The most surprising thing about Paula Radcliffe effectively being named by the Parliamentary hearing into doping in sport is that it took so long for her name to come out.
It has been dubbed “Corbynomics”, a tribute to the best-seller Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, which spawned a string of something-nomics books and columns. But the economic policies espoused by Jeremy Corbyn belong to a much longer tradition of writers and thinkers seeking an ideal human society – egalitarian, in which basic needs are satisfied, where people contribute according to their abilities, and where those who are struggling are helped along the way.
A couple of years ago, an Iraqi minister was speaking to a senior American general about the war in Syria and why President Bashar al-Assad was still in power when Muammar Gaddafi had been swiftly overthrown and killed by rebels in Libya in 2011. “The big difference between now and then is that Russia is back as a great power,” replied the general, recalling that, in Libya, Russia had assented to Nato military intervention to save Benghazi falling to Gaddafi’s tanks. Russian compliance opened... Читать дальше...
It seems it was written in the stars that Freddie Fox would play Romeo, the star-crossed lover. The 26-year-old actor, youngest cub of the Fox acting dynasty, had always wanted to tackle Shakespeare's romantic lead: "I thought it was a part that would probably really suit me – it's a high-energy part, in a high-energy show."
Britain’s marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe has issued a furious and “categoric” denial that she has ever cheated, and accused politicians of hiding behind “the cloak of parliamentary privilege” to implicate her in the doping scandal that continues to engulf athletics.
For me, it was a “marmalade dropper” – that great phrase, invented by Bill Deedes, which describes a newspaper story so shocking it makes you drop your jar of preserve onto the kitchen table in horror. I had this moment when Katie Morag, the fictional girl from the Outer Hebrides, was pictured next to a story about the BBC planning to axe CBeebies and CBBC, the two channels that play host to Morag and her pals. You could almost hear the smacking of glass upon wood in family homes across the country. Читать дальше...
I very rarely listen to radio. Adverts, jingles and irritating presenters are too much for my very impatient self to want to hang around for actual music, and I generally happen upon new material through work contacts, friends, and recommendations from online sites.
Start the term with a clever bit of kit. IndyBest finds tech to help ace the year - at work and play
When I came to the United Kingdom from Uganda in 1974, the queen had already been on the throne for more than 20 years. I had escaped from a country dominated by the dictator Amin. By contrast, the UK and in the majority of the former British Empire (now the Commonwealth) had evolved a constitutional monarchy which is a bulwark against that kind of tyranny.
We are surrounded by media as never before. Whether it’s news, entertainment or marketing, we are bombarded by messages all day long. It’s hard to escape the cacophony, and it’s difficult sometimes to remember exactly where you read, heard or saw something. Things resonate with us, but only for a moment before we move on. News stories, mainly, have the lifespan of a mayfly, and works of art rarely have anything more than a transitory power.
“Every country needs firm but fair immigration laws,” said former Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 2001, as a prelude to claiming that successive waves of migration since the Second World War had created a new and better type of British society. Looking for a powerful hook upon which to hang his vision of an open, multicultural society, Cook located it in the nation’s favourite dish: chicken tikka masala. The fusion of “Indian” chicken tikka with the type of thick gravy favoured by many UK citizens... Читать дальше...
Paula Radcliffe has released a statement to "categorically deny" cheating at any time in her career after the former London Marathon winner claimed she had been "effectively implicated" by the Sunday Times' allegations of blood doping in athletics during a Culture, Media and Sport committee hearing.
Below is the full statement released by marathon record holder and former Olympian Paula Radcliffe denying any form of cheating during her career.
“Do some humans smell different mummy?” My seven year old had spotted police with sniffer dogs as we waited to board our ferry at Calais. He wanted to know if the refugees from Sudan, Syria and Afghanistan emitted a uniquely distinctive aroma that differentiated them from the French and the British.
Shakespeare is frequently staged, frequently adapted, yet rarely questioned. For the majority of directors, it seems enough just to successfully put on the play. If they are feeling really experimental, they might insert a pop song or two, an interpretive dance routine, add some class-A drugs, a barbecue, and/or set the action at the fish counter in Morrison’s. Though I’m sure that there is value in these things, they mostly leave me cold. Instead of changing the superficial aspects of the play... Читать дальше...
The figures around deaths of benefit claimants following ‘fit-to-work’ assessments released recently were alarming but sadly not surprising. Benefit claimants have been the victim of a compulsively negative rhetoric over the last five years, where the use of terms such as ‘scroungers’ and ‘skivers’ are commonplace.
David Cameron’s pledge to take in 20,000 Syrian refugees seems impressive at first glance, especially coming from a government that only days ago wouldn’t promise any additional commitment to helping these people in such desperate need. For each of those 20,000 refugees – who now has a chance to escape the brutal civil war and endless violence in Syria – this passage to safety will undoubtedly be very welcome. A closer look at the figures, however, reveals a British government continuing to do far too little to solve this mounting crisis. Читать дальше...
Unsure about what Boris Johnson has cost London? Let me break down some of his worst excesses for you – altogether of which add up to over £600 million in poor decisions, ideological dogma and vanity schemes.
“I made my peace with disappointment a long time ago,” declares a producer when he realises that the “Queen of blue-eyed soul” is defecting to Atlantic Records. The line elicits a delighted cackle from the audience.
Last year we were at a fashion parade and my daughter Maddy said to me: “Mum – me – model.” Of course, at the time she was keen to just climb onto the stage and strut her stuff there and then, which I had to explain wasn’t entirely appropriate. Modelling as a career in the future, however? I saw no reason at all why she shouldn’t pursue that. Down Syndrome didn’t preclude her from being ambitious, limelight-loving and – of course – beautiful.
The Prime Minister’s knee-jerk decision to give asylum to Syrian refugees is a belated acknowledgement of Britain’s calamitous interference in the lands of Islam.
It took a picture. The image of little Aylan Kurdi dead on a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, appears at last to have woken the world from its slumber in relation to the horror of modern Syria. Iconic photography has changed the course of history before, most notably during the Vietnam War. Some good may yet emerge from the tragically brief life of a drowned three year-old, if it prompts not only a generous response to the biggest humanitarian catastrophe in Europe since the Second World War, but also ... Читать дальше...
We had an unexpected preview yesterday of next week’s Prime Minister’s Questions. Jeremy Corbyn asked David Cameron a question about his statement on Syria and refugees. Here is how it went:
Say "the Scottish play" to your average theatregoer and, quite rightly, they think Macbeth. Ask them to forget Shakespeare and instead consider the defining moment in Scottish theatre, and many of them will probably turn to Black Watch, the National Theatre of Scotland's huge success from 2006.
It seems doubtless to me that the staggering rise in reported sex assaults in primary and secondary schools – more than 5,500 alleged sex assaults, on boys as well as girls, in three years – goes hand-in-hand with the unfettered availability of extremely hardcore pornography to minors. Not a tattered copy of Fiesta found behind a Portakabin, as many of us remember as the height of 1970s childhood excitement, with its pages of exposed nipples, spread legs and the occasional flaccid penis lolling about in the One For the Ladies section. Читать дальше...