On Saturday, John le Carre, the most celebrated spy fiction writer of his time, died from pneumonia at the age of 89. Le Carre, whose real name was David Cornwell, had been publishing novels on subjects ranging from the Cold War to the Middle East for almost 60 years. In a tweet yesterday, American novelist Stephen King wrote that 2020 has claimed a "literary giant and a humanitarian spirit".
This designation of Le Carre as a humanitarian comes from the latter's realistic, often critical assessment of the work of modern intelligence agencies. His writing also acted as a counterbalance to a more romanticised brand of spy fiction, often associated with Ian Fleming, author of the James Bond stories. While Fleming wrote from the Caribbean, Le Carre used his personal experience of the drab, grey intelligence arena of post-War Europe. In Fleming's novels, stories focused on the charm and romanticism of James Bond, equally gifted at defeating caricature villains as he was at charming women. For Le Carre, largely unremarkable protagonists fitted into nebulous intelligence networks, often without any sense of moral purpose.
CAMBERLEY, ENGLAND - APRIL 11: British Prime Minister Tony Blair inspects Officer cadets after they completed their training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst April 11, 2003 in Camberley. Some 409 cadets took part in the event and it is the first time ever a serving Labour Prime Minister took the inspection and salute. (Photo by Julian Herbert/Getty Images)
In Le Carre's stories, largely unremarkable protagonists fitted into nebulous intelligence networks, often without any sense of moral purpose
This lost Le Carre friends in the British intelligence establishment. Having worked in both MI5 and MI6, the UK's domestic and foreign intelligence arms, former colleagues felt betrayed by his pessimistic portrayal of their work. But his career and personal life - Le Carre's father was a conman who was arrested numerous times - made him well placed to articulate the moral ambiguity of such murky worlds.
In later writing, as Cold War tensions diminished, his focus turned in part to the Middle East. His 1983 novel The Little Drummer Girl looked at Israeli spy agencies in the Palestine-Israel conflict. He was particularly critical of the US-led "War on Terror", a topic he explored in novels such as Absolute Friends and A Most Wanted Man. His 2003 essay in The Times, entitled "The United States has gone mad", was a rebuke to then US president George W Bush and UK prime minister Tony Blair. He described Mr Bush's notion that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was responsible for the 9/11 terror attacks on US soil as "one of the great public relations conjuring tricks of history", potentially more disastrous than the Vietnam War. He also had the foresight to see that US reactions to 9/11 were "beyond anything Osama bin Laden could have hoped for in his nastiest dreams", and that they were eroding freedoms that had made "America the envy of the world".
His focus on realistic portrayals of espionage puts him at the top of his genre - Graham Greene said Le Carre's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold was "the best spy novel I have ever read". It also continues to inspire the genre today, with hugely popular series such as the French programme Le Bureau des Legendes choosing, like Le Carre, to centre stories in reality, not fantasy. Most importantly, Le Carre will be remembered for a lifetime's work that gives the public an accessible but important stake in some of the most secretive corners of today's world.
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
Manifest cargo
Excess luggage in the hold
Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
New UK refugee system
A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Translated from the French and Creole by Linda Coverdale
MATCH INFO
Euro 2020 qualifier
Ukraine 2 (Yaremchuk 06', Yarmolenko 27')
Portugal 1 (Ronaldo 72' pen)
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
