Tories believe a pattern of behaviour is emerging in which Downing Street agrees a policy then abandons the minister when opposition grows. Lansley's central reform – to hand commissioning powers to GPs – was at the heart of the Tory plans for the NHS in the party's general election manifesto. The coalition agreement was less clear cut, though Lansley was not directly involved in the negotiations with the Lib Dems. One Whitehall source said: "One whiff of gunpowder and Downing Street runs away. People also think there is the whiff of cowardice in No 10 when it comes to arguing the merits of policies that have been agreed. Andrew Lansley was appointed by Cameron who knew two key things about him. He has a deep knowledge of the NHS and is not a good communicator. Now he is being hung out to dry." Senior Tories are drawing up lists of ministers who have been undermined by No 10 despite agreement on policies: • Kenneth Clarke and knife crime. A consultation paper, Breaking the Cycle, which was agreed with No 10, ditched Cameron's election campaign pledge to jail anyone convicted of carrying a knife. Downing Street sources briefed against Clarke after tabloids reacted against his plans. • Caroline Spelman and forests. The environment secretary agreed her proposals to change the ownership of 258,000 hectares of state-owned woodland. But a backlash, led by the Sunday Telegraph, prompted a U-turn and an apology from Spelman ordered by No 10. • Lady Warsi and her speech in January in which she said that Islamophobia had "passed the dinner-table test". Downing Street sources said that Warsi's office did not clear the speech properly. But even her critics believe she was treated harshly. One source said: "Cabinet ministers are, one by one, drawing up the dots and realising there is no collegiality. They are being left on their own and isolated." One veteran Tory, who has known Cameron for nearly 20 years, said: "David is very short termist. Everything he does is about getting good daily headlines. He also has a habit of leaving some colleagues high and dry. It is interesting that these never seem to include members of the prime minister's Etonian circle." Downing Street sources admit that they have struggled to take a grip over Whitehall. They blame a decision, which has recently been reversed, not to establish a traditional No 10 policy unit that shadows the work of individual departments. Lansley insists he is happy with the "listening exercise", which is expected to lead to two major changes to the health and social care bill. The membership of the GP-led consortiums is likely to be widened to include clinicians and, in a nod to Liberal Democrats, they are likely to include more locally elected officials. Clarke has let it be known that he backs Lansley's plans. "Ken is extremely supportive of the reforms but questions whether people have grasped the full magnitude," one source said. Conservatives David Cameron Andrew Lansley Health policy George Osborne Kenneth Clarke Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

JP Morgan head pockets 51% pay rise Posted: 08 Apr 2011 03:49 AM PDT Wall Street firm gives chief executive a $5m cash bonus and pays for family's move from Chicago Jamie Dimon, the head of JP Morgan Chase, received a pay rise of about 51% last year including a $5m (£3m) cash bonus, a move that angered campaigners for a levy on the banking industry. Dimon's remuneration package, disclosed by the bank on Thursday night, is the latest sign that pay on Wall Street is returning to pre-crash levels as its biggest players post higher profits. The 55-year-old chief executive was awarded stock options worth $17m and a "cash incentive" of $5m in 2010, on top of his basic salary of $1m. The previous year he had received no cash bonus and stock awards of just above $14.1m. In 2008, the year of the financial crisis and the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Dimon received just his base salary. Dimon has run JP Morgan since December 2005. The bank fared much better than its Wall Street rivals during the financial crisis, acquiring Bear Stearns in 2007 and Washington Mutual a year later. The bank made a net profit of $17.4bn in 2010, almost 50% higher than a year ago. David Hillman, spokesperson for the Robin Hood Tax campaign, described Dimon's pay deal as "the latest example of the bloated pay and profits of the banking sector." "Banks that have escaped the consequences of an economic crisis they caused should be made to pay a Robin Hood Tax to help those still struggling with its effects," Hillman added. A Robin Hood, or transactional, tax would involve a very small levy on each financial transaction conducted by a bank. Supporters say it would raise about £20bn in the UK. Documents filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission also show JP Morgan paid Dimon $421,458 in moving expenses, $95,293 to cover "personal use of aircraft" and $45,730 for "personal use of car". JP Morgan explained the Dimon family had moved from Chicago to New York in 2007 after their children finished high school, but only found a buyer for their old house in 2010. The moving expenses include more than $300,000 in real estate agency commission and fees, but do not cover the likely fall in the value of the house due to the slump in the US housing market. "It is not the firm's policy to reimburse employees for losses incurred on the sale of a home in connection with a relocation and no such reimbursement is included in the amounts listed as moving expense," JP Morgan said. The details of Dimon's pay package came just a week after it emerged that Goldman Sachs had almost doubled the pay of its CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, to $18.6m. That included a $5.4m performance-related cash bonus. JP Morgan Banking Executive pay and bonuses US economy Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Fuel price hike hits shopping malls Posted: 08 Apr 2011 11:05 AM PDT John Lewis reveals sales plunge in stores at Bluewater and Cribbs Causeway, in contrast to traditional shops Soaring petrol prices are hitting sales at out-of-town shopping centres as cash-strapped consumers think twice about making long journeys to retail destinations such as Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and the Metrocentre in Gateshead. As the price of oil breached $124 a barrel for the first time in two and a half years – and is now at a record in sterling terms, as a result of the weaker pound – John Lewis revealed big sales declines at its shops in key out-of-town malls, including Bluewater in Kent and Cribbs Causeway. Takings at the retailer's Bluewater department store are down more than 9% since the end of January, with the decline accelerating to more than 12% in the most recent week. At the John Lewis store in Cribbs Causeway mall sales have tumbled more than 11% so far this year and were down more than 14% last week. City retail analyst Freddie George, at brokers Seymour Pierce, said: "With the petrol price so high, we knew this was coming and these John Lewis figures provide the first significant evidence." The dismal sales at John Lewis's out-of-town centres are in sharp contrast to its more traditional city centre branches and internet site. Retail research group Synovate, which monitors the number of shoppers visiting retail centres nationwide, said it had also detected a move for shoppers to stay local. The number of shoppers going through the doors of out-of-town centres fell nearly 12% in March, compared with last year, and compared with a 7% decline across all shops. With the price of oil predicted to hit $130 later this year, the cost of petrol is likely to climb even higher. Over the past year it has leaped by some 21p to its current level of around 134p a litre. Analysts say further increases will accelerate the move away from out-of-town centres as shoppers baulk at rising petrol costs. Tim Denison, director of retail intelligence at Synovate Retail Performance, said: "If petrol prices remain high, there is likely to be some kind of structural shift, with people going to out-of-town centres less frequently and spending more time there when they do. We would expect more promotion from the out-of-town centres, possibly by providing free bus services to customers, rather than expecting them to come in under their own steam." The average shopper turning up at a regional mall like Meadowhall or Bluewater has driven around 32 miles, according to CACI, another retail research group. A shopper who decides to stay local instead will therefore save about £12 in petrol costs for the round trip. Jonathan De Mello, of property agents CB Richard Ellis, said history showed small out-of-town centres tend to suffer from rising petrol prices but that the larger ones actually benefit as shoppers ensure they visit a site "where everything is under one roof". John Lewis played down the impact of rising petrol prices, arguing that the weather and timing of bank holidays were more significant. Nat Wakely, director of selling operations at John Lewis, said the equivalent period for last year included Good Friday, a day when city centre workers tend to avoid high street outlets in favour of a day out at an out-of-town mall. Motorists are cutting back on journeys in order to save money, according to an AA poll in January. Edmund King, the AA president, said short car journeys are less fuel-efficient because they involve stop-start driving and trips to shopping centres could fall victim to a domestic cost squeeze. "If the journey to the out-of-town shopping centre is on average five or six miles that is a particularly inefficient journey in terms of fuel use. So if people can avoid that, they will." Although John Lewis's more central stores tended to perform better than its out-of-town sites, the latest data from the group showed times remain tough on the high street. Reporting at the end of a week that saw Halfords and Carpetright becoming the latest retailers to issue profits warnings, John Lewis revealed that it too was suffering from British consumers' dwindling confidence and purchasing power. The John Lewis department stores recorded year-on-year sales growth of just 1.1%, including the benefit of the January VAT rise, well down on the near-10% increase seen in the previous six months. Retail industry Petrol prices John Lewis Motoring Consumer spending Oil Tom Bawden Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

'It hurts to see my friends, brothers, killing each other' Posted: 08 Apr 2011 11:10 AM PDT Chelsea striker tells Stuart James he has more than football on his mind – his father is caught up in the Ivory Coast conflict Salomon Kalou has a huge weight on his mind and it has nothing to do with Chelsea's Champions League defeat against Manchester United in midweek. The prospect of finishing the season at Stamford Bridge without a trophy is hard to contemplate but it pales into insignificance compared with the heartache Kalou feels when he turns his thoughts to his family and friends caught up in the conflict in the Ivory Coast. The bitter and bloody fallout from last November's presidential elections has plunged the country where Kalou spent the first 17 years of his life back into civil war. Thousands have been killed and the harrowing images of the street battles in Abidjan, where his father, Antoine, and other members of his extended family live, together with the stories of food and water shortages in what was once West Africa's most prosperous country, plague Kalou's conscience. "It's very hard to go on to the pitch and say I'm not thinking about people dying every day, I'm not thinking about my friends not eating, my dad not getting help," Kalou says. "To be honest, I worry every day. I am thinking more about that than anything else. Any chance I have to go on the phone or to go on the news and check I do, because that's my main priority. I need to make sure my family are safe. "I got my mum and five sisters out four days before it started. When we played against Benin in Ghana last month with Ivory Coast [in an African Cup of Nations qualifier moved to a neutral venue because of the violence], I got them to come and watch the game and from there they went to Togo. They can stay there until the end of the situation. My dad was going to come as well but the war started on the day he was going to come." Kalou acknowledges he is in a fortunate position to be able to afford sanctuary for his mother and sisters in Togo for as long as they need it, but he feels "helpless" in relation to his father's predicament. The problems in Abidjan mean that, at the time of this interview, which takes place at his home in Surrey on Thursday evening, Kalou has gone three days without speaking to his father. He is desperate to hear news of a peaceful resolution. "I don't want to take any sides and I don't want to get involved in the politics of the Ivory Coast because politics is for politicians, but it hurts me to see my friends, my brothers, killing each other," he says. "Some of my best friends are from the north, I'm from the west, I have friends from the south – I have a lot of Ivorian friends. Ivorians don't have problems with Ivorians. Politics are dividing people. But is that a reason for people to kill? Why not stop that now and talk. People from outside should help to bring peace. Bring food and water to people. That's what I call worrying about the civilians. Then I can have respect for that and say those people really care. If your priority is to say one side loses and one side wins, then you are not stopping anything. They will keep fighting and, in the end, when everyone is gone, what is left for those people? Those kids who have seen the war and people dying, how many years is it going to take for them to get over it?" Although Kalou admits it is impossible to erase those questions from his mind, the football pitch at least provides a place to try to escape. His only wish is that he spent much more time immersing himself in playing, rather than watching from the substitutes' bench, which was again the case on Wednesday night, when Chelsea lost 1-0 to United and Kalou was forced to endure the familiar sight of the strikers picked ahead of him fluffing their lines. It is a frustrating situation, especially as this season Kalou has by far the best goals-to-minutes ratio in the Premier League of the four Chelsea forwards and is second only to Nicolas Anelka in all competitions. "That speaks for itself," Kalou says as he runs his eyes over the figures. "I think a player can be great if you have the opportunity to play every week and show what you can do. If you take a player like [Lionel] Messi and you don't play him, you won't see how good he is. "All along my time at Chelsea there is always a big name playing and that makes it difficult for the manager to put me in the team. And I understand that, because coming in as a young player in a big club, you have to fight your way through. But I have been here for five years, scored over 50 goals for the club and there are some big players who have been here who haven't done that. But I think the fans appreciate my record." Kalou reels off the names of Hernán Crespo, Andriy Shevchenko, Mateja Kezman and Claudio Pizarro to illustrate his point. It is tempting to wonder whether the much-maligned Fernando Torres will be next on the list, although Kalou insists he is pleased the Spaniard signed. "The arrival of Torres is a benefit to me because now I get to play my real position, behind the striker – that's where I was playing before I joined Chelsea. I played with Torres against Manchester City and I thought it was really good. We had very good movement and created chances." Chelsea triumphed 2-0 that day, although it was the only match Kalou has started in the last seven, raising the obvious question about what he can do to change things. "I think I can talk to the club and see what my position is because it's frustrating to not get involved knowing that you're playing better than others," the former Feyenoord striker says. "I did speak to Carlo Ancelotti. He is an understanding man. He knows what I feel as a player because he played before." Will it get to the stage where he thinks he has to go to a club where he will be the main forward? "Of course. I think about it all the time," Kalou says. "That's what my goal is [to be the first choice]. If you look at those statistics, if I play double the games, I'm sure I can do better than that. I think people know and I think the club know – they never let me go or try to sell me. I believe that my time is coming at Chelsea, and if it's not at Chelsea it will be at another team." Yet Kalou is such an affable, laid-back character that it is difficult to imagine him making demands or creating a scene when overlooked. "If I'm not happy I'm not playing, I don't really show my emotions," the 25-year-old admits. "Sometimes, maybe I should show more because it's good for the manager to know that the player is pissed off not to play. I'm relaxed and easy-going and people think that whatever he gets to play he will be happy. But that's not the case sometimes." For Kalou, though, it is about "showing respect" for his team-mates when he is left out and supporting them, which helps to explain why he is so well liked at Chelsea at all levels. He smiles knowingly when it is suggested he is popular with Roman Abramovich, the club's owner, and the rest of the board. "They know that I never complain, never make trouble and never try to bring the club's image down. They have the belief that most of the players who will complain will be doing crazy stuff in training and not training well and that's not the case with me, so I think they respect that and they also have respect for the fact that, even though I am not playing, I can have better statistics than the player who does." One statistic Kalou would prefer not to have to his name, however, is the club record he broke last Saturday at Stoke, when he made his 94th substitute appearance for Chelsea. "It's like getting a plastic medal. It's kind of like, you've done good to be a sub. That's not what I want," he says, shaking his head. "I want to have a real impact as an important player for Chelsea because I know I have the ability to do that. "The only thing is to be playing regularly and have the confidence and rhythm of those games. Then you can show what you can do. If you can play 20 minutes and change a game, you can change a game in 90 minutes." The evidence of one of his more recent contributions from the bench can be found in his lounge, where the man-of-the-match champagne from the Blackpool game last month, when he replaced Didier Drogba to create two Chelsea goals in a 3-1 victory, sits next to the signed ball he took home after scoring a hat-trick against Stoke City 12 months ago. One of Usain Bolt's running shoes, a picture of Diego Maradona in his prime and a signed Muhammad Ali boxing glove complete the sporting backdrop. Kalou gives a guided tour of the rest of the house, which is decorated with shirts from some of the world's greatest players, as an interview that lasts the length of time he would like to spend on the pitch against Wigan on Saturday draws to a close. One conversation, though, is difficult to leave behind. "We need to stop the war," he says. "What I worry about is my family to not get hurt and my country to not get destroyed. My concern is not who is going to govern. My main concern is peace." Chelsea Ivory Coast Stuart James guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

'Our family will never be the same' Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:06 PM PDT The Nolan sisters have lived through a lot – sexual abuse, cancer and a series of fall-outs – all in the glare of the media. We meet four (but not all) of them It is difficult, frankly, to know where to begin. In the 32 years since the release of their career-defining song, I'm in the Mood For Dancing, the Nolans, Ireland's most famous singing siblings, have endured everything from musical ridicule to philandering husbands, breech births to bereavements, the early onset of Alzheimer's in one parent, the revelation that the other was once a sexual abuser and no fewer than three cancer scares. There have been suicidal lows, unlikely rescues by daytime television, an awful lot of panto and the kind of family fallouts that should perhaps have remained private rather than played out within the pages of the tabloids. One way or another, the Nolans have made very heavy weather out of light entertainment. It is a Monday afternoon in central London and the four most instantly recognisable Nolans – Maureen, 56, Linda, 52, Bernie, 50, and Coleen, 47 – are gathered together in the boardroom of their publisher's office. Up close, they are coiffed, rouged and perfumed, as vivid as Technicolor on the biggest of cinema screens, and similarly loud. Two years ago, they were offered the chance of a reunion tour. The tour went well – "Better than we could have ever imagined," says Linda – and so began a revival of sorts. A publisher contacted them shortly afterwards, asking if they would like to tell their soap-operatic story in book form. Anne and Coleen have published individual biographies before, but they had never done so as a group. They tried to make it as candid as possible. "What's the point otherwise?" argues Coleen. This, she confesses, meant it was often painful. "Admitting I cheated on my husband before he cheated on me wasn't easy, but it was the truth, you know?" Survivors reads less like a typically ghosted celebrity memoir than a series of breathlessly delivered monologues, and the exhausting rollercoaster ride they describe would surely have seen off many lesser mortals. "Life has certainly been eventful," says Linda, beaming with something resembling a soldier's pride. They were born in Ireland to Tommy and Maureen Nolan, a husband-and-wife singing duo who would have eight children altogether – six girls and two boys. "It got to the stage," Bernie says, "where they didn't talk about whether the new baby was going to be a boy or a girl, but whether they could sing." The majority of them could and did so professionally from an early age. Like the Jacksons and the Osmonds, they were a family troupe who performed endlessly on back-to-back tours and on television, and to hell with the requirements of a normal upbringing. "Oh, but it was a fantastic childhood, really," says Maureen, by far the most serene of the sisters. "Yes," interrupts Bernie, easily the sharpest, who chops out words the way a bad-tempered chef does a carrot, "but it was also abnormal. You look back on our childhood, and that's what you have to say about it: it was abnormal." They would regularly play nightclubs during the week, she says, while their father/manager would wait for them at the bar, drinking himself drunk. Then, at 3am, he would drive them home, and leave it to their mother to wake them the morning after for school. "As a parent now," Coleen says, "you do think, 'How on earth did they do that to us?'" "It was totally wrong," says Bernie. "No wonder the child working laws are so much stricter now." Throughout much of this time, though none of them knew it, their father was also sexually abusing his eldest daughter, Anne. He was frequently violent, too. Anne and his wife – his preferred victims – elected to suffer in stoical silence. Tommy Nolan died, aged 78, in 1998. A year later, Anne unloaded her secret on her sisters, and in 2008 wrote a book about it. "Until that point, we were the kind of family that always swept everything under the carpet," says Coleen. "But you realise after a while that, actually, you don't want to sweep everything under the carpet. You want to be able to stand up and speak out, you know?" While three of her sisters nod in agreement, Bernie, lips pursed, doesn't. "I personally wouldn't have made that public," she argues. "I'd have kept it private." Linda: "It must have been difficult for Anne all those years, because everybody loved our father, absolutely loved him. She must have been seething. People say it was probably cathartic for her to write the book, and I'm sure it was ..." If the publication of their elder sister's book caused a rift within the family, then resentments had already been festering, they suggest, for some time. The rift promptly widened, to include the second oldest sister, Denise, when a record company requested that their reunion tour comprise only the four most successful Nolans. Denise had long since retired, claiming a life of showbiz was not for her, but Anne was actually the longest serving Nolan, singing with the band for a full 40 years. But in 1980, she took two years off in order to have children. It was during that time that the four of them made their biggest splash, particularly in Japan, where they quickly sold more records than the Beatles. The quartet's late reunion turned into an excuse for all manner of ill feeling to bubble to the surface. "One too many glasses of wine were drunk," is how Coleen puts it. "Things were said." The result was a family meltdown. "Anne went to the press after we announced our tour and said all these horrible things about us," says Linda, looking pained. "That was a shame, but then I suppose I'd have been devastated if I hadn't been asked." "Yes," says Bernie, "but how do I put this politely? I think she would have retained more self-esteem if she hadn't done it quite so publicly. OK, she may have been dying inside, but she could have done it privately." But the Nolans never really did anything in private. When one of them went bankrupt, for example, they sold their bankruptcy story to the red tops in order to cover their debts. When Maureen got married, OK! Magazine offered to pay for it. "It seemed a good opportunity," she writes in the book. "We decided to get married in Spain." This latest souring made the rift a seemingly irrevocable, but last year it was Bernie who capitulated. "That kind of thing happens when you get cancer," she deadpans. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, though she looks indomitable today. She explains that the two older sisters sent the four younger ones a letter saying that they should all be friends again, if not for one another then for the sake of the wider family. "But the letter was typed and not signed," Bernie says. "Typed, and not signed! Can you believe it?" Nevertheless, she and Maureen responded affirmatively, while Coleen and Linda chose not to. Family get-togethers, then, remain awkward affairs, their poor brothers desperately attempting to establish a lasting peace, or at least a temporary ceasefire. "Oh, relations will never be the same again," Linda says. "Not now." The conversation then goes full circle, and the sisters talk among themselves about their father again, his drinking, his violent tendencies. "Why didn't our mother just leave him?" Coleen wonders. "You didn't, back then," Bernie states. Maureen, looking sad, sighs. "All this bad talk about him makes me feel sorry for him," she says. "It's difficult. You don't forgive a parent when they do the things he did, but you do continue to love them regardless. And for three quarters of the time, he really was a fantastic father. The good memories," she decides, "stay with me far more than the bad ones." Linda aside, the Nolans all have children themselves now, which means that the prospect of future Nolan entertainers looms large. Bernie is already trying to rein in her 11-year-old daughter, who daily demands an agent, and her own moment on the stage. Have the women learned from the mistakes of their parents and will they exercise excessive caution with their own offspring? "Have we learned from our parents' mistakes?" Coleen says. "I'll say. My mother had eight children. I stopped at three." Survivors: Our Story is published by Pan Macmillan for £16.99. To order a copy for £13.59 with free UK p&p, go to guardian.co.uk/bookshop or call 0330 333 6846 Family guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

I was lost in a ravine for eight days Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:02 PM PDT 'Every now and then my mobile phone would light up as someone rang. I'd claw at my seatbelt, trying to reach it, then give up in pain' It was 20 September 2007 and I had just finished the night shift at a local supermarket near my home in Maple Valley, Washington. I would have time for a few hours' sleep before the start of my second job at a clothes shop. My husband Tom and I were saving up to build our own house and were working ridiculously long hours. After leaving the supermarket, my memory goes blank. I know I would have climbed into my blue Honda four-wheel drive and pulled out on to the motorway. But then my journey went terribly wrong. I still don't know why, but just minutes from home I veered off the road and plummeted into a 20ft-deep ravine. When I came to, I was hanging from my seat at a strange angle, jammed hard against the steering wheel, with my seatbelt cutting into my chest. I tried to move, and cried out as pain shot through me. Looking down, I could see there was something wrong with my shoulder. My left arm was hanging at a weird angle and I couldn't move my fingers. I could feel the sickening crunch of broken ribs. My left leg was wedged tightly between the seat and dashboard, and had gone completely numb. I wondered how long legs can survive without circulation. I felt confused, frightened and overwhelmingly tired. Maybe if I just let myself go, I thought, I'll wake up safe in my bed at home – but when I opened my eyes I was still trapped in the car. I had no idea how long I'd been there. To stay calm, I focused on the fact that any minute now Tom would realise I was missing and come and find me. If he didn't get here first, I reasoned, someone was bound to see my crumpled vehicle at the bottom of a slope beside a busy road. What I didn't know was that my car had ploughed through a thick tangle of blackberry bushes that hid it from view. Day faded into night. At some point I became aware of a blue light glowing in front of me. With a start I realised it was my mobile phone. I stretched as far as I could, but my body was pinned tight by the seatbelt and the steering wheel, and it remained just out of reach. "Tom!" I screamed. "Help me!" The phone screen went dark. My disappointment and frustration were intense, but I was too weak to cry. I just hung helplessly in my seat. By now I was ravenously hungry and dehydrated. The car was filled with a disgusting smell of blood, sweat, vomit and urine. I started to hallucinate. I thought I was calling the emergency services. "I went off the road," I explained. "I need help." The operator laughed – "That's stupid" – and hung up. I turned to see my dog, Lady, who'd died years earlier, sitting in the car watching me. Every now and then my phone would light up as someone rang. I'd claw at my seatbelt, trying to reach it, then give up in pain. I was slipping in and out of consciousness, but could tell from the cycles of light that several days had passed. It crossed my mind that I was dying and I accepted it matter-of-factly. At one point, the pain seemed to be fading and I felt as if I was standing in a sunny meadow. Then a noise jolted me back into the car. There were faces outside the window. I assumed it was another hallucination until I heard someone shout, "She's alive!" I was cut out of the car and put into a medically induced coma while doctors catalogued my injuries. My kidneys were failing, I had a dislocated left shoulder, fractured ribs and vertebra, and my left clavicle had been snapped in two. My left leg had been so badly crushed that at one stage doctors thought they would have to amputate. Thankfully, it was saved. When I woke in hospital after the first of many operations, Tom was by my side. He explained that for the first couple of days he'd thought I was just at work – our long hours meant we often missed each other. Then it had taken time to persuade the police I hadn't run away. When they finally tracked my mobile phone signal, it had taken rescuers less than 20 minutes to find me. I haven't been back to the spot since the accident. Even now, four years later, I don't remember what happened or why I crashed, and I hope I never do. By some miracle I survived eight days at the bottom of a ravine, with terrible injuries and no food or water. I don't want to ask any questions. • As told to Jacqui Paterson Do you have an experience to share? Email experience@guardian.co.uk guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Dearly beloved… fight! Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:03 PM PDT Leave half a million pounds to a cat sanctuary? How I would love to have the courage Oh, I love a good inheritance row, don't you? I enjoy the ones involving multimillion-dollar fortunes, of course, like the one currently being scrabbled over by the bereaved children of Tony Curtis. Sometimes the thought of so much waste – such fantastically large sums being used only to magnify the greed and pettiness of humanity before being dissipated in lawyers' fees until the family finally finds itself squabbling over a lone greenback – is exhilarating. But the smaller ones, too, have their charm. My current favourite is the tale of Melita Jackson, whose strained relationship with her only daughter, Heather, was finally damaged beyond repair when Heather named her fifth child after a sister-in-law whom her mother disliked. Jackson's decision to leave nearly half a million pounds to her nearest cat sanctuary, rather than to her daughter, deserves no less admiration for being recently overturned by the courts. What a magnificent level of confidence that decision displays! What inflexibility! How I would love to have the courage and the certainty to be staring down the barrel of my last days on this earth and not weaken but say instead, "Thou hast royally pissed me off in life, [insert name of closest living relative here], and I decree that my bitterness shall live on! I shall not forgive and I shall ensure that you shall never forget! Every time you see a diamond collar on a local cat, know that I am looking down – or up! I'm willing to risk it! – and laughing my malicious ass off! OK, you with the scythe, get over here. I think I'm done now." My only regret is that the Mangan family won't get to have an inheritance battle of our own. Two reasons: a) We already row pre-mortem about the division of the spoils, every time the whole family is assembled round the dinner table. It's because we have nothing but possessions and death in common. If I wanted to talk about anything else that interested me, I would first have to teach my sister and mother to read, and if they wanted to do likewise, they would first have to teach me and my dad what a 10-speed drill was and why we should care. And: b) As there's no money, priceless vases or valuable plate in living memory, we fight only over what we don't want to inherit. So far my sister and I have future-proofed ourselves against ownership of: The antimacassars. All the "ornaments". All the "art". Anything handed down by our Great Auntie Jessie, a woman who could draw unspeakable pearlescent tat to her like iron filings to a magnet. The Tupperware collection, which is not only heavy with the enduring scent of fish paste sandwiches absorbed during the transportation of childhood packed lunches but also warped from more than 40 years of constant use. Already neither of us has the upper body strength to close more than one lid in five. By the time we become custodians of these particular pieces of family history, they, too, will require a decent burial. The only thing we might come to blows over, of course, is if Dad's long-rumoured running-away fund turns out to exist after all. My sister's vision is of jam jars filled with gold sovereigns stashed under a bedroom floorboard. I think it's more likely to be bags of parched peas and Preston North End memorabilia he will have hoped would appreciate over time. Either way, it will be something to remember him by. The local cats' home can have the fishy Tupperware for playthings. Everyone's a winner. Bereavement Family Lucy Mangan guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

David Lacey Posted: 08 Apr 2011 11:17 AM PDT Like Liverpool 45 years ago, Tottenham Hotspur found that pace means nothing without the ball The Champions League broadens horizons but it also sharpens perspectives. What may be laudable in domestic competitions can be a handicap on the bigger stage. Aspiring teams, confident of their abilities, are apt to find the Champions League a humbling experience. Wednesday's opening leg of the quarter-final between Chelsea and Manchester United would have passed muster as a Premier League fixture. It was more entertaining than the series of clinches that are usually the case when these teams meet. The football was fast and eventful and there was plenty of goalmouth action. In Champions League terms, however, the standard of much of the play was indifferent. There were too many unforced errors and the ball was given away with depressing regularity. The one moment of genuine class was the superb touch with which Ryan Giggs met Michael Carrick's crossfield pass before setting up Wayne Rooney for the winning goal. Perhaps we have all been spoiled by Barcelona. Teams of this quality come along once in a generation, if football is lucky, so everybody else is bound to suffer by comparison. Nevertheless, Barça are the ones to beat and, as Arsenal showed at the Emirates, they can be defeated. Last season, moreover, José Mourinho's Internazionale found the organisation and the firepower to overcome Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals and Chelsea and Manchester United have each beaten them in recent tournaments. But that was then. The likelihood of a team emerging from a generally fallow season in the Premier League to take on Lionel Messi, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and the rest and emerge triumphant was always doubtful. Manchester United are now the only serious candidates. Chelsea are hard to take seriously with their coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who was compelled to play Fernando Torres ahead of Nicolas Anelka as Didier Drogba's partner in a Champions League quarter-final. Watching Torres fumble his way through the match while TV cut away to Roman Abramovich viewing his £50m signing impassively from the back of the stand, was to be reminded of the moment in Citizen Kane when the great man's protege is singing her little heart out and the camera pans up to two stage hands on a platform high above. One looks at the other and their eyes meet in silent disapproval. On Tuesday night, Tottenham Hotspur could be said to have joined Arsenal in suffering the Camp Nou experience, except that their conquerors were not Barcelona but Real Madrid at the Bernabéu. Spurs, like Arsenal, had a player, Peter Crouch, sent off. Yet, even if they had remained at full strength, it was difficult to see how they would have been able to retain possession long enough to get the ball up to the tall striker. In the Premier League, Tottenham and Arsenal try to impose their authority on opponents through their ability to retain possession and outpace defences. But, in losing to Real and Barcelona respectively, they found that pace means nothing without the ball and, in both matches, neither could put two passes together without losing it. It is an old lesson that English teams need to relearn, even if they are now multinational sides born from those overseas areas of the game where the importance of not giving the ball away is drummed into players practically from birth. Bill Shankly's Liverpool were taught it on a foggy night in Amsterdam in 1966, when the Ajax team being nurtured by Rinus Michels won 5-1 and English football first noticed a young Dutchman called Johan Cruyff. Red Star Belgrade forced the message home when they knocked Liverpool out of the European Cup in 1973 and were applauded off the pitch by the Kopafter winning 2-1 at Anfield with patient, probing football. Shankly dismissed Red Star as "a bunch of fancy men", but his successor, Bob Paisley, later admitted that "our approach was a bit frantic. He treated every match like a war. We discovered it was no use winning the ball if you finished up on your backside in a desperate position". Tottenham are 4-0 down to Real but, before attempting to salvage something from the tie at White Hart Lane, they have a game against Stoke, who do tend to treat every match as world war three. On Saturday, Spurs will need the pace which carried them past Inter and Milan but, against Real on Wednesday, they will have to find something more profound, if only for pride's sake. Champions League Tottenham Hotspur Real Madrid Chelsea Manchester United Premier League David Lacey guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Poland's PM wants more from east Posted: 08 Apr 2011 01:00 PM PDT Polish leader criticises David Cameron's plan to cut EU budget and 'language of state protectionism' Poland is to spearhead a drive to encourage "more and more" eastern European countries to join the EU when it takes over the presidency of the 27-member union in July, the prime minister has said. In an outspoken interview with the Guardian and its European media partners, Donald Tusk said the growing European preoccupation with the south should not come at the expense of the east. He also criticised David Cameron's plan to cut the EU budget and seemed to take a swipe at British and French leaders when he chastised "certain European politicians, who at a time of crisis speak the language of national egotism and state protectionism". Such leaders "do not understand the European idea", he said, adding that the Anglo-French push for military action against Libya was "yet another example of European hypocrisy". He said it was inevitable that some of the focus of Poland's forthcoming EU presidency – Tusk takes over from Hungary's Viktor Orban on 1 July – would switch to the "south", given the implications for southern Europe of events in north Africa. But he added: "We cannot allow the events in north Africa to block the enlargement of the EU. "Can someone explain to me why Croatia [should suffer because of] Gaddafi? And can anyone for instance defend the point of view that, given the events, the negotiations with Turkey have become less, rather than more, important?" He added: "I believe that today Poland is a very good example of a country that was worth investing in, a country which for historical reasons had for many years been outside the European Union." Therefore, he said, "the eastern partnership is going to be a very important task and challenge for Poland during the EU presidency but also after the presidency". Tusk vehemently denied that the EU's welcoming approach to Belarus and Ukraine had failed, given that there was a dictator (Alexander Lukashenko) still in power in the former, and that the historically undemocratic Viktor Yanukovych has won elections in the latter. "Just imagine this sort of conversation 30 years ago if someone in Paris – or London for that matter – had said, after the introduction of martial law and the suppression of Solidarity [in Poland in 1981], 'it's not worth giving them anything, it's not worth investing in them because they have already lost'," said Tusk, referring to the Gdansk trade union movement he once belonged to, which rebelled against Poland's Soviet overlords 30 years ago. "As far as Belarus is concerned, we see very effective ways of dealing with the dictator, military and secret police. Anyone who visited Belarus five years ago and then today knows how many more troubles are now posed by the people to the dictator. Listen, just how many people believed that it would be possible to build a western-style democracy in Iraq or Afghanistan? So why would it be impossible, if we act wisely, for western European democratic values to also be adopted in states such as Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia and the Balkans?" he said. "We should believe in the strength and vitality of the values which constitute the EU and which neighbouring states can believe in and aspire to join." It should be an aspiration of the EU to have "more and more neighbours wanting to join", he added. Tusk, who has been prime minister since November 2007, admitted he was disappointed last autumn when David Cameron proposed cutting the EU budget, of which Poland, as a large, relatively poor member, is the biggest beneficiary. In the current seven-year budget, Poland gets far more money than the other 27 EU member states, netting some €6.5bn. Cameron's proposal led to several months of extremely frosty Anglo-Polish relations. The Poles believe the British PM wanted to cut so-called "cohesion" funds , which allow countries to build motorways and pay for expensive environmental projects, such as reforestation. Most of Poland's EU money comes from this source, which is the second biggest item on the EU budget after the common agricultural policy. But Tusk said that any suggestion that big spending on cohesion funds had precipitated the financial crisis was absurd. "Let us recollect the true reason for the current crisis," he said. "Where are the villains of that piece? Where do they reside? Where were those institutions that led to the financial crisis? Are they in Bucharest or Vilnius? Or in New York and London? Therefore what is it that we are talking about? If we are talking about preventing the financial crisis then let us leave the budget alone. It is actually quite easy to prove that EU spending is the best remedy against the crisis in the majority of countries." Rather than cutting funds, Tusk proposed the "reinstatement" of some common values into the EU: "Common sense, decency, courage to take action – and also to live within your own means and not on credit." He said Poland was in "no hurry" to join the euro, but was committed to doing so at some point. Tusk said he envisaged meeting the Maastricht entry criteria by 2015, but that was not to be taken as the date for Polish accession to the eurozone. "I can confirm that Poland should become a eurozone country, and not just because of the treaties that have been signed, but because I consider it of strategic interest both for Poland and the EU," said Tusk. He added that "today Poland meets many of the Maastricht criteria better than some eurozone countries". Tusk admitted his dismay in February when the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, proposed a separate EU summit for eurozone members. He said it was correct that he had said: "Why are you trying to show divisions? Are we getting in your way? You are humiliating us," as quoted in the Economist last month. But, he said: "I'm plain incapable of getting angry with Angela Merkel and likewise. The truth is that I was convinced then and am convinced today that an attempt to divide Europe in two clubs, where for example the eurozone countries would form one separate club, is definitely wrong. I guess I would not breach any confidences here if I were to say that the absolute majority of leaders from eurozone countries claimed that I was right." He also suggested Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy were wrong to commit to military action in Libya. While stressing that Poland would help on a humanitarian level, Tusk said the logic for intervening in Libya and not against other dictatorships was flawed. He said: "Not all of the arguments for military intervention in Libya are convincing to us. Do you actually believe that Gaddafi had not been shooting his people before? Do you really believe that Bahrain is a softer regime? Do Sudan and Chad not also face drama that is comparable to what is happening in Libya?" Poles were well aware of the need to protect innocent people from violent dictators, said the former Solidarity activist, because "we have experienced it ourselves, in the flesh. The authorities in Poland were also shooting at their own people, so there is no need to teach Poles sensitivity on that issue." But, he said, Europe was now in an awkward position. "I asked this question in Brussels: is Europe prepared to defend human rights of citizens in all those countries where rights are violated? Shall we be as determined in all other cases as we are here? Libya's case is fully justified as far as the need to protect people from the violence of the brutal regime is concerned but still, isn't this yet another example of European hypocrisy if we take into consideration the way Europe had been treating Libya and Gaddafi through many of the previous years?" He added: "When the armed forces are used in the face of an ideal, such as human rights, no one should assume we would be relieved of our responsibility should another case arise elsewhere. We should avoid this ambiguity at all costs, this sense that Europe only takes action when it is comfortable to do so or where the oil is. "If we want to protect people against dictators or repression or torture, don't you need that rule to be universal so as to not end up with a situation where we do so only when it is comfortable, profitable and safe?" Tusk said that Poland was a respected member of the EU, "whether or not we send troops to one of the Arab countries". The Polish deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrated that it was willing to help the right cause, he said. In the past year there have been around 3,000 Polish troops in Afghanistan, and at its peak there were 2,500 in Iraq. Poland Europe European Union David Cameron Libya Middle East Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Q&A: Mark Thomas Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:02 PM PDT 'My most unappealing habit? My innate wish to find the best in everyone, even my enemies. And lying' Mark Thomas was born in 1963 and raised in London. He was educated at boarding school and went on to be a standup. In 1996, Channel 4 gave him his own series, The Mark Thomas Comedy Product, and he began to combine comedy with political activism. In 2004, he won the Global Defence of Human Rights award. His current tour, and new book, Extreme Rambling, is about his walk along the entire Israeli separation barrier. When were you happiest? A minute after getting married. The registrar asked my wife how she felt. She replied, "Trapped!" Perfect. What is your greatest fear? Getting asked to go on a reality TV programme and agreeing. What is your earliest memory? My mum cooking on a Baby Belling Which living person do you most admire, and why? Nick Clegg: his ability to wake up each day, look in the mirror and not put a gun in his mouth is astounding. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Modesty. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Indifference to me. What would your super power be? I just want to get through each day without the need to shut my eyes for 10 minutes. If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose? Nationalised industries. Who would play you in the film of your life? That bloke from the Go Compare ad. What is your most unappealing habit? My innate wish to find the best in everyone, even my enemies. The ease with which I forgive. And lying. What is your favourite book? Nigel Slater's Appetite, easily the book I refer to most. What is the worst thing anyone's said to you? "I am afraid he died." What do you owe your parents? An upbringing imbued with the Protestant work ethic, and a working knowledge of every swearword and its combinations by the age of eight. What or who is the love of your life? Me. Which living person do you most despise, and why? Rupert Murdoch – if you are going to despise someone, it should be someone worthy of your hatred. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Piers Morgan. What is the worst job you've done? I used to work with my dad (a self-employed builder), who had a penchant for getting me to rod blocked drains first thing after breakfast. What has been your biggest disappointment? The immortality thing isn't going as planned. If you could go back in time, where would you go? To see the Kinks live. How often do you have sex? Insert whatever figure will cause most embarrassment to my children. What single thing would improve the quality of your life? A coffee cup made from the skull of Michael Gove. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Breathing for 47 years. What song would you like played at your funeral? Spike Milligan's Q5 theme music. What is the most important lesson life has taught you? You don't need an ideology to be an idealist. How would you like to be remembered? The man who poisoned Piers Morgan. Comedy Comedy Television Rosanna Greenstreet guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Fisherman's death unites community Posted: 08 Apr 2011 11:24 AM PDT Neil Murray, husband of Sheryll Murray MP who was campaigning for coastguard staff, died in an accident at sea There was praise from all sides when the Tory MP Sheryll Murray spoke eloquently in the Commons about the UK's threatened coastguard service, telling the House: "It is because of those people that fishermen's wives such as myself sleep a little better at night." Just three hours later, she received a text from coastguards in her South East Cornwall constituency to say that her husband Neil's trawler, Our Boy Andrew, was overdue and a search had begun. The jovial stalwart of Looe's fishing community, a lifelong fisherman who appeared in a coastguard safety film and strongly backed his wife's campaigning against planned cuts, was found dead near the Eddystone lighthouse after an accident with the 10-metre vessel's winched nets. His funeral on Friday at Maker church on Torpoint, overlooking Cornwall's inshore fishing grounds, united a typical British coastal community. The lifeboat crew carried Neil's coffin. His son Andrew, the boat's namesake and a marine engineer, and daughter Sally, a Royal Navy officer, helped their mother through the ordeal. But unity has strengthened more widely in the national coastguards campaign. The terrible coincidence is the latest blow to the government's struggles over public service cuts and changes, with a coalition of opponents sensing a "forestry moment" in attacks over concentrating coastguard control in just two places, Southampton and Aberdeen. The minister due to decide the issue, former firefighter Mike Penning, has looked increasingly uneasy at repeated challenges that foreshadow coming battles over other emergency services, notably fire and police. A string of public meetings have been dire for Marine and Coastguard Agency (MCA) managers, whose consultation has been extended by Penning and is now the subject of an inquiry by the Commons select committee on transport. The regional director in the north-west, Tom Borland, got things off to a symbolic start at Southport by paying tribute to the hard work of coastguards at Holyhead, rather than the local Liverpool station, which is particularly nervous about its future. By the end of the evening, the chair was appealing for questions about subjects other than detailed local knowledge of the coast and its hazards. But that is what the tide of objections is all about. "I had a medivac three weeks ago – a client on the older side. The guys at Humber coastguard were absolutely spot-on," says charter skipper Paul Kilpatrick, as he kits out his boat Sea Otter Two for a sea-angling party in Whitby. "Fast, reliable, knowing the area and exactly where we were in it. You can get that information later through the lifeboat crews or Coastwatch volunteers, during a rescue, yes. But it's when the call is made that local knowledge really counts." The MCA's plan to cut the current 18 stations to the two main centres and probably eight daytime sub-stations rests on the opposite view. In the words of the agency's chief executive, Vice-Admiral Sir Alan Massey: "Using the latest technology means it is largely immaterial where co-ordination centres are geographically located." Modernisation, which most staff accept is necessary, is the driver rather than cuts, he says, expecting a future of "tackling more challenging jobs with new skills and getting better pay in return". But the framework published in December, Protecting our Seas and Shores in the 21st Century, proposes an overall staff reduction from 596 to 370 over four years, with only a slight increase from 80 to 105 in full-timers supporting volunteers in the Coastguard Rescue Service, while station-based colleagues drop from 491 to 248 and those at MCA headquarters in Southampton from 25 to 17. "There's beginning to be talk about individual stations continuing if they can make a convincing business plan," says Humber coastguard watch officer Paul Chapman. "We're getting more hopeful that the current approach will be scrapped and we'll all sit down to discuss one which will work." Staff want to get on with that, he says, because uncertainty is leeching experienced coastguards from the service, with stations such as Yarmouth, Thames, Forth and Holyhead suffering losses. Meanwhile the busiest season for the UK's 11,000-mile coastline has started, with 17 people involved in emergency calls to the coastguard since the start of this month. David Cameron has warned that changes will be made only if they improve services. And at Maker church and beyond, mourners for Neil Murray contemplated his wife's warning to her fellow MPs not to lose respect for "one of the most beautiful but dangerous elements in the world. If we lose that respect and believe that we can beat the sea, we are finished". Emergency services Public sector cuts Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

In search of the pale king Posted: 08 Apr 2011 02:17 AM PDT When he died in 2008, David Foster Wallace left behind hundreds of pages of an unfinished novel. His editor Michael Pietsch explains how he pieced the manuscript together In 2006, 10 years after the publication of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, Little, Brown made plans to release an anniversary edition of that glorious novel. Celebrations were planned for bookstores in New York and Los Angeles, but as the events neared, David demurred about attending. I telephoned to try to persuade him. "You know I'll come if you insist," he said. "But please don't. I'm deep into something long, and it's hard for me to get back into it when I'm pulled away." "Something long" and "a long thing" were the terms David used to talk about the novel he'd been writing in the years since Infinite Jest. He published many books in those years – story collections in 1999 and 2004 and gatherings of essays in 1997 and 2005. But the question of a new novel loomed, and David was uncomfortable speaking about it. Once when I pressed him, he described working on the new novel as like wrestling sheets of balsa wood in a high wind. From his literary agent, Bonnie Nadell, I heard occasional reports: David was taking accounting classes as research for the novel. It was set at an IRS tax return processing centre. I had had the honour of working with David as his editor on Infinite Jest, and had seen the worlds he'd conjured out of a tennis academy and a rehab centre. If anyone could make taxes interesting, I figured, it was him. At the time of David's death in September 2008, I had not seen a word of this novel except for a couple of stories he had published in magazines, stories with no apparent connection to accountancy or taxation. In November, Bonnie joined Karen Green, David's widow, to go through his office, a garage with one small window at their home in Claremont, California. On the desk Bonnie found a neat stack of manuscript, totalling nearly 250 pages. On the label of a disk containing those chapters he had written "For LB advance?" Bonnie had talked with David about pulling together a few chapters of his novel to send to Little, Brown in order to commence negotiations for a new contract and advance against royalties. Here was that partial manuscript, unsent. Exploring David's office, Bonnie and Karen found hundreds and hundreds of pages of his novel in progress, given the title The Pale King. Hard drives, folders, three‑ring binders, spiral‑bound notebooks and floppy disks contained printed chapters, sheaves of handwritten pages and notes. I flew to California at their invitation and two days later returned home with a green duffel bag and two sacks heavy with manuscripts. A box full of books that David had used in his research followed by mail. Reading this material in the months after, I found an astonishingly full novel, created with the superabundant originality and humour that were uniquely David's. As I read these chapters I felt unexpected joy, because while inside this world that David had made I felt as if I were in his presence, and was able to forget awhile the awful fact of his death. Some pieces were neatly typed and revised through numerous versions. Others were drafts in David's minuscule handwriting. Some – those chapters from the desk among them – had been recently polished. Others were much older and contained abandoned or superseded plotlines. There were notes and false starts, lists of names, plot ideas, instructions to himself. All were gorgeously alive and charged with observations; reading them was the closest thing to seeing his amazing mind at play upon the world. One leather‑bound workbook was still closed around a green felt marker with which David had recently written. Nowhere in all these pages was there an outline or other indication of what order David intended for these chapters. There were a few broad notes about the novel's trajectory, and draft chapters were often preceded or followed by David's directions to himself about where a character came from or where he or she might be headed. But there was no list of scenes, no designated opening or closing point, nothing that could be called a set of directions or instructions for The Pale King. As I read and reread this mass of material, it nevertheless became clear that David had written deep into the novel, creating a vividly complex place – the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois, in 1985 – and a remarkable set of characters doing battle there against the hulking, terrorising demons of ordinary life. Karen and Bonnie asked me to assemble from these pages the best version of The Pale King that I could find. Doing so has been a challenge like none I've ever faced. But having read these draft pages and notes, I wanted those who appreciate David's work to be able to see what he had created – to be allowed to look once more inside that extraordinary mind. Although not by any measure a finished work, The Pale King seemed to me as deep and brave as anything David had written. In putting this book together I have followed internal clues from the chapters themselves and from David's notes. It was not an easy task: even a chapter that appeared to be the novel's obvious starting point is revealed in a footnote, and even more directly in an earlier version of that chapter, to be intended to arrive well after the novel begins. Another note in the same chapter refers to the novel as being full of "shifting POVs, structural fragmentation, willed incongruities". But many of the chapters revealed a central narrative that follows a fairly clear chronology. In this story line, several characters arrive at the Peoria Regional Examination Center on the same day in 1985. They go through orientation and begin working in and learning about the vast world of IRS tax returns processing. These chapters and these recurring characters have an evident sequence that forms the novel's spine. Other chapters are self‑contained and not part of any chronology. Arranging these freestanding sections has been the most difficult part of editing The Pale King. It became apparent as I read that David planned for the novel to have a structure akin to that of Infinite Jest, with large portions of apparently unconnected information presented to the reader before a main story line begins to make sense. In several notes to himself, David referred to the novel as "tornadic" or having a "tornado feeling" – suggesting pieces of story coming at the reader in a high‑speed swirl. Most of the non‑chronological chapters have to do with daily life at the examination centre, with IRS practice and lore, and with ideas about boredom, repetition and familiarity. Some are stories from various unusual and difficult childhoods, whose significance gradually becomes clear. My aim in sequencing these sections was to place them so that the information they contain arrives in time to support the chronological story line. In some cases placement is essential to the unfolding story; in others it is a matter of pace and mood, as in siting short comic chapters between long serious ones. The Pale King's central story does not have a clear ending, and the question inevitably arises: how unfinished is this novel? How much more might there have been? This is unknowable in the absence of a detailed outline projecting scenes and stories yet to be written. Some notes among David's manuscript pages suggest that he did not intend for the novel to have a plot substantially beyond the chapters here. One note says the novel is "a series of setups for things to happen but nothing ever happens". Another points out that there are three "high‑ end players . . . but we never see them, only their aides and advance men". Still another suggests that throughout the novel "something big threatens to happen but doesn't actually happen". These lines could support a contention that the novel's apparent incompleteness is in fact intentional. David ended his first novel in the middle of a line of dialogue and his second with large plot questions addressed only glancingly. One character in The Pale King describes a play he's written in which a man sits at a desk, working silently, until the audience leaves, at which point the play's action begins. But, he continues, "I could never decide on the action, if there was any". In the section titled "Notes and Asides" at the end of the book I have extracted some of David's notes about characters and story. These notes and lines from the text suggest ideas about the novel's direc‑ tion and shape, but none strikes me as definitive. I believe that David was still exploring the world he had made and had not yet given it a final form. The pages of the manuscript were edited only lightly. One goal was to make characters' names consistent (David invented new names constantly) and to make place names, job titles and other factual matters match up throughout the book. Another was to correct obvious grammatical errors and word repetitions. Some chapters of the manuscript were designated "Zero drafts" or "freewriting", David's terms for first tries, and included notes such as "Cut by 50% in next draft". I made occasional cuts for sense or pace, or to find an end point for a chapter that trailed off unfinished. My overall intent in sequencing and editing was to eliminate unintentional distractions and confusions so as to allow readers to focus on the enormous issues David intended to raise, and to make the story and characters as comprehensible as possible. The complete original drafts of these chapters, and the entire mass of material from which this novel was culled, will ultimately be made available to the public at the University of Texas's Harry Ransom Center, which houses all of David's papers. David was a perfectionist of the highest order, and there is no question that The Pale King would be vastly different had he survived to finish it. Words and images recur throughout that I am sure he would have revised: the terms "titty‑pinching" and "squeezing his shoes", for example, would probably not be repeated as often as they are. At least two characters have doberman hand puppets. These and dozens of other repetitions and draft sloppinesses would have been corrected and honed had David continued writing The Pale King. But he did not. Given the choice between working to make this less‑than‑final text available as a book and placing it in a library where only scholars would read and comment on it, I didn't have a second's hesitation. Even unfinished, it is a brilliant work, an exploration of some of life's deepest challenges, and an enterprise of extraordinary artistic daring. David set out to write a novel about some of the hardest subjects in the world – sadness and boredom – and to make that exploration dramatic, funny and deeply moving. Everyone who worked with David knows well how he resisted letting the world see work that was not refined to his exacting standard. But an unfinished novel is what we have, and how can we not look? David, alas, isn't here to stop us from reading, or to forgive us for wanting to. Publishing David Foster Wallace Fiction guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Spam filter working? Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:02 PM PDT Why isn't your life an idyll of serenity, pleasure and ease? Possibly the least controversial observation it's possible to make about the world is that we live in an era of Too Much Information: too many emails, too many memos to read, too many books and podcasts and films and TV shows we'd like to check out. People – journalists, especially – have fretted for years about "information overload", but the techno-optimists' antidote has always been simple: better filters. As the data deluge increases, they argue, so, too, does the efficacy of the tools for sifting wheat from chaff. Spam filters are one example, but so are improved search engines: Amazon's "recommended for you" feature, Gmail's Priority Inbox, and the way social-networking sites tend to lead you to the stuff your friends enjoy. These days, our filters are better than ever. This is why you no longer feel overloaded, and your life is an idyll of serenity, pleasure and ease. Oh, hang on. It isn't, is it? You feel as deluged as ever. But the techno-pessimist Nicholas Carr recently made a striking suggestion as to why this might be: not because the filters are no good, but because they're too good. The received wisdom on modern-day distractedness is that we're constantly lured away from important matters by ephemera: silly cat videos, George Michael's Twitter stream, this week's celebrity meltdown. True, that plays a part (I can confirm that George Michael's Twitter stream is excellent). But a bigger problem, Carr claims, is the way good filters expose us to more and more of what we genuinely care about. "Yes, they winnow out the uninteresting stuff… but they deliver a vastly greater supply of interesting stuff. And precisely because the information is of interest to us, we feel pressure to attend to it," he writes. When information is effectively limitless, as it is online, "then every improvement in the quality of filters will make information overload worse". This might seem like a narrow point about the web, but in fact it illuminates an awkward problem with all our efforts to make life more efficient. Learn every trick of time management and you may find yourself hankering to take on more work – or find that your boss expects you to do so. (This is the rationale behind "if you want something doing, ask a busy person".) There's a parallel here with the way that building wider roads only encourages more drivers to use them, and with the Jevons paradox, in economics, which is sometimes used to argue that making our cars and washing machines more energy-efficient is futile: once they consume less power, thus costing us less, we'll use them more. Experts dispensing advice on personal productivity and "work-life balance" tend to idolise efficiency, not least because it holds out the alluring hope that we can do everything we want, if only we can find the right systems. But there's no reason to assume this is true. Perhaps you're simply overcommitted at work; or perhaps the work you want to do and the family life you want to have just aren't compatible. Likewise with "information overload": there may be no technological fix. Self-help gurus urge us to eliminate the unimportant, and focus on what matters. Fair enough – but what if there are too many important things? Tougher choices may be required. Sorting the wheat from the chaff won't stop you getting stuffed too full of wheat. oliver.burkeman@guardian.co.uk; twitter.com/oliverburkeman Spam Oliver Burkeman guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Cycle helmets are a personal choice Posted: 08 Apr 2011 01:00 PM PDT Boris Johnson and David Cameron have also given in to the helmet brigade, but there's no legal requirement to do so It is generally accepted that politicians carry a greater responsibility than the average person to lead by example – whether it's by not fiddling their expenses or not sleeping with their secretaries if they espouse family values. But does this responsibility really extend to adherence to a non-existent law? Before he became mayor of London, Boris Johnson wrote that he refused to wear a cycle helmet on the grounds that he didn't like "to be lured into any false sense of security" – there are studies suggesting helmeted riders take more risks than those without. But after taking office in 2008 Johnson capitulated to the health and safety police and bought an "undignified plastic hat". He could not live with himself, he said, if people started to copy his "helmetless insouciance" and thereby put themselves in danger. He was also fed up of people tutting at him at traffic lights – or in the Evening Standard. David Cameron, too, eventually learned that it's easier to give in to the helmet brigade than rail against them. When he first became opposition leader – those honeyed days when he didn't have to fill his panniers because his chauffeur was in pursuit – Cameron was occasionally photographed bare-headed, or with his helmet dangling from the handlebars (the cycling equivalent of carrying condoms but refusing to wear them because it "just doesn't feel the same"). He wouldn't dare these days. All of this is ridiculous. It is not a legal requirement to wear a helmet in Britain (though Northern Ireland is on the road to introducing such a law). If Norman Baker was not wearing a seatbelt or had run a red light he could be rightly admonished. But to criticise him for exercising a personal, legal choice is like chiding Andrew Lansley for eating cake when he is health secretary – daft. Helen Pidd's cycling guide, Bicycle, is published by Penguin. Cycling Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Beauty tips: Concealer pens Posted: 08 Apr 2011 04:02 PM PDT Sali Hughes explains how to use a concealer pen - and why it's not the best tool for covering a blemish Sali Hughes

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