Fresh misconduct proceedings will be held into senior officer cleared over death of Kevin Clarke in south LondonA senior police officer cleared of misconduct over the high-profile death of a mentally ill black man is to face fresh disciplinary proceedings because of failings in the original case, the Observer can reveal.After a misconduct meeting last year the officer – who has not been named – was told they had “no case to answer” over the death of Kevin Clarke, who was restrained by up to seven officers in south London in 2018. Continue reading...
Biden administration’s demand that travelers provide a negative test and self-quarantine could hit Mexico’s tourist industry hardNew US coronavirus travel restrictions are likely to have an outsized impact on Mexico, which is also struggling with an uncontrolled outbreak of the virus and record-breaking deaths.Related: Covid fatalities soar in Mexico as president condemned for inaction Continue reading...
Dogged detective work and radar scans of a church wall may help find the last resting place of the great playwrightThe death of Pedro Calderón de la Barca – soldier, priest and one of the finest dramatists Spain has produced – continues to prove almost as turbulent and unpredictable as his long and improbable life.Four centuries after Calderón died in Madrid aged 81, researchers believe they could be close to finding his remains, thanks to the deathbed testament of a priest, a key long guarded by the playwright’s family and the latest in ground-penetrating radar. Continue reading...
In this extract from her new book Breathtaking, palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke reveals the pressure and pain of splitting her time between hospice patients and hospital Covid wards
The breakout star of season four of The Crown on her steep rise to fame, how her mum helped her to get Diana’s voice, and why she now wants to get away from doing ‘posh English’From the moment it began in 2016, The Crown, Netflix’s hugely successful, much admired and occasionally controversial royal soap, has never put a foot wrong when it comes to casting – to the point where its stars have sometimes seemed to save it from itself. But even its producers were worried about the prospect of finding someone to play Princess Diana. Dust down the annals of Di-based drama and they tell a pretty desperate story: of a role that is irresistibly tempting and yet, utterly impossible to pull off. Was she out there somewhere, the woman who could bring her to life? And if she wasn’t, what would this mean for their series? “I was so nervous about being able to find someone capable of doing it, I was prepared to consider cancelling the show and simply not continuing, rather than getting it wrong,” admits its creator and writer, Peter Morgan.For Morgan and his colleagues, though, the stars would somehow align. In 2018, when season three was still being cast (Diana would not appear until season four), a young unknown called Emma Corrin was asked to come in and help out with a “chemistry” reading as the search for someone to play Camilla Parker Bowles opposite Josh O’Connor’s Charles continued (the part went, in the end, to Emerald Fennell). Corrin, whose agent had instructed her that this was definitely not an audition, went down well with the director: after she’d read as Diana, he took her outside and asked if she would like to work on the character a bit – and eight months later, she got a call asking if she would like to audition properly for Morgan. “In a way, it’s unfair to say that Emma was born to play Diana,” he writes to me in an email. “Because I believe she will have great and lasting success as an actor playing many roles. That said, I do believe – and I think a small part of her might also believe – that she has an uncanny, fated connection to the character and was born to play this part.” Continue reading...
Songs from the composer’s doomed show about the Israeli stateswoman will make their debut onlineThe self-taught musical genius Lionel Bart was the Londoner who first successfully challenged the long-established dominance of Broadway shows. When he launched Oliver! on the West End in 1960 it took first Britain and then America by storm, breaking records and becoming a classic of musical theatre and then a beloved film. But Bart never reached such commercial heights again, despite his talent.Now music from the lost show once set to relaunch Bart’s career as he struggled with ill health and debt is to be performed for the public for the first time. Continue reading...
Playwright’s grandson reveals letter that tells of deep loathing felt for Wilde by lawyer in libel trialHe was the brilliant lawyer whose brutal 1895 cross-examination of Oscar Wilde in one of the most famous trials in British history led to the Irish dramatist’s imprisonment for homosexuality, and to his ultimate ruin. Now a previously unpublished letter reveals that Sir Edward Carson’s attack on Wilde in the Old Bailey was partly personal – a loathing that went beyond his job in defending the Marquess of Queensberry in the ill-fated libel case.Long after Carson’s death in 1935, the son of one of his friends confided in a 1950 letter: “I was never able to get Carson to admit that Wilde possessed any ability at all. ‘Ah,’ he used to say angrily, ‘he was a charlatan.’” Continue reading...
A bustling Belle Epoque square has fallen silent, bringing hard times to today’s paintersIn normal times Paris’s famous Place du Tertre – the “artists’ square” – is packed with tourists and visiting out-of-towners, even on a chilly January afternoon. In the time of coronavirus, however, the square, home to painters, portraitists, caricaturists and silhouette artists, is almost entirely deserted.The cafes and brasseries are closed, their terrace chairs chained up, and only a handful of the more optimistic artists have braved the cold for a few hours before the 6pm curfew kicks in. Continue reading...
‘Accidental’ mayor, elevated to top job under a controversial runner-up succession rule, claims moral (if not actual) victoryA barefoot climate change activist dubbed Queensland’s accidental mayor appears set to fail in his bid to put the coal and beef-loving city of Rockhampton on a greener path.Chris “Pineapple” Hooper, a bike-riding, self-declared ratbag, is running third as the count continues in Saturday’s mayoral byelection, sparked by the shock resignation of long-serving civic leader Margaret Strelow in November 2020. Continue reading...
Leader vows changes to ensure ‘proper bargaining’ but declines to lock in 2035 emissions targetAnthony Albanese has signalled Labor will take improved workplace bargaining policies to the next election to boost wages but will defer a 2035 emissions reduction target until the Coalition shows its hand.On Sunday the Labor leader promised to “change the industrial relations system so there can be proper bargaining”, raising the prospect that its 2019 policies, including multi-employer bargaining, could be about to make a comeback. Continue reading...
National Crime Agency says it suspects ‘specialist knowledge’ was used to scam bounce-back schemeThree men have been arrested as part of an investigation into fraudulent coronavirus bounce-back loans totalling £6m. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said all three men worked for the same London financial institution and are suspected of using their “specialist knowledge” to carry out the scam.Two of the suspects, aged 30 and 31, were arrested at their office by members of the NCA’s Complex Financial Crime team, while the third, aged 30, was arrested at an address in Camden. Continue reading...
More than 1,870 arrested across country in one of largest demonstrations against Putin’s ruleTens of thousands of Alexei Navalny supporters have protested across Russia in one of the largest demonstrations against Vladimir Putin’s rule in the past decade.More than 1,870 people were arrested by riot police on Saturday at dozens of unsanctioned rallies throughout the country, spanning from Kaliningrad in the west to Vladivostok in the far east, as the turnout of those calling for the opposition leader’s release from jail far surpassed many protesters’ expectations. Continue reading...
The designer discusses how the pandemic has affected with latest collection – and why he likes digital fashion showsThis time last year Paul Smith celebrated his fiftieth anniversary with a bells and whistles fashion show in Paris. There was a greatest hits collection and Susan Sarandon and Jon Hamm front row. This year, things are a little different. Paris men’s fashion week is largely digital and Smith’s show on Friday afternoon was a behind-closed doors event with no audience. It was filmed in London and streamed online as part of the Paris schedule for autumn/winter 2021.Generously proportioned wool coats and sheepskins speak to 1980s new wave romanticism. https://t.co/SQNpoC061W pic.twitter.com/QIqXMjtsDq Continue reading...
The designer, 69, on the joy of comfortable clothes, being starstruck by David Bowie and why he is an eternal optimistI’m glad I started work at 18. It was a lot more fun than going to school. When I opened my first shop it was a hangout for all my friends – a community before social media. I didn’t worry about the business side until I faced bankruptcy, five years later. That taught me a big lesson.I really enjoy being a designer. It’s a big creative outlet and it’s exciting to grow a brand and be in the eye of the storm of pop culture. Continue reading...
Detectives believe several offenders were involved in killing of Keon Lincoln, 15Detectives investigating the murder of a teenager in Birmingham have arrested a second 14-year-old boy.West Midlands police said 15-year-old Keon Lincoln was attacked by a group of youths with weapons in the Handsworth area on Thursday. Continue reading...
From streamed baptisms to the impossibility of hajj, it’s been a tricky time for religious people to stay observant. But many have some holy hacksWell before places of worship were closed during the first lockdown, we hectored my father to remain indoors and stay safe. He rebelled. One frigid Sunday last March, through the silence of a sleeping household, he slunk down the hall and to the kitchen, careful not to rouse his house guests.We don’t know if his plan was dependent on my siblings being hungover but, since this was the case, it worked a charm. A little after 9am, they were stirred from sleep by the tell-tale crunch of gravel as he spun slowly away to his local church. His intention: to defy the orders of his slovenly children and go to mass amid the coughs and handshakes of his fellow parishioners. We had witnessed one of the more unexpected struggles of lockdown life – the strange, rebellious instincts of God-fearing society, and the paradox of coming together in His name at a time when you must remain apart. Continue reading...
The novelist and editor of The Good Immigrant on telling his children about racism, his relationship with food and coming to terms with his mother’s death in his new memoir
by Harriet Sherwood Photographs and interviews: Aubre on (#5D72T)
Around the world, growing numbers of people are rejecting traditional faiths and choosing their own spiritual path. Eight atheists and agnostics open upReligion may once have been the opium of the people, but in large swaths of the world the masses have kicked the habit. In countries once dominated by churches characterised by patriarchy, ritual and hierarchy, the pews have emptied and people have found other sources of solace, spirituality and morality.In the US, those who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” is up from 17% in 2009 to 26% last year. In Britain, according to the most recent data, more than half the population proclaimed no faith in 2018, a figure that rose from 43% to 52% in a decade. Continue reading...
The Scream actor and wrestler on Bozo the Clown, Liberace’s shoes and a traumatising moment in HollywoodBorn in Virginia, David Arquette, 49, rose to fame starring in the Scream film franchise. In 2000, he became a professional wrestler. His latest movie is 12 Hour Shift, which is digitally released on 25 January. He has a daughter with Courteney Cox and two sons with his second wife, Christina McLarty. He lives in Nashville and Los Angeles.When were you happiest?
Comfort food is all about memory and context, and for me that means spicy lamb macaroni, hummus with aubergine and boiled eggs, and a bowl of sweet tapiocaComfort food is mostly about two things: memories and context. So much of what we think of as comforting food are the meals we ate as kids – those warm bowls or plates that appeared, repeatedly and reassuringly, in front of us. As we get older, however, it’s more about context: about eating the right thing in the right place at the right time. And, for me, comfort food hits the sweet spot where memory and context collide. Although today’s recipes are my own particular sweet spot – the dishes that take me straight back to the sunny home of my youth, and that also work so well in these chilly, short-day months – I hope very much that they bring you some comfort, too. Continue reading...
by Lisa O'Carroll Brexit correspondent on (#5D71C)
Simon Spurrell says his firm lost 20% of sales and will switch £1m investment to FranceA commercial cheesemaker in Cheshire has been left with a £250,000 Brexit hole in his business as a direct result of the UK’s departure from the EU on 1 January.Simon Spurrell said he has lost 20% of his sales overnight after discovering he needed to provide a £180 health certificate on retail orders to consumers in the EU, including those buying personal gift packs of his award-winning wax-wrapped cheese worth £25 or £30. Continue reading...
Philipp Wilhelm knows local people rely on forum’s revenue – but still thinks world must changeIn his youth, Philipp Wilhelm was at the forefront of protests against the World Economic Forum’s annual “extreme capitalism” gathering of the business and political elite in Davos, the Swiss mountain resort where he grew up.Now, however, Wilhelm is the mayor of the town and his central mission is to ensure the return of the WEF jamboree, which had been scheduled to start next week but was cancelled this year due to the pandemic. Continue reading...
Washington’s top intelligence officer warns that Pyongyang is not intending to ‘find a way out’ of weapons developmentThe top US intelligence officer for North Korea has warned the country sees diplomacy only as a means to advance its nuclear weapons development, even as the new Biden administration says it will look for ways to bring Pyongyang back to talks.Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Tuesday the new administration planned a full review of the US approach to North Korea to look at ways to increase pressure on it to return to the negotiating table. Continue reading...
Mark McGowan’s government accuses Fremantle council of failing to withdraw consent for occupancy of Pioneer Park in reasonable timeframeWestern Australia’s government has formally seized control of Fremantle’s tent city, ramping up the blame game over the troubled homeless camp.The treasurer and lands minister, Ben Wyatt, has signed a revocation order under the Lands Administration Act removing the City of Fremantle as the management body for Pioneer Park. Continue reading...
NSW police said a group of people were standing on rocks near Hill 60 when a large wave knocked them into the waterThree people have died after being swept into the surf at Port Kembla, south of Wollongong.NSW police said a group of people were standing on rocks near an area known as Hill 60 when a large wave knocked them into the water just after 10pm on Friday. Continue reading...
Probe launched after girl’s sister reportedly told parents she had been ‘playing the blackout game’ before her deathItalian prosecutors have opened an investigation into the accidental death of a 10-year-old girl who allegedly took part in a “blackout challenge” on the video-sharing network TikTok.The probe came as Italy announced it had temporarily blocked access to TikTok for users whose age could not be proved definitively. Continue reading...
The man, 64, is accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen students at a Sydney schoolA former teacher is accused of sexually abusing more than a dozen students at a Sydney school over an 18-year period.The 64-year-old was arrested on Friday morning and charged with 90 offences. Continue reading...
Losing Google search might be a shock. But there are plenty of alternatives to choose fromGoogle has threatened to “stop providing search” in Australia if the federal government continues with a new code to force big digital platforms to pay for displaying local news content. Google has confirmed that this wouldn’t affect any of the company’s other services, such as YouTube, Gmail or Google drive.The threat came as Google’s Australian managing director, Mel Silva, told a Senate committee the new code would “would set an untenable precedent” and create an “unmanageable financial and operational risk” if it were to become law. Continue reading...
Union denies wrongdoing after contracts for Birmingham complex given to firms investigated for briberyUnite, Labour’s most generous backer, is organising a special meeting of its ruling body to discuss an alleged overspend on a multimillion pound construction project funded by the union.The executive council will convene on Friday 29 January to discuss a seven-storey hotel and national conference centre in Birmingham funded by the union. Continue reading...
Boris Johnson said there was ‘some evidence’ that the new variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the south-east of England could be more lethal than the original. Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said the data was ‘not yet strong,’ but that the variant could be up to 30% more deadly than other strains.
Guests celebrated wedding at ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Stamford HillThe organiser of a lockdown-breaching wedding at an ultra-Orthodox Jewish girls’ school in north London attended by more than 100 people has been condemned by community leaders.Police discovered about 150 guests celebrating the wedding on Thursday evening. The windows of Yesodey Hatorah school in Stamford Hill had been covered to stop people seeing in when officers arrived. It was initially thought that up to 400 had attended. Continue reading...
Police expected to break up demonstrations against detention of opposition leaderRussia is braced for mass protests on Saturday as thousands of supporters of the opposition leader Alexei Navalny are expected to hold rallies across the country to call for his release from jail.Police are expected to break up the unsanctioned demonstrations in Moscow, St Petersburg and dozens of other cities in what allies of Navalny say is their best chance of convincing the Kremlin to free him. Continue reading...
The US Senate majority leader said the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, would transmit the article of impeachment on Monday. 'Make no mistake, there will be a trial, Schumer said. 'And when that trial ends, senators will have to decide whether they believe Donald John Trump incited the insurrection'
UK overseas territories such as Cayman Islands also may lose protection once afforded by UK’s EU membershipThe European parliament is pushing for UK overseas territories including the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey and Jersey to be added to an EU tax havens blacklist after the conclusion of the Brexit deal.Sending a signal that tougher action on tax avoidance was required in response to the coronavirus pandemic, MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of adding more nations and territories to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. Continue reading...
by Yohannes Lowe (now); Lucy Campbell (earlier) on (#5D5N0)
Latest updates: 1,401 more people have died within 28 days of testing positive; reproduction number of Covid-19 transmission falls to between 0.8 and 1
For an emirate dependent on trade, transport and tourism, vaccination, not lockdown, is key to keeping its economy goingAs if the Boohoo online fashion company had not generated enough controversy in recent months, its bosses once again found themselves in the headlines last week for hosting a four-day meeting with suppliers in the luxurious surroundings of a Dubai hotel.The company’s top executives had taken a private jet to the emirate for the get-together with the businessmen and women who supply their fabrics and manufacture their fashions, despite Foreign Office guidance that advises against all but essential travel. Continue reading...
Two ringleaders receive sentences of 27 and 20 years after 39 Vietnamese people suffocated in containerThe two ringleaders of the people-smuggling gang responsible for the deaths of 39 Vietnamese people who suffocated in a sealed refrigeration container as they were transported across the Channel from France have received prison sentences of 27 and 20 years.Ronan Hughes, 41, who ran a haulage company and organised the lorries and drivers to transport the migrants, was sentenced to 20 years at the Old Bailey on Friday. He pleaded guilty last year to 39 counts of manslaughter and conspiring to bring people into the country unlawfully. Continue reading...
From caramelised fennel and onion to Norwegian cheese, these easy-to-follow recipes will warm the chilliest winterMy favourite warming soup is pear and parsnip – it sounds a bizarre combination, but it’s sweet, comforting and perfect for using up squidgey pears or bendy parsnips. Saute a leek and some garlic, add two diced parsnips, a diced potato and a diced pear, along with a bay leaf, thyme, vegetable stock and a teaspoon of Marmite. Once softened, remove the bay leaf and blend the soup, topping with plenty of black pepper. Best served piping hot after a blustery walk. Angharad Mountford, PhD student, Croydon Continue reading...
Teenager died in hospital after attack on Thursday afternoon, with 14-year-old detained by policeA teenager who died after he was attacked by an armed gang on a residential street in Birmingham has been named by police as Keon Lincoln.According to West Midlands police, witnesses said they heard gunshots as a group armed with knives attacked the 15-year-old at about 3.30pm on Thursday in Handsworth. Continue reading...
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