Section:GDN 1N PaGe:1 Edition Date:230930 Edition:03 Zone:S

Sent at 30/9/2023 0:02

How to have

healthy
Free skin

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Plus The
‘tweakment’
boom

20-page
magazine

£600m may be wasted
on HS2 homes buy-up
Exclusive
Helen Pidd

North of England editor
Almost £600m of public money has
already been spent buying up land
and homes for HS2 in the north of
England, despite uncertainty over
whether the train line will ever get
beyond Birmingham.
The prime minister, Rishi Sunak,
on Thursday repeatedly refused to

commit to taking the HS2 line to
Manchester, amid concerns that the
project’s cost could exceed £100bn,
three times the original estimate.
So far, almost £423m has been
spent buying up 424 properties on
the western leg from Birmingham to
Manchester, despite there being no
spades in the ground on that imperilled section. Of that, £219m has been
spent on the Birmingham to Crewe
section and £204m on Crewe to Manchester, the Guardian has learned.

Among those to sell up was the
comedian John Bishop, who reportedly sold his mansion in the Cheshire
village of Whatcroft for £6.8m in 2019.
Meanwhile, £164m has gone
towards buying 530 “blighted” properties on the eastern leg to Leeds,
which was “paused” in November
2021. That includes brand new houses
on the Shimmer estate in Mexborough, near Doncaster, which was not
on the original maps that HS2 engineers used to plot the route.

Homeowners living on the eastern route can still apply to sell up
to HS2 because the land remains
“safeguarded” should a future government decide to fund and build it.
The new figures come as Boris
Johnson attacked Sunak for his failure to commit to the project. Writing
in the Daily Mail, he said abandoning
the line north of Birmingham would
amount to “betraying the north of
the country and the whole
12 
agenda of levelling up”.

Interview
Saturday


Breakthrough for
infamous unsolved
murder case, 27 years
after drive-by shooting
of rapper Page 6 !

Taylor Swift, the NFL
New York
star and America’s
state of
emergency newest power couple
•••

The best
comfort
food

Billy
Connolly

Arrest over
1996 Tupac
killing

Heavy rainfall and flash
flooding brought chaos
to the city last night with
residents urged to seek
higher ground Page 42 !

Saturday
30 September 2023
£3.80
From £2.03 for subscribers

 News, page 9

Fantastic
foraging
Saturday


JASON HANNA/GETTY IMAGES

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:4 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

30/09/2023 News
Inside your
Saturday paper

Killer sudoku and
cryptic crossword
Journal page 12
Weather
Page 59
Contact
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Saturday 30 September 2023. Registered as a
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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Tories must explain who knew of tax
inquiry into party donor, says Labour
Anna Isaac

Quick crossword
Page 58
Puzzles
Journal pages 11-12

Sent at 29/9/2023 19:02

Labour has demanded that the Conservatives explain who knew about
a tax investigation into one of the
party’s most important donors,
Anthony Bamford, and when they
were informed.
Anneliese Dodds, the Labour party
chair, has written to her Tory opposite number, Greg Hands, to ask if the
party will return millions of pounds
donated by the peer and his family,
if HMRC finds wrongdoing.
It comes at a sensitive time for the
Conservative party, which is gathering for its conference in Manchester
next week and struggling to fill its
war chest before the next general
election.
The Bamfords, who own the JCB
construction equipment group, have
been among the biggest donors to the
party in recent years, with support
totalling more than £10m. This week,
the Guardian revealed that Bamford,
who was made a life peer by David
Cameron in 2013, has been under
investigation for three years over his
tax affairs, along with his brother and
fellow Tory donor, Mark.
Dodds’s letter, made public “in
the national interest”, called on
Hands to explain whether Lord
Bamford disclosed the investigation
to him, the Tory party or the party
whips. “Public faith in politics and

politicians has been severely tarnished by the past few years,” wrote
Dodds. “I do not need to remind you
of the prime minister’s promise on
entering No 10 of ‘professionalism,
integrity and accountability at all levels’. I would be grateful if you could
explain how this promise is compatible with such a significant donor
being under investigation.
“The strength of our democracy
and the public’s confidence in politics and politicians depends on all of
us in public life being seen to do the
right thing.”
Bamford and his family have given
more than £10m to the Conservative
party over the past 20 years via gifts
and donations, and were prominent
backers of the Vote Leave campaign
to exit the EU.
During the period during which the
investigation into the Bamfords by
HMRC has been ongoing, the Conservative party and the former prime
ministers Boris Johnson and Liz Truss
have accepted donations and gifts
from the Bamfords.
Anthony Bamford personally paid
for Johnson’s 2021 wedding party,
which he hosted at his Cotswolds
estate, and offered the use of his
London townhouse and a cottage
to the former prime minister’s family at below market rent last year.
The family’s company, JC Bamford
Excavators, also helped fund Truss’s
Conservative party leadership campaign in 2022.

Awards for Guardian
podcasts as Today
in Focus wins gold
Kevin Rawlinson
The Guardian’s Today in Focus has
won the gold award for the best
news and current affairs podcast
at the British Podcast awards,
while the rising star award went
to Chanté Joseph, who hosts the
media organisation’s Pop Culture
production.
“This award is absolutely
deserved,” said the Guardian’s
editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner.
“Since its creation in 2018,
Today in Focus has stood out
from the crowd with its deeply
researched journalism rooted in
the work of the Guardian’s global
network of reporters, its superb
production and sound design, and
fantastic hosts in Nosheen Iqbal
and Michael Safi.
“Pop Culture is one of the
Guardian’s fastest growing
podcasts, so I’m delighted that
Chanté Joseph’s effervescent
presenting style and enthusiasm
for the zeitgeist have been

▼ Today in
Focus presenters
Michael Safi
and Nosheen
Iqbal (second
left and centre)
with hosts at
the awards
ceremony

after winning
best news and
current affairs
podcast. Right,
Chanté Joseph
won the rising
star award
MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:
JORDAN PETTITT/PA

▲ Anthony Bamford and his family
have donated more than £10m
Dodds asked Hands: “If wrongdoing is found, will you return, in
full, all of Lord Bamford’s donations
to your party?”
The Conservative party and Hands
have been approached for comment.
On Thursday, Rishi Sunak refused
to say if the party would accept any
further donations from Bamford or
his family while the investigation
was ongoing.
“I am obviously not familiar with
individual people’s tax circumstances, but what I would say is that
all donations to the Conservative
party follow a rigorous process that’s
set out transparently, and declared in
the normal way and that will always

be the case,” Sunak told the BBC. “We
have a rigorous process, it’s set out,
and we transparently declare all our
donations. It wouldn’t be right for me
to comment on any individual’s tax
circumstances.”
Dodds cited Hands’s predecessor Nadhim Zahawi, being forced to
stand down as the Tory party chair
after the Guardian revealed that he
had paid a multimillion-pound penalty to HMRC over his tax affairs. She
called for Hands to “get a grip on the
seemingly endless scandals related
to your party’s donors”.
JC Bamford Excavators, the yellow digger company founded by Lord
Bamford’s father, Joseph Cyril Bamford, was the fourth most important
source of political party donations for
any party in the 2019 election and the
Tories’ top donor that year, according to a 2022 study by the University
of Warwick. Anthony and Mark are
directors of the company. Lord Bamford was knighted in 1990.
The family is in a “super-donor”
category, academics have concluded.
Another of Lord Bamford’s companies, JCB Research, was also a “super
donor” in 2010.
JCB was founded in 1945 and has
22 factories globally, employing more
than 18,000 people who make more
than 300 different products. It made
pre-tax profits of £501.6m in 2022 on
turnover of £4.4bn.
The Guardian approached Lord
Bamford and his brother Mark
on Wednesday. Neither has provided comment about the ongoing
tax investigation.
HMRC has declined to comment on
identifiable taxpayers and said that
it can neither confirm nor deny the
investigation, citing confidentiality
obligations.
recognised by others in the
podcast world. This is a great day
for Guardian podcasts.”
Today in Focus was also given
the silver award in the best daily
podcast category – finishing
second to The News Agents,
co-hosted by Emily Maitlis,
Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall.
The news and current affairs
award was accepted by Iqbal
and Safi, with the latter saying:
“There’s so much competition
in this space and everyone in
our team tries their guts out.
We know this show is really good
and to get some recognition of
that is very rewarding for us
and for everyone who works on
the show.”
The panel said Joseph had had
an “immediate impact” on the
industry since starting in 2022.
“She’s covered a subject that’s
often presented quite frivolously
from interesting angles – like
exploring how ADHD is portrayed
in pop culture, and the history
of racism in mainstream British
comedy shows. Throughout it
all, she’s willing to share her
own insights and be vulnerable
in order to connect with
her audience.
“Chanté is a wonderfully
engaging host. Her wit and pop
culture literacy is some of the best
in this category, and in amongst
vibrant, poppy production, her
charisma stands out.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:5 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 16:44

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•

News

5

‘It’s a bit intimate’
How it feels to walk
between two naked
models in a gallery
$ At the
Abramović
show, visitors
squeeze past two
‘re-performers’
in a doorway
of the Royal
Academy

B

Hannah Jane Parkinson

ack in 1977, in a gallery
in Bologna, the artist
Marina Abramović
and her lover and
collaborator, Ulay,
stood naked in a
doorway, staring at one another, as
the public squeezed between them.
Last week Imponderabilia, as
the piece is called, was resurrected,
with 37 “re-performers”, for the
artist’s blockbuster retrospective at
the Royal Academy in London.
This week saw visitors debating
which way to face when nudging
through the two naked bodies;
as with the original work, one
performer is male, the other
female. Would they go through
this fleshy doorway at all, or else
take an alternative, less naked side
door? And what is it like for the
performers themselves?
When the time came for me to
slip between the pair, their eyes
locked in silent communication,
I worried most about treading on
toes, and the fact that I had to carry
my bag ahead of me. But the sense
of interrupting is tangible, given it
is impossible not to brush bodies.
This sense of intrusion is what
visitors mention most. Tamara,
44, from Kent, and her friend,
Anna, who lives in Oxford, opted
for the side route. “Not because of
the nakedness – but because we
felt uncomfortable taking up their
space,” Tamara said.
Sisters Fiona, from London, and
Claire, down from Leicestershire,
did walk through. “It’s intense,
but I found it very moving,” said
Fiona. “I was very British about it; I
kept apologising! But I felt I should
challenge myself, even for a few
seconds, because she [Abramović]
has challenged herself so much.”

PHOTOGRAPH:
DAVID PARRY/ROYAL
ACADEMY OF ARTS

▲ Marina Abramović and Ulay
create a ‘flesh doorway’ for the
original 1977 performance of
Imponderabilia in Bologna, Italy
PitCa, an artist in his 20s, was
impressed with the bravery and
stoicism of the performers. “It is
different from paintings, which is
what I usually see,”he said, slightly
puzzled. But Peter and Janet
Gibbons, visiting from Hampshire,
are old hands, having participated
in Imponderabilia at a previous
Abramović show in Copenhagen.
“It’s fine, if a bit intimate,”
said Peter. “The funniest thing is
watching people pretend to be so
nonchalant about it, as though it’s
something they do every day.”
Rowena Gander, one of the
performers in the doorway, is a
Liverpool-based performance
artist and choreographer. For the
next three months, she will be
performing all three of Abramović’s

The chief constable, his brother
and the Falklands war medal
Daniel Boffey
A chief constable once tipped to lead
Scotland Yard is under investigation after being accused of wearing
a Falklands war combat service medal
despite being a 15-year-old sea cadet
at the time of the conflict.
Nick Adderley, 57, who leads
Northamptonshire police, has been

pictured regularly wearing the South
Atlantic medal and rosette, which is
awarded to anyone who served in the
Falklands combat zone in 1982.
According to the Sun, a press
release issued by the Northamptonshire force in July also made mention
of him serving in the Falklands during
his 10-year career in the Royal Navy,
but it has since been deleted.
An Independent Office for Police
Conduct spokesperson said they

live works – Imponderabilia,
Luminosity and Nude With
Skeleton – at the Royal Academy.
To prepare, Gander and her fellow
performers took part in one of
the ascetic Abramović method
bootcamps: fasting, no tech, sex
or talking, and a lot of endurance
exercises. “The hardest was staring

‘You can see some
people building up
courage, some back
out at the last minute’
Rowena Gander
Performer in the show
had launched an investigation after
a referral from the office of Stephen
Mold, Northamptonshire’s police,
fire and crime commissioner, adding:
“Our inquiries are at an early stage.”
Adderley was reappointed to his
£165,000 role as chief constable in
April. In a statement in response to
the watchdog’s investigation, which
was first reported by the Sun, he said
the Falklands medal and a second
relating to service in Northern Ireland had belonged to his brothers.
He said: “It is disappointing that
someone has leaked such details
% Nick Adderley wore a Falklands
medal, but was 15 during the conflict

at a wall of primary colours for
hours,” said Gander.
In a post #MeToo world,
Gander said the staff at the Royal
Academy were steadfast in their
safeguarding. “We have signals
where, if anyone were to touch us
inappropriately, they would be
frog-marched out of there.”
So far, she said she had learned a
lot about her own limits and about
the public. “Some spectators,
you can hear their breath because
they are nervous; you can see
some building up the courage,
sometimes they back out at the last
minute,” she said. “There’s always a
few who try to break the gaze, too.”
Gander expected most men to
face her, and women to face her
partner; but the opposite has been

the case. One woman dropped
something as she passed through,
and had to bend down to retrieve it.
Andreja Kargačin, a member
of the Serbian-based Shock
Cooperative, performed
Imponderabilia in Belgrade in
2019. She said she found it more
uncomfortable as a viewer. “That
puts you in a vulnerable spot,
because you feel responsible for
the artists: you could hurt them,
step on them … when you are
performing you are concentrating
on the very physical act.”
For some, as well as being
intense and moving, it can be
a charged, erotic experience.
As Gander said: “That might be
the first person they’ve touched
intimately for a long time.”
about what I deem to be a very personal family issue that I have yet to
respond to formally.”
He said he was “very proud of my
cadet, Royal Navy and police service. Coming from a military family,
I wear all my medals with pride and
have always worn the two medals
my brothers gave me to wear when
one became critically ill and one emigrated, alongside my own.
“Having been made aware of this
complaint, which has a private family impact upon me personally, I
immediately took advice last week
regarding the protocol and have
changed the side of my chest on
which these medals are worn.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:6 Edition Date:230930 Edition:03 Zone:

Sent at 30/9/2023 0:02

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•••

6

National

People with ADHD warned of
national medication shortage
Nicola Davis

Science correspondent
Doctors in the UK have been told
not to prescribe ADHD drugs to new
patients because of a national shortage of the medications, with charities
warning the supply problems are devastating for those with the condition.
According to a National Patient
Safety Alert from the Department of
Health and Social Care (DHSC), the
shortages are down to a combination of manufacturing issues and an

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increased global demand, and could
last until the end of the year.
According to the NHS, ADHD –
which stands for attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder – is a condition that can impair concentration
and may mean people act on impulse.
Prescriptions for ADHD have been
rising in recent years. Figures for April
to June 2023 show around 202,000
individuals in England received an
ADHD prescription, up from 103,000
during the same period in 2018-19.
However with around 2.2 million
people in England thought to have

ADHD, experts say the condition
remains undertreated.
Now prescribers have been told not
to initiate new patients on medications affected by the shortages until
supply issues have been resolved.
The medications affected include
methylphenidate prolonged-release
capsules and tablets, lisdexamfetamine capsules, and guanfacine
prolonged-release tablets.
“Other ADHD products remain
available but cannot meet excessive
increases in demand,” the alert states,
adding that: “At present, the supply

disruptions are expected to resolve at
various dates between October and
December 2023.”
Advice has also been given that
healthcare professionals should
identify all patients currently prescribed these products, check how
much supply they have remaining,
and contact pharmacy services or the
patient’s specialist team for advice
should their supplies be running low.
Henry Shelford, CEO and cofounder of ADHD UK , said the
situation was devastating and could
be life-changing for some.
“ADHD is a disability and the sudden removal of medication is akin to
removing a wheelchair from a disabled person that needs it,” he said.
“The NHS should have realised that
this was happening and had a plan in
place. It is an abject failure.”
Shelford also criticised the DHSC’s
advice. “The sticking-plaster memo

Ex-gang leader
arrested over 1996
killing of rap
legend Tupac
Sam Levin Los Angeles
Adrian Horton and agencies
Las Vegas police have arrested a man
for the 1996 drive-by shooting of the
rapper Tupac Shakur, a long-awaited
break in the infamous unsolved murders case. Duane “Keffe D” Davis,
who has described himself as one of
the last living witnesses of the shooting, was taken into custody yesterday
after he was indicted by a grand jury
for one count of murder with a deadly
weapon. He was arrested while on
a walk near his home in a Las Vegas
suburb.
Mark DiGiacomo, the prosecutor for Clark county in Nevada, said
the grand jury had heard evidence
for months, and alleged that Davis
acted as the “on-ground, on-site commander” who “ordered the death”.
Davis, whose late nephew Orlando
Anderson was considered a suspect
in Shakur’s murder, has long been
known to investigators. He admitted in interviews and in his 2019
tell-all memoir, Compton Street Legend, that he was in the white Cadillac
from which gunfire erupted during
the September 1996 shooting in Las
Vegas. Shakur was 25 years old and
died from his wounds six days later.
Davis was a leader of the South Side
Crips gang and wrote in his book
about running a “multimillion-dollar nationwide drug empire”.
The arrest comes two months after
Las Vegas police raided the home of
Davis’s wife, Paula Clemons. Documents said police were looking for
items “concerning the murder of
Tupac Shakur”.
Police reported collecting multiple computers, a cellphone and hard
drive, a Vibe magazine that featured
Shakur, several bullets, two “tubs
containing photographs” and a copy
of Compton Street Legend.
In the book, Davis said he broke

with the suggestion that GPs ‘reach
out to a patient’s specialist team’
is laughable,” he said, adding that
patients often waited years to meet
the medication team.
“Medication is carefully given with
dosage and type worked out over
months. The idea it can be chopped
and changed is wrong,” he said.
Sheldon said the situation was also
of concern for those hoping to start
treatment for ADHD.
The current shortages are not the
first to affect ADHD drugs this year:
the DHSC previously warned of a
shortage of atomoxetine capsules –
a situation that is not expected to be
resolved until next month.
A DHSC spokesperson said: “We
continue to work closely with the
respective manufacturers to resolve
the issues as soon as possible and
to ensure patients have continuous
access to ADHD medicines in the UK.”

Rail and tube
strikes to bring
week of travel
disruption
Gwyn Topham

! Shakur was
shot in his BMW
and died from
his wounds
six days later.
His fourth solo
album, All Eyez
on Me, was in
the charts at
the time, with
5m copies sold.
Below, Duane
‘Keffe D’ Davis,
was said to have
ordered the
rapper’s death

Transport correspondent

MAIN PHOTOGRAPH:
EVERETT COLLECTION/
ALAMY

his silence over Tupac’s killing in
2010 during a closed-door meeting
with federal and local authorities. At
the time, he was 46 and facing life in
prison on drug charges.
Immediately following Shakur’s
shooting, the rapper Yaki Kadafi, who
had been in the car directly behind
the rapper’s BMW, told police the
assailants were driving a white Cadillac and that he could identify the
killer. Police failed to follow up on
the lead. Kadafi was shot and killed
in an unrelated incident in New York
two months later.
In 2018, after a cancer diagnosis,
Davis admitted publicly in an interview to being inside the Cadillac

during the attack. He implicated his
nephew, Anderson, saying he was
one of two people in the backseat
where the shots had been fired.
Anderson denied any involvement. He died in 1998 in a shooting
in Compton, California.
Shakur’s death came as his fourth
solo album, All Eyez on Me, remained
in the charts, with some 5m copies sold. Nominated six times for a
Grammy award, Shakur is largely considered one of the most influential
and versatile rappers of all time.
Shakur was feuding at the time
with rap rival Biggie Smalls, also
known as the Notorious BIG, who
was fatally shot in March 1997.

A week of disruption for rail passengers has begun, with a mix of strikes
and overtime bans by train drivers
and London Underground workers expected to halt and delay many
services until next Friday.
Virtually no services will run on
England’s rail network today and on
Wednesday, when members of the
train drivers’ union Aslef go on strike,
targeting the start and end of the Tory
party conference in Manchester.
The strike across all 16 operators
contracted to the Department for
Transport will stop trains entirely
on most English routes, including
Avanti, Northern and TransPennine
Express serving Manchester. The
strike action will also affect cross-border services to Wales and Scotland.
Aslef has also called an eight-day
overtime ban from yesterday, forcing
several train operators to cut timetables and making short-notice
cancellations more likely to occur.
In a separate dispute, London
Underground workers who are RMT
members will go on strike on Wednesday and Friday, closing the tube.
Mick Whelan, Aslef’s general secretary, confirmed his union was
deliberately timing the strikes to
target the Tory conference. He said:
“It’s coming on for half a decade without drivers getting a pay rise. We’re
targeting the people who keep misleading the public, by saying we’re
targeting other events.”
Whelan said there had been no
further talks with government or rail
firms, after the union rejected an offer
worth 8% over two years with strings
attached.
Aslef has joined other unions
in calling for a summit to discuss
the future of HS2, which has been
plunged into doubt after Rishi Sunak
refused to commit to building the
Manchester leg of the project.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:7 Edition Date:230930 Edition:03 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sound of Plummer
Edelweiss tribute
at last for actor
Page 17

Sent at 29/9/2023 23:54

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•••

‘Goodbye to a friend’
Anger and sorrow
after sycamore felled
Page 21

7

A dog ate my
novel: shred of
Steinbeck’s Of
Mice and Men
up for sale
Ella Creamer

Girl, 15, and driver
die after school
bus overturns on
M53 in Cheshire
Josh Halliday

North of England correspondent
A 15-year-old schoolgirl and a bus
driver have died after a motorway
crash in Cheshire left several other
children in hospital.
Last night the girl was named as
Jessica Baker by Merseyside police.
Earlier they said a total of 58 people
were involved in the incident including the two fatalities.
Two pupils were taken to Alder
Hey children’s hospital in Liverpool
with serious injuries and another
two casualties were treated at Wirral’s Arrowe park hospital after their
bus overturned on the way to school
on the M53 in Merseyside.
Police later said the wounded
included a 14-year-old boy who
had suffered life-changing injuries.
Others involved were taken to an
emergency training centre in Wallasey, with 13 treated for minor injuries
before being released.

Emergency services declared a
“major incident” after the morning
rush-hour crash. The bus was on its
way to Calday Grange and West Kirby
grammar schools in Wirral when it
overturned on the hard shoulder.
Investigators were trying to establish what caused the bus to flip on its
side as police said the incident was
not believed to have involved another
vehicle, despite earlier reports.
Ch Supt Graeme Robson, of Merseyside police, said: “Family liaison
officers are providing specialist support and we are working with both
schools and Wirral and Cheshire
West councils to ensure the necessary trauma support is in place for
the children on the bus.
“We also know that other children
from both schools were on buses travelling in convoy with the bus involved
in the incident and witnessed the
incident. They too will be provided
with appropriate trauma support.”
Motorists said they saw schoolchildren climbing out of the smashed

rear window of the overturned coach
while firefighters pulled others from
the wreckage.
Joanne Clague, of the North West
ambulance service, told a press conference at Birkenhead town hall: “I
would like to thank our emergency
services colleagues for ensuring that
the scene was safe so we were able to
identify the most seriously injured.”
It is understood the bus was taking
pupils on the regular 22-mile route
from Chester via the village of Little Sutton to the two schools in West
Kirby. Two fire engines attended as
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service
assisted in the response.
Sherin Akhtar, a local Labour councillor, said she drove past the crash
scene minutes after it happened.
Akhtar, who was in the car with
her 13-year-old daughter, said: “We
recognised the coach and we knew
which students were in there and we
know that there were students that
my son knows because he goes to the
same grammar school. He was in the
coach behind and we were in front.
There were clearly casualties outside,
there were pupils on the floor.”
Alison McGovern, the Labour MP
for Wirral South, said: “News that a

▲ Jessica Baker, 15, was killed in the
collision on the M53 in Merseyside

▲ The coach was carrying 58 people,
including the driver, when it flipped
on its side on the hard shoulder
PHOTOGRAPH: PETER BYRNE/PA WIRE

school on the Wirral has lost one of
our precious young people is incredibly hard to bear. My heart goes out
to their family and friends. I am also
thinking of the loved ones of the
driver … I know that our emergency
services will have done every possible thing to save lives at the scene.
In [the] weeks and months ahead,
the investigation will provide much
needed answers on this terrible crash.
“No one should speculate until the
facts are known. We will need to care
for two school communities that will
be heartbroken today, the Wirral will
do all it can to care for those traumatised and injured.”
Keir Starmer, the Labour leader,
said: “My heart goes out to everyone
affected by the tragic accident on the
Wirral this morning. Unimaginably
sad news.”
Earlier, striking medics left their
picket lines to return to hospitals as
Alder Hey and Arrowe Park declared
major incidents. The union Unison
said clinical support workers had
“immediately returned to work” as
it cancelled its picket line in Wirral.
National Highways said the M53
had been closed in both directions
after the incident between junctions
five and four towards Liverpool.
National Highways North West
said: “North West Motorway Police
Group will be carrying out complex
investigation work. Once complete,
recovery of the coach and collision
clear-up work can begin.”

A surviving fragment of the original
draft of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and
Men, which was eaten by the American writer’s dog, Toby, is going up for
auction next month.
“Minor tragedy stalked,” wrote
Steinbeck in a letter to his editor on 27
May, 1936. “My setter pup, left alone
one night, made confetti of about half
of my book. Two months work to do
over again. It sets me back. There was
no other draft.”
The fragment will go up for sale on
25 October in New York along with
other manuscripts, letters and personal ephemera of the novelist.
Of Mice and Men’s main characters, Lenny and George, are both
mentioned on the torn fragment.
“I was pretty mad but the poor little
fellow may have been acting critically,” Steinbeck wrote in his letter.
“I didn’t want to ruin a good dog for
a ms [manuscript]. I’m not sure it is
good at all. He only got an ordinary
spanking with his punishment flyswatter. But there’s the work to do
over from the start.
“I’m not sure Toby didn’t know
what he was doing when he ate the
first draft,” he continued. “I have
promoted Toby-dog to be a lieutenant-colonel in charge of literature.
But as for the unpredictable literary
enthusiasms of this country, I have
little faith in them.”
Going under the hammer is also
Steinbeck’s personal journal from
1949, which begins “I don’t suppose
anyone ever so hated a year as I hated
1948 … Wife, children, best friend all
gone. But perhaps it toughened me.
I hope so.” The diary details the end
of the writer’s marriage to his second
wife, Gwen, and his despair at the loss
of his best friend, Ed Ricketts.
The items in the sale, held by Bonhams, come directly from the family
of Steinbeck’s youngest sister, Mary
Steinbeck Dekker. Correspondence
between the author and his family
is expected to be sold for $250,000–
$350,000 (£204,000-£285,000).

▲ The surviving fragment of the
manuscript that was eaten by Toby

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•

8

Paris

France’s bedbug crisis must be tackled before next year’s Olympics, Paris
city hall has said, with the national
transport minister summoning train
and bus operators to prevent the bugs
multiplying on seats.
A wave of panic and disgust has
spread across the country as travellers have posted photos and videos
allegedly showing the insects on the
Paris local transport system, highspeed trains and at Charles de Gaulle
airport. Some travellers on the Paris
Métro or local trains have insisted
they will stand up from now on to
avoid the seats.
Over the summer, when a Paris
cinemagoer posted on social media
about bedbugs, cinema companies
issued statements about how they
treated seats. Meanwhile, fumigation
companies have reported an increasing demand to clear private homes.

cYanmaGentaYellowbl

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

News

Demands for national
taskforce as French
bedbug crisis worsens
Angelique Chrisafis

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:10

The transport minister, Clément
Beaune, said he would convene public transport operators next week “to
inform them about countermeasures
and how to do more for the protection of travellers”. He posted on X,
formerly Twitter, that his aim was to
“reassure and protect”.
Representatives from Paris city
hall wrote to the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, this week with a plea for
a dedicated national taskforce to deal
with the “scourge” of insects.
The deputy mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Grégoire, told French TV: “No

‘No one is safe. You
can catch them
anywhere and bring
them home’
Emmanuel Grégoire
Deputy mayor of Paris

! Some Paris Métro users have said
they won’t sit on seats after photos
and videos allegedly show bedbugs
on them PHOTOGRAPH: STEVE TULLEY/ALAMY
one is safe. You can catch them anywhere and bring them home, and not
detect them in time until they have
multiplied and spread.”
He said Paris authorities had
received an increase in calls for help,
and private companies had had an
unusually high level of requests for
fumigation in recent weeks. He added
that the government must coordinate
action at every level of the state “as
fast and as efficiently as possible”.
Grégoire added: “It’s hell when
someone finds themselves confronted with this”, saying that it was
worse for low-income households
who could not pay the high costs of
private fumigation companies.
Bedbugs, which had largely disappeared from daily life by the 1950s,
have made a resurgence in recent decades and have become increasingly
resistant to chemical treatments.
They can be present in mattresses
but also in clothes and luggage and
come out at night to feed on human
blood. They also often cause psychological distress, sleeping issues,
anxiety and depression.
Anses, a national health and sanitation organisation, found that from
2017 to 2022, 11% of French homes
had been infested.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:9 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:55

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•

National

9

A Taylor-made superstar
Singer launches boyfriend into fame
stratosphere as Swifties discover NFL

Travis Kelce playing the
Chicago Bears last week
! Taylor Swift
(left) was seen
at the game,
cheering and
banging on
the glass of
her suite when
Kelce scored
a touchdown.
His Kansas City
Chiefs team
went on to win
41-10

U

Andrew Lawrence

nder the bright lights
of the gridiron,
Travis Kelce plays the
part of a particular
kind of NFL leading
man – a touchdownscoring party bro who fans in
middle America can rally around.
Yet until a few weeks ago,
anyone who didn’t closely follow
American football would struggle
to recognise Kelce, even though the
33-year-old has had top billing in
three of the last four Super Bowls,
featured prominently in national ad
campaigns for Bud Light and Covid
vaccinations, and hosted Saturday
Night Live this year. Indeed, NFL
fans discovered how famous Kelce
wasn’t once he started to date the
singer Taylor Swift.
Their involvement, which was
hotly rumoured for weeks, was
seemingly confirmed last Sunday
when Swift turned up at Kansas
City’s Arrowhead Stadium for the
Chiefs game against the Chicago
Bears. If Swift’s colour palette – red
lips and nails to match a Chiefs
jacket – didn’t make her favoured
team clear, her seat in the stadium
suite next to Kelce’s mother,
Donna, surely did.
When Kelce scored in the third
quarter, the Fox cameras cut to
Swift banging on the suite glass,
chest-bumping a neighbour and
apparently shouting “let’s fucking
go!”. Patrick Mahomes, the Chiefs
quarterback who threw the
touchdown pass, said afterwards:
“I knew I had to get it to Trav … I
think he wanted to get in the end
zone just as much as all the Swifties
wanted him to.”
Quickly, Kelce got his taste of
fame’s next echelon. Last Sunday,
“Travis Kelce” was the top Google
search term, with more than 5m
queries. Sales of his No 87 jersey
were up 400%. The Chiefs game, a
41-10 blowout against the league’s
worst team, was the week’s mostwatched game, with more than
24 million viewers – and Roku TV
data showed the game saw a 63%
increase in female viewers aged 18
to 49 from the Chiefs’ last game.
On X (formerly Twitter), Swifties
discussed football rules.
For decades, the NFL styled itself
as a game of beauty and violence
for red-blooded American men.
It’s only in the past few decades
that the league has made more
concerted efforts to appeal to
women. But more often than
not, that’s meant taking them
for simpletons and selling breast
cancer awareness merchandise
while sweeping sexual assault and
domestic violence incidents under

PHOTOGRAPH: JASON
HANNA/GETTY IMAGES

‘I think Trav
wanted to
get in the end
zone just as
much as all
the Swifties
watching
him did’
Patrick
Mahomes
Chiefs player

▲ Last weekend, Travis Kelce had
Google’s most searched-for name

▲ Marilyn Monroe and baseball star
Joe DiMaggio got married in 1954

▲ Victoria and David Beckham were
the sports power couple of their day

the rug. Since Swift touched down
in Kansas City, the NFL has been
eating up the attention, posting
about Swift on its accounts. The
New Yorker called Swift and Kelce
“a dream pairing” for the league.
As with all Swift’s relationships,
some have accused the singer
of being more interested in
publicity than love. Certainly the
couple’s origin story is almost too
saccharine to be believed.
Kelce said he had first attempted
to approach the pop star back in
July when she played Arrowhead
Stadium for her Eras tour, adding
that he had made her a friendship
bracelet he hoped to give her
personally – a ritual ripped from the
lyrics to her song You’re on Your
Own, Kid. It’s not clear whether
that was the moment they became
close, but months later Swift was at
his game.
Power couples of this scale aren’t
a new feature in US sports. Before
Gisele Bündchen and Tom Brady
were American football’s Posh
and Becks, Marilyn Monroe and
the New York Yankees baseball
immortal Joe DiMaggio became
the blueprint for the all-American
relationship – athletic brawn
and the Hollywood bombshell.
Madonna reframed the relationship
as one of rock star excess when she
dated Dennis Rodman during his
Chicago Bulls heyday.

In most cases, the couple
became more famous together
than they were apart, but in this
instance it really is more Swift
putting Kelce on the map. Kelce has
made no secret of his desire for a
post-playing career in Hollywood,
signing with the high-powered
agency CAA earlier this year. On
Saturday Night Live, he flashed
a keen wit and physical comedy
skills. His desire for fame away
from the field goes back to 2016,
when he starred in a reality TV
dating series called Catching Kelce,
where women from each of the 50
states competed to be “his perfect
teammate”.
The dating show also helped
establish Kelce’s clear embrace of
black culture. At the time, Kelce
cut his hair in a faded Caesar-style
straight from black barbershops,
hung diamonds on his ears, showed
up for work in streetwear and
celebrated touchdowns by breaking
into the Stanky Leg. He dated
mostly black women and posed
for the hip-hop culture magazine
Complex. Things looked and felt
very different on Sunday, however.

400%

Increase in sales of Travis Kelce’s
Kansas City Chiefs No 87 jersey after
he was linked to Taylor Swift

Kelce was sporting a crew cut and
70s moustache, looking for all
the world like a Missouri sheriff ’s
deputy. (“Went from ‘yo bro’ to ‘do
you know why I stopped ya’,” one
X user wrote on Sunday).
It’s not as if Kelce hasn’t offered
Swift a publicity boost. Although
her star has never been bigger,
before the link to Kelce Swift was
rumoured to be involved with
Matty Healy, the 1975 frontman
with a well-documented history
of racist and sexist comments,
most notably offending the rapper
Ice Spice. Swift’s fans demanded
an explanation; when it didn’t
materialise, they doubled down
by cancelling purchase orders of
Swift albums and tour tickets.
Healy was eventually compelled
to apologise for his remarks, while
Swift avoided comment altogether
before announcing a collaboration
with Ice Spice.
So there is a mutual benefit to
what seems like the hottest new
relationship. It may just be for a few
months, until the next break-up
song gets written, but Kelce and
Swift are for a power couple. And
the biggest winner is American
football. For as long as announcers
can keep making sly references
to Swift songs when Kelce scores,
the NFL will delight in the fact that
millions of women and girls are
watching.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:10 Edition Date:230930 Edition:03 Zone:

Sent at 30/9/2023 0:08

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•••

10

National
Politics

No 10 denies plan to drop fuel
payments for elderly people
Rowena Mason
Dan Sabbagh
Aubrey Allegretti
No 10 has denied Rishi Sunak will
scrap the winter fuel allowance for
most elderly people, after reports that
he was looking at means testing it.
The prime minister was said to
be considering cutting back on the
allowances of £250 to £600 each winter in order to maintain the triple lock
for pensions.
No 10 sources said Sunak was not

cYanmaGentaYellowbl

looking at scrapping the allowance as
a policy and that he had not received
advice on it. “That is not something
we are going to do,” a government
spokesperson said.
Nevertheless, government sources
told Sky News that he had been
looking at the idea: “Rishi understands the politics of the triple lock,
although he thinks it’s far from fair
from an intergenerational point of
view, so he’s trying to redress that a
little bit.”
The broadcaster reported that officials had drawn up options including

removing winter fuel payments for
those not on pension credit.
Rachel Reeves, the shadow chancellor, said ministers should “not be
breaking those commitments” that
they made to older people in the last
election. She said Labour would be
bringing in a proper windfall tax on
oil and gas companies that would
fund help for elderly and vulnerable
people with their energy bills.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the
End Fuel Poverty Coalition, said that
any such move would be a “death sentence” for pensioners.

Sunak is casting around for savings to be made from public spending
before next year’s election as he
comes under pressure from his party
to offer tax cuts. He is considering
scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the HS2 railway line and
looking at keeping benefit increases
down below the level of inflation.
Several government sources said
they did not think Sunak would go
for the option of reducing pensioner
allowances just before an election
when energy bills are still high. But
the prime minister is mulling ways
to be able to afford tax cuts such as a
reduction in income tax, capital gains
or inheritance tax before next year,
which he may gesture towards in his
party conference speech in Manchester next week.
At the annual gathering, Grant
Shapps, the defence secretary, is
expected to unveil a long-term

investment worth about £4bn in the
three-country Aukus nuclear powered submarine project in his keynote
speech on Sunday, defence sources
said. The spending pledge is likely
to be presented as a boost for jobs at
the BAE Systems dockyard in Barrow,
where jobs are expected to increase
from 11,000 to 16,000, and RollsRoyce in Derby, where the nuclear
reactors are built.
The UK and the US have agreed to
help Australia build its own nuclearpowered attack submarines based
on a British design, but while construction is not expected to start until
the end of the decade, experts and
Labour say the industrial base needs
to be developed now.
Sunak is also expected to make
pro-motoring policies a cornerstone
of his conference announcements,
and continue to promote his decision to scale back on net zero targets.

on allowing motorcycles to use bus
lanes, an idea consistently opposed
by cycling groups for safety reasons.
There will be a call for evidence on
ways to limit the ability of councils to
fine drivers for traffic offences, and to
prevent “over-zealous traffic enforcement, such as yellow-box junctions”.
This idea could be particularly controversial given that many councils
use fines issued via automatic number plate recognition cameras to
enforce road safety schemes such as
LTNs and school streets, the latter of
which close areas outside schools to
motor traffic at particular times of
the day.
Also in the plan is a proposal to
unify the apps people use to pay for
parking, and to help councils impose
fees on utility companies which dig
up roads, with at least half the money
having to be spent on fixing potholes.
Sunak said there had been “a clampdown on drivers [which] is an attack
on the day-to-day lives of most people across the UK who rely on cars
to get to work or see their families”,
without elaborating.
He said: “This week the UK government will set out a long-term plan

to back drivers, slamming the brakes
on anti-car measures across England.
We are taking the necessary decision
to back the motorists who keep our
country moving.”
If the measures are implemented,
it will place UK towns and cities on an
opposite trajectory to those in most
other developed nations, which are
in general seeking to promote public
transport and active travel, especially
for shorter journeys.
Currently in England, almost one
in five trips under a mile are done
by motor vehicle, and two-thirds of
those between one and five miles.
In a joint statement earlier yesterday, the heads of Ramblers, Sustrans,
British Cycling, Cycling UK, Living
Streets and Bikeability Trust said
Sunak’s plan would end up leaving
people feeling they had no choice but
to drive, even if they would rather use
other means of transport.
The joint statement said: “When
the government should be giving
people more opportunities to live
their lives responsibly, it’s robbing
them of options.
“When ministers could be promoting public transport, cycling and

▲ Walking and cycling groups said
the plans would rob people of options
and entrench congestion

Sunak pledges to
end ‘anti-car’ policies
at the expense of
other road users
Peter Walker

Deputy political editor
Rishi Sunak has pledged to end “anticar measures” as he set out a series of
ideas to prioritise the needs of drivers at the likely expense of other road
users such as bus passengers, cyclists
and pedestrians.
Outlining what he called a “longterm plan to back drivers”, the prime
minister unveiled a clampdown on
20mph limits, bus lanes, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs), and the
ability of councils to fine drivers who
commit offences.
The plan also pledges to stop
councils implementing so-called
15-minute cities to “prevent schemes
which aggressively restrict where
people can drive”, language which
leans into claims by some objectors
that the idea is a UN-led conspiracy to
limit people’s ability to travel.
While much of the plan, first
revealed by the Guardian on Thursday, is framed as a consultation, it
marks a notable shift in transport policy, going against efforts by recent UK
governments to try to ease congestion by making modes of travel other
than the car more appealing.
It follows the unexpected Conservative win in July’s Uxbridge
and South Ruislip byelection ahead
of the expansion of London’s ultralow emission zone, and after Sunak’s
decision to ease rules on the transition towards electric vehicles.
The new plans for roads in England, formally led by the Department
for Transport (DfT), but understood to be steered directly by No
10, aim to make it harder for councils to introduce a range of measures
designed to make streets safer and

more convenient for bus passengers,
cyclists and pedestrians.
On 20mph speed limits, shown
to reduce the likelihood of deaths
or serious injuries, especially with
more vulnerable road users, guidance
on where they can be introduced will
be reviewed “to prevent their blanket
use in areas not appropriate”, the DfT
statement said, with scant details.
There will also be amended guidance for LTNs, which seek to increase
active travel by restricting through
traffic on smaller residential streets,
to “focus on local consent”, the DfT
said, again giving no details.
An existing review into LTNs
will “consider measures for existing anti-driver policies that did not
secure local consent”, it added, citing
15-minute cities, an urban planning
concept based around having shops
and workplaces near homes.
In a measure already condemned
by the organisation representing the
UK’s bus companies, guidance will
be revised so bus lanes only exclude
other vehicles “when necessary”,
potentially meaning only in peak
times, which could slow journeys
for bus users at other periods.
There will also be a consultation

‘Ministers could be
promoting cycling
and walking as cheap
sustainable options
in a cost of living and
climate crisis’
Cycling groups
On roads policy

PHOTOGRAPH: ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

walking as cheap sustainable options
in a cost of living and climate crisis,
they’re entrenching congestion and
reliance on driving for short, local
journeys.”

▲ The plans include a clampdown
on low-traffic neighbourhoods

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:11 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 19:11

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•

11

The Tories
When blue
tribes go
to war

1 The business
secretary, Kemi
Badenoch, is one
of the party’s
leading cultural
warriors, along
with Suella
Braverman

3

PHOTOGRAPH:
TAYFUN SALCI/ZUMA/
SHUTTERSTOCK

▼ Liz Truss is
back seeking to
exert influence
as champion
of lower taxes
PHOTOGRAPH: TOBY
MELVILLE/REUTERS

Ben Quinn and Peter Walker

1

As the Conservative party
conference gets under way this
weekend, there is a pause in the
seemingly relentless civil wars
of recent years as the Tory tribes
gather in Manchester.
But tensions continue to
bubble beneath the surface; the
presence of Liz Truss and enduring
popularity of Boris Johnson among
sections of the membership serve
as reminders of dividing lines.
Membership of what are often
unofficial groupings overlap, and
divisions are often more Venn
diagram than hard borders.
Key tribes are broken down
below, but others may well
include China hawks such as Iain
Duncan Smith, the “Blue Collar”
caucus of MPs from workingclass backgrounds, such as Esther
McVey, along with green-minded
Tories worried about a trashing
of the party’s environmental
credentials.

3 The culture warriors

To an extent, this is a group
that has been absorbed into the
mainstream of Conservative
politics, with even Sunak, once
mistakenly viewed as a largely
ideology-free technocrat,
expected to lean increasingly into
culture war issues as the general
election approaches.
However, as the National
Conservatism conference in May
showed, some in the party clearly
see this as not just an electoral
strategy but a fundamental tenet
of philosophy and policy.
Among the most vocal are
Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates,
who back Viktor Orbán-style
pushbacks against “woke”
ideologies coupled with concerns
over falling birth rates.
Along with Kemi Badenoch,
the biggest Tory beast in
National Conservatism is Suella
Braverman. The home secretary
is not quite so far down the
Orbán/Giorgia Meloni path of
nativism as Kruger and Cates, but
is likely to be the standard-bearer
for this group if the Conservatives
lose the general election.
Braverman is happy to bash
the woke if needed, and has
faced criticism for divisive
comments over subjects such as
the ethnicity of sex abuse gangs,
but specialises more in another
strand of populism, based on
authoritarianism over borders.

4 The one nation Tories

1 Free market ultras and
Liz Truss nostalgics

A large swath of Tories still regard
the late 20th-century policies
of Ronald Reagan and Margaret
Thatcher as a bible.
While that might have included
Rishi Sunak, his leadership battle
with Truss exposed a faultline
in the party involving those who
deem others not sufficiently
Thatcherite, with Sunak
consistently coming under fire for
a supposedly high-spending, hightax approach as chancellor.
Keepers of the Thatcherite
flame, meanwhile, range from an
actual veteran of her government,
John Redwood, to MPs such as
Jacob Rees-Mogg, who has gone as
far as accusing Sunak of raising tax
to “socialist” levels.
Others include ministers from
Truss’s 49-day premiership,
such as Simon Clarke and Ranil
Jayawardena, who led the recently
formed Conservative Growth
Group.
Truss, who is seeking to exert
influence as a champion of lower
tax, reining in spending and supply
side reform, is to share a stage in
Manchester with Priti Patel at a
“growth rally”.

views on HS2, they have been
lobbying hard to protect elements
of the legislation, paving the way
for greater connectivity between
cities and across the Pennines,
which they have christened “the
Charles line”.

1

2

4

▲ The former cabinet minister Jacob
Rees-Mogg is seen as one of the
keepers of the Thatcherite flame

▲ David Davis, the former Brexit
secretary, is a prominent figure in
the northern Tories grouping

▲ Tom Tugendhat is one of the few
centrists remaining in government,
serving as security minister

2 Northern Tories

manifesto that is expected to be
unveiled in Manchester.
Prominent figures include the
NRG chair, John Stevenson, the
former party chair Jake Berry, the
former Brexit secretary David
Davis and the current Tory deputy
chair, Lee Anderson. The yearning
for the party to look beyond
England’s south-east finds an echo

among Scottish Tories and others
including the Tees Valley mayor
and peer Ben Houchen.
Its main focus is on lobbying the
government to shore up support
in the north of England by making
good on successive Tory leaders’
pledges to “level up” through
investment and targeted schemes.
Although members have mixed

Expect MPs who have come
together in the Northern Research
Group (NRG), which was
established after the 2019 capture
of “red wall” constituencies
from Labour, to lay out a range
of pre-election “asks” from
the government in a northern

This is a group that has been
on the retreat since Brexit, and
certainly since Theresa May was
ousted. A formerly influential and
listened-to caucus, its advocates
were central to challenging
Johnson over the constitutionbusting aspects of his Brexit
plan – to their cost.
A total of 21 Tories were
stripped of the party whip after
rebelling over a possible no-deal
Brexit, among them a string
of centrist types. The majority
ended up leaving the Commons
in 2019, including David Gauke,
Justine Greening, Rory Stewart,
Phillip Lee and Sam Gyimah – the
latter two via the Lib Dems.
Some centrists remain, notably
May’s former de facto deputy,
Damian Green, and the former
cabinet minister Greg Clark, while
others including Tom Tugendhat
are even in government.
There is unlikely to be a vast
amount of scheming among such
MPs in Manchester, in part due to
last year’s chaos under Truss and
a desire for a period of calm.
The One Nation group, which is
largely informal anyway, appears
to be biding its time for what
could be a bare-knuckle fight
against the culture warriors and
Truss’s rump group of ultra-free
market devotees for the future
direction of the party.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:12 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

National
Politics

12

Taxpayers spent
£600m on homes
and land for HS2
section now at risk
! Continued from page 1
Speaking a s Conservative MPs prepared to travel to Manchester for the
party’s annual conference, the former prime minister said: “We will
not level up, and we will not unleash
the full potential of this entire country, unless we end the injustice of
the infrastructure gap – and give the
cities of the north the same transport
advantages that have helped turn
London and the south-east into the
most productive region in the whole
of Europe.”
Oliver Coppard, the mayor of
South Yorkshire, said: “Very little
could be more emblematic of the
government’s approach to HS2 than
them debating the future of the project while at the same time eagerly
buying up land and properties – causing huge uncertainty to communities
across South Yorkshire.
“They are essentially asking our
communities to put their future on
pause while they argue amongst
themselves about a project that is
already 15 years into being delivered.
This government couldn’t organise a
bunfight in a bakery.”
Once HS2 Ltd – a taxpayer-funded
company – buys a property, it often
rents it out on the commercial market, sometimes offering tenancies to
the sellers if they want to stay put for
a while.
This week the Guardian visited
Ringway, a tiny hamlet near Manchester airport that residents fear
would be almost “wiped off the
map” by HS2. A number of multimillion-pound properties have now
been abandoned, their gates padlocked, after being bought by HS2 in
recent years.
Jeremy Oddie, a Ringway resident and parish councillor who
faces losing a chunk of his cottage

garden to an HS2 access road, said it
was not always easy to know which
neighbours had sold up to HS2, and
certainly not how much they had
received.
“Those we know have been sold
are subject to non-disclosure agreements, and the sale proceeds don’t
appear on the Land Registry,” he said.
One of his neighbours, Val Hines,
said her brother had sold his Ringway house to HS2 for £2.5m about five
years ago, a million less than it was
actually worth.
HS2 construction to date has
focused solely on phase 1, the 140mile section from Birmingham to
Old Oak Common in north London,
six miles west of the original Euston
terminus.
Just over £2.8bn has been spent
buying up 920 properties on phase 1,
equating to an average £304,348
a property, according to figures
released by HS2.
The next leg due to be built is
from Birmingham Curzon Street
to Crewe, known as phase 2a. That
received “royal assent” in February
2021, supposedly “cementing in law
the government’s commitment to
bring the new high-speed railway to
the north”.
Phase 2b west – Crewe to Manchester – has not yet received royal assent,
so would be the easiest part to cancel.
HS2 has the power to make a compulsory purchase of any property in
the railway’s direct path – but only the
bits that have received royal assent.
As well as homes, that includes businesses, farms, outhouses, fields,
gardens, paddocks and access roads.
There is also an unlimited “discretionary” fund where property owners
can apply to sell, arguing that the
property is so blighted by the spectre of HS2 that no one would pay a
fair price for it on the open market.

HS2 has spent £3.4bn on more than 1,800 properties
• Under construction • Construction paused • In doubt • Cancelled

Leeds

Golborne spur
cancelled Jun 2022

Manchester
Piccadilly
Sheffield

Liverpool

Phase 2b west

£204m

Crewe

Manchester
airport

Phase 2a

£219m

Birmingham Curzon Street

HS2 phase one

£2.8bn

York

Eastern leg
cancelled Nov 2021

Phase 2b east

£164m

Birmingham Interchange

Euston to Old Oak Common
paused Mar 2023

Old Oak Common

London Euston

Source: HS2 Ltd. Note: includes properties bought bought via compulsory purchase order and discretionary purchase

‘It’s torture’ Residents
on northern route don’t
know what future holds

I

Helen Pidd

North of England editor
t was 10 years ago that Val
Hines first heard of the
railway that would change
her life for ever. A reporter
turned up at her house and
asked: “How do you feel
about this train going through your
property?”
“This train” is called HS2, and
Hines learned it was set to cut
straight through her living room
before heading over the M56 to
Manchester airport and the city.
Since the 1990s, Hines and
various relatives have lived in a
collection of converted barns at
Ringway, a hamlet on the Cheshire
border. Despite its proximity to a
motorway and two runways, it is
a peaceful place of fields and trees
and badgers, and Hines thought
she’d be there for ever.
The government had other
plans. The whole family compound
was, to use HS2 parlance, in the

“safeguarded zone”, which meant
that at some point in the future,
they would be forced to sell up
to make way for Britain’s biggest
infrastructure project since the
Channel Tunnel.
Hines stood firm, not wanting
to leave the four bedroom barn
conversion she shares with her
husband and dog, Grigio (as in
Pinot). “All our memories are
here. My son died in 2008 and his
bedroom is still here,” she said. “I
know you can’t stand in the way of
progress, but for God’s sake, we’re
up, we’re down, we’re not moving,
we are moving. It’s torture. I’m on
anxiety tablets because of it.”
Five years ago, her brother got
fed up and moved out of the main
farm house. “HS2 were awful to
deal with,” said Hines. “The house
was worth £3.5m but they were
only prepared to give him £2.5m.”
HS2 rented the house out for
a while but it now stands empty,
its grand gates locked with a huge
padlock. Hines is wondering: “If
they don’t go ahead with HS2, will

▲ Pat Mather
and John
Keleher at their
threatened
Cheshire stud
farm, top. Lynzy
Webster, above,
in Ringway
PHOTOGRAPHS:
CHRISTOPHER
THOMOND/THE
GUARDIAN

▲ Top, Theo
and Haroulla
Hadjiyianni
are among
the residents
of Ringway,
Cheshire, along
with Val Hines,
above

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:13 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 19:05

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•

13

▼ Voters in the north are feeling
a sense of betrayal amid broken
promises of HS2 bringing prosperity
PHOTOGRAPH: VUK VALCIC/ZUMA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Risking fury Have Tories
given up on the North?
Rowena Mason
Pippa Crerar
Ben Quinn

A
they allow him to buy it back for
what he sold it for?”
Further up the lane lives Jeremy
Oddie, a parish councillor and
insolvency practitioner who faces
losing a chunk of his garden to the
railway. Ringway, he said, faced
obliteration by HS2.
It was hard to know just how
many Ringway residents have
sold up, or for how much, said
Oddie: “Those we know have
sold are subject to non-disclosure
agreements, and the sale proceeds
don’t appear on the Land Registry.”
Unsurprisingly, most Ringway
residents oppose the railway. Oddie
thinks HS2 is particularly pointless
in a post-Covid world where so
many meetings now happen online.
“I used to commute to London
three or four times a month. Now I,
and all the professionals I know, do
it all by Teams,” he said.
Deeper into Cheshire is Cookes
Lane, on the outskirts of the village
of Lostock Green. If HS2 ever gets
beyond Crewe, the lane and its
terrace of four council houses, two

pairs of semis and one detached
home will disappear.
HS2 has already bought up all but
the social housing. A few properties
are rented out; others look
abandoned. Lynzy Webster has
lived in one of the council houses
for 24 years and is dreading the day
she is forced out.
A faster train to London does not
appeal. “If you want to commute
down there, live down there,” she
said. “And what’s the matter with
all the old derelict lines? Why can’t
they fix those up instead?”
Back in Ringway, Theo and
Haroulla Hadjiyianni, a Cypriot
couple who moved into their sevenbedroom manor house 30 years
ago, take a more nuanced view.
They face losing their paddock to
HS2. And yet they do not wholly
oppose the new railway line.
“We can’t just think for
ourselves. This is for the future
of our kids and our grandkids,”
said Haroulla. “They’re just
leaving Manchester behind and
concentrating on London.”

s Tories flock to
Manchester for their
annual conference,
they are looking
at an even frostier
welcome than usual
in the northern city.
Once, Manchester had been
at the heart of George Osborne’s
promised “northern powerhouse”
project and the end destination of
the HS2 highspeed rail line.
Northern voters continued to
be wooed by Boris Johnson with
a promise of levelling up, as he
sought to retain the so-called “red
wall” seats he won from Labour
in 2019. Those love-bombing eras
seem to be firmly at an end. The
HS2 train line was supposed to link
London to Manchester in one hour
and 11 minutes, but now it looks set
to be put on ice by Rishi Sunak – to
the fury of many northern mayors,
politicians and voters.
The promised train line was
symbolic for many in the north
of England, who have put up
with months of disruption on the
existing Avanti west coast line,
including strike action today, as
Tories arrive for the conference.
However, Sunak appears to
think it is worth risking the wrath
of voters, despite the party’s
relentless focus on retaining the
former Labour seats in the north
and Midlands won by Johnson four
years ago.
Conservative insiders believe
Sunak’s search for savings to spend
on pre-election tax cuts is driving
the move, which may ultimately
prove more persuasive to voters
than a pledge on a long-term rail
project.
“I don’t think Rishi is giving
up on levelling up but I think he’s
trying to do it in a way that realises
the fiscal constraints we have,”
said one Tory insider. “Under
Boris, his view of levelling up was
just spending loads of money. It
was meant to be about long-term
ecosystems but there hasn’t been
the time or focus to do that with

three prime ministers in the last
few years. To do levelling up
properly, it was to be a decade
long of hard, determined work.
What the PM is doing is reflecting
economic reality at the moment.”
However, others point out that 10
years of promises on HS2 and more
prosperity for the north of England
have become symbolic – and
failing to meet those commitments
will leave voters with a sense of
betrayal.
Rob Ford, professor of politics
at the University of Manchester,
questioned the upside for the
government of scrapping HS2, with
any savings potentially many years
in the future and voters already
sceptical that an alternative eastwest link, thought to be on the
table, would ever be delivered.
“HS2 has become a symbolic
argument for people in the north.
For many people, it has become
about whether the government is
delivering levelling up or not,” he
said. “If a south-facing Tory party
dumps this project, how is that
going to look? The focus groups
show that people already feel that
the government is not going to
deliver on levelling up. It would
be perfectly rational for them to
then conclude that Sunak won’t do
whatever it is he ends up offering.”
He said the dilemma facing
the Tories was how to unite the
elements of their 2019 coalition
which represent different parts of
the electorate, and Brexit no longer
has the same salience.
“Which seats are they trying
to hold on to, the leave-leaning
‘red wall’ seats or the traditional
southern base? It feels very
confused right now,” he said.
Ford also noted that Sunak
appeared to be retreating into the

‘If a south-facing
Tory party dumps
this project, how is
that going to look?’
Rob Ford
Manchester University

comfort zone of appealing to his
base, rather than broadening his
appeal to the whole electorate.
“Sunak feels like he’s offering
a brand of traditional Toryism –
things like tax cuts and smaller
government resonate with his
instincts. It’s the thread running
through a lot of the proposals
floated over the last couple of
weeks from net zero to inheritance
tax,” he said.
“Politically this looks like
they’re trying to get all the main
institutions that support the Tory
party back on side – the rightwing
press, the activist base, business
and wealth creators. It’s a strategy
for unifying the traditional
elements of the Conservative party,
but not so much one for unifying
the electorate.”
This strategy – rolling back net
zero pledges, pro-motorist policies
and considering more benefit cuts
– has prompted concerns among
some Tory MPs that Sunak’s No 10
is entering a core-vote “bunker”.
While polling suggests some red
wall voters may back individual
policies, there is a sense among
this demographic that Sunak
personally doesn’t care about their
communities, according to focus
groups carried out by the thinktank
More in Common.
These voters – described as the
“loyal nationals” by the thinktank
– are the group with the biggest
swing away from the Conservatives
since the last election. They are
also the ones the party most
needs to hold on to if they want
to stay in power – and they find
Sunak’s wealth alienating. Loyal
nationals also question whether
the Tories really meant to level
up the country, with focus groups
showing they feel the government
has broken its promises.
Many northern Conservative
MPs were not wedded to HS2, but
they fear voters will take any delay
or cancellation as an insult. They
are also desperate to have solid
infrastructure to present to voters.
The answer could be a
compromise floated by the Greater
Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham:
accepting a delay to HS2 between
Birmingham and Leeds in return
for smaller and more achievable rail
projects across the north.
Sebastian Payne, the director
of the thinktank Onward and an
aspiring Conservative candidate,
said ensuring the connectivity of
northern cities was the real key to
levelling up. “Whatever is decided
on HS2, the thing that can’t be
forgotten is that you need to link
northern cities better,” he said.
Patriotically onbrand, members
of the Northern Research Group of
MPs elected to represent northern
England, Wales and the Scottish
borders in 2019 are hoping that
their preferred name, the Charles
line, will catch on for their hopes
of a link across the Pennines from
Liverpool to Leeds.
“People forget 25% of the English
population lives in the north of
England and a whole chunk of that
is around Liverpool, Manchester,
Leeds, Bradford, why shouldn’t we
have the equivalent to London’s
Elizabeth line connecting them?”
said John Stevenson, the Carlisle
MP who chairs the NRG.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:14 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

14

National
Politics
# Keir Starmer
with Michael
Shanks, left,
Labour’s
candidate in the
byelection, and
Anas Sarwar,
Scottish Labour
party leader

struggling with the cost of living
now,” Gilmour said, as volunteers
piled up heavily stuffed carrier bags
of food on the church hall stage
yesterday morning. “They want a
politician that’s going to be honest,
that’s going to be somebody
standing up for them, somebody
with integrity.”
That antipathy to politics has
been echoed on the doorsteps,
say Labour activists. The
Conservatives’ repeated crises,
such as Partygate and Liz Truss’s
disastrous mini-budget last year,
mirrored in Scotland by the SNP’s
internal feuding and the police
inquiry into party finances, have
left many voters in Rutherglen

and Hamilton West deeply
disillusioned.
For both Labour and the SNP
this is a must-win byelection.
Starmer has to prove that his
centrist policies, his heavy
emphasis on making work pay,
economic prudence and his divorce
from Jeremy Corbyn’s tax and
spend-heavy policies, can win back
seats in Scotland for Labour.
Under Nicola Sturgeon’s
leadership, the SNP humiliated
Labour in successive landslide
election victories, leaving Labour
with just one Westminster MP
and languishing in third place at
Holyrood.
Starmer’s ascendancy and the
arrival of his close ally Anas Sarwar
as Scottish Labour leader appears
to have transformed its chances.
Opinion polls show Labour support
up at 35% – double its ratings three
years ago, leaving it only a few
points behind the SNP.
That coincides with Labour’s
shift to the centre under Starmer
and the SNP’s drift to the left

under Humza Yousaf, Sturgeon’s
successor as first minister and SNP
leader. Once great enthusiasts for
higher taxes in Scotland, Labour
now attacks the SNP for proposing
council and income tax rises, and
for a mooted congestion charge to
enter Glasgow.
If Michael Shanks, a cleancut and earnest modern studies
teacher, fails to win this seat on
5 October, it will be a shock. Ever
since MPs recommended earlier
this year that Ferrier be suspended
from Westminster for 30 days, in
punishment for taking long train
journeys and visiting local shops
in 2021 while she suspected she
had the virus, Labour’s election
machine has been in overdrive.
Pressed hard by Sarwar to
prioritise Scotland, Starmer
acknowledges the significance of a
Labour win on Thursday. “There’s
a big prize here,” he told the small
rally next to Gilmour’s church,
before urging party activists to
“pump it up again” in the last six
days of the campaign.
In striking contrast to previous
election campaigns, SNP support
is nearly invisible. SNP voters
and members once took pride in
broadcasting their allegiance with
posters and stickers on windows,
cars and lawns.
The SNP has struggled to
mobilise its activists for this
contest; it hired a leaflet delivery
company, allegedly using workers
on zero-hours contracts. Its chief
whip had to chide SNP MSPs to get
them to campaign.
Katy Loudon, the SNP’s
candidate, is gamely trying to
deflate expectations of a Labour
rout, and insists hundreds of SNP
activists are about to descend on
the seat for a final push.
A part-time councillor and party
worker, she is fighting to make this
byelection a battle over Starmer’s
reluctance to commit to tax rises,
his refusal to lift the “cruel” twochild cap on child benefits his
U-turn over scrapping university
tuition fees.
“I’m asking people to vote
SNP, to say that we are not going
to accept Keir Starmer’s lurch
to the right. Where’s the hope
in that? That’s not as good as it
gets, Michael,” she told Shanks
during a council workers’ hustings
organised by Unison on Thursday.

th former SNP MP Margaret
by the
Ferr
Ferrier’s
removal in a recall petition
after she broke Covid lockdown
rule in 2020. Her majority in 2019
rules
was 5,230, meaning Labour could
win on a swing of about 6.5%.
If that result was replicated
across Scotland next year, the party
could take between seven and 10
seats, up from the solitary one it
holds now. If Labour wins more
convincingly, with a vote share of
42% or above, it’s in the territory of
winning back at least 15 to 20 seats.
While Labour insiders
acknowledge that there is no
great love for Starmer himself in
Scotland, they point to a poll by the
research group Redfield & Wilton
this month, in which he was the
only party leader to get a positive
approval rating. They attribute

that, in part, to Starmer paying six
visits to Scotland so far this year.
“We need to win seats in every
part of the country, but there is
no obvious route back to power
for us that does not run through
Scotland,” says one party official.
The polling expert John Curtice
said: “If Starmer cannot win a
seat Corbyn won in 2017, those
who think the party is going in too
Blairite a direction will say: ‘Hang
on, where are we going?’ And the
claims of Labour keeping the Tories
out at Westminster become much
more difficult to sell.”
However, Labour is confident
it can win next week, and that the
Scottish nationalists’ implosion
represents an opportunity more
broadly. Sturgeon’s departure has
left SNP loyalists dismayed, and

taken the sheen off for many
others.
The SNP has put Starmer’s
decision not to scrap the twochild policy, and his caution
on Brexit, at the centre of their
campaign. “We want to show
voters that there’s not a cigarette
paper between Labour and the
Tories,” said one party official.
Yet Labour insiders claim that
it is the cost of living crisis and
the NHS that come up on the
doorstep, and that independence
is not the central issue that it
would recently have been.
“We’re saying to people,
we may not agree on the
destination,” said one Labour
party official. “But there are big
parts of the journey that we have
in common.” Pippa Crerar

PHOTOGRAPH: JEFF J
MITCHELL/GETTY

‘I’m asking
people not to
accept Keir
Starmer’s
lurch to
the right.
Where’s the
hope in that?’
Katy Loudon
SNP candidate

‘There’s a big prize here’ Labour
eyes byelection win in Scotland

A

Severin Carrell
Scotland editor

s scores of Labour
activists queued up
for Keir Starmer’s
final speech
before next week’s
Rutherglen and
Hamilton West byelection, another
queue was forming next door.
Inside the church hall in
Burnbank, volunteers Alex Gilmour
and Anne Paul were preparing
filled rolls and tea for about 80
local people who rely on its free
breakfasts, its food bank and its
money advice service.

This byelection, to replace the
disgraced former Scottish National
party MP Margaret Ferrier, has
been a head-to-head contest
between Labour and the SNP over
solving the cost of living crisis,
in-work poverty and Scotland’s
over-stretched health service.
For Gilmour, a former mental
health worker, the parish church’s
services are where those crises
bite hardest. Some of the cafe’s
customers are “self-medicating”
with alcohol, others are mentally
unwell and some are homeless
men living in “scatter flats” – shortterm accommodation aimed at
preventing rough sleeping.
p
“There’s a lot of p
people

Analysis
Why poll is so crucial to Starmer

K

eir Starmer has
made no secret of
the fact that winning
the byelection in
Rutherglen and
Hamilton West
on the outskirts of Glasgow on
Thursday is crucial to Labour’s
path to government. Labour
sees a win as a critical test of the
party’s prospects in Scotland and
the UK, with the general election
expected next year.
“There has not been a more
important byelection for us this
parliament,” one shadow cabinet
minister told the Guardian.

A victory here would also indicate
whether voters were deserting the
crisis-hit SNP after the resignation
of Nicola Sturgeon.
“It’s a big prize here. We all
know this isn’t just about this
constituency,” Starmer told
activists on a visit to the seat
yesterday. “It’s about Scotland.
This will be a milestone if we win
this election on the hard road back
for Labour to power.”
The bellwether seat was lost
by Labour to the SNP in the 2015
landslide and has been going back
and forth between the two ever
since. The byelection was triggered

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26 September — 8 October 2023

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:16 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 16:49

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

16

National

Vets remove cricket-ball sized
bladder stone from tortoise, 82
Matthew Weaver
Joey, an 82-year-old tortoise in Cornwall, is recovering from surgery after
the removal of a bladder stone the
size of a cricket ball.
Two veterinary surgeons had to

cYanmaGentaYellowb

cut through Joey’s shell to remove the
growth, which weighed 150g.
One of the vets, Viliam Hoferica,
said it was the largest stone he had
seen. “If Joey was a human, it would
be like having a bladder stone the size
of a basketball,” he said.
Hoferica said it may take up to a
year for Joey’s shell to heal and said

▲ Veterinary surgeons cut through
Joey’s shell to remove the stone after
her owners noticed she was lethargic

the vets had to create a fibreglass and
resin glue to hold together her shell
after the operation.
Hoferica, a surgeon at the Rosevean veterinary practice in Penzance,
said Joey’s condition was only discovered by accident owing to tortoises’
hardy nature. He speculated that the
bladder stone may have been growing for months or even years.
He said: “Tortoises are a very
tough species. They don’t let you
know what is wrong until it’s really
bad. Joey had only been acting unusually in the last few weeks before the

Regulating
UK cosmetic
surgery is ‘a
nightmare’,
says expert
Linda Geddes

Science correspondent
Regulating invasive cosmetic procedures in the UK is “an absolute
nightmare”, with many of those
claiming to be qualified practitioners
not able to work as consultants in the
NHS, a leading surgeon has said.
Maniram Ragbir, the president
of the British Association of Plastic,
Reconstructive and Aesthetic
Surgeons (Bapras), urged people
considering procedures to check
their doctor was registered as a cosmetic surgeon on the General Medical
Council’s specialist register, which
lists those qualified to work as consultants in the UK.
He said: “I would be willing to bet
that a significant proportion, if not
more than 50% of people who are
claiming to be cosmetic surgeons,
will not be on a specialist register
or would be ineligible for a job [as a
cosmetic surgeon] in the NHS.”
Ragbir also raised concerns about
the growing number of groups with
credible-sounding names of which
practitioners can advertise themselves as members. These do not
necessarily check credentials of
applicants, he said, making it difficult
for the public to identify reputable
practitioners.
“The word ‘college’ is not a protected word. You could run a weekend
course in liposuction, and then send
[participants] away with a certificate
– and that person can then advertise
that they are a qualified, certified
practitioner, which is unfortunately
what is happening,” said Ragbir, who
is also a consultant cosmetic surgeon

‘Customers want to
see the person taking
care of the procedure
is qualified’
Marimo Rossiter
UCL study’s lead author

surgery, and even then she was just
eating less and moving less … Eventually we did an X-ray, and luckily
bladder stones show up on tortoise
X-rays. But it was much bigger than
I expected.”
The other surgeon involved was
Pascual Medina, an advanced exotic
pet practitioner.
Thanks to the vets, Joey is expected
to make a full recovery.
Hoferica added: “It was a unique
surgery. Going through the shell is
usually a last resort because of how
long it can take for it to regrow.”
at the Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals
NHS foundation trust.
Research published in the Journal of Plastic, Reconstructive and
Aesthetic Surgery has raised concerns
about the state of regulation within
the UK aesthetics industry.
Led by Afshin Mosahebi, a professor of surgery at University College
London and consultant cosmetic surgeon at the Royal Free hospital, the
study scrutinised the websites of 22
self-regulating organisations that
oversaw surgical and non-surgical
cosmetic procedures in the UK. It
concluded that a significant majority were not meeting best practices
for effective self-regulation as laid
out by the government – potentially
putting patients’ health at risk.
Marimo Rossiter, the lead author
from UCL, said: “Customers want to
see the person taking care of their
procedure is qualified and has done
adequate training. One way a practitioner can make themselves seem
credible is to say they are a member
of X organisation, but we found a lot
of these organisations are not checking they have registered practitioners
that are qualified, have been trained
well, currently practise to a high
standard and ensure patient safety
is at the heart of their practice.”
The researchers have called for
more mechanisms to help patients
identify government-approved registers that run more stringent checks
and meet certain standards. They
also urged the Department of Health
and Social Care and registers to have
tighter cooperation to ensure clinics
were adequately checked.
According to an analysis of almost
3,000 complaints received in 2022 by
the government-approved register
Save Face, 86% of patients reported
not having appropriately consented
before treatment, 93%were unaware
serious complications could occur,
while 84% said they were ignored by
their practitioner when they tried to
seek help.
Ashton Collins, co-founder of Save
Face, said many of the organisations
covered by the UCL study did not
claim to be self-regulatory bodies, but
included professional associations
and groups supporting continuing
professional development. While
some may include a practitioner
finder on their website, they do
not necessarily claim members are
checked – unlike Save Face’s register.
Victoria Brownlie at the not-forprofit British Beauty Council said:
“There are some registers operating
wholly responsibly and in line with
the government’s criteria, but this is
by no means the norm.”
The ‘tweakment’ boom
Skin supplement Inside

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Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:09

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•

National

17

▼ Christopher Plummer as Captain
Von Trapp. His singing voice was
provided by Bill Lee PHOTOGRAPH:

CINETEXT/20TH CENTURY FOX/ALLSTAR

Dubbed but not forgotten
Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)
“Put the blame on Mame,” croons
Rita Hayworth’s sultry casino
singer in the film noir, though we
can in fact blame Canadian singer
Anita Ellis, who dubbed all her
songs in the movie.
Natalie Wood in West Side Story
(1961)
Wood was not told through the
filming of Leonard Bernstein’s
tricky score that the intention was
always to replace her singing with
Marni Nixon’s. It led to a difficult
atmosphere on set, Nixon said.
Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady
(1964)
Nixon sang all of Hepburn’s parts,
helping the movie win a best
picture Oscar (as West Side Story
had also done). Hepburn “was very
smart and could say, ‘I know this is
not good enough,’” Nixon said later.
Esther Addley

Six decades on from The Sound of Music,
Plummer’s version of Edelweiss blossoms
Harriet Sherwood

Arts and culture correspondent
Two years after his death at the age of
91, the voice of Christopher Plummer
singing Edelweiss in The Sound of
Music will finally be heard.
Plummer underwent vocal training for the part of Captain von Trapp
in the Academy award-winning 1965
movie, but another singer, Bill Lee,
was dubbed in for the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein numbers.
Almost six decades on, an
expanded, remixed and remastered

version of the film’s soundtrack is to
be released. Along with 40 previously
unreleased tracks and alternative
takes, it will include Plummer’s versions of Edelweiss, Something Good
and other songs.
Plummer was “furious they
wouldn’t let me sing” on the film or
its soundtrack, he recalled in a 2018
interview with the Guardian.
“I’d worked on my singing voice
for so long, but in those days they’d
have someone trained who would
sing through dubbing. I said: ‘The
only reason I did this bloody thing
was so I could do a musical on stage

on film.’” The film, which won five
Oscars was “the most popular role
I’ve ever done”, he said. The obsession of fans “annoyed the hell out of
me at first. I thought, ‘Don’t these
people ever see another movie?’”
The Sound of Music tells the
story of a widowed Austrian naval
commander who hires Maria, an
aspiring nun, as a governess for his
seven children. The Von Trapps are
forced to flee from the Nazis as the
entire family falls for Maria’s charm
and warmth.
Mike Matessino, a film historian
who preserves and restores classic

Music review Lyrical banality
clouds bid to be national bard
Ed Sheeran
Autumn Variations
★★☆☆☆
Rachel Aroesti
You may be yet to consider Ed
Sheeran for the position of modernday national bard, but the 32-yearold is by many metrics the most
popular artist in this country. And
now he is back with his latest

portrait of his homeland in the form
of England, the second track on his
seventh album, Autumn Variations.
There is one small problem.
England has to be one of the most
banal paeans poor old Blighty has
ever suffered. “I find this country of
mine gets a bad reputation for being
cold and grey,” croons Sheeran as
he’s halfway through a catalogue of
such joys as “broken glass and train
lines” and “only one road sign,
telling cars to slow down”.
Occasionally there is unintended
hilarity, as on the ballad The Day I

film music, remixed and remastered
the soundtrack, which went headto-head in the album charts with the
Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts
Club Band.
In the new version, “you will hear
what you’ve heard before, famous
songs with the mellifluous tones
of Dame Julie Andrews leading the
way”, Matessino wrote in an 30,000word essay to accompany the release.
“But the experience has been
transformed beyond what the 1965
soundtrack album offered – with
extensions to the songs … and even
some segments not used in the
! Ed Sheeran:
singer complains
that England
has unfair
reputation
‘for being cold
and grey’
PHOTOGRAPH:
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ

Was Born, which commemorates
the tragedy of a man whose friends
can’t be bothered to celebrate his
January birthday. Worst of all, the
album is littered with gibberish.
“Saturday night is giving me a

reason to rely on the strobe lights,”
goes the refrain of Plastic Bag,
about weekend partying.
It’s enough to have you actively
craving pop’s ChatGPT-abetted
future. Yet there’s a reason these

▲ Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady
completed version of the film.” Speaking from Los Angeles, Matessino said
Plummer’s voice was “not the polished professional sound it needed
to be” for the movie.
“One of the reasons he took the
role was to improve his singing,
which he did – but not consummately
enough to sit comfortably opposite
Julie Andrews. Plummer was taking
singing lessons all the way through
[filming], and his voice is pleasing,
but not quite good enough.”
The Sound of Music broke box
office records, selling out in cinemas
for more than a year. In the UK, the
soundtrack was ranked the bestselling album of 1965, 1966 and 1968.
More than 25m copies have been sold
worldwide.
The film’s appeal “will never go
away”, Matessino said. “Each generation discovers The Sound of Music
for themselves. There’s something
indelible about it.”
dashed-off lyrics grate so much:
the musician’s dastardly melodic
gifts mean they immediately begin
circling your brain.
Reuniting with the National’s
Aaron Dessner, this record sees
Sheeran adopt some sophisticated
sonic signifiers. There’s hushed,
falsetto-fuelled indie reminiscent
of Bon Iver, and glitched-up guitar
fused with a Springsteenian sense
of the epic on England, while
Midnight turns punky electro
syrupy with a rueful chorus. Yet
despite this genre-hopping, most
songs eventually end up as bland
ballads with a memorable hook.
Some will despair at the
proudly unimaginative, staunchly
unoriginal music. But everyone
else will be busy pressing repeat.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:18 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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•

18

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National

Mother of man shot by
police criticises Met for
reaction to IOPC ruling
Vikram Dodd

Police and crime correspondent
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has been
accused of “capitulation” to his firearms officers after his force criticised
the decision to charge an officer who
shot dead an unarmed man with
gross misconduct.
The latest row over armed policing
broke out as the police watchdog confirmed a decision it first made five
years ago that an officer – known only
as W80 – who killed Jermaine Baker
in 2015 should face a discipline hearing for alleged use of excessive force,
which could see him sacked.
Margaret Smith, Baker’s mother,
criticised the Met chief and his force
for refusing to accept the police
watchdog’s ruling that a gross misconduct hearing should be held. The
Guardian understands the force is
expected to consult lawyers about a
possible fresh challenge.

Baker’s mother has claimed her
son was killed while raising his arms
to surrender. In 2022 an inquiry found
W80 acted in lawful self-defence,
honest in his mistaken belief that
the suspect was reaching for a gun.
Baker had been part of a gang plot
to spring a prisoner from custody and
police were lying in wait for him and
his fellow criminals as they prepared
to strike near Wood Green crown
court in north London.
W80, a counter-terrorism specialist firearms officer, shot Baker, who
was sitting in a car, once at pointblank range. The officer had been
briefed the gang could have firearms.
The latest news came amid turmoil in the Met’s firearms command,
with scores of armed officers having
refused to conduct patrols after a colleague, NX121, was charged last week
with murder over the fatal shooting
of an unarmed man, Chris Kaba, in
south London in September 2022.
The crisis saw Rowley call for
changes in the law and rules to make

▲ Jermaine
Baker was shot
by police in
London in 2015
PHOTOGRAPH:
FAMILY/PA

‘In light of the Met’s
capitulation to its
officers, this step
appears necessary’
Margaret Smith
Mother

it harder to criminally investigate and
prosecute police use of force.
The Independent Office for Police
Conduct (IOPC) first decided in 2018
that W80 should face a disciplinary
hearing. The case was delayed after
objections from the officer and the
Met, leading to a series of legal cases
that have gone all the way to the
supreme court.
The Met asked the IOPC to review
its decision, the result of which was
announced yesterday.
The IOPC – concerned about the
alleged loss of objectivity by Britain’s biggest force – said it had asked
the Met to enlist another police force
to hold the hearing “given recent

commentary about this case” and
to “provide additional reassurance
about the independence of the
process”.
Margaret Smith, the mother of
Jermaine Baker, said: “Such a step
appears to be necessary in light of
the commissioner’s statements
in recent days … and his apparent
capitulation to firearms officers’
demands for impunity. The commissioner’s position seriously calls
into question whether … he and the
MPS as an organisation have the will
or the ability, in Jermaine’s case and
others, to hold his officers to account
for misconduct.”
After the police watchdog’s
decision the Met responded by maintaining its public disagreement with
the IOPC and said it would seek legal
advice.
The deputy commissioner, Lynne
Owens, said the Met would “consider
its next steps” and insisted her force
was objective enough to hold any
hearing: “We will review the IOPC
decision and reasons and consider
our next steps.”
Baker was struck by a single shot
that passed through his wrist and
neck. W80 said he had fired because
Baker had failed to comply with his
repeated shouted order to place his
hands on the dashboard, but an audio
device in the car did not pick up such
words. The officer claimed he had
acted in self-defence.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:19 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 15:52

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•

National

19

Classic workwear
Three top buys
M&S blazer
selected
by Sienna
Miller

▲ M&S getting Sienna Miller’s touch of effortless chic

Easy styling
Miller siblings
turn rivals to put
zest back into
the high-street

F

Jess Cartner-Morley

or sisters of a similar
age, a little wardrobe
rivalry is perhaps to be
expected. But in the
fashion tussle taking
place between Sienna
Miller and her sister, Savannah, the
stakes are far higher than who gets
first wear of the leather jacket in the
closet.
One a Hollywood star and the
other a Central Saint Martinstrained designer with a 20-year
career in fashion, the Millers are
spearheading a resurgence of highstreet style – the only snag is they’re
doing so for competing brands.
Sienna Miller is the face of Marks
& Spencer, where the oversized
lime knitwear and Westwoodesque fluffy tartan coat seen in her
ad campaign currently takes pride
of place on shopfloors. Whereas
Savannah Miller, who began her
career at Alexander McQueen and
Matthew Williamson, has launched
Vivere, a new affordable tailoring
label, which has been snapped up
by John Lewis.
Savannah says she is “absolutely
delighted” to have her sister in the
UK again. “And I’m happy to see
M&S making a comeback. Having

! Collaborators
on their joint
Twenty8Twelve
label, right in
2010, Sienna
and Savannah
Miller are now
restyling rivals

A 17-year-old boy has been charged
with the murder of 15-year-old
Elianne Andam in Croydon, south
London. The teenager, who cannot be
named for legal reasons, appeared at

Clare Waight
Keller’s loafers
for Uniqlo

PHOTOGRAPH:
JOHN PHILLIPS

Sienna’s electric charisma is so
great for them,” she said.
The sisters, who jointly launched
the Twenty8Twelve label in
their 20s and co-designed it for
five years, “have always talked
about fashion and still do,” says
Savannah.
“Sienna sells,” says Hattie
Brett, the editor-in-chief of Grazia
magazine. “She has the style that
British women – perhaps unlike
their European counterparts –
crave, which is that she looks great,
without looking like she’s tried
too hard. Effortless is an overrated
word, but Sienna nails it.
“And Savannah is very clever and
knows exactly who she’s designing
for. Chic, affordable workwear is a
category many retailers can’t seem
to get right.”
With pop culture currently in
the grip of Y2K nostalgia, the Miller
sisters stand for the spirit of an era
of which many shoppers have fond

Boy, 17, charged with murder of
Elianne Andam, 15, in Croydon
Agencies

Savannah
Miller’s Vivere
cigarette
trousers at
John Lewis

youth court, sitting at Croydon magistrates court, yesterday. He has also
been charged with possession of a
knife. He was remanded in custody.
Police were called to reports of a
stabbing on Wellesley Road at about
8.30am on Wednesday. Elianne died
at the scene. Her parents, Michael and
Dorcas, appeared there on Thursday

memories. Sienna was the poster
girl for “boho chic” at a time when
British fashion led the world, while
the Twenty8Twelve label was a
staple of festivalgoers’ wardrobes
in the years when Glastonbury
became a style phenomenon.
A boho-chic faux-shearling
cream waistcoat is currently among
Vivere’s best-selling pieces at John
Lewis.
Cosy faux-shearling is also a
hit at M&S, where a £79 chocolate
brown aviator-style jacket included
in Sienna Miller’s edit of favourite
pieces has been a bestseller.
M&S’s womenswear director,
Maddy Evans, reports that the
Sienna signing has seen “sentiment
reaching an all-time high” at stores
and customer reporting that the
collection feels “relatable with
easy styling options that feel really
inclusive”.
Celebrity endorsement “helps
create stories that get cut-through”

in a crowded fashion market, says
Brett. Rita Ora recently launched
a range for Primark, while Naomi
Campbell has designed a collection
for Pretty Little Thing.
“Having Sienna seek out and
style up the key pieces from M&S, a
retailer that our audience loves but
can sometimes feel overwhelmed
by because of its scale” instantly
appealed to readers, Brett adds.
A capsule range by ex-Givenchy
designer Clare Waight Keller is
bringing an influx of fashionforward consumers to Uniqlo, with
the distinctive rose-pink of the
£39.90 corduroy wide-leg trousers
making several appearances on the
Paris fashion front rows this week.
Jigsaw, which under its creative
director, Jo Sykes, has come
back into the spotlight, is set to
announce a collaboration with an
as-yet-unnamed star of London
fashion week next month.
Savannah Miller, who has

designed for Debenhams and Next,
decided to step back into creating
ready-to-wear fashion to fill what
she sees as a gap in the existing
high street offer.
“[There] are long days when I’m
on my feet and trying to present
my best self, and I figured out that I
needed a uniform for that. I bought
high-street trouser suits but the
construction just wasn’t proper
tailoring and pretty soon they were
falling apart. You can buy beautiful
suits for £700, but who has that
kind of money?” she says.
Vivere is produced in Turkey and
aims to be “a responsible brand”
with what Savannah Miller calls
attention to detail: “There are lots
of women who want clothes that
have a bit of a point of view but
aren’t uncomfortable. I always put
a little section of elastic in the back
waistband of trousers, where you
can’t see it. It just gives you that bit
of forgiveness after lunch.”

evening accompanied by about 20
family members and friends. They
hugged and consoled each other,
while some laid flowers under the
gaze of dozens of photographers and
camera operators.
Later, Bishop Rosemarie Mallett
read a statement on behalf of the
family, with Elianne’s aunt Marian
by her side. It said: “We as a family are
struggling to comprehend this painful tragedy that has happened to our
beautiful daughter and beloved sister
Elianne. Our hearts are broken. And

we are overwhelmed by sorrow and
grief. Our faith in the Lord is strengthening us.
“We would like to express our gratitude to those who have taken the
time to send us thoughtful and compassionate messages and prayers. We
kindly ask for your consideration to
also respect our need for privacy as
we attempt to come to grips with our
deeply devastating loss.
“Elianne was a beautiful person
inside and out who loved Jesus. She
was intelligent, thoughtful, kind

and had a bright future ahead of her.
It is our request that you keep our
cherished daughter Elianne and our
family in your thoughts and prayers.”
Earlier, the family had released
a statement through the Metropolitan police, saying: “Our hearts are
broken by the senseless death of our
daughter. Elianne was the light of our
lives. She was bright and funny, with
many friends who all adored her.
“She was only 15 and had her
whole life ahead of her, with hopes
and dreams for the future.”

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•

20

National

Cold water
immersion
Is diving
into an icy
pond wise?

A

Hannah Devlin,

Science correspondent

cold shower a day
keeps the doctor
away, according to
Wim Hof, the Dutch
self-styled “Iceman”.
For Hof and other
advocates, cold water immersion
is a panacea for ailments from
arthritis and Crohn’s disease to
depression and headaches.
But the death of Kellie Poole,
39, whose heart stopped during
a cold water immersion therapy
session in Derbyshire last year, has
raised questions about the safety
of plunging into icy water, with the
coroner expressing concern this
week about the lack of regulation.
So do the purported health and
wellbeing benefits of cold water
immersion outweigh the risks?
“One of the main positives that
people claim is that it awakens
you, sets you up for the day,
makes you feel enlivened,” said
Prof Mike Tipton, of the Extreme
Environments Laboratory at the
University of Portsmouth. “And
it’s unsurprising that plunging a
tropical animal, which is what we
are, into cold water will surprise
them.”
This feeling of alertness is caused
by the cold shock response, where
a sudden fall in skin temperature

▲ Proponents
of cold water
immersion, such
as Wim Hof, left,
say it has health
benefits but

causes a surge in adrenaline,
noradrenaline and cortisol straight
after immersion. People will have
their own view on whether diving
into a cold pond is an invigorating,
positive experience, but if this is
the desired benefit, a two-minute
immersion is sufficient, according

" Kellie Poole,
39, died last
year after a
cold water
immersion
session in
Derbyshire

scientists say
many claims are
anecdotal
PHOTOGRAPH:
MATTHEW MICAH
WRIGHT/GETTY
IMAGES; BBC

to Tipton. There is no need for
hours in an ice bath. “The longer
you stay in the more likely you’re
going to be exposed to downsides
like hypothermia,” he said.
Some people claim more
enduring mental health benefits,
which Tipton says are plausible but
mostly anecdotal, adding that his
lab oversaw immersion sessions for
a woman with severe depression
who credited them for her recovery.
There are also suggestions of
physical benefits to the immune
system and anti-inflammatory
effects. One Dutch study with 3,000
participants found that people
who took a daily cold shower after
a warm shower were off work with
self-reported sickness 29% less
than those who had a warm shower

only. But this study looked at the
outcome, not the physiology.
Tipton also found that people
who went outdoor swimming had
fewer respiratory tract infections
than their non-swimming partners,
but the same benefits were seen in
people who swam indoors.
“There is evidence of benefits,
but we’re in the realms of snake
oil if you start telling people that
it’s a cure all that will solve all your
problems,” he added.
The physiological effects of the
cold shock response can also be
dangerous. The sudden cooling
causes a sharp gasp followed
by a period of uncontrolled
hyperventilation. “A full breath of
air can be 2-3 litres and a lethal dose
of water is 1.5 litres,” said Tipton.
“You can have crossed the lethal
dose of water for drowning before
you get back to the surface.”
At the same time, the response
causes the heart rate to increase
and blood vessels to close. “It’s like
shutting all your radiators off and
turning your heating up at the same
time,” he said. “The blood pressure
goes up, which is dangerous for
people who are hypertensive.”
About 60% of cold water
immersion deaths occur in the first
couple of minutes and scientists
advise doing as little as possible –
float or stand – until the cold shock
response subsides. There is also
a difference in the physiological
effects depending on whether the
face goes into the water.
Prof Greg Whyte, of Liverpool
John Moores University, who
produced a two-week cold water
exposure plan called Sponge to
Plunge with the Royal Life Saving
Society (RLSS), said the marginal
evidence for health benefits
reflected that this was a new
area of study rather than a lack
of credibility. “We can be fairly
secure in the fact there are health
benefits – not only in terms of
physical and mental health but,
because it’s often a community
activity, in terms of social health,”
he said. “But it’s always caveated
by the fact that what you must do
is do it safely.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:21 Edition Date:230930 Edition:02 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 21:55

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••

National

‘Like saying goodbye
to an old friend’
Memories of joy and
sadness in tribute
to felled sycamore

S

Amelia Hill

hock, sadness and anger
over the destruction
of the 300-year-old
Sycamore Gap tree
have been emotionally
detailed by readers
contacting the Guardian with
personal memories of its
picturesque presence.
The tree meant so much, to
so many. A local man, Michael
Palmer, summed it up: “Sycamore
Gap is a Northumberland symbol,
more than a piece of landscape,
more than just a tree; it’s as
instantly recognisable as the
Palace of Westminster or the
Liver Building.”
▼ The sycamore was a beacon for
many, described as ‘glorious deepgreen isolation in a sea of moorland’
PHOTOGRAPH: JOHN CARSON/ALAMY

Séamus Enright, from Cork,
Ireland, discovered the tree in
2011. He said: “I wasn’t aware of
its reputation but it struck me
that it had managed to eke out an
existence for itself in the rocky
soil of Northumbria, blissfully
unaware that it was living where
the northern fringe of the Roman
empire was designated to be,
1,800 years ago.
“It seemed like a resistance by
nature to the very idea of borders
and nationalities.”
Recollections of being held
“spellbound by its glorious deepgreen isolation in a sea of moorland
grass” merged with those of
childhood games played in its
shade. Memories of final visits with
dying relatives were combined
with reflections of urban children
transformed into nature lovers
under its boughs.
Beatrice, a retired teacher,
said: “I feel that this tree has kept
company with me my entire adult

21

life, from a 19-year-old student to
being an OAP. Seeing it felled is like
saying goodbye to a friend for the
last time.”
She remembered being a teacher
in Hackney, east London, many
decades ago. “I brought kids here
to walk this section of the wall and
we always stopped to rest under
the tree. These included kids who
had never been outside London.
Some I met later told me that this
place started a lifelong love of
landscape,” she said.
There were many memories of
the tree inspiring games derived
from the film Robin Hood: Prince
of Thieves. James, who grew up
not far from the Sycamore Gap
Tree, said: “As young children, my
brother, sister and I would try to
climb it, like Daniel Newman, who
played Wulf in the film.
“It’s actually impossible,” he
revealed. “There were no low
branches to climb up from – so we
concluded there must have been a
ladder behind the tree.”
James added that “one of my last
memories of my father is walking
that stretch of Hadrian’s Wall. He
had advanced cancer then, and I
remember us resting for a while sat
on the wall underneath it.
“I told my family that the tree
had been cut down. My brother told
me he felt like a piece of his soul
had been cut down with it. I think I
feel the same way.”

‘As young children,
my brother, sister and
I would try to climb it’
James
Grew up nearby

Jonathan Hopkins from London
remembers how the tree gave
succour to so many. “My Pennine
Way walk last year coincided with
two of the hottest days on record.
I’d not realised how devoid of tree
cover much of the UK countryside
is and spent a great deal of time
wishing for a tree to appear. Just
one would do,” he said.
“While walking the undulating
track along Hadrian’s Wall, with
the lunchtime sun beating down
and my feet in desperate need of
an airing, the Sycamore Gap tree
appeared like an oasis.
“Upon arriving I discovered
I wasn’t the only one who’d
earmarked Sycamore Gap as the
day’s designated rest spot, and
was met by a smattering of dozing
hikers, families tucking into warm
sandwiches, and Kevin Costner
fans re-enacting that scene from
Robin Hood. It was a wonderful
little place.”
Amid the memories, there were
ideas for the future. “Hopefully
something good will come of this
hideous desecration,” said Julia
Cheeseman from Cumbria.
She suggested a bench made
from the sycamore’s wood at the
spot it was felled. Stephen from
Dresden suggested new trees
grown from seeds and grafts of
the original tree planted along
Hadrian’s Wall. Joe Martin from
Durham favoured a sapling, whose
“vulnerability will be a reminder,
for a time, of the delicacy of our
natural heritage”.
Others felt less trusting of others’
openness to such reminders.
“I think another tree should be
planted in its place,” said one
reader. “But it should be protected
by some sort of barrier and, if
possible, CCTV.”

Police cordon
Souvenir hunt warning

▲ Police and National Trust tree
surgeons inspect the felled sycamore
Members of the public have been
urged not to take branches from
the felled Sycamore Gap tree as
souvenirs after some visitors were
caught by police attempting to
remove pieces of the tree, which
belongs to the National Trust, from
inside the police cordon.
Visitors have flocked to the site
to say goodbye to the landmark,
which stood in a valley alongside
Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland
before being found chopped
down on Thursday morning. A
16-year-old arrested on suspicion
of causing criminal damage was
released on bail yesterday. Police
said last night they had also
arrested a 60-year-old man in
connection with the incident.
Such is the tree’s emotional
significance, an officer at the scene
said he had had to stop a number of
people from disturbing the scene
and trying to take large pieces of
wood home with them.
A candlelit vigil is currently
being organised by locals.
Forensic teams were in place
yesterday, with specialist National
Trust arborists being brought in to
take 10in (25cm) slices from both
the felled part of the tree and the
stump to be analysed in a lab.
The National Trust and
Northumberland National Park
hope the tree might regrow, which
is common for sycamores, though
the age of the tree – estimated to be
up to 300 years old – might make
this difficult.
The National Trust general
manager, Andrew Poad, told BBC
Breakfast: “It’s a very healthy tree,
we can see that now, and because
of the condition of the stump it
may well regrow a coppice from
the stump, and if we could nurture
that then that might be one of
the best outcomes, and then we
keep the tree.”
The National Trust said rangers
had been out to collect seeds and
pieces of the tree to graft, though it
was “not the ideal time”.
A National Trust spokesperson
said yesterday: “Our ranger
team have been on site today to
collect seed and scion wood (this
season’s growth which is suitable
for grafting) to send to our Plant
Conservation Centre.
“Although it’s not the ideal time
of year … we will see if we can get
some of the seeds to germinate and
produce new trees. We will also
use the scion wood for grafting
and individual growth buds to bud
on to rootstocks, which has the
advantage of retaining the tree’s
unique genetic material.”
Robyn Vinter

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:22 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:30

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

22

Theatre review
Fine crafting
keeps ‘coughing
major’ case fresh
Quiz
Chichester Festival theatre
★★★★☆

cYanmaGentaYellowb

National

T

Arifa Akbar
here is a keen sense
of nostalgia to this
revival of James
Graham’s 2017 play
about the “coughing
major”. The court case
made headlines when Charles and
Diana Ingram were found guilty of
wrongdoing on Who Wants to Be a
Millionaire? Yet it keeps its intrigue
bottled, fresh and funny.

▲ Lewis Reeves as Charles Ingram
and Rory Bremner as Chris Tarrant

Its three central actors bear
uncanny resemblances: Rory
Bremner, as gameshow host Chris
Tarrant, perfects the facial tics
and easy manner. Charley Webb as
Diana has some of the same sober,
strait-laced qualities as Sian Clifford
in the 2020 miniseries but adds the
nerdish innocence of a quizshow
superfan. The major, played by
Lewis Reeves, is as disarmingly
sweet and squeaky clean.
More than just a dramatisation of
events, it strives to show class and
power biases within the modern

Parents told
to vaccinate
children as
MMR jab
uptake falls
PA Media
Parents are being urged to get
their children vaccinated against
measles, mumps and rubella after a
“worrying” drop in uptake of key vaccines in England.
Figures from NHS England and the
UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
showed 92.5% of children had had
the first dose of the MMR jab at five
years old by 2022-23, the lowest since
2010-11. The proportion of five-yearolds who had had the second jab by
2022-23 was 84.5%, also the lowest
level since 2010-11.
Vaccination programmes across
England failed to meet the uptake
recommended by the World Health
Organization (WHO) for the year
2022-23. The WHO recommends that,
nationally, at least 95% of children
should be inoculated for diseases that
can be stopped by vaccines, in order
to prevent outbreaks.
NHS England data showed no
routine vaccine programme met
the threshold during the 12-month
period. Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, a
consultant medical epidemiologist
at UKHSA, said the downward trend
was a “serious concern”.
“The diseases that these vaccines
protect against, such as measles,
polio and meningitis, can be lifechanging and even deadly,” she said.
“No parent wants this for their child
especially when these diseases are
easily preventable.
“Please don’t put this off, check
now that your children are fully up
to date with all their vaccines due.

▲ In England in 2022, only 84.5% of
five-year-olds got a second MMR jab

entertainment industry. There is
a harder edge to the underground
community of quizzing anoraks
whose speculation on what really
happened captures something of
our world of conspiracy theory.
Beyond the story is its fine
crafting. Under the direction of
Daniel Evans and Seán Linnen, the
court and TV studio are blended
into one. We, the audience, become
TV-cum-court jurors. Our verdicts?
The Ingrams were innocent.
Until tonight, then touring
Check your child’s red book and get
in touch with your GP surgery if you
are not sure.”
Babies in the UK are offered immunisation against meningitis B and
rotavirus at eight weeks old, and are
also given the “six-in-one” jab, which
helps against polio, tetanus, whooping cough, diphtheria, hepatitis B
and haemophilus influenzae type b
– a bacteria that can cause lifethreatening infections. The doses are
topped up at 12 weeks and 16 weeks.
One-year-olds should receive the
first dose of the MMR jab, along with
the Hib/MenC vaccine, which protects against haemophilus influenzae
type b and meningitis C. They are also
offered a second dose of the pneumococcal vaccine and further protection
against meningitis B.
The second dose of the MMR
is offered at three years and four
months.
In 2022-23, 91.8% of babies in England had the six-in-one vaccine by
their first birthday, with 93.7% up to
date with the pneumococcal vaccine
and 91% protected against meningitis B. Only 88.7% were vaccinated
against rotavirus, which can cause
diarrhoea in infants.
Dr Doug Brown, the chief executive of the British Society for
Immunology, said England continued
to miss key targets. “It is particularly
worrying that today’s statistics show
that only 84.5% of children receive
the second MMR vaccine dose by age
five – well below the 95% level recommended by the WHO.
“Measles is one of the world’s most
contagious diseases and cases are
currently on the rise in England. We
must ensure that vaccination rates
improve to stop the spread of measles
and give our communities the best
possible protection available against
this serious illness.”
Steve Russell, the NHS director of
vaccinations and screening for England, said: “The NHS continues to
encourage and support parents and
carers to ensure their children are up
to date with their vaccinations to protect them against becoming seriously
unwell from infectious diseases.”
A Department of Health and Social
Care spokesperson said: “It is vital
that routine childhood vaccinations
are up to date as this remains one of
our best defences for public health.
The UK has a world-leading offer
and we have run multiple catch-up
campaigns to improve coverage
including a national catch-up campaign for MMR and London-specific
campaigns for MMR and polio.
“We urge parents and carers to
check that their children are up to
date on their vaccines and if not
they should book an appointment
to catch up.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:23 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 14:53

cYanmaGentaYellowb

•

National

23

Financial woes linked to higher
anxiety risk for undergraduates
Rachel Hall
University students are more at risk
of depression and anxiety than their
peers who go straight into work,
according to a study, suggesting mental health may deteriorate because
of the financial strain of higher
education.
The research is the first to find
evidence of slightly higher levels of
depression and anxiety among students, and challenges earlier work
suggesting that their mental health is
the same as or better than their peers.
The first author of the study,
Dr Tayla McCloud, a researcher in
the psychiatry department at University College London, said the fact that
the link between university and poor

mental health had not been established in earlier studies could mean
that it was due to “increased financial pressures and worries about
achieving high results in the wider
economic and social context”.
As well as grappling with rising
costs because of inflation, university
students are facing unprecedented
rent rises, averaging more than 8%,
and far outstripping the average
maintenance loan in many cities.
McCloud said she would have ordinarily expected university students
to have better mental health as they
tended to be from more privileged
backgrounds, making the results
“particularly concerning” and requiring more research to pinpoint the
risks facing students.
The lead author, Dr Gemma Lewis,
an associate professor at UCL’s school

of psychiatry, said that poorer mental health at university could have
repercussions in later life. She said:
“The first couple of years of higher
education are a crucial time for development, so if we could improve the
mental health of young people during
this time it could have long-term benefits for their health and wellbeing, as
well as for their educational achievement and longer-term success.”
According to the research paper,

Dr Gemma Lewis
Researcher

published in the Lancet Public Health
and commissioned by the Department for Education, by the age of 25
the difference in mental health had
disappeared between graduates and
non-graduates.
The analysis suggested that if
the potential mental health risks of
attending higher education were
eliminated, the incidence of depression and anxiety could be reduced by
6% among people aged 18 to 19.
The researchers used data from
longitudinal studies of young people in England. These included 4,832
people born in 1989-90, who were
aged 18 to 19 in 2007-9, and 6,128 participants born in 1998-99, aged 18 to
19 in 2016-18. In both studies, just
over half attended higher education.
Participants completed surveys
to investigate symptoms of depression, anxiety and social dysfunction
at several points over the years.
The researchers found a small difference in symptoms of depression
and anxiety at age 18 to 19 between
students and non-students, even
controlling for factors including
socioeconomic status, parents’
education and alcohol use.

▲ Arrangements
of dahlias are
on display at
Stonehenge
this weekend,
including a giant
trilithon, below,

chosen. Visitors will also be able to
pose in front of the ancient stones
wearing dahlia headdresses created
by an expert florist.
The Salisbury Plain Dahlia
Society was set up in 1838 with its
shows at first held in the grounds of
the Crown Inn in Everleigh.
From 1842-45, Lady Anne
Antrobus, whose husband, Sir
Edmund Antrobus, owned the land
Stonehenge sits on, welcomed it
to the stone circle. An advert for
the event said it was “open to all
England” and prizes would be on a
“liberal scale”.
According to the local paper, the
inaugural show on 31 August 1842
was hugely popular: “The extreme
novelty to selecting Stonehenge for
a dahlia exhibition, and a delightful
sunshine, attracted, as was
expected, most of the fashionables
of the neighbourhood to the spot.
“Such a scene of gaiety was never
before witnessed on Salisbury

Plain … Parties of gentlemen and
elegantly dressed ladies were
scattered about in all directions.”
John Keynes, the honorary
secretary of the Salisbury Plain
Dahlia Society and grandfather
of the economist John Maynard
Keynes, won a prize for a wire
sculpture covered in blooms in the
shape of the Antrobus coat of arms.
The show lasted four years at
Stonehenge before moving. “It’s a
tiny dot in the life of Stonehenge
but important,” Crawley said. “It’s
how people experienced the stones
at one point in the 19th century.”
Michael Bowyer, the creative
director of flowers at Salisbury
Cathedral, who has worked with
groups of arrangers to create
“Indian wedding garlands” out of
dahlias for the weekend, said, like
many, he had known nothing of
the Stonehenge shows until now.
“It had faded into history,” he said.
“It’s lovely it’s back.”

‘The first years at
university are crucial
for development’

Back in bloom
Stonehenge
recreates
Victorian
dahlia show

W
Steven Morris

ith the autumn
equinox
gone and the
winter months
approaching,
Salisbury Plain
can take on a chilly, sombre air.
But not this weekend when
displays of 5,000 blooms – cerise
pinks, deep crimsons, vibrant
oranges – will light up the
landscape to celebrate a largely
forgotten Victorian tradition: the
Stonehenge dahlia shows.
In the 1840s crowds of up to
10,000 people would arrive to
gaze at prize-winning dahlias
and flower sculptures and enjoy
cricket matches and brass band
performances.
Louise Crawley, a landscape
historian at English Heritage, said:
“The shows were an opportunity
for people to gather and parade in
their finery. It is wonderful to see
these beautiful flowers return to
Stonehenge after 180 years.”
To recreate the spectacle of
the Stonehenge dahlia shows,
floral sculptures, including a giant
trilithon, have been fashioned by
local growers, flower arranging
clubs and professional florists at
the site’s replica neolithic village.
Dahlias grown by the National
Dahlia Society will be displayed
over the weekend at the visitor
centre, where a prize bloom will be

highlighted
by Andie
McDowell, a
dahlia farmer
PHOTOGRAPH:
JIM HOLDEN/
ENGLISH HERITAGE

Earthworms as
big a player as
Russia in grain
production,
scientists find
Phoebe Weston
Earthworms’ contribution to the
world’s grain harvest matches that
of Russia, according to a study
documenting their enormous role
in food production.
This amounts to 140m of tonnes
of food a year, researchers said,
which would make soil-dwelling
invertebrates the fourth largest global
producer if they were a country. Russia produced a record 153m tonnes of
grain in 2022 and expects to produce
more than 120m tonnes this year.
Earthworms contribute to 6.5%
of the global grain harvest, according to the study published in Nature
Communications. Crops include rice,
maize, wheat and barley. If an average loaf of bread consists of 15 slices,
one them depends on worms’ activity
to be produced.
They also contribute to the growing of 2.3% of legumes, which
includes soya beans, peas, chickpeas
and lentils. The contribution is probably smaller because legumes can fix
their own nitrogen, making them less
dependent on worms, the study said.
As worms burrow and feed underground, they break down organic
matter and aerate soils, increasing
fertility and making nutrients available for smaller organisms. They also
help soils capture and retain water.
Scientists have long been aware
that the presence of earthworms
makes crops grow better – Charles
Darwin was writing about it in 1881 –
but it was not known by how much.
Dr Steven Fonte, from Colorado
State University, who led the
research, said: “This is the first effort
that I’m aware of that’s trying to take
one piece of soil biodiversity and say:
‘OK, this is the value of it; this is what
it’s giving us on a global scale.’ Soils
are just such an intricate habitat but
there has really been very few efforts
to understand what that biodiversity
means to our global crop yields.”
His team looked at the impact of
worms on grains and legumes by
analysing and overlaying maps of
soil properties and crop yields with a
global atlas of earthworm abundance.
The contribution is proportionally
higher in areas of the global south:
10% of grain yield in sub-Saharan
Africa, and 8% in Latin America and
the Caribbean, they said. This is probably because farmers in those regions
tend to use fewer fertilisers and pesticides, relying instead on manure and
rotting organic matter, which helps
increase earthworm abundance.
Topsoil is where 95% of food is
grown. Last month, research showed
soil contained more than half of all
species. Although the impact of
earthworms is notable, other soil
organisms may be “equally as important” but further study is needed, the
paper said.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:24 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:S

Sent at 29/9/2023 19:06

cYanmaGentaYellow

•

Forgot your
lunch? Get
set to fork
out as meal
deal prices
shoot up
Rupert Jones
It’s not often that a cheese and pickle
sandwich turns heads, but this
week Pret a Manger’s “posh” offering grabbed headlines after a tweet
decrying its £7.15 price tag went viral.
Although that included VAT for
eating in, the social media post shone
a spotlight on the rising cost of lunch,
as the bill for ingredients has been
passed on to consumers.
But amid the gloom there is some
good news for hungry office workers
and travellers: a Guardian analysis
of lunchtime meal deals has found
that cut-throat competition between
retailers means prices have typically
gone up by less than the average rate
of food inflation. The catch is that in
many cases you have to sign up to the
company’s loyalty or membership
scheme to get the lowest price.
The Guardian carried out analysis of lunchtime meal deal prices in
February 2022, and this repeated the
exercise to see if they had risen in line
e
with the 13.6% food and drink inflation shown in official figures.
At Tesco, shoppers could then get

▲ Pret A Manger offers 20% off its
enu if customers
custom
entire menu
pay for its
month membership sc
£30-a-month
scheme
PHOTOGRAPH:
RAPH: JOSE SARMENTO MATOS/
BERG/GETTY IMAGES
BLOOMBERG/GETTY

Pret A Manger’s
‘posh cheddar
and pickle
baguette’

a sandwich, snack and a drink for a
flat-rate of £3, but now those who buy
a meal without a Clubcard will find
themselves shelling out £3.90 - 30%
more. However, with a Clubcard, the
mo
increase is 13.3%, to £3.40.
incre
It iis a similar story at Boots. While
18 m
months ago you paid £3.99 in central London and £3.39 elsewhere,
tra
wi
without its Advantage Card you
a
are now charged £4.99 or £3.99 –
an increase of up to 25%. However,
with the scheme, it costs £4.50 or
£3.60 – increases of 12.8% and 6.2%
respectively.
The Co-op’s price is unchanged at
£3.50, although to pay that you now
have to be a member, which involves

paying a £1 joining fee. Non-members
pay £4 – a 14.2% rise.
Sainsbury’s has held its price at
£3.50 and said it has not pared back
how many products shoppers can
choose from. But in common with
some other retailers it has launched
a new tier of “premium” offerings.
For £5 you can now grab a poké pot, a
pack of bao buns or a Mexican burrito
bowl, instead of a simple sandwich.
With more people back in offices
and taking trips, the “grab and go”
lunch market is now big business – figures from analysts Kantar lunchtime
showed the lunchtime food-to-go
market was worth just under £21bn
over the past year – and retailers are

battling over price-conscious shoppers during the cost of living crisis.
Jim Winship, director of the British
Sandwich & Food to Go Association,
said it had been a challenging time.
“There have been staff shortages, a
whole raft of ingredient inflation and
shortages, [while] lots of them have
sites in city centres where people are
only there once or twice a week now.
These have all been problems since
the pandemic,” he said.
Winship said price inflation did
appear to have stabilised, but border
checks set to come in on EU goods
could mean more increases.
Other product prices have been
rising more quickly. At the Co-op we
visited this week, the cost of a Ginsters Cornish pasty bought alone had
jumped by 40% from £1.50 to £2.10,
while at M&S a bottle of Coca-Cola
had risen by 24% from £1.85 to £2.30.
At Pret a Manger, where there is
no meal deal, customers can buy a
£30-a-month membership which
cuts 20% off the headline price of
everything it sells.
It is understood that the average
price increase across its menu over
the past year has been 16%, although
for non-members two popular products have gone up by more than that.
Looking at a typical London outlet,
a chicken caesar baguette that cost
£4.55 in September 2022 currently
costs £5.50 – an increase of 21% –
while a pole and line tuna baguette
has increased in price by 18% from
£3.60 a year ago to £4.25 now.
A Pret spokesperson said: “Our
freshly-made sandwiches are prepared by people in our kitchens every
day, not by machines or in big factories, like in many supermarkets and
other chains. We are proud of the
quality and freshness this gives our
products, but it does mean we face
different cost pressures to most other
food businesses.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:25 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:S

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Renoir in Guernsey
Painter’s art brought home
to island that inspired him

T

he island of Guernsey
may be best known
as a tax haven for
the super-wealthy.
But thanks to a brief
sojourn by PierreAuguste Renoir 140 years ago, and
the bold thinking of culture lovers
on the island, it is becoming a draw
for art fans.
An exhibition of paintings
created by Renoir while he was
on Guernsey in September 1883,
or inspired by his trip, opens this
weekend at the island’s small
museum high above the harbour.
Related shows have been
launched featuring work created by
primary school pupils in response
to Renoir, and photographs of the
landscapes he immortalised taken
by an island photographer with
19th-century equipment.

cYanmaGentaYellow

•

National

Steven Morris

Sent at 29/9/2023 15:54

But it goes further. The Renoir
connection is proving a wider
boost for the island, where by no
means everyone is a tax-efficient
millionaire, creating jobs, helping
to revive the Old Quarter of the
main town, St Peter Port.
“This is a real celebration,”
said Helen Glencross, the head
of heritage services on Guernsey.
“It will be impossible to avoid
Renoir – in a positive way. It means
a lot to an island of 65,000 people.”
David Ummels, the founder of
Art for Guernsey, the force behind
the Renoir project, said: “When you
live on an island, opportunities like
this are limited.” The exhibition,
Renoir in Guernsey, 1883, has its
beginnings in 2019 when Art for
Guernsey launched a “Renoir walk”
– a set of ornate frames set up in
front of the views of Moulin Huet
Bay, where the artist painted.
In 2020, Art for Guernsey
persuaded artists and collectors
to unite to buy one of the Renoirs

25

▼ Renoir’s Moulin Huet Bay, painted
on Guernsey, and, below, a frame set
up for the ‘Renoir walk’ PHOTOGRAPH:
ART FOR GUERNSEY; NATIONAL GALLERY

painted on the island, Rocks in
Guernsey With Figures (Beach in
Guernsey), and “bring it home”.
They succeeded. “If there had
been a serious buyer in the room we
probably wouldn’t have,” Ummels
said. “We had our limit.” Visitors
flocked in their thousands. Its
presence meant that when they
asked some of the world’s greatest
galleries if they could borrow a
painting for the current show, they
were taken seriously. Artworks
were sent over from the Musée
d’Orsay in Paris, the Cincinnati Art
Museum and the National Gallery.
The exhibition has the trappings
of a big-city art show but in
miniature. Set up in three modest
rooms at the museum, the show of
10 Renoirs feels intimate, personal –
and tells a brilliant story.
Ummels said Renoir was at an
artistic “dead end” when he arrived
on Guernsey and was charmed by
the freedom with which swimmers
would shed their clothes and
plunge in – very different to the
staid beaches of France and Britain.
After his Guernsey visit, Renoir
began focusing on painting nudes
in landscapes, which helped him
make his mark on the US. “He
found a career-shaping inspiration
here,” Ummels said.
Renoir in Guernsey, 1883, is on show
from today until 17 December

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:26 Edition Date:230930 Edition:02 Zone:S

Sent at 29/9/2023 21:59

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

••

26

Inside: How to have
healthy skin
Sali Hughes
21 things I’ve learned as
a beauty columnist
Page 16 !

cYanmaGentaYellow

National

On pointe Beckham draws
inspiration from old tutu

E

Jess Cartner-Morley
Paris

veryone knows what
Victoria Beckham did
before she became a
fashion designer. But
this season, she has a
whole new backstory.
“From when I was three years old
up until I was in the Spice Girls,
I wanted to be a ballet dancer,”
she said at a preview of her latest
collection in Paris.
“One of the things that I find so
special about dancers is that even if
you are travelling on the tube, you
can always spot a ballet dancer –
just by her posture and the way she
carries herself.”
The Victoria Beckham show,

Third GB News
presenter is
suspended over
misogyny row
Jim Waterson
Media editor

Calvin Robinson has become the
third GB News presenter to be suspended in the last three days, as the
channel struggles to contain the

held in an 18th-century Parisian
townhouse that was once home
to Karl Lagerfeld, was a grand
affair. The coming together of two
superstar families, the Beckhams
and the Kardashians, saw the
picturesque Left Bank streets
gridlocked with SUVs and phonewielding fans.
The Beckhams – along with Anna
Wintour and the chic, makeupfree Pamela Anderson who has
become a folk hero of this Paris
fashion week – were kept waiting
for 47 minutes after the scheduled
show time for the entrance of Kim
Kardashian, in sugar-pink satin,
and Kris Jenner.
The show began to a sweetly
serene soundtrack of Rose Royce
and the Shangri-Las. It closed
with a third Kardashian, model

fallout from misogynistic comments
made by Laurence Fox.
Robinson, a regular presenter on
the channel, issued a statement yesterday expressing solidarity with
suspended presenter Dan Wootton,
declaring: “Standing up for Dan is
standing up for the very idea of GB
News. If he falls, we all fall.”
Two hours later Robinson also
fell, with GB News confirming he had
joined Fox and Wootton in being suspended by the rightwing TV channel.
One staff member at the channel
commented on Robinson’s removal:
“Three for the price of one.” The latest suspension lays bare a schism
between staff at GB News who want

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:27 Edition Date:230930 Edition:02 Zone:S

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 22:00

cYanmaGentaYellow

••

27

Kendall Jenner, incognito in a black
trouser suit and sunglasses. The
clothes Beckham wore as a dance
student – leg warmers, an oversized
knit with a neckline stretched to
expose a shoulder, even hair nets
– were given a chic glow-up on the
catwalk. Fluid grey jersey dresses
rippled over the hips to evoke the
effortless elegance of dancers in
the rehearsal studio; soft blue and
green evening wear took their
colours from the pastels of Edgar
Degas’ famous studies of dancers.
“I got my old pointe shoes out
and did some pointe work in the
kitchen at home – [my daughter]
Harper was impressed I could do
that. It’s like riding a bike,” the
designer said. A tutu “dragged
down from my mum’s loft” became
the inspiration for a cocktail dress.
“I hadn’t worn it since I was 16. The
girls in the design studio laughed at
me running around in a tutu for the
first time in years.”
Her brand is now a serious
business. Beauty ranges launched
in 2019 have proved lucrative
with the first Victoria Beckham

fragrances launching during
this Paris fashion week. David
Belhassen, founder and managing
partner of Neo, which bought a
£30m minority stake in Victoria
Beckham in 2017, said the fragrance
launch “transforms Victoria
Beckham into a fashion house”.
Much of Beckham’s show had an
aloof, elevated tone – conceptual
transparent tailoring, sculptural
necklines suspended on wire –
intended to give a halo effect to
accessories and beauty products
by giving the brand an elite, hautefashion edge.
But Beckham has a sixth sense
for the zeitgeist, and many of the
season’s key trends were on the
runway, from head-to-toe grey
as the new power dressing to the
modern twinset, seen here as
a ribbed leotard with matching
cardigan. Beckham moved her
catwalk from London to Paris a
year ago, and “feels very welcome”
in the city, but this collection also
included pieces that were a love
letter to the British countryside
where she spends most weekends.

▲ Victoria Beckham steps out to
receive applause after her spring/
summer 2024 collection in Paris
yesterday and left, a model wears
a creation from the dance-inspired
collection. Bottom, from left, Kris
Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Anna
Wintour at the show
PHOTOGRAPHS: VIANNEY LE CAER/AP

to lean fully into more extreme culture war rhetoric and those who are
embarrassed by the damage caused
by Fox and Wootton’s exchange.
The channel is now facing 12 active
Ofcom investigations, as the media
regulator struggles to handle the
channel’s approach to broadcasting.
Robinson, who wears a dog collar
on air owing to his role as a deacon
in the breakaway Free Church of
England religious group, presents a
religious show on GB News and is a
regular pundit on other shows.
During the Covid pandemic he
achieved notoriety for his promotion of alternative treatments for
the disease.

Prior to his suspension he criticised “careerist” staff at GB News
who want Wootton’s presenting
slot: “These people are worse than
the woke mob, because these vultures are giving the mob ammunition
and essentially escalating the channel’s demise.” He added that GB News
would be on “borrowed time” if it did
not stand by Wootton.
Wootton and actor-turned-politician Fox had earlier been suspended
from the channel after Fox made a
series of remarks about political
correspondent Ava Evans, which
included asking: “Who would want
to shag that?” during Wootton’s show
on Tuesday.

‘Inspiring and courageous’ CND
co-founder Arrowsmith dies at 93
Tobi Thomas
The activist Pat Arrowsmith, a cofounder of the Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament (CND) – has died at the
age of 93, it was announced yesterday.
She was born in Leamington Spa in

March 1930, and went on to study at
Cheltenham Ladies’ College and the
University of Cambridge. Her work
as a campaigner began with protests
against the Vietnam War, before she
went on to co-found CND in 1958.
The general secretary of CND, Kate
Hudson, who worked with Arrowsmith for many years, said she

had been an “inspiring and courageous woman who approached the
nuclear disarmament campaign with
absolute dogged determinism and
enthusiasm”. She added: “Pat had a
remarkable insight into what action
would make a real difference and she
would pursue that vigorously, with
every fibre of her being. She was as
different from an armchair philosopher as it is possible to be.”
Arrowsmith’s activism frequently
brought her into conflict with the
authorities, serving the first of her
11 prison sentences in 1958.

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:29 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:25

cYanmaGentaYellowb

•

National

29

Ready for your next football fix?
After World Cup thrills, Women’s
Super League takes centre stage

T

Suzanne Wrack
omorrow, up to 95
of the players who
travelled to Australia
and New Zealand
Hinata Miyazawa
to compete in the
Women’s World Cup
will kick-off the new season of the
Women’s Super League hoping they
have brought audiences with them.
The World Cup was the shop
window for the world’s leagues and
their players, a chance to pick up
eyes and ears like never before. It
delivered. With close to 2 million
fans in the stands and recordLaia Codina
breaking viewing figures, which
included a combined 13.3m in the
UK watching the final across the
BBC and ITV, it became the first
Women’s World Cup to break even,
generating £466m in revenue.
But it was the stories of the
teams and players that stole the
show as much as the football did,
not least Spain’s canter to a first
major tournament trophy despite
their dispute with the federation
and manager, Jorge Vilda, that
would be so brutally exposed in the
aftermath of their historic win.
Where outside Spain can you
watch those fighters on and off
the pitch? Laia Codina and Irene
Guerrero have joined Arsenal and
Manchester United respectively.
Of the Lionesses’ 23-player squad
that reached a first World Cup final,
losing 2-1 to Spain, 20 play in the
WSL. Australian Kyra Cooney-Cross
has joined compatriots Caitlin
Foord and Steph Catley at Arsenal
to bring the tally of Matildas
playing in the WSL to 11.
Three of the tournament’s
top five goal-scorers, including
Japan’s Golden Boot winner,
Hinata Miyazawa, who has joined
Manchester United, will be
plying their trade in England this
season. Increasingly, the WSL is
where players want to be. Why?
Because it is one of the fastest
developing leagues in the world,
with investment pouring in and
increasingly professional and
secure environments on offer.
When the season begins
tomorrow, two-thirds of the games
will be played in the main stadiums
of the clubs, with Bristol City
hosting Leicester at Ashton Gate,
Aston Villa welcoming Manchester
United to Villa Park, Chelsea
playing Tottenham at Stamford
Bridge and Liverpool travelling
to the Emirates stadium to face
Arsenal. The Gunners, who led the

! England stars Mary Earps (Man
Utd) and Rachel Daly (Aston Villa)
with Chloe Kelly (Man City), front
PHOTOGRAPH: DAN PELED/REUTERS

way last season, playing Tottenham
in front of a WSL record crowd of
47,367 and a Champions League
semi-final against Wolfsburg in
front of a sold-out crowd of 60,063,
have sold more than 53,000 tickets
for their curtain raiser.
It is affordable football, giving
fans a chance to get into the main
stadiums and providing hardcore
club supporters with another outlet
for their fandom. The product
is also the best it’s been, with
investment meaning players can
increasingly focus on being their
best selves on the pitch and not
worrying how to supplement their
income. But be patient with them
too. This game is still growing, and
players have not been conditioned
for three games a week and elite

football from the ages of five to
eight like most of the men have.
Next summer is the Paris
Olympics; then, in 2025, the
Lionesses will defend their Euros
crown in the fifth major tournament
in five years. When you see players
busting a gut on the opening day
or going down injured after one
minute too many, or are wondering
where long-term injured Vivianne
Miedema, Leah Williamson or
recently injured Emma Watson are,
an understanding of this context
matters.
The show will still go on, the
football will still thrill. Chelsea
are bidding for a fifth consecutive
title; Arsenal will be hoping to
deny them after failing to progress
to the Champions League group
stage; Manchester United will be
wanting to go one step further
after finishing second last season;
Aston Villa will be hoping their
additions will help them breach
the top four; Manchester City will
look for consistency with a settled
squad; and promoted Bristol City
will attempt to play like they have
nothing to lose.
If you’re looking for a new
sporting fix, strap in and come
along for the ride, because you
won’t be disappointed.

ParalympicsGB
criticises vote
to let Russians
compete in
Paris next year
Paul MacInnes
British authorities say a decision to
allow Russian athletes to compete
at the Paralympic Games next year
“does not align” with the values of
the movement and have called for
stronger measures to prevent individuals from entering into competition.
Yesterday’s decision by the International Paralympic Committee
(IPC) to overturn a total suspension
on Russian participation appeared to
confirm a trend of softening sporting
sanctions against Russia.
Reversing a ban enforced before
the Paralympic Winter Games last
year, athletes will be able to compete
as “neutral” individuals in Paris, with
team sports still blocked.
The chief executive of ParalympicsGB, David Clarke, said he was
“disappointed” by the news. “Given
the ongoing horror of the war in
Ukraine, ParalympicsGB voted for the
continued suspension of the Russian
National Paralympic Committee,”
he said. “We are therefore disappointed that the decision was taken
to allow Russian nationals to compete
as neutral athletes at the Paris 2024
Paralympic Games … as we believe
this decision does not align with the
values of the Paralympic movement.
“However, given athletes and staff
will only be able to attend if they meet
the criteria set out by the IPC governing board, we would urge them to
ensure that individual athletes that
have broken the IPC’s code of conduct, by stating their support for the
war, are banned from competing.”
The decision was also criticised by
the Global Athlete organisation. Its
director general, Rob Koehler, said:
“The fact that the IPC removed a ban
when Russia’s aggression on Ukraine
has only increased is contradictory
and aligns them to the wrong side of
history in this war.
“As we have seen in the past,
regardless of whether flags, anthems,
or national colours are stripped away,
Putin will use every ounce of his athletes’ participation to justify the war
and death toll he has inflicted on the
peaceful nation of Ukraine.” The decision restores the status quo of the
2021 Tokyo Games, where Russian
athletes had to compete as neutrals
due to the country’s systemic violation of doping rules. The “RPC”
finished fourth in the medal table.
The full ban was overturned by
74 votes to 65, with 13 abstentions.
The International Olympic Committee will meet in two weeks to discuss
Russia’s and Belarus’s participation
at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
On Tuesday, European football’s
governing body, Uefa, voted to end
a blanket ban on Russian teams by
allowing the country’s under-17 sides
into its competitions.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:30 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

•

Sent at 29/9/2023 14:29

Eyewitnessed
Pictures of the week

30

cYanmaGentaYellowb

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

! People wait
to be bussed out
of NagornoKarabakh.
An estimated
90,000 ethnic
Armenians
have fled since
Azerbaijan
retook the region
DAVID
GHAHRAMANYAN/
REUTERS

▲ Eleonora
Pucci carries out
the bimonthly
cleaning of
Michelangelo’s
David statue
at the Galleria
dell’Accademia
in Florence
ERIC VANDEVILLE/
ABACA/SHUTTERSTOCK

$ Mist settles
amid the
tea-growing
hills of Long
Coc, northern
Vietnam
NGHIEM PHU LAM/
SOLENT NEWS

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:31 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 14:30

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•

31

! A card game
in a typical
Indonesian local
cafe, known as
a warung kopi,
in the city of
Bogor, south
of Jakarta.
The image
has won the
people category
in the Cewe
photography
awards
PHOTOGRAPH:
ARIANI DIKYE

▲ Angela
Rippon, 78,
kicks off BBC
One’s Strictly
Come Dancing
as the oldest
ever contestant,
with her partner
Kai Widdrington
GUY LEVY/BBC/
PA MEDIA

! The rapper
Flavor Flav
performs
with Public
Enemy at the
iHeartRadio
music festival
in Las Vegas
JEFF KRAVITZ/
FILM MAGIC

▲ A jaguar
hunts in the
swamps of
western Brazil’s
Pantanal
wetlands
PAUL GOLDSTEIN/SWNS

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:33 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 16:25

•

National

Emma Brockes
New York diary

Why did Hancock seem
to think he was suddenly
in Four Weddings?
Monday

If this is the beginning of the end
– and it feels risky even to say it
out loud – it seems fitting that, for
Donald Trump, it has come via
something as dreary as a liability
for fraud. After all the salacious
comments, the civil liability for
rape and the alleged hush money
to the porn star, not to mention
the 91 criminal charges across
four jurisdictions, this week, the
spectre of professional ruin rose
for Trump in more sober form:
death via a thousand documents
for the man who hates details.
The ruling by Judge Arthur
Engoron came as a surprise,
pre-empting as it did a trial due to
open in Manhattan next week, in
which Letitia James, New York’s
attorney general, accuses Trump
and his eldest sons of inflating the
value of their business to defraud
banks and insurers. Engoron
agreed, stating that financial
statements submitted by Trump
“clearly contain fraudulent
valuations”. Among the 10
businesses listed as fraudulently
overvalued are Trump Tower in
Manhattan, Mar-a-Lago in Florida
and that golf club in Scotland.
An appeal will get under way.
In the meantime, the judge took
the unusual step of ordering
the cancellation of Trump’s
business certificates – without
which he can’t operate, buy real
estate or take out a loan in the
state of New York. There is some
confusion about how this may
play out in reality and there was
no timeframe attached to the
judgment. You can force closure

on a golf club overnight, but you
can’t evict tenants from Trump
Tower and, if a caretaker authority
is to be installed, who are tenants
to pay rent to in the meantime?
And so the sick feeling returns,
that familiar sense of euphoria as
Trump’s end seems once again to
heave into view, swiftly followed
by plunging disappointment in
case it’s a mirage. Trump’s lawyers
called the ruling an effort to
“nationalise” his business, while
Trump popped up to call Engoron
“deranged”, something that won’t
help him when the trial goes ahead
next week to ascertain the size
PHOTOGRAPHS: DANNY
LAWSON/AFP/GETTY;
COSTFOTO/NURPHOTO/
SHUTTERSTOCK

Sorry, I’m
just not used
to this level of
personality

Dry, brown grass is no longer a source
of shame on one Swedish island
where people have been competing
over the “ugliest lawn” in an attempt
to save water – and it seems the trend
is spreading.
“It was the easiest competition to
win, I didn’t have to do anything,”
said Stina Östman, a resident of Sweden’s largest island, Gotland, who has
mixed feelings about her victory. “It’s
always nice to win, even if you are the

of the penalty – James is seeking
$250m (£200m). In the meantime,
let’s enjoy this brief period when
we may, unfettered, imagine a
future in which New York exists
without Trump’s name stamped
anywhere upon it.
It’s the toughest call of the week,
but one we must make in the
interests of fairness: if you had
to – if there were a gun at your
head – who would you choose,
Dan Wootton or Laurence Fox?
This is a speculation courted
by the gentlemen themselves,
of course. On Tuesday night
Fox used Wootton’s GB News
programme to talk about the
relative attractiveness of a female
journalist. “Who’d want to shag
that?” he said, and Wootton
chuntered in amiable agreement.
In relation to the two men, then,
let us consider that question. Fox,
who looks like an unoccupied
Scream mask or a wet towel
hanging on a door knob, might, I
guess, have some Inspector Lewis
anecdotes to distract one from
his more obvious shortcomings.
Wootton, who looks like a man who
came second in X-Factor in 2005
and has been to some very dark
places since then, reminds me,
oddly, of a papier-mache head we
made in primary school and that
was discreetly put in a cupboard
after we’d finished.
Anyway, Wootton may be less
chatty than Fox, who is a very
chatty Cathy, isn’t he, and that
would be a mercy. Since their
conversation on Tuesday night,
both men have been suspended
from GB News and Wootton has
lost his column in MailOnline, and
honestly, between the two of them
I can’t make the call. You’d take the
veil first, of course.
Held up against Wootton and Fox
– they sound like a failed building
society – Matt Hancock starts to
look almost appealing. Well, not
appealing, obviously, but sort of
harmless, like a character Kenneth
Grahame cut from Wind in the
Willows for being too implausibly
damp. On Wednesday, Hancock
appeared on TV after submitting
himself for money to the kind of
grilling he has somehow evaded

worst,” she said. Judges described it
as “a very ugly and in no way useful lawn – unless you’re a sparrow”.
Gotland’s ugliest lawn contest was
created last year because of an irrigation ban that prevented residents
from watering their lawns.
The purpose of the competition
is to make people aware of water
shortages on the island, which is in
the middle of the Baltic Sea. An OECD
report last year said water availability
in Gotland was expected to decrease
by 13% between 2021 and 2050.
Other competitions have popped
up in seven municipalities in Sweden

She says
we’re only
pretending
that we’re
endangered
to get into
the country

33

Tuesday

Wednesday

Ugly lawn contest proves that
the grass isn’t always greener
Phoebe Weston

cYanmaGentaYellowb

this year, as well as three in Canada.
The runner-up in Gotland, Madeleine
Fagerlund, said: “I was a little bit sad
not to win – it’s a really ugly lawn, it’s
just sand practically.
“We had a really dry spring. I think
I deserved to win – but actually Stina’s
lawn was quite ugly too.” Fagerlund’s
neighbours have been complaining
about her garden since she moved
in. “The dog loves to dig in the dust,
so there are a lot of holes and bumps,
so at least he’s very happy,” she said.
The OECD’s report said the “innovative competition” had “helped
to reduce water consumption and
inspired a debate about water use
outside Sweden’s borders”.
This year, research showed 25
countries were facing extreme water
stress, affecting more than a quarter
of the world’s population. Residents
of Gotland are now challenging the

in more formal journalistic or
committee room settings, in
Channel 4’s SAS-based reality
show, Who Dares Wins. Sweating
gently, skin aglow, Hancock
mumbled and fumbled through a
line of tough questioning by a man
pretending to be Liam Neeson in
one of those kidnap movies.
“I fell in love with somebody
… and had to resign from
government,” said Hancock,
skipping a few key moments in
his tenure as health secretary and
mistaking the mood of the British
public post-pandemic to that of an
audience watching Four Weddings
and a Funeral. The SAS guy wasn’t
buying it. “You think you’re gonna
break the rules here, break the
rules there. As far as I’m concerned,
you showed weak leadership.”
Then someone came in, put a bag
over Hancock’s head and cemented
his reputation as a man for whom
no level of debasement is too great
for the money.

Thursday

There are so many stories I love
about Michael Gambon, whose
death at the age 82 was announced
on Thursday. I love the one in
which he took his friend Terence
Rigby, who was afraid of flying, up
in a light aircraft and pretended
to have a heart attack at the
controls. I love the one in which he
tampered with various scripts to
troll pompous playwrights; and the
one in which, when an American
journalist asked him what he
thought his character in Samuel
Beckett’s, Eh Joe, who is silent
throughout the play, was doing
world to share images of their ugly
lawns. Johan Gustafsson, who works
for Differ Agency, which does communications for the Gotland region,
organises the competitions.
He said: “Lots of people would like
to see similar competitions in their
local communities, and that is where
the idea was born to make it a global

▲ Madeleine Fagerlund’s dog on her
lawn, where it likes to dig in the dust

up on stage, replied “Watching
EastEnders.”
My favourite Gambon story,
however, is one he told years ago
in the course of an interview. He
found pomposity unbearable,
possibly as a hangover from
working with Laurence Olivier
back in the day. At the Hay festival,
Gambon once found himself in the
audience of what he described to
me as a “quite heavy” talk by David
Hare. During questions, Gambon
raised his hand and, asked,
archly, “David, in all your years in
showbusiness, have you ever met
Diana Rigg?” It brought the house
down and Hare “was quite cross”,
said Gambon. “Good question,
wasn’t it? ‘Showbusiness’ – that
would’ve hurt.”

Friday

Not enough praise has been
directed towards Dannii Minogue,
one of the few people who can hold
her head high in relation to where
she stood on Russell Brand many
years ago. I suspect the sort of
people who loved Brand back then
would not have loved Minogue,
but here she is in 2006, talking to
the Mirror and referring to Brand
as a “vile predator” who made
“shocking remarks that I can’t even
repeat”. This position would’ve
been considered embarrassingly
unfun back then but she wasn’t
having any of it. Discussing it with
an Australian friend this week, she
pointed out, correctly, that you
can’t get one over a Minogue, and
in a vernacular I never fail to find
charming, mused: “Dannii’s told
him to rack off.” Quite so.
competition. It’s a cultural norm in
Sweden to have a well-kept lawn, like
it is to have your house in order.
“An ugly lawn is considered a sign
that something is wrong, that you are
not on top of things.”
He said he believed Australia, the
US and South Africa could have some
strong contributions. In arid areas
of the US, water used on lawns and
gardens accounts for 60% of household water usage, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency.
Gustafsson said: “We wanted to
make sustainability communication
positive – it’s common to see negative headlines that make you feel bad.
“This is the opposite – the competition made people smile and they
didn’t have to do a thing to participate, they could just relax and have
a cup of tea. We think that also made
it a success.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:34 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

34

# Fallow deer
forage in a
forest on the
Greek island of
Rhodes, which
was charred
by wildfires
in July. The
climate crisis
has already
brought extreme
weather around
the world
PHOTOGRAPH:
ANGELOS TZORTZINIS/
AFP

‘We’re not doomed yet’ The climate
expert who says there is still hope

‘W
Damian Carrington
Environment editor

e haven’t yet
exceeded
the bounds
of viable
human
civilisation,
but we’re getting close,” says Prof
Michael E Mann. “If we keep going
[with carbon emissions], then all
bets are off.”
The climate crisis, already
bringing devastating extreme
weather around the world, has
delivered a “fragile moment”, says
the eminent climate scientist and
communicator in his latest book,
Our Fragile Moment. Taming the
climate crisis still remains possible
but faces huge political obstacles,
he says.
Mann, at Penn State University
in the US, has been among the most
high-profile climate scientists since
publishing the famous hockey stick

chart in 1999, showing how global
temperatures had rocketed over the
last century.
To understand our predicament
today, Mann has trawled back
through the Earth’s climate history
to see our potential futures more
clearly. “We’ve got 4bn years to
learn from,” he told the Guardian in
an interview.
“We see examples of two
duelling qualities, fragility and
resilience,” he says. “On the
one hand, you find stabilising
mechanisms that exist in the
Earth’s climate, when life itself
has helped keep the planet within
bounds that are tailored to life.”
For example, the sun’s
brightness has increased by
30% since life began on Earth,
but life has maintained suitable
temperatures.
“But there are examples where
the Earth system did just the
opposite, where it spun out of
control, and did so because of life
itself,” Mann says.

In the great oxidation event
2.7bn years ago, primitive bacteria
started producing oxygen, which
led to the destruction of the potent
greenhouse gas methane in the
atmosphere.
“That plunged us into a snowball
Earth that nearly killed off all of
life,” he says.
“When we look to all these past
episodes, we come away with
a sense that we’re not doomed
yet – we have not yet ensured our
extinction,” he says. “But if we
continue on a fossil fuel dependent
pathway, we will leave that safe
range we see in the evidence from
past Earth history. That’s what
makes this such a fragile moment –
we’re at the precipice.”
One motivation for the book,
Mann says, is the rise of climate
doomism. “We’ve haven’t seen an
end to climate denial, but it’s just
not plausible any more because
people can see and feel that this
is happening.
“So polluters have turned to

other tactics and, ironically, one of
them has been doomism. If they
can convince us it’s too late to do
anything, then why do so?”
Mann says he has noticed
how climate history is being
weaponised by doomers. “This idea
that these past mass extinction
events translate to ensured mass
extinction today because of, for
example, runaway, methanedriven warming [as permafrost
thaws] isn’t true – the science
doesn’t support that,” he says.
Our climate fate hangs in the

▲ Prof Michael E Mann says: ‘We
have not yet ensured our extinction’

balance, Mann says. “There’s fairly
compelling evidence from the past,
combined with the information
from climate models, that if we can
keep warming below 1.5C then we
can preserve this fragile moment.
“But if we go beyond 3C, it’s
likely we can’t. In between is
where we’re rolling the dice.”
Today’s climate policies and action
would lead to about 2.75C, while
delivering all the pledges and
targets set to date would mean 2C.
“So it’s a question of how bad
we’re willing to let it get,” he says,
pointing out that “1.5C is already
really bad but 3C is potentially
civilisation-ending bad”.
Widespread heatwaves, wildfires
and floods clearly linked to global
heating have given urgency to the
call for action, Mann says.
“But urgency without agency
just leads us towards despair and
defeatism,” he adds. “That’s what
the polluters would like, to take
all those climate activists and
move them from the frontlines to
the sidelines.”
Ending the climate emergency
is possible, he says. “We know that
the obstacles to keeping warming
below catastrophic levels are
not yet physical and they’re not
technological – they’re political.
But there’s some pretty big political
obstacles right now.
“Here at Penn State, there’s so
much anxiety, fear and despair,

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:35 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

New enemy
Marmots face
another fight
Page 36

and grief even,” he says. “Some of
it comes from the mistaken notion
that it’s physically too late and I
want to dispel that notion. But part
of it comes from an understandable
cynicism about our politics, and
that’s a much bigger challenge.”
His assessment of a potential
victory for Donald Trump in the
2024 US presidential election is
stark, calling it “a move away from
democracy towards fascism, and
there is no path to meaningful
climate action that goes through
fascism rather than democratic
governance”.
“We have to get out and vote,
and young folks have to get out in
huge numbers and vote,” Mann
says. “If we do that, then we can
elect politicians who will act on our
behalf, rather than act as a rubber
stamp for polluters.”
Cop28, the UN’s major climate
summit, begins at the end of
November and is being hosted by
the United Arab Emirates, which
Mann calls “very disturbing”. The
UAE has the third biggest netzero-busting plans for oil and gas
expansion in the world and the
president of COP28 is also the chief
executive of Adnoc, the UAE’s state
oil company.
“It just feels wrong to allow them
to adopt the imprimatur of global
climate action by hosting Cop28,”
Mann says. “It is legitimising
behaviour on their part and on
the part of other petrostates that
is fundamentally at odds with the
task that we have ahead. I find it
very disturbing.”
Mann has been a top target
of climate deniers since the
publication of the hockey stick.
He is scathing about Elon Musk’s
running of the social media
platform X, formerly Twitter.
“Musk used to be held out as an
environmental hero because of his
role with Tesla,” Mann says. “But
increasingly, he’s shown his true
colours, his political allegiance to
Trump and fascism.
“Twitter was a global public
square, a forum for communicating
about the climate crisis,” he says.
“What Musk has done is turn it into
a toxic forum for the promotion of
climate denialism and everything
that’s bad in the world. It’s
stunning.”
Mann notes that Prince Alwaleed
bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, one of
the “worst petrostate actors”,
played a $1.9bn role in Musk’s
purchase of Twitter. He also points
out that Prince Alwaleed was a
key backer of Rupert Murdoch’s
media empire until 2017. “Rupert
Murdoch has weaponised his global
media network for the promotion
of climate denialism and to attack
renewable energy, which plays to
his ideology and to the interests of
some of the powerful petrostates,
specifically Saudi Arabia.”
Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons
From Earth’s Past Can Help Us
Survive the Climate Crisis by
Michael E Mann is now on sale

Sent at 29/9/2023 12:46

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•

35

Deadly escapes
Fish from farms
threaten wild Atlantic
salmon population

C

Karen McVeigh

Westfjords, Iceland

lad in black waders,
Guðmundur Hauker
Jakobsson jumps into
the freezing River
Blanda, whose waters
run down from the
Hofsjökull glacier. Armed with a
net, he casts around the pools of
the river’s fish “ladder”, built to
help wild salmon migrating up this
waterway from the sea.
Within minutes, he pulls out
a 15lb silver fish, then another,
then another – five in all. The wild
salmon in north-west Iceland
are some of the largest and most
athletic in a country where the
rivers are considered among the
world’s best. King Charles has
fished for salmon here, as has David
Beckham; Eric Clapton is a regular.
But these, said Jakobsson, are
not wild fish. “Look,” he shouts
above the howling wind, pointing
at one salmon. “It’s an intruder.”
Sure enough, it has a rounded
tail and torn fins: signs of a farmed
salmon. He suspects it has escaped
from an open-net pen where last
month thousands of fish escaped.
They have since been found
upstream in rivers, endangering the
wild salmon population.
Suspected escapees have been
found in at least 32 rivers across
north-west Iceland, according to

▲ An Icelandic commercial salmon
farm at Dýrafjörður in the Westfjords
unconfirmed social media posts,
one of which showed fish covered
in sea lice, a parasite that can be
lethal to wild fish. The escape – at
a pen owned by Arctic Fish, one
of the country’s largest salmonfarming companies, which is
owned by the Norwegian salmon
giant Mowi – has reignited calls
from environmentalists, sport
fishers and some politicians to
restrict or ban open-pen fish
farming. It is not the first big
escape: just last year, another
salmon farming company,
Arnarlax, was fined £705,000 for
not reporting an escape of 81,000
fish in 2021.
Jakobsson and his father, Jakob,
73, have captured 44 farmed

salmon over the past fortnight.
“This is an environmental
catastrophe,” he said. “If they
breed, the salmon will lose their
ability to survive.”
Studies show interbreeding
between farmed and wild fish
produces offspring that mature
faster and younger, undermining
the ability of the species to
reproduce in nature.
There are three reasons,
scientists say, that this escape is
so disastrous: the fish are entering
many rivers over a large area; they
are in greater numbers than ever
seen before; and a high percentage
are mature, ready to breed.
Last week, Iceland police opened
an investigation into whether
Arctic Fish has breached laws
governing fish farming.
Iceland’s open-net salmon
farming industry is in its infancy
compared with Norway’s, which
produced 1.5m tonnes in 2021 – or
Scotland’s 205,000 tonnes – but it
has grown more than tenfold since
2014, from under 4,000 tonnes to
45,000 in 2021.
But the speedy growth has
brought problems. Iceland’s
National Audit Office found
regulation patchy and weak and the
industry largely unsupervised. It
discovered that the Icelandic Food
and Veterinary Authority did not
consider additional monitoring
necessary. “This is more than a
wake-up call,” said Jón Kaldal of the
Icelandic Wildlife Fund about the
escapes. “All red lights should be
blinking. You’re talking about the
future of wild salmon.”
Globally, the numbers of wild
Atlantic salmon, a keystone species
for many mammals and birds,
have dropped from between 8
and 10 million in the 1970s to 3-4
million today. Only 500,000 are
left in Norway, half the number
of 20 years ago. Escaped farmed
fish and sea lice are their greatest
threats. Scotland has recorded a
40% decline in salmon returning
to rivers over four decades.
" The numbers
of wild Atlantic
salmon have
dropped from
between 8-10
million in the
1970s to 3-4
million today.
Farmed fish
(below) and sea
lice are their
greatest threat
PHOTOGRAPH: EPIC
SCOTLAND LTD/ALAMY

Environmentalists also say openpen farms cause pollution from
organic waste and pesticides to
treat sea lice. A medium-sized
fish farm can produce as much
effluent as a city of 50,000 people,
according to the Norwegian
Pollution Control Authority.
In Iceland, the extent of
hybridisation between farmed
and wild salmon may be more
extensive than previously believed,
said researchers. Crucially, they
found evidence that the hybrids
survived and bred. Nevertheless,
Iceland’s Marine and Freshwater
Research Institute has raised its
catch limit on farmed salmon in
Icelandic waters to 68 million fish
– a threefold increase. “We know
what will happen if we reach that
figure,” said Kaldal. “Wild salmon
won’t stand a chance.”
In Iceland, where nature is
prized, most people are against
open-pen salmon farming. But
in the remote Eastfjords and
Westfjords it has helped to breathe
life into sparsely populated rural
villages, though it only provides
about 5.5% of jobs in the region.
In the tiny port of Þingeyri,
Westfjords, residents tend to
dismiss conservationists as
Reykjavik people who don’t
understand rural life. House
prices have risen – a welcome
development – and the fish farms
attract incomers.
At a petrol station that becomes
the port’s only restaurant when
summer fades, Elísa Björk
Jónsdóttir said: “It keeps my
business afloat through the winter.
If it wasn’t for the salmon company,
the store wouldn’t be here.”
Valdimar Haukur Gislason, 89, a
former teacher and an eider duck
farmer, emerges after his morning
swim. “The salmon farms are just
fine. There’s more employment.
Everyone is pro the farms here. It
gives people something to do.”
On a boat from the port to one of
Arctic Fish’s four sites, Bernharður
Guðmundsson, the site manager at
Dýrafjörður, insisted the company
followed all regulations and said
his employees had been insulted
by conservationists. “It’s like we
are terrorists or a tobacco company.
They want to stop the industry
and we lose jobs, but for what
purpose?”
A single pen, 35 metres in
diameter, holds between 100,000
and 120,000 fish, more than double
Iceland’s wild salmon population.
Each site has about 10 pens. Arctic
Fish has licences for 21,800 tonnes
of salmon in the Westfjords, with
two more sites planned.
Daníel Jakobsson, the head of
development at Arctic Fish, said it
was working with the authorities to
minimise damage.“We have been
farming for 10 years and this is the
first time an incident of this scale
has happened,” he said.
“We have systems in place that
ensure wild salmon are not put at
risk. If we do not behave, we don’t
get licences renewed.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:36 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 12:44

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

36

Environment

cYanmaGentaYellowb

▼ Marmots have long been beloved
mountain inhabitants. This
photograph caught a Himalayan
marmot encountering a fox in China.

As the climate warms, more foxes are
entering alpine marmot habitats
PHOTOGRAPH: BAO YONGQING/2019 WILDLIFE
PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR

▲ A fight between alpine marmots

family groups with one dominant
couple and a clutch of subordinate
offspring who help with raising
young and providing much-needed
body warmth during hibernation.
Only the dominant pair may
reproduce: they bully the others
into sterility by keeping their stress
hormones at too high a level to be
able to bear young of their own. So
in order to have its own family, a
subordinate must either leave and
challenge another marmot for its
territory – or kill its own parents.
When a marmot wins a territory,
its first act is infanticide. “The new
dominant will kill off that year’s
young so as not to have to look after

them – no investment, no parenting
for young that are not his own,”
says Bonenfant.
Garcia points out a territory
where a brother and sister paired
up and established a new dynasty
last year. “We called them the
Lannisters,” she says, referring to
the family violence of the TV show
Game of Thrones.
The rapidly warming climate
of the Alps is making each season
of the “Game of Burrows” more
bloodthirsty than the last,
according to data collected by
scientists at the University of
Lyon. Conflicts are increasing,
and subordinates are leaving their
family groups earlier, leading to
more fights for dominance.
Marmots are suffering from the
same scourge as nearby ski resorts:
not enough snow. Families rely
on a thick layer to insulate their
burrows, where they spend half
the year in hibernation. As snow
cover gets thinner, the burrows get
colder, making marmot pups less
likely to survive the winter, even
with their family’s body warmth to
help them. That means there are
fewer incentives for subordinates
to remain loyal.
“They’ll take their chances
directly rather than staying in the
family group,” says Bonenfant.
“The consequences are that we see
social structures and family groups
which are less stable over time.”
Females are producing smaller
litters and, while marmots are
not classed as endangered, the
population is steadily dropping by
4% a year, Bonenfant says.
Other climate-related changes
also threaten the rodents. Marmots
need open prairie spaces to
alert their family to the threat of
approaching predators. As the
Alps warm, the treeline moves
up the mountainside, shrinking
their territories. Meanwhile,
new predators such as foxes are
moving in.
The Alps are warming at a faster
rate than much of the planet,
providing some of the starkest
images of the climate emergency
– such as retreating glaciers and
crumbling rockfaces after years of
persistent drought.
If the Alps are the climate
sentinels of Europe, marmots can
be seen as a sentinel of the Alps,
demonstrating how a species with
a complex social structure can
see its life transform within a few
generations as a result of global
heating. Its life is becoming more
nasty, brutish and short.

area, with protests planned today
in cities including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool,
Leicester and Cardiff.
West Midlands police have
increased efforts to tackle dangerous driving, but residents say more
is needed. Protesters are calling for
action on dangerous and antisocial
driving, the creation of safe spaces
for playing, walking and cycling,
and “justice for victims of road violence, with perpetrators having their
licences revoked”.
Mat MacDonald, the co-ordinator of Safe Streets Now, along with
other parents, began collecting data
over the summer on speeding and

red-light jumping in Birmingham.
Outside one school in a 20mph zone,
they pointed a speed radar at 100 drivers at home time, 91% of whom were
speeding. “The following week we
had a stall outside the school sharing
the findings of our study,” MacDonald said. “It touched a nerve.”
One citizen data collection exercise, with 24 volunteers in the city,
logged an incident of red-light jumping every four and a half minutes.
Lily Martyn, a parent of a six-yearold, is joining the protest in Oxford,
where Ling Felce, 35, was killed while
cycling in March 2022. She said: “We
shouldn’t fear that we might be killed
every time we get on the roads.”

Five people are killed on UK roads
every day, and more than 70 seriously
injured. Despite improvements in
vehicle technology, road deaths have
fallen just 3% in 10 years. A road justice report, published this month by
the all-party parliamentary group on
walking and cycling, made 10 recommendations to tackle road crime,
reduce road casualties and support
those impacted by collisions.
Alice Ferguson, co-founder of the
campaign group Playing Out, said:
“Perhaps it’s now reached a moment
where people think: ‘It’s not OK, we
shouldn’t accept it,’ because it is
unacceptable that children are being
killed on the streets where they live.”

Threat alert ‘Mega-violent’ marmots face
deadliest fight yet – to survive as a species

E

Megan Clement
Val d’Isère

cologist Christophe
Bonenfant strides
down the mountain,
a metal cage strapped
to his back. Inside, a
hessian bag twitches
and squirms. His cargo is 4kg (9lb)
of alpine marmot, a mountain
rodent admired by hikers and
immortalised by Goethe and
Beethoven.
The creature’s cuddly
reputation, however, belies a
vicious reality. The life of an alpine

marmot is a never-ending battle for
dominance. They are, Bonenfant’s
colleague Rébecca Garcia says,
“mega-violent”. And now the
climate crisis is making their fight
for survival in the Alps more deadly
than ever.
In a tiny lab in a chalet near the
French-Italian border, Garcia,
the site’s technician, waits for
Bonenfant. They have 30 minutes
to bring the marmot down from the
mountain, anaesthetise it, measure
it, take samples of blood, hair and
droppings, revive it and return it
to the site where it was captured
– all while avoiding a set of teeth
capable of severing a human finger.

Parents protest across UK over
‘epidemic’ of dangerous driving
Laura Laker
Parents are holding co-ordinated protests across towns and cities today
against what they call an “epidemic”
of careless and dangerous driving
which is curbing the freedom of children and putting lives at risk.
“Parents say they do not feel their
children are safe walking and playing

in their neighbourhoods,” said Sarah
Chaundler, living in Birmingham
with three teenage children. “There
are a lot of people angry about this
and the impact it has on our lives.”
The Safe Streets Now network
started in Birmingham with protests
over the summer against speeding
and red-light-jumping drivers after
a string of fatal hit-and-runs. Now
growing numbers of groups across
the UK are calling for action in their

The clock is ticking: a marmot can
lose its territory in under an hour.
When they finish, the marmot
will return to its place in a cycle
of what Bonenfant calls “despotic
reproduction”. The rodents live in

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:37 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian
rdian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:33

cYanmaGentaYellowb

•

Dianne Feinstein
Trailblazing American
senator dies aged 90
Page 43

‘Monkey Christ’
Fresco given new life
in comic opera
Page 40

37

Analysis
Hannah Ellis-Petersen

Political and economic
crises leave little hope
of bringing the many
militant groups to heel

T
Dozens killed in Pakistan mosque
attacks as militant violence surges
Shah Meer Baloch Karachi
Peter Beaumont
At least 59 people died in bomb
attacks on two mosques in Pakistan
yesterday as the country’s deteriorating security situation was laid bare
on a public holiday held to celebrate
the prophet Muhammad’s birthday.
In the most serious incident, a suicide bomber killed at least 54 people
who were gathering for a parade near
a mosque in the restive Balochistan
province. A second attack struck a
mosque in a police station compound
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,
killing five people.
Local officials said hundreds of
people had gathered at a mosque in
Mastung in Balochistan for an Eide-Milad Un Nabi procession and
were leaving the building when the
bomber struck. Muslims hold rallies
and distribute free meals to people
on the occasion.
Celebration of the prophet’s birthday is accepted by most Muslims in
Pakistan, but certain denominations
view it as an unwarranted innovation.
According to one official, however,
a senior police officer killed in the
attack may have been the target.
Officials confirmed the officer,
Nawaz Gishkori, was among the dead.
Balochistan has witnessed scores of
attacks by militants, but they usually
target security forces.

The local deputy commissioner for
Mastung, Razzaq Sasoli, said a suicide
bomber had blown himself up next to
Gishkori’s car. Sasoli said: “According
to initial reports, we believe it was a
suicide blast. It was a huge blast and
we believe the target was Gishkori.
We have at least 54 dead.”
TV footage and videos on social
media showed an open area near a
mosque strewn with the shoes of the
dead and wounded after the bombing. Bodies had been covered with
sheets, and residents and rescuers
were seen rushing the wounded to
hospitals, where a state of emergency
was declared and appeals were issued
for blood donations.
Asadullah Bangulzai was one of
those who helped the wounded. “I
Afghanistan

Islamabad

Hangu

Kandahar

Lahore
Quetta

Pakistan

Mastung
Balochistan
Hyderabad

200 miles

PHOTOGRAPH:
BASIT GILANI/EPA

Kabul

Kybher
Pakhtunkhwa

200 km

▲ Rescue
workers with
the shoes of
dead and
injured victims
of a bomb at
a mosque in
Hangu, Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa
province

India

had blood on my hands and clothes”
from carrying people hurt by the
explosion, he said. “I will never forget these painful moments … People
were crying in pain.”
Hours after the bombing, there
was another explosion at a mosque
on the premises of a police station in
Hangu, a district in the north-west
province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
An official told Al Jazeera at least five
people had been killed. The mosque’s
roof collapsed in the blast, the local
broadcaster Geo News reported, adding that about 30 to 40 people were
trapped under the rubble.
A senior officer, Fazal Akbar, said
attackers had tried to enter a police
station near the mosque. “One of
them blew himself up at the gate
but the other managed to enter the
mosque. Thankfully, most of the people inside managed to escape after
the first blast, which is why the casualty count is low,” he said.
No group had claimed responsibility for the Balochistan bombing
yesterday, which came amid a surge
in the number of attacks claimed by
militant groups in the west of the
country before national elections
scheduled for January next year.
The Pakistani Taliban, an umbrella
group of various hardline Sunni
Islamist groups, denied it had carried out the attack. Islamic State has
claimed previous deadly attacks in
Balochistan and elsewhere.

he scenes of horror pictured yesterday
have become all too familiar in Pakistan.
This time it was a twin attack.
While no one has yet claimed
responsibility, suspicion among officials
and analysts was directed at Islamic
State’s regional affiliate, Islamic State – Khorasan
(IS-K), which has recently regrouped and revived
its militant activities on Pakistan soil to devastating
effect, and with little sign of being contained.
Alongside a recent resurgence of a rival militant group,
the Pakistani Taliban, which has been behind dozens
of deadly attacks over the past few months, Pakistan’s
security and terror situation continues to deteriorate
to its worst in years.
In July, IS-K claimed responsibility for the suicide
bombing of a political rally. The bomb targeted a party
known for its close ties to the Taliban in Afghanistan,
killing 54 people. IS-K has positioned itself as an
Islamist group even more hardline than the Taliban,
and have targeted them in both Afghanistan and now
Pakistan for not enforcing sharia law strictly enough.
They also vehemently oppose the kind of religious
procession that was taking place yesterday morning
before it was devastated by the suicide blast.
Mustung, in Pakistan’s troubled region of
Balochistan, where the blast took place, has long
been a hub for radical madrasas and extremist
Islamic groups. Balochistan has been plagued by a
long-running separatist insurgency, and as part of its
crackdown, Pakistan’s military is alleged to have both
tolerated and sponsored many local Islamist militant
groups in Mustung to use them as weapons against
Baloch separatists. It was a strategy that has since
proved deadly, after many from these groups then
went on to join al-Qaida and later Islamic State.
It was in Mustung in 2018, just before the previous
election, that one of Pakistan’s worst ever militant
attacks took place, when Islamic State militants
targeted a political rally and killed almost 150 people,
including a prominent Baloch politician.
“After years of a lull, we are now seeing a fully
fledged return of latent violence and militancy,” said
Zahid Hussain, an author who has written about
Islamist extremism. “The problem is that Pakistan has
no holistic policy to counter extremism, and no way
to deal with this violence in these areas now under
militant control. They knew this area had become a
centre for extremist groups, yet no action was taken.”
As Pakistan gears up for a election at the end of
January, analysts and politicians fear more bloodshed.
There are concerns that as the violent rivalry between
the Pakistan Taliban and IS-K continues to escalate
and both groups seek to assert and gain influence,
attacks be hard for the military to suppress.
The surge of homegrown terrorist activity, fuelled
by the takeover of the Taliban in Afghanistan, comes
at a disastrous time for Pakistan. It is already going
through one of its worst economic crises on record and
remains highly politically unstable, with a powerless
caretaker government currently running the country,
its most popular political leader, the former prime
minister Imran Khan, currently behind bars, and the
date of its election continually pushed back.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:38 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:24

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

38

cYanmaGentaYellowb

News
War in Ukraine

Ex-Wagner chief talks to Putin about
use of ‘volunteer units’ in Ukraine
Pjotr Sauer
Vladimir Putin was shown yesterday meeting a former senior Wagner
commander to discuss how to best
use “volunteer units” in the Ukraine
war, as Kyiv announced that several
hundred members of the mercenary
group had returned to the battlefield.
Putin was shown on state television meeting Andrei Troshev, a
former Wagner commander known
by his nom de guerre “Sedoi” – or

“grey hair”. The meeting, which took
place in the Kremlin a day earlier, has
highlighted Moscow’s efforts to show
that the state had gained control over
the mercenary group over a month
after its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin,
was mysteriously killed in a plane
crash.
Addressing Troshev, Putin said
that they had previously agreed
that the former Wagner commander
would be “engaged in the formation
of volunteer units” to be employed
in Ukraine. “You yourself fought
in such a unit for more than a year

… You know how it’s done,” Putin
continued.
The Kremlin has steadily moved to
bring the force under its control following Prigozhin’s aborted rebellion
in June. It has dismantled Wagner’s
military base in the south of Russia
and forced the group to hand over
thousands of tonnes of weaponry.
After the aborted mutiny, Putin
said Wagner would be banned in
Russia and that its fighters could sign
contracts with the defence ministry,
leave for Belarus or go home.
Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry

Peskov, said yesterday that Troshev
had already signed a contract with
the defence ministry.
Earlier this week, the Ukrainian
military said that some former Wagner fighters had returned to the
battlefield, but were operating as
part of the regular army and had not
joined as a separate unit.
Mykhailo Podolyak, one of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aides, has sought
to downplay the significance of
their arrival in Ukraine, writing on
X, formerly known as Twitter, that
“the media effect” of the return of

▲ Vladimir Putin spoke to Andrei
Troshev, far right, at the Kremlin
some Wagner fighters to Ukraine was
“greater than its real significance”.
British military intelligence said in
a recent briefing that it was likely that
up to hundreds of fighters formerly
associated with Wagner had started
to redeploy to Ukraine as part of different units.
“The exact status of the redeploying personnel is unclear, but it is likely
individuals have transferred to parts
of the official Russian ministry of

‘A kind of resistance’
Documenting the
horrors of Mariupol

M

Charlotte Higgins
Sloviansk

en in uniform are
milling around
outside a cafe
in Sloviansk.
Military trucks
trundle past every
few seconds. The town, in the
Donetsk region, is the rear echelon
of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
A black armoured car pulls up,
and out of it slips the journalist
and film-maker Mstyslav Chernov.
With his black T-shirt and trousers,
black sunglasses, and black medical
kit strapped to his thigh, he looks
every inch the conflict reporter. He
is 38. When he finally takes off his
sunglasses, the intense gaze of his
pouchy, tired-looking eyes makes
him seem older.
That is hardly surprising. The
war visited on Ukraine by its
eastern neighbour since 2014 has
destroyed many existences and
transformed countless others. One
of its consequences has been the
creation of a generation of young
conflict reporters. “In a country
which is at war, if you’re a good
documentary photographer, or
at least trying to be good, you
automatically become a war
photographer,” Chernov said.
One of the Kharkiv-born
journalist’s earliest jobs was
filming the Malaysia Airlines
MH17 crash site in 2014. Later, he
worked in Syria, Karabakh, Iraq
and Kurdistan. Then, in February
last year, he and his team – stills
photographer Evgeniy Maloletka
and field producer Vasilisa
Stepanenko – drove to Mariupol
when everyone else who could
was getting out.

They stayed inside the siege for
nearly three weeks. For most of
that time, theirs was the only news
footage broadcast – bringing to the
world famous and terrible images
such as the 8 March bombing of the
city’s maternity hospital complex.
Now, Chernov has shaped this
material into a feature-length
documentary, 20 Days in Mariupol.
It places the viewer inside the
nightmare that was Russia’s
pounding of the city as the “circle
tightened round [its] neck”, as
he put it. The film unfolds day by
day, punctuated by clips showing
how footage was used in broadcast
news, occasionally overlaid by
Chernov’s restrained voiceover.
The film has just been chosen as
Ukraine’s entry for the Oscars. It is
tough to watch. Evangelina, aged
four, caught in an attack, dies on a
hospital trolley. The doctors – who
urge Chernov to keep filming, “to
show how these motherfuckers
are killing children”, weep for her
and tenderly press her eyes shut.
Kyrill, at 18 months, is defibrillated,
but the medics can’t save him. His
mother wails: “Why? Why? Why?”
Conditions worsen, there is
no power and barely a mobile
connection. Chernov’s team
struggle to send their footage to
the Associated Press news agency.
People loot shops. Hospitals run
out of medicine. On a patch of
wasteground a man heaves bodies
into a trench. Asked how he feels,
he replies: “If I start talking I’m
going to cry … I don’t know what
I feel right now. What are people
supposed to feel in this situation?”
! People on the floor of a hospital as
Russia shelled Mariupol in March
2022, in a story by Chernov’s team
PHOTOGRAPH: EVGENIY MALOLETKA/AP

The mayor of the city has
estimated that 21,000 civilians
were killed in Mariupol. The AP
team might easily have been
among them. What drove them on?
Chernov, after all, has two young
daughters to whom he alludes in
his voiceover.
They made their decision sitting
in a cafe in Bakhmut in February
last year, he said, watching a
Russian news broadcast, “because
that’s always a good indicator of
what’s to come”. They realised
the full-scale invasion was about
to begin, and talked about “where
we would meet this new wave of
escalation. Mariupol seemed to be
a right place to do it.” The story’s
importance outweighed the risk.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:39 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:25

cYanmaGentaYellowb

•

39

defence forces and other [private military companies],” the briefing said.
Some Wagner-linked telegram
channels yesterday distanced themselves from Troshev’s meeting in the
Kremlin, indicating an existing split
within the group.
Anton Yelizarov, a former Wagner
commander whose nom de guerre
is “Lotus”, was quoted yesterday as
saying that the majority of fighters
had not joined the defence ministry.
“Rumours that most of the commanders of the Wagner PMC moved
work under the control of the ministry of defence are just a dream of the
ministry of defence,” said Yelizarov, a
former deputy of Dmitry Utkin, who
was killed alongside Prigozhin.
Yelizarov, who is believed to have
commanded the storming of the
Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, further
claimed that Troshev had never been
a senior Wagner commander.
The fate of Wagner and its

operations abroad has been unclear
since Prigozhin’s failed mutiny in
June and his death two months later.
The US said last week that it had not
seen a withdrawal of Wagner forces
from Africa “in any substantial or
meaningful numbers”. Russia’s foreign ministry has previously assured
nations in Africa and the Middle East
that it would manage Wagner forces
following Prigozhin’s demise.
Two sources close to Wagner told
the Guardian that some of the group’s
fighters had signed contracts with the
defence ministry or with other private groups close to the ministry.
Other fighters, the sources said,
had decided not to do so out of personal loyalty to Prigozhin and anger
over his death.
The Kremlin has sought to keep the
fallout from Prigozhin’s death as lowkey as possible, ever since his private
jet plummeted from the sky.
Putin denied Prigozhin a state

funeral, and the warlord was buried
at a remote cemetery on the outskirts
of his home town of St Petersburg.
The majority of makeshift street
memorials that sprung up following his death have also been quietly
removed by the authorities.
But some Prigozhin loyalists continue to demand answers from the
Kremlin over its role in his death.
In an angry post on his telegram
channel, Maksim Shugalei, a political
consultant close to Prigozhin, questioned why it took the authorities so
long to investigate the death of his
former boss.
“For me, it’s not a plane crash, it’s
murder,” Shugalei wrote.
“In my opinion, it takes two to
three hours to find out whether it was
an explosion on board, or whether
it was a rocket. I demand answers
from the authorities on the question of what happened in the sky on
23 August 2023.”

" Evgeniy Maloletka won Photo of
the Year at the World Press Photo
contest 2023 for this photograph of
Iryna Kalinina, 32, being carried
from the bombed maternity hospital
in Mariupol. Neither mother nor
baby survived

hospital footage had been faked
using actors. Chernov remembers a
similar pattern after his reporting at
the crash site of MH17, the airliner
shot down by Russian separatists
over the Donetsk region in 2014.
It was his second day as a conflict
reporter. He felt sure his footage
would stop the war. On the ground
it was beyond doubt separatists
were responsible, as was later
proved in the courts. But the next
day he turned on his TV and saw
his images used for a story in which
Russia blamed the Ukrainians for
the tragedy. “A lot of illusions were
destroyed that day.”
Part of the point of making
20 Days in Mariupol, he said,
was to go deeper, and ask more
questions – and perhaps to take
more control. He felt, he said, at a
turning point, in which shooting for
news was no longer satisfying. He
is currently charting the Ukrainian
counteroffensive in the Donbas,
following the lives of a number of
characters in the military.
I wonder how audiences have
reacted to seeing the world
through his eyes. “When people
say it’s difficult to watch 20 Days in
Mariupol, it’s not because there’s a
lot of blood,” he said. No, I say: it’s
because you see children dying.
“But when you think about the
people who live through these
tragedies on the screen, there
are always people supporting
them. However traumatising and
painful are the events that we
are going through in Ukraine, we
never go through them alone. We
always have someone to hold our
hands to embrace us, whether
it’s a volunteer, or a firefighter
or a policeman or a doctor or
just your neighbour. I find that
extraordinarily hopeful.”
It was this hope that won it the
audience award at the Sundance
film festival this January, he thinks.
His main fear was that the film
might retraumatise the people who
lived through the events. “But it
actually doesn’t,” he said. “Having
unified experiences that are formed
into stories is how we process our
collective trauma. That’s what
keeps me going forward.”

‘Having unified
experiences formed
into stories is how we
process our collective
trauma. That’s what
keeps me going’
Mstyslav Chernov
Conflict journalist

“It felt like this was the beginning
of the third world war,” he said. “It
still kind of does.”
Once in the city, he said, “it
was just a matter of whether you
had enough resources to keep
working. And you keep going until
you haven’t.” Even though they
could have been killed at any time?
“Every morning I’m there among
the people lying on the floor of a
hospital,” Chernov said. “There
are people without limbs and with
heavy injuries. There are constant
explosions. You don’t really know
if you’re awake or if you’re asleep.
You feel you have to force yourself
to just start working. And then you
look at all the people around you.
The nurse comes who’s been there

for two weeks and hasn’t slept as
well, and the doctors come and
start putting bandages on people,
and another nurse comes with a
bucket of snow and uses the melted
snow to wash the floor.
“And you look at all of them and
you think, ‘Why would I stop?’ So
I don’t think it’s patriotism or a
sense of duty, or even a kind of a
journalistic impulse. It’s some kind
of collective resistance to tragedy.”
In the film a policeman named
Vladimir addresses the camera
from the bombed hospital, certain
that if the world sees the atrocity,
the war will end. The crew’s
pictures did have an immense
impact but of course the war did
not stop – and Russians claimed the

20 Days in Mariupol is released in
the UK on 6 October

▲ A march in June after a 17-year-old of Algerian heritage was shot by police
during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre PHOTOGRAPH: MICHEL EULER/AP

Legal action
over racial
profiling by
French police
begins in
Paris court
Angelique Chrisafis
Paris

France must end the widespread
racial profiling of people of black and
north African heritage, who are routinely stopped by police and asked
to show their identity papers with
no explanation, a lawyer for rights
groups argued at a court hearing in
Paris yesterday.
In the first class action of its kind
against the French state, six French
and international organisations
including Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch and the Open
Society Justice Initiative, are seeking
a ruling that French authorities are at
fault for failing to prevent the widespread use of racial profiling.
They argue that people of colour
across France, notably young men
perceived to be black or of north African origin, are routinely singled out
and stopped in the street, asked for
identity papers and frisked without
explanation, often several times a
day and from as young as 11 years old.
The conseil d’etat, France’s highest administrative court, was urged
to force the state to end the practice,
which has been condemned for more
than a decade by independent bodies
from the UN to the Council of Europe.
The legal challenge comes three
months after widespread protests
and unrest in France over the police
shooting of Nahel, a 17-year-old boy
of Algerian descent, during a traffic
stop outside Paris in June.
During the protests over Nahel’s
death, teenagers and young people of
black and north African origin spoke
out about the discrimination they
faced, saying they were often stopped
several times a day by police for identity checks without explanation.
The interior minister, Gérald
Darmanin, told a parliamentary

commission in July: “It’s false to
say there is systemic racism in the
national police.”
Maïté De Rue, a senior lawyer at
Open Society Justice Initiative, said:
“The tragic events of this summer
showed France and the world once
again that something is profoundly
broken in French policing.”
She said successive French governments had refused to acknowledge
that systemic change was needed to
stop the deep-rooted discrimination
of police identity stops. She said it
was a problem well documented by
independent bodies in France and
internationally, “but there is still a
denial. French authorities continue
to claim that there is no systemic
problem in French police, it’s only
about a couple of individuals that
might behave badly.”
The class action does not seek compensation for individuals. Rather, it
wants the state to be forced to put
in place measures to stop the practice, such as stricter definitions of the
reasons for police identity checks, a
system to record them, and regulation for when police target children.
“It is a daily problem and it’s massive,” said Issa Coulibaly from the
Pazapas association in Belleville,
northern Paris, one of three associations involved in the legal challenge.
“Almost every French man perceived
as black or north African will have
experienced it multiple times. I head
an association for cultural and sporting events for young people. As soon
as we hold any kind of chat or debate,
this issue comes up very quickly.
“It’s something that has been
denounced for more than 40 years
in France, but there has been no progress; in fact, it too often feels like
we’re going backwards. The [police]
checks can start from 10 or 11 years
old, and are focused on young people.
After around 25 years old, it slows but
doesn’t stop. It has a profound psychological impact.
“When I started campaigning on
this issue in 2010, I thought it was an
area of discrimination and racism
that was relatively easy to resolve:
you just needed political will, not
even money. It was agents of the state
who were doing it, so it would have
been enough to change the rules. But
here we are, 13 years later, still facing
denial from politicians who could fix
the issue.”
In 2020, Emmanuel Macron
acknowledged the issue in an interview, calling it “intolerable”. But no
changes have been made by the state.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:40 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 16:49

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

40

World

Botched ‘Monkey Christ’ fresco
restoration inspires comic opera
Sam Jones
Madrid

Eleven years after a simple act of
devotion in a remote church in northeast Spain unleashed a media storm,
spawned countless memes and
created an unlikely tourist phenomenon, the trials and triumphs of the
amateur artist behind the “Monkey
Christ” restoration are being celebrated in an opera that premieres
this week in Las Vegas.
Cecilia Giménez, now almost 93,
achieved unwanted global fame in
the summer of 2012 after attempting to restore a small fresco of the
scourged and thorn-crowned Christ
in the Santuario de Misericordia, near
her home town of Borja.
Her incomplete efforts to save the
Ecce Homo (Behold the man) painting – which had been painted on one
of the church’s inner walls by the
artist Elías García Martínez nine decades earlier – met with local, national
and global derision. As well as being
attacked as “the worst restoration in
history”, the work soon acquired the
nickname of Monkey Christ because
of its vaguely simian aspect.
The incident caught the sympathetic eye of Andrew Flack, a US
PR expert. “When I saw her face in
the newspaper, I just thought, ‘Oh
my goodness! She didn’t mean to
do this’,” Flack said. “I saw her distress and I saw her innocence. This
is a woman of the community. She’d
lived in this town her whole life – she
was married in that church, her children were christened in that church
– so she would never do anything that
was hurtful. But she did this and it
was a good deed gone wrong.”
Determined to help, Flack opted
for an unusual show of solidarity. One
way to help, he reasoned, would be by
turning events into the comic opera
that his friend Paul Fowler, a composer, had been itching to write for
years. Flack also sensed the story
might yet conclude happily. He was
not wrong. After a few very difficult
months, things started to change.
Local frustrations evaporated once it
became clear that the devout woman

▲ The opera
Behold the Man
– the English
translation of
the fresco’s title,
Ecce Homo – will
premiere in Las
Vegas tonight.
Left, the church
painting in
Borja before
and after Cecilia
Giménez’s
restoration
attempt
PHOTOGRAPH:
OPERA LAS VEGAS

Sánchez seeks power in Spain as
right fails to form government
Sam Jones
Spain’s acting prime minister, the
socialist leader Pedro Sánchez, has
a fresh, if fraught, shot at returning
to power after his conservative rival,
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, failed in his
attempt to take office in an ill-tempered investiture debate after July’s
inconclusive general election.
Although Feijóo’s People’s party
finished first in the snap election, it
failed to win enough votes to form

cYanmaGentaYellowb

a government, taking 137 seats in
Spain’s 350-seat congress, and scoring a far less emphatic win over the
ruling Spanish Socialist Workers’
party than had been expected.
Despite knowing he did not have
the numbers to reach the absolute
majority threshold of 176 seats – even

172

The number of MPs who voted for
the People’s party’s Alberto Núñez
Feijóo to become PM. He needed 176

with the support of the far-right Vox
party and two smaller groupings
– Feijóo received King Felipe’s blessing to attempt an investiture session
this week. But he failed to secure the
necessary backing, losing Wednesday’s first debate by 172 votes to 178,
and yesterday’s second debate, by
172 votes to 177, with one null vote.
Feijóo’s failure clears the way for
Sánchez to try to put together a new
government. The problem is that
while the acting prime minister can
count on votes from his own party,
from its partners in the leftwing
Sumar alliance and from a handful
of Basque and Catalan nationalist
parties, he will also need to enlist
the support of Junts, the hardline
Catalan separatist party led by Carles
Puigdemont.

had only been trying to preserve the
fresco and had not been able to finish the job.
Then tourists started showing up.
Between August and December 2012,
more than 45,000 people visited the
sanctuary, which now has an exhibition centre and gift shop where
images of the restoration appear on
everything from pens, mugs and
T-shirts to teddies and mouse mats.
Today, Giménez is feted as Borja’s
most famous and beloved resident.
“She was really taken to task by
her neighbours and they were quite
mean to her, but I could see all this
turning around,” said Flack. “And
darn if it didn’t happen. What really
finally grabbed me was her forgiveness: she, as a woman of faith and
as a Christian woman, forgave her
neighbours and everyone for being
so mean. For me, it’s her forgiveness
that is so beautiful.”
Within six months, Flack and
Fowler had the bones of what would
become Behold the Man. A mix of fact
and fantasy, it charts the suffering and
triumph of Giménez while examining
the power of social media and finding
room for both the anxious ghost of
García Martínez and the spectre of the
economic crisis from which the indignados movement emerged. Its music
is a similarly eclectic mix of classical,
Spanish folk, Gregorian chant, K-pop
and the odd power ballad. There are
also shades of Henry Purcell, REM,
and Radiohead.
Work continued on the opera,
which has English and Spanish versions, after Flack travelled to Borja
to meet Giménez and her family and
received their permission to dramatise the events of 2012. Now, Behold
the Man will get its world premiere in
a performance by Opera Las Vegas at
the College of Southern Nevada today
with another show tomorrow .
Giménez, who survived Covid but
has dementia, will not make it to the
opening night. But her niece Marisa
Ibáñez is flying to Las Vegas with her
husband to represent the family.
“It’s going to be an expensive trip,
but we knew we needed to make the
effort,” said Ibáñez. “I’m very excited
to be seeing it and about all the amazing publicity it’s bringing to Borja.”
Flack and Fowler hope the audience will appreciate “the real story”
of what happened to Giménez.
“We’re not making fun of her; she
isn’t the brunt of our jokes – she’s the
hero whose patience and faith and
belief and gentleness win the day,”
said Flack.
Puigdemont, who fled Spain
to avoid arrest over his role in the
unilateral and unlawful push for
independence six years ago, has
insisted his support will be conditional on the granting of amnesty to
him and hundreds of others involved
in the attempted secession.
Sánchez’s refusal to rule out such
an amnesty – not to mention his
decision to send the Sumar leader
and acting deputy prime minister,
Yolanda Díaz, to Brussels to discuss
the situation with Puigdemont – has
proved deeply controversial.
Sánchez now has until the end
of November to attempt to form a
government. Should that fail, parliament will be dissolved and Spain will
return to the polls in January for its
sixth general election in nine years.

Up to 18,000
Australian
books allegedly
pirated to train
generative AI
Kelly Burke
Thousands of books from some of
Australia’s most celebrated authors
have potentially been caught up in
what a Booker prize-winning novelist
has called “the biggest act of copyright theft in history”.
The works have allegedly been
pirated by the US-based Books3 dataset and used to train generative AI for
firms such as Meta and Bloomberg.
Richard Flanagan found 10 of his
works, including his 2013 novel, The
Narrow Road to the Deep North,
which won awards around the world,
on the Books3 dataset.
“I felt as if my soul had been strip
mined and I was powerless to stop
it,” he said. “This is the biggest act of
copyright theft in history.”
The Australian Publishers Association (APA) said as many as 18,000
fiction and nonfiction titles with Australian ISBNs appeared to be affected,
although it is not clear what proportion of these were Australian editions
of books written elsewhere.
An APA spokesperson, Stuart
Glover, said: “This is a massive legal
and ethical challenge for the publishing industry and for authors globally.”
A search tool published this
week by the US media platform The
Atlantic revealed the works of Peter
Carey, Helen Garner and Kate Grenville, Flanagan and dozens of other
high-profile Australian authors were
included in the allegedly pirated dataset containing more than 180,000
titles.
The Australian Society of Authors
said it was “horrified” that the works
of Australian writers were being used
to train AI without permission from
the authors.
Litigation in the US against OpenAI,
the creator of ChatGPT, over the use
of allegedly pirated book datasets,
Books1 and Books2 –which do not
appear to be affiliated with Books3
– has already begun.
The Guardian sought comment
from OpenAI, which has yet to
respond to the guild’s complaint,
and Meta. Bloomberg declined to
respond. The APA said the global
nature of the issue would present significant challenges in enforcement
and prosecution, and joined the calls
for AI technologies to be regulated.

▲ Richard Flanagan, who found 10
of his books on the US-based dataset

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:41 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:38

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•

World

41

‘They just want to show off’
Saint-Tropez longs for the era of
Bardot amid billionare takeover

▲ Saint-Tropez port, where wealthy
visitors moor their superyachts

I

LVMH owner
Arnault under
investigation
over deals
with oligarch

Rupert Neate

Jasper Jolly

t’s probably the world’s
only fishing village where
it’s easier to buy a €25,000
“mini” Celine handbag, a
€4,000 Christian Dior trench
coat or a €2,000 Rimowa
suitcase than it is to pick up a rod
and tackle.
Ever since Brigitte Bardot started
cavorting on its beaches in the
1950s, Saint-Tropez has been better
known as a place to catch a glimpse
of a celebrity than a fresh sea bass.
But now longsuffering local people
say the annual influx of the global
super-rich is becoming too much.
“Independent restaurants,
hotels and cafes are all being
bought by luxury groups,” says
Vérane Guérin, a municipal
councillor. “It’s becoming not
Saint-Tropez, but LVMH Ville.”
LVMH, the luxury goods
company founded and run by
Europe’s richest person, Bernard
Arnault, owns the town’s Celine,
Dior and Rimowa stores as well
outlets for several of its other
brands, including Fendi and Loewe.
The conglomerate also owns two
of the town’s fanciest hotels: the
Cheval Blanc and the White 1921.
There are LVMH restaurants
serving its Moët & Chandon
champagne, a Dior cafe, and even
“LV by the Pool” – a beach club with
branded sunloungers and parasols.
Guérin, who unsuccessfully
stood as an independent at SaintTropez’s last mayoral election,
said that if she had won she would
have done more to prevent the
super-rich “takeover”. “The feel
of Saint-Tropez is changing so
rapidly; no more is it for artists and
artisans,” she says.
The number of super-rich people
– including Arnault, the world’s
second-wealthiest person after
Elon Musk – descending on the
Côte d‘Azur resort has sent property
prices soaring, forcing many local
people to move away permanently.
“People who have been here for
generations are having to move
miles inland, and drive back to
work. The houses, the flats, the
apartments – it has all been taken,”
says Guérin. “These are people who
lived here all year round, while the
rich people only come for weeks in
the summer. In the winter there are
so few people that it is hard for the
grocery shops to keep going.”
A recent surge in big names
with big money buying homes or
holidaying with wealthy friends –
Drake, Uma Thurman, Diplo and
Zac Efron were all spotted partying
there this summer – has led to such
a rapid demographic change in the
town of just over 4,000 people that

The Paris public prosecutor’s office
is investigating financial transactions allegedly involving the French
billionaire Bernard Arnault and a
Russian businessman.
The prosecutors are investigating transactions involving Arnault
– whose ownership of the luxury
goods group LVMH has made him the
world’s second richest person after
Elon Musk – and Nikolai Sarkisov,
Reuters reported, citing a statement
from the Paris prosecutor’s office.
Sarkisov’s brother, Sergei, founded
the Russian insurance company
Reso-Garantia.
The French newspaper Le Monde
first reported the existence of the
investigation, revealing transactions
involving property at the Courchevel ski resort. It cited a December
2022 document from Tracfin, part
of France’s justice system focused
on combating money laundering,
which reportedly lists transactions
“which may characterise money
laundering”.
A spokesperson for Reso-Garantia
said “neither Reso-Garantia, nor
Mr Sarkisov personally, has been
involved in the transaction that was
described in the Le Monde article. Mr
Sarkisov and Mr Arnault have never
met.” The spokesperson said Sarkisov and Reso-Garantia had received
no contact or requests for documents
from the French authorities, or those
of other countries.
Arnault’s fortune is estimated to
be worth $164bn (£134bn), according to Bloomberg, and it at one point
it made him the world’s richest man
on paper.
Le Monde reported on Thursday
that Sarkisov had acquired property
at a luxury Alpine resort via a transaction in which Arnault, through one of
his companies, had provided a loan.
The spokesperson for Reso-Garantia said: “All transactions were carried
out by French companies, through
French notaries by French lawyers on
all sides. This was a usual real estate
deal.”
LVMH declined to comment.
Le Monde cited a person close to
Arnault as saying that the transaction
had been carried out in full respect of
French law.

Saint-Tropez

▲ The luxury brand LVMH has bought shops, restaurants and hotels in the town PHOTOGRAPH: DRAGOS COSMIN PHOTOS/GETTY
academics say “before long there
will be nothing but billionaires”.
“There have always been rich
people here,” says Géraldine, who
works in a Saint-Tropez public
library, tucked away near the Dior
cafe that charges €12 (£10.30) for
an ice tea and the White 1921 hotel,
where rooms start at €600 a night.
“But now there are so many of
them, and everything is so ‘lux’ it
makes you want to throw up.
“Brigitte Bardot and the other
film stars that followed her were
still part of the community, and
they would play pétanque on Place
des Lices [the central square],”
Géraldine says. “But now, the
billionaires, they don’t interact

with us, they just want to show off
to their friends and stay in their
bunkers on ‘Les Parcs’ or on their
superyachts.”
Les Parcs de Saint Tropez is a
gated community overlooking
the old town from the east and
offers picture perfect sunsets.
Homeowners including Arnault, as
well as another billionaire, Vincent
Bolloré, who owns a third of the
media group Vivendi among a vast
portfolio of assets, François-Henri
Pinault, the founder of Kering, the
luxury company that owns Gucci,
Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta,
Francis Holder, who owns most
of the macaron brand Ladurée as
well as the Paul bakery chain, and
" Brigitte Bardot
in Saint-Tropez.
The actor helped
to put the town
on the map in
the 1950s as a
place for the rich
and famous to
go on holiday
PHOTOGRAPH: JAMES
ANDANSON/GETTY

the late Mohamed Al Fayed. When
a Guardian reporter attempted to
cycle up Chemin de la Fontainedu-Pin, they were met by three
security guards about 50 metres
before the gatehouse that bars the
way to the community. The almost
100 security cameras that monitor
the estate had apparently alerted
them to a “suspicious presence”.
Property prices there are some of
the highest in the world, according
to the estate agents Knight Frank
and Sotheby’s. While the estate has
always been expensive, the average
price of its almost 200 homes has
risen from about €5m a decade ago
to more than €13m today, though
they rarely change hands.
“The prices are frankly
ridiculous,” says Guérin. “They’re
now so high that even people we
would have previously considered
to be rich can’t buy in the best
locations. The world’s 0.1% have
bought everything.”
Henley & Partners, a Londonbased firm that advises the superrich on buying residence and
citizenship abroad while spending
large chunks of their lives in the
UK, Europe and America, recently
singled out Saint-Tropez as a world
hotspot for the super-rich to buy
property but not live.
Some of the restaurants in
Saint-Tropez have been accused of
reserving space only for those they
expect – from a database of past
visits – to be big spenders and big
tippers. A hospitality worker told
the Nice-Matin newspaper: “It’s
basically: are you likely to splash
the cash, or are you small fry?”

▲ Bernard Arnault’s brands include
Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

••

42

World

New York City hit by extreme
flash floods after intense rain
Gloria Oladipo
New York

Parts of New York were swamped
by dangerous flash floods yesterday
as intense rainfall continued across
the city and a state of emergency was
declared, with warnings from officials of possible fatalities.
About 8.5 million people were
under flash flood warnings in the
New York City area, according to the
National Weather Service (NWS), as
overwhelmed sewers failed to let rain
water from the sustained downpours
drain away. Parts of New Jersey were
under similar warnings.
The New York boroughs of the
Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens were
especially badly hit with streets
flooded, cars abandoned, buildings
inundated with water and much of
the city’s public transport network
grinding to a halt. Officials warned
residents to exercise extreme caution and stay inside.
Up to five inches of rain fell in New
York yesterday, the NWS reported,

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▲ Rescue teams comb the streets

▲ Flooding in a northern suburb

with more expected. People were
urged to move to higher ground and
not to wait for waters to rise if their
homes began to flood. Videos on
social media showed cars struggling
to drive through flooded streets in
south Brooklyn.
Authorities said several schools
were flooded, though no children had
been injured because of the extreme
weather.
“Children are either being sheltered in place, moved to higher floors
or, in some cases, parents have been
asked to pick up their children,” the
New York governor, Kathy Hochul,
told NBC yesterday.

Residents struggled to cope. Priscilla Fontallio said she had been
stranded in her car for three hours
as of 11am despite not being on part of
the highway that was flooded. “Never
seen anything like this in my life,” she
told the Associated Press.

‘Children are being
sheltered in place or
moved to higher floors’
Kathy Hochul
New York governor

On a street in South Williamsburg,
Brooklyn, workers waded through
water as they tried to unclog a storm
drain while cardboard and other
debris floated by. The city said that it
checked and cleared key drains, especially near subway stations, ahead of
the storm.
But that was little comfort to
Osman Gutierrez, who was trying to
pry soaked bags of trash and scraps of
food from a drain near the synagogue
where he works. “The city has to do
more to clean the streets,” he said to
the AP. “It’s filthy.”
Flooding has also affected service
at New York’s major airports. LaGuardia international airport, based in
Queens, suspended access to one of
its terminals amid extreme weather.
The John F Kennedy airport, also
in Queens, reported heavy traffic at
two of its terminals. The airport had
been hit with at least three inches of
rain since midday local time.
At both airports, a number of
flights have been cancelled or delayed
because of the extreme weather.
Other north-eastern cities could
see similar rainfall, CNN reported.
Philadelphia and Boston could each
see up to two inches of rain.
Two years ago, the remnants of
Hurricane Ida dropped record-breaking rain on the north-east and killed
at least 13 people in New York, most
of whom were in flooded basement
apartments.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:43 Edition Date:230930 Edition:02 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 21:47

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••

43

▼ Motorists navigate a flooded street
in Manhattan near the Williamsburg
Bridge after intense rain hit the city
PHOTOGRAPH: ANDREW KELLY/REUTERS

‘Trailblazing’
US senator
Feinstein
dies aged 90
Martin Pengelly
David Smith Washington
Dianne Feinstein, the oldest serving
member of the US Senate, who blazed
a trail for women in American politics, has died aged 90.
Feinstein’s death at home in Washington DC on Thursday night brought
down the curtain on a career that
included gun control advocacy – she
spearheaded the first federal assault
weapons ban – and documenting the
CIA’s torture of terrorism suspects.
Joe Biden led tributes, calling Feinstein a “pioneering American” and
“true trailblazer”. The president said
in a statement: “Dianne was tough,
sharp, always prepared, and never
pulled a punch, but she was also a
kind and loyal friend, and that’s what
Jill and I will miss the most.”
For Democrats, news of the death
of the first woman to represent California in the US Senate, who was also
the longest-serving female senator

in US history, has significant political implications.
Faced with growing questions
about her age and fitness, Feinstein
was due to retire at the end of her
term. The race to succeed her in a safe
Democratic seat has attracted highprofile candidates, with Adam Schiff,
a former House intelligence chair,
squaring off against fellow members of Congress Katie Porter and
Barbara Lee. The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, has
promised to install a black woman in
any vacant seat.
Before entering national politics,
Feinstein was the first woman to
become the mayor of San Francisco.
She ran for the position twice before,
in 1978, the assassinations of Mayor
George Moscone and Harvey Milk,
like Feinstein a member of the board

of supervisors, saw her step into the
top job.
Leaving office in 1988, Feinstein
ran unsuccessfully for governor in
1990 before winning her Senate seat
in 1992. She did so alongside Barbara Boxer, making California the
first state to send two women to
the Senate. Feinstein became the
first woman to be a California senator because she was sworn in first,
to complete an unfinished term. She
was also the first Jewish female to
become a senator.
Barack Obama described her as “a
trusted partner” in the fight to guarantee affordable healthcare and
economic opportunity. “The best
politicians get into public service
because they care about this country and the people they represent,”
the former president said.
! Dianne
Feinstein after
she was made
the mayor of
San Francisco
in 1978
PHOTOGRAPH: NICK
ALLEN/GETTY IMAGES

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Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:34

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•

45

FTSE 100

All share

Dow Indl

Nikkei 225

+

+

-

-

1.1528

1.2206

7608.08

4127.24

33551.12

31857.62

-0.0019

+0.0008

6.23

8.90

115.22

14.90

£/€

£/$

Energy price cap ‘could hit
nearly £1,900 this winter’
Jillian Ambrose

Energy correspondent
Household energy bills could climb
to an average of almost £1,900 a year
under the UK government’s energy
price cap, according to a forecaster.
The energy price cap is expected
to climb from the £1,834-a-year level
for a typical home, to take effect from
tomorrow, to £1,898 when the cap is
next updated for the months from
January to March, say analysts at
Cornwall Insight, adding to the burden of the cost of living crisis.
The energy price cap sets the maximum price that suppliers can charge
based on the average gas and electricity bill, meaning a cold winter could
push bills higher if households need
to keep the heating on for longer. The
cap remains more than 50% higher
than pre-pandemic levels.
The analysts blamed an increase in
global gas market prices for the likely
rise in gas and electricity bills over
late winter. The benchmark price for
European wholesale gas surged to
€43 (£37) a megawatt hour in August
because of concerns that strike action
at a large Australian gas project could
tighten global supplies.
Europe relies far more heavily on
international gas markets since cutting ties with Russia after its invasion
of Ukraine.
Craig Lowrey of Cornwall Insight
said: “The energy price cap has steadily declined over the past year, and
while it is disappointing to see this
trend stall, given the movements in
the wholesale market of late, it is not
wholly unexpected.
“While the rise is small, it shows
we cannot just assume prices will
continue their fall and eventually
reach pre-pandemic levels.”

The £1,834-a-year cap covering
October to December is based on
new Ofgem calculations that assume
households now use 7% less electricity and 4% less gas, having cut back
consumption as a result of the cost
of living crisis.
When it was announced last month
the regulator gave a headline figure
of £1,923 a year, using the old methodology to help comparisons with
previous quarters. In future only the
new system will be used.
The latest energy bill forecast
follows a call from more than 140
organisations and individuals,

including the consumer champion
Martin Lewis, to help Britain’s least
well-off households with a social tariff for their gas and electricity.
In their letter, seen by the Guardian, they demand help for households
facing “impossibly high energy bills”,
which experts warn will continue for
the rest of the decade.
Lowrey said that although the
government’s “toolbox” of policies,
including targeted support such as
social tariffs, could help ease the
burden on vulnerable households,
they would not be able to “overcome
the effects of a volatile international

energy market on bills”. He said:
“It is only by continuing our transition away from fossil fuels, towards
secure and sustainable domestic
energy sources, that we can reduce
our exposure to such international
drivers and, in turn, stabilise our
energy prices.”
The forecast increase in effect
wipes out the modest drop for the
energy price cap due to come in
from tomorrow, but fuel poverty
campaigners warned that even the
small decrease was unlikely to ease
the financial burden for the most vulnerable households.
“It’s hugely worrying that the pain
of higher energy prices is set to wreak
havoc on vulnerable households
again this winter,” said Peter Smith,
the director of policy at National
Energy Action. “Too many households are already drowning in energy
debt and won’t be able to cope with
even higher, unaffordable bills, again
this winter.”

▲ Over 140 groups and individuals call for a social tariff for the least well off PHOTOGRAPH: PEOPLEIMAGES/GETTY/STOCKPHOTO

Q&A Will my gas and electricity bills fall?
How is the cap changing?
Tomorrow, the price cap, set by
Ofgem for households in England,
Wales and Scotland, is being
reduced to £1,834 a year for a
typical annual dual-fuel energy bill
from its previous figure of £2,074.
However, a large part of that
reduction is down to a change
in how the regulator calculates
how much gas and electricity the
average household consumes in a
year. Using the old methodology,
the cap will only fall by 7%, or £151,
to the equivalent of £1,923 a year.
For customers who have prepay
meters, or pay by cash or cheque,
that figure is slightly higher, at
£1,949 and £2,052 respectively.

So will I pay no more than £1,834
this year?
Not necessarily. That is just how
much a “typical” household would
pay for its energy if the new rate
applied for a full year. The cap
dictates the maximum a supplier
can charge per unit of energy
as well as the maximum daily
standing charge. Your bill could be
higher or lower because it is based
on your actual usage rather than
average consumption.
How does the cap work?
When it was created in 2019, the
cap set out to help customers on
their supplier’s standard variable or
“default” tariff, ensuring they were

not ripped off as a result of sticking
with the same supplier year after
year. About 29 million households
sit on a default tariff whose level
is dictated by the cap. Suppliers
are restricted in how much they
can charge for each kilowatt hour
(kWh) of electricity and gas (the
units your bill is calculated from),
and also standing charges.
In the current period up to close
of play today, a customer paying
by direct debit or via a prepayment
meter is charged a maximum of
30p a kilowatt hour (rounded to the
nearest penny) and 8p a kWh for
gas. From tomorrow those will fall
to 27p and 7p respectively.
Meanwhile, average daily

standing charges, now at 52.97p for
electricity and 29.11p for gas, will
nudge up to 53.37p and 29.62p, or a
total of 83p from October.
What help is available?
Less than before. The £400 energy
support given to all households is
not being repeated this year, with
the government instead making
cost of living payments to about
8 million vulnerable households.
This includes a £900 payment
for those on means-tested benefits,
£300 for pensioners and £150 for
disabled people. Under Ofgem
rules, suppliers must work with
you to agree on a payment plan
you can afford. Zoe Wood

UK mortgage
approvals hit
low after rate
increases
Phillip Inman
UK mortgage approvals fell in August
to their lowest level in six months as
high interest rates cooled the housing
market.
The Bank of England said net mortgage approvals for house purchases
fell from 49,500 in July to 45,400 in
August and were down by a third
from the same month last year.
It was the lowest number of home
loans approved by lenders since
February this year, and the latest
sign that the 14 increases in UK interest rates since December 2021 have
undermined demand for homes.
Separate figures from HMRC
showed the number of house sales
fell year-on-year in August. An estimated 87,010 home sales took place
across the UK last month, which was
16% lower than in August 2022.
The figure was 1% higher than the
previous month, indicating that cash
buyers are preventing a significant
collapse in the market.
The estate agent Knight Frank said
the ailing property market would suffer a steeper fall in prices this year
than it previously forecast, despite
cash buyers propping up the number
of transactions. It expects UK house
prices to fall by 7% in 2023, compared
with the 5% fall it had been predicting
previously. It expects prices to fall by
a further 4% in 2024.
“The cost of borrowing has risen
after an exceptional period that followed the global financial crisis,
when rates hovered close to zero for
more than a decade,” Knight Frank
said. It added: “Anyone buying,
selling or remortgaging a property in
the past 18 months has faced market
volatility caused by the mini-budget
and inconsistent inflation data.”
Martin Beck, the chief economic
adviser to the EY Item Club forecasting group, said the Bank of England
data showed the housing market
remained “in the doldrums”.
He said the likelihood was for weak
sales to persist next year even if the
Bank began to cut interest rates.
“With sentiment around the housing
market poor, we doubt a fall in mortgage rates will be enough to trigger
much of a revival in activity,” he said.
Net approvals for remortgaging
showed “a significant decline” from
39,300 in July to 25,000 in August, the
lowest since July 2012, the Bank said.
A report earlier this week showed
the number of first-time buyers in the
UK had fallen by more than a fifth as
the jump in mortgage costs made it
too expensive for some people to get
on to the housing ladder.

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

46

Business

Economy’s recovery from
Covid was better than first
thought, ONS figures show
Richard Partington

Economics correspondent
The UK economy made a faster recovery from the Covid pandemic than
previously estimated, revisions
to official figures have suggested,
revealing a stronger performance
than Germany and France.
In a boost for Rishi Sunak before
the Conservative party conference
in Manchester begins tomorrow,
revised figures from the Office for
National Statistics (ONS) showed that
GDP was 1.8% above pre-pandemic
levels at the end of the second quarter this year.
In August, the ONS had estimated
the economy was still 0.2% below
the level at the end of 2019 before the
pandemic triggered one of the deepest recessions on record.
The changes mean the UK economy is no longer the worst performer
in the G7. The chancellor, Jeremy
Hunt, said: “We know that the British
economy recovered faster from the

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0.5%

Fall in GDP forecast by Capital
Economics as a result of home
owners facing high mortgage costs
pandemic than anyone previously
thought, and data out today once
again proves the doubters wrong.”
The ONS said growth in the first
quarter of 2023 was revised up to
0.3% from an earlier estimate of
0.1%, while its estimate for growth
in the second quarter was unchanged
at 0.2%. Growth was also faster than
expected last year. GDP is now estimated to have increased by 4.3% in

2022, revised up from 4.1%. Momentum is, however, beginning to stall
as the UK economy grapples with
higher interest rates from the Bank
of England and stubbornly high inflation weighing on businesses and
households amid growing fears of
a recession.
Sandra Horsfield, of the investment bank Investec, said: “We see
little in today’s numbers to derail our
expectation of a more challenging
growth picture ahead: we continue
to forecast that the UK economy will
enter a recession over the winter
months.”
Ruth Gregory, the deputy chief
UK economist at Capital Economics, said: “We still think that higher
interest rates will trigger a mild recession involving a 0.5% fall in GDP in
the coming quarters.”
Business surveys show private sector activity collapsed in September
at the fastest rate outside the Covid
pandemic since the financial crisis.
Millions of households are braced
for a jump in mortgage payments,
inflation is at the highest level in the
G7 and taxes have risen by the most
in any parliament since the 1950s –
hitting consumer spending power.
Darren Jones, the shadow chief
secretary to the Treasury, said: “Britain’s economy remains trapped in a
low-growth, high-tax cycle after 13
years of economic mismanagement
under the Conservatives.”

Bills to rise as
£12.9bn invested
in network, says
Severn Trent
Mark Sweney
Severn Trent is to increase customers’
bills by almost 37% by the end of the
decade and has raised £1bn in investment – half from Qatar’s sovereign
wealth fund – to pay for a multibillion
plan to improve its water network
over the next five years.
The firm, which has 4.2 million
customers, said the average annual
household bill would rise from £379
in 2024-25 to £518 in 2029-30.
It predicted that by 2030 the cost of

‘We are consistently
named in the top
category for financial
resilience by Ofwat’
Severn Trent
spokesperson

a bill would be 1.3% of the disposable
income of a typical household in the
Severn Trent region, compared with
1.2% today, and attempted to soften
the blow by announcing a £550m
financial support package for struggling customers.
The package would “help 693,000
customers pay their bill each year by
2030”, the company added.
Severn Trent plans to invest
£12.9bn on its network over the next
five years, including £5bn on projects
designed to tackle the water industry’s poor environmental record,
which the company said would create
7,000 jobs across the region.
As part of the investment plan,
Severn Trent is raising £1bn, with
£500m from the Qatar Investment
Authority (QIA), to “ensure we can
deliver this scale investment programme responsibly”.
“We are consistently named in the
top category for financial resilience
by [the water regulator] Ofwat,” the
company said. “And this remains a
clear priority for us.”
The QIA is a top-five shareholder in
Severn Trent, holding a 4.9% stake.
The water company’s biggest shareholders are BlackRock (13%) and
Lazard (7.45%).
Ofwat has ordered water firms in
England and Wales to return £114m
to customers through lower bills next
year because progress on leaks and
sewage spills had been “too slow”.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:47 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:17

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•

Business

47

▼ Ashley Costello, of New Year’s
Day, performs at the Fleece, an
independent venue in Bristol
PHOTOGRAPH: MARTHA FITZPATRICK/REDFERNS

Wilko creditors
including
pension fund
to receive less
than 8% back
Sarah Butler

‘Costs are out of control’: small
music venues plead for support
Sarah Butler
Small local music venues say new
bands will be left without a place to
perform unless they get government
help, with 127 grassroots sites closing
or no longer offering music since last
summer.
The Music Venue Trust (MVT),
which is backing a crowdfunded
scheme to take at least nine venues
into community ownership, says
surging costs and punters reining
in spending during the cost of living
crisis have combined with pressure
from property developers to force
closures.
About 16% of the UK’s small
venues, which have launched the
careers of bestselling artists such as
Ed Sheeran and Adele, have closed
or stopped putting on gigs so far this
year. This has meant the loss of not
only 4,000 jobs, but also thousands of
chances for new acts to perform and
more than £9m in income for musicians. Some venues have opened,
leaving about 835 venues linked to
the trust, or a net 12% drop this year.
Mark Davyd, the chief executive
of MVT, said: “We need spaces where
creativity can thrive and I don’t think
that is an extraordinary idea. We need
somewhere where acts can see if they
have got what it takes to be an artist.”
It is calling on the government to
extend business rates relief for venues. Currently they pay a quarter of
business rates due on their properties, a step up from the rates holiday

at the height of the pandemic. From
April there is no guarantee of help.
“Bringing back full rates would be an
absolute disaster for the hospitality
sector,” Davyd said.
He added that last year grassroots
music venues made an average profit
of 0.2% of sales. A full return of business rates would add £15m to venues’
costs and “they just don’t have it”.
Many venues struggled during the
pandemic as restrictions meant they
could not operate for months. However, Davyd said the pace of closures
had stepped up this year as surging
energy and labour costs combined
with the end of most pandemic-era
government help and deals with landlords and banks on rent and loans.
“Costs have escalated out of control and the cost of living is having
an impact,” Davyd said. “Clearly
live music is still incredibly popular
and this year is probably going to be
the highest grossing year every for

‘We need somewhere
where acts can see if
they have got what it
takes to be an artist’
Mark Davyd
Chief executive of MVT
ticket sales but the costs of energy
have gone wild and deals done with
landlords and banks which got venues through the pandemic are now
coming home to roost.
“We are seeing rent increases well
above 25% and have even seen some
of more than 100%.”
The Polar Bear in Hull was rescued via crowdfunding in 2020 and
puts on two or three nights of music
a week, with bands yet to be signed
to a label. The pub has helped launch
" Paul
McCartney at
the Cheese and
Grain, a not
for profit social
enterprise music
venue in Frome,
Somerset
PHOTOGRAPH:
MPL COMMUNICATIONS

acts such as Bdrmm, who played festivals including Latitude and End of
the Road this year. It is one of nine
venues hoping the MVT will be able
to buy its building to secure its future.
Rose Barker, a director of the
Polar Bear, said rising prices to buy
in alcohol and higher utility bills had
added as much as £700 to the cost of
putting on a live music night. “We
have put our prices up but that then
affects customers. With the cost of
living crisis everyone is feeling it.
Where they used to buy three or four
drinks they now buy one or two and
that has made it difficult for us. To
put on the speakers or even the lights
for live music takes a lot of energy for
four or five hours.”
Daniel Mawer at the venue said:
“We know we are doing something
good for the city, but it is getting that
much trickier to pull off.”
Arron Whan, the general manager of The Bell pub in Bath, which
puts on regular live music, said it had
been hit by rising costs, including a
£17,000 demand for music royalties
from throughout the pandemic and
a 30% jump in energy bills. He says
owning the building has helped it
keep going.
While landlords are keen to claim
back rents lost out on during the
pandemic, there is also an issue that
once-forgotten pubs, warehouses
and industrial buildings that cheaply
housed venues are now sought after
for redevelopment into flats and
offices as part of the gentrification
of towns and cities.
MVT has a list of almost 20 more
sites it would like to buy and is likely
to raise more cash if the first few
buyouts go well. “We need proof of
concept first,” Davyd said.
“The plan is to remove many of
these venues from private ownership and put them into community
ownership.”

The budget retailer Wilko owed
£625m when it collapsed, including
£548m to unsecured creditors who
will receive less than 8% of what
they are owed, documents revealed
yesterday.
The company’s pension fund
was more than £50m in deficit and
unlikely to receive more than £4m
of that back from the breakup of the
company, which called in the administrators PwC in August.
PwC’s report says the last of Wilko’s
near 400 stores will close on 8 October with almost 12,500 jobs lost.
Unsecured creditors, who also
include suppliers and employees,
will receive between 4% and 8% of
that owed by the group’s main Wilko
Ltd entity, whose debts total more
than £460m, and less than 1% of that
owed by its sister group.
Suppliers, including GlaxoSmithKline, Procter & Gamble and the
logistics firm GXO, are owed more
than £170m, while the tax authorities are owed more than £26m.
Secured creditors – led by the
restructuring specialist Hilco, which
was owed nearly £40m, and Barclays
bank, which was owed £2.4m, will
be repaid in full. HMRC, which is
described as a preferential creditor,
is expected to be repaid almost in full.
The deficit for Wilko’s defined
benefit scheme, which has 2,000
members, has narrowed since 2019
as the company put in more than £4m
a year to support it, and £8m last year.
However, when a company fails,
the calculation of the deficit rises
on the basis of the costs of handing
it over to an insurance fund as there
will no longer be profits from a functioning company to provide support.
On that basis, the fund was just
over £70m in deficit, according to
the administrators. However, it had
security more than £20m of property
owned by Wilko – reducing the money
needed to plug the gap to £50m.
The scheme is being assessed for
entry to the industry-funded pensions lifeboat scheme, under which
those of pensionable age and already
collecting their pensions will receive
their full payout, but other savers’
pensions will be cut by 10%.
However, the Pensions Regulator
is now scrutinising the handling of
the company’s finances in the runup to its collapse. The regulator has
the power to pursue owners to plug
pension shortfalls if their actions are
deemed to have put benefits at risk.
Wilko’s family owners paid themselves £9m in dividends since 2019,
according to the administrators, as
underlying profits halved from £33m
to £16m and sales slid by more than
15% to £1.31bn.
The Wilkinson family was
approached for comment.

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

48

Electric vehicles
Insurance hikes
may push EVs
into the slow lane
Drivers persuaded to ditch
petrol and diesel to help save
the planet are facing huge
price rises in their premiums,
reports Zoe Wood

D

riving an electric car
should be a win-win,
saving money and
the planet. So David*
was shocked when
the insurance on his
Tesla Model Y came up for renewal,
and Aviva refused to cover him
again, while several other brands
also turned him away.
When he did secure a deal, the
annual cost rocketed from £1,200 to
more than £5,000.
“Aviva was my insurer from July
2022 to July 2023. When it came
up for renewal, I received a letter
stating it would not be covering
the car any more,” David says. “I
am a member of a Tesla UK owners
forum, and lots of other people
seem to be having the same issue.”
In the Facebook group, members
share stories of horror renewal
quotes. It tells of increases
ranging from 60% (to £1,100), to
a staggering 940% (from £447 to
£4,661), according to a screengrab
shared by one driver.
“I spent weeks on every
comparison site, as well as trying
individual insurers and specialist
brokers, but either they wouldn’t
cover the car, or the quotes were for
£5,000 or more,” says David, whose
only change in circumstance was
three points on a licence.
Privilege, Vitality, Axa and
specialist broker Adrian Flux were
among those “unable to insure him
at this time” before he finally nailed
down a policy.
“The best quote I could get was
from Direct Line at £4,500,” he says,
adding that the total cost exceeded
£5,000 once interest for paying
monthly was included.
But it is not only owners of Model
Ys – with a starting price of about
£45,000 it was the best-selling
electric car in the UK last year – who
are finding insurers wobbling about
the cost of net zero.
Alex Gerlis, who bought a Smart
EQ Forfour last year, had insurance
from John Lewis Finance but,

before the mid-August renewal
date, it advised him it was not
insuring electric cars (see below).
A recent cost of living bulletin
from the Office for National
Statistics revealed that the price
of car insurance – which for many
Britons is one of their biggest
household bills – is up by 52.9% in
the last 12 months.
However, this masks bigger
increases for electric car owners,
according to Confused.com. Its
figures, derived from quotes, show
that their premiums are 72% – or
£402 – higher than this time last
year, at a typical £959. Meanwhile,
for petrol and diesel car drivers, the
increase is 29%, or £192, taking the
figure to £848.
Louise Thomas, a motor expert
at Confused.com, says: “Despite
electric vehicles becoming more
common, they are still the minority
on UK roads, and insurers have less
experience setting premiums.”
With expensive features and
upgrades now standard, the cost
of repairs is higher, too, which is
having a knock-on-effect, she adds.
Analysts say claims costs are 25%
higher for electric cars, and that
they also take about 14% longer
to repair than a diesel or petrol
equivalent.
Cost, and availability of parts,
is also a factor, explains Paul
Baxter, chief executive of new
brand the Green Insurer. There is
also concern around the batteries,
and that damage, especially to the
underside, can be expensive to fix.
“There’s also an issue around
technology and skills in the repair
networks,” Baxter says. Indeed,
the Institute of the Motor Industry
has predicted a shortage of about
16,000 electric vehicle-qualified
mechanics come 2032.

25%

The increase in the claims cost for
electric cars, which also take 14%
longer to repair

£4,661

One quote to insure a Tesla car,
which works out as a 940% hike
from the previous price of £447

Case study
‘I understand premiums go up, but a blanket ‘no’ to EVs?’
When Alex Gerlis and his wife
bought an electric car last year,
they shopped around for insurance
before opting for a policy from
John Lewis. It wasn’t the cheapest
on offer but they trusted the brand
and felt it was “the right kind of
company to go with to insure an
electric car”.
The policy was due for renewal
in August but in July they received
a letter saying that John Lewis
would not be offering cover
and that he would need to go
elsewhere.
There was no explanation as to
why the Smart EQ Forfour vehicle
no longer qualified for a policy
– the letter simply said: “Having
reviewed your current details, we
won’t be able to renew your car
insurance policy arranged by John
Lewis Financial and underwritten
by Covéa Insurance plc.”
Gerlis – a former BBC journalist
who now writes bestselling
espionage novels – telephoned and
was told that John Lewis was no

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:49 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Money hacks
How to get the best
out of your credit card
Page 51

Sent at 29/9/2023 13:15

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•

Fantasy house hunt
Five homes with
amazing kitchens
Page 53

49

! Empty promises: drivers wanting
to go electric are finding they are
having to pay a hefty price
PHOTOGRAPH: CHRISTOPHER THOMOND

longer insuring electric cars. He
says the person on the phone said
they could not understand why
he was making a fuss about the
change in policy.
He complained, sending an
email to the business head, Sharon
White, and receiving an apologetic
reply. He feels the move flies in
the face of John Lewis’s pledges
to fight the climate crisis. “I
can understand that premiums

! ▲ Alex Gerlis feels let down by
John Lewis, which he expected to be
more environmentally friendly
PHOTOGRAPH: GRAEME ROBERTSON/GUARDIAN

might go up but to have a blanket
‘no’ on insuring electric cars is
incompatible with John Lewis’s
claim to be environmentally
friendly,” he says.
“It put its car insurance business
out to tender but what it didn’t
do is say that ‘environmental and
climate action is important to
us, so this must include electric
vehicles’.”
Insurance wasn’t difficult to
find elsewhere – big names such as
Aviva, Admiral and Churchill were
willing to cover the car. But he says
this just shows how wrong John
Lewis was to be apparently pulling
out of the market.
Covéa would not comment.
John Lewis Financial Services
told us: “Our underwriter has
temporarily paused offering new
policies and renewals on fully
electric vehicles while they analyse
the risks and costs entailed. This
decision does not affect any
existing policies in force, or hybrid
vehicles.” Hilary Osborne

High fuel prices, and concerns
about the environment, have
resulted in more drivers opting for
an electric car, with almost 270,000
new vehicles registered in the UK
last year – an increase of 40%.
Faced with the big increase in
his insurance costs, David, who
is in his 30s and lives in Bradford,
looked at ending his lease, even
though he loves a car he describes
as an “iPhone on wheels”. The
monthly payments are more than
£600 but to terminate would
involve a huge fee.
“I’m fortunate that I earn a
decent wage and don’t have a
mortgage. I checked to see if I could
change the car model but I’d have
to pay an £8,000 forfeit.”
Five weeks into his Direct Line
policy, he found a cheaper deal,
with a smaller upfront deposit,
with Admiral, which reduced the
cost by £75 a month to £404.
Sometimes insurers pause
offering policies when new
information comes to light. Asked
about its position on electric cars,
Aviva says it regularly reviews its
underwriting criteria for all makes
and models to reflect emerging
trends and experience.
“Although we insured the Tesla
Y Model last year, during the year
we changed this acceptance criteria
and we were no longer able to offer
a policy at renewal,” it says.
“We have made further changes
and we are able to underwrite these
vehicles on some of our products,
and expect others to follow.”
It is now possible to get cover
through its Aviva Direct brand and
on price comparison websites.
John Lewis and Vitality electric
car policies are underwritten by
Covéa Insurance, but it declined
to comment on its rationale. John
Lewis says: “Our underwriter has
temporarily paused offering new
policies and renewals on fully
electric vehicles while they analyse
the risks and cost.”
Direct Line Group, which owns
the Privilege brand, added that
it was “committed to the electric
vehicle market” and was offering
insurance for cars from big
manufacturers, including Tesla
and Smart, “subject to individual
circumstances. We price policies
based on our view of risk and the
ratings factors we use, including
the model of car and inflation.
Like many other sectors, insurers
continue to face higher costs.”
The Association of British
Insurers insists the motor
insurance market “remains
competitive”. It adds: “Our
members fully support the rollout
of electric vehicles and efforts to
transition to net zero. Whether to
offer insurance, and at what price,
is a commercial decision based on
their risk appetite.”
* Not his real name

▲ It could be a canny move to put cash in the highest-paying accounts now
PHOTOGRAPH: DOMINIC LIPINSKI/PA

Savings
Grab and go … best rates
could soon disappear

I

Rupert Jones
t could be “grab them before
they’re gone” time when it
comes to some of the toppaying savings accounts,
assuming UK interest rates
are at, or near, their peak.
There are some on offer paying
more than 6% but experts warned
this week that those thinking of
signing up may want to get a move
on, as the very best deals may not
be around for much longer.
This could already be starting to
happen: during the last few days,
some fixed-rate savings bonds have
had their rates trimmed.
“With the base rate potentially
having peaked sooner and lower
than anticipated, we could start
to see fixed-rate bonds being
withdrawn once the tranches have
been filled,” says Anna Bowes,
a co-founder of the Savings
Champion website.
She adds: “If you see something
… now is the time to act.”
Sarah Coles, the head of personal
finance at the investment platform
Hargreaves Lansdown, says that
if you have been waiting to grab a
top fixed savings rate, “it’s worth
getting your skates on”. Here, we
round up some of the top-paying
accounts that may be worth
grabbing.

Paying 6.2%

At the time of writing, NS&I’s oneyear fixed-rate guaranteed growth
and guaranteed income bonds still
had the top spot in the best-buy
table – but it is far from clear how
long they will be around.
You can invest from £500 to £1m,
and you can’t take your money
out until after the 12 months have

elapsed. Once you have bought
one of these bonds, you can’t add
any more money to it. You can buy
more bonds, though, assuming
they are still on sale.

Paying 6% or more

Ford Money and Ikano Bank are
two of the better-known providers
offering fixed-rate savings bonds
paying 6.05%.
Ford Money – a division of the
carmaker – is paying that to those
who tie up their money for one
year, 18 months or two years.
To get 6.05% at Ikano Bank – the
sister company of Ikea and still
owned by the family that founded
the furniture retailer – you need to
put your money away for two years.
The Ford Money accounts have a
minimum opening deposit of £500,
while at ikano Bank it is £1,000.
Others offering good rates include
Sainsbury’s Bank, which has a oneyear bond paying 6.01%.
The highest-paying savings
bonds where the rate is fixed for
five years are paying a little less –
about 5.75% to 5.8% was the best
you could get this week, according
to the data provider Moneyfacts.
But if interest rates end up falling
back quite a bit from where they are
now, taking out one could look like
a canny move.

Paying 5.7%

NS&I’s Green Savings Bond is fixed
for three years and savers are still
able to stash money in these onlineonly products.
There are three-year savings
bonds available that pay slightly
more than 5.7% – for example,
Ikano Bank offers one at 5.95%.
To open an NS&I account, you
must pay in between £100 and
£100,000. Savers can’t access their
money during the three years.

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:51 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 13:15

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•

Money

ILLUSTRATION BY JAMIE WIGNALL

51

to have a lower interest rate than a
credit card, although most banks
won’t lend less than £1,000 or for
fewer than 12 months, so the risk
is that you may end up borrowing
more than you need or can afford.
Where credit cards can be useful
is when they have introductory
deals for new customers that can
keep costs low or even at zero.
“For those looking for a new
credit card, there are still plenty
available that offer 0% interest
on new purchases for a fixed
period,” says Alex Hasty, a finance
expert at the comparison site
Comparethemarket.
The risk, of course, is that you
let the debt sit on the account for
too long. After the 0% introductory
period ends, that rate will rise –
often to 30% or more. Hasty says:
“If you pay your card late or miss
payments, you may be charged
a fee. And you may lose any
promotional offers.”

Cards and your credit score

Money hacks How to get
the best out of a credit card
Sandra Haurant
There are 58m credit cards in
circulation in the UK, according to
the banking body UK Finance, with
many people making greater use of
them amid the cost of living crisis.

Know when to steer clear
“If you know you won’t have the
discipline to avoid overspending,
you need to think long and hard
about whether a credit card is right
for you,” says Sarah Coles, a senior
personal finance analyst at the
investment platform Hargreaves
Lansdown.

“Two-thirds of new clients have
credit card debt when they come
for advice,” says Richard Lane,
the director of external affairs at
StepChange Debt Charity, which
helps people with debt problems
take back control of their finances
and their lives.
Lane says that credit cards can
be useful when you are faced with
an unexpected expense, “but it’s
not uncommon, especially during
the ongoing cost of living crisis, for
people to rely on credit cards when
finances are tight, and then get
stuck in an expensive borrowing
spiral”.
If you find yourself overwhelmed
with credit card debt, let your card
provider know quickly.

A cheaper way to borrow?
It might be, in some situations.
If you pay off your outstanding
balance in full each month, you
won’t pay any interest on what you
have borrowed.
If you don’t pay off the bill in full,
you will be charged interest, which
is usually backdated to the date of
your purchase.

Find a 0% APR deal
If you want to borrow a certain
amount for a specific purchase and
are considering using a credit card,
it is worth comparing how this
would stack up against something
like a personal loan. A loan is likely

“There’s a bit of a catch-22 in that
in order to get a competitive credit
card – with something like a long
interest-free period or a low rate –
you need a good credit record. But
in order to get a good credit record,
you need a history of taking on debt
and paying it off sensibly, which
credit cards can help you get,” Coles
says.
A “credit builder” card, such as
Tesco Bank’s Foundation credit
card, is one option that may help.
These cards come with low credit
limits and, by repaying the debt
off each month, you will begin to
demonstrate that you can manage
your finances.
James Jones, a spokesperson
for the credit reference agency
Experian, says: “Using credit cards
can be a boon for credit scores and
a great tactic for people building a
credit history for the first time.”
The Experian credit score
operates on a scale of 0 to 999 – the
higher the score, the better.
“A low balance and perfect
payment record can boost your
Experian score,” Jones says.
“But push the wrong buttons
with your credit card usage, such
as maxing out a card or missing
repayments, and your score could
suffer.”

‘They can be a great
tactic for building
your credit history’
James Jones
Experian

Reap the rewards
If you are disciplined and have
a reliable income, you can use
a credit card for your everyday
spending and make the most of
incentives offered by the providers.
“You can choose between cards
offering cashback [based on a
percentage of the amount you
spend] and those offering points
that can be spent on specific things
– such as Nectar points, vouchers
or airline or hotel points. There are
also cards with fees which offer
more generous returns, so you’ll
need to calculate whether it’s worth
it for you,” Coles says.
“Often, generous reward cards
are linked to specific retailers, and
give you extra points when you
shop with that retailer, so when you
are searching for the best option,
it’s worth considering where you
are likely to shop.”
For example, at the time of
writing, the John Lewis Partnership
credit card was offering new
customers triple points on
eligible spending at John Lewis
and Waitrose for the first 90 days
(the points are converted into
vouchers).

Get extra protection
One of the biggest advantages of
using a credit card is section 75
protection.
“When you buy something
that costs between £100 and
£30,000 using a card, the credit
card company becomes jointly
responsible with the retailer if
something goes wrong with the
purchase,” Coles says.
“It means they have a legal
obligation to put things right if
an item is faulty, it never arrives,
or you bought it from a company
that went out of business before
delivering it. This applies even if
you only pay for part of it on the
card.”

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:52 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

52

Money

Driving licences
‘Temporary’ DVLA error
adds extra fees to renewals

M
Anna Tims

otorists who try
to renew their
driving licences
using recently
issued passports
face being forced
to go to a post office and pay fees
that are 54% higher than the online
price. It is because of a glitch on
the Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency (DVLA) website, and those
with passports issued since 2016
are affected.
The DVLA charges £14 for online
renewals by UK passport holders.
However, many who have
tried to use post-Brexit passports
have received a pop-up message
saying their application cannot
continue because the document
is invalid. Only when they call
customer services are they told a
longstanding technical error is to
blame.
The DVLA website advises
drivers unable to renew online
to complete the process at a
participating post office for £21.50.
Postal applications are available.
These incur a £17 fee plus postage,
and forms have to be picked up
from participating post offices.
Helen Taylor, who lives in the
Highlands of Scotland, was forced
to make a 100-mile round trip to the
nearest post office offering DVLA

▲ Counting the inconvenience and
cost of renewing a driving licence

cYanmaGentaYellowb

services after her online application
was rejected.
“My husband and I renewed our
passports at the same time in 2020.
My husband successfully renewed
his driving licence online but I
could not,” she says.
The technical glitch has been
caused by the removal of digital
signatures from passports in
2017. The change, introduced
by the Passport Office (HMPO),
was designed to speed up online
applications by dispensing with
signed supplementary forms and
printed photos. Passports are now
signed by the owner on receipt.
However, the reform has slowed
down some online applications for
driving licences because the DVLA
transposes digital signatures held
by HMPO on to photocard permits.
If HMPO does not hold a digital
signature, a signed form must
be submitted which can only be
obtained from certain post offices.
Applications can be submitted
digitally via a post office and take
five days but cost more. Only
1,200 of the UK’s 11,775 post office
branches offer the service which
will cease altogether next March,
when the DVLA’s contract ends.
At the time of writing, the DVLA
website made no mention of the
technical problem, leaving some
applicants fearing their passport is
invalid.
The agency says an
announcement is unnecessary as
insignificant numbers are affected,
although it admits that those
numbers are unknown. It adds:
“For the vast majority of drivers
choosing to renew their driving
licence online, we are able to use
the digital signature directly from
the Passport Office.
“For those who do not have a
signature on file, we are working on
a solution which will allow them
to apply online, which we hope to
launch later this year.”

Consumer champions
Zoe Wood
My late grandfather billed
for electricity he didn’t use
My grandfather GD died suddenly
of a stroke in March at the age of
91. Until that point he’d been fairly
healthy and living alone in a house
he had owned all his life, and renting a small workshop to store tools
from his career as an engineer.
His electricity bills were
extremely high because the house
is draughty. However, he had not
used the workshop for several
years, so he should only have been
paying standing charges.
He asked several times to have
the power to it disconnected, but
was fobbed off with a number of
different reasons.
He had a personal account
with ScottishPower for the house
and a business account for the
workshop, and since he died, the
company has been a nightmare to
deal with.
My mother (his daughter)
has been trying to close the
accounts while selling the house
but is being given conflicting
information.
She was told to transfer everything into her name, but she is
now receiving bailiff letters to her
address in GD’s name. They are
demanding £1,500 for outstanding
bills, despite having already told
her the account is settled.
One adviser said her bill was an
error and should be torn up. She
then received another several
days later, demanding payment
within 24 hours.
She was also told the best option
was to have the workshop meter
removed. She tried, setting up two
appointments, but no one showed.
To make things worse, the
bereavement department cannot access business accounts, so
she has to go through normal customer service, explaining, once
again, to every new person.
My mother is finding this
upsetting. ScottishPower will
only speak to the person on the
account, so I can’t get involved.
HR, London

▲ Billed for a meter in a workshop
that hadn’t been used for years
This is another doozy from
ScottishPower, which we last
reported on in April when it was
sending MJ emails and unusable
cheques made out to his late father.
Sorting out how much your late
grandfather owed was a bit more
complicated because of the meter
in the workshop.
After we got in touch, the comedy of errors stopped and matters
were quickly drawn to a close.
ScottishPower says: “We are
sorry for the distress caused to GD’s
family at this upsetting time and
have been in touch to rectify the
issues. His daughter was receiving
bills due to an administrative error.
“Our bereavement team does not
have access to business accounts
but should transfer the details to
the dedicated team to update the
records. On this occasion, this did
not happen, and we will be making
a goodwill payment.”
You are grateful as you feel this
saga would otherwise still be rumbling on, which is just not good
enough.

Fined, for queueing at a
petrol station carwash

My husband had to wait in a long
queue at the carwash at the Applegreen petrol station near our home
in Bristol, and was shocked when a

£100 fine (£60 if paid within a fortnight) arrived from the car park
management firm Parkingeye.
We appealed and sent it evidence: the carwash ticket, the
receipt and credit card payment –
but it was rejected. We went back
to the petrol station and the staff
promised to get the fine cancelled.
But we have since received a
“final notice” from Parkingeye
which threatens further action,
including hiring a debt recovery
firm or pursuing legal action if we
do not pay.
We tried going back to the petrol
station, but the staff did not seem
able to help. This doesn’t seem fair.
MW, Bristol
I receive a fair number of letters from readers battling parking
charges, with the proliferation of
parking apps and number-plate recognition software turning the once
simple process of using a car park
into a technological nightmare.
In this instance, the cameras
monitoring this forecourt clock the
time a car arrives and departs rather
than what the owner does while on
site, which in your case involved
sitting in a queue.
After we contacted Applegreen,
the fine was cancelled. It also contacted you to apologise.
Applegreen says: “The customer
shouldn’t have been charged. When
they contacted Applegreen locally
to query the charge, the fine should
have been cancelled, as it is clear
they were waiting for a carwash.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen.
We are happy to resolve the matter
and again offer our apologies.”
Still, a parking tale with a happy
ending.
We welcome letters but cannot answer
individually. Email us at consumer.
champions@theguardian.com or
write to Consumer Champions,
Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way,
London N1 9GU. Please include a
daytime phone number. Submission
and publication of all letters is subject
to our terms and conditions: http://
theguardian.com/letters-terms

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:53 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 13:18

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•

Money

53

" Summertown, Oxford
£3.5m
This multimillion-pound home to the north
of Oxford city centre, in a sought-after district,
is the ultimate family property designed for
entertaining with a kitchen worthy of The
Great British Bake Off, which started a new
series on Tuesday. The six-bedroom property
has an outdoor pool, a basement cinema room
and a party barn – complete with disco glitter
ball. The showstopper is the vast double-height
kitchen-diner with an atrium at its centre and
bifold doors that open on to the garden. The
central island doubles as a breakfast bar.
John D Wood, 01865 575 351

Fantasy
house hunt
Homes with
great kitchens

▲ Crystal Palace, London
£685,000
On a quiet close is this detached
three-bedroom house. The
downstairs runs from the kitchen
at the front, to the south-facing
garden at the back, with individual
spaces marked out only by a change
in flooring and two feature shelving
units of curved open timber shapes.
Tucked away behind one is the neat
kitchen and a larder hidden behind
double doors. The Modern House,
020 3795 5920

Compiled by Anna White

! Stubhampton, Dorset
£895,000
On the edge of the New
Forest national park, south of
Salisbury, sits this hamlet, and
on its periphery is the detached,
characterful Chestnut Cottage,
with the original part believed to
date from the 1700s. It has three
bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Bursting with period features,
there are inglenook fireplaces,
exposed beams and pine doors in
the main and original building.
The extension contains the kitchen
which has a dramatic vaulted
ceiling in a palette of midnight blue.
Savills, 01202 856 861

▼ Norton Disney,
Lincolnshire
£795,000

On the Norton Disney Hall estate
are two 18th-century barns that
used to service the farmhouse.
They have been converted into this
three-bedroom home. At its heart
is a modern take on the traditional
country farmhouse kitchen. The
sunny room is painted in a rich
yellow with blue cabinetry and
granite worktops (which stay cool
for baking). Inigo, 020 3687 3071

" Deal, Kent
£1m
From the front-facing windows of
the Grade II-listed, 17th-century
terraced Shirley House – down a
narrow street – you can spy the sea.
It’s a playful property with bold
colours sitting side by side with
age-appropriate vintage materials.
The kitchen, on the lower ground
floor, is paradise for those who
love rustic features. This cavernlike room has large sash windows,
a flagstone floor and a deep butler
sink. The original bread oven sits
cosily next to the range, housed
within a fireplace surround picked
out in lime green, which matches
the worktops and shelving.
Inigo, 020 3687 3071

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:54 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

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Section:GDN 1N PaGe:57 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 14:11

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•

57

Puzzles
Solutions

Kakuro

Codeword

Fill the grid so that each block adds up to the total in the box above or to
the left of it. You can only use the digits 1-9 and you must not use the same
number twice in a block.

Crack the code to fill in the crossword grid. Each letter of the alphabet makes
at least one appearance in the grid and is represented by the same number
wherever it appears. A number of letters have been decoded to help with the
identification of other letters and words in the grid.

Train tracks

BALLOONED
Word wheel
Suguru

Suguru

Train tracks

Fill the grid so that each square in
an outlined block contains a digit.
A block of two squares contains
the digits 1 and 2, a block of three
squares contains the digits 1, 2 and
3, and so on. No same digit appears
in neighbouring squares, not even
diagonally.

Lay tracks to enable the train to travel from village A to
village B. The numbers indicate how many sections of
rail go in each row and column. There are only straight
rails and curved rails. The track cannot cross itself.

Time
on your
hands?
Stay
connected
and keep
in touch
with your
friends with
our new
Puzzles
mobile app

You can
access more
than 15,000
crosswords and
sudoku and
solve puzzles
online together.
Download
The Guardian
Puzzles app and
try it for free
now.
theguardian.
com/
puzzlesapp

Word wheel
Find as many words as possible
using the letters in the wheel. Each
must use the central letter and at
least two others. Letters may be
used only once. You may not use
plurals, foreign words or proper
nouns. There is at least one nineletter word to be found. Target:
excellent 52, good 44, average 32.

Codeword
Kakuro

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:58 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:40

cYanmaGentaYellowb

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

58

Puzzles
Yesterday’s
Quick crossword

Quick crossword no 16,662
Across
1 Place where ships load, unload or
are repaired (4)
3 Immaculate (8)
8 Annual flat race run at Epsom for
three-year-old fillies (4)
9 Fruit tree — dark purple colour (8)
11 American gobstopper — word that’s
hard to pronounce (10)
14 Wooden hammer (6)
15 Clever trick (informal) (6)
17 Onlooker (10)
20 Member of a radical Chinese youth
movement endorsed by Chairman
Mao in 1966 (3,5)
21 Powdered starch (4)
22 Debacle (8)
23 Garden party (4)

Down
1 Upright member, framing an
entrance (8)
2 Easy-peasy task (8)
4 Form of a word used to denote
more than one (6)
5 Fixed-price menu with limited
choices (5,5)
6 Maltese currency (4)
7 Bean protein (4)
10 Pig (informal) (6,4)
12 Drink (8)
13 Sparkler (8)
16 Move sideways suddenly (6)
18 You hope to fill this up (4)
19 Lyric poems (4)

1

2

3

8

4

5

7

Solution no 16,661
B A
R
A M
O
H U
R
P E
D

9
10

11
12
14

13

N
C O
V
P A

15
16

G G Y T R O
H
A
F
M O
L I F
U
L
E
R L Y B U R
O
B B L Y
P
U
L
G O D F E
B
R
C
V E N A N T
A
F
R
R R O T F A

U S E R S
P
I
E R A F T
A
E
L Y
E
C
A R D O N
R
A R I N G
O
E
A U T O
C
T
S H I O N

17
18

19

20

22

Sandwich sudoku

Chris Maslanka

Medium

Pyrgic: 1 Akimbo describes a
posture with legs apart, hands
on hips with palms outwards and
arms bent with elbows pointing
outward – a usefully compact word
for a human pose (I don’t think
gorillas do it). It often occurs with
arms, legs, limbs: so Bert stood
there, legs akimbo, which may
sound a little recursive. The idea
of fangs adopting such a pose is
topologically absurd. Not that
pythons – being non-venomous –
have fangs anyway.
2 If x(x + 1) = y(y + 1) then x2 − y2 =
(x − y)(x + y) = −(x − y); so x = y, or
(x + y) = −1. In the second case y =
−(x + 1) and y + 1 = −x: the product
of two consecutive positive integers
equalling the product of the same
two integers with negative signs in
front of them. Then p must be the

Place the digits
from 1-9 in each
row, column and
3x3 block.
The clues outside
the grid show
the sum of the
numbers placed
between the 1 and
9 in that row or
column.

6

21

23

Stuck? For help call 0906 200 83 83. Calls cost £1.10
per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.
Service supplied by ATS. Call 0330 333 6946 for
customer service (charged at standard rate).
Want more? Get access to more than 4,000 puzzles at
theguardian.com/crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit
www.guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846.

Solutions

product of two consecutive integers
(both positive and both negative).
If p = 6, (x, y) = (2, −3) or (−3, 2). We
must include x = y, so (x, y) = (2, 2)
and (−3, −3). Point to ponder What
if y(y + 1)(y + 2)(y + 3) = x(x + 1)(x + 2)
(x + 3) = 120?
3 h2 + s2 = (2s)2 &
h = s√3; (h − r)2 = r2 + s2
& r = s/(√3). If the side
h
r
of the triangle is 4,
s = 2 and r = 2/(√3) and
s
h = 2√3, so that r = h/3.
4 Probabilities P on the first go:
Bart gets 2 heads (P(HH) = ¼); Bart
gets 1 head (Prob (HT or TH) = ½);
Bart gets 0 heads (P(TT) = ¼); then
Tubbs gets 1 head (P(H) = ½); Tubbs
gets 0 heads (P(T) = ½). Prob Bart
wins in one go is ¼ + (½)(½) = ½.
Probability Tubbs wins in one go
is (¼)(½) = ⅛. Probability of a draw

is (½)(½) + (¼)(½) = ⅜. [Point to
ponder Why do we know it must be
⅜ without that last calculation?]
Tubbs’s total chances are (⅛) + (⅜)
(⅛) + (⅛)(⅜)2 + … ad infinitum = (⅛)
[1 + (⅜) + (⅜)2 + …] = (⅛)[1/(1 – (⅜)]
= 1⁄5; similarly, Bart’s chances work
out as 4⁄5. Point to ponder Why
must it be 4⁄5? Why do we expect
the chances of each winning to be
greater than for just the first go?
How many goes may we expect
before the game ends?
Wordplay: Wordpool a), b), d);
Alphabet Soup EDUCATION; EPU
INSPIRATION; N or M COMICAL,
CONICAL; Uncle Rebus NOTHING
IS WRITTEN IN STONE; Missing
Links a) seal/ant/hem, b) writ/
large/amount, c) flag/ship/shape,
d) south/paw/paw, e) rare/bit/tern,
f) top/speed/limit.

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:59 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:S

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 15:48

cYanmaGentaYellow

•

59

Weather
Saturday 30 September 2023
UK and Ireland Noon today

Forecast

Around the UK

Sunny

Low 15 High 20

London

Mist

Fog

Lows and highs

Tomorrow

12
Sunny intervals Hazy

15

Precipitation

19 10%

Low

75%

Low

65%

Low

65%

Low

70%

Low

0%

Low

18

25%

Low

16 18

60%

Low

75%

Low

25%

Low

Manchester

Mostly cloudy

10

9

12

Slight

Low 12 High 17

12

Monday

Glasgow

1012

Light showers

15

Belfast

1016
Edinburgh

Sunny and heavy showers

15

Edinburgh

15

14

Sunny showers

14

Shetland

Inverness

Overcast/dull

Newcastle
ca

16

13

16

Birmingham
14 16

Rain

Sleet

Belfast

Light
snow

18

1008

16

Dublin

Birmingham
ming

30

Norwich

16

18

15

Thundery showers

1
19

X

L
London

Cardiff
Ca

10

19

5

Temperature,
ºC

Dover

0

21

-5

18

-10

Plymouth

9

Slight

-15

Windy

-20

Carbon
count
Daily atmospheric CO2
readings from Mauna Loa,
Hawaii (ppm):

25
20

16 18

1024

Nottingham
Nott
m

35C

Wind speed,
mph

York

16

Liverpool
rpoo
oll

Ice

Thundery rain

Brighton

Slight

1020

Snow showers

Heavy snow

Air pollution

The Channel Islands

Latest
28 Sep 2023
418.20
Weekly average
17 Sep 2023
418.33
29 Sep 2022
415.65
29 Sep 2013
393.79
Pre-industrial base 280
Safe level
350

Bristol
15

Cardiff

Newcastle
11

Source: NOAA-ESRL

Atlantic front

15

Penzance
16 18

Weather tracker

Cold front
Warm front

PHILIPPE

Occluded front

RINA

Trough

High tides

Source: © Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. Times are local UK times

Aberdeen

0213

4.7m

1451

4.5m

Avonmouth

0837

14.1m

2057

14.5m

Barrow

0019

10.0m

1247

Belfast

--

--

Sun &
Moon

Lighting
up

London Bridge

0301

7.4m

1517

7.3m

Belfast

1904 to 0726

Lossiemouth

0042

4.5m

1324

4.3m

Birm’ham 1847 to 0707

9.7m

Milford Haven

0731

7.4m

1950

7.7m

Brighton 1842 to 0700

1226

3.5m

Newquay

0621

7.4m

1840

7.7m

Bristol

1852 to 0711

Cobh

0639

4.3m

1900

4.4m

North Shields

0420

5.6m

1657

5.4m

Carlisle

1850 to 0713

Cromer

0732

5.6m

2019

5.2m

Oban

0659

4.1m

1921

4.5m

Cork

1914 to 0734

Dover

0013

7.0m

1227

7.2m

Penzance

0555

5.8m

1814

6.1m

Dublin

1905 to 0726

Dublin

0018

4.4m

1256

4.1m

Plymouth

0711

5.7m

1926

5.9m

Galway

0621

5.5m

1837

5.7m

Portsmouth

0010

4.9m

1246

5.0m

Greenock

0127

3.8m

1356

3.5m

Southport

--

--

1211

9.5m

Harwich

0049

4.3m

1300

4.3m

Stornoway

0806

5.1m

2015

5.5m

Holyhead

1138

5.8m

2350

6.3m

Weymouth

0725

1.6m

1938

1.7m

M’chester 1849 to 0710

Hull

0719

8.3m

2000

7.9m

Whitby

0458

6.1m

1734

5.8m

Newcastle 1846 to 0709

Leith

0328

6.1m

1602

5.9m

Wick

0012

3.9m

1249

3.7m

Liverpool

0002

10.0m

1230

9.8m

Workington

0022

9.0m

1248

8.7m

Sun rises
Sun sets
Moon rises
Moon sets
Last Quarter

0658
1840
1907
0808
6 Oct

Forecasts and
graphics provided by
AccuWeather ©2023

Glasgow 1856 to 0720
Harlech

1857 to 0717

Inverness 1854 to 0719
London

Norwich

1840 to 0700

1835 to 0655

Penzance 1903 to 0722

Extreme rain and strong winds
across South Africa’s Western Cape
province have caused flooding,
destroyed crops, torn away roofs
and damaged roads this week.
It is estimated that the region
experienced 48-hour rainfall totals
of up to 200mm (8in) between
Sunday and Monday.
The Cape Town Disaster Risk
Management Centre said 12,000
people were directly affected
and the national power utility
said 80,000 were left without
electricity. The mayor of Cape
Town declared a major incident.
About 80 roads were closed,
hundreds of farm workers were
stranded and rail services were
suspended in the Western and
Eastern Cape provinces.
There have been 11 recorded
deaths, though the toll may rise.
Eight of the 11 deaths were caused
by electrocution when water
swamped illegal connections to
power lines in informal settlements
in Cape Town. More than 60%
of the city’s new settlements are
considered to be at high risk, either
being situated under power lines,
in wetlands, retention ponds, or
in biodiversity protected areas,
making residents vulnerable to
extreme weather. Alice Fowle
and Morgan Thomas MetDesk

Around the world
Algiers

28

Lisbon

35

Ams’dam

18

Madrid

31

Athens

26

Malaga

27

Auckland

14

Melb’rne

29

B Aires

16

Mexico C

27

Bangkok

32

Miami

31

Barcelona

27

Milan

28

Basra

41

Mombasa

30

Beijing

26

Moscow

21

Berlin

20

Mumbai

33

Bermuda

29

N Orleans

32

Brussels

19

Nairobi

27

Budapest

22

New Delhi

36

C’hagen

17

New York

18

Cairo

35

Oslo

18

Cape Town

18

Paris

22

Chicago

27

Perth

21

Corfu

27

Prague

19

Dakar

32

Reykjavik

10

Dhaka

32

Rio de J

26

Dublin

17

Rome

26

Florence

31

Shanghai

27

Gibraltar

24

Singapore

31

H Kong

33

Stockh’m

15

Harare

29

Strasb’g

23

Helsinki

16

Sydney

27

Istanbul

24

Tel Aviv

30

Jo’burg

28

Tenerife

30

K Lumpur

32

Tokyo

29

K’mandu

30

Toronto

23

Kabul

23

Vancouv’r

15

Kingston

34

Vienna

23

Kolkata

30

Warsaw

19

L Angeles

21

Wash’ton

23

Lagos

30

Well’ton

11

Lima

21

Zurich

22

Section:GDN 1N PaGe:60 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 12:39

cYanmaGentaYellowb

30 September-6 October 2023

THEY SHOOT!
HE SCORES!
DAVID
BECKHAM
LETS THE
CAMERAS IN

WHAT’S ON

Action replay
David Beckham
in the Netflix
documentary

He’s most recognisable as the slimy
comms chief in Succession, but
when Leonardo DiCaprio called,
Fisher Stevens turned his Oscarwinning documentary talents to
a footballing legend. He talks to
Stuart Jeffries about strength,
success and fearing Alex Ferguson

Beck
of the
net

F

isher Stevens was
playing Succession’s
most oleaginous lickspittle when he got
the call. Leonardo
DiCaprio wanted him
to direct a Netflix documentary
about David Beckham. At first
Stevens wasn’t interested; he was
having too much fun playing Hugo
Baker, slimy comms guy for the
loathsome Logan dynasty.
“I was like: ‘Nah.’ That’s going to
be two years of my life and I’d really
have to love spending time in that
world,” says 59-year-old Stevens
from an editing suite in New York.
“But then the writers, especially
Jesse [Armstrong, the English
creator of Succession], said to me:
‘You cannot not do this. This is a
great story.’ I didn’t know the story.”
So how did it come to pass,
with all due respect, that a knownothing American was the right
fit to tell the life story of England’s
leading twinkle-toed pretty boy?
Three reasons. First, Stevens is not
just an actor, whose CV includes a
notorious and regretted brown face
performance in the 1986 film Short
Circuit but also regular turns in Wes
Anderson movies (most recently as
Detective #1 in Asteroid City). He’s
also a documentary-maker. His
2009 film about dolphin hunting in
Japan, The Cove, won an Oscar. In
2010, he collaborated with DiCaprio
on the climate crisis documentary
Before the Flood.
Second, DiCaprio and Beckham
are buddies. “David was hanging

out with Leo, and asked him who
he should get,” says Stevens. “He
recommended me! David watched
Before the Flood and saw something
he liked – the emotion I guess.”
The third reason is most telling.
Stevens isn’t just some mug
who doesn’t know the beautiful
game. Although the Chicago-born
Stevens will be a fan of the Cubs
(baseball) and Bears (American
football) until he dies, he also has
something in his wardrobe that
marks him out as a soccer stan: a
collection of Ivory Coast football
shirts. “I went to Stamford Bridge
[home of Chelsea FC] and fell in
love with Didier Drogba.” What
were you doing there? “The first
documentary I produced was Once
in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary
Story of the New York Cosmos in
2006. At the time I didn’t know
football. Then the producer, John
[Battsek], takes me to see Chelsea
play and, well, I fell in love.
“I was quite late to the soccer
party. That was part of the reason
David may have wanted me to
do it. I didn’t have baggage with
Beckham. I didn’t know he had that
problem with the red card.”
Ah, the red card. On 30 June
1998, England played Argentina in
the World Cup. There was major
beef between the two nations.
Both countries were seeking
redemption. Beckham could have
become a national hero. Instead,
he became the most hated person
in England because of what
happened in the 47th minute.

In his documentary, Stevens
replays that moment in slo-mo.
Fouled by Diego Simeone,
Beckham, prone on the turf, kicks
out at the Argentina defender who
promptly collapses to the floor.
Stevens makes this the pivotal
moment in his drama of a sweet,
working-class, east London kid
whose dream was to stick the ball
in the proverbial onion bag for
Manchester United and England.
Instead, that kick got Beckham sent
off, and England were defeated.
Beckham was blamed for the
defeat. He received death threats
and was hanged in effigy outside
a pub. The Mirror splashed with
“10 Heroic Lions, One Stupid Boy”
and offered disappointed fans a

TOM JENKINS; NETFLIX; FREZZA LAFATA/REX; JAMES STACK

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

Beckham dartboard to vent their
fury. Bullets were sent to Beckham
in the post. Stevens’s film holds up
a mirror to this hate-drunk England.
“People think he’s this beautiful
guy, that everything was handed to
him. Not true. He worked his way
up and he could have been crushed
by 1998 – but he wasn’t. He’s one of
the strongest people I know.”
Did Beckham’s trial by media
resonate for you, I ask Stevens? In
the 90s and 00s, the Hollywood
star was written up as punching
above his romantic weight in the
press. He dated glamorous actors
including Michelle Pfeiffer. He was
pap-snapped with Sarah Jessica
Parker but denies dating her.
“I’ve never been through what
David and Victoria [his wife] went
through. I tried to put myself
in David’s head. I wanted the
audience to feel what he felt. I hope
that comes through.”
It does, but what also comes
through, unexpectedly, is a
profound contrast with his last
acting franchise. The world of
Succession finds its antithesis
here. Love and solidarity are
expendable commodities in
Succession’s backstabbing world.
In Beckham, they’re what enable
David to overcome the slings and
arrows. “He survived because of
his strong bond with his wife, the
love of his parents [kitchen fitter
Ted and hairdresser Sandra], how
Manchester and his teammates
stood up for him. And because of
Sir Alex Ferguson.”
Hold on. Fergie? But isn’t
the former Manchester United
manager an avatar of Succession’s
sociopathic Logan Roy? “You’ve
got him all wrong,” says Stevens.
“I was really scared to meet him.
But I came to love the guy.”
Stevens says he admires Fergie
because he protected Beckham from
hate. True, Fergie was alienated by
Posh and Becks’s celebrity lifestyle,
thinking it would distract Golden
Balls from his destiny – namely to
fill the Old Trafford trophy cabinet –
but he stood by his embattled man.
The players Stevens interviews
circled the wagons and protected
their teammate, too.
What Stevens didn’t realise
when he took the gig was what
a diverting cast of characters he
had at his disposal. Not just the
perma-surly Roy Keane, but French
philosopher Eric Cantona and Manc
motormouth turned wannabe
Labour MP Gary Neville.

Becks appeal
David with his
wife Victoria
in 2009; (left)
Fisher Stevens

And yet the most compelling
interviewee is Beckham’s nemesis
Simeone. Should Beckham have
been red carded? Stevens asks
Simeone a quarter of a century
after the fact. Absolutely not,
says Simeone, who concedes he
suckered the referee with his
overreaction. “You’re a good actor,”
says Stevens. “I want to put you in
my next movie.”
Stevens has a terrible secret.
He doesn’t support United, but
Liverpool. He supported Chelsea,
then Arsenal and now Liverpool.
Why Beckham didn’t fire him for
this disgrace is beyond me.
One reason is that the
documentary series, though
compelling, is hagiographic. It
ends in Miami with Beckham
having lured one of the world’s
greatest footballers, Lionel Messi,
to play for Inter Miami CF, the team
he co-owns. “He’s transformed
American soccer,” says Stevens.
But he could have ended the story
on a sourer note, say how Beckham
endorsed last year’s World Cup
in Qatar while receiving $15m a
year from the Gulf state’s tourist
board, despite its appalling human
rights record and treatment of the
LGBTQ+ community.
Stevens doesn’t roll that way.
His series celebrates how, cannily,
Beckham overcame the red card
setback, redeemed himself on the
pitch then parlayed his short-lived
professional career into lucrative
association with some of the
world’s most powerful brands.
“He’s a great businessman. Goodlooking, great taste in clothes and
furnishings. Kept his head on his
shoulders.” To be fair, Stevens is not
the first to be captivated at the court
of king David and queen Victoria.
Because of the Hollywood
writers’ strike, Stevens hasn’t
been able to take acting gigs. Not
that he hasn’t been busy. He’s
beaten Hodgkin’s lymphoma, had
two kids with his wife, the filmmaker Alexis Bloom whom he
married in 2017, and is currently
executive producing her upcoming
documentary about 60s It Girl
Anita Pallenberg.
Like Bloom, Stevens is devoting
himself for the foreseeable to
documentary-making. He is
producing a film about a Black
men’s club in New Orleans called
the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure
Club. “I used to hang out at this
club when I was filming there, was
blown away by it and asked if we
can make a film about it. It’s about
the experience of Black middleand upper middle-class men that
you never see.”
You’re missing a trick, I tell
Stevens as we wind up. You should
emulate fellow Hollywood star
Ryan Reynolds and buy up some
underperforming British football
club. You could do what Reynolds
did for Wrexham. Stevens demurs.
“Reynolds is a genius. I am not.
I wish I could take lessons from
Reynolds and Beckham. I’m
the only guy that could sell an
apartment in the West Village
and lose $100,000. So no, I don’t
think I’ll be buying a football club.
It’d be a disaster. In that sense,
I can’t relate to Beckham.”
Beckham is on Netflix from
Wednesday

Boiling Point
Take deep breaths, pop your statins – this
high-stress kitchen drama is TV at its finest
Joel Golby

I

f you watched the film
Boiling Point, well – sorry to
bring it up. You’re probably
still feeling the anxiety of
that one, aren’t you? Did
your heart start fluttering
again? All right, deep breath, deep
breath. You OK? Right, so if you saw
that film, you’ll know it was notable
for three reasons: one, that dizzying
logistical feat of the single camera
single take, a perfect choreography
of acting and directing; two, that it
was incredibly stressful throughout,
a hyper-realistic portrayal of how
the most normal night in the kitchen
of a high-standards restaurant can
make or break people in 90 minutes
flat; and three, an astounding
central performance from Stephen
Graham, because he’s incapable
of doing anything otherwise. A
wonderful film and a brilliant
achievement and one that I am in
no personal rush to watch again.
So how much do you fancy four
more hour-long episodes of that,
with the same cast and writerdirector team? You’re right to be
hesitant. But the series of Boiling
Point (BBC One, Sunday, 9pm) is
British TV at its very finest, and
deserves an hour of your week
where you expose yourself to
stress in exchange for drama.
The first episode starts with
another unbroken take, one that
forces you to put your phone down
and really watch. From there on,
you’re in. We meet the front- and
back-of-house teams, see some tiny
dramas that could easily snowball
into larger ones (a new starter is late
and inexperienced; two of the bar
staff are having an affair; a phone
keeps ringing; a temper flares; a
little bit of banter goes too far). All
of the emotional mise en place is

there. What’s particularly enjoyable
– beyond a brilliant script, a stacked
cast and the fact that it’s shot
beautifully – is watching for those
little moments that may turn bad,
like looking at a murder mystery
for hidden clues. That pan’s been
on too long, look! We haven’t seen
that character for a while. Hold
on, but that’s the wrong … Nope,
too late, it’s gone up to the pass.
Nailbiting stuff.
But “nailbiting”, “stress”,
“Stephen Graham doing that
thing where he shouts then
slumps against a wall and falls
into a dry, manly sob”: these are
not unwinding terms to describe
television, and to focus on the highwire stakes of Boiling Point – a show
where stress is a character as well
as a pulsing story engine – does a
disservice to how great and how
human these four episodes are.
There are wild mood swings,
hurt feelings and healed ones, tooclose friendships and a disaster
with the duck. There are missed
tickets and the clawing feeling of
falling behind, and there are quieter,
touching scenes of these people
at home, no longer shouting but
just silently coping. Boiling Point
is a very unafraid show – early
themes include casual hospitality
drug-taking, alcoholism and self-

Themes include
drug-taking
and self-harm –
a bit gritty for the
channel that makes
The One Show

harm, which is all a bit gritty for the
channel that still produces The One
Show – but it’s greater for it. You
really can’t look away.
Shall we talk about it? Go on,
then. This year saw the second,
hallowed season of The Bear, the
US stress-and-cooking show (which
also had an episode done in one
extended take). It’s strange that two
of the better shows of 2023 have
overlapping DNA, but to call Boiling
Point a British The Bear misses the
point of both. The Bear leans hard
on family connections, a more
cartoonish what-can-go-wrongthis-week propulsion, and largerthan-life caricatures that lend better
to moments of true comedy (Ebon
Moss-Bachrach’s Richie may be my
favourite character currently on TV).
Boiling Point has humour – heaps
of it, especially by Gary Lamont’s
Dean – but it’s more interpersonal
comment-as-you-pass-with-ahot-plate stuff than slapstick
laughs (nobody, for instance, has
to wrestle a big, inflatable hot dog
into a small car).
For the first half-episode of
Boiling Point, I was worried it might
have been too much dazzle and
not enough life: that opening shot
(don’t worry – the show soon drops
the “we’ve only got one camera”
shtick), the too-smart kitchen
banter, characters who serve as
roles rather than actual people. But
it quickly finds a working rhythm,
and by the end of episode two it
was so investing I – a very miserable
and hard-to-move person – almost
cried at one of the story twists.
I’d advise you to pop a handful
of statins and switch to a lowcholesterol spread before watching
it, but Boiling Point really is one of
the best things on TV this year.

WHAT’S ON Television
Monday
Pick of the day
Union With David Olusoga
9pm, BBC Two

post-traumatic stress while dogged
Australian cop Ashton remains
one step behind the ringleader.
Graeme Virtue

Sunday
Pick of the day
Strictly Come Dancing:
The Results
7.15pm, BBC One

Pick of the week

Boiling Point
Sunday, 9pm, BBC One

Saturday
Pick of the day
Black Snow
9pm, BBC Four

The twisty Aussie crime series
about the cold-case investigation of
the murder of 17-year-old Isabel in
a remote town returns with another
double bill. Charismatic detective
James Cormack continues to
interview the class of 1994 kids
from Isabel’s old school – some
are clearly telling fibs, while
others have no alibi. Then, vital
evidence about a local mill owner
comes to light. HR

Alan Carr’s Picture Slam
5.35pm, BBC One

This strangely inert shiny-floor
show continues to intersperse
double entendre-strewn banter
with the task of identifying
pictures and video clips under
pressure. Carr can do this stuff
in his sleep but the game itself
could do with more variety,
notwithstanding the decent cash
prizes on offer. Phil Harrison

The pressure is unbearably palpable in this fourpart sequel series to the 2021 film of the same name
about a chaotic restaurant kitchen (which is hard
not to compare to the recent hit The Bear – both a
compliment and a shame). It picks up with Carly
(Vinette Robinson) now running a restaurant with
the old team, while Andy (Stephen Graham) is
sitting at home depressed. Carly needs to impress
investors, but she’s also got her mum to look after,
and service goes into disarray when she has to race
home for a family emergency. Each episode is shot
in long, lingering takes and sizzles with tension.
After this week’s opener, you will never order
hollandaise sauce again. Hollie Richardson
Strictly Come Dancing
6.20pm, BBC One

Jaws dropped over what 78-yearold Angela Rippon did with her
ludicrously limber left leg last
week. But poor Les Dennis’s stiff
turn as a waiter in a cocktail bar
only earned him two points from
Craig Revel Horwood. Ahead of
Sunday’s elimination – the first in
the competition – it’s time to see
their second attempts. HR

A Royal Guide to: Animals
7.35pm, Channel 4

This week’s excuse for a regal
clipfest focuses on the Windsors’
furry, feathery and four-legged
friends, starting with the late
Queen’s corgis and the family’s
stable of top-class racehorses.
There’s also a guide to the royal
menagerie, which was founded in
the 13th century and once housed
a polar bear. Jack Seale

Blankety Blank
9.35pm, BBC One

Black Snow, Sat

Tune in for contestant Brian this
week, as the 76-year-old lollipop
man and West Brom supporter dons
a salmon pink suit. He’s delighted
to meet his football hero Jill Scott,
but will she be able to help him win
big money? Anthea Turner, Rob
Beckett and Layton Williams are
also there to fill in the blanks. HR

Bali 2002
10.45pm, ITV1

Union With David Olusoga, Mon

The sombre drama about the terror
bombings in Bali that killed 202
tourists and local people reaches
its conclusion. Survivors Polly
and Ni Luh are still struggling with

A Tina Turner-tastic group number
starring Beverley Knight, Laura
Mvula and Fleur East is the main
attraction in this week’s results
show. But the hoofers won’t be able
to concentrate as one couple must
go home after a tense dance-off.
Who’ll be left with tears running
down their spray-tanned faces and
who will live to twirl another week?
Hannah Verdier

Jamie Cooks the Mediterranean
8pm, Channel 4

The always absorbing David
Olusoga returns with a fascinating
four-parter about union and
disunion, to better understand
the history that “lies behind
the faultlines of contemporary
Britain”. He starts in the 17th
century, recalling the events that
led to the Act of 1707 which created
a new nation, Great Britain,
including James I of England’s
initial plan to unite with Scotland
and the rebellion of the Plantation
of Ulster scheme. HR

Musical Masterpieces
8pm, Sky Arts

Georges Bizet’s seductive and sultry
Carmen is the operatic masterpiece
being celebrated by Myleene Klass
and leading composer Errollyn
Wallen this week. There’s a
performance by Opera North, along
with a deep dive into its legacy
with Simon Callow, who directed
an award-winning production of
Carmen Jones in 1981. HR

The Long Shadow
9pm, ITV1

After mouthwatering research
trips to Greece, Tunisia and Spain,
Jamie Oliver wraps up his latest
book tie-in with a visit to the south
of France. In Marseille, he samples
fusion street food and a croissant
that broke TikTok, before setting
sail in the company of local chefs
to cook up a fishy feast on the
Mediterranean itself. GV

The superbly handled, if totally
grim, drama about the lives of Peter
Sutcliffe’s victims continues. When
Emily Jackson is murdered, her son
has to identify her body. It is only
after another murder and an attack
that police realise a serial killer is
at large – which leads to detective
Dennis Hoban being sidelined
from the case. HR

Mortimer & Whitehouse:
Gone Fishing
9pm, BBC Two

Endurance: Race to the Pole
With Ben Fogle
9pm, Channel 5

Sadly, it’s the penultimate episode
of the joyful angling series. The
comedians head out to Burgh
Island off the south coast of Devon
– where wrasse use their strong
gnashers to pull barnacles off rocks
in the shallow waters. After a day
out on the boat, they stay at a beach
house in which Agatha Christie
wrote her novels, and bump into a
familiar face. HR

Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins
9pm, Channel 4

Having taken the British public
for a load of chumps on I’m a
Celebrity, ex-health secretary Matt
Hancock is back for more reality TV
redemption. At least this time he’s
really working for it. As torrential
rain pounds down, the soft-bellied
celebs are tasked with searching
a series of CS gas-filled rooms.
Ellen E Jones

Fresh Cuts
10.40pm, ITV1

This Morning’s well-liked TV doctor
Zoe Williams kicks off this new
series marking Black History Month
with a documentary that also
celebrates 75 years of the NHS. She
recalls the history of Black doctors
in the health service, and meets
four of them who are shaking up
the world of medicine. HR

“How the hell did they do it?” Ben
Fogle and Dwayne Fields follow in
the footsteps of three South Pole
explorer heroes: Scott, Shackleton
and Amundsen. In the first episode,
they head to Antarctica and slip
into proper Edwardian gear to
start their terribly tough journey
– hopefully without scurvy and
coughing up blood. HR

Sandylands
10pm, BBC Two

This British seaside comedy about
a missing arcade owner initially
aired on Gold in 2020. The calibre
of its cast probably explains the
BBC’s decision to purchase it –
Hugh Bonneville, Sanjeev Bhaskar,
Simon Bird and Sophie Thompson
all star. The fact that the name
of the vanished entrepreneur is
Les Vegas also gives a decent guide
to the subtlety of its humour.
Alexi Duggins

Juice
10pm, BBC Three

Mawaan Rizwan’s sitcom feels like
a standard family comedy given
extra intrigue by its unapologetic
queerness and regular surreal
digressions. This week, Rizwan’s
Jamma has arranged for Guy
(Russell Tovey) to meet his parents.
Everyone seems content with this

JAMES STACK/BBC; ROBBIE GRAY/BBC; ITV

Endurance: Race to the
Pole With Ben Fogle, Mon

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

White Nanny, Black Child
10pm, Channel 5

Partygate, Tue
arrangement; in fact, the occasion
could only be derailed by Jamma
himself. Cue derailment. PH

Tuesday
Pick of the day
Partygate
9.30pm, Channel 4

“Shall I get the karaoke machine?”
asks the government’s former
ethics chief Helen MacNamara
(Charlotte Ritchie) in this sickening
and damning film about the 10
Downing Street parties held
during lockdowns. It weaves
dramatisations of events recorded
in the Sue Gray report with real
footage of what was going on
both publicly and privately, and
interviews with people whose
loved ones died alone and who
were fined thousands of pounds
for breaking the rules. HR

The Great British Bake Off
8pm, Channel 4

“The only memories I really have
of that place are living in fear.”
This moving and unsettling film
hears from nine of the 70,000
west Africans who were fostered
by white Brits between 1955
and 1995 – which was known as
“farming”. At a workshop retreat
under professional guidance, they
discuss their experiences. HR

Wednesday
Pick of the day
Payback
9pm, ITV1

Executive producer Jed Mercurio
delivers another same-but-different
crime thriller, this time following
a money laundering triangle in
Edinburgh. It follows Lexie (Morven
Christie), whose normal suburban
life is flipped when her husband
is stabbed to death in the street. It
turns out he was being monitored
by financial investigators for
working for a local crime lord. In
the first of six episodes, Lexie finds
her spouse’s burner phone. Will she
regret switching it on? HR

Portrait Artist of the Decade
8pm, Sky Arts

New dream duo Noel Fielding and
Alison Hammond get stuck into
biscuit week and the tasty trials
are taking no prisoners. There’s
a marshmallow-based signature
challenge and the chance for the
bakers to make their favourite meal
out of biscuits. HV

This special one-off is essentially
a flashy way for this profile of
budding artists to say: “We’ve
reached series 10!” Previous
winners head to London’s Battersea
Arts Centre to paint Judi Dench
for 90 minutes of impressive
brushwork and potted CVs – as
they update us on their careers
since we last saw them. AD

Rise of the Nazis: The Manhunt
9pm, BBC Two

Celebrity Race Across the World
9pm, BBC One

In this concluding episode, images
of Nazi war criminals enjoying
their freedom in South American
hideaways are almost unbearable
to see. Josef Mengele on a skiing
holiday. Klaus Barbie laughing with
friends over dinner. Mercifully,
that outrage is counterbalanced
by the heroism of people such as
Beate Klarsfeld determined to
bring justice at long last. EEJ

Killer in My Village
9pm, Sky Crime

Season seven of the UK true-crime
series examining rural murders
begins with an upsetting case
from 2022. A Derbyshire couple in
their 80s were targeted at home
by an opportunistic robber whose
coercion methods proved deadly;
the only positive in the whole
awful affair is how quickly he was
identified and apprehended. GV

As the teams reach halfway, it’s
a race from Corsica to Zermatt
in the Swiss Alps. Will McFly’s
Harry and mum Emma hold on to
their slim lead? Will Mel Blatt and
mum Helene manage to conserve
cash? And will meteorologist Alex
Beresford and dad Noel hurry up
and stop missing checkpoints? AD

DNA Family Secrets
9pm, BBC Two

Madison and Sydney are twins
who were conceived using IVF –
and now they’re calling on Stacey
Dooley to help them find the

Never Mind the Buzzcocks
9pm, Sky Max

Greg Davies, Daisy May Cooper,
Jamali Maddix and Noel Fielding
enjoy another cosy pop-based
panel game. Guesting this week
are Suggs with tales of celebrity
revenge, Katherine Ryan not
guessing any intros, and Talia Mar
giving the regulars an easy laugh
when her real name is revealed. JS

Moulin Rouge: Yes We Can-Can!
10pm, BBC Two

Artistic director Janet’s face drops
like a bag of bricks when dancer
Tooney tells her she’s decided to
quit the Moulin Rouge for a career
as … an estate agent back in the UK.
Meanwhile, new recruits Jen and
Erin join the troupe – but if they slip
up during the three-week probation
period, they get the boot. HR

Thursday
Pick of the day
A Dog Called Laura
9pm, ITV1

Martin Clunes is clearly struggling
with how best to spend his time
since Doc Martin ended. Fresh
from a Dorset travelogue with Mel
Giedroyc (he lives in Dorset, so there
wasn’t much actual travel involved),
here’s a documentary about guide
dogs. He’s about to adopt a retiring
animal, Laura, and so is helping her
last owner to find a replacement.
There are lots of cute dogs, so that’s
nice, at least. HR

Soldier
9pm, BBC One

Anyone who’s in the mood to watch
lots of men shouting can tune in
to this new five-part documentary
about the lives of new recruits at
the Infantry Training Centre in
Catterick, North Yorkshire. Their
first test? Survive a Q&A with their
new platoon commander. They then
must successfully complete the
gruelling six-month process. HR

Picasso: The Beauty and
the Beast
9pm, BBC Two

This finale of the three-part

Payback, Wed
documentary follows the great,
complex artist from the height of
his fame in Nazi-occupied Europe
to his twilight years, when his
creativity remained undimmed.
Along the way, hearts are broken,
children are discarded, and
when “Don Pablo” dies in 1973,
he leaves a legacy of tragedy and
confusion. EEJ

The Lovers
9pm, Sky Atlantic

Each lover has a big secret in the
penultimate episode of the antiromcom – and they both come
out during Janet’s visit to London
(which is, unsurprisingly, her
first time). Seamus has lied about
ending his relationship but Janet’s
revelation may just top that. HR

In Love and Toxic: Blue Therapy
10pm, E4

Proving just how moreish the flyon-the-wall therapy on TV format
is, this nosy new show originally
started life as a YouTube series. It
follows five Black couples as they
share the ins and outs and ups and
downs of their relationships with
gurus and life coaches – in front of
the camera. HR

Brassic
10pm, Sky Max

Joseph Gilgun and Danny
Brocklehurst’s lairy sitcom about
daft mates ducking and diving in
a dead-end northern town is an
acquired taste. But even five seasons
in, it is never predictable. This
week’s horseplay involves a secret
bunker, a truly shocking death, a
runaway hearse and a nightmarish
ventriloquist’s dummy. GV

Friday
Pick of the day
Ghosts
8.30pm, BBC One

Storyville: If the Streets
Were on Fire
10pm, BBC Four

In protest against knife crime,
activist Mac Ferrari-Guy set up
bike collective BikeStormz, which
unites young people to ride through
London – but they are challenged
with the threat of arrest and
accusations of antisocial behaviour.
This impassioned film follows them
over several years. HR

woman who donated her eggs to
their mother. Elsewhere, 77-yearold Anthony looks for the American
GI he believes was his father. HR

Ghosts, Fri

It’s time to say goodbye to Kitty,
Julian, Pat and the ghoulish gang,
as the last season of the smash-hit
sitcom begins. In the first of six
episodes (all available on iPlayer
now), Alison (Charlotte Ritchie)
and Mike (Kiell Smith-Bynoe) need
to find other ways to keep Button
House going after the gatehouse fire.
But – much to our entertainment –
Alison is far too distracted by trying
to pull an April Fools’ Day prank. HR

Gardeners’ World
9pm, BBC Two

It’s time for Monty Don to harvest
apples this week (all thoughts
immediately turn to crumble,
pudding and pie). He’s also
sharing his tips on what to do with
windfalls and planting a container
for winter insects. Elsewhere,
Adam Frost visits a garden designer
who has overcome extreme
weather conditions. HR

Billions
9pm, Sky Atlantic

As the final season of this drama
set in the amoral world of the ultrarich approaches its endgame, its
political dimension has made it
all the more chilling. Could the
appalling Michael Prince (Corey
Stoll) really become president? This
week, Chuck (Paul Giamatti) shows
how far he’ll go to stop that from
happening. Meanwhile, Wendy
spies an escape route. PH

Warrior
10pm, Sky Max

Wagons east! With their counterfeit
dosh attracting too much heat on
the streets of 1870s San Francisco,
the Hop Wei gang plan to strike
a deal with a rapacious German
mining operation further inland.
But can heroic hatchet man Ah
Sahm (Andrew Koji) turn a blind
eye to the exploited Chinese
workforce? Hell no. GV

Drift: Partners in Crime
10.10pm, Sky Atlantic

It’s the finale of the German thriller
about two reunited cop brothers
who uncover a conspiracy and
have to constantly evade bad guys,
usually by driving quickly. As
Ali (Ken Duken) and Leo (Fabian
Busch) come under suspicion, an
investigative journalist becomes
the target of a mafia assassin and a
grand showdown beckons. JS

The Graham Norton Show
10.40pm, BBC One

Elton John’s partner in pop,
Bernie Taupin, joins Norton for a
rare interview to discuss his new
memoir this week. They’re joined
by Top Boy’s Ashley Walters,
comedian Bill Bailey (about to
head off on a nationwide standup
tour) and soon-to-be West End
star Catherine Tate. French
popster Christine and the Queens
provides the music. HR

WHAT’S ON Streaming
Dear Mama
Disney+, from Sunday
Tupac Shakur is one of hip-hop’s
great enigmas: a gifted performer
who started off as a conscious, even
polemical rapper before succumbing
to the false empowerment of money
and murderous beefs. This ambiguity,
and his tragically early death, explains
why his story has proved irresistible
to documentary-makers. Dear Mama
is one of the best attempts, partly
because director Allen Hughes knew
Tupac personally, but mainly because
the narrative is framed as a homage to
the influence of Tupac’s mother, Black
Panther activist Afeni Shakur. On the
face of it, she was unsuccessful – but
was his reality even survivable? PH

Bargain
Paramount+,
from Thursday

This visceral Korean horror thriller starts dark and
only gets darker. The story begins with Joo Young
(Jeon Jong-seo) in a hotel room, negotiating with a
man who has offered $1,000 to take her virginity. But
is Joo Young all she seems? She leaves her predatory
punter in the shower and moves to another room,
full of women posting selfies online, seemingly
as bait. Then it’s time for business – suddenly, Joo
Young is an auctioneer and completely in control.
The man is now strapped to a gurney and his organs
are for sale to the highest bidder. Bargain reveals
itself a layer at a time, like a Russian doll of horror.
Before long, the hotel itself starts shaking and things
get wilder still. Quite a ride. Phil Harrison
Loki
Disney+, from Friday

Strip

Beckham

Lupin

Paramount+, from Sunday

Netflix, from Wednesday

Netflix, from Thursday

According to this documentary
series, there are 20,000 women
working as strippers in Las Vegas.
It’s a competitive world – “You’ve
got to be a shark,” says one woman,
“and I’m a great white.” For all
of the slo-mo shots of cascading
dollar bills, nothing about this
lifestyle seems remotely glamorous
or desirable; there’s precious little
camaraderie between the women
and the job itself is clearly hard
work. So while the voiceover might
claim that “in this town, stripping
ain’t a last resort”, Strip does a
good, if possibly inadvertent, job of
making it look as if it should be. PH

The build-up to last year’s World
Cup – during which he was taken
to task for his involvement
with the Qatari regime – was
David Beckham’s first serious
reputational hiccup since 1998.
This four-parter is the authorised
version of his story, so expect a
high-access version of his previous
ups and downs: the sublime skill,
the red card against Argentina, the
falling out with Alex Ferguson and,
of course, the celebrity marriage.
Alongside interviews with
Beckham, there are contributions
from Ferguson, Gary Neville and
Posh Spice herself. PH

Omar Sy’s impossibly charismatic
gentleman thief Assane Diop
returns for a welcome third season.
After causing his family nothing
but trouble in previous seasons,
he’s in hiding. However, he can’t
stay away for long – when he
returns to Paris, he comes bearing
a wild plan involving the theft of a
priceless pearl. As ever, the appeal
of Lupin lies in Sy’s performance
as a man driven by two opposing
forces: love and ego. His emotional
vulnerability undercuts his
criminal expertise perfectly,
making him both infuriating and
impossible not to like. PH

Tom Hiddleston’s time-slipping,
multiverse-hopping god is back.
As we return, he’s at the Time
Variance Authority, working with
Owen Wilson’s Mobius M Mobius
(who can’t remember ever meeting
him previously, so goodness knows
which timeline we’re in now). Loki
and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino)
have semi-reconciled. He’s almost
fitting in. And yet, as Loki explores
friendship, he realises more
than ever that he’ll always be an
outcast. A certain playfulness in the
writing and Hiddleston’s dashing
bewilderment in the lead keep
the show engaging. PH

Desperately Seeking
Soulmate
Prime Video, from Friday

This three-part series investigates
a particularly unusual online
cult – the Twin Flames Universe –
which claims to be able to match
each member to their soulmate.
Testimony from members describes
an organisation that encourages
relentless pursuit of ex-partners
and attempts to influence members’
sexual orientation and gender
identities. At the heart of the
universe are Jeff and Shaleia Divine
who have built their influence
(and business) and offer a startling
insight into the construction of
the virtual communities so many
people now inhabit. PH

PARAMOUNT+; FX

Pick of the week

Audio

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

Catchup TV
An hour of avian delight and
an old favourite bites back

Radio

ELLIE JO HILTON/BBC; MARY MCCARTNEY/PA

Lark Rise to Ambridge
Sun, 3pm, Radio 4

Hamza: Strictly Birds of Prey
BBC One/iPlayer
★★★★★

The Great British Bake Off
Channel 4
★★★★☆

Whoever booked Hamza Yassin
for Strictly last year should get a
bonus. Pure of heart and unlimited
in enthusiasm, the unassuming
wildlife cameraman is a pearl.
Here is his guide to Britain’s most
impressive raptors. Camera and
tripod over his shoulder, Yassin is
on a quest to show that his adopted
country is full of places where birds
of prey-spotters can find joy. First,
there’s more getting to know him,
and it is this introductory section
that provides the loveliest moments
of a programme that’s a solid hour
of lovely moments. Then it’s time to
look at some birds and, gradually,
a message about conservationism
emerges. “People are awesome.
Humanity is amazing!” he beams at
one point. Watching this stirringly
positive, wonderfully escapist film,
you can believe it. Jack Seale

Even though it has lost some of its
magic, Bake Off has never stopped
being a source of joy. Now, series
14 has wisely injected a lovable
jolt of energy in the form of Alison
Hammond, who presents alongside
Noel Fielding. She kicks off in her
distinctive Brummie accent by
announcing: “It’s cake week!”,
which makes for a upbeat start to
this new era. We move at breakneck
speed to introduce our 12 new
bakers, and if there is a criticism,
it’s that the bakers are too good.
Still, no Hollywood handshakes
are bestowed – instead, warmed
by Hammond’s sweetness, he
breaks tradition to give a nervous
contestant a reassuring hug. Though
the first episode’s challenges seem
a little too easy, the show’s vibes are
simply too good not to be engulfed
in. Bake Off is back! Leila Latif

The Long Shadow
ITV1/ITVX
★★★★☆

Who Killed Jill Dando?
Netflix
★★★☆☆

The Long Shadow shatters the
general rules of serial killer dramas.
More than any rendering of a
notorious case I can remember, this
take on the Peter Sutcliffe murders
properly focuses its attention on the
women who were killed. It is written
by George Kay (Hijack) and directed
by Lewis Arnold (Sherwood,
Time, Des), who consulted with
the victims’ families. The opening
episodes concentrate on presenting
Emily Jackson’s (Katherine Kelly)
situation, as dire financial straits
drive the embattled wife and
mother to sell sex, putting her
fatally in Sutcliffe’s sights. The
writing of the police investigation
is better than usual, too – we
understand how it went so wrong.
And we can better see how the
case’s descendant attitudes still
insidiously work against women
today. Lucy Mangan

Jill Dando was a TV journalist and
presenter who, on 26 April 1999,
was shot dead at her front door
in Fulham, west London, by an
unidentified assailant. This solid
documentary has been made with
the approval of Jill’s brother, Nigel,
who says he hopes it will lead to the
discovery of her killer. It assiduously
covers all the ground, from Jill’s
happy childhood in Weston-superMare to her TV career and death
at the age of 37. It evaluates all the
police theories and the rumours
that circulated: it was a Serbian
hitman; it was an enraged stalker;
it was someone jailed because of
Crimewatch. Noel “Razor” Smith,
a bank robber turned writer, tells
us that the final theory is the most
likely – and that the murderer’s
name circulates in the criminal
world. There we leave it, and on
must Nigel Dando’s hopes go. LM

The Venn diagram of listeners
of The Archers and fans of Flora
Thompson’s trilogy of novels, set in
rural England at the end of the 19th
century, must surely be a circle. This
unusual crossover therefore makes
sense: we join young Laura Timmins
(Beatrice White) as she grows up in
the Oxfordshire hamlet of Lark Rise,
dreaming of living in a more exciting
place such as, say, Candleford – but
the action is narrated in-character
by voices from The Archers. Offering
their takes on country life are Tracy
(Susie Riddell), Chelsea (Madeleine
Leslay), Jazzer (Ryan Kelly) and Neil
(Brian Hewlett). Jack Seale

Podcasts
Pick of the week

McCartney: A Life in Lyrics
Widely available, episodes weekly from Wed
Poet Paul Muldoon has had enviable access to Paul
McCartney, as the two collaborated on a book about
lyrics, so their podcast is delightful and detailed.
McCartney proves he’s one hell of a storyteller as he
describes the characters he’s created, revealing that
the US audience thought Penny Lane was about
selling puppies. With a huge back catalogue, there’s
plenty more to come, from Back in the USSR to
Eleanor Rigby and Live and Let Die. Hannah Verdier
Black Earth
Widely available, episodes weekly
The podcast that’s like a brilliant
ball of positivity and action is
back for season two, in which host
Marion Atieno Osieyo reimagines
the environmental movement with
the help of inspiring Black female
figures. First up is gardener, forager
and cook Poppy Okotcha, who
jumps straight in to examine her
relationship with nature. HV

Comfort Eating
Widely available, episodes weekly
Nadiya Hussain confesses her love
of Minstrels, Milton Keynes and
instant mashed potato topped
with cheesy tomato soup as this
Guardian podcast with Grace Dent
(pictured above right) returns for
series five. It’s the usual lively fun,
with plenty of engaging culinary
chatter. Alexi Duggins

The Real Sex Education
Widely available, episodes weekly
Inspired by the hit Netflix series,
the fifth season of this podcast –
which actually isn’t as anywhere as
awkward as it should be – is hosted
by sex therapist Cate Campbell and

her inquisitive son Diggory. They dig
into questions about, well, sex and
relationships, and start with “the
ick” – when you are suddenly turned
completely off by someone. The fact
they’re mother and son certainly
doesn’t stop them getting into the
nitty gritty. Hollie Richardson

The Today Podcast
BBC Sounds, episodes weekly
from Thu

One of the UK’s biggest radio news
shows gets a bespoke podcast. Nick
Robinson and Amol Rajan host this
show from BBC Radio 4’s Today,
promising behind-the-scenes
insights on how the programme
is made and deeper dives. Plus, a
slower pace that – less tantalisingly
– will see Robinson “take a breath
and kick off my shoes”. HV

Women Living With ADHD
Mon, 11.30am, BBC World Service

Attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder, or ADHD, has been
medically recognised since the early
1900s, and popularly associated
with naughty schoolboys ever since.
But what about the grown women
living with the condition? Presenter
Kim Chakanetsa brings together two
experts to talk through the issues:
Dr Kai Syng Tan from Singapore
calls for more conversation around
neurodiversity, while Zimbabwe’s
Dr Jane Sedgwick is on the frontline
of treatment. Ellen E Jones

Young Again
Tue, 11am, Radio 4

Kirstie Young’s (pictured above)
much anticipated new series finds
the former Desert Island Discs host
asking: “If you knew then what you
know now, what would you tell
your younger self?” She’s not afraid
to let her famous guests wander off,
talking about lessons they should
have learned from their parents,
past hairdos and proud moments
or mistakes. Her first guest is
supermodel Linda Evangelista, back
in the limelight after paradoxical
adipose hyperplasia (PAH) left
her, as she has said, “permanently
deformed”. Hannah Verdier

Best Medicine
Tue, 6.30pm, Radio 4

Comedy and medical science: not
an obvious combination but this
breezy panel series hosted by Kiri
Pritchard-McLean manages to pivot
between the two fairly successfully.
In this episode, biomedical
engineer Prof Eleanor Stride,
medical historian Dr Lindsey
Fitzharris and brain surgeon Prof
Mark Wilson trade gags with comic
Darren Harriott but also manage
to deliver bite-size chunks of
fascinating science. Phil Harrison

WHAT’S ON Film

The Bigamist
Wednesday, 12.25pm, Talking
Pictures TV

Fair Play
Name
of programme
Friday,channel
Netflix
Time,

A searing portrait of male entitlement, Chloe
Domont’s drama starts out as a sweet workplace
romance then shifts into increasingly traumatic
territory. Phoebe Dynevor’s Emily is secretly in a
relationship with Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), her less
talented colleague at a high-pressure US financial
firm. When she gets promoted to being his boss –
a position he assumed was his for the taking – their
bond begins to fray. The distance between them
increases scene by scene, as Luke tries, and fails,
to be more assertive at work while Emily struggles
to prove she isn’t a token hire. Sexism and victimshaming are dissected in an intense, thoughtprovoking film. Simon Wardell

Sport

Alien

Rugby Union World Cup
Argentina v Chile
Sat, 1.25pm, ITV1

Wednesday, 10.40pm, BBC One

Although its mystique has been
comprehensively trashed by
the many sequels and prequels,
Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi horror
is still one terrifically stylish,
terrifically big “boo” in space. It
helps that the futuristic visuals
hold up, with the creature and
extraterrestrial environments
realised in impressively creepy,
oozy fashion. And the uniformly
superb cast – not least Sigourney
Weaver in a star-making turn
as “final girl” Ripley – make the
crew’s warren-like spaceship feel
lived-in and dull … at least until
the rabid xenomorph picks them
off one by one. SW

Ali & Ava

Boiling Point

Local Hero

Saturday, 9pm, Film4

Sunday, 4pm, Film4

A day before its TV sequel
premieres on BBC One, here’s a
chance to see Philip Barantini’s
2021 feature. It’s a bravura oneshot drama, tense to the point of
combustion, centring on restaurant
head chef Andy (an exceptional
Stephen Graham). His problems
come to a head during one shift,
with his deputy Carly (Vinette
Robinson) barely holding things
together as Andy’s mistakes – along
with those made by other staff
and customers – threaten disaster.
Comparisons with The Bear are
inevitable, but this British original
really holds its own. SW

Bill Forsyth’s sweet-natured
drama comes across as a homage
to Powell and Pressburger’s I
Know Where I’m Going, in which a
slightly eccentric rural community
befuddles then bewitches a
metropolitan incomer. Here, the
visitor is Peter Riegert’s Mac,
a Texas oil firm minion sent to
buy a Scottish coastal village for
a prospective refinery. Forsyth
tempers the romanticism – some of
the villagers actually want to sell
up – but it’s hard not to join Mac
as he falls for the place, the slow
pace of life and, inevitably, Jenny
Seagrove’s marine scientist. SW

The foursomes matches begin
day two in Rome.

Fiji v Georgia is at 4.15pm, then
Scotland v Romania at 7.15pm.

Premier League Football
Tottenham v Liverpool
Sat, 5.30pm, Sky Sports Main
Event

Preceded by Aston Villa v Brighton
at 11am on TNT Sports 1.

Women’s Super League Football
Aston Villa v Man United
Sun, 12.15pm, BBC Two
The opening match of the season,
with England star Rachel Daly
(pictured above) up front for Villa.

Rugby Union World Cup
South Africa v Tonga
Sun, 7.15pm, ITV1

The Pool B match from Marseille.

World Championships
Gymnastics
Tue, 7pm, BBC Two

Sunday, 10.30pm, BBC Two

Clio Barnard’s understanding of the
ebbs and flows of working-class life
is given full rein in her exceptional,
Bradford-set romantic drama.
“Rough and ready” Ali (Adeel
Akhtar) is a landlord, separated
from but still living with his wife;
Ava (Claire Rushbrook) is a selfless
teaching assistant, widowed with
four kids – one of whom, Callum
(Shaun Thomas), has a new baby.
Their tentative courtship plays out
through music – he’s into hardcore
dance; she likes a bit of country
– and stolen moments in a strong
community that transcends the
sinkhole estate cliches. SW

Golf
Ryder Cup
Sat, 6am, Sky Sports Main Event

The men’s team final from Antwerp.

Champions League Football
Man United v Galatasaray
Tue, 7pm, TNT Sports 1

Lens v Arsenal is on TNT Sports 2.

The Fugitive
Friday, 10pm, Channel 5

One of Harrison Ford’s finest
hours, this propulsive reworking
of the 1960s TV series showcases
his A-list ability to combine
a believable character with a
mostly preposterous plot. He
plays Dr Richard Kimble, wrongly
accused of his wife’s murder at
home, who flees a prison van and
goes on the run to search for the
one-armed man responsible – in
the process uncovering a wider
conspiracy. Tommy Lee Jones
won an Oscar as the US marshal
on his tail and proves a steady
anchor for the action swirling
around him. SW

Champions League Football
RB Leipzig v Man City
Wed, 7.45pm, TNT Sports 1

Newcastle v PSG is on TNT Sports 2
at 7pm.

Cricket World Cup
England v New Zealand
Thu, 8.30am, Sky Sports Main
Event
The opening match in India.

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SERGEJ RADOVIC/NETFLIX

Pick of the week

As basically the only female director
working in Hollywood in the 1950s,
Ida Lupino is to be treasured – and
this is one of her most fascinating
dramas. Edmond O’Brien plays
the titular two-timing salesman,
in a childless marriage to Joan
Fontaine’s smart business type and
drawn to Lupino’s more available
waitress. With Fontaine’s character
getting a gender flip (she neglects
her spouse for work) and a nuanced
view of his illegal actions, it’s a film
that continually surprises. SW

Saturday

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

Strictly Come
Dancing, BBC One

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

6.15 CBeebies 6.35 CBBC 9.0
Gardeners’ World (T) (R)
10.0 Ice Age Giants (T) (R)
11.0 Sort Your Life Out With
Stacey Solomon (T) (R) 12.0
Britain’s Top Takeaways
(T) (R) 1.0 Recipes That
Made Me: Punjab (T) (R)
1.30 #Lilies of the Field
(Ralph Nelson, 1963) (T) 3.0
North America: Our Wild
Adventures (T) (R) 4.0 Fake
Or Fortune? (T) (R) 5.0 Flog
It! (T) 6.0 Dad’s Army (T) (R)
6.30 Saving Lives at Sea (T)
(R) 7.30 Celebrity Antiques
Road Trip (T) (R)

6.0

Love Your Garden (T) (R)
6.30 Love Your Weekend
With Alan Titchmarsh (T)
(R) 8.20 News (T) 8.25 Oti
Mabuse’s Breakfast Show (T)
9.25 James Martin’s Saturday
Morning (T) 11.35 Jason
Atherton’s Dubai Dishes (T)
12.35 Good Mood Food (T)
1.10 News and Weather (T)
1.25 Rugby World Cup 2023
Live (T) Argentina v Chile
(kick-off 2pm). 4.15 Rugby
World Cup 2023 Live (T) Fiji
v Georgia (kick-off 4.45pm).
7.0 News and Weather
(T) 7.05 Local News and
Weather (T)

6.20 The King of Queens (T) (R)
6.45 Cheers (T) (R) 7.35
The Simpsons (T) (R) 10.35
#Hotel for Dogs (Thor
Freudenthal, 2009) (T) 12.30
Live Super League Rugby
(T) St Helens v Warrington
Wolves (Kick-off 12.45pm).
3.0 Guy Martin: Supervan
(T) 3.35 Four in a Bed (T)
(R) 6.05 News (T) 6.35 The
Windsors: Secrets of the
Royal Tours (T) (R) 7.35 A
Royal Guide to: Animals (T)

6.0

8.35 Michael McIntyre’s The
Wheel (T) With Alex Jones,
Ellie Simmonds, Paddy
McGuinness, Ranvir Singh,
Rosie Ramsey, Seann Walsh
and Sue Perkins.
9.35 Blankety Blank (T) Bradley
Walsh hosts, with Jason
Watkins, Layton Williams,
Anthea Turner, Rob Beckett,
Nadia Jae and Jill Scott.

8.30 Golf: Ryder Cup Highlights
(T) Action from the
foursomes and fourballs
matches on day two of
the biennial competition
between Europe and USA,
held at Marco Simone Golf
and Country Club in Rome.

7.15

Rugby World Cup 2023 Live
(T) Scotland v Romania (kickoff 8pm). All the action from
the third and penultimate
Pool B encounter for both
sides, held at Stade PierreMauroy in Lille, France.
Mark Pougatch presents,
with analysis by Ian
McGeechan, John Barclay
and Jim Hamilton.

8.35 Britain’s Best Beach Huts
(T) (R) Jay Blades and Laura
Jackson visit luxurious huts
in Dorset and Margate.
9.35 #Kingsman: The Golden
Circle (Matthew Vaughn,
2017) (T) British agents
join forces with US spies to
bring down a femme fatale.
Comedy adventure, starring
Taron Egerton.

8.35 Andrew & Fergie’s
Unconventional Relationship
(T) Documentary charting
Prince Andrew and ex-wife
Sarah Ferguson’s history,
shining a light on their
unusual relationship.
9.35 Totally 1983: That Was the
Year That Was (T) A look
back at key events in TV, film,
showbusiness and politics.

Ray Mears’ Northern
Wilderness (T) (R) The story
of 19th-century surveyor
David Thompson.
9.0 Black Snow (T) Isabel’s
father Joe comes under
suspicion.
9.50 Black Snow (T) Cormack
investigates the link
between Ezekiel’s missing
cousins and Isabel’s murder.

10.10 News (T) Weather
10.30 Match of the Day (T)
Wolves v Man City and
Tottenham v Liverpool.
12.0 #The Witches of
Eastwick (George Miller,
1987) (T) Fantasy comedy,
starring Jack Nicholson,
Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer
and Susan Sarandon. 1.55
Weather (T) 2.0 News (T)

10.0 Smokey Robinson Live in
Hyde Park (T) (R) From
2013’s Festival in a Day.
11.0 Marvin Gaye: Live at
Montreux (T) (R) From 1980.
12.40 A Night of Wonder (T) (R)
1.45 #Scary Stories
to Tell in the Dark (André
Øvredal, 2019) (T) 3.25 Sign
Zone: The Woman in the Wall
(T) (R) 4.25 This Is BBC Two

10.25 News (T) Weather
10.45 Bali 2002 (T) Investigators
hunt for the mastermind
behind the bombings.
Last in the series.
11.45 EFL Highlights (T) (R)
1.10 The Chase (T) (R) 2.0
Starstruck (T) (R) 3.05 Bali
2002 (T) (R) 3.55 Unwind
With ITV (T) 5.10 Jason
Atherton’s Dubai Dishes (R)

12.20 #The Spy Who Dumped
Me (Susanna Fogel, 2018) (T)
Two friends are thrust into
an international conspiracy
when one of them discovers
her ex is really a secret agent.
Comedy, starring Mila Kunis
and Kate McKinnon. 2.30 The
Simpsons (T) (R) 3.20 Find
It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 3.30
Hollyoaks Omnibus (T) (R)

11.25 The Great Storm of ’87 (T)
(R) The story of the storm
that devastated the UK, but
was dismissed hours before
by weatherman Michael Fish.
1.0 Live Casino Show (T)
3.0 Friends (T) (R) 3.55
Tribal Teens (T) (R) 4.45
Wildlife SOS (T) (R) 5.10
House Busters (T) (R)
5.40 Milkshake!

10.45 Parkinson With Sir David
Attenborough, Nigella
Lawson and Eddie Izzard (R)
11.45 Parkinson: Hollywood Men
(T) (R) Film star interviews.
12.30 Yes Minister (T) (R) 1.0 The
Thick of It (T) (R) 1.30 Some
Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em (T) (R)
2.0 Ray Mears’ Northern
Wilderness (T) (R) 3.0 Lost
Land of the Tiger (T) (R)

Breakfast (T) 10.0 Saturday
Kitchen Live (T) 11.30
Nadiya’s Simple Spices (T)
(R) 12.0 Football Focus (T)
1.0 News (T) 1.10 Weather (T)
1.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 2.0
Money for Nothing (T) (R) 3.0
Escape to the Country (T) 4.0
Garden Rescue (T) (R) 4.30
Final Score (T) 5.15 News (T)
5.25 Regional News (T) 5.30
Weather (T) 5.35 Alan Carr’s
Picture Slam (T) 6.20 Strictly
Come Dancing (T)

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm EastEnders
7.30 EastEnders 8.0
!Pokémon Detective
Pikachu (2019) 9.35
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 10.05
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 10.35
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 11.05
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 11.35
Juice 11.55 Juice 12.20
Boot Dreams: Now Or
Never 1.20 Ballers: Ball
Or Nothing 1.50 Ballers:
Ball Or Nothing 2.20
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 2.50
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps 3.20
Two Pints of Lager and
a Packet of Crisps

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser
8.0 Rick Stein’s
Cornwall 8.30 Rick
Stein’s Cornwall 9.0
Train Truckers 10.0
Repair Lot 11.0 Storage
Hunters UK 11.30
Storage Hunters UK 12.0
Storage Hunters UK
12.30 Storage Hunters
UK 1.0 Red Dwarf 1.40
Red Dwarf 2.20 Would
I Lie to You? 3.0 Red
Bull Soapbox Race 4.0
Red Bull Soapbox Race
5.0 Red Bull Soapbox

Race: World’s Greatest
Moments 7.0 QI XL 8.0
Not Going Out 8.40
Not Going Out 9.20 Not
Going Out 10.0 Mock the
Week 10.35 Mock the
Week 11.20 QI 12.0 Have
I Got a Bit More 2018
News for You 1.0 Not
Going Out 1.40 Schitt’s
Creek 4.0 Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Don’t Tell the
Bride 6.55 Don’t Tell the
Bride 7.55 Modern Family
8.25 Modern Family
8.55 Modern Family
9.25 Modern Family 9.55
Young Sheldon 10.25
Young Sheldon 10.55
Young Sheldon 11.25
Young Sheldon 11.55
Young Sheldon 12.25
Young Sheldon 12.55
The Great British Bake
Off 2.30 !Kung
Fu Panda (2008) 4.15
The Big Bang Theory
4.40 The Big Bang
Theory 5.10 The Big
Bang Theory 5.40 The
Big Bang Theory 6.10
The Big Bang Theory
6.40 The Big Bang
Theory 7.10 !Men
in Black (1997) 9.0
Celebrity Gogglebox
10.0 Gogglebox 11.05
Gogglebox 12.05 First
Dates 1.10 First Dates
2.10 Celebrity Gogglebox
3.15 Gogglebox 4.10
Ramsay’s Hotel Hell 5.0
Ramsay’s Hotel Hell

BBC Four

Milkshake! 10.15
Entertainment News (T)
10.20 Friends (T) (R) 11.50
Columbo (T) (R) 1.20
#The Jewel of the Nile
(Lewis Teague, 1985) (T)
3.25 #The Man in the
Iron Mask (Randall Wallace,
1998) (T) 6.0 News (T) 6.05
Pompeii: The Discovery With
Dan Snow (T) (R) 7.35 Jersey
and Guernsey (T) (R)
7.0

Lost Land of the Tiger (T)
(R) An expedition aimed at
helping the survival of big
cats in the Himalayas.

8.0

Radio
Film4

11.0am !The
SpongeBob Movie:
Sponge Out of Water
(2015) 12.50 !Carry
on Constable (1960)
2.40 !Fantastic
Mr Fox (2009) 4.25
!The Adventures
of Tintin (2011) 6.45
!The Eagle (2011)
9.0 !Boiling Point
(2021) 10.55 !My
Friend Dahmer (2017)
1.05 !White Boy
Rick (2018)

ITV2

6.0am CITV: Craig of
the Creek 6.10 Teen
Titans Go! 6.50 Looney
Tunes Cartoons 7.45 Be
Cool, Scooby-Doo! 8.10
What’s New Scooby-Doo?
8.35 Scooby-Doo and
Guess Who? 9.0 World’s
Funniest Videos 9.35
Totally Bonkers Guinness
World Records 9.50 Love
Bites 11.50 Catchphrase
12.35 !The Mitchells
vs the Machines (2021)
2.45 !Turbo
(2013) 4.40 !Sing
(2016) 6.50 !Pitch
Perfect 2 (2015) 9.0
!Wedding Crashers
(2005) 11.25 Family Guy
11.55 Family Guy 12.25
American Dad! 1.20 The
Stand Up Sketch Show
1.55 The Stand Up Sketch
Show 2.25 CelebAbility
3.0 Teleshopping
5.0 CITV

Sky Max

6.0am The Flash 7.0 The
Flash 8.0 The Flash 9.0
The Flash 10.0 The Flash
11.0 Merlin 12.0 Merlin
1.0 Merlin 2.0 Merlin
3.0 Hawaii Five-0 4.0
Hawaii Five-0 5.0 Hawaii
Five-0 6.0 Hawaii Five-0
7.0 Hawaii Five-0 8.0
A Discovery of Witches
9.0 Never Mind the
Buzzcocks 9.45 Brassic
10.45 A League of Their
Own Road Trip: Loch
Ness to London 11.45
Warrior 12.55 The Force:
Manchester 2.0 The
Blacklist 3.0 Road Wars
4.0 Send in the Dogs

Sky Arts

6.0am Battle of the
Brass Bands 7.0 Cirque
Du Soleil: Nouvelle
Experience 8.30 Tales
of the Unexpected 9.0
Tales of the Unexpected
9.30 Tales of the
Unexpected 10.0 Tales

of the Unexpected 10.30
Tales of the Unexpected
11.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 11.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents
12.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 12.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents
1.0 !Sherlock
Holmes and the Woman
in Green (1945) 2.15
Johnny Cash: A Legend
in Concert 3.0 Musical
Masterpieces 4.0 Classic
Movies: The Story of Ran
5.0 Discovering Film
6.0 Beatles Stories 8.0
How the Beatles Changed
the World 10.20 Stuart
Sutcliffe: The Lost Beatle
11.40 !The Beatles:
Eight Days a Week – The
Touring Years (2016)
1.40 Classic Albums
2.45 The Doors: When
You’re Strange 4.30 The
Yardbirds: Music Icons
5.0 Discovering: Neil
Young 5.30 Discovering:
Crosby, Stills, Nash
& Young

Sky Atlantic

My Friend
Dahmer, Film4

6.0am Urban Secrets
8.55 Raised By Wolves
10.55 Quarry 2.30 Ray
Donovan 7.55 Game of
Thrones 9.0 Game of
Thrones 10.05 Game of
Thrones 11.10 Game of
Thrones 12.15 Game of
Thrones 1.20 Euphoria
2.25 Angels in America
3.35 In Treatment 4.05
Urban Secrets

Radio 3

7.0am Breakfast.
With Elizabeth Alker.
9.0 Record Review.
Marina Frolova-Walker
chooses her favourite
version of Schumann’s
Piano Quartet in E flat.
11.45 Music Matters.
Are cassettes making
a comeback? 12.30
This Classical Life.
Jess Gillam shares
music with soprano
Seljan Nasibli. (R) 1.0
Inside Music. With film
composer Christopher
Willis. 3.0 Sound of
Cinema. Matthew Sweet
is joined by composer
George Fenton. 4.0
Music Planet. Betto
Arcos reports from the
Petronio Alvaréz festival
in Colombia. 5.0 J to Z.
Mercury prize-winners
Ezra Collective from
Glastonbury 2023.
6.30 Opera on 3. Jules
Massenet’s Manon from
the Gran Teatre del Liceu,
Barcelona, with Amina
Edris (soprano: Manon),
Pene Pati (tenor: Le
Chevalier des Grieux),
Jarrett Ott (baritone:
Lescaut), Tomeu Bibiloni
(baritone: Monsieur de
Brétigny), Jean-Vincent
Blot (bass: Le Comte
des Grieux), conducted
by Marc Minkowski.
10.0 New Music Show
12.0 Freeness 1.0
Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am News and Papers
6.07 Ramblings. On the
coastal path between
Knockinaam Lodge and
Portpatrick in Dumfries
and Galloway. (R) 6.30
Farming Today This
Week 6.57 Weather 7.0
Today 9.0 Saturday
Live 10.0 You’re Dead
to Me. Greg Jenner, Dr
Vanessa Heggie and
comedian Darren Harriot
talk about Victorian
bodybuilding. (13/13)
10.30 My Dream
Dinner Party. Actor and
writer Simon Callow
in conversation with
his heroes. (2/3) 11.0
Reflections. Baroness
Amos talks to James
Naughtie. (R) 11.30 From
Our Own Correspondent
12.0 News 12.01 (LW)
Shipping Forecast 12.04
Money Box 12.30 The
News Quiz (R) 12.57
Weather 1.0 News 1.10
Any Questions? (R) 2.0
Any Answers? 2.45
Dementia: Unexpected
Stories of the Mind (R)
3.0 Brick Lane. Tanika
Gupta’s dramatisation
of Monica Ali’s novel.
(1/2) (R) 4.0 Weekend
Woman’s Hour 5.0
Saturday PM. 5.30
Political Thinking With
Nick Robinson (4/12)
5.54 Shipping Forecast
5.57 Weather 6.0 News
6.15 Loose Ends. Clive

Anderson and George
Egg are joined by Miriam
Margolyes, Beverley
Knight, Nick Frost and
Paul Sinha. With music
from Emily Breeze and
Beverley Knight. 7.0
Profile. The personality
of a person making the
headlines. 7.15 This
Cultural Life (8/13)
8.0 Archive on 4: How
the Yom Kippur War
Changed Everything, for
Everyone. The 1973 war
that lasted only 19 days
but changed the world
for ever. 9.0 Stone. By
Martin Jameson. (4/5)
(R) 9.45 Short Works.
Boy, by Clare Watson.
(R) 10.0 News 10.15
Screenshot (R) 11.0
Brain of Britain (R) 11.30
Uncanny. Danny Robins
investigates reports of
supernatural activity.
(1/12) 12.0 News 12.15
Stories in the Air (R)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.0 As World Service
5.20 Shipping Forecast
5.30 News Briefing
5.43 Bells on Sunday
5.45 Profile (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am A Day By the
Sea 7.30 LEL Omnibus
(1-5/5) 8.45 Uncle
Mort’s South Country
(3/5) 9.0 The Men
from the Ministry 9.30
Something to Shout
About (13/20) 10.0 The

Real Comedy Controllers:
The Things That Made Us
Laugh 11.0 A Day By the
Sea 12.30 LEL Omnibus
1.45 Uncle Mort’s South
Country (3/5) 2.0 The
Men from the Ministry
2.30 Something to
Shout About (13/20)
3.0 The Real Comedy
Controllers: The Things
That Made Us Laugh
(2) 4.0 Body Horror
(3/3) 4.45 Get Carter:
The Bloody Chamber
(3/5) 5.0 A Day By the
Sea 6.30 LEL Omnibus
7.45 Uncle Mort’s South
Country (3/5) 8.0 The
Men from the Ministry
8.30 Something to
Shout About (13/20)
9.0 The Real Comedy
Controllers: The Things
That Made Us Laugh
10.0 Comedy Club:
The Mitch Benn Music
Show (3/4) 10.30 John
Finnemore’s Souvenir
Programme (4/6) 11.0
Big Problems With Helen
Keen (2/4) 11.30 Seekers
(3/6) 12.0 The Man in
Black (3/5) 12.30 A
Short History of Gothic
(3/4) 1.0 A Day By the
Sea 2.30 LEL Omnibus
3.45 Uncle Mort’s South
Country (3/5) 4.0 The
Men from the Ministry
4.30 Something to
Shout About (13/20)
5.0 The Real Comedy
Controllers: The Things
That Made Us Laugh

Sunday
Fresh Cuts,
ITV1

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

Breakfast (T) 7.30 Match of
the Day (T) (R) 9.0 Sunday
(T) 10.0 Politics England (T)
10.30 Animal Park Summer
(T) (R) 11.15 Homes Under the
Hammer (T) (R) 12.15 Bargain
Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News (T)
1.15 Songs of Praise (T) 1.50
Points of View (T) 2.05
Money for Nothing (T) (R)
2.30 Escape to the Country
(T) (R) 3.30 #Early Man
(2018) (T) 4.50 The Mating
Game (T) (R) 5.50 News (T)
6.05 Regional News and
Weather (T) 6.15 Countryfile
(T) 7.15 Strictly Come
Dancing: The Results (T)

6.35 Countryfile (T) (R) 7.30
Breakfast (T) 9.0 Beechgrove
Garden (T) (R) 9.30
Landward (T) 10.0 Saturday
Kitchen Best Bites (T) 11.30
Rick Stein’s Seafood Odyssey
(T) (R) 12.0 The A to Z of TV
Cooking (T) (R) 12.15 MOTD
Live Women’s Super League
(T) Aston Villa v Man United
(kick-off 12.30pm). 2.45 This
Farming Life (T) (R) 3.45 Flog
It! (T) (R) 4.30 Celebrity Race
Across the World (T) (R) 5.30
Super League (T) 6.30 Inside
the Factory (T) (R) 7.30 Golf:
Ryder Cup Highlights (T)

6.0

Ainsley’s Food We Love
(T) (R) 6.30 James Martin’s
French Adventure (T) (R)
7.30 Ainsley’s Good Mood
Food (T) (R) 8.25 Simply
Raymond Blanc (T) (R)
9.25 News (T) 9.30 Love
Your Weekend With Alan
Titchmarsh (T) 11.30 James
Martin’s Saturday Morning
(T) (R) 1.40 News (T) 1.55
NFL Live (T) Atlanta Falcons
v Jacksonville Jaguars. 6.0
In for a Penny (T) (R) 6.30
Tipping Point: Best Ever
Finals (T) (R) 7.0 News and
Weather (T) 7.05 Local News
and Weather (T)

6.0

6.0

Antiques Roadshow (T)
Fiona Bruce presents the
show from Roundhay Park
in Leeds.
Boiling Point (T) New series.
Spin-off from the 2021 film
set in a restaurant, starring
Stephen Graham and Vinette
Robinson. It’s six months
later and Carly is now
running her own kitchen.

9.0

Mortimer & Whitehouse:
Gone Fishing (T) The friends
head to Burgh Island off
the south coast of Devon
to fish for wrasse, and Bob
kickstarts their trip with a
huge surprise for Paul.
9.30 Miriam Margolyes: Australia
Unmasked (T) (R) The actor
explores how class and
money impacts the “fair go”.

7.15

Rugby World Cup 2023 Live
(T) South Africa v Tonga
(Kick-off 8pm). All the action
from the Pool B match at
Stade de Marseille in France.
Mark Pougatch presents,
with analysis from Brian
O’Driscoll, Clive Woodward
and John Barclay.

8.0

10.30 #Ali & Ava (Clio Barnard,
2021) (T) Romantic drama,
starring Adeel Akhtar and
Claire Rushbrook.
12.0 #Mari (Georgia Parris,
2018) (T) Drama. 1.30
Sign Zone: Question Time
(T) (R) 2.30 The Following
Events Are Based on a Pack
of Lies (T) (R) 3.30 This Is
BBC Two (T)

10.25 News (T) Weather
10.40 Fresh Cuts (T) New series.
Dr Zoe Williams meets four
pioneering Black doctors.
11.40 The Savoy (T) (R)
12.45 EFL Highlights (T) (R) 2.0
The Chase (T) (R) 2.50
Motorsport UK (T) (R) 3.40
Unwind With ITV (T) 5.05
James Martin’s Spanish
Adventure (T) (R)

8.0

9.0

10.0 News (T)
10.25 Regional News (T) Weather
10.30 Match of the Day 2 (T)
Includes Nottingham Forest
v Brentford.
11.20 The Women’s Football Show
(T) Chelsea v Tottenham and
Aston Villa v Man United.
12.05 #Safe Haven (2013) (T)
1.50 Weather for the Week
Ahead (T) 1.55 News (T)

9.0

Cheers (T) (R) 6.50 The
King of Queens (T) (R) 7.40
The Simpsons (T) (R) 9.30
Sunday Brunch (T) 12.30
The Simpsons (T) (R) 1.30
#The Mask of Zorro
(Martin Campbell, 1998)
(T) 4.05 The Great British
Bake Off (T) (R) 5.35 A Lake
District Farm Shop (T) (R)
6.30 News (T) 7.0 Griff ’s
Canadian Adventure (T) (R)

Jamie Cooks the
Mediterranean (T) The cook
is in Marseille in the south
of France, where he makes
steak and chips with a local
twist. Last in the series.
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares
Wins (T) The celebrities face
a punishing search operation
through a series of rooms
filled with CS gas.

10.0 Gogglebox (T) (R)
12.0 Sex Rated (T) (R) 1.0
#The Burnt Orange
Heresy (Giuseppe Capotondi,
2019) (T) Action thriller. 2.40
Pete Doherty, Who Killed
My Son? (T) (R) 3.35 Come
Dine With Me (T) (R) 5.15 Tool
Club (T) (R) 5.25 Come Dine
With Me (T) (R) 5.50 Kirstie’s
House of Craft (T) (R)

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm EastEnders 7.30
EastEnders 8.0 Gavin
& Stacey 8.30 Gavin &
Stacey 9.0 The Fast and
the Farmer-ish 9.30 The
Fast and the Farmer-ish
10.0 !Stronger
(2017) 11.50 Man Like
Mobeen 12.10 Man
Like Mobeen 12.35
Juice 12.55 Juice 1.20
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
2.30 The Fast and the
Farmer-ish 3.0 The Fast
and the Farmer-ish 3.30
Man Like Mobeen

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser
8.0 Rick Stein’s
Cornwall 8.30 Rick
Stein’s Cornwall 9.0
Abandoned Engineering
10.0 Abandoned
Engineering 11.0 Top
Gear 12.0 Top Gear
1.0 Top Gear 2.0 Rick
Stein’s Cornwall 2.30
Rick Stein’s Cornwall
3.0 Gino’s Italian Escape
3.30 Gino’s Italian
Escape 4.0 Gino’s Italian
Escape 4.30 Gino’s
Italian Escape 5.0 Red
Bull Soapbox Race
6.0 Red Bull Soapbox
Race 7.0 Mortimer
& Whitehouse: Gone
Fishing 7.40 Cornwall
With Simon Reeve 8.40
QI 9.20 QI XL 10.0 Just

Jokes 11.0 Big Zuu’s Big
Eats 11.40 QI XL 12.20
Mock the Week 1.0 Red
Dwarf 1.40 Red Dwarf
2.15 Comedians Giving
Lectures 2.50 Outsiders
4.0 Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks
Omnibus 9.0 Rude(ish)
Tube Shorts 9.05
Ramsay’s Hotel Hell
10.0 Ramsay’s Hotel
Hell 11.0 Married at
First Sight UK 12.0
Married at First Sight
UK 1.05 Married at First
Sight UK 2.05 Married
at First Sight UK 3.25
!Kung Fu Panda 2
(2011) 5.15 The Big Bang
Theory 5.50 The Big
Bang Theory 6.20 The
Big Bang Theory 6.50
The Big Bang Theory
7.20 !Men in Black
II (2002) 9.0 !A
Quiet Place (2018)
10.50 Naked Attraction
11.50 Gogglebox
12.55 Gogglebox 2.0
Naked Attraction 3.0
Modern Family 3.25
Hollyoaks Omnibus

Film4

11.0am !Cutthroat
Island (1995) 1.25
!Mrs Doubtfire
(1993) 4.0 !Local
Hero (1983) 6.15
!Now You See
Me 2 (2016) 9.0
!Armageddon

8.0

9.0

BBC Four

Milkshake! 10.25
Entertainment News (T)
10.30 NFL End Zone (T)
11.0 Friends (T) (R) 12.25
Police Interceptors (T) (R)
1.30 #The Fugitive
(Andrew Davis, 1993) (T)
4.05 #Ocean’s Twelve
(Steven Soderbergh, 2004)
(T) 6.25 News (T) 6.30
When Holidays Go Horribly
Wrong (T)

Hotel Benidorm: Fun-Loving
Brits in the Sun (T) The air
conditioning malfunctions
at Hotel Benidorm Plaza.
Inheritance Wars: Who Gets
the Money? (T) A legal battle
that ended up in the House of
Commons, and a lord whose
Ming vase collection worth
£8m shattered the lives of
his children.

10.0 The Big Sex Scam (T)
10.55 #Sleeping With the
Enemy (Joseph Ruben,
1991) (T) Thriller.
1.0 Live Casino Show (T) 3.0
Celebrity Dogs Behaving
(Very) Badly (T) (R) 3.50
Tribal Teens (T) (R) 4.40
Wildlife SOS (T) (R) 5.05
House Busters (T) (R)
5.35 Milkshake!

7.0

David Tennant Remembers:
Hamlet (T) The actor looks
back on playing one of
Shakespeare’s greatest roles.

7.15

Hamlet (T) (R) David
Tennant reprises the title
role in Gregory Doran’s RSC’s
award-winning production of
Shakespeare’s tragedy from
2008, with Patrick Stewart
as Claudius and Penny
Downie as Gertrude.

10.20 Dame Janet Suzman
Remembers: The Wars of
the Roses (T)
10.35 The Wars of the Roses:
Henry VI (T) (R) The first part
of the RSC’s epic staging of
the Bard’s Wars of the Roses
plays from 1964, directed by
Peter Hall and John Barton.
1.20 The Shock of the New (T) (R)
Double bill.

Radio
(1998) 12.0 !The
Darkest Minds (2018)
2.05 !The Novice
(2021)

ITV2

6.0am CITV: Craig of
the Creek 6.10 Teen
Titans Go! 6.25 Teen
Titans Go! 6.40 Teen
Titans Go! 6.50 Looney
Tunes Cartoons 7.05
Looney Tunes Cartoons
7.15 Looney Tunes
Cartoons 7.30 Looney
Tunes Cartoons 7.45 Be
Cool, Scooby-Doo! 8.10
What’s New Scooby-Doo?
8.35 Scooby-Doo and
Guess Who? 9.0 Totally
Bonkers Guinness World
Records 9.35 Love Bites
10.35 Love Bites 11.40
Next Level Chef (USA)
12.40 Supermarket
Sweep 1.40 In for a
Penny 2.15 !Dr
Seuss’ The Lorax (2012)
4.05 !How to Train
Your Dragon 2 (2014)
6.10 !Despicable
Me 3 (2017) 8.0
!Shanghai Noon
(2000) 10.10 Family Guy
10.40 Family Guy 11.35
American Dad! 12.30
The Sex Lives of College
Girls 1.0 The Sex Lives
of College Girls 1.35 Iain
Stirling’s CelebAbility
2.25 Totally Bonkers
Guinness World Records
2.50 Unwind With
ITV 3.0 Teleshopping
5.0 CITV

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl 11.0
NCIS: Los Angeles 12.0
NCIS: Los Angeles 1.0
NCIS: Los Angeles 2.0
NCIS: Los Angeles 3.0
NCIS: Los Angeles 4.0
The Lionesses: A League
of Their Own Special
5.0 Merlin 6.0 Merlin
7.0 Merlin 8.0 Merlin
9.0 Rob & Romesh vs
Andy Murray 10.0 The
Blacklist 11.0 An Idiot
Abroad 2 12.0 Never
Mind the Buzzcocks
12.45 Road Wars 1.40
Road Wars 2.10 Stop,
Search, Seize 3.05 The
Force: Manchester 4.0
Send in the Dogs 5.0
Send in the Dogs

Sky Arts

6.0am André Rieu in
Dublin 8.30 Tales of the
Unexpected 9.0 Tales
of the Unexpected 9.30
Tales of the Unexpected
10.0 Tales of the

A Quiet Place, E4

Unexpected 10.30 Tales
of the Unexpected 11.0
The Joy of Painting 11.30
The Joy of Painting 12.0
Discovering Film 1.0
Musical Masterpieces
2.0 André Rieu: Love
in Maastricht 3.0 The
Movies 4.0 The Movies
5.0 The Shadows:
The Final Tour 8.0
!Sherlock Holmes
and the Woman in Green
(1945) 9.20 Classic
Movies: The Story of
Ran 10.20 Discovering
Film 11.20 Eric Clapton:
Concert By the Lake –
Band Du Lac 1.50 Bob
Dylan: Trouble No More
3.05 Brian Johnson’s A
Life on the Road 4.05
Video Killed the Radio
Star 4.30 Video Killed
the Radio Star 5.0
Discovering: The Cure

Sky Atlantic

6.0am Fish Town 7.0
Fish Town 8.0 Fish
Town 8.55 Fish Town
9.50 Quarry 10.55
Quarry 11.55 Quarry
12.55 Quarry 2.0 Quarry
3.30 Ray Donovan
4.35 Ray Donovan
5.35 Ray Donovan
6.45 Ray Donovan
7.55 Ray Donovan 9.0
Domina 10.05 Domina
11.15 Dreamland 11.45
Chernobyl 12.55 Tin Star
1.55 True Detective 3.0
Das Boot 4.05 Fish Town
5.05 Fish Town

Radio 3

7.0am Breakfast 9.0
Sunday Morning 12.0
Private Passions. With
Olivia Harrison. 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
Pianist Louis Lortie
performs Schubert
and Rachmaninov. (R)
2.0 The Early Music
Show. Lucie Skeaping
discovers 1300s poet
and composer Guillaume
de Machaut. 3.0 Choral
Evensong (R) 4.0 Jazz
Record Requests 5.0
The Listening Service.
Tom Service explains
why scordatura is so
significant. 5.30 Words
and Music: Writers
and the BBC (R) 6.45
Between the Ears.
A celebration of the
poet and painter Joe
Brainard and his most
influential piece of
writing, I Remember. 7.15
Sunday Feature: Here Be
Mermaids. Hetta Howes
examines the continuing
appeal of mermaids.
(R) 7.30 Drama on 3:
The Brummie Iliad. By
Roderick Smith. (R)
9.10 Record Review
Extra 11.30 Slow Radio:
A Journey Through
Ramallah. Palestinian
artist YA Z AN discovers
the soothing sounds of
his home town. 12.0
Classical Fix. With radio
presenter Nadia Jae.
12.30 Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am News 6.05
Something Understood.
Rabbi Julia Neuberger
explores the spiritual
and practical elements
of the sea. (R) 6.35
Natural Histories: Adder
(R) 6.57 Weather 7.0
News 7.0 Sunday Papers
7.10 Sunday 7.54 Radio 4
Appeal: United Response
7.57 Weather 8.0 News
8.0 Sunday Papers 8.10
Sunday Worship 8.48
A Point of View (R) 8.58
Tweet of the Day (R) 9.0
Broadcasting House 10.0
The Archers Omnibus
(R) 11.15 Desert Island
Discs. With comedian
Katherine Ryan. (3/15)
12.0 News 12.01 (LW)
Shipping Forecast 12.04
Paul Sinha’s Perfect
Pub Quiz (R) 12.30 The
Food Programme 12.57
Weather 1.0 The World
This Weekend 1.30
Bacteria: The Tiny Giants.
Tim Hayward explores
the world of bacteria.
(3/3) 2.0 Gardeners’
Question Time (R)
2.45 Opening Lines.
John Yorke unpacks the
themes behind Flora
Thompson’s Lark Rise
to Candleford. 3.0 Lark
Rise to Ambridge Katie
Hims’s dramatisation
of Flora Thompson’s
stories, with the cast of
The Archers. (1/2) 4.0
Bookclub. Bernardine

Evaristo discusses her
novel Mr Loverman. 4.30
Harvest. An exploration
of the changing nature of
harvests through poetry.
5.0 The Today Debate
(R) 5.40 Profile (R) 5.54
Shipping Forecast 5.57
Weather 6.0 News 6.15
Pick of the Week 7.0
The Archers 7.15 Funny
Women at 20. Jo Brand
presents highlights from
the 20th Funny Women
comedy award final. 7.45
Moving Mountains. By
Jan Carson. (2/5) 8.0
More Or Less (R) 8.30
Last Word (R) 9.0 Money
Box (R) 9.25 Radio 4
Appeal (R) 9.30 Loose
Ends (R) 9.59 Weather
10.0 The Westminster
Hour 11.0 The Moral
Maze (R) 12.0 News and
Weather 12.15 Thinking
Allowed (R) 12.45 Bells
on Sunday (R) 12.48
Shipping Forecast 1.0
As World Service 5.20
Shipping Forecast 5.30
News Briefing 5.43
Prayer for the Day 5.45
Farming Today 5.58
Tweet of the Day (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Poetry Extra:
The Poetry Editor 6.30
How to Find Home
Omnibus (6-10/10)
7.40 Inheritance Tracks
7.50 Madame Bovary
(1/10) 9.0 A Life of Bliss
9.30 Home to Roost

(4/6) 10.0 Desert Island
Discs Revisited 10.45
David Attenborough’s
Life Stories 11.0 Poetry
Extra: The Poetry Editor
11.30 How to Find
Home Omnibus 12.40
Inheritance Tracks 12.50
Madame Bovary (1/10)
2.0 A Life of Bliss 2.30
Home to Roost (4/6)
3.0 Desert Island Discs
Revisited 3.45 David
Attenborough’s Life
Stories 4.0 The Man in
Black (3/5) 4.30 A Short
History of Gothic (3/4)
5.0 Poetry Extra: The
Poetry Editor 5.30 How
to Find Home Omnibus
6.40 Inheritance Tracks
6.50 Madame Bovary
(1/10) 8.0 A Life of Bliss
8.30 Home to Roost
(4/6) 9.0 Desert Island
Discs Revisited 9.45
David Attenborough’s
Life Stories 10.0 Start/
Stop (1/6) 10.30 Chain
Reaction (6/6) 11.0
Andy Hamilton Sort of
Remembers (1/4) 11.30
Clayton Grange (1/4)
12.0 Poetry Extra: The
Poetry Editor 12.30 How
to Find Home Omnibus
1.40 Inheritance Tracks
1.50 Madame Bovary
(1/10) 3.0 A Life of Bliss
3.30 Home to Roost
(4/6) 4.0 Desert Island
Discs Revisited 4.45
David Attenborough’s
Life Stories 5.0 A Breath
of Fresh Air

Monday

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

The Long
Shadow,
ITV1

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

6.30 The Bidding Room (T) (R)
7.15 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) (R) 8.0 Sign
Zone: This Farming Life (T)
(R) 9.0 Nicky Campbell (T)
10.0 News (T) 12.15 Politics
Live (T) 1.0 Impossible (T) (R)
1.45 Politics Live Conference
2023 (T) 3.0 Murder,
Mystery and My Family (T)
(R) 3.45 Great Canadian
Railway Journeys (T) (R) 4.15
Serengeti II (T) (R) 5.15 Flog
It! (T) 6.0 House of Games
(T) 6.30 Strictly: It Takes
Two (T) 7.0 Wild Summer (T)
7.30 Mastermind (T)

6.0

6.05 Countdown (T) (R) 6.45
Cheers (T) (R) 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.25
Frasier (T) (R) 9.55 Chateau
DIY (T) (R) 10.55 George
Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
(T) (R) 11.55 News (T) 12.0
Steph’s Packed Lunch (T)
2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A
Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0
The Great House Giveaway
(T) 5.0 A New Life in the Sun
(T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T)
6.30 The Simpsons (T) (R)
7.0 News (T)

6.0

Garden Rescue (T) (R) Charlie
Dimmock and Lee Burkhill
create a garden in Corby.
8.30 Scarlett’s Driving School
(T) Scarlett Moffatt meets
19-year-old care worker
Mac who, after two years of
non-stop learning, is yet to
take his test.
9.0 Panorama (T) Special edition
of the current affairs series.

8.0 Only Connect (T)
8.30 University Challenge (T)
Bangor University takes on
the University of Edinburgh.
9.0 Union With David Olusoga
(T) New series. The historian
examines the relationship
between the UK’s countries,
beginning with attempts to
form a united Britain in the
17th and 18th centuries.

8.0

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.40 %The Exorcist (William
Friedkin, 1973) (T) Horror,
starring Linda Blair, Jason
Miller, Ellen Burstyn and
Max von Sydow.
12.35 The Graham Norton Show (T)
(R) 1.25 Alan Carr’s Picture
Slam (T) (R) 2.10 Weather (T)
2.15 News (T)

10.0 Sandylands (T) Les Vegas is
alive, and Emily becomes his
unwilling partner in crime.
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.15 %Selma (Ava DuVernay,
2014) (T) Fact-based drama,
starring David Oyelowo.
1.15 Sign Zone Countryfile (T)
(R) 2.10 Ambulance (T) (R)
3.10 Mrs Brown’s Boys (T) (R)
3.40 This Is BBC Two (T)

10.0 News (T) Weather
10.30 Local News (T) Weather
10.45 Peston (T) Political chat.
11.40 Hotel Custody (T) (R) The
work of officers at a state-ofthe-art custody centre.
12.30 All Elite Wrestling (T) (R)
2.15 Tipping Point (T) (R)
3.0 Fresh Cuts (T) (R) 3.50
Unwind With ITV (T) 5.05
Tenable (T) (R)

Breakfast (T) 9.15 Rip Off
Britain (T) 10.0 Crimewatch
Live (T) 10.45 Claimed and
Shamed (T) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (T) (R)
12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) 1.0
News (T) 1.30 Regional News
and Weather (T) 1.45 Doctors
(T) 2.15 Money for Nothing
(T) 3.0 Escape to the Country
(T) 3.45 The Bidding Room
(T) 4.30 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) 5.15 Pointless
(T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30
Regional News and Weather
(T) 7.0 The One Show (T)
7.30 EastEnders (T)

8.0

9.0

Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News and
Weather (T) 1.55 Local
News and Weather (T)
2.0 James Martin’s Great
British Adventure (T) (R) 3.0
Tenable (T) 4.0 Tipping Point
(T) 5.0 The Chase (T) 6.0
Local News and Weather (T)
6.30 News and Weather (T)
7.30 Emmerdale (T)

Coronation Street (T) Paul
shocks Billy by revealing a
secret on their wedding day.
The Long Shadow (T)
The Jacksons receive the
devastating news that
Emily has been murdered,
and Neil accompanies his
father to the mortuary to
face the terrible duty of
identifying his mother.

8.0

9.0

Jimmy Doherty’s New
Zealand Escape (T) The
presenter helps to bring in
a harvest of sea clams then
visits a vineyard where birds
of prey protect the grapes
from scavengers.
999: On the Front Line (T)
(R) Paramedics on the night
shift find a woman collapsed
on the floor.

10.0 The Kidnap of Angel Lynn (T)
(R) Crime documentary.
11.05 My Name Is Happy (T)
12.35 The Great British Bake Off:
An Extra Slice (T) (R) 1.35
24 Hours in A&E (T) (R) 2.30
Kitchen Nightmares USA
(T) (R) 3.15 The Duchess and
Her Magical Kingdom (T)
(R) 4.10 The Great Pottery
Throw Down (T) (R)

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm Top Gear 7.55
The Catch Up 8.0 Queen
of Trucks 8.30 Gavin
& Stacey 9.0 Daisy
Maskell: Insomnia and
Me 10.0 Juice 10.25
Juice 10.55 The Bold
Type 11.35 RuPaul’s Drag
Race UK 12.45 The After
Shave With Danny Beard
1.0 Juice 1.25 Juice
1.50 Gavin & Stacey
2.50 Daisy Maskell:
Insomnia and Me

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser 8.0
Border Force: America’s
Gatekeepers 9.0 Special
Ops: Crime Squad UK
10.0 Railroad Australia
11.0 Rick Stein’s India
12.0 Ultimate Movers 1.0
Repair Lot 2.0 Top Gear
3.0 Top Gear 4.0 Rick
Stein’s Mediterranean
Escapes 5.0 Rick Stein’s
India 6.0 Pointless 7.0
Richard Osman’s House
of Games 7.40 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
8.20 Would I Lie to You?
9.0 QI 10.0 Big Zuu’s
Big Eats 10.45 Mock
the Week 11.25 QI XL
12.0 QI XL 1.0 Mock the
Week 1.40 Would I Lie
to You? 2.20 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
2.50 Outsiders 4.0
Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks 6.30
Hollyoaks 7.0 Don’t Tell
the Bride 8.0 Melissa &
Joey 8.30 Melissa & Joey
9.0 Brooklyn Nine-Nine
9.30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine
10.0 The Big Bang
Theory 10.30 The Big
Bang Theory 11.0 Modern
Family 11.30 Modern
Family 12.0 The Big Bang
Theory 12.30 The Big
Bang Theory 1.0 The Big
Bang Theory 1.30 The
Big Bang Theory 2.0
The Goldbergs 2.30 The
Goldbergs 3.0 Modern
Family 3.30 Modern
Family 4.0 Teen First
Dates 5.0 The Big Bang
Theory 7.0 Hollyoaks
7.30 Young Sheldon
8.0 Modern Family 9.0
Married at First Sight UK
10.0 Sam Thompson: Is
This ADHD? 11.05 Big
Boys 11.40 Big Boys
12.10 Gogglebox 1.15
First Dates 2.15 Married
at First Sight UK 3.10
Gogglebox 4.0 Brooklyn
Nine-Nine 4.30 Brooklyn
Nine-Nine 4.55 Black-ish
5.20 Black-ish

Film4

11.0am "The War
Lover (1962) 1.10
"Appointment
With Danger (1950) 3.0
"Ten Wanted Men
(1955) 4.40 "O.S.S
(1946) 6.50 "Maid
in Manhattan (2002)

8.0
9.0

BBC Four

Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine
(T) 11.15 Storm Huntley (T)
12.40 Alexis Conran (T) 1.40
News (T) 1.45 Home and
Away (T) (R) 2.15 %The
Man With My Husband’s
Face (Danny J Boyle, 2023)
(T) 4.0 Bargain-Loving Brits
in the Sun (T) 5.0 News (T)
6.0 Dogs Behaving (Very)
Badly (T) (R) 7.0 Motorway
Cops: Catching Britain’s
Speeders (T) (R)

The Motorway (T) A head-on
collision at rush hour brings
the M66 to a standstill.
Endurance: Race to the Pole
With Ben Fogle (T) New
series. The presenter joins
explorer Dwayne Fields to
recreate the trials faced
by the expeditions to the
South Pole at the beginning
of the 20th century.

10.0 Casualty 24/7: Every Second
Counts (T) (R) A 58-year-old
woman is rushed to A&E
struggling to breathe.
11.05 Ambulance: Code Red (T) (R)
12.05 Police Interceptors (T) (R)
1.0 Live NFL: Monday Night
Football (T) 4.40 Wildlife
SOS (T) (R) 5.05 House
Busters (T) (R) 5.40 Peppa
Pig (T) 5.45 Paw Patrol (T)

7.0

Life (T) (R) The challenges
facing birds.

8.0

Leonora Carrington: The
Lost Surrealist (T) (R) Profile
of the English surrealist
artist who was a key figure
in the movement’s heyday
in 1930s Paris.
Andy Warhol’s America (T)
(R) Documentary looking at
the history of the US in the
20th century through the
career of Andy Warhol.

9.0

10.0 Timewatch: The Gunpowder
Plot (T) (R) An investigation
into the Gunpowder Plot.
10.50 The Story of Ireland (T) (R)
With Fergal Keane.
11.50 David Hockney: The Art of
Seeing (T) (R)
12.50 Scene By Scene: Janet
Leigh (T) (R) 1.40 The Lost
Surrealist (T) (R) 2.40 Andy
Warhol’s America (T) (R)

Radio
9.0 "Bohemian
Rhapsody (2018)
11.45 "Ghost in
the Shell (2017) 1.50
"The Secret of
Marrowbone (2017)

ITV2

6.0am CITV: Craig of the
Creek 6.10 Teen Titans
Go! 6.25 Teen Titans
Go! 6.40 Teen Titans
Go! 6.50 Looney Tunes
Cartoons 7.05 Looney
Tunes Cartoons 7.20
Jurassic World Camp
Cretaceous 7.45 Be
Cool, Scooby-Doo! 8.10
What’s New Scooby-Doo?
8.35 Scooby-Doo and
Guess Who? 9.10 One
Tree Hill 10.0 Dawson’s
Creek 11.0 Dress to
Impress 12.0 Dinner
Date 1.0 Family Fortunes
2.0 Chuck 3.05 One
Tree Hill 4.0 Dawson’s
Creek 5.0 Dinner
Date 6.0 Celebrity
Catchphrase 7.0 Ninja
Warrior UK: Race for
Glory 8.0 Superstore
8.30 Superstore 9.0
Family Guy 9.30
American Dad! 10.0
American Dad! 10.30
Family Guy 11.0 Family
Guy 11.30 American
Dad! 12.0 Superstore
12.30 Superstore 1.0
CelebAbility 1.45 Totally
Bonkers Guinness
World Records 2.35
Unwind With ITV 3.0
Teleshopping 5.0 CITV

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl
7.0 DC’s Legends of
Tomorrow 8.0 The Flash
9.0 Stargate SG-1 11.0
Supergirl 12.0 The Flash
1.0 NCIS: Los Angeles
3.0 Hawaii Five-0
4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 DC’s
Legends of Tomorrow
6.0 Stargate SG-1 8.0
There’s Something About
Movies 9.0 Never Mind
the Buzzcocks 9.45
Brassic 10.45 Fantasy
Island 12.45 Cobra:
Cyberwar 1.40 Road
Wars 2.10 Stop, Search,
Seize 3.05 Hawaii
Five-0 4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0
Highway Patrol

Sky Arts

6.0am Beethoven: The
Complete Symphonies
6.45 Andrea Bocelli: The
Journey 8.0 The Joy of
Painting 9.0 Tales of the
Unexpected 10.0 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents

Insomnia and
Me, BBC Three

11.0 Discovering: Diane
Keaton 12.0 The Joy
of Painting 1.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 2.0 Art
Traffickers: Treasures
Stolen from the Tombs
3.0 Boswell & Johnson’s
Scottish Road Trip 4.0
Discovering: Morgan
Freeman 5.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 5.30
Tales of the Unexpected
6.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 6.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents 7.0
The Joy of Painting 7.30
The Joy of Painting 8.0
Musical Masterpieces
9.0 André Rieu: Dancing
Through the Skies
11.0 Classic FM Rising
Stars With Julian Lloyd
Webber 2022 12.0 How
the Beatles Changed
the World 2.20 Sissy
Spacek: Off Camera 3.40
National Trust: National
Treasures 5.0 The South
Bank Show

Sky Atlantic

6.0am Fish Town 7.55
Six Feet Under 10.05
Ray Donovan 12.15
Game of Thrones 1.25
Your Honor 3.35 Six
Feet Under 5.40 Ray
Donovan 7.55 Game of
Thrones 9.0 Chernobyl
10.10 The Lovers 10.50
Euphoria 12.0 Angels
in America 1.20 Billions
2.30 Game of Thrones
3.35 In Treatment
4.05 Fish Town

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast 9.0
Essential Classics 12.0
Composer of the Week:
José Garcia (1/5) 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
Live from Wigmore Hall,
violinist Tai Murray and
pianist Silke Avenhaus
play Elgar’s Violin
Sonata, Szymanowski’s
Myths and Derrick
Skye’s Duet for Any
Two Instruments. 2.0
Afternoon Concert.
Music from the NDR
Philharmonic Orchestra
in Germany, as well as
repertoire celebrating
Black History Month
with the BBC Singers,
directed by Sofi Jeannin.
4.30 New Generation
Artists. Mezzo-soprano
Helen Charlston in
Mendelssohn and
Schubert. 5.0 In Tune
7.0 Classical Mixtape
7.30 In Concert. Daniel
Harding conducts the
Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra in Rick van
Veldhuizen’s Mais le
corps taché d’ombres and
Mahler’s Symphony No 9
in D. 10.0 Music Matters
(R) 10.45 The Essay:
Rainsong in Five Senses.
Nandini Das examines
rain in different cultures
across the globe, starting
in India. (R) 11.0 Night
Tracks. With Sara MohrPietsch and Hannah Peel.
12.30 Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am Today 9.0 Start
the Week. Emily Wilson,
Mary Beard and Ben
Riley-Smith discuss the
battle for power and
the right to rule. 9.45
(LW) Daily Service 9.45
(FM) Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke.
(1/5) 10.0 Woman’s
Hour 11.0 The Gift.
Extraordinary truths that
emerge when people
take at-home DNA tests.
(4/7) 11.30 The Bottom
Line (R) 12.0 News
12.01 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 12.04 You and
Yours 12.57 Weather
1.0 The World at One
1.45 Uncharted With
Hannah Fry. What is the
shape of happiness? Two
economists have found
a surprising pattern:
happiness is U-shaped.
(6/10) 2.0 The Archers
2.15 This Cultural Life
(R) 3.0 Brain of Britain
(8/17) 3.30 The Food
Programme (R) 4.0
History’s Secret Heroes:
Bela Hazan and the
Jewish Resistance (R)
4.30 Beyond Belief 5.0
PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 5.57 Weather
6.0 News 6.30 Paul
Sinha’s Perfect Pub Quiz
(5/10) 7.0 The Archers
7.15 Front Row 8.0
Redeeming Ricky. Exoffender Ricky Gleeson

shares his story. 8.30
Analysis. Examination of
the ideas and forces that
shape public policy. (1/8)
9.0 The Archbishop
Interviews. With the
former head of the Met
Police Cressida Dick. (R)
9.30 Start the Week (R)
9.59 Weather 10.0 The
World Tonight 10.45
Book at Bedtime: Rizzio.
By Denise Mina. (1/5)
11.0 Sound Towns. The
story of Warp Records
and the origin of the
distinctive Sheffield
sound. (R) 11.30 Three
Faces of WH Auden (R)
12.0 News and Weather
12.30 Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke. (R)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.0 As World Service
5.20 Shipping Forecast
5.30 News 5.43 Prayer
for the Day 5.45 Farming
Today 5.58 Tweet of the
Day: Coal Tit (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Project Raphael
(1/3) 6.30 The Hot
Kid (1/4) 7.0 Ricky
(1/5) 7.15 Madame
Bovary (6/10) 7.30
Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary
Sandwich Bar (3/4) 8.0
Steptoe and Son (1/8)
8.30 Semi Circles (3/6)
9.0 It’s Your Round (3/6)
9.30 Snap (1/6) 10.0 A
Breath of Fresh Air 11.0
Project Raphael (1/3)

11.30 The Hot Kid (1/4)
12.0 Ricky (1/5) 12.15
Madame Bovary (6/10)
12.30 Alexei Sayle’s
Imaginary Sandwich Bar
(3/4) 1.0 Steptoe and
Son (1/8) 1.30 Semi
Circles (3/6) 2.0 It’s
Your Round (3/6) 2.30
Snap (1/6) 3.0 A Breath
of Fresh Air 4.0 Project
Raphael (1/3) 4.30 The
Hot Kid (1/4) 5.0 Ricky
(1/5) 5.15 Madame
Bovary (6/10) 5.30
Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary
Sandwich Bar (3/4) 6.0
Steptoe and Son (1/8)
6.30 Semi Circles (3/6)
7.0 It’s Your Round
(3/6) 7.30 Snap (1/6)
8.0 Radiolab (5/8) 8.55
Inheritance Tracks 9.0
Mastertapes (11/12)
9.30 Soho Nights (1/5)
10.0 Comedy Club: Paul
Sinha’s Perfect Pub Quiz
(4/10) 10.30 Small
Scenes (4/4) 11.0 The
News Quiz (4/8) 11.30
Lee and Herring’s Fist of
Fun (5/6) 12.0 A Breath
of Fresh Air 1.0 Project
Raphael (1/3) 1.30 The
Hot Kid (1/4) 2.0 Ricky
(1/5) 2.15 Madame
Bovary (6/10) 2.30
Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary
Sandwich Bar (3/4) 3.0
Steptoe and Son (1/8)
3.30 Semi Circles (3/6)
4.0 It’s Your Round
(3/6) 4.30 Snap (1/6)
5.0 Baldi (1/6) 5.45
Short Works

Tuesday
Storyville: If the Streets
Were on Fire,
BBC Four

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

Breakfast (T) 9.15 Rip Off
Britain (T) 10.0 Crimewatch
Live (T) 10.45 Claimed and
Shamed (T) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (T) 12.15
Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News
(T) 1.30 Regional News and
Weather (T) 1.45 Doctors (T)
2.15 Money for Nothing (T)
(R) 3.0 Escape to the Country
(T) 3.45 The Bidding Room
(T) (R) 4.30 The Vintage
French Farmhouse (T) 5.15
Pointless (T) (R) 6.0 News
(T) 6.30 Regional News and
Weather (T) 7.0 The One
Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T)

6.30 The Bidding Room (T)
7.15 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) (R) 8.0 Sign
Zone: Expert Witness (T)
8.30 Weekend Escapes (T)
9.0 Nicky Campbell (T) 10.0
News (T) 12.15 Politics Live
(T) 1.0 Impossible (T) 1.45
Eggheads (T) 2.15 Wanted
Down Under (T) 3.0 Murder,
Mystery and My Family
(T) 3.45 Great Canadian
Railway Journeys (T) 4.15
Serengeti II (T) 5.15 Flog It!
(T) 6.0 House of Games (T)
6.30 Strictly: It Takes Two
(T) 7.0 Gymnastics: World
Championships (T)

6.0

6.05 Countdown (T) (R) 6.45
Cheers (T) (R) 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.25
Frasier (T) (R) 9.55 Chateau
DIY (T) (R) 10.55 George
Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
(T) (R) 11.55 News (T) 12.0
Steph’s Packed Lunch (T)
2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A
Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0
The Great House Giveaway
(T) 5.0 A New Life in the Sun
(T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T)
6.30 The Simpsons (T) (R)
7.0 News (T)

6.0

Fake Or Fortune? (T) Glyn
Hopkin believes he may
have bought a painting by
Joshua Reynolds.
DIY SOS: The Big Build (T)
(R) The team help build a
community centre in Stoke,
part of a charity set up by
a local family to tackle
poverty, isolation and
mental health problems.

8.0

8.0

8.0

9.0

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.40 Juice (T) (R) Jamma tries to
keep Winnie and Guy from
talking to each other.
11.05 Juice (T) (R) Jamma finally
tackles his shaking boxes.
Last in the series.
11.30 Ambulance (T) (R)
12.30 The Repair Shop (T) (R) 1.30
Weather (T) 1.35 News (T)

9.0

This Farming Life (T)
Carianne hopes to get a good
price for Faillish the bull.
Rise of the Nazis: The
Manhunt (T) The story of
Beate Klarsfeld and her
attempt to track down
Klaus Barbie, and how
the son of Josef Mengele
considered turning his father
in. Last in the series.

10.0 Jailed: Inside Maghaberry
Prison (T) Stephen Nolan
enters the Lisburn prison.
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.15 %The Place Beyond the
Pines (2012) (T) Drama.
1.30 Sign Zone Money for Nothing
(T) (R) 2.15 Claimed and
Shamed (T) (R) 3.0 Amazing
Hotels (T) (R) 4.0 This Is
BBC Two (T)

Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News and
Weather (T) 1.55 Local
News and Weather (T)
2.0 James Martin’s Great
British Adventure (T) (R) 3.0
Tenable (T) 4.0 Tipping Point
(T) 5.0 The Chase (T) 6.0
Local News and Weather (T)
6.30 News and Weather (T)
7.30 Emmerdale (T)

7.0pm Top Gear 7.55
The Catch Up 8.0
Gymnastics: World
Championships 10.0
Ballers: Ball Or Nothing
10.30 Ballers: Ball Or
Nothing 11.0 Peacock
11.25 Peacock 11.55 The
Bold Type 12.35 Ballers:
Ball Or Nothing 1.05
Ballers: Ball Or Nothing
1.35 Juice 2.0 Juice
2.30 The Fast and the
Farmer-ish 3.0 Peacock
3.25 Peacock

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser 8.0
Border Force: America’s
Gatekeepers 9.0 Special
Ops: Crime Squad UK
10.0 Railroad Australia
11.0 Rick Stein’s India
12.0 Storage Hunters UK
12.30 Storage Hunters
UK 1.0 Repair Lot 2.0
Top Gear 3.0 Top Gear
4.0 Rick Stein’s Cornwall
4.30 Rick Stein’s
Cornwall 5.0 Rick Stein’s
India 6.0 Pointless 7.0
Richard Osman’s House
of Games 7.40 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
8.20 Would I Lie to You?
9.0 QI XL 10.0 Have I
Got a Bit More News for
You 11.0 Have I Got a
Bit More News for You
12.0 Alan Davies: As
Yet Untitled 1.0 Mock

the Week 1.40 Meet
the Richardsons 2.15
Meet the Richardsons
2.45 Outsiders 4.0
Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks 6.30
Hollyoaks 7.0 Married
at First Sight UK 8.0
Melissa & Joey 9.0
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 10.0
The Big Bang Theory
10.30 The Big Bang
Theory 11.0 Modern
Family 11.30 Modern
Family 12.0 The Big Bang
Theory 12.30 The Big
Bang Theory 1.0 The Big
Bang Theory 1.30 The
Big Bang Theory 2.0
The Goldbergs 2.30 The
Goldbergs 3.0 Modern
Family 3.30 Modern
Family 4.0 Married at
First Sight UK 5.0 The
Big Bang Theory 5.30
The Big Bang Theory
6.0 The Big Bang Theory
6.30 The Big Bang
Theory 7.0 Hollyoaks
7.30 Young Sheldon
8.0 Modern Family
8.30 Modern Family
9.0 Married at First
Sight UK 10.05 Abbott
Elementary 10.40
Abbott Elementary
11.05 Naked Attraction
12.10 First Dates 1.15
Married at First Sight
UK 2.20 Gogglebox 3.15
Abbott Elementary 4.05
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 4.55
Black-ish 5.20 Black-ish

Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy
Vine (T) 11.15 Storm Huntley
(T) 12.40 Alexis Conran
(T) 1.40 News (T) 1.45
Home and Away (T) (R) 2.15
%Framed By My Sister
(Anthony C Ferrante, 2021)
(T) 4.0 Bargain-Loving Brits
in the Sun (T) 5.0 News (T)
6.0 Dogs Behaving (Very)
Badly 7.0 GPs: Behind
Closed Doors (T)

7.0

9.0

Coronation Street (T) Liam
suffers an asthma attack
when Mason forces him to
try vaping.
The Real Crown: Inside
the House of Windsor (T)
Prince Charles has yet to
find a bride, and the Queen’s
efforts to steer him in the
right direction are thwarted
by Lord Mountbatten.

10.0 News (T) Weather
10.30 Local News (T) Weather
10.45 Grand Slammers (T) (R)
12.0 The Grand Fishing Adventure
(T) (R) 12.55 British Touring
Car Championship Highlights
(T) (R) 2.05 Tipping Point (T)
(R) 3.0 On Assignment (T)
(R) 3.30 Good Mood Food (T)
(R) 3.55 Unwind With ITV (T)
5.10 Tenable (T) (R)

8.0

The Great British Bake
Off (T) The bakers make
marshmallow-based
childhood favourites.
9.30 Partygate (T) Factual drama
based on the findings of
the Sue Gray report, telling
the story of the Covid-19
pandemic through the
events that took place in
10 Downing Street.

8.0

10.55 Gogglebox (T) (R)
11.55 Selling Super Houses (T)
Last in the series.
12.50 Celebrity Gogglebox (T) (R)
1.45 Ramsay’s 24 Hours to
Hell and Back (T) (R) 2.30
The Simpsons (T) (R) 3.20
Couples Come Dine With Me
(T) (R) 4.15 The Great Home
Transformation (T) (R) 5.10
Tool Club (T) (R)

10.0 White Nanny, Black Child
(T) The story of a group of
Nigerians fostered by white
families in the 1970s.
11.30 HMP Belmarsh (T) (R)
1.25 Live Casino Show (T) 3.25
Fantastic Foxes (T) (R)
4.15 My Dog Hates Me, &
Other Naughty Pets (T) (R)
5.05 House Busters (T) (R)
5.35 Milkshake!

Other channels
BBC Three

BBC Four

9.0

The Yorkshire Vet (T) Peter
Wright fears a sick cat with a
mysterious wound has been
bitten by a snake.
Secrets of Our Universe with
Tim Peake (T) Tim visits the
European Space Agency HQ,
meets a trainee astronaut
and, using VR, gives her a
lesson on how to survive in
space. Last in the series.

Life (T) (R) Insights into the
lives of insects.

8.0

Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em
(T) (R) Frank attends a course
in public relations.
8.30 Yes Minister (T) (R) A conflict
of interests arises.
9.0 Avalanche: Making a Deadly
Snowstorm (T) (R) Professor
Danielle George joins a
spectacular experiment to
find out more about the
power of avalanches.
10.0 Storyville: If the
Streets Were on Fire (T)
Documentary about a group
of young people who express
themselves through biking.
11.10 Una Marson: Our Lost
Caribbean Voice (T) (R)
Docudrama.
12.10 Imagine: Andrea Levy – Her
Island Story (T) (R) 1.25 Life
(T) (R) 2.25 Avalanche (T) (R)

Radio
Film4

11.0am "Tora!
Tora! Tora! (1970)
1.50 "The Ten
Commandments (1956)
6.15 "Valerian and
the City of a Thousand
Planets (2017) 9.0
"Mile 22 (2018)
10.50 "The Real
Charlie Chaplin (2021)
1.05 "Les Enfants
Du Siecle (1999)

ITV2

6.0am CITV 9.0 One
Tree Hill 10.0 Dawson’s
Creek 11.0 Dress to
Impress 12.0 Dinner
Date 1.0 Family Fortunes
2.0 Chuck 3.05 One
Tree Hill 4.0 Dawson’s
Creek 5.0 Dinner
Date 6.0 Celebrity
Catchphrase 7.0 Ninja
Warrior UK: Race for
Glory 8.0 Superstore
8.30 Superstore 9.0
Gordon, Gino and Fred:
Unseen Bits 10.0 Family
Guy 10.30 Family
Guy 11.0 Family Guy
11.30 American Dad!
12.30 Superstore 1.0
Superstore 1.30 Don’t
Hate the Playaz 2.05
Totally Bonkers Guinness
World Records 2.35
Unwind With ITV 3.0
Teleshopping 5.0 The
Epic Tales of Captain
Underpants 5.25
Scooby-Doo! Mystery
Incorporated 5.45
Craig of the Creek

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl
7.0 DC’s Legends of
Tomorrow 8.0 The Flash
9.0 Stargate SG-1 11.0
Supergirl 12.0 The Flash
1.0 NCIS: Los Angeles
3.0 Hawaii Five-0
4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 DC’s
Legends of Tomorrow
6.0 Stargate SG-1
8.0 A League of Their
Own Road Trip: Loch
Ness to London 9.0 A
Discovery of Witches
10.0 Brassic 11.0
"Saw III (2006) 1.05
The Blacklist 2.0 Never
Mind the Buzzcocks 2.45
Road Wars 3.10 Hawaii
Five-0 4.05 S.W.A.T 5.0
Highway Patrol

Sky Arts

6.0am Arts Uncovered
6.10 Alvin Ailey
American Dance
Theater 8.0 The Joy of
Painting 9.0 Tales of the
Unexpected 10.0 Alfred

Hitchcock Presents 1.0
Discovering: Morgan
Freeman 12.0 The Joy
of Painting 1.0 Tales
of the Unexpected 2.0
John Wayne: America
at All Costs 3.0 The
Art Mysteries 3.30
The Art Mysteries 4.0
Discovering Tommy
Lee Jones 5.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 5.30
Tales of the Unexpected
6.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 6.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents 7.0
The Joy of Painting
8.0 Discovering
Dance on Film 9.30
Comedy Legends 10.30
Discovering: Carpenters
11.0 Discovering Film
12.0 Soundtracks: Songs
That Defined History
1.0 Portrait Artist of the
Year: The Exhibition 2.0
Portrait Artist of the
Decade 3.30 Film Noir
4.30 Auction: David
Hockney Special 5.0 The
South Bank Show

Sky Atlantic

The Real Charlie
Chaplin, Film4

6.0am Fish Town 7.55
Six Feet Under 10.05 Ray
Donovan 12.15 Game of
Thrones 1.15 Your Honor
3.30 Six Feet Under
5.40 Ray Donovan 7.50
Game of Thrones 9.0
The Lovers 9.40 Billions
10.45 Tin Star 11.50
True Detective 12.55
Billions 2.0 Domina
4.15 Fish Town

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast
9.0 Essential Classics
12.0 Composer of the
Week: Garcia (2/5) 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
Violinist Mairead Hickey
and pianist Jeremie
Moreau play Fauré’s
Violin Sonata No 1 in A
at West Cork chamber
music festival. (1/4)
2.0 Afternoon Concert.
Andrew Manze conducts
the NDR Philharmonic
Orchestra in Stravinsky’s
The Rite of Spring. Plus,
Debussy, Dukas and
Black History Month
repertoire including
pieces by Florence
Price. 5.0 In Tune
7.0 Classical Mixtape
7.30 In Concert. John
Storgårds conducts the
BBC Philharmonic and
mezzo Sarah Connolly
in Janáček’s Sinfonietta,
Alma Mahler-Werfel’s
(orch Colin and
David Matthews)
Die stille Stadt, Laue
Sommernacht, Licht in
der Nacht, Waldseligkeit,
In meines Vaters Garten
and Bei dir ist es traut,
and Tchaikovsky’s
Symphony No 6
“Pathetique”. 10.0 Free
Thinking. Matthew Sweet
talks Slavic culture and
myth-making. 10.45
The Essay: Rainsong in
Five Senses. Art historian
Timon Screech on the

rains of Japan. (R) 11.0
Night Tracks 12.30
Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am Today 9.0
Building Soul With
Thomas Heatherwick.
The designer explains
the issues with modern
building design. (1/3)
9.30 How to Win a
Campaign (2/5) 9.45
(LW) Daily Service 9.45
(FM) Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke.
(2/5) 10.0 Woman’s
Hour 11.0 Young Again
Kirsty Young asks guests
what advice they would
give to their younger
selves. (1/6) 11.30 A
Very Australian Scandal.
The story of the founding
father of the Sydney
Opera House. 12.0 News
12.01 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 12.04 Call You
and Yours 1.0 The World
at One 1.45 Uncharted
With Hannah Fry. A tale
about the precarious
power of networks.
(7/10) 2.0 The Archers
(R) 2.15 We Apologise
for Any Inconvenience.
Drama, by Sebastian
Baczkiewicz. 3.0 Short
Cuts (3/9) 3.30 Bacteria:
The Tiny Giants (R)
4.0 The Mandates.
A look back at the
impact of French and
British mandates in

the Middle East. (1/3)
4.30 A Good Read. With
Vaseem Khan and Lucy
Winkett. (1/9) 5.0 PM
5.54 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 6.0 News
6.30 Best Medicine
Kiri Pritchard-McLean
celebrates fascinating
medicine with experts
and comedians. (1/11)
7.0 The Archers 7.15
Front Row 8.0 File on
4 (1/4) 8.40 In Touch
9.0 Inside Health (3/6)
9.30 Building Soul With
Thomas Heatherwick (R)
10.0 The World Tonight
10.45 Book at Bedtime
(2/5) 11.0 Call Jonathan
Pie. Pie takes on cancel
culture and comedy.
11.30 Lusus (R) 12.0
News 12.30 Book of the
Week (R) 12.48 Shipping
Forecast 1.0 As World
Service 5.20 Shipping
Forecast 5.30 News 5.43
Prayer for the Day 5.45
Farming Today 5.58
Tweet of the Day (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Project Raphael
(2/3) 6.30 The Hot Kid
(2/4) 7.0 Ricky (2/5)
7.15 Madame Bovary
(7/10) 7.30 Showstopper
(4/6) 8.0 The Goon
Show (13/17) 8.30
Growing Pains (2/6) 9.0
The Motion Show (4/6)
9.30 On Baby Street
(3/5) 10.0 Baldi (1/6)
10.45 Short Works 11.0

Project Raphael (2/3)
11.30 The Hot Kid (2/4)
12.0 Ricky (2/5) 12.15
Madame Bovary (7/10)
12.30 Showstopper
(4/6) 1.0 The Goon
Show (13/17) 1.30
Growing Pains (2/6) 2.0
The Motion Show (4/6)
2.30 On Baby Street
(3/5) 3.0 Baldi (1/6)
3.45 Short Works 4.0
Project Raphael (2/3)
4.30 The Hot Kid (2/4)
5.0 Ricky (2/5) 5.15
Madame Bovary (7/10)
5.30 Showstopper (4/6)
6.0 The Goon Show
(13/17) 6.30 Growing
Pains (2/6) 7.0 The
Motion Show (4/6) 7.30
On Baby Street (3/5)
8.0 TED Radio Hour
(1/52) 8.50 Inheritance
Tracks 9.0 Mastertapes
(12/12) 9.30 Soho
Nights (2/5) 10.0 Suggs:
Love Letters to London
(4/4) 10.30 Cliche 11.0
Meet David Sedaris
(6/6) 11.30 ElvenQuest
(2/6) 12.0 Baldi (1/6)
12.45 Short Works 1.0
Project Raphael (2/3)
1.30 The Hot Kid (2/4)
2.0 Ricky (2/5) 2.15
Madame Bovary (7/10)
2.30 Showstopper (4/6)
3.0 The Goon Show
(13/17) 3.30 Growing
Pains (2/6) 4.0 The
Motion Show (4/6) 4.30
On Baby Street (3/5)
5.0 Baldi (2/6) 5.45
Short Works

Wednesday

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

Payback,
ITV1

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

Breakfast (T) 9.15 Rip Off
Britain (T) 10.0 Crimewatch
Live (T) 10.45 Claimed and
Shamed (T) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (T) (R)
12.15 Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0
News (T) 1.30 Regional News
(T) 1.45 Doctors (T) 2.15
Money for Nothing (T) 3.0
Escape to the Country (T) (R)
3.45 The Bidding Room (T)
(R) 4.30 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) 5.15 Pointless
(T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30
Regional News and Weather
(T) 6.55 Party Political
Broadcast (T) (R) 7.0 The One
Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T)

6.30 Escape to the Country (T)
7.15 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) 8.0 Sign Zone:
See Hear (T) 8.30 Great
Coastal Railway Journeys
(T) 9.0 Nicky Campbell (T)
10.0 News (T) 11.30 Politics
Live Conference (T) 1.30
Impossible (T) 2.15 Wanted
Down Under (T) 3.0 Murder,
Mystery and My Family (T)
3.45 Great Canadian Railway
Journeys (T) 4.15 Serengeti
III (T) (R) 5.15 Flog It! (T)
(R) 6.0 House of Games (T)
6.30 Strictly: It Takes Two
(T) 7.0 Gymnastics: World
Championships (T)

6.0

6.05 Countdown (T) (R) 6.45
Cheers (T) (R) 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.25
Frasier (T) (R) 9.55 Chateau
DIY (T) (R) 10.55 George
Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
(T) (R) 11.55 News (T) 12.0
Steph’s Packed Lunch (T)
2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A
Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0
The Great House Giveaway
(T) 5.0 A New Life in the Sun
(T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T)
6.30 The Simpsons (T) (R)
7.0 News (T)

6.0

The Repair Shop (T) (R)
The team fix a rare historic
painting, a vintage sewing
machine, a Beatles souvenir
and a splintered stainedglass window.
Celebrity Race Across the
World (T) As they approach
halfway, the teams must
travel from Corsica to the
third checkpoint in the Alps.

8.0

Nadiya’s Simple Spices (T)
The cook makes an aubergine
pizza with cumin and chilli.
8.30 Nigella: At My Table (T) (R)
Nigella Lawson serves up
beef and aubergine fatteh.
9.0 DNA Family Secrets (T)
A woman wants to establish
her father’s true identity, and
a 77-year-old is searching for
his American GI dad.

8.0

8.0

8.0

10.0 Moulin Rouge: Yes We CanCan! (T) Two new British
dancers arrive in Paris.
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.15 Unspun World (T) (R)
11.45 Union With David Olusoga
(T) (R) The history of the UK.
12.45 Sign Zone See Hear (T) (R)
1.15 Garden Rescue (T) (R)
2.0 Coco Chanel Unbuttoned
(T) 3.30 This Is BBC Two (T)

10.10 News (T) Weather
10.40 Local News (T) Weather
10.55 Grand Slammers (T)
Part two of two.
12.10 No Return (T) (R) 1.0 English
Football League Highlights
(T) (R) 2.15 The Chase (T)
(R) 3.05 Grand Slam Years:
England 2016 (T) (R)
3.55 Unwind With ITV (T)
5.10 Tenable (T) (R)

8.0

9.0

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.40 %Alien (Ridley Scott,
1979) (T) Sci-fi horror,
starring Sigourney Weaver,
Tom Skerritt, Ian Holm and
John Hurt.
12.35 Michael McIntyre’s The
Wheel (T) (R) 1.35 Weather
for the Week Ahead (T)
1.40 News (T)

9.0

Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News and
Weather (T) 1.55 Local
News and Weather (T) 2.0
James Martin’s Great British
Adventure (T) (R) 3.0 Tenable
(T) 4.0 Tipping Point (T) 5.0
The Chase (T) 6.0 Local News
and Weather (T) 6.20 Party
Political Broadcast (T) 6.30
News and Weather (T) 7.30
Emmerdale (T)

Coronation Street (T)
Carla confronts Stephen
with her discovery that he
drugged her, and Jenny has
a change of heart.
Payback (T) New series. An
Edinburgh woman becomes
entangled in an operation to
topple a crime lord. Crime
drama, with Morven Christie
and Peter Mullan.

9.0

Geordie Hospital (T) Peter
operates on a three-monthold baby born with a cleft
palate and lip.
Grand Designs (T) Kevin
follows the progress
of Danny from north
Lincolnshire, who plans on
building a stylish, sustainable
and affordable home among
the trees in his garden.

10.0 First Dates (T) (R)
11.05 The Great British Bake Off
(T) (R) Cookery contest.
12.35 Taskmaster (T) (R) 1.30
24 Hours to Hell and Back
(T) (R) 2.20 New Zealand
Escape (T) (R) 3.15 Selling
Super Houses (T) (R) 4.10
Couples Come Dine With Me
(T) (R) 5.05 The Great Home
Transformation (T) (R)

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm Top Gear 7.0
The Catch Up 8.0
Gymnastics: World
Championships 9.05
Who Stole Tamara
Ecclestone’s Diamonds?
10.0 BBC New Comedy
Awards 10.30 "End
of Watch (2012) 12.10
The Bold Type 12.55
Juice 1.20 Juice 1.45
This Is Gay 2.0 BBC New
Comedy Awards 2.30
Ballers: Ball Or Nothing
3.0 Ballers: Ball Or
Nothing 3.30 The Fast
and the Farmer-ish

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser 8.0
Border Force: America’s
Gatekeepers 9.0 Special
Ops: Crime Squad UK
10.0 Railroad Australia
11.0 Rick Stein’s
Mediterranean Escapes
12.0 Storage Hunters UK
12.30 Storage Hunters
UK 1.0 Repair Lot 2.0
Top Gear 3.0 Top Gear
4.0 Rick Stein’s Cornwall
4.30 Rick Stein’s
Cornwall 5.0 Jack Stein:
Born to Cook 5.30 Jack
Stein: Born to Cook 6.0
Pointless 7.0 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
7.40 Richard Osman’s
House of Games 8.20
Would I Lie to You? 9.0
QI XL 10.0 Live at the

Apollo 11.0 Live at the
Apollo 12.0 Alan Davies:
As Yet Untitled 1.0 Mock
the Week 1.40 Big Zuu’s
Big Eats 2.15 Gavin &
Stacey 2.45 Outsiders
4.0 Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks 6.30
Hollyoaks 7.0 Married
at First Sight UK 8.0
Melissa & Joey 9.0
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 10.0
The Big Bang Theory
10.30 The Big Bang
Theory 11.0 Modern
Family 11.30 Modern
Family 12.0 The Big Bang
Theory 12.30 The Big
Bang Theory 1.0 The Big
Bang Theory 1.30 The
Big Bang Theory 2.0
The Goldbergs 2.30 The
Goldbergs 3.0 Modern
Family 3.30 Modern
Family 4.0 Married at
First Sight UK 5.05 The
Big Bang Theory 5.30
The Big Bang Theory
6.0 The Big Bang Theory
6.30 The Big Bang
Theory 7.0 Hollyoaks
7.30 Young Sheldon 8.0
Modern Family 8.30
Modern Family 9.0
Married at First Sight UK
10.0 Sex Rated 11.05
Gogglebox 12.10 First
Dates 1.15 Married at
First Sight UK 2.15 Sex
Rated 3.10 Gogglebox
4.0 Brooklyn Nine-Nine
4.30 Brooklyn Nine-Nine
4.55 Black-ish

9.0

BBC Four

Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy
Vine (T) 11.15 Storm Huntley
(T) 12.40 Alexis Conran
(T) 1.40 News (T) 1.45
Home and Away (T) (R) 2.15
%Look Who’s Stalking
(Doug Campbell, 2023) (T)
4.0 Bargain-Loving Brits
in the Sun (T) 5.0 News (T)
6.0 Dogs Behaving (Very)
Badly (T) (R) 7.0 Swimming
in Sewage: Britain’s Water
Scandal (T)

Norfolk and Suffolk: Country
& Coast (T) At a second world
war airbase, 30 members of
the WI take to the air.
Casualty 24/7: Every
Second Counts (T)
A patient is rushed in after a
suspected overdose. With a
dangerously slow heart rate,
the hospital staff must work
quickly to save their life.

10.0 999: Critical Condition (T)
11.05 Motorway Cops: Catching
Britain’s Speeders (T) (R)
12.05 Shoplifters & Scammers:
At War With the Law (T)
(R) 1.0 Live Casino Show
(T) 3.0 Fantastic Foxes (T)
(R) 3.50 Tribal Teens (T) (R)
4.40 Wildlife SOS (T) (R)
5.05 House Busters (T) (R)
5.35 Milkshake!

7.0

Life (T) (R) Strategies used
when hunting and evading
predators.

8.0

Universe (T) (R) Prof Brian
Cox explores a supermassive
black hole.
Charles I: Downfall of a
King (T) (R) John Pym tries
to pass parliamentary bills
limiting the king’s power,
but in the Lords, the casting
votes are held by the
bishops – loyal to Charles –
who become his next target.

9.0

10.0 Cardiac Arrest (T) (R) An
explosion causes chaos at
the hospital.
10.30 Cardiac Arrest (T) (R)
11.0 Cardiac Arrest (T) (R)
11.30 Cardiac Arrest (T) (R)
12.0 Cardiac Arrest (T) (R)
12.30 Cardiac Arrest (T)
(R) 1.0 Cardiac Arrest (T)
(R) 1.30 Black Snow (T) (R)
2.20 Black Snow (T) (R)

Radio
Film4

11.0am "My Man
Godfrey (1936) 12.55
"Hangman’s
Knot (1952) 2.35
"Hobson’s Choice
(1953) 4.45 "The
Tall T (1957) 6.20
"Only the Brave
(2017) 9.0 "A
Time to Kill (1996) 12.0
"Sleepless (2017)
1.50 "American
Assassin (2017)

ITV2

6.0am CITV 9.0 One
Tree Hill 10.0 Dawson’s
Creek 11.0 Dress to
Impress 12.0 Dinner
Date 1.0 Family Fortunes
2.0 Chuck 3.05 One
Tree Hill 4.0 Dawson’s
Creek 5.0 Dinner
Date 6.0 Celebrity
Catchphrase 7.0 Ninja
Warrior UK: Race for
Glory 8.0 Superstore
8.30 Superstore 9.0
Gordon, Gino and Fred:
Unseen Bits 2 10.0
Family Guy 10.30 Family
Guy 11.0 Family Guy
11.30 American Dad!
12.30 Superstore 1.30
Don’t Hate the Playaz
2.15 Totally Bonkers
Guinness World Records
2.40 Unwind With
ITV 3.0 Teleshopping
5.0 The Epic Tales of
Captain Underpants 5.25
Scooby-Doo! Mystery
Incorporated 5.45
Craig of the Creek

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl
7.0 DC’s Legends of
Tomorrow 8.0 The Flash
9.0 Stargate SG-1 11.0
Supergirl 12.0 The Flash
1.0 NCIS: Los Angeles
3.0 Hawaii Five-0 4.0
S.W.A.T 5.0 DC’s Legends
of Tomorrow 6.0
Stargate SG-1 8.0 An
Idiot Abroad 2 9.0 Never
Mind the Buzzcocks
9.45 The Lazarus Project
10.45 "The Way
of the Dragon (1973)
12.45 Strike Back:
Retribution 1.45 Cobra:
Cyberwar 3.40 Road
Wars 4.05 Hawaii Five-0
5.0 S.W.A.T

Sky Arts

6.0am La Traviata 8.0
The Joy of Painting
8.30 The Joy of
Painting 9.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 9.30
Tales of the Unexpected
10.0 Alfred Hitchcock

Presents 10.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents 11.0
Discovering Tommy Lee
Jones 12.0 The Joy of
Painting 12.30 The Joy
of Painting 1.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 1.30
Tales of the Unexpected
2.0 National Treasures:
The Art of Collecting 3.0
Classic Movies: The Story
of Ran 4.0 Discovering:
Michael Douglas 5.0
Tales of the Unexpected
5.30 Tales of the
Unexpected 6.0 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents
6.30 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 7.0 The Joy of
Painting 7.30 The Joy
of Painting 8.0 Portrait
Artist of the Decade
9.30 Discovering: Ryan
Gosling 10.30 Kurt
Vonnegut: Unstuck in
Time 1.0 Mildred Pierce
2.25 Stuart Sutcliffe:
The Lost Beatle 3.45
Brad Mehldau Plays the
Beatles 5.0 The South
Bank Show

Sky Atlantic

Sleepless,
Film4

6.0am The Guest Wing
7.55 Six Feet Under
10.05 Ray Donovan 12.15
Game of Thrones 1.25
Your Honor 3.30 Six Feet
Under 5.40 Ray Donovan
7.55 Game of Thrones
9.0 Domina 11.15 Billions
1.30 Dreamland 2.0
The Lovers 2.35 Das
Boot 3.40 In Treatment
4.10 Fish Town

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast
9.0 Essential Classics
12.0 Composer of the
Week: Garcia (3/5) 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
More from the West Cork
chamber music festival,
including Schumann’s
Violin Sonata No 1 from
Alina Ibragimova and
pianist Cédric Tiberghien,
and Trio Gaspard with a
Haydn piano trio. (2/4)
2.0 Afternoon Concert.
The NDR Philharmonic
Orchestra play Sibelius’s
Symphony No 2 and the
BBC Singers celebrate
Black History Month.
4.0 Choral Evensong.
From Old Royal Naval
College Chapel in
Greenwich. 5.0 In Tune
7.0 Classical Mixtape
7.30 In Concert. Edward
Gardner conducts the
London Philharmonic
Orchestra and violinist
Christian Tetzlaff in
Beethoven’s Overture:
Egmont, Bartók’s Violin
Concerto No 2 and
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony
No 4. 10.0 Free
Thinking. A discussion
on tomorrow’s National
Poetry Day. 10.45 The
Essay: Rainsong in Five
Senses. Environmentalist
Mark O’Connor explores
Australian experiences
of rain. (R) 11.0 Night
Tracks 12.30 Through
the Night

Radio 4

6.0am Today 9.0 More
Or Less (6/6) 9.30
Just One Thing With
Michael Mosley. The
health benefits of cooked
tomatoes. (3/10) 9.45
(LW) Daily Service 9.45
(FM) Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke.
(3/5) 10.0 Woman’s
Hour 11.0 Redeeming
Ricky (R) 11.30 Alexei
Sayle’s Strangers on a
Train. From London to
Holyhead. (R) 12.0 News
12.01 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 12.04 You and
Yours 12.57 Weather
1.0 The World at One
1.45 Uncharted With
Hannah Fry. What does a
room full of nuns reveal
about ageing with grace?
(8/10) 2.0 The Archers
2.15 Fault Lines: Blood.
Between Two Worlds,
by Kathrine Smith. (R)
3.0 Money Box Live
3.30 Inside Health (R)
4.0 Thinking Allowed
(6/9) 4.30 The Media
Show 5.0 PM 5.54 (LW)
Shipping Forecast 5.57
Weather 6.0 News 6.30
Please Use Other Door.
Sketch show. (4/4) 7.0
The Archers 7.15 Front
Row 8.0 The Moral
Maze (3/8) 9.0 When It
Hits the Fan. The world
of crisis management.
(5/8) 9.30 The Media
Show (R) 9.59 Weather

10.0 The World Tonight
10.45 (FM) Book at
Bedtime: Rizzio. By
Denise Mina. (3/5) 11.0
Influencers. Ruth and
Carla experiment with
microdosing magic
mushrooms. (6/6)
11.15 Welcome to the
Neighbourhood With
Jayde Adams. The
comedian is joined by the
Rev Kate Bottley. (4/4)
11.30 Lusus. Kappa, by
Samantha Newton. (R)
12.0 News and Weather
12.30 Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke. (R)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.0 As World Service
5.20 Shipping Forecast
5.30 News 5.43 Prayer
for the Day 5.45 Farming
Today 5.58 Tweet of the
Day: The Greater Blackbacked Gull (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Project Raphael
(3/3) 6.30 The Hot Kid
(3/4) 7.0 Ricky (3/5)
7.15 Madame Bovary
(8/10) 7.30 Relativity
(3/6) 8.0 Hancock’s
Half Hour (5/20) 8.30
King of Bath (3/6) 9.0
It’s Not What You Know
(3/4) 9.30 His Master’s
Voice (4/4) 10.0 Baldi
(2/6) 10.45 Short Works
11.0 Project Raphael
(3/3) 11.30 The Hot Kid
(3/4) 12.0 Ricky (3/5)
12.15 Madame Bovary

(8/10) 12.30 Relativity
(3/6) 1.0 Hancock’s Half
Hour (5/20) 1.30 King of
Bath (3/6) 2.0 It’s Not
What You Know (3/4)
2.30 His Master’s Voice
(4/4) 3.0 Baldi (2/6)
3.45 Short Works 4.0
Project Raphael (3/3)
4.30 The Hot Kid (3/4)
5.0 Ricky (3/5) 5.15
Madame Bovary (8/10)
5.30 Relativity (3/6)
6.0 Hancock’s Half Hour
(5/20) 6.30 King of Bath
(3/6) 7.0 It’s Not What
You Know (3/4) 7.30 His
Master’s Voice (4/4)
8.0 Great Spy Books:
Fact Or Fiction? 9.0
Short Cuts (1/6) 9.30
Soho Nights (3/5) 10.0
Comedy Club: Please
Use Other Door (3/4)
10.30 The Harri-Parris’
Radio Show (3/3) 11.0
Kevin Eldon Will See You
Now (1/4) 11.30 Joseph
Morpurgo’s Walking
Tour (3/4) 11.45 Lenny
Henry: Rogue’s Gallery
(3/4) 12.0 Baldi (2/6)
12.45 Short Works 1.0
Project Raphael (3/3)
1.30 The Hot Kid (3/4)
2.0 Ricky (3/5) 2.15
Madame Bovary (8/10)
2.30 Relativity (3/6)
3.0 Hancock’s Half Hour
(5/20) 3.30 King of Bath
(3/6) 4.0 It’s Not What
You Know (3/4) 4.30
His Master’s Voice (4/4)
5.0 Baldi (3/6) 5.45
Short Works

Thursday
Picasso: The Beauty
and the Beast,
BBC Two

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

Breakfast (T) 9.15 Rip Off
Britain (T) 10.0 Crimewatch
Live (T) 10.45 Claimed and
Shamed (T) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (T) 12.15
Bargain Hunt (T) (R) 1.0 News
(T) 1.30 Regional News and
Weather (T) 1.45 Doctors (T)
2.15 Money for Nothing (T)
(R) 3.0 Escape to the Country
(T) (R) 3.45 The Bidding
Room (T) (R) 4.30 The
Vintage French Farmhouse
(T) 5.15 Pointless (T) (R) 6.0
News (T) 6.30 Regional News
and Weather (T) 7.0 The One
Show (T) 7.30 EastEnders (T)

6.30 Money for Nothing (T)
7.15 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) 8.0 Sign
Zone: Tales from a Kitchen
Garden (T) 8.30 Going the
Extra Mile (T) 9.0 Nicky
Campbell (T) 10.0 News (T)
12.15 Politics Live (T) 1.0
Impossible (T) 1.45 Eggheads
(T) 2.15 Wanted Down Under
(T) (R) 3.0 Murder, Mystery
and My Family (T) 3.45 Great
Canadian Railway Journeys
(T) 4.15 Serengeti III (T) (R)
5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0 Games
(T) 6.30 Strictly: It Takes Two
(T) 7.0 Gymnastics: World
Championships (T)

6.0

6.05 Countdown (T) (R) 6.45
Cheers (T) (R) 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.25
Frasier (T) (R) 9.55 Chateau
DIY (T) (R) 10.55 George
Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
(T) (R) 11.55 News (T) 12.0
Steph’s Packed Lunch (T)
2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A
Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0
The Great House Giveaway
(T) 5.0 A New Life in the Sun
(T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T)
6.30 The Simpsons (T) (R)
7.0 News (T)

6.0

Sort Your Life Out With
Stacey Solomon (T) The
presenter and her team help
dog-lover Michelle, husband
James and their two children
to declutter.
Soldier (T) New series.
Documentary following
young men and women at
the Infantry Training Centre
in Catterick, North Yorkshire.

8.0

Saving Lives at Sea (T)
In Whitby the RNLI crew
race to the rescue of two
fossil hunters.
Picasso: The Beauty and
the Beast (T) The artist’s
creativity and sexual
appetites are undimmed
in his later years as he
explores new artistic
mediums. Last in the series.

8.30 Tonight: Ultra Processed
Food – What Are We Eating?
(T) Kate Quilton reports on
the dangers of eating heavily
processed food.
9.0 A Dog Called Laura (T)
Martin Clunes explores the
lives of guide dogs, adopting
a retiring service animal and
following its owner as she
seeks a replacement.

8.0

10.0 Mortimer & Whitehouse:
Gone Fishing (T) (R)
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.15 No Activity (T) (R)
11.40 DNA Family Secrets (T) (R)
12.40 Rise of the Nazis: The
Manhunt (T) (R) 1.40 Sign
Zone Strictly Come Dancing
(T) (R) 3.55 Strictly Come
Dancing: The Results (T) (R)
4.40 This Is BBC Two (T)

10.0 News (T) Weather
10.30 Local News (T) Weather
10.45 The Real Crown: Inside the
House of Windsor (T) (R)
11.40 All Elite Wrestling (T)
12.40 Sorry, I Didn’t Know (T)
(R) 1.05 The Chase (T) (R)
1.55 Tipping Point (T) (R)
2.50 Tenable (T) (R) 3.40
Unwind With ITV (T) 5.05 Oti
Mabuse’s Breakfast Show (T)

10.0 8 Out of 10 Cats Does
Countdown (T) (R)
11.05 Naked, Alone and Racing
to Get Home (T) (R)
12.10 Naked Attraction (T) (R) 1.05
Celebrity SAS: Who Dares
Wins (T) (R) 1.55 24 Hours
to Hell and Back (T) (R) 2.40
%The Intruder (2019)
(T) 4.20 Couples Come Dine
With Me (T) (R)

8.0

9.0

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.40 Question Time (T) Fiona
Bruce chairs the topical
debate in Wolverhampton.
11.40 Newscast (T) BBC journalists
including Adam Fleming and
Chris Mason host a weekly
round-up from Westminster.
12.10 Weather for the Week Ahead
(T) 12.15 News (T)

9.0

Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News and
Weather (T) 1.55 Local
News and Weather (T)
2.0 James Martin’s Great
British Adventure (T) (R) 3.0
Tenable (T) 4.0 Tipping Point
(T) 5.0 The Chase (T) 6.0
Local News and Weather (T)
6.30 News and Weather (T)
7.30 Emmerdale (T)

9.0

The Great British Bake Off:
An Extra Slice (T) Jo Brand
and guest Richard Osman
dunk themselves into the
events of biscuit week. Plus,
a chat with the latest baker
to leave the tent.
Taskmaster (T) The comics
continue their bid to top the
leader board, with Julian
Clary destroying a table.

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm Top Gear 7.55
The Catch Up 8.0
Gymnastics: World
Championships 10.0
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
11.10 The After Shave
With Danny Beard 11.20
Back to Life 11.50 Back
to Life 12.15 The Bold
Type 12.55 RuPaul’s Drag
Race UK 2.0 Wagspiracy:
Vardy v Rooney 2.45
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser
8.0 Border Force:
America’s Gatekeepers
9.0 Special Ops: Crime
Squad UK 10.0 Railroad
Australia 11.0 Rick
Stein’s Mediterranean
Escapes 12.0 Storage
Hunters UK 12.30
Storage Hunters UK 1.0
Repair Lot 2.0 Top Gear
3.0 Top Gear 4.0 Rick
Stein’s Cornwall 4.30
Rick Stein’s Cornwall 5.0
Jack Stein: Born to Cook
5.30 Jack Stein: Born to
Cook 6.0 Pointless 7.0
Richard Osman’s House
of Games 7.40 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
8.20 Would I Lie to You?
The Unseen Bits 9.0 QI
XL 10.0 Two Pints of
Lager and a Packet of
Crisps 10.40 Two Pints
of Lager and a Packet

of Crisps 11.20 Gavin
& Stacey 12.0 Gavin &
Stacey 12.40 Mock the
Week 1.20 Would I Lie to
You? The Unseen Bits 2.0
Jon Richardson: Ultimate
Worrier 2.50 Outsiders
4.0 Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks 6.30
Hollyoaks 7.0 Married
at First Sight UK 8.0
Melissa & Joey 8.30
Melissa & Joey 9.0
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 9.30
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 10.0
The Big Bang Theory
10.30 The Big Bang
Theory 11.0 Modern
Family 12.0 The Big
Bang Theory 2.0 The
Goldbergs 3.0 Modern
Family 4.0 Married at
First Sight UK 5.0 The
Big Bang Theory 5.30
The Big Bang Theory 6.0
The Big Bang Theory
6.30 The Big Bang
Theory 7.0 Hollyoaks
7.30 Young Sheldon 8.0
Modern Family 8.30
Modern Family 9.0
Married at First Sight
UK 10.0 In Love and
Toxic: Blue Therapy
11.05 Gogglebox 12.05
First Dates 1.10 Rick
and Morty 1.45 Robot
Chicken 2.15 Married
at First Sight UK 3.05
In Love and Toxic: Blue
Therapy 4.0 Brooklyn
Nine-Nine 4.50 Black-ish
5.15 Black-ish

8.0

9.0

BBC Four

Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine
(T) 11.15 Storm Huntley (T)
12.40 Alexis Conran (T) 1.40
News (T) 1.45 Home and
Away (T) (R) 2.15 %As
Luck Would Have It: Murder
101 (David DeCoteau, 2023)
(T) 4.0 Bargain-Loving Brits
in the Sun (T) 5.0 News (T)
6.0 Dogs Behaving (Very)
Badly (T) (R) 7.0 ICC Cricket
World Cup 2023 (T) England
v New Zealand.

The Dog Hospital With
Graeme Hall (T) New series.
The dog trainer goes behind
the scenes at Willows,
one of Britain’s leading
animal hospitals.
All Creatures Great and
Small (T) New series. It’s
spring 1940, and James
worries that a young lad’s
dog is being mistreated.

10.0 A&E After Dark (T) A 47year-old patient has a heart
rate double the average.
11.05 Skin A&E (T) (R)
12.05 Police Interceptors (T) (R)
1.0 Live Casino Show (T) 3.0
Warship: Life at Sea (T) (R)
3.50 OMG: My Barbie Body
(T) (R) 4.40 Wildlife SOS (T)
(R) 5.05 House Busters (T)
(R) 5.35 Milkshake!

7.0

Life (T) (R) Marine
invertebrates.

8.0

Hidden Wales With Will
Millard (T) (R) The writer
visits a lost medieval city,
a forgotten PoW camp and
an abandoned coke works.
Last in the series.
The Fear of God: TwentyFive Years of The Exorcist (T)
(R) Mark Kermode traces the
extraordinary history of the
horror film The Exorcist.

9.0

10.20 %The Exorcist (William
Friedkin, 1973) (T) Two
priests are called in to
exorcise a girl apparently
possessed by a demon.
Horror, starring Jason Miller.
1.15 %Ophelia (Claire
McCarthy, 2018) (T)
Romantic drama. 1.55 Life (T)
(R) 2.55 Hidden Wales With
Will Millard (T) (R)

Radio
Film4

11.0am "Wake
of the Red Witch
(1948) 1.10 "Dead
Reckoning (1947)
3.15 "3:10 to
Yuma (1957) 5.05
"Fantastic Mr
Fox (2009) 6.50
"I, Robot (2004)
9.0 "Boiling Point
(2021) 10.55 "xXx:
The Next Level (2005)
1.0 "Falcon
Lake (2022)

ITV2

6.0am CITV 9.0 One
Tree Hill 10.0 Dawson’s
Creek 11.0 Dress to
Impress 12.0 Dinner
Date 1.0 Family
Fortunes 2.0 Chuck
3.05 One Tree Hill
4.0 Dawson’s Creek
5.0 Dinner Date 6.0
Celebrity Catchphrase
7.0 Alan Carr’s Epic
Gameshow: Celebrity
Special 8.0 Superstore
8.30 Superstore 9.0
Big Brother’s Biggest
Best Bits 10.0 Shopping
With Keith Lemon 10.30
Family Guy 11.0 Family
Guy 11.30 American
Dad! 12.0 American
Dad! 12.30 Superstore
1.0 Superstore 1.30
The Sex Lives of College
Girls 2.0 The Sex Lives
of College Girls 2.30
Totally Bonkers Guinness
World Records 3.0
Teleshopping 5.0 CITV

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl
7.0 DC’s Legends of
Tomorrow 8.0 The Flash
9.0 Stargate SG-1 11.0
Supergirl 12.0 The Flash
1.0 NCIS: Los Angeles
3.0 Hawaii Five-0
4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 DC’s
Legends of Tomorrow
6.0 Stargate SG-1 8.0
Rob & Romesh vs Art
9.0 Football’s Funniest
Moments 10.0 Brassic
11.0 Never Mind the
Buzzcocks 11.45 The
Blacklist 12.45 Warrior
1.55 Fantasy Island 3.45
Road Wars 4.10 Hawaii
Five-0 5.0 S.W.A.T

Sky Arts

6.0am André Rieu:
Love in Maastricht 7.0
Musical Masterpieces
8.0 The Joy of Painting
9.0 Tales of the
Unexpected 10.0 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents 11.0
Discovering: Michael

In Love and
Toxic: Blue
Therapy, E4

Douglas 12.0 The Joy
of Painting 1.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 2.0 The
Timeless Louvre 3.0
The Art of the Garden
4.0 Discovering: Roy
Scheider 5.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 5.30
Tales of the Unexpected
6.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 6.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents
7.0 Portrait Artist
of the Decade 8.30
Discovering: Little
Richard 9.0 Classic
Movies: The Story of
Terminator 2: Judgment
Day 10.0 Mildred Pierce
11.35 The Seventies
12.35 The Directors
1.35 Bring Me the Head
of Alfred Hitchcock 3.0
Marina Abramović Takes
Over TV 4.0 The South
Bank Show 5.0 The
South Bank Show

Sky Atlantic

6.0am The Guest Wing
7.55 Six Feet Under
10.05 Ray Donovan
12.15 Game of Thrones
1.20 Your Honor 3.30
Six Feet Under 4.35 Six
Feet Under 5.45 Ray
Donovan 7.55 Game of
Thrones 9.0 The Lovers
9.35 Dreamland 10.05
Drift: Partners in Crime
12.15 In Treatment 12.50
Game of Thrones 2.0
Drift: Partners in Crime
3.0 Game of Thrones 4.0
Fish Town 5.0 Billions

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast
9.0 Essential Classics
12.0 Composer of the
Week: Garcia (4/5) 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
Performances of
Schumann’s Piano Trio
in G minor, Bonporti’s
Inventione in A and
Handel’s Armida
abbandonata at the 2023
West Cork chamber music
festival. 2.0 Afternoon
Concert. Includes
Nielsen’s Symphony
No 5 performed by
the NDR Philharmonic
Orchestra. Plus, the BBC
Singers with music by
Adolphus Hailstork and
Ken Burton. 5.0 In Tune
7.0 Classical Mixtape
7.30 In Concert. Live
from the Royal Concert
Hall in Nottingham, Mark
Wigglesworth conducts
the BBC Philharmonic
and soprano saxophonist
Jess Gillam in Elgar’s
Cockaigne Overture,
Anna Clyne’s Glasslands
and Beethoven’s
Symphony No 5.
10.0 Free Thinking. A
discussion about finding
meaning in life. 10.45
The Essay: Rainsong in
Five Senses. Writer and
scholar Lauren Elkin
describes rain in Paris.
(R) 11.0 The Night
Tracks Mix (R) 11.30
Unclassified 12.30
Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am Today 9.0 In Our
Time 9.45 (LW) Daily
Service 9.45 (FM) Book
of the Week: How to Be
a Renaissance Woman.
By Jill Burke. (4/5) 10.0
Woman’s Hour 11.0 From
Our Own Correspondent
(2/8) 11.30 A Good Read
(R) 12.0 News 12.01
(LW) Shipping Forecast
12.04 You and Yours
12.25 Sliced Bread. A
look at induction hobs.
(2/12) 12.57 Weather
1.0 The World at One
1.45 Uncharted With
Hannah Fry. A tale about
the mysterious realm of
artificial intelligence.
(9/10) 2.0 The Archers
2.15 Swans. Drama, by
Eoin McNamee. (R) 3.0
Ramblings. Clare Balding
and her companions walk
the Rhins of Galloway in
southern Scotland. (3/6)
3.27 Radio 4 Appeal:
United Response (R)
3.30 Bookclub (R) 4.0
Hollywood (R) 4.30
Inside Science 5.0 PM
5.54 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 5.57 Weather
6.0 News 6.30 My
Teenage Diary. Musician
Joe Stilgoe reads letters
from his gap year in
Zimbabwe. (6/6) 7.0
The Archers 7.15 Front
Row 8.0 The Briefing
Room (16/18) 8.30
The Bottom Line (2/8)
9.0 Inside Science (R)

9.30 In Our Time 9.59
Weather 10.0 The World
Tonight 10.45 Book
at Bedtime: Rizzio. By
Denise Mina. (4/5)
11.0 The Today Podcast
11.30 Lusus. Rituals, by
Samantha Newton. (R)
12.0 News 12.30 Book
of the Week: How to Be a
Renaissance Woman (R)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.0 As World Service
5.20 Shipping Forecast
5.30 News Briefing 5.43
Prayer for the Day 5.45
Farming Today 5.58
Tweet of the Day (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Project Archangel
(1/4) 6.30 The Hot Kid
(4/4) 7.0 Ricky (4/5)
7.15 Madame Bovary
(9/10) 7.30 What Does
the K Stand for? (2/6)
8.0 Dad’s Army (18/20)
8.30 Desmond Olivier
Dingle’s Compleat Life
and Works of William
Shakespeare (5/6) 9.0
Jest a Minute (3/6) 9.30
A Whole ’Nother Story
(3/4) 10.0 Baldi (3/6)
10.45 Short Works 11.0
Project Archangel (1/4)
11.30 The Hot Kid (4/4)
12.0 Ricky (4/5) 12.15
Madame Bovary (9/10)
12.30 What Does the
K Stand for? (2/6) 1.0
Dad’s Army (18/20) 1.30
Desmond Olivier Dingle’s
Compleat Life and Works
of William Shakespeare

(5/6) 2.0 Jest a Minute
(3/6) 2.30 A Whole
’Nother Story (3/4)
3.0 Baldi (3/6) 3.45
Short Works 4.0 Project
Archangel (1/4) 4.30
The Hot Kid (4/4) 5.0
Ricky (4/5) 5.15 Madame
Bovary (9/10) 5.30
What Does the K Stand
for? (2/6) 6.0 Dad’s
Army (18/20) 6.30
Desmond Olivier Dingle’s
Compleat Life and Works
of William Shakespeare
(5/6) 7.0 Jest a Minute
(3/6) 7.30 A Whole
’Nother Story (3/4)
8.0 The Real Comedy
Controllers: The Things
That Made Us Laugh 9.0
Great Lives (3/9) 9.30
Soho Nights (4/5) 10.0
My Teenage Diary (5/6)
10.30 Micky Flanagan:
What Chance Change?
(4/4) 11.0 Hamish and
Dougal: You’ll Have Had
Your Tea (4/6) 11.15
Life With Lederer (2/5)
11.30 Ectoplasm (1/4)
12.0 Baldi (3/6) 12.45
Short Works 1.0 Project
Archangel (1/4) 1.30
The Hot Kid (4/4) 2.0
Ricky (4/5) 2.15 Madame
Bovary (9/10) 2.30 What
Does the K Stand for?
(2/6) 3.0 Dad’s Army
(18/20) 3.30 Desmond
Olivier Dingle (5/6) 4.0
Jest a Minute (3/6) 4.30
A Whole ’Nother Story
(3/4) 5.0 Baldi (4/6)
5.45 Short Works

Friday

The Guardian
30 September6 October 2023

Have I Got News
for You, BBC One

BBC One

BBC Two

ITV1

Channel 4

Channel 5

6.0

6.30 Escape to the Country (T)
(R) 7.15 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) (R) 8.0 Sign
Zone: Gardeners’ World (T)
(R) 9.0 Nicky Campbell (T)
10.0 News (T) 12.15 Politics
UK (T) 1.0 Impossible (T) (R)
1.45 Eggheads (T) (R) 2.15
Wanted Down Under (T) (R)
3.0 Murder, Mystery and
My Family (T) (R) 3.45 Great
Canadian Railway Journeys
(T) (R) 4.15 Serengeti III (T)
(R) 5.15 Flog It! (T) (R) 6.0
Richard Osman’s House of
Games (T) 6.30 Strictly: It
Takes Two (T)

6.0

6.05 Countdown (T) (R) 6.45
Cheers (T) (R) 7.35 Everybody
Loves Raymond (T) (R) 8.25
Frasier (T) (R) 9.55 Chateau
DIY (T) (R) 10.55 George
Clarke’s Amazing Spaces
(T) (R) 11.55 News (T) 12.0
Steph’s Packed Lunch (T)
2.10 Countdown (T) 3.0 A
Place in the Sun (T) (R) 4.0
The Great House Giveaway
(T) 5.0 A New Life in the Sun
(T) (R) 6.0 Four in a Bed (T)
6.30 The Simpsons (T) (R)
7.0 News (T)

6.0

Would I Lie to You? (T) (R)
With Victoria Derbyshire,
Rhod Gilbert, Rosie Jones
and Jamali Maddix.
8.30 Ghosts (T) New series. With
the B&B gone, Mike strives
to fix their finances.
9.0 Have I Got News for You
(T) New series. Hosted by
Victoria Coren Mitchell.
9.30 Mrs Brown’s Boys (T) (R)

7.0

7.30 Rugby World Cup 2023
Live (T) France v Italy (kickoff 8pm). All the action
from both teams’ final
match in Pool A, held at OL
Lyon Stadium in France.
Mark Pougatch presents,
with analysis from Brian
O’Driscoll, Sergio Parisse
and Jonny Wilkinson.

8.0

8.0

10.0 News (T)
10.30 Regional News (T) Weather
10.40 The Graham Norton Show
(T) With Catherine Tate, Bill
Bailey, Bernie Taupin and
Ashley Walters. Plus, music
by Christine and the Queens.
11.30 RuPaul’s Drag Race UK (T)
(R) Yasmin Finney guests.
12.35 Blankety Blank (T) (R) 1.10
Weather (T) 1.15 News (T)

10.0 Red Dwarf (T) (R)
10.30 Newsnight (T) Weather
11.05 %Official Secrets (Gavin
Hood, 2019) (T) Factbased drama, starring Keira
Knightley and Matt Smith.
12.50 Sign Zone Panorama (T) (R)
1.50 Clean It, Fix It (T) (R)
2.35 Picasso: The Beauty
and the Beast (T) (R) 3.35
This Is BBC Two (T)

10.25 News (T) Weather
11.0 Local News (T) Weather
11.15 The NFL Show (T) Highlights
of Jacksonville Jaguars v
Atlanta Falcons at Wembley.
12.05 Heathrow (T) (R) 12.55 All
Elite Wrestling (T) (R) 2.40
Tipping Point (T) (R) 3.30
Back to School (T) (R) 4.20
Unwind With ITV (T) (R)
5.10 Tenable (T) (R)

10.0 Open House: The Great Sex
Experiment (T)
11.05 %Deadpool 2 (2018) (T)
Action comedy, starring Ryan
Reynolds and Josh Brolin.
1.15 %Peppermint (2018)
(T) Revenge thriller. 2.55
Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell
and Back (T) (R) 3.45 Find
It, Fix It, Flog It (T) (R) 3.55
Come Dine With Me (T) (R)

Breakfast (T) 9.15 Rip Off
Britain (T) 10.0 Crimewatch
Live (T) 10.45 Claimed and
Shamed (T) 11.15 Homes
Under the Hammer (T) 12.15
Bargain Hunt (T) 1.0 News
(T) 1.30 Regional News (T)
1.45 Five Bedrooms (T) 2.30
Money for Nothing (T) 3.0
Escape to the Country (T) (R)
3.45 The Bidding Room (T)
(R) 4.30 The Vintage French
Farmhouse (T) 5.15 Pointless
(T) (R) 6.0 News (T) 6.30
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Political Broadcast (T) (R) 7.0
The One Show (T) 7.30 Make
It at Market (T)

8.0

9.0

Gymnastics: World
Championships (T) The
women’s individual allaround final in Antwerp.
Gardeners’ World (T) It is
apple harvest time and
Monty Don shares tips on
what to do with windfalls
before planting a container
to give a colourful boost for
winter insects.

Good Morning Britain (T)
9.0 Lorraine (T) 10.0 This
Morning (T) 12.30 Loose
Women (T) 1.30 News and
Weather (T) 1.55 Local
News and Weather (T)
2.0 James Martin’s Great
British Adventure (T) (R) 3.0
Tenable (T) 4.0 Tipping Point
(T) 5.0 The Chase (T) 6.0
Local News and Weather (T)
6.25 Party Political Broadcast
(T) 6.30 News and Weather
(T) 7.0 Emmerdale (T)

9.0

The Secret World of
Sandwiches (T) (R) Jo
Brand unwraps the story of
sandwiches and how they
evolved from a curly 1970s
joke to today’s pre-packaged
sandwiches.
Gogglebox (T) The armchair
critics share their opinions
on what they have been
watching during the week.

Other channels
BBC Three

7.0pm Top Gear 8.0 Top
Gear 8.55 The Catch Up
9.0 Do Black Lives Still
Matter? 9.30 Do Black
Lives Still Matter? 10.0
"Alien (1979) 11.55
The Bold Type 12.35 Do
Black Lives Still Matter?
1.05 Do Black Lives Still
Matter? 1.35 The Fast
and the Farmer-ish 2.05
The Fast and the Farmerish 2.35 Juice 3.0 Juice
3.25 Gavin & Stacey

Dave

6.0am Teleshopping
7.10 Yianni: Supercar
Customiser 7.35 Yianni:
Supercar Customiser 8.0
Border Force: America’s
Gatekeepers 9.0 Special
Ops: Crime Squad UK
10.0 Railroad Australia
11.0 Rick Stein’s
Mediterranean Escapes
12.0 Storage Hunters UK
12.30 Storage Hunters
UK 1.0 Repair Lot 2.0
Top Gear 3.0 Top Gear
Botswana Special 4.0
Rick Stein’s Cornwall
4.30 Rick Stein’s
Cornwall 5.0 Jack Stein:
Born to Cook 5.30 Jack
Stein: Born to Cook 6.0
Pointless 7.0 Richard
Osman’s House of Games
7.40 Richard Osman’s
House of Games 8.20 QI
XL 9.20 Would I Lie to
You? At Christmas 10.0
QI XL 11.0 Taskmaster
12.0 Mock the Week*

12.40 Mock the Week
1.20 Would I Lie to You?
At Christmas 2.0 QI
XL 2.50 Outsiders 4.0
Teleshopping

E4

6.0am Hollyoaks 6.30
Hollyoaks 7.0 Married
at First Sight UK 8.0
Melissa & Joey 8.30
Melissa & Joey 9.0
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 9.30
Brooklyn Nine-Nine 10.0
The Big Bang Theory
10.30 The Big Bang
Theory 11.0 Modern
Family 11.30 Modern
Family 12.0 The Big
Bang Theory 12.30 The
Big Bang Theory 1.0 The
Big Bang Theory 1.30
The Big Bang Theory
2.0 The Goldbergs
2.30 The Goldbergs 3.0
Modern Family 3.30
Modern Family 4.0
Married at First Sight
UK 5.0 The Big Bang
Theory 5.30 The Big
Bang Theory 6.0 The
Big Bang Theory 6.30
The Big Bang Theory 7.0
Hollyoaks 7.30 Young
Sheldon 8.0 Modern
Family 8.30 Modern
Family 9.0 "A
Quiet Place (2018)
10.50 Naked Attraction
11.55 Naked Attraction
12.55 Gogglebox 2.0
First Dates 3.0 Naked
Attraction 3.55 Brooklyn
Nine-Nine 4.20 Brooklyn
Nine-Nine 4.50 Black-ish

9.0

BBC Four

Milkshake! 9.15 Jeremy Vine
(T) 11.15 Storm Huntley (T)
12.40 Alexis Conran (T) 1.40
News (T) 1.45 Home and
Away (T) (R) 2.15 %Gone
Girl: The Disappearance of
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2020) (T) 4.0 Bargain-Loving
Brits in the Sun (T) 5.0 News
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Badly (T) (R) 7.0 Shop Smart,
Save Money (T)

Susan Calman’s Grand
Day Out (T) New series.
The comedian takes in the
northern Pennines and
Northumberland coast.
Amazing Railway
Adventures With Nick
Knowles (T) The presenter
tours Romania, and visits
the region’s top tourist
attraction, Bran Castle.

10.0 %The Fugitive (Andrew
Davis 1993) (T) A doctor
wrongly convicted of his
wife’s murder goes on
the run. Thriller, starring
Harrison Ford.
12.35 ICC Cricket World Cup 2023
(T) 1.30 Live Casino Show (T)
3.30 Friends (T) (R) 4.15 The
Funny Thing About Kids (T)
(R) 5.05 House Busters (T) (R)

7.0

Top of the Pops (T) (R) From
1995, with the Boo Radleys,
Radiohead and Stevie
Wonder 7.30 Top of the Pops
(T) (R) Featuring Terrorvision,
Janet Jackson and Céline
Dion, from 1995.

8.0

Top of the Pops (T) (R) An
edition from 1983, with
Freeez, David Bowie, New
Order and Culture Club.
8.30 Top of the Pops (T) (R) From
1980, featuring Status Quo,
Diana Ross, OMD, Black
Slate and the Nolans.
9.0 Elton John at the BBC (T) (R)
A selection of interviews and
appearances on the BBC.
10.0 Elton John: In Concert (T)
A gig from 1970.
10.30 Elton John: Uncensored (T)
(R) A 2019 interview.
11.30 The Making of Elton John:
Madman Across the Water
(T) (R) His rise to stardom.
12.30 Top of the Pops (T) (R)
2.30 Elton John at the BBC
(T) (R) 3.30 Elton John: In
Concert (T) (R)

Radio
Film4

11.0am "Carry
on Constable (1960)
12.45 "The Holly
and the Ivy (1952) 2.25
"The Court-Martial
of Billy Mitchell (1955)
4.30 "Cutthroat
Island (1995) 6.55
"Pacific Rim:
Uprising (2018) 9.0
"Mission:
Impossible – Fallout
(2018) 11.55 "xXx:
The Return of Xander
Cage (2017) 2.0
"The Guard (2011)

ITV2

6.0am CITV 9.0 One
Tree Hill 10.0 Dawson’s
Creek 11.0 Dress to
Impress 12.0 Dinner Date
1.0 Family Fortunes 2.0
Chuck 3.05 One Tree
Hill 4.0 Dawson’s Creek
5.0 Dinner Date 6.0
Celebrity Catchphrase
7.0 Alan Carr’s Epic
Gameshow: Celebrity
Special 8.0 Superstore
8.30 Superstore 9.0
"Wedding Crashers
(2005) 11.25 Family
Guy 11.55 Family Guy
12.25 American Dad!
12.55 American Dad!
1.20 Bob’s Burgers
1.50 Bob’s Burgers
2.15 CelebAbility 2.55
Unwind With ITV 3.0
Teleshopping 5.0 Dodo
5.15 Scooby-Doo!
Mystery Incorporated
5.35 Craig of the Creek

Sky Max

6.0am Supergirl
7.0 DC’s Legends of
Tomorrow 8.0 The Flash
9.0 Stargate SG-1 11.0
Supergirl 12.0 The Flash
1.0 NCIS: Los Angeles
3.0 Hawaii Five-0
4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0 DC’s
Legends of Tomorrow
6.0 Stargate SG-1 8.0
Strike Back: Retribution
9.0 The Lazarus
Project 10.0 Warrior
11.10 "Game
of Death (1978) 1.0
The Blacklist 2.0
Road Wars 3.0 Hawaii
Five-0 4.0 S.W.A.T 5.0
Highway Patrol

Sky Arts

6.0am Darbar: Music
of India 7.0 Anyone
Can Sing 8.0 The Joy
of Painting 9.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 9.30
Tales of the Unexpected
10.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 10.30 Alfred

Hitchcock Presents
11.0 Discovering: Roy
Scheider 12.0 The Joy
of Painting 1.0 Tales
of the Unexpected
1.35 "Sherlock
Holmes and the Woman
in Green (1945) 3.0
Portrait Artist of the
Year: The Exhibition
4.0 Discovering: Joseph
Cotten 5.0 Tales of
the Unexpected 5.30
Tales of the Unexpected
6.0 Alfred Hitchcock
Presents 6.30 Alfred
Hitchcock Presents 7.0
The Joy of Painting 8.0
Discovering: Michael
Douglas 9.0 Bowie: The
Man Who Changed the
World 11.0 Led Zeppelin:
In the Light 12.15 Led
Zeppelin: In the Light
1.30 Brian Johnson’s
A Life on the Road 2.30
Greatest Albums Live
3.55 Live from the
Artists Den 5.05 The
South Bank Show

Sky Atlantic

The Guard,
Film4

6.10am The Guest Wing
7.55 Six Feet Under
10.05 Ray Donovan
12.15 Game of Thrones
1.20 Your Honor 3.30
Six Feet Under 5.40 Ray
Donovan 7.55 Game of
Thrones 9.0 Billions
10.10 Drift: Partners
in Crime 11.10 Das Boot
1.15 In Treatment 1.45
Game of Thrones 4.0
The Guest Wing

Radio 3

6.30am Breakfast
9.0 Essential Classics
12.0 Composer of the
Week: Garcia (5/5) 1.0
Lunchtime Concert.
Pianist Cédric Tiberghien
plays Beethoven’s 24
Variations on Venni
Amore, and violinist
Ariadne Daskalakis and
harpsichordist Michael
Borgstede perform
Vivaldi. 2.0 Afternoon
Concert. Violinist
Leonidas Kavakos plays
Brahms’s Violin Concerto
in D, Op 77, with the
NDR Philharmonic
Orchestra. 4.30 The
Listening Service (R)
5.0 In Tune 7.0 Classical
Mixtape 7.30 In Concert.
Live from the Barbican,
London, Sakari Oramo
conducts the BBC
Symphony Orchestra
and pianist Alexandra
Dariescu in Ligeti’s
Concert Romanesc,
Dora Pejačević’s’s
Phantasie Concertante
and Mahler’s Symphony
No 5 in C sharp minor.
10.0 The Verb 10.45
The Essay: Rainsong
in Five Senses. Dr Tess
Somervell considers
how rain is responded
to in British culture.
(R) 11.0 Late Junction
1.0 Ultimate Calm (R)
2.0 Happy Harmonies
With Laufey (R) 3.0
Through the Night

Radio 4

6.0am Today 9.0 Desert
Island Discs (R) 9.45
(LW) Daily Service 9.45
(FM) Book of the Week:
How to Be a Renaissance
Woman. By Jill Burke.
(5/5) 10.0 Woman’s
Hour 11.0 The Briefing
Room (R) 11.30 What’s
Funny About. Griff Rhys
Jones spills the beans on
Alas Smith and Jones.
(6/6) 12.0 News 12.01
(LW) Shipping Forecast
12.04 Archive on 4:
How the Yom Kippur War
Changed Everything,
for Everyone (R) 12.57
Weather 1.0 The World at
One 1.45 Uncharted With
Hannah Fry. The student
who went head to head
with two of the greatest
economic minds in
modern times. (10/10)
2.0 The Archers (R) 2.15
The System. Thriller,
by Ben Lewis. (4/5)
2.45 Close Encounters.
Katherine Grainger
discusses swimmer
Mercedes Gleitze. (R)
3.0 Gardeners’ Question
Time: Postbag 3.45
Short Works. The Bubble
Bursts, by Alex Preston.
4.0 Last Word 4.30
More Or Less (R) 5.0
PM 5.54 (LW) Shipping
Forecast 5.57 Weather
6.0 News 6.30 The
News Quiz (5/8) 7.0 The
Archers 7.15 Screenshot.
Ellen E Jones and Mark

Kermode celebrate the
50th anniversary of
Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t
Look Now, with coscreenwriter Allan Scott.
(9/9) 8.0 Any Questions?
8.50 A Point of View
9.0 Yeats and Heaney:
A Terrible Beauty. The
parallels between the
careers of the two Irish
Nobel laureates. (R) 9.59
Weather 10.0 The World
Tonight 10.45 Book at
Bedtime: Rizzio (5/5)
11.0 Americast 11.30
Lusus: Boonies (R) 12.0
News 12.30 Book of
the Week: How to Be a
Renaissance Woman (R)
12.48 Shipping Forecast
1.0 As World Service
5.20 Shipping Forecast
5.30 News 5.43 Prayer
for the Day 5.45 Close
Encounters (R)

Radio 4 Extra

6.0am Project Archangel
(2/4) 6.30 High Table,
Lower Orders (1/6) 7.0
Ricky (5/5) 7.15 Madame
Bovary (10/10) 7.30
The Break (6/6) 8.0
Marriage Lines (10/13)
8.30 Kathmandu Or
Bust (1/6) 9.0 Whispers
(5/6) 9.30 Barbara Nice
(2/4) 10.0 Baldi (4/6)
10.45 Short Works 11.0
Project Archangel (2/4)
11.30 High Table, Lower
Orders (1/6) 12.0 Ricky
(5/5) 12.15 Madame
Bovary (10/10) 12.30

The Break (6/6) 1.0
Marriage Lines (10/13)
1.30 Kathmandu Or
Bust (1/6) 2.0 Whispers
(5/6) 2.30 Barbara Nice
(2/4) 3.0 Baldi (4/6)
3.45 Short Works 4.0
Project Archangel (2/4)
4.30 High Table, Lower
Orders (1/6) 5.0 Ricky
(5/5) 5.15 Madame
Bovary (10/10) 5.30
The Break (6/6) 6.0
Marriage Lines (10/13)
6.30 Kathmandu Or
Bust (1/6) 7.0 Whispers
(5/6) 7.30 Barbara
Nice (2/4) 8.0 The
Tarpaulin: A Biography
8.30 Soul Music (1/6)
9.0 Monsters of Music
With Tom Allen 9.30
Soho Nights (5/5)
10.0 Funny Women at
20 10.30 4 Stands Up
(1/6) 11.0 2000 Years of
Radio (6/6) 11.15 Steven
Appleby’s Normal Life
(6/6) 11.30 The Mark
Steel Lecture (2/4) 12.0
The Yellow Wallpaper
12.45 Get Carter: The
Bloody Chamber (4/5)
1.0 Baldi (4/6) 1.45
Short Works 2.0 Project
Archangel (2/4) 2.30
High Table, Lower Orders
(1/6) 3.0 Ricky (5/5)
3.15 Madame Bovary
(10/10) 3.30 The Break
(6/6) 4.0 Marriage
Lines (10/13) 4.30
Kathmandu Or Bust (1/6)
5.0 Whispers (5/6) 5.30
Barbara Nice (2/4)

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:1 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:55

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

•

Police officers need support, but the public must come first Sue Fish, page 3
Ministers can stop others dying in the way my daughter did Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, page 3
The giant who showed how the best leaders can change lives Martin Kettle, page 4
The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

Opinion
and ideas

Tories? That’s a deception. Call
them the Rightwing Populists
What would it be like if Britain
had a conservative party?
Odd to ask that now, on the
eve of the Conservative party
conference, but the coming
week is only likely to make
the question more pressing.
Because the organisation that

Jonathan
Freedland

will gather in Manchester is, despite its name,
something else entirely.
The mislabelling has been clear for some time, but
fresh evidence came just this week. Start with the
latest, first reported in the Guardian: a new “plan for
motorists” that will limit the number of 20mph zones
and favour drivers over those who use the bus.
The politics of this are not mysterious. Rishi Sunak
is betting that, after an Uxbridge byelection win
apparently fuelled by unhappiness among car owners
at clean air measures, there’s a motorist vote to be
exploited. It comes alongside Sunak’s weakening last
week of the net-zero targets Britain had set itself – and
Wednesday’s green light to the development of the
biggest untapped oilfield in the UK, Rosebank in the
North Sea, which Caroline Lucas called “the greatest
act of environmental vandalism in my lifetime”.
Conviction conservatives should be as appalled by
those decisions as the most committed green activist.
The clue is in the name. Conservatives used to pride
themselves on conserving not only long-established
institutions – monarchy, church, military – but the
natural world, too. The best conservative philosophers
always regarded humankind as custodians of the
Earth, with a responsibility – even a sacred duty – to

protect it. Yet now, a single, narrow victory in
Uxbridge, and the resultant hope of salvaging some
votes from the expected wreckage of the next general
election, is enough to prompt Conservatives to junk
that obligation to the planet. So instead of encouraging
more sustainable ways of getting around, they are
going to push people back into polluting cars.
And note the chosen method for this motorists’
plan, due for launch on Monday. Local councils are
to be stripped of even the relatively modest power of
making their own traffic arrangements. Yet localism,
too, is meant to be a cherished conservative principle.
There was a time when Conservatives couldn’t get
through a speech without quoting, or misquoting,
Edmund Burke’s affection for the “little platoons”
and its imagined preference for local government over
the central state. But today’s Conservatives are all too
willing to trample over the local in pursuit of whatever
electoral stratagem has been decided on at HQ.
Still, the most toxic departure from what should
be unshakeable conservative values came in a speech
delivered in Washington on Tuesday by Suella
Braverman. She railed against migration
and multiculturalism, describing the
first as “an existential challenge” and the

%

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2

! Continued from front

%

second as a failure. Naturally, liberals
deplored it. But a genuine conservative
would have been just as shocked.
Because Braverman had in her sights not just asylum
seekers, but the European convention on human
rights and the United Nations refugee convention of
1951. These are binding agreements, treaty obligations
entered into by the UK – and yet, when asked if the
government would consider breaking from them if
it did not get its way, Braverman refused to say that
Britain would honour its commitments. Instead, she
said the government would do “whatever is required”.
That violates what should be another core
conservative principle: the rule of law. Talk to
today’s disenchanted or former Tories and they’ll
insist that even when Margaret Thatcher was at her
least conservative, radically tearing up the postwar
settlement, she had an unbending respect for the law.
he would hardly recognise this
government, in which the likes
of Braverman – like Thatcher, a
lawyer herself – are ready to break
commitments enshrined in law,
domestic or international. Recall the
unlawful prorogation of parliament or
Brandon Lewis’s cheerful admission
to the house that the internal market bill would
“break international law in a very specific and limited
way”. It’s tempting to think these were excesses of
the Boris Johnson era, now passed. But Braverman’s
speech – and Sunak’s indulgence of it – are proof that
that sorry chapter has not ended.
To be sure, the Conservative party has always
adapted and evolved; that’s been the secret of its
success. On economics, the party’s view of the state
has shifted back and forth, between the shrink-thestate minimalism of a Thatcher or George Osborne
and the big-spending activism of a Michael Heseltine
or Johnson. But certain principles were meant to be
enduring. And it’s those that have been abandoned.
What’s left is a new and different entity. It’s “become
a kind of ersatz populist radical right party” is how
Prof Tim Bale, historian of the Conservatives, describes
it. The old focus on economic management has given
way to culture wars, with motorist v environmentalist
the latest supposedly anti-elite dividing line to
be seized upon. Or as David Gauke, former justice
secretary and editor of a new collection of essays,
many by fellow Conservative exiles, put it when he
and I spoke this week: for today’s Tories, “problems
are there to be exploited, rather than to be solved”.
The simplest explanation for the shift is that politics
in Britain – and across the democratic world – is in
the midst of a realignment. If blue-collar workers
were once assumed to vote with the left for economic
reasons, they might now just as easily align with the
right for cultural ones. The hinge point in Britain was
surely Brexit. For Bale, the Conservative party had long
flirted with populism, but having spent much of the last
decade defending itself from the party of the further
right – first Ukip, then the Brexit party – something
more serious has happened: “It’s become that party.”
All this creates a large void in the right half of the
centre ground of British politics. That should be rich
terrain for the Liberal Democrats, had they not chosen
to pitch themselves as a second party of the centreleft. So Gauke and others sense an opportunity for
Labour: to a disenchanted conservative, respectful of
the planet and vigilant on the rule of law, Keir Starmer
might just look the part.
As for the party itself, honesty should compel it to
rebrand. Not, as Robert Halfon MP has suggested, as the
Workers party – too Pyongyang – but as a People’s party,
admitting its own new, nationalist, populist identity.
Though maybe that would sound too European, too
continental, to their ear.
In which case, here’s a more modest proposal:
a change of logo, to an image that more accurately
reflects the party they have become. The Conservatives
should ditch the squiggly drawing of a tree, with its hint
of reverence for nature, time and the past – and replace
it with a bonfire, burning the whole lot down.

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Tories? That’s a deception. Call
them the Rightwing Populists
Jonathan Freedland

S

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:02

Founded 1821 Independently owned by the Scott Trust № 55,089
‘Comment is free… but facts are sacred’ CP Scott
Prisons

Officers, inmates and
the public are all failed
by a broken system
The atrocious state of English and Welsh prisons is
well documented. In the past six months, inspectors
have issued urgent notifications about conditions in
three jails. Earlier this year, a German court rejected
an extradition request by the UK government on
the grounds that the suspect’s safety could not be
guaranteed. The view of Charlie Taylor, the chief
inspector, is that 14 Victorian prisons are so decrepit
that they should be closed down.
The outcry following the recent escape by Daniel
Khalife from HMP Wandsworth drew attention to
staffing issues. That day, 80 prison officers – 40% of
the total – were absent. Now, a Guardian investigation
has revealed that prison officers are quitting to work
for the police or Border Force instead – a particular
problem for prisons near ports or airports – while the
Prison Officers’ Association believes criminal gangs
are sending members to work in prisons in order to
smuggle drugs and phones. Staffing levels in jails
including Feltham are so low that psychologists have
had to talk to young offenders through cell doors,
instead of in therapy rooms. One prison officer
described violence there as “off the scale”.
The crisis is so acute as to be undeniable. But the
government’s response, of pointing to the planned
expansion of prison capacity and staff numbers, is not
persuasive. Boosting the numbers of recruits – as the
Ministry of Justice aims to with a new campaign – will
not solve the underlying problem unless retention
rates also improve. Last year, almost half of those who

Classical music

Rediscovering lost works
by female composers is
a pleasure, not a chore
The history of women overshadowed and elbowed
aside by men is nowhere more dispiriting than in
classical composing, but turn that proposition on its
head and there are discoveries to be made that refresh
the canon. The story of “the other Mendelssohn” is a
case in point. Fanny Hensel – her married name – was
the talented older sister of Felix Mendelssohn. She
learned composition alongside her brother, but was
confined as an adult to organising and performing
in Sunday music salons at the Berlin home of their
wealthy banking family. By the time she died, aged 41,
she had composed more than 400 pieces. Mendelssohn
is known to have passed some of her songs off as his
own, as embarrassingly revealed during a singalong
with one of his great cheerleaders, Queen Victoria.
But history seldom marches in straight lines. Though
Mendelssohn prevented his sister from publishing her
music, on the grounds that it “would only disturb her
in her primary duties of managing her house”, he was
very supportive of another female composer of their
circle, Clara Schumann. Nor was he responsible for the
misattribution of Fanny’s Easter Sonata, which – in a
much later example of patriarchal presumption – was
assumed to have been his work when the manuscript
was discovered in a Paris bookshop in 1970 under the
name F Mendelssohn.
Only 40 years later did a young female musicologist,
Angela Mace Christian, recognise the sonata as a piece
that Fanny had once mentioned, composed when she
was just 22 years old. Ms Mace Christian is among a

left prison officer roles had been in them for fewer
than three years. Nor will new buildings with more
cells provide a solution. While the oldest prisons
are dilapidated, modern prisons at Woodhill and
Whitemoor, which are not overcrowded, are among
those that have recently failed inspections.
Like most rightwing parties, the Conservatives
value toughness on law and order. In the past
decade, longer sentences have been handed
down by judges, while court delays caused by
years of cuts, followed by the pandemic, have
led to a huge increase in the number of prisoners
on remand. Currently they are 15,500 of a total
prison population of 87,685 – which is not far off
the all-time record of 88,000, and predicted to rise
sharply in the next two years.
It might seem counterintuitive to make it harder
to become a prison officer with the situation as
it is. But the current training, of between seven
and 10 weeks, is one of the shortest courses
in Europe and a national embarrassment. The
Prison Officers’ Association is right to call for the
current lower age limit of 18 to be raised, and for
in-person interviews to be reinstated. Quantity
is no substitute for quality.
Conservative ministers have been responsible
for some terrible decisions, notably Chris Grayling’s
failed privatisation of the probation service. But
the current problems cannot be blamed on an
individual. The system as a whole has been badly
managed, and its leaders should face increased
scrutiny. Parliament’s justice committee has a role
to play here. Its report on the prisons workforce
is expected shortly. Endemic violence should be
investigated separately.
A policy of locking more people up for longer,
without any clear strategy for rehabilitation, may
satisfy short-term political goals. In the longer term,
it is more likely to increase crime than reduce it.
Such failures deserve to be judged harshly.

crowd of female musicians and academics who have
been instrumental in rescuing voices of women
from obscurity. Rediscovery is not itself enough,
though. They also need to be projected with a
conviction and charisma that makes sceptics sit up
and listen. So a new documentary, Fanny: The Other
Mendelssohn, is very welcome. It is directed by the
composer’s great-great-great granddaughter, Sheila
Hayman, with Isata Kanneh-Mason – who has also
recorded Clara Schumann’s music – representing
Fanny at the piano.
There are many other such champions. The
Renaissance and baroque singers Musica Secreta
have delved deep into the radical musical heritage
of Italian convents, earning a listing among the
best tracks of 2022 from the New York Times.
A young, female-led company specialising in
Gothic opera last year unearthed curiosities by two
19th-century French composers, Louise Bertin and
Pauline Viardot, both stars in their day. Bertin and
Viardot’s adventures in gothic opera may not be
masterpieces, but they add to our understanding
of a multidisciplinary movement that has a huge
influence on popular culture today.
In 1987, a retired urban planner from South Africa
listed 5,000 female composers in a two-volume
encyclopaedia that was a labour of love. Seven
years later, the New Grove Dictionary of Women
Composers featured only 875. The gap is telling.
“Whether in the courts of Florence or Versailles,
the great houses of Berlin or Vienna, the crowded
streets of Paris or Leipzig, or even a quiet English
village, in every generation women evaded,
confronted and ignored the beliefs and practices
that excluded them from the world of composition,”
wrote the musicologist Anna Beer in Sounds and
Sweet Airs, a fine history of eight of those women.
Many more are waiting to be rediscovered. We need
more films and plays about them. Above all, we
need more performances of their work.

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:3 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

3

Opinion

Sue Fish

olicing has a problem with accountability
– one that I saw throughout my time as
an officer and, later, as chief constable.
This stems from the belief, held by much
of the police service, that it is under
constant attack from all sides, and that
a lily-livered leadership is failing to
support it, or understand the challenges
of delivering frontline policing. The narrative of the
“hero cop” looms large, as does the notion of the “thin
blue line”, which has other connotations in the US, but
in the UK symbolises the cops holding back the tide of
lawlessness in the face of a hostile public and press.
As a result, too many officers believe that the law
applies differently to them. That can result in an
unwarranted arrest here, a strip-search there, checking
police systems for contact details, and worse. Many
officers believe that if you are doing your job properly
you will be on the receiving end of complaints. The
abuse of power is ingrained in policing.
And so I was unsurprised by the decision of some
Met firearms officers to down their weapons after an
officer was charged with murder over the September
2022 shooting of Chris Kaba. This behaviour is akin to
a tantrum thrown by a toddler when deprived of their
favourite toy, but it’s also utterly logical when seen
through the lens I describe above. As of yesterday they

Ministers can
stop others
dying like my
daughter did

have returned to normal service, but this apparent
act of solidarity for a colleague was another symptom
of a self-serving minority – or, as Louise Casey, the
author of a damning report on the Met, described it,
“a dark corner of the Met”.
Firearms officers, in particular, seem to believe
that the rest of the police service and the public
should be more grateful for their decision to carry
a firearm. Yet no one is above the law and due process
should and must follow. I would argue that the
standard has to be even higher for police officers,
given the legal powers they hold. I was never an
authorised firearms officer (AFO) myself – in my
force in the late 1980s, women weren’t allowed to be.
But for many years I was a tactical and then strategic
firearms commander and knew through my training
that I was completely accountable for the decisions
I did or didn’t make. AFOs know that they will be held
to the highest levels of scrutiny – this is reinforced
throughout their firearms training.
Admittedly, that’s easy to say and much harder
to live through. Scrutiny and accountability are
deeply uncomfortable. Others picking over what
did or didn’t happen over agonisingly long periods
and passing judgment on your actions is tough and
frequently career-threatening.
The Met chief, Mark Rowley, needs to decide where
he stands: does he prioritise backing his officers or
building trust with the communities he and his officers
serve? The open letter he wrote to the home secretary
made clear where his loyalty lies. While dressed in
the rhetoric of reform, it showed that he is backing
his officers over the public. Is the accountability
system for policing perfect? No. But the changes
Rowley suggests, whether in the public interest or
not, would require legislation to be enacted – which
would take years. In the short term, the letter has
merely appeased arrogant officers, and set out a
platform for lower, not higher, standards.
Meanwhile, Suella Braverman’s intervention was
extraordinary even by her standards, in endorsing the
“hero-cop” narrative and commissioning yet another
review. I trust history won’t treat her kindly.
At the heart of all this is a grieving family. It seems
that too many involved have lost sight of this. Their
loss is enormous and at the very least they deserve
honesty, transparency and for justice to be served.
I have huge respect for the role of firearms officers
and appreciate the extra burden that this places on
them and their families. They are volunteers, but
they are not indispensable. They must be accountable
to the law – as we all are.

Tanya
use
Ednan-Laperouse

T



Sue Fish
is a former
police officer
who served
as chief
constable of
Nottinghamshire
from 2016
to 2017

PHOTOGRAPH: JAMIE LASHMAR/ALAMY

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

•

Police officers
need support,
but the public
must come first

P

Sent at 29/9/2023 15:53

Tanya EdnanLaperouse
is co-founder
and trustee of
the Natasha
Allergy Research
Foundation

he last two years have made a huge
difference to the millions of people
living with food allergies in the UK.
Tomorrow is the second anniversary of
“Natasha’s law” coming into force. The
law requires all food retailers across
the UK to display full ingredient and
allergen labelling on every food item
made on the premises and pre-packed for direct sale.
We know it has had an impact. A recent Food
Standards Agency (FSA) survey showed significant
compliance by food businesses, greater awareness by
both consumers and businesses, and more shop staff
asking customers whether or not they had allergies.
But for us, the law came with the heaviest price:
our 15-year-old daughter Natasha’s life was snatched
away from us in 2016. She had anaphylaxis after eating
sesame, which was not listed as an ingredient in a
shop-bought baguette. To know Natasha’s death was
wholly preventable remains a source of the deepest
pain for my husband, Nadim, and me.
The 2018 inquest into her death proved what we
had already discovered – that there was a loophole
in food-labelling regulations.
Natasha would be immensely proud of this law in
her name because it has transformed everyday lives.
Official figures say more than 2 million people are
living with a diagnosed food allergy. Food allergy is not
a lifestyle choice or a preference for them: it is a serious
disease that can cause the potentially life-threatening
allergic reaction that led to Natasha’s death. Natasha’s
law has improved the quality of life for families, taking
away some of the stress and fear. A parent recently told
me: “Without Natasha’s law, I do not think my twoyear-old son would have made it this far.”
To date, businesses found to be noncompliant with
the law have been given support, cautions and written
warnings. But it is time to up the ante. Now we are
calling for repeat offenders to face fines.
There is also a worrying trend noted by the FSA,
which is a 59% rise in the use of precautionary allergen
labelling (Pal) by food businesses. These labels say
that regulated allergens could be unintentionally
present in a product, and may pose a risk. It forces
people with food allergies to either limit the food they
eat, or cross their fingers and hope for the best. We
are asking for legislation and mandatory guidelines
so that Pal is only applied where a risk of crosscontamination with an allergen has been identified.
We need a mandatory national register of fatal and
near-fatal anaphylaxis cases, so that policymakers,
scientists and healthcare professionals understand
the real scale of the problem. The government should
appoint an allergy tsar as a matter of urgency, to act
as a national lead and ensure people have appropriate
healthcare support. Many do not.
Tomorrow we will celebrate the second anniversary
of Natasha’s law, but there is also so much more to do.

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:4 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

4

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Opinion

The giant who
showed how
the best leaders
change lives
Martin
Kettle

I

Sent at 29/9/2023 15:54

t’s not every day that you see a pope paying
tribute to a former communist – but it
happened this week in Rome. By the same
token, it is a surprise to hear one of the
church’s most senior cardinals make an
affectionate and generous address at the
same communist’s strictly secular, defiantly
non-religious funeral, but these things, no less
unusually, happened this week, too.
But then Giorgio Napolitano, who died a week ago
aged 98 and whose funeral took place in Rome on
Tuesday, was no ordinary president of Italy and no
ordinary communist either. A lifelong member of the
Italian Communist party until it dissolved in 1991,
Napolitano was elected president in May 2006. He
was also, very reluctantly, the first Italian president
to be re-elected to serve a second term in 2013.
All of which may imply that, for all his distinctions,
Napolitano is now a figure from the past. But there
was a lot more to him than even his presidential years.
And all of it still has a lot to teach about how to think
about and to do progressive politics in the 2020s and
beyond, not least in Britain.

I was able to meet Napolitano for the first time
in Rome in 1989 while I was covering an Italian
Communist party congress for the Guardian. I was
supposed to be interviewing him, but it quickly
turned the other way around. We sat down in the
middle of a vast hall, and he immediately asked
my views (he spoke excellent English) about Neil
Kinnock’s Labour party. Since he knew somehow
or other that my father was a communist literature
professor, he also asked me for my views about the
novels of Joseph Conrad, which he was reading at
the time. I was on reasonably strong ground about
Kinnock, but had to busk a hasty answer on Conrad.
I suspect it showed, though Napolitano was too polite
to say so. As soon as I got home I made sure to read as
much Conrad as I could lay my hands on.
As Italy’s president, Napolitano was in due course
to prove the most politically adept holder of what
had been a largely ceremonial office. He repeatedly
needed those skills. A divided Italy was lucky that
he did. The obligation to hold the country together
was thrust upon him by a volatile combination of the
global financial crisis, the fragmentation of Italian
politics and the rise of populism. But he would mostly
prove equal to the challenge.
His achievements were not small. In 2011, he
oversaw the departure of Silvio Berlusconi from
the prime ministership. In 2013, he orchestrated a
new grand coalition of non-populist parties, which
managed to remain in power until he stepped down
with relief two years later. A lesser public figure might
not have achieved these things. “Italy was certainly
fortunate to be guided in difficult times, among
obstacles of all kinds, by a man like that,” commented
no less a witness than the late Pope Benedict.
Napolitano was a tall man, cerebral and dignified,
and with a benign patrician manner, sometimes
likened to Victor Emmanuel III, the last prewar king of
Italy. He was an unashamed political intellectual, with
vast cultural knowledge and a huge love of the arts.
But what really marked him out was his status as one
of the European left’s most prominent and committed
moderates. As a lifelong communist, he struggled, too
slowly perhaps, but without giving up, with the need
for his party to adapt to the changed postwar world.
He was wrong about some things – his support for
the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 haunted him
throughout his life, until, as president, he laid a wreath

A book of condolence for Giorgio Napolitano at the Senate in Rome PHOTOGRAPH: RICCARDO ANTIMIANI

For many
Europeans,
Napolitano drove
a stake through the
heart of much that
was unsupportable
in far-left politics
on the memorial to the martyrs of the uprising 50
years later. His once-famous 1970s interviews with his
friend the historian Eric Hobsbawm, which seemed so
refreshing at the time, now show a stubborn belief in
the reformability of the communist movement, which
would not survive the events of 1989.
But the reason why the Napolitano of those years
still matters today, in spite of these things, is that
he was always willing to reason, to adapt and to
compromise. He was a key player in the postwar moves
of the Italian Communist party – Europe’s largest
and always, in Washington’s cold war eyes, its most
threatening – towards parliamentarism, alliances with
more moderate parties and, increasingly, support for
the European Union. His own lifetime trajectory was
towards reformism, gradualism, toleration and the
importance of democratic institutions.

P

ope Francis expanded on this theme
when he came to the Italian parliament
to attend Napolitano’s lying in state
last Sunday: “I appreciated the
humanity and foresight in making
important choices correctly, especially
in delicate moments for the life of the
country, with the constant intention of
promoting unity and harmony in a spirit of solidarity,
animated by the search for the common good.”
They were well-chosen words. They provide useful
clues to Napolitano’s qualities. Many politicians in
many countries invoke pieties such as the common
good, social harmony, national unity and difficult
political choices. Very few are good at both embodying
them and at putting them into practice. Napolitano,
remarkably, managed both.
It’s the reason why the Catholic hierarchy
– rightly – took Napolitano seriously and why
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi spoke so well at the funeral.
It was a questioning role that Napolitano inherited from
his remarkable pluralist mentor Giorgio Amendola and
also, he would always argue, from Italian Marxism’s
most iconic figure, Antonio Gramsci. It is surely no
coincidence that Napolitano rests in the same secular
Rome cemetery as Gramsci – and John Keats.
Experts will have to judge whether Amendola
and Napolitano have left a beneficial mark on Italian
life and politics or whether, in the end, they were
attempting to reform the unreformable. For many
across Europe, though, their writings and careers
helped to drive a stake through the heart of much
that was already anachronistic and unsupportable in
far-left politics and practice. Napolitano’s rejection
of Leninism and of revolutionary violence were
major steps along the way. But in the end, and as his
presidency showed, he also accepted the abandonment
of socialist utopianism itself.
Open-minded, progressive politicians such as
Napolitano, who were willing to compromise and
adapt, learned the hard way that utopianism does not
work, is unpopular and becomes repressive. That’s
more than can be said for others, then and now, in Italy
and elsewhere, for whom leftwing politics is still more
about dogma than practicality. At least, in Napolitano’s
case, there was a result to his long and fruitful journey
away from dogmatism. It can’t be dismissed as selling
out. On the contrary. It provided him with the skills
and the wisdom to preserve the Italian republic and the
unity of his country. And that isn’t a bad outcome.

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:5 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

•

A mystery
tour, but far
from magical
James
Nokise

F

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:29

or the first two or so hours of its
scheduled run, the Monday 16:40
direct train from London Euston
to Edinburgh Waverley had been
delightfully normal. The train was
neither too full, too cold nor too loud.
It was boring – blissfully so. There was
no sign of the odyssey to come.
An email arrived on our phones, its title evoking
The Twilight Zone: “Your train has changed.” It got
worse, and stranger: “Your train has been cancelled.”
That’s one of the odder announcements you can
receive while rolling along on the train in question.
It was news to the train manager, who learned
of the email – of his fate and ours – from us, the
passengers. A short time later, they returned.

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

5

“The rumours are true,” they said. The train was
cancelled. Everyone would disembark at Preston.
How you see this depends on your knowledge
of Preston: what it is – a town, a city, the home of
Fishergate shopping centre? – and where it is. Google
Maps presented it as some sort of inland Blackpool.
A connecting train to Glasgow was meant to be
waiting there – the right country but not the right
destination, and a solution that presented further
travel issues. In the event, it wasn’t a solution at all
as the Glasgow connection arrived crammed with
other displaced passengers. Many of us rushed
across the Preston platforms, only to see our
connecting train disconnect from us – and all our
hopes – as it departed the station.
Another train would soon arrive, we were told. In the
great tradition of British timekeeping, “soon” meant in
about 90 minutes. In the great tradition of British rail
travel, that train was then cancelled.
So what to do on a Monday night in Preston?
Friendly locals wandered by to suggest we get drunk at
whichever pub they were either heading to or heading
from. The colder it got, the more appealing that became.
A solution was needed; a solution arrived. It was
not the solution anyone expected. Dunkirk had small
boats; we had something more modern but just as
ambitious – out of the blue on a cold dark night came
a convoy of taxis. Sedans, vans, saloons and black
cabs arrived to ferry travellers “north”. That must have
been some call to the minicab office: “Hello, can we
have cabs for 200 please?”
As people waited in turn, to sit with strangers and
travel for 180 miles and three hours into another
country, there was concern: would there be enough
to go around? Would Preston run out of cabs?
Then, as we all set off, further questions, to which
the answers, worryingly, seemed to be: yes. Can a GPS



James Nokise
is a standup
comedian

get you lost on a drive requiring only Britain’s main
roads? Is it doing it on purpose? Is this where AI is
taking us in the bold, bright future? Is the driver OK,
or is he “drifting” slightly at the wheel?
It was a surreal experience: both solitary and
communal. None of our cab’s occupants exchanged
names, presumably so we could never reconnect,
never meet and never talk about that night again.
Sincere apologies to any of them reading this. If you
feel triggered, reach out for help.
My story of the journey, posted in increasingly
frantic tones through the night on Twitter, was shared
over and over again, presumably by those with their
own tales of transport woe. Be it problems with
flights or buses or coaches or on the roads, everyone
understands the plight of the stranded, bewildered,
careworn traveller. Everyone feels our pain.
And in the aftermath we look for answers,
but still nothing adds up. Despite the national
discussion of our marathon, no one from the rail
network has quite managed to explain how a 5h 41m
direct route ended up taking 11 hours via an extra
city and a couple of service stops. (An Avanti West
Coast spokesperson said the cancellations were
due to a “track defect” – must have been a biggie.)
No one has quite managed to explain why, despite
previous cancellations at Preston, a more organised
contingency plan was not in place to support
passengers and staff – one that didn’t involve a baffling
taxi ride throughout the night.
When the regular users of a train appear more
informed than the staff, it’s not just the tracks
that have issues. If opting to travel by train results
in entering a Twilight Zone, is anyone surprised
that so many turn to Ryanair and easyJet? And spare
a thought for the train manager: hopefully they
made it home.

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:6 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

6

Letters

of science. Everything else is
wishful thinking, and may be
so dangerous that it might spell
the end of our civilisation.
This, I think, is the most serious
evil that saps the foundation of our
science-based society. Our society
is certainly not the best, but it is the
best we have been able to generate.
Do not let us allow it to regress
because of sheer stupidity.
Prof AM Celâl Şengör
Istanbul Technical University
• As a longtime science publisher,
I share Giorgio Parisi’s concern
over the growing chasm between
scientists and the public. The need
to show mistakes, a core part of
the scientific method, has become
more and more at odds with the
publishing process, where scientists
are required to tell perfect stories
that will satisfy journal editors and
peer reviewers. This is not how
science really works.
In recent years, researchers
in the life sciences have started
sharing their work early in the
form of “preprints” (unreviewed

Those societies that
have lagged behind
are those that tried to
subordinate science
to social convictions
Prof AM Celâl Şengör

Suella Braverman’s message of
divide and rule must be resisted
The home secretary’s speech
in Washington on Tuesday is a
stark warning to all who value
basic human rights for women,
gay people and refugees fleeing
war, persecution, poverty and
climate change (UN rebukes
Braverman over human rights
claim, 26 September). Suella
Braverman’s readiness to casually
rip up the 1951 refugee convention,
born of the horrors of nazism, can
only encourage the hard right and
neo-Nazis everywhere.
The skies are already darkening
across much of Europe. In the
UK, their followers are constantly
probing to whip up anti-refugee
sentiment, the prison-like
ship in Portland being only the
most high-profile example.
There are many others, such
as cynical dog-whistling over
deportations to Rwanda.

In the late 1970s, we faced a
similar threat with the National
Front (NF). We formed the Anti
Nazi League, which, by drawing
in hundreds of thousands of antiracists, trade unionists, migrant
communities and community
activists, prevented the NF from
breaking into the mainstream of
British politics. Wherever the NF
tried to organise, they faced a wall
of opposition, helped hugely by
Rock Against Racism.
We believe such a movement is
necessary once more. Thankfully,
anti-racists are already stepping
up in opposition wherever
refugees housed in hotels are being
harassed, of which there are now
a worrying number of examples.
But we think we need to deepen
and enlarge this process and reach
into every workplace, housing
estate, college and community.

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Sheer stupidity’s a threat
to our scientific progress
It is impossible to disagree with
Giorgio Parisi’s deeply felt concern
(Is it TikTok or global crisis? How
the world lost its trust in scientists
like me, theguardian.com,
25 September). A part of the blame
must be shared with schools and
universities. During my lifetime
(I was born in 1955) the quality
of instruction has declined at an
accelerating rate. The teaching
of natural sciences has lost its
former rigour in favour of social
science claims that are blatant
nonsense, such as the argument
that scientific knowledge is not
based on observation, hypothesis
generation and rigorous testing by
the world scientific community,
but is “constructed” within the
framework of the political and
social convictions of scientists.
Those who teach such ideas
seem not to be aware that the
world community of scientists
would soon discard any hypothesis
that conflicts with observation.
That is why science has made
such rapid progress since Galileo
ignited the scientific revolution in
the 17th century. Those societies
that have lagged behind are those
that tried to subordinate science
to social convictions, including
religions and such political
dogmas as Marxism, nazism,
fascism and similar movements
that forbid free, critical thinking.
We must go back to the optimism
of the Enlightenment and teach
the coming generations that
whatever humanity knows
has become known because

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:16

versions of their research papers),
allowing them to tell their own
stories. During the pandemic, this
early sharing of research became
a matter of life and death, and led
to thousands of findings being
made available as soon as they
were ready. Servers such as bioRxiv
(pronounced “bio-archive”)
and medRxiv grew rapidly to
accommodate this new movement,
and it has been encouraging to see
the trend continuing into other
areas of biomedical research.
The movement has created the
opportunity to reinvent scientific
publishing – an industry worth
around $20bn worldwide, mostly
in the hands of a few corporate
publishers – and put the power back
into the hands of researchers. If they
take this opportunity, we can move
to a world where science is more
honest, open and trusted by all.
Damian Pattinson
Executive director, eLife
• Giorgio Parisi is of course
absolutely right in recognising the
alarming decrease in public trust
in science and scientists. But the
basic conclusion that he settles
on – “In a nutshell, scientists are
thought to be part of the elite and,
therefore, not trustworthy” – fails
to recognise that a well-organised,
well-financed, and ruthlessly
aggressive campaign against
science (regarding not only the
efficacy and safety of vaccines
but the critical planetary threat
of climate change) by rightwing
politicians, their donors and their
media promoters, intended only
to advance their political goals, is
largely to account for this decrease.
Put simply, large numbers of people
no longer trust in science because
they’ve been told not to.
Jack Whalen
Oakland, California, US
Braverman, backed by Rishi
Sunak, has crossed a line.
Edward Heath sacked Enoch Powell
from the shadow cabinet for his
“rivers of blood” speech in 1968.
Margaret Thatcher never repeated
her disgraceful “swamping”
speech of 1978. But today the Tory
government is openly using the
language of the hard and racist
right. Multiculturalism is trashed.
The association of refugees with
language such as “invasion”,
“threat to national security” and
“criminality” has entered the
political discourse. The Trump
playbook is developing before
our eyes here in the UK.
There is no time to lose.
Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen
and Donald Trump are a warning.
Braverman’s Tory message of
hatred and divide and rule must
be urgently resisted. She is no
longer a fit person to be home
secretary and the Home Office is
no longer fit for purpose.
Peter Hain and Paul Holborow
Founder members, Anti Nazi
League 1977

Out with
the arcs
‘Light on the fells
and a double
rainbow seen at
Glencoyne, one
of my favourite
spots on the edge
of Ullswater.
The photo is two
shots stitched
together in
Lightroom’
DAVID EBERLIN/
GUARDIAN COMMUNITY

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Electoral advice the
Lib Dems must heed
I share Max von Thun’s hopes for a
hung parliament in which the Lib
Dems can nudge Labour away from
its constant tack to the right (Three
ways the Lib Dems could turn
the tide, 25 September).
But there is a fourth objective
that he should add to the list of
policies on which to negotiate an
agreement. That is proportional
representation, which is used
for elections to the Scottish and
Welsh parliaments and in varying
forms throughout most other
European nations. The objection
that it risks empowering extreme
minority parties can be remedied
by setting a minimum proportion
of national votes for eligibility
for representation.
Kate Macintosh
Winchester
• I do not think that Max von
Thun and other political figures

are correct when they say that
“the public might not be ready
to reopen the thorny question
of membership” of the EU.
When giving out Rejoin leaflets
in Holmfirth last week, the
overwhelming response was “yes”.
However, people do not think it will
happen, because no politician or
party is willing to lead the way. It’s
a failure of our political system.
Stephen Dorril
Holmfirth, West Yorkshire
• Max von Thun decries “more
than a decade of disastrous
government under the
Conservatives”. Mr von Thun
may not remember, but no one
else should forget that five of
those disastrous Tory years were
enabled by the Lib Dems voting
for and providing intellectual heft
to George Osborne’s austerity
budgets, the core reason for the
social, economic and political
disasters we have endured and
continue to endure.
Alex Gallagher
Largs, Ayrshire

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:7 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sent at 29/9/2023 18:17

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•

7

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 @guardianletters

Corrections and
clarifications
• An article (Apology over
Braverman’s claim about ethnicity
of child abusers, 29 September,
p16) incorrectly said that the press
regulator Ipso had “forced the Mail
on Sunday to issue an apology and
correction” over a comment piece
in which the home secretary, Suella
Braverman, claimed grooming
gangs were “almost all BritishPakistani”. In fact, while Ipso ruled
the claim misleading, it did not
require the Mail on Sunday (MoS) to
issue an apology, nor was one given;
rather it said the paper should
publish the correction it initially
offered (but which the complainant
had rejected) clarifying that the
claim related specifically to three
high-profile grooming cases. We can
clarify also that because the MoS
checked the claim with government
advisers in advance and offered
a prompt remedy afterwards,
Ipso did not find it breached the
Editors’ Code of Practice.
Editorial complaints and corrections can be sent to
guardian.readers@theguardian.com or The readers’
editor, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU.
You can also leave a voicemail on 020 3353 4736

David Davis deluded
about our ‘free’ press
Re David Davis’s article on free
speech (The Mail and the Telegraph
owned by the same man? It would
be a disaster for the UK’s free press,
theguardian.com, 28 September),
as the old saying goes: “Freedom
of the press is limited to those who
own one.” Anyone who believes the
UK has a free press is delusional.
Joseph Quinn
Belfast

How can it be legal
to chop down trees?

absentee landlords cut them
down in urban gardens. I weep!
Cath Attlee
London

English literature is
anything but insular

Oh how I recognised and felt
what Damien Gayle described in
his article (Even in our cities, we
still miss nature when it’s gone,
23 September). Our house used to
have four mature trees, including
two lilac on one side and an apple
tree and beautiful bushes on the
other. The area where our gardens
met was full of birds, insects and
squirrels, and provided a great play
area for our cats. Like Damien, we
came back from holiday to find the
trees cut down and bushes cleared.
A few weeks later, a similar
slaughter happened on the
other side. Discussion with the
council confirmed that there is
nothing we can do to prevent such
destruction on privately owned
land, unless it is a conservation
area. This, despite the council’s
commitment to improving our
environment and air quality. While
they plant trees in the street,

• I read with such sadness the
article by Damien Gayle. I had
never heard of “solastalgia”, but I
certainly feel it. We moved to our
new house three years ago, moving
into the countryside to have a bigger
garden and more green space. I love
my trees and garden here. It was
a wrench to leave my small town
garden, and I fretted how it would
be treated by the new owner.
I was right to worry: they have
torn down the ivy that housed a
colony of loud and busy sparrows;
the crab apple tree – which fed
blue tits and wood pigeons plus
hedgehogs with fallen fruit – has
been hacked back to a sad stump;
and the glorious silver birch in the
back garden has been chopped
down. I can’t go near my old house
now as seeing it breaks my heart.
I have solastalgia.
Nancy Clarke
Medstead, Hampshire

Julian Heddy writes that the
“overwhelmingly monolingual
culture that prevails” in the UK
“accounts for the insularity that
informs (or skews) contemporary
cultural life” (Letters, 28
September). This ignores the
advantage that English has over
other European languages, namely
that writers in English come from a
far wider variety of cultures.
The aftermath of imperialism
gives us English-language writers
from every continent. A great deal of
cultural diversity is represented in
the literature of the US, for example,
or in the wealth of Indian writing in
English. And come to that, British
society is hardly homogeneous.
British cultural life may suffer
from insularity, but if it does
it’s a choice; it’s not caused by
insufficient literature in translation.
John Wilson
London

• Finding shirts with a breast pocket
isn’t a problem in charity shops
(Letters, 29 September). You also tell
the fashion industry who is boss.
Michael Ayton
Durham
• Your article on inheritance tax
(Report, 27 September) reminds
me of a quote attributed to the late
David Frost: “A conservative is
someone who demands a square
deal for the rich.”
Peter Brooker
London
• Our cat Chloe would like it to be
known that she is fine wearing a bell,
but when it comes to killing wildlife
she’s an amateur compared with
the poison shelf of our local garden
centre (Letters, 26 September).
Charles Harris
London
• Fried egg for a buck rarebit
(Letters, 29 September)? No!
It must be poached.
Janet Mansfield
Aspatria, Cumbria

Established 1906

Country diary
Kirkcudbright
There are two species of troglodyte
at my Fairy Hill Croft in the
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, the
wren and the badger, and they
both made themselves known last
week after I cut back and “laid”
my sprawling hawthorn hedge.
The overgrown hawthorn, beech,
holly hedges and grapevines were
blocking my 360-degree view of the
forests, hills and stone walls that
lace the pastures together here.
The jack-in-the-box wren gave
out a “chip, chip, chip” from the
naked hawthorn that no longer
afforded anonymity.
The badgers, meanwhile,
inhabit two huge setts either
side of the croft, one on the burn
side beneath an oak, the other
towards the westward woods, both
watched by a pair of buzzards and
red kites; I’m bang in the middle.
The badgers are regular visitors;
just passing through or picking up
the titbits I leave out.
With the hedge now down to
5ft and the understorey cleared
of dead branches, leaf mould and
briars, the stubby tree trunks stand
out like a prop forward’s legs. Like
any good crofter, I harvested logs
for the fire, made charcoal for
drawing, and picked the berries
to make my secret recipe of
hawthorn and rowan syrup.
After excavating nettle
rhizomes that measured fully
4ft long, and rafts of impenetrable
grasses, I unwittingly opened
the badger’s favourite pantry
and the irresistible smell of
fresh earth and vegetation on
to the wind. This attracted both
groups for an overnight digging
party, taking their chance for an
opportunistic feed.
Next morning, HS2 was alive
and well. A remarkable feat of
civil engineering with holes on
both sides of the hedge, one side
collapsing into a field where
a couple of Aberdeen Angus
cows nuzzled a football-sized
conglomerate boulder.
The badgers returned the
next night, grubbed more tubers
and gnawed exposed hawthorn
roots, but there was no further
devastation. I returned the stones
to their resting place, back-filled
the tunnels and shored up the
banking. The badgers had claimed
their “herbage” – the rights of
pasture on another man’s land –
but thankfully the grapes were safe.
Sean Wood

ILLUSTRATION: CLIFFORD HARPER

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Obituaries

Erwin Olaf
Photographer whose forensic
attention to detail created
unsettling cinematic images

T

he Dutch
photographer
Erwin Olaf, who
has died aged
64 following a
lung transplant,
straddled
the world of
art, advertising and fashion
photography with a sumptuous
cinematic and painterly aesthetic.
Into his meticulously staged
works he introduced subtle
imperfections to stir disquiet in
his audience: “There should be a
riddle in every powerful image, so
you are intrigued and invited to
look over and over again.”
He was influenced by the
storytelling power of cinema.
He wanted to create an openended narrative in a single shot,
to capture the moment between
what just happened and what is
about to happen.
Olaf began as a controversial
figure, striving to subvert

cYanmaGentaYellowbla

established norms and celebrate
diversity. His first inspiration, one
that “struck me like lightning”
as a student, was Weegee’s
Transvestite/The Gay Deceiver
c1939, a photograph with a
celluloid quality that would stay
with him and become a motif
of his work. Other influences
were the photographers Robert
Mapplethorpe, Helmut Newton and
Joel-Peter Witkin, but he also drew
inspiration from the Dutch masters
Rembrandt, Jan Steen and George
Hendrik Breitner.
While living in a squat in
Amsterdam in the 1980s, Olaf
began photographing the city’s
nightlife and the gay liberation
movement, exploring sexuality in
stark black and white images.
In 1988 he completed a series
of images called Chessmen.
Comprising 32 sadomasochistic
erotic tableaux inspired
by medieval chess pieces,
Chessmen crystallised the way

The Kite from
the 2018
Palm Springs
series, main
photograph;
Squares – Piek
on Phillippe
Starck, 1991, top
right; a
self-portrait
ERWIN OLAF,
COURTESY OF
HAMILTONS GALLERY;
ERWIN OLAF STUDIO

he wanted to present his work:
as a series of thematically linked,
single photographs. It was his
breakthrough moment and Olaf
was awarded first prize in the 1988
Young European Photographer
competition. A book of the work
was published and his first major
solo exhibition opened at Museum
Ludwig in Cologne, Germany.
Despite his underground, radical
beginnings, his sheer talent and
innate affinity with the traditions
of Dutch art soon meant he was

There
should be
a riddle in
every
powerful
image, so
you are
intrigued

embraced by the mainstream in his
homeland. He took the official state
portraits of the Dutch royal family
in 2018, which were turned into the
royal Christmas card and issued
as postage stamps. The following
year, on his 60th birthday, there
was a double exhibition of his
work in The Hague, and one at the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Born Erwin Olaf Springveld in
the town of Hilversum to Simon
Springveld, a sales manager for
an office supplies company, and
Alida (nee Van ’t Hoff ), he moved to
Hoevelaken in 1967 and attended
secondary school in Amersfoort.
In 1977 he enrolled at the School
of Journalism in Utrecht, but in
his second year, a photography
tutor saw that Erwin was unhappy
and invited him to a class: “I felt
comfortable with the medium
immediately, [it] felt like a
homecoming.”
After graduating in 1980, he
assisted a photojournalist in
Amsterdam for two years, while
also documenting the gay scene. He
loved the theatre of the clubs, the
experimentation with persona and
gender identity. He gained his first
commission from Vinyl, a music
magazine, and was published in
queer magazines and newspapers.
But he wanted to create his
own reality, his own surrealist
dreamworld. He dropped his
surname, and his 35mm Nikon
camera, and bought a second-hand
medium-format Hasselblad, which

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:9 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

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9

 obituaries@theguardian.com
 @guardianobits

would bring a more formal quality
to his edgy work.
Encouraged to be true to his
own instincts by his then partner
and muse, Teun Frieszo, Olaf
set up a rudimentary studio. He
photographed friends from the
queer scene and made money
taking portraits but, following his
success with Chessmen, finally had
the freedom to explore his own
artistic vision more fully.
He introduced colour and
digital manipulation into his work,
which became more expansive,
characterised by forensic attention
to detail. His team of assistants,
wardrobe artists, location scouts
and set builders helped him
produce flawlessly lit and dressed
images that depicted mysterious
fairytales, though behind each
beautiful facade lies a fissure,
signified by an uneasy pose or an
incongruous detail.
He produced work for fashion
magazines such as Vogue and Elle,
and companies such as Heineken,
Microsoft and Diesel Jeans, for
which he won the 1999 Silver Lion
at the Cannes advertising festival.
Olaf’s personal work continued
to be provocative: Mature (1999)
depicts elderly women as sensual
supermodels; Fashion Victims
(2000) highlights the consumerism
of designer labels; and Royal Blood
(2000), a series of portraits showing
historical figures who came to a
sticky end, explores the public
fascination with fame and violence.
This century, he began to
produce work that posed deeper
philosophical questions, such as in
the series Separation (2003), Hope
(2005), Grief (2005) and Keyhole
(2011). In Palm Springs (2018), shot
in a documentary fashion that
juxtaposes models in 60s clothing
in modern landscapes, “reality
creeps into the paradise we’ve
tried so hard to maintain”. Im Wald
(2020) highlights the indifferent
power of nature in the face of
human arrogance. From 2008
Olaf was represented in the UK by
Hamiltons Gallery in Mayfair. In
2011 he received the Dutch state
prize for the arts and, in 2019, was
made a knight in the Order of the
Netherlands Lion. His 2019 shows
coincided with the publication of a
monograph, Erwin Olaf: I Am.
Due to hereditary emphysema,
he underwent the lung transplant
to try to lengthen his life. On his
death, the Dutch royal family
said the nation had lost “a
unique, exceptionally talented
photographer and a great artist”.
An artist who, from day one, made
photographs inspired by a question
posed by his photography tutor:
“What is normal?”
He is survived by his husband,
Kevin Ray Edwards, whom he
married in Amsterdam in 2016, and
his brothers, Jos and Ron.
Greg Whitmore
Erwin Olaf Springveld,
photographer, born 2 July 1959;
died 20 September 2023

Stewart Cameron
Leading nephrologist
who founded a globally
renowned kidney unit

A

s a bright young
doctor at Guy’s
hospital in
London in the
1960s, Stewart
Cameron, who
has died aged 89,
was determined
to be both clinician and researcher,
but where should he focus his
talents? Irreversible kidney failure
– uniformly fatal until then – was
just becoming treatable through
dialysis or kidney transplantation;
both were complex, demanding
and dangerous, for patients and
doctors alike.
Stewart had found his metier and
decided to make renal medicine
his life’s work. The first professor
of renal medicine in the UK, he
created at Guy’s a unit that became
internationally known for its
research and the treatment of
kidney failure.
He realised that any unit
offering only dialysis would soon
be overwhelmed unless kidney
transplantation was also available.
So from the mid-60s – with his
close colleague Chisholm Ogg – he
established a combined service.
His socialist principles were
reflected in his egalitarian
approach: there was to be equal
access to treatment for all in need,
and collaborative team work was
the watchword. All were partners
– patients and staff alike. Nurses
and other staff knew they were
respected members of the team
and responded to the responsibility
and autonomy they were given.
Unconventionally, first names were
the norm.
Their success meant referrals
flooded in. They were treating
children and adults until a

paediatrician, Cyril Chantler, joined
them. The challenges were exciting
and they were working full tilt,
but there was a price. There was a
hepatitis B outbreak in the unit in
1969, and Stewart became seriously
ill. The unit recovered, becoming
a beacon, attracting streams of
trainees and visitors.
He was determined that research
would be fostered despite the
clinical workload. He was a walking
textbook of nephrology, but it was
the study of nephritis, immunemediated kidney disease, that he
focused on.
Following in the tradition
of Richard Bright, the
19th-century Guy’s physician,
Stewart recognised the value of
longitudinal study of personally
observed cases. Combining this
with the study of kidney tissue
obtained by biopsy, he separated
all the known types of nephritis
into precisely defined groups and
pinpointed their differing natural
histories.
He introduced to nephrology the
now standard statistical method
(the Kaplan-Meier plot) that
enabled him to compare groups,
identify factors that influenced
outcome (such as the amount of
protein leaking into the urine),
and evaluate novel treatments.
He wrote a large number of clear
authoritative papers, books and
book chapters that transformed
thinking about nephritis and its
treatment. He was a commanding
teacher, filling lecture theatres and
stimulating challenge and debate.
Stewart’s skills meant he was
soon drawn into leadership in
the kidney world beyond Guy’s –
nationally then internationally.
He was articulate and forceful in

There was
to be equal
access to
treatment
for all
in need

Stewart Cameron believed staff and patients were partners

his espousal of the need for more
resources for kidney treatment
in the UK; this was not popular
in the Department of Health. He
served as president of the UK
Renal Association (1992-95), the
European Renal Association (198588) and the International Society of
Nephrology (1993-95).
His international leadership
was not just titular; he travelled
the world teaching, especially
encouraging the emergence
of nephrology in developing
countries. With his gift for
friendship and his unrelenting
energy, he was a muchloved mentor to hundreds of
nephrologists, many from abroad.
He was born in Aberdeen, to John
Cameron, who was in the merchant
navy, and Ethel (nee Lawrence),
a secretary. The family moved to
London in 1946 and Stewart went
to Ealing grammar school before
studying at Guy’s hospital medical
school, graduating in 1959. After a
Fulbright scholarship in New York,
he returned to Guy’s in 1963.
He did not fit into Guy’s at first.
He had married Margot Manley in
1956 and had two children while
still a medical student. A grammar
school boy with a preference
for contemporary clothes and
hairstyles, he was quite unlike
the typical London teaching
hospital consultant of the day. But
his brilliance and achievements
persuaded the doubters. In 1974
he was made professor of renal
medicine. He retired in 1996.
Chantler described Stewart as
“the most curiously intelligent
doctor I have ever known. We used
to say at Guy’s if you wanted to
know something about anything
you had to go the library ... or
better still ask Stewart.” He was a
multilingual polymath, and knew
more than most about everything
– certainly nephrology, but equally
Keats, rock climbing, Gaelic poetry
and history. However, Stewart
will be best remembered for his
lack of self-importance and his
enthusiasm for the work of others.
When still at the height of his
powers, he was forced by illness
to retire early from clinical and
academic work, in 1996. He
was appointed CBE in 1998 for
services to nephrology. He retired
to Cumbria and to Mull, and
continued to write about his many
interests, for example a history of
the Ross of Mull.
When Margot developed
dementia, he cared for her at home
until her death. He later found
happiness with Alison Russell,
whom he met again 40 years after
she had been a ward sister at Guy’s.
They married in 2018.
A son, Ewen, predeceased him
in 2013. He is survived by Alison,
his daughter, Sheena, and a
granddaughter, Laura.
John Feehally
John Stewart Cameron,
nephrologist, born 5 July 1934;
died 30 July 2023

Birthdays
Today’s birthdays: Cecelia
Ahern, writer, 42; Sir Shankar
Balasubramanian, chemist,
Herchel Smith professor of
medicinal chemistry, University
of Cambridge, 57; Prof Alice
Brown, emeritus professor of
politics, Edinburgh University, 77;
Sir Keith Burnett, physicist and
former vice-chancellor, Sheffield
University, 70; Marion Cotillard,
actor, 48; Angie Dickinson, actor,
92; Omid Djalili, comedian and
actor, 58; Laura Esquivel, writer
and politician, 73; Romayne
Grigorova, dance teacher and
former ballet mistress to the
Royal Opera, 97; Martina Hingis,
tennis player, 43; Rula Lenska,
actor, 76; John Lloyd, writer and
TV producer, 72; Johnny Mathis,
singer, 88; Ian Ogilvy, actor,
80; Prof Peter Parker, principal
scientist, Cancer Research UK,
69; Kamalesh Sharma, diplomat,
former Commonwealth secretary
general, 82; Andrew Shore,
operatic baritone, 71; Eric Stoltz,
actor, 62; Victoria Tennant,
actor, 73; Max Verstappen, racing
driver, 26; Prof Simon White,
astrophysicist, 72; Sarah Wootton,
chief executive, Dignity in Dying,
57; Martine Wright, Paralympic
athlete, volleyball player, 51.
Michaela Coel,
who turns 36
tomorrow, will
co-star in the
forthcoming film
Mother Mary

Tomorrow’s birthdays: Dame
Julie Andrews, actor, 88; Jimmy
Carter, former US president, 99;
Michaela Coel, actor, 36; Phil de
Glanville, rugby player, 55; Prof
Shirley Dex, emeritus professor
of longitudinal social research at
UCL, 73; Sandy Gall, broadcaster,
96; Lady (Susan) Greenfield,
neuroscientist, former senior
research fellow, Oxford University,
73; Gina Haspel, former director,
CIA, 67; John Hegley, poet, 70;
Harry Hill, comedian, 59; Tamara
Ingram, former chief executive,
Saatchi & Saatchi, 63; Brie Larson,
actor, 34; Theresa May, former
prime minister and Conservative
party leader, 67; Mary McFadden,
fashion designer, 85; Youssou
N’Dour, singer and songwriter,
64; Lord (Gus) O’Donnell, former
cabinet secretary, 71; Adrian
Partington, organist and choral
conductor, 65; Elaine Storkey,
theologian and broadcaster, 80;
Dame Jean Thomas, biochemist
and former president, Royal
Society of Biology, 81; Michael
Tomlinson, Conservative MP and
solicitor general, 46; Paul Walsh,
footballer, 61; George Weah,
president of Liberia, 57.

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The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Obituaries

 obituaries@theguardian.com
 other.lives@theguardian.com
 @guardianobits
Information on offering Other lives pieces can be found
at theguardian.com/contact-obits. Submission and
publication of all Other lives pieces and letters is subject to
our terms and conditions: see http://gu.com/letters-terms

Other
lives

Later he
changed
focus from landscape
to portraiture –
mostly of a highly
arranged nature

but also in Spain, Turkey, Portugal,
Australia and the Netherlands.
David was born in Liverpool
to Henry, a baker, and Elizabeth
(nee Jones), a shop worker. After
leaving Croxteth secondary school
he worked as a postman, from
1966 to 1972, studying part-time
for A-levels before enrolling as

a mature student at the University
of Lancaster to study physics.
After graduation in 1978 he
became a processing engineer,
and then manager, at the Philips
semiconductor factory in
Stockport, Greater Manchester.
While working there he took up
photography as a hobby, becoming

engrossed in all its facets with
characteristic single-mindedness.
He gave up working for Philips
in 1992 to take a full-time MA in
photography at the University of
Derby, emerging with a distinction
in 1994. Afterwards he became
a lecturer in photography at Derby
and at John Moores University,

Liverpool, then a senior lecturer
at Nottingham Trent University
from 2004 until his retirement
in 2016, having completed a PhD
in photographic studies at the
University of Derby in 2000.
We met in 1989 in Macclesfield,
Cheshire, at a performance of
Romeo and Juliet by the Royal
Shakespeare Company, and
married in 1996, living over the
years in the Derbyshire villages of
Bollington and Melbourne before
moving to Sheffield in 2014.
David’s engagement with
the world was eclectic and
multifaceted, with a richness of
outlook that embraced the lives
of many. Until cancer struck around
two years ago, he was a keen runner
and cyclist, and also kept his brain
active in many ways, including
by reading, listening to music and
drawing. He continued to work on
his photography to the end, taking
off in many different directions,
from the quirky to the beautiful.
He is survived by me, my
two children, Chris and Sophie,
from a previous relationship,
and his brother Ken.
Julia Reid

Method, visited her to learn more
about the character. Her other
books include Shrinking the News:
Headline Stories on the Couch
(2014) and For Goodness Sake:
Bravery, Patriotism and Identity
(2020). She was also involved in the
International Dialogue Initiative,
a thinktank founded to bring
politicians and psychoanalysts
together to try to understand the
effect of trauma and anxiety on
political conflicts.
Born in North Carolina, to
Coline (nee Smith), a journalist
and editor of Glamour magazine,
and Treadwell Covington, a film
producer and composer, Coline
said she barely wore clothes until
she was four, and when her family
moved first to Florida and then to
New York she often had to interpret
her mother’s strong southern
accent for locals. She attended
Chapin school in New York City.
Coline was married twice:
to the literary agent Anthony
Sheil in 1983, and then in 2002 to
the art restorer Simon Gillespie,
with whom from the following
year she ran an art dealership in
Islington, London. Both marriages
ended in divorce.
Known for her elegant dress
sense, Coline enjoyed food, theatre,
opera and art, and displayed an
astonishing capacity for hard work.
She conducted a full therapeutic
practice for 43 years alongside
her many other activities, and

continued working with patients
until two months before she died.
At her wish, Coline’s most recent
book, Who’s to Blame? Collective
Guilt on Trial, will be launched at
a memorial event for her in London.
She was devoted to her
goddaughter, Clelia Warburg
Peters, who looked after her in her
final weeks.
Karen Ciclitira

for English literature. Through
literature Rosemary realised
there was more to life – and that
academia offered her a way out.
She applied to Somerville College,
Oxford, to study English and
was accepted.
At Oxford, Rosemary found
her tribe and she also met George
Singleton. She graduated in 1958
and they married the following
year, settling in Glasgow, where
she trained at Jordanhill Teacher
Training College. She had found
her vocation and loved teaching
in the newly forged comprehensive
schools of the city. After her
first position at Knightswood
secondary school, she settled at
North Kelvinside school in 1962
and stayed there for a decade.
At teacher training college she
became friends with a young art
teacher, Alasdair Gray, who went on
to achieve great success as a writer
and artist. Rosemary and George
were among the first to commission
works by him, including a portrait
of them both and a large black and
white mural for the stairwell in
their home, which still survives
in the house to this day.
Rosemary and George divorced
in 1974. In 1976, Rosemary
married the poet and critic Philip
Hobsbaum. Their 30-year marriage
was powered by their shared love
of literature – Philip called her
his anima candida (pure soul).
Meanwhile, Rosemary became

not only an excellent English
teacher but also moved into the
guidance field, helping many
students through their tough
high school years.
In 1974 she moved to Colston
secondary school, where she
became deputy principal of
guidance. In 1990 she took up
the same post at Hillhead high
school. She also referred many
students for Oxbridge applications.
She retired in 2000.
In retirement she was
a director of the Citizens theatre.
As a great advocate for theatre
in education, she chaperoned
many groups of children to see
performances. She was a Labour
party member and took an
active role, delivering leaflets
and attending meetings up until
her final years.
In 2005, after Philip died,
Rosemary moved to Reading,
Berkshire, to be near her daughter
Mary. She read many books a week,
and loved cinema, theatre and art.
After I went to Toronto in 2006,
she travelled to Canada often to
visit. She also met a new partner,
Norman Hixson, a neighbour in
her retirement flats, and enjoyed
several happy years with him
until his death in 2022.
She is survived by her
daughters, Mary and me, and
by four grandchildren, Amy, Jacob,
Gregor and Sam.
Jane Lloyd

David Reid
Photographer and photography
lecturer who also worked on
sound and video recordings
My husband, David Reid, who has
died aged 73, began his working life
as a postman before becoming an
engineer – and then a photographer
and photography lecturer.
As a photographer much
of David’s earliest work was
landscape, but later he focused
more on portraiture – mostly of
a highly arranged nature. After
he became less active he made
dioramas using found objects.
He leaves many beautiful images
but also a number of sound and
video recordings of contemporary
music, as well as numerous
experimental sound works. There
have been many exhibitions of
his photography and video art
throughout the UK since 1995,

Coline Covington
Psychoanalyst and author
interested in themes such as
identity and patriotism
My friend Coline Covington,
who has died aged 70 of a brain
tumour, was a distinguished
Jungian psychoanalyst who wrote
books and articles combining
psychoanalytic ideas with political
and social theory. Many of them
explored large themes such as
identity, evil and patriotism.
After studying political theory
at Princeton University and for
a diploma (now MPhil, 1976)
at the Institute of Criminology,
Cambridge University, she gained
a PhD (1980) from the London
School of Economics with a thesis
on juvenile crime. In 1975 she
helped set up the first victimoffender mediation project in the
UK with the Metropolitan police.
Having written two books
on Carl Jung’s patient Sabina
Spielrein, she was delighted when
the actor Keira Knightley, who
was playing the part of Spielrein
in the 2011 film A Dangerous

Still life photographs by David Reid (2022)

Rosemary Hobsbaum
English teacher at comprehensive
schools in Glasgow and later
a student guidance counsellor
My mother, Rosemary Hobsbaum,
who has died aged 86, was an
English teacher and student
guidance counsellor with a great
love of literature and art.
She was born in Ilfracombe,
north Devon. Her father, John
Phillips, a maths teacher, died
when she was four, leaving her
mother, Hilda (nee Moore), a violin
teacher, on her own. Money was
in short supply.
At Ilfracombe grammar school
Rosemary developed a love

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:11 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

Saturday 30 September 2023 The Guardian

Sudoku

Sent at 29/9/2023 12:03

cYanmaGentaYellowbl

•

11

Puzzles

Easy

Medium

Expert

The normal
rules of sudoku
apply: fill each
row, column and
3x3 box with all
the numbers
from 1 to 9.

Futoshiki

Medium

Fill in the grid so that every row and column contains
the numbers 1-5. The “greater than” or “less than” signs
indicate where a number is larger or smaller than its
neighbour.

Kids Word search

Kids Countdown

Find all the listed things associated with the word
“wild” in the grid, reading in straight lines, up, down or
diagonally, either backwards or forwards.

Can you work out the answers to the sums below?

ANIMAL, BOAR, BUNCH, EYED, FIRE, FLOWER,
GARLIC, GEESE, HORSES, LIFE, MUSHROOM, RICE,
THING, WEST

>
>

<
>
<

<

<
<

<

>
<

<

>
<
Solutions

Futoshiki

>

<

<

Kids Word search

<

1 < 3 > 2
<

4 < 5

5
1

3

5

>

2 < 4
5

2

<

4

5

3 > 2

3
>

1

1

4

Sudoku Expert

3 < 4

Sudoku Medium

1

Sudoku Easy

2

Kids Countdown

Easy: 10
Medium: 56
Hard: 8

Section:GDN 1J PaGe:12 Edition Date:230930 Edition:01 Zone:

12

Yesterday’s
solutions
Killer sudoku
Easy

Sent at 29/9/2023 17:36

The Guardian Saturday 30 September 2023

•

Puzzles

Killer sudoku

Chris Maslanka’s puzzles

Hard No 885

Pyrgic puzzles

equilateral triangle but I didn’t get a chance
to write down any measurements before I
was ejected from the gallery. Find the radius
in terms of the sides of the triangle. What is it
if the sides of the triangle are 4 units?
4 Down at the Last Chance saloon Bart Ender
has two fair silver dollars and Walkin’ Tubbs
has one. Bart flips both of his coins, then
Tubbs flips his one coin. If Bart has more
heads than Tubbs he wins and it’s game over;
if Tubbs has more than Bart he wins a drink
and it’s game over. If it’s a draw they play
again until one of them wins. We saw last
week that Tubbs’s chances of winning first go
are 1/8. What are Bart’s chances of winning
first go? What are the chances of a draw first
go? What are Tubbs’s chances of winning
eventually? Bart’s chances of winning
eventually?
email: therealmaslanka@yahoo.com

Wordplay

E pluribus unum
Rearrange the letters of IRON PIANIST to
make a single word.
N or M
Identify these two that differ only in the
letter shown:
(funny)
**M****
(shape)
**N****
Uncle Rebus

The normal rules of sudoku apply: fill each row, column and 3x3 box with all
the numbers from 1 to 9. In addition, the digits in each inner shape (marked
by dots) must add up to the number in the top corner of that box. No digit can
be repeated within an inner shape.

Medium

0
(7, 2, 7, 2, 5)
Missing Links
Find a word that follows the first word in the
clue and precedes the second in each case
making a fresh word or phrase. Eg the answer
to fish mix could be cake (fishcake & cake
mix) and to bat man it could be he (bathe &
he-man).
a) seal hem
b) writ amount
c) flag shape
d) south paw
e) rare tern
f) top limit
©CMM 2023. Solutions on Page 58

Guardian cryptic crossword No 29,189 set by Boatman
1

2

3

9

4

5

11

26

30

7

8

12

13

22

6

10

14

17

Want more? Get access to more than
4,000 puzzles at theguardian.com/
crossword. To buy puzzle books, visit
guardianbookshop.com or call
0330 333 6846.

1 Pedanticus smiled to hear on Radio 4
a man’s account of a python entering his
window “with [its] mouth open and fangs
akimbo”. He is usually to be found growling
at linguistic solecisms or assaulting the radio
with a hammer so I wondered: what had
amused him?
2 Andy struggled with this one, too:
If y and x are whole numbers and y(y + 1) =
x(x + 1) = p, what sort of numbers can p be?
If p = 6, what are x and y?
Luckily Candy had a few ideas. What might
they have been?
3 Garabaggio’s latest masterwork
(currently on show at Rogues’
Gallery on Poppycock Terrace)
is titled It’s a Sign. According
to the catalogue it is a circle inscribed in an

Wordpool
In each case find the correct definition:
PANDICULATION
a) stretching and yawning
b) incantation of Pan
c) teaching all subjects
d) ubiquity
IMPETRATE
a) to put up one’s jumper
b) beseech
c) to model in plaster
d) penetrate the chest
PALLIUM
a) substance of friendship
b) old name for bismuth
c) stockade
d) white band worn by archbishop
Alphabet Soup
Add each of the vowels A, E, I , O and U once
and once only to C, D, N & T, stir and make a
single word.

Codeword

Cryptic crossword
Solution No. 29,188
MA T I S S E J UN E B UG
A R T S U O R R
MA Y B E S A X O P HON E
M I A E T E W Y
OR N AME N T A L
N EW
N G T
P D R O
D R Y S T ON EWA L L
P E A U S C T F
ROL L I NTHEHAY
O S N T
M L A
CH I
MO N E Y P L A N T
L N M N I M B T
ABOL I SHED E LOPE
I R N O E N U N
MA E S T RO R E T I R E D

cYanmaGentaYellowbl

23

15

18

19

24

25

27

16

20

28

21

29

31

The first five correct entries drawn each week win a copy of
The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book by Alex Bellos
Entries to: The Guardian Crossword No 29,189,
P.O. Box 17566, Birmingham, B33 3EZ, or Fax to 0121-742 1313 by Friday.
Solution and winners in the Guardian on Monday 9 October.

Across
9 Reddish tailless ape (5)
10 Perhaps Trump for a term as
prison’s foremost inmate? (9)
11 Loosening-up interludes not
beginning to create an effect (3,6)
12 Accretion of stones can involve
extremes of ill humour (5)
13 Agar, RA, ignited secret call to face
accusers (7)
15 Collars with stars removed! (7)
17 Track cycling gets a small amount
of money (5)
18 Put party before government? (3)
20 A mountain area in Europe (5)
22 Blended with taste, it forms an
accompaniment for haggis (7)
25 Pub legend (as it were) Jethro
shouted: ‘l together!’ (2,5)
26 Untethers us every second (5)
27 Left as a couple of ways by which
to remember the dead (4,5)
30 Book by, say, stylish American (9)
31 Avoiding extremes of one’s harsh
approaches (5)
Down
1 Blue-collar type, losing rights, is
aware of social injustice (4)
2 Those who consolidate businesses
Name
Address
Postcode
Telephone number

are not extremely popular (8)
3 On all sides aching, unbearable
fever (4)
4 Crashed, punctured, cape torn off
and lying on one’s back (8)
5 Boatman’s place: first (6)
6 ID cards not to be distributed
without agreement (10)
7 Brilliant person of a type
including Boatman (6)
8 Returned message (4)
13 Britain’s border set company back
(5)
14 They may promote research,
unmoved, consuming time over
unfinished experiment (10)
16 Will replace Latin with ... with (5)
19 Denies clue for Sagays? (8)
21 Returned my missing prepayment
for shredding (5,3)
23 Heading back from Haiti after a
time, to land in the Pacific (6)
24 Route to High Sierra initially
perhaps taking lift, except for the
last part on foot (6)
26 Snatches of song initially covered
by injunction, overturned (4)
28 Women enclosed, by George! (4)
29 Band gets number ones in swing
and soul hits (4)
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