To curb ‘gallery rage’, the National Gallery has limited admissions to its forthcoming Leonardo show. Is this the end for timed tickets, high prices and jostling crowds? Tate Modern’s recent Gauguin exhibition seems to have been a watershed. It did record business for the museum – but also caused record heartache because the galleries were so thronged with people that it was almost impossible to see the pictures . I went on a weekday morning, and it was packed. If there were less than a dozen people clustered round a single picture, you were doing well. The National Gallery has taken note of the bad publicity Tate Modern got over Gauguin, and announced that its forthcoming Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan exhibition will reduce the number of admissions from the 230 per half-hour slot it is allowed under health and safety rules to 180. Hurrah!, you might be tempted to say. Until you remember that Leonardo produced very few completed pictures – no more than 15 have been fully authenticated. The National Gallery is bringing together seven of them as the centrepiece of its exhibition. My experience is that people budget a couple of hours in a gallery – that seems a human attention span when it comes to art. Think films, plays and operas (before an interval), and indeed sport – the length of a football match or cricket session is no accident. So if my calculations are correct and the National Gallery sell all their tickets, you will still have 720 punters in the gallery at any given time fighting to see seven masterpieces. Of course there will be lots of supporting exhibits. The press material for the show mentions “drawings by Leonardo and his followers” and “a near-contemporary, full-scale copy of Leonardo’s famous Last Supper seen alongside all the surviving preparatory drawings made by Leonardo for the Last Supper”. So it won’t just be 700 people fighting over seven paintings, but inevitably those seven superstars are going to be mobbed. The National Gallery say it wants to combat “gallery rage”. Personally, I don’t recognise that term. Art lovers on the whole are terribly polite. I didn’t witness any rage at Gauguin, just a weary shuffling around, and a good deal of apologising to people you’d just trodden on or accidentally barged out of the way. The real rage is prompted by people whose mobiles go off and who insist on talking on the damn things despite all appeals not to. The crowds are just put down to gallery greed and accepted with a kind of weary “we’re all in this together” shrug. The problem lies with the whole notion of the “blockbuster”, which is just a desperately hoped-for money-spinner for cash-strapped galleries. Colin Tweedy, chief executive of Arts & Business, argued recently that the era of blockbuster shows was coming to an end . And he welcomed their phasing out. “The blockbuster model is killing art,” he said. “It is not the right way to see great artists. In the next five years, museums will stop doing these exhibitions because they are too much trouble. The blockbuster is an old model. The creators of culture have to think in a different way.” Art shows are like any other aspect of the cultural business. Galleries put together a show, try to create a buzz, hope the exhibition will come to be seen as an “event”. The hucksterism is pretty disgusting when you think about it. They’ve introduced timed tickets to try to even out the peaks and troughs in attendance, but timed tickets are pretty disgusting too. They assume that a two-hour stint is the norm and won’t let you back in if you fancy having lunch and then taking another look. This is, as Tweedy says, no way to see art. It is a branch of commerce devised for the benefit of the gallery, and playing on the exhibition-goer’s fantasy that by spending two hours in the company of Gauguin or Leonardo he or she can get a meaningful take on the artist. Far better to go and look at a couple of Gauguins in a gallery and live with them for a while, or go regularly to see the couple of Leonardos in the National Gallery’s permanent exhibition. Galleries which stage blockbuster shows are peddling a myth, and they know it. Like Tweedy, we should welcome the fact that the age of the blockbuster is ending. We need to study more carefully paintings that are readily to hand. I spent an enjoyable afternoon recently at Apsley House in London’s Knightsbridge where I had the excellent collection (including four major paintings by Velázquez) more or less to myself. Similarly, at the Wallace Collection near Marble Arch you can enjoy a magnificent collection in a lovely setting without crowds. Seek the art out; concentrate on single paintings or groups of paintings; look at aspects of an artist’s career and let a sense of the whole career accrete; and don’t play the galleries’ game by falling for the idea that these big shows are “must-sees”. For a start, you can barely see them. Exhibitions Art National Gallery Leonardo da Vinci Tate Modern Stephen Moss guardian.co.uk
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Take the road to Rome, featuring Jack White, Norah Jones and musicians who worked on Ennio Morricone’s 60s scores Five years. That’s all it took for Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) and Daniele Luppi to turn their love of old Italian film scores into a new musical project called Rome. Then again, considering the album features Jack White and Norah Jones, plus musicians who performed on the original Ennio Morricone scores, it’s pretty clear why Rome wasn’t built in a day. Speaking to the Guardian last November , Burton described his passion for Piero Umiliani, Bruno Nicolai and Piero Piccioni – something few people would have expected when the producer first came to prominence in 2004 following his Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up, the Grey Album. Has Danger Mouse confounded expectations once again? Has Norah Jones revived her reputation? And is this the only record you’re likely to hear that links the White Stripes with Alessandro Alessandroni? The answer to that last question is “yes”, but let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Danger Mouse Jack White Norah Jones World music guardian.co.uk/music guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Take the road to Rome, featuring Jack White, Norah Jones and musicians who worked on Ennio Morricone’s 60s scores Five years. That’s all it took for Danger Mouse (aka Brian Burton) and Daniele Luppi to turn their love of old Italian film scores into a new musical project called Rome. Then again, considering the album features Jack White and Norah Jones, plus musicians who performed on the original Ennio Morricone scores, it’s pretty clear why Rome wasn’t built in a day. Speaking to the Guardian last November , Burton described his passion for Piero Umiliani, Bruno Nicolai and Piero Piccioni – something few people would have expected when the producer first came to prominence in 2004 following his Beatles/Jay-Z mash-up, the Grey Album. Has Danger Mouse confounded expectations once again? Has Norah Jones revived her reputation? And is this the only record you’re likely to hear that links the White Stripes with Alessandro Alessandroni? The answer to that last question is “yes”, but let us know your thoughts in the comments section below. Danger Mouse Jack White Norah Jones World music guardian.co.uk/music guardian.co.uk
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Witness in US trial expected to say ISI officers were complicit in the 2008 terrorist attacks that killed more than 160 people The apparent involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistan’s premier spy agency, in international attacks carried out by Islamic militants is to be revealed in a trial starting next week in the US. A former member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a violent Pakistan-based extremist group with close links to the Pakistani military, is expected to tell a court in Chicago that ISI officers were complicit in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai , India’s commercial capital, in which more than 160 people died. The trial comes at a critical time, with relations between Islamabad and Washington at a new low following the death of Osama bin Laden. The hearings could acutely embarrass the ISI, which is suspected by many in the US and elsewhere of protecting the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The trial is also likely to fuel pressure in the US for the high levels of financial aid to Pakistan to be cut. Official court documents in the case have so far played down the role of the ISI, still officially considered by the CIA and other American agencies as a key ally in the hunt for al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan. They avoid mentioning the Pakistani spy service by name, for example. Spokesmen for the ISI have repeatedly denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks to the Guardian. The key witness in the hearings will be David Headley, an American-Pakistani LeT militant who has already told Indian intelligence services that he carried out the surveillance for the Mumbai operation while working for the ISI. A report on Headley’s interrogation last June by Indian investigators obtained and published by the Guardian in October revealed that the 51-year-old double agent gave his questioners a detailed picture of close co-ordination between at least lower-ranking officers in the ISI and the LeT militants. Headley claimed he was trained by an ISI non-commissioned officer in clandestine techniques and that he kept his handler – named as “Major Iqbal” – up to date with planning for the raid. The ISI also provided training and facilities to the attack team as well as funding his own surveillance operations, said Headley, who changed his name from Dawood Gilani. American prosecutors have now indicted “Major Iqbal” along with three senior members of LeT and an American alleged to be involved with the group. Headley, a former bar manager who was arrested in October 2009 in Chicago while returning from Europe, has since co-operated with US authorities in return for a reduced sentence. LeT – whose name means “war party of the pure” – has had a close relationship with the Pakistani security establishment since it was founded around 20 years ago. Militants from the group brought a new edge of extremism and brutality to violence in Kashmir and since 2001 have been found fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, though in small numbers. Following the Mumbai attacks and under great international pressure, Islamabad ordered the arrest of a series of senior LeT figures. But successive Pakistani leaders have refused overseas demands to shut down the group. In the secret report, Headley is said to have told the Indian investigators he was recruited by the ISI in 2005 and that his handler had expressed enthusiasm when told which targets had been chosen for the Mumbai operation. Headley said too that he had informed his ISI handler about his involvement in operations that breakaway LeT factions planned to launch in Europe. The only man named in the recent American indictment who will be on trial in Chicago is Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago-based immigration consultant who is charged with material support of terrorism. He denies the charges against him. Two weeks ago the Guardian revealed that the ISI had been categorised with al-Qaida, Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah and other militant Islamic groups in a 2007 “threat matrix” compiled to help interrogators at Guantánamo Bay. Links with all these entities were indicative of involvement with terrorism, the document said. Intelligence reports used for assessments of detainees in Guantánamo Bay reveal scores of references by captured militants to ISI support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Documents dating from 2002 to 2005 qualify many of these references with the warning that any such assistance to insurgents fighting western troops was thought to be the work of “rogue” ISI operatives. From 2006, there are no such caveats as US analysts appear to have decided that assistance for some militant factions was official policy. Pakistan Mumbai terror attacks United States Global terrorism India Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Witness in US trial expected to say ISI officers were complicit in the 2008 terrorist attacks that killed more than 160 people The apparent involvement of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), Pakistan’s premier spy agency, in international attacks carried out by Islamic militants is to be revealed in a trial starting next week in the US. A former member of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a violent Pakistan-based extremist group with close links to the Pakistani military, is expected to tell a court in Chicago that ISI officers were complicit in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai , India’s commercial capital, in which more than 160 people died. The trial comes at a critical time, with relations between Islamabad and Washington at a new low following the death of Osama bin Laden. The hearings could acutely embarrass the ISI, which is suspected by many in the US and elsewhere of protecting the man responsible for the 9/11 attacks. The trial is also likely to fuel pressure in the US for the high levels of financial aid to Pakistan to be cut. Official court documents in the case have so far played down the role of the ISI, still officially considered by the CIA and other American agencies as a key ally in the hunt for al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan. They avoid mentioning the Pakistani spy service by name, for example. Spokesmen for the ISI have repeatedly denied any involvement in the Mumbai attacks to the Guardian. The key witness in the hearings will be David Headley, an American-Pakistani LeT militant who has already told Indian intelligence services that he carried out the surveillance for the Mumbai operation while working for the ISI. A report on Headley’s interrogation last June by Indian investigators obtained and published by the Guardian in October revealed that the 51-year-old double agent gave his questioners a detailed picture of close co-ordination between at least lower-ranking officers in the ISI and the LeT militants. Headley claimed he was trained by an ISI non-commissioned officer in clandestine techniques and that he kept his handler – named as “Major Iqbal” – up to date with planning for the raid. The ISI also provided training and facilities to the attack team as well as funding his own surveillance operations, said Headley, who changed his name from Dawood Gilani. American prosecutors have now indicted “Major Iqbal” along with three senior members of LeT and an American alleged to be involved with the group. Headley, a former bar manager who was arrested in October 2009 in Chicago while returning from Europe, has since co-operated with US authorities in return for a reduced sentence. LeT – whose name means “war party of the pure” – has had a close relationship with the Pakistani security establishment since it was founded around 20 years ago. Militants from the group brought a new edge of extremism and brutality to violence in Kashmir and since 2001 have been found fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, though in small numbers. Following the Mumbai attacks and under great international pressure, Islamabad ordered the arrest of a series of senior LeT figures. But successive Pakistani leaders have refused overseas demands to shut down the group. In the secret report, Headley is said to have told the Indian investigators he was recruited by the ISI in 2005 and that his handler had expressed enthusiasm when told which targets had been chosen for the Mumbai operation. Headley said too that he had informed his ISI handler about his involvement in operations that breakaway LeT factions planned to launch in Europe. The only man named in the recent American indictment who will be on trial in Chicago is Tahawwur Rana, a Chicago-based immigration consultant who is charged with material support of terrorism. He denies the charges against him. Two weeks ago the Guardian revealed that the ISI had been categorised with al-Qaida, Hamas, Lebanese Hezbollah and other militant Islamic groups in a 2007 “threat matrix” compiled to help interrogators at Guantánamo Bay. Links with all these entities were indicative of involvement with terrorism, the document said. Intelligence reports used for assessments of detainees in Guantánamo Bay reveal scores of references by captured militants to ISI support for the Taliban in Afghanistan. Documents dating from 2002 to 2005 qualify many of these references with the warning that any such assistance to insurgents fighting western troops was thought to be the work of “rogue” ISI operatives. From 2006, there are no such caveats as US analysts appear to have decided that assistance for some militant factions was official policy. Pakistan Mumbai terror attacks United States Global terrorism India Jason Burke guardian.co.uk
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• Standard & Poor’s gives country a B rating • Agency blames missed deficit target • Greek finance ministry says move based on ‘rumour’ Standard & Poor’s has again infuriated Greece by cutting the credit rating of the debt-laden country – from BB- to B – and warning that it could be slashed even further. The agency issued the downgrade amid speculation that the €110bn (£97bn) International Monetary Fund and European Union bailout is being renegotiated , only a year after being agreed, and its expectation that investors face losses on their bond holdings. Greece was quick to issue a statement saying that the downgrade “comes at a time when there have been no new negative developments or decisions since the last rating action by the agency just over a month ago and therefore is not justified”. In March, S&P had cut the rating to BB- and warned the country faced another downgrade if the 2010 budget or 2011 fiscal performance fell below expectations. “In fact, Greece missed its 2010 fiscal target (a budget deficit of 10.5% of GDP versus a 9.6% target) and achieving the 2011 target is uncertain,” S&P said. “We believe that many of Greece’s eurozone official creditors have concluded that the ensuing higher projected borrowing requirements have reduced the likelihood that the Greek government will be able to return to commercial markets for medium- and long-term issuance later this year or early next year as originally planned. Accordingly, they may see a restructuring of official and commercial debt as the best way forward,” the agency said. It indicated that half of Greece’s debts could eventually be written off in order “to restore Greece’s debt burden to a sustainable level”. The rating could be downgraded again, the agency warned, but said that it could be maintained at its current level “if Greece’s eurozone partners exempt commercial creditors from comparability of treatment while extending maturities on their official debt”. When the agency cut Greece’s rating to BB- in March, prime minister George Papandreou said the country was being downgraded not because of its policies but because of the EU’s handling of the crisis. He later said that ratings agencies were “seeking to shape our destiny and determine the future of our children”. After the latest downgrade, Greece’s ministry of finance said: “Credit rating decisions should be based on objective data, policymakers’ announcements and realistic assessments of the conditions facing an economy. Not on market rumours and press reports. When such decisions are based simply on rumours, their validity is seriously cast in doubt.” Secret talks were held Luxembourg on Friday between Athens and some of the key EU players and led to the conclusion that Greece will not be able to meet the terms of last year’s rescue by returning to the financial markets to issue more bonds. Its current rate of borrowing is regarded as prohibitively high, at 15.9%. Greece has never had a top-notch AAA rating but has been downgraded or warned of a downgrade eight times since January 2009, when it had an A rating. It was the first eurozone country to have its debt rating cut to junk a year ago. European debt crisis Ratings agencies Greece Europe Financial crisis Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
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Detective Inspector Eddie Hall falsely claimed Tomlinson fell down twice before encountering PC Simon Harwood A senior Metropolitan police officer has been found guilty of “reckless” conduct after misleading two pathologists over the possible cause of Ian Tomlinson’s death. Detective Inspector Eddie Hall, the most senior Met officer involved in the Tomlinson inquiry, was investigated after it emerged he told two forensic experts Tomlinson had fallen to the ground in front of a police van before the newspaper seller came into contact with PC Simon Harwood. In his defence, Hall said an Independent Police Complaints Commission investigator had told him Tomlinson had fallen in front of a van. The IPCC investigator, Chris Mahaffey, denied this. Hall’s claim was formally relayed to two pathologists charged with finding a cause of 47-year-old Tomlinson’s death at the G20 protests in London. Video footage showed Tomlinson being struck with a baton and violently pushed from behind on 1 April 2009 on Royal Exchange Buildings. An inquest jury found last week that Tomlinson was “unlawfully killed” by the police officer, and died from internal bleeding as a result of injuries sustained by the push. Jurors heard evidence from four pathologists, including Dr Ken Shorrock, one of the pathologists formally instructed by Hall on behalf of the Met at St Pancras mortuary on 22 April 2009. The police officer told Shorrock that Tomlinson had been seen to fall to the ground on Lombard Street, minutes before the newspaper seller came across Harwood. The same information was supplied to Dr Ben Swift, the pathologist instructed by Harwood, who was also present during the examination. Tomlinson did walk on to Lombard Street as he tried to find a route home through the G20 protests and was forcefully escorted out of the road by police officers. But there was no evidence that even suggested he fell to the ground. Releasing the findings of its inquiry, the IPCC confirmed that “misinformation was supplied by the police to the pathologists”. It said there was never any evidence to suggest Tomlinson fell to the ground in front of a van on Lombard Street. Investigators found that while Hall did not “intentionally mislead” the pathologist, his erroneous briefing jeopardised the investigation, inquest and possible prosecution. “He did so based on what he believed to be the case at the time but he should have ensured he relayed factual information rather than his interpretation of the facts,” the report said. The inquest jury was told to ignore part of Shorrock’s report in which he said he could not rule out that the fall in Lombard Street had resulted in the fatal internal bleeding. The Met said in a statement: “The report concerning information supplied to the pathologists by an MPS [Metropolitan police service] officer found that although incorrect information was given, this was an honestly held belief and there was no evidence of intent to mislead and no lasting damage to the investigation.” Tomlinson’s family responded by the report by releasing extracts from a letter the IPCC sent to a top-ranking Met officer in March this year. In the letter, the IPCC said there was a “total lack of evidence” for the fall reported by Hall. “There is no evidence of any kind to suggest that Ian Tomlinson fell in front of a van,” the letter said. “No media footage portrays a fall; it was not said in any Gold Group [a forum designed to 'add value to the response to an internal or external critical incident'] meeting; no investigator workbook documents that there was a fall, there is no email traffic revealing such a view and there is no witness evidence that he fell in front of a van.” In a separate development, the Guardian revealed on Monday that senior police were told within 48 hours of Tomlinson’s death that police witnesses had seen him being pushed to the ground by Harwood. The three constables who witnessed the assault did not recognise Harwood, but the significance of their information was instantly realised and passed on to City of London police investigators. The IPCC is now investigating why City of London failed to pass the information on to its own officials, the coroner, the pathologist, the family or the media. Ian Tomlinson Metropolitan police Police Protest G20 Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …An apparently deranged passenger tried to open a door mid-flight on a Continental plane en route from Houston to Chicago. An air marshal tacked the flyer when a flight attendant screamed, and the plane was immediately diverted to St. Louis. There were no other details about the passenger, but officials…
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