The Guardian Media Group(GMG) chief executive has a decade-long friendship with the man trying to buy the Observer which includes a holiday together aboard a £15m superyacht, i can reveal.
Responding to a list of questions from i, a spokesperson for the newspaper group confirmed its chief executive Anna Bateson had a long-standing friendship with James Harding, co-founder of digital start-up Tortoise Media, which preceded his recent controversial bid to buy the UK’s oldest Sunday newspaper.
GMG confirmed the pair have previously holidayed together on the £15m superyacht owned by telecoms multimillionaire Sir Charles Dunstone. GMG sources said Ms Bateson was on the yacht because her husband worked as a senior director for Sir Charles’s telecoms firm Talk Talk.
Guardian and Observer staff, who are threatening industrial action over the deal, said in the interests of transparency Ms Bateson should have fully declared her relationship with Mr Harding or even recused herself from discussions to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
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They said bosses must now make a full statement over the extent of the personal relationship between Mr Harding and Ms Bateson and any influence it might have had over the deal.
A GMG source acknowledged the decade-long friendship, which had been the subject of speculation among staff at its London HQ and claimed Ms Bateson “informally” declared her friendship with Mr Harding to the Scott Trust and the GMG board.
Staff have threatened industrial action over the proposal to sell The Observer to ‘slow news’ digital platform Tortoise Media (Photo by Getty Images)
The source confirmed Mr Harding and Ms Bateson, along with their spouses, have been guests on Shemara, the 210-ft luxury superyacht owned by Sir Charles, a former Tory party donor who also has close ties to leading Labour figures.
The 1930s-built vessel, which boasts ten staterooms, was refurbished by Sir Charles to resemble a private members’ club mixed with a “luxurious stately home,” according to reports.
The Shemara yacht on the open seas in Cannes, France, in 2017 (photo – Alamy)
Mr Harding and Ms Bateson, appointed Guardian chief executive in 2002 after a number of senior executive roles, journeyed on Shemara in 2017, it was confirmed.
But the newspaper group said the trip and the pair’s ongoing association had no relevance to the sale proposal.
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Mr Harding, a former editor of The Times and director of BBC News, declined to comment on both his holiday with Ms Bateson and their friendship. He is set to face questioning over the relationship when he meets Observer journalists next week to set out his vision for the paper, should his bid succeed.
Anna Bateson (r) with Jenny Halpern Prince at the Hornby and Halpern Prince Christmas drinks in Mayfair in 2018 (Photo by Dave Benett/Getty Images for Hornby and Halpern Prince)
Opponents of the deal question why GMG agreed to enter exclusive talks to sell The Observer to Tortoise, which recorded a £4.6m loss last year and has not revealed how it will finance plans to invest £25m over five years.
One senior journalist at the newspaper group said: “The friendship with Harding is top of the questions the chapel will be asking GMG management. Anna Bateson told staff Tortoise was all ‘good people.’ She didn’t explain she had a prior association with Harding.”
Another said: “This association could have been significant enough for her to recuse herself from the discussions? The question of whether Tortoise is a viable buyer and has the backing for its plans is crucial to the Observer’s future.”
GMG entered into discussions to see the Observer to Tortoise after Mr Harding approached executives with what Ms Bateson called an “exciting strategic proposal for Guardian Media Group.”
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A spokesperson for GMG said: “This article states that two people, who had nothing to do with their current roles, before Tortoise Media existed, were both invited on the same holiday almost a decade ago.”
“The proposed sale of the Observer has required months of discussion and due diligence from many, including independent advisers, the Scott Trust board and the Guardian Media Group board.”
“To diminish this to a decision for two people who know each other is a deeply flawed analysis of what is required to undertake such an acquisition.”
Observer staff want bosses to consider a counter-proposal, involving financial support from readers, which they say would allow the paper to thrive within the Scott Trust, the £1.3bn endowment fund created to support The Guardian’s journalism.
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They have the support of 70 leading cultural figures including Armando Iannucci and Hugh Grant, who said in a letter that the Tortoise deal was a “betrayal” of The Observer’s liberal traditions.
Mr Harding has been meeting potential investors but has yet to indicate the sources of funding for his planned £25m renewal of the Observer, which sells £100,000 copies.
He has pledged to transfer all of the paper’s 70-strong staff and allies say he would give The Observer the digital platform it currently lacks.
GMG insiders say the Observer’s future is bleak within the Scott Trust, which is obliged to use its resources to preserve the Guardian’s reporting.
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However Alan Rusbridger, former Guardian editor-in-chief, questioned the Tortoise business plan.
Speaking on his Prospect media podcast, Mr Rusbridger said: “No-one really knows what James’s Observer would really look like.”
“It’s difficult to imagine a Sunday paper without Sport. He’s going to have to buy that in, either from the Guardian or elsewhere and suddenly that £5m (a year) doesn’t look so comfortable.”
The campaign to halt the sale was boosted by a letter signed by three former Observer editors, Roger Alton, John Mulholland and Will Hutton, who expressed “profound concern” over the move.
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The editors wrote: “The entire exercise seems to have scant respect for earlier commitments or ongoing responsibilities to staff, readers and wider stakeholders. Surely our shared aim is as far as possible to protect The Observer’s long-standing tradition of upholding liberal values as a great Sunday paper?”
The trio said they feared that Tortoise’s £5m a-year additional investment would be “significantly eaten up by the costs of underwriting the Observer’s operation as a stand-alone Sunday newspaper – unless it has other undisclosed ambitions for the title. And does Tortoise have the resource to weather unexpected uncertainties – another pandemic or geopolitical tensions?”
In this episode of the Weekend Essay podcast, Lois Vallely recounts her experience with a recent email hack and discusses the growing prevalence of phishing scams. She highlights the vulnerabilities financial firms face and shares practical advice on protecting sensitive information better. Join Lois as she emphasizes the importance of being aware of cyber risks and adopting proactive measures to ensure cybersecurity in both personal and professional settings. Listen now:
‘Our flatmate found a scorpion in her Shein parcel’
A student got more than she bargained for when she opened a clothing parcel from fast-fashion firm Shein to discover a live scorpion.
“I thought it was a toy – and then it moved,” Sofia Alonso-Mossinger said, adding it had been “pretty scary”.
With the help of her flatmates at the University of Bristol, the venomous invader was moved into a tub before being collected by an expert.
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China-based Shein said it had conducted an internal investigation and had confirmed that “all standard operating processes have been adhered to”.
The electrical and electronic engineering student said: “I unzipped the outer packaging and saw something move and was like, what’s this?”
After realising it was a scorpion, Ms Alonso-Mossinger, 18, rezipped the bag containing a pair of boots, got it out of her room and called her flatmates.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she said. “I feel like I am all right with spiders and things but it was scary being in my room with a random scorpion.”
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Phoebe Hunt, 18, said she heard screaming and rushed out to find her flatmate with “a live scorpion in a bag on her boots”.
She said they were “not exactly buzzing to have a scorpion in the flat”.
“At first, I’ll be honest, I said we should kill it and then everyone pointed out that wasn’t the most humane thing so we scooped it up and put it in a Tupperware.”
Oliver James, another flatmate who is studying zoology, transferred the scorpion into a plastic container with kitchen tongs.
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“It was a bit nerve-wracking,” he said, as no one knew how venomous it was.
Sofia Alonso-Mossinger
The scorpion is thought to be a Olivierus martensii, or Chinese scorpion
The flatmates then gave the scorpion water on kitchen towel, which it drank immediately, and some card to hide under before contacting animal groups.
Phoebe said they had tried the RSPCA but realised it was more set up to collect cats and dogs, before getting in touch with the National Centre for Reptile Welfare (NCRW).
The charity was able to send someone over within a couple of hours.
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NCRW’s Chris Newman said reports of such stowaways were surprisingly frequent.
“The scorpion is Olivierus martensii, it doesn’t really have a common name other than Chinese scorpion,” he said.
He said its sting would be “medically significant… potentially life threatening but an average adult would just have a really bad day”.
“It is quite worrying this is the second one we have had in under a month that has come in this way.”
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Fortunately there was no sting in the tail of this tale, and Ms Alonso-Mossinger said it now felt “like it is a funny story… but it was pretty scary at the time”.
Shein said it was in touch with her to resolve the issue.
In a statement it said: “After receiving the feedback, we immediately conducted an internal investigation.
“Our teams on the ground have checked the shipment packing process and carried out an inspection of the goods in our warehouse and have confirmed that all standard operating processes have been adhered to.”
As Labour reaches 100 days in government we take stock of how Sir Keir Starmer and his team have performed. Host Lucy Fisher is joined by Political Fix regulars Robert Shrimsley, Miranda Green and Jim Pickard to assess Labour’s stumbles – as well as its achievements – as the party gets to grips with power. The panel also examines what made it into Labour’s flagship workers’ rights legislation – finally published this week. Plus, after the surprise elimination of moderate candidate James Cleverly from the Tory leadership race, how is the final stretch of the contest shaping up between rightwingers Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick?
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A WOMAN has revealed how she landed a huge £1 million jackpot – only to be told she couldn’t claim it due to a little-known Lotto rule.
Terri Picton-Clark, 72, said she and husband John, 72, decided to pick up a Lucky Dip ticket while they were on their way to browse a hardware shop.
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Amateur ballroom dancer Terri Picton-Clark found out she had landed a £1 million lottery jackpot in 2021Credit: SWNS
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However, she and husband John were told they couldn’t claim the prize at the shop where they bought the ticketCredit: Camelot UK Lotteries Limited/National Lottery
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Luckily, the pair were able to claim their winnings after ringing the lottery operatorCredit: National Lottery
The grandmother, who works at an equine therapy centre, said: “On our way to our kitchen appointment, we stopped off to get some petrol and John bought a Lottery ticket – he always buys a Lucky Dip.
“He said to me, ‘you never know, we might win the Lottery’, to which I replied ‘Oh, you always say that!’.”
The following Monday, John returned to the garage shop to check his winnings – but was confused by the cashier’s response.
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The employee purportedly said: “You are going to have to call Camelot, you’ve won too much money.”
For small lottery prizes, winners can normally claim their earnings from the shop where they bought the ticket.
At the time of Terri and John’s win, larger prizes – between £500 and £50,000 – needed to be claimed at participating Post Office branches, though these now have to be claimed online.
Because of this rule, Terri quickly twigged that the couple may have landed a huge prize – but little did she know quite how big.
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Recalling John’s phone conversation with the lottery operator, she said: “I was working on a Zoom call when John came in waving the ticket about, and I mouthed to him ‘what are you doing?’ but continued the call, ignoring him.
“We were thinking it was around £50,000, but when Camelot confirmed it was £1 million, John was very calm as usual and I was the one jumping up and down!”
Despite the confusing rule delaying the couple claiming their prize, they were delighted with the result.
Court Drama: £3 Million Lottery Dispute
Terri said: “John gave the shop assistant at the garage who sold him the ticket £100 and said to her, ‘make sure you don’t do anything sensible with the money’.”
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The pair then enjoyed a few bottles of champagne, with Terri joking: “John didn’t get up until 3pm the next day!”
They have since used some of the money to support family and friends.
The horse lover and amateur ballroom dancer said: “We’ve helped friends who are home-schooling their children.
“We bought another laptop for them to make things a little easier and we also bought one for my grandchild to help my son.
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“To be able to tell friends who have always been there for you that you can help them feels amazing.”
The couple also shared that they were thinking of either a trip to Antarctica or a skiing holiday with the grandkids.
Terri said: “I would love to go again, if I can still do it! John has never been on a winter holiday.”
John and Terri first met 25 years ago while working together, but their relationship didn’t work out with Terri describing John as “the one that got away”.
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However, shortly after the huge Beast from the East storm, the estranged lovers reunited.
Terri continued: “I came home from a really dreadful date and wondered if that was all there was out there for me.
“I went back on the dating site for one last look and came across John who was stranded in the same area due to the blizzard.
“I thought to myself, ‘I know him’, so I messaged him and asked if he remembered me.
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“He replied and said, ‘Of course I remember you and you’re looking even better than you did all those years ago!’
“We met up that weekend and the rest is history.”
Terri won five ballroom and two Latin titles during her amateur dancing career.
What are my chances of winning the lottery?
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EVERYONE wants to know how to beat the odds and win the lottery.
But unfortunately, the lottery is a game of luck and there are no tips or tricks that can guarantee you’ll take home a top prize.
The odds show how likely you are to win any particular prize – the lower the number, the better the odds.
For example, odds of 1 in 10 are better than odds of 1 in 100 or 1 in 1,000.
There are several major lottery games in the UK including Lotto by the National Lottery, Camelot’s EuroMillions and Thunderball.
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Chances of winning the Lotto
Lotto by the National Lottery is a game where you pick six numbers from 1 to 59. You can play up to seven lines of numbers on each slip.
The game costs £2 to play per slip.
The odds of winning any prize on the Lotto are 1 in 9.3.
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But to win the jackpot on the Lotto, the odds are considerably slimmer.
To bag the top prize, you need to have six matching balls. The odds of doing this and scooping the jackpot are currently 1 in 45,057,474.
The next highest prize of £1,000,000 is for getting five main matching balls plus the bonus ball.
The odds of taking home the million pound prize are 1 in 7,509,579 – far higher than the jackpot, but still unlikely.
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The odds of taking home £1,750 for getting five main numbers without the bonus ball are 1 in 2,180, while you have a 1 in 97 chance of bagging £140 for getting four main numbers.
Your chances of taking home £30 for getting 3 main numbers are much better at 1 in 97.
And you have a roughly 1 in 10 chance of getting a free lucky dip for 2 matching numbers.
Chances of winning the EuroMillions
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The EuroMillions costs £2.50 to play and is open on Tuesdays and Fridays.
To play, you must pick five numbers from 1-50 and two “Lucky Stars” from 1-12. Players with the most matching numbers win the top prizes.
Your chance of bagging the EuroMillions jackpot is even slimmer than winning the top Lotto prize.
This is because it generally has higher jackpots on offer, meaning it attracts more attention.
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Currently, the odds of matching five numbers and two lucky stars – the top win – stand at 1 in 139,838,160.
The average jackpot prize is £57,923,499, according to EuroMillions.
The odds of winning the second top prize for matching 5 balls and a lucky star, which is typically around £262,346, are 1 in 6,991,908.
The chances of taking home the third prize for five matching balls, with an average payout of £26,277, are 1 in 3,107,515.
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For four matching balls with two lucky stars, it’s 1 in 621,503, and for four balls with one lucky star, it’s 1 in 31,076. These come with an average prize of £1,489 and £95, respectively.
Chances of winning the Thunderball
Thunderball is another game run by National Lottery where you pick five numbers and one “Thunderball”. It costs just £1 to play and you can enter up to four times a week.
The jackpot of £500,000 for matching five balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 8,060,598.
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Your odds of bagging the next highest prize of £5,000 for matching five balls is currently 1 in 620,046, while the chances of winning £250 for four balls plus the Thunderball is 1 in 47,416.
You have the best chance of winning £3 for matching the Thunderball, with odds of 1 in 29.
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Terri won five ballroom and two Latin titlesCredit: SWNS
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Terri and John met for the first time 25 years ago, and reunited three years agoCredit: SWNS
Jay Blades found fame on TV in 2017 when The Repair Shop launched
BBC presenter Jay Blades has pleaded not guilty to engaging in controlling or coercive behaviour towards his estranged wife.
Mr Blades, who fronted primetime show The Repair Shop, was charged by police last month.
His wife, fitness instructor Lisa-Marie Zbozen, announced the pair’s relationship was over in an Instagram post on 2 May.
Appearing before Judge James Burbidge KC at Worcester Crown Court, Mr Blades entered his plea at a hearing on Friday.
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‘Fear of violence’
The charges relate to events between 1 January 2023 and 12 September this year, and claims that the 54-year-old engaged in behaviour that caused Ms Zbozen “to fear, on at least two occasions, that violence will be used against her”.
The judge rejected an application for part of the proceedings to be heard in private.
He also removed a bail condition that required Mr Blades to wear an electronic tag, which had not yet been fitted, due to “failings” by the company responsible.
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PA Media
The judge told Mr Blades that he would face a trial
The judge said to Mr Blades: “You have denied responsibility for the crime alleged against you and the prosecution propose to try you.
“I remove the tagging of your exclusion zone but you are still subject to the exclusion zone.”
Mr Blades, whose address was given by court as Wightwick, in Wolverhampton, but is formerly from Shropshire, is expected to face trial on 6 May next year.
Wearing a dark suit and tie, he spoke only to confirm his identity to the clerk and enter his plea. After the 12-minute hearing, Mr Blades left the court without comment.
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The costs of a private school education are due to increase from next year when VAT becomes chargeable on fees.
From January 1, a 20 per cent VAT rate will be levied on private schools, including boarding services.
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The government believes the move is “tough but necessary” and will help secure additional funding for improving state school provision. About 6 per cent of schoolchildren in the UK are educated in the private sector.
Some private schools may choose not to pass on the full brunt of the VAT bill. But parents who cannot absorb further fee increases may have to consider alternative options. Other schools have warned they would not have the cash reserves to shoulder the VAT burden.
Data suggests state schools nationally have enough capacity to absorb pupils leaving the private system. However, experts warn that in some locations there is likely to be heavy competition for in-demand schools.
Are you worried about your ability to pay VAT on fees? Have you taken action to mitigate the problem? Has your child’s school done enough, in your view, to help parents facing a financial crunch? The FT would like to hear your experiences. Please contact us in confidence at laura.hughes@ft.com.
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