Conservatives re-enter leadership at Rochford District Council
The political leadership at a local authority has changed hands following an annual council vote.Rochford District Council is now run as a joint administration by the Conservatives, Rochford District Residents (RDR) and the Rochford and Foulness Wakering Independents (RFWI).Until recently, the council was jointly run by the Liberal Democrats and independents.Its new leader, Conservative Danielle Belton, said the three groups would work together on "shared priorities".
"Given the current uncertainty due to local government reform, we believe that transparent, engaging and member-led leadership is vital for the future of the district, and that is what we intend to deliver," she said.
Local councils in England are due to be dismantled and replaced as part of a major shake-up of local government.RDR councillor John Mason was made the deputy leader and said his party would be "working for residents" in coalition with the other two groups.Arthur Williams, group leader for RFWI, said his party shared "common goals" with his cross-bench colleagues.No single political party has had a majority in Rochford in recent years.The Tories have 10 members, RDR have eight, Lib Dems have eight, RFWI have three and 10 other councillors are from independent groups.
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The Guardian
41 minutes ago
- The Guardian
‘Yes, there was a riot, but it was great': Cabaret Voltaire on violent gigs, nuclear noise – and returning to mark 50 years
Fifty years ago, Cabaret Voltaire shocked the people of Sheffield into revolt. A promoter screamed for the band to get off stage, while an audience baying for blood had to be held back with a clarinet being swung around for protection. All of which was taking place over the deafening recording of a looped steamhammer being used in place of a drummer, as a cacophony of strange, furious noises drove the crowd into a frenzy. 'We turned up, made a complete racket, and then got attacked,' recalls Stephen Mallinder. 'Yes, there was a bit of a riot, and I ended up in hospital, but it was great. That gig was the start of something because nothing like that had taken place in Sheffield before. It was ground zero.' Mallinder and his Cabaret Voltaire co-founder Chris Watson are sitting together again in Sheffield, looking back on that lift-off moment ahead of a handful of shows to commemorate the milestone. 'It is astonishing,' says Watson. 'Half a century. It really makes you stop, think and realise the significance.' The death in 2021 of third founding member Richard H Kirk was a trigger for thinking about ending things with finality. 'It'll be nice if we can use these shows to remind people what we did,' says Mallinder. 'To acknowledge the music, as well as get closure.' It's impossible to overstate how ahead of their time 'the Cabs' were. Regularly crowned the godfathers of the Sheffield scene, inspiring a wave of late 1970s groups such as the Human League and Clock DVA, they were making music in Watson's attic as early as 1973. Their primitive explorations with tape loops, heavily treated vocals and instruments, along with home-built oscillators and synthesisers, laid the foundations for a singular career that would span experimental music, post-punk, industrial funk, electro, house and techno. 'There was nothing happening in Sheffield that we could relate to,' says Mallinder. 'We had nothing to conform to. We didn't give a fuck. We just enjoyed annoying people, to be honest.' Inspired by dadaism, they would set up speakers in cafes and public toilets, or strap them to a van and drive around Sheffield blasting out their groaning, hissing and droning in an attempt to spook and confuse people. 'It did feel a bit violent and hostile at times, but more than anything we just ruined people's nights,' laughs Mallinder, with Watson recalling a memory from their very first gig: 'The organiser said to me after, 'You've completely ruined our reputation.' That was the best news we could have hoped for.' Insular and incendiary, the tight-knit trio had their own language, says Mallinder. 'We talked in a cipher only we understood – we had our own jargon and syntax.' When I interviewed Kirk years before his death, he went even further. 'We were like a terrorist cell,' he told me. 'If we hadn't ended up doing music and the arts, we might have ended up going around blowing up buildings as frustrated people wanting to express their disgust at society.' Instead they channelled that disgust into a type of sonic warfare – be it the blistering noise and head-butt attack of their landmark electro-punk track Nag Nag Nag, or the haunting yet celestial Red Mecca, an album rooted in political tensions and religious fundamentalism that throbs with a paranoid pulse. Watson left the group in 1981 to pursue a career in sound recording for TV. Mallinder and Kirk invested in technology, moving away from the industrial sci-fi clangs of their early period into grinding yet glistening electro-funk. As the second summer of love blazed in the UK in 1988, they headed to Chicago instead – to make Groovy, Laidback and Nasty with house legend Marshall Jefferson. 'We got slagged off for working with Marshall,' recalls Mallinder. 'People were going, 'England has got its own dance scene. Why aren't you working with Paul Oakenfold?' But we're not the fucking Happy Mondays. We'd already been doing that shit for years. We wanted to acknowledge our connection to where we'd come from: Black American music.' This major label era for the group produced moderate commercial success before they wound things down in the mid-1990s. But in the years since, everyone from New Order to Trent Reznor has cited the group's influence. Mallinder continued to make electronic music via groups such as Wrangler and Creep Show, the latter in collaboration with John Grant, a Cabs uber-fan. Watson says leaving the group was 'probably the most difficult decision I've ever made' but he has gone on to have an illustrious career, winning Baftas for his recording work with David Attenborough on shows such as Frozen Planet. He recalls 'the most dangerous journey I've ever made' being flown in a dinky helicopter that was akin to a 'washing machine with a rotor blade' by drunk Russian pilots in order to reach a camp on the north pole. On 2003 album Weather Report, Watson harnessed his globetrotting field recording adventures with stunning effect, turning long, hot wildlife recording sessions in Kenya surrounded by buzzing mosquitoes, or the intense booming cracks of colossal glaciers in Iceland, into a work of immersive musical beauty. When he was at the Ignalina nuclear power plant in Lithuania with Oscar-winning composer Hildur Guðnadóttir, recording sounds for the score to the 2019 TV series Chernobyl, he couldn't help but draw parallels to his Cabs days. 'It was horrific but really astonishing – such a tense, volatile, hostile environment,' he says. 'But it really got me thinking about working with those sounds again, their musicality and how it goes back to where I started.' Sign up to Sleeve Notes Get music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras. Every genre, every era, every week after newsletter promotion Mallinder views Watson's work as a Trojan horse for carrying radical sounds into ordinary households. 'The Cabs may have changed people's lives but Chris is personally responsible for how millions of people listen to the world,' he says, with clear pride. 'And one of the things that helped make that happen was the fact that he was in the Cabs, so through that lens he opened up people's ears.' Watson agrees, saying Cabaret Voltaire 'informed everything I've ever done'. Watson's field recordings will play a part in the upcoming shows: he'll rework 2013 project Inside the Circle of Fire, in which he recorded Sheffield itself, from its wildlife to its steel industry via football terraces and sewers. 'It's hopefully not the cliched industrial sounds of Sheffield,' he says, 'but my take on the signature sounds of the city.' These will be interwoven with a set Mallinder is working on with his Wrangler bandmate Ben 'Benge' Edwards as well as longtime friend and Cabs collaborator Eric Random. 'We've built 16 tracks up from scratch to play live,' says Mallinder. 'With material spanning from the first EP' – 1978's Extended Play – 'through to Groovy …' Mallinder says this process has been 'a bit traumatic – a very intense period of being immersed in my past and the memories that it brought, particularly of Richard. This isn't something you can do without emotion.' Mallinder and Kirk were not really speaking in the years leading up to his death, with Kirk operating under the Cabaret Voltaire name himself. 'Richard was withdrawn and didn't speak to many people,' says Mallinder. 'And I was one of those people. He wanted to be in his own world. It was difficult because I missed him and there was a lot of history, but I accepted it.' There will be no new music being made as Cabaret Voltaire because, they stress, tsuch a thing cannot exist without Kirk. Instead, it's a brief victory lap for the pair, a tribute to their late friend, as they sign off on a pioneering legacy with maybe one last chance for a riot. 'Richard would probably hate us doing this but it's done with massive respect,' Mallinder says. 'I'm sad he's not here but there's such love for the Cabs that I want to give people the opportunity to acknowledge what we did. You can't deny the music we made is important – and this is a way to celebrate that.' Cabaret Voltaire play a Forge Warehouse, Sheffield, 25 October, then tour the UK from 17 to 21 November. Tickets on sale 10am 6 June
The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Monday's briefing: Matheus Cunha and Caoimhin Kelleher set for transfers
Manchester United started their summer business by reaching an agreement with Wolves to sign Matheus Cunha. The Brazilian forward will be Ruben Amorim's first summer signing after a disappointing campaign saw the Red Devils finish 15th in the Premier League and lose to Tottenham in the Europa League final. Brentford have agreed a deal to sign Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, the PA news agency understands. From Molineux to Old Trafford Brazil forward Cunha has been in Manchester over the weekend to put the finishing touches to his move to Old Trafford, which is subject to a visa and registration. The 26-year-old, who has won 13 senior caps for Brazil, scored 18 goals in all competitions last season. A United statement read: 'Manchester United has reached agreement with Wolverhampton Wanderers for the signing of Matheus Cunha. 'The Brazilian forward's signing is subject to visa and registration. Everyone at Manchester United looks forward to welcoming Matheus to Old Trafford.' England squad enjoy F1 before qualifier England took time out of their preparations for the World Cup qualifier against Andorra by enjoying a day at the Spanish Grand Prix. Captain Harry Kane and his men watched on as Oscar Piastri pipped Lando Norris in Barcelona. Meanwhile, despite not being named in the squad, Manchester City defender John Stones has also linked up with Thomas Tuchel's group to continue his rehabilitation following a spell on the sidelines and was pictured alongside Kane at the circuit. Oldham secure promotion There were 52,115 in attendance at Wembley as Oldham scored twice in two minutes in extra time to beat Southend 3-2 in the National League play-off final and secure promotion to League Two. Manny Monthe's early own goal was cancelled out by Joe Garner's penalty before Southend went ahead through Leon Chambers-Parillon's 91st-minute goal. But James Norwood and Kian Harratt struck to help Oldham follow Barnet into the English Football League. Brentford look to Kelleher With Mark Flekken set to move to Bayer Leverkusen, Brentford have turned to Kelleher. A reported initial fee of £12.5m for the second-choice Liverpool goalkeeper can rise to £18m if performance-related requirements are met. Republic of Ireland international Kelleher, who has a year left on his contract at Anfield, played over a quarter of the champions' Premier League matches this season when first-choice Alisson Becker was injured. What's on today? Australia's Matildas host Argentina in an international friendly in Canberra, with South Korea and Colombia also facing off.
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
How Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer who derailed serial killer investigation 'tried to hide his voice when he was finally snared'
The Yorkshire Ripper hoaxer who derailed the investigation into the serial killer desperately tried to hide his voice when finally arrested, a retired police chief has revealed. Chris Gregg, 68, of West Yorkshire Police, has spoken out about the conman 20 years on from the investigation that unmasked him. The so-called Yorkshire Ripper, a reference to Victorian serial killer Jack the Ripper, killed at least 13 women from 1975 to 1980 in a reign of terror across northern England. Peter Sutcliffe was eventually identified as the man behind the killings and jailed for life in 1981. He died in prison in November 2020, aged 74. But it only came after a man named John Humble, dubbed Wearside Jack, had falsely confessed to the killings in 1978 and 1979, in a two-minute voice recording and three letters sent to police and journalists. West Yorkshire Police believed the letters and tape were genuine and diverted resources to Humble's home town of Sunderland. His cruel efforts hobbled police investigations - leaving Sutcliffe at large to kill three more women before his eventual arrest. No one knew it was Humble behind the hoax confessions for a further 24 years after Sutcliffe's conviction in 1981 - until a cold case review by police in 2005. And now investigator Mr Gregg has told The Mirror about finally snaring him - revealing Humble initially just 'kept nodding' in police interviews, knowing his voice would immediately give him away as the man behind the hoax tape. It was only when officers informed Humble a 'one in a billion match' had been made between his DNA and a tiny saliva spot on one of the letters that he eventually confessed - knowing he was caught. With Humble now speaking up in interviews, he then agreed to read aloud a transcript of his original manufactured tape. And only now, a quarter of a century on from that moment, has Mr Gregg re-listened to the recording - describing it as 'chilling' to hear it again. It was advances in forensic science, plus a new police record of Humble - from his arrest for being drunk and disorderly in 2001 - that finally created the breakthrough. With officers finally able to match his DNA to the saliva sample on the hoax letter, they soon found themselves closing in on the culprit. The former security guard was arrested at his home in in the Ford area of Sunderland, where he lived with his brother - just a few miles from the area voice experts had said the hoax taper's accent was from. He was soon brought to Yorkshire for interviewing by Mr Gregg, the new lead of West Yorkshire Police's Criminal Investigation Department (CID). And the cop soon knew he had got the right man, when Humble began reading aloud the tape transcript. The former Detective Chief Superintendent said: 'Humble had quite a remarkable memory. 'He took himself back to when he made it. It was an incredible moment to hear him read it out.' He continued: 'Those last three Ripper victims may not have died had it not been for Humble.' Barbara Leach, 20, of Bradford; Marguerite Walls, 47, of Leeds; and Jacqueline Hill, 20, also of Leeds, were all killed by Sutcliffe between September 1979 and November 1980. Sutcliffe was arrested just eight weeks later - but might have been apprehended sooner had Humble not derailed the inquiry. Mr Gregg, who had been at the heart of the £6million hunt for the hoaxer, said: 'It proved to be tragic. He did something that he never needed to do.' The envelope with a seal that bore the key saliva sample to enable the DNA match was only discovered due to Mr Gregg's sheer determination. Having worked on the Yorkshire Ripper inquiry, he knew he had to get to the bottom of it, enlisting the two original detectives for help. He first worked out the three hoax letters had been destroyed in the original forensics process, having been analysed using a chemical with a destructive effect. But he was not going to give up that easily - and remembered scientists often keep small snippets of evidence in high-profile cold cases such as this one. So, Mr Gregg wrote to the head of the forensics lab in the West Yorkshire town of Wetherby, asking if they could search for any remaining samples. And they were in luck. The police chief received a random phone call several months later to say the lab had found a 3cm sample of the final hoax letter. It was in perfect condition, preserved between two glass slides - and gave them the answers they had been looking for. Mr Gregg said it was one of the defining moments of his career in the police: 'If we had not found him, I am convinced that he would have taken that secret to the grave. 'He had not told a living soul what he had done.' Humble, who was sentenced to eight years in in 2006 after admitting perverting the course of justice, died on July 30 2019.
