PLYMOUTH College has finished sixth in a table of independent Devon schools for its performance in this year's GCSE exams.
The school in Mutley came sixth out of the nine county private schools in the Independent Schools Council table after 39.11 per cent of all its GCSE exams taken this summer were awarded grades A or A*.
A total of 85 pupils took the exams and 90.35 per cent of entries were awarded grades A* to C. The average points score per candidate, calculated on marks, was 432.24.
Those figures put the school outside the country's top 100 — but there were 1,260 ISC independent schools in the national table and Plymouth College said it was 'above a significant number of them as well as many state schools'.
Last week the school finished fourth in the Devon table for its outstanding A-level results this year.
Headmaster Dr Simon Wormleighton said: "Plymouth College published a great set of GCSE results this year with more than a quarter of students gaining at least seven top grades and an A* to C pass-rate more than 20 per cent above the national average.
"This came close on the heels of an equally-impressive set of A-level results, which saw more than a quarter of candidates achieve at least one of the new elite A* grades and the top mark in the country in economics and business studies for the fourth year running."
Dr Wormleighton said that although he was 'very proud' of his pupils who walk away with 'a string of top grades', his school community 'embraces a broad range of academic abilities and a particular strength of the school is helping students of more modest ability to gain results often well beyond their expectations'.
He said: "League tables might not applaud the clutch of Cs gained by such candidates — but we do, knowing just how much work and determination has gone into securing such an uplifting outcome.
"Some schools choose not to publish their results and so they do not appear in league tables because they offer only part of the picture of what determines a 'successful' school.
"At Plymouth College we are committed to developing the whole person, offering our students an extra-curricular programme of extraordinary range and diversity.
"What our students have in common is the self-belief, confidence and motivation to be the best they can in as many ways as possible."
THREE primary schoolchildren will get to be Lord Mayor for a day after they won an art competition.
Emily Askew of Oakwood Primary School, Isobel Murden of Boringdon Primary School and Tyler Steele of Hyde Park Junior School were among Year 5 pupils across the city who designed their own super-heroes and cartoon characters.
The three children will don cut-down mayoral robes as part of European Local Democracy Week next month.
The real Lord Mayor of Plymouth, Cllr Mary Aspinall, judged the competition, and the lucky winners will spend a day with her, seeing at first hand what it is like to be Plymouth's first citizen.
The two Plymouth members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs) will kick off Local Democracy Week on Monday, October 11.
Kate Taylor and Marcus Natale will give a presentation at the full council meeting, highlighting their achievements and talk about their future aims.
The meeting, held in the Council Chamber, is attended by all elected councillors as well as members of the public and will start at 2pm.
During the week young people in Plymouth will be finding out more about local politics and having a say on how their communities are run at events organised by the city council.
The theme of this year's Local Democracy Week is 'Sustainable Communities and Climate Change'.
Council staff are hosting a number of fun events that aim to get young people interested in politics, raise awareness of how the council works and show them how to get involved in local decision-making.
On Wednesday, October 13 members of the City Youth Council, run by the council's youth service, will meet councillors and ask them questions as part of a 'Political Speed Dating' event.
There will also be a special Young Persons' Question Time in the Council Chamber at 6pm that evening.
Young people from schools and youth forums across the city will be able to ask a panel of councillors, Kate Taylor and Marcus Natale, an arctic explorer and council officers about topics including 'the effects of climate change — what this means for Plymouth' and 'the effects of the budget changes on future opportunities for young people'.
Plymouth councillors will be visiting schools in their wards to raise awareness of local government and what they do, and to encourage young people to get involved in democracy.
City's Cabinet member Cllr Ian Bowyer said: "It's really important that the council hears the views of young people in Plymouth. This is a chance for everyone to get involved and influence the way in which local services are run and delivered."
To register for Question Time on Wednesday, October 13, contact Ross Johnston on 01752 307990 or email ross.johnston@plymouth.gov.uk by October 6 at the latest.
Find out more about European Local Democracy Week events in Plymouth at www.plymouth.gov.uk/localdemocracyweek.
A SOUTH Devon college, which has built its own First World War 'trench', sparked a police alert when one wartime re-enactment session got a little too realistic.
The police were called in after a building worker thought he saw an armed man pointing a rifle at pupils and staff at Kingsbridge Community College.
What he had in fact spotted was a student dressed in a military trench coat several sizes too large and a tin hat, 'armed' with a wooden rifle.
Officers immediately contacted Kingsbridge Community College where officials were able to assure them the youngsters and the wooden rifle were harmless.
Nevertheless officers from Kingsbridge police station went to the college to see for themselves, inspected the six foot deep trench and left without taking any action.
"It caused a lot of wry smiles," said a school spokesman. "The police arrived and satisfied themselves that everything was all right."
The 30 metres of First World War trench has been built by the pupils themselves over two years as part of a history project.
Around 40 youngsters aged from 11 to 14 years were involved in this year's Challenge Week activity programme involving the history of the First World War.
The youngsters had raided the school's drama department for military trench coats and steel helmets – along with the wooden rifle.
The youngsters then re-enacted conditions in the trenches during the Great War: looking at what food the troops ate, how they tried to stay safe in the trench environment and even about First World War military manoeuvres – including notorious 'over the top' assaults.
Rower Pope, principal of the 1,350 pupil college, said: "It has given the students a real insight into some of the challenges facing First World Wart soldiers.
"They all enjoyed themselves and it gave them a great sense of satisfaction."
The police alert happened when a building worker working on the college's new English centre spotted one of the students dressed up and carrying the wooden rifle.
Police confirmed that they had been called to the school following an initial report that someone was pointing a shotgun or a rifle at the school.
He said that officers had spoken to staff and been assured it was part of a re-enactment.
UP TO 50 jobs are thought to have been lost after one of the South West's oldest building firms ceased trading.
Buckfastleigh's Blight and Scoble Ltd is in the process of being placed into liquidation after 'difficult trading conditions' forced it to fold.
All employees were made redundant last week. It is unclear at this stage how much money is owed to creditors.
The Exeter office of accountants and insolvency specialists Bishop Fleming has been appointed to oversee the firm's affairs.
A brief statement issued by Bishop Fleming said: "Due to difficult trading conditions the company ceased to trade on August 26, 2010, and all employees were made redundant at that time.
"Jerry O'Sullivan and Sam Talby, of Bishop Fleming, are advising the directors regarding the company's financial position and assisting with the formalities to place the company into liquidation.
"Meetings of the company's members and creditors are to be held on Wednesday, September 8, at the Devon Hotel, Exeter, when the company will be placed into liquidation and a liquidator appointed."
According to its own website, Blight and Scoble was formed in 1895 and incorporated in 1956 and has been a family-run business for more than 100 years.
The firm has worked on notable developments in South Devon including a painstaking restoration of historic Sandford Orleigh, in Newton Abbot, in the early 1990s and The Robins respite centre at Dartington, which opened in 1999.
This year Blight and Scoble has been working on a major £1.2 million contract for Devon & Cornwall Police's new major crime investigation unit in Linhay Business Park, Ashburton.
A police spokesman said: "Devon & Cornwall Police can confirm we have received notification that Blight and Scoble is in the process of being placed in liquidation.
"This will not have an impact on the police operationally, but it may result in a delay on the completion of the new premises."
According to its website, Blight and Scoble has been owned by the Palk family since the early 1980s and employs 50 people across Devon.
One creditor, who did not wish to be named, said: "We were told as soon as it happened.
"We have been left out of pocket by quite a bit.
"I also think it's a shame it's happened because it's a local firm."
A MAN has narrowly avoided jail after spinning an intricate web of lies about a friend to avoid paying a £60 speeding fine.
Brian Watkins-Gill, 64, from St Peters Close, Torquay, claimed a former friend was behind the wheel of his Ford Mondeo when it was snapped by a speed camera at Plympton, Plymouth in May 2008.
After it was established the friend Robin Pengelly had since moved from his former Exmouth home to Spain, Watkins-Gill was arrested and charged with perverting the course of justice.
However, the defendant continued to insist a man with a similar name and address as his friend had been test driving his car at the time of the offence.
He was fined £500 and sentenced to a suspended six-month jail term on Friday after a judge branded his tale 'wholly unbelievable'.
Speaking from his Spanish home in Torrox, near the Costa del Sol, 53-year-old Mr Pengelly said: "I feel totally betrayed and very upset. The anger has subsided over a period of time and I was very upset a person I had known for 20 years and had helped out when he was unemployed had done something like that.
"We arrived back from Spain unaware this had gone on, and I applied for a new driving licence and was shocked a friend had done this.
"You can imagine that living in Spain it has been difficult just communicating.
"There has been numerous emails and phone calls since coming back and total shock at establishing that it was what I thought was a friend of mine that had put me in this situation.
"The journeys to court have been horrendous.
"I was in total shock that I was in that situation.
"I was totally betrayed.
"When I was in court I thought there might be some acknowledgement, or he would say 'I am sorry' but there was nothing. He never made eye contact with me and to stand there and swear on the Bible, it was an absolute betrayal of our friendship."
The court heard stunned Mr Pengelly, who used to live in Exmouth, returned home from Spain last June to find six penalty points and a total of £600 of fines on his driving licence and that debt collectors were looking for him because of the unpaid fine.
Police then discovered Watkins-Gill had falsely named Mr Pengelly as the driver after he told police about his licence.
However, Watkins-Gill refused to admit a charge of perverting the course of justice and pleaded not guilty.
He insisted a stranger had responded to an advert to test drive his car from Torquay to Plymouth.
Watkins-Gill said the driver, an 'R Pengelly', wrote his name and address in his diary — but that the book had subsequently been destroyed.
He also denied that Mr Pengelly, whom he had holidayed with and who had sold him his greeting card business, was a good friend and said he did not know his address.
A jury at Plymouth Crown Court unanimously found him guilty in July this year and he was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years, at Bristol Crown Court.
Judge Recorder Pringle QC warned Watts-Gill he had been extremely close to going to prison if it not for his previous good character and a serious illness to his wife.
He said: "Running a trial in which your evidence was wholly unbelievable does you no credit whatsoever.
"One can only imagine Pengelly's anger about finding out what had happened."
Watkins-Gill, who still insisted he was innocent after being found guilty, also received a £500 fine and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.
FAMILIES in Devon can now apply for a secondary school place for their child next year, it has been announced.
Parents of children who are starting in Year 6 at primary school are being sent a letter explaining how they can apply for a secondary place for September next year.
Applications for secondary places opened last Wednesday week and will close on October 31.
Education officials have said "timely application is essential" — particularly where schools are likely to be oversubscribed.
Devon County Council managed to reduce late applications by 13 per cent for this month's intake and is aiming "to do even better" for next September's intake, said a spokesman.
Applications can be made online at www.devon.gov.uk/ad missionsonline and allocations will be available from March 1, next year. People who do not want to apply online can call the Education Helpline on 0845 155 1019.
The spokesman said: "Primary and secondary schools all have a reference copy of the Next Step booklet giving details of admission procedures and information about each of Devon's 37 secondary schools."
The spokesman also said applications for primary school places open on November 1 and close on January 15.
Devon's Cabinet member for schools and skills, Christine Channon, said: "Online admissions is a convenient and time-saving method of applying for a school place.
"Although parents may still apply in writing, there are many benefits to applying online."
Mrs Channon said the benefits for parents and carers applying online means:
A quicker and easier way of completing their applications.
The ability to amend the application right up to the deadline date.
No risk the application will get lost.
No need to rush back to hand forms in at the school or to Devon County Council.
Immediate online notification when allocations are made.
IN THEIR first glamorous photo shoot since winning the title, Faces of Plymouth Jessica Harmsworth and Myles Easton donned gowns and suits to create beautiful images for the Westcountry Wedding Show and the Westcountry Weddings Magazine.
The dazzling Westcountry Wedding Show, which offers brides and grooms-to-be the ultimate one-stop shop before they tie the knot, is taking place at Plymouth Pavilions on Sunday, September 19.
There will be more than 100 stands for visitors to tour and the event has everything for the perfect wedding, from top reception venues, photographers, cakes and flowers to jewellery, cars, health and beauty solutions and romantic honeymoon destinations.
The highlight of the spectacular show will be two glittering catwalk shows, at 12.30pm and 3pm, featuring designer outfits for all members of the wedding party. The show will feature gorgeous gowns from Aphrodite Brides of Ivybridge, Prudence Gowns of Plymouth, the Wedding Company of Plympton, Perfection Bridal & Menswear of Plymouth, The Ivory Tower of Plymouth & Collins Bridal Wear of Callington.
Showing their ranges of men's formal wear on the catwalk will be Apollo Menswear of Ivybridge and Perfection Bridal & Menswear, in Exeter Street, Plymouth, and Moss in Plymouth.
Lavish hairstyles and stunning make-up will be provided by a specialist team from the Hair Priory in Plymouth city centre.
The show, organised by the South West Media Group, is open from 11am to 4pm. Admission is £6 per person on the day or £5 in advance from the Pavilions box office or www.plymouth pavilions.co.uk; children under 15, accompanied by an adult, are free.
The outfits for the photo shoot by Herald photographer John Allen at Langdon Court were supplied by Prudence Gowns. You can see more pictures in Westcountry Weddings Magazine which is due out in the autumn.
SOLDIERS and sailors serving on board HMS Ocean have raised more than £2,500 for charities while patrolling the Caribbean.
When duties allowed, Naval crew and Royal Marines serving on the Plymouth-based helicopter carrier took part in events in aid of families, a special school and serving and former marines.
The vessel is currently on an anti-smuggling mission and is due to visit Brazil and West Africa before returning to the UK in the late autumn.
Warrant Officer Dave Plant, who only recently took up running, completed a half marathon on the vessel to raise money for the Vacterl Association Support Group, which is dedicated to helping families affected by birth defects.
Royal Marine captains Adam Abouzeid and Jon Beete completed a 30-mile-yomp on the ship's treadmills carrying full kit and weapon, to raise money for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Benevolent Trust.
The charity supports serving and retired Marines and sailors, their spouses and children.
The ship's petty officer and sergeants' mess hosted a charity horse racing night to raise money for a school in the ship's affiliated town in Sunderland.
Lieutenant Commander David Pickles, HMS Ocean's deputy public relations officer, said: "We are very proud of the strong links we have with all three of these charities and so it is a great pleasure to have been able to raise so much money for them during these events.
"They do some extremely valuable work in the community for families affected by Vacterl Association, service personnel and their families and youngsters with behavioural difficulties, so we hope that this money will help contribute towards their excellent work."
Before entering the Caribbean, HMS Ocean conducted a large amphibious war-fighting exercise off the coast of North Carolina, as part of the UK's Auriga Task Group.
A COMMUNAL Brixton garden has been transformed in the last year thanks to the dedication of Linda Garner.
She has worked wonders with a hedgerow once full of brambles, weeds, nettles and concrete blocks, which now boasts a bountiful supply of colour.
She said: "I am a very keen gardener, I spend all day in the garden and I am even out there when it is raining with my hood up!"
The large communal plot is looked after by various residents from the 42 Tor Home flats in Venn Court with some, including Joy Stafford, looking after their own "little patch".
Linda's healthy hedgerow is home to a huge variety of plants including chocolate cosmos, gladioli, rose trees, fern, ivy, lobelia, busy Lizzies, fir, begonia, azalea, fuchsia and grasses.
Ornaments also adorn the area adding to the character of Linda's patch such as a snail, shell dish bird feeder, water bath, fairy, butterflies and Wellington boots.
An archway with seating on the patio provides a place to rest and enjoy the delights of the pretty plot planted with camellia, rhododendrons, wisteria, clematis and lupins.
Linda has lived in her flat with husband Alan for the past five years.
She said: "A lot of people say 'it's amazing, how do you do it?'. I get a picture in my head and think right I'm going to buy this and that and then I do it.
"The garden is appreciated by a lot of people and one old woman sits on my patio and is there for about an hour looking out over the garden."
Birds are also attracted to the garden and feed on the seed and water in among the blooming brooms, climbing honeysuckle, conifers, holly bushes and heathers.
If you think your garden deserves to feature in our Secret Garden series, call Nicola Tapp on 01752 765529.
CRUMBLING newspaper cuttings about one of Plymouth's most famous families are being made available to the public thanks to a grant to digitise the 90-year-old archives.
Plymouth City Council's record office has been able to digitise 15 scrapbooks of original newspaper cuttings relating to the Astor family, thanks to a grant of £2,000 from the Meadowbrook Charitable Trust.
The cuttings date from 1918 to 1924.
City archivist Louisa Mann said: "The cuttings are currently held in bound volumes and, because of the acidic nature of newsprint, are very fragile indeed.
"Due to their poor condition we're unable to make them available to view. Creating digital copies of them means we can now make them accessible to the public while protecting the original volumes."
The cuttings record press coverage of the lives of Lady Nancy Astor and her family, their political interests and local influence and provide an insight into the woman who was MP for Plymouth Sutton from 1919 to 1945.
One article from the Western Mercury dated January 4, 1920, describes Lady Astor invigorating a Christmas party at the Guildhall for the widows and children of local war heroes with a rousing speech met with rapturous applause and shouts of 'hear hear'.
Ms Mann said: "We're extremely grateful to the Meadowbrook Charitable Trust for providing us with the funding to make these interesting documents more accessible to everyone."
"They're an excellent resource for anyone interested in researching the life of one of Plymouth's most famous characters."
The record office's Astor-related newspaper cuttings run on beyond 1924 right up to the 1950s and it hopes additional funding may become available in the future to digitise the remains of the collection.
In the meantime, people can arrange to view the digitised copies from 1918 to 1924 for free by calling 01752 305940 or sending an e-mail to pwdro@ply mouth.gov.uk.
The record office is also running two behind-the-scenes tours as part of this year's national Heritage Open Days.
Members of staff will take visitors on a tour of the archives, show them a selection of documents and provide free tea and coffee.
The tours take place on Thursday, September 9, from 5.30pm to 6.30pm and Friday, September 10, from 4.30pm to 5.30pm.
They are free and there is no need to book in advance — just go along to the record office building in Clare Place.
THE first semi-final of The Herald's South West Battle of the Bands competition was nothing short of breathtaking.
Hundreds of people packed Bath Street live music venue Crash Manor to witness a battle of epic proportions on Friday.
Four of the region's best bands took each other on in a war of riffs — but only two could make it through to the grand final in a fortnight's time.
The atmosphere was electric and each of the bands played out of their drumskins.
First up was Ironics, who raised the bar with an ambient set, defined by its upbeat synth melodies. The lads dressed in their now familiar white jumpsuits and rocked the glowstick-clutching crowd with a Pendulum-esque mixture of rock and dance music.
Next up was the inimitable Population Pods, whose brand of in-your-face but tongue-in-cheek punk has struck a skewed chord with the Battle of the Bands crowd. The raucous lads, dressed to the colourful nines, were fun, edgy and hilarious all in one and rocked the crowd.
Third on the night was Eyes Unspoken, a melodic metal band with one of the most enigmatic frontgirls of the competition. The guys pulled out all the stops and put on a punchy show which moved skilfully from moshing metal to mellow melody, with the obvious appeal of singer Sharley Penney on top of all that.
Last band was Six Shooter who blazed on to the stage with all the firepower of a Magnum. The quintet lived up to its name, with smokin' barrel rock tunes and a gun-totin' stage performance which saw the crowd getting well into the dynamics of the set. Shooter prove that classic rock — with a modern tinge — is back in a big way.
So it was down to the judges to decide on the two winners; after a massive debate Six Shooter and Population Pods shaded it and will be in the grand final on Friday, September 17, but all four deserved to go through. They were all awesome in their own way and each added to what turned out to be a memorable night in Battle of the Bands history.
Population Pods frontman Leigh Jones said: "I'm absolutely amazed that we've got through to the final. We can't believe what we've achieved and we've been blown away."
Paul Lowther, lead guitarist for Six Shooter, said: "We're all ecstatic.
"We're hoping to bring our rockiest set yet to the final."
The second semi-final will be held on Friday this week at Crash Manor, from 8pm. It will see The Vics, Elithia, Violent Virtues and The Lukins do battle for the last two final spots. Prizes worth thousands of pounds will be given away to the successful bands at the grand final.
See video footage and BOTB news at www.thisisplymouth.co.uk and follow the links, and also see Crash Manor's Battle of the Bands Facebook group.
HERALD reporter Cherie Gordon looked stunning in her original 1950s vintage wedding dress when she became Alex Woodhouse's wife this summer.
A glorious sunny day blessed the couple, who were married in a gazebo in the picturesque grounds of the Lavender House Hotel in Ashburton, on Thursday, July 29.
Set in three acres, the house enjoys panoramic views of Dartmoor National Park.
Alex and Cherie first met through friends at their local skate park ten years ago.
The groom proposed on a mountain during a snowboarding holiday.
Parents of the bride are Kevin and Glynis Gordon, of Gibraltar, with her father, Kevin, having the honour of giving her away.
Only son of Pat and Alan Woodhouse, of Torpoint, Alex was supported by his best mates Rich Nicholson and Neil Foster as his best men.
Two bridesmaids were best friends of the bride, Aimee Lewis and Gemma Gowan, who wore bright red 1920s-style flapper dresses.
Cherie's gorgeous oyster coloured knee-length dress was coupled with a vintage head piece and she wore bright red shoes to add to the red theme of the wedding. Each of the guests was given a specially made wedding day badge and Han Solo and Princess Leia played the bride and groom on the cake.
Ice cream was served to guests throughout the day from a Cornish ice cream van.
Cherie worked for the Western Morning News for five years before moving to The Herald two years ago.
For their honeymoon, Alex, aged 36, a photographic technician and Cherie, aged 26, will spend three weeks in Canada this coming Christmas.
A YOUNG people's media group in Devonport is appealing for sponsorship and volunteer help so it can survive.
Plymouth Youth Media, based in Fore Street, has just been started up and organisers say they need cash if they are to keep going.
The group has been launched by young people for other youngsters in Plymouth who are interested in the media — whether that be filming, music recording, computing, writing or broadcasting.
Chris Phillips, 22, and Shane Preston, 21, are behind the organisation and they say they want it to help get young people off the streets and taking part in media projects.
It's early days for the group — but Chris and Shane said they are already feeling the pinch and need some sponsors and volunteer help to really get them going.
Chairman Chris said: "We are run on donations but we are now looking for funding to help with our projects.
"Any funding will be welcome.
"We want to get as many young people involved as possible with all the great work we are doing here."
Ethnic group Fata He is already supporting the project — and Devonport's Welcome Hall is also behind it. Chris said: "The main aim of what we do is to help young people develop skills and confidence.
"Plymouth Youth Media is a new organisation and we aim to help reduce antisocial behaviour in Plymouth by providing young people beneficial information and advice, and giving them some interesting media projects to do.
"We want to help young people channel their emotions creatively through the power of media — whether that be musically with our recording studio or videos, or even writing stories on young people.
"But if we don't get funding sources then I'm not sure we will be able to survive for too long, so we are appealing to anyone in the city to help us.
"We could also do with some volunteers — adults or young people — if possible."
The group has already been helping to film The Herald's South West Battle of the Bands competition at Crash Manor, in Bath Street.
To sponsor Plymouth Youth Media or offer help call Chris on 07971 286530.
NORTH Prospect residents expressed wide-ranging concerns about their new housing during a community event.
Plymouth Community Homes and Barratt had stands and staff on hand at Cookworthy Green on Saturday during the World on the Green Day.
The event, which included world food stalls, reggae and blues bands and entertainers, gave residents the chance to meet Barratt representatives to discuss and view proposals.
While many of the views aired to The Herald were negative, developers have reported much positive feedback.
Barratt was announced as the developer to carry out the £30million first phase of the work for Plymouth Community Homes (PCH) last week.
The first houses to be demolished in the massive £168million regeneration of the estate will be in the rundown Woodhey Road area.
The old North Prospect Primary School and flats opposite the school will also be in the path of the bulldozers.
Negative comments left on boards showing pictures of how the area might be rebuilt questioned the amount of green space. One person wrote: "Concrete jungle", while another wrote: "No way out" and further comments said: "Ghetto", "No garages" "Too close-knit" and "No better than what we've got now".
One person left a message that said: "This is disgusting — what are all these concrete blocks — where will our children play?"
One man, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Herald, "We envisaged trying to keep the area how it is now. It's a garden suburb and we want to keep it that way.
"We do realise the need for it to be updated and we know the traditional three-bedroom houses might become higher three-storey properties, but people don't want a concrete jungle feel."
Rodney Daw who was moved from Woodhey to Mount Gould, with the intention of moving back again, said: "It was so stressful that I don't want to leave again. I've down-sized from a three-bed to a two-bed but I feel the management of the whole thing was a shambles and very slow."
Rebecca Pinhey, a mother of three, including a disabled son, said: "I lived in Woodhey for 11 years. The houses were really bad there and we were glad to be offered the chance of new places, but it hasn't happened for everyone."
She said she was lucky to be in a better home now, but was supposed to be moving back in again when the transformation was complete.
She added: "It was so hard and stressful to move and with little support.
"Our street was a proper community street — very friendly. Now everyone has been separated and we are gutted."
Clive Turner, chief executive of Plymouth Community Homes, said that with a programme of this size, it was understandable that there were a range of reactions and questions, both positive and challenging.
"Our developer proposals are a really significant step forward and residents will have a lot of questions about their homes," he said. "We understand and respect that.
"The important thing is we keep talking, give as much information as we can as quickly as we can, and work this through with residents together at every opportunity.
"We're hearing some questions and worries, but we're also hearing from hundreds of people who are incredibly positive about the future of North Prospect.
"We want to keep talking with all residents, so we can find solutions for families in this regeneration which is essential to the future of the area.
"We encourage everyone concerned to call the regeneration team if they have concerns."
BURGLARS made off with a gold wedding ring and thousands of pounds of computer equipment in a daylight raid on a Plymouth family's home, say police.
The Leigham family returned from a day out with their children to find the front door forced open on Friday afternoon.
Police say the thieves made off with a total of £2,519 worth of electrical goods and sentimental jewellery.
Officers have been carrying out house-to-house inquiries in the hope that neighbours spotted suspicious activity in the Bicton Close area.
The burglars struck between 1.30pm and 2.45pm, said investigating officer PC Denise Alexander.
Among the items taken were a Nintendo Wii, Sony blu-ray player, Daewoo video player, PlayStation II and a Dell laptop bearing the serial number 6LND8K1 and PPID number CN-OC234M-48643-997-1536.
Sentimental jewellery including an 18-carat gold engagement ring with a single solitaire, an 18-carat gold wedding ring and a nine-carat gold women's chain were also taken from a bedside jewellery box, said PC Alexander.
Anybody with information is asked to call police on 08452 777444 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111 quoting crime reference EL/10/4118.
THE first man to sail solo around the world without stopping has opened Britain's first marine academy in Plymouth.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnston gave an inspirational speech on Saturday as Marine Academy Plymouth (Map), formerly known as Tamarside Community College, was officially launched in St Budeaux.
The specialist state-funded school will be sponsored by the University of Plymouth, Cornwall College and Plymouth City Council, which will offer wider community support.
Parents and students who will start today joined in with activities throughout Saturday's event, which included robotics displays, sailing demonstration equipment and live music.
The 71-year-old seafarer told his audience there were huge career opportunities based on marine activities, both on land and at sea, through jobs such as working with a Queen's Harbour Master.
Before unveiling a plaque, he told onlookers: "Follow your own advice and instincts; it doesn't matter what you do so long as you're the best at it."
He told The Herald that he would take a keen interest in the academy's future.
"I'm very keen to encourage young people to go out to sea. It gave me a good career and it's very practical work," he said.
"Working conditions are so much better now; if you like it, you'll love it."
Sir Robin served in the Merchant Navy before sailing single-handedly and non-stop around the world between June 14, 1968, and April 22, 1969.
Professor Mary Watkins, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of Plymouth, told visitors of the strong links the academy would have with the marine and maritime industry and its clear vision which would include opportunities in engineering and tourism.
Courses with a marine theme are being developed jointly with the university, which will send staff to the school. Map will also have university access to facilities, lecturers and students.
Similar links are being set up with Cornwall College.
The hoped-for big rebuild at Map, however, is on hold. The new coalition Government's plans to scrap the previous administration's Building Schools for the Future programme was a blow, but Professor Watkins told The Herald that she had been in discussions with Education Secretary Michael Gove.
"The university will work with Plymouth City Council and Cornwall College to make sure we get the money for the rebuild that we promised the community," she said.
"We are very optimistic of using the right channels through Mr Gove."
The school's principal, Helen Mathieson, thanked parents, staff and pupils for their hard work and enthusiasm for the academy's opening.
She said: "The sponsored vision is very clear — to tap into the potential of a maritime city. Our links with sponsors will provide real work experience opportunities to create learners who are self-confident with the ability to speak for themselves."
THOUSANDS of people basked in the sunshine as a hot-air balloon extravaganza got back off the ground after a three-year absence.
More than 50 balloons took to the skies over Dartmoor at the weekend as the Westcountry Balloon Fiesta returned to Tavistock in style.
Organisers are estimating the spectacular drew a whopping 5,000 spectators as pilots from all over the UK descended on the region.
Some enthusiasts even took a trip in darkness as part of a "night glow" on Saturday evening, with pilots firing their balloon's burners in time to music.
Food stalls, live music, a bar and children's activities also helped raise thousands of pounds for charities, said Steve Grummitt, spokesman for organisers the Lions Club of Tavistock.
"The fiesta was absolutely phenomenal," he said. "We can't believe how lucky we were with the weather and we were very surprised by the number of people that turned up.
"It was a fantastic weekend and it's great that the fiesta is back at Tavistock."
The event had taken place for 16 years until 2008, when its future hung in the balance due to steep fuel costs, red tape and a lack of sites.
However, the fiesta found a new home in Crowndale Road after gaining sponsorship from Robert Wiseman Dairies and a grant from Tavistock Town Council.
POLICE carried out searches of five Plymouth pubs as part of their ongoing operation to stamp out drug use.
Although no arrests were made, police said Oscar the sniffer dog gave three indications of drug use.
Officers said the dog showed interest in the floor of the Post Office pub and in a plant pot close to the Joshua Reynolds pub, both in Plympton, as well as in a man at the Plymstock Inn who was searched during the patrol on Friday evening.
The team made up of six police officers, three PCSOs and five special constables targeted pubs all run by landlords and landladies who had backed the operation, although none knew when police officers would be coming.
Led by Sergeant Lindsey Walke, the operation saw police dog Oscar scour pubs with his handler, including the Brook Inn, Plympton, and the Drake's Drum in Plymstock.
As Oscar sniffed customers, full searches were made of toilets while no one was allowed in or out of the pub.
Sergeant Walke said that although there were no hits, the public "loved" to see a police presence and were mainly positive.
Intelligence had been received about one of the pubs targeted, she said, adding the searches sent out a message to any drug dealers that they could not operate with impunity.
She said one of the main bugbears for the police officers involved was the comments they got about the use of taxpayers' money, as the operation looked costly because there were so many policemen and women involved.
ARSONISTS have set fire to a trailer in Plymouth, leaving flames to damage the house it was parked outside.
Police are appealing for information after yesterday's early-hours blaze in St Judes.
Residents dialled 999 just after 12.40am when they noticed the trailer alight on the corner of Langham Place and Grenville Road. A Greenbank-based fire crew was sent to the scene with crew Commander Watts in charge.
They found the flames had spread to the front door of an adjacent property.
Two firefighters in breathing apparatus used a hose reel to extinguish the blaze, which caused only slight damaged the door.
The contents of the trailer and its wooden base were completely destroyed, while the metal frame and car it was attached to were undamaged, said a police spokesman.
Officers were called to the scene by the fire crew at 12.50am as they suspected arson was to blame.
It is thought the culprits lit rubbish that had been tipped into the trailer before running off.
Police are now trying to track down the owner to give him the bad news.
Meanwhile, anybody with information about the blaze or who saw suspicious characters in the area around the time of the fire should contact the police on 08452 777444 or Crimestoppers, in confidence, on 0800 555111 quoting log number 80 of September 5.
A former cellist with the Electric Light Orchestra was killed in a "freak accident" when a silage bale landed on his van, police said yesterday.
Officers are trying to trace the family of Mike Edwards, 62, who died in the "one-in-a-million" incident on the main Totnes to Kingsbridge road on Friday.
Mr Edwards was famous for his bizarre stage costumes with the British 1970s group and for eccentrically playing his instrument with a grapefruit.
Police have spoken to the musician's friends in Totnes but have failed to find his next-of-kin.
The vehicle's registration led them to his home address and they have since used YouTube footage and online images to confirm their victim is the former rock star.
Mr Evans, who left the band to become a Buddhist in 1975, died instantly when a huge bale of silage rolled over a hedge and landed on top of his van.
The incident happened at about 12.30pm on the A381 between Harbertonford and Halwell.
Officers believe the bale was in a steeply sloping field beside the road when it started rolling and then bounced 12 to 15 feet over a hedge and directly on to the cab of the oncoming van.
Sgt Steve Walker, the senior investigating officer, said: "There was haybaling taking place in the field, which has a steep incline.
"One of the bales – which weigh around three quarters of a tonne – somehow rolled down the hill, gaining sufficient momentum to bounce over the fence. It went straight through the cab of the transit van and we think Mr Edwards would have been killed instantly. We have numerous eye witnesses.
"It was a million-to-one, a freak accident, and we don't believe there was any foul play involved.
"We know who the man was who was operating the baler, we are making inquiries in relation to the tractor driver and working practices of the task that was going on in the field at the time."
A joint police and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation is under way into the tragic death.
Despite Mr Edwards being a well-known local figure, officers have been unable to trace any family members.
"With him being a bit of a superstar in the past, we are hoping someone will recognise him and help us find his next-of-kin," added Sgt Walker. "He had been a long time out of the business, but was not reclusive. He was still teaching the cello and played with local bands."
Sgt Walker said that Mr Edwards may have had a brother called David living in the Yorkshire area. North Yorkshire Police are helping them to search for him but have not yet made contact. If they cannot find a family member by later in the week, one of Mr Edwards' friends will have to formally identify his body.
The Electric Light Orchestra – or ELO – was a British rock group from Birmingham that notched up 27 Top 40 hit singles in both the UK and the US.
Their best known hits include Mr Blue Sky, Evil Woman and Livin' Thing.
Mr Edwards played cello on the albums ELO II, On The Third Day, The Night The Light Went On (In Long Beach) and Eldorado. He left the band in 1975.
Anyone with any information about Mr Edwards can contact Steve Walker of Plympton traffic police on 08752 777444, quoting log number 400 03-09-10.
TWO city men who beat up a carpenter in a drunken, unprovoked attack have been spared jail so that they can compensate their victim.
A judge at Plymouth Crown Court branded Michael Eveleigh, 28, and 26-year-old Daniel Pomfret cowards and ordered each to pay £2,000 to the man they punched and kicked in an alleyway.
Both men admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm in connection with an incident in the Morshead Road area of Crownhill, and Pomfret also pleaded guilty to a charge of common assault.
Paul Bitmead, prosecuting, said that at about 9.20pm on March 13 last year, Pomfret assaulted a 15-year-old boy by punching him twice to the head.
He said: "Moments later, Pomfret and Eveleigh attacked another man in an alleyway. He was knocked to the ground and punched and kicked repeatedly."
The court was told the man, a self-employed carpenter, suffered injuries including a broken finger and bleeding from an ear, and was unable to work for eight weeks, losing about £3,600 in earnings as a result.
Judge Francis Gilbert QC said Pomfret punched the 15-year-old "for fun, and no other reason". He said Pomfret then attacked the other man as he was walking to his car, and Eveleigh joined in. The judge told the pair: "It was a vicious attack by two people who were in drink. There was no provocation whatsoever and you were cowards to attack him together."
The judge gave both men eight-month sentences suspended for two years. He said he was suspending their prison sentences only because that way, they could compensate the victim, as they were both in work.
Pomfret, of Fountains Crescent, and Eveleigh, of Shakespeare Road, were each ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work in the community, and to pay their victim £2,000 each at a rate of £200 a month.
Pomfret was given another suspended sentence for the assault on the boy.
POLICE officers in the Plymouth region have lost 25 warrant cards in the last two years.
Two were also reported stolen from Devon and Cornwall Police officers between April 2008 and March this year, the figures show.
In the UK as a whole, a total of 1,682 warrant cards were reported lost or stolen by sworn officers from 48 forces which responded to a Freedom of Information Act request.
Seven forces failed to reply to the request, from policing magazine Jane's Police Review.
Devon and Cornwall's officers fared better than many forces across the country. The Met reported that its officers either lost or had stolen 451 cards in the past two years. Cumbria Constabulary was the only force where not a single warrant card went missing in the same period.
A spokesman for the Association of Chief Police Officers said warrant cards should be treated with care and respect by those who were entrusted to carry them.
A Home Office spokesman added: "Forces operate their own policies and procedures on loss or thefts of warrant cards.
"In certain cases, officers may be subject to disciplinary action if they are found to have lost their warrant card negligently."
A PLYMOUTH man who lost a lengthy legal wrangle over the height of his garden wall is facing a new investigation — this time over the height of trees, writes Edd Moore.
Fed-up neighbours of David Alvand have clubbed together to make a formal complaint to Plymouth City Council, saying they are angry that 16 Leyland cypress trees in Mr Alvand's front garden have grown so high, they dwarf the houses in Churchway, Weston Mill.
Believed to have been planted shortly after he moved to the property in 1991, they now completely obscure Mr Alvand's semi-detached house.
He told The Herald he felt victimised after being "chased" for two decades over the state of his gardens.
In July 2000, Mr Alvand was hit with a council enforcement notice ordering him to lower high walls he built on both sides of his garden.
His refusal led to a string of criminal and civil hearings which cost the council more than £20,000.
When a judge threatened him with jail in January 2004, he finally lowered what was dubbed the 'Berlin Wall', ending a 12-year dispute he described as 'a personal vendetta'.
But now a fresh complaint, made under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, has been made by a neighbour — and is being supported financially by numerous others.
The council confirmed it had launched an investigation but said it was 'on hold, in the hope both parties could come to an agreement.
If they could not, council staff would visit and decide whether action was needed.
One resident, who did not want to be named, said he had begun mediation over the trees in July 2000, without success.
"The wall took 15-16 years to sort out," he said. "It's been a nightmare. Now the trees are an eyesore — they block out sunlight and make the street look bad."
Another, elderly neighbour added: "I think they're monstrous. They've gone higher than the roof of our houses now. They look horrendous."
Mr Alvand said he did not wish to comment, other than to say he was a law-abiding citizen who had suffered 20 years of 'being chased' over his wall and trees.
A council spokesman said: "Our tree officers have contacted Mr Alvand, who indicated he would like to explore further mediation with his neighbours.
"It is good practice to put a complaint 'on hold' for a short time to see if an amicable solution can be found."
A FORMER Plymouth social worker is facing allegations she failed to carry out child protection visits to vulnerable youngsters.
Yvonne Booth, who worked for Plymouth City Council until 2007, is facing a hearing before her professional body.
She is also accused of not keeping up-to-date records in relation to vulnerable service users.
She faces a hearing at the General Social Care Council in London, which was due to get under way today.
According to the General Social Care Council, it is alleged Ms Booth failed to carry out child protection visits and did not keep up-to-date records in relation to vulnerable service users.
A Plymouth City Council spokesman said yesterday: "Ms Booth's employment with the council ended in October 2007."
The case is the second to hit the city council this year.
In April, Charon Salisbury, a senior social worker, was thrown out of the profession after falsifying records to show she had made visits to children at the highest level of risk.
Ms Salisbury was assigned eight youngsters on the child protection register but left a student social worker to carry out checks.
Ms Salisbury later updated Plymouth City Council's computer system to give the impression she made fortnightly visits between October 2007 and March 2008.
The General Social Care Council will hold the hearing to decide whether allegations against Yvonne Booth are proved or unfounded.
? Leaked memo warned Met police would 'deeply resent' probe ? Ex-officer Bob Quick says new claims must be investigated ? Senior Tories start to voice doubts over Andy Coulson's future
The Home Office abandoned plans to establish an independent inquiry into the News of the World phone-hacking scandal last year after a senior official warned that the Metropolitan police would "deeply resent" any interference in their investigation, according to a leaked government document.
As Alan Johnson came close today to accusing Scotland Yard of having misled him over the scandal, a leaked Home Office memo shows that the last government decided against calling in Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary after intense internal lobbying.
Stephen Rimmer, the Home Office director general for crime and policing, warned that Scotland Yard would "deeply resent" a review of its investigation by the inspectorate and that it would send a message that "we do not have full confidence" in the Met.
The leaked document emerged on one of the most dramatic days of the phone-hacking scandal which saw pressure mount on Andy Coulson, David Cameron's director of communications and former editor of the News of the World, and on Scotland Yard.
As the government was forced to answer questions about the scandal in the Commons, there were further developments:
? John Yates, the senior Met officer in charge of investigating the scandal, said he was prepared to interview Sean Hoare, a former News of the World journalist who told the New York Times that Coulson knew about the hacking. Coulson, who denies the allegation, said he would be happy to talk to the police.
? Alan Johnson questioned the conduct of Scotland Yard after senior officers told him last year that every individual whose phone may have been hacked into would be informed. The former home secretary spoke out after his former government colleague, Chris Bryant, said that police took no action when it became apparent his phone might have been targeted.
? Bob Quick, a former head of specialist operations, expressed concerns about allegations in the New York Times that the Met might have been reluctant to investigate the claims because of its close relationship with News International. "If officers felt the investigation was being inhibited or suppressed, that must be a source of concern," Quick said.
? Senior Tories started to voice doubts about whether Coulson will be able to withstand intense media pressure. "This is like a long gunpowder fuse," one said.
Scotland Yard is facing renewed pressure after the leaking of a Home Office document which suggested that the Met was highly sensitive about any outside interference in its investigation. Officials raised objections when Johnson asked last year whether the inspectorate of constabulary should be asked to examine Scotland Yard's handling of the case, after the Guardian published fresh evidence.
This challenged News International's central defence: that just one rogue reporter was involved in phone hacking.
In an email on 13 July 2009 to Richard Westlake, Johnson's private secretary, Rimmer wrote: "My own advice on this remains that there are insufficient grounds to do so ? and that the Met would deeply resent what they would see as 'interference' in an operational investigation which could, of course, be revived at any given time."
Rimmer also showed there was acute sensitivity about Yates, who was responsible for the police investigation into whether Labour had traded peerages for donations to the party. In formal written advice to Johnson on 14 July 2009, he said that calling in the inspectorate "could lead to accusations that ? following recent exchanges with John Yates, we do not have full confidence in the MPS". A spokesman for Johnson said he would not comment on a leaked document.
The leaked memo appeared as Johnson stepped up the pressure on the Met. He told MPs: "Last year I was assured that the Metropolitan police service had not received any allegations in respect of other News of the World journalists. I was also told that the Metropolitan police had taken all proper steps to ensure that where there was evidence of phone tapping or suspicion of phone tapping the individuals concerned would be informed."
Chris Bryant, the former Europe minister, claimed police did not keep him properly informed after it became clear that he may have been targeted. Bryant told MPs his phone company said his phone had been hacked into.
"I told the police about this months ago and they have done absolutely nothing about it," he said.
Theresa May, the home secretary, dismissed calls for a judicial inquiry, though she voiced support for the Met.
"Any police investigation is an operational matter in which ministers have no role. The Metropolitan police have indicated that if there is further evidence, they will look at it. That is the right course of action and it is right for the government to await the outcome."
Multimillionaire and staunch defender of City bonuses set to head major bank shakeup
Barclays is expected to name Bob Diamond, the investment banking executive whose enormous pay packet and unapologetic defence of the City's bonus culture have made him a controversial figure, as its new overall chief executive.
Diamond,59, who currently runs the highly profitable Barclays Capital investment banking arm, will be formally named today as the successor to John Varley, a source familiar with the decision said. Varley, who has been in the job for seven years, is expected to step down next year amid a wider shake-up of the bank's management team. A Barclays spokeswoman refused to comment.
In April Peter Mandelson called US-born Diamond the "unacceptable face" of banking for his estimated £60m-plus total pay package, complaining that the reward was hugely excessive for a role which involved "deal-making and shuffling paper around" and created real little economic value. Barclays dismissed as "total fiction" estimates of Diamond's pay.
When Varley took the top job in 2003, Diamond became the bank's president. While this was officially a subordinate role, Diamond's pay far outstripped that of the chief executive.
He has made a huge success of the investment banking activities and was long seen as the obvious successor should Varley decide to depart. However, his lack of experience in retail banking and long association with the more freewheeling, "casino capitalism" side of the business makes him a potentially contentious head of the UK's third biggest banking group.
The news is a surprise, given that Varley had offered no indications that he planned to step down.
Aside from his wage ? which is around £250,000 a year before bonuses and share options are added ? Diamond remains perhaps best known for pushing through Barclays' controversial acquisition of the brokerage arm of the US bank Lehman Brothers after its collapse in 2008 for the relative knock down price of $1.75bn.
In June, Diamond endured a tough time giving evidence at a federal court hearing in Manhattan looking into allegations that Barclays duped Lehman Brothers out of billions of dollars during the deal. After giving seemingly ambiguous answers to several questions, the judge told Diamond he was "coming across as evasive".
He takes the helm of the bank he joined in 1996 as it continues to emerge from the credit collapse chaos which engulfed the global banking industry.
Although Barclays' balance sheets were badly hit by toxic loans, the bank avoided having to seek any state assistance. Half-yearly profits, reported last month, were up 44% on the previous year, with virtually all the money earned by Diamond's Barclays Capital division.
Now a UK citizen, Diamond was born in Massachusetts as one of nine children of teacher parents. In 1979 he switched from academia to investment banking, working for Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse before joining Barclays. A keen sports fan, he has previously presented the Barclays-sponsored Premiership trophy to his beloved Chelsea, and generally cuts a far more flamboyant and outgoing figure than the more traditional, public school-educated Varley.
Banking industry pundits had long speculated whether Barclays' heavy reliance on profits from Diamond's investment bankers made him the de facto group head anyway, although some doubted how much clout he wielded.
Diamond, estimated to be worth £95m personally, has vigorously defended City bonuses, saying in 2007 that he preferred to call them "incentive compensation".
He has also vocally opposed President Barack Obama's proposals to artificially limit the size of banks, saying this would hit world trade. He told the World Economic Forum in Davos in January: ""I have seen no evidence that suggests shrinking banks and making them smaller and more narrow is the issue."
President on the road to persuade voters economy is safe in his hands, ahead of elections expected to be tough on Democrats
Barack Obama is launching a campaign to persuade American voters that the ailing US economy is safe in his hands. He unveiled a $50bn (£32bn) infrastructure package last night as the countdown began to the mid-term elections in November, in which the Democrats are expected to receive a drubbing.
The president chose the manufacturing town of Milwaukee, home of Harley-Davidson, to announce the scheme which is designed to boost jobs by investing in roads, railways and airport runways. White House officials said the package would run over six years but would be "front-loaded" so that it would jump-start the economy by putting building workers and other manual labourers back to work.
"We're going to rebuild 150,000 miles of our roads ? enough to circle the world six times. We're going to lay and maintain 4,000 miles of our railways ? enough to stretch coast to coast," Obama said.
The speech, made on the Labor Day holiday that honours American workers, is an indication that Obama intends to focus his efforts almost exclusively on the economy over the eight weeks that remain until the 2 November elections.
His critics ? including several representatives of his own Democratic party struggling to hang on to their seats ? say this is not before time, accusing the president of having dispersed his energies too widely on healthcare and foreign policy rather than concentrating on voters' fears about their livelihoods.
Obama said that Republicans were hoping Americans would forget the economic policies they put in place that led to the recession and that they had opposed nearly everything he has done to help the economy, and had proposed solutions that had only made the problem worse.
"That philosophy didn't work out so well for middle-class families all across America," Obama told a cheering crowd. "It didn't work out so well for our country. All it did was rack up record deficits and result in the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression."
He said Republicans had consistently opposed his economic proposals and seemed to be running on a slogan of "No, we can't," playing off his 2008 presidential campaign mantra of "Yes we can."
"If I said fish live in the sea, they'd say no," Obama said.
Today marks the unofficial start of the campaign season, and there are signs of growing urgency, if not panic, in Democratic ranks. The Cook Political Report, which monitors congressional races, predicts the Republicans stand to gain at least 35 seats in the House of Representatives ? within spitting distance of the 39 needed to regain control ? and they are also threatening to recapture the Senate.
A recent Gallup poll gave Republicans a 10-point lead, the largest for the party ahead of the midterms since 1942 and double the advantage it held at the same time in 1994, when it snatched back Congress from Bill Clinton's Democrats.
The infrastructure plan promises to rebuild 150,000 miles of roads, restore 4,000 miles of railway and improve 150 miles of airport runway. It would also pay for the installation of a new air traffic control system and set up a permanent infrastructure bank to channel private and public money into projects.
Obama will announce further job-creating schemes tomorrow in Cleveland, Ohio, including a plan to extend tax incentives for research.
In his weekly speech at the weekend, Obama said that "to heal our economy, we need more than a healthy stock market; we need bustling main streets and a growing, thriving middle class. That's why I will keep working day by day to restore opportunity, economic security and that basic American dream for our families and future generations".
Hilda Solis, the labour secretary, told CBS yesterday that the infrastructure plans would "put construction workers, welders, electricians, back to work ? folks who have been unemployed for a long time".
The problem for the Democrats is that none of these initiatives is likely to make a discernible difference before 2 November to the current unemployment rate, which last month crept up to 9.6%.
The White House may even find it impossible to get the new infrastructure scheme passed through Congress before members head back to their constituencies for the vote. Officials admitted yesterday that the first jobs that would be created under the package would not be seen until next year at the earliest.
Meanwhile, the Obama administration's $862bn stimulus package, introduced in the wake of the global economic meltdown, has largely worked its way through the system.
There is also an element of damned if he does, damned if he doesn't. While Democratic candidates complain that Obama has not focused enough on the economy, Republicans suggest he has done too much, portraying him as an insatiable spender of public money.
As an indication of the likely campaign ahead, the Drudge Report, the influential conservative website, led on Monday with the infrastructure package under a picture of Obama and the headline: "Addicted to stimulus ? $50,000,000,000 more".
With Obama's presidential approval rating languishing at minus 23%, according to the Rasmussen reports, many Democratic incumbents are openly avoiding any link with him. Some are barely mentioning their Democratic credentials on campaign literature.
The Obama administration says it will avoid piling any further burden on to the national debt as a result of its new economic measures, by balancing the costs with increased tax revenue to be achieved by closing tax loopholes for oil and gas companies and multinationals.
Just 16 schools have won approval from the education secretary as part of a radical experiment in English education
Schools offering training in etiquette and fine dining in Bradford, compulsory Latin in London, and lessons for all children in a musical instrument in Bedford were approved today by the government as part of a radical experiment in English education.
A new wave of free schools founded by parents, teachers or private firms will open in England next September, under plans announced by the education secretary, Michael Gove.
While the number who won initial approval today was small ? just 16 ? Gove welcomed them and said they were all a response to local demand.
The government backed plans for the West London Free School, which includes the journalist and author Toby Young on the steering committee. The school will have compulsory Latin for pupils aged 11 to 14, and a choice of either Latin or classical civilisation at GCSE.
The group behind the King's Science Academy, a free school due to open in Bradford, is driven by a vision of liberating inner city children from "ghettoisation". Sajid Hussain, a science teacher and assistant head who hopes to lead the new secondary school, said: "We hope to teach good manners. We're looking at a sense of responsibility, social conduct, sitting down and dining. Independent schools are quite good at this kind of stuff."
Hussain said: "I come from a working class background, my father was a bus driver and we really struggled in getting a good education. I've been working in inner city schools for the last 13-14 years, and children are still facing very similar challenges. Parents are looking for a particular dimension in schooling for their children, to ensure their children are safe from social vices. At the same time they want excellent results.
"Both of these areas are not being fulfilled by education in Bradford at the moment."
The new school will raise literacy standards by "collapsing the humanities subjects into English", Hussain said. "Instead of having three to four hours of English we will have eight to 10 hours. All subjects such as RE or history will have a literacy focus."
Mark Lehain, an assistant head and maths teacher who is a spokesman for Bedford and Kempston free school, said one aim was to create an intimate atmosphere in which teachers dealt with small, familiar groups of children across a range of subjects. "We want to be flexible in how we employ our staff, we're looking at a longer school day ? a small team of teachers for each [age group]. We've got to completely rethink how a teacher is. If you go to most countries, teachers teach two or three main subjects."
It is also the aim for every child at the Bedford school to play an instrument, an idea drawn from Venezuela's El Sistema under which many poor children have been taught music.
There is a distinctly religious strand to the first wave, with seven of the 16 having faith affiliations. Among those expected to open next September will be two Jewish schools in London, a Hindu school in Leicester, a Sikh school in Birmingham and three with a Christian ethos.
Andrew Copson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, said he was concerned this would lead to wider social divides.
"Since the government has made only token gestures to limit religious discrimination in the admissions criteria of free schools, we will see greater segregation and deeper divisions within communities."
The new schools, many more of which are expected to be approved in coming years, could also pose a challenge to the teaching unions because they emphasise raising standards through longer hours and more flexible teaching. Both methods could prove contentious.
Uniting the schools is an emphasis on improving academic results through longer hours, mandatory homework clubs, and stripping down subjects such as history if it is needed to focus on literacy.
Many of the groups want to focus pupils' minds on how their schoolwork translates into getting into the best universities and getting good jobs.
Two schools in London will be run in partnership with Ark, an academy sponsor backed by hedge fund money ? and at least one of these will also be backed by the Sutton Trust, set up by the millionaire philanthropist Sir Peter Lampl.
James Turner, projects and policy director of the trust, said the group was aiming for a school which is "very academically focused" and encouraged pupils to apply for elite universities.
"We want to be clear that coming from a poor background does not preclude success ? students from these areas can get good qualifications in valued subjects and gain access to top universities. We're addressing the inverse snobbery which says that 'people like you' don't go to certain universities or follow certain career paths or achieve at the highest levels."
Writing in the Guardian, Gerry Adams says his party held a series of meetings with Basque separatists
Sinn Féin's leader, Gerry Adams, said today his party had been heavily involved in pushing the Basque separatist group Eta towards calling a ceasefire at the weekend.
As the Spanish government ruled out negotiations and claimed Eta had announced the ceasefire because it was now too weak to carry out terrorist attacks, Adams, writing in the Guardian today, said the move had been the result of months of talks among Basque separatists.
"This dialogue also involved senior Sinn Féin representatives, including myself," he said. "Sometimes the discussions were held in the Basque country, sometimes in Belfast and on a number of occasions in recent years Sinn Féin representatives travelled to Geneva for meetings with Basque representatives." It was not clear whether the meetings were with members of Eta, or only with other radical separatist groups from the Basque country.
Eta had responded by calling a ceasefire that, Adams hoped, would be grasped by the Spanish government as an opportunity to start a peace process that might follow some of the principles used in Ulster.
The Sinn Féin leader's words contrasted, however, with the reaction of prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero's government in Madrid, which said it would not talk to Eta.
"Eta kills in order to impose itself, that means one cannot [have] dialogue," said the interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba. "The word truce, as the idea of a limited peace to open a process of dialogue, is dead."
Zapatero's government last tried negotiating with Eta when it called a ceasefire four years ago. That truce ended nine months later when a bomb at Madrid's Barajas airport killed two people. Rubalcaba agreed that Eta had effectively been observing a ceasefire for months, but said this was because it wanted to reorganise and escape intense police pressure in Spain and parts of Europe.
"What they do not say is that they decided to stop months ago because they were so weak," he said. "Eta has stopped because it cannot do anything, and also in order to rebuild itself."
He claimed the ceasefire announcement was also an attempt by Eta to keep control over the increasingly tired and fractious radical Basque separatist groups that have traditionally backed a terrorism campaign that has claimed more than 800 lives over four decades.
These are the same groups, headed by former leaders of the banned Batasuna separatist party, that Sinn Féin has been helping.
"The aim is to try to cover up their weakness," said Rubalcaba. "Because if Eta is weak those groups in the separatist worldwho are rebellious against them grow in strength."
One of Eta's founders, Julen de Madariaga, said that the group's current weakness was more the result of a loss of support among ordinary Basques than due to police action.
"The main reason for Eta's weakness is that over the past 12 to 15 years the people who used to support it have abandoned it," Madariaga, who distanced himself from the group's tactics years ago, told the Guardian by telephone. He said the decision by leaders of the banned Batasuna party to stop bowing to Eta's line and to push for peace was more than overdue."It was time that Batasuna made things clear to Eta and took charge of itself," he said.
Analysts pointed to a double bind for Eta as it was squeezed by police on one side and by its own supporters on the other.
"The ceasefire statement aims to give political meaning to a strategic rest decreed by Eta's leaders six months ago in order to reorganise internally to cope with police pressure," wrote Florencio Dominguez, an Eta expert, in La Vanguardia newspaper.
Dominguez pointed to the arrest in February of Ibon Gojeaskoetxea, a senior Eta commander, as a key moment. That arrest was hailed as the fifth time in two years that police had detained the person directly in charge of Eta's handful of remaining armed units.
At the same time, police had prevented new units from being formed in several parts of Spain, and discovered Eta's latest bombmaking laboratory. It had also dismantled its new bases in Portugal, to where Eta had hoped to move its support infrastructure that historically had been based in France.
It was in February, too, that Batasuna leaders won the support of thousands of local activists for a proposal for a new process of talks over the future of the Basque country that would require Eta to give up violence.
"Sunday's statement did not come out of the blue," said Adams. "I believe it has the potential to bring about a permanent end to the conflict with the Spanish state."
Counsellors and lawyers are busier than seafarers in Louisiana, as some experts warn that fishing industry will never recover
High tide, and the remains of a late summer storm, and it is hard to tell on this strip of land between the Mississippi and the marsh where land ends and water begins. It was here ? in the most southerly reaches of Louisiana on terrain that is slowly sliding into the sea ? that oil from BP's Macondo well first started coming ashore, about a week after the 20 April explosion on the Deepwater Horizon. Eleven men were killed when the drilling platform blew up.
And it is here where local people will take the most convincing that the worst of the oil spill is behind them and that recovery is under way.
Barack Obama's point man on the spill, the US Coast Guard's former commander, Thad Allen, said at the weekend that the well no longer posed any threat to the Gulf. Crews will begin the last few remaining operations needed to abandon the well this week.
People here live and die by the water. On a fine day the docks in Venice empty out, with seaworthy boats and able-bodied crew off to look for oil contamination, at sea and in the marsh grass.
No one, it seems, believes the assurances from the White House or government scientists that the oil is largely gone. And no one really believes BP when oil company executives say they will stay in Louisiana for the long haul.
"Oh, the oil's out there," said a captain of one of the air boats chewing through the marsh. When the water is clear the oil pops out like a giant black teardrop. He said the air boats were carrying away up to 3,000 white plastic trash bags of oiled sand from a nearby section of marsh each day. "We'll be here for at least a year ? if they still want us, that is."
The autumn shrimping season opened on schedule on 16 August and the authorities have steadily been opening up more of the Gulf for fishing. About 83% of US waters in the Gulf are now open for fishing. The first tests on shrimp, swordfish and tuna hauled out of the Gulf showed no traces of oil.
But Acy Cooper, who wears a shrimpers' white rubber boots even on days when he is not fishing, is possessed by a powerful sense of dread. How can we know for sure that the shrimp is safe from crude or its toxic components? He has seen oil in certain shrimping areas.
"We are only going to get one shot at this. If we don't do it right, we are going to be in big trouble if any tainted shrimp gets on the market," he said. "We don't want to get anything on the market that is going to kill us in the long run."
Not even the most stringent testing can ensure that fishermen stay out of oiled waters ? not when some fishermen have been out of work since late April. "Some people are so hungry they are going to do what they can to survive," Cooper said.
Already the local economy is being transformed. On noticeboards, cards for mental health services and lawyers offering to sue BP are tacked on top of advertisements for fishing guides. It is getting harder to find a market for fish.
The other day George Barisich, the head of the United Commercial Fishermen's Alliance, had to drive all the way into Mississippi before he could find a processor who wanted his shrimp. He said he was reduced to selling for just $1.40 (90p) per pound.
Officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency have been on local radio shows, such as Talk of the Bayou, trying to persuade fishermen like Cooper they have nothing to fear.
"So far we haven't seen a bit of evidence the oil is getting real deep in the marsh," said Jacqueline Michel, a NOAA biochemist.
Only 22 of the 2,000 water samples taken from the Gulf contained traces of oil, and none has permeated deep into the wetlands, which are breeding grounds for shrimp.
The callers were not buying it, and neither was Cooper. He worries that the last few months may have ruined the fisherman's life for some.
Although local people complain that BP gave too many jobs to outsiders rather than locals for cleanup work, some taken on have become used to earning good money ? even when they were waiting around at the marina ? on the oil company's "vessels of opportunity" programme for the cleanup.
Cooper is worried they may give up on shrimping, now that it's such an uncertain occupation.
"We are on the verge of losing this industry," he said. "The chain is broken with the vessels of opportunity."
For Al Sunseri that chain stretches back to 1876 when his family set up the P&J Oyster Company on the edges of New Orleans' French quarter.
He still turns up for work at 4.30am, but there are no workers shucking oysters on the loading dock. Eleven people have been let go.
Premium oysters are a vanishing commodity. Those oysters not killed by the oil were finished off by the Louisiana government's decision to flood the Gulf with fresh water to try to keep the oil offshore.
Sunseri now occupies his time taking orders on a clipboard, trying to mollify the desperate chefs who are his main customer base. He is running dangerously low on shucked oysters.
He asks callers if they could get by with a smaller order. "I am just going to have to tell people I don't have them and that is not something that I am used to doing," he said.
The shortage has pushed the price of oysters in the shell up 40% since the spill. That is too rich in the depths of a recession ? even for a luxury product. Sunseri also worries that what oysters he can find are of variable quality.
"I know they say about 40% of the oyster growing area is open but as far as productive areas, it is maybe about 15%," he said. "We don't have babies, and we don't have the market-sized ones."
He moves over to a tabletop display of oyster shells. Those that are being harvested are about half normal size. "These would ordinarily not be harvested for another year," he said.
"They really should be in there developing. The few little oysters that I am selling right now are really inferior."
Even industry cheerleader Mike Voisin, who chairs the Louisiana Oyster Task Force, admits it will be three years before the oyster beds resettle. Until then, he says, the harvest will probably fall to half of the usual 113,000 tonne annual take.
The timespan is depressing for Sunseri. He said he is telling his children: "Your daddy does not care if this business fizzles away. Don't feel the burden of carrying this on."
For Ryan Lambert, who once counted himself the biggest fishing charter operator around Venice, such acceptance is unthinkable. He is much too angry to be resigned.
The spill left him with a calendar showing week after week of cancelled bookings, gutting a business that once brought in $1.3m a year.
By BP's reckoning though, his losses were just $66,000. Lambert is furious. He said he has paid his accountant hundreds of dollars to meet BP's demands for documentation. "I shouldn't have to fight for the money that is owed me," he said. "I am not the bad guy here. They are the ones who ruined it for me, not vice versa. For me to have to fight for them to pay me for what they did makes me sick."
He is also worried sick that the fish will start disappearing, as they did in the years after the Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska, and that his business will be dealt a slow, painful death.
He built his company from scratch, starting from his love of bass fishing; now his clients troop into his fishing lodge from all across the country. He rebuilt once before, after Hurricane Katrina. He is not sure he can do it again, or wait for the Gulf to make a full recovery.
"I am 52 years old. I can't wait 20 years for them to clean things up."
He feels certain BP will pull out much sooner. "The well will be stopped, and then they will hang around until the oil stops coming up on the beaches, and then they will be gone," he said.
"Anything they don't clean will be left to me and the microbes and Mother Nature until all of a sudden we won't be America's best fishery any more.
"This will be history some day, and I will still have that problem."
Voices on the ground
'On television they are saying all the time that there is no oil. What BP did is that they succeeded in buying off the White House and Congress and most of the senators, and now they are buying off the networks'
Dean Blanchard, shrimp magnate
'The oil is still very in the coastal areas, it's still coming up along the beaches, and it's in the bottom offshore as well as in the bays and estuaries. A lot needs to be addressed before BP says it has all been attended to'
Wilma Subra, chemist
'The only silver lining that is going to come out of this is that the goverment and the country are going to understand the importance of the Gulf'
George Barisich, president, United Commercial Fishermen's Association
'Ironically, this catastrophe may in the end run have more impact on oil leasing programmes thanon the Gulf of Mexico ... We recognise now that we have something much more like a nuclear reactor on our hands than a wood-burning stove and that is an awreness that is new to the federal government, new ot the public, and new to Congress'
Oliver Houck, environmental law professor at Tulane University
IAEA report repeatedly complains about failure of Iran to respond to inspectors' requests for information
The United Nations' nuclear watchdog today accused Iran of hampering inspections of the country's nuclear programme, banning some inspectors and breaking UN seals on its uranium stockpile.
In its quarterly report on Iran's programme, the International Atomic Energy Agency repeatedly complained of Iran's failure to respond to its inspectors' requests for information about its plans and activities. In particular, the report said that Tehran's repeated objections to the accreditation of UN inspectors "hampers the inspection process and detracts from the agency's ability" to monitor Iran's nuclear work, which is already the subject of several UN resolutions and international sanctions.
The IAEA noted that Iran had the right to block inspectors on some criteria ? several countries vet inspectors on the basis of nationality for example ? but objected strongly to an Iranian claim that two recently-blocked inspectors had made "false and wrong statements" in an earlier report. The report was about the removal of sensitive laboratory equipment under IAEA surveillance, which can be used for separating uranium or plutonium from spent nuclear fuel.
The IAEA said it had "full confidence in the professionalism and impartiality of the inspectors concerned, as it has in all of its inspectors".
The UN agency also pointed out that some of its seals on Iran's stockpile of low enriched uranium (LEU) had been broken. The seals are intended to ensure that Iran is not diverting LEU and secretly enriching it further to weapons-grade purity. Iran told the IAEA the seals had been broken accidently, but the agency said it would have to verify in a stocktaking exercise due next month whether any nuclear material had been diverted.
A source with knowledge of the agency's Iran file said: "Seals are there for containment. Once one seal is broken there is no containment."
A series of UN resolutions has demanded Iran cease the enrichment of uranium, on the grounds that it can be used in weapons as well as power plants. Iran insists that its programme is for entirely peaceful purposes, and claims it has a right to enrich its own uranium for that programme. Iran has now amassed 2.8 tonnes of LEU, although it does not appear to have increased the rate of enrichment. It is also continuing to build up a stockpile of uranium enriched to a higher level of purity, also in defiance of UN resolutions, which it says is required for a medical research reactor in Tehran.
David Albright, a former nuclear inspector, who is now head of the Institute for Science and International Security said: "We have to worry now whether the Iranians are weakening safeguards to the point that if they do 'break out' [try to build a bomb covertly], if won't be noticed for a longer period of time."
Researchers say that rising rates of syphilis along HIV among young gay men suggests risky sexual behaviour was to blame
The HIV epidemic in Europe, including the UK, is being fuelled by the risky behaviour of young gay men, according to research published today.
Public messages and campaigns about the dangers of unsafe sex do not appear to be getting through to men who have sex with men, the researchers say ? particularly the young ones.
By investigating the genetic profile of the virus in more than 500 newly screened patients over nine years, scientists in Belgium have identified clusters of people with type B virus ? not the one that is most prevalent in Africa.
Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young, they say. These men also tend to have other sexual diseases, such as syphillis, which suggests that they are involved in unsafe sexual behaviour and are not using condoms.
The research was carried out by scientists at Ghent University in Belgium, and there is every indication that their findings hold true for the UK. Nick Partridge, the chief executive of the Terrence Higgins Trust, said that gay men were the group most at risk of HIV infection in the UK.
The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which monitors HIV numbers in the UK, warns every year of the rising rate of infections among men who have sex with men (MSM). In its last full report, for 2009, it said that the rate of infection among gay men remained high, even though there had been a slight overall drop.
HIV infection can go unnoticed for years, but the HPA report said one in five of those diagnosed had become infected within the previous six months ? suggesting recent risky behaviour was to blame.
A 2008 report specifically on HIV among men who have sex with men said there were around 32,000 living with HIV in the UK. Just under half of all new diagnoses were among men who had sex with men, and 82% of the infections were probably acquired within the UK.
The Belgian researchers, Kristen Chalmet and colleagues from the Aids Reference Laboratory at Ghent University, found one "striking and alarming" cluster of cases. Over the nine years of the study, 57 men acquired genetically very similar viruses, they say. Eight of them did so in the last year. "Members of this cluster are significantly younger than the rest of the population and have more chlamydia and syphilis infections," they write today, in the open access journal BioMed Central Infectious Diseases.
Even excluding that group from the study, there was still a relationship between HIV infection and contracting syphilis, which suggested risky sexual behaviour.
The study found two main types of HIV, but their analysis found that those infected with the two sub-types were "significantly different populations". The vast majority of cases of infection within Belgium were sub-type B cases, and those infected were most often men who have sex with men. The non-B cases were more likely to be in heterosexuals and to have been acquired abroad.
"We clearly demonstrate that, despite the existence of prevention programmes, easily available testing facilities and a supposedly broad public awareness of the infection and its possible routes of transmission, MSM still account for the majority of local onward transmissions," they write.
"Continuous efforts to sustain prevention programmes targeting MSM are definitely needed."
Nick Partridge echoed the call for targeted campaigns. "Gay men are still the most at risk of HIV infection in the UK. We also know that more than a quarter of people with HIV in the UK are currently undiagnosed, and they're far more likely to pass the virus on than those who know they have it." "Targeted HIV prevention programmes are key to reducing the numbers of new infections each year. But we'd also argue for innovative testing services to better diagnose men who've been at most risk."
Professor Pat Cane, head of the HPA's antiviral unit, said work done in the UK with the Medical Research Council, "has shown that there are two predominant sources of HIV circulating in the UK at the moment ? one in men who have sex with men (HIV1, sub-type B) and the other associated with sub-Saharan Africa (non B, HIV1)."
Gareth Williams is pictured at tube station nine days before body was found, as police seek man and woman seen at flats
The last known images of the MI6 code-breaker Gareth Williams, found dead in a padlocked holdall in his bath, were released by detectives today, as they made a public appeal for information about his death.
CCTV pictures show the Cambridge-educated mathematician, seconded from the government communications headquarters (GCHQ) to MI6, shopping in central London, including at Harrods, shortly after returning from a holiday in America.
The images were released as police appealed for witnesses who may have seen Williams, 30, from Anglesey, before his body was discovered at the MI6-owned flat where he was living in Pimlico on 23 August.
They also wish to trace a mystery couple, said to have visited the Alderney Street premises where he had the top-floor flat, in the late evening on an undisclosed date in June or July. Said to be "of Mediterranean appearance" and in their 20s or 30s, the two were buzzed in through the communal door to the house.
Postmortem results have so far failed to establish a cause of death, other than to find that Williams does not appear to have been shot or stabbed. There are also no obvious signs of strangulation.
Scotland Yard revealed that he was unclothed when discovered inside a zipped and padlocked red holdall in the empty bath in his ensuite bathroom.
Toxicology test results show no traces of alcohol, or of routine or recreational drugs. A Metropolitan police spokesman said: "Testing for other substance continues."
There was no sign of forced entry to Williams's flat or of any disturbance inside. Nor did it appear that any property was missing. "There is no suggestion the items within the flat were specifically posed," said the spokesman.
The mystery surrounding the death, which the police so far have refused to classify as murder, has led to intense speculation ranging from theories relating to his work as a ciphers and code-breaking expert, to rumours about his private life.
Described as 5ft 7in tall with short hair and of muscular build, Williams, who was not married and was said to be a "very private person", was days away from completing a one-year secondment to the headquarters of the Secret Intelligence Service MI6 in Vauxhall, London, when his body was found.
He had returned to the UK from a holiday in the US on Wednesday, 11 August, said police. In one CCTV image he is seen, wearing a red T-shirt, beige trousers and white trainers, entering Holland Park underground station at about 3pm on Saturday, August 14.
The next day he is shown shopping in Brompton Road, where he visited a cash machine and Harrods department store. Later, at about 2.30pm, he is seen just outside Harrods in Hans Crescent before heading towards Sloane Street, near the Dolce and Gabbana store. This was the last known sighting of him.
Detective Chief Inspector Jacqueline Sebire, who is leading the investigation, said: "This remains a complex, unexplained death inquiry." She appealed for anyone who may have seen or had contact with Williams between 11 and 23 August to contact the incident room on 020-8358 0200, or Crimestoppers on 0800-555 111.
In a statement shortly after his body was found, Williams's family described rumours suggesting his sex life might hold the clues to his deathas "very distressing".
They paid tribute to him as a "generous, loving son, brother, and friend" and a very private person, who was "a great athlete, and loved cycling and music".
Russian PM says he's 'still deciding' whether to run in 2012, as he draws comparison with long-serving Roosevelt
Vladimir Putin, Russia's combative and increasingly confident prime minister, today made clear he was here to stay and the world would have to come to terms with his authoritarian system of government which stifled political dissent.
Drawing an ominous comparison with the US president Franklin Roosevelt, Putin claimed he had not yet decided whether to run in Russia's 2012 presidential election, but suggested that a further long stint in office was entirely possible.
Speaking before the Valdai discussion club, a group of experts on Russia, Putin said that he would decide whether to stand closer to the event.
Neither he nor Russia's existing president, Dmitry Medvedev, would act against Russia's constitution, he added. Putin said he would continue to "share power" with Medvedev and they would work together until the next election.
"We have not decided what will be the best for Russia," Putin said, speaking at his residence in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Putin's latest comments failed to clarify whether ? as most experts now assume ? he will elbow Medvedev aside during the presidential poll in spring 2012.
But they come against what looks suspiciously like a re-election campaign that has seen Putin take command of Russia's forest fire crisis over the summer and embark on a media-friendly road trip across the Far East in a bright ? if somewhat breakdown-prone ? yellow Lada. Today Putin suggested there was nothing wrong with presidents who spent several decades in office, citing the example of Roosevelt, who clocked up a record stint in the White House. "Roosevelt was elected four times in accordance with the US constitution," Putin pointed out.
Under Russia's constitution Putin was obliged to step down as president in 2008 after two presidential terms. He then became prime minister. But there is nothing to stop him serving two more terms ? now extended to six years ? raising the prospect that he could still be running Russia in 2024.
In reality, Putin has remained Russia's supreme political arbiter, ranging well beyond his domestic prime ministerial brief. Today Putin praised the US president, Barack Obama, as "sincere". The improvement in US-Russian relations has been one of the few real foreign policy achievements of Obama's presidency.
But Putin was scathing about opposition protesters, who have been holding meetings both in Russia and abroad ? including in London last week ? on the 31st of each month. Picking up from an interview with Kommersant newspaper, when he said demonstrators deserved a "whack on the bonce", Putin dismissed those rallying as a marginal force.
He said everybody had a right to express their views, but added that some people deliberately provoked a police beating to capture the media's attention. "Some people want to be beaten by truncheons. They lack patience. They hold private ambitions," Putin said, adding: "Those groups are behaving in such a way that they are not a political force in the country."
Putin also defended Russia's strong vertical political system and his contentious decision in 2005 to abolish gubernatorial elections. The Kremlin now handpicks governors.
Peter Smith to tell campaigners to show respect to Catholics celebrating Pope Benedict XVI's visit to London
An archbishop is to meet leading campaigners against the pope this week to tell them to "show respect" to Catholics celebrating his visit to London.
Scotland Yard has brokered the meeting between the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith, a senior figure in the Catholic church, and the organisers of a campaign against Pope Benedict XVI's visit.
Smith said today he had no intention of infringing the rights of those intending to protest against the papal visit. But he said he planned to use the encounter to encourage them not to become overly confrontational.
"I've always said, thank God in this country we have free speech," he said. "They are perfectly entitled to protest. What I would ask of all of them is to do so in a dignified way, which does not disrupt the joy of the Catholic community in welcoming the pope. I hope they would show respect to those of us who do have [religious] convictions."
Smith denied that he requested the meeting. But a Metropolitan police memorandum seen by the Guardian states that the request came from Smith.
"At the request of Archbishop Smith, the Metropolitan Police Service will provide a room for the meeting between members of the Protest the Pope Movement and the Roman Catholic Church," sergeant Nicholas Williams, the Met's head of the Communities Together Strategic Engagement Team, said in a letter to protesters.
"Can I stress this is not a Metropolitan Police meeting. We are simply acting as the 'middle man' in order to bring you and the Roman Catholic Church together for a discussion."
High-profile members of the campaign group Protest the Pope, an umbrella group of organisations opposing the visit, will meet Smith on Wednesday. They have planned a march on 18 September to coincide with his visit to the capital, which will culminate in a vigil in Hyde Park.
Organisers meeting Smith include the gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Andrew Copson, the chief executive of the British Humanist Association, and Terry Sanderson, president of the National Secular Society. He said he would not be "lectured" by the archbishop. "There is a defensive tone in what [Smith] is saying," he said. "It is an indication of the church's fear that something will happen to bring the pope into disrepute. I think something should happen to embarrass the pope into, for example, confronting the child abuse scandal. We're not going to be kind to the Pope because he does not deserve to be respected."
Although there is a rainbow coalition of groups opposing the papal visit, they have agreed a strategy that will focus on the stories of sexual abuse survivors.
Organisers are planning to to fly abuse survivors into London from across the world for a press conference on 15 September, the eve of the visit.
They include Mark Fabbro, an Australian who says he was sadistically raped by a priest at a Jesuit school in Melbourne in 1971, when he was 11. Also planning to speak is Sue Cox, who recently broke a 50-year silence over the sexual abuse she endured from a priest, detailing her trauma in a public letter to the Archbishop of Westminster.
"As an abused child, I knew nothing of 'orders' or 'dioceses' or anything hierarchical ? all I knew was that a priest, of the kind I had been brought up to revere, seriously sexually abused me when I was 10 years old, on the eve of my confirmation, then raped me when I was 13, in my own bedroom in my own home," she wrote.
"I can hardly believe," she added, "that the church is so stupid that it cannot see that there is a real opportunity here to show some of the compassion and humility that it preaches so fervently."
MPs warn they will try to defeat bill introducing referendum on alternative vote
The scale of the challenge the government faces in pushing through a bill for a referendum on electoral reform, and a major redrawing of constituency boundaries, emerged yesterday as senior Tories warned they will try to defeat key measures.
The critical voices, including the influential backbencher David Davis, emerged during the second reading of the bill to introduce a referendum on 6 May next year, which was passed last night by 328 votes to 269, a government majority of 59. The bill ? seen as the centrepiece of the coalition ? is likely to come under serious pressure during its committee stages in October.
One Tory MP Anne Main warned her whips there was deep unhappiness on both sides of the house, adding "we will swallow some, but only so much". She warned she was not lobby fodder, adding many of the measures stuck in her throat.
She was particularly furious that the referendum will be on the alternative vote ? a preferential voting system ? describing it as "the least sensible and palatable solution", adding she was surprised it was suported by the Liberal Democrats.
Another Conservative MP, Gary Streeter, suggested there was a "raging" lack of interest among voters on the topic and it would be a "referendum that nobody wants". He said he feared it would mean an "outright Conservative government" would never be voted in again.
Davis said the government should be open about the "party advantage" implicit in the plans.
He also warned that the withdrawal of the right to hold a public inquiry into the redrawing of boundaries might lead to a spate of constituency judicial reviews. He said: "The deputy prime minister [Nick Clegg] presented this bill as something designed to increase the respect of the people for the political system that we work under.
"I think the people might respect us more if we admitted some of the real reasons for what we are doing. Of course there is party advantage implicit in what we are talking about."
Most Conservative MPs, including David Cameron, are opposed to reforming how MPs are elected, but the party conceded a referendum in the coalition agreement, linked with a boundary review.
Clegg claimed the plans to hold a referendum would help "restore people's faith in the way they elect their MPs", and represented "the bare minimum necessary" to achieve long overdue political renewal. "At present on the broken scales of our democracy, 10 voters in Glasgow North have the same weight as 17 voters in Manchester Central," he said.
The bill proposes an average constituency size of 76,000, plus or minus 5%.
Jack Straw, the shadow justice secretary, said the plan for boundary changes was "one of the most partisan proposals we have seen in recent years".
He said the proposals were nothing to do with the "high ideals" that Clegg had claimed and were instead "the worst kind of political skulduggery for narrow party advantage".
He claimed it was quite wrong to withdraw the right to stage public inquiries into proposed plans to redraw boundaries, and experience showed these inquiries led to adjustments to the original proposals.
Straw also expressed doubts about a referendum being held next May, saying the government would be "entering a period of ? deep unpopularity" then. "I suspect it would be far better to have the referendum as a single-issue referendum on a separate dedicated day".
Kidnapped Austrian schoolgirl Natascha Kampusch's autobiography reveals details of her 3,096 days in captivity
Natascha Kampusch, the Austrian woman who was kidnapped and held captive for more than eight years, has told of how she tried to kill herself after being beaten up to 200 times a week by her captor.
In her forthcoming autobiography Kampusch, 22, said Wolfgang Priklopil called her "my slave" and demanded she perform household tasks semi-naked after he kidnapped her as a 10-year-old in 1998.
Kampusch escaped from Priklopil's house in August 2006 and became a talk show host in Austria less than two years later, although a year ago she spoke of having almost reverted back to the life she had as a prisoner ? suffering from anxiety attacks and spending most of her time in her Vienna flat.
Priklopil killed himself hours after Kampusch managed to escape while he was cleaning his car.
"Everything happened very fast. At the very moment I lowered my eyes and started walking past, he grabbed me by the waist and threw me through the open door of his van," Kampusch writes.
"Did I scream? I don't think so. Yet everything inside me was one single scream. It pushed upwards and became lodged far down in my throat."
Kampusch says during the early days of her captivity she was treated well by Priklopil, but in the book she reveals for the first time the violence to which she was later subjected. She talks of how after she reached puberty around the age of 12 her captor "started treating me as if I were dirty and disgusting", and would kick her in the shins or punch her when she walked past him.
"He also subjected me to minor sexual assaults as part of my daily harassment," she writes.
Priklopil began allowing her upstairs to do housework from the age of 14, Kampusch says, but she would be subjected to beatings if her work was deemed to be of poor quality.
"He hated it when the pain made me cry," Kampusch remembers. Priklopil would push her head underwater in the sink and throttle her when she sobbed.
In the extracts published today, Kampusch insists Priklopil's relationship with her "wasn't about sex" ? although she says he would tie her to him and force them to share a bed.
"When I was 14, I spent the night above ground for the first time. I lay stiff with fright on his bed as he lay down next to me and tied my wrists to his with plastic cuffs.
"But when he manacled me to him on those many nights, it wasn't about sex. The man who'd beat me and locked me in the cellar had something else in mind: he simply wanted something to cuddle."
Priklopil also insisted that Kampusch shave off her hair, and used food deprivation to keep her under his control, she writes. The book also reveals that she was "never fully clothed" while working in the house ? a strategy Kampusch says was designed to prevent her from running away.
"Usually, I wore just a cap and knickers ? though when he eventually started letting me work in his garden, it was always without my knickers," she writes.
After two years of regular beatings, Kampusch "began a kind of passive resistance", punching herself in the face before Priklopil was able to. When she reached 15, the beatings became even more frequent: "? repeated punches to my head that made me nauseous, sometimes more than 200 blows to my body in a week", Kampusch writes.
The 22-year-old also documents her attempts to kill herself, saying the efforts provoked fear in her captor. Kampusch attempted to strangle herself with items of clothing, slit her wrists with a needle and later lit a fire in the cellar, but said "the will to survive kicked in".
The book also tells of how Priklopil manipulated her psychologically, potentially hinting at why she did not attempt to escape earlier.
"He told me my parents had refused to pay a ransom," she writes. "'Your parents don't love you at all ? they don't want you back ? they're happy to be rid of you.'"
"These statements were like acid. Systematically, he was undermining my belief in my family."
Former prime minister worried BNP might have caused trouble, and says he wanted to prevent 'extra strain on police resources'
Tony Blair yesterday took a last-minute decision to cancel his key book signing in central London because of security fears, after unrest at a signing in Dublin saw the former prime minister pelted with eggs and shoes.
Blair said he was cancelling the event, due to take place tomorrow at Waterstone's bookshop in Piccadilly, central London, "to avoid the inconvenience to the public it would have caused".
He said in a statement: "I very much enjoyed meeting my readers in Dublin and was looking forward to doing the same in London. However, I have decided not to go ahead with the signing as I don't want the public to be inconvenienced by the inevitable hassle caused by protesters. I know the Metropolitan police would, as ever, have done a superb job in managing any disruption, but I do not wish to impose an extra strain on police resources, simply for a book signing."
Blair called for understanding from those who were hoping to attend the event. He will sign copies of his memoir, A Journey, for the bookseller, which will be available from the store from 9am on Thursday.
A spokesman for the former PM had earlier said that the majority of the people who had gone to the book signing in Dublin on Saturday had wanted to meet Blair and get their books signed, but a small and vocal minority had grabbed the headlines. Blair met with a hail of shoes and eggs at the event, his first public signing, at Eason's bookshop on O'Connell Street. Four men were arrested.
Blair added: "I'm really sorry for those ? as ever the majority ? who would have come to have their books signed by me in person. I hope they understand."
Blair first raised the possibility of cancelling the planned appearance during an interview on the new ITV morning show Daybreak, saying that he feared it could cause unnecessary "hassle and cost" for police. Anti-war protesters had planned to rally outside the Piccadilly bookstore. Blair said he was also worried the far right British National party might attempt to cause trouble.
Waterstone's confirmed that the scheduled book signing had been cancelled, "according to the wishes of the author". The managing director, Dominic Myers, said: "Our job as a bookseller is to bring books to our customers, and where possible enable them to meet authors as well. It is a matter of regret that because of the likely actions of a minority, our customers are now not able to meet a three-times elected prime minister of the United Kingdom, whose book has become our fastest-selling autobiography ever."
The Stop the War Coalition (StWC) said it was planning to protest at a launch party for Blair's book at the Tate Modern in London tomorrow night. Lindsey German, convenor of StWC, said: "It's a stain on the reputation of Tate Modern, to host a gathering of war criminals."
The limited number of signed copies of A Journey will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis, one copy per customer.
The Facebook page, which now has almost 8,000 members, urges them to "make bookshops think twice about where they categorise our generations [sic] greatest war criminal".
A small private plane crashed in a street in Henderson after failing to gain altitude
A small plane crashed and burst into flames on a street in a southern Nevada residential area yesterday, killing one person and badly injuring three others, authorities said.
Las Vegas Metropolitan police said two men and two women were aboard the single-engine Piper Cherokee when it crashed in Henderson, just south of Las Vegas. He said it was remarkable that no one on the ground was injured.
"I think we can attribute that to the pilot trying to put it down in a safe place," he said.
One of the wings ended up in the back yard of a home. The main body of the fuselage came to rest on Morning Mauve Avenue.
Police told the Las Vegas Sun that the plane struck two walls, a streetlight pole and a tree before landing in the street, and that residents pulled two unconscious occupants from the burning wreckage before firefighters arrived.
The injured, whose identities were not released, were taken to University Medical Center with life-threatening burns and trauma. The hospital said that two people were in a serious condition and one person was in a critical condition.
No flight plan was filed, authorities said, and the destination of the plane was not immediately known. The aircraft was registered to a Louisiana resident.
We explain the meaning of the group's outfits, flags and symbolism
Eta can hardly be accused of being a victim of fashion. Its spokespeople have been wearing exactly the same outfits for years ? black jersey, gloves and beret, and a shiny, silky face mask with eye holes. One of the great virtues of the look is that it is unisex. Women and men are indistinguishable until they open their mouths. For Sunday's ceasefire announcement, the speaking was done by the person in the centre (a woman), while the others limited themselves to occasional fidgeting and a stirring fist-raised salute at the end.
In any case, the outfits and the stage-managing of their videos are easily decoded:
1 The face mask The soft masks with eyeholes are not as rugged as the pipe-and-balaclava combination favoured by Zapatista Subcomandante Marcos in Chiapas, Mexico, but they are at least a change from the highwayman's hankie or keffiyeh favoured by other self-proclaimed revolutionaries. The police wear balaclavas in the Basque country ? and Eta do not identify with them.
2 The beret We may associate them with cycling French onion salesmen, but the beret really started as a Basque shepherd's hat. Thanks to Che Guevara they are now also a revolutionary symbol.
3 The ikurriña, or flag of the Basque Country Invented by the father of Basque nationalism, Sabino Arana, at the end of the 19th century. He used the Union Flag as his model. Critics claim that the fact that he had to invent a flag is proof that the Basque country has never really been a separate state.
4 The red flag of Navarre Eta believes that Navarre, now one of Spain's 17 autonomous regions and previously a medieval kingdom that covered much of the Basque-speaking lands in Spain and France, should form part of the Basque Country. Most people in Navarre disagree.
5 The black eagle of King Sancho The eagle on the yellow flag symbolizes the kingdom of Navarre at the height of its glory some eight centuries ago.
6 The axe and snake The axe stands for armed struggle. The snake is, depending on who you speak to, either watchfulness or politics. The "bietan jarrai" slogan can be roughly translated as "go forward both ways". The phrase is given various interpretations, including that Eta will pursue both violent and political routes to independence.
New research suggests that pupils should hold up whiteboards rather than hands to attract the teacher's attention. But have they really thought this through?
There seems to be no end to research on teaching methods. I often pray for it to stop, but it never does. The latest suggests that academic performance improves if children are not allowed to put their hands up in class. This ghastly old method encourages a minority of brighter pupils to dominate, says Professor William of the Institute of Education.
But teachers have known about the hands-up problem for decades, thank you very much. Children stick their hands up and shout "Miss! Miss! Miss!" for different reasons. They may not be that bright, just desperate for attention. The clever ones may just shut up and get on with it. And most teachers have worked out strategies to deal with hands-up.
In my 24 years at the chalkface teaching Music and English, I learned to encourage the more timid and explain to the show-offs that it was someone else's turn. Luckily teachers often don't have to do that nowadays, because children don't always sit in regimented rows. They often work in groups or pairs, put all their ideas together and elect a spokesperson. That way, everyone contributes.
Prof William's researchers recommend the use of whiteboards. Instead of putting hands up, pupils write on their board and hold it up. But isn't that rather gruelling for everyone? How long does it take the teacher to read all the answers on the 30 or so boards? Can she or he remember them all, select an interesting one, while also keeping an eye on what the pupils at the back are doing behind the screen of massed whiteboards? How long does the class have to wait until the last person has finished writing, and what about the poorer writers with squiggly, all-over-the-place letters? Will the teacher be able to decipher it? Or will he or she just pick the clearer ones? And while the teacher does this, do the pupils' arms tire of holding up the boards? Have the researchers thought this through?
If this method is adopted nationwide, how will the children manage when they hit the real world, where there is always some pushy toad with a big mouth who barges to the front and gets in first? Because no one gives a stuff about fairness out there.
Simple hair braids can make anyone feel like a warrior
"Most of my time is spent in my room, French-plaiting other girls' hair," said Rachael Burford, centre player in the England women's rugby team, in the Sunday Times over the weekend. No snide comments about this being what all girls do when they get together, please ? Burford, and her braided friends then go out on the rugby pitch where, if you caught any of the recent world cup, you will have noticed that the women are just as fearless as their male counterparts.
"It has got to the point now when I feel a bit weird if I don't do someone's hair before a game," said Burford. "Some of the girls look really tough with their hair plaited, so it's also a psychological thing ? a victorious thing."
Sadly, victory wasn't tied up in those braids ? the team lost to New Zealand in Sunday's final ? but many of the players, including Danielle Waterman, Sarah Hunter and Katy McLean, looked fierce, like warrior women going into battle.
"Plaits are the earliest of hairstyles because before haircutting and hairdressing, people obviously had long hair and plaits were the simplest way of keeping it out of the way," says fashion historian Caroline Cox. For that reason, she says, we associate plaits with both women and men, and particularly those who are involved in athletic pursuits, such as war. Think of Legolas in The Lord of the Rings, or the super strong Obelix in the Asterix cartoons. "For women, Boudicca or Valkyrie plaits seem to enhance their ferocity," says Cox.
"It was a practical hairstyle until we get to the 19th century, when it begins to be associated with female children. Even now, plaits on the whole have the meaning of the youthful schoolgirl." Not an image you will associate with England's nearly victorious rugby team.
The ethical case against eating animal produce once seemed clear. But a new book is an abattoir for dodgy arguments
This will not be an easy column to write. I am about to put down 1,200 words in support of a book that starts by attacking me and often returns to this sport. But it has persuaded me that I was wrong. More to the point, it has opened my eyes to some fascinating complexities in what seemed to be a black and white case.
In the Guardian in 2002 I discussed the sharp rise in the number of the world's livestock, and the connection between their consumption of grain and human malnutrition. After reviewing the figures, I concluded that veganism "is the only ethical response to what is arguably the world's most urgent social justice issue". I still believe that the diversion of ever wider tracts of arable land from feeding people to feeding livestock is iniquitous and grotesque. So does the book I'm about to discuss. I no longer believe that the only ethical response is to stop eating meat.
In Meat: A Benign Extravagance, Simon Fairlie pays handsome tribute to vegans for opening up the debate. He then subjects their case to the first treatment I've read that is both objective and forensic. His book is an abattoir for misleading claims and dodgy figures, on both sides of the argument.
There's no doubt that the livestock system has gone horribly wrong. Fairlie describes the feedlot beef industry (in which animals are kept in pens) in the US as "one of the biggest ecological cock-ups in modern history". It pumps grain and forage from irrigated pastures into the farm animal species least able to process them efficiently, to produce beef fatty enough for hamburger production. Cattle are excellent converters of grass but terrible converters of concentrated feed. The feed would have been much better used to make pork.
Pigs, in the meantime, have been forbidden in many parts of the rich world from doing what they do best: converting waste into meat. Until the early 1990s, only 33% of compound pig feed in the UK consisted of grains fit for human consumption: the rest was made up of crop residues and food waste. Since then the proportion of sound grain in pig feed has doubled. There are several reasons: the rules set by supermarkets; the domination of the feed industry by large corporations, which can't handle waste from many different sources; but most important the panicked over-reaction to the BSE and foot-and-mouth crises.
Feeding meat and bone meal to cows was insane. Feeding it to pigs, whose natural diet incorporates a fair bit of meat, makes sense, as long as it is rendered properly. The same goes for swill. Giving sterilised scraps to pigs solves two problems at once: waste disposal and the diversion of grain. Instead we now dump or incinerate millions of tonnes of possible pig food and replace it with soya whose production trashes the Amazon. Waste food in the UK, Fairlie calculates, could make 800,000 tonnes of pork, or one sixth of our total meat consumption.
But these idiocies, Fairlie shows, are not arguments against all meat eating, but arguments against the current farming model. He demonstrates that we've been using the wrong comparison to judge the efficiency of meat production. Instead of citing a simple conversion rate of feed into meat, we should be comparing the amount of land required to grow meat with the land needed to grow plant products of the same nutritional value to humans. The results are radically different.
If pigs are fed on residues and waste, and cattle on straw, stovers and grass from fallows and rangelands ? food for which humans don't compete ? meat becomes a very efficient means of food production. Even though it is tilted by the profligate use of grain in rich countries, the global average conversion ratio of useful plant food to useful meat is not the 5:1 or 10:1 cited by almost everyone, but less than 2:1. If we stopped feeding edible grain to animals, we could still produce around half the current global meat supply with no loss to human nutrition: in fact it's a significant net gain.
It's the second half ? the stuffing of animals with grain to boost meat and milk consumption, mostly in the rich world ? which reduces the total food supply. Cut this portion out and you would create an increase in available food which could support 1.3 billion people. Fairlie argues we could afford to use a small amount of grain for feeding livestock, allowing animals to mop up grain surpluses in good years and slaughtering them in lean ones. This would allow us to consume a bit more than half the world's current volume of animal products, which means a good deal less than in the average western diet.
He goes on to butcher a herd of sacred cows. Like many greens I have thoughtlessly repeated the claim that it requires 100,000 litres of water to produce every kilogram of beef. Fairlie shows that this figure is wrong by around three orders of magnitude. It arose from the absurd assumption that every drop of water that falls on a pasture disappears into the animals that graze it, never to re-emerge. A ridiculous amount of fossil water is used to feed cattle on irrigated crops in California, but this is a stark exception.
Similarly daft assumptions underlie the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's famous claim that livestock are responsible for 18% of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, a higher proportion than transport. Fairlie shows that it made a number of basic mistakes. It attributes all deforestation that culminates in cattle ranching in the Amazon to cattle: in reality it is mostly driven by land speculation and logging. It muddles up one-off emissions from deforestation with ongoing pollution. It makes similar boobs in its nitrous oxide and methane accounts, confusing gross and net production. (Conversely, the organisation greatly underestimates fossil fuel consumption by intensive farming: its report seems to have been informed by a powerful bias against extensive livestock keeping.)
Overall, Fairlie estimates that farmed animals produce about 10% of the world's emissions: still too much, but a good deal less than transport. He also shows that many vegetable oils have a bigger footprint than animal fats, and reminds us that even vegan farming necessitates the large-scale killing or ecological exclusion of animals: in this case pests. On the other hand, he slaughters the claims made by some livestock farmers about the soil carbon they can lock away.
The meat-producing system Fairlie advocates differs sharply from the one now practised in the rich world: low energy, low waste, just, diverse, small-scale. But if we were to adopt it, we could eat meat, milk and eggs (albeit much less) with a clean conscience. By keeping out of the debate over how livestock should be kept, those of us who have advocated veganism have allowed the champions of cruel, destructive, famine-inducing meat farming to prevail. It's time we got stuck in.
It was late in the afternoon of an early September Saturday 70 years ago when the German bombers came, flying low, in formation, up the Thames, their engines roaring as they headed for London to start eight months of bombing the capital.
"It was the most amazing, impressive, riveting sight," wrote Colin Perry, a lad cycling that afternoon on Chipstead Hill, Surrey, in a memoir years later. "Directly above me were literally hundreds of planes ? the sky was full of them. Bombers hemmed in with fighters, like bees around their queen, like destroyers round the battleship, so came Jerry."
Mavis Fabling, now 80, remembers that afternoon of 7 September 1940 just as clearly. She said: "I can still remember it very vividly. We lived in Abbey Wood, three miles from Woolwich Arsenal. My mother was baking in the kitchen, I was playing outside and my father was digging in the garden. Suddenly he rushed inside. He'd seen the planes overhead. 'Quick, quick, quick, get into the air raid shelter.' We ran down into the shelter in our garden.
"There were awfully frightening sounds, of bombs dropping and then there was one ghastly, thunderous sound. It was a direct hit on our neighbour's shelter. They were all killed, the whole family, except the father who was out. My mother had taken his wife shopping the day before to buy clothes at the Co-op. I can remember looking out of the window at the coffins being brought out and my mother very distressed.
"Then my father got the car from his work and took us down to my grandfather's house in Kent and I can remember looking back out of the window and seeing the sky glowing red behind us."
The records of the London fire brigade for that day, now kept in the metropolitan archives office in Clerkenwell, tell the story of the first major raid of the blitz in meticulous and sober detail. Neatly typed official green slips record each incident and a separate bound volume lists all the fires attended.
There had been scattered, small-scale raids for weeks, but this was the first concerted attack, ordered two days before by Hitler in retaliation for an RAF raid on Berlin a fortnight earlier.
The fire brigade's day started quietly enough but by late afternoon the records show, minute by minute, incidents coming thick and fast. First the East End, then the docks, both sides of the river, then the City and ? more sporadically ? the West End.
Trivial fires ? 6ft by 4ft patch of grass burned in the garden of 207 Waller Road, SE14 at 6.40pm ? are listed alongside the major: 24-48 Dee Street, Poplar E14, explosive bomb; Culloden Street School; 50-68 and 41 to 71 Aberfeldy Street; and 2-36 and 1-37 Ettrick Street ? a whole neighbourhood flattened.
On Telegraph Hill, one of the highest points in south London, St Catherine's church was hit by an incendiary bomb: "Nave severely damaged and most part of roof off." It took 10 years before the church was rededicated. "We've just redone the rest of the roof," said the current vicar, Zambian-born Francis Makambwe. "So we're ready for another war."
The communities beside the docks got it worst: Silvertown on the north side was cut off for hours, its roads and terraces ablaze, Deptford too. At 6.07pm Childeric Road off New Cross Road was hit: 21 to 61 and 10-40 inclusive, 37 private houses severely damaged. At nearby Ruddigore Road, 13 private houses were damaged by explosion and fractured gas main. At Childeric Road today, the west side of the road still stands: a neat Victorian terrace of all the odd numbers. But the other side of the road is now a park.
Stacey Simkins, then 16 and an office boy enrolled as a fire brigade messenger ? sometimes allowed to hold the hose when other firemen were busy ? was off duty that night, at home with his family in East Ham. "When the bombers came over that night, most of us stood outside in the road, watching the fires down on the docks. It sounds ridiculous to say it now, doesn't it? We didn't think about the bombs, it was just that old cockney thing: 'Woss goin' on?'?"
The fire brigade was nearly overwhelmed. At the start of the war, London had just 120 red fire engines and 2,000 motorised pumps. That night's records repeatedly say "Extinguished by handpump" or "Extinguished by strangers with sand."
Historian Francis Beckett, who has written a history of the fire brigade's union in the war, quotes one officer from the docks: "There were pepper fires loading the surrounding air heavily with stinging particles ? so it felt like breathing fire itself; a paint fire, white-hot flame coating the pump with varnish. A rubber fire gave forth black clouds of smoke ? sugar burns well in liquid form as it floats on the water.
"Tea makes a blaze that's sweet, sickly and intense. It struck one man as a quaint reversal of the fixed order of things to be pouring cold water on to hot tea leaves. A grain warehouse ? brings forth banks of black flies, rats in hundreds and the residue of burnt wheat, a sticky mess that pulls your boots off."
By 6.30pm there were nine fires out of control in the docks. Timber stacks on Surrey docks were so fiercely alight that a fireboat had its paint scorched off in seconds. A rum warehouse went up, its contents spilling into the water and setting the Thames ablaze "like a Christmas pudding". There was a 1,000-metre wall of flame below Tower Bridge.
At 8.30pm, a second wave of bombers arrived, using the fires to guide them up the river. By 3am the next day, the exhausted firemen were gaining control. At 5am the all-clear was sounded.
The first night's raid left 430 killed, including seven firefighters, 60 boats sunk and the docks destroyed. Beckett quotes a fireman: "A man who returned from leave the following day found colleagues in shock, convinced they would not live for more than another week. Men who were old enough to have fought in the first world war said the western front offered nothing worse than they had seen."
The next night, the bombers came again, killing another 400. On 9 September 200 bombers came by day, 170 by night and their bombs killed 370. They came for 57 consecutive nights between mid-September and mid-November and then regularly for another six months until May 1941. Two years later, there would be doodlebugs and V2 rockets.
"Somehow, we just carried on," said Mavis Fabling. "I think it was worse for our parents than for us. I got used to doing my homework in the shelter. The teachers still expected you to learn your Shakespeare sonnet for the morning."
Rare childhood cancers are the subject of an award-winning essay by Nicola Harris in this year's Max Perutz prize
My palms are sweaty and my mouth is dry, but it's more excitement than nerves, though of course the nerves are there, too. I've got my cells out of the incubator and now I just can't resist having a quick glance at them down the microscope ? will I see more dead cells floating in one set than the other? I know I can't tell properly till I add some staining solution and analyse them accurately, but that will take hours and I just can't wait that long to find out: has it worked or not?
If you've ever held that envelope of exam results and been desperate to tear them open and find out how you did, but also terrified to look in case you didn't get what you were hoping for, then you'll know exactly the sort of feelings I'm talking about.
I'm working on tumour cells from two childhood cancers, called neuroblastoma and Ewing's sarcoma. These are both very hard to treat, with less than half the children surviving for five years after their diagnosis. That's the problem with treating cancer: some patients do brilliantly on a particular drug, but for others it'll have little effect. At the moment, it's often a case of trial and error working out which drug is going work ? and some people simply run out of time before we can find the right one. So what I'm trying to find out is what causes the differences in responses and how can we use that to our advantage.
The drug I'm using is called fenretinide, and it's similar to vitamin A (the vitamin found in carrots). It's able to kill cancer cells, while normal cells remain healthy. It works by causing a build-up of oxidants in the cells (you'll all probably have seen the adverts for beauty creams offering anti-oxidant properties to get glowing skin ? that's because oxidants are bad news for cells!). Normal, healthy cells should be able to cope with the presence of a few oxidants, but cancer cells will already be exposed to high levels as they're produced when cells divide, and so they can't cope with the extra oxidants produced from fenretinide treatment.
Due to its similarity to vitamin A, fenretinide can get into receptors meant for that vitamin and so the main side effect with fenretinide treatment is that the patients get what's called night-blindness; basically, you can't see very well in the dark. This makes it particularly suitable for treating childhood cancers as it's a much easier side effect to deal with than many other treatments ? it's easier to give a five-year-old a night light than to comfort them as they're losing their hair. The problem is that fenretinide seems to work really well for some neuroblastoma and Ewing's sarcoma tumours, but not others. And I want to know why!
I've found that some of the tumours have more of an enzyme called CYP26 than others, and this enzyme helps to metabolise fenretinide in the body. Usually, you'd expect the patients to do worse if their body is breaking down the drug, but fenretinide is a little different. As well as the drug itself being able to kill cancer cells (what we call an "active" compound), one of the metabolites of fenretinide is also active. This means there could be an extra hit from this second compound to those cancer cells where there is metabolism occurring. This is the reason I'm desperately hoping to see more dead cells in some of my flasks than others ? these should hopefully be the cells with more CYP26.
So what would it mean if I'm right about the link between CYP26 and how many cancer cells die? There are a few options, actually ? we could be selective and only give the drug to those whose cancer has been tested and shown to have CYP26, or there are other drugs that have been shown to increase concentrations of CYP26 in the body, so alternatively these could be used in combination with fenretinide. The important point is that we could decide on which drug or combination of drugs to use based on what should work for each particular patient, and that's what this is all about ? taking the guesswork out of cancer treatment.
I've already analysed these cells to see how much CYP26 they have, and then I've added the drug and left them to grow for a few days (having a quick peek every day to see how they're getting on). Now it's the moment of truth, as I look down the microscope and bring the cells into focus...
The prize
The Max Perutz Science Writing Award, now in its 13th year, encourages young Medical Research Council scientists to communicate their research to a wider audience. The competition is open to all MRC-funded PhD students and asks them to describe the importance and excitement of their research.
The 2010 award received a record number of submissions, with 114 entries. Twelve essays were shortlisted and judged by the MRC's outgoing chief executive, Sir Leszek Borysiewicz, the Guardian's science and environment correspondent Alok Jha; the head of the MRC Centre, Cambridge, Dr Megan Davies; the former winner Dr Jacqueline Maybin; and the author and broadcaster Dr Alice Roberts.
? Nicola Harris is at the Northern Institute of Cancer Research, Newcastle University
Lindsay Lohan's success in Machete is great timing for the troubled actor. But if she wants her professional star to keep rising she must pick future roles carefully
If you look at the US box office this morning, you might think Machete's successes have been modest ? it opened at No 3 behind George Clooney's The American and the week-old The Takers, grossing roughly a tenth of what Toy Story 3 took in its opening weekend ? but for Lindsay Lohan, it is a massive victory.
Commercially, Machete is Lohan's biggest film since Herbie: Fully Loaded five years ago. Nothing she's done since ? not Just My Luck or A Prairie Home Companion or Bobby or Georgia Rule or I Know Who Killed Me or Chapter 27 or the direct-to-cable comedy Labour Pains ? has come close to matching Machete's $11,300,000 opening.
But, even better, people don't actually seem to hate her in it. Admittedly this might be because she's playing an exaggerated version of herself ? a gun-licking, drug-obliterated party girl in a nun's outfit ? but reviews have been favourable, none the less. What's more, Lindsay's co-star Jessica Alba has repeatedly found room in her promotional schedule to call her a "brilliant actress" and director Robert Rodriguez was so impressed by her performance he's hinted at an entire spin-off movie for her character.
This professional upswing couldn't have come at a better time for Lohan. Her recent stints in jail and rehab have hopefully acted as a full stop to years of troubled behaviour, both on and off set, which have blighted her career, and now she seems genuinely ready to put everything behind her. Just last week Lohan appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair telling everyone how determined she was to make a success of herself again. And now that Machete has reminded us she's an actor, Lohan has never had a better chance to seize upon this newfound momentum.
This, however, will require a lot of work on her part. To become the serious actor she's always wanted to be, Lohan should forget about everything ? Machete and jail and the slow-motion car crash that is her family life ? and just start from scratch. Starring in a play, with its rehearsals and routine and scheduled performances, might be the perfect way to help her regain some discipline. And then, following that, Lohan would be best advised to clock on as a supporting actress for a while. Machete has already proved what an effective scene stealer she is, so a few years of well-picked bit-parts should be enough to prove she's reliable and talented enough to handle her own vehicles again.
Of course, role selection needs to be at the heart of everything. Lohan will only ever be as good as the parts she plays, so she and her advisers need to seriously consider every professional decision she makes from now on.
Then again, the trailer for her next film, Underground Comedy ? written, starring and directed by a man primarily known for advertising kitchen products ? contains defecating supermodels, a character called The Naked Asian and two scenes of necrophilia. So, on reflection, maybe we shouldn't hold our breath for a complete revival just yet.
A new elementary school in Los Angeles named after giants of environmental movement is courting needless controversy
Here's a problem for any new school: what to call yourself. Do you opt for an iconic figure from history? Or what about a name which reflects the school's location? The first rule, however, should be not to choose a name that can in any way be deemed controversial. In other words, avoid any name that even has a passing whiff of politics about it.
Bottom of the class, then, for the governors of a new school set to open this month in Los Angeles. Not content - and who can blame them - with the name "Central Region Elementary School #13", as their new school was being described by architects and the local board of education, the school-naming committee decided to pick one of six possible suggestions.
The first suggestion - the Pete Seeger Community School, in honour of the folk singer - was rejected because the singer had "affiliations with the Communist party".
Such a decision suggests that the committee members were astute enough to avoid controversy. But this conclusion crumbles to dust when you hear what name they finally settled on: the Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Sciences.
To name your school after one controversial figure might be judged careless by some. But to name it after two just seems positively reckless. Al Gore, the former US vice-president and force behind An Inconvenient Truth, and Rachel Carson, the author of the seminal environmental text Silent Spring, are deemed by many to be giants of the modern environmental movement. But they are also among its most divisive figures.
The school-naming committee surely must have known that by picking such an eye-catching name they would be casting an unnecessary spotlight on their new school?
Don't get me wrong: personally, I think it is refreshing that a public elementary school wishes to give such a heavy emphasis in its curriculum to environmental science. But, equally, there will be many out there ? not least, the Glenn Beck/Tea Party contingent ? who will think this is nothing less than the devil's work, with or without reference to Carson and Gore. (Just as I was writing this sentence, I noticed that the rightwing site NewsBusters had got hold of the news and reacted with predictable results.)
Spin it round the other way: would environmentalists be happy if a school was named after Glenn Beck? It doesn't even bear thinking about. That's my point.
The Los Angeles Times, which broke this story earlier today, is not really focusing on the naming of the school. It says the source of a bigger controversy is that the $75.5m school has been built on contaminated soil. It quotes a letter from a local environmental group called the California Safe Schools coalition which says the site has not been cleaned up properly:
Renaming this terribly contaminated school after famous environmental advocates is an affront to the great work that these individuals have done to protect the public's health from harm.
I don't know the ins and outs of this particular clean-up operation, but I would have thought the rules in California for cleaning up brownfield sites, particular if they are to be used to build schools, must be pretty exacting. Therefore, this is possibly the one time when Rachel Carson's name might actually seem appropriate for a school. But I can also understand why these parents are concerned that the site be unequivocally cleansed of the benzene, ethylbenzene, naphthalene, tetrachloroethylene, vinyl chloride and trimethylbenzene which California's Department of Toxic Substances Control said (pdf) it had detected in soil at the site before the clean-up began.
Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that the school principal Kurt Lowry says he intends to invite both Al Gore and members of Rachel Carson's family to the school's official opening in October. It adds:
Lowry said the school's environmental emphasis will do Gore proud, including recycling projects and research and beach cleanups. Cross-curriculum efforts will include environmental speeches and presentations in English, topsoil measurements in math and climate study in science. The principal also envisions an organic garden that could produce a student-led farmer's market.
No word yet on whether the pupils will get to watch An Inconvenient Truth in class. If they do, the school best prepare itself for a fresh round of outrage and controversy.
The police and not the government should decide whether to re-open the investigation into the News of the World phone-hacking allegations, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.
England manager Fabio Capello says striker Wayne Rooney is in the right frame of mind to play against Switzerland on Tuesday despite allegations about his private life.
The role of the gambling syndicates that can make millions from the outcome of a single game has been highlighted by the allegation that three Pakistani cricket players were involved in a betting scam.
I Am Kloot singer John Bramwell talks to Elbow's Guy Garvey about Kloot's Mercury Music Prize-nominated album, which Garvey and bandmate Craig Potter produced.
