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Andy Fairweather Low: ‘Jimi Hendrix sidled over and politely told me: you’re in the wrong key’

Kate Bush loved his voice, Clapton hired him and Paul Weller mocked his hair. Having gone from top of the charts to living with his mum, one of rock’s nice guys is back with a new album at 74

At the age of 74, Andy Fairweather Low didn’t expect to see in 2023 as a viral sensation. He was on Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, performing his new song Got Me a Party and his old band Amen Corner’s 1969 chart-topper (If Paradise Is) Half As Nice. His appearance was so well received that he trended on Twitter. On New Year’s Day, his Wikipedia page was the second most trending in the UK.

“I was oblivious,” he chuckles, “because I don’t do Twitter and all that.” The broadcast had been filmed in mid-December. Low had appeared on Later … With Jools Holland before, with Eric Clapton, but never on his own. “I said to Jools: ‘It’s taken me 74 years to get here.’”

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Amazon treats me worse than the warehouse robots – that’s why I’m walking out | Darren Westwood

Jeff Bezos is making billions while we are offered an extra 50p an hour for exhausting work, doing long hours on our feet just to make ends meet

  • Darren Westwood works at Amazon’s Coventry warehouse and is a member of the GMB union

Timed to go to the toilet. Told off for leaning. Monitored for each package completed. As a worker at Amazon, I often feel that we aren’t being treated as people.

But for me, the moment I knew we needed to go on strike was when we were told we’d be getting a pay rise of just 50p extra an hour. We came into work one day and the managers were holding briefings – telling us that this was all we were going to get, and that we shouldn’t expect anything better. Just 50p extra, when we’re facing rising prices in every shop and energy bills going through the roof. The company describes the offer as “competitive pay”, pointing out that we get employee benefits on top of the hourly wage. Yet the company is making millions – if not billions – for the people at the top.

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Why are UK energy bills going up and what help will you get?

The government’s guarantee scheme is becoming less generous at the same time as £400 discounts stop

The maximum price energy companies can charge consumers will fall from 1 April – but bills are still expected to rise on that date because the government is planning to reduce the financial support it has given to households over the winter.

As things stand, bills will jump from £2,100 a year for a typical household to about £3,000 from April.

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Energy crisis exposes plight of two sporting Britains that must be tackled | Sean Ingle

While elite sport is awash with cash, leisure centres and swimming pools are closing for want of resources

At the Armory gym in north London, they are still offering yoga for the visually impaired, free classes for seniors and free membership for the homeless. All the important and inclusive stuff, in short, that leisure centres should offer to their communities. But when the not-for-profit organisation that runs the gym stares at its balance sheet, and particularly the additional £350,000 on its annual energy bill, it wonders how it is going to survive.

Sadly there is nothing especially noteworthy about the Armory’s story. It is one replicated up and down the land. But when I learned about its struggles, on the same day that the Premier League kicked and screamed against a new football regulator, it neatly illustrated a tale of two sporting Britains. One awash with money from billionaires and dubious petro-states wanting to blunt government intervention. The other desperately pleading for help while trying not to go under.

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Film-maker Hassan Nazer on his love letter to Iranian cinema

The Scottish-Iranian director’s heartwarming new film, Winners, tells the tale of a child in Iran with a passion for movies. He talks about escaping to Europe and juggling four restaurant jobs to fund his early works

Hassan Nazer was in his first month at university in Iran when he realised that he would have to leave his homeland to fulfil his dream of becoming a film-maker. As a fledgling theatre director, he had been “red-flagged” – a possibly irredeemable offence – for putting women on stage in the holy city of Mashhad. His father, who ran a family confectionery business from a factory outside Tehran, had been opposed to his career choice from the start, but one of his uncles was on his side. “He said, after you get a red flag in this age, they’re not going to let you work. So basically, if you want to go into cinema or continue with theatre, this is not your place. You need to leave.”

Nazer had avoided military service, and had no passport or visa, so his uncle paid for him to be smuggled across the border into Turkey. “I didn’t have a destination at the time, I just wanted to go somewhere else,” he says. It took six gruelling months, often travelling on foot, to reach Europe, where his uncle put him in touch with a Kurdish family who had found asylum in Scotland and were willing to help, as they had been helped by his family back in Iran at an early stage of their own migration.

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Timing and luck: there is more to Graham Potter’s strife than a lack of passion

Brighton’s recent progress under Roberto De Zerbi emphasises the role other factors play in a manager’s success

He’s not good enough. He’s not cut out for this level. He can’t handle the club. He’s out of his depth. It is never hard to propose simple explanations for why things have gone wrong for managers. But football is rarely simple. Everything is contingent; very little is true in itself. There is no simple explanation for Graham Potter’s struggles at Chelsea.

And these are struggles, even before you consider expenditure in excess of half a billion pounds over the past year. Chelsea started the weekend as close to the relegation zone as the Champions League qualification places. They are averaging a goal a game. They haven’t beaten a top-half side this season. They haven’t won a domestic cup tie and trail Borussia Dortmund after one leg in the Champions League last 16. And yet before Sunday’s game against Tottenham, Potter’s job is apparently not under threat.

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South Africa stun England to reach Women’s T20 World Cup final

  • South Africa 164-4, England 158-8, South Africa win by six runs
  • Ismail seals victory in final over after Brits’s brilliance with bat

It was meant to be a walkover for England – a suggestion that had riled the South Africa captain, Sune Luus, before this semi-final. “Oh, that’s great, there’s no pressure on us then, we can just go out and enjoy it,” she had bristled at one reporter during the pre-match press conference.

And enjoy it they did – from the moment Luus won the toss and chose to bat, through a 96-run opening partnership between Tazmin Brits (68) and Laura Wolvaardt, who both struck half-centuries; before a quickfire 27 off 13 from Marizanne Kapp helped South Africa reach the dizzy heights of 164 for four. “We were the underdog today, and being the underdog makes you want to do better,” as Brits put it afterwards.

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Talking Horses: Our Power can light up Coral Trophy at Kempton

Sam Thomas’s eight-year-old a good bet on Saturday with Annsam, Bobhopeornohope and Frodon all in contention

A three-mile chase around flat, right-handed Kempton suits some horses more than others and the field for Saturday’s £150,000 Coral Trophy includes the first, third and fourth from last year’s race and the winner in 2021. The weights, meanwhile, are headed by Frodon, the King George VI Chase winner over track and trip in 2020 and third home in the same race two months ago.

Frodon, who won his most recent start in a handicap in the Badger Beer Chase at Wincanton in November, is just 3lb higher on Saturday and will go to post with a serious chance, not least if Bryony Frost can get him into a rhythm in front.

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New mobile puck will allow smartphones to send texts via satellite

Low-cost device launched to solve mobile blackspots with SOS and two-way texting for Android and iPhone

The Defy Satellite link gives any Android or iPhone an instant upgrade with the ability to send and receive text messages via satellite, solving the problem of mobile dead zones for emergencies and wilderness adventures.

Announced ahead of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and produced by the British phone manufacturer Bullitt under the Motorola brand, the Satellite link connects to a normal smartphone via Bluetooth and uses an app to send not only SOS messages but general two-way chat via texts.

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‘Nobody has answers’: Ohio residents fearful of health risks near train site

Locals who live near the site of the toxic train derailment describe ‘burning eyes and throat’ as experts say the EPA is needlessly putting their health at risk

When crews conducted a controlled burn of giant quantities of toxic vinyl chloride in the wake of the train wreck in East Palestine, Ohio, they nullified the risk of a potentially deadly explosion.

But the preventative burn created new potential risks over the horizon. Compounds such as dioxins, chlorinated PAHs and other chemical byproducts of vinyl chloride combustion, some of which are highly toxic, can accumulate in the environment, and could pose a long-term health threat in the East Palestine area and downwind.

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Police name off-duty detective injured in Omagh shooting

DCI John Caldwell, a high-profile PSNI officer, in critical condition in hospital after shooting on Wednesday night

The senior police officer shot in Omagh on Wednesday evening has been named as DCI John Caldwell, as police said the primary focus of the investigation was on dissident republicans.

Caldwell is in a critical but stable condition in hospital after the attack at a sports complex in Omagh. He was shot a number of times by masked men in front of young people he had been coaching.

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It may be the most effective anti-obesity drug yet – but even Wegovy is no ‘wonder cure’ | Jason Halford

The much-hyped medicine is due to hit UK chemists in spring. However, one drug in isolation is never the answer

  • Jason Halford is president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity

In my 30 years as an obesity researcher, I’ve seen all kinds of “wonder cures” come and go. Some were withdrawn due to serious side-effects; most have had only a relatively modest effect on people’s body mass.

But now a new generation of medications has arrived, based on a better understanding of the biological underpinnings of obesity. While previous pharmaceutical treatments resulted in weight loss of 5-10%, clinical trials of this new wave of drugs are reporting initial weight loss of 15-20%. They work by suppressing appetite and slowing down digestion so we feel full for longer. One of these medications – semaglutide, sold under the brand name Wegovy – will soon be available in UK chemists in the form of a weekly, self-administered injection.

Jason Halford is a professor of biological psychology and health behaviours at the University of Leeds and president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity

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‘Haunting and poignant’: long-lost mass by Shirley Collins’ sister Dolly finally makes its debut

A school-gate chat led to the rediscovery of the late composer Dolly Collins’ Missa Humana, as her folk star sister, the writer Maureen Duffy and medieval academic Lawrence Warner explain

In the liner notes for her 1969 folk album Anthems in Eden, Shirley Collins wrote about the musician with whom she made it: her big sister, Dolly. Dolly had arranged the ambitious song cycle about changes in rural England, weaving rare early music instruments such as sackbuts, crumhorns and viols around her sister’s stark English voice.

Anthems in Eden was a landmark album but Dolly’s next project was to be bigger. “Now she lives in a cottage in Hastings and is currently working on a full-scale secular Mass,” Shirley wrote. Dolly finally finished it decades later – not long before her sudden death in 1995 aged 62. Having gone nearly three decades unheard, the mass – titled Missa Humana – finally gets its world premiere next Saturday at London’s Conway Hall.

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Are 15-minute cities a good idea or the work of UN greenist devils? | First Dog on the Moon

What if I want a 90-minute commute? Maybe I like sitting in traffic?

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Joseph Fiennes cast as Gareth Southgate in National Theatre play

James Graham’s Dear England follows ‘gentle revolution’ implemented by men’s football manager

A new play chronicling “the gentle revolution” led by England men’s football manager, Gareth Southgate, is to be staged at the National Theatre, it has been reported.

James Graham, the writer of acclaimed television series Sherwood, has written Dear England, about the shift in the national team’s culture under Southgate, the BBC said.

Dear England will run at the National Theatre from 10 June until 11 August. Tickets go on sale on 9 March.

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The global aid system failed Syria just as it did Afghanistan. How long can this go on? | Shadi Khan Saif

We must make humanitarianism a global agenda, just like climate change, press freedom and gender equality

After the dreadful earthquakes in Syria and Turkey – the latter of which is now grappling with two more powerful shocks – the global humanitarian ecosystem seems to have once again failed to serve its purpose.

Under domestic pressures and international politics, there is a stark disparity in the way international rescue, relief and rehabilitation aid has been delivered to thousands of Syrians in comparison with their peers deserving equal care and attention in Turkey.

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Tár’s gender-balanced profession is a utopian fantasy. In the real world, conducting has a gender problem

The Bafta-winning film has helped increase visibility of women in conducting, but I long for the day when my presence on the podium won’t be remarked on

I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve been asked my thoughts on the film Tár these last few weeks. It seems as if everyone wants to know what it’s really like to be a woman in conducting, and how I feel about the abusive fictional character causing a stir on cinema screens across the globe.

Lydia Tár lives in a world that closely resembles present-day reality, complete with references to a recent pandemic. But one notable difference is apparent: in Tár’s world, female conductors have well and truly smashed the glass ceiling, and conducting seems to be a gender-balanced profession. In the film’s opening scenes, Tár talks about how the challenges once faced by women are in the past, and suggests that her fellowship programme for female conductors should be opened up to men as it no longer feels necessary to distinguish between genders.

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Culture crises across sports are a warning siren: we cannot keep ignoring the lessons | Cath Bishop

Trust in high-performance sport systems is at an all-time low, it is long overdue that we chart a healthier path for elite athletes

Like waves, culture crises roll in and out of our sporting shores. Rugby and cricket have been in the headlines recently. A string of reviews have investigated Olympic and Paralympic sports including cycling, archery, bobsleigh, para-swimming, judo and gymnastics. The problem with this regularity of cultural emergencies is that it’s fast becoming the norm, part of what we expect in high-performance sport, rather than a warning sign that something is going badly wrong in these environments and that the fixes to date are not working.

Normalising these cultures reinforces the narrative that underpins them: sport is tough and athletes need to be prepared to do whatever it takes, no questions asked. Carrying on like this would be wilful blindness. Rather we should be asking what is going wrong in high-performance sport? What could we do differently to chart a better, healthier path for elite sport? And is this a peculiarly British phenomenon, or are there lessons to learn from abroad?

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Australia lose nine wickets in one session in humiliating second Test defeat to India

  • Australia 263 and 114; India 262 and 118-4 | India win by six wickets
  • Hosts retain Border-Gavaskar trophy for fourth straight time

Australia’s hopes of conquering the final frontier are over after being crushed by India’s ruthless spin sensations Ravi Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin for the second time in a week.

India will retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the fourth straight time after winning the second Test in Delhi by six wickets to take an unbeatable 2-0 advantage in the four-match series.

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Australia v Spain: Cup of Nations – live

  • Updates from the Matildas’ second outing of the tournament
  • Any thoughts? Email or tweet @JPHowcroft

Can the Matildas continue to build momentum towards a World Cup on home soil, or will Spain spoil the party in Parramatta?

The anthems have been sung, the Welcome to Country observed, kick-off is seconds away.

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India v Australia: second Test, day two – live

  • Updates from the second day of play at Arun Jaitley Stadium
  • David Warner ruled out with concussion, replaced by Matt Renshaw
  • Any thoughts? Email or tweet @Jimbo_Cricket

Speaking of the run rate in NZ, Ben Stokes has just hit consecutive sixes to become the most prolific six-hitter in Test history. Second on the list behind the England captain is England coach, Brendon McCullum.

Mark Waugh and Sanjay Manjrekar have taken a close look at the pitch and they reckon it already looks like a day three or four pitch; dry with plenty of scarring. The best time to bat was yesterday, so don’t expect the kind of run rate we’ve seen over in NZ.

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