The Structure of English: Pronominal Gender and Implications for Sociolinguistics - Essay Example

? STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH: PRONOMINAL GENDER AND IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIOLINGUISTICS by 24 January The Structure of English: Pronominal Gender and Implications for Sociolinguistics Introduction Gender is fairly regarded as one of the principal linguistic universals in modern British English. Dozens explored the role and place of gender in sociolinguistics and its implications for the development and evolution of language. A vast body of primary and secondary research supports a thesis that gender is a source of complex social and linguistic meanings. Gender differences further reflect in how individuals construct their sentence structures and convey complex meanings. It should be noted, that the development of the distinct gender patterns in the English language dates back to pre-medieval times. Since then, the sociolinguistic concept of gender had been persistently associated with language change. The past century was marked with a new wave of interest toward gender in language, influenced by the rapid expansion of the gender equality and feminization trends. Modern sociolinguistics supports a belief that gender affects how individuals construct their linguistic categories and meanings. Simultaneously, pronominal variations and gender agreements reflect the social and linguistic gender influences from within. This paper aims at investigating the concept of gender and its implications for sociolinguistics from the two different standpoints: pronominal agreements in British English will be explored; second, the paper will provide a brief insight into how gender affects language patterns. Research aims and questions The research into the sociolinguistic implications of gender dates back to the middle of the 1960s (Coulmas 1998). At that time, sociolinguists became extremely concerned about the phonological variations in male and female language, as well as the ways female and male conversational styles interacted in a broad language discourse (Coulmas 1998). Unfortunately, the current knowledge of the female-male variations in language behaviors is rather scarce. Studies of gender differences in sociolinguistics are heavily influenced by the researchers’ implicit beliefs and assumptions about gender and sex (Coulmas 1998). This is one of the reasons why the meaning and implications of gender for language are severely under-researched and require further analysis. This is also the reason why this research into gender and its implications for sociolinguistics is required and justified. The key aim of this research is to expose and confirm a reciprocal link between gender and language behaviors. Put simply, the research is designed to prove that (a) gender is a separate linguistic category, which manifests in pronominal variations and gender agreement in complex sentences and phrases, and (b) gender profoundly affects the ways, in which individuals construct their language structures. The principal research questions include: How is gender a sociolinguistic category? What are the semantic criteria of gender in British English? How are gender and language interrelated? How do pronominal agreements work in written British English? How does gender affect the language patterns used by women and men in their oral and written communication? The researcher expects that this study will help to create a complete picture of gender, its implications for sociolinguistics and the effects of gender perceptions and beliefs on language behaviors and patterns. This research will also provide a direction for the future analysis of gender in the context of the language science. Literature review That gender is a sociolinguistic category cannot be denied. More often than not, gender is rightly considered as one of the central sociolinguistic universals (Hudson 1996). The current state of research treats gender as one of the most controversial and complex objects of the linguistic analysis. Unfortunately, little is known of how gender works in British English and how it affects the development of various language patterns in oral and written language. In this sense, a differentiation between “sex” and “gender” is of particular importance: ‘sex’ exemplifies a complex set of anatomical “differences between women and men, whereas ‘gender’ is primarily about the social, cultural, and psychological differences between men and women” (Coulmas 1998). Sociolinguistics, in particular, implies that gender is a combination of biological, psychological, and social features, i.e., a complex connection between gender and sex (Coulmas 1998). Surprisingly or not, modern sociolinguistics treats gender as solely a source of differences in female and male language behaviors and patterns. In the earliest years of the sociolinguistic research, female language behaviors were considered deficient and less prestigious than the language patterns of males (Coulmas 1998). With time, social constructivism and feminization came to dominate the sociolinguistic awareness of gender (Coulmas 1998). Today, the key problem of sociolinguistics is in that professionals adopt a surface, narrowed view of gender and its effects on language behaviors in women and men. Scholars in sociolinguistics lack an insight into the linguistic category of gender from within. If women and men exhibit different language behaviors and decisions, these gender differences further reflect in how they construct their phonological, grammatical, and semantic language patterns. These concerns are equally relevant for oral and written British English. Therefore, it is essential that the sociolinguistic concept of gender is re-considered from a less social, more linguistic standpoint, and further re-assessed within a broader context of language change. Biological and psychological features aside, linguistic gender remains the basic system of classifying nouns in modern English (Curzan 2003). “The essential criterion of linguistic gender is taken to be agreement, or systematic and predictable covariance between a semantic or formal property of one grammatical form and a formal property of another” (Curzan 2003, p.13). In British English, the category of noun exhibits variable gender features and must be agreed with the forms and categories that lack gender distinctions (Curzan 2003). Put simply, the British English language requires that non-gendered categories like numerals, adjectives, and pronouns be agreed with gendered categories, like nouns. Unfortunately, numerous aspects of gender remain beyond the sociolinguistic research. The lack of professional attention toward gender as a complex sociolinguistic category is not surprising, given that many languages do not have gender systems or might have lost them as a result of language change (Curzan 2003). Languages that operate the category of gender either rely on the purely semantic or purely grammatical criteria of gender construction (Curzan 2003). The British English system of gender is based on the semantic criteria (Curzan 2003). That modern British English gender is semantically constructed means that it is essentially a pronominal gender language (Curzan 2003). In British English, personal pronouns he, she, and it create and sustain a complex, triple-gender system, whereas relative pronouns who and which merely provide a distinction between animate and inanimate objects (Curzan 2003). These features reflect a profound shift from grammatical language to the natural construction of gender, which occurred in the process of evolution in British English (Curzan 2003). In the Middle English period, British English lost most of its adnominal and nominal inflectional categories and endings, turning into a system of pronominal agreements (Curzan 2003). However, pronominal gender agreement in British English does not automatically imply that gender agreements follow the patterns of natural gender; on the contrary, modern British English is overfilled with exceptions from the natural gender rule (Curzan 2003). In this situation, numerous inanimate objects acquire gendered pronouns, whereas animate objects assume the role of “it” (Curzan 2003). This is, probably, one of the reasons why pronoun agreement remains one of the most challenging topics in scholarly linguistic research. Pronominal variations and agreements are associated with serious language difficulties. This is, probably, why professional linguists constantly try to re-invent the idea of pronominal language and pronoun agreements in the English language. For example, Ann Bodine (1975) explored the issues of androcentrism and its role in how individuals replaced sex-definite “he” and “she” pronouns with singular, sex-indefinite “they”. The author is correct in that the prescriptive and descriptive functions of grammar had long been a problem for many scholars (Bodine 1975). The reason behind these tensions is simple – descriptive grammar is primarily a theoretical domain, whereas prescriptive grammar dominates school curricula and is heavily influenced by various social and individual factors (Bodine 1975). Throughout the 20th century, professional linguists tried to develop a new vision of sex-definite and indefinite gender pronouns in English: some assumed that British English had no sex-indefinite pronouns, while others claimed that “he” could play the role of a universal, sex-indefinite pronoun (Bodine 1975). However, the rapid evolution of language in Britain led to the frequent use of “they” as a form of singular, sex-indefinite pronoun in oral and written language. The situation is at least surprising, given that the 19th-century British English had dominated by the use of singular “they” in written communication (Bodine 1975). The sentence “everyone say they missed you like mad yesterday” is the bright example of how pronominal agreement works in English (Bodine 1975). Today, this type of pronominal agreement remains one of the cornerstones in the development of the sociolinguistic research. How gender agreement works in English has been the subject of Marcoux’s (1975) study. The findings of Marcoux’s research are surprising and even abashing. The researcher confirms that gender pronoun agreement in the English language is associated with serious difficulties and is extremely problematic for native and non-native language speakers (Marcoux 1975). The principal finding is that pronominal gender agreement in the English language is not as obvious as previously assumed (Marcoux 1975). Even native English speakers fail to choose a correct pronoun, let alone second language learners (Marcoux 1975). The nouns denoting countries and ships were the most difficult to the respondents in Marcoux’s study (Marcoux 1975). The absence of additional semantic markers denoting gender further complicated the situation (Marcoux 2003). These findings support Curzan’s (2003) belief that the system of gender in the English language relies on the exceptions to the common natural gender rule. These findings are also in line with those of Bodine (1975): apparently, the use of the sex-indefinite, singular “they” in the English language serves a quick solution to the gender agreement problems that emerge in written and oral communication situations. The idea that the use of singular “they” is a quick solution to the gender agreement problems in the English language was further supported and extended by Newman (1992). The author explored and analyzed the language behaviors of speakers in TV interviews and programs (Newman 1992). Newman (1992) extensively analyzed the so-called singular epicene antecedents. That speakers on TV use singular “they” to solve their pronominal agreement problems is not surprising, given that television requires taking momentous language decisions. In the meantime, the growing importance of the sexual equity, feminization, and non-discrimination themes on TV places additional burden of social responsibility on public figures: as a result, whenever they appear on a TV screen, any sexist or discriminative remarks must be avoided (Newman 1992). These are the two most compelling arguments that explain how native English speakers act in the situations, when gender agreement is not explicit (Newman 1992). The use of the singular “they” is an efficient way to reduce gender uncertainty and avoid the risks of being blamed for language inconsistency and, more importantly, sexism and gender prejudice. Unfortunately, the current state of research of pronominal agreements and their role in the sociolinguistic science is increasingly scarce. More often than not, sociolinguists explore the variations in language patterns and behaviors that emerge under the influence of the speaker’s gender. Coulmas (1998) writes that the current research into gender variations in the British English began early in the 1960s, when the first ideas of sex and its influence on language behaviors were developed. Since then, gender has come to exemplify one of the central social factors of language development, followed by sociocultural characteristics, social class, and operalization of various contextual styles (Coulmas 1998). Today, gender is a key sociolinguistic category. New social constructivist trends treat gender as the product of social construction (Cameron 2003). At times, these trends imply that gender is an artificial category and, therefore, cannot produce any significant influences on how individuals construct their language categories and concepts. However, this belief is at least erroneous, as long as the differences between male and female language behaviors are widely documented. Even if sex is more social than natural phenomenon, it is imperative that the sociolinguistic implications of gender in language be properly understood. Apparently, Ning, Dai and Zhang (2010) were not the first to explore gender variations in the English language. However, the authors acknowledge the difficulties in defining the concept of gender (Ning, Dai & Zhang 2010). Ning, Dai and Zhang (2010) explore gender differences in language behaviors and patterns at all levels of the language analysis, from differences in vocabulary to the emotional language content, topic selection, request patterns, and even the amount of talk between men and women. Ning, Dai and Zhang (2010) suggest that the reasons why women and men vary in their language behaviors are numerous, including differences in childhood socialization, social and cultural expectations, and the differences in the role, which language plays for men and women. For example, women treat language as the direct instrument of establishing and maintaining productive interpersonal relationships, while men perceive language as the means to establish their authority and preserve their dominant masculine status in society (Ning, Dai & Zhang 2010). Psychological and physiological factors play essential role in how individual construct their meanings in language (Ning, Dai & Zhang 2010). The significance of these gender variations is difficult to underestimate. Gal (1978) claims that the difference between male and female speech is no longer considered as characteristic of only exotic languages. The sociolinguistic research supports a belief that language patterns reflect the socioeconomic and gender differences in speakers (Gal 1978). Given that the differences between men and women are universal for all cultures, all languages universally exhibit these variations in language behaviors (Gal 1978). Gal (1978) explored the tradition of German-Hungarian bilingualism and found out that women were more likely to use German in their daily interactions, as the means to reflect their commitment to the worker’s way of life. Thus, language choices of women fit in their social and gender position, which predetermine the scope of linguistic alternatives available for their use (Gal 1978). In a similar fashion, Lomax (1973) analyzed the differences in vowel and consonant patterns between women and men, to conclude that “alteration in the vowel map seems to be related to cross-cultural differences in sex roles”. Gender differences manifest at all levels of language development, from phonetics to semantics. Bergvall (1999) analyzed six different gender universals, and suggested that biological sex played one of the dominant roles in language development and change. Today, the theme of gender and its effects on gender change dominates the linguistic science. Labov was the first to review the sociolinguistic implications of gender for language change (Coulmas 1998). In sociolinguistics, gender and language change are inseparable, showing how women and men change the patterns of their language as a result of their gender/ sex. Labov assumed that (a) women were more likely to use standard variants of language than men; and (b) lower middle class individuals chose to use the language patterns of the higher classes, as a matter of prestige (Coulmas 1998). In multilingual workplaces, women’s language practices and patterns appear to be dramatically different from those of men (Goldstein 2001). However, given that pronominal agreements in British English remain severely under-researched, it is interesting to see how professional, native speaking British Englishmen develop their language patterns in written situations. Methodology This research relies on the secondary evidence from several British online newspaper and the readers’ comments. The current research aims at investigating the use of pronominal agreements in the British English language, and newspaper articles seem the most suitable source of professional language patterns. For this paper, several articles from The Telegraph, The Sun, and The Guardian were used. The choice of these newspapers is justified by the fact that (a) their reporters and writers follow the British English style of writing, and (b) these newspapers are well-known for high quality of their literary language and pronominal agreements, in particular. A brief literature review was performed, to create a full picture of gender in English sociolinguistics and its effects on the language development and use in Britain. Newspapers were used to analyze pronominal variations of gender in the British English language. In its turn, the literature review had to expose the differences in language behaviors in women in men. Ultimately, the use of complex methodology had to re-establish and re-affirm the relevance of a reciprocal relationship between gender and language patterns in British English. Results Several different articles from the three different national newspapers in Britain were identified. Two articles were from The Guardian, one article originated from The Sun, with the remaining articles published in The Telegraph. Also, several readers’ comments from The Telegraph were analyzed. The use of “they” as a substitute to gendered pronouns was the principal object of this investigation. However, other forms of gender agreement in British English were analyzed. Total 12 cases of gender pronominal agreement were identified. In seven cases, the pronoun “they” was used as the means of pronominal agreement. In four cases, other personal pronouns were used, including “he”, “his”, and “its”. In one case, the authors of the article intentionally avoided any personal pronouns, using a sex-indefinite noun “baby”. Analysis / discussion The use of sex-indefinite “they” as an instrument of gender agreement in British newspapers is not uncommon. More often than not, reporters apply to the use of “they” and related pronominal forms like “their” and “them”, to (a) indicate a collective meaning of the nouns and (b) to avoid being blamed for sexism and discrimination in their discussion. The reporters’ striving to distance themselves from the discrimination patterns is easy to understand: their profession requires that they keep from imposing their beliefs and stereotypes on their readers and promote sexist views and attitudes in their works. As a result, the pronoun “they” often becomes a convenient element of developing coherent language structures in newspapers. This is why police is often referred to as “they”, the word combination “Palestinian pride” is followed by the pronoun “their”, and the word government is given a pronoun “they”. The sex-indefinite use of “they” is rather frequent in readers’ comments, when sex-indefinite nouns like “a friend” are used. In a sentence “any genuine friend would have called for help if they had seen the message”, taken from The Telegraph, the use of “they” is justified by the fact that the noun “friend” can equally describe a person of male and female gender. Modern British English does not specify any gender distinctions in the context of friend-friendship relationship. These findings go in line with the results of Bodine (1975) and Newman’s (1992) analyses which linked the use of “they” with the need to avoid sexist intonations and, simultaneously, provide a quick solution to a gender agreement issue in speech. Newman (1992) correct in that sexism is among the key reasons why the sex-indefinite pronoun “they” is used to reduce political and emotional tensions in speech – this is also the reason why the “the opposing person” is referred to as “they”, in an article discussing the political and religious implications of the Islamic tradition. The frequent use of “they” in pronominal agreements is also suggestive of the so-called pronominal ambiguity, which implies that pronouns are lexically ambiguous (Schoubye 2009). This is why one and the same pronoun “they” can be used in a variety of situations and indicate any gender, depending on the lexical and social context. However, not always does the noun “friend” associates itself with a sex-indefinite pronoun “they”. At times, reporters and their interviewees use direct personal pronouns, to specify the sex/ gender of someone they talk about. “The one who was leaning on my chest had his knee pushing down on me” – this is how Taylor and Bowcott (2010) cite the words of a Congolese man. The use of “he” following a sex-indefinite word “escort” implies that the speaker is aware of the escort’s gender and can use the pronoun “he” to specify his sex. In a similar fashion, “my friend” is referred to as “he”, apparently, because the reporter speaks about his friend and knows his gender. Obviously, speakers use sex-definite pronouns and develop effective pronominal agreements, whenever they are aware of someone else’s gender. More often than not, these are humans that are discussed in terms of one or another sex. Inanimate objects are sometimes followed by “its”, like, for example, the word combination “Great Britain”. These findings refute Marcoux’s (1975) beliefs that individuals find it particularly difficult to develop pronominal agreements and specify the natural gender of countries and ships. It seems that professional reporters would rather use a sex-indefinite pronoun, which indicates the inanimate origin of a country. In the most sensitive situations, when, for example, the gender of an unborn baby is unknown, reporters would persistently use the word “baby”, to avoid any misunderstandings and difficulties with assigning any particular gender to the future child. However, not only do newspapers reveal the difficulties in pronominal gender agreement and the effects of the broader social trends on them. While the structure of the British English language reflects the semantic complexity of the gender category, this category further affects the development of language patterns in women and men. The results of the literature review confirm that (a) women and men display different language behaviors and patterns (Bergvall 1999; Cameron 2003; Coulmas 1998; Gal 1978; Goldstein 2001) and (b) women and men affect language change in particularly distinct ways (Lomax 1973; Ning, Dai & Zhang 2010). A belief that women and men talk in different ways is no longer surprising; however, the future research must analyze the differences in pronominal agreement in men and women and their implications for sociolinguistics. The current research shows that gender and language exhibit a reciprocal link, but pronominal agreements are just one aspect of the complex sociolinguistic science. Most probably, it will take years and decades to produce a coherent picture of gender in British English and its effects on language change. Limitations/ conclusion Unfortunately, the discussed research is not without limitations. First and foremost, small amount of evidence makes it difficult to create a complete picture of gender and its place in the sociolinguistic research. As a result, future researchers must engage a greater variety of primary and secondary evidence, to raise the validity and reliability of the research results. Second, newspapers are the source of secondary information and evidence. They lack spontaneity and unexpectedness, similar to that in TV interviews that are described by Newman (1992). This is why, it comes as no surprise that newspaper reporters avoid using complex gender agreements and choose phrases and sentences that leave no room for confusion and bias. Ultimately, one of the principal goals of this research was to investigate sociolinguistic implications of gender for British English: however, it is possible that the online comments in this research were submitted by speakers of language other than British English. Nevertheless, the research confirms that the use of sex-indefinite “they” in written English is not uncommon. Furthermore, the use of sex-indefinite pronominal agreements is caused by the need to avoid sexism and discrimination in speech and language patterns. Ultimately, the research revealed an explicit but complex link between gender and language differences. Apparently, gender affects language at all levels, from phonology to semantics, but it is essential that the future research re-establishes and validates previous findings into pronominal ambiguity and the complexity of gendered language patterns in sociolinguistics. References Bergvall, VL 1999, ‘Toward a comprehensive theory of language and gender’, Language in Society, vol.28, no.2, pp.273-293. Bodine, A 1975, ‘Androcentrism in prescriptive grammar: Singular ‘they’, sex-indefinite ‘he’ and ‘he or she’’, Language in Society, vol.4, no.2, pp.129-146. Cameron, D 2003, ‘Gender issues in language change’, Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, vol.23, pp.187-201. Coulmas, F 1998, The handbook of sociolinguistics, Wiley-Blackwell. Curzan, A 2003, Gender shifts in the history of English, Cambridge University Press. Gal, S 1978, ‘Peasant men can’t get wives: Language change and sex roles in a bilingual community’, Language in Society, vol.7, no.1, pp.1-16. Goldstein, T 2001, ‘Researching women’s language practices in multicultural workplaces’, in A Pavlenko, Multilingualism, second language learning, and gender, Walter de Gruyter. Hudson, R 1996, Sociolinguistics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Lomax, A 1973, ‘Cross cultural factors in phonological change’, Language in Society, vol.2, no.2, pp.161-175. Marcoux, DR 1973, ‘Deviation in English gender’, American Speech, vol.48, no.1/2, pp. 98- 107. Newman, M 1992, ‘Pronominal disagreements: The stubborn problem of Singular epicene antecedents’, Language in Society, vol.21, no.3, pp.447-475. Ning, H, Dai, X & Zhang, F 2010, ‘On gender differences in English language and its causes’, Asian Social Science, vol.6, no.2, pp.126-131. Schoubye, AJ 2009, ‘Pronominal ambiguity’, Linguistics and Philosophy, vol.32, no.6, pp.583-617. Appendix 1: Secondary evidence Article 1 Phone-hacking scandal: Scotland Yard accused over investigations Chris Huhne has criticised handling of allegations as Gordon Brown asks police to establish whether he was a victim Polly Curtis and James Robinson guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 January 2011 19.48 GMT Criticisms of the police handling of the phone-hacking scandal intensified tonight after a minister accused Scotland Yard of failing to properly investigate the allegations, while it emerged that Gordon Brown has asked police to establish whether he has been a victim. Chris Huhne, the Liberal Democrat energy secretary, cast doubt on News International's claims that hacking was the work of a "rogue reporter". He criticised the initial handling of the allegations by the police, and accused them of reacting to his calls for a full inquiry last year by "scurrying back to Scotland Yard" and dismissing the idea in an afternoon. "It seemed to me clear that the number of people being hacked clearly was not consistent with it being one rogue reporter who happened to be the royal correspondent. Why would the royal correspondent be interested in hacking the voicemails of Simon Hughes, my colleague, who is a Liberal Democrat MP, for example?" he told the BBC's Daily Politics. "We know the police were not keen on the subject, because when I called for a very clear review of this, the police scurried back into Scotland Yard, spent less than a day reviewing it, and popped out in time for the six o'clock news to say they had discovered no further evidence." Asked whether he thought the police had been deterred from a full investigation after their failure to make charges in Labour's "cash for honours" scandal, he said: "I certainly think that may well have played a part of it. Because obviously they had been through a very thorough investigation there, and they got nowhere; so they may have decided messing with the political process was something that they didn't want to bother doing." He quickly added: "I really don't know, I mean, you'll have to ask a police officer that." Huhne's intervention is a guarantee the row over phone hacking will not disappear with Andy Coulson's resignation as director of communications from Downing Street last week. The former editor of the News of the World stepped down claiming the continued controversy over hacking made it difficult for him to do his job. MPs will this week begin gathering evidence for a parliamentary inquiry into the row, while CPS lawyers are expected shortly to meet senior Met officers to discuss the evidence around phone hacking. The Metropolitan Police Authority is also expected to grill senior Met officers on the case during a routine meeting this week. Sources confirmed that Brown wrote to the police this summer asking for an investigation into whether he was a victim of hacking while chancellor. It is understood he is concerned over messages he received and those he left for other people. The Met has replied asking for clarification of his claims. Today, Brown's aides refused to comment. But Harriet Harman, the deputy leader of the Labour party, called for a new investigation. "Hacking into people's phones is illegal. Obviously the criminal law has got to be complied with; and, if it is broken, then it should be investigated by the police and it should be enforced," she told Sky News's Murnaghan programme. "Nobody is above the law, no news-paper editor, no journalist … For all of David Cameron's talk of trust in politics it's fundamental that people obey the law and that's what's at risk here. He should never have appointed him." Nick Clegg today suggested that, as deputy prime minister, he would have a role in choosing Coulson's successor. He said it was "primarily" David Cameron's job to find a replacement, adding "of course I will play a role as well". He said the scandal had not altered the coalition's path. "I don't think this government will miss a beat in terms of just pressing ahead with the plan that we've set out for the next four-and-a-half years to try and restore sense to our economy, create a sound economy, create a fairer society, and to reform our politics as well so that people trust in politics once again." News Corporation's chairman, Rupert Murdoch, will fly to London this week en route to the Davos World Economic Forum, with the UK arm of his media empire facing the biggest crisis since the Wapping strikes 25 years ago, and at a time when the ?8bn bid for BSkyB hangs in the balance. He is likely to discuss the hacking scandal with News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks and other executives, and will have access to the legal files relating to several cases currently going through the civil courts. An aide to the prime minister tonight said she had no knowledge of any meetings planned between Murdoch and Cameron, or any other minister. However it was reported last night that Cameron met James Murdoch, the News Corp chairman, at a dinner at Brooks's Oxfordshire home over the Christmas period. The company is seeking to draw a line under an affair which now threatens to engulf other titles. Mark Lewis, the solicitor who represents Nicola Phillips, a publicist suing the News of the World for breach of privacy, revealed this weekend that he represents several other potential claimants whose mobiles have allegedly been hacked by journalists on other papers. They are understood to include former Labour MP Paul Marsden. Labour MP and former minister Tom Watson said: "Rupert Murdoch has to deal with the unaccountable senior executives that have let this saga go on for too long. We need a statement from him this week." The culture secretary, Jeremy Hunt, is expected to decide early next month whether to refer News Corp's bid to buy the 61% of BSkyB it does not already own to the Competition Commission. Tories inner circle David Cameron's inner circle has been left with no one with experience of life for ordinary people in Britain and is now exclusively made up of people from "well-off backgrounds", according to senior Tory backbencher David Davis. "There are exceptions – there's Eric Pickles and Sayeeda Warsi in her younger days," he told the BBC yesterday, "but nevertheless in the inner circle ... there won't be anyone now that brings what Coulson brought to it. There he was, an Essex boy, council-house lad, made his own way in the world and frankly never minced words. He was somebody who brought that gritty, slightly tough but necessary mindset to the Conservative leadership's thinking." End of Article 1 Article 2 Deportee claims security staff held him down until he 'could not breathe' Man due to be deported to Nairobi by UK Border Agency says he feared he was going to die Diane Taylor and Owen Bowcott guardian.co.uk, Sunday 23 January 2011 22.10 GMT Article history ‘The [UKBA escort] who was on my chest had his knee on me so hard I couldn’t breathe’ – Bienvenue Mbombo. A Congolese asylum seeker claims he struggled to breathe when security staff restrained him at a Heathrow boarding gate, and feared he was "going to die". Bienvenue Mbombo, 38, alleged that UK Border Agency escorts put a knee on his chest and sat on him as he resisted efforts to deport him on a Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi this month. The UKBA claimed Mbombo had become violent. His complaint emerged as the charity Medical Justice, which monitors the welfare of those in immigration detention, said it had records of 11 people being injured in forced removals since the death of Jimmy Mubenga last October. Amnesty International has also voiced concerns about the treatment of deportees. Mubenga, originally from Angola, collapsed on a BA flight from Heathrow and later died. He had been restrained and complained of breathing problems before he lost consciousness. Mbombo, who had been in the UK for eight years, claims his life would be in danger if he is returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo because of his past opposition to the government. He said: "It was so painful. One of the escorts had his knee on my chest, another sat on part of my neck and shoulder. There was so much weight on me I couldn't even talk. I was trying to move my body from side to side to free myself but I couldn't. "The one who was leaning on my chest had his knee pushing down on me so hard that I couldn't breathe. "They were trying to tie up my legs but before they could do it one of the airline staff who witnessed the whole thing said: 'We can't take you on the plane, this violence is four against one.' When I heard that I said to myself: 'Thank God. This person has saved my life.' " He was returned to Harmondsworth immigration removal centre, but has been issued with a fresh removal order by the UKBA for Tuesday. Dr Charmian Goldwyn of Medical Justice, who examined Mbombo following the incident, said: "He was in an extremely distressed state when I examined him. I documented pains in his head and chest and photographed injuries to his left hand." Theresa Schleicher, Medical Justice's casework manager, said: "I have had 11 referrals since [Mubenga] from detainees with injuries resulting from the use of force during attempts to deport them. I am having difficulties now in finding enough doctors to visit detainees." Alan Kittle, UKBA director of detention services, said: "The use of control and restraint techniques, accredited by the National Offender Management Service, may be used by escorts as a last resort if a detainee becomes disruptive during their removal from the UK. In this case Mr Mbombo became violent when boarding his flight, leaving the escorts no choice but to restrain him to ensure his own safety and the safety of others. Mr Mbombo was seen by a nurse on his return to Harmondsworth immigration removal centre and did not complain of any injuries as a result of his restraint. "The UKBA is determined to remove those who have no right to be in the UK and refuse to return voluntarily." The agency declined to comment on Medical Justice's complaints about other injuries "since they have not referred them to the UKBA". The Metropolitan police is still investigating the death of Mubenga. Officers are also carrying out inquiries into allegations of excessive force made by a Colombian deportee, Jose Gutierrez, who has since been removed from the UK. Amnesty International UK's refugee programme director, Jan Shaw, said:"Staff conducting forcible removals must be properly trained to comply with human rights standards. The 'control techniques' and 'holds' used may sound innocuous, but ultimately they cause pain by striking people or applying pressure to parts of their body. "Force should only ever be used proportionately and as a last resort. "Amnesty is seriously concerned by the numerous allegations of excessive force being used." In response to a freedom of information request submitted by the Guardian, the UKBA revealed that between January 2009 and November 2010 it had received 59 complaints about alleged mistreatment of deportees. Of those, 41 were "not substantiated", 13 were still being investigated and five had been "partially substantiated on lesser matters". Among the allegations being investigated are complaints made by Iraqis who claim they were beaten by Iraqi officers when they were forcibly returned to Baghdad and refused to get off the plane. Article 3 Smoking warnings hit home as UK cancer rates drop Britain has done better than many countries at tackling its 'tobacco epidemic', says government cancer adviser Around 10 million adults in the UK are smokers: 22% of men and 21% of women, compared with 51% of men and 41% of women in 1974. Photograph: PA Decades of warnings about the dangers of smoking appear to be having an effect, with the UK placed a relatively low 22nd in a world league of highest cancer rates. The rate for men, 280 cases per 100,000 people, is 33rd in the world, with France the highest. The rate for British women, however, is 260.5 per 100,000 – the world's 12th highest, with Denmark top. The UK breast cancer rate for women, just over 89, ranks 11th. The research, which names Denmark as the world's "cancer capital", was compiled by the World Cancer Research Fund, (WCRF), a London-based charity. The figures are based on analysis of World Health Organisation data. The government's cancer adviser, Professor Mike Richards, attributes Britain's relatively good position in the table to its early tackling of its "tobacco epidemic" compared with other countries. While in the past about half Britain's cancer deaths were linked to smoking, now fewer than a third were, he said. The new table offers some comfort to cancer campaigners after government-commissioned research last month painted a gloomier picture, suggesting the UK falls behind similarly affluent countries in diagnosis and treatment. The latest figures are adjusted, taking age into account to allow a comparison with the world's population. This is done because cancer is more common in older people, and countries with an ageing population thus tend to have higher rates. Denmark has a rate of just over 326 cases per 100,000, followed by Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The UK is 22nd with just under 276. The WCRF says high-income countries generally have higher cancer rates than lower-income ones. This might be partly as the result of better diagnosis, but richer countries also tend to have more obesity, higher alcohol consumption and lower exercise rates. Martin Wiseman, the charity's medical and scientific adviser, said: "Lifestyle changes can make a real difference to people's risk. Scientists estimate that about a third of the most common cancers in the UK and other high-income countries could be prevented by maintaining a healthy weight, being more physically active and eating more healthily. Of course, not smoking will have an important effect beyond that, as will having sunburn." Richards said the figures "reflect where different countries are in their tobacco epidemic". Cancer peaks tended to come 20 or so years after smoking peaks. "The peak of cancer rates for men was in the early 1970s, and for women, who took up smoking later, there was a peak in the 1990s," said Richards. "The reason we are so far down the list is we are now so far past our peak prevalence of smoking-related cancers." Breast cancer, although linked to smoking, involved other factors too, including, for instance, the age of first motherhood and how many children women have. Women who have children have a slightly lower risk than those who don't. Richards said: "I am encouraged by what I see for men. For women [the rate] is still too high but I am confident our picture will improve for both. As smoking rates come down, things like alcohol and obesity are highly important." Sarah Woolnough, director of policy at Cancer Research UK, said comparing national cancer rates could be misleading due to differences in collection and coverage. "Age is the biggest risk factor for cancer, so high-income countries where people live for longer will tend to have higher incidence rates. However, we do know that up to half of all cancers could be prevented by changes to lifestyle such as giving up smoking, keeping a healthy weight and cutting down on alcohol." About 10 million adults in the UK now smoke: 22% of men and 21% of women. This compares with 51% of men and 41% of women in 1974. The Danish Cancer Society and the secretariat for Nordcan, collecting data for Nordic countries, said: "Unfortunately it is true that Danish women have very high cancer rates. Among the reasons are tobacco, alcohol, sun habits and very complete registration. "Danish women are famous for very high tobacco smoking. From the 1970s, the percentage of women smoking is nearly at the same level as among men. Unfortunately Denmark also has a very bad cancer survival rate, nearly as bad as in the UK – and co-morbidity caused by alcohol and tobacco has a big influence." Article 4 Father figure By CARA LEE Published: Today FUNNYMAN James Corden has revealed his unborn baby takes after him - as it has inherited its dad's hefty frame. The Gavin & Stacey star said that a scan revealed his baby with fiancee Julia Carey is already on the large side. The 32-year-old said: "We went for a scan the other day and the doctor said apparently the baby has already got a really big head and a big waist. "As he said this he looked straight at me." James said he and wife-to-be Julia - due to give birth in April - have decided not to find out the baby's sex. But the couple have already been thinking of names. Talking on tonight's Alan Carr's Chatty Man on Channel 4, James said: "I had a name which I can tell you about as it's been vetoed. "But I quite liked it and you'll understand why it got vetoed when you hear it. "If it was a boy I wanted to call it Mister. I'm not joking. So when he's older he'll be called Mr Mister Corden - so good they named him twice." But James admitted that thinking about his baby's arrival is not all fun and games. He said: "It's a scary time, I feel quite apprehensive about it. It's great though." Meanwhile, he admitted he faces a wedding dilemma about which actor pal - Mat Horne or Dominic Cooper - to ask to be his best man. James added: "It feels weird to say it on telly before I've spoken to anyone about it. It would be a bad way to let the other guy down! "We aren't getting married till 2012. We'd like it to coincide with the Olympics. I'd like it to be part of the opening ceremony. Maybe Jules can carry the torch. That would be the right thing to do." He popped the question to TV producer Julia, 31, on Christmas Day in the Maldives. James also denied rumours that he will replace Dermot O'Leary as X Factor host - and said he'd be the "worst person" for the sought-after job. Article 5 Palestine papers: Now we know. Israel had a peace partner The classified documents show Palestinians willing to go to extreme lengths and Israel holding a firm line on any peace deal Who will be most damaged by this extraordinary glimpse into the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? Perhaps the first casualty will be Palestinian national pride, their collective sense of dignity in adversity badly wounded by the papers revealed today. Many on the Palestinian streets will recoil to read not just the concessions offered by their representatives – starting with the yielding of those parts of East Jerusalem settled by Israeli Jews – but the language in which those concessions were made. To hear their chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, tell the Israelis that the Palestinians are ready to concede "the biggest Yerushalayim in Jewish history" – even using the Hebrew word for the city – will strike many as an act of humiliation. Referring to Ariel Sharon as a "friend" will offend those Palestinians who still revile the former prime minister as the "Butcher of Beirut" for his role in the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Telling Tzipi Livni, Israel's then foreign minister, on the eve of national elections "I would vote for you" will strike many Palestinians as grovelling of a shameful kind. It is this tone which will stick in the throat just as much as the substantive concessions on land or, as the Guardian will reveal in coming days, the intimate level of secret co-operation with Israeli security forces or readiness of Palestinian negotiators to give way on the highly charged question of the right of return for Palestinian refugees. Of course it should be said that this cache of papers is not exhaustive and may have been leaked selectively; other documents might provide a rather different impression. Nevertheless, these texts will do enormous damage to the standing of the Palestinian Authority and to the Fatah party that leads it. Erekat himself may never recover his credibility. But something even more profound is at stake: these documents could discredit among Palestinians the very notion of negotiation with Israel and the two-state solution that underpins it. And yet there might also be an unexpected boost here for the Palestinian cause. Surely international opinion will see concrete proof of how far the Palestinians have been willing to go, ready to move up to and beyond their "red lines", conceding ground that would once have been unthinkable – none more so than on Jerusalem. In the blame game that has long attended Middle East diplomacy, this could see a shift in the Palestinians' favour. The effect of these papers on Israel will be the reverse. They will cause little trouble inside the country. There are no exposes of hypocrisy or double talk; on the contrary, the Israelis' statements inside the negotiating room echo what they have consistently said outside it. Livni in particular – now leader of the Israeli opposition – will be heartened that no words are recorded here to suggest she was ever a soft touch. Still, in the eyes of world opinion that very consistency will look much less admirable. These papers show that the Israelis were intransigent in public – and intransigent in private. What's more, the documents blow apart what has been a staple of Israeli public diplomacy: the claim that there is no Palestinian partner. That theme, a refrain of Israeli spokesmen on and off for years, is undone by transcripts which show that there is not only a Palestinian partner but one more accommodating than will surely ever appear again. Where does this leave the peace process itself? The pessimistic view is that what little life remained in it has now been punched out. On the Palestinian side these revelations are bound to strengthen Hamas, who have long rejected Fatah's strategy of negotiation, arguing that armed resistance is the only way to secure Palestinian statehood. Hamas will now be able to claim that diplomacy not only fails to bring results, it brings national humiliation. But the despair will not be confined to the Palestinians. Others may well conclude that if a two-state solution is not possible even under these circumstances – when the Palestinians go as far as they can but still fail, in Livni's words, to "meet our demands" – then it can never be achieved. This is the view that sees Israelis and Palestinians as two acrobats who, even when they bend over backwards, just cannot touch: the Palestinian maximum always falls short of the Israeli minimum. The optimistic view will hope these papers act as a wake-up call, jolting the US – exposed here as far from the even-handed, honest broker it claims to be – into pressing reset on its Middle East effort, beginning with a determination to exert proper pressure on Israel, pushing it to budge. It goes without saying that in any wager between optimists and pessimists in the Middle East, the smart money is usually on the latter. Article 6 Shoppers: put your money where your mouth is Plenty welcome the arrival of a new supermarket, but those who don't should spend more at the local shops they value 'Home food deliveries by supermarket giants are part of life’s routine among the local, over-busy affluent.' Photograph: David Pearson/Alamy They're on my east London patch all the time: large vans, often unavoidably double-parked, emblazoned with the legends "Sainsbury's", "Ocado" or "Tesco". From these emerge men bearing heavy plastic crates who head for the neighbourhood's smarter front doors. Home food deliveries by supermarket giants are part of life's routine among the local, over-busy affluent. I wonder how many of these are opposed to the arrival of a Tesco Express just down the road, even as employees of the same company or others like it to unload produce into their halls. Maybe quite a few. This scenario, with its whisper of a double standard, captures the challenge for the sorts of concerned citizen all across the land that regard the expansion of supermarkets into corner shop country as a menace to society. They foresee small independent traders driven out of business, the demoralising sight of boarded-up shop fronts and the homogenisation of neighbourhoods. They resent the economic and legal muscle with which the super-chains see off opposition and bemoan the inability of local authorities to stop them. They organise protests accordingly. I sympathise. But the problem with people objecting to the success of supermarket chains is that in so doing they're also objecting to the consumer decisions other people make. We can argue that the dominance of a handful of food monsters ends up limiting choice, but not that anyone is forced to buy from a newly arrived supermarket in the first place. Unless Tesco has misjudged the market – not a failing for which it is renowned – it knows that plenty of folk from around my way will welcome it. Tesco Express will surely score on price compared with independent competitors. This may not be so across the board but, as the butcher I use told me, if the giant round the corner makes an offer of two chickens for the price of one he'll struggle to match it. Bargains such as that make a big difference to people on tight incomes who are more likely to go out to do their shopping daily than to place a three-figure order online once a week. Some complain that our independent mini-markets charge too much. Are they to be criticised if they prefer the cheaper newcomer? And what about Adam, commenting on my local blog? "Can someone tell me where on lower Clapton road you can get decent organic meat and GENUINELY fresh fruit and veg (that hasn't been lying around for days) for a decent price? The quality and freshness of such items in the current local businesses is questionable." He thinks having a Tesco Express will be "fantastic". I think its imminent arrival has already created a fascinating test case. My nearest corner shop is, as my neighbour the top London blogger Emily Webber wrote, friendly, unique and eagerly responsive to the needs of its wide variety of customers. It's been preparing shrewdly for Tesco's opening: new services include refilling Ecover bottles, looking after parcels if they're delivered when you're out and, yes, bringing your grocery order to your home. Their delicatessen counter has enlarged and improved. They do posh coffee and homemade soup. The other day I caught a friend swooning over the six different types of mushroom on display. It has identified its own strengths and is making the most of them. My friend the mushroom-fancier hopes that, in the end, we'll all be winners: that Tesco will inspire all the local independents to think harder about providing a better or different service and end up flourishing rather than dying. I hope he's right. But if he's wrong, then some of those predictions of disaster will come true. Unless and until some localist statute gives councils greater powers to control the composition of their high streets there's really only one weapon at the disposal of those who see the big supermarkets as a colonising threat. That is to do what I'm trying to do: reduce their dependency on supermarkets and spend more at the local independent shops they value. To mangle a metaphor, they must put more of their money where they also put their food. A British Muslim who would rather talk In 'Wandering Lonely in a Crowd’, S?M?Atif Imtiaz's desire for genuine discussion about Islam in Britain is striking and compelling, writes Charles Moore. By Charles Moore 6:30AM GMT 24 Jan 2011 Last week, I reviewed a book by John Gross about growing up Jewish in London 70 years ago. Much of the book’s interest lies in the encounter between Jewishness and Britishness. The young Gross was well educated – much better than most Gentiles – in the history and culture of the country his parents had adopted. Jewishness and Britishness intertwined, each benefiting the other. Since there are now something like two million Muslims in Britain – a far larger grouping than the Jews – one longs for some comparable process with them. I am sure this is happening in many individual cases, but one of the dismaying things about debate since September 11, 2001 has been that most Muslim spokesmen have shown so little sympathy with British culture. They complain of being stigmatised as “the other”, yet that is exactly how they present themselves, proudly so. These leaders also bristle at any criticism of any aspect of Islam made by any member of the kufr (the unbelievers, more than 95 per cent of the British population). The endless complaints about “Islamophobia” (a word which was invented in the 1990s to serve this end) are a way of shutting down a dialogue that needs to take place just as surely as are attacks by bigoted anti-Muslims. So I find it most interesting to hear the different tone of voice in which Atif Imtiaz speaks. He is a youngish community activist from Bradford, and now works as academic director at the Cambridge Muslim College. This book is a collection of his essays and short stories ordered round the question of what the author calls “the Muslim condition in the West”. It is not Imtiaz’s political views that are striking. He takes conventional, if moderately expressed, positions against the Iraq war, George Bush, Tony Blair and so on. What is different is his desire for genuine discussion – I first heard of him, indeed, when he emailed me, wanting to talk. British Muslims are bad at this, he says, partly because the most able ones tend to be trained in the sciences rather than the humanities. They become doctors or accountants, and do good service to British society in the process but “we [he includes himself in this] remain culturally delinquent and are unable to recognise the subtleties required for the art of persuasion”. “We jump to condemnations,” writes Imtiaz, but “the English…like to be understated, and in many cases it is worse to be inappropriate than wrong”. That is well put. He also observes – which sounds contradictory, but isn’t – that there is “a tradition within the English culture of argumentation that seeks to offend – to see how the opposing person will respond. They may not mean what they say, they may simply be testing the robustness of our positions.” Muslims, he goes on, should learn these codes: “… those who are familiar… with poetry or literature such as Wordsworth or Dickens seem to me better able to understand the nuances and subtleties of polite conversation that lies at the heart of the British character”. Instead of speaking the “language of rights” all the time, it is better to find “a language of human sympathy”. That language, says Imtiaz, is best found by Muslims thinking in a more religious way. Even more fanatical, then, more fundamentalist? Not at all. What he means is that Islam is constantly enlisted by its most vocal spokesmen here as part of furious political argument. Yet the people who do this are often mouthing their religion, without knowing it or living it. “I have seen young men transformed from rude boys [the Muslim equivalents of football hooligans] into the newly-practising, and I have felt that the religion which they practise has become a mask…The Islam that these young men are being offered is the Islam of outer semblances that replicates so well the cultural commodification that they exhibited as rude boys.” It is little more than yobbish assertion of their “team” against its rivals. Muslim “scholars of the heart” condemn the attitudes stirred up by identity politics – “righteousness, victimhood, anger, pride, the advocacy of self, the blaming of others, the looking out for self and the looking down on others”. “It may seem,” Imtiaz argues, “that we are championing Muslim causes,” but “it may be through means which are unMuslim”. He advocates a humility that has many parallels, though he does not say this, in Christian teaching: “Ibn Ata’illah said, 'The tear of the sinner is more beloved to Allah than the arrogance of the righteous man.’?” This book starts with an essay which the author wrote shortly after 9/11. I am glad that he included it because it shows how his attitude has developed since then. There, he indulges some of the paranoia about the media that often afflicts Islamic conversation, and seems to find it impossible to understand why non-Muslim reaction to a massive terrorist attack committed by Muslims in the name of their religion should be alarmed and hostile. In the rest of the book, though, Atif Imtiaz is trying hard to get his fellow Muslims to move outside their half-comforting, half-terrifying world of conspiracy theories and play their part in the life of the nation which they inhabit. And he wants to persuade the rest of us that there is no absolute contradiction between Islam and freedom. One wants to hear more. Commentaries I'm pretty sure any genuine friend would have called for help if they had seen the message, but an on-line friend clearly would not know where to send help. With 1000 on-line friends, clearly you cannot know them well. Generally after the first 100, they are more acquaintances at best, and assuming none of them knew where this person lived, in this case it seems none of them where real friends. We should lobby every fuel retailer to print the total tax paid for every fuel purchase on the receipt. They do this in Austria, where fuel costs about a third less than here, and it has the effect of focusing one's mind on how much tax you are paying out of your taxed income. Marvelous, electric takes off petrol sales fall - and you think that the government will just put up with a loss in revenue, somehow one suspects that they will find some way to put massive taxes on electricty for vehicle use. Then again, this is a commercial project - not for instance the BBC making a new version of a classic serial when they have a lovely one already in the can. People have been employed, isn't that what the film industry is about - now we wait to see if people have been entertained. Read More