Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1236 i The Week

What happened The Darroch affair A second tranche of diplomatic cables sent by Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s ambassador to the US, was published by The Mail on Sunday this week. In these extracts, dating from May 2018, Darroch accused Donald Trump of abandoning the Iran nuclear deal to spite his predecessor Barack Obama, in what amounted to an act of “diplomatic vandalism”. Two days earlier, while announcing the launch of a police investigation into the leak, Met assistant commissioner Neil Basu had warned that any media organisation that published further secrets could be prosecuted. But Scotland Yard rowed back on that threat after MPs said it risked turning Britain into a “police state”. Darroch resigned last week over the original memo leak, in which he described the Trump administration as…

Two separate inquiries have concluded that the bullying and harassment of staff is a significant problem in both the House of Commons and the Lords. Gemma White QC’s investigation into bullying in the Commons uncovered instances of MPs’ staff being shouted at, groped and even having office equipment thrown at them by superiors. Naomi Ellenbogen QC said that bullying in the Lords was rooted in a culture of “undue deference, fear and hierarchy” between members and staff, which included segregated lifts, staircases and toilets. She estimated that up to 20% of the house’s 778 members had behaved inappropriately to staff, cases that went unreported for “fear of reprisal”. Both inquiries recommended sweeping reforms of working practices and reporting procedures.…

Shakopee, Minnesota Amazon walkouts: Thousands of Amazon workers staged strikes and protests to coincide with this week’s “Prime Day”, the company’s annual sales bonanza. The walkouts took place at fulfilment centres in the US, and in several European countries. The biggest was in Shakopee, Minnesota, where engineers from the company’s Seattle HQ joined in the walkout. Amazon last year raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour in the US, but the strikers said their protest was not about pay, but about the gruelling rate at which they must “stow” and “pick” goods – unpack and retrieve them – to avoid dismissal. “You have to beat the machine,” said Faizal Dualeh, a Somali immigrant. “It’s like a nightmare, all these machines telling you your rate is down.” Washington DC Anti-migrant…

This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured chef and restaurateur Marcus Wareing 1 Tainted Love by Ed Cobb, performed by Soft Cell 2 Come on Eileen by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, performed by Dexys Midnight Runners 3 In Dreams, written and performed by Roy Orbison 4 The Best by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight, performed by Tina Turner 5 A Gift of a Thistle by James Horner, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by James Horner 6* How Deep is Your Love by Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb and Robin Gibb, performed by Bee Gees 7 Blue on Blue by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, performed by Bobby Vinton 8 Skyfall by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth, performed by Adele Book: a Bear Grylls…

Autonomous weapons are usually divided into three categories, depending on the human involvement required. When a human is “in the loop” – as with a standard military drone – the weapon can select and attack targets only with a human command. When a human is “on the loop”, the system can select and deliver force on its own, but the human can override it. The Aegis missile defence system, for instance, will identify targets and offer its operator an abort option, but will fire if the human does not override the decision: if a ship is under fire from inbound missiles, requiring human approval could be too slow. Finally, there are “out of the loop” weapons which, once activated, independently select and attack targets. At present, as far as we…

AUSTRIA An ugly case of gesture politics Der Standard (Vienna) Austria has chosen an odd way to stand up against human rights abuses, says Tarafa Baghajati. In protest at the imprisonment in Saudi Arabia of Murtaja Qureiris, it plans to close Vienna’s King Abdullah Centre, set up in 2011 by Austria, Spain and the Saudis to promote religious dialogue. Qureiris was just 13 when he was arrested for demonstrating against the Saudi government. Now we learn he faces execution. The international outrage is completely justified – every effort should be made to secure his release. But though there might be some point in shutting the King Abdullah Centre if it was a Saudi propaganda vehicle, that’s not remotely the case: besides fostering contacts between the faiths, it manages refugee programmes…

Amazon’s Alexa has been recruited by NHS England. Under a partnership agreement unveiled this week, the digital voice assistant will in future automatically scan NHS websites when asked questions related to health matters, such as, “What are the symptoms of chicken pox?” and, “How can I get rid of dandruff?”. The Government hopes that if Alexa can offer reliable advice, it will reduce the number of people who make unnecessary GP appointments. Some 50 million consultations a year are deemed unnecessary, booked to deal with issues such as colds and travel sickness, and these put huge pressure on limited resources. However, concerns have been raised over people relying too heavily on Alexa, which hasn’t the capacity to make difficult distinctions between, say, symptoms of minor illnesses and minor symptoms of…

Theresa May is not a politician known for her displays of exuberance. But on one of her last days in office, the PM was so overcome with emotion that she “broke into a jig”, said Martin Farrer in The Guardian. And she wasn’t the only one to be so affected by England’s triumphant performance in Sunday’s cricket World Cup final (see page 24). The national side’s last-gasp victory over New Zealand sent most of the 30,000 fans packed inside Lord’s into “paroxysms of delight” – scenes that were mirrored across the country as 8.3 million viewers watched on Sky and Channel 4 and “celebrations spilled from homes and pubs and into the streets”. No wonder, said The Daily Telegraph: the match’s nerve-shredding final “Super Over” was one of “the most…

It was a little after 8pm, on a glorious summer’s evening, when Eoin Morgan did what no England men’s cricket captain had done before, said Mike Atherton in The Times. “He lifted the World Cup.” No one – not the spectators at Lord’s, not the millions of people watching around the world – could quite “believe what they had just witnessed”. The final had been tied – not once, but twice. First England equalled New Zealand’s score of 241. Then there was a Super Over, in which each side faced six balls, to settle the match. England were first up: they hit 15 runs. Then came the Black Caps: they responded with 15. So, under the rules, the trophy went to the side that had hit more boundaries in the…

To The Times I have been both a diplomat and a political appointee, and from both points of view I deeply regret Sir Kim Darroch’s resignation as ambassador to Washington. His decision to resign is a demonstration of the decency of a man I have known for many decades. But the fact that he has felt the need to do so is a sign of the fundamental dysfunctionality of our political system at the moment, rather than the US system. His confidential correspondence to the Foreign Office was harvested over a number of years and leaked to a Brexit supporter with a clear political agenda. This is one of a series of politically motivated attacks on the civil service by Brexiters. Having been on both sides of this divide I…

It is a haul that would make “Indiana Jones reach for his whip”, said Jim Mustian in the I newspaper. In charges filed this week at Manhattan state court, Subhash Kapoor, a 70-year-old former New York gallery owner, stands accused of trafficking more than 2,600 stolen antiquities, worth £116m. The US Department of Homeland Security described him as “one of the most prolific art smugglers in the world”. It is alleged that over three decades, Kapoor travelled the world seeking treasures looted from temples and archaeological sites in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Cambodia – and then sold the artefacts that he’d “nefariously acquired” to dealers, collectors and “world renowned” museums. Prosecutors say he went to extraordinary lengths, arranging for statues and other “ancient masterworks” to be repaired, and providing forged…

Programmes Boris Johnson: Fit To Be Prime Minister? On the eve of the announcement of the new PM, Gary Gibbon looks at whether Boris Johnson has what it takes. Mon 22 July, C4 23:00 (65mins). Keeping Faith The hit word-of-mouth Welsh thriller returns for a second series. Faith (a brilliant Eve Myles) is drawn into a new mystery 18 months on from her husband’s sudden reappearance. Tue 23 July, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). I Am Nicola First of three dramas by Dominic Savage, each following a tough time in the life of one woman. In this one, Vicky McClure is trapped in a dysfunctional relationship. Gemma Chan and Samantha Morton star in the next two. Tue 23 July, C4 22:00 (60mins). Inside The Bruderhof A look inside the Sussex village of…

Castle Farm Café, Midford Road, Midford, Bath (07564-783307) This delightful restaurant is housed in a “ramshackle” metal shed on an organic farm just outside Bath, says Tom Parker Bowles in The Mail on Sunday. There are worn concrete floors, corrugated-iron walls and a charming Good Life vibe. But if the surroundings are on the rustic side, the “cooking is anything but”. A peach and mozzarella salad to start is “utterly fresh and joyously simple”: the fruit charred to luscious softness; hazelnuts and sunflower seeds to add crunch; nasturtiums lending a flash of colour. This is River Café-level quality “at about a quarter of the price”. Next, a superb pizza: the crust thin, crisp and chewy, with molten cheese spread thick over a sharp tomato sauce. Then “things get better…

Ross Perot was a self-made American billionaire with no experience of political office, who described Washington as a cesspool and ran for the presidency in 1992 on a promise to drain it. He would, he vowed, slash red tape, root out corruption, rebuild crumbling cities and restore America to his vision, said The New York Times: the “small-town life idealised in Norman Rockwell’s homey” paintings (which he collected). As an aspiring president, he looked “all wrong”: elfin (he was five foot five), with a 1950s buzz cut and jug ears, he spoke in a nasal twang and was given to folksy epigrams: “If you see a snake, just kill it. Don’t appoint a committee on snakes.” Yet he won almost 20% of the vote, and changed the face of US…

Sterling slid to fresh 27-month lows as the prospect of a disorderly no-deal Brexit increased. Philip Hammond is likely to be replaced as Chancellor next week, no matter who becomes the next PM, but he has confirmed that he would fight a no-deal Brexit from the backbenches. He poured cold water on the idea of a rapid UK-US free-trade deal. Pundits suggested the next chancellor is likely to be Sajid Javid or Liz Truss. Average UK earnings grew at 3.6% in the three months to May, their fastest pace in a decade. The proportion of new houses in England and Wales sold as leasehold fell sharply from 13.3% in 2017 to 4.2% last year following revelations over onerous ground rents. Christine Lagarde resigned as head of the IMF; she has…

John McDonnell Shadow chancellor John McDonnell has led a varied working life, says Oliver Shah in The Sunday Times. The Liverpudlian trained to be a Catholic priest before dropping out to work at Birds Eye, Silentnight (“I hope no one’s got any of my mattresses,” he jokes) and Philips, where he made TVs (“the job title was ‘exposer’ – try travelling with that on your passport”). In person, McDonnell is charming and emollient, and his “nimbleness” has won him some unlikely admirers. “He’s very impressive,” says Paul Drechsler, the former president of the CBI. “I’ve seen him address a dinner audience and, for 95% of the time, you’d have followed him out of the room. Then an interesting combination of Karl Marx, Lenin and Trotsky pops out and it reminds…

The week’s best shares Eckoh Investors Chronicle The secure payment solutions provider is enjoying a “regulatory tailwind”. After announcing a three-year, $3.8m contract win with a Fortune 100 company, the group needs to capitalise on the US opportunity. Buy. 48p. Everyman Media Group The Mail on Sunday This fast-growing cinema chain is expected to double in size over the next few years. Shares have suffered from streaming competition, but with UK cinema admissions at their highest in decades, investors are optimistic. Buy. £1.71. Ocado The Times With significant contracts to build and operate warehouses and delivery networks, the shares in what may be “one of Britain’s biggest business success stories” suffer big swings but look good in the long run. Buy. £11.40. RHI Magnesita The Daily Telegraph With enormous outreach…

Controversy of the week Trump’s toxic taunt “Go back to where you came from.” It’s a crude, time-worn racist taunt, said Afua Hirsch in The Guardian. Every black and brown person in a Western country has had it flung at them, regardless of where they were actually born. It signals that to be a visible minority is always to be an immigrant – and that to be an immigrant is “bad”. Now such remarks are emanating from the White House. On Sunday, Donald Trump took to Twitter to attack four non-white Democratic congresswomen known as “the Squad”, who had criticised conditions for migrants on the US-Mexico border. “So interesting,” Trump tweeted, “to see ‘Progressive’ Democrat congresswomen, who originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe”, telling…

Even though she has a 128mph serve and has won 23 grand slam singles titles, 12% of British men think that if they played a game with Serena Williams, they could take a point off her. YouGov/The Guardian The number of people who say there is nothing wrong with same-sex relationships has fallen from 68% to 66% in the last year. It marks the first drop since 1987, when the figure stood at 11%. British Social Attitudes Survey/The Independent 33% of UK adults now see far-right groups as “the single biggest threat to community, cohesion and public order”, up from 28% in February. The proportion naming Islamist extremists as the biggest threat has dropped from 35% to 28%. YouGov/The Independent…

Goma, DR Congo Ebola spreads: Health officials in DR Congo have confirmed the first case of Ebola in the eastern city of Goma, a major transport hub that is home to more than one million people. Authorities have described the case as a potential “game changer” in the current outbreak, and have so far vaccinated around 30 people who’d come into contact with the victim – a pastor who was infected during a visit to the town of Butembo, one of the centres of the outbreak. On the bus back, he passed through three health checkpoints designed to stop the spread of the disease, but was only diagnosed once he reached Goma. He has since died. The current Ebola outbreak has claimed around 1,700 lives since last August, making it…

“If I were a teenage girl, I’d have a poster of the purple-haired US footballer Megan Rapinoe on my bedroom wall. Her arms-outstretched celebration expresses that rarest quality in a woman, the one drummed out of little girls: swagger. It’s a strange paradox that while women’s opportunities have expanded, the way society expects them to look has narrowed. What if you’re a girl who recoils from dresses and long hair? What if you prefer a short crop and utilitarian clothes? In the 1970s, you’d be a punk; in the 1990s, an indie kid. But butch girls like Rapinoe now stand alone against an Instagram orthodoxy of Love Island sexbots and obligatory female grooming.” Janice Turner in The Times…

Only an election can deliver Brexit William Hague The Daily Telegraph I share most fears voiced about a no-deal Brexit, says William Hague. However, if the UK does crash out on 31 October, I can see how a Boris Johnson government could make a decent fist of things. Any coherent strategy for a British revival would require a slew of bold measures: reducing corporate tax to the same rate as Ireland’s; tax breaks for industries crippled by Brexit; the setting up of free ports around the coast where normal regulations and custom duties won’t apply; fast-tracking trade deals with the US and others. But what people forget is that given the Tories’ wafer-thin majority in the Commons, none of this could happen. Some reforms would be rejected outright, others argued…

Even electric cars are polluting Even if every car on the road was electric, it wouldn’t solve the problem of urban air pollution – because exhausts aren’t the only source of vehicular emissions. According to a new government report, over half of the air pollution attributed to road transport comes from brakes and tyres. Each time a car is driven, its brakes throw up tiny particles of iron and its tyres shed fragments of plastic; other particles come off the road surface. These enter the airstream, where they pose a threat to human health; the microplastics from tyres can also enter waterways via the sewers. (According to a study commissioned by Friends of the Earth last year, tyres are the biggest single source of microplastic pollution in lakes, rivers, and…

“It absolutely breaks my heart to say, but I do not think the Labour Party is a safe space for Jewish people any more.” Thus spoke Izzy Lenga, a Labour member interviewed for last week’s Panorama documentary on anti-Semitism in the party, said The Observer. The programme found that as recently as this spring, Labour had a backlog of 1,000 complaints of anti-Semitism to deal with, and that so far it has expelled only 15 people as a result of such cases. It also included powerful testimony from Labour whistle-blowers about the way Jeremy Corbyn’s office had interfered with the handling of disciplinary cases by overruling the judgments of compliance officers. The Labour leadership’s response to the programme was all too typical, said Andrew Grice in The Independent. Rather than…

Last October, the All England Club decided it was time for Wimbledon to introduce a tie-break if the deciding set of a match reached 12-12, said Stuart Fraser in The Times. Had it not done so, the final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer “could still be playing now”. But this thrilling match – at four hours and 57 minutes, the longest final in Wimbledon history – ended with Djokovic claiming a 16th grand slam title. It was “almost a 21st” for Federer: had the 37-year-old converted either of his championship points, he would have become the oldest men’s singles player in the open era to win a grand slam title. Instead, Djokovic recovered – the first man to “make a successful comeback after staring down the barrel” since Bob…

Hardbacks Machines Like Me by Ian McEwan Jonathan Cape £18.99 (£15.99) McEwan’s latest novel is set in an alternative 1980s in which Thatcher loses the Falklands, The Beatles have got back together and humanoid robots have just been invented, said the FT. One is bought by Charlie, a drifter, but it soon develops a crush on his girlfriend. “On every other page there is a felicitous sentence or arresting observation,” said The Daily Telegraph. McEwan, 71, remains as sharp as ever. Appeasing Hitler by Tim Bouverie Bodley Head £20 (£16.99) This “elegantly written” book by a “rising” historian dissects Britain’s attempts to appease the Nazis, said The Times. It reminds us that while today the policy is seen as catastrophic, at the time it was hugely popular. This is an…

If you happened to see the new Spider-Man film at the cinema recently, I hope you didn’t leave when the credits began to roll, said Paul Tassi in Forbes. Why? Because Marvel’s latest superhero movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, contains two crucial tucked-away post-credits scenes which are as much a part of the movie as what has gone before. In the first of these – spoiler alert! – Spider-Man’s true identity is revealed to the world. In the second, we learn that throughout the film, the hero’s boss Nick Fury has in fact been a shape-shifting Skrull alien. This trick of post-credits scenes actually has quite a history, said Amy Jones in The Daily Telegraph. Back in the 1960s, James Bond films ended with a message stating that 007 would…

Best books… Roy Adkins The historian picks his favourite books connected to Gibraltar. His new book, Gibraltar, co-written with Lesley Adkins – marking the 240th anniversary of the Great Siege – is now out in paperback (Abacus £12.99) Brothers at Arms by Larrie D. Ferreiro, 2016 (Vintage £13.99). Ferreiro shows how America’s independence was won thanks to the financial and military assistance of France and Spain. Some of the fiercest fighting of the American Revolution was in Europe, culminating in 1782 with a floating battery attack on Gibraltar during the Great Siege. The Royal Navy at Gibraltar by Tito Benady, 1992 (out of print). This highly readable book charts the long association of Gibraltar with the Royal Navy, from its capture in 1704, through to the Battle of Trafalgar and…

No fruit is truly seasonal any more, but to me, July means strawberries – whether swimming in cream, whizzed into granita or suspended in clafoutis custard, says David Williams in The Observer. Here’s what to drink with them. Alasia Moscato d’Asti, Piedmont, Italy 2018 (from £7.59; RannochScott.co.uk). Sweet and full of summery scents, the youthful Moscato d’Asti is barely wine at all: it’s just 5% alcohol, with gentle fizz and a sherbet-foamy sweetness. This one, the Alasia, is full of acacia flowers, apricot and gentle lemony freshness. Brännland Just Cider, Sweden NV (£6; Scrattingscraftcidershop.co.uk) is a moscatostyle drink with gentle bubbles, and floral and stone fruity flavours. Brännland also makes an even sweeter cider, Brännland Iscider NV (£37.50, 37.5cl; Bierhuis.co.uk), inspired by a style of wine production in which the…

Amid the “modern-day jumble” of New York’s JFK airport, there is a “simulacrum of what jet travel might have been like” in a more glamorous age, says Sunshine Flint in The Independent. The newly opened TWA Hotel is housed in the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Centre, a 1962 “marvel” of curving white roofs that looks like a bird in flight. Conceived at a time when America was at the height of its power, the former airport terminal is so spectacularly space age it once drew sightseers. The hotel that now occupies it is a “fever dream” of golden age nostalgia. There’s a faultless attention to detail, from the “neat-as-a-pin” cabin crew and pilot uniforms worn by staff to the “covetable” vintage posters, split-flap departure boards and vivid red-and-white insignia colour…

Eva Mozes Kor, who has died aged 85, was a survivor of Auschwitz and of Josef Mengele’s notorious experiments. She lost 49 of her relatives in the Holocaust, including both her parents and two of her sisters, yet in later life she insisted that she forgave its perpetrators. In 1995, she wrote a letter of forgiveness to a Nazi doctor named Hans Munch, after he agreed to testify about the workings of the gas chambers at Auschwitz; and in 2015, she was photographed embracing in court the so-called Bookkeeper of Auschwitz, Oskar Groening, after he accepted moral guilt for his part in the Holocaust. Other survivors were angry, but Mozes Kor said that she had come to realise that “forgiveness is the best revenge”. Eva Mozes and her identical twin…

Stitched-up package-holiday tourists “know the routine”, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. They arrive at their hotel to find the sea view’s a building site and the pool is “frogspawn green”. But Thomas Cook shareholders are on an “even worse vacation” oddly absent from the brochure: the “near-total wipeout tour”. Investors have seen the share price crash from 140p last May to just a few pence. And under the latest rescue plan, they could now lose everything – even their “trunks”. The 178-year-old business is in talks with its biggest shareholder (the Chinese conglomerate Fosun) and lenders about a £750m cash injection, followed by a £1.6bn debt-for-equity swap. This could end up with the Chinese company taking control of the business, said Rob Davies in The Guardian. It’s not a…

Britons will spend £2.7bn this summer on 50 million new outfits that they expect only to wear once, according to research for the charity Barnardo’s. Some 11 million throwaway outfits will be bought for summer holidays, while a further ten million will be bought for weddings, at an average price of £79.76. Streaming of online pornography produces the same amount of carbon dioxide as the whole of Belgium, according to a new report by the French think tank The Shift Project. Its researchers found that the energy required to stream online videos is responsible for the emission of 300 million tonnes of CO2 a year – almost 1% of total global emissions – and that a third of that comes from videos with pornographic content.…

Strasbourg, France EU president confirmed: Ursula von der Leyen has won a confirmatory vote to become the next President of the European Commission, replacing Jean-Claude Juncker. The German defence minister, who will take up her post on 1 November, was nominated to the role by EU leaders earlier this month. There was speculation that MEPs might refuse to confirm her appointment, owing to anger that their own “lead candidates” – put forward by blocs within the European Parliament – had been overlooked for the role. In the event, however, she scraped through the secret ballot with just nine more votes than required, having sought support from Eurosceptic and right-wing MEPs in Poland and Italy. Before the vote, von der Leyen said that she will not reopen negotiations over Britain’s withdrawal…

My grandfather the spy Charlotte Philby was taken to visit her notorious grandfather Kim in Moscow every year until his death in 1988, when she was five, says Jake Kerridge in The Daily Telegraph. She recalls being met at the airport by men in grey suits who would put a blue light on a car and whisk them to the gated apartment block where he lived. “It was actually lovely and not that typical drab Soviet style that you imagine”, with animals skins on the wall, wine, music and games of chess on the go. As for Kim Philby himself, “my memory is of an always slightly scruffy, smiling old grandpa, wearing a white vest and braces…” She recalls the games they played and his warmth towards her – and…

An easyJet customer escaped excess baggage charges by putting on an extra 8kg of clothes. John Irvine was returning to Edinburgh from Nice, where the temperature was 30°C, when his bag turned out to be overweight. “The lassie at the counter asked us if we wanted to pay extra,” said his son Josh, “but my dad just looked at her and said, ‘Hen, watch this’, and zipped open the suitcase and flung on about 15 jumpers. Getting through security was a struggle, because they thought he was trying to smuggle something under all his clothes.” Thousands of people, including newlyweds, have been flocking to a lake in Siberia to take Instagram pictures of themselves beside its azure waters – ignoring the fact that it’s actually a chemical waste dump. Nicknamed…

INDIA The India-US love-in starts to show cracks The Indian Express (Noida) Donald Trump and India’s PM, Narendra Modi, pretended to get along just fine at last month’s G20 summit, says Christophe Jaffrelot. They didn’t fool anyone. The US and India are at odds on every front, thanks to the two “strongmen at the helm”. Trump’s “America first” crackdown on immigration has hit India hard: thousands of techies have had their requests for H-1B visa extensions rejected, and the number of such visas going to Indians may now be slashed. And Modi’s attempt to put India first by protecting local retailers has sparked a trade war. Under Modi, curbs have been introduced on Amazon and Walmart, the two companies that dominate India’s e-commerce sector, a move that prompted Trump to…

Cockroaches might or might not survive a nuclear holocaust – but wiping them out by other means is becoming increasingly difficult. According to a new study, the common German cockroach is rapidly evolving resistance to insecticides, making it “almost impossible” to control it with chemicals alone. Exterminators typically use a range of insecticides, so that if some of the roaches are resistant to one class, they’ll be killed by another. But when the team at Purdue University in Indiana tested variations of this approach in an infested apartment block, they found that none of them eradicated the roaches: in some cases, they flourished. Lab tests later revealed that roaches that survive a treatment become immune to it – and pass that immunity to their offspring; but it also seems that…

Naomi Campbell (pictured) is a stickler for hygiene, especially when it comes to air travel. Whatever the plane, “private or commercial, people start coughing and sneezing”, says the supermodel. On every flight, she brings a surgical mask, disposable gloves and surgical wipes, and proceeds to clean the entire area around her seat. She also brings her own seat cover which she gets hand washed at her hotel. “I don’t care what people think of me,“ she says. “It’s my health and it makes me feel better.” In the twilight of his career, Marlon Brando couldn’t always be relied on to learn a script. So when filming The Island of Dr. Moreau in Australia, Brando wore a radio earpiece to pick up any needed prompts. This, according to his co-star David…

“A diplomat’s job, if it is anything, and especially in Trump’s America, is to make damn sure it never speaks truth to power.” Tom Peck in The Independent “Education is what remains when we have forgotten all that we have been taught.” Lord Halifax, quoted on The Browser “To find a person inexhaustible is simply the definition of love.” Iris Murdoch, quoted in The New York Times “There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.” Cartoonist Bill Watterson, quoted on CountryLiving.com “Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self.” Poet and novelist May Sarton, quoted in the Associated Press “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson, quoted in The Independent “Art…

Get drastic on plastic To The Guardian Re your article about “Plastic City” on the outskirts of the Philippine capital of Manila. We have just returned from the town of Tabora in Tanzania, having worked as volunteers for ten-week periods over the past 20 years. Our final trip revealed that Tanzania has recently banned all plastic bags, with not a black plastic bag to be seen in the streets, which had been a common sight in the ditches and on the roads. These black bags were given to you in the market and from small roadside stalls selling fruit, veg and clothes. In May this year, Tanzania passed a law making the use of plastic bags an offence with a hefty fine or imprisonment. The law was implemented within a…

Exhibition of the week Manga The British Museum, London WC1 (020-7323 8000, britishmuseum.org). Until 26 August Loosely translated as “rambling pictures”, manga is the Japanese variant of the comic book – and in its home country, it is a cultural phenomenon, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Containing stories about almost every subject imaginable, manga comics are printed by the million and read by children, “salarymen”, “air hostesses” and “90-year-old bonsai masters” alike. “Classless, ageless, infinitely varied”, manga is less a genre than “a cultural glue that holds Japan together” – and its reach is no longer confined to its country of origin. In recent years, this local obsession has turned into a global “tsunami”, its influence creeping into everything from “cinema, advertising [and] toys” to “television, video games,…

Tom informs Tony that he and Natasha will be submitting a proposal to Peggy for turning Ambridge into an orchard village. Tony wants nothing to do with it. Jim tells Alistair that he’s going to apologise to all the people he’s let down. Lilian’s party for her friends is in full swing when Peggy walks in. Lilian can’t believe the way Peggy works the room and flirts with everyone. Peggy tells Lilian she’s had an idea: she’d like Lilian to be the trust administrator. For Rex’s birthday, Toby takes him for a day’s fishing and a picnic with Rosie. Rex says he’s received an invitation to Anisha’s wedding. As they talk, Rosie takes her first steps. Lilian admits to Alice that she’s less than thrilled at the idea of being…

Crab and artichoke For the freshest of crabmeat, put 10-12 live blue crabs into abundant boiled and salted water, bring back to the boil, then simmer for ten minutes. Cool and remove the meat from the shell with a nutcracker and mallet Serves 4 abunch of rocket 1 head of radicchio 500g cooked crabmeat (as fresh as possible) 6 cherry tomatoes, halved 4 artichoke hearts in oil, quartered a handful of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped 2–3 tbsps (light) extra virgin olive oil grated zest and freshly squeezed juice of 2 unwaxed lemons sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 chunks of country bread, chopped into cubes and toasted • Wash and dry the rocket well, and divide between four plates. Core the radicchio and then add to the rocket…

New cars: what the critics say Auto Express Although it looks pretty hefty, the Range Rover Evoque is a compact SUV – and when it arrived on the scene eight years ago, it became a “style icon”. But since then, the compact SUV segment has exploded. To compete with premium rivals, it has been made more “rounded, practical and multitalented”. In its class, the all-new model doesn’t look unbeatable, but it is “very impressive”. What Car? Unsurprisingly, given how well received it was the first time around, the exterior is not much changed. Inside, though, the car has new luxurious seats and a spot-on driving position. Smartphone mirroring is on offer, as is a second central touchscreen, which looks great, but is distracting. The non-leather option is a winner, and…

“Serious cyclists love Majorca,” says Karen Robinson in The Sunday Times. But on an e-bike, “the weediest” visitors can enjoy the island’s glorious coast, and take in some of its finest cuisine. Spanish chef Fernando P. Arellano, owner of Zaranda – “the only restaurant in the Balearics with two Michelin stars” – has launched a new cycling tour from his hotel, Castell Son Claret, west of Palma, that “concentrates as much on pit stops as on pedal work”. They include Ca’n Molinas café at Valldemossa, known for its “light and fluffy, sugar-dusted” coca de patata pastries, and the Son Moragues estate, an olive oil producer, where there’s a tasting with an expert. Of course, there are wineries, too. Ca’n Pico in Banyalbufar makes wine that is as enjoyable as the…

Sports Direct: giant mugs? Being a shareholder in Sports Direct is not for the faint of heart, said Ben Martin in The Times. On Monday, shares in Mike Ashley’s retail group fell 10% when it announced it was postponing the release of full-year figures due to auditing delays and “increased regulatory scrutiny” of its auditor, Grant Thornton – and might now miss key revenue targets. Ominously, Sports Direct cited problems integrating House of Fraser (acquired in 2018) and “uncertainty” over “future trading performance” as reasons for the delay, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. It also cautioned that “a number of key areas” could “materially affect” previous market guidance. In other words, this sounds very “like a profits warning, with only the severity to be determined”. With the share…

Closing the ethnicity pay gap Oliver Kamm The Times Policymakers should be worried by new figures showing a “stubborn” gap between the average pay of white British workers and those from ethnic minorities, says Oliver Kamm. Not all of those from ethnic minority groups earn less than white Britons; indeed, employees from Chinese or Indian backgrounds earn more, on average. Overall, though, the gap between white British workers and the rest is 3.8%, widening to an alarming 20% for some minorities (those from a Bangladeshi background fare worst of all). In theory, a free labour market ought to self-correct when it comes to discrimination on grounds of ethnicity: it gives a competitive advantage to firms that hire without prejudice. But in the real world, it doesn’t always work like that.…

Three-quarters of people read reviews from other customers when buying goods or services online, says Jo Thornhill in The Observer – but there’s a “burgeoning market” in fakes. How can you tell the difference? ● Be suspicious if a product has received a lot of five-star reviews in a short space of time – especially if it’s not a well-known brand. Be wary if the best-reviewed products are new or unheard of brands. ● Don’t just look at the star ratings: read the actual reviews. Do they sound natural or are they short and repetitive, using a lot of the same phrases? If so, beware. ● Where possible, filter your search for verified reviews (meaning ones where the reviewer bought the item or service). But remember that a consumer may…