http://www.independent.co.uk/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/trapattoni-eires--world-cup-dream-alive-1821213.html http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/trapattoni-eires--world-cup-dream-alive-1821213.html <p> Giovanni Trapattoni will send the Republic of Ireland into a do-or-die battle with France in Paris confident their World Cup dream is still alive. </p> Cricket Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:52:37 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/cricket-south-africa-seal-emphatic-victory-1821212.html http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cricket/cricket-south-africa-seal-emphatic-victory-1821212.html <p> An incisive batting display from South Africa helped them bounce back from defeat in the opening Twenty20 international against England to seal an emphatic 84-run victory at Centurion. </p> Cricket Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:50:44 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-soldier-dies-in-afghanistan-1821208.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/british-soldier-dies-in-afghanistan-1821208.html <p> A British soldier has been shot dead in Afghanistan while on foot patrol in Helmand Province, the Ministry of Defence said. </p> Asia Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:29:34 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/calvin-harris-sorry-for-jedward-stunt-1821207.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/calvin-harris-sorry-for-jedward-stunt-1821207.html <p> Calvin Harris has apologised after being kicked out of The X Factor studios for running on to the stage during John And Edward's performance. </p> News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:28:54 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/thousands-gather-to-pay-moving-tribute-to-germanys-enke-1821187.html http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/thousands-gather-to-pay-moving-tribute-to-germanys-enke-1821187.html <p> Tens of thousands of fans joined family, friends and team mates of Robert Enke to pay their last respects to the Germany goalkeeper on Sunday, five days after his suicide shocked the country and soccer fans worldwide. </p> News & Comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:56:43 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/darling-fsa-to-curb-banker-bonuses-1821177.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/darling-fsa-to-curb-banker-bonuses-1821177.html <p> City regulators are to be given new powers to stop bankers receiving bonuses that "would cause instability" to the financial system, Chancellor Alistair Darling said in a newspaper interview Sunday. </p> Home News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:35:05 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pm-to-apologise-for-child-migrants-1821176.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/pm-to-apologise-for-child-migrants-1821176.html <p> Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reportedly planning to apologise for the UK's role in sending thousands of its children to former colonies in the 20th century. </p> Home News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:32:13 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/obama-tells-burma-to-free-suu-kyi-1821175.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/obama-tells-burma-to-free-suu-kyi-1821175.html <p> US president Barack Obama has told Burma's junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, a US official said. </p> Asia Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:30:14 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dozens-injured-at-birmingham-jls-christmas-lights-gig-1821173.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/dozens-injured-at-birmingham-jls-christmas-lights-gig-1821173.html <p> At least 60 people were injured on Saturday in a crowd surge at a concert organised to mark the switching on of Birmingham's Christmas lights in the city centre, emergency services said. </p> Home News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 10:39:52 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militants-attack-antitaliban-mayor-in-pakistan-1821171.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/militants-attack-antitaliban-mayor-in-pakistan-1821171.html <p> More than a dozen militants opened fire on the house of an anti-Taliban mayor in northwestern Pakistan today, but security guards repelled the attack, killing three assailants who had disguised themselves by wearing women's burqas, police said. </p> Asia Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:43:47 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-and-us-spar-over-currencies-ahead-of-obama-visit-1821170.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-and-us-spar-over-currencies-ahead-of-obama-visit-1821170.html <p> The United States and China sparred over exchange rates at a meeting of Asia Pacific leaders today, pointing to tricky talks ahead for President Barack Obama when he flies to China to address economic tensions. </p> Asia Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:34:10 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/strong-winds-replaced-by-heavy-rain-1821169.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/strong-winds-replaced-by-heavy-rain-1821169.html <p> The weekend will continue to be a washout for much of the country, with heavy rain likely to follow the gale-force storms which have ripped across many areas. </p> Home News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:21:57 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/duke-bluebeards-castle-coliseum-londonbrrerite-bargehouse-london-1820742.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/duke-bluebeards-castle-coliseum-londonbrrerite-bargehouse-london-1820742.html <p> In her book Bluebeard's Legacy: Death and Secrets from Bartók to Hitchcock, Victoria Anderson quotes a brief exchange from Jane Campion's film In the Cut. Shocked by her students' boredom with the subtleties of To the Lighthouse, a professor obsessed by a serial killer asks, "How many dead women does it take to make a good story?" At least three, is the answer. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:58 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/comment/car-choice-seasoned-travellers-seek-comfort-on-the-autoroute-1820837.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/comment/car-choice-seasoned-travellers-seek-comfort-on-the-autoroute-1820837.html ]]> <p> <b>Hein and Carol Velissarides are 70 and 72 but still active enough (in the vehicular sense) to want to ensure that their car will take them safely on their various continental jaunts. They have a Mazda 626 saloon, but with the mileage at about 130,000 it may potentially be edging into the expensive part of its life. They are wondering about a replacement which will possibly, in their words, “see us out”. Their budget, including part-exchanging the old Mazda, is £12,000.</b> </p> Comment Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:58 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-star-trek-xi-paramount-1820778.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-star-trek-xi-paramount-1820778.html ]]> <p> This Star Trek prequel, directed by J J Abrams (Lost, Alias), has a host of young actors filling in for Shatner, Nimoy, et al. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:55 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-die-schone-mullerin-orchid-classics-1820772.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-die-schone-mullerin-orchid-classics-1820772.html ]]> <p> James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook’s reading of Schubert’s earlier song cycle is more conventional than Padmore and Lewis’s <i>Winterreise</i>. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:55 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/katy-holland-a-painful-christmas-experience-1820797.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/katy-holland-a-painful-christmas-experience-1820797.html <p> So, you want to take the kids to visit Santa in Lapland? Painful experience has taught me that Christmas is a time for hibernating. But a few of you have dropped me e-mails insisting on learning your lesson the hard way. </p> News & Advice Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:54 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-shirley-horn-live-at-the-monterey-jazz-festival-mjf-1820777.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-shirley-horn-live-at-the-monterey-jazz-festival-mjf-1820777.html ]]> <p> If a fraction of Diana and Barbra’s many fans were to buy this – a snip at midprice – justice will have been served, for the late Shirley Horn was the greatest female vocalist pianist in the history of jazz, and her perfectly poised, sexy way with a lyric has no equal. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:53 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/stay-the-night-grab-a-piece-of-the-limelight-in-aspen-1820794.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/stay-the-night-grab-a-piece-of-the-limelight-in-aspen-1820794.html ]]> <p> <b>Limelight Lodge, Aspen, Colorado</b> </p> <p> In glitzy Aspen, Limelight Lodge is a stand-out hotel on the grounds that it is central, affordable, and very much part of the local community. Its complicated family history spans the past half century. In 1958, Ski & Spur, a three-room lodge and musical venue where John Denver used to perform, combined with what was once Aspen Jail to form Hillside Lodge, the core of the Paas property empire. As the family grew, so too did their sprawling premises on South Monarch, until, in 2006, they decided that enough was enough and tore the whole lot down. Two years later, the newly christened Limelight Lodge emerged from the ruins. The hotel is right across the street from Wagner Park, a top spot for epic snowball fights, and a five-minute walk from the Silver Queen gondola base station, the access point for high-quality skiing on Ajax Mountain. The bus station for the shuttles to Snowmass, Buttermilk and Aspen Highlands is even closer. </p> Americas Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:53 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tis-the-season-for-christmas-markets-1820800.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tis-the-season-for-christmas-markets-1820800.html ]]> <p> <b>For family fun</b> </p> <p> <b>Get away: </b></p> <p> In the chic French resort of Le Touquet, made magical at this time of year with hundreds of twinkling lights, families can enjoy carriage rides, fairytales, skating, and an atmospheric snow garden. You can follow the ice trail through the enchanted forest to the house of Father Christmas and browse the traditional chalet market from 18 December to 3 January. </p> <p> When: 27 November to 3 January (letouquet.com/noeluk). </p> <p> Go with: SeaFrance (seafrance.com) offers a day return for car and five passengers from £19. </p> News & Advice Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:53 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/ready-for-a-rainy-day-time-to-get-a-financial-umbrella-1820830.html http://www.independent.co.uk/money/spend-save/ready-for-a-rainy-day-time-to-get-a-financial-umbrella-1820830.html <p> More than a quarter of British families have no savings or investments to fall back on in times of emergency, according to new research from Abbey. With unemployment nearing 2.5 million and set to go higher, being one wage packet away from the breadline is a sobering thought. </p> Spend & Save Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:52 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/great-britons/calling-for-great-britons-1820319.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/great-britons/calling-for-great-britons-1820319.html ]]> <p> To celebrate the start of The London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in less than 1,000 days, British Airways, the official airline partner of the London 2012 Games, has launched a programme for excellence called Great Britons. </p> <p> The judges are looking for talented people who demonstrate the values associated with the Olympic and Paralympic Games in categories such as sport, performing arts, community, fashion, innovation, and art and design. Only people who are determined, competitive and courageous enough to follow their dreams will win the free flights to BA destinations and a pack including a Panasonic camcorder. </p> Great Britons Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:52 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-archers-radio-4brarchive-on-4-radio-hollywood-radio-4-1820753.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/the-archers-radio-4brarchive-on-4-radio-hollywood-radio-4-1820753.html <p> It's part of any self-respecting radio reviewer's remit to drop in on The Archers at least once a year, and now's the time to do it, with the Lilian-and-Matt-on-the-run storyline reaching its climax. For those benighted souls unfamiliar with the intricacies of Borsetshire life, Lilian, the gin-soaked bar-room queen from Ambridge, a party girl with an erstwhile taste for toyboys, has revealed hidden depths since she got together with someone her own age, businessman Matt Crawford. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:50 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-them-crooked-vultures-them-crooked-vultures-sony-bmg-1820760.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-them-crooked-vultures-them-crooked-vultures-sony-bmg-1820760.html ]]> <p> Pop has its own answer to swine flu right now, and it’s the seemingly unstoppable proliferation of supergroups. In rapid succession we’ve seen The Raconteurs, Monsters of Folk, The Last Shadow Puppets, The Dead Weather and the as-yet unnamedThom Yorke/Flea project. And Them Crooked Vultures – Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones – are the biggest of them all. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:50 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/beyonce-echo-arena-liverpoolbrthe-flaming-lips-troxy-london-1820735.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/beyonce-echo-arena-liverpoolbrthe-flaming-lips-troxy-london-1820735.html <p> If you were to brick <b>Beyoncé </b>Knowles into an airtight room with no windows and doors – a disproportionate response, arguably, to her assorted crimes against pop – the singer’s hair would, I’m convinced, continue to billowas it does throughout her concerts. Such is the air of unreality Knowles exudes that her different-sized eyes, giving her a mischievous squint, are the only proof that she didn’t come straight out of the Real Doll factory. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:49 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/stv-and-itv-on-a-collision-course-to-the-high-court-1820825.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/stv-and-itv-on-a-collision-course-to-the-high-court-1820825.html <p> A screech of tyres, bang! And it was off. The big television event of last week was Collision, ITV's five-part drama that opened with a spectacular car crash, then unravelled the intertwined lives of its characters. But for anyone living north of the border, it might as well never have happened. For Collision is the latest ITV drama to have been denied to viewers of STV, ITV's Scottish licence holder, in an increasingly bitter dispute that looks set to end up in the High Court. </p> TV & Radio Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:47 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ralph-towner-and-paolo-fresu-chiaroscuro-ecm-1820773.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ralph-towner-and-paolo-fresu-chiaroscuro-ecm-1820773.html ]]> <p> Spare and mournful, Sunday-morning coffee and croissants music from the duo of veteran guitarist and Oregon founder Towner and the superb Sardinian trumpeter Fresu, who also plays a mean flugelhorn. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:40 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/dj-taylor-this-could-get-ugly-1820842.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/columnists/dj-taylor-this-could-get-ugly-1820842.html <p> It was a bad week for those highly desirable abstracts, personal and collective freedom. The Government did confirm that the so-called “Big Brother” scheme, whereby every phone call, email and internet visit in the UK would be logged on a central database, has effectively been abandoned. </p> Columnists Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:40 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/frank-auerbach-london-building-sites-195262-courtauld-gallery-london-1820738.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/frank-auerbach-london-building-sites-195262-courtauld-gallery-london-1820738.html <p> The most intriguing work in the Courtauld Gallery's show, Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites 1952-62, is not a painting but a drawing, Study for Oxford Street Building Site. This, prosaically, depicts the new John Lewis department store under construction, the old one having been bombed in the Second World War. Auerbach, like centuries of painters before him, has gridded up his sketch in red crayon the better to transfer it to canvas. A contemporary photograph of the scene shows the half-finished John Lewis as a similar composition of grids, its steel frame a sign of both its modernity and its Modernism. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:39 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-our-highend-industries-need-a-more-sympathetic-civil-service-1820821.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-our-highend-industries-need-a-more-sympathetic-civil-service-1820821.html <p> If, as most people now accept, the next government – which will inherit the gravest fiscal position of any government since 1945 – will have to be more enabling and regulating, rather than taxing 'n' spending, it will need new skills. But aside from "more responsive" and "more efficient" mantras, what are they? </p> Hamish McRae Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:38 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-white-ribbon-15-1820728.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/the-white-ribbon-15-1820728.html <p> When you watch the films of Austrian director Michael Haneke, you're not so much looking at a screen as gazing into a mirror, and a pretty forbidding one. You the viewer, with your cultural assumptions, are always Haneke's real focus, the target of his critique. You're not merely involved in the story but implicated. It's a bit like finding yourself the subject of a police investigation </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:36 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/fabulous-beast-dance-theatre-coliseum-londonbrbirmingham-royal-ballet-sadlers-wells-london-1820745.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/fabulous-beast-dance-theatre-coliseum-londonbrbirmingham-royal-ballet-sadlers-wells-london-1820745.html <p> No one ever put it more succinctly than Leonard Bernstein who, faced with conducting Stravinsky's juggernaut masterpiece, The Rite of Spring, said: "It's got the best dissonances anyone ever thought up." A half-century later, its brutalism undimmed, the work's polyrhythms remain a challenge to conductors and orchestras. To choreographers, though, the test is imaginative. Of the many danced Rites I have seen, few remain vivid in memory: Kenneth MacMillan's teeming vision of tribal sacrifice in a scorched desert of red earth, Pina Bausch's post-apocalyptic gender face-off, and Michael Clark's, but possibly only because of the Hitler moustaches. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:36 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/2012-12a-1820730.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/2012-12a-1820730.html <p> Following on from <i>Harry Brown, 2012 </i>is a similarly balanced and thoughtful piece of work. It's directed by Roland Emmerich, the maker of <i>Independence Day, Godzilla </i>and <i>The Day After Tomorrow</i>, and it must have come about when Emmerich looked back at his oeuvre and decided that it was all a bit too subtle. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:36 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-michael-mcintyre-hello-wembley-universal-1820780.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/dvd-michael-mcintyre-hello-wembley-universal-1820780.html ]]> <p> McIntyre has at last found his métier: playing arenas where the audience wants to be entertained and non-believers stay away. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:35 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/copenhagen-in-the-balance-1820824.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/copenhagen-in-the-balance-1820824.html <p> The UN is to hold a conference in Copenhagen next month that it hopes will lead to a dramatic shift in the world's attitude to climate change. </p> Business Analysis & Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:34 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/will-carbon-dioxide-give-miliband-the-slip-1820823.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/will-carbon-dioxide-give-miliband-the-slip-1820823.html <p> For once, Miliband the younger grabbed the headlines. Brother and cabinet colleague David had for weeks dominated the news pages over speculation that he would snaffl e the position of the European Union's first foreign secretary. But last week it was the turn of Ed Miliband, the Climate Change Secretary, who took centre stage after drafting one of the most comprehensive energy statements by this or any modern government. </p> Business Analysis & Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:32 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/city-slicker-in-havana-1820790.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/americas/city-slicker-in-havana-1820790.html ]]> <p> <b>Why visit?</b> </p> <p> Havana, the most captivating city in the Caribbean, has any number of treats to offer visitors. Exquisitely dilapidated streets; mighty forts; iconic hotels, from the colonial to the uncompromisingly modernist; a pulsating street life; fleets of classic cars – in various states of disrepair; dough-soft beaches lapped by turquoise waters; the world's tastiest rum and finest cigars; virtuoso musicians jamming on every corner and in every unassuming bar; a vibrant art scene; and warm, good-humoured, highly educated locals who know how to laugh and live in the moment despite the pressures of everyday life in this land of shortages and hardship. </p> Americas Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:32 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cosmen-battles-national-express-over-board-seat-1820807.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cosmen-battles-national-express-over-board-seat-1820807.html <p> National Express management and the transport group's deputy chairman, Jorge Cosmen, are set for yet another confrontation, this time over the terms that give the Spaniard the right to sit on the board. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:31 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/do-big-phil-and-shiny-simon-have-the-x-factor-1820819.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/do-big-phil-and-shiny-simon-have-the-x-factor-1820819.html <p> When Simon Cowell controversially refused to kick John and Edward off The X Factor last weekend, he cost Welsh teenager Lucie Jones a £1m recording contract and added at least as much to his own value and that of ITV. The presenter-producer-promoter is keeping the television broadcaster alive single-handedly. </p> Business Analysis & Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:26 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/salad-of-parma-ham-walnuts-pomegranate-and-ricotta-1819766.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/salad-of-parma-ham-walnuts-pomegranate-and-ricotta-1819766.html ]]> <p> This is very much an autumn salad – walnuts and pomegranates are perfect right now. Simple in its execution and not too heavy, it is a lovely way to begin a meal. </p> Recipes Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:24 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-feral-beast-if-you-cant-stand-the-heat-1820826.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/the-feral-beast-if-you-cant-stand-the-heat-1820826.html <p> So much for the sisterhood. The Observer's outgoing political editor, Gaby Hinsliff (right) has been roundly condemned by colleagues after signing off with a 4,000-word piece about how the job ruined her family life. "I was very saddened by this," sniffed Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley on a podcast, "she has basically quit because she can't manage it." "I wasn't totally sympathetic to the thrust of the piece," chimed Obs columnist Catherine Bennett. "Lots of other jobs are infinitely harder to juggle than journalism." As Gaby may now discover. </p> Press Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:22 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/mixed-up-north-wiltons-music-hall-londonbrthe-kreutzer-sonata-gate-notting-hill-london-1820741.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/mixed-up-north-wiltons-music-hall-londonbrthe-kreutzer-sonata-gate-notting-hill-london-1820741.html <p> Uniting communities – healing wounds, harnessing the energy reclaimed from violence – is something the performing arts do well. In classical music, it's almost obligatory. Think of the artistic and political triumphs of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and its Palestinian and Israeli players, or the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra, its disadvantaged members liberated by Rachmaninov and the rumba. What better outlet, then, for rowdy, angry or terrified kids than a play – licence to be someone else, or your often unacceptable self? </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:22 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-50-cent-before-i-self-destruct-shadyinterscope-1820766.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-50-cent-before-i-self-destruct-shadyinterscope-1820766.html ]]> <p> Fiddy’s latest is nothing like as apocalyptic as its cover imagery implies. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:21 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/competition-returns-to-home-loan-market-1820832.html http://www.independent.co.uk/money/mortgages/competition-returns-to-home-loan-market-1820832.html <p> The past few weeks have seen a number of new mortgages and rate cuts, suggesting a loosening in the market and a welcome sign that competition is returning, but what are the real implications for homeowners? </p> Mortgages Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:21 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-stereophonics-keep-calm-and-carry-on-mercury-1820767.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-stereophonics-keep-calm-and-carry-on-mercury-1820767.html ]]> <p> Its title began life as a message for us, but its use here suggests a band’s memo to themselves. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cowells-x-factor-abstention-adds-to-his-millions-1820806.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/cowells-x-factor-abstention-adds-to-his-millions-1820806.html <p> X Factor tormentor Simon Cowell is said to worth £120m and Forbes magazine reckons he earned £45m in the past year. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-sparks-the-seduction-of-ingmar-bergman-sr-records-1820763.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-sparks-the-seduction-of-ingmar-bergman-sr-records-1820763.html ]]> <p> The 22nd album by Sparks – never ones to do things the easy way – is a biopic in opera form of a legendary Swedish art-house director, with a cast of actor-singers augmenting Russell Mael’s vocals, and a complete orchestra backing Ron’s luxurious pianos. It’s a genre and format to which the brothers, whose work is so often described as “operatic”, are immaculately suited. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/andrew-marr-the-making-of-modern-britain-bbc2brnot-forgotten-soldiers-of-empire-channel-4-1820750.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/andrew-marr-the-making-of-modern-britain-bbc2brnot-forgotten-soldiers-of-empire-channel-4-1820750.html <p> You could forgive Andrew Marr and Ian Hislop buckling under the weight of their poppies come Armistice Day. How does a popular historian tackle a subject as relentlessly researched as the First World War without staggering into the No Man's Land between rehashed old facts and obscure military arcana? Hislop, on Channel 4, was at least able to beaver away in Marr's shadow. Poor Andy is a brand these days, his name swinging awkwardly from the programme title, promising the Andrew Marr™ take on the war to end all wars, and the enormous changes it wrought on this country. Gulp. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:20 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/steamed-pudding-with-prunes-and-pomegranate-1819768.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/steamed-pudding-with-prunes-and-pomegranate-1819768.html ]]> Recipes Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:19 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-winterreise-harmonia-mundi-1820771.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-winterreise-harmonia-mundi-1820771.html ]]> <p> There is an interesting reversal of roles in the first release of Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis’s series of Schubert song cycles for HM. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:18 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/armenias-latest-struggle--the-battle-for-tourists-1820783.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/armenias-latest-struggle--the-battle-for-tourists-1820783.html ]]> <p> On a hillside in the outskirts of Yerevan, capital of Armenia, there is a black-and-white picture of a 24-year-old man. A head-and-shoulders shot, he is dressed in military uniform, has thick eyebrows, a wide nose and slightly cauliflower ears. So detailed is the photograph that even the curvature of his Adam's apple is clear. </p> Europe Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:18 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/british-union-member-elected-cochairman-of-airbus-council-1820808.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/british-union-member-elected-cochairman-of-airbus-council-1820808.html <p> Britain has a union representative at the head of the European works council for Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer, for the first time. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:17 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-celebrate-europes-return-to-growth-then-prepare-to-face-the-next-crisis-1820820.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/hamish-mcrae/hamish-mcrae-celebrate-europes-return-to-growth-then-prepare-to-face-the-next-crisis-1820820.html <p> Phew! Europe is growing again. Yes, I know that according to the official statistics the UK is not yet part of that growth but the more I look at the other data the more convinced I am that our stats are wrong and that eventually it will be shown that some growth began in Britain in the third quarter. But we will see. The more important point is that most of the economies of this time zone are moving forward again. That gives a base from which to think about the coming months. What have we learnt and what should we look for? </p> Hamish McRae Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:17 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/margareta-pagano/margareta-pagano-its-been-a-long-haul-for-ba-and-iberia-but-now-they-must-avoid-a-crash-landing-at-the-altar-1820822.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/comment/margareta-pagano/margareta-pagano-its-been-a-long-haul-for-ba-and-iberia-but-now-they-must-avoid-a-crash-landing-at-the-altar-1820822.html <p> If the Wright brothers were alive today Wilbur would have to fire Orville to reduce costs. This quip from Herb Kelleher is even more apt now than when the boss of Southwest Airlines said it some 15 years ago as the industry was going through another of its upheavals. </p> Margareta Pagano Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:14 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/northsouth-divide-returns-to-haunt-the-british-property-market-1820835.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/northsouth-divide-returns-to-haunt-the-british-property-market-1820835.html <p> Trying to predict the property market is about as easy as picking next week's lottery numbers. House price indices of late have inched into positive territory, provoking some estate agents to breathe a sigh of relief. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said last week that house prices had just enjoyed their biggest rise since December 2006, about eight months before the onset of the credit crunch. </p> Property Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:13 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lastgasp-cash-keeps-airline-flying-ndash-for-now-1820805.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/lastgasp-cash-keeps-airline-flying-ndash-for-now-1820805.html <p> Flyglobespan, Scotland's biggest airline, is believed to have staved off collapse with a last-ditch cash injection on Friday evening. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:13 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-independent-food-amp-drink-awards-2009-1820335.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/the-independent-food-amp-drink-awards-2009-1820335.html ]]> <p> Britain's best restaurants, most passionate producers and finest food shops - as revealed by our panel of experts. </p> Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/road-tests/renaultsport-mgane-250-1820838.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/motoring/road-tests/renaultsport-mgane-250-1820838.html ]]> <p> We haven't covered the coupé version of the new(ish) Renault Mégane in these pages up to now. That is because I hadn't driven one except in the form of a larger-than-life concept car whose every styling feature was exaggerated. The concept car was hopeless to drive, having a tiny Twingo engine, a very basic structure and suspension, and no seals around its upward-opening doors. But it looked fantastic. Which was the whole point. </p> Road Tests Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-various-artists-warp-20-unheard-warp-1820776.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-various-artists-warp-20-unheard-warp-1820776.html ]]> <p> Boards of Canada’s woozy one-loop lullaby “Seven Forty Seven”; Autechre’s approachable acid groover “Oval Moon”; the arpeggio squall of Clark’s “Rattlesnake”; the melodic techno-warble of Plaid’s “Dett”; Broadcast’s ever so slightly menacing cover of the Nico song “Sixty Forty”: when the music that it didn’t previously release is as good as it is on this, the third and most desirable of Warp’s 20th anniversary CD compilations, you know a record label has an embarrassment of riches. May the next 20 be as varied and fruitful. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-hits-back-at-bully-claims-1820814.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/rbs-hits-back-at-bully-claims-1820814.html <p> The Royal Bank of Scotland has hit back at claims it is engaged in corporate bullying, by questioning smaller brokers' appetite for underwriting riskier rights issues. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-norah-jones-the-fall-blue-note-1820770.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/album-norah-jones-the-fall-blue-note-1820770.html ]]> <p> Another departure in the career of this unjustly resented pop girl. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/grilled-leg-of-lamb-with-pomegranate-and-roasted-spices-1819767.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/recipes/grilled-leg-of-lamb-with-pomegranate-and-roasted-spices-1819767.html ]]> <p> The salty, sweet taste of the lamb works well with the sharp, clean pomegranate. Ask your butcher to bone the leg for you and slice into 200g/7oz pieces, following the lamb's natural muscle groups. </p> Recipes Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:10 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/independent-board-vetoes-obriens-attempt-to-ban-it-from-issuing-securities-1820810.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/independent-board-vetoes-obriens-attempt-to-ban-it-from-issuing-securities-1820810.html <p> The board of Independent News & Media, owner of The Independent and The Independent on Sunday titles, won its battle against investor Denis O'Brien, when shareholders voted overwhelming on Friday against his resolution at an extraordinary meeting in Dublin. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/harry-brown-18-1820729.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/harry-brown-18-1820729.html <p> There are about five seconds in <i>Harry Brown </i>which sum up the film's political stance. A skin-headed thug is sitting in his car, having a sexual act performed on him by the reluctant young man in the passenger seat, and then – blam – a single bullet shatters the windscreen and the thug's skull. The sharpshooter is none other than a smartly dressed, well-spoken, and rigidly heterosexual retired soldier. You can almost hear the Daily Mail readers cheering. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/kenmores-failure-blamed-on-the-troubles-of-german-lender-1820811.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/kenmores-failure-blamed-on-the-troubles-of-german-lender-1820811.html <p> Kenmore Property Group, the Edinburgh-based developer that collapsed into administration owing Lloyds Banking Group £700m, was not tipped over the edge by its principal lender, Lloyds, but by an overseas lender understood to be HSH Nordbank, a troubled German Landesbank, according to property sources. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ceu-vagarosa-six-degrees-1820774.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/reviews/album-ceu-vagarosa-six-degrees-1820774.html ]]> <p> The difficult second album? No sirree! Not for this Brazilian singersongwriter. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/new-chief-launches-reed-review-1820815.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/new-chief-launches-reed-review-1820815.html <p> Erik Engstrom, the new chief executive at Ftse 100 media group Reed Elsevier, is to launch a review of the business that could lead to asset sale </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:07 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ba-hopes-rise-on-pound3bnplus-pension-deal-1820809.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/ba-hopes-rise-on-pound3bnplus-pension-deal-1820809.html <p> British Airways hopes a deal can be struck with its pension fund trustees over the airline's £3bn to £4bn estimated pension deficit by Christmas, allowing the merger announced last week with Spain's Iberia to take-off as planned. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:05 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/supermarkets-wind-up-for-a-competitive-christmas-1820812.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/supermarkets-wind-up-for-a-competitive-christmas-1820812.html <p> The big Christmas food race has started. As the UK's supermarkets make up to 20 per cent of their profit over the holiday period, the five big chains are gearing up for an all out food-fight. </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:04 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/nighthawk-energy-boss-expects-oil-company-to-be-sold-in-two-years-1820813.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/nighthawk-energy-boss-expects-oil-company-to-be-sold-in-two-years-1820813.html <p> The head of Nighthawk Energy, an Aim-listed North America-focused oil producer, believes that the company could be sold to a major rival by 2012. Its managing director, David Bramhill, said: "Our aim is to be a mid-tier company [worth more than $1bn from around $215m today] within two years. Alongside this we might be bid for by a major player given our assets are just the sort of packages that they would be after." </p> Business News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:04 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tips-and-deals-151109-1820786.html http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/tips-and-deals-151109-1820786.html <p> <b>The gallery</b> </p> <p> Magnum, the photo collective, is opening a second gallery in Paris on Friday. The opening exhibition, titled "demain/hier", will focus on Magnum's new generation of photographers, set against a backdrop of the founders. Go to magnumgallery.fr. </p> News & Advice Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:03 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tulpan-12a-1820731.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/tulpan-12a-1820731.html <p> After all <i>2012's </i>digital prestidigitation, it's a breath of fresh air to see Tulpan, a life-affirming film set on the plains of Kazakhstan, where an apprentice shepherd is failing to find a wife. It may be a finely crafted comedy drama, but it's also a window to a real location populated by real people – and, indeed, real camels. All the special effects in 2012 can't compete with a long, unbroken shot of the leading man assisting in the birth of a lamb. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/chancellor-urged-to-raise-limit-on-rentaroom-tax-break-1820834.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/property/chancellor-urged-to-raise-limit-on-rentaroom-tax-break-1820834.html <p> Property market insiders are calling for the Government to help homeowners struggling to meet mortgage repayments by renting out spare rooms. </p> Property Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/war-in-afghanistan-not-in-our-name-1820949.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/war-in-afghanistan-not-in-our-name-1820949.html ]]> <p>Seven out of 10 Britons back <i>The Independent on Sunday's</i> call for a phased withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as a landmark report by Oxfam this week exposes the real human cost of the war.</p> Home News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/welcome-to-club-bounce-where-the-big-ndash-and-beautiful-ndash-people-go-1820974.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/welcome-to-club-bounce-where-the-big-ndash-and-beautiful-ndash-people-go-1820974.html ]]> <p>The ladies call themselves "BBW" or "big, beautiful women". The gentlemen are known as "BHMs'" or "big, handsome men". Their common interest, when they're not pounding the specially reinforced dancefloor, is the noble cause of "size acceptance".</p> Americas Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/hollywoods-most-glamorous-studio-prepares-to-sell-up-1820950.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/hollywoods-most-glamorous-studio-prepares-to-sell-up-1820950.html ]]> <p>Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, once the most powerful and prestigious film studio in all Hollywood, is looking for a buyer to bail it out of nearly $4bn (£2.4bn) of debt. The company that gave the world Tom and Jerry cartoons, The Wizard of Oz, and a host of other classic musicals has said it has begun to explore a "potential sale". </p> News Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/aid-commitment-dropped-from-queens-speech-1820952.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/aid-commitment-dropped-from-queens-speech-1820952.html ]]> <p>A law preventing future governments from cutting back their spending on aid to developing countries has been left out of this week's Queen's Speech, prompting anger from campaigners, it emerged last night</p> UK Politics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-disgrace-of-britains-jails-institutions-shortchange-inmates-and-society-1820955.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-disgrace-of-britains-jails-institutions-shortchange-inmates-and-society-1820955.html ]]> <p>Britain's prison system is being "brought to its knees", according to penal reform experts responding to a damning new report obtained by The Independent on Sunday. The soaring prison population, consistently high re-offending rates and increasing numbers of people on short sentences highlighted in the Prison Reform Trust's dossier have produced a system that is "not fit for purpose", they say.</p> Crime Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-40-million-children-who-just-didnt-exist-1820969.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/the-40-million-children-who-just-didnt-exist-1820969.html ]]> <p>This is a story about a project which found 40 million children who didn't officially exist. A campaign that, over four years and across three continents and 32 countries, has helped to protect hundreds of thousands of children in danger of being trafficked, and girls as young as 12 being forced into illegal marriages – and it is now also saving untold numbers of unborn girls from being aborted because they are the "wrong sex". It is that very rare thing: a global good news story.</p> World Politics Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/on-the-agenda-were-off-to-the-shops-at-st-martins-lane-hotel-then-on-to-a-wainwright-christmas-1818795.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/features/on-the-agenda-were-off-to-the-shops-at-st-martins-lane-hotel-then-on-to-a-wainwright-christmas-1818795.html ]]> Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/king-of-tall-tales-why-childrens-author-philip-ardaghs-is-literatures-biggest-joker-1818796.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/king-of-tall-tales-why-childrens-author-philip-ardaghs-is-literatures-biggest-joker-1818796.html ]]> <p> When I meet Philip Ardagh for coffee in late October, the winner of this year's Roald Dahl Funny Prize has not yet been announced. But Ardagh is sure he knows which of the six shortlisted books will win – and it's not his own.</p> Features Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/so-bright-and-delicate-by-john-keats-1818797.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/so-bright-and-delicate-by-john-keats-1818797.html <p>Following the opening earlier this month of Bright Star, Jane Campion's film about the love affair between John Keats and Fanny Brawne, Penguin has clearly decided to target young, love-sick girls, which inevitably means lots of flowers on the cover of this collection of letters and poems from Keats to his neighbour. Yet I'm not sure those girls will find what they're looking for in this book: the bulk is about the misery and pain of the reality of love, not its joys. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-by-shirley-jackson-1818798.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/we-have-always-lived-in-the-castle-by-shirley-jackson-1818798.html <p>Shirley Jackson's brilliant kind of American Gothic is offered up for our consumption in this, her final novel, first published in 1962. She liked to mix the gothic and the domestic and much of her writing centred on houses; a reflection, perhaps, of how the domestic sphere impinged on women's lives after the Second World War. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/an-education-by-lynn-barber-1818802.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/an-education-by-lynn-barber-1818802.html <p>When the journalist Lynn Barber was a 16-year-old in 1960, for some inexplicable reason she got into the car of a smooth-talking older man she'd never met before. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-jobs-meet-the-movers-and-shakers-at-the-vanguard-of-the-eco-revolution-1818804.html http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/green-jobs-meet-the-movers-and-shakers-at-the-vanguard-of-the-eco-revolution-1818804.html ]]> <p> Green jobs. They sound good, don't they? First off, any job in a recession is welcome. Then you get the satisfaction of, well, let's not be shy about it, getting paid to save the planet. And finally there's the prospect of meeting all sorts of like-minded people and comparing tips on composting. Reality, of course, hits like a blast of biomass.</p> Green Living Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-lucy-cohu--anna-maxwell-martin-1818806.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-lucy-cohu--anna-maxwell-martin-1818806.html ]]> <p>Anna Maxwell Martin, 31, is an actress best known for TV roles in the 2005 BBC adaptation of 'Bleak House' and last year's Channel 4 adaptation of 'Poppy Shakespeare', both of which earned her the Best Actress award at the Baftas. Her theatre roles include Lyra in 'His Dark Materials' at the National and Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret'. She lives in north London</p> Profiles Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/legend-of-a-suicide-by-david-vann-1818808.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/legend-of-a-suicide-by-david-vann-1818808.html <p>Suicide is always horribly violent. It's the death that wreaks maximum havoc on those left behind. Whether writing about it can be therapeutic is doubtful, but David Vann has drawn upon it to produce this striking – and sometimes shocking – work of literature. This is a collection of five interlinked short stories plus a novella, which constitute an extended fictionalised treatment of Vann's father's disturbing and untimely exit from life.</p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/obama-music-by-bonnie-greer-1818810.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/obama-music-by-bonnie-greer-1818810.html <p>Bonnie Greer is a "south-sider" from Chicago, where Barack Obama made his political home – and, she says, coming from the south side means keeping it real, not forgetting your roots, and carrying blues music in your soul. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-bell-the-iiosi-diary-1820852.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-bell-the-iiosi-diary-1820852.html <p>It looked set to be a case for Sherlock Holmes, but the mystery of Richard Caring's dead deer has been solved. The owner of top London restaurants The Ivy and Le Caprice tells me he has found the person who shot two prize stags and left them dying outside his Somerset retreat. "It was a local lad," he says, "but it's all over now, thank goodness." Despite offering a £15,000 reward to find the culprit, Caring tells me he has decided not to prosecute. "What's the point? He would only be fined twenty quid and let off." The killings were thought to be part of a rural backlash against rich metropolitans moving into the area, but he also tells me he has received a hundred letters of support from locals. Caring, who is worth an estimated £360m, has annoyed some with his extravagant building work at the house he bought in the grounds of Pixton Park, Auberon Waugh's ancestral home. But Caring is himself an enthusiastic countryman, spending most weekends blasting birds out of the sky. </p> Commentators Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/sarah-sands/sarah-sands-the-skys-the-limit-for-our-daughters-1820851.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/sarah-sands/sarah-sands-the-skys-the-limit-for-our-daughters-1820851.html <p>At a party last week for London's 1,000 most influential people, Rachel Whetstone, of Google, noted there was something unusual about the gathering. "Where are all the women?" she murmured to me. </p> Sarah Sands Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-labour-must-read-the-tories-book-1820850.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-rentoul/john-rentoul-labour-must-read-the-tories-book-1820850.html <p>A week is no time at all in politics. Some things take a long time to change, and political parties are among the most resistant. That is the lesson of a new book to be published in January. The Conservative Party from Thatcher to Cameron, by Tim Bale, a rising star of political science at the University of Sussex, sets out to answer two simple questions: why did it take the Tories so long to do what they had to do in order to regain power after 1997; and how were they able, after 2005, to put things right so quickly? These are questions that go to the heart of understanding what is happening in politics today.</p> John Rentoul Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-only-way-forward-1820849.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-the-only-way-forward-1820849.html <p>This newspaper opened up an important debate last week with the call for British troops to be withdrawn from combat duty in Afghanistan. Public opinion supported the initial deployment of a small number of soldiers to help secure the country after the fall of the Taliban eight years ago. For most of the time since then, the British people have been prepared to give the mission the benefit of the doubt. But over the past year those doubts have grown, and our ComRes opinion poll today reveals that opposition to the deployment has reached a critical level: 71 per cent of those questioned last week agreed with The Independent on Sunday's argument that we should begin a phased withdrawal, "the aim being the end of combat operations within a year or so".</p> Leading Articles Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-fergusson-obama-is-haunted-by-gorbachevs-ghost-1820848.html http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/james-fergusson-obama-is-haunted-by-gorbachevs-ghost-1820848.html ]]> <p>It has become a pub bore's cliché to argue that we will never prevail in Afghanistan because no foreign power ever has: not even the Russians, whose nine-year occupation cost the lives of 14,000 of their soldiers and 35,500 wounded, and which ended in humiliating retreat in 1989. Those Cassandras irritate Western leaders, whose response is to insist that it is different this time. "We are not an occupying army," Gordon Brown told the BBC on Friday. "It's not like previous interventions.... We are actually creating the conditions by which the Afghans themselves, and not an occupying army, can run their own affairs."</p> Commentators Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/gardening/heres-one-i-made-earlier-start-collecting-evergreens-now-for-a-festive-homemade-christmas-display-1818816.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/house-and-home/gardening/heres-one-i-made-earlier-start-collecting-evergreens-now-for-a-festive-homemade-christmas-display-1818816.html <p>If you wince at the prices of flower-shop Christmas arrangements, there is an alternative. I have a godmother for whom one of the best moments of winter is going out in the garden to pick ivy and other evergreens to weave into a Christmas wreath for the front door. In the past couple of years, I've caught the bug. And if you're one of those people who thinks Margo Leadbetter-style "doing the flowers" is beyond them, this is a great place to start. </p> Gardening Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000