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Current Issues in Biology: v. 2 (Heftet)

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Forfatter: og
Innbinding: Heftet
Utgivelsesår: 2004
Forlag: Pearson Education (US)
Språk: Engelsk
ISBN/EAN: 9780805371086
Omtale Current Issues in Biology: v. 2
Give your students the best of both worlds-accessible, dynamic, relevant articles from Scientific American magazine that present key issues in biology, paired with the authority, reliability, and clarity of Benjamin Cummings' biology texts. Articles cover current topics in biology like: Detecting Mad Cow Disease, Tumor-Busting Viruses, Does Race Exist?, The Mammals that Conquered the Seas, Life Out of Step, Restoring Aging Bones, Next Generation Cheating, and Decoding Schizophrenia. A host of questions at the end of each article help students check their comprehension and see the connections between science and society. This resource is available at no additional charge when packaged with a new text.

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New 15-Inch MacBook Pro Shows Up in Geekbench Results

by Sean P. Aune | July 9, 2013

MacBook Pro 15-inch mid-2013 - geekbench

A new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro running a Haswell chip from Intel has shown up in the results on Geekbench.

An update to the MacBook Pro line of laptops is expected to arrive at any time now. Some speculation existed that we would see them unveiled at WWDC in June, but now that the event has passed us by, it could really be at any moment. It does appear that the new version of the 15-inch MacBook Pro is in active development as MacRumors has discovered the laptop being tested on Geekbench.

The new test shows a MacBook Pro running an Intel 2.4GHz Core i7-4950HQ processor which is part of the new Haswell line that Apple used in the recent refresh of the MacBook Air line. The laptop in question was also sporting 16GB of RAM and a new build of OS X Mavericks, the latter of which definitely adds to the feeling that this is the next iteration of the product line.

What’s missing here is any indication if this is a Retina display model, but as that appears to be the direction Apple is heading with its Pro line, it more than likely is. We also have no indication of the battery life which is where the Haswell chips really excel, and seeing as the Airs got a major battery life boost, our suspicion is the Pros will as well.

We’ll have more on the new MacBook Pros as its announced.

Sean P. Aune

Sean P. Aune has been a professional technology blogger since July 2007, but his love of tech dates back to at least 1976 when his parents bought...


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Christopher Mims

A View from Christopher Mims

German Firm Metaio Demonstrates Real Augmented Reality

Overcoming the registration problem in augmented reality is easy – as long as you’re willing to cache a three dimensional map of an entire city

  • August 10, 2011

Update: this article previously identified the firm Metaio as ‘Junaio.’ Turns out Junaio is the app, Metaio its maker.

Most “real world” augmented reality is primitive, at best. Applications like Layar and “rich storytelling” new media startup TagWhat produce software that can overlay, on your smartphone’s camera view, interesting information about places and objects around you, but that’s about it. Their interfaces are relatively static, relying on “tags” or pop-ups to provide information, rather than truly integrating their augmented reality with the real thing.

Not so Metaio. In a video just launched to promote upcoming AR conference insideAR, Metaio is showing off a demonstration technology that overlays augmented reality on top of real reality – with a fidelity of up to 40,000 polygons at once.

The results might look like they were rendered on a Nintendo GameCube, but keep in mind that Junaio is using a mere phone to: analyze a scene, interpret the distance to objects and the orientation of the phone in 6 dimensions, and project images on top of what it sees – all in real time.

The problem that has plagued real-world augmented reality, the kind that, once unleashed, will probably be the most amazing thing anyone has seen since the PC revolution itself, is that it’s really hard to know exactly what the camera that’s to overlay reality with a convincingly augmented simulacrum of it is pointing at.

GPS and similar location services aren’t accurate enough to pinpoint your location, and the orientation sensors in most phones barely know when you’ve rotated the device, much less what its exact pitch and yaw are.

But if a device, like the Tegra-2 and Android-powered Samsung smartphone used in this demo, has stored in it a complete three-dimensional representation of a given physical environment, it can simply analyze the scene visually and map augmented reality on top of it using that information. In this way, GPS and orientation sensors are used solely to narrow down the number of different scenes the device has to search in its map of a given city.

This, in short, is what real augmented reality looks like. And when it arrives – in conjunction with displays that fit into eyeglasses, which need to improve significantly before they can be used for this application – it will transform our lives as much as PCs and smartphones have, if not more.

via Smartplanet

Learn more about augmented reality at EmTech Digital 2017.
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The Rise of the Godslayer expansion is perhaps one of the most promising expansions of recent MMOG history. Clever puzzles coupled with choice, consequence and challenge will keep fans entertained for some time. Game Director and Executive Producer Craig Morrison walked us through the highlights of the upcoming expansion at GDC 2010. Ten Ton Hammer has the full video along with a brief synopsis. Premium members will also enjoy an additional Q&A at the end of the video.

Watch the Rise of the Godslayer presentation video at Ten Ton Hammer.

Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016


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MP3 & MP4 Players

Our collection of MP3 players and MP4 player are ideal for music on the move, including Apple iPods and innovative Sony Walkmans. With the MP4 feature of video playback, you can also watch your favourite shows and movies wherever you are, whether it's the morning commute or a long lunchtime queue.
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Once Again, School District Shuts Down Tax Break for Gas Exporter

anti-LNG activists
Anti-LNG activists urge the Point Isabel ISD board to reject a tax break for Rio Grande LNG’s export terminal.

In March, the Observer featured a deep dive into a little-known tax incentive program that lets global giants such as Exxon and Dow Chemical pocket billions that would otherwise help fund basic state services — schools, health care, roads, any of the public resources that are often strapped for cash.

Fondly known as “Chapter 313” for its place in the tax code, the program stays out of the spotlight in part because it’s administered by local school districts. The state comptroller has some limited oversight, but it’s up to superintendents to negotiate the deals and up to school boards to approve them — and they almost always do. The state pays back any money they would lose from the tax breaks, so school boards have little incentive to stand in the way of industry. Such business-friendliness is, after all, what the Texas Miracle mythology is built upon.

Point Isabel ISD is the rare district to say no. In September 2015, its school board unanimously shot down an application to help Annova LNG build a mammoth export terminal for liquefied natural gas along the Brownsville Ship Channel. The decision was a huge win for Save RGV From LNG, a movement of local residents and environmentalists who’ve spent years warning their neighbors about the environmental and ecotourism hazards such an export facility could create.

The threat that loomed after that vote was that four other companies have also leased land along the channel for LNG terminals, and could come calling on the school board at any time for a multimillion-dollar tax break. Activists wondered after that vote, Would the school board stick its neck out again when the next company came around?

The answer, we learned this week, is yes.

Tuesday night, the Point Isabel ISD considered another application for a Chapter 313 deal for an export terminal, this one from NextDecade, LLC, and its Rio Grande LNG terminal. Under the terms of the deal, the school board would have kept the terminal’s taxable value artificially low for a decade, saving the company millions.

School board members shot it down 4-2.

Once again, activists filled the school board meeting room with anti-LNG signs, this time urging the board to “shred” the tax break application.

Jaime J. Zapata Memorial Boat Ramp
Patrick Michels
Fishermen at the Jaime J. Zapata Memorial Boat Ramp, near NextDecade’s planned Rio Grande LNG export facility.

Chapter 313 was created as a way to lure business that would otherwise go to another state. But that’s hardly how it’s worked in practice. For instance, the East Texas Electric Cooperative won a Chapter 313 tax break for a power plant it was never going to build anywhere but Texas. What makes the Brownsville Ship Channel such an enticing export site is its proximity to natural gas production in South Texas.

And sure enough, immediately after their school board rejection in 2015, Annova officials promised they’d move ahead in South Texas without the break — a signal that Texas was in no danger of losing this business to another state. On Thursday, NextDecade officials announced they, too, would soldier on without without a deal from the school district. Its Rio Grande LNG terminal would sit just across the ship channel from Annova’s, and it has already announced a partnership with the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

“NextDecade is passionate about inspiring today’s youth,” CEO Kathleen Eisbrenner said in a statement announcing the agreement in August. “We support STEM education programming and have placed special emphasis in the Rio Grande Valley region.”

This week’s school board vote offered NextDecade another great opportunity to support local students — by paying its fair share of taxes for public education.

Patrick Michels, a former Observer staff writer, is a reporter at the Center for Investigative Reporting.

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Miyuki 11/0 Delica Seed Beads - Gunmetal (DB001) - 5g

Code: 12262
  • £1.90
  • (Delivery from £0.95)
Item out of Stock |

Miyuki Delica Beads are cylindrical and a have larger hole size than your average seed bead, this makes the perfect for bead weaving and loom work. They are precision cut, which gives your bead work a much flatter and more uniform finish. They also come in a lovely range of colours.

5g = 900 beads approx

Size = 1.6mm

Hole Size = 0.8mm

Delivery starts from as little as 95p (First Class only £1.95) and we aim to dispatch all orders within 48 hours.

Free First Class delivery is available for UK orders over £25 and free Courier delivery for UK orders over £150.

Want your order quick? Try our Next Working Day delivery service for £6.50, guaranteeing your order for the next working day if placed before 10am.

We also ship internationally from as little as £3.00, simply select your country at the checkout. Is your country not listed? Contact us and let us know!

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We pride ourselves in offering a high level of customer service (and love to talk about beads!) so feel free to get in touch. Our friendly customer service team is available Monday to Friday 10am-3pm and will get back to you right away. You can call us on 0161 274 4040, email us at sales@the-beadshop.co.uk or click here to contact us via our contact form.

We look forward to hearing from you!

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This cake is part of a traditional Arabic breakfast served at the Fauzi Azar Inn in Nazareth—a guesthouse that serves nearly 4,000 travelers a year.

For the cake:
    • 2 cups finest grade semolina
    • 2 tablespoons of baking powder
    • pinch of salt
    • 2 cups plain yogurt (use a yogurt brand that includes live, active cultures, such as Stonyfield)
    • 1 cup sugar
    • 2 cups dried coconut, very finely shredded

For the sugar syrup:
    • 1 cup water
    • 2 cups sugar
    • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
    • 2 fresh geranium leaves (if you do not grow geraniums at home, and cannot find any fresh leaves in a Middle Eastern food shop, they can be omitted and the cake will still be delicious)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Add semolina, baking powder and salt to a medium bowl; stir well to combine and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt and sugar until well mixed, then add dry ingredients to wet, mixing to combine. Fold in the coconut. Pour batter into an ungreased nine-by-13-inch pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Meanwhile, mix the water, sugar and lemon juice together in a heavy saucepan. Add the geranium leaves and slowly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower the heat, remove the geranium leaves and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes, or until it is reduced by a third of its volume.

When the cake is done, remove it from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Cut into squares in the pan and pour syrup over the cake. Recut the squares and allow to sit, covered with a clean dish towel, for at least 30 minutes before serving.

To read about Leah's visit to the Israeli mansion-turned-guesthouse that serves this cake, click here.


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This article is from the archive of our partner .

In a two-to-one vote on Thursday afternoon, the Senate passed the Employee Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), as expected after it ended a filibuster earlier in the week. The senators going on the record, though, offers an opportunity: We can have an up-to-the-minute ranking of the gay-friendliest states in America.

The final tally was 64 to 32, with 10 Republican senators joining the Democratic caucus in support. This is the point where we offer the bad news for supporters: both Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor have suggested there won't be a House vote. Among the reasons the Republicans offer is that the law isn't needed, that there exist laws preventing discrimination already. There's an element of truth to this. There are regional and state laws offering some of the protections in ENDA — but not all of the protections, and not in every state. The ACLU has a map of the states that do.

Meaning that between the ENDA vote, existing anti-discrimination laws, and the legalization of same-sex marriage, we can by now offer a pretty complete picture of the gay friendliest states in the Union. So, let's.

First, we looked at Thursday's vote. Each state got one point for each senator that voted for ENDA. Which gives us this map.

Then, we incorporated the data from the ACLU map. There are five levels of protection, from none (white) to complete prohibition of discrimination on sexual orientation or gender identity (dark red). In between, from light to dark: prohibition on discrimination on sexual orientation in the public sector, prohibition on discrimination on orientation or identity in the public sector, and prohibition on discrimination on orientation at any job. We doled out 0 to 5 points, depending on the level. Giving us:

And finally, the states that have allowed same-sex marriage (dark yellow) or civil unions (light yellow). This one got double points — two for SSM, one for unions.

Once we add up the scores, we get the gay-friendliest states in America. That map looks like this:

Gay friendliest (10 points, SSM, full discrimination protection, two Senate "yes" votes): California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington

Least gay friendly (Zero points, none of the above): Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Mississippi, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming

Everyone else:

  • Delaware, 9 points
  • Iowa, 9 points
  • Maryland, 9 points
  • New Hampshire, 9 points
  • New York, 9 points
  • Colorado, 8 points
  • Nevada, 6 points
  • New Mexico, 6 points
  • Oregon, 6 points
  • Hawaii, 4 points
  • Michigan, 4 points
  • Ohio, 4 points
  • Wisconsin, 4 points
  • Arizona, 3 points
  • Indiana, 3 points
  • Montana, 3 points
  • Pennsylvania, 3 points
  • Alaska, 2 points
  • Kansas, 2 points
  • Kentucky, 2 points
  • Missouri, 2 points
  • Virginia, 2 points
  • West Virginia, 2 points
  • Arkansas, 1 points
  • Florida, 1 points
  • Louisiana, 1 points
  • North Carolina, 1 points
  • North Dakota, 1 points
  • Oklahoma, 1 points
  • South Dakota, 1 points
  • Utah, 1 points

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.


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This article is from the archive of our partner .

After getting solid reviews hopeful iPhoners have flocked in record numbers to purchase the latest iGadget, but not even Apple's offerings are perfect. The phone has those same iPhone 4S outsides and even better insides, but less than a week after the first phones made it into consumer hands the kinks are starting to come out. Let's take a look at some of the early iPhone 4S issues and how to fix (most) of them.

Subpar Screen Quality

A fresh new phone shouldn't have a jaundiced screen. But proud new iPhone owners have taken to the Apple forums to complain about less-than-bright screens. "Got a new iPhone 4S this morning, and when I put it next to my old iPhone 4 I discovered the screen was much 'nicer' on the old iPhone," writes Snowglider on the forum. "When I say nicer, its kind of got a really yellow tint to the screen on the 4S, whites are where you notice it the most for example the email looks far nicer on the iPhone 4 screen. All other colours look quite washed out," he continues.

This same nasty tint has happened before, points out commenter Michael Bratley. "This came up last year I recall with iPhone 4. I think it's because the devices have literally just been produced. And should get better with time. I've not had chance to look at mine yet," he writes on the forum. Last year's problem had to do with an adhesive that will fade with time, adds Cult of Mac's David W. Martin.

Siri Doesn't Always Work

Siri is the most entertaining feature, but it sometimes has trouble connecting. "Siri is not working at all on my Sprint 32GB Black iPhone 4S," writes Gregory 813 on the Apple Support Communities forum. "Keeps saying 'Sorry Something's gone wrong. Can you try that again?' or 'Uh oh, there's a problem. Can you try again?'" Siri has a popularity issue, speculates another forum writer. "I am going to bet that the servers that handle the dictation and Siri backend are overloaded and they are racing to implement failover servers for all of the unexpected traffic," suggests J. Morris. In any case, it looks like the fix is a classic: The old turn-it-off-and-then-on trick. Turning Siri off, resetting network settings, and turning her back on seems to work, discovered Business Insider's Ellis Hamburger.

Sprint Is Slow

The company offers unlimited data, but who cares if it barely works. Gizmodo ran some tests and Sprint posted the slowest average data speed. Angry Sprint user beeay called it "too slow to be useful" on Sprint's discussion boards. There doesn't seem to be an easy fix for this one: Get a new wireless carrier?

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.


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Banks Building Society, Credit Union & Others Swift Codes Institution Codes BSB Number API

BSB (Bank-State-Branch) Number is a six digits numerical codes used to identify an individual branch of a financial institution in Australia. BSB Number is used in Australian Paper Clearing System (APCS) and Bulk Electronic Clearing System (BECS) payment systems. To make money transfer, the BSB Number is used together with the bank account number of the recipient.

For international inward money transfer, a SWIFT code must be used together with a BSB Number and Account Number.

In APCS payment system, BSB and account numbers, are used to identify the account to be debited and are printed on the cheque. Mean while in BECS system, BSB and account numbers, are used when transferring funds via the Direct Entry System.

The Australian BSB Numbers consists of three parts in the format of

  • The First two digits (XX) specify the parent financial institution.
  • Third digit (Y) specifies the state where the branch is located.
  • Fourth, fifth and sixth digits (ZZZ) specify the branch location.

Heritage Bank in Toowoomba, QLD - BSB Number 638-019

Details information for Heritage Bank (Heritage Bank Limited) in Toowoomba, QLD

Heritage Bank (Heritage Bank Limited)
BSB Number 638-019
Branch Heritage Bank Limited
Street Address 400 Ruthven Street
City Toowoomba
Postcode 4350
State Queensland (QLD)
Financial Institution Code HBS
Payment System* PEH
* Note : P = Paper, E = Electronic, H = High Value

Maps, Street View and Direction for Heritage Bank (Heritage Bank Limited) in Toowoomba, QLD


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Patient Information

We have included several resources listed below that may help you both before and after your appointments. By visiting the sections below, you can learn more about our affordable financing programs, and learn how to access our patient portal so that you can register online and communicate securely with our office about your care. You can also browse through our patient education materials and check out our patient testimonials, all in one spot!

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In my limited experience, I have found few pastors and church leaders satisfied with their discipleship efforts. Almost every evangelical church in America would say it wants to make disciples of Jesus and has a strategy in place for how that will be accomplished. Whether through small groups, discipleship classes, or solely the corporate Sunday gathering, churches are legitimately trying to make disciples. And yet many churches are far from satisfied at their efforts.

Early in the journey of planting The Austin Stone, we surveyed our efforts at community, discipleship, and outreach. At first glance, we were a relatively healthy, growing church with good attendance in small groups. Digging a little deeper, though, we recognized that people defined “community” primarily by the event they attended on a weeknight, and only a handful of groups had even invited someone who didn't know Jesus to participate. This process of thinking critically about our communities and disciples helped us to realize our church needed new forms of gathering if we would faithfully live as missionaries in our culture.

Previously for TGC, I unpacked the distinctions between missional communities and other predominant forms of community in the American church. Rather than simply point out deficiencies, I want to present the strategy that missional communities employ to cultivate discipleship, community, and mission together over time.

Briefly, missional communities at The Austin Stone:

  • Gather as a community in a family meeting.
  • Gather as disciples in a life transformation group.
  • Gather as missionaries in a third place.

Family Meeting

The small group movement laid a helpful foundation for the American church, but it wasn't complete. We have cultivated a value for gathering weekly outside of Sundays, but the gathering typically was an event focused on a felt need. Sometimes it's the Bible. Sometimes it's common crisis. In my experience, vital things like sharing everyday life and prayer are pushed to the margins.

When we as Christians believe the gospel, God adopts us into his family. We are in fact now brothers and sisters in Christ. We're not just transactional partners in learning. Most small groups are a far cry from resembling a family. This provoked us to ask a question: If missional community is about obedience to Jesus, what should we do when we gather? Obedience, for us, is acting like a family. Families share life around a meal. The dinner table is a critical time for my family to connect. It takes intentionality to ensure we do it, and sometimes there is formal instruction. More often than not it's a dynamic conversation. We talk over dinner about what was good and hard in our days.
What if we asked our community leaders to host a meal, rather than prepare a lesson? In my experience, the best conversations happen around the dinner table, or while we're washing the dishes. Real life conversation happens in real life situations. Also, eating a meal together will quickly reveal what kind of community you have. You'll need to learn one another's stories, vocations, and passions. Quite simply, you will NEED to become friends.
Participating in a meal together—one that requires a recipe, not a microwave—is a symbol of your fellowship and relationship with one another. We think it is a helpful practice for every community, because it's a regular practice of most families. It frees people up to be people. You don't have to act a certain way or have a certain knowledge set. You don't need to have listened to a sermon or follow a curriculum. Anyone can join in—even an outsider who doesn't know Jesus. Gathering like this is a big change for some people. Inevitably, if you start removing Bible study as the central event you gather around, you'll get pushback. I'm so glad when someone asks the question, “Where can I dig deep?” because we really value the Bible too. In fact, we value studying the Bible as much as we value acting like a family, but where should we do that?

Life Transformation Groups

This leads us to the second place that we gather—as disciples in life transformation groups. Again, we want to judge depth by obedience, not simply knowledge. What would it look like to study the Bible for obedience, not just information growth? Obedience, for us, is being serious about obeying God's Word personally. An LTG is a smaller group of two or three believers of the same gender who commit to meeting outside of the group meeting time. This is the place to study the Bible deeply and to be known deeply by another. There are three primary elements to this kind of group:

  • First, we want to hear and obey—we want to read God's Word every day and be held accountable to what we need to do in response.
  • Second, we want to repent and believe—we want to confess and repent of our sin and disobedience. We're going to remind one another to believe the good news of Christ's perfect life, his atoning death, and his resurrection.
  • Third, we want to consider and pray—we want to consider opportunities to share the gospel, and then pray by name for individual people, not just generic groups.

This weekly rhythm cultivates obedience as a disciple and forms the backbone of missional community. It helps people go from being a consumer meeting a need to becoming a contributor to the life of a community. Also, this kind of gathering is the basic tool of disciple-making. The beauty of an LTG is that you can do it with anybody. The LTG the basic tool to disciple a new follower of Jesus. You can find more of how we practice this at The Austin Stone here.

Third Place

The third way we gather is as missionaries in a third place. Up to this point, we've reoriented a typical small group with a family meal and cultivated discipleship with the LTG. A third place is where a missional community becomes intentionally oriented around those who don't know Jesus. Unless we intentionally make time for people outside our community, we often won't do it. Few of us naturally drift into mission. So what does it mean to obey Jesus and be a missionary? Obedience means gathering for the sake of people who don't know Jesus.

For us, it wasn't enough to just serve together. Mission is about people, not projects. We must think through ways we can integrate people into our communities, not just serve them at arm's length. As we wrestled with this challenge, we needed to create a third place—a place to introduce your lost friends to your community. What makes a good place to invite people? We use three words to describe it:

  • Neutral
  • Natural
  • Regular

An effective third place is neutral ground that is informal and non-committal. It naturally fits into the rhythms of your lost friends' lives. So where do missional communities gather for a third place? It depends on the people you're trying to reach. Ask the questions, “Where do people already spend time and naturally go? How can we gather there?”

For some of our downtown missional communities, this may be an after-work happy hour. For some of our moms with younger kids, this might be a park. My neighborhood gathers at our local restaurants on the weekends and at school events. A third place creates space where people can belong before they believe. We want to do it regularly and invite those who don't know Jesus to participate often.

Putting Them All Together

As we train members in these different practices, people tend to be overwhelmed. The common refrain is, “You mean I have to do ALL of this in one week?!?” I recently had a conversation with one of our leaders. He is an orthopedic surgeon with three kids. His community has around 25 children, and about three months ago they were exhausted with trying to meet each week.

In training, we gave him the freedom to stop gathering their whole community together every week. Instead, they're gathering every other week for a meal and focusing on LTGs and third place. Three months into the change, they are far more effective at both community and mission. It's because they thought through a month, not a week.

As you think through shifting your practices, consider that these don't have to happen the same way all the time, and every member of your community doesn't always need to participate. In the same way a nuclear family has different seasons of life and different needs at different times, so too do missional communities. I recommend that communities at minimum cultivate:

  • Gathering weekly in LTGs.
  • Gathering at minimum every other week in a third place.
  • Gathering at minimum monthly for a family meal.
  • Gathering to worship corporately on Sundays.

Perhaps the best way to illustrate this kind of life together is through story. Here is one testimony of this kind of life together. You'll see that discipleship and missional community doesn't have to be complex—it's rethinking the question, “How do we obey what God has commanded?” Whether you're leading a missional community or small group, I want to challenge you to consider how your practices foster obedience to Jesus.


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Musical chairs

Nicholas Lezard relishes a selection of John Peel's journalism

A welcome addition to Peel's printed oeuvre after the truncated autobiography, Margrave of the Marshes, this selection of his journalism has been arranged, rather whimsically one feels, by alphabetical order of headline rather than chronologically. The reason for this, says his son William in the introduction, is "so that we could engineer a bit of balance to the book", which only begins to make sense if you accept that the watershed of punk rock made as much of a difference to John Peel's writing as it did to his musical taste.

This is partly true: the pre-1976 pieces are often full of not entirely convincing drollery ("Good morrow, fellahin, your lovely Uncle John isn't feeling that neat today," and so on), but gradually he cut this kind of thing out and became a much better writer for it. Or, to put it another way, he found that one way to become a funnier writer was to become more serious. (We have, though, been wisely spared his work from earlier, hippier days, on such publications as International Times or Gandalf's Garden: "Touch the bark of a thousand trees, shoeless".)

Peel tended towards the comic in his columns, but could be perspicacious when he wanted to be, as in a review of 1977's music written for the Listener: "The banning of 'God Save the Queen' . . . demonstrated that familiar political process whereby a cursory examination of the content leads to a ferocious assault on the form". Two sentences later he writes, "as several others have done before them, the Sex Pistols contrived to appear in that invaluable shop window, Top of the Pops, while convincing the gullible that they were reluctant to do so. . ." This is admirably clear-eyed, and as succinctly insightful into the nature of the punk rebellion as one could hope for; it is a shame Peel was not asked to write more extensively at the time about the phenomenon - though he was probably too busy doing his job as a DJ and listening to demo tapes.

But considering writing wasn't his day job, he did very well at it; although the selection here seems rather patchy and incomplete. It may be giving us a thoroughly representative selection of his work, but from what I recall of his stuff he seemed to be more reliably amusing than you might gather from these pages.

The earlier pieces, in particular, only really grip when he is writing about something or someone he truly cares about, such as Captain Beefheart: "I'm not really surprised that many people felt unequal to coping with the radical changes in taste and attitude that were required to absorb what he was doing." This, though written in 1972, could serve as a kind of notice of Peel's greatest gift: he was to cope with such radical changes in taste within himself, and help a generation of music listeners do the same.

But it is when he has to go against his own grain that he is at his most amusing. Perhaps indulging a private taste for mischief, his editors at the Observer would send him off to cover music that was decidedly not to his taste. "Blithering nonsense, superbly played," is how he sums up an evening of New Age music (remember that?); and, after enduring an audience with Billy Joel, he has to leave early ("I could take it no longer"): "'Try to imagine,' I said to the people in the Tonibell van outside, 'Elton John without the costume, the sense of the preposterous or the tunes.' 'That bad?' one of them asked. It certainly was."


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The Business podcast: RBS report and rogue traders

John Gapper and Jill Treanor discuss a new report into the failure of Royal Bank of Scotland. Plus: we look at the history of rogue traders. What makes some bank employees risk everything when they seem to have so little to gain?
 Sir Fred Goodwin
Royal Bank of Scotland Group chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin, arriving for a meeting with Gordon Brown on April 15, 2008. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP

The spetacular failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland in 2008 has been well documented. When the government stepped in with only a couple of hours to spare, the full extent of the bank's indebtedness was only just beginning to become apparent. RBS's well-paid executives such as Sir Fred Goodwin became national hate figures as staff were laid off and the share price took a nose dive.

This week saw the official report by the Financial Services Authority - and it spreads the blame far and wide. The finger is pointed not only at the RBS board, but also at its shareholders, at the Labour government, and at the FSA themselves. No one, however, has been found legally responsible.

Joining Katie Allen in the studio to discuss this we have the Guardian's City editor and banking expert Jill Treanor.

Also this week: we look back at financial scandals that do often end with criminal prosecutions. Bank fraud in the guise of 'rogue trading' is a blight on the industry that has the potential to ruin the biggest banks in the City and on Wall St. So why do the scandals keep happening?

This year saw the arrest of a 31-year old trader at UBS on suspicion of fraud. His case follows the recent conviction of Jerome Kerveil at SocGen.

According to financial journalist and author John Gapper, banks could learn something from evolutionary biology: when people are put in stressful situations and start losing money, they can act irrationally. If there aren't the right mechanisms in place, or if firms turn a blind eye to excessive risk-taking, the result can be disastrous.

Leave your thought's below.

John Gapper's e-book How To Be A Rogue Trader is out now.


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Manufacturers take on EU over CO2 emissions as consumers shun 'cleaner' cars

Europe's carmakers stepped up their campaign yesterday to stop the EU imposing tough new laws to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from all new cars, claiming consumers were shunning "greener" vehicles.

The industry says consumers have shown strong demand for "larger, safer vehicles and disappointing acceptance of extremely fuel-efficient cars that have been brought into the market in line with the CO2 commitment".

The European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) condemned Stavros Dimas, EU environment commissioner, for demanding legislation to cut emissions to 120g per kilometre by 2012.

ACEA said it remained committed to its 1998 agreement with the European commission to cut emissions to 140g/km by 2008 and admitted that the decrease in emissions had slowed. But it still claims to have reduced CO2 levels by 20m tonnes a year.

The industry spends a large part of its €20bn (£13.4bn) research budget on fuel-efficiency. But carmakers, including US and Asian companies based in Europe, say the slowdown in sales has been partly caused by a failure to introduce fiscal incentives on a pan-EU basis to encourage consumers to switch to more fuel-efficient cars and the lack of infrastructure at service stations to supply greener fuels. It also criticised the EU for stringent regulations on safety and air pollution.

ACEA wants coordinated or even harmonised tax regimes for registering new cars and imposing excise duty on fuels according to the degree they pollute the atmosphere, citing French plans to make E85 (a mix of 85% of ethanol with 15% petrol) as cheap as diesel. But this is anathema to countries such as Britain, which insist that tax is a national prerogative, and EU plans to levy registration according to CO2 emissions have run into the ground.

New figures from Britain's manufacturers' body, the SMMT, suggested yesterday that UK consumers are switching to more fuel-efficient cars, with diesel-powered vehicles taking more than 41% of new registrations in October - up 5.4% to 64,128 out of a total of 153,851 units.

Chris Macgowan, SMMT chief executive, said: "Fuel efficiency and increased environmental awareness are now high on customers' priorities."


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Joey Barton offers to help Newcastle's Andy Carroll get back on track

Barton: 'I've been in his shoes. I will try to guide him'
Forward scores winner against West Ham
West Ham United v Newcastle united  - Premier League
The Newcastle forward Andy Carroll, right, has been ordered to live with the Newcastle captain, Kevin Nolan. Ian Horrocks/Getty Images

Joey Barton will sit down with Andy Carroll, who is due in court tomorrow to plead not guilty to charges of occasioning actual bodily harm after an incident at a Newcastle nightclub last year, and offer his advice on how to go about avoiding any further potential controversy.

Carroll lit up this match with a superb performance that included scoring the winner and helping to set up Kevin Nolan's equaliser, against a West Ham team who faded disappointingly.

Barton, who was also excellent, can draw on his own grim experience when he advises Carroll. In 2008 he spent 74 days in Manchester's Strangeways prison for assaulting a teenager in Liverpool, and received a four-month suspended sentence for attacking one of his former Manchester City team-mates, Ousmane Dabo.

Carroll was also in court last week, after the 21-year-old was charged with assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a case that has been adjourned until January, and which resulted in him being ordered to live with Nolan, the Newcastle captain. The court heard that Carroll will claim self-defence.

"The pitch can be a little bit of a sanctuary – for me more than anyone in the modern game really, I always found it a sanctuary," said Barton, who produced menacing crosses either side of half-time that set up his team's goals. "Andy knows where we [his team-mates] are and I've been in his shoes. I will try and converse with him. My reputation hindered me for a long, long time and I will try and guide him to stop him from going down that path. We are human beings. He's a great kid and a great lad."

Chris Hughton, the Newcastle United manager, was clear that Carroll was always going to be selected despite the distractions of the past week, which included the centre-forward's £150,000 Range Rover being set alight while parked on Nolan's drive. But Barton and his manager warned that if any issues prove a negative force then Carroll's rise towards the top will pause.

"He comes into training and works hard every day and all the lads in the dressing room support him, as does the gaffer," Barton said. "If he loses that then he will be in trouble. But he showed us again with his performance what it means to pull on the black and white jersey and for me as long as he does that it's nothing to do with me what he does outside the football pitch."

Hughton said: "If I had felt that he [Carroll] would be affected [by off-field matters] then certainly I wouldn't have played him but I had every confidence it wouldn't affect him," he said.

Hughton watched West Ham begin the match well and when Mark Noble flipped a pass over Newcastle's defence for Carlton Cole to finish from Frédéric Piquionne's mis-hit shot, there appeared to be every chance that Avram Grant's team would score again soon.

But Carroll first barged a hapless Manuel da Costa sideways to get his head on Barton's 23rd-minute delivery and allow Nolan to stroke home. Then the forward moved on to another Barton cross to score with a classic striker's header.

It meant that West Ham's unbeaten Premier League run ended on four games and with them stuck to the bottom of the table, three points from safety.

"This is the first time that we didn't deal well especially with the crosses," Grant said. "I hope it is the first and the last. Newcastle, especially in the second half, played well. They passed the ball well. When you are playing with two strikers like they did, they are going to cross the ball. We knew before the game but we didn't deal with it well."

Matthew Upson limped off with a hamstring problem but the central defender hopes to return for West Ham's trip to Arsenal on Saturday.

"I know my body and it was one of those that if I needed to sprint quickly I was going to tear the muscle," he said. "Hopefully I'll be fit within a week or so."


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Arcade Fire at Glastonbury 2014 review – born headliners slay the Pyramid stage

4 / 5 stars

Win Butler and co have matured since 2007 and delight the masses with a set full of sequins and showmanship

See all our Glastonbury 2014 coverage here

Arcade Fire perform at Glastonbury 2014.
Arcade Fire perform at Glastonbury 2014. Photograph: James McCauley/REX

Where and when: Pyramid stage, 10pm, Friday.

Dress code: Face paint, at least for Win Butler; patterned suits for the rest of the band.

What happened: There are artists who seem to have something approaching a symbiotic relationship with Glastonbury, for whom the festival forms an integral, lasting part of their story. There's Pulp, whose rise was confirmed when they stepped in for the absent Stone Roses in 1995; Elbow, whose One Day Like This was transformed from album track to ubiquity by one televised afternoon performance on the Other stage; Radiohead, whose ascendancy to superstardom seems inexorably entwined with their legendary headlining performance in 1997. And then there's Arcade Fire, who subsequently related their 2007 appearance in terms of abjection and horror. It was “a fucking nightmare”, “a mudpit”: “You have to drive your truck through the middle of the crowd of shit,” frontman Win Butler complained, adding that the driver who had taken them on site was from Bangladesh and had attested the sights on display were “crazier” than in his home country.

Still, that was 2007 – a rainy year. Seven years on, things are noticeably different. By the early evening, it’s raining as if 2007 were merely a rehearsal: at one juncture, conditions become so inclement that the music on the Pyramid stage has to be stopped entirely. Nevertheless, Arcade Fire don’t seem unduly phased, by the weather or the fact that they’re playing opposite EDM superstar Skrillex on the Other stage. Their on-stage demeanour makes for a marked contrast with their Pyramid-stage predecessors, Elbow, who make a set of pretty opaque new material work by dint of frontman Guy Garvey turning on the full force of his charming personality between songs – but Win Butler still finds it in his heart to coo “you’re looking beautiful” at the mud-spattered audience. This is perhaps pushing it a bit, but the sentiment is nice.

For all their previous issues with the festival, it swiftly becomes apparent that Arcade Fire are a band who could have been specifically designed to headline Glastonbury. They have the songs: for all their experimental leanings, the vast majority of their material comes usefully equipped with choruses that huge crowds can lustily bellow along to en masse. And they have a penchant for showmanship that can project to the back of a big field: their set begins with a huge figure covered in mirrors ascending a platform at the side of the stage as fireworks erupt around him; marching band drums are battered; Win Butler performs with his face covered in black and white paint, and his wife, Régine Chassagne, is a compellingly kinetic presence, shifting between instruments in a sequined costume. A little improbably, given the band’s reputation for high seriousness, writhing dancers appear on-stage during We Exist, apparently transplanted from Block9, the area of Glastonbury that forms the small-hours home of disco deviation.

A member of Arcade Fire at Glastonbury 2014.
A member of Arcade Fire at Glastonbury 2014. Photograph: Will Oliver/EPA

Their four albums to date have each arrived with a noticeably different sound, but the set never feels disjointed: there’s something impressively relentless about the pace. With the already well-staffed band augmented by a variety of backing musicians, Neighbourhood #3 (Power Out) – from their 2004 debut, Funeral – has been given a makeover to fit perfectly alongside the tracks from last year’s Reflektor, an album audibly in thrall to the skewed art-funk of David Bowie’s Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps). Rebellion (Lies), also from their debut, sounds like it’s been subject to a dramatic remix.

It all works incredibly well: they slip with ease from the rousing glitter-beat of Joan of Arc to the piano balladry of the title track from the 2010 album The Suburbs without losing the crowd. As they bellow along to the wordless chorus of Wake Up, the sense of a band not merely coming to terms with Glastonbury but triumphing at it is hard to avoid.

High point: Wake Up.

Low point: There wasn’t one.

In a tweet: Thrilling penance for past Glasto bashing.


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Just how big were dinosaurs?

Almost any report on dinosaurs will feature a measure of the size of one species or another, but what are these values based on?
A Brachiosaurus dinosaur skeleton
A Giraffatitan at Berlin's Natural History Museum. Estimates of the weight of this species range from 15 tonnes to 80 tonnes. Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/Reuters

The physical size of dinosaurs is a constant fascination for the public. Any media report on a new species will make mention of how long it was or how much it weighed and books and internet databases are full of just this kind of information and research papers on the methods used to estimate the size of dinosaurs often get media coverage too. Size, it seems, matters.

But how do you determine the size of a dinosaur? Well the length of an animal is rather obvious. Assuming you have a complete skeleton to hand that's a simple measure, but very few skeletons are even close to complete. Even so a good estimate isn't hard to come up with and a reasonable (and reasonably accurate) figure can be determined for many animals known only from far-from-complete skeletons.

Weight, however, is a rather more complex and awkward proposition. Various numbers have been reported for some dinosaur species that vary wildly, with some values being several times the size of others. Brachiosaurus for example has had numbers pegged to it at one time or another that are anything from around 15 to 80 tonnes. This tends to give the impression that these are little more than a guess and not a very good one at that, but this is a false impression.

For a start, and often overlooked is the fact that individuals of a particular species often vary wildly in size. Even allowing for sexual dimorphism (ie where one sex is bigger than the other) it's not uncommon for one animal to weigh nearly twice that of another adult that, in linear terms, is of a similar size.

Similarly, unlike length or height, weight can vary quite considerably over time. Plenty of animals go through seasonal changes for a variety of reasons, be it the huge requirements of rearing offspring, the efforts of migration, lean times in winter and so on. So when an individual could go from say 50-75 kg and back over a year, and adults of the species could range from 40-100 kg then suddenly the varying figures given for some dinosaur species look rather less extreme. If one method gives a low figure and another a much higher one, it doesn't necessary mean either method is flawed and the results wrong – both results could be correct and reasonable, but merely exploring different parts of the size range.

The other major reason for the various numbers that have been published is the fact that over time the methods involved in calculating them have become ever more sophisticated and as our understanding of dinosaurs increases, more sources of error or variation can be accounted for.

It's easy therefore to pick the two most extreme numbers that have ever been published and assume that it's an unknowable mess or that at least one of them is badly wrong, but what's more interesting and pertinent is that the numbers do seem, on average, to be converging. Multiple modern methods are producing answers that are ever closer to each other and coupled with increasing back-checks (testing these methods on animals of known mass) suggest increasing accuracy.

We can't ever know the exact mass of an individual dinosaur, not least because over time it would vary, but we can make an accurate estimate. The methods used to come up with those numbers are something I'll tackle next.


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Ecuador attempted coup: president vows to punish rebels

Rafael Correa addresses supporters from balcony of presidential palace after troops rescue him from police

The Ecuadorean president, Rafael Correa, has vowed to punish protesters who rebelled against his leadership, saying there would be "no forgiving nor forgetting" for those who plunged the country into anarchy.

Addressing cheering crowds from the balcony of the Carondelet Palace after being rescued from a besieged hospital in the capital, Correa said the uprising was not a simple police insurrection over pay-related grievances but an attempt to overthrow him.

"Those people made the institution look so bad that they attacked their co-citizens, that they abused the weapons given to them by the society to which they belong, that they dishonoured the police uniform. Of course, all the people who can be identified will have the corresponding sanction. There will be no forgiving nor forgetting."

Earlier today soldiers stormed the hospital with automatic gunfire and stun grenades in a battle which left at least two dead and dozens injured, and enabled Correa's swift and triumphant return to the presidential palace.

Emotional and euphoric, Correa told supporters he would make an example of those responsible.

"What loyalty, what support," he shouted to loud applause. "This will serve as an example for those who want to stop the revolution not through the ballot box but with weapons."

The rescue was the climax to a dramatic day in which a police revolt over austerity measures spiralled out of control, leaving airports and motorways blocked, borders sealed, the president assaulted and businesses looted.

The Ecuadorean police chief, Freddy Martinez, resigned this afternoon after failing to stop the rebellion, a spokesman for the force told Reuters.

The protests were triggered by a law passed by Congress on Wednesday that would end the practice of giving medals and bonuses with each promotion, part of Correa's effort to save costs and slim bureaucracy.

Ecuador is one of South America's most volatile countries, with a tradition of protests, but nobody expected to see scores of uniformed men overrunning the main airport of the capital, Quito, forcing its closure and the declaration of a state of emergency.

It was just the beginning. Hundreds of rank and file soldiers and police took over barracks in Quito, Guayaquil and other cities. They also set up roadblocks of burning tyres and occupied Congress, shouting "respect our rights!" and "long civil war!".

Smoke wafted over Quito and sporadic looting left several banks and supermarkets ransacked. A state TV channel showed police trying to enter its studio. The channel said the police shattered windows and tried to cut the power supply.

Correa, a 47-year-old economist with a firebrand style, went to a regimental barracks to try to negotiate with protesters but was surrounded, punched, doused with hot water and almost blinded with teargas.

A government helicopter tried to evacuate him but was unable to land. The president was spirited to a hospital but police rebels laid siege.

"This is a coup attempt," Correa told state-run TV. "They're trying to get into my room, maybe to attack me. I don't know. But, forget it. I won't relent. They are a bunch of ungrateful bandits. No one has supported the police as much as this government."

Civilian crowds loyal to the president confronted police, prompting Correa to address the throng from his hospital window: "If they want me, here I am," he shouted and ripped his tie loose. "I leave here as president or they take me out as a corpse."

The foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, led another pro-government crowd to the Carondelet Palace, the president's home.

Latin American leaders from across the political spectrum united in support of Correa, as did the US and the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. Colombia and Peru sealed their borders in solidarity with the embattled president. The Opec nation's turmoil pushed global oil prices to nearly $80 (£50) a barrel.

Loyalist army units broke the siege in a 35-minute gun battle that left at least two police dead, according to the Red Cross. One report said the president was smuggled out of the hospital in a wheelchair under cover of darkness as gunfire blazed. A four-wheel-drive vehicle rushed him to the palace. At least 74 people were reported injured during the day's clashes.

Venezuela's president, Hugo Chávez, backed his ally's contention that the unrest was a coup attempt. Doris Solis, an Ecuadorean cabinet minister, disagreed. "This is not a coup," she told CNN.

The head of the armed forces, Ernesto Gonzalez, said troops remained loyal to Correa. "We are in a state of law. We are loyal to the maximum authority, which is the president."

Even before the protests, the government's proposed austerity measures had triggered a political crisis and revolt by the president's own party, the Country Alliance. Correa threatened to dissolve parliament and rule by decree until elections.

Correa, who has a Belgian wife, was elected in 2006 promising a "citizens' revolution" to spread the benefits of oil, gas and other revenues to the poor in the Andean mountains, Amazon forests and Pacific coast slums. He defaulted on a $2.8bn debt, calling it illegitimate, and boosted spending on education and health.

He was re-elected under the new constitution last year but since then public sector workers and indigenous groups, among others, have accused him of breaking promises.


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Wanted: new archbishop of Canterbury – must have plans to fill the pews

Whoever replaces Rowan Williams in the next few days will inherit a church struggling to maintain its relevance
Rowan Williams
Rowan Williams is in the last weeks of his tenure as Archbishop of Canterbury. He leaves a church that is at its most endangered in rural areas. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA

If Christianity dies in England, it will die first in the countryside. This may seem paradoxical. When we think of English Christianity, we think of medieval churches standing at the heart of quiet villages. Surely the most traditional parts of the land would cling to traditional ways such as Christianity? But the traditions have largely died, and the churches with them.

This long, slow trend is what should really worry whoever takes over as Archbishop of Canterbury from Rowan Williams – an announcement on which is imminent. To understand the problem, I went in search of the worst jobs in the Church of England.

Wickford, in Essex, was once a village. Now it is just a swelling of houses alongside the dual carriageway to Basildon. Its church, built in the 1960s, exudes the optimism of Ladybird books from that time; it could hold 10 times today's congregation of 31. Perhaps five were under 50, and eight were male. The sermon was plain, forceful and thought-provoking. I have known the preacher and team rector here, Canon Jane Freeman, for years: she's a woman of great intelligence, humility and force of character, and seems not in the least discouraged by her surroundings.

Some were astonished that someone who seemed fast-tracked for promotion should take such an unglamorous job. She had been working in a predominantly Muslim parish in east London. "In many ways, the East End was easier: you might get your tyres slashed, or people asleep in the front garden, but there was a reserve of faith. We didn't have to worry that people couldn't see the point of God. There was always a new community who hadn't lost the habit of faith … But this [area, Wickford] is where so much of the Church of England is."

There are two other churches in her benefice: one Anglo-Saxon, popular with weddings, and the other Victorian. All once were proper parishes. Now all of their congregations rattle around inside them. The rational thing to do would be to run them together. But this is a solution that the parishioners would not accept, said Freeman. "A third of people actually get the problem. The others would feel betrayed if the church were to close, or there were no longer a church in their village.

"It might seem that the problem, out here in the suburbs of Basildon, is that religion has been made redundant by material success. But although this is a cheerfully materialistic part of the world, it is not conspicuously successful. After the service, we passed through a room with bags of canned and dried food – what modern churches do at harvest festivals – for local homeless people.

canon jane freeman
Canon Jane Freeman said working from St Andrew's in Wickford, Essex, had posed different challenges from the ones she experienced while in east London. Photograph: Martin Godwin

"Unemployment is increasing, although this a comfortable area," said Freeman. "Here we have started to help the area's emergency housing, partly because it's across the road, and so not a problem in Basildon. So many of the people around here have a sense that things aren't right, whether it's their health or something else. There are so many people who have one way or another a sense of their own worthlessness."

A parishioner came up with a question. "Well, if you think that I'm in charge, dear!", said Freeman, and laughed at the absurdity in a way that had us all laughing with her. But while we were laughing, I thought that her job would be quite intolerable if she did not believe that God was in charge. These Essex suburbs may not have much to offer the Church of England, but they are not the places where it is most endangered. Modernity is good for religion. In the cities, it flourishes because it delivers the benefits of community. In the suburbs, all kinds of churches can find a niche: in the market town where I live in north Essex there are churches for Baptists, Quakers, Roman Catholics, URC, Methodists, and a pentecostal congregation on the industrial estate, as well as the Anglicans, whose church could hold 1,000 – and still holds 170 on a normal Sunday.

Things are worse in the deep country. The least glamorous parts of the Church of England are the rural dioceses – Lincoln, Truro, Carlisle, and Hereford. Their problems were exhaustively analysed by a statistically trained vicar in Lincolnshire. Unlike more central or pleasant places, they don't attract priests from the outside, even to retire. Oxford, for example, has more than 500 retired clergy on its books, almost all of whom are available for minimally paid work.

In the deep countryside, congregations are shrinking and ageing. The other Christian denominations have all already disappeared from rural England. The Anglican vicar who is left will have as many as 20 churches to look after, and if they are not careful they will spend all their time driving frantically between them. The congregations are elderly. They have watched all their lives as fresh initiatives came from London to bring people back to church – and they have seen their children and grandchildren move elsewhere anyway.

David Rowett is a vicar in one of the more distant corners of Lincolnshire, Barton-under-Humber. The Humber bridge lies just north of his parish, and the Anglo-Saxon church of St Peter is at the bottom of the vicarage garden. Twenty years ago, there were 13 salaried clergy looking after the 30 churches in his deanery; now there are five. "At one point we were told to plan to make do with two. We are reliant on an absolutely brilliant NSM [an unpaid non-stipendiary minister]; an older, hard-working volunteer priest, and a supportive retired priest floating around.

"As we chip away and chip away at clergy numbers, the stuff that we used to be able to do is fading. Issues about the quality of theological education. How are we meant to resource things like spiritual direction, spirituality, vocations, which was all done in spare time? But the spare time has all gone. Everybody is tired, but the expectations grind on."

When I went to visit, he greeted me in an apron that said: "What would Torquemada do?" His curate wears a ring in one nostril; her husband is a churchwarden. Despite the gloom of the situation they described, they were full of a contagious delight. I don't think I have laughed so much in months as I did at the stories they told over lunch.

The curate recounted how she was assisting, as a deacon, at communion. It was December in the newer of the parish's churches, dating from 1170, and she could not work out why the priest was so slow when he elevated the chalice full of wine. It was only after the service was over that he explained his hands were so numb with cold he thought they would freeze to the silver.

"The Victorian model of church, based on an unlimited supply of young men prepared to work for nothing, is just not going to work," said Rowett.

"The other failed model he sees around him is managerialism. The diocese of Lincoln has just been the subject of an excoriating report into its management practices. There has been the early retirement of one of the two area bishops but the diocese says that the resignation was agreed "before the report was published". The senior lay figure in the diocesan administration had been given the title of chief executive. That has gone, too."

It is not mourned in Barton-under-Humber: "Managerialism was such a morale-sapping fad," said Rowett. "They took a model of management which was appropriate to those in paid employment and thought they could get away with it with volunteers. I'm working 70- to 80-hour weeks. We've got an NSM who's working a 70-hour week." Then he suddenly added, as if he had forgotten it: "This is the best job in the world, mind you."

So I went to see the new bishop, Christopher Lowson. The medieval palace under the cathedral in Lincoln is now a hotel, but a few rooms have been retained as the bishop's office. He came with a reputation as a Church House bureaucrat, having run the church's central scheme for clergy. Before Lincoln, he had been a vicar in south London, and in the prosperous Hampshire town of Petersfield. Neither, he says, prepared him for the reality of Lincoln. "A suburban model of the church isn't the way to measure here. We have a situation where although the number of people entering the clergy is about the same, the number of people leaving is larger. People in rural contexts want to keep their church in a way that doesn't apply in suburbia. There, you will choose the church that meets your needs, whether it be a 10-minute drive, or a 20-minute drive. In the countryside, the local church that you somehow are connected to is very important."

The trouble with this desire is partly that the buildings are enormously expensive to maintain. Rowett remembered one parish with a Grade I listed church, which was inordinately proud of having raised nearly £700 for its preservation in a year. Beyond that, the cost of full-time clergy for every church has been beyond the diocese of Lincoln for at least 50 years.

The answer that everyone comes up with is to use more lay people. "They must be enabled and motivated, taught and encouraged by the paid parish clergy," said Lowson. "It requires them to work in a different way, not the way they have been trained. We're still training people for a model of ministry which is no longer required on the ground."

Looked at from the ground, the perspective is slightly different. Rowett's wife, Viv, said she wished for "younger older people: people in their 50s, to take over from the lay people in their 70s who keep everything going now".

Yet for all this gloom on the ground, the church still seems more important in rural areas than in the cities or suburbs. Lowson says he was surprised to discover, when he moved to Lincoln, that the local press wanted his opinions on all sorts of stories. "In the countryside, the bishop is still a local leader, expected to comment on things, in a way which is no longer true in the cities. Church is still a real part, beyond its own church life, in congregations."

Still, it's clear where the trends are headed if nothing is done. The parish system no longer delivers the pastoral care or the money the church needs to keep going.

Two of the younger bishops considered as contenders for Canterbury have come up with dramatic solutions. The Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, bishop of Chelmsford, and thus Freeman's boss, sees a future in which the clergy work in teams of up to 10 people, covering wide areas together. This is good for morale, as they need no longer feel personally responsible for a parish where no one seems to need them.

It makes it easier to bring lay people forward. It also tends to reduce internecine feuding. Supporters and opponents of female ministers, or gay people or even the Alpha course, will find themselves working alongside one another and constrained to see one another as Christians, rather than destroyers of the work of Christ.

In Chelmsford, as the Church of England calls Essex, money is not a huge problem. It's not a rich diocese. "But one way or another, the money always turns up," said Cottrell. Elsewhere, and especially in the countryside, the financial crisis is growing acute.

Justin Welby is the bishop of Durham. Gossip makes him the frontrunner for Canterbury. He has a past as an oil trader. He understands money. The diocese at present is dependent on a subsidy from the church commissioners that covers about 25% of its running costs. That is clearly not to be relied on. Retired clergy are not just a source of unpaid labour, on which the church increasingly relies, they are also a huge cost in pensions. Almost all the commissioners' billions of pounds of assets are in fact devoted to the pension fund. The rest of the money is raised by a quota system that is almost guaranteed to be inefficient and unpopular, as it combines central assessment with voluntary payment.

Each parish is told by the central diocesan authorities what they think it should raise for the rest of the church, and then expected to raise this from the congregation. Congregations will give a lot – last year more than £800m – but they don't give enough to keep the poorer churches going. Lowson said: "The model of running the church like a golf club where you decide what it will cost to employ a bartender and greenkeeper, and then set the fees accordingly – that isn't Christian stewardship."

He puts his hope in a better class of Christian. "We need people to be more Christ-like Christians. That's the fundamental issue. The difference between evangelicals and non-evangelicals, on this particular point, is that evangelicals tend to believe that you're giving their money to God, rather than to a particular church. Your contribution is part of your total response to God's generosity."

Welby's solution is more organisational. He has asked every parish in the diocese to set a figure it believes it can realistically pay and then intends to hold them to that.

At present, there is no sanction against a parish that refuses to pay its quota, and some of the largest and richest conservative evangelical churches in the cities make a point of withholding their share. Under Welby's arrangement, everyone will pay what they honestly suppose that they can: parishes that renege on the agreement will find it harder to get paid clergy and other financial support in the future.

There's no guarantee this will work, but as a hard-headed appeal to idealism, it shouldn't be cynically written off.

What keeps the Church of England running is not its leadership nor its structures. It's the clergy's faith in God. Williams, for all his mistakes, was loved around the church because he seemed to share and even to exemplify that faith. The next archbishop will have to get that bit right if he is to inspire his followers. It's not a matter of having the right slogans.

This article was amended on 5 November 2012. The original said that one of two "assistant bishops" in the diocese of Lincoln had retired early as a result of an "excoriating report into its management practices". It was an area bishop, rather than an assistant bishop, and he had agreed his resignation before the report was published.


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Get to Know a Dancing Star: Cody Linley

by at . Comments

We're very excited about this season's Dancing with the Stars cast.

And not just because it gives us an excuse to mention contestant Brooke Burke nude without seeming gratuitous.

Brooke and Tom

The celebrities appear to be a nice blend of old - Cloris Leachman is 82! - and young, as actor Cody Linley is the youngest participant in the history of the show. Here are a few interesting tidbits about the Hannah Montana star:

  • Was born in Lewisville, Texas
  • Movie roles include parts in Hoot and Rebound
  • Lives with his parents and two of his four brothers
  • Plays both electric and acoustic guitar
  • His favorite sport is basketball

So there you have it. Think Cody Linley has a shot at winning Dancing with the Stars?

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Dancing with the Stars Quotes

We should have started dancing with one arm waaay before.

Cristian de la Fuente [following his injury, trip to the hospital and subsequent stellar performance]

I am not the best dancer, and I have not been the best dancer from the beginning. I am happy we made it this far.

Cristian de la Fuente


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Home Clothing Dresses Mini Breeze cotton-blend dress

Raoul Breeze cotton-blend dress

$182.50 (Approx. CAD $239)
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Color: Grape

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  • Raoul grape Breeze dress
  • Cotton-blend
  • Zipped front, front slit pockets, lace-up detail, pleated skirt, fully lined
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  • 56% cotton, 41% nylon, 3% spandex; lining: 100% acetate
  • Machine wash
  • Imported

  • Fits true to size, take your normal size
  • Designed to be fitted at the bust and waist, slightly loose at the hip
  • Mid-weight, slightly stretchy fabric
  • Model is 175cm/ 5'9" and is wearing a US size 2

Product code: 830371

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Since its international debut in 2010, Singapore-based Raoul's sophisticated aesthetic has earned the brand a spot on the New York Fashion Week schedule. With bold paneling, punchy patterns and deft draping, design director Odile Benjamin presents a contemporary take on classic wardrobe staples.

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Home Accessories Scarves Alpine striped shearling scarf

Karl Donoghue Alpine striped shearling scarf

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Color: Light green

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  • Karl Donoghue light-green and white Alpine scarf
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  • Dry clean
  • Made in the UK

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Renowned British shearling designer Karl Donoghue is famed for his innovative and contemporary collections, and is this year celebrating two decades of success. Created in close collaboration with expert tanneries, each piece is handcrafted in England using traditional techniques in a modern way, to achieve a truly luxurious product.

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Zapatillas Asics Gel Kayano Evo Azul Intenso

Sneakers Asics Gel Kayano Evo Blue Intense

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Reduced Price 90,00 € before:

Asics Gel Kayano Evo Blue Intense. Introducing the new version of the retro classic Japanese brand Asics, the model Gel Kayano has evolved to the present day, with new generation materials, respecting the original lines and loaded with features like its predecessor, this new version has been used a technique with an absence of seams in the vast majority of the upper, where only see in the back of the shoe, the midsole has been respected and brings to this model of sneakers unprecedented comfort is achieved.

This time we present a monocolor colorway for which used a bright blue as the main base of the shoe, we can see occupying the entire silhouette, both the upper and in its midsole, the materials have used in the manufacture of this retro classic have been a selection of different synthetics combined art with each other, on the other hand we have the magnificent midsole made of expanded EVA, which added to the GEL technology, a perfect blend of comfort is achieved and lightness, a great success of the Japanese brand Asics for this new season.

Visit our store shoes and clothes online where you can find the latest news from the Japanese company Asics.

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McKinnon a 'scapegoat for Pentagon insecurity'

US mil still wide open to attack, says reformed hacker

As accused Pentagon hacker Gary McKinnon hopes against hope to avoid being extradited to the US, another reformed military systems meddler considers his own case - and how different the outcome was.

McKinnon is probably days away from extradition. Only a last minute plea to the Home Secretary "Wacky" Jacqui Smith - based on McKinnon's recent diagnosis with Asperger Syndrome - now stands between the Scot and a US trial for hacking into US government and military systems. Friends and family staged a demonstration outside the Home Office on Tuesday in a bid to draw attention to McKinnon's plight.

The handling of McKinnon's case is in marked contrast to how US authorities handled a similar one ten years ago. Like McKinnon, reformed computer hacker Mathew Bevan was charged with breaking into US military computer systems. Bevan was also curious about searching for evidence that the US military had harvested technology from crashed UFOs. Bevan's alleged crimes were cited as examples of cyberterrorism at Senate hearings in 1996.

But no attempt was ever made to extradite Bevan to the US. Instead he was prosecuted in the UK. The case eventually fell apart after 18 months, when prosecutors decided not to proceed.

Bevan put the legal fight behind him and has since gone on to become an ethical hacker and security consultant. Speaking exclusively to El Reg, Bevan said McKinnon is being used in a political game that has more to do with securing funds than deterring or preventing attacks.

"Clearly, lessons have not been learned since I breached similar systems and as I have always suggested - perhaps stopping the intrusions is not the goal of the administration," Bevan said. "Tacitly allowing access to machines by ensuring that default passwords or in fact access methods without passwords is suggestive of a system that really does not care too much about many of the machines connected to it."

Bevan questions why Windows PCs on US military networks are connected to the internet via direct IPs. Thousands of attackers regularly use the same remote access port accessed during McKinnon's hack, but little or no action has been taken in their cases, Bevan adds.

McKinnon has said that many other hackers had gained access to the same systems he was accessing, questioning why US authorities singled him out for prosecution. The fact that McKinnon did nothing to disguise his tracks and lived in a country with a friendly extradition regime probably has a fair bit to do with this.

Bevan supports McKinnon's contention that he was far from alone in rooting around US military systems. "You ask any military hacker about the machines they broke in to and they will tell you they were not the only people on those systems. Of course, they weren't the only people, as there were great numbers of people whiling away their time hacking computers."

Pork barrel ploy

McKinnon, according to Bevan, was far more than simply unlucky.

"Why is it that only a tiny number of those people ever face prosecution? It is clearly not because the others cannot be found. You cannot believe that out of so many people, Gary just happened to be caught."

McKinnon is being used as a scapegoat in a bid to secure extra funding to protect US military networks, according to Bevan, who reckons a commercial organisation would never get away with such trickery.

"I think it's all about timing and whether or not the hacker will make a good scapegoat whilst allowing the administration to request further money. The fear machine can keep churning out propaganda as per normal, but don't expect those machines to actually get better security. They are not businesses, have no shareholders and therefore do not have to answer to the same stringent rules and tests that the computer systems of corporations would."

Bevan compared hacking attacks to an infestation by pests. Both stem from a failure to follow basic housekeeping rules, he argued.

"My cynical side believes that those 'pesky hackers' are treated just like any bug infestation, the odd one or two or even a handful is not much of an issue until the place becomes overrun. It is then that you can call in the exterminators and make a big fuss about the problem, of course it never addresses that the usual problem with an infestation is someone has not been keeping their place tidy. You leave scraps around for rats to find and in a short time you will have many, many more rats sniffing around for the goodies."

With such lax security, the US authorities are lucky that McKinnon only had peaceful intentions in mind, Bevan noted.

"Gary is a self-confessed stoner and perpetrated the 'biggest military hack of all time' whilst completely wasted. This is clearly a sign of how lax the security of these systems was. If Gary had been clear minded and deliberate about what he wanted to achieve and was a malicious person rather than the pacifist he is - where exactly would we be now?"


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JFL42: highlights of the comedy festival’s first year

Louis CK, of course, and the Alternative Show among highlights of comedy event's first year.

Pete Holmes was one of the highlights of JFL42 for Sharilyn Johnson.
Pete Holmes was one of the highlights of JFL42 for Sharilyn Johnson.

We’ve shared a lot of laughs, Toronto. The first JFL42 festival is in the books and, from the perspective of the audiences, anyway, it was a success. That cumbersome pass-credit format seemed to cause less trouble than might’ve been expected, and local comedy obsessives gorged themselves on the talent on offer.

Local comedy blogger Sharilyn Johnson (third-beat.com) and the Star’s Garnet Fraser list their favourite shows and offer a tip for next year.

Sharilyn Johnson:

  Alternative Show, Comedy Bar, Mon.-Fri. Tag-team silliness and inside jokes between Todd Glass, James Adomian and host Andy Kindler made it worth staying out until the wee hours on weeknights. Bonus: a surprise Thursday-night set from Louis CK.

  Louis CK, Sony Centre, Thursday. Fresh off his double Emmy win last Sunday, CK continued to top himself with his annual batch of new material deeply-seeded in themes of ethics, gratitude and aging.

Article Continued Below

  Pete Holmes, Mod Club, Wed. The happy-go-lucky Holmes gained rock-star status with his infectious joy, and earned a full standing ovation with his perspectives on being single, the rapture and cynicism at magic shows.

Looking Ahead: Joe Rogan, Jim Gaffigan or Margaret Cho might not be able to fill CK’s shoes as the festival’s anchor, but giving patrons a choice between two or more of those acts would give pass-holders more flexibility than they had this year.

Garnet Fraser:

  Amy Schumer, Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Sunday. Her reputation as a dirty comic preceded her, but going in I had no idea how skilled she is at writing punchlines. Anyone who can get a gust of laughter by ending a bit with “No! My father loved me!” is working at a very high level.

  Todd Barry, Mod Club, Wednesday. His commitment to his low-energy style demands that the audience get on his level. No matter how petty or trivial the subject matter (ie. the pettiness of Yelp restaurant reviews) the guy scores.

  Alternative Show, as above. For the comedy nerd, this was a mini-fest all its own, for here was where the comedians having fun themselves. Half the comics on the JFL42 list stopped by to drink, talk riff and tease each other onstage. See Adomian doing his Todd Glass impression, see Glass doing Adomian doing him, see a remarkably loose Andy Kindler keeping it all nailed down.

Looking Ahead: For the anchor next year, I have two words: Marc Maron. OK, a few more: the shocking, smart Jim Norton could also pull a big crowd, but fans needn’t wait — he’s here in November for the Dark Comedy Festival.


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Ontario man sentenced to seven and a half years for sexually abusing daughter

The man was convicted of incest, sexual assault and sexual interference for offences spanning over 15 years.

An Ontario man has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for subjecting his daughter to “unrelenting” sexual assaults over several years while convincing her that theirs was a normal, loving relationship.

The man, who cannot be identified in order to protect the victim’s identity, “treated (his daughter) like a wife and made her do chores for him as well as imposing unwanted sexual intimacy on her,” Justice Brian P. O’Marra said in a sentencing decision released last week.

“Incest is a soul-destroying crime,” the judge said, adding that the man’s offences “involve an egregious breach of parental trust.”

“The victim was deprived of a normal, supportive father and subjected to sexual touching and assaults commencing when she was 11 years old. (The man) manipulated and controlled the victim and convinced her that she had to prove she loved him.”

He was convicted of incest, sexual assault and sexual interference for offences that began in 1997 and ended in 2012.

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Court documents say the man first placed his daughter’s hand on his genitals and, over time, “demanded sexual intimacy in acts that included anal and vaginal intercourse.”

“The offences were unrelenting over several years,” the judge said. “The victim was made to believe that their relationship was normal and acceptable.”

“(He) preyed upon his daughter and led her to believe that their sexual relationship was appropriate. He wanted her to believe that they were ‘lovers’ rather than parent and child.”

In 2009, the daughter had a sexual relationship with a young man, the document says. When her father found out, he insisted she have unprotected sex with him.

During trial, the victim testified that she became pregnant with what she believed was her father’s child and got an abortion.

While it is not known who fathered the child, O’Marra said he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the man committed incest “numerous” times.

The daughter told the court the abuse she endured left her feeling ashamed, guilty and depressed, and that she was eventually diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

In her victim impact statement, she said that despite feeling she had “lost everything,” she had decided to forgive her father.

“By forgiving it does not mean I will allow him to hurt me again, by forgiving him today I’m letting him go, and with him all those memories of pain, shame and guilt,” she said.

O’Marra handed down consecutive sentences of one year for the sexual interference charge, one year and two years respectively for the two separate sexual assault charges and four years for the charge of incest, less six months of credit for the strict bail conditions imposed as the man awaited trial.

The Crown had been asking for five to six years, while the defence asked for two to three years less credit for time served.


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Mary Dean Toucheque

Mary Dean Toucheque passed away on Sunday, June 29, 2014 at the age of 54. She was the cherished wife of Lloyd J. Toucheque for almost 34 years. Loving and devoted mother of Justin W. Toucheque, Paul A. Toucheque (Sheri) and the late Beth M. Toucheque. Daughter of William and Josephine Camarata Dean. Sister of Larry J. Dean (Bunny) and the late William G. Dean, Jr. (Maris) and Gregory P. Dean. Sister-in-Law of Cathy Springer, former wife of Gregory P. Dean, Sr. and mother of Gregory P. Dean Jr. and Jessica D. Nicolosi, Bobbi Allen (David), Charlotte Wright, Danny Kay, Joseph Kay (Terry) and Peggy Thibodeaux (Bruce). Aunt of Tiffany D. Weigand (Conrad Jr.), William G. Dean III (Vanessa), Joseph P. Dean, Gregory P. Dean, Jr. (Leann), Jessica D. Nicolosi (Scott) and the late Brigette L. Dean. Mary was a lifelong resident of St. Bernard Parish. She was employed with Gethsemane Preschool for over 20 years. Mary was a teacher and mother to many. She will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by all who knew her. Relatives and friends were invited to attend a visitation held at St. Bernard Memorial Funeral Home, on Monday, July 7, 2014. A funeral mass was held shortly after visitation. Interment followed in St. Bernard Memorial Gardens. To view and sign the Family Guestbook, please visit

St. Bernard Voice

234 Mehle Street
Arabi, LA 70032
Phone: 504-279-7488
Fax: 504-309-5532


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10 Worst Rihanna Songs

The Contenders: Page 2

21 Diamonds Diamonds

I don't think it's a worst song. You are the Rihanna haters and you should go away in the world.

This song is good in my opinion

I don't get why people like this song. It tries so hard to be catchy, but it comes off as boring. Sia stated that she wrote this song in 14 minutes. It shows.

If I hear the words "shine bright like a diamond" I am going to sue Rihanna. The song is hideous and repetitive. Rihanna sounds like a cow that has got tangles up in electric fence.

This is my song it's so alive

V 6 Comments
22 Where Have You Been Where Have You Been
23 Right Now Right Now V 1 Comment
24 Shut Up and Drive Shut Up and Drive

Trashy song & video! Both of them make no sense! - Fan_of_Good_Music

V 1 Comment
25 Take a Bow Take a Bow

Why is this song here?! It's one of her best works, and this is coming from someone who does NOT like her current hits.

This is the best song you dumb this song is the best

V 1 Comment
26 Cockiness (Love It) Cockiness (Love It)

Apparently I'm alone in my hatred for this song.
Either way, I can't stand this. I find it distressing to listen to.

Is this even music? This song literally has no key, no appeal, horrible lyrics (I want you to be my sex slave), a really annoying chorus and some idiot shouting 'you' for the longest amount of time possible. Quite frankly one of the worst songs I've ever heard. Even the bass sounds awful!

I like Rihanna but this song is terrible - venomouskillingmachine

Yeah this isn't good

V 4 Comments
27 This is What You Came For This is What You Came For
28 You Da One You Da One

This is a great songs why it's on 20th place? It's shouldn't be here

Are you kidding this song is horrible!

This is OK. Only complaint is her saying the N word in the bridge - Hotheart123

The matrix song id call it 💁 - Ihaskitty1234

29 Loveeeeeee Song Loveeeeeee Song
30 Four Five Seconds Four Five Seconds

What is this song about? I don't think she even knows. All of them just sound so uninteresting, even copaired to Rihanna's other songs.

She like only does three notes in this 'song' and it doesn't even seem like they are singing.

4-5 seconds to wildin'... W t f does that even mean?

V 1 Comment
31 Breakin' Dishes Breakin' Dishes
32 S.O.S. S.O.S. V 2 Comments
33 Photographs Photographs

Cool song, identical just for relaxing after hard work... - Fan_of_Good_Music

34 Nobody's Business Nobody's Business

Best song ❤. Her & Chris brown show how despite what happen they stand a change together. & it ain't nobody's business

V 1 Comment
35 Cheers (Drink to That) Cheers (Drink to That)
36 Stay Stay

That's it, people this is one of the greatest hit songs by Rihanna. - Fan_of_Good_Music

Love rihanahh hate this song who's freacking idea was it to put diamonds on here anyway I love that song

V 2 Comments
37 Man Down Man Down

This song is perfection... This made me love her music so much... - Fan_of_Good_Music

This song is so bad, especially when Rihanna sings it live.

V 1 Comment
38 Can't Remember to Forget You Can't Remember to Forget You
39 Pon de Replay Pon de Replay

This song should not be on the list because it's because of this song that you heart Rihanna on the radio. Without that, Rihanna would not be famous now

Horrible, she talks so fast I can't understand a word of it

40 Complicated Complicated
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Rugby Union

Are you a big rugby fan? Well then you´re definitely in the right place. Here at Ticketbis, we have tickets for all international rugby events. Get your rugby tickets now before it´s too late!

The origins of rugby are not fully known, though it is claimed that the sport was invented after Rugby School student William Webb Ellis decided to pick up the ball during a football match, rather than kick it. This account is impossible to verify but the subject of the story had his place in the sport cemented in history after the William Webb Ellis Cup was created, to be given winners of the Rugby World Cup.

The first Rugby World Cup was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The first-ever winners were the All Blacks, who beat France 29-9 in a final that took place at Eden Park in Auckland. Since then the tournament has grown in popularity and its appeal has stretched far and wide; in recognition of this, the IRB granted the 2019 Rugby World Cup to Japan. You can get your Rugby Union tickets right here on Ticketbis!

Europe´s most prestigious rugby union competition is the Six Nations, which takes place between England, Ireland, Wales, Italy, France and Scotland annually. The tournament is the successor of the Five Nations, the competition´s name before Italy joined in 1999. The six teams play on a strict round-robin basis, the highest points-scorer coming away with the Six Nations Championship Trophy. However, some of the teams contend for a series of smaller trophies that have been incorporated into the event over time.

The Triple Crown can only be won by England, Scotland, Ireland or Wales and is awarded if a team beats all of the other three nations. A physical Triple Crown Trophy was created by tournament sponsors Royal Bank of Scotland in 2006 and has been awarded since then. The Calcutta Cup has been contested annually between England and Scotland since 1879 and originates from a Christmas Day match played in India. In addition to the Triple Crown and Calcutta Cup, Italy and France play each other for the Giuseppe Garibaldi trophy and England and Ireland for the Millennium trophy; the long- standing fixtures date back to 2007 and 1988 respectively. Find your rugby Six Nations tickets right here!

With the Rugby World Cup and Six Nations, there is plenty of rugby union to get your teeth stuck into. Still need rugby tickets? Well you can get them right here on Ticketbis!

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