Latest news with #JosephConrad
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Which book makes Quentin Letts cry every time?
What Book... ...are you reading now? Having just chewed through Samantha Harvey 's Booker prize-winner, Orbital, I fancied another voyage story, this time more dangerous. Joseph Conrad's 1897 novella about the merchant ship Narcissus, sometimes titled The Children Of The Sea, is certainly that: surging, salt pages of muscular peril. My criticism of Orbital, though I admired its idea, its dreamy prose and brevity, is that little happens in space. Astronauts are quite boring. Conrad's 'immortal sea' is a constant threat, as are his gnarled, desperate characters – though he was terrible at dialogue. Halfway through the excellent Penguin Classics edition, I have a suspicion Narcissus and her crew may meet a pitchy end. ...would you take to a desert island? Anthony Trollope's The Way We Live Now. It describes, with dry humour, an opulent conman who fools 19th century London. The Victorian House of Commons leaps to life. David Suchet was perfect in the BBC 's 2001 adaptation. Trollope is good at depicting women, and in my 20s I fell in love with Madame Max Goesler, a 30-something Viennese widow in several of his novels. ...first gave you the reading bug? My father was a schoolmaster. Books were everywhere: GA Henty's imperial adventure yarns, PG Wodehouse's surreal souffles, RJ Unstead's history stories and H Rider Haggard's sultry King Solomon's Mines. Quite sexy, though as a ten-year-old I didn't realise that. I was gripped, too, by Rosemary Sutcliff's more prim The Eagle Of The Ninth and I gurgled at Gerald Durrell's animal-packed comic memoirs. We had a children's edition of The Odyssey. Disguised Odysseus returns home to Ithaca after 20 years. The only being to recognise him is his dog, Argos, who has waited for his master's return. Faithful Argos is in a bad state. He wags his tail, sighs, dies. Made me cry every time. ...left you cold? St Paul's letters in the New Testament. Too intellectual for me. I can never work out what he is saying. And I have tried, four times, Anthony Powell's A Dance To The Music Of Time. One day I'll crack it.
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Donald Trump's Congo deal: mineral riches for protection
'The vilest scramble for loot that has ever disfigured the history of human conscience' is how Joseph Conrad described colonial-era concessions granted to private companies for Congo's natural resources in Heart of Darkness. Under Donald Trump, that scramble may be back. If news reports are right, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is offering the US a blunt deal: minerals for military help – a slice of sovereignty traded for a shot at stability. The concern is this isn't a return, it's a sequel. For three decades, Washington supported Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, a cold war ally and brutal dictator who looted the Congo until his 1997 fall. That history of power politics still casts a long shadow. The Trump administration openly favours muscle over diplomacy. Fadhel Kaboub, an associate professor of economics at Denison University, notes that Biden-era talk of partnering for clean energy has been shelved, with the US driven less by green goals than by copper and cobalt for missiles and microchips. The logic is bleak but clear. Since 1996, the Congo's wars have drawn in foreign armies and proxies, leaving over 5.5 million dead. The DRC faces a worsening security crisis driven by armed groups like M23, allegedly backed by Rwanda and other regional powers. Western governments lament the violence, but focus on securing access to minerals vital to their industries. Kinshasa, seeing appeals to multilateral justice achieve little, has turned to dealmaking. If dependency is inevitable, it might as well be leveraged. The DRC's leadership is not naive. They know Mr Trump sees Africa not as a partner but as a warehouse of strategic materials, and Ukraine as proof that he will turn weakness into American gain. They know China won't send troops – citing non-interference – even as its firms dominate Congolese mining. With Russia and Gulf states offering assistance, Kinshasa pushes for US bases to guard 'strategic resources' – like cobalt, 70% of which comes from the DRC and is essential to smartphones and Nato's defence industry. Congo may want boots; Washington prefers business. The proposed deal with the US seems desperate and strategic: security support in exchange for mining rights. Don't call it protection money. After Mr Trump's Africa envoy signalled a deal was coming, the DRC repatriated three Americans tied to a failed coup, and a tin mine, which is controlled by US investors, began reopening as M23 rebels pulled back – a fragile win in a volatile landscape. Kinshasa hopes either to have Washington broker a peace that forces the rebels into retreat or to gain the firepower to crush them outright. It might also unlock IMF funding and widen access to western capital markets. But at what cost? The likeliest outcome is that the DRC will receive just enough to remain dependent. Its mineral sector will be dominated by foreign firms, its fiscal autonomy eroded by conditional loans and its economy locked into the old pattern of subservience – supplier of cheap inputs, consumer of expensive outputs. Calling this colonialism isn't quite right. Empires ruled by decree, with no pretence of consent. Today's coercion is more subtle: a sovereign state cornered, at a weak moment, into accepting colonial-style terms without soldiers or flags. The tools are different – security deals, trade exemptions, private investment. But the logic is familiar. The irony is that this is being pursued voluntarily by a government with few alternatives. What will history say about that?
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Luxury boat owner fights eviction from ‘Billionaires' Row'
A luxury houseboat owner has claimed he is being unfairly evicted from his berth next to London's 'Billionaires' Row', where his £1.5 million floating home is moored. Simon Howard, 69, a business consultant, is fighting the bid to remove him from his premier berth at the entrance to Cheyne Walk, a Chelsea road known as 'Billionaires' Row' and where Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, had a £25 million home. Having 'committed to a life on the water', Mr Howard and his then wife Kate spent almost £900,000 on the dilapidated 'Joseph Conrad' in 2010 before turning it into a lavish floating residence. The former Dutch shipping barge was transformed from a 100ft two-bedroom boat into a home boasting a spiral staircase, three bathrooms, a sun terrace, floor-to-ceiling windows and a retro-inspired bar. Mr Howard said he spent so much on the boat instead of buying a house because he wanted to live on the river, but claimed that while recovering from major heart surgery in 2022, he was informed by his landlord that he had missed the deadline to renew his mooring licence. Chelsea Yacht and Boat Company Ltd (CYBC) – which manages the moorings – is now suing to have his boat removed, as well as claiming damages for trespass by him having remained beyond the end of his licence period. However, Mr Howard and his now ex-wife Kate King are counter-suing, arguing it would be almost impossible to find another berth on the Thames, where he has lived for more than 15 years. Timothy Polli KC, their barrister, said: 'They are litigating to secure a berth for Joseph Conrad – Mr Howard's home – it being practically impossible to find an alternative berth to which the vessel can be moved.' The former couple's boat is one of a flotilla of about 50 houseboats moored at Chelsea Reach, dubbed London's 'original houseboat village'. The assorted boats, which lie west of Battersea Bridge, are located on the site of a former Second World War naval yard where D-Day landing craft and torpedo boats were originally used to accommodate ex-serviceman and struggling residents. Over the decades since, the houseboat village has acquired aura of glamour and the moorings were used as a backdrop for a number of films, including the 1958 comedy The Horse's Mouth, with Alec Guinness, and The Deadly Affair, a 1966 spy drama based on John le Carré's first novel and starring James Mason. Now 80 years on, the marina houses boats and barges, some of which are worth well over £1 million, with the riverside enclave still housing a cluster of wealthy figures. During a pre-trial hearing at Central London County Court, Judge Alan Johns heard how Mr Howard had fallen ill following a serious heart operation during the option window to buy a new licence. The former couple's barrister said: 'Their licence expired in April 2022. Although the licence included an option to buy a new licence, the couple had separated and Mr Howard was very ill following a serious heart operation during the option window and so they did not exercise the option within that window. 'When Mr Howard did so, he was told by CYBC that he was too late. Several short-term extensions to September 2022 were granted by CYBC, but CYBC now seeks an injunction requiring them to move Joseph Conrad off the moorings. 'Mr Howard and Ms King say that their dealings with CYBC were such that there arose a collateral contract, the effect of which is that they should be permitted to remain on the moorings, upon paying market rate for doing so. 'By not offering them a new licence at market rate, CYBC is doing to them precisely what it promised it would not do and that constitutes a breach of the contract.' Laying out the company's case, Toby Watkins KC denied the former couple have the right to keep the Joseph Conrad at Chelsea Reach and accused them of trying to get a valuable right they are not entitled to. 'They are seeking to find a way to achieve the security of tenure they have never had, but would clearly like to have,' he told the judge. 'CYBC seeks an injunction requiring Mr Howard and Ms King to remove their houseboat, the Joseph Conrad, from Berth 1 of the claimant's moorings at Cheyne Pier, together with damages, following the expiry of their mooring licence. 'The 2012 licence originally expired on April 2 2022, but was retrospectively twice extended by agreement to Sept 28 2022, when it finally expired.' As well as resisting CYBC's claim, citing the alleged past assurances that they would never be forced out, the couple claim that refusing them a licence would deflate the value of their boat, which was put up for sale in 2016 for £1.5 million, but not sold. 'As their name suggests, static permanent houseboats are not designed to be moved,' their barrister explained. 'Save for occasional trips to a dry-dock for maintenance, they remain – and are intended to remain – in one place. 'For that reason, a berth is essential and a permanent static houseboat without a berth is an onerous asset.' Judge Johns will give his decision on the range of the evidence and the costs issues at a later date. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
11-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Luxury boat owner fights eviction from ‘Billionaires' Row'
A luxury houseboat owner has claimed he is being unfairly evicted from his berth next to London's 'Billionaires' Row', where his £1.5 million floating home is moored. Simon Howard, 69, a business consultant, is fighting the bid to remove him from his premier berth at the entrance to Cheyne Walk, a Chelsea road known as 'Billionaires' Row' and where Roman Abramovich, the Russian oligarch, had a £25 million home. Having 'committed to a life on the water', Mr Howard and his then wife Kate spent almost £900,000 on the dilapidated 'Joseph Conrad' in 2010 before turning it into a lavish floating residence. The former Dutch shipping barge was transformed from a 100ft two-bedroom boat into a home boasting a spiral staircase, three bathrooms, a sun terrace, floor-to-ceiling windows and a retro-inspired bar. Mr Howard said he spent so much on the boat instead of buying a house because he wanted to live on the river, but claimed that while recovering from major heart surgery in 2022, he was informed by his landlord that he had missed the deadline to renew his mooring licence. Chelsea Yacht and Boat Company Ltd (CYBC) – which manages the moorings – is now suing to have his boat removed, as well as claiming damages for trespass by him having remained beyond the end of his licence period. However, Mr Howard and his now ex-wife Kate King are counter-suing, arguing it would be almost impossible to find another berth on the Thames, where he has lived for more than 15 years. Timothy Polli KC, their barrister, said: 'They are litigating to secure a berth for Joseph Conrad – Mr Howard's home – it being practically impossible to find an alternative berth to which the vessel can be moved.' The former couple's boat is one of a flotilla of about 50 houseboats moored at Chelsea Reach, dubbed London's 'original houseboat village'. The assorted boats, which lie west of Battersea Bridge, are located on the site of a former Second World War naval yard where D-Day landing craft and torpedo boats were originally used to accommodate ex-serviceman and struggling residents. Over the decades since, the houseboat village has acquired aura of glamour and the moorings were used as a backdrop for a number of films, including the 1958 comedy The Horse's Mouth, with Alec Guinness, and The Deadly Affair, a 1966 spy drama based on John le Carré's first novel and starring James Mason. Now 80 years on, the marina houses boats and barges, some of which are worth well over £1 million, with the riverside enclave still housing a cluster of wealthy figures. During a pre-trial hearing at Central London County Court, Judge Alan Johns heard how Mr Howard had fallen ill following a serious heart operation during the option window to buy a new licence. The former couple's barrister said: 'Their licence expired in April 2022. Although the licence included an option to buy a new licence, the couple had separated and Mr Howard was very ill following a serious heart operation during the option window and so they did not exercise the option within that window. 'When Mr Howard did so, he was told by CYBC that he was too late. Several short-term extensions to September 2022 were granted by CYBC, but CYBC now seeks an injunction requiring them to move Joseph Conrad off the moorings. 'Mr Howard and Ms King say that their dealings with CYBC were such that there arose a collateral contract, the effect of which is that they should be permitted to remain on the moorings, upon paying market rate for doing so. 'By not offering them a new licence at market rate, CYBC is doing to them precisely what it promised it would not do and that constitutes a breach of the contract.' Laying out the company's case, Toby Watkins KC denied the former couple have the right to keep the Joseph Conrad at Chelsea Reach and accused them of trying to get a valuable right they are not entitled to. 'They are seeking to find a way to achieve the security of tenure they have never had, but would clearly like to have,' he told the judge. 'CYBC seeks an injunction requiring Mr Howard and Ms King to remove their houseboat, the Joseph Conrad, from Berth 1 of the claimant's moorings at Cheyne Pier, together with damages, following the expiry of their mooring licence. 'The 2012 licence originally expired on April 2 2022, but was retrospectively twice extended by agreement to Sept 28 2022, when it finally expired.' As well as resisting CYBC's claim, citing the alleged past assurances that they would never be forced out, the couple claim that refusing them a licence would deflate the value of their boat, which was put up for sale in 2016 for £1.5 million, but not sold. 'As their name suggests, static permanent houseboats are not designed to be moved,' their barrister explained. 'Save for occasional trips to a dry-dock for maintenance, they remain – and are intended to remain – in one place. 'For that reason, a berth is essential and a permanent static houseboat without a berth is an onerous asset.'
