Hadden Frost aims to emulate father on Calgary Bay in Grand National

? Jockey targets win on first try over famous fences
? JP McManus buys the winner of the Irish equivalent

Hadden Frost has never jumped one of Aintree's big fir fences in a race of any kind, never mind in the Grand National itself, but the prospect of riding Calgary Bay, a 33-1 chance, next Saturday does not seem to be costing him sleep.

Perhaps that very lack of experience means he feels no need to worry about the challenge or the atmosphere but Frost is almost apologetic about his lack of big-race angst. "I'm excited but not nervous," Frost said at Stratfordhere on Friday. "It sounds boring but I'm just going to stay relaxed and ride a race. Sorry, but that's all there is to it."

Frost's parents ? including his father Jimmy, who won the race on Little Polveir in 1989, before Hadden was born ? are another matter. "My dad's a lot worse than I am," he said, "and my mum's the worst of all. It's a good job we've got Sky+, because she won't be able to watch it, not until I've given her a call to tell her that it's all right."

Victory for Calgary Bay would mark only the second time in the National's long history that a son had followed his father on to the roll of honour, after Paul Carberry's success on Bobbyjo in 1999. Few National winners pass the post without enjoying their share of excitement and incident over the course of 4� miles but Frost Jr could probably do without quite as much drama as his father, by then a seasoned jockey, endured 22 years ago.

"We made him watch the video a few times," Frost said, "though he doesn't like watching it or he pretends that he doesn't. He tries not to watch it too much, anyway. I think he had a lot of luck on the way round. He nearly hit a streaker and he nearly got run off by a loose horse but that's what you need around there. I think if you enjoy it, then you're doing the right thing. I don't want to blank it all out, I want to relax and enjoy it. I remember everything about my first winner at Cheltenham [on Buena Vista, in the Pertemps Final in 2010], so that's what I'll hope to do."

Calgary Bay has form in some of the best races to his name, having finished sixth in the 2010 Cheltenham Gold Cup, but most of his racing has been over shorter trips and his stamina for the National trip remains in doubt.

"He's definitely classy enough for it," Frost said. "Stamina is the only question mark with him but the form books say that he's the right horse for the race so I'm going to believe them."

The 20-year-old Frost has faced a serious struggle for winners this season and has not enjoyed a success since November. Henrietta Knight, Calgary Bay's trainer, replaced him aboard Somersby in the Queen Mother Champion Chase at last month's Cheltenham Festival.

He says his confidence has not been affected, though, while there would be no better place to break his losing run than in the most valuable race of the National Hunt season.

"It was just one of those things [at Cheltenham]", he said. "I was warned at the start of the season that in the big races I might not have quite enough experience, so I'm just thankful to have had the amount of rides that I have and fingers crossed for next year.

"Everyone keeps saying what a bad season I've had but I'm still on the same number of winners as last year. That's just how it goes, everyone has peaks and troughs. It doesn't matter if I won the last race or lost it. I'll ride it just the same."

Tony McCoy, who needed 15 attempts before winning the National on Don't Push It 12 months ago, was also here yesterday, though he drew a blank from two rides. McCoy will be reunited with the same partner, who is due to carry top weight, in next weekend's race, though given the choice again, he might have opted instead for Bluesea Cracker, last year's Irish Grand National winner, who was purchased on Friday by JP McManus, McCoy's main employer.

Bluesea Cracker is 33-1 for the National but would stand a fair chance if able to recapture the form of her win at Fairyhouse last year, when she was 4� lengths in front of Oscar Time, the mount of the Gold Cup-winning jockey Sam Waley-Cohen and one of the market leaders.

"It's fantastic to be teamed up with Mr McManus for the first time and great that she stays in the yard," James Motherway, her trainer, said on Friday. "If she's as lucky for him as she was for the previous owners we'll be happy.

Andrew McNamara, who partnered Bluesea Cracker to victory in that Irish National at Fairyhouse, will take the ride at Aintree.

• Horse racing
• Grand National 2011
• Grand National

Greg Wood

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/apr/01/hadden-frost-grand-national-calgary-bay

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UN mission in Afghanistan rocked by mob killings

Death toll unconfirmed after protesters storm Mazar-e-Sharif compound in response to Qur'an burning by US pastor

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan has been plunged into jeopardy after protesters enraged by the burning of a Qur'an by Christian extremists in the US stormed a UN compound in the north of the country and killed at least seven foreign staff members.

Amid uncertainty about the overall death toll, the UN said its staff were killed when the usually peaceful city of Mazar-e-Sharif exploded into violent protest.

Four of the seven foreigners killed were former Gurkhas working as private security guards. Norway's defence ministry named another victim as Lieutenant Colonel Siki Skare, a 53-year-old female pilot working for the UN, while the sixth victim was named as Joakin Dungel, 33, a Swede working in the UN office. The seventh foreigner killed was believed to be Romanian. Two of the UN workers were reported to have been beheaded

Last night, Afghan officials arrested more than 20 people in connection with the assault including the alleged ringleader.

Under UN rules, officials will have to consider pulling out staff members or shutting down operations altogether.

After an attack on a UN guesthouse in Kabul in late 2009 in which five UN staff were killed, hundreds of their colleagues were temporarily relocated to Dubai while the organisation spent millions closing guesthouses and outfitting a big base on the outskirts of Kabul.

Last night, Staffan de Mistura, the UN's leading envoy in Afghanistan, flew directly to Mazar-e-Sharif to take stock of the disaster. One senior staff member said there had been "absolutely no discussion" about repositioning staff, but many UN workers feared the incident would mark another milestone in the gradual retreat of UN diplomats and aid workers into a world where they only see the inside of fortified compounds and armoured vehicles.

Last week Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, said Mazar-e-Sharif would be one of the first areas to be transferred to Afghan control this year. But the police were no match for the sudden outburst of violence yesterday, which was triggered by the actions of a fringe Christian group on the other side of the world.

The Rev Terry Jones's small church, the Dove World Outreach Centre in Florida, had threatened to destroy a copy of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks last year, but the pastor backed down after an appeal by General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Aghnaistan. But the church went through with the burning last month with Jones in attendance.

The Qur'an burning was the subject of anger at Friday prayers around Afghanistan yesterday. In Mazar-e-Sharif thousands of people poured out of the city's famous Blue Mosque after a sermon by the presiding mullah, with one police official estimating that there were 4,000 people on the streets of the city.

The head of the Blue Mosque, Atiqullah Ansari, said only a minority were responsible for the violence, claiming they were the followers of a mullah who served under the Taliban regime. "They went to the UN compound and killed the foreigners, this is what they wanted," he said.

Last night Jones told the BBC he could not be held responsible for the attack on the UN. Instead he blamed Islam. "We must take a serious, serious look at Islam," he said. "It's a violent religion that promotes acts of violence, I believe we need to bring this before the UN."

Barack Obama condemned the attack, saying: "We stress the importance of calm and urge all parties to reject violence and resolve differences through dialogue."

The attack was also condemned by William Hague, the foreign secretary, who said: "The families and friends of those killed today have my deepest sympathies. The work of the [UN] in Afghanistan is of utmost importance. It is vital that they can carry out their work in a safe and secure environment.

"I call upon the Afghan government to investigate this incident and bring the perpetrators to justice."

However, in Mazar-e-Sharif the surviving UN staff were said to be shell-shocked and bewildered at the failings of security that allowed their compound to be overwhelmed.

Across the country the UN issued a "White City" order, putting all staff members into a state of lockdown, preventing them from leaving their compounds.

• Afghanistan
• United Nations
• United States

Jon Boone

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/afghanistan-united-nations-killings

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Japanese nuclear workers face new threat from radioactive groundwater

? Fukushima workers surviving on two small meals a day
? Technicians sleep in corridors during three-day shifts
? Radiation monitors shared between employees

Workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant face new threats to their health after radiation exceeding safety levels was found to have seeped into groundwater near the facility.

The plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), was the target of further criticism amid reports that some workers at the site had not been provided with personal radiation monitors.

Tepco's handling of the crisis has come under closer scrutiny since three workers were exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation last week. They have all been discharged from hospital after suffering no ill effects.

Japan's nuclear and industrial safety agency, Nisa, ordered the firm to review its latest radiation measurements taken from the air, seawater and groundwater, saying they seemed suspiciously high.

Earlier on Friday Tepco reported that groundwater beneath one of the plant's six reactors contained levels of radioactive iodine 10,000 times higher than government standards.

"We have our suspicions about their isotope analysis," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a Nisa spokesman. Tepco said that a computer software fault could be responsible for the high readings, but added that the data could turn out to be accurate.

Experts said it was unlikely that the radioactive iodine-131 found nearly 15 metres (50ft) below one of the reactors would find its way into drinking water.

For several days authorities have issued assurances that none of the radiation readings are high enough to present a threat to people living beyond the 12-mile (20km) evacuation zone.

But the risks being taken by about 600 technicians, engineers, firefighters and troops as they struggle to contain radiation leaks have only increased.

Tepco admitted it had not been able to provide enough dosimeters to teams of workers who are completing gruelling three-day shifts in an attempt to remove and dispose of radioactive pools of water and prevent damaged fuel rods from going into full meltdown.

Tepco said it had secured additional gauges to replace hundreds that were damaged in the 11 March tsunami. "We must ensure the workers' health and safety, but we also face a pressing need to get the work done as quickly as possible," Nishiyama said, adding that sharing meters up until now had been "unavoidable".

Soon after the disaster the health ministry raised the maximum radiation level to which each worker can safely be exposed from 100 millisieverts a year to 250 millisieverts a year to enable them to spend more time in contaminated areas.

Nisa said that 21 workers had so far been exposed to radiation exceeding 100 millisieverts, although tests have shown that no one has been exposed to radiation high enough to damage their health.

Sumio Imoto, a spokesman for one of Tepco's main subcontractors, said its labourers were being looked after and were not taking unnecessary risks. "The safety of our employees is our primary concern," he said, "but keeping up morale is a big challenge."

Robert Peter Gale, a US medical researcher who has been advising the Japanese government, said: "There's a huge difference between whole-body and partial-body radiation.

"One of my primary considerations is the geometry of the reactor and the likelihood that people are in a configuration that would give them full-body radiation. It's not impossible, but it's highly unlikely. They have to be exposed in their entirety from three to four metres to get a whole-body dose. This is not a kamikaze situation."

According to the few reliable descriptions of conditions at the plant, the workers are given just two meals a day ? crackers and a small carton of vegetable juice for breakfast; dried rice and canned fish or chicken for dinner ? and take naps in cramped corridors on lead-lined sheets to limit their exposure to radiation.

"That's where they sleep, with only one blanket each to wrap themselves around," said Kazuma Yokota, a Nisa official who spent five days at the plant.

Yokota said the rush to save the plant meant some workers had been unable to change their underwear, while high radiation levels were hampering the arrival of fresh supplies.

Conditions have marginally improved amid widespread admiration for the workers, initially nicknamed the Fukushima 50 because they worked in groups of that number. Their daily bottled water allowance has increased and the government has vowed to improve food supplies. The workers' nightly meeting ends with shouts of "ganbaro!" ("let's keep going").

The anonymous workers have little or no contact with the outside world while they are on site, and media interviews are discouraged. "They are doing their best while they aren't even able to contact members of their family," Yokota said.

After three days' work they spend three days at J-Village, a nearby sports complex, for a shower, proper food and sleep.

"It isn't perfect, but it does provide a place for the workers to pull back and get some rest before they have to go back in," said a Tepco spokesman, Hirota Oyama. "They can eat fresh vegetables, something they can't do on the site."

The prime minister, Naoto Kan, will visit the sports complex on Saturday to show his support. His spokesman, Yukio Edano, said: "I humbly bow to the workers and officials who are doing difficult jobs at the plant's frontline."

Japanese media reported that nuclear workers had been offered up to 400,000 yen (�3,000) a day to work inside the crippled reactors. Before the crisis some contract workers were reportedly being paid as little as 10,000 to 20,000 yen (�75 to �150) a day.

Tepco said it was considering using "jumpers", or workers who enter highly radioactive reactors to perform short but essential tasks, then evacuate quickly to avoid prolonged exposure to radiation.

An early return home is unlikely given the perilous condition of the plant three weeks after the tsunami. As Kan warned on Friday: "I am prepared for a long-term battle over the Fukushima nuclear plant and to win this battle.

"At the current stage we cannot say that the plant has been sufficiently stabilised. But we are preparing for all kinds of situations and I am convinced that the plant can be stabilised. We cannot say at this stage when this will happen, but we are doing our best."

• Japan disaster
• Nuclear power
• Japan
• Energy

Justin McCurry

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/01/japanese-nuclear-workers-groundwater

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Film Council hands over to BFI

Despite condemnation of its closure UKFC faded smoothly to black, with functions transferred to the BFI and regional agency Film London

Its abolition in the coalition government's first round of cuts in July was widely condemned and drew letters of support from such Hollywood luminaries as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, Helen Mirren and Liam Neeson. But in the end, the UK Film Council went quietly.

31 March was the final official day of business at the UKFC's offices in Little Portland Street, London, and 38 former Film Council staff today find themselves working for the British Film Institute, which will take over many of the abolished body's functions. Others, including the office of the British Film Commissioner, have been transferred to regional agency Film London, which will oversee the task of promoting the UK as a film-making destination.

The decision to hand the BFI responsibility for distributing lottery funding to film-makers came in November, partly assuaging widespread concern that the government had not considered the future of public investment in British movies when making its decision to axe the council. At the same time Ed Vaizey, the culture minister, further sugared the pill by announcing that the �28m lottery grant the industry receives would be increased to around �43m by 2014.

If ministers were rattled by the vocal support for the council, they might have been cursing their luck in February when The King's Speech, a film part-funded by the UK Film Council, took four Oscars at the annual Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Other productions in the last five years alone that might never have made it to the big screen without the council's support include Nowhere Boy, Fish Tank, In the Loop, Man on Wire, Hunger, Happy-Go-Lucky, This is England, Vera Drake and The Last King of Scotland. Of movies currently in cinemas or due to arrive on the big screen, Richard Ayoade's critically acclaimed first film Submarine, Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights and the forthcoming Joe Cornish-penned comedy Attack the Block all received UKFC funding.

Three weeks ago, a National Audit Office report roundly criticised the UKFC's axing, suggesting it was "not informed by a financial analysis of the costs and benefits of the decision". The UKFC's entire annual budget was a reported �3m, while the cost of closing it down and restructuring is estimated to have been almost four times that amount.

At Sunday night's Empire awards, British film-makers said they were disappointed that the council was no longer extant but expected it to be business as usual with the BFI.

"The Film Council has done great things and ended on a high note with The King's Speech," actor and director Noel Clarke told the BBC. "They helped me on two of my films ? Adulthood and 4.3.2.1. I'm very sad that they're breaking down but the BFI is going to continue what they do."

Jane Goldman, writer of Kick-Ass and the forthcoming superhero tale X Men: First Class, said she was a "huge supporter". She added: "It's a difficult time; hopefully things will become streamlined. I've got a couple of other projects which I guess will filter into the BFI."

• UK Film Council
• BFI
• Arts funding
• Arts policy
• Public sector cuts
• Public services policy
• Public finance
• Ed Vaizey
• Conservatives

Ben Child

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/apr/01/uk-film-council-british-institute-bfi

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Scientists release early results from global warming assessment

A group of scientists in California has released preliminary findings on how much the Earth is warming

What happens when a group of scientists and statisticians leave the comfort of their own fields and wander headlong into one of the most fraught and ugly debates of modern times?

The answer is slowly becoming clear, after a handful of academics at the University of California, Berkeley, came up with a plan to produce an independent assessment of global warming. For researchers used to the collegiate exchanges of campus life, the plan has all the makings of a first class ticket to Kill Zone 3.

The stated aim of the project is to publish a peer-reviewed assessment of global warming that is more accurate than those we have so far. Once the analysis is done, all the data and computer tools used to process the numbers will be made freely available on a website, so anyone with an interest can check them.

Richard Muller, the Berkeley physicist who chairs the group, says that publishing an independent record of global warming will address some valid points raised by sceptics and even end the war between them and the climate scientists they criticise. Few ideas seem as laudable, ambitious and naive all at once.

The vast majority of climate scientists agree that global warming is happening and that human activity plays a significant role in rising temperatures. For the best part, debate within the community centres on the precise magnitude of warming, the rate at which it is happening in different regions, and what can or should be done to mitigate its effects.

But still climate change is one of the most argued-over issues in science. The broad agreement among climate researchers is under fire from a minority of sceptics and large portions of the public might well sit confused on the sidelines.

Earlier today, Muller gave evidence to the House of Representatives committee on science, space and technology, and released a very preliminary analysis of historic land temperatures. I've pasted their findings below, but will give some background first.

There are three major groups of scientists who already produce assessments of global warming that feed into the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. There is Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City, another US agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), and finally a UK group led by the Met Office.

Each group takes readings from instruments around the world to come up with a rolling record of the Earth's mean surface temperature. The warming figures they arrive at differ very slightly because each group uses its own dataset and does its own analysis, but they reveal a common trend. Since pre-industrial times, all point to a warming of around 0.75C.

The Berkeley Earth project aims to incorporate a larger quantity of data, much of which comes from temperature stations installed since the 1960s. Arguably the most interesting aspect of Muller's project is the hope of dealing with biases in temperature data that might or might not be adequately dealt with in the analyses done by Nasa, Noaa and the Met Office. There are all kinds of things that can bias temperature readings, making them cooler or warmer than they should be. An oft-cited example is that a temperature station that was in a rural environment fifty years ago might today be on the fringes of a city, and feel more heat as a result. I gave a flavour of some other potential biases, and a more detailed explanation of the project, in an article on Muller last month.

The results announced by Muller today are exceedingly preliminary. The group has compiled 1.6 billion temperature measurements from 39,028 stations around the world, but used only two percent of these in the analysis. The stations used were picked at random, to avoid any bias towards older instruments (which have longer temperature records), poor quality stations, or any particular geographical region. But apart from these, no other sources of bias have been dealt with yet.

Here is the preliminary temperature record the Berkeley group made public today:

Clearly, there is very close agreement between the Berkeley analysis and the warming trends reported by the major three climate groups, that is a rise of around 0.7 degrees C since 1957. In notes prepared in advance of Thursday's hearings, Muller writes: "The Berkeley Earth agreement with the prior analysis surprised us, since our preliminary results don't yet address many of the known biases. When they do, it is possible that the corrections could bring our agreement into disagreement."

Another interesting outcome from the analysis so far regards the impact of temperature stations being located near buildings, car parks and other urban sources of heat. In 2009, a former TV weatherman, Anthony Watts, published a report claiming the problem with "poor stations" was serious enough to render the US temperature record unreliable. Based on preliminary work, Muller says this isn't true. "Over the past 50 years the poor stations in the US network do not show greater warming than do the good stations," his notes say.

There has already been some fuss over the Berkeley Earth project, with most criticism coming from bloggers who believe Muller has an agenda. You can get a flavour here. One point that is often raised is that some money for the project comes from the Charles G Koch Charitable Foundation. The man behind the outfit owns, with his brother David, , a company Greenpeace called a "kingpin of climate science denial". Muller says that the project, which is run under the auspices of Novim, a non-profit public interest group, has funders on both the left and right.

Here is a breakdown of funds behind the project, which total $623,087.

The Lee and Juliet Folger Fund ($20k)

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ($188,587)

William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation ($100k)

Fund for Innovative Climate and Energy Research, created by Bill Gates ($100k)

Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation ($150k)

The Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation ($50k)

Private donations totalling $14,500.

As I have emphasised, these are very preliminary results. The data and the analysis are not yet peer reviewed, though a paper is being submitted to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. We may have to wait several weeks or months for the full analysis that addresses all the sources of bias across the whole dataset.

• Climate change
• Climate change scepticism
• Climate change

Ian Sample

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2011/mar/31/scienceofclimatechange-climate-change-scepticism

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Shameless producer All3Media assesses sale potential with UBS review

Long-awaited strategic review kicks off with UBS to look at options including �600m-plus sale

All3Media, the independent producer behind shows including Shameless and Midsomer Murders, has kicked off a long-expected strategic review by appointing UBS to look at options including a �600m-plus sale.

The company had been widely expected to start a review ? with a sale considered the most likely outcome ? as soon as possible after being able to show potential suitors solid figures on its business performance in the first six months of its financial year at the end of February.

All3Media appointed UBS, which worked with the company in 2006 when private equity firm Permira took a majority stake, to oversee the review at a board meeting on Wednesday.

Speculation that All3Media may look to sell emerged last year with ITV, which has struggled to grow its own in-house production operation ITV Studios, touted as a potential buyer.

However, one source close to ITV said they believed that if it does seek to make an acquisition it is most likely to look for a "reasonable-sized" business outside the UK.

All3Media, which reported earnings of �50.5m in the year to the end of August 2009, has a growing US business, with revenues expected to exceed $100m this year.

The company is understood to have significantly improved its business performance as the industry recovered from the 2009 advertising recession, with an expectation of earnings in the region of �65m in the 12 months to the end of August this year, with debt thought to be cut to about �250m.

One analyst believes that the business could be worth about �600m ? at a multiple of about 10 times earnings. Elisabeth Murdoch recently sold her production business Shine to News Corporation at about that multiple, while Time Warner's acquisition of Shed Media was at around 8 to 10 times earnings.

Taking into account the quality and range of All3Media's programming output, a 12-times multiple could be attached to a deal, putting the price tag at as much as �780m.

However, there are a number of factors to be considered, including the issue of earn-outs for key creative talent. All3Media is made up of about 16 independent producers the company has acquired.

A second analyst believes that even if a buyer emerges there is unlikely to be any deal, and in particular any chance of achieving a top-end valuation, before September after ALL3Media's full-year figures will be known.

Officially All3Media says that the strategic review will look at a number of options including a share offering, but sources with knowledge of the situation believe finding a buyer is the most likely option.

It is well-known in city circles that Permira has been keen to seek an exit for some time. All3Media management own in excess of 40% of the business.

Businesses which have shown an interest in major media assets include US media companies Time Warner, which is thought more likely to now look to build operations outside the UK following the acquisition of Shed Media, and NBC Universal.

? To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

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• Television industry
• Media business

Mark Sweney

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/apr/01/shameless-producer-all3media-review

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A diet of insects by 2020?

Consumers in the UK will turn to insects as food as conventional meat becomes scarce, says entomologist

? Insects could be the key to meeting food needs of growing global population

Western diners should get used to the idea of eating insects because by 2020 it is "inevitable" they will form an important part of our diet, according to the entomologist who heads up the world's first university centre focusing on insects as a food source.

He argues that consumers who have traditionally turned their noses up at six-legged food may have to change their minds as conventional meat becomes more expensive and scarce.

In an interview with Wired magazine, Prof Marcel Dicke of Wageningen University said: "The most important thing is getting people prepared, getting used to the idea. Because from 2020 onwards, there won't be much of a choice for us." He wants to persuade people to ditch prejudices about insects, and to persuade manufacturers and suppliers to come up with products that can be sold in "a reassuring and attractive manner". Dicke heads a Netherlands-based four-year programme aiming to produce a scientific and business plan to bring insects to western tables.

More than 1,000 insect species are eaten around the world in 80% of countries ? mostly in the tropics. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation says insects are vital to meeting the nutritional needs of the world's growing population, but they hardly feature in the diets of many rich nations.

For centuries insects have been part of the daily diet of humans throughout the world, from the ants and larvae eaten as part of their subsistence diet by the tribes of Africa and Australia to the popular crispy-fried locusts and beetles enjoyed in Thailand.

Insects as food (known as entomophagy) are increasingly being promoted as a alternative which are more healthy, nutritious and sustainable than mainstream staples such as chicken, beef and fish.

The starting point for the research programme at Wageningen University ? led by a team of 70 researchers ? is the notion that 80% of the world's population, knowingly or unknowingly, is already consuming insects. Ground insects are already found in common foods such as canned tomatoes and peanut butter, for example.

As well as being low in cholesterol and high in protein, insects produce less waste, Dicke points out, as we typically throw away three-quarters of a chicken, but can eat the same percentage of a locust. Insects also win on the "conversion factor" or ration of feed ingested by the animal to the meat produced by it ? known as ECI. Beef cattle has an ECI rate of 10 while the cockroach triumps with 44. The carbon emissions associated with growing insects is also far lower than those linked to conventional livestock.

In the UK, the sale of insects for human consumption is part of what is still a niche food sector centred largely around novelty snacks. The specialist supplier Edible sells a range of delicacies ranging from Thai Curry crickets to BBQ worm crisps which are stocked by retailers such as Selfridges, and Harvey Nichols.

Tanya McMullen, grocery buying manager at Selfridges, said: "The Edible brand grows year after year. Our customers like it because it is so unusual. You don't find oven-baked tarantula and scorpion lollies in many places so it's a product most customers won't have seen before. It is difficult to say whether it's a current trend as it has always been a successful range for Selfridges but there is definitely an increasing number of discerning customers who are more and more willing to try something out of the ordinary. Sales are currently very strong having grown 20% in the last 12 months."

In the UK, chefs report some success in encouraging their diners to eat creepy-crawlies. Daniel Creedon, head chef and manager of Archipelago restaurant in central London, buys frozen cricket and locusts in bulk from a supplier on the Isle of Wight. He says: "They are very popular and not just because of their quirkiness. I think our diners are genuinely interested in sustainability and diminishing food supplies. I bake them in the oven until they are crisp and then toss them in a wok with chilli and ginger as in my experience customers tend to be squeamish about anything that is soft and squidgy."

The most commonly eaten insect species on the planet

1. Beetles and cockroaches

2. Flies

3. Lice and coccidia

4. Cicadas

5. Wasps, bees and ants

6. Termites

7. Butterflies and moths

8. Dragonflies

9. Crickets and grasshoppers

10. Mantises

• Food
• Insects
• Wildlife
• Animals
• The meat industry
• Farming
• Food & drink

Rebecca Smithers

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/31/insects-uk-diet-2020

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