Veteran actor made plea against cutting arts funding as he revealed details of a mini-scale version of event he created He was here to announce that the Sundance festival is coming to London. But Robert Redford also took the opportunity to make a plea in solidarity with Britain’s actors: don’t cut the arts. Redford revealed details of a small-scale London version of the film festival he created and which has been held in the mountains of Utah since the 1980s. It will be staged at the O2 in April next year, and while there may not be the opportunity to ski down the slopes of Mount Timpanogos, Redford said he was confident the venue was the right one. He also added his voice to the campaign against cuts to arts funding in the UK: “Everbody is experiencing this austerity programme around the world, we’re seeing it in America – cutbacks, cutbacks. “That’s something I wouldn’t attack on all fronts, other than in the arts, and I join my colleagues here – Helen Mirren, who I’ve worked with, Jeremy Irons and others who say you can’t cut the arts because it enriches the culture. “There are also many examples where it enriches the economy. Look at the festival. It puts $70m into the local economy. You can’t, unless it is an ideological argument, classify the arts as a trivial pursuit.” UK arts groups will be glad of his support as they await the next round of funding decisions by the Arts Council, which had its budget cut by 29.6% last year. However, Redford’s real job was to announce details of Sundance London. The 74-year-old actor said he hoped it would become an annual festival: “I’ve wanted to come to London for a long time and it was a question of how and when. It could only happen if there was someone here who wanted us.” Although British films such as Submarine, Tyrannosaur, Project Nim and Knuckle did very well at this year’s Sundance festival, Redford said that Sundance London will be a showcase for independent American films. “We want to bring a slice of our culture to this space,” he said. “There will also be American music, as well as debates and panel discussions.” Redford said that he set up the original Sundance festival in the mountains of Utah “because I thought it would be more weird, more odd and more interesting. I also like to ski”. Clearly, the O2 will be a different prospect. “Time will tell how it works, but we’re coming in very small. We’re here four days, we’re not bringing the full complement of Sundance – we’re bringing film and American music.” The Sundance Institute was founded to promote “independent storytelling to inform, inspire and unite diverse populations around the globe.” Among the projects that it has helped to nurture are An Inconvenient Truth, Spring Awakening and Angels in America. From the work of the institute came the film festival, held in Park City, which has introduced audiences to movies such as Reservoir Dogs, Little Miss Sunshine and American Splendor. London Sundance will run 26-29 April 2012. Register at www.sundance-london.com How the Sundances compare Sundance Park City Largest independent film festival in US Original purpose ‘Advancing the work of risk-taking storytellers worldwide’ Success Impressive Notable films Reservoir Dogs, The Blair Witch Project Sundance London at O2 Arena Largest mast-supported, dome-shaped cable structure in world Original purpose ‘Triumph of boldness over blandness’ – Tony Blair Success Ironic Notable films Disney Channel’s High School Musical 2 premiere. Past attractions The Millennium Dome’s Body Zone, home to a giant Perspex testicle inside which visitors could watch a video simulation of the life of a spermatazoan. Now sadly defunct. Sundance film festival Robert Redford Festivals London Mark Brown guardian.co.uk
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The WikiLeaks founder says he also believes the internet is not a technology that favours freedom of speech The internet is the “greatest spying machine the world has ever seen” and is not a technology that necessarily favours the freedom of speech, the WikiLeaks co-founder, Julian Assange, has claimed in a rare public appearance. Assange acknowledged that the web could allow greater government transparency and better co-operation between activists, but said it gave authorities their best ever opportunity to monitor and catch dissidents. “While the internet has in some ways an ability to let us know to an unprecedented level what government is doing, and to let us co-operate with each other to hold repressive governments and repressive corporations to account, it is also the greatest spying machine the world has ever seen,” he told students at Cambridge University. Hundreds queued for hours to attend. He continued: “It [the web] is not a technology that favours freedom of speech. It is not a technology that favours human rights. It is not a technology that favours civil life. Rather it is a technology that can be used to set up a totalitarian spying regime, the likes of which we have never seen. Or, on the other hand, taken by us, taken by activists, and taken by all those who want a different trajectory for the technological world, it can be something we all hope for.” Assange also suggested that Facebook and Twitter played less of a role in the unrest in the Middle East than has previously been argued by social media commentators and politicians. He said: “Yes [Twitter and Facebook] did play a part, although not nearly as large a part as al-Jazeera. But the guide produced by Egyptian revolutionaries … says on the first page, ‘Do not use Facebook and Twitter’, and says on the last page, ‘Do not use Facebook and Twitter’. “There is a reason for that. There was actually a Facebook revolt in Cairo three or four years ago. It was very small … after it, Facebook was used to round-up all the principal participants. They were then beaten, interrogated and incarcerated.” Assange said that cables released by WikiLeaks played a key role in both fomenting unrest in the Middle East and forcing the US government not to back former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Assange said diplomatic cables concerning US attitudes to the former Tunisian regime had given strength to revolutionary forces across the region. “The Tunisian cables showed clearly that if it came down to it, the US, if it came down to a fight between the military on the one hand, and Ben Ali’s political regime on the other, the US would probably support the military.” He continued: “That is something that must have also caused neighbouring countries to Tunisia some thought: that is that if they militarily intervened, they may not be on the same side as the United States.” Assange, who is appealing against his extradition to Sweden on alleged sex charges, said the WikiLeaks releases had also forced the US to drop their tacit support of Mubarak. “As a result of releasing cables about Suleiman [the vice-president of Egypt under Mubarak], the US and Israel’s preferred option for regime takeover in Egypt, as a result of releasing cables about Mubarak’s approval of Suleiman’s torture methods, it was not possible for Joseph Biden to [repeat his earlier claim that Mubarak was not a dictator]. It was not possible for Hillary Clinton to publicly come out and support Mubarak’s regime.” Responding to a question about Bradley Manning, the US soldier incarcerated for allegedly leaking classified information, Assange said: “We have no idea whether he is one of our sources. All our technology is geared up to make sure we have no idea.” He expressed sympathy for Manning. “He is in a terrible situation. And if he is not connected to us, [then] he is there as an innocent … and if he is in some manner connected to our publications, then of course we have some responsibility. That said, there is no allegation that he was arrested as the result of anything to do with us. The allegation is that he was arrested as a result of him speaking to Wired magazine in the United States.” Assange also criticised the New York Times, which he claimed had suppressed stories about secret American military activity in Afghanistan. Julian Assange WikiLeaks Internet Patrick Kingsley guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …PepsiCo has developed the world’s first plastic bottle made of nothing but renewable, plant-based materials, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. The bottle is made from corn husks, switch grass, and pine bark; but in the future, Pepsi hopes to use its food byproducts like orange and potato peels. Pepsi will start…
Continue reading …Japan’s growing nuclear crisis has led Germany to shut down seven of its nuclear power plants for at least three months, the New York Times reports. Plants that began operating before the close of 1980 will temporarily close while officials complete a safety review for all 17 of the country’s…
Continue reading …Elizabeth Warren is the longtime bane of the banking industry’s existence, but as she prepares the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the woman who once slammed Wall Street’s finest as “the people who drove the car off the cliff” is now killing them with kindness. In many cases, they’re warming…
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Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS cause increasing disquiet among doctors as BMA demands he rethink pro-market changes GPs could more than double their income to £300,000 a year under health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS, according to an analysis for the Guardian – sparking calls from top doctors for the government to reverse controversial policies that would appear to reward physicians who ration care. The revelation comes after the British Medical Association voted to scrap the “dangerous” health bill and demanded that Lansley rethink his radical pro-market changes to the NHS. GPs are central to the government’s programme, and by 2013 will have to band together into consortiums before being handed £80bn of NHS funds to commission care for their patients. At the heart of many doctors’ concerns lies the possibility that, under the reforms, GPs’ pay will be linked to rationing patient care; in essence, being rewarded for saving the taxpayer money. Doctors’ leaders warned that the public would view as “unethical” any move towards a GP’s assessment of a person’s medical need being coloured by a profit motive. At the start of a three-part series on the future of the NHS, the Guardian commissioned Kieran Walshe, professor of health policy and management at Manchester Business School and an adviser to the Commons health select committee, to examine how GPs could profit from the reforms. His work shows GPs could more than double their average pay of £105,000 to £300,000 a year as a direct result of the reforms. At present fewer than 3% of GPs earn more than £200,000 – but Walshe suggests such salaries could become the norm. The pay of family doctors has been a source of dispute since a 2004 deal saw the average annual salary rise from £60,000 to more than £100,000. The prospect of more cash for GPs at a time of austerity and government cuts could prove deeply unpopular with the public. According to Walshe, the most lucrative ventures would see GPs setting up private companies that would turn underspends in their annual budget – in effect, savings on patient spending – into profits. He calculates that individual GPs could net more than £140,000 a year in extra income by saving 5% in commissioning costs. Another £55,000 of income each would come from taking on the responsibility of managing their local population’s needs. A quality premium is also on offer – rewarding financial performance of GP consortiums – as well as the chance for family doctors to create businesses to sell treatments to patients. Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, told the Guardian: “GPs and patients share a unique relationship of trust. If the perception of that trusting relationship is undone then that would have serious consequences for patient care.” One of the key motions passed by the BMA – in its first emergency meeting for 19 years – warned that the relationship between doctors and patients “will be threatened if GP practice remuneration is dependent on rationing decisions [or] the requirement to balance commissioning budgets”. The Department of Health insisted consortiums would not be allowed to make profits by underspending. A spokesperson said the bill would see the NHS regulator Monitor and the new NHS national commissioning board intervene “where there are concerns about the fairness of commissioning decisions. A consortium’s commissioning budget must be used exclusively for patient care. We will not allow a situation where profits can be made at the expense of patient care or patient choice.” But the BMA condemned Lansley’s plans as “too extreme and too rushed … [they] will negatively impact on patient care”. Some 400 representatives of local groups of doctors called on Lansley to “call a halt to the proposed top down reorganisation of the NHS [and] withdraw the health and social care bill”. Labour sought to capitalise on the growing opposition to the bill, which burst open at the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference, when its membership voted to amend the NHS bill so that it promoted “co-operation rather than competition” and asked for half the seats on the boards of GP commissioning consortiums to be reserved for local councillors. Ed Miliband will seek a vote on the NHS reforms in parliamenton Wednesday – hoping to draw out Lib Dem rebels. Lib Dem MPs were meeting to decide how to vote in the Commons debate, but were not expected to vote with Labour.No 10 described the BMA’s general meeting as unrepresentative of its membership. Simon Burns, the NHS minister, said “it has been a day of confusing messages from the … BMA. Fortunately our policy of protecting the NHS’s budget and its values remains clear.” NHS Andrew Lansley Health policy Health Randeep Ramesh Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
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Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS cause increasing disquiet among doctors as BMA demands he rethink pro-market changes GPs could more than double their income to £300,000 a year under health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS, according to an analysis for the Guardian – sparking calls from top doctors for the government to reverse controversial policies that would appear to reward physicians who ration care. The revelation comes after the British Medical Association voted to scrap the “dangerous” health bill and demanded that Lansley rethink his radical pro-market changes to the NHS. GPs are central to the government’s programme, and by 2013 will have to band together into consortiums before being handed £80bn of NHS funds to commission care for their patients. At the heart of many doctors’ concerns lies the possibility that, under the reforms, GPs’ pay will be linked to rationing patient care; in essence, being rewarded for saving the taxpayer money. Doctors’ leaders warned that the public would view as “unethical” any move towards a GP’s assessment of a person’s medical need being coloured by a profit motive. At the start of a three-part series on the future of the NHS, the Guardian commissioned Kieran Walshe, professor of health policy and management at Manchester Business School and an adviser to the Commons health select committee, to examine how GPs could profit from the reforms. His work shows GPs could more than double their average pay of £105,000 to £300,000 a year as a direct result of the reforms. At present fewer than 3% of GPs earn more than £200,000 – but Walshe suggests such salaries could become the norm. The pay of family doctors has been a source of dispute since a 2004 deal saw the average annual salary rise from £60,000 to more than £100,000. The prospect of more cash for GPs at a time of austerity and government cuts could prove deeply unpopular with the public. According to Walshe, the most lucrative ventures would see GPs setting up private companies that would turn underspends in their annual budget – in effect, savings on patient spending – into profits. He calculates that individual GPs could net more than £140,000 a year in extra income by saving 5% in commissioning costs. Another £55,000 of income each would come from taking on the responsibility of managing their local population’s needs. A quality premium is also on offer – rewarding financial performance of GP consortiums – as well as the chance for family doctors to create businesses to sell treatments to patients. Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, told the Guardian: “GPs and patients share a unique relationship of trust. If the perception of that trusting relationship is undone then that would have serious consequences for patient care.” One of the key motions passed by the BMA – in its first emergency meeting for 19 years – warned that the relationship between doctors and patients “will be threatened if GP practice remuneration is dependent on rationing decisions [or] the requirement to balance commissioning budgets”. The Department of Health insisted consortiums would not be allowed to make profits by underspending. A spokesperson said the bill would see the NHS regulator Monitor and the new NHS national commissioning board intervene “where there are concerns about the fairness of commissioning decisions. A consortium’s commissioning budget must be used exclusively for patient care. We will not allow a situation where profits can be made at the expense of patient care or patient choice.” But the BMA condemned Lansley’s plans as “too extreme and too rushed … [they] will negatively impact on patient care”. Some 400 representatives of local groups of doctors called on Lansley to “call a halt to the proposed top down reorganisation of the NHS [and] withdraw the health and social care bill”. Labour sought to capitalise on the growing opposition to the bill, which burst open at the Liberal Democrats’ spring conference, when its membership voted to amend the NHS bill so that it promoted “co-operation rather than competition” and asked for half the seats on the boards of GP commissioning consortiums to be reserved for local councillors. Ed Miliband will seek a vote on the NHS reforms in parliamenton Wednesday – hoping to draw out Lib Dem rebels. Lib Dem MPs were meeting to decide how to vote in the Commons debate, but were not expected to vote with Labour.No 10 described the BMA’s general meeting as unrepresentative of its membership. Simon Burns, the NHS minister, said “it has been a day of confusing messages from the … BMA. Fortunately our policy of protecting the NHS’s budget and its values remains clear.” NHS Andrew Lansley Health policy Health Randeep Ramesh Denis Campbell guardian.co.uk
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• Radiation hits harmful levels at Fukushima plant • Prime minister urges public to remain calm • Struggle to supply food, fuel, water and medicine Fears of a catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan escalated following a third explosion and a fire in another reactor that caused radiation to rise to harmful levels. Fifty to 70 technicians were left to struggle with the possible breach of the containment vessel in reactor No 2, where meltdown is feared. All but non-essential staff were ordered away from the plant. That blast is thought to be the most serious yet because it may have damaged the crucial containment vessel that surrounds the nuclear core and prevents radiation from leaking out. Any damage to the reactor’s steel containment system caused by the explosion increases the risk that radiation will be released from the core, though IAEA officials said the damage is minor and there appeared to be no immediate danger of radiation escaping. The explosion was followed by a fire at a storage pond at reactor 4, where spent fuel rods were being cooled. Although the fire was extinguished, officials were concerned that the pool could boil dry and expose fuel rods to the atmosphere. The fire led to a brief spike in radiation that reached a dose known to be dangerous to health, although levels dropped substantially later in the day. While the disaster has become the biggest nuclear accident since Chernobyl and one that is more serious than Three Mile Island, experts stressed that even the worst-case scenario would still be on a fraction of the scale of the 1986 disaster in the Ukraine. Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, urged the public to remain calm in a televised address, but ordered anyone still within the 13-mile (20km) exclusion zone to leave immediately, and the 140,000 residents within 19 miles to stay indoors. Officials said that health risks to anyone further than 13 miles from the plant were minimal, but the escalating problems have diminished public confidence. Survivors within the disaster zone expressed distrust in officials and the power station’s operators. Several airlines cancelled services to Tokyo, and flights out of Japan quickly sold out as foreigners fled the country. The prime minister, already embattled before the disaster, is under pressure over his handling of the crisis, particularly over the way the nuclear situation has spiralled despite reassurances from officials. The struggle to ensure supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine to an area stricken by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami left the government facing battles on two fronts. The number confirmed dead or missing by police rose above 10,000, Japan’s largest death toll in a natural disaster since the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, Kyodo news agency said. Forecasters have warned that temperatures are dropping to mid-winter levels across the disaster zone, with snow predicted in several areas. Half a million people have been displaced by the disaster and evacuation from the nuclear zone, with Save the Children saying 100,000 children are affected. Shelters and hospitals are running low on fuel and blankets. In Ishinomaki, Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red Cross said: “The tsunami engulfed half the town and many lie shivering uncontrollably under blankets. They are suffering from hypothermia having been stranded in their homes without water or electricity.” The Chinese government said last night it was organising a mass evacuation of its citizens from the north-east of Japan. Tokyo was shaken by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake , but it was not immediately clear if it was an aftershock. It was centred in Shizuoka prefecture, hundreds of miles south-west of the capital and inland. It was not immediately clear if it was related to last Friday’s tremor. . Japan earthquake and tsunami Natural disasters and extreme weather Japan Nuclear power Energy Utilities Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …• Radiation hits harmful levels at Fukushima plant • Prime minister urges public to remain calm • Struggle to supply food, fuel, water and medicine Fears of a catastrophe at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan escalated following a third explosion and a fire in another reactor that caused radiation to rise to harmful levels. Fifty to 70 technicians were left to struggle with the possible breach of the containment vessel in reactor No 2, where meltdown is feared. All but non-essential staff were ordered away from the plant. That blast is thought to be the most serious yet because it may have damaged the crucial containment vessel that surrounds the nuclear core and prevents radiation from leaking out. Any damage to the reactor’s steel containment system caused by the explosion increases the risk that radiation will be released from the core, though IAEA officials said the damage is minor and there appeared to be no immediate danger of radiation escaping. The explosion was followed by a fire at a storage pond at reactor 4, where spent fuel rods were being cooled. Although the fire was extinguished, officials were concerned that the pool could boil dry and expose fuel rods to the atmosphere. The fire led to a brief spike in radiation that reached a dose known to be dangerous to health, although levels dropped substantially later in the day. While the disaster has become the biggest nuclear accident since Chernobyl and one that is more serious than Three Mile Island, experts stressed that even the worst-case scenario would still be on a fraction of the scale of the 1986 disaster in the Ukraine. Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, urged the public to remain calm in a televised address, but ordered anyone still within the 13-mile (20km) exclusion zone to leave immediately, and the 140,000 residents within 19 miles to stay indoors. Officials said that health risks to anyone further than 13 miles from the plant were minimal, but the escalating problems have diminished public confidence. Survivors within the disaster zone expressed distrust in officials and the power station’s operators. Several airlines cancelled services to Tokyo, and flights out of Japan quickly sold out as foreigners fled the country. The prime minister, already embattled before the disaster, is under pressure over his handling of the crisis, particularly over the way the nuclear situation has spiralled despite reassurances from officials. The struggle to ensure supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine to an area stricken by Friday’s earthquake and tsunami left the government facing battles on two fronts. The number confirmed dead or missing by police rose above 10,000, Japan’s largest death toll in a natural disaster since the Great Kanto earthquake of 1923, Kyodo news agency said. Forecasters have warned that temperatures are dropping to mid-winter levels across the disaster zone, with snow predicted in several areas. Half a million people have been displaced by the disaster and evacuation from the nuclear zone, with Save the Children saying 100,000 children are affected. Shelters and hospitals are running low on fuel and blankets. In Ishinomaki, Patrick Fuller of the International Federation of Red Cross said: “The tsunami engulfed half the town and many lie shivering uncontrollably under blankets. They are suffering from hypothermia having been stranded in their homes without water or electricity.” The Chinese government said last night it was organising a mass evacuation of its citizens from the north-east of Japan. Tokyo was shaken by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake , but it was not immediately clear if it was an aftershock. It was centred in Shizuoka prefecture, hundreds of miles south-west of the capital and inland. It was not immediately clear if it was related to last Friday’s tremor. . Japan earthquake and tsunami Natural disasters and extreme weather Japan Nuclear power Energy Utilities Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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