divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/52346?ns=guardianpageName=Art+and+design%3A+Recession+reaches+Hirst%27s+studiosch=Art+and+designc3=The+Guardianc4=Damien+Hirst%2CArt+%28visual+arts+only%29%2CArt+and+design%2CCredit+crunch+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CCulture+section%2CUK+newsc5=Art%2CCredit+Crunch%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Aidan+Jones%2CHelen+Piddc7=2008_11_22c8=1122235c9=articlec10=GUc11=Art+and+designc12=Damien+Hirstc13=c14=h2=GU%2FArt+and+design%2FDamien+Hirst" width="1" height="1" //divpHe is one of the world's richest artists, who defied the credit crunch in September by auctioning a whole collection for pound;111m. But even Damien Hirst may not be immune to the economic climate - many of the workers who produce his works found themselves out of a job this week, the Guardian has learned./ppOn Thursday, up to 17 of the 22 people who make the pills for Hirst's drug cabinet series were told their contracts were not being renewed, according to two sources close to Science Ltd, Hirst's main art-producing company. Another three who make his butterfly paintings were also told they were surplus to requirements. /ppIt is thought that amounts to approximately half of the London-based artists who work for Hirst. They are paid about pound;19,000 a year, sources said. In June 2007, Lullaby Spring, a cabinet filled with hand-painted pills, sold for pound;9.65m./ppThis year's Sunday Times Rich List valued the 43-year-old artist's wealth at pound;200m - but it was produced before September's sale at Sotheby's./ppYesterday Jude Tyrrell, a director of Science Ltd, confirmed jobs were going, but wouldn't be drawn on how many./pp"As previously stated by Damien, he is finishing a number of bodies of works which is why temporary contracts (fixed term) have not been renewed. We have to be mindful of the current economic climate and how this may affect us in the future."/ppIn July, Hirst said that he would stop making the spin and butterfly paintings, plus the medicine cabinets - a decision that was welcomed by many in the art world who worried about overproduction of these series./ppBut a source close to Science said that if the job losses were pre-planned, as indicated by Tyrrell's statement, the staff seemed unprepared for it on Thursday. "It was unexpected, especially after Hirst made a killing from the Sotheby's sale. The workers who will not have their contracts renewed can work their notice period into December, but I'm not sure how many will stay. They will need to find jobs quickly."/ppAt Hirst's studio on Glengall Road in Peckham yesterday, where the pill cabinets and butterfly paintings are made, workers would not talk about the job losses. One woman, wearing the Hirst "uniform" of a red sweatshirt with a skull on the back of it (inspired by Hirst's pound;50m diamond sculpture For the Love of God), said she didn't know anything about it. /ppAnother, at the Newport Street studio in Lambeth where the spot paintings are produced, said she had been told not to talk to the press./ppLast week, Hirst admitted that art had probably become too expensive in recent years and said he welcomed the prospect of selling his work at cheaper rates in the present climate of recession./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/damienhirst"Damien Hirst/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/art"Art/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/creditcrunch"Credit crunch/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Artscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660263112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Artscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660263112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/72887?ns=guardianpageName=Business%3A+30%2C000+jobs+at+risk+as+Woolworths+teeters+on+the+brinkch=Businessc3=The+Guardianc4=Woolworths+%28Business%29%2CRetail+industry+%28Business%29%2CBusiness%2CRedundancy%2CPolitics%2CUK+newsc5=Personal+Finance%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CBusiness+Marketsc6=Julia+Finchc7=2008_11_22c8=1122275c9=articlec10=GUc11=Businessc12=Woolworthsc13=c14=h2=GU%2FBusiness%2FWoolworths" width="1" height="1" //divpMore than 30,000 retail jobs were at risk last night as Woolworths fought to avoid collapse and the fashion discount chain MK One crashed into administration for the second time in a year./ppWoolworths' future was hanging in the balance after its bankers objected to a management rescue plan to sell the loss-making 800-store chain to Hilco, which specialises in restructuring distressed companies./ppThe 99-year old retailer, which is a mainstay of town and city centres across the country, is now in last-ditch talks with its lenders in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy. But a source close to the negotiations said the talks had reached "an impasse" and "are not looking good"./ppSome 25,000 staff work in Woolworths stores and another 5,000 for two other businesses in the Woolworths group: EUK and 2entertain. The group also has 10,000 pensioners and pension fund members./ppEUK distributes DVDs, CDs and books to major supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons and if the distributor is forced into administration alongside the Woolworths stores it could threaten the supermarkets' supplies in the vital Christmas shopping weeks./pp2entertain is a joint venture with the BBC which produces and distributes BBC programmes on DVD and has had big successes with shows such as Little Britain and Top Gear./ppMK One, which operates 125 stores aimed at young women and teenagers, has 1,400 staff jobs at risk./ppThe latest potential job losses come amid vast cutbacks in the retail industry, which is slashing staff costs by reducing workers' hours. Argos, for instance, has cut workers' hours by 20%. The specialist magazine Retail Week yesterday reported that across the high street such cutbacks now equal 100,000 full time jobs vanishing in the last year. The retail sector employs 10% of the UK workforce./ppThe stock market fell sharply again yesterday as investors worried about the effects of a recession on the corporate sector. Leading UK shares suffered their third worst week on record with the FTSE 100 slipping to 3,780, its lowest level since April 2003./ppWoolworths has been battered by other retailers for years, but in recent weeks it has also been squeezed by the economic downturn and the impact of credit insurers - who protect suppliers from non-payment of invoices in the event of a retailer going bust - withdrawing cover to Woolworths' suppliers. That has left the chain having to pay suppliers on delivery - or have empty shelves./ppWoolworths bosses have tried to sell the chain for a year in order to protect the other two businesses, but without success. A possible offer from Iceland supermarket boss Malcolm Walker in the summer fell apart when Baugur, the Icelandic investor backing his approach, ran into its own, credit crunch-related, problems./ppEarlier this week Woolworths confirmed it might sell the stores, which are all leasehold, to Hilco. The US-owned group would have also taken on pound;265m of Woolworths' pound;380m of debts. Woolworths wanted the other pound;115m of debt to be transferred to EUK and 2entertain, which last year made profits of more than pound;40m before interest and tax./ppIn normal banking circumstances, such an arrangement would be commonplace, but a source familiar with the situation said: "The banks just won't let it happen. They seem to want to put the whole lot into administration to get all their money back immediately. The banks have the whip hand here."/ppWoolworths has a range of lenders, and many have been hit hard by the credit crunch. Its lead lenders are GMAC, of the US which is applying to the American bank bail-out fund for support, and Burdale, part of the deeply troubled Bank of Ireland, which yesterday said it had received a takeover approach./ppWoolworths' other lenders include Barclays, which is raising pound;7bn from Middle East investors, the American bank Wachovia, which has just been taken over, and GE, which has had two profits warnings this year./ppA spokesman for Burdale, one of the lead lenders, refused to comment on the discussions with Woolworths./ppThe crisis at Woolworths and MK One will increase fears that other ailing retail chains could collapse in the coming weeks. Casualties - and a fresh round of job losses - had been expected in the new year, when the Christmas winners and losers emerge. But lenders and suppliers had been thought unlikely to force stores into bankruptcy in the run-up to Christmas, when they should be raking in cash. Woolworths, for instance, normally makes 90% of its profits in the six weeks before Christmas. However, in the first six months of this year it crashed pound;100m in the red./ppWoolworths shares closed last night at just 1.43p, down 32%, valuing the entire business at just pound;25m - equal to about three days' sales./ph2strongJob cuts this week/strong/h2pstrongMonday/strongbr /Citigroup, London strong2,400/strongbr /Avis, Hayes, Middlesex strong100/strongbr /Hoover, Merthyr Tydfil strong337/strong/ppstrongTuesday/strongbr /Wolseley, nationwide strong2,000 /strongbr /National Express, East Anglia strong200/strongbr /PSL Energy Services, Aberdeen strong50/strong/ppstrongWednesday/strongbr /SIG, nationwide strong900/strongbr /Fidelity International, London strong300/strongbr /Deutsche Bank, London strong450/strong/ppstrongThursday/strongbr /Rolls-Royce, Derby strong140/strongbr /AstraZeneca, Macclesfield strong250/strongbr /BAE Systems, nationwide strong200/strongbr /Daily Mail and General Trust strong400/strongbr /Tughans, Northern Ireland strong20/strong/ppTotal strong7,747/strong/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/woolworths"Woolworths/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/retail"Retail industry/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/redundancy"Redundancy/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660246112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Businesscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660246112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/37567?ns=guardianpageName=UK+news%3A+Wife%27s+call+saves+sailor+after+nights+on+liferaftch=UK+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=UK+news%2CSpain+%28News%29%2CWorld+newsc5=Not+commercially+usefulc6=Giles+Tremlettc7=2008_11_22c8=1122256c9=articlec10=GUc11=UK+newsc12=Spainc13=c14=h2=GU%2FUK+news%2FSpain" width="1" height="1" //divpA British sailor survived on a liferaft for three nights in a storm-tossed sea without food or drinking water after his boat sank off Spain's Balearic Islands./ppJayesh Patel, 43, said he had a miraculous escape from the 44ft (13-metre) yacht Umbalika as it went down at night after taking on water near Mallorca. He and a Belgian colleague were thrown into the sea before they struggled aboard their liferaft and begun a three-day battle against fear, hunger, thirst and the storms that continued to lash the Mediterranean Sea./pp"It was a very, very frightening experience. There were 40-50mph winds, waves of two to three metres," he said. "We had no food. /pp"The boat went down so fast - in a matter of minutes. We didn't have time to grab anything. We made a Mayday call but for some reason it didn't get through."/ppPatel, an experienced yachtsman with a commercial captain's licence, said he was putting out the Mayday call when it became clear that the water was about to fill up the cabin on the Umbalika. "I had to swim out along the cabin roof," he said. /ppWhen he had finally fought his way out, he was forced up to the surface and found himself beside the man who had been helping him sail the boat towards mainland Spain. They grabbed a liferaft before jumping ship but had no time to find flares, food, water or extra clothes. /pp"We were in the sea for about 15 to 20 minutes because we had problems getting the liferaft inflated," said Patel./ppPatel said he realised that it would take a while before rescue services were warned. "We were due in [mainland] Spain on the Thursday and I didn't think anyone would raise the alarm for at least 20 hours when we hadn't arrived," he said./ppAttempts to attract a passing helicopter failed and Patel tried to propel the liferaft to a nearby island. The men also tried to row using a pair of trainers as oars./ppOn the third night Patel began to get worried as winds were driving them away from the area where passing ships might find them. He began dreaming about food and water./ppHis wife Louise, who lives in London, became worried when he had not called to say he had arrived safely./pp"No one was aware of the problem until the sailor's wife dialled 999," a spokeswoman for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency said yesterday. "They were eventually rescued after four days and three nights in the liferaft and after an air-sea search covering 20,000 sq km."/ppMrs Patel raised the alarm on November 13. The men were rescued two days later. /ppHer husband was barely able to move his legs when the Spanish rescue ship pulled alongside. Once on board the vessel,he dragged himself up to the bridge so he could call and let his family, including his two children Balram, 15, and Ulrika, 12, know that he was safe./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/spain"Spain/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227321420780112202420450257"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227321420780112202420450257" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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/a

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/5413?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+Shipping+industry+urges+EU+governments+to+take+up+arms+against+Somali+piratesch=World+newsc3=The+Guardianc4=Piracy+at+sea+%28News%29%2CSomalia+%28News%29%2CEuropean+Union+%28News%29%2CBusiness%2CWorld+newsc5=Unclassified%2CMiddle+East+Travel%2CBusiness+Markets%2CNot+commercially+usefulc6=Xan+Rice%2CDavid+Gowc7=2008_11_22c8=1122202c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Piracy+at+seac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FPiracy+at+sea" width="1" height="1" //divpEuropean shipowners are urging EU governments to declare war on Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa and seize their vessels by force, the Guardian has learned, amid growing concern that shipping companies will be forced to avoid the area altogether - at huge cost to global trade./ppA day after the world's biggest shipping company, AP Moller-Maersk, said it would divert some of its fleet from the Suez Canal and take the longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, the industry urged more muscular activity against the pirates. Last night, the BBC reported that the UN had given the green light to warships to go after pirate vessels./ppAlfons Guinier, the secretary-general of the European Community Shipowners Association (ECSA), said other companies were considering following the example of Maersk. But he said the ECSA, which claims to speak for 41% of the global merchant fleet, wanted EU governments to go further after the hijacking a week ago of the Saudi supertanker Sirius Star more than 400 miles off the Somalian coast. /pp"We know there will be more military forces in the area, but let's hope they will go after the pirates and stop this escalation," he said. "We're asking not just for more escorts but for repressive action." The demand comes after the International Maritime Organisation asked the UN security council to sanction the dispatch of as many warships and aircraft as possible to "disrupt" pirate operations, secure shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden and escort vessels, including those bringing food relief to war-torn Somalia. /ppThe pirate groups who have operated with near impunity for years may also be about to face a confrontation on land. Yesterday, they were reported to be strengthening their defences in a town close to where the hijacked supertanker is anchored, amid signs that Somali Islamists were approaching the town./ppResidents of Harardheere, a well-known pirate base halfway up Somalia's eastern coast, saw militias arriving in the town yesterday. "Some of them [militiamen] are inside the town and others are taking shelter in a nearby village and can be called if need be," a local resident told Agence France-Presse./ppRebels from the hardline al-Shabaab Islamist movement also entered the town yesterday although their motives were unclear. Some local people said the fighters wanted to secure a cut of the ransom, while a spokesman for al-Shabaab claimed they were hunting the pirates for the "bigger crime" of hijacking a ship belonging to a Muslim country. /ppSomali pirates are also holding at least 15 ships and more than 250 crewmembers. Kenya's foreign minister, Moses Wetangula, claimed yesterday that the pirates had netted $150m (pound;101m) in ransoms this year, though maritime experts say the figure is closer to $30m. Iran's biggest shipping firm confirmed that it had also received a ransom demand for a Hong-Kong-registered ship carrying 36,000 tonnes of wheat that was captured on Tuesday. The British foreign secretary, David Miliband, has called on shipowners to refuse to negotiate./ppThe ECSA demand will be made on Monday in talks in with the new EU naval coordination cell set up by foreign ministers in mid-September. The cell is creating an enforcement unit, under Operation Atalanta, based in RAF Northwood outside London. It is due to be fully operational in early December and be headed by a British rear admiral. /ppGuinier said it should coordinate its military efforts with other forces such as those from Nato, Russia, Japan, Canada and India, which is sending four warships to the region. An Indian warship destroyed a pirate "mothership" earlier this week./ppThe IMO's secretary-general, Efthimios Mitropoulos, meanwhile, told the UN that, with more than 12% of global oil transport passing through the Gulf of Aden, widespread diversions via South Africa would bring "a series of negative repercussions". "Such diversions would almost double the length of a typical voyage from the Gulf to Europe, thereby increasing fuel consumption, emissions and transport costs which would have to be passed on eventually to consumers everywhere," he said in a statement. /ppPeter Beck-Bang, a Maersk spokesman in Copenhagen, said diversions would add eight days to transits to the US and 14 days to Europe. If the situation remained unchanged, this would cost the firm "two-digit millions of dollars" in 2009./pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/piracy"Piracy at sea/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/somalia"Somalia/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/eu"European Union/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660276112201400459684"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Newscountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227317660276112201400459684" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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/a

The blow to the back of my head was sudden and sharp. Looking up, I saw a car had slowed alongside me as I cycled home. A burly man – my attacker – was leaning from its passenger window, laughing with silent malice.

Like all drivers, I have no problem whatsoever with cyclists as long as they stay in their place – the pavement. I realise, by the way, that this is not a reasonable view. But since when was the car a place where reason held sway? We all, to some extent, think of the road as our own, and we are all quite badly wrong about that.

London Women exposed to hairspray during the early stages of pregnancy are more than twice as likely to give birth to a son with a serious genital defect, researchers say. A study by Imperial College London found that if expectant mothers come into contact with the spray during their first trimester they are more likely to have a son with hypospadias, a condition where the urinary opening is on the underside of the penis. Researchers suggest that hairspray and hypospadias may be linked because of chemicals in the aerosol known as phthalates.

London A tanker captain was jailed after being found drunk at the wheel of a ship laden with thousands of tonnes of potentially explosive chemicals. Captain Gonchar Volodymyr, 53, was sailing the Elousa Trikoukiotisa up the Thames when it was noticed that he appeared drunk. Police boarded the vessel at Dagenham Dock and found the Ukrainian to be over the legal limit of alcohol for seafarers. At Snaresbrook Crown Court, East London, Volodymyr was sentenced to two months in jail after admitting being the master of a ship while being over the alcohol limit.

Is Britain simply a bigger version of Iceland? Certainly the City of London is starting to look a bit too much like Reykjavik, but with taller buildings and fewer cod. It is an exaggeration, but not that much of an exaggeration, to liken the UK to the broken, bankrupt North Atlantic island.

div style="margin-bottom: 10px; font-size: 10px;"posted by Neil/div a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6L1zPW0YW7k/SSdHmeCUOwI/AAAAAAAAL9c/6ucLxvezjQQ/s1600-h/Coraline-movie-poster.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 270px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6L1zPW0YW7k/SSdHmeCUOwI/AAAAAAAAL9c/6ucLxvezjQQ/s400/Coraline-movie-poster.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5271260615083834114" border="0" //abr /There's an official CORALINE trailer out....br /br /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nZI3X8advPYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1"param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nZI3X8advPYamp;hl=enamp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectbr /br /It's out in English, but this version of it is it in Italian. Because everything sounds better in Italian.br /br /A few of you have written in asking if I'd done an Alan Moore and taken my name off the film, or if I'd had a falling out with the studio, as my name isn't mentioned in this trailer, just Henry Selick's -- and no, not at all. Nobody's name except Henry's is mentioned in the trailer, and that has more to do with Focus wanting to make sure that if they invoked span style="font-style: italic;"The Nightmare Before Xmas/span, people wouldn't then assume this was a Tim Burton film, and go and see it -- or stay away -- based on that. (On the international poster -- above -- you won't find my namespan style="font-style: italic;" or /spanHenry's.) I suppose it's a marketing decision.br /br /I chatted to Henry today, and am really looking forward to seeing a finished film -- the last twenty minutes of the thing weren't done the last time I was sent anything. And it has music...br /br /Incidentally, thea href="http://www.amazon.com/Coraline-Movie-Collectors-Neil-Gaiman/dp/0061649708/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8amp;s=booksamp;qid=1227317385amp;sr=1-1" Coraline Movie edition /ais now out, with an essay by me in the back, and another by Henry Selick...br /br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513N7j%2Bs8bL._SS500_.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 500px;" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/513N7j%2Bs8bL._SS500_.jpg" alt="" border="0" //abr /br /I've now assembled the same list of passwords for the CORALINE website -- a href="http://www.coraline.com/"www.coraline.com/a -- that a href="http://cleolinda.livejournal.com/683120.html"everyone else with access to a search engine has/a:br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"span style="font-weight: bold;"stopmotion /span: the Biggest Smallest movie ever made.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"buttoneyes/span : Meet the cast...br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"moustachio /span: Bo Henry, art director of Coraline, shows off his remarkable moustache tricks.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"armpithair /span: Every hair in the film was placed there by hand...br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"puppetlove/span : Director Henry Selick explains what it must be like for the puppets in the film.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"sweaterxxs/span : Micro-knitting. That's right: micro-knitting./spanbr /br /...br /br /A small collection of MAD fold-ins are up at a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/28/arts/20080330_FOLD_IN_FEATURE.html"http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/03/28/arts/20080330_FOLD_IN_FEATURE.html/a. I cannot imagine a better time-waster than if someone were to put every span style="font-style: italic;"Mad/span Fold-in up on line. I could click my way through them forever...br /br /...br /br /I've started playing with the T-mobile G1. First reactions -- I like it, mostly. It feels good in your hand. It's reasonably intuitive. (Bizarrely, when it isn't intuitive and I've had to head into manual land, the phone's software and the PDF of the manual do not always agree with each other.) I've had fun making ring tones, creating galleries. The way that your contacts list is also your Gmail contacts is mostly terrific (although it won't let me create entries that have the same email address as someone already on the list).br /br /The things I don't like about it so far seem huge and obvious: no Blogger app (when there's a LiveJournal app and several others) seems a huge omission, seeing it's from Google; it can't read or open PDF files yet; you can send it pictures and watch them as a slideshow, but you can't save them; the built in Gmail app can't do anywhere near the things that the gmail program on my N73 can do; the camera is about the same standard as the iPhone's, which is to say, a bit span style="font-style: italic;"meh/span. I like having a real keyboard but wish it was a tiny bit bigger -- I find myself typing with fingernails. Battery life is fine unless you've got Wifi on.br /br /More reactions after it's been on the road with me and been used for a bit.br /br /...br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Hi Neil,br /br /I just had a quick question on the span style="font-style: italic;"Who Killed Amanda Palmer/span book. I have the album already (and have listened to it countless times. It's beautiful).br /br /I was going to go and order the book, but when I went to the site, I found that the book seems to only be in packages. I was wondering if there are any plans to sell the book alone, or whether I should buy one of the packages. The extra CD could make a nice gift.br /br /Thanks,br /Nate/spanbr /br /Let's see... the book is being desgned right now, then it goes off to the printers. The people who bought the package version will get theirs first. Depending on where in the world it's printed, this could be a couple of months before anyone else. Then, when copies come in from the printer, they'll go on sale -- probably in the early Spring. I think.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Neil!br /br /I'm re-reading American Gods, and I'm at the point where Shadow first meets Sam. At the diner, Shadow reads a newspaper story saying "local farmers wanted to hang dead crows around the town to frighten the others away; ornithologists said it wouldn't work, that the living crows would simply eat the dead ones. The locals were implacable. 'When they see the corpses of their friends,' said a spokesman, 'they'll know we don't want them here.'"br /br /Neil, I don't have Time Enough for Love here at school, but wasn't there something very similar to that in that story? Was your dead crow story a little Heinlein homage?br /br /And OMG - just realized that Sam's last name is Black Crow, and that story was about crows. Wow. Sneaky of you.br /br /Chrisbr /br //spanbr /br /When I'm driving through small-town America I make a point of buying local papers in towns where I stop, and reading them, preferably in local coffee shops. I read that in a small town as I went, and thought "It belongs in my book". So I put it there.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Dear Mr Gaiman,br /I recently finished reading M is For Magic, and I have a question about the story Chivalry. Sir Galahad was considered the holiest of Arthur's knights; so, how coul he have obtained an apple from the garden of the Hespiredes? The Hespiredes were a part of greek mythology which was actually a religeon based on monotheism. So, how could he get something that his religeon said didn't exist? I am sorry to bother you with this question, but it has sparked my interest.br /br / - a young and curious reader/spanbr /br /He had to travel a long way.br /br /I don't think it would have been a problem for early Christians, of whom Galaad would have been one: in span style="font-style: italic;"The Golden Legend/span, which was the most popular book of stories about saints, collected in the thriteenth century, Saint Nicholas (the one who became Santa Claus) went up against the Goddess Diana. Then again, Narnia, a most monotheistic world, had more than its share of nymphs (just like the Hesperides) not to mention such gods as Bacchus and Silenus (and Santa Claus again) wandering around. So I would not worry about it, were I you.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"I loved the link to the Sandman Death 20th Anniversary Bookends you put up.br /When should they be coming out and how much of a dent will they put on my wallet, please?/spanbr /br /According to a quick Google, a href="http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/9960.shtml"http://www.toymania.com/news/messages/9960.shtml/a says they came out in September, and they will cost a wallet-twinging $295. (Ouch.) There are only a thousand of them.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"This one has almost nothing to do with you Neil, but since his website is still in the makings I thought you could perhaps forward this to him.br /I was very sad (like a child whose told there won't be a Christmas this year) to learn that Dave McKean's appearance this weekend in Buenos Aires was canceled.br /In the event's blog they posted Dave's email in which he mentioned he couldn't make it because a date was changed (which sounds reasonable). But it remained unclear if it was the date of ANIMATE (the Buenos Aires event) which was changed, or if it was one of Dave's previous engagements./spanbr /br /Dave McKean said...br /br /span style="font-style: italic;"Hi Neil,br /br /Please post this, as I certainly do feel very bad letting people down:br /br /I agreed to go to Animate in the summer and had to organize a militarybr /operation of friends and family to take care of our son Liam duringbr /the proposed week, as he is appearing as Gavroche in Les Miserables inbr /London and has to be accompanied to and from the theatre each day he'sbr /on, and also be available on 12 hours notice every day in case anotherbr /actor drops out.br /We managed this, so both Clare and I could make the trip to Buenosbr /Aires, a city we've always wanted to visit.br /Unfortunately, the date was changed by the organizers, and so we hadbr /to re-arrange.br /More importantly, it became obvious that the festival was nowbr /colliding with a variety of previous commitments falling in the latterbr /half of November, so I decided with great sadness to withdraw thisbr /year.br /I hate letting people down, and I was really looking forward to thebr /trip (though not the 24 hours travelling each way, I admit!).br /br /Hopefully there will be another event, an animation or film festival,br /that will allow me to visit the city in the future. Or maybe we'llbr /just go for a holiday, and do a signing in a bookstore.br /br /Thanks,br /Dave/spanbr /br /(I think it's worth pointing out that ten-year old Liam McKean -- owner of the original Pig Puppet -- is in span style="font-style: italic;"Les Miserables/span in London. If you happen to go and see it, check if he's in your performance. Get his autograph. Mention pigs. Make his day.) And that reminds me...br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Hi Neil,br /br /I thought you might like to let people know that Dave McKean is on the BBC4 programme "Picture Book" talking about his illustations for David Almond's 'The Savage' and how he was inspired by Comic Book's art. The programme is airing (again) at 19.10 on Saturday and 3.30 on Sunday, and is also currently available on the BBC i-player. a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fhnb6/comingup"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00fhnb6/comingup/abr /br /Thank you again for all the stories,br /br /Marjorie/spanbr /br /You're welcome.br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;"Hi,br /br /Just read that you completed "the Dying Earth story." Huh? Is there a new collection of Dying Earth stories coming out? Is it an homage to Jack Vance's work, or what?br /br /Did a search for "dying earth" on your website and saw no other mention of it.br /br /Thanks,br /Chrisbr /br //spanspanIt's for a href="http://www.subterraneanpress.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PRODamp;Product_Code=martin07amp;Category_Code=PREamp;Product_Count=24"this/a./spanspan style="font-weight: bold;"br //spanbr /...br /br /And finally, Larry Marder talks about why a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/NEIL-GAIMAN-SANDMAN-Sketch-With-Larry-Marder_W0QQitemZ140282064832QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item140282064832amp;_trksid=p3911.c0.m14amp;_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318"the drawing we did together/a is so special at a href="http://larrymarder.blogspot.com/2008/11/neil-gaimanlarry-marder-drawing-up-for.html"http://larrymarder.blogspot.com/2008/11/neil-gaimanlarry-marder-drawing-up-for.html/a. div class="label_list" style="margin-top: 20px; padding-left: 15px; text-indent: -15px; font-size: 78%/1.4em; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; text-transform: uppercase; letter-spacing: .1em;"strongLabels:/strongnbsp; a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/Coraline%20movie" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"Coraline movie/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/liam%20mckean" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"liam mckean/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/Jack%20Vance" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"Jack Vance/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/Dave%20McKean" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"Dave McKean/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/crows" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"crows/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/why%20I%20was%20disappointed%20they%20cut%20Bacchus%20out%20of%20the%20Prince%20Caspian%20Movie" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"why I was disappointed they cut Bacchus out of the Prince Caspian Movie/a, a href="http://journal.neilgaiman.com/search/label/G1" style="color: #999; text-transform: uppercase;"G1/a/div

The one and only gig I’ve attended as part of this year’s London Jazz Festival, and while Murcof would win a medal for Mexico in the 400m genre-straddle, he has hitherto never been at the jazz races. Tonight wasn’t to change that (although the fact that he is currently featuring on an album on [...]

Pete Woods of MTUK metal 'zine conducted an interview with Danny Cavanagh of the UK atmospheric rock band ANATHEMA prior to the band's November 7, 2008 concert at London, U.K.'s Islington Academy.

it's not usable. in london when I try to find a route from leytonstone to stratford

it tells me to go to standstead airport first and then back :D :D

while in reality it's just few miles. 2 stops on the underground... or 30 min walk

so kinda useless...

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/99961?ns=guardianpageName=Football%3A+Arsenal+drop+outspoken+Gallas+for+trip+to+Manchester+Citych=Footballc3=The+Guardianc4=Arsenal+FC+%28Football%29%2CFrance+%28Football+team%29%2CPremier+League+%28Football%29%2CFootball%2CSportc5=Football+World+Cup%2CNot+commercially+useful%2CPremier+Leaguec6=David+Hytnerc7=2008_11_21c8=1122123c9=articlec10=GUc11=Footballc12=Arsenalc13=c14=h2=GU%2FFootball%2FArsenal" width="1" height="1" //divpstrong/strongstrong/pp/strongWilliam Gallas' hold on the Arsenal captaincy appeared to be over this evening and his very future at the club in jeopardy after he did not travel with the rest of the squad to the north-west for today's Premier League fixture against Manchester City./ppThe controversial Frenchman had followed his attack on an unnamed team-mate on Wednesday — that player is known to be Robin van Persie — with further outspoken comments about another of them yesterday./ppOnce again he did not name the player, identifying him only as "S" and saying that he played in midfield, but it is understood that he was referring to Samir Nasri, his France team-mate who joined Arsenal from Marseille in the summer. In his newly released autobiography, he criticised him for his "insolence"./ppArsène Wenger, the manager, was deeply concerned by Gallas' comments and had given serious thought to stripping him of the captaincy. He informed Gallas of his intention and the explosive result was that Gallas stayed behind in London as his team headed to Manchester./ppOn Wednesday, Gallas had spoken of the dressing-room being disrupted by one player who "insults us", an attack on Van Persie, while he also said that his young Arsenal team-mates were "not brave enough in battle", that there had been a row at half-time during the recent 4-4 home draw with Tottenham Hotspur and that the reason he was speaking out was because "there are things that can't be said and can't be tolerated"./ppWenger has defended his outspoken and emotional captain, whose methods have been under scrutiny since his bizarre sit-in protest at Birmingham City last February. Yet he has been pushed too far by Gallas and acted for the sake of dressing-room unity. He will be without one alternative captain at Eastlands as Cesc Fábregas is suspended and most likely another — Kolo Touré is described as a "major doubt" after he injured his calf in midweek. The goalkeeper Manuel Almunia is expected to wear the armband./ppWenger will publicly address the subject of Gallas after the game and in the meantime, he simply wants his players to pull together and do their talking on the pitch. Despite four Premier League defeats already this season, he believes that they have the mental strength and ability to rouse themselves./ppGallas was the victim of unfortunate timing as much as anything else with his latest comments from his book, which was released yesterday. His row with Nasri took place in the heat of the moment during France's failed Euro 2008 campaign and the pair promptly made their peace. What Gallas said to his biographer some months ago about the flashpoint, however, is insightful about his problems with the new generation of young players./ppHe said they "seem cheeky — they think they know everything but they know nothing". He added: "I too was 20 years old once. I would never have allowed myself to speak in such a way to a player older than me. We respected the veterans. We shut our mouths."/ppGallas said that he was stunned when the young player he argued with took Thierry Henry's seat on the France team bus. He described the young player as "insolent" and said that he finally moved. Gallas had scolded the player in training for not calling out when he passed the ball, and he gave a blow-by-blow description of the heated conversation that followed./pp"Are you speaking to me? Who do you take yourself for? You're only 20 ... I am not your friend," Gallas said./pp"I'm not your friend either," the player responded. "Straight away, I see red," added the 31-year-old./ppGallas' passionate nature has been held up as a strength but the generation gap between him and Arsenal's young tyros has contributed to his fall from grace./ppArsenal, meanwhile, will pursue the Football Association for compensation over the shoulder injury Theo Walcott sustained while on England duty this week, which will rule him out for at least three months./ppstrong/strong/pdiv style="float: left; margin-right: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"ullia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/arsenal"Arsenal/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/france"France/a/lilia href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/premierleague"Premier League/a/li/ul/divdiv class="guRssAdvert"a href="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/click.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227298789329112120300438560"img src="http://ads.guardian.co.uk/image.ng/richmedia=yessite=Footballcountry=(none)spacedesc=rsssystem=rsstransactionID=1227298789329112120300438560" border="0" //a/diva href="http://www.guardian.co.uk"guardian.co.uk/a copy; Guardian News Media Limited 2008 | 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/a

LONDON (Reuters) - An aging population, spiraling medical costs and increasingly poor service are spurring more computer firms to bet on healthcare and what many of them see as a lucrative -- but relatively untapped -- market.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=RLFLGCUi"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?d=41" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=MUip5Iph"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?i=MUip5Iph" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?a=bnREucur"img src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~f/reuters/technologyNews?i=bnREucur" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/reuters/technologyNews/~4/oOdR3JCy4Tc" height="1" width="1"/

London mayor to launch review into feasibility of granting amnesty to estimated 400,000 people living illegally in capital

Two years after Alexander Litvinenko died in agony at a London hospital, the man accused of murdering him with radioactive poison is prepared to come to Britain to be questioned by Scotland Yard.

divimg alt="" src="http://hits.guardian.co.uk/b/ss/guardiangu-feeds/1/H.15.1/64999?ns=guardianpageName=World+news%3A+US+embassy+guard+suspended+for+criticising+Barack+Obamach=World+newsc3=guardian.co.ukc4=Barack+Obama+%28News%29%2CUS+news%2CUK+newsc5=Not+commercially+useful%2CUS+Electionsc6=Owen+Bowcottc7=2008_11_21c8=1122074c9=articlec10=GUc11=World+newsc12=Barack+Obamac13=c14=h2=GU%2FWorld+news%2FBarack+Obama" width="1" height="1" //divpAn American security guard has been suspended from work at the US embassy in London after publishing a blog criticising the president-elect, Barack Obama./ppThe decision to remove him was taken following "mutual" agreement between his UK employer and US diplomats, an embassy spokesman told guardian.co.uk./ppThe controversial comments appeared on a website run by the security guard, who reportedly heads security teams patrolling the heavily fortified building in Mayfair, central London./ppOne of the comments, which has now been removed, reads: "... ideals that are the very cornerstone of American liberty and democracy could very well become an ephemeral memory of American history under the socialist leadership of the incumbent Barrack Obama./pp"... The real question of concern, now that Obama is the president-elect, is what promises have Obama's camp given in return to these socialist, communist, fascist and terrorist supporting nations and special interest groups? Such accolades and endorsements do not come easy in this nuclear age."/ppThe US embassy spokesman said: " [The security guard] is no longer working at any US government facilities pending an investigation."/ppAsked whether diplomats had requested his transfer, the spokesman said: "It was a mutual decision between the embassy and the company [Pedus Services, that employs him]."/ppPedus Service, based in Newport, south Wales, is contracted to protect the embassy. Martin West, the general manager, said the firm was carrying out an investigation and that Hubbard had been suspended from work. /pp"We work very closely with our partners at the US embassy and we will continue to work through this while the investigation is carried out," he added./ppThe guard's website offers personal protection training using guns and knives, and clai