CONTENTS 49 29.05.11 "Sorry, I'm FEATURES just SO hot" COVER STORY Men'. fashion 16 HEY HEY, IT'S THE MONKEYS Arctic Monkeys on chip-shop chic, special Gordon Brown and living with fame 42 26 PIPE DREAMS How an Irish community is being torn apart by Shell 35 MEN'S FASHION SPECIAL Margaret Howell, Oliver Spencer and the duo behind b Store on the z fine art of menswear; hot summer o o z styles; the boater race; and how to 9 dress like Johnny Depp. Plus, win o~ !Q a Hugo Boss suit z :::; w~ w~ ~U REGULARS Ol (j .. 5 UP FRONT C ~ Eva Wiseman; Katharine Whitehorn; o I'" V> Sandie Shaw's life lessons; Zandra 'i: z Rhodes's week; the Lust List; and '"Ol Ol Ali Smith goes back to the beginning o'" z'" 54 FOOD AND DRINK '"UI '::l Nigel Slater is in pastures new; and o o Jay Rayner is at the St John Hotel iii Ol o 58 LIFE Z ~'" Dan Pearson takes you into the '"I V> Chelsea Flower Show; and Martin ci Love is blown away by VW's Eos '"o it z 64 TRAVEL ~ Thessaloniki's secret history I ~Q. 70 DEAR MARl ELLA '"g Mariella Frostrup manages o I Q. a mother's disappointment UJ ~ V> ~ Z ~ CONTRIBUTORS V> I iQ ~'" w :;E '" BARBARA ELLEN KEVIN FOORD EDVULLIAMY The Observer's acerbic columnist Kevin is a fashion photogTapher The most tenacious of reporters, started out at the NME and Loaded ... whose work has appeared in GQ, Ed's latest book is Amexica about the so she was the perfect writer to Harpers and i-D. This week, he shot Mexican drug wars. Here, he sniffs interview the Arctic Monkeys our fashion fiesta in Mexico out trouble on Ireland's west coast Editor Ruarldh Nicoli Deputy editor Emma John Art director Rob Blddulph Commissioning editors Alice Asher. Eva Wiseman Editorial assistant/researcher Shahesta Shaltly Fashion editor JoJones Deputy fashion editor Helen Seamons Chief sub-editor Martin Love Deputy chief sub-editors Leah Jewett. Debbie Lawson Sub-editors Kate Edgley, Helen Wigmore Deputy art director Caroline McGivern Picture editors Kit Burnet, Matthew Glynn Colour Reproduction GNM Imaging The Observer Magazine Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N19GU Tel 020 3353 2000 Fax 020 3353 3197 Emali [email protected],ukTwltter@lObsMagazine Photograph Murdo Macleod Shell's battle for the heart of Ireland For generations, the people of Erris have been farming and fishing along the remote coast of County Mayo.When gas was discovered offshore, Shell pounced. But it hadn't bargained for the unyielding resistance of the community. Eel Vulliamy reveals how the protest spiralled out of control to become "a Local Hero gone wrong" "I'd be a fella who loved a quiet life": fisherman Pat O'Donnell with his daughter Alsllng atGlenamoy They thought" they'd break our spirit. Idon't think they realised what kind of people they were dealing with " f the sea is calm, you can hear refinery at Ballinaboy, six miles south of the villageofInver,who isone ofthe protest's most the traffic in New York," goes estuary. The pipe is to come ashore at Broad- outspoken voices, says: "This is about a sense the local introduction to the haven Bay'swidest and loveliest point, and was of place and its people. We may not qualify as breathtaking beauty of En'is, to skirt the estuary's northern shore, through indigenous people, but we have our land and in the north of County Mayo, farmland. "There's miles of empty bog out culture, to which we belong. All those people where the coastline winds its there," says John Monaghan, one of the lead- who emigrated from Erris through history, way through little coves and ers of the ensuing protest, "and they chose to Erris never left them. They saywe are opposed beneath the cliffs of the wild take it across the farms. Where there are farms to progress, and laugh at us.But to me,progTess seaboard at Europe's edge. there are farmhouses, and where there are is the ability to sustain yourself, and those Most nights, though, Manhat- farmhouses there are families." who come after you. It's nature and nurture: tan must be quiet, for the only audible sounds The arguments were made: successive what we here call muinhin, which means of are the distant baying of a dog several miles government ministers insisted that what the place, and cointeann, which means to get away,the soft bleating ofnewborn lambs from became known asthe Corrib gas projectwould a little awkward when that place and its people lush coastal meadows and the sighing of the decrease Irish dependency on imported Scot- are about to be torn apart." brine as it moves across rocks and shingle. tish gas and provide up to 60% of Ireland's There had been a choice in Ireland about Soon,however, this deep peace will be shat- needs at peak periods. On the other side, there what to do with the "new frontier" - abundant tered forever. "And this is where it all began," were immediate environmental concerns: natural gas offits western shores. There were says Willie Corduff, standing in his farmyard Broadhaven Bayand nearby Carrowmore Lake two models: that ofthe Norwegians, who guru:- atop fields that tumble down to the estuary of are EU-designated Special Protection Areas; anteed a state-owned stake in exploitation and Sruwaddacon. Corduff's family have farmed the lake, near the refinery, provides drinking quota for domestic consumption, and that of here for generations. "It's been hard," he says, water. There were concerns about poten- British NOithSeagas,where profitswere largely "but we've made a living doing a little bit of tial explosions and the initial high pressure spirited awaybymultinational companies. The everything, you know - a little suckling, a little (345 bar) at which the gas would be piped Norwegian model was favoured by the Irish silage, a little hay."Now that way oflife stands ashore, and the factthat, asraw gas,it contained minister for industry and commerce duringthe to be destroyed, along with that of Corduff's impurities, and would be corrosive. And there 1970s,Justin Keating, who judged that Britain neighbours, who fish the Atlantic waters as were issues ofhistory and community. waswastingresources while NOlwaywassecur· their forefathers have for centuries. Right Maura Harrington, a retired teacher in the ing its future. But the tide turned, as Keating's across the estuary from Corduff's farm, where notions ofstate responsibility were swept aside meadows and bog once came down to the byenthusiasm forthe freemarket and Mru'garet sands, diggers now chug and churn the earth Thatcher's handling ofNorth Seagas. and security men strut behind the reinforced In 2000, Enterprise began digging holes for fencing in fluorescent "hi-viz" jackets. After the pipeline through farmland in Rossport, dusk has fallen, what was once the pure dark- and was grru1tedplanning permission by Mayo ness of night is pierced by floodlights. A mile County Council for the refinery at Ballinaboy. behind this "exempted development" that The following year the Irish government needs no planning permission, a refinery has awarded itself the right to statutorily acquire been built, heavily guarded, a gash across the the private land it needed - the first consent land inflicted by lights, concrete, fencing and orders issued by former minister Frank Fahey those ubiquitous fluorescent jackets. The Shell on election day in May 2002. oil company has come to Erris - and how. Enterprise, and later Shell, had courted "It was a Scottish fellow came one morn- Irish politicians - and the affair was recipro- ing," says COl'duff,"And you know, it was the cated, with entertainment for oil executives arrogance that triggered me off.There was no in Fianna Fail tents at Galway races - but j asking. He told me what was going to happen, everyone in the loop was dealt a blow when taking me for a fool." County Mayo's permission for the terminal In 1996,a reserve of gas had been found 50 was appealed to the national planning board, miles offshore by a consortium called Enter- Bord Pleanlila. The planning inspector, Kevin prise Energy Ireland and a major stake was Moore, recommended refusal, concluding bought by Shell in2002. The plan has been to that: "From a strategic planning perspective, bring raw,untreated gas ashore by pipe, to the this is the wrong site. From the perspective of 28 MAGAZINE I 29,05,11 I THE OBSERVER' This land Is our land: (above) pipeline refused to admit Shell on to their land. "I think language television service and whose uncle protesters Willie and Mary Corduff at the they thought they could break our spirit;' he farms sheep and cattle between Inver and the quay at Rossport and, left, security guards says. "I don't think they realised what kind of Erris coastline. He was appalled by the way in attempt to move an anti-Shell activist people they were dealing with. I think they which many of his peers reported the story: thought we were farmers with 2,000 acres "There was a culture of 'don't rock the boat' government policy which seeks to foster bal- driving Jeeps, not people struggling on a little - the media had got caught up in the Celtic anced regional development, this is the wrong bit of bog, making it greener by the yard with Tiger business, ready to round on anyone who siteoFrom the perspective ofminimising envi- a shovel."Corduffkeeps his cloth cap on as we criticised development, or deregulation - in ronmental impact, this is the wrong site; and retreat to the kitchen of his farmhouse, where this case, anyone who questioned what was consequently: from the perspective ofsustain- he explains how he became one of the first of happening to my uncle's community!' able development this is the wrong site." many to go to jail.