For the record: 30/03/2009

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GCSEs are a pointless waste of time

A few facts. Last year almost 70% of 16 year olds achieved at least 5 GCSE passes with grades A*-C. ...

Asylum seekers: When the questions tell us so much more than the answers

For the last four years I've been paying my karmic dues (I would say "contributing to the big societ...

Thanks to The Sun, for enriching each of our lives

Those at the super-soaraway Sun are, yet again, making outlandish claims that they’ve changed the wo...

Ones to watch: Aiden Grimshaw to Hey Sholay

With so much new music coming out it’s difficult to keep track of what’s out there. It’s a lucky dip...


"Nobody will miss you more than me." Phillip Schofield bids goodbye to departing 'This Morning' co-host Fern Britton. So, absolutely no rift there, then.

A very public affair

The high-powered Google communications team can look forward to some interesting times, now that the 'Daily Mail' has decided its new Street View feature can be held responsible for every crime that takes place, for ever more. The newspaper's coverage of the vandalism of the home of Fred "The Shred" Goodwin was accompanied by a headline shouting: "How Google invaded Sir Fred's privacy – and could invade yours". The 'Mail' included shots of Sir Fred's Edinburgh house, from five angles, plus the helpful tip that "armed with an address gleaned from the electoral roll, a potential criminal can now study the outside of a home or office and evaluate its security measures, such as alarms, gates and lighting".

Naked lunch

Even a creative genius such as Trevor Beattie (below) has to resort to nudity these days, his BMB agency filming Aardman character Wallace in the nude for the new npower campaign. Beattie's oppo Bill Bungay drily compliments the cheese-eating Wallace: "He laid off the Wensleydale for a couple of weeks prior to the shoot, and it showed."

Crowd teaser

How much of a success would 'The Damned United' have been without The Mill, the visual-effects facility in London's Soho that gave the 'wow factor' to 'Gladiator', 'Doctor Who' and 'Torchwood'? Judge for yourselves. This original image from the shoot of Tom Hooper's adaptation of David Peace's novel on Brian Clough, starring Michael Sheen, is supposed to show the Leeds United team lined up ahead of the historic Charity Shield clash with Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in 1974. The down-at-heel backdrop is in fact the away end at Saltergate, home of Chesterfield FC, one of the few English league grounds to retain terracing. To see how the shot was completely transformed to transport the players to Wembley, along with pictures of a host of other trickery from The Mill, go to: www.independent.co.uk/ thedamnedunited

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