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The Guardian
2 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
Mutant seabirds, sewer secrets and a lick of art ice-cream: Folkestone Triennial review
Folkestone doesn't have a pier. It has an Arm. That's what the harbour's long walkway into the Channel is called. It is a suitably surreal, even grotesque setting for the Folkestone Triennial artworks that infest its salty nooks and crannies – or armpits and elbow crooks. Laure Prouvost has placed a mutant seabird, with three heads and an electric plug on its tail, on the adjacent concrete stump of the defunct ferry terminal. Surprising? Not really if you have just visited The Ministry of Sewers, an installation by Cooking Sections that documents and protests the poisoning of our rivers and seas. There's nothing like an exhibit on the scale of Britain's water pollution to kick off a day at the seaside. It's cloudy when I visit, the cliffs and sea swathed in white mist and the water under the Arm looking like a detergent soup. It all adds to the uncanny mood. And art doesn't come much more uncanny than the sculpture by Dorothy Cross near the far end of the Arm. You have to go down soaking wet, concrete steps to a recess with a precipitous opening to the evil-looking sea. 'Try not to fall in,' says the attendant, who stays up above. Here you find a massive block of blood-coloured marble, as if a giant tuna steak had been stashed here by fish smugglers. The sides are smooth, the top uneven and rough. Out of this earthy hulk Cross has carved several pairs of feet in hyperrealistic detail, nervously walking its beach-like surface. They face out to sea, as if about to make a bold leap into the blue-green water, to find a better life. Cross has made a monument to migrants. The marble she has used is from Syria, the feet pattering over it full of fear and hope. These lifelike appendages and the surface on which they stand echo Magritte's surrealist 1934 painting The Red Model, of disembodied feet on red ground, while her use of massive, raw stone to suggest infinite sorrow - the weight of the world - shows she understands Michelangelo. This is a superb sculpture, brilliantly sited. It would be worth visiting Folkestone just to see it. But there's more – if you fancy a walk. Up above the cliffs, on steep green downs guarded by Martello towers built to fend off invasion during the Napoleonic wars, are a string of thoughtful, often witty artworks. A monolith that looks as if it were made from glue and plastic stands alone on a mowed hill, facing the sea. Approaching, you read the words 'Curse dissolved'. That's heartening. The brochure describes this piece by South African artist Dineo Seshee Raisibe Bopape as 'meditative' but it made me laugh. What is the curse? Who lifted it? I chew on this as I climb to a white circular tower inside which Katie Paterson also plays with magic. Paterson shows, on curving display tables inside the round room where red-coated soldiers once lived, a collection of mystic charms from different times and places. There are images of ancient Egyptian gods, Buddhist amulets and a tiny figure of the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu who features in The Exorcist. Each replica is cast in materials that bear witness to planetary crisis, including space debris from satellites and plastic from the Mariana trench. Paterson has a track record of working with scientists to get her hands on such exotic materials. Her installation is a more refined version of the Ministry of Sewers, a sly way to show us that we are turning everything to crap. These amulets are bluntly satirical. They seem to mock the magical thinking of those who would wish away the Earth's crisis. If you head on to the next Martello tower you might be momentarily cheered up by Jennifer Tee's wavy picture of a giant kelp, mapped in the grass in brown bricks which also have sea kelp and other life forms imprinted on their surfaces. It makes you look out to the sea below and imagine the threatened life it holds. There are jollities to be found in this seaside art trail – for the kids, Monster Chetwynd has started building an adventure playground, and down in the harbour you can get Emeka Ogboh's 'artist designed ice-cream'. But then I find huge burial urns littered in the high moorland overlooking the misty Channel. Sara Trillo has modelled these deathly objects on bronze age grave goods. They return you to melancholy: the view from here is as bleak as it is beautiful. Folkestone Triennial opens on 19 July
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- TimesLIVE
US stars Lauryn Hill, Wyclef Jean and YG Marley headline DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival
Global super star Lauryn Hill is headlining this year's DStv Delicious International Food & Music Festival alongside her son YG Marley and Haitian rapper and singer Wyclef Jean. The festival sponsored by LottoStar, taking place on September 20 and 21, is expected to be a culinary experience with captivating performances. 'It's incredible to be back at the iconic Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit. We can't wait to welcome fans to a weekend that celebrates us all through music and food as we come together during Heritage Month,' said festival marketing director Funeka Peppeta. 'We're proud to announce the phenomenal artist line-up for Sunday, with Saturday's main acts and the Channel O Dance Stage line-up to be revealed soon. This year promises to be an unforgettable experience, from world-class music to bold culinary, art and fashion moments that reflect the rich diversity of our country and heritage. ' Here's what you need to know: WHO IS HEADLINING THE SHOW? DAY 1: Saturday will also see songstress Lira continue her triumphant return to stage. Lauryn Hill will perform with longtime collaborator Wyclef Jean as musical guest. Ziggy Marley and YG Marley will make special appearances in celebration of the Miseducation of Lauryn Hill 25th Anniversary Tour with hits including Zion, the 1970s-inspired Doo Wop (That Thing) and Everything Is Everything. DAY 2: Sunday promises to be a spirit-filled festival as South Africa's prized gospel group Joyous Celebration Rewind will spread upliftment with selected alumni, including the Idols South Africa and SABC Crown Gospel Award-winning Khaya Mthethwa. Sama winner NAACP Award nominated Mandisi Dyantyis will grace the stage with his fusion of indigenous African music and jazz idioms. Zoë Modiga, recipient of Glamour's Woman of the Year: Musician Game Changer Award, and Standard Bank's Young Artist Award in 2023, will complement this with her Afro-realist take on jazz. WHEN AND WHERE Gauteng's Kyalami Grand Prix Circuit on September 20 and 21. HOW MUCH WILL IT COST? Early bird general admission tickets are available until July 28 at R650. You can snap up Delicious Lounge tickets in the main arena at R2,500 per person, and tickets for the all-inclusive Injabulo Lounge on The Terrace at R8,350 per person. Secure your tickets via Ticketmaster, or visit w for more details.
Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Home Office boss paid over £455,000 despite record boat migrants
The top official in the Home Office was given a total pay packet of nearly half a million pounds including a tax-free 'golden goodbye' of £30,000 when he left the department in March. Overall, senior civil servants in the department received bonuses totalling between £80,000 and £120,000 in the last financial year, a period in which a record number of migrants arrived in small boats. They included Martin Hewitt, border security commander, appointed by Sir Keir Starmer to head his new unit in charge of the government's efforts to tackle the Channel migrant crisis, who was paid a salary of between £200,000 and £205,000. Joanna Rowland, who oversees the accommodation of asylum seekers, was paid a bonus of between £15,000 and £20,000, in addition to a salary of up to £170,000. Details of the pay packets of senior Home Office mandarins were disclosed in the department's annual report, published on Thursday, which set out the remuneration of senior officials in £5,000 brackets for the 2024/25 financial year. In the same period a total of 38,177 migrants crossed the Channel, according to Home Office figures, a 24 per cent rise on the 30,878 who arrived the year before. • On the trail of gangsters who get rich smuggling migrants to Britain On Thursday there were chaotic scenes on French beaches as dozens of migrants were seen sprinting into the water to scramble onto dinghies off Gravelines beach. No police were seen on the beach but a French rescue boat was observed passing life jackets to migrants on board one dinghy at sea. They were later seen retrieving the life jackets moments before a Border Force vessel picked up the migrants once it had passed into UK waters. As of March 31, there were 32,345 asylum seekers in hotels, up from 29,585 in June last year, and an additional 71,339 in other taxpayer-funded accommodation such as bedsits and multiple-residence properties. Sir Matthew Rycroft, who left his role as Home Office permanent secretary on March 28, received an overall remuneration package of between £455,000 and £460,000. This included his £200,000 annual salary after a 24 per cent pay rise on the previous year. He was given a £50,000 'exit payment,' of which £30,000 was tax-free. This was on top of a performance-related bonus of between £20,000 and £25,000, more than double the bonus he received the previous year. Rycroft, who served as the top mandarin at the Home Office for five years following stints at the Department for International Development and as Britain's representative at the United Nations and ambassador to Bosnia and Herzegovina, also received £179,000 in pension benefits over the 2024/25 financial year. Other officials to be given large performance-related bonuses included Chloe Squires, director-general of homeland security, who was awarded £15,000-£20,000; Rebecca Ellis, the strategy director of the Home Office, and Robert Hall, the director of communications, who received £10,000-£15,000. Philip Douglas, the head of Border Force, was the only senior official to see a reduction in his performance-related bonus, which fell from £15,000-£20,000 in 2023/24 to £10,000-£15,000 in 2024/25. The Home Office annual report said that bonuses were paid on 'performance levels attained' and were made as part of the appraisal process. The Home Office did not respond for a request for comment. Rycroft has been approached for comment.
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
Germany to seize small boats under migrant deal with Starmer
Germany will close a loophole that will allow police to seize small boats used by smuggling gangs in the Channel, following treaty talks with Britain. Sir Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz will seal the 'friendship treaty' on Thursday in the UK. It includes a pledge by Germany to make people smuggling to Britain a criminal offence by the end of the year. The treaty comes a week after the Prime Minister struck a 'one in, one out' migrant return deal with Emmanuel Macron of France. There is no similar returns deal with the German chancellor. The small boats, which have crossed in record numbers this year, embark from French beaches. However, Germany is a transit country for migrants hoping to reach Britain and has emerged as a storage hub for boats, engines and life jackets used by migrants in taxi boats. Under German law, people smuggling into non-EU countries is not a crime. This means that trafficking migrants to Britain has not technically been illegal since Brexit, making it more difficult for German police to seize dinghies used by gangs to make the deadly crossings. A BBC investigation last year exposed how people smugglers were operating in the city of Essen. A journalist was offered an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor and 60 life jackets for £12,500 to cross the Channel by two smugglers in the Western German city. People smugglers do break the law if they pass through EU countries Belgium or France but Mr Merz is willing to make trafficking people to the UK an explicit crime. Sources confirmed that Mr Merz is prepared to renew that commitment made by his predecessor Olaf Scholz last year before he lost elections in February. Ahead of the meetings on Thursday, Sir Keir said: 'The progress we are making today is further proof that by investing in our relationships with like-minded friends and partners, we can deliver real change for working people. 'The Treaty we will sign today, the first of its kind, will bring the UK and Germany closer than ever. It not only marks the progress we have already made and the history we share. It is the foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems and invest in shared strengths. 'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome. As the closest of allies, we will continue to work closely together to deliver on the priorities that Brits and Germans share.' The friendship treaty is the latest step in Sir Keir's post-Brexit reset with Europe, after a security and cultural exchange pact with France and a May agreement with the EU. The Telegraph revealed on Thursday that the agreement included efforts to facilitate Eurostar-style direct trains from London to Germany. The two countries will also sign a defence cooperation treaty and agree to make school exchanges easier after an 80 per cent drop in German school trips to the UK since Brexit. The Telegraph understands there will also be languages, underlining a shared commitment to fighting climate change and boosting interconnections between Germany and British renewable wind in the North Sea.
NDTV
4 days ago
- NDTV
Indian Student Jailed For 35 Months In Singapore Over Construction Worker's Death: Report
A 22-year-old Indian student was on Wednesday sentenced to 35 months in prison for causing the death of a fellow Indian national by pushing him into the river while intoxicated. Legha Pawan pleaded guilty to voluntarily causing grievous hurt to Jasbir Singh, a 33-year-old construction worker, on the night of June 30 last year. The original charge of causing death by a rash act was reduced and another charge was taken into consideration, according to a Channel News Asia report. Singh, who was married with two young children in India, had been the sole breadwinner for his family. The court heard that both Legha and Singh were intoxicated on June 30 night when the incident happened. After Singh was pushed into the river at Clarke Quay, a popular riverside tourism-leisure point, a nearby couple raised alarm. Rescue divers located his body a few hours later. Legha fled the scene and attempted to avoid arrest, however, he was arrested the next morning, the report added. Deputy Public Prosecutor Jheong Siew Yin said Legha knew that the victim was intoxicated and it was "reasonably foreseeable" that the push would cause grievous hurt. She also pointed out that he fled the scene without helping the victim. The defence lawyer highlighted that no weapon was used, and the push was "a generic push" not intended to target vulnerable points, the Channel report said. For voluntarily causing hurt that resulted in grievous hurt, Legha could have been jailed for up to five years, fined up to SGD 10,000, or both, it added.
