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QPR free kick five yards out of the area, given when Dunne fouls Taarabt, FaurlÃn ballons his shot over. "Seeing Cameron there causes me to wonder if it's harder to manage a cabinet and a parliament, or a squad of footballers," says Paul Szabo. "But the latter can't be too hard a task now, can it? It's just like parenting a bunch of adolescents, after all." Come, come, Paul. Everyone knows "you need a degree in people" to be a good manager. At least that's what we're told every few days.
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Barton's corner finds Bothroyd who works himself a foot of space between a centre-half sandwich. He glances his header wide. Good chance, that.
Some nice work up the left with Warnock combining well with N'Zogbia but when the ball's played across the box up pops Wright-Phillips moonlighting as a left-back who knocks it up to Bothroyd who tries to throw Hutton by shimmying left and right before shooting. It's deflected and the corner is cleared.
: Danny Gabbidon is missing for QPR and Darren Bent for Villa. Even a buffoon would suggest the latter is the biggest loss - with Bannan and N'Zogbia lacking a target for their crosses. An interesting sideshow may be the battle between the ex Manchester City trainees Stephen Ireland for Villa and SWP and Joey Barton for QPR. I haven't seen enough of Ireland this season to tell me whether he's overcome his awful first season at Villa Park under Gérard Houllier. I've seen enough of Stephen Warnock to suggest he's recovered from his similar fate in internal exile under the Frenchman and Gary McAllister.
QPR: Kenny; Young, Ferdinand, Hall, Traoré; Wright-Phillips, Barton, Derry, FaurlÃn; Taarabt, Bothroyd.
This week Hargreaves gave what was, as far as the admittedly doltish Fiver can discern, an almost entirely reasonable interview about his three years out of the game. There were few, er, Hargrievances. He used a couple of quotable phrases, about being a "guinea pig" and being "kept in a bunker with no food or water for weeks on end, and only a laminated poster of Billy Garton for company"; something like that. And, yes, he should maybe stop flapping his gums until he has completed a full game without suffering career-ending nostril-knack. But essentially he made honest, considered comments, and also referred to the "lovely people" at United.
STILL LOOKING UP, JUST IN CASE
Daniel, too, thought it was fine. "It wasn't as though it was a big surprise. I'd thought it for a while," he says. "But I said to him, 'If anyone starts bullying you about it, I'll be there to support you.' After all, James did that for me when I was being bullied. If anyone starts any homophobic stuff against him, I'll be there to fight them off."
Alyson says that, initially, James's coming out was a surprise. "We were like, 'Woa!'" she says. "My big worry was that he'd think he was different, or special, because he was gay - so we said to him: 'That's fine, it's what you are, but it doesn't make you any more special than the other children in this family.'" Errol says he was proud of his boy for being open and honest about his feelings. "It's fine; I'm glad he felt he could tell us," he says.
Alyson says all she wants, like any mum, is for her boys to be happy, and to live lives free from prejudice, so that each can flourish in his own way. "Mind you," she says with a smile, "I do sometimes find myself wondering, now the children are all getting older, what the future holds. There will be another generation eventually - who will that bring along, I wonder?
"Twins are almost a must, I'd say. But the other big thing is: how many white grandchildren will I have? And how many black?" She throws back her head and laughs, and Errol laughs with her. They're a straightforward, outspoken family, the Kellys: all they've ever wanted for their children is a fair chance in life. And if their youngest twins have made anyone think twice about their preconceptions about race and colour, they don't mind that in the least. "It's good to challenge people on race and sexuality and other issues where there's prejudice," says Alyson. "If knowing my boys encourages anyone to think a bit more deeply about how we label people, then that's just great as far as I'm concerned."
"How long have you been in Moscow?"
My four years in Russia end, then, in dramatic fashion: with a textbook Soviet-style expulsion. I am the first western staff correspondent to suffer this fate since the end of the cold war. I'm stunned. But my expulsion is not, I reflect, a surprise. It's something I have always accepted as a real, if far-fetched, possibility. Western correspondents in Moscow meet at least once a month in informal gatherings known as the "hack pack". Six months earlier, a young woman doing an internship at the ministry of foreign affairs turned up at hack pack drinks. Asked which journalist the ministry hated most, she unwittingly replied: "There's a guy called Luke Harding - they really hate him."
The reasons are unfathomable. This could be a pragmatic victory for the Kremlin's liberals. It's also possible that British diplomacy has done the trick. It's only later I reflect that the climbdown may always have been the plan. The FSB's decision has turned our life as a family upside down.
Back in England, I immediately deadlock the front door. In cafes and restaurants I glance over my shoulder, on the lookout for young men wearing cheap, ill-fitting suits and brown shoes. Once, I hear Russian voices outside on the street and find myself following two men. But over time, it appears that the old world has gone for good. When I return to the house, the white patio doors - bolted when I left - are still bolted. Household objects remain where I left them. We are anonymous again. And - I think - safe.
In Britain, there have been various attempts to introduce local currencies to stimulate the local economy, such as Lewes, Totnes and Brixton pounds, but to date none has taken off.
Manchester United respond to Owen Hargreaves; Adel Taarabt is invited out of international retirement; and discussion of Stoke, Chelsea and Newcastle; and much more.
Preamble:
Elsewhere, will Stoke be the side to stick a spoke, or an outstretched leg, in Manchester United's wheels? Can Steve Kean's survival prospects rise still further with a victory at Newcastle or will Mike Ashely's cannily-remodelled club continue their positive start to the season by extending their unbeaten run, possibly even by scoring enough goals to win the match? Everton are another team who struggle to convert stylish play into goals: will they get together against Manchester City? At Anfield, can Mick McCarthy get Wolves back to winning ways and will Kenny Dalglish unleash Craig Bellamy again following his spectacualr showing at Brighton? Speaking of Brighton, what shape will they be in for tonight's clash with Leeds? Where will Doncaster Rovers go in the post-Sean O'Driscoll era? Will Watford help Steve McLaren get the chop at Forest? And here's one prompted by a quick glance at the telly in Guardian Towers, which, inexcusably, is currently screening Lorraine: has anyone else ever noticed that the guy who played Boycie in Only Fools and Horses looks, when angry, like Robert Di Niro?
By the way, for those of you interested in rugby, the second-string are proving surprisingly pesky to Australia right now: they've just run in a brilliant try to close the gap to 10-5. Find out more with Tom Lutz here.
On the subject of Manchester United's visit to Stoke tomorrow, NotSoSecretFootballer makes a pertinent point below the line: "The biggest challenge is for DeGea. All those long throw-ins and physicality will be a big test for the young lad. It might be rough for him."
Here's Newcastle's squad for tomorrow's match with Blackburn. Things to note are: Shola Ameobi is a doubt with a shoulder problem and Alan Smith is still out injured but, in case you'd forgotten, is still a Newcastle player.
Some say Theo Walcott is a brainless type of footballer. It's true that he doesn't take the right decision on the pitch as often as folks would like but he's not as wasteful as some over-the-top critics claim and off the pitch he's clearly smart: hats off to him today for acknowledging that in many cases (here's looking at you in particular, Andrei Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky) the players have let the manager down.
Hello, Simon Burnton here, taking over from Paul for an hour or so.
West Bromwich Albion team news: everyone Roy Hodgson left out for the Carling Cup defeat to Everton returns. Gabriel Tamas is still suspended, but Shane Long could return from illness.
Hi. Paul Doyle back again. I've finished my lunch. Does that count as breaking news? Oh. Then how about a squint at Chelsea's squad for the tomorrow's visit of Swansea. Daniel Sturridge is out.
On the plus side for Villa, Shay Given has been superb for them so far: reckon sitting on the bench for a year at City was just what he needed and has probably prolonged his career by a few years.
"Much as I Iove the live blogs that you guys do, even to the extent of reading whilst actually watching the match, I must ask: How can you think about football when you could be live blogging on the conference happening at CERN discussing the possible violation of currently accepted theories of physics?" demands-to-know Michael Brown, possibly in reference to a convention of ace boffins discussing the freakish trajectories of a goodly portion of Steven Gerrard shots. "For the record: I didn't break physics," adds Michael helpfully. By the way, has anyone been hit by that falling satellite yet?
I am delighted that it now appears that James Brent is within sight of being able to complete his takeover of Plymouth Argyle Football Club.
I therefore can confirm that my role as 'Acting Chairman of Plymouth Argyle Football Club' on behalf of the Administrator will finish on the completion of James Brent's takeover.
"Ridsdale has his detractors of course but those with knowledge of what he has done at Plymouth say he has worked hard for no reward to help save the club," says top Guardian sleuth David Conn. "In this Argyle fans messageboard discussion, the Argyle supporters trust says he 'played a key role in saving the club" and "we will always be grateful for that.'"
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. Community Care: Scots councils face 6% cut amid boost to older people's care
. Inside Housing: Scottish government to cut housing budget
. The response to our story yesterday about the Department for Work and Pensions' warning letters to terminally ill people warning them of possible
. The curious tale of the
. A lovely story from Battersea, where Debenhams staff
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Social Media in Social Housing: How to do it
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S&P added that its sovereign ratings were "forward-looking assessments of credit risks provided to investors".
Louise Cooper, markets analyst at BGC Partners, is tickled by S&P's warning that Italy's "fragile government" means it will struggle to deliver its deficit-reduction plans:
Those distractions include court cases, young women and sex parties, allegations of bribery and corruption and now even the BBC is suing his media company over a pornographic version of
Austerity comes as naturally to Berlusconi as widows and orphans trading in derivatives.
Carlo Maria Capistro - chief prosecutor of Trani, a small Adriatic port - told Reuters then that his office was checking to see whether the ratings agencies "respect regulations as they carry out their work".
Stock markets around Europe have emphatically shrugged off the Italian debt downgrade, my colleague Alex Hawkes reports.
The Wall Street Journal has written a very sobering article today about the increase in the suicide rate in Greece since the financial crisis began.
This has led to a 40% increase in suicide deaths this year, with roughly six in every 100,000 people choosing to take their own life. Counselling services have also reported a sharp rise in calls.
The yield on 12-month bonds rose to 3.591%, up from 3.335% a month ago. For the 18-month bills, the yield jumped to 3.802% from 3.592% in August.
Fubini says the message from the agency is clear: "If Italy does not change - and fast - public and private debt will cost (and weigh) progressively more."
Greek finance minister Evangelos Venizelos has just announced that he will hold another conference call with International Monetary Fund, the EU and the European Central Bank, at 5pm GMT.
Italian government debt has fallen in value this morning, pushing up the interest rate (or yield) on the bonds.
Berlusconi added the his government is planning new measures to boost the economy - indicating that S&P was wrong to cut its annual growth forecast to just 0.7%.
The miserable failure of EU leaders to tackle the problems posed by Greece does little to inspire any confidence that the much larger and more urgent problems faced by Italy would be managed any better.
S&P's downgrade comes just six days after the Italian parliament voted for a tough austerity package that it designed to eliminate Italy's budget deficit by 2013. Those tax rises and spending cuts were meant to avoid a downgrade, but S&P isn't convinced, for three reasons:
Third, market interest rates are anticipated to rise.
S&P's announcement came as
. One in four young people get no careers advice
. Rachel Williams reports on how young people are being recruited to tutor care home residents
over the next few weeks over the issue. Caf says:
One ray of hope the academics seized on is that a wave of entrepreneurial elders will be unleashed across the north of England. Armed with the accumulated wealth of the baby boomer generation, they'll invest in new businesses that will create new jobs and opportunities.
Breaking Into News competition
. The National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care has been much missed since it was axed in the bonfire of the quangos. A replacement is urgently needed, says Vic Citarella
Public Services Summit Scotland - Re-examining and innovating for better delivery
22 September 2011, Edinburgh
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Leaked government document proposes debate on school holiday reduction
Within hours his statements have attracted hundreds of responses.
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A global phenomenon! Where do the webcam women come from?
The turning point, according to Lacey, had been the introduction of a patently unfit Villa midway through the second half. "With his natural attacking tendencies," he wrote, "Liverpool and particularly Souness began to find space in the midfield that had not been there before." Bob Paisley's side ran Spurs into the ground during extra-time, Ardiles blotting his copybook by giving the ball away in midfield ahead of Whelan's second goal, Ian Rush tapping in the killer blow in the last minute. Spurs, having chased three cups, would be knocked out of Europe in the semis by Barcelona, and would end up making do with the retention of their FA Cup. Not a bad consolation prize, though, eh?
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A second miner has been found and tragically he was also deceased. All families have been informed.
A number of rescue workers, wearing orange overalls and with blackened faces, were seen walking away from the police cordon just before 1pm. They were later followed by a lone ambulance, which drove away from the scene.
South Wales Police has a dedicated phone line for those who are concerned relatives have been involved. The number is 01792 555565
Here is the video of the press conference from 8:30 this morning in which supt Phil Davies from South Wales police said that tragically, one miner had been found dead.
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PA is reporting that one of the four men who failed to get out of the mine yesterday before it completely flooded is the father of one of those who managed escaped.
Superintendent Phil Davies says emergency services are conducting a "difficult rescue operation".
Labour leader Ed Miliband says: "All of us will be watching, waiting and hoping for a successful rescue."
@alicat21 writes: Thoughts with the miners families. They must be experiencing a living hell. Tragic
I am extremely saddened to hear that one of the miners has been found dead. My heartfelt condolences go out to the families at this distressing time.
The search and rescue continues. Obviously we've had the disappointing news of discovering one of the miners [dead].
. Local MP Peter Hain and shadow Welsh minster said "The fact that they have been trapped for so long is very, very disturbing," he said.
3.05pm
Sandys says the rush for biofuels is a factor in rising food prices, along with population growth and urbanisation.
From Felicity Lawrence: Eilidh Whiteford SNP joined Joan Ruddock, Labour MP for Lewisham Deptford, in focusing on climate change as the underlying cause of famine and the need for governments to tackle it to avoid future famines.
but is it blame for famine in the Horn of Africa? Last month Duncan Green said it's impossible to answer that question with a simple yes or no. Instead, he gave us a great summary of what we think we know so far.
. Despite the engagement on the issues
1.50pm
Mitchell has just concluded his remarks with the emotive words that 400,000 people, mainly children, are in danger of dying as a result of famine. "You cannot put price on life, but you can on saving one," he says. It's time for other countries "to reach deeper into their pockets".
Mitchell sets out what DfID has done and is doing to address the crisis, and will be discussing the issue at the UN next week.
Now we turn to Heidi Alexander. If we want to consign famine and chronic hunger in Africa to history, "we have to ask some tough questions" about governments' response to an emerging crisis, how can we support small-scale agriculture, and are we too complacent about food price volatility, commodities speculation, biofuel land grabs and export bans.
Here are some figures. According to DfID, UK aid to the Horn of Africa is being spent as follows:
Ethiopia: Food aid for 1.36 million people plus shelter, water and medical support for 100,000 people in the Dolo Ado refugee camps
. Treasury secretary Tim Geithner: 'Zero chance' of another Lehman Brothers
. Bank of France governor rules out nationalisation
...the blue crew rang the opening bell at the NYSE on 29 July to celebrate the opening of their new 3D movie. The US stock markets went into free fall. The Smurfs 3D opened in Greece on September 8, just in time for the latest wave of Europe's financial woes.
"The time for muddling through is over.
The latest twists in the Eurozone crisis have sent the
has just thrown a spanner into the Eurozone crisis machine. Reports are hitting the wires that an Austrian parliamentary committee has failed to ratify the planned expansion of the European Financial Stability Fund. That means the package now cannot be approved by the whole parliament on September 21, as planned.
Geithner hit the early morning US airwaves, telling CNBC that there "was no chance" of the Eurozone hosting a repeat of the Lehman Brothers collapse. He also warned that Europe has a "terrible growth problem", which is hampering America's own efforts to rebuild.
Got a suggestion for how the UK can help? Last week, Christine Lagarde said the UK needed to be "nimble" - an indication that while the IMF backs George Osborne's Plan A today, the fiscal consolidation may need tweeking if the global economic climate worsens.
capital investment, building programmes and stimulation packages for small firms were all much more successful that UK govt policies.
Tories in the European Parliament want Greece kicked out of the euro, although it's not certain that the rest of the eurozone will be listening to the advice even if the odds are shortening on a Greek departure.
Callanan also criticised José Manuel Barroso, after his pledge to bring forward options for the implementation of eurobonds.
After the early selloff, financial markets have staged a healthy rally. As madeupname2 points out below, French banking shares are recovering - Credit Agricole is now up around 3.1%, with BNP Paribas down around 1.5%, and SocGen off 3.1%.
After an unsteady start, markets have rallied in the first couple of hours trading as the Moody's rating downgrades on the French banks seems to have removed at least one element of uncertainty that had been haunting many in recent days. It does, however, seem difficult to imagine that this news will produce any extended rally.
at the commission is to unveil a green paper on the pros and cons of eurobonds next month. That has been known for a while, and Brussels officials talk about it here every day. The real issue is whether eurobonds would entail renegotiating the Lisbon treaty.
There was also some alarming words from Barroso:
Today's figures underline the scale of the challenge that we face particularly given slower growth across Europe and North America. Unemployment remains lower than it was six months ago but clearly we must continue to focus our efforts on supporting business growth and ensure that people who do lose their jobs have the best possible support to get back into employment.
The storm clouds are gathering with falling employment and rising unemployment at a time when it is difficult to see how this might reverse. The ongoing uncertainty surrounding the eurozone crisis means that companies are likely to remain cautious about hiring and more certain about firing.
The Office for National Statistics has just reported that unemployment jumped by 80,000 in the three months to July, on the ILO measure. That takes the total number of people officially out of work to 2.51 million, and is the biggest quarterly rise since August 2009.
CAC
Here's some early analysis of the French banking downgrade from Jill Treanor, our banking correspondent:
The biggest faller, perhaps surprisingly, is BNP Paribas, whose shares have tumbled by 5.1%. It dodged a downgrade - and announced a ?70bn asset sale plan. City analysts, though, reckon BNP is on borrowed time.
Surely it can only be a matter of time before BNP Paribas follows in their wake, as the bank announces a restructuring plan to increase capital, probably in order to head off a downgrade at the pass.
Christian Noyer
Speaking to a French radio station, Noyer described the downgrades of two of France's largest banks as "relatively good news". Moody's decision just means French banks now had equivalent ratings to European peers, he argued:
In SocGen's case, Moody's said that the bank could cover losses on Greek, Portuguese and Irish debt, but added: "Nevertheless, SocGen's wholesale funding, the majority of which is short-term, is still high in absolute terms and may pose a vulnerability given considerable market tension."
Good morning. It's another crunch day for Europe, as the debt crisis that has convulsed the region for months intensifies.
Back in the UK, the latest unemployment data is released at 9.30am - an opportunity to see how Britain's own economy is faring.
It's not lobbying, exactly; it's not diplomacy, but it is characterised by "quiet conversations with people who can make a difference. We're going to have to engage with people, quietly, rather than shouting at them."
Sharon Horgan walks into the darkened theatre space where she is rehearsing her new play. It's Friday lunchtime, just another working day - and she's wearing a skintight black mini-dress. It doesn't quite add up: she could have stepped out of a David Lynch movie. The comedian-actor-writer dabs at her upper lip. "I thought I'd make an effort. I'm fuckin' boiling in it, though. It's like having the menopause. I don't know how people wear leather."
It's a recurrent theme in Horgan's work: what if? What if there's something better round the corner? What if I've made the wrong choice? Horgan admits the subject obsesses her. Even now, at the age of 41 and happily married with two children, she can't help wondering if the grass is greener on the other side. She's about to star in the world premiere of Terrible Advice, written by Saul Rubinek, who played Daphne's lawyer fiance in the sitcom Frasier. And she's back in the world of what ifs. "It's about settling for people when you feel you've run out of choices. My character was a bit wild, and she's got to a point where she hasn't got anything of material worth. So this man comes into her life and helps her buy an apartment. That's why she's with him really. That sounds a bit grim but it is a bit grim, this play."
Horgan lived in England for the first four years of her life, then in Ireland, her father switching from pub landlord to turkey farmer. In her 20s, she spent a lot of time with "bastards and arseholes", eventually realising this was no recipe for a fulfilling life. She refers me to Terrible Advice. "When Stanley asks my character Delilah to marry him, and her friend asks if she loves him, she can't answer." Love, she says, is such a complicated business. "You end up loving someone a lot more because there's so much at stake and there's so much shit between you. Whenever I talk to my married friends, no one's sitting around waxing lyrical about their husbands. I go, 'Who's touching each other? Who's hugging? Who kisses?'"