Photographs of New Guinea’s incredible range of previously unknown species Tracy McVeigh
Continue reading …Photographs of New Guinea’s incredible range of previously unknown species Tracy McVeigh
Continue reading …Photographs of New Guinea’s incredible range of previously unknown species Tracy McVeigh
Continue reading …Photographs of New Guinea’s incredible range of previously unknown species Tracy McVeigh
Continue reading …With the 150th anniversary of the Civil War upon us, experts on African-American history are hoping that a group of under-appreciated spies will finally get proper recognition for years of dangerous service, reports the AP . Some of the most useful intelligence-gatherers during the Civil War were black men and women…
Continue reading …In her new book, Bristol Palin writes that she has no recollection of losing her virginity because Levi Johnston got her drunk on wine coolers. “Levi wasn’t even there to help me process—or even confirm—my greatly feared suspicions,” she writes of waking up alone in their tent the…
Continue reading …Day two of music at Glastonbury festival continues with headline performances from Coldplay, Chemical Brothers and Big Boi 12.05am: Our chief pop critic Alexis Petridis is here raving about Tinie Tempah, Chemical Brothers and Fool’s Gold. He’s about to head off with Rosie Swash to record another daily Music Weekly podcast. Which seems as good a time as any to sign off from the live blog for tonight. I’ll be sticking around to post full reviews of Janelle Monae and Coldplay but, those pieces aside, this blog will be quieting down for a while … 11.48pm: “Call me crazy,” says Joseph Kern in the comments . Ok, you’re bloody crazy Joseph, a flippin’ maniac. Oh, hang on, there’s more … “but I think Coldplay are putting together a really great set tonight; they’re thoroughly embarrassing U2.” That seems to be the word coming back here too from those in attendance (I think the band have just this minute finished actually). To be honest, you can tell from the reaction of the crowd that they’re killing it out there – you don’t have to be a diehard fan to accept that Chris Martin et al know how to pull off a triumphant Glastonbury show. 11.39pm: It’s the battle of the five star reviews as Rosie Swash and Dorian Lynskey battle it out over who can dribble the most saliva in the space of 300 words. Here’s Swash on Pulp . And here’s Lynskey on Elbow 11.34pm: Our good man Kingsley also met Don the ice cream man, who has the unenviable task of trying to flog choc ices to a bunch of ravers off their noggin in the dance arena. He thinks it’s a “bit loud” … hmm. Meet Don, who mans the ice cream van here at the dance village. Don’s a gardener from London, but he hits Glasto most years to help out his friend, who owns the van, and can’t manage the 24-hour shifts all on his own. Don couldn’t really hear my questions, but we established he thinks the music here is a “bit loud”, and that he prefers selling ice cream at the Other Stage, for the simple reason that people there tend to buy more ice cream. Don has had an uneventful night so far, though during the day he was startled to find a lady wearing nothing but a piece of string outside his van window. 11.29pm: Ignoring all those people turning up to play music for a moment, here’s Patrick Kingsley getting down to some virtual graffiti … Punters not contented with the music over here at the dance village can still stay urban by creating their own virtual graffiti on this wizard computer screen. (pictured) As you can see, someone, god knows who, has created a truly beautiful bit of Guardian-themed imagery. The silhouette in front of the artwork is actually that of Banksy. 11.25pm: A live blog isn’t a live blog without an hour out while we deal with “technical difficulties”. But now we’re back! Many apologies if you’ve been frantically following. Here’s a badly-shot video of people dancing at Pulp by way of an apology … 10.24pm: I have no idea what it’s like to be out watching Coldplay right now but the muffled noises coming into this press cabin suggests they’re going down a storm … 10.20pm: I think it might be time for some more reader reviews, don’t you? . I’m not too fussed about missing Coldplay but I’m officially well jels to miss Janelle Monae over on West Holts. Henry Barnes is there and here’s his first dispatch … Janelle so good I’m not convinced she isn’t miming. So far she’s been a robot, beaten up a monk and pretended to be on fire. Currently tearing through I Want You Back by the Jackson Five. The girl that Hey Ya! built done very good. 9.58pm: Talking of Elbow, here’s a quick snippet for the live blog from multimedia supremo Matt Hall who, while still massively positive, is not quite surfing along on Mr Lynskey’s higher plane. Here’s what he had to say … Onto the Pyramid stage walk Elbow, holding pints aloft in greeting, looking like they’ve just nipped out from their front room for a fag to find 70,000 of their mates had popped in while they were out. Guy Garvey celebrates his ordinary-ness, strolling around the stage in trousers with mud caked up to mid-thigh. Elbow are a band that work when they connect with their audience. Whether it’s beginning every song with a “let’s see those hands”, checking that the front few rows were OK for water, or getting the audience to sing Happy Birthday (in honour of the 20th anniversary of the band’s formation) as they gathered about the piano for a stripped down Weather To Fly. Although weighted between old and new, it was the tracks from their breakthrough album The Seldom Seen Kid that got the crowd swaying. And of course they left One Day Like This until the very end, capping off a triumphant set that saw Elbow set firmly in the big time. 9.46pm: Pulp? Who needs Pulp? Dorian Lynskey is just back from Elbow and has declared them the official winners of Glastonbury 2011. Everyone else, he says, might as well pack up and go home. Yes, you heard Beyonce, shift up out of here and take your Crazy In Love with you. I won’t spoil the review but expect some wild-eyed praise coming your way in a moment. 9.31pm: And you’re back in the room with me, Tim Jonze. I seem to have unluckily, or some might say luckily seeing as Coldplay are headlining the Pyramid stage for what seems like the 17th time, landed the Saturday night slot on this here live blog. I’ve just been up at the Park stage to witness the HUGE crowd at Tame Impala, a crowd size more normally associated with returning Britpop legends than stoner psych-rock from Australia. Which is lucky seeing as some band called Pulp popped up to play after them. I arrived an entire hour and a half before the band were due on but still couldn’t get a viewing spot without decamping right up towards the Stone Circle (see picture below). Rosie Swash is threatening us with a full review at some point but I’ll share my thoughts for now which include … *Jarvis has earned the right to take the piss out of the Killers (“Was anyone expecting the Killers? That was the other rumour. Somebody told me …”) *Mr Cocker also namechecked this story which I broke on yesterday’s live blog. Oh, ok, Paul Lewis broke it by actually researching, writing and publishing it. But, you know, it would have been nothing without me adding it to the live blog. *The entire Stone Circle area was packed with people singing along to every word. The overall crowd demographic were “of a certain age”. *They really should have been playing the Pyramid Stage – the Park just isn’t cut out for such big name acts *Watching with my wife, it all got a bit emotional during Something Changed *Here’s a picture of the crowd behind me … 9.16pm: Tim Jonze is here – brain-piece in hand – ready to share the Pulp news. I’m off to watch Big Boi and dance to this until my feet plead mercy. Bye-tonbury! 8.56pm: Still no word from our brave men and women surfing that huge nostalgia wave at the Pulp gig. Perhaps they are calling their mothers, saying “Mother. I can never come home again. I appear to have left an important part of my brain somewhere in a field” … Said important part would be any information on Pulp’s first appearance at Glastonbury for 13 years. Set-list, crowd reaction, depth of cord on Jarvis’s suit jacket. If you can help with any of this, Tweet us a review using the #gmreview hashtag. Desperation-tonbury … 8.50pm: Back in the Comments field @Mark42 is stamping his boots and having a little holler at The Guardianistas over their pretentious setlist: Tini Tempah and Paolo Nutini (not cool enough for the guardianistas) were superb. Duly noted @Mark42. Now – check out our new wiggy wonder. It’s Warpaint performing Undertow on the John Peel stage earlier today (courtesy of the BBC). Cool enough for us. Some insta-reaction of Pulp’s set from folk on Twitter: • The Guardian’s @alexispetridis is going to have a little cry due to a “combination of Something Changed, sudden flood of nostalgia and thundering hangover”. • The Guardian’s @NickyD is enjoying Cocker’s chat: “Jarvis doing perfect do you remember the first Glastonbury patter with crowd at ‘secret’ Pulp gig”. • Consumer electronic company product managing’s @grumpymandj is “Giving Pulp a miss and heading for Elbow”. • Fundraising’s @georginagem is breathlessly “watching pulp sat on a hill in glastonbury with a plastic cup of perry in the glorious sunshine”. And as the gig draws to a close … • @notjarviscocker is saying: “Can you sum up a career in 12 songs? We tried, hope you enjoyed it.” Which just leaves us to ask “Could they?” and “Did you?”. Tweet us using the #gmreviews hashtag and let us know: @guardianmusic 8.17pm: Rosie Swash has sent in this: And says: “Yes. It is.” She adds: “There is a woman here translating Pulp’s entire set into sign language. Es and Whizz was a challenge.” I’m sure F.E.E.L.I.N.G. C.A.L.L.E.D L.O.V.E was a cinch. 8.04pm: Pulp’s special guest slot has started, so the Guardian cabin ‘o’ porta’s Roaming Journo Hotline is about to ring off the wall. For now let’s have a quick scan around the line-up to see who’s playing what elsewhere … • Noah and the Whale are playing delicate, nice-but-slightly-wet indie to impatient and dismissive Battles fans on the John Peel Stage. • Friendly Fires are being skinny and funky and perfect for a BBC ident on the Pyramid stage. • Ms Dynamite’s mate, Zinc, is starting on Oxylers in West. • And across the way Wretch 32 getting ready to drive his Traktor into pole position in the race for most aptly-named festival tune. • Meanwhile, the Comments field is slowly starting to fill. “Oh bollocks. It is Pulp. Dislike”, says thestowmassive . “I’ll stick around to see if the whole of the festival gets sucked down into the sticky quicksand mud like a hedonistic Atlantis”, says the chippy jaredneedsalife . And inspired by festival bard Tony Walsh domframkos has sent in some poetry: everybody over to the advert stage mobys on oh yes then its groove armada with the theme from M&S then its a bloke i don’t really know with the song from a mobile ad then its suggs with the iceland song then mobys on again Hmmm. I’d say it needs some work-tonbury. 8.01pm: The Park stage’s special guest is Pulp. We’ll have reaction from our massed journos there (they’re of a certain age) soon. For now Adam Gabbatt emails: “Big crowd at the Park”. Hot stuff. 7.46pm: By the way, Toby – if you’re reading – feel free to vent in the comments below. 7.29pm: The sun’s out and there are good vibes spilling all over the place like a fifth pint of Somerset cider. With that in mind, let’s get the wanton cruelty out of the way early. We met this group of revellers on our walk around the site earlier: They seemed like a nice bunch, but what does that bit of paper gaffer-taped to their torsos say? Is it a charity plea maybe? Publicity for an up-and-coming band? Nope. It’s a jibe at a friend who couldn’t be here. And they encourage you to gloat along with them by texting poor old Toby and telling him how much fun you’re having. Most cruel. Unfortunately our production system has blurred the Toby’s phone number, but I have it here. It’s 077 …. //// …. {failed upload. Did not recognise symbol}. Ah. Oh well. As ever we’ll let technology stand in for our conscience. 6.52pm: Hello. I’m Henry Barnes , ready to pull on the muddy boots of live-blogging that Rosie Swash left lying around here . I’ll be wearing them until around 9pm. We’ve learned a lot today already. There’s been lessons in mud tectonics from Professor Brian Cox … Tony Walsh, the festival’s resident poet, has discovered that you can make a contraction out of any word + “tonbury” … and we’ve learnt that John Harris’s impression of Bob Dylan is “fine”, bordering on “really quite good”. Tonight our curriculum will cover live reviews of Pyramid Stage headliners Coldplay, second fiddlers Elbow and Outkast’s own Big Boi. We’ll also give you the first word on today’s Park stage surprise guest, which is Pulp. Or Prince. Or somebody else. As ever you can send us your mini-reviews of any show you’re at by Tweeting us at @guardianmusic (using the hashtag #gmreview) post your videos to us at your.videos@guardian.co.uk , share your photos on our Flikr group AND say what you’re thinking in the comment field below – the driest field around these parts for miles. We all have such a lot to learn. It should be very exciting. Or should I say: It should be very excit-tonbury. Let’s get down to it … 6.52pm: Hello. I’m Henry Barnes , ready to pull on the muddy boots of live-blogging that Rosie Swash left lying around here . I’ll be wearing them until around 9pm. We’ve learned a lot today already. There’s been lessons in mud tectonics from Professor Brian Cox … Tony Walsh, the festival’s resident poet, has discovered that you can make a contraction out of any word + “tonbury” … and we’ve learnt that John Harris’s impression of Bob Dylan is “fine”, bordering on “really quite good”. Tonight our curriculum will cover live reviews of Pyramid Stage headliners Coldplay, second fiddlers Elbow and Outkast’s own Big Boi. We’ll also give you the first word on today’s Park stage surprise guest, which is Pulp. Or Prince. Or somebody else. As ever you can send us your mini-reviews of any show you’re at by Tweeting us at @guardianmusic (using the hashtag #gmreview) post your videos to us at your.videos@guardian.co.uk , share your photos on our Flikr group AND say what you’re thinking in the comment field below – the driest field around these parts for miles. We all have such a lot to learn. It should be very exciting. Or should I say: It should be very excit-tonbury. Let’s get down to it … Glastonbury 2011 Glastonbury festival Pop and rock Indie Festivals Henry Barnes Tim Jonze guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Relief and defiance dominate mood among staff at surviving Habitat stores The famous shop in Tottenham Court Road is not one of the many Habitat stores facing closure this weekend. Along with its outlets on King’s Road and Finchley Road in London, it will live on, still selling an eclectic mix of bright kitchenware, modernist chairs and paper lampshades under the same trading name. Staff working there were showing visible signs of relief – especially the young woman behind a till who explained to a new colleague that she had only just been transferred from a doomed Cambridge store. For the older members of the sales team, news that a large part of the company is to go into administration, with the loss of around 700 jobs nationally, was a shock. “How are we going to trade with just three shops?” asked one, only to be reassured in hushed tones by a younger manager with the words: “Habitat will still be Habitat.” But what, beyond a nostalgic memory of 1960s modernism, does Habitat mean to anyone these days? Shoppers in the store early to spot sale bargains were loyal, but a little confused about the brand. Some praised its brave modern designs, while others talked fondly of woven rugs and raffia laundry baskets. Responding to a jaunty stack of flowery, Cath Kidston-influenced plates going cheap in the kitchen department, Irene Hutchins, 59, wondered, tellingly: “Retro is coming back, isn’t it?” Over in the furniture department, a couple from Kent said that they were disappointed not to have received their new table and chairs. The delivery company employed by Habitat had failed to bring them to their door due to the sale of the stores to the Home Retail Group, owner of Argos and Homebase. “It was very annoying, but the people here in the shop have been great,” said Robert Smith, 37, a teacher. “We shop here all the time and I think it’s because, if you buy something here, it lasts a long time. That may have been Habitat’s downfall. People don’t need to come back.” But those looking for high-end household purchases can always shop at Heal’s or Liberty, Smith said, while people with a limited budget now tend to head for Ikea. Ikano, a financial services group that is a sister company of Ikea, owned Habitat from 1992 until it was eventually given away, with a hefty dowry, to its last owner, Hilco. Staring at the archly named “Hitchcock” shower curtain, priced at £15 and hanging in the basement of the store, it is hard not to wonder who stuck the knife into Habitat. Rather like an episode of the late Peter Falk’s show Columbo , shoppers may think they know the identity of the culprit from the start: fickle fashion. The store that became famous under Sir Terence Conan’s stewardship for selling the middle classes coffee tables that spoke of Scandinavian simplicity has failed to keep up with the tastes of its core customers. “Some of it is too brightly coloured for me. It doesn’t really go with much, that’s the problem,” said Hayley Curran from south London. “It is all right for garden stuff, though.” “I remember when I was young that it was the only place to get things for your house that looked at all modern,” said Alice Capper, who was buying bedroom furniture for her daughter. “Now I go to lots of places.” Habitat’s bourgeois, white-collar audience now defines itself differently. Household brands such as Dwell and Zara Home have crowded into the same retail sector with a sharper profile. And while labels such as Cath Kidston or Boden are frequently cited to identify the look of the comfortable British middle classes, Habitat no longer is. Smith said that it was still possible to buy stylish classics like the chicken brick or a Robin Day chair inside Habitat. But the management of the chain has been unable to capitalise on the current appetite for 50s and 60s design. While dealers in “shabby chic” vintage furniture are quids in, and the internet trade in original Danish modernist furniture is booming on auction sites such as eBay, Habitat has signally failed to establish itself as the home of good contemporary
Continue reading …DrugScope charity says BBC’s failure to check thinktank’s findings risks stigmatising recovering heroin addicts The BBC has been drawn into an increasingly bitter row surrounding the merits and costs of treating heroin addicts. The charity DrugScope has written to the corporation complaining about its coverage of a report by a rightwing thinktank, the Centre for Policy Studies, that warned the prescription of the heroin substitute methadone was “entrenching addiction”. The report, Breaking the Habit , said prescribing addicts with methadone had been an expensive failure and claimed there were 320,000 problem drug users on benefits, costing the taxpayer billions of pounds. The row has highlighted the increasingly polarised nature of the debate on treatment for heroin addicts. Last year the prime minister, David Cameron, described methadone as “a government-authorised form of opium”. The centre’s report claims there are as many addicts today as there were in 2004-05. It notes: “Fewer than 4% of addicts emerge from treatment free from dependency. Drug deaths have continued to rise.” The thinktank suggested that instead of prescribing methadone, greater success would be achieved by funding small rehabilitation units that would encourage abstinence on a payment by results basis. Its hard-hitting claims have attracted extensive coverage and last week provoked a national debate on drug addiction treatment. While many in the drug treatment industry welcomed the centre’s call to reconsider how the UK treats long-term addicts, the thinktank has been attacked over “misleading” figures. DrugScope said that it had written to the BBC to complain that, by giving extensive coverage to the report, the corporation had failed “to check the accuracy of claims made, particularly about the cost of treatment and methadone prescribing”. Martin Barnes, DrugScope’s chief executive, asked why the corporation had repeated the report’s claim that “methadone prescribing costs £730m a year”, saying the figure was for the drug treatment system as a whole. Barnes outlined a series of further examples where he said the report had conflated the true cost of methadone treatment and benefits paid to drug addicts. He pointed out that last year the National Audit Office concluded that drug treatment represents “good value for money” for the taxpayer. Barnes said: “Not only are the misleading claims potentially damaging to public confidence in drug treatment at a time of spending cuts and competing priorities, they risk reinforcing the stigma and barriers many people in recovery experience.” A spokesman for the BBC confirmed it had received the complaint. BBC Drugs Health Jamie Doward guardian.co.uk
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