“Any soldier who braves military combat and risks their life for our country should be treated like an adult—in every sense of the word,” says Alaska lawmaker Bob Lynn. The Republican has revived an old controversy with a bill that would allow members of the military under 21 years…
Continue reading …
We must bring equal protection and the potential for equal punishment to everyone on the road Last week I presented a 10 minute rule bill in the House of Commons called “dangerous and reckless cycling (offences)”. In 2007, Rhiannon Bennett was walking with friends on a pavement when a cyclist approached at speed yelling, “Move, because I’m not stopping.” He hit Rhiannon who fell and smashed her head on the kerb. She was taken to hospital but died six days later. The cyclist was found guilty of the crime of dangerous Cycling. This charge carries a maximum penalty of £2,500, but no prison sentence. There are other charges, including the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861, but this charge was designed to deal with horse-drawn carriages and carts and therefore, for obvious reasons, it is rarely used. The cyclist who killed Rhiannon was given a £2,200 fine but did not go to prison. On seeing the title of my bill, some people, including MPs, thought I was anti-cycling and seeking to make criminals out of cyclists. I am a keen cyclist myself, I take advantage of many excellent initiatives such as the cycle hire scheme in London and commend people for swapping their cars for their bike to get to school and work. Many have pointed out , quite rightly, that far more cyclists are killed and injured by motorists than the number of pedestrians who are killed or injured by cyclists and quite often motorists who kill or injure cyclists do not go to prison . I certainly do not trivialise the issue of cyclists being killed or injured by motorists and I share the concerns and outrage of many that have pointed out that so few motorists go to prison. The point I wish to make is that, in the case of a motorist killing a cyclist there is, at the very least, the possibility of a motorist being severely punished. Causing death by dangerous driving carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison, causing death by careless driving has a maximum sentence of five years. This is not the case with cyclists. There is no charge of causing death by dangerous cycling. There is only the charge of dangerous cycling which carries a maximum penalty of a £2,500 fine and the out-of-date Offences Against The Person Act 1861 which does carry a maximum penalty of two years in prison but seems unlikely to be successfully upheld in cases such as the Rhiannon Bennett case. My aim from the beginning has been to update the law and bring equal protection and the potential for equal punishment to all road users. In this country we have an independent judiciary. As an MP I can enact, scrutinise and update the law but the courts enforce the penalties. I sincerely hope that all road users are held accountable to the full extent of the law. My heart goes out equally to all whose lives have been damaged or taken away by the careless, dangerous or reckless actions of others. • Andrea Leadsom is MP for South Northamptonshire Cycling guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Photographer Andy Hall searches for signs of spring – from fiery sunrises and blossoming flowers to lambs gambolling in a field, they are most definitely here Alicia Canter Andy Hall
Continue reading …
British media revel in 1 April traditions with stories attempting to straddle line between incredulity and plausibility It’s that day again; the one that gave us the annual spaghetti harvest , fiesta on the charming island of San Seriffe , and the left-handed burger. This year, gorillas discovered the joy of iPads; BMW launched its royal wedding special edition M3 Coupe in Windsor white, badged in red, white and blue; a unicorn skeleton was found at the Tower of London; and Radio 4 forced the august John Humphrys to take a walk on the wild side and investigate the wonders of 3D radio. The Sun’s exclusive , with a comment from wildlife expert Terry Nutkins, has delightful photographs of gorillas frolicking in the sun with iPads. Nutkins doubts we’ll ever see them on Twitter or Facebook, but I don’t know, there’s always next year. Radio 4′s Today programme could soon be broadcast in 3D sound , promising to create the effect of John Humphrys inside your head. The report has the essential 1 April quality of plausible dullness, with interviews with the Tubular Bells sound engineers, and Evan Davis demonstrating a simple but effective technique for tuning out hiss. Google offers a touching interview with Michael, its autocompleter , a geeky soul who began as a spellchecker but has now graduated to completing those awkward polysyllabic words faster than you can type. “My friends and family always say Michael, how come you always know what we’re going to say?” He manages 34,000 words on a good day, and has been such a success that Google is now recruiting some colleagues for him. Metro – which also reported the discovery of the unicorn at the Tower , with video so it must be true – launched its edible edition , using corn starch, vegetable oil and citric acid among other delicious ingredients: “Printing takes a few hours overnight – several seconds to print each page and slightly longer to dry. The finished products are even given a light vanilla scent. Charles Bouquet, of the Edible Paper Company, said the project would encourage recycling. He added: ‘We hope it adds flavour to the stories and presents readers with a colourful menu of current affairs.’” The Mail has Kate Middleton checking out baby clothes and – in its online version – propping up a bar . The Telegraph has Labour apparatchiks ordering the party faithful to celebrate the joyful union of Ed Milliband and Justine Thornton with street parties and bunting. The Independent’s page 3 boy is Cristiano Ronaldo : it reports that the footballer has agreed to “act like a patriot” and be sold to Spain for €160m, to help reduce his country’s disastrous national debt. Funnily enough the Mirror also has a Spanish football related story : Fernando Torres is so gutted at his goal free performance at Chelsea since he transferred from Liverpool that he has called on team-mates to join him in an ancient Iberian curse-breaking ceremony involving a defecating goat, called the Dia de los Innocentes, which can only be performed on the first day of the fourth month. Goats, stop reading now, this might upset you: the first 12 fans who turn up at Stamford Bridge will be rewarded with choice cuts to take home. On the BBC business news website , a special correspondent bylined Tok Enmale reports that a federation of men’s groups is to take legal action against Mumsnet. Melvin Footlong, a dad from Weymouth, reflected the widely held views of many men when he complained: “Because I don’t have access to Mumsnet’s Am I being Unreasonable boards, I never know if I’m being reasonable or not. It puts me and other dads at a huge disadvantage.” “It’s not fair, I want to write EastEnders storylines too,” he added.” The Radio Times website broke the appalling news that Jeremy Paxman is to quit University Challenge in outrage over the quiz being dumbed down. And quite right too. Multiple choice questions? Three lives, and “phone a professor”? Shocking. The flight comparison site Skyscanner announced the maiden flight of Urchin Airways, such a terrifyingly plausible idea it should probably be kept from Michael O’Leary: the first child-passenger only plane took off from Heathrow, it reports. “Cabin crew on Urchin Airways will all be dressed as clowns and will oversee the library of video games and supervise a ball pit area. Activities such as egg-and-spoon races will be held along the aisle and targets woven into seating upholstery will offer youngsters the chance to hone their seat kicking skills. Whereas on regular flights children are scolded for making noise, screaming will be encouraged in ‘who can scream loudest?’ challenges.” Actually I’m not sure this is an April Fool, I’m pretty certain I’ve been on that flight – many, many times. Newspapers Newspapers & magazines guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Mad Men will be back with creator Matthew Weiner at the helm for two more seasons and possibly a third. After tough negotiations, Weiner has signed a deal with AMC and Lionsgate believed to be worth around $30 million, reports the New York Times . The cable hit’s fifth season will…
Continue reading …
OFT investigation finds that vehicle buying service’s inspectors were given target to reduce initial quote by 25% The Office of Fair Trading has taken enforcement action against used car buying company webuyanycar.com for misleading online valuations after finding 96% of customers received less for their vehicle than the original quote offered online by the firm, sometimes by hundreds of pounds. Webuyanycar.com’s vehicle buying service allows customers to input the details about their vehicle and its condition online to obtain a free valuation. If customers are happy with the online valuation they then arrange an appointment at a local webuyanycar.com branch for their vehicle to be inspected. At the appointment, the vehicle is given an examination and a purchase price is offered to the customer. An OFT investigation found that customers were given the impression that they would be paid the online valuation if the company’s on-site inspection matched the condition entered by the seller online. But once at the appointment, some customers found that a range of factors reduced the final price. Webuyanycar.com vehicle inspectors were set targets to meet, including reducing the valuation offered by up to 25% upon reappraisal. Sellers were also given the impression that the online quote was valid for seven days, so were encouraged to make an appointment quickly. But the OFT was concerned that, once at webuyanycar.com’s premises, consumers might accept a reduced valuation even if they were unhappy with it, because of the time and expense already incurred, or because they needed a quick sale. The company, which co-operated with the OFT’s investigation, told the OFT it thought it was acting legally but has agreed to make changes in light of the OFT’s investigation. Webuyanycar.com and its directors have agreed to make clear that the website valuation is not a price at which the company is offering to buy the consumer’s car and that a range of other factors may be taken into account. It has also agreed to stop setting targets for vehicle inspectors that have the potential to encourage them to reduce the valuation offered for inappropriate reasons. They will no longer deduct from the final price the amount of any refund available to the customer from the DVLA for the road tax remaining on the car and will now make it clear to customers that the next working day payment service (which incurs an additional charge of £24.75) is optional. Cavendish Elithorn, the senior director of the OFT’s Consumer Group, said: “Selling personal possessions through the internet is increasingly popular, especially in these tough economic times. “But it’s important that the headline figure isn’t chipped away at by the buyer, because it makes it very difficult for consumers to shop around and find the best deal. “This action makes clear that online businesses offering to purchase cars or other goods must provide clear upfront information on pricing and about how their service operates and company staff should not be incentivised to cut the valuation that has attracted the customer to the business. “The growth of new business models on the internet can bring major benefits for consumers, businesses and the UK economy. But for this to work, people need to be able to trust the deals they are offered.” Motoring Consumer affairs Mark King guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Guyana and Norway in the second stage of a deal whereby Norway would make annual payments to Guyana to keep its forests This week a further historic step is taken in the battle to hang on the world’s remaining tropical rainforests. It is unlikely to make too many headlines, but on Friday two countries will take forward the kind of arrangement that many have talked about but few have had the boldness to actually do. Guyana and Norway’s leadership is seen in the second stage of a ground-breaking deal through which one (Norway) makes annual payments to the other (Guyana) to keep its forests. The amount of money to change hands is calculated on the basis of how well Guyana has done in holding back deforestation, and the value of that in terms of avoided carbon dioxide emissions. A complex calculation is made to determine how well the recipient country has done but this year $40m is being transferred. Guyana spends the money paid by Norway – a total of $250m spread over a period of years – on projects that will help with environmentally sound development, for example through funding solar panels on all the houses belonging to the indigenous people. In remote rainforests these are no fashion accessories. They are the means for children to read books at night and mark the end of the kerosene lamps and candles which cause indoor air pollution and fire hazards. There is also money to connect remote settlements to the internet, again powered with solar electricity. There is money to pay for the costly job of legally demarking Amerindian lands and there are plans for health, education and business support. The overall strategy is geared to keeping the forest intact, and thus the priceless services they provide for the entire world. Any rational economic calculation must conclude the world is getting the bargain of the century. Without this kind of support from Norway, the pressures on the forests might become irresistible. Guyana is poor. The country needs jobs, foreign exchange and tax revenues. And there are plenty of takers for the natural resources that await plunder in delivering these benefits. Since Brazil has cracked down on deforestation, the loggers, ranchers and soya farmers there have been looking for other places to expand their industries. Guyana is next door, connected by a new road and a prime target. I wrote about this in 2009 , but fortunately there has so far been no major incursion. Part of the reason is because Guyana’s President Jagdeo has been able to hold the line politically, in part because Norway has delivered money on a different basis. But even with the best will, Guyana needs to undertake some forest clearance. There are plans for a new hydropower dam that will flood 45 square kilometres of forest. It will lead to the loss of 0.05% of the country’s forest and is by any standard a major project. There has also been forest loss to gold mining. In the last year forest clearance has nearly tripled, mainly because of an expansion of this industry, from about 40 square kilometres to about 110. It is important, however, to put this change into the context of a tiny original deforestation rate – at six hundredths of 1% per annum, Guyana’s present rate of forest loss is about 95% below the global average. With forest nearly the size of England and Scotland combined, the total loss from the dam and mining will lead to the equivalent of 10% of Norfolk being deforested. And the very fact that we know this is a major step forward. Both the low deforestation rate and the rapid rate of change were revealed by satellite monitoring funded from the first tranche of Norwegian money paid last year. Guyana has sent a signal – and it is being heard. One consequence is seen in the fact that land-hungry natural resource companies looking for space in which to expand agriculture and logging are heading toward neighbouring Surinam. That country has no such deal with Norway, or anyone else for that matter, and unfortunately business as usual prevails there. History is being made; and not just history in human affairs. It is about the history of life on Earth and whether we will find the means to co-operate in arresting the destruction of our planet’s verdant lifebelt of tropical rainforests. Forests Deforestation Conservation Endangered habitats Wildlife Tony Juniper guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
When he was asked to be guest director for a festival dedicated to films based on books, Jonathan Coe set out to disprove the adage that great literature makes terrible movies In the course of their famous book-length interview, François Truffaut once asked Alfred Hitchcock about his approach to literary adaptation, and Hitch’s response was as magisterial, worldly and mischievous as one would expect: “What I do is to read a story only once, and if I like the basic idea, I just forget all about the book and start to create cinema. Today I would be unable to tell you the story of Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds . I read it only once, and very quickly at that.” Hitchcock’s comment was the first thing that occurred to me when, towards the end of last year, I was approached with an interesting proposition. “From Page to Screen” is the name of a small film festival which takes place in Bridport, Dorset. It’s now in its third year and, as its title suggests, is dedicated exclusively to films which are adapted from literary sources. This year, for the first time, the organisers decided that they wanted to invite a guest director to oversee the programme. I accepted the offer at once, and then almost immediately wondered what I’d let myself in for: because the truth is that 99 times out of 100, I’m with Hitchcock on this one. Draw up one of those faintly ludicrous but fascinating lists of the 20 greatest novels, and then do the same for movies: do they match up, at all? Of course not. Joyce’s Ulysses might well be on the first list, but Joseph Strick’s Ulysses (1967) certainly won’t be on the second. Pride and Prejudice could possibly be on the first, but neither Robert Z Leonard’s nor Joe Wright’s adaptations will make the second. And none of these examples is a travesty, exactly, although we could all name some of those if we wanted to: film history – especially recent film history – is littered with examples where a good novel has been transformed, not into an average movie, but an outright disaster: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and The Bonfire of the Vanities spring immediately to mind. Looking a little more closely at what Hitchcock said gives us a clear explanation of why this is so often the case. The question Truffaut specifically put to him was whether he would ever consider making a screen adaptation of a great novel such as Crime and Punishment . To which the director answered: “Well, I shall never do that, precisely because
Continue reading …
The family of Zhao Wei, 23, were told he jumped to his death at a railway station, but they believe he was murdered This much is certain: on a freezing January evening, a 23-year-old student boarded a train to inner Mongolia, to spend the Chinese new year with his family. Zhao Wei never reached home. By early next morning, he was dead. Police said he had jumped to his death from a building at a railway station halfway along the line. But an online letter signed in his parents’ names offers another, chilling version of events. It alleges he was led away by railway police after a petty dispute with train staff; that his corpse was covered in unexplained injuries; that officials had “left a hundred questions unanswered” and that he was murdered. Perhaps it was the letter’s anguish that spoke to its readers. Perhaps it was Zhao’s ordinariness. Perhaps it was underlying distrust of officials, fuelled by a series of death in custody scandals . Whatever the reason, it seized attention: within a few days internet users had forwarded two posts about the case more than 100,000 times on the country’s most popular microblog. But shortly afterwards the appeal disappeared from the Chinese website hosting it and the news report on the case was deleted from most sites. This week, state news agency Xinhua issued the official verdict. A careful investigation had found conclusive evidence that Zhao got off the train at Daqing in Heilongjiang “due to his own reasons; fell off the building while he was climbing over a fence and died from severe brain injury”. There had been no dispute with the train crew or passengers. With no further details forthcoming, the findings raise more questions than they answer. Why did Zhao climb off the train at an unknown station hundreds of miles from home in the middle of the night? What was he doing on the building when he fell and why was he climbing its fence? “So Zhao Wei committed suicide … the statement chills the heart of those who still have hope for this society,” wrote one person. Another declared his suspicion more bluntly: “They killed you because they knew that if they did, they wouldn’t be held accountable.” According to the online letter, Zhao moved carriages at about 10pm, telling a fellow student that he seemed to have upset the conductor by complaining that an attendant had ridiculed him in a disagreement over a seat change. It went on: “At around 3am, the railway police came and asked Zhao Wei to come with them. “When this classmate next saw Zhao Wei, [his] eyes were already black and blue, and his life was gone.” Photographs purportedly of Zhao showed a young man with a blackened, swollen right eye and marks on his jaw and by his ear. “There were three wounds inside and outside his left ear … wounds in two places on his right lower jaw … a large purple bruise on his right hip and buttock, and a wound in the middle … five wounds on his right groin, and his scrotum had swollen up to the size of a pear. There were many wounds on both hands, and his left wrist bore purplish red marks that suggested he had been handcuffed,” the letter added. It begged leaders for a full investigation, warning: “If we cannot get to the bottom of Zhao Wei’s death, there is a risk the same kind of thing could happen to a Qian Wei, a Sun Wei or a Li Wei. “Deal with the murderers, return justice to this harmonious society, and hand justice back to this simple peasant couple who raised Zhao Wei these 23 years.” The Xinhua article published this week said all Zhao’s injuries resulted from his fall. It added that his family had witnessed a re-examination of his body, which had subsequently been cremated, and had no objection to the investigation’s results. The Guardian has been unable to contact his family directly, despite repeated attempts over several weeks. An Oriental Morning Post article said a relative confirmed that Zhao’s parents wrote the online letter. The Hebei University of Technology, where Zhao studied, said it “didn’t know anything” about the case. The ministry of railways and the railway police did not respond to faxed requests for more information. “From the brief glimpse we were given in China’s microblogs and a single mainstream media report, it seems the Zhao Wei case epitomised many issues of concern to ordinary Chinese. Most importantly, though, I think it spoke to the desire for real answers and for real justice,” said David Bandurski of the China Media Project, which has archived much of the deleted material relating to the case. He added: “This was a tragedy that might befall any Chinese family. Would this family be able to find justice against vested political interests determined to cover up the truth and avoid responsibility? “Unfortunately, this single Xinhua release, claiming against a background of complete silence that justice has been served, suggests that the answer to that question is no.” China Internet Social media Digital media Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Hammond says High Speed Two could provide 160 extra services a day as roadshow attempts to win over opponents Commuters in towns and cities on the High Speed Two rail route will benefit from 160 extra services a day into the capital if a new London-to-Birmingham line is built, the government has claimed. In the latest attempt to win over sceptical home counties residents about the £17bn project, the transport secretary, Philip Hammond, has launched a sound simulation of the 225mph route and is seeking to convince passengers who live near the line that extra space will be created on the nearby West Coast and Chiltern lines. According to the Department for Transport, the biggest beneficiaries could be Milton Keynes, which could see services increase by 90%, Northampton, with a near-50% rise, and Tamworth and Lichfield, with 80% increases. None of these will have a station on the line, and Lichfield residents have expressed concerns about the route’s proximity to the town. Having admitted that the environmental case is weaker than expected, and ratcheted down the business benefits of the line, the government is now targeting commuters in an attempt to overcome strong local opposition. Hammond said: “Our proposed new high-speed rail network would free up a huge amount of space on current railways for more trains to operate. Building a whole new line would create scope for people who live near the current stations to get more frequent services that are less crowded – I would also hope that this additional competition could mean cheaper fares as well.” He said commuters in some towns, such as Milton Keynes, could see a near doubling in the number of trains from their station to London. “The reality is that many of our current trains are full and too many people have to stand – we desperately need the extra trains and capacity that a new high-speed rail network would bring.” The HS2 roadshow will include sound booths that play simulations of the route in four locations: Northolt in west London; Great Missenden and Wendover in Buckinghamshire; and Ladbroke in Warwickshire. The 3D system, created by the engineering firm Arup, uses sound recordings taken from French TGV high-speed services and lays them over background recordings taken from the four locations. Arup stressed that the clip given to the Guardian is a reduced and simplified version of the roadshow recordings. However, opposition to the line remains fierce in the countryside sections of the 140-mile route. Julian Smyth-Osbourne, spokesman for HS2 Action Alliance, said: “How loud or quiet the high-speed train may be is an issue for the poor people who live and work near the line. “What is becoming increasingly clear is that HS2 will be a white elephant costing billions that will be a millstone round all of our necks for generations to come and that is an issue for every single one of us.” Rail transport Transport policy Transport Rail travel Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …