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Skip to content Skip to local navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk search Help Accessibility Help 21 February 2012 Last updated at 02:43 GMT Lowdown on the 2012 Brit nominees
From household names to newcomers, we take an affectionate (and sometimes irreverent) look at all 46 artists nominated for the 2012 Brit Awards.
Ryan Adams
Brief bio: Prolific poster boy of alternative country, who once described his music as “a Hallmark card if it was written in disappointment”.

Nominated for: International male

What they say: “The caricature painted of him over the years of a difficult, moody rock star with a ferocious appetite for drugs and booze is light years away from the polite, friendly, open man sipping a cup of tea in the sunshine.” [The Quietus]

What we say: We’re still waiting for Ryan to form a supergroup with Bryan and Oleta. They could call it The Adams Family.
Adele
Brief bio: One-woman saviour of the British record industry, whose voice literally exploded halfway through 2011.

Nominated for: Best British female, Best British single (Someone Like You), Best British album (21)

What they say: “She can seethe, sob, rasp, swoop, lilt and belt, in ways that draw more attention to the song than to the singer.” [New York Times]

What we say: She hates to turn up out of the blue, uninvited… but the Brits is certain to welcome Adele back with open arms. And a few trophies.
Arctic Monkeys
Brief bio: Sheffield musical prodigies, led by kitchen sink wordsmith Alex Turner. Their first album was the UK’s fastest-selling debut in history until it was overtaken by Susan Boyle.

Nominated for: Best group

They say: “Being up there in the limelight is something that didn’t come naturally to me at all. But now I’m doing stupid crowd participation things. I have started to enjoy that side of things.” [Alex Turner, speaking to 6 Music]

What we say: Turner says he’s stopped writing about “chip shops” and “taxi ranks” but his dry wit hasn’t dried up. See, for example, the title track to their latest album Suck It And See: “That’s not a skirt, girl, that’s a sawn-off shotgun… and I can only hope you’ve got it aimed at me.”
Beyonce
Brief bio: Booty-shaking, record-breaking, man-baiting, Grammy-taking, hit-creating mother-of-one. Quite popular.

Nominated for: International female

What they say: “Such was her long-stemmed beauty, as she prowled and strutted in search of her missing skirt, that among the audience of 170,000 people there were young men who passed out standing up, their eyes wide open.” [Telegraph]

What we say: According to the lyrics of 1+1, Beyonce “don’t know much about algebra”, but she’s definitely got talent where it counts.
Bjork
Brief bio: Innovative Icelandic musician, multimedia artist and noise provocateur. Her latest album, Biophilia, is available as a series of interactive iPad apps.

Nominated for: International female

She says: “How I hear music is more related to nature. It’s not related to some Christian German guys, Bach and Beethoven. I don’t mean that in a bad way. I totally respect Christians and Germans, it’s just that I think there should be versatility.” [National Geographic]

What we say: If Bjork wins for her latest album Biophilia it will, by implication, mean the first ever Brit award for featured vocalist Sir David Attenborough.
Aloe Blacc
Brief bio: Consultant-turned-rapper-turned-crooner, whose austerity anthem I Need A Dollar tapped into the mood of a nation.

Nominated for: International male, International breakthrough

What they say: “He is an informed conversationalist, speaking calmly on all manner of topics, from breakdancing to Noam Chomsky.” [Telegraph]

What we say: It’s a good thing Aloe adopted a stage name – Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III would be hard to engrave on a statue.
James Blake
Brief bio: The Harold Pinter of dubstep, known for minimalist soundscapes punctuated by long… pauses. Not to be confused with the US tennis player.

Nominated for: Best British male

What they say: “On one hand, I don’t understand this at all. On the other, it’s just incredible music”. [Comment on Blake's YouTube page]

What we say: Like Sudoku or a bank heist, James Blake’s album is difficult but rewarding.
Blur
Brief bio: Revitalised Britpop survivors, fronted by musical polymath Damon Albarn.

Recipients of: Outstanding contribution to music

They say: “I’ve been to the Brits only two or three times [and] I felt slightly guilty about winning. I was worried that people would think we were spoilt brats. This time, sod it, I’m just going to lap it up I think.” [Guitarist Graham Coxon, talking to The Daily Record]

What we say: Blur’s outstanding contribution prize comes five years after arch-rivals Oasis took home the trophy. So that’s that argument settled.
Bon Iver
Brief bio: AKA Justin Vernon, whose moody debut For Emma, Forever Ago was famously recorded alone, in a snowbound log cabin. The self-titled follow-up won Vernon a Grammy for best new artist.

Nominated for: Best international male, international breakthrough

What they say: “Amorphous and triumphant – a haze of acoustic guitars, airy synthesizers and tumbling drums floating beneath Vernon’s hallucinogenic yowl, like two stratus clouds overlapping in a dream” [Washington Post]

What we say: Bon Iver’s success has led to the creation of tribute band Bon Joviver, who cover soft rock classics with Vernon’s distinctively spectral harmonies.
Kate Bush
Brief bio: Enigmatic singer-songwriter whose latest record is a concept album about snow. Her debut single, Wuthering Heights, was the first British number one to be both written and sung by a woman.

Nominated for: Best British female

She says: “I’m really looking forward to taking a break.” [Huffington Post]

What we say: Glaciers move faster than Kate Bush’s release schedule, so the appearance of two albums in 2011 made her Brits nomination almost a certainty.
Anna Calvi
Brief bio: Bird-like Twickenham singer with a voice like a hurricane. Her self-titled debut album was nominated for a Mercury in 2011.

Nominated for: British breakthrough act

What they say: “It almost feels like going into a trance when I sing.” [Interview Magazine]

What we say: Anna Calvi wrote the bulk of her album in her parents attic – she must have had lofty ambitions [you're fired - ed].
Chase And Status
Brief bio: South London dance duo Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status). Their mixture of rave, rock and ribcage-rattling bass won them a headline slot on Glastonbury’s West Holts stage, where Saul celebrated his 30th birthday.

Nominated for: Best group

What they say: “Cherry-picks the chunkiest, most accessible, lowest-common-denominator features of half a dozen genres and splices them together into a Frankenstein’s monster of an album, in which the modern Prometheus is lurching forward to catch the kitchen sink he’s just been thrown.” [Guardian]

What we say: One of only two British dance acts with a nomination, despite a resurgence for the genre in 2011. Unlikely to win, nonetheless.
Coldplay
Brief bio: Chart-toppling giants of soft rock, whose latest album hit number one in more than 30 countries. Frontman Chris Martin has two main lyrical themes: “Everything is going to be OK” and “I’m very sorry”.

Nominated for: Best British album (Mylo Xyloto)

What they say: “Coldplay’s semi-experimental approach to arena anthems has made them one of the most commercially successful rock band of the 2000s.” [Billboard]

What we say: Chris Martin says he “made up” the words Mylo Xyloto and that we, the listeners, should determine the meaning. Bet he’s a nightmare at Scrabble.
Elbow
Brief bio: Big-hearted poets of English suburbia. Their fifth album, Build A Rocket, Boys! was an understated, tender reaction to the success of their Mercury-winning breakthrough The Seldom Seen Kid.

Nominated for: Best group

They say: “You can’t completely ignore the fact that when you’ve had a bit of success, people – especially financiers – are expecting more of the same, but we didn’t let it change the way we wrote.” [Frontman Guy Garvey, Paste Magazine]

What we say: Garvey got in trouble with his band when he drunkenly announced the title of his album on radio. Imagine what secrets he might give away after a night of free record company booze at the Brits.
Example
Brief bio: Garrulous dance guru, whose stage name derives from the fact his initials are E.G. (Elliot Gleave). His third album, Playing In The Shadows, debuted at number one.

Nominated for: Best British single (Changed The Way You Kissed Me)

He says: “This album was aimed at getting me into arenas. And it has.” [This Is London]

What we say: Hit single Stay Awake features the world’s worst product endorsement deal, as Example promises to “stick around like Elastoplast”.
Feist
Brief bio: Leslie Feist from Nova Scotia, purveyor of quirky, textured folk-pop. Her career received a boost when Apple chose the lighthearted single 1-2-3-4 for an iPod commercial.

Nominated for: Best international female

What they say: “Her voice shines in a downcast way, drawing just the right amount of emotion from the lyrics, never overwrought or melodramatic but potent nonetheless.” [New Zealand Herald]

What we say: When Shia LeBeouf insisted on playing Feist’s album on the set of Transformers 3, director Michael Bay stormed off the set. Is there any way we could book Feist’s next tour around the production schedule for Transformers 4?
Fleet Foxes
Brief bio: Seattle five-piece, whose rustic harmonies and flashes of psychedelia recall Fairport Convention and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.

Nominated for: Best international group

What they say: “Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and beards” [Spin]

What we say: Hirsuites you, sir.
Florence and the Machine
Brief bio: Pale-faced musical foghorn Florence Welch and her ragtag band of minstrels. Fond of percussion. Mad as a hatstand.

Nominated for: Best British female, Best British album (Ceremonials)

She says: “I wanted to call this whole record just Violence. A violent emotion. You can feel things violently. It’s a beautiful word.” [USA Today]

What we say: This is the sort of music you hear just before they sacrifice you to the volcano gods.
Foo Fighters
Brief bio: Rock survivors, who rose from the ashes of Nirvana and fought their way through the ranks. One of their 2011 shows triggered volcanic tremors in New Zealand.

Nominated for: Best international group

Dave Grohl says: “It’s weird when there’s a kid on the bill who comes up and says, ‘Your band was my first concert’. You just think, ‘Oh no. I’m that guy, now? What am I, Gandalf?’” [Entertainment Weekly]

What we say: Rock and Roll isn’t dead, it’s just hibernating in Dave Grohl’s beard.
Foster The People
Brief bio: LA indie pop quartet. Their background as jingle writers shines through in their supremely catchy pop hooks.

Nominated for: International breakthrough

What they say: “Foster The People make infectiously good music, don’t stick to a formula and make you yearn to lie on your back in the middle of a field, feeling the hot sun streaming down on your face.” [Music OMH]

What we say: The band’s breakthrough hit Pumped Up Kicks is the best pop song about a high school massacre since I Don’t Like Mondays.
Noel Gallagher
Brief bio: Former Oasis guitarist and his furious eyebrows, now striking out with solo project Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds.

Nominated for: Best British male

He says: “It is a new sound… but only from taking things away. The excesses of Oasis, like the extra guitars, I just took ‘em away. I didn’t add anything.” [Music Radar]

What we say: The most famous roadie the Inspiral Carpets ever had.
David Guetta
Brief bio: French DJ-turned-producer, whose thumping dance tracks are fronted by R&B royalty from Usher to Rihanna.

Nominated for: Best international male

What he says: “I think America was always scared of dance music. We came with a new sound, creating that bridge between the electro culture that comes from Europe and the urban culture that is more American – it’s such magic.” [Idolator]

What we say: Would you recognise David Guetta if he fell out of a hammock labelled “This is David Guetta’s Hammock”?
PJ Harvey
Brief bio: The only person to have won the Mercury Prize twice, Polly Jean Harvey’s latest album narrates the grim effects of war on generations of English soldiers.

Nominated for: Best British album (Let England Shake)

She says: “It took four years of writing before I ended up with the songs on this record, and I had to discard a huge amount of material.” [BBC]

What we say: In the 1990s, Radio 1 presenter Emma Freud introduced her as “PJ and Harvey”. Sadly, Polly’s version of Let’s Get Ready To Rhumble wasn’t a patch on the original.
Jay-Z and Kanye West
Brief bio: Two titans of hip-hop, joining forces for a gold-plated album of rap duets. The gold-plating was literal for anyone who invested in the deluxe CD.

Nominated for: Best international group

What they say: “Just two guys sitting on a stoop, telling stories, lamenting the mistakes they’ve made, expressing hope that the next generation might learn something from them.” [New York Times]

What we say: The rappers also go by the names Hova and Yeezy which, coincidentally, are the noises we made last time we had an asthma attack.
Jessie J
Brief bio: Fright-wigged pop banshee, who released the best-selling debut album of 2011.

Nominated for: Best British female, British breakthrough act, Best British single (Price Tag)

She says: “I see my music as Emotional Therapeutic Pop music that bleeds into loads of different genres.” [Seventeen]

What we say: “It ain’t about the cha-ching, cha-ching; Ain’t about the ba-bling, ba-bling” is now the official slogan of the Eurozone.
JLS
Brief bio: Perennially popular male vocal harmony group, already hard at work on their fourth album.

Nominated for: Best British single (She Makes Me Wanna)

What they say: “They may be more popular than Simon Cowell could possibly have imagined – he turned them down twice, you know – but JLS are no musical innovators.” [BBC Music]

What we say: Marvin! Oritse! Aston! JB! They tend to sing about “da club” a lot, as this is where the Honeys regularly spend the evening.
Ethan Johns
Brief bio: Respected producer, who gives life to the music of Laura Marling, Kings Of Leon, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris, amongst others.

Recipient of: Best British producer (awarded last week)

What they say: “He’s very, very patient, and he’s got a very good ear. He’s the first person I go to with my songs.” [Laura Marling]

What we say: A hugely talented producer, Johns learnt the trade from his father, Glyn Johns, who sat behind the mixing desk for The Eagles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin.
Kasabian
Brief bio: Grandiloquent rockers, based in Leicester. Claimed their fourth album Velociraptor! would change people’s lives.

Nominated for: Best group

They say: “Velociraptors used to hunt in packs of four. They were the rock’n'roll band of the dinosaurs.” [Guitarist Serge Pizzorno in the NME]

What we say: Oh come on, everyone knows the most rock’n'roll dinosaur is the Brachylophosaurus.
Lady Antebellum
Brief bio: Country trio formed in Nashville (where else?) six years ago. A big crossover act in the US, they recently won the Grammy for best country album.

Nominated for: Best international group

The band says: “We won’t just throw a fiddle on the song if it doesn’t really call for it.” [The Banter]

What we say: Lady A’s perfect smiles are no accident – guitarist David Haywood’s dad invented teeth bleaching in the 1980s.
Lady Gaga
Brief bio: Shy, subtle, retiring performer of popular song. Once attended an awards ceremony in a dress made of meat.

Nominated for: Best international female

What they say: “Excess is Gaga’s riskiest musical gamble, but it’s also her greatest weapon… While most 21st-Century pop stars pulverize their imperfections into an Auto-Tuned slurry, she boldly wears her audacity like a meat dress.” [Spin]

What we say: Why don’t people make more fuss about the meat dress?
Pixie Lott
Brief bio: Long-legged pop waif, born Victoria Louise Lott in 1991. Skipped school to get a recording contract at the age of 15 and earned her first platinum disc three years later.

Nominated for: Best British single (All About Tonight)

What they say: “Even with a newfound smokiness to her vocals, she delivers all the passion of a student singing in school assembly.” [Independent]

What we say: For her new album Pixie wrote a tribute to Stevie Wonder called Stevie On The Radio, then persuaded Stevie Wonder to play harmonica on it. How postmodern.
Laura Marling
Brief bio: Wan, shy folk singer from Hampshire. The surprise winner of last year’s best British female award, she released her haunting third album A Creature I Don’t Know in September.

Nominated for: Best British female

What they say: “While she may not be a particularly revealing performer, she’s an extremely commanding one.” [Pitchfork]

What we say: Last year, Laura gave her Brits trophy to her mum. Another one would really tie the room together.
Maroon 5
Brief bio: Briefly popular chart rock band, whose career was revitalised by radio-friendly disco stomper Moves Like Jagger.

Nominated for: Best international group

They say: “Only Jagger has the moves like Jagger. But it’s attainable… I don’t think anyone could claim to have the moves like James Brown, or the moves like Michael Jackson, or the moves like Prince.” [singer Adam Levine on NPR]

What we say: No doubt inspired by Mick Jagger’s anti-establishment politics, Maroon 5 recently created their own flavour of iced tea.
Bruno Mars
Brief bio: Hawaiian-born soul star whose backing band are tighter than Lycra. Co-wrote Cee-Lo’s Forget You and scored a trio of number ones with solo singles Just The Way You Are, Grenade and The Lazy Song.

Nominated for: Best international male

What they say: “His skill is an ease with both old‑fashioned songcraft and hip‑hop swagger.” [Guardian]

What we say: Fans of genetic improbability will be pleased to know that Bruno recently tweeted “I’m pretty sure I’m pregnant”.
Military Wives
Brief bio: A choir of (you guessed it) Military Wives, put together for a TV show. Their love song, Wherever You Are, sold 631,000 copies and was the 2011 Christmas Number One.

Nominated for: Best British single (Wherever You Are)

They say: “I can’t believe that I can actually sit here on Christmas Day and say I’ve got a single out that is number one… it feels unreal.” [Choir member Emma Williams]

What we say: The best chart act the armed forces have produced since Robson and Jerome.
Nicki Minaj
Brief bio: Outlandish, Trinidadian-born musician who rose to fame by upstaging the likes of Lil Wayne and Mariah Carey with guests verses on their singles.

Nominated for: International breakthrough

What they say: “One of Minaj’s most endearing qualities is, despite the funny faces, the fact that she’s an MC with her heart on her sleeve and a sad story to tell.” [No Ripcord]

What we say: Nicki has recorded a concept album about her alter-ego Roman Zolanski. We are not making this stuff up.
James Morrison
Brief bio: Armed with a guitar and tender vocals, Morrison tackled the death of his father on third album The Awakening, which quietly charted at number one last autumn.

Nominated for: Best British male

He says: “I’d love to do a side-project where I’m not James Morrison, I just put a vocal on a fat beat or something.” [Female First]

What we say: A deserving nominee, given his cross-generational appeal, but Morrison remains as popular and edgy as a facecloth.
Olly Murs
Brief bio: Perma-grinning X Factor nice guy who scored two number one singles in 2011. Your mum likes him.

Nominated for: Best British single (Heart Skips A Beat)

He says: “That’s probably the best thing about being famous… you are able to help and support other people and make a difference.” [The Banter]

What we say: Cliff Richard for the 21st Century.
One Direction
Brief bio: X-Factor endorsed boy band. Average age 18-and-a-half.

Nominated for: Best British single (What Makes You Beautiful)

What they say: “Aimed solidly at teenage girls (and boys) who are waiting for somebody to be secretly in love with them, What Makes You Beautiful is so unthreatening it might have to think twice about holding hands.” [NME]

What we say: One Direction have fans who call themselves The Directionettes. They throw carrots at the band when they play live. Carrots.
Professor Green
Brief bio: Kermit-voiced rapper, born in Hackney. Formerly known as Stephen Manderson, he has transcended his past as an “angry youth” to become one of the UK’s most successful hip-hop artists.

Nominated for: Best British male

What they say: “It’s easy to understand the appeal of Professor Green, the gobby class clown who’s always disrupting lessons with a crude comment. Problem is, he could really do with some fresher jokes.” [NME]

What we say: In his number one single Read All About It, Professor Green confesses: “I write songs I can’t listen to.” Don’t be so hard on yourself, son, they’re not that bad.
Lana Del Rey
Brief bio: Cartoonishly pretty, enigmatic femme fatale with a line in alluring noir pop. Despite the success of her debut single Video Games, she is plagued by accusations of inauthenticity by critics incensed that she (gasp) changed her name.

Nominated for: International breakthrough

She says: “I love to sing and I really love to write, but in terms of being onstage, I’m not that comfortable.” [GQ]

What we say: Basically a musical incarnation of The Great Gatsby’s Daisy Buchanan.
Rihanna
Brief bio: Bajan pop princess with an astonishing work rate. Rihanna has released six albums in seven years, and played 10 dates at the O2 arena in 2011.

Nominated for: Best international female

What they say: “I wish no ill will against Rihanna and her friends. Perhaps they could acquaint themselves with a greater God.” [Northern Irish farmer and local councillor Alan Graham, who put an end to the singer's raunchy video shoot on his land last October]

What we say: Needs no introduction. A mainstay of the Brits and a phenomenally successful artist. She won this prize last year, and could easily do it again in 2012.
Emeli Sande
Brief bio: Former medical student with a knack for writing catchy, classy R&B hooks. A stellar 2011 saw her reach number one with Professor Green before launching her solo career with top 10 hit Heaven.

Nominated for: British breakthrough act

Recipient of: Critics’ Choice award

She says: “If the sun is out, the songs I write are usually rubbish. The best songs come around 2am for me.” [Orange Music]

What we say: Aberdeen’s other best-known exports are Annie Lennox and granite. Sande models her career on one and her hair on the other.
Ed Sheeran
Brief bio: A little bit jazz, a little bit hip-hop, Ed Sheeran is a songwriting prodigy who built his fan base organically through extensive touring. Result: 791,000 albums sold in 2011.

Nominated for: Best British male, British breakthrough act, best British single (A Team), best British album (+)

What they say: “The incessant melodrama can grate, but Sheeran’s voice, alternating between soulful huskiness and stuttering sing-speak, is a treat.” [Telegraph]

What we say: Ed’s fans are like putty in his hands. Hormonal teenage putty.
The Vaccines
Brief bio: Wily rock quartet and saviours-du-jour of British guitar music,wholesale MLB Jerseys, who mix blistering garage rock with brooding odes to Post Break-Up Sex.

Nominated for: British breakthrough act

What they say: “Guitarist Freddie Cowan is so toffee-nosed he’s 14th in line to the throne and gets carried to gigs on a sedan chair.” [NME]

What we say: The Vaccines played more than 50 festival dates in 2011 and are slowly turning into falafel.
The Wanted
Brief bio: Five boys next door with a chart-friendly line in ravepop. Vaguely more “rough” than JLS or One Direction, The Wanted have scored two Top 10 albums in as many years.

Nominated for: Best British single (Glad You Came)

They say: “We have to remember that as well as the horny mums who like us, we’re writing to girls too, so we don’t want to go too overboard.” [Jay McGuiness, speaking to Digital Spy]

What we say: They may be heart-throbs but “I decided you look well on me” is the most clunky, unromantic lyric of the year.

—Marina Larroude

Photo: Gianni Pucci / GoRunway.com

Protesting for free and fair elections has consigned the bling thing to the vintage bin of history for now in Russia ahead of the March 4th presidential elections, which are widely expected to be won by former President and current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

“All go to these protests. I have no doubt that it is the newest trend,” said Alexandr Arutyunov, a Russian fashion designer, who started a blog “Fashion on the Barricades” after the latest protests on February 4 that had an estimated crowd of around 80,000 people.

“It is an unexpected trend, I had no idea so many people, so many well-known people – celebrities, actors – would go to these demonstrations, but it has become a trend.”

The recent opposition protests, the largest since the early 1990s have been very much about serious politics and the demand for democracy. But somewhere along the way fashion began to play a role and now it threatens to help divide the country further.

White ribbons – a symbol used by the opposition – can be found everywhere on Moscow’s streets from student backpacks to posh people’s purses nearly two weeks after the last protests, signaling widespread sympathy.

Then, there is the issue of fashion itself, increasingly used by officials as a tool to divide society between the poor in battered quilted jackets and the rich in mink coats.

“The most despicable thing the authorities do – they split people into two camps,” tweeted Russian socialite and reality TV host Kseniya Sobchak.

The growing opposition movement has been supported largely by an emancipated middle class. Despite owing their economic and social rise to Putin’s leadership as president and now prime minister, this section of Russian society continues to demand greater rights and freedom.

Officials from Putin’s United Russia ruling party have been trying to downplay the opposition, suggesting the protests are limited to a group of rich and bored liberal urbanites.

“It’s a lie,” left-wing leader Sergei Udaltsov told a protest crowd on Feb 4. “We are not revolutionaries in mink coats! I’ve been wearing this jacket for three years and you (the ruling elite) have villas.”

READY TO DRESS LESS WELL?

On his blog Arutyunov, who says his interest is not in politics, but fashion, champions the idea that people who attend the protests should dress better.

“If you decide…to go to the protests – dress up! Make it a statement. Have some fun with it,” he wrote.

He wore high-platformed Prada shoes and a jacket and trousers of his own design. But his favorite look was a slim girl wearing a sheepskin coat, a traditional Russian scarf on her head, teamed with fluorescent green sunglasses and bright red lipstick.

“Very Russian and very stylish,Replica G-star Outlet,” he wrote on his blog at www.fashionprotest.ru.

Sobchak, the high society daughter of Putin’s late friend, and former mayor of Russia’s second-largest city of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak, is a critic of Putin.

Russia’s answer to U.S. socialite Paris Hilton advises protesters to leave displays of wealth, such as mink coats, at home when attending demonstrations that so far have all taken place in frigid weather.

“I wear a down (jacket),” Sobchak said.

During recent demonstrations, posters which read: “I’m ready to dress less well,” showed fashion was as much a part of the political battleground as opinion polls and sound-bites.

The placards were a riposte to a YouTube video in which a member of the pro-Kremlin Nashi youth movement lists the fact that people can now dress better as one of the achievements of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s term in office.

While the protests – four so far – have been peaceful and playful, they also provide a public activity where people can enjoy themselves and feel proud.

“Now, suddenly, a civic stance has become fashionable,” Georgy Alburov – who runs RosVybory, a new project by Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger and the main engine behind the protests, aimed at monitoring the presidential elections.

“It has become trendy to go to demonstrations. When a person who hasn’t gone to the protests gets asked what DID you do on Saturday, he needs to justify why.”

(Additional reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel; Writing by Lidia Kelly, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Skip to content Skip to local navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk navigation Skip to bbc.co.uk search Help Accessibility Help 14 February 2012 Last updated at 14:55 GMT London 2012: Wilson’s Steles crayons in Olympic river
Giant crayons jutting from East London’s Waterworks River have become the first artwork to be completed on the Olympic Park.

The 35 pillars are painted in the five colours of the Olympic rings and range from 10-16 feet (3-5m) in height.

The piece, titled Steles, is the work of Hackney-based artist Keith Wilson.

After London 2012 the crayons, made out of the same durable material as navigational buoys, will act as mooring posts.

Mr Wilson said the “colourful totems… will serve old functions in a new way… and help create a distinctive identity for this newest and boldest of London parks.”

He added: “They connect the parkland with the river, the canal and by extension the wider world.”

“They provide a sense of place and occasion, anchoring memories of many a good day out.”

The Olympic Delivery Authority’s Simon Wright said the commission – part of the Art in the Park programme – would help the park become a great place to live, work and play for decades to come.

Andrew Altman, Chief Executive of the Olympic Park Legacy Company, said the artwork would become a defining feature of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which will be known as South Park during the Games, and its waterways for generations.

“Our plans for the Olympic Park after the Games are more advanced than any other Olympic host city,Replica Christian Dior Outlet, and commissions like this will help make the Park a compelling place for visitors to enjoy,” he said.

Opposition campaigners said tank fire was concentrated on two large Sunni Muslim neighborhoods that have been at the forefront of opposition to Assad. They said 23 people were killed Sunday after a lull in shelling the previous day.

The government’s assault on Homs has spurred Arab countries to ostracize Assad and promise tougher action. At a meeting in Cairo Sunday, Arab League foreign ministers pledged for the first time to aid the opposition battling to overthrow Assad.

The League also called on the U.N. Security Council to authorize a peacekeeping force, a challenge to Russia and China which have so far used their veto power to block action by the world body, most recently on Feb 4.

In Homs, government troops concentrated their fire on Baba Amro neighborhood in the south of the city and al-Waer in the West, which borders the Military College, a main assembly point for tanks and government troops, opposition campaigners said.

“Tank shelling has been non-stop on Baba Amro and the bombardment on al-Wear began overnight,” activist Mohammad al-Hassan said by phone.

He said al-Waer, scene of large pro-democracy demonstrations for months, had come under attack in the last several days from pro-Assad militia known as shabbiha.

“We heard that the Free Syrian Army has started responding by attacking roadblocks being manned by shabbiha. Communications with al-Waer have been cut off and the sound of shelling can be now heard,” Hassan said.

The Free Syrian Army,wholesale Prada sunglasses, led by defectors, has taken the main role in armed opposition to Assad’s government. Accounts on the ground are difficult to verify because Syria restricts access by journalists.

The resolution approved by Arab League ministers in Cairo called for “opening communication channels with the Syrian opposition and providing all forms of political and material support to it,” a remarkable statement from a body once known for keeping out of the internal affairs of its members.

The Arab League has turned decisively against Assad, led by Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies who have long resented Assad’s close ties to Shi’ite regional rival Iran.

The resolution did not spell out whether its proposed joint U.N.-Arab peacekeeping force would involve armed troops, or whether the aid offered to the opposition would include weapons.

If so, it would be the second time in less than a year the Arab League had called for outside intervention in an Arab state. Its decision to back a no-fly zone in Libya last March led to Western bombing that helped bring down Muammar Gaddafi.

Syria’s uprising, in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have died, has become one of the bloodiest of the Arab Spring revolts sweeping the region since the end of 2010.

Any peacekeeping mission would require consensus from foreign powers, who have been divided on how to resolve a conflict that is descending into a civil war.

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For graphic of Homs http://link.reuters.com/tuc56s

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Moscow and Beijing drew strong criticism from the West after they prevented the Security Council on February 4 from backing an Arab plan that called for Assad to give up his powers. However, Western powers so far have shown no appetite for military action, despite their condemnation of the repression of the uprising.

Syria called the League’s resolution “a flagrant departure from the group’s charter and a hostile act that targets Syria’s security and stability.” Assad’s government says it is fighting an insurgency by militants funded from abroad, and Arab states have turned against it as part of a regional power grab.

Earlier Sunday, Tunisia said it would host the first meeting on February 24 of a “Friends of Syria” contact group made up of Arab and other states and backed by the West. A similar Libya contact group played a vital role in coordinating Western and Arab aid to that country’s rebels last year.

“The Syrian people deserve freedom as much as their brothers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and other Arab states that witnessed major political change,” Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Ben Abdessalem told the ministers in Cairo.

RAIDS

Sunday armour-backed troops raided the al-Inshaat district of Homs, which has seen several incursions by loyalist troops over the past week. Tanks ran over civilian cars and troops ransacked houses and burned furniture in the streets as collective punishment, a statement by the Coalition of Free Homs said.

“The regime wants to punish the civilian population for supporting the Free Syrian Army,” the statement said.

A Syrian Red Crescent aid convoy had reached Homs and volunteers were distributing food, medical supplies, and blankets to thousands of people affected by the violence, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement.

“The population, particularly the wounded and sick, are bearing the brunt of the violence,” the ICRC chief in Damascus, Marianne Gasser, said.

Activists said Red Crescent aid teams had been to districts populated by members of Assad’s Alawite sect but had not reached Sunni neighborhoods that bore the brunt of shelling.

A YouTube video showed a doctor in the Sunni al-Bayada district with the bodies of three men on the floor, the body of a woman on a table and an injured man on a bed, with no signs of any medical equipment except for an oxygen bottle.

“We do not have any medicine, equipment or staff. The hospital is this four meter (yard) by four meter room,” the doctor said.

“The Red Crescent does not come here because the (army) shells it when it tries. Most of cases we receive are dying form bleeding because we don’t have any blood units.”

A lull in the bombardment earlier in the day prompted anti-Asssd rallies in Qusour, Bayada and Khalidua and Bab Houd districts of Homs. Demonstrations also broke out in Houla in the nearby countryside, which has also been under bombardment.

YouTube footage showed hundreds of youths holding shoulders and dancing under white-and-green Syrian flags from the time before Assad’s Baath Party took power in a 1963 coup.

“Dignified Homs is dying. The world sold it by its silence, Mothers are suffering, but our dear God does not forget anyone,” an activist sings as a crowd dances in front of him.

In the city of Hama, 50 km (28 miles) north of Homs, loyalist forces backed by tanks and armored vehicles raided neighborhoods Sunday near the countryside where the Free Syrian Army has been active.

“It is the third day of such incursions. They fire heavy machineguns and anti-aircraft guns at random the, then they go in and raid houses and arrest dozens of people. The objective is to separate Hama from the countryside,” activist Fady al-Jaber said from Hama.

He said tank fire killed three people on the edge of the city Saturday and that families had started to flee the area.

Crowds Sunday attended the funerals of some of 28 people killed in bombings of two military sites in the northern city of Aleppo Friday – attacks the government cited as proof of its contention that it is fighting foreign-backed terrorists.

At one funeral, Ahmed Badr al-Din Hassoun, mufti of Syria, appealed to the opposition to end its campaign.

“Enough. Enough. Enough. Why, brothers in the opposition, do you want to burn down your country? Why do you want to shed blood?” he said.

He also urged Assad to stamp out corruption, saying “this way it will not remain a pretext for those who want to destroy this nation.” Syrian state television reported that Assad, who says he is introducing reforms to meet the opposition demands, received a new draft constitution Sunday.

“When the constitution is recognized Syria will have taken the most important step toward a legal and constitutional framework for transitioning the country to a new era…that will achieve what we all aspire to,” Hassoun was quoted as saying.

(Additional reporting by Edmund Blair in Cairo and Erika Solomon in Beirut; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Michael Roddy)

My late uncle, Justin Fashanu remains the only professional footballer in Britain ever to come out publicly as gay.

Justin broke into football as a teenage prodigy at Norwich. In 1980 he won the BBC’s goal of the season award for an incredible strike against Liverpool. I still feel a surge of family pride every time I watch it.

It’s the casual celebration which always gets me. That was Justin. Effortlessly talented, effortlessly stylish, if a touch cocky.

But what I learned about Justin is that, sadly, “that goal” marked the high point of his career.

He was catapulted to fame, when Nottingham Forest paid a million pound-transfer fee to Norwich. But it was largely downhill from there.
Continue reading the main story Justin Fashanu Justin Fashanu was brought up by foster parents and the children’s charity Barnardo’s Signed to Norwich City at the age of 14, by his late teens he had risen to the first team In the early 1980s, he was a rising star at Norwich City and scored a famous goal against Liverpool At Norwich he made it to the England B team In 1981 he became the first black player to command a £1m transfer fee Came out as gay in 1990 Accused of sexual assault in 1998 while in US Took his own life soon afterwards
Forest’s manager, the famous Brian Clough – or in my family the infamous – took a disliking to Justin.

In his autobiography, Clough recounts the confrontation he had with Justin over rumours about frequenting gay clubs in Nottingham:

“‘Where do you go if you want a loaf of bread?’ I asked him. ‘A baker’s, I suppose.’ ‘Where do you go if you want a leg of lamb?’ ‘A butcher’s.’ ‘So why do you keep going to that bloody poofs’ club?’”

Those were the typical attitudes Justin faced in his profession,Cheap Tom Ford Sunglasses, and very little had changed by the time he took the momentous decision to come out publicly a decade later in 1990.

These prejudices he had to endure saddened, rather than shocked, me. But what I did find surprising was the slow pace of change within football since my uncle’s courageous step into the limelight.

I learned Justin was no angel, but he genuinely believed he was setting an example to other players facing discrimination. Sadly, it’s an example no other gay player has felt able to follow in nearly 25 years.

Why? Several reasons, I discovered. Matt Lucas, comedian, avid Arsenal supporter and one of Britain’s best known gay football fans, shocked me with his description of the homophobia still prevalent on the terraces.

But I learned it’s not simply a case of the terraces frightening a gay player from coming forward. Max Clifford, the celebrity PR guru, pinpointed the role of agents and their perception that an openly gay player would be a weak commodity in the transfer market.

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‘Footballers are afraid to come out,’ says Max Clifford

“If by their star coming out, it’s going to affect their earnings, then they won’t want them to do it,” says Clifford.

Clifford also told me he had been approached by gay and bisexual Premiership players, terrified that their sexuality would come out and petrified that this would mean the end of their careers.

Joey Barton, Queen’s Park Rangers outspoken captain, feels close to the issue as his father’s youngest brother initially hid his homosexuality. Barton highlighted “archaic figures” in management positions as an obstacle to gay players.

Former basketball star turned gay rights campaigner John Amaechi went even further.

“Football is clearly not that comfortable with women in board rooms. They’re clearly not that comfortable with black people in management positions. And so, when it comes to gay people, that just blows their mind,” said Amaechi.
Continue reading the main story Find out more Britain’s Gay Footballers will be broadcast on Monday 30 January at 21:00 GMT on BBC Three Or catch up later via iPlayer
But there were some definite chinks of light. I encountered determined campaigners for change, like the Gay Football Supporters’ Network, which has been trying to fight homophobia in the game for many years.

Other organisations, like Kick It Out and Show Racism the Red Card and the Professional Footballers’ Association, have also added homophobia to their anti-discrimination agenda in recent times.

The Football Association, the game’s main governing body and so often the target for criticism over its shortcomings and failings, are about to launch a four-year plan aimed at encouraging more gay players to participate at grassroots level.

Barton was adamant that within the next 10 years there will be an openly gay footballer in the professional game.

However, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that progress has moved at a snail’s pace since Justin’s era. As someone from a different generation, who works in fashion with gay colleagues on a regular basis, I found this particularly hard to comprehend.

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QPR’s captain Joey Barton has said within the next 10 years there will be an openly gay footballer.

As well as being a great eye opener here, my research allowed me to close a very difficult chapter in my family life, which has always bothered me. By the time Justin came out publicly, his relationship with my dad, John Fashanu had broken down.

My dad was upset that Justin had not at least consulted him before taking this step. When Justin later took his own life in 1998, following unfounded allegations of sexual assault in the US, it was shattering for my dad and family.

I think as a 10-year-old my family, rightly, tried to protect me. But I was deeply upset by watching a documentary about Justin’s life made shortly after he killed himself and discovering how my dad reacted in the media to Justin coming out.

He said his brother would have to “suffer the consequences” and that he “wouldn’t like to play or even get changed in the vicinity of him”. I also heard for the first time the message that Justin left in which he said he felt abandoned and alone.

Reliving that terrible time just made me wish I had been old enough back then to be there for Justin. I’m not saying I could have changed everything but I think he only needed that one family member or someone close to help. He shouldn’t have ever felt alone and I think that’s what most distressed me.

I spoke to my dad about his reaction at the time and asked him whether he would now have changed any of his actions.

“I’m not homophobic and I never had been, but at the time I was certainly cross with my brother,” said my dad.

“I sleep at night wondering all the time, could I have done more and I keep coming up with the answer, yes I could have done more. Does that console me? No. We’ve cried for nearly two decades for Justin, it’s enough.”

I think I’ve come to realise myself that maybe Justin wasn’t the perfect person that I had painted when I was 10 years old, and maybe he did do some things that upset our family. But having said that I still don’t excuse my dad for disowning his brother publicly.

My uncle’s death and this family episode were tragic. But this should never disguise that Justin was proud to be who he was and proud to have been a pioneer.

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