‘No agenda’ in Guardian investigation of Noel Clarke, high court hears
There was “no agenda” in the Guardian’s investigation of sexual misconduct allegations against Noel Clarke, the high court has heard.In her second day in the witness box, Lucy Osborne, an investigative correspondent at the Guardian, defended the publication’s reporting in the face of questioning from the former Doctor Who star’s barrister, Philip Williams.Osborne, co-author of the investigation that led to the actor’s libel claim, denied Williams’s assertions that there were “major inconsistencies” in the accounts of alleged victims or that there was a conspiracy to bring down Clarke.She said that if there had been any concerns, she would have flagged them to the Guardian’s head of investigations, Paul Lewis.“There was no agenda,” Osborne told the court on Wednesday.
“We conducted a very careful investigation and if at any time I’d been concerned that these allegations lacked in credibility in any way or had any concerns about any of the sources I would have raised it with Paul and I wouldn’t have wanted to publish.”She said she kept an open mind throughout and gathered information from as many sources as possible – too many to list in her witness statement.“It’s absolutely not in my interests to publish something before we were ready to do so,” Osborne told the court.Williams questioned her on aspects of behaviour by alleged victims that he said should have raised “red flags”, including Gina Powell, who worked with Clarke at his company Unstoppable Productions, and who alleges sexual assault and abusive behaviour.Williams claimed that if Osborne had looked into it, she would have discovered that Powell made “sexually bold comments” and sent pornography to Clarke.
The journalist responded: “Gina had told me early on, without me asking, that it was a sexual environment she was working in with Noel and she felt pressure … that there was a culture that Mr Clarke led that was sexualised and there was an expectation on her to speak in the same way.”She described Powell as an “incredibly strong and inspiring woman” for speaking out.Williams also asked Osborne about another witness, Evelyn (not her real name), who alleges Clarke took a picture of her underwear while she was dancing and attempted to show it to their colleagues.Williams suggested she was wearing a minidress at the time.“I don’t think it made any difference whether she’s wearing a minidress or not,” said Osborne.
“The allegation is that Mr Clarke took a picture of her that had her underwear on, [and] it was fairly close up.”When Williams raised it, Osborne also said that whether Evelyn was drunk or not was irrelevant to her allegations against Clarke.
Plastic or fantastic? Grand National steps out on delicate high-wire act
Traditionalists rail at the ‘Plastic National’ but a third of all adults will have a bet on the world’s most famous raceThe numbers are nearly as breathtaking as the sight of 34 horses soaring over Aintree’s famous fences. Before Saturday’s Grand National, a third of adults in Britain will place some sort of bet on the world’s most famous steeplechase. £150m will be wagered in total. And six million will then tune in for the spectacle.But amid all the noise and fanfare surrounding the 177th running of the “people’s race”, organisers are increasingly engaged in a delicate high-wire act
Chess: Tan Zhongyi takes shock lead over Ju Wenjun in Women’s World Championship
Tan Zhongyi, the 33-year-old challenger, took a shock 1.5-0.5 lead in game two of the 12-game Women’s World Championship match in Shanghai on Friday morning when Ju Wenjun, 34, the champion since 2018, resigned on move 62 after a costly endgame blunder due to move 40 time pressure.Ju’s difficulties could be traced back to the opening, when she took 10 minutes for each of moves 10-12 and was behind on the clock from then on. Their rook endgame should still have been an easy draw, but on move 31 Ju went wrong with the hasty 31…c5? (Kf8! is equal) and she then missed her last chance with 40…Ke8? (40…b4! keeping the rook active was needed)
Grand National fairytale on cards with ‘click-and-collect’ Horantzau d’Airy
Newmarket trainer with 100-1 shot at Aintree only set up six months ago and has yet to win a race over jumpsThere are some who say that the Grand National has lost its soul, that it is now a race for powerhouse stables and elite, big-money owners, not the dreamers and windmill-tilters that helped to make it the People’s Race. But it seems that the news has yet to reach the small stable in Newmarket where Michael Keady prepares Horantzau d’Airy, the eight-year-old gelding that will head to Aintree on Saturday afternoon as a 100-1 chance to win the National, for a trainer who has yet to saddle a single winner over jumps.There are no end of plotlines in the story of Horantzau d’Airy’s path to Liverpool that would ensure the film script would write itself if he could somehow join the list of National winners at three-figure odds this weekend.Keady has held a trainer’s licence for less than six months, his yard is in the Flat-racing fortress of Newmarket, which has not sent a National winner to Aintree for nearly a century, while Keady’s girlfriend, Ruth, who rides Horantzau d’Airy on the gallops every morning, is a native of Formby, just a dozen miles from the track.And then there is the “click-and-buy” aspect of his unlikely journey, from Willie Mullins’s all-conquering jumping yard in County Carlow to a corner of East Anglia, where he rubs shoulders with three-year-old Classic contenders on the gallops each morning
‘I’d like to be on that tour’: Chandler Cunningham-South on the Lions, ball-carrying and Love Island
While Harlequins forward focuses on Saturday’s Champions Cup test at Leinster, future opportunities are on his mindThere is a colossal game looming in Croke Park on Saturday afternoon and Chandler Cunningham-South’s pre-match routine is now established. First he likes to step into a cold shower to wake himself up properly. Then the big Harlequins and England forward will open the notebook he carries everywhere with him, pick up a pen and write down exactly what he plans to do to Leinster.The precise wording – “It’s quite personalised to me” – is less important than the confident mindset it encourages. The basic idea is to reinforce one of two key objectives – “It’s just confirming what’s in my head already,” he says – and ensures he goes into battle “with a clear mind”
Japan F1 GP practice stopped four times but Tsunoda still delivers for Red Bull
With the weight of a nation on his shoulders and under the most intense scrutiny of his career, Yuki Tsunoda delivered with no little finesse in practice for the Japanese Grand Prix in his first outing for Red Bull. Lando Norris, meanwhile, appears well set to further advance his world championship ambitions, with a strong showing here for McLaren, despite a second session interrupted by no fewer than four red flags, two caused by trackside fires.Tsunoda was drafted in from the sister team, Racing Bulls, only last week to replace Liam Lawson, whom the team unceremoniously demoted after just two races. The 24-year-old has four seasons in F1 under his belt but has never driven this year’s Red Bull before and it is a hard car to handle, as Lawson discovered.Max Verstappen has been clear it is unstable and lacks balance even in his world champion hands and Lawson crashed out in the season-opener in Australia then qualified last for both the sprint and the GP in China, finishing in 12th in the latter at Shanghai
Gladiators cranks up the Big Villain Energy but still shows sport’s virtues | Emma John
It’s time to look north: this weekend, the ultimate obstacle race is back. An estimated six million of us will tune in to watch those finely tuned bodies powering themselves around the famously hellish course, with its exhausting series of hurdles. By the final straight, only the strongest will be left. We’ve already got our favourites. We’re already making predictions
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