Qatar is using the Arabic news channel al-Jazeera as a bargaining chip in foreign policy negotiations by adapting its coverage to suit other foreign leaders and offering to cease critical transmissions in exchange for major concessions, US embassy cables released by WikiLeaks claim.
The memos flatly contradict al-Jazeera's insistence that it is editorially independent despite being heavily subsidised by the Gulf state.
They will also be intensely embarrassing to Qatar, which last week controversially won the right to host the 2022 World Cup after presenting itself as the most open and modern Middle Eastern state.
In the past, the emir of Qatar has publicly refused US requests to use his influence to temper al-Jazeera's reporting.
But a cable written in November 2009 predicted that the station could be used "as a bargaining tool to repair relationships with other countries, particularly those soured by al-Jazeera's broadcasts, including the United States" over the next three years.
Doha-based al-Jazeera was launched in 1996 and has become the most watched satellite television station in the Middle East. It has been seen by many as relatively free and open in its coverage of the region, but government control over its reporting appears to US diplomats to be so direct that they said the channel's output had become "part of our bilateral discussions – as it has been to favourable effect between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria and other countries".
In February, the US embassy reported to Washington how "relations [between Qatar and Saudi Arabia] are generally improving after Qatar toned down criticism of the Saudi royal family on al-Jazeera". In July 2009, the US embassy said the channel "has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters".
In one dispatch, the US ambassador, Joseph LeBaron, reported that the Qatari prime minister, Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, had joked in an interview that al-Jazeera had caused the Gulf state such headaches that it might be better to sell it. But the ambassador remarked: "Such statements must not be taken at face value." He went on: "Al-Jazeera's ability to influence public opinion throughout the region is a substantial source of leverage for Qatar, one which it is unlikely to relinquish. Moreover, the network can also be used as a chip to improve relations. For example, al-Jazeera's more favourable coverage of Saudi Arabia's royal family has facilitated Qatari-Saudi reconciliation over the past year."
Although LeBaron noted that the station's coverage of the Middle East was "relatively free and open", he added: "Despite GOQ protestations to the contrary, al-Jazeera remains one of Qatar's most valuable political and diplomatic tools."
US allegations of manipulation of al-Jazeera's content for political ends also contradict Qatar's claim to support a free press. "The Qatari government claims to champion press freedom elsewhere, but generally does not tolerate it at home," the US embassy said after the French director of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom resigned in June 2009, citing restrictions on the centre's freedom to operate.
In a clear example of the regional news channel being exploited for political ends, the Doha embassy claimed Sheikh Hamad (HBJ) told the US senator John Kerry that he had proposed a bargain with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, which involved stopping broadcasts in Egypt in exchange for a change in Cairo's position on Israel-Palestinian negotiations.
"HBJ had told Mubarak 'we would stop al-Jazeera for a year' if he agreed in that span of time to deliver a lasting settlement for the Palestinians," according to a confidential cable from the US embassy in Doha in February. "Mubarak said nothing in response, according to HBJ."
The US has benefitted, too. "Anecdotal evidence suggests, and former al-Jazeera board members have affirmed, that the United States has been portrayed more positively since the advent of the Obama administration," a cable in November 2009 said. "We expect that trend to continue and to further develop as US-Qatari relations improve."
In 2001 the emir, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, refused a US request to stop al-Jazeera giving so much airtime to Osama bin Laden and other anti-American figures, saying: "Parliamentary life requires you to have a free and credible media, and that is what we are trying to do.
"Al-Jazeera is one of the most widely watched [TV stations] in the Arab world because of its editorial independence." The Gulf state has frequently held up al-Jazeera as evidence of its relative openness. The independent Visit Qatar website states: "What makes al-Jazeera such a unique channel in the Middle East is its editorial independence.
"This has been seen by many as evidence that Qatar is one of the region's more liberal and democratic countries, and one which provides freedom of press and speech."
Qatar maintains a working relationship with Iran, and the US embassy was concerned by the lack of al-Jazeera coverage of the civil unrest in Iran after the disputed presidential election in the summer of 2009.
"Al-Jazeera's coverage of the Iranian election and its aftermath has been scanty by comparison to other hot topics in the region, such as Gaza," reported the embassy at the time.
Al-Jazeera "has proved itself a useful tool for the station's political masters", the cables said.
Local media are also affected by government interference. "Over the past three [visits] we have assessed as steady the lack of overall media freedom in Qatar," the November cable said.
"Although overt and official censorship is not present, self and discreet official censorship continue to render Qatari domestic media tame and ineffective."
Al-Jazeera last night denied the claims. A spokesman for the station said: "This is the US embassy's assessment, and it is very far from the truth. Despite all the pressure al-Jazeera has been subjected to by regional and international governments, it has never changed its bold editorial policies which remain guided by the principles of a free press." The embassy of Qatar in London declined to comment on the story last night
Monday, December 6, 2010
Sharm el-Sheikh tourist killed in new shark attack
A 70-year-old German tourist died after being mauled by a shark off the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh today – the latest in a series of shark attacks in the Red Sea over the past five days.
Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) sent an urgent message to its members in Sharm el-Sheikh, instructing them to clear the water.
"Following reports of another incident in Middle Garden local reef, CDWS is calling for all its members in Sharm el-Sheikh to stop any snorkelling activities happening from any boats or shore. Please tell all your boats to immediately recall any snorkellers who may be in the water," it said.
The group's chairman, Hesham Gabr, told the Guardian: "We are busy dealing with the crisis. I can confirm that a German woman was injured and she passed away."
According to security officials quoted by the Associated Press, the woman's arm was severed in the attack and she died within minutes.
Last week three Russians and a Ukrainian were badly injured.
The Egyptian authorities had said they were confident that the capture and killing of two sharks on Thursday had eliminated the threat to swimmers.
A 48-hour ban on entering the water had been lifted yesterday but all watersports, except for diving sites, have been closed again following today's attack.
Jochen Van Lysebettens, manager of the Red Sea Diving College at the resort, said the latest victim was a regular guest at the luxury Hyatt Regency hotel. He told Sky News: "The woman was just swimming to stay in shape. Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water. The lifeguard got her on the reef and he noticed she was severely wounded."
Van Lysebettens said 40 diving instructors had been out in the waters in recent days to check for sharks after the initial catch. "They found nothing," he said. "Based on that the authorities opened the dive sites again and opened the watersports activities again."
He thought the same shark had been responsible for all the attacks. He suggested it may have been drawn to the coast by dead sheep left in the water. "I have no idea why this shark is behaving so aggressively," he continued.
"This must have been triggered by something in the past. Unfortunately in this case he is now looking at snorkellers."
A British couple tonight told the Guardian they were in a group of snorkellers that had to leave the water hurriedly on Saturday after a large shark circled round them. Christina Stafel-Collins, from Broughton, north Lincolnshire, said: "It was definitely an oceanic whitetip. We saw it so close-up. My husband is six foot and it was loads larger than him … I am so upset this woman has died. They should have shut the beaches ."
Her husband, Terry Collins, who was in the army for 24 years, said the shark had acted aggressively. "It was about three metres long. I was about 10 metres behind everyone else. I saw it come out of the depths and it went towards our leader. It circled him and began circling the group.
"It was deep grey and was that close I could see electric blue fish swimming in front of it. It was circling lazily but with intent," he said.
The boats that brought them to the area were on the other side of a reef the group had been circling.
Terry said when he raised his head he saw people on the board shouting warnings.
The swimmers had to make their way to the reef and rested there before swimming one by one across about 100 metres of open water to the boats.
"We tried to keep the splashing down."
Around three million tourists visit Sharm el-Sheikh each year, with the winter months peak season. The Red Sea, with its exotic fish and spectacular corals, is a magnet for divers and snorkellers.
Last week's victims were thought to have been attacked by an oceanic whitetip shark, which rarely swims close to the shore. Experts blamed tourists for throwing food into the water to lure fish in order to get a better close-up view.
"It is clear from our initial discussions with shark behavioural experts that this highly unusual spate of attacks by an oceanic whitetip shark was triggered by an activity, most probably illegal fishing or feeding in the area," Gabr said in a statement on Friday.
Conservationists from the South Sinai National Park caught two sharks on Thursday following the earlier attacks, which happened on Tuesday and Wednesday. The animals were dissected to examine the contents of their stomachs, although the results of the autopsy procedures were not released.
Tourists who witnessed one of last week's attacks, near Tiran beach, were shaken by the experience. Speaking before today's attack, many said they would not return to the water even if the authorities gave the all-clear.
"I was very close by," Uri, a tourist from Moscow, said. "I will be spending the rest of my holiday sitting on the beach."
But Anthony Bradbury, a 38-year-old from Oldham, said he was confident the authorities would catch the shark responsible.
"They'll look after the tourists – they want the trade, don't they? You can't live your life being scared of everything," he said.
Egypt's Chamber of Diving and Watersports (CDWS) sent an urgent message to its members in Sharm el-Sheikh, instructing them to clear the water.
"Following reports of another incident in Middle Garden local reef, CDWS is calling for all its members in Sharm el-Sheikh to stop any snorkelling activities happening from any boats or shore. Please tell all your boats to immediately recall any snorkellers who may be in the water," it said.
The group's chairman, Hesham Gabr, told the Guardian: "We are busy dealing with the crisis. I can confirm that a German woman was injured and she passed away."
According to security officials quoted by the Associated Press, the woman's arm was severed in the attack and she died within minutes.
Last week three Russians and a Ukrainian were badly injured.
The Egyptian authorities had said they were confident that the capture and killing of two sharks on Thursday had eliminated the threat to swimmers.
A 48-hour ban on entering the water had been lifted yesterday but all watersports, except for diving sites, have been closed again following today's attack.
Jochen Van Lysebettens, manager of the Red Sea Diving College at the resort, said the latest victim was a regular guest at the luxury Hyatt Regency hotel. He told Sky News: "The woman was just swimming to stay in shape. Suddenly there was a scream of help and a lot of violence in the water. The lifeguard got her on the reef and he noticed she was severely wounded."
Van Lysebettens said 40 diving instructors had been out in the waters in recent days to check for sharks after the initial catch. "They found nothing," he said. "Based on that the authorities opened the dive sites again and opened the watersports activities again."
He thought the same shark had been responsible for all the attacks. He suggested it may have been drawn to the coast by dead sheep left in the water. "I have no idea why this shark is behaving so aggressively," he continued.
"This must have been triggered by something in the past. Unfortunately in this case he is now looking at snorkellers."
A British couple tonight told the Guardian they were in a group of snorkellers that had to leave the water hurriedly on Saturday after a large shark circled round them. Christina Stafel-Collins, from Broughton, north Lincolnshire, said: "It was definitely an oceanic whitetip. We saw it so close-up. My husband is six foot and it was loads larger than him … I am so upset this woman has died. They should have shut the beaches ."
Her husband, Terry Collins, who was in the army for 24 years, said the shark had acted aggressively. "It was about three metres long. I was about 10 metres behind everyone else. I saw it come out of the depths and it went towards our leader. It circled him and began circling the group.
"It was deep grey and was that close I could see electric blue fish swimming in front of it. It was circling lazily but with intent," he said.
The boats that brought them to the area were on the other side of a reef the group had been circling.
Terry said when he raised his head he saw people on the board shouting warnings.
The swimmers had to make their way to the reef and rested there before swimming one by one across about 100 metres of open water to the boats.
"We tried to keep the splashing down."
Around three million tourists visit Sharm el-Sheikh each year, with the winter months peak season. The Red Sea, with its exotic fish and spectacular corals, is a magnet for divers and snorkellers.
Last week's victims were thought to have been attacked by an oceanic whitetip shark, which rarely swims close to the shore. Experts blamed tourists for throwing food into the water to lure fish in order to get a better close-up view.
"It is clear from our initial discussions with shark behavioural experts that this highly unusual spate of attacks by an oceanic whitetip shark was triggered by an activity, most probably illegal fishing or feeding in the area," Gabr said in a statement on Friday.
Conservationists from the South Sinai National Park caught two sharks on Thursday following the earlier attacks, which happened on Tuesday and Wednesday. The animals were dissected to examine the contents of their stomachs, although the results of the autopsy procedures were not released.
Tourists who witnessed one of last week's attacks, near Tiran beach, were shaken by the experience. Speaking before today's attack, many said they would not return to the water even if the authorities gave the all-clear.
"I was very close by," Uri, a tourist from Moscow, said. "I will be spending the rest of my holiday sitting on the beach."
But Anthony Bradbury, a 38-year-old from Oldham, said he was confident the authorities would catch the shark responsible.
"They'll look after the tourists – they want the trade, don't they? You can't live your life being scared of everything," he said.
Nobel winner Mario Vargas Llosa rules out Peru presidency rerun
Nobel literature prizewinner Mario Vargas Llosa said today he would not run again for the presidency of Peru, saying his 1990 candidacy was due to exceptional circumstances.
While in Sweden to collect his 10m krona (£600,000) prize, Vargas Llosa said he stood against Alberto Fujimori 20 years ago because the country's "very fragile democracy was shaking and on the point of collapse".
He added: "We had practically a civil war … we had hyper-inflation … it was because of those circumstances that I had the necessity of political participation. I certainly won't repeat this experience."
Vargas Llosa was among the leaders of the resurgence in Latin American literature in the 1960s. He lost to Fujimori, who tackled the country's inflation and Maoist guerrillas but is now in jail for human rights abuses.
Vargas Llosa, 74, said he hoped the presidential election in Peru next year would strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and build on the peace of recent years.
A champion of the left in his youth, Vargas Llosa shifted later in life across the political spectrum, angering much of Latin America's leftist intelligentsia.
He said, however, he remained a liberal: "I am totally against all forms of authoritarianism and … totalitarianism."
Vargas Llosa made his international breakthrough in the 1960s with The Time of the Hero, a novel about cadets at a military academy in Lima. Many of his works are built on his experiences of life in Peru in the late 1940s and 1950s.
"The point of departure for all [my] stories are some personal experiences that are preserved by my memory and that awake in my imagination the enthusiasm to fantacise around," he said.
The Swedish Academy singled out his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat".
Vargas Llosa said winning the prize had been a shock and that his life had "entered into a vortex" afterwards.
"The way in which the Nobel prize is deserved, for me, is a total mystery," he said. "I still wonder if it is real or a kind of universal misunderstanding."
He picked French novelist Gustave Flaubert as having the most influence on him. He also said he would give the Nobel Literature prize to Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges – after resurrecting him, as only living writers can be honoured by the Nobel committee.
While in Sweden to collect his 10m krona (£600,000) prize, Vargas Llosa said he stood against Alberto Fujimori 20 years ago because the country's "very fragile democracy was shaking and on the point of collapse".
He added: "We had practically a civil war … we had hyper-inflation … it was because of those circumstances that I had the necessity of political participation. I certainly won't repeat this experience."
Vargas Llosa was among the leaders of the resurgence in Latin American literature in the 1960s. He lost to Fujimori, who tackled the country's inflation and Maoist guerrillas but is now in jail for human rights abuses.
Vargas Llosa, 74, said he hoped the presidential election in Peru next year would strengthen democracy and the rule of law, and build on the peace of recent years.
A champion of the left in his youth, Vargas Llosa shifted later in life across the political spectrum, angering much of Latin America's leftist intelligentsia.
He said, however, he remained a liberal: "I am totally against all forms of authoritarianism and … totalitarianism."
Vargas Llosa made his international breakthrough in the 1960s with The Time of the Hero, a novel about cadets at a military academy in Lima. Many of his works are built on his experiences of life in Peru in the late 1940s and 1950s.
"The point of departure for all [my] stories are some personal experiences that are preserved by my memory and that awake in my imagination the enthusiasm to fantacise around," he said.
The Swedish Academy singled out his "cartography of structures of power and his trenchant images of the individual's resistance, revolt and defeat".
Vargas Llosa said winning the prize had been a shock and that his life had "entered into a vortex" afterwards.
"The way in which the Nobel prize is deserved, for me, is a total mystery," he said. "I still wonder if it is real or a kind of universal misunderstanding."
He picked French novelist Gustave Flaubert as having the most influence on him. He also said he would give the Nobel Literature prize to Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges – after resurrecting him, as only living writers can be honoured by the Nobel committee.
L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and daughter call truce in legal dispute
France's richest woman, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, and her daughter have called a truce in the three-year family feud that sparked a political crisis.
The pair have agreed to cease the squabbling and hostilities that have torn apart one of the country's most famous families, cost a government minister his job, and thrown suspicion on the president.
The dispute that split Bettencourt, 87, and her only child, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 63, began with claims that the heiress was not in her right mind when she gave gifts worth nearly €1bn (£850m) to a charming society photographer.
It rumbled on in weekly, daily and, at one point, hourly instalments, bringing allegations of illegal donations to Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling political party, tax evasion in secret Swiss bank accounts, and the use of France's secret services to spy on journalists.
"Liliane and Françoise have been reunited and want to end all this arguing," said Olivier Metzner, lawyer for Bettencourt Meyers. "We are bringing an end to all procedures following this family reconciliation. There is no more case as far as we are concerned."
The plot of the Bettencourt affair, as it became known, took more twists and turns than a cheap thriller. Bettencourt Meyers sought to have her mother made a ward of court after discovering she had given photographer François-Marie Banier, a 63-year-old socialite, art masterpieces, life insurance policies and gifts. Bettencourt met Banier, who has taken pictures for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines, in 1985 when he was commissioned to take her picture with Italian film director Federico Fellini.
Banier, once described as a "strategic master on the battlefield of charm" and a friend of Salvador Dali, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Samuel Beckett and Johnny Depp, among others, charmed, flattered and, if his critics are to be believed, bullied Bettencourt. Soon she was transferring treasures into his name, including works by Picasso, Mondrian, Delaunay, Man Ray and Matisse, and giving him enough money to expand his property empire.
Bettencourt Meyers accused Banier of taking advantage of her mother's state of mind and took legal action against him.
The feud turned political when secret tapes made by the butler at Bettencourt's luxury home in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine came to light.
They revealed that the heiress had employed the wife of the then budget minister, Éric Woerth, to manage part of her fortune, while at the same time allegedly hiding millions from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts.
Shortly afterwards, the heiress's former bookkeeper claimed Bettencourt had made illegal cash donations to Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign, an allegation vehemently denied by the French leader and his entourage.
At the height of the scandal, police quizzed Bettencourt's financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, who, it was also revealed, had received a Légion d'Honneur from Woerth.
When Banier's trial for "abuse of weakness" opened in July, fact surpassed any possibility of invention as France's most famous leading lawyers traded insults, threats – and almost blows – in court
Woerth was later dropped from the cabinet in a government reshuffle, but is still facing investigation over the alleged donations. Meanwhile, Sarkozy was accused by Le Monde of ordering France's secret services to spy on its journalists reporting on the Bettencourt case. The surprise reconciliation between Bettencourt and her daughter, who met again for the first time in more than a year today, came after three weeks of secret negotiations.
It was reported that Bettencourt had agreed to have nothing more to do with Banier and De Maistre, while her daughter had agreed to stop all legal action.
Metzner said the pair had signed an agreement to end their various disputes but the details were "private and confidential". A joint statement said they were "looking to the future".
"The decision Françoise and I have taken is a source of hope for me," it said. "This agreement will allow us to rediscover our family harmony."
The L'Oréal group welcomed a "happy ending" to an affair which has seen its image tarnished.
Jean-Paul Agon, director general, said the reconciliation was "very positive for our company".
The pair have agreed to cease the squabbling and hostilities that have torn apart one of the country's most famous families, cost a government minister his job, and thrown suspicion on the president.
The dispute that split Bettencourt, 87, and her only child, Françoise Bettencourt Meyers, 63, began with claims that the heiress was not in her right mind when she gave gifts worth nearly €1bn (£850m) to a charming society photographer.
It rumbled on in weekly, daily and, at one point, hourly instalments, bringing allegations of illegal donations to Nicolas Sarkozy's ruling political party, tax evasion in secret Swiss bank accounts, and the use of France's secret services to spy on journalists.
"Liliane and Françoise have been reunited and want to end all this arguing," said Olivier Metzner, lawyer for Bettencourt Meyers. "We are bringing an end to all procedures following this family reconciliation. There is no more case as far as we are concerned."
The plot of the Bettencourt affair, as it became known, took more twists and turns than a cheap thriller. Bettencourt Meyers sought to have her mother made a ward of court after discovering she had given photographer François-Marie Banier, a 63-year-old socialite, art masterpieces, life insurance policies and gifts. Bettencourt met Banier, who has taken pictures for the New Yorker and Vanity Fair magazines, in 1985 when he was commissioned to take her picture with Italian film director Federico Fellini.
Banier, once described as a "strategic master on the battlefield of charm" and a friend of Salvador Dali, Pierre Cardin, Yves Saint Laurent, Samuel Beckett and Johnny Depp, among others, charmed, flattered and, if his critics are to be believed, bullied Bettencourt. Soon she was transferring treasures into his name, including works by Picasso, Mondrian, Delaunay, Man Ray and Matisse, and giving him enough money to expand his property empire.
Bettencourt Meyers accused Banier of taking advantage of her mother's state of mind and took legal action against him.
The feud turned political when secret tapes made by the butler at Bettencourt's luxury home in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine came to light.
They revealed that the heiress had employed the wife of the then budget minister, Éric Woerth, to manage part of her fortune, while at the same time allegedly hiding millions from the taxman in Swiss bank accounts.
Shortly afterwards, the heiress's former bookkeeper claimed Bettencourt had made illegal cash donations to Sarkozy's 2007 presidential election campaign, an allegation vehemently denied by the French leader and his entourage.
At the height of the scandal, police quizzed Bettencourt's financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre, who, it was also revealed, had received a Légion d'Honneur from Woerth.
When Banier's trial for "abuse of weakness" opened in July, fact surpassed any possibility of invention as France's most famous leading lawyers traded insults, threats – and almost blows – in court
Woerth was later dropped from the cabinet in a government reshuffle, but is still facing investigation over the alleged donations. Meanwhile, Sarkozy was accused by Le Monde of ordering France's secret services to spy on its journalists reporting on the Bettencourt case. The surprise reconciliation between Bettencourt and her daughter, who met again for the first time in more than a year today, came after three weeks of secret negotiations.
It was reported that Bettencourt had agreed to have nothing more to do with Banier and De Maistre, while her daughter had agreed to stop all legal action.
Metzner said the pair had signed an agreement to end their various disputes but the details were "private and confidential". A joint statement said they were "looking to the future".
"The decision Françoise and I have taken is a source of hope for me," it said. "This agreement will allow us to rediscover our family harmony."
The L'Oréal group welcomed a "happy ending" to an affair which has seen its image tarnished.
Jean-Paul Agon, director general, said the reconciliation was "very positive for our company".
Nick Clegg to make plea to divided party on eve of tuition fees vote
A Liberal Democrat grassroots revolt over the party leadership's support for trebling tuition fees emerged tonight as members of the party's policy committee demanded powers to rein in ministerial independence from Lib Dem policy.
Separately, proposals were being put forward by some activists to make it easier for local parties to deselect Lib Dem MPs.
The moves came as David Davis, the Conservative MP and rightwing standard-bearer, announced that he will rebel in the key Commons vote on Thursday by voting against the trebling in tution fees.
Although Davis insisted he was "a rebellion of one," provoked by the damage he said the fees rise will inflict on social mobility, his move prompted coalition fears that a few other rightwing Tories might also break ranks, so reducing, but probably not endangering, the coalition majority in Thursday's Commons vote.
Davis told the Guardian: "The kids being helped are the very, very privileged indeed. Free school meals being the bar [for applying for the government's financial support fund plan] means quite a lot of aspirant working class kids will not be helped." He added he was concerned by rising indebtedness. "Kids are already leaving university with high levels of debt before they even go to work. I am worried making this worse will see the next generation significantly set back – unable, for instance, to get a mortgage."
His remarks will severely embarrass the Lib Dem leadership as they claimed the entire tuition fee package as a whole will help social mobility.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is to make a desperate final plea to persuade his MPs tomorrow night to retain unity, but that prospect was evaporating tonight. Two junior ministers, the transport minister Norman Baker and the equalities minister Lynn Featherstone are considering whether to abstain, or vote against a move that might require them to resign from the government.
The coalition agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain on tuition fees, but it is not clear how this applies to ministers. At least 13 or 14 backbench MPs, including former party leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, are going to vote against, with Vince Cable, the business secretary, leading a group determined to vote for the measures they support.
Lord Ashdown, the former party leader, today called on the party to back the coalition tuition fees package, but admitted that in the current political climate the public was not listening to Clegg. He added: "Nick could deliver the Sermon on the Mount. They are just not listening."
Clegg's main strategic goal has been to show that coalition politics works, and he will be disturbed that the tuition fees vote is prompting calls for a rethink in the constitutional relationship between the party and ministers.
Gareth Epps, a member of the Lib Dem federal policy committee, warned that "the policy committee elected in November will want to have the opportunity to put out clear policy statements if it feels coalition policies are at odds with the Liberal Democrat principles and policies.
"A more formal mechanism is needed to make ministers realise they need to think again, and this will become more important as the coalition continues and more proposals inevitably emerge that were not covered by the coalition agreement."
Epps said that the party's special conference, called to endorse the coalition agreement in May, was debarred from discussing two motions ordering MPs to stick by their pledge to oppose a rise in fees in line with the manifesto agreement.
Lord Ashdown had yesterday claimed that the special conference had unanimously endorsed the coalition agreement.
Epps said: "It's self-evident now that the failure to tackle this issue at Special Conference has been a significant contributory factor in the difficulties the Party has faced now, and particularly in the disconnect between Ministers and the Party at large.
"The conference organisers did the party a severe disservice by preventing the special party conference from discussing the specific issue of tuition fees. If it had, we might not be in the difficulties we are now and we would be able to rein in ministers as they veer from what was in the manifesto. This is now an issue of trust as much as the policy."
He said two motions demanding Liberal Democrat MPs stick by their election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees were not taken by the conference organisers. One motion, designed to refer to the pledge given to the National Union of Students by Liberal Democrat MPs not to support an increase in tuition fees read "no MP can be mandated in matters of conscience, including those matters where they have explicitly pledged a certain course of action to their electorate.'
Another called on the party to reaffiirm its aspiration to scrap tuition fees and to make|" the impact on student debt" the paramount consdieration of any decision.
There are also calls from party activists to change party rules on the deselection of MPs. The current rules, adopted at a time when the Lib Dems wanted to avoid the kind of civil wars that plagued Labour, limit local party ability to deselect MPs with the incumbent given preference. One source said: "Our MPs have to realise they cannot vote for this rise with impunity. It damages not just them but the whole party." In practice redrawing constituency boundaries will make it harder for sitting Lib Dem MPs to claim incumbency.
In a bid to hold the party together cabinet members, including Clegg, have been holding teleconferences with senior party figures including parliamentary candidates to explian his thinking.
More than 135 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have signed a petition urging MPs to oppose the tuition fees increase, and currently the mood is against calling for a special conference, seen as the nuclear option.
'MP' is an impostor
A man interviewed on Radio 4's World at One today, who claimed to be a Liberal Democrat MP, was revealed to be an impostor. Presenter James Robbins thought he was apparent interviewing ministerial aide Mike Crockart, who said he would be prepared to quit over the rise in tuition fees, but the interviewee turned out to be an impostor.
The BBC blamed an incorrect number listed against his name in the corporation's directory of MPs' contact details. All the "usual pre-broadcast questions" had been asked of the man, over the phone, who had "maintained throughout that he was Mr Crockart and appeared credible", the BBC said.
A fake Crockhart was also quoted in today's London Evening Standard, saying he would resign over the issue of tuition fees.
The quotes were picked up by the Press Association, which later issued a correction saying that the quotes attributed to the MP were from an impersonator.
The Lib Dem press office posted on Twitter: "For the record, Lib Dem PPS Mike Crockart was not on Radio 4 resigning earlier – it was an impersonator (he wasn't even Scottish)."
"We are absolutely clueless as to who it was," said a Lib Dem insider. "We figured it out when our head of media was talking to Mike on the phone and the fake Mike Crockart was on the World at One."
The BBC's most famous case of mistaken identity came four years ago: its 24-hour news channel interviewed a man who had been waiting in the BBC's reception., thinkingStaff thought he was computer expert Guy Kewney. Guy Goma gamely bluffed out the interviewer's questions on screen and briefly shot to fame as the "wrong guy".
Separately, proposals were being put forward by some activists to make it easier for local parties to deselect Lib Dem MPs.
The moves came as David Davis, the Conservative MP and rightwing standard-bearer, announced that he will rebel in the key Commons vote on Thursday by voting against the trebling in tution fees.
Although Davis insisted he was "a rebellion of one," provoked by the damage he said the fees rise will inflict on social mobility, his move prompted coalition fears that a few other rightwing Tories might also break ranks, so reducing, but probably not endangering, the coalition majority in Thursday's Commons vote.
Davis told the Guardian: "The kids being helped are the very, very privileged indeed. Free school meals being the bar [for applying for the government's financial support fund plan] means quite a lot of aspirant working class kids will not be helped." He added he was concerned by rising indebtedness. "Kids are already leaving university with high levels of debt before they even go to work. I am worried making this worse will see the next generation significantly set back – unable, for instance, to get a mortgage."
His remarks will severely embarrass the Lib Dem leadership as they claimed the entire tuition fee package as a whole will help social mobility.
Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, is to make a desperate final plea to persuade his MPs tomorrow night to retain unity, but that prospect was evaporating tonight. Two junior ministers, the transport minister Norman Baker and the equalities minister Lynn Featherstone are considering whether to abstain, or vote against a move that might require them to resign from the government.
The coalition agreement allows Lib Dem MPs to abstain on tuition fees, but it is not clear how this applies to ministers. At least 13 or 14 backbench MPs, including former party leaders Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell, are going to vote against, with Vince Cable, the business secretary, leading a group determined to vote for the measures they support.
Lord Ashdown, the former party leader, today called on the party to back the coalition tuition fees package, but admitted that in the current political climate the public was not listening to Clegg. He added: "Nick could deliver the Sermon on the Mount. They are just not listening."
Clegg's main strategic goal has been to show that coalition politics works, and he will be disturbed that the tuition fees vote is prompting calls for a rethink in the constitutional relationship between the party and ministers.
Gareth Epps, a member of the Lib Dem federal policy committee, warned that "the policy committee elected in November will want to have the opportunity to put out clear policy statements if it feels coalition policies are at odds with the Liberal Democrat principles and policies.
"A more formal mechanism is needed to make ministers realise they need to think again, and this will become more important as the coalition continues and more proposals inevitably emerge that were not covered by the coalition agreement."
Epps said that the party's special conference, called to endorse the coalition agreement in May, was debarred from discussing two motions ordering MPs to stick by their pledge to oppose a rise in fees in line with the manifesto agreement.
Lord Ashdown had yesterday claimed that the special conference had unanimously endorsed the coalition agreement.
Epps said: "It's self-evident now that the failure to tackle this issue at Special Conference has been a significant contributory factor in the difficulties the Party has faced now, and particularly in the disconnect between Ministers and the Party at large.
"The conference organisers did the party a severe disservice by preventing the special party conference from discussing the specific issue of tuition fees. If it had, we might not be in the difficulties we are now and we would be able to rein in ministers as they veer from what was in the manifesto. This is now an issue of trust as much as the policy."
He said two motions demanding Liberal Democrat MPs stick by their election pledge to oppose a rise in tuition fees were not taken by the conference organisers. One motion, designed to refer to the pledge given to the National Union of Students by Liberal Democrat MPs not to support an increase in tuition fees read "no MP can be mandated in matters of conscience, including those matters where they have explicitly pledged a certain course of action to their electorate.'
Another called on the party to reaffiirm its aspiration to scrap tuition fees and to make|" the impact on student debt" the paramount consdieration of any decision.
There are also calls from party activists to change party rules on the deselection of MPs. The current rules, adopted at a time when the Lib Dems wanted to avoid the kind of civil wars that plagued Labour, limit local party ability to deselect MPs with the incumbent given preference. One source said: "Our MPs have to realise they cannot vote for this rise with impunity. It damages not just them but the whole party." In practice redrawing constituency boundaries will make it harder for sitting Lib Dem MPs to claim incumbency.
In a bid to hold the party together cabinet members, including Clegg, have been holding teleconferences with senior party figures including parliamentary candidates to explian his thinking.
More than 135 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidates have signed a petition urging MPs to oppose the tuition fees increase, and currently the mood is against calling for a special conference, seen as the nuclear option.
'MP' is an impostor
A man interviewed on Radio 4's World at One today, who claimed to be a Liberal Democrat MP, was revealed to be an impostor. Presenter James Robbins thought he was apparent interviewing ministerial aide Mike Crockart, who said he would be prepared to quit over the rise in tuition fees, but the interviewee turned out to be an impostor.
The BBC blamed an incorrect number listed against his name in the corporation's directory of MPs' contact details. All the "usual pre-broadcast questions" had been asked of the man, over the phone, who had "maintained throughout that he was Mr Crockart and appeared credible", the BBC said.
A fake Crockhart was also quoted in today's London Evening Standard, saying he would resign over the issue of tuition fees.
The quotes were picked up by the Press Association, which later issued a correction saying that the quotes attributed to the MP were from an impersonator.
The Lib Dem press office posted on Twitter: "For the record, Lib Dem PPS Mike Crockart was not on Radio 4 resigning earlier – it was an impersonator (he wasn't even Scottish)."
"We are absolutely clueless as to who it was," said a Lib Dem insider. "We figured it out when our head of media was talking to Mike on the phone and the fake Mike Crockart was on the World at One."
The BBC's most famous case of mistaken identity came four years ago: its 24-hour news channel interviewed a man who had been waiting in the BBC's reception., thinkingStaff thought he was computer expert Guy Kewney. Guy Goma gamely bluffed out the interviewer's questions on screen and briefly shot to fame as the "wrong guy".
UK snow: Fresh blizzards grip Scotland with hundreds stranded in cars
Fresh blizzards closed Scottish airports and disrupted rail travel as the army was called in to help ambulance crews reach patients trapped in remote areas.
Hundreds of drivers were stuck on the main route between Glasgow and Edinburgh as the snowy conditions blanketed the central belt of the country. Others opted to bed down in their offices rather than face the long commute home.
Breakdowns and drifting snow blocked major roads. Lothian and Borders police forces said there had been "numerous" problems that brought traffic to a standstill.
"We are trying to remove vehicles from the road and get people that have been stuck," said a police spokesman. "We are looking to put gritters and snowploughs out to clear the carriageway [on the main road between Edinburgh and Glasgow]."
One driver, Mustafa Elshani, said he had been stranded on the M8 for eight hours during a 17-mile journey that normally takes 30 minutes. "I left work early because of the snow chaos," he told Sky News.
"Some families are stuck in their cars, some car batteries are running out. People are totally desperate. There's absolutely no one coming to help. We're just being left here, stranded."
Military 4x4 vehicles were helping medics from the Scottish Ambulance Service reach patients. Pauline Howie, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: "Ambulance crews are battling through horrendous conditions across the central belt, and the additional 4x4 vehicles from the military provides valuable operational assistance to our teams."
The Met Office said that there was between 10cm and 40cm of lying snow in the central lowlands, around 32cm in Edinburgh and 11cm in Glasgow. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were closed for part of the day. Dundee, Inverness, Kirkwall and Campbeltown airports were also closed.
Motorists were advised to drive only if their journey was absolutely necessary, and roads throughout the country were closed. Tayside was the only region with no major routes closed, but drivers were warned to exercise "extreme care" behind the wheel.
In the Highlands a bus with 21 passengers on board slid off the road in the wintry conditions and collided with rocks. No-one was injured and a spare bus was sent so the passengers could complete their journey.
The Forth Road Bridge was closed southbound from around 11am due to a jack-knifed lorry but reopened at 3.30pm. Motorists were warned that a large backlog of traffic had built up and it would be some time before the road cleared.
While 95% of schools in Scotland reopened, many schools sent pupils home early due to the weather. Temperatures are expected to plunge as low as minus 13C in central Scotland and parts of the north.
Severe weather warnings for icy roads were in place throughout the country, with further warnings of snow in Orkney and Shetland and the Highlands & Eilean Siar.
The Scottish government said more than 160 vehicles and almost 400 staff were working "round the clock" to keep the road network moving.
The Scottish transport minister, Stewart Stevenson, said: "Scotland has been in the grip of the worst snow and ice conditions in the early winter since the 1960s. Every effort has been made to keep disruption to a minimum.
"Snow was predicted for today but was significantly heavier than expected, and timing during rush hour made conditions worse. "
In the past 10 days Transport Scotland have spread approximately 50,000 tonnes of salt throughout the country.
Hundreds of drivers were stuck on the main route between Glasgow and Edinburgh as the snowy conditions blanketed the central belt of the country. Others opted to bed down in their offices rather than face the long commute home.
Breakdowns and drifting snow blocked major roads. Lothian and Borders police forces said there had been "numerous" problems that brought traffic to a standstill.
"We are trying to remove vehicles from the road and get people that have been stuck," said a police spokesman. "We are looking to put gritters and snowploughs out to clear the carriageway [on the main road between Edinburgh and Glasgow]."
One driver, Mustafa Elshani, said he had been stranded on the M8 for eight hours during a 17-mile journey that normally takes 30 minutes. "I left work early because of the snow chaos," he told Sky News.
"Some families are stuck in their cars, some car batteries are running out. People are totally desperate. There's absolutely no one coming to help. We're just being left here, stranded."
Military 4x4 vehicles were helping medics from the Scottish Ambulance Service reach patients. Pauline Howie, chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service, said: "Ambulance crews are battling through horrendous conditions across the central belt, and the additional 4x4 vehicles from the military provides valuable operational assistance to our teams."
The Met Office said that there was between 10cm and 40cm of lying snow in the central lowlands, around 32cm in Edinburgh and 11cm in Glasgow. Both Glasgow and Edinburgh airports were closed for part of the day. Dundee, Inverness, Kirkwall and Campbeltown airports were also closed.
Motorists were advised to drive only if their journey was absolutely necessary, and roads throughout the country were closed. Tayside was the only region with no major routes closed, but drivers were warned to exercise "extreme care" behind the wheel.
In the Highlands a bus with 21 passengers on board slid off the road in the wintry conditions and collided with rocks. No-one was injured and a spare bus was sent so the passengers could complete their journey.
The Forth Road Bridge was closed southbound from around 11am due to a jack-knifed lorry but reopened at 3.30pm. Motorists were warned that a large backlog of traffic had built up and it would be some time before the road cleared.
While 95% of schools in Scotland reopened, many schools sent pupils home early due to the weather. Temperatures are expected to plunge as low as minus 13C in central Scotland and parts of the north.
Severe weather warnings for icy roads were in place throughout the country, with further warnings of snow in Orkney and Shetland and the Highlands & Eilean Siar.
The Scottish government said more than 160 vehicles and almost 400 staff were working "round the clock" to keep the road network moving.
The Scottish transport minister, Stewart Stevenson, said: "Scotland has been in the grip of the worst snow and ice conditions in the early winter since the 1960s. Every effort has been made to keep disruption to a minimum.
"Snow was predicted for today but was significantly heavier than expected, and timing during rush hour made conditions worse. "
In the past 10 days Transport Scotland have spread approximately 50,000 tonnes of salt throughout the country.
Twenty-one Oxbridge colleges took no black students last year
A bleak portrait of racial and social exclusion at Oxford and Cambridge has been shown in official data which shows that more than 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black candidates for undergraduate courses last year and one Oxford college has not admitted a single black student in five years.
The university's admissions data confirms that only one black Briton of Caribbean descent was accepted for undergraduate study at Oxford last year.
Figures revealed in requests made under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by the Labour MP David Lammy also show that Oxford's social profile is 89% upper- and middle-class, while 87.6% of the Cambridge student body is drawn from the top three socioeconomic groups. The average for British universities is 64.5%, according to the admissions body Ucas.
The FoI data also shows that of more than 1,500 academic and lab staff at Cambridge, none are black. Thirty-four are of British Asian origin.
One Oxford college, Merton, has admitted no black students in five years – and just three in the last decade. Eleven Oxford colleges and 10 Cambridge colleges made no offers to black students for the academic year beginning autumn 2009.
Oxford's breakdown of its latest undergraduate admissions figures, published on its website, shows that just one black Caribbean student was accepted in 2009, out of 35 applications.
A total of 77 students of Indian descent were accepted, out of 466 applications. Six black Caribbean undergraduates were accepted at Cambridge the same year.
In advance of a crucial Commons vote on Thursday, ministers have said universities that want to charge students up to £9,000 a year in fees will face fresh targets on widening access to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds. Oxford and Cambridge, which are expected to charge the maximum fee, say they are keen to recruit the brightest students from all backgrounds. Both have programmes to encourage applications from state school students, and those from black and working-class backgrounds.
But the FoI data shows white students were more likely to be successful than black applicants at every Cambridge college except St Catharine's, where black candidates have had a 38% success rate, compared with 30% for white students.
The starkest divide in Cambridge was at Newnham, an all-women's college, where black applicants had a 13% success rate compared with 67% for white students. The data for Oxford tells a similar story: at Jesus college white candidates were three and a half times more successful than black candidates over an 11-year period. Oxford says the figures are too low for the variation between colleges to be statistically significant.
The most selective universities argue that poor attainment at school level narrows the pool from which candidates can be drawn. But black candidates are more likely to apply to elite universities.
In 2009, more than 29,000 white students got three As or better at A-level (excluding general studies) and about 28.4% applied to Oxford; while 452 black students got three As or better, and nearly half applied to Oxford. A spokeswoman for Oxford said: "Black students apply disproportionately for the most oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower than average success rate for the group as a whole: 44% of all black applicants apply for Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects, compared with just 17% of all white applicants. That means nearly half of black applicants are applying for the same three subjects … the three toughest subjects to get places in. Those subjects are economics and management, medicine, and maths.with 7% of white applicants. This goes a very long way towards explaining the group's overall lower success rate."
The FoI figures show large parts of the country never send students to the most prestigious universities. No one from Knowsley, Sandwell and Merthyr Tydfil has got to Cambridge in seven years. In the last five years, pupils from Richmond upon Thames have received almost the same number of offers from Oxford as the whole of Scotland.
Rob Berkeley, director of the Runnymede Trust, a thinktank that promotes racial equality, said: "If we go for this elite system of higher education … we have got to make sure what they are doing is fair. If you look at how many people on both frontbenches are Oxbridge-educated, Oxford and Cambridge are still the major route to positions of influence. If that's the case we shouldn't be restricting these opportunities to people from minority backgrounds."
Black students do not lack aspiration, but the opportunity to get into the most prestigious universities, Berkeley argued. "Of the black Caribbean students getting straight As at A-level, the vast majority apply to Oxbridge.... those who do choose to apply have a much lower success rate [than white applicants]. One in five in comparison with one in three for white students. That doesn't seem to have shifted for the last 15 years." A boom in university participation in recent years has led to a more diverse student body, but black students are concentrated in a handful of institutions. In 2007-08 the University of East London had half as many black students as the entire Russell group of 20 universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge.
Matthew Benjamin, 28, who studied geography at Jesus College, Oxford, said: "I was very aware that I was the only black student in my year at my college. I was never made to feel out of place, but it was certainly something I was conscious of.
"When I arrived and they wanted to do a prospectus, and have some students on the cover, they chose me, and one other Asian guy and another guy from Thailand. It was clear they wanted to project this image of somewhere that was quite diverse. The reality was very different – there were three [minority] ethnic students in a year.
"On open days, some black kids would see me and say 'you're the only black person we've seen here – is it even worth us applying?'"
A spokesman for Cambridge said 15% of students accepted last year were from minority ethnic backgrounds. "Over the five years to 2009 entry black students accounted for 1.5% of admissions to Cambridge, compared with 1.2% of degree applicants nationally who secure AAA at A-level. Colleges make offers to the best and brightest students regardless of their background, and where variations exist this is due to supply of applications and demand by subject."
The university's admissions data confirms that only one black Briton of Caribbean descent was accepted for undergraduate study at Oxford last year.
Figures revealed in requests made under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act by the Labour MP David Lammy also show that Oxford's social profile is 89% upper- and middle-class, while 87.6% of the Cambridge student body is drawn from the top three socioeconomic groups. The average for British universities is 64.5%, according to the admissions body Ucas.
The FoI data also shows that of more than 1,500 academic and lab staff at Cambridge, none are black. Thirty-four are of British Asian origin.
One Oxford college, Merton, has admitted no black students in five years – and just three in the last decade. Eleven Oxford colleges and 10 Cambridge colleges made no offers to black students for the academic year beginning autumn 2009.
Oxford's breakdown of its latest undergraduate admissions figures, published on its website, shows that just one black Caribbean student was accepted in 2009, out of 35 applications.
A total of 77 students of Indian descent were accepted, out of 466 applications. Six black Caribbean undergraduates were accepted at Cambridge the same year.
In advance of a crucial Commons vote on Thursday, ministers have said universities that want to charge students up to £9,000 a year in fees will face fresh targets on widening access to applicants from disadvantaged backgrounds. Oxford and Cambridge, which are expected to charge the maximum fee, say they are keen to recruit the brightest students from all backgrounds. Both have programmes to encourage applications from state school students, and those from black and working-class backgrounds.
But the FoI data shows white students were more likely to be successful than black applicants at every Cambridge college except St Catharine's, where black candidates have had a 38% success rate, compared with 30% for white students.
The starkest divide in Cambridge was at Newnham, an all-women's college, where black applicants had a 13% success rate compared with 67% for white students. The data for Oxford tells a similar story: at Jesus college white candidates were three and a half times more successful than black candidates over an 11-year period. Oxford says the figures are too low for the variation between colleges to be statistically significant.
The most selective universities argue that poor attainment at school level narrows the pool from which candidates can be drawn. But black candidates are more likely to apply to elite universities.
In 2009, more than 29,000 white students got three As or better at A-level (excluding general studies) and about 28.4% applied to Oxford; while 452 black students got three As or better, and nearly half applied to Oxford. A spokeswoman for Oxford said: "Black students apply disproportionately for the most oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower than average success rate for the group as a whole: 44% of all black applicants apply for Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects, compared with just 17% of all white applicants. That means nearly half of black applicants are applying for the same three subjects … the three toughest subjects to get places in. Those subjects are economics and management, medicine, and maths.with 7% of white applicants. This goes a very long way towards explaining the group's overall lower success rate."
The FoI figures show large parts of the country never send students to the most prestigious universities. No one from Knowsley, Sandwell and Merthyr Tydfil has got to Cambridge in seven years. In the last five years, pupils from Richmond upon Thames have received almost the same number of offers from Oxford as the whole of Scotland.
Rob Berkeley, director of the Runnymede Trust, a thinktank that promotes racial equality, said: "If we go for this elite system of higher education … we have got to make sure what they are doing is fair. If you look at how many people on both frontbenches are Oxbridge-educated, Oxford and Cambridge are still the major route to positions of influence. If that's the case we shouldn't be restricting these opportunities to people from minority backgrounds."
Black students do not lack aspiration, but the opportunity to get into the most prestigious universities, Berkeley argued. "Of the black Caribbean students getting straight As at A-level, the vast majority apply to Oxbridge.... those who do choose to apply have a much lower success rate [than white applicants]. One in five in comparison with one in three for white students. That doesn't seem to have shifted for the last 15 years." A boom in university participation in recent years has led to a more diverse student body, but black students are concentrated in a handful of institutions. In 2007-08 the University of East London had half as many black students as the entire Russell group of 20 universities, which include Oxford and Cambridge.
Matthew Benjamin, 28, who studied geography at Jesus College, Oxford, said: "I was very aware that I was the only black student in my year at my college. I was never made to feel out of place, but it was certainly something I was conscious of.
"When I arrived and they wanted to do a prospectus, and have some students on the cover, they chose me, and one other Asian guy and another guy from Thailand. It was clear they wanted to project this image of somewhere that was quite diverse. The reality was very different – there were three [minority] ethnic students in a year.
"On open days, some black kids would see me and say 'you're the only black person we've seen here – is it even worth us applying?'"
A spokesman for Cambridge said 15% of students accepted last year were from minority ethnic backgrounds. "Over the five years to 2009 entry black students accounted for 1.5% of admissions to Cambridge, compared with 1.2% of degree applicants nationally who secure AAA at A-level. Colleges make offers to the best and brightest students regardless of their background, and where variations exist this is due to supply of applications and demand by subject."
WikiLeaks cables reveal secret Nato plans to defend Baltics from Russia
Washington and its western allies have for the first time since the end of the cold war drawn up classified military plans to defend the most vulnerable parts of eastern Europe against Russian threats, according to confidential US diplomatic cables.
The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.
Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.
Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.
Despite President Barack Obama's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia, which was boosted at the Nato summit attended by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, the state department fears that the major policy shift could trigger "unnecessary tensions" with Moscow.
The decision to draft contingency plans for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the US and Germany at Nato headquarters in Belgium, ending years of division at the heart of the western alliance over how to view Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The decision, according to a secret cable signed by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, marks the start of a major revamp of Nato defence planning in Europe.
The strategy has not been made public, in line with Nato's customary refusal to divulge details of its "contingency planning" – blueprints for the defence of a Nato member state by the alliance as a whole.
These are believed to be held in safes at Nato's planning headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
According to a secret cable from the US mission to Nato in Brussels, US admiral James Stavridis, the alliance's top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defence plans for the former Soviet Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The policy was put to top military officials from Nato's 28 states. "On January 22 Nato's military committee agreed … under a silence procedure", the cable notes, referring to a decision carried by consensus unless someone speaks up to object.
Attempts by Stavridis's predecessor, General John Craddock, to push through defence planning for the Baltic were stymied by German-led opposition in western Europe, anxious to avoid upsetting the Kremlin.The policy shift was decided by senior military officials rather than Nato's top decision-taking body, the North Atlantic Council, in order to avoid repeating the splits and disputes on the issue over the past five years. The plan entails grouping the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme that has been worked on in recent months and is codenamed Eagle Guardian.
In parallel negotiations with Warsaw the US has also offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, putting squadrons of F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from US bases in Germany, according to the diplomatic cables, almost always classified secret.
Earlier this year the US started rotating US army Patriot missiles into Poland in a move that Warsaw celebrates publicly as boosting Polish air defences and demonstrating American commitment to Poland's security.
But the secret cables expose the Patriots' value as purely symbolic. The Patriot battery, deployed on a rotating basis at Morag in north-eastern Poland, 40 miles from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, is purely for training purposes, and is neither operational nor armed with missiles.
At one point Poland's then deputy defence minister privately complained bitterly that the Americans may as well supply "potted plants'.
Since joining Nato in 2004, the three Baltic states have complained they are treated as second-class members because their pleas for detailed defence planning under Nato's "all for one and one for all" article 5 have been being ignored. Article 5 is the heart of Nato's founding treaty, stipulating that the alliance will come to the rescue of any member state attacked. The only time it has been invoked was following 9/11 when the European allies and Canada rallied to support America.
The Poles and the Baltic states have long argued that rhetorical declarations of commitment to article 5 are meaningless without concrete defence planning to back them up.
The Baltic demands for hard security guarantees became much more desperate in the past three years.
A cyber-attack on Estonia in 2007 was believed to have originated in Russia, and the Kremlin invaded Georgia a year later.
Nerves were further set on edge last year when the Russians staged exercises simulating an invasion of the Baltic states and a nuclear attack on Poland.
The eastern European calls for hard security guarantees, however, were stymied by western Europe, led by Germany, which did not want to antagonise Russia.
"We've found the way forward with Russia. The Baltic states have received strategic reassurance," said a well-placed source. "That's backed up with contingency planning that did not exist before. It's done now. We told them we'll give you your reassurance if you agree to the reset with Russia. That made it easier for the Germans."During intense – if discreet – diplomacy last year, the resistance was overcome by the Americans, and the new policy was tabled as a joint US-German move.
"Most of the information on this is not in the public domain.
But the bottom line is that there is enough political will in Nato now to do defence plans for the Baltic states. The opposition has melted away over the past 18 months," said Tomas Valasek, defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. He worked with Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, on drafting Nato's new "strategic concept" this year.In a meeting last December in Brussels with the Nato ambassadors from Poland, the three Baltic states and the Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, together with the US and German ambassadors, Ivo Daalder and Ulrich Brandenburg, secured agreement on the new policy.
"Ambassador Daalder acknowledged in these meetings that Germany had initiated the proposal," says another secret cable .The east Europeans were delighted. Paul Teesalu, a senior Estonian diplomat, described the policy shift as "an early Christmas present" when told last December in Tallinn, according to a cable.
Another secret report from the US embassy in Riga says the Latvian foreign ministry's security policy chief "expressed his government's profound happiness."
The Poles, although keen supporters of concrete Nato defence plans for the Baltic, were neverthless worried that the new policy could dilute alliance commitments to their defence, since a limited Polish contingency plan was being turned into an expanded regional blueprint for the four countries.
Poland's late deputy defence minister, Stanislaw Komorowski, told US diplomats in Warsaw that he was "sceptical that a regional approach was the best way ahead. Komorowski said Warsaw would prefer a unique plan for Poland.".
Komorowski, the Polish ambassador in London until 2004, was one of 98 people killed with the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, when their plane crashed at Smolensk, Russia, in April.
The Americans argued that adding defence planning for the Baltic states would reinforce rather than dilute Polish security.
"After two years, contingency plans have been successfully prepared for Poland," Bogdan Klich, the Polish defence minister told Warsaw newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza last month.
In January, after the decision was taken, the state department in Washington instructed US missions and embassies how to proceed, making clear that the drafting of defence blueprints for the Baltic was the beginning of a more ambitious overhaul of Nato's core military planning.
"This is the first step in a multi-stage process to develop a complete set of appropriate contingency plans for the full range of possible threats – both regional and functional – as soon as possible," said the secret cable.
The diplomatic traffic seen by the Guardian is from US state department and US embassies worldwide, but not from Pentagon or CIA communications, meaning that the cables reveal the policy and political decision-making processes but contain little on the specifics of hard military planning.
Details of the nine divisions earmarked for the plan and the prominence of the port of Swinoujscie, on Poland's Baltic coast, were leaked to Gazeta Wyborcza.
It is clear that the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic are to be orchestrated from Nato's Shape planning headquarters at Mons in Belgium and from the Joint Forces Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands, the nerve centre for overseeing the crucial German theatre during the alliance's cold war heyday.
The policy shift represents a sea change in Nato defence planning and in assessments of the threat posed by what a Polish official calls "a resurgent Russia."
Officially the US and Nato term Russia a "partner" and not an adversary, with the Germans, French, and Italians in particular tending to be deferential in dealings with Moscow. But the east Europeans, with their bitter experience of Moscow domination, argue that the Russians respect strength, despise and exploit weakness and division, and that Nato will enjoy better relations only if its most exposed and vulnerable members feel secure.
"The whole point is not to paint Russia as a threat. It is about reassuring those countries that are seriously worried.
The debate is primarily about Poland and the Baltic. Geography has a lot to do with it," said Valasek.
Repeatedly calling for the Baltic military plans to be kept utterly secret, Clinton and other senior US officials acknowledge that the policy shift "would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in Nato-Russia tensions … Washington strongly believes that the details of Nato's contingency plans should remain in confidential channels."
The US state department ordered an information blackout when the decision was taken earlier this year. Since January the blueprint has been refined.
Nine Nato divisions – US, British, German, and Polish – have been identified for combat operations in the event of armed aggression against Poland or the three Baltic states. North Polish and German ports have been listed for the receipt of naval assault forces and British and US warships. The first Nato exercises under the plan are to take place in the Baltic next year, according to informed sources.
Following years of transatlantic dispute over the new policy, Nato leaders are understood to have quietly endorsed the strategy at a summit in Lisbon last month.
Despite President Barack Obama's policy of "resetting" relations with Russia, which was boosted at the Nato summit attended by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, the state department fears that the major policy shift could trigger "unnecessary tensions" with Moscow.
The decision to draft contingency plans for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania was taken secretly earlier this year at the urging of the US and Germany at Nato headquarters in Belgium, ending years of division at the heart of the western alliance over how to view Vladimir Putin's Russia.
The decision, according to a secret cable signed by Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, marks the start of a major revamp of Nato defence planning in Europe.
The strategy has not been made public, in line with Nato's customary refusal to divulge details of its "contingency planning" – blueprints for the defence of a Nato member state by the alliance as a whole.
These are believed to be held in safes at Nato's planning headquarters in Mons, Belgium.
According to a secret cable from the US mission to Nato in Brussels, US admiral James Stavridis, the alliance's top commander in Europe, proposed drawing up defence plans for the former Soviet Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
The policy was put to top military officials from Nato's 28 states. "On January 22 Nato's military committee agreed … under a silence procedure", the cable notes, referring to a decision carried by consensus unless someone speaks up to object.
Attempts by Stavridis's predecessor, General John Craddock, to push through defence planning for the Baltic were stymied by German-led opposition in western Europe, anxious to avoid upsetting the Kremlin.The policy shift was decided by senior military officials rather than Nato's top decision-taking body, the North Atlantic Council, in order to avoid repeating the splits and disputes on the issue over the past five years. The plan entails grouping the Baltic states with Poland in a new regional defence scheme that has been worked on in recent months and is codenamed Eagle Guardian.
In parallel negotiations with Warsaw the US has also offered to beef up Polish security against Russia by deploying special naval forces to the Baltic ports of Gdansk and Gdynia, putting squadrons of F-16 fighter aircraft in Poland and rotating C-130 Hercules transport planes into Poland from US bases in Germany, according to the diplomatic cables, almost always classified secret.
Earlier this year the US started rotating US army Patriot missiles into Poland in a move that Warsaw celebrates publicly as boosting Polish air defences and demonstrating American commitment to Poland's security.
But the secret cables expose the Patriots' value as purely symbolic. The Patriot battery, deployed on a rotating basis at Morag in north-eastern Poland, 40 miles from the border with Russia's Kaliningrad exclave, is purely for training purposes, and is neither operational nor armed with missiles.
At one point Poland's then deputy defence minister privately complained bitterly that the Americans may as well supply "potted plants'.
Since joining Nato in 2004, the three Baltic states have complained they are treated as second-class members because their pleas for detailed defence planning under Nato's "all for one and one for all" article 5 have been being ignored. Article 5 is the heart of Nato's founding treaty, stipulating that the alliance will come to the rescue of any member state attacked. The only time it has been invoked was following 9/11 when the European allies and Canada rallied to support America.
The Poles and the Baltic states have long argued that rhetorical declarations of commitment to article 5 are meaningless without concrete defence planning to back them up.
The Baltic demands for hard security guarantees became much more desperate in the past three years.
A cyber-attack on Estonia in 2007 was believed to have originated in Russia, and the Kremlin invaded Georgia a year later.
Nerves were further set on edge last year when the Russians staged exercises simulating an invasion of the Baltic states and a nuclear attack on Poland.
The eastern European calls for hard security guarantees, however, were stymied by western Europe, led by Germany, which did not want to antagonise Russia.
"We've found the way forward with Russia. The Baltic states have received strategic reassurance," said a well-placed source. "That's backed up with contingency planning that did not exist before. It's done now. We told them we'll give you your reassurance if you agree to the reset with Russia. That made it easier for the Germans."During intense – if discreet – diplomacy last year, the resistance was overcome by the Americans, and the new policy was tabled as a joint US-German move.
"Most of the information on this is not in the public domain.
But the bottom line is that there is enough political will in Nato now to do defence plans for the Baltic states. The opposition has melted away over the past 18 months," said Tomas Valasek, defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. He worked with Madeleine Albright, the former US secretary of state, on drafting Nato's new "strategic concept" this year.In a meeting last December in Brussels with the Nato ambassadors from Poland, the three Baltic states and the Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, together with the US and German ambassadors, Ivo Daalder and Ulrich Brandenburg, secured agreement on the new policy.
"Ambassador Daalder acknowledged in these meetings that Germany had initiated the proposal," says another secret cable .The east Europeans were delighted. Paul Teesalu, a senior Estonian diplomat, described the policy shift as "an early Christmas present" when told last December in Tallinn, according to a cable.
Another secret report from the US embassy in Riga says the Latvian foreign ministry's security policy chief "expressed his government's profound happiness."
The Poles, although keen supporters of concrete Nato defence plans for the Baltic, were neverthless worried that the new policy could dilute alliance commitments to their defence, since a limited Polish contingency plan was being turned into an expanded regional blueprint for the four countries.
Poland's late deputy defence minister, Stanislaw Komorowski, told US diplomats in Warsaw that he was "sceptical that a regional approach was the best way ahead. Komorowski said Warsaw would prefer a unique plan for Poland.".
Komorowski, the Polish ambassador in London until 2004, was one of 98 people killed with the country's president, Lech Kaczynski, when their plane crashed at Smolensk, Russia, in April.
The Americans argued that adding defence planning for the Baltic states would reinforce rather than dilute Polish security.
"After two years, contingency plans have been successfully prepared for Poland," Bogdan Klich, the Polish defence minister told Warsaw newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza last month.
In January, after the decision was taken, the state department in Washington instructed US missions and embassies how to proceed, making clear that the drafting of defence blueprints for the Baltic was the beginning of a more ambitious overhaul of Nato's core military planning.
"This is the first step in a multi-stage process to develop a complete set of appropriate contingency plans for the full range of possible threats – both regional and functional – as soon as possible," said the secret cable.
The diplomatic traffic seen by the Guardian is from US state department and US embassies worldwide, but not from Pentagon or CIA communications, meaning that the cables reveal the policy and political decision-making processes but contain little on the specifics of hard military planning.
Details of the nine divisions earmarked for the plan and the prominence of the port of Swinoujscie, on Poland's Baltic coast, were leaked to Gazeta Wyborcza.
It is clear that the defence plans for Poland and the Baltic are to be orchestrated from Nato's Shape planning headquarters at Mons in Belgium and from the Joint Forces Command at Brunssum in the Netherlands, the nerve centre for overseeing the crucial German theatre during the alliance's cold war heyday.
The policy shift represents a sea change in Nato defence planning and in assessments of the threat posed by what a Polish official calls "a resurgent Russia."
Officially the US and Nato term Russia a "partner" and not an adversary, with the Germans, French, and Italians in particular tending to be deferential in dealings with Moscow. But the east Europeans, with their bitter experience of Moscow domination, argue that the Russians respect strength, despise and exploit weakness and division, and that Nato will enjoy better relations only if its most exposed and vulnerable members feel secure.
"The whole point is not to paint Russia as a threat. It is about reassuring those countries that are seriously worried.
The debate is primarily about Poland and the Baltic. Geography has a lot to do with it," said Valasek.
Repeatedly calling for the Baltic military plans to be kept utterly secret, Clinton and other senior US officials acknowledge that the policy shift "would also likely lead to an unnecessary increase in Nato-Russia tensions … Washington strongly believes that the details of Nato's contingency plans should remain in confidential channels."
Gérard Houllier returns to a muted reception from Liverpool's Kop
It was never going to be Roma revisited for Gérard Houllier on his Anfield return and, on the basis of his reception, it may be a good while yet before Phil Thompson sees his former manager placed alongside Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley, Joe Fagan, Kenny Dalglish and Rafael Benítez on the Kop banner that reads "Success has many fathers". Lukewarm not only described Aston Villa's commitment to attack.
There was polite applause from Liverpool supporters sat around the dugouts when the club's former manager reappeared for his first competitive game at Anfield since 2004. There was also a banner on the front of the Kop proclaiming "Gérard's Heart Beats", which may have resonated with Houllier in terms of sentiment if not taste. Only in the dying minutes, with Liverpool 3-0 up, did the Kop sing his name.
Otherwise it was a modest reception that spoke of respect for a man who restructured the club, restored discipline, pride and a place on the European stage, but whose final years scarred the legacy to an extent it is still painful to revisit them.
In mitigation, it could just have been that no one was in the mood for tributes on a night of sub-zero temperatures on Merseyside and following the news that Fernando Torres had joined Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on the sidelines after his wife had gone into labour. Not that star absentees detracted from a comfortable Liverpool victory. Far from it.
Those who prospered under Houllier at Liverpool had been keen to offer their appreciation ahead of his return, Thompson, with his assertion that "he nearly gave his life for Liverpool, just so he could make the club great again", being chief among them. Carragher's dislocated shoulder did not prevent the Liverpool vice-captain sparking debate with an assertion that the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble of 2001 ranked higher than victory in the 2005 Champions League final.
"The treble is a better achievement than Istanbul. Istanbul as a one-off will never be beaten by anyone but someone wins the Champions League every year," claimed Carragher, perhaps revealing where Benítez ranks in his own affections rather than where a golden-goal victory over the 10 men of Alavés, Michael Owen's virtuoso display against Arsenal and a penalty shoot-out defeat of Birmingham City stands alongside those infamous nights against Juventus, Chelsea and Milan.
No one disputes Houllier's dedication to the Liverpool cause and the internal revolution he conducted after the joint-management ticket with Roy Evans – surely the politest sacking in Liverpool's history – was brought to an inevitable early end. The night he defied doctor's orders to return against Roma in the Champions League, five months after being told to telephone his family before undergoing emergency heart surgery lest he should not survive, remains imprinted on all present.
But the decline started soon after, the football deteriorated as the excuses increased, and Liverpool demanded better. They still do.
Benítez met that requirement and elevated Liverpool to a place they are pining for again. Without Carragher and Gerrard on display, however, it was hard to identify a lasting Houllier legacy at Anfield.
For the Villa manager's sake, it must be hoped the emphasis on youth pays dividends quickly at Villa Park.
After a passionless first half devoid of one meaningful attack, the visitors were booed off at Anfield and, with only one win in 10 league games, they languish two points above the relegation zone. Houllier may have to savour the Anfield reception on this form.
There was polite applause from Liverpool supporters sat around the dugouts when the club's former manager reappeared for his first competitive game at Anfield since 2004. There was also a banner on the front of the Kop proclaiming "Gérard's Heart Beats", which may have resonated with Houllier in terms of sentiment if not taste. Only in the dying minutes, with Liverpool 3-0 up, did the Kop sing his name.
Otherwise it was a modest reception that spoke of respect for a man who restructured the club, restored discipline, pride and a place on the European stage, but whose final years scarred the legacy to an extent it is still painful to revisit them.
In mitigation, it could just have been that no one was in the mood for tributes on a night of sub-zero temperatures on Merseyside and following the news that Fernando Torres had joined Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher on the sidelines after his wife had gone into labour. Not that star absentees detracted from a comfortable Liverpool victory. Far from it.
Those who prospered under Houllier at Liverpool had been keen to offer their appreciation ahead of his return, Thompson, with his assertion that "he nearly gave his life for Liverpool, just so he could make the club great again", being chief among them. Carragher's dislocated shoulder did not prevent the Liverpool vice-captain sparking debate with an assertion that the Uefa Cup, FA Cup and League Cup treble of 2001 ranked higher than victory in the 2005 Champions League final.
"The treble is a better achievement than Istanbul. Istanbul as a one-off will never be beaten by anyone but someone wins the Champions League every year," claimed Carragher, perhaps revealing where Benítez ranks in his own affections rather than where a golden-goal victory over the 10 men of Alavés, Michael Owen's virtuoso display against Arsenal and a penalty shoot-out defeat of Birmingham City stands alongside those infamous nights against Juventus, Chelsea and Milan.
No one disputes Houllier's dedication to the Liverpool cause and the internal revolution he conducted after the joint-management ticket with Roy Evans – surely the politest sacking in Liverpool's history – was brought to an inevitable early end. The night he defied doctor's orders to return against Roma in the Champions League, five months after being told to telephone his family before undergoing emergency heart surgery lest he should not survive, remains imprinted on all present.
But the decline started soon after, the football deteriorated as the excuses increased, and Liverpool demanded better. They still do.
Benítez met that requirement and elevated Liverpool to a place they are pining for again. Without Carragher and Gerrard on display, however, it was hard to identify a lasting Houllier legacy at Anfield.
For the Villa manager's sake, it must be hoped the emphasis on youth pays dividends quickly at Villa Park.
After a passionless first half devoid of one meaningful attack, the visitors were booed off at Anfield and, with only one win in 10 league games, they languish two points above the relegation zone. Houllier may have to savour the Anfield reception on this form.
The Ashes 2010: England run riot against Australia to win second Test
It was only a morning, but it was one of the great mornings for England cricket in modern times. No weather to save Australia. In winning the second Test overwhelmingly, by an innings and 71 runs, they have achieved what no England side has managed for 24 years and won a Test in Australia while the Ashes were still at stake.
This represents a hammer blow to Australia, who must now win two of the final three Tests if they are to regain the Ashes, a prospect not helped by the news that their opener Simon Katich will miss the remaining matches with an Achilles injury.
There were tense final moments as England, a bowler down because of the injury to Stuart Broad which has also finished his involvement in the series, sought the final wicket with the two Australian tailenders at the crease. To gasps from the crowd and players, balls beat the bat.
Finally, at 11.27am precisely, almost an hour and a half into the day, Graeme Swann spun an off-break through the gate left by Peter Siddle to hit off stump and spark celebrations.
Swann had taken the last three wickets to finish with five for 91 and confirm his status as the leading spinner in world cricket. It was Swann who took the final wicket at The Oval when the Ashes were won last year. Only Marcus North, for almost an hour, offered resistance as Mike Hussey went to Steve Finn and the new ball for 52, and the tail folded. In 17 overs England took six for 64.
Such has been the efficiency of England's approach into the Ashes series and dominance of the second Test that it almost seemed too good to be true, with a setback lurking round the corner waiting to mug them.
At first it seemed as if a little of the spirit had drained from the England team as Broad watched from the dressing room, contemplating a lonely journey home, and his team-mates took to the field without him.
The team is one that thrives in adversity, however: the rearguard actions in Cardiff last year and Brisbane last week have both been followed by outstanding performances in their next games. There was also the manner in which they shrugged off the 2009 Headingley debacle in the fourth Test to win at The Oval.
There are also replacements ready to step in, good ones who bowled England to an overwhelming win against Australia A last month. None of Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad or Tim Bresnan can quite capture the abrasive competitive edge of Broad, but each would serve well.
For this morning, there was a potential heap of work in the hands of Finn and Jimmy Anderson. With North new to the crease, England delayed taking the new ball which was due immediately. Kevin Pietersen finished his over from the previous evening, Swann switching ends.
It was during the second over from there, the City end, that the day's first drama came. First, with Swann round the wicket, North was hit low on the pad as he pushed forward, England opting to refer the not-out decision. The ruling was that the batsman had been struck a smidgen outside the line of off-stump so the decision of the umpire Marius Erasmus remained.
Immediately Hussey clipped a boundary beneath the diving body of the substitute fielder Eoin Morgan to bring up his half century, from 98 balls with five fours and a six. Finally Swann got one to turn and bounce wickedly to Hussey, the feathered edge proving too much for Matt Prior. Would it be one of those mornings?
Strauss decided to take the new ball after six overs, at 248 for four, and immediately North took boundaries from Finn, to third man, and Anderson, through extra cover. Finn has a wicket-taking knack, however, and with the second delivery of his next over he made a vital breakthrough as Hussey, attempting to pull, miscued to Anderson at mid-on, who made no mistake, sending the ball into orbit in celebration.
It was going to be important for England's plans that Swann played a major role, enabling Andrew Strauss to rotate his two seam bowlers, and after two overs the off-spinner returned at the Cathedral end. Immediately North slapped him away to the point boundary.
Throughout this game Anderson, seeking swing, has pitched a full length and leaked runs as a result. But when there is movement none in world cricket is more dangerous, and suddenly he propelled England onwards, wickets coming with successive deliveries. First Brad Haddin, not on Anderson's Christmas card list, edged an away-swinger in routine fashion to Prior, and then Ryan Harris, on a king pair, duly completed that indignity, padding up to a clever inswinger, his inevitable referral confirming the decision.
The gates were open and two balls later Swann removed North, who had pushed forwards to a ball that pitched in line and turned, England's referral overturning the not-out decision of Tony Hill.
Three wickets then for no runs in four balls. Another almost came when Peter Siddle's inside edge hit the stumps firmly but incredibly failed to dislodge a bail. Swann was not to be denied, though. Xavier Doherty was bamboozled by a ball that went straight through the left-hander's defence, and Siddle was befuddled by the turn. This was a majestic performance.
This represents a hammer blow to Australia, who must now win two of the final three Tests if they are to regain the Ashes, a prospect not helped by the news that their opener Simon Katich will miss the remaining matches with an Achilles injury.
There were tense final moments as England, a bowler down because of the injury to Stuart Broad which has also finished his involvement in the series, sought the final wicket with the two Australian tailenders at the crease. To gasps from the crowd and players, balls beat the bat.
Finally, at 11.27am precisely, almost an hour and a half into the day, Graeme Swann spun an off-break through the gate left by Peter Siddle to hit off stump and spark celebrations.
Swann had taken the last three wickets to finish with five for 91 and confirm his status as the leading spinner in world cricket. It was Swann who took the final wicket at The Oval when the Ashes were won last year. Only Marcus North, for almost an hour, offered resistance as Mike Hussey went to Steve Finn and the new ball for 52, and the tail folded. In 17 overs England took six for 64.
Such has been the efficiency of England's approach into the Ashes series and dominance of the second Test that it almost seemed too good to be true, with a setback lurking round the corner waiting to mug them.
At first it seemed as if a little of the spirit had drained from the England team as Broad watched from the dressing room, contemplating a lonely journey home, and his team-mates took to the field without him.
The team is one that thrives in adversity, however: the rearguard actions in Cardiff last year and Brisbane last week have both been followed by outstanding performances in their next games. There was also the manner in which they shrugged off the 2009 Headingley debacle in the fourth Test to win at The Oval.
There are also replacements ready to step in, good ones who bowled England to an overwhelming win against Australia A last month. None of Chris Tremlett, Ajmal Shahzad or Tim Bresnan can quite capture the abrasive competitive edge of Broad, but each would serve well.
For this morning, there was a potential heap of work in the hands of Finn and Jimmy Anderson. With North new to the crease, England delayed taking the new ball which was due immediately. Kevin Pietersen finished his over from the previous evening, Swann switching ends.
It was during the second over from there, the City end, that the day's first drama came. First, with Swann round the wicket, North was hit low on the pad as he pushed forward, England opting to refer the not-out decision. The ruling was that the batsman had been struck a smidgen outside the line of off-stump so the decision of the umpire Marius Erasmus remained.
Immediately Hussey clipped a boundary beneath the diving body of the substitute fielder Eoin Morgan to bring up his half century, from 98 balls with five fours and a six. Finally Swann got one to turn and bounce wickedly to Hussey, the feathered edge proving too much for Matt Prior. Would it be one of those mornings?
Strauss decided to take the new ball after six overs, at 248 for four, and immediately North took boundaries from Finn, to third man, and Anderson, through extra cover. Finn has a wicket-taking knack, however, and with the second delivery of his next over he made a vital breakthrough as Hussey, attempting to pull, miscued to Anderson at mid-on, who made no mistake, sending the ball into orbit in celebration.
It was going to be important for England's plans that Swann played a major role, enabling Andrew Strauss to rotate his two seam bowlers, and after two overs the off-spinner returned at the Cathedral end. Immediately North slapped him away to the point boundary.
Throughout this game Anderson, seeking swing, has pitched a full length and leaked runs as a result. But when there is movement none in world cricket is more dangerous, and suddenly he propelled England onwards, wickets coming with successive deliveries. First Brad Haddin, not on Anderson's Christmas card list, edged an away-swinger in routine fashion to Prior, and then Ryan Harris, on a king pair, duly completed that indignity, padding up to a clever inswinger, his inevitable referral confirming the decision.
The gates were open and two balls later Swann removed North, who had pushed forwards to a ball that pitched in line and turned, England's referral overturning the not-out decision of Tony Hill.
Three wickets then for no runs in four balls. Another almost came when Peter Siddle's inside edge hit the stumps firmly but incredibly failed to dislodge a bail. Swann was not to be denied, though. Xavier Doherty was bamboozled by a ball that went straight through the left-hander's defence, and Siddle was befuddled by the turn. This was a majestic performance.
Julian Assange to be questioned by British police
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is expected to appear in a UK court today after his lawyers said he would meet police to discuss a European arrest warrant from Sweden relating to alleged sexual assaults.
As the legal net continued to close around the whistleblowers' website and the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said he had authorised "a number of things to be done" to combat the organisation, Assange appeared to be reconciling himself to a lengthy personal court battle to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Jennifer Robinson, a solicitor with Finers Stephens Innocent, which represents the Australian freedom of information campaigner, told the Guardian: "We have a received an arrest warrant [related to claims in Sweden]. We are negotiating a meeting with police."
Another lawyer representing Assange, Mark Stephens, added: "He has not been charged with anything. We are in the process of making arrangements to meet the police by consent, in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that is needed. It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law."
Stephens explained that the interview would happen in the "foreseeable future" but he could not give a precise time. According to other sources, it is thought that Assange would appear before a court to negotiate bail .
Assange is seeking supporters to put up surety and bail for him. He said he expected to have to post bail of between £100,000 and £200,000 and would require up to six people offering surety, or risked being held on remand.
In recent days, Assange, 39, has told friends he is increasingly convinced the US is behind Swedish prosecutors' attempts to extradite him for questioning on the assault allegations.
He has said the original allegations against him were motivated by "personal issues" but that Sweden had subsequently behaved as "a cipher" for the US.
Assange has also said that he declined to return to Sweden to face prosecutors because he feared he would not receive a fair trial, and prosecutors had requested that he be held in solitary confinement and incommunicado.
This weekend Assange said he was exhausted by the effort of running his defence against the allegations in Sweden and the release of the US embassy cables at the same time, as well as running WikiLeaks itself, which has split since some supporters became disaffected over Assange's handling of the Afghanistan war logs. Once he turns himself in to the police, he will have to appear before a magistrates' court within 24 hours, where he will seek release on bail. A full hearing of his extradition case would have to be heard within 28 days.
In the past, Assange has dismissed the allegations, stating on Twitter: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Last week Stephens added: "This appears to be a persecution and a prosecution. It is highly irregular and unusual for the Swedish authorities to issue [an Interpol] red notice in the teeth of the undisputed fact that Mr Assange has agreed to meet voluntarily to answer the prosecutor's questions."
Stephens has said that the claims stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex". While the latest US diplomatic cables released on WikiLeaks have been stirring international political alarm and recriminations, Assange is understood to have been staying out of public sight in south-east England.
Prosecutors in Sweden issued a warrant for his arrest last month but it could not be enforced because of a technical blunder. The Australian's details were also added to Interpol's most wanted website after a red notice was issued, alerting police worldwide to his status.
Detectives in Sweden want to question Assange after two women claimed they were sexually assaulted by him when he visited the country in August. The country's supreme court upheld an order to detain him for questioning after he appealed against two lower court rulings.
The sex assault claims may be Assange's most pressing legal issue, but it may not be the only legal complication he faces as several countries consider the impact of his diplomatic cable disclosures.
He has come under growing pressure after WikiLeaks started publishing excerpts from a cache of 250,000 secret messages.
In the US, the level of political vituperation has become more vengeful. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands". The senior Republican Mike Huckabee said that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty".
Meanwhile WikiLeaks has been forced to move to a Swiss host after being dumped by US internet companies as it comes under siege from cyber attacks.
PostFinance, the financial arm of the Swiss post office, said it had closed Assange's account after he provided "false information".
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement. "The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Last night hackers claimed they had targeted the firm's websites in support of WikiLeaks.
MasterCard also said it would block payments to WikiLeaks, according to the CNET News website, a move that will dry up another source of funds for the website.
"MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman for MasterCard Worldwide said yesterday.
The credit card firm said it was cutting off payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in "illegal activity". "MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal," its spokesman, Chris Monteiro said. The online credit firm PayPal has already refused to allow payments through for WikiLeaks.
In Sweden, a WikiLeaks spokesman called for action against those who have attacked Assange. "There have been death threats to his life and incitement to murder," he added.
Canadian newspapers reported that police are investigating whether there is evidence to proceed against a former adviser to the prime minister after he called for Assange to be killed.
Tom Flanagan, now a professor at the University of Calgary, suggested on television last week that Assange "should be assassinated, actually", adding: "I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something."
Flanagan later retracted his statement saying it was not meant seriously.
In Assange's homeland, however, Australian police are investigating whether he has broken any laws
As the legal net continued to close around the whistleblowers' website and the US attorney general, Eric Holder, said he had authorised "a number of things to be done" to combat the organisation, Assange appeared to be reconciling himself to a lengthy personal court battle to avoid extradition to Sweden.
Jennifer Robinson, a solicitor with Finers Stephens Innocent, which represents the Australian freedom of information campaigner, told the Guardian: "We have a received an arrest warrant [related to claims in Sweden]. We are negotiating a meeting with police."
Another lawyer representing Assange, Mark Stephens, added: "He has not been charged with anything. We are in the process of making arrangements to meet the police by consent, in order to facilitate the taking of that question and answer that is needed. It's about time we got to the end of the day and we got some truth, justice and rule of law."
Stephens explained that the interview would happen in the "foreseeable future" but he could not give a precise time. According to other sources, it is thought that Assange would appear before a court to negotiate bail .
Assange is seeking supporters to put up surety and bail for him. He said he expected to have to post bail of between £100,000 and £200,000 and would require up to six people offering surety, or risked being held on remand.
In recent days, Assange, 39, has told friends he is increasingly convinced the US is behind Swedish prosecutors' attempts to extradite him for questioning on the assault allegations.
He has said the original allegations against him were motivated by "personal issues" but that Sweden had subsequently behaved as "a cipher" for the US.
Assange has also said that he declined to return to Sweden to face prosecutors because he feared he would not receive a fair trial, and prosecutors had requested that he be held in solitary confinement and incommunicado.
This weekend Assange said he was exhausted by the effort of running his defence against the allegations in Sweden and the release of the US embassy cables at the same time, as well as running WikiLeaks itself, which has split since some supporters became disaffected over Assange's handling of the Afghanistan war logs. Once he turns himself in to the police, he will have to appear before a magistrates' court within 24 hours, where he will seek release on bail. A full hearing of his extradition case would have to be heard within 28 days.
In the past, Assange has dismissed the allegations, stating on Twitter: "The charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing."
Last week Stephens added: "This appears to be a persecution and a prosecution. It is highly irregular and unusual for the Swedish authorities to issue [an Interpol] red notice in the teeth of the undisputed fact that Mr Assange has agreed to meet voluntarily to answer the prosecutor's questions."
Stephens has said that the claims stem from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex". While the latest US diplomatic cables released on WikiLeaks have been stirring international political alarm and recriminations, Assange is understood to have been staying out of public sight in south-east England.
Prosecutors in Sweden issued a warrant for his arrest last month but it could not be enforced because of a technical blunder. The Australian's details were also added to Interpol's most wanted website after a red notice was issued, alerting police worldwide to his status.
Detectives in Sweden want to question Assange after two women claimed they were sexually assaulted by him when he visited the country in August. The country's supreme court upheld an order to detain him for questioning after he appealed against two lower court rulings.
The sex assault claims may be Assange's most pressing legal issue, but it may not be the only legal complication he faces as several countries consider the impact of his diplomatic cable disclosures.
He has come under growing pressure after WikiLeaks started publishing excerpts from a cache of 250,000 secret messages.
In the US, the level of political vituperation has become more vengeful. The former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has described Assange as "an anti-American operative with blood on his hands". The senior Republican Mike Huckabee said that "anything less than execution is too kind a penalty".
Meanwhile WikiLeaks has been forced to move to a Swiss host after being dumped by US internet companies as it comes under siege from cyber attacks.
PostFinance, the financial arm of the Swiss post office, said it had closed Assange's account after he provided "false information".
"PostFinance has ended its business relationship with WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange," the bank said in a statement. "The Australian citizen provided false information regarding his place of residence during the account opening process."
Last night hackers claimed they had targeted the firm's websites in support of WikiLeaks.
MasterCard also said it would block payments to WikiLeaks, according to the CNET News website, a move that will dry up another source of funds for the website.
"MasterCard is taking action to ensure that WikiLeaks can no longer accept MasterCard-branded products," a spokesman for MasterCard Worldwide said yesterday.
The credit card firm said it was cutting off payments because WikiLeaks was engaging in "illegal activity". "MasterCard rules prohibit customers from directly or indirectly engaging in or facilitating any action that is illegal," its spokesman, Chris Monteiro said. The online credit firm PayPal has already refused to allow payments through for WikiLeaks.
In Sweden, a WikiLeaks spokesman called for action against those who have attacked Assange. "There have been death threats to his life and incitement to murder," he added.
Canadian newspapers reported that police are investigating whether there is evidence to proceed against a former adviser to the prime minister after he called for Assange to be killed.
Tom Flanagan, now a professor at the University of Calgary, suggested on television last week that Assange "should be assassinated, actually", adding: "I think Obama should put out a contract and maybe use a drone or something."
Flanagan later retracted his statement saying it was not meant seriously.
In Assange's homeland, however, Australian police are investigating whether he has broken any laws
