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The Week|V. 1350It wasn’t all badA message in a bottle has washed up on a beach in Hawaii, 37 years after it was cast into the sea by Japanese schoolchildren investigating ocean currents. Nine-year-old Abbie Graham was on a walk with her parents when she spotted the bottle, which had drifted over 6,000 km. The discovery delighted 54-year-old Mayumi Kanda, who took part in the original science experiment as a child. “It revived nostalgic memories of my high school days,” she said.The Arctic walrus that has been touring Europe since March has now turned up in Iceland. Wally had been last sighted 22 days earlier, off the coast of West Cork, and his admirers had been growing concerned about his fate. Conservationists said they were delighted that he was alive and well – and that…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Clearing the dead wood“A prime minister is seldom more powerful than on the day before a reshuffle,” said Robert Colvile in The Sunday Times. “But Boris Johnson might be the rare PM who emerges from one in a stronger position.” Last week’s reshuffle was not designed, like many, to balance factions and shore up power; it was a “rearrangement of the monarch’s court, done at his command”. There were some clear trends: the PM promoted “women, Leavers, culture warriors, good media performers and Johnson long-marchers”, or in the case of the new Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, all of the above (see page 27). He seems also to have elevated people who might rival Rishi Sunak, currently his “most obvious successor”: party favourite Liz Truss is now Foreign Secretary in place of Dominic Raab,…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Europe at a glanceAmsterdamTallest nation getting shorter: For over half a century, the Dutch have been the tallest people in the world. But according to the latest government statistics, they are now shrinking. Dutch men born in 2001 are on average 1cm shorter than men born in 1980, while Dutch women are 1.4cm shorter. They are still the tallest people, however: the average man in the Netherlands is 182.9cm tall (just over six foot), while the average woman is 169.3cm (a little over 5ft 6in). The statisticians say the shrinkage is partly the result of immigration, but their report notes that even among people with two Dutch-born parents and four Dutch-born grandparents, growth in height has stalled in the case of men since the 1980s, and fallen in the case of women. The…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Castaway of the week1 O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings to Zion by Handel, performed by Kathleen Ferrier and the London Philharmonic Orchestra2 Love Me Do by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by the Beatles3 War Requiem by Benjamin Britten, performed by Galina Pavlovna Vishnevskaya and Peter Pears with the London Symphony Orchestra4 Gloria in excelsis Deo by Bach, performed by the Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists5 Duet from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, performed by Charlotte Margiono and Barbara Bonney6* Hand in Hand, by Glória, Dublin’s lesbian and gay choir7 I Was Glad by Hubert Parry, performed by the Westminster Abbey Choir8 Dies Irae by Verdi, performed by the Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, with the Berliner PhilharmonikerBook: a practical handbook for island survivalLuxury:…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Britannia: the original national flagshipThe Royal Yacht Britannia was a symbol of British prestige, said the FT – a “glamorous nod to a lost age of naval superiority and to a different era of deference”. Built in Clydebank, Dunbartonshire, it was used for a combination of “glittering state visits, official receptions, royal honeymoons and relaxing family holidays”, according to its official website. The ship’s first official engagement was to carry Prince Charles and Princess Anne to Malta in 1954, where they met their parents at the end of a Commonwealth tour. It was the first of 968 state voyages that the ship carried out over its 44 years of service, during which every conceivable effort was made to ensure it was as comfortable and tranquil as possible for the royals: the crew wore soft-soled…1 min
The Week|V. 1350IT MUST BE TRUE…Police in West Yorkshire have issued a warning about a teen craze that has become popular on TikTok. “Beaning” involves smearing the contents of tins – particularly baked beans, though tomatoes and spaghetti hoops are also popular – over cars, doors and driveways. “If you have children living at home, please be mindful if you see them removing cans of beans from the family home,” said PCSO Michelle Owens.A sales manager called Harry Potter could make £30,000 by selling a rare edition of J.K. Rowling’s first book, reports the Daily Mail. Potter was given the hardback in 1997 by his father, who was shocked to see his eight-year-old’s name on the cover. Having such a distinctive name has had drawbacks: “When I was a young footballer, a referee threatened me…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Best articles: InternationalGERMANYThe slow collapse of Merkel’s partyDer Spiegel (Hamburg)Germany in 2021 “has been witness to a surprising political drama”, says Der Spiegel: “the highspeed erosion” of the country’s last “big-tent party”. Despite having occupied the chancellery for the last 16 years, Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is going into Sunday’s election with a mere 22% support in the polls. The party’s candidate, Armin Laschet – long seen as a capable politician, if not charismatic – “has been completely unable to gather any momentum”. Olaf Scholz of the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), often regarded as “the embodiment of boring politics”, has become “a kind of political pop star” by comparison. Laschet seems to have long assumed that he could just succeed Merkel as leader. He acts as if his role is…3 min
The Week|V. 1350Camel carvings older than StonehengeAstonishing sandstone carvings of camels, hewn into rock spurs in northern Saudi Arabia, are three times older than previously believed, making them the oldest of their type in the world. First documented only three years ago, the life-sized reliefs had been presumed to date back to the Roman era, but radiocarbon dating and analysis of tool marks, erosion patterns and animal bones at the site have now indicated they were created in the Neolithic period 7,000 to 8,000 years ago – making them far older than the Pyramids and Stonehenge.At that time, the Arabian peninsular was a lush grassland inhabited by nomadic communities of hunters and herders. Whoever carved the reliefs used stone tools, and would have had to build a scaffold to reach the highest points. Most likely it…1 min
The Week|V. 1350AUKUS: the rift with FranceFrench fury over the new AUKUS submarine pact has been something to behold, said Kim Sengupta in The Independent. “There has been a lie,” raged the country’s foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian. “There has been duplicity, there has been a major breach of trust, there has been contempt, so things are not right between us.” The anger has been directed mainly at Washington and Canberra, the key players in the deal that scotched France’s submarine contract with Australia, but “perfidious Albion” has also come under withering fire. Paris withdrew its ambassadors to the US and Australia – but it kept its British ambassador in place, apparently to signal that the UK is too unimportant to merit retribution. As one French official icily put it: “You complain about the bad food…2 min
The Week|V. 1350TalkTV: Murdoch’s challenge to GB NewsRupert Murdoch may have once observed of Piers Morgan that “his balls are bigger than his brains”, said Ian Burrell in the New Statesman, but he has always admired “the UK’s most divisive media personality”. So it’s no surprise that Murdoch has hired Morgan as the star of his latest enterprise, talkTV. It will feature sport and entertainment, but it will be mainly a rolling news channel, with current affairs debate and hourly bulletins. Morgan – who left his job on ITV’s Good Morning Britain after denouncing Meghan Markle – will host a show on weeknights. TalkTV will “tussle” with the now-floundering GB News station for right-leaning audiences; expect a product with Murdoch’s “unashamedly populist, outspoken and conservative” tone.Boris Johnson must be delighted, said Will Hutton in The Observer.“Britain’s stubborn…2 min
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(NEED TO KNOW) RESTORED REPUBLIC VIA A GCR: UPDATE AS OF FRIDAY 11 OCTOBER 2024 (THE UN-REDACTED VERSION) – October 11, 2024 Election 2024: Harris speaks in Phoenix after Obama's Pittsburgh rally; Biden slams Trump33 Best Stops Between Palm Springs and Redlands[online<<<] Belgia Francja na żywo Belgia - Francja NA ŻYWO 14/10/2024 | Piłka nożna 14 października 2024The Week|V. 1350Films to streamI Walked with a Zombie The zombie in recent pop culture has tenuous roots in Haitian folklore – which is a direct source for this poetic horror film, released in 1943. Inspired by Jane Eyre, and directed by Jacques Tourneur, it tells of a Canadian nurse who travels to the Caribbean to care for a plantation owner’s catatonic wife.Night of the Living Dead George Romero’s low-budget classic from 1968 is the first modern zombie film, a terrifying vision of the end of days. In its sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978), the action shifts to a shopping mall, making for more explicit social satire. Day of the Dead (1985) completes a brilliant and very gory trilogy.28 Days Later Released in 2002, Danny Boyle’s gripping spin on the zombie genre owes…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Exhibition of the week Lucian Freud: Real LivesLucian Freud never had, as he put it, “a regular domestic life”. His sex life was, famously, “astonishingly active”, said Martin Gayford in Country Life: he was married twice and courted “a legion of lovers”; when asked how many children he had fathered, he would retort that he hadn’t “the slightest idea”. He gambled compulsively – once losing almost £1m in the course of a single lunch – and he loved mixing in both high and low society. “Freud’s subject matter was a continuation of his private life. His work is almost entirely concerned with what he knew and liked, both people and things.” Freud’s portraits were “largely of friends, lovers, wives, children and acquaintances”. A “remarkable array” of these have been gathered together for this exhibition at Tate Liverpool.…3 min
The Week|V. 1350The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeingShowing nowAustralian director Lindy Hume looks at Madam Butterfly through a 21st century lens in this new version for Welsh National Opera. Until 2 October at Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff; then touring until 1 December (wno.org.uk).Just over a century since it was originally displayed, Duncan Grant: 1920 recreates the Bloomsbury painter’s first solo exhibition of more than 30 radiant portraits, landscapes and still lifes, and “makes the case for Grant as a true original” (Guardian). Until 13 March 2022, Charleston, Lewes (charleston.org.uk).Book nowIan Shaw and Joseph Nixon’s comedy The Shark is Broken is about the behind-the-scenes drama during the shooting of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, in 1974. Shaw plays his father, Robert Shaw. 9 October-15 January, the Ambassadors Theatre, London W1 (thesharkisbroken.com).Award-winning comedian and ventriloquist Nina Conti discusses the search for…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Colourful houses3 min
The Week|V. 1350New cars: what the critics sayThe Daily TelegraphThe GTS will be the last petrol-powered version of Porsche’s popular Macan SUV, before a new batteryelectric model arrives in 2023. It is a “stirring swansong”: a well-built car that is “curvaceous and dressy without being indiscreet”. The only issue for Porsche is that the electric version is going to have to be damn good to mark any sort of advance on this, the ultimate combustion Macan.Auto ExpressThe GTS supersedes the older Turbo model at the top of the Macan range and brings with it a “unique personality all of its own”. Its 2.9-litre twinturbo V6 engine produces 434bhp and 550Nm of torque, with a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds. It’s also more economical than its predecessors, although 24.8mpg combined and 258g/km are “hardly anything to write home…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Where to find… kayaking trips with a pub pit stopThere are plenty of pubs along the River Cuckmere in East Sussex, including the 17th century Plough and Harrow in Litlington (from £36pp; buzzactive.org.uk). From a spot on the Fowey estuary in Cornwall, paddlers can join a guided family-friendly Creeks & Backwaters tour to the village of Lerryn, with a stop at the village’s 16th century Ship Inn (£30 adult, £20 child; encountercornwall.com). One of the loveliest stretches of Britain’s longest river is the 14-mile section of the River Severn in Worcestershire, between Bridgnorth and Bewdley. Pull up at the 17th century Unicorn Inn at Hampton Loade then ride the Severn Valley Railway steam railway back to Bewdley (from £46 adult, £28 children; canoeuk.com).The Applecross Inn in Wester Ross is loved for its seafood and views. Arguably, the best way…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Companies in the news …and how they were assessedNational Express/Stagecoach: on the busesBritain’s two big bus companies, National Express and Stagecoach, have had a bumpy ride of late, said Bloomberg. They’ve been “squeezed out” of rail travel, their share prices have tumbled during the pandemic, and they face “a costly transition to electric vehicles”. Under the circumstances, why not combine? It’s not a new idea, said Louis Ashworth in The Daily Telegraph. In 2009, National Express rejected a £1.7bn merger approach from Perth-based Stagecoach. But now it’s the Brummy bus company that’s making the running with a £480m all-share takeover bid. “All aboard the National Express and Stagecoach tie-up!”, said Oscar Williams-Grut in the London Evening Standard. “An uncharitable reading would be two drunks propping each other up at the bar”, but “deal talks have lit a fire…3 min
The Week|V. 1350Issue of the week: China’s “Lehman moment”?Stock markets fell sharply around the world on Monday – with a knock-on impact on commodity prices and cryptocurrencies – over concerns that a cash crunch at the Chinese property giant Evergrande could spark “a fullblown financial crisis”, said DealBook in The New York Times. The trigger was a warning that the developer, saddled with debts of $300bn, was on course to default on loan repayments due this week. “When a single, large teetering firm with extensive debt rattles the entire market, some reach for the ‘L’ word.” Worries that Evergrande’s collapse could prompt a Lehman Brothers-style collapse led to a panicked exodus from other Chinese property groups, and from banks with high exposure to the market, including Ping An, China Minsheng and Everbright.“As the clock ticked down”, Evergrande announced…2 min
The Week|V. 1350CommentatorsMerkel’s economic legacyRoger BootleThe Daily Telegraph“For British people of a certain age, Germany is regarded as an economic colossus,” says Roger Bootle: call it “the Vorsprung durch Technik factor”. In fact, Germany long ago ceased to be an automatic outperformer – the golden age of German GDP growth was in the 1950s – and under the sclerotic administration of the outgoing chancellor, Angela Merkel, it has fallen even further behind. True, the country remains an exporting powerhouse, resulting in an average annual surplus of 0.2% of GDP from 2006 to 2019, and a massive jump to 7% this year. Many Germans consider this “a badge of honour”. But as well as rankling with southern members of the eurozone, this huge surplus is indicative of “a squeeze on public investment that…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Who’s tipping whatThe week’s best sharesArtisanal Spirits CompanyThe Mail on SundayThe whisky specialist, run by an industry veteran, had an undeservedly lacklustre debut on Aim. Revenues are expected to rise from £17.5m to £21m ensuring profitability in 2021, amid growing whisky enthusiasm. Buy. 83p.ComputacenterInvestors ChronicleRemote working has boosted the IT services provider, with public-sector clients filling the gap left by struggling corporates. Hit by currency swings and supply issues, but growing strongly in the US and Germany. Buy. £30.89.CVS GroupThe Sunday TimesA pandemic-induced boom in pet ownership has driven rapid growth at CVS, which owns some 500 vet practices, labs, crematoria and an online pharmacy. Sales are up 17.4% and it has very little debt. Buy. £24.90.Frontier DevelopmentsInvestors ChronicleThe pandemic has spurred on gamers, and Frontier is capitalising with a strong games…3 min
The Week|V. 1350CrosswordTHE WEEK CROSSWORD 1279An Ettinger travel pass case and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 4 October. Email the answers as a scan of a completed grid or a list, with the subject line The Week crossword 1279, to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com)This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass case (assorted colours), which retails at £105, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com).ACROSS5 A verse in Jude novel shows expression of earlier feelings (4,2)7 Contest with victory in the bag? (4,4)9 I feel relaxed about my name and age appearing (8)10 Boris’s first to put down phone perhaps (6)11 Rate American airman’s flying contribution to war? (12)14 Right away…4 min
The Week|V. 1350A new allianceWhat happenedBritain, the US and Australia signed a landmark security agreement this week to share military technologies. As a result of the alliance, dubbed AUKUS, Australia will become the seventh nation in the world to possess nuclear-powered submarines. It is set to acquire at least eight of them, the designs of which are likely to be based either on Britain’s Astute submarines, built by BAE Systems, or the US navy’s equivalent, the Virginia class. Canberra also intends to upgrade its strike capability by procuring Tomahawk cruise missiles.Australia’s prime minister, Scott Morrison, hailed it as a “forever partnership… between the oldest and most trusted of friends”. But the unveiling of the deal – which resulted in the cancellation of a troubled multibillion-pound submarine contract between Paris and Canberra – prompted a…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Spirit of the ageDishes such as bangers and mash were once considered staples of British cuisine; but many younger people have never even heard of them. In a survey for Aldi, nearly half of 24- to 35-year-olds said they didn’t know what bangers and mash is. One in seven thought toad in the hole was made with real toads and potatoes, while 41% thought the dish was “made up”. And almost a quarter had never tried a Scotch egg.In a reflection of the growing power of online influencers, several young TikTok stars were invited to join the fashion editors and film stars in the front row at this year’s London Fashion Week. They included Benji Park, aka @FashionBoy, who posts runway reviews, and Michael Aldag, a singer from The Wirral.…1 min
The Week|V. 1350The world at a glanceLos Angeles, CaliforniaMillionaire murderer: In a sensational trial that ended this week, the New York property tycoon Robert Durst was convicted of killing his best friend, crime writer Susan Berman, who in 2000 was found shot in the head in her Beverly Hills home. He’d apparently wanted to stop her incriminating him in the disappearance of his wife, who went missing in 1982. Ironically, Durst – who six years ago agreed to be the subject of a HBO crime documentary, The Jinx – ended up incriminating himself. In the final part of the series he is heard muttering to himself: “What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course.” In 2003, Durst had been jailed for three years for dismembering the body of an elderly neighbour, though he…7 min
The Week|V. 1350Viewpoint: Next weekend“The war between the generations has a bizarre new front. According to a YouGov poll, it turns out that only the young refer to the coming weekend as ‘this weekend’. Whereas the old refer to it as ‘next weekend’. I suppose, now that I’m forced to think about it, calling it ‘next weekend’ does make a kind of sense: it will be the next weekend we live through. But according to the logic of the old, ‘this weekend’ must be last weekend. In that case, when is last weekend? It must be the weekend before last weekend. No doubt this all makes perfect sense to older readers. But to a fresh-faced whippersnapper of 40, it’s bewildering. I feel like I’ve lost all grasp of time and meaning.”Michael Deacon in The…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Best of the American columnistsWhy do Americans die young?Derek ThompsonThe Atlantic“America has a death problem,” says Derek Thompson. It’s not a Covid thing; it goes back 30 years. Before the 1990s, average life expectancy in the US matched that in other developed nations such as the UK, France and Germany, but it has since fallen significantly behind. In those countries, average life expectancy surged over 80 in the 2010s. Here, it “has never exceeded 79”, and over the past couple of years it has fallen back, below 78. Americans in every age and wealth bracket are at a higher risk of mortality than their European counterparts: our babies are more likely to die before they turn five, our teenagers more likely to die before they turn 20, our adults more likely to die before…3 min
The Week|V. 1350The Korean arms race: the limits of missile diplomacyThe Korean peninsula was the site of “duelling” missile tests last week, said Michael Lee in Korea JoongAng Daily (Seoul). On Wednesday, North Korea launched two tactical ballistic missiles, from a train, in defiance of UN resolutions. South Korea, for its part, conducted a submarine-launched ballistic missile test, becoming the first nation without nuclear weapons to have that capability. The tests came soon after North Korean state media said that a long-range cruise missile capable of hitting Japan had been fired into the sea 930 miles away. Cruise missiles can carry a nuclear warhead, and are of particular concern because they fly low and can change direction in flight, evading defence systems.This arms race had been widely anticipated, said Jung Da-min in Korea Times (Seoul). Donald Trump’s attempt to make…2 min
The Week|V. 1350NHS blood test trial beginsThe NHS has launched the world’s largest trial of a blood test that may be able to detect 50 types of cancer before symptoms appear. The Galleri test, which is already available in the US, works by detecting fragments of genetic code that have been shed into the bloodstream by tumours that are often hard to identify early. It is hoped that 140,000 people in England will take part. Volunteers need to be aged between 50 and 77, and cannot have received a cancer diagnosis in the last three years. NHS England chief Amanda Pritchard said that the test trial “could mark the beginning of a revolution in cancer detection and treatment, here and around the world”. When a tumour is found at an early stage, patients are five to…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Facebook: is it “monetising misery”?The full extent of Facebook’s “corporate hypocrisy” was laid bare last week, when a huge cache of internal documents was leaked to the press, said The Sunday Times. These documents, handed to The Wall Street Journal, revealed that at the very time Mark Zuckerberg was boasting that Facebook was connecting billions of people to “authoritative” information about Covid jabs, his own people were warning him that the platform was, in fact, a “cesspool” of anti-vaxxer disinformation. They also revealed that the platform allowed celebrities to post content that would normally be banned, and that it had been slow to act on warnings that it was being used by drug cartels and people traffickers. More shockingly still, we learnt that the firm’s own research had concluded that Instagram (which is owned…2 min
The Week|V. 1350Pick of the week’s correspondenceCarers who killTo The Daily TelegraphSix weeks ago, at my sister’s care home in southern England, a carer who was against vaccination because she “did not trust the Government”, and instead believed comments on social media, contracted Covid-19 and gave it to two colleagues and four residents, including my sister. Having underlying conditions, my sister was taken to hospital, where she recovered, but was so weakened in other ways that she died last Wednesday. From the moment she contracted Covid, she couldn’t receive visitors until the time of her passing. In a radio interview last week, a carer complained that she’d lose her job for refusing the vaccine. Does she really believe that she is entitled either to sympathy or to her job, when she and others like her create…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Musical: Back to the Future★★★★I approached this lavish musical adaptation of Back to the Future with some trepidation, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. How could the show hope to compete with one of the best-loved Hollywood films of the 1980s – the fabulous tale of a California high-schooler propelled back to 1955, thanks to a plutonium-powered flying DeLorean? But I “needn’t have worried”: the whole thing is a crowd-pleasing “triumph” with heart, soul and astonishing special effects. The show “packs more energy than a nuclear reactor”, agreed Patrick Marmion in the Daily Mail. Olly Dobson is excellent in the Michael J. Fox role of Marty McFly, who has to save his family’s future by engineering his own parents’ first date. As the nutty professor Doc Brown, Roger Bart is even better: the…2 min
The Week|V. 1350New releasesRose Plays JulieDirs: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (1hr 41mins) (15)★★★★This gripping psychological drama from the acclaimed Irish duo Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor has a MeToo contemporary edge, but its underlying themes, of what film-makers call “identity under duress”, are ancient and timeless, said Mark Kermode in The Observer. Ann Skelly is Rose, a student vet in Dublin who discovers that she was adopted as a baby, and decides to track down her birth mother, an actress named Ellen (Orla Brady) – who once played a vet. Ellen wants no contact, but Rose infiltrates her life, initially by posing as a possible buyer of her house. This leads her to her father, an archaeologist (Aidan Gillen). Claiming to be an actress called Julie, she enters his “predatory orbit”, hoping…3 min
The Week|V. 1350News from the art worldChristo’s last bowThe artist Christo died in 2020, but his unrealised masterpiece is finally coming to fruition, says Deutsche Welle. Last week, workers began unfurling tens of thousands of square metres of “billowing silver-blue sheets of fabric” over Paris’s Arc de Triomphe, in order to temporarily cover the entire monument in the material. First conceived by the artist and his late wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude as long ago as 1962, the project was a lifelong ambition that finally became achievable in 2017, when city authorities granted planning permission. With Jeanne-Claude, Christo – who fled to Paris in the 1950s from his native Bulgaria and later moved to the US – became world-famous for “wrapping” landmarks in fabric, notably the Reichstag in Berlin and Paris’s own Pont Neuf bridge. Since his…2 min
The Week|V. 1350The Archers: what happened last weekPat encourages Jennifer to make up with Peggy, after her silence about Alice’s alcoholism. Jennifer visits Peggy and a thaw begins. Chris and Jennifer visit Alice at rehab and read their letters – it’s painful, but they think they see glimpses of the “old” Alice. After enlisting her help at the Tearoom, Fallon kindly spins a story to convince Jennifer to cover for her as a judge at the Flower & Produce Show – she can see Jennifer needs the distraction. Exhausted by his new commute, Adam falls asleep while minding Xander – outraged, Ian rushes home but sees the strain Adam is under. Later, Adam reveals issues with his pushy new boss; Ian suggests moving closer to the farm as a solution. Alice visits home and Chris presents her…1 min
The Week|V. 1350The best… SAD lamps1 min
The Week|V. 1350Computer pioneer who was ridiculed for his electric tricycleIn 1972, the entrepreneur and inventor Clive Sinclair, who has died aged 81, enjoyed a stunning success when he brought out the world’s first pocket calculator. The Sinclair Executive was just 9mm thick, and though it retailed at £79.95 – the equivalent of almost £1,000 in today’s money – it became an instant bestseller. A few years later, Sinclair triumphed again, said The Daily Telegraph, this time with his ZX range of home computers. Launched in 1980, the ZX80 was the first computer sold in the UK for less than £100 (it came in either a kit form, or, for £20 more, a ready-made design). It was quickly followed by the ZX81 and the ZX Spectrum, which became the UK’s bestselling computer, shifting 2.5 million units in this country alone.Sinclair…3 min
The Week|V. 1350The Chase app: challenging the challengers● Chasing BlightyUnder CEO Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase “has sought to combat the threat of fintech”, said Ryan Browne on CNBC. Now the Wall Street Bank is heading straight to fintech’s European heartland, launching a digital bank in London this week. The new outfit, dubbed Chase, will take on a clutch of banking “challengers”, including Monzo, Revolut and Starling – now flourishing as a result of Britain’s “fintech-friendly regulations” – as well as old guard lenders and Wall Street rival Goldman Sachs, which launched its Marcus savings account in 2018. There’s a lot riding on the move: “it marks the first international expansion of JPMorgan’s consumer bank brand in its 222-year history”.● Long haulThe Chase app is the culmination of three years’ development at JPMorgan’s Canary Wharf HQ, “mostly carried…2 min
The Week|V. 1350City profilesLachlan Murdoch“For all the dissection of the commercial and political calculus” behind Rupert Murdoch’s new TV venture, talkTV, the simple truth is that the mogul thrives on “constant dealmaking”, said the FT. Like father, like son. Lachlan Murdoch, 50, who has jockeyed for a decade to become “heir apparent” of his father’s empire, has emerged as “a serial dealmaker” – overseeing almost £7bn worth of deals in two years. Following the sale of most of 21st Century Fox to Disney, Lachlan has been pushing the slimmer “new Fox” into novel areas such as “sports betting, blockchain and streaming”. He has also beefed up News Corp’s financial output with purchases such as Investor’s Business Daily. The Murdochs are back, in “aggressive” form.Charlie Mullins“London legend” Charlie Mullins started his plumbing company in…1 min
The Week|V. 1350The gas crisisWhat happenedA surge in the wholesale cost of gas has created gaps on supermarket shelves and prompted fears of a steep rise in household energy bills. On a single day last week, the gas price, which has trebled in the past nine months, climbed by 16%. Business leaders warned of knock-on effects across the economy. Of particular concern has been the resulting shortage in carbon dioxide (CO2), which is used in a range of industrial processes, from the production of fizzy drinks to the packaging of chilled foods.This week, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng struck a deal with the owners of two fertiliser plants that produce most of Britain’s CO2 supply (a by-product of their manufacturing process) to ensure that at least one of them reopens. The plants had had to…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Poll watchOne in three workers would not consider taking a job that required them to be in the office full time. And fewer than a fifth of employees expect to work five days a week in an office in future.The Daily Telegraph/IWGThe Conservatives have regained their lead in recent voting intention polls. Opinium shows support for Labour on 37%, and the Tories on 40%, while YouGov’s latest polling suggests Conservative support is at 39%, with Labour at 35%.The IndependentA fifth of baby boomers say the pandemic has had no real negative effect on their lives. Only 12% of millennials say the same.New Scientist/Kings College London…1 min
The Week|V. 1350PeopleBailey on his dementiaDavid Bailey is 83, and has vascular dementia. Diagnosed three years ago, he now struggles to remember the names of his friends, and the titles of his books. But it doesn’t stop him working, and life goes on. “It’s a f***ing bore, but it is just one of those things,” he told Nick Curtis in The Times. “In some ways it’s good: I can see a film and forget it, then enjoy it again two years later.” It may help that he has been aware of his mortality since his childhood, dodging bombs in wartime East Ham. Not that he stayed in the East End for long: by the 1960s, he was living at the heart of Swinging London. He photographed rock stars and actors, and had…3 min
The Week|V. 1350The new Yacht BritanniaWhat is being proposed?In July, the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace formally announced plans for a new national flagship to “promote British businesses around the world”. Commissioned at a cost of £200m to £250m, it would be designed and built in the UK. Boris Johnson said it would reflect “the UK’s burgeoning status as a great, independent maritime trading nation”. The boat is to be a replacement for the Royal Yacht Britannia, which reached the end of its working life in 1997. The idea, first proposed in 2001, was taken up by Tory MPs in the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, and has received vociferous backing from The Daily Telegraph. It was supported by Johnson after he became PM, and given the go-ahead in May. The Government said it would be…5 min
The Week|V. 1350Best articles: BritainWhy the British lorry driver is a vanished breedFelicity LawrenceThe GuardianTo grasp the underlying causes of the chronic labour shortages hitting so many sectors of British industry today, says Felicity Lawrence, take a visit to one of the informal lorry parks that lie off our motorways. I went to one last year. It was a muddy park with a block of open-air showers and cattle-trough sinks where drivers could wash themselves and their clothes. HGV drivers were once directly employed and well unionised. But most of the drivers at the lorry park were from Ukraine or Belarus; some had been on the road for six months or more. This is what ultra-efficient, low-cost haulage looks like in the raw – and it explains why so many British workers are unwilling…4 min
The Week|V. 1350Trump, China and the general: an act of treachery?Calling for America’s highest-ranking military officer to resign is not something one does lightly, said David Mastio in USA Today. But it’s hard to see how Gen. Mark Milley can remain as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) if there’s any truth to the allegations contained in Peril, the new book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa. According to them, Milley was so worried that President Trump might start a war with China during his last months in office that he twice contacted his opposite number in Beijing to offer them assurances. “If we’re going to attack,” Milley apparently told Gen. Li Zuocheng, “I’m going to call you ahead of time. It’s not going to be a surprise.” It seems Milley also “prepared his senior officers to…2 min
The Week|V. 1350What the scientists are saying…Long Covid “overstated” in kidsLong Covid is less prevalent in children and adolescents than previously believed, a new study has found. The review of 14 previous studies, from around the world, concluded that symptoms rarely persist beyond 12 weeks. By contrast, in adults they seem to last between 24 weeks and 32 weeks. The Australian researchers said that most of the studies they had examined had had “significant limitations”, including low response rates, and that they were likely to have overstated the risk of long Covid. “This is very important because some of [those] figures for long Covid and children are being bandied around and unnecessarily worrying parents,” said Prof Nigel Curtis of the University of Melbourne. For instance, an Israeli study found that 10% of children diagnosed with Covid…3 min
The Week|V. 1350GossipRudy Giuliani’s battered reputation took another knock last week, when the former New York mayor was forced to deny claims he had been drunk at a dinner marking the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. In a rambling speech, he blasted Joe Biden’s “freaking insane” withdrawal from Afghanistan, called the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff an “asshole” and attempted an English accent to impersonate the Queen, claiming he’d turned down a knighthood. “Yes, I had a Scotch,” Giuliani said. “But it was “watered down… not even sure I drank the whole damn thing.”Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf was not amused when footage of him flying off his knee scooter went viral. Yousaf – who has been riding around on the scooter since hurting his leg playing badminton – said…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Dorries: a minister for the culture wars?“It was so loud”, you may well have heard it at home, said Harry de Quetteville in The Daily Telegraph: the sharp intake of breath among Tories at Westminster when it was announced that Nadine Dorries had been made Minister for Culture in Boris Johnson’s reshuffle. “Culture Secretary?” The politician best known for eating ostrich anus on I’m a Celebrity in 2012 – an appearance she made without permission from her party, and for which she was suspended? And who has, more recently, penned a string of lowbrow (but bestselling) historical novels? How had the woman some MPs call “Mad Nad” done it, her rivals wanted to know. Well, her loyalty was part of the equation. A former nurse and single mother who used to live on a council estate…2 min
The Week|V. 1350Football: the greatest striker ever seen in the English gameNo one has ever scored goals with such regularity – or made doing so look so easy, said The Daily Telegraph. Jimmy Greaves, who died last week, “was the greatest exponent of the art of finishing yet seen in English football”. In 516 games in the First Division, the striker found the net 357 times – still a record for the English top flight (Alan Shearer, the most prolific scorer of the modern era, managed 283 goals). He also scored 44 times in 57 appearances for England – and was part of the squad that lifted the 1966 World Cup, though he missed out on the final itself after sustaining a shin injury earlier in the tournament.Greaves was “far, far more than a serial poacher”, said Henry Winter in The…4 min
The Week|V. 1350A royal embarrassment?To The TimesThe ultimate irony of your revelations about Prince Charles and the donations from a Russian businessman is the destination of the money. The purchase of Dumfries House was originally funded by the Prince’s charities to “save it for the nation”. Now the Prince’s vanity project is being embarrassingly funded by money from other nations – traded for gongs and access to the privileged.Stephen R. Jaffe, LondonTo The TimesIt is disgraceful that, for a second Sunday running, you attack Prince Charles for all his efforts in raising money to keep our heritage in good order. Rather than vilifying these foreign donors, you should be thanking them and describing what their donations have achieved: the preservation of wonderful architecture that will now last hundreds more years. It is wonderful that…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Podcasts… food, the Theranos trial, and 9/11Podcasts about food bring obvious challenges, said Fiona Sturges in the FT. “If you can’t see it, or indeed smell or taste it, is there any point?” The answer is a resounding yes – as is amply demonstrated by Lucy Dearlove’s excellent podcast Lecker (the German for “delicious”) which has been exploring all aspects of food and the way we eat since 2016. Kitchens, her new mini-series under the Lecker banner, explores how the design and make-up of kitchens affect our diets, our social lives, and our quality of life. Her “masterstroke” is to interview not just experts but “everyday people who talk eloquently and revealingly about their relationships with their kitchens and the impact of kitchens on their relationships”. It sounds “niche”, but the series’ themes are “universal” –…2 min
The Week|V. 1350Help: poignant and angry drama, set in a care homeWriter Jack Thorne wanted to make us angry about the way care-home residents were “all but abandoned” when the pandemic struck in 2020 – and he has certainly succeeded, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. Help is a film “brimming with humanity”, featuring great performances from Jodie Comer as Sarah, a newly qualified carer at a home in Liverpool, and Stephen Graham as Tony, a resident with early-onset Alzheimer’s. There are funny and poignant scenes showing the pair’s growing bond – and then the virus strikes, brought in by a patient discharged from hospital to free up beds, despite the Government’s promise that it has thrown a “protective ring” around care homes.The film’s power comes from its “honesty, soul and almost documentary-like realism”, said Carol Midgley in The Times.…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Best books… Simon ThurleyLife in the English Country House, a Social and Architectural History by Mark Girouard, 1978 (Yale University Press £25). One of the most influential history books of my lifetime, which turned the study of buildings away from questions of style to ask how people used them. It is still in print after more than 40 years, which is an achievement in itself.God’s Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill, 2007 (Penguin £19.99). This is the best biography of a single architect that I know, and an authoritative and witty portrait of the mentality of his age. It would be hard to make up the life of Augustus Pugin, so extraordinary was it, but luckily Hill did not have to, and the truth is stranger than fiction.Henry…2 min
The Week|V. 1350TelevisionProgrammesThe Last Mountain Compelling documentary telling the tragic story of climber Tom Ballard, who disappeared in the Himalayas in 2019, 24 years after his mother died on K2. Sun 26 Sept, BBC2 21:00 (110mins).28 Up: Millennium Generation Fourth instalment of the millennial reboot of Michael Apted’s Up series, documenting the lives of a socially varied group of people around the UK. Wed 29 Sept, BBC1 21:00 (60mins).Hollington Drive New four-part drama starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Rachael Stirling as sisters on a suburban estate, where a ten-year-old boy has gone missing. Wed 29 Sept, ITV1 21:00 (60mins).The Blob: a Genius Without a Brain Documentary about an investigation into a billion-year-old single-cell organism that confounds our understanding of intelligent life. Wed 29 Sept, BBC4 22:00 (50mins).Don’t Exclude Me With school exclusions…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Saffron panna cotta pots and poached pearsMakes 6 small or 4 large servingsFor the poached pears: 2 pears, peeled poaching liquid (either water or white wine) juice of 1 lemon 5 tbsp caster sugar ½ a beetroot, peeled and diced, or 1 tbsp beetroot powderFor the panna cotta: 1 litre coconut milk 1 vanilla pod, split, and the seeds scraped out, or 1 tsp vanilla paste or extract 3 tbsp maple syrup pinch of saffron 2 tbsp agar agar• Put the pears in a small saucepan and just cover with poaching liquid. Add the lemon juice, sugar and diced beetroot (the beetroot is purely to give the pears a lovely pink colour once they are cooked).• Simmer for 30 minutes and allow to cool. Quarter the pears lengthways and keep them in the fridge until you’re…2 min
The Week|V. 1350Tips of the week… post-Covid dinner parties● After the enforced 18-month social lull, the horror of dinner parties is back, says William Sitwell. If you really hate them, don’t agree to go to them – then you won’t have to host them. If you do take the plunge, make it easier on yourself.● For starters, book someone to help clear and do the dishes. However much it costs, it will be the best money you ever spent.● You can start with a soufflé if you want, but don’t plan a menu that means you have to keep leaving the table. It spoils the flow of conversation.● Keep it simple. No one is coming for your cooking. They’re coming so that they can avoid cooking and washing up themselves (and so that they can have fun bitching…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Artist and empathetic matriarch of the Johnson clanCharlotte Johnson Wahl, who has died aged 79, was the mother of the Prime Minister – and a sought-after artist in her own right. She produced portraits for commission, but many of her best works are raw and powerful images inspired by her own struggles with mental and physical illness, said The Times. She’d spent nine months in the Maudsley psychiatric hospital in the 1970s, and had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease aged 40. A “warm and empathetic” woman who professed never to have voted Tory, she was less keen on publicity than some of her children (she considered it “incredibly vulgar”, according to her daughter Rachel). Even so, her work had a keen following, and in 2015, she had a retrospective at the Mall Galleries.Charlotte Fawcett was born in…2 min
The Week|V. 1350Universal Music: don’t stop me now…In a recent note to investors, analysts at J.P. Morgan Cazenove described Universal Music as an “extraordinary, must-own asset”, adding that its s34bn valuation might prove conservative, and predicting one of s54bn. The world’s biggest music company didn’t quite hit that high note when debuting on Euronext in Amsterdam, in “Europe’s largest listing this year”, said Reuters. But shares in the group – whose talent ranges from The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Queen, to Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish – nonetheless “leapt by more than a third”, arriving at a valuation of s45bn. Investors are clearly betting heavily that the “boom in music streaming”, which has transformed the label’s fortunes, “still has a long way to go”.The big winners from this blockbuster float are shareholders…1 min
The Week|V. 1350Energy alert: don’t panicBang, there goes another… The energy firm Green is the latest to report it’s on “the brink of collapse” due to soaring wholesale gas prices, said BBC Business. As of Wednesday this week, “four energy firms have gone to the wall”, including People’s Energy and Utility Point, and “four more are expected to follow”. Industry sources suggest that by the end of the year, there may be just “ten energy suppliers left” – down from 70 in January.“Much more of this and we’ll be back to some newfangled Big Six,” said Alistair Osborne in The Times. It begs the question: “What has Ofgem been up to?” What sort of regulator encourages millions of consumers to move their “gas and ‘leccy” accounts “to upstart energy suppliers that keel over the minute…1 min
The Week|V. 1350The voyage of the Satoshi: how a floating utopia founderedOn 7 December 2010, in a hushed San Francisco auditorium, a former Google engineer sketched out the future of humanity. From behind a lectern, Patri Friedman – grandson of the free-market economist Milton Friedman – laid out his plan. He wanted to transform how and where we live, to abandon life on land and start a new city in the middle of the ocean. Friedman called it seasteading: “Homesteading the high seas”, a phrase borrowed from Wayne Gramlich, a software engineer with whom he’d founded The Seasteading Institute in 2008, helped by a $500,000 donation from the PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.In a four-minute vision-dump, Friedman explained his rationale. Why, he asked, was an advanced country still using systems of government from 1787? Government, he believed, needed an upgrade, like a…9 min
