divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/25510?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+UN+human+rights+chief+accuses+Israel+of+war+crimesch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Gaza%2CIsrael+and+the+Palestinian+territories+%28News%29%2CMiddle+East+%28News%29%2CWorld+news%2CHuman+rights+%28News%29%2CWar+crimes+%28News%29%2CUnited+Nations+%28News%29c5=Unclassified%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CCharitiesc6=Rory+McCarthyc7=2009_01_10c8=1145173c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Gazac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FGaza" width="1" height="1" //divpThe United Nations' most senior human rights official said last night that the Israeli military may have committed war crimes in Gaza. The warning came as Israeli troops pressed on with the deadly offensive in defiance of a UN security council resolution calling for a ceasefire./ppNavi Pillay, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has called for "credible, independent and transparent" investigations into possible violations of humanitarian law, and singled out an incident this week in Zeitoun, south-east of Gaza City, where up to 30 Palestinians in one house were killed by Israeli shelling./ppPillay, a former international criminal court judge from South Africa, told the BBC the incident "appears to have all the elements of war crimes". /ppThe accusation came as Israel kept up its two-week-old air and ground offensive in Gaza and dismissed as "unworkable" the UN security council resolution which had called for "an immediate, durable and fully respected ceasefire"./ppProtests against the offensive were held across the world yesterday just as diplomacy to halt the conflict appeared to falter./ppWith the Palestinian casualty toll rising to around 800 dead, including 265 children, and more than 3,000 injured, fresh evidence emerged yesterday of the killings in Zeitoun. It was "one of the gravest incidents" since Israel's offensive began two weeks ago, the UN office for the co-ordination of humanitarian affairs said yesterday. /pp"There is an international obligation on the part of soldiers in their position to protect civilians, not to kill civilians indiscriminately in the first place, and when they do, to make sure that they help the wounded," Pillay told Reuters. "In this particular case these children were helpless and the soldiers were close by," she added./ppAn Israeli military spokeswoman, Avital Leibovich, said the incident was still being examined. "We don't warn people to go to other buildings, this is not something we do," she said. "We don't know this case, we don't know that we attacked it."/ppDespite the intense bombardment, militants in Gaza fired at least 30 rockets into southern Israel yesterday. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, told al-Jazeera TV: "This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over. We call on Palestinian fighters to mobilise and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."/ppIsraeli officials said they could not be expected to halt their military operation while the rockets continued and said they first wanted an end to the rocket fire and a "mechanism" to prevent Hamas rearming in future./pp"The whole idea that Israel will unilaterally stop protecting our people when Hamas is sending rockets into our cities to kill our people is not a reasonable request of Israel," said Mark Regev, spokesman for prime minister Ehud Olmert. Israel wanted security for its people in southern Israel, he said, and dismissed suggestions his military might seek to topple Hamas, saying they were "not in the regime-change business"./ppIsraeli public opinion still strongly favours the war. One poll of Jewish Israelis yesterday, by the War and Peace Index, said 90% of the population supported continuing the operation until Israel achieved all its goals./ppOlmert held a meeting of his security cabinet, and on the agenda was discussion about whether to intensify the offensive by launching a fresh stage of attacks in which Israeli troops would invade the major urban areas of Gaza as more reservists were called up. There was no word on the outcome. /ppSo far 13 Israelis have been killed in this conflict, of whom three were civilians./ppAnother 23 Palestinians were killed by the Israeli military yesterday. Seven from one family, including an infant, died when Israeli jets bombed a five-storey building in Beit Lahiya, in northern Gaza. There was heavy aerial bombing and artillery fire across the territory./ppMore than 20,000 Gazans have fled their homes in the north of the strip and thousands more in the south. In some cases Israeli troops have told them to leave, or dropped leaflets warning them to evacuate their homes. Some are even dividing their families between different addresses for fear of losing them all in a single air strike./pp"Many people are leaving their homes and moving to the centre of the cities," said Abdel Karim Ashour, 53, who works with a local aid agency, the Palestinian Agricultural Relief Committee. He, his wife and their four children fled their house on the coastal road in northern Gaza on the third day of the conflict. He sent the four children to stay with his brother while he and his wife are staying at a friend's house. "We were in an area of heavy shelling, so we left and I divided the family to try to reduce the victims if we face any trouble. We try and keep in touch by telephone but there are problems with the network," he said. "We're just hoping for a ceasefire. If the fighting goes on there will be more victims."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gaza"Gaza/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/israelandthepalestinians"Israel and the Palestinian territories/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middleeast"Middle East/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/humanrights"Human rights/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/warcrimes"War crimes/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/unitednations"United Nations/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/YXuX8bl5KiJkzO7ZeFq6lsFXAnM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/YXuX8bl5KiJkzO7ZeFq6lsFXAnM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/43154?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Palin+attacks+media+for+her+treatment+during+election+racech=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Sarah+Palin%2CMedia%2CUS+news%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CMedia+Weeklyc6=Ed+Pilkingtonc7=2009_01_10c8=1145206c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Sarah+Palinc13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FSarah+Palin" width="1" height="1" //divpSarah Palin, the governor of Alaska who was propelled on to the world stage as Republican vice-presidential candidate, has come out with guns blazing against the media, whom she blames for giving her unfair and class-biased treatment during the election campaign./ppIn an interview with a rightwing documentary film-maker, Palin attacks local and national newspapers, TV network news, anonymous bloggers and stand-up comics for presenting a distorted image of herself, her family and her Alaskan administration. Not even staff working for the Republican presidential candidate, John McCain, escape her wrath./ppIn the sharpest attack, she predicts that the media will wear kid gloves in comparison when they talk about Caroline Kennedy, John F Kennedy's daughter, who is campaigning for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat. "As we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove there is a class issue here that is a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy," she says./ppKennedy herself has come under considerable media criticism after stumbling through a series of interviews, including one in which she used the phrase "you know" 138 times./ppIn embittered comments to the talk radio host John Ziegler, who is making a documentary that seeks to show that media malpractice lay behind the election of Barack Obama in November, Palin said she became the victim of "absurd" gossip. Blogs were rife with the rumour that she was not the mother of her infant child Trig, born four months before her nomination - rumours that she said persisted today./pp"It's a sad state of affairs if the mainstream media is going to rely on anonymous bloggers as the source of their information. Very scary," she said./ppPalin confirmed reports from the time that relations were tense between her and the media handlers working for McCain. She blames them for subjecting her to several interviews with the CBS newscaster Katie Couric, even after the first encounter did not go well. "Going back for more was not a wise decision," she says./ppThe Couric interviews helped sustain a view that Palin was naive, ignorant and ill-equipped for presidential office. /ppIn the most embarrassing exchange, Palin appeared unable to answer a Couric question about what newspapers she read. She now says she may have been "too flippant" in answering that question, but insists she interpreted it as implying Alaskans did not read at all. "Of course I read newspapers! I read publications. I spent a lot of time reading our local papers - because that's my job to know the business of Alaska, but also USA Today yes, and New York Times."/ppShe noted that Couric's ratings had risen after the interviews, and that Tina Fey, the comedian who impersonated her on Saturday Night Live, had won an entertainer of the year award./ppZiegler plays her a clip from one of the sketches in which Fey, as Palin, says: "I believe marriage is meant to be a sacred institution between two unwilling teenagers." Palin lashed out at the sketch - a dig at Palin's pregnant teenage daughter, Bristol. "Cool, fine, come and attack me, but when you make a suggestion like that that attacks a kid, it kills me, it kills me." /ppAsked whether the bruising experience would put her off in future, she says: "I would do it again, knowing there is great need in our country for reform", further fuelling speculation about a possible Palin presidential run in 2012./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/sarahpalin"Sarah Palin/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa"United States/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/EvTHZHcxW5RkhEbGWMCX2kh1YZg/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/EvTHZHcxW5RkhEbGWMCX2kh1YZg/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/22133?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Al-Qaida+chief+killed+in+Pakistan%2C+US+claimsch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Al-Qaida+%28News%29%2CPakistan+%28News%29%2CTerrorism+-+international%2CWorld+news%2CUS+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Saeed+Shah%2CHaroon+Siddiquec7=2009_01_10c8=1145209c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Al-Qaidac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FAl-Qaida" width="1" height="1" //divpThe head of al-Qaida's operations in Pakistan has been killed by a US air strike in South Waziristan, close to the Pakistani border with Afghanistan, a US counter-terrorism official has said./ppUsama al-Kini was believed to be responsible for attacks including the bombing of a Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed 55 people in September, and an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, who was later assassinated, the official added./ppIn the last week the US has concluded that Hellfire missiles fired from a remotely piloted Predator aircraft operated by the CIA killed Kini - along with his lieutenant Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan - in the tribal area on 1 January. Both men were Kenyan-born and on the FBI's list of most-wanted terrorist suspects. They were indicted for the 1998 bombings of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and were believed to have trained operatives to travel to the US and Europe./pp"Al-Kini was a ... lethal operations figure within al-Qaida. The demise of a succession of senior al-Qaida figures is certain to have at least a near-term debilitating effect on the group," the official said./ppKini, whose given name was Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, was believed to be 32. He became head of al-Qaida's operations in Zabul province in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in 2001, and by 2007 was the organisation's operations chief in Pakistan./ppNeither the CIA nor the Pakistani government commented on reports of Kini's death. The US does not officially confirm air strikes, reflecting sensitivity over raids by US drone planes on Pakistani territory./ppThe strikes have prompted public outrage in Pakistan, where there is widespread anger over the breach of the country's sovereignty and the death of civilians in some of the attacks. There is also scepticism about the strikes' alleged targets./pp"How many times have they said they killed the head of al-Qaida's Pakistan chapter?" said Muhammed Amir Rana, director of the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, an independent thinktank in Islamabad. "The cost is collateral damage and has the effect of encouraging violent radicalisation in Pakistan."/ppThe strikes, which have increased in frequency, have piled pressure on Pakistan's fragile civilian government. While ministers and the army routinely protest against the attacks, it is thought the strikes are tolerated because they are aimed at foreign nationals linked to al-Qaida, rather than local Taliban militants./ppUS forces in Afghanistan carried out about 30 missile strikes in Pakistan in 2008, according to Reuters, most of them since September. Kini was the eighth senior al-Qaida leader to have died since July, the counter-terrorism official said./ppWhile senior military and counterterrorism authorities say the increased Predator strikes have pushed some insurgents deeper into Pakistan, the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, are believed to be at large and hiding in the Afghan-Pakistan border area./ppSeparately, a series of blasts around a theatre in the eastern city of Lahore last night injured at least six people./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/alqaida"Al-Qaida/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/pakistan"Pakistan/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/terrorism"Global terrorism/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa"United States/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/g-XqrbVq1Qv2DIO8pj4VgyI8T5k/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/g-XqrbVq1Qv2DIO8pj4VgyI8T5k/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Authorities in Pakistan have often seemed in cahoots with home-grown terrorists. Not any more. Adrian Levy and Cathy Scott-Clark report from Islamabad on a new intelligence unit pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ECP1AHBWEuXgQC-xpLs4epm7LYs/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ECP1AHBWEuXgQC-xpLs4epm7LYs/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

Flash wheels and support vehicles are for wimps, as 73-year-old Simon Gandolfi proves when he picks up a 'pizza delivery bike' in Mexico and heads down south pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/54bM5zM5UQdO8uZ0wq_0QE7_RHM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/54bM5zM5UQdO8uZ0wq_0QE7_RHM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/62115?ns=guardianpageName=Travel%3A+Danny%27s+big+adventurech=Travelc3=The+Guardianc4=Australia+%28Travel%29%2CRoad+trips+%28Travel%29%2CTravelc5=Not+commercially+useful%2COutdoor+and+Active%2CAustralasia+and+Pacific+Travelc6=Danny+Wallacec7=2009_01_10c8=1144718c9=articlec10=GUc11=Travelc12=Australiac13=c14=h2=GU%2FTravel%2FAustralia" width="1" height="1" //divpThis is it. This is the moment we have been preparing for. We are in a tiny white Mitsubishi hurtling down the Bruce Highway - surely the most Australian of all the highways - and there, in the distance, we see it./ppA giant fibreglass pineapple. A giant fibreglass pineapple faded by sunlight and muted by drizzle, but a giant fibreglass pineapple nonetheless./pp"It's beautiful," says my wife, and although I realise moments later there may have been light sarcasm hidden somewhere in her voice, I can't stop myself agreeing. For this is the Big Pineapple of Woombye, and we have flown thousands of miles and driven hundreds of kilometres to see it./pp"That certainly is a big pineapple," I say, in awe./pp"Let's do this!" says my wife./ppWe park the car and navigate an overpass as trucks glide beneath us, almost none of their drivers pausing to take in the glory of the massive tropical fruit to their right, so intent are they to get to Burpengary or Nambour or Deception Bay. But I am already taking pictures. For me, it is an important moment. It is the moment our journey truly begins./ppThe idea had started in London as winter began to creep in. /pp"Let's get out of here for a while," I'd said./pp"Where to?" said my wife./pp"Australia?" I said. "We could see some more of the country. Get to know your homeland a bit better. We could sit in a very small car and spend weeks on the road seeing those Big Things you told me about."/ppMy wife had laughed./pp"Or we could not do that," she said./ppBut slowly, somehow, a plan came together. We could fly to Brisbane. Drive to Melbourne. Take in the East Coast, and all while seeing Big Things. There was a certain degree of reluctance at first, I'll be honest. But then, one day, and almost out of the blue, she agreed. /ppAnd now here we were, standing at the foot of the giant fibreglass pineapple of Woombye. /ppDreams do come true./pp"So how many of these do you want to see?" she says./ppIt was a good question. Australia's Big Things number in the hundreds, and all thanks to a humble Coffs Harbour banana farmer named John Landi. In 1963, he stood by his roadside banana stall - alone and ignored - and watched as car after car passed him by. How could he make them stop? How could he make them buy his fruit? If only he could get them as excited as he was about bananas./pp"Of course!" he realised, one lonely day in a fug of fumes. "A giant banana! A giant banana is what this place needs. I have found my calling. I will build the biggest banana the world has ever seen. A banana to be proud of."/ppAnd so he did. And incredibly, it worked. Word of the Big Banana spread far and wide. And soon, from all over Australia, they came. The Big Banana became a symbol of all that was right with the humble banana, every car made a pitstop, and John Landi sold a lot more fruit. /ppSuddenly, Australians of the north, south, east and west began to realise that what people wanted were Big Things. Big Things that would honour their heritage or their industry or even their hobbies. Big Things that would put them on the map. Big Things that would mean there was something to put on the map. And so proudly they erected their huge, colourful statues, from the finest plaster or the sturdiest concrete. They got their mayors to open them, and they sat back, safe in the knowledge that they had done something./ppI realise suddenly my wife is still staring at me. Her words are hanging in the air./pp"I'm not sure how many I want to see," I say, and it's true: I don't. "Maybe a lot of them. I mean, look at this!"/ppWe both stare again at the Big Pineapple, which is, of course, not Australia's only Big Pineapple. Rival pineapple merchants, perhaps jealous of the attention and plaudits the Big Pineapple has garnered, have invested in their very own. Just 100 kilometres to the north, for example, stands the Big Pineapple of Gympie. /ppIt is only natural it should have its imitators, but experts in the field have agreed it's probably Australia's most successful Big Thing of all time. This is a claim not without controversy. Some contest that the Big Prawn of Ballina should hold that honour, while others cite the achievements in worm-based education that the Big Worm has brought to Victoria, but pretty much everyone agrees that the Big Oyster is a bit rubbish. /ppIn the coming weeks, we will see all these things, plus many more. We will stumble upon Tropical Fruit World, eat cheese at a miniature Dutch village and/or clog workshop, and meet a Peanut Imp./ppBut the journey starts here. Here, at the foot of a giant fibreglass pineapple./pp"Shall we go in?" I ask. "Shall we begin?"/ppMy wife nods. She looks happy./ppShe will look less happy as the trip continues./ppWe go in./pp· STA has an offer on a flight from London to Brisbane, returning from Melbourne from pound;689 with Qantas available until 27 January, (087 123 08512, a href="http://www.statravel.com"statravel.com/a). Stay at the Limes Hotel (142 Constance Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, +61 7 3852 9000, a href="http://www.limeshotel.com.au"limeshotel.com.au/a) from A$229 per double. One week's inclusive car hire in Australia from pound;122 with Holiday Autos (0870 400 0010, a href="http://www.holidayautos.co.uk"holidayautos.co.uk/a)./pp· Yes Man, the film based on Danny Wallace's book, is on general release./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/australia"Australia/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/roadtrips"Road trips/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/HCsajOUzD2rMgMGUB-dDve7qxs0/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/HCsajOUzD2rMgMGUB-dDve7qxs0/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

a href="http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-37364420090109"Is this end for the Tamil Tigers?/a The Sri Lankan army have a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7819386.stm"captured Elephant Pass/a, the latest in a string of victories against the guerrilla outfit. The army has pledged to avoid civilian casualties (which have caused India and other countries to intervene in the past) but there are still a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD95H39281"concerns/a with reports of artillery strikes on civilian centers in a href="http://www.sibernews.com/200901081010/"Tharmapuram/a [graphic], and a href="http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/sri-lanka/report-2008"serious human rights concerns/a. Though the military battle may be all but over the country is sure to face armed political struggle for some time. br /

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/62716?ns=guardianpageName=Science%3A+She+may+never+get+breast+cancer+-+but+girl%27s+birth+raises+new+doubts+over+designer+babiesch=Sciencec3=The+Guardianc4=Embryos+and+stem+cells+%28Science%29%2CGenetics+%28Science%29%2CCancer+research+%28Science%29%2CReproduction%2CScience%2CSociety%2CHealth+%28Society%29%2CUK+newsc5=Society+Weekly%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CHealth+Societyc6=Ben+Quinnc7=2009_01_10c8=1145200c9=articlec10=GUc11=Sciencec12=Embryos+and+stem+cellsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FScience%2FEmbryos+and+stem+cells" width="1" height="1" //divpThe birth of the first British baby genetically screened before conception to be free of a breast cancer gene was hailed yesterday as a breakthrough by doctors but raised fresh questions about the ethics of creating so-called designer babies./ppThe baby girl grew from an embryo screened to ensure that it did not contain the faulty BRCA1 gene, which would have meant she had a 50%-85% of developing breast cancer./ppWhile mother and daughter were said by a spokesman at University College hospital, London, to be doing "very well" following the birth at this week, medical experts and those involved in cancer research were considering the implications./ppPaul Serhal, medical director of the assisted conception unit at the hospital, said: "This little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life. /pp"The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."/ppIn June the mother, then 27, told how she decided to undergo the screening process after seeing all her husband's female relatives suffer the disease. The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said at the time: "We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down."/ppThe technique, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), has already been used in the UK to free babies of inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease. But breast cancer is different because it does not inevitably affect a child from birth and may or may not develop later in life. There is also a chance it can be cured, if caught early enough./ppPermission to carry out PGD for breast cancer had to be obtained from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority by the London clinic which performed the procedure./ppDr Sarah Cant, policy manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said the decision to screen embryos to see whether they have a faulty breast cancer gene was a complex and very personal issue. "Women with a family history of breast cancer tell us that what might be right for one person may not be right for another. It's important for anyone affected to have appropriate information and support so they can make the right choice for them."/ppKath McLachlan, a clinical nurse specialist at the charity Breast Cancer Care, said it would give those carrying the faulty BRCA1 gene "another option" to consider when starting a family./ppShe said: "However, there are many complex issues to take into account and the decision will finally come down to an individual's personal ethics. While the selection of an embryo through PGD can reduce a person's risk of developing breast cancer, the procedure cannot prevent a non-genetic form of the disease in later life. It is essential that anyone considering using the technique is offered comprehensive information, high-quality support and advice."/ppDoctors at the private clinic at University College hospital conducted tests on 11 embryos by removing just one cell from each when they were three days old. Six embryos were found to carry the defective BRCA1 gene. Two embryos which were free of the gene were implanted, resulting in a single pregnancy./ppFaulty genes are responsible for between 5% and 10% of the 44,000 cases of breast cancer that occur in the UK each year. BRCA1 and its sister gene BRCA2 are the two most commonly involved. Women with a defective BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene are up to seven times more likely to develop breast cancer than those without the mutations. /ppAs the debate about the ethics involved in the procedure was renewed, the main objection from critics remains the charge that it opens the door to the creation of babies for parents who may want their off spring to be top of the class, excel in sport, and have hair, eyes and other physical characteristics that into a particular family's wish list./ppAlternatively, deaf or blind couples might want their disabilities passed on to their child. Some members of the deaf community who claim they belong to a "linguistic minority" are campaigning for the right to have hearing-impaired children./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/stemcells"Embryos and stem cells/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/genetics"Genetics/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/cancer"Cancer/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/reproduction"Reproduction/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/health"Health/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/OtMdLJpbxqMtB3MNY3FMWfRvIQs/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/OtMdLJpbxqMtB3MNY3FMWfRvIQs/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/14915?ns=guardianpageName=Politics%3A+Government+to+underwrite+80%25+of+small+business+loansch=Politicsc3=The+Guardianc4=Economic+policy%2CSmall+business+%28Business%29%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CBanking+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CBanks+and+building+societies%2CPolitics%2CMoney%2CUK+newsc5=Personal+Finance%2CUnclassified%2CInvestments%2CCredit+Crunch%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Marketsc6=Jill+Treanor%2CMark+Milner%2CLarry+Elliottc7=2009_01_10c8=1145252c9=articlec10=GUc11=Politicsc12=Economic+policyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FEconomic+policy" width="1" height="1" //divpThe government is preparing to guarantee up to 80% of loans to small businesses as part of a multi-billion pound package of measures to stimulate the economy./ppAn announcement is expected in the middle of next week about the latest attempts to kick-start lending to some of the country's leading employers./ppThe details are being finalised in a frantic round of negotiations with officials at Lord Mandelson's Department of Business and Enterprise, but it is thought the business secretary wants to agree a broader package of measures than was outlined in Alistair Darling's pre-budget report. The government wants to cover loans of up to pound;1m to businesses for up to 10 years because it is concerned that the economy will grind to a halt without a renewed flow of funds to small businesses, which claim they are being starved of cash by overly cautious banks./ppGordon Brown, the prime minister, yesterday insisted banks should honour a commitment in a government rescue package to maintain the supply of loans to mortgage holders and small businesses at 2007 levels. "We will be meeting the banks in the next few days to agree with them on how we can move this forward," he said./ppMandelson's department is at the heart of the current negotiations and the business secretary conceded more steps would be needed to get banks lending again. "Having saved the banks from collapse in the autumn we've got to take further action, I suspect, to get the banks back on their feet and lending properly," he said./ppThe government is looking at providing loan guarantees to medium-sized businesses, which employ 50 to 250 people and have a turnover of less than pound;50m./ppIt is coming under increasing pressure, not least from the automotive industry, to bring in measures to help stimulate the availability of credit to boost demand and help these companies ride out the economic crisis./ppIn the wake of Nissan's decision to cut its 5,000 strong Sunderland workforce by almost a quarter, Mandelson indicated he was looking at ways to help boost the availability of finance to carmakers. The government cannot help the car industry without spreading aid more broadly across the business community./ppMandelson said yesterday: "There is an issue to do with [the car industry's] ability to raise finance to fund new car purchases and that links back to the credit crunch, it links back to their access to liquidity, to drive their financing arms and that's something that I'm in close contract with car companies about, the Treasury is too."/pp"It may well be that we've got to see how the motor finance arms can be assisted, in terms of their additional liquidity needs, and that we're going to be looking at in the coming weeks."/ppMinisters have been working on a package to guarantee loans to smaller businesses since the pre-budget report./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/economy"Economic policy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/small-business"Small business/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch"Credit crunch/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/banking"Banking/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/banks"Banks and building societies/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nVbqxe1rOAoFd-q_GKctY3kh0b8/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/nVbqxe1rOAoFd-q_GKctY3kh0b8/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/32471?ns=guardianpageName=Politics%3A+Immigration+minister+calls+for+changes+in+%27outdated%27+Geneva+conventionch=Politicsc3=The+Guardianc4=Immigration+policy+%28politics%29%2CLabour%2CPolitics%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Societyc6=Patrick+Wintourc7=2009_01_10c8=1145245c9=articlec10=GUc11=Politicsc12=Immigration+policyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FImmigration+policy" width="1" height="1" //divpLabour is to call for a revision of the international convention on refugees, arguing that it predates mass migration and leads to abuse of the asylum system./ppPhil Woolas, the immigration minister, said he wanted to start a debate about the 58-year-old convention which enshrines individuals' rights to asylum from state persecution. His proposals mirror those of the French president, Nicholas Sarkozy./ppWoolas said: "The Geneva convention was intended to protect individual people from persecution. A significant number of people who claim asylum are doing so for broadly economic reasons. So I think it is right we look at the framework, as indeed other European countries are doing."/ppHe is reviving a debate launched by Jack Straw as home secretary in 2000. Straw proposed people should apply for asylum from within the countries they were fleeing or from neighbouring states. Critics said it was unrealistic to think those suffering persecution could apply for asylum from the country they were fleeing./ppWoolas said there was also "a timetable issue - the recognition that some people claim asylum after several years attempting to gain migration legally". Woolas made his remarks on BBC's Beyond Westminster to be broadcast today. But he also told the Guardian he has been studying the Straw initiative, which led to protests from human rights campaigners and the UN refugee agency./ppSince becoming immigration minister Woolas has not been afraid to take controversial positions, often using a tougher rhetoric than his predecessor, Liam Byrne. He argues it is dangerous for mainstream politicians to shy away from discussing migration and asylum. /ppWoolas has already promised that he will not allow the UK population to rise to 70 million through migration and has said some refugee advice groups have deliberately played the asylum system./ppUnder Straw's scheme an agreed list of "safe countries" would have been set up from which EU states would not generally consider asylum applications./ppHe proposed a quota system, sharing among EU states refugees from countries recognised as abusing human rights, to speed up genuine applications while keeping out false claimants./ppStraw claimed that the "essential contradiction" at the heart of the 1951 convention was that, while setting out an individual's right to asylum, it does not oblige any particular country to admit him or her. The result was that "genuine" refugees often had to enter a country illegally before they lodged their claim to asylum./ppThe Geneva convention was drawn up during the cold war, with many of its western signatories saying it was a means of protecting victims of state persecution in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe. It was extended to apply to anyone forced to leave their country "as a result of a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion"./ppWoolas stressed he was not proposing that the UK should not protect people from persecution but argued that the system needed to protect a nation from economic migrants. The EU has been working on a system designed to prevent so-called asylum shopping, where a failed claim in one country is followed by a bid in another. Britain fears the policy would mean asylum seekers could not be held in detention centres, something Woolas has said would only happen over his dead body./ppWoolas has support among many mainstream Labour backbenchers. John Mann, the Labour MP for Bassetlaw, recently called on Woolas to back the rewriting of the convention saying: "Our failed system rewards those who enter illegally, stay illegally and work illegally, rewarding people smugglers whilst simultaneously being harsh and cruel on the tiny minority of immigrants - those who are fleeing death and persecution."/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/immigrationpolicy"Immigration policy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour"Labour/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ql8vSoaP68Tm7DasAgGtZsQ423I/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/ql8vSoaP68Tm7DasAgGtZsQ423I/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/13387?ns=guardianpageName=Politics%3A+Tory+move+to+scrap+runway+plans+could+cost+billionsch=Politicsc3=The+Guardianc4=Transport+policy%2CConservatives%2CLabour%2CTransport+UK%2CPolitics%2CTravel+and+transport+environmental+impact%2CUK+news%2CTravelc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CPolicy+Society%2CEthical+Livingc6=Dan+Milmoc7=2009_01_10c8=1145230c9=articlec10=GUc11=Politicsc12=Transport+policyc13=c14=h2=GU%2FPolitics%2FTransport+policy" width="1" height="1" //divpA future Conservative government would use new legislative powers to block the expansion of Heathrow and Stansted airports, which could leave taxpayers liable for multibillion-pound compensation payments to the contractors and airport group BAA./ppA decision on a third Heathrow runway could come next week, with the government putting together a "complete package" of transport measures aimed at easing ministerial and backbench unease./ppThe decision is likely to become a parliamentary battle of wills, as the Guardian has learned that a Conservative government would use the government's new legislative powers to block extra runways at Heathrow and Stansted./ppThe long-awaited decision to intensify use of Heathrow has been bitterly opposed by thousands of local residents, environmental campaigners and a cross-party coalition of MPs concerned that it runs counter to climate change commitments and will make it impossible for the UK to reach the target of an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. /ppA decision was delayed last month after ministerial concerns at the potential environmental impact. The government is now working on a package of measures described by one aide as "wider than those discussed so far"./ppLast week Lord Adonis suggested an international rail interchange for Heathrow was being given high priority for government spending. On Wednesday the transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, met the prime minister to update him on progress but yesterday a government source insisted no decision had been taken./ppSuch is their determination to ensure the plans do not go ahead that the Tories are considering at least three options if they win the next general election:/pp· Rushing through a new aviation policy to block Heathrow expansion under the 2008 Planning Act; /pp· Enacting new legislation to halt Stansted's growth;/pp· Paying off contractors and BAA to stop construction at Stansted./ppIt is understood a planning application for Heathrow will not be submitted until 2011, six months after the last possible date Gordon Brown can hold a general election. If Labour lost, that would give the Tories enough time to draft a new aviation policy ruling out a new runway. /ppThe planning application for a third runway will be heard by the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC), a body created under the 2008 Planning Act to fast-track projects of national importance. /ppUnder controversial guidelines for the IPC, government infrastructure policy will carry enhanced importance when the commission considers whether to approve schemes such as new runways. /ppTheresa Villiers, shadow transport secretary, said: "The Conservatives are against a third runway at Heathrow and a second runway at Stansted. People who want to stop these runways going ahead have a clear choice at the general election. If they don't want these runways, they should vote Conservative."/ppHowever, legal experts warned that the Conservative pledge to "cancel" all plans to build a second runway at Stansted, the UK's third largest airport, could cost taxpayers billions of pounds in compensation. /ppThe Tories have discussed the possibility of paying compensation to contractors who have signed deals but not started heavy construction work. Villiers has warned companies not to sign contracts but a government's power to stop them striking deals will diminish once planning permission is granted. /ppThe planning inquiry for a new Stansted runway starts on 15 April and will be the last big infrastructure proposal to be heard under the 1990 Town and Country Planning Act. The inquiry is expected to finish before mid-2010 and a Conservative government will not be able to repeal a positive verdict without paying off contractors and BAA, Stansted's owner, for loss of earnings. /ppOne legal source told the Guardian that the bill could run into billions of pounds because BAA, having won the legal right to develop its land, could sue for the profits it expected to make from a second runway. "It is a property right that has been granted, so you have to pay compensation if you revoke the planning permission." /ppThe source added that a Conservative government might have to introduce legislation in order to revoke planning permission for Stansted, amid doubts that the 1990 act allows ministers to scrap a planning application approved by a previous government. It is understood that the Tories harbour private fears that a general election victory might come too late to block a second runway, despite assertions from Villiers yesterday that an election will come before the Stansted inquiry ends./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/transport"Transport policy/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/conservatives"Conservatives/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/labour"Labour/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/transport"Transport/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/travelandtransport"Travel and transport/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/UPvIncXNpNS5OjckQ-3exukPFoM/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/UPvIncXNpNS5OjckQ-3exukPFoM/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/72592?ns=guardianpageName=Music%3A+%27I%27ve+done+so+much+embarrassing+stuff+it%27s+untrue%27ch=Musicc3=The+Guardianc4=Pop+and+rock+%28Music+genre%29%2CMusicc5=Pop+Music%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Alexis+Petridisc7=2009_01_10c8=1144013c9=articlec10=GUc11=Musicc12=Pop+and+rockc13=c14=h2=GU%2FMusic%2FPop+and+rock" width="1" height="1" //divpAt her window seat in a restaurant, Victoria Hesketh is arguing down her mobile phone. Her voice is becoming increasingly heated. "I don't want you to do that," she snaps, before looking across the table and rolling her eyes, which are large and decorated with kohl and glitter. "I'm sorry," she huffs. "This is so embarrassing."/ppThis is not an entirely unexpected scenario. Under her stage name Little Boots, Hesketh, 25, is currently Britain's most hotly tipped new artist, a recipient of critical garlands and huge commercial anticipation. She has just been named Sound Of 2009 in the annual BBC poll of music industry insiders, critics and broadcasters; previous winners have included Mika, Keane and 50 Cent - and look what happened to them. "She makes proper pop music, but with heart and soul and the energy of someone who's really interested in making it. It has a real honest excitement about it. There's a real range of ideas in her stuff, you hear it and think, there's a lot of things this girl can do," enthuses DJ Steve Lamacq, who thinks Hesketh could, if she wishes, become "this year's Lily Allen, a big, accessible, glitzy, Heat magazine-championed pop star." /ppFurthermore, it's all happened at lightning speed. A year ago, Hesketh was an ex-member of minor indie band Dead Disco, writing songs in her parents' garage. She hadn't even adopted the name Little Boots. She put her first song up on the internet in February, on an anonymous MySpace page, because she didn't want her former bandmates to know what she was up to. By November, she was appearing on Later ... With Jools Holland, alongside Damon Albarn and Al Green. /ppAs Hesketh keeps pointing out, she hasn't even released a record yet, at least not properly, just a couple of downloads and an old-fashioned seven-inch vinyl single, limited to 300 copies, and there's been all this fuss, "people going, ooh, you're the future of pop". Under the circumstances, she might be forgiven for having her head turned by the attention, for throwing the occasional tantrum in an upscale restaurant and shouting at a record company underling down the phone. /ppExcept we're not in an upscale restaurant, but Blackpool's West Coast Rock Cafe, home to both the Che Guevara Revolutionary Chilli Burger and a fairly spotty collection of locally themed rock memorabilia: there's a poster for the famous Stone Roses gig that took place at the nearby Empress Ballroom, a laminated review from the Blackpool Gazette and, as if to underline the potential transience of the fame Hesketh is fully expected to achieve, a sad little handbill for an acoustic gig by the former lead singer of briefly celebrated Britpoppers the Seahorses, for which tickets cost pound;1. What's more, it's not a record company underling on the phone, it's her mother. Hesketh is keen to show me around Blackpool, in order to demonstrate her home town's influence on her brand of electronic pop, which offers a strange, beguiling mixture of euphoria and melancholy: "Blackpool's supposed to be this holiday place, but it's actually quite dark and depressing when you live here, and I like pop songs to have a dark side, a little predicament so there's something else going on." We've already been to a bizarre shop, half of which is devoted to cutesy sweatshirts and cushions featuring cartoons of dogs and cats, and the other half to fetishwear. "You see?" says Hesketh triumphantly, as we leave, her bearing a cutesy sweatshirt of a bichon frise. "Pretty dark." Now her mum has, rather sweetly, offered to drive us around, but Hesketh doesn't seem terribly keen on the idea. She took her mum and dad to Later ..., and they had "the day out of their lives", but her dad kept putting Jools Holland off by waving at him and accidentally knocking over beer bottles while he was trying to do links to camera. She says her relatives are having some difficulty understanding her success. "Whenever I come home, they go, you should go on The X Factor, you should. It'd be really good for you. I'm like, the prize is a record deal. I've already got a record deal. They go, yeah, but if you got one with them, you'd really be going somewhere." /ppIn any case, she tried that route to stardom years ago, auditioning for Pop Idol when she was 16, singing Nina Simone's Feeling Good. "You have to queue for hours and then you go and see a producer. They don't let you in front of the judges unless they think you're amazing or you're really crap so they can slate you. I got through three rounds, then I got chucked out and I cried. It was horrible. They get everyone in a hotel, hype you up, tell you that there's a little pod with a camera in it, and if you want to cry and get emotional you can do it in there and make a fool of yourself. I was just a petrified little girl, I was really upset when I didn't get in."/ppShe has, she admits, got a hugely unconventional musical CV which takes in everything from reality TV to a brief gig as a harpist in a Pink Floyd-influenced progressive rock band to a "soul-destroying" stint playing jazz at wedding receptions and in restaurants. "I've done so much embarrassing shit, it's untrue. I was in a play called Brian And The Argonauts, the story of Jason And The Argonauts set to the music of the Beach Boys. I was an Argonaut. I sang I Get Around. I was in the Lancashire Students' Jazz Orchestra, going around Europe. I did one thing with them dressed up as a Blues Brother. If you can get up on stage in a theme park in Belgium dressed as a Blues Brother," she nods, "you can get in front of a bunch of hipsters in a nightclub and play." /ppThings took off only in early 2008, when her manager leaked a song called Stuck On Repeat to a few influential blogs and "everything went insane". "It really stood out," says Peter Robinson of a href="http://www.popjustice.com"popjustice.com/a, one of the recipients. "There are a lot of people working in a similar field to her - young electronic singer-songwriter producer-types - but she has the best songs. I think she has more chance of success than anyone like her." Rumours flew around the internet that Stuck On Repeat was the work of Kylie, or Goldfrapp, or a big dance producer with a female vocalist. In fact, Hesketh had co-written it with Greg Kurstin, an LA-based songwriter best known for working with Lily Allen, whom she had met while still in Dead Disco. She started to post clips of herself on YouTube, in her bedroom singing covers of Human League and Madonna songs as well as her own material: "Full of mistakes, just me, in my 'jamas, messing about." They became a phenomenon, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers as well as the kind of reasoned and constructive criticism for which the internet is justly famed. "Really vulgar sexual stuff, stuff about me being fat and minging and a shit singer and musician and a fucking bitch and slag, people saying they wanted to rape me," she recalls. "Horrible. I nearly got upset, but it's just 12-year-old kids in middle America, so I decided not to be bothered by it." Besides, the clips also attracted the attention of Later ... producer Alison Howe. "She looked like she'd just got out of bed," Howe remembers. "I really liked it, really liked the song, didn't know anything about her, and that appealed to me. She hadn't been plugged to me or anything like that." /ppWhen she appeared on the show, accompanying herself on the piano and stylophone - a 70s toy keyboard famously promoted by Rolf Harris - she cornered the lead singer of the Killers backstage and demanded a photograph together, which she then sent in to a page in the NME that prints snaps of fans with their idols. It was a rare instance of Hesketh losing her cool. She seems remarkably unfazed by all the attention. "I feel a bit pressurised, but it's more me putting pressure on myself than the people saying I'm the future of pop or whatever. I'm just being myself, and the minute something feels forced or ungenuine, I won't do it."/ppNevertheless, the weight of expectation currently placed on Hesketh's shoulders is immense, a situation further compounded by the feeling that a musical sea change is about to take place, and that she should be leading it. The public seem finally to have tired of the music that has held sway over their taste for most of the decade: the putatively "alternative" guitar rock variously dubbed ITV indie or flipchart indie or landfill indie by critics who tired of it almost as soon as it turned up. At the end of 2008, new albums by the Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight and Keane dramatically underperformed. There's some debate as to what will replace the serried ranks of skinny-jean clad bands and earnest singer-songwriters in the public's affections (in a move designed to make anyone over 30 feel as old as the hills, Steve Lamacq talks vaguely of a grunge revival), but the smart money is on a resurgence in clever, unmanufactured electronic pop, with Little Boots at its forefront. "There's a window that's been created by this sort of horrible indie pile-up," says Peter Robinson. "That's helped pop music get back in, because it's become quite a novelty that pop music is good and credible. She's happy to admit she wants to be a pop star. But she has a connection with the songs she's singing - she wasn't out at the corner shop buying a packet of Quavers when they were being written."/ppStill, there's always the chance the public might not bite. Pop music in recent years has tended towards the prosaic and straightforward, whether it's the Arctic Monkeys' and Lily Allen's tales of urban teenage life, or Coldplay's stadium-filling platitudes about feeling like a puzzle with a missing piece and lights guiding you home. By contrast, Little Boots is an altogether more complicated sell: a female "synth-geek" who has to restrain herself from boring interviewers with discussion of "casual circuitry", and describes her style as "cosmic Coronation Street". "People are really black and white about stuff," she says. "They either want you to be Kylie, where you don't write the music and you're part of the machine, or a singer-songwriter. You can't be seen to be both."/ppA few nights later, I see her playing live in Berlin. It's a long way from the kind of pop stardom that's being predicted - it takes place in the early hours, in a filthy warehouse venue, before an audience of German trendies. Some of them have, regrettably, opted for an ironic 80s look that leaves them looking exactly like the sunbed-pinchers of popular British myth: mullet haircuts and moustaches abound. There's not much evidence of epic staging - just Hesketh and her band and an array of synthesisers - but you can see how the excitement about Little Boots has built: although she plays only six songs, every one sounds suspiciously like a hit single./ppThere are, she admits, a lot of contradictions in what she does. On the one hand, she's keen to demystify the process by which songs are written and people become pop stars, hence the YouTube clips. On the other, she is "in love with that Ziggy Stardust idea that pop stars come from outer space". Her artwork is replete with pictures of unicorns and stars, she sings "about magic and escapism and fantasy, not about being in a strop with my boyfriend and drinking cups of tea", and she wants her stage presentation to be epic, although ambitions in that direction have thus far been stymied by a lack of funds. "Until I have the money to do a completely ridiculous stage show - which I hope I do eventually - the vibe is kind of DIY epic. We had an owl that had been used as a decoy to scare birds off an electricity station, but I don't know where that went. We had a fibreglass wolf as well, but that got smashed. We got it off eBay. If you type in 'fibreglass wolf replica', stuff comes up." She laughs. "You'd be surprised." /ppShe starts to discuss her future ambitions - apparently it's possible to make something called a laser harp out of a Nintendo Wii - but she's interrupted. Her mobile rings again, and Britain's most hotly tipped pop star goes back to arguing with her mum. /pp· Little Boots is appearing at Shepherds Bush Empire, London on 13 February. Visit a href="http://www.myspace.com/littlebootsmusic"myspace.com/littlebootsmusic/a./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/popandrock"Pop and rock/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/YdpjJvqTeOLreelyHfx8qhLhO_k/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/YdpjJvqTeOLreelyHfx8qhLhO_k/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/18027?ns=guardianpageName=Life+and+style%3A+Put+a+lid+on+itch=Life+and+stylec3=The+Guardianc4=Beef+%28recipes%29%2CChicken+%28recipes%29%2CMain+course+%28recipes%29%2CBaking+%28recipes%29%2CFood+and+drink+%28Life+and+style%29%2CLife+and+stylec5=Not+commercially+useful%2CFood+and+Drinkc6=Hugh+Fearnley-Whittingstallc7=2009_01_10c8=1144023c9=articlec10=GUc11=Life+and+stylec12=Beef+recipesc13=c14=h2=GU%2FLife+and+style%2FBeef+recipes" width="1" height="1" //divpIt's now properly chilly here, and there are few things more tempting on a cold day than a slow-simmered, savoury stew bobbing with dumplings, topped with flaky pastry or sealed with a scone-y crust - all provide ballast and a pleasing texture, and also absorb the meaty juices. So, if anything stays still long enough at the moment, it gets some kind of a doughy crust. /ppLeast conventional, but by no means least rewarding, is the savoury cobbler. A few weeks ago we ran some recipes for traditional fruity cobblers. Well, the River Cottage kitchen was so taken with the cobbler concept that we went into doughverdrive, experimenting with cheesy, herby versions atop our stews. So I hope you will indulge our new passion. Naturally, I'm keen for you to try all today's recipes, but I hope you'll create your own. Use the cobbler or dumpling recipes and adjust to suit the filling: pork and apple stew with sage and onion dumplings, say; or root vegetable and bean stew with parmesan dumplings - they all work./ppOf course, pies have always been popular round these parts. And winter weekends are the ideal time to master rough puff pastry. Just pop your favourite stew in a pie dish and top with this meltingly flaky crust. Such a pie makes a happy second home for leftovers, too: pile on to a pie plate or ovenproof dish (a generous filling keeps the pastry elevated, so, rather than using a pie funnel, just cut a small hole in the top to let steam escape), brush the edges of the dish with egg, lay on the pastry and trim to fit. Brush with egg to glaze and bake at 200C/400F/gas mark 6 for half an hour./ppSo, in answer to the question, "Who ate all the pies?" for this week at least, it was me. For good measure, I also nobbled the cobblers and did for the dumplings .../ph2Beef stew with cheddar cobbler topping/h2pA one-pot wonder, though you may want some buttery savoy cabbage on the side. Serves six to eight./ppstrong50g butter or dripping, plus extra/strongbr /strong250g salt pork, pancetta or bacon, cut into smaller cubes than the beef/strongbr /strong500g baby onions, peeled/strongbr /strong1.5kg stewing beef or shin, trimmed and cut into generous chunks/strongbr /strongUp to 50g seasoned plain flour/strongbr /strong300ml stout/strongbr /strong500ml beef stock/strongbr /strong2 bay leaves/strongbr /strong1 sprig fresh thyme/strongbr /strongA few stalks fresh parsley/strongbr /strongSalt and ground black pepper/strongbr /strong400g mixed mushrooms/strong/ppFor the cobbler/ppstrong180g self-raising flour /strongbr /strong1 tsp salt /strongbr /strong6 tbsp chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces /strongbr /strong100g cheddar, grated/strongbr /strong1 big handful chives, chopped/strongbr /strong2 large eggs /strongbr /strong70ml whole milk/strong/ppHeat the butter in a big frying pan and brown the pancetta until the fat runs. Transfer to a casserole. In the same fat, gently fry the whole baby onions until lightly browned. Transfer to the casserole. Toss the beef in the flour, shake off any excess, then brown, in batches, transferring to the casserole when coloured. Pour some stout into the pan to deglaze it, then tip into the casserole, along with the remaining beer and enough stock to cover. Add the herbs, tied into a bouquet garni, and season. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a very gentle simmer and put on the lid. Place in the oven at 130C/250F/gas mark 1 for an hour and 45 minutes. Just before the time is up, raise the heat to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Sauteacute; the mushrooms in butter until their moisture evaporates and they colour. /ppSift the flour and salt, rub in the butter and stir in the cheese and chives. Whisk the eggs and milk, and stir into the flour mix - it should be fairly sloppy. Tip the mushrooms and their juices into the casserole, then drop spoonfuls of cobbler dough all over the top. Brush lightly with more milk and bake, uncovered, for 35 minutes until the cobbler is golden. /ph2Chicken and cider stew with rosemary dumplings/h2pThe key to light, fluffy dumplings is, well, a really light touch. Don't work them for longer than it takes to bring them together. Serves six to eight./ppstrong2 tbsp olive oil/strongbr /strong1 chicken, jointed into 8 pieces/strongbr /strong2 onions, chopped/strongbr /strong4 garlic cloves, chopped/strongbr /strong250ml cider/strongbr /strong1 small handful chopped marjoram/strongbr /strong2 large boiling potatoes, peeled, each cut into 12 pieces/strongbr /strong3 large carrots, peeled, cut into rounds/strongbr /strong2 large parsnips, peeled, cut into rounds/strongbr /strong2 medium turnips, peeled, cut into 1frac12;-inch pieces/strongbr /strong750ml chicken stock /strongbr /strongSalt and black pepper/strong/ppFor the dumplings/ppstrong115g self-raising flour/strongbr /strong115g fresh white breadcrumbs/strongbr /strong115g suet/strongbr /strong2 tbsp rosemary leaves, chopped/strongbr /strong1 small bunch parsley, chopped/strongbr /strongA few sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked and finely chopped/strongbr /strongSalt and black pepper/strongbr /strong2 eggs, lightly beaten/strong/ppPreheat the oven to 140C/275F/gas mark 1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy casserole over a medium-high heat. In batches, brown the chicken, about eight minutes per batch, then transfer to a bowl. Pour off all but two tablespoons of fat from the casserole, add the onions and sauteacute; over medium heat until just turning golden, about eight minutes. Add the garlic, sauteacute; for a minute, then add the cider and half the marjoram, and simmer until reduced by half. Add the chicken, scatter on top the vegetables and remaining marjoram, pour over the stock and season. Bring to a simmer, cover, then place in a lowish oven (140C or so) for two hours. Add the dumplings for the final 45 minutes. /ppTo make the dumplings, mix the flour, breadcrumbs, suet, herbs and some seasoning in a large bowl. Pour in three-quarters of the egg and stir to form a soft dough. Using your hands, gently work the dough until smooth, adding the rest of the egg only if it seems too dry. Divide into 12 dumplings, drop into the stew and cook, covered, for 45 minutes./ph2Rough puff pastry/h2pI know it's time-consuming to make pastry, but the rolling and turning is rather satisfying and it freezes well, so make two or three times as much as you need and freeze. /ppstrong200g cold butter or lard, or a mixture/strongbr /strong400g plain flour/strongbr /strong1 pinch salt/strongbr /strongIced water/strongbr /strong1 egg yolk, beaten with 2 tsp of milk (or water), to glaze /strong/ppToss the fat in the flour and salt until coated, then add a little iced water and bring the dough together with your hands, adding no more water than you need to get a medium-firm dough that is not too sticky and has large pieces of fat in it. On a well-floured surface, use your hands to shape the dough into a fat rectangle and roll it out with a well-floured rolling pin, rolling away from yourself in one direction to keep the rectangular shape as much as you can. When it's about 2cm thick, fold the far third towards you and fold the near third over that (a bit like folding a letter), so you have a rectangle a third of the size and three times as thick. Repeat this folding and turning at least four times, preferably six or seven, dusting lightly with flour as you go. Fold it up for a final time and chill for at least an hour before rolling out for your pie./ph2Five things to go in your pie/h2pHam, leeks and cheesebr /Roast root veg and goat's cheesebr /Sausage, mushroom and lots of onionbr /Pheasant, chestnuts and cranberriesbr /Four-and-twenty blackbirds/pp· River Cottage 2009, a seasonal guide to the year with a week-to-view diary, costs pound;9.50 (plus pp), from a href="http://www.rivercottage.net"rivercottage.net/a./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/beef"Beef recipes/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/chicken"Chicken recipes/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/maincourse"Main course recipes/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/baking"Baking recipes/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/foodanddrink"Food drink/a/li/ul/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our a href="http://users.guardian.co.uk/help/article/0,,933909,00.html"Terms Conditions/a | a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/webfeeds/1,,1309488,00.html"More Feeds/ap style="clear:both" / pa href="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/NJc7P7Nt3ekHz0CkGej6pw5VIBw/a"img src="http://feedads.googleadservices.com/~at/NJc7P7Nt3ekHz0CkGej6pw5VIBw/i" border="0" ismap="true"/img/a/p