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- Transport disruption as storm hits UK before Christmas – live blog
- Don't celebrate Alan Turing's pardon - ask for it to be extended | Ally Fogg
- 2014 in film preview: comedy
- Pope Francis meets predecessor Pope Benedict - video
- Markets rally on hopes for growth in 2014
- Egypt police HQ explosion: spokesman blames Muslim Brotherhood
- Can you be too religious? | Giles Fraser
- Greeks protest after 150 Syrian refugees disappear from northern village
- Watch Metallica's Antarctic show in full
- Could rationing hold the key to today's food crises? | Zoe Williams
- Who said it: the pope or Ed Miliband?
- Global development events and issues of 2013 – in pictures
- 24. Twenty-four angulas make a forearm ...
- Consumer champions – 2013 in review
- Drugs worth $43m and exotic animals seized in NSW police raids
- Holden people: life beyond the factory
- Edward Snowden: ‘I already won’
- Cathy McGowan's independent advice puts party politics in perspective
- Operation Sovereign Borders press conference, 20 December, 2013 – transcript
- Cyclone warning for parts of Northern Territory a reminder of cyclone Tracy
- Kevin Pietersen still burns for a turnaround even with Ashes gone
- Typhoon Haiyan survivors mark Christmas with debris trees
- Scott Morrison: always short on answers, now shy with questions
- Morrison had 'direct and significant' impact on asylum seekers' health
- Perth bashing victim Quinn De Campe dies as four teenagers are charged
| Transport disruption as storm hits UK before Christmas – live blog Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:34 AM PST At least two people have been killed in Britain, and dozens of flights diverted or grounded as torrential rain and storm winds continue to batter the UK for a second day.       |
| Don't celebrate Alan Turing's pardon - ask for it to be extended | Ally Fogg Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:29 AM PST  Why single out Alan Turing because of his exceptional achievements? Tens of thousands of others also suffered his fate, and are equally deserving of justice The Queen's announcement of a posthumous pardon, under a Royal Prerogative of Mercy, to Alan Turing follows a long campaign and a petition signed by more than 37,000 people. The pardon will be welcomed by many, and it is undoubtedly a gesture of humanity, compassion and progressive values. It is also entirely, profoundly wrong. Turing was an intellectual legend of the 20th century. His breakthroughs in applied mathematics have led him to be described as the father of modern computing. His work on the Enigma codebreaking machine made him more responsible than almost any other British individual for the ultimate defeat of Nazi Germany. Biographers recall him as a gentle, modest, reserved man. He was also gay, and in 1952 he was convicted of gross indecency - the catch-all legal term used to prosecute any consenting sexual acts between two men. The judge at his trial, acknowledging the importance of Turing's work, laid down what seemed at the time to be a lenient sentence. The mathematician was spared jail and ordered to undergo an experimental hormone therapy for homosexual urges, often dubbed "chemical castration". We know now the treatment will not have affected his orientation or desires, but it did cause physical changes including breast enlargement and erectile dysfunction. Turing described the experience as horrible and humiliating and less than two years later, he died of cyanide poisoning. An inquest recorded a verdict of suicide. It is a tragic, shameful episode in our recent history, but while the tragedy was Turing's, the shame was entirely the nation's. In announcing the pardon today, the justice secretary, Chris Grayling, said: "A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man." Turing was certainly an exceptional man but the tribute could not be less fitting. It says that the British state is prepared to forgive historical homosexual acts providing they were performed by a national hero, academic giant or world-changing innovator. This is the polar opposite of the correct message. Turing should be forgiven not because he was a modern legend, but because he did absolutely nothing wrong. The only wrong was the venality of the law. It was wrong when it was used against Oscar Wilde, it was wrong when it was used against Turing and it was wrong when it was used against an estimated 75,000 other men, whether they were famous playwrights and scientists or squaddies, plumbers or office clerks. Each of those men was just as unfairly persecuted, and many suffered similarly awful fates. To single out Turing is to say these men are less deserving of justice because they were somehow less exceptional. That cannot be right. It is shocking to realise that there are still people alive today who were unjustly criminalised in their youth, and who have carried the stain of a criminal record, as a sex offender, through almost their entire adult lives. In 2012 the Protection of Freedoms Act was passed, which allows those who were convicted of homosexuality offences to apply to have their entire criminal records removed if the facts of the case would no longer count as a crime. As the legal commentator David Allen Green has pointed out, there is no reason why this provision could not be extended to cover all those convicted, whether living or dead, without the requirement for a personal application. With a little bit of political marketing, it could become known as the Turing law, recorded as such in the history books for generations to come. Now that really would be a fitting tribute to a national hero. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:20 AM PST  Continuing our daily 10-part series previewing key movies of 2014, we take an advance look at next year's comedy hopefuls Sex Tape
Neighbors
The Interview
The Grand Budapest HotelWes Anderson's latest immaculately upholstered, neatly shot and fastidiously-scripted ensemble curio opens this year's Berlin film festival, continuing the director's Europhilia following Moonrise Kingdom opening Cannes a couple of years back. Ralph Fiennes stars as the concierge of the hotel of the title, who takes a younger employee (Tony Revolori) under his wing. Guests and lackeys include Mathieu Amalric, Jude Law, Edward Norton, Harvey Keitel and Tilda Swinton, alongside Anderson regulars Adrien Brody, Bill Murray Jason Schwartzman and Owen Wilson. Veronica Mars
This is Where I Leave YouThink August: Osage County, but really funny. Jonathan Trotter adapts his novel of the same name, about four belligerent siblings who come together for a week of sitting shiva at the family home after their father dies. Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver and Corey Stoll play the brothers and sisters; Kathryn Hahn, Timothy Olyphant and Rose Byrne are love interests; Jane Fonda the widow. St Vincent de Van NuysBill Murray plays the "misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran" neighbour of a young boy whose parents have just divorced. That alone should make you want to see it, but let's also throw in Melissa McCarthy (as the boy's mother), Chris O'Dowd as a monk and Naomi Watts as a Russian prostitute. Other cast members on the imdb page are listed in the roles of, variously, "Winning Ticket Gambler Of Horse Race In The Stands", "Discharge Nurse", "Latin Mover" and "Strip Club Patron". Taken together, this is looking pretty essential. A Million Ways to Die in the WestThis time last year, the internet was still up in arms about the Guardian voting Ted the second best film of 2012. And, even after his dreadful Oscars turn, we're still big fans of Seth MacFarlane, and so looking forward to his western about a cowardly farmer (Neil Patrick Harris? MacFarlane himself?) who seeks the help of a gunslinger's wife (Charlize Theron) to help him win back the woman who left him (we're guessing Amanda Seyfried). The Other WomanLike The First Wives Club, but really, really vicious, and just the one bloke. Leslie Mann, Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton team up when they clock they're all sleeping with the same man, then seek to take him down professionally and personally. The poster features a ring attached to a knuckle duster. Nick Cassavetes directs, but this looks a long way from The Notebook. Chef
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| Pope Francis meets predecessor Pope Benedict - video Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:11 AM PST Pope Francis meets predecessor Pope Benedict XVI at his home in the grounds of the Vatican in Rome       |
| Markets rally on hopes for growth in 2014 Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:09 AM PST The day's action in the global financial markets, including the traditional end-of-year 'Santa rally'       |
| Egypt police HQ explosion: spokesman blames Muslim Brotherhood Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:05 AM PST  Spokesman for Egypt's cabinet reportedly blames group for bomb in Mansoura which has killed at least 14 people Mohamed Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood has been called a terrorist group by a spokesman for Egypt's cabinet, according to a state-run news agency, after the group was blamed for an explosion at a police headquarters 80 miles (130km) north of Cairo that killed at least 14 people early on Tuesday morning. The Muslim Brotherhood immediately condemned the attack, and said the government was trying to exploit the deaths in order to smear the group. Over 100 were injured in the blast in Mansoura, Egypt's third city, including the area's police chief, according to the governor of the local province. State television said it was the largest attack in the city's history, and anonymous security officials told state media it had been caused by two car bombs. Photographs of the building showed significant damaged to at least four of the building's stories. Egypt's prime minister, Hazem el-Beblawi,distanced himself from the cabinet spokesman's reported comments, declining to blame any group. "Whoever is behind this act is a terrorist and will be brought to justice and punished according to the law," he told a private channel early on Tuesday. "But I don't want to anticipate the incidents." The attack was the latest in a series of assaults on government facilities and police stations since Morsi's overthrow in July that have left well over 100 police and soldiers dead. The deadliest incident involved the storming of a police truck in August in the northern Sinai peninsular that ended with the execution of 25 police conscripts. In September, Egypt's interior minister survived an assassination attempt in Cairo that killed at least 19. It was one of several attacks claimed by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a jihadist cell based in northern Sinai, where extremists have waged an insurgency against the Egyptian army since July. No tourist sites have been targeted. Though the Muslim Brotherhood's involvement has never been proven, Egyptian officials and most media outlets have consistently blamed the group for the attacks, claiming that they finance and control the jihadist cells. Legal proceedings based on these allegations were initiated against Morsi himself last week. The accusations have been used to justify an ongoing crackdown against the group and its supporters, over a thousand of whom have been killed since July, and thousands more arrested. The group was the most powerful political organisation as recently as June – but was pushed out of office in July, and formally banned in September. On Tuesday morning, the Muslim Brotherhood issued an English-language statement condemning the Mansoura bomb "in the strongest possible terms" and criticised Beblawi for using "the blood of innocent Egyptians through inflammatory statements". No group has yet claimed responsibility for Tuesday's attack, but a researcher specialising in Egyptian insurgents said it bore the hallmarks of Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, who recently threatened to target those who refuse to leave the security services. "The tactic and size of the explosion is reminiscent of previous attacks by Ansar Beit al-Maqdis," said David Barnett, a research associate the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, who has been documenting all recent attacks. "Ansar Beit al-Maqdis has used car bombings in a number of its attacks both outside of North Sinai [on 5 September and 19 October] as well as in North Sinai [on 20 November]. Relatedly, in recent months we have seen a greater number of high profile attacks, which suggests an increase in both capability and experience for those responsible." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Can you be too religious? | Giles Fraser Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST  When considering this question, note that Jesus himself was hostile to religiosity – and that fundamentalists suffer from a lack of faith Actually, I seriously dislike the words religion and religious. First, there is no such thing as generic religiosity. There are Christians and Jews and Muslims and Hindus. No one practises religion, as such. And second, precisely because the word "religion" describes the common outward format through which these very different belief systems express themselves, it cannot describe each in its specificity. This is particularly tricky when it comes to Christianity, because at its heart is a figure who was thoroughly suspicious and condemnatory of religion. "Jesus came to abolish religion," says the Washington-based poet and evangelist Jefferson Bethke. His YouTube poem Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus received 16 million views within two weeks of it being released. He's right: the New Testament must be one of the most thoroughly anti-religious books ever written. It makes Richard Dawkins look very tame fare indeed. Jesus spent much of his time laying into the pious and the holy and lambasting the religious professionals of his day. And this was not because he was anti-Jewish – as some superficial readings of his anti-Pharisee, anti-Sadducee, anti-Temple polemics would have it – but precisely because, as a Jew himself, he came out of that very Jewish prophetic tradition of fierce hostility to religiosity. Here, for instance, is the prophet Isaiah on feisty form. The multitude of your sacrifices – what are they to me? says the Lord. This is the sort of theology to which Jesus looked for inspiration. And partly, it was this uncompromising anti-religiosity that got him nailed to a cross. You may think I am being slippery with the word "religion". So let's take, for instance, the French sociologist Emile Durkheim's influential definition of religion as that which divides up the world into the sacred and the profane. But here again, the Jesus stories have him as thoroughly anti-religious, not least in those narratives that surround his birth. For the idea that God might be found not in the spiritually antiseptic space of some sacred temple, but in the smelly cow shed out the back, is about as hostile an idea to religion as one can possibly imagine. When it comes to Christianity, just being a little bit religious is being too religious. Religion is a pejorative term. So the answer is yes. Of course, I'd say you cannot be too Christian. That's a different kettle of fish. And if "being too Christian" makes you think of Christian fundamentalists, I'd want to insist that they are simply not Christian enough. Indeed, that it's their lack of faith that makes them cling to a bogus form of certainty and literalism. Mostly, Christian fundamentalists worship a book. They like the safety of having pat answers. But this is just another form of idolatry of which the Hebrew scriptures regularly warn. Worshipping a book and worshipping God are two totally different things. Falling down before a baby, with all the inversion of power that this implies, takes courage not intellectual suicide. It is about the world being turned upside-down, the mighty (including the religious mighty) being cast down and the weak being held up. It is about placing something other than oneself at the centre of the world. And no, I don't think there can be too much of this. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Greeks protest after 150 Syrian refugees disappear from northern village Posted: 24 Dec 2013 01:00 AM PST  Activists say group was likely forced back into Turkey by police as part of campaign of enforced deportation
Not much happens in Praggi. So when 150 Syrian refugees arrived in the village, high in the flatlands of far-flung north-eastern Greece, it was not something residents were likely to forget. Some of the Syrians were huddled against the biting cold in the courtyard of the church; others had congregated beneath the trees of a nearby forest. All had made the treacherous journey from Turkey – crossing the fast-flowing waters of the Evros river – in a bid to flee their country's war. Then came the white police vans and the Syrian men, women and children were gone. "Ever since we have lost all trace of them," said Vasillis Papadopoulos, a lawyer who defends the rights of migrants and refugees. "They just disappeared. Our firm belief is that they were pushed back into Turkey." Activists, lawyers, human rights groups, opposition MPs, immigration experts and international officials are becoming increasingly concerned about the heavy-handed tactics Greek authorities use to keep immigrants away. In a recent report released by Amnesty International, Greece was strongly criticised for its "deplorable treatment" of would-be refugees, especially Syrians desperate to escape their nation's descent civil war. Enforced deportations – highlighted by an alarming rise of migrant deaths – have spurred the criticism. In contravention of international conventions signed by Athens, coastguard officials and police officers have waged a concerted campaign to stop thousands from accessing EU territory via Greece. Illegal pushbacks have been the focus of those efforts, according to human rights groups. The drive has intensified as Greece – long seen as the EU's easiest backdoor entrance – has struggled to keep its economic and social fabric together in the face of the country's worst crisis in modern times. Since prime minister Antonis Samaras's conservative-led coalition assumed power in the midst of the crisis last year, authorities have faced charges of violently apprehending migrants, beating them and stripping them of their belongings. Special coastguard units – often masked and dressed in black – have been accused of dumping migrants, without any consideration for their safety, in Turkish territorial waters. "The number and scale of these alleged incidents raises serious concerns," said Ketty Kehayioylou at the Greek outpost of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. "We still don't know what happened to the two groups in Praggi," she said. "No one was ever registered at the First Reception Centre as foreseen by national law and we've demanded an investigation." The claims come as Amnesty International urged Greece to launch an inquiry into comments by the country's police chief, Nikos Papagiannopoulos, in which it is alleged he ordered his officers to make the lives of immigrants unbearable. "If they told me I could go to a country … and would be detained for three months and then would be free to steal and rob … it would be great," Papagiannopoulos, the highest security official in the land after the public order minister, was quoted as telling officers during a secretly recorded meeting. "We must make their lives unbearable." The comments were published by the investigative magazine, Hot Doc, on 19 December. John Dalhuisen, Amnesty's director for Europe and Central Asia, said: "If accurate, the deeply shocking statements attributed to the Greek chief of police would expose a wilful disregard for the rights and welfare of refugees and migrants seeking shelter and opportunity in the European Union." With allegations of torture also on the rise, two senior coastguard officials were jailed last month after a military court found them guilty of subjecting an asylum seeker to a mock execution and water-boarding. The discovery of ever more bodies – in the Aegean Sea and around the land border Greece shares with Turkey – have also raised the alarm. The German NGO, Pro Asyl, recently estimated that 149 people had died this year – an increase attributed mostly to the enormous risks refugees were prepared to take since Greece sealed its land border with Turkey in August 2012. Following the construction of the fence – a six-mile barricade topped with thermal and sonar sensors – traffickers have focused on ferrying their human cargo to Greek islands in the Aegean Sea. "The shift of escape routes has led to the deaths of many people … mostly Syrian and Afghan refugees, among them many children and pregnant women," said Pro Asyl in a report documenting the problems faced by those fleeing persecution and war. (pdf) "The brutality and extent of violations are shocking," it claimed. "Refugees are being brutally pushed back by Greek authorities. This is happening systematically with the complicity of other European authorities despite the fact that it is against international law." According to the EU border agency, Frontex, detections of illegal immigrants in the Aegean Sea have increased by 912% since the barbed-wire barrier went up. "It is a wall of shame, a hair-raising element of Fortress Europe," said Aphrodite Stambouli MP of the radical left main opposition Syriza party. "It is outrageous that people in need of international protection should be obstructed from getting it in this way." Last week, she travelled to the remote Evros region – passing signs emblazoned with the words "danger: mines" and guards posted at checkpoints – to learn for herself what had happened in Praggi. "What we know is that 150 Syrians crossed the border because relatives they called, both in Greece and other European capitals, have confirmed that that is what happened," she said. "They told them clearly, 'We are in a village called Praggi, some of us are in the yard of a church, some of us in a forest.' The police version of events, that only 13 [refugees] were found that day does not add up and that is because they were obviously pushed back over the border." Immigration experts say blame lies partly with the rise of xenophobia in Greece, where the virulently anti-immigrant, neo-fascist Golden Dawn party is now the country's third biggest political force. But they add that Greek authorities are under immense EU pressure to do the "dirty work" of buttressing what is widely seen as the bloc's most porous border. "From as far back as 1990, northern Europe's policy has always been that the south has to assume the burden of stopping irregular migration," said Martin Baldwin-Edwards, who heads the Mediterranean Migration Observatory in Athens. "That, growing xenophobia, and the disrespect Turkey and Greece have historically shown for migrants' human rights account for the push-backs." Last week Turkey signed a deal with the EU promising to repatriate immigrants who illegally enter the 28-nation bloc in return for its citizens being granted visa-free travel across the union. "It's hugely important," said Baldwin-Edwards. "Turkey is the main point of entry from Asia and the Middle East. The more it is brought into the European ambit and assumes the responsibility of managing Europe's south eastern borders it will lessen the pressure on Greece." In the forlorn villages of squat one-story homes that dot the frontier's heavily militarised zone, the push-backs have caused consternation even if residents – many hard-bitten nationalists – have welcomed the erection of the wall. "The fence may have made us feel safer but we also know that all these people want is to pass through," said Nikos Dollis ,who runs a cafe in Nea Vyssa, the last settlement before the frontier in one of Greece's most secretive corners. "Their intention is never to stay here. They want to get out, go to other countries in Europe." Demonstrators recently protested outside the police headquarters in Orestiada, the gritty town that is the region's biggest metropolis, in a display of outrage over the incident in Praggi. Among them was Natasa Gara, a human rights campaigner who edits Orestiada's weekly newspaper, Methorios. "We want to know what really happened to the 150 Syrians, whose only crime was to want to escape the war," she said after spending days investigating the affair. "Are the police saying that everyone in Praggi is mad, that they just thought they saw 150 men, women and children? Because if they are, they are not telling the truth." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Watch Metallica's Antarctic show in full Posted: 24 Dec 2013 12:39 AM PST  Were you wondering what happened when the metal titans played Antarctica? Here's the complete show Reading on mobile? Watch Freeze 'Em All here Earlier this month, Metallica became the first band to play all seven continents, when the played a set at Argentina's Carlini Station in Antarctica. Now the whole show has been posted online, and you can watch it here. UK fans will get the chance to catch up with the thrash pioneers in 2014, when they co-headline the Sonisphere festival in Knebworth with Iron Maiden as part of their "Metallica by request" tour, by which fans get to choose 17 of the songs that will appear in the band's set. theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Could rationing hold the key to today's food crises? | Zoe Williams Posted: 24 Dec 2013 12:30 AM PST  The lesson from the 40s is that to fix a public health problem – whether obesity or hunger – you need big government Presumably you're already totally sickened by the excesses of Christmas as a gift-giving ceremony, and your goodwill to others has been leached out of you by the size of the queue outside Jo Malone (10 minutes of your life, scorched, in the quest for a candle that smells). I've now got two excellent phrases to spoil your Christmas dinner, and turn the marshmallow-topped sweet potato to ash in your mouth: "obesity crisis" and "food bank". They're actually related, you know. But not in the way Richard Littlejohn would have us believe, that people who go to food banks only eat chips. In the new year the Overseas Development Institute is to publish Future Diets: Implications for Agriculture and Food Prices, behind which rather dry title lie some eye-popping figures about global obesity. One interesting line of inquiry, though, is what successfully combats obesity. The UK is a rare country for running the full gamut, from a government initiative that did work, to one that doesn't at all. That is, rationing in the second world war, and the Change for Life campaign, which has been running since 2009, addressing a knowledge deficit that doesn't exist (obesity specialists are pretty well united on the fact that there are very few people who don't know a high-calorie foodstuff from a low one). It's always presented as a happy accident, one of those cute paradoxes in which the second world war specialised, that rationing, in a bid to stop us starving, also stopped us getting fat. In fact, while obesity may not have featured in the planning, this isn't an accident: in order to be the kind of government that can effect that kind of public health improvement, you have to start by being the kind of government that cares whether or not your people are hungry. You have to be the kind of government that takes what people are putting on their tables every night as its most urgent and pressing business. At the end of rationing (which was incredibly unpopular, let's not forget – nobody enjoys being told how much bacon they're allowed) not only was there much less obesity, but other indicators of a nation's health – birth weight, infant mortality – also improved. At a recent Women's Institute history night, I saw for the first time a full list of what the rations actually were. I concluded ruefully that they were so meagre (one egg a week, 50g of butter) that I don't think I'd bother eating, I'd just live on protein powder and alcohol. But that's not the point; when one discusses rationing, it's in the context of national circumstances so straitened that everybody simply had to eat less, because there wasn't enough. But the next stage of that logical process is never discussed – which is that it was a fear, really, for the poor not having enough that led to a policy for everyone. Circumstances weren't so dire that rich people would have starved, or even people in the middle: the concern was a) that scarcity would falsely inflate prices, so people who could previously afford to eat would be priced out; and b) that people would hoard. The hoarding point is interesting as it gives the lie to a narrative often tacitly peddled, that human nature during the war was better than it is now, more self-sacrificing, less demanding, more generous. But more important is that point about prices – all markets favour the rich. In times of scarcity, though, the poor are disadvantaged by an amount so stark that you can't count it. Whatever the price is, the entire point is that it will be too much for that group, so that demand is reduced and supply at the top can remain at normal levels. It's like a bully holding a boy's satchel 5cm higher than he can jump. That much was obvious in the 1940s, and you would hope it would be again today, unless 30 years of neoliberalism has totally hollowed out our sense of reason. In that era, food was a manifestation – perhaps the central manifestation – of solidarity. Rather than deal with the threat of starvation as it happened, with emergency food parcels and people slipping through the net, that government dealt with it pre-emptively, and it worked. People didn't starve, and they ended up healthier, and our parents were born slightly bigger, which accounts for why they need their ginormous baby-boomer houses. Contrast that with food banks today: obviously the situation is slightly different, since the scarcity is not of food but of money, and it has been wilfully created by the government by unjust benefit sanctions and maladministration. Nevertheless, people are hungry, and rather than answer that with a call to act collectively, to sacrifice collectively, we are asked to maybe give a tin of kidney beans as we pass through Tesco, reflecting as we go on the tendency of the poor to mismanage their finances (pace Michael Gove), or people's limitless desire for things that are free (and Lord Freud). However, while the hungry are, of course, hit hardest by the modern solipsism, it makes change impossible all the way through society so that it hits us all. We all get fatter, and there are no public health levers, because the levers that work are the ones wherein we're all in it together as a demonstrable fact, and not just nauseating rhetorical guff. Across the world there are other things that work; in Denmark, a solid resistance to corporate interests has led to the healthiest McDonald's and KFC recipes of any country. In South Korea, a mass education programme has led to the consumption of insane amounts of vegetables. You don't have to ration people to one egg a week to be a big government; but you do have to be a big government to make a big difference. Twitter: @zoesqwilliams theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Who said it: the pope or Ed Miliband? Posted: 24 Dec 2013 12:00 AM PST One is a charismatic leader beloved by millions. The other is a politician whose main appeal is that he's not David Cameron. But which of the two is the biggest socialist? And who said what?       |
| Global development events and issues of 2013 – in pictures Posted: 23 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST Qatar World Cup migrant workers, violence against women, Syria, China in Africa and typhoon Haiyan were among the headlines and themes in a dramatic year       |
| 24. Twenty-four angulas make a forearm ... Posted: 23 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST  With one day to go, our festive advent calendar – extracted from Barnaby Rogerson's Book of Numbers – takes on a universal unit of measurement Twenty-four angulas make one hasta, which is one of the universal measurement units of mankind – the length of a forearm measured out to the extended middle finger. The hasta is a unit of measurement devised by the Harappan (the most ancient of India's urban civilisations along the Indus) and akin to the cubit used in Sumeria (the most ancient urban culture of Iraq) and ancient Egypt. It seems that the basic Harappan unit was formed from the width of eight barley grains placed side by side, which was found to be equal to a finger's width (roughly 1.76cm). Twelve of these finger widths/barley rows made an angula, while a dhanus (the length of a bow) was assessed as 108 of these finger width/barley rows. Anything with "108" in it was deemed to be very propitious in India and the east, and so it was a favourite unit in which to design a citadel or a wall. The use of barley as the ultimate foundation stone of measurement appears to be another universal element (alongside the forearm, the foot and the breadth of a finger), so that, for instance, you will find it underwriting the system of measurements used by the Vikings. But there has always been room for financial manipulation and speculation, especially from the great rival of barley, the slightly lighter wheat seed. Four wheat seeds equal three of barley, which are themselves considered to be on par with the seed from a carob tree. Tomorrow: the 25 wards of the city of London • Taken from Rogerson's Book of Numbers by Barnaby Rogerson theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Consumer champions – 2013 in review Posted: 23 Dec 2013 11:00 PM PST  We round up the good, the bad and the ugly from the world of customer service in 2013 Did customer service in Britain improve in 2013? Have companies got any better at dealing with those customers for whom things don't go so well? If Guardian readers' letters to our consumer champions are anything to go by, then the answer is a resounding "no". The volume of letters to us is up again this year, but that might be because British consumers appear to be much better at complaining than they used to be. Perhaps it's the recession, or that people are better informed of their rights, but readers have not been shy to ask for help over the past 12 months. In our annual round-up we name the companies that have most frustrated you this year, report on those that have improved, and offer a few bouquets to those that show it is still possible to deliver good customer service. Mobile phonesThis sector is probably our most complained about, accounting for almost a third of all letters we receive. The sheer number of handsets and contracts out there is a factor, but the phone companies are also light years away from providing what most of us would call a reasonable customer service. We receive letters about all the providers, but one stands out as the worst by some margin: EE, formed by the merger of Orange and T-Mobile. Repeated letters reporting poor customer service are a daily event. Often they are about staff being unable to resolve trivial problems, with readers saying they feel powerless. EE says it is taking steps to resolve this, but for many this can't come soon enough. We used to receive lots of complaints about 3, but it appears to have upped its game. So which firms fare best? We receive fewest complaints about O2, Tesco and GiffGaff, although our postbag is not an entirely scientific representation of the UK as a whole. Home phone and broadbandAgain, one firm has dominated proceedings this year: BT. It has spent more on its Sports TV channels, but judging by the volume of complaints it should be sorting out its customer services operations first – and in particular its infrastructure division, Openreach, which manages customer connections to the local telephone exchange. Openreach, we've been told by its own staff, simply doesn't have enough people, and we assume that is why so many readers waited months to be connected. At BT Retail, the most common complaint from readers is their frustration at having to contact various call centres, which are unable to find someone to take ownership of the problem or sort it out. If you buy a new-build flat you could be waiting six months to get your phone and internet connected – an extraordinary fact in 2013 – and one that the regulator, Ofcom, has shown little appetite to address. One reader likened her experience of dealing with BT to that of living in the third world. The Post Office's home phone service suffered a meldown in the autumn too. But a firm that appears to be doing much better is TalkTalk. It has long offered the cheapest prices, but the service was mixed. The new-ish chief executive looks to have turned it around, and if you are fed up with BT it is a real alternative. Plusnet, which is owned by BT, is another alternative. We still get quite a few complaints about Virgin, although it does better in the stats produced by Ofcom. Sky is our least complained about firm in this arena. EnergyTo paraphrase the Queen, 2013 was an annus horribilis for the energy firms, with gas and electricity prices (and Ed Miliband's promise of a price freeze) moving the issue to the centre of the political stage. We receive letters about all the big firms, but one easily stood out as offering the worst customer service: npower. The firm introduced a new computer system and the result has been dire customer service problems – in particular an inability to produce bills. Customers have also been telling us that it is very hard to get money owed when they leave. At the beginning of the month npower was forced by the regulator to write to customers to apologise. Interestingly, a few days earlier it said it would outsource operations to India, in a move that will see 1,400 UK staff lose their jobs. That should improve customer service … If you are one of those who has been on the receiving end of npower's poor service, it might be time to move firm. Ideally, let your credit balance drop to zero, then take your meter readings and go online – in five minutes you can switch supplier. The Guardian's switching service is a good starting point. EDF has been the most improved of the "big six" firms this year, albeit from a low base. Of the smaller firms, Ovo has won plaudits for its customer service – but we get a disproportionately high number of complaints about First Utility. Lastly, we have found that in recent months it has been more and more difficult to get through to Scottish Power. FinancialsThe banks have, as ever, produced a steady stream of letters, and Lloyds is probably the most complained about – although not by much. NatWest has had the worst year possible, and its IT troubles suggest it has some serious issues to deal with. It is very telling when a press office struggles to deal with problems we send it, and that has been our experience of NatWest this year – very slow and difficult. We wouldn't be surprised if further problems emerged next year. Our postbag suggests there is a real issue regarding Barclays/Barclaycard not paying agreed PPI claims, which we think the Financial Conduct Authority needs to address. There has also been a small but noticeable rise in the number of Nationwide complaints, while uncertainty at the Co-operative Bank continues to cause readers concern – with good reason. Santander, meanwhile, is the most improved bank, and readers can once again consider it if they are looking to switch provider. The other big issuesEvery year we write articles explaining how to avoid getting taken for a ride by car hire firms, and every year we receive more and more complaints. This September there was an even bigger deluge than usual – most from people complaining about charges for damage to cars they had not caused. Using our readers' letters as a barometer, we would be cautious about using Goldcar in Spain and Budget in Ireland. HolidayAutos is about the best of a not-great bunch. Our advice to readers is to buy the super collision damage waiver from the likes of Insurance4carhire.com or Icarhireinsurance, and let them deal with any subsequent disputes. Mark any damage on the rental form and get it signed before you drive off at the start of the rental. We also think the European Commission should look at strengthening consumer protection in cross-border disputes to protect car hire users. Gym contracts are another big source of letters, and we would advise anyone signing up to one in January to read the small print and see what they are agreeing to before signing the contract. Don't take anything the sales person tells you on trust. Package holidays and the airlines are also a constant source of problems. Emirates caused more letters than it should, and British Airways also featured in too many letters. Complaints about Expedia have lessened compared with last year, bu t are still coming in. There has also been a noticeable rise in the number of letters about car dealers not honouring warranties. ScamsThe "scam" of the year is undoubtedly the rip-off passport sites – aided and abetted by search engines such as Google – pretending to be the official UK passport agency. So many people have been caught out, and despite several warnings we continue to get emails virtually every day. It happens when people use a search engine to search for "passport renewal" and click on one of the links that advertise the services of companies whose sole aim is to trap the unwary into paying £69 or so to have their application "checked". Google says the sites should make clear that they are not the official passport site, and provide a link to the real site, but the sites disguise it to catch out the unwary. The same is also true of a host of other websites pretending to offer government services. A number of companies will charge you to process your European health insurance card, which is free from the real site, or offer to check your driving licence application form for an inflated fee. The bouquetsBin manufacturer Branbantia continues to wow readers with its after-sales care, and sets the benchmark. Tilley hats got several plaudits after replacing readers' items under its lifetime guarantee, and Eurotunnel, Sharp, Chiltern Trains, and several outdoor leisure stores including Blacks were also among the firms that won praise from readers this year. Finally, an apology to those we didn't manage to feature. We get so many letters it is impossible to answer them all individually. Each one is read, but we can only take up a tiny proportion of cases. If we didn't take up yours it was not because it didn't have merit; we simply didn't have the space. Happy Christmas and New Year from the consumer champions team! theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Drugs worth $43m and exotic animals seized in NSW police raids Posted: 23 Dec 2013 09:56 PM PST Six people arrested and guns, a macaw and python seized in police operation carried out across the NSW central coast  |
| Holden people: life beyond the factory Posted: 23 Dec 2013 09:47 PM PST Guardian Australia went to talk to people connected to Holden in Victoria and South Australia  |
| Edward Snowden: ‘I already won’ Posted: 23 Dec 2013 09:16 PM PST 'For me, in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission’s already accomplished,' NSA whistleblower says       |
| Cathy McGowan's independent advice puts party politics in perspective Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:55 PM PST The MP's success flies in the face of predictions people would never vote for another independent after the minority Labor government       |
| Operation Sovereign Borders press conference, 20 December, 2013 – transcript Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:53 PM PST The official transcript of Scott Morrison's briefing – complete with the 23 'inaudible' questions from reporters       |
| Cyclone warning for parts of Northern Territory a reminder of cyclone Tracy Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:44 PM PST Bureau of Meteorology says low pressure system could develop into category 1 cyclone on Christmas Day       |
| Kevin Pietersen still burns for a turnaround even with Ashes gone Posted: 23 Dec 2013 08:22 PM PST The struggling batsman cut an unhappy figure but says past tough times show there is still a chance to light up the MCG       |
| Typhoon Haiyan survivors mark Christmas with debris trees Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:57 PM PST Survivors of typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines almost two months ago, are welcoming Christmas by crafting Christmas trees out of the wreckage       |
| Scott Morrison: always short on answers, now shy with questions Posted: 23 Dec 2013 07:31 PM PST There were 23 questions put to the immigration minister at last week’s Operation Sovereign Borders press conference, but his website says he didn’t hear them       |
| Morrison had 'direct and significant' impact on asylum seekers' health Posted: 23 Dec 2013 06:53 PM PST  Letter from 15 doctors says immigration minister was 'poorly informed' about Christmas Island health situation Fifteen doctors who co-authored a 92-page letter to their employer about conditions at the Christmas Island detention centre said decisions made by the immigration minister, Scott Morrison, had a "direct and significant" impact on their patients. The letter contains damning allegations about medical procedure inside the detention centre. The doctors write: "Decisions made by minister Morrison have direct and significant impacts on the health and wellbeing of our patients." They go on to criticise the minister directly: "Whilst we are aware IHMS [the private medical provider administering services on Christmas Island] reports primarily to the DIBP [the Department of Immigration and Border Protection], the following statements by minister Morrison suggest he is poorly informed regarding the current health situation on Christmas Island." The letter gives a number of examples of Operation Sovereign Borders press conferences when, under questions from Guardian Australia, it says Morrison made mistakes about standard procedure of doctors on Christmas Island, and of other malpractice inside immigration detention. Guardian Australia has exclusively reported the contents of the letter, which documents "numerous unsafe practices and gross departures from generally accepted medical standards which have posed significant risk to patients and caused considerable harm". A number of these claims of unsafe practices relate specifically to policy introduced since the Coalition government was elected in September. The letter has criticised the new government's fast-track turnaround target, which sees many asylum seekers transferred for offshore processing within two days of arrival. According to the letter, this results in many serious illnesses potentially going undiagnosed, resulting in life-threatening risk. The letter also criticises the decision to move pregnant women to offshore processing. This was also brought in by the new government. The letter alleges that one asylum seeker, who was diagnosed as carrying twins when she arrived on Christmas Island, was moved to Nauru as the Department of Immigration and Border Protection was "setting an example". The woman, now understood to be Latifa, a Rohingyan asylum seeker who subsequently gave birth in Brisbane, was identified as a "very high-risk" pregnancy by doctors on Christmas Island. Despite this she was transferred to Nauru. The letter also says in a meeting in late September doctors were also told by the acting IHMS site manager they were "being paid to accept the risk". The acting site manager is alleged to have told doctors on Christmas Island that "one day there will be a royal commission into what is taking place on Christmas Island". "He suggested we document well," the letter says. IHMS told Guardian Australia it could not confirm the meeting. The letter also criticises a recent visit of the Independent Health Advisory Group to Christmas Island. IHAG is the independent expert health group advising on medical practice inside immigration detention. It was disbanded by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection under Morrison in December. "It was concerning to note that on a tour with IHMS staff during a recent IHAG visit (October 2013), representatives were not introduced to a single medical practitioner working in a clinical role," the letter says. "Considering the fact that most practitioners working at the time had serious concerns about practices on the island, it is likely IHAG representatives did not obtain a full understanding of the issues at hand." At the last Operation Sovereign Borders briefing on Friday, 20 December, Morrison repeatedly declined to comment on details of the letter. He conceded he had been aware of it since 6 December but his office had not "received" a copy of it. Morrison blamed the failings of the offshore processing model on the previous government, which he claimed they "didn't believe in". Morrison said he had filled a $1.2bn funding black hole in offshore processing left by the previous government. Guardian Australia has requested more detailed comment from the minister many times, but he has declined. In response to the direct criticism of Morrison in the letter, the minister told Guardian Australia in a statement: "The minister addressed questions relating to the letter to IHMS last Friday. The contents of the letter are being interrogated by IHMS, together with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, to determine the veracity of claims made. Any recommendations stemming from that process will be examined by the minister." IHMS said: "IHMS remains in frequent discussion with the signatories of the letter, and with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, about the matters raised in the letter. "These discussions are in confidence, and with the shared objective of ensuring appropriate care of people in immigration detention. IHMS will not provide any further comment on these matters." theguardian.com © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds       |
| Perth bashing victim Quinn De Campe dies as four teenagers are charged Posted: 23 Dec 2013 06:38 PM PST Four youths charged with charged with grievous bodily harm following the death of sixteen-year-old in Royal Perth Hospital       |
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