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Rain Doesn't Stop the Rave
Beth Ditto is sliding on her stomach in the rain, in front of the most sparse festival crowd The Gossip can have seen in years. The grim sky and near-deserted field don't augur well for Creamfields' 10th anniversary. But step inside the nearby Cream tent, and you enter a different world. DJ Hernan Cattaneo stands high above a heaving crowd that rises towards him under swirling lights, and for just a moment, the old promise that dance music would sweep rock aside seems credible again. Creamfields has outgrown the now-shut Liverpool super-club Cream, into an international festival brand. But this celebratory, first two-day event emphasises rock connections. Ian Brown is greeted as an elder indie statesman to the rave generation by the... // RedOrbit 26/08/2008 22:20 Hungary for Change Belfast Telegraph
26/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
24/08/2008 10:05 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Dwain was the golden boy of the Olympics, a world-beater. Even
better, he was British. But then it all turned sour amid
accusations of doping. After he had stormed down the course,
beating his nearest rival by 10 seconds, at the recent Goldfish
Olympics in Nottinghamshire, Dwain swam proudly on top of the
podium. But then the water in his tank turned green. His owner,
Richard Allen, said the murk was caused by the boiled peas he fed
Dwain to cure his constipation, but Joe Weston-Webb, president of
the World Goldfish Racing Association, spluttered: "There is no way
a competitor could produce times like that unaided." As a dope test
for goldfish has yet to be devised, there the matter rests. For
now. Number of officially designated "protest zones" in Beijing during the Games. Number of... // Independent 24/08/2008 10:04 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Is this the ugliest building in the world? I stand, slack jawed,
before the new Hungarian National Theatre. It squats on the banks
of the Danube near the Pest end of the Lagymanyosi Bridge, a
bloated toad of civic ambition gone horribly wrong. A tinted glass awning juts over the main entrance. Though quite ugly enough, it has been ruched into scallops for maximum vulgarity. Statues of nine golden haired "muses" are stranded halfway up the mock pillars of the front – they seem to be writhing with embarrassment. Enough, already. For no discernible reason the piazza outside is shaped like the prow of a ship. Please God, make it stop. The ship rides on to a pool in which a mock-up of the old National Theatre's neo-classical façade has been laid on its side and drowned. Nightmare. This is... // Independent 24/08/2008 10:03 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
There's been a rash of prequels over the past few years, catering
for those strange people who have always wanted to know where James
Bond got his Aston Martin or how Batman manufactured his Bat-mask,
but there's never been a prequel less necessary than Get Smart. The
1960s TV series was a spy spoof created by Mel Brooks and Buck
Henry. Pitting Maxwell Smart, agent of Control, against the master
criminals of Kaos, it was a parade of deadpan catchphrases and
wonderfully impractical gadgets, and it didn't have even a hint of
seriousness. So what was the inspiration behind the new, big-screen version of Brooks's irreverent gagfest? Yes, it was Batman Begins. Peter Segal, Get Smart's director, declares in the press notes, "I liked the way that film reinvented the Batman franchise by telling... // Independent 23/08/2008 10:06 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Shortly after the Racing Post, bearing the headline "All Systems
Go", appeared under the door of my hotel room last Tuesday morning
a "ticker" on Sky Sports revealed that the first day of York's Ebor
meeting had been abandoned. The sinking feeling spilt over from the
waterlogged course. But the weirdest legacy of the washout was
slinking home with an intact betting wedge, un-lost money as it
were. So where does the dough go now? The first opportunity comes with two major races "saved" from York, the Group One Juddmonte International Stakes at Newmarket this afternoon, and the Group Two Great Voltigeur Stakes at Goodwood. Happily, the Derby hero New Approach and King George VI winner Duke Of Marmalade stand their ground for the International. I fancied New Approach last Tuesday with... // Independent 22/08/2008 22:49 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
The FTSE 100 was up 57.3 points at 5427.5 and the FTSE 250 was up
120.7 points at 9059.8 at 11:41 on Friday morning. The banking sector bounced back from earlier lows, dominating the FTSE 100 leader board. Lloyds TSB, at fourth place on the London benchmark, was up 3.93 per cent or 11p at 291p, and HBOS advanced to 283.5p, up 11.5p. The Royal Bank of Scotland was up 7.75p at 217.25p and Barclays gained 9.5p to 320.5p. Moving up... Liberty International was the strongest on the senior index, up 7.37 per cent or 64.5p at 939.5p, after Simon Property Group, the US real estate giant, declared a 3.45 per cent stake in the company. Among the mid-caps, Benfield soared to 349.5p, up 78.5p or 28.97 per cent, after Aon revealed a recommended 350p per share offer for the reinsurance and risk... // Independent 22/08/2008 22:48 Get Smart (12A) Belfast Telegraph
A very funny man, Steve Carell, but he's spreading himself a bit
thin of late. This revives the 1960s TV spy spoof in which data-crunching desk jockey Maxwell Smart (Carell) finally gets his big break into fieldwork for US spy agency Control. He's teamed with gorgeous Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) on a mission to foil world domination by evil mastermind Terence Stamp, so we sit back and wait for the laughs. Which come pretty slow and infrequent,... // Belfast Telegraph 22/08/2008 10:02 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
17/08/2008 10:02 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
With apologies to Alex Ferguson: swimming, bloody hell. On yet
another barely credible day in the sporting life of America's
titanic dolphin man, Michael Phelps came from behind yesterday to
win the equivalent of a photo finish by a whisker in the 100m
butterfly to earn his seventh gold medal of these Games. That matched Mark Spitz's 1972 record, although when Phelps went to his outsize bed last night he did so in the knowledge that he still had an eighth shot at gold here to come, in the4 x 100m medley relay this morning, Beijing time. The record books will show that Phelps, 23, won the 100m fly in 50.58sec by a margin of 0.01sec from Serbia's Milorad Cavic. That barely begins to tell the tale of an extraordinary race. Cavic's coach lodged an official protest because he was convinced... // Independent 17/08/2008 10:02 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
"El Ingles" is back. Today Frank Evans dons his suit of lights in
southern Spain and returns to the bullring for the first time in
three years. As Salford's only matador is 65 and recently underwent
a quad-ruple heart bypass and replacement knee surgery, the bull's
chance's appear better than average, but Evans says optimistically:
"Today's 65 is yesterday's 40." He's certainly a survivor, having
played rugby for Sale for eight years, worked as George Best's
manager for four and suffered numerous close encounters with bulls'
horns, including a particularly painful rectal rearrangement in
1983. Let's hope he doesn't get gored in the ring again today. Or is it 13? Chinese Olympic gold-medal gymnast He Kexin's passport states her birth date is 1 January 1992, so why did the official Xinhua... // Independent 17/08/2008 10:01 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
I don't know if you've noticed, but there's some kind of sporting
event on telly. Winners. Losers. Bullock-necked women lifting steel
lollipops, mouths agape with pain. Pint-sized superheroes playing
the life-or-death game of badminton. Joyless beach volleyball
sessions. Humans pretending to be fish. That kind of thing. So this
week, just to keep in the spirit of things, welcome to the TV
Olympics. In the God Complex Category, there were two strong contenders: Kevin McCloud, who descended like a deus ex machina into the benighted town of Castleford to save it from itself (Kevin McCloud's Big Town Plan) and Andrew Marr, who ascended into the heavens to show us Britain from Above. It was touch and go between them. McCloud has upped his game since Grand Designs, where he used to linger like... // Independent 15/08/2008 22:56 Beijing Diary Belfast Telegraph
15/08/2008 22:26 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
15/08/2008 10:03 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Yesterday's German edition of Playboy has an Olympic flavour. The
kayaker Nicole Reinhardt, a hot prospect to win gold, is on the
cover, her legs around a canoe paddle. She reassures readers she
has not developed unattractively muscular arms: "I don't need thick
arms. In canoeing it's about technique, thank God." There are four
choices of cover – one with Reinhardt; another with the
sailor Petra Niemann; Katharina Scholz, the latest field hockey
athlete to shed her strip; and the judo competitor Romy Tarangul.
Tarangul has already been knocked out but says she has proved women
can be good at judo without being an "unfeminine muscular Amazon". Win an Olympic event and pay for your wedding. That's what China's gold-medal synchronised swimmer Wang Feng has done. His province of Shandong... // Independent 15/08/2008 02:12 First Drive: 2009 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 MotorTrend Magazine
12/08/2008 22:34 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
The FTSE 100 was up 1.1 points at 5,542.9 while the FTSE 250 was
down 54.1 points at 9,330 at 11.35am this morning. The London
market edged up following news that Russia had ordered a ceasefire
in the conflict over the South Ossetia region in Georgia. The development bought some cheer to the market, which was in the red after UK inflation came inhigher than expected for July – consumer prices advanced by 4.4 per cent compared with a year ago, well clear of the Bank of England’s 2 per cent target and above the Government’s 3 per cent upper limit for a third month. Reacting to the news, Global Insight’s Howard Archer said the data “will not go down at all well at the Bank”. “The rise in consumer price inflation to a series high of 4.4 per cent in July was well above... // Independent 12/08/2008 22:12 Porsche 911 Carrera Belfast Telegraph
12/08/2008 18:33 FIRST DRIVE: Envy the green of Porsche's 911 Motoring
Price: From £63 070. Engine: 3614cc, flat-six, 24 valves, 258kW at 6500rpm, 288lb ft at 4400rpm Transmission: Six-speed gearbox (seven-speed PDK optional), rear engine, rear-wheel drive Performance: 288kkm/h, 0-100km/h 4.9sec, 11.4 litres/100km official average, CO2 225g/km Time was when a fuel consumption of 30mpg was thought pretty good. That was when 70-profile tyres were the height of sportiness and the five-speed gearbox was starting... // Motoring 10/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
It's that slow-news time of year, when PR firms try to promote
clients by releasing pointless polls to a gullible media. Seems
fair, so here's a couple. First up, as it were, is dating site gay-PARSHIP.co.uk ; decathlete Daley Thompson tops their poll of British Olympians
gay men would most like to date, with a resounding 33 per cent of
the votes (must be the moustache). Sir Steve Redgrave is not far
behind, on 28 per cent. Dame Kelly Holmes wins the lesbian poll
with a landslide 48 per cent, Denise Lewis trailing in second with
19 per cent. Sir Steve does come top of BA's Top Five Olympic
British Competitors poll, though. In other news: BA come 18th in
customer satisfaction poll by 'Which?' magazine. Number of high school cheerleaders who squeezed into a lift at the University of Texas... // Independent 10/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Time was when a fuel consumption of 30mpg was thought pretty good.
That was when 70 profile tyres were the height of sportiness and
the five-speed gearbox was starting to register on the radar of
drivers who might not necessarily own a pair of stringback driving
gloves. If your car did 30mpg, you were a prudent sort. Today, it is different. There's a significant road taxation increase beyond 225g/km of CO2 output, which equates to just under 30mpg for a petrol car. So 30mpg is merely borderline acceptable and a car whose official "combined" fuel thirst is greater is deemed a gas-guzzler. In London it would have been even more significant had the congestion charge hike to £25 a day over 225g gone ahead. With the mayoral change, this idea has been shelved, which means that Porsche has... // Independent 10/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
10/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
I gave the show a brief mention a few weeks ago, but now its run
has finished, it's time to give Cabin Pressure its due. Its first
episode was, I said, flawless. Nothing can be flawless for ever but
the writing and performances in this tight comedy have been
exceptional. Let me put it like this: this is the only programme
that has kept me close to a radio at 11.30 every Wednesday morning.
Never mind Listen Again (for more on which, see below) – you
want to catch this as soon as you can. The setting might be novel – a charter plane, with its skeleton crew of misfits – but the writing obeys pretty much all the necessary rules of classic British sitcom writing, which are simple. In fact, students of the art form would do well to listen to it and take notes. You need little more than... // Independent 10/08/2008 10:08 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
09/08/2008 10:04 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
The American swimmer Michael Phelps is attempting to break his
compatriot Mark Spitz's record of seven gold medals at an Olympics.
The 23-year-old from Baltimore begins his quest in the 400m
individual medley. The heats begin today at 11.30 and the final is
at 03.00 tomorrow morning. Craig Fallon, right, could become Britain's first gold medal winner of the Games when he competes in the judo extra lightweight competition (the final is at approximately 11am today). The 25-year-old from Wolverhampton, who was knocked out in the second round four years ago, is the first British man for 25 years to hold the world and European titles at the same time. Several British crews start their campaigns in the rowing competition, including the men's four, who have won gold at the past two Games... // Independent 09/08/2008 10:04 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
09/08/2008 10:04 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
Just because you're not intending to scale K2, drive a Maserati
Quattroporte or conduct the LSO any time soon doesn't mean you're
not interested in mountaineering, fast cars or classical music. By
the same token, argues Neil Beckett, the editor of 1001 Wines You
Must Try Before You Die (Cassell, £20), knowing more about the
loftier peaks of wine doesn't mean it's compulsory to drink
legendary vintages of Yquem, Lafite or Cristal and bankrupt
yourself in the process. In developing his
"life's-too-short-to-drink-bad-wine" thesis, Beckett's
mouthwatering bucket list brings the sometimes intimidating subject
of fine wine to life, making it instantly more digestible. 1001 Wines makes no claim to be a list of all the world's greatest wines. Although two or more wines from the same... // Independent 09/08/2008 10:04 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
07/08/2008 00:03 Independent.co.uk Web Independent
The FTSE 100 was down 4.1 points 5450.4 and the FTSE 250 was up
15.4 points at 9091.1 at 12:09 pm on Wednesday. Lonmin dominated
the London benchmark, up almost 47 per cent or 1089p at 3408p,
after Xstrata unveiled a £5bn offer for the platinum miner.
Lonmin rebuffed the 3300p per share proposal – the South
African group called the move “opportunistic and entirely
unwelcome”. Market sources said the response was not
unexpected. “There are probably enough Lonmin shareholders who want to sell out and invest in other mining plays. The rejection does not mean that we won’t see a takeover,” said one trader, who highlighted Xstrata’s acquisitive past. Michael Rawlinson, the widely followed mining analyst at Liberum Capital, also expects the bid to succeed. “We see the bid... // Independent |
