Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1249 i The Week

What happened Brexit in the balance Officials engaged in frantic last-minute talks this week in an effort to seal a Brexit deal ahead of the crucial EU summit that began on Thursday. Hopes of such an agreement had run high since a successful meeting between Boris Johnson and his Irish counterpart Leo Varadkar at the end of last week, but negotiations were hanging in the balance asThe Week went to press. British and EU officials were working on a compromise under which Northern Ireland would remain legally part of the UK customs area – and thus eligible to benefit from trade deals negotiated by the UK – while being de facto inside the EU customs territory. But it seemed unlikely they’d be able to nail down the details and address…

Electric cars, with new research showing that the most efficient battery-powered models can now drive up to 33 miles for £1, three times further than an efficient combustion-engine car can travel on £1’s worth of petrol or diesel. The high street, following the opening of a 25,000sq ft HMV Megastore, stocking 105,000 LPs and CDs, in Birmingham. Located close to the city centre, HMV Vault has a performance space and a vast stock of films on DVD and Blu-ray. Margaret Atwood and Bernardine Evaristo, who became the first joint winners of the Booker Prize in almost 30 years, for their respective books The Testaments and Girl, Woman, Other. The jury had agreed unanimously both should win, and when told it was against the rules they staged a sit-in to persuade…

According to the averaged results of four polls taken between April and September, in which respondents were asked to choose between various scenarios, 23% of voters would like Britain to leave the EU without a deal. 9% would like to leave with Theresa May’s deal. 14% would like to leave but remain in the single market and customs union. 34% would like the UK to remain in the EU. 21% don’t know. Kantar/BBC 49% of Scots now support independence, 51% oppose it. Support for independence is up 5% from last year’s average of 44%. 45% of Scots agree that the country would be better off economically if inside the EU but independent of the UK. 35% disagree. Panelbase/ The Sunday Times…

Connolly on Parkinson’s When Billy Connolly made a film earlier this year about his Parkinson’s disease, so many fans interpreted it as a farewell message that he has since posted a video of himself, strumming on a banjo, crooning: “Not dying, not dead, not slipping away...” On the other hand, he is not that well. “I have good days and bad days. Shaky days,” he told Tim Adams in The Guardian. “I made an arse of iton the film, where I said I was wasting away, but Parkinson’s is like that. One day my hearing went, then my balance went, my sight got worse. It feels as if everything is being taken away from you... But I am on medication, so it is all going slowly. Little changes quickly become…

Mourners at a funeral in Kilkenny in Ireland were astonished when a voice came from the coffin. “Where the f*ck am I?” it demanded. “Let me out, let me out! It’s f*cking dark in here! Is that the priest I hear?” Then it began singing, “Hello again hello, I just called to say goodbye.” The man in the coffin, Shay Bradley, was in fact dead, but had prerecorded the message and asked that it be broadcast at his funeral. “It was his dying wish,” said his daughter Andrea. “What a man, to make us all laugh when we were incredibly sad!” A visitor to Winchelsea Beach in East Sussex was shocked to find a shell with an uncanny resemblance to Osama bin Laden. “I was drawn to this curious-looking shell,…

GERMANY An atrocity fuelled by right-wing rhetoric Die Zeit (Hamburg) Germans have united in condemnation of the gunman who killed two people outside a synagogue in Halle last week, says Christian Bangel. Luckily he failed to get into the building: had he done so, the 70 or so worshippers inside could also have been massacred. After his arrest, the perpetrator – who blamed “the Jew” for his actions – was widely denounced, the leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) joining in the condemnation. Yet his stupid, hateful views are increasingly common, and for that the AfD is to blame. It may have distanced itself from old-fashioned Nazism and anti-Semitism, yet it goes on using the same “anti-Semitic tropes” when it speaks about immigration. The killer thought he was…

Saturn has overtaken Jupiter as the planet with the most moons: astronomers have discovered 20 new bodies orbiting the ringed gas giant, bringing its total to 82. Jupiter has only 79. The new moons are each about three miles across, and 17 of them orbit the planet in a retrograde direction – in the opposite direction to Saturn’s rotation on its axis. They were spotted by a team from the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington DC, who used algorithms to identify tell-tale changes in tiny specks of light on images captured by the powerful Subaru telescope on Hawaii between 2004 and 2007. The team suspects the moons formed in the solar system’s chaotic infancy around four billion years ago, when passing asteroids and comets got locked-in by Saturn’s gravity…

“Harry Dunn was 19 when he died, riding his motorbike on a summer evening,” said Libby Purves in The Times. He was hit head-on by a car driven by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence officer; it seems that she had turned onto the wrong side of the road after leaving the US air force base at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire. Dunn’s injuries were such that the family’s “heroic offer of organ donation was impracticable”. Days after the funeral, his family were told that Sacoolas would not face justice: she was covered by diplomatic immunity and had been flown home. Since then, Dunn’s parents, Tim Dunn and Charlotte Charles, have travelled to the US to raise publicity for the case, and Sacoolas has, via her lawyers, expressed her…

In these Brexity times, we all need cheering up – so thank you to the Wags for giving us one of the most entertaining “celebrity ding-dongs” of recent memory, said Alison Boshoff in the Daily Mail. It kicked off last week, when Coleen Rooney (wife of Wayne) accused Rebekah Vardy (wife of Jamie) of leaking stories from her private Instagram account. Coleen, 33, had been convinced for some time that there was a spy in her camp – and had laid atrap. Suspecting her friend and fellow footballer’s wife, she’d blocked everyone else’s Instagram account from viewing hers, posted a series of false stories – and for five months, she waited. When all three appeared in The Sun, she went online to describe her detective work, building up to the…

490BC Pheidippides: the ancient Greek messenger said to have run from Marathon to Athens 3 hours 1896 Spyridon Louis (a Greek water carrier): winner of the first Olympic marathon 2.58:50 1908 Johnny Hayes (US): first to win at the official standard distance of 26 miles and 385 yards 2.55:18 1956 Jim Peters (UK): set three different records 2.17.39 1960 Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia): fastest run in bare feet 2.15:16 1988 Belayneh Dinsamo (Ethiopia): a ten-year record 2.06:50 2008 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia): first below 2.04 2.03:59…

Not all meat is equal To The Times Edward Lucas sounds almost evangelical about the benefits of replacing meat with plant-based substitutes. However, we should be wary ofoverly simplistic claims such as “making an Impossible Burger consumes only one-twentieth of the land and a quarter of the water”. Much of the world’s beef production comes from rainfed pasture, where water is often in abundance and the land mostly unsuitable for alternative agricultural use. Pigs and poultry are a different matter; most growth in consumption isin Asia, and animal feed often requires irrigating crops that consume water from rivers and groundwater, which is usually limited in supply. Land and water availability and their management is a complex issue; glib statements from companies that stand to profit from improving the “feelgood factor”…

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett Bloomsbury 352pp £18.99 The Week Bookshop £14.99 Ann Patchett’s “exquisitely wrenching” eighth novel centres on two siblings, Maeve and Danny, who grow up in a Philadelphia mansion, said Johanna Thomas-Corr in The Sunday Times. After their mother runs off to India “to help the poor”, their father, Cyril, remarries a divorcee named Andrea, who proves “one of the most wicked stepmothers this side of Hansel and Gretel”. First, to make way for her own two daughters, she relegates Maeve and Danny to inferior bedrooms; then, when Cyril dies, she evicts them from the house altogether. Patchett, best known for her hostage crisis novel Bel Canto, follows Maeve and Danny as they grow up and try “to right the wrongs of their childhood”. The result…

The Day Shall Come Dir: Chris Morris 1hr 28mins (15) Chilling satire about FBI malfeasance The satirist Chris Morris has made his name rushing in where most comedians fear to tread, said Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent – finding absurdity in the moral panic over paedophilia (Brass Eye) or the incompetence of British jihadists (Four Lions). His latest offering, which he says is “based on a hundred true stories”, focuses on the FBI’s desperation after 9/11 to find a terrorist plot to expose; though it’s as sharp and angry as you’d expect, it “never quite digs its claws in”. Marchánt Davis plays a delusional black preacher in Miami, convinced he will seize power in America with the aid of a horde of dinosaurs. A ruthless FBI agent (Anna Kendrick) knows…

Archaeologists have found a new fresco in the ruins of Pompeii, says Sarah Cascone on ArtNet – a “harrowingly realistic” depiction of gladiators fighting. It shows a defeated fighter lifting a finger to beg for mercy, while blood spurts from wounds on his wrist and chest. The ancient painting was found in a basement in the Regio V section of Pompeii, which is not yet open to the public. Archaeologists began work in the area where the fresco was found last year as part of The Great Pompeii Project, an EU-backed conservation effort launched in 2012; a third of the city has yet to be excavated. Experts believe the building where the fresco was found may have housed a tavern on the ground floor and a brothel above; the painting…

Toby quizzes Kate about remedies for loss of libido. When she realises that Toby’s asking on behalf of Basil the boar, she’s not happy. She won’t be party to the creation of piglets that are being reared for slaughter. Eddie and Ed find a crumbling Beckwell cider press – with its central screw intact – in Lower Loxley’s historical artefacts exhibition. Elizabeth’s reluctant to break up the press, but is won over by Eddie’s story about keeping the village cider-making tradition alive. Toby feeds Basil a load of Eddie’s Borsetshire Beauties. After getting wildly drunk, Basil’s libido returns. Kirsty raves to Philip about Xander. Philip, who’s nearly 60, makes it clear he doesn’t want more children. Kirsty assures him she doesn’t mind. The cider club meet to celebrate Ed and…

Bottega Caruso 2-4 Broad Street, Margate, Kent (01843-297142) Why have large Italian high street chains been getting into difficulty? It seems fairly obvious to me, said Grace Dent in The Guardian: diners have simply decided they deserve better food and better value than the chains offer – which is where small independents, like the divine Bottega Caruso in Margate, step in. This tiny Campanian deli and restaurant, housed in a 19th century pub, is quietly serving “possibly some of the best Italian food” in Britain. Aubergine parmigiana is a “heroically wondrous” square of grilled, pressed aubergine with tomato and basil and mozzarella. A simple verdura e fagioli – earthy stewed greens and beans – is a deeply flavoured, restorative bowl of “oregano-scented magic”. Even more impressive are “fat gnocchi…

New cars: what the critics say Auto Express Peugeot has an “interesting take” on the electric car. While Renault and Nissan have styled their cars, such as the Zoe and the Leaf, to distinguish them, Peugeot has sought to reassure its buyers that “electric power is normal”. Which is why the new e-208 looks much the same in its petrol, diesel or electric guise. But it still feels “fun and youthful”, and “comprehensively high-tech”. The Daily Telegraph Peugeot has “pushed the boat out” on the design of this five-door hatchback. It has “fang-like” LED strip lights – “evoking less lion and more demon goat” – and a clever waterfall grille. The effect is eye-catching, if a little over the top. Inside, there’s the occasional vibration and creak, but an impressive…

Dating back to at least the 13th century, Venice’s Regata Storica, on the first Sunday in September, includes parades and four boat races – the most exciting of which is the “Campioni su Gondolini”, a gondola race along the Grand Canal (regatastoricavenezia.it). Made famous by Lord Byron, who did it in 1810, the three-mile swim from Europe to Asia across the Dardanelles is now the annual Hellespont race (swimtrek.com). Lanarkshire’s three-mile Red Hose running race, each Midsummer’s day (24 June), was founded in 1508. The prize then was a pair of red hose (now it’s knitted socks), and the winner was charged with relaying news of any invaders coming up from the south (carnwathagriculturalsociety.com). In January, the Swiss resort of Mürren hosts the world’s oldest amateur ski competition, the International…

Cycling in Transylvania There aren’t many places in Europe where you feel you’ve escaped the 21st century, but on a cycling tour of Transylvania, you pass through unchanged landscapes populated by subsistence farmers, “shepherds with giant dogs” and huge forests of oak, willow and beech where bears still thrive, said Lydia Bell in The Times. Deep in the Carpathian Mountains, these trails are mostly empty: Romanians “don’t go wild for off-road cycling”. The routes drop in at “romantic” Lutheran churches and farms where you can sample traditional dishes – broths, cheeses, meatballs – and meet local craftspeople, including weavers who still work on ancient looms, and a beekeeper who produces the Prince of Wales’s Highgrove Transylvanian Hawthorn Honey. In the region’s Saxon villages, horses and carts transport pitchers of milk…

Dyson: pulling the plug Sir James Dyson is“pulling the plug on his flagship electric car project after two years of work”, said Hannah Boland in The Daily Telegraph. The British inventor has concluded that the project is not commercially viable, and having “tried and failed” to find a buyer, the Dyson board had reluctantly decided to mothball the scheme. “The failure is a serious blow for the 72-year-old entrepreneur, who moved his business headquarters to Singapore tobe closer to aplanned car factory” – and bought the city’s most expensive flat for a reported £43m in the process. Dyson had set aside around £2.5bn for the project to develop its own “radical” motor from scratch. But it’s no shock that a producer of vacuum cleaners has failed to produce a…

The death throes of capitalism Irwin Stelzer The Sunday Times American capitalism as we know it is dead, says Irwin Stelzer. “Burial to take place on 3 November 2020.” If Trump wins another term, he’ll reinvigorate his brand of “Caudillo Capitalism”. Assigning himself tasks “previously reserved for market forces”, he’ll continue setting tariffs and trying to force down interest rates: making asset-holders even richer while “small savers” carry on sucking up the pain. Globalisation will go “out the window”. If, on the other hand, a “progressive” Democrat like Elizabeth Warren triumphs, “out go many market incentives to work and build wealth”, and in come “income transfers that take from the rich… and give to those the government deems more worthy”. The capitalists who presided over the current inequitable system are…

● Brexit bounce Talk about a stock market fillip, said Gurpreet Narwan in The Times. “Billions of pounds were added to the values of some of Britain’s largest companies” last week, as markets rallied “amid optimism” that a Brexit deal could be struck. Investors celebrated bysending the FTSE 250, regarded as a more representative barometer of UK economic prospects than the more international FTSE 100, soaring. The index jumped by 4.2% last Friday, “its best day since the referendum”. Among the biggest risers were Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds and housebuilders. Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon and Barratt all enjoyed “double-digit growth”. The pound, meanwhile, jumped by 2% to nearly $1.27 – its highest level against the dollar in four months. Analysts at Deutsche Bank described the turnaround as “a potentially pivotal…

Controversy of the week A speech or a manifesto? “Peeved. That’s the word I’d use to describe the Queen at the State Opening of Parliament,” said Henry Deedes in the Daily Mail. As the 93-year-old monarch took up her traditional position on her “gold-glistered throne” in the House of Lords on Monday to deliver her 65th Queen’s Speech, there was a “weariness” to the regal glare that suggested she was “not entirely happy” to be there. Reopening Parliament after its longest session since the English Civil War, she “rattled through” her Government’s legislative agenda for the year ahead in “a mere ten minutes” – announcing 26 proposed bills spanning health, education, defence, technology, transport and crime, as well as a law to enact any deal Britain makes with the EU.…

Islington Conservatives, who issued an apology for posting a tweet calling for people with mental health problems to be “neutered”. It was atypo: they had meant to write “nurtured”. Trump’s border wall, after achild of eight managed to scale a replica of the supposedly unclimbable structure in little more than a minute. The US president had described his proposed 18ft wall as “virtually impenetrable”, and boasted that 20 world-class climbers had told them they’d find it difficult. The replica was built by a retired engineer, who wanted to test the claim.…

Rome Go easy on the Mafia: Italian politicians, police chiefs and prosecutors have been angered bya European Court of Human Rights ruling that convicted Mafia bosses are being subjected to “inhuman and degrading” treatment which violates their “dignity”. For decades, Italian prosecutors have believed that denying imprisoned Mafiosi key privileges (including the chance of day release and rewards for good behaviour) is the best way to get them to inform on their criminal associates. Currently, around 1,150 turncoats are cooperating with the police, and are a vital tool in the fight against organised crime. However, last week the court found in favour of Marcello Viola, a mobster sentenced to life in 1999 for multiple murders. The ruling does not oblige Italy to reform its laws, but it leaves it vulnerable…

1 Prijatelji Stari Gdje Ste (Where Are You Now) by Tereza Kesovija 2 Cambodia by Marty Wilde, Ricky Wilde, performed byKim Wilde 3* Kraj Tanana Šadrvana (Near a Tiny Fountain) by Zaim Imamovic 4 Fast Car, written and performed Tracy Chapman 5 Pljuni i zapjevaj moja Jugoslavijo (Spit and Sing, My Yugoslavia) by Goran Bregovic, performed by Bijelo Dugme 6 True Blue by Madonna and Stephen Bray, performed by Madonna 7 Antonio Vivaldi: Winter, First Movement, performed by The English Concert with Simon Standage on violin, conducted by Trevor Pinnock 8 O jednoj mladosti,written and performed by Josipa Lisac Book: DIY book Luxury: pen and paper * Choice if allowed only one record…

Some of the biggest names in aviation, such as Boeing, Airbus and Rolls-Royce, are developing electric aeroplane engines; US firm Wright Electric is working to build a 180-seater for easyJet. Boeing and Airbus hope to have scaled-down prototypes in the air next year. “Electrical propulsion will be the biggest revolution for the industry since the 1940s – when it comes,” says consulting firm Roland Berger. The consensus among experts is that electric flying taxis will be in use by 2050, along with hybrid-electric airliners – using jet turbines for thrust – serving short-haul regional networks; their electric engines will be more efficient and quieter than existing turbines. A long-haul electric plane, however, seems like an impossibility. To fly, you need an energy source that crams a great deal of power…

According to the NHS, breastfed babies are less likely to suffer health problems than those fed on formula milk. Now, researchers at Imperial College London have suggested another reason to promote breastfeeding: it helps the planet. Writing in the BMJ, the team point out that formula milk has a significant impact on the environment. Most formulas are made of powdered cows’ milk – and the dairy industry is a major emitter of greenhouse gases. The powder comes in canisters, which may end in landfill, and is supplemented with palm, rapeseed and fish oils, which have a hefty carbon footprint. Finally, sterilising bottles uses a lot of energy. Breastfeeding, by contrast, uses “few resources”. The researchers estimate that if all British mothers breastfed their babies for the first six months, it…

The Extinction Rebellion (XR) protests have lent a “post-apocalyptic” feel to central London this past fortnight, said Douglas Murray on UnHerd. Watching the weird antics of the demonstrators really made one think – “Not about the environment”, but about what was going on in the heads of these people, who all appeared to conform to a type: “affluent-seeming, well-informed and significantly mad”. It was hard to see those red-robed figures with white faces as anything but cultists, dissatisfied individuals seeking meaning “in the call to repent before the imminent, partly longed-for, apocalypse”. The protests have been one of the “nastiest and stupidest outbreaks of intolerant, irrational zealotry since mankind emerged from the Dark Ages”, said Peter Hitchens in The Mail on Sunday. As a former intolerant zealot myself, “I know…

“Never get into a well with an American rope.” Newly coined Kurdish saying, quoted in The Independent “I have often had to eat my words, and I must confess that I have always found it a wholesome diet.” Winston Churchill, quoted in the FT “The special mark of the modern world is not that it is sceptical, but that it is dogmatic without knowing it.” G.K. Chesterton, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle “Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted in The Times “Nobody likes having salt rubbed into their wounds, even if it is the salt of the earth.” Rebecca West, quoted in Forbes “I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it…

There are moments in sport when the brain is “unable to process what has taken place”, said Simon Barnes in The Sunday Times. Watching the incredible 22-year-old American gymnast Simone Biles, one witnesses those moments again and again. In August she accomplished a move no gymnast had previously attempted: an astonishing “triple-double” (a double backflip with three twists). And at the world championships this week, she made history once again when she won five gold medals, taking her career haul in the championships to 25 – more than any gymnast before her. Before the 2016 Olympics, Biles wasn’t a particularly “innovative” gymnast, said Dvora Meyers in The Guardian. What distinguished her, in those early years, was her ability to perform difficult moves, and the ease with which she did so.…

To The Guardian A very important feature of the “safe zone” that Turkey is seeking to create in northeast Syria is that it comprises practically all the rainfed agricultural land in that region. There is a rolling plain across northeast Syria, northwest Iraq and a narrow strip of southeast Turkey. North of that zone are the Taurus mountains; and south of that narrow east-west band there is semi-desert, which rapidly shades into arid desert. The band of green land that can support rainfed agriculture is where the population (predominantly Kurdish) is concentrated. Turkish government statements call the Kurds terrorists and claim that they, along with Islamic State, threaten Turkey’s frontier. The Turkish military invasion of Syria appears to be intended to push the indigenous population out of the habitable zone…

Theatre: Groan Ups Vaudeville Theatre, London WC2 (0330-333 4814). Until 1 December Running time: 2hrs 40mins Ever since it was founded by a troupe of young Lamda graduates in 2008, Mischief Theatre, a drama company specialising in comedy, have pulled off one “outlandish success” after another, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. The Play That Goes Wrong has been inthe West End for five years and on Broadway for two; their masterpiece, The Comedy About a Bank Robbery, has been running for three years; Peter Pan Goes Wrong was a festive smash; a new production, Magic Goes Wrong, is on its way – and soon there is to be a TV show. First, though, there’s Groan Ups, the first of three new comedies in a year-long West End residency, which…

We all know Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) as the pioneering post-impressionist and friend to Vincent van Gogh, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. He is also well-known, more problematically, as the syphilitic, middle-aged sex tourist who travelled to Polynesia and “married” a succession of underage local girls. But to my knowledge, “no one has previously thought of him as a portraitist”. As a result, I approached this new exhibition devoted to his portraits with scepticism, suspecting that the angle was “a gimmick” dreamt up by curators desperate for something new to say about a big name. I needn’t have worried: this event “is filled with pictorial marvels”. The show brings together around 50 paintings, drawings and sculptures created at every stage of Gauguin’s life, and successfully makes the argument that,…

Best books… A.N. Wilson The celebrated biographer, novelist and journalist picks his favourite books. His latest biography, Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy, is out now, published by Atlantic Books at £25 Algernon Charles Swinburne: 21st Century Oxford Authors ed. Francis O’Gorman 2016 (OUP £110). I have always liked Swinburne (1837-1909), but in the last year or so, he has really grown on me. Technically brilliant, he always had something to say. I now think he was the greatest of the Victorian poets. The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, 1870 (Penguin £8.99). I have been trying towrite about Dickens, and one of the best things about the last year has been the experience of re-reading the complete works. In the very last ten pages of the…

Programmes The PM, the Playboy and the Wolf of Wall Street Storyville documentary about the world’s largest white-collar heist, which saw $3.5bn looted from a Malaysian wealth fund, a crime traced to the top of Malaysia’s government. Mon 21 Oct, BBC4 21:00 (80mins). The Prince & the Paedophile Dispatches investigates the friendship between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein. Mon 21 Oct, C4 22:00 (60mins). Grand Designs: House of the Year In this four-part series, Kevin McCloud visits some of the most spectacular homes on the long list for the 2019 Riba House of the Year, including Hannington Farm by James Gorst Architects and a house made entirely from cork. Wed 23 Oct, C4 21:00 (60mins). Warrior Women with Lupita Nyong’o The actress travels to West Africa to learn more about…

This simple Latvian smoked cod hotpot resembles the Scottish soup cullen skink (although its consistency is more like that of a pudding), says Simon Bajada. Pair it with bread and salad for a warming dinner. Smoked cod, potato & onion hotpot Serves 4 relatively small, lunch-sized portions 1 large onion, diced 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm cubes 300g smoked cod fillet, cut into 3-4cm pieces 2 tbsp chopped dill, plus whole sprigs to serve ½ tsp of salt pinch of white pepper 350ml of pouring (single/light) cream sourdough or rye bread, to serve • Preheat the oven to 200°C. Gently mix the onion, potato, cod, dill, salt and pepper together in a large bowl, taking care not to mash the fish. • Transfer to a large casserole dish…

iPhone XS The XS has a large 5.8in screen (it is substantially bigger than the iPhone 8’s) but as it covers the entire phone, the device itself is relatively compact. It’s an impressive phone, too, with a powerful processor and a dual-lens camera at the back (£949; currys.co.uk). Samsung  Galaxy S10e With a 5.8in screen, the S10e is at the upper end of the class of smaller phones, but bear in mind that the screen stretches right to the edges of the phone. It’s expensive, but very powerful, with up to 8GB RAM (from £669; samsung.com). Nokia 5.1 For those on a budget, this Nokia model with a 5.5in screen is well made and simple, though you may want a microSD card to boost the 32GB storage. It’s also a…

Peaceful Yorkshire Dales Retreat to the Little Lipwood Cottage for 7 nights and soak up the beautiful views. From £68pp (six people sharing, self-catering). 01237-459888, holidaycottages.co.uk. Arrive 13 December. Eight-night Antalya stay Set on the historic coastline of Side, indulge yourself at the 5-star Barut Hemera. From £1,087pp all-inclusive, including Glasgow flights. 020-8492 6868, olympicholidays. com. Depart 2 November. Impressive 5-star getaway A stay at the Corfu Palace Hotel places you in the heart of the city. Seven nights cost from £780pp b&b, including Birmingham flights. 020-8974 7200, travelrepublic.co.uk. Depart 22 November. All-inclusive in Vietnam Spend 7nights at the Vinpearl Phu Quoc Resort, which sits right on the edge of Bai Dai Beach, from £906pp, including London flights. 020-3451 2720, firstchoice.co.uk. Depart 3 December.…

When WeWork opened a private school, dubbed WeGrow, in Manhattan last year, it promised discerning parents a “conscious entrepreneurial school”, featuring daily meditation and yoga, said Rebecca Klein on HuffPost. So much for all those “lofty goals” now. The school (the brainchild of We’s co-founder Rebekah Neumann) is closing – a casualty of the trendy office-space firm’s efforts to downsize “after the implosion of its planned public offering and a staggering reduction in its valuation”. In the recent chaos, both Neumann and her husband – co-founder, Adam – have been ousted. There are now “rumours of mass layoffs”, while pundits ponder the potential ramifications of a collapse. The cash-strapped property group – which holds trophy buildings across Western capitals and recently steamed into new territories such as India – was…

John and Irene Hays The “modest couple” who swooped in to save Thomas Cook’s 555 high-street shops – and its 2,500-strong workforce – have become national treasures overnight, said Helen Weathers in the Daily Mail. They can’t go out in public “without someone wanting to shake their hand, give them an almighty cuddle or plant a smacker on their cheeks”. A retired teacher got in touch to call them “angels”. The Hays, who have quietly grown their Sunderland-based family business over 40 years, “are rather taken aback” at being so venerated. “We are really just ordinary people,” says Irene. They had planned to be in Japan watching the Rugby World Cup last weekend, which they spent instead “frantically” dashing around, picking up keys from Thomas Cook’s landlords so they could…

The recent collapse of Thomas Cook “has put investors off holiday companies”, said Mark Atherton in The Times. But there’s still plenty of mileage in the wider travel sector. The following stocks may be “worth a visit”: easyJet The low-cost airline could benefit from Thomas Cook’s demise, as customers switch to its services, says Russ Mould of wealth manager AJ Bell. “Flight costs are tightly controlled and revenue made in the air on food and beverages makes a significant profit.” Tui The tourism group has proved “resilient” this year, despite challenges, says Ian Forrest of The Share Centre – and it too should benefit from reduced competition. For the moment, though, there’s too much uncertainty around its position. One for “patient” investors. Dart This airline and package holiday company was…

The week’s best shares AK Medical The Daily Telegraph The Chinese hip and knee-maker’s growth potential is “phenomenal” as it becomes the “go to” brand for replacements in an ageing society. Immune from trade wars, this is a punt on China’s stability and growth. Buy. HK$7.37. Civitas Social Housing The Times This real-estate investment trust focuses on housing the vulnerable. Shares have been weak, but a widely-spread portfolio sets Civitas in good stead to benefit from structural growth in long-term care. Yields over 6.% Buy. 84.75p. Hargreaves Lansdown The Daily Telegraph After a “pretty torrid” start to October, shares in the investment platform have picked up. Liberum’s claim that HL offers “best-in-class” service (alongside rival IntegraFin) should lead to further gains. Buy. £18.16. Intertek Group Investors Chronicle The testing and…

Among the 203 entries added to the Oxford English Dictionary this week are four new versions of “something”: summink, sumfin, sumthin, and sumptin. They are not classed as slang, but rather as regional or non-standard variants. Other additions include “promposal” (an invitation to be someone’s date at a school prom), “whatevs” (whatever), and “omnishambles” – the term popularised by the BBC political satire The Thick of It, defined as “a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged”. One in four people in the UK make five or fewer phone calls a month, and 6% say they made none at all between January and March, according to a new report by the telecoms industry regulator Ofcom.…

Nicola Sturgeon urged Scotland to “reclaim its independence” in her speech to the SNP conference in Aberdeen this week, and said she intends to hold a second referendum on the subject next year. The First Minister said recent events had shown that Westminster was “broken”, and that she would be demanding that the UK Government transfer the necessary powers for IndyRef2 by the end of the year. However, a day earlier Boris Johnson had used the Queen’s Speech to reaffirm his belief in the Union – and Sturgeon did not outline what she would do if the UK Government refused. Her deputy, Keith Brown, said the SNP “would not accept a veto”, but stressed that the referendum had to be legal.…

Washington DC Impeachment hearings: Fiona Hill, who was President Trump’s adviser on Europe and Russia until August, became the first former White House official to testify to Democrat-led impeachment hearings this week. In gripping testimony to Congress, she told ofbitter divisions within the administration over the scheme – led by Rudy Giuliani (pictured), Trump’s personal lawyer – to press the Ukrainian government to investigate Democrats including Joe Biden. Apparently Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton was so bitterly opposed to the plan, he told an aide to alert White House lawyers, and warned her that Giuliani is the “hand grenade who’s going to blow everyone up”. Last week, two associates of Giuliani, who are said tohave been helping him gather information in Ukraine about Trump’s political opponents, were arrested…

“At any given time, there is a subject that a civilised person must know a little bit about. It used to be classics. Economics rose to this status in the previous decade, but could not survive a crash it had failed to predict. What usurped it was psychology. It remains troublingly ascendant, in the pollution of everyday discourse with half-understood jargon: ‘displacement’, ‘avoidance’, ‘gaslighting’, ‘projection’. It is there in the amazing confidence with which we diagnose others from afar. I have no idea, for example, if the US president has ‘narcissistic personality disorder’. But I do know that lots of uncredentialed people are willing to say so in the open.” Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times…

When Uncle Sam no longer holds our hand Fraser Nelson The Daily Telegraph It’s a scary time to be a US ally, says Fraser Nelson – and not just if you’re a Kurd abandoned in Syria. Donald Trump’s isolationist instincts leave us all vulnerable. For without the military support the US provides through Nato – which the president and many others in Washington are increasingly reluctant to keep providing – Europe would be pitifully exposed. Reports on the readiness of its various armies are invariably terrifying. The Dutch recently admitted that half of their army vehicles won’t start. Two months ago, all of Germany’s attack helicopters were declared unfit to fly. France is little better: at last count, only around half of its military aircraft work. A recent study for…

Antidepressants and over-65s The proportion of over-65s taking antidepressants nearly tripled in 20 years, yet the proportion of those with symptoms of depression barely changed, a study has found. “You would hope that with a dramatic increase in the prescription of antidepressants, the rate of people suffering would decrease,” said its author, Prof Tony Arthur. “But we observed little change.” Researchers carried out detailed interviews with two groups of around 7,500 pensioners – the first in the early 1990s and the second between 2008 and 2011. The proportion taking the pills rose from 4%in the first group, to 11% in the second. But the prevalence of “case level” depression fell only very slightly from 7.9% to 6.8%. Among older people in care homes, the proportion taking antidepressants soared fourfold, from…

Banksy’s Devolved Parliament sold for a record £9.89m recently – but did he paint it? Last week, a critic pointed out that the oil painting, depicting the Commons peopled by apes, is nothing like Banksy’s other work – and suggested it could be the work of Mason Storm, an artist known for painting chimps, who also never shows his face in public. Storm, who once threatened to reveal Banksy’s identity by painting his portrait, told the Daily Mail he had never heard of Banksy. “He has never heard of me either. I will, however, say that whoever painted it is an exceptionally talented painter. A genius.” John Banville (pictured) was over the moon when he received a phone call telling him that he’d been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in…

For many, there was a sense of “palpable disappointment” at the decision this week not to award the coveted 100th Nobel Peace Prize to the climate-change activist Greta Thunberg, said Ian Birrell in the I newspaper. But in passing over the bookies’ favourite – along with other contenders, including New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern – the five-person prize committee instead made a choice which deserves our “warmest applause”. They handed the honour (along with nine million Swedish kroner – about £741,000) to Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, for his part inhelping to end his country’s long-running conflict with neighbouring Eritrea. Although “little known in the West”, the charismatic 43-year-old “former spy” is “one of the most fascinating politicians on Earth” – a figure of“rare courage” whose achievements…

After what happened last Saturday, “we will never look at a marathon in the same way again”, said Ed Caesar in The New Yorker. On “an arrow-straight avenue” in Vienna’s Prater park, Eliud Kipchoge became the first person in history to run 26 miles in under two hours. A few years ago, his time of one hour, 59 minutes and 40 seconds would have been “unthinkable”: even now, it feels unreal. It won’t count as an official world record (that is still the 2:01.39 set by Kipchoge last year) because the 34-year-old Kenyan wasn’t running against anyone else, and used pacesetters. But that doesn’t make it any less extraordinary. To convey just how fast Kipchoge’s time was you only have to look at previous records (see box), said Lindsay Crouse…

It was “the game that rose from the floods”, said Owen Slot in The Times. Typhoon Hagibis, Japan’s biggest in six decades, unleashed so much rain, the Rugby World Cup tie between Scotland and the hosts almost didn’t happen. Thank heavens it did, because Japan’s 28-21 victory was superb. They produced rugby “so rapid and unrelenting it seemed they were playing on fast forward”. They handled the slippery ball superbly, lacing together tries of “jaw-dropping audacity”. With four wins from their four opening matches, the Brave Blossoms qualified for the World Cup quarter-finals for the first time in their history – and will meet South Africa on Sunday. This is only the second time that Scotland have failed to reach the last eight, said Daniel Schofield in The Daily Telegraph.…

Until now, Angel Olsen has been known for solo albums of “serious-minded alternative country”, said Will Hodgkinson in The Times. On her latest, though, the North Carolina singer “has gone from the equivalent of a low-budget indie movie to a Hollywood blockbuster”. The opener, Lark, is an “astonishing” six-minute epic that shifts from avant-garde to soft rock. Thereafter Olsen heads into “dreamy balladry” (on Too Easy) and even Streisand-style melodrama (Chance), all the while “capturing loneliness, heartbreak and reflection in romantic, rather glamorous fashion”. It’s impressive stuff. With this cracking collection of “literate, melodious” songs, Olsen appears to be at a career “tipping-point” from which the next stage is major stardom, said Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. It’s an album “that keeps taking ostensibly recognisable musical forms and twisting them…

Elise Ansel at Cadogan Contemporary This new series of paintings, entitled yes I said Yes, by the American artist Elise Ansel (b.1961) mines and reinterprets the history of art. Ansel has based her canvases on works by the likes of Rembrandt, Boucher and Rubens, breaking the original compositions down to the broadest interpretation of technique and colour, until they become almost complete abstractions. Once you’ve identified the paintings that informed them – Titian’s Rape of Europa or Delacroix’s The Death of Sardanapalus – a common theme becomes clear: all feature scenes of violence against women. Yet far from creating a gloomy body of work, Ansel’s intent was to make a joyous series, even going so far as to turn the basic structure of the source paintings upside down –…

We’ve got so used to rigid colour categories that it might seem odd to find a wine that mixes white and red grapes, says David Williams in The Observer. In fact, the practice was once widespread in European vineyards, and still produces fantastic wines. A red-white blend remains the base of one of the Rhône Valley’s “greatest wine styles”: winemakers in the Côte Rôtie appellation south of Lyon mix a dash of viognier with the spicy syrah. It’s a recipe that has inspired, for example, Château de Campuget’s Le Campuget Syrah Viognier, IGP Pays du Gard, France 2018 (£9.32; Corking Wines), an unusually fragrant red. Or if you really want to splash out, try the “classically silky, red-fruited and subtly savoury” Patrick Jasmin Côte-Rôtie 2016 (£49.95; Yapp Brothers). Further afield,…

● While most auctions are in-room, many also take bids over the phone or by proxy (an agent). Some also host online auctions. ● The Essential Information Group (eigpropertyauctions.co.uk) lists properties being sold by more than 350 auction houses, and has a database of sold prices, which is worth referring to. It also streams live auctions: if you tune in to one you will get a sense of how they work. ● Don’t pay much attention to the guide price. It may give some indication of the reserve (the minimum an auctioneer can sell for), but it’s not a reliable estimate of what the property is likely to sell for. ● Arrive early on the day in case changes have been made to the listing, and bring ID. ● If…

Elmley Nature Reserve Isle of Sheppey Just an hour from London is a place of “peaceful isolation”, says Jane Dunford in The Guardian. The Elmley Nature Reserve covers 3,200 acres – and is the only reserve in the UK where you can stay the night. There is an 18th century farmhouse with a “glamorous vintage vibe” and six shepherd’s huts with fine views and nice touches, including hot water bottles and chunky throws. Sheppey “isn’t a conventional beauty – it’s a medley of marshland, industrial sprawl and holiday camps” – but its bleak, bird-filled wetlands are rather bewitching. Huts from £85 per night; farmhouse from £1,900 for two nights (sleeps 12).elmleynaturereserve.co.uk.…

Virtuoso drummer with a temper to match his talent Ginger Baker 1939-2019 Ginger Baker, who has died aged 80, was a virtuoso drummer – and one of rock’s most volatile and abrasive characters. No “faceless metronome”, Baker was a “percussive demigod” with a “Mephistophelean” stage presence who helped redefine the role of the rock drummer, said The Independent. He was best known for his work with Cream, the original “supergroup”. Comprising him, Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Cream sold 15 million albums in the late 1960s, and had a series of hits, including Sunshine of Your Love and White Room. Baker then played in another short-lived supergroup, Blind Faith, and also formed his own jazz-rock-fusion band, Ginger Baker’s Air Force. In the 1970s, he moved to Nigeria, where he performed…

UK markets remained on tenterhooks as talks with the EU over a draft Brexit agreement dragged on. After putting on a major rally last week, the pound remained volatile, falling again on Wednesday afternoon. The IMF warned that trade tensions between the US and China, the world’s two largest economies, were a significant source of risk for the global economy, with “real spillover effects” for emerging markets. JPMorgan shares hit a record high, following a strong earnings report, underscoring the solid performance of US lenders in the last quarter. The exception is Goldman Sachs, where year-on-year profits fell 26%. The closure of Neil Woodford’s crisis-hit investment empire put further pressure on the Financial Conduct Authority to protect investors from illiquid open-ended funds. Royal Mail staff are to hold their first…