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A Brighter Sunday Dawns Next Week

A Brighter Sunday Dawns Next Week

www.observer.co.uk

GEORGE VITA KENNETH MICHAEL KATHARINE CLIVE JULIAN LYNN ANDREW ORWELL SACKVILLE -WEST TYNAN FRAYN WHITEHORN JAMES BARNES BARBER RAWNSLEY WHERE FINE WRITING HAS ALWAYS COME FIRST

Established 1791

January 2006 www.observer.co.uk

OUR STORY

1791 is published for the first time on Sunday 4 December. A brighter Its founder, WS Bourne, states that it would share ‘the spirit of enlightened Freedom, decent Toleration and uni- versal Benevolence’.

1812 Observer journalist Vincent George Dowling has a real when he not only witnesses the Sunday assassination of Prime Minister Spencer Perceval he also seizes the assassin.

1814 William Innell Clement buys The Observer, adding it to his growing stable of . dawns 1820 Clement defies a court order against coverage of the trial of the Cato Street Conspirators accused of attempting to murder members of the Cabinet. Woodcut illustrations are used to promote the story. next week 1857 Lewis Doxat, Clement's editor, TO RE-SHOOT is succeeded by Joseph Snowe. Editor introduces the vivid new 1861-1865 The Observer sides with the North during the American Observer, full of energy, style and peerless Civil War. Readership declines. writing – and with colour on every page 1870 Julius Beer, a wealthy busi- nessman, buys the paper. Your Observer is changing. From next week we will appear in a new shape, Roger Alton 1880 Frederick Beer inherits The with a fresh design and with colour on became editor of Observer on the death of his father. every page. Britain's oldest weekend The Observer in Frederick's wife, Rachel, buys the is about to become Britain's 1998, revitalising Sunday Times in 1893 and edits both brightest Sunday read. the title and papers until 1904. It will still contain all your favourite winning the paper writers, as well as the sharpest news several major 1905 The executors of Frederick coverage, the finest analysis, the most awards and Beer sell The Observer to Alfred trenchant comment. And it will still many new Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe). provide the best in Sunday sports writ- readers. Circulation is just 5,000 copies. ing, the most incisive business coverage, and the full range of its 1908 (pic- award-winning magazines. The paper Food Monthly and Music Monthly – tured) becomes editor and by 1909 will continue to be vivid yet cultured, will be joined by Observer Woman, circulation has increased to 40,000. and to maintain its reputation for spir- which will be as glamorous as it is ited debate, peerless writing, intelligent, as provocative as it is beau- 1911 buys exuberant presentation, imagination, tiful, as brilliantly entertaining as it is The Observer, subsequently giving it to cheek, humour, indignation, style, eru- informative. We'll cover everything his son, Waldorf. dition, provocation and interrogation. from sex and relationships to cosmetic There will be more. Much more. We surgery, from Coleen McCoughlin to 1919 JL Garvin's editorial on the will be introducing new sections, a Condoleeza Rice, from high street chic at the end of the new monthly magazine, new writers to the best skinny jeans for under £20 First World War condemns the and new illustrators to add to the range and we'll do it with style, insight, and Treaty for leaving the Germans ‘no of our coverage. And the paper will be the very best in Observer writing. real hope except in revenge.’ packaged in a radically fresh design Sport will play over 24 colourful which will make it easier and more fun pages and Review will still bring you 1942 On Garvin's departure, David to read, and ensure that the traditional the best Sunday cultural coverage Astor, Waldorf’s son, begins to mod- values of The Observer find expression available, while expanding and acclaimed TV show The Thick of It was And readers also want a newspaper ernise The Observer. in a thoroughly modern form. improving its CD and DVD section. honoured at the recent Comedy that is changing to reflect the transfor- Advertisements are The issue you buy next week will be Escape will continue to give you itchy Awards. mation in their lifestyles and interests. removed from the the size you hold in your hands : feet with its travel ideas and Business We recognise that our readership is We will continue to give voice to the front page in favour shorter and narrower than our current and Cash will stay ahead of the pack in changing, and that to meet its new strong liberal tradition that The of news and pho- , yet larger than a tabloid depth and breadth of coverage of all need we have to evolve, too. Size is Observer has come to represent in its tographs and and with more pages than we have things financial. becoming an increasingly critical fac- long history. But we will extend our the Profile, a now. It is called a Berliner, a format Our brilliant team of writers – from tor in people's decisions about which coverage of areas that reflect this collective opin- now popular among Europe's most Lynn Barber to , newspaper to read, as the demand for a expanding agenda – human relation- ion of an indi- successful newspapers. Readers of our Barbara Ellen to , Robert more efficient and accessible shape ships, parenting, new technology, the vidual in the sister paper, , will already McCrum to – will be grows. For many the traditional environment, fashion, ageing, food, news, is intro- be familiar with the shape. enhanced with the arrival of new Sunday has gone, replaced by a day of popular culture, the media, new busi- duced to British Our news coverage will remain at columnists such as , activity – whether it be shopping, nesses, sport and leisure. And we will journalism. Ivor the of the paper, and the Berliner often described as the father of mod- working, playing sports, travelling or do so with the warmth, humanity, and Brown is format allows greater opportunity for ern British comedy, and whose seeing films and visiting museums wit for which The Observer is justifi- appointed editor in-depth analysis as well as powerful or galleries. ably acclaimed. and the paper projection of breaking stories from our So the Berliner offers a perfect We recognise, too, that our reader- begins to move reporting team. Our comment and opportunity for vibrant design com- ship is complex and diverse, in its away from the con- analysis section will move to the centre Observer Woman bined with an easily handled and attitudes as well as its lifestyles. Our servatism of the of the main paper, and will be convenient shape, easy to navigate and audience is critical, argumentative and Garvin era. enhanced by the addition of new fea- packed with useful information. And quizzical. So we will use the paper and tures and commentators. will be glamorous, readers – advertisers too – used to its website to have a continuous dia- And we will be introducing a section everything the internet and modern logue with you the reader, about the called 7 Days, examining the personali- intelligent, TV technology offers, want much issues we deal with and what we ties and issues that have dominated the higher standards of presentation, should be covering. past week through profiles, diaries and which is why our state-of-the- We hope you enjoy the new observations. provocative and printing presses are designed to pro- Observer; and if you are a newcomer to Our award-winning stable of vide perfect colour throughout the the paper, we hope you will grow to monthly magazines – Sport Monthly, beautiful paper, a first on a Sunday. love it. 2|THEJanuary NEW 2006 OBSERVER | Unravelling the DNA inside Britain’s oldest Sunday paper For 214 years, The Observer has been seeking after truth, taking a bold, controversial stance on anything from the US Civil War to Suez and beyond. Stephen Pritchard opens the archives

For a newspaper to have any chance of survival it must strive to reflect the spirit of the age and to capture the imag- ination of its readers. When The Observer first emerged one cold December morning in 1791 it was aim- ing to do just that, proclaiming that it would be ‘Unbiased by Prejudice, Uninfluenced by Party’ and that its ‘whole object was Truth and the dis- semination of every Species of Knowledge that may conduce to the Happiness of Society’. When he wrote those ringing words, the paper’s first owner and editor,WS Bourne, was deliberately establishing the paper’s DNA, the founding princi- ples that have been at its core since the Age of Enlightenment and sustained it through the Industrial Revolution, the Age of Empire and the tumult of the 20th century. But Bourne did more than just set out his paper’s aims: he drew up the blue- print for all future Sunday journalism by J Grant, a reporter in the days of promising that The Observer would William Innell Clement, was moved to GET OUT OR DO!’ and gave Garvin tographs, and began to nudge the paper report on ‘the fine … Science, the remark that The Observer was now ‘one three weeks to find a buyer. away from Garvin’s conservatism. Tragic and the Comic Muse, the of the safest contemporary papers to be The editor moved swiftly and the In announcing these changes he National Police, fashion and fashionable put in the hands of ladies’. paper was sold for £45,000 to WW echoed the paper’s founding principles, follies’ – topics still liberally covered in Unease at Britain’s imperial behav- Astor, the American multi-millionaire, and added his own: that the paper must the 21st century. iour would become a hallmark of The who gave it to his son, the Conservative stand FOR something: ‘The Observer is But founding principles and lofty Observer in the last half of the 20th cen- MP Waldorf Astor. WW had moved to not a party paper. It is tied to no group, aims aren’t enough to sell newspapers. tury, but Dicey blazed something of a England in 1890 (with the famous no sect, no interest. Its independence is Robust reporting, sharp commercial trail, roundly condemning the declara- remark that America was ‘not a fit place absolute. But merely to stand alone, sense and a willingness to grasp the lat- tion of Victoria as Empress of India in for a gentleman to live’) and bought challenging and bracing as that attitude est technical innovations are essential 1877. Beer died in 1880, leaving the Hever Castle in Kent and later Cliveden may be, is not enough. One must also to stay ahead. WS Bourne quickly lost paper to his sickly son Frederick, who in Buckinghamshire, which he gave to stand for a system of ideas and for a pat- money and turned to his brother for married a rich heiress, Rachel Sassoon, Waldorf as a wedding present when he tern of constructive reform….’ help, and, despite a tremendous scoop in 1887. She was far more interested in married Nancy in 1906. Astor had grown up in the intellec- by the paper’s star reporter Vincent the paper than her ailing husband and Garvin thundered away in lengthy tual hothouse of Cliveden, where the George Dowling (he witnessed the by 1893 she was to own and edit both leaders on social reforms, MPs’ pay, and, greatest minds of the day were often assassination of Prime Minister The Observer and – famously, on the conduct of the First entertained and where thinkers, writ- Spencer Perceval in the House of something unthinkable today. World War (like so many others, he lost ers, politicians and journalists would Commons and apprehended the killer), By 1905, circulation had plunged to his son in the trenches). Prophetically, gather on the terrace to argue away the they sold to William Innell Clement, an 5,000 copies a week and closure loomed he warned that the Treaty of Versailles long summer afternoons. It was an early press baron who really under- again, but for a second time a press left no real hope for the Germans intoxicating atmosphere for the young stood Britain’s burgeoning newspaper baron rode to the rescue. Alfred ‘except in revenge’. Astor, and one that years later Observer industry. Harmsworth, later Lord Northcliffe, The modern quality Sunday newspa- journalists were to come to recognise, as Clement expanded the staff, encour- describing the paper as ‘lying in the per is a descendant of Garvin’s the editor ran the paper like a Cliveden aged Dowling’s adventurous reporting Fleet ditch’, bought it to add an upmar- post-First World War creation, which talking-shop, shaping the content (he crossed the Channel in a rowing ket broadsheet to his popular, mass- sold 200,000 copies. He recast the through a series of conferences with the boat to be first with a royal scoop) and market and Evening News. paper, making strict divisions between day’s most interesting minds gathered instinctively understood the power of He installed JL Garvin as editor and news and comment, introducing new round the table. pictures. Woodcuts appeared and circu- set the paper on a meteoric course, layout and typefaces and, in the spirit of In 1942 he set out to hire new writers lation rose. sprinkling some of his undoubted skill the paper’s original address to readers, and met and Arthur In 1821, a rival paper called The New as a newspaperman on the paper. Here’s he nurtured writing on the arts and Koestler through . Observer was launched in a deliberate a typical letter to Garvin: books, theatre and music, and recog- Orwell, who proved a distinguished war attempt to cash in on Clement’s success. ‘If we are to get a circulation of 70,000 nised film as a potent new force. He correspondent, was to have a profound Eight months later it changed its name or 100,000 it is essential that we appointed CA Lejeune as film critic in influence on Astor and The Observer to Observer and finally, should interest more people. 1925; she stayed until 1960. And EP and they were to remain firm friends. in 1822, became the Sunday Times, this Remember the women. If we can get Mathers, as Torquemada, devised a was one of a handful time trying to bask in the growing popu- this paper into 70,000 homes every Top left: the first issue, 4 December fiendishly difficult crossword, which of brilliant Central Europeans who larity of . It had no more week it will become a great power.’ 1791; top right: the paper’s lives on today as Azed. joined the paper in the Forties, along connection with the Times than it did But by 1911 Garvin and Northcliffe distribution and circulation team, When war came again, Garvin found with Jon Kimche, Isaac Deutscher and with The Observer and had to wait until were having serious disagreements, and 1930; centre: the first Observer himself at odds with his proprietor over EF Schumacher. Astor took the editor’s 1969 until it became a bed-fellow with when Northcliffe found his own views Magazine, 1964; above: the new . Astor felt he should chair permanently from 1948 and ush- ‘The Thunderer’. under attack in his own paper he Observer Magazine. not be be both Prime Minister and ered yet more distinguished writers into Clement’s editor, Lewis Doxat, telegrammed Garvin ‘EITHER YOU Defence Minister. Garvin disagreed and the fold: Patrick O’Donovan, Hugh prided himself on never writing ‘an arti- stood by his friend. At the same time, Massingham, Cyril Dunn, Robert cle on any subject under any Astor persuaded Garvin to make room Stephens, Michael Davie, Alistair circumstances whatsoever’. He intro- for a feature entitled ‘The Forum’, to be Buchan, Colin Legum, Edward duced new typography, more woodcuts Firm foundations edited by his son, David, which was to Crankshaw, Kenneth Harris and Nigel and improved the content until 1857, provide a leavening of liberal thinking Gosling all brought style, authority and when the ownership and editorship on pages that had been dominated for wit. Vita Sackville-West wrote on gar- passed to Joseph Snowe. He champi- years by the high Tory Garvin. dening; John Davy on science and oned the cause of the North in the On 15 February 1942 a Forum piece ’s dramatic criticism American Civil War, heading this leader headed ‘What’s Wrong?’ called on was required reading. Terence from October 1861 ‘The Moral Issue’. Churchill to quit as Defence Minister. Kilmartin’s literary pages won awards All our sympathies are necessarily The next week Garvin wrote a leader for ‘unwavering upholding of quality’. with the North. We should deplore, in denouncing the idea. His contract was The paper set new standards in common with all friends of humanity, due to expire the following week and reporting on Europe, on the third world the result of any struggle, long or Astor decided not to renew it, so ending and on Britain’s colonial interests. It short, that would end in leaving four a spectacular reign. Garvin, at nearly 74 challenged readers’ assumptions about millions of our dusky brothers in hope- years of age, had had an unparalleled 34 Britain’s place in the world, its relations less and confirmed servitude. years at The Observer. with Africa and the Middle East and it We have an early stirring here of the was to recall some 40 asked hard questions about living in a campaigning zeal that was to become years later that ‘as far as there was an post-war world dominated by two such a feature of The Observer, but it editor in those dreadful weeks, it was nuclear superpowers. caused a circulation decline that was me in my lunch-hour’. In 1942 he was a Circulation rose as more readers not to recover until 1870, when Captain in the Royal Marines, on the turned to The Observer for a radical, Frankfurt-born Julius Beer bought it staff of Mountbatten's Combined intelligent view of the world; its report- and appointed Edward Dicey as editor, Unbiased by Prejudice - Uninfluenced by Party: a promotional poster for the Operations Headquarters, and could ing on Africa proved prophetic, and, at who improved the arts coverage and new paper proclaims its founding principles and promises that the ‘dissemination fully attend to The Observer only in his home, it led the way on penal reform, raised the standard of foreign reporting of every Species of Knowledge that may conduce to the Happiness of Society’ spare time. Nevertheless he took classi- race relations, education and the and analysis. Under his editorship the would be delivered ‘in everyPart of Great Britain with the utmost Expedition’. fied advertisements off the front page, emerging health service. paper took on a new tone, so that replacing them with news and pho- The year 1956 is a special one in |THE NEW OBSERVERJanuary 2006 | 3

JANE BOWN : ROCK OF AGES OUR STORY

1945 The Astor family transfer ownership of the newspaper to a Trust, which ensures that any profit is used to improve the newspaper, promote good journalism or support charitable enterprise.

1948 David Astor becomes editor. He favours writers over traditional journalists, bringing in George Orwell, Vita Sackville-West, , Philip Toynbee, Kenneth Tynan and others.

1956 On 10 June The Observer publishes the 26,000 words of Nikita Kruschev's denunciation of Joseph Stalin in full. The paper's position as the first national news- paper to oppose the government's action during the is costly as thousands of readers Jane Bown’s definitive portraits have appeared in The desert it. Observer for an astonishing 56 years. She says: ‘I've al- ways felt that I love people when I take their photograph. 1963 , widely accused of Yes, I do it with love – just for that moment, I'm loving being (the Soviet spy them.' Clockwise, from left: Bjork, 1995; Sinéad O’Connor, who had let it be known that Donald 1992; 1977; John Lennon and Yoko Ono, 1968; Maclean was about to be exposed), Morrissey, 1995. was cleared by the British and American governments. He became The Observer's Middle East corre- spondent based in Beirut but was expelled and fled to Moscow. He had been the Third Man all along.

1964 The Observer Colour Magazine introduced. Thirty years later it was merged with the Life sec- tion to form a new tabloid-sized Life magazine.

1975 Donald Trelford is appointed editor and fights to find new owners and save The Observer from extinc- tion. Between 1977 and 1993 the paper is owned by two large interna- tional companies: Atlantic Richfield and, from 1981, Lonrho.

1989 Observer journalist Farzad Bazoft arrested on a false charge of spying while investigating a story in . He was drugged by his captors, subjected to a bogus trial and, despite an international outcry, was executed in Baghdad six months later.

1993 buys The Observer, effectively saving it from closure; is appointed editor.

1995 becomes editor, succeeded a year later by .

1998 Roger Alton is appointed edi- tor; in 2000 he is named Editor of the Year in the awards.

2001 Peter Mandelson resigns in January after it is discovered that he has given misleading answers to The Observer over its revelation that he had made contact with the Home Office over a passport application by Indian businessman, Srichand Hinduja, following his family's £1 million donation to the Faith Zone Observer history. In that year the paper Trelford as editor, though Goodman Lonrho board, and in 1993 The Observer at the Millennium Dome. launched its long campaign against the Circulation rose as warned him that the paper might not was put on the market. A sale to the Observer Sport Monthly is launched death penalty; it cleared an entire edi- last another six months. Independent looked inevitable, with the to wide acclaim tion to publish all 26,000 words of The trustees approached Rupert danger that the paper would disappear Kruschev’s denunciation of Stalin (one more turned to Murdoch in 1976, but he soon backed into the fledgling Independent on 2002 In June 2002 the Newsroom, letter-writer thought it ‘a grave mistake away after staff mounted a concerted Sunday. However, Rowland was pre- the Guardian and Observer Archive to underestimate your readers and not The Observer for a campaign against the idea, and the vailed upon to sell to the Guardian and Visitor Centre, opens to preserve publish it in the original Russian’); and paper was eventually sold to Atlantic Media Group, and once again the paper and interpret the histories of it famously stood against the Suez cam- Richfield, a US oil company. Its tenure was saved from extinction. the newspapers. Observer Food paign, calling the government ‘crooked’. radical, intelligent was short-lived and RW ‘Tiny’ To look back at editions of those days Monthly is launched. Thousands of readers cancelled their Rowland, of Lonrho, bought the paper is to realise how much the paper has subscriptions (including newlyweds Mr view of the world in 1981, ushering in an uncomfortable 12 expanded since it joined the Guardian 2003 Observer Music Monthly and Mrs Denis Thatcher, of Chelsea). years, with the editor being threatened stable. They have not always been com- magazine launched. More damagingly, several large corpo- with the sack several times for running fortable times, with several changes of rations withdrew their advertising, International. But the increasingly unfavourable stories about African editor until the appointment in 1998 of 2004 Digital edition of The dealing a severe blow to the already pre- competitive nature of the newspaper leaders who were personal friends of Roger Alton, who with a strong team Observer launched. For details, go to carious financial position of the paper. market exposed the ‘gentleman ama- the proprietor. steadied and then increased circula- www.guardian.co.uk/digital and fol- Yet Suez was probably Astor’s finest teur’ nature of the The Observer, while Rowland’s long-standing feud with tion, and added the popular monthly low the instructions. hour, and future revelations (and the the liberal consensus that the paper had the Fayed brothers over the ownership magazines. resignation of Prime Minister Anthony done so much to form collapsed under of House of Fraser featured promi- Now the paper stands at the begin- 2005 The Observer launches the Eden) vindicated the paper’s stance. the strain of a strike-bound Britain in nently in the paper and led to a special ning of another chapter in its long first Sunday newspaper weblog at Circulation had risen to an all-time the early Seventies. midweek edition, containing the text of history, but in some ways it is returning blogs.guardian.co.uk/observer/ high of 907,000 by 1967, but papers with Financial crises and labour problems a leaked Department of Trade and to its roots. The new Berliner format is deeper pockets were starting to steal a dogged the paper and in 1975 the chair- Industry report into the Fayeds’ not unlike the size of the paper that 2006 8 January. The Observer march. Yet it continued to make waves man, Lord Goodman, announced that a takeover. That report vindicated the emerged onto the streets that appears in its new Berliner format, politically, becoming the principal sup- third of the staff would have to be made paper’s reporting, but the midweek edi- December morning in 1791, promising the first all-colour Sunday paper in porter in the British press of Nelson redundant. David Astor decided to step tion was to damage The Observer and its to be ‘Unbiased by Prejudice, Britain. Mandela’s African National Congress, down, and, after a ballot of staff, the reputation. Uninfluenced by Party’. It’s obviously in and campaigning to establish Amnesty trustees appointed his deputy Donald Rowland began to lose his grip on the our DNA. 4THE NEW OBSERVER | January 2006 | From next week A classic NEWS newspaper Maintaining its exceptional Comment moves investigations and foreign to the centre of the reporting, our News section news section, rethinks will be colour coded for ease signalling its of navigation and will sport importance in the large features, interviews new-look Observer, and columns. while a new fea- itself tures element called 7 Days – profiles, columns, Mario Garcia, the diairies – appears at the back. international design consultant, explains

The Observer INSIDE The Observer PREMIERSHIP REPORTS 2 CASH FOOTBALL LEAGUE his vision for the paper 6 & MEDIA EIGHT ENGLAND SLUMP IN PAKISTAN 8 PAGES OF

LEAGUE AND YOUR UNION ACTION + SPORT 10 BUSINESS MONEY WORLD CUP SPECIAL 11 Page 5 FOOTBALL RESULTS 20 BUSINESS WILL BUCKLEY ||| MEDIA ||| CITY ||| MEDIA A refashioned sports section ON BBC XMAS FAN FEST 22 ROBERT MONTAGU ON HIS ROBERT MONTAGU ON ROBERT MONTAGU ON HIS KEVIN MITCHELL FORMULA FOR SUCCESS FORMULA FOR HED FORMULA FOR SUCCESS World Cup special PAGES 11-15 Taking on the FA PAGE 5 ON BOXING 24 boasts dramatic use of colour on MEDIA Now Stock Exchange seeks Oscar nominees are often told that just Brown still Briefing alliance with Scandinavia ECCLESTONE SELLS OUT by Richard Wachman for exchanges around the world. OMX Bernie Ecclestone has given up also runs exchanges in Baltic countries ownership of Formula One after City Editor such as Lithuania and Latvia. 25 years in the driving seat of the A tie-up between London and OMX live reports and bold visual treat- A new easy-to-navigate faces £11bn grand prix business. The 75 year The LondonStock Exchange is consider- would give the British exchange access being nominated is already an honour. old entrepreneur, and his partrner ing merging with OMX, formerly OM to OMX's technological know-how and Bayerische Landesbank, have sold Group of Sweden, to create a company together they could jointly develop their controlling stake in the busi- with a market value of £2.5 billion. ↘cutting trading technology', said ness to venture capitalists CVC LSE's chief executive Clara Furse and a City source. The LSE has already for around $1 though he retains chairman Christopher Gibson-Smith are embarked on building a new platform black hole operational control. understood to have examined plans for that is expected to be completed in closer ties with OMX if ↓ as they 2007/8, but analysts say that the Swedes Item Club verdict will spoil Chancellor’s party expect ↓ the LSE retains its indepen- could give the project extra . ment on features. There is a new Business, Media and Cash TESCO TAILS OFF dence into the new year. OMX and London have already So, when the editors of The Observer Tesco, the supermarket giant The LSE has been under siege for a started working together on a number of by Heather Stewart meeting the cost of day-to-day expendi- under pressure over its domi- year after expressions of interest from projects, which included the launch in ture with tax revenues will be bust by nance of the British high street, continental exchanges such as Euronext 2003 of a jointly run derivatives Economics Correspondent 2007: ↘He's got another two years to saw its first domestic slowdown in and Deutsche Borse, and more recently exchange. Six months later, the two sides run, without having to'fess up to any- two years, as consumer weakness from Macquarie, the Australian invest- agreed to co-operate in forming a pan- As prepares to deliver an thing. Then he moves next door and dented sales growth. ment group. But the LSE's soaraway Nordic cash and derivatives exchange. upbeat verdict on Britain's economic changes his letterhead.' share price has probably put it out of Gibson-Smith is considering options back section of readers’ queries section where we combine health in his pre-Budget report next He said Brown was already using a range of predators for the time being. to cement ties with OMX, which range called to invite our firm, Garcia Media, week, the Ernst and Young Item Club crackdown on tax avoidance to EIRCOM BID STUMBLES OMX was formed out of the merger in from joint ventures to cross sharehold- warns today that there is still a yawning ↘squeeze' businesses for extra cash. The fate of Eircom, the Irish 2003 between the Stockholm and ings, but a full-scale merger is also on the £11 billion hole in the public finances. ↘He can make quite a lot of money that mobile phone company, is in the Helsinki exchanges, but the company's cards. OMX is valued on the Stockholm Echoing the judgment of other way: there's no question about it.' balance after Swiss regulators operations also include a technology market at £900 million. In its earlier experts, including the International The Chancellor is keen to present his appeared to put a halt to a division that develops trading platforms guise as OM Group, the firm launched a Monetary Fund, Item's Peter Spencer pre-Budget report as pro-business, and takeover from their national giant says tax increases or spending cuts will use a speech to the CBI conference Swisscom. The Irish company, and interactive features. Football our peerless business and worth £11bn a year will be necessary in tomorrow to announce a £300 million whose shares fell dramatically on to be one of three graphic design stu- the next two years if Brown is to meet his package of money-saving measures for news of the Swiss setback, now self-imposed spending rules. industry. He will promise that the Rev- appears to have no options for a Murder trial of ‘God’s Banker’ He predicts that the Chancellor's bud- enue will save firms up to £300m a year merger partner. get deficit will be £11bn this year, in form-filling costs, as the first stage in instead of the £6bn forecast by the the bonfire of red tape promised in the set to come to London Treasury. March Budget. TESCO TAILS OFF AGAIN After strong public finance figures for This latest overture to business comes Tesco, the supermarket giant by Nick Mathiason October, released last week, and a as the CBI warns the government is fail- under pressure over its domi- reports will include a new fans’ personal finance change in the Treasury's dating of the ing to back ↘innovation' by British nance of the British high street, The murder trial of Roberto Calvi ↓ dios to ‘audition’ for the chance to economic cycle, the Chancellor faces lit- firms. Digby Jones, its director-general, saw its first domesticslowd known as ↘God's Banker' ↓ will come tle pressure for immediate tax rises. But said a CBI survey showed the govern- ooperations are still expanding. to London in March. Up to 30 witnesses Spencer said Brown's ↘golden rule' of ment's support for science and R&D left wn in two years, as consumer will be questioned by Italian magis- weakness dented growth. But trates, prosecutors and legal teams rep- international operations are still resenting the five people charged with his murder. The venue has not been decided, but feedback forum, The Verdict. supplements. ECB prepares for rate hike the Old Bailey is a possibility. Calvi's redesign the venerable paper and body was found hanging under London's organisation mention somewhere. The Paul Wilson by Heather Stewart stuck at 2 per cent, the ECB is keen to Blackfriars Bridge after the bank he ran, 12 host cities will cater for those without establish its inflation-fighting creden- the Vatican-controlled Banco Lower down the age scale, more than a ticket, too, by providing a secondary Jean-ClaudeTrichet, the president of the tials, and Trichet has clearly signalled Ambrosiano, went bankrupt in 1982 Calvi: five charged with his murder 10,000 schools are making the World venue called the Fanfest. Head along and European Central Bank, is preparing to that rates will go up on Thursday. owing more than £800 million. The Cup a special project and aiming for you will still get a taste of a big crowd, risk the wrath of eurozone governments ↘They've got monetary pins and nee- police initially said that Calvi had killed sent security risks. Prosecutor Luca another prize – providing the ballboys big-match mention somewhere to watch this week by raising interest rates in the dles,' said David Brown, chief european himself, but most assumed it was murder Tescaroli has received death threats. MORIENTES and girls for Germany’s opening game. the game atmosphere, not to mention 12-country currency bloc for the first economist at Bear Stearns. ↘They've and recent evidence has shed new light Jailed mobster Giuseppe ↘Pippo' Calo Others will be chosen as mascots to walk somewhere to watch the game for noth- assist with its transformation to the time in five years. been sitting on their hands for 29 con- on the case. ↓ thought to be the Mafia's treasurer out with the teams. ing. In Munich, the Fanfest venue is the After two years with interest rates secutive months.' The trial could reveal the inner work- ↓ Ernesto Diotallevi and three others More than 200 towns and cities across old Olympic Stadium, Bayern’s former He believes the ECB could even raise ings and financing of the Mafia. Prose- are charged with murder. They deny all the country will be staging their own ground. In Gelsenkirchen, it is the won- rates by half a percentage point instead cutors say Calvi's bank was at the centre charges. CRUIDE OIL: US$ PER BARRELL World Cup, screening matches in market derfully atmospheric original home of of the quarter point the market is expect- of a web that included the Mafia, drug- The investigation saw Italian prosecu- 70 MAKES squares, local stadiums and parks. Also, Schalke – arguably the country’s most ing, and then ↘batten down the money laundering and the Vatican. tors team up with City of London police. there are 2,600 sports halls, community popular team. In Berlin, they are erect- hatches against the political backlash'. The trial opened last week in a court Jeff Katz, chief executive of investiga- centres and church halls throughout ing screens and a mini Olympiastadion in 55 French finance minister Thierry Bre- bunker on the outskirts of Rome. Police tions firm Bishop International, whose Germany that have been given the rights, a park in the middle of town. ton last week became the latest politi- investigators said the problems of flying three-year inquiry was the first to prove smaller Berliner format, I felt hon- free, to televise matches on big screens. Every school, every village, every cian to question the ECB's anti-inflation up to 30 witnesses to Rome were too dif- Calvi's death was a murder and not a sui- The only condition is that the building hamlet can be part of the 226 WORDS 40 zeal. ↘I remain, like my European ficult, so the trial would be moved for cide, said: ↘Taking evidence in London must be run by a non-profit-making CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Oct 04 Jan 05 Apr 05 Oct 05 HIS MARK THOMSON FINANCIAL DATASTREAM counterparts, not very convinced. several weeks, although this could pre- will be key to the prosecution of the Ital- oured. After all, we know that The Observer has a legacy of serious, credi- ble, interesting journalism. It is also Britain’s oldest Sunday newspaper. My team – Rodrigo Fino, Christian Fortanet and Paula Ripoll – put our The Observer TheObserver best effort forward: how can one REVIEW ESCAPE change a legend? How can one

REVIEWKate Bush ‘ I HAD A LITTLE Cannes Festival IS IRANIAN FILM Pop KITTY EMPIRE: TIME TO Continuing to be home to BREAK - DID YOU MISS ME?’P6 REALLY THE NEW HOLLYWOOD? P6 LAY OFF ROD STEWART P6 With full colour and a ESCAPECAPE TOWN COOL HELISKIING IN RUSSIA THE £200 CHALLENGE redesign a newspaper that was already A guide to South Africa’s hippest city. Pages 8-9 In search of the ultimate powder Page 7 Find a week’s winter sun holiday in the Med. Page 5 the best writing and writers tremendously vivid new quite well designed, thank you? in British journalism, look our travel supplement We started by sitting down and talk- Review’s elegant new design will be more appealing ing to key people at The Observer, to will enhance the critics’ VS than ever. New elements, hear their views about the old and new pages. Look out, too, for new including The £200 paper. Editor Roger Alton outlined his columns and fixtures. Challenge, where we hunt vision and told us that he wanted the

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Proximate length because the actual copy has not yet been received. This is appropriate dummy text that is being Proximate length because the actual copy has not yet been received. down bargain holidays, will shower.But most of all, I hate the sad, paper to be look and feel both ‘cultured Mariella Frostrup met absolutely no one in the embittered proprietors in their Boden First three words in caps dummy text approximate length because the copy clothes who tell you that they used to that is being employed in order to ascer- has not yet been received. Seychelles. Once, we went on holiday to meet work in advertising but gave it all up to tain an approximate length because the This is appropriate dummy text that is new people - now we try to avoid them. Having 'follow their dream'. I always want to say: actual copy has not yet been received. being employed in order to ascertain an My private 'You mean you have no hotel training at This is appropriate dummy text that is approximate length because the actual all?' But instead, I listen patiently while being employed in order to ascertain an copy has not yet been received. This is lapped up a week of luxury, she did finally talk to they say they want everyone to feel approximate length because the actual appropriate dummy text that is being further enliven a section relaxed 'as if at a house party' while also and vivid'. Armed with his thoughts, Mrs President? copy has not yet been received. This is employed in order to ascertain an Oh no, not an English country house college prints, the framed notice on explaining the basic rules, starting with appropriate dummy text that is being approximate length because the actual hotel! Some of the worst weekends of my pseudo-parchment in the hall telling you no smok ing anywhere, no drunkenness, Will one of these women ever get to be President, style Whitney book employed in order to ascertain an copy has not yet been received. This is life have been spent in English country the history of the house, the tragic no loud laughter, preferably no talking, approximate length because the actual appropriate dummy text that is being s house hotels - to me, they reek of failed 'library' with its battered Punches and door locked at 10 - which is not like any dummy text that is being employed in order to ascertain an approximate copy has not yet been received. This is the actual copy has not yet been received piece of hopes, exposed delusions, and induce a three Len Deightons, the dead flower house party I have ever attended, or appropriate dummy text that is being is appropriate dummy text that is being sort of existential gloom never encoun- arrangements, the sour old dragon in would want to go to. length because the actual copy has not yet been received. employed in order to ascertain an CONTINUED PAGE 2 tered at home. charge of the dining room who takes such So you can imagine I was none too already reknowned for its The gloom begins the minute I walk in delight in telling you (after a four- hour thrilled when the travel editor told me we set off to devise a new visual lan- and crack my head on the first of many drive) that dinner finished at 8.30. And she wanted me to visit a new English www.jvc.co.uk low beams, and then survey the horse then, upstairs, the musty four-poster bed, country house hotel, Endsleigh, near HARD DISK TECHNOLOGY. brasses, the 'interesting' collections of the eye-grazing chintz, the dusty laven- Tavistock in Devon. This one is different, BEST FOR YOUR TV PROGRAMMES. paradise thatching implements, the coaching der sachets, the Corby trouser press, the she assured me. But having suffered for prints, the cathedral prints, the Oxford terrible bathroom with its dribbling CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 BEST FOR YOUR MUSIC. WHY WOULDN’T IT BE BEST FOR YOUR MOVIES? award-winning journalism. guage for the paper. Using a built-in Hard Disk, in just the same way that MP3 players and HDD/DVD Recorders do, Everio™ HDD camcorders can store over 30* hours of video, right there on the camcorder itself. Allowing you to decide which bits you want to keep; and to delete the ‘wasted’ filming, thereby freeing up the memory space to start all over again.

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An envelope with your name written neatly on the front doesn’t sit quietly and patiently on your doormat. It screams and shouts. It demands, “Me! Me! ® we got the Oscar. And with that came Me! Look at me! Look at me!” And you will. You can’t ignore it. We’ll give you half an hour before you succumb to your curiosity. With us it’s personal the enormous responsibility to mobilise all our creative energies and present them to The Observer's design team – one of the best we have ever OBSERVER MAGAZINE WWW.OBSERVER.CO.UK encountered anywhere. More importantly, the involvement , award-winning editor of We will be following production of of the editors, led by project leader GQ said recently: 'The Observer the new Observer on our blog John Mulholland, gave each page a Magazine is now one of the most lively, www.observer.co.uk/blog. There will sense of the importance of storytelling, comprehensive Sunday supplements be despatches from the newsroom along with the power of visuals. At of them all, with great investigative throughout the launch weekend, Garcia Media we often joke that The features and stunning photography, which will capture the mood in the Observer's project spoiled us. We want while Mariella Frostrup has become a newsroom at what promises to be an Mulholland and his team to follow us great agony aunt.' The Observer exciting time for the paper. to every other project. Magazine – alongside features and The Observer, like its sister newspa- interviews – will sport a new enlarged per, the Guardian, was making the style, interiors and fashion section, switch to the more popular ‘compact’ plus a series of brilliant new columns. format. But editors of both papers had made the decision to go with the slightly larger Berliner size, which allows for individual sections; so bene- …OUR NEW MONTHLY ficial for those who share their MONTHLIES newspaper with other members of Your favourite monthly magazines will be joined by our new the family. exciting Observer Woman. Make sure you don’t miss Sport So we went on to try various typo- Monthly on 8 January, Observer Woman on 15 January, Music OBSERVER WOMAN graphic fonts and different story Monthly on 22 January, and Food Monthly on 29 January. structures for readers who, even on Sundays, have less time to read, but Observer Woman will be as glamorous as still want good writing and credible it is intelligent, as provocative as it is beau- journalism. How we could amplify the tiful, as brilliantly entertaining as it is infor- role of the internet for our print read- mative. We'll cover everything from sex ers? What colour palette would best and relationships to cosmetic surgery, give continuity to the already colourful from Coleen McCoughlin to Condoleeza Observer? Rice, from High Street chic to the best As spring led to summer, we created skinny jeans for under £20 and we'll do it pages, analysed them and tossed many with style, insight, and the very best in into graphic limbo until by August we Observer writing. had a prototype that we were all quite proud of. And the readers with whom it tested thought the same. Since then a new art director, Carolyn Roberts, has joined and has continued to work at the design during a series of dummy runs. She has developed and refined my team's design, working in keen detail on every aspect of the new look. And the fine tuning will not stop when that first copy of the new paper rolls off the press. The Observer, which first appeared in December 1791, has an incredibly rich history; covering the news, analysing it, illustrating it and serving it like hot croissants and steaming coffee to eagerly awaiting readers each Sunday. With a new format, The Observer’s editors have had a chance to rethink their newspaper. Classic as ever, but in a more compact and easier to navigate package. A winner, for sure. And for me per- sonally, and for our team. We feel like the Oscar winners, trophy in hand, proud of a job that was, indeed, the ultimate collaboration.

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