Arab world and western ministers issued unanimous call for Gaddafi to step down, saying regime had ‘lost all legitimacy’ Muammar Gaddafi’s regime has “lost all legitimacy” and he must leave power to allow the Libyan people to determine their own future, the international community warned as it boosted support for opposition forces. After three weeks of Nato-led air strikes, Arab and western ministers meeting in Qatar closed ranks to issue a first unanimous call for Gaddafi to step down, boasting that they were “united and firm in their resolve” about the outcome of the crisis – or, at least, more than they were at the London conference late last month. But new signs emerged of disagreements over whether UN resolutions allowed the delivery of weapons to the Libyan rebels, with Qatar pushing hard on this highly sensitive issue. William Hague, the foreign secretary, and Qatar’s prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim, chaired a first session of the Libya “contact group” – comprising an unwieldy 21 countries and six international organisations – to explore ways out of the impasse between regime and opposition. Britain’s latest decision – to supply non-lethal body armour to the rebels – was due to be announced by David Cameron before a meeting with Nicolas Sarkozy in Paris. Under the plan 1,000 flak jackets from Ministry of Defence stores will be sent to opposition forces. Hague, however, sounded ambiguous about whether weapons could legally be supplied. “We understand the resolutions to mean that the arms embargo applies to the whole of Libya,” the foreign secretary said. “But in certain circumstances it is possible, consistent with those resolutions, to provide people with the means to defend the civilian population.” Other countries, he added, “will interpret the resolution in their own way”. Franco Frattini, Italy’s foreign minister, went further. “Either we make it possible for these people to defend themselves or we withdraw our claims of support,” he said. Hamad admitted that there were differences of interpretation but added: “Qatar will make things available for the Libyan people to defend themselves.” But Belgium insisted it would not countenance any move to arm the rebels. Plans for a “temporary financial mechanism” to channel cash to the Benghazi-based opposition were also discussed. Aid to eastern Libya would need to be consistent with UN sanctions, diplomats warned. But the ability to supply basic services would bolster the position and credibility of the Interim National Council. Disagreements surfaced over an Italian call to use frozen Libyan state assets to help the rebels. Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, highlighted the scale of the crisis when he told delegates that up to 3.6 million Libyans could need humanitarian assistance. Hague said that Nato’s “decisive action” had saved thousands of lives. But there were fresh signs of divisions over the military campaign, with the UK and France, which have conducted the bulk of the attack missions, pressing Italy and Belgium to take part in targeting Libyan forces. “We have sent more ground strike aircraft in order to protect civilians,” Hague said. “We do look to other countries to do the same.” The Libyan opposition also urged Nato to do more. “When the Americans were involved the mission was very active and it leant more toward protecting civilians,” said spokesman Mahmoud Shammam. Opposition officials were leaving later for the US to lobby the Obama administration. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Nato’s secretary general, defended the alliance’s record after its aircraft flew more than 2,000 sorties. But since its mandate was to protect civilians it had to be cautious. “We do our utmost to strike the right balance,” Rasmussen said. Allied strategy remains a combination of military pressure and hope that Gaddafi will suffer further damaging defections. “The aim is very clear,” said France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppé. “We must keep up a strong and robust military pressure to convince Gaddafi there is no way out.” International efforts on Libya shift to Cairo on Thursday when the UN’s Ban joins the Arab League secretary general Amr Moussa, African Union commission chairman Jean Ping and the EU’s foreign policy chief, Lady Ashton. That meeting is expected to discuss a Turkish “roadmap” for peace under which Gaddafi’s forces would withdraw from besieged cities such as Misrata. But that would evidently require the agreement of the government in Tripoli. Libya Middle East Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest William Hague Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Health secretary says sorry to nurses, and expresses his commitment to maintaining a healthy NHS Andrew Lansley coupled an apology to Britain’s nurses for failing to explain his health reforms with an impassioned statement of his commitment to the NHS. Hours after the Royal College of Nursing voted 99% in favour of a motion of no confidence in him at the RCN congress in Liverpool, the health secretary told nurses that he would have voted with them if he thought his plans would undermine the health service. “I did read what was said this morning and the result,” Lansley said shortly before holding a seminar with 60 nurses as part of the government’s “listening exercise” on the health and social care bill. “I’m sorry if what I’m setting out to do hasn’t communicated itself…Listening to the vote this morning, if I’ve not got that message across then I apologise.” The health secretary sought to underline his commitment by making clear that his only ambition in politics is to serve as health secretary. He said he had told the prime minister of this “publicly and privately”. Lansley’s appearance in Liverpool was the most high-profile event since David Cameron joined forces last week with Lansley and Nick Clegg to announce that the health and social care bill is to be put on hold for two months to allow for the listening exercise. Downing Street fears that Lansley’s failure to sell the reforms, which are designed to transfer commissioning powers from Primary Care Trusts to new GP-led consortiums by 2013, is jeopardising years of work in neutralising the NHS as an issue. Clegg must secure major changes to the bill to win over his party, which voted against the reforms at its spring conference last week. Lansley echoed the deputy prime minister’s call for substantive changes after addressing a meeting of charity health workers at Downing Street, hosted by the prime minister, before he travelled to Liverpool. He said: “Of course they’re substantive changes, because otherwise it would be trivial. We’re not here to do a trivial thing, we’re here to get it right.” It is understood that one of the “substantive changes” would be to give nurses places on the new GP-led consortiums. That has been a key demand of the RCN which represents nurses across Britain although the Lansley reforms only apply in England. But there are signs of tensions within the coalition. Clegg believes “substantive” changes means that the government should consider going beyond the framework outlined by Lansley. He said ministers would look to improve the transparency and accountability of the consortiums and would offer assurances that the government is not handing an unfair advantage to private companies bidding for NHS contracts. The deputy prime minister is under pressure from within his party to go much further. Norman Lamb, his senior parliamentary adviser, has threatened to resign unless “clusters” of Primary Care Trusts are maintained and GPs are given the right to opt in to the reforms. Lamb also called for the 2013 deadline to be abandoned. Clegg does not go along with all his demands. But he agrees that greater flexibility should be shown round the deadline. Lansley has not yet agreed to any relaxation in the deadline. He also agrees with Lamb’s call for an “opt-in” approach on the grounds that this would create a two-tier NHS. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, called for the bill to be abandoned as he warned that it would make the NHS subject to EU competition law, possibly leaving hospitals open to “huge fines” of up to 10% of their income. “This is a bill that starts with a wrong-headed ideology and has a whole series of proposals which haven’t been thought through,” he said. The row came as the King’s Fund published a report on patients’ chances of undergoing surgery for common medical conditions in England. It found last year rates of patient admission for routine operations, such as hip and knee replacements, varied wildly between England’s highest and lowest ranked trusts. John Appleby, chief economist at the King’s Fund, said: “This report confirms research over decades, both in the UK and internationally, which has shown persistent and unwarranted variations in use of and access to even the most common surgical procedures. This is unfair to patients and inefficient for the NHS. Remedying this is urgent given the need to improve quality of care while the NHS grapples with the biggest financial challenge in its history.” Health policy Health Andrew Lansley Public sector cuts Public services policy Public finance Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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Spokesman says future princess became full member of Church of England in private service at St James’s Palace She probably didn’t need to do it, but when one is about to marry a chap who will one day become Defender of the Faith, it is probably just as well to tick all the boxes: Clarence House has announced that Kate Middleton was confirmed last month by the bishop of London into full membership of the Church of England. Middleton’s confirmation at a private service – she had already been christened into the CofE as a child – serves to dot the Is and cross the Ts of her allegiance to an institution in which she will inevitably spend a lot of time in coming years, especially when Prince William eventually becomes its supreme governor. A royal spokesman said: “Catherine Middleton was confirmed by the bishop of London at a private service at St James’s Palace attended by her family and Prince William. Miss Middleton, who was already baptised, decided to be confirmed as part of her marriage preparations.” It also, perhaps, serves the useful purpose of preventing any unpleasantness in due course over the succession by proving beyond doubt that she does not fall foul of the 1701 Act of Settlement that bars Roman Catholics – though not members of other religions not considered so subversive in the 18th century – from marrying heirs to the throne. Nevertheless, the move left the Church of England’s own spokesmen scratching their heads about the doctrinal implications. “Confirmation is a formal recognition of full membership of the Church of England, but we’re not really a membership organisation,” said one. The Rt Rev Richard Chartres, the bishop of London, the cleric closest to the royal family who will preach at the wedding in a fortnight, also confirmed Prince William, in 1997 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Royal wedding Kate Middleton Monarchy Anglicanism Religion Christianity Stephen Bates guardian.co.uk
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Ex-president also formally held in Sharm el-Sheikh hospital under suspicion of corruption The barbed wire fences and forbidding high walls became a horrifyingly familiar sight to those who dared speak out over the past three decades; for many of the thousands who passed through Cairo’s Tora prison complex and were tortured within it, this notorious jail was the ultimate symbol of Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt. On Wednesday, as it has done so many times before, Tora received two more prisoners accused of crimes against the state. Their names were Gamal and Alaa Mubarak, sons of the ousted president, and they arrived in the early hours, handcuffed and clad in standard-issue white jumpsuits. Egypt’s remarkable revolution has boasted many poignant moments, but the sight of the all-powerful Mubarak family being led into the top-security cells which once housed their political opponents will count among the most memorable. The incarceration of the Mubarak brothers came as their father, the western-backed dictator whose grip over Egypt seemed only a few months ago to be impregnable, was formally placed in detention at his hospital bed in Sharm el-Sheikh, under suspicion of corruption, fraud and ordering the killing of peaceful protesters. Egyptians have become accustomed to old realities being turned upside down, but as celebrations erupted over the arrest of this former political giant of the Middle East, questions were being raised about what comes next, and how the arrest will affect the volatile landscape of Egyptian politics as the nation shudders towards democracy. Investigators have 15 days to question the 82-year-old and his sons, before prosecutors decide whether to bring charges and force the Mubarak family into the dock. A number of former Mubarak ministers and officials have been through the same process, and in every case a 15-day detention order has been the prelude to the suspect being remanded in custody prior to a formal trial. “I seriously doubt that after all this the Mubaraks will be released,” said Ragia Omran, a human rights lawyer and pro-change activist. “There’s been a lot of anger in the Egyptian street over the demands of the revolution not being met, and the ruling generals have arrested the Mubaraks in an effort to calm the people. To let them go now would be political suicide.” The three men are all due for questioning on Thursday at the prosecutor’s office in Cairo’s Fifth Settlement suburb, though a medical committee will assess Hosni Mubarak first to determine whether he is fit to travel following a reported heart attack. If deemed well enough, the former leader is expected to be transferred to a secure medical facility in the capital. Interrogations are likely to focus on the origin and whereabouts of the Mubarak family’s vast wealth, which has been estimated at anything between $1bn and a wildly improbable $700bn. Last week a document emerged from the office of Egypt’s prosecutor general entitled “request for judicial assistance”, which detailed a series of accusations against the Mubaraks regarding their alleged embezzlement of public money – claims denied by Hosni Mubarak during a TV statement aired on Sunday. The US and other countries have agreed to try to track and freeze Mubarak family assets but legal experts are sceptical of their chances, particularly because of the length of time that elapsed between the president being toppled and Egypt’s interim government formally requesting an asset freeze. Mubarak and his sons will also have to answer questions regarding the violence meted out by the state against unarmed protesters during Egypt’s 18-day uprising, which left up to 800 dead and thousands more injured. Mubarak’s former interior minister, Habib al-Adly, is already on trial for ordering the shooting of civilians during demonstrations, a charge he denies. The arrest of Mubarak has been a key demand of protesters since his fall two months ago. Simmering tensions between revolutionaries and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, a military body that has in effect been ruling Egypt by decree until elections are held later this year, bubbled over last week when military police stormed a rally in Tahrir Square, killing two civilians. Many analysts believe that the latest moves against the Mubarak family are a politicised bid to mollify angry demonstrators, who have recently shifted their attention to the titular head of the military, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, a long-serving Mubarak-era minister. “In recent days, we’ve seen explicit calls for Tantawi to be removed, and it is clear that for the military that crosses a red line,” said Samer Shehata, assistant professor of Arab politics at Georgetown University. “Tantawi and other members of the supreme council have been clear beneficiaries of the regime and Tantawi himself was a poodle, completely subservient to Mubarak. So this move against the father and the two sons is a response to public anger and it will go some way to quelling the dissatisfaction of the protesters. People want these men interrogated and brought to justice – for reasons of accountability, but also for reasons of mischief-making and counter-revolution.” But despite their jubilation at the Mubaraks’ incarceration, pro-change activists told the Guardian the latest developments had merely emboldened them to keep up the pressure on interim authorities. “I’m sad that this is only happening due to our actions on the street, and not for reasons relating to justice,” said Amr Gharbeia, who was charged with libel under the Mubarak regime. “It demonstrates the needs for us to keep up the pressure on the military council, forcing it to take the kind of action it should be taking if it really considers itself the ‘guardian of the revolution’ and wants to lead us through to elections.” Ahmed Salah, a veteran anti-government campaigner, agreed. “I’ve been jumping around since early morning with this crazy news – but we’re still not allowing ourselves to get comfortable, because this development was only achieved through a lot of pressure and a lot of sacrifices. People were killed by the military before they could see this happen. If we stop now, we could lose everything. How many people must die before this whole regime is taken apart and put in court, and we can achieve our freedom? This is the question that the military council must now answer.” All eyes now will be on the response in Saudi Arabia, where the monarchy has lobbied hard in Cairo and Washington against Mubarak being put on trial. “There continues to be a major regional element to all this; from the very beginning Saudi Arabia – along with Israel – had been pushing for Mubarak to retain power, and then after he fell for him not be charged. They don’t want to see an Arab head of state held accountable in this way, and have issued thinly veiled threats as to what might happen if he is charged. They are a major source of reaction in the region.” Egypt Hosni Mubarak Middle East Jack Shenker guardian.co.uk
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Susan Manning calls on British foreign secretary to check her son’s physical and mental health in maximum security custody The mother of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of leaking data to WikiLeaks, has written to William Hague asking for British consular officials to visit him in military prison to check on his physical and mental health, which she said was deteriorating. Manning, 23, has been in custody since last May in conditions that have provoked widespread criticism of the US military and government. He is held alone in a maximum security cell for 23 hours a day and stripped naked each night apart from a smock. Manning does not have a British passport or consider himself British, his lawyer has said, but because his mother, Susan, is Welsh, the soldier is “British by descent”, the Foreign Office confirmed this month. In her letter, Susan Manning wrote that she visited her son in Quantico marine base in Virginia in February, travelling with her sister, Bradley’s aunt and his uncle, “but they were not allowed to see Bradley. “I was very distressed by seeing Bradley. Being in prison, and being held in the conditions which he is, is having a damaging effect on him physically and mentally. I am worried that his condition is getting worse. I would like someone to visit him who can check on his conditions. If Bradley’s being a British national means that someone from the British embassy can visit him, then I would like to ask if you can make that happen. I do not believe that Bradley is in a position to be able to request this himself, so I am asking as his mother on his behalf.” Susan Manning, who divorced Bradley’s American father, Brian, when her son was a teenager, also asked Hague for consular support on her own behalf. “If I try [to] visit Bradley again, can someone from the British embassy help me and other members of Bradley’s family to deal with the US marine authorities and help with any other arrangements we have to make?” The UN special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, issued a rare reprimand to the US government this week for failing to allow him private access to the soldier. Manning can meet Mendez only in the presence of a guard, where the soldier’s comments could be used against him in future court martial proceedings. Mendez said he was acting on a complaint “that the regimen of this detainee amounts to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or torture. Until I have all the evidence in front of me, I cannot say whether he has been treated inhumanely”. The Pentagon denied this week he was kept in solitary confinement. Manning is accused of leaking confidential data, including more than 250,000 diplomatic cables, to WikiLeaks, on charges that include “aiding the enemy”, a capital crime. On 4 April the Foreign Office minister Henry Bellingham said the British embassy in Washington had expressed MPs’ concerns about the soldier’s treatment to the Obama administration and would do so again. “All people who are detained in custody deserve to be treated in detention according to the highest international standards, and we certainly expect nothing less from the United States.” With relation to Manning’s nationality, he said: “We must respect his wishes on the matter and recognise the limitations on UK involvement,” while noting that the government had not at that point had any requests for help from the British side of his family. The Foreign Office confirmed the foreign secretary’s office had received the letter, and said: “We will carefully consider Mrs Manning’s letter and will reply to her shortly.” Bradley Manning United Nations US politics United States William Hague US military WikiLeaks Foreign policy Esther Addley guardian.co.uk
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President’s 12-year plan to reduce budget deficit includes curbs on defence spending and Medicare reforms Barack Obama has set the stage for a new and bigger budget showdown with the Republicans, proposing a staggering $4 trillion (£2.4tn) in spending cuts over the next 12 years aimed at reducing America’s runaway deficit. Although the cut is enormous, it still falls well short of the $6.2tn the Republicans are demanding. The battle is set to dwarf last week’s 2012 budget row that came within an hour of seeing the federal government shut down. The size of the deficit, more than $14tn, is one of the biggest political issues in the US, especially with the country in hock to China, which has accumulated a horde of dollars. The deficit was one of the main reasons for the rise of the Tea Party movement and contributed to the Republican victory in last November’s congressional elections. Obama has proposed to tackle the deficit by curbing defence spending and ending tax breaks introduced by George W Bush for wealthy Americans – those earning more than $250,000 a year. In a move that will anger the Democratic base, Obama is also suggesting further cuts in the deficit would come from reforms to Medicaid, which provides basic health provision for the poor, and Medicare, which provides health care for those over 65. The president, who set out his proposals in a speech at George Washington University in DC, blamed Bush for the deficit. He said it has been known for decades that the baby boomers reaching retirement age would put a strain on health and social security at this time. Bill Clinton had left a balanced budget and the burgeoning deficit had been a consequence of the Bush era, Obama said. “We increased spending dramatically for two wars and an expensive prescription drug programme, but we didn’t pay for any of this new spending. Instead, we made the problem worse with trillions of dollars in unpaid-for tax cuts: tax cuts that went to every millionaire and billionaire in the country; tax cuts that will force us to borrow an average of $500bn every year over the next decade,” Obama said. He added: “Even after our economy recovers, our government will still be on track to spend more money than it takes in throughout this decade and beyond. That means we’ll have to keep borrowing more from countries like China. And that means more of your tax dollars will go toward paying off the interest on all the loans we keep taking out. By the end of this decade, the interest we owe on our debt could rise to nearly $1tn.” The Republicans, after meeting Obama at the White House , said they are opposed to ending the Bush tax breaks. They also want deep cuts in Medicaid and Medicare. “It is time to act,” said the Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. “We don’t believe a lack of revenue is part of the problem, so we will not be discussing raising taxes.” The vice-president, Joe Biden, is to begin regular meetings with Republican and Democrat congressional leaders next month and Obama said the aim was to reach a final agreement on a plan to reduce the deficit by the end of June. The focal point in the next few weeks is the raising of the country’s debt limit above $14.3tn. Normally this would be a technical move that would be voted through without much bother but it has become entangled in the battle over spending. If this is not agreed by the Republicans, the country would be temporarily bankrupt, whoch would be embarrasing for Obama and would have implications for economies round the world. The deadline is 16 May. Republican leaders said that if Obama did not agree to major debt cuts, they would not vote through the rise in in the debt ceiling from $14.3tn. The Republicans, who have a majority in the House of Representatives, are scheduled to pass a bill later this week to cut $6.2tn over the next decade without raising taxes. But it has no chance of getting through the Senate, where the Democrats have a majority. Even if it did, Obama could use his presidential veto to block it. The battle over the deficit has consequences not only for the US as it stumbles out of recession but other economies round the world. Democrats warn that the spending cuts being advocated by the Republicans would send the country back into recession. The fight last week was over the remaining six months of this year’s budget and involved only $38bn in cuts compared to the trillions at stake over the coming weeks and months. Obama’s problems are not confined to the Republicans. Many Democrats in Congress and outside, mainly the volunteers who helped get him elected in 2008, object even to the $4tn in spending cuts, and any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Two left-wing groups that campaigned for him last time are threatening to withhold funds next year. Some economists and political scientists also raise what they see as the danger of Republican cuts slowing or even reversing America’s climb out off recession. Thomas Ferguson, professor of politics at the University of Massachusetts, said there was a danger of repeating the mistakes of the Great Depression by chopping spending. “The US would surely take a rather large plunge. They will get Ireland and Greece outcomes. You will crater the US economy if you were to enact the [Republican] bill,” Ferguson said. US domestic policy Obama administration US economy US taxation Democrats Republicans US healthcare US politics United States Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media It’s not very often that I get to know the person that Blue America PAC is endorsing for Congress years before they actually decide to run, but that’s the case here as I now welcome Norman Solomon to the Blue America and Progressive communities and wholeheartedly put my support behind his campaign. I’m really pleased that he’s coming here to help launch his fight to represent the true left when it comes to matters like the vast war machine and the many unnecessary nuclear energy power plants that our country’s elites has embraced. We meet in 2007 for coffee after he released his book entitled Made Love Got War, which is an autobiographical look at his life’s work and that’s when I found out that he’s a very serious and principled man who has a history of standing up to the military industrial complex along with the nuclear power juggernaut and who stands strong with all working class Americans. (Please donate to his campaign here. ) Unfortunately we are witnessing in real time the agonies that Japan is facing after suffering an 9.0 earthquake followed by a massive tsunami followed by severe aftershocks and power losses which has wreaked havoc to their Fukushima nuclear plant to the point where it’s now at least on par with the great disaster in Chernobyl. There’s an outcry from Japan now because many people feel that the government has been hiding the facts from them, while media elites in our country try to tell Americans that nuclear power is so nice and cozy and safe and we shouldn’t worry. Even as we speak, Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant Seeks 20-Year Extension in California. No shock there, right? He’s also been outspoken against needless and endless wars, supports a woman’s right to choose and equal rights’s for the LGBT community so what’s not to like?. Norman has all the qualities that make up a great progressive candidate from Marin/Sonoma county. The right kind of Progressive candidate. The candidate that will buck the party system and fight for real progressive values and will be an outspoken leader on these issues. He’s not just a cookie cutter politician that bows down to the party leadership. He’s independent minded in a good way, but will not compromise his values. Here’s some of his accomplishments from his About Norman Solomon page on his website: *Co-Chair of the Commission on a Green New Deal for North Bay *Organized and went on three missions to Baghdad prior to the invasion of Iraq seeking alternatives to war. *Health-care Not Warfare National Co-Chair (with Congressman John Conyers and Donna Smith of the California Nurses Association *Recipient of numerous awards including the George Orwell Award for Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language, and the Annual Ruben Salazar Journalism Award *From 1997 to 2010, as founder and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, oversaw policy research and liaison with thousands of experts on global warming, foreign policy, labor rights, “welfare reform,” economic equity, lax enforcement of federal regulations, civil liberties and a wide range of other topics related to federal, state and local government policies nationwide *One of the lone voices on national television against invading Iraq before the start of the Iraq war in early 2003, appearing on CNN and other major TV networks more than a dozen times to argue for diplomacy instead of a U.S. attack *Co-chair of the state Democratic Party’s Progressive Caucus foreign policy committee *Organized and went on fact-finding trip to Afghanistan in 2009 *The New York Times Magazine has called him “a leading progressive activist.” The Los Angeles Times has called him “a formidable thinker and activist.” That’s a tremendous record of achievements so please join us in welcoming to C&L and Blue America PAC, Norman Solomon. Please don’t forget donate to his campaign at our Blue America act blue page here . He’ll need your help to win this race.
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Pathologist tells inquest he found no physical evidence shove caused death but stress could aggravate heart condition The stress caused by Ian Tomlinson being shoved to the ground by a police officer during the G20 protests could have triggered a heart attack, pathologist Freddy Patel has told an inquest. Patel, who concluded in a postmortem that the newspaper seller died of a heart attack, said it was “well recognised” that a stressful trauma could aggravate a heart condition. But he had found no physical evidence that this had caused the death, which he attributed to natural causes. Tomlinson, 47, collapsed and died near the Bank of England on 1
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Will you be watching the parade of no-hopers, exceptionally talented ordinary folk, cherubic children and dancing dogs? Britain’s Got Talent in pictures Fans of Britain’s Got Talent can rest easy. Simon Cowell might not be on it anymore (at least not until the final week’s live shows) but the recipe remains the same – dancing dogs, cherubic children, and hilarious no-hopers who presumably know better but recognise a chance to get on TV when they see one. Watching the opening episode of the fifth series, which begins on ITV1 on Saturday, it was hard not to think of two things. One – when will it all end? And two – doesn’t the law of diminishing returns apply to this sort of thing? I only mention this after the first episode opened with a 45-year-old woman doing a chicken dance while blowing tunelessly into a harmonica. Great stuff. Next! There are four categories of contestant on Britain’s Got Talent: no-hopers who turn out to be just that (see above), ordinary-looking folk who turn out to have an exceptional talent (Susan Boyle), children and dogs. How often can this formula be recycled? Lots, reckons ITV, although the audience for last year’s final failed to hit the extraordinary heights of the Boyle-inspired series in 2009. What about this time around? Everyone’s on the lookout for the new Susan Boyle, of course, and the first episode suggested they might have found one. IT engineer Michael Collins, 19, sounded suitably unpromising. Dressed as if he was about to get on a long-haul flight on Easyjet (copyright Amanda Holden/Michael McIntyre) he explained that his fiancee was expecting a baby (“It wasn’t planned”) and he had proposed to her in an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet. But in BGT land, gormless invariably equals genius and – guess what? – Collins had them eating out of the back of his guitar. You might well have thought the same of the 53-year-old telecoms engineer from Kendall, the 31-year-old financial analyst who pretended to be a dolphin and the husband and wife bell-ringing act who looked like extras from John Carpenter horror flick Halloween and who – well, that’s enough spoilers for now. But who are the judges tipping to win? Holden chose a young singer but was reluctant to say whether it was a boy or a girl. McIntyre, however, rather gave it away. “At the moment it’s the boy. Er, the boy or a girl!”, while Hasselhoff chose a dancer who “has a handicap and is unbelievable”. McIntyre, introduced by ITV as “one of the funniest men in Britain” almost lived up to the billing and was about 30 times more human than Piers Morgan ever managed. But beyond the obvious novelty factor Hasselhoff may have well have put on his red trunks and run across the stage for all he added (in this first episode at least). But forget about Baywatch – please – is Britain’s Got Talent still must-watch TV? Britain’s Got Talent Television Entertainment Television industry ITV ITV1 John Plunkett guardian.co.uk
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• Hit refresh or the auto-update button for the latest posts • Send your thoughts to paul.doyle@guardian.co.uk • Look in on live coverage of Schalke v Inter here • And follow all tonight’s live scores from games elsewhere Crouchian turmoil: “There had better not be any shots of Peter Crouch looking on from a comfy seat tonight, while his team-mates try to deal with the ramifications from his first leg idiocy,” fulminates Steven Hughes. “Two goals at home against Stoke City in the meantime should still leave the ice well and truly uncut. Crouch should watch this game from within a set of stocks while wearing one of those beanie hats that have the little propeller on the top.” Team talk: It seems that the Special One is still sufficiently wary of Spurs to include four of the players who are on yellow cards and, therefore, at risk of incurring a suspension that would rule them out of the first-leg of the semi-final against Barcelona. Carvalho would be a particularly damaging absentee … and if particularly likely to incur a booking. As for Spurs, good to see Huddlestone back in action from the start; he’s the closest thing Spurs have to Xabi Alonso. And Pavlyuchenko is, in my opinion, the closest thing they have to a dangerous striker. He should always start against Crouch, especially in the Premier League. Preamble: Around about 3am this morning – the witching hour! – Harry Redknapp crept out of bed, donned a dark cloak and summoned his players to gather around a Ouija board. Or a crop circle. Or a fairy ring. Possibly in a cemetery, an inexplicably abandoned mansion or in the middle of a forest near a group of teenage American campers who’ve blithely ignored all forebodings about venturing there. Because Harry, you see, is desperate for a paranormal experience: only a supernatural happening can rescue Tottenham from Champions League elimination tonight. The thing is, in this competition the Special One tends to have a monopoly on phenomena. And chances are not only will Real preserve their lead from the first-leg, they will – given how badly Spurs defended in the first leg (two goals from corners, another from a goalkeeper blunder) – they will probably extend it and end a run that is quite freakish for a club of their stature: Real have not won a Champions League knock-out match on foreign soil since 2000. Teams: Spurs: Gomes; Corluka, Gallas, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon (subject to verification at kick-off), Huddlestone, Modric, Bale; Van der Vaart; Pavlyuchenko Subs: Cudicini, Kaboul, Jenas, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Sandro Real: Casillas; Sergio Ramos, Carvalho, Albiol, Arbeloa; Khedira, Xabi Alonso; Ronaldo, Ozil, Marcelo; Adebayor Subs: Adan, Kaka, Benzema, Granero, Garay, Higuain, Di Maria Ref: N Rizzoli (Ita) Champions League Tottenham Hotspur Real Madrid Paul Doyle guardian.co.uk
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