Thaksin Shinawatra: Former Thailand PM and Manchester City owner freed from detention after six months

Sky News
Updated Sun, 18 February 2024

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Thaksin Shinawatra, the convicted former prime minister of Thailand, has been freed from detention after spending six months in a police hospital.

It means the 74-year-old billionaire, who led the country from 2001 to 2006, when he was ousted in a military coup, is enjoying his first day of freedom in Thailand for 15 years.

The former Manchester City owner, who was freed on parole on Sunday, has spent most of that time in self-imposed exile to escape jail.

He did not spend a single night in prison after complaining of health problems, reportedly chest tightness and high blood pressure and found out he was to be freed on Tuesday.

Pictures were published showing him - wearing a neck brace and a mask - while being driven away from the central Bangkok hospital beside his youngest daughter, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, leader of the family's ruling Pheu Thai party.

The former telecoms magnate left in a convoy of tinted-windowed vehicles that was chased by media that had gathered overnight, arriving at his Bangkok home 25 minutes later.

Shinawatra, Thailand's most successful elected leader, left the country in 2008 after being deposed by a coup two years earlier. He spent his exile years mostly in London or Dubai.

In his absence, he was convicted of corruption and abuse of power, charges he said were cooked up by the Thai establishment to keep him at bay.

In August, his family's Pheu Thai party, which has won five of Thailand's last six elections, took power again, in alliance with pro-military parties.

He returned to the country the same day and was immediately sentenced to eight years by Thailand's Supreme Court for three convictions passed in his absence, a term commuted to one year by Thailand's king, Maha Vajiralongkornjust, a few days later.

Thaksin, one of the most divisive public figures in the country, is loathed by many of Bangkok's rich elite, but adored by millions of poor rural Thais for his populist policies.

His opponents are believed to have backed military coups and contentious court cases to weaken him.

He was the first prime minister in Thailand's history to lead an elected government through a full term in office in 2001-06.

After being ousted, he purchased Manchester City in 2007 for £81.6m, before selling the club to investors from Abu Dhabi United Group the next year.

In 2014, his sister Yingluck Shinawatra was deposed as prime minister by another military coup.

Thailand's Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin suggested that Thaksin would not involve himself in politics but said, if and when he is ready to give advice, "everyone in the government is ready to listen".

Pichai Naripthapan, a government adviser and former energy minister said in a post on X: "Congratulations to PM Thaksin... I hope he will have good health and much happiness and warmth from his beloved family."

AU to push renewal of US AIDS plan: Africa CDC boss

AFP
Sun, 18 February 2024

Africa CDC boss Jean Kaseya says the continent is committed to ending AIDS by 2030 (Amanuel Sileshi)

The African Union's health watchdog said on Sunday the continent's leaders will "send a strong message" for the renewal of the main US programme aimed at reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

GW BUSH PROGRAM
Launched in 2003, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, is a major funder of HIV testing, counselling and life-saving treatment worldwide.

The programme until recently has enjoyed near universal support in the US Congress.

But lawmakers have failed formally to renew the scheme for another five years due to the hot-button US issue of abortion.

African leaders "will send a strong message for the re-authorisation of PEPFAR", said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

"We need to accelerate this agenda. Statistics are showing us that everyday young people are affected," he told reporters on the sidelines of the AU summit in Addis Ababa.

"Losing our young people means killing our economy and stopping our development."

The programme, launched by former US president George W. Bush, contributes $16 billion each year for Africa's anti-AIDS response, Kaseya said.

It has been credited with saving millions of lives but health advocates worry that cutting back aid is putting those gains at risk.

The United Nations says the HIV prevention response is 90 percent short of the amount needed by 2025.

As of 2022, there are 39 million people around the world living with HIV, according to the UN AIDS agency. Of them, 20.8 million are in eastern and southern Africa.

But out of the 39 million, 9.2 million do not have access to life-saving treatment. Those missing out include more than 600,000 children.

The UN first set out in 2015 the target of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Kaseya said Africa was still on course to achieve that target, adding that the continent would organise a summit later this year to discuss funding.

"We are committed to this agenda and will do our best," he said.

Without re-authorisation, PEPFAR will not automatically end, with funding still in the pipeline, but supporters say that health providers and other donor nations need assurances on long-term US commitment.

ho/txw/bp

Gold mine boss detained as search continues for missing miners trapped after huge landslide in Turkey

Sky News
Updated Sun, 18 February 2024 


The boss of a mining company, which runs a gold mine where nine miners are missing after a massive landslide, has been detained by authorities in Turkey.

Cengiz Demirci, Turkey director and senior vice-president of operations at the Denver-based SSR Mining, was detained on Sunday morning.

Hundreds of rescue workers are searching for those trapped under rubble after Tuesday's disaster at Anagold Madencilik's Copler mine in the town of Ilic, in the mountainous Erzincan province in northeast Turkey.


SSR Mining is the parent company of Anagold, which has operated the mine since 2009, where more than 650 people work.

The workers have been missing for six days after the huge landslide which, according to Turkey's interior minister, Ali Yerlikaya, involved a mound of soil extracted from the mine.

Footage showed a huge mass of earth rushing down a gully, overrunning everything in its path.

Experts have warned the site is a potential environmental hazard, because the soil was laced with dangerous substances, including cyanide, used in gold extraction.

They have said it may affect the nearby Euphrates River, which stretches across Turkey, Syria and Iraq.

Turkey's environment ministry closed down a stream leading to the river to prevent water pollution.

Six Copler mine employees - out of eight detained earlier this week - have been formally arrested.

On Saturday, Turkey's environment ministry said it was cancelling Anagold's environmental permit and licence.

In 2020, the same mine was shut down following a cyanide leak into the Euphrates, roughly two miles away.

It reopened two years later after the company was fined and a clean-up operation was completed.

Shares in SSR Mining plunged more than 50% after Tuesday's catastrophe.

In 2022, an explosion at the Amasra coal mine on Turkey's Black Sea coast killed 41 workers.

The country's worst mining disaster took place in 2014 at a coal mine in the municipality of Soma, in western Turkey, where 301 people were killed.

Golf courses can be eco-friendly, scientists say, as wildflower project flourishes

Joe Pinkstone
Sun, 18 February 2024 

The team doing some research at the Colorado golf course - Scott Dressel-Martin/Scott Dressel-Martin

Golf courses can be eco-friendly, scientists have suggested, as they run a project to plant wildflowers between holes and in the rough.

A first of its kind trial at a golf course in Denver, Colorado, is using converted golf equipment to plant and nurture miniature wildflower meadows alongside fairways, next to bunkers and behind greens.

The sport’s penchant for heavily manicured landscapes has often put it at loggerheads with environmentalists, but courses and greenkeepers are now working to be more eco-friendly.

Dr Rebecca Hufft, associate director of applied conservation at Denver Botanic Gardens, is leading a pilot scheme at the CommonGround 18-hole golf course, which covers more than 300 acres and is the largest green space in the metropolis.

The Botanic Gardens was approached by the Colorado Golf Association, which runs the course, to try and make it a more environmentally friendly area.

“I was very sceptical when it first started. I don’t think that golf courses and conservation groups have historically been bedfellows,” she said, but agreed to launch a two-year pilot scheme in December 2022, which she says is already showing promise.

Wildflower seeds are being scattered by hand

Three plots of rough were stripped of invasive plants and a converted green aerator was used to punch hundreds of holes in the ground and wildflower seeds were scattered by hand.

“The highest priority was increasing pollinator habitat,” she told reporters, ahead of the AAAS annual meeting in Denver this week.

“We went out last spring to see if anything had emerged at these plots and it was pretty awesome. We saw a couple species of annuals, species that pop up in the first year. They were growing great and it had all germinated and flowered.”

The team of botanists, which included intern students, also planted perennial species that would bloom every year.

“None of those flowered,” Dr Hufft said. “But, one might not expect them to in just one year and they did come up as little rosettes.

“I saw all the little seedlings pop up, so they survived pretty nicely. My hope is to go out this spring and summer and see if all those perennials pop up. It was successful for year one.”

The ease of the trial and the simple methodology could serve as a blueprint for other greenkeepers if they also want to make their courses better for the environment and local wildlife, she said.

Wildflowers will also be planted around bunkers

“I want golf courses to be able to do this themselves,” Dr Hufft said. “If the goal is to make a model for other golf courses, it is important for it to be something that they can just do themselves with their own equipment and staff.

“I don’t know that this is happening elsewhere, I think it’s possible there’s some other golf courses in the US that are starting to have these conversations, but I think they’re all in the beginning stages.”

The scientists are waiting to see how successful this spring is after the snow melts and temperatures rise and, if successful, more plots will be created as well as the current ones at holes six, 11 and 12.

“We did three rough areas and the vision would be that all the non-managed parts of the course would be improved wildlife habitat,” Dr Hufft said.

“I definitely think that this is a model that can be applied elsewhere. It is only a subtle change.

“Right now, the in-between areas get mowed, they’re unmanicured grassy areas that are not that pretty to begin with, and they’ll actually probably be prettier.

“I don’t think that people who are playing golf are going to notice that much of a difference. They’re still going to be driving their golf cart, going to their next hole and either they’ll think it’s awesome or they might just not notice.”

The British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA) says that just one quarter of a golf course is intensely managed for the purpose of the game itself and that British golf courses are embracing a wilder aesthetic for the other 75 per cent of a site.

John Milne, the reigning BIGGA Conservation Greenkeeper of the year, curates the Garmouth and Kingston course in Spey Bay, Scotland, and has been responsible for a transition away from pristine verges to more colourful, natural holes since joining as head greenkeeper in 2021.

The plan is too nurture miniature wildflower meadows alongside fairways, next to bunkers and behind greens - Scott Dressel-Martin/Scott Dressel-Martin

“My initial observation was it was over maintained,” he said, and he left eight acres of land, around the same as 4.5 football pitches, to return to a more natural state. Unlike the Denver course, the Scottish team did not actively plant seeds, but let nature run its course.

“Some areas will be left to grow thick for small mammals, and many areas will be put into a cut and collect regime to thin the sward and promote wildflowers and grasses going to seed for the benefit of pollinating insects,” he said.

“Some areas are naturally extremely sparse of grass growth and rich with wildflowers.”

The site also battles with Japanese knotweed, but has become a haven for wildlife since the switch, Mr Milne said, with red squirrels spotted on site, as well as ospreys, otters and kingfishers.

“It is extremely satisfying when members comment on wildlife found on the course.

“One member made a comment about how much bird song there was and how he had never noticed before, another was extremely disappointed he didn’t get a photo of a common lizard which was trying to take cover under his trolley wheels on the 17th fairway.

“It is fantastic that golfers are noticing these things.”

Karl Hansell, a spokesperson for BIGGA, said: “There’s a general cultural difference between American and British golf courses. Legislation, resources and general construction are all very different, with UK golf courses often more compact and fitting sympathetically into their surrounding landscape.

“On average there is just 12 hectares of intensively managed turf on a 50-hectare site.

“The remainder can be comprised of longer rough, woodland, wetland, heathland, bare earth, wildflower areas, dune systems and countless other types of habitat. Each of these provide diverse habitats where flora and fauna often thrive.”

HE WAS A WHITE RUSSIAN NATIONALIST

Alexei Navalny's 'far-right racist' past back in spotlight after Putin-critic's death

As world leaders pay tribute to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, some have drawn attention to some inconvenient aspects of his past.

James Hockaday
Sun, 18 February 2024

Alexei Navalny is widely regarded among Western leaders to have been murdered by the Russian state. (Reuters)

Tributes have been paid across Europe and the US to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the latest critic of Vladimir Putin to die under mysterious circumstances.

Navalny, who died on Friday after falling unconscious in an Arctic penal colony, was hailed as one of the Russian president’s most formidable foes – a thorn in Putin's side who refused to cower to him. However, as Western politicians pay their respects, some more uncomfortable aspects of Navalny's career have been brought back to the surface.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was criticised for praising the 'courage' of Navalny by Mish Rahman, who sits on the party's NEC ruling body, referring to the opposition leader's "far-right" past.


"Navalny took part in the Russian March, an annual demonstration that draws ultranationalists, including some who adopt swastika-like symbols," Rahman tweeted. "He has never apologised for his earliest xenophobic videos or his decision to attend the Russian March.

"Putin is an evil tyrant and nobody should be imprisoned for political opposition, let alone die this way. But that doesn’t mean that the leader of the Labour Party should be lauding a man with links to the far-right who refers to Muslims as 'cockroaches'."

Rahman appeared to be referring to a notorious video from 2007 in which Navalny appears to compare Muslim immigrants in Russia to "cockroaches" as he advocated for gun ownership.

In another video, he is dressed as a dentist and appears to compare migrants in Moscow to tooth cavities, Radio Free Europe reports. He says: "I recommend full sanitisation. Everything in our way should be carefully but decisively be removed through deportation."

Shortly before releasing both clips, which are still on his YouTube channel, Navalny was expelled by the liberal Yabloko party over his "nationalist activities", having participated in the Russian March, an annual rally associated with ultra-nationalist far-right groups chanting slogans such as "Russia for ethnic Russians".

"Anybody who expects Navalny to be an ideal Western liberal Democrat has been mistaken," Jade McGlynn, a researcher on Russian politics, told Euronews.

After leaving Yabloko, Navalny went on to co-found the National Russian Liberation Movement ( NAROD, which vowed to "fight against the ruling regime and kleptocracy" but was also viewed as far-right and anti-immigration.

In August 2008 Navalny referred to Georgians as "rodents" during Russia's attack on the country, in comments for which he later apologised.
Did Navalny's views change over time?

Navalny never apologised for the controversial videos from 2007.

Leonid Volkov, who served as the head of Navalny's network of regional political offices in Russia, told the New Yorker in 2021 that he regrets the videos but decided not to delete them "because it's a historical fact".

He told the magazine that Navalny always saw the Russian March as a legitimate form of political expression among Russians who want a free and democratic society. He added: “He believes that if you don’t talk to the kind of people who attend these marches, they will all become skinheads. But, if you talk to them, you may be able to convince them that their real enemy is Putin.”

Since the mid-2000s, Navalny appeared to have softened his stance on immigration, advocating for a visa scheme for Central Asian migrants and to protect their rights as labourers. He has also adopted more left-leaning economic positions and came out in support of gay marriage.

In interviews Navalny has said his ability to engage with both nationalists and liberals was a strength of his as a politician, according to Radio Free Europe. However, some remained sceptical that he had truly left his far-right populist life behind him, particularly due to his refusal to apologise for many of his older statements.

While Navalny clearly leaves behind a complex legacy, many people still valued him for being such a strong voice against Vladimir Putin. (AP)

A row at Amnesty International

In 2021, Amnesty International apologised to Navalny for stripping him of his status as a "prisoner of conscience”.

The human rights group said in February of that year that it would stop using the term, after deciding his remarks in the 2000s amounted to "hate speech".

At the time, Julie Verhaar, Amnesty International’s acting secretary general, said speculation over the use of the term "prisoner of conscience" was "detracting attention from our core demand that Aleksei Navalny be freed immediately".

"This distraction only serves the Russian authorities, who have jailed Navalny on politically motivated charges, simply because he dared to criticise them," she added. “The term ‘prisoner of conscience’ is a specific description based on a range of internal criteria established by Amnesty. There should be no confusion: nothing Navalny has said in the past justifies his current detention, which is purely politically motivated."

Then, in May 2021, Amnesty International said “following careful evaluation", it had decided to restore Navalny's status, arguing that the Russian government had used its earlier decision to further violate Navalny's rights.

It said it apologised for the "negative impacts this has had on Alexei Navalny personally, and the activists in Russia and around the world who tirelessly campaign for his freedom."

However, the saga didn't end there, with a Muslim former Amnesty employee, who claims she was sacked for challenging the U-turn, going on to sue the organisation. In July 2023, Aisha Jung said she was lodging an appeal after all of her claims were dismissed by the Central London Employment Tribunal.

They’re Lying about Alexei Navalny “Putin’s Enemy”

by Redacted / February 17th, 2024

Was Alexei Navalny really Putin’s main opponent? Was he poisoned by the Russian government who then killed him in prison? Was he even popular in Russia? Well, no to all of those things and we show you what the West will not tell you while they mourn their favorite media darling.

 

Navalny’s body found bruised in Arctic morgue

James Kilner
Sun, 18 February 2024 

Russian prison officials say Alexei Navalny died on Friday after falling ill during a short walk at IK-3 prison in the Russian Arctic - Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

The bruised body of Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, has been found in a hospital morgue in the Arctic, two days after he died in a nearby prison.

A paramedic told Russian opposition media that there were bruises on Navalny’s head and chest when his body was brought into the Salekhard District Clinical Hospital.

“Such injuries, described by those that saw them, appear from seizures,” the unnamed paramedic told the exiled Novaya Gazeta newspaper.

“The person convulses, they try to restrain him, and bruises appear. They also said that he also had a bruise on his chest. That is, they still tried to resuscitate him, and he died, most likely, from cardiac arrest.”

Russian prison officials said that Navalny died on Friday after falling ill during a short walk at IK-3, a notoriously brutal prison in the Russian Arctic.

Navalny’s mother failed to find his body at the morgue in Salekhard on Saturday and his colleagues at the Anti-Corruption Foundation accused the Russian authorities of a cover-up.

Western leaders have accused Putin of murdering Navalny - Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

Reporters said no autopsy had yet been performed. They also said that two unscheduled flights from Moscow had landed on Saturday at Salekhard, possibly with autopsy specialists.

“The first jet landed at about six in the evening. It was met by cars of the Investigative Committee. And the second one arrived an hour and a half later,” Novaya Gazeta quoted an unnamed source as saying.

Russia observers said that state autopsy specialists may have been flown in from Moscow so that they can deliver a death certificate that pleases the Kremlin.

They also said that it was unusual to send the body of a dead prisoner from IK-3 to the hospital morgue, as Navalny’s had been, rather than the municipal one.

Navalny was Vladimir Putin’s most serious opponent. Western leaders have accused the Kremlin of murdering him. He was facing three decades in prison on various charges and had been transferred to IK-3 shortly before Christmas.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, said on Sunday that Putin should face war crimes charges for the death of Navalny.

“I’d like to see Putin in front of that special tribunal, held to account for all of his crimes, not just in Ukraine, but as we are seeing just in the last 48 hours in Russia as well,” he told the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg programme on Sunday.

The sudden death of Navalny shocked liberal-minded Russians and triggered rare protests in Russia where demonstrations against the Kremlin are banned.


OVD-Info, a Russian activist group that monitors the Russian police, said that 400 people had been detained across Russia, mainly for laying flowers for Navalny at memorials to Soviet repression.

Reports from across Russia said that the plain-clothes security services, often wearing surgical masks, were following people who had laid flowers. Different police forces appeared to respond differently, with some blocking access to memorial sites and others tearing them down.

These were the biggest nationwide protests in Russia against the authorities since September 2022, when Putin ordered a mobilisation to recruit soldiers for his war in Ukraine.

Analysts said that the timing of Navalny’s death is important for the Kremlin which wants to use a presidential election next month to showcase support for Putin’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Ben Noble and Nikolai Petrov, both Fellows on the Russia Programme at Chatham House, said that the death of Navalny had undermined Russia’s beleaguered, fragmented and exiled opposition.

“There is no obvious figure to take up the role that Navalny crafted for himself, of Vladimir Putin’s main opponent. There will be no Navalny 2.0 in the short-term, at least,” they said.

On Sunday Navalny’s wife, Yulia, posted a new picture of the two of them together on social media, writing “I love you”.

The post on Instagram showed a picture of the two together, their heads touching as they watched a performance of some kind.

Yulia Navalny posted this picture of the couple on Instagram

Navalny’s death has had deep reverberations.

Donald Trump, who has been accused of withholding funding and weapons from Ukraine via Congress, came under fire on Sunday for his continued silence over Navalny’s death.

“The fact that he won’t acknowledge anything with Navalny – either he sides with Putin and thinks it’s cool that Putin killed one of his political opponents, or he just doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal,” Nikki Haley, his only Republican rival for the presidential nomination, said on ABC’s “This Week”.

“Either one of those is concerning. Either one of those is a problem,” added the Republican candidate, who is trailing far behind Mr Trump in the race for their party’s nomination.

Navalny’s still-unexplained death at 47 in a prison in Russia’s Arctic has drawn powerful condemnations from leaders around the world, starting with Joe Biden, the US president, who has squarely blamed Putin.

But Mr Trump, Mr Biden’s likely opponent in November, has yet to say a word about it at any of several public appearances since Navalny’s death was reported on Friday.

The Trump campaign, asked for comment, has directed reporters to a post on Mr Trump’s Truth Social platform that says: “America is no longer respected because we have an incompetent president who is weak and doesn’t understand what the world is thinking.”

The post does not mention Navalny, Russia or Putin.

The lack of comment comes days after Mr Trump stunned Western allies by saying he would “encourage” Russia to attack members of the Nato military alliance who had not met their financial obligations.

The suggestion cast a pall over a major global security conference in Munich, drawing a warning from Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary-General of Nato, that Mr Trump should not “undermine” the alliance’s security.

The original punk? How William Blake became rock’s favourite poet


Neil McCormick
Sun, 18 February 2024

‘He gives hope to unappreciated artists’: detail from The Ancient of Days - Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

William Blake is today exal­ted as one of the greatest British artists. His life mask is in the National Portrait Gallery, while a bust sits in Westminster Abbey. His poem “The Tyger” is among the most anthol­ogised in the English language, grappling with creation in terms that even children can grasp: “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fear­ful symmetry?” Another, “And did those feet in ancient time”, later made into the hymn Jerusalem, has become the unofficial national ­anthem, sung at rugby matches, political party conferences and the Last Night of the Proms – which adds to the perception of Blake as an establishment man.

This week, William Blake’s Universe opens at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, in which you will find such familiar pictures as Blake’s The Ancient of Days and the illustrations to his “prophetic book” Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion. But you can also spot these images – or recreations – in the unlikeliest of places: a recent video by the Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, Rain on the Graves, opens with a quote from Blake (“A Truth that’s told with bad intent / Beats all the Lies you can invent”) and ends with the heavy-metal singer clawing over Blake’s gravestone.

“The thing about Blake is that he appears unexpectedly,” observes John Higgs, the author of William Blake vs the World. “He comes to us in memes, horror films, video games and pop songs. These are not respectable routes for information. You fall off the tracks and Blake is there, waiting to be discovered.”

Blake’s posthumous reputation would have astonished the man himself, who “spent his life impoverished and misunderstood”, as Higgs points out. Born to shopkeepers in London in 1757, Blake never went to school, eked out a ­living as a printer and, in 1827, was buried in an unmarked grave.

“Blake was not a little Eng­lander,” notes David Bindman, co-curator of the Fitzwilliam exhibition. “He was part of a new European consciousness, the dawn of modernism – doesn’t like governments or churches, fascinated by the French Revolution and American Revolution, quite a fervent religious person, but nonconformist.” Blake was anti-slavery, pro-sexual freedom and women’s rights. “You can see his attraction to rock musicians and the counter­culture. He’s a philosopher and mythologist, whose work comes out of a tremendous psychodrama.”

Albion’s Angel rose, 1794 - © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Bindman considers Jerusalem to be a “misunderstood poem about the building of a spiritual realm. Blake’s radical ideas encompassed a vision of the whole world as potentially in political and spiritual revolution” to which his attitude was essentially “apocalyptic”, believing “the destruction of the material world would be a cleansing act”. You don’t get much of that at the Last Night of the Proms.

Mark E Smith’s post-punk agitators the Fall recorded their own savage take on Jerusalem in 1988, its anti-government spin more in tune with Blake’s intent. And Blake’s influence cascades through rock, with references abounding in songs by Bob Dylan (Every Grain of Sand), the Doors (End of the Night), Led Zeppelin (Achilles Last Stand), Tangerine Dream (Tyger), the Verve (History), Pet Shop Boys (Inside a Dream), and the Libertines (Pete Doherty’s visions of Albion).

Donovan, Van Morrison and Nick Cave have all demonstrated a Blake­ian fascination with the power of imagination as a path to truth. Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell that, “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” It gave the Doors their name, whilst another Blake aphorism gave Jim Morrison his essential mythos: “The road of excess leads to the ­palace of wisdom.” (That didn’t end well for Morrison.)

Patti Smith is devoted to Blake, and edited a selection of his writings, published in 2007. She exulted in her introduction how Blake “did not jealously guard his vision; he shared it through his work and called upon us to animate the creative spirit within us”. And it was Blake’s devotion to his art that gave Kris Kristofferson – who studied the Romantic poets at Oxford – the courage to turn his back on a military career and take a job as a janitor in a Nashville recording studio.

In the 20th century, Blake entered the counterculture through Aldous Huxley, whose 1954 work on the transformative power of mescaline was titled The Doors of Perception, and thence via the experimental writer William Burroughs who intro­duced Blake to Allen Ginsberg (the latter, at the age of 22, was mas­tur­bating while reading Blake’s poetry when he experienced a hall­u­cination of Blake speaking to him). Ginsberg’s influence on Bob Dylan helped feed Blake into rock culture.

“There’s so much in Blake that was speaking to the postwar gen­eration, about sexual liberation, freeing yourself from the ‘mind-forg’d manacles’, it was all very psychedelic and anti-authoritarian,” notes Higgs. “So many people were ­convinced that he must have been on drugs to have all these visions, which is almost certainly not the case, but Blake was really invested in the idea that imagination is the divine quality of the universe.”



U2 are so in thrall to Blake that they named two albums in his honour, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Musicians are attracted to Blake “because he believed in the invisible realm and wanted to make it visible”, explains Bono. “That’s the call of so many artists in so many different mediums, to bring the inside to the outside, the unseen into the seen… to see heaven in a guitar riff and hold infinity in a bass line, to find eternity in a rock and roll show!”

The singer-songwriter Frank Turner composed one of the most beautiful songs about the artist, I Believed You, William Blake, questioning artistic conviction from the perspective of Blake’s wife, Catherine. “She is one of these neglected female historical figures, who had a fair amount to do with his artistic output and may have been the only person who ever had a handle on the true totality of his theology,” enthuses Turner. “Part of the reason why Blake remains so resonant is he’s so titanically weird, and impossible to pin down. You can get very lost in his poetry, in good and bad ways. A lot of it is pretty impenetrable but his imagery is extremely striking. He was a man out of time, and not successful in his own time. Yet he has achieved immortality, or longevity, at least. He still matters.”

‘So many thought he must have been on drugs to have all these visions’: Blake's Preludium in Europe a Prophecy, 1794 - © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

The punk DIY spirit of Blake’s career adds to his appeal. Blake had his own printing press, put out his own hand-coloured books and staged his own exhibitions, despite a complete lack of commercial success (he only sold about 30 copies of Songs of Innocence and of Experience). “He’s doing all the artwork, he’s staging the show, and no one cared at all,” notes Turner. “As an indie artist, there’s painful echoes. Maybe that’s Blake’s endless fascination, he gives hope to misunderstood artists the world over that, in several hundred years, they’ll be the most famous artist of that era.”

Patti Smith’s 2004 song My Blakean Year addresses the struggles of an unrecognised artist. “I felt sorry for myself. And then I thought of Blake,” according to Smith. “His work never sold. He lived in poverty. When he spoke out, he nearly lost his life. What I learnt from William Blake is, don’t give up. And don’t expect anything. If you perceive that you have a gift, you already have life.”

William Blake’s Universe is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk), from Friday to May 19 

FINALLY

End Gaza fighting now, says Keir Starmer

Daniel Sanderson
Sun, 18 February 2024

Sir Keir Starmer gives his speech at the Scottish Labour Party annual conference on Sunday - Getty/Jeff J Mitchell

Sir Keir Starmer has called for an end to the fighting in Gaza “now” in an apparent change in stance on calls for an immediate ceasefire.

The Labour leader, addressing the Scottish Labour conference in Glasgow, added that an offensive that Israel is said to be planning in Rafah “cannot happen” and that the area “cannot become a new theatre of war”.

While he added that a ceasefire could not be “one-sided”, he repeatedly stressed on Sunday that he wanted to see an end to hostilities immediately.

He declared: “The fighting must stop now”.

Previously, Sir Keir has refused to back demands for an immediate ceasefire. He has instead stated support for a “sustainable” halt to fighting which would not mean Israel would be expected to unilaterally down arms.

Palestinians search for bodies among the rubble of a destroyed house following an Israeli air strike - Shutterstock/Mohammed Saber

A source close to the Labour leader denied there had been a change of position but Sir Keir has come under increasing pressure from some of his own MPs and Muslim voters to take a harder stance against Israel’s actions.

Labour MPs have come under fire from constituents over the party’s stance on Gaza and many are facing challenges from pro-Palestine candidates at the next election.

The apparent shift also comes ahead of a House of Commons vote this week which threatens to reopen divisions over the issue.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has openly demanded an immediate ceasefire, in a call which was backed by Scottish Labour delegates.

Yesterday the leader of a Muslim youth organisation said the Rochdale by-election later this month was a “referendum on Gaza”.

While Sir Keir told the conference that he wanted to see the return of hostages taken by Hamas on Oct 7, he added that he also wanted “an end to the killing of innocent Palestinians” and “an end to the fighting”.

He added: “Not just now, not just a pause. But permanently. A ceasefire that lasts. Conference, that is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now.

“Any ceasefire cannot be one-sided. It must stop all acts of violence, on both sides, and it must lead to a genuine peace process.

“Because the offensive threatened in Rafah – a place where 1.5 million people are now cramped together in unimaginable conditions with nowhere else for them to go – this cannot become a new theatre of war. That offensive cannot happen.”

A Palestinian woman cooks on a wood fire on the street in front of makeshift tents in Rafah - Getty/Abed Zagout

A Labour source said Sir Keir had been using similar language for some time.

The SNP has tabled a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza which is expected to be voted on in the Commons on Wednesday.

On Sunday, Mr Sarwar claimed that Labour was in talks with the SNP over their ceasefire motion.

A similar vote in November saw eight shadow ministers break ranks to back an immediate ceasefire, with some 56 Labour members defying a three-line whip and backing an SNP amendment to the King’s Speech.

David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, has declined to say how Labour MPs might vote.

“I haven’t seen the motion, it’s not yet put down, we will scrutinise that motion as is our way in Parliament and we will take it from there,” he told the BBC.

“But let us be clear, yes, we will have a vote in Parliament this week but it’s not that vote that will bring about a ceasefire, it’s the diplomatic action.”

Israeli soldiers sit on a tank near the border with Gaza - Getty/Amir Levy

He also sought to play down the idea that the party was divided on the issue.

“I fully understand that Scottish colleagues want the fighting to stop now, we’ve been saying that for weeks, so we agree with them.

“You can have a ceasefire that lasts for a few days. We want the ceasefire to last and to be permanent and to move towards the diplomatic solution. It will only be a political solution that brings an end to this.”

In an open letter to Labour MPs ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, told them that “the time for equivocation is over”.

However, he claimed on Sunday that claims that Labour were in talks with the party over the ceasefire motion were “not true”.

Mr Flynn added: “Nevertheless, I am more than willing to meet with Sir Keir Starmer to discuss this hugely important issue prior to Wednesday’s vote.”

Scottish Labour conference backs ‘unequivocal’ Gaza ceasefire motion


Rebecca McCurdy, PA Scotland Political Reporter
Sat, 17 February 2024


Scottish Labour delegates have backed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza after party MSPs called for “unequivocal” support.

The party’s conference held in Glasgow unanimously backed Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s calls for an immediate end to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

It comes as the two Scottish Labour MPs face growing pressure to back a ceasefire vote being held by Westminster next week, with SNP MPs urging Mr Sarwar to whip Michael Shanks and Ian Murray to side with the SNP.

The motion passed by the party’s conference passed unopposed and urges an end to rocket fire into and out of Gaza, the unconditional release of hostages taken by Hamas, the restoration of essential supplies and a pathway to peace.

However, it also condemned the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7 2023 and noted Israel’s right to protect its citizens.

But the motion said there was “no justification for the collective punishment of 2.2 million citizens in Gaza”.

The conflict was debated during the second day of the Scottish Labour conference, with Neil Bibby, the party’s constitution spokesman, urging delegates to back the motion ahead of the vote.

He said: “We believe every life matters, here in Scotland and in Ukraine, Gaza and in Israel.

“Every state, including Israel, has the right to defend itself and its people, not least from indiscriminate terrorist attacks.

“The remaining hostages taken on October 7 must be released by Hamas. However, every state has a responsibility to exercise restraint in response.

“We would expect this of the British Government and our armed forces. We should expect this of Israel too.”

He added: “It is simply heartbreaking that countless children in Gaza are currently dying, and there are heartbroken parents in Israel too.

“That is why we have a moral obligation to be unequivocal.

“There must be an end to the fighting now and a sustainable ceasefire. An end to the terror and end to the violence.

“Today, I hope the motion before us which calls for a ceasefire and reaffirms our support for a two-state solution with a safe and secure Israel alongside a safe, secure and viable Palestinian state.

“Only that will deliver a sustainable and lasting peace.”

Meanwhile, Pauline McNeill, justice spokeswoman, said she had witnessed the hardship facing Palestinians during her six visits to the region.

She said: “While the eyes are on Gaza, and rightly so, do not forgot that the Palestinians are one nation and illegal occupation – the 56-year-long occupation where Palestinians are dehumanised and kicked out of their homes – has to end.”

The issue is due to be tabled in the Commons next week, with the SNP leading a motion calling for an urgent ceasefire.

A previous Westminster vote on a ceasefire in November saw Labour lose 10 shadow ministers and parliamentary aides who rebelled against the leadership’s stance on Gaza.

The move was a significant rebellion for leader Sir Keir Starmer as he urged his MPs to abstain from the ceasefire vote, instead calling for them to back a separate softer motion criticising Israel’s conduct.

Now, the SNP is urging Mr Sarwar to whip Scotland’s two Labour MPs to vote in favour of a ceasefire.

The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, said: “It’s time for Sir Keir Starmer to commit to supporting our motion for an immediate ceasefire. There can be no more delays.

“Thousands of children, women and civilians have lost their life since both the Tories and Labour cowardly rejected our last motion – they cannot make that same mistake again.

“History will remember this vote.

“Questions must also be asked of Scotland’s two Labour MPs. Will they follow their Scottish leader, or their leader in London? That decision will tell you exactly where Scottish Labour MPs’ loyalties truly lie.

“With each day Sir Keir Starmer equivocates, the more innocent civilians die. This has to end – and end now.”

A delegate from North Ayrshire, Nairn McDonald, told conference that Sir Keir must stop “equivocating”, before adding: “We demand that Scottish Labour MPs vote for a ceasefire in the Commons when they are given the opportunity.”

Starmer says 'fighting must stop now' in Gaza conflict ahead of ceasefire vote

Sky News
Updated Sun, 18 February 2024


Sir Keir Starmer called for a "ceasefire that lasts" in Gaza - ahead of a vote in the Commons which risks re-opening Labour divisions on the issue.

The Labour leader, fresh from an appearance at a gathering of top politicians in Germany, said every conversation there had focused on what could be done to end the crisis in the Middle East.

"Not just for now, not just for a pause, but permanently. A ceasefire that lasts. That is what must happen now. The fighting must stop now," he said in a a speech to the Scottish Labour conference.

It comes a day after Scottish Labour unanimously backed a motion calling for an immediate end to the conflict.

However a Labour source suggested this was not what Sir Keir was endorsing and his comments are set within the context of any ceasefire being lasting and sustainable and coming from both sides, alongside the release of hostages.

Sir Keir's position on the war in the Middle East has caused a rift within Labour, as many MPs want him to explicitly back an immediate end to the fighting.

There are fears of a fresh row this week, when MPs will vote on a second SNP-led motion on an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

In the previous vote in November, Sir Keir's decision to favour "humanitarian pauses" led to the departure of 10 shadow ministers and parliamentary aides who rebelled to back a full ceasefire.

But the party's position has hardened somewhat since then, with the Labour leader joining criticism of Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu's rejection of a two-state solution and talking about the need for a "sustainable ceasefire".

The Labour leadership has not confirmed how its MPs would be asked to vote on the SNP motion. Shadow foreign secretary David Lammy suggested on Sunday it would depend on the wording.

The party is under pressure given the position of Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, who described the SNP motion as "perfectly reasonable".

Mr Sarwar himself is facing pressure to whip his two Scottish Labour MPs - Ian Murray and Michael Shanks - to vote for the SNP motion.

'Not much difference' between Scotland and UK Labour position

Earlier, he played down perceived differences between his position and that of Sir Keir.

He told Sunday Morning With Trevor Philips (SMTP) that Scottish Labour's motion was not calling for Israel to "unilaterally" stop their actions in Gaza but rather, "an to end violence both ways".

He said: "A ceasefire means the end of violence and rocket fire in Gaza, but also absolutely has to mean an end to rocket fire coming out of Gaza.

"It also includes the immediate release of hostages... alongside humanitarian aid needing to get in and the pathway to a two-state solution.

"In terms of where the position relates to the UK Labour Party and the Scottish Labour Party, I actually don't think there's much difference."

Mr Sarwar said rather than focus on the position of two opposition parties, next week's debate should focus on how to get parliament to find an agreement as a majority.

He said: "The Conservatives still have a majority in parliament.

"How do we get a majority that sends a unified message to Israel and in Palestine that we need the violence to stop right now? That should be our ambition rather than making this a debate about two opposition parties."

Mr Lammy also sought to play down the idea that the party was divided on the issue, telling the BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "I fully understand that Scottish colleagues want the fighting to stop now, we've been saying that for weeks, so we agree with them."

But he added: "I'm not sure that what's flying around on Twitter says anything about it being sustainable.

"You can have a ceasefire that lasts for a few days. We want the ceasefire to last and to be permanent and to move towards the diplomatic solution. It will only be a political solution that brings an end to this."

He declined to say how MPs might vote, saying: "I haven't seen the motion, it's not yet put down, we will scrutinise that motion as is our way in Parliament and we will take it from there."

SNP invites Starmer for meeting

The SNP has now written to Sir Keir offering a meeting to discuss the vote.

In a letter to the Labour leader published on Sunday, the SNP's Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said that death toll in the conflict has now risen to more than 29,000 and thousands more children have been killed. "It is long past time that the entire international community collectively said 'stop'."

Pointing to Mr Sarwar's comments he said: "In the absence of contact from any of your Labour Party colleagues, I am now writing to make clear that I am of course willing to have such a discussion. Given the importance of this issue - literally a discussion on life and death - the very least the public would expect is that the leaders of the SNP and the Labour Party at Westminster can sit down and have a discussion on this ceasefire motion.

"I am therefore proposing, and offering, that we meet tomorrow to discuss Wednesday's ceasefire motion. I will make sure my own diary is made flexible to ensure this meeting can take place as soon as possible."

Where do the UK's political parties stand on a Gaza ceasefire?

With Labour changing its stance and backing an immediate ceasefire, here's where the main UK parties stand on the Gaza conflict.


James Hockaday
Updated Sun, 18 February 2024

A displaced Palestinian woman, who fled her house due to Israeli strikes, walks past the border with Egypt in Rafah. (Reuters)

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said fighting in the Middle East must "stop now" as he called for a “ceasefire that lasts” in Gaza.

He made the call while addressing Scottish Labour’s conference in Glasgow on Sunday, in an apparent strengthening of his stance on the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Starmer notably avoided his previously used term of “sustainable ceasefire”, which critics have suggested was too vague. He said he wanted to see a "return of all the hostages taken on October 7th, an end to the killing of innocent Palestinians, a huge scaling up of humanitarian relief and an end to the fighting".

It comes just days before a vote led by the Scottish National Party (SNP) on an immediate cessation of fighting this week, which Labour has so far not ruled out backing amid fears the Commons motion could reopen deep divides among MPs.

Here, Yahoo News explains what the UK's main political parties have said about the prospect of a Gaza ceasefire.

The Labour Party faced a crisis in November when nearly a third of its MPs defied Stamer by voting for an amendment, brought by the SNP, explicitly calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Eight frontbenchers either resigned or were sacked after going against the party whip and backing the vote, including prominent Labour MP Jess Phillips.

In total 56 Labour MPs backed the SNP's position having been told to abstain from the vote. They were instead told to back Starmer's call for longer "humanitarian pauses" to allow the delivery of aid.

At the time, he stressed Israel's right to defend itself and said that supporting a ceasefire would be "inconsistent with saying it’s their right to try and get their hostages back".

In December, Starmer joined prime minister Rishi Sunak in calling for a "sustainable ceasefire" in Gaza, which would begin with a pause in fighting, the release of hostages, the distribution of aid and work towards setting up a two-state solution.

Some have suggested terms like this are ambiguous, with former State Department lawyer Brian Finucane telling POLITICO: “These are not terms of art with fixed, well-defined meanings, so the devil really is in the details.”

Now, with the death toll in Gaza nearing 29,000 people, according to Palestinian officials, and Scottish Labour unanimously backing a ceasefire motion on Saturday, Starmer has called for an immediate end to fighting.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has changed his position on a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza mounts. (Getty Images)

Conservative Party

The Conservative government back a sustainable ceasefire, with foreign secretary David Cameron arguing in an article for the Sunday Times: "Only extremists like Hamas want us stuck in an endless cycle of violence, sacrificing more innocent lives for their fanatical ideology.

"But our goal cannot simply be an end to fighting today. It must be peace lasting for days, years, generations. We therefore support a ceasefire, but only if it is sustainable.

"We do not believe that calling right now for a general and immediate ceasefire, hoping it somehow becomes permanent, is the way forward. It ignores why Israel is forced to defend itself: Hamas barbarically attacked Israel and still fires rockets to kill Israeli citizens every day. Hamas must lay down its arms."

He added "leaving Hamas in power in Gaza would be a permanent roadblock on the path to a two-state solution". Cameron strikes a similar tone to US President Joe Biden, who has advocated a two-state solution under a revitalised Palestinian Authority, who partially govern the West Bank.

Some Tories have rebelled against the party line, including Paul Bristow, who was dismissed as a ministerial aide at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology in October for publicly urging Rishi Sunak to back an immediate ceasefire.

Scottish National Party

Scotland's First Minister Humza Yousaf has urged Labour to back a ceasefire now with no caveats.

He added: "The SNP will bring forward another vote on an immediate ceasefire next week. Any political party that refuses to back it will be on the wrong side of history. I hope Keir Starmer does the right thing."

The SNP's motion warns that the 1.5 million Palestinians sheltering in the southern city of Rafah, including 610,000 children, have "nowhere else to go" – condemning "any military assault on what is now the largest refugee camp in the world".

It makes further calls for the immediate release of all hostages taken by Hamas and an "end to the collective punishment of the Palestinian people".

The SNP’s Westminster chief Stephen Flynn rejected a claim by Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar that Labour is in touch with his party’s whips about the wording of their Commons motion.

But he did offer to meet Starmer on Monday to discuss the vote, which is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.

Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrats are calling for an "immediate bilateral ceasefire in Israel and Gaza", adding that it has "always stood in support of a lasting peace and a two-state solution", says party leader Ed Davey.

However, the party adds that "Hamas cannot, for the security of Israelis nor the future of Palestinians, be allowed to continue in charge of Gaza".

Davey adds: "It is increasingly clear that a military solution to eliminate Hamas is not possible. Nor is it tenable for Israel to reoccupy Gaza. Only a sustained political and diplomatic solution will resolve this conflict and deliver a lasting peace. We urgently need movement towards that solution now. But how? The answer is via an immediate bilateral ceasefire.

"It is important to be clear. Some who call for a ceasefire really seem to mean freezing the conflict. But that’s not acceptable. It leaves Hamas in place in Gaza.

"Maximum pressure now needs to be applied on all parties, with tough conditions carefully monitored and verified. That will require a huge and sustained effort from the international community and the UN, with a particular role to be played by Arab neighbours."

Layla Moran, the UK's first MP of Palestinian heritage, has been vocal about her family's suffering in the Gaza Strip. (Alamy Live News)

Green Party

The Green Party called for an immediate ceasefire on 9 October, but this week the party called for a scaling up of sanctions against Israel and accused the UK government of "complicity" in killing.

In a statement on 12 February, it called for an "end to all arms sales to Israel, prosecutions of war criminals and targeted sanctions on Israel’s leaders".

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: "It is clear that the Israeli government is refusing to heed warnings about the catastrophic implications of an all-out attack on Rafah. The UK government must now demand that Israel stop the killing, calling for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas must also agree to this ceasefire of course, and release all hostages.

“Decisions made by the UK government - above all its failure, month after month, to call for an immediate ceasefire - have made them complicit in the killing of almost 28,000 people to date, 12,000 of whom are children."

Denyer said the UK "must also cease all military collaboration with Israel, including allowing Israeli use of British bases and RAF intelligence flights over Gaza". She said the Green Party would also implement requirements of the controversial Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign across the UK economy.

Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru put forward a motion in the Senedd in November calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.



Party leader Rhun ap Iorweth told members: “I feel the need to speak today as a member of humanity. We are human. The pain of loss is felt equally by an Israeli and a Palestinian mother. Today we speak up for peace for all mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, sons and daughters.

“We speak today in pursuit of unity. We reject division. We take a stand against those seeking to encourage division. The motion today, condemning as it does the horrifying attacks, calling for the immediate release of hostages, notes clearly that Israel has a duty to ensure the protection, security and welfare of its citizens.

“But in the war that ensued after October 7, the response that ensued – inevitable as a response was going to be, so there has to be a duty to be proportionate; international law is clear on that. There can never be justification for the collective punishment of an entire population.”

Lithium battery warehouse goes up in flames


Vivian Song
Sun, 18 February 2024

Residents were told to stay inside and lock windows and doors as the fumes from 900 tons of batteries filled the air - TIM KNOWLES

A warehouse in France storing lithium batteries caught fire on Saturday, amid growing fears over their safety.

The fire on Saturday afternoon occurred at a storehouse in the southern town of Viviez, in Aveyron, where 900 tons of lithium batteries were waiting to be recycled.

Authorities ordered residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed as thick smoke billowed over the town. No injuries or deaths were reported and the cause of the fire has yet to be established.

Lithium batteries, found in electric scooters and vacuum cleaners, are known to spontaneously combust if they overheat or become damaged. Their dangers have raised concerns in countries where e-bikes have been promoted as a climate-friendly mode of transportation.
Questions raised

Jean-Louis Denoit, the mayor of Viviez, called Saturday’s fire “shocking” and told French news channel BFMTV: “Behind all this, there is indeed reason to ask questions about the function of electric vehicles and lithium batteries.”

It took 70 firefighters to put the fire under control, after which air quality tests were conducted and the lockdown order lifted.

France has moved to promote cycling since the pandemic, with e-bikes becoming hugely popular in cities like Paris. However irresponsible behaviour and a rising number of accidents has led to criticism around their use, and how to store their batteries safely.

In the UK, a proposal to build one of Europe’s largest battery storage facilities near the village of Granborough, in Buckinghamshire, was met with fierce opposition by locals who have expressed environmental and safety concerns.

The plan, by the energy company Statera, calls for a 500 MW battery energy storage system that would span 26 acres of land.

Responding to the plans, the Claydon Solar Action Group wrote on social media: “Unacceptable risks of fire, explosion, air and water pollution, a major accident waiting to happen just 500 metres away from residential properties.”

Surge in ‘apathetic’ employees failing to turn up to work


Eir Nolsoe
Sun, 18 February 2024 

bored man

Companies are struggling with a wave of “apathetic” and mentally unwell staff simply not turning up to work, a leading employment lawyer has said.

Nick Hurley, partner and head of employment at Charles Russell Speechlys, said his firm had seen the number of businesses seeking advice on what to do about unexplained absences more than triple since the pandemic.

Mr Hurley told The Telegraph: “What we have noticed is in those sectors where perhaps wages and skills are a little lower, there is a definite increase in the number of employees who are just not showing up to work – and leaving the employer in the doo-doo, as it were.”

The sharp rise reflects “the growing preponderance of mental health issues” and a “sense of apathy” among staff who often skew younger, he said. The issue is most acute in sectors such as retail and hospitality.

Conditions like depression and anxiety have become far more widespread since the pandemic, particularly among young people. It has contributed to a surge in the number of people out of work because of long-term sickness, reaching a record 2.8 million.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) last week warned that rising worklessness was partly to blame for Britain falling into recession.

Mr Hurley said the increase in staff going AWOL was also being driven by workers feeling confident they could “pick up work fairly quickly” elsewhere.

Many companies are still struggling with crippling staff shortages, with the unemployment rate close to historical lows at 3.8pc.

Mr Hurley said: “Particularly in the restaurant sector, hospitality, wherever you go there seems to be signs up saying: ‘Staff wanted’.”

A post-Covid shift to more “permissive ways of working” has also come with a “greater chance of people gaming their employers and taking some advantages”, he added.

As a result, workplaces are faced with large costs from having to seek legal advice on their disciplinary options and arranging last-minute cover.

No official data is collected on unexplained missed days. However, a 2022 survey of 158 companies that collectively employed more than 300,000 staff found one in three workplaces had taken formal disciplinary action over unauthorised absences since the pandemic.

Companies are also seeking far more advice about mental health than before Covid.

Meriel Schindler, head of the employment team at Withers, said: “There has been a rise in inquiries from employers about how to deal with mental ill health issues in the workplace.

“Employers are having to deal with things that they did not use to have to deal with, including really quite serious mental health issues.”

Most employers she acts for have clauses in staff contracts that can require them to arrange reviews by occupational health or by a psychiatrist. However, backlogs in the NHS make this difficult.

Ms Schindler said: “There are not enough occupational health therapists and specialists out there to deal with the amount of advice that employers need. It is very difficult to get seen by a psychiatrist. That puts enormous pressure on employers because they can’t fix appointments.”

The trend comes amid a surge in ill-health since Covid, with sick days rising to their highest level in 18 years in 2022 according to the ONS.

The Body Shop’s German arm falls into administration


Sarah Butler
Fri, 16 February 2024 

The Body Shop’s UK business went into administration this week.

Photograph: Pavlo Gonchar/Sopa Images/Rex/Shutterstock

The Body Shop’s mainland European businesses have begun shutting down, with the German stores put into administration and its Belgian staff told they will be next, placing more than 460 jobs at risk across the two countries.

The closures come after Aurelius, the German restructuring specialist that bought The Body Shop last year, put the ethical beauty chain’s main UK business into administration this week.

Most of the European operations were sold last month to a buyer whose identity was not initially disclosed by Aurelius. Staff were told the buyer was a “family office” – a term that typically refers to the management of personal wealth.

Related: ‘A scented awakening’: how The Body Shop influenced generations

It is understood the buyer is Alma24, a company controlled by Friedrich Trautwein, an executive who has close links to Aurelius. Alma24 is also understood to have taken control of The Body Shop in Japan and Ireland.

Staff said they had been told that all 60-plus stores and the head office in Germany, where the business employs almost 400 people, were likely to close. An insolvency specialist, Dr Biner Bähr at the law firm White & Case, has been appointed to handle the German business.

Workers in Belgium, where the chain has about 16 stores and 50 employees, are also understood to have been told on Friday morning that administrators were to be appointed.

One source said: “The actions being taken may not be wrong but it is how it is being done that is breaking people’s hearts. People are being told with no notice: ‘You work for an unnamed family company,’ when some of these people have been with the company for years, some 30 years. It is so painful.”

Sources said The Body Shop’s operations in Ireland, Austria and Luxembourg, which together have about 20 stores and more than 100 staff, were also expected to be put into administration shortly. The Austrian and French websites were not operating on Friday.

The problems at The Body Shop’s international divisions mark the latest blow to the group, which has had three owners since it was sold by its founder, Anita Roddick, shortly before her death in 2006.

Roddick, who set up the business in Brighton in 1976 to help support her two daughters, campaigned against animal testing of cosmetics and promoted natural products sourced ethically in a way that would support vulnerable communities around the world.

She shocked fans of the brand by selling up to L’Oréal, the cosmetics giant that owns Maybelline and Garnier, for £652m. The brand was then sold on to the Brazilian natural cosmetics group Natura, which already owned Australia’s Aesop beauty brand, for €1bn in 2017. After Natura built up debts in buying the Avon home-selling cosmetics group, it quickly sold off Aesop and then The Body Shop.

Aurelius agreed to pay £207m for The Body Shop in November last year and took control in January. It only paid £117m upfront, with a further £90m “earn-out” that would only be paid if The Body Shop reached certain financial goals. With large parts of the business now sold off and expected to close, it is not clear if those goals will be reached.

It is understood that the status of a number of countries, including France, Spain and Sweden, is unclear as the directors in those countries have not signed documents finalising transfer of ownership.

The group’s operations in Canada and Australia, which have been successful, are expected to remain open.

One well-placed source said: “We don’t understand today who is the owner and who is responsible for people.”

Aurelius is the main creditor to the UK arm of The Body Shop and so is expected to buy back a downsized version of the business – with as few as 100 stores – from administrators.

Shortly after buying the business, Aurelius made loans to the group that were secured against intellectual property assets and shares in its Canadian arm, as first reported by the Financial Times. This arrangement effectively gives the group control over key assets, making rival bids unlikely.

Alma24 and Aurelius have been contacted for comment.

Dealmaker behind disastrous Body Shop buyout makes abrupt exit


Luke Barr
Sat, 17 February 2024


The Body Shop went into administration earlier this week, putting around 2,000 jobs at risk - Gareth Fuller/PA

A dealmaker who helped to spearhead the private equity takeover of The Body Shop has left abruptly after the retailer collapsed just three months later.

Aurelius, the German buyout specialist – where Peter Wood had held the position of managing director – is facing criticism over the £207m deal, which saw it become top creditor to The Body Shop before its insolvency.

The chain is now being run by administrators from FRP and bracing for a wave of store closures and job losses.

It is understood that after completing its acquisition in January, Aurelius discovered The Body Shop’s finances were in a much worse state than expected, sparking urgent discussions over what went wrong during the company’s due diligence process.

At the time of the deal’s announcement three months ago, Mr Wood, who joined Aurelius in January 2018, said on social media that he was excited “to bring the company back to its former glory”.

This came after the company said in November that it wanted to “re-energise the business” and “drive operational improvements.”

A person close to Aurelius said: “The business was found to be in a much worse financial position than it expected it to be.

“The deal was completed on January 1. Within a couple of weeks, they knew it was in a very different situation.”

However, questions have been raised over the nature of Aurelius’ cut-price takeover, as more than 2,000 jobs are at risk.

Aurelius is facing questions over an alleged failure to make payments worth £3m to a group of around 20 former employees in January, which was reportedly part of the agreement struck with The Body Shop’s former owners Natura.

It is understood that Aurelius invested less than £20m of equity in the deal, as Natura sold the business at a significant reduction compared to the £870m it paid in 2017.

A senior retail source with knowledge of The Body Shop said the failed payments to former staff represent the “unacceptable face of capitalism, the very extreme end of private equity”.

A person close to Aurelius rejected the claims and said the payments would be treated like any other financial obligation by the administrator.

Aurelius is understood to be in pole position to reclaim The Body Shop’s assets if no bidder materialises. The firm’s status as top creditor means it holds sway over the business’s future if it is not sold.

The retailer’s UK stores will remain open while administrators at FRP attempt to restructure the business and products will continue to be sold online.

In a statement last week, the administrators said: “The Body Shop has faced an extended period of financial challenges under past owners, coinciding with a difficult trading environment for the wider retail sector.

“Having taken swift action in the last month, including closing down The Body Shop At Home and selling its business across most of Europe and in parts of Asia, focusing on the UK business is the next important step in The Body Shop’s restructuring.”

The Body Shop was founded by Dame Anita Roddick in Brighton in 1976 - Johnny Green/PA

Founded in Brighton in 1976 by Dame Anita Roddick, an environmental activist, The Body Shop was widely credited for bringing ethical – or “cruelty-free” – beauty products to a mainstream audience.

However, in recent years, the retailer has struggled with flagging sales and increased competition from newer rivals on the high street such as Lush and Rituals in the UK.

The company’s most recent accounts show that The Body Shop posted a loss of £71m in 2022, down from a £10m profit, which came while the business was still owned by the Brazilian cosmetics group Natura.

Natura called 2022 “the most difficult year in the history of The Body Shop”.

Its latest troubles have also led to The Body Shop’s German business filing for bankruptcy, where around 350 people are employed across 66 shops.

Meanwhile, the collapse of its UK arm has left landlords, which include shopping centre owner Land Securities and Network Rail, bracing for closures. The Body Shop’s future on UK high streets is uncertain.

Aurelius declined to comment.

Mr Wood, who resigned from Aurelius, was contacted for comment.

The Body Shop’s fair trade suppliers left with ‘more than $1m’ of ingredients


Sarah Butler
Sun, 18 February 2024 

Shea butter being prepared by fair trade suppliers to The Body Shop

Photograph: The Body Shop International

The Body Shop’s fair trade suppliers who work with vulnerable people from the Amazon to Africa say they have been left with more than $1m worth of beauty ingredients that may now never be ordered or paid for by the ethical beauty chain.

The retailer, which called in administrators to its UK arm last week, has partnerships with 18 community fair trade partnerships around the world via its own scheme. Many of the relationships have been in place for more than 20 years.

Several told the Guardian they could be left with hundreds of thousands of dollars of stock – a figure that may not be large by corporate standards, but suppliers said it was very meaningful to families living on low incomes in often remote areas.


The Body Shop’s UK arm continues to trade as usual, administrators from the accounting firm FRP said, and creditors will be kept informed as the process moves forward.

However, any supplier debts will be lined up behind many other creditors – and orders could shrink if the stores are closed.

Aurelius, the restructuring specialist that bought Body Shop for £207m in a deal finalised last month, is understood to be the main creditor with a secured debt which will ensure it gets paid. It is expected to take back the chain, but only after many shops have closed.

The future of the group’s Irish, mainland European and Japanese divisions also hangs in the balance. The German business was put into insolvency last week.

Several community suppliers told the Guardian they had no written contract with The Body Shop, but had produced an agreed amount of product for the business for many years.

Gaston Vizcarra, president of Candela Peru – which has been providing Brazilian nut oil for The Body Shop since 1998 from nuts collected by 400 local families in the Amazon – said there was a $0.5m inventory of oil on hold for the retailer. “We don’t have any debt, but for more than two years we have manufactured this oil ready to go. There is no contract. It is based on trust.

“We usually sell a certain volume but The Body Shop has not been buying for at least a year. It has affected our capacity to work with producers and buy nuts from them.”

Most of the fair trade community projects do not supply The Body Shop directly. They sell their ingredients to intermediaries such as oil refiners or one of the group’s 20-plus cosmetics and beauty product manufacturers.

The producers are concerned that if manufacturers are not paid by administrators to The Body Shop, they in turn will not be paid.

“It’s a worry,” said the head of one community producer group based in Africa which works of thousands of individuals. “We are all affected, whatever the changes coming up. It is going to affect the whole supply chain.”

Mayk Arruda from CoppalJ, a Brazilian cooperative working with local communities that produces oil from the Babassu palm which grows in the Amazon, said it had just received an order for 30 tonnes of oil worth more than €300,000 and was concerned that it may not be paid.

“We work with 258 families directly and can impact more than 1,000,” he said. “If we are not paid, we are going to face a big problem. It is very important for us to generate a good quality of life.”

He said the higher price paid for the oil by The Body Shop had generated a “revolution in families’ lives” and there was a concern “that we will lose [that].”

Nick Hoskyns has supplied The Body Shop with sesame oil from the Juan Francisco Paz Silva cooperative in Nicaragua since 1993. The group works with 270 families. It has about $300,000 of sesame oil in stock that was produced without a contract.

“We have a relationship of trust and exclusivity of over 30 years which has been more than a contract. A break in trust has happened with Aurelius. There has been a sort of cultural bucket of water being poured over us.

“How can this happen to such an amazing company that has done so much?”

Some fair trade suppliers deal directly with The Body Shop and so may miss out on payments as they will be in line behind secured creditors, such as Aurelius, in the UK arm’s administration.

Milan Dev Bhattarai is the founder of Get Paper Industries in Nepal, which has been providing handmade recycled paper packaging to The Body Shop since 1989 via a partnership brokered by The Body Shop’s founder, Anita Roddick.

Dev Bhattarai said the company was not owed money but he added: “If there are closures of The Body Shop UK, not only more than 500 producers will have negative impact in their lives, but hundreds of girls will lose the opportunity for education, thousands of children will miss the opportunities for improved school. People of local communities will lose health support and many girls might be trafficked for difficult life. Tree plantation will be disturbed.”