(Tiểu luận) the complexity of noun phrase in online newspaper

HANOI UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES  FL3221 Syntax Class 136717 K64 The Complexity of Noun Phrase in Online Newspaper By Full name Student code Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh 20193480 Trần Thị Lan Anh 20193486 Nguyễn Thị Nga 20193564 Trần Chúc Nhi 20193576 March 2023 h Table of Contents I Introduction (Nguyễn Thị Nga) II Literature Review (Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh) Online newspaper Noun phrase Previous research III Analysis Data (Nguyễn Thị Nga) Number of NP (Nguyễn Thị Nga) Analysis of the complexity of NP in the quantity of DET, pre-modifiers, and post-modifiers (Trần Chúc Nhi) 10 3.1 The complexity in the number of DET 10 3.2 The complexity in the number of pre-modifiers 11 3.3 The complexity in the number of post-modifiers 12 The complexity in structure of NP’s components (Trần Thị Lan Anh) 14 4.1 The complexity in structure of NP’s components 14 4.2 The occurrences of the NP’s complex components 17 4.3 Analysis of the complexity in determiner and post-modifier 17 V Implication 20 V Conclusion 20 VI Limitation 20 References: 22 Abbriviations 23 Appendix: A list of 15 online news 24 h I Introduction (Nguyễn Thị Nga) It is human nature always to have the desire to capture information to keep up with the situation of the world, that's why newspapers were created And taking advantage of the development of the internet, the emergence of online newspapers is an inevitable trend of the times, making it easier for people to read This type helps people update news quickly and continuously, especially accompanied by concise and condensed information To meet this, the authors have used noun phrase structure in the articles Since discovering the special relationship between noun phrase structure and online newspapers, our research will focus on analyzing the use of noun phrase structure in online newspapers, based on articles in different topics thereby clarifying the complexity of noun phrases used in online articles in the first part of this essay, the review of literature about online newspapers and noun phrase structure will be stated in detail following the reviewed theoretical background, the analysis with several typical examples was extracted from the corpus of 15 random online newspapers to discover the frequency and complexity of applying noun phrase structure in online newspapers Next, practical application in mastering academic writing as well as teaching grammar through understanding and using noun phrase structure will be clarified in the conclusion Ultimately, those are the limitations of this study h II Literature Review (Nguyễn Thị Lan Anh) Online newspaper 1.1 Characteristics of online newspaper Online newspapers are probably one of the most widely read forms of media available to people today for informational purposes The following are the traits of this genre, as this study examines the use of complex noun phrases in online newspapers in depth Since the 1970s, online newspapers have been published (Krumsvik, 2017), and they are becoming more popular with the strong development of the 4.0 technology revolution According to Bell (2005), “online readerships now outpace and outstrip offline newspapers” Online newspapers were described by Schoenbach (2005) as “mostly free of charge, often updated throughout the day, easily accessible for everyone with an Internet connection; and they can be visited while working on one's PC.” 1.2 The reason for choosing online newspapers for analysis According to Schoenbach (2005), online newspapers can also be helpful as an “alarm medium,” providing breaking news at a glance throughout the day (as cited in Sparks, 2000) This indicates that a variety of topics on domestic and international issues will be covered by the online newspaper Due to this diversity, we anticipate that authors will use noun phrases, particularly complex noun phrases, to diversify their articles Noun phrase 2.1 Structure of noun phrase According to Roberts (2016), the basic form of noun phrases in English is presented below: DET + NOM First, it's critical to understand what the word "DET" means and how it functions in the noun phrase DET means determiners which are an article (a/an, the), demonstratives (this, that, these, those), certain quantifiers (some, any, no, each…), and possessives (my, your, his, her,…) Meanwhile, NOM means nominal and it is DET’s sister NOM can consist just of nouns or nouns with modifiers which are optional (Roberts, 2021) h For example: NP NP DET NOM DET POSS N POSS AP my A my sister NOM N sister beautiful Modifiers consist of pre-modifiers and post-modifiers According to An introduction English Syntax book (Roberts, 2021), pre.mod of the noun within NOM are adjective phrases, quantifying adjectives, participle phrases, and nouns  Adjective phrases: the most prominent pre.mod Eg: a beautiful flower, a handsome boy,…  Quantifying adjectives a Like adjectives, they co-occur with and follow determiners Eg: those many bags b Like adjectives, they may occur in the VP (verb phrase), functioning as subjectpredicatives Eg: It wasn’t much c Like adjectives, they are gradable Eg: so many gifts, a few books,… d Numerals Eg: the one mistake  Participle phrases: the non-finite form as the progressive, perfect, and passive participles h Eg: - a missed opportunity (perfect or passive)  the sleeping princess/ working parents (progressive) Nouns: themselves may act as pre.mod of nouns and “always appear last because they can't be separated from the head noun” stated Roberts (2021) Eg: disinformation via pro-Russian media outlets Same as above, the next vital part is the theoretical basis for post.mod According to Biber's et al research (2008), post.mod can consist of phrasal post.mod (prepositional phrases and appositive noun phrases) and clausal post.mod which can be finite relative clauses, non-finite participial clauses anh to-clauses On the basis of that research, we can give a few specific examples for each type as follows: Clausal post.mod:  Relative clause: children who lost their parents in the war  Ing-clause: students not taking the test on Monday  Ed-clause: an account topped up by the government  To-clause: the movie to watch Phrasal post.mod:  Prepositional phrase: the ratio of nursery staff  Appositive noun phrase: Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco’s chief executive Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman From the above theoretical foundations, the basic structure of noun phrases continues to be given based on the research of Biber, Johansson, Leech, Conrad, and Finegan (1999, p 574), as cited in Jitpraneechai (2019): Determiner + (pre-modification) + head noun+ (post-modification and complementation) 2.2 Structure of complex noun phrase The structure can potentially be more complex when multiple pre.mod or post.mod are added, Jitpraneechai (2019) said This means that a complex noun phrase is formed when not one but many pre.mod and post.mod are added to the simple structure of the noun phrase: DET + NOM h makes them become more grammatically complex, according to Jitpraneechai (2019) as cited in (Biber & Gray, 2016) To make it easier to understand here is an example of the structure of a complex noun phrase: The aid budget on refugees in the UK NP DET NOM Pre.mod The aid N budget Post.mod on refugees in the UK 2.3 Functions of noun phrase Andrews (n.d.) states that noun phrases can perform three major functions: semantic, pragmatic, and grammatical However, we will only discuss the “semantic function” in this essay because it is directly related to the type of text we have chosen - online newspapers Andrews defined semantic functions, also known as semantic roles, are the various ways a sentence can describe an entity's participation in a situation Therefore, when the noun phrase serves a semantic purpose, the newspaper becomes more interesting and lively Previous research These previous studies have shown the frequency of using noun phrases or complex noun phrases in some types of documents such as academic writing, literature, and editorials, and give a solution to the remaining issues Jitpraneechai (2019) used manual coding to compare how Thai and native students at university use complex noun phrases in their argumentative English essays It concluded that prepositional phrases were the most common post.mod, while attributive adjectives and nouns were most frequently used as pre.mod h Meanwhile, Liu & Li’s (2016) research about Noun phrase complexity in EFL academic writing by advanced Chinese EFL students and published writers gave the results that noun phrase complexity in the student corpus was significantly lower than in the published corpus All of the above studies are based on data that comes from scholarly texts that employ formal writing However, there have been no studies to assess using noun phrase complexity in online newspapers So we conducted this research to fill in the gap of previous studies, with the desire: to identify the frequency of using complex noun phrases in online newspapers; to assess the complexity of the noun phrases used; to suggest some implications to using complex noun phrases more effectively h III Analysis Data (Nguyễn Thị Nga) This study is based on a corpus of 15 online newspapers covering a variety of topics such as fashion, the environment, politics, and so on These articles were sourced at random from reputable online newspapers: The Guardian, National Geographic, The Week, and The Daily Mail Number of NP (Nguyễn Thị Nga) After collecting the necessary online newspapers for analysis, the authors of this study created the table below to summarize the total number of sentences and noun phrases found in those online newspapers The data shown in the table below clearly shows that there are a total of 375 sentences in 15 selected online articles and of which the number of noun phrases is 1181 Which means that each sentence has about 3.15 NPs on average Thereby we see that the frequency of occurrence of noun phrase is quite a lot, and it plays an extremely important role to form a complete sentence Total number of sentences Total number of NPs 375 1181 No of NP per sentence: 3,15 One of the reasons for the high number of Nps (3.15 on average) in a sentence is that each complex noun phrase contains other noun phrases For example: Extract “The ruling will be a bittersweet victory for the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya, whose members have been subject to harassment, exclusion and violence.” (The Guardian - Kenya’s LGBTQ community wins bittersweet victory in battle for rights) As can be clearly seen, "the ruling" is a noun phrase that acts as the subject, with "the" being the determiner and "ruling" being the head noun Additionally, "a bittersweet victory for the LGBTQ+ community in Kenya, whose members have been subject to harassment, exclusion and violence" is the second noun phrase that acts as the predicate, with "a" plays the role of determiner, "bittersweet" is the pre-modifier, " victory" is the head noun and "whose members have been subject to harassment, exclusion and violence" is the post-modifier Where "the LGBTG+ community in Kenya" is another noun phrase It is h clear that noun phrases are not only highly numerical but also highly complex, as will be demonstrated in the following analysis Analysis of the complexity of NP in the quantity of DET, pre-modifiers, and post-modifiers (Trần Chúc Nhi) The structure of NP will become more complex when different DET, pre-modifiers, and post-modifiers are added to it, as was stated in the Literature Review Of 1181 NP in online newspapers, there are 134 complex NP that has more than one DET, pre-modifiers, and post-modifiers, accounting for around 12 percent The rate of this kind may not high, but it has an essential role in delivering dense textual information that contributes to fast and economical reading (Biber and Gay, 2010, as cited in Jitpraneechai, 2019) The frequency of Complex NP in the quantity of DET, pre-modifiers and post-modifiers Total of NP Complex NP in More than one More than one More than one the quantity of DET DET, pre- modifiers and pre-modifiers post-modifier 70 32 post-modifiers 1181 134 (%) 100% (%) 11,34 78 According to the statistics, the complexity of NP in the quantity of DET is the highest, followed by the complexity of NP based on the number of pre-modifiers they carry, with more than a half in total for each type However, when compared with the total of NP, they are just making up around percentage each category Thus, the use of adding numerous post-modifiers in online newspapers is the lowest, accounting for 2,7 percent 3.1 The complexity in the number of DET The first sign that an NP is complex is the presence of multiple DETs within the NP There are two DET, including the possessive DET "'s" and the definite articles "the," in the NP "the government's new farm," for instance Roberts (2016) claims that possessive DET can be used with the majority of DET, including articles, demonstratives, possessives, etc This is also the most typical DET structure that adds to the intricacy of NP 10 h The Foreign Office said in response to the committee report: “The government has acted decisively and compassionately to support the people of Ukraine and Afghanistan to escape oppression and conflict and find refuge in the UK, and at the autumn statement we provided an additional £2.5bn to help meet the increased costs of this support “We report all aid spending in line with the OECD’s rules, which allow funding to be spent on food and shelter for asylum seekers and refugees for their first year in the UK “The UK government spent more than £11bn in aid in 2021 and remains one of the largest global aid donors with most of it still going towards supporting the poorest communities around the world, helping tackle deadly diseases and getting millions of girls into school.” (697) https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/02/overseas-aid-budget-uk-select-committee-reporthousing-refugees Four bankers in Switzerland accused of helping to hide Putin’s millions Swiss national and three Russians appear in court in connection with accounts in name of Putin’s friend Sergei Rodigan Four bankers have appeared in a Swiss court charged with helping to hide tens of millions of francs on behalf of Vladimir Putin The men, who had senior roles at the Swiss branch of Russia’s Gazprombank, are accused of helping Sergei Roldugin – a close friend of the Russian president who has been described as “Putin’s wallet” – to move millions through Swiss bank accounts without the proper due diligence checks The men – three Russians and one Swiss national who cannot be identified, under Swiss reporting restrictions – appeared at Zurich district court on Wednesday They denied the charges Roldugin, a godfather to Putin’s eldest daughter, Maria, reportedly placed $50m in Swiss accounts between 2014 and 2016 with no credible explanation as to where the money had come from He also allegedly planned to pump more than $10m a year into Swiss accounts via a complex web of shell companies Swiss prosecutors told the court that the bankers failed to enough to determine the identity of the true beneficial owner of the funds 35 h Roldugin was the officially named owner of two accounts opened at Gazprombank Switzerland in 2014 However, there was no evidence to prove the source of Roldugin’s funds Roldugin, a cellist and conductor, previously told the New York Times that he was not a businessman and certainly not a millionaire “All the evidence runs contrary to Sergei Roldugin being the real owner of the assets,” the prosecutor Jan Hoffmann told the court The defence lawyer Bernhard Lötscher said there was no proof that Roldugin was not the real owner of the assets “Doubts about the identity of the true owner are not enough from a criminal law point of view,” he told the court The indictment says: “It is well known that … Putin officially only has an income of 100,000 Swiss francs and is not wealthy, but in fact has enormous assets which are managed by persons close to him … The declared assets were in general in no way plausible as Roldugin’s own assets.” Putin has previously said Roldugin is a friend, a brilliant musician and a benefactor who has honestly earned some money from a minority stake in a Russian company The Kremlin has previously dismissed suggestions that Roldugin’s funds are linked to the Russian leader as anti-Russian “Putinophobia” It says Putin’s finances are a matter of public record as he has regularly declared his assets and salary to Russian voters Roldugin’s alleged role as a “wallet” for Putin was revealed in 2016 by the Panama Papers, an investigation published by the Guardian in collaboration with other media, including the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington and the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (476) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/08/four-bankers-in-switzerland-accused-of-helping-tohide-vladimir-putin-millions UK scientists welcome government’s new technology plan but say more funding needed Intervention is ‘yet another sticking plaster’ says Royal Society president, as EU funding programmes highlighted 36 h Scientists have welcomed the launch of a 10-point government plan designed to help cement the UK’s place as a global science and technology superpower, but said more funding would be needed to achieve this goal – including securing full association with EU programmes The science and technology framework, launched on Monday, is the first major output of the recently created Department for Science, Innovation and Technology It outlines 10 vital actions necessary to foster the right conditions for industry, innovation and scientific research to deliver highly paid jobs, boost economic growth in cutting-edge industries, and improve people’s lives These include identifying, pursuing and achieving strategic advantage in leading industries, boosting private and public investment in research and development, and financing innovative science and technology startups and companies Also announced was an additional £370m in funding – including £250m to build on the UK’s leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and synthetic biology Michelle Donelan, the science, innovation and technology secretary, said: “Innovation and technology are our future They hold the keys to everything from raising productivity and wages, to transforming healthcare, reducing energy prices and ultimately creating jobs and economic growth in the UK, providing the financial firepower allowing us to spend more on public services.” Prof Sir Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society, said the announcement was a clear signal that research and innovation sat at the heart of the government’s agenda for productivity and growth, and it was reassuring to see a plan focused on cementing the UK’s place as a science and technology superpower Nevertheless, vital for this would be securing access to the EU’s flagship Horizon Europe programme Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, last week signalled that this might be possible under the latest post-Brexit trading deal between the EU and UK – but this is not yet guaranteed Even then, it could take several years for funding and participation to return to pre-Brexit levels “Today’s announcement is welcome – and one of the first steps to turning words into action must be securing full association to the EU funding programmes,” Smith said “That represents the base of a globally focused UK science sector The extension of the funding underwrite announced today is a welcome intervention, but it is yet another sticking plaster, when the ultimate goal needs to be speedy association 37 h now that the barriers to this have been removed by the EU We need to see a firm commitment from the prime minister to delivering full association.” Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of universities, said the £370m of new funding was also far short of £1.6bn in funding that had been earmarked for research collaborations with the European Union, but which the Treasury recently announced it was taking back The funding has not been spent because of holdups caused by the dispute over the Northern Ireland protocol “In addition to investment, collaboration is the other vital ingredient for world-class research,” Bradshaw said “Now the political roadblocks that have held up the UK’s association to Horizon Europe have been removed, the government’s top priority should be to finalise the agreement that was put in place over two years ago.” Also published on Monday was an independent review of the UK’s research, development and innovation landscape by Sir Paul Nurse, director of the Francis Crick Institute in London It concluded that funding, particularly provided by government, was limited, and below that of other competitive nations The way the UK delivers and supports research is also “not optimal,” it said “My review of the research, development and innovation landscape makes a range of recommendations across the whole RDI endeavour, which if adopted together, provides a blueprint for government to make the UK a genuine science superpower,” Nurse said (652) https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/06/uk-scientists-welcome-new-technology-plan-butmore-funding-needed The Guardian view on childcare: quality matters as much as quantity Childcare is not a domestic problem, or a women’s problem: it’s an economic problem This was the subtext of a recent announcement from the Confederation of British Industry, which has called on the government to extend free childcare to relieve labour shortages The Treasury is now considering a huge expansion in free childcare hours as part of its attempt to get more people into work Senior Tories have pressured Jeremy Hunt ahead of the chancellor’s spring statement to cut the costs of childcare, which are among the highest in Europe Reducing these costs and providing more childcare hours is essential, but focusing only on its benefits to employment would be a missed opportunity 38 h The current system is based on a byzantine set of policies Two-year-olds from low-income families are entitled to 15 weekly hours of free childcare Most children aged three to four with two working parents get 30 free hours Parents can also access up to £2,000 a year, per child, by paying money into an account topped up by the government Almost two-thirds of take-home pay can be spent on putting a two-yearold in nursery Even parents on higher salaries are justifiably angry, but the situation is worse for poorer families Working parents on universal credit can get up to 85% of childcare costs reimbursed, but this is paid in arrears, forcing some into a cycle of debt Nurseries also charge extra fees that can be prohibitively expensive It’s no wonder that many low-income families don’t use formal childcare at all So far, the government’s only proposal for fixing the system has come from Liz Truss, who pledged to slash the ratio of nursery staff to children Rishi Sunak was right to quietly ditch the idea He should now go further an falls far behind the real cost of childcare As a result, nurseries have made up the shortfall elsewhere to stay afloat, subsidising funded hours by slashing wages and charging steep fees to parents with children under two Pay is so low that nursery staff are taking jobs in supermarkets, while the number of early years staff with qualifications equivalent to A-level fell from 83% in 2015 to 52% in 2020 Raising pay across the sector should be an immediate priority The quality of early years education is pivotal to children’s development It can reduce inequalities that would otherwise persist in adulthood The achievement gap between disadvantaged and wealthy children is already significant at the age of five Over the last decade, the Conservatives have increased the number of free childcare hours, but this gap has not shrunk Expanding the number of free hours without examining the quality of childcare or which children are benefiting most from it is unlikely to fix this gap Labour’s plans for a childcare settlement -worth at least £365m -would be an improvement, but ensuring that measures also target children from low-income families, who are among the least likely to make i Childcare is classed as day-to-day spending rather than capital investment It has long been regarded as a drain on the public purse Its impact is long-term and therefore more difficult to model But its economic benefits are obvious High-quality, universal and affordable childcare pays dividends It helps parents get back into work, and improves outcomes for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds Both of these things should be integral to the government’s plans https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/13/the-guardian-view-on-childcare-qualitymatters-as-much-as-quantity 39 h 10 The Guardian view on coup fears in Moldova: another front in Putin’s war As the anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine approaches, Monday’s visit to Kyiv by the US president, Joe Biden – during which he pledged further military support and a new wave of sanctions on Russia – powerfully testified to US solidarity Mr Biden’s surprise trip, his first since the war began, was as important for its timing and symbolism as its substance Indirectly, it will also have offered some reassurance a few hundred miles to the south, in the Moldovan capital, Chișinău Amid ominous signals that a hybrid campaign against Ukraine’s strategically crucial neighbour is being stepped up, and suggestions that plans for a Kremlin-backed coup are in place, Moldova is also in need of western assistance Earlier this month, its pro-European government resigned, having been relentlessly destabilised through crises largely made in Moscow A new prime minister has been swiftly appointed But at the Munich security conference, where the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, met the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, Mr Blinken became the most senior western official to voice concern over a potential plot to install a Moscow-friendly regime Since the invasion of Ukraine, the former Soviet republic of 2.5 million people has been plunged into economic crisis as Russia has restricted energy supplies Inflation has soared to 30%, and fuel bills have risen to almost the equivalent of a minimum monthly pension Sunday saw the latest in a succession of street protests allegedly financed and organised by a pro-Russian fugitive oligarch, now living in Israel As well as protesters bussed in from outside the capital, the demonstrations have also been attended by paramilitary groups and former soldiers Cyber-attacks, and disinformation via pro-Russian media outlets have added to the sense of perma-crisis, and Moldova has had to cope with an influx of 700,000 Ukrainian refugees – proportionately more than any other country Indicating the current level of anxiety, Moldovan airspace was briefly closed last week after a security warning from Kyiv About 1,500 Russian troops are already stationed in Moldova next to the Ukrainian border, in the unrecognised, Moscow-backed breakaway state of Transnistria An outright invasion is unlikely But familiar features of Mr Putin’s destabilisation playbook in eastern Europe are menacingly present: a frozen conflict that could be reopened; pro-Moscow oligarchs with the money and motive to make trouble, and a sizeable ethnic Russian minority Mirroring the role of Belarus in the north, a compliant government in Chișinău could allow Mr Putin to exert pressure on Ukraine from 40 h the south Bringing Moldova back into Moscow’s orbit would also bring to an end developing military cooperation with neighbouring Romania, a Nato and EU member The new prime minister, Dorin Recean, has pledged to continue Moldova’s pro-European trajectory, after its acceptance as an EU candidate member last year As the Kremlin continues to weaponise the economic crisis it has helped generate, the west should consider further stepping up levels of humanitarian aid to one of Europe’s poorest countries It should also offer technical resources and expertise in combating disinformation and cyber-attacks Inevitably, such assistance will be presented by Moscow as confirmation of the west’s proxy war against Russia Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, recently described Moldova as the west’s new “anti-Russian project” But the significance of the social unrest on Ukraine’s southern flank must not be ignored https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/20/the-guardian-view-on-coup-fears-inmoldova-another-front-in-putins-war 11 Zelenskiy’s bid to appear during Oscars turned down for second year – report The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has reportedly been snubbed by the Oscars for the second year in a row According to Variety, Zelenskiy had been hoping to appear on this Sunday’s telecast following on from previous cultural appearances but the request has been denied In the past year, the comedian turned politician has appeared via satellite during the Grammy awards and Golden Globes and within film festivals such as Cannes and most recently Berlin Last month marked the one year anniversary of Russia invading Ukraine Zelenskiy had secured Mike Simpson, a top power agent at major agency WME, after his client Aaron Kaufman co-directed Ukraine documentary Superpower made with Sean Penn, who loaned one of his two Oscars to Zelenskiy last year The actor called it “a symbolic silly thing” but after Ukraine wins the war against Russia, he could bring it back to him He had previously promised to smelt an Oscar if the Academy didn’t let him speak “There is nothing greater that the Academy Awards could than to give [Zelensky] an opportunity to talk to all of us,” he said 41 h Last year it was reported that Oscars executive producer Will Packer had expressed concern over allowing Zelenskiy airtime as everyone affected by the conflict is white and previous tragedies involving people of colour hadn’t received the same attention The ceremony instead included a moment of silence The news comes after a recent poll that showed weakening American support for assistance to Ukraine This year’s best documentary category includes A House Made of Splinters, which focuses on children who lost their parents in the war The best picture category includes Top Gun: Maverick, which has this week come under fire after reports the film was partly funded by Russian oligarch Dimitry Rybolovlev The Ukrainian World Congress, an expat group based in Toronto, has expressed “serious concerns over Russia’s influence on the Hollywood film industry” Paramount has yet to comment https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/mar/09/oscars-volodymyr-zelenskiy-appearance-turned-down 12 Half of Britain and Ireland’s native plants have declined over 20 years – study Half of Britain and Ireland’s native plants have declined over the past 20 years, with non-native species now more numerous in the wild, a major study has found Thousands of botanists from the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) have spent the past 20 years collecting data on changes in the British and Irish flora The research, published in Plant Atlas 2020, has implications for native insects and other species which rely on the plants they evolved alongside Agricultural practices and the climate crisis are the main drivers of decline in native plant species, scientists said, as they called for urgent action to tackle the loss Changes in farming since the 1950s such as nitrogen enrichment, habitat degradation and changes in grazing pressure have led to the decline of species such as heather and harebell, the research found Additionally, damp meadows have been drained, leading to substantial declines in plants such as devil’sbit scabious – a plant fed on by rare butterflies Ancient arable wildflowers such as corn marigold fared worse than other species; with a 62% decline This is because traditional grasslands have been reseeded or over-fertilised 42 h Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said: “The decline of our beautiful native plants is heartbreaking and has consequences for us all The loss of natural habitats due to modern farming methods over the last 70 years has been an unmitigated disaster for wildflowers and all the species that depend on them including insects, bats and birds “But it’s not too late to stop this catastrophe The government’s new farm environment schemes must what was originally promised and reverse the decline of nature in our agricultural landscape Also, protection for local wildlife sites needs to be increased, and the promise made by the government at the recent UN biodiversity summit to halve nutrient pollution by 2030 must be honoured.” Climate breakdown has affected many species For example, mountain plants such as alpine lady-fern, alpine speedwell and snow pearlwort depend on areas where the snow lies late in the spring and summer Of the 3,445 different plant species recorded during fieldwork, 1,692 are native to Britain while 1,753 nonnatives were found that have been deliberately or accidentally introduced into the wild by humans Many of the non-native species originate from gardens and then spread to establish self-sustaining populations The planting of non-native spruce is degrading peatland habitats, researchers found, and sitka spruce, which regenerates into peatland and moorland, has shown the most significant increase in range of any species recorded Dr Kevin Walker, BSBI head of science and Plant Atlas 2020 co-author, said: “There’s a lot we can to reverse these declines, but the most important are to increase the protection plants receive, extend the habitat available to them, and to place their needs at the very heart of nature conservation We also need to ensure that our land, water and soil are managed more sustainably so that plants, and the species which rely upon them for food and shelter, can thrive.” https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/mar/04/evidence-reveals-gladiators-fought-in-romanbritain 13 Feast your eyes on these spring ski deals, including for one resort where Michelin-starred chefs will be rolling into town for a weekend of fine dining 43 h There's a feast in store on the Italian slopes of Courmayeur, with top chefs rolling into town to host the 2023 Mountain Gourmet Ski Experience On March 16, guests will meet Jean Philippe Blondet, the three-Michelin-starred head chef of restaurant Alain Ducasse At The Dorchester, and Jonny Lake, the one-Michelin-starred co-owner of Trivet restaurant in London After skiing on March 17, the duo will serve up a six-course tasting menu featuring signature dishes from their restaurants A four-course affair on March 18 will showcase their skills with local produce Three nights’ B&B in the charming Hotel Bouton d’Or, departing March 16, costs £1,625pp based on two sharing Price includes the three evening meals, evening access to cable cars, flights and transfers (momentumski.com) Skiing foodies will also find Meribel in the Three Valleys area of France a perfect spot for spring sport combined with excellent restaurants At 7,546ft, the 360-degree terrace of Maya Altitude enjoys stunning views over Belleville Valley and Mont Blanc Or venture to Alpen Ruitor chalet in the centre of Meribel-Mottaret for a post-ski, calorie-replacing sweet crepe Their signature delight is the Paris-Meribel, a crepe filled with white chocolate and red fruit coulis Seven nights’ half-board in the three-star Hotel Les Grangettes from March 25 costs £903pp, based on two sharing Price includes flights and transfers (inghams.co.uk) For a low-cost change of food culture at Easter, head for the Dinaric Alps in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which hosted the 1984 Winter Olympics The largest resort is Jahorina, which suits beginners and intermediates, and where the sustenance is hearty stews A six-day bundle of ski pass, ski school and rental gear costs £315 44 h Seven nights’ half-board, leaving on March 26, in the four-star Hotel Termag is £710pp, based on two sharing and including flights (igluski.com) https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-11819719/Feast-eyes-spring-ski-deals-including-resorthosting-Michelin-starred-chefs.html 14 How drag became a battle in the culture wars Drag reading events for children have become the latest culture war issue to cross the Atlantic, sparking a growing backlash from conservative and anti-woke groups in the UK It is “the latest battlefield in America’s rolling ‘culture wars’ over gender and education”, said France 24, with “conservatives around the country training their sights on drag shows – assailing them as a threat to public decency and family values” In the US, the debate has centred on events known as Drag Queen Story Hour Primarily aimed at children aged three to 11, these reading groups led by drag artists take place in libraries, schools, bookshops and museums and have spread across the country since being launched in San Francisco in 2015 “The idea is hardly a shock in a country where drag has moved from niche nightlife spots into the cultural mainstream,” said France 24 But “that is not stopping part of the right from portraying Drag Queen Story Hour as a national nightmare: progressive activism gone wild at best, and at worst a sexually charged threat to ‘children’s innocence’” What has brought drag into the firing line? Drag Story Hour “has always faced opposition”, admitted Dazed, “but the protests used to be mild, usually involving a group of evangelical Christians standing across the street from an event and quietly praying for the souls of those inside That is no longer the case.” Protests “have arisen fairly suddenly around a form of entertainment that has long had a place on the mainstream American stage”, said Fortune The American magazine pointed out that “drag does not typically involve nudity or stripping, which are more common in the separate art of burlesque” 45 h The storming of the Capitol on January 2021 marked a turning point, Jonathan Hamilt, Drag Story Hour’s executive director, told Dazed The magazine said that “far-right extremists were emboldened” and are “increasingly turning their attention towards the LGBTQ+ community” Fortune said “vitriol has become violence”, with protesters now routinely waving guns, hurling rocks and smoke bombs and screaming at families attending the small-scale events In 2022, according to GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation), there were 141 incidents of violence targeting drag events specifically How is it playing out? While TV shows such as RuPaul’s Drag Race continue to pull in large audiences, “lawmakers across the country are engaged in a different sort of race: to restrict drag performances in the name of protecting children”, said The Economist Last month, Tennessee became the first US state to ban drag shows in public after the governor, Bill Lee, signed a law criminalising “male or female impersonators” performing in public spaces where they could be seen by children The Times reported that at least a dozen other states have proposed similar bans on drag shows, “which have become a fixation on America’s political right, which claims that the performances are a pretext for ‘grooming’ children” What about the UK? While Drag Queen Story Hour has been in the UK since 2017, anti-drag sentiment has yet to enter the mainstream, although there are signs it could follow a similar trajectory to the US Appearances have begun to be met by fierce protests from those claiming that the acts are sexualising children, with parenting and anti-woke groups concerned at a 300% increase in the number of drag acts performing at UK schools, libraries and churches over the last year 46 h “The sexual element of drag is impossible to deny,” wrote Andrew Doyle for UnHerd And “while many drag queens are happy to tone it down, others have made little effort to modify their raunchy style for children” The Times reported this month that drag queens dressed in bondage-like gear and underwear had performed at a sensory event for babies in south London, sparking protests and death threats for the organisers, said the paper “Since there hasn’t been a single instance I can find of drag queens grooming children for sex (those who that tend to dress up as respectable middle-aged men),” said David Aaronovitch also in The Times, such a claim from anti-woke groups simply “constitutes an unpleasant libel” You can now find “voluble groups who will argue that drag queen storytelling is part of a war on our western culture”, he said, but “the reality is that most of us want little part in these conflicts and would rather be guided by moderation and common sense” https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/society/959951/how-drag-became-a-new-battle-in-the-culture-wars 15 Chanel tries to create ‘special moment’ in crisis-ridden world The purpose of a Chanel fashion show – other than to demonstrate how the clothes move, attract A-listers and drum up a social media buzz – is to create “un moment suspendu”, or a “suspended moment”, the company’s president said “That moment when you can forget what is happening outside, or around you,” said Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion “It’s not just fashion of course You can say the same about cinema, and art But it’s a special moment.” Speaking before the label’s winter show, Pavlovsky was referring to the role and relevance of fashion shows in a crisis-ridden world “We know how to deal with a crisis now, we have the right global distribution,” he said of trading issues since the pandemic “With the war in Ukraine and Russia, we don’t know what will be our next step.” After its invasion, Chanel ceased trading in Russia “We just want to “[create] a dream” In other words, a beautiful distraction 47 h Chanel certainly managed that Creating a double runway covered in black sand inside the Grand Palais Ephémère, each end of the catwalk mirrored the brand’s double c logo Within each “c” was an enormous 16-petal camellia which flashed white, red and pink at intervals, while on each tiered seat sat a fresh one Anna Wintour spent much of the show smelling hers What no one expected was that Chanel would read the room Of the 66 models, a handful, including the veteran Dutch model Jill Kortleve, could be described as body diverse Part of a gradual shift away from the reed-thin body shape that has dominated the megabrand catwalks since for ever, it suggests Chanel’s creative director, Virginie Viard, also reads news Pavlovsky says Viard knows what women want “A woman designing for women, that’s very important”, he said On the clothes that often meant menswear-for women: dandy-style dressing gowns, Withnailstyle coats with peak lapels and that hot feminist topic – lots of pockets Viard said making more comfortable clothes “made the collections more real” Everything came in black or white, with flashes of burgundy and dusky pink jumping out beneath the layers of gold necklaces There were winter shorts, worn with white tights and platform boots, and there was tweed reworked into short suits, tiered skirts and jumpsuits The mood was light on bare skin, low-key and retro, Anna Karina meets Faye Dunaway Describing Viard as Chanel’s biggest asset – other than the classic 2.55 chain handbag and all the bouclé tweed of course – since taking over at Chanel after the 2019 death of Karl Lagerfeld, the designer has been responsible for a swift retreat from Lagerfeld’s often-excessive spectacles This will feel all the more relevant this May Four years after his death, the late designer will become the subject of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute exhibition and gala, which will catapult Chanel and his legacy back into the limelight Viard’s focus, he said, has been on the clothes, but also bringing in younger fans “The most difficult thing for Virginie is to bring her contribution to an existing brand But she has taken what Karl created and taken it to another level, bringing something more feminine that fits better with the woman of today.” Sitting in such rarefied surroundings, with the Eiffel Tower looming behind, how is it possible to tell? “You just look 48 h at the models once they’ve tried on the clothes” he said “You see in their faces that what they are wearing is making them happy.” https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2023/mar/07/chanel-tries-to-create-special-moment-in-crisisridden-world 49 h