Self-published author Jacqueline Howett’s online meltdown after a poor review quickly went viral, proving the internet has finally removed the line in the sand between reviewers and authors Writers, said the science fiction author Isaac Asimov, fall into two groups: “Those who bleed copiously and visibly at any bad review, and those who bleed copiously and secretly at any bad review.” Jacqueline Howett falls into the former category. Her now-infamous online outburst against a two-star review of her self-published novel The Greek Seaman on Big Al’s Books and Pals , a website devoted to reviewing the output of the independent presses, is less “bleeding visibly”, more an out-and-out gorefest. But Howett can perhaps take comfort amid the opprobrium flung her way from the fact that more successful authors are not immune to such outbursts. Authors frequently bite back, and it is rarely pretty. Just this week, in fact, there has been much to-ing and fro-ing in the Irish Times, following literary editor Eileen Battersby’s review on Saturday of Dermot Healey’s Long Time, No See . Battersby calls Healey’s book “difficult; it is slow moving and complacent, and at times dangerously relaxed, lacking the urgency of his life’s achievement to date, A Goat’s Song.” She goes on to opine that the author has “attempted to write a young man’s book. It doesn’t quite work.” On this occasion, it wasn’t Healey who bit back on this occasion, but a correspondent named Eugene McCabe, who took issue with the review and turned his ire on the reviewer herself, saying he has taken a ghost story of Battersby’s published in the Irish Times, which he calls “stunningly bad”, and “used it in a workshop as an example of how to avoid writing ‘Shite and onions’.” Today, though, the pendulum swung back again, with the novelist John Banville leaping to Battersby’s defence against McCabe’s rather tremendous Joycean epithet, calling it an “ad hominem and scatological assault”. But all this was rather civilised, really, when you compare it with Howett’s gleefully-tweeted meltdown. Big Al did not get on well with The Greek Seaman, which he summarises thus: “An eighteen-year-old newlywed finds herself on a romantic adventure when she goes to sea with her sailor husband on a large cargo ship. However, the ship owner and captain have plans that could disrupt her wedded bliss.” The review, posted last Wednesday, starts promisingly enough: “If you read The Greek Seaman from the start until you click next page for the last time I think you’ll find the story compelling and interesting.” But Big Al goes on: “However, odds of making that final click are slim. One reason is the spelling and grammar errors, which come so quickly that, especially in the first several chapters, it’s difficult to get into the book without being jarred back to reality as you attempt unraveling what the author meant.” And he finally awards the book two stars. Disappointing for Howett, you would imagine. You would be right. Internet reviews being what they are, it’s easy for an author to respond directly to their critic should they choose not to be one of Asimov’s secret bleeders – and Howett did so, all guns blazing. Her major beef seems to be that Big Al read the wrong version of the book, when she had asked him to download a “cleaner” copy. “You obviously didn’t read the second clean copy I requested you download,” she says, “so this is a very unfair review. My Amazon readers/reviewers give it 5 stars and 4 stars and they say they really enjoyed The Greek Seaman and thought it was well written. Maybe its just my style and being English is what you don’t get. Sorry it wasn’t your cup of tea, but I think I will stick to my five star and four star reviews thanks.” And there it might have ended – had Howett not been unable to resist the lure of the comment box. She posts some of her Amazon reviews, to which Big Al responds by quoting a couple of choice lines from the book – including “Don and Katy watched hypnotically Gino place more coffees out at another table with supreme balance.” Howett goes ballistic. She says: “Look AL, I’m not in the mood for playing snake with you, what I read above has no flaws. My writing is fine.” And: “Besides if you want to throw crap at authors you should first ask their permission if they want it stuck up on the internet.” And: “You are a big rat and a snake with poisenous (SIC) venom. Lots of luck to authors who come here and slip in that!” Of course, by the time other people have weighed in, linked to the row on their own blogs, and tweeted the exchange – well. Howett is enjoying a brief moment of internet fame, but it’s only tangentially for The Greek Seaman. Reviewing’s a tough business, and reading reviews of your own work is even tougher. But the traditional line in the sand between a print reviewer and an author – which necessitates taking time to sit down and pen a response, time during which the author will generally come to their senses and decide to take the criticism on the chin – have been wiped out by the internet’s immediacy. Howett won’t be the last to respond – and she certainly isn’t the first. In 2009, Alain de Botton logged on to a critic’s blog to denounce a review of his The Pleasures of Sorrows and Work in the New York Times, “driven by an almost manic desire to bad-mouth”. Round about the same time, novelist Alice Hoffman tweeted that a Boston Globe critic was “a moron” for his bad review of her The Story Sisters. While it’s too late for Howett to learn from these high-profile meltdowns, perhaps she will take on board Big Al’s comments. Perhaps next time she’ll sit on her hands and count to 100 the next time she reads a bad review. Perhaps she’ll adopt Iris Murdoch’s philosophical line on reviews: “A bad review is even less important than whether it is raining in Patagonia.” Or, given Howett’s final posting to the Big Al blog just before comments were closed on the thread, perhaps not. Fiction Internet David Barnett guardian.co.uk
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Some movie clips … one unifying theme … The Usual Suspects … The Sixth Sense … now you get it! Damn you! Aristotle called it anagnorisis , that moment where the protagonist in a drama suddenly twigs what’s been going on this whole time. He identified the famous scene in Oedipus Rex , where the young king realises he’s killed his father and had sex with his mother, as the most perfect example of this in action. There’s also the bit at the end of every episode of Scooby Doo where the ghost is revealed to have been that kindly old janitor all along. When they’re done well, these epiphany scenes can be genuinely amazing, pulling the rug from under the audience’s feet and ensuring that films like The Usual Suspects and The Sixth Sense are talked about for years to come. They also give an actor the opportunity to show off their “sudden realisation face” which is always nice to see: “So, it’s just dawned on you that the entire movie is taking place inside someone else’s dream and you’re actually your own father … OK, action!” Here are five of my favourite examples of big-screen epiphanies. (Obviously, if you haven’t seen any of these films yet, you probably shouldn’t watch the clip as it will pretty much ruin it for you …) 1) The classic movie epiphany from Planet of the Apes. Charlton Heston stares in horror at the ruins of the Statue of Liberty and realises they’ve made a monkey out of him (see what I did there?) 2) Amazing scene at the end of Angel Heart . As Mickey Rourke stands over the body of Epiphany Proudfoot, he realises that his soul is destined for hell. 3) Although I can’t watch this Sixth Sense scene any more without thinking of this . 4) “Oh bladdy ‘ell!” Brenda Blethyn showing how she’s one of the all-time great British actors in Secrets and Lies. And with German subtitles as a bonus! 5) Very, very clever. I’d like to see Keyser Söze try to devise a cover story from the items on my notice board. It would make for a very different film indeed, mainly revolving around unpaid EDF Energy bills. Last week on Clip joint John Carvill sought out the most touching clips of facial stroking . Here are his picks: 1) OverThereByTheDoor brought us face to face with Clint Eastwood’s enigmatic beard-stroking in A Fistful of Dollars . 2) Mansellto was first to put his finger on Jean-Paul Belmondo’s postmodern Bogart-aping lip-rub in A Bout De Souffle . 3) ExplorationStaircase was right on the nose with this sterling display of ensemble face-touching in A Woman Under the Influence . 4) The shodfather made sure the clip-hungry weren’t living hand-to-mouth, by reminding us of Marlon Brando’s effortlessly expressive face-fondling in The Godfather. 5) But the winner, by a nose, had to be Milopotas for fingering Michael Madsen’s demonstration that even tough guys need to get in touch with their facial feelings now and then, in Reservoir Dogs. Clip Joint is changing. From May we’ll be transferring commissioning (as well as writing) power to you, the readers. So please hold off on pitching any Clip Joint topics until then. Matt Harvey guardian.co.uk
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IT contractor angry after being blamed for the entire BBC website network going offline for an hour Hours after a “faulty switch” took the entire BBC website network offline for an hour on Tuesday night, a row has broken out between the corporation and its IT contractor, Siemens. The BBC News site reported the outage on Wednesday morning, quoting an internal security bulletin sent to corporation staff by Siemens explaining the cause of the disruption. The BBC article – which has now been amended to remove all reference to Siemens – paraphrased the memo as: “Or, in layman’s terms, they turned it off and back on again.” Siemens executives are understood to have been furious the internal email was published. Choice quotes from the email, which has been seen by MediaGuardian.co.uk, have been replaced by comment from Richard Cooper , the BBC’s controller of digital distribution. The offending email sent by Siemens to BBC staff on Wednesday morning said: “Cause of issue: Faulty Switch … Services Impacted: Everything.” It adds: “Siemens network engineers remotely powered down equipment at a second Internet connection at Telehouse Docklands. This got things back up and running again. “They then isolated the core router in Telehouse Docklands, and restored power to it. Once power was restored and the router was running in a satisfactory way, they reconnected to the internet and BBC networks in a controlled manner. Further investigations are ongoing to identify the root cause of this fault.” Siemens’ £1.9bn contract with the BBC is thought to be coming to an end. The German engineering giant won the contract after acquiring the corporation’s IT unit , BBC Technology, in 2004. The BBC’s decision to sell its technology arm to Siemens was heavily criticised at the time. A report published in 2007 by the House of Commons’ public accounts committee said BBC management omitted millions of pounds of hidden costs when encouraging the board of governors to approve the sale in 2004. Last March, the BBC narrowly averted industrial action by Siemens staff after offering a revised pay plan. Siemens staff working on the BBC contract were balloted for industrial action by the broadcasters’ union Bectu over a pay freeze. The deal came after more than 70 redundancies were made among staff working on the BBC contract. Steve Herrmann, editor of the BBC News website, explained the outage on the broadcaster’s editors blog: “Last night, just before midnight, there was a thankfully rare event: a total outage of all BBC websites. We’re still investigating precisely what happened, but as I said last night, I promised to keep you updated as we find out more.” The routers which direct people to the site had failed, Herrman explained. He added: “Normally this would not cause any problems as we plan for events like this and run backup equipment. “But, in an unusual turn of events, these also failed meaning that the whole of BBC Online became unavailable. A number of internal services were also affected.” • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook BBC Digital media Internet Josh Halliday guardian.co.uk
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Syria’s president makes first public address since protests erupted two weeks ago and after sacking cabinet President Bashar al-Assad has blamed the wave of protests sweeping his country on “conspirators” who are trying to destroy Syria in his first public address since the demonstrations erupted nearly two weeks ago. As he entered parliament for the speech, legislators chanted: “God, Syria and Bashar only!” and, “Our souls, our blood we sacrifice for you Bashar.” The speech is seen as a crucial test for his leadership and one that may determine Syria’s future. Assad said security forces were given “clear instructions” not to harm citizens during the protests. Human rights groups say more than 60 people have been killed since 18 March in a crackdown on the protests. The coming days will be key to determining whether Assad’s concessions will calm the protest movement, which started after security forces arrested several teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall in the impoverished city of Deraa in the south. Assad is also expected to announce constitutional amendments and sweeping reforms, including an end to nearly 50 years of widely despised emergency laws that give the regime a free hand to arrest people without charges. On Tuesday, Assad fired his cabinet in another move designed to pacify the anti-government protesters. Syria Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Protest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …David Gregory: Aren’t Republican Opponents of Obama’s Libya Policy Feckless and Inconsistent?
March 30, 2011 No Comment
When Democrats opposed war in Iraq, they were often presented by the networks as principled statesmen. But on Meet the Press Sunday, NBC host David Gregory asked Ted Koppel to suggest Republican opponents of Obama's Libya actions are
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Once again, in the case of Delroy Grant, the public seems unable to accept the idea that rape has nothing to do with desirability As the bafflingly tenacious power of religion proves, humans like stories that help them make sense of the world, even if the stories themselves make not a jot of sense. The belief that life is part of a divine plan in which one’s fate will be what one deserves will always hold more allure than the idea that life is just a series of random incidents with no guarantee of a happy ending, no matter how good a person you are. This inability of humankind to bear very much reality explains how one clearly ridiculous story still has a purchase on the public imagination: that rape has something to do with desirability. The terrible story of Delroy Grant, the serial sex attacker who was given life imprisonment last week after terrorising at least 203 elderly people, offered much jaw-dropping horror for newspapers to chew over: the police blunders that let Grant continue his attacks; the unimaginable trauma he inflicted on his victims; the fact that many of them died before Grant was brought to justice. But these facts weren’t enough for some papers and they focused on something else, something that seemed to confirm to them Grant’s depravity at least as much as his actions: that he chose to rape the elderly. London’s Evening Standard, for one, felt that this was so extraordinary that it merited its own little article in the middle of its double-spread report of the case, expressing “bafflement” at a “family man’s sexual attraction to the elderly”. Now, one might think that Grant’s victims had suffered enough without the British press gasping that it’s a marvel anyone would want to have sex with them, even a rapist, and especially a seemingly normal “family man”. But this response is borne out of the still all-too prevalent belief – sometimes subconscious, sometimes less so – that sexual attacks are the expression of untrammelled desire and, ergo, the victim in some way has to be desirable, which brings us back to ye olde hoary chestnut of the victim being in some way at fault. One doesn’t need to look too far for examples of this attitude. In fact, one could look to New Delhi where, according to a survey conducted last year, almost a third of women have been physically harassed by men. This, according to Ranjana Kumari, a leading women’s rights advocate, speaking to the New York Times, is because of the “tension between the people who are traditional in their mindset and the city that is changing rapidly”. Confirming Kumari’s diagnosis, the mother of one man recently accused of gang-raping a young woman told the same newspaper, “If these girls will roam around like this, then the boys will make mistakes.” The New York Times itself fell into this trap earlier this month when reporting the story about 18 men who were charged with gang-raping an 11-year-old girl in an abandoned trailer home. The little girl, the paper noted, “dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground . . .” HANGING OUT with boys?! Well, the little slut was asking for it. It’s easy to dismiss this mentality as being limited to those whose view of women tends to the prehistoric end of the gender-relations spectrum. I did, until a few weeks ago when I had what I would describe as a minor stalker issue – minor, although by the third day, the increasingly weird hourly texts and late-night doorbell ringing really had begun to lose their charm. I told as many people as possible about it, particularly people who see me most days, just to be safe. I told them the full story of how I’d met this person, his phone number and how many times he had emailed to tell me he’d made another painting of my face. Everyone was very sympathetic, but five times out of 10, their first question was, “So did you sleep with him?” Now, I could take it as a compliment that 50% of the seemingly sensible people who know me think that my sexual skills are such that I could cause a man to become mentally ill. But this would require extra-strength blinkers to stop me from seeing the obvious truth that this non-compliment contains within the hard nugget of misogyny – namely, that women who are sexually harassed have brought it on themselves, either through their looks or behaviour. It seems extraordinary in a week when another woman, Eman al-Obeidi, told journalists in Libya that she had been raped and beaten by members of Gaddafi’s militia that one needs to say that sexual attacks have nothing to do with desire, but are about the abuse of power, sadism and mental illness. They have nothing to do with the looks of the victim, contrary to what Hollywood movies suggest, in which rape victims are always attractive and usually blond. (Al-Obeidi told journalists, before Gaddafi’s forces dragged her away screaming, that she had been raped by 15 men “and they defecated and urinated on me”. I’m guessing she did not feel flattered.) This is why Delroy Grant’s targeting of the elderly was, while shockingly cruel, not perverted in the way some papers seemed to think: old people are vulnerable, therefore irresistible to someone who gets off on torturing the helpless. Rape and sexual harassment are not compliments doled out only to the beautiful and alluring. They are an extreme form of bullying, and they can, tragically, happen to anyone. Rape Hadley Freeman guardian.co.uk
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Being a mystery diner comes pretty close to disproving the old adage about a free lunch. Might you enjoy mixing business and pleasure, or is there a better way of dining for free? Word of Mouth is nothing if not opinionated . Daily, this blog is riven by dining disagreement , stove-based strife and cookery kerfuffle . There is one subject, however, which – surely – unites us all, and that is a collective love of free food . But where to get such gratis grub on a regular basis? It is one thing to munch your way around a food festival, methodically trying every free sample on site. It is even better if, as a trusted regular, your local restaurant starts road-testing its dishes on you. The holy grail, however, is finding someone who is willing to regularly pick up your restaurant bill. Which is why life as an undercover “mystery diner” sounds so appealing. Whether individual restaurants or third-party consultancies , there are a surprising number of people out there willing to give you free food and drink (and occasionally even a fee ) in return for your feedback on their food and service. Leicester’s Entropy runs a scheme which rewards selected “mystery guests” with vouchers in return for their answering a detailed questionnaire (about the volume of background music, and whether or not branded beer glasses were served badge-facing, etc). Similarly, Pizza Express club members , can claim a £10 voucher each quarter after sharing their feedback online. For smaller businesses , such as these London gastropubs , giving away the odd meal is a cost-effective way of keeping staff on their toes and generating valuable customer insight. There are also several agencies – some are general “mystery shopper” outfits, others specialist hospitality consultancies – who use ordinary members of the public to generate feedback for their clients. It is a job which the best mystery diners take pretty seriously, too. As the rise of the food blog has illustrated, there are a lot of enthusiastic people out there, keen to share their opinions about how restaurants are run. Such people are natural mystery diners . “Motivations vary,” says Steven Pike, MD of the Mystery Dining Company (MDC), whose clients include Ask, Zizzi, Wagamama, Prezzo and Le Bistrot Pierre . “It enables people to go out and have that paid for. It’s a way of extending your lifestyle. But it does attract a certain type of person, one who has opinions, wants to make a difference and who is happy to commit their experiences to an online form. Which is important for us. Those people who just think it’s a free meal, and that’s it – the people who don’t care – won’t get very far.” MDC currently has 2,000 assessors on its books. Some do a couple of reports each year, others over 10 a month. Every assessor completes a lifestyle profile when they first sign up so they can be offered suitable opportunities, depending on the client restaurant’s requirements (they might want visits from families, retirees, young professionals etc). Assessors are free to pick and choose from a regularly updated list of suitable tasks in their area, the idea being that visits should fit into their schedule. Inducements and / or travel expenses may be offered, usually if MDC is looking for reports from a remote location, but generally no payment is made. “If people are doing it to earn money,” argues Pike, “you start to skew the responses. They’re doing it for the wrong reasons.” All food and drink expenses are covered, however, to pre-agreed limits. Visits are sometimes scripted (for instance, assessors might have to test the staff’s product knowledge or the complaints procedure) and the subsequent reports take about an hour to complete. These can take several forms, from a detailed multiple-choice questionnaire (typical of a large chain which is testing its standardisation procedures) to more subjective questions that might require several paragraphs in answer. Often staff bonuses and incentive schemes – not to mention occasional disciplinary proceedings – are closely tied into the data produced by mystery diners for the client restaurants. That might all sound like reasonably hard work, an onerous responsibility even, but MDC, which rarely advertises, and then only in online forums, already rejects around half the people who apply and is massively oversubscribed in certain areas, especially in the south east. Assessors, says Pike, have to be observant, comfortable in restaurant environments, willing to absorb constructive feedback on their own reports and have good written English. But they must also work to the brief: “We’re not looking for amateur critics who can write flowery prose. We’re looking for people who can express basic facts and perceptions clearly.” That requirement explains MDC’s strict rule that you can’t get drunk on the job. Assessors are allowed two glasses of wine. Drink more and the report will be rejected and you won’t be reimbursed. On rare occasions, determined drinkers have opened a separate tab for their booze, only to be found out when, after submitting their receipt, the client restaurant has checked that bill with the spend at that specific table, on the night of the assessor’s visit. Which must be pretty humiliating. Parsimonious alcohol intake aside, does life as a mystery diner appeal? Have you worked as one ? Did it involve doing things which made you feel uncomfortable ? Or is there a better way of dining for free? Food & drink Work & careers Tony Naylor guardian.co.uk
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Car-maker to sue BBC for libel and malicious falsehood as faked race continues to be shown uncorrected on repeats and DVD Electric sports car maker Tesla Motors is sueing the BBC’s Top Gear TV programme for allegedly faking a scene showing the company’s Roadster car running out of electricity and slowing to a halt in a race. The legal move is the culmination of a row that has rumbled on between the show and Telsa since the episode was first broadcast in 2008. Specialist libel law firm Carter-Ruck issued the writ on behalf of the firm on Tuesday at the high court because the scene was still being shown onworldwide repeats and was available on DVD, and the BBC had failed to correct it. The firm expects to recover not more than £100,000 in damages. In the race with a petrol-powered Lotus Elise, the £87,000 electric car was shown having to stop for a recharge. But the car never ran out of electricity. Tesla said after the race aired that neither of the two Roadsters that it loaned Jeremy Clarkson’s team had gone below 20% of charge. Earlier in the same episode, Clarkson had praised the Tesla: “I cannot believe this – that’s biblically quick. This car is electric, literally. The top speed may only be 125mph but there’s so much torque it does 0-60 in 3.9 seconds. Not bad from a motor the size of a watermelon and which has only one moving part.” Tesla is sueing the show for libel and malicious falsehood, and says the show misrepresented the car’s true range – claiming 55 miles rather than 211 – and that claims a second Roadster on loan had broken brakes was untrue. In a statement , the California-based company, whose first cars were based on British-made Lotuses, said: “Tesla simply wants Top Gear to stop rebroadcasting this malicious episode and to correct the record, but they’ve repeatedly ignored Tesla’s requests.” A Top Gear spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that we have received notification that Tesla have issued proceedings against the BBC. The BBC stands by the programme and will be vigorously defending this claim” On Monday Tesla, which plans to introduce a cheaper “Model S” car next year, said the 1,500 Roadsters it had sold since 2008 had collectively saved over 2,404 tonnes of CO 2 emissions. Top Gear magazine, which is separate from the TV show, has also been critical of previous electric cars, and in 2007 released shocking images of a G-Wiz crash-tested at 40mph . But analysts have predicted 2011 will be a “breakthrough” year for the vehicles , which became eligible a £5,000 government grant in January. Last week, the first few hundred Nissan Leafs, the UK’s first mass-produced electric car, were delivered to customers . Unlike the Tesla Roadster, the Leaf is limited to around 110 miles and 90mph. A new generation of around 10 different electric and plug-in hybrid cars are expected in the UK by the end of 2012. Separately on Wednesday, green group WWF released a report warning that the UK will needs millions of electric vehiclesto meet its carbon targets. Around 1.7m will be needed by 2020 and 6.4m by 2030, it said, in an echo of calls by government watchdog the Committee on Climate Change for a similar number to meet the target of cutting greenhouse gases emissions 80% by 2050. Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars Top Gear Carbon emissions Travel and transport Ethical and green living Motoring Television Factual TV Jeremy Clarkson BBC Adam Vaughan guardian.co.uk
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R&B singer ends long-term management arrangement with father Mathew Knowles Beyoncé has split with her long-time manager – who just happens to be her father. In a mutual decision, the singer announced that she and Mathew Knowles have severed their management relationship, giving him more time to focus on his gospel label. “Business is business and family is family,” her father said. “It should come as no surprise that at 29 years old, almost 30, she wants to have more control of her business.” “He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly,” Beyoncé said. “I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses … and I will continue to follow in their footsteps.” Though Beyoncé has not announced a new manager, it is speculated that she will join husband Jay-Z’s Roc Nation roster. She is a “very, very smart businesswoman”, Knowles told the Associated Press. Beyoncé’s father has overseen her career since she first auditioned for gigs as a teenager. While the singer’s mother, Tina, was her stylist, Mathew managed his daughter through her solo years, as a member of R&B group Destiny’s Child, and during the past decade . Until recently, Knowles also managed the solo careers of Beyoncé’s former bandmates, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams. He is still understood to represent Beyoncé’s sister, Solange . Mathew insisted this was just a business decision, and unrelated to the recent Knowles family drama. Mathew and Tina Knowles divorced in 2009, after 29 years of marriage; Mathew was alleged to have had an affair, and a baby, while still married to his wife. “We mutually agreed to part ways in terms of me managing Beyoncé, as my focus is in the investment of Music World Entertainment’s growing gospel and inspirational music division,” Knowles told Us Weekly, referring to his record label. “Because of the success of these artists, my focus has to be on gospel now.” Mathew Knowles remains manager for Destiny’s Child, who split up in 2006. But the group could still reunite, he told Us Weekly, “one day”. “Beyoncé, I feel, is the number one artist in the world right now,” he added. “That’s a great feeling, as a father and manager.” Beyoncé R&B Urban music Pop and rock Solange Knowles Sean Michaels guardian.co.uk
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Closed-door inauguration marks beginning of new government, which is dominated by former military officers Burma’s junta has been officially disbanded after power was handed over to a so-called civilian government, the latest phase in a transition to democracy that has been widely criticised as a sham. The closed-door inauguration of the new government on Wednesday was announced only after it took place, in keeping with the secretive style of Burma’s military regimes of the past 50 years. Key figures in the former junta including the leader, Senior General Than Shwe, are expected to retain substantial powers. State television and radio reported that the new government headed by President Thein Sein was sworn in by parliament in the remote capital of Naypyitaw. Thein Sein was the junta’s prime minister and a leading member of the previous military government. Burma, which has been ruled by the army since 1962, held its first elections in 20 years in November, though there has been little indication since of real democratic changes. The news reports said the new government’s arrival marked the end of the junta’s longtime ruling party, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) which has been in power since 1988. “The SPDC is officially dissolved,” state media reported, saying that the dissolution was ordered by Than Shwe, who has wielded absolute power since 1992. Almost immediately after the announcement, government offices underwent a makeover. Signs outside SPDC offices across the country were replaced with new signs saying: “General Administration Office”. The signs were similar shades of dark green, the same colour used by Thein Sein’s ruling party, which is seen as a proxy for the junta. State media did not announce what future role Than Shwe would have. The dissolution of his party renders him effectively retired, but he is expected to remain a dominant force in the country. The 78-year-old no longer holds his two official posts – SPDC chairman and commander of the armed forces. General Min Aung Hlaing was named the new commander of Burma’s armed forces, said Phone Myint Aung, an MP who attended the inauguration. The new government’s 30-member cabinet is dominated by former military officers who retired to run in last November’s elections. About a dozen of the ministers were members of the junta’s cabinet. Only four of the appointees are strictly civilian. Critics say last year’s elections were orchestrated by the junta to perpetuate military rule. With a quarter of the seats in parliament filled by military appointees, and a large majority of the remaining seats won by a military-backed party, the army retains power. The party of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which won the last elections in 1990 but was blocked from taking power by the military, boycotted November’s vote. Much of the international community also dismissed the elections as rigged in favour of the junta. Aung San Suu Kyi, who heads the opposition group the National League for Democracy, said she hoped relations with the new government would be better. “We always want good relations with the government. I hope that the relationship improves,” she said over the weekend. “We will work for good relations.” Burma guardian.co.uk
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