Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1068 i The Week

What happened The hidden wealth of an array of national leaders, politicians, business figures and celebrities was revealed this week in what was described as the biggest data leak in history. An anonymous source provided more than 11.5 million documents from the records of Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specialises in creating offshore entities. The documents – dubbed the Panama Papers – were leaked to Germany’s Süddeutsche Zeitung a year ago, and have since been combed through by a consortium of journalists from 80 countries. While there’s nothing unlawful about offshore companies per se, the secretive nature of these arrangements led to criticism of those involved, and claims of corruption, tax evasion and tax avoidance. The documents reveal links to 72 current or former heads of state, including…

Reykjavík PM quits over Panama Papers: Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson sensationally resigned this week after leaked documents revealed that he and his wife had hidden highly sensitive Icelandic assets in a secretive offshore company. On Monday, around 24 hours after the “Panama Papers” revelations, tens of thousands of Icelanders gathered outside parliament to demand that he go. The documents revealed that when Gunnlaugsson (pictured) entered parliament in 2009, he sold a 50% stake in an offshore firm to his wife for a token $1. The firm held millions of dollars’ worth of bonds in three collapsed Icelandic banks, over which Gunnlaugsson then negotiated with foreign creditors – a clear conflict of interest, according to critics. Gunnlaugsson tried to cling on by asking the president to dissolve parliament for…

1 Brush up on Your Shakespeare (from Kiss Me, Kate) by Cole Porter, performed by Emil Wolk and John Bardon 2 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 by Beethoven, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Bernard Haitink 3 En Aranjuez Con Tu Amor by Joaquín Rodrigo Vidre, performed by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band 4 Unforgettable by Irving Gordon, performed by Nat King Cole 5 Test Match Special “Leg Over” Commentary, 9 August 1991, featuring Jonathan Agnew and Brian Johnston 6 Boum, written and performed by Charles Trenet 7 Yes, They Call Me Mimi (from La Bohème) by Puccini, performed by Kiri Te Kanawa, the London Symphony Orchestra and Kent Nagano 8* Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43 (4th Movement) by Jean Sibelius, performed by the…

Cameron should stay on as PM Jenni Russell The Times This Government has performed many U-turns over the years, says Jenni Russell, and it needs to make another: David Cameron must reverse his decision to stand down before the next election. I’m not making this plea out of partisan loyalty – I’m a left-wing voter – but because there is simply no other plausible national leader on the scene. Neither Labour nor the Lib Dems stand a chance of winning the next election, so the next Tory leader will almost certainly be prime minister. And none of Cameron’s putative successors can match his smooth competence. George Osborne thought “he could compensate for his chilly public image by showing strategic political brilliance and a deft handling of the economy”, but those…

“Instant” cancer treatment test Researchers are developing a technique that will reveal “within hours” whether chemotherapy drugs are working – eliminating the long, anxious delays currently endured by cancer patients, and the risk of people taking debilitating drugs to no avail. The brainchild of a team in the US, it consists of a nanoparticle that acts not only as a “deliverer” of drugs, but also as a “reporter” – glowing green if it detects the presence of caspase, an enzyme that is activated when cancer cells die. “Our long-term goal is to find a way to monitor outcomes very early so that we don’t give a chemotherapy drug to patients who are not responding to it,” said Dr Shiladitya Sengupta, one of the researchers on the project. However, that is…

Wendi Deng may have found her perfect man, claims US Weekly. The 47-year-old – whose marriage to Rupert Murdoch ended amid rumours of an affair with Tony Blair – is now said to be dating Vladimir Putin. A Kremlin “insider” claims the pair have been an item for some time, and are becoming “serious”. The macho, blueeyed Russian president is certainly Deng’s physical type. In a 2013 diary entry, she mused breathlessly on her infatuation with Tony Blair: “Oh s***, oh s***. Whatever why I’m so so missing Tony. Because he is so so charming and his clothes are so good. He has such good body and he has really, really good legs Butt [sic]… and he is slim tall and good skin. Pierce [sic] blue eyes which I love.…

For the cast and crew of The Archers, this must feel like a “delicious” vindication, said Grace Dent in The Independent. For the past two-and-a-half years, Radio 4’s rural soap opera has been pursuing a storyline about domestic abuse – to the fury of some fans, who would prefer it if nothing more dramatic than the annual village panto ever troubled the fictional residents of Ambridge. But the programme’s makers have shown real artistry in the way they have slowly ratcheted up the tension between Helen Titchener and her dissembling husband, Rob. In 15-minute increments, six nights a week, we have listened with prickling fascination as Rob chips away at his wife’s confidence, questioning her sanity and her memory, dictating what she eats, what she wears and who she talks…

Cricket: England’s “devastating” T20 loss England had the World Twenty20 (T20) title in their grasp, said Vic Marks in The Guardian. As Ben Stokes stepped up to bowl the last over in Sunday’s final, West Indies had to score 19 runs from six balls to win. But Carlos Brathwaite was undaunted. On Stokes’s very first ball, he hit a six; then another, and another. Finally, needing one run to win, he smashed his fourth successive six. As West Indies danced in celebration, Stokes sank to the floor, “inconsolable”. It was “one of the most remarkable victories ever known”, said Jonathan Liew in The Daily Telegraph. England’s total of 155 for nine had looked “feeble”. But they managed to “bite back”, setting up a “nailshredding” chase – only to stumble at…

To The Daily Telegraph This year a site using £1m of electricity will pay 27% of its bills as direct green taxes – £270,000. In 2018 this amount will rise by £70,000, and this will continue to increase substantially in future years. That does not include indirect taxes such as those on burning coal, which will soon eliminate our cheapest source of electricity. Not surprisingly, manufacturing industry will continue to be lost to competitors overseas. You could say that the main instigator of these policies, Sir Ed Davey, has been given a knighthood for ruining the future of our country. Chris Lewis, Widnes, Cheshire To The Daily Telegraph I do not belittle the steel crisis, but British agriculture also faces worldwide over-production, expense incurred through UK regulations, and cheap products…

Theatre Long Day’s Journey into Night Playwright: Eugene O’Neill Director: Richard Eyre Bristol Old Vic (0117-987 7877) Until 23 April Running time: 3hrs 20mins (including interval) ★★★ Richard Eyre’s “excellent” programme note describes Long Day’s Journey as “the saddest play ever written”, said Ian Shuttleworth in the FT. His starrily cast production makes a plausible case for the claim, though it is “compelling” in parts rather than an outright triumph. The Tyrones consist of a drunken has-been actor father, an even more drunken no-hoper elder son, a bitter consumptive younger son and their mentally ill, morphine-addled mother. “They are partly inspired by O’Neill’s own family. (Whoopee.)” As the day and evening unfold, layers of their psyches are bared in a series of extreme confrontations, “tempered by sudden waves of clutching…

The turn of the 20th century was a time of “extraordinary upheaval” in Russia, said Victoria Sadler in The Huffington Post. The country, then under the reign of the “hopeless and feeble” Tsar Nicholas II, experienced “terrible hardship and violence” which would ultimately lead to revolution. However, this turbulent period also witnessed a golden age for the country’s arts, thanks in no small part to the support of patrons such as the industrialist Pavel Tretyakov. Between 1867 and 1914, Tretyakov commissioned the country’s best artists to paint portraits of Russia’s cultural heroes. The “exceptional” collection he amassed went on to form the “bedrock” of Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery, Russia’s national art museum. Now, thanks to a “fascinating” show at London’s National Portrait Gallery, we can see its highlights for ourselves.…

Fera at Claridge’s 49 Brook Street, London W1 (020-7107 8888) If you’re tired of going to restaurants and seeing “foraged”, “wild” and “local” sprouting all over the menu like a rash of weeds, Simon Rogan can take part of the blame, says Leah Hyslop in The Daily Telegraph. When the British chef opened L’Enclume in Cumbria back in 2002, his “hyper-local” philosophy was a “breath of fresh countryside air”. Now even posh hotels are at it – including Claridge’s, where Rogan himself is in charge. Some of the “primped and preened and polished” food here is fantastic: fried rabbit with lovage puree is an “explosively crisp yet tender mouthful”; a plate of roe deer, red chicory and smoked beetroot is stunning. Other courses, though, “are less transportive”: ghostly pale scallops are…

Pembrokeshire for couples Crow’s Nest, a first-floor apartment close to Abereiddy beach, is available for a 5-night stay from 18 April for £209 (with use of indoor pool). 01686-628200, www.walescottageholidays.co.uk. US Zephyr rail journey Cover 7 states and 2,300 miles, from Chicago to San Francisco, on a 9-day trip, from £1,975pp incl. flights, train and hotels. 0800-316 0194, www.bonvoyage.co.uk. Book by 20 April; travel until 10 June. Artisan Lake District Catch the Potfest in the Park festival in July during a stay at The Old Cloggers (sleeps 6), in the village of Gamblesby. A 3-night stay from 30 July costs from £710. 01237-426256, www.holidaycottages.co.uk. Moroccan culinary tour Indulge with a 7-night foodie tour, including nights on the coast, in Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains. From £725pp b&b (excl. flights). 020-7112…

The pound fell to a 16-month low against the euro on news that Britain’s current account deficit has hit a record 7% of GDP. Sterling’s value has slumped by 7% this year – marking the worst quarter for the pound in more than seven years. In a tangible sign of market nerves ahead of the EU referendum, the cost of insurance against further steep falls soared. Deloitte reported that hiring and investment expectations among UK CFOs have fallen to a three-year low and appetite for risk has plunged. Optimism was also in short supply among global pundits: the IMF warned of a potential “bloodbath” in the world economy if China suffers a hard landing. Pfizer, the US drugs giant, terminated its $160bn merger with Dublin-based Allergan, calling time on the…

● Unicorpses “Unicorns”, as billiondollar tech start-ups are dubbed, were one of the hottest investment topics of 2015, said Attracta Mooney in the FT. Big asset managers, including Fidelity and BlackRock, piled into private start-ups to take advantage of the tech boom. But a year on, many have already suffered hefty writedowns. BlackRock cut its valuation of Dropbox, the file storage website, by more than 20% in October; Fidelity has “revalued” its investment in the “disappearing-photo app” Snapchat. “The writedowns have raised big questions about the soaring value of many young tech companies”; and whether asset managers rushed into an area where they had little understanding of true value. Amid fears that more “large-scale failures are likely” as the tech bubble bursts, the dread word of 2016 so far is…

César Alierta After a 16-year-stint as boss of Telefónica, César Alierta, 70, has agreed to “hang up” his handset, says The Economist. About time. A cigar-chomping ex-stockbroker, Alierta built Spain’s largest telco, splurging on assets including Britain’s O2. But Telefónica’s “debtfuelled expansion” mirrored Spain’s own overheated boom and subsequent slump. A “generational shift” is now under way in Spanish politics as “newcomer parties” such as Podemos make headway. Might a similar change be in the offing among the country’s ageing corporate leaders? Not at Telefónica. The new boss, José María Álvarez-Pallete López, is another veteran insider. He is fond of “endurance running”. Given his predecessor’s lengthy time at the helm, “that is not necessarily encouraging”. Sanjeev Gupta The would-be saviour of Port Talbot is a local boyo through and through,…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 999 An Ettinger coin purse 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 18 April. Send it to: The Week Crossword 999, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX, or email the answers to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Set by Tim Moorey (www.timmoorey.info) This week’s crossword winner will receive an Ettinger (www.ettinger.co.uk) Brogue Collection coin purse in black, which retails at £150, and two Connell Guides (www.connellguides.com). In symmetrically placed across answers, find and shade a relevant number and its lesser-known alternative ACROSS 8 Most recent attempt upfront met with disaster (4,4) 9 Long-winded expert heard beats (6) 10 Cliff enters camp for refreshment (10) 11 Assistant’s brainwave: the last shall…

What happened The future of Britain’s largest steelworks, at Port Talbot in South Wales, hung in the balance this week as ministers struggled to secure a rescue deal for the loss-making plant. The owners, India’s Tata Steel, announced last month that they aimed to close the company’s entire UK operations, possibly within weeks, with the loss of some 15,000 jobs, unless a buyer could be found. Before flying to Mumbai for talks with Tata bosses, Business Secretary Sajid Javid said nationalisation was not the answer, but pledged Government support for any purchaser. However, the Government came under fierce attack when it emerged that Britain blocked higher EU tariffs on Chinese steel imports, allegedly for fear of offending Beijing: the supply of cheap steel from China is seen as a major…

An Irish news site apologised this week after running an April Fool’s joke claiming that a home-grown Islamist terrorist had annexed a local landmark. The story, on KildareNow.com, said a man calling himself Paddy Jihadi had rigged the Hill of Allen site with explosives and was planning to rename it the Hill of Allah. Kildare Now’s editorial team said the piece, which was not written in-house, was “extremely insensitive”. Meanwhile, in China the Communist Party warned citizens not to attempt any seasonal pranking. The state-run news service Xinhua condemned “the West’s so-called ‘April Fools’”, saying the practice “does not conform with our nation’s cultural traditions, nor does it conform with the core values of socialism”. A Hong Kong man has built himself a robot version of Scarlett Johansson. Ricky Ma,…

FRANCE No hope of recovery for Hollande Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich) François Hollande’s presidency is all but over, says Andres Wysling. He was lauded for his firm response to the Paris terror attacks in November; but then he went too far, proposing a constitutional amendment allowing terrorists to be stripped of their French citizenship and giving the police emergency powers to carry out mass raids and ban demonstrations. The plan caused consternation in his own Socialist Party, and right-wingers too were uneasy about the restrictions on civil liberties. Now, after months of wrangling, Hollande has thrown in the towel: what started as a spontaneous move to try to rescue his dismal approval ratings has ended in humiliation. But that reflects no credit on his rivals and critics. Instead of asking…

When the fossilised remains of Homo floresiensis – a hobbit-like hominin with elongated feet – were found on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, carbon-dating of surrounding materials suggested that the creatures had lived as recently as 12,000 years ago. This raised the possibility that they had co-existed for thousands of years with humans, who are known to have arrived in the region some 40,000 years earlier. But this idea has now been quashed by researchers who conducted a fresh analysis after spotting that rock erosion and tectonic activity had caused newer and older materials to become mixed together. Their study, published in Nature, suggests the hobbits actually lived between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, raising another intriguing possibility – that it was humans who killed off Homo floresiensis.…

After a disappointing few years for its fashion lines, Marks & Spencer “has finally produced a garment that people want to talk about”, said Catherine Bennett in The Observer. The £49.50 burkini is a piece of swimwear designed, according to the M&S website, to veil the body “without compromising on style”. But initial reactions were not all positive. France’s minister for women’s rights, Laurence Rossignol, was enraged by burkinis going on sale in French M&S stores, arguing they enforce “social control over women’s bodies”. Women who wear them, she added, were “like negroes who supported slavery”. Designer Pierre Bergé, partner of the late Yves Saint Laurent, was “scandalised”. “Creators should have nothing to do with Islamic fashion,” he declared. “Designers are there to make women more beautiful, to give them…

“The London supercar season, which usually kicks off in July, appears to have started early this year,” said Tom Sykes on The Daily Beast. Last week, a fleet “of four gold-plated and wildly powerful sports cars” was seen ferrying the young Saudi billionaire Turki bin Abdullah and his entourage around Kensington and Chelsea. It has become a tradition among mega-rich Gulf Arabs to flaunt their ultraexpensive, pimped-up cars in London during the summer months; it is sometimes called the “Ramadan Rush”. Airlifting them in costs around $30,000 per vehicle, so the fistfuls of parking tickets that bin Abdullah’s cars picked up are “unlikely to be of huge concern to their owner”. What’s more important is making a splash. And, as one observer remarked, “this fleet really has set the standard…

There aren’t many men who make José Mourinho look calm, said Matt Barlow in the Daily Mail. But Antonio Conte, who will take over from Guus Hiddink as Chelsea manager this summer, is even more “wildly intense” than his Portuguese predecessor. The “fiery” Italy coach is famed for hurling bottles of water around the dressing room. And he is so obsessed with football – waking up in the middle of the night to work on tactics – that his friends and family “fear for his health”. Conte expects that same dedication from his players: he regularly makes them do two, or even three, training sessions in a day, and gives them strict instructions on what they can eat. Conte’s “relentless graft” has served him well, said Paolo Bandini in The…

Victoria Dir: Sebastian Schipper 2hrs 20mins (15) Exhilarating one-take thriller ★★★★ This “remarkable” thriller from German director Sebastian Schipper isn’t the first feature film to be shot in a single take without any editing cuts, said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman. Alexander Sokurov managed it in 2002 with Russian Ark, and back in the 1940s Alfred Hitchcock experimented with the technique in Rope. But Victoria, which was shot in a single 140-minute take one night in Berlin, pulls off the feat to “exhilarating” effect. It starts as a “giddy, first-flush love story”, as our young heroine (Laia Costa) meets a charming guy (Frederick Lau) in a “strobe-bedazzled” nightclub, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. Later, when the two get roped into a coke-fuelled bank heist, the film morphs into…

Henry Moore is considered “one of the greatest sculptors of the 20th century”, says The Daily Telegraph. But it seems students at New York’s Columbia University “are not fans of the Yorkshireman’s work”. Moore’s Reclining Figure is due to be installed on Columbia’s campus this month – prompting “outrage” from the student body. An op-ed in the university’s Columbia Spectator newspaper complained about the plan “to permanently lodge a hideous sculpture in front of the Butler Library”, before going on to call Moore’s work a “monstrosity”; an “ugly hunk of metal”, suggesting less the form of a woman than “a dying mantis or a poorly formed pterodactyl”; “a desecration of our home”; and an “arrogant middle finger to the world”. An online petition to block the installation has attracted more…

At the reopening of the village hall, “mystery guest” Anneka Rice cuts the ribbon. Later, Alan discovers the money for the curtain fund has been stolen. Clarrie tells Eddie she suspects Alf of stealing it. Eddie resolves to pay it back himself, to protect the Grundy name. Dan is nervous about his girlfriend, Dorothy, meeting his mum, Shula, but the two get on like a house on fire. Kirsty advises Helen to talk to Jess, Rob’s ex-wife, about his controlling behaviour. They arrange to meet, and Jess reveals that Rob was manipulative and violent towards her too. Jess urges Helen to leave him, before it’s too late. Back home in Ambridge, Helen packs her bags and tells Kirsty she is going to leave Rob after supper that evening. But during…

Everyone has their own idea for what makes the perfect fish pie. For me, it’s about having equal amounts of cod, salmon and smoked haddock, says Nathan Outlaw: too much cod and it’s bland, too much salmon makes it greasy, and too much haddock dominates. As for poshing it up with lobster, or scallops, that’s just a waste. If you serve veg with it, opt for buttered, minted peas and carrots Serves 8 For the mash: 1.5kg floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper 100g butter 200ml milk For the filling: 1 litre whole milk 300g cod fillet, skinned 300g smoked haddock fillet, skinned 300g salmon fillet, skinned 100g butter 100g plain flour 2 tbsp finely diced shallots 2 tbsp gherkins, chopped 1 tbsp small capers in brine, drained and rinsed…

Set amid meadows near Tavira (the Algarve’s “prettiest” town) – and a few minutes’ drive from a deserted beach – this old farmhouse, newly opened as a hotel, is ideal for a relaxing family break, says Condé Nast Traveller. Its six bedrooms have a “smart mix” of antiques and retro furniture, as well as rain showers and lots of books. Most spacious are the three in former outhouses, with private terraces. The two housekeepers make dishes remembered from childhood by the Portuguese owners (salt cod with layers of sweet potatoes; fig ice cream), and there’s a small heated pool, outdoor dining tables and a donkey, Ernesto. Doubles from £100 b&b, www.pensaoagricola.com…

Pint-sized comedian who become a national treasure Ronnie Corbett 1930-2016 A staple of British TV entertainment for more than 50 years, Ronnie Corbett, who has died aged 85, was best known as one half of The Two Ronnies. The show, which he described as the “spine” of his career, ran for 16 years from 1971. Some of the skits he performed with Ronnie Barker have gone down in comedy history – “‘Four candles?’ ‘No, fork ’andles’” – but for many, the highlight was Corbett’s rambling monologues, said Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail. Blessed with a debonair confidence that contrasted with his tiny stature, he would sit in a big easy chair, clad in a “dreadful” patterned jumper, and deliver his tightly scripted shaggy dog tales so breezily that they…

When Elon Musk launched Tesla’s first electric car, in 2008, the prospect of fulfilling orders seemed so slim that one motoring blog ran a series called the Tesla Death Watch, said the FT. But last week the South African-born entrepreneur was “basking in his triumph over the sceptics” as advance orders poured in for the new Model 3 – “the first electric car with a realistic chance of capturing the mass market”. The company clocked around 276,000 orders within three days of launching the “handsome sedan”, said Wired – way ahead of expectations. Indeed, one analyst compared the launch to “the type of buzz that you see with Star Wars movies or new iPhones”. Yet the question, as ever with Tesla, is whether it can make good on the hype,…

Review your spending. Pull out 12 months of bank statements and see if there are any worrying patterns, or any direct debits you should have cancelled. While you’re at it, check out if you can get better deals from utility suppliers. Sort out debts. Interest paid on credit cards is dead money, so look for the best 0% balance-transfer deal. Check your credit rating – especially if you plan to either reorganise your debts or buy a property in the next 12 months. It’s easy to check online; go to Experian.co.uk or Noddle.co.uk. Pay into a pension. It can reduce your income tax liability and take you below the higher-rate threshold. You can maximise contributions this year by carrying forward unused contributions. Use your Isa allowance. Review your existing investments…

The week’s best buys 888 Holdings Shares Gambling firms are consolidating to mitigate hefty taxes and regulations. A special dividend, on top of 23% revenue growth this year, is fuelling speculation that online player 888 will be an acquisition target. Buy. 199.5p. Card Factory The Sunday Times Unlike its main rivals, Card Factory both makes and sells greetings cards – cutting out the middleman. Profits have jumped, and it is opening 50 new UK stores a year. Strongly cash-generative, with a generous yield. Buy. 326.2p. Epwin Group The Mail on Sunday Epwin makes essential parts for the home – including window frames, decking and porches – in low-maintenance plastic. Well managed, with improving margins, plenty of cash and good prospects. Buy. 135p. Grainger The Daily Telegraph The UK’s biggest listed…

Controversy of the week At 9.45am on Monday, a man stepped off a ferry in the small Turkish port of Dikili, with a policeman gripping his arm, said Patrick Kingsley in The Guardian. None of the hundreds of journalists assembled were able to ascertain his nationality, let alone his name. But “whoever he might be”, he was the first of 202 migrants to be returned from Greece to Turkey under the terms of the EU’s new deportation deal. The arrangement stipulates that all migrants crossing over into Greece using “irregular” means after 20 March will be sent back to Turkey. For every Syrian accepted back, the EU will take a vetted Syrian asylum seeker from the camps in southern Turkey, up to a total of 72,000. The EU will also…

Living with death Paul Daniels was the love of Debbie McGee’s life, and her husband for 28 years. So his death has left her reeling. And yet, she told Amy Oliver in The Mail on Sunday, “I’m glad he went first. If it had been me, he wouldn’t have been able to cope.” The magician trusted his wife with everything – including his death. When he fell ill last year, he didn’t want to know the diagnosis. “He told the doctor: ‘Just tell Deb.’ The consultant showed me the scan. It was there on the screen, he had a brain tumour – the most aggressive you can have.” From then until the day Daniels died in her arms, last month, the couple never discussed his illness – except once. They…

Like many states in the US, Utah had a severe problem with long-term street homelessness, or “chronic homelessness”, in the early 2000s. But then, under the influence of a social researcher named Sam Tsemberis, it tried a new approach: simply give these people homes and ensure they have the necessary support to then tackle their other problems. This overturned the accepted wisdom that to be suitable for housing, homeless people first had to overcome their personal demons. Tsemberis argued that his approach – “Housing First” – would not just be more effective but also save money, as the costs associated with chronic homelessness – provision of hostel beds, emergency hospital visits and, very often, jail time – are huge. More than a decade later, the policy has been judged a…

Britons should be halving their intake of dairy food, to tackle rising obesity levels, according to new guidelines. Public Health England (PHE) has advised that 8% of our calories should come from dairy products; previously, it suggested 15%. This means men should consume no more than about 200 calories worth of cheese, milk, cream, etc, per day, and women no more than 160 – equivalent to a large latte, or an average-sized bowl of cereal with semi-skimmed milk. PHE says its advice is scientifically sound, and points out that cheese is high in fat and calories. However, nutritionists raised concerns that people who cut down on dairy could also miss out on calcium and iodine. “It is possible to get [these] nutrients from other sources, but it takes a lot…

“Moments of genuine political progress feel increasingly rare,” said Katie Pruszynski in Metro, but we witnessed one such moment on 1 April, last Friday. That was the day that George Osborne’s new National Living Wage (NLW) came into effect, boosting the wages of around 1.5 million of Britain’s lowest paid workers. Employers are now obliged to pay at least £7.20 an hour to anyone over the age of 25 (up from £6.70), and this figure is set to rise to £9 by 2020. There is, admittedly, an element of “sleight of hand” to the NLW: it unfairly excludes young workers, and is not actually based on the cost of living (the real living wage, as calculated by the independent Living Wage Foundation, is £9.40 an hour in London and £8.25…

“A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston bypass. Motorists are asked to be on the look-out for 16 hardened criminals.” Ronnie Corbett, quoted in The Independent “All those who believe in psychokinesis, raise my right hand.” Ibid “If it doesn’t fart or eat hay, she isn’t interested.” Prince Philip on his daughter, Princess Anne, quoted in Tatler “One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing.” Oscar Wilde, quoted on The Browser “People think I’m trying to look after fluffy animals. I’m actually trying to stop the human race from committing suicide.” Conservationist Gerald Durrell, quoted on FoxedQuarterly.com “Your mum is so mean, she has no standard deviation.” Intellectual joke, quoted in The Independent “True ignorance is not the absence of knowledge, but…

Call Croatia to account To The Daily Telegraph You report that Croatia condemns as “shameful” the acquittal of the Serb Vojislav Šešelj on charges of war crimes. This reflects Croatia’s holier-than-thou attitude towards its neighbours. Remembering that only last month, Radovan Karadžic, the former Bosnian Serb politician, was sentenced to 40 years in jail, it is surely more shameful that Franjo Tudjman, the then Croatian president, was never indicted for similar crimes against humanity. After all, one of the aims of Croatia’s Operation Storm, on 4 August 1995, was the ethnic cleansing of more than 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina region. An estimated 2,000 people were murdered during this offensive. Ewen Southby-Tailyour, Ermington, Devon Treating doctors right To The Times My son Oscar was a junior doctor in Nottingham, now…

Hot Milk by Deborah Levy Hamish Hamilton 224pp £12.99 The Week bookshop £10.99 (incl. p&p) “This book is weird. Good weird!” said Lionel Shriver in the FT. In her sixth novel, Deborah Levy has somehow managed to create “an atmosphere of out-of-kilter surreality without ever violating the rules of realism”. Our narrator is 25-year-old Sofia, a frustrated, unemployed anthropologist who has accompanied her domineering mother to a mysterious clinic on the Spanish coast in search of a cure for a range of possibly invented ailments. But the book is no “big, dark drag”. Sofia’s subsequent adventures are described both with “a touch of drollness” and “a hard-to-put-your-finger-on strangeness”. This is much more than just “the classic tale” of an overbearing mother and a “put-upon adult daughter”, agreed Eimear McBride in…

Are cinemas doomed to extinction? It’s starting to look that way, says Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. Cinema chains are already faced with declining audiences, thanks to the proliferation of home viewing platforms and blockbuster TV series. And soon they may lose their last advantage: being first to screen new films. A start-up scheme called Screening Room – backed by some of Hollywood’s biggest names, including Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese – proposes to stream the latest releases direct into subscribers’ homes. To join the service, you would have to buy a £105 set-top box and then pay £35 per movie – expensive, but still cheaper than the cost of getting a babysitter, travelling to a cinema and buying tickets and snacks. Screening Room’s founders, Sean Parker and Prem…

Best books… Janet Ellis Former Blue Peter presenter and actress Janet Ellis picks her six favourite books. She’s talking about her debut novel, The Butcher’s Hook, at Stratford Literary Festival, Stratford-upon-Avon, on 28 April (01789-207100) The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway, 1989 (Vintage £8.99). What’s remarkable about this novel is that despite its dark themes, it manages to be uplifting. The heroine Joy Stone, who lives on a council estate in the Scottish town of Irvine, is witty, warm and unfailingly honest about her hopes and fears. What to Look for in Winter by Candia McWilliam, 2010 (Vintage £8.99). McWilliam’s brilliant, searingly sad memoir of her childhood, marriages and sudden blindness is also unforgettable. It is a hard story to tell, but one that’s immensely rewarding to…

Programmes The Sky at Night: Stephen Hawking on Black Holes A fascinating look at the mysterious world of black holes, centring on an interview with the greatest living expert on the subject. Sun 10 April, BBC4 10pm (30mins). Dispatches: The Great Benefits Row Former Paralympian Ade Adepitan examines the controversial changes to benefits payments for the disabled. Mon 11 April, C4 8pm (30mins). Europe: Them Or Us Britain has been agonising for decades over its place in Europe, as this fascinating history lesson, presented by Nick Robinson, amply demonstrates. Tue 12 April, BBC2 9pm (60mins). Britain’s Treasure Islands Naturalist Stewart McPherson takes an entertaining tour of our farthest-flung sea-girt territories, ranging from Bermuda in the Atlantic to Pitcairn in the Pacific. Tue 12 April, BBC4 9pm (60mins). Normal For Norfolk…

New cars: what the critics say Mercedes E-Class from £35,395 Autocar The E-Class is “one of the most successful franchises” in executive car history. It occupies the midpoint in “Merc’s saloon hierarchy”, between the compact C-Class and the luxury S-Class. And Mercedes has “packed” this new model with technology and made it faster than its predecessor. Even then, the car is somewhat “short on excitement” – but it’s “big on practically everything else”. The Daily Telegraph From the outside, the new E-Class looks much like the old one. But the interior has had a “radical rework”: it’s “beautifully conceived”, with comfortable front seats, and an 8.4in central screen that’s simple to use. There’s lots of room, as well as a 540-litre boot. The high-tech features impress: the car is semi-autonomous…

Wine tasting on Lanzarote Favoured by 16th century European royalty and Shakespeare’s bon vivants Falstaff and Sir Toby Belch, Canary Islands wine (or “Canary”) is coming back into fashion. A tasting tour of Lanzarote is an unusual experience, says Tom Rowley in The Daily Telegraph. Volcanic eruptions cast lava across the island in the 1730s, and the vineyards here are a strange and “surprisingly beautiful” sight with their black soil and rows of deep hollows edged by bricks to protect vines from the harsh wind. Malvasía – a dry white wine that Shakespeare would recognise – is the island’s “tipple of choice”, but there are other interesting varieties, and a wide range of bodegas, from the 18th century El Grifo (the archipelago’s oldest, with a good museum) to Vulcano, “a…

HSBC: Panama embroilment Bank bosses across the world will have had sleepless nights this week, thanks to the Panama Papers scandal. But no bank is more exposed than HSBC, said Dan Cancian on the International Business Times website. In all, some 500 banks requested “off-theshelf” firms from the Panama law firm at the centre of the leak, Mossack Fonseca. But HSBC and its affiliates accounted for more than 2,300 of the 15,600 shell companies that Mossack created for clients. The exposé is particularly ticklish for HSBC, which was fined $1.9bn by the US Department of Justice in 2012 after being accused of violating sanctions and money-laundering. Fellow wealth managers UBS and Credit Suisse are in a similar spot, having both recently fallen foul of US prosecutors. HSBC has come out…

The US turns against free trade Editorial The Economist Free trade was an engine of America’s prosperity in the postwar period, says The Economist. But the disappearance of millions of manufacturing jobs in US industrial heartlands has meant that now, lamentably, even “mainstream politicians” are afraid to champion it. The worst possible reaction to “the shock caused by China’s emergence” is the protectionism peddled by Republican front runner Donald Trump, not least because the surge of cheap imports has “greatly increased the spending power of those on low incomes”. But more should be done to help workers who have lost out to foreign competition. America should study Germany, which has continually upgraded its workforce’s skills by investing in vocational training. Meanwhile, more “active” labour-market policies – such as relocation grants…

My problems began in 1984 when I wrote letters to Francis Pym and Sarah Kennedy about the Falklands War and Sir Robin Day’s part in it. Sarah was presenting a radio programme and I thought she was talking about me when she spoke of a young man who had just lost his mother. Pym said: “Guns fire from No. 10” on the Sarah Kennedy show. I took this to mean the PM had given the order to sink the Belgrano. But Mr Pym was speaking in a different context. Paul Daniels, who was also a guest, said: “Something strange is going to happen.” From that day on, all the radio and TV channels seemed to be talking about me. Convinced I was already a celebrity, I thought a Rolls-Royce that…