This week's news on Egypt football riots.
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In Egypt, Mubarak's repression machine is still alive and well | Hossam el-Hamalawy
16 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
The revolution must support the strikes by conscripts and civil servants if we are ever to dissolve the hated interior ministry
A little over a week ago, in Obour City, hundreds of Egypt's notorious Central Security Forces (CSF) conscripts mutinied over torture received at the hands of their officers. The conscripts took to the highway, blocked the road, and even started chanting a famous anti-police song composed by the Ultras White Knights, one of the country's football fan groups. The mutiny was put down quickly by the army, together with concessions and promises offered.
This was not the first time such a mutiny has occurred since the January 2011 revolution. Several mutinies occurred on the "Friday of Anger". The following day, I met a guy in Mohamed Mahmoud Street while marching on the interior ministry who was a CSF conscript who escaped from his camp to join the protesters. Repeated mutinies were reported in Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere over the course of the following months, over ill treatment by officers, long working hours and bad food.
The CSF is the interior ministry's army, and its central arm in crushing street dissent. Those conscripts are poorly paid, poorly fed, tortured, and made to do the state's dirtiest job. The last time they undertook a full-scale mutiny was in 1986. It was brutally crushed by Mubarak who sent in the army.
Civil servants at the interior ministry have also been on strike, over pensions, pay and abusive treatment of civilians by police officers. That follows a national strike by police corporals, over pay, work conditions and again, ill-treatment by officers. The corporals demanded an end to military tribunals in the police force. Workers at eight factories owned by the interior ministry, producing consumer goods for officers, have also gone on strike over contracts.
Make no mistake, Mubarak's interior ministry is still alive and well. We dealt some heavy blows to it on the Friday of Anger and the police were heroically fought on several occasions, including the mini uprising in November 2011. But still, the CSF, the SS (or what's now called Homeland Security) and most of the repression machine is intact, and moreover is receiving the direct help of the military police and the army's intelligence services.
Even if the ruling army generals manage to crush the ongoing police protests and prevent them from spreading, the objective conditions for another 1986-style mass scale mutiny are still there. Those new waves of conscripts are not only the sons of poor peasants and workers, who have no love for their middle-class officers, but the context is one of revolution. Those new conscripts have witnessed it, and could well have participated in it prior to their conscription.
The interior ministry will not be able to restructure its CSF. There is not the political will; the current police generals who belong to Mubarak's interior minister Habib el-Adly's clique are more than happy to see the status of their army of slaves remain unchanged. The army generals too would love to see Mubarak's CSF revived and for it to take charge of putting down protests instead of having to involve the military police.
As we continue to organise and fight against the interior ministry, in an effort to dissolve it and replace it with community policing, such strikes and mutinies by the conscripts, corporals and civil servants should be supported by the revolutionary forces to create more fractures in this machine of repression.
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Sony Radio Academy awards winners
15 MayGuardian.co.uk - Media News
The full list of winners from the 30th Sony Radio Academy awards
The Sony DAB Rising Star Award
Gold: Luke Franks (Fun Kids)Station of the Year (under 300,000)
Gold: KL.FM
Nominee: Moray Firth Radio
Nominee: Garrison FMBest Breaking News Coverage
Gold: PM – BBC Radio 4
Silver: August Riots – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Bronze: Gary Speed's Death – Somethin' Else & BBC Radio Sport for BBC Radio 5 live
Nominee: The Riots – GMG Radio North West News Team for Real Radio North West
Nominee: Birmingham Riots – Free Radio Birmingham (brmb)Best Community Programming
Gold: Face To Face – Prison Radio Association for National Prison Radio
Silver: Handle with Care - BBC Radio Berkshire and Company Paradiso for BBC Radio Berkshire
Bronze: Behind Bars – Prison Radio Association for National Prison Radio
Nominee: Lonely At Christmas - BBC Radio Oxford
Nominee: Cocaine Unwrapped - - GMG Radio North West News Team for Real Radio North WestBest News and Current Affairs Programme
Gold: 5 live Drive – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: SITREP – BFBS
Bronze: The Sunday Roast with Caroline – 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire
Nominee: The World At One – BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Radio 1 Newsbeat – BBC Radio 1Best Sports Programme
Gold: Keys & Gray - talkSPORT
Silver: Rock 'N' Roll Football – Survival Sunday – USP Content for Absolute Radio
Bronze: Kicking Off With Colin Murray – BBC Radio Sport for BBC Radio 5 live
Nominee: Gerr'um On Side – UTV Media for 102.4 Wish FM and 107.2 Wire FM
Nominee: My Sporting Life - talkSPORTBest Music Feature/Special/Documentary
Gold: Feeling Good – The Nina Simone Story Part 1 – Sue Clark Productions for BBC Radio 2
Silver: Pete Townshend – Before I Get Old – Just Radio Ltd for BBC Radio 2
Bronze: Killing Bono – A Life In The Shadow of Superstardom – GMG Radio for Real Radio and Real Radio XS
Nominee: The Music That Melted – BBC Radio Documentaries for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Radio 1 Stories – The Amen Break – BBC Radio 1Best News Feature/Special/Documentary
Gold: Child of Ardoyne – Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 3
Silver: Assignment: Blasphemy – A Matter of Life and Death – BBC World Service News & Current Affairs for BBC World Service
Bronze: The Kill Factor – BBC Radio Current Affairs for BBC World Service
Nominee: Lives in a Landscape: The Hackney Riots – BBC Radio Documentaries for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Filesharing Special – BBC Radio 1 NewsbeatBest Feature/Special/Documentary
Gold: Walking With The Wounded – GMG Radio North West News Team for Smooth Radio
Silver: Spike Milligan – The Serious Poet – White Pebble Media for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: The Mousetrap and Me – BBC Radio Wales
Nominee: The Underwater Gendarme – BBC Wales for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: The Five Ages of Brandreth – BBC Political Programmes for BBC Radio 4Best Comedy
Gold: Mark Steel's In Town – BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Another Case Of Milton Jones – Pozzitive Television for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: Down The Line – Down The Line Productions for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Adam & Joe - BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: The National Theatre of Brent's Iconic Icons – CPL Productions for BBC Radio 4Best Drama
Gold: On It – Woolyback Productions for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Use It or Lose It – Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 3
Bronze: A Tale of Two Cities – BBC Radio Drama London for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: A Time to Dance – Sweet Talk Productions for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: North by Northamptonshire – BBC Radio Comedy for BBC Radio 4Best Use of Multiplatform/Social Media
Gold: Now Playing@6Music – Somethin' Else for BBC Audio & Music Interactive and BBC Radio 6 Music
Silver: The Classic FM Hall Of Fame – Classic FM
Bronze: BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra homepages – BBC Audio & Music Interactive for BBC Radio 1
Nominee: Heart Breakfast with James & Charlie – Heart Kent
Nominee: Absolute 80s – Absolute RadioBest Live Event Coverage
Gold: The Royal Wedding – BBC World Service News Programmes for BBC World Service
Silver: Danny Wallace's Naked Breakfast - Xfm
Bronze: Real Radio Live @ Take That – Real Radio North East
Nominee: England No. 1 Test Side – BBC Radio Sport for 5 live sports extra & BBC Radio 4 Longwave
Nominee: Choice at The Notting Hill Carnival – Choice Programming for Choice FMBest Single Promo/Commercial
Gold: Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show – The Complaints – Absolute Radio
Silver: The Day Before 9/11 – BBC Radio 4 Presentation for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: Campese on Sunday Morning – talkSPORT Creative for talkSPORT
Nominee: Sherlock Returns – BBC Radio Cross Trails for BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: Beat The Star – Global Radio for Heart West MidlandsBest Specialist Music Programme
Gold: David Rodigan – Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 2
Silver: The Ronnie Wood Show – Somethin' Else for Absolute Radio
Bronze: Another Country with Ricky Ross – BBC Radio Scotland
Nominee: Friday Night Is Music Night – BBC Radio 2
Nominee: Music: Response – XfmBest Station Imaging
Gold: BBC Radio 1Xtra
Silver: Capital Network
Bronze: BBC Radio 2
Nominee: KISS & ReelWorld Productions for KISS
Nominee: JACKfm OxfordshireBest Competition
Gold: 2 Strangers And A Wedding – 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire & glide FM 107.9 Oxfordshire
Silver: Christian O'Connell's Early Morning Game – Absolute Radio
Bronze: Danny Wallace's QuizFace - Xfm
Nominee: Christmas is Cancelled - Pirate FM
Nominee: Superstar DJ – BBC Radio 1Best Entertainment Programme
Gold: Beryl and Betty – BBC Radio Humberside
Silver: Adam & Joe – BBC Radio 6 Music
Frank Skinner – Avalon for Absolute Radio
Nominee: Boogie and Dingo's Big Saturday Show – Bauer Radio Scotland
Nominee: Real Radio Breakfast with Dixie & Gayle – Real Radio YorkshireBest Music Programme
Gold: Fearne Cotton – BBC Radio 1
Silver: In:Demand Scotland – Bauer Radio Scotland
Bronze: In Tune – BBC Radio 3
Nominee: Steve Lamacq – BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: Michael Bublé – Magic 105.4The Special Award
Classic FMBest Internet Programme
Gold: Science Weekly: Sounds of the Space Shuttle – An Acoustic Tribute – The Guardian
Silver: Days In The Life – Guardian News & Media for The Guardian
Bronze: Do The Right Thing – Fuzz Productions Ltd for British Comedy Guide
Nominee: Front Room Fringe – Forth One
Nominee: Mindcast: Bipolar – Matt Wilkinson in association with Wise Buddah Creative for MindBest Speech Programme
Gold: Stephen Nolan – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: Gardeners' Question Time – Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 4
Bronze: World Have Your Say – BBC World Service News Programmes for BBC World Service
Nominee: Ken Livingstone and David Mellor – LBC 97.3
Nominee: Kermode and Mayo's Film Review – Somethin' Else for BBC Radio 5 liveMusic Radio Personality of the Year
Gold: Chris Evans – BBC Radio 2
Silver: Lauren Laverne – BBC Radio 6 Music
Bronze: Christian O'Connell – Absolute Radio
Nominee: Huey Morgan – BBC Radio 2 &Wise Buddah Creative for BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: Gemma Cairney – BBC Radio 1XtraBest Use of Branded Content
Gold: Danny Wallace's Naked Breakfast – Global Radio for Xfm
Silver: The KISS Chosen One with Blackberry - KISS
Bronze: Car Wars – Real Radio Yorkshire
Nominee: The Power of Dreams on Classic FM with Honda – Classic FM
Nominee: Rock 'N' Roll Football with Sky Sports – Absolute RadioMusic Broadcaster of the Year
Gold: Jools Holland – BBC Radio 2
Silver: Sean Rowley – BBC Radio Kent
Bronze: Mistajam – BBC Radio 1Xtra
Nominee: Tom Service – BBC Radio 3 for BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 & BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: Mark Radcliffe – Smooth Operations (Productions Ltd for BBC Radio 6 Music & BBC Radio 2Speech Radio Personality of the Year
Gold: Danny Baker – Campbell Davison Media for BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: Alan Brazil – talkSPORT
Bronze: Alan Robson – Metro Radio
Nominee: Richard Bacon – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Nominee: Toby Foster – BBC Radio SheffieldBreakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million)
Gold: Real Radio Breakfast with Gary and Lisa - Real Radio North East
Silver: BBC Essex Breakfast - BBC Essex
Bronze: Adam Tomlinson at Breakfast - BBC Radio York
Nominee: Juice FM Breakfast with Adam and Leanne - 107.6 Juice FM
Nominee: Porridge - Prison Radio Association for National Prison RadioBest Promotional/Advertising Campaign
Gold: Wimbledon 2011 - Fresh Air Production for BBC Radio Cross Trails for BBC Radio 2, 5 live & Local Radio
Silver: The Rugby World Cup 2011 – talkSPORT Creative for talkSPORT
Bronze: Britain Loves Radio – Radio Advertising Bureau for Commercial Radio
Nominee: Red Nose Day – Fresh Air Production for BBC Radio Cross Trails for BBC Radio 1, 2 & Local Radio
Nominee: In The Mind of a Car Thief – Eagle Radio & Eagle Extra for UKRD GroupSpeech Broadcaster of the Year
Gold: Victoria Derbyshire – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Silver: Jeremy Vine – BBC Radio 2
Bronze: Evan Davis – BBC News for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Nick Ferrari – LBC 97.3
Nominee: Jenni Murray – BBC General Factual for BBC Radio 4Breakfast Show of the Year (10 million plus)
Gold: KISS Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie - KISS
Silver: The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show – Absolute Radio
Bronze: The Chris Evans Breakfast Show – BBC Radio 2
Nominee: Heart Breakfast (London) - London's Heart
Nominee: 5 live Breakfast – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 liveNews Journalist of the Year
Gold: Mike Thomson – BBC News for BBC Radio 4
Silver: Metro Radio News Team – Metro Radio
Bronze: JACKfm News Team – 106 JACKfm Oxfordshire
Nominee: John Sudworth – BBC Radio 4
Nominee: GMG Radio North West News Team – Smooth Radio, Real Radio & Real XSStation Programmer of the Year
Gold: Andy Roberts – KISS
Nominee: Clive Dickens – Absolute Radio
Nominee: Moz Dee – talkSPORTBest Interview
Gold: Eddie Mair interviews Julie Nicholson – BBC Radio 4
Silver: Jeremy Vine interviews Helena Tym – BBC Radio 2
Bronze: Victoria Derbyshire interviews Ken Clarke – BBC News for BBC Radio 5 live
Nominee: Mark Lawson interviews Ricky Gervais – BBC Radio Arts for BBC Radio 4
Nominee: Andrew Peach interviews Anne Diamond – BBC Radio BerkshireStation of the Year (300,000 - 1 million)
Gold: 107.6 Juice FM
Nominee: BBC Radio Berkshire
Nominee: Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire (Mercia)
Station of the Year (1 million plus)
Gold: Radio City 96.7
Nominee: BBC World Service
Nominee: BBC Radio 4 ExtraUK Station of the Year
Gold: BBC Radio 6 Music
Nominee: BBC Radio 2
Nominee: Kerrang! RadioThe Gold Award
Nicholas Parsonsguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds -
Twitter now has 10m users in UK
15 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
UK is the fourth-largest country for Twitter users in the world, with 80% accessing it with mobile phones
Twitter now has 10 million active users in the UK, out of 140 million worldwide, the company has revealed – and 80%, an unusually high number, access it through mobile phones.
The data about the UK, revealed for the first time by the company, indicates that 8 million who logged in to the company's site in the past 30 days did so from a mobile phone, compared to Twitter's global average of 55%.
Independent studies suggest that the UK is the fourth-largest country for Twitter users in the world, after the US, Brazil and Japan.
The UK's proportion of mobile users is 45% higher than the average for the world, indicating the strength of Twitter use in the UK. Although most users are almost certain to log in via a desktop or laptop computer at some point, a Twitter UK spokeswoman said: "We have seen growth in the number of people signing up from a mobile."
That, she said, went back to the DNA of Twitter – which was originally set up in 2006 as a service that would work over SMS, which is why its messages are limited to 140 characters.
Twitter also points out that its users are particularly active in generating content: 60% have contributed to the network, either through tweeting or posting a picture or other content, compared to the world's biggest video site YouTube, where sources say just 1% of users ever posts a video.
However, the figure for active users suggests a high attrition rate: a study by research firm Semiocast in January claimed about 383m Twitter profiles had been created up to the beginning of 2012, with about one-third of those in the US.
Twitter use in the UK came into sharp focus in summer 2011 when it was initially blamed for inciting some of the riots in London and other cities.
It also saw a sharp peak in use in spring 2011 after the footballer Ryan Giggs sued the company when a number of tweets appeared on the service alleging that he had had an affair with the model Imogen Thomas – a claim which at the time was covered by a superinjunction.
The profusion of tweets led Lord Judge, the lord chief justice on the case, to complain that users of Twitter were totally out of control when it came to privacy injunctions and court orders.
But the company itself, which celebrates its first year of operating with a UK office on 1 June, and has grown from zero staff to more than 30, is pointing to its growing success as an advertising platform, which chief executive Dick Costolo is driving through "promoted" tweets, trends and other paid-for content, known collectively as "Promoted Products" and which Twitter has been selling in the UK since September 2011.
Since then organisations including the British Heart Foundation, Cadbury and Absolute Radio have used Twitter to promote their services, while many others have taken advantage of the platform to build use.
Among those was the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green, which tweeted on 24 February 2011 that without help, it would have to close its doors in nine months because it would be unable to pay back a bank loan. The day after posting the tweet – which was picked up and became part of the trending tweets for London – the shop sold enough books to cover its bank loan repayments for nearly two months. That was followed by broader interest around the world; the site is now trading healthily.
The social networking service has come a long way since August 2009, when co-founder Evan Williams was interviewed on the BBC's Newsnight and said: "London is our top Twitter-using city as of today and the UK is second only to the US in terms of number of Twitter users."
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McLeish sacked after Villa's season of disappointment
14 Maywww.guardian.co.uk - sport
• Villa finished just two points clear of the relegation zone
• McLeish oversaw Villa's worst ever season at homeThe Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish has left Aston Villa after holding talks with the club chairman, Randy Lerner, following a season of underachievement.
An Aston Villa statement said: "The club has been disappointed with this season's results, performances and the general message these have sent to our fans. The board wishes to assure supporters that we are conscious in every sense that Villa expects and deserves more and we will strive to deliver this."
Lerner added: "We need to be clear and candid with ourselves and with supporters about what we have lacked in recent years. Compelling play and results that instil a sense of confidence that Villa is on the right track have been plainly absent. The most immediate action that we can take is to look carefully at our options in terms of bringing in a new manager who sees the club's potential and embraces our collective expectations."
Aston Villa's chief executive Paul Faulkner said: "We'd like to thank Alex for his hard work and efforts throughout this tough season. We are mindful of the club's need to prepare thoroughly for the new campaign and for the new manager to be able to begin working with the board so that he is quickly immersed in these preparations and also in the long-term objectives of the club. Our focus now will be driven by these imperatives and we will update when appropriate."
Lerner flew in from the United States to speak with McLeish along with Faulkner in the aftermath of Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Norwich, which was described as "woeful" by the manager.
Coincidentally, Norwich's manager is one of the favourites to take over from McLeish and Aston Villa's fans chanted his name during their side's defeat against Norwich. But Lambert agreed a new deal at Carrow Road in May 2011 and Norwich's chief executive David McNally insists the club will fight to keep him.
"We would not welcome any enquiry for our football manager or any of the club's football players," McNally said. "We will do everything we can and fight this as hard as we have ever fought."
McLeish was never popular with the Aston Villa fans and many were calling for the former Birmingham manager to be axed as the club ended the campaign just two points clear of the bottom three. McLeish has had to contend with slashing the wage bill, which he described as "astronomical", and has been deprived of several key players through injury or illness.
The likes of record signing Darren Bent, the defender Richard Dunne and the captain Stilian Petrov have been unavailable for lengthy spells and McLeish has had to put the accent on youth. McLeish always stressed it would be a season of transition after replacing Gérard Houllier last summer, but it was still a surprise that Villa only made sure of survival last weekend. Their tally of 38 points in finishing 16th is actually one less than when McLeish was relegated with Birmingham last campaign.
Villa have also encountered the worst season in their history in terms of their home record in registering just four wins.
McLeish insisted after the 2-0 defeat at Carrow Road he was still the right man for the job and was aiming to rebuild the side. But his future now depends on whetherHowever Lerner must now start to search for a fourth manager in less than two years following the departures of Martin O'Neill in the summer of 2010 and Houllier's exit through ill health last year.
Who will replace McLeish?
Chris Hughton
Villa upset many fans when they picked up McLeish from their neighbours Birmingham and although Hughton would be unlikely to draw the same level of opprobrium, it is hard to imagine them appointing from St Andrew's again. Hughton has credit in the bank from his time at Newcastle and did well under difficult financial circumstances to take Blues into the Championship play-offs, but he is a long shot.
Alan Curbishley
As an experienced manager with several years of Premier League experience and a short stint at Villa Park from his playing days, Curbishley represents the safest pair of hands. But he has been out of the game since leaving West Ham in 2008 and needs to return to management soon if he is not to be seen as yesterday's man.
Roberto Martínez
Martínez declined Villa's advances last summer to stay with Wigan but after pulling off another exhilarating escape at the DW Stadium, he may feel he has done all he can at the club. But if that is the case, the Spaniard could see his next move as one higher up the food chain than Villa.
Paul Lambert
Lambert has rightly won many plaudits for guiding an unfashionable Norwich side to 12th place in their first season since promotion to the Premier League. He moved to a bigger club when he traded Colchester for the Canaries in 2009 and could be high on Randy Lerner's list.
Bob Bradley
Like Martínez, the former United States coach Bradley featured high on Villa's wishlist last season. He has also been linked with Fulham in the past and despite being sacked after five years in charge of his national side, he largely impressed in the international arena. He is currently in charge of Egypt, though a Premier League role would surely be enough to turn his head.
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World Football - Police attacked in Indonesia riot
14 MayYahoo! Eurosport - Football
Indonesia football fans rioted, attacking police officers and setting fire to cars after a weekend game, local media reported on Monday.
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Russian protests: thousands march in support of Occupy Abay camp
13 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
About 15,000 people join march through Moscow in solidarity with anti-Putin sit-in, which is entering second week
There's a guitar and kazoo player under a tree on a leafy Moscow boulevard, singing squeaky songs of revolution. Under another, three men gather for an impromptu game of chess, their jackets and hats adorned with the white ribbons that have become the symbol of those protesting against Vladimir Putin. A sign says a lecture on the lessons of Egypt's Tahrir Square will begin at 6pm.
For nearly a week, hundreds of Russians have camped out at Chistye Prudy, a boulevard in the centre of Moscow whose name translates as Clean Ponds. Inspired in style by the global Occupy movement, but fed in substance by the growing anger at Putin's return to power, the protest is the clearest sign yet that opposition to Russia's leader refuses to go away.
"We can't live like this any more," said Nina Panteleyeva, a 63-year-old French teacher. "Everything is falling apart – the schools don't teach, the hospitals don't heal, the courts don't deliver justice."
Panteleyeva was one of 15,000 Russians that took to the streets of Moscow on Sunday for a march in support of the camp, nicknamed Occupy Abay after the statue of a 19th-century Kazakh poet that is the anchor of the sit-in.
The crowd erupted into applause when passing cars honked in solidarity. They wore white ribbons and carried white flowers. Refraining from shouting slogans or carrying anti-Putin signs, police left them alone.
Yet, through it all ran a shiver of fear. "Of course we're scared," said Lena Sokolovskaya, a 40-year-old designer. "We live in such a country where at any moment we can be crushed."
After violently cracking down on protests last week during Putin's inauguration for his third term as president, riot police have been called back. They had arrested hundreds in the span of four days as protesters wandered from square to square before settling down at Chistye Prudy.
The opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who helped launch the Occupy Abay movement, remains in jail on a 15-day sentence for disobeying police. His co-hort Sergei Udaltsov, a far-left leader, is also in jail and has gone on hunger strike. Supporters worry they could face longer sentences as the Kremlin seeks to clamp down on the movement.
Putin has remained silent on the protests since his inauguration. His spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has said riot police acted "too softly" when they violently broke up a thousands-strong protest on the eve of the event. Ilya Ponomaryov, an opposition Duma deputy, said Peskov told him the protesters should "have their livers smeared on the sidewalk for injuring riot police". Peskov has refused to deny the phrase, saying only that Ponomaryov's publicising of a private conversation was "not manly".
For now, the atmosphere at Occupy Abay remains one of hippy calmness. Groups of protesters break into song. Others form a drum circle. There are teenagers and pensioners, women with children, men with white ribbons tied into their beards.
"It's a huge number of people, happy and smiling people without a drop of aggression," said Lyudmila Ulitskaya, one of Russia's best-known novelists. "I'd call it the birth of civil society, which we in Russia have always had such a hard time with."
Ulitskaya and several other writers and poets had called for Russians to join Sunday's march. Boris Akunin, a novelist and protest organiser, told the crowd: "The point of this walk is simple. We have to teach the authorities to deal with their people politely and with respect, not via sticks or the police."
Strangers struck up political discussions. Struggling poets read their work to small crowds. One man walked by and shouted into his telephone: "I've realised what Moscow wants! Not a KGB president, but a writer-president, like Vaclav Havel."
Vladimir Nikipolsky, a taxi driver and poet, said: "The intelligentsia has woken up. We can no longer live under feudalism."
As evening fell on Moscow, many of the protesters faded away, but hundreds stayed behind ready to sleep on yoga mats and wake up to the camp's second week. A white board on a platform announced events in the days to come: lectures on the workers' struggle, followed by a priest's discussion on the church's attitude towards the jailed punk band Pussy Riot.
"I have a feeling of cyclicity," said Ilya Bezrukov, head of a Moscow museum focused on Russia's many revolutions. "You see what they were demanding 100 years ago and we have the same problems today. But this protest shows we've broken the cycle of bloodletting. It's our victory not theirs."
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Chairman's message
13 MayTottenham Hotspur
<p>Today will see the final League positions of several Clubs decided, ourselves amongst them. We may, however, find that we still have to wait on the outcome of the Champions League Final next weekend to know in which European competition we shall be competing.</p><p>It is a mark of our progress and the quality of our squad that each season we now look and expect to be competing at the top of our game.</p><p>Once again we have seen football played at home and away which has shown our brand and style of play around the world and led our competitors to describe us as the most entertaining team in the Premier League.</p><p>We saw several of our younger players debut in the Europa League this season and several senior players listed in the industry honours – and we were all delighted to see Kyle Walker win PFA Young Player of the Year,</p><p>Our squad has top players at all levels and we shall continue to seek stability and to retain key players this summer and beyond. We are a Club that is focussing on growth and moving forward.</p><p>This season has been one of progress for our Ladies team as they finished sixth in the Southern Division of the FA Women’s Premier League after being promoted last year and for the first time in Spurs Ladies history of 20 years they won the London Cup.</p><p><img src="/media/images/news/may-2012/13052012/fabrice_t430.jpg" alt="Support for Fabrice" /></p><p>It was, however, off the pitch that we experienced some of the more remarkable and outstanding events of the season - moments of high drama and intense emotion which put a perspective on this game we love so much.</p><p>We witnessed our medics help save Fabrice Muamba’s life and saw the true humanity of the footballing world as fans united on a night when shocked silence was broken by the inspiring chanting of Fabrice’s name.</p><p>Our young academy player Ollie Modeste fought for his life after an accident and is now well on the road to recovery.</p><p>Our manager, Harry, underwent heart surgery and a lengthy court case.</p><p>We are grateful for the positive outcome on all these matters.</p><p>This brings me to a further positive outcome we must now look to achieve.</p><p>Last summer, at the start of the season, a local Tottenham resident died in an incident which sparked riots on our doorstep and made headlines around the world. Our first game of the season was postponed in the wake of the damage to buildings and our focus swiftly became our role in this community and our position as the major economic driver.</p><p>With a commitment to invest in the area around the stadium from the Mayor and Haringey Council, an investment of some £90m in land and planning by the Club and with planning applications granted, we are now pushing ahead with what is widely acknowledged to be the single most important development capable of delivering social change in the area – an iconic new stadium at the heart of a true sport-led regeneration scheme, delivering new homes, shops, restaurants, jobs and opportunities.</p><p>The scale of demolition around the stadium should leave no one in any doubt as to our intent to forge ahead with this project and we shall devote our full attention and energies to it. Work is expected to start on the construction of the supermarket to the north of the stadium towards the end of the year. We shall continue to make best use of the new space the demolition process affords and to provide extra catering and entertainment during that time.</p><p>Your support for the Club is therefore now support for the regeneration of a part of London that is in desperate need of hope and new beginnings and a reversal of the sense of hopelessness and economic deprivation that has been here for too many years.</p><p><img src="/media/images/news/may-2012/13052012/ndp_no_naming_may12_430.jpg" alt="NDP" /></p><p>The Foundation has and will continue to play its major part and its concentration will be on increasing education and employment opportunities for the local community. This season saw two player endorsed and supported schemes launched - E18HTEEN with Jermain Defoe as a positive role model to around 80 young people in care from four different London boroughs working to gain education and employment opportunities; and Ledley King put his name to Skills, a project run at the newly-refurbished site in the centre of Haringey, open throughout the week for young people between the ages of 12 and 19 to take part in sports, extra-curricular learning and life skills workshops.</p><p>By the time you return for the new season the First Team and the Academy will have moved to their new home – the Tottenham Hotspur Football Training Centre, Hotspur Way, in Enfield. The completion of this fantastic facility comes at the end of seven years of planning and three years of construction and fit out, costing £45m. We are proud to have seen it come to fruition.</p><p>Speaking of proud - I have been so proud on so many occasions this year – not just of our players, medics and all our staff – but also of the manner in which you, our fans, have conducted yourselves and represented our Club around the world.</p><p>Your support is what this Club is all about and I know you will be giving the team immense support today for an all-important win.</p><p>Thank you and I wish you and your families an enjoyable summer. We look forward to welcoming you back to the Lane in August.</p><p>In closing, I should like to send our best wishes to Steve Perryman after he underwent heart surgery last weekend. Steve was a fantastic player at Tottenham for so many years, a real legend and one of the great players in the Club’s history. I am sure you will all join me in hoping he makes a full and speedy recovery.</p><p><strong>Yours,</strong></p><p><strong>Daniel</strong></p><p> </p> -
Football fans riot in Istanbul
12 MayBBC News
Hundreds of fans from Istanbul football club Fenerbahce clash with Turkish police and occupy the pitch after losing a title decider to Galatasaray. -
When going to work is far from a safe bet
12 Maywww.guardian.co.uk
Following a Guardian Money report into 'casino' machines, we have been told how angry punters are turning violent. But why are so few crimes reported to the police?
Jason Stevens doesn't scare easily. He is 6ft 3in and knows how to handle himself. But when two men wearing balaclavas stormed into his betting shop on a winter afternoon and pointed shotguns over the counter, he froze.
Most experienced betting shop staff have either found themselves in a similar situation or know someone who has, he says. "Certain shops have a long history of robberies and you feel on edge all the time," says Stevens, now a shop manager at Ladbrokes.
After 25 years in the industry, Stevens says the threat of armed robbery remains, but now a new menace means employees are, in some cases, afraid to go to work. Fixed odds betting terminals offer customers £100 bets every 20 seconds on casino-style games. Accounting for almost half of betting shops' profits, the machines are attracting a new audience.
"You get young people hanging around outside, standing in the doorways so your normal customers get quite intimidated. It's just not nice that you come to work and feel on edge, not knowing what's going to happen," says Sandra Thompson, a betting shop manager at William Hill.
Bookmakers are now more like "mini casinos", says Thompson, and fixed odds betting terminals are driving the change. Each machine generates £918 of profit for William Hill each week, and net revenue is up 5%, according to its latest results.
When some punters lose they get angry. Thompson says she often works alone, regularly faces abusive customers who swear, spit, punch and kick the machines in a mixture of frustration and desperation after losing money.
According to an internal memo seen by Guardian Money, William Hill instructs staff not to contact the police when customers not already known to staff damage the machines.
The memo also states: "If the customer has made threats towards staff and/or other customers, or placed anyone in fear of physical violence, police should be contacted."
The memo explicitly states that one of its purposes is "to reduce the number of reports to police".
William Hill, Britain's largest bookmaker, recorded just 67 incidents of "violence in the workplace" last year across 2,370 shops.
"It's so they can report it's not happening, but it is happening," alleges Thompson, who has often thought about quitting. "From a staff point of view, frankly, the majority of us have had enough. We don't get paid enough to put up with some of things that we have to put up with – it's wrong.
"Basically, if someone came in with a hammer and smashed all the machines – unless you knew who this person was, then don't bother reporting it."
A William Hill spokesman says the company adheres to industry-wide standards, highlighting that all incidents of anti-social behaviour are recorded with head office. The memo, he said, "was put together in conjunction with the Met Police, the ABB (Association of British Bookmakers), and also the heads of security representing the UK's major bookmakers. This was an industry-agreed policy, created to improve the reporting process and enhance the chances of successful prosecution in the case of criminal damage."
Figures released by the Metropolitan Police after a Freedom of Information request show that between January 2005 and June 2011 there were 2,420 violent incidents against another person in betting shops across London. This number is rising. In 2005, there were 197 cases, compared to 538 in 2010 – the last full year of data.
From April 2008 to June 2011, there were 688 robberies at London betting shops where a gun was used, according to the Metropolitan Police.
"This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Ryan Slaughter from Community, the betting shop workers' union which receives dozens of calls from concerned employees each week. "The bookmakers open earlier and close later, and are continuing to do so.
"Their aim is to keep people on those machines for as long as possible: it's as simple as that. Across the industry, continuously, staff are told not to report incidents of violence against fixed odds betting terminals in shops.
"This can range from anything from putting a chair or stool through the glass of the machine, to kicking it or punching it. While this is going on, staff are taking abuse as well.
"Any kind of evidence that suggests that the machines contribute to a rise in violence in shops is a concern to the betting industry. They're playing a political game with it. They don't want bad stories, they don't want statistical information backing up what everyone knows who works in a betting shop."
Though a new tax introduced on fixed odds betting terminals could raise £50m a year, Slaughter is concerned the government is considering increasing the current limit of four machines per shop.
"I think this would be absolutely shocking," he says. "You can't call a betting shop a betting shop any more. It is a mini casino and if you put more machines into a shop, then that's all you can call it. The art of bookmaking is long gone and that's really sad for a lot of the guys I represent."
From April 2008 to March 2011, the number of betting shop employees fell from 60,247 to 54,311, while the number of betting shops has increased from 8,862 in March 2009 to 9,067 in March 2011.
Darren Andrews, who used to work for Paddy Power, which has 165 shops in the UK, says that in the five years he spent working in betting shops he encountered "three or four" bad incidents involving betting on football or horse racing. With the machines, there could be "six or seven incidents of aggression a day," he says.
"This 30-second fog just comes down on them; they don't really know where they are, or what they're doing. I think they'd be capable of doing anything in that 30 seconds," says Andrews. "It can happen any time of day. Once I opened up the shop on a Saturday morning – we'd only been open 15 minutes and this bloke had done a grand on the machines.
"Then he started trying to smash things. He started swearing, hitting the machines. I asked him not to and he started turning his aggression on me."
A Paddy Power spokesman stressed that all staff are trained to deal with problem customers. "It's a concern to hear this, but you don't get staff members complaining to their district managers too often about this. You do get rowdy customers, like any industry. If there's a particular hotspot, we'll send our training staff to help deal with specific situations," he explains.
Despite receiving threats of rape while working, Lisa Brown, a betting shop manager at Betfred, says no one from management has checked on her welfare. "I could put seven reports on the system in a day and no one will ring me up to ask what's going on," says Brown, who has over 15 years experience in the industry. "There is not a day I don't come to work where someone is either going to tell me they're going to rape me, wait outside for me, they're going to get my car, get me, or they're going to smash the shop up.
"When it's crowded, once they're in, it's a mob mentality. So if one starts, the whole lot starts – it's like having a mini riot in your shop."
"We take the safety and security of our staff and customers extremely seriously and all incidents are logged," says a Betfred spokesman, which has 1,360 shops in the UK.
"Any concerns should be immediately raised with the area manager, who would then initiate a thorough investigation."
Brian Taylor, a William Hill betting shop manager, has 30 years experience in the industry and seen fixed odds betting terminals overtake football and horse racing as the most popular over-the-counter business.
Members of staff are encouraged to get traditional customers playing the machines through tournaments and free bet promotions, he says.
"You would never, ever, get these young crowds in without these machines. There'll be one of them playing and 14 watching and you just get dog's abuse," says Taylor, who has been a victim of armed robbery, and been hospitalised after an assault at work.
"We're not encouraged to phone the police at all. People could be on those machines 12 hours a day, I absolutely abhor them.
"You don't know on any one day what could happen. I feel particularly sorry for the younger staff as they're not used to dealing with it. A lot of people don't want to come into work any more and I don't blame them."
"The industry claims bookmakers are hubs of the community," says a spokesman for Grasp, an independent reform group set up by former gambling addicts. "In reality, they are creating multiple mini-casinos that attract violence and anti-social behaviour."
For Stevens, who has had to endure six robberies throughout his career, new measures introduced this year by Ladbrokes, which has 2,100 shops in the UK, mean that staff may have to work alone during the evenings.
"I'm not happy doing it, it's very lonely and demoralising," he says. "Night after night you're working without a colleague and it does get very soul destroying."
A Ladbrokes spokesman said: "It's never going to be popular. We will continue to monitor it on an ongoing basis.
"Like all public places there are the occasional incidents and some areas are more challenging than others, but shops have strong security measures in place and are regularly risk-assessed in line with health and safety executive best practice."
But Stevens feels differently about the reality betting shop employees face. He says: "The young ones, who are less experienced, less empowered to deal with the difficult situations, are having to work on their own. They don't feel like they've got a choice. It was simply a case of take it or leave it."
* All employees' names have been changed to protect their identities.
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds -
Egyptian presidential candidates in first television debate
11 MayThe Guardian World News
Million of Egyptians tuned into two private satellite channels to watch Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh debate
Millions of Egyptians tuned into the first ever presidential debate in the country's history on Thursday night between front runners Amr Moussa and Abdel-Moneim Abul-Futoh.
With former president Hosni Mubarak languishing in hospital as he awaits sentencing next month, Egyptians watched two private satellite channels to witness an event held within its borders for the first time: a bona fide presidential debate.
There are thirteen candidates in the race which begins 23 May, but the two who showed up for the bout were the established frontrunners in the polls, former foreign minister Moussa and former Muslim Brotherhood member Abul-Futoh.
Taking away the leftist revolutionary candidates, Moussa and Abul-Futoh exemplified perfectly the fault-lines of the upcoming election. Moussa was affiliated in some way to the previous regime while Abul-Futoh was a prominent supporter of the revolution. Also, Moussa is a secular liberal while Moussa is a moderate Islamist.
Each candidate set out his stall to accentuate his credentials to the detriment of the other. Abul-Futoh alluded to Moussa's ties to the Mubarak regime many times, while Moussa reciprocated by attacking Abul-Futoh's affiliation to the Muslim Brotherhood.
Candidates were asked a broad selection of questions over the four and half hours of the debate, ranging from the relationship with the ruling military junta, minority rights and the implementation of Sharia law.
Moussa brought up Sharia law many times in order to attack Abul-Futoh, which led the latter to eventually acquiesce that he did indeed intend to implement the rulings of Sharia law, though he argued that it would not contravene civil liberties nor the rights of non-Muslims.
"There is no duality between religion and citizenship, the state or the constitution. The nature of Islam is that it looks for the interest of people. When we look for their interests, this is congruous with Sharia law," Abul-Futoh said.
For his part Moussa distanced himself from Mubarak and his regime, stating, "When the regime fell, it fell with it's men and I wasn't one of them. I left ten years ago and when it fell I wasn't part of it."
The candidates were also asked about the ruling military junta and the litany of abuses conducted by them, including the infamous virginity tests against female protesters. They both responded by saying that if it did happen, a full investigation must take place and those responsible held accountable. But it seemed to be no more than pumped up rhetoric as they exalted the role of Egyptian women in society.
The candidates were also asked about Israel, the US and Iran. Ever the diplomat, Moussa said relations with Israel must be reconfigured until a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital was created. Abul-Futoh was more scathing labelling Israel a threat to Egypt with its 200 nuclear warheads and continued broaching of Egyptian sovereignty on its borders. Both were rather more blasé about the US. Regarding Iran, Moussa urged that there should be no attack on it despite the many differences with it while Abul-Futoh said Iran was welcome to have relations with Egypt as long as it did not attempt to spread Shia beliefs.
The London riots also made its way into the debate, when Abul-Futoh pointed out that police protected looters even as they rioted, in way of explanation that it was the job of police to avoid deaths even if protests turn violent.
The debate was aired concurrently on two satellite channels belonging to prominent Egyptian businessmen, Naguib Sawiris and Ahmed Bahgat. It was not aired on national television and was full of ad breaks, giving it a Superbowl-type atmosphere and leading to criticism that it was a money-making endeavour as much as it was a historic occasion.
It was also not without its surreal moments. Beforehand, the presenters discussed debates in the US and Europe, and while talking about the debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin of 2008, footage was aired of Tina Fey impersonating Palin on the satirical television show Saturday Night Live.guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
