The Libyan regime’s remnants are fighting behind human shields, knowing that they face war crimes trials The three rockets came out of a blue sky with a sound something between a howl and a hiss, exploding with harsh, dry detonations on the far side of the hill from the rebel field hospital outside Sirte. The staff here, at a converted roadside diner, hardly had time to pick themselves up off the tarmac before the first casualties came in. A rebel soldier was rushed in on a maroon stretcher, his combat trousers torn, a mass of blood soaking through his T-shirt. The eating area has been converted into an operating theatre, and the young fighter was hauled on to a table, blood dripping on to the marble floor. Minutes later, more ambulances screamed in, and this time there were howls from the medical staff when the doors of the battered red and white ambulance opened. It was the body of an ambulance driver, a man who had ferried wounded from battlefields dating back to the street fighting in Misrata in March. Now he had no face. “He’s a good friend of mine, I’ve known him for seven years. He left for duty this morning,” sobbed a bespectacled medic as the body was taken to a store room and covered in a blue sheet. More casualties began to arrive as the crump and bump of rockets and artillery erupted over the hill. Distant plumes of smoke from air-bursts were visible high in the sky. On the highway outside the hospital, a long column of black pickup trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns thundered past, taking the turning to the left used by units reinforcing rebels inside the city. Another ambulance arrived with a wounded CNN television producer, Ian Lee, 27, from Wyoming. He had been hit in the ankle by a fragment from a rocket-propelled grenade as the crew watched fighting along the coastal road. “We took fire. I got out to get down. We got hit by some RPGs,” he said. “I felt something hit my leg. I rolled over the embankment to get some more cover because we were continuing to take fire.” Three days after a massive rebel force of 900 armed pickup trucks, supported by tanks and Nato bombers, surged into the city that is Muammar Gaddafi’s birthplace and final coastal stronghold, loyalist units continue to resist. It was not supposed to be this way. The rebels dominate the city, have captured the airport and units are surging through the countryside to the south. Yet loyalist forces continue to hold out four weeks after opposition forces arrived in Tripoli to proclaim that the Gaddafi regime was defeated. “They’re crazy, they’re mad,” said Abdul Baset Hadia, a bearded fighter taking a break from the battle raging in the city. He said loyalist fighters were using civilians as human shields whenever they moved buildings, sending women and children into the street to stop the shooting. “They make a wall of women and children. We can finish it today but we know there are a lot of civilians there. We don’t want to kill them.” He said loyalist units were fortified within “Ouagadougou”, a sprawling complex in whose great hall Gaddafi had nursed his ambition to be King of Africa. Many African leaders, grateful for the millions of oil dollars he gave them, were happy to applaud him when he held a summit for the Arab League and African Union here in October 2009. Now the shell-scarred hall has become a bastion for the remnants of his regime: foreign mercenaries who fear death if they are captured rubbing shoulders with members of the Legion Thoria, Gaddafi’s secret police, and the survivors of the 32nd brigade, commanded by Gaddafi’s son Khamis. The brigade was the tormentor of Misratans, who make up the bulk of the rebel army. Earlier, at one of the rebel checkpoints around Sirte, Abdyulhakim Abuzakum, a rebel brigade commander from Misrata who trained as an airline pilot in Oxford, had a different explanation for the fanatical resistance of Gaddafi’s army. The reason was the piece of paper he clutched in his hand, containing a list of Gaddafi officials, thugs, soldiers and torturers the rebels want to catch. Many of them are thought to be trapped in Sirte, or to the south-west in Beni Walid, the other Gaddafi stronghold still holding out. And Abuzakum’s job is to find them. “We are not Colonel Gaddafi, who kills people for nothing,” he said. “If we capture them, they will go to the justice.” He means war crimes trials, for which mountains of evidence has already been gathered. For those found guilty of murder or torture, the penalty is death. Some rebels believe the loyalist forces still resisting here know they are dead, one way or the other. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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Deputy PM emphasises party’s ‘distinct voice’ and describes Tories as ‘our political enemies’ in speech at party conference Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat party leader and deputy prime minister, has warned that the party is “prepared to be awkward” in coalition “to put things right” as he sought to assert the party’s distinctive role in government. In the first large gathering of Lib Dem activists since the party received a drubbing at the May polls, Clegg sought to allay the fears of rank and file members over a number of high profile policies by reassuring them that Lib Dem ministers’ job in government was “not to make things easy” for the Tories, but to protect “Liberal values”. In a speech in which he described the Conservatives as “our political enemies”, the leader underlined the party’s mission to assert a “distinct Liberal Democrat voice” on government policies. “Make no mistake, we are punching above our weight,” he told delegates at the rally held on the opening day of the party’s annual conference. The deputy prime minister, who has previously been accused of becoming too cosy with Tory leader David Cameron, stressed that the Lib Dems and the Tories “have not become the same and we never will”. In a combative speech, he sent a strong signal to Conservative colleagues that the Lib Dems would be as awkward as necessary to ensure the government has “Liberal Democrat written on it like a stick of rock”. Although the coalition may appear united in public, Lib Dem ministers were fighting “tooth and nail” for the party’s values behind the scenes, Clegg said. He flaunted a recent report by the BBC that suggests that more of the Lib Dem manifesto is being delivered in government than the priorities set out by the Conservatives, despite the fact that the Lib Dems have just eight percent of MPs in Westminster. “This coalition government has a distinct Liberal Democrat voice and you will hear it,” said Clegg. Speaking after the leadership successfully faced down the first challenge from activists over the decision to rule out the possibility of a vote on the NHS reforms during this week’s conference , Clegg told delegates that “like all families, we have our shares of rows”. But he said these allowed the party to thrash out its priorities and then go out and fight for them all the way. “And when we’ve set ourselves something we don’t give up, no matter how long it takes,” he said, “We never oppose for the sake of opposition but we never shrink from telling it like it is and fighting for what is right. If that makes us a bit awkward, a bit challenging, a bit difficult so be it”. Clegg hit out at the media for trying to “drive a wedge” between the leadership and the rank and file. However, he also sounded a conciliatory note, saying: “What you told me is that we’re not getting across clearly enough what we are achieving in government. “You have heard tonight how we are delivering in government – fair taxes, a fair start for children, building a new green economy and fixing our broken politics. These are the things we put on the front page of our manifesto and now we are delivering them for our country.” Clegg set the tone ahead of the conference as he made clear his determination to keep the 50p top rate of tax despite calls from some of their Tory party coalition partners to have it scrapped. In an interview with the Independent , he said the Liberal Democrats would back abolition of the top rate in the long run if it was not raising much revenue and if it was replaced by new taxes on “unearned income”. These could include a 1% annual “mansion tax” on homes worth more than £2m, a land tax, and restricting tax relief on pensions to the basic 20p rate. He also risked inflaming tensions with chancellor George Osborne by acknowledging that the government had to do more to boost growth in the economy, adopting what he called a “Plan A-plus”. Osborne has made no secret of his desire to abolish the 50p rate on incomes over £150,000 – describing it as a “temporary” measure introduced by the former Labour government. However, Clegg made clear that as far as the Lib Dems were concerned, the priority had to be reducing the burden of taxation on lower- and middle-income earners. He said cutting rates for the wealthy while millions were struggling to make ends meet could “destroy” public support for the entire tax system. Business secretary Vince Cable gave a strong signal of a possible trade off between the top rate of tax and the “mansion tax” he championed before the general election. “The argument for that has increased because of the way the property market has worked, particularly in high value areas like London,” Cable told activists during a question and answer session. “So that is out there as a proposal. It is not in the coalition agreement but if the Conservatives were willing to run with that then one could be more flexible with the 50p rate.” Nick Clegg Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Liberal Democrat conference 2010 Liberal-Conservative coalition Economic policy Tax and spending Hélène Mulholland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Speaker John Boehner gave an economic speech Thursday to the Economic Club of DC called “Liberating America’s Economy.” It contained the usual claptrap about too much government spending and too many taxes on the job creators, etc…Government regulations are also a big target for conservatives to attack because they say it hinders the free market system and in turn kills job creation. They do love certain federal regulations like the blocking of importation of cheaper drugs to America so Big Pharma can keep their monopoly, but I digress. Boehner seized on the number 219 in his speech to attack the Executive Branch for implementing rules which will cost America $100 million, two hundred and nineteen times. Get it? “At this moment, the Executive Branch has 219 new rules in the works that will cost our economy at least $100 million. “That means under the current Washington agenda, our economy is poised to take a hit from the government of at least $100 million — 219 times. “I think it’s reasonable to ask: is it wise to be doing all of this right now? “The current regulatory burden coming out of Washington far exceeds the federal government’s constitutional mandate. And it’s hurting job creation in our country at a time when we can’t afford it. —- “As I mentioned earlier, there are 219 major regulatory actions in the works by the federal bureaucracy right now. We know seven of them will each have an economic impact of $1 billion or more. “The biggest is an EPA rule that could have an impact of as much as $90 billion. “The president acted wisely by halting the implementation of this rule. I would urge the White House to build on it by disclosing to the American people the cost estimates for the remaining 212 ‘economically significant’ rules it has planned. When will Republicans stop using information they gleam about the economy from former Bushie’s? Anyway, the numbers he used like “219″ was a complete falsehood and the Washington Post has the Pinocchio’s to prove it. The federal government is required to identify regulations that could have an economic impact of more than $100 million, but people frequently misunderstand what that means. It does not necessarily mean $100 million in costs; in fact, it can also mean more than a $100 million in benefits. The Congressional Research Service earlier this year made this clear when it examined the 100 major regulatory rules issued in 2010. The report — which is actually posted on the speaker’s Web site — found that 37 of the 100 rules were deemed “major” because they involved the transfer of federal funds to recipients (such as grants, food stamps, or crop payments). In most cases, this meant more money in people’s pockets, not costs to businesses. (There were another nine rules that decreased transfer payments.) Six of the rules were labeled major because they triggered economic activity by consumers; these all had to do with hunting seasons and bag limits for certain types of migratory birds. Four other rules established new fees (such as increased costs for passports) to fund government operations; others were considered “major” for a variety of reasons. Finally, 39 of the 100 rules were expected to have either $100 million in annual compliance costs, $100 million in annual benefits, or both. In some cases, the ranges were so large that it was difficult to conclude whether the result was a positive or negative benefit. But in 14 cases, the lowest estimate of the benefits exceeded the highest estimate of the costs. Oh, and about the Bushie: So where did the number of “219” come from? It appears to have started with an opinion column in Politico by Susan E. Dudley, the director of the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center and a top regulatory official in the George W. Bush administration. Dudley derived the list from the White House budget office’s agenda of upcoming regulation , and she graciously walked us through OMB’s Web site to find all 219 rules.
Continue reading …Last July Chris Donovan, Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives, wrote a powerful guest post at DWT, It’s long past time to start rebuilding America . At the time, we pointed out why Chris is the kind of leader progressives long for. He’s not just good on the issues, he understands the mechanisms of power that create public policy. He’s not the kind of progressive that sits around being right and not getting anything done. That’s why he holds the top position in the Connecticut legislature, and that’s why the Connecticut legislature has been taking such cutting-edge positions on issue after issue at a time when reactionaries like Scott Walker, Rick Scott, Rick Snyder, Rick Perry, Chris Christie, John Kasich, Tom Corbett, Paul LePage, Bob McDonnell, etc. are dragging their states backwards. Chris is running for the U.S. House seat in the western and central part of the state (CT-5) being given up by Senate-bound Chris Murphy. It looks like his opponent will be a crazed teabagger, Mark Greenberg, a firm believer in ending Social Security and Medicare so corporate taxes can be further cut and the estate tax on multimillionaires can be eliminated. He’s wrong on every single issue– from the environment and women’s Choice to gun control and national security. But, like I said, Chris is not just right on every issue; he’s been a leader on every issue. He led the successful fights in the Connecticut House to pass 12 minimum wage increases, implement the strongest campaign finance reform legislation in the country, allow all Connecticut students to pay instate tuition rates through the CT DREAM Act, create the first statewide paid sick leave legislation in the country, ensure marriage equality, end discrimination based on sexual preference and gender identity, decriminalize marijuana, and implement a municipal pooling of health care and prescription coverage that will save both the state and its cities and towns money– the first step on the path to a public option for Connecticut. Dream candidate? Absolutely– and Blue America’s latest endorsed candidate– and very much worth helping elect to Congress ! Like every candidate Blue America has endorsed this year, Chris has told us that jobs is the single most important issue voters in his district are concerned about. If you listen closely, though, Chris isn’t using Republican Party/Inside-the-Beltway framing to discuss it. He’s very much an advocate for public sector jobs and for the government playing a vital role in the general welfare of the nation. “Our private industries and small businesses need customers,” he told me yesterday, “at the same time that our towns and cities need teachers, nurses, and public safety workers. Instead of calling for more jobs to be cut, Republicans and pundits in Washington and Hartford should join progressive Democrats in investing in quality jobs with strong benefits that benefit our communities. We need more teachers, more firefighters, more construction workers, and more nurses. The Republicans in the House claimed to be running on a jobs agenda in 2010– more than 240 days and zero jobs bills later, it’s time for them to honor their promises.” Above is a video of Chris announcing his campaign last week. He went right to protecting Social Security and Medicare from ravenous Republican class war fanatics. “When I hear that the Inside-the-Beltway crowd is talking about cutting Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, I am outraged. These programs make America what it is, a country that cares– about our seniors, about our children, about our people. That’s what I’m going to fight for in Congress– to protect our future, to protect Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and to make sure they are around to protect our grandparents and our grandchildren.” Chris will be joining us for a live q&a session in the comments section below today at 2pm (ET). I hope you’ll come over and meet him and hear what he has to say. And, if you can, please consider giving him a hand in the only district in New England Republicans are targeting for a blue to red switch. You can contribute to his campaign here .
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Clements Ribeiro, Maria Grachvogel, Julien Macdonald and Jaeger kick off Spring/Summer 2012 at London Fashion Week
Continue reading …This is a wonderful ad, and yes, every Republican candidate should have to answer her question. It’s worth noting that the Affordable Care Act is already helping people. Like this couple in Iowa : Daniels has also thought about what would have happened if portions of the new federal health care law had not been in place. His wife’s insurance had a million dollar lifetime cap on benefits. Her current expenses have already exceeded that. One medication — a potent antifungal agent — costs $1,600 a dose. Without the protection against lifetime limits the new law provides, they would have had to declare bankruptcy. That law, derisively dubbed “Obamacare” by the president’s opponents, has been portrayed as the essence of evil among Republican presidential candidates. At a tea party-sponsored debate this week, front-runners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney vowed to sign executive orders exempting states from enforcing it. Michele Bachmann bragged of working for its repeal in Congress. Those attitudes confound Daniels, who says, “It is hard for us to believe that so many of the GOP candidates would have us go back to a time where an illness like this would have forced us, or any other family for that matter, into bankruptcy.” He’s also grateful for the law’s protection against insurance companies denying coverage for pre-existing conditions . Read that whole article, because it has a great back and forth between Daniels and Ryan Rhodes, the local tea party chairman. But watch the ad first. I’ll wait to hear what Republicans have to say about it.
Continue reading …Occupy Wall Street: ‘This Is Not A One-Day Demonstration, We’re Not Leaving’
September 17, 2011 No CommentWatch live streaming video from globalrevolution at livestream.com Livestream here of solidarity events held around the world . Wall Street coverage should start at 3pm EST. Follow on Twitter at #occupywallstreet. I have a feeling this might be a good one. If you’re anywhere near NYC, go join Adbusters, US Uncut, Anonymous and dozens of other groups to show your support for ending corporate regulatory capture. I’ll update as needed. And please, enough of the counterproductive crap about how you don’t approve of this group or that one. That’s how the left always weakens itself — and why no one ever takes us seriously. Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Wall Street firms will be the target of a nonviolent demonstration in which organizers say they want 20,000 people to participate with tents, kitchens and “peaceful barricades” in lower Manhattan. Dubbed “#OccupyWallStreet,” the goal of the protest scheduled to start today is to get President Barack Obama to establish a commission to end “the influence money has over our representatives in Washington ,” according to the website of Adbusters, a group promoting the demonstration. Organizers want participants to “occupy” the area for “a few months,” according to the website. “People have a right to protest, and if they want to protest, we’ll be happy to make sure they have locations to do it,” New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sept. 15 at a press conference. “As long as they do it where other people’s rights are respected, this is the place where people can speak their minds, and that’s what makes New York New York.” Yeah, Mike, just like you did during the Republican convention — by putting protesters in cages and illegally arresting them! I have a feeling you’re a little more worried these days , though, and you’re going to play nice this time. [..] Protests also are planned for financial districts in Madrid, Milan, London and Paris, according to a bulletin from the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center obtained by Bloomberg News. The NCCIC is part of the Department of Homeland Security. Chris Ortman, an agency spokesman, confirmed the bulletin’s authenticity.
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Fractious meeting of finance ministers sees Europeans vow to push on with tax to bolster rescue funds despite UK objections European leaders vowed to press ahead with plans for a new tax on financial transactions to bolster EU rescue funds, despite objections from Britain and the US. France, Germany and Austria said a tax on financial transactions could raise billions of euros to support a Greek bailout, but opposition from the chancellor, George Osborne, and the US treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, undermined progress. The row added further tension to an already fractious meeting of finance ministers in Wroclaw, Poland, which failed to achieve a consensus among EU countries on how to prevent a Greek default. “There are very considerable divisions,” said Jacek Rostowski, the Polish finance minister who was chairing the meeting, commenting on the transaction tax. “It obviously raises a lot of emotions.” On Friday Geithner told European leaders to stop “loose talk” that was damaging the eurozone and bringing “catastrophic risk” to the global markets. Geithner is reported to have said that divisions were “very damaging”. “Governments and central banks have to take out the catastrophic risk from markets … [and avoid] loose talk about dismantling the institutions of the euro,” he added. “What is very damaging from the outside is not the divisiveness about the broader debate, about strategy, but about the ongoing conflict between governments and the central bank, and you need both to work together to do what is essential to the resolution of any crisis,” he said, according to the Dow Jones news agency. The eurozone ministers have been discussing how to end the crisis in Greece that is threatening to engulf Europe. They agreed to delay a decision on Greece’s next bailout loan as part of a complicated political game designed to appease voters in countries sceptical of Greece’s claims that it is doing everything it can to comply with the austerity measures. They also extended the timetable for approval for the new expanded bailout rescue fund of €440bn (£385bn), which many economists believe is not enough to cover the possibility of several countries defaulting on debt. The head of Germany’s Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, told reporters on Saturday: “The current economic pessimism is exaggerated.” Weidmann said “the growth slowdown” being experienced in Europe and America was mainly based on “temporary facts” such as “supply chain interruptions in Japan” in the aftermath of the earthquake and the high oil prices due to the conflict in Libya and elsewhere in the Middle East. Euro European Union Economics Economic policy George Osborne Financial crisis Global recession Banking Greece Europe Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Nato disputes the claim from former Libyan dictator’s spokesman that strikes hit a residential building and hotel in Sirte The ousted Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has claimed that Nato air strikes have killed 354 people and injured hundreds more in his home town of Sirte. A spokesman for Gaddafi told Reuters that the air strikes had hit a residential building and a hotel, but these reports could not be verified as the town has been largely cut off from communication. Nato disputed the claim, saying it was aware of the allegations but that its targets were military. “We are aware of these allegations,” Colonel Roland Lavoie, spokesman for the western military alliance, said in Brussels. “It is not the first time such allegations have been made. Most often, they are revealed to be unfounded or inconclusive.” Gaddafi’s spokesman, Moussa Ibrahim, claimed the former Libyan dictator was still in Libya and was personally directing the fighting in Sirte and in Bani Walid, another loyalist stronghold. In a call from a satellite phone to the Reuters office in Tunis, he said: “Nato attacked the city of Sirte last night with more than 30 rockets directed at the city’s main hotel and the Tamin building, which consists of more than 90 residential flats. “The result is more than 354 dead and 89 still missing and almost 700 injured in one night.” Anti-Gaddafi fighters faced fierce resistance in both towns on Friday and were struggling on Saturday to regroup for renewed attacks on Bani Walid, a mountain town about 90 miles southeast of Tripoli. The fighters withdrew on Friday after facing sniper fire and shelling from loyalist units holding strategic positions above the valley entrance to the town. The anti-Gaddafi forces had entered the Bani Walid a week ago but failed to make the decisive strike they had hoped. Families are fleeing the town during the lull in the combat. Libya Muammar Gaddafi guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 for the latest or use or auto-refresh button below • Click here for all the latest scores • Email paolo.bandini@guardian.co.uk or tweet @Paolo_Bandini 4.30pm: “Have I been laid off? Is that what you’re trying to subtly tell me by referring to me as ‘Paul Dole’?” demands my colleague at Villa Park Paul Doyle. Nope, it seems I just can’t type. The offending mistake has now been amended. 4.27pm: Middlesbrough look set to be the only unbeaten team left in the Championship – Marvin Emnes has just put them 1-0 up at Crystal Palace, while Brighton are losing 1-0 at Leicester. 4.25pm: Hmm. Dean Lewington has just equalised for MK Dons at home to Huddersfield, making it 1-1, but I’ve just received an email that our man in Milton Keynes, John Ashdown, sent when it was still 0-1. I’m going to use it anyway. “Not sure if you’re particularly interested in what’s happening here at Stadium MK? You are! Well, that’s lovely. In short, Huddersfield look a team ready for the Championship, are 1-0 up and could be two or three clear. In other news, the tea in the press room has been nothing short of exceptional. Sandwiches a mixed bag – cheese and pickle was poor, but the beef and horseradish very good.” 4.24pm: “Not surprised Newcastle equalised – they deserve it,” reports our man at Villa Park, Paul Doyle. “Not surprised by the manner of the goal either – Cheik Tiote’s cross to Best eluded Richard Dunne, who must surely be knackered after his exertions against Australia earlier today. He did play in that, didn’t he?” 4.23pm: Might we have spoken too soon (OK, fine, might I have spoken to soon) about the prospect of all three newly-promoted sides winning. Martin Petrov slots home a penalty to reduce the arrears for the home side. Bolton 1-2 Norwich. 4.21pm: “I don’t watch Spanish football (although I hear Barcelona are quite good) but I think Gary Naylor might have a point,” opines Ryan Dunne, in response to this pre-kick-off email . “Surely Zlatan’s replacement, Villa, is fairly adaptable to a fluid, 4-6-0 interchangeable in a way that the Kung Fu Swedish Genius was not? Although Craig Levein’s attempts at 4-6-0 were surely more sub Walternaccio than the stuff of Spalletti’s Roma, and I doubt that Moyes has embraced the formation out of idealism.” 4.19pm: Royston Drenthe – or ‘Drenchler’ – as Paul Merson just called him on Sky Sports News, is about to come on for his Everton debut. 4.16pm: Aston Villa and Newcastle could yet both finish the day unbeaten. Leon Best notches his third goal of the season to make it Aston Villa 1-1 Newcastle , slamming the ball in from close range. 4.14pm: Stewart Drummond has extended League Two leaders Morecambe’s advantage at Dagenham & Redbridge, where they now lead 2-0. 4.12pm: Apparently this would be the first time since February 2007 that all three newly promoted sides won on the same day. Well, that’s what the stats bods at Infrostrada Live are saying on Twitter, anyway. 4.09pm: “That is a bit disingenuous,” notes a person named Chiswick (or maybe the email was actually the communal work of the London suburb) in response to Nicholas’s email on the subject of Nigerian goalscorers . “Victor Anichebe doesn’t score anyway …” 4.07pm: Time for some furious face rubbing on the away bench at the Liberty Stadium, methinks. It’s now Swansea 3-0 West Brom , Nathan Dyer taking advantage of a Leroy Lita flick-on to extend the home side’s lead. 4.03pm: Since tweeting pre-match that he had been left out by Everton , Louis Saha has remained hooked up to his social networking tools. He’s now conversing with an apparent fan who responded to his earlier messages by calling him a “spoilt prick”. “im spoil in life but does not give u the right to insult me,” notes Saha. 3.59pm: “I predict Peter Odemwingie is going to have a truly horrid day,” writes Nicholas. “Its the Yakubu hex, you see. Whenever he scores, no other Nigerian in the Premier League does! Just ask Victor Anichebe or Kanu. This fact is ably supported by me very own oracle. Peter the snail. A less humbling mollusc than Paul the octopus but prophet all the same.” Is there any truth in this at all? Who wants to go back through the records? 3.57pm: There were fears earlier this afternoon that Wolves’s match against QPR would not be able to go ahead due to a power cut at Molineux , but if the home fans are wishing now that the game had been postponed, perhaps they’ll be cheered by the appearance of Beverley Knight on the pitch at half-time to sing them a tune. Or perhaps that will make things much, much worse. 3.55pm: Right, this is how things stand at half-time around the country. Premier League Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal (FT) Everton 1-1 Wigan Swansea 2-0 West Brom Bolton 0-2 Norwich Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle Wolves 0-2 QPR Championship Millwall 0-0 West Ham (FT) Nottingham Forest 1-2 Derby (FT) Leicester 0-0 Brighton Crystal Palace 0-0 Middlesbrough Hull 1-0 Portsmouth Peterborough 2-0 Burnley Reading 0-0 Doncaster Rovers Barnsley 0-1 Watford Leeds 1-1 Bristol City Blackpool 0-0 Cardiff League One Stevenage 0-1 Notts County Chesterfield 2-1 Carlisle Yeovil Town 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday Brentford 1-2 Preston Exeter 0-1 Bournemouth Sheffield United 2-0 Colchester Walsall 1-0 Scunthorpe Hartlepool 1-0 Bury Rochdale 0-2 Charlton Tranmere 1-0 Wycombe Leyton Orient 1-0 Oldham MK Dons 0-1 Huddersfield League Two Port Vale 2-3 Shrewsbury (FT) Dagenham 0-0 Morecambe Barnet 0-2 Oxford United Hereford 0-3 Gillingham Accrington 0-2 Crewe Alexandra Macclesfield 1-1 Northampton Crawley Town 0-1 Bradford Torquay United 2-3 Rotherham AFC Wimbledon 2-0 Cheltenham Burton Albion 1-0 Swindon Bristol Rovers 0-1 Aldershot Southend 0-0 Plymouth Argyle 3.48pm: In fact, there’s half-time whistles going everywhere now, as you would probably expect a little bit more than 45 minutes after kick-off. Round-up of the scores coming up … 3.47pm: Half-time at Villa Park: Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle. 3.46pm: And if that wasn’t bad enough for Bolton, they’re now down to ten men, as Klasnic is sent off for headbutting Morison . 3.43pm: This day just gets better if you’re a fan exclusively of teams who have just been promoted to the Premier League in the last summer. If you’re a fan exclusively of teams who finished 14th in the table last year, though, it’s not going well. It’s now Bolton 0-2 Norwich , as Bradley Johnson directs David Fox’s cross past Jussi Jaaskelainen. 3.42pm: Some maths to ponder from FourFourTwo’s James Maw on Twitter: “Aguero = 1 goal every 41 mins. Lita = 1 goal every 63 minutes. By my maths that means Lita is worth roughly £25.3 million.” 3.39pm: Time to squeeze in a quick League One update, as MK Dons go 1-0 down at home to Huddersfield. Meantime, here’s Jon Hegglund: “Early morning greetings from the Pacific Northwest! After watching Monday’s match v Newcastle and this first half v Wolves, are the beefed-up QPR playing the most attractive football in London right now? And, no, I haven’t forgotten about that other blue & white side.” 3.37pm: Well, well, well – all three newly-promoted sides are now in front. Steve Morison’s clever pass and decoy run allow Anthony Pilkington to sweeps the ball in and give Norwich a 1-0 lead at Bolton . 3.36pm: Here’s some betting advice from our man at Villa Park, Paul Doyle. “”For anyone who likes to bet in-running, I’d suggest having a punt on Newcastle if the odds are decent: Villa are in front here but the visitors have played the better stuff and are looking dangerous. Villa still threatening on the counter, mind.” 3.35pm: Well that didn’t last long did it? Phil Jagielka heads in from close range to make it Everton 1-1 Wigan . 3.33pm: Oh dear. Everton had been comfortably on top at Goodison Park but it is Wigan who take the lead, Franco Di Santo making it Everton 0-1 Wigan . 3.32pm: For what it’s worth, Leroy Lita followed his goal for Swansea by getting booked for taking his shirt off. On the one hand, that’s plainly silly. On the other hand, I’m quite aware that if I had the physique of a top-flight professional footballer I probably wouldn’t ever put on shirts in the first place, so I shan’t complain. 3.31pm: “I’ll be walking from my flat, in North London, to a train station to get on a train that will, a mere six minutes later, stop at Drayton Park station, from where you can see the Emirates Stadium,” declares Ade Cooper, as AFC Wimbledon go 1-0 up against Cheltenham. “I’m a Spurs fan though so I probably won’t bother with much of a protest. However, if any Arsenal fans would like to add another calamitous French centreback to their ranks, I’d be happy to try and smuggle Younes Kaboul into the ground.” 3.28pm: Well Aston Villa should now be two goals up, but Darren Bent just swept his shot wide of the post with the whole goal at his mercy. Newcastle’s unbeaten start looking shaky. 3.27pm: “To all those fellow Wolves fans who think I’m pessimistic: See? See?” wails Kevin Porter. “As Woody Allen says ‘Most of the time I don’t have much fun, the rest of the time I have no fun at all’. Two-nil down at home to yet another London side. Complete misery. What a horrible start to the season.” 3.24pm: Insert your own “waiting for a bus” line here folks, because Swansea’s first Premier League goal has been followed swiftly by a second. Leroy Lita makes it Swansea 2-0 West Brom at the Liberty Stadium. 3.23pm: And now dipping back into League One, Danny Hollands has given Charlton the lead away to Rochdale with a header. In a similarly dramatic development, I have just changed the picture on this story. 3.20pm: Sheffield United are now 2-0 up at home to Colchester in League One, and cruising nicely. In the Championship, Hull lead Portsmouth 1-0, Peterborough are up by the same margin against Burnley and Leeds v Bristol City is all square at a goal apiece. All the rest in that division are goalless. 3.18pm: “I’m watching Wolves/QPR which promises to be a scrappy, open game,” declares Christopher Price who certainly got the second part right. “Anyway, would you be willing to lead a march in North London from a pub that you would be at anyway to a game you would be going to anyway to urge Wenger to hire a coach for Arsenal’s defence? Our attack was actually pretty good today, but the defence scored almost as many goals as our attack and Mertesacker and Sagna seemed to be the only ones who knew what they were doing. I would try to organise a protest but I’m in Indiana.” Well, I’ll be walking from the Guardian’s offices (in North London) to a tube station later on. Not sure I’d call it a march, mind. 3.15pm: And there it is at last! Swansea have their first ever Premier League goal, Scott Sinclair crashing home a penalty after Paul Scharner had brought down Joe Allen in the box. Swansea 1-0 West Brom . 3.12pm: And now one at Villa Park, where Gabby Agbonlahor, fresh from explaining that Gérard Houllier is to football what James Corden is to intelligent debate, has proved just how rejuvenated he is under Alex McLeish by making it Aston Villa 1-0 Newcastle . 3.10pm: Crikey – make that Wolves 0-2 QPR . Alejandro Faurlin crashes one in on the half-volley from a short way outside the box, and Hennessey is beaten. I dare say we may have found the match that Ms Peters should be watching. 3.08pm: First Premier League goal of the 3pm kick-offs and it’s Wolves 0-1 QPR . The newly appointed captain Joey Barton is the man who provides it, though it’s hardly one for the scrapbook. Adel Taraabt’s cross comes over from the right to Shaun Wright-Phillips on the far side, where the winger makes a horrible mess of his attempted shot. The ball bobbles across to Joey Barton, who also miscues his effort, but somehow succeeds in scuffing it into the bottom left corner. 3.06pm: Sheffield United are off to a quick start in League One – Ched Evans extending Colchester’s run without a clean sheet to 16 games. 3.03pm: Full-time in League Two: Port Vale 2-3 Shrewsbury. 3.02pm: “Which game should i watch for the 3pm kickoff?” asks Diane Peters. “I’m in amsterdam, so i can watch any one of them, but i can’t decide which!” I’ll throw this open to the readers – who wants to make the first pitch? 3pm: Away we go then, but only after a short silence at Swansea City’s Liberty Stadium – in honour of both the miners who died at Gleision Colliery this week, as well the manager Brendan Rodgers’ late father. 2.59pm: Full-time in the second Championship early kick-off: Nottingham Forest 1-2 Derby. Derby on 10 men from the second minute, too. 2.56pm: Here’s Gary Naylor with the alternative viewpoint on David Moyes’s latest tactical innovations. “I like Everton’s 4-6-0 and it delivered two goals last time out,” he notes. “I know I’m coming over all Jonathan Wilson, but goals, at least attempts to force goals, are over-rated. Barcelona look rather better without Zlatan than they did with him, don’t they?” Take your broader point but the Ibrahimovic point has me baffled. They replaced him with another goalscorer and as far as I can see spend a great deal of their time trying to connect ball with net. 2.50pm: Apologies, while I was digging up that team news I’ve failed to tell you that Ben Williamson has got one back for Port Vale, who now trail 2-3 at home to Shrewsbury, while Derby – down to 10 men from the second minute, have taken the lead away to Nottingham Forest through Jeff Hendrick. 2.48pm: And last of the Premier League team news, here’s Aston Villa v Newcastle. Barry Bannan, as expected, replaces the injured Emile Heskey for Villa while Demba Ba replaces Shola Ameobi up front for Newcastle. Aston Villa: Given, Hutton, Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Bannan, Petrov, Delph, N’Zogbia, Bent, Agbonlahor. Subs: Guzan, Ireland, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Herd, Lowry, Gardner. Newcastle: Krul, Simpson, Steven Taylor, Coloccini, Ryan Taylor, Obertan, Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Best, Ba. Subs: Elliot, Guthrie, Lovenkrands, Perch, Marveaux, Shola Ameobi, Sammy Ameobi. Referee: Neil Swarbrick (Lancashire) 2.43pm: Six changes for Norwich ahead of their game at Bolton, to include the returns of the captain Wes Hoolahan up front and John Ruddy in goal. Owen Coyle rewards David Ngog and Gael Kakuta for their efforts in the reserves this week by giving each a place on the bench, but Tuncay goes straight into the starting line-up. Bolton: Jaaskelainen, Boyata, Cahill, Knight, Robinson, Tuncay, Pratley, Reo-Coker, Petrov, Kevin Davies, Klasnic. Subs: Bogdan, Muamba, Eagles, Mark Davies, Ngog, Kakuta, Wheater. Norwich: Ruddy, Naughton, Russell Martin, Barnett, Tierney, Bennett, Fox, Bradley Johnson, Pilkington, Hoolahan, Morison. Subs: Rudd, Crofts, Vaughan, Holt, Surman, Chris Martin, De Laet. Referee: Howard Webb (England) 2.41pm: Matt Jarvis returns for Wolves as they take on QPR at Molineux, while the visitors are unchanged from their 0-0 draw with Newcastle on Monday night. Wolverhampton: Hennessey, Stearman, Johnson, Berra, Elokobi, Kightly, Henry, O’Hara, Jarvis, Ward, Doyle. Subs: De Vries, Hunt, Vokes, Hammill, Milijas, Foley, Guedioura. QPR: Kenny, Young, Gabbidon, Ferdinand, Traore, Barton, Derry, Faurlin, Wright-Phillips, Bothroyd, Taarabt. Subs: Murphy, Hall, Campbell, Buzsaky, Connolly, Smith, Puncheon. Referee: Anthony Taylor (Cheshire) 2.39pm: Full-time: Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal. 2.36pm: As anticipated, Swansea captain Garry Monk is back from injury to make his first Premier League appearance for the club. West Brom bring in Craig Dawson to replace the suspended Tamas in defence. Swansea: Vorm, Rangel, Williams, Monk, Taylor, Dyer, Britton, Allen, Gower, Sinclair, Lita. Subs: Tremmel, Dobbie, Routledge, Moore, Bessone, Richards, Lucas. West Brom: Foster, Reid, Olsson, Mulumbu, Shorey, Morrison, Dawson, Scharner, Thomas, Long, Odemwingie. Subs: Fulop, Brunt, Dorrans, McAuley, Jones, Cox, Fortune. Referee: Martin Atkinson (England) 2.32pm: In fact, Arsenal had a bit of a habit of giving up more goals than shots on target in 2001, as Oliver Haine notes on Twitter. “Arsenal 0-3 Middlesbrough 14th April 2001. Boro one shot on target”. 2.29pm: Marouane Chamakh has pulled one back for Arsenal at Ewood Park, they now trail 4-3. 2.27pm: At last – the team news you’ve really been waiting for. Tonbridge Angels: Worgan, Beecroft, Heath, Kinch, Judge, Miles, Taylor, Storey, Ade Olorunda, Collin, Browning. Subs: Jones, Walder, Henry, Kember, Main. Salisbury: Gough, Ruddick, Brett, Adelsbury, Hart, Giles, Kelly, Clarke, Fitchett, Reid, Casey. Subs: Stockford, Wright, Knight, Herbert, Smith. Referee: N Lugg (England) 2.26pm: Full-time at The Den, where it has finished Millwall 0-0 West Ham . 2.20pm: Aha – some team news at last. As anticipated, Saha does not feature in Everton’s line-up to face Wigan. “Seems Moyes thinks Tim Cahill is a centre forward now,” notes Martin Cooke, before expressing his feelings on the manager with a word I probably shouldn’t print. have to say I do think it’s a questionable move – while Cahill clearly knows where the goal is, personally I think it’s a huge asset to have a midfielder who can contribute goals like he does, so by moving him forward you’ve effectively taken that away. Everton: Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Fellaini, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, Osman, Cahill. Subs: Mucha, Heitinga, Drenthe, Stracqualursi, Neville, Barkley, Vellios. Wigan: Al Habsi, Van Aanholt, Caldwell, Lopez, Figueroa, Gomez, Watson, McCarthy, Moses, Di Santo, Rodallega. Subs: Pollitt, Thomas, Crusat, Maloney, McArthur, Sammon, Jones. 2.16pm: This Blackburn Arsenal game rather reminds me of a 4-2 defeat the Gunners suffered at home to Charlton Athletic back in 2001 . If memory serves, Charlton had less shots on target than goals that day, with Richard Wright punching spectacularly into his own net for one of their games. So far today, Blackburn have had three shots on target, yet four goals. 2.14pm: Blackburn now lead 4-2 against Arsenal , Laurent Koscielny recording the visitors’ second away goal of the afternoon. Oh dear. Meanwhile, Lionel Ainsworth has extended Shrewsbury’s lead to 3-1 at Port Vale. 2.12pm: Well, it’s still not official team news, but a look at the Twitter account of Louis Saha suggests he won’t be making the starting XI for Everton at home to Wigan this afternoon. Here are his last three tweets: 23 minutes ago: What can i say. Absolutely destroy me. #gutted. Good luck to the lads 14 minutes ago: Just not good enough. 9 minutes ago: I am not good enough. #Absolutelydestroyed 2.07pm: Still waiting for the first whiff of Premier League team news, but Blackburn v Arsenal is not the only early kick-off taking place in England this afternoon. In the Championship Millwall v West Ham is still goalless, while Nottingham Forest and Derby are also level at 1-1. In League Two, meanwhile, Shrewsbury are 2-1 up away to Port Vale. 2.03pm: Blackburn now lead 3-2 against Arsenal, Yakubu with the 59th minute goal to put them in front. Again, you’re better off joining Rob Smyth for that one though . 2.02pm: Actually, before I go find that team news, a quick plug for the fact that I’ll also be providing minute-by-minute coverage of Inter v Roma in Serie A from 7.45pm this evening right here on this very site. Probably better cancel those Saturday night plans you had now, eh? 2pm: Afternoon folks. Blackburn and Arsenal are level at 2-2 in the early game, which you can follow right this second with Rob Smyth , but shortly it will be time to turn our attention to the 3pm kick-offs. There might only be five of those – you can blame the Europa League for that – but it’s more than enough to throw up some intriguing questions. Who will prevail in the battle of the unbeaten sides at Villa Park? Can Swansea finally get their first Premier League goal against a West Brom team who have kept just two clean sheets in 17 games under Roy Hodgsoon? Will Neil Warnock make Mick McCarthy clean his boots again ? Anyway, back in a tick with some team news, but in the meantime here’s the full list of 3pm games: Aston Villa v Newcastle Bolton v Norwich Everton v Wigan Swansea v West Brom Wolverhampton v QPR Premier League Premier League 2011-12 Paolo Bandini guardian.co.uk
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