Home//The Week/V. 1221/In This Issue
The Week|V. 1221The main stories… …and how they were coveredMay’s last-ditch attempt to pass a dealPlease God, let this torturous Brexit process end, said Allison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph. “What was meant to be a great crossroads in the story of the United Kingdom has turned into Swindon’s seven-circle roundabout of Hell.” By rights, we should have once again become a sovereign nation last Friday. Instead, we’re stuck in limbo, with a lame-duck Prime Minister who can’t win Commons support for her Brexit deal, and “a Parliament so useless that it can’t even organise its own coup” against the 2016 referendum result. “Anything has to be better than this mess” – anything, that is, apart from a “longer extension” to Britain’s exit date and more months of time-wasting. We’re all sick to death of Brexit, said Clare Foges…9 min
The Week|V. 1221Good week forPinch of Nom, a weight-loss cookbook by two British bloggers, after it notched up a record 210,506 sales in the first three days. Its authors, Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone, specialise in creating simple, fairly healthy dishes that have what they call the “nom, nom, nom” factor (after the noise people make when they eat tasty food); one of their recipes is for a cheeseburger pizza.The Tigs, the Independent Group of Tory and Labour defectors, who are on course to become a party. They will be called Change UK – The Independent Group, and say that if their application to become a party is approved in time, they will field candidates in May’s European elections (if the UK takes part).Absent-mindedness, after an Australian man found that he had accidentally bought…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Poll watch93% of Britons can correctly identify Boris Johnson from a photograph. By contrast, only 59% can correctly identify Jacob Rees-Mogg, 56% Michael Gove, 37% Jeremy Hunt, 35% Sajid Javid, and 28% Andrea Leadsom.YouGovWhen asked which of the main political parties they felt an affinity with, 19% of voters said the Tories, 15% Labour, and 3% the Lib Dems; 54% said none.Lord Ashcroft Polls/The Mail on SundayAlthough immigration is a hot political issue in many European countries, in six of them (Greece, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Spain, and Italy) more people are worried about emigration than immigration.YouGov/The Guardian…1 min
The Week|V. 1221PeopleDavid Jason’s rootsTV stardom has made David Jason a multimillionaire, says Michael Buerk in the Radio Times, but his childhood in the 1940s was short on creature comforts. “We didn’t have electricity, just gaslight. The toilet was outside, the bath hung on the wall and the water came out of a geyser at a mile a month. Our expectations were very, very low.” His father, a Billingsgate fish market porter, brought his wages home in a brown envelope. “When you got to Thursday and there was nothing left, whatever you wanted, you couldn’t have it,” said the actor, 79. The family’s one luxury was the cinema. “I couldn’t believe those movies. Rock Hudson would come in shouting, ‘Hi honey, I’m home’, open this giant fridge and take out a chicken…4 min
The Week|V. 1221The Albanian mafiaWhy have they grown so prominent?Partly because of their reputation for extreme violence, and partly because their profile has been boosted by gangs like Hellbanianz – an east London crew of Albanian drug dealers who have built a huge online following through rap videos and Instagram posts featuring guns, Ferraris and scantily clad women. Yet mainly it is because of their commanding role in the illegal drugs trade. “Criminals from the Balkans,” says the National Crime Agency (NCA), “dominate within the wholesale cocaine market, with a presence in all major UK cities and towns, and operating supply networks reaching back to source and transit countries.” The biggest player among the Balkan gangs is the Mafia Shqiptare, as the Albanian gangs are collectively known. They are thought to have almost complete…5 min
The Week|V. 1221IT MUST BE TRUE…A large fish has been removed from a man-made lake at an Essex shopping centre after customers became distressed by the sight of it eating passing ducks. The 11kg catfish was one of a number at the Lakeside centre. “It’s not great for kids to see these large fish eating the ducks, so we removed it,” said an Environment Agency officer.Two British twenty-somethings decided to spend three weeks naked in a Malaysian jungle, to “show that it can be done”. The pair, Daniel Olifi, a financial tech worker, and cruise ship entertainer James Moynihan (pictured), headed into the jungle with a machete, a first aid kit, a metal water pot, a flint and no clothes. They endured swarms of mosquitoes, severe hunger, an infected wound and hypothermia before giving up…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Best articles: InternationalINDIAWhy do we still demonise Muslims?The Indian Express (Noida)The massacre in New Zealand has inspired a groundswell of sympathy and support for Muslims around the globe, says Apoorvanand – but not in India. Here, people have not been rushing to send flowers or letters of support to mosques, even though Indian-born Muslims were among the 50 victims gunned down in Christchurch. Instead, as India prepares for its forthcoming elections, mosques are in the news for a sinister reason: the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has asked the election commission to send observers to Islamic houses of worship to ensure that imams are not spreading hatred or urging people to vote along religious lines. The request is yet another example of how we as a society have normalised the demonisation…3 min
The Week|V. 1221The woman who feels no pain or fearA 71-year-old woman who feels no pain and very little anxiety has been found to carry a mutation in a previously unidentified gene. As a child, Jo Cameron, who lives in Inverness, went around with a broken arm for three days before her mother noticed it was hanging oddly; later, she offered false reassurance to friends by telling them that childbirth was painless. She can tell that she has burnt herself when she smells her skin singeing. Added to that, her wounds heal very quickly, she is preternaturally calm and rarely feels fear. Yet it wasn’t until the age of 65 that she realised she was abnormal.Having noticed something wrong with her hip, she went to the doctor, who identified severe joint degeneration. Astonished that she’d endured this condition without…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Pick of the week’s GossipNicolas Cage (pictured) has applied to have his latest marriage annulled after only four days. The 55-year-old film star married make-up artist Erika Koike, 34, in Las Vegas after dating her for a year, but caused a commotion as they waited for a licence by shouting, “She’s going to take all my money!” to passers-by. He also told them that Koike’s former boyfriend was “a drug dealer”. According to his lawyers, both Cage and Koike were drunk at the time and the actor “lacked understanding of his actions”. Cage was previously married to the actresses Patricia Arquette and Alice Kim, and – for three months – to Lisa Marie Presley.The duch*ess of York has taken to writing poetry and is planning a collaboration with her friend Will.i.am, who wants to…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Wit & Wisdom“The prospect of a lot/ Of dull MPs, in close proximity,/ All thinking for themselves, is what/ No man can face with equanimity.”W.S. Gilbert, quoted in The Daily Telegraph“In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.”Theodore Roosevelt, quoted in the FT“More tears have been shed over men’s lack of manners than their lack of morals.”American writer Helen Hathaway, quoted in The Times“Weapons are like money; no one knows the meaning of enough.”Martin Amis, quoted on the Browser“It is true that we are weak and sick and ugly and quarrelsome, but if that is all we ever were, we would, millenniums ago, have disappeared from the face…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Federer’s Indian summerIn January, when Roger Federer was knocked out of the Australian Open in the fourth round, “all the old mutterings started up again”, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph. “Has he lost a step of pace? How long can he go on?” But since the start of March, the 37-year-old has “comprehensively answered” those questions. First there was his victory at the Dubai Open, which made him only the second man in history – after Jimmy Connors – to win 100 ATP titles. And he wasted no time in picking up his 101st: on Sunday, he beat John Isner in straight sets to win the Miami Open, two decades after he first appeared in the tournament. Since the start of the year, Federer has accumulated more points than any…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Review of reviews: BooksBook of the weekLotharingiaby Simon Winder Picador 576pp £20The Week Bookshop £15.99In this “quirky” but enjoyable book – the third in a trilogy of European histories – Simon Winder tells the story of “Europe’s lost country”, said Ben Hall in the Financial Times. Lotharingia was a kingdom formed in the ninth century, when the three grandsons of Charlemagne (pictured) met near Verdun “to dismember his unwieldy empire”. One carved off the western portion (essentially France), another took Germany and the eldest, Lothair, got the middle – a narrow “arc of territory” stretching from the Alps to the Flemish coast, today encompassing the Low Countries, Lorraine and parts of Germany. Lotharingia existed only until 870, when it was parcelled up between its two neighbours. But even though it disappeared from the…4 min
The Week|V. 1221CDs of the week: three new releasesJenny Lewis: On the LineWarner Bros. £13.99Jenny Lewis, former frontwoman of indie-pop band Rilo Kiley, has never quite found the mega success her immense talent warrants, said Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph. But this superbly satisfying fourth solo album, written on the back of a relationship breakdown, feels like it’s the one to change that. From the opening bars of the first track, Heads Gonna Roll, “chords tumble in as if preordained”, and Lewis’s voice “floats up with a sigh” – delivering smart, bittersweet lyrics with swaggering insouciance and hard-bitten wisdom. When the band kicks in, “every lick hits the spot”.The guest list of collaborators here – Beck, Benmont Tench and Ringo Starr among them – attests to the esteem in which she is held, said Elisa Bray in…3 min
The Week|V. 1221A desert rose bloomsVast reserves of oil and gas have turned the Gulf state of Qatar into the wealthiest country per capita on Earth – and it now has an “astonishing” new museum to match, says Oliver Wainwright in The Guardian. Designed by superstar French architect Jean Nouvel – who in 2017 also completed the Louvre Abu Dhabi in the nearby UAE – the “gargantuan” National Museum of Qatar takes inspiration from a desert rose: its 539 conical “petals”, clad in 76,000 glass-fibre-reinforced concrete panels, form an “otherworldly landscape of canopies, terraces and enigmatic slit windows”. Inside, a mile-long loop of galleries shows how a tiny nation of “nomadic Bedouins and pearl divers” was transformed over 50 years into today’s “gas-rich state”, preparing to host the 2022 World Cup. The one subject not…1 min
The Week|V. 1221TelevisionProgrammesFollow the Money Thomas Bo Larsen plays a rule-breaking Danish detective in the third series of this Scandi financial thriller. Sat 6 April, BBC4 21:00 (55mins).The Victim Four-part thriller starring Kelly Macdonald as a woman accused of conspiring to murder the man she thinks killed her son 15 years ago. With John Hannah. Every night from Mon 8 to Thur 11 April, BBC1 21:00 (60mins).A House Through Time David Olusoga returns to chart the history of a house and its inhabitants from its construction to the present. This time he focuses on a Georgian terrace in Newcastle. Mon 8 April, BBC2 21:00 (60mins).The Widow Kate Beckinsale turns detective in this eight-part thriller. Three years on from her husband’s death in a plane crash she spots him on a news report.…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Recipe of the week: roast vegetable bastillaBastilla is a celebratory Moroccan dish traditionally made with pigeon, says Sabrina Ghayour, but for this version, I have used vegetables instead: it’s a great way to use up leftovers. You can pretty much throw anything together with Moroccan spices, dried fruits and nuts and turn it into something beautiful, so this makes an impressive centrepiece – though it is ridiculously easy to make.Serves 6-81 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsps ground cinnamon 2 tsps turmeric 2 tsps ground cumin 2 tsps garlic granules 750g celeriac, peeled and cut into 2.5cm cubes 750g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm cubes 500g carrots, peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks 500g parsnips, peeled and cut into 2.5cm chunks olive oil 50g flaked almonds 50g pine nuts 100g dried apricots, roughly chopped…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Companies in the news ...and how they were assessedLyft: rocket troubleLyft off? More a case of “Houston we have a problem”. After blasting off in style on Nasdaq last week, shares in the ride-hailing app fell sharply on the second day of trading, noted DealBook in The New York Times. The supposedly red-hot stock sank 12% to $69.01/share, well below its IPO price – darkening the outlook for Lyft and “other tech unicorns planning to go public”. After initially pumping up the stock by 20%, investors appear to have got cold feet. The company, founded by Logan Green and John Zimmer in 2012, lost nearly $1bn last year, and “can’t say when it will turn a profit as it plans to invest heavily in technology like autonomous vehicles”. Lyft has carved out a strong brand as the “nice”…4 min
The Week|V. 1221CommentatorsTough questions for LabourNils PratleyThe Guardian“Amid the Brexit pantomime”, investors are “studying the odds on an imminent general election” and the chances of a Labour government enacting its reprivatisation plans, says Nils Pratley. The party wants to take Britain’s energy networks, water companies, rail operators and Royal Mail back into national ownership – prompting a plea from Carolyn Fairbairn, the head of the CBI, to “work with business, and not against it”. Fans of the plan dismiss that as a last-ditch effort to protect wealthy shareholders, arguing that the £176bn Fairbairn suggests it would cost is a “fantasy figure”. But Labour needs to address the tough “financial questions”. How much would it pay for the assets? How would it deal with “the inevitable legal challenges if the price is less…3 min
The Week|V. 1221Talking pointsIssue of the week: Nordic noirAn unfolding “dirty money” banking scandal has plunged Sweden’s financial and political system into crisis“When Danske Bank’s Estonian money-laundering scandal exploded last autumn, other Nordic banks rushed to reassure investors that they were different,” said Richard Milne in the FT. Famous last words. Last week, Sweden’s oldest bank, Swedbank – the biggest lender in the Baltic – was drawn into the fuss. Both banks are alleged to have been “part of a system” that allowed oligarchs and criminals from Russia and elsewhere “to move money through their Baltic branches and into the Western financial system”. Over a decade, s200bn of “questionable money” flowed through Danske’s Estonian branch. About s135bn came through Swedbank’s local operation. “What started off as a seemingly small affair has rapidly expanded…4 min
The Week|V. 1221How one woman helped change the course of the Second World WarVirginia Hall pioneered a daredevil role of espionage, sabotage and subversion in an era when women barely featured in the prism of heroism; when their part in combat was confined to the supportive and palliative; when disabled women (or men) were confined to the home and led often narrow, unsatisfying lives. The fact that this young woman who had lost her leg overcame prejudice and hostility to help the Allies win the Second World War is astonishing. The fact that a female guerrilla leader of her stature remains so little known is incredible.Yet that is perhaps how Hall would have wanted it. She preferred to operate in the shadows. Even to close allies in France, she seemed to have no home or family, merely a burning desire to defeat the…10 min
The Week|V. 1221The race to replace MaySo far, MPs have rejected her deal three times; she is facing a slew of ministerial resignations and a revolt by backbench MPs furious that Brexit could be further delayed. Theresa May has been the most dogged of PMs, but Tories are convinced her days are now numbered, and “the battle to succeed her has begun”, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. That arch-Eurosceptic Dominic Raab “is perhaps the most organised of the potential candidates, with about ten MPs working on his unofficial campaign”. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, a Remainer turned Leaver, has been “filling his diary with meetings with MPs – purely social, you understand”. All eyes are on Boris Johnson, of course. While there was until recently a “stop Boris” strategy, it seems that’s no longer…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Bad week forBath University, which faced further student protests over its decision to spend £16,000 on an oil painting of its former vice-chancellor. Dame Glynis Breakwell resigned last August following an outcry over her £470,000-a-year pay package.Mick Jagger, who was forced to postpone The Rolling Stones’ US tour because he requires heart surgery for a damaged valve. The 75-year-old is expected to make a “complete recovery”.The Archers, which was accused of sexism. Analysis of the long-running Radio 4 soap found that in most episodes, the only conversations between female characters that last more than 30 seconds are about men.…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Europe at a glanceBrande, DenmarkRural skyscraper: A council in Denmark has granted permission for Western Europe’s tallest skyscraper to be constructed in a village in rural Jutland. The Bestseller Tower, in Brande, will be 320 metres tall, making it ten metres taller than London’s Shard. Looming over surrounding low-lying countryside, it will be visible from up to 40 miles away. The tower is being built to accommodate the headquarters of Bestseller, a fashion conglomerate owned by the billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, who is thought to be the largest private landowner in Scotland. The firm already has a base in Brande, and while the skyscraper is not in keeping with the rural area, locals seem to be in favour of the project. “Everybody thinks it’s a fantastic idea, and me too,” a local reporter,…4 min
The Week|V. 1221Castaway of the week1 Janie Jones by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, performed by The Clash2 Baggy Trousers by Graham McPherson and Chris Foreman, performed by Madness3 Natty Dread by Rita Marley and Allan Cole, performed by Bob Marley and the Wailers4 Dance at the Gym by Leonard Bernstein, performed by Johnny Green with the West Side Story Orchestra, featured in West Side Story5* Strawberry Fields Forever by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles6 When I Am Laid In Earth by Purcell, performed by René Jacobs with Lynne Dawson and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment7 Walls Come Tumbling Down! by Paul Weller, performed by The Style Council8 Jesus Children of America, written and performed by Stevie WonderBook: Animal Farm by George OrwellLuxury: tea-making facilities * Choice if allowed…1 min
The Week|V. 1221The Albanian code of honourThe code of besa plays a crucial role in Albanian life. Often translated as “trust” or “faith”, it really means “to keep the promise”. The concept dates back to at least the 15th century, when it appeared in the Kanun, a set of traditional laws for the tribes of northern Albania. A “man of besa” is considered worthy of respect and honour. By contrast, a man who breaks besa – known as a besëçartur – risks being ostracised from his community. For gangs, besa serves as a code of honour: mobsters who abide by it promise to uphold the honour of their ruling family; if they break the code, the punishments can be brutal.But besa also has less violent associations. Among other things, it means offering help and hospitality to…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Best articles: EuropeFRANCEThe splinters that puncture our sick societyLibération (Paris)What the world is now witnessing, says Alain Duhamel, is the very public implosion of French social cohesion. Every week, TV news stations show us a France that is “convulsive, irascible, divided and deeply unstable”. Last month the gilets jaunes rampaged on the Champs-Élysées, the “most beautiful avenue in the world”, throwing rocks, breaking windows and torching the historic restaurant Fouquet’s. Yet our rifts run deeper than what is visible on the streets. The gilets jaunes are but one of many discontented factions. We also have immigrant France, the France where Islamism flourishes, which has also rioted in the past but is now living sullenly isolated, apart from mainstream society. A third France is that of the engaged, educated class – the France…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Trump defies the world over IsraelWhen President Trump moved the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to “occupied Jerusalem” last year, “he tore up the international rule book”, said Jonathan Cook in The National (Abu Dhabi). Now he has set its shredded remains on fire. With Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at his side, Trump last week signed a proclamation recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights – a 500-square-mile plateau that Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War. Israel expelled 130,000 Syrians from the Golan and formally annexed the territory 14 years later. Until now, no country has recognised this act of theft and “ethnic cleansing”. But with Netanyahu facing corruption indictments and a serious challenge in next week’s elections from the newly formed Blue and White alliance, Trump decided to…2 min
The Week|V. 1221DIY smear tests on the NHSWomen who do not attend their GP’s surgery for smear tests are going to be sent DIY kits so they can test themselves for the human papillomavirus (which can cause cervical cancer) at home. The take-up rate for smear tests has reached a 20-year low, with young women in particular proving reluctant to attend appointments at their GP’s surgery – often, research suggests, because they feel embarrassed. The idea is that if they can do the HPV part of the test themselves at home, rates of diagnoses will improve. In countries such as Denmark and Australia, sending out DIY kits has led to an improvement in the rate. The scheme will be trialled by sending the “self-sample” kits, which contain a swab, to women in parts of London. Speaking to…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Parkfield School: the morality of sex lessonsThe school, located in a socially deprived area of Birmingham, has been rated “outstanding” by Ofsted. Its assistant head teacher, Andrew Moffat, was recently shortlisted for a prestigious $1m Global Teacher Prize. Yet far from being happy, some parents at Parkfield primary have been demonstrating outside its gates, carrying placards denouncing Moffat, said Sima Kotecha in The Spectator. In one day, about 600 children were withdrawn from the school in protest. Why? Because the parents object to the Ofsted-approved relationship and sex education course – the “No Outsiders” programme – that Moffat has devised. It is designed to teach pupils from age four about diversity using a series of 35 cartoon books, three of which are about same-sex relationships. However, 98% of the school’s intake is from Muslim families, and…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Football: Solskjær gets the United jobWhen Manchester United hired Ole Gunnar Solskjær as their interim manager last December, he was meant to be a stopgap solution, said Paul Wilson in The Guardian. They hoped the Norwegian, a club legend from his days as a striker, would “put a smile back on people’s faces” after José Mourinho’s disastrous reign, and then make way once a more experienced manager was appointed. But he has surpassed even their wildest expectations. He won ten of his first 13 league games and lost only one, a start bettered by only two managers in Premier League history. Last month, he masterminded an extraordinary win over PSG to take his team to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. So no one was surprised last week when he was given the job full-time.Solskjær…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Pick of the week’s correspondencePrejudice about abuseTo The GuardianIn a piece about Michael Jackson, Hadley Freeman wrote: “It is a well-established tragic truth that one of the biggest predictors for an adult becoming an abuser is if they have been abused themselves” (a statement that has since been qualified).No, it is a well-established prejudice. The majority of abused children are little girls, and hardly any of them grow up to be abusers. Some abused boys may do, but even then, the evidence shows that a climate of sexism and degradation is a stronger contributory factor than the actual abuse. If no such climate exists in the family, an abused boy is no more likely to abuse others than any other child.It is a comforting thought that the abused do the abusing, and the rest…4 min
The Week|V. 1221Novel of the weekReasons to be Cheerfulby Nina Stibbe Viking 288pp £12.99The Week Bookshop £9.99In her latest novel, set in 1980, Nina Stibbe reintroduces us to Lizzie Vogel, the “child and then adolescent protagonist” of her previous two, said Sam Leith in The Guardian. Lizzie, 18, is “living by herself in the big city (Leicester)”, working as an assistant in a dentist’s surgery – where we are introduced to the “memorably unappealing” dentist JP; his girlfriend, Tammy; and a “handsome” technician, Andy, on whom Lizzie develops a crush. The period detail is “exact and remorseless”: everyone smokes; there’s a “background thrum” of racism; meals include “spaghetti rings and chopped-egg flan”. It’s all very well crafted – and proves much more than a mere “assemblage of whimsy”.Readers of Love, Nina, Stibbe’s bestselling non-fiction memoir,…1 min
The Week|V. 1221FilmDumboDir: Tim Burton 1hr 52mins (PG)Live-action remake fails to fly★★Tim Burton’s live-action, non-musical remake of the Disney classic Dumbo has landed in cinemas with a thud, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Replacing the pathos of the original with a CGI-heavy visual extravaganza, it is saddled with a modern sense of shame at the very idea of performing animals. A struggling circus owner (Danny DeVito) is unwittingly sitting on a pot of gold in the form of a baby elephant with outsize ears that enable it to fly – a discovery that delights the moppets who’ve befriended Dumbo, but also attracts the interest of Michael Keaton’s “smooth, wicked” impresario. The macabre-minded Burton seems an odd choice to take on this tear-jerker, but he makes a decent fist of it, said…4 min
The Week|V. 1221The ListBest books… Max PorterThe author picks his five favourite books. His new novel, Lanny, has just been published by Faber, while a stage adaptation of his novel Grief is the Thing with Feathers – starring Cillian Murphy – is at the Barbican until 13 AprilThe Odyssey by Homer, c. 8th century BC; translated by Emily Wilson, 2018 (W.W. Norton £30). I have always loved The Odyssey so, so much, returning to it often, and this radical and important new translation was simply gorgeous to read and contemplate. The sheer musicality and energy of it is startling.The Notebook by Ágota Kristóf, 1986; translated by Alan Sheridan (CB Editions £8.99). Bless the gods (and CB Editions) for allowing English readers to meet this thumpingly powerful masterpiece about childhood, survival and war. One…3 min
The Week|V. 1221Houses in national parksNorth Yorkshire: Dromonby House, Kirkby-in-Cleveland. An impressive Grade II house with fine views, at the foot of the Cleveland Hills in the North York Moors National Park. 6 beds, 4 baths, large attic, kitchen/breakfast room, reception hall, 2 further receps, study/snug, pantry, utility, cloakroom, cellar, conservatory, billiard room, indoor swimming pool with wet room, garage, gardens, grazing land, 17 acres. £1.7m; Strutt & Parker (01423-706772).North Yorkshire: Little Shortwaite, Lealholm, Whitby. An idyllic country house in the heart of the North York Moors National Park, with wonderful views over the Esk Valley. Little Shortwaite dates from 1904 and sits on the outskirts of the pretty village of Lealholm. The house has been modernised, but incorporates many of the traditional features. A private driveway leads to a large parking area; the house…3 min
The Week|V. 1221ConsumerThe best… spring fashion trends1970s chill Stella McCartney has embraced the disco-era revival with these loose, flowing denim culottes, belted with yet more denim (£385; stellamccartney. com).Bags in bags Transparent bags with other, smaller bags inside them are this year’s big accessory – whether made of plastic, an open weave or wooden slats like this one from Topshop (£32; topshop.com).Giant trainers Having officially become the shoe of choice for absolutely every outfit, trainers are now also physically expanding. The bigger and uglier the better (£85; urbanoutfitters.com).Boiler suits They’ve been on the fashion radar for a while, but this spring everyone is going to be wearing the most utilitarian item of clothing there is (£180; lfmarkey.com).Gentle suits The season’s trend for “soft power” – strict tailoring but in light or gentle…3 min
The Week|V. 1221Seven days in the Square MileThe pound jumped, clawing back losses from previous sessions, after Theresa May moved to hold talks with the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, for a modified version of her Brexit deal, and said she would ask the EU for a longer delay. Shares in housebuilders and British banks – two sectors highly sensitive to Brexit-related news – also rose. Manufacturing activity in March reached its highest level in more than a year, according to PMI figures – and Britain’s factories are stockpiling parts at the fastest rate ever measured in an advanced economy. PMI figures for the services sector, which accounts for 80% of the UK economy, indicated it unexpectedly shrank for the first time in three years. IHS Markit, which compiled the figures, warned of the risk of “a deepening…1 min
The Week|V. 1221City profilesAnne-Sophie d’Andlau and Catherine BerjalBritish boardrooms, brace yourselves, said The Sunday Times. Two Frenchwomen, who have shaken things up on the Continent with their “activist” fund, “now have their sights on London”. D’Andlau, 46, and Berjal, 50, became friends while working on mergers in Paris. Their $600m fund, CIAM, has since surfed a wave of activism across Europe, with no sector “safe” from their “crusade” against underperforming managers and clubby boards. The “two musketeers” behind the fund, which gives a percentage of performance fees to charity, have been waging a particularly “vicious” corporate war with Walt Disney over its alleged mistreatment of minority shareholders. They now view Britain as a prime target – because of our strong shareholder rights, weakened pound and the chaos around Brexit.The Marquess of BristolThose struggling…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Spirit of the ageThe Royal Society for Public Health has accused supermarkets of loading their shelves with tempting Easter treats too early in the year, after finding that by the end of March, nearly one in four Britons had already bought and eaten at least one full-size Easter egg. Half of us had consumed an Easter-related chocolate, cake or snack.The Samuel Smith pub chain has become the first in the UK to ban mobile phones, laptops and tablets. A memo to the managers of its 300 pubs specifies that customers must go outside to receive or make calls, and to “receive transmitted pictures of sport or download music apps. The brewery’s policy is that our pubs are for social conversation person to person,” said the memo.…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Tackling knife crimeTeachers, nurses and doctors could be required by law to take action against knife crime. The Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has suggested that front-line workers in education, health and social services may have a “public health duty” to contact the police if they suspect that children in their care are involved in knife crime or at risk. The plans will be put to a consultation to determine the extent to which people might be held legally accountable if they have failed to spot or report trouble. Teachers’ unions said the plans were not “workable”, and that it was wrong to expect teachers to try to make up for “a government failure” to fund police and youth services. Javid also this week gave police more power to stop and search people…1 min
The Week|V. 1221The world at a glanceOttawaTrudeau’s woes: Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s former attorney general has released a secretly-recorded phone call that appears to back up her claim that he tried to shield a Canadian construction giant from prosecution in a corruption case (in the interest of saving jobs). In the recording, the head of civil service can be heard telling Jody Wilson-Raybould that Trudeau is “pretty firm” that SNC-Lavalin should not face prosecution. The affair has knocked support for Trudeau and his Liberal government, according to polls, and he faces renewed calls for his resignation.Seattle, WashingtonSaudis “hacked Bezos”: Jeff Bezos’s head of security has accused the Saudi government of hacking the Amazon billionaire’s phone. Earlier this year, Bezos asked Gavin de Becker to investigate how the tabloid magazine National Enquirer had managed to obtain intimate…7 min
The Week|V. 1221Viewpoint: Training the next generation“Jacob Rees-Mogg is famously not short of nannies. So it probably wasn’t a childcare emergency that made him bring his son along to last month’s council of war at Chequers. Apparently, the 12-year-old sat outside and read a book – but the episode is really just an extreme variant of what many middle-class parents do: drawing the kids into our professional worlds, planting the idea that one day they too will do something like this. It’s one of those tiny but insidious ways in which opportunity is handed down the generations. Should the mini-Moggs ever be invited to Chequers as adults, they won’t be daunted. If not born to rule, they’re certainly being raised to be comfortable with the idea.” Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Best articles: BritainThe unsavoury secret of “dark kitchens”Tim HaywardFinancial TimesWe’ve embarked on a new way of eating in this country, says Tim Hayward. A few swipes on a smartphone and we can get a meal delivered from any of a huge range of restaurants. What few of us realise, though, is that many of these meals don’t come from restaurants at all; they come from “dark kitchens” – windowless boxes on industrial estates, often owned by big companies, which crank out food in the restaurant’s name. A firm owned by former Uber chief Travis Kalanick, for example, has just acquired a start-up that operates more than 100 dark kitchens across London alone. Naturally, the restaurants love all this: it enables them to boost their capacity at a low cost. But in the…4 min
The Week|V. 1221Italy: China’s Trojan horse in Europe?The ancient Silk Road that once linked China to Italy is being reborn, said China Daily (Beijing). Last month, at a ceremony in Rome attended by China’s Xi Jinping, Luigi Di Maio, the Italian deputy PM, took the historic step of signing up his country to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative – a multitrillion dollar infrastructure investment plan creating new trade routes spanning Asia, Europe and Africa. More than 100 nations are cooperating in this initiative, but until now – owing to US pressure – no member of the Group of Seven developed nations has joined. Xi’s visit to Rome has shown that China isn’t interested in global domination, as the US seems to think it is, but in lifting up all its trading partners. Italy will now be boosted…3 min
The Week|V. 1221What the scientists are saying…No need for nitrites in bacon?Producers of bacon and ham have long defended adding nitrites to their products – despite mounting evidence that they cause cancer when used in processed meat – on the grounds that they protect against botulism and other food-borne conditions. But a study intended to bolster the case for the chemicals has reportedly failed to prove that they offer any such protection. Conducted by science consultancy Campden on behalf of the British Meat Processors Association (BMPA), the confidential research – which was leaked to The Observer – looked at the impact of nitrites on Clostridium botulinum, the toxin that causes botulism. Spores of the bacteria were introduced to two samples of ham – one cured with nitrites, the other without – and the researchers monitored their…3 min
The Week|V. 1221A Brexit fiasco: May’s catalogue of errorsIt seems a lifetime ago that Theresa May stood on Downing Street to outline her mission as Britain’s new PM. She would, she said on that bright evening in July 2016, lead a “one-nation government”; she’d preserve the “precious bond” between the countries that make up the UK; and she’d make it a “country that works for everyone” by fighting the “burning injustice” faced by many of its people. Less than three years on, her premiership appears to be coming to a close – and none of that has come to pass, said Polly Toynbee in The Guardian. The UK is “closer to breaking apart than it has ever been”. More children are living in poverty (but there are many more billionaires). Ethnic minorities are no better treated by the…4 min
The Week|V. 1221Copyright: has the EU censored the web?It could well be “the end of the internet as we know it”, said Matthew Lesh on CapX. In its determination to stop the big internet platforms pinching content from others, the EU has passed a radical new Copyright Directive. It may sound like a necessary reform – artists have long complained about being ripped off by the internet giants – but that’s not how Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the world wide web, sees it. In a joint letter to the EU last year, he and 70 other tech pioneers damned the directive for turning “an open platform for sharing and innovation into a tool for the automated surveillance and control of its users”. He’s right. It will create “two internets”: a heavily censored version for Europeans; “a free internet…2 min
The Week|V. 1221Formula One: a king in waiting?Lewis Hamilton may have won the Bahrain Grand Prix, said Giles Richards in The Guardian. But it was Charles Leclerc, Ferrari’s 21-year-old Monaco-born driver, who truly “captivated”. Having started Sunday’s race in pole position and then fallen behind, he overtook his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, in “a marvellous display of confidence”. After that, he looked “nailed on” for his debut win. But with only 11 laps to go, disaster struck: Leclerc’s engine failed him. He lost “pace and places”, and finished the race in third. Nevertheless, his “composure and skill” – not to mention his “extraordinary maturity” in dealing with the disappointment – were something to behold. Here was confirmation that Leclerc is a “world champion in waiting”.This race felt like a “changing of the guard”, said Philip Duncan in The…1 min
The Week|V. 1221The Queen and BrexitTo The TimesIt has been suggested that the Queen may be advised by the Government to refuse assent to a bill passed by Parliament. That may be the case, but there are precedents for the Crown agreeing to a direct petition from the Commons regardless of what advice was given by the government. While bringing the monarch into the Brexit imbroglio is undesirable, this may be the last option when the government of the day refuses to accept decisions of Parliament.Sir Malcolm Jack, Clerk of the House of Commons, 2006-11To The TimesSir Malcolm Jack poses a conundrum: should the Queen accept a petition or bill passed by the House of Commons if the Government advises her to reject it? The Government’s advice should prevail. Ultimately this poses no threat to…1 min
The Week|V. 1221Theatre: The PhlebotomistThe premise of this invigorating and clever debut play is “beautifully simple”, said Claire Allfree in The Daily Telegraph. It is set in an all-too-plausible “future present”, in which all citizens are rated according to a simple blood test that maps out their disposition to illness and disease, and provides a genetic rating that governs their chances in life, love and everything else. It’s a world in which there is a thriving market in clinics that promise to boost your number, and a booming black market in covert blood sample swaps. The Phlebotomist, which premiered at Hampstead Theatre’s studio space last year, has now been given a main-stage revival and playwright Ella Road has been nominated for an Olivier award. Even if she doesn’t bag a gong this weekend, her…2 min
The Week|V. 1221ArtExhibition of the week Van Gogh and BritainTate Britain, London SW1 (020-7887 8888, tate.org.uk). Until 11 AugustIn 1873, a 20-year-old Vincent van Gogh travelled to Britain for the first time, said Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. He spent much of the next three years here, working first as a trainee art dealer in London, then as a teaching assistant in Ramsgate and Isleworth. During his stay, he “immersed himself” in British culture, discovering the work of John Constable, John Everett Millais and countless other painters. Although he was not yet an artist himself, turning to painting only in 1880, the years that he spent here made “a profound impression on him” and almost certainly informed the development of his style. Van Gogh’s British sojourn and his subsequent impact on this…3 min
The Week|V. 1221The Archers: what happened last weekElizabeth’s excited about Freddie coming home. As she and Russ clean his room, Elizabeth talks about Nigel. She wonders if he hadn’t died whether Freddie would have gone off the rails. Russ comforts her saying you can’t predict what will send teenagers off course. Alan convinces Pip to get Rosie christened. Tom spots Natasha’s £8,000 credit card bill. She bats away his concerns. They show Pat and Tony the app designs. Things gets sticky when Natasha says that as she and Tom are funding it, they will be taking a commission on every sale through the app. Pat tells Helen that Natasha’s got a cheek – she’d rather the app was part of the Bridge Farm set-up. Alistair meets up with his boss, Doug Lovell, who makes it clear he’s…1 min
The Week|V. 1221What the experts recommend2 Fore Street Mousehole, Cornwall (01736-731164)The village of Mousehole (pronounced “Mowzel”), just south of Penzance, is a warren of narrow, winding streets and pretty front doors, says William Sitwell in The Daily Telegraph. This is a place where you could quite happily just “sit for hours and watch fishing boats coming in and out of the harbour”. Or, just as happily, you could sit in 2 Fore Street, a delightful all-day bistro that overlooks the bay, and serves “an approachable and merry dance of bistro classics”. To me, being offered on a menu “Newlyn crab double-baked Parmesan soufflé” is like “being asked if you want some free money”. Sure enough, every mouthful is “pure joy”. Alas, my wife’s onion soup is too thick and sweet for our tastes. But my…3 min
The Week|V. 1221TravelThis week’s dream: a glorious revival in Cuba“Wandering round the Cuban town of Sagua la Grande is like turning the cobwebbed pages of a magical realist novel,” says Lydia Bell in The Guardian. Located in Villa Clara province, 180 miles by road from the capital, Havana, and 15 miles from the sea, Sagua grew rich on sugar in the 19th century, its fortunes peaking in the 1920s and plummeting when prices fell thereafter. Its youth emigrated in their thousands to the US, and now “only sparrows visit the 1908 Casino Español, where Spanish merchants once caroused”. But in 2011, the town was declared a national monument, and in the past year there has been a frenzy of restoration work on many of its other architectural splendours – the main shopping…3 min
The Week|V. 1221ObituariesVisionary film-maker who anticipated the New WaveAgnès Varda 1928-2019Agnès Varda, who has died aged 90, was arguably the “greatest of the great” filmmakers of the French New Wave, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. A “master of personal cinema and essay cinema, drama, satire, documentary and romance”, whose work was imbued with a “distinctive richness and wisdom”, she produced her first feature film in 1955 – breaking cinematic convention well before such New Wave classics as Les quatre cents coups (1959) and À bout de souffle (1960) – and over the next 60 years never stopped working. Vital and creative to the end, she became, in 2018, the oldest ever Oscar nominee, for her film Faces Places, a documentary in which the octogenarian criss-crosses rural France with the street artist…5 min
The Week|V. 1221Goop swoopGwyneth Paltrow is preparing “a British expansion drive” for Goop – the lifestyle brand she founded more than a decade ago, said The Sunday Times. The brand led by the Hollywood A-lister currently has only one UK shop – in Notting Hill, London – but last year secured $50m in funding from investors. Lawyers for Goop have now filed a series of UK trademark applications, covering categories including skincare, nutritional supplements and “retail store services”. But the outfit has run into controversy in the past over the touted “health benefits of some of its products”. Last year, it paid $145,000 to settle a dispute about the “unsubstantiated claims” it had made for its “vagin*l eggs”.…1 min
