Cheaper Earrings

Once his long lens caused mild embarrassment by revealing the shapely legs of the future Princess Diana through her transparent summer skirt.

More recently, Steve Back has repeatedly found himself in a position to cause red faces of an altogether different magnitude by the simple means of standing outside No 10 with a camera.

The freelance press photographer this week added BBC director general Mark Thompson to the growing list of visitors to Downing Street who he has captured revealing sensitive – and sometimes top secret – information by leaving documents on display in apparently blissful ignorance of the fact that they are outside the world's most closely-scrutinised front door.

The risks run by public functionaries who arrive at No 10 without that piece of hi-tech counter-surveillance technology otherwise known as a cardboard folder were most dramatically revealed by Mr Back's lens last April when Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism commander was pictured carrying a briefing paper detailing an operation against an alleged al-Qa'ida cell. The blunder led to a news blackout while police hurriedly brought forward a series of raids in North-west England – and Assistant Commissioner Bob Quick's red-faced resignation.

A succession of ministers – ranging from former housing minister Caroline Flint who was seen carrying a memo laying bare official fears about the property crisis, to a secret election briefing sent to Lord Mandelson – have fallen foul of Downing Street's document snapper, who says his penchant for picturing personal papers comes despite repeated warnings to No 10.

Mr Back, 55, a national newspaper photographer for 25 years who is to be found in Downing Street's press pen most days, said his images of Mr Thompson carrying an internal BBC email detailing a defence of its coverage of spending cuts were just the latest proof of document-based carelessness by public figures.

He said: "It's astonishing really. These are people out in public with papers containing important information. They know that there is a photographer outside No 10 and yet they just don't cover them up. I must have spoken to the Downing Street press office a dozen times to say: 'For God's sake tell them to cover up their documents.'

"It is all down to digital technology. Images come out so sharp now that you can read detail that film cameras simply could not pick out. I would say I see a minister carrying readable documents once a month."

The fashion for inadvertent disclosures began in 2008 when Ms Flint marched up to No 10 displaying a candid memo warning of a five to 10 per cent drop in housing prices "at best" and admitting ministers "can't know how bad it will get".

Other caught with unsheathed papers by photographers include Lord Mandelson, who was pictured last September with a briefing on how to attack the Conservatives, and Hazel Blears, the former communities secretary, who was seen carrying details of the shake-up of MPs' expenses.

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Tony Blair's account of his time in Downing Street became the fastest-selling autobiography of all time yesterday after shifting hundreds of thousands of copies in its first 24 hours.

The book, A Journey, went straight to No 1 on Amazon.co.uk's British bestseller list and sold more copies in a day at Waterstones than the former business secretary Lord Mandelson's memoir managed in three weeks.

Finally, and spectacularly, breaking his three-year silence on domestic politics, Mr Blair:
* Describes Gordon Brown as a "strange guy" who had "zero" emotional intelligence and accuses him of blackmail during a heated debate about pensions policy by threatening to call for a Labour Party inquiry into the "cash for honours" affair;

* Claims it was he, not his former chancellor, who was the architect of the decision to hand control of interest rates to the Bank of England;

* Admits that he promised Mr Brown in 2003 that he would quit before the next general election, but then changed his mind. He describes himself and Mr Brown as being "like a couple who loved each other, arguing over whose career should come first";

* Reveals that he used alcohol as "a prop" when Mr Brown pressured him to hand over the reigns of power;

* Blames Labour's election defeat this year on his successor abandoning New Labour's policies;

* Says he would use military intervention, as he did in Iraq, to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons;

* Suggests he was wrong to force Lord Mandelson to resign from the Cabinet on both occasions that he quit;

* Had a premonition that the former Labour leader, John Smith, would die less than a month before he did in 1994 and that he, not Gordon Brown, would succeed him.

When Lord Mandelson unexpectedly rushed out his memoirs in July, there was a fleeting panic in Mr Blair's inner circle that A Journey would bomb as a result. These fears led to him announce that he would hand the estimated £4m proceeds from the book to the Royal British Legion to help it rehabilitate injured servicemen.

Mr Blair need not have worried. Yesterday, Andrew Lake, the political book-buyer at Waterstones, said: "Nothing can compare to the level of interest shown in this book. You have to look at hugely successful fiction authors such as Dan Brown or JK Rowling to find books that have sold more quickly on their first day.

"Mandelson may remain the prince but Blair has reclaimed his title as king, certainly in terms of book sales."

Amid blanket television and radio coverage of the publication, Mr Blair was in Washington, where he attended Middle East peace talks and a White House dinner with President Obama, Hillary Clinton and Israeli and Palestinian leaders. His visit to the US was a coincidence, not an attempt to be out of Britain when the book went on sale. A London launch party scheduled for last night was postponed.

His publisher, Hutchinson, had pre-recorded a series of promotional interviews with the former prime minister, which were screened everywhere from the Arabic news network Al Jazeera to ITV1's This Morning.

Ironically, Mr Blair and Mr Brown had a warm and friendly conversation when Mr Brown telephoned his predecessor on the day he resigned as prime minister in May. If Mr Brown had hoped that would help persuade Mr Blair to pull his punches in his memoirs, it was already too late.

Mr Brown has made no comment about the book, but is believed to have told his supporters to hold their retaliatory fire until after this month's Labour conference, when his successor as leader will be chosen. Privately, some Brown allies have accused Mr Blair of kicking a man while he is down, after he lost this year's election.

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Hospitals will face fines if they fail to end the "indignity" of mixed-sex wards, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said today.

From January, hospitals in England will be required to place all patients in single-sex accommodation - with any breaches made public and financial penalties imposed.
Only accident and emergency and intensive care wards will be exempt from the new regulations, Mr Lansley said, unless there was "compelling clinical justification".

"It should be more than an expectation, it should be a requirement that patients who are admitted should be admitted to single-sex accommodation," the Health Secretary told BBC Radio 4's PM programme.

"Patients should be in single-sex accommodation, meaning that all of their period that they are admitted they should be in a bed or a bay which only consists of people of the same sex.

"And they should be able to come and go, for example to all their washing and toilet facilities, without having to pass through a part of the ward or another ward where there might be people of a different sex... so to that extent they would have the kind of privacy and dignity people have a right to expect."

While some hospitals had already declared they had "virtually eliminated" mixed-sex wards, Mr Lansley said there were in fact "thousands of breaches" across the country.

Figures released by the Department of Health showed that in the first quarter of 2010-11, NHS organisations reported 8,028 breaches where patients were accommodated in mixed-sex accommodation without clinical justification

The data was collected from half of England's Strategic Health Authorities. If the same level of reporting existed across the remaining Strategic Health Authorities, it suggests that, across England, there were at least 16,000 breaches in the first quarter alone - and more than 64,000 every year.

"That is not acceptable, so what I will be looking for from the end of this year is a system by which we are very clear that the requirement is that patients should be admitted to single-sex accommodation," Mr Lansley said.

"As part of our overall system of payment - which will be geared towards quality, rewarding quality and penalising for failures to meet essential standards - hospitals will be required to meet that standard, and from January hospitals will be required also to report that they have admitted patients to single-sex accommodation or if they haven't, how often they haven't and why they haven't."

Such publication would "empower patients" through good information, Mr Lansley said, ending a system where they could not find out how often patients had been put into mixed-sex wards.

And he added: "Patients should not suffer the indignity of being cared for in mixed-sex accommodation. I am determined to put an end to this practice, where it is not clinically justified."

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England's one-day series against Pakistan will be played despite the allegations of match rigging hanging over it. Talks yesterday brokered by the International Cricket Council ended in agreement from all parties that the seven matches, due to start in Cardiff on Sunday, should proceed as planned, although half the tourists' squad have been implicated in a betting scandal.

It emerged that their captain, Salman Butt, one of those named, was already under investigation by the ICC's anti-corruption unit for previous alleged misdemeanours. That carefully leaked information appeared to make his position untenable.

For the series of two Twenty20 and five 50-over matches to proceed, it appeared that Butt and the side's two opening bowlers, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer, would be suspended. All three have been accused of playing prominent roles in the scam.

Sharad Pawar, the ICC president, pre-empted any formal announcement of what should happen on the rest of the tour, which is scheduled to last until 22 September, by saying in India: "It is the desire of the ICC and the cricket boards of Pakistan and England that the game should continue." The rest of the cricket world, however, seemed more sceptical that the two Twenty20 and five 50-over matches could or should take place.

In a sting operation the News of the World, dealing with a middleman called Mazhar Majeed, revealed that Asif and Aamer had both deliberately bowled no-balls in the fourth Test and that Butt was instrumental in ensuring they did so. The paper paid Majeed £150,000 to convince him that they wanted to become part of his betting ring and in return he showed them what influence he had with the players, to many of whom he acts as agent.

Majeed was arrested on Saturday but released on bail without charge early yesterday, with further interviews planned. The newspaper also reported that Majeed said that it had already been decided that Pakistan would lose two of the five one-day internationals.

Haroon Lorgat, the chief executive of the ICC, promised tough action after the conference calls involving Giles Clarke and Ijaz Butt, the chairmen of the English and Pakistani cricket boards. "The integrity of the game is of paramount importance," he said.

"Prompt and decisive action will be taken against those who seek to harm it. However, the facts must first be established through a thorough investigation and it is important to respect the right of due process when addressing serious allegations of this sort.

"Make no mistake, once the process is complete if any players are found guilty the ICC will ensure the appropriate punishment is handed out. We will not tolerate corrupt in this great game."

Although both boards were keen for the matches to continue, Pakistan were waiting to receive guidance, if not direct instruction, from their government.

England's players seemed not only willing but happy for the matches to proceed. Angus Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Cricketers' Association, said: "What is important is that the appropriate permanent actions are taken. One of the dangers of leaping to something precipitous is that a political environment will be created in which the proper decisions cannot be taken."

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Nine years ago it was the National Front marching.

Today it will be supporters of the English Defence League peddling a slightly different brand of xenophobia. But whatever name they go by, many residents of Bradford fear the outcome could be the same.

Faisal Nawaz Khan has good reason to remember the last time the far right sought to parade through his home city. He was just 15 when rioting erupted in the Manningham area of the city on the night of 7 July 2001.
In what was the latest pulse of violence to hit the North of England that summer, youths threw stones at police, a pub was burnt and a luxury car dealership was attacked. David Blunkett, who was Home Secretary, had stopped the NF demonstration planned for earlier that day – just as Theresa May has acceded to police requests to do the same with the English Defence League (EDL) this time. Yet trouble still flared and today it will be left to the police to keep the "static" gatherings of many hundreds of EDL supporters and their opponents from Unite Against Fascism under control.

Despite the ban on marching, the planned protests have already succeeded in rekindling unwanted memories in an area still rebuilding itself after riots in both 2001 and 1995. Mr Khan was convicted of throwing a stone at the height of the last disturbances and was sentenced to five years in prison – one of 200 people jailed from the community for a total of 604 years. Then a promising student today he hoses down cars for a living in the shadow of the burnt-out Upper Globe pub which remains derelict after being torched during that long night of violence.

"They put all the blame on us as if we were the culprits and wanted to burn these buildings down," he says. His friend agrees. "The fascists and racists came here 10 years ago to tear down the town and why have they been given permission to do that again?" said the older man who did not wish to be named. Rumours have already been swirling around, they say. A story of an Asian woman being attacked by white youths is circulating, possibly started deliberately to stoke up tension, the men working at the car wash believe.

"It's already escalating," said the older man. Mr Khan believes young Asians will be reluctant to go into the city centre today where police will corral the two rival protests into separate areas out of sight of each other. "We have told our community to stay at home. But we have received anonymous letters through the letterbox saying they want us to go into town and get into trouble. I don't know who it is but they say go there and fight and defend yourselves. But it is Ramadan and we will be fasting."

His friend Asif Khan, 25, said: "This is causing flashbacks for everyone. We don't want a repeat of what happened. They should ban them from coming here all together."

Opposition to the EDL has been well organised since news of the planned march broke. In Bradford city centre, Maya Perry, 35, was gathering signatures for a group called We Are Bradford. It is planning a multicultural celebration as the EDL gather at the newly created urban park – an area of land on the edge of a giant hole in the city centre which is to become a huge retail complex. She was doing brisk trade gathering signatures from passers-by putting their names to a statement denouncing the EDL as Islamophobic, adding to the 10,000 already gathered demanding the march be stopped.

Having grown up in Bradford but now living in London, she too recalls the effects of previous riots but believes people need to stand up and be counted. "We know that when there hasn't been any opposition such as in Stoke the far right can rampage through the town centre, attacking Asians and destroying businesses. They say they are against Islam but in Dudley they attacked a Hindu temple. They are violent racist thugs," she said.

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Copyright © Martin Rowson 2010

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It could so easily be claustrophobic, with kitchen staff sat on your lap. But it isn't like that at all.' Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the Guardian

Aumbry is not the kind of place you'd expect to find in Prestwich, the suburb's suburb in Manchester. Then again, Prestwich has always been full of things you wouldn't expect to find in Prestwich. "What's the legendary chanteuse and femme fatale Nico doing in Kosher Foods?" was a common cry in 1980s Prestwich. Then there was the regular sight of punk curmudgeon Mark E Smith haggling over the price of post-sell-by-date beers at the local off-licence. And now there's Aumbry.
In times gone by, an aumbry was the cabinet in a church wall that held the consecrated bread and wine (the cottage-turned-restaurant is on Church Lane, and aumbry pretty much sums up its size). It's like walking into somebody's very modest living room. The open galley kitchen is a miracle of Lilliputian industry. "Three minutes, two minutes, one minute – service," the chefs urgently tell each other.

It could so easily be claustrophobic, with kitchen staff sat on your lap. But it isn't like that at all. They go about their business of cooking, you go about your business of eating, occasional smiles are exchanged, and nothing more. Perfect intimacy, perfect distance.

The chairs are painted white and a magnificent antique dresser stands in the corner. The walls are sparsely but stylishly decorated – an unadorned mirror, a smoky portrait of Dennis Hopper. Hopper seems an appropriate hero for Aumbry. This restaurant is very much its own man – quirky, contrary and resolute. It's closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, so married chefs Laurence Tottingham and Mary-Ellen McTague (who has just been named up-and-coming chef of the year by the Good Food Guide) can give their young family quality time, while co-owner Kate Mountain runs a club in the centre of Manchester. How do they manage to keep it going? "Cheap overheads and a limited menu," Kate says.

She's right about the lunch menu – one meat main course, one fish, one vegetarian. You have to trust in the quality. Mum's not used to posh fair, and she looks disappointed when the food arrives – a veggie nicety for her, a duck trinket for me. "Amuse-bouches," Kate says. "Are you sure this is what we ordered?" Mum whispers. "I heard the portions were small." I explain they're extras, and she's happy. The bread is irresistible, and comes with a moreish brown nut butter – no actual nuts though, it's just slightly burned to create the nutty flavour.

For starters, there's a long white slug of mackerel with red rectangles of rhubarb. The sweetness of the rhubarb works brilliantly against the fishy tang. Mum's wild garlic soup is white and creamy with blobs of yellow and green – swirl it round the plate and it becomes an impressionist's dream. Despite appearances, it is light and delicate. As you might expect of chefs trained by Heston Blumenthal, they like to play with their food. Not outrageously, but enough to raise a smile. So my lamb, potatoes and salad comes with tiny pellets of fleshy tongue – the lamb slices are shaped like a tongue, the potatoes are trimmed into a flower while edible flowers sit in among the salad. Lovely.

I ask for a nice red wine, and am brought a Tierra Alta Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine is so rich and mellow I'm closing my eyes after the first sip – especially after the first glass. The porage (which does a cracking impression of risotto) seems to have been subtly flavoured with nutty chocolate. In fact, it's cauliflower.

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Mother of the Carnival, 1959

The precursor to the west London event revellers know and love was an indoor event held in St Pancras Town Hall. Organised in January 1959 by Claudia Jones, founder of the West Indian Gazette and so-called "mother of Notting Hill Carnival", it was intended as an uplifting response to the riots of the year before, when a crowd of 400 white men rampaged through the streets of Notting Hill, breaking into homes and businesses owned by the area's West Indian community. The violence had escalated over the course of the bank holiday, with the crowd swelling to 1,000, and continued for five nights.

Going west, 1965

By 1964, the year of Jones' death, the Carnival was a well-established event in the Anglo-Caribbean cultural calendar, but it had yet to take to the streets of Notting Hill. In 1965, community activist Rhaune Laslett was granted permission to hold a week-long summer fête, incorporating a range of ethnic groups including Ukranians, Spanish, Portuguese and Irish as well as Afro-Caribbeans. More than 1,000 people turned up to the event's closing parade – dwarfing Laslett's expectations. The Notting Hill Carnival proper was born.

Further unrest, 1976

Throughout its first decade of existence, the Notting Hill Carnival was a peaceful occasion. But the calm was broken in 1976, when 3,000 police officers were allocated to the event. Ten times the number of previous years, it was thought the extra security would be needed to handle existing tension over stop-and-search laws. According to police accounts, violence erupted after officers attempted to arrest a pickpocket, who was immediately defended by the surrounding crowds. More than 160 people were taken to hospital.

The Carnival Review, 2000

While Notting Hill had undergone a dramatic phase of gentrification, the carnival had managed to recover its reputation as an inclusive, celebratory event. But in 2000 it was hit by further setbacks following the murder of two youths. The then-London Mayor Ken Livingstone responded by establishing the Carnival Review Group. The following year an interim report proposed, among other measures, that Hyde Park be used as a "savannah" for the event, a change that has failed to materialise. The existing route was altered, and policing and stewardship were expanded.

Law and disorder, 2008

Seven years after Livingstone's changes, riots again marred the Carnival. There were clashes between visitors and the police on the event's final day. More than 300 arrests were made, raising fears that the Carnival might again become the site of violence. 2009 saw a decline in attendance, with one man injured in a stabbing, although organisers are hoping that this weekend's celebrations will be the first in a series of "pre-Olympic" Carnivals. In 2012, the Carnival will fall between the Olympic and Paralympic games, making it a focal point for tourists.

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For the army of grow-your-own devotees, it is a moment of triumph that makes months of labour worthwhile – the harvest of a clutch of muddy carrots. That sense of green-fingered pride may fade rapidly, however, with the knowledge that it has been achieved at 15 times the cost of buying the same vegetables in a supermarket.

Consumer watchdogs today warn that thousands of novice gardeners are paying through the nose for the satisfying crunch of a homegrown carrot and other easily-grown crops by using expensive seedlings from nurseries which result in vegetables that cost more than £1 each.

A study by Which? found that inexperienced growers are buying plug carrot plants resulting in just one vegetable for up to £1.09 each. In supermarkets, the same outlay would buy a bag of about 15 organic carrots while a packet containing hundreds of seeds can be bought for as little as £1.

The resurgence of interest in amateur horticulture – which has seen waiting lists for allotments grow to 100,000 and august institutions from the National Trust to the House of Windsor setting aside land for growing fruit and veg – has been a boom time for garden centres and seed companies. Seed sales have grown by up to 7 per cent a year and the market for nursery plants and seeds stands at more than £41m. Seeds for edible plants now outsell flowers by about three to one.

But the stampede for a slice of the "good life" is also exposing gaps in the knowledge of many would-be disciples of the self-sufficiency trend. The Which? Gardening report found that some suppliers were offering novice gardeners "really poor value for money" with their pricing of plug plants – single seedlings which can be transplanted direct into the soil.

One company, Gardening Direct, was found to be selling carrot and beetroot seedlings for £1.09 per plant. Another supplier, Thompson and Morgan, was selling carrot plug plants for 14p and beetroot plants for 47p – prices that still represented poor value compared to seeds, according to the consumer body.

Ceri Thomas, editor of Which? Gardening, said: "£1.09 for a carrot is definitely not value for money. Carrot seed is really cheap to buy and very easy to grow – even for novice gardeners. Plug plants for carrots and beetroot are a complete waste of money."

Gardening Direct confirmed it had been selling a variety of carrot seedlings, Autumn King, at £6.99 for 10, but said it was withdrawing all its carrot and beetroot plug plants. The marketing manager, Mark Sherwood, said: "Whilst we believe that our premium quality plug plants normally represent outstanding value for money, we do not wish to mislead gardeners in any way nor be perceived as being poor value for money."

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The post-war politicians, planners and architects who built Cumbernauld had a utopian vision: for future generations to create a happier, more gracious life away from the filthy tenements and sectarianism of decaying Glasgow. And in the 1960s and early 1970s the people answered their call, relocating in their thousands to enjoy the wide open spaces, plentiful jobs and modern homes.

Recent history however has proved a cruel judge of that dream and the Lanarkshire new town has found itself one of the most reviled places in Britain. The home of the UK's first shopping mall has been named Scotland's most dismal place and likened to Kabul. In 2005 the shopping complex was nominated by the public for destruction as part of Channel 4's Demolition series.

But Cumbernauld is fighting back. Yesterday, a vast galvanised steel woman named Arria was erected in the sporadic sunshine at a hillside cemetery. It is hoped she will be a symbol of change for the town. Created by the Scottish artist Andy Scott, whose works include the celebrated Heavy Horse on Glasgow's M8 and the Thanksgiving Square Beacon in Belfast, the 33ft female figure, with a retro hairstyle suggestive of the town's 1960s new arrivals, will be seen by 70,000 motorists on the A80 each day.

Arria cost £250,000 of public money and is intended to help reverse the town's negative stereotypes. The name was selected by local people and is taken from Arria Fadilla, mother of Emperor Antoninus who built the nearby Antonine Wall.

The real sign of public acceptance, as with other public statues, will come with the acquisition of a nickname.

"It is a great idea," said Geraldine Reilly, a 31-year-old civil servant in Cumbernauld. "People don't see the good things about the town like the people or the beautiful countryside on our doorstep – they just see the shopping centre. This is a great place to bring up kids."

Others were not so convinced. Billy Zanieri, 44, unemployed, said: "It has been a waste of money. Housing is very bad here and the money could have gone on schools." And beautician Amanda McGuinness, 25, believed it was impossible ever to love Cumbernauld. "It needs burning down and rebuilding – especially the town centre. It needs new shops, new restaurants and new bars – something to liven the place up at night."

Naming rights...

When a public artwork receives a nickname, it is a sign that people have come to know, if not love, the work.

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