The move comes as a group of prominent cultural figures, many of whom have contributed to The Observer, submitted an open letter to Press Gazette blasting the possible sale, saying it is “disastrous” and values the paper “at or near zero”.
Up to 400 staff attended a meeting of the combined Guardian and Observer NUJ chapel on Thursday (3 October) where strong feelings were aired opposing the deal.
The packed mandatory meeting went on for more than an hour and was a mixture of in-person and via Google Meet.
Two votes were passed unanimously: to put the matter “into dispute” and “if necessary” to hold “industrial action”.
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The Guardian and Observer titles are owned by the Scott Trust, whose purpose is “to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity…remaining faithful to its liberal tradition”.
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Press Gazette understands staff complained about what was seen as a failure of the Trust to protect plural liberal journalism in tough times. Some spoke about a sense of “betrayal” amongst Observer journalists who have worked at the company for 30 years or more.
There was also concern raised that readers who have made financial donations in order to support Observer journalism will feel misled if the title is sold.
Mention was also made of The Guardian’s “Not For Sale” marketing campaign last year which emphasised the title’s editorial independence. Some staff at the meeting said it was ironic that in fact The Observer did seem to be for sale and apparently at a nominal price.
Guardian Media Group announced on 17 September that it was in a period of exclusive negotiations to sell The Observer to Tortoise Media, which is mainly a podcast publisher.
Around 70 Observer staff would transfer over with the deal.
Both the Scott Trust and Guardian management appear keen to do the deal, with chief executive Anna Bateson describing it as “an exciting opportunity” to build The Observer and “allow The Guardian to focus on its growth strategy”.
Press Gazette understands that Harding has met with some Observer staff but there are still widespread concerns about job security if the deal goes through. Guardian and Observer journalists currently benefit from an NUJ house agreement which includes a no compulsory redundancies promise.
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A Guardian spokesperson said: “We are in negotiations about the offer from Tortoise Media to buy the Observer and we are grateful to everyone who has fed their thoughts into discussions so far. One of the reasons for being transparent about the offer was so that we could openly engage with Observer staff. There is still a lot of information to work through and we will continue to discuss internally.”
Prominent cultural figures blast Tortoise bid for The Observer in open letter
Also on Thursday a group of more than 70 prominent UK cultural figures including Oscar-winning actors and directors and some of the UK’s leading novelists and playwrights addressed an open letter to the Scott Trust and Guardian Media Group describing the possible deal as “a betrayal” and calling on them “to reject this ill-considered offer at once”.
Among the signatories were actor Ralph Fiennes, musician and broadcaster Jarvis Cocker, broadcaster Carole Vorderman, playwright Tom Stoppard and actress Lesley Manville.
The letter in full:
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The news that the Guardian chief executive and editor-in-chief are actively considering a takeover of the Observer by Tortoise has left us shocked and dismayed. While Tortoise is a respected media outlet, we believe that the move would be disastrous for the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper and its journalists, for the Guardian and for liberal journalism.
While figures of £100m are being bid for other publications, this poorly funded approach sets the value of the Observer at or near zero. The proposal also envisages moving it from a resilient and well-funded newspaper publisher to a small, loss-making digital startup whose funding for the takeover would in all likelihood come from private equity.
Is Tortoise really committed to continuing with the Observer in print? If it were to discontinue the newspaper or if the business were to fail, the Guardian’s editor-in-chief and chief executive and the Scott Trust, which owns Guardian Media Group, would go down in history as being responsible for the demise of the last liberal Sunday newspaper.
The immediate financial threat to the newspaper’s journalism, and its staff, is clear. Even if it were to survive, the Observer would be much changed – cut off from its network of foreign correspondents, sports reporters and business journalists. Leading writers, familiar to the paper’s readers for years, would be gone. Guardian supporters would lose the Observer’s voice and presence on the Guardian website and app. And if, as seems inevitable, the Observer’s politics, arts and culture coverage is to go behind a paywall, then its unique voice in Britain’s national conversation will be muted.
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The Scott Trust, the Observer’s parent for 30 years, prides itself on providing a home for journalism free from the taint of corporate interests. Its engagement with this offer, however, suggests that the Observer’s award-winning reporting is something that the organisation, with its £1.3bn endowment, is no longer interested in protecting.
We call on Guardian Media Group and the Scott Trust to reject this ill-considered offer at once, and to retain the Observer as a key element of its seven-day print and online operation. Failure to do so would be a betrayal of the Observer, its staff and its readers.
Yours sincerely,
Monica Ali (author)
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Joan Bakewell (journalist and peer)
Julian Barnes (author)
Mary Beard (classicist and broadcaster)
Frank Cottrell Boyce (screenwriter and novelist)
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Rosie Boycott (journalist and peer)
Asa Butterfield (actor)
Dorothy Byrne (former television news executive)
Simon Callow (actor)
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Bridget Christie (comedian)
Eliza Clark (author)
Jarvis Cocker (musician and broadcaster)
Jonathan Coe (author)
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Richard Coles (author and priest)
Stephen Daldry (director and producer)
Janie Dee (actress)
Jeremy Deller (artist)
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Clint Dyer (director and actor)
Richard Eyre (director)
Ralph Fiennes (actor and producer)
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (chef and broadcaster)
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Nicole Flattery (author)
Michael Frayn (playwright and author)
Mark Gatiss (actor and director)
Bobby Gillespie (musician)
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Howard Goodall (composer)
Hugh Grant (actor)
Colin Greenwood (musician)
Philippa Gregory (author)
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Sheila Hancock (actress)
David Hare (playwright and director)
Robert Harris (author)
Lord Peter Hennessy (historian and peer)
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Billy Howle (actor)
Toby Jones (actor)
Asif Kapadia (filmmaker)
Jackie Kay (poet and author)
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Helena Kennedy (barrister and peer)
Peter Kosminsky (writer and director)
David Kynaston (historian)
Duncan Kenworthy OBE (producer)
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Daisy Lafarge (author and poet)
David Lan (playwright)
Dame Hermione Lee (biographer and academic)
Anton Lesser (actor)
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Adrian Lester (actor and director)
Damian Lewis (actor)
Joe Lycett (comedian)
Caroline Lucas (politician)
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Lesley Manville (actress)
Robert McCrum (author)
David Morrissey (actor and fiilmmaker)
Ian McEwan (author and screenwriter)
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Robert Macfarlane (author and academic)
Sophie Mackintosh (author)
Sienna Miller (actress)
Abi Morgan (playwright and screenwriter)
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Michael Morpurgo (author)
Mike Newell (director)
Bill Nighy (actor)
Megan Nolan (author)
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James O’Brien (broadcaster)
Mark O’Connell (writer)
Andi Oliver (chef)
Michael Ondaatje (poet and writer)
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Richard Ovenden (librarian and author)
Chris Packham (naturalist and broadcaster)
PawelPawlikowski (filmmaker)
Maxine Peake (actress)
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Alistair Petrie (actor)
Jonathan Pryce (actor)
Philip Pullman (author)
Steve Punt (comedian)
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Mark Rylance (actor)
Michael Rosen (author)
Dominic Savage (director)
Tom Shakespeare (sociologist)
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Lemn Sissay (author and broadcaster)
Gillian Slovo (author)
Tom Stoppard (playwright and screenwriter)
Olivia Sudjic (author)
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Wolfgang Tilmans (photographer)
Carol Vorderman (broadcaster)
Harriet Walter (actress)
John Ware (journalist)
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Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our “Letters Page” blog
As written in the Mirror, this method is particularly helpful for those prone to giving their plants too much water in one go.
Orchids, for instance, thrive with this technique.
These plants need a temperature shift between day and night to bloom properly, and the cold from the ice cubes mimics that effect, encouraging healthy growth.
Not only does this trick make watering plants easier, but it also helps keep things clean—no more messy spills from overwatering.
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And the benefits don’t stop there.
From using natural remedies like salt and vinegar to combat weeds, to mixing soap and other household items for soil health, the experts are full of tips for low-maintenance gardening.
So, the next time your plants need a drink, reach for the ice cubes and let them melt their way to a healthier life.
“War in the age of AI demands new weaponry”, the opinion piece by Eric Schmidt, former chief executive of Google and founding partner of Innovation Endeavors, was certainly an eye-opener (Opinion, FT Weekend, September 21).
“The defence industry is having a moment,” is his opening sentence. Schmidt is clearly of the opinion that providing weaponry for war is a good thing. It definitely is profitable. He talks of “weapon systems that are affordable, attritable and abundant” and says that “many more opportunities are coming for start-ups and defence unicorns.”
Affordable for whom? And at what cost to human life in numerous parts of the world? I was reminded of the Bob Dylan song “Masters of War” from 1963:
Porto 3-3 Manchester United(Pepe 27′, Omorodion 34′, 50’| Rashford 7′, Hojlund 20′, Maguire 90+1)
ESTADIO DO DRAGAO — Time’s up, Erik. If Roy Keane had his way, he wouldn’t even be allowed on the plane home after this.
To throw away a two-goal lead and not win a match once can be forgiven, passed off as an aberration you won’t let happen again.
Astonishingly for England’s most successful club, since Erik ten Hag joined in 2022 no Premier League club have conceded three or more goals more times in all competitions than United.
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Read that again – any current Premier League club. There is fundamentally something psychologically fragile about Manchester United. Only one man is to blame for that.
With effectively two games to save his job, Ten Hag needed a convincing victory in Porto to win over the growing, increasingly vitriolic army of naysayers. It started so well, 2-0 up inside 20 minutes, before his vulnerable shirkers capitulated in a circus-like manner only they can.
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Harry Maguire’s stoppage time header did snatch a late point, but that is not enough, such is the pressure on the Dutchman.
Bruno Fernandes’ red card only added to the woe. A battling point is how Ten Hag will bill this, but even those who back him are not that naïve.
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In thick mist on the banks of the River Douro, United fans were in fine voice pre-match, determined to forget the predicament their team find themselves in. Such is the desperation, several groups of supporters were overheard pining for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to return – things really are that bad.
What those bewildered supporters needed was an early goal, all the more sweeter given it came via the boot of a player in desperate need of a lift.
When Marcus Rashford picked the ball up on the left flank he had very little on, so simply drove through a gaping hole between two Porto defenders before squeezing a low strike underneath stopper Diogo Costa.
Perhaps Ten Hag had sent the heavies round to rough Costa up in the night, as he was at fault again to put United further in command as Rasmus Hojlund, on his first start of the season made it two, again through Costa.
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Home and dry? Comfortable victories are not really United’s thing under Ten Hag, especially in Europe. But they were, at this point, in total command.
To let it slip once more is inexcusable. Superstar footballers need to be given the belief by their bosses that they have the ability and knowhow to see out wins.
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Not this one. In the blink of an eye, Porto had two in two minutes to level proceedings as English football’s perennial bucklers did it again.
Pepe nudged home from close range after a sluggish Matthijs de Ligt was slow to react to Andre Onana’s save, before goal-machine Samu Omorodion, who almost became Chelsea’ eight-choice striker in the summer, headed a quick-fire second.
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Rapid capitulation is a trend which has really brought the Ten Hag project to its knees. Just in Europe since the start of last season, United have conceded two goals in four minutes at Bayern Munich, two in 10 mins at home to Galatasaray, two in four minutes at Copenhagen, two in nine minutes at Galatasaray and now two in seven minutes versus Porto.
Omorodion sensed blood, and with De Ligt seeing stars, surprise starter Casemiro struggling to keep up and Lisandro Martinez all at sea, the Porto hitman stole the march on his marker and hammered home the third early in the second half.
There were wild celebrations as Maguire stepped off the bench to deny Porto victory, but in the cold light of day, another bin-fire at the circus not what Ten Hag needed. Aston Villa are primed to file that final nail in the coffin on Sunday.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
A strike that closed US east and Gulf coast ports will be suspended after the dockworkers’ union and the group representing ocean carriers reached an agreement on Thursday, averting for now a costly blow to the economy ahead of the presidential election.
The agreement extends the International Longshoremen’s Association’s employment contract, which had expired, until January 15. It will allow them to return to work for the first time in three days, the union and the shipping lines’ group said in a joint statement.
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Negotiations, which had been at an “impasse” over wages and automation for months, would now continue, the statement said.
The work stoppage, which started on Tuesday, had threatened to upend the US economy by snarling global supply chains and halting imports of fresh foods, pharmaceuticals and other consumer goods. JPMorgan analysts estimated that it could cost the US economy as much as $4.5bn a day.
The three dozen affected ports span from Maine to Texas and together handle one-quarter of the country’s annual international trade, worth $3tn, per a Conference Board analysis.
US President Joe Biden congratulated the union and the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), which represents the carriers, on the deal, saying in a statement that it “represents critical progress towards a strong contract”.
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Frustration over the economic fallout of the strike, compounded by fears over how product shortages could delay relief efforts for states devastated by Hurricane Helene, had opened up a new line of attack on Biden and vice-president Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, ahead of the November 5 election.
Donald Trump, the former president and Republican nominee, claimed earlier this week the work stoppage “would never have happened” had he been in the White House.
Business leaders had also criticised Biden’s approach to the strike, repeatedly asking him to invoke a federal law that would temporarily force the longshoremen to resume loading and unloading container ships. Biden said he wanted the groups to come to an agreement on their own.
A coalition of 272 trade groups representing retailers, farmers, restaurants, meat processors, truckers and other industries had called the work stoppage a “dire situation” on Wednesday, with “massive negative ramifications for our industries and the economy”.
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It threatened the import of consumer items from bananas to coffee to clothing. Some Americans even began panic buying and hoarding toilet paper, prompting a trade group that represents paper manufacturers to issue a statement saying it did not expect the strike to have an impact on supply. An estimated 85 per cent of such products are manufactured in the US, the American Forest and Paper Association says.
ILA leaders told picketing workers the deal that included a 62 per cent raise over the six-year term of the contract. ILA members earned between $20-$39 an hour under the old contract — with overtime pay that pushed a third of New York-based workers’ annual earnings above $200,000 during fiscal year 2019-2020.
They are also fighting the adoption of port robotics that they say could eliminate jobs. Ports in the Netherlands and Australia are already primarily operated by remote-controlled cranes, employing few human workers.
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