How to use Google’s timeline to trace the history of all those annoying cliches – it’s not rocket science Buzz phrases sometimes come out of left field. Sometimes they’re hiding in plain sight. Often they come in under the radar. Google’s timeline search (listed under “more search tools” on the left of the Google homepage) is a treat for anyone interested in buzz phrases. If for example you want to know about the elephant in the room, enter the phrase (in quotes) in a timeline search and you’ll see a chart showing how often it crops up in documents accessible to Google over decades or centuries – so you can see when the elephant entered, and also when it became too big to ignore. In 1989, William Schneider uses it in the Los Angeles Times : “In New York politics, the race issue is like an elephant in the room. It’s big and it’s kind of hard to ignore. But everyone pretends it isn’t … Sooner or later, somebody’s going to notice that there’s an elephant in the room.” Schneider takes some time out of his analysis to explain the elephant, suggesting that this behemoth of modern prose can probably be dated to the late 1980s. Using the Google timeline, we can see the elephant making its presence felt, with decreasing subtlety, in rooms around the world throughout the 90s; and, at the start of the new century, becoming a nuisance. There are enough old newspapers and books on open web access now to make the historical pursuit of buzz phrases a fascinating one. A Google timeline search may not show you the very first recorded use of a phrase, but you’ll usually get a good sense of its early adopters and where and how it took off. Some are sleeper hits; some go viral almost straight away. There are often quite a few red herrings to watch for, though – lots of early hits are actually from more recent documents about historical events. But finding a genuine early use is quite exciting. Sometimes (see “flagged up”) the buzz phrase appears to be born when a writer adapts a more logical phrase, either in a flash of lucidity, or a moment of madness. Moment of madness Moment of madness is now a phrase that no miscreant wants to be without. It’s easy to see why: it has the ring of a proper excuse, but people don’t often go momentarily mad. They just do something on impulse that they might not have done if they had given it more thought (or if they had thought they would get caught). It appears on Google for the first time in an encyclopedia in 1704 , explaining why Alexander the Great set fire to a palace. Then it disappears for 250 years before popping up in the US a few times between 1950 and 1990. But it is Ron Davies, the former Wales secretary, who makes it his own as he explains what came over him (as Julian Clary might have said) on Clapham Common in 1996. Thus was a man, and possibly a raft of his measures, brought low. Raft of measures A raft of measures is occasionally sighted in American newspapers before the 20th century, but none feels the need to explain to their readers what they mean by the phrase. It pops up occasionally in the second half of the 20th century, but then, at the end of the century, Google flags up hundreds of them floating around. Flagged up For nearly all of the 20th century, it’s only a tail or a ship that can be flagged up (the former held up and waved like a flag, the latter flying its flags). Then in 1989, Hugh McKinlay describes in the Glasgow Herald how a footballer’s foul is “flagged up” by the referee. Probably “flag upped” would have conveyed the sense better, but we’ve been flagging up ever since. We are where we are. We are where we are This foul verbal agglomeration really took off after it started to be used in the same sense as its equally evil twin, “let us look forward, not back”. Google timeline finds a fair number of writers in the past talking about “why we are where we are”. But more recently the phrase has broken away to become a statement of fact – and an increasingly popular form of bluster. “We are where we are” is political or business-speak for “I would be grateful if you would ignore my mistakes.” Or as the Urban Dictionary puts it: “We’re in the shit, but suck it up.” The Google timeline is great fun for anyone who is well aware that we are where we are, but still wants to know why. Buzz phrases are everywhere. Now I’ve run some by you , why not have a go with some of your own? They shouldn’t be too hard to find. Bring something to the party . Knock yourself out . It’s not rocket science . Post your findings below (if that’s not too big an ask ). Language Ben Thomas guardian.co.uk
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CPS says prosecution of the former Labour MP, whose general election victory in the Oldham East seat was declared void by an election court, would not be in the public interest Former MP Phil Woolas will not be prosecuted over statements he made about an opponent during the 2010 general election, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said. An election court declared last year’s Oldham East and Saddleworth contest void after finding that Labour victor Woolas had made false statements about the Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins. The ex-immigration minister was later dropped by the party. In a statement on Monday, the CPS said it had considered the judgment of the election court and had decided a police investigation into his conduct was not required as a prosecution would not be in the public interest. Simon Orme, reviewing lawyer for the CPS special crime division, said: “The election court has already decided that Philip Woolas did make false statements about an opponent. “As a result, Mr Woolas lost his seat in parliament and was banned from standing for election for three years. “When deciding to prosecute, we must consider whether a sufficient civil penalty has already been imposed on the suspect. “In the circumstances, I have concluded that the serious nature of the allegations has been adequately addressed and it is unlikely that a criminal court would impose any significant further penalty. “On that basis, a prosecution is not needed in the public interest.” The director of public prosecutions has a statutory duty to make inquiries and begin proceedings after he is notified that an electoral offence may have been committed, the CPS said. Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 prohibits making false statements about the personal character or conduct of another candidate during a campaign for the purposes of affecting the election. The election of Woolas was declared void on 5 November last year. Labour’s Debbie Abrahams comfortably held the seat at the subsequent byelection in January. Phil Woolas Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection Byelections House of Commons guardian.co.uk
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Officials fear all 52 men underground at the time of the methane explosions in the Baluchistan mine are dead All 52 miners caught underground during a series of explosions at a coalmine in south-western Pakistan are feared dead, mine officials said. Rescue workers have recovered 24 bodies after using their bare hands and shovels to dig through one of the mine’s three wings, said Iftikhar Ahmed, a top mine inspector. The search was hampered by the presence of poisonous methane gas, which caused the explosions on Sunday at the mine in Baluchistan province, 25 miles east of the provincial capital, Quetta. The fragile state of the coalmine also prevented the use of heavy machinery, Ahmed said. “We have yet to dig out and search the remaining two wings, but there is 0% chance we can get anybody alive,” said Ahmed. Ten of the dead miners found were charred from the explosion, while the others appeared to have been killed by falling debris or suffocation, said Ahmed. The bodies found so far were at a depth of about 2,000ft (600 metres), but the mine continues down to 4,000ft. The mine was declared dangerous two weeks ago, but the warning was ignored, said Ahmed. The mine is owned by the state-run Pakistan Mineral Development Corporation but leased to a contractor, he said. Ghulam Rasool, a 25-year-old miner who spent all morning searching for victims, said the work was exhausting and hampered by gas fumes. “The mine’s wooden support has collapsed at many points, leaving huge chunks of debris blocking the way,” said Rasool. More than 200 people stood outside the mine entrance waiting to help or hear news from the search. Most were mine workers who have friends or relatives trapped in the mine. Seven of the dead were from a single family from the Swat valley. Ghulam Mohammad, a 30-year-old miner who was waiting his turn to join the search, said he feared for the lives of his room-mates. “None of my five room-mates has been found dead or alive yet,” he said. Outside the mine, more than 20 wooden caskets were set out on the ground, waiting for victims who had not yet surfaced. Pakistan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …It makes me proud that Hull is the only English city not having a street party for the royal wedding When in April 1642 Charles I moved to secure the port of Hull, he found the gates firmly shut. Having considered it his divine right to gain access to Hull’s extensive arsenal (the largest weapons cache outside the Tower of London, no less), Charles discovered that the MP, Sir John Hotham, refused to follow royal orders. After a siege, the citizens drove away the royalists under gunfire – and Hull witnessed the first military action of the English civil war. I was reminded of this anecdote a couple of days ago, when I heard that Hull’s was the only council in the country that hadn’t had a single application for a street party for the royal wedding . Nearby East Riding of Yorkshire council has received 12. Lots of my old friends sent me
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Watchdog says force had no effective system in place to deal with persistent harassment of disabled man The police watchdog has condemned a force’s “systemic failures” in helping the family of a man with severe learning difficulties who collapsed and died after confronting youths who had taunted him for years. Greater Manchester police completely failed to acknowledge the targeting of David Askew , 64, and his family as a hate crime, the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said following an investigation. In almost half the incidents reviewed by the IPCC in which the family contacted the police there was no acknowledgement of the family’s vulnerability or the history of abuse suffered. Askew collapsed and died in the garden of his home in Hattersley, Greater Manchester, in March last year after confronting a group of youths who had reportedly thrown around a wheelie bin and tampered with his mother’s mobility scooter. Following his death it emerged that Askew and his family had reported anti-social behaviour and other crimes to the police on 88 occasions over six years. The case echoed that of Fiona Pilkington , who killed herself and her 18-year-old daughter, Francecca, who had severe learning difficulties, by setting fire to the car in which they were sitting near their family home in Barwell, Leicestershire, in October 2007. A subsequent inquest found the family had endured years of abuse motivated by the disability, and held police and council officials partly responsible for failing to properly respond to Pilkington’s requests for help. The IPCC report into Askew’s death was less condemnatory, noting that local police worked “diligently” to assist the family, including when off duty. However, it found that the police had failed to consistently identify the vulnerability of the Askew family, respond to incidents as possible hate crimes or liaise properly between officers responding to calls and the local neighbourhood policing team. The force had no systems in place to deal with such repeated targeting of the disabled, and many incidents were dealt in isolation by officers who did not know the background. “Anti-social behaviour is the type of low-level crime that can pass beneath the radar of police,” said IPCC Commissioner Naseem Malik. “However, for the families experiencing such crime it can be a horrific experience. The Askew family had experienced years of torment at the hands of local youths who targeted David in particular.” The IPCC recognised that some local officers “went beyond the call of duty” in trying to help the family, he said, adding: “While the Askew family perceived the work of the local team as assisting and giving them some comfort, they were actually being failed at a higher level as opportunities to implement a co-ordinated approach to tackle and deal with the problems was being missed. They were left with a sticking-plaster solution when the matter needed extensive surgery.” Assistant Chief Constable Garry Shewan said the force recognised “more should have been done” to help Askew and his family. But, he said, even before the death the force had began a major review of how it dealt with anti-social behaviour and new systems were now in place to prevent future failings. Disability charities have repeatedly warned that crimes targeting disabled people are too often under-reported and not properly investigated. The IPCC report should be “a wake up call”, said Richard Hawkes, chief executive of Scope. He said: ‘Disabled people experience harassment and abuse on a daily basis, simply because they are different. Often it starts with persistent low-level incidents. But if left unchecked, anti-social behaviour can escalate into something more serious. The impact can be unspeakable. “Victims find it hard to come forward. Many will ignore harassment; others will find the justice system literally inaccessible. As a result disability hate crime is sorely under-reported and official figures mask the true scale of the problem. Where it is reported, conviction rates are much lower than other types of hate crime.” Last September, a 19-year-old man who lived near Askew was detained in a young offenders’ institution after he admitted using intimidating, threatening and aggressive behaviour against the family. Independent Police Complaints Commission Asbos Communities Disability Manchester UK criminal justice Crime Police Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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• Oil rises $2 a barrel with Brent crude now $116 • Uncertainty over how long Libyan supplies will be disrupted • Reports Japan has bought all available stock of some types of crude The price of oil jumped by more than $2 a barrel on Monday morning, driven higher by the military action in Libya and strong demand from Japan. As Operation Odyssey Dawn continued in the Middle East, the cost of a barrel of Brent crude gained $2.29 to $116.22. US crude rose by the same amount, to $103.35. Analysts have predicted that the strikes against Colonel Gaddafi could push oil above its recent highs, with Brent tipped to rise above $120 a barrel. “The sell-off in the oil price on Friday afternoon proved to be short-lived with the events in the Middle East over the weekend lifting oil back to its recent highs this morning,” said Jane Foley, senior strategist at Rabobank. The oil price has been unsettled in recent weeks. Brent broke through the $100 a barrel mark in early February as the Egyptian uprising took hold. The Libyan conflict has added to the pressure, with the International Energy Agency predicting that the country’s oil output will be severely curtailed for some time. Libya is one of the largest oil producers in the region, but production had already almost stopped. Military operations in the region could also hamper supplies from other countries. But some analysts are confident that Saudi Arabia can increase its supplies to compensate. Mike Wittner, head of commodities research at Société Générale, said oil traders were trying to calculate how long Libyan production could be offline. “We could end up by having two countries or a protracted civil war,” he said. With Japan’s nuclear power industry disrupted by the earthquake and tsunami , the country is now buying more oil to cover its energy gap. Reuters reported that Japan has bought all the available stock of some types of crude oil in the Asian markets, which is expected to push prices higher. In the UK, the high oil price has led to record petrol prices. Chancellor George Osborne is expected to scrap scheduled increases in fuel duties in Wednesday’s budget, and also freeze air passenger duty . Oil Commodities Petrol prices Libya Japan disaster Graeme Wearden guardian.co.uk
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Chancellor rules out wider tax cuts and is expected to put an emphasis on tax reform in Wednesday’s budget George Osborne will announce the freezing of air passenger duty in Wednesday’s budget as part of the government’s attempt to soften the impact of soaring oil prices on the so-called “squeezed middle”. But Osborne ruled out wider tax cuts apart from continuing to lift personal allowances in line with the policy pushed by the Liberal Democrats to please “alarm clock Britain”, Nick Clegg’s description of the squeezed middle. The chancellor is expected to emphasise tax reform and enterprise in a budget billed as marking a shift from recovery to reform. In perhaps his most daring move, he is likely to call for the integration of income tax and national insurance, a complex move with many potential pitfalls. From the Conservative viewpoint, it would have the advantage of highlighting how much each individual pays in tax, part of which is currently hidden behind national insurance contributions. The decision not to go ahead with the planned increase in air passenger duty (APD) is designed to help holidaymakers, who are seen as embodying the “squeezed middle”. The rise would have come into force in November. The recent unrest in North Africa and the Middle East sent the cost of crude oil well above $100 a barrel. The move – which will cost the Treasury £150m in lost tax revenue – will be part of a twin-track approach along with the decision to scrap the above-inflation increase in fuel duties for motorists, which would have added 5p a litre to the price of unleaded petrol. Treasury sources said the chancellor recognised that millions of households were struggling as a result of higher fuel prices and wanted to cut the cost of family holidays. “He wants to help people through a tough year,” one said. One source said the budget is going to be about helping people in lots of small ways. The Treasury said an increase in APD in line with inflation this year would have seen an economy fare to European destinations go up by £12 or more in economy, and from £24-£26 for all other classes. For flights to the US, economy fare prices would have risen by £12-£24 and for those to South Africa by £16-£32. The increases had been initially introduced as a green tax, an area likely to suffer on Wednesday. Osborne is likely to report that the budget deficit for 2010-11 will come in below the £148bn previously estimated, although the Treasury was warning on Sunday the improvement was likely to be less than the £10bn being forecast by some City analysts. The respected Ernst & Young Item club predicted an £8bn windfall. They claimed borrowing will come in at £140.2bn in 2010-11, compared with the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) forecast of £148.5bn. Hopes of a smaller deficit were boosted by strong tax receipts in January, but the government suspects that the figures were flattered by the timing of self-assessment payments of income tax. Sources warned that the February data, due out on Tuesday, might be weaker. The OBR will also report a downgrade in growth for this year and next, but Osborne ruled out any change in strategy, saying: “That would be a huge mistake. We would lose economic stability. We would be back in the mess of wondering what is going to happen to the UK’s credit rating. That is not going to happen.” He added: “Having undertaken the rescue mission, I do not have to come back and ask for more this year. “I can say in the budget this week I am not going to be asking for more tax rises or spending cuts.” Osborne said there would be extra money for apprenticeships and vocational skills programmes and he was also looking at steps to reduce the impact of high petrol prices. A senior Liberal Democrat said the party had been intimately involved in drawing up the budget. There had been three major areas of disagreement, but these had been settled amicably by last Thursday by the so-called “quad” of Osborne, David Cameron, the Treasury chief secretary Danny Alexander and the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg. The source said: “The real throw of the dice was made in the spending review last year. I do not think people realise the extent to which there will not be major announcements in budgets from now on”. But the Liberal Democrats are pleased that the budget will see further progress on lifting personal allowances, its favoured scheme for helping the poorest taxpayers. The income tax threshold was raised from £6,475 to £7,475 last year; it may go up to £8,000 on Wednesday. The coalition target figure is to raise the threshold to £10,000 by the end of the parliament. Alexander said on Sunday: “From next month, almost a million of the lowest-paid won’t pay any tax at all. This change won’t just help those earning less than £10,000. In fact, once you take all the coalition’s personal tax changes into account, everyone earning under £35,000 will be better off.” Consumer affairs George Osborne Budget 2011 Budget Tax and spending Liberal-Conservative coalition Liberal Democrats Conservatives Nick Clegg Air transport Oil Patrick Wintour Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk
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Three senior army figures defect to side of protesters calling for removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh Three Yemen army commanders, including a top general, have defected to the opposition calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, as tanks were deployed in the streets of the capital. The most senior of the three officers is Major General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, a long-time confidant of Saleh and commander of the army’s powerful 1st Armoured Division. Units of the division were deployed on Monday in a major square in Sana’a, where protesters have been camping out to call for Saleh to step down. All three officers belong to Saleh’s Hashid tribe, which called on the president to step down on Sunday, delivering a serious blow to his attempts to cling on to power. The two others are Mohammed Ali Mohsen and Hameed al-Qusaibi, both brigadiers. News of the defections came one day after crowds flooded cities and towns across Yemen to mourn dozens of protesters killed on Friday, when Saleh’s security forces opened fire from rooftops on a demonstration in Sana’a . Ahmar has been a close aide of Saleh for most of the 32 years the Yemeni president has been in power. He is a veteran of the 1994 civil war in which Saleh’s army suppressed an attempt by southern Yemen to secede four years after the two parts of the impoverished Arab nation united. The south had until then been a separate nation. Ahmar also fought in recent years against Shia rebels in the north. Ahmar announced his defection in a message delivered by a close aide to the protest leaders at the Sana’a square, the epicentre of their movement. Yemen Middle East Arab and Middle East protests guardian.co.uk
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Estimated three-quarters of the 14m Egyptians who voted back election blueprint but calls for reform in Syria and Saudi Arabia meet show of force Egyptians have strongly endorsed amendments to the country’s constitution as aftershocks from the Arab spring revolts rumbled into the furthest reaches of the region. More than 77% of the estimated 14 million-plus people who voted supported changes that will provide a blueprint for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held within the next six months. Voting was mostly problem-free across the country, a significant result in a country that is emerging from more than three decades of dictatorship, when elections merely served to rubber-stamp ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s rule, and voter turn out was low. Elsewhere in the Arab world, tentative calls for democratic freedoms were met with force in both Saudi Arabia and Syria. In the Syrian town of Daraa, a second day of clashes with state security officers reportedly left one protester dead, in addition to the four reported killed on Saturday. A council building in the centre of town was burned down during the clashes. Some reports claimed it was a local headquarters of the Baath party, however they could not be verified. In Saudi Arabia, where demonstrations are banned, protesters tried to force their way into the interior ministry in Riyadh demanding the release of prisoners who they said had been detained for up to two years without trial. Around 15 people were arrested, but no serious violence was reported. However, the spectre of protests in the Saudi capital is something the Islamic kingdom’s leader, King Abdullah, has been trying to avoid as he battles to contain an uprising in Bahrain on his northern border. The Saudi government holds grave fears that the Shia protests in Bahrain could stir unrest in eastern Saudi Arabia, which is home to most of the 12% Shia population. Bahrain’s rulers have claimed to have uncovered a plot involving outside powers – an implicit reference to neighbouring Iran. The government asked Iranian diplomats to leave the tiny Gulf state and later called Lebanon’s Hezbollah a terrorist organisation that was destabilising the region and impinging on Bahrain’s sovereignty. The unusually vehement tones underscore the sensitivity in the Gulf, where all the petro-states have been under pressure from their citizens to introduce widespread reforms. Bahrain is in its second week of a three-month period of martial law, which was introduced after weeks of violent clashes between citizens and riot police. The clashes have taken on a sectarian tone that the kingdom is anxious to play down. Meanwhile, in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, the embattled leader of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has sacked his cabinet in the latest of a spate of moves designed to keep power. The clean sweep came two days after a massacre of more than 40 unarmed pro-reform protesters in the capital, Sana’a, which has drawn widespread condemnation and placed further pressure on Saleh to step down after more than 30 years in office. The attacks on Libya have left the Arab world largely mute, unlike the opposition voiced before the last western assault on an Arab capital eight years ago. Amid unrest and rebellion across the Middle East, a clear distinction has been made between the invasion of Baghdad and the bombing of selected targets in Libya. The former was widely condemned by many states that have had no such reservations about the bombing of Gaddafi’s forces by US and European planes. A key reason for that appears to be the west’s stated desire not to overthrow Gaddafi but to leave his fate to be
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