... and meet her brash stand-in who called Spice Girls ‘Tory scum’
Afghan interpreters told to wait another YEAR for UK sanctuary
NEXT to finding your name in Who’s Who, an invitation to appear on Radio 4’ s Desert Island Discs once meant admission to a very exclusive club. But though the days when its guests were exclusively figures of merit and achievement have past, the programme has remained a great favourite thanks to that familiar signature tune and unchanging format.
So the news that Lauren Laverne, a former pop singer, model and radio DJ, whose interviews are generally littered with four-letter words, is its new host — albeit temporary — will leave devotees of the series nervous, to say the least.
Certainly we should be under no illusion about her politics. ‘Tory scum’ was the way she charmingly described the Spice Girls, whose success was infinitely greater than her own stab at Britpop in the Nineties.
On wealth distribution, she opined that if she had to give half her wealth away ‘to some old granny, you can’t say No, can you? Unless you’re some kind of Tory gimp’.
A generous offer, albeit one full of political venom, from someone who a year ago was revealed in the BBC’s list of top earners to be paid just under £ 240,000 annually for her Radio 6 Music mid-morning show.
How very different from Desert Island Disc’s first broadcast, when the concept was introduced to listeners by an announcer who said a ‘wellknown person’ was being cast away with ‘eight gramophone records ... assuming they had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles’.
One might charitably dismiss Miss Laverne’s foul-mouthed utterings merely as her being a teenage show-off — she was, after all, only 19 at the time — but over the years her views have hardly mellowed. If anything, they’ve hardened.
She has, for example, said she would support the abolition of the monarchy, and was accused of abusing opponents of the gay marriage bill after the parliamentary vote in 2013.
Her Twitter remarks in which she mocked those opposed to the measure were later withdrawn, though not before the BBC primly announced that presenters’ tweets ‘do not represent the views of the BBC’. Asked by the New Statesman for her views on Nick Clegg and David Cameron, she was dismissive. ‘I have very little interest in them as individuals. I’m interested in, and generally disapproving of, their policies.’
She has used the f-word on several occasions in articles she’s written for the Observer.
She has talked, too, about being raised in a political household in the North East and reading the paper’s sister publication, The Guardian, adding: ‘I can’t read too much Tory (sic) without my parents disowning me.’
Laverne has also spoken of the influence of the miners’ strike of the mid-Eighties. One grandfather was a coalminer, another a ship-builder. ‘We were a liberal, political, lively, noisy family,’ she said.
All this might scarcely matter if Laverne was taking over another pop music show on the BBC, and not one of our most cherished broadcasting institutions.
So why has she been handed this most precious role?
At 40, Laverne is regarded as a rising star within the Corporation. She is due to be promoted in the New Year to present the breakfast show on Radio 6 — which the BBC says ‘brings together the cutting edge music of today and the iconic and ground-breaking music of the past 40 years’. Two years ago, she was drafted in as the host of Late Night Woman’s Hour. Certainly, the BBC wanted the
AFGHAN interpreters promised the chance of sanctuary in Britain have been told it may be more than a year before decisions are made on their fate.
Dozens of translators who were the ‘eyes and ears’ of British troops warn the delay leaves them exposed to a resurgent Taliban who have said they will ‘die like dogs’.
Britain’s longest serving translator was recently attacked by a suspected Taliban gunman outside his home in Kabul, the Afghan capital.
Two more say they are ‘in talks’ with people smugglers to enter Britain illegally rather than face more months of uncertainty over their cases.
It is 11 weeks since Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson gave fresh hope to translators by announcing he was tearing up a ‘failed’ policy which meant the men who risked their lives for UK troops had been abandoned.
Officials said about 50 who served on the frontline in Helmand, and their families, would be granted visas to Britain under new qualifying measures.
The decision was a huge victory for the Daily Mail’s three-year Betrayal Of The Brave campaign, which highlighted how interpreters left in Afghanistan were shot at, issued with death threats and even executed on their doorsteps.
Writing in the Mail, Mr Williamson said: ‘We will do what is right to honour their extraordinary service.’
But translators, who were told to apply for their cases to be reviewed by a special UK unit in Kabul, say they feel ‘betrayed again’ because of the confusion, lack of clarity and information.
Former SAS translator Abdul, 33, who worked on the frontlines of Helmand for five years, said: ‘When I contacted the unit they could provide little information and said it could be more than a year before a decision was made.
‘There was no suggestion of an interview or fresh examination of my service or the threat to my family situation.’
His concerns were echoed by Waheed, 26, who worked on the frontlines for three years and is negotiating with people smugglers over coming to the UK.
‘Mr Williamson’s announcement gave us fresh hope but nothing appears to be happening,’ he said.
‘My best chance of living a safe life will be to try and come to the UK with people smugglers.’
Shaffy, 28, who was branded an ‘infidel spy’ and told he would ‘die like a dog’ days after he was shown on TV with then prime minister David Cameron during a visit to Helmand, said: ‘It is nearly three months since I gave my details to the unit and applied under the policy but I have heard nothing.’
Under the old relocation scheme, interpreters had to be serving on an arbitrary date in December 2012 to qualify. They also had to have served in Helmand – the scene of the fiercest fighting – for at least a year.
Mr Williamson promised he would widen the qualifying period to include those who spent at least a year with British forces as far back as 2006.
The qualifying period for the relocation policy now extends back to May 1, 2006 – and those made redundant up to 2012. But translators claim there was no formal redundancy policy between 2006 and 2012.
Rafi, who was blown up in Helmand and became the superviser for all the UK military’s translators, said: ‘I know of no one made redundant – contracts were just terminated – so this needs to be explained.’
Three weeks after Mr Williamson announced the change in policy, suspected Taliban gunmen attacked Britain’s longest serving translator who had previously been refused sanctuary.
Two men opened fire as the 34year- old translator, known as Ricky, returned home in his car in Kabul. Ricky jumped clear and ran inside his house. One bullet hit his seat. He said: ‘I was very lucky. I believe it was the Taliban or Islamic State because of my work for the British forces.’
Ricky said last night that British officials had ‘accepted I am in danger’ but merely offered to relocate him in Afghanistan.
‘I have done 17 years’ service for the UK Government but now that I need their help, they are trying to leave me and my family here to the very real dangers, it is so disappointing,’ he said.
An MoD spokesman said: ‘Our specialist team is working hard to identify which interpreters are eligible for relocation. This clearly takes time, as it requires close collaboration with other departments, the Afghan government and the International Organisation for Migration.’
BETRAYAL OF THE BRAVE