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The Week|V. 1329The main stories……and how they were coveredWhat happenedCummings’s revengeBoris Johnson came under growing pressure this week to explain how the refurbishment of his Downing Street flat was paid for, amid Labour claims that he was trying to orchestrate a cover-up. It was one of several allegations levelled at the PM: he was also accused by unidentified sources of having screamed last autumn: “No more f**king lockdowns – let the bodies pile high.”The PM’s trouble began when No. 10 sources accused his former aide Dominic Cummings of being behind a series of damaging leaks, including of text messages between the PM and the businessman Sir James Dyson (see page 22). Days later, Cummings hit back with an incendiary blog post in which he denied the charge – and accused the PM of incompetence and impropriety. He claimed…9 min
The Week|V. 1329Good week for:Sir Anthony Hopkins, who was the surprise recipient of the best actor Oscar, for The Father. The award had been expected to go to the late Chadwick Boseman, to whom Hopkins, 83, paid tribute in a video message the next day. Best supporting actor went to Daniel Kaluuya, for Judas and the Black Messiah. Best picture went to Nomadland, which also scooped best actress (Frances McDormand) and best director (Chloé Zhao).Kanye West, after a pair of his old trainers sold for a record-breaking $1.8m at Sotheby’s. The musician designed the Nike Air Yeezy 1 Prototypes, and wore them to the Grammys in 2008. They were bought by RARES, an internet platform that allows people to invest in shares in rare footwear.Automation, with news that self-driving cars could be allowed on…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Poll watch50% of UK adults agree with the statement: “There is a culture of sleaze in the UK Government.” 11% disagree, and 29% neither agree nor disagree. Tory voters are more likely to agree than disagree. Redfield & Wilton Strategies/The I newspaperA Savanta ComRes survey for The Scotsman has predicted that the SNP will return 63 MSPs on 6 May – leaving it two seats short of a majority. It also found that 48% of Scots would vote against independence in a referendum; and just 44% would back it. Polling at 1%, Alex Salmond’s Alba party was projected to win no seats. A separate YouGov poll for The Times predicted the SNP would take 66 seats, but also found minority support for independence.…1 min
The Week|V. 1329The world at a glanceMinneapolis, MinnesotaPolice under investigation: The US attorney general, Merrick Garland, has announced that the federal Justice Department will conduct a sweeping investigation into policing in Minneapolis, where former police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted last week of the murder of George Floyd. Many African Americans in Minnesota claim that Floyd’s murder is part of a wider pattern of discriminatory and illegal behaviour by the Minneapolis police department over many years, and the federal investigation is explicitly tasked with determining whether such a pattern exists. Garland has also announced a second federal investigation into the conduct of a local police force, this time the force of the city of Louisville, Kentucky, where a young black woman, 26-year-old paramedic Breonna Taylor, was shot dead in a raid at her home last year…7 min
The Week|V. 1329The partition of IrelandHow was Northern Ireland created?On 3 May 1921, the Government of Ireland Act 1920 came into effect. As the Irish Times recently noted, it “remains one of the most relevant pieces of legislation ever passed in Irish history”. Passed by the British PM David Lloyd George’s coalition government, it created Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland: two separate, self-governing territories with their own “home rule” parliaments, which were nevertheless to remain within the United Kingdom. In the event, Southern Ireland was a dead letter: amidst the Irish War of Independence, its parliament met only once, and the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921 established the Irish Free State, which would in 1949 become the Republic of Ireland. But Northern Ireland, formed of six of the nine counties of the historic province of…4 min
The Week|V. 1329IT MUST BE TRUE… I read it in the tabloidsA couple in Taiwan married each other four times (and divorced three) in just 37 days – so they could extend their honeymoon holiday. The groom, an unnamed bank worker, exploited a loophole that obliges firms to give newly-weds eight days’ paid leave, claiming the full allowance for each wedding. When his employer refused him more than eight days off, a £500 fine was issued by Taipei’s labour department; this was later cancelled, but the banker, who has left his job, filed a complaint – saying he’s still owed 24 days’ leave.First he unveiled a huge gilded statue of the national dog breed; then, he wrote it an ode; now Turkmenistan’s president has dedicated a national holiday to the Alabay – a huge shepherd dog. The breed was honoured on…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Best articles: InternationalCUBATime to kiss and make up with HavanaThe Washington Post“All hail: The wicked Castros are finally gone,” says Kathleen Parker. With the retirement last month of Raúl Castro as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, the 62-year rule of the revolutionary brothers has come to an end. The move itself is unlikely to herald any dramatic changes: the president and new party boss, Miguel Díaz-Canel, who was born a year after the 1959 revolution, has promised continuity. But it does present an opportunity to end the “absurdly long stand-off” between the US and the beleaguered island state. Now would be a good time for President Biden to restore diplomatic relations with Cuba, and press Congress to end the embargo – which is more the product of a “shared delusional disorder” than…3 min
The Week|V. 1329A helicopter flight above MarsNasa has flown a helicopter on Mars, in the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. The craft, Ingenuity, flew 10ft up into the air last Monday, and hovered for 30 seconds; a few days later, it embarked on a more ambitious 52-second flight, in which it flew up 16ft, moved sideways, and made turns. Images sent from cameras fitted to the bottom of the craft showed its shadow on the Martian surface. The Perseverance Rover, which carried the drone to the red planet, also captured footage of its take-off and landing; in other words, one robot took pictures of another, on a planet currently some 49 million miles from our own.Ingenuity is not a research vehicle: it is designed to test drone technology for future missions. In order for…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Lobbying: the hotline to the PMIf you’ve got a tax problem, who are you going to call? If you are a billionaire businessman and Brexiteer, the answer is easy, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian: you call the Prime Minister. Last week, it emerged that Sir James Dyson had texted Boris Johnson in March 2020, seeking assurance that if his overseas staff travelled to Britain to produce ventilators for the NHS, they’d not be double-taxed. “I will fix it tomo!” the PM messaged back; lo and behold, two weeks later, the Treasury announced a waiver for anyone entering Britain to work on the ventilator project. As Dyson has pointed out, this waiver did not directly benefit his firm, which spent £20m researching ventilators before it became clear that they’d not be needed. And arguably, there…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Prosecuting veterans: a betrayal?“Johnny Mercer was never going to last long in frontline politics,” said Douglas Murray on UnHerd. A former soldier who served three tours of duty in Afghanistan, he’s too candid and uncompromising. So it was little surprise when he was “unceremoniously sacked” last week after accusing the Government of betraying former soldiers who had served in Northern Ireland. He’s furious that they’ve been denied the same protection given to other veterans under the new Overseas Operations Bill, which introduces a statutory presumption against prosecution for military personnel accused of war-related crimes abroad after five years. Mercer’s anger is understandable. It is grossly unfair that soldiers who served in the Troubles can be dragged back into court decades later, when unconvicted IRA terrorists are effectively immune to such prosecution.During his campaign…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Women’s rugby: England pull off a Six Nations hat-trickWhat an achievement for England’s women’s rugby team, said Alan Verity in The Mail on Sunday. Last Saturday at Twickenham Stoop, England beat France 10-6 to give them a third straight Six Nations title. The Red Roses have now defeated Les Blues eight times in a row – but as so often when these two teams face each other, it was a cagey, hard-fought affair. A try just before half time by Poppy Cleall sent the home team into the changing rooms 7-0 to the good. But after the break, France battled back with two penalties. However, England’s “robust defence” prevented any further breakthroughs – and they eventually sealed victory with a penalty from captain Emily Scarratt.Thanks to the pandemic, this year’s Six Nations adopted a new “condensed” format, and…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Short-changing our grandparentsTo The TimesYour leading article on social care is 100% correct. Countries such as Germany and Japan foresaw the demographic time bomb facing societies everywhere and grasped the nettle decades ago. They now boast equitable and well-funded care systems that guarantee the elderly dignity and security in old age. In comparison, we have failed that challenge. England has the harshest means test of any comparable Western country, and people with dementia and other neurological diseases find their life savings are cleaned out, leaving their families destitute. After the devastation of the pandemic ripping through care homes, there is more understanding of the selfless work of the 1.5 million people who work in social care, so it really is now or never. The Prime Minister’s public commitment to a long-term plan…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Podcasts... sleep, fraud and lexophiliaI love the feeling of drifting off to sleep while listening to a podcast, said Nicholas Alexander in The Guardian. “Sentences swim around you, stripped of their meaning. Words collect in little incoherent groups at the edge of consciousness, as you tiptoe a tightrope on the outskirts of sleep.” In the BBC Sounds “comedy-horror” podcast The Sink: A Sleep Aid, writer Natasha Hodgson, producer Andy Goddard and composer David Cumming recreate that agreeably woozy sensation. Hodgson’s prose has a dreamlike quality: “shapes shift, locations lurch, characters change”, and the sound design is “stunning”. There is only one problem: The Sink is so good – “laugh-out-loud funny” yet strangely unsettling – that you won’t want to miss any of it by actually nodding off.In Boring Books for Bedtime, missing the end…2 min
The Week|V. 1329News from the art worldPresident Bush the portraitist“George W. Bush, the former US president, is enjoying a second career as a painter,” said Martha Barratt in The Daily Telegraph. Since his secret passion was exposed by a hacker who published his self-portraits online, Bush has painted dogs, world leaders and military veterans. His new book, Out of Many, One, is a collection of 43 portraits of recent immigrants to the US – from the German-born NBA player Dirk Nowitzki to the Afghani women’s-rights activist Roya Mahboob, to an Iraqi migrant who has taken the name Tony George Bush. They are a means to push his agenda on immigration reform: Bush wants to “humanise” the debate, and remind Americans of the great contribution that new migrants make. The new paintings are technically better than his…1 min
The Week|V. 1329The Archers: what happened last weekAlice apologises to Harrison for her drunken behaviour and insists she didn’t mean anything she said. After Jazzer helps Neil to round up escaped pigs at Berrow, Neil tries to convince him to take a job at the new outdoor unit. Harrison tells Fallon about Alice’s pass at him and her alcoholism. Outraged, Fallon thinks he should tell Chris, but Harrison’s afraid it will be the last straw for Alice and Chris’s relationship. Fallon calls by to tell them that she and Harrison can no longer be Martha’s godparents; Chris is stunned. Later, Alice tries to smooth things over but Fallon’s having none of it. Keen to make a good impression, Tracy bones up on topics for dinner conversation with Jim, and the evening is a great success. Getting a…1 min
The Week|V. 1329What the experts recommendA more ethical way to eat meatVegans may be right when they say that our taste for meat and dairy products is disastrous for the planet and encourages cruel farming practices, says Xanthe Clay in The Daily Telegraph. There’s one meat, however, that we should arguably be eating more of in Britain – and that is wild venison. With no natural predators in the UK since wolves were driven out, the wild deer population has burgeoned. Greedy eaters, they munch through crops and can devastate woodland. And as their population density increases, so do their health problems – and the number of deer-related car accidents (which cause an estimated 400 human injuries a year). It’s generally agreed that deer have to be culled, and the most humane way is by…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Tips of the week... how to help your pets get along● Let the animals observe each other from a distance first so they don’t feel threatened. This might mean keeping a dog on a lead and giving it a treat for not reacting to a cat.● Look for signs that a cat is planning to sneak up on another pet and distract it.● At first, separate the pets when they eat, so they can do so without feeling stressed.● Consider keeping pets in different rooms to start with, so they get used to the smell of each other. You can also try “scent-swapping” their toys or items of bedding.● If dogs are not getting along, work on obedience while walking them separately.● Make sure both cats and dogs have their own spaces to retreat to.● Think about what in your…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Wagner-loving songwriter behind Bat Out of HellKnown as the “Richard Wagner of rock ‘n’ roll”, Jim Steinman, who has died aged 73, resolved early on that if you were going to write songs, they might as well be huge. “If you don’t go over the top, you can’t see what’s on the other side,” he said. “So I start at ‘extreme’ and go from there.” The result, said The Times, was some of the “most memorably operatic and bombastic songs in popular music”. He wrote the power ballad Total Eclipse of the Heart, a No. 1 hit for Bonnie Tyler in 1983, while for Celine Dion he produced the tormented It’s All Coming Back to Me Now, in 1996, which won him a Grammy. But it was the seven songs he wrote for Meat Loaf’s debut…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Serco/SFO: management fall guys?In a further blow to the credibility of the Serious Fraud Office, the trial of two former Serco executives who are accused of hiding profits from prisoner electronic tagging contracts, has “collapsed”, said Kate Beioley in the Financial Times. The judge ruled the SFO had failed to disclose relevant documents to the defence, thereby jeopardising the trial. It marks the “humiliating end” of a “seven-and-a-half-year investigation”. But there’s more at stake than wasted time and money, said Jonathan Ames in The Times. The plight of the Serco pair has reignited concerns about the SFO’s controversial use of deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) – effectively, plea bargains that are available to companies but not to individuals.Serco, as a company, avoided prosecution for “defrauding the Government out of £12m” by settling with the…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Back to the office etiquetteThe post-pandemic return “will require some changes in workplace customs”, said Bartleby in The Economist. Here are some dos and don’ts:Don’t boast No one forced to stare at their garden fence throughout lockdown wants to hear about your trip to the Maldives. Nor do they want to hear “about how you taught your kids ancient Greek and differential calculus”.Don’t come to the office with a cold Traditionally, people were expected to soldier on, even if that meant infecting co-workers. No longer.Clear your desk every evening For the near future, people will be hot-desking. That also means paying particular attention to hygiene – and providing lockers for workers.Keep your voice down Research suggests that employees tend to speak 15% louder on video calls than normal – perhaps because subconsciously they are…1 min
The Week|V. 1329PoliticsControversy of the weekThe Post Office scandalIt is “one of the greatest injustices in British legal history”, said The Daily Telegraph: the wrongful convictions of huge numbers of British sub-postmasters and mistresses. This “technological horror story” began when the Post Office installed Fujitsu’s Horizon accounting system in its branches in 1999. The software was “riddled” with bugs, which led it falsely to report shortfalls running into thousands of pounds. Under suspicion, some desperate postmasters tried to compensate for the system’s mistakes using their own money. But the Post Office ignored evidence of IT errors and mounted prosecutions against countless innocent people. Between 2000 and 2014, it prosecuted 736 sub-postmasters: one a week, on average. They were people such as Seema Misra, who was pregnant with her second child when she…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Arlene Foster resignsArlene Foster announced this week that she will step down as leader of the DUP and as Northern Ireland’s First Minister. A majority of her party’s representatives at Stormont and Westminster had earlier signed a letter of no-confidence in her leadership. Foster had weathered several storms since becoming the DUP’s first female leader in 2015, but, reportedly, it was anger over her handling of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which imposes checks on goods coming in from Great Britain, that was behind the campaign to unseat her.…1 min
The Week|V. 1329The UK at a glanceEdinburghA border with England: Were an independent Scotland to rejoin the EU, there would have to be a physical trade border with England, Nicola Sturgeon conceded this week. However, the First Minister said that she’d try to negotiate agreements that would “keep trade flowing easily”, so that businesses did not “suffer”. Last week, an SNP candidate, Emma Harper, had claimed that a physical border could “create jobs”. Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show, Sturgeon distanced herself from that remark, saying that “nobody in the SNP” is in favour of one. She agreed, however, that owing to EU rules requiring checks on goods, a border was unavoidable. It was, she said, one of the issues raised for Scotland by the “absurdity of Brexit and the Tory Brexit obsession”. Scottish Tory…4 min
The Week|V. 1329PeopleThe truth about TuringAlan Turing secured a place in history by cracking Germany’s Enigma code in the Second World War, says Hana Carter in The Times. But much of what we think we know about the mathematician is wrong, according to a new book by his nephew. In Reflections of Alan Turing: A Relative Story, Dermot Turing says his uncle was not the loner of popular imagination: he was perfectly sociable, with people who shared his interests. So while he didn’t have much to say to his father’s sherry drinking friends, he was quite happy to sit in the pub, chatting “to his mates about the capabilities of a computing machine”. As for the idea that he was bullied at Sherborne School, “I don’t think any of us would have…4 min
The Week|V. 1329An uncomfortable centenaryNorthern Ireland’s 50th anniversary in 1971 was celebrated, amidst the early Troubles, with Ulster 71 – a village of tents and domes, exhibitions and funfair rides set by the Botanic Gardens in Belfast. This year’s celebrations will be much more muted. Sinn Féin vetoed a unionist proposal to erect a stone at Stormont to mark the event. Sinn Féin’s Pat Sheehan said it was “commissioned by representatives of one tradition and reflects only one political perspective” – so was “symbolic” of the state’s wider failures. A BBC poll found that only 40% of Northern Irish people thought the centenary should be celebrated; 45% disagreed.Some are asking how many centenaries Northern Ireland has left. This year’s census is expected to confirm that Catholics outnumber Protestants in the state. Where once the…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Best articles: EuropeFRANCEThe scandal of our Anglophile ID cardsLe Figaro (Paris)When France unveiled plans for new digital ID cards last month, critics sounded the alarm over their potential for privacy breaches. But the real “scandal” is the cards’ over-enthusiastic embrace of English, say Hélène Carrère d’Encausse and Frédéric Vitoux. They were issued to comply with a new EU directive, which stipulates that parts of the document be translated into at least one other European language, as well as the host country’s. For some reason, French officials decided to translate all the headings – “surname”, etc. – into English, and English only, giving it almost equal billing with French, so the cards look practically bilingual. It’s outrageous. The status of English in the EU has been drastically reduced since Brexit. Our exclusion of…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Chad’s uncertain future: a president dies on the battlefieldIt’s not often these days that a world leader dies on the battlefield, said François Picard on France24.com (Paris). But such was the fate that last week befell President Idriss Déby, who had ruled Chad for more than 30 years. Déby was “one of those African strongmen that seemed to have nine lives”. The son of a poor herder, he rose through the military after training in France, seizing power in a 1990 coup. During his long presidency, he faced down a series of rebellions and incursions. But on a visit last week to troops fending off an advance by rebels reportedly trained and equipped in Libya by Russian mercenaries, Déby’s luck finally ran out. His death at 68 – which came just a day after he had been declared…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Vaccine progressCovid-19 was not the leading cause of death in England and Wales last month, for the first time since October. In England, dementia and Alzheimer’s were behind most fatalities; in Wales, it was ischaemic heart disease. In the UK overall, daily Covid deaths were running at a seven-day average of 22 last week. Separate NHS data revealed that 95% of over-50s in England had now been vaccinated, along with 59% of 45- to 49-year-olds, who started being offered appointments in mid-April. However, among care home workers, uptake by 18 April still stood at only 80%, although they were one of the first groups to be offered the jab. In Northern Ireland, officials are planning to invite 35- to 39-year-olds to make appointments by the end of April. In Scotland, 45-…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Emissions targets: empty promises?Britain’s climate change targets have become very ambitious, very quickly, said John Rentoul in The Independent. In 2019, Theresa May committed the nation to reaching “net zero” carbon emissions by 2050, as one of her last acts before leaving No. 10. In the general election later that year, all Britain’s major parties made manifesto promises to do the same. Last week Boris Johnson, who will be hosting the Cop26 UN climate talks in Glasgow in November, set another ambitious target on the route to making the UK carbon-neutral: to cut emissions by 78% by 2035, against the 1990 baseline. The pledge also covers Britain’s share of international aviation and shipping, so it “closes one obvious loophole”. The question is whether such pledges actually mean anything. Does the Government have the…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Commentary boxO’Sullivan’s unlucky sevenRonnie O’Sullivan entered this year’s Betfred World Snooker Championship hoping to equal Stephen Hendry’s record of seven world titles, said Hector Nunns in The Times. And after an easy first-round win, it looked well within his grasp. But in the second round, the defending champion’s hopes were dashed by Anthony McGill. It was a “roller-coaster” of a match: O’Sullivan trailed 10-6, before fighting back to 11-10, only for McGill to prevail 13-12, thanks to some nerveless break building under extreme pressure. O’Sullivan, 45, isn’t giving up, however: he thinks he has another five years in which to equal Hendry’s record.Nadal’s Barcelona triumphThe final of the Barcelona Open was won this week by Rafael Nadal in a thrilling 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 victory over Stefanos Tsitsipas, the World No. 5.…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Review of reviews: BooksBook of the weekMonica Jones, Philip Larkin and Meby John Sutherland W&N 288pp £20The Week Bookshop £15.99The story of Philip Larkin has been told many times, said John Carey in The Sunday Times. John Sutherland’s new book, however, is “singular” in focusing on the poet’s long-term girlfriend, Monica Jones. The pair (pictured in 1967) met at Leicester University in the mid-1940s. She was a young lecturer; he, the assistant librarian. They maintained their relationship for the next four decades, though for most of that time Larkin was living in Hull, and was having relationships with other women. He carefully rationed their time together: “they had a fortnight’s holiday each summer, an annual visit to some great cathedral, and three days watching a Test match at Lord’s”. Jones has often been…4 min
The Week|V. 1329Albums of the week: three new releasesVaughan Williams – Symphonies Nos 4 and 6: LSO (Antonio Pappano):LSO Live £11Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi: They’re Calling Me HomeNonesuch £11London Grammar: Californian SoilMinistry of Sound £11Antonio Pappano’s debut recording for the LSO’s own label – a pair of outstanding live versions of Vaughan Williams’s “most dissonant, rebarbative” symphonies – coincides with news of his appointment as the orchestra’s chief conductor from 2024, said Hugh Canning in The Sunday Times. It is “auspicious” that a previous great holder of that post, André Previn, recorded acclaimed versions of two of Williams’s symphonies before his own appointment. Pappano’s “dramatic” accounts of the Fourth and Sixth have a “dynamic allure” that bodes well for his tenure.The disc is filled with “stunning” playing, agreed Graham Rickson on The Arts Desk. When it comes…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Mare of Easttown: Kate Winslet’s small-town sleuthKate Winslet is mesmerising in the new HBO crime drama Mare of Easttown, said Carol Midgley in The Times. Make-up-free and “permanently sour-faced”, she plays Mare Sheehan, an “unhappy, junk-food-eating” detective in a small Pennsylvania town that “reeks of poverty and dead ends”. At the outset, she’s working on the case of a 19-year-old woman who disappeared a year ago. And then the body of another teenager, a young mother, is found.Written by Pennsylvania native Brad Ingelsby, this is “a perfectly conjured study of a community”, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, focusing as much on how the locals endure these terrible events as on the process of finding the culprits. Everything and everyone feels “real”, and you care about “every tiny part” – not least Mare’s new relationship with…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Best books… Emma DonoghueThe writer chooses her five favourite books on the theme of health. Her most recent novel, The Pull of the Stars (Picador £8.99), about the 1918 flu pandemic, comes out in paperback this weekOutlawed by Anna North, 2021 (W&N £14.99). Fancy the high-concept twists of a dystopian thriller, or the gritty, authentic pleasures of historical fiction? Outlawed plays it both ways. This adventure about persecuted women fighting back is set in an alternative 19th century America, after a flu has decimated the population, where infertile women are rounded up as witches.The darkly hilarious historian narrator of Sarah Moss’s novel Night Waking (2011; Granta £9.99) has the opposite problem: motherhood without support, and without time or headspace to finish her book. Sleep deprivation and constant care of small children (while her…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Book nowSome relief for theatres as many prepare to reopen. The Barn in Cirencester teams up with London’s Arcola for a production of A Russian Doll, a new play by Cat Goscovitch about a woman caught up in Russia’s disinformation campaign during the EU referendum. 18 May-12 June at The Barn (barntheatre.org. uk); dates to follow at Arcola (arcolatheatre.com). Pitlochry Festival Theatre is celebrating the opening of its new amphitheatre. Highlights include the premiere of David Greig’s Adventures with the Painted People, and an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows. 29 May-18 September (pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com).…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Recipe of the week: courgette, smoked cheddar and jalapeño breadMakes 8-10 slices2 courgettes, grated 200g plain flour 100g polenta 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp sea salt, plus an extra pinch 4 eggs, beaten 150ml milk 75g unsalted butter, melted 1 tbsp pickled jalapeños, chopped 6g coriander, chopped 125g smoked cheddar, grated 75g vegetarian grating cheese, grated• Preheat the oven to 200°C and grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment.• Put the grated courgettes in a clean tea towel with a pinch of salt and give the towel a really hard squeeze a few times to get as much water as you can out of the courgettes.• Combine the flour, polenta, baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl. Add the grated courgettes and mix well.• In another mixing bowl combine the rest…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Where to find... book subscriptionsIf you have been meaning to catch up on the classics, try The Bookishly Classic Book Crate, to have titles ranging from Rebecca to Frankenstein sent to your door (£35 every two months; bookishly.co.uk).Mr B’s Book Emporium asks you to fill in a questionnaire about your tastes, and then sends you a tailored selection each month (from £15 a month; mrbsemporium.com).For horror and thriller fans, Abominable Book Club’s box contains a brand-new release, a second-hand mystery book, and a clutch of edible treats (£27 a month; abominablebookclub.cratejoy.com).Books That Matter is a feminist initiative that sends books by female authors that its customers might not otherwise come across, and themed gifts made by women (£17 a month; booksthatmatter.co.uk).Prudence and the Crow focuses on vintage and second-hand books, with each book sourced…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Companies in the newsAstraZeneca: legal reckoningAfter months of bitter rows over supply issues, the EU has got tough with AstraZeneca, launching legal action against the Anglo-Swedish pharma for missing vaccine deliveries, said James Crisp in The Daily Telegraph. The Commission charges that AZ has broken its contract because it will only be able to deliver a third of the 300 million doses due by the end of June. It also accuses the company of not having a “reliable” plan to ensure timely deliveries. Astra has vowed to defend itself “strongly”, claiming it made “best efforts” and therefore didn’t violate its contract. But since the lawsuit “will pass through the notoriously slow Belgian legal system”, don’t expect a ruling any time soon. The case against the £98bn drug giant “may take years and rack…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Issue of the week: wild marketsThese are extraordinary times, said The Wall Street Journal. “Rarely have so many assets been up this much at once.” Benchmark stock indices, from the US to France and Australia, “have been on a tear”, but “the frenzy has extended far beyond conventional markets”. Everything from the price of lumber to bitcoin has been on the up. “In the venture capital world, investors are offering start-ups five times the amount of money they are requesting”, taking “the average valuation for all start-ups to a new high”. This “wild ride higher” has even the most “seasoned investors throwing up their hands”. A recent E*Trade Financial survey found that nearly 70% of investors “believe the market is fully or somewhat in a bubble”. But that hasn’t diminished their appetite. Some $98bn was…2 min
The Week|V. 1329CommentatorsHow to keep the boosters burningAlex BrummerDaily MailLast week, it was confirmed that public borrowing is at its highest in peacetime history. The Government was forced to borrow a record £303bn in the first full financial year of the crisis. The most optimistic way of seeing the situation, says Alex Brummer, is to view “the dreadful state of the public finances and the coiled spring of economic activity” as “two sides of the same coin”. Had the Chancellor not “dug deep”, we’d be headed towards a 1930s recession. The huge fiscal boost means that many consumer and big businesses are emerging from lockdown “well stocked for expansion”. The latest data “signals the strongest rebound in UK private sector output since November 2013”. The costs are ferocious in terms of the…3 min
The Week|V. 1329SharesThe week’s best sharesAB DynamicsThe TimesAB supplies robots and testing software to carmakers and regulators. Sales should recover as testing becomes paramount amid the electric revolution. Highly profitable with no direct listed peers. Buy. £22.20.Macfarlane GroupInvestors ChronicleThe market-leading packaging distributor has rising margins and scope for acquisitions. Bespoke solutions give it a competitive edge, and the shift to e-commerce and demand for sustainability should underpin growth; profits have grown for 11 years straight. Buy. 110p.The Mission GroupInvestors ChronicleThis marketing agency has bounced back to profitability by focusing on tech and healthcare. It is investing in behavioural research for blue-chips Asda and Aviva. Exposure to the US. Buy. 84p.RelxThe TimesThe information and analytics provider’s legal, fraud, scientific, technical and medical divisions benefited from the pandemic. The return of its exhibitions arm…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Spirit of the ageStandard Life Aberdeen has decided that, henceforth, it shall be known as Abrdn. The investment firm, founded in 1825, said its new brand “builds on our heritage and is modern, dynamic and, most of all, engaging”. However, it is still pronounced Aberdeen.Product placement is often used to generate money for new films and shows. Now, brands can pay to have new products “retro-fitted” into old shows. In the French series Call My Agent!, for instance, the Carte Noire logo was digitally pasted after filming onto the coffee cups the characters drank from. The technology can also be used to personalise shows for particular markets. So were Call My Agent! shown in China, the cups might bear the logo of a Chinese coffee brand.…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Non-crime hate incidentsPriti Patel has urged the police to stop recording hate incidents that do not amount to a crime – saying she fears that the policy is damaging the employment prospects of those involved, and curbing free speech. At present, if a person is reported for a hate crime, but police conclude no crime was committed, the case stays on their record as a “non-crime hate incident”, and can be disclosed in vetting processes, such as the DBS checks used by employers. The Home Secretary has now written to the College of Policing, which oversees officer training in England and Wales, entreating it to review its guidance on the issue.…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Europe at a glanceBrusselsEU sues: The EU has launched legal action against the Anglo-Swedish firm AstraZeneca (AZ). Last August, AZ agreed to supply 300 million doses of its vaccine to the bloc by June. Owing to production problems, however, it had only delivered 30 million by the end of March – and may only have delivered 100 million by June. AZ says the case is “without merit”, and that it will defend itself in court (see page 41). Separately, the EC president Ursula von der Leyen said the bloc was poised to sign a deal for 1.8 billion doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab, for delivery by 2023. Brussels is hoping to have vaccinated 70% of adults by July.ParisA “civil war”: Twenty retired French generals have caused an uproar by warning that the country…4 min
The Week|V. 1329Measuring life in royals“After a rapid round of mini-strokes, my mother utters only sticklebrick phrases that won’t connect. ‘The thing is...’ or ‘You’ll never guess...’. My elder son was repeating ‘Granny, it’s me!’ in ever greater despair when suddenly she sprang to attention. ‘The Duke of Edinburgh has died!’ she declared. While she couldn’t recall our names, somehow this information had stuck. Royalty is so ingrained in our national psyche, it’s common to have stress dreams about meeting the Queen. At Prince Philip’s death, I’d bet even republicans felt an involuntary jolt. For my mother, two years older than Her Maj, the royals are fused into her being, as real as her own family. Perhaps more real now.”Janice Turner in The Times…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Best articles: BritainBeware of bringing it all back homeSimon NixonThe TimesI see the writing on the office wall, says Simon Nixon, and it does not augur well for the office. Spurred by the Covid-induced switch to working from home (WFH), companies are rapidly downsizing premises. In a recent survey, 37% said they were reviewing their requirements; 47% said they’d need no more than 70% of their current workspace. HSBC wants to dump 40% of its global office space; Lloyds 20%. You can see why: last year’s experiment with WFH proved surprisingly successful. But employers should tread carefully. Although it suited some workers, many others – notably younger ones in shared flats – didn’t like it at all. And not just on account of the cramped work space. WFH transfers significant costs from…4 min
The Week|V. 1329Is Germany poised for a Green revolution?Germany’s federal elections tend to be “polite contests between middle-aged men and, more recently, a middle-aged woman, trotting out worthy but similar centrist policies”, said The Economist. “This year, happily, things will be different.” Why? Because there is a “genuine chance” that September’s poll will “produce Germany’s (and almost the world’s) first Green head of government”. Annalena Baerbock, a former youth trampolining champion with no ministerial experience, was named last week as the Greens’ candidate for the chancellorship, having overseen a rise in her party’s popularity in three years as co-leader. And voters seem to like what they see: polls are putting the Greens several points ahead of their nearest rivals, Angela Merkel’s centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), who have spent the past eight years in coalition with the centre-left Social…2 min
The Week|V. 1329What the scientists are saying…The whitest ever whiteYou could be white as a sheet, as white as the driven snow, or even as white as a ghost. But none of those, said Tom Whipple in The Times, are nearly as white as a heterogeneous surface of barium sulphate particles. That is the very whitest white – “a paint that repels 49 photons out of every 50 that land on it and radiating the heat from the 50th back into space”, according to the team that developed it. It could make for a dazzling painting, but its purpose is to provide a low-cost alternative to air-conditioning. On a surface, normal white paints reflect about 80% of sunlight: they keep buildings cooler than if they were painted black, but can’t make walls cooler than the ambient…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Imperial war graves: inequality in deathA few years ago I visited the Voi cemetery in southern Kenya, said David Lammy in The Guardian, and paid my respects at the First World War graves of “British captains and corporals”. But when I asked where the Africans who also served Britain in this little-known theatre of war were buried, the caretaker pointed beyond the “neatly kept grounds” to a rubbish-strewn area without a single headstone or memorial. Now an investigation by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) has concluded that around 50,000 soldiers from Indian and African units that fought in the War were treated “unequally” to Europeans in death: remembered collectively rather than individually, or with names written in registers rather than in stone. Between 116,000 and 350,000 personnel may not be commemorated at all. The…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Football: relentless City make it four in a rowI don’t suppose Manchester City’s owners are that “bothered about the Carabao Cup”, said David Hytner in The Guardian. To judge from their ill-fated decision to form a European Super League, they prize money above tradition. Not so the club’s manager, Pep Guardiola. With key clashes pending in both Champions and Premier Leagues, he might have been excused for resting some of his stars. Instead, he picked a formidable starting XI who were relentless from the off, smothering Spurs with their aggressive, free-flowing football. Their only failing was their profligacy: it was a “minor miracle” that the game remained goalless until Aymeric Laporte’s 82nd-minute header. For this is a competition that matters to Guardiola. He has only ever lost it once, in 2016-17. At Wembley on Sunday his team defeated…2 min
The Week|V. 1329LETTERSDyson deserved a breakTo The TimesAt times of national crisis we need our leaders to act decisively. In response to the pandemic, the Health Secretary sent out an urgent request to industry to produce ventilators. Sir James Dyson responded by investing £20m on the idea, seeking no reward in doing so, and his staff performed magnificently. Sir James made a reasonable request that his staff returning from overseas to assist the project should not suffer a tax penalty in the process. Shortly afterwards, a temporary concession applying to all those affected, not just Dyson staff, was announced.Such temporary concessions are not uncommon. For example, a special tax rule was introduced before the 2012 Olympics to prevent athletes from suffering additional tax liabilities. I do not recall complaints at the time…4 min
The Week|V. 1329Novel of the weekLean Fall Standby Jon McGregor 4th Estate 288pp £14.99The Week Bookshop £11.99“Jon McGregor’s latest has the most thrilling beginning I’ve read in a novel for some time,” said Claire Allfree in the Daily Mail. Robert Wright, a veteran Antarctic researcher, is on a research mission with two young assistants when they are overtaken by a storm. In the ensuing panic, he suffers a severe stroke, which leaves him unable to speak. The“utterly distinct” next section is just as good, said Allan Massie in The Scotsman: it focuses on the “state of mind” of his wife, Anna, as she realises she is now her husband’s carer. A final section dealing with Robert’s recovery feels dutiful by contrast – but so brilliant were the earlier parts that “one can easily forgive its…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Films to streamFrom the rollicking adventure of Hitchco*ck’s The Lady Vanishes to the darkest depths of modern horror, tales of missing people have loomed large in the cinema. Here are five examples:L’Avventura No other film has influenced subsequent European art-cinema more than Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1960 study of the ennui of the idle rich. A woman disappears and little else happens, but what does happen does so in an amazingly stylish, stark and existentially unsettling way.Bunny Lake is Missing Otto Preminger’s ghoulish 1965 thriller about a missing toddler unfolds on the margins of a chaotic modern London. Laurence Olivier plays the detective on the case, and the film is nicely peopled with creeps including Noël Coward’s louche landlord and an old woman who claims to collect children’s nightmares.Picnic at Hanging Rock In 1900,…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Painting of the week: the strange saga of Salvator MundiSalvator Mundi (c. 1499–1510), the most expensive painting ever sold at auction, “came from nowhere and has now effectively disappeared again”, said The Economist. In 2005, a New York art dealer named Robert Simon bought a dirty canvas he hadn’t even seen at a New Orleans attic sale for $1,175. After a painstaking restoration, the painting was tentatively attributed to “the master” himself, Leonardo da Vinci – and was included in a 2011 National Gallery exhibition of his work. It was then bought first by a Swiss art dealer, next by a “deeply religious” Russian oligarch, Dmitry Rybolovlev, for $127.5m – before fetching an astonishing $450.3m when it was sold to an anonymous bidder at Christie’s in New York in 2017. Soon after, Paris’s Musée du Louvre started preparing to…3 min
The Week|V. 1329The Week’s guide to what’s worth watchingProgrammesAntiques Roadshow: World War II Special In this one-off episode filmed at Coventry Cathedral – the only English cathedral to be destroyed in the War – Fiona Bruce and the AR team hear the moving stories behind a ballgown and a Luftwaffe pilot’s compass, among other items. Sun 2 May, BBC1 19:00 (60mins).The Violence Paradox Psychologist Steven Pinker presents this two-part exploration of the neurobiological roots of human violence, and asks if the world is becoming a more peaceful place. Tue 4 May, BBC4 21:00 and 21:55 (55mins each).The Battle for Britney: Fans, Cash and a Conservatorship Bafta-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar looks into how and why Britney Spears’s father has been controlling her personal and financial affairs for the past 13 years. He travels to the star’s hometown in Louisiana…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Best properties on the marketKent: 1 Royal Crescent, Ramsgate. A substantial property, set over five floors, situated in a superb location overlooking Ramsgate Harbour, with views down the Kent coast to the Goodwin Sands and France. The property, which is Grade II-listed, has been extensively modernised and renovated by the present owner. Main suite, 4 further beds, family bath, shower, well-equipped kitchen, sitting room with doors onto the balcony, stairwell, allocated parking, communal gardens. £895,000; Bright & Bright (01304-374071).Oxfordshire: Redcliffe House, Henley-on-Thames. An impressive Grade II double-fronted period property, renovated by the current owners to a very high standard, in the centre of Henley. 4 beds, family bath, shower, kitchen, 4 receps, cloakroom, walled garden, terrace. £2.5m; Knight Frank (01491-844904).Wiltshire: 8 St Martins, Marlborough. This Grade II town house, arranged over four floors, has…3 min
The Week|V. 1329The best... garden gamesSunnylife Beach Bats Unicorn Games with beach bats are just as fun to play in a garden as on a seaside holiday. This sturdy pair, from the Australian brand Sunnylife, have soft foam handles, and come in several brightly coloured designs (from £18; uk.sunnylife.com). Kids Wooden Guard Skittles Easily usable inside or out, these skittles are made from sustainably sourced wood, and shaped and painted to look like the Queen’s Guards. The set contains ten skittles and two balls, all of which pack away in a Cath Kidston carry case (£25; cathkidston.com).Classic Swingball All Surface A great way to burn energy after months stuck inside, Swingball is a stationary racquet ball game. The base fills with water to keep it steady, making it portable when emptied (£30; argos.co.uk).Professor Puzzle Giant…2 min
The Week|V. 1329Accomplished actress who dazzled in Peaky BlindersOne of Britain’s finest actresses, Helen McCrory, who has died aged 52, was only 5ft 3in, yet such was the energy she brought to her performances, she could command London’s biggest stages, said The Daily Telegraph. Praising her electrifying Medea in 2014, the critic Charles Spencer said she was in his “pantheon [of] actors whose name in the programme always creates the anticipation of pleasure”, while her Lady Macbeth, in 1995, had prompted another critic to say: “I wish Shakespeare had written her more scenes.” On TV, she was a scene-stealing presence in all five series of Peaky Blinders, playing Aunt Polly, the terrifying matriarch of the gangster clan. In person, she was generous, funny and down to earth, said The Times, “more concerned about the world in which her…3 min
The Week|V. 1329Seven days in the Square MileUK public sector borrowing was confirmed by the ONS to have reached its highest level on record last year. The Government borrowed £303bn in the year to March: taking the borrowing-to-GDP ratio to 14.5% – the highest since the end of WWII, when it measured 15.2%. But that news was offset by evidence of a roaring spring recovery. Data from Barclays suggested consumer spending was 15% above pre-Covid levels in the first week of the latest step of reopening. IHS Markit’s purchasing managers’ index suggested that economic activity expanded at its fastest pace in almost eight years in April.Dealogic reported that listings on stock markets globally are running at a record pace, with both deal numbers and values at their highest levels at the start of any year in at…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Investing in Europe: what the experts think● Super Mario splurge“Italian politics has a saviour complex,” said Charlemagne in The Economist. As Machiaveilli put it, Italy awaits the one “who is to heal her wounds”. The latest candidate is Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank chief who became prime minister in February. This week, “Super Mario” outlined how his government plans to spend Italy’s s200bn share of the EU’s s750bn recovery fund to repair the country’s pandemic-ravaged economy. It involves heavy spending on transport infrastructure, digitalisation and the environment. The government forecasts the boost will add 3.2 percentage points to Italy’s GDP. But even Draghi acknowledges the “high stakes”, said Miles Johnson in the FT. Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio will climb to 160%, the highest ever.● Uneven recoveryThe EU as a whole has started to recover, said…2 min
The Week|V. 1329City profileHarry KeoghWhat a comeback for the former Coutts banker Harry Keogh, said The London Economic. Having left “the Queen’s bank” in 2018 under a cloud – he was accused of touching a female colleague inappropriately – Keogh reportedly went into business with the Duke of York last summer. The venture, named Lincelles – “after an 18th century battle against the French in which the British were commanded by the Duke of York” – was intended to manage the Duke’s family investments. Structured as an unlimited company, it didn’t have to file accounts with Companies House and therefore could “avoid disclosing its profits or income”.There was a furore when news of the venture broke this week. What was Prince Andrew thinking, asked Jawad Iqbal in The Times. Even someone with his…1 min
The Week|V. 1329Can animals think and feel like we can?The dolphin keepers thought they had come up with a clever wheeze. The Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Mississippi, was open to the public and, inevitably, litter found its way to the bottom of the pool. Fishing it out was difficult so the staff decided to save themselves some work by training the dolphins to do it for them. Each time a dolphin dived down and brought up a crisp packet or a drinks can, it was rewarded with a fish.At some point, they noticed that one dolphin, Kelly, was getting a lot more fish. Odder still, her scraps of rubbish were smaller than the other dolphins’. They investigated. Kelly, it turned out, was playing them. When Kelly found a bit of litter, she hid it under a rock at…10 min
