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Al Qaeda-Linked Cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, Reported Dead In Yemen

2011-09-30T09:29:52Z

Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born cleric linked to al Qaeda has been killed in Yemen, the country's defence ministry has said.

Awlaki is believed to have died on Friday morning, 90 miles east of the capital Sana'a between the Marib and al-Jawf. It is thought he was killed by an air strike. According to local tribal leaders, the attack came while he was travelling in a two-car convoy.

It is not know if the preacher was targeted by one of the US military drones that operate over Yemen.

Credited with being being the head of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, 40-year-old al-Awlaki came to prominence due to his alleged links with a series of terror plots.

The cleric is reported to have had email exchanges with the US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who was responsible for the Fort Hood shootings at a military base in Texas in 2009. The shootings left 13 dead.

In 2009, The Telegraph reported that Hasan had attended the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Virginia Falls, while Awlaki was there as a preacher.

He is also believed to have had connections with Faisal Shahzad, the 30-year-old Pakistan-born resident of Bridgeport, arrested for the failed car bombing of Times Square in 2010.

The US accused Awlaki of being linked to the failed attempt to blow up a plane over Detroit on Christmas Day, 2009. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, tried to down an aircraft by igniting a bomb concealed in his underwear.

In February 2010, Awlaki gave an interview to Al Jazeera in which he said he supported Abdulmutallab's attempted attack but did not encourage it.

Speaking to the channel, he said: "Yes, I support what Umar Farouk has done after I have been seeing my brothers being killed in Palestine for more than 60 years, and others being killed in Iraq and in Afghanistan.

"And in my tribe too, US missiles have killed 17 women and 23 children, so do not ask me if al-Qaeda has killed or blown up a US civil jet after all this. The 300 Americans are nothing comparing to the thousands of Muslims who have been killed."

When asked if the Yemeni government would facilitate his assassination, Awlaki said:

"The Yemeni government sells its citizens to the United States, to earn the ill-gotten funds it begs the West for in return for their blood."

British foreign secretary William Hague said if confirmed, Awlaki's death would be "another significant blow to al Qaeda".

"With the attempted Detroit bombing and the aeroplane cargo bomb plots he has demonstrated his intent and ability to cause mass terror, whilst his murderous ideology was responsible for inspiring terrorist attacks in the UK and the US," he said on Friday.

According to US intelligence, Awlaki acted as the spiritual leader to three of the 9/11 hijackers and, until 2009, ran and updated a blog that espoused an extreme Islamic ideology.

He was also suspected of involvement with plots to attacks interests in Europe and the UK. In 2010 MP Stephen Timms was approached and stabbed by 21-year-old Roshonara Choudhry in Beckton, East London. The motive for the attack, according to Choudhry, was the MP's support for the Iraq war, however she said she had been inspired by the preaching of al-Awlaki.

Rajib Karim, the 31-year-old software engineer who was jailed in 2010 for plotting to blow up a British Airways plane, had corresponded with Awlaki on his intent to place a package on a US-bound flight.

In 2009, the preacher was controversially invited to speak via video link-up by City University's Islamic Society, however after media attention and pressure by the Centre for Social Cohesion, the event was cancelled.

Born in New Mexico in 1971, Awlaki grew up in Yemen but returned to the US to attend university.

He has been reported dead before, most recently in 2009. In April 2010, the cleric was added to the CIA's kill or capture list by the Obama administration after a special government review concluded that he had played an operational role in attempted terrorist attacks on the US. He was the only American on the hit list.

Donald Rumsfeld Applauds Al Jazeera In Interview With David Frost

2011-09-29T12:52:29Z

Former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has given an interview to Al Jazeera, ending his feud with a channel he once described as “vicious”.

Questioned by Sir David Frost, Bush’s former right-hand man, who many see as the architect of the second Gulf War, struck a conciliatory tone in the interview.

“Its audience has grown and it can be an important means of communication in the world,” he said of the channel.

“I am delighted you are doing what you are doing.”

The interview is to be broadcast on Al Jazeera English on Friday night.

The Al Jazeera network started in 1996 as an Arabic news channel, and was the first rolling-news media operation to be based in the Middle East.

The channel came to western attention following the 9/11 attacks, when it routinely aired broadcasts of Osama bin Laden.

It quickly gained a reputation among many in the west as a mouthpiece for Al-Qaeda, promoting Islamic militancy and a strong anti-western message.

In 2001, a US bomb destroyed Al Jazeera’s office in Kabul; an incident the Bush Administration maintained was an “accident”.

Relations between the network and Washington were further strained when in 2003 a US plane fired upon the channel’s office in Baghdad, killing reporter Tareq Ayyoub. Again, US authorities called the incident a “mistake”.

On April 15 2004, Rumsfeld denounced the TV station at a Pentagon briefing, calling its reporting of the Iraq War “vicious, inaccurate and inexcusable”.

“They are simply lying,” Rumsfeld said following an Al Jazeera report that an American assault on Fallujah was terrorizing citizens.

The nadir of the relationship came a day later when President Bush reportedly told Prime Minister Tony Blair that he wanted to bomb the channel’s headquarters in Doha, Qatar.

Reports emerged of the conversation later that year based on transcripts, though it remains unknown exactly what was said or as to whether Bush was joking.

That November, the White House referred to the reports of the conversation as “outlandish”, however Wadah Khanfar, then the director-general of Al Jazeera, sent a letter to Downing Street demanding clarification from Blair as to what was said in the meeting.

The English version of the channel launched in 2006 with veteran presenter Frost as its marquee name. Its launch, along with the end of the Bush regime, led to a thawing of relations. In April this year, President Obama hosted Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani of Qatar, the new boss of the channel, in Washington.

Suspicions remain as to the impartiality of the channel’s Dohar operation, but the Rumsfeld interview, along with a recent broadcast of Frost and David Cameron, provides some indication of Al Jazeera’s more accepted standing in the halls of Washington and London.

Jason Burke Unpicks The 9/11 Wars

2011-09-09T18:20:36Z

"I watched 9/11 unfold in the office of The Observer," says Jason Burke, one of the UK's foremost experts on Al-Qaeda and currently South Asia correspondent for The Guardian.

"I was just back from Algeria," he says. "I stood in front of the TV watching the first tower burning, then watched the second plane go in. I turned to the deputy editor and said 'that's Bin Laden'. He told me to get a satellite phone and some money and get to the airport."

That's exactly what the he did, spending the next decade writing from the front line of the post-9/11 conflicts, including two critically lauded books, Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam and On the Road to Kandahar: Travels through Conflict in the Islamic World.

The 41-year-old's latest tome, The 9/11 Wars, looks back at the violence of the past decade, offering an insight into the conflict from the perspective of the local and the regional. As he puts it: "seeing things for myself".

It's an understanding on the conflict built from meeting hundreds if not thousands of participants across the globe.

"Repeatedly in these encounters, whether it was failed suicide bombers, Iraqi militants or western intelligent specialists, I kept having difficulty reconciling the individual with the general, and particularly the local with the global," says Burke, sitting at a coffee table in central London.

The author, originally from North London and now based in New Delhi, admits that tackling ten years, particularly a decade so scarred by violence, was a difficult task. The book's arc progresses through the aftermath of 9/11; the escalation of violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Europe; and the years post the European attacks, which saw a gradual change in western policy.

"The progression in terms of the understanding of Al-Qaeda over the last ten years has been absolutely phenomenal," he points out. "And central to that greater understanding has been the disaggregation of Al-Qaeda from being the global organisation with tentacles everywhere, led by a single figure, to being something far more diverse with a whole variety of local manifestations."

Within days of the Twin Towers collapsing, Al-Qaeda had been morphed in the public consciousness into an all-encompassing terror network, a religious SPECTRE with bin Laden orchestrating the chaos from his Tora Bora redoubt.

"That global vision has slowly been broken down," says Burke, arguing that by viewing Al-Qaeda as a local phenomenon, the West was able to refine its understanding and apply counterterrorism measures that were far more bespoke.

"Much of the thinking within the counterterrorist community is now about the individual, it's about the particular circumstances or courses of events that takes a person into radicalism or radical violence. We're no longer talking about global profiling. What we are talking about is real granularity – hierarchies, flat networks and the mechanics of individuals."

While reporting abroad Burke saw that it wasn't the global narratives that were determining events, but local factors - communities, families, brothers…

"Most terrorist or militant attacks used local materials, perpertrated by local people operating only a couple of hours travel from their homes. Yes, 9/11. Yes, a couple of other major international events. But 99 per cent of the violence is rooted in communities, often intra-community."

Burke sips his water before launching into a dissection of the causes of the conflict:

"Let's look at what this conflict is really about. Is it about Islam versus West? Is it about good versus evil? Is it about these meta-narratives that ideologically driven thinkers on all the sides were trying to impose? Or is it about people and their reactions to certain contexts and certain situations?"

I ask why the West, its commentators and its governments (Samuel Huntington's 'The Clash Of Civilisations' became required reading post 9/11) were so eager to bolt a grand narrative onto the conflict.

"I think it's a hangover from the Cold War," he says, "but also after a massive shock you seek simple answers because a complicated answer is not particularly morally or intellectually satisfying."

The West played along with Al-Qaeda's framing, a narrative staggering in its lack of sophistication.

"There was a very strong influence from the evangelical Christianity in the States, which fed into that framing," Burke adds.

The reasons underpinning America's eagerness to engage post 9/11 remains an open debate, but the US didn't act alone in Afghanistan and Iraq. Britain was in lock step and the evangelical argument doesn’t carry across the Atlantic.

"No, but Blair brought liberal humanitarian interventionism to the equation, which looking back seems just as dated."

In regards to Afghanistan, Burke argues that Western strategy has made a couple of distinct shifts, from "ridding the world of terrorist training camps"; a move the author says was "long overdue", to creating "a liberal pluralist democracy with a free market system". Finally, around 2006, Western doctrine decided that it was to be "none of the above".

The author also witnessed what he calls a "similar ratcheting down of expectations and of objectives" in Iraq. In both countries, by 2006, the early idealism was on its way out and by 2008, following Obama's election, it had completely gone... so much so that the Taliban "are now being rapidly rehabilitated as partners for peace".

I suggest that the turning point for Afghanistan may have been the 2009 election, which saw incumbent Hamid Karzai returned amid strong accusations of electoral fraud.

"Earlier," insists Burke, "though a lot was pegged on that election. By 2009 a lot of people thought the core problem in Afghanistan was the government’s legitimacy."

Karzai was first elected in 2004 with around 55 per cent of the vote. However his subsequent term was characterised by charges of corruption and a growing disquiet about civilian casualties. By the end of the term, he was deeply unpopular.

"The Americans and the British thought if they could get a legitimate government in Kabul, that legitimacy would trickle down. What actually happened was a total catastrophe. Karzai screwed things up horribly."

"Following the election, the West was forced to do a quick re-messaging. The line was now 'this is what happens in Afghanistan, this is still the best we've got, now we're moving forward with our Afghan partners'.

Moving forward, for the West, meant out of the door as quickly as possible. "This is pretty much where we are now," he adds. "So the election was key, but it came against a backdrop of on going change."

Within the book, Burke characterises the problem of extremism as "a complex fusion of the secular and the religious that's extremely difficult to counter." It's an unusual charge, as secularism is often perceived to be one of the principle targets of the extremists.

"Violent Islamist rhetoric was influenced by the revolutionary ideologies of the 20th Century," he says, citing the impact of Nazism and revolutionary communism on the founders of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamic thinkers.

They also share similar structures," he says. "What does radical Islam do? It takes a situation, it explains what's gone wrong and it gives you a programme for a solution. You don’t really need to think. It gives you all the answers, just like revolutionary communism or Marxism."

"What bin Laden did was to fuse very contemporary concerns - oil, Israel, Palestine, human rights - with a revolutionary Islamic violent methodology, along with a lot of mythical references, which are enormously potent in terms of identity baggage. He talked about the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols, and he talked about the crusades. These are all fantastic push button issues."

"Terrorism is not about massive organisations," he continues apace, "and it's not about psychopaths. It's also not about starving people or revolution. It's about pairs or small groups of people egging each other on. It's a social activity like anything else. Yes – it's abhorrent and morally unjustifiable, but it's not that dissimilar to robbing a bank."

"People get sucked into it. If you look at the interrogations of British militants, the leaders of the groups were using the same type of arguments criminals use: 'If we go down you're coming down with us' and 'if you go to the cops, we're all going to go down'. It's like the mafia... not in terms of mailing body parts, but a shared understanding of how things work."

The author is also quick to dismiss a link between poverty and terrorism. "We've seen violence from very poor people, we've seen violence from extremely rich people and lots in between."

Two chapters are devoted to what in retrospect appears to be the nadir of the decade, the years 2005 and 2006. Following the Madrid bombings (2004), the murder of Theo Van Gogh (2004), the London bombings (2005), the riots in Paris (2005), the failed transatlantic bomb plot (2006) and the Danish cartoon affair (2005), he concedes that, at the time, Europe looked like it was on the precipice. However, reporting on the unrest in Paris, Burke was confronted with a phenomenon far removed from militant Islam.

"In three weeks I didn't hear a single religious slogan, or see any religious graffiti. There was simply no religious element on the ground."

"The people who were rioting were largely non-Muslim. The main slogan of the rioters was that hardy perennial of urban violence, 'fuck the police'."

Yet at the time, the notion of Europe falling to a Muslim hoard gained ground on the right in the US, while Oriana Fallaci's book 'The Force Of Reason' had their European counterparts in a similar flap.

"It was all hysterically overblown," says Burke. "There was no massive radicalisation of European Muslims. That is important, as Al-Qaeda was unable to recruit. The first stage of their plan was the spectacular propaganda attack; the second stage was the mass roll out of that violence."

Around that time Al-Qaeda started to lose support in Muslim countries, especially when violence was being perpetrated on Muslim soil.

"The best example is the 2005 bombing of the hotels in Amman," he says. "Prior to the bombings, approval ratings in Muslim countries for Bin Laden, Musab al-Zarqawi and suicide bombing was up around 60-80 per cent. Immediately after the bombings, that went down to 15-20 per cent. The Al-Qaeda strategy... not only failed to gain new recruits, but was undermining its own strategic aim with every step it took forward."

Al-Qaeda began to face similar problems in Iraq. In the west of the country, the Sunnis ended up aligned to the US, after Al-Qaeda started appropriating "the rackets, which fed the power of the local sheiks."

Which brings Burke back to his original thesis, that of the local versus the global:

"The Al-Qaeda ideology and package is disrespectful of local differences. In the end most people just have their communities - there's no global narrative. They're just getting on with their daily life - individuals, families... The bloke who lives down the road, asking whether he can get water or not, whether he's proud of being who he feels he is - an Iraqi, an Arab, a Sunni, a Muslim, a father, a tribal chief or whoever. These are the drivers behind those critical decisions as to whom he is fighting."

I ask if he think another major attack, one on the scale of 9/11, is likely.

"There might be another attack, but there might not be," he says. "That uncertainty is what the whole security industry gravy train runs on."

The author points to another shift in thinking: "These days, the US seems less preoccupied with how to protect itself against a terrorist attack and more concerned with how to be resilient when a terrorist attack occurs."

Speaking to veteran journalist Bob Woodward in 2010, President Obama said:

"We can absorb a terrorist attack... we'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."

"It was an extraordinary statement," says Burke. "He's right, of course. The US could absorb four or five. It would have its impact but one of the most astonishing things about the American economy, with its massive deficit and all its structural problems, is that over the past ten years it has managed to pay for two trillion dollar wars."

"You have to remember that the insurance costs for Hurricane Katrina and the recent Japanese Tsunami are many, many times greater than those of 9/11. That's the power of terrorism... to terrorise is to make people fear something disproportionately."

I start to ask the author about more recent events... "bin Laden dying offers a sense of narrative closure," he says, interrupting. "It is easy to be mistaken about these things... but there is a sense that what's happening with the Arab Spring is the start of something different, a new cycle."

It's an optimistic tone on which to end, but not before Burke adds one last note of caution:

"Watch out for social conservatism. Western portrayals of the Middle East and places like Pakistan can be very misrepresentative. Western journalists, myself included, very often allow the educated, elite English speaking voices to dominate, giving the impression that they're representative of much of their society."

"So you end up with a view of a country made up of either extremists or moderates. The majority middle ground doesn't get heard. And that majority middle ground is often socially conservative, religiously conservative, deeply anti-American and deeply anti-Western. I think it is going to be very interesting to watch in the coming years."

David Cameron: The Nato Mission Will Continue

2011-09-01T20:37:10Z

David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy have emphasised the on going commitment of Nato to the conflict in Libya.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of the Paris summit, the Prime Minister expressed his pride in what British and allied forces had accomplished as part of Nato's mission to stop Gaddafi’s attacks.

However, he also emphasised that “it is the Libyan People who are responsible for the liberation.”

“We pay tribute to your bravery and to the many who have lost their lives or been injured,” he said.

Cameron also outlined three key commitments to the National Transitional Council, including the implementation of the UN resolutions by Nato and its allies, a commitment to international law, and a pledge to support the NTC in their aims to implement a democratic transition.

“Freedom in Tripoli has brought to light unspeakable crimes,” he said. “These crimes must be investigated and the guilty brought to justice."

Both Cameron and President Sarkozy expressed gratitude to the Arab states that took part in the Nato coalition.

“It is an honour to work together with Qataris, the Jordanians and the people of the United Arab Emirates, along with Mustafa Abdul Jalil and the NTC,” said Cameron, who also praised the French President for bringing together “east and west, north and south, Muslim and Christian.”

Abdul Jalil, the chair of the Libyan National Transitional Council, emphasised his own desire for peace and democracy in his homeland.

“The international community has staked everything on Libya… and we staked everything when we asked the international community to help bring Freedom."

“I would like to thank the international community for their support," he continued. "Libya is an integral part of an international community that wants stability and peace throughout the world. My thanks to President Sarkozy, to David Cameron, to the Jordanians, the US, Italy and all of the countries that helped the people of Libya achieve this success.”

The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also praised the international community, saying the actions in Libya send a “strong and unmistakable signal to the world”.

He also emphasised the on going work of the UN, especially in regards to the country’s humanitarian needs.

“Medicine, fuel, food and water are in short supply,” he said, stating that the UN would lead in resolving this potential crisis.

At another press conference in Paris, UN Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear there was still work ahead.

“The challenges may be formidable but so is the progress we have already seen. We must continue to stand with the Libyan people.”

The focus then shifted towards another regime currently contracting under the pressure of the Arab Spring, that of Syria.

“Assad’s brutality has outraged the world,” said Clinton. “The violence must stop. He needs to step aside. Syria must be allowed to step forward. We must now escalate the pressure on Assad, including sanctions on the energy sector."

“Just as we have done in Libya," Clinton continued, "we are also encouraging the Syrian opposition to put forward their own road map. The people of Syria deserve a government that accepts their rights.”

David Cameron also spoke sharply on the Assad regime, stating, “Britain wants sanctions and a travel ban on Syria.”

Earlier today, Mrs Clinton had spoken of the need to secure Colonel Gaddafi's arsenal to ensure it didn't fall into the hands of Libya's neighbours.

In Libya, an audio recording of Gaddafi was broadcast on a Syrian TV station in which the ousted leader told his supporters they "cannot surrender", urging them to fight on "even if you do not hear my voice".

Wikipedia Boss Targets Online Censorship

2011-08-30T00:42:44Z

Jimmy Wales, the creator of Wikipedia, the world's largest encyclopaedia and perhaps the most potent symbol of an open and free Internet, has turned his sights on China.

The People's Republic has undergone great transition over the past decade, with a loosening of the economy that has seen global companies pour in, including those at the forefront of information technology.

However, the Chinese political system still rests on orthodoxies of control, fear and a restriction of information. That's not to say China isn't changing, with more than 475 million of the country's 1.3 billion citizens now online. Mandarin is currently the second most popular language on the web behind English.

Yet for some, including the Wikipedia-founder, change isn't coming quickly enough, so much so that the he recently featured in the first episode of Amnesty TV, an online magazine show, talking about internet freedom, with particular reference the situation in China.

As a passionate advocate for the free access to information, Wales believes people should be in control of the content they view. This is not the case for a third of the global population, with regimes as disparate as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Burma, North Korea, Syria, Vietnam and China all practising some form of online censorship.

"China now has the largest number of users of the Internet of any country," Wales tells The Huffington Post UK. "It also has the most extensive program of censorship of basic political information of any country. The web can help change that.

"The Internet has already played a role in opening up repressive political systems and it will continue to do so. All around the world, authoritarian governments are coming to the realisation that old methods of information suppression are no longer effective, and simply serve to breed resentment which will result in uprisings."

Currently Wikipedia, Facebook and Twitter remain blocked in China, while Google, who originally worked within Chinese restrictions, censoring what the regime deemed politically sensitive information, has now pulled out completely.

"I think it's important that companies do not give in to demands of censorship from regimes," says Wales. "It goes against the foundation of what the Internet is - free access to information."

The counter argument runs that offering people access to some information, albeit restricted, is better than offering them no information at all.

"That's the argument Google made and I respect that," he responds. "I think that reasonable people can differ on tactics. I did not agree with Google's decision to go into China, but I did respect that they were aware that it was a difficult decision, and that they went into China with a set of principles to try to be a positive influence. And I applauded when they decided that the situation there was no longer worthwhile and decided to pull out."

I put it to Wales that not everyone sees the net as only a force for good. Recently in the UK, some politicians blamed online services (BlackBerry Messenger and Text) for facilitating the riots and disturbances in London and elsewhere.

"The web is a tool, and like all human tools they can be used for good or ill," he says. "There's nothing particular exciting or interesting in noticing that. But we can say without reservation that the Internet has been overwhelmingly a force for good.

"I'm not a web utopian," he continues, "but I think we did see positive responses. While a tiny handful of people may have posted messages planning or encouraging violence, we know that literally thousands of people joined forces to help with the cleanup efforts, and thousands more have joined efforts to identify the criminals and bring them to justice.

"The idea that social networks were used by rioters to plan violence and destruction is just, quite frankly, silly nonsense. You might as well blame the telephone ... or language itself."

Despite his success, Wales remains committed to his central project, the development and evolution of the encyclopaedia that has become a one of the most frequently accessed resources on the web.

"I'm still involved in the company on a day-to-day level," he says, "especially talking to the community about moving forward with editorial policy. The most important think to know about Wikipedia in the next five to 10 years is that we will continue our strong growth in the languages of the developing world, as we move ever closer to realising my original vision of a free encyclopaedia for every single person on the planet in their own language."

Three Of The Fringe's Finest - The Comedians Talk

2011-08-29T22:56:47Z

As the Fringe drew to a close, The Huffington Post UK invited three professional comedians, all hotly tipped as rising stars of the industry, to sit down over a beer to chat festival, competitions and gigging in Stockton…

“I’ve been to the fringe four times before but this is the first time I’ve done an hour,” says Tom Rosenthal, whilst gorging on a steak sandwich. He informs me it’s his first meal that day. The 23-year-old son of sports presenter Jim Rosenthal has enjoyed a rapid rise. He started performing stand-up four years ago, and recently won new fans by starring in Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner, as well as making his straight acting debut in a production of Chicken Soup with Barley at The Royal Court Theatre.

Sitting next to Tom is Joe Wilkinson, another star of TV, best known for his comic turn as creepy neighbour Dan in the BBC3 sitcom Him & Her. He also has a one-hour show at this year's Fringe, the first time he’s performed a solo show at the festival.

The Trio is completed by Joe Lycett, a popular stand-up who burst onto the scene in 2008 by reaching the final of the Laughing Horse New Act of the Year competition. He has also appeared on TV as a regular on BBC1’s Epic Win and is also performing his first hour-long solo show. Joe has also blogged for The Huffington Post UK.

“Competitions are great,” says Lycett, wryly. “Unlike a lot of other creative industries they are a great way of climbing the ladder early on. If you win a comp you get on the big clubs’ radar. Some people are not great at competitions, so it doesn’t work out for everybody, but it is certainly a good way of getting seen by industry people.”

Wilkinson has also experienced competitions, having won the Hackney Empire New Act Award and getting to the final of So You Think You're Funny.

“The big difference this year to when I first started coming to the Fringe is performing for a whole hour,” he says through a heavy beard.

“Plus, this is the first year I’ve had to contend with an audience. People are actually turning up. When I first started doing shows up here no one knew who I was. I was playing to six people, hoping that four of them would like it. Now, because of Him & Her, there’s already an audience.”

“Doing a full hour is also more rewarding then a 20-minute set,” says Rosenthal. “It was like starting stand-up again. It’s much more of a challenge, but it’s an exciting process. A lot of the work was done in the months before Edinburgh, but the conceit and the persona was developed over a depressingly long period of time. Then it takes four or five shows to get it up and running once here.”

Wilkinson agrees: “You definitely change your act once you are up here as you quickly find what works in Aldershot doesn’t work in Edinburgh and stuff that works in Hemel Hempstead definitely doesn’t work in Edinburgh. Stuff just sorts of evolves as you go. Also, I live in London, which, when playing outside London, you can’t mention as a positive. It generally doesn’t win people over.”

“You also have to gauge the audience,” says Lycett. “You do a bit more chat for some, a bit less for others. Some just want material and don’t want to be talked to.”

I enquire as to Lycett’s worst gig. “Stockton,” he says without pause for thought. “It was a place called the ARC. I played to absolute silence. It was a gong show, I was the only professional act and I died on my arse. I wouldn’t go back.

“They wouldn’t have you back,” says Lycett’s PR, chipping in.

“It was bad night,” he responds through a smile, “but it hasn’t affected my career. Sometime you will just have a bad day at the office.”

I suggest to the assembly that stand-up comedy is now seen as something of a springboard for TV, radio and film.

“There’s something about the word springboard I don’t like,” retorts Rosenthal. “It’s got too many negative connotations. People should genuinely care about stand-up. I’m not doing this just so I can do x, y, and z on TV. It’s an art form, not just a vehicle to get into making documentaries.”

Wilkinson counters: “Comedy is enjoying a bit of a boom, though. There are lots of opportunities for people to be on TV or radio. I imagine some people do try and get into stand-up inspired by seeing comedians on the box, but I doubt they’ll stick with it because it’s very hard. You see comedians appearing on panel shows and having a great time, but what you don’t see is them playing in dingy comedy clubs around the UK four times a week for the past 11 years.”

“Comedy itself has grown,” says Lycett. “It seems to be something a lot more people get into these days. I think a lot of people can do comedy but don’t do it because they’re scared of the initial burst.”

And of the marquee names, who would our trio pay to see?

Tom jumps in first: “When I first saw stand-up it was Lee Evans. Then I got into Ricky Gervais – we’re both from Reading. Also Reginald D. Hunter and, more recently, Louis C.K. and Doug Stanhope."

“I try and avoid the big comics in Edinburgh,” says Lycett. “You can see them on tour. Edinburgh is all about seeing the smaller comedians. I saw Henry Paker play to a room of 20 people last night and he was brilliant. Having said that, I’d love to see Louis C.K. There’s always someone from over the pond that does well in Edinburgh. I met Hannibal Buress the other day. He’s hilarious. There’s something exotic coming over from New York.”

“Talking about Edinburgh, Adam riches would be the big news of this year’s Fringe,” says Wilkinson.

Lycett agrees: “Oh yes – everyone’s sh*tting the bed about him – rightly so. He’s brilliant.”

A day after the interview, Riches took top prize at the 31st Edinburgh Comedy Awards for his show.

Wilkinson continues: “Of the big boys I’d pay for Billy Connolly. He did the Apollo in Hammersmith a few months ago and sold out in fifteen minutes. Going back a few years, I am a fan of Peter Cook and Spike Milligan. More recently, it’s been Daniel Kitson. Noel Fielding isn’t hugely known for his stand-up but he’s brilliant. In the US, Sam Simmons is incredible, Todd Barry and Hannibal Buress. Bill Hicks and Louis C.K. goes without saying.”

So what’s next for the comedians, I enquire as Tom finally completes his steak?

“I need to think about what I want to do next,” he says. “I’ll keep doing stand-up, but there are other options on the table, although I might just end up playing a load of FIFA. I’ve just done a play, plus I’m getting scripts for comedy acting roles, plus maybe the chance to front documentaries. I need to marry up being a comedian with someone who wants to do other programming.”

“My heart is in writing, really,” says Wilkinson. “I’ve got stuff in development. I write for other things, but writing down your own ideas, which you then push through to something that gets seen or heard is the best. Doing a range of stuff pleases me as well. Just doing stand-up or just doing acting would be quite difficult.

“I don’t have too much of a grand plan,” says Lycett. “I just want to tour off my own name. A theatre tour as me, Joe Lycett, with support acts. That would be the dream.”

The Fringe Festival: Fudging Your Lines...

2011-08-17T17:27:47Z

One of the more unusual venues at this year's Fringe is The Fudge Kitchen, a shop along Edinburgh's famous Royal Mile close to the house of 16th-century reformer John Knox.

Every day at 6pm, large cutting tables are moved out and chairs are brought in, transforming the small shop into an intimate comedy venue. The smell of freshly baked fudge lingers beautifully throughout the performance for the 35 or so people who pack the venue nightly.

Called The Fudge Shop, the show is the brainchild of Patch Hyde, an employee of the chain. He is also an aspiring actor and stand-up comic who has been toiling on the London circuit for the past three years.

For The Fringe's month-long run and between the hours of 9am and 5pm, Patch can be found putting in a shift in the shop's small kitchen or serving customers behind the counter. By night, he is part of a four-man play about... fudge, alongside performers Toby Williams, Tony Dunn and David Gibson.

"I started selling fudge for the company when I was 15-years-old," Patch tells The Huffington Post UK in a coffee shop next to the venue. "I ended up going to drama school, but always returned to the company whenever I was poor or in between plays."

The 29-year-old has been to Edinburgh for the festival several times before, but has grown increasingly disillusioned with the experience.

"Every year I come to the festival to do stand-up and work in the shop. A lot of the time I was playing to small crowds in big venues. A couple of years ago me and a few friends tried doing stand-up in the shop, but it was too small, too aggressive. Then we started writing sketches, which we've turned into a play. That format does seem to work with the smaller room."

The play's narrative is littered with references to the product. It is also being put on outside the umbrella of the Free Fringe.

Having secured the permission of the company owner, the players clubbed together to buy a theatre licence, an exercise that cost them around £830. On top of that, they had to outlay on brochures and flyers, as well as cover ancillary costs, such as chairs.

Yet Patch remains adamant that the expense was worth it. "Other years I've come up to the festival and done five minutes here and ten minutes there, but this year we're in total control of what we do.“

The group is also recouping some money, with tickets selling for £7.

"It would be great if The Fudge Kitchen gave us a national tour," he says. "We could play at all eight of their shops around the UK. I think it might just be Edinburgh, though."

The Fudge Shop is on every day at 8.45pm until the 28th August at at The Fudge Kitchen.

The Edinburgh Fringe - What's It All About?

2011-08-14T14:39:28Z

Go to any amateur comedy night next month and you’ll almost certainly hear the following phrase:

“When I was in Edinburgh recently…”

What traditionally follows is an anecdote about near mental collapse brought on by sleep deprivation and a gratuitous consumption of booze.

Yet for the many thousand of comedians, including great swathes of amateurs and open-mic performers, the annual sojourn to Auld Reekie represents far more than just a chance to hit the sauce.

It is the culmination of months of hard work, with sets being written, tested, re-written and honed, often to handfuls of fellow performers, night after night in dimly lit back rooms and dank pub basements.

For both the amateur and professional scene, the The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, or The Fringe as it's known, is the highlight of the British comedy calendar.

For those already in the spotlight it is traditionally used as a bookend – to start or to end a tour.

Hot acts, such Tim Key, Sarah Milican, Dave Sedaris, Isy Suttie and Nick Helm, are appearing at this year’s Fringe, alongside a raft of big-name performers from Paul Merton to Jerry Sadowitz.

For less experienced turns, the festival provides a unique opportunity to gig in front of new crowds in a new city. It's also a vital career stepping-stone, while offering aspiring acts a genuine gauge of how far they’ve come… as well as an oft-sobering glimpse of how far they still have to go.

The Fringe started in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival, initially attracting performing arts. More recently, it has become synonymous with comedy. Unlike other arts festivals, The Fringe has no selection committee. Anyone can perform. It’s a libertarian approach that fits well with the world of stand-up.

Around 250 venues usually get booked, hosting around 2,000 shows, with around 19,000 people performing during the festival’s month-long run.

Some come for a week, some for the entire month, playing one, two or even three gigs a day in rooms across the ancient city aside the Firth of Forth. Sets last on average around 20 minutes. It’s an often grueling schedule, especially as comics have to market their own events, spending countless hours on the streets handing out flyers before every show.

Then there’s the drinking, with bars, pubs and festival courtyards packed till the early hours as performers take advantage of the city’s social largesse.

“The social scene is important,” says Hannah Deasy, 26, a client service manager from London and aspiring comic. “My first show is at 4pm in the afternoon, which means I need to be out flyering by 1pm so I’m trying to avoid any massive mash-ups. However, when you get so many like-minded people in one place you have to go with the flow and have a few drinks.”

This year is Hannah’s second time at the Fringe, having spent a week at the festival last year.

“Coming up last year was a real turning point for me. Before that I’d only done ten or so gigs… mainly for fun. Seeing the Edinburgh scene, with so many up-and-coming comedians inspired me to crack on and give it a real go. My life has deteriorated ever since.”

With amateur wits often tied to their locality, whether it’s London, Manchester, Newcastle or Berwick-upon-Tweed, the festival also offers opportunity to meet new people, whether that’s other comics, promoters or perhaps even an agent.

“The one thing a comedian needs is contacts,” says Tez Ilyas, 28, a civil servant originally from Blackburn, now living in London.

“That’s the only way to progress. You can go up to Edinburgh and hone your material, but if you come back without any contacts, you’ll have nowhere to take it.”

Tez first took to the stage fourteen months ago and has progressed apace, playing at the renowned Comedy Store in London’s Leicester Square and advancing to the finals of two national competitions. This year is his first time at the Fringe and despite his relative success he consciously dampened his expectation before boarding the train from Kings Cross.

“You really have to guard against thoughts of landing an agent or getting a review. There are thousands of comics going up to the festival, including many established comedians playing at big paid venues, with posters all over town. Most of the time you don’t know who the people on the posters are… which means absolutely no one knows who you are, so you just have to be realistic.”

Like Tez, Deasy has also made an effort to reign in fanciful optimism, looking to use her month in Scotland as a chance to get a glut of stage time in a short period of time.

“People who come up to Edinburgh expecting to be picked up are absolutely mad,” she says. “Obviously it happens for a small number of people, but the reality is you’re all competing for a finite audience. The chances of getting an agent in to see you are very slim, unless you already have one sniffing around.”

For James Gill, 33, a journalist from Leeds, currently gigging on the London circuit, the best approach is one of enthusiastic optimism, grounded in realism.

“I am well aware that it is going to be very hard work. It’s my first time, but I’ve read and heard too much to think otherwise. I was chatting about Edinburgh with one well-respected comedian a few months ago. She said, ‘What are your expectations?’ I said, ‘Low.’ She said: ‘Lower them further.’”

Gill first stood behind a microphone 16-months ago, setting about his development with an almost monk-like dedication. He currently gigs on average four-times a week and runs an open-mic night in Kennington, South London.

Unlike Tez, James didn’t go through the Free Fringe, an offshoot of the larger festival guaranteeing free access to the public, to organise a venue. He sourced his own, along with two other comics.

“It works out more expensive, but at least you’re in control of where you play. Also, going via the Free Fringe means you can’t charge for entrance. By organising your own venue, you can charge on the door. So there’s the possibility of making money, but also the likely probability that you’ll lose it.”

Not that the Free Fringe route insulates comics against financial loss.

"It’s still expensive,” says Tez. “I’m paying my rent in London, plus a month’s accommodation in Edinburgh. Fortunately, we’ve been getting some good numbers. The actual show we’re putting on is free, but at the end we’re asking the audience to contribute. They’re throwing in a pound, two pound so we’re making some cash back.”

For Guy Manners, a 40-year-old interior designer from London, the Edinburgh experience can be soul-destroying.

“This is my second time up. Last year was quite disheartening as I realised I wasn’t just at the bottom of the ladder, I was actually holding the ladder up.

“Last year I just did three gigs. I was more interested in looking at venues and meeting people. This time I’m here for the whole month, doing two shows a day.”

Guy is one of the more unusual acts on the open-mic circuit. He performs straight stand-up as himself but also a character set called Bobby Stardust, a tuxedo wearing parody of UK comedians of the 1970s; a satirical nod to Frank Carson, Bernard Manning, Jim Bowen et al.

“I came here hoping to get a decent review,” he says. “Perhaps a quote that I could use from a reviewer. However, that has quickly changed. Now I just want to go home with a couple of improved 20-minute sets.”

By the end of the month, livers will have been rinsed, accounts will have been drained and the invite to appear on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow will remain elusive. Yet every year, The Fringe gets bigger. Many comics come to Edinburgh hoping to fulfil a dream. Most leave knowing a career in comedy may only ever be that. Still, they come.

No agent, no book deal, no starring role in sitcom, but the open-mic veterans return home with plenty of additional stage time and, more often than not, a vastly improved set. They'll probably have a couple of new anecdotes too.

“When I was in Edinburgh recently…”

Hannah Deasy is playing every day at 3.50pm at Club Medina.

James Gill is playing every day at 5.30pm at The Jazz Bar.

Tez Ilyas is playing every day at 23.15pm at A Room with a view.

Guy Manners is playing every day at 8.40pm at The Voodoo Rooms.

Refitted Chinese Carrier Sends Shot Across The Bows

2011-08-11T13:14:21Z

China has begun sea trials of its latest piece of military hardware, a refitted Soviet aircraft carrier that has the potential to drastically alter the dynamics of power in the region.

The move, part of a huge naval modernisation programme undertaken by Beijing, which already includes submarines, destroyers and an anti-ship missile system, could lead to increased tension in a locality already taut from territorial disputes.

Named by the Chinese as the Shi Lang, the ship, originally called The Varyag, was built by the Soviet Navy in the late Eighties. After the fall of the Soviet Union, China purchased the vessel for $20 million from Ukraine under the pretence of turning it into a floating theme park. Having been towed through the Bosphorus, the ship finally reaching port in Dalian where the People’s Liberation Army Navy discreetly began a refit.

Nearly a decade later and the Shi Lang has put to sea, a move signalling a dramatic expansion of China’s military projection with implications for the region that could prove as sizable as the ship’s gargantuan hull.

For Eric Grove, Professor of Naval History at the University of Salford, the deployment of the Shi Lang reinforces the belief that the seas around China represent one of the globe’s major potential flashpoints, suggesting that the carrier could well push the new superpower closer to a direct confrontation with the other navies in the region, namely Japan, India and South Korea.

There is also the potential for a fracas with the biggest naval player in Asia, the US Navy, which keeps a constant regional presence thanks to its nuclear powered super carrier, the USS George Washington, based in Japan.

Speaking to The Huffington Post, he said: “There’s an interesting multi-polar balance emerging, with China, Japan, South Korea and India all trying to exert influence in the region. India in particular is going to be looking very closely at this development as India has a carrier programme of its own.”

“This could be the beginning of a naval race between China and India as both have ambitions and both have perceived interest which overlap in the Indian Ocean, especially given China’s interest in exploiting the economic resources of Africa.”

The South Korean Navy is also currently talking about a carrier programme, while the Japanese are building huge destroyers with the potential to land fixed wing aircraft. However it is Taiwan that perhaps has most to fear, the tiny island’s sovereignty disputed by the People’s Republic, who see it as part of the mainland.

Tellingly, Beijing has named the vessel after a 17th century Chinese admiral most notable for his conquest of Taiwan, while the increasing popularity of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan, which favours independence over eventual reunification with China, could provide a potential spark.

“If the DPP are elected, and take Taiwan to independence, it could push China into a major confrontation,” says Grove. “The Chinese would likely blockade Taiwan and then the Americans would come in.”

The launch of the Shi Lang also has more long-term implications with her refit just the first step in a bigger plan.

According to Grove: “They bought the ship off the Russians so they could cut their operational teeth. They are going to use this to learn how to operate carriers. From here, they’ll probably build some new ones. China is going to have a navy with a global reach.”

“They are putting a significant effort into their modernisation programme. They need a big navy to be a major regional actor and to dominate up to what they call the first and second island chains. They also have regional and extra-regional interest in safeguarding shipping moving through the Indian Ocean.”

“Whether it can be called an arms race is debatable, but there’s definitely a move between the countries of the Far East and south East Asia to expand their naval forces by moving to aircraft carrier ships. It is happening and it will happen more in the future.”

“The launch of the Shi Lang could well bring about an immediate shift in the region, while long-term it looks likely to be the beginning of a trend that could lead to a very different international balance in the region by 2030.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story stated that China purchased the vessel for $200 million. The correct figure is $20 million.

Tariq Jahan Urges His Community To Stay Calm And Safe

2011-08-10T17:29:21Z

Thousands of police are out on the streets of the UK in an effort to prevent a fifth night of rioting.

Both Manchester and Birmingham have 1,000 officers on duty, while large numbers are available should trouble arise in London.

Though minor skirmishes have been reported, police have so far faced nothing on the scale of previous night's unrest.

Police have been have been called to Eltham in south east London in response to vigilante groups of local men taking to the streets. However, following a substantial deployment of officers in full riot gear, the standoff remains calm.

The disturbance in Eltham follows a similar pattern to last night, when police were called to the area to contain a group of around 300 disgruntled local residents, with some bottle throwing reported. According to the the men, they had amassed in defiance of rioters to defend their homes and businesses.

Officers are currently asking local residents to return to their homes.

Earlier today, the father of one of three men killed in Birmingham last night appealed for calm, amid fears of another night of violence in the city.

Tariq Jahan, whose 21 year-old son Haroon was run over and killed last night in Birmingham, has called for people in his community to "grow up and go home".

Making a televised statement Jahan said: "Last night we lost three cherished members of our community... today we stand here to plead with all the youth to remain calm and for our communities to stand united."

Haraoon Jahan was named this afternoon as one of the three men killed in the Winson Green area of the city overnight. The other two men were brothers Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31. A 32 year-old man has been arrested, and police are treating the investigation as a murder inquiry. Reports earlier said the dead men had been killed while protecting their community from looters.

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The Prime Minister has visited Birmingham this afternoon. He sent the families of the three dead men his deepest condolences, describing the killings as “a truly dreadful incident.” Earlier in the day David Cameron announced that “the fight-back has begun” against those who’ve been involved in four nights of rioting across England, and revealed that the police had been authorised to use water-cannon should they feel they needed to.

The killing of the three men in Birmingham has raised fears of reprisal attacks this evening, and police in major cities in England remain on the highest level of alert. In his statement this evening Tariq Jahan said that the riots were "not a race issue".

"Black, White, Asian we're all part of the same community," he said. "Why do we have to kill each other?... Step forward if you want to lose your sons, otherwise calm down and go home."

Addressing those in the area when his son was killed, Jahan said: "I know you, you know me, we were all there together, please come forward."

However tensions rose immediately after his statement, with several people appearing to chant together for justice. This prompted Jahan to again call for calm. Still live on television, Jahan told the crowd of young people to "grow up" and go home.

His comments echo those by police and politicians, who have urged people not to resort to vigilantism against rioters. Last night dozens of people took to the streets of North London to ward off potential trouble-makers.

In London, the Metropolitan Police has announced that it has arrested 805 people in connection with the riots since Saturday. Of those 251 have been charged. The figures do not include the scores of arrests made around the UK.

Courts have been pushed to quickly process those arrested as the government looks to send out a message of deterrence. Those who have appeared include an 11-year-old boy from Romford in Essex, who admitted to looting the Debenhams store in his home town on Monday night. Because of his age, the boy cannot be named. In court he spoke only to confirm his name, age and date of birth.

The Highbury Court Magistrates in north London, where the youth appeared, has witnessed such an influx of cases that it has been forcing to sit through all of Tuesday night to clear the backlog. A similar vigil is expected tonight as more looters and rioters are brought to justice.

Also appearing before Highbury Court was 31-year-old Alexis Bailey, who pleaded guilty to burglary with intent to steal from Richer Sounds in Croydon. He was released on bail and will be sentenced at Wood Green Crown Court at a future date.

Speaking outside Downing Street earlier today, David Cameron said: “The courts sat through the night last night and will do so again tonight. It is for the courts to pass sentence but I expect anyone convicted of violent disorder to be sent to prison. We needed a fight back and a fight back is underway.”

In Croydon, the Magistrates court has processed twice as many cases as it would in a typical sitting. Those charged include Joseph Levy, a 41-year-old drug addict who stole a bottle of wine. Also appearing was Ohene Bamfo, a 20-year-old charged with robbery theft and violent disorder, who was remanded in custody. A 14-year-old girl charged with stealing a camera also appeared.

These Are Not Race Riots, Says Demos

2011-08-08T16:44:56Z

The Tottenham riot and subsequent outbreaks of looting are not the products of racial tensions, a leading researcher has told The Huffington Post.

According to Max Wind-Cowie, head of the Progressive Conservatism Project at the left-leaning think-tank Demos, the riots are more a product of cultural inequality. In short, how people are brought up.

“This is just unchecked anti-social behaviour,” says Wind-Cowie. “And it’s not localised to London. A feature of many deprived communities in the UK is a poor level of parenting, which manifests itself as mistrust towards authority. The only way to get round this is by instilling proper values in children.

“There seems to be a knee-jerk reaction to run to race to ascribe blame. This is not about race at all. The rioters themselves are not uniformly black or Asian, but they do have commonalities. As David Lamie [MP for Tottenham] pointed out, the vast majority of people came from outside Tottenham. It was petty criminal gangs.

“Relations between police and the black community have improved immeasurably over the past 15 years. It’s about young people raised with contempt for authority.

“This contempt then spreads to the community, who resent the criminals, then begin to resent the police who they perceive as only being around when something major happens.

Wind-Cowie is equally clear on the best way to deal with the problem:

“It won’t be solved by ringing hands about whether there are enough youth clubs. The Police need to target the anti-social behaviour that has been escalating in everyday life.”

A Bleak Week For The Capital

2011-08-08T15:38:48Z

With the arrival of the Olympics in 2012, London was set to bask in the glow of regeneration, growth and a prosperous economy.

Instead, the capital finds itself mired in rioting, looting and destruction, amid the worst financial crisis since 2008.

In what is perhaps the bleakest week for London since the attacks of 7/7, High Streets and town centres have been reduced to scenes of ruin and devastation.

On Saturday, cars, buses… entire buildings were set ablaze in Tottenham, whilst on Sunday, nearby Enfield, more market-town than inner-city suburb, witnessed multiple arrests as youths went on the rampage, breaking into shops, vandalising cars and stealing goods.

Copycat looting was reported in Palmers Green, Walthamstow and Brixton, as gangs, organised by social media, used Saturday’s disturbance in Tottenham as an excuse for lawlessness and mayhem.

In the city, financial turmoil mirrors the destruction of London’s outer districts, with the FTSE dropping nearly 10 per cent last week, and a further three per cent today.

Further drops look likely as the Sovereign Debt Crisis, once the problem of the eurozone’s periphery, moves inextricably inwards, threatening to engulf the continent’s major economies.

The police now fear the violence may spread to Hackney, an eastern-laying suburb neighbouring Stratford and the Olympic development that promised to do so much for London’s prestige. This evening a stand-off appears to be developing between youths and riot police.

With the city on the brink of a third night of rioting and the financial chaos showing no sign of abating, a similar rebuilding job will be needed for London’s tattered reputation.