Takings up at London's theatreland in 2012 despite predictions of 'a bloodbath ... - The Independent

The Society of London Theatre (Solt) today reported that despite the tough economic conditions and the fears over the Olympic effect, box office returns were up for the ninth year in a row.

Mark Rubinstein, president of the trade body which represents the 52 major theatres in central London, called the rise in sales "particularly astonishing" for a year that "we always knew would have exceptional challenges".

He said: "There is no question theatre is on a high" after revealing that advanced sales for 2013 were breaking new records.

This has been boosted by demand for highly anticipated shows including Broadway hits The Book of Mormon and Once as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and The Audience starring Helen Mirren, pictured.

Adam Kenwright, founder of London theatre promoter Aka, said that the 2012 figures was a "tremendous result" and added that this year would be "the best year ever in the West End. It will break all records".

Ticket sales rose in London from £528.3m in 2011 to £529.7m last year. Attendances numbers were up slightly to 13.9m. The sales were boosted by new productions including Top Hat, Sweeney Todd and The Bodyguard, while Matilda the Musical and One Man, Two Guvnors continued to perform to packed houses.

The lull during the Olympics – which contributed to a 9 per cent fall during the quarter over a year earlier – could have been worse, Solt revealed.

Many of the major West End shows pulled performances on the Friday night that coincided with the Olympic opening ceremony, and the warnings of a transport gridlock meant the area was deserted early the following week.

Julian Bird, chief executive of Solt, said: "We had very direct feedback that over that first weekend the messaging was putting people off from coming into London. The great thing is with our connections and joining with others we were able to get that message right to the very top."

The theatre group, and other West End parties, negotiated with Transport for London to drop the recorded messages by London Mayor Boris Johnson warning passengers to stay off the tubes and buses during the Olympics.

"Boris' voice booming on the tube… there was direct feedback it was putting people off. That sort of just vanished overnight," Mr Bird said. Mr Rubinstein added: "When it became clear that it was easy to get around, people came back."

The average ticket price fell for the first time in a decade last year, partly because of the series of discounts to encourage people away from the sports and into the auditorium. It was £37.86 from £37.97 on 2011. Mr Kenwright revealed that 2012 saw more first time visitors and audience members under 16 than ever before.

"We have got better about making people aware that you can have a good clear seat at the theatre for little more than a cinema ticket," Mr Rubenstein said

It was a particularly strong year for plays, with audiences up almost a 10th over 2011. Productions that saw audiences queue round the block included Nick Payne's Constellations, and Mark Rylance in both Richard III and Twelfth Night.

The vibrant regional theatre has long fed the capital and Solt fears the impact of the cuts from the Arts Council and local authorities. "There is a danger of erosion over time," Mr Bird said. "It is a big worry. There are many reasons that we think regional theatre is vitally important."

2012 hits:

The Bodyguard

This new musical opened at the Adelphi Theatre in the autumn based on the film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston. It proved a hit and has now extended its booking period to the end of September

The Lion King

The musical grossed £38.6m as it broke its box office record for the eighth consecutive year. The show, which has headed out on tour, saw 800,000 visitors last year alone.

Matilda the Musical

Matilda earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records after securing seven Olivier Awards. It has the record for the best sales in any week, and over 500,000 saw it last year.

2013 predicted hits:

The Book of Mormon

The creative team behind South Park are bringing over the show that continues to thrill Broadway. It has picked up nine Tony Awards and a Grammy.  It hits the Prince of Wales Theatre in March

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Luke Treadaway was hailed for his performance as Christopher Boone when the adaptation of the bestseller played at the National Theatre. It transfers to the Apollo Theatre at the beginning of March.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Another Roald Dahl classic is getting a musical makeover following the success of Matilda. Warner Bros. is backing this lavish production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to be directed by Sam Mendes.

Wojciech Szczesny: In training Arsenal look as good as any side in Europe - The Guardian

The awkward question. It is one of the fundamentals of interviewing technique. How to phrase it respectfully. When to drop it into the conversation. Wojciech Szczesny was so personable, so communicative, so candid as he chatted away after training it did not feel like any subject would be too delicate. But then the topic of how important it is for a goalkeeper to organise his defence came up.

"It's a massive part," says Szczesny, whose big personality and instinct to shout and point on the pitch is one of his strengths. "I'd imagine it's the most important part of goalkeeping." Pause. Sorry Wojciech, time for the awkward question. "But sometimes," I try to suggest casually, "it looks like the organisation is not quite right?"

Szczesny is a bright spark in both senses of the phrase. He is a smart thinker and also has a lively and cheerful way about him. But this question narks him. "I don't agree," he says. "Over a long time I've honestly had enough of people saying Arsenal's defence is not good enough. People judge defence on the back of goals conceded but you have to have a look at the defending in general. If my back four are completely exposed against Chelsea – most of the time in the first half there it was four of my defenders against six Chelsea players – they were disadvantaged all the time. You have to look at the defending of the whole team, the shape of the whole team. People blame the Arsenal defenders way too much over the past couple of seasons.

"I feel for them, massively. I try to help them as much as I can. I am happy to take the blame sometimes for a goal conceded if I felt I could do better. They've been hammered. Of course sometimes people make mistakes but very often the Arsenal defenders have been criticised too much. It gets to public opinion and once people give you a label of a dodgy defender, whatever you do they look at you closely and there is always something they will find that you have done wrong. It's quite tough."

Szczesny's case for the defence takes an interesting turn when he implies there is a kind of inevitability about Arsenal's lapses because they aspire to play with the kind of commitment to attack perfected by Barcelona, but because they are not on that level, they get punished more. "It is quite hard when you are an attacking team like we are," he muses. "Barcelona push so many players forward and sometimes get caught on the counterattack, but their technical abilities are so good they don't often lose the ball in the middle of the park so they don't concede as many as we do. It's a style of play that can expose your back four. It's hard. Our fans want to see us attack, scoring goals, and then sometimes it doesn't work and people say: look at the defence. It is about balance."

That balance is a tough one to address. There are only two ways of trying to improve it; on the training ground, or in the transfer market. Szczesny's views on both are thought provoking.

There is, according to the 22-year-old goalkeeper, a noticeable difference between what Arsenal produce in training and on matchdays. Sometimes, on the journey between the secluded lawns of London Colney and the white line on to a Premier League pitch, some spark fizzles away. "The players often show much more qualities in training than we do in games," he says. "Whether it's down to what the opposition does, or us playing with the handbrake on as the boss likes to call it, it's hard to say. Sometimes I look at our training sessions and think this team is as good as any in Europe. And sometimes it just doesn't work out for us in the game."

Is that down to pressure? A tension in the stadium? Impatience that comes from high expectations? "Impatience is a very good word," Szczesny replies. "People talk about pressure in football but I don't think pressure should always affect you in a bad way. I love games under pressure. The players are impatient. We really want to win a trophy. The fans are understandably impatient, because we should be doing much better than we have been. It's a very long period that we have been disappointed. Very often, when we go on the football pitch, I feel like if we don't score four goals in the first 15 minutes people start being a little bit hesitant. Sometimes you hear boos in the crowd, although that's a different story. You get that kind of atmosphere where some people feel under a little bit too much pressure. But I don't feel pressure should paralyse you. It should make you even better if anything. It's hard to explain."

Szczesny himself tends not to feel negative pressure. He says he felt it most intensely last summer, when his adventure with the Polish national team went horribly wrong at a home European Championship. He was sent off for a reckless foul 69 minutes into the opening game. He does, though, feel the experience taught him to try to be more measured.

"I felt it was the best moment of my career," he recalls. "The whole country was really united and the atmosphere was fantastic. Then you feel like you've let your country down and that was a big pressure in my own head. It was quite tough. I had my holidays afterwards, I was off for five weeks after that."

He reflects on the whole episode as "very weird" as his emotions fluctuated from the calamity of the red card to the elation of watching the penalty kick he conceded in the process saved by the substitute goalkeeper. His feelings lurched again as he watched Poland excel against Russia from the stands and then falter in their final group game to end their participation in the group stage. "It was a period of going up and down – from up to the heights right down to the bottom. I suppose it's a lesson to learn for me as a young player and person in general, to try to stay in the middle of your emotions at all times. It's quite hard to deal with. Exhausting. So maybe it's better not to get excited about good things too much, and not to put yourself down too much when you make a mistake."

Another painful lesson he had to absorb came when Arsenal lost the 2011 Carling Cup final to Birmingham. He brings it up himself, a reference to how much desire there is to win a trophy, and the deep impact of that failure. "That was when me and Laurent [Koscielny] had that little mix-up," he explains. "From that moment on the team collapsed. It was quite unbelievable to see. I did feel responsible for it in a way because it was my fault that led to that goal. It was quite painful."

His keenness to achieve success is palpable. The top four is, he reckons, the least of Arsenal's requirements. Despite their inconsistencies, Szczesny is as confident as ever that will be accomplished. Two home games are coming up, against Liverpool on Wednesday night and Stoke on Saturday, which are vital to that aim. He happily retells the story of being written off last season: "I read an article saying we were never going to finish above Tottenham and come the end of the season I see them playing Europa League again."

He claims to be "nowhere near" where he wants to be as a goalkeeper. "I'm 22. I've won nothing in football. Literally nothing. The only trophy I have won was the Emirates Cup and that is not exactly enough, is it? The manager does stick with me when I have ups and downs with my form. That's what you get at this age. He shows a lot of faith in me and sticks with me all the time but I am trying to improve."

Wenger's willingness to build up young players rather than always buying ready-made is contentious and Szczesny accepts that. "You understand the fans' frustrations when you see other clubs spend massive money on exciting players, but I've benefited from the club's policy so I support it. I came to the club at 16 and came through the ranks. So in my opinion it's quite clear. Giving young players the chance to prove themselves at the club they were brought up, at the club they love, is the right way to go. In terms of bringing young talent through, there is no one else who can compete with us. Some clubs can't produce top-class talent so they have to spend big money. It's a very long debate."

Szczesny's love for his club is plain and uncomplicated. One of the main reasons he wants to win something is to repay those who have helped him along the way. He reels off a list of people who have looked after him since he arrived from Warsaw in 2006. It's not far off an Oscars speech, encompassing everyone from Bobby Arbor, the scout who found him and watched out for him when he did not speak much English, to Liam Brady, David Court and Steve Bould who oversaw his progress in the youth development, to his landlady Bobbie, Shirley the headmistress who advised him on education, Rob the chef …

"I came here as a 16-year-old boy and everything I know right now, I know from this club and the people who took care of me when I was young. Some of them have had the most influence – of course you have your parents and relatives, but people I have met here have given me so much. It's everyone. I love this place. I feel I have something I want to give back to them. It gives me a lot of desire to do well."

Wenger has made a big noise about a young British core recently, but good luck to anyone who wishes to suggest any of them care more deeply about doing well for Arsenal than the big Pole in goal.

Twitter's transparency report reveals increase in government data requests - The Guardian

Government requests for Twitter users' data rose by 20% in the second half of 2012, the social network said on Monday.

The requests came from 30 countries around the world, but the vast majority were from the US and were usually linked to criminal investigations.

Updated figures on what government and rights holders have been asking of the social network were revealed in the second of its transparency reports and posted on a new site, transparency.twitter.com.

Twitter complied with requests by the US government 69% of the time, according to the report. The US government was responsible for 815 of the 1,009 information requests in the second half of 2012, it found. Most requests were coming from the US because Twitter is based in San Francisco.

Twitter said that its transparency report hoped to "raise awareness about these invasive requests."

"We believe the open exchange of information can have a positive global impact," Jeremy Kessel, Twitter's legal policy manager, said in a blogpost celebrating what activists have dubbed Data Privacy Day.

"To that end, it is vital for us and other internet services to be transparent about government requests for user information and government requests to withhold content from the internet; these growing inquiries can have a serious chilling effect on free expression – and real privacy implications."

"All of our actions are in the interest of an open and safe internet."

Twitter's response to the requests varied, with the social network granting by far the highest number of US government requests. Most other government requests were not complied with. Twitter said it did not comply with requests that fail to identify a user in cases when a user may have challenged the request after it notified them, or when a request was overly broad.

The report, Twitter's second for 2012, provided more detailed statistics on US government requests for information than the first. The majority – 60% – of US requests were comprised of subpoenas from authorities, while the rest were made up of court orders and search warrants, it said. Twitter said it notifies users of the requests except when prohibited from doing so by a court order, which happened in 20% of cases.

Twitter's transparency report also noted an increase in requests for content removal, up from six in the first half of 2012 to 48, and a decrease in copyright notices, from 3,378 to 3,268.

In November, Twitter announced a new policy for dealing with copyright infringement claims in tweets.

A statement from Google on Monday, setting out its approach to government requests for information, said it was pushing for updating laws such as the US Electronic Communications Privacy Act to protect online documents.

It said: "It's important for law enforcement agencies to pursue illegal activity and keep the public safe. We're a law-abiding company, and we don't want our services to be used in harmful ways. But it's just as important that laws protect you against overly broad requests for your personal information. "

HS2 the high-speed rail from London to Manchester will be nice, but it wont do ... - The Independent

In 20 years' time, you'll be able to leave Euston and, by the time it takes to queue for an all-day breakfast roll and a coffee at the buffet bar and then get back to your seat, you'll be pulling into Manchester Piccadilly and hearing the announcement reminding you to take all your belongings with you.

I don't know where I'll be in the year 2032, but I hope I'll be around to take advantage of a one hour, eight minute journey time between London and Manchester. More than that, I hope I'll be around to appreciate not having to stand up all the way there. Because, as someone who uses the West Coast line from time to time, my problem with it is less to do with speed, more about capacity. The present service - run by Virgin, given a stay of execution after the absurd auction of last year - is regular and quick, but is very often overcrowded to the point of extreme discomfort. The fact that the train arriving in two decades' time promises to be swift and spacious is little consolation.

I am also not sure I agree with the Government's assertion that HS2 will usher a new age of prosperity for the regions, and make our economy less weighted towards London and the South. It will be "an engine of growth that will drive regional regeneration," said David Cameron yesterday. Really? Doesn't he know that the new line goes in both directions, and it also takes just over an hour to get from Manchester to London. In other words, that puts Wilmslow and Stockport, to pick two random examples, in the capital's commuter belt. And given the state of the London property market - a report yesterday said that house prices in the most sought-after areas have risen by more than 50 per cent in the past three years - that's not such a ridiculous idea.

The debate about the new rail link betrays a London-centric attitude and a misunderstanding about economic conditions in the North. How will this project, and the money spent on it, help towns like Blackburn or Bradford, or even Liverpool? This is where Britain's transformation from a nation that made things into one that pushes money around is most keenly felt, and where George Osborne's austerity measures promise years of depression.

What is needed more, I would argue, is an east-west, rather than a north-south, link. Investment here would connect the post-industrial towns of the north with the region's more prosperous cities. It still takes more than three hours to travel by train from Liverpool to Hull, a distance of only 126 miles, and everything in between is equally poorly served. This, in my book, is a scandal, and will probably remain so while they are carving through middle England with this fancy pants £32bn project.

Alisher Usmanov criticises board for turning Arsenal into feeder club - The Guardian

The underlying tensions within Arsenal's ownership structure have resurfaced as time ticks down towards the transfer deadline after the major shareholder, Alisher Usmanov, claimed the board's lack of spending and inability to hang on to the club's best players have effectively rendered them a feeder team for their rivals.

Usmanov, who owns just under 30% of Arsenal, has regularly expressed his frustrations at the running of the club by the majority shareholder, Stan Kroenke, and offered his latest outburst in an interview with L'Equipe. Arsenal have not claimed a trophy since the FA Cup in 2005 and have lost the likes of Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Gaël Clichy to the two Manchester clubs – as well as Cesc Fábregas and Alex Song to Barcelona – in recent years.

"The greatest achievement of Arsène Wenger is to have created two teams: the one that now plays for our rivals and the one that is trying to be among the best in the Premier League," Usmanov said. "That's why I say it's not enough to merely flatter the coach, but to give him the possibility to buy the best players, superstars. But not just stars, but those chosen by Wenger.

"For me, he's one of the best coaches in the world, but it's not easy for him. I think he deserves that players are brought in at Arsenal when they're needed. The best players, and not being satisfied with selling our best players to our rivals.

"If that happens, we can ask everything of him. But, today, he's sacrificed. Because of the policy and we're all to blame. Everything's in Mr Kroenke's hands and I hope he succeeds, even if he doesn't go along with my ideas.

"It's unthinkable that the shareholders get well paid while, for small clauses in contracts, we lose key players like Robin van Persie, Mathieu Flamini or Patrick Vieira. We should have increased their salaries when they started to be courted, started to look elsewhere. I don't know why we didn't propose that to them."

Arsenal may now not add to their ranks before the transfer window shuts on Thursday night, despite interest in the West Ham United midfielder Mohamed Diamé – a target for Tottenham Hotspur – and Barcelona's David Villa, as they seek to reach the Champions League for a 16th successive season. They currently lie sixth, four points off Tottenham, and host Liverpool on Wednesday. Thomas Vermaelen should be fit to return for that fixture, but doubts remain over Mikel Arteta's involvement.

Kroenke has consistently stated his support for Wenger, whose contract has one more season to run, and that he has no intention of selling the club. Yet Usmanov suggested Thierry Henry, Arsenal's record goalscorer, has urged him to buy out the American and take control.

"I like many footballers and I'm in contact with some of them," he added. "Perhaps my favourite of the last 10, 15 years is Thierry Henry. He's pushing me to buy all of Arsenal's shares, but I cannot predict the future.

"When I had the chance to buy some shares and become one of the main shareholders in the club, I didn't hesitate for a second. I was even ready to take total control. That wasn't possible because certain people preferred to make a profit and create, using me, an outside enemy. I remain portrayed as a pirate, an enemy. They have won that game."

SSTL to build weather satellite constellation - BBC News

28 January 2013 Last updated at 12:50 ET By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

British satellite manufacturer SSTL will build the follow-on spacecraft for an innovative weather forecasting system run by Taiwan and the US.

The Cosmic constellation derives information about the atmosphere from the way it disturbs GPS signals.

A clutch of spacecraft currently provide this service, and SSTL has been contracted to provide up to 12 more satellites.

The intention is to launch a new batch in 2016.

"It's a great win for the company, beating off international competition, and it's also a very interesting project," said Alex da Silva Curiel from SSTL.

"It involves operational meteorology, good climate science and ionospheric science," he told BBC News.

The Cosmic project is a joint initiative between the National Space Organization (NSPO) of Taiwan and the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).

It relies on a smart observation technique known as radio occultation.

This recognises that a transmission from a Global Positioning Satellite, which ordinarily is used to plot a time and a position, will be bent as it passes through air.

The degree to which this refraction occurs is dependent on the properties of the atmosphere at that moment, and can be exploited to pull out information about temperature, pressure and water vapour - key parameters required in weather forecasting.

NSPO/Noaa's Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate (Cosmic) operates a series of small spacecraft in a low-Earth orbit to make these observations.

But this satellite series, referred to as FORMOSAT-3, is beginning to fail and needs replacing.

SSTL, with its worldwide reputation for manufacturing high-performance, low-cost spacecraft, has now been engaged to build the next generation - FORMOSAT-7.

The multi-million-pound contract will see an initial six satellites launch in three years' time. A further six could follow in 2018.

SSTL, which is based in Guildford, will assemble the chassis, or bus, of every spacecraft. Each satellite's instrument - the GPS receiver that makes the observations - will be supplied from the US.

Final integration will occur in Taiwan, after which the flight-ready models will be shipped to America for launch.

SSTL is basing the bus design on its "100 series" of Earth observation spacecraft. These normally take the shape of a cube, but NSPO/Noaa's desire to launch six satellites at the same time means the profile of the spacecraft will be more wedge-like to make them all fit on the one rocket.

"We basically take the circular cross-section of the launcher as seen from the top, and we divide it by six. And that is the available shape for each spacecraft. That makes for a long and thin shape," explained Mr da Silva Curiel.

"We can still use the same electronics that we would normally use in a SSTL-100 series satellite, but the structure is a new structure."

Each spacecraft will weigh just under 200kg.

The first batch would go into low-inclination orbits, to provide data of greatest value to Taiwan. The second set would be placed in high-inclination-angle orbits to retrieve information relevant to higher latitudes on the globe.

FORMOSAT/Cosmic observations have proven very useful in medium-range forecasting - those projections that look several days ahead.

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Brendan Rodgers questions mental strength of Liverpool's youngsters - The Guardian

The fall-out from Liverpool's FA Cup exit at Oldham has intensified, with Brendan Rodgers questioning the mental strength of the club's young players, warning their futures could belong in League One and condemning a lightweight performance that made Matt Smith "look like Didier Drogba".

Rodgers' anger had not diminished 24 hours after Liverpool's 3-2 humiliation at Boundary Park and, in a wide-ranging critique that did not bode well for Martin Skrtel, only Joe Allen and Jordan Henderson of the starting line-up were spared blame. The Liverpool manager denied putting his relationship with his young players at risk by renewing criticism of their performance at Oldham and also rejected suggestions that he has failed to address the squad's lack of physicality with his forays into the transfer market. Liverpool hope to add another young talent, the 20-year-old Brazil midfielder Philippe Coutinho, to their squad on Tuesday subject to a work permit hearing in London.

The Liverpool manager selected only three players over 23 in the starting XI for the fourth-round tie – Skrtel, Luis Suárez and Brad Jones – and admits the performance has cast doubt on the quality of the younger group. "You looked at us and some of our young players and Oldham was a rude awakening," he said. "Some have not had that experience of going to the Championship or League One on loan and doing the dirty work. They have been given the opportunity by a manager who believes in young players. They have come in and done well but we don't have world-class young players, I must be clear on that. They have to come in with the intention of working hard with intensity every day.

"Look at Steven Gerrard's impact when he came on, not just his quality but his sheer enthusiasm for the game. Our young players won't have a greater role model to follow and they're in pole position to learn because they're seeing him every single day. If they're bright enough, they'll learn from him and then hopefully they can be here for a long time. If not, they might find themselves playing in League One later on and they'll regret looking at a world-class player every day and not learning."

Rodgers is particularly angry at the manner in which the Latics' striker Smith terrorised Liverpool's defenders while scoring his first two goals for the club at Boundary Park. He added: "There are question marks [over the mentality of players] and I don't think that's just over this period. It's something which goes beyond that. It's something I am finding out about. It's a great season for learning what we have here.

"I'm talking about players 21, 22 and under. I have to give credit to Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen, they did well. They came out with some sort of credit but there weren't too many other than that. Oldham may not have been a big enough game for one or two of them but, if they don't learn, they won't be here, it's as simple as that. The same goes for the older players too.

"The boy Smith hadn't scored a goal at home in two years and he's come up against arguably two big units we had at centre-half [Skrtel and Sebastian Coates]. A boy who has come out of university football and he looks like Didier Drogba. We have seen it before with [Aston Villa's Christian] Benteke, who after our game has disappeared. You know what you are going to get at places like Oldham. You have to roll your sleeves up and fight but we were too soft."

Skrtel is the only Liverpool defender who started against Oldham as well as December's 3-1 home defeat in the league by Villa, yet Rodgers, who dropped the Slovakia international against Norwich City last weekend, says he is not singling out the 28-year-old.

"I'm talking in general, about the physicality around the team, not just Martin Skrtel," he said. "For me the pressure starts higher up the pitch. It was too easy for the ball to be played forward. Can we stop the ball coming forwards? It was similar to the first goal at Stoke, when it was played out to Huth. We're looking for pressure at the top end of the pitch."

Rodgers rejected any suggestion that his own signings – £10.5m Fabio Borini, £15m Allen and £12m Sturridge – are not equipped to correct the lack of physicality, and leadership, that he has identified as a problem at Liverpool. He countered: "If you ask people about Borini, they'd say his biggest attribute is his physicality. His power and aggression – that's what he's renowned for. That's something he needs to improve on because that's his strength.

"As for Joe Allen, I've seen Joe throw Yaya Touré to the ground last season. He has never been found wanting physically. For some players their power and strength is in their brain. Otherwise you would have basketball players throughout your team. I don't think that as a team we are physically light or short in anyway. I think it's mental and that's something we need to improve."

Coutinho arrived on Merseyside for a medical on Monday ahead of a proposed £8.5m transfer from Internazionale. Liverpool require a work permit for the midfielder, who has been capped once at senior level by Brazil, before completing the deal.