The Sunday Telegraph London back issues from December 2008:
We all need a break - even a hard-working Hindu holy man
Dec 07, 2008; ... A recent government report shows that there are now some familiesin this country with three generations who have never worked. Idon't know what they do all day but I can only hope that their homesare full of delightful home-made craft items. It's a situation thatonce would have been ...
the list Google Earth's blind spots
Dec 07, 2008; ... Israel Until last month, most of Israel was blank, so as not toassist terrorists. It's now being filled in because a proliferationof maps elsewhere made censorship redundant. Dick Cheney's home The V-P's residence at the US NavalObservatory is pixelated. Noordwijk aan Zee, ...
THE OTHER PALIN As a Python he made a generation laugh, but, he says, comedy is 'not a great talent'. As a television traveller he entertained millions, but it 'wasn't a proper job'. Michael Palin is almost a national institution, so why does he feel so unfulfilled? The Nigel Farndale Interview
Dec 07, 2008; ... There is, you sense, a discontent at the core of Michael Palin,one that gnaws away at him with steady purpose. It's not to do withhis manner, which is as amiable as you would expect. Indeed, when Itell him what my editor emailed - 'Good, I love her' - in responseto my email saying 'Am ...
THE SECRETS OF which? craft If they're not watching the same TV clip over and over again, they're breaking mobile phones - all to make sure your Christmas presents don't let you down.
Dec 07, 2008; ... In a large anonymous-looking building somewhere in the Midlands,a group of people - intense, pasty-faced and a just little nerdish -are working in conditions of strict security. They're trying todecide what you and I should be buying for Christmas. It's gruellingwork and not everyone can ...
Hollywood's ringmaster The big, the bad, the beautiful: Milton Greene shot them all. His wife, Amy, talks to Horatia Harrod about his dazzling career and introduces some of his portraits
Dec 07, 2008; ... When Milton Greene was growing up, one of his heroes was CaryGrant. Elegantly dressed and devastatingly handsome, Grant was theepitome of Hollywood glamour, everything the stuttering, skinny kidfrom Brooklyn dreamt of becoming. Flash forward several decades, andthere's the adult Greene ...
My career is not about how I look Imelda Staunton may be a 'tough cookie', taking on roles that rely more on grit than glamour, but ask the Oscar-winning Vera Drake actress about her mother or her close friends and, finds Olga Craig, a fluffier side emerges
Dec 07, 2008; ... It's difficult to envisage Cranford's redoubtable and gossipyMiss Pole, all raw red cheeks and broderie anglaise bonnets, beingoverawed by anything. Nor, for that matter, the caring charlady cum1950s back-street abortionist Vera Drake, who dispensed tea andsympathy to her 'young ladies' ...
Four go on yet another journey Don't expect too much from this noisy, lazy and charmless cartoon; plus a misery memoir that may be too sweet and feminine for some tastes
Dec 07, 2008; ... Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG) 89 mins ????? The Secret Life of Bees (12A) 110 mins ????? The first rule of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa is that youmustn't, under any circumstances, watch it with a hangover: it justmight kill you. I watched it without a hangover, and even then ...
OTHER FILMS
Dec 07, 2008; ... Lakeview Terrace (15) 110 mins ????? You could teach a workable seminar on Race, Cinema and AmericanSociety drawing solely upon this week's releases. Take thisskilfully handled thriller, a return to full provocative form fordirector Neil LaBute after his botched The Wicker Man ....
December is bustin' out all over Rodgers and Hammerstein's great musical brings a glow to London; but a play about New York transvestites seems very old hat
Dec 07, 2008; ... Carousel ????? Savoy, London WC2 (0870 174 8787) to July 2009 Wig Out! ????? Royal Court, London SW1 (020 7565 5000) to 10January In the midst of a cold, joyless and heavily indebted London, theSavoy Theatre has come up with an explosion of colour, extravaganceand life with ...
The love story grows up Mature, spiky Sondheim; and a sting in the tail from LaBute OTHER THEATRE
Dec 07, 2008; ... A Little Night Music ????? Menier Chocolate Factory, London SE1 (020 7907 7060) to 8 March In a Dark Dark House ????? Almeida, London N1 (020 7359 4404) to17 January With wounds still fresh from the failure of Gone with the Windearlier this year, Trevor Nunn is ...
Graphic illumination The Romanian emigre who saw the dark side of the American dream
Dec 07, 2008; ... Saul Steinberg ????? Dulwich Picture Gallery, London SE21 (0208693 5254) to 15 February It is the summer of 1970, and Saul Steinberg, principalcartoonist at The New Yorker, is thinking dark thoughts. His latestdrawing, Artist, is an acerbic meditation on what it might mean tobe ...
The G-spot is missed by a mile The terrible and wonderful things done in the name of dance
Dec 07, 2008; ... Australian Dance Theatre ????? Queen Elizabeth Hall Ondine ????? Royal Ballet My little heart sank when I saw the knee pads. Australian DanceTheatre's Garry Stewart is a dancemaker who 'tests the possibilitiesof the human body'. This might conjure up thoughts of those ...
MUST BOOK A toymaker to reckon with Meet Gary Avis, the man with sugar-plum pulling power
Dec 07, 2008; ... Title (15) 120 mins ????? Ballerinas like to think that the success of a Nutcracker dependson the neatness of their pointework, but the Sugar Plum Fairy isonly on stage for a few pretty minutes. The real lynchpin of theballet is Herr Drosselmeyer, the mysterious toymaker ...
Elemental memorial Vaughan Williams's opera is an elegy for Richard Hickox
Dec 07, 2008; ... Riders to the Sea ????? ENO Bach Choir ????? City of London Choir ????? Vaughan Williams's anniversary year reached its climax back inJune when Richard Hickox and the Philharmonia revived the composer'soperatic masterpiece, The Pilgrim's Progress, but it is ...
BOOK OF THE WEEK MUSIC The Triumph of Music: Composers, Musicians and their Audiences, 1700 to the Present by Tim Blanning ALLEN LANE/ PENGUIN, pounds 25, 416 pp Do Mozart and Mick Jagger really have anything in common? wonders Noel Malcolm
Dec 07, 2008; ... In 1771 Archduke Ferdinand of Austria asked his mother whethershe thought he should employ a 15-year-old musician called WolfgangAmadeus Mozart. 'I can't think why you should,' replied the EmpressMaria Theresa, 'for you don't need a composer or any other uselesspeople for that matter. I ...
TERRORISM The Baader-Meinhof Complex by Stefan Aust BODLEY HEAD, pounds 12.99, 458 pp Michael Burleigh on the ragbag of psychopaths and ideologues who tried to murder Germany into revolution
Dec 07, 2008; ... A common denominator of terrorist groups throughout history hasbeen extreme romanticisation of the self. Although they invariablyrepresent undemocratic minorities, terrorists take it uponthemselves to give History a big forward shove, regardless of thelittle people crushed under wheels ...
Literary Life
Dec 07, 2008; ... Only eight British authors were mentioned in the 'Best Books of2008' feature in Publishers Weekly, the bible of the American book trade. While it was good to see A. L. Kennedy's Day and Hari Kunzru's My Revolutions in the limey-light, it was somewhat surprising to find ...
TITLE DEED HOW THE BOOK GOT ITS NAME Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
Dec 07, 2008; ... Oscar Wilde said that we are all in the gutter but some of us arelooking at the stars. Boris Pasternak, it seems, was in the gutterlooking at the gutter. The name for the hero of his great romanticnovel, Doctor Zhivago, came from a drain. At least, it did accordingto Olga Ivinskaya, his ...
TALENT Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell ALLEN LANE/ PENGUIN, pounds 16.99, 310 pp Are geniuses made rather than born? And if so, how do you become one? Ed Smith looks for tips
Dec 07, 2008; ... Do you want to be a genius? This book can tell you how to do it.First you need very good DNA. Talent isn't enough on its own,though, you require threshold-level innate talent to stand anychance of becoming a genius. Sadly, as you can imagine, changingyour DNA may not be ...
What to read when... you don't want to go shopping Bibliotherapy
Dec 07, 2008; ... Now that shopping is being prescribed as national duty - buy now,to save the nation from economic ruin! - I'm feeling mulishlyreluctant to obey government orders. Instead, I've been re-readingBreakfast at Tiffany's, which is always a pleasure, but also servesas a reminder that shopping ...
BIOGRAPHY Hester: The Remarkable Life of Dr Johnson's 'Dear Mistress' by Ian McIntyre CONSTABLE, pounds 25, 464 pp How much love was lost between Dr Johnson and the woman he lived with? wonders Adam Sisman
Dec 07, 2008; ... The subtitle is a bit of a tease. Hester Thrale was not DrJohnson's mistress in the modern sense of the word - not unless onebelieves that they engaged in S & M together, a prurient theorysatirised by Beryl Bainbridge in her novel According to Queeney. IanMcIntyre, the author of this new ...
TRAVEL McKie's Gazeteer: A Local History of Britain by David McKie ATLANTIC, pounds 30, 668 pp Tom Fort savours a tour of Britain's overlooked places and odd people
Dec 07, 2008; ... The subtitle of this glorious book is grossly misleading. It isnot a local history of Britain at all, but something far morecherishable and unusual. As David McKie himself says in the firstsentence, 'this is a book of discoveries'. Its starting point was one of the old-fashioned ...
Children's books
Dec 07, 2008; ... All those hours I wasted, tucking Matisse postcards down thesides of my babies' prams so that they would grow up to be clevererthan everyone else's, and now it turns out they could see only inblack and white after all. Art for Baby (Templar, pounds 14.99) isfor a better-informed ...
FICTION The Fire Gospel by Michel Faber CANONGATE, pounds 12.99, 220 pp The entertainment industry and the Bible can mix, finds Charles Fernyhough
Dec 07, 2008; ... Michel Faber is the latest writer to be given licence to retellan old story in Canongate's The Myths series. Theo Griepenkerl is aclassical linguist with an out-of-control waistline, a strayinggirlfriend and an obsession with the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.In Iraq on a mission of ...
FICTION PORTOBELLO BY RUTH RENDELL HUTCHINSON, pounds 18.99, 288 pp Jane Shilling follows the destinies linked by a postcode and a random act of violence
Dec 07, 2008; ... How to capture in words that most evanescent of qualities, a sense of place? In herlatest novel, Portobello, Ruth Rendell visits the straggling thoroughfare in west Londonwhose market was a handy source of bargains for Paddington Bear andthe setting of a protracted ...
TRAVEL McKie's Gazeteer: A Local History of Britain by David McKie ATLANTIC, pounds 30, 668 pp Tom Fort savours a tour of Britain's overlooked places and odd people
Dec 07, 2008; ... The subtitle of this glorious book is grossly misleading. It isnot a local history of Britain at all, but something far morecherishable and unusual. As David McKie himself says in the firstsentence, 'this is a book of discoveries'. Its starting point was one of the old-fashioned ...
Gadgets
Dec 07, 2008; ... Elmo live Sesame Street's talking fuzzball made his debut as a toy in 1996and is still in demand with the young and impressionable. He waveshis arms, sits, stands, crosses his legs, tells stories, sings songsand plays games, all on the juice of six AA batteries. Winsomebordering ...
Toyota iQ 1.0 VVT-i (manual) Price: pounds 9,495 Power: 67 bhp 0- 62 mph: 14.7 mph Top speed: 93 mph Average fuel consumption: 65.7 mpg CO2 emissions: 99 g/km Insurance group: 2 It looks good, turns on a sixpence (if you still have one) and will give other urban midgets a proper run for their money. Neil Lyndon welcomes the Toyota iQ
Dec 07, 2008; ... Five years ago, a top executive of the Smart car company quietlytold me about his most frightening nightmare - that Toyota mightdecide to build a midget urban car to rival the Smart. Perhaps somebody else at the table was eavesdropping on hiswhispers and relayed them to Toyota ....
Bridge
Dec 07, 2008; ... ALL THE CLUES were present, East just had to put them together toarrive at the winning strategy. Can you? S 8 3 H 7 2 D Q J 9 8 6 4 C A Q 8 S J 10 9 6 2 S A 5 4 H 10 6 5 4H 9 8 3 D 10D A K 3 C 9 5 2C K J 7 6 S K Q ...
Chess
Dec 07, 2008; ... Armenia pulled off what looked like Mission Impossible at the2008 Chess Olympiad at Dresden and retained the title they won atTurin two years ago. With Tigran Petrosian - no relation to the lateworld champion - playing instead of Karen Asrian, who diedtragically earlier this year, they ...
Heavyweights urge City shake-up * New board to take on Square Mile promotional role * Review led by Merrill Lynch banker recommends Corporation split
Dec 07, 2008; ... AN ELITE group of business figures will this week propose a far-reaching overhaul of the way the City of London is promoted as aglobal financial centre and deliver a warning that its status isfacing unprecedented threats, The Sunday Telegraph has learned. The group, led by Bob ...
Dire data to confirm crisis on high street
Dec 07, 2008; ... THE desperate state of the high street in the run-up to Christmaswill be underlined this week by new figures showing retail salesfell for a sixth straight month in November. The keenly-watched British Retail Consortium-KPMG survey, whichis to be released on Tuesday, will reveal ...
Private equity investor in AA and Saga launches pounds 5bn fundraising despite industry turmoil
Dec 07, 2008; ... THE private equity firm Charterhouse Capital is attempting toraise up to pounds 5.2bn for a new buyout fund even as manyinvestors in the asset class scale back their commitments amid afunding crisis. Charterhouse, which is a major investor in Acromas, the holdingcompany of Saga ...
Wheels come off Wagon as US rescues 'Detroit Three' One of the UK's largest car-parts groups is set to call in administrators as auto crisis intensifies
Dec 07, 2008; ... FEARS mounted for the health of Britain's ailing manufacturingindustry this weekend as Wagon Automotive, one of the country'slargest car-parts groups, appeared to be on the brink of collapse. Up to 4,500 jobs across Europe looked to be under threat. Lastnight it emerged that ...
New Star lenders to conduct secret auction
Dec 07, 2008; ... THE BANKS which last week seized control of New Star AssetManagement have asked the company's advisers to sound out rivalsabout a takeover of the once-stellar City fund manager. UBS, the investment bank, is understood to have been handed amandate to approach New Star's rivals, some ...
Hedge funds put pounds 700m Gate Gourmet in departure lounge
Dec 07, 2008; ... AIRLINE catering firm Gate Gourmet, once at the centre of one ofHeathrow's most bitter industrial disputes, has been put up for saleby its hedge fund owners with an expected pounds 700m price tag. The company, which supplies inflight meals to customers such asBritish Airways, has ...
Food group's suppliers lose trading cover as downturn bites
Dec 07, 2008; ... CREDIT insurers are refusing to provide cover for suppliers toBakkavor, raising questions about the future of one of the biggestsuppliers of fresh foods to British restaurants and supermarkets. Several companies supplying Bakkavor have seen their creditinsurance withdrawn amid ...
City brokers Ambrian and Panmure in merger talks to survive protracted slump
Dec 07, 2008; ... TWO of London's leading mid-sized broking firms are in mergertalks in an effort to create a larger group that would be more resilient to a protracted slowdown in capitalmarkets activity across the City. Ambrian Partners, which is run by Tom Gaffney, has been indiscussions ...
Mining giant to slash spending
Dec 07, 2008; ... THE mining conglomerate Anglo American will this week slashbillions of pounds from its capital spending programme for 2009 asit becomes the latest industrial group to adjust its growthforecasts amid the deepening economic malaise. Anglo, which is led by Cynthia Carroll, chief ...
INTERNATIONAL VIEW The deflation virus will test monetary policy to its absolute limit
Dec 07, 2008; ... DEBT deflation is tightening its grip over the entire globalsystem. Interest rates are creeping towards zero in Japan, America,and now across most of Europe. We are beyond the extremes of the 1930s. The frontiers ofmonetary policy are being pushed to limits that may now ...
ECONOMIC AGENDA Unless heads roll, we can expect another meltdown
Dec 07, 2008; ... THE biggest credit bubble in human history is now bursting.What's happening goes way, way beyond the ordinary ups and downs ofthe business cycle. Across the Western world, a self-imposed financial meltdown isnow seriously damaging tens of millions of ordinary firms andhouseholds ...
CITY EDITOR COMMENT Shake-up of City complacency is long overdue
Dec 07, 2008; ... IN A FEW days' time, a group of Britain's leading businessmenwill present Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, with theirrecommendations on how to keep the City of London competitivethrough the current recession and far into the future. As I reveal on the front page today, some ...
CITY EDITOR COMMENT A TASTE OF THINGS TO COME
Dec 07, 2008; ... THERE are many large companies where shareholders are having totake a lot on trust at the moment. Nowhere is that more true than atthe country's biggest branded foods company. Robert Schofield, the boss of Premier Foods, must be thenostalgic type. A few months ago, he decided that ...
CITY EDITOR COMMENT A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME?
Dec 07, 2008; ... SIR John Rose is without question one of this country's mostdistinguished businessmen. Having served successfully as chief executive of Rolls-Royce, oneof Britain's few manufacturing global leaders, for the past 12-and-a-half years, Rose has also banged the drum ceaselessly for ...
Obama's team leaves him short-changed in economic turmoil
Dec 07, 2008; ... IT'S MORE than a month since Barack Obama won the keys to theWhite House. Many Americans who wept with joy on November 4 are nowgripped with economic fear. Will Obama succeed? Last week saw more signs of the scale of the challenge beforehim. The US services industry contracted by ...
New Star rapidly becoming a Death Star A debt-for-equity swap and possible staff exodus mean that John Duffield is facing his biggest crisis yet, writes Katherine Griffiths
Dec 07, 2008; ... TWO things were strange about New Star Asset Management's 2007Christmas party. It was held this summer, after an employee slippeddown some stairs the previous year and the company decided a lighterevening would lead to fewer accidents. Some of the fund managers were also not aware ...
BA's global ambitions prepared for take off
Dec 07, 2008; ... Remember this? "It was a calculated risk." That was Willie Walshin May, telling MPs on the Transport Committee why he had pressedahead with opening Heathrow's Terminal 5 - even though he knew thebuilding was not fully ready. Fast forward seven months and the former pilot now ...
Buoyant VT can sail through the storms
Dec 07, 2008; ... VT Group 483p Questor saysBUY VT GROUP used to be known by the name Vosper Thorneycroft. Mostpeople remember its name as a shipbuilder of repute. The companymanaged to survive the trauma of being nationalised by Old Labour inthe 1970s, before it came ...
Boar heads the list of presents for Lord Mayor
Dec 07, 2008; ... IF YOU are afraid of what might be in your work Secret Santa thisChristmas (presuming you're lucky enough to be in employment), sparea thought for the Lord Mayor's unusual Christmas offering. Ian Luder this week received something most bizarre - a boar'shead from the Worshipful ...
It's safety first for Anglo American
Dec 07, 2008; ... Anglo American's 300 London employees turned up for work onMonday to find an unexpected present - a stash of condoms. Is theminer trying to promote safe sex ahead of Christmas, or aiming tohelp out those strapped-for-cash employees? The reason ...
HMV suffering from brain drain
Dec 07, 2008; ... HMV may well be wise to push its latest bunch of special offersthrough email circulars in the run-up to Christmas. But theretailer's latest plug on computer games for the Nintendo DS ...
CII has to spell out name problem
Dec 07, 2008; ... The Chartered Insurance Institute (CII), that thrilling bodyresponsible for educating the insurance industry, is experiencing more exciting times. It is merging with overseas counterpart, the Australian and NewZealand Institute for Insurance and Finance, to create ...
Odds on God, with Russell Brand as Creator
Dec 07, 2008; ... For those who haven't already lost all their money in the creditcrisis, one of Paddy Power's latest bets is surely worth a flutter. "Does God Exist?" it asks, before stating the terms - that"scientific proof must emerge by December 31, 2009, to confirm hisomnipresence in order for ...
Diageo boss shows true fighting spirit The dire economic outlook has not dampened Paul Walsh's optimism, he tells Jonathan Sibun
Dec 07, 2008; ... PAUL WALSH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, DIAGEO Age 53 Succession "If I popped under a bus tomorrow, the board has greatoptions" On Diageo's brands "You don't have to take a loan out to enjoyour products" Other roles Chairman of Scotch Whisky Association Hobbies ...
HOW TO BEAT THE SCROOGE BANKS As the Government and Bank of England try to get the British economy on track, it is savers who are bearing the brunt, reports Emma Simon
Dec 07, 2008; ... AFTER last week's latest cut in interest rates, savers are leftwith just one question: where can they get a decent return on theirmoney? In three months interest rates have tumbled by 3 percentagepoints and now stand at just 2pc - a rate not seen for more than ...
Falling interest rates leave savers out in the cold
Dec 07, 2008; ... The real prospect that rates will fall to zero is a nightmarescenario for those that rely on savings income to bolster they day-to-day living expenses. It is hard to imagine savings rates at nil - but it happened inJapan, where savers had no choice but to deal with the harsh ...
ONE IN THE EYE FOR THREADNEEDLE
Dec 07, 2008; ... In 2003, New Star was advertising that six of the seven funds itoffered were top-quartile performers. The advert showcased itssuperior performance against that of its biggest rivals. The rapid decline of New Star has been well documented (seetoday's Business section). But what of ...
THE SINS OF COMMISSION
Dec 07, 2008; ... Eighteen months ago, I pointed out that self-invested personalpensions (Sipps) had come under the beady eye of the FinancialServices Authority. There has been a boom in the Sipp market over the past threeyears and from next to nothing it is now a pounds 50bn market ....
Dear Jessica FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER Wrong details left you without a car
Dec 07, 2008; ... I HAVE an online current account with Alliance & Leicester. I negotiated the purchase of a second-hand car. The garage alsohad an Alliance & Leicester account and so we agreed I would sendthe money electronically to expedite the process. The money left my account on the 17th of ...
Dear Jessica FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER Abbey makes amends
Dec 07, 2008; ... I AM a 79-year-old pensioner and need help with Abbey, which isgiving me the runaround. My credit card was compromised and I informed the bank when mystatement arrived. The account was stopped and a new card issued. The debits were five separate withdrawals of cash from ...
Dear Jessica FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER Saga of policy paid twice
Dec 07, 2008; ... I AM an executor for my late father who died earlier this year. He had been paying for his building insurance twice over for thepast three years. This was on a leasehold flat, which he owned. It is stipulated in the lease that the house insurance is paidout of the service ...
Dear Jessica FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER Switched off by charge
Dec 07, 2008; ... GROSS interest of only pounds 11.38 was paid on the closingbalance of a Nationwide Isa bond. It should have been much more. WN, Dursley, Glos. The product you were transferring out of normally imposed acharge for withdrawals. Your money, though, was ...
Dear Jessica FINANCIAL TROUBLESHOOTER Refund hitch at failed firm
Dec 07, 2008; ... CAN you help me recover money for goods paid on my Barclaycard toa mail order company which went into administration? Despite numerous letters and telephone calls, very little hasbeen achieved. I have in the past returned many goods to this company because ofcolour or ...
Key tips for keeping a roof over your head Richard Evans' guide to dealing with mortgage payment arrears
Dec 07, 2008; ... At last there is some good news for people worried about losingtheir homes if they cannot keep up their mortgage repayments. First, the Government has improved its range of benefits andinitiatives aimed at keeping people in their homes. For example, thestate benefit that may pay ...
Sterling takes a pounding Parity with the euro now seems possible but you can gain from fluctuations, says Emma Wall
Dec 07, 2008; ... Sterling suffered its biggest fall against the dollar since 1992at the start of this week - and Thursday's rate cut by the Bank ofEngland did not help, pushing the pound down to $1.47 and euro1.15on Friday. This year alone, the pound has slipped 25pc against the dollar,so much so ...