Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1184 i The Week

What happened Brexit showdown A series of resignations plunged the Government into turmoil this week. On Sunday, Brexit Secretary David Davis stood down, saying the UK was “giving away too much, too easily” to EU negotiators. The next day, Boris Johnson resigned as Foreign Secretary, declaring that the Brexit “dream is dying, suffocated by needless self-doubt”; Theresa May’s plans, he said, would reduce Britain to the status of an EU “colony”. It’s the first time since 1982 that two cabinet members have departed within 24 hours, outside a reshuffle. Several more junior figures also stood down. The departures were triggered by a Cabinet meeting at Chequers last Friday, in which May sought to bind her colleagues to a common Brexit vision. Under her proposals, Britain will agree a “common rulebook”…

Michael Ondaatje, after his 1992 novel The English Patient was judged the best Man Booker Prize-winner. A panel of five judges considered all 51 winners, before submitting a shortlist of five – one for each of the past five decades – to a public vote. Other contenders included In a Free State by V.S. Naipaul, Penelope Lively’s Moon Tiger and Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Japanese knotweed, the invasive plant that for years has struck fear into homeowners’ hearts, with claims that it’s no more harmful than buddleia. The discovery of the weed can slash the value of a house and make it difficult to get a mortgage on it, but according to a new survey, it rarely causes structural damage because its roots usually only extend about eight feet.…

The Tories have lost their lead over Labour for the first time since April, with the two parties now neck and neck at 39%, according to a poll taken after the Chequers meeting, but mostly before David Davis’s resignation. The Lib Dems were on 9%. 14% of respondents said that they thought the Chequers Brexit plan was good for Britain; 33% thought it was bad; 53% didn’t know. 27% said the compromise respected the referendum result; 29% said it did not respect it; 44% said they didn’t know. YouGov/The Times 57% of British people think it is always or usually wrong for a man to tell a woman in the street that she “looks gorgeous today”; 27% say it is sometimes wrong. British Social Attitudes survey/The Times…

Daraa, Syria Refugees thwarted: Daraa, the rebel-held city in southwestern Syria where the anti-Assad uprising began seven years ago, was surrounded this week, and is expected to fall to the Syrian army within days, if not hours. Government forces have been fighting a fierce offensive in Daraa province for a month, and heavily outgunned rebel fighters have been surrendering in droves as part of a Russian-brokered ceasefire deal. The Syrian army was this week approaching the region adjacent to the Golan Heights frontier, raising fears in Israel that Assad may try to deploy troops there, in defiance of a UN agreement made in 1974. More than 300,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting in Daraa, though many were this week going home, as the ceasefire appeared to be largely…

“Cold callers have returned to plague us, but with a new modus operandi. A few seconds in they say: ‘May I just thank you for being the first person who’s been polite to me today?’ You fall for it first time, a mixture of smugness at your own beneficence and liberal guilt at their awful job. The third and fourth times you realise they’re reading from a script and you’re an idiot. I suppose the cold-call industry must adapt to survive, just as cockroaches do to poison. But once we’re wise to it, what then? Will the ante be upped? Soon we’ll be picking up the phone to hear: ‘Thank you for answering. I only have six weeks to live.’”…

Still in denial about the migration crisis Nick Timothy The Daily Telegraph Europe’s migration crisis is far from over, says Nick Timothy. True, refugee numbers are not what they were in 2015, when – after Angela Merkel’s fateful decision to open Germany’s borders – 1.8 million illegal border crossings were detected by EU states. That year Germany alone received almost 900,000 asylum applications. But the political and economic knock-on effects of the continuing influx – by 2020, Germany will have spent £74bn on dealing with the refugee crisis – are as acute as ever. To survive in office, Merkel has had to agree that migrants arriving in Germany will be sent back to the first EU state they entered. But it’s an unworkable policy: the EU states in question simply…

Air pollution linked to diabetes Obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise aren’t the only things driving the global upsurge in type 2 diabetes, reports The Daily Telegraph. According to the largest study of its kind, air pollution is a factor in around 14% of all new cases of the illness. For the research, a team from Washington University compared the health records of 1.7 million US veterans with levels of particulate matter (PM2.5) in the air around their homes. They found that the more pollution the veterans were exposed to, the likelier they were to have diabetes: at between five and ten micrograms per cubic metres of air, about 21% developed the disease; when exposure increased to between 11.9 and 13.6 micrograms, that rose to 24%. (The World Health…

President Trump has repeatedly mooted the idea of invading Venezuela, it emerged last week. He first proposed the idea at an Oval Office meeting last year, stunning his top aides. They took it in turns to try to talk him out of it – stressing that it would alienate the US’s Latin American allies – only for him to moot the “military option” in public the next day. Soon after that, he raised it with Colombia’s President Santos – and then again, at a private dinner with allied Latin American states at the UN General Assembly. “My staff told me not to say this,” he said – before going on to say it. Ministers arriving for the Brexit summit at Chequers last Friday were left in no doubt as to…

Donald Trump’s visit to the UK this week has all the makings of “a hideous diplomatic crunch”, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. Preceded by a delicate Nato summit in Brussels, it is to be followed by the president’s meeting with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. A “Trump-Putin love-in”, so soon after two British citizens were poisoned with novichok, would risk making a mockery of Theresa May’s hospitable welcome. But the PM’s main short-term aim was simply not to “provoke her thin-skinned and mercurial guest”. The visit had been planned so as to keep the president well away from the British public and Friday’s mass protest in London – with no carriage ride down the Mall with the Queen nor banquet at Buckingham Palace. Instead, the trip was designed so that…

What is it that’s so special about this England World Cup team, asked Sam Wallace in The Sunday Telegraph. It’s not that they’re especially talented – as Gareth Southgate admits, there are few world-class footballers in the side. On the contrary, what’s striking is the “humble” footballing roots of so many of the players. They are, in Southgate’s words, a group from places like “Barnsley and Leeds and Bolton and Blackburn”, who had to “fight their way up through the academies of less celebrated clubs”. Of the 11 players who started in the 2-0 win over Sweden in Samara last Saturday, two cut their teeth at Sunderland’s academy and another two at Sheffield United; other members of the squad have played for Halifax and Welling. Yet the team have made…

Experience wine that is satisfyingly different I‘ve been a customer of Corney & Barrow for more than 40 years and always rely on them for the very best examples of Pomerol and Burgundy. Their exclusive agencies include the finest in each category; far from everyday wines, these are the very grandest wines on the planet. If you want to experience something satisfyingly different, the Egy Kis from Hungary ticks that box, while the Italian Barbera is thrilling with its sheer drinkability at such a tender age. As usual, you can purchase any of these wines by the case, or if you’re finding it hard to pick just one, the mixed cases are a great opportunity to try them all. Corney & Barrow are forever finding obscure examples of fascinating wines…

Mary Shelley Dir: Haifaa al-Mansour 2hrs 1min (12A) Lifeless biopic of the famous writer ★★ As the only woman to have made a film in Saudi Arabia, Haifaa al-Mansour is “an interesting choice” to tell the story of Mary Shelley, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Her subject, too, overcame the sexism of her time – in her case to write the novel Frankenstein, and in the process create one of the classic horror stories of the 19th century. Elle Fanning brings a poised insouciance to the role in this “robustly watchable” biopic. Sadly, the film suffers from some “clunky on-the-nose” dialogue, said Dan Jolin in Empire. “Find your own voice,” Mary’s father, the writer William Godwin (Stephen Dillane), advises her. “Is that really possible? That the dead could come…

For the first time in 27 years, the National Gallery has acquired a work of art by a woman, said Hannah Furness in The Daily Telegraph. The painting, which will become only the 21st by a female artist in the gallery’s collection, is a self-portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi, a follower of Caravaggio. Dated 1615-17, it was only rediscovered last year, and was bought for £3.6m. And what a “sensational” work it is, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. In this “raw and intimate” painting (pictured), Gentileschi poses as Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with her hand on a spiked wheel. The choice of subject is an allusion to an incident in Gentileschi’s own life: in 1611 she was raped, and when she later testified against her rapist in court, she herself…

Ruth worries to David that she’s made the situation at Home Farm worse. David thinks selling the house was a reasonable suggestion. Jennifer advises Brian to be less patronising if he wants Kate to negotiate. Rex is unsure about moving to Newmarket. Toby thinks he should move if he really loves Anisha. Brian’s solicitor tells him to halt the land sale as Kate has legitimate grounds to sue. Brian wants to sell more land to cover Kate’s share, but Adam puts his foot down – he’ll take legal action to keep the farm intact. Pat tells Emma about the reduction in the number of affordable homes. Emma confronts Justin, who tells her the project will be uneconomical if they don’t make a reduction. At The Bull, Alistair drunkenly moans to…

Crockers Chef’s Table 74 High Street, Tring, Hertfordshire (01442-828971) At the end of our meal here, “a diner actually proposed a vote of thanks to the chef – and everyone in the room clapped”, says Michael Deacon in The Telegraph. Scott Barnard’s “relaxed” fine dining restaurant in Tring has only 15 places, arranged in a horseshoe around an open kitchen, and you all eat the same menu together. It’s maybe not the spot for an intimate, gossipy dinner, but the vibe is friendly and the food a “triumph”. After four “bristlingly intense” snacks to open, we were served “beautifully tender” slow-cooked quail, followed by the “fluffiest hake” with cauliflower and a dab of curry sauce. The main of Cumbrian lamb was “a croquette of belly, dark and moody, plus…

Auto Express It’s amazing how Dacia manages to offer “so much car for so little cash”. The Renault-owned Romanian brand has made some big changes to the Duster for its second generation, and the result is a better-built, quieter car, with a “thicker, sportier” stance and a solid interior. And though its quality overall may not stack up to that of German or Japanese rivals, it remains the “cheapest crossover money can buy”. What Car? The Duster is “not the most sophisticated car to drive”, and the available four-cylinder engines – a 1.6-litre petrol and a 1.5-litre diesel – build revs more slowly than modern, turbocharged ones. While it makes for a comfortable ride around town, the soft suspension means there’s a fair bit of leaning and bouncing at high…

Home LED Solar Colour-changing Lights These Argos lights are great value, and the colour-changing rainbow effect will give your garden a bright and modern look (£20 for 18; www.argos.co.uk). John Lewis Festoon Outdoor Line Lights This stylish string of lights gives off a warm light, but take care, because the ten LED bulbs are glass, and there are no replacements (£60; www.johnlewis.com). Nordlux Vejers Outdoor Wall Lantern Ideal for fixing by your door or gate, this bright, steel, mains-powered Nordlux light should stand the test of time and comes with a five-year guarantee (£45; www.johnlewis.com). Yunlights Solar Outdoor Torch Instead of a single bulb, these Yunlights have 96 individual LEDs that flicker independently, giving off the look of a dancing tiki-torch flame (£46 for two; www.ebay.co.uk). Mullbacka LED table lamp…

Penally Abbey, Pembrokeshire Occupying an 18th century Strawberry Hill Gothic house (and not, in fact, an abbey), this seaside hotel a mile from the “attractive” harbour town of Tenby has “great charm and style”, says Fiona Duncan in The Sunday Telegraph. It has recently been restored and redecorated, in a manner that manages to be traditional, but also up to date. The 11 rooms are “lovely” (particularly numbers five and seven), and all have sea views. The restaurant is “glamorous”, with candles and white tablecloths, and an interesting menu that includes dishes such as steamed clams with lemon, ginger and coriander butter. Doubles from £145. 01834-843033, www.penally-abbey.com .…

Heatwave boost for tourism sector The UK is enjoying its longest, hottest summer in years – and the good weather is causing a boom for the country’s tourism sector. Patricia Yates, director of Visit Britain, told the BBC the hot weather is acting as a “timely reminder” for the increasing numbers of people who are “making a late call on where to go on holiday”. The Belfast Telegraph says even hoteliers in Northern Ireland are experiencing a “bumper summer”, with staycations on the rise thanks to “temperatures which have rivalled the Mediterranean”. Foreign visitors are also contributing to the buoyancy of the sector. In the first nine months of 2017, the latest period for which figures are available, 30.1m visitors came to the UK, a rise of 7% on the…

The UK economy appears to be gathering momentum once more. Growth in the quarter to May rose to 0.2% after flatlining in the quarter to April. The news fuelled speculation that the Bank of England will raise rates next month. Retail sales in June were up 2.3% year-on-year, getting a World Cup boost from “beers, barbecues and big TVs”. However, the figure was lower than the 4.4% year-on-year boost in May. Spending in pubs was up 9.5%. The new chairman of Marks & Spencer, Archie Norman, warned shareholders that the business was on a “burning platform” and may cease to exist without a radical overhaul, including more store closures. Martin Sorrell beat his former firm in the battle to buy MediaMonks, a Dutch digital advertising agency. Charles Wilson, the highly…

Holiday cover Snapping up last-minute holiday bargains online? Speed may be of the essence, but make sure you know your rights, says Adam Williams in The Daily Telegraph. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act offers legal protection against poor quality goods and mis-sold services on credit card purchases of more than £100. But many users of sites such as Hotels.com and Booking.com aren’t aware that they’re not protected: Section 75 only applies where the goods or services are bought direct, not through third parties. The same goes for payments via third-party websites such as PayPal. One option is to use the site to find suitable offers, then call the hotel direct. You may find you even get a better price. Bucket and spade To judge from the sweltering first…

Mark Neale “Endearingly dishevelled, relaxed, funny and self-deprecating”, Mark Neale is not your typical CEO, says Julia Bradshaw in The Sunday Telegraph. His company, Mountain Warehouse, is unusual too: in a harsh retail climate, the outdoor chain’s sales were up 22% last year and profits were up a third, to £32.6m. What its secret? First, it’s still private (Neale still owns 85%), meaning it can be both nimble and bold. “I run the company and I plan to carry on running it,” he makes clear. Second, it almost exclusively sells own-label products, made in China, helping it to keep prices low. And crucially, says Neale, 51, “we are massively selective about the shops we open” and prepared to wait to get the best sites. “I still count people walking past…

Crémant Limoux Brut NV: Domaine Collin 6 x 75cl – £79.50 £14.25 £13.25 per bottle Collioure ‘Les Canadells’: Domaine la Tour Vieille 2016 6 x 75cl – £99 £17.50 £16.50 per bottle IGP Duché d’ Uzès ‘Les Pérrassières’: Domaine Camp Galhan 2015 6 x 75cl – £71.70 £12.95 £11.95 per bottle Collioure ‘La Pinède’: Domaine la Tour Vieille 2016 6 x 75cl - £94.50 £16.75 £15.75 per bottle Banyuls ‘Réserva’: Domaine de la Tour Vieille 6 x 75cl – £124.50 £21.75 £20.75 per bottle Corbières ‘3iéme Cuvée’ Domaine Py 2016 6 x 75cl – £70.50 £12.75 £11.75 per bottle SAVE £6 PER CASE + FREE UK DELIVERY…

Clarkson The shipping firm’s profits are expected to be hit by trade war qualms and market volatility. A long-term recovery could still be on the cards, but director Peter M. Anker has sold 17,500 shares, for “personal reasons”, pocketing £461,125. Form guide Shares tipped 12 weeks ago Best tip Premier Technical Services Group The Daily Telegraph up 11.76% to 190p Worst tip LVMH The Times up 2.34% to $288.55 Market view “You say Barnier and I say bananas; you say facilitated customs arrangement and I say customs union; trade deal, single market, trade deal, single market; let’s call the whole thing off.” David Smith in The Times…

Controversy of the week Can May hang on? You’d have thought a PM returning to the Commons after losing two senior Cabinet ministers within 15 hours would have the air of a doomed woman. Far from it, said Patrick Kidd in The Times. Theresa May sat on the frontbench preening herself “like a cat that had just hacked up two furballs that were bothering her”. Yes, the Brexit deal unveiled at Chequers provoked cries of “betrayal” (“Democracy is dead,” spluttered Tory MP Andrea Jenkyns). Yet the mood on the Tory benches was “more against the Brexit hardliners” than the PM. May won’t be that fussed by the departure of David Davis and Boris Johnson, said Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. The resignation that should alarm her, however, is that…

Tripe, which was found to be the most disliked food in Britain, followed by giblets and eels. In a new poll, two-thirds of respondents say they’d refuse even to try the once-popular foods, and only a tiny minority (4% for tripe) had eaten them recently. Surrey, after it suffered its seventh earthquake in three months, with a magnitude of 3.0. Until this year, there had been no recorded earthquakes in Surrey for at least half a century. Holiday companies, which had to slash their prices, owing to the hot weather and the World Cup conspiring to keep people at home. TUI was offering a week’s package in Marmaris, Turkey, from 10 July for £117pp, including flights from Manchester and self-catering accommodation – less than the £144 cost of an off-peak…

Brussels Trump on the offensive: Donald Trump kicked off a Nato summit in Brussels on Wednesday by launching a furious tirade against Germany, in which he accused it of being a “captive to Russia” – a reference to Berlin’s support for a new gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, which will enable Russia to transport gas directly to Germany under the Baltic Sea. “Germany is totally controlled by Russia because they will be getting 60-70% of their energy from Russia and a new pipeline,” said the US president in his first meeting of the summit. He complained that Berlin is paying “billions of dollars” to Russia, while expecting the US “to defend [it] from Russia”, adding that it was “inappropriate” that some senior German politicians have gone on to take jobs…

Still effortlessly Chic Chic are forever associated with their joyful 1979 megahit Good Times – but frontman Nile Rodgers had a tough start in life, says Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian. His mother was 13 when he was conceived. She and his stepfather were heroin addicts; and so were all four of his brothers. Their living room, on New York’s Lower East Side, was a petrified forest of semi-comatose junkies. Yet he insists his childhood was the making of him. His mother was smart and fun; his brothers were “high-functioning addicts”, beatniks who held down jobs; and their home was bohemian and artistic. By his teens, he was playing in bands – and had joined the Harlem chapter of the Black Panthers. Last year, he helped out in the aftermath…

An academic who was sick of being asked to pay to publish his research in bogus journals has taken his revenge. Gary Lewis of Royal Holloway submitted a paper impressively entitled Testing Inter-hemispheric Social Priming Theory, which used sophisticated statistics to unearth “compelling evidence” that “one’s political preferences are manifested in the hand used while cleansing one’s posterior”. The article was duly published by Crimson Publishers, even though it contained lines such as: “The politician Nigel F. ‘Arage told the research assistant to ‘bog off’.” The actor Niall Sheehy was performing the tear-jerking lifeboat scene in Titanic: The Musical at Nottingham’s Theatre Royal when he noticed that some of the audience were more interested in the England vs. Colombia game taking place at the same time. He later tweeted: “To…

POLAND A PM who thinks that he’s above the law Deutschlandfunk (Berlin) Poland’s PM, Mateusz Morawiecki made a “sad spectacle” at the European parliament last week, says Peter Kapern. He was desperately trying to justify his government’s new law that forces judges to retire early from Poland’s Supreme Court, a law that does such violence to Poland’s constitution, the judges themselves are refusing to recognise it. And the European Commission says it’s in clear violation of EU rules. Even so, Morawiecki looked visibly shocked at the almost universal hostility he received in the chamber. He fiddled with his collar; the corners of his mouth twitched. The truly depressing thing is that he seemed to have no idea why people were being so antagonistic. For him and his Law and Justice…

Asian hornets are to be fitted with tiny electronic tracking devices, so that their nests can be found and destroyed. Accidentally introduced to Europe in 2004, probably in a shipment of potted plants, the hornets – which kill and eat bees – have since spread across the continent. Two years ago, they were spotted for the first time in this country. While confirmed sightings are still rare, their populations have the potential to grow rapidly. In 2012, only two nests had been found in northern Spain; by 2016, there were 10,000. Destroying their nests is key to stopping the invasive species from colonising the UK – but finding them is hard. Last year, however, researchers from the University of Exeter travelled to France and Jersey, to conduct an experiment in…

What a glorious month this has been, for a country still battered by the “polarising” Brexit referendum two years ago, said The Times. Not only have we had near continuous sunshine to boost our morale, but we’ve had the football to restore a sense of national unity and pride. The success of an unfancied team has given England fans cause for joy, but there has been much else for us to love about the World Cup, from thoughtful post-match commentaries and the respect shown to officials, to the lack of “waggish ostentation”. A young team, led by a fine manager, has done England proud. Nothing in my memory has brought us together like this summer, said Jim White in The Daily Telegraph. In Samara, after England’s quarterfinal victory, I saw…

If any doubt remained that Boris Johnson was a “self-serving charlatan”, the manner of his resignation surely banished it, said Ian Birrell in The Guardian. In the hours after Theresa May enforced a common Cabinet stance on Brexit last week, a “friend” of Johnson told the press he wouldn’t resign, because that would only benefit Europe’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, and Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. Yet no sooner had the Brexit Secretary, David Davis, resigned than Boris, fearful of losing credibility with the Tory Right, “suddenly discovered his principles” and walked out too. That the timing of his departure as Foreign Secretary – days before a Nato summit and just after the death of a British citizen as a result of a suspected Russian nerve agent attack – was…

At Wimbledon last week, British tennis got a taste of what life will be like after Andy Murray, said Tim Lewis in The Observer. The Scot withdrew on the eve of the tournament, saying he hadn’t completed his recovery from hip surgery. In his absence, the British contingent has struggled: for the first time since 2007, no home-grown singles players have made it to the second week of the competition. With Murray absent, Kyle Edmund was Britain’s greatest hope – but he was knocked out by Novak Djokovic in the third round. Even so, this was “a significant step forward” for Edmund, said Simon Briggs in The Sunday Telegraph. In his six previous attempts, the 23-year-old had only once progressed beyond the first round, and on that occasion he fell…

“Thank you for calling the EU. Unfortunately, nobody is available to reject your customs plan. Your call is not important to us.” A nation at peace To The Guardian “I’m having a bit of an English flag moment,” says your Suzanne Moore. Last Tuesday, we went to Old Trafford in Manchester to watch England play India at cricket, with the intention of introducing our Irish daughter-in-law to the game. The first thing we noticed was the number of white guys selling Indian flags. The second was the fact that the spectators were made up of many Indian families. India won and the jubilation of the crowd was immense, Indian flags were waved all over the ground and the atmosphere stayed friendly in the summer sunshine. In the train on the…

Clock Dance by Anne Tyler Chatto & Windus 304pp £18.99 The Week Bookshop £17.50 Anne Tyler’s new novel – her 22nd – is about a woman’s “last-ditch attempt to choose her own life”, said Pamela Norris in the Literary Review. Willa Drake is a 61-year-old who leads a boring life in Arizona with her golf-obsessed husband. When one day she receives a call telling her that her son’s former girlfriend has been shot, she “impulsively flies to Baltimore” and has a go at “playing grandmother” to the woman’s nine-year-old daughter, even though she isn’t a blood relative. What follows is a moving, often “hilarious” account of a woman “discovering an environment in which she can flourish” after a life subordinating herself to men. By now, Tyler fans know “what to…

“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, the producers of Star Wars made a big mistake,” said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. When they revived the intergalactic space opera in 1999 (with The Phantom Menace) they decided to introduce a new character. Jar Jar Binks was an effeminate, squeaky-voiced alien – conjured up by unconvincing CGI – and the phalanx of Star Wars fans loathed him on sight. Some complained that he had singlehandedly “ruined” their precious franchise. Almost two decades on, Ahmed Best, the actor who voiced Jar Jar, has taken to Twitter to reveal that the vitriol (including death threats) that came his way drove him to contemplate suicide. Best posted a photo of himself and his young son on a bridge. “This was the…

Christopher Le Brun at Lisson Gallery Given that he has been president of the Royal Academy since 2011, you may imagine that Christopher Le Brun (b.1951) was the very epitome of the “establishment” artist. In fact, he is an unlikely rebel. Since the 1970s, he has been producing paintings that defy categorisation, but which are almost all possessed of an earnest energy and drama at odds with the irony and theoretical baggage common to most British contemporary art. This show of abstract paintings created over the past two years features some truly ravishing works. A number of large pieces feature colour combinations that start off subtly at the sides of the canvas before coming to a crescendo at the centre – think of Whistler’s Nocturnes reimagined by the abstract…

Programmes H is for Hawk: A New Chapter Repeat of this moving, lyrical film following writer Helen Macdonald as she trains another goshawk. Sat 14 July, BBC2 17:50 (60mins). Dunkirk: The Forgotten Heroes The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk is a storied tale, but the fate of the thousands of British troops who were left in France is often overlooked. Using recently declassified documents, this film tells their story. Sun 15 July, C4 20:00 (60mins). Unforgotten Nicola Walker and Sanjeev Bhaskar return for another series of the multi-layered cold case drama. Sun 15 July, ITV1 21:00 (60mins). Our Guy in Russia Guy Martin, the motorcycle daredevil, visits Russia, where he meets the Night Wolves, Putin’s favourite biker gang, and two “roof-toppers”, who trespass on skyscrapers. Mon 16 July, C4…

Chargrilled broccoli with miso and hazelnuts Serves 4 as a side dish 25g blanched hazelnuts, roughly crushed 500g Tenderstem broccoli spears olive oil sea salt for the dressing: 1 medium egg yolk 1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed ½ tsp chilli powder 2 tbsps white miso paste 3 tbsps olive oil ¼ tsp toasted sesame oil 3 tbsps rice vinegar • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Tip the hazelnuts onto a baking tray and roast for 4-5 minutes until golden, giving them a shake halfway through cooking. Remove from the oven and leave to cool. • For the dressing, whisk together the egg yolk, garlic, chilli powder and miso paste in a large bowl. Gradually whisk in the oils, then whisk in the vinegar. Set aside. • Preheat a…

● To get a decent five circuits of hedges you’ll probably need a space with a diameter of at least 17-20ft. Keep in mind, though, that more circuits will mean more time spent trimming them. ● The traditional “wall” material is yew, but beech or hornbeam hedges also work fine. Avoid leylandii – it grows too fast. ● Sketch your plan to scale and mark it out on the site. Remember, hedges grow both outwards and upwards; make paths at least three-feet wide – enough to fit a mower if you want grass (rather than bark or gravel). ● Plant in either individual holes or a continuous trench; line well with compost. ● Good drainage is crucial – water can very easily collect in all those dead ends. ● Keep…

Explore Northumberland Two nights at the White Swan Hotel in Alnwick, with dinner on the first night and a walking tour packed lunch costs from £189pp b&b. 01904-717362, www.superbreak.com. Arrive 17 August. Scenic Iceland The Hotel Glymur in Saurbaer boasts extraordinary views, and offers a 4-night stay from £319pp b&b, including Edinburgh flights. 020-3684 0059, www.expedia.co.uk.Depart 2 September. Five nights in Kusadasi Enjoy beaches and delightful local villages when staying at the Derici Hotel. From £390pp half-board, including Manchester flights. 020-3897 1146, www.loveholidays.com.Depart 9 September. Four-star Cuba escape Six nights at the lively Sol Palmeras resort provides a relaxing break. From £1,713pp, all-incl., including London flights. 0344-739 6955, www.virginholidays.co.uk. Depart 24 August.…

Nurturing a woodland idyll Families who cycle through the car-free woodland of Center Parcs Woburn Forest may not appreciate quite how much went on behind the scenes to create the leafy holiday village. Getting planning permission took seven years and more than one attempt, says Center Parcs chief executive Martin Dalby. In the end, the company successfully showed that the project would boost the economy of the local area – and underline its environmental credentials. As well as 1,200 temporary jobs created during construction, the site now employs some 1,500 people – Dalby says 75% of them live just 15 minutes away – and was designed with a focus on energy efficiency and sustainability. When the park finally opened in June 2014, it had cost £250m and was, says the…

With 35,000 retail jobs lost or at risk this year – a “brutal readjustment” by any standards – it’s legitimate to talk of a “crisis” on our high streets, said The Observer. Sure, some of the blame must go to outdated formats or poor management. But the burden of business rates – which raise £29bn a year, of which retailers cough up £8bn – also plays a big part. There’s been a mounting chorus of complaint from bricks-and-mortar retailers this summer that in the internet age business rates are archaic, unfairly hitting town centre shops while scarcely denting the booming profits of online retailers. And they are absolutely right: it’s time for a rethink. But it’s just not true that the present system unfairly favours online retailers, said John Kay…

No matter how much or how little you earn, there “are still benefits to a thrifty mindset”, say Claer Barrett and Kate Beioley in the Financial Times. If you can stick to a budget and generate a surplus – no matter how small – then any “spare money” can be made to work harder inside a stocks and shares Isa or pension. These three steps below may seem obvious, but it’s astonishing how few of us get to grips with them and actually make them a reality. Set a budget If you transfer your day-to-day spending to a separate mobile-based account, it will be much easier to monitor and review, and identify those areas where you are most likely to “splurge”. App-based banks like Monzo, Starling and Atom have digital…

“Domaine la Tour Vieille is located in Roussillon and, given its proximity to the Spanish border, is also referred to as French Catalonia. Christine Campadieu is the fourth generation of her family to run these rugged vineyards, which are so steep that everything has to be picked by hand. The first wine served was from Languedoc — the excellent Champagne-style Crémant de Limoux NV of Philippe Collin, who formerly worked in Champagne before heading south. It is made from the classic Champagne grapes — Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, and has a fresh style reminiscent of apples and hints of lime and melon. It was a wonderful aperitif and was matched perfectly with the foie gras terrine with smoked eel and pickled cherries. Tom Ashworth of Yapp Brothers explained to guests…

One afternoon, in 1993, Ndaba Mandela was walking back from school when he saw something unusual. Ndaba lived in a run-down area of the Soweto township in Johannesburg, but parked outside his modest home was a black BMW 7 Series. The driver got out, held open a door and instructed Ndaba, who was then 11 years old, to get in. But Ndaba refused. He had no idea who this man was. His father was not home yet. He was not going anywhere. The driver told him to stop messing about and get in. Again, Ndaba said no. The driver became increasingly frustrated. Didn’t he understand? He had been sent by the boy’s grandfather to fetch him. Ndaba shrugged. Now angry, the driver began to shout. “Are you mad?” he demanded…

In the latest battle in the UK’s uniform wars, a mother who says her seven-year-old daughter cried every day for three years because she wasn’t allowed to wear trousers to her school in London is planning to launch a judicial review of the Government’s uniform guidance. Meanwhile, at a secondary school in Bury, pupils are protesting about a new trousers-only policy. They say school trousers are unflattering, and wearing them will damage their confidence and self-esteem. Tesco has expanded its single-portion food range by 40% to cater to the growing number of Britons who live (and eat) alone. The range now includes 430 items, including solitary burgers, pizza slices and shrunken bottles of sauvignon blanc.…

The Work and Pensions Secretary, Esther McVey, was forced to apologise in the Commons last week for having “inadvertently” misled Parliament about universal credit. McVey had told MPs that in its recent, highly critical report into the new benefits system, the National Audit Office (NAO) had called for its roll-out to be accelerated. However, in an unprecedented open letter to the minister, the head of the spending watchdog said that this was incorrect, and that in fact, it had said the system needed to be ready before people were transferred over to it, and had suggested a pause. Facing calls from Labour MPs for her to resign, McVey said she had meant to say that the NAO had concluded that there is “no practical alternative” to universal credit.…

Redwood City, California Facebook U-turn: In a court submission that could profoundly alter the way it is treated under the law, Facebook has insisted that it is a publisher akin to a traditional newspaper. Hitherto the global web giant has always maintained the exact opposite: that it is not a media company or publisher, but merely a neutral web platform hosting third-party material, and thus could not be held liable for any illegal or libellous content on its web pages. But now that it is being sued by the app company Six4Three, for allegedly defrauding developers by denying them access to user data, Facebook’s attorneys last week claimed, in a court in Redwood City, that it was a publisher, and that as such its editorial decisions (including the decision to…

1 It’s My Turn 2009 (Daz Bailey Remix) by Amanda O’Riordan, Judge Jules, Darren Tate, Lucia Holm and Paul Carnell, performed by Angelic and Daz Bailey 2 Will You Be There, written by Michael Jackson, performed by Michael Jackson and the Andraé Crouch Singers 3 Danny Boy by Frederic Weatherly, set to a traditional Irish folk song, performed by Andy Williams 4 Do You Really Want to Hurt Me by Roy Hay, Boy George, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss, performed by Culture Club 5 Avalon by Bryan Ferry, performed by Roxy Music 6 Walking in the Rain by Harry Vanda and George Young, performed by Grace Jones 7* Oh to Be in Love, written and performed by Kate Bush 8 Both Sides,…

Britain may have established the first universal healthcare scheme, but Germany led the way. The “Bismarck model”, or social health insurance, was introduced by the Iron Chancellor in 1883: compulsory contributions from employees, based on income, were matched by employers, and pooled – usually with some public funds and upfront charges – to pay for healthcare. This system was also adopted by France and the Netherlands, among others. By contrast, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Nordic countries followed Britain in mainly using general taxation to fund healthcare. The US uses private health insurance, typically provided through an employer – supplemented by publicly funded insurance programmes for those who are not covered otherwise. There is no overwhelming evidence that one funding model is inherently superior, though the US system combines…

Silicon Valley is running out of steam Michael Hendrix National Review It’s time Silicon Valley broke itself up, says Michael Hendrix. Not structurally, through antitrust provisions, but geographically. Although the clustering of high-tech firms and financial backers around the San Francisco Bay Area has reaped enormous benefits since the 1960s, this arrangement is now producing diminishing returns and is stifling innovation. The Valley still attracts talent from around the world, despite the area’s grossly inflated property prices, but all “the ping-pong tables and start-up theatre” can’t hide the fact that “the social circles, while ethnically diverse, are an intellectual and ideological monoculture”. This may explain why the industry seems to be running out of fresh ideas, amid falling levels of start-up formation. Were the area’s big financial backers and firms…

The latest official data about smoking in Britain reveals that “young adults are spurning cigarettes”, says The Guardian. Last year, 17.8% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they were smokers, down from 25.7% in 2011 – the biggest drop of any age group. Overall, 15.1% of Britons – or about 7.4 million people – were smokers in 2017, compared with 15.8% the year before. “The data shows we are winning the war on tobacco and that we are tantalisingly close to creating the first-ever smoke-free generation in England,” said Duncan Selbie, the Public Health England chief. However, he added that the fight can only be won if more people from deprived backgrounds kicked the habit. The figures reveal a major disparity in smoking rates according to social class: about a quarter…

In an increasingly contentious world, the dramatic story that has unfolded in northern Thailand over the past fortnight has served as a reminder of what we can achieve if we work together, said the Chicago Sun-Times. When the news emerged that 12 boys were trapped, with their football coach, deep in a monsoon-flooded cave complex, help poured in: an elite Thai team was joined by caving experts from the UK, and scores of military and police divers from Japan, Australia and the US. Israel lent its communications expertise; China sent rescue workers. Last week, as around the world people watched and prayed, the boys, aged 11 to 17, were found, sitting in darkness on a muddy ledge in a small chamber two-and-a-half miles from the cave mouth. This week, just…

“I’m not young enough to know everything.” J.M. Barrie, quoted in The Times “Admit when you are wrong. The older you get, the more frequently you’ll have the opportunity.” Jennifer Finney Boylan in The New York Times “You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because some day a fool will.” Warren Buffett, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “The British never draw a line without blurring it.” Winston Churchill, quoted in The Times “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” Ayn Rand, quoted on NDTV.com “I always say, as you know, that if my fellow citizens want to go to hell, I will help them. It’s my job.” Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr,…

The British Grand Prix should have been “a relatively straightforward Sunday drive” for Lewis Hamilton, said Rebecca Clancy in The Times. Thanks to a “stunning” pole lap the previous day, he looked set for a record sixth victory at Silverstone. But only three corners into the race, the Mercedes driver’s car collided with Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen, who forced him off the asphalt. Hamilton dropped back into last place, and from then on his race was an exercise in “damage limitation”. Remarkably, he managed to overtake 12 drivers in only ten laps, and finished the race in second place – behind his arch-rival, Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel. But he was “seething” at the end of the race, and suggested Ferrari might have orchestrated the collision deliberately. You could almost see the…

To The Times The second blaze at the Glasgow School of Art shows that history repeats itself as tragedy. It was a building fully expressive of its designer’s rare and unpredictable genius – but to follow tragedy with a lifeless facsimile would be farcical. The spirit of Charles Rennie Mackintosh exists in invention, wit and style, not clodhopping copyism. Mackintosh abandoned the architectural profession, disenchanted by its provincialism. He would have been dismayed by his successors advocating a lame reproduction of his original idea. A new Glasgow School of Art as brilliantly inventive as his own would be the best monument. His building had life. Copies are dead. Stephen Bayley, author of Ugly: The Aesthetics of Everything To The Times Stephen Bayley’s forthright opinions on rebuilding seem to…

Theatre The Lieutenant of Inishmore Playwright: Martin McDonagh Director: Michael Grandage Noël Coward Theatre, St Martin's Lane, London WC2 (0844-482 5138). Until 8 September Running time: 1hr 50mins (including interval) ★★★★ What a year it’s been for the British-Irish writer and director Martin McDonagh, said Paul Taylor in The Independent. His film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was showered with Baftas and Oscars. His most recent stage play, Hangmen, took New York by storm. A hotly anticipated new play premieres in London in the autumn. And as a curtain-raiser, we have this “blackly uproarious” revival of The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which features a brilliant performance from Poldark’s Aidan Turner as a psychopathic republican turned down by the IRA for being “too mad”. First staged in 2001 and set during the…

Best books… Cerys Matthews Cerys Matthews, the singer, DJ and author, picks six books she often refers back to. Her festival, The Good Life Experience, returns to the Hawarden Estate, Flintshire, Wales from 14-16 Sept (www.thegoodlifeexperience.co.uk) The Madras Café Cookbook, 2014 ( £12; www.actionvillageindia.org.uk). I go to the Womad Festival every year and eat at the Madras Café, which serves incredible vegetarian food from South India. I stopped eating meat a year ago and, to my taste buds, the most delicious food if you’re vegetarian is Indian. Quite Early One Morning by Dylan Thomas, 1954 (out of print). I am a huge fan of Dylan Thomas’s work. This collection of short stories, essays and letters gives an idea of the man behind Under Milk Wood – his humour, intelligence and…

Rosé is to red wine what “watercolours are to oil paints”, says David Williams in The Observer. They tend to trade “in subtlety and delicacy rather than the bold or the primary”, which is the case with Zafeirakis Limniona Rosé, Thessalia, Greece 2017 (£16.50; BottleApostle.com). Made from the local grape limniona, it is “stony-cool, wild strawberry-scented and rather beautiful”. The fashion is for light, pale rosés, but the southern Rhône Valley’s specialist appellation, Tavel, produces rosés of a “darker hue and greater density that work brilliantly with meat, oily fish, and heavier, big-flavoured salads”. Try the great value Les Gourmandises Tavel, Rhône, France 2016 (£6.99; Lidl). Pinot noir can lend a “similar kind of silkiness” to pinks that it does to reds. It makes its presence felt in M&S’s “tangy”…

Corkscrew works in many restaurants and supermarkets to pair your food to the perfect wine at your price point. It gives a simple score from 1-100 based on critics ratings, producer pedigree and the quality of the vintage (free; Android, iOS). Just point your phone camera at a bottle label, and Vivino uses image recognition to bring up its rating and suggested food pairings. You can also tell it your tastes and it will tell you what people with similar profiles have enjoyed (free; Android, iOS). Wotwine? works in nine big supermarket chains to tell you whether you’re getting good value for money. You scan the barcode on the label to see tasting notes, food pairing suggestions and how much the wine retails for (free; Android, iOS). Hello Vino: Wine…

A jolly journey on a Czech river Canoeing on the River Vltava is one of the Czech Republic’s most delightful summer rituals – an often boozy respite from city life enjoyed by families, “love-struck couples” and “old men with dogs” alike, says Mark Pickering in The Guardian. This “colossal” waterway runs through Prague and joins the Elbe in the north, but one of its loveliest stretches lies far south of the capital. The 35km journey from Vyšší Brod to the “breathtaking” medieval town of Ceský Krumlov is best done in two days, with a night at the “lively” campsite of Kanak – kemp Branná en route. Strap your belongings to your canoe in barrels, walk around the weirs to avoid capsizing, and raise your beers or bottles of tuzemák (sugar-beet…

Trailblazing choreographer and legend of the West End Gillian Lynne 1926-2018 As a child, Gillian Lynne, who has died aged 92, was affectionately known as “Wriggle-Bottom” for her inability to sit still, said The Herald (Glasgow). When she was eight, her mother became so concerned by her hyperactivity she took her to the doctor. Leaving the child alone in his surgery, the GP watched her through a window – and saw her jump up and break into a spontaneous dance. There was nothing wrong with the girl, he concluded – she just needed to dance. He suggested she take classes, paving the way for a stellar career in which she became a soloist at Sadler’s Wells, a star at the Palladium and one of the late 20th century’s greatest choreographers,…

Mothercare: needs more mothers For those of us desperate for more rain this dry summer, Mothercare may be a good place to go looking, said James Moore in The Independent. After all, the flailing retailer has been “under a cloud for months now and it’s only getting thicker”. Perhaps the hot weather has got to chief executive Mark Newton-Jones, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. How else to explain his waffle-heavy restructuring plan, which involves a £32m fundraising and the closure of 60 stores in total, leaving the chain with 77. “We have now finalised arrangements to restructure and refinance the group, ensuring that the transformation of the Mothercare brand we started four years ago can now be completed,” he claims. What sort of transformation might that be? “Answer: one…

Trade war: cool heads needed Editorial Financial Times The “war of words” is now over, says the FT, and the real trade war between the US and its big trading partners has begun. Having already imposed tariffs on imports of steel and aluminium – including on the EU, Mexico and Canada – the Trump administration last week imposed levies on $34bn of goods from China and threatened more. Inevitably, China retaliated in kind: its self-esteem and President Xi’s economic nationalism “could not allow otherwise”. But elsewhere, cool heads must prevail, or we risk a globally devastating outcome. Countries mulling their responses if President Trump escalates tension – for example, by carrying out his threat to impose 20% tariffs on EU cars – would be wise to note that “this is…

We recently hosted an intimate wine pairing dinner for readers of The Week at newly opened wine bar, Authentique in Kentish Town, London. The event was in partnership with Sanlam, sponsors of The Week Wines , and featured some of the finest wines of Domaine la Tour Vieille. Our guests were greeted with a chilled glass of Crémant de Limoux NV of Philippe Collin and had the opportunity to mingle with our wine editor Bruce Palling as well as Tom Ashworth of Yapp Brothers wine merchant, and grower Christine Campadieu who had traveled to the UK for the event. Yapp Brothers are arguably the best UK specialist in regional French wines and Tom gave a little background on the featured region, before Christine…