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Pupils face further disruption to their learning after the largest teaching union voted in favour of strike action. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, accused teachers of “turning their backs” on children after 90 per cent of those who took part in the National Education Union (NEU) ballot backed a walkout. The turnout of 53 per cent only narrowly met the legal threshold for industrial action. The strikes could affect up to 23,400 schools across England and Wales, with teachers walking out for four days in each region, staggered across next month and March. The first strike will be on Wednesday, February 1. The walkouts are particularly concerning for the government because of the knock-on economic impact of parents staying off work to care for children. They will also fuel fears about pupils slipping further behind after school closures during the pandemic. The NEU is asking for a pay rise in line with inflation, fully funded by the government. The present deal for teachers starts at 8.9 per cent for newly qualified teachers, tapering to 5 per cent for the most experienced. Most will receive 5 per cent. Unions are concerned that the rises are not fully funded by the government, meaning they will have to come in part from stretched school budgets. Keegan said the department had already met the union’s request for an additional £2 billion in funding for schools, adding that spending was at its highest level in history. She will meet Emma Yeomans Ill health among working-age people is costing the economy the equivalent of 7 per cent of the UK’s gross domestic product, according to an analysis for Tuesday January 17 2023 | thetimes.co.uk | No 73995 £2.50 £2.00 to subscribers (based on 7 Day Print Pack) The end of fast living? Why you need to slow down 2G INSIDE TIMES2 Therapy and oversharing By Julia Samuel, Diana’s friend Rachel Sylvester, Kat Lay Health Commission Rising levels of ill health costing the economy £150bn a year The Times Health Commission. The sum — about £150 billion a year — has increased by 60 per cent since 2016, the last time it was calculated by government departments using the same methodology. There is an additional cost of almost £70 billion a year in lost income tax, benefit payments and NHS care. The study by the economics and finance consultancy Oxera warns of a “substantial risk” of long-term damage to the UK economy if nothing is done to reverse the rising cost of sickness. Launched this week, The Times Health Commission is a year-long inquiry into the NHS and social care in England. Andy Haldane, the former chief economist at the Bank of England and head of the government’s Levelling up Taskforce, told the commission: “For perhaps the first time since the Industrial Revolution, health factors are acting as a serious headwind to economic growth. “Stresses in UK health and its healthcare system had been building for at least a decade prior to the pandemic. Covid now appears to have tipped them into a tailspin which, without serious surgery, they seem unlikely to recover from. Now is just the moment to be rethinking the fundamentals of UK health and healthcare to restore its stability and resilience and, with it, improve patient and healthcare worker satisfaction and economic growth.” The study says addressing the issue is “not only socially desirable but an White and wonderful People living in and around Hexham in Northumberland woke to a fresh covering of snow after a wintry weekend. Mass walkout by teachers will hit millions of pupils education unions for more talks tomorrow after discussions last week failed to resolve the dispute. Writing for The Times, Keegan said: “Now is not the time for unions to turn their backs on classrooms. Our children are looking to teachers to open doors to their futures, not close them.” She said that the 8.9 per cent rises taking starting salaries to £30,000 by September were the best in 30 years. “Given the broader economic situation, our progress in recovering from the 6Wave of school strikes to start next month 6Union accused of turning its back on children Police missed nine chances to stop serial rapist in Met Fiona Hamilton Crime and Security Editor David Woode Crime Correspondent The Metropolitan Police has been plunged into further crisis after a firearms officer who worked in the same unit as Sarah Everard’s killer admitted to being one of Britain’s worst sex offenders. Sir Mark Rowley, the Met commissioner, said he was sickened by revelations that the police had missed at least nine opportunities in ten years to stop David Carrick, who was repeatedly reported for criminal and predatory behaviour against women. Carrick, 48, who was nicknamed “Bastard Dave” by colleagues, carried out sex attacks almost continuously during the two decades he worked at Scotland Yard. Yesterday he admitted more than 80 offences including 48 rapes against 12 women. Carrick operated with impunity and was allowed to continue working even after he was arrested for rape in July 2021, days after Wayne Couzens pleaded guilty to the abduction, rape and murder of Everard. Both men worked in the Met’s parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. The Met said that Carrick and Couzens had worked in different parts of the command, that there was “nothing to suggest they knew each other” and “our records indicate they were never posted together”. Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, said that trust in the police was “shattered”. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, described Carrick’s case as “a sobering moment” for the Met and “the reputation of British policing as a whole”, adding: “I have been clear that culture and standards in the police need to David Carrick has admitted attacks on 12 women

2 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News pandemic, and our record investment, in my mind the NEU’s action is not reasonable.” Dr Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, joint general secretaries of the NEU, said: “Teachers are leaving in droves, a third gone within five years of qualifying. This is a scandalous waste of talent and taxpayers’ money, yet the government seems unbothered about the conditions they are allowing schools and colleges to slide into.” They added: “It continues to be the aspiration of the NEU and its membership that this dispute can be resolved without recourse to strike action. We regret having to take strike action, and are willing to enter into negotiations at any time, any place.” Teachers in the NEU will strike across all parts of England and Wales on February 1, March 15 and March 16. Regional strikes will take place in Wales on February 14, in northern England on February 28, in the Midlands and eastern England on March 1 and in London, the southeast and southwest on March 2. Head teachers have also voted to strike in Wales, but turnout for a ballot in England did not reach the required legal threshold. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “It is incredibly frustrating that anti-trade union and anti-democratic legislation compelled us to conduct the ballot by post during a period in which the management of the Royal Mail refused to take action to ameliorate the disruption to the postal service.” Global chief executives rank the UK as the third most important country for investment, jointly with Germany and behind only the US and China. Despite recent political turmoil, chief executives are increasingly bullish about the UK, according to PwC’s 26th annual Global CEO Survey. Only 9 per cent selected the UK as a market to grow revenue in 2020, compared with 18 per cent who selected it this year. Kevin Ellis, the chairman and senior partner of PwC UK, said that strength in areas such as artificial intelligence and biotech, alongside a businessfriendly environment, made the UK an increasingly attractive market. “Chief executives don’t expand and invest on a whim — they’re choosing the UK as that’s where they expect to Bullish bosses rate UK in top three markets for investment Richard Fletcher Business Editor see returns. To keep the UK attractive, we need renewed focus on skills and regional growth, both of which will help unlock productivity.” The survey of 4,410 chief executives in 150 countries was published to coincide with the World Economic Forum in Davos. It reveals that UK bosses are more upbeat than their international counterparts: 4 per cent of UK chief executives expect the economy to decline significantly compared with 12 per cent of global chief executives. But only 21 per cent of UK chief executives expect the global economy to improve in the next 12 months, down from 82 per cent last year. Despite this, UK chief executives are upbeat about their own companies’ prospects: 48 per cent are “very or extremely confident” about prospects in the next 12 months, compared with 42 per cent of global chief executives. In the longer term, almost one in four UK chief executives fear their companies will not be economically viable within a decade without significant changes to their business model. Ellis said: “Many CEOs believe their current business models are unsustainable and this means more change ahead. This isn’t about tinkering but fundamental changes requiring big investment in people, skills and technology.” More than a quarter (26 per cent) of UK chief executives said that they were “moderately or extremely exposed to the threat of climate change over the next 12 months”, compared with 39 per cent of chief executives globally. economic imperative”. It adds: “Without adequate interventions of sufficient scale, there is a substantial risk of longterm scarring to the economy if more people fall into the downward spiral of declining health and leaving the labour market, which can further exacerbate health problems.” Oxera cites the “acute impact” of long Covid, the ageing population, and the rising prevalence of mental illness and musculoskeletal conditions as key pressures. Employers must also do more to support the health of their workforce, the report says. “Failure to address these trends will create additional pressure for the NHS, which is already facing unprecedented challenges.” In November the Office for Wintry showers in the north and west, chilly with sunny spells in the south and east. THE WEATHER 10 21 23 2 3 3 4 3 3 2 T O D AY ’ S E D I T I O N FOLLOW US thetimes timesandsundaytimes thetimes OFFER Save over 50% with a subscription to The Times and The Sunday Times THETIMES.CO.UK/SUBSCRIBE Batch cooking to tighten belts Regifting unwanted Christmas presents and cooking healthier meals in batches at the weekends are some of the ways in which cash-strapped consumers are seeking to tackle the pressures of the cost of living crisis, new data suggests. Britain’s tanks under review Ben Wallace is reviewing the decision to cut the number of tanks in the British Army after the chief of the general staff said in a leaked statement that giving Challenger 2s to Ukraine would leave the UK “weaker”. Death threats over car curbs Councillors in Oxford have received death threats after a conspiracy theory about a scheme to reduce traffic spread around the world. Attempts to cut car journeys and free up space for buses have been described as a “lockdown”. Arsenal sights on £80m Rice Arsenal have made Declan Rice their top target this summer and are confident they can beat Chelsea to his signature. West Ham United are expected to sell the 24-year-old England midfielder at the end of the season. He could cost £80 million. Cardinal takes aim at the Pope A senior cardinal has claimed that Pope Francis does not talk enough about God. Cardinal Gerhard Müller will set out his vision in In Good Faith, a potential handbook for hardline Catholics after the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Bank fears new insurer scandal The Bank of England has warned that a post-Brexit revamp of insurance rules will heighten risks for policyholders, raising the spectre of a repeat of the Equitable Life crisis, which led to the government paying more than £1 billion in compensation. COMMENT Keeping quiet enables the cultural bullies to get away with it MELANIE PHILLIPS, PAGE 24 COMMENT 23 THUNDERER 24 LEADING ARTICLES 27 MARKETS 45 REGISTER 48 COURT CIRCULAR 51 SPORT 54 CROSSWORD 64 TV & RADIO TIMES2 DAB RADIO l ONLINE l SMART SPEAKER l APP Today’s highlights 7am 11am 2pm 3.35pm 8.35pm Gillian Keegan, the education secretary Matt Chorley looks at the politics of litter The actor Matthew Modine, starring in To Kill a Mockingbird on the West End Jane Garvey and Fi Glover chat to the First Dates restaurant’s maître d’ Fred Sirieix The Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, right, discusses his new music documentary, Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World continued from page 1 Teaching strikes National Statistics published data showing that the number of people unable to work because of a long-term condition had risen from two million in spring 2019 to 2.5 million last summer. Oxera found that lost output due to long-term ill health was costing the economy at least £115 billion a year. Longer NHS waiting times “need to be further investigated to understand their influence on long-term sickness”, its report states. The economic impact of workers taking days off sick is estimated to be at least £32 billion. There were a total of 149 million sickness days in 2021, equivalent to 649,130 full-time jobs. In addition, the Treasury is losing out on over £40 billion a year in tax revenues from those who are unable to work because of ill health. The cost to the NHS is put at £10 billion and benefit payments add up to £16 billion. These are “conservative” estimates and the true cost could be much higher, the report says. “To provide a sense of scale, if government could avoid these costs it would be possible to pay for up to 1.8 million additional nurses, equivalent to more than double the current number of registered nurses in the UK.” A government spokeswoman said: “We know many people with a health condition want to return to work, which is why we’re investing £1.3 billion over the next three years to help them get back into employment. “Our health and disability white paper will offer long-term solutions to this issue while work continues at pace to get more people into jobs and drive down economic inactivity.” continued from page 1 The Times Health Commission T eachers change lives and their work has never been more important as we help children catch up after the pandemic. As education secretary, I’ve visited dozens of schools and met hundreds of teachers. Each and every one has been dedicated to the education and care of the young people they teach. All of us will have that special teacher who inspired us to believe in ourselves. Mine was Mr Ashcroft, who stayed late to help me and one other girl take extra O-levels, including technical drawing and engineering. His commitment meant I was able to progress onto my apprenticeship, which took me on to where I am today. We saw that same dedication during the pandemic, when all our teachers responded magnificently to keep young people learning. When Covid-19 forced us to close schools to all but the most vulnerable and the children of key workers, it was our teachers who enabled the rest to keep on learning. Despite their incredible work, the impact on learning and development has been significant and that is why we continue to pour billions into recovery programmes to help those who need extra tuition. Given the progress being made, it is deeply disappointing for children and for parents that one union, the National Education Union (NEU), has voted in favour of strike action, unlike more than half of members from the NASUWT and NAHT unions. I understand the pressure many households are facing at the moment — the only way to relieve this is to get to grips with inflation. That is why the prime minister has been clear on his ambition to halve inflation by the end of the year. Given the broader economic situation, our progress in recovering from the pandemic, and our record investment, in my mind the NEU’s action is not reasonable. We have made education a cornerstone of our bid to level up the country, to give everyone the chance to fulfil their potential. We have done this with record levels of investment. We have committed to raising starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000 next year. For experienced teachers there have been increases of 5 per cent. These increases are the highest for 30 years. The average salary for a classroom teacher is £39,500, with an employer pension contribution of 23.6 per cent, worth almost £10,000 a year on average. Within days of my appointment, the teaching unions wrote asking for an extra £2 billion for schools next year and the year after. In the autumn statement, that’s what we delivered. This means that, by 2024-25, schools will be funded in real terms, at their highest level in history. That doesn’t mean no teacher is facing pressure, but this is not a sector starved of investment. I will be meeting union leaders tomorrow to try and avert this damaging action. Now is not the time for unions to turn their backs on classrooms. Our children are looking to teachers to open doors to their futures, not close them. Gillian Keegan Comment

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 3 News egotistical and his only thought was staying out of jail,” Teresa Principato, a former magistrate who hunted the boss for ten years, said. Investigators revealed yesterday that wiretapped relatives had let slip that Messina Denaro was suffering from liver cancer, which led to a search through health records for a sufferer that matched his profile, culminating in the Maddalena clinic in Palermo. Police decided he was using the pseudonym Andrea Bonafede and had an Italian identity card in that name, so when an appointment was made in the name of Bonafede, police moved in. “The certainty it was him only came this morning,” an official said. Paolo Guido, a Palermo magistrate, noted the boss was well dressed and wearing a Richard Mille watch worth about €30,000. “We can assume he was not in any economic difficulty,” he said. The arrest led to jubilation among Italians glad to put behind them the lingering memory of the 1990s mafia wars. It also, however, prompted questions about what secrets the former fugitive might now reveal about politicians suspected of conniving with Cosa Nostra. Principato also pointed out that Messina Denaro was able to stay close to home, despite the search for him, because of his secret network of supporters, and said police would be keen to identify them. “The big question now is who protected him all these years, and I am thinking particularly of politicians and Sicilian freemasons,” she said. Gina Lollobrigida, the Hollywood diva once described as “the most beautiful woman in the world”, has died aged 95 after a career during which she starred opposite Humphrey Bogart, became a sculptor and stood for parliament. The Italian actress became a byword for Latin glamour in the 1950s and 1960s as she took leading roles in films with Hollywood’s top stars, from Burt Lancaster to Errol Flynn, Frank Sinatra and Alec Guinness. After an early Behind the story S icily’s Cosa Nostra mafia, which once shipped heroin to the US, blew up magistrates and inspired the Godfather films, is today a shadow of its former self after being overtaken by the globe-trotting ’NDrangheta clan from Calabria, in the toe of Italy (Tom Kington writes). Decimated by arrests in the 1980s and 1990s, Cosa Nostra, meaning “Our thing”, then suffered a body blow when its fugitive boss of bosses, Bernardo Provenzano, was found in 2006 in a farmhouse near Corleone. Meanwhile, the ’NDrangheta was quietly proving to Latin American drug cartels that it was a more trustworthy cocaine importer than its Sicilian cousins. “They are the most reliable, they are like us,” Joaquín Guzmán, the Mexican trafficker known as El Chapo, said. ’NDrangheta’s celllike organisation proved more resilient than Cosa Nostra’s pyramid structure and, now boasting about 6,000 men from 250 families, it has spread its tentacles around the world, with an annual turnover estimated at £44 billion. So strong is its brand that bosses can act as guarantors for shipments handled by other, rising groups from countries such as Albania. Despite sending their children to study accounting at top universities, bosses keep a stranglehold on power in their home villages, feeding opponents to starved pigs. Last year a police operation revealed the ’NDrangheta had set up its first official chapter in Rome, where bosses threatened to throw acid in their enemies’ faces and incinerate them in a pizza oven. In northern Italy, the Calabrians have managed to take over town councils by corrupting local officials, something Cosa Nostra never managed. But just as the mass incarceration of Sicilian mobsters brought Cosa Nostra to its knees, police are now stepping up the arrests of ’NDrangheta operatives. A trial of 355 accused mafiosi that began in Calabria in 2021 drew on the evidence of 25 turncoats, suggesting that ’NDrangheta’s powerful omerta was beginning to wane. Matteo Messina Denaro, centre and below, was convicted of a 1992 car bombing. His arrest followed 30 years on the run Italy’s most wanted mafia killer calmly admitted his true identity yesterday when police confronted him as he checked into a Sicilian health clinic under a false name. “I am Matteo Messina Denaro,” confessed the 60-year-old mobster, who once boasted “I filled a cemetery all by myself” and faces life in jail for more than 50 murders. Italy’s mafia bosses believe that making a run for it when cornered is beneath their dignity, and Messina Denaro proved no exception as police caught up with him after 30 years on the run. “He did not resist — he immediately gave up,” Lucio Arcidiacono, an official in the Italian police, said. As the last of Sicily’s Cosa Nostra godfathers was led to a police van, onlookers were less restrained, cheering as officers hugged. “This is a great victory for the state, which shows it will never give up against the mafia,” Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, said. The arrest draws a line under the bloodiest chapter in the history of the Cosa Nostra, its brutal war against the Italian state in the 1990s. While on the run, Messina Denaro has been convictMafioso killer finally faces an officer he can’t refuse Tom Kington Rome ed for his role in the 1992 car-bomb killings of the anti-mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, as well as bomb attacks across Italy in protest at long sentences given to bosses. Messina Denaro had the job in 1993 of bombing the Uffizi gallery in Florence, which damaged paintings by Rubens and Giotto, because his knowledge of art meant he knew which masterpieces to target. The son of a fugitive mafia boss, he grew up in Castelvetrano, western Sicily, driving a convertible, wearing designer clothes and gaining a reputation as a serial seducer of women as he rose through the ranks. In 1993 he was part of the gang that snatched Giuseppe di Matteo, the 12-year-old son of a turncoat, and held the boy prisoner for more than two years in an attempt to persuade his father not to give evidence, before strangling the boy and dissolving his body in acid. Going on the run that year, Messina Denaro vanished even as his fellow bosses Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano were rounded up. He maintained a luxurious lifestyle and fathered a daughter, protected by a huge network of supporters and profiting from his cut of corrupt wind farm deals in western Sicily. “He was greedy, Diva who ‘made Monroe look like Shirley Temple’ dies at 95 career in modelling and third place in the 1947 Miss Italy competition, she made her US movie breakthrough in 1953 in John Huston’s Beat the Devil with Bogart, who claimed she made “Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple”. She also starred with Sean Connery and Ralph Richardson in the 1964 English thriller Woman of Straw, then saw out her career in the TV series Falcon Crest in the 1980s. Reporters played up her rivalry with Sophia Loren, the Italian actress, now 88, who announced yesterday she was “profoundly shaken and saddened” at the news of Lollobrigida’s death. Following her acting career, which won her a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Lollobrigida became a photo journalist — getting an interview with Fidel Castro which sparked rumours of an affair — and a sculptor, exhibiting her works around the world. Later she revealed she had married young in 1949 to try to overcome the trauma of being raped when she was 18. After retiring her personal life continued to make headlines. In 2015 she accused her former Spanish beau, who was 34 years younger than her, of fooling her into marrying him in order to get her fortune — before an Italian court ruled the marriage was legitimate. “I have always had a weakness for younger men because they are generous and have no complexes,” she said. In 2021 she hired Antonio Ingroia, a lawyer, to claw back control over her wealth after a court seized her assets. She stood unsuccessfully for parliament in Italy last year. Gennaro Sangiuliano, Italy’s culture minister, said: “Farewell to a diva of the silver screen, protagonist of more than half a century of Italian cinema history. Her charm will remain eternal.” Tom Kington Gina Lollobrigida gained global fame in the Fifties

4 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News David Carrick lured his victims by flashing his warrant card and saying that they could trust him and were safe because he was a police officer. The reality was that he was a predator using his position of power to abuse. It enabled Carrick, 48, to carry out a shocking and unprecedented range of sex offences during two decades as an officer for the Metropolitan Police. Any woman in Carrick’s life was a revealed last night. The woman, referred to as Rachel, saw Carrick on and off over a five-year period. She told The Sun: “He would bring all his weapons home with him — his gun in a holster, his spray, his baton. He would use those items during sex.” Rachel said she had not been sexually assaulted by Carrick, Carrick was suspended in October 2021 after being charged with rape. Another woman had come forward to say he had attacked her the previous September after they met via Tinder. He showed her his warrant card and boasted about his nickname. The woman said she had become unwell and suffered memory loss after drinking wine with him. She alleged that Carrick raped her at a Premier Inn in St Albans while holding her neck down, calling himself “a dominant bastard” and making derogatory comments about her. When arrested, Carrick said: “Not again.” He has pleaded not guilty to that attack and there will be no prosecution, but it was that victim’s decision to go to police that gave momentum to the case. When the allegation reached court Carrick’s name was publicised and 12 more women came forward. David Carrick, known by colleagues as News Police rapist Predator in Met ranks who told Fiona Hamilton Crime and Security Editor David Woode Crime Correspondent target, according to prosecutors. Girlfriends, long-term partners, school friends and strangers were selected by him for abuse. He met some victims on dating apps such as Tinder and Badoo, and others at clubs. Shilpa Shah, a senior prosecutor who reviewed the case, said Carrick’s job had “enabled him to gain their trust”. Detectives said that Carrick had imprisoned some of his victims in a downstairs cupboard at his home in Stevenage for considerable periods, without food. He forbade victims from speaking to other men and even their own children, told them in messages “You’re my slave” and “You’re a whore”, and altered their daily routines. In some cases, he controlled what the women wore, what they ate and where they slept. One victim was told, “You’re staying in bed all day because we’re going to be having sex all night”. Another had to clean the house naked. Since Carrick was charged, a woman has alleged that he attacked her 30 years ago, when he was a teenager. Another has said that he used his police baton to sexually assault her, and restrained her in handcuffs. After raping his victims and making them submit to degrading acts, Carrick warned them not to report him because they would not be believed. This threat was a further abuse of his position as a policeman — but it appears to have been true. In the two decades to 2021, the Met and three other forces received 14 complaints about Carrick. There were nine missed opportunities to act on criminal or predatory behaviour, all but one of them towards women, including domestic assault and harassment. However, Carrick was not suspended or properly re-vetted and, because the incidents did not result in charges, they were treated in isolation and left to gather dust in his file. Even when he was arrested for rape, in July 2021 — days after PC Wayne Couzens admitted the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard — he was not suspended. Carrick, who was not married and has no children, spent a year in the armed forces before joining the Met in 2001 as a response officer in Merton, southwest London, and then Barnet, north London. The failures started then, when he was accepted into the force despite having been accused the previous year of malicious communications and stealing underwear from a former partner. In 2002, he was still on probation when he was accused of harassment and assaulting a former partner, whom he had bitten on the neck, but he was not arrested and no action was taken. Carrick’s supervisers at the Met were told in 2009 when Hertfordshire police responded to a third-party complaint about a domestic incident. By then Carrick was carrying a firearm in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command. No action was taken. In 2017 he was subject to enhanced vetting after a 16-year gap in evaluations, though officers should be vetted every ten years. no issues were identified. In 2019, Hertfordshire police dealt with a domestic incident in which Carrick was accused of assaulting a woman by grabbing her neck. No action was taken and when the matter was referred to the Met, Carrick was given “words of advice” about informing superiors of off-duty incidents. In July 2021 he was arrested when a woman approached Hertfordshire police with a complaint of rape. Public scrutiny of Met failings had never been higher after Couzens, who worked in the same unit, admitted the attack on Everard, 33. Carrick was put on restricted duties but the restrictions were lifted when the complainant decided not to proceed. He later made an official complaint about the decision to raid his home at dawn, and also about the removal of sex toys and lingerie. Helen Millichap, a deputy assistant commissioner, said Carrick’s file showed a “pattern of behaviour that should have raised concerns regardless of the outcome of individual incidents”. At the Met, colleagues called him Bastard Dave. Barbara Gray, an assistant commissioner, said this was because he was “mean and cruel” and was not related to sexual behaviour. No colleagues complained about him, but Carrick attracted five complaints from the public between 2002 and 2008 about excessive force, inappropriate use of CS spray, and rudeness. Neighbours at his two-bedroom terraced home said Carrick, who kept a large snake, had had relationships but none lasted long. One said: “There must have been more than 20 women. There were all sorts: fat, thin, blonde, brunette, white, black. He had a lot of women coming and going.” Carrick would bring his gun home and used police-issue handcuffs while they were intimate, a former girlfriend

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 2GM 5 News Police missed nine chances to stop campaign of abuse change.” Carrick had been reported to the Met and three other police forces for a range of offences on nine occasions since 2000. He was placed on restricted duties in July 2021 when he was arrested by Hertfordshire police on suspicion of rape, but these conditions were lifted when the victim did not want to proceed with the case. He was finally suspended in October 2021 when he was charged with rape. Publicity led to other victims coming forward. Carrick’s crimes took place before Rowley took over the Met last year, replacing Dame Cressida Dick, who resigned after a string of scandals. Rowley said yesterday that the Met had let women down. “All I can say is I’m sorry,” he added. “He should not have been a police officer.” Rowley promised to “reform at speed” and disclosed that all 45,000 Met officers and staff face new screening to uncover any wrongdoing. There is already an ongoing review into more than 1,000 serving officers and staff who have been previously accused of domestic violence or sexual abuse. Carrick, who joined the Met in 2001, lured his victims by flashing his warrant card. He told them there was no point seeking help as it would be their word against his, and they would not be believed. One woman has alleged he sexually assaulted her with his police baton and restrained her with handcuffs. Before Christmas, Carrick pleaded guilty to a string of offences against 11 women including rape, sexual assault, false imprisonment, coercive control and assault by penetration. Yesterday, at Southwark crown court, he admitted rapes and other offences against a 12th victim, meaning the case could be reported. He will be sentenced next month. Two decades of rape, imprisonment and assault Woman A, 2003 She came forward after seeing news reports about Carrick, telling police that he had raped her several times, imprisoned and indecently assaulted her. Woman B, 2004 Had a brief relationship with Carrick, whom she already knew. She told police that he had raped her. Woman C, 2006 Met Carrick socially and they started a relationship, during which he raped her several times. She said she was abused, demeaned and threatened with violence. She did not report him at the time, fearing that police would not believe her. Woman D, 2009 Met Carrick at a social club. He sexually assaulted her at the end of a night out. Woman E, 2009 She and Carrick knew each other previously and met at an event. Afterwards they shared a hotel room where she was sexually assaulted. Woman F, 2009 Carrick invited her to his home after a night out at a social club. Some time later he became aggressive and tried to rape her. Woman G, 2015 Had known Carrick previously and they began seeing each other. He persuaded her to have sex but refused to stop when she asked him to. Woman H, no date given They met on a dating site and began a relationship but she told police it was marred by his controlling and coercive behaviour. Carrick raped her several times, often causing injury, and sexually assaulted her. Woman I, 2017 They met on a night out and began a relationship, during which Carrick was “totally controlling”. She said she was raped multiple times and sexually assaulted. Carrick kept her in the cupboard under his stairs for hours at a time. She also told police that he humiliated her and made violent threats. Woman J, 2018 They met online that summer. She told police that Carrick sexually assaulted her while she cleaned his bathroom. After that incident she had no further contact with him. Woman K, 2018 Carrick had been matched with this victim on a dating app a year earlier. He went on to rape her and subject her to numerous sexual assaults. Woman L, 2020 They got together after meeting on a dating site that summer. She told police that Carrick had raped her several times. She also described being sexually abused and spoke of being coercively controlled by him. She came forward to disclose the offences in July 2021 while reporting a separate incident to a different police force. Bastard Dave for his cruelty, worked for the Met for 20 years. He locked women in a cupboard at his home, above left News victims they’d be safe with him Talk of change but failings are familiar Analysis A ddressing the litany of opportunities that were missed to stop the serial rapist David Carrick, the Metropolitan Police said it would “not expect anyone with his pattern of behaviour to be in the police service today” (Fiona Hamilton writes). Helen Millichap, the Met deputy assistant commissioner, said: “Our approach has changed significantly and we are more confident this pattern would be identified now, and that it would result in further investigation.” Comments hinted at historical failures but in this case they are anything but. It is correct that some of the complaints to police about Carrick’s predatory and criminal behaviour dated back several years and that some of the detectives involved in reviewing them have since retired. But as recently as July 2021, when Carrick was arrested on suspicion of rape, he was not suspended by the Met. A flick through his file would have revealed a catalogue of predatory incidents and a man unfit to be a police officer. Instead, he was not re-vetted and was kept on restricted duties that were later lifted. This fact alone beggars belief given that days earlier, Wayne Couzens, who also worked as a firearms officer in the Met’s diplomatic protection command, had admitted the abduction, rape and murder of Sarah Everard, 33. There was unprecedented concern about misogyny and wrongdoing in the Met, and senior brass had pledged to root out predators, yet the force still failed to uncover one of the country’s worst sex offenders in its midst. It was only three months later, when a different woman, prompted by coverage of Couzens’ sentencing, came forward to allege rape, that Carrick was charged and suspended. There is little doubt the Met has upped its game in hunting rogue officers since the Couzens scandal, and particularly since Sir Mark Rowley took over the force in September. But the terrible failures of the Carrick case will inevitably raise questions about whether that is enough. Couzens was said to be known as “the rapist” at another police force; Carrick was known as “Bastard Dave” at the Met. The public will want to know how many more predatory men are hiding in police forces, despite promises of change over the past two years. While the scale of Carrick’s offending is unprecedented, little else about this case is new. It has all the ingredients of predatory police behaviour with which the public have become wearily familiar. Like dozens of other rogue officers whose wrongdoing has been exposed, obvious warning signs were ignored. There were vetting failures and colleagues who did not speak up. Power was abused and victims were told — correctly — they would not be believed. Finally, yet again we have senior police promising that things are now different. But will anyone believe them? We’ve heard it all before. The murder of Sarah Everard came after police ignored warning signs

6 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Regifting unwanted Christmas presents and cooking healthier meals in batches at the weekends are some of the ways in which cash-strapped consumers are seeking to tackle the pressures of the cost of living crisis, new data suggests. Barclays’ monthly consumer spending index has found that three in ten Britons intend to regift their presents to friends and family, and 22 per cent plan to list theirs on reselling platforms as a way to save or make money. Beauty and fashion items are the most likely presents to be regifted, sold or donated, the research showed. This was followed by books and games, and then stationery, children’s toys and items for the home. It comes as average spending on utility bills increased by 40.6 per cent in December, with a reported 92 per cent of consumers feeling concerned about the impact of rising household bills on their personal finances. Barclays’ research, which combined customer transactions recorded in December with consumer confidence data from 2,000 survey respondents, found that concern about rising food prices persists, with 91 per cent of consumers admitting to feeling worried about the cost of groceries. This has prompted some consumers to make New Year resolutions to reduce their food bills and seek out better value for money. Nearly a third (32 per cent) plan to prepare healthier or cheaper meals by cooking food in batches at the weekends. As purse strings continue to tighten, 49 per cent said that they planned to buy own-brand or budget goods, and 44 per cent intended to take advantage of loyalty points and vouchers to get money off of their grocery bills. Grocery price inflation stands at 14.4 per cent, down slightly from 14.6 per cent in November, with prices rising fastest for items such as milk, dog food and frozen potato products. Weaned on the internet, they have lived their formative years through pandemic lockdowns and grown up facing both financial insecurity and the harsh realities of climate change. Now Generation Z want to shake up the world of work. More than half of those surveyed in a report by The News Movement, which creates content aimed at young people, said they wanted to pursue an unconventional career, and most had lost faith in conventional nine-to-five jobs. The survey paints a picture of “the largest and most disruptive generation ever” — less conformist, savvier online and more demanding of their employers. Less likely to “become their parents” as they grow up, 85 per cent of Gen Z prefer remote working or a hybrid working environment, the survey found. Forty-five per cent had “side hustles”, and even the 70 per cent who claimed to be loyal to their employers were on the hunt for new jobs. With the Oliver Wyman Forum, TNM polled more than 10,000 people over a two-year period, looking at the lives of 18 to 25-year-olds in the UK and US, covering topics from sport to the environment to cryptocurrencies. The cohort represented a quarter of the world’s population and will make up nearly a third of the workforce by 2030, with significant spending power. Thrifty Britons cooking in bulk and regifting presents Just over half of respondents (52 per cent) said that they planned to cut down on discretionary spending in order to be able to afford energy bills throughout the winter. The two most popular ways to cut back were for consumers to reduce how often they ate out at restaurants and to buy fewer new clothes and accessories (both 63 per cent). In addition, of the 65 per cent who were looking to reduce the cost of their weekly shop, half said that they intended to cut down on luxuries or one-off treats for themselves. Esme Harwood of Barclays said that the start of a new year “typically encourages Brits to make positive resolutions for the year ahead”. However, this year UK consumers were “having to get creative in order to achieve their resolutions on a budget, taking advantage of discounts and free resources where available”. Harwood added that with 2023 now under way, consumers would be likely to remain cautious with discretionary spending, and that she would be watching closely to see how this caution affected the growth of retail, hospitality and leisure. “When purse strings tighten, the categories which tend to perform well include takeaways as a substitute for meals out, and staycations instead of holidays abroad,” she said. Isabella Fish Retail Editor Savvy Gen Z reject the nine-to-five Katie Prescott Technology Business Editor How to save time and money Batch cooking is not just an efficient use of time, it can save money too (Tony Turnbull, Food Editor, writes). It all but eliminates waste, because the larger the pot, the less precise you need to be with quantities. Once the oven is on, it makes little difference if you are cooking for one or ten. Remember to freeze into the portion size you want, carefully label the contents (it’s amazing how similar apple crumble and Bolognese sauce can look when covered in ice), and allow it to defrost (ideally in the fridge) before reheating to save on energy costs. Stews, casseroles, lasagne and tomatobased pasta sauces are ideal for batch cooking. One of my favourites is a chicken fricassee which can be served with rice or baked potato, or with a puff pastry lid for a pie. For every four servings, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pan and fry 4 diced rashers of streaky bacon and 6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces for 5 minutes. Set aside the meat and add a large knob of butter to the same pan. Cook 1 large sliced leek and 200g baby mushrooms, plus a few sprigs of thyme, for about 5 minutes until the leeks are softened and the mushrooms coloured. Add 2 tbsp flour and cook, stirring, for a minute, then reduce the heat and slowly whisk in 400ml stock to form a lump-free sauce, then stir in 200ml cream. Return the meat to the pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until thickened. Season with salt, pepper and 2 tbsp mustard. Leave to cool before freezing into desired portion sizes. A four-day cold snap poses a “serious” health risk to the elderly and vulnerable, with officials warning over65s to heat their homes to at least 18C (Kieran Gair writes). The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for ice across the centre of the UK, covering all four nations, and temperatures are set to drop below 0C in most places overnight until Friday. Snow and ice is expected across parts of Northern Ireland, north-western England and North Wales. An ice warning has also been issued for Cornwall and parts of Devon. The Met Office said “snow showers and icy stretches may bring some disruption”, leading to longer journeys for motorists and train passengers. It said treacherous conditions could lead to slips and falls, urging drivers and cyclists to beware of icy patches. With overnight temperatures expected to drop to -1C in London, the UK Health Security Agency warned that cold weather could increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes and chest infections. The agency’s Dr Agostinho de Sousa said: “If you have a preexisting medical condition or are over the age of 65, it is important to try and heat your home to at least 18C.’’ According to NHS England, in a typical prepandemic year heart problems account for 40 per cent of excess deaths in winter. A British Heart Foundation study looking at over-60s found the risk of heart attack and strokes doubled in cold periods of at least four days. Temperatures are expected to drop to 0C in Cardiff, -2C in Edinburgh and -1C in Belfast later, while parts of the Highlands could experience lows of -10C. Jason Kelly, chief meteorologist at the Met Office, said: “If people can’t heat all the rooms they use, it’s important to heat the living room during the day and the bedroom just before going to sleep. Wearing several layers of thinner clothing will keep you warmer than one thicker layer. Having plenty of hot food and drinks is also effective.” The Met Office triggers a yellow cold weather alert when the risk is 60 per cent or above for severe cold weather, icy conditions or heavy snow. Heat homes to 18C during cold snap, pensioners advised The freezing weather blanketed Hexham in Northumberland. Roads were flooded in Dorset

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 7 News Inquiry after Ratcliffe fund gave £15m for ski clubhouse Ratcliffe, who is Britain’s 27th richest person with a fortune of more than £6 billion according to the Sunday Times Rich List, knows Courchevel well as he owns a private chalet in the resort and the four-star Portetta hotel. He donated £18.4 million to his foundation in 2021. The charity claimed £7.4 million in gift aid from HM Revenue & Customs. He had previously donated more than £7.6 million after the creation of the foundation in 2019. The foundation gave £15 million to a French endowment fund to support the construction of the clubhouse between 2019 and 2021. Its financial accounts make clear that UK gift aid was not claimed on money allocated to the French fund. Bruno Tuaire, general manager of the club, told local media in 2019 that the foundation’s donation was “not a surprise” as Ratcliffe had been “a regular at the resort for 15 years” and “a partner for eight years”. Didier Barioz, president of the Club des Sports de Courchevel, told The Guardian: “The aim of the whole building is to enable the Club des Sports de Courchevel to become financially selfsufficient: all the benefits made from the building with the restaurant or the ski club go directly for the training of the children.” Ratcliffe declined to comment. A Brexit supporter, he announced in 2020 that he had moved his official residence from Hampshire to Monaco. He grew up in a Manchester council house and made his fortune after buying BP’s chemicals division in 1992. He is reported to be interested in buying Manchester United football club, having failed in a bid for its rivals Chelsea last year. The aims of his foundation include protecting the physical and natural environment, relieving poverty, improving conditions of life in socially disadvantaged communities and promoting amateur sport. Since completion of the clubhouse, the foundation has funded conservation projects in Tanzania and Iceland. David Brown A charity set up by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest men, donated £15 million to build a luxury clubhouse at a ski resort used by the billionaire. The charity regulator is reviewing the funding by the foundation, which has received £7.4 million in gift aid from the British tax authorities. Ratcliffe, 70, a tax exile who lives in Monaco, created the charity to fund a new ski clubhouse in Courchevel in the French Alps, and to support other charitable endeavours. The Ineos Clubhouse des Sports is named after Ratcliffe’s business. Within the building is a lounge hosting the Courchevel Ski Club, a private members’ club for which applicants need to be recommended by two existing members, and pay a £25,000 joining fee and annual membership of £6,000. Profits from the clubhouse and private members’ club go back into the club to help subsidise more than 250 local children who pay €350 (£311) a season to train at the club, rather than €1,000 at other resorts. There is no suggestion that Ratcliffe receives any financial benefit from the clubhouse. The Charity Commission said in a statement: “We can confirm that we have opened a regulatory compliance case to assess potential concerns about the governance and management of the Jim Ratcliffe Foundation, and are engaging with the charity’s trustees on these matters.” The opening of a case is not in itself a finding of wrongdoing. The Ineos Clubhouse des Sports was funded by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s charity A British ballet dancer was last night named among the 72 passengers who died in a plane crash in Nepal (Amrit Dhillon and Dewan Rai write). The Yeti Airlines flight from Kathmandu plummeted into a deep gorge minutes before it was due to land in Pokhara, central Nepal, on Sunday. Yesterday, as rescue teams resumed their search for bodies, it was confirmed that Ruan Calum Crighton, a British national from Brentwood, Essex, was on the aircraft. He is believed to have boarded a day after celebrating his 34th birthday. Local officials yesterday said that the chances of finding any survivors from the 72 passengers and crew was “nil”. “We have collected 68 bodies so far. We are searching for four more bodies . . . We pray for a miracle. But the hope of finding anyone alive is nil,” said Tek Bahadur KC, the chief district officer in Taksi where the plane came down. An additional body was later recovered, bringing the total to 69. Crighton was an accomplished dancer who had been with Brentwood’s Central School of Dance and Drama from the age of ten. He graduated from the Central School of Ballet in London in 2008 and became a soloist at the Slovak National Ballet, before performing with the Finnish National Ballet in Helsinki. He described in 2008 how he was introduced to dance because he was “forced” to do it as part of his gymnastics training, then “started to enjoy it and asked my mum if I could start taking dance classes”. Recent credits include The Little Mermaid, Cinderella and The Phantom of the Opera. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, Nepal’s prime minister, announced an investigation and a day of mourning for the victims, who included 15 foreign nationals — five from India, four Russian, two South Korean and one each from Britain, Australia, France and Argentina. Crighton was originally reported as Irish, but officials confirmed his British nationality yesterday. A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We are supporting the family of a British man who has died in Nepal and are in contact with the local authorities.” Yesterday’s discovery of the plane’s black box and cockpit flight recorder have raised hopes of ascertaining what caused the ATR 72-500 aircraft to crash and burst into flames on a clear sunny morning. The pilot of the plane was named as Kamal Khadka Chhetri, 58, an experienced captain and instructor who was “one of the best in the country”, according to a Yeti Airlines spokesman. Chhetri had been flying with Yeti since 2008, totalling 22,000 flying hours, and was known for “smooth” flights. His body has been found and identified. Chhetri’s co-pilot, Anju Khatiwada, 44, joined Yeti Airlines in 2010 even though her husband died in a plane crash four years earlier while flying for the same airline. Khatiwada had more than 6,400 hours of flying time and had flown the Kathmandu-Pokhara route frequently. She was due to be promoted to captain. Her body has not been identified. Essex ballet dancer died in Nepal plane crash Ruan Crighton, from Essex, is said to have boarded the plane one day after his 34th birthday. Officials said they did not expect to find any surviving passengers Tributes have been paid to a “selfless” professional dog walker who died last week after being attacked by several of the animals she was exercising. The woman, 28, was attacked on a bridle path at Gravelly Hill, in Caterham, Surrey, and armed police recovered eight animals, none of which is believed to be a banned breed. They are carrying out tests to determine which were involved in biting the victim on Thursday. Yesterday, floral tributes to the dog walker were laid at Dog walker warned others before she was mauled to death the site of the attack. Vicky Andrews, a local resident who laid a bunch of tulips, said that she felt compelled to come and pay her respects. She said: “I didn’t know the lady but I have a real terrible feeling of sadness about the whole thing. It felt too close to home. It’s just so devastating. I cannot imagine the suffering that poor lady went through doing something she loved. She was telling people to go away and get back and was trying to protect other people. It’s just so selfless.” The group of dogs being walked by the woman included two dachshunds, a cockapoo and a Leonberger, a large breed from Germany that can weigh up to 12st. The Leonberger being walked, a bitch named Shiva, had appeared on the BBC2 programme 10 Puppies and Us with its owner, Delia Lewis, a psychic and crystal healer. In the programme, made in 2017, Lewis changed her pet’s name from Maple to Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, because Maple was “far too sweet a name for this dog”. However, Dennis Smith, 61, a postman, said that while the dog initially intimidated the area’s postmen, it eventually gained a reputation as a “big cuddly lump”. He said: “All the postmen were afraid of the dog because it was so big, but it was really harmless. It would just jump on you and try to push you over but that’s all it done. It never tried to bite me or any other postmen. “It was nerve-racking to see the dog for the first time but then I got used to it after a couple of times and it was OK. Anybody can look at a dog and think it was scary but for me, it was always OK.” Former neighbours of Lewis have claimed that Shiva was “not aggressive” and was “always reasonably behaved”. Neighbours at her former address in south Croydon, which she moved from last year, denied any suggestion that the animal was aggressive. One told The Times: “It was very big and sometimes it would bark at people, but it never bit anyone or anything like that. It was not an aggressive dog. It was always reasonably well-behaved. “It would come up to you and jump up sometimes but I did not remember it ever being aggressive to me or any other neighbours.” Ali Mitib, Mario Ledwith

8 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Health Commission The holes Source: Skills for Care Adult social care 10.7% 7.9% 7.7% 5.9% 5.1% 3.9% 3.6% 3.6% 3.3% 3.1% 2.7% NHS Accommodation and food Information and communication Finance Manufacturing Retail Transport Construction Real estate Education Proportion of jobs unfilled by sector in 2021-22 legislation was agreed by both houses of parliament with an implementation date of October this year. This has been shelved by Sunak and Hunt. Although tackling waiting lists is seen as a political imperative, dealing with social care is never a priority. When Sunak called together healthcare bosses for an emergency meeting this month nobody representing the social care sector was present, even though a central plank of the government’s rescue package was to buy up places in care homes. The Treasury sees social care as a cost that will only rise as the population ages but it’s an investment that would protect the NHS. Caroline Abrahams, the charity director at Age UK, said: “There can be no salvation for our hard-pressed NHS unless and until the longstanding problems afflicting social care are recognised and gripped too. When it comes to governmentled health and care policymaking, short-termism has usually been the order of the day — though to be fair this was probably inevitable during the heat of the pandemic. “Now, as we start to put that extraordinary and challenging period behind us, there’s a great opportunity for reflection and forward thinking.” 600 per cent. Some insurance companies have withdrawn from the care home market since the pandemic, creating more uncertainty. “They are concerned about the liability,” Green said. “You can’t sue the NHS but you can sue private providers, so that has made the insurers nervous, and of course if you can’t get insurance you can’t be a care service because that’s one of the requirements of registration.” He added that politicians needed to realise that health and social care were on a continuum. “People seem incapable of understanding that if you get social care right, you then stop the pressure on the NHS.” There is a long and ignoble history of political failure on social care. When Labour came to power in 1997, it pledged to address social care funding reform. There was a royal commission, but nothing happened. The coalition government in 2010 set up the Dilnot Commission and endorsed its findings. Legislation was passed in 2013 and implementation was due in 2017, but reform was again abandoned. On his first day in office, Boris Johnson said he had a plan, and receiving the care they had asked for, and 14,000 people every day have requests for care turned down. Ministers have promised to improve integration between the NHS and social care. This month, Steve Barclay, the health secretary, announced an extra £200 million to speed up hospital discharge into social care. But services are in a fragile state because the funding of places has not kept up with the rising costs. Providers are increasingly reliant on those paying for their own care to subsidise council-funded places. As a result, the average cost of a care home place for self-funders has risen by 34 per cent, to £672 per week. A recent survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services found that 94 per cent of directors in England did not believe there was sufficient funding or workforce to meet the care costs of older and disabled people in their area. Martin Green, the chief executive of Care England, which represents independent care home providers, said many were struggling to afford the cost of food and heating. One care home’s energy bills went up by “Without risk-pooling, people are exposed to unbelievable levels of risk, which are paralysing . . . we wouldn’t dream of saying, ‘Save up enough just in case your house burns down.’ But when it comes to social care people are unable to prepare. That means people are very frightened.” There is an increasingly urgent need to act because the population is ageing. More than 11 million people in England and Wales were 65 or older when the last census was taken in 2021, and more than half a million people were at least 90. In the past decade the demand for care has risen significantly, and there are now 1.7 million more older people and 857,000 more adults with disabilities. The supply of places has not kept up. Staff shortages are even greater in social care than in the NHS. There are 165,000 social care vacancies in England, a 52 per cent increase in a year. Too many elderly people are being left without the support they need. According to Age UK, 1.6 million older people do not get the support they require with essential activities. . In 2020-21, 37,370 people died without Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay social care reform has left many people approaching old age “as though they’re standing in the middle of the road with a lorry driving towards them, and the best they can hope for is that they die before the lorry hits them”, Sir Andrew Dilnot has said. The author of the landmark government review on the funding of social care, who is a member of The Times Health Commission, said it was “distressing to see social care put at the bottom of the priority list again”. It was announced in the autumn statement that tackling the problem would be deferred for another two years. The crisis in A&E departments has highlighted the consequences for the NHS of the failure to put in place a properly funded social care system. More than 14,000 people who are medically fit to be discharged are stuck in hospital beds because there is no social care provision for them. This is the tip of the iceberg. The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services say 542,000 people are waiting for assessment or care. The Dilnot Commission, set up by David Cameron, reported in 2011. It proposed a lifetime cap on care costs, after which the state would pick up further costs. Successive prime ministers have backed the plan, and the recommendations have twice been endorsed by parliament. But in November the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, announced that the change would not be introduced until October 2025, after the next election. Dilnot, an economist and warden of Nuffield College, Oxford, said this was a false economy. “The amounts of money that we’re talking about in terms of the effects on the public finance are really very small,” he said. “There’ll be a saving of £1 billion next year, compared to national income of two and a half thousand billion pounds.” The state had a duty to underwrite the costs of social care because the private sector would never take on the risk, he argued. “It matters because 80 per cent of us are going to need social care. We have no idea whether we’re going to be walking up Snowdon fully fit at the age of 92, or whether we and our partners are going to need ten years of residential care with terrible dementia or chronic arthritis, which could easily cost more than a million pounds.” He says the only solution is to pool the risk through what is effectively a state-backed insurance system. The care crisis we can no longer afford to ignore The commissioners The Times Health Commission was set up to consider the future of health and social care in England. It will hold fortnightly evidence sessions with witnesses including health professionals, scientists and politicians, and publish a final report in January next year. The commission is keen to hear Times readers’ views on the future of healthcare. We also invite interested organisations to submit evidence. There will be a Health Commission page on The Times website, and written submissions can be sent to health.commission @thetimes.co.uk Rachel Sylvester Times columnist, chairwoman of the commission Waheed Arian Afghan refugee, founder of the telemedicine charity Arian Teleheal Sir John Bell Regius professor of medicine at Oxford University Dame Jane Dacre Professor of medical education at UCL, former director of UCL Medical School and former president of the Royal College of Physicians Lord Darzi of Denham Surgeon and former health minister who reviewed the NHS for Gordon Brown Sir Andrew Dilnot Chairman, Dilnot Commission on funding social care Henry Dimbleby Founder of Leon, author of government food strategy Baroness Finlay of Llandaff Former president, Royal Society of Medicine, professor of palliative medicine at Cardiff University School of Medicine Tamsin Ford Professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at Cambridge University Dame Clare Gerada President of the Royal College of GPs Baroness GreyThompson Paralympian and TV presenter Susan Jebb Professor of diet and population health at Oxford University, chairwoman of the Food Standards Agency and formerly of the expert advisory group on obesity Paul Johnson Director, Institute for Fiscal Studies Lord O’Neill of Gatley Former Treasury minister and chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, chairman of government review on antimicrobial resistance Mark Porter GP and Times columnist Dame Anne Marie Rafferty Former president, Royal College of Nursing, professor of nursing policy at King’s College London Lord Rose of Monewden Asda chairman who reviewed the NHS for David Cameron Matthew Taylor Chief executive of the NHS Confederation Sally Warren Director of policy, The King’s Fund All commissioners act in a personal capacity, not for their organisations The benefits of keeping the frail out of hospital are clear — and so is the opportunity to act, writes Rachel Sylvester A false economy A ticking bomb In a fragile state Rise above the politics

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 9 News For many older people, being admitted to hospital carries its own risks. Patients can face problems ranging from infections to delirium, while a lack of activity can also cause issues. “Virtual wards” have been touted as a potential solution to this problem, providing hospital-level treatment in the comfort of people’s homes. NHS England has introduced a broad programme of care using the term “virtual wards”, but the model hailed by the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) is called “hospital at home”. This could cover treatment including intravenous drips or oxygen therapy as well as scans and blood tests, according to the society’s president Professor Adam Gordon. “A number of successful centres offering these services have been set up in Kent, Oxfordshire, Lanarkshire and West Lothian,” he said. “When older people with frailty were admitted to a hospital-at-home service, they did at least as well as equivalent people who are admitted to a hospital for acute inpatient care.” For a patient to be eligible, physicians must make sure that they have conditions that can be treated at home and a support group, such as relatives, nearby. Older people would often come to doctors’ attention after having falls, or exhibiting mild confusion, Gordon said, but “often the drivers of those types of conditions are either a metabolic upset like dehydration or an acute infection like a chest infection or a urinary infection”. These “are all things that can be treated at home using a combination of antibiotic therapy, oxygen, and or, drip therapy where needed”. An initial referral to a hospital-athome team would usually come News Virtual wards at home hailed as way to ease NHS strain Georgia Lambert through a GP, the ambulance service, or even in A&E. If the patient was deemed safe to be treated at home, a nurse practitioner would be called to do the initial assessment, the results of which would be discussed with a wider multidisciplinary team including a senior doctor and physiotherapists. A treatment plan could be in place within hours. Staffing remained a major challenge. “These frailty services are usually supported by consultant geriatricians or senior general practitioners, but they are very thinly spread,” Gordon said. “[We need] to work out where the staff will come from to support these innovations without jeopardising other parts of the system.” He continued: “We need to find ever more innovative ways of delivering healthcare for older people with frailty who make up the majority of people who use the National Health Service. But, almost every new model of care that we come up with requires really quite detailed assessment by multidisciplinary teams. “In the next three to six months, what the NHS needs to look at across the country is whether it’s making the best use of the skill set that it’s got . . . longer term, we do need a fully thought-out workforce strategy that will deliver the right mix of professional competencies to support an ageing population.” In England £200 million was made available to support the development of virtual wards in 2022-23. A further £250 million will be made available this year — but from 2024-25 there will be no ringfenced recurrent funding for these initiatives. As a result the NHS must develop long-term strategies — and budgets — to ensure that it can continue to reap the benefits of having patients at home, not in hospital. Labour plan to nationalise GPs may cost £15 billion Chris Smyth Whitehall Editor Labour’s plan to nationalise GPs would cost up to £15 billion upfront and add £1.7 billion a year to the NHS wage bill, according to government analysis. Sir Keir Starmer said the NHS has a “duty to change” as he defended his proposals against criticism from doctors. The British Medical Association said another of his plans — to allow patients to bypass family doctors and refer themselves to specialists — would worsen pressure on the NHS. The Doctors’ Association UK said it was “downright unsafe” and “shocking”. But with NHS England already pushing for more self-referral in some areas, some backed Starmer’s plan. Dame Clare Gerada, former head of the Royal College of GPs, said it would not work in all areas but asked: “If you’ve got a breast lump . . . why can’t you use the same referral form as I use?” She told Times Radio that “the NHS would do a disservice to patients if we didn’t start to modernise”, adding that this could “give me as the GP a lot more time with patients that I need to see”. Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, told The Times earlier this month that he was “minded to . . . look at salaried GPs”. Sajid Javid, the former health secretary, considered a similar plan to take control of GP surgeries, which are currently effectively private contractors selling services to the NHS. That has been dropped, with No 10 saying that abolishing the current system “carries significant costs”. Department of Health calculations estimate that buying surgeries and other land and property owned or leased by GP partners would cost £8.5 billion to £10.2 billion. The “goodwill” — or value of a business over and above that of its tangible assets — in GP surgeries, which doctors are currently banned from selling, has been estimated at £1 billion to £5.4 billion, although officials acknowledge uncertainty over its value. Boosting pay to match consultants’ average gross earnings of £130,000 would cost about £670 million a year, officials estimated. Taking the 138,000 GP practice support staff on to the NHS payroll would cost £1 billion a year, NHS figures suggest. An ally of Steve Barclay, the health secretary, said Starmer’s plan would be “hugely expensive” and “do nothing to make it easier for patients to book appointments”. Labour insisted it was not planning a full takeover of GP surgeries, insisting it would “always show how our proposals are paid for”. An ally of Streeting dismissed the government’s “back of a fag packet figures”, adding: “The Conservatives are showing themselves to be the enemies of reform.” Vacancy rates in the adult social care sector in England have risen sharply in the last year Vacancy rates are calculated by dividing the number of vacancies by the sum of employees Source: Skills for Care 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 11% 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 10.4% Where are vacancies highest? Understaffed Adult social care sector vacancies by region in England Data is for 2021-22. Source: Skills for Care 8-9% 9-10% 10-11% 11-12% 12%+ London 13.2% East of England 11.3% East Midlands 10.3% Yorkshire and the Humber 8.7% North East 8.7% North West 8.7% West Midlands 10.1% South West 10.3% South East 10.7% ‘Government could find the money’ Case study: The GP A balancing act is required as GP practices face staff shortages, bigger workloads, more complex chronic diseases and strep A panic, described by Professor Kamila Hawthorne as the “perfect storm” (Georgia Lambert writes). Hawthorne, who is chairwoman of the Royal College of General Practitioners’ council, works as a salaried GP one day a week at Meddygfa Glan Cynon surgery in Mountain Ash, South Wales. She described the current climate for GPs as unrecognisable compared with 20 years ago. “We are inundated with patient demand but we’ve been busy before Covid started in 2020,” she said. “It went completely quiet for a few weeks and almost no one rang up to book appointments. Suddenly, in the spring of 2021 there was an outburst of need and it has never been so busy.” Covid raised a nervousness in us, she added. “Before, people were quite happy to manage with a sore throat and a fever. But with the implications of Covid and with so many ‘winter pressures’ was happening during the summer months. “There are about 4,000 trainees a year in the UK [but] we need to figure out how we dissuade GPs from leaving the profession early due to burnout and stress, so we need to find retention strategies.” A third of practices are not fit for purpose, said Hawthorne. “They need extending and modernising. It all adds up. You can see why some people cannot cope.” She added: “We’re talking about 15 to 20 years of underfunding and under-resourcing. The government has deep pockets when it wants to — it sent ammunition to Ukraine, it found money for PPE and vaccinations, and it could find the money for this too.” people dying or becoming very unwell, including the prime minister, people are much more likely to present at the GP earlier.” Hawthorne added: “Although we are producing many more GPs, young doctors becoming GPs, they are leaving the profession faster than they are coming in, so you have a net loss. This is a real problem for general practice and for patients. In fact, last summer, both primary and secondary care said the equivalent of what they used to call Kamila Hawthorne blamed a lack of funding

10 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Drive savings by using electric car to power your home are publishing an electric vehicle smart charging action plan today, and investing £16 million in companies that are developing smart charging technology. New “bi-directional” chargers will complement existing domestic electricity tariffs that offer discounted rates at night. The new chargers will, in effect, turn a car into a battery on the driveway, so motorists will be able to power their house in the daytime on days when they are not driving. Alternatively, they can sell electricity generated and stored at night back to the grid during the day at times of high demand. Ministers believe the two scenarios could save motorists up to £1,000 a year. Graham Stuart, the energy and climate minister, said: “Today’s plan sets out how we will work with Ofgem and industry to kickstart the market for smart charging, which we are backing up with £16 million in innovation funding.” All new charge points sold for private domestic use must have the smart function, allowing users to charge at the greenest and cheapest time, and dictate how much they wish to charge up. The government is also investing in a project led by Otaski Energy Solutions that is developing a smart street lamppost capable of charging electric vehicles and sharing power back to the grid. Electric car owners will be able to power their home using their vehicle or sell electricity back to the grid under plans to revolutionise domestic charging. Ministers say “smart charging” will save motorists money by encouraging charging when electricity is cheaper or cleaner. Ofgem and the government Ben Clatworthy Transport Correspondent Venue loses licence The O2 Academy Brixton has had its licence suspended for a further three months after two people died in a crowd crush at an Asake gig on December 15. Lambeth council’s licensing subcommittee met yesterday after an application by the Metropolitan Police. Stephen Walsh KC, representing the O2 Academy’s owner, Academy Music Group, said his client agreed to the suspension and “expresses its sincere condolences to the families of those who died”. A A A A A C D D D D E E E F F H I I L N N O O R R R S S T U U V Solve all five clues using each letter underneath once only 1 Person from Riyadh, eg (5) 2 Have sufficient funds for (6) 3 Displace, dethrone (6) 4 One getting livestock to market (6) 5 Mexican food (9) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Quintagram® No 1527 Solutions MindGames in Times2 Cryptic clues page 10 of Times2 The Albanian government has summoned the British ambassador for a dressing down about a cabinet minister it accuses of “shameful” bias against its people. Alastair King-Smith was handed a “note of protest” from the ministry of foreign affairs in Tirana in response to what it described as discriminatory language used by Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister. On Friday Jenrick published a promotional video praising work to find and detain illegal migrants from Albania. The note of protest — a formal diplomatic rebuke — accused Jenrick of verbally “lynching” Albania in the video, in which he praised Home Office staff and police officers for identifying and detaining illegal migrants. The statement, issued in the name of Olta Xhacka, the foreign minister, said Albania protests at migration ‘slur’ Jenrick had declared “open season” on all Albanians in the UK to win votes. The summoning of the ambassador marks a further deterioration in relations. It casts doubt over an agreement announced by Rishi Sunak last month for rapid returns of Albanian migrants who cross the Channel in small boats. The deal has yet to be implemented. In November, Edi Rama, the prime minister, accused Suella Braverman, the home secretary, of “fuelling xenophobia” after she described the increase of Albanians arriving in the UK via small boats as an “invasion”. More than 13,000 Albanians crossed the Channel in small boats last year. In the video released on Friday, Jenrick was filmed at 4am at a Home Office removal centre before a weekly deportation flight to the Albanian capital for migrants whose stay in the UK had been deemed illegal. Jenrick said: “I’ve been meeting the fantastic staff who are working round the clock to find the Albanians, to detain them, to put them on to coaches, to take them to the airport and get them back to Tirana.” Others on the flight, he added, were “dangerous criminals” who had been convicted of county lines drug offences. The deportation flight referred to by Jenrick was not part of this new agreement, which is not yet operational. In the note of protest yesterday, Xhacka wrote: “Extremely shocked when I hear a minister of state responsible for immigration use such language just for a few votes. ‘Find the Albanian, stop the Albanian’! A verbal lynching of an entire nation in a language that sounds like the minister is announcing an open season for Albanians.” He said Jenrick’s comments were “shameful”. A British government spokesman said: “We value our Albanian community and welcome Albanians who travel here legally and contribute significantly. However, last year we saw large numbers of Albanians risking their lives and making dangerous and unnecessary journeys through illegal means.” Meanwhile, fines for hauliers who inadvertently bring stowaways into the UK will rise from £2,000 to £10,000 per migrant next month. In 2020-21, there were 3,145 incidents where migrants were found hidden, despite the pandemic causing a lower volume of traffic, rising to 3,838 in 2021-22. 6 Campaigners have been granted permission to appeal against the High Court’s decision last month to declare the government’s Rwanda migrant policy lawful. The appeal judges will be asked to consider issues including whether the court was wrong to find that there were sufficient safeguards to prevent asylum seekers from being returned to a country where they were at risk of persecution. The appeal will prevent deportation flights to Rwanda for at least several more months Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor Mario Ledwith

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 2GM 11 News 30 years. In the monks 42 per cent of the microbiome was made up of prevotella bacteria, compared with only 6 per cent for nearby residents. Twenty-nine per cent was made up of bacteroidetes bacteria, compared with 4 per cent in the control group. Both of these groups of bacteria have been “associated with the alleviation of mental illness”, the researchers said, “suggesting that meditation can influence certain bacteria that may have a role in mental health”. The researchers tried to identify which processes in the body could be positively affected by meditation. Molecules found on the surface of bacterial cells, including glycans and lipopolysaccharides, can affect the pathways in the body that govern inflammation and metabolism, which are both linked to a range of physical and mental conditions. Dramatic footage emerged yesterday showing armed police performing a “hard stop” on a car allegedly containing a suspect involved in a drive-by shooting at a church. A seven-year-old girl was seriously injured when a gunman fired a shotgun at mourners attending a memorial service at St Aloysius Church in Euston, central London, on Saturday. Five other people were injured in the attack after the gunman fired from a black Toyota C-HR which then left the scene. More than 300 people were attending a requiem Mass to pay respects to Fresia Calderon, 50, and her daughter Sara Sanchez, 20. Calderon is said to have collapsed and died from a suspected blood clot at Heathrow airport after stepping off a flight from Colombia on was hit in the leg was expected to make a full recovery. Four women, aged 21, 41, 48 and 54, were treated in hospital. The 48-year-old’s injuries were said to be “potentially life-changing”. Videos from in and around the church showed people fleeing after the weapon was fired. A camera in an alleyway captured a dark-coloured car as it travelled along Phoenix Road, a short walk from Euston train station. The car disappears from view before a loud Video shows police swoop on Euston shooting suspect November 5 last year. Sanchez died from leukaemia three weeks later, having refused treatment. An eyewitness captured the moment firearms officers surrounded a darkcoloured car in a residential street in Barnet, north London, on Sunday afternoon. Officers drew their weapons as colleagues removed a person from the car. One can be heard shouting: “Get on the f***ing ground.” Unmarked cars and a single armed-response vehicle were used in the operation, according to footage obtained by The Sun. A 22-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a gun attack, Scotland Yard said yesterday. He was being questioned by detectives and remained in custody. Metropolitan Police said the sevenyear-old was in a serious but stable condition in hospital. A girl aged 12 who bang can be heard. Seconds later, scores of people, some screaming, run down the street in the opposite direction. Inside, panicked mourners scrambled towards the exit. Among the chaos, people shouted, “We need to go” and “Let me out.” Those who were outside the church when the shooting happened are understood to have gone to watch doves being released. Suella Braverman, the home secretary, said she was “deeply concerned” by the “shocking” attack and pledged to support the Met’s investigation. Labour called for tighter gun control laws. Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader and MP for the area where Saturday’s shooting took place, told LBC Radio: “We’ve had these incidents from time to time with guns . . . I think that we need to look again as to whether [firearms] laws are strong enough.” David Woode Crime Correspondent Mindfulness can create healthier bacteria in gut Kaya Burgess Science Reporter Tibetan monks who meditate for two hours a day enjoy not only spiritual calm but better health thanks to “good” gut bacteria, research has suggested. Scientists have discovered that meditation may boost friendly bacteria found in the gut, helping to improve physical and mental health. Researchers from China analysed Buddhist monks and compared their microbiomes, the ecosystem of bacteria found in the gut, with those of other local residents who shared the same diets but did not meditate. The “gut microbiota composition differed between the monks and the control subjects”, and the monks had far higher levels of bacteria “associated with a reduced risk of anxiety, depression and cardiovascular disease”. The study, in the journal General Psychiatry, concluded: “We confirmed that long-term deep meditation, represented by Tibetan Buddhism, could positively impact physical and mental health by regulating faecal microbiota.” There is increasing evidence that the mixture of micro-organisms found in the gut and intestinal tract plays a key role in regulating health. It is central to the digestion of food, but has also been linked to the functioning of the immune system, to mood and to brain function, as well as to a range of conditions including cancers and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers from three centres in Shanghai, including the Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, analysed stool and blood samples from 37 Tibetan Buddhist monks and 19 residents in neighbouring areas. The study noted that they were matched for age, blood pressure, heart rate, smoking and drinking, and said: “Both groups had the same dietary structure. The staple food mainly included highland barley, rice, steamed bread and noodles, and the supplementary food primarily comprised vegetables, meat and butter tea.” None had taken any antibiotics or probiotics that could have affected their microbiome. The monks had been practising meditation for at least two hours a day for between three and C ate Blanchett has announced that she has had enough of “the televised horse race” of awards ceremonies after receiving her 192nd prize (Jack Malvern writes). As she collected the best actress award for Tár — her fourth prize at the Critics Choice Awards since winning for her performance in Elizabeth in 2004 — she declared the process redundant. “I can’t believe I’m up here. This is ridiculous . . . It’s like, what is this patriarchal pyramid where someone stands up here?” The awards are decided by the Critics Choice Association’s 580 members, 32 per cent of whom are women. The organisation has promised to “increase the number of diverse voices even further” and that “there is always room for improvement”. Blanchett continued: “This best actress, I mean it is extremely arbitrary considering how many extraordinary performances there have been by women not only in this room. “Why don’t we just say there’s a whole raft of female performances that are in concert and in dialogue with one another and stop the televised horse race of it all? “Because can I tell you every single woman – whether television, film, advertising, tampon commercials, whatever – you’re all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually. So thank you — I share this with you all.” Blanchett, 53, was nominated alongside Margot Robbie, Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Williams, Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler. She won best actress for her role as a composer and conductor in Tár, for which she also received an award at the Golden Globes, and she is seen as a strong contender in the Academy Awards in March. Blanchett already has two Oscars, for best supporting actress in The Aviator (2004) and best actress in Blue Jasmine (2013). In Tár, Blanchett plays a tyrannical composer and conductor who is the first woman to conduct a major German orchestra. The Times awarded the film four stars and praised Blanchett, saying: “It’s a giant performance, one of her best — and awards season gold.” Blanchett declares her award ridiculous The Oscar winner, 53, spoke at the Critics Choice Awards, at which guests included Phoebe Dynevor and Daisy Edgar-Jones Behind the story A dvertisements for yoghurt-type drinks over the years have extolled the virtues of “good bacteria” in the gut (Kaya Burgess writes). Although the effectiveness of those drinks remains a source of debate, there is no longer any doubt that the ecosystem of microbes that dwell within your intestinal tract plays a key role in the way your body functions. Evidence is building that it is important to maintain a healthy and diverse community of bacteria in your gut. There are also concerns that the widespread use of antibiotics may be killing off many of the friendly bacteria we rely on. A study found that patients having immunotherapy for melanoma responded differently depending on the types of microbes found in their system. A study this week from the University of Surrey suggested that Parkinson’s disease may start in the gut and spread to the brain. The driver of a dark-coloured car was detained on a residential street in Barnet, north London

12 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Schools have been urged to prioritise vulnerable pupils and use online learning to stop children falling behind during the strikes, in a return to lockdown-style learning. Teachers in the National Education Union (NEU) will strike for seven days between February 1 and March 16, affecting up to 23,400 schools in England and Wales. The number of strike days in any given region will not exceed four. However, experts and charities said that they could set back the learning of children who had already lost out during the pandemic, especially if the industrial dispute drags on into future academic years. The government said yesterday that schools may have to prioritise places for certain groups of pupils and use online learning where possible. Its guidance says: “In addition to prioritising vulnerable children and young people and children of critical workers, schools should consider prioritising pupils due to take public examinations and other formal assessments. “If schools have to restrict attendance, they should consider providing remote learning instead, as well as organising lunch parcels for children on free school meals.” Some schools and academies have already started planning how to keep children in schools during the strikes. Jo Coton, chief executive of NET Academies Trust, which runs six primary schools in Essex, said that the circumstances were “no different” to keeping vulnerable and key worker children in the classroom in lockdowns. “We will do everything possible to keep schools open for all children, even if we have to reduce the in-school learning offer that day,” she said. “We have outstanding remote learning programmes available which we are ready to deploy if it is the case that any children are not able to come to school.” Steve Chalke, founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust, which runs 52 schools, said he supported the unions and that schools would do all they could to minimise the impact of the strikes on pupils. “There may be, as a last resort, schools we have to shut,” he said. “But everyone’s goal will be to keep the Tory MPs and campaigners expressed their delight last night after forcing the government to accept a law that will mean tech bosses are jailed for two years if they fail in their duty to protect children online. Up to 50 Conservative MPs backed the amendment to the Online Safety Bill, which also had Labour’s support, meaning that it had the numbers to overturn the government’s working majority of 67. It is the third climbdown by this government, after reversals on planning and onshore wind farms in the face of Tory revolts. The rebel MPs, led by Sir Bill Cash and Miriam Cates, were locked in negotiations until late last night to secure a deal with Michelle Donelan, the culture secretary. The rebels’ amendment will now be dropped in favour of a government version to be introduced in the House of Lords. The new version will be modelled on a similar law introduced recently in Ireland that, crucially for ministers, has various hurdles before any prosecution can be opened. The bill has its second U-turn on jail threat for tech bosses reading in the Commons today before moving to the upper house at the beginning of next month. Donelan has committed to pushing through the new law even if the Lords reject it. Cates said: “We’re very, very pleased that they have committed to doing what we want, in Lords amendments, and made the specific commitments on our red lines of criminal liability and potential for imprisonment.” The threat of criminal action significantly toughens sanctions faced by technology companies if they fail in their duties. At present directors can be jailed, but only if they fail to co-operate with the regulator, Ofcom. Companies also face fines of up to 10 per cent of turnover, and Ofcom can order “business disruption measures” such as cutting off internet access. The new law is specifically targeted at failures in the bill to protect children, and many of the MPs were motivated by the Molly Russell inquest and the behaviour of tech companies at the hearing. Ian Russell, Molly’s father, has been especially critical of Meta and what he sees as its failure to take down all content of the type that Molly saw before she took her life, aged 14, in 2017. Cates said: “They [ministers] are going to base it on the Irish model — the Irish Online Safety and Media Regulation Act — which is a very good model that’s been passed.” The Irish legislation allows prosecution only after a court affirms the regulator’s finding of a contravention, a notice is issued by the regulator and there remains a failure to comply. The government and industry were seeking these safeguards once MP sentiment had swung behind the principle of criminal liability in the Cash-Cates amendment. The Tory MPs had been working with the NSPCC on the new measure, which was first suggested by Dame Margaret Hodge, the Labour MP. Richard Collard, a policy and regulatory manager at the NSPCC, said: “The government has rightly listened to the concerns raised by MPs, and we look forward to working with ministers to ensure the final legislation holds senior managers accountable in practice if their products continue to put children at risk of preventable harm and sexual abuse. “This is a crucial step towards legislation that can truly act as a pillar of the child protection system.” Mark Sellman Technology Correspondent News Politics Lockdown-style learning back Emma Yeomans, Steven Swinford schools open.” The present pay offer was contributing to a recruitment and retention crisis in schools, he said, as well as putting school budgets under more pressure. Teachers on strike were “my friends and colleagues”, he said, adding: “If dedicated teachers like that have been driven to the point of withholding their labour, it’s because something is seriously wrong.” The NEU, the biggest education union, has said that the strike will affect 23,400 schools and was voted for by 121,250 teachers. Last week the NASUWT union, which also represents teachers, said that it had not met the threshold for strike action, although more than 90 per cent of members who returned their ballots were in favour. Members who voted for strike action now have the option of joining NEU before their strikes begin, as there is no requirement for length of membership to take part in industrial action. This would allow NASUWT members who had supported strikes to participate. Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, welcomed a decision by the National Association of Head Teachers not to strike. She said: “Talks with union leaders are ongoing and any strike action from one union will have a damaging impact on pupils’ education and wellbeing, particularly following the disruption experienced over the past two years.” A long dispute between the government and unions could still set back pupils’ learning, education experts said. Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said that both sides must “prioritise avoiding any further disruption to young people”. “Given the severe disruption and learning losses caused by Covid, the government and teaching unions must prioritise avoiding any further disruption to young people’s education,” she said. “Ministers and teaching unions need to meet as soon as possible and engage in constructive dialogue in order to reach a solution. “There is a real risk of a long-term stand-off between unions and government, which could set back education recovery, particularly for the more disadvantaged children whose learning has already been most disrupted by Covid.” Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland union held a rally yesterday Teachers end careers early Behind the story T he average classroom teacher in England and Wales earns £39,889, in addition to pension contributions (Emma Yeomans and Athena Chrysanthou write). This is slightly above the national average of £33,000 for full-time employees and on a par with the earnings of construction workers. However, unions are not concerned only by the headline rate of pay. They point to the growing stream of teachers leaving the profession, the rising number of hours and the pressure on school budgets. This year’s pay award gives the most junior teachers a rise of 8.9 per cent, a step towards the government’s pledge to pay newly qualified teachers £30,000. Most teachers will receive a 5 per cent rise but pay has been behind inflation for years and unions say that it is not competitive enough. Salary data shows a 45 per cent drop in the past decade of teachers earning £35,000 to £40,000, the pay for early- to mid-career classroom teachers. The figures reflect the high rate of teachers who leave the classroom early in their careers — government figures suggest that as many as a third quit within five years. However, Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, has pointed out that most teachers who are in the early part of their career will receive progressional pay rises or promotions which in total could result in rises of up to 15.9 per cent this year. She also points to their employer pension contributions of 23.6 per cent. Half of private sector workers receive less than 4 per cent. Quentin Letts An unhappy day out for the capital buffer G ood news and less terrific news. First: Bank of England illuminati, including the governor, Andrew Bailey, declared that things had settled down since the hoo-hah over Liz Truss’s mini-budget last year. The risk premium on British assets had “pretty much gone”, markets had recovered, eyebrows had been retrieved from the ceiling and gilt curves had flattened. Less terrific news: Bailey himself is still in office, jawing the pants off anyone who will listen to him. The Treasury select committee was not packed for his visit yesterday. Barely half of its members were in attendance. Bailey’s reputation goes before him like a leper’s bell. The story is told of him giving a speech at a dinner thrown by Speaker Hoyle. A member of the House of Lords fell asleep during the speech. Full zeds job. Had to be whacked under the table to stop his whistling snores. Bailey gave evidence alongside Sam Woods, deputy governor, and two external members of the Bank’s financial policy committee, Dame Colette Bowe and Jonathan Hall. Political Sketch

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 13 News Rishi Sunak’s government has blocked Scottish gender recognition reforms, saying that they risked “fraudulent or bad-faith applications” from people seeking to access single-sex spaces. Nicola Sturgeon described the move as an attack on Scottish democracy after ministers prevented royal assent for a law made in Edinburgh for the first time since devolution in 1998. Alister Jack, the Scotland secretary, said he was concerned about “the operation of single-sex clubs, associations and schools, protections such as equal pay, and chilling effects on single-sex spaces”, adding that the reforms would have a “significant impact” on UK-wide equalities law. He told Sturgeon that the Equality Act 2010 was “the cornerstone in the protection against discrimination, harassment and victimisation” and that there would be “significant complications from having two different gender recognition regimes in the UK”. Jack stressed that people changing their sex deserved “our respect, support and understanding”, but said the bill risked exploitation by men seeking access to women-only spaces. He acknowledged that the first use of the blocking powers had been “a significant decision”, and said that Sturgeon should bring an amended bill back to the Scottish parliament to “find a constructive way forward”. Sturgeon said the Scottish government would “defend the legislation and stand up for Scotland’s parliament”, and is expected to take the decision to a judicial review. The first minister called the block “a full-frontal attack on our democratically elected Scottish parliament and its ability to make its own decision on devolved matters”, adding: “If this Westminster veto succeeds, it will be the first of many”. The bill was intended to make it easier for trans people to get gender recognition certificates, including by making them available to 16-year-olds and removing the need for a medical Johnson vows to write a memoir like no other Chris Smyth Boris Johnson has announced plans to publish his memoirs as one of his close allies called for his return. The former prime minister has signed a deal with HarperCollins to write “a prime ministerial memoir like no other”. No date has been set for publication of the book, which will fuel speculation of a Johnson comeback. Although Johnson has professed loyalty to Sunak, allies recently set up the Conservative Democratic Organisation to give Tory members more say in the party, widely seen as preparing the ground for his return. Yesterday Lord Greenhalgh, deputy chairman of the organisation, called Johnson “electoral gold dust” and said he had a “strong probability of returning” this year. Greenhalgh also doubted Sunak’s chances for re-election. “I don’t see him [Sunak] as an election winner,” Greenhalgh told Times Radio. “He frankly seems to be talking to me as though I’m watching Jackanory. I don’t feel that’s someone who connects as a real, genuine person.” Greenhalgh said Johnson still had the “overwhelming support of the vast majority of members”. News as schools prepare for strikes UK government blocks Scotland’s gender reforms Chris Smyth Steven Swinford Political Editor diagnosis. Sturgeon had said the law was “within the competence of the Scottish parliament, it doesn’t affect the operation of the Equality Act and it was passed by an overwhelming majority of the Scottish parliament after very lengthy and very intense scrutiny by MSPs of all parties represented”. Before the decision was announced, she said it would be an “outrage” to block the reforms and accused the government of using trans people as a political weapon. She insisted there were “no grounds” to prevent the law receiving royal assent, saying doing so would be “unconscionable and indefensible and really quite disgraceful”. Sturgeon added that the first use of the powers to block Scottish legislation would be a “very, very slippery slope indeed” and would “normalise” and “embolden” the UK government to do the same for other laws. She said: “If there is a decision to challenge, in my view, it will be simply a political decision and I think it will be using trans people, already one of the most vulnerable, stigmatised groups in our society, as a political weapon.” Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, had hinted before the decision that he could back the government in blocking the law. Sturgeon called him “a pale imitation of this Tory government” and said he had shown “utter contempt for his own Scottish party”, which backed her reforms. Starmer had said he was “worried about the impact on equality laws”, adding: “Sex-based rights matter, and we must preserve all those wins that we’ve had for women over many years, including safe spaces.” Asked whether he would support a block, he said No 10 was “treading very, very carefully” and accused both Sunak and Sturgeon of using the issue as a political divider. Although Scottish Labour ultimately voted with the SNP in favour of the law, Starmer said he was troubled that not all the amendments his party had suggested were adopted and added. outside the Corn Exchange in Haddington, East Lothian. It was the first national walkout over salaries in almost 40 years occasional bursts of dry specialist information. Things went less well for him when the discussion reached crypto finance and the committee heard that he had an interest in a crypto firm that went undeclared to MPs when he initially joined the Bank. He went v. quiet for the rest of the meeting. But what of Bailey? He, after all, is el gran queso of Threadneedle Street. Previous governors, even mumbly Mervyn King, had about them an aura. Bailey’s predecessor was George Clooney (albeit under the alias Mark Carney). Smooth as peanut butter. Bailey, on entering, made some half-swallowed joke at which he himself (but no one else) laughed heartily. While discussion ranged over the decomposition of bond spreads, he fingered his face, clenching one fist and beating it against his lips. He glanced at his high-tech wristwatch and talked silently to himself. When he did speak, much of it was directed to the ceiling. His sentences rambled. A smirk played at the corners of his mouth as he recalled how many chancellors we went through late last summer. He leant back in his chair and gassed about aspects of the Basel agreement and Basel 3.1 and 3.0 and some global stability fund he chairs. His ears went pink. He displayed a backroom operator’s command of outflows and statistics and spends, as you would expect from a former chief cashier of the Bank. But does one not expect more from a governor? Of the quartet at the witness table, he was the least composed, the least audible, the least impressive. Danny Kruger (C, Devizes) started asking about “the countercyclical capital buffer”. You would never call this governor a capital buffer. Wonkish fidget, more like. Bowe is a glorious rasper. She has been around for years, having first come to public attention during the Westland affair when she did some leaking for Leon Brittan. Hall was the size of a jockey and was clued up in the way you expect of former Goldman Sachs people. Woods did much of the early talking and did so in confident, audible sentences, albeit prone to cliché. At one point he talked of some position being “deeply baked into my expectations”. He appeared hungry for more powers. His large hands manipulated the air in front of them, as if trying to open an invisible jar of pickled eggs. A regulator’s hands. Muscular and bendy. Early discussion centred on attempts by Downing Street to demand “call-in powers” to overrule the Bank. Hall skilfully made clear that he was opposed to the government’s view but did not want to make an undue fuss about it now. Bowe kept her powder dry for long passages but when she did intervene she gave the impression of a seasoned campaigner descending from on high to vouchsafe a worldly view. Hall interjected with Andrew Bailey said gilts had settled since the mini-budget

14 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Hong Kong judge accused of giving credibility to China Jonathan Ames Legal Editor Catherine Baksi One of Britain’s most senior retired judges has been accused of lending “credibility” to Beijing’s crackdown in Hong Kong amid an increase in the courts being used to target democracy campaigners. As Lord Jonathan Sumption, a former judge on the UK’s Supreme Court, attended the start of the legal year in the former British colony yesterday, criticism was mounting that the move represented a tacit backing of China’s draconian efforts to suppress dissent in the territory. Sumption, 74, is one of six British judges who continue to sit as part-time judges on the territory’s highest court, a role which has been criticised amid concerns that Beijing is cracking down on freedom of expression through a national security law that effectively makes protest a criminal offence. It comes as the authorities seek to jail Jimmy Lai, a prominent publisher and businessman, who has been accused of breaching the legislation and faces a life sentence if he is convicted at a trial scheduled for September. Sebastian, Lai’s son, has been in London this month to press the British government to speak out in support of his father. Mark Clifford, the president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, said that Sumption’s presence at the opening of the Hong Kong legal year “gives credibility to a government that is waging warfare against its own citizens”. There are more than 1,200 political prisoners in Hong Kong. Andrew Cheung Kui-nung, the chief justice of Hong Kong, claimed the rule of law is being maintained under the “one country, two systems” arrangement. He revealed plans to introduce broadcasts of some cases to enhance confidence in the judicial system. Last year, the two most senior judges on the UK Supreme Court — Lord Reed, the president, and Lord Hodge, the deputy president — stood down from the Hong Kong court. Sumption said that the ceremony was “attended by the whole judiciary, unless they are out of the territory”. He said: “For as long as I remain a non-permanent judge, I shall observe all the courtesies expected of a judicial office-holder in Hong Kong”. Ben Wallace is reviewing the decision to cut the number of tanks in the British Army after the chief of the general staff said that giving Challenger 2s to Ukraine would leave the UK “temporarily weaker”. In a leaked statement seen by Times Radio, General Sir Patrick Sanders said that the donation of 14 tanks would “leave a gap in our inventory” and warned that the army would struggle to meet its Nato obligations. In a video posted on the army’s intranet, Sanders hinted at unease about No 10’s decision to give heavy armour to Ukraine while cutting the number of tanks in the British Army. “Ukraine needs our tanks and guns now . . . And there can be no better cause,” he said. “There is no doubt that our choice will impact on our ability to mobilise the army against the acute and enduring threat Russia presents and meet our Nato obligations.” Defence insiders viewed the remarks as an effort to ensure that the Ministry of Defence replaces materiel donated to Ukraine, and that the Treasury funds the replenishment. Wallace is in talks with the Treasury about funding before an update on the 2021 integrated review of foreign policy expected in the spring. Under the plans, 148 Challenger 2s in a fleet of 227 will be adapted to become Challenger 3s. However, Wallace said that the Russian invasion of Ukraine had led ministers to reconsider. “I shall . . . be reviewing the number of Challenger 3 conversions to consider whether the lessons of Ukraine suggest that we need a larger tank fleet,” he said. Ukraine will also receive 30 AS-90 self-propelled artillery weapons, hundreds more armoured vehicles, including Bulldogs, and 100,000 artillery Tanks promised to Ukraine ‘will leave army short’ George Grylls Defence Correspondent rounds. President Zelensky said that the package of lethal aid was “exactly what Ukraine needs to restore its territorial integrity” as he thanked the UK for its “powerful contribution to our common victory over tyranny”. Wallace said that the squadron of Challenger 2 tanks was “not going to change the course of history” but would “hopefully” encourage Germany to allow other European countries to give Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine. Berlin has refused so far to sanction the delivery of German-made Leopard 2 tanks, despite pleas from Kyiv. Poland and Finland are among nations willing to donate them, but cannot do so without German approval. The US is also resisting Ukrainian demands for M1 Abrams tanks. Western defence ministers will meet at the Ramstein airbase in Germany on Friday, and Berlin is under pressure to agree to the increase in lethal aid. “President Putin believed the West would get tired, bored and fragment,” Wallace said. “Ukraine is continuing to fight and, far from fragmenting, the West is accelerating its efforts.” The Kremlin reacted furiously to news that Ukraine would have Challenger 2s. “They are using this country as a tool to achieve their anti-Russian goals,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said. “These tanks are burning and will burn just like the rest.” Yuriy Sak, an adviser to the Ukrainian defence minister, said the delivery of the Challenger 2 tanks was a “very important milestone” and urged other western countries to “follow suit”. The Kremlin refused to take responsibility for the missile attack on an apartment building in the city of Dnipro, insisting that Russian forces did not strike residential buildings. Casting an eye Andrew Baitson, auctioneer, with the mould used in The Elephant Man, which is going under the hammer

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 2GM 15 News Iran’s Revolutionary Guard allegedly used children at a London school and an Islamic centre to produce a propaganda video in which they pledged to become “martyrs”. Tony Blair’s international think tank has recommended that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) should be proscribed as a terrorist organisation, saying it could be radicalising British citizens for attacks. There has been cross-party condemnation of Iran after the execution of Alireza Akbari, 61, a British-Iranian citizen accused of spying on behalf of MI6. Blair’s Institute for Global Change says that an IRGC-affiliated propaganda music video entitled Salute Commander was recorded in the UK in July last year. The filming took place at the Islamic Centre of England in Maida Vale, north London, and in the playground of the nearby School of the Islamic Republic of Iran, a private school with 138 pupils aged six to 16. Both have close links with the Iranian government. The institute says that the video shows children declaring their willingness to join the so-called 313 special fighters of the 12th Imam. They pledge to join the apocalyptic wars that some Shia Muslims believe will follow the 12th Imam’s return to earth — and in so doing, express a desire to become “martyrs”. In the same video, children are shown pledging allegiance to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The report said: “The fact that an IRGC-affiliated video that has been created to indoctrinate children was recorded on UK soil is particularly alarming because it indicates the guard has established a homegrown support base. “Given there has been an increase in IRGC terror-related activity on western soil since 2015, the presence of a UK base is of great concern.” Kasra Aarabi, the report’s author, said: “The IRGC is a violent, Islamistextremist organisation that operates no Jeremy Clarkson emailed the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to apologise for a newspaper column in which he said that he “hated” Meghan. In a lengthy statement on Instagram, the former Top Gear presenter, 62, said he had messaged the couple on Christmas Day to say his language in the column had been “disgraceful”, that it had been written in a hurry and he was “profoundly sorry”. The Sussexes’ dismissed Clarkson’s UK pupils ‘pledge allegiance to Iran’ David Brown differently to proscribed groups in the United Kingdom, including the Islamic State [Isis], al-Qaeda and Hezbollah. This is apparent from its formal programme of indoctrination designed to radicalise members to adopt its hardline Islamist-extremist ideology as well as its use of terrorism, militancy, hostage-taking and hijacking as a modus operandi.” The Islamic Centre of England and the School of the Islamic Republic of Iran were contacted for comment. The Islamic Centre is at present the subject of a review by the Charity Commission into its compliance following an official warning after a speaker praised the Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in 2021. The Metropolitan Police’s counterterrorism command said no further action would be taken. The School of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been rated as “inadequate” by Ofsted, since 2017. A sauvignon blanc from the Cotswolds has been toasted as one of the best in the world (Will Humphries writes). Woodchester Valley, a family-owned vineyard near Stroud, has won a top prize for its 2021 vintage, beating tough opposition from an international field. Its wine took the highest possible award in a blind tasting by a panel of experts at the Global Sauvignon Blanc Masters. It is the first English still wine to have won a Master medal in the competition. The Gloucestershire business is one of just a few British vineyards producing the grape variety — traditionally grown in warm climates such as Napa Valley in California and the Loire Valley in France. The Woodchester Valley wine was judged in the £20-£30 unoaked category, beating entrants from New Zealand, Austria and Greece. The awards were run in collaboration with the London magazine The Drinks Business. The judges said the winner was a “perfect example” of why blind tasting helped them to “leave any preconceptions behind us”. “This wine was, indeed, wonderful,” the judges wrote. “It starts with an intense gooseberry nose, building to reveal undertones of ripe lemon. On the palate there is bright, taut acidity and a juicy mouthfeel. Very well balanced, there’s just a hint of sweetness on the finish, which is long and textured. A very engaging wine, perfect for matching with asparagus or goat’s cheese.” Woodchester Valley was founded by Fiona Shiner, who works with her daughter Chloe and Jeremy Mount, a winemaker. Fiona Shiner took a leap into the unknown when planting sauvignon blanc vines on a steep, south-facing limestone slope on the edge of the Cotswolds. The site was formerly known as “Stanhaus”, which was mentioned as having a vineyard in the Domesday book. Shiner said: “It’s a phenomenal result for us. Eyebrows were raised in 2015 when I planted sauvignon blanc in the Cotswolds [but] nearly eight years later to have our wine judged one of the finest in the world and by such a prestigious panel of judges, it really doesn’t get much better than that. We hope this highlights that England can produce great quality still wines as well as sparkling.” Chloe Shiner said: “Sauvignon blanc is not that widely planted in the UK. I think there are only about three or four producers. My mum was always such a huge fan of that style of wine that she took a risk.” Cotswolds wine goes down a global treat Fiona Shiner took a leap into the unknown when she planted sauvignon vines in Gloucestershire Behind the story T he Islamic Centre of England, based in a former cinema in northwest London, funds a nationwide network of similar organisations with close links to Tehran (David Brown writes). Under its constitution, the centre’s director has to be the UK’s representative of Iran’s supreme leader. The centre was investigated in 2020 after The Times revealed that it held a commemoration for General Qasem Soleimani of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who was killed in a US drone attack targeting terrorists. Soleimani had been subject to UK financial sanctions for terrorism since 2011. Massoud Shadjareh, founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission which has close links to the centre, was filmed telling the crowd: “We work hard to make sure there will be many, many more Qasem Soleimanis. We aspire to become like him.” The Charity Commission later issued an official warning and said that the centre’s trustee’s “risked associating the charity with a speaker who may have committed an offence under the Terrorism Acts”. Scotland Yard last month announced that it was taking no action. The centre’s leaders have previously caused controversy by saying that it is forbidden for Muslims to serve with the British armed forces and for linking gay marriage to bestiality. Clarkson reveals apology to Meghan and fury of Amazon employers Kieran Gair apology last night. The couple’s spokesman said: “On December 25 2022, Mr Clarkson wrote solely to Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex . . . While a new public apology has been issued today by Mr Clarkson, what remains to be addressed is his long-standing pattern of writing articles that spread hate rhetoric, dangerous conspiracy theories and misogyny. Unless each of his other pieces were also written ‘in a hurry’, as he states, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident shared in haste, but rather a series of articles shared in hate.” In the column, published in the Sun, Clarkson wrote that he had dreamed of Meghan being paraded through British towns naked and publicly shamed, adding that “everyone who’s my age thinks the same way”. The Independent Press Standards Organisation received more than 20,000 complaints. Clarkson said: “One of the strange things I’ve noticed in recent times is that whenever an MP or a well-known person is asked to apologise for something, no matter how heartfelt or profound that apology may be, it’s never enough for the people who called for it in the first place. So I’m going to try and buck the trend this morning with an apology . . . All the way from the balls of my feet to the follicles on my head. This is me putting my hands up. It’s a mea culpa with bells on. Usually, I read what I’ve written to someone else before filing, but I was home alone on that fateful day, and in a hurry. So when I’d finished, I just pressed send. And . . . the next day the landmine exploded.” Amazon Prime Video, which broadcasts the presenter’s motoring show The Grand Tour and Clarkson’s Farm, was “incandescent” after his column, Clarkson conceded yesterday. The Sun has said that it regrets publishing the column and has removed the piece from its website. Jeremy Clarkson’s emailed apology was dismissed by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 17 News Home Office staff have been told to be careful about pronouns when addressing colleagues and to avoid using words such as “mate” and “homosexuality”. Staff at the department’s homeland security group, the unit responsible for tackling terrorism, were given a lunchtime presentation advising them on how to address people’s gender identities. It said that some people used “mixed” or “split” pronouns, such as “he and they” or “she and they,” meaning both were acceptable and they could be used interchangeably. Other people did not conform to these pronouns, staff were told, and used “neopronouns” such as “zie” or “ey”. The presentation said: “People use mixed pronouns for many different reasons — there’s no ‘one size fits all’ for NB [gender non-binary] people or people that use mixed pronouns, just as there isn’t for men or women.” Staff were told that a person’s sex, gender identity and “gender expression” could vary and “not correspond”. The Home Office said the material, which was leaked to the Guido Fawkes website, was used as part of an internal event in the department and was not official government guidance. The presentation included a list of words to avoid, including “mate”. It showed an example of an email in which someone corrected a colleague Listen, mate, that’s not gender neutral Matt Dathan Home Affairs Editor when they had used the word. In the response, the person said: “Sorry for calling you mate.” It was not made clear why the word should not be used. Staff were also told to avoid referring to someone as “homosexual” or using the word “homosexuality”, because it was “generally considered a medical term now” and could “reduce the person to purely sexual terms”, adding that “people tend to use gay instead”. Other terms staff were encouraged to avoid using included butch, femme, transsexual, sex change, pre-operative and post-operative. Also blacklisted were “transgendered” as it “suggests a condition of some kind”, and “transgenderism” because it “suggests an ‘ideology’ that could be argued against”. The presentation urged people to avoid “anything that implies being LGBT+ is a choice”, for example “sexual preference” or “gay lifestyle”, or “anything that implies bi people are ‘greedy,’ ‘undecided’ or ‘going through a phase’ ”. Staff were encouraged to use their own pronouns in email signatures, and to use neutral language when other people’s were not known. “Don’t assume the gender of a person’s partner,” it said. “If you’re not sure, ask. But avoid intimate questions about body parts, sex life, relationships etc.” The presentation also told people who were unfamiliar with non-binary terms or mixed pronouns to “try it out”, adding: “You can only get used to something if you actively work to.” TMS [email protected] | @timesdiary Pearlygate for Mitchell’s dog Sad news from Sutton Coldfield. Scarlet Whoosabootiful Mitchell, beloved springer spaniel of the international development minister Andrew Mitchell, has died. Scarlet, right, twice came second in the Westminster Dog of the Year contest, first in 2014 on a manifesto of “tough on cats, tough on the causes of cats”, when to her owner’s shame she was beaten by a pug, and again in 2018 when she was beaten by a Labour MP’s collie presciently named Corona. She even made it into Hansard: in 2020, answering a question about pet travel, Michael Gove became the first MP to say “Whoosabootiful” in the Commons. Some MPs dream of such a legacy. spielberg’s cameo trill It is normally the film director who hands out cameos. For Jaws in 1975, however, Steven Spielberg was given an uncredited role by the composer, John Williams. A scene called for a school marching band and Williams felt that the clarinetist he had was too accomplished to pass off as a teenager. Hearing that the director played the clarinet as a child, he told Spielberg to take over. “We need you to make this worse,” Williams said. Not one to blow his own, er, clarinet, Spielberg agreed. In an event in Hollywood to mark almost 50 years and 29 films with Spielberg, Williams also recalled his reaction on first seeing Schindler’s List. Overcome with emotion, he told his friend that he needed a far better composer to do the score. “I know,” Spielberg said. “But they’re all dead.” royal heavyweight All that fuss about the heir and the spare could be avoided if only our royals followed the practice of the medieval kingdom of Srivijaya on Sumatra. There, says The Spectator, the succession was decided by an endurance contest: whichever royal son could best bear the weight of the very heavy state crown got the throne. The historian David Abulafia warns, though, that such a system might have backfired last year. “My guess is that Prince Andrew, the burliest of the late Queen’s sons, would have lasted longest under the 5lb weight of St Edward’s Crown,” he says. Two more redundancy euphemisms after Saturday’s item. Brian McNamara knew an American bank in the City that called job losses a “negative staff retention programme”, while Patrick Hogan worked for a firm where those summoned for their annual chat with the personnel director were offered a cigarette if they were being let go but not if they were safe. This, he suggests, was a case of no smoke without fire. boris to spill the beans Boris Johnson has signed a deal to write his Apologia Pro Vitia Sua, if you excuse a Latin pun (from me, if not him). How soon can we expect it, given his Shakespeare biography is six years overdue? Ted Heath took 18 years over his memoirs. The former PM received an advance of £350,000 (about £1.5 million today) in 1980 and by 1992 had written only four chapters. One problem was that Heath didn’t like to visit the Cabinet Office to consult the records, expecting the records to go to him. I suspect that Rishi Sunak has already changed the locks. patrick kidd

18 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News The summit of Säntis mountain in Switzerland provides stunning views of the Alps. The sight is not without risk, however, as the spot is struck by lightning more often than almost anywhere in Europe. Last year, there were four extra strikes — drawn there using lasers. At present, metal “Franklin” rods, Saudi Arabia has begun investing in a groundbreaking British plan to beam solar power generated in space to Earth for a round-the-clock supply of renewable energy. Grant Shapps, the business secretary, met the Saudi communications minister, Abdullah Alswaha, last week and discussed future financing for a UKbased space solar project. However, The Times has learnt that Saudi Arabia’s £410 billion proposed eco city, Neom, has already supplied some of the millions raised by the British firm Space Solar. The idea of using solar panels in space to provide electricity on Earth is almost a century old. The author Isaac Asimov used it as the setting for a 1941 short story and the aerospace engineer Peter Glaser published an influential paper on it in 1968. For the past three years, the UK has followed in the footsteps of China, Japan and the United States in exploring making it a reality. Space Solar envisions putting into orbit solar panels, assembled by robots, that convert electricity into high-frequency radio waves transmitted to the surface. A net-like antenna, kilometres wide, strung between poles would convert the waves back into electricity. Proponents argue the technology would address the intermittent nature of renewable energy and help meet climate change goals. Sam Adlen, coCEO of Space Solar, said it was signifiSolar panels in space funded by Saudis cant that Saudi Arabia, which produces a tenth of the world’s oil, was taking the idea seriously. “There’s a real partnership to be developed that can have a huge impact on the future of net zero [and] energy security and really help create an era-defining, new energy source,” Adlen said. The Saudi interest stems partly from its plan to power its new city in the desert with carbon-free electricity. A UK government source said Shapps’s meeting involved authorities at Neom and covered possible investment in a UK-based space solar project. Adlen’s firm has raised £3.5 million from Neom and in research and development funding from the UK government. Neom staff and executives from the oil giant Shell, in a non-commercial capacity, attended an event at parliament last year when ministers gave the plan their backing. Space Solar hopes to have a trial project in space within six years. Adam Vaughan Environment Editor Laser lightning rods could spare us from nasty shocks named in honour of Benjamin Franklin, form our standard defence against lightning, guiding it safely to ground. As a general rule, the higher a lightning rod, the greater the area it can cover. This, though, makes protecting some places difficult — airports, for instance, are no place for a tall, spiky tower. A new technique works instead by stripping out electrons from the air using phenomenally powerful lasers. This makes the air conductive and means the laser’s route will be preferentially chosen by lightning. Jean-Pierre Wolf, from the University of Geneva, has been studying the subject for 20 years. When he needed somewhere to test the technology, Säntis was the obvious choice — and the results of his “dream adventure” last year have now been published in the journal Nature Photonics. Amid 60mph wind and hail, lightning was duly diverted by the laser close enough to the tip of the existing lightning rod for it to then reach earth the usual way. It is hoped the technique could be used to protect critical infrastructure, such as power plants. There is, however, a catch. “Typically, it needs the power of two nuclear power plants together,” said Wolf. As a result, the equipment was on for only a fraction of a second. Light touch Josh Taylor takes a duster The Shard 310 metres How it works Transmitter Sunlight Sunlight Solar reflector 1. Orbit of solar power station means it is illuminated by the sun for more than 99 per cent of the time 2. Large reflectors bounce sunlight on to solar panels 3. Energy is converted to low-power microwaves and beamed to receiving station on the ground 1 2 3 Solar power satellite (5,000m tall) Tom Whipple Science Editor

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 19 News Edward Stourton, the Radio 4 presenter, feels frustrated while listening to his successors on the Today programme, he has revealed. “Every morning there is at least one interview that I know — not think, know — I would have done better,” he writes in his memoir, Confessions: Life Re-examined. Stourton, 65, who still works with the BBC, said that his frustration at the new roster of presenters that includes Nick Robinson, Mishal Husain and Amol Rajan, arises from sadness. Stourton told the Radio Times: “I’m just expressing my sadness that I left.” Stourton discovered that he was to be replaced on the Today programme in 2008 by another of its presenters, Justin Webb, through a journalistic inquiry I’m better, says Posh Ed in swipe at Today presenters from outside the corporation. He describes the BBC’s manoeuvres as “cackhanded”, writing that he was shabbily treated and taken for a “complete mug”. In the memoir — an extract of which was published last week — he delves into the revelations about the salary disparities at the BBC, with the Today presenters discovering that they were earning hundreds of thousands of pounds less than colleagues. Stourton writes that in 2000 he had spotted a memo from a senior BBC executive to the person in charge of presenter rotas which read: “If you need to fill a gap, try Stourton or [Sarah] Montague — they are cheaper than [John] Humphrys and [James] Naughtie”. He recalls tensions between his colleagues at the stream of commentary about the Today presenters. He writes how colleagues would chance upon “charming little nuggets” such as Montague is “struggling to cope”, Naughtie “reeks of politically correct bias”, while “Ed ‘Posh’ Stourton” was “second banana to Humphrys” who was the only “class act”. Stourton’s sacking was reported to be as a result of his perceived poshness. His replacement in 2008 was Webb, however, who has been described as having a “posh” voice. Last year Rajan, a Today presenter and the new host of University Challenge, challenged the BBC’s director general Tim Davie over research suggesting 70 per cent of newsreaders across the four main broadcasters spoke in Received Pronunciation, despite it being used by less than 10 per cent of the population. Davie said that he was attempting to change the corporation’s culture. David Sanderson Arts Correspondent to one of Blackpool Tower’s two huge chandeliers during their annual clean Crime fan ‘laughed after stabbing lover’ A true crime obsessive “giggled” after killing her lover before video-calling a friend to show her the body, a court was told yesterday. Shaye Groves, who kept framed pictures of serial killers on her bedroom wall, is alleged to have launched a “passionate” attack on Frankie Fitzgerald, 25, a father of one, as he slept. Winchester crown court was told that Groves, 27, a mother of one, had four knives used by the couple for “play” in the bedroom. She denies murdering Fitzgerald by stabbing him 22 times at her home in Havant, Hampshire, on July 17 last year, claiming she acted in self defence. The jury was told that Groves rang a friend, Vikki Baitup, and was “giggling” and having a “very normal conversation”. Baitup heard another friend of Grove ask: “Are you going to tell her?” Groves then made a video call to Baitup, who was shown the body with “an enormous” knife wound. At one point Groves told Baitup to keep her voice down as the children were in the house. The trial continues.

20 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Penny Mordaunt has become the first minister to call on the Church of England to start conducting same-sex weddings and has been joined by several fellow MPs who are demanding a change to the church’s teaching. The Conservative MP and leader of the Commons said the church was treating gay people like “second-class citizens” and said in an open letter to her local bishop in Portsmouth that her gay constituents should have the right to marry in their parish church. Bishops are holding a final meeting Mordaunt calls for gay church weddings this week to decide whether the church should drop its opposition to same-sex marriage and start to marry or bless gay couples. It would then be up to the General Synod, the church’s parliament, to vote on any change to church law. Almost a decade after legislation was passed to allow gay couples to marry in England and Wales, there is growing anger among MPs over the continued refusal of the Church of England, as the country’s established church, to marry gay worshippers or allow gay priests to marry. Church law prohibits priests from blessing same-sex couples who have had a civil wedding outside the church. Mordaunt has been joined by her fellow Conservative MPs Peter Gibson and Alicia Kearns, and the Labour MPs Lilian Greenwood, Alex Norris, Nadia Whittome, Sharon Hodgson and Lyn Brown, in writing to their local bishops about the issue, The Times understands. The Tory MP Chris Loder, the Labour MP Ben Bradshaw and the independent MP Neil Coyle have also spoken to their bishops about the church’s stance. A group of MPs is working on proposals to change the law to remove any legal barriers that could prevent the Church of England from pressing ahead in backing same-sex marriage, The Times has been told. Mordaunt wrote: “I hope you will back reform, allowing parishes to conduct weddings for same-sex couples.” Mordaunt pointed out that many other churches across Britain, including the Scottish Episcopal Church and the Church in Wales, both Anglican churches, and the Church of Scotland, have backed same-sex marriage or blessings for same-sex couples. The issue has been a source of bitter division within the church for decades, with a wide rift forming between liberals who want to see priests allowed to conduct same-sex weddings if they wish and conservatives who see gay relationships as sinful and strongly oppose any change to church law. Mordaunt said: “I fear that if [the issue] is not resolved at next month’s General Synod, the matter will continue to fester and detract from the positive contribution the Church of England makes to our society. “It is also important to recognise the pain and trauma that this continues to cause many LGBT+ people who are left feeling that they are treated as secondclass citizens within our society.” Rishi Sunak declined to express a view, suggesting that Mordaunt was not speaking for the government. Kaya Burgess Religious Affairs Correspondent The National Trust has added Henry VIII to a video of disabled people from the nation’s history. The film, Everywhere and Nowhere, was made with the University of Leicester and includes figures connected with National Trust properties who had disabilities. They include the amputee and mountain climber Geoffrey WinthropYoung and Sir Jeffrey Hudson, known as “the Queen’s dwarf” after becoming a favourite entertainer of Charles I’s wife, Henrietta Maria. The trust asked curators to provide them with stories from their properties concerning disabled people. Eighty were supplied, ten of which were selected for the video, which is available on the university’s YouTube page. Henry VIII’s inclusion will surprise many, as he was known to be a vigorous sportsman when young. His disability came about after a jousting accident in January 1536, when Henry was 44. His armoured horse landed on him and crushed his legs, which were then plagued with ulcers. The accident hampered his mobility for the rest of his life. His waist grew from 32in to 52in and he may have weighed 28 stone at his death in 1547. He required sticks, wheelchairs and pulley systems to move. Henry VIII was disabled, trust decides Jack Blackburn History Correspondent F our fifths of the shoreline around Lake Windermere falls short of quality standards, with a majority of water samples showing raised levels of pollutants, a survey has found (Adam Vaughan writes). Local campaigners raised concerns over the state of England’s largest natural lake last summer, when it turned green due to an algal bloom driven by phosphorus and nitrogen. Now the largest survey of its condition, with water samples taken from almost 100 sites, has found widespread pollution. Only 21 per cent of places tested had phosphorus levels low enough to merit “good” status under the EU’s Water Framework Directive. “As a scientist and as someone who is in the Lake District frequently for professional and personal reasons, these phosphorus results were not as good as I would want to see,” said Ben Surridge of Lancaster University, which analysed the samples, taken on November 13. Matt Staniek of the Save Windermere campaign questioned the study’s funding from United Utilities. “How much can you trust these results, if the polluter is helping directly?” he said. Surridge countered that some samples came from sites affected by discharges from the company’s Tower Wood sewage treatment works. Red alert over toxin levels at green lake Lake Windermere took on an unappealing hue last summer as bluegreen algae flourished. Widespread pollution has since been found

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 21 News Scientist sues over pain from squeezing pipettes Jonathan Ames Legal Editor A scientist is suing one of the country’s leading research centres for £50,000 over claims that his thumbs were injured after he was repeatedly required to squeeze pipettes. Syed Mian, 36, a stem cell specialist, claims that he developed repetitive strain injury (RSI) due to intensive laboratory work at King’s College London. As a result of the repeated use of pipettes during experiments, the university researcher was plagued by pain and anxiety, which caused him difficulties in handling fine manual work and left him depressed, a court was told. Mian is suing the university for £50,000 in compensation over his injuries and has claimed that his employers failed to ensure his place of work was safe. The college, which has produced 12 Nobel prize winners, has admitted breach of duty — but its lawyers have argued that Mian failed to alert managers in time that the laboratory work was causing him to suffer. His legal team told the Central London county court during a pre-trial hearing that as Mian was a researcher, much of his work included “pipetting”, which “involved him gripping/grasping the pipette with his hand and pressing down using his thumb on the top”. They added that “he would do this task for lengthy periods without rotation or a break throughout the day”. In 2018, Mian began feeling pain in his thumb and right hand and he was diagnosed with tenosynovitis, a form of RSI that caused swelling along the side of his wrist and base of the thumb. The pain and swelling stopped the scientist from using his right hand for pipetting, but he adapted by switching to his left hand. However he soon developed similar problems in that hand and thumb. Mian now works for the Francis Crick Institute, a biomedical research institution in London. The case will go to a full trial at Central London county court at a later date. A retired teacher accused by the BBC broadcaster Nicky Campbell of being a paedophile has been named in the House of Commons as Iain Wares. Dozens have alleged that the former maths teacher and rugby coach molested them during his time at Edinburgh Academy and nearby Fettes College in the 1960s and 1970s. Until now he has only been referred to as “Edgar” after the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry passed an order forbidding individuals who have been accused, but not convicted, of abuse from being named. Wares, 82, who is living in MP names ex-teacher accused of serial abuse his native South Africa, was unmasked after the SNP’s Ian Blackford used parliamentary privilege, which provides legal immunity for MPs and peers speaking in the Commons or Lords, to name him. “I have a number of constituents who are complainants against ‘Edgar’,” said Blackford, the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, during a debate on education. “It is important that others who were abused by this man can come forward . . . it is for this reason that it is in the public interest that the real name of ‘Edgar’ — that is, Iain Wares — is now publicly known.” A legal representative for Wares declined to comment yesterday when asked if his client denied or admitted the abuse allegations. Campbell was among those who had called on Blackford to name the former private school master. When his identity was made known in South Africa last year, Campbell said: “Life is now going to be extremely uncomfortable for him. I’m struggling to sympathise.” Another former Edinburgh Academy pupil said yesterday: “I cried as Blackford said Wares’s name.” Wares previously told the high court in Cape Town that he moved to Scotland in 1967 to receive treatment from a psychiatrist after admitting his attraction to young boys. After training to become a teacher he worked at Edinburgh Academy, one of the country’s most prestigious private schools, before moving to Fettes — the alma mater of Sir Tony Blair — in 1973. He returned to South Africa, where he continued to teach, in 1979. In 2020 an order was signed to extradite Wares to Britain, where he faces six charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour and one charge of indecent assault. However, last week the BBC reported that a fresh abuse complaint had been made relating to his time at a boys’ school in Cape Town in the 1990s. Survivors believe an imminent South African investigation will make it extremely unlikely that he will ever stand trial in Scotland and, as such, wanted his identity made public. Fettes has issued a “full and unreserved apology to anyone who suffered abuse”. Edinburgh Academy said: “We deeply regret what has happened in the past and would encourage anyone who has been the victim of abuse to contact Police Scotland.” The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, Scotland’s public prosecutor, said: “In order to protect any future proceedings and to preserve the rights of the complainers, the Crown will not comment further at this stage.” Marc Horne Cornucopia of delights A 16th-century tapestry depicting Pomona, the Roman goddess of abundance, is being sold tomorrow at Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury

22 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times News Death threats as lies spread about traffic ‘lockdown’ Councillors in Oxford have been receiving death threats after a conspiracy theory about a scheme to reduce traffic in the city spread around the world. The Times has learnt that local leaders have removed their home addresses from council websites amid safety concerns and alerted the police to particularly “threatening and aggressive” correspondence recently. Their offices are fielding thousands of calls, emails, letters and social media messages from people angry at authorities for plotting a “lockdown” to combat climate change that will prevent residents from leaving “zones” dividing the city. The complaints are the result of misinformation that started circulating in November after Oxfordshire county council approved a £6.5 million trial scheme to prevent drivers using busy routes at peak times. The six-month test, which is expected to start next year, is designed to cut unnecessary car journeys and free up space for buses to travel on Oxford’s heavily congested roads. It also aims to “tackle climate change” by reducing pollution. Similar to London’s congestion charge system, it involves installing numberplate recognition cameras that monitor which vehicles drive down roads towards the city centre. The cameras will be placed on six key roads, creating “traffic filters” that fine private cars £70 if they do not have a permit. Other vehicles, including bikes and public transport, will be exempt. Oxford residents will be able to apply for permits to drive through the filters on 100 days a year and there are other exemptions for blue badge holders, carers, emergency workers and business owners. Amid reasonable criticism about the impact that the restrictions will have on residents who regularly drive to work and schools, outlandish claims about an impending “climate lockdown” have spread widely on social media and spilled on to the city streets. A number of fringe media outlets and conspiracy-minded social media influencers began claiming residents will be effectively imprisoned and that the scheme is motivated by a global green agenda. Piers Corbyn, a climate change denier and the older brother of the former Labour leader, Jeremy, has routinely travelled to Oxford to protest against the plans in the city centre and at council meetings. Last Sunday hundreds of supporters of a group called Not Our Future went door to door around Oxford delivering leaflets that described residents as “guinea pigs”. The leaflets outlined the practical problems facing families and businesses but also claimed that the city had been chosen as a testing ground for a United Nations plot to keep people confined to small neighbourhoods. Oxfordshire county council and Oxford city council have been receiving calls and messages from confused residents who are worried that they will be “trapped in their homes” by armed guards deployed by local government. A county council spokesman said that everyone in the city was free to drive wherever they liked, whenever they wanted, adding that the filters would not “trap” anyone. “Everyone can enter and leave their street in at least one direction without going through a filter.” Corbyn repeated his arguments when approached by The Times but insisted his campaign had nothing to do with the abuse received by councillors. David Fleming, who runs Not Our Future, said “the last thing we want” is to be branded as “conspiracy theorists causing havoc all over Oxford”. Charlie Parker On the nose A400M Atlas aircraft take off from the largest Royal Air Force station in Brize Norton, Oxfordshire, for training I N T H E T I M E S T O M O R R O W DAVID SMITH How the government is propping up the economy MAIN PAPER BUSINESS SPORT THE VOICE OF SPORT Martin Samuel’s unmissable new column MAIN PAPER COMMENT Roger Boyes Has Xi Jinping changed his game? MAIN PAPER FASHION DRESS CODE Why you need a power shirt PULLOUT

It’ll take more than a tsar to heal universities Melanie Phillips Page 24 shape, big signals of commitment are needed from governments to give confidence to investors. Those high-rollers in Davos will want to know that we have it in us to be sufficiently bold about this. We British have attempted several bold moves in the past seven years. Brexit was certainly bold. Jeremy Corbyn, so nearly elected in 2017, was frighteningly bold. The Liz Truss premiership was recklessly bold. But these acts of boldness have been dead ends. They have been cries of frustration, based on looking for simple ways out of the intense pressures of a much more complex and fast-moving age. Now we have to show that these experiments have not exhausted our boldness but have taught us that the next bold move must be based on actual analysis, a credible plan, an understanding of reality and a desire to win the confidence of others. Britain has the leadership in place to put this together — future prosperity based on the science and innovation that will dominate human affairs in the coming years. I will tell anyone who will listen to watch this space and not to write off the British. But we do not have long to show that we know what to do and can stick to it. Britain must prove it can be bold, not reckless Movers and shakers of Davos will need some persuading but, under Sunak’s leadership, this is a country worth investing in “clean steel”. After that it will probably be impossible to catch up. Success will require policies that include making land available quickly, training skilled workers, accelerating connections to the electricity grid and preventing unfair international competition. Last week, an excellent report emerged from the governmentsponsored Net Zero Review, headed by the former minister Chris Skidmore. Its 129 recommendations should be adopted, pretty much in their entirety. Many of them sound like obscure official-speak, such as a “cross-sector infrastructure strategy” or “an over-arching financing strategy”, while the understandable headlines are about phasing out gas boilers in homes. But this is the nitty-gritty of what is needed, very quickly. In the world now taking Rishi Sunak has to show government is committed to the net zero project point when they need to grab their next coffee. But the searching ones will look for something more, and these are the people we really need. They are the investors who haven’t bought UK stocks for a while and thanks to whom investment in Britain has been flat since the vote to leave the EU. They sold the pound after the Kwarteng mini-budget and proved that we can’t do without them: a country with low savings rates, poor productivity growth and a huge trade deficit cannot manage without a healthy flow of foreign capital — hardly a surprising fact but one that has had to be demonstrated. These people will want to know what Britain is going to do next, and whether we are going to do it with sufficient boldness and consistency to keep up with or get ahead of the rest of the world. We are entering a period of the most rapid economic and technological change in history outside a world war. The combination of war in Ukraine, escalating rivalry between the West and China, and the transition to clean energy might even make it comparable to a time of global conflict. In the US, President Biden has embarked on a huge programme, through the Inflation Reduction Act, to incentivise investment in technologies ranging from electric vehicles to industrial magnets to semi-conductors. China is investing vast sums in dominating the production of solar panels. The EU is acting to ensure its own supplies of critical raw materials. The race is on to host the industries of the future. A report by the think tank Onward last month argued that Britain had about five years to secure investment in the manufacturing of green technologies such as vehicle batteries, offshore wind turbines and A s foreign secretary I tended to avoid the World Economic Forum, the great annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland. I had dozens of international conferences to attend through the year and as David Cameron and George Osborne loved going there, I always volunteered to mind the shop in London. Now, however, I look forward to it because I want to know what the great mass of global chief executives and heads of government are all talking about. Inevitably elitist, outrageously expensive and utterly freezing it may be, but as you read this, I will be on my way there. Once there I might wonder why I agreed to speak at a breakfast on the UK economy that starts at 6.45am, move on to a seminar on new technology, a lunch on innovation, a roundtable on geopolitics, a dinner for business leaders and numerous “night caps” that will last into the next day. But this is good for the brain: try doing all that without having at least one fresh thought on something. And you can learn a lot from powerful people who are bereft of their retinues of minders and can tell you what they really think. One thing I am not relishing, though, is that I know what they will all ask me. What on earth has been going on in Britain? I can hear them already. Does anybody still think Brexit was a good idea? Are they seriously thinking of Boris coming back? Are these people mad? Has the Labour Party actually changed? Why have so many people left the workforce? How long will all these strikes go on? Is Scotland going to break away? Is the UK going to be worth investing in again? Being deeply loyal to my country, I will try to give them reassuring replies. We now have an outstanding prime minister, I will tell them, even though we alighted on him by an embarrassingly circuitous route, with a serious calamity on the way. No, most Tories are not mad enough to bring Boris Johnson back. Yes, the Labour leadership at least claims to have changed, and you can see Sir Keir Starmer just over there, schmoozing the business leaders and trying to look as if he’s enjoying it. Industrial disputes will be resolved as inflation falls. Scotland might still go independent but its nationalist leaders are starting to get into a muddle and lose their way. Warming to my theme, I will point out that the UK benefits from the rule of law and a secure democracy. We don’t have a Marine Le Pen who might win the next election, I will politely point out to French friends. No one is going to storm the Houses of Parliament if they don’t like the result, I will remind the Americans. We don’t have a dictator who makes catastrophic mistakes with no accountability, I will say to the Chinese and any Russian who has sneaked in there. Britain has an expanding population, some of the best universities and a capital city you all love visiting, so buck up. For most of my interlocutors, these answers will get me through to the No, most Tories are not mad enough to bring Boris Johnson back Our next move must be based on analysis and a credible plan Comment red box For the best analysis and commentary on the political landscape William Hague the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 23

24 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Comment before slaughter, instead of a year or more, and are thus cheaper to produce at industrial levels. Indeed, all the lamb dishes we eat today, from roasts and hotpots to shepherd’s pie, were traditionally made, and are much better, with mutton. The Mail goes on: “Some are adding curries and stews and cuts of meat that benefit from being slowcooked overnight at cheaper rates in electric ovens.” Again, hurrah! Stews and slow braises are much easier to make properly delicious at scale than other kinds of cooking and are exactly what pubs should be serving. And it gets worse/ better: “In the past we might have had 15 dishes on the mains menu every day,” moans Norwich landlady Victoria MacDonald of the Campaign for Pubs. “But we have decided to cut that back to a core group of popular dishes.” Yet again, huzzah! For more than 20 years I have been railing against overlong pub menus with their frozen Thai green curries and factory-packaged paellas, fully enslaved to the deathly “ping!” of the microwave, and called for much more cost-and-taste-efficient menus of no more than six starters, six mains and four puddings. Yes, the crisis is a catastrophe in lots of ways, but if it could mean a return to healthier portions of better, more traditional, more sustainable food, then I’d say we at last have something to smile about. Santa’s sacked S am got a speaking globe for Christmas, which responds to touches of a special pen with details of national capitals, populations, GDP and all the other stuff with which nine-year-old boys are (or should be) obsessed. All was going swimmingly until Sunday night, when he called out from his bedroom: “Dad, come quick! My globe doesn’t recognise the sovereignty of Taiwan!” To demonstrate, he picked up the pen and touched the tiny island clearly marked “Taiwan”. I t is obviously the rankest expression of bourgeois privilege to find silver linings in dark socioeconomic clouds (remember all those ghastly “50 reasons to be cheerful about lockdown” pieces, mostly by me?) but a story in yesterday’s Daily Mail did seem to present an obvious one to the cost of living crisis. “Pubs are offering smaller portions and switching to cheaper ingredients such as mutton to combat soaring energy and food prices,” howled the outraged article. But I struggled to see the problem. Food portions everywhere have been too big for too long, which is a significant factor in both the obesity crisis and the food waste scandal. And also, mutton is delicious! It’s much tastier than lamb, a dull substitute forced on us with cynical marketing (“slam in the lamb!”) because the poor little bastards have to be kept alive only for a few weeks It’ll take more than a tsar to heal universities Plan to appoint a guardian of free speech is welcome but government should set tone of debate the labels of justice and freedom have been pinned on to ideas that deny justice and freedom. The denial of debate results from the attempt to impose a particular set of views about the ineradicable stain of the West, its original sin of colonialism and the intrinsic evil of having white skin, or being heterosexual or a man. These are ideas that are themselves racially prejudiced, promote hate against target groups and are riddled with distortions that need to be challenged. It’s right to hold the universities’ feet to the fire for allowing all this to undermine the very purpose of higher education. But halting a society’s slide over the edge of a cultural precipice requires not so much a big stick as a big voice. A survey by the University and College Union in 2021 found that 35.5 per cent of academics were selfcensoring. People are understandably frightened to step out of line. They need to feel supported. The case needs to be made publicly and at a high level that these ideologies constitute hate-mongering, intimidatory propaganda and are therefore inimical to the role of a university in promoting knowledge and reason. Such bold leadership is essential to give courage to beleaguered individuals. Without it they feel isolated and keep quiet through fear. And keeping quiet enables the cultural bullies to get away with it. The government is taking welcome steps to address this scorching of the academic earth. But if it is to have any chance of changing the climate on campus, it must itself help make the cultural weather. spaces for them three hours before the debate so they could enter the hall without being seen. The event took place with screaming, chanting and banging at the door. What have we come to when people at a university have to hide their attendance at a discussion of ideas? There are certainly views that should not be included in any civilised discussion. These, however, should be limited to expressions that threaten actual harm, such as incitement to violence or demonisation. “Trigger warnings”, however, are issued over ideas that merely challenge a particular viewpoint. The absurdity of this was illustrated by Warwick University deciding in 2021 that the very term “trigger warning” could cause alarm among students because of its association with guns. So it replaced the triggering “trigger warning” with the euphemistic “content note”. Last December, the university’s English department duly issued a “content note” over Walter Scott’s 1819 novel Ivanhoe, warning that the text included “offensive depictions of people of colour and of persecuted ethnic minorities, as well as misogyny”. Universities exist to promote knowledge and to teach students how to think. That means engaging with ideas including those that may shock or disturb. The reason these institutions have instead turned into witch-hunting tribunals, says Ahmed, is because they prefer to see themselves as social-justice factories rather than as seats of learning. Raising concern about freedom of speech is surely to put the cart before the horse. The real problem is that T he government is making efforts to tackle the madness of identity politics over race, gender and western colonialism. The crucible of the attempt to coerce conformity with these faddish ideas is the university campus. Students require “safe spaces” from any challenge to these orthodoxies; visiting speakers who oppose this dogma are silenced; and academics run the gauntlet of intimidation and professional ruin if they express a dissenting opinion. Last year, the government imposed a requirement on higher education providers in England to safeguard free speech as a condition of their funding, with financial penalties if they failed to do so. Now it is about to appoint a “free speech tsar” with the power to investigate universities that censure academics for their views. The leading candidate is Arif Ahmed, a Cambridge philosophy professor who has spoken out strongly against the suppression of academic ideas. A new report by the think tank Civitas shows, however, that the rot in the universities goes far wider and deeper than the issue of free speech. Some 62 per cent of universities have issued “trigger warnings” alerting students to material deemed potentially harmful or worrying. “White privilege” has been mentioned by 56 per cent in their online guidance to staff and students, and 70 per cent are either formally committed to decolonisation or have academic staff promoting it. The elite Russell Group dominates the league table of universities promoting radical ideological agendas. Cambridge and Oxford top it with “unconscious bias” workshops for freshers, followed by Bristol University, which has discouraged words such as “mankind”. The report’s author, Dr Richard Norrie, concludes: “Universities have adopted, wholesale, a mutation and splicing of past radicalisms that include Marxism, postmodernism, feminism, Freudianism and Maoism, fomented largely through public subsidies.” With no dissent permitted from these radical agendas, they produce a chilling effect that undermines the core function of the university in promoting the free flow of ideas. Ahmed has described what happened when he arranged a discussion about transgenderism at his Cambridge college, Gonville and Caius, between the journalist Helen Joyce, who believes biological sex is immutable, and the social scientist Sir Partha Dasgupta. Several students, mostly women, told Ahmed they were scared to attend out of fear of being ostracised by their fellow students and academic staff. Ahmed was forced to book unobtrusive Halting the madness requires not just a big stick but a big voice “Capital: Beijing,” said the globe, in its robotic Stephen Hawking voice. “It ought to say Taipei,” said Sam seriously. “And it gets worse,” he added, touching the island again. “Currency: renminbi,” said the globe. “Wrong again!” said Sam. “It’s the New Taiwan dollar. What’s going on?” “I imagine it’s fairly simple,” I said, picking up the globe, turning it over and locating the “Made in China” stamp on the battery cover. “Oh my God!” cried Sam. “These things shouldn’t be in shops. Where did you get it?” “I didn’t get it,” I said with a wink. “Father Christmas got it.” “Well, Father Christmas should be ashamed of himself,” said Sam. “This is pure Chinese state propaganda! I thought he was supposed to be the expert on good and bad.” Keeping out of treble D id you see that actress who tried to wriggle out of a drinkdriving charge by claiming in court that she had “feared being coerced into a threesome”? Historic. We’re using it for everything at home now: “Did you put the bins out, darling?” “No, I feared being coerced into a threesome.” “Can you nip up Tesco and grab some cat food?” “No, I fear being coerced into a threesome.” “Any chance of a cup of tea?” “No, I fear being . . .” Giles Coren Notebook Mutton on pub menus: why are we so sheepish? Bring back licences for dogs to help stop the maulings Mark Piggott I n 2022 nine people, including four children, were mauled to death by dogs in England and Wales, the highest annual figure on record. Every year about 9,000 more suffer serious injuries, often lifechanging, as a result of dog attacks. While it is too early to establish the exact circumstances of the death of a professional dog walker in Surrey last week, it seems clear that something caused the dogs she was walking to enter pack mode and launch their savage attack. I’m not sure when my own children first became nervous dogs. Was it the time one took a sandwich from my son’s hand, nipping his fingers in the process, as its elderly owner protested her beloved pooch would never do such a thing? (Luckily, we had witnesses.) Was it one of the many occasions a huge dog bounded over, leaping up at the kids and barking, as their owners either blithely ignored their terror or claimed their darling Tyson, Churchill or Butch was only saying hello? Even dogs that haven’t attacked anyone yet — and all dogs have that potential, no matter how cutely they look up at you — tend to create a noise nuisance, barking at all hours of the day and night. As pack animals, dogs largely hate being alone, and whether they howl or whimper, the din they make can cause misery for neighbours. Which prompts the question: why have a dog if you can’t be bothered to take care of it or take it to the park? Why, indeed, are professional dog walkers even a thing? If this is beginning to sound like an anti-dog diatribe, I should make it clear that I love dogs; it’s some of the owners with whom I take issue. Not all of them, just the thugs who seem to believe they are more manly for being pulled along by a mastiff or pit bull, and ones who think if they hang little bags of poo-pourri on park bushes, some magic fairy will come along and make them disappear. Until 1987 it was a requirement for all owners to license their dogs, but the law was abolished because it was too hard to enforce and, with an annual charge of 37½p, it was hardly cost-effective. Now I believe the time has come to reintroduce licences for dogs, and at a price that might deter irresponsible owners, as well as helping to pay to clean up the mess dogs leave behind. This might seem as if it would prevent poorer people from owning a dog, but in my view, if you can afford to buy dog food at today’s prices, you can afford a licence. I love dogs; it’s some of the owners with whom I take issue Melanie Phillips @melanielatest

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 25 Comment Buy prints or signed copies of Times cartoons from our Print Gallery at timescartoons.co.uk or call 020 7711 7826 Dial down the damaging migrant rhetoric Every time ministers resort to hyperbole they make an honest discussion about our need for foreign workers less likely student visas, even though past governments encouraged them and universities rely on them. Kit Malthouse, the last (brief) education secretary, called the idea “bonkers”. An honest change of direction would be one thing but for Braverman they’re “propping up frankly substandard courses in inadequate institutions”, and “they’re bringing in family members who can piggyback on to their student visa”. In other words, this one is an invasion too. It is very hard to cut immigration, if that is indeed what you want to do. Explaining why it is hard, at least for a politician, may be even harder. It is not for me to say that this government doesn’t really want to bring the numbers down, although I do struggle to see how they reconcile that aim with all of their other ones. In place of coherence, though, they seem to be relying on rhetoric, and not nice rhetoric. The invasion, if not the swarm. The way the only good Albanian is one on a plane going home. You talk like that and perhaps there’s bleating from the tofu-eating wokerati, to coin a phrase, but plenty of other voters are delighted about that too. What happens, though, when it’s the foreign minister of Albania? What happens when it’s a Holocaust survivor? You’ve been hunting for witches. It’s what you do. How do you stop? could admit all this to voters, but that would be self-harm, too. And so there is a tension there, and a dishonesty, and it is that which makes ministers speak as they do. It is not just Braverman. When Sunak issued his “five pledges” for the next year, the last was to “stop small boats”. Why? The other four were about huge, vital things; inflation, growth, debt, the NHS. Does exactly how some guy called Mateo from Tirana rocks up on a beach in Kent really belong among them? Speaking of Tirana, Robert Jenrick, the immigration minister, put out a video on Friday crowing about the deportation of Albanians. There were, he said, “fantastic staff working around the clock to find the Albanians, to detain them, to put them on to coaches, to take them to the airport and get them back to Tirana”. Nowhere did he mention that there is also such a thing as a legal Albanian migrant, and that Britain has tens of thousands of them. Olta Xhacka, Albania’s foreign minister, called it “the verbal lynching of a whole nation”. She had a point. Braverman also wants to curb left), which makes those 40,000 in small boats seem like, well, a drop in the sea. Unlike them, we are unlikely to be swamped. To speak in this way, though, is to abandon the pretence that your concern is humanitarian. Because it’s not really about an immigrant’s fear of drowning in the Channel, is it? It’s about your voters’ fear of drowning in immigrants. Illegal or not. It’s absurdly “geriatric millennial” of me I know, but when I think of the demonisation of immigrants I find myself humming Hunting For Witches by the hipster band Bloc Party. You know the one? It has that line in it about the tabloids saying “the enemy’s among us, taking our women, taking our jobs”. Perhaps that’s a crass distillation of fears that were once reasonable, but they’re not reasonable now. Today, there are more foreignborn women in this country than there are foreign-born men. More importantly, there are also too many jobs, and we don’t want to do them. There are things we could do to dissuade immigrants from coming here, all the same. We could make it harder to attend hospitals, or get into schools, or even to get on a bus. Workwise, we could regulate more, and outlaw cash, and perhaps bring in identity cards, and hold our nerve while our economy nosedived. We won’t, though, because it would be self-harm. And the government O n Friday Suella Braverman, the home secretary, refused to apologise to a Holocaust survivor for using the word “swarm” to talk about immigrants. What was telling about this, I thought, was that it’s not a word she has ever actually used in public. “Certainly sounds like me, though,” she must have thought. David Cameron said it, talking of “a swarm of people coming across the Mediterranean, seeking a better life” back in 2015. “I wouldn’t use language like that,” Nigel Farage said the next day on the radio, only for it to be pointed out that he actually had done on telly, two hours earlier. God, the fun we used to have. Not Braverman, though. She had a controversial “invasion” in November. A swarm, not yet. She’s an odd one, our home secretary. Perhaps the most damning thing you can say about her is that she leaves you wanting to describe her predecessor, Priti Patel, as “the thinking man’s Suella Braverman”. This, after all, is a woman who decided that the best way to kill off Liz Truss — whom she had supported about half an hour previously — was to resign, citing her own incompetence. Does anyone understand that? Even now? Exactly why Rishi Sunak brought her back six days later is also anyone’s guess. Perhaps as cannon fodder. Either way, her officials spent the weekend protesting that a clip of her non-apology had been badly edited, and demanding that the charity which had posted it take it down. In the full version, true enough, she also talks about being the child of migrants, with her father having fled a place she, perhaps bravely, still calls “Keenya”. Yet she does indeed “make no apology” for past language. Because, she said, “there is a huge problem we have right now when it comes to illegal migration, the scale of which we have not known before”. Precisely what, though, is that problem? Any form of swarm-y or invasion-y language would suggest that it’s one of numbers. Yet 1.1 million people migrated into the UK in the year to last June (and 560,000 others Exactly why Sunak brought Braverman back is anyone’s guess Why are small boats one of the PM’s five priorities for the year? Hugo Rifkind @hugorifkind

26 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Letters to the Editor Letters to the Editor should be sent to [email protected] or by post to 1 London Bridge Street, London SE1 9GF Sir, The formation of The Times Health Commission is to be welcomed. Reform of the NHS will not work unless supporting policies are also introduced in housing, education, the physical environment, levelling up and elsewhere. These need not only to prevent disease but to generate the conditions for people to be healthy. Ensuring, for example, that all new homes promote health, safety and wellbeing would be a start by preventing such tragedies as the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to mould, while also creating an environment in which people can be healthy and realise their potential. Lord Crisp Chief executive of the English NHS and permanent secretary of the Department of Health 2000-06 Sir, NHS staff are going above and beyond the call of duty but the realisation that we are providing less good care than before Covid is devastating. The launch of The Times Health Commission is timely and critically important. Wise use of our reconfigured resources will be essential in any reform. The Defence of Europe Sir, It is usually best to focus on the wolf nearest the sleigh; it is vital if you only have one rifle and very limited ammunition. Edward Lucas is surely right: “Forget global Britain, focus defence on Europe” (comment, Jan 16). Let us hope that the update taking place of our most recent strategic defence and security review remembers this simple adage. Air Chief Marshal Sir Michael Graydon London SW1 commission should consider holistic care towards the end of life with a view to fewer hospital admissions; another key focus should be sensitive analysis of clinicians’ approach to decision-making. Clinicians comfortable with accepting a degree of risk will promote the selective use of tests and earlier discharge from hospital, which will reduce waiting lists and delays in A&E; arguably this approach should be taught at medical school. Nicola Neary, MRCP Hospital consultant in acute medicine; London SW19 Sir, Rachel Sylvester’s astonishing disclosure that the number of NHS hospital beds declined from 299,400 in 1987 to 141,000 in 2019 surely deserves more attention: I have never seen such a statistic before (“Alarm bells are all ringing . . . the NHS needs urgent resuscitation”, Jan 16). Was this a planned reduction or did it just happen because we could not afford to replace beds (and hospitals) that were no longer fit for purpose? The launch of The Times Health Commission is well-timed. Alan Hall Tatsfield, Kent Hospital births Sir, Your harrowing article about the state of the NHS maternity service highlights a desperate situation but to say this is the truth is unfair (“This will hurt: the truth about hospital births”, Times2, Jan 16). It is important also to tell the positive stories to celebrate the great work that midwives do and not to completely shock already anxious expectant mothers. My third labour at Tunbridge Wells Hospital during the lockdown far exceeded two expensive private births in Singapore in terms of the care and support from the midwife team. The system needs fixing, but they often get it right. Leela Lamont Goudhurst, Kent Sir, Reading Times2 brought back memories of my daughter’s birth in 1976 at the West Cheshire Maternity Hospital. Admittedly I was well prepared with my yoga training, but the experience could not have been more different. There was calmness, a single room, attentive staff, daily menus and afternoon tea on a tray with china cup and saucer and biscuits. If you so wished, you could stay for five or six days, for a rest. Times change, and recollections will vary. Wendy Beynon Rossett, Wrexham The hardest word Sir, Further to your article “How not to row — the psychologist’s guide to getting on with people” (Times2, Jan 16), I can still remember my late mother-in-law saying to me shortly after my marriage to her son: “My dear, always apologise. If you have caused the problem, you should, and if you haven’t, then you can afford to.” Wise old bird, my mother-in-law. Jacqueline Frampton Leigh on Sea, Essex Brave new anthem Sir, A more fitting anthem to replace Flower of Scotland (news, Jan 14; letters, Jan 16) must surely be Scotland the Brave. Sung to the stirring pipe tune, the first two verses loudly and proudly recall the Scottish spirit, Scotland the land of high endeavour. One can feel the blood a-leaping and see our proud standards gloriously waving. Murrayfield and other venues ringing to Scotland the Brave would inspire our teams far more than the dirge that we have come to accept. Stuart Smith Edinburgh Water over wine Sir, Regarding Sathnam Sanghera’s Notebook (Jan 16) about a ripe avocado taking precedence over after-work plans, I was reminded of another ingenious excuse, related by our rector in his sermon last Sunday. Apparently one churchgoer said that he could not make this week’s service as the communion wine would take him over his weekly limit. Marilyn Cox Shilton, Oxon Corrections and clarifications The Times takes complaints about editorial content seriously. We are committed to abiding by the Independent Press Standards Organisation rules and regulations and the Editors’ Code of Practice that IPSO enforces. Requests for corrections or clarifications should be sent to [email protected] University test Sir, Libby Purves is right to applaud the demise of the personal statement in its present form (“Good riddance to the personal statement”, Jan 16). Pupils waste too much time obsessing about it, time that would be better spent reading and studying. But the proposals do not go far enough. There exists a way to deal with perceived bias in university applications once and for all. First, Ucas forms need to be anonymised. Second, the personal statement should be abolished entirely, replaced simply by a statement of an applicant’s GCSE grades and predictions. Third, an applicant should be flagged as disadvantaged or not disadvantaged according to nationally agreed criteria. Fourth, each university should be forced to admit 25 per cent of students from flagged backgrounds. The remaining 75 per cent of places would then be allocated completely fairly, with no reference to school type. This would put an end once and for all to claims that pupils from one type of school or another are discriminated against. And, crucially, it would allow academics to choose the very best candidates purely on merit, from each of the two clear lists before them. Richard Cairns Head master, Brighton College Searching for solutions to the health crisis Sir, While I support and applaud your initiative in setting up The Times Health Commission (reports and leading article, Jan 16), the panel’s remit must surely include a comprehensive comparative study of health services in other European countries. It is patently obvious that these other countries now have more successful health services than own and that no other country has a health service that makes headline news almost every week for yet another catastrophe. Our NHS is no longer fit for purpose. Governments have tinkered with it and occasionally thrown money at it, with partial and temporary results, but tragically the overall decline continues, to the detriment and suffering of patients and staff. It is at least encouraging that Sir Keir Starmer now sees the need for major reform and Rishi Sunak too would obviously welcome a new approach. Both sides are concerned not to offend the public’s support for the NHS. However, I believe that the public mood has changed: the public want the problem fixed — no more tinkering. David Livermore Former chairman of Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust Sir, Amanda Pritchard rightly highlights the need for the UK to do more to educate and train its own healthcare professionals (news, Jan 14). However, we cannot discuss increasing medical school places without acknowledging the need for more academic staff too; there has been a contemporaneous decline in fully trained medical academics, and many are nearing retirement age. Further, any increase in medical students needs to be properly co-ordinated with the number of clinical placements for the students as part of their learning. Some universities are struggling to find these placements, depriving students of vital clinical experience. As well as working on the front line themselves, academic staff are fundamental to medical research and training the next generation of doctors. The government says it is building a workforce plan for the NHS but it must also think about the academic workforce one step before that, and how it too will be properly supported. Professor David Strain Chairman, BMA’s medical academic staff committee Train more doctors Sir, In response to the letter from the emeritus consultant knee surgeon Neil Thomas (“ ‘Going private’ guilt”, Jan 16), while the NHS may not have sufficient facilities or money to convert part-time consultants to full-time ones, it is at least possible that these staff could work additional hours within the NHS and perhaps reduce the costs incurred by the use of agency staff. Stephen Kane Wyberton, Lincs from the times january 17, 1923 THE PRINCE’S BRIDE. A PORTRAIT Statin reality check Sir, According to the single economic evaluation referenced in the latest Nice guidance recommending wider use of statins (report, Jan 13), the effect of using the therapy for ten years on the survival of an individual patient was to prolong life by 4.7 days, or less than 12 hours per year of treatment. Reductions in the risk of non-fatal heart attacks and stroke were also modest, at fewer than ten events per thousand people over ten years. While cost-effective therefore, the effect of the NHS extending statin prescribing is, in absolute terms for the individual, extremely modest. There must be better ways to spend money on disease prevention. John Britton Emeritus professor of epidemiology, University of Nottingham Sir, I agree with Dr Alan Wallace (letter, Jan 14). I have made many wasted phone calls trying to make travel insurance companies understand that the fact that I take statins makes me a much better bet for them than someone who does not. They cannot seem to grasp this fact. Gillian Chapman Combe Down, Bath thetimes.co.uk/archive Single-minded Sir, At Heal’s years ago I was told that 3ft 6in-wide beds were called “wide singles” (letter, Jan 16) and those that were 4ft 6in “narrow doubles”. When I asked for the name of 4ft-wide beds, the immediate response was: “Gentleman’s occasionals, sir.” Christopher Dean Oakington, Cambs Spin-out businesses Sir, Nathan Benaich’s observation that Cisco, Google and Facebook all emerged as spin-outs from university campuses is a lesson of which the UK must constantly remind itself (“Companies born in our universities need more than government spin”, Jan 16). In the field of design and tech, British universities can point to the successes of students such as Sir James Dyson, whose first products were conceived while studying for a master’s degree at the Royal College of Art (RCA). But Benaich’s research into the support — or lack of it — from universities is a salutary warning: our universities do need to minimise overly restrictive deals with their staff start-ups. At the RCA we take a 2 to 5 per cent equity stake in return for a range of business support (incubation, patent filing and seed funding) for the student start-ups we nurture across a range of sectors. I am told Stanford University insists on 5 per cent. It is most certainly in the interests of UK universities to play the long game: it burnishes our credentials long term and helps Britain if we do not place the geese that lay the golden eggs in too tight a coop. Dr Paul Thompson Vice-chancellor, Royal College of Art A friend writes: Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon is one of the most charming characters I have ever met. She was among the group of young girls who followed Princess Mary to the altar, and even then it was rumoured that she might, at a future date, stand in nearer relationship to the Royal bride. Everyone who knows her well feels that she is eminently suited to the position. Her life has been an extremely happy one, although she suffered the loss of a much-loved brother in the war. She has been brought up on good old Scottish lines in the midst of an exceptionally devoted and united family. Her father, Lord Strathmore, and her youngest brother, David, are particularly devoted to her. She in return is deeply attached to her home and family, and is well known and loved on her father’s estate. At the same time, she is well used to dispensing hospitality, for parties are entertained all autumn at Glamis Castle and, after the marriages of her elder sisters, Lady Elizabeth, during her mother’s illness, became the hostess of Glamis. In appearance she is petite, with a neat figure. Her dark hair is worn parted in the middle and with a fringe on the forehead. Her deep blue eyes are thickly fringed with black lashes. Her complexion is beautiful. She is possessed of a low-toned, charming speaking voice. She has little that is modern in her appearance, and yet she is always charmingly dressed, with a touch of the picturesque and of her own individuality in her clothes. But what stands out more vividly than these beauties of feature and colouring, is her happy, even radiant, expression. It speaks of what all her friends know her to be possessed of — an unselfish nature; a mind and character incapable of unkindness; a complete lack of affectation or pose; a candid sincerity and ingrained gentleness. Her tastes are chiefly for an outdoor life. She rides and goes well to hounds. She is a keen lawn-tennis player, sharing this taste with her future husband. She is an exceptionally beautiful dancer, even now when good dancers abound and she is very fond of reading and music. A full-page photograph of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, in the bridesmaid’s dress worn at Princess Mary’s wedding, appears in this week’s Times Weekly Edition.

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 27 Leading articles 2010 UK Equality Act, effectively extending the proposed new Scottish right of gender self-identification to the rest of the country by the backdoor. That is clearly unacceptable. The new Scottish law certainly marks a significant liberalisation of the rules on changing legal gender. Under the 2004 UK-wide gender reform act, adults over 18 can change their legal gender only if they have lived in their assumed gender for two years and have been diagnosed by two doctors as suffering from gender dysphoria, the conviction that they were born in the wrong biological sex. The Scottish act reduces the age at which it is possible to acquire a gender recognition certificate (GRC) to 16, dispenses with the need for a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, and reduces the time required to have lived in the acquired gender to three months, or six for those aged 16 and 17. The idea suggested by some senior Tories that Ms Sturgeon pushed this change in the law as part of a deliberate strategy to pick a grievance with the Westminster government seems far-fetched. After all, the policy has provoked widespread opposition within her own party and among some SNP supporters. If it was a political ploy, it is not obvious that it will be a successful one. Besides, the Tories themselves under Theresa May’s leadership were committed to reforming the 2004 act to make it easier to legally change gender. The truth is that gender dysphoria is a condition that poses real challenges and brings considerable anguish to trans people, many of whom suffer from depression. There is no reason to believe that members of the Scottish parliament, who debated the issue intensively, were motivated by anything other than concern for a vulnerable minority. Nonetheless, the new law undoubtedly creates legal challenges that Mr Sunak could hardly ignore. It means that there will be two different mechanisms for obtaining a GRC available in Britain. That is a problem because under the 2010 Equality Act, anyone who is biologically male can be excluded from female-only spaces regardless of their GRC. Yet the Scottish law would treat anyone legally certified as a woman as biologically female. Indeed, the Scottish law requires that someone’s trans status be treated with the same confidentiality as other sensitive personal medical information. That could lead to institutions being found guilty of a breach of equalities law if they refuse to recognise a Scottish GRC, thereby effectively creating a new UK-wide rule. For that reason and that reason alone, Mr Sunak was right to invoke the government’s power of veto. fence minister in Iran, is believed to have been the first time that a dual citizen has been executed by Iran since the 1980s and it has drawn widespread condemnation in the West. The British response, however, has been at best tepid. Sanctions have been imposed on Jafar Montazeri, Iran’s prosecutor-general, but there is plainly a British reluctance to pick a fight. In part this is down to a misplaced belief that there are still important policy goals that can be achieved with Tehran through diplomacy. Above all, there seems to be a residue of hope that Iran can be brought back to the negotiating table over the curtailment of its nuclear enrichment programme. If the nuclear deal, the socalled Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, could be revived, runs the flawed logic of British diplomatists, then it might be possible to swerve away from an escalating Iranian-Israeli conflict. In fact even President Biden, who was part of Barack Obama’s administration when the 2015 deal was struck, is privately saying the JCPOA is dead. Tehran cheated while the deal was in force in order to approach nuclear-weapons capability. Now it is easy enough for Tehran to string the West along, building up its nuclear capability, while seeking to persuade the west it has done enough to justify sanctions relief. Mr Biden spots a chance, with bipartisan majorities in Congress, of charting a different course, one that does not focus narrowly on a revived disarmament process. Like Reagan in the Cold War, he could try to find ways to support domestic opposition to the regime and shift the conversation to how Iran could be governed in a way that does not spread havoc in the region. Britain too should tread this path. Besides, the spreading domestic revolt in Iran, and its brutal suppression, have made it impossible to treat the regime as a potential partner. Britain should abandon a fruitless policy of “pretend and extend”, that is, pretending Iran is acting in good faith on nuclear weapons, while extending the offer to lift western sanctions. Instead it should speak clearly, preferably within days. The Revolutionary Guards should be declared a terrorist organisation and banned from Britain. It is the biggest arms supplier of Hezbollah, which is already banned here. It promotes hostile, extremist propaganda. It has no place in this country. did more than most to promote this Elysian ideal of the countryside. The writer was best known as the author of Akenfield, an intimate study of village life from the 1880s to the 1960s. He went on to become the doyen of country columnists, pleasing readers of the Church Times with his accounts of the natural year. Readers were regaled with information on his cottage garden, including the state of his rhubarb (“ready to pull”) and how his plum trees were faring in the frost. He fulfilled a need of many in his audience for a taste of the rural life without the inconvenience of living it. Ever since the first satanic mill belched forth, the English have been regretting the advance of towns and cities, seeing them as a temporary inconvenience to be remedied at some point by a mass exodus back to the cornfields. Hence the fear of them being concreted over. Yet that fear is misplaced. Estimates suggest only 10 percent of England is truly urban, with as little as two percent actually built on. The reality is that most townies do not actually want to move to the countryside, with its inadequate or non-existent broadband and endless car journeys. Theirs is a dreamscape, not a landscape. Which must come as a huge relief to people who actually live there. Identity Politics Rishi Sunak is right to block a new Scottish law that makes it easier to change legal gender but which risks undermining existing UK-wide equalities law It is inevitable that any issue that pits the Scottish parliament against Westminster will be seen through the prism of raw politics, and in particular the implications for the campaign for Scottish independence. That is certainly how Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s first minister, wants to frame the decision by prime minister Rishi Sunak to invoke Article 35 of the 1998 Scotland Act to overrule the Scottish parliament’s gender recognition reform act that it passed last month. In turn, there are some among Mr Sunak’s Conservative party colleagues who have urged the prime minister to use Westminster’s powers, which have never been exercised before, to pick a fight with Ms Sturgeon and the SNP on an issue where they believe they have public opinion on their side. Yet there was no reason for political calculation to play any part in Mr Sunak’s decision to block Holyrood’s new law. The bar for the Westminster government to veto what the democratically elected Scottish parliament has decided should rightly be set very high, regardless of what Westminster politicians think of the merits of the legislation. The prime minister was instead entitled to intervene in this instance, and was entirely right to do so, on strict legal grounds: the Scottish gender reform act creates a potential conflict with the Barbaric Regime The hanging of a British-Iranian makes a nonsense of diplomacy with Tehran In 1982, Ronald Reagan promised that the Soviet Union would end up on the “ash heap of history”. The following year his strategy was outlined in a national security directive that called for economic warfare against Moscow, support for antiSoviet dissidents and an all-out campaign against the legitimacy of the regime. By the end of the decade the Soviet Union was already skidding towards oblivion. Something of the same strategic determination is now required from the West in dealing with Iran. Tehran has become a crucial drone supplier to Vladimir Putin’s invasion army in Ukraine; it has reportedly enriched enough material to make four nuclear bombs; its terror proxies include Hezbollah, the Houthi rebels of Yemen, and Hamas. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has become a disruptive force across the Middle East. In Britain MI5 has reported attempts to kill UK-based people. The latest outrage was the execution at the weekend of the British-Iranian national Alireza Akbari after a plainly forced confession to spying on Iran’s nuclear programme. The hanging of Mr Akbari, a former deputy deCountry Pursuit Ronald Blythe’s bucolic writing appealed to a certain idea of England The British, or rather the English (the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish have less to worry about on this score) live in constant terror of losing their countryside. One only has to place the words “housing” and “green belt” in the same sentence to spark a fevered row, so great is the fear encroaching urbanisation. For many, the real England is a Norman churchyard, a half-timbered pub and the tinkling of the doorbell in the village shop. What weary urbanite has not dreamt of exchanging their cramped and overpriced city dwelling for a lump of Cotswold stone or Yorkshire granite? Ronald Blythe, who has died at the age of 100, UK: ONS labour market statistics released. US: James Cleverly gives a speech at Center for Strategic and International Studies. Australia: Andy Murray plays in the Open. Winter is the time of moss: when the world is cold and wet it flourishes, growing green and luxuriant even as everything else dies back. Take a moment to peer closely and unfamiliar worlds reveal themselves. Wall screw-moss flourishes almost everywhere and can be found embroidering brick and concrete in the heart of our cities with squashy emerald cushions. Its ripe spores, held on the end of orange, thread-like stems, are housed in toothed capsules that “unscrew” in response to changes in atmospheric moisture, helping its spores to be dispersed at the right time: a tiny miracle of engineering. melissa harrison In 1920 Prohibition came into effect in the US, with alcohol restrictions lasting until 1933. The number of “patients” for medicinal alcohol increased dramatically. Mick Taylor, pictured, guitarist, the Rolling Stones (1969-74), 74; Nancy Argenta, soprano, 66; Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, president, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (2012-15), Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (2007-10), 75; Jim Carrey, actor, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), 61; Zooey Deschanel, actress, 500 Days of Summer (2009), New Girl (2011-18), 43; Damian Green, Conservative MP for Ashford, chairman, One Nation Conservatives, 67; Françoise Hardy, singer-songwriter, Tous les garçons et les filles (1962), 79; Calvin Harris, record producer, I’m Not Alone (2009), and DJ, 39; Cal Henderson, co-founder, Slack (workplace messaging app), 42; Susanna Hoffs, singer-songwriter, the Bangles, Walk Like an Egyptian (1986), 64; James Earl Jones, actor, the voice of Darth Vader in Star Wars, 92; Janet Kay, actress and singer, Silly Games (1979), 65; Shona McCarthy, chief executive, Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, 55; Prof Ann Oakley, founder-director, Social Science Research Unit, and author, The Sociology of Housework (1974), 79; Michelle Obama, first lady of the United States (2009-17), and writer, Becoming (2018), 59; Sir Geoffrey Pattie, Conservative MP (1974-97), chairman, GEC-Marconi (1996-99), 87; Rowan Pelling, founding editor, the Erotic Review (1996-2004), 55; Sir Michael Rake, chairman, Great Ormond Street Hospital, BT (2007-17), president, CBI (2013-15), 75; Ian Robertson, rugby union player, Scotland (1968-70), and broadcaster, rugby union correspondent (1983-2018), 78; Lord (Denis) Tunnicliffe, opposition deputy chief whip, chairman, Rail Safety and Standards Board (2003-08), 80; Oleksandr Usyk, boxer, world champion in two weight classes, 36; Johannes von Trapp, singer, the last surviving sibling of the von Trapp family (whose lives inspired The Sound of Music), 84; Dame Gillian Weir, organist, 82; Ricky Wilson, musician, Kaiser Chiefs, Ruby (2007), 45; Paul Young, singer, Wherever I Lay My Hat (1983), 67. “One of the pleasant things those of us who write or paint do is to have the daily miracle.” Gertrude Stein, Paris France (1940) Nature notes Birthdays today On this day The last word Daily Universal Register

28 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times World The security forces that have been violently suppressing protests across Iran have been allocated $3 billion in the latest budget, despite the country’s collapsing economy. Announced several weeks late by the government, the budget for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been raised by 28 per cent. However, experts estimate the actual income of the militia could be as high as $17 billion (£14 billion). The secretive IRGC also receives income from illicit oil sales and is known to fund terrorist groups across the region, including Revolutionary Guards given extra billions as economy collapses Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen. Jason Brodsky, policy director of United Against Nuclear Iran, said: “Leaked audio tapes some months ago revealed that [the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei directed 90 per cent of the revenue generated by Yas Holding, an IRGC-linked company, be given to the IRGC’s Quds Force, so they are not solely dependent on the national budget.” Last year the Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, revealed that Iran had given $70 million to the militant Palestinian group — proscribed by Britain as a terrorist organisation in 2021. British politicians are calling for the IRGC to be designated as a terrorist group. James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, announced last month that sanctions had been imposed on it after it emerged that it was planning attacks on Iranian dissidents in the UK. The budget of Iran’s regular army has also been increased by 36 per cent to over $1.22 billion and the police budget will rise 44 per cent to reach $1.55 billion. The intelligence ministry has received a 52 per cent boost to about $500 million, and funding for prisons will rise by 55 per cent, or $230 million. Since protests began in September, triggered by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, 22, an estimated 19,401 Iranians have been detained. This includes 713 students and 168 children, while 524 people have been killed, according to Iran’s Human Rights Activists News Agency. At least four protesters have been executed. Kourosh Ziabari, an Iranian journalist, said the “militarisation of the budget” ignores the needs of the population. “Despite the budget being drafted for a year of austerity, the outlays for propaganda organisations, including the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting [whose budget rose by 49 per cent or about $200 million] and religious and cultural entities that usually have little benefits for the general public, have been augmented exponentially.” Many Iranians are unable to afford food and to pay their electricity bills as the country’s currency continues to plummet. Prices have gone up so rapidly that consumption halved last year. In the once bustling marketplace of the northern city of Rasht, fruit sellers and bakers can no longer make ends meet. “I have stopped bringing in staples in large quantities because they remain on the shelf and go mouldy,” said Mehrdad, who has worked in the market for more than 30 years. Inflation is at over 50 per cent, and more than half of Iranians are being pushed below the poverty line, according to the Statistical Centre of Iran. Mardo Soghom, an Iranian economist, said that Iran was selling off its oil at heavily discounted prices as western sanctions crippled the country’s energy revenues. He said it was now being sold for $37 a barrel — which meant only $7 profit per barrel — to China. Iran Melanie Swan Mahsa Amini’s death led to widespread protests A senior cardinal has claimed that the Pope does not talk enough about God, and “has no phone contact with the Holy Spirit” as he prepares to publish a book that could serve as a rallying call for Francis’s critics. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, a German, will set out his back-to-basics vision for the church in In Good Faith, a potential handbook for hardline Catholics seeking champions after the death last month of the conservative Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Speaking before publication, Müller, 75, claimed that Francis had messed up everything from his green policy and outreach to Islam to his attempt to take advice from rank-and-file Catholics. But his biggest frustration is what he describes as the Pope’s decade-long shift away from talking about God. “Francis is closer to questions of climate change and globalisation. He has another approach. He has said theology is not so necessary,” claims Müller, who was made doctrinal chief at the Vatican by Benedict, only to be replaced after Francis took office. A long-time critic of Francis, Müller said he wanted to “help people who have problems with this pontificate”, claiming that popes have no monopoly on interpreting divine will. “The Pope has no phone contact with the Holy Spirit,” he added. The book is the latest challenge for Francis, 86, who was accused last week by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Benedict’s former secretary, of “breaking” the late Pope’s heart by limiting use of the Latin Mass loved by conservative Catholics. Gänswein has also published a book detailing divisions between the “two Cardinal takes aim at Francis in fight for church’s future Popes” as they co-existed in the Holy See. Things got worse for Francis after the death last week of Cardinal George Pell, 81, who was hired by him to clean up the Vatican’s murky accounts before he spent time in an Australian jail accused of abusing choir boys, only to be cleared on appeal. Within hours of the death being announced, a blogger revealed that Pell, a noted conservative, was the author of an anonymous note circulating among cardinals last year that condemned Francis’s papacy as a “catastrophe”. The next big battle will be Francis’s synod in October, which will focus on getting bishops to pay more attention to the views of Catholics in the pews — much to the annoyance of conservatives, like Müller, who believe that their job is preaching, rather than pandering to public opinion. “The synod is an absolutely contradictory paradigm. We bishops have to listen to what the people are saying,” Müller complained. “My mother and father had the same faith as me, we prayed together, but they had no theological competence,” he said, adding: “If you want to be a preacher, you must study.” The Vatican observer Robert Mickens, editor of La Croix International, the Catholic newspaper, said that whereas Benedict had acted as a calming influence on Francis’s critics after he made history by resigning in 2013, his death could usher in more virulent attacks on the Pope’s “mercy before dogma” style. Müller, a former bishop of Regensburg in Germany, now occupies the Rome apartment that Benedict lived in before he became Pope in 2005 and has published 14 volumes of his writings. Conservatives look to him as an heir to Benedict, given that the latter made him doctrinal chief in 2012, only for him to be dismissed by Francis after he criticised the new Pope’s outreach to divorced and remarried Catholics. He was reluctant to become a new standard bearer for Francis’s foes. “As a Catholic theologian and a cardinal, it pains my soul to criticise the pontificate.” But that did not stop him challenging Francis’s call for “radical responses” against climate change, by arguing “we bishops are not experts on this.” He also criticised the Pope’s attempts at outreach to Islamic leaders. “I am Catholic and do not believe the same things as a Muslim.” While some conservative Catholics believe that Francis will try to abolish the clergy’s requirement of celibacy, Müller balks at the idea of married priests. “[Francis] must be aware there will be a great reaction,” he said, pointing out that abstinence “has been so deep-rooted in the spirituality of the Catholic priesthood for 1,500 years”. Müller is just the latest German to take a stand in the Catholic church’s culture war, proving it is Germany, more than Italy or the US, which is driving the schism-threatening debate. Francis is meanwhile appointing a large number of little-known bishops from far-flung dioceses as cardinals, officially part of an effort to give a voice to the “peripheries” of the Catholic world. The Pope’s detractors, Müller among them, allege it is aimed at packing the college with liberal yes men. Vatican City Tom Kington Rome Gerhard Müller sees the Pope as shifting away from talking about God

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 29 Document woe deepens for Biden Page 32 Swedish rockers lauded for their love of history Page 31 Two Boeing passenger jets came within 1,000ft of each other on a runway at JFK Airport, risking a collision that would have involved about 400 people. Ground controllers were alerted with seconds to spare as the Delta Air Lines Boeing 737 accelerated down the runway for take-off with a Boeing 777 of American Airlines crossing in front of it. The pilots of Delta Flight 1943, bound for the Dominican Republic, cut power and slammed on the brakes, coming to a stop 1,000ft short of the other jet, which was bound for London. Recordings of radio communications appear to show that the near collision in the dark last Friday evening resulted from a wrong turn taken by the crew of Jets 1,000ft from disaster at JFK after crew took a wrong turn American Flight 106 as they taxied from the terminal to the runway for their take-off. On their way to runway 04 Left, they were instructed to cross runway 31 Left, which was not being used for take-offs or landings. An American pilot acknowledged the instruction but her aircraft turned instead at a nearby intersection onto the active runway. Expletives were heard on the ground frequency when an alarm alerted the controllers to the imminent collision. “Delta 1943, cancel take-off clearance. Delta 1943 cancel take-off clearance,” a stressed voice told the jet. A few seconds later, a Delta pilot reported that the take-off had been aborted. Donall Brian Healy, a passenger on the Delta flight, said the jet came to a very sudden halt, thrusting passengers keeping with procedures for aborted take-offs and near emergencies, delaying the flight for 15 hours. There were 151 people aboard the Delta flight. No figures were released for the American Boeing, but the widebody type carries up to 286 passengers and crew. Since a runway collision between two Boeings killed 583 people in Tenerife in 1977 — the world’s worst air disaster — many measures have been put in place at big airports to prevent so-called incursions. Pilots said the incident illustrated the scope for human error, despite all the procedures and cross-checking performed by crews, in a system that depends on pilots following instructions. American airlines made no comment. Delta said it would “work with and assist aviation authorities”. forward in their seats. “There were vocal reactions, a few screams when the plane first started slowing, then total silence. I felt a surge of adrenaline knowing this was not normal,” Healy said. A pilot then said that another plane had passed in front of them. The American Airlines crew were told they had committed a “suspected pilot deviation” and were advised to telephone the control tower. Its captain asked: “The last clearance we were given, we were told to cross. Is that correct?” The controller replied: “We’ll listen to the tapes. You were supposed to depart runway 4 Left. You’re currently holding short of 31 Left.” The American Airlines flight was cleared to fly to London 30 minutes later. The Delta crew taxied back to the terminal and went off duty, in United States Charles Bremner How events unfolded 1,000ft 3 Alarm sounds in control tower, Delta is told to stop and pilots abort take-off, stopping 1,000ft from the Boeing 777 2 Air-traic control spots American Airlines Flight 106, a Boeing 777, crossing runway January 13, 8:45pm local time 1 Delta Air Lines Flight 1943, a Boeing 737, begins its take-off Path Flight 106 should have taken Runway 4L Trapped between a lump of masonry and her kitchen stove in what was left of her ninth-floor flat, Ludmyla Omelianenko was scared, cold and alone. Then she saw Maryna, one of her neighbours on the sixth floor, and realised that others were even worse off. “Through the hole in the walls I could see her dangling from a concrete block below me,” Omelianenko told The Times from her hospital bed in Dnipro yesterday. “She was calling out, ‘Mum, Mum, please help!’ but her mother was unconscious.” They, and she, were rescued. But the KH-22 missile that on Saturday struck the riverside apartment block where Omelianenko, 66, a retired nurse, lived had sliced open to public view the lives and deaths of dozens of other families. The yellow-painted kitchen of the Korenovsky family was exposed like that of a doll’s house, apparently untouched apart from the missing external wall. A bowl of apples still sat on the table. The chairs were neatly drawn up, backs to the chasm behind them. Friends shared online a video of a recent birthday party in the kitchen. Instead of apples, a cake with four candles was set on the same table for the Korenovskys’ middle daughter, Masha. Mikhailo Korenovsky, a popular boxing coach in Dnipro, did not survive the attack. His family were reported to be safe — they were waiting for him in the park when the missile hit. Yesterday the authorities in Dnipro raised the number of dead to 40, and more bodies, perhaps dozens, are feared to remain under the rubble. Maria Lebid, 15, form captain at her school and a keen dancer, was among those reported to have been killed. There were 72 apartments in the two staircases of the block that collapsed entirely. The mayor of Dnipro, Borys Filatov, said that, in all, 236 homes had been rendered unusable. Sergei Kyrychenko, a soldier who had lost his hand fighting on the eastern front, arrived at the site last night, Homes and lives are shattered by Russian strike on apartments believing that his pregnant wife and their two children were among the rubble. Officials were trying to persuade him not to join in the rescue efforts. In the hospital where the other injured were treated, Dr Sergei Rychenko said that the victims had come in with “terrible” injuries. “We were taking big pieces of metal and concrete out of their bodies.” One woman had more than 40 broken bones. In all, 30 people were taken in, of whom three were pronounced dead on arrival or shortly after. Two people were due for release last night, including Anastasia Shvets, a 23-year-old woman who had been captured in another photograph, suspended in her bed above the wreckage, too shocked to call for help. Her boyfriend, Vlad, was killed fighting on the front in September, and she was told yesterday that her parents had been found dead. The last person rescued alive was Kateryna Zelenskaya, 27, a married mother of a one-year-old son. Rychenko said she was deaf and had had difficulty calling out for help. Rescuers told The Times that they had seen her husband’s body and a baby’s hand sticking out from under a table when they pulled her clear. They have not yet been recovered. After a night exposed to the harsh Ukrainian winter, Zelenskaya’s temperature when she arrived at hospital was 31C, well below what is considered safe. Russia denied targeting the block of flats. “The Russian armed forces do not strike residential buildings or social infrastructure,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said. The KH-22 missile, however, is a Soviet-era variety, with no precision guidance. It may have been aimed at the Prydniprovska power station, a mile and a half away. In her hospital bed, Ludmyla Omelianenko said all she asked was for the war to stop. Her son, Maksym, 31, is fighting on the eastern front. He saw on his phone pictures of her home and the effects of the strike, and drove four hours to be at her bedside. “I live in fear every day that he will be shot,” she said. “But it’s me who is here!” Ukraine Richard Spencer Dnipro The Korenovsky family’s kitchen, above, and during a birthday party for Masha, whose father, Mikhailo, was killed in the missile strike. Kateryna Zelenskaya, left, was the last person pulled alive from the apartment block. Her husband and one-year-old son died, but their bodies have not yet been recovered. Right: Ludmyla Omelianenko with her son, Maksym

30 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times World A boy aged ten who was critically injured when two helicopters collided in Australia has woken from a coma after two weeks and has been able to hold his father’s hand. Nicholas Tadros is recovering at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane and will need more surgery. A spokesman for the hospital said that his condition remained “critical but stable”. The boy’s mother, Vanessa Tadros, 36, died when two helicopters that were operating leisure flights for the Sea The opera singer Plácido Domingo faces more allegations of sexual harassment, including one from a colleague who said he forcibly kissed her on the mouth on stage. The latest claims were made on the Salvados news programme broadcast by La Sexta and included telephone testimonies from women who claim to have been victims of Domingo’s harassment in Spanish theatres. Their identities were not disclosed. Accusations first emerged in 2019 when colleagues said Domingo, 81, had sexually abused them. One of the latest accusers described listening to another singer who was allegedly sexual harassed. “She called me crying because he was calling her all the time. She didn’t know how he got her number and was saying he wanted to go to her hotel, eat with her . . . She was 23 years old, and I Helicopter crash boy wakes from coma and holds father’s hand Australia Geoff Hiscock World theme park on the Gold Coast Broadwater, 50 miles south of Brisbane, collided. After the accident on January 2, Nicholas was taken first to the nearby Gold Coast University Hospital, but was later transferred to Queensland Children’s Hospital, where he underwent lengthy surgery last week on his legs and hands. “Nicky has been off life support now for a few days and his body has responded very well, still on the ventilator machine to support his breathing,” Father Suresh Kumar, the family’s priest, said on social media, adding that the boy had been “responsive”. The priest, who helped to conduct Vanessa Tadros’s funeral, said that Nicholas had been able to hold his father Simon’s hand but still had no movement in his legs, and urged people to pray for his recovery. Ashley Jenkinson, 40, Sea World’s chief helicopter pilot, and a British couple from Liverpool, Ron and Diane Hughes, aged 65 and 57, also died in the collision. Two other people aboard the same helicopter as the Tadros family, a woman aged 33 and her son, nine, were taken to hospital with serious injuries. They remained in hospital in a stable condition yesterday. The pilot of the second helicopter was able to land on a sandbank and he and his five passengers escaped serious injury. The collision, which happened about 2pm, was witnessed by hundreds of holidaymakers in one of Australia’s most popular tourist destinations. On Sunday, about 200 people, including members of the emergency services, gathered for a public vigil on the shores of the Broadwater, near the site of the accident. The crash is the subject of an investigation by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Nicholas Tadros and his mother, Vanessa, who died in the accident Domingo faces fresh claims of sexually harassing women have to admit, and I am very ashamed, that I felt relieved. If it was not her, it would have been me.” She added: “One of the first things they tell you is don’t go up in the lift alone with Plácido Domingo.” The woman recalled that the first time Domingo pursued her, he did so from one room to another, and in front of other people. He asked if he could put his hand in her trouser pocket. “I didn’t know what to say so as not to offend him and calm him down.” On another occasion, the singer went further, taking advantage of the darkness between one act and another on stage to kiss her on the mouth. “A kiss that I neither saw coming nor could dodge, nor wanted to receive”, she said. The woman did not consider telling her superiors. “How do you tell? He is Plácido Domingo, and you are nobody,” she said. “He’s untouchable, he shouldn’t be, but he is. That’s why I’m remaining anonymous.” An investigation by the Los Angeles Opera, where Domingo was general director until October 2019, concluded that ten accusations of inappropriate conduct between 1986 and 2019 were credible and that some of the women had described significant trauma. Domingo resigned. The findings prompted Spain to cancel planned performances by Domingo at publicly funded theatres. Engagements in the US, including at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and the San Francisco Opera, were also scrapped. No criminal case was brought to court over any claims and Domingo has since sung in Spain and other countries. Last year he faced a revolt from the orchestra at the Verona amphitheatre after a series of “humiliating” performances culminated in musicians refusing to stand to receive applause with him. In 2020, he offered an apology to women who have accused him of sexual harassment for the “pain” he caused them, saying that he accepted “full responsibility” for his actions. The singer had previously said the claims were a “nightmare” and hit him like “lightning”. He had told El Confidencial, the Spanish online newspaper, that Spaniards were naturally “warm, affectionate and loving”. He had always been “gallant”, he added, but “gallant gestures are viewed differently nowadays”. The singer, who made his La Scala debut in 1969, has been approached for comment. Spain Isambard Wilkinson Madrid West ‘helps Myanmar junta’ to kill own people Myanmar Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor Foreign companies are helping the Myanmar junta to manufacture weapons used in its “barbaric” killings of pro-democracy resistance fighters, according to a new report. The Special Advisory Council for Myanmar (SAC-M), a body of former United Nations experts, has named companies from 13 countries including France, Germany, Japan, Singapore and the United States that do business with the Myanmar government agency that manufactures weapons. The agency, known as the Directorate of Defence Industries, uses foreign technology transfers and manufacturing equipment to make its own versions of weapons including sniper rifles, MA-1 semi-automatic rifles and Uzi sub-machineguns. They have been used in fighting against the armed resistance to the 2021 coup and, the report says, in massacres and summary executions perpetrated by the junta. “Foreign companies are enabling the Myanmar military, one of the world’s worst human rights abusers, to produce many of the weapons it uses to commit daily atrocities,” said Yanghee Lee, a member of SAC-M and a former UN human rights investigator on Myanmar. “Foreign companies and their home states have moral and legal responsibilities to ensure their products are not facilitating human rights violations against civilians in Myanmar. Failing to do so makes them complicit.” Almost two years after the coup, peaceful demonstrations in cities have given way to a civil war between the army and an assortment of regional guerrilla groups and the People’s Defence Force, who fight in the name of the National Unity Government, an organisation of deposed democratic politicians in exile or in hiding. Under the leadership of the Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, the elected leader of Myanmar, the country’s democracy movement campaigned on the basis of non-violence. Since Suu Kyi was deposed, arrested and imprisoned in the February 2021 coup, many of her young followers have taken up arms. “States must investigate and, if necessary, initiate administrative or legal proceedings against companies whose products we have identified as enabling . . . the Myanmar military in its indiscriminate attacks on civilians,” Chris Sidoti, of SAC-M, said. “Foreign companies that profit from the suffering of the Myanmar people must be held accountable.” Highwayman An elephant nicknamed Fatty is shunning local vegetation in Chachoengsao, southern Thailand, in favour of stopping lorries to scoop up sugar cane Plácido Domingo has apologised to women

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 31 World Some heavy metal bands sing about sex and drugs, others about wizards and satanic rituals. Sabaton, from Sweden, prefer nerdishly detailed depictions of the 1709 battle of Poltava, or Sun Tzu’s theory of guerrilla warfare. The band’s dedication to military history over the past two decades has earned them a national prize for public education usually awarded to popular scientists or investigative reporters. The award has been heavily criticised, however, after a newspaper pointed out that Sabaton had performed at a 2015 concert organised by Russian ultra-nationalists in occupied Crimea. The controversy has also prompted the Swedish government to remove the band from an online playlist that was supposed to represent the best of the country’s music as it takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union council. It is an uncomfortable moment in the limelight for Sabaton, founded days before the turn of the millennium in the city of Falun, 120 miles northwest of Stockholm. Over the following two decades they developed a distinctive combination of swashbuckling melodic metal and lyrics about the history of warfare. Their better-known records include concept albums about the Allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, and the rise and fall of the Swedish warrior king Charles XII at the dawn of the 18th century. Their penultimate LP, The Great War, featured a paean to Lawrence of Arabia, a “man with a mission in the heat of the glistening sun”. The band have topped the album charts in Sweden, Germany and Switzerland, as well as amassing a substantial fanbase in Poland, founding a metal festival in their home town, and chartering an annual cruise in the Baltic. In A seaside town has been ordered to take down a statue of the Virgin Mary, a collateral victim of the battle between French secularism and radical Islam. The council in Flotte-en-Ré, on Ré island off the Atlantic coast, has been given six months by the Bordeaux appeal court to remove the oolitic limestone statue from its 1.70m (5.5ft) pedestal on a road junction in the town. The court said the statue broke a 1905 Town told to pull down Mary statue in the name of secularism France Adam Sage Paris law on the separation of church and state that outlaws religious signs and emblems in any public place in France. For decades, the law was applied halfheartedly and no one seemed to mind about the statue in Flotte-en-Ré. But the mood has changed in a heated debate over religion prompted by immigration from French former colonies in Africa. Conservatives have demanded a strict application of the law to counter what they see as the growing influence of Islamist radicals. They have argued, for instance, that Muslim prayers in public places, or the provision of halal meals in school canteens run counter to French secular values. Atheists have said that if secularism is to be implemented firmly with regard to Islam, the same should be true with regard to Catholicism. In western France, Libre-Pensée 17, a local secularist association, has filed lawsuits demanding the removal of several Christian statues. The Flotte-en-Ré statue was made in 1945 for a local family who wanted to give thanks after two of its members, a father and son, returned from a German prisoner-of-war camp. In 1983 the family donated it to the council, which put it in the street. Three years ago, a 32-year-old man lost control of his car returning home on a Sunday evening and crashed into the statue. The council promised to restore it and made good on its pledge six months later. The publicity surrounding the restoration alerted LibrePensée 17, however, which then began The statue honours two war survivors legal proceedings. Heavy metal band hailed for riffs on history 2019, Sabaton launched a YouTube history channel on which the band members discuss subjects such as mountain warfare in the First World War or Rommel’s seventh Panzer division. Some of the videos have been viewed more than half a million times. Last week the Swedish Sceptics’ Association (VoF) named the band its “enlightener of the year”. Previous recipients have included the medical professor Hans Rosling, whose books and talks on data turned him into a global celebrity before he died in 2017. “Sabaton combines its artistic work with public education in a unique way,” Pontus Bockman, the VoF’s president, said. “In a world where we are inundated with fake news and conspiracy theories, fact-checked information is delivered from the last place many would expect — a heavy metal band.” Days later, however, the Dagens Nyheter newspaper noted that Sabaton had played in Russian-occupied Crimea for the Night Wolves, a pro-Putin biker gang funded by the Kremlin. The band insisted at the time that it was not taking sides, but the bassist appeared to suggest in an interview that Crimea had been Russian all along. The Swedish EU council presidency team quietly removed Sabaton’s song Carolus Rex from its Spotify playlist of Swedish music. The country’s armed forces had already pulled out of a joint project with the band two years ago, for the same reason. However, VoF said that Sabaton could keep the prize because the band had denounced the Russian invasion of Ukraine and taken part in an anti-Putin protest in Britain last year. “The first thing that comes up when you google ‘Sabaton, Ukraine and war’ is that they distanced themselves from the war and carried out this protest,” Dan Katz, one of VoF’s directors, told Swedish television. Sweden Oliver Moody Sabaton, whose previous works include a concept album on the D-Day landings, have been removed from a Swedish government list of the best music the nation produces G eorge Clooney has been praised for donating €20,000 to a French village that was damaged by floods (Adam Sage writes). Jérémy Giuliano, the mayor of Le Val, in Provence, southeastern France, which neighbours the American actor’s property in the region, said the money had paid for shelter for residents for six months while their homes were being restored after the flooding in October 2021. Giuliano said the sum was “enormous”, adding: “It was spontaneous and I want to say thank you.” He said that he had initially decided to keep quiet about the donation because it “would not have been appropriate to overpublicise it and to put it in the media”. Clooney had made it clear at the time that he did not expect any recognition, he said. “Now we are in the phase of reconstruction [of the town], so I pushed for us to say it because it’s important for the victims to say who made this donation.” The region was hit by the equivalent of two months’ rain in a few hours in the 2021 floods, submerging houses in the Clooney’s quiet gift of €20,000 helped to rebuild flooded village George and Amal Clooney bought Domaine du Canadel for €6.2 million a few months before the devastating 2021 flood hit the nearby village of Le Val village. Eighteen people had to be flown to safety. The town council paid €190,000 to repair the damage but Giuliano said that while it would be refunded by the government “it always takes time”. Clooney, 61, and Amal Clooney, 44, his British wife, bought Domaine du Canadel, an 18th-century bastide set in 172 hectares that include woodland, an olive grove, a vineyard and an ornamental lake, for a reported €6.2 million a few months before the flood. The estate is officially in the neighbouring district of Brignoles, although part of it lies in Le Val, whose residents, known as Valois, are claiming the Ocean’s Eleven actor as one of their own. “For us, he’s a Valois, that’s undeniable,” the mayor said. France Info radio station questioned the mayor’s statement that €20,000 was an “enormous” donation, arguing that some people might consider it modest in relation to the actor’s fortune, which is reported to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Giuliano refuted this suggestion, advising “scandalmongers to mind their own business”. The Clooneys are said to have given more than $1.5 million to charities helping victims of the pandemic and millions more to human rights organisations. They have also created the Clooney Foundation for Justice to support victims of human rights abuses.

32 2GM Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times World The White House has said that it did not keep visitor logs for President Biden’s personal home as it responded to Republican demands for names in the row over his retention of classified documents. Biden’s team tried to turn the focus back on to his predecessor, Donald Trump, who is under investigation for hoarding sensitive papers, insisting that no previous president had released lists of visitors to a private residence. Trump joined the fray by calling the garage at Biden’s family home in Wilmington, Delaware, where five documents were found, “flimsy, unlocked and unsecured”, contrasting it with his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, where 103 classified documents were found by the FBI last August. Three reports last week about Deep into a debate at the Missouri State Capitol, a representative for a rural county tried to solve a point of contention. “We have talked a lot about what a knitted jacket is,” Brenda Shields, a Republican, said. “We thought that everyone understood what a knitted jacket was — that it’s a cardigan.” If everyone could agree, “I have an amendment that I would like to add, that inserts the word cardigan”. Capitol dress code has women in knots The Missouri House of Representatives was trying to agree upon a new dress code for women. Ann Kelley, a Republican, said the change would clear up any confusion about what constituted “professional attire” for women in the chamber. It was met with ridicule from Democrats there and beyond. Peter Merideth, a representative for St Louis City, said on Twitter that “the caucus that lost their minds over the suggestion that they should wear masks during a pandemic to respect the safety of others is now spending its time focusing on the fine details of what women have to wear”. Kelley faced questions about whether she was qualified to decide on dress. Someone who wore sequins before 5pm should not be “telling me that I can’t wear a . . . St John sweater”, said Raychel Proudie, a Democrat, looking at Kelley. Shields’s definition of knitted jackets won Proudie over in the end, and the amended amendment passed on a voice vote. Will Pavia New York White House doesn’t know who visited Biden’s home discoveries of documents in Biden’s possession have left Democrats dismayed, and threaten his approval ratings as he appears to be preparing to announce a run for re-election. “Like every president across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,” the White House counsel’s office said after James Comer, Republican chairman of the House committee on oversight and accountability, called in a letter to Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, for a visitor log for the past two years. “Upon taking office, President Biden restored the norm and tradition of keeping White House visitors’ logs, including publishing them regularly, after the previous administration ended them,” the office said. In June 2017, Trump ended the practice brought in by Barack Obama of releasing the names of visitors. Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, told Fox News: “House Republicans are playing politics in a shamelessly hypocritical attempt to attack President Biden.” Documents from Biden’s time as vice-president have been found at an office in Washington and in two places in his home in Wilmington. Republicans are furious that they were first found shortly before the midterm elections but disclosed only last week, in a report by CBS News. Democrats have said that Trump’s refusal to co-operate with the Department of Justice contrasts with Biden voluntarily giving up documents, but Republicans are angry that the FBI searched Mar-a-Lago whereas the White House counsel’s office is overseeing the Biden search. Tim Scott, a senator, said the “stench of hypocrisy” was making people “sick”. Meanwhile, Biden suffered an awkward moment yesterday when he apparently forgot the name of Martin Luther King III’s wife during a rendition of Happy Birthday, singing “Valerie” instead of Arndrea. United States David Charter, Hugh Tomlinson Washington Tino, Constantine was allowed to resettle in Greece as a private citizen in 2013, years after being stripped of his throne, court, and three palace estates — including Tatoi and Mon Repos, the birthplace of the duke, on Corfu. The Princess Royal attended the funeral in Athens, where Constantine’s coffin, without royal trappings but draped in the Greek flag, lay in state for two hours in a side chapel of the main cathedral. His family held a private ceremony for 187 guests after the government refused to grant the former close to his second cousin, Charles, as well as the late duke and Queen Elizabeth. Known as King Con or E uropean royalty have paid their respects to King Constantine of Greece, the cousin of the late Duke of Edinburgh who died last week aged 82 (Anthee Carassava writes). Constantine’s nineyear reign from 1964 coincided with one of the most troubled chapters in modern Greek history. He had to flee after a failed countercoup in 1967 against the junta that ruled until 1974. The same year, the Greek monarchy was abolished, leaving Constantine in exile, largely in Hampstead Garden Suburb, north London, where he was European royalty says farewell to Constantine monarch the tributes of a state leader. It also refused to pay for the funeral. Irene Zagana, waiting outside, said: “I consider it petty . . . for us not to honour a person who, for better or for worse, was king of Greece.” More than a thousand security officers and snipers fanned out across Athens, shielding representatives from 11 royal families. Among them were Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos, and his wife, Sophia, Constantine’s sister. They sat across the aisle from King Felipe, Spain’s reigning monarch. Thousands of Greeks lined the streets of Athens. Many were draped in Greek flags and chanted the national anthem or shouted “Axios”, meaning worthy. Pavlos, 55, the financier son of the late king, said in his eulogy: “You will continue to live in our hearts.” European royalty attending the funeral of Constantine II included Queen Letizia of Spain, with the former Crown Prince Pavlos, and Princess Anne representing the British royal family

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 V2 33 Business Ben Martin Banking Editor The Bank of England has raised the spectre of a repeat of the Equitable Life crisis, warning that the post-Brexit revamp of insurance rules will heighten risks for policyholders. Top officials at the Bank told MPs on the Commons Treasury committee yesterday that there was a possibility that taxpayers could be left on the hook as a result of the UK’s plan to loosen the so-called solvency II rule book, which is a set of European Union regulations. “The way it comes home to roost is if there’s not enough capital backing pensions,” Sam Woods, a deputy governor at the Bank, said. “I would say it’s highly likely that that comes back to the public purse if that occurs.” Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank, who also gave evidence to the committee, pointed to the near-collapse of Equitable as an example of the sort of crisis that can befall insurers. Equitable policyholders were left nursing heavy losses when it emerged in 2000 that the group could not make good on pension and insurance payouts. It was one of the worst scandals to hit the insurance industry and led to the government paying more than £1 billion in compensation to the insurer’s customers. “I will mention Equitable Life; it has happened,” Bailey said. The warning is the Bank’s strongest yet about the potential consequences of ministers’ plans. The government has long viewed changes to the solvency II regime as an important Brexit dividend that will Dec 16 23 Jan 9 30 16 Dec 16 23 Jan 2 9 16 Dec 19 26 9 Jan 2 16 Dec 19 26 9 Jan 2 16 Dec 19 26 9 Jan 2 16 Dec 19 26 9 Jan 2 16 35,000 32,500 30,000 27,500 1.300 1.200 1.100 1.000 1.300 1.200 1.100 1.000 commodities currencies $ 120 100 80 60 Gold $1,913.44 (-2.48) $ 2,000 1,800 1,600 1,400 FTSE 100 7,860.07 (+16.00) 8,000 7,500 7,000 6,500 world markets Brent crude (6pm) $84.21 (-0.71) Dow Jones 34,302.61 (Closed) $ £/$ $1.2208 (+0.0015) £/€ €1.1278 (-0.0001) ¤ (Change on the day) New North Sea gasfields could be brought into production within as little as 18 months after the government secured bids for a series of new licences. The North Sea Transition Authority, the government-owned body that regulates the North Sea oil and gas industries, said that it had received 115 bids from 76 companies seeking the rights to 258 geographical blocks or parts thereNew gasfields in North Sea could be producing by next year Emily Gosden of. It had offered access to 931 areas under the latest licensing round, which launched in October. The details have not been disclosed but the winners are expected to be announced from the second quarter. The authority said the licensing round “included four priority areas, which have known hydrocarbons [oil and gas], in which there was very keen interest and could see production in as little as 18 months”. These are clusters of explored but undeveloped fields in the southern North Sea, an area with significant existing gas production. The 18-month timescale is ambitious considering the average time to bring a discovery to production is almost five years. Licences give companies the right to produce from an area but they still require other consents and approvals to proceed. The authority said that “the bids will now be carefully studied, with a view to awarding licences quickly and supporting licensees to go into production as soon as appropriate”. The award of new licences is controversial because of the impact on the climate. The International Energy Agency said in 2021 that no new oil and gasfields were needed if the world were to hit its net zero goals. But last year the Climate Change Committee, the government’s official advisers, said the environmental impact of new domestic production was “not clear cut” and that the government could factor in energy security concerns when deciding whether to seek to increase production. Ministers have been keen to encourage investment in domestic resources since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine led to a scramble to replace Russian gas, although MPs have demanded “a clear date for ending new oil and gas licensing rounds in the North Sea”. Equitable Life scandal could be repeated, says Bank Insurance rules ‘a risk to taxpayer’ unlock tens of billions of pounds of capital for insurers, which can then be invested in the economy. Yet the government faced resistance from the Bank last year over the extent to which the rule book should be loosened. Ministers said in November that they had decided to override the Bank’s concerns and would not introduce some proposals that had been made by the regulator on the so-called “fundamental spread”, which relates to risks retained by insurers. Woods told the Treasury committee: “I think the government would acknowledge that the reform package as a whole increases risk. The government is doing that because the government believes that that will also aid growth.” He said this was a “trade-off” that ministers had made and that it was for parliament to decide whether this was “reasonable” when it came to approving the plan. Bailey told the committee that there was “something of a hangover effect” for investors from the disastrous minibudget last September. “It’s going to take some time to convince everybody that we’re back to where we were before,” he said, although he added that he believed the risk premium that had been applied to British assets after the debacle had “pretty much gone”. Bailey said falling energy prices was “the most likely reason that we’re going to see a rapid fall in inflation in the year ahead”, but cautioned that the shrinkage of the labour force was “the major risk to inflation coming down”. Leading lights The actors Sabrina and Idris Elba at the World Economic Forum in Davos to collect the Crystal Award for humanitarian work. They are UN ambassadors for the International Fund for Agricultural Development. US firms quit ‘extreme’ NHS drugs levy Alex Ralph Chief Business Correspondent Two big American drugs companies have left an NHS medicines-pricing agreement in an escalation of an industry disagreement with the government. AbbVie and Eli Lilly have quit the voluntary scheme and now come under a statutory one, despite it historically having an even higher repayment rate. The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI), which is co-ordinating a revolt against a “rocketing” and “extreme” levy, said the decision showed the “depth of feeling that the current scheme is damaging Britain’s life sciences industry”. Last month the UK heads of 13 drugs companies, including Sanofi, Bayer, Merck and Gilead, joined the industry in warning that they were being forced to reduce their footprint and research and manufacturing investments in Britain because of the levy. The ABPI said that the levy meant manufacturers of branded medicines would be required to return an estimated £3.3 billion in sales revenue to the government this year, a rate of 26.5 per cent, up from £563 million in 2021 and about £1.8 billion last year. The voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access, known as Vpas, is designed to limit the NHS medicines bill while supporting innovation in the industry. It requires drugs companies to pay rebates on sales of branded medicines to the NHS if the health service’s overall spending for medicines rises by more than 2 per cent annually. More than 200 companies are members of the negotiated scheme. The rates have soared in the wake of increased NHS demand and backlogs after the pandemic. The industry has been championed as an important part of Britain’s postBrexit economic success but the dispute comes when performance across key measures is weaker than in other leading economies, including for investment and access to new medicines. Laura Steele, Eli Lilly’s president and general manager in northern Europe, said that getting the scheme right was “a win for patients, taxpayers and industry, so government must act urgently to

34 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business the biggest drivers alleviating cost of living prices by the end of the year, said the economists. “The expectation that the energy crisis will be less severe by the end of 2023 reflects diversification of energy supply sources, improved energy efficiency and changing patterns of consumption,” said the WEF outlook. “Progress in a range of these areas is already evident in Europe, for example, including a tripling of gas reserves, the securing of new supply deals, Need to know 1 The Bank of England has raised the spectre of a repeat of the Equitable Life crisis, warning that the government’s post-Brexit revamp of insurance rules will heighten risks for policyholders. Top officials at the Bank told MPs that taxpayers could be left on the hook as a result. 2 Two big American drugs companies have left an NHS medicines-pricing agreement in an escalation of an industry argument with the government. AbbVie and Eli Lilly have quit the voluntary scheme. 3 New North Sea gasfields could be brought into production within as little as 18 months after the government secured bids for a series of new licences. The North Sea Transition Authority said that it had received 115 bids from 76 companies seeking the rights to 258 geographical blocks. 4 The global energy and cost of living crises will abate by the end of a year dominated by recession risks, the World Economic Forum has said. Most of the 50 chief economists polled by the WEF on the eve of its annual Davos gathering expected a recession to hit this year but said there would be tentative signs of optimism over the next 12 months. 5 The boss of Aveva reiterated that the technology company would remain autonomous as its controversial £10 billion takeover by France’s Schneider Electric was sealed. Peter Herweck said that the company would continue to work with a variety of partners and control systems. 6 Eco-friendly offices are achieving “markedly higher” capital values and rents. JLL, the property agent, examined hundreds of transactions over the past five years and found that offices with better sustainability credentials were valued at a 20.6 per cent premium. 7 Ashmore, the emerging markets fund manager, expects improvement in investors’ risk appetite as China eases pandemic restrictions and economies improve in developing countries. 8 The global airline industry will be back at pre-pandemic levels by the middle of this year, according to Avolon, one of the world’s largest aircraft-leasing companies. The forecast is the most optimistic estimate yet for a recovery in the industry from the Covid-19 travel restrictions of 2020 to last year. 9 Shares in ITM Power tumbled by 12 per cent after the UK hydrogen technology group issued its third profit warning in eight months. The electrolyser maker said results for this financial year would be materially different from current guidance. 10The sale by Philip Morris International, the world’s largest tobacco company, of a shareholding in Medicago, a pharmaceutical firm that developed a Covid vaccine, has been welcomed by the World Health Organisation. Need to know Economists glimpse signs of hope amid ‘precarious’ outlook Mehreen Khan Davos The global energy and cost of living crises will abate by the end of a year dominated by recession risks, the World Economic Forum has said. A majority of the 50 chief economists polled by the WEF on the eve of its annual Davos gathering expected a recession to hit this year but said there would be tentative signs of optimism over the next 12 months. “The global economy is in a precarious position. The current high-inflation, low-growth, high-debt and highfragmentation environment reduces incentives for the investments needed to get back to growth and raise living standards for the world’s most vulnerable,” Saadia Zahidi, managing director at the WEF, said. About 2,700 business leaders and policymakers are gathering in the Swiss mountain town of Davos for the first winter WEF summit since 2020. The meeting, which lasts until Friday, is likely to be dominated by concerns about Russia’s war of attrition in Ukraine, the dismantling of open free trade, and unprecedented income hits suffered by rich and poor countries. Forecasts from the likes of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have caused alarm about the state of the global economy this year but have stopped short of predicting an outright recession. A global recession is defined by a fall in annual gross domestic product for the year as a whole. The chief economists polled by the WEF were overwhelmingly united about Europe and the US economies falling into a trap of “stagflation”, marked by weak growth and above-target consumer price rises. Two thirds of economists said a global recession would hit this year, with 18 per cent warning it was “extremely likely”. Europe’s economic fortunes have been boosted by unseasonably warm weather helping to drive down energy usage and force market prices to below prewar levels. The UK has also benefited from strong wind energy production and warm weather. Falling energy prices will be one of and a trimming of gas consumption by 15 per cent.” A quarter of the economists said that central banks in the eurozone and the US would be forced to reverse their aggressive monetary tightening by starting to cut interest rates by the end of the year when inflation is expected to fall back from 40-year highs. China was the main outlier among the world's biggest economies, where fiscal policy and monetary policy would remain stimulative to help revive growth in the second largest economy. Mathias Cormann, secretary-general of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, told CNBC that China’s decision to end Covid-19 quarantine measures was “very much a positive in terms of making sure that the supply chains function more efficiently and more effectively, making sure that demand in China and indeed, trade more generally, resumes into a more positive pattern”. Cormann said there was some basis for optimism for global growth as “headline inflation numbers have been easing off on the back of lower than anticipated energy prices and food prices”. 6 UK businesses have said they are well placed to ride out a global economic slowdown, and have the ability to innovate out of a recession and maintain profits, according to a survey. A study of about 2,000 European companies, including UK firms, carried out by Accenture, found that 70 per cent of British businesses were confident they would not unduly suffer from an environment of high energy costs, trade disruption, and a year-long recession this year. “Companies’ strong profitability and lower growth pattern suggests they are more likely to squeeze value from existing business streams than growing new ones,” said Michael Brueckner, chief strategy officer at Accenture Europe. IQE fears phone slump will hit sales IQE, the Cardiff-based semiconductor company, said that a drop in global demand for mobile phones could hit its sales in the first half of this year. Shares in the Aim-listed business fell by 18.4 per cent after the trading update, which predicted that a “destocking” in the wider industry might cause a slowdown. The company also said there were “a small number of doubtful debts” where it has made products for customers but is not sure if or when it will get paid for them. It has moved the recording of some revenue from the end of last year into this year. While most of IQE’s customers are blue-chip businesses, a few have been hit hard by the recent slowdown in the semiconductor industry. Annual revenue is expected to be 8 per cent higher for the year to the end of 2022, and “management are excited by the pipeline of opportunities being developed for 2023 and beyond”. IQE forms part of a cluster of hightech compound semiconductor businesses in south Wales that includes Newport Wafer Fab, SPTS Technologies and Microchip. It has 670 employees in nine manufacturing sites in the UK, US, Taiwan and Singapore. The wafers it produces are used to make the microchips in smartphone cameras and sensing devices and it is understood to be a key enabler of Apple’s facial recognition technology. Semiconductors are vital components of modern electronics, and the industry typically experiences a boom and bust cycle. This was exacerbated by severe shortages of microchips during the pandemic, caused by supply chain problems coupled with soaring demand for computers and phones. This has now reversed because the deteriorating economic situation and plummeting consumer confidence have caused sales of electronics to fall, while supplies of semiconductors have increased. IQE said that falling demand for its products in the wireless market was offset by its photonics division, which specialises in sensing applications and fibreoptic lasers for data centres. Numis analysts were bullish. “The sector will benefit greatly by major developing tailwinds, such as the drive to net zero, electrification of vehicles and 5G network rollouts,” they said. Katie Prescott Technology Business Editor Fortnum & Mason back in regal form Fortnum & Mason has said that a return to in-store shopping helped to push it back into the black and deliver “record” Christmas sales. Profits at the royal family’s favourite grocer grew to £6.1 million in the 52 weeks to July 10, compared with a £2.7 million loss the year before, following a “notable return of domestic customers to physical stores”. Turnover was up 42 per cent to £187 million in the same period, with online representing Isabella Fish Retail Editor The luxury retailer, which is headed by Troubles on horizon UK chief executives’ biggest fears Percentage who are worried about... Cybersecurity Macroeconomic volatility Health risks Climate change Geopolitical conflict 48% 41% 40% 34% 22% Net-zero commitments Have made a commitment Are working towards a commitment Have not made a commitment UK Globally 34% 33% 31% 22% 29% 44% Source: PwC rescue our partnership”. She added: “The scheme has harmed innovation, with costs spiralling out of control, and the UK falling behind other major countries.” Todd Manning, UK general manager for AbbVie, said it had not taken the decision to leave lightly but the levy rate was not “seen in any comparable country and [has] a demonstrable impact on our ability to operate sustainably in the UK”. Eli Lilly and AbbVie are understood to have notified the department last September of their intention to leave. A health department spokesman said companies were free to leave the scheme and join the statutory one. “The NHS has delivered a record number of access agreements since Vpas was agreed, including many world and European-first agreements,” he added. continued from page 33 US firms quit ‘extreme’ drugs levy Saadia Zahidi of the WEF cited a lack growth incentives

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 35 Business The boss of Aveva has reiterated that the FTSE 100 technology company will remain autonomous as its controversial £10 billion takeover by France’s Schneider Electric was formally sealed. Peter Herweck, chief executive of Aveva, said that the company would continue to work with a variety of partners and control systems. “It is a clear agreement that we have done. We’ve been very, very clear about it. We will be agnostic,” he said. Aveva is one of Britain’s oldest technology companies. It was spun out of Cambridge University in the 1960s and develops purpose-built software for some of the most complex structures in the world, including nuclear power plants, oil rigs and factories. 39 per cent of total sales, up 160 per cent on pre-pandemic levels. Pickled Brussels sprouts, mince pies and hampers helped the luxury retailer to deliver record Christmas results in the five weeks to December 25, with allchannel sales up 8 per cent from last year and up 29 per cent from 2019. Overall sales through stores were at the heart of the growth, up 35 per cent year-on-year, with sales at the flagship store on Piccadilly in central London up 32 per cent. “In a world where we thought . . . that shops were going to be dead for ever, for us and the industry it has proved that actually shops do remain incredibly important to customers at important times of the year,” Tom Athron, the chief executive, said. He said he was “cautiously optimistic” for the year ahead despite uncertainty about the consumer spending outlook. “This year we’ve got the Coronation to look forward to,, which we will hopefully be able to help the King and country celebrate.” Fortnum & Mason was founded in 1707 when William Fortnum, a footman to Queen Anne, convinced his landlord, Hugh Mason, to go into the grocery business with him. Since 1952 it has been owned by the Weston family. It is chaired by Kate Hobhouse, a granddaughter of Garfield Weston, who bought it from the Maharajah of Baroda. Fortnum & Mason also trades from smaller outlets in the City, St Pancras station, Heathrow’s terminal 5 and Hong Kong. [email protected] business commentary Alistair Osborne Hydrogen hopes run short of gas M aybe it’s just a coincidence. But ITM Power has never been the same since a visit from Kwasi Kwarteng. Rewind to August 2021 and shares in the “green” hydrogen maker were not far off 500p, still within sight of that year’s 682p highs. Then along came the former business secretary, chancellor and mini-budget supremo to tweet: “Up in #Sheffield today to open the world’s largest electrolyser factory!” The shares since then? Down like a lead balloon. ITM is on to its third profits warning in eight months and trading at 91.3p, off another 12 per cent on the latest alert (report, page 40). And a business once valued at £3.5 billion looks almost as deflated as poor Kwasi’s political career: a market value of only £563 million. True, you can’t really blame him. But ITM’s experience underlines one thing: it’s a lot easier for politicians to talk about producing “green hydrogen at scale for use in industry, transport and heating” or announce half-baked plans to “accelerate private investment” than to pull it off in practice. ITM makes electrolysers that separate hydrogen from water using renewable power. The result is clean energy that could be deployed to slash emissions in myriad industries — everything from chemicals to transport. Yet, commercialising nascent technology is never easy, as ITM keeps proving. Much of that is the group’s own fault. But the backdrop’s been tricky too, with shares in other UK-listed hydrogen outfits, Ceres Power and Clean Power Hydrogen, also halving in a year. Months after Kwarteng’s visit, ITM raised £250 million at 400p to build a second UK plant. But by September last year not only had those plans been shelved but so too its boss of 13 years, Graham Cooley. His exit came alongside poor full-year results and news that, while ITM was still seeking to build 5GW of manufacturing capacity, it now only had hard plans to expand its Sheffield plant to 1.5GW. The rest was vaguely earmarked for overseas. Cooley blamed “geopolitical instability, high inflation and economic uncertainty”. But he also moaned to the Financial Times that “all of our European competitors are being funded to the tune of tens or in some cases hundreds of millions”. Britain has a target for 10GW hydrogen capacity by 2030. But its £240 million public support fund is no match for the EU’s €10 billion. Execution, though, has also been ITM’s downfall. It’s been on its own transition — from developing the kit to make hydrogen to delivering customer contracts. The key one is at Germany’s Leuna chemicals complex, where it’s delivering a 24MW electrolyser alongside its 16.2 per cent shareholder: industrial gases supplier Linde. No big shock, then, that Cooley’s successor Dennis Schulz hails from Linde. Seven weeks after taking charge, he’s warning that “losses on customer contracts”, “warranty provisions” and “inventory writedowns” will see full-year sales below bottom-end guidance of £23 million, with ebitda losses above £50 million. His review of ITM will see a focus on “volume manufacturing”. Yes, ITM has net cash, though a chunk of the £318 million at October 30 must have gone. And Schultz sees its problems as “surmountable”. Even so, he has his work cut out to deliver a group really cooking with gas. Tainted vote S ome boards earn the right to play hardball with disaffected investors. Not Capricorn Energy’s. About 40 per cent of the register is ready to vote off seven of the nine directors, including the chairwoman, Nicoletta Giadrossi, chief executive, Simon Thomson, and senior independent director, Peter Kallos. Many are also opposed to Capricorn’s deal to sell the group to Israel’s NewMed — struck on the rebound from the board’s disastrous attempt to merge with Tullow Oil. Still, that’s not stopped the board delivering a two-fingered salute to Capricorn’s owners. It’s deliberately conflated “two distinct matters”, as the rebels’ leader Palliser Capital puts it. It’s opted to hold the investor vote on the NewMed deal hours before the one to oust the board — both on February 1. It’s a cynical ploy that’s provoked a rare outburst from near 4 per cent holder Legal & General, which calls the timing “a matter of grave concern” and an “attempt to undermine due process”. The NewMed deal’s longstop date is June 30, so there’s no need for an early vote on that. But Capricorn must think it can split the rebels, reasoning some won’t want to lose the NewMed offer. It’s every bit as “self-serving” as Palliser says. If the deal squeaks through, the directors get to cash in their share options, with four of them joining the new company’s board, chaired by Kallos. On top, even if they’re kicked off the Capricorn board hours later, its new directors may feel they’d have a fiduciary duty to close the NewMed deal. At best there’d be a legal ruck. L&G will vote against the deal and the directors, saying the issue “raises serious questions about the ongoing suitability and fitness of the entire board — and the chair and senior independent director in particular — to serve as directors of a listed company”. Quite right too. Different paths S pot the difference. The aircraft leasing outfit Avolon reckons global aviation traffic will “reach pre-pandemic levels by June” (report, page 39). So how come our global hub Heathrow is forecasting a mere 67.2 million passengers this year — only 83 per cent of 2019 levels? One answer: because it lowballs its estimates to browbeat the regulator into allowing higher charges, the reason it started out last year predicting 45.5 million travellers but ended up handling 61.6 million. Another reason? Because its boss John Holland-Kaye runs an inefficient operation, as he proved with 2022’s passenger cap. Either way, it’s not what you’d expect from Britain’s leading airport. [email protected] business commentary Alistair Osborne Aveva takeover ‘won’t affect autonomy’ The takeover — which was formally approved by a court yesterday — cements a long-standing relationship: Schneider has owned almost 60 per cent of Aveva since 2017. Speaking on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, Herweck said that he had contacted between 30 and 50 of Aveva’s largest customers — some of which compete with Schneider — to reassure them. The business, he added, would continue to operate under the Aveva name and brand. Herweck also claimed that the opposition to the takeover had been led by arbitrage funds — which bought into the stock following the announcement of an offer — rather than long-term shareholders. “We had quite a change in shareholders after the first offer,” he said. Several of Aveva’s largest shareholders took a public stand against Schneider’s initial offer of £31 a share, arguing that it was “opportunistic”, took advantage of Aveva’s low share price and undervalued the company’s long-term potential. Schneider eventually sweetened its original offer to £32.22 a share, a premium of 47 per cent to the pre-offer price. “The independent board of the company reviewed the offer, talked to several independent consultants that did evaluations and that’s why they supported the first offer,” Herweck added. “Of course, when shareholders are not happy they voice their unhappiness and hence it came to a revised offer, which has been largely accepted by the shareholders.” Richard Fletcher Business Editor A year ago the business said it had temporarily stopped deliveries to the EU, due to border complexities, including increased costs and extra paperwork brought on by Brexit, but Athron said it planned to open a small logistics operation in Europe by the end of the summer. The EU made up 5 to 10 per cent of preBrexit sales. Athron urged the government to reintroduce VAT-free shopping to attract international customers to the UK. A Treasury spokesman said introducing a wideranging VAT-free shopping scheme would come at too high a cost. Tom Athron, is a long-time favourite of the Queen. It achieved record Christmas results in the five weeks to December 25

36 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business The number of businesses falling into administration rose by almost half last year as inflation delivered a “body blow” to companies seeking to recover from the pandemic. Research by the restructuring firm Interpath found the number of companies filing for administration jumped by 46 per cent from 710 to 1,039. Retail and casual dining were some of the businesses hardest hit. Filings for insolvency in these sectors rose by 96 per cent and 67 per cent respectively. Rent controls ‘would make shortage of homes worse’ Tom Howard The shortage of homes to rent would probably be worsened by rent caps, the chief executive of one of the largest residential landlords has warned. Rick de Blaby, head of Get Living, which owns the former Olympic Village in London, was speaking after a call from Sadiq Khan, the capital’s mayor, for a limit on how much landlords could increase rents. Bristol council is consulting residents about possible rent controls, while in Scotland the government has brought in a cap until March. De Blaby said: “[Rent caps] would suffocate supply. We’ve got global institutions who can deploy their capital in warehouses in Beijing, offices in Paris, hotels in Brazil. We have to compete for that capital on a risk-reward basis.” Small landlords are leaving the market because of changes to regulation and taxes, while rising building costs and onerous planning rules are deterring development. The number of rental homes has not increased since 2016, according to Zoopla, which estimates that there are 5.5 million rental properties in the UK. The number of homes unoccupied and available to rent is down 38 per cent on five years ago, while inquiries with lettings agents are up 46 per cent. “A chronic lack of supply is behind the rapid growth in rents which are increasingly unaffordable,” said Richard Donnell, of Zoopla. Zoopla calculates that across the country rents rose by 12 per cent last year. Because of the supply-demand imbalance, Donnell expects them to rise a further 5 per cent this year. Avinav Nigam, co-founder of IMMO, which is to spend £1 billion on “fixer uppers” to rent, agreed with de Blaby. “With many buy-to-let investors looking to exit the market, rent controls may prove the last straw. That could worsen the affordability crisis by reducing supply when demand is at an all-time high.” De Blaby said the temporary rent cap in Scotland meant he had delayed plans to build six blocks of rental flats on land his company owns in Glasgow. “We can choose to take our money to Manchester, Birmingham, London or Bristol. I’m afraid if someone says that we’re going to cut your revenue, it’s hard to make the case [to invest].” He said the way to cut high rents was to increase supply, which would require easing planning permission rules. Eco-friendly offices are achieving “markedly higher” capital values and rents, seemingly putting an end to the debate about whether landlords and tenants are prepared to pay more for sustainable buildings. JLL, the property agent, examined hundreds of transactions over the past five years and found that offices with better sustainability credentials were valued at a 20.6 per cent premium. There was also a “clear premium” for those buildings with better energy performance certificate ratings. Each step up in the rating added 3.7 per cent to a building’s value. Buyers pay more for eco-friendly offices The numbers lend credence to anecdotal reports of a split in the office market, with newer or upgraded buildings outperforming lesser, tired blocks. Many landlords have put off upgrading their offices, unconvinced that they would receive a healthy return on their investment. Jon Neale, head of UK research at JLL, said the data proved there were financial benefits associated with environmental certification. Investors intending to buy UK offices were happy to pay for those with better sustainability credentials, such as any form of Breeam (Building Research Establishment environmental assessment method) rating, because they were “less risky”, Neale said. “With standards around buildings tightening, we have seen some funds introducing their own environmental targets to move ahead of regulation,” Neale said. It would therefore pay to invest in the green building sector now, he added. Occupiers, too, are willing to pay a premium for the most sustainable offices. Rents for offices with a Breeam rating, which range from “pass” to “outstanding”, are typically 11.6 per cent higher than for similar buildings without one, JLL’s data shows. In a competitive jobs market, companies are increasingly using prestige offices as a lure to prospective employees. They also help businesses to encourage reluctant staff to return to offices after the pandemic. Perhaps most importantly, JLL said, was that a more sustainable office helped companies on their path towards net zero emissions and to bring down their energy bills at a time when the costs of heat and power have been spiralling. “Occupiers have adopted a meaningful shift in the types of buildings they want to operate their businesses from,” said Julian Sandbach, head of central London office markets at JLL. “They are cognisant that this is reflective of their strong social and governance credentials to their marketplaces.” Tom Howard Derwent takes green option Derwent, the London-focused landlord, has sold one of its older offices in the capital to free cash to fund the development of greener office space. The FTSE 250 company sold 19 Charterhouse Street, next to Farringdon station, for £54 million. It had paid £41.3 million for the offices in 2013. Paul Williams, chief executive, said that tenants were becoming “increasingly selective” about which offices they moved into in what he called a “flight to quality”. T he old John Lewis store in Birmingham’s Grand Central shopping centre could be turned into a “wellbeing-designed” office according to a planning application (Tom Howard writes). Hammerson, which owns the mall, has brought in Make Architects, the firm founded by Ken Shuttleworth, who helped design the Gherkin in London, to draw up fresh plans for the four-storey shop, which has been empty for nearly three years. The application went in on Friday. If approved, the 200,000 sq ft office, which Hammerson is calling “Drum” because of the shape of the building, will be able to accommodate up to 2,000 people. The plans include a ground-floor restaurant along with a “premium grocery offer”, a gym, a physiotherapy room and changing and storage facilities for cyclists. It is the latest example of a retail landlord getting creative to fill units in malls vacated by the rise in online shopping. Property bosses accept that there is too much retail space, and Lambert Smith Hampton, the agent, says nearly half of all shopping centres should be knocked down or repurposed. Landlords are also having to factor the environment into their development plans. By repurposing the store, rather than knocking it down and building a new office in its place, Hammerson expects to save about 14,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. Bosses looked at ways of reusing the store but decided that its location and lack of retail frontage made an office the obvious choice. “Being on top of a railway station makes it very well suited for office and workspace, particularly in a postpandemic world,” Harry Badham, Hammerson’s chief development and asset repositioning officer, said. Badham believes that bringing extra commuters to the office will also benefit Hammerson’s nearby Bullring shopping mall. “Everything enhances everything else,” he said. The expectation is that the office market, both for tenants and owners, is starting to split with demand for modern, sustainable space far outweighing demand for older, less environmentallyfriendly buildings. “With people coming into the office less frequently, the actual office experience has to be better,” Badham said. “There isn’t a lot of competition, with grade A vacancy in Birmingham at less than 3 per cent, so we’re pretty confident [there is demand].” If city planners approve the scheme, Hammerson hopes to start work at the end of this year and to welcome the first tenants around the start of 2025. Landlord hits on new use for John Lewis Hammerson’s proposed 200,000 sq ft office building, a reworking of Birmingham’s John Lewis store, will include a restaurant and a gym Inflation fuels sharp rise in businesses going bust Made.com and Joules were some of the most high-profile casualties last year. Next has rescued both brands but some customers lost substantial sums on products that were never delivered. Consumer businesses have been tipped as candidates for restructurings in the first three months of this year. Blair Nimmo, chief executive of Interpath, said last year had been a “body blow” for companies already hurt by the Covid lockdowns He said that the lift in Christmas sales reported by many consumer companies was often due to inflation pushing up prices and could be masking weaker sales volumes. Nimmo said: “Businesses in the retail and casual dining space continue to face one challenge after another, from rising input costs and interest rate rises, to supply chain disruption and staff shortages, not forgetting falling consumer spend due to the spiralling cost of living.” Businesses face tough negotiations with lenders on debt after a rise in interest rates. The Bank of England increased the base rate to 3.5 per cent in December after inflation hit 11.1 per cent in October. John Miesner, managing director of Interpath’s debt advisory team, said companies should expect more aggressive behaviour by lenders. He said: “Lenders will be more selective on where they deploy capital and increase scrutiny on borrowers’ ability to service debt given higher interest rates. “They will also take tougher stances on underperforming assets and have difficult conversations earlier on. We expect a less generous approach on waivers and amendments, with requests subject to additional compensation and other borrower concessions.” Helen Cahill

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 37 Comment Business Inflation fever will keep returning unless a serious downturn kills it off Tui has raised its travel prices by 23 per cent from pre-Covid levels J erome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman, has pushed back against central banks playing an active role in social issues and the climate transition, warning that mission creep risked undermining the bank’s sacrosanct independence. “Without explicit congressional legislation, it would be inappropriate for us to use our monetary policy or supervisory tools to promote a greener economy,” Powell told an audience in Sweden. “We are not, and will not be, a ‘climate policymaker’.” It was a remarkably categorical intervention from a powerful central banker. The comments distinguish the Fed as an outlier among the bigger central banks, such as the Bank of England and European Central Bank, which have changed their operations to take account of climate change’s role in monetary policy and financial stability. It was probably no accident that Powell made his comments at Sweden’s Riksbank, which has long shed its fossil fuel assets and measures the carbon footprint of companies whose bonds it buys. The Fed’s reticence about involvement in climate change reflects how poisonous the environmental agenda has become in the US. There is a broad political consensus in the UK and the European Union about accelerating decarbonisation and meeting legally binding targets to reduce emissions to net zero by 2050. Polarisation in the world’s largest economy makes that consensus elusive for the Fed. Powell’s claim that responsibility for policy shifts lies with elected politicians also rings true. The ECB and the Bank have taken their cues from shifting public opinion and domestic politics. The Fed has also shown that when politics changes, so can parts of its operation. At the behest of the Biden administration, the Fed has published labour market data showing differentiated income and wage levels among black workers in the US. Powell’s stance on climate change is understandable but misguided. It is lazy to lump climate change in with other “social issues”, which the Fed should stay away from. Decarbonisation is not a “wokeist” obsession, as critics of the Fed, such as the former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, have claimed. Climate change has clear implications for the two tasks delegated to monetary authorities: controlling inflation and overseeing financial stability. There is ample research to show how natural disasters, extreme weather and the loss of biodiversity affect inflation and financial stability. The more contentious part of the green central banking debate is that raising interest rates hurts investment in green technologies such as renewable energy, which are more capital intensive and expensive to finance than fossil fuels. Isabel Schnabel, executive board member of the ECB, has warned that restrictive monetary policy generates the “risk that higher costs of capital may slow down the pace of decarbonisation”. Schnabel is both an inflation hawk and an advocate for greener central banking. But she stops short of ideas for the ECB to adopt tools to cut capital costs for green companies. Facing up to the impact of monetary policy on climate change is the next frontier in green central banking. Should it happen, it would be a momentous step for monetary authorities but not one that should be derided as undermining their independence or entering into explicitly political territory. The ECB has shown a willingness to use flexible instruments to tackle the uneven impact of its monetary policy on the eurozone, most recently with its emergency bondbuying tool to help southern Europe, without explicit political consent. Similar accommodation to promote green goals is likely to rely on similarly tacit political consent. Rather than threatening independence, it is another example of monetary and fiscal policy working in tandem. Mehreen Khan In economics it’s silly to infer much from personal experience. Nevertheless, in the past few days I’ve been quoted £46 for a four-mile Uber ride, paid £4 for a sausage roll and been stuck in the longest customer queue I’ve suffered at Pret A Manger. Trivial things, but it doesn’t feel like macro-economic demand has yet dropped off a cliff, or that inflation is levelling off. And these are the dog days after new year, when belts are traditionally tightened and firms are desperate for custom. Trying to get a handle on the state of the economy is not easy. GDP figures are especially slippery. Last week many seized on the figure for November showing national output unexpectedly growing modestly. That meant the country in the final quarter of last year was probably not officially in recession, after all. However, GDP is difficult to measure and is taken too seriously. Think about it for a second and the idea of accurately estimating the value of goods and services produced in the country is an impossibility — even before considering how innovation and the informal economy add to the problem. Other numbers such as unemployment and inflation are far easier to state with confidence. The latest inflation figure, due out tomorrow, is going to be not only more reliably accurate, but also more influential for the economy in the coming months. Analysts are forecasting a small reduction in the annual inflation rate to 10.6 per cent for December. This would be the second successive monthly fall since the 41-year high of 11.1 per cent in October, although still more than five times the Bank of England’s target of 2 per cent. The quantum and path of the coming fall in inflation will be the most important factor in determining how soon the Bank can stop raising the base rate and so stop cranking up borrowing costs for business and households. A larger than expected drop would be terrific. No drop would spell fresh anxiety. Everyone is taking heart from America. Its economy normally leads the way for the western world and there inflation has fallen for the sixth successive month, to 6.5 per cent. Thanks to diving petrol and diesel prices, markdowns on clothing and furniture and those demand-sapping increases in official interest rates, the inflation bogeyman is in retreat. Some of the same forces apply in the UK. Additionally, wholesale gas prices have been plunging, which should mean sharply lower bills by the third quarter. Pantheon Economics reckons that alone will shave a full percentage point from the inflation number. So there are some reasons for quiet confidence. No wonder Rishi Sunak felt able to include a halving of inflation this year as one of his five key promises. Other pressures are still pushing upwards. The big threat to beating inflation is a hot labour market. The outbreak of strikes by nurses, train drivers, immigration officers, postal workers and teachers in Scotland is set to be swollen by teachers in England and Wales, as of yesterday’s vote by members of the 500,000- strong National Education Union. There is an understandable appetite to strike to avoid real-terms cuts in pay. Sadly, the argument that public sector wage rises do not feed through to inflation is rubbish. The extra cost eventually has to be met through higher taxes, which feed into prices. More immediately, public sector employers compete for skills and talent with the private sector. The more wages go up in the public sector, the more private sector employers raise wages further to compete, and vice versa. When labour is scarce, as now, that leapfrogging is even more pronounced. That is why teaching assistants are quitting for higher pay on supermarket check-outs and nurses are moving from the NHS to private healthcare operators. It’s hard to find anyone in the private sector not complaining about the difficulty of finding staff. Halfords warned on profits the other day in part because it can’t find mechanics for its autocentres. Barclays, we reported yesterday, has even had to stop account openings by new corporate customers because it hasn’t the clerical firepower to do the necessary due diligence. Labour supply is tentatively moving more into balance with demand, with vacancies falling slowly and anecdotal evidence of some long-hibernating workers emerging to seek work. Even so nominal wages growth in the year to October was 6.1 per cent, its highest outside the pandemic, the Office for National Statistics reports. Employers will do their level best to pass on these rising wage costs in selling prices in the coming months. Lord Wolfson at Next is hoping to raise prices for spring/summer clothing by 8 per cent and for his autumn/winter ranges by 6 per cent. Tui, the holiday operator, has lifted average selling prices by 23 per cent compared with pre-Covid times. That points to the danger of inflation becoming more embedded in the system, and in future wage settlements. The Bank of England still expects inflation to drop back to 2 per cent within 18 months. But that seems to assume these second-round effects will be weak and quickly dissipated. The great moderation is over. The 40 years in which globalisation, digitisation, an expanding EU and relative peace combined to keep price pressures low has passed. Brexit, war in Europe, souring China/western relations, growing protectionism and stubborn bottlenecks still plaguing the supply chain all point to a structural shift. That, according to Kallum Pickering at Berenberg Economics, will lastingly leave the UK “prone to bouts of excess inflation”. The risk is that neither ministers, central bankers nor voters have the appetite for the kind of painful downturn needed to crunch inflation back to 2 per cent and keep it there. Still there’s one upside: higher wage bills are great for focusing the minds of management on capital investment — and the higher productivity it can yield. ‘‘ ’’ Patrick Hosking is Financial Editor of The Times Mehreen Khan is Economics Editor of The Times It isn’t ‘wokeist’ for central banks to act on climate change Patrick Hosking ‘Natural disasters, extreme weather and the loss of biodiversity affect inflation and financial stability’

38 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business Rarely has the outlook for the global economy looked so uncertain as we enter the new year. War, political and trade tensions, the battle to bring down inflation ... with the situation changing by the hour, keeping up to date is essential. Get the latest news and market reaction by 8am, and analysis at 12.30pm, direct by email from the Business Editor, Richard Fletcher, and Business News Editor Martin Strydom. Business briefing Sign up athome.thetimes. co.uk/myNews Amigo on the brink as hunt for backer falters Ben Martin Banking Editor Amigo’s survival is in doubt, it has warned the stock market, after the troubled lender failed to find a cornerstone investor to back a crucial £45 million fundraising. The company urged investors who might be interested in taking part in its planned raising of capital to contact its advisers this week. If the share sale does not go ahead, Amigo will wind itself down in a move that would spell the end of what was once Britain’s biggest guarantor lender. Amigo was valued at £1.3 billion when it listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2018. Since then, it has been crippled by complaints from its borrowers, who claim they were mis-sold high-interest loans and want compensation. Its shares have collapsed and yesterday closed down 0.96p, or 24.62 per cent, at 2.94p, valuing it at £14.69 million. The Bournemouth-based lender wants to draw a line under the crisis by pursuing a so-called scheme of arrangement, a court-sanctioned restructuring process that will allow it to cap the compensation it pays out. However, the scheme is contingent on Amigo raising money from investors, some of which will go into a compensation pot for borrowers and the rest of which will be used to fund the lender’s future business. Amigo said that there had been demand for minority investments but “it has been unable to secure a commitment from a cornerstone investor to underwrite the whole of the capital raise”. Danny Malone, chief executive, said: “We are continuing with our efforts to put together an equity investor consortium as expeditiously as possible.” Amigo wants to complete the fundraising by May 26 but Malone hinted that a decision about the lender’s future could be made sooner. “We will strive for a positive outcome over the coming days,” he said. Amigo was founded by the entrepreneur James Benamor in 2005. Benamor, who is no longer on Amigo’s board, sold his controlling stake in 2020. Accounts for Benamor’s Richmond Group business filed last week showed it had suffered an £86.8 million loss on the disposal of its Amigo shares in the year to March 2021. Ashmore, the emerging markets fund manager, expects a marked improvement in investors’ risk appetite as pandemic restrictions are eased in China and economies improve in developing countries. In a trading update, the Londonlisted business said that assets under management in the final three months of last year increased by $1.2 billion to $57.2 billion, thanks to $3.8 billion from its investment performance. This was offset by outflows of $2.6 billion. Ashmore blamed the outflows on institutional investors “taking asset-allocation decisions” but noted that net outflows were about half the level of the previous three months. It said that the positive investment performance reflected an “easing of global macro concerns” and noted that it had outperformed benchmark indices across a broad range of fixed income and equity assets. London-based Ashmore, a long-time member of the FTSE 250, is an asset manager specialising in bonds issued by governments and companies operating in developing countries from Asia to Latin America. Mark Coombs, the chief executive, founded the business in 1992 as part of the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and led a management buyout seven years later. Ashmore says it was one of the first investment management firms to offer investors direct access to a broad group Investors’ appetite for risk is emerging again, says Ashmore James Hurley of emerging economies. It was hit by a dramatic fall in assets under management last year when clients spooked by falls in emerging markets requested redemptions. Those markets had been hit by soaring interest rates, which impose markto-market losses on bondholders. A slowdown in China and the boycott of Russia has exacerbated the losses. Rocketing borrowing costs and the strong dollar have also raised worries about defaults by some sovereign nations. But yesterday Coombs said the tide appeared to be turning. “Some of the headwinds of 2022, such as the Fed’s aggressive policy tightening, are receding; China reopening its economy will stimulate activity more broadly; and a number of emerging countries are starting to see deflation as a consequence of effective monetary policy action over the past two years. “Therefore, we expect investor risk appetite to increase over the course of the next 12 months, underpinning further market performance and ultimately leading to capital flows into the emerging markets.” Coombs, 62, said that Ashmore was “well-positioned for this environment, with active management delivering outperformance across equity and fixed income strategies and current market valuations supporting further performance in the years ahead”. Shares in Ashmore closed 5½p, or 2.1 per cent, higher at 266p. Demands for compensation amid mis-selling claims have crippled Amigo

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 39 Business Avolon, one of the big three aviation leasing companies, is predicting a swift revival in air traffic to pre-pandemic levels with half of the flights added being in Asia Capital Partners and Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, according to Bloomberg. Ashley Reed, chief executive of Ineos Enterprises, said that MBCC’s “well-invested and well-positioned sites present new opportunities for Ineos to grow in the construction market.” Thomas Hasler, the Sika chief executive, described the deal as a “tremendous leap forward on its path to joining forces with MBCC”, in what will be its largest acquisition. Sika expects to complete the takeover of MBCC in the first half of this year, and expects to realise cost and sales synergies of up to 180 million Swiss francs (£159 million). While other countries have still to sign off on the bid, Bernd Pomrehn, an analyst at Bank Vonotobel, said Sika should now be in compliance with the regulatory requirements for the MBCC acquisition to go ahead. Ratcliffe has been expanding his empire with investments in the Mercedes Formula One team, New Zealand rugby and the Team Sky cycling squad — now the Ineos Grenadiers — and tried to buy Chelsea and Manchester United. $Value of the admixture assets of MBCC 750m being taken over by Ineos The Big Four accounting firms have been subject to office inspections in Spain after claims that employees were working 12-hour days. KPMG, PwC, EY and Deloitte have been investigated over allegations of poor working practices in their Madrid offices, according to the Financial Times. Government inspectors visited the offices as part of an investigation into whether employees were working overtime without receiving payment or time off in return. A study published last year by a wellbeing charity set up to help accountants John Hargreaves, Matalan’s founder, has warned that the rescue deal for the retailer leaves it with too much debt. The budget chain has been acquired in a debt-for-equity swap by a group of lenders including Invesco, Man GLG, Tresidor and Napier Park after a process run by Teneo, the advisory firm, failed to elicit a satisfactory takeover bid. The consortium of bondholders will take ownership by cutting the debt by between £150 million and £200 million, and injecting £100 million of capital in a deal due to complete on January 26. The move will cut Matalan’s gross debt from £593 million to £336 million Hopes in the industry that this will be the year of aviation recovery have prompted a sharp rally in the shares of airlines operating in Britain. Already this year shares in easyJet, Britain’s busiest airline and the largest operator at Gatwick, have risen by 36 per cent. Shares in the British Airways group IAG, the largest operator at the UK’s biggest airport Heathrow, have risen by 29 per cent. Those of Ryanair, Europe’s busiest airline and the biggest tenant of London’s third airport Stansted, have gained 24 per cent and shares in Wizz Air, the east European airline that has become an increasingly large player in the UK, have rallied by 50 per cent after a long slump. Ineos expansion plans set in concrete with Swiss deal Simon Freeman Ineos, owned by the billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, has signed a deal to buy the concrete additives business of a Swiss rival in a deal that smoothes the way for a significant takeover. The industrial chemicals group will acquire a chunk of the admixture division of MBCC, the former BASF Construction Chemicals operation, for an undisclosed sum understood to value the assets at about $750 million. These include 35 production sites in the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, which employ 1,600 staff making chemicals used in concrete manufacture. The deal is part of a remedy demanded by the UK merger watchdog to enable Zurich-based Sika’s proposed £4.5 billion takeover of MBCC, a German rival owned by the private equity giant Lone Star. The Competitions and Markets Authority said that since Sika and MBCC were the two largest UK suppliers of admixtures, the acquisition would be likely to harm competition in the industry. The chemicals are added to concrete, cement and mortar to modify their properties in various ways, including slowing their setting rate so they can be transported over longer distances. The CMA agreed to the proposed fast-track remedy last month. Ineos beat competition from private equity firms including Cinven, CVC The global airline industry will be back at pre-pandemic levels by the middle of this year, according to a bullish assessment by Avolon, one of the world’s largest aircraft-leasing companies. The forecast is the most optimistic estimate yet for a recovery in the industry from the Covid-19 travel restrictions of 2020 to last year. Avolon is one of the big three aviation leasing companies, renting out 834 aircraft worldwide in a market in which such businesses account for more than half of global jetliner ownership. The firm is controlled by a Chinese company listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and it is the recovery of the aviation market in the People’s Republic after the latest coronavirus outbreaks and lockdowns that is behind the business’s latest predictions. The industry has been warning that the long-term disruption of the pandemic would mean that airline traffic would not recover to 2019 levels until next year or even 2025. In a report 2023 Outlook: Climb to Cruise Avolon says: “The aviation sector is set to thrive in 2023 with global traffic to reach pre-pandemic levels by June.” Of the delayed recovery in China, it states: “The reopening of the world’s second largest aviation market [behind the US] will drive a rapid uptick in air travel.” Last year the global market on average was 25 per cent to 30 per cent down on 2019 levels. Avolon predicts that this year for every two flights reinstated around the world one will be in Asia. However, it says that while the demand will return, the ability of airlines to react to it, along with the ability of Boeing and Airbus to catch up on their production of new, cleaner planes, put its forecast at risk. “Delivery delays have become endemic and an aircraft shortage is emerging, given the lost production of 2,400 planes that had been planned but were not built due to the pandemic. As traffic flows rebound, the absence of new aircraft is increasing supply tension,” the report says. Andy Cronin, Avolon’s chief executive, said: “Aviation has demonstrated its resilience and is ready to thrive having come through a pandemicdriven two thirds drop in traffic. “Airlines, manufacturers and lessors share an ecosystem that creates opportunities for all but requires collaboration to overcome key challenges, including a higher interest rate environment, limited aircraft availability and the need to make further progress on decarbonisation goals.” Matalan founder criticises rescue deal and is expected to save 11,000 jobs and avoid closures among its 230 UK stores. However, the finalisation of the deal has knocked other contenders out of the race, including Hargreaves, the former chairman, who had teamed up with the private equity firm Elliott Advisors. Hargreaves, 79, said he was “disappointed” by the decision, which will end his control of the group. He built the chain from a market stall in Liverpool, opened in 1985. The Hargreaves family private office said: “The Hargreaves family and Elliott bid would have left Matalan with less than £200 million of debt and ultimately ensured it was best positioned for long-term success. John Hargreaves does not believe that the deal . . . is an optimal outcome for Matalan and its key stakeholders.” Stephen Hill, chief financial officer of Matalan, said: “Matalan is a fantastic business and I am pleased that with the support of our first lien noteholders its ongoing future has been secured via a materially lower level of debt and reset balance sheet.” Matalan serves more than 11 million customers from its UK shops, an ecommerce platform and 53 overseas franchise stores. The retailer has accrued more than £500 million of debt in the past couple of years as a result of the pandemic and, more recently, inflation. Isabella Fish Retail Editor Big Four investigated over 12-hour days found more than half of respondents were suffering from stress and burnout. The research found “workload, long hours and the lack of margin for error in the job” was “tipping many over the edge”. The report, by Caba, revealed that 80 per cent of respondents felt poor mental health was a problem for the profession, and that almost half of those suffering from psychological conditions feared they would be treated differently if they told their employers about their illness. In the wider UK workforce the level of inactivity owing to sickness jumped by 537,500 in the year to June last year compared with pre-pandemic levels. An analysis by Sky News has found the rise was largely due to individuals suffering from mental health conditions. KPMG has partnered with the University of Cambridge to understand whether its wellbeing initiatives help its 16,000 employees. PwC said last year that it would invest $2.4 billion to tackle mental health problems among staff. Research by Deloitte has revealed that the cost of mental health difficulties for employers has risen by 25 per cent on pre-pandemic levels to £56 billion a year. EY and PwC said that they would not comment on the investigation in Spain. KPMG and Deloitte did not respond to a request for comment. Helen Cahill Robert Lea Industrial Editor Airline revival ‘to take wing at last’

40 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business Shares in ITM Power tumbled by 12 per cent yesterday after the UK hydrogen technology group issued its third profit warning in eight months. The electrolyser maker said that its results for this financial year would be “materially different from the current guidance”, with lower revenues and an T Sign up now for The Times Enterprise Network’s weekly newsletter for tips and insight from Britain’s leading entrepreneurs thetimes.co.uk/ten Enterprise Network Free thinking Independence has been vital to the success of Joseph Joseph, says cofounder Richard Joseph, whose homewares product design business made profits of £20 million last year How I Made It Tim Wilks of bowling alley operator Lane7 loves spares and strikes and is planning to take the Darlington-based company’s venues to Wales and Ireland ITM suffers grim reaction after third profit warning since June Emily Gosden even deeper loss than had been expected. It blamed the downgrade on losses on customer contracts, warranty provisions, support costs for earlier products and write-downs on its inventory. The warning comes amid a continuing review by Dennis Schulz, who replaced Graham Cooley, the long-serving chief executive, at the start of last month. Schulz is due to unveil a strategic update alongside ITM’s half-year results at the end of this month. ITM Power had disappointed investors in June with news that its profits for the financial year to April 2022 would be lower than expected, and in October it warned that its revenues for the year to April 2023 would be at the bottom end of guidance. Electrolysers use electricity to split water to create hydrogen, a gas that is forecast to be in high demand under the shifts to greener fuels, with oxygen as the harmless byproduct of burning it. ITM Power, based in Sheffield, was founded in 2001 and has been quoted on London’s junior Aim market since 2004. It specialises in making electrolysers that use “proton exchange membrane” technology, which are suited to being powered by intermittent renewable electricity sources such as wind turbines or solar panels. However, the company has hit difficulties in attempting to transition from small-scale deployment of prototypes to larger-scale manufacturing. ITM Power reported revenues of £5.6 million and a loss of £39.8 million on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (ebitda) in the year to April 2022. Before yesterday’s update, analysts had been expecting revenues this year of £23 million, in line with its October guidance, with adjusted ebitda showing a loss of up to £50 million. ITM promised updated guidance and “a strategic 12-month priorities plan” with its interim results on January 31. It said this strategic update would focus on concentrating its portfolio on core products and preparing for manufacturing them at scale, on plans for future testing and automation, and on “a rigorous approach to capital allocation and costs”. Schulz said that that was the challenge he expected on joining. “For the company to develop from an R&D [research & development] and prototyping entity, to a mature delivery organisation, we require firmer foundations.” Analysts at Peel Hunt said that Schulz “has his work cut out to right the ship” while analysts at Zeus warned that “while the company’s underlying technology appears perfectly solid, we would not be surprised to see further growing pains going forward”. After listing the problems that it had faced in the past year, ITM said that “all the issues we have encountered are surmountable, appreciating that the changes will require focus, time and diligence”. Shares in ITM closed down 12½p, or 12 cent, at 91¼p. Q inetiq, the listed military technology group, is to lead a consortium to improve the battle performance of the armed forces’ hardware and electronic systems (Robert Lea writes). Qinetiq to head £80m MoD mission

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 41 Business The sale by the world’s largest tobacco company of a shareholding in a pharmaceutical firm that developed a Covid vaccine has been welcomed by the World Health Organisation. Philip Morris International sold its stake in Medicago, a Canadian drugs company, to Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, a Japanese company and the majority shareholder. The disposal, which emerged recently, came after the WHO clashed last year with Medicago over Covifenz, its plant-based Covid vaccine developed in partnership with GSK, one of Britain’s biggest drugs companies. Medicago wanted the vaccine listed for emergency use, a process that would accelerate access globally, but the WHO rejected the approach “because of the linkage with the tobacco industry” and its “strict policy on not engaging with companies that promote the tobacco industry”. Philip Morris, one of the world’s largtrial has ruled Musk’s tweets were not true and that his claims were reckless. The jury must now decide whether the tweets caused material damage to investors and whether Musk knew they were untrue. The trial is set to run until early next month. Musk is expected to take the stand this week. He has already paid a $20 million fine to the Securities and Exchange Commission for the tweet. He was also ordered to put two independent directors on Tesla’s board. Musk is seeking to overhaul Twitter after buying the social media company for $44 billion in October last year. The entrepreneur has claimed that the company is a “plane that is headed towards the ground at high speed” and that it is amassing a $3 billion black hole in its budget. He warned about the state of the social media platform’s finances after Twitter users voted to remove him as chief executive and has promised to step down when he finds someone “foolish enough” to take on the role. Musk to testify in trial over Tesla ‘going private’ tweet Helen Cahill Philip Morris exits Covid jab maker est tobacco groups and the maker of Marlboro cigarettes, owned about a fifth of Medicago and had helped to fund development of the vaccine. WHO welcomed the sale, saying it was a “move in the right direction”. A spokeswoman said: “The tobacco industry is responsible for a myriad of diseases that kill over eight million people every year. They should not have a place at the table when discussing how to promote health and save lives.” A spokeswoman for Medicago said that Philip Morris’s sale was the “most appropriate way forward to ensure Medicago’s future growth and ability to create and deliver effective responses to emerging global health challenges”. A spokesman for Philip Morris said it had sold its stake last year and hoped Medicago’s innovative approach to developing new plant-based vaccines was realised “for the benefit of global public health”. He added: “Medicago being wholly owned by a single shareholder is the most appropriate way forward.” The tobacco company was critical of the WHO’s treatment of the vaccine last year, calling it “extremely disturbing and diametrically opposed to their repeated calls to urgently accelerate vaccination globally”. It has been diversifying away from combustible cigarettes, including through the acquisition of Vectura, the British respiratory drugs company, which prompted criticism from public health groups. GSK’s portfolio of medicines includes respiratory treatments. It also included Nicorette, a nicotine addiction brand, before its consumer healthcare business was spun off last year. GSK is understood to have been in favour of the move by Philip Morris. During the pandemic two years ago, the government stepped up calls for smokers to quit. Matt Hancock, the health secretary at the time, said it was clear that smoking made the impact of a coronavirus worse. Sir Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, said: “If you are going to give up smoking , this is a very good moment to do it.” Alex Ralph Elon Musk is set to defend himself against allegations that he lost investors billions when he claimed he would take Tesla private. The trial examining Musk’s 2018 tweet about securing funding for a Tesla deal starts in San Francisco today with jury selection. The class action case has been launched by Glen Littleton, an investor who is suing Tesla, Musk and members of the electric car company’s board, claiming that the tweet was false. Musk, 51, said in his tweet in August 2018 that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured”. Littleton and other members of the class action have said they lost billions after the tweet led to swings in the price of Tesla’s stock, options and bonds. Musk has said in court documents that he was sincere in his intention to privatise Tesla and that he thought he had the backing required from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. But the US district judge overseeing the Team Pegasus, led by Qinetiq, has won an £80 million, ten-year contract for a Ministry of Defence project to provide “mission data” to “enable the UK’s military platforms and personnel to be better protected in a rapidly changing threat landscape”. Project Societas has been born out of the army, navy and air force’s need to upgrade its joint electronic warfare operations support. Qinetiq is akin to a spiritual offspring of the fictional Q Branch of the British military secret service — the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency — which was broken up and sold to the private sector two decades ago. While the now near-£2 billion rated stock market company has branched into commercial services and also works for the Pentagon, its mainstay customer remains the MoD. Mission data is the process of turning raw source data into quality data to make military platforms and systems more effective. Project Societas said that Qinetiq represented “a significant investment in data and digital skills for both the MoD and industry”. Team Pegasus which includes the universities of Lincoln and Cranfield, will create 70 data science and computing jobs in the Lincolnshire area and will lead to more than 200 defence personnel becoming more highly skilled. Alex Chalk, defence procurement minister, said: “As the threat landscape continues to evolve it’s important that our personnel receive everything they need, from IT support and training, to direct battlefield support.” The armed forces’ electronic warfare will be honed by Team Pegasus via a ten-year project headed by Qinetiq Celadon on a high with right to make medicinal cannabis Alex Ralph Celadon Pharmaceuticals has received certification to manufacture pharmaceutical-grade cannabis following government reforms five years ago. The listed company said that its facility in Birmingham had been registered by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under the “good manufacturing practice” regulations for its cannabis active pharmaceutical ingredient. The company, quoted on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s junior stock market, said it was understood to be the first registration of a UK pharmaceutical facility for both cultivating and manufacturing high tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) cannabis, which contains psychoactive properties, since the legalisation of medical cannabis in 2018. From November that year the government changed the law to allow specialist doctors to prescribe cannabisbased medicines but most patients have relied on imported products, which has restricted access and increased costs. The certification from the MHRA for Celadon’s 100,000 sq ft indoor facility in Birmingham, which followed seven harvests last year and years of discussions with officials on the emerging regulatory framework, is a potential watershed for Celadon and the commercialisation of its medicinal cannabis oil. The company, which is focused on chronic pain and exploring the potential of cannabis-based medicines for conditions such as autism, believes the change will improve patient access, cut costs and renew investor interest. Celadon has notified the Home Office of its new status and requested a change to its licence to allow the company to supply the product to third parties. It believes the process will be a formality and is stepping up negotiations with a view to reaching supply agreements with universities, government bodies and pharmaceutical companies conducting R&D and drug development. The growing market was boosted when the Financial Conduct Authority clarified the listing rules in 2020. GW Pharma, an industry-trailblazer which floated on Aim in London in 2001 before listing on the Nasdaq, was acquired two years ago by Jazz Pharmaceuticals, a rival US-listed company, for $7.2 billion. The deal was understood to be the largest takeover of a Britishbased biotech company and led to Jazz last year announcing plans to invest $100 million in a manufacturing facility at Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne. Celadon is led by Jim Short, its founder and chief executive, who is an entrepreneur with a background in construction and renewable energy. He remains its largest shareholder with a 42.24 per cent stake. The company, which employs about 25 people, has raised about £20 million of investment, including £8.5 million from its AIM listing in March last year. LVL, its subsidiary, owns an MHRA conditionally-approved clinical trial using cannabis-based medicinal products to treat chronic pain. Short, 54, said it was “a tremendous milestone, given the significant capital and regulatory requirements. It gives us that clear line to revenue. There’s been a lot of potential shareholders that couldn’t take that particular regulatory risk. We are talking to a number of companies that are interested in using us to produce products for the UK market.” Shares in Celadon, whose adviser is Canaccord Genuity, closed up 1p, or 1.94 per cent, to 52.5p, valuing the company at £32.37 million. A jury will decide whether Musk’s claim was reckless

42 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business Markets news in brief Aviva wind farm target Aviva has started insuring offshore wind farms as it aims to become the largest insurer of renewable energy by 2027. The FTSE 100 group has launched products covering construction and operational risks for offshore wind infrastructure and signed up one client in the North Sea. Adam Winslow, chief executive of Aviva UK and Ireland general insurance, said that offshore infrastructure was a “growth area” due to the number of projects coming to market and that it would help the UK to meet its net zero emissions target by 2040. Suitors for MJ Hudson The asset management consultancy MJ Hudson has received takeover approaches after its shares were suspended over fears of accounting irregularities. Sky News reported that MJ Hudson had hired advisers at Alvarez & Marsal to oversee the offers made for parts of the business. The company announced its shares had been suspended last month due to problems “in relation to the reporting of historical trading of the business”. Pay-later firms boom Companies selling buy-now, pay-later products have benefited from an uplift in demand from all ages as incomes come under pressure. The Financial Times reported new data showing that more than half of 18 to 24-yearolds expected to take out a loan this year. The research by the Centre for Financial Capability also found that almost a fifth of people aged over 65 had used the instalment-loan products or planned to take out a loan in the next year. Didi back on the road Didi, the Chinese ride-hailing service, has been granted approval to restart new user registration in a sign of Beijing granting more freedoms to internet companies. China’s cybersecurity regulator has allowed new sign-ups after the authorities ordered app stores to block Didi in 2021. Beijing also forced the company to delist from the New York Stock Exchange in June last year, less than 12 months after its float, leaving investors with heavy losses. Commodities PRICES Major indices London Financial Futures © 2023 Tradeweb Markets LLC. All rights reserved. The Tradeweb FTSE Gilt Closing Prices information contained herein is proprietary to Tradeweb; may not be copied or re-distributed; is not warranted to be accurate, complete or timely; and does not constitute investment advice. Tradeweb is not responsible for any loss or damage that might result from the use of this information. off the fund completely. For one, Impax is not interested in the raciest and most speculative green companies. An historic allowance for up to 10 per cent of the portfolio in unlisted companies was scrapped before the current downturn and none of its holdings are pre-profit. Also the portfolio’s price/earnings multiple is now just over 18, back in line with the long-running average. If inflation has already peaked, as some economists suspect, some of the companies that have been most beaten down by rising consumer prices and looming global recessions could kick higher. The Impax fund eyes a longerterm horizon, holding stocks for an energy, water and waste management has exposed the FTSE 250 investment trust to the sell-off in highly valued growth stocks in favour of value plays. The result? At its peak the average price/earnings ratio of the 58 companies held by the trust stood at a multiple of 26, or a premium of more than 40 per cent to the MSCI index. As inflation has risen, the value of the fund’s assets have slid 15 per cent, against an 8 per cent decline in the trust’s global benchmark. The shares’ chunky premium has slipped to a 2.9 per cent discount against the value of the underlying companies. But there are reasons not to write C onvincing investors to park their cash in funds that display green credentials requires something more than worthiness. Impax Environmental Markets rightly asks to be judged on its ability to outperform the MSCI All Country World Index, a yardstick that incorporates global equities rather than only those with a sustainable bent. The comparison is not working in Impax’s favour. Investing in globally listed companies specialising in clean Emma Powell Tempus Buy, sell or hold: today’s best share tips Segro’s growth fears can be shelved S egro was primed for trouble heading into last year. Raging inflation and higher financing costs for commercial property investors had unravelled the warehouse landlord’s meaty premium. Shares in the former stock (and property) market darling have declined by almost 40 per cent since the start of last year, equating to a 32 per cent discount to the value of the group’s assets at the end of June. That the underlying worth of Segro’s logistics assets has fallen since then seems likely. The value of industrial assets in the UK sank by just over 17 per cent over the first 11 months of last year, according to CBRE, the property services group. That is a period that includes the chaotic fallout from the mini-budget, which led two-year gilt yields to spike at more than twice the level they traded at two months earlier. But the slide in the prices being attributed to warehouse assets began in July, according to CBRE’s data, a result of rising interest rates and a downturn that stifled demand from corporate occupiers. Since June, analysts have steadily downgraded expectations for where Segro’s net asset value will end this year, forecasting £10.46 a share, according to Refinitiv data. If accurate, that would represent a decline of just over 6 per cent on the company’s 2021 asset value. That seems small fry compared with the hefty falls recorded by the retail and office markets, but it should also be judged against the heady rise in value in previous years. Between the end of 2019 and 2021, Segro’s net asset value rose by almost 60 per cent, a result of the rapid rise in ecommerce, ultra-low vacancy rates and gains made on developing new sites. Still, signs of weakness from stocks that benefited the most from the tumult of the pandemic are harshly punished. Segro’s shares are priced at an 18 per cent discount to the NAV forecast at the end of December this year. The magnitude of that discount reflects the high level of uncertainty about where Segro’s valuation will land. June values, the last available, are out of date. In the third quarter, take-up of space equated to rent of £16 million, half the level agreed in the same period the year before. Segro’s tenant base spans almost 1,500 companies. What a lot have in Occupational hazard Share price Source: Refinitiv Q1 Q1 2021 Q2 Q3 Q4 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 £14 Net asset value per share 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2022, 2023 and 2024 estimates £5.56 £6.50 £7 £8.11 £11.18 £10.47 £10.46 £11.02 2022 common is a reliance on consumer spending. The US ecommerce giant Amazon is its biggest tenant, representing 7 per cent of headline rent. Moves by Amazon to downsize its footprint after an overexpansion during the pandemic hardly bodes well. Other high-profile names that might raise an eyebrow include the electric car maker Tesla, the grocery delivery group Ocado and the DIY retailer Toolstation. Just under 40 per cent of new lettings came from sectors linked to ecommerce in the first half of last year. Scale separates Segro from the rest of the London-listed industrial landlords. So does a lengthy pipeline of developments. The FTSE 100 group’s roster of schemes could add £86 million of potential annual rent, Segro reckons, which would represent 15 per cent of its existing rent roll. Most of the committed developments have been let, but 36 per cent of space has not. Is it relevant that the pipeline is weighted more heavily towards big boxes than urban warehouses? That is a part of the market where capacity is growing more quickly and where rents are forecast to grow more slowly, at between 2 and 4 per cent versus the 3-6 per cent increase Segro reckons its urban warehouses can notch up over the medium term. About 78 per cent of the debt pile has been fixed, which eases the pain of higher finance costs on the bottom line. The pace of rate rises this year will be key to catalysing a recovery or sending Segro’s shares south. ADVICE Hold WHY The discount adequately reflects a likely decline in the value of Segro’s net asset value average four to five years. Over the latter timeframe, the trust’s net asset value is up 57.5 per cent, compared with a 45.1 per cent rise in the global index. Naturally, that reflects a period when global interest rates were in and around historic lows. Pushing returns higher will not be as easy over the next couple of years, but the worst of the pain might have already been felt. ADVICE Hold WHY The worst of the fall in asset values could be behind the trust if inflation eases segro Half-year revenue £330m Dividend yield 2.98% impax environmental markets Market cap £1.3bn Discount/net asset value 2.9%

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 43 Markets Business R eiss is the latest retailer to report “strong” Christmas sales and a return to in-person shopping (Isabella Fish writes). Total group sales at the premium fashion retailer, which is majority owned by Next, grew by 20.3 per cent year-on-year in the nine weeks to January 7. Store sales rose by 18.5 per cent in the period, offering further evidence of the return to physical shopping postpandemic. Online sales were up 22.3 per cent. The British men’s and women’s clothing retailer also said that for the second half so far, store sales were up 14.3 per cent and online by 18.3 per cent for a total rise across all channels of 16.1 per cent. The half year does not officially end until January 28. The company, founded in 1971 by David Reiss, said it was “well placed” to produce sales and profit growth in the year ahead. Christos Angelides, the chief executive, said: “Reiss has continued to perform Insurers were also lower, with Admiral down 23p, or 1.1 per cent, to £21.61 and Beazley down 24p or 3.7 per cent, to 633½p. Despite pre-tax profits and revenues rising at Knights Group in the six months to the end of October, the market did not approve. Indeed, Shore Capital said the Aim-listed firm’s results were “somewhat concerning” pointing out that organic growth had stagnated, the integration of acquisitions remained uncertain and productivity had worsened. Knights Group shares ended the day down 8p, or 6.5 per cent, at 116p. Elsewhere, MP Evans gained 36p, or 4.4 per cent, to close at 856p after the palm-oil producer said crop and production increased last year as its estates matured and yields rose. Another Aim winner was Quixant, which ticked up 2½p, or 1.5 per cent, to end the day at 169½p after the computer-maker said it expected to report record annual sales of $119.9 million, 38 per cent up on last year. Aston Martin hits the skids as cash runs dry Jessica Newman Market report W hen you look at the success of Porsche and Ferrari there is no doubt that there is considerable appetite in the market for luxury carmakers. But there remains one notable exception. Troubled Aston Martin Lagonda often finds itself languishing at the bottom of the mid-cap leaderboard, as it was yesterday after HSBC became the latest bank to air concerns about the company’s dwindling cash balance. Downgrading their “buy” recommendation to “hold”, the analysts are a lot more worried about further capital raising considering the proceeds from last year’s fund-raising “appear to be all but gone”. “Sustainable positive cash flow remains the holy grail,” HSBC’s equity analyst Michael Tyndall said, pointing out that the group started the year with net debt of about £890 million, raised about £640 million in September, but closed the third quarter with net debts of £833 million. Tyndall said 2023 would be another tough year for the group because supply problems persisted, with shortages of some particular components appearing to be magnified at Aston Martin. HSBC reckons this is because suppliers are favouring larger customers. Aston Martin shares skidded down 10¼p, or 6 per cent, to close at 160¾p. The FTSE 100, which closed on Friday at 7,844.07, nudged closer to its all-time high of 7,877 in May 2018. The index added another 16 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 7,860.07 in lighter trading than usual. The more UKfocused FTSE 250, which surpassed the 20,000-mark for the first time since last August, picked up a further 129.49 points, or 0.7 per cent, to 20,082.33. Taylor Wimpey was among the biggest risers on the FTSE 100, improving 2½p, or 2.3 per cent, to 117¼p. Data from Rightmove showing that asking prices for houses crept up by more than expected this month lifted investor confidence. Barratt Developments added 8¼p, or 1.8 per cent, to 463¼p and Persimmon moved 22½p, or 1.6 per cent, higher to £14.39. Joining the housebuilders at the top of the City leaderboard, Ocado rose 39¾p, or 5.2 per cent, to close at 808p and Halma was up 41p, or 1.9 per cent, to £21.66. Shares of 888 Holdings recovered 4¾p, or 5.3 per cent, to close at 94p as Peel Hunt repeated its “buy” recommendation on the gambling operator. Its analysts noted there “was enough meat” in November’s capital markets day to reassure investors that its acquisition of William Hill will pay off. The paving company Marshalls, however, dropped 8p, or 2.5 per cent, to 314¾p as analysts at Peel Hunt slashed their profit forecasts for 2023 and 2024 because of the news flow from housebuilders last week. Shine goes off Petra forecasts natural resources P etra Diamonds has cut production guidance for this year and next following a disappointing performance in the first half. The miner, which has operations in South Africa and Tanzania, said total production in the six months to the end of December dropped by just over a fifth to 1.4 million carats and reported lower sales of $212.1 million. It said this was because of the extraction of lower grade diamonds at its Cullinan mine, fewer tonnes mined at its Finsch project and the suspension of production at its Williamson and Koffiefontein mines. Petra is planning to close the loss-making Koffiefontein, which opened in the 1880s. It expects to produce 2.8 million carats for the current financial year, down from between 3.3 million and 3.6 million and cut its forecast range for next year by 300,000 carats, to between 3 million and 3.3 million. Guidance for 2025 is unchanged. Richard Duffy, the chief executive, said despite the challenges he was confident the company would generate cash, adding that its stronger product mix offset the recent softness in rough diamonds. The shares closed down by 7p, or 6.9 per cent, at 95p. Tanzania’s Williamson mine is an important diamond producer Wall Street report Markets in the United States were closed for the Martin Luther King Jr Day public holiday. The day’s biggest movers strongly over the Christmas period, reflecting the underlying levels of growth experienced throughout 2022. Sales were strong across all product categories, in all territories and across all channels.” Reiss returned to profitability in the year to January 29, 2022. Profit before tax and exceptional items was £39.6 million, against a loss of £3.8 million the year before. Next, the high street retailer led by Lord Wolfson of Aspley Guise, owns 51 per cent of Reiss, after doubling its stake last year. It had bought a 25 per cent stake in 2021. Store sales give Reiss a festive flush Dollar rates Exchange rates Other Sterling Money rates % Sterling spot and forward rates Gold/Precious metals European money deposits % Data as shown is for information purposes only. No offer is made by Morningstar or this publication Because of a technical issue, the gold fix prices are from Friday.

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 45 Unit Trusts Business The Times unit trust information service Sell Buy +/- Yld Sell Buy +/- % Yld Sell Buy +/- % Yld Sell Buy +/- % Yld Sell Buy +/- % Yld % Sell Buy +/- Yld % British funds Data as shown is for information purposes only. No offer is made by Morningstar or this publication This is a paid for information service. For further details on a particular fund, readers should contact their fund manager.

46 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Business Equity prices 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Health v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Construction & property v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v Consumer goods v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Engineering v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E Automobiles & parts Banking & finance v v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v Investment companies 12 month Price Yld Dis(-) High Low Company (p) +/- % or Pm 12 month Price Yld Dis(-) High Low Company (p) +/- % or Pm v Dividend yields Please note dividend yields are supplied by Morningstar. The yield is the sum of a company’s trailing 12-month dividend payments divided by the last month’s ending share price 12 month high and low Please note the 12 month high and low figures for shares supplied by Morningstar are based on intra-day figures, not closing prices.

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 47 Equity prices Business Data as shown is for information purposes only. No offer is made by Morningstar or this publication u s t 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Telecoms v v v v Transport v v Utilities v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v Retailing v v v v v v Technology v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Professional & support services v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v Industrials v v v v v v v v v v Leisure v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Media v v v v v 12 month Price High Low Company (p) +/- Yld% P/E v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v Natural resources v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v

48 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Register Obituaries Lollobrigida In a publicity photograph and donated the proceeds for stem cell research. Her later years, however, were overshadowed by the acrimonious end of her relationship with one Javier Rigau y Rafols. By his account, which varied at almost every point from hers, they had met in 1984 when she was 57 and he 23 (“I’ve always had a weakness for young men,” she admitted). In 2006, when she was almost 80, they revealed their love to a surprised world and announced that they were to marry. The ceremony was later cancelled but in 2013 Lollobrigida began a lawsuit against Rigau, alleging that in 2010 he had gone ahead with it in secret in Barcelona and married her by proxy. Lollobrigida claimed that Rigau was trying to get his hands on her fortune. Moreover, she said, they had in fact only known each other for two years, not 22. Rigau made counter-claims of his own, among them that Lollobrigida She had affairs with Christiaan Barnard and, it was said, Fidel Castro Vita but that her husband hid the script she had been sent. On the international stage she was usually seen as a sultry temptress in spectacular hokum such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, where she was Anthony Quinn’s Esmerelda, and Solomon and Sheba, with Yul Brynner. She rapidly gained a reputation for being difficult, which is to say that she knew what she wanted and spoke her mind. On the set of Trapeze, the director Carol Reed took to shooting the dangerous acrobatic sequences early in the morning, before Lollobrigida and Burt Lancaster were on set. Yet when her stunt double broke her nose, Lollobrigida insisted on doing the aerial scenes herself for the next month. The best of the slew of American films that she made in the 1960s were those with Rock Hudson (“When we did our love scenes he was quite . . . normal”). For Come September she won a Golden Globe, and lost out on another to Barbra Streisand’s Funny Girl. The nomination was for her last screen role of note, as a woman who convinces several US soldiers that they are the father of her child in Buona Sera, Mrs Campbell (1968). The film later inspired the musical Mamma Mia!. Lollobrigida’s own love life was no less complex. In 1949 she married Milko Skofic, a Slovenian doctor who was helping refugees housed at Rome’s Cinecittà studios. He became her manager, but she attributed some of her failure to land roles that went to Loren to his not being a powerful producer, unlike her rival’s husband, Carlo Ponti. She and Skofic had a son, Andrea Milko, who has worked in information systems, but the marriage was not happy. In 1971 Lollobrigida was among the first Italians to obtain a divorce following its legalisation. Matters had not been helped perhaps by Hughes having continued to pursue her. He would send lawyers to her pinkpainted villa on the Appian Way in Rome, where they would play tennis with her husband, accompanied by the screech of her peacocks. Another persistent admirer was Prince Rainier of Monaco, who Lollobrigida claimed would make passes at her even in front of his wife, Grace Kelly. “My God,” she reminisced, “at least do it carefully!” In the 1960s she had an affair with the playboy heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard, and was reputed to have had another with Fidel Castro. When Italian soldiers were sent to Lebanon to keep the peace in 1982, Syria’s defence minister ordered that they not be harmed because he held a candle for her. She also liked to recall how President Mitterrand had looked at her when pinning the Légion d’honneur on her chest: “François understood I was more than just an actress . . .” “When you find a love, to refuse it is a crime,” she told The Times in 1999. “I am very independent, I have always done my fighting alone, but I do miss someone to protect me. It seems I am too much for one man.” The second of four sisters, she was born Luigia Lollobrigida in 1927 in Subiaco, east of Rome. Her father made furniture but he lost all his stock in an Allied bombardment. Gina herself was much affected by the devastation she witnessed. By the end of the war, the whole family were living in a single room in Rome. From her earliest years Gina showed a fiery determination to get what she wanted and she won a place to study at the capital’s leading art school. Her sisters worked as usherettes to help pay her fees and she sold caricatures and posed for photo-romance magazines. Only in her final years would she reveal that at the age of 18 she had been raped by a footballer in the Lazio team, and married young partly to try to put the trauma of it behind her. In 1947 she came third in the Miss Italy competition. This was to become a launching pad for many actresses but when Italian film producers first approached Gina and offered a fee of 1,000 lire, she shrewdly announced that even a million lire would not tempt her into the movies; she got it. Her earliest roles were bit parts, but in 1952 she had her first success in a French swashbuckler, Fanfan la tulipe. She in effect retired only 20 years later, aged 45, after appearing to much acclaim as the Blue Fairy in Comencini’s celebrated television adaptation of Pinocchio. Thereafter she made very occasional returns to the screen, for instance in the campy American drama Falcon Crest in the 1980s, and in a 1988 remake for television of La Romana. This time Lollobrigida played the mother of the protagonist, let everyone know she was unhappy with the casting and at the press conference to publicise the programme had a stand-up row with the leading actress. Away from the cameras, she concentrated on a career as an artist, mainly of somewhat kitsch sculptures. She also briefly dabbled in politics, standing as a centre-left candidate for the European parliament in 1999. She was an ambassador for Unicef and in 2013 sold her collection of jewellery for £3 million Gina Lollobrigida At the height of her fame as a film star in the 1950s, Gina Lollobrigida was Europe’s best-known sex symbol. “She made Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple,” said Humphrey Bogart. Even on her 70th birthday, in 1997, a Rome newspaper saluted her as “opulent, bewitching, carnal, vibrant, earthy, elegant and imperial, with the most celebrated décolletage of the century”. But by the end of her life, “La Lollo” was being portrayed as Norma Desmond. Caught up in an alleged swindle by a much younger lover, she was said to be deluding herself like the faded diva in Sunset Boulevard that her toyboys wanted her for her beauty; that the public still knew her name. Widely accepted though both these characterisations were, they told only part of the story. What Lollobrigida truly was, and remained, was emphatically, archetypically, unrepentantly Italian; that is to say, straight to the point and yet nobody’s fool. Proof of this, and what showed her at her best, were the films that made her name at home but were perhaps less familiar abroad. Chief among these was Luigi Comencini’s 1953 comedy Pane, amore e fantasia. Known in English as Bread, Love and Dreams, it sent neorealism in a less searching but more popular direction and made Lollobrigida’s reputation. Forever after, Italians identified her with the part she played of “La bersagliera” — the huntress, the headstrong, untamed, barefoot country girl. The film’s portrait of a timeless rural Italy might have been false, given that the postwar economic boom was then transforming the nation. Yet few doubted that Lollobrigida, who had grown up in the hills outside Rome, was doing anything for the camera other than being her pushy, impetuous self. Certainly, the role showcased her gypsy looks — the narrow waist, the ample bosom, the curls after which “Lollo rosso” lettuce would be named — but these were commonplace in Italy. What singled her out on the screen from other pretty shopgirls and pert housewives, and what made them adore her, was an inner fire. It was this, together with the perception that she had not forsaken Italy for Hollywood, which let her rival the more abundant glamour, and greater talent, of her contemporary Sophia Loren. The two conducted a long feud. Loren recalled in her memoir that this began when they were in London at the same time as starlets and she was judged by Fleet Street’s finest to have the bigger bust. For her part, Lollobrigida never failed to claim that it was only when she turned down a second sequel to Pane, amore e fantasia that Loren got her break. “She plays peasants, I play ladies,” said Lollobrigida, untruthfully. This irrepressible vitality was evident in her best films of the mid-1950s, such as La provinciale and La Romana, dramas of morals based on stories by Alberto Moravia. Lollobrigida’s appeal Irrepressible Italian actress who shot to fame in the Fifties and became an international sex symbol Bogart said that she made Marilyn Monroe look like Shirley Temple stemmed from her seeming as if she could be one’s, admittedly life-enhancing, neighbour. That quality tended to be lost when Hollywood typecast her as an exotic beauty, which she was not. American interest in her had begun even before she was a star. In 1950 the tycoon Howard Hughes, who then owned RKO studios, saw some publicity shots of the 22-year-old actress and invited her to Los Angeles. The pretext was a screen test, but Lollobrigida divined his intentions when she arrived at Rome airport with her husband to find tickets waiting just for her. In California, Hughes put her up in a suite, supplied her with an English teacher and gave her a script to rehearse — a divorce scene. For the next three months she fended off his advances, though she found him fascinating if eccentric company (“More interesting than my husband,” she confided to Vanity Fair in 2015). In exchange, Hughes taught her English swearwords. He only let her return home after she had signed a contract that in effect made it impossible for her to make a film in America for the next seven years. But it did not stop her from appearing in those productions that US studios were increasingly making abroad, notably in Italy. Accordingly, in her breakthrough year of 1953, she made her English-speaking debut in John Huston’s Beat the Devil, albeit that her part was dubbed. But then so had been her Italian roles to date, her accent being deemed too provincial. Her co-star Bogart’s dialogue was voiced by an unknown Peter Sellers after the American lost his teeth in an accident. Huston’s parody of a hard-boiled thriller proved a curate’s egg, but it did not prevent Lollobrigida from catching Hollywood’s eye. Thereafter she became definitively a star at home, and as such was cast in leading roles in minor Italian films. These included the biopics La donna più bella del mondo, as the soprano Lina Cavalieri, and Venere Imperiale, as Pauline Bonaparte. She claimed Fellini wanted her for La Dolce On the set of Trapeze, for which she insisted on doing aerial stunts herself In Monaco in 2004 with Javier Rigau y Rafols

the times | Tuesday January 17 2023 49 Acclaimed author of Akenfield Ronald Blythe Page 50 had known about the marriage and that there had been nothing fake about their romance. “The first phrase she taught me in Italian was ‘Let’s f***’,” he gallantly revealed. A Spanish tribunal found that the union was valid and cleared Rigau of fraud. A related application by Lollobrigida’s son to take charge of her affairs was rejected by a court. He told the media that he was worried by the influence over the soon-to-be nonagenarian of her new adviser Andrea Piazzolla, 27. The star, who had a habit of referring to herself in the third person, let everyone know, however, that she had lost none of her forcefulness nor self-regard. She explained that she no longer though he was not especially agile and was as highly strung as his equipment. “It’s much nicer to watch [than play],” he once told a reporter. “Then you can’t lose.” A 1951 profile dubbed him The Worrier, adding: “Known for his nervousness, Dick Savitt can be quietly pleasant but frequently is aggressively impatient, battling with linesmen, officials and most of all with himself”. Frustrated at hitting a ball into the net during a doubles match in Sydney in 1950, he hurled his racket with such force that it made an inch-deep hole in the grass. But Savitt used his anger productively at Wimbledon in the 1951 semi-finals. Down 6-1, 5-1, to his countryman Herb Flam, the sixth seed was so irked by his opponent’s chipper demeanour that he rallied to take the set 15-13, and ultimately the match. Though he woke at 5am on the day of the final and nervously paced around his hotel room, the showpiece was a canter by comparison, as McGregor (obituary, January 2, 2008) was vanquished 6-4, 6-4, 6-4. No player since has matched Savitt’s achievement of winning the Wimbledon men’s singles on his first attempt. Runner-up in the men’s doubles at Roland-Garros in 1951 and 1952, Savitt won the singles title at the US national indoor championships in 1952, 1958 and 1961. He also won gold medals in singles and doubles at the 1961 Maccabiah Games in Israel. A brief marriage in 1961 to Louise Liberman, who worked for Vogue magazine, ended in divorce. His second wife, Annelle Hayes, a former Hollywood actress, died in 2013. He is survived by a son from his first marriage, Bob, a former professional tennis player who founded a property company. They won a national father and son doubles title in 1981, much to the elder Savitt’s delight. Savitt was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1976. A prominent figure in New York tennis circles, he regularly advised Arthur Ashe. “Bend your knees on that low forehand volley, kid,” he urged. He did not lament rejecting the chance to try life as a barnstorming professional before the Open era dawned in 1968. “Pro tennis was touring every night and not so much a tournament circuit then,” he recalled. “It was a tough life.” Dick Savitt, tennis player, was born on March 4, 1927. He died on January 6, 2023, aged 95 Savitt celebrating his Wimbledon win for Woman of Rome and, below, in Bread, Love and Dreams, which forged her image as a strong, barefoot country girl spoke to her son and praised Piazzolla for giving her the confidence to drive again after she had a crash. “He’s got me back in my Ferrari,” she said with a wink. By 2022, however, Piazzolla faced two trials for misappropriating the star’s funds, and was accused of having pocketed the proceeds of selling her Jaguar. A court ruled that she should have a guardian appointed to look after her financial affairs. Later in 2022, she announced that at the age of 95 she would be running in Italy’s general election on September 25, representing the Eurosceptic party Italia sovrana e popolare (ISP). She was not expected to poll many votes, and in the event won just over 1 per cent of the vote in her constituency, but her place in Italian hearts was never in doubt. “I am the symbol of Italy, everybody knows me,” she reflected. “I’ve never got used to all the attention, you know . . . I am so famous, but no one knows the real me. I am very shy, really. I am just the girl from Subiaco.” Gina Lollobrigida, film star, was born on July 4, 1927. She died on January 16, 2023, aged 95 Dick Savitt Self-taught American tennis player who triumphed at Wimbledon in 1951 but quit abruptly a year later Shiny cups and the applause of a packed Centre Court crowd were no small reward for a dominant performance in a Wimbledon final, but the financial benefits were meagre in the amateur era. After taking barely an hour to dispatch Ken McGregor in straight sets and win the 1951 men’s singles title, Dick Savitt was handed a trio of trophies and a £10 shopping voucher to be redeemed at Lillywhites, the sporting goods store at Piccadilly Circus. The self-taught American was also the reigning Australian Championships title-holder, having defeated the Adelaide-born McGregor earlier in the year in a tournament routinely dominated by homegrown players. His Wimbledon triumph continued a rapid rise. “If I am on my game, nobody can beat me,” he declared. “The others are coming uphill to me.” Time magazine featured Savitt on the cover in August 1951, declaring him “The man to beat”. He was a firm favourite to claim what is now the US Open that summer, only to suffer a leg infection and lose in the semi-finals. Underlining his status as one of the world’s top players, the following year he reached grand slam quarter-finals in the United States, France and at Wimbledon and made the last four in Australia. Yet, seemingly at the peak of his powers and aged only 25, Savitt abruptly retired from tournament play to pursue a career as a Texas oilman. “In those times it was different,” he said in 2011. “You either kept playing and taking under-the-table type payments, or you ended up teaching at a club. I didn’t want to do that. I had to decide to keep playing a few more years or get out of the game and go to work in a normal position. That’s what I did.” Fatigue from the demanding schedule and a snub that he declined to discuss in public probably also factored into his decision. Though he was arguably his nation’s best player, Savitt was left off the American Davis Cup team that lost the final to Australia in December 1951. He was the first Jewish player to win the Wimbledon title. Given the widespread prejudice of the era — many American country clubs excluded Jews — there was speculation that antisemitism was a factor, but Savitt later said he did not believe this was the reason. Savitt moved to Houston and drilled for oil. He made a part-time tournament comeback in 1956 and was ranked in the national top ten for the next three years even though he did not play the overseas grand slams. Finding black gold in short supply in Texas, he relocated to New York and became a Wall Street stockbroker. Richard Savitt was born in Bayonne, New Jersey, in 1927. His father, Morris, was a food broker. His mother, Kate (née Hoberman), suffered from a skin ailment. When Dick was in high school the family moved to El Paso, Texas, in the hope that warm weather would alleviate her condition. The year-round sunshine proved a boon for his sporting ambitions. After serving in the US navy at the end of the Second World War, he studied economics at Cornell University. Powerfully built and 6ft 3in tall, he was granted a basketball scholarship but a knee injury led him to focus on tennis. Savitt was renowned for his strong serve and booming groundstrokes,

50 Tuesday January 17 2023 | the times Register Email: [email protected] Akenfield won the Heinemann prize and became a bestseller as well as a set text in schools. Acclaimed by authors such as John Updike, it was rapturously reviewed in America. Jan Morris wrote in The New York Times: “Blythe lovingly opens the curtains of legend and landscape, revealing the inner, almost clandestine, spirit of the village behind. His book consists of direct-speech monologues, delivered by 49 Suffolk residents, and interpretatively linked by the author. The effect is one of astonishing immediacy: it is as if those country people have looked up for a moment from their plow, lawnmower or kitchen sink, and are talking directly (and disturbingly frankly) to the reader.” Perhaps most importantly, Blythe painted a traditional bucolic landscape that has increasingly disappeared owing to rapid incursions of the modern world, the consolidation of the smallholdings that criss-crossed East Anglia into much larger farms harvested by vast machinery, and the influx of affluent commuters. Ian Collins, who is writing Blythe’s biography, told the Today programme: “He began with every disadvantage. He was born into incredible poverty. He left school at 14 and taught himself. It was the making of him because it made his voice pure, original.” Ronald George Blythe was born in 1922, the eldest of six children in the Suffolk village of Acton, near Lavenham. His father, Albert, was a farm labourer who served in the Suffolk Regiment at Gallipoli. His mother, Matilda (née Elkins), was a nurse who read the Bible to the child every day. Blythe loved the cadences of such biblical phrases as “the harvest is past, the summer is ended and we are not saved”. He read avidly from a young age, but made sure he found a quiet niche outside because he knew that if he was found with a book indoors he would be Ronald Blythe was walking through fields in his native Suffolk when it occurred to him that the stories of most farm labourers had never been told. “I walked round the village boundaries which are ancient ditches: very deep, dug into the clay, and full of torrential yellow winter water. And the idea came to me of the fundamental anonymity of most labourers’ lives,” he recalled of the day he decided to write Akenfield in the mid-1960s. “This is how the book began. A sort of compassion for farming people.” A slight and unthreatening figure with a soft voice and ready smile, Blythe had himself been born into a family of farm labourers. The stoicism and hardship but deep pride of those who laboured with their hands under big Suffolk skies was therefore etched on his being, but he also gave a voice to a gallery of characters who comprised village life: the farmer, retired colonel, vicar, local magistrate, gravedigger, blacksmith and district nurse. Over 1966 and 1967 the author would cycle from his small farmhouse in the hamlet of Debach, near Ipswich, to the village of Charsfield, near Woodbridge, and record the memories of its inhabitants. As churchwarden of the village, Blythe cut through the natural reticence of the countryside and was trusted with confidences that would have been concealed from a visiting reporter or sociologist. Avoiding “village characters” who were more than ready to dispense “embroidered” tales over numerous pints of Adnams, he began to weave what he described as a “poetry of the ordinary”, changing the name of the village to Akenfield (“aken” was taken from the old English for acorn) and substituting his subject’s names with long-forgotten ones from ancient gravestones. Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village (1969) would be acclaimed as a classic portrait of rural life in the 20th century. He told the story of labourers who could be laid off without pay simply because it was raining and recorded childhood memories of how to make a corn dolly. He documented the hopes of contemporary young pig farmers while older hands talked about how to read the landscape by watching apple and pear blossom. Unsentimental passages about incest, poverty, long hours and harsh working conditions were a rebuke to a romanticised view of the past. The district nurse reveals: “People like to think now that grandfathers and grandmothers had an honoured place in the cottage. In fact, when they got old, they were just neglected, pushed away in corners. I even found them in cupboards. Even in fairly clean respectable houses you often found an old man or woman shoved out of sight in a dark niche.” In Blythe’s chapter on God, the longserving parson said of Akenfield’s religion, “fatalism is the real controlling force but there is a higher level: a fugitive glimpse into a country where I cannot belong”. At the end he documents a talkative Shakespearean gravedigger and poet who has an instinctive sympathy for farmers: “So much of poetry is oblation and the putting of seed into the ground is a religious rite — perhaps the oldest religious rite there is.” The complaint of London critics that Akenfield’s voices were too poetic to be authentic was a profound statement in itself on how little understood rural life was. At 14 he left school and taught himself in the local public library Ronald Blythe Gentle and unassuming author who rose from poverty to write Akenfield, a masterful portrait of rural life set in his native Suffolk given a chore. Blythe attended St Peter’s and St Gregory’s School in Sudbury, but left at 14 and thereafter educated himself by devouring books from the local library. From his teens he was encouraged by a circle of artists in the Stour valley on the Suffolk-Essex borders, whom he recalled as “a magic society”. From them he served a “kind of apprenticeship” on how to live with very little money. He found a job as a reference librarian in Colchester, but was conscripted during the Second World War. A singular figure and natural pacifist, he was soon declared unfit for service and allowed to return to his books. Christine Nash, with her husband, John, the landscape artist and war painter, came to live at Bottengoms Farm in Wormingford and were Blythe’s “second parents”. Christine encouraged him to write and found a small cottage for him to use. With their encouragement he became a full-time writer in 1955 and edited Aldeburgh festival programmes for Benjamin Britten, which he recalled in his memoir In The Time by the Sea (2013). Another early mentor was EM Forster, who found a kindred spirit in the shy, gay young man; Blythe helped him to compile an index for Forster’s 1956 biography of his great-aunt, Marianne Thornton. After publishing essays, short stories, poems and introductions to the works of Austen, Hazlitt and Hardy, Blythe wrote his first novel A Treasonable Growth (1960). Its title came from Wordsworth’s phrase about “a treasonable growth of indecisive judgments He once slept with the American novelist Patricia Highsmith Blythe in his study in 1983. His most acclaimed book, top right, became a bestseller in 1969 with its unsentimental but poetic documentation of country life based on his recordings of people’s memories that impaired and shook the mind’s simplicity”. The hero and heroine walk on the shore of the Suffolk seaside village of Dunwich and discover a skull in the churchyard, itself doomed by the all-swallowing sea; the preparatory school is plagued by suicide and the slow diminution of its elderly guru, searchlights begin to dominate the East Anglian skies after war is declared and the protagonists reject marriage as they feel their world is on the edge of the precipice. Suffolk continued to frame his reference. In 1974 Akenfield was adapted into a film by Blythe’s fellow Suffolk native Peter Hall. Blythe was involved in filming and as a lay reader for three rural parishes he was given the part of the country parson. The film attracted 15 million viewers when it was broadcast on ITV in 1975. He returned to the documentary format with The View in Winter (1979), chronicling the voice of the elderly. Blythe regarded it as his best book and it gave him valuable lessons as he entered into his own final season. “The answer seems to be,” he said, “to preserve one’s spiritual vitality, a vividness and imaginative kind of energy.” Divine Landscapes (1986) was a travel book based on his conviction that places can be seen both in spiritual and material terms. Julian’s Norwich, Longland’s Worcestershire, Bunyan’s Bedfordshire and Wesley’s Cornwall came alive as the “heartland of England’s Christian experience”. He recognised many artists and poets as the “uncanonised” who can lure us to higher things. Blythe nursed John and Christine Nash through their last illnesses, reading aloud to them after supper. John Nash bequeathed Bottengoms Farm, an ancient house and garden, to Blythe, who lived there for the rest of his life. He would often work on his latest book “in my head” while nightwalking, looking at the stars or talking softly to owls and badgers. He would return to the house to write in longhand “in a kind of dream”, producing a philosophical prose style as “light as air”. One day, in a disused bread oven, he found bundles of letters replete with vivid and hilarious sketches. They told the story of the loves and struggles of John Nash, his brother Paul and Dora Carrington, all artists. From them he published First Friends (1997), a commentary revealing days at the Slade, the background to Paul and John Nash’s Western Front paintings and Carrington’s unhappy life and eventual suicide. Visitors would approach Blythe down the grass track to the house deep in the valley where the Saxon Bottengom had once farmed. Only a telephone line slung through the trees assured you there was a house with a sprawling old-fashioned garden. Blythe greeted them with an alert courtesy and apparently all the time in the world. He had relationships with men but never settled down, later admitting that he did not want to be distracted from his writing. “If I’d lived with someone I knew that I would be the one washing the socks.” Out of curiosity, he once slept with the American novelist Patricia Highsmith, who he greatly admired. “She was a very strange, mysterious woman. She was lesbian but at the same time she found men’s bodies beautiful.” Blythe remained deeply attached to the Church of England and from 1993 to 2017 wrote a weekly diary, “Word from Wormingford” for the Church Times. The diaries were published in two volumes, Next to Nature. He had a gift for friendship, believing that human nature was “heroic, faintly comic and endlessly loveable”. To the end, the gentle surrounding landscape of the Stour valley reminded him of the traditional way of life he had preserved for posterity in his masterpiece. “I am a listener and a watcher. I absorb, without asking questions, but I don’t forget things, and I was inspired by a lot of these people because they worked so hard and didn’t make a fuss.” Ronald Blythe CBE, writer, was born on November 6, 1922. He died on January 14, 2023, aged 100