Reheating the climate change story | Jules Boykoff

The media have dropped climate change, with its tricky science. But cast in economic terms, it could recapture public interest

Here's a climate conundrum: while scientists declared 2010 to be the hottest year on record, media mavens have been afire with the fact that US media coverage of climate change dropped precipitously, or as the popular Daily Climate blog put it, "fell off the map". 2010 was a scorcher of historic proportions, so proclaimed Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the World Meteorological Organisation, but the quantity of media coverage on this pivotal issue plunged to pre-Inconvenient Truth levels.

As a revealing snapshot, 5,000 journalists attended the recent North American International Auto Show in Detroit, whereas only 2,000 accredited journalists attended last month's COP 16 climate-change summit in Canc�n. But beyond the number of gumshoe journalists patrolling the climate change beat, the plummet in coverage also came about because global warming is no longer perceived as novel and dramatic. Climate change is a slow-burning tick-tocker of an issue marked by incrementalism, slathered in arcane science, and often lacking whipsaw political theatre. The "hottest-year-on-record" media morsel hasn't held its fresh taste.

In the month straddling the UN meetings in Canc�n, US media heavy-hitters ? the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, ABC, CBS, Fox, MSNBC and NBC ? offered in aggregate less than 200 stories that tackled climate change in a minimally substantive way. Incidentally, another media world is possible: the Guardian, in fact, ran more stories mentioning climate change or global warming than all these US media outlets combined.
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Like other long-term, seemingly intransigent issues, climate change has lost its media mojo. But there is a way to rekindle its sex appeal: economics. Thomas Carlyle may have dubbed economics "the dismal science", but economic issues work the US public into a tizzy, routinely topping the list of concerns in "most important problem" public opinion polls. Environmental journalists could leverage this public opinion fact to help jolt us out of our climate slumber and bring the issue into focus in a way that makes clear how climate disruption will affect all of us.

So far, journalists have done nothing of the sort. In the month surrounding the Canc�n conference, the US media outlets mentioned above turned to economists as news sources in a measly two articles. That's right, only the comments of Robert Stavins of Harvard University and David W Kruetzer of the conservative Heritage Foundation wedged their way into the media discussion of climate change. That translated to less than 1% of all sources. Clearly, journalists could do better.

Since its release in 2006, the Stern review on the economics of climate change has forced economists, environmentalists and political wonks of all stripes to acknowledge the impacts climate disruption could inflict on the global economy. In the US, for a long time, the gold standard for modelling the economics of climate change has been William Nordhaus's behemoth Dice model. To his credit, Nordhaus opened his books to other economists for inspection, which led to a slew of principled criticism that he was understating the intensity of economic impacts. Turns out, assumptions are where economists hide the good stuff, or at least, where they quietly cram uncertainty.

Reframing climate change as an burning economic issue could help journalists breathe life into the most important ? and complex ? issue of our time. Without getting mired in the morass of elaborate mathematical equations and the arcane economics-speak of "discount rates", journalists could turn to independent environmental economists for honest assessments of how climate change will affect the global economy. For instance, Economics for Equity and the Environment Network, or E3 ? a wide-ranging coalition of academic economists ? has a strong track record of translating the mind-numbing humdrumism of economics into lively, comprehensible analysis in everyday language. The Real Climate Economics website stockpiles over 100 up-to-date, peer-reviewed economics articles that support the aggressive emissions reductions scientists recommend.

Aside from the beyond-the-pale advocacy journalists at Fox News network ? who are under explicit instructions from their superiors to inject climate change scepticism into their reporting ? environmental journalists understand the gravity of climate disruption. And there has been significant improvement in the quality of coverage, with the US media casting aside their "balance as bias" approach, which, for years, meant putting pseudo-scientists and their benefactors on equal footing with independent climate scientists and their peer-reviewed research.

The downturn in the quantity of climate change media coverage is no small matter, since it affects public perceptions about the seriousness of climate change: if an issue does not remain on the public's mental fingertips, concern dwindles and urgency becomes overkill. Plus, it allows our elected leaders to squirm off the political hotseat. But as the world burns, quality matters, too, and journalists have ? right there, in front of them ? a short-term solution to the quandary of covering climate change: economists who can lend climate disruption the gravitas and drama it deserves.

• Climate change
• Climate change scepticism
• United States
• Canc�n climate change conference 2010 | COP16
• Economics
• Green economy
• Green jobs
• Climate change

Jules Boykoff

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/jan/30/climate-change-climate-change-scepticism

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In praise of ? David Kato

After his death, if not always during his life, the Ugandan gay rights campaigner received the world's support

After his death, if not always during his life, David Kato received the world's support. As a campaigner for gay rights in Uganda, a nation that has been whipped into a fever of homophobia by its politicians, tabloid press and some Christian leaders, he was at risk. Early last week he was murdered in his home; his death prompting tributes including one from President Obama, whose Kenyan ancestry gives his words potency in Africa. "He was a powerful advocate for fairness and freedom. The United States mourns his murder, and we recommit ourselves to David's work," said the president. "No one should have to live in such fear because of the bigotry of others," said the Archbishop of Canterbury, facing his own battle against bigotry inside parts of the African Anglican church. Kato's funeral was disrupted when the Anglican pastor presiding over it denounced homosexuality, before being shouted down. Anti-gay hatred in Uganda has been greatly encouraged by a small number of visiting American Christians: one suggested after Kato's death that he might have been killed by a gay lover. The Ugandan authorities pointed out that he lived in a dangerous area. But late last year Uganda's Rolling Stone newspaper put his picture on the cover alongside other gay men under the headline "hang them". Kato and two other activists from Sexual Minorities Uganda, the organisation for which he worked, secured an injunction in early January. At the end of the month he was dead.

• Uganda
• Gay rights

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Source: http://feeds.guardian.co.uk/~r/theguardian/commentisfree/rss/~3/lkMsE6XvJtk/in-praise-of-david-kato

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Sky Atlantic and the box-set era | Sam Leith

I was watching the serial-killer drama Dexter the other day, and wondering about its politics. Dexter, in case you haven't seen the show, is a killer who kills killers: he uses his fondness for kidnapping, torture and mutilation to do good, sort of.

What is this show trying to tell us? Is it a slyly anarchic subversion of the moral certainties of the traditional detective story, showing us the blood on our own prurient hands? Or is it the ultimate reactionary fantasy, whereby wrongdoers are cruelly eviscerated and liberals can't protest, because the guy doing the evisceration has "issues"?

I wondered about throwing the question out to Guardian readers in the hope one of you could figure it out, so that I could get on with enjoying Dexter's vicious sadism with a clear conscience. But then I remembered that the Dexter I was watching aired in 2006, and any of you who are interested will have made up your minds long ago and moved on to speculating whether Don Draper is a misogynistic alcoholic prick ? or a soul in torment.

That is the curse of the box set in particular, and the digital age in general. What's the point of talking about telly when nobody's watching the same thing at the same time? Thanks to the box set, Sky+, iPlayer and so on, in the space of just a few years the way we watch TV drama has been transformed. Its vocabulary ? "tune in", "stay with us", "after the break", "previously on . . . ", "see you next time", "appointment television", and even "broadcasting" ? speaks of something shown fleetingly to a large number of people at the same time.

But that's gone. It is now, effectively, impossible to miss anything. Patton Oswalt, the US standup, has coined the pleasingly Star-Wars-sounding phrase Etewaf for this phenomenon: Everything That Ever Was ? Available Forever.

Once, nations wondered as one who killed JR. They flushed their toilets as one during the ad break in the final episode of M*A*S*H*. They rejoiced as one in Times Square when Friends ended. Now they tremble in fear of overhearing a spoiler from a colleague who's watching season two.

Not only is much of the great television of the age being watched long after the event, it is specifically designed with the box set in mind. Sitcom and soap take a back seat to HBO-style drama serials: self-contained episodes framed in a series-long plot arc. In some ways ? not least their addictive quality ? they resemble levels in a computer game: for "just one more go", read "just one more episode". No disrespect intended: we're living through a golden age of these things.

There's The Wire, of course, the first significant work of art of which it could be said that literally everyone who saw it wrote a column about it for this newspaper. There's Lost, whose title indicated what happened to your life once you'd watched a few episodes. There's House, whose title indicated what you seldom left once hooked. Meanwhile, The Sopranos was about as easy to get out of, once you were in, as the mafia. And The West Wing was as addictive as power. Go back a year or two and there's Buffy, Battlestar Galactica, and, rising from the distant horizon, Twin Peaks. And let's not forget 24, which allowed you to live somebody else's much more exciting life IN REAL TIME.

Some time long ago, there existed the last human being to have read everything that had ever been written (Erasmus, Coleridge and Kant are sometimes named, without much plausibility, as candidates). Have we already passed the point of there being more hours of HBO box sets available than a single human being could watch in a lifetime, given 20-odd hours of TV a day?

That the turning point is upon us is more or less the message of tonight's much-heralded launch of Sky Atlantic, an entire satellite channel stuffed with covetable new shows like Boardwalk Empire, Treme and Mildred Pierce, along with the fifth series of Mad Men. Sure, it indicates that in the UK this stuff is enough of a draw to launch a whole channel. But more importantly, because this is what actually makes it possible, it indicates that the golden apples of this golden age are now plentiful enough to pad out a whole schedule with plausible-looking repeats (HBO's back catalogue will make up 40% of the programming). This is box-set TV.

So does this mean, as Patton Oswalt seems to suggest, that it's all over for simultaneity? Not necessarily. The weird thing is, just as Etewaf looms, there's a backlash: talent shows with timed voting schedules, rolling news and 24-hour junglecams anchor many of the newest formats fiercely in the here and now. And even as some technology makes telly less communal, others makes it more so: people have taken to live-blogging or chattering on Twitter (though this is disconcerting ? if you use the pause button to read or tweet, Twitter stays in real time while the telly slips out of phase like the handrail on an old escalator) while they watch.

This seems to hint at some stubborn cultural need to experience pop-culture simultaneously ? which is as much as to say, communally. So we have the technology for personal hand-warmers, but we still crave the campfire. We must be out of our boxes.

• Sky Atlantic
• HBO
• Boardwalk Empire
• The Wire
• Dexter
• Lost
• House
• The Sopranos
• The West Wing
• Drama
• US television
• Television

Sam Leith

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jan/31/sam-leith-sky-atlantic-boxsets

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Colin Firth wins Screen Actors Guild award - video

Highlights from the ceremony, in which Colin Firth was named best actor for his role in The King's Speech and Ernest Borgnine won a lifetime achievement award

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2011/jan/31/colin-firth-screen-actors-guild-video

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New music: Com Truise ? Colorvision (WIP)

We've heard enough 80s-style synth-pop to last a lifetime. But can Com Truise prove himself to be Top Gun?

Making 80s-influenced synth-pop sound fresh is a Risky Business. Some might say it's Mission Impossible. Not for Com Truise whose "slower-motion funk" is Far and Away one of this year's most exciting prospects, while his forthcoming debut album is a Cocktail of analogue synths and spooky electronics. There are A Few Good Men out there making this kind of stuff and he's certainly one of them. All that and we didn't even mention that his name sounds like Tom Cruise. Legend!

• Pop and rock
• Electronic music
• Dance music

Michael Cragg

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/jan/31/com-truise-colorvision-wip

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Don't let them plunder our forests

The government insists that the big Forestry Commission sell-off will protect our national heritage. One woodland lover is not so sure?

On a spectre-grey, wintry morning this week, the car park at Cannop Colliery in the Forest of Dean was empty. On Saturdays the Cycle Centre is buzzing with visitors but I'd come on this occasion with my bicycle to savour the solace; to set "my mind adrift in a floating and rustling ark", as Louis MacNeice wrote. I'd come to think about trees.

The mountain bike trails snake across Sallowvallets Inclosure, through conifer plantations and small groves of deciduous wood. It's neither an ancient nor atmospheric part of the Forest, but for the �3 parking fee you can ride all day on a variety of superb routes, purpose-built by local volunteers in partnership with the Forestry Commission. Halfway round the Freeminer Trail, I stopped at the top of a series of tight switchbacks. I could hear a dim, distant dog bark and the faintest thrum of machinery: otherwise it was serene. Certainly there was no hint of the fierce storm that is brewing around the Forest of Dean.

"There's been a tremendous uproar about the government proposal to sell off Forestry Commission land," Fred Carpenter, owner of the Cannop Cycle Centre for 20 years, told me. "People round here like the Forestry Commission. They've done a good job promoting recreation but it's the threat of losing access to the forest which has so upset everyone The locals burnt a huge effigy of Big Ben a few weeks back."

The government has outlined a plan to sell off the 260,000 hectares of land that comprise the public forest estate in England (powers in Wales and Scotland are devolved), and which the Forestry Commission currently manages. This accounts for 18% of England's woodland. The Forestry Commission has been selling off land piecemeal for 30 years but clearly this would be the biggest redistribution of land in England since the second world war.

The government is proposing that English woodland be divided into four categories, ranging from "heritage" to "multi-purpose", "small timber" and "large commercial". In an attempt to allay fears of corporate raiders ravaging our timber and of fat cats locking gates and hoisting "Keep off my forest!" signs, the government is selling the proposal as part of the great, vaunted power shift away from Big Government and into local hands. A quarter of the woodland will be offered to community groups at commercial rates, and "heritage" woods such as the New Forest and Forest of Dean, will be managed by new or existing charities in the "national interest".

Writing in the Times on Thursday, the environment secretary Caroline Spelman said the government had no intention to "sell off heritage forests, such as the Forest of Dean or the New Forest, to whoever comes along waving the largest cheque book. Instead, we will be proposing that they remain protected, enhanced and accessible to the public in perpetuity."

Despite the assurances there are still sceptics. John Sauven, executive director of Greenpeace UK, said: "Britain's woodlands? offer important habitats to much loved wildlife, as well as enjoyment and beauty to families up and down the country. It's no surprise that there has been an upswell of public concern at the prospect that our island's natural life might be auctioned off at a government-sponsored jumble sale. The government must now guarantee not only the complete right of access to all our forests but also the budget for their protection and restoration."

I'm a member of the Crucorney community woodland group. We're part of a small, nascent, not-for-profit energy group that seeks to raise awareness about sustainable living and reduce the carbon footprint of our community in the Welsh Marches. Our woodland group is small beer, but we believe it has purpose, and we enjoy it. The wood we're working in is halfway up a hillside on the Herefordshire-Monmouthshire border. On a clear day there are majestic views over the glacial-shaped valleys and cirques of the Black Mountains to the west, and down to the River Monnow in the east. More often, the wood is in cloud. Offa's Dyke footpath, which follows the ancient demarcation between England and Wales, cuts across the fields nearby: it's one of a web of paths that twist and weave across the countryside like a Celtic knot.

At the moment we're clearing and coppicing. Fallen timber is cut into lengths by chainsaw and then stacked in piles. We'll leave it out through spring and summer to "season": it should be ready to burn as firewood next winter. We're mainly coppicing clusters of hazel, known locally as "rids", that haven't been felled for 26 years and are probably a century old. They'll be ready again to provide heat in someone else's home around 2035. The thickest hazel boughs will be used as firewood; everything under 15cm or so in diameter is cut into lengths and placed in another pile. In spring we'll burn this hazel in our kiln, to make barbecue charcoal, which we'll bag and sell in the garage and at local campsites over the summer. The money we make will hopefully cover the ongoing costs of the group ? petrol for the chainsaws, new bow saws and insurance.

We have access to our wood because of the grace of Jo Binns, who farms 147 acres on the eastern flanks of the Black Mountains. Jo is also part of the woodland group. The simple deal we have struck is that Jo gets 50% of the firewood that we hump out of the wood and the group gets the other half, which will be divided up in proportion to the number of volunteer hours we've all put in.

We're lucky: Jo has been farming here for 27 years, and woodland management has always been part of his modus operandi. He's planted 19,000 oak, ash, hazel, birch and rowan trees. Another member, Wyndham Morgan, is a bible of old forestry lore, from felling to hedgelaying and horse logging to hurdle making. The rest of the group have been learning on the job. Ben and I recently completed chainsaw proficiency courses. Many of us have taken part in training days.

We're a small group. We have two-dozen members, half of whom are active. On a good day, when the ground is hard, the hoar frost is painted thick on the twigs and the lowlands below sparkle like salt pans in the sunshine, there might be six of us in the wood. On bad days, when the rain falls in sheets of grey that form a partition between the edge of the wood and the rest of the world, it's just Jo and I; sometimes just Jo.

Why, I occasionally wonder, do I turn up at all? I don't come for the firewood: I have my own two-acre wood three miles away, which I manage for firewood. I come to learn; because being in the woods is my Prozac; and because I respect the tradition of woodmanship on this island. The main reason I come, though, is my belief in community. I hope the woodland group will, over time, come to be another stitch that binds us together, like the pub, the pantomime and the potholes on the lanes.

I'm a foot soldier for David Cameron's "Big Society", though I believed in it long before the Conservative party. I ought, then, to be sharpening my chainsaw teeth with excitement at the idea of the Forestry Commission sell-off: reducing the power of the state while simultaneously bringing land under local ownership ? a double whammy.

I'm not, though. Our group has no money, and Caroline Spelman's assurance that we can apply for existing grants to raise the capital is hollow: such grants are incredibly hard to come by. More significantly, we don't want to own any woodland, not when we can informally lease it ? for free. Over 80% of the woodlands in England are already in private ownership. The Sylva Foundation estimates that a staggering 625,000 hectares of that woodland is currently unmanaged, and no more than 40% of the annual growth is harvested and utilised. Unmanaged woodland is everywhere. Once we've coppiced the hazel and taken out the firewood at Jo's farm, our group won't be short of offers of woodland to work in. All the community woodland groups we're in contact with are in the same position: they won't be purchasing either.

Who is going to buy the forest then? Commercial interest will be in the long leases (bound up with existing access rights, we're told) on the vast, unloved conifer plantations initially introduced by the Forestry Commission when it was set up in 1919 to provide a strategic reserve of timber. The commercial viability of a plantation is largely determined by the underlying land value and proximity to timber processing plants. A large coniferous forest in Northumberland near a timber yard will make a profit; five hectares of spruce in Cornwall won't.

John Clegg & Co, chartered surveyors, have specialised in woodland sales since the 1960s and acted for the Forestry Commission on its piecemeal sales since the early 1980s. John Clegg told me: "We have a mailing list of 10,000 looking to buy woodland. As well as individuals and businesses, it includes, off the top of my head, Woodland Trust, RSPB, a large number of county wildlife trusts, National Trust, Chiltern Society, Northern Trust, Grasslands Trust and more." Many of them may be window-shopping: the Woodland Trust, whose work is admirable, has stated this week it has no money.

The bulk of sales will be to individuals. Research published in 2009, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and sponsored by the Forestry Commission, suggests the reasons individuals want to own woodland are changing. Today, reasons include private enjoyment, firewood, wildlife conservation and the provision of public amenities. There is also the profit incentive: woodland property values have risen over 100% since 2002. "They're up 10-15% in value on last year. It's a strong market at the moment," John Clegg said. The tax exemptions on owning are yet another incentive: no income tax on timber sales; no capital gains tax on any increase in the value of the trees; and no inheritance tax (after two years of ownership). The majority of individuals will wish to buy broadleaf woodland ? and the critical issue will be access.

Broadleaf forests resonate strongly with us. Among birch and aspen (the first trees to colonise the country after the last ice age, 10,000 years ago), amid mighty oaks and cathedral-tall beeches, and surrounded by ash, hazel, holly and hornbeam, lime, wild cherry and sessile oak, we feel an ancestral need is being met. The phrase "recreational amenities" doesn't come close to reflecting the importance of broadleaf woodland to us.

When I lived in London I found it reassuring that, in two hours, I could be in the middle of the New Forest, large areas of which are part of the public forest estate. Today, the New Forest is roughly the same size and shape as the land William the Conqueror requisitioned more than 900 years ago, as a royal hunting ground. One of my favourite inclosures was Sloden Wood ? a place that sovereigns from the Conqueror to James I might recognise in the 21st century. With sunlight slanting through the oak and holly, and moist air hanging between the antique boughs, I had many moments of childish fantasy here, waiting for a Plantagenet knight to bound across a glade after a fallow deer, in the royal chase.

When I got back to the car park at Cannop Colliery, a dozen schoolkids were spilling out of a minibus: another handful to add to over 40 million visits to Forestry Commission sites each year. Who, I wondered, would own England's forests when those kids are old, and what would be left of them? Considering the threat, our woods have proved remarkably resilient over the centuries. This government is proposing to take us into new territory, though. Forestry sold into private ownership at Riggwood in the Lake District has already sparked anger among locals about the diminution of access rights.

The majority of people are opposed to the sell-off plan and several Liberal Democrat MPs are threatening to rebel over the issue. The government needs to tell us why they're really selling, who they're planning to sell to, what will be protected and how the multifarious public access rights we enjoy will bind the new owners. Until then ? hands off our forests.

Rob Penn is the author of It's All About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels published by Particular Books

• Forests
• Agriculture and forestry
• Rural affairs
• Wildlife

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jan/30/forest-sell-off-woodland-conservation

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How to look good in winter, or not

It's impossible to look good and stay warm in winter, unless you call looking like a Glo Worm good, which, of course, you don't. Email sartorial dilemmas to ask.hadley@guardian.co.uk

How does one stay stylish and warm in winter?

M Seaton, by email

One does not, M Seaton, because it is not possible. Now don't despair: anecdote incoming!

Gather close, dear readers, while I regale you with a story. A fascinating story, full of human triumph and woe, and which will no doubt one day feature on literature school syllabuses (syllabi? Whatevs) across the land. It is a story that features ? I say with a blush and a modest dip of my head ? me.

Recently, I decided to move to New York. However, I guess there was a mix-up at the airport because I appear to have in fact moved to the north pole, and as I write there is a car outside my window buried in so much snow it looks like an installation by Jeff Koons: Snow Car. Unsurprisingly, my Topshop winter coat just could not cope with such an unacceptably cold clime and ? with a sad little wheeze and a whispered plea that I give no more money to that human fat cat, aka Philip Green ? it expired last month. I buried it in a local park and watered its grave with my icy tears.

Anyhow, off I went to an outdoors shop, walked in and bellowed: "Give me the warmest coat you have!" It was like that scene in Pretty Woman when Richard Gere demands the most expensive clothes in the shop, but with less of a prostitutional undertone. The warmest coat they had, and the one I now sport, was a full-length black padded number or, as I call it, my fat burqa. When I pull up the hood, thereby cloaking my entire person in quiltedness, I look like one of those Glo Worms (pictured) children have whose face glows when you squeeze -its tummies, which is perfect because that's exactly what happens to my face when my tummy is squeezed. All in all, it's an amazing coat, me and my amazing not-very-technicolour coat.

But note, M Seaton, the carefully chosen word ? "amazing" ? not "chic". I do not resemble a vision of heavenly femininity in this coat. In fact, to see me in this coat paired with my previously discussed Uggs (aka feet heroin) is to see a visual representation of the death of hope.

But what of it? Here's the thing, M Seaton, come winter time, you have two choices: looking good or looking warm. To be warm, one requires either a lot of padding, or a lot of fur. Neither is a good look. But really, what is the point in choosing the looking-good option? You'll just stand around and shiver and whine, which will immediately cancel out the potential looking goodness of your (too skimpy) outfit, and eventually just go home and spend the whole of February in your flat where no one will be able to appreciate your look. Now, admittedly, maybe some people would rather remain in isolation than be seen in public resembling a giant GloWorm. But those people are daft. Fat burqas are just sooooo this season.

Is it ever acceptable for a man to dye his hair to cover up the grey?

E Pilkington, New York

What kind of crazy-ass question is this? Come, come, E Pilkington, I am sure there is not a strand of grey in your luxuriant crop of hair. Surely you're 35, right? I mean, 25!

Whatever age you are, no, it is not. It is fine for women, but not for men. Doubtless a certain and possibly deluded male columnist in the Daily Mail would say that this adds further credence to his claim from last week that the world is sexist against men, an accusation only slightly undermined by his further claim that, "I was terribly shy about sex and yet girls were trying to do it with me all the time. I used to run, literally run, from their bedrooms when they tried it on" (due to an editing mistake the words "in my fevered, fetid dreams" were lopped off the end of the sentence).

But you know what, strange male columnist? Deal. Here, have a side of childbirth with your whining. And anyway, the reason it is not acceptable for men to dye their hair is the opposite of anti-male. It's anti-female. It is as much of a cliche as it is true to say that a greying man looks distinguished whereas a greying woman is dismissed as haggard. Ergo, to see a man dyeing his hair is like seeing a man toss his winning lottery ticket in the gutter. And that is why a man who dyes his hair looks so stupid: he's squandering a marvellous gift. And if he uses Paul McCartney's hair dye, he looks even more stupid.

• Fashion
• Winter

Hadley Freeman

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/jan/30/ask-hadley-look-good-in-winter

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Cartoon: Phil Disley on the Egypt protests

Thousands rally in Cairo to defy curfew as Hillary Clinton calls on Hosni Mubarak to allow 'orderly transition'

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Readers' tips: British B&Bs

Great places to stay without breaking the bank, from Capability Brown's family home in Northumberland to a stone bothy in Shropshire
Britain still best at B&Bs

WINNING TIP: The Place to Stay, Frome, Somerset

Five rooms imaginatively converted from outbuildings sit around a pretty courtyard garden. Breakfasts using local produce are served in the farmhouse. The owner is a massage therapist, so you can have a treatment in the privacy of your room. They will also sprinkle rose petals in the bath. With fluffy bathrobes, tasteful decor and four-poster beds, this is the closest to five-star hotel service you'll find in a B&B.
01373 836266, theplacetostayuk.com; doubles from �85
Bowbank

Stirling

Airlie House, Strathyre

Before she bought Airlie House, owner Jacquie spent years travelling on business and finding out what works. So the mirrors are the right height for women and there are wine glasses to borrow in the sitting room. What really makes it unusual is that one room is wheelchair-accessible but still as stylish as the others, and you can bring your dog. The house is immaculate, the breakfast is large and the beautiful Trossachs are right on the doorstep.
01877 384247, airliehouse.co.uk; doubles from �60
Cooperteacher

Perthshire

Ewich House, Strathfillan

Owners Deb and Ian should offer courses on how to run a successful B&B. Their attention to detail is second to none, with carefully sourced organic products from soap to delicious breakfasts. We were made to feel extremely welcome, with a roaring fire on arrival, and a stylish and comfortable room. The location is stunning and an ideal stop-off for trips to the west Highlands. We have stayed in many B&Bs and hotels, and this is certainly one of the very best.
01838 300300, ewich.co.uk; doubles from �70
MellyMel66

Argyll

Strumhor, Connel, Oban

Tony and Olga really make guests feel at home at Strumhor, just outside Oban. As well as the huge breakfasts, guests can also arrange to have dinner in the house. You can sit in the conservatory just watching the Falls of Lora below or, if you're feeling energetic, Tony can take you out canoeing. When we were sitting in front of their open fire after our day out exploring, he said, "On Monday you'll be at work and I'll still be here." Lucky him.
01631 710167, strumhor.co.uk, doubles from �56
Cooperteacher

Northumberland

Clovelly House, Berwick-upon-Tweed

Clean, welcoming, comfortable and excellent value, this place is close to The Maltings theatre and cinema. Breakfast is huge, with so many choices you could have something different every day of a week-long stay or be spoilt for choice if popping in overnight on the way up to Scotland or down south. There are also plenty of places to eat in the evenings, and the pub at the end of the road has real ale and music. The art gallery is about a 15-minute walk. Good beaches.
01289 302337, clovelly53.freeserve.co.uk,
doubles from �70
DougtheDog

Shieldhall, Wallington

This was Capability Brown's family home (he's buried in the nearby church). Comfortable bedrooms named after the wood used in them have ample bathrooms. There's a sitting room and library, and excellent breakfasts and (optional) dinners incorporating local, often organic, ingredients are eaten at antique tables among antiques. Shieldhall is within reach of Alnwick and Bamburgh castles, Lindisfarne and Hadrian's Wall.
01830 540387, shieldhallguesthouse.co.uk; doubles from �80
Malcolmlevitt

Birdsong Cottage, Alnwick

A one-bedroom B&B at Brownieside, near Alnwick, with a large comfortable bed, a whirlpool bath, great breakfasts and hosts who go that extra mile. Who else would allow you to borrow their satnav to help you find the isolated inn you have chosen for supper?
01665 579362, birdsongcottage.co.uk, doubles from �69
Iatesnyder

Shropshire

The White Cottage, Bishop's Castle

The White Cottage's stone barn, The Bothy, is the perfect romantic hideaway for two. On a hillside overlooking rolling country, it is small but perfectly formed. Every detail is taken care of: from underfloor heating to an enormous bed. There's plenty to see and do nearby, but that's not the point. From the moment you arrive, you'll sink into the place, drink in the details with a glass of red wine, shut the curtains and curl up together in a unique space just for two.
01588 630330, thewhitecottageacton.co.uk; doubles �80
Thruflo

Gloucestershire

Pigeon House Cottage, Southam

We've never received a warmer B&B welcome than here in the Cotswolds. Set in a lovely garden, this cottage is in a cluster of medieval and Norman buildings. Staying here you could be an extra in Midsomer Murders, though we were charmed rather than terrified by the cosy rooms, comfy bed and organic breakfast. Our host went way beyond the call of duty, ferrying us to and from the local, award-winning pub.
01242 584255, pigeonhousecottage.co.uk; doubles �70
FamilyFulton

Norfolk

Primrose Farm, Witton Bridge, North Walsham

A blue room and a yellow room, both in delicate pastel shades with frilly lace soft furnishings. I think of the Yorkie bar advert, but with a twist ? this is not for men! The exotic cats further emphasise how pampered guests are. Primrose Farm's neat and mature one-acre garden invites a wander among the shrubs and trees of this former farmhouse just two miles from the coast at Walcott and five miles from Happisburgh. The barn and stable have been converted into two guest rooms, a double and a twin. Both rooms use the interconnecting shower room and the sitting/dining room with books and a TV. There's also a patio with solid wood chairs and table for toast and jam in the morning sun.
01692 650809, primrosefarm.co.uk, doubles from �64
SuffolkP

Cambridgeshire

Trinity Hall, Fordham

This fabulous B&B near Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire has a huge, immaculately decorated bedroom with 12ft ceiling, sofa and king-size bed. The extra-large bathroom overlooking the garden has a walk-in shower, a large, freestanding bath, a plethora of towels and quality toiletries. Breakfast in the grand dining room uses eggs from the hens in the garden. A superb restaurant (The White Pheasant) is a short walk away.
01638 720709, trinfast.co.uk, doubles from �70
Kenlaidbackman

Dorset

Harmshay Farm, Marshwood, Bridport

Harmshay Farm is a gorgeous B&B not far from Axminster and Lyme Regis. Positioned on a beautiful working farm, it has cosy beamed bedrooms, a very warm welcome and a fantastic breakfast come morning.
01297 678562, harmshayfarm.co.uk, doubles from �65
Lizzals

Devon

Lower Hookner Barn, North Bovey

Nestled in the heart of Dartmoor in perfect walking countryside, this converted barn is an idyllic place to stay. From the decorative bantams scratching outside to Jenny's delicious breakfasts, the whole place is charming. The double-height guest sitting room with woodburning stove is particularly lovely. Gorge yourself in the evening at the Ring of Bells in nearby North Bovey and stagger the two miles home along a dramatic deserted bridleway.
01647 221282, lowerhookner.co.uk, doubles from �66
Rach222

Conwy

Gwern Borter Country Manor, Rowan

It's tricky to find the lovely lodge of Gwern Borter, but well worth it. Three miles from Conwy, it is near Snowdonia, yet secret and secluded enough to really feel away from the rat race. A highlight after breakfast is to feed the farm animals. There are also horses and ponies if you feel energetic. But after a busy week, I find it is enough for me to unwind on a lovely woodland walk ending up at The Groes Inn, in time for lunch and local ale.
01492 650360, conwy-countryhouse.co.uk, doubles from �65
TheRookery

Gwynedd

Ty Mawr, Rhyd Ddu, Snowdonia

I doubt anyone could recommend a better B&B in Snowdonia. Emma and Menno are welcoming hosts, the rooms are spotless and comfortable, and breakfast is delicious. Dutch pancakes from Menno's homeland are a particular treat. There isn't a lounge, but you can relax in their cosy tea room in the evenings. Out of season they provide evening meals, or it's a few steps to the pub. Ty Mawr is ideally situated for walks, and the Welsh Highland Railway station is across the road.
01766 890837, snowdonaccommodation.co.uk; doubles from �50
JanCov

Torfaen

Ty Shon Jacob Farm, Tranch, Pontypool

I had gone through almost the full list of B&Bs on the Brecon Beacons National Park website and none of them had a room for two nights. Finally I decided to call Ty Shon Jacob Farm. I called them last because their website looked a bit rough and ready. When Agneta Harris, the owner, said on the phone that it would cost us just �25 a night, I was convinced it was only a matter of time before we discovered the catch. As we went higher and higher up a hill after turning off the highway in Pontypool, I began to wonder if it existed at all. But finally we saw a cheerful sign on the top of the hill to Ty Shon Jacob Farm. Energetic Agneta showed us to our wonderful room with a large luxurious bathroom. In the morning we got an excellent breakfast and Ty Shon Jacob Farm turned out to be a superb find. Highly recommend it for a weekend of writing, reading or rambling through the Brecon Beacons.
01495 757536, a1tourism.com/uk/tyshon.html, doubles from �50
Alaphia

• Bed and breakfasts
• United Kingdom
• Europe
• Hotels

Guardian readers

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/24/readers-tips-bed-breakfast-uk

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Fight inflation with interest rate rise, says top economist

Bank of England's newest member of rate setting committee says recent slump in UK growth could be a one-off

Interest rates need to rise quickly to combat inflation, which is expected to rise to 5% in the next few months, according to the newest member of the Bank of England's rate setting committee.

Martin Weale, who has written in the Guardian his first analysis of the economy since joining the monetary policy committee, said the recent slump in the UK's growth could be a one-off and should not deflect the committee from tackling inflation with higher rates.

Weale shocked the City and many of his fellow economists when he voted with fellow committee member Andrew Sentence for a rate rise. They argued for a 0.5% increase to 1% to prevent inflation getting above its current 3.7% level. Five members, including Bank of England governor Mervyn King voted for no change and one, Adam Posen, voted to keep interest rates low for several years.

Weale and Sentence fear that persistently high inflation will encourage demands for higher wages. They said businesses were also exploiting the perception that costs were due to rise by jacking up prices by more than inflation.

Weale's hawkish intervention poses a dilemma for the chancellor George Osborne, who has relied on the Bank of England maintaining low rates while he imposes steep public sector spending cuts.

A majority of Britain's 12 million mortgage holders have tracker or discount rate loans that will increase with rises in bank base rates. They are already under pressure from falling real incomes, and while they have enjoyed historically low rates for the last two years, face a fall in living standards this year that higher mortgage charges will make worse.

Key data this week will give policy makers a first taste of the economy's strength since the end of last year when official figures showed it had contracted 0.5%. Figures on the strength of the services sector, which accounts for some 70% of the economy, are published on Thursday.

King said last week that the falls in real earnings over the last five years had not been seen since the 1920s.

He said families will see their disposable income eaten up as they "pay the inevitable price" for the financial crisis. But he argued inflation was a short-term problem and would fade in importance next year once recent oil price and tax rises, and the VAT rise to 20% in particular, work their way through the figures.

King has become a key ally of Osborne's in convincing the electorate that it must accept high inflation, falling real incomes, higher taxes and cuts in public spending as the price of recovery. King said it was inevitable Britain would struggle to emerge from recession after the worst banking crisis for 70 years.

Weale said: "Much of the increase in inflation has been a consequence of sterling's depreciation, sharply rising commodity prices, and increased VAT. Unlike the experience of earlier decades, it has not been generated by rises in domestic costs. Given the potential consequences for the real economy of attempting to return inflation to the target rapidly, there is therefore a powerful argument that such 'one-off' influences on the inflation rate should simply be accommodated and inflation allowed to rise temporarily above the target ? just as it might fall below target if the exchange rate rose sharply as in the late 1990s. This is consistent with the MPC's mandate."

But he added: "A major risk is that the longer inflation remains above target and the more it exceeds its target, the greater the adverse effects on output of bringing it down. Each month's MPC decision needs to be made on its own merits, but this risk is a substantial one that I will continue to balance against others over the coming months."

• Inflation
• Economic growth (GDP)
• Interest rates
• Economic policy
• Green shoots
• Bank of England

Phillip Inman

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jan/30/inflation-interest-rate-rise-economist

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Jacqui Smith explores the world of porn for 5 Live

Former home secretary ? who charged two adult films watched by her husband to the taxpayer ? to interview porn stars

Former home secretary Jacqui Smith, who claimed on expenses for two adult films watched by her husband, is making a documentary about the porn industry.

The politician, who lost her Redditch seat in the 2010 election, will interview porn stars and film-makers for the Radio 5 Live show Porn Again.

She said: "As I know from my personal experience, porn fascinates us ? media and public alike. But we actually know very little about what it's like to work in the industry and what porn is doing to our society, our children and our relationships. "In making this programme, I've been able to challenge my own views and attitudes and I want others to have the chance to join the debate too."

The hour-long documentary, which airs on 3 March, will also include contributions from other politicians and feminist thinkers. After the programme is broadcast Smith will appear on a special edition of the Tony Livesey Show, where she will take calls from listeners.

Smith quit as home secretary in 2009 after a newspaper revealed two pay-per-view adult films had been charged to the taxpayer. She later said it had been a mistake to submit the bill, which also included two other pay-per-view films. Her husband Richard Timney said that it was he who had ordered the films. Timney, was forced to apologise for the "embarrassment" he had caused his wife, while she promised to repay all the costs involved, including the �10 charge for the two films. Smith had submitted the adult films as part of a �67 television subscription package bill in June 2008, but apologised for the mistake as she had submitted a bill for her internet package.

She had not been at the family home in Redditch, Worcestershire, on the two nights when the films had been viewed.

• Jacqui Smith
• Pornography
• Radio 5 Live
• Radio

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jan/29/jacqui-smith-porn-5-live

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A street-side taste of southern Italy

Tim Hayward at street market in Molise, where the stalls are full of fresh produce

Tim Hayward

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2011/jan/20/italian-street-market-molise-food

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The history men of Nantwich ? video

The quiet Cheshire town braces itself for the boom of cannons as history societies play out the Civil War battle

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/video/2011/jan/27/nantwich-cheshirecivil-war-video

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Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua ? review

Amy Chua's hugely controversial guide to successful parenting, Chinese style, is a tick-list of rights and unacknowledged wrongs

"A menace to society", "an inhuman mother", or "a simply arrogant and insensitive show-off": to judge by the flurry of hostile reaction, Amy Chua's book has hit a nerve. Her daughters are straight-A students and music prodigies, with the older daughter playing at Carnegie Hall at 14. Anything less would be a disgrace to the Tiger Mother.

It's a familiar story. Chinese students do better in school than other nationalities, just about everywhere. This is not, of course, because we are innately cleverer than other people; we just work much, much harder. This is clear from the oppressively strict regime that Chua describes. She finds it strange that western parents cannot comprehend why her daughters should be required to devote every single afternoon, 365 days a year, to homework and music practice, with no sleepovers, no playdates, no TV or computer games. And when they refuse to obey her, she makes them stand in the freezing cold, or threatens to give their toys to the Salvation Army.

I remember my own upbringing in the city of Handan, in central China. Apart from seven hours' sleep, all my waking moments were consumed by study ? I did not even come to the table until my food was lukewarm, so I could gulp it down quickly and get back to work. It paid off: I came high enough in the National Exam to get a place at Beijing University, the best in China.

But Chua's Chinese parenting backfired when her younger daughter Lulu cracked under her mother's non-stop pressure. She simply refused to obey, a huge crime for Chinese kids. Worse, she openly challenged her mother in public, screaming: "I don't want to be Chinese. Why can't you get that through your head? I hate the violin. I hate my life. I hate you, and I hate this family!" Chua did not mind her daughters hating her; as she constantly reminds them, her job is "to prepare you for the future ? not to make you like me". Still, her defeat made her pause and take a step back.

Does she have regrets? She admits that she had moments of self-doubt, as when she suddenly felt a pang for Sophia, running home from school with an armful of books to have time for piano practice. But they were rare, and only moments. That was how Chua was brought up, and she was a great success ? getting into Yale Law School and becoming a professor there, with a clever and loving husband and two equally clever children. She simply cannot understand what was wrong. But then, as Chua admits herself, she rarely reflects. She sets the goals and goes for them: she even believed Coco, the family dog, had hidden talents and should be pushed to excel as a show dog ? even if she eventually concluded that it was "perfectly fine for most dogs not to have a profession".

Chua's book would have benefited from more reflection. She says she does not know why she adopted the approach she did? it is just what Chinese families do. In fact, it goes back to the 2,500-year-old Confucian belief that education is superior and all else is inferior. For over a millennium, Chinese emperors chose officials to run China, from the county clerk to prime minister, out of the successful candidates in the imperial exam. Doing well would change your life and that of your family.

Chua is tough with her children because, like many Chinese people, she thinks of childhood as an investment ? the most crucial one. But if we are indeed successful, are we happy? Tens of millions of children in China do nothing but study, and have extremely limited social, emotional and practical skills. On the first day of university, thousands of parents turn up with their quilts; they sleep in the gym, so they can help their 18-year-olds with the difficult tasks of signing up for their courses, acquiring their food coupons, even making their beds.

"The truth is I'm not good at enjoying life. It's not one of my strengths," Chua confesses. "Happiness is not a concept I tend to dwell on." Perhaps her daughters, and especially her husband, Jed, could teach her a thing or two. Successful, fun-loving, and sensitive to the moods and feelings of their daughters, but also tolerant of Chua's abusive regime, Jed comes across as the saint who provides the much-needed balance for the children and brings his wife back from her moments of sheer madness.

In helping to start a debate about what is good and what is missing in both Chinese and western parenting, this book has already served a purpose its author probably did not intend. Chua hammers western parenting, but she could learn from it too. And if she knew her Confucius, she would know that moderation in all things is the essence of Chinese culture.

• Parents and parenting
• Chinese literature

Sun Shuyun

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/jan/30/battle-hymn-tiger-mother-review

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Why TripAdvisor is getting bad reviews

The travel website that compiles millions of holidaymakers' star ratings could face legal action ? hotel owner Duncan Bannatyne complains the consumer resource is bad for business

In quiet moments, Jared Blank likes to kick back by looking at reviews of the world's greatest hotels on TripAdvisor. Specifically, the terrible reviews. Blank is a long-time analyst of the travel industry, and a user of TripAdvisor ? the consumer review site that has become one of the world's biggest travel resources, attracting 41.6 million users a month, and featuring 40m reviews of hotels and restaurants worldwide. But the pettiness and hysteria of some of the complaints never fail to astonish.

"No melon is ever ripe enough for people on TripAdvisor," he says. "There are hotels that rate in the top five in the world, and people are still complaining. I'm always shocked by the comments: from the quality of the fruit, to the mobile-phone reception on an island in the middle of nowhere, to whether the person on the front desk was smiling sufficiently upon their arrival. It blows my mind."

I look up the TripAdvisor reviews of the Ritz in London. Out of 279, 166 give the hotel five stars out of five, but 27 give it just one, and their reasons are varied and revealing ? about the hotel, and also the reviewers. "Beware the stuffy and outdated dress code," warns one, "apparently being dressed head to toe in Armani and having a Prada handbag isn't good enough for this officious and petty hotel." Visitors praise the helpful staff and comfortable beds, but there are complaints about a musty smell, the paucity of gluten-free treats at afternoon tea and, as Blank predicted, the requisite gripe about "rotten fruit". It is a window into a delicious alternative world: one of disgruntlement for the reviewer, schadenfreude for the reader.

In fact, those reviews of the Ritz sum up all that is simultaneously brilliant and annoying about TripAdvisor: its celebration of consumer power, of the right for everyone's opinion to be heard and accorded equal weight ? and the bewildering contradictions in its reviews.

No one is more annoyed by TripAdvisor right now than Duncan Bannatyne, the Dragons' Den panellist, who is considering legal action against the site, which he has called "despicable and cowardly". Bannatyne complained that a "dishonest" review compared his Charlton House spa hotel in Somerset to Fawlty Towers and asked TripAdvisor to remove the posting. "They have tried to bully me, they have sent threatening letters and emails, they have urged me to shut up, but they won't speak to me directly," he said. He says publishing defamatory or fake reviews is a threat to hoteliers, who cannot fight back.

Emma O'Boyle, UK spokeswoman for TripAdvisor, then issued this statement: "We offer hoteliers the opportunity to respond to every review written on TripAdvisor. However, in the case of Bannatyne's hotels we have had several worrying examples of individuals being intimidated by Bannatyne and his hotel representatives. TripAdvisor has a zero-tolerance approach on bullying as we defend the freedom of speech. We also take fraud very seriously and will investigate these occasions thoroughly."

The current size of the site must have been inconceivable when it was set up 10 years ago in Massachusetts, after an epiphany experienced by its co-founder, Stephen Kaufer, while booking a holiday to Mexico. He had gone to a travel agent, been given three brochures, "but I had no idea when this travel agent had last been to this destination," he said in an interview last year, "and obviously she was getting paid to send me to those places". So he decided to set up a resource where people could say what they really thought about their holidays.

One of the site's most popular features is its 6m photos, the snapshots that show the real size of the rooms, the state of the carpets and curtains, the quality of the breakfast. The terrible reviews prick the pomposity of hotels that would once have gone unchallenged: no establishment is above a negative review on TripAdvisor.

The result has been a seismic shift in power, from hotelier to consumer, which has, in many ways, been enormously positive for travellers. Where once we were vulnerable to the quirks and rudeness of countless Basil Fawltys, we now have a source of both warning and redress.

But is TripAdvisor taking the joy out of travel? With its dense tangle of information on everything from the size of the towels to the brand of coffee a hotel uses, the site has become a bramble patch to negotiate. You can look at reviews grouped by rating (five stars is "excellent", one star is "terrible") and by type of traveller ? people who were away on business, for instance, or on holiday with their family. But on some level this just adds to the difficulty of sleuthing out a verdict. The English-language reviews are most likely to have been written by an American (13.6 million of the site's users are from the US, while 4.5 million are from the UK), and so consumers have to try to figure out whether they would have the same expectations of service and style as, say, a father of four from Florida. You can end up spending as much time choosing a place to stay as you spend away on holiday.

You know a problem resonates with the mainstream when it turns up in a Michael McIntyre sketch and there he was recently, it turns up in a Michael McIntyre sketch. You find a hotel you like, he said, "and it looks amazing. Big five-star reviews, five star, five star, paradise, it says, heaven, the best hotel you'll ever stay in. 'Oh, it was just the most miraculous two weeks of our lives. We were picked up from the airport on a unicorn, which flew us to our destination, which was so wonderfully beautiful, the beds were so comfortable, the fish would just come up and sacrifice themselves on the plate' . . . And you're sitting there at home, and you think, 'This is it, darling. This is the one we should go to ? everybody loves this hotel.' But you keep searching, and you'll find it, page 36, one star. 'The waiter slapped my wife in the face.'"

If TripAdvisor has caused frustration among consumers, it has sparked fury in the travel industry ? Bannatyne is not alone. Many hoteliers are enraged about the material posted about them, and are fighting back ? both through legal routes, and in person. Last September it was reported that a cancer patient had been thrown out of a hotel in Blackpool after allegedly posting a negative review on TripAdvisor during his stay, reading: "dingy room, very poor furniture, only two handtowels . . . Definitely DO NOT BOOK HERE." The Telegraph reported that the hotel asked the man to leave for bad behaviour.

An "online reputation services" company called KwikChex, acting on behalf of more than 1,000 hoteliers, says it estimates there are at least 27,000 legally defamatory comments on TripAdvisor, "allegations that are false and should, if necessary, be tested in court". Chris Emmins, who runs Kwikchex, is in the process of contacting TripAdvisor about some of these specific comments, with "a notification saying: 'We regard these reviews as suspect, this user may now be open to legal action, please inform them.' We're hoping that people will reconsider their comments, particularly if they are a competitor, and remove the material they've posted . . . In virtually every country, when it comes to defamation, the judge will ask what opportunity the defendant has been given to correct the situation, so we're going this route to say, legally, we've done everything we can." After that, Emmins suggests, they'll take further legal action against the defamatory reviews that haven't been taken down.

One of the hoteliers involved in the KwikChex action is Frank McCready, who owns the Old Brewery guest house in North Yorkshire, and runs a website called I Hate TripAdvisor. He thought TripAdvisor was a brilliant idea at first, but soon changed his mind. "A lot of small businesses are being damaged," he says. "Some of the reviews that are put up there are malicious; you have competitors trying to denigrate other hotels in the area, and properties achieving reviews that seem impossible. As a hotelier in a small town in Yorkshire, I know all the other properties, and every town has a place that people know locally as somewhere you wipe your feet on the way out of. We ended up being rated lower than them, despite the fact that we've got three stars."

McCready would "like changes in the law that meant people who posted reviews had to be visible and accountable ? if you publish something you have to use reasonable restraint, make sure your facts are right. I'm angry at the moment that it's not transparent, it's not honest, it's not straight. It's seriously damaging people's livelihoods."

Des Hague, owner of Thornsett House, a bed and breakfast outside Sheffield, says he has had enough of fighting for more positive coverage online; he is going to close. Recently, he has seen a massive drop in customers, "and I've decided to go and travel ? that's been a long-time aim of mine, so I'm running the place down," he says. "I was going to leave it open, with Kitty my cleaner running it in my absence, but it's a full-time job now, keeping on top of this online marketing. There are all sorts of skulduggeries going on, and Kitty is in her 70s ? it wouldn't be fair to her."

While these arguments rage and swirl, TripAdvisor is growing every day (there are 21 new posts a minute) with an average of 300 reviews for each hotel. The Bellagio in Las Vegas has the most, with 4,793 and counting. Sara Benson, a travel expert and writer, who runs the website The Indie Traveler, say she loved the site when it first started, because "it was full of savvy people, who were very technorati and experienced travellers, but now it's such a tidal wave of raw data that it almost makes you want to give up."

But once you're aware of TripAdvisor, it's virtually impossible to look away. Booking a holiday can be a highly emotional transaction, involving terror at the cost and anxiety that we only have two weeks away each year. Charlotte de la Pena, a teacher from London, has been kicking herself since a terrible trip to Biarritz, where she booked what looked like a great hotel, and was bumped to a much less salubrious property on arrival. It was only on her return that she checked TripAdvisor, to find that user after user had reported the same problem.

Not only is there a slew of information, it's not clear how much of it is reliable. Travel writer Edward Hasbrouck reported that at a marketing conference in 2006 a top advertising agency publicly declared it had a division "devoted to seeding online forums and bulletin boards with targeted content".

Whereas eBay users can only post a review on something they've actually purchased, TripAdvisor isn't a transactional site ? it doesn't sell holidays, so anyone can post a review, without having to prove they've stayed in the hotel they're commenting on. When I ask O'Boyle from TripAdvisor whether there might be moves to make people verify their stay, she points out that "it's illegal to post fake reviews on the site in the UK, the US, and a number of other countries, and we do penalise hotels that have been found to be manipulating it. We have a number of measures in place to make sure that the reviews on the site are legitimate, we've got a whole content team that's responsible for finding and eradicating the fake reviews . . . If the reviews people read didn't match the reality, and the experience, people wouldn't keep returning, and we wouldn't have 53% year-on-year growth."

Even if you assume all the reviews are real, there's still the issue of those incredibly polarised verdicts to deal with. Kaufer's advice is that people should "ignore the very best and the very worst" reviews, and while this is undoubtedly wise, it's the reviews in the "terrible" category that introduce an unshakeable note of anxiety into your holiday plans. On an online messageboard for prospective brides, one woman writes about the paranoia she is experiencing having booked a resort for her wedding after consulting TripAdvisor. "I periodically check to make sure my resort is still getting good reviews," she says, but "the two most recent are TERRIBLE! The ones before that are good reviews, and overall the resort gets good reviews ? but I just can't help but think 'what if everyone hates it and has a terrible time?'"

Benson believes our growing dependence on TripAdvisor is potentially making us less adventurous as travellers. "We're more risk averse," she says. "If a place isn't listed on TripAdvisor, or doesn't have good reviews, people don't want to try it." Where people used to set out on their travels with an open mind and a single guidebook, ready to be surprised, many of us now set off with hundreds of opinions churning through our heads.

In some cases too, where hoteliers are engaging with their reviews, it's genuinely changing the travel industry for the better. The owner of a Hampshire campsite had a glimpse of the dark side of TripAdvisor not long ago, when a customer "sent me an email saying he wanted a refund in exchange for not putting a bad review on TripAdvisor. I just wrote back and said, 'I'm sorry, that's highly unethical, I can't give you any money back.' So he put the review on."

But generally, the owner has found the site a great resource. He appreciates the fact that it doesn't allow bad language, and that he can put up a direct response to a negative review. And he has found it instructive. "The good reviews make you feel lovely, and the bad reviews make you do something about any problems."

"The public loves TripAdvisor," he says, "and you're not going to change that. Hoteliers might be disgruntled, but they won't get a good reception if they fight back." After all, however ripe you might think your melons are, the customer is always right.

• Tripadvisor
• Hotels
• Hostels
• Internet
• Travel websites

Kira Cochrane

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/jan/25/tripadvisor-duncan-bannatyne

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