http://blogs.independent.co.uk| Blogs from the Independent newspaper - news, views and features from the world's most free-thinking newspaper| Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:03:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2| en hourly 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/a-commuters-marathon-3-unease-grows-ahead-of-london-2012/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/a-commuters-marathon-3-unease-grows-ahead-of-london-2012/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:01:44 +0000 Martin King http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21392 So how are things going with the new Greater Anglia rail franchise? Writing as a commuter who spends far too much time passing through Liverpool Street, I confess to some qualms.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/a-commuters-marathon-3-unease-grows-ahead-of-london-2012/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:51:27 +0000 Sarah Jacobs http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21383 Leila is watching her baby intently, as his mouth moves trying to swallow the small blob of yellow peanut paste Dr Tayab has spooned gently into his mouth. She sits on the floor of her one-room mud house and rocks his tiny, malnourished body on her lap. After a tense pause, the baby’s neck strains and [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/more-than-half-of-afghanistan%e2%80%99s-families-live-in-extreme-poverty/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/tunnel-light-at-end-of/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/tunnel-light-at-end-of/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:05:12 +0000 John Rentoul http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21385 At some point, doom and gloom about the economy is likely to turn round. Obviously, if the eurozone goes into an economic nuclear winter, then our prospects may still turn out to be worse than we thought, again. On the other hand, there are reasons to be cheerful, despite today’s unemployment figures, which are a lagging [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/tunnel-light-at-end-of/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/time-for-a-new-approach-to-alcohol/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/time-for-a-new-approach-to-alcohol/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:59:08 +0000 Nick Edwards http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21384 Ambulances were called and three drunk teenagers were brought to my care. One was so drunk we had to suction out the vomit from her mouth to stop her choking to death. Another girl wet herself and then proceeded to vomit on the floor and hurl abuse at the staff. The third was so unconscious we ended up having to take over their breathing and taking them for a CT scan of their head to check that they hadn’t had a head injury. Why on why does this happen so regularly?]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/time-for-a-new-approach-to-alcohol/feed/ 8 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/looking-forward-to-the-past-a-chat-with-poker-flat-boss-steve-bug/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/looking-forward-to-the-past-a-chat-with-poker-flat-boss-steve-bug/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:45 +0000 Marcus Barnes http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21339 One of the main reasons I became so obsessive with house and techno music was a live DJ set by German DJ and producer Steve Bug. The set, which I've already mentioned in my M A N I K interview, was brilliantly dark (as it was recorded at a Halloween party) and included music both new and old, mixed incredibly well. Everytime Steve Bug has appeared in London I've missed him for one reason or another, but in a couple of week's time he'll be back in the capital and I've made it my mission to catch him. Ahead of the party, which is a showcase for his well-respected label Poker Flat, I was fortunate enough to be allowed some time with Steve...]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/looking-forward-to-the-past-a-chat-with-poker-flat-boss-steve-bug/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/ibet-ac-milans-lead-at-the-top-looks-temporary/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/ibet-ac-milans-lead-at-the-top-looks-temporary/#comments Wed, 15 Feb 2012 00:01:31 +0000 Gareth Purnell http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21348 Juventus lost the lead of Serie A in Italy at the weekend by virtue of their game with Bologne being called off and AC Milan inflicting a first home defeat of the season on Udinese. But it looks temporary. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/15/ibet-ac-milans-lead-at-the-top-looks-temporary/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/london-fashion-week-countdown/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/london-fashion-week-countdown/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:35:19 +0000 Rebecca Gonsalves http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/london-fashion-week-countdown/ London Fashion Week is nearly upon us (again) and the invites are fast piling up. Our fashion team will be blogging live from London Fashion Week when it begins on Friday, with pictures from the Autumn/Winter Collections 2012. Visit blogs.independent.co.uk/fashion ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/london-fashion-week-countdown/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/bahrain-one-year-on/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/bahrain-one-year-on/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:13:20 +0000 Denis MacShane http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21369 I am used to endless lies and criticism from the BNP and its favourite blogster, as well as Islamist ideologues who hate my work on anti-semitism and the off-shore press obsessed about Europe. But this is the first time that a government, Bahrain, has sent a 17 page letter to the British Government telling William Hague to shut me up. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/bahrain-one-year-on/feed/ 9 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/valentines-day-some-stats/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/valentines-day-some-stats/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:08:59 +0000 Laura Davis http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21366 Love or loathe him, Saint Valentine has come to remind us of that special loved one (or lack thereof) in our lives. As 1 billion Valentine’s Day cards are received worldwide today, various surveys have been commissioned with this very thought in mind. Here are a selection of their findings… it might just cheer you up.]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/valentines-day-some-stats/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/paul-volcker-stands-tall-against-the-banking-lobby/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/paul-volcker-stands-tall-against-the-banking-lobby/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:05:07 +0000 Ben Chu http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21357 Why is Europe, which likes to present itself as an opponent of speculative "Anglo-Saxon" finance, lining up with the US banking lobby? For me it fits a pattern. ]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/paul-volcker-stands-tall-against-the-banking-lobby/feed/ 1 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/what%e2%80%99s-amiss-in-india-%e2%80%93-is-it-jugaad/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/what%e2%80%99s-amiss-in-india-%e2%80%93-is-it-jugaad/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:18:08 +0000 John Elliott from Riding the Elephant blog http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21358 For decades India has survived, and sometimes thrived, by turning muddle and adversity into success. In the days of the licence Raj, this enabled the country to work, creakily, until systems and machinery broke down and were patched up again. Hindustan Motors’ Ambassador car is perhaps the longest surviving example of patchwork success, with its [...]]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/what%e2%80%99s-amiss-in-india-%e2%80%93-is-it-jugaad/feed/ 0 http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/caught-social-cast-of-%e2%80%98the-artist%e2%80%99-party-all-night/ http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/caught-social-cast-of-%e2%80%98the-artist%e2%80%99-party-all-night/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:41:33 +0000 Luke Blackall http://blogs.independent.co.uk/?p=21345 Gossip from the world of celeb]]> http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/02/14/caught-social-cast-of-%e2%80%98the-artist%e2%80%99-party-all-night/feed/ 0