General news

• Charles Jeffrey uses tough upbringing to transform fashion show into an art

  07-01-2018 23:55 via theguardian.com
  LOVERBOY channels the ‘growing pains’ from the 27-year-old’s childhood in Glasgow, resulting in a performance full of pain, anger and beautyFashion designer Charles Jeffrey was bullied as a child growing up in Glasgow. The 27-year-old’s latest LOVERBOY collection, shown at London fashion week men’s on Sunday evening, was his way of showing those bullies that they didn’t beat him. In fact, he’s become an indisputable star of London fashion.A Charles Jeffr
  
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• Britain's May to change government ministers soon, senior figures reported to be safe

  07-01-2018 23:51
  British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Sunday she would announce changes to her ministerial team soon, with media reports saying her foreign, finance, interior and Brexit ministers would keep their jobs in a reshuffle starting on Monday.After running a poorly received campaign at a national election last year that badly damaged her authority, May is leading a delicately balanced minority government tasked with delivering Britain's exit from the European Union.May said ministerial changes wer
  
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• BBC editor Carrie Gracie quits over 'secretive and illegal' gender pay structure

  07-01-2018 23:23
  One of the BBC's most experienced journalists has quit her post, accusing the corporation of running a "secretive and illegal" pay structure.In an open letter which begins "Dear BBC Audience", China editor Carrie Gracie says licence fee payers have a right to know the corporation is not "living up to its stated values of trust, honesty and accountability".Gracie claims to have discovered that male international news editors were being paid 50% more than women in the same role.
  
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• Grenfell inquiry cuts ties with KPMG following complaints

  07-01-2018 23:05 via theguardian.com
  An open letter from MPs and academics had called for the accountancy firm to be dropped over potential conflicts of interestThe Grenfell Tower inquiry has cancelled its contract with auditors KPMG after concerns were raised over potential conflicts of interest. A statement released on Sunday night said the decision was taken after concerns were raised by “core participants”. The news came hours after the firm was accused of a conflict of interest over its role advising the Grenfell i
  
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• McMafia recap – series one, episode three

  07-01-2018 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Ten weeks have passed in McMafia world, and Vadim is struggling with law enforcement, Dimitri’s slowly recovering and Alex is moving toward the dark sideTen weeks have passed in McMafia world. We begin somewhere outside Prague, where Karel Benes, who forcefully took over the operation from his defenestrated ex-boss, looks on as his friends in the police arrest two of Vadim’s operatives on suspicion of smuggling. “Business is good,” says officer Hancil, presumably a pal of
  
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• Philippe Coutinho starts new era as Barcelona prepare for life after Iniesta

  07-01-2018 22:19 via theguardian.com
  The Brazilian arrives five months later than they hoped, and for more money, but Barcelona are convinced they did the right thing in getting their manThe day after the summer transfer market closed Barcelona’s sporting director, Albert Soler, and their director of football, Robert Fernández, ran through a PowerPoint presentation, specially prepared for the occasion. They sat in the press room at the Camp Nou but might as well have sat in the dock. As they talked their way through it
  
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• Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff set for crunch meeting with party officials over 'massacre' video

  07-01-2018 22:03
  Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff has been summoned to meet his party's leadership to explain a video showing him with a Kingsmill loaf on his head on the anniversary of the Kingsmill massacre.The post, which is being examined by police, prompted calls for Mr McElduff to resign from many who saw it as a tasteless reference to the sectarian massacre.Ten Protestants on their way home from work were shot dead on 5 January 1976 in what later became known as the Kingsmill massacre, after the village where
  
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• Nicola Jennings on Donald Trump and Twitter – cartoon

  07-01-2018 21:43 via theguardian.com
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• People across the world are catching the tube with no trousers on

  07-01-2018 21:23
  All the best pictures and video as this bizarre tradition enters its 17th year.
  
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• BBC China Editor Carrie Gracie Quits Job Over Broadcaster Paying Men More Than Women For Same Job

  07-01-2018 21:22
  A top BBC journalist has quit her job with the broadcaster over men getting paid more than women at the corporation for doing the same job.
  
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• Nikki Haley: Trump aimed to 'keep Kim on his toes' with 'nuclear button' tweet

  07-01-2018 21:14 via theguardian.com
  US ambassador to UN defends president’s rhetoric on North KoreaHaley: ‘It’s not us that’s going to be destroyed, it’s you’Bandy Lee: Trump’s mental health is a matter of public interestDonald Trump’s tweet taunting North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over the size of his “nuclear button” was meant to “keep Kim on his toes”, the US ambassador to the United Nations said on Sunday. Related: Booked! Trump, staffers who cried Wolff a
  
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• May to move or sack quarter of cabinet in wide-ranging reshuffle

  07-01-2018 21:06
  Theresa May will give her government a new year reboot by carrying out what is expected to be her most wide-ranging reshuffle since her ill-fated decision to call a snap general election last summer.The prime minister is expected to sack or move about a quarter of her cabinet on Monday in an assertion of authority that was impossible for her in the immediate aftermath of the loss of her Commons majority, when her post-election reshuffle involved minimal changes at cabinet level and no outright d
  
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• BBC's China editor resigns in protest over gender pay gap

  07-01-2018 20:59 via theguardian.com
  Carrie Gracie accuses her employer of a ‘secretive and illegal pay culture’ and steps down to TV newsroom roleOne of the most senior journalists at the BBC has resigned from her post because of the gender pay gap at the corporation, accusing it of a “secretive and illegal” pay culture.In a significant escalation of the pay row at the BBC, Carrie Gracie said she was resigning from her position as China editor while accusing the corporation of breaking equality laws and say
  
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• Tories turn over new leaf as May seeks to banish ghosts of 2017

  07-01-2018 20:56
  Theresa May told Andrew Marr she was dropping a promise to give MPs a free vote on foxhunting.As 2018 dawns, it is clear that Theresa May has tasked herself with solving the second part of that puzzle, starting the year with a fair-sized reshuffle and a domestic policy drive focused on housing, school standards, the environment and the NHS.As the post-election turmoil played out visibly in Westminster, behind the scenes Tories quickly embarked on internal research and polling that brought some g
  
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• Mourinho v Conte: an unseemly spat that reflects badly on both managers

  07-01-2018 20:46 via theguardian.com
  In bringing up the match-fixing case, in which Antonio Conte was cleared, José Mourinho struck a raw nerve but there is no halo above the Italian eitherAntonio Conte had spent his afternoon supervising an unsatisfactory goalless draw with Norwich City but the frustration of watching Chelsea’s squad players labour was nothing compared with the other feelings dammed up inside. An hour after the final whistle he let it all out in the Carrow Road press room and, by the time he had finis
  
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• Steve Bannon: Donald Trump Jr was not 'treasonous' – I meant Paul Manafort

  07-01-2018 20:25 via theguardian.com
  Former White House strategist issues statement Trump allies insist ‘political genius’ president is mentally fit for officeSteve Bannon on Sunday withdrew his allegation that Donald Trump Jr committed treason, as he expressed regret over his role in the controversy around an explosive book about the White House. Related: Booked! Trump, staffers who cried Wolff and a week of fire and furyContinue reading...
  
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• Ethics and the Empire under the spotlight | Letters

  07-01-2018 20:17 via theguardian.com
  Professor Philip Murphy on Nigel Biggar’s ‘Ethics and Empire’ project; Harvey Sanders on Francesco Guardi’s Rialto Bridge painting; and DBC Reed on the slave trade pushing up 18th century property pricesIan Jack’s article on Professor Nigel Biggar’s “Ethics and Empire” project (The sun may never set on British misconceptions of our lost empire, 6 January) misses an intriguing mystery. Jack suggests that an article in the Times about colonialism by
  
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• Agricultural policy under Michael Gove | Letters

  07-01-2018 20:17 via theguardian.com
  Allan Buckwell says British farmers are not ‘subsidised’, Jane Mardell and Richard Middleton fear that only the rich will be able to buy British-grown food, and Vanessa Griffiths and Kate Ashbrook see hope in public access to landPlease don’t use the word “subsidy” for payments to farmers who manage land for biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides (Report, 3 January). A subsidy is generally considered a temporary assistance and often comes with an undert
  
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• Peter Preston will be much missed | Brief letters

  07-01-2018 20:15
  Peter Preston, former editor of the Guardian. ‘He played an important role in enabling the paper to achieve international renown,’ wries Meirion Bowen. Photograph: Kieran Doherty/Reuters
  
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• Mill Hill Attack: Shop Worker On Life Support After Assault By Teenagers He Refused To Service

  07-01-2018 20:15
  A shop worker is on a life support machine after he was “violently attacked” when he refused to serve underage youths.
  
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• Emmanuel Macron to visit China as Beijing shifts focus from UK to France

  07-01-2018 20:10 via theguardian.com
  China and France see French president’s visit as chance to transform bilateral ties after Brexit and election of Donald TrumpThe French president, Emmanuel Macron, will make his first official visit to China on Monday for talks aimed at boosting the global influence of both countries and forging closer ties with the European Union.
  The three-day visit, the first by the leader of an EU nation since Xi Jinping secured his grip on power at the Communist party congress in October, comes after
  
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• France Gall: French singer who inspired My Way dies age 70

  07-01-2018 20:08 via theguardian.com
  Inspiration for original song later adapted as My Way, Gall won Eurovision song contest with Poupée de Cire, Poupée de Son in 1965The French singer France Gall, who inspired the original version of the song that became a worldwide hit for Frank Sinatra as My Way, has died in a Paris hospital aged 70, her spokeswoman announced.On learning of her death from an infection two years after she was diagnosed with cancer, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, tweeted: “She leaves be
  
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• The Guardian view on cryptocurrencies: a greater fool’s gold | Editorial

  07-01-2018 20:02 via theguardian.com
  The apparently endless rise in the prices of cryptocurrencies is a monument to greed and gullibilityLast month a plague of kittens brought down one of the most fashionable cryptocurrencies on the internet. This might not have been news, except that the cryptocurrency, Ethereum, bills itself as “the world computer” – a distributed program that can replace large parts of both the legitimate banking system and the legal system itself, since contracts can be written into computer c
  
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• The Guardian view on recycling: throwaway economy is not cost-free | Editorial

  07-01-2018 20:01 via theguardian.com
  Use less, re-use, recycle. Three steps to saving the planetTake-out coffee and bottled water symbolise both the luxury and the waste of the early 21st century. They represent the throwaway world, the always-on culture, the low-pay, low-skill jobs. They reflect our catastrophic disregard of the consequences of our choices for the world around us.It is now a week since China implemented tight new controls on the kind of waste it will take for recycling. Although the UK is not the worst offend
  
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• US east coast hits record lows on Sunday as deep freeze lingers

  07-01-2018 19:59 via theguardian.com
  Temperatures expected to rise through beginning of weekClean-up from huge Thursday snowstorm continuesThe blast of arctic air that has engulfed portions of the US east coast broke more cold temperature records in several cities on Sunday, although a warm-up was forecast for Monday. Related: Brutal and 'bone-chilling' cold envelops US east coast two days after stormContinue reading...
  
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• With the NHS, reality has finally caught up with Theresa May | Zoe Williams

  07-01-2018 19:52 via theguardian.com
  The prime minister’s evasions and blandness used to work. But the winter crisis has left her floundering, and with no plan to end the miseryIt was like watching an anxiety dream: you’ve been made prime minister, but you don’t know why. Andrew Marr is interviewing you on the BBC, but you haven’t been briefed on anything. Your syntax is wild and a snarl keeps creeping into your smile, like an unexpected wolf in the forest you’ve forgotten to plant. Related: What May t
  
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• Theresa May urged to drop auditors KPMG from Grenfell inquiry

  07-01-2018 19:35
  KPMG has acted as auditor for contractor that refurbished Grenfell Tower and also for Kensington and Chelsea council.Seventy-one academics, writers and campaigning organisations, as well as two Labour MPs, Clive Lewis and Emma Dent-Coad, have sent an open letter to the prime minister calling on her to cancel the appointment of auditors KPMG to assist with the Grenfell Tower inquiry.
  
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• David Beckham brings brand of grit to London fashion week men’s

  07-01-2018 19:26 via theguardian.com
  Ex-footballer helps his Kent & Curwen label step out from Savile Row as others push at ideas of menswear and even clothesLondon fashion week men’s is dedicated – unsurprisingly – to finding a vision of modern British manhood. And David Beckham, Essex boy, football captain, dad, style setter and outright brand, has been a pin-up of mainstream masculinity for two decades now. Kent & Curwen, a rejuvenated brand founded on Savile Row in 1926, has been working with the him s
  
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• Fire and Fury? Maybe Donald Trump is only just getting started | Matthew d’Ancona

  07-01-2018 19:24 via theguardian.com
  Michael Wolff’s book contains worrying revelations about the US president, but don’t think it means the ‘very stable genius’ will be oustedWere I running a modestly sized whelk stall, let alone the White House, the very last person I would allow behind the scenes to observe and report on its secrets would be Michael Wolff.Please understand: the author of Fire and Fury, the book that has rocked Donald Trump’s presidency, is a brilliant journalist. Having commissioned
  
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• Arsenal out of FA Cup after stunning Lichaj double for Nottingham Forest

  07-01-2018 19:17 via theguardian.com
  To put this result into perspective, Arsène Wenger had never previously lost an FA Cup third-round tie in his 21 years as the longest-serving manager in the country. He has won this trophy seven times, the same as Chelsea and Liverpool throughout their entire histories, and plainly felt the gap to the Championship was substantial enough to risk putting out a weakened side. Nottingham Forest, with their songs about the European Cups and stands named after Brian Clough and Peter Taylor
  
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• Dubai drops charges against Briton detained over medical pills

  07-01-2018 19:15 via theguardian.com
  Perry Coppins spent five weeks in custody after customs officials decided he was carrying too many pills to treat his illnessA British man who was imprisoned in Dubai for five weeks because customs officials thought he was carrying too many medical pills has been allowed to return home.Perry Coppins, 61, a maritime security officer from Nottingham, was arrested on 1 November after arriving in the United Arab Emirates with his medicine, which is legal there, along with his prescription. He said h
  
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• Moody Blues singer Ray Thomas dies at 76

  07-01-2018 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Stourport-born Thomas revealed in 2014 that he had been diagnosed the previous year with prostate cancerThe Moody Blues star Ray Thomas has died at the age of 76. The flautist and vocalist died suddenly on Thursday, his record label said.Cherry Red Records and Esoteric Recordings said in a statement: “We are deeply shocked by his passing and will miss his warmth, humour and kindness. It was a privilege to have known and worked with him and our thoughts are with his family and his wife, Lee
  
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• Israel imposes travel ban on 20 foreign NGOs over boycott movement

  07-01-2018 18:36 via theguardian.com
  British groups War on Want and Palestine Solidarity Campaign among those whose staff are barred from visiting IsraelThe prominent British campaign group War on Want has been listed as one of 20 foreign NGOs whose representatives are banned from visiting Israel over their support of the pro-Palestinian boycott, sanctions and divestment (BDS) movement.The publication of the list, which also includes a well-known Jewish anti-occupation group and a Nobel peace prize-winning US Quaker group, had been
  
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• Harry Kane leads way as Tottenham dismiss AFC Wimbledon in second half

  07-01-2018 18:30 via theguardian.com
  AFC Wimbledon held out for an hour at Wembley, hit the bar in the first half but were eventually picked off by Harry Kane. By the end the 3-0 scoreline was a fair reflection of Tottenham Hotspur’s dominance in this FA Cup third-round tie against opponents who currently sit 21st in League One.It took the best of Kane to prise them open, as Europe’s leading scorer in the old year opened his account in the new one with a brace but also showed his ability to drop deep and play as a No10
  
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• Meaty, jammy and very Instagrammable: why figs are having a moment

  07-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  A hit with foodies, wellness fans and social media stars, figs may well steal the avocado’s crown this year. Here’s how to eat them – for breakfast, lunch and dinnerIs it because when pulled open, they look like the mouth of the demogorgon from Stranger Things? Is it because they are slightly sexual to touch? (The legend being that a ripe one feels like a perfect testicle …) Or is it because, like the avocado, the fruit that went before it as one of the most photogr
  
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• A Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto – digested read

  07-01-2018 18:00 via theguardian.com
  ‘Have a haircut on the 4th, 9th, 14th, 19th, 24th and 29th of every month. Unless you are bald’Japanese people take cleaning very seriously. When we have finished cleaning everything in the house, we go back to the beginning and start again. Cleaning isn’t about cleaning. It’s about filling in time usefully before you die. Buddhist monks have a motto: “Live to clean and clean to live.”Before you start to clean, you must get rid of all your rubbish. Remember, t
  
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• Iran bans the teaching of English in primary schools, official says

  07-01-2018 17:37 via theguardian.com
  Move comes after warnings by Islamic leaders that early learning of language opened way to western ‘cultural invasion’ Iran has banned the teaching of English in primary schools, a senior education official has said, after Islamic leaders warned that early learning of the language opened the way to a western “cultural invasion”. “Teaching English in government and non-government primary schools in the official curriculum is against laws and regulations,” Mehdi
  
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• CNN's Jake Tapper Cuts Off Donald Trump Adviser By Saying: 'You've Wasted Enough Of My Viewers’ Time'

  07-01-2018 17:34
  A US TV journalist cut-off one of Donald Trump’s White House advisers during a spiky interview, accusing the aide of “wasting enough of my viewers’ time” after attacking the TV network he was appearing on.
  
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• Ex-Guardian editor Peter Preston dies aged 79

  07-01-2018 17:28
  The former long-standing editor of The Guardian, Peter Preston, has died aged 79.Mr Preston's 20-year editorship of The Guardian spanned the Thatcher and Major years from 1975 to 1995.During that period, his left-leaning newspaper exposed the cash-for-questions affair and carried out the investigation that led to then-Tory minister Jonathan Aitken first losing his job and later being convicted of perjury.
  
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• Snow in Spain traps thousands of people in cars overnight

  07-01-2018 17:10 via theguardian.com
  Thousands of people stuck on roads in Castile and León region are rescued by Spanish police and soldiers Spanish police and soldiers have rescued thousands of people trapped on roads in the centre of the country after heavy snowfall forced them to spend Saturday night in their cars.
  Hundreds of vehicles were caught in the snow on the AP-6 motorway in Castile and León and north-western parts of the Madrid region as people returned from Epiphany celebrations. Around 70 km (44 miles)
  
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• London shop worker on life support after assault by three teenagers

  07-01-2018 17:10 via theguardian.com
  Met police say suspects turned violent after being told they could not buy cigarettes or alcohol in shop in Mill Hill, north LondonA shop worker is on a life support machine after he was attacked when he refused to serve underage youths.
  Three teenage suspects are understood to have turned violent after they were told they could not buy either cigarettes or alcohol. Continue reading...
  
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• Network at the National Theatre’s on-stage restaurant – a food critic’s verdict

  07-01-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  The new stage version of the 1976 film allows audience members to dine as the play takes place around them. We sent a restaurant reviewer to appraise the food – but he got too distracted by a staggering showIt’s common to describe the modern restaurant in the language of theatre: behold the deft performance of the chefs in their open kitchen; witness the exquisite set-dressing. All of this works, unless the restaurant is part of the performance. In the National Theatre’s stage
  
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• Is the property ladder just a myth?

  07-01-2018 17:00 via theguardian.com
  The theory is that a couple owning a starter home and considering children could afford to move into a bigger property – but with household income falling, that idea is increasingly unrealisticEstate agents are sure to emphasise a property’s suitability for a certain customer: “the perfect starter flat”; “lovely family home”; “suitable for someone looking to downsize”. But is the property “ladder” – the idea that, in an average li
  
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• Emily Thornberry seeks to clarify stance on Iran protests after criticism

  07-01-2018 16:57
  Emily Thornberry made the comments in a long Facebook post.Emily Thornberry has responded to criticism over her ambivalent approach to the Iranian protesters by saying Iran had seen “clear spontaneous public outpourings that we can all understand and support”.The shadow foreign secretary also denounced the Iranian judicial system as capable of draconian and arbitrary punishments, especially against minorities and women.
  
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• Ineos 'misled' public over fracking in Sherwood Forest

  07-01-2018 16:55 via theguardian.com
  Company got permission for seismic surveys in sensitive areas despite claiming it would exclude them One of Britain’s top fracking firms has been accused of misleading the public over its intent to explore for shale gas in a protected area of ancient woodland in Sherwood Forest.Ineos, a UK-based petrochemicals firm, has said publicly it would exclude sensitive areas of the legendary home of Robin Hood from its seismic surveys. Continue reading...
  
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• How I fell for the blockchain gold rush

  07-01-2018 16:47 via theguardian.com
  Cryptocurrencies that can make millionaires in minutes are justification enough to get out of bed at 5am to gambleBitcoin envy, the ultramodern malaise. News reports are full of this magic internet money’s rocketing value – currently $16,000 – and Facebook is dotted with people who picked some up at $500, $50 or even 50 cents. But the cryptocurrency ship hasn’t yet sailed. In the volatile market of alternative cryptos, relatively unknown alt-coins such as ripple, litecoin
  
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• Never mind what Rupert Murdoch really thinks about Donald Trump | Jane Martinson

  07-01-2018 16:43
  Rupert Murdoch with Donald Trump: he now has the sort of access to the White House he has long enjoyed in Downing Street.There are many reasons to want to go back to early 2016 – not least the fact that Rupert Murdoch was still tweeting his views of the world rather than leaving it to the minions in his global media empire.In these intervening bleak years, Twitter has been enlivened by the almost constant posts of a man Murdoch has called “my friend, Donald J Trump”.
  
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• Toby Young faces fresh calls for his sacking in misogyny row

  07-01-2018 16:35
  Toby Young has made lewd comments about former colleagues’ breasts, among other sexually charged comments about them and other women.The misogyny row sparked by the appointment of the free schools champion Toby Young to help police standards in higher education has intensified after a former MP, about whose breasts he tweeted, called for him to be sacked.Pamela Nash, the former Labour MP for Airdrie and Shotts, said Young had not been guilty of a single aberration, but had a long history o
  
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• National Youth Orchestra/Elder review – operatic army brings Bartók to life

  07-01-2018 16:29 via theguardian.com
  Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
  This staging of Bluebeard’s Castle, involving doors, light tubes and more than 150 musicians, was a glorious orchestral display and a sumptuous sonic treatBartók specified a pretty large orchestra for his only opera, Bluebeard’s Castle, but it is doubtful if even he ever imagined it performed by more than 150 musicians. But this was the forces that the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain put on stage for its performance, with septuple woodw
  
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• Stockholm metro station explosion kills one and injures another

  07-01-2018 16:28 via theguardian.com
  Police say man in his 60s died after picking up an object that some reports claim was a hand grenadeOne person died and another was slightly hurt after an explosion outside a metro station in a Stockholm suburb, police said.
  A man in his 60s died in hospital from his injuries after, according to witnesses, “he picked up an object off the ground which promptly exploded,” Sven-Erik Olsson, a police spokesman, told AFP. Continue reading...
  
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