The Independent 30 November 2015

8/18/2019 The Independent 30 November 2015

1/56

WWW.INDEPENDENT.CMONDAY NOVEMBER

ISSUE NO.

9 7 7 1 7 4 1 9 7 4 8 1 3

Roisin O’ConnorI’m fed up with beinggroped at rock gigsNEWS P.

Yasmin Alibhai-BrownBombing Syria means BritishMuslims will reject moderationVOICES P

Robert FiskBlairite MPs loatheCorbyn more than IsisVOICES P

Karen WrightGilbert and George arepast their sell-by dateARTS P.

Steve BunceTyson Fury: boxinsong-and-dance aSPORT PULLOUT P.

The leader of Britain’s biggesttrade union vowed last nightto defend Jeremy Corbynagainst an attempted “coup”by Labour MPs, as the party’sdivisions over Syria air strikesdeepened.

Len McCluskey, the generalsecretary of Unite, warnedthat the entire union move-

ment and the broader partymembership would strongly“resist” pro-war Labour MPsseeking to force through achange of leadership.

“The thought that someLabour MPs might be pre-pared to play intra-party poli-tics over an issue such as thiswill sicken all decent people,”he said.

Mr McCluskey’s bullishbacking for Mr Corbyn cameafter the Labour leader told

his increasingly rebelliousShadow Cabinet that healone has the power to decidewhether to order Labour MPsto oppose any British involve-ment in Syria’s civil war or letthem vote according to theirconsciences.

Mr Corbyn’s unbendingopposition to war could yetprevent British warplanesfrom attacking Isis targets inSyria, because David Cam-eron has said he will not seek

Parliament’s approval to beginbombing unless he is sure ofa majority.

The issue has split LabourMPs, with some threateningto vote with the Governmenteven if Mr Corbyn tries towhip them to vote against.

Leading members of theShadow Cabinet have pleadedwith Mr Corbyn to defuse therow by giving them a free vote,but yesterday he appearedready to try to whip them

into line, saying they shlisten to the voices of pmembers who oppose gto war. “It’s the leader decides,” he said.

This show of authorityinfuriated old hands inLabour Party who rememthose years when Mr Covoted against the party won hundreds of occas“This is not Jeremy Corb

McCluskey wrns Lbour

MPs ginst ousting Corbynµ Leader of Unite says Britain’s biggest trade union could be mobilised in support of embattled leadµ Divisions over Syria widen as Shadow Cabinet members demand free vote from former serial reb

Continued on

C L I V E B

R U N S K I L L / G E T T Y

Gme, set nd history

ANDY MCSMITH

Andy Murray is overcome with joy after Great Britain beat Belgium to win the Davis Cup for the first time since SPORT PULLOUT AND NEWS P.

How your money will revolutionise medical care of children CHARITYAPPEAL P.


2/56

MONDAY NOVEMBER THE INDE

David Cameron has learned lessons since thedebacle of 30 August 2013, when he rushed avote in the Commons on air strikes in Syria onlyto lose it narrowly – but humiliatingly – by 13votes. This time, the Prime Minister is prepar-ing the ground much more carefully and theoutcome of the next vote on this issue in theCommons looks more predictable.

It helps that the enemy this time is Isis. Twoyears ago, when the target was forces loyal to

Bashar al-Assad, many MPs felt misgivings.In an effort to woo wavering MPs, the draftmotion being prepared for a vote this week alsomakes pointed reference to the UN resolutionrecently passed against Isis – as well as to theneed for a political settlement in Syria. Themessage is: this is not about “regime change”and it is not about bombing for the sake of it.

While no vote will be called until the Torywhips have carefully totted up the figures, thewind is clearly blowing in Mr Cameron’s direc-tion. Thirty Tory MPs defied his leadership in2013. The number of Conservatives opposed toextending air strikes from Iraq to Syria is nowdown to 10 or even less. The mood in Parlia-ment has changed since the shocking attacksin Paris on 13 November. It is no longer solelya question of whether strikes will “work”, andagainst whom, but whether we are willing tosnub an explicit request for backup in Syria

from our wounded ally, France.Divisions inside the Labour Party over Syria,meanwhile, are so deep that a free vote on theLabour side looks like the only option. JeremyCorbyn’s close ally, the shadow Chancellor,

John McDonnell , has already conceded asmuch. Yesterday, Mr Corbyn repeated histhreat to whip Labour MPs into the No camp,saying it was “the leader who decides”. How-ever, trying to force a No vote on them when upto one hundred are known to support air strikeson Isis would be a perilous move.

Editorials

Going into SyriIf Mr Cameron wins a vote on Syria, it is vital that thegoal of intervention – a peace settlement – is not forgo

The Tory party’s attempt to bury the row overElliott Johnson’s suicide by forcing GrantShapps out of his ministerial post looked des-perate from the start – and has predictablybackfired. Resignations often feed a sense ofunfinished business rather than bringing aboutclosure, and in this case both Mr Shapps’s alliesand Mr Johnson’s family feel equally dissatis-fied. Both suspect that Mr Shapps was forcedto fall on his sword to protect the position andreputation of more important figures in theTory party’s inner-circle, starting with the partychairman, Lord Feldman.

If it is established that Lord Feldman wasparty to much the same information that MrShapps received about the behaviour of Mr

Johnson’s alleged persecutor, Mark Clarke, heshould go as well. But the same goes for otherswho brought Mr Clarke back into the fold of the

The Tories’ drk hertThe party must root out bullies if it is to prosper

Conservative election campaign, longwas clear that he had questions to answ

Beyond individual resignations, therthe matter of the inquiry. An investigatducted mainly by figures within the parif its findings are subjected to externation, can hardly be termed independe

If David Cameron wants to resolve thments about what happened to Mr Johnsclusively, he must push for an unambiindependent inquiry, led by someoneconnection to the party, which is precisMr Johnson’s father has demanded.

At a time when the Conservative Paring members and has little support amyoung, it appears to have allowed a cubullying and sexual harassment to takthe very heart of its youth wing. It mustthis – or face the consequences of its in

With British air strikes on Isis in Symore of a “when” than an “if”, one danis hubris – an inflated notion of the probnificance of our contribution. BombastBritain “going to war” in Syria disguisesthat what the UK is offering is the engaof eight Tornado fighter jets based in Cysupport of a far larger French fleet baseaircraft carrier in the eastern MediterThe number of British jets is due to

mented by two to four and they have tacapacities that American and Frenchsaid to lack, so they may fill a niche. Stipared with France, let alone the US o– which is rapidly increasing its engagin Syria – Britain is never going to bthan a minor player in this conflict, inmilitary terms.

We have also long been part of the apaign against Isis in Iraq. The deployair power by the US and its allies again Iraq since August 2014 has certainlthe morale of the Kurds – the most eanti-Isis fighters in the region – and mstalled Isis’s advance on Baghdad. Hgiven how hard it is to draw up a balancof 15 months of dropping bombs on Istory in Iraq, it is curious how uncontrthe Iraq campaign has become.

There are warnings here. If British

start taking part in the air war againsSyria, it is vital that the end goal of thtary intervention – the hastening of a and diplomatic settlement to the conboth Iraq and Syria – is not forgotten. Ibe tragic if, after all the bitter argumenmilitary intervention in Syria, the whoness got pushed to the sidelines follovote in the Commons. Mr Cameron hahis reputation on getting his way on bSyria. If he wins this gamble, it is up to hto ensure that his victory is not an emp

Contents..

©PUBLISHED BY INDEPENDENT PRINT LIMITED2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF, and printed at Trinity Mirror Printing.St Albans Road, Watford, Hollinwood Avenue, Oldham, and Cardonald Park,Glasgow. Back issues available from Historic Newspapers, 0844770 7684.Monday 30 November 2015. Registered as a newspaper with the Post Office

Recycled paper made up78% of the raw materialfor UK newspapers in 2012

PLUS TV&Radio Puzzles&Games Cryptic Crossword Weather Business

WORLD

SECTION

BUSINESS

NEWS

MPs crank up pressure for

introduction of ‘sugar tax’David Cameron is under intenselobbying to reverse his oppositionto a levy on sugary drinks

P.

Police re tear gas at Parisclimate change protestAs rallies were held across theworld ahead of the UN summit, amarch in Paris turned violent

P.

Bottom line for banksBritain’s banks will nd outtonight whether they havepassed tough Bank of Englandstress tests

P.

The police who reach outto bereaved familiesBehind the scene of every murdercase are family liaison officerswho offer relatives support

P.

Lords of the danceLeila Guerriero attends theFestival Nacional del Malamboin Argentina, where the winnersare treated like demigods

P.

Washington wants Isisescape route cut off The US is demanding thatTurkey close a 0-mile stretch ofits border with Syria

P.

Milner makes the differenceLiverpool were the only winnersin four Premier League gamesyesterday; a James Milner penaltydefeating Swansea at Aneld

-page pullout, P.

SPORT

OUR COM M ITM EN T

We take seriously our responsibility to maintain high editorial standards. Under deadline pressure errors can occasionally occur.If you spot a mistake or wish to complain about The Independent’s editorial output please use the complaints form atwww.independent.co.uk/codeofconduct or write to: Managing Editor, The Independent, Northcliffe House, Derry St, London, W HF.

DILEM M AS

Virginia IronsideMy wife is threatening to divorceme because of my dirt phobia

P.

VO ICES

Ian BirrellA Minister for the Future:that’s forward planning

P.

ECONOMIC VIEW

Ben ChuMao Zedong and hiseconomic legacy

P.

News


3/56

HE INDEPENDENT MONDAY NOVEMBER

The Monday Cartoon

BRIEFING…

TODAY UN CLIMATE CHANGE

SUMMIT IN PARIS

ST ANDREW’S DAYHOLIDAY IN SCOTLAND

TOMORROW

JUNIOR DOCTORS ONSTRIKE FOR 24 HOURS

DIARYChurchill archive ‘one of theworld’s most important’

The Winston Churchill canonof speeches and writings

has been placed on a UnitedNations list of humanity’smost significant records

P.

HERITAGE

Extra investment in robrequired to boost the

economy by as much a£60.5bn over the nex

decade, Barclays bank sP.

£.bBUSINESS

∂∂ First I ws bornin Bngldesh, thenI ws born in Itly,then I ws born in

Englnd ∑∑A young immigrant’s view on nationality P.

87Members of the cast and

production team for anew RSC production of ‘A

Midsummer Night’s Dream’P.

PAY

535British executives now

earn more than £1m a year.Research shows that pay atthe very top rose by 8.1 per

cent in the past yearP.


4/56


Unite bcksCorbyn in

ce o revolton Syri bysenior MPs

D EFIA NT CORBYN L A BOU R L EA D ER D ISMISSES CA L L S T O QU IT


5/56

HE INDEPENDENT MONDAY NOVEMBER

I have no idea if I’m tthe left, the centre, oshaking it all about. B Jeremy has my suppo

Unity is the watchwordas Labour fights the Ukip

threat in vital by-election

Labour’s Jim McMahon goes door-stepping STEVE MORGAN

Corbyn activists join the campaign in Oldham West, where a ‘safe’ Labour seat

in danger of being seized by Ukip this week, reports JOSEPH CHARLTON

hon, born and raised in nearbyMiles Platting to a father whodrove lorries for a living, iskeen to establish himself asthe local candidate. “BeforeMichael Meacher died andthis by-election was calledI’d never been to the Housesof Parliament,” says McMa-

hon. “I think people see theway I run the council here andcount me as no-nonsense, get-on-with-it kind of guy.”

McMahon, , is certainlyan eye-catching candidate. Acouncillor at , he was latermade the spokesman for everyLabour councillor in Britain,and this year was appointedOBE for services to Oldham,as well as being tipped tobecome mayor of Manches-ter. Under his direction thecouncil has tried to put an endto all-white schools – deseg-regation has been of massiveimportance here since Old-ham’s race riots in – aswell as establishing the first

tramline between Manches-ter and Oldham.Dressed in a long coat, sharp

suit and leather gloves, hehas the robust presence of anascendant football manager,or a particularly well-heeledbouncer.

He voted for Liz Kendallin the Labour leadershipelection, so the big questiontoday is where he stands onCorbyn.

At Eastern Pavilion Ban-queting Hall, a Pakistani-Bangladeshi curry househosting the Corbynistas whohave been out-door-knockedthat day, McMahon takes thestage, a garish red-and-whiteMomentum banner flying

behind him. “I have nowhether I’m to the leftcentre or shaking it all abhe says, “but you can marwords, Jeremy has my alute full support.”

There is a big cheer fthe audience and a palpsense of relief. I ask Mc

hon afterwards for his von Syria, and again he to take the Labour lead– if not the Shadow Cabi– line. “I totally agree withemy that David Cameronot put forward, as it stancompelling enough case twhat’s going to happen military intervention.”

Noting Oldham voapparent concerns over rity, he does, however.“I haven’t got a princiobjection to this. I thinkgovernment you have totect your citizens. But we

just embark on a folly.”Afterwards, McDon

takes to the stage and h

praise on McMahon, cahim “the socialist candid– an epithet the counlor himself would probreject. But it is clear, sping to McDonnell post-cthat hopes are high of maMcMahon a poster boy oLabour Party unity.

“What I find very impsive about him is thaaccepts that the leaderof the Labour Party has bdetermined by the decratic processes of the pasays the shadow Chance“He’s willing to work withemy closely and I think hgood reflection of wherParliamentary Labour Pis going to be.”

Outside Ukip HQ in thesmall town of Royton, in theOldham West and Roytonconstituency, a skirmish isbreaking out between pro-Corbyn Momentum activistsand a group of ardent Ukip-pers. “Think about the futureof our NHS before voting onThursday!” calls Sandra, a

middle-aged Londoner wear-ing a Santa cap emblazonedwith “Vote Jeremy” badges.

She may as well be shoutinginto the wind. “U-kip, U-kip,U-Kip,” chant a group of teen-agers – all too young to vote– in reply. “Jeremy Corbyn isa threat to our national secu-rity,” an older resident chips in,echoing the message on mostof Ukip’s campaign leaflets forThurday’s by-election.

The Momentum-ers moveoff. At Rumours, the pub nextdoor (£. a pint, happy houram-pm daily), Sandra hasbetter luck – convincing adrinker outside that the onlyvote for the NHS is a vote for

Labour. Corbyn doesn’t comeup in conversation and nei-ther does Labour’s OldhamWest and Royton candidate,

Jim McMahon.Sandra is one of activists

put on the ground in OldhamWest and Royton this week-end by Momentum, the grass-roots network formed out oflast summer’s “Corbyn forLeader” campaign. Coachesfrom London, Birmingham,Bradford, Leeds and Shef-field have been organised byMomentum, and the LabourParty mothership has another volunteers arriving fromaround the country.

The shadow Chancellor John

McDonnell arrived on Satur-day and has been on the door-steps with McMahon since.Have any voters raised McDon-nell’s Little Red Book incident,I ask Andrew Gwynne, who isorganising Labour’s by-elec-tion campaign. “Not one,” hesays. “It’s not much of an issuefor Oldham.”

This looks suspiciously likesomething approaching LabourParty unity. Momentum activ-ists are subordinate to the mainoffice and given strict instruc-tions on where to knock ondoors. “We’re here under thebanner of Labour, not Momen-tum,” says Deborah, an activ-ist from Croydon. In Royton,however, the Ukip faithful are

keen to paint this squarely as abattle against Jeremy Corbyn.Ukip candidate John Bickleyis a by-election veteran, hav-ing lost both Wythenshaweand Sale, and Heywood andMiddleton (more narrowly),to Labour last year. Bickley’schances this time, says Ukip’s

party director and campaignorganiser Paul Oakden, are farimproved.

“People in the communitythink a vote against Labour isa vote against Corbyn. Secu-rity is a big concern to peoplehere, and Corbyn’s commentson shoot-to-kill landed verywide of the mark.”

Despite the narrowing oddson a Ukip victory – bookiesare now offering /, from/ last week – Bickley hasstruggled to convince on localissues. He called for Oldham’shistoric but derelict town hallto be saved from a £m con-version into a cinema and res-taurant complex, despite the

renovation’s popular appealto voters.“It’s such an own goal it’s

untrue,” Jim McMahon tellsThe Independent while takinga break from door-stepping inthe rain. Oldham town centrehas never before had its owncinema and McMahon, cur-rently leader of the council,was instrumental in securingfunding for the regenerationof the town’s high street. “It’sthe naiveté of someone whodoesn’t know the area.

“John’s OK, he’s a reasona-ble guy. Ultimately I wish himwell going back to Cheshireon December .”

Cheshire is a byword for“posh” in Oldham, and McMa-

Mother who joined Isisin Syri hints she willbecome suicide bomber

OSALIND NEWMAN

A mother-of-two from Kentwho left Britain to join Isis

as hinted she may be plan-ning to blow herself up af ter

er husband was killed in a

rone strike.Sally Jones has indi-ated she could be about toecome a “black widow” sui-ide bomber. A recent posty Jones on a social mediaccount quotes a Muslim

woman who killed herself and Russian soldiers in a truckombing in . Jones , , who moved toyria with her -year-old in, quoted the last wordspoken by Hawa Barayev,, to her family, The Sunday

Times reported.“I know what I’m doing.

Paradise has a price and I hopehis will be the price for Para-ise,” Jones wrote. If Jones

ollows through on her threat,

she would be Isis’s first knownfemale suicide bomber.

Barayev is widely thoughtto be the first “black widow”– a group of Chechen Muslimwomen who lost their hus-bands and attacked Russia ina wave of suicide bombings.

Jones’s message fol lowedthe death of her husband,

Junaid Hussain, , killed bya US drone strike on Raqqain August.

Sally Jones, , took her son,then , with her to Syria


6/56


News

MPs join ghtor ‘sugr tx’

cut £5bn--yecost o obesity

PAUL PEACHEY

David Cameron is underintense pressure to reverse hisopposition to a “sugar tax” afterMPs and campaigners calledfor bold and urgent action toreverse the £5bn annual costof obesity to the NHS.

A cross-party group of MPssaid a 20 per cent tax on sug-ary drinks could raise £1bn to

spend on tackling childhoodobesity, while health groupscalled for supermarket foodrecipes to be rewritten whole-sale to halve sugar use.

The Prime Minister ruledout a tax on sugar last month,despite a report from theGovernment’s own advisorybody backing the move. TheGovernment came under fireover a delay in the report’spublication.

The drive for a 20 per centsugar tax has been joined bya wide range of medical andcampaign groups who claimthat inaction will be disastrousfor the nation’s health.

Children eat more than

three times the recommendedamount of sugar, and a thirdare overweight or obese bythe time they leave primaryschool.

Poor diet has been linkedto 70,000 premature deathsa year along with high rates oftooth decay, and contributesto soaring levels of Type 2 dia-betes which costs the NHSalmost £8.8bn a year. TheGovernment is due to publishits strategy next year.

Dr Sarah Wollaston, a GP,who chairs the health selectcommittee, said: “We believethat if the Government fails toact, the problem will becomefar worse.

“A full package of bold meas-ures is required and should beimplemented as soon as pos-sible. We believe that a sugary

drinks tax should be inin these measures wproceeds clearly dto improving our chhealth.”

The report stressphysical exercise alonot solve the obesity ccalled for a package oures to change how consumed in the Briti

It also demanded antelevision advertising

salt, high-sugar and fatuntil after the 9pm watand supported using warnings on the side oshowing how many spof sugar the drink instains – an idea champicelebrity chef Jamie O

The MPs highlighrole of the food induactively promoting products. The indust£256m last year pro“unhealthy” foods, wsugary soft drinks fisponsoring park activchildren to replace theby local authorities fspending squeeze.

The committee als

for controls on “two-fpromotional sales athe use of cartoon chand celebrities in chadvertising should facrestrictions. Rules tha breakfast cereal w22.5 per cent sugara high-sugar food mchanged, the report sa

Other campaigninghave called for a tax onsugar food and drink,MPs favoured targetinas they represent aboucent of sugar consuamong children aged

A coalition of up to 2has been formed to pussugar tax, including th

Heart Foundation, thMedical Association,Research UK and theof Public Health.

TV chefJamie Oliverchampioneda drivefor labelsindicatingspoonfuls ofsugar in fizzydrinksTRISTAN

FEWINGS/

GETTY

Mosque trgeted in suspected rson ttck

ROSALIND NEWMAN

Police have released CCTVfootage of a man suspected ofan attempted Islamophobic

arson attack on a mosque inFinsbury Park, London.The footage shows the

white man attempting to set a jerrycan of petrol alight beforehurling it into the mosquecompound on Friday evening.The man, who was wearing a

white hooded top, white base-ball cap and jeans, then fled ona moped.

Staff discovered the can,which did not ignite, whenthey opened up the mosque

on Saturday morning. Policeare treating the incident as ahate crime.

The Metropolitan Policeurged anyone who recognisesthe man in the footage to getin touch. A spokesman said“high visibility patrols” were

operating in the area followingthe incident.

The mosque’s chairman,Mohammed Kozbar, toldThe Independent : “This was abarrel not a bottle. Whoever

threw it was determined tocause huge destruction. Luck-ily it was raining so it didn’texplode.” The mosque hadreceived a threatening letterthe week before, he added, buthe did not know if it was linkedto the attack.

Police releasedthis image of aman suspectedof an arsonattack on aLondon mosque


7/56

HE INDEPENDENT MONDAY NOVEMBER l

Tory chirmn to be questionedover bullying suicide scndl

Lord Feldman, the barristerand-picked by David Cam-ron to chair the Conservative

Party, is to be questioned bytaff investigating the bullyingcandal that has engulfed thearty’s youth wing.He is among more than

witnesses who will be asked toive evidence to party officialsnvestigating the affair.

A leading City law firm,Clifford Chance, has beennstructed to prepare a reportn the issues raised, with aemit to assess whether com-laints were handled properlynd “identify any individuals

who were at fault”.

The firm will also con-ider the integrity of the evi-ence-collecting process and

whether the right people haveeen interviewed.Party officials hope the law

irm’s involvement will goome way to placating thoseincluding the father of aoung activist who commit-ed suicide – calling for a fullyndependent inquiry.

The allegations forced theormer party chairman Granthapps to resign his ministe-ial post on Saturday, whilehe person at the centre ofhe allegations, Mark Clarke,as had his party membershipancelled for life.Mr Shapps quit his post as

international developmentminister, admitting that he

should have “set alarm bellsringing sooner” about reportsof bullying and bad behaviourduring his time as the party’sco-chairman.

In September, a -year-oldTory activist, Elliott Johnson,was found dead on a railwayline in Buckinghamshire. Acoroner revealed that he hadleft a note complaining ofbeing bullied.

In the month before hisdeath, Mr Johnson wasinvolved in an angry con-frontation with Mr Clarke ina pub. Mr Clarke has deniedallegations of bullying, and hassaid he will speak about whathappened after the coroner’s

inquest has been completed.Mr Clarke was known asthe “Tatler Tory” becauseof a magazine article thattipped him as a future cabi-net minister. He stood as theTory candidate in Tooting inthe general election,but lost the seat to Labour’sSadiq Khan, and his politicalambition was then thwartedwhen he was denied a placeon the candidates’ list for the election, apparentlybecause reports of his per-sonal behaviour had reachedparty headquarters.

Cut off by ConservativeHQ, Mr Clarke took it uponhimself to organise RoadTrip, which bussed young

NDY MCSM IT H

City law firm hired to oversee process amid calls for independent inquiry

Conservative volunteers intomarginal seats. His energy

impressed Mr Shapps, whobrought him back into the offi-cial Conservative campaign.

One of many allegationspublished in the Mail on Sun-day claimed that Mr Clarkeresorted to blackmail in hisdetermination to get back onto the candidates’ list, usinginformation he had obtainedabout illicit sexual relation-ships at head office. He hasdenied these allegations. Theparty’s deputy chairman, Rob-ert Halfon, has since admit-ted an affair with the womanwho headed the Conservativeyouth wing, ConservativeFuture. Mr Halfon’s femaleassistant is also reported to

have been having an affairwith a married Tory MP whothreatened the paper withan injunction to avoid beingidentified.

One question likely tobe raised during the inter-nal investigation is why MrShapps, who has had no roleat head office since May, hashad to resign while Lord Feld-man, who has been co-chair-man of the party since ,is still in his post.

Lord Feldman has beena friend of David Cameronsince they were fellow stu-dents at Brasenose College,Oxford, in the s.

Brmy Army joy s Britintriumphs in Dvis Cup

Tennis fans reacted with rap-ture as Andy Murray poweredGreat Britain to a historic tri-umph in the Davis Cup final inGhent yesterday, where theybeat Belgium -. Britain lastwon the team competitionin , when Fred Perry ledthem to the world title.

Jamie Leith from Perth, whowas in Ghent as part of the Stir-ling University Barmy Army,a group of fans who travelaround the world to supportthe British tennis team, saidthe country owed a huge debtto the Murray family. AndyMurray won three matchesin the tie, including Satur-day’s doubles rubber with his

brother, Jamie.“Two members of the [four-man] team – and this from thetiny town of Dunblane to being

V ER O N ICA LEE

IN GHENT

the world champions – iimpressive,” he said.

This was Britain’s appearance in a Davis

final since , when lost to the United Stateswas played at Flanders Exhangar-like space that’s ushome to trade fairs. Normit’s a soulless place but theish fans – allocated just of the , seats on eathe three days of compet– played their part in crea joyous, even raucous, atphere. The Barmy Armydrums and a small brass band a DJ played loud music during breaks.

Queen Mathilde of Bellooked on as the British were presented with thephy. “That’s sport royaltcourt,” said fan Sally Bu

from Woking in Surrey. want a knighthood for An

ROOT OF THE SCANDAL

A Y OU NG M AN’S SU IC ID E

Elliott Johnson was a memberof Conservative Future, theparty’s youth wing, and of the

campaigning group Conserva-tive Way Forward.He helped out during the

general election, but after-wards became disturbed byMark Clarke’s behaviour.

On 12 August, Clarke learntthat Johnson was complain-ing, and confronted him ina pub, in front of witnesses.In Johnson’s words: “Markpinned me (literally in a seat)and bullied and interrogatedme.” There were complaintsto party headquarters, butJohnson seemingly felt theywere prepared to do nothing.

The 21-year-old took hisown life in September, leav-ing a note accusing Clarke ofbullying him.

Kim Murray (centre) joins the Barmy Army of fans as her husband, Andy, helps to power the GB team to a historic win GETTY/LTA

Editorial, P.

Conservative Party chairmanLord Feldman GETTY

Sport pullout


8/56

MONDAY NOVEMBER THE INDEl

UN ClimateChange Summit

Ter gs usedon protesters world ledersrrive in Pris

Placards warning the world’sleaders that there is “NoPlanet B” were waved. Peo-ple dressed as polar bears orangels to demand “climate

justice”. And the Pope, amongothers, sent a pair of his shoesto symbolise the marchersforced from the streets ofParis by terror.

Organisers said more thanhalf a million people marchedacross countries in one ofthe largest demonstrationscalling for action on climatechange, ahead of the starttoday of the United Nationssummit in the French capitalto thrash out a legally bindingagreement to curb emissions.

The gathering, which willbe attended by headsof government, includingDavid Cameron and BarackObama, is seen by many asthe last opportunity to strike

a global deal that wouthe UN’s long-termlimiting global warmC within sight.

Mr Cameron saidtravelling to Paris tfor a “robust” deal thaallow the tightening every five years to mC target above whichchange becomes progrmore catastrophic andBritain’s own legislatmodel for other coun

There were about ferent protest event

the world. Organisermain demonstrationdon claimed an atteof , and declare“the biggest climate mBritish history”.

In Paris, where the ties had banned a pmarch on public grounds followingNovember atrocitietesters laid out hundpairs of shoes in the Pla Republique to repremissing demonstrato

Among the symbolof high heels and santhe square that has gathering point for Psince the attacks was creased black shoes

CAHAL MILMO

AND TOM BAWDEN

NEWS IN

BRIEF

Sinéad O’Connor ‘safe’after overdose message

Irish police began adesperate search for SinéadO’Connor yesterday aftera suicide note appearedon her Facebook page.

However, police sourcesreported that the singer,best known for her versionof Prince’s “NothingCompares U”, was “safeand sound” and receivingmedical help.

, sign petitionagainst TTIP trade deal

A ,-name petitionwill be handed in to Downing Street todayby campaigners against atrade deal being negotiated

between the EU and theUS. Activists are pressingthe Government to makesure the NHS is notaffected by the TransatlanticTrade and InvestmentPartnership.

PEOPLE POLITICS

News


9/56


20%OFFGRANITE WORKTOPSLAMINATE WORKTOPSCORIAN WORKTOPSAPPLIANCESSINKS & TAPS

Half price plus anextra 20% off ALL KITCHEN UNITS

54 SHOWROOMS NATIONWIDE

visit wrenkitchens.com

Andrea Falling Green Ceramic

Anika Scratch Wash Ceramic

Bethan 3 Tone Green Ceramic

Bird White Lava Stone Resin

Bronte White Pearl

Cara Gold Ceramic

Clare Falling Green Ceramic

Darcey Crackle Ceramic Blue

Emma Antique Brass

Eve White Lava Stone Resin

Halle White Mother Of Pearl

Harmony Brushed Nickel

Kerstein Midnight Blue Glass

Kinley Wood & Steel

Laila Mercury Glass

Naya Amber GlassOwl Green Glaze Ceramic

Owl Honey Glaze Ceramic

Owl White Glaze Ceramic

Tala Glass & Chrome

Chelsea Alabaster

Chelsea Leicester

Rustic Jacobean Oak

Farmhouse Ivory Storage

Mars Clear Glass & Silver Nest of 2

Nottingham Oak Nest of 3

Cheltenham Oak Nest of 3

Chelsea Alabaster Triple

Chelsea Leicester Double

Chelsea Leicester Triple

Milano Cream Double

New England Boston Double

Chateau French Double

Shard Dusk Mirror 5 Drw

Chateau French 3+2 Drw

Chateau French 4+3 Drw

Chelsea Alabaster 3+2 Drw

Chelsea Alabaster 6 DrwChelsea Leicester 3+3 Drw

Chelsea Leicester 6 Drw

Cheltenham Oak 4+3 Drw

Esprit San Remo 4+2 Drw

Esprit Sonoma 5 Drw

Esprit White 5 Drw

Nottingham Oak 3+2 Drw

Nottingham Oak 4+3 Drw

Roma White 3+3

£49

£61

£99

£74

£99

£74

£86

£74

£86

£111

£74

£174

£111

£136

£61

£111£36

£36

£36

£99

£186

£186

£149

£249

£161

£186

£161

£924

£624

£936

£374

£624

£499

£361

£411

£499

£311

£349£474

£299

£449

£336

£224

£224

£436

£486

£286

£25

£31

£69

£37

£49

£37

£43

£37

£43

£55

£37

£87

£55

£68

£36

£55£19

£19

£19

£59

£119

£89

£89

£179

£99

£89

£99

£649

£299

£649

£179

£249

£349

£189

£199

£249

£219

£249£299

£199

£225

£169

£109

£109

£219

£245

£139

CHESTS OF DRAWERS

WARDROBES

COFFEE TABLES

COFFEE TABLESLIGHTING

NESTS OF TABLES

NESTS OF TABLES

LAMP TABLES

Furniture50%OFFUP TO

Rustic Jacobean Oak Sliding

Orion Glass & Black

Orion Glass & Cream

Orion Glass & White

Electra Glass & Black

Electra Glass & White

Electra Glass & Cream

Polaris Motion Cream

Vega Storage Black & White

Vega Storage Cream

Mars Clear Glass & Silver

Farmhouseer Storage

Orion Glass & Black

Orion Glass & White

Dallas Black GlassMars Clear Glass & Silver

Cheltenham Oak

Farmhouseer Nest of 3

Chelsea Leicester Nest of 3

Rustic Jacobean Oak Nest of 3

Farmhouse Ivory Nest of 2

Polaris Nest of 2

Vega Black & White

£436

£174

£174

£174

£236

£236

£236

£249

£224

£236

£119

£374

£124

£124

£206£106

£124

£161

£199

£161

£136

£174

£249

£299

£85

£85

£85

£169

£169

£149

£149

£129

£159

£79

£299

£69

£89

£99£69

£69

£79

£99

£99

£65

£129

£199

10 0 smor e de alsw r e nliv ing.c

Order before 10pm Tonight for Pre-Christmas delivery!

CYBER MONDAY ENDS TONIGHT 1 0 p m

T O N I G H T

O F F E R E N D S

Policemenfight withclimatechangeactivistsat thePlace de laRepubliquein ParisyesterdayLAURENT

CIPRIANI/ AP

Pope Francis, a vocal cam-aigner for action to preventlimate change. UN Secretary

General Ban Ki-moon pro-ided a pair of jogging shoes.Elsewhere in the French

apital, some , joinedrms to form a human chainlong the route of the planned

march. But the call for aeaceful demonstration fromrganisers was defied by amall group who clashed withiot officers near the Place dea Republique. Police, whoesponded to the violence

with tear gas, said they hadrrested people.Campaigners warned that

ailure to reach an agreementhat locks in action to slasharbon emissions would meanhat the last opportunity torevent the most extremeonsequences of global warm-ng had been lost.

The warnings were backedy Labour leader Jeremy Cor-yn as he spoke to marchersn Hyde Park, where cam-aigners were joined by actor

Emma Thompson and fashionesigner Vivienne Westwood.

Addressing leaders attendinghe summit, Mr Corbyn said:Do what you are sent there to

o. Do what you have been senthere [to do] on our behalf.”The main challenge in Paris

s to agree a process – knowns a “ratchet mechanism”that would require countrieso step up their pledges to cutmissions every few yearsntil they are sufficient tomit global warming to C.Developing countries have

warned that even at C, glo-al warming will cause hugeroblems.Speaking before he arrived

n Paris, Mr Cameron said gov-rnments alone could not deal

with climate change and busi-ness and private donors had aole to play in enabling invest-

ment in clean technology.

UK bnksce thretrom globlwrming

Climate change poses such athreat to Britain’s banking sec-tor that the Government mustintroduce mandatory “stress-testing” of City institutions todetermine which are most vul-nerable, a new report warns.

The risks posed to banks’ sol-vency would remain high evenif a robust deal was reached atthe UN climate change summitin Paris over the next fortnight,said Joss Garman, a co-authorof the IPPR think-tank report.

Financial institutions are

threatened with climate-relatedlosses on several fronts. Banksand pension funds stand to losebillions of pounds of loans andinvestments in fossil fuel com-panies if, as seems increasinglylikely, they have to leave hugeamounts of their coal, oil andgas assets in the ground.

Local-authority pensionfunds alone are understood tohold £bn of fossil fuel assets,while of the FTSE listof the biggest companies arein the natural resource andextraction business, accordingto the report, co-written by theIPPR’s director of strategy andengagement, Diana Fox Car-ney, the wife of Bank of Eng-

land Governor Mark Carney.Meanwhile, insurancecompanies face huge payoutsas global warming increasesthe frequency and severityof floods and storms. And therise in extreme weather willhit the economy well beyondthe financial services sectoras uninsured losses hits busi-nesses and households – forexample ruined crops anddamaged buildings.

A thorough examination offinancial institutions’ balancesheets, to determine theirexposure to precarious fossilfuel investments and insur-ance liabilities, could helpto avert a huge crisis further

down the line by identifyingwhere the weaknesses wereand attempting to remedythem, Mr Garman said.

“Modelling techniquespioneered in the insuranceindustry could enable therisks to be disclosed to inves-tors and would make it pos-sible to stress-test banks,pension funds and listedcompanies against differentclimate change scenarios,”he said. “This would exposewhere investments could bevulnerable to financial losses.MPs should consider man-dating stress-testing of thiskind because ultimately itcould help us to avoid anotherfinancial crisis.”

TOM BAWDEN

ENVIRONMENT EDITOR

Forger sys ‘D Vinci’ is Slly rom the Co-O

CAHAL MILMO

A renowned British forger hasclaimed that he is the creatorof a £m drawing attributed

to Leonardo Da Vinci and thathe used a supermarket cashiernamed Sally as his model.

The portrait of a youngwoman with a ponytail, enti-tled La Bella Principessa, wasthought to have been a th-century German creation

before experts concluded itwas by the Italian master.

But Shaun Greenhalgh,who was jailed in after hewas revealed as the creator ofa succession of forgeries that

duped some of the world’sleading art institutions, hasnow claimed he knocked offthe masterpiece in usingan old vellum council docu-ment and wood from a Victo-rian school desk.

The self-taught artist uses

his new memoir to deschow he based the poron Sally, a co-worker aCo-Op where he workeBolton. Greenhalgh wr“Despite her humble posi

she was a bossy little buand very self-important.But experts have cast d

on the British faker’s claimFrench laboratory this wend released evidenceshows the picture is at years old.

ShaunGreenhalgh sayshe drew thework in onan old vellumdocument

ON OTHER

PAGES

When Parispolice turnedon Algerianprotesters– and whyit matters

todayP.


10/56


11/56


N U T C R A C K E RTHE MAGICAL CHRISTMAS TRADITION FOR ALLTHE FAMILY

HHHHH

“DAZZLING”THEDAILY TELEGRAPH

16 DEC 2015 – 10 JAN 2016

ballet.org.uk/nutcracker

*T&Csapply.Transactionfeesmay apply.Max £3.50

Tickets from £14*Children go half-price!*

Schoolgirls ‘conditioned’ toexpect to ern less thn boys

ARAH CASSIDY

Low career ambitions are

ngrained in women at a youngge, according to new researchhowing teenage girls expecto earn £, a year less thanoys in their future careers.The survey of more than

, to -year-olds foundhat girls predict they wille earning £, within years of leaving education,

while boys expect £, – per cent more.

While both girls and boysverestimated their l ikely

uture salaries, young peopleredicted the likely pay dispar-

ty fairly accurately as accord-ng to the National Office fortatistics the gender pay gap inhe UK is . per cent.

The research for City

Teens cll onmusic venues

to get gripon groping

t’s a menace that will be famil-ar to many women who attendigs and rock concerts.But now a group of teenage

irls are taking action to stamput groping at venues – in arive to make live perform-nces safe spaces for musicans of both genders.

The five girls aged to

Hannah, Ava, Anna, Annind Bea – launched GirlsAgainst last month to raisewareness of sexual assaultst concerts.Their ultimate aim is to

liminate mosh-pit gropingfor good”. In the short term,hey want to see the perpetra-ors identified and stoppedrom entering future gigs.

With several indie bandsncluding Peace, Slaves and

Wolf Alice backing the cam-aign, and more than ,

Twitter followers, the girlsre already claiming practicalesults in their drive to createzero-tolerance approach.On Friday night the group

weeted: “Just heard that a manwas escorted out of the crowdt The in Swindon tonightor attempted groping! Thingsre finally being done.”

Anna, , told The Inde-endent that the group has so

OSALIND NEWMAN

Hannah,Anni, Anna,Ava and

Bea havelauncheda drive tomake livegigs safefor musicfans GIRLSAGAINST

far mainly focused its effortson indie and alternative bands“as we’re fans of them”. Butthey now want the support ofmore high-profile musicians– as well as feminist activistsand politicians.

“We’d really love some big-ger bands to get involved now,and bands from other genres,”she said.

The te e na ge rs , whodescribes themselves as “just

some intersectional feministsfighting against sexual harass-ment”, say they are standingup for all victims of gig grop-ing, male and female.

Girls Against was formedafter -year-old Hannah wasassaulted while watching theband Peace in Glasgow inOctober. She tweeted abouther experience, and the band’slead singer, Harry Koisser,reposted her tweet.

Dozens of other victimsbegan sharing similar per-sonal accounts. The girlsrealised how widespread theproblem was, and the groupwas born.

One Twitter user, Leia

Shearer, posted: “My nightseeing the @TheFratelliswas ruined after I was gropedrepeatedly by an older guy. Thiscampaign is so important.”

Another, Jasmine Hodge,tweeted: “Such a shame that

someone thought it was ok toput their hand up my back andundo my bra as The Vaccines

came on stage.”As awareness of the cam-paign grew, other indie bandsfollowed Peace in offeringtheir support. Foals frontmanYannis Philip akkis posteda tweet calling for an end to“shady macho behaviour” atmusic venues. He told DIY-mag.com: “There’s a differ-ence between a mosh-pit and

just groping somebody.”However other bands tar-

geted by the girls have beenless responsive.

“We’d really love Catfish andthe Bottlemen to get behind usand it’s been really frustratingbecause we’ve been tweetingthem loads and other people

who know them have said theywould tell them about us,”Anna told The Independent .

She had been to one of theband’s gigs in March and “it[groping] was really bad”,she said. “I think that has

something to do with the factthat they have a wide rangeof fans.”

While Girls Against’s effortshave largely been welcomedby music fans, the girls – likemany feminist campaigners– have received their share ofonline abuse.

“We have received a bitof backlash,” Anna said. “Tobe honest, we find most of itquite funny. We just brush itoff and laugh at it because thepeople who are tweeting uscalling us names and thingslike that are just looking forattention and we’re not goingto give them it.”We’d really

love somebiggerbands togetinvolvednow

I love gointo gigs – bnot beinghrssed

I was when I went tofirst “big gig”, and the rgot from being in that stadremains the same today.

But in the last two or tyears of attending and reving several gigs a week, tis one conversation that albegins the same way.

“You alright love? Whayou doing here by yoursa random guy will ask. working,” I explain ove

noise. “What?” they shotry again: “I’m here to seband.” Their response: you a groupie?” I’m left bing with rage and embarment. This has happenedtimes in the past year.

Then there’s the time a guy kicked out becauswouldn’t stop touchingThe time I got a guy kiout because he wouldn’ttouching my friend. Andrummer who suggesteshould conduct an intervia “dark corner somewher

ROISIN

O’CONNOR

Comment

& Guilds, which providesvocational qualificationsand apprenticeships, alsorevealed the vast majority

of young people still believeuniversity is the only route toa good career, with more thantwo thirds ( per cent) of- year olds planning togo to further education. Thisis despite a third of them notknowing what they wouldstudy and only per cent ofavailable jobs forecast to begraduate roles.

The research found youngpeople had been misinformedabout how to secure theirdream job and often had littleunderstanding of the best routeto take. Although per centof young people claimed theyhave the information needed topursue their future career, only per cent thought previous

work experience was impor-tant. In contrast, recent City& Guilds research found mostemployers ( per cent) see

work experience as essential.Sam Smethers, chief exec-utive of the Fawcett Society,said: “This research paintsa worrying picture. It is notsurprising to see girls aiminglower than boys when it comesto salary. This is a product ofyears of conditioning. Even asadults at work women askingfor a pay rise are labelledas ‘pushy’ whereas for menthat’s expected.

“But we also need to properlyvalue those careers which aredominated by women such aschildcare and social care. Theyare vital professions whichmost of us will rely on at somepoint in our lives, yet they areextremely poorly paid.”

The gender paygap in Britain,according to theNational Officefor Statistics

%


12/56


Gp between

bosses’ py nverge wgegets even wide

ANDY MCSMITH

The gap between averagewages and the pay Britain’stop company executivesreceive is still widening yearby year, despite David Cam-

eron’s mantra that “we’re allin this together.”New research shows that

remuneration at the very toprose by . per cent, with atleast company executivesnow receiving £m a year ormore.

The highest paid was SirMartin Sorrell, chief execu-tive of the advertising andPR group WPP, whose latest£m remuneration packageincluded £, worth offlights paid for so that his wifecould accompany him on busi-ness trips, plus £, he isreckoned to save the companyon hotel bills by saying in hisNew York flat and other homes

during business trips.Sir Martin weathered ashareholders’ revolt at WPP’sannual meeting in June, when per cent voted against hispay package – which wasactually an improvement onprevious years. In , per cent voted against his paypacket, which was £m thatyear. Sir Martin has said thathis pay should not be directlycompared with that of othercity bosses, because he builthis company from scratch.

One other executivehad a pay packet of morethan £m. Tony Pidgley,founder of the house builderBerkeley, benefited from along-term bonus scheme

introduced after thecial crisis, in ,entitled him to £share options on tobasic salary of £year plus other bene

The Labour ReDepartment, a trade

backed think-tank nnected to the Labousurveyed company published by the top panies ranked on the Stock Exchange, whichan audited figure for thneration of each direc

Listing them by thepay packet, they discthat the director at tpoint of the list was be£.m, a slight incrthe previous year. At executives had seen thpackets more than in a single year. The increase of . per cless than the previowhen the LRD calcula

it was . per cent.According to officures, the rise in weekings from September ranged between . peper cent.

The widening pay condemned by thgeneral secretary, FO’Grady, who said:top bosses now earntimes more than the full-time worker, ineis reaching stratospheels. After years of fallinstandards it is a disgrtop execs are taking bigger share of the rewgrowth. We need a rethat works for the manot just the few.”

With a £mannual paypacket, SirMartin Sorrellis Britain’stop-paid bossGETTY

It is adisgracethat topexecs aretaking aneven biggershare

IN T HE M ONEY BRITAIN’S BESTPAID EXECUTIVES

The top 20 earners at the biggestcompanies listed on the LondonStock Exchange last year were:

1 Sir Martin Sorrell (WPP), £42.978m2 Tony Pidgley (Berkeley), £23.296m3 Ben van Beurden (Royal Dutch

Shell), £19.510m4 Jeremy Darroch (Sky), £16.889m5 Erik Engstrom (RELX Group), £16.176m6 Peter Long (TUI Travel), £13.333m7 Rob Perrins (Berkeley), £12.357m8 Tidjane Thiam (Prudential), £11.834m9 Breon Corcoran (Betfair), £11,627m10 Antonio Horta-Osorio, (Lloyds Banking

Group), £11.544m11 Mike Wells (Prudential), £11.393m12 Rakesh Kapoor (Reckitt Benckiser),£11.237m13 Paul Richardson (WPP), £11.219m14 Christopher Silva (Allied Minds), £9.658m15 Bob Dudley (BP), £9.289m

16 Andrew Griffith (Sky), £8.861m17 Johan Lundgren (TUI Travel), £8.423m18 Simon Borrows (3i), £8.278m19 Michael Dobson (Schroders), £8.155m20 Hendrik du Toit (Investec), £8.130m

SOURCE: ANALYSIS OF COMPANY REMUNERATION

REPORTS BY THE LABOUR RESEARCH DEPARTMENT

ON OTHER

PAGES

DavidProsser:

Small TalkP.

News


13/56


I quit! ‘Apprentice’ contestnt storms out o show

t might have lacked therusque finality of his tor-

mentor’s catchphrase, but ateast Scott Saunders’ partinghot as he walked out on The

Apprentice had the advantagef originality.After a savage attack on

is business abilities fromLord Sugar, the -year-oldeportedly walked off the set

o become the first contest-nt to quit in anger during thehow’s -series history.

With his walkout wentny opportunity of winning£, investment thate had declared himselfupremely confident of win-

ning before the start of thehow’s run. Mr Saunders, a

AUL PEACHEY

Scott Saunderseaves the set

after Lord Sugartore aparteverything hehad ever done’

self-described entrepreneur,speaker, mentor and model,had been belittled and criti-cised by the peer in the board-room before he decided thathe had had enough and walkedout, according to The Sun onSunday. “Thank you for theopportunity, but I quit,” he is

reported as saying – allegedlysparking a renewed verbalattack from Lord Sugar.

While contestants have leftfor family and other reasonsduring the -year history ofthe show in the UK, Mr Saun-ders is the first to do so aftertaking offence at the abrasive

approach of Lord Sugar, whoends each episode by tellingone or more of the contest-ants: “You’re fired.”

H e h a d p r e v i o u s l ydescribed himself as a “onehundred million per cent”confident that he could winthe show, which perhaps

pointed more towards hissupreme self-assurance thanhis grasp of the nitty-gritty ofaccounting realities.

The entrepreneur, who runshis own payroll-services com-pany for the self-employed,had at the start of the seriessomewhat mysti fyingly

described his motto asbe the best you need to bbest, and I am the best.”

Mr Saunders’ various s

media outlets gave no hiupheaval after The SuSunday quoted a sourcsaying that Lord Sugar “apart everything that Shad done from start toish and called him a wof space”.

The BBC declined to ment on Mr Saunders’ apent departure yesterday.never comment on upcomepisodes because it spviewer enjoyment,” a spoperson for the show said

Mr Saunders had his local newspaper thaloved the show. “I was sing investment at the timthought this would be a

fect opportunity for msecure advice from sombig in the UK,” he told

Hertfordshire Mercury.“I have always strived

to succeed and achieve inthing I have done. So I hlot of respect for anyonetakes those steps needeget them where they wa

ScottSaunders(secondfrom left)

has walkedaway froma chanceto win£, ininvestmentfrom LordSugarBBC/PA


14/56


Children should not get recordsor trivil offences, MPs sy

SARAH CASSIDY

EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT

Children should not receivecriminal records for “trivial”misdemeanors such as sextingand fighting, a committee ofMPs has urged.

Police should be given morefreedom to respond differentlyto low-level crime-relatedbehaviour to stop childrenreceiving criminal recordsunnecessarily, a report by theAll-Party Parliamentary Groupfor Children (APPGC) found.

It calls for an overhaul ofpolice procedures to improvethe relationship with childrenand combat mutual mistrust.

It warns that Home Officerules give police officers only

limited options when record-ing criminal behaviour. Many

children receive “out of courtdisposals” for minor misdeedsthat needlessly give them a

criminal record.Baroness Massey of Darwen,the co-chair of the APPGC,said: “The rules that dictatehow the police record theirresponse to criminal behaviourmean that many young peopleend up with a criminal recordfor trivial offences. We knowthat teenagers are being addedto police databases for sextingwith their peers.

“In cases such as these,police should have the dis-cretion to refer the child toanother agency for support– their school, social servicesor counselling, for example– without it forming a perma-nent part of the record held

against their name and under-mining their future.”

We knowteenagersare beingadded topolicedatabasesfor sexting

D O W N L O A D O U R F R E E I N D E P E

N D E N T A P P

G o t o : I n d e p e n d e n t . c o . u

k / a p p s

Tower Hamlets is the landing place of choice for

a new wave of migrants who have spent a number

of years in Italy but now want to try Britain.

HILARY CLARKE went to meet some of them

The capital’snew ethnicminority:ItalianBengalis

The melting pot that is EastLondon is gaining a distinc-tive new flavour – thanks tothe arrival of thousands ofBangladeshi-Italian migrantsfleeing economic stagnationin southern Europe.

An estimated , suchfamilies have come to the UK

from Italy over the past threeor four years, the majority set-tling in East London.

They might be a drop in theocean compared with the esti-mated , white Italiansresident in the capital, but theyare making their mark in theTower Hamlets Bangladeshicommunity and beyond, open-ing coffee shops and formingtheir own welfare associationsto help new arrivals.

“They have brought arefreshing change to thecommunity here,” AnserAhmed Ullah, a communityactivist, told The Independ-ent . “These people are trulyEuropean. It is much easier

for them to integrate – butthey need the opportunityto do that and if they just endup mixing with Bangladeshisthat won’t happen.”

On the predominantlyBangladeshi Cannon StreetR oa d in White cha pe l ,squeezed between East Lon-don Hairdressers and SylhetNewsagents, Caffe Italia– with its green, white andred hoarding – looks like oneof the old-school Italian coffeebars that opened in London inthe s.

It has become a meetingpoint for Italian Bengalis, aswell as white Italians whoappreciate an authentic cap-puccino at the reasonable

price of £.. The small shophas been lovingly furnishedwith smart black tables anddesigner red chairs, importedfrom Italy. Downstairs, thebrick walls of the courtyardhave been painted withthe green and red Bangla-deshi flag.

Further East in StepneyGreen, the British-Bangla-deshi owner of the popularCafé Fresh says his businesshas boomed since his Ital-ian-Bangladeshi sister-in-law arrived from Milan andshowed them how to makeproper Italian coffee.

According to the mostrecent census, there were, Bangladeshi immi-grants living in Italy in .Many were skilled graduateswho left their homes in SouthAsia attracted by jobs in Italy’sindustrial north. But as man-ufacturing work has evapo-rated, thousands are decidingto make a second migration,

to the UK.Dressed in a smart Bar-bour jacket and leather cap,Swopon Homiedi’s story istypical of the new wave ofimmigrants. A chemist bytraining, he worked at a largechemical factory in Mantua,Lombardy for two decades

before being made redlast year and moving wwife and two daughteUK. “When there is nit is reall y hard in Itsaid. “Here you can find something.” Ehe makes sure his continues to speak It

home, because “youknow what will hapthe future”.

Tipu Golam Maulaof the elected UK mof Comites, the Italianment-sponsored orgafor Italians resident said: “People in the nItaly got their passpolier than those in thbecause they had reguin factories. That is hwere able to come her

Mr Maula first cEurope on a student’Austria. He crossed inillegally, on foot acrAlps, in the early tually gaining citizens

now lives in Ilford anas a minicab driver wsets up a business imItalian marble tiles.

Zakir Hussain, a maged Italian Bengali wa master’s degree in eics from Dhaka Unisays British educatiomain reason Italian-Bare drawn to the UKthan Germany or elsin Europe. “Bangladeto be a British colony,still under English inThat is why we wantour children a Britishtion,” he said.

Mr Hussain, who Japanese restaurant omercial Road, is also pr

These people are trulyEuropean. It is mucheasier for them tointegrate – but they needthe opportunity to do so

News


15/56


of the Bangladeshi ItalianFamily Welfare Association ofTower Hamlets, one of a grow-ing number of organisationsbeing set up for second-waveBangladeshi migrants.

The cacophony of excitedchildren at an Eid celebrationat the Blue Moon social clubon Whitechapel Road a few

weeks ago was so loud eventhe Imam’s opening prayerscould not silence the room.

The event, attended bymore than people, wasorganised by another Ital-ian Bangladeshi group – theBangladesh Italian WelfareAssociation UK. The organi-sation’s banner reflectsthe eclectic identity of itsmembers. To the left, theColosseum in Rome, in themiddle the pyramid-shapedNational Martyrs’ Memorialin Dhaka, and to the right,Tower Bridge.

Perhaps the biggest chal-lenge for Italian Bangladeshisarriving in London is housing,

with rents for a run-down two-bedroom former council flatin the borough now costingaround £, a month.

Integration with BritishBengalis is not always smooth.The day before I visited CaffeItalia, some local boys hadthrown eggs at the menuboard on the wall outside.

“I think they are jealosaid Belal, one of the bar“They don’t like it that weall kinds of people comihere; that we are differen

Thirteen-year-old MMazumbder came to THamlets with her parand brother from Romeyears ago. She says she

been consistently bullieher school in Bow, whervast majority of the studare of British-Bangladheritage. She said: “Theyme ‘Freshy’ and other thI can’t repeat. I have nfaced this bullying befoItaly. I was shocked.”

As life in London becoharder, many Italian-Badeshi are already movinto the Midlands, others to Italy or Bangladesh. Mthough, hope to stay.

Mr Hussain said: children were born in IThey are European. Tdon’t know Bangladesh, though we sometimes go

for the seaside.“They are studying hafter that they will get aafter that they will mhere. It would be hard tback to Bangladesh andthere with our children lhere. So we need to stay hWe have nowhere to go. way ticket.”

CONNECTING CULTURES

CONTINENTAL FLAVOUR

The Ahad family from Bow,east London, came to theUK from Italy two years ago.Muhamad Ahad, who has aMaster’s degree in chemistryfrom the National University

in Bangladesh, lived in Brus-sels for several years beforemoving to Rome in 2000. Hiswife, Syeda, is also a gradu-ate, with a degree in socialwelfare. Both their children,Maliha, 13, and Muzadin,seven, were born in Italy.

Mr Ahad, who speaks flu-ent Italian, French, Englishand Arabic, opened an Indianrestaurant in Rome, beforeworking as a waiter forseveral years in the VaticanCity branch of the popularL’Insalata Ricca restaurant.

In London, he is workingas a delivery driver for a pizzachain. Mrs Ahad is training tobe a teaching assistant. She,

like her daughter Maliha, isalso a singer, performing bothBengali and Italian songs aswell as hip-hop. Mr Ahad said:“With the children it is notalways an easy matter manag-ing all the different cultures,which is why we organise Ital-ian cultural evenings as wellas Bangladeshi activities.”


16/56


Letters, writinnd speeches bChurchill give

heritge sttus

CAHAL MILMO

CHIEF REPORTER

The Winston Churchill canonof his speeches and writingsis to join the Magna Cartaand the Bayeux Tapestry on aUnited Nations list of humani-ty’s most important records.

The vast archive of theformer Prime Minister’spapers, including his wartime

speeches, has been added tothe International Memoryof the World Register run byUnesco to highlight the impor-tance of the world’s historicdocuments.

The Churchill Papers, whichare held at the Cambridge Uni-versity college named afterthe politician once voted thegreatest-ever Briton, chroniclethe development of his mostfamous speeches as well as hisvoluminous correspondencewith public figures from JosephStalin to Laurence Olivier.

The archive joins more than other collections and itemson the Unesco register, whichincludes material ranging from

the world’s first comprehen-sive census in Iceland in to Bach’s handwritten score forhis Mass in B Minor .

Established years ago,the register aims to safeguardrecords from public and privatecollections across the world bycategorising the most valuedand helping to preserve docu-ments where they are at risk ofdamage or dispersal.

The Churchill Papers, keptin a state-of-the-art archive,contain more than a mil-lion separate items chartingthe life of Britain’s wartimeleader from a letter home tohis mother written at the age ofseven to a seating plan from thePotsdam Conference to decide

the shape of the postwwhich was signed by StHarry Truman.

Allen Packwood, dirthe Churchill Archivtre at Churchill Colle“The archive of Sir WChurchill is unique aplaceable. It is the evthat underpins the storof the most remarkableof the modern era, whoagainst fascism in

shape the world of todThe documents recby Unesco, the UN bocated to promoting edculture and science, papers that show the of Churchill’s “Finesspeech, written in Britain as it stood alonethe Nazi onslaught fothe surrender of Franc

The annotated cothe speech include tversion typed out in astyle to that of a poem, aChurchill to deliver hwith his trademark dtion and ponderous di

Mr Packwood saipage is covered with h

written annotations inblue ink. It highlighmuch care and attentput into this speech”

The collection, includes the postwarwhere Churchill the phrase “iron cto describe the comdomination of Easternalso contains the formeMinister’s letters to range of the movers aners of the th centur

British documentson the Unesco list ithe First World War Field Marshal Dougland a registry of slavBritish-owned islandCaribbean.

WinstonChurchillmakes a radio

broadcast tothe Britishpublic fromthe WhiteHousein KEYSTONE/

GETTY

The draft ofChurchill’s‘FinestHour’speech iscovered inannotations

C HU RC HIL L P AP ERS HIG HL IG HT S

Letter to ‘Mamma’ (1882)The earliest-surviving letterwritten by Churchill was to hismother. Aged seven, he wroteto thank her for presents of“soldiers, flag and castle”. Heends the letter with “great

many kisses”.

Boer War bravery (1899)The archive contains a reportfrom a Captain Aylmer Hal-dane praising Churchill’s ac-tions as the armoured train onwhich he was travelling was

attacked. Haldane wrote: “Hewas frequently exposed to thefull fire of the enemy. I cannotspeak too highly of his gallantconduct.”

‘Finest Hour’ (1940)

Delivered in the House ofCommons, this is consideredone of Churchill’s most impor-tant wartime speeches as heexhorted Britons to face thereality that they stood aloneagainst Hitler’s Germany.As was his habit, Churchill

continued to edit the speechup to – and including – itsdelivery.

Letter from ‘Clemmie’ (1940)Barely a week after Churchillhad delivered his “Finest

Hour” speech, he received anextraordinary letter fromhis wife, Clementine, rebukingthe statesman for his“rough, sarcastic andoverbearing manner” withhis colleagues andsubordinates.

News


17/56


A windsurfer braves the rough seas and windsWest Wittering beach in West Sussex yesterdas snow was expected in northern England PA

Give us abig wave…

Privte hospitl tretment‘puts NHS ptients t risk’

NHS patients sent for treat-ment at smaller private hos-pitals are being put at riskbecause of unsafe staffingnd facilities, according to aeport by an anti-privatisationhink-tank.

Nurses without specialistraining, high levels of agencytaff on post-operative wardsnd hygiene weaknesses weremong the alleged risks identi-ied by the Centre for Healthnd the Public Interest.Analysis of Care Quality

Commission investigationsnto hospitals from each of

England’s six main privatehains found serious prob-ems even in hospitals ratedgood” by the regulator.For example, Care UK’s

Barlborough NHS TreatmentCentre in Chesterfield, Der-byshire, was given an overallating of “good”, and also agood” rating for surgery. Yet

AUL GALLAGHER in the previous months therehad been four “never events” –serious patient safety incidentsthat should not occur. SimilarlyLondon’s Harley Street Clinic,run by HCA International, wasrated as good overall, eventhough it “requires improve-ment” for both safety and thetreatment of children.

“In these cases safety risksappear not to have been pri-oritised in the overall rat-ings,” said the report from thethink-tank, which was set up tochallenge the growing role ofcompetition and markets inthe health service.

Co-author Brian Toft, vis-iting professor of patient

safety at Brighton and SussexMedical School, said: “ThisGovernment has prioritisedtransparency as a key to safety.But although more and moreNHS patients are treated inprivate hospitals, there hasbeen no concurrent commit-ment to bring private hospitalsinto the s ame transparency

regime.” NHS patient admis-sions to private hospitals forsurgery last year totalled nearly,, or more than a quar-ter of all surgeries at privatehospitals.

Last night the private chainsnamed in the report dismissedany suggestion that patientsafety was at risk.

Care UK said: “The reportlets its political slant distort allthe available evidence in a waythat is potentially misleadingto patients. Barlborough Treat-ment Centre was rigorouslyinspected and found to be‘good’ in four of five areas and‘outstanding’ in the fifth. Allthe evidence is that the service

has excellent outcomes.”The Harley Street Clinicsaid: “The Care QualityCommission’s overall ratingof ‘good’ reflects the care weprovide for complex medicalconditions. We have acted onthe recommendations madeby the Care Quality Commis-sion where appropriate.”

Safetyrisks don’tappear tohave beenprioritisedin thesecases


18/56

Be part of our plan for Crisis at Christmas 2015

Homelessness ends here

Please reserve places at Crisis at Christmas. Here’s my gift of:

What’s it really like to be homeless at Christmas? Facing a

bitterly cold Christmas without a home is much worse than most

of us can imagine.

You’re frozen to the bone, blasted by the wind and rain, never able

to get warm and dry. There’s nowhere safe, nowhere to keep your

things, nowhere to go out from or come back to. Your health can

crumble and there’s nothing you can do about it. Some people

think it’s a laugh to abuse you or be violent to you, just because

they can. It’s nothing short of brutal.

Did you know that the average age of death for someone

who’s homeless is just 47 years old?

That’s why Crisis at Christmas is so important. Crisis is the

national charity for single homeless people. We’re dedicated to

ending homelessness and changing lives, and for us Christmas is

crucial. If we can welcome homeless people with the offer

of a good meal and good company, it can be the start of getting

them off the streets and out of homelessness for good.

We need your help today. Please can you reserve a

place for just £22.29?

This Christmas, we want to be ready to welcome more guests

than ever – and that is why your gift could be so important.

To reserve one place costs just £22.29; two places £44.58; and

£222.90 would pay for a whole table, giving ten people a day to

remember and a whole fresh start.

Please reserve a place for someone who’s homeless at

Crisis at Christmas. Your help could change someone’s life.

Visit www.crisis.org.uk, call 0800 999 2060 or return the form.

Reserve a place – for just £22.29 per person – and

you’ll provide more than just a hot meal. You’ll also

provide a shower, fresh clothes, a health check, housing

and job advice, a bed for the night if needed, plus an

introduction to Crisis’ year-round services for training

and support for the future.

Crisis at Christmas must open on 22 December.Please reply as soon as you can. Thank you.

URGENT CHRISTMAS APPEAL

CC15/PA/DM-1001/BTC/059

The Crisis Promise: Your donation will help fund Crisis at Christmas and enable Crisis to provide year-roundservices for homeless people. We will never sell your details to other organisations, but we would like to updateyou on our work and send you appeals from time to time. If you would prefer not to receive these, please call08000 38 48 38 or email [email protected]

Make every

pound you give

worth 25% more

to Crisis by ticking this Gift Aid

declaration.

I am a UK taxpayer* n

I am not a UK taxpayer n

* I want all donations I’ve made to Crisis

four years previous to today’s date and alldonations in the future to be Gift Aid until I

notify you otherwise. By ticking this form I

am confrming that I am paying an amount

of Income and/or Capital Gains Tax (not VAT

or Council Tax for example) at least equal to

the tax that charities and CASCs will reclaim

on my donations in the tax year.

Please remember we need your full name

and address to allow us to claim Gift Aid. R e g i s t e r e d c h a r i t y n u m b e r s : E & W 1 0 8 2 9 4 7 ,

S C 0 4 0 0 9 4 . C

o m p a n y n u m b e r : 4 0 2 4 9 3 8 .

£ 22.29 £ 44.58 £ 222.90 £

Payment details

I enclose a cheque/charity voucher/postal order payable to Crisis

Or please debit my card using the details below:

Visa MasterCard Other:

(1 place) (2 places) (10 places) (Other)

Card no.

Expiry date

To make your donation visit www.crisis.org.uk, call free on 0800 999 2060

or post to: ROOM 059, FREEPOST, CRISIS AT CHRISTMAS

Title First name Last name

Address

Postcode

Tables for 10 people

13

1

2

3

45

6

7

8

9

1011

12

1415

1 6

1 7

1 8

Dining hall

Give £22.29 today and you’llenable us to welcome one morehomeless guest in from the coldfor a proper Christmas – and thestart of a whole new life.

Go online or call now and bringsomeone in from the cold this

Crisis at Christmas:

www.crisis.org.uk 0800 999 2060

Hot Christmas dinners formore than 4,300 guests

Health checks

Clean clothes and hotshowers

Housing and employmentadvice

Support for dealing withaddiction

Sports, arts and gamessessions

Here’s what you helped usprovide last year.


19/56


Drem come true

or mteur ctors

s Brd hits the rodICK CLA R K

RTS CORRESPONDENT

t is a project with a grand scalend ambition that would havempressed the Bard.

The Royal Shakespeare

Company is to take A Mid-ummer Night’s Dream onhe road next year for one ofhe biggest projects it has evertaged – with a cast of almost from amateur theatricalroups around the country.The deputy artistic direc-

or, Erica Whyman, who haseen working on the projector a year, said that the RSCad never tried anything onhe scale of Dream .

The production has a coreast of professionals who willerform alongside actors from am-dram companies. Themateurs will take the rolesf Bottom and his fellowmechanicals” (who, in Shake-

peare’s play, are themselves aroup of inexperienced actorsoping to stage a play for the

wedding party of Theseus andHippolyta).

Altogether, people wille involved; the professionalast, musicians, amateurs andchoolchildren brought in tolay the fairies.The shows will be per-

ormed around the countryefore returning to Stratford

or midsummer, when each ofhe amateur companies willerform at the RSC.“I’ve always loved touring

nd care very much aboutaving a proper relationship

with regional theatres,” saidMs Whyman, who is direct-

ing the show. “I’ve done a fairbit of participatory work withyoung people and adults. Butno one has ever attempted tobring this all together in a pro-fessional production.”

The project, to mark theth anniversary of Shake-

speare’s death in , hasbeen a logistical challenge forMs Whyman, who has usedSkype-style technology torehearse all the different ama-teur companies at the sametime. The production willtravel to nine English regions,Wales, Scotland and North-ern Ireland before returningto Stratford. “The challengefor me is making sure thoseregional voices really are inthe play,” she said.

This version of A Midsum-mer Night’s Dream will be setin the Britain of the late s.“It’s about the country com-ing together after survivinga traumatic time and about

the post-war austerity,” MsWhyman said. “It will havea Dad’s Army quality. Thatsense of an ill-equipped groupof people.”

With RSC associate direc-tors Kimberley Sykes andSophie Ivatts, Ms Whymantravelled the country fromFebruary inviting amateur

An earlierRoyalShakespeareCompanyproductionof ‘AMidsummerNight’sDream’, anew version

of which willbe touringthe countrynext yearwith a castof fromamateurdramaticsgroups allover the UKALASTAIR

MUIR/REX

theatre companies to proposea cast of six for the mechani-cals and Bottom. They metalmost people and “putthem through their paces”.

Companies include theBelvoir Players in Belfast, thePeople’s Theatre in Newcastle

upon Tyne, and the CanterburyPlayers. Amateur actors rangefrom pub landlords to nursesand estate agents. “They go towork and then pitch up in theevening and I tell them howthe scene works,” the directorsaid. “It is quite like the chal-lenge set by the mechanicalsin the play; a carpenter, tinkerand a weaver suddenly havingto put on a play.”

Among the Bottomsis Peter Collett, a primaryschool teacher in Truro in histwenties, and Barry Greenof Bradford, who “is quite alot older”, Ms Whyman said.Two women will also play thepart: Lisa Nightingale in Can-

terbury and Becky Morris inNottingham.Professional rehearsals start

in January ahead of the firstperformance in Newcastlein March.

Ayesha Dharker, who playsTitania, said: “They’re sayingthe professional companywill have to make it as com-fortable as possible for theamateur actors, but it’s theother way around. They havebeen preparing for months ina Shakespeare b oot camp.”The actress, who has beenin Coronation Street andStar Wars, said: “This is likerunning away with the cir-cus and I think it is going tobe amazing.”

NEWS IN

BRIEF

Cancer sufferers ‘can’tafford to celebrate’

Thousands of people withcancer will feel “cold andlonely” this Christmasbecause they do not haveenough money to celebrateor heat their homes, acharity has warned.

Macmillan CancerSupport said almost ,people in the UK with

cancer are suffering becauseof a lack of cash.

HEALTH

No calls, but a forcephone bill for £,

North Wales Police spen£, over two yeaon a mobile phone servithat it never used beforthe mistake was spottedDetails emerged at an ameeting held jointly bypolice force and the cricommissioner, WinstonRoddick. Mr Roddick s

steps were being taken recover the money.

Cyber Monday expectedto bring in up to £bn

Shoppers are expected tospend almost £bn onlinetoday as retailers unleashyet more bargain deals onCyber Monday.

Spending is predictedto soar by per cent onlast year, as stores offerdiscounts exclusively on the

internet following the BFriday weekend.

Some of Britain’s biggretailers will be hoping avoid a repeat of Fridayproblems when a numbwebsites struggled to cowith the volume of onlintraffic. Cyber securityexpert Dave Whitelegg

urged shoppers seekingbargains online to bevigilant, as hackers targpeople “all the time”.

SHO PPING

PO LICE

D O W N L O A D O U R F R E E I N D E P E

N D E N T A P P

G o t o : I n d e p e n d e n t . c o . u

k / a p p s

It will have a ‘Dad’sArmy’ quality. That senseof an ill-equippedgroup of people


20/56


Christmas Appeal

Please make your cheque/postal order payable to

Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.

£ £

£ Other £

Please debit my Mastercard/Visa/Amex/CAF Card/Maestro

Card number:

Issue No (Maestroonly): Start date: /

_____________ Expiry date: /

Signature: __________________________________________

Title __ First Name _________ Surname ________________

Address ___________________________________________

_________________________ Postcode _______________

We would love to tell you more about our inspirational storie s and fundraisingcampaigns. If you’re happy for us to do that, please give us your telephone and emaildetails below.

Telephone/mobile: ________________________ SMS opt in

Email: ____________ ___________________ Email opt in

At no extra cost to you, increaseyour gift by p for every £ youdonate using Gift Aid.

Yes I am a UK taxpayer and would like GOSHCCto reclaim the tax on the donations I have made in the

last four years and any future donations until I notifyyou otherwise.

Sorry, I don’t pay tax.

Can I Gift Aid my donation? If you pay UK Income Tax(this includes tax on your savings or pension) or CapitalGains Tax, and this is at least equal to the amount oftax that GOSHCC and any other charity/CommunityAmateur Sports Club will claim in the tax year (thApril – th April) then you can Gift Aid your donations(Council Tax and VAT don’t count).

What do I need to do? Tick the yes box above andGOSHCC will claim the money from the government.We also need you to keep us updated if you movehouse, change your name or are no longer payingenough tax to cover your donations. You can cancel yourdonation at any time.*Texts cost £ plus your standard network rate. Pleaseask the bill payer’s permission. GOSHCC will receive% of your gift. We may contact you to tell you moreabout our work; if you would prefer we didn’t textNOCALL GOSH to .In accordance with the Data Protection Act , if youdo not wish to receive appeals from GOSHCC, pleasecall Supporter Services on or [email protected] Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity.Registered charity no. DMCIM

CALL:

TEXT: GOSH to to give £*

CLICK: gosh.org/givetogosh

POST: Freepost RTGZ KUHJ XHKU, Great OrmondStreet HospitalChildren’s Charity,a Halifax Road,Melksham SN YY

GIVETOGOSH

Christmas Appeal

At Great Ormond Street Hospital, Professor Martin Elliott is pioneering procedures to help young patients. By JAMIE MER

How your money can help revolutionisethe future of paediatric care in the UK

The rise of big data, gene

therapy and advances in tissueengineering are set to revolu-tionise the way doctors treatchildren, says one of Britain’sleading paediatricians.

Professor Martin Elliott, ,has been involved in ground-breaking research and treat-ment at Great Ormond StreetHospital (GOSH) for morethan years, including pio-neering stem cell proceduresand advances in heart trans-plant surgery.

In a wide-ranging interviewthe former medical directorof the hospital said doctorswould be “learning from bigdata” and mastering tissueengineering for years,

but that new advances wouldtransform the treatment ofheart failure and a host ofgenetic disorders. He saidthat paediatric care was onthe threshold of an “enor-mous shift” as doctors “movedtowards an era of more per-sonalised medicine”.

Professor Elliott bridgesthe gap between surgery andresearch with skills rangingfrom heart-bypass surgeryto correcting congenital lung

Christmas Appeal : Give to GOSH

News

Layla Richards was diagnosedwith leukaemia when she was14 weeks old, in June 2014.After chemotherapy wasunsuccessful, it looked likeend-of-life care was the onlyoption left for her. However,

a new gene-editing treat-ment was being developedat GOSH. It had never beentested on people, but withher parents’ permission, Layla(right) became the first. Shewas given a small infusion ofspecially designed immunecells programmed to hunt outand kill her cancer. Severalmonths later, to the delight ofher parents and everyone atGOSH, she was declared freeof cancer.

Kieran Sorkin was born with-out ears due to a rare condi-tion called microtia. Whenhe was little, he wanted tobe able to wear sunglasses

like his friends. As a baby, hecame to GOSH, which per-forms more ear reconstruc-tions than any other hospitalin the UK. In 2014, surgeons

took cartilage from hiand sculpted them intof ears, using the shapmother’s as a template

Ciaran Finn-Lynch waswith a narrow windpiphad difficulties breathIn March 2010, his winwas removed at GOSHreplaced with a donorpipe laced with Ciaranstem cells so it would

be rejected. The pionetechnique is now beingoped to create other oincluding the bladder.MAX BENWELL

SU C C ESS ST ORIES P IONEERING T REA T MENT

disorders. Most recently, hecombined research into stemcell therapy and new surgicaltechniques to carry out thefirst stem-cell supported tra-cheal transplant.

The operation, which wasperformed on a critically

ill -year-old boy in ,replaced the patient’s tra-chea with a donor windpipelaced with the patient’s ownstem cells so it would not berejected.

“Essentially, tissue engi-neering allows us to take donor

tissue, strip of

The Independent 30 November 2015

Documents