Small retailers buck an industry trend that has seen the closure of mainstream chains such as Zavvi and Borders At the Truck record store in Oxford’s student heartland, light streams in through huge, spotless windows, while customers lounge on hessian covered window seats, or listen to new music on a shiny CD player. It is as far from the stereotypical dusty old record shop as it is possible to imagine. “We wanted to create a hub for the local community, and for the local music culture – somewhere bright and welcoming,” said co-owner Robin Bennett. “Oxford has such a strong music scene but people who are into their music have nowhere to go unless shops like ours open.” The travails of the record industry are well known. Zavvi and Borders have disappeared while the last remaining chain, HMV, continues to struggle, issuing profit warnings and recently announcing that it would close 40 stores as music buyers migrate online. But Truck is evidence of what is perhaps a surprising trend: it is one of a dozen new independent record shops that have opened around Britain over the past year. Numbers of independent stores reached a low of 269 in 2009, but last year that had grown to 281, the first increase in a generation, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association. More than two thirds of them have joined forces with independent labels and artists for Record Store Day on Saturday, a 24-hour celebration of the independent music scene. Rare exclusives are on offer, from a Lady Gaga 12″ picture disc to a special 7″ vinyl single of Ozzy Osbourne’s Flying High Again, while stores throughout the UK will be hosting performances from bands such as Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit and Chilly Gonzales. Organiser Spencer Hickman described the event as a grassroots celebration of stores that are pulling through a difficult economic environment. “Record Store Day is everywhere now. There are performances in every part of the UK. It’s like an urban Glastonbury.” After years of decline, independent record shops had raised their game and found their niche in the music market, he added. “The fact that we have seen new stores opening this year shows that there are still music lovers who want to buy physical music from people who are just as enthusiastic as they are. There are lots of people who still want music as an art form not just a download.” Sipping a coffee in Truck, Bennett, who founded the local independent Truck festival in 1998 with his brother Joe, said modern stores had to provide something special. “Record shops have realised that you can’t carry on doing the same thing. You have to offer more – hold in-store gigs, offer coffee and stock incredible music,” he said. “You also have to have exceptional staff. We are trying not to be too elitist and just be a place where people feel welcome.” Customer Ally Jones admitted to buying his CDs on Amazon because “it’s just too cheap” but had come into the shop to browse its vinyl and comics. “You know they are going to know more than the lad in HMV, and you can buy something a bit different like an LP with great artwork.” Vinyl has provided an unlikely lifeline in the independent music market. Of the 232 exclusive releases as part of Record Store Day, 220 are on vinyl with just 10 on CD and two on cassette. Pointing out a Pet Sounds reissue he covets, Bennett said that 40% of Truck’s sales come from vinyl. “It’s insane,” said Bennett. “But they are beautiful things. Music fans love the artwork and the solidity of vinyl.” Other factors have given a boost to independent record stores, said Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing, a history of the rise and fall of the independent record shop. Record labels are giving independent shops better deals, while the price of CDs in supermarkets has increased, he said. Chancellor George Osborne has also vowed to tackle a loophole that allows Channel Island-based companies to avoid paying VAT on CDs and DVDs when they are ordered from the likes of Play.com and Amazon. “If that happens then record shops will no longer be playing at a 20% disadvantage, and that could make all the difference,” said Jones. Despite falling album sales – which dropped another 8% last year – independent music remains in robust health, with independent artists such as Adele dominating the charts, said Martin Mills, chairman of independent label Beggars Group. Mills, whose group is home to artists such as Thom Yorke and Jarvis Cocker, said it was easier for fans to find new music online. And unlike pop music sales, which are driven by singles, indie music fans were still loyal to the album. “Independent music is flourishing, because it is so much easier to discover new music, and album buying, including in digital form, is the way that those fans connect with the artists,” he said. “Album sales are increasingly skewing towards independent artists.” Independent stores are unlikely to reach levels seen in the 1980s, when there were more than 2,200 in the UK, but some record shop lovers, like Jones, are cautiously optimistic about the future. “When I wrote Last Shop Standing I thought I was writing the obituary for the independent record store,” he said. “It turns out that may have been premature.” Record Store Day Retail industry HMV Zavvi Borders Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Small retailers buck an industry trend that has seen the closure of mainstream chains such as Zavvi and Borders At the Truck record store in Oxford’s student heartland, light streams in through huge, spotless windows, while customers lounge on hessian covered window seats, or listen to new music on a shiny CD player. It is as far from the stereotypical dusty old record shop as it is possible to imagine. “We wanted to create a hub for the local community, and for the local music culture – somewhere bright and welcoming,” said co-owner Robin Bennett. “Oxford has such a strong music scene but people who are into their music have nowhere to go unless shops like ours open.” The travails of the record industry are well known. Zavvi and Borders have disappeared while the last remaining chain, HMV, continues to struggle, issuing profit warnings and recently announcing that it would close 40 stores as music buyers migrate online. But Truck is evidence of what is perhaps a surprising trend: it is one of a dozen new independent record shops that have opened around Britain over the past year. Numbers of independent stores reached a low of 269 in 2009, but last year that had grown to 281, the first increase in a generation, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association. More than two thirds of them have joined forces with independent labels and artists for Record Store Day on Saturday, a 24-hour celebration of the independent music scene. Rare exclusives are on offer, from a Lady Gaga 12″ picture disc to a special 7″ vinyl single of Ozzy Osbourne’s Flying High Again, while stores throughout the UK will be hosting performances from bands such as Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit and Chilly Gonzales. Organiser Spencer Hickman described the event as a grassroots celebration of stores that are pulling through a difficult economic environment. “Record Store Day is everywhere now. There are performances in every part of the UK. It’s like an urban Glastonbury.” After years of decline, independent record shops had raised their game and found their niche in the music market, he added. “The fact that we have seen new stores opening this year shows that there are still music lovers who want to buy physical music from people who are just as enthusiastic as they are. There are lots of people who still want music as an art form not just a download.” Sipping a coffee in Truck, Bennett, who founded the local independent Truck festival in 1998 with his brother Joe, said modern stores had to provide something special. “Record shops have realised that you can’t carry on doing the same thing. You have to offer more – hold in-store gigs, offer coffee and stock incredible music,” he said. “You also have to have exceptional staff. We are trying not to be too elitist and just be a place where people feel welcome.” Customer Ally Jones admitted to buying his CDs on Amazon because “it’s just too cheap” but had come into the shop to browse its vinyl and comics. “You know they are going to know more than the lad in HMV, and you can buy something a bit different like an LP with great artwork.” Vinyl has provided an unlikely lifeline in the independent music market. Of the 232 exclusive releases as part of Record Store Day, 220 are on vinyl with just 10 on CD and two on cassette. Pointing out a Pet Sounds reissue he covets, Bennett said that 40% of Truck’s sales come from vinyl. “It’s insane,” said Bennett. “But they are beautiful things. Music fans love the artwork and the solidity of vinyl.” Other factors have given a boost to independent record stores, said Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing, a history of the rise and fall of the independent record shop. Record labels are giving independent shops better deals, while the price of CDs in supermarkets has increased, he said. Chancellor George Osborne has also vowed to tackle a loophole that allows Channel Island-based companies to avoid paying VAT on CDs and DVDs when they are ordered from the likes of Play.com and Amazon. “If that happens then record shops will no longer be playing at a 20% disadvantage, and that could make all the difference,” said Jones. Despite falling album sales – which dropped another 8% last year – independent music remains in robust health, with independent artists such as Adele dominating the charts, said Martin Mills, chairman of independent label Beggars Group. Mills, whose group is home to artists such as Thom Yorke and Jarvis Cocker, said it was easier for fans to find new music online. And unlike pop music sales, which are driven by singles, indie music fans were still loyal to the album. “Independent music is flourishing, because it is so much easier to discover new music, and album buying, including in digital form, is the way that those fans connect with the artists,” he said. “Album sales are increasingly skewing towards independent artists.” Independent stores are unlikely to reach levels seen in the 1980s, when there were more than 2,200 in the UK, but some record shop lovers, like Jones, are cautiously optimistic about the future. “When I wrote Last Shop Standing I thought I was writing the obituary for the independent record store,” he said. “It turns out that may have been premature.” Record Store Day Retail industry HMV Zavvi Borders Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Small retailers buck an industry trend that has seen the closure of mainstream chains such as Zavvi and Borders At the Truck record store in Oxford’s student heartland, light streams in through huge, spotless windows, while customers lounge on hessian covered window seats, or listen to new music on a shiny CD player. It is as far from the stereotypical dusty old record shop as it is possible to imagine. “We wanted to create a hub for the local community, and for the local music culture – somewhere bright and welcoming,” said co-owner Robin Bennett. “Oxford has such a strong music scene but people who are into their music have nowhere to go unless shops like ours open.” The travails of the record industry are well known. Zavvi and Borders have disappeared while the last remaining chain, HMV, continues to struggle, issuing profit warnings and recently announcing that it would close 40 stores as music buyers migrate online. But Truck is evidence of what is perhaps a surprising trend: it is one of a dozen new independent record shops that have opened around Britain over the past year. Numbers of independent stores reached a low of 269 in 2009, but last year that had grown to 281, the first increase in a generation, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association. More than two thirds of them have joined forces with independent labels and artists for Record Store Day on Saturday, a 24-hour celebration of the independent music scene. Rare exclusives are on offer, from a Lady Gaga 12″ picture disc to a special 7″ vinyl single of Ozzy Osbourne’s Flying High Again, while stores throughout the UK will be hosting performances from bands such as Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit and Chilly Gonzales. Organiser Spencer Hickman described the event as a grassroots celebration of stores that are pulling through a difficult economic environment. “Record Store Day is everywhere now. There are performances in every part of the UK. It’s like an urban Glastonbury.” After years of decline, independent record shops had raised their game and found their niche in the music market, he added. “The fact that we have seen new stores opening this year shows that there are still music lovers who want to buy physical music from people who are just as enthusiastic as they are. There are lots of people who still want music as an art form not just a download.” Sipping a coffee in Truck, Bennett, who founded the local independent Truck festival in 1998 with his brother Joe, said modern stores had to provide something special. “Record shops have realised that you can’t carry on doing the same thing. You have to offer more – hold in-store gigs, offer coffee and stock incredible music,” he said. “You also have to have exceptional staff. We are trying not to be too elitist and just be a place where people feel welcome.” Customer Ally Jones admitted to buying his CDs on Amazon because “it’s just too cheap” but had come into the shop to browse its vinyl and comics. “You know they are going to know more than the lad in HMV, and you can buy something a bit different like an LP with great artwork.” Vinyl has provided an unlikely lifeline in the independent music market. Of the 232 exclusive releases as part of Record Store Day, 220 are on vinyl with just 10 on CD and two on cassette. Pointing out a Pet Sounds reissue he covets, Bennett said that 40% of Truck’s sales come from vinyl. “It’s insane,” said Bennett. “But they are beautiful things. Music fans love the artwork and the solidity of vinyl.” Other factors have given a boost to independent record stores, said Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing, a history of the rise and fall of the independent record shop. Record labels are giving independent shops better deals, while the price of CDs in supermarkets has increased, he said. Chancellor George Osborne has also vowed to tackle a loophole that allows Channel Island-based companies to avoid paying VAT on CDs and DVDs when they are ordered from the likes of Play.com and Amazon. “If that happens then record shops will no longer be playing at a 20% disadvantage, and that could make all the difference,” said Jones. Despite falling album sales – which dropped another 8% last year – independent music remains in robust health, with independent artists such as Adele dominating the charts, said Martin Mills, chairman of independent label Beggars Group. Mills, whose group is home to artists such as Thom Yorke and Jarvis Cocker, said it was easier for fans to find new music online. And unlike pop music sales, which are driven by singles, indie music fans were still loyal to the album. “Independent music is flourishing, because it is so much easier to discover new music, and album buying, including in digital form, is the way that those fans connect with the artists,” he said. “Album sales are increasingly skewing towards independent artists.” Independent stores are unlikely to reach levels seen in the 1980s, when there were more than 2,200 in the UK, but some record shop lovers, like Jones, are cautiously optimistic about the future. “When I wrote Last Shop Standing I thought I was writing the obituary for the independent record store,” he said. “It turns out that may have been premature.” Record Store Day Retail industry HMV Zavvi Borders Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Small retailers buck an industry trend that has seen the closure of mainstream chains such as Zavvi and Borders At the Truck record store in Oxford’s student heartland, light streams in through huge, spotless windows, while customers lounge on hessian covered window seats, or listen to new music on a shiny CD player. It is as far from the stereotypical dusty old record shop as it is possible to imagine. “We wanted to create a hub for the local community, and for the local music culture – somewhere bright and welcoming,” said co-owner Robin Bennett. “Oxford has such a strong music scene but people who are into their music have nowhere to go unless shops like ours open.” The travails of the record industry are well known. Zavvi and Borders have disappeared while the last remaining chain, HMV, continues to struggle, issuing profit warnings and recently announcing that it would close 40 stores as music buyers migrate online. But Truck is evidence of what is perhaps a surprising trend: it is one of a dozen new independent record shops that have opened around Britain over the past year. Numbers of independent stores reached a low of 269 in 2009, but last year that had grown to 281, the first increase in a generation, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association. More than two thirds of them have joined forces with independent labels and artists for Record Store Day on Saturday, a 24-hour celebration of the independent music scene. Rare exclusives are on offer, from a Lady Gaga 12″ picture disc to a special 7″ vinyl single of Ozzy Osbourne’s Flying High Again, while stores throughout the UK will be hosting performances from bands such as Wild Beasts, Frightened Rabbit and Chilly Gonzales. Organiser Spencer Hickman described the event as a grassroots celebration of stores that are pulling through a difficult economic environment. “Record Store Day is everywhere now. There are performances in every part of the UK. It’s like an urban Glastonbury.” After years of decline, independent record shops had raised their game and found their niche in the music market, he added. “The fact that we have seen new stores opening this year shows that there are still music lovers who want to buy physical music from people who are just as enthusiastic as they are. There are lots of people who still want music as an art form not just a download.” Sipping a coffee in Truck, Bennett, who founded the local independent Truck festival in 1998 with his brother Joe, said modern stores had to provide something special. “Record shops have realised that you can’t carry on doing the same thing. You have to offer more – hold in-store gigs, offer coffee and stock incredible music,” he said. “You also have to have exceptional staff. We are trying not to be too elitist and just be a place where people feel welcome.” Customer Ally Jones admitted to buying his CDs on Amazon because “it’s just too cheap” but had come into the shop to browse its vinyl and comics. “You know they are going to know more than the lad in HMV, and you can buy something a bit different like an LP with great artwork.” Vinyl has provided an unlikely lifeline in the independent music market. Of the 232 exclusive releases as part of Record Store Day, 220 are on vinyl with just 10 on CD and two on cassette. Pointing out a Pet Sounds reissue he covets, Bennett said that 40% of Truck’s sales come from vinyl. “It’s insane,” said Bennett. “But they are beautiful things. Music fans love the artwork and the solidity of vinyl.” Other factors have given a boost to independent record stores, said Graham Jones, author of Last Shop Standing, a history of the rise and fall of the independent record shop. Record labels are giving independent shops better deals, while the price of CDs in supermarkets has increased, he said. Chancellor George Osborne has also vowed to tackle a loophole that allows Channel Island-based companies to avoid paying VAT on CDs and DVDs when they are ordered from the likes of Play.com and Amazon. “If that happens then record shops will no longer be playing at a 20% disadvantage, and that could make all the difference,” said Jones. Despite falling album sales – which dropped another 8% last year – independent music remains in robust health, with independent artists such as Adele dominating the charts, said Martin Mills, chairman of independent label Beggars Group. Mills, whose group is home to artists such as Thom Yorke and Jarvis Cocker, said it was easier for fans to find new music online. And unlike pop music sales, which are driven by singles, indie music fans were still loyal to the album. “Independent music is flourishing, because it is so much easier to discover new music, and album buying, including in digital form, is the way that those fans connect with the artists,” he said. “Album sales are increasingly skewing towards independent artists.” Independent stores are unlikely to reach levels seen in the 1980s, when there were more than 2,200 in the UK, but some record shop lovers, like Jones, are cautiously optimistic about the future. “When I wrote Last Shop Standing I thought I was writing the obituary for the independent record store,” he said. “It turns out that may have been premature.” Record Store Day Retail industry HMV Zavvi Borders Alexandra Topping guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Prosecution would be a ‘significant step’ towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women’s group A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women’s groups and civil liberties organisations. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her. A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital. She was given treatment to counteract the poison and gave birth on New Year’s Eve, but her daughter, Angel, suffered seizures and died after four days. Shuai then had a second breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward, after which she left to stay with friends and began rebuilding her life. But in March she was arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide. She now faces life imprisonment. “This case has huge implications for pregnant women, not only in Indiana but across the country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?” Kolbi-Molinas said there had been an alarming rise in the number of such cases across the US. Some women’s groups put the rise down to pressure on prosecutors from anti-abortion groups. Shuai has been held in Marion County jail, Indianapolis, where she is segregated from other prisoners. She was last in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday but the judge, Sheila Carlisle, has not yet ruled whether she will be kept in custody. Carlisle is expected to begin hearing a motion for the case’s dismissal next month. Linda Pence, Shuai’s lawyer, described the decision to prosecute her as “horrible” and “outrageous”. She disputes the prosecution’s claim that the baby died from rat poison, saying that Shuai received a host of medicines at the hospital, many of which could have caused the death. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) group is helping to mount the defence. Kathrine Jack, a lawyer with the NAPW, who meets Shuai about once a week, said that after the initial suicide attempt, she had regained hope. “She has been on a rollercoaster,” said the lawyer, who argued that women such as Shuai should, rather than being locked up, receive medical and psychiatric help. Jack, who has been involved in dozens of similar cases where women were charged as a result of incidents while pregnant, said: “Prosecutions like this are increasing in the US and are a result of anti-abortion rhetoric and movements that seek to give the foetus rights above and beyond those of women. “If it was allowed to stand, it would not outlaw abortion right away but it would be a significant step along the way.” Dave Rimstidt, part of the prosecution team, said careful consideration had gone into the decision to charge Shuai. “This is a very unique case. Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we’ve charged the two charges we can prove,” he said. Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina are among states to have pressed ahead with cases involving pregnant women and their foetuses, most of which have related to women taking illegal drugs during pregnancy. Abortion Women United States Pregnancy Health Indiana Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecution would be a ‘significant step’ towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women’s group A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women’s groups and civil liberties organisations. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her. A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital. She was given treatment to counteract the poison and gave birth on New Year’s Eve, but her daughter, Angel, suffered seizures and died after four days. Shuai then had a second breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward, after which she left to stay with friends and began rebuilding her life. But in March she was arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide. She now faces life imprisonment. “This case has huge implications for pregnant women, not only in Indiana but across the country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?” Kolbi-Molinas said there had been an alarming rise in the number of such cases across the US. Some women’s groups put the rise down to pressure on prosecutors from anti-abortion groups. Shuai has been held in Marion County jail, Indianapolis, where she is segregated from other prisoners. She was last in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday but the judge, Sheila Carlisle, has not yet ruled whether she will be kept in custody. Carlisle is expected to begin hearing a motion for the case’s dismissal next month. Linda Pence, Shuai’s lawyer, described the decision to prosecute her as “horrible” and “outrageous”. She disputes the prosecution’s claim that the baby died from rat poison, saying that Shuai received a host of medicines at the hospital, many of which could have caused the death. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) group is helping to mount the defence. Kathrine Jack, a lawyer with the NAPW, who meets Shuai about once a week, said that after the initial suicide attempt, she had regained hope. “She has been on a rollercoaster,” said the lawyer, who argued that women such as Shuai should, rather than being locked up, receive medical and psychiatric help. Jack, who has been involved in dozens of similar cases where women were charged as a result of incidents while pregnant, said: “Prosecutions like this are increasing in the US and are a result of anti-abortion rhetoric and movements that seek to give the foetus rights above and beyond those of women. “If it was allowed to stand, it would not outlaw abortion right away but it would be a significant step along the way.” Dave Rimstidt, part of the prosecution team, said careful consideration had gone into the decision to charge Shuai. “This is a very unique case. Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we’ve charged the two charges we can prove,” he said. Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina are among states to have pressed ahead with cases involving pregnant women and their foetuses, most of which have related to women taking illegal drugs during pregnancy. Abortion Women United States Pregnancy Health Indiana Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecution would be a ‘significant step’ towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women’s group A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women’s groups and civil liberties organisations. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her. A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital. She was given treatment to counteract the poison and gave birth on New Year’s Eve, but her daughter, Angel, suffered seizures and died after four days. Shuai then had a second breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward, after which she left to stay with friends and began rebuilding her life. But in March she was arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide. She now faces life imprisonment. “This case has huge implications for pregnant women, not only in Indiana but across the country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?” Kolbi-Molinas said there had been an alarming rise in the number of such cases across the US. Some women’s groups put the rise down to pressure on prosecutors from anti-abortion groups. Shuai has been held in Marion County jail, Indianapolis, where she is segregated from other prisoners. She was last in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday but the judge, Sheila Carlisle, has not yet ruled whether she will be kept in custody. Carlisle is expected to begin hearing a motion for the case’s dismissal next month. Linda Pence, Shuai’s lawyer, described the decision to prosecute her as “horrible” and “outrageous”. She disputes the prosecution’s claim that the baby died from rat poison, saying that Shuai received a host of medicines at the hospital, many of which could have caused the death. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) group is helping to mount the defence. Kathrine Jack, a lawyer with the NAPW, who meets Shuai about once a week, said that after the initial suicide attempt, she had regained hope. “She has been on a rollercoaster,” said the lawyer, who argued that women such as Shuai should, rather than being locked up, receive medical and psychiatric help. Jack, who has been involved in dozens of similar cases where women were charged as a result of incidents while pregnant, said: “Prosecutions like this are increasing in the US and are a result of anti-abortion rhetoric and movements that seek to give the foetus rights above and beyond those of women. “If it was allowed to stand, it would not outlaw abortion right away but it would be a significant step along the way.” Dave Rimstidt, part of the prosecution team, said careful consideration had gone into the decision to charge Shuai. “This is a very unique case. Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we’ve charged the two charges we can prove,” he said. Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina are among states to have pressed ahead with cases involving pregnant women and their foetuses, most of which have related to women taking illegal drugs during pregnancy. Abortion Women United States Pregnancy Health Indiana Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecution would be a ‘significant step’ towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women’s group A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women’s groups and civil liberties organisations. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her. A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital. She was given treatment to counteract the poison and gave birth on New Year’s Eve, but her daughter, Angel, suffered seizures and died after four days. Shuai then had a second breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward, after which she left to stay with friends and began rebuilding her life. But in March she was arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide. She now faces life imprisonment. “This case has huge implications for pregnant women, not only in Indiana but across the country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?” Kolbi-Molinas said there had been an alarming rise in the number of such cases across the US. Some women’s groups put the rise down to pressure on prosecutors from anti-abortion groups. Shuai has been held in Marion County jail, Indianapolis, where she is segregated from other prisoners. She was last in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday but the judge, Sheila Carlisle, has not yet ruled whether she will be kept in custody. Carlisle is expected to begin hearing a motion for the case’s dismissal next month. Linda Pence, Shuai’s lawyer, described the decision to prosecute her as “horrible” and “outrageous”. She disputes the prosecution’s claim that the baby died from rat poison, saying that Shuai received a host of medicines at the hospital, many of which could have caused the death. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) group is helping to mount the defence. Kathrine Jack, a lawyer with the NAPW, who meets Shuai about once a week, said that after the initial suicide attempt, she had regained hope. “She has been on a rollercoaster,” said the lawyer, who argued that women such as Shuai should, rather than being locked up, receive medical and psychiatric help. Jack, who has been involved in dozens of similar cases where women were charged as a result of incidents while pregnant, said: “Prosecutions like this are increasing in the US and are a result of anti-abortion rhetoric and movements that seek to give the foetus rights above and beyond those of women. “If it was allowed to stand, it would not outlaw abortion right away but it would be a significant step along the way.” Dave Rimstidt, part of the prosecution team, said careful consideration had gone into the decision to charge Shuai. “This is a very unique case. Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we’ve charged the two charges we can prove,” he said. Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina are among states to have pressed ahead with cases involving pregnant women and their foetuses, most of which have related to women taking illegal drugs during pregnancy. Abortion Women United States Pregnancy Health Indiana Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Prosecution would be a ‘significant step’ towards abortion being outlawed, says lawyer for pregnant women’s group A woman accused of murdering her four-day-old baby girl by trying to kill herself with rat poison while pregnant has become a cause célèbre for US women’s groups and civil liberties organisations. Bei Bei Shuai, 34, a restaurant owner who moved to the US from China 10 years ago, was pregnant and planning to marry her boyfriend until she learned late last year that he was already married and he would be abandoning her. A few days later, on 23 December, she went to a hardware store, bought rat poison pellets, went back to her flat in Indianapolis and swallowed some. But she did not die immediately and was persuaded by friends to go to hospital. She was given treatment to counteract the poison and gave birth on New Year’s Eve, but her daughter, Angel, suffered seizures and died after four days. Shuai then had a second breakdown and spent a month in a psychiatric ward, after which she left to stay with friends and began rebuilding her life. But in March she was arrested and charged with murder and attempted foeticide. She now faces life imprisonment. “This case has huge implications for pregnant women, not only in Indiana but across the country,” said Alexa Kolbi-Molinas, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union. “If we allowed the state to put a woman in jail for anything that could pose a risk to her pregnancy, there would be nothing to stop the police putting in jail a woman who has a drink of wine or who smokes. So where do you draw the line?” Kolbi-Molinas said there had been an alarming rise in the number of such cases across the US. Some women’s groups put the rise down to pressure on prosecutors from anti-abortion groups. Shuai has been held in Marion County jail, Indianapolis, where she is segregated from other prisoners. She was last in court for a bail hearing on Wednesday but the judge, Sheila Carlisle, has not yet ruled whether she will be kept in custody. Carlisle is expected to begin hearing a motion for the case’s dismissal next month. Linda Pence, Shuai’s lawyer, described the decision to prosecute her as “horrible” and “outrageous”. She disputes the prosecution’s claim that the baby died from rat poison, saying that Shuai received a host of medicines at the hospital, many of which could have caused the death. The National Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW) group is helping to mount the defence. Kathrine Jack, a lawyer with the NAPW, who meets Shuai about once a week, said that after the initial suicide attempt, she had regained hope. “She has been on a rollercoaster,” said the lawyer, who argued that women such as Shuai should, rather than being locked up, receive medical and psychiatric help. Jack, who has been involved in dozens of similar cases where women were charged as a result of incidents while pregnant, said: “Prosecutions like this are increasing in the US and are a result of anti-abortion rhetoric and movements that seek to give the foetus rights above and beyond those of women. “If it was allowed to stand, it would not outlaw abortion right away but it would be a significant step along the way.” Dave Rimstidt, part of the prosecution team, said careful consideration had gone into the decision to charge Shuai. “This is a very unique case. Every charging decision is very difficult and goes through a process where we consider all the facts, all the circumstances, and under this situation, we believe we’ve charged the two charges we can prove,” he said. Utah, Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and South Carolina are among states to have pressed ahead with cases involving pregnant women and their foetuses, most of which have related to women taking illegal drugs during pregnancy. Abortion Women United States Pregnancy Health Indiana Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Is it really true that there’s no difference between cheap and expensive wines, or do some people just want to believe it? The “news” yesterday, that people don’t know slosh from sancerre when it comes to judging wine quality created widespread ferment. I contacted Richard Wiseman, the professor at the University of Hertfordshire who made the claims, to discuss them and ask how the tests were conducted. Apparently some 578 lucky visitors to this year’s Edinburgh International Science Festival were given two glasses of wine, told that one of them was cheap and the other expensive, and asked which was which. The findings showed that, with uncanny consistency, around half were right and half wrong for nearly all the wines. Wiseman originally said of these “remarkable” results: “People were unable to tell expensive from inexpensive wines, and so in these times of financial hardship, the message is clear – the inexpensive wines we tested taste the same as their expensive counterparts”. In fact, inasmuch as everybody was choosing between the two wines, precisely nobody was saying they tasted the same, and Wiseman concedes on reflection that that point doesn’t really stand up. One could further argue that what the findings show is that around half the respondents could tell the difference, but Wiseman’s extrapolation is that because 50% is the statistical probability, the same results could have been obtained by tossing a coin. I wondered whether there’s any point in comparing an immature vintage of an expensive claret, as the survey did, with a cheap generic bordeaux. The wine that isn’t ready yet will be rigid with tannin, and tasting hard and raw. Wiseman agreed, but said that most people don’t keep wines to let them mature anyway, which is of course true, but doesn’t in any way license the conclusion that the cheaper wine is the smarter option. It’s only the smarter option if you don’t drink the dearer wine at its best. But these conclusions speak of a more far-reaching cultural proclivity. It is deeply appealing to the British to believe that anything that smells like connoisseurship in matters of food and drink is probably horse poo. And so-called wine experts are the worst offenders of the lot. It can’t be denied that there is still a sediment of rank elitism about the wine business. When single bottles of the wines of Burgundy’s and Bordeaux’s most celebrated estates can sell for more than most people earn in a month, this is not a milieu noted for its inclusiveness. (But then neither is the luxury car market, or designer-label fashion.) A healthy suspicion of pretentiousness is what immunises the British from the rhapsodic flannel with which the French PR industry talks about its own wines. That cynicism, though, on the British side has its fatal weakness, in that it habitually encourages people to settle for mediocrity. There is a kind of dogged joylessness in wanting to believe that anything that claims to be better must be trying to put one over on you. Why pay £10 for a bottle of wine, Wiseman asks, when you won’t enjoy it any more than one that cost half that? Far from being a message of hope, this is a counsel of despair. Its roots reach back to the idol-smashing puritanism of the Cromwellian era, when a righteous hatred of the luxury and entitlement in which the aristocracy lived bred in us a morally tinged distrust of anything seen as a cut above. Class privilege is of course no less grotesque than it was when they lopped off the king’s head, but it has led to a confusion of quality-consciousness with arrogance. It led to the refusal of foreign food as ‘fancy’ in the post-war austerity years, when it was thought that moussaka was just a food snob’s term for shepherd’s pie. And, despite the enormous boom in wine consumption in the past 30 years, it has resulted in a firm belief that people who pay over the odds for a bottle are helpless suckers who can’t see beyond the label. “Alcohol is alcohol,” says one of the commenters on the Guardian’s news story about the Edinburgh survey, the implication being that you may as well settle for any old gut-rot as long as you get the result. There is a heartbreaking defeatism about this that Wiseman’s interpretation of his own findings does nothing to dispel. Wine Food & drink guardian.co.uk
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