The Times - UK (2020-08-07)

the times | Friday August 7 2020 2GM 3

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The poet and musician Kate Tempest
has asked to be referred to by the
pronoun “they” after revealing a long
struggle “to accept myself as I am”.
Tempest, 34, also wants to be known
as Kae instead of Kate as “a first step
towards knowing and respecting
myself better”.
The performer, whose albums have
been nominated twice for the Mercury
Prize, announced the move to a gender-
neutral identity in an Instagram post
yesterday.
“I’m changing my name! And I’m
changing my pronouns. From Kate to
Kae. From she/her to they/them,” Tem-
pest said. “I’ve been struggling to accept
myself as I am for a long time.
“I have tried to be what I thought
others wanted me to be so as not to risk
rejection. This hiding from myself has

56, has sold a million shares as part of

an investing plan. The world’s richest

man has said that he plans to sell stock

worth about $1 billion a year to fund his

rocket company, Blue Origin.

The Amazon founder sold $4.1 billion

worth of shares earlier this year, taking

this year’s gains to $7.2 billion. This

latest sale leaves him with shares worth

about $174.64 billion.

Derek Cribb, chief executive of the

Association of Independent Profes-

sionals and the Self-Employed, said:

“Amazon could easily have absorbed

the cost of the digital sales tax.”

Amazon charges sellers a 15 per cent

referral fee on every sale and bills them

for separate storage and delivery fees.

The online giant has about 280,

registered sellers on its UK site.

Bezos sells $3bn of shares

( just another $175bn to go)

Ashley Armstrong Retail Editor

Call me Kae or they, declares poet

led to all kinds of difficulties in my life.

And this is a first step towards knowing

and respecting myself better.

“I’ve loved Kate. But I am beginning

a process and I hope you’ll come with

me. From today — I will be publishing

my books and releasing my music as

Kae Tempest!”

Last year the singer Sam Smith,

known for hit singles including Stay

with Me and the Bond movie theme

Writing’s on the Wall, also asked to be

referred to as they or them, six months

after coming out as non-binary, an

identity that is not exclusively mascu-

line or feminine.

Non-binary people generally prefer

to be referred to by gender-neutral

pronouns.

Tempest has not explicitly an-

nounced a non-binary identity,

although the poet discussed dealing

with “my own queerness and where I sit

on the gender spectrum” in an inter-

view on the website Notion last year.

The new name of Kae is pronounced

like the letter K.

It is said to refer to the jay bird in old

English, symbolising adaptation and

courage, as well as the jackdaw, a bird

often associated with death and rebirth.

Kae also has roots in the Latin word for

rejoice.

Tempest, who won the 2012 Ted

Hughes Award for the play Brand New

Ancients, suggested that the name and

pronoun change was prompted by

social and political events, writing:

“This is a time of great reckoning.

Privately, locally, globally. For me, the

question is no longer ‘when will this

change’ but ‘how far am I willing to go

to meet the changes and bring them

about in myself’. I want to live with

integrity. And this is a step towards that.

Sending LOVE always.”

Greg Wilford

Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and chief

executive, has sold shares worth more

than $3.1 billion, it emerged on the day

after his company was accused of

“opting out” of fair taxes by passing on

a levy to small businesses.

Amazon, valued at $1.5 trillion, said

this week that it would not be absorbing

the extra costs of the UK government’s

digital services tax. It would pass on the

levy to small British businesses.

The move has outraged UK sellers

who say that the tax was supposed to

target large multinationals that pay

minor sums. Some sellers said that they

would have to pass on the costs to con-

sumers or risk going bust.

Securities filings show that Mr Bezos,

Let his C stand for courage

A

t the

Picasso

and Paper

exhibition

at the

Royal Academy,

which ended on

Sunday, two of the

first works on display

were cut-out

silhouettes of a dog

and a dove. Picasso

was nine when he

made them. What

would a schoolmaster

say? “Scissoring could

be neater, must try

harder on the dog’s

front paws.”

Tests, exams and

marks out of ten are a

lousy way of judging

art. I remember

A-level art: a swot of

moderate talent could

garner marks for

“documenting

intentions” and

“demonstrating

critical understanding

of sources”. An

inspired natural

draughtsman was

penalised for failing to

meet the “assessment

objectives”.

So, don’t let the

SQA get you down,

Sean. You may not

have ticked the boxes

but you have a keen,

responsive eye and a

marvellous knack for

a likeness.

Great artists are

made, not born with a

silverpoint in hand. If

there is a fault in

Sean’s portraits it is

over-faithfulness. An

artist doesn’t merely

set down what he or

she sees but recreates

it. That takes time,

practice and a leap of

vision. There will be

setbacks, there will

be critics but if that

C means anything let

it stand for courage.

Laura Freeman is an

art critic

Laura

Fre eman

Comment

Many of the towering geniuses suffer
for their art. A touch of strife, it has long
been understood, stimulates the crea-
tive juices like little else.
If that is the case, Sean Robertson, 18,
who slaves over his pencil portraits for
hours, producing works that belie his
tender years, may achieve great things.
In his art Higher, a Scottish exam
equivalent to A level, he was given a C,
too low for a place at university. Venting
his disappointment, he tweeted four
images of his work to the Scottish Qual-
ifications Authority, the examination
board, with the sardonic message
“Cheers for the C in art”.
Soon, he told his family, he was
“famous on Twitter” because he had
124 “likes”. Not bad, he thought, for a
hitherto unknown artist from Portle-
then, near Aberdeen. By yesterday he
was a social media sensation. Among
his 22,000 admirers were
working artists who
told him not to give up.
Critics were also im-
pressed. Lachlan Goud-
ie, the artist and present-
er of BBC One’s The Big
Painting Challenge, said
that the images looked
“very competent” and
were “sensitively han-
dled”. Sean said: “I felt
reassured. I suppose that I
wasn’t the only one who
thought the SQA had marked me
wrong.”
The teenager, who hopes to
become a primary school
teacher, had a conditional of-
fer from Aberdeen Univers-
ity and needed two B passes
to add to an A and a B last
year. His disappointment
was part of a wider story.
The SQA sent grades to
more than 130,000 teen-
agers on Tuesday, a results
day made unique by the fact
that exams were cancelled.
Marks were based on mock
exams, coursework and teacher
judgment but the SQA adjusted
some results based on schools’ past
performances. This led to claims that it
“baked in” the attainment gap between
pupils in relatively affluent and poorer

areas. Michael Marra, a Labour

councillor in Dundee, suggested that

Picasso could be reincarnated in

Pollok, a housing estate in Glasgow,

or Leonardo da Vinci be “reborn in

Dundee and the SQA would have

knocked them down from an A to a C”.

Sean, who studied at Portlethen

Academy, had sent in a portfolio

but fears it was not reviewed and

that he was judged only on his

written work, which in a

normal year accounts for a

fifth of the total mark.

“I’d be shocked if they had

seen my portfolio and given

me a C,” he said. “I’m not

trying to be cocky. I tried so

hard to complete it. I tried to

show off my skill. I drew

myself happy, I drew myself

sad, and for backgrounds I

worked up themes based around

emotions.”

The SQA said that it could not

comment on individual candidates.

Sean is appealing against the C. If it is

upgraded, his fans can expect his next

self-portrait to be done with a smile.

Tweet revenge for Portlethen’s Picasso

d

a

c

P

P

SEAN ROBERTSON

d me

to

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her

usted

ls’ past

ms that it

p between

nd poorer

Pollok, a

or Leon

Dundee an

knocked t

Sean,

Acade

but fe

tha

wr

no

fi

s

m

tr

h

sh

my

sad

work

emoti

The S

comment

Sean is app

upgraded, h

self-portrait

d

P

o

Sean Robertson in self-portraits and below with a friend. His tweet to the Scottish Qualifications Authority was well received

A teenager who vented

his frustration over a

low grade in his art

exam has won acclaim,

reports Mike Wade