Новости за 26.06.2015

What’s legalese for “The Blob”? That was the term that Michael Gove gave, when he was Education Secretary, to the assorted teaching unions, academics and special interest groups who, in his view, were blocking reform of our nurseries, schools and universities. Later Mr Gove – a former journalist with a penchant for memorable phrases – dubbed members of The Blob the “Enemies of Promise”, borrowing from Cyril Connolly’s autobiographical work of that title.

The terror attack on a chemical factory near Lyon might have been devised deliberately to inflame France.

The Labour leadership contest is taking place in an atmosphere of gloom, doom, despair and despondency, and I ask myself why. The conventional wisdom is Labour suffered a catastrophic defeat and is facing a decade in the wilderness. That is in danger of becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy.

At midnight on Wednesday, I landed at Stansted airport. The midsummer night’s dream that greeted passengers had some predictable decor. In an arrivals hall stuffed to capacity, even the supposedly swifter Europeans-only e‑passport queue moved at a glacier’s pace.

It’s a horrible irony that Amy, Asif Kapadia’s extraordinary film about the life and death of Amy Winehouse, begins with a jerky bit of home video. In it, a 14-year-old Winehouse – all teeth and zits and look-at-me, don’t-look-at-me adolescent silliness – sings “Happy Birthday” down the lens, like an Enfield Marilyn Monroe.

In a Crown Court in Central London, a trial begins involving allegations of child sexual abuse. The first witness is a seven-year-old girl with learning difficulties. Let’s call her Emily. Everyone is ready to start her evidence at 10:30am as planned. 

The US Supreme Court’s historic ruling that gay marriage is a right protected by the Constitution is proof that even America’s culture wars are not eternal.

France has had to deal with another terrorist attack on its soil today. The scarring images of the Charlie Hebdo attack are still etched in the minds of many, and this morning’s attacks will do nothing but once again highlight the threat posed to our wellbeing by terrorism. The terrorists’ intent was to ram their car into the gas factory and see it explode. A decapitated head had been pinned to a nearby fence, while two Islamist flags were found at the scene of the attack.

“Today, 5 unelected judges redefined the foundational unit of society.” These words have just been tweeted by the Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Somehow, he managed to narrowly avoid typos as the streams of tears distorted his vision.

Water, aggregate, cement. Mix them together, and you produce concrete – usually the most banal of building materials, not even as characterful or satisfying to touch as a well-fired brick. But when concrete is used by brilliant architects and engineers, the results are riveting. Even today, the world’s first iconic concrete structure, the unreinforced 43.4m dome of the Pantheon in Rome, completed in AD128, still seems breathtaking in its daring and beauty.

In these emotional times, it is no surprise to find a celebrity motoring correspondent opening his review of a £90,000 Range Rover with lengthy, heartfelt riff about how he was bullied at school.

When the actor Steven Berkoff criticises you, he pulls no punches. The theatre critic of this paper is the latest to feel the wrath of Berkoff’s pen, or in this case his Facebook page, following a review of the RSC’s Othello, in which he remarked that the days are long gone when a white actor can play the title role.

There were wry smiles in several EU capitals when they received the pre-cooked draft conclusions for the summit of European leaders. The final agenda item said simply: “UK [p.m.]”-- showing when David Cameron’s attempt to negotiate new membership terms would be discussed but providing no detail. “The square brackets said everything; where there should be firm proposals, there is a vacuum,” one EU diplomat complained. Despite Mr Cameron’s hyperactive post-election European tour and talks with all other 27 leaders... Читать дальше...

Mo Farah has given his backing to coach Alberto Salazar and will continue training under him following his response to doping allegations.

Being evicted from a private rented home is now the main cause of homelessness. And with £12 billion of welfare cuts on the horizon – and housing benefit first in line for the chop – it’s set to get even tougher for renters on low incomes. Who will help them? Certainly not Britain's landlords.

For many music lovers, André Rieu, the Dutch violinist and so-called modern Waltz King, is an irresistible attraction. He and his orchestra, performing light, tuneful classics and crossover – are not only about music, but also showbiz. They often top the classical recording charts. And they’re loved, loved, loved.

The shape of George Osborne’s budget is emerging. Cut tax credits for working families on £15,000 a year. And cut taxes for working people on £150,000 a year by cutting the 45p top rate. So much for one nation.

JK Rowling has announced that a new chapter in her Harry Potter books charting the Boy Who Lived’s pre-Hogwarts years is set to arrive in the form of a stage play next year.

I know the ritual too well now. After the 1983, 1987, 1992 and 2010 elections, Labour-minded people would assemble in therapy sessions entitled, “Where now for the left?” Panellists would panel away and people would “ask questions from the floor” in which everything everyone already thought, especially that proportional representation was the answer, would be restated. Everyone would go away thinking it was all very stimulating, ready to lose again.

We give you the need-to-know on summer's trickiest trend

Actor and author Sheila Hancock has spoken out after her car insurance premium rose from £873 to £2,246 a year without warning, despite 63 years without making a claim on her insurance.

Two of the main whistleblowers about the Nike Oregon Project (NOP) have accused Alberto Salazar of lying in his lengthy public rebuttal to claims he oversaw doping among his athletes.