Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1340 i The Week

What happened Freedom day Boris Johnson confirmed this week that almost all remaining legal Covid restrictions in England will end on Monday – but urged the public to exercise “extreme caution” when enjoying their new freedoms. Indoor venues such as cinemas, theatres and pubs can operate at full capacity, and masks will no longer be mandatory (though they will remain so on London transport and possibly in other cities). The PM’s decision was taken despite growing case numbers, which government scientists said could lead to hospital admissions rising above January levels to 4,800 a day, with up to 200 daily deaths within weeks. Johnson urged people not to be “demob happy” following the relaxation in rules. “This is not the end of Covid,” he warned. Restrictions will also be eased…

Rewilding, after a baby beaver was born on Exmoor for the first time in 400 years, to two adults successfully reintroduced to the Holnicote Estate by the National Trust in 2020. Discarded Lego pieces, with the release of an app called Brickit. It allows users to scan a jumble of pieces with their smartphone camera and discover what can be built, using a database of more than 1,500 models. Daytrippers, with the news that Buckingham Palace’s gardens are now open to the public. Ticket holders will be able to roam around much of the Palace’s 39-acre grounds, and examine the Queen’s 156-metre herbaceous borders.…

An independent review into the Civil Service has called on the Government to scrap the rule that ministers must sit in either the Commons or the Lords so that it can bring in “greater talent” from the private sector. The proposal from The Commission for Smart Government won the backing of the Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove. The Commission has also recommended creating a new special “prime minister’s department” to deliver the PM’s priorities; and replacing departmental permanent secretaries with new chief executives.…

“The idea that boredom is good for us – particularly in childhood, because it encourages imagination and creativity – is well established. Boredom, however, has become a weirdly elusive state. Throughout this long and gruelling pandemic, I don’t think I have ever felt bored myself. If I want my children to be properly bored – not just fed up and listless – I must hide all the screens. There is, apparently, a flurry of academic interest in boredom at the moment, with researchers around the world studying how people coped with boredom during lockdowns. I suspect they will learn a lot about loneliness, anxiety, grief, stir-craziness. But boredom? We should be so lucky.” Jemima Lewis in The Daily Telegraph…

Passing the buck on building safety Martina Lees The Sunday Times Matthew Harris, an NHS lab assistant who earns £22,500 a year, faces a £100,000 bill to make his one-bedroom flat in Salford safe. And he is only one of three million Britons caught up in the post-Grenfell Tower building safety scandal, says Martina Lees. The Government recently unveiled its long-awaited Building Safety Bill. It should help make high-rises safer by, for instance, creating “duty holders” who are personally liable for their safety – limiting the “iniquitous buck-passing” we saw with Grenfell. What it won’t do, though, is help people like Harris who, thanks to years of diluted regulations, poor inspections and shoddy work, have been left in unsafe homes. Under the current law, only leaseholders can be forced to…

British trout are hooked on meth Freshwater fish may be becoming addicted to the methamphetamine flushed down lavatories, researchers have warned. A team in the Czech Republic took 120 trout that had been bred in captivity and kept in two different tanks. One had been laced with methamphetamine (or crystal meth) to a concentration often found in British rivers, while the water in the other tank was clean. After eight weeks, the fish were moved to a drug-free tank, then given the choice of either staying there, or swimming in meth-polluted water. The researchers found that the fish from the control tank spent only 41.5% of their time in the meth water; but the figure for the drug-exposed fish was 50.5% – suggesting they were experiencing symptoms of withdrawal. The…

Dr Stephen Benn, Viscount Stansgate, has taken up a seat in the House of Lords – six decades after it was renounced by his father, Tony Benn. Benn Jr will join Labour’s group after an uncontested by-election following the death of another hereditary Labour peer. His late father rejected his own peerage in 1963, explaining his position with a memorable analogy: “I wouldn’t like to go to a dentist who, just before he drilled my teeth, told me he was not a dentist himself, but that his father had been a very good dentist.” Parenthood can be thankless, even for rom-com royalty. Emma Freud recalls her partner, Richard Curtis, receiving a text from their son Jake a few years ago saying: “Dad can you pick me up from school today?”…

“Everyone in policing feels betrayed,” said Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick last week, after the police officer Wayne Couzens had pleaded guilty to the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in March this year. “I’m sure they do,” said Suzanne Moore in The Daily Telegraph, but the police also owe us some explanations. Why, in the case of Couzens, a member of the Met’s elite Parliamentary and Diplomatic Protection Squad, did they ignore so many “red flags”? It seems he had been reported for indecent exposure twice in a McDonald’s car park, just three days before the murder. If anyone had bothered to check his number plate, they would have seen it was a police car. He also faced an indecent exposure allegation six years earlier. Yet he was…

On Saturday, Centre Court held a 15,000-strong capacity crowd for the first time since 2019, said Simon Briggs in The Sunday Telegraph – and it was rewarded with “the best women’s final” at Wimbledon in 15 years. I can’t remember such an excitable atmosphere in recent history, “at least not when there has been no British hope to cheer for”. Perhaps it was partly relief: for the first ten minutes, the “biggest mismatch imaginable” seemed on the cards, as Ashleigh Barty won the first three games. Her Czech opponent, Karolína Plíšková, has “a reputation for getting down on herself”. But after losing the first set, Plíšková dug in for a dramatic second-set win. When Barty served for a straight-sets win at 6-5 in the second, Plíšková broke back, then won…

Cycling Anna van der Breggen successfully defended her Giro d’Italia Donne title after coming fourth on the final stage. It was the fourth time the Dutch cyclist has won the event. Rugby union Six South African players tested positive for Covid-19, causing the whole squad to self-isolate two weeks before their series against the British and Irish Lions. MMA Dustin Poirier defeated Conor McGregor at UFC 264 in Las Vegas. The fight was stopped after the first round, when McGregor’s leg was badly injured.…

Hardbacks Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Faber £20 (£15.99) Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel since winning the Nobel Prize is “set in an uneasy near-future, in which AI and genetic enhancement threaten to create a human underclass”, said The Guardian. It tells the story of a robot who becomes an “artificial friend” to a sickly teenager. Klara and the Sun is a “slow-burn masterpiece”, said the FT – a brilliant examination of what it means to be human. Fall by John Preston Viking £18.99 (£14.99) John Preston’s biography offers an “entertaining account of the life and death of Robert Maxwell”, said The Guardian. It charts the press baron’s “vast appetites” and ambitions, his fraudulent financial dealings (which included raiding his company’s pension funds), and his 1991 disappearance from his…

From Medea to Mare of Easttown, motherhood is one of the universal themes of drama. Here are five excellent films in which it plays a central role: Mildred Pierce Joan Crawford is electrifying as a Californian divorcée accused of murder in this noirish melodrama from 1945, based on James M. Cain’s novel. At the heart of it is Mildred’s love for her snobbish daughter, who resents her mother for getting an ordinary job to help her fulfil her social aspirations. Imitation of Life Douglas Sirk’s weepy about the friendship between two widowed mothers – a white actress (Lana Turner) and her black maid (Juanita Moore) – was a box office smash in 1959. Its portrait of an America blighted by racism and materialism is brilliant, and so bleak that its…

Tips of the week… how to swim safely in cold water ● Don’t dive or jump in, says physiologist Dr Heather Massey: you risk cold-water shock – a reflex in which you take an involuntary gasp. If you are under the water you can easily swallow enough to drown. Immerse yourself gradually, keeping your head well above the surface. ● Wait one to three minutes to let the initial shock pass; once you’ve regained control of your breathing, you can start swimming. ● Take care, though. As your body cools, you lose muscle strength, so you’ll tire more quickly in cold water, increasing the risk of drowning. ● Be aware of the signs of hypothermia in yourself and others. These include loss of awareness and changes in vision. Look out…

Hugely successful film director who made Superman Richard Donner 1930-2021 Richard Donner, who has died aged 91, was one of Hollywood’s most successful film directors. Versatile and extremely prolific, he directed some of the biggest films of the 1980s and 1990s – and also laid the groundwork for the modern superhero movie, said The New York Times. In the late 1970s, Donner was asked to direct a movie adaptation of the Superman comics. The Man of Steel hadn’t been seen on film since a TV series in the 1950s, and bringing him to the big screen proved challenging. The producers wanted an established star for the role, and considered everyone from Paul Newman and Robert Redford to Sylvester Stallone. But Donner was convinced it had to be taken…

Not so long ago, it was the US threatening to de-list Chinese businesses floating in New York, said Lex in the FT. Now the bigger concern is Beijing. Some of China’s most powerful companies including Didi, Alibaba and Tencent – and an “army” of smaller Chinese companies with US listings – are reeling from a draconian crackdown intended to shatter the allure of Wall Street and hook them back to Chinese venues such as Shanghai’s Star Market. The trigger was the float of Didi Global, the international arm of China’s largest ride-hailing company, Didi Chuxing, which raised $4bn on 30 June, in Wall Street’s largest IPO this year. Within days, the company was “in hot water” at home, said The Wall Street Journal. Chinese regulators, who had opposed the listing,…

Pet ownership According to Statista, household pet ownership in the UK has risen from 40% in 2019 to 59% in 2021. Giles Money of JSS Sustainable Equity Global Thematic Fund, reckons “millennials and younger cohorts have a higher propensity to spend money on pets and are having fewer children”. Digital shift Lockdowns have accelerated growth of online banking, particularly among the over-50s. Daniel Lockyer of Hawksmoor notes that “12% of the UK population downloaded an online banking app for the first time last year”. He currently has exposure via Augmentum – a fintech fund with stakes in companies like the mobile-only current account provider, Monese. He is also tapping the growth of e-commerce via real estate investment trusts (Reits) specialising in “last-mile hubs”, such as Urban Logistics. WFH The shift…

Controversy of the week Patel’s asylum plan In 2012, Gulwali Passarlay, a teenage Afghan refugee, proudly carried the Olympic torch on its way to the London Games, said Kenan Malik in The Observer. Only six years earlier, he was a desperate 12-year-old caught in the crossfire between Taliban and US forces in Afghanistan. His mother paid a smuggler to take him on a “gruelling 12,000-mile trek” which ended up with him entering Britain in a refrigerated lorry. Yet had Home Secretary Priti Patel’s new Nationality and Borders Bill been law in 2006, Passarlay would have committed a criminal offence just by coming here. This cruel bill proposes a two-tier system for refugees: those with “papers or permission to enter” will be allowed to claim asylum; those arriving as Passarlay did…

Southern Water, which has been fined a record £90m for deliberately dumping billions of litres of raw sewage into protected seas over several years, for its own financial gain. Over nearly six years, the water company poured a total of between 16bn and 21bn litres of untreated sewage into the seas off north Kent and Hampshire, so as to avoid financial penalties and the cost of upgrading and maintaining infrastructure. Dundee, which has been named as the Covid-19 capital of Europe. Over the past fortnight, over 1% of Dundee’s 150,000 residents have tested positive, the continent’s highest rate. The Nag’s Head, a pub in Sutton-in-Ashfield, which was hit by a crash-landing hot-air balloon on Sunday morning. It escaped with a few broken tiles; one passenger suffered a nosebleed. The pilot…

A fifth of adults under 35 say they have only one or no close friends; this proportion has tripled in a decade. Those aged between 18 and 24 were three times more likely (48%) to distrust their neighbours, than those aged 65 and over (15%). Onward/Stack Data Strategy Eight out of ten British employees would not favour accepting a reduction in working hours to four days per week if it resulted in lower wages. Only one in ten employees would be willing to work less and earn less. White-collar workers and people in top-paying jobs were the most willing to cut working hours; those in hospitality and care were the least willing, with one in seven wanting to work for longer. Social Market Foundation/ Office for National Statistics…

An accessible actor David Harbour developed a passion for theatre after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He found the more he acted, the better he felt. But while he had a rich career on stage, film was just a way of paying the bills. In Hollywood, “I was basically the guy who runs after Denzel with a gun!” Then he was cast in the Netflix hit Stranger Things, and found that his age was finally on his side. “I’ve always been waiting to be 40 years old,” he told Alexi Duggins in The Guardian. “Even as a 20-year-old I never had that bounce or spring.” In lockdown, the acting stopped, so he looked for other ways of managing his bipolar. Having long had a reputation for being accessible to fans…

A British paratrooper fell 15,000 feet out of the sky when his parachute failed to fully deploy during a jump in California – and survived with only minor injuries, after crashing through the roof of a house in Atascadero. The unnamed soldier landed in the kitchen, where he was found by neighbours. The homeowner’s mother, Linda Sallady, said: “There’s not that much damage in the house. It’s amazing. He missed the counters, appliances, everything.” An actor in a bare-bottomed monkey suit with a fake penis was hired by a council, in a bizarre stunt aimed at getting children to read. The man appeared at a Summer Reading Challenge event run by Redbridge Council in east London, to represent the theme “wild world heroes”. But the stunt sparked outcry from parents…

CHINA Westerners are no longer welcome Gazeta Wyborcza (Warsaw) China is once again drawing up barriers against the world, says Dominika Maciejasz. Expatriates returning to Shanghai after spending lockdown in Europe are experiencing a new “contempt”. To get back in they’re forced to take as many as six Covid-19 tests, but still can’t find a taxi willing to drive them from the airport. Once-friendly neighbours now spout Orwellian “Party Newspeak”, claiming that the virus was imported to Wuhan from the US, and taunting them for their countries’ failures in controlling it; only China is “safe”, they’re told. The hostility is remarkable in a city that was once open and tolerant. Binational families are separated, and Beijing had initially announced that only foreigners who have had the Chinese vaccine would be…

It’s so common we barely think about it, but in all sorts of inanimate objects we see human faces: from the anxious-looking man who peers out of the Moon to the cheery grin of a cheese grater. Now, scientists have discovered that when the brain “sees” these faces, it processes them in the same way as it does real faces. From an evolutionary perspective, it seems the advantage of “never missing a face” outweighs any downside of mistaken identification, said Professor David Alais of the University of Sydney. “There is a great benefit in detecting faces quickly, but the system plays ‘fast and loose’ by applying a crude template of two eyes over a nose and mouth.” His study also found that even after wrongly identifying a face – “face…

When Tony Blair sent British troops into Afghanistan back in 2001, he declared war on the Taliban, but gave the Afghan people an explicit guarantee, said UnHerd: “We will not walk away, as the outside world has done so many times before,” he said. Yet last week, with much of the country once again in Taliban hands, another prime minister, Boris Johnson, announced the end of our military presence in Afghanistan. Flag-lowering ceremonies apparently took place in secret last month, and only a handful of British troops are now left to guard the embassy. All Blair’s fine talk of building “a stable, liberal democracy” in Afghanistan has come to nothing. Our longest military deployment in modern times – lasting 20 years and costing billions of pounds and the lives of…

“Big news in the world of crustaceans and molluscs,” said Lizzie Thomson in Metro: it may soon be illegal to boil lobsters alive. The Government’s Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill, which will legally recognise vertebrates as sentient beings and ensure that this is taken into account in policy-making, is making its way through the House of Lords. Now ministers have given their blessing to an amendment giving protections to invertebrates such as lobsters, octopuses and crabs. That would bring us in line with Switzerland, Norway and New Zealand, where boiling live lobsters is already forbidden. About time too, said The Times. Westerners are quick to condemn the “culinary barbarism” of other cultures, yet turn a blind eye to our own “needless brutality”. Top restaurants these days mostly prefer to freeze or…

A mass crash, a late bike change, sweltering heat and an injury to a teammate combined to make Mark Cavendish’s fourth-stage win at this year’s Tour de France one of his toughest, said Jeremy Whittle in The Guardian – but it was also the one that made history. Cavendish equalled Eddy Merckx’s all-time record of 34 stage wins, confounding those who had written off his career after years of illness and poor form. “What he is doing now is really crazy,” said the defending Tour champion and wearer of the yellow jersey, Tadej Pogacar, as he considered the 36-year-old’s achievements. “All respect to him.” A year ago Cavendish was close to retiring, said David Bates in The Times, worn down by depression and the Epstein-Barr virus that causes glandular fever.…

Flirting with disaster To The Guardian On the BBC’s Today programme this week, Sajid Javid was correct to say that prior to the vaccinations, 25,000 Covid cases a day were giving rise to about 500 deaths. But his claim that the ratio is now only one-thirtieth of that was entirely disingenuous. It is true that the current moving averages of 25,447 daily cases and 18.14 deaths reduces the apparent ratio to about one-thirtieth of what it was. But this fails to recognise that there is a delay between infection and death. And the current 18 deaths result from cases reported 16 days ago, when they were running at 9,109. So the incidence of deaths to infections is reduced only to one-eighth. And the difference between the two, in terms of…

The fourth plinth The sculptures that will occupy Trafalgar Square’s vacant Fourth Plinth for the next few years were announced last week, said Jawad Iqbal in The Times. In the past, the scheme to fill the platform with contemporary art has produced some admirable results. But it seems now that the Fourth Plinth commission risks becoming “a national joke”. The first work, to be installed next year, is Samson Kambalu’s Antelope, a sculpture of Malawian preacher and independence hero John Chilembwe towering over a British missionary; the second, by the Mexican artist Teresa Margolles, features plaster casts of the faces of 850 transgender people arranged into the form of “a Mesoamerican skull rack”. Coming at a moment of “polarised” debate surrounding public statues, they appear to have been chosen not…

At the fête planning-committee meeting, Joy suggests a scarecrow competition. Lynda says it’s been done before, but others support it. Alice tells Kate about Peggy and Chris “conspiring” over her alcoholism. Outraged, Kate wants to confront Peggy but Alice goes herself, and is surprised to get an abject apology. Alice makes her peace, but Kate is still furious and wants to leave Peggy and move in with Jakob. Lynda’s pride is wounded by the support for Joy’s idea, but Fallon kindly reassures her. Brian drives Alice to rehab, but as they get close, she escapes. A frantic Brian finds her in a pub. He eventually gets her to the facility but, as he says goodbye, Alice bitterly tells him she hates him. Neil admits to Shula that gardening for her…

What the experts recommend The Royal Oak Inn Luxborough, near Dunster, Exmoor National Park, Somerset (01984-641498) The two-sided menu at The Royal Oak Inn near Dunster had so many spelling mistakes I wondered if they were “going for a record”, says William Sitwell in The Daily Telegraph. Not only did they get “baguttes” and “mussles” wrong; they also erred with “ceasar”, “medditeranian” and “spiach”. But you really don’t have to be good at spelling to be a great cook or restaurant manager – and the food at this handsome 14th century inn, located deep in a gully in Exmoor National Park, really couldn’t be any more splendid. It’s the mussels that linger most in my memory: they came in their own huge metal pot, having been simply cooked in…

The Daily Telegraph The 128ti is a high-performance hatchback that will give its competitors a run for their money. With an eight-speed gearbox, it’s fast and fun. Less powerful than its big brother, the M135i, the 128ti is a more “nimble” touring companion. It’s not perfect – the rear seats are uncomfortably cramped, for instance. Still, it injects a dose of “excitement” into the class. Autocar There has never been a sporting front-wheel-drive BMW before, and there’s definitely room for a hot hatch that doesn’t do the “obvious thing” and “go after the boy-racer market”. It isn’t a looker; but it is “subtle under the skin”, and the drop in power gives it a rare weightlessness which makes it a pleasure to drive. “Priced to excite”, this car is forging…

DMGT: a better class of buyout baron The Daily Mail has been running “a vociferous campaign” against private equity firms gobbling up listed UK companies at bargain prices, said Helen Thomas in the FT. What will it make of its owner’s plans to go private? Proprietor Lord Rothermere – whose ancestors founded the newspaper in 1896 and floated the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT) in 1932 – has proposed buying the 70% of the publisher his family doesn’t own for a knock-down £810m, including debt. The deal, conducted via the family’s Bermuda-registered company RCL, would take in the Mail, Metro, New Scientist and i publications, as well as DMGT’s property information and events businesses. Lord Rothermere may be “a cut above your regular buyout baron”, but it’s a…

Another shock is needed to save the world Gillian Tett Financial Times There was a “grim symbolism” in the choice of Venice as the venue for the recent meeting of G20 finance ministers, says Gillian Tett. The city is on course to sink unless urgent action is taken to combat climate change. A recent BP review highlights the scale of the challenge. After noting that carbon emissions fell by a “startling” 5% during the pandemic slump of 2020, BP reckons the world needs to average the same rate of decline “every year for the next 30 years” if it is to hit the Paris climate goals. This calls for “massive behavioural change”; and there are five ways the G20 could kickstart it. First, by collectively embracing “a steadily rising carbon…

The week’s best shares Diageo The Daily Telegraph Diageo’s premium spirits have cross-generational appeal globally. Cash-generative, and in a strong position to raise prices should costs rise. It should benefit from “any possible roaring Twenties”. Buy. £34.34. Dunelm Group The Sunday Telegraph This well-managed homewares firm showed “real leadership” in the pandemic, boosting staff performance. Having “utterly embraced” the move to digital tech (sales jumped by 59%), investment continues. Buy. £14.21. Helical The Times This retail estate investment trust develops and lets offices in London. Although the extent of the return to offices is uncertain, rent collection rates have proved robust. The discount to shares is too severe. Buy. 438.50p PageGroup The Times Accelerating hiring activity has driven the recruiter to raise profit guidance. Highly cash-generative, and pushing into Germany,…

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) has cancelled the gypsy moth. The ESA is reviewing “inappropriate or offensive” insect names and has decided to “remove” the pest’s common name, because it uses a derogatory term for the Romani people. It will now be known only as Lymantria dispar. The Oriental rat flea, the Asian needle ant and the West Indian cane weevil are also being re-considered. “We don’t want to associate invasive pests with particular regions of the world or particular ethnic and cultural groups,” said the ESA. A mint condition copy of the video game Super Mario 64, dating from 1996, has sold at auction for more than $1.5m (£1.1m), making it the most expensive video game ever sold.…

Boris Johnson this week saw off a Tory rebellion over his plan to cut UK spending on foreign aid. MPs voted by a majority of 35 to keep the overseas development budget at 0.5% of national income, and not to reinstate the 0.7% figure that was in place until this year. Ministers insist that the cut – which will reduce aid by around £4.4bn – is a temporary move to alleviate pandemic pressures. But critics accused the PM of abandoning a manifesto promise at the expense of the world’s poor. In total, 24 Conservatives voted against the Government, including the former PM Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt.…

Amsterdam Suspect held: Peter R. de Vries, a high-profile Dutch journalist, remained in a critical condition in hospital after being shot five times on a busy street in central Amsterdam last week. Within hours of the shooting, Delano Geerman, a 21-year-old rapper, had been arrested. A second suspect, a Polish national, is also in custody. De Vries (pictured) came to prominence in the 1980s for his coverage of the abduction of the brewing magnate Freddy Heineken. He is known for investigating organised crime, and there is speculation that his attempted killing may be linked to his involvement in a high-profile gangland drug and murder case, known as the Marengo trial. Paris Covid surge: President Macron has announced plans to make coronavirus vaccinations compulsory for all health and care-home workers. France…

1* One, written and performed by U2 2 Love of My Life by Freddie Mercury, performed by Queen 3 Stairway to Heaven by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, performed by Led Zeppelin 4 Do Anything You Want To by Phil Lynott, performed by Thin Lizzy 5 Walking in My Shoes by Martin Gore, performed by Depeche Mode 6 Ruby Tuesday by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, performed by the Rolling Stones 7 Uprising by Matt Bellamy, performed by Muse 8 Nothing Else Matters by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, performed by Metallica Book: Essays and Letters, Plays and Poems, Stories by Oscar Wilde Luxury: a guitar * Choice if allowed only one record…

Money has a number of overlapping roles: as a medium of exchange (for payments), as a store of value (for savings and investment), and as a unit of account (for measuring value). It allowed societies to move beyond barter, separating buying from selling. The earliest forms of money were rare and precious objects: cowrie shells, pearls, gold, silver, cows. They allowed societies to move beyond barter, separating buying from selling. Paper money dates to 13th century China: Marco Polo noted with amazement that these “pieces of paper are issued with as much solemnity and authority as if they were of pure gold or silver”. Precious coins and the like are known as “commodity money”; today’s currency as “fiat money”, because it becomes legal tender by government order. These technical distinctions…

Trump’s war on Twitter and Facebook David Corn Mother Jones Donald Trump is on the warpath, says David Corn. The former president revealed last week that he is suing Facebook, Google (which owns YouTube) and Twitter for violating his First Amendment right to free speech. He is demanding the restoration of his social media accounts, which were suspended when he used them to spread lies about the 2020 election, along with punitive damages. The announcement caused quite a splash, but few expect his lawsuit to get anywhere. Private companies aren’t bound by the First Amendment, and legal experts believe the courts will have little time for Trump’s contention that the tech companies should be regarded as de facto government entities. Not that this will bother the former president much. His…

An off-the-shelf supplement often given to asthmatics appears to ease the worst effects of a hangover – but only in women. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is known to protect the liver, so researchers in Pennsylvania decided to investigate whether it would ease the stress that is put on the liver when people drink large quantities of alcohol. For their study, they recruited 49 volunteers who were given strong beer to drink, until their breath alcohol content reached 0.1% (above the legal driving limit, which is 0.08%). They were then given doses of NAC, and driven home. The next morning they were asked to assess how they felt on a scale of one to five – from “like I did not drink”, to “so hungover I might die” – and to describe their…

“To govern is to choose,” said the London Evening Standard. And a key choice confronting ministers today is whether or not to risk alienating older voters by ending the triple lock on pensions. This is the policy that guarantees that the state pension rises each year by whichever is the highest out of average earnings, the inflation rate or 2.5%. The policy was introduced by David Cameron in 2010, and the Tories promised in their last election manifesto to maintain it. But the pandemic has complicated things. Although earnings suffered a freak reduction and inflation rose by just 1% last year, pensions still grew by 2.5%. This year, the unwinding of the furlough scheme is expected to lead to a freak 8% increase in earnings, which – under the terms…

“We have a hooligan class of politicians – and a national football team composed of gentlemen.” Matthew d’Ancona on Tortoise “People change, and forget to tell each other.” Lillian Hellman, quoted on The Browser “Future statues might be generic, and preferably androgynous. They could have replaceable heads. That way, if the person commemorated should fall out of fashion, the head could simply be screwed off and replaced by another.” Alexander McCall Smith in The i Paper “In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.” Jean-Paul Sartre, quoted in The Times “The secret pleasure of a generous act is the great mind’s bribe.” John Dryden, quoted in Forbes “Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.” Hannah Arendt, quoted in The Press and…

The English cricketing summer is on a “knife edge”, after Covid cases forced England’s entire one-day squad and coaching staff to self-isolate, four days before their first one-day international against Pakistan, said Elizabeth Ammon in The Times. An entirely new 18-man squad had to be assembled, with players pulled from ongoing county matches, a third of whom had never played international cricket before. As cases rise, the rest of the season – including the Test series against India and the new Hundred tournament – may be jeopardised. Even so, it was a “triumphant week” for the understudies, said Will Macpherson in the London Evening Standard. A crushing nine-wicket win in Cardiff on Thursday, and an aggressive display at Lord’s to secure the three-match series, proved that even those who have…

To The Times I cannot agree with James Forsyth that “It’s time to give No. 10 real levers of power”. The Prime Minister hires and fires ministers; he chairs the Cabinet and such Cabinet committees as he wishes; he talks with other heads of government; and his spokesman briefs the lobby each day. The PM already has sufficient powers to get his way, if he knows what his way is. Lord Butler of Brockwell, Cabinet secretary 1988-98 To The Times Two of the recommendations of the Commission for Smart Government seem to me to be reforms whose time has finally come. The first is bringing together the spending and personnel levers of government under a chief secretary reporting to the PM, as in the Office of Management and Budget in…

There’s no mystery as to why the drama series Sex/Life became Netflix’s most watched UK show when it was released last week, said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian. It’s a “sex-strewn, nudity-heavy saucefest” leavened by an “occasional splash” of melodrama. Sarah Shahi is Billie Connelly, a wealthy woman who, despite her happy marriage, can’t stop fantasising about her bad-boy ex, Brad. Their conversations, she says, were “intoxicating” – but it’s their “neon-lit” sex in every possible location that we actually see, as Billie’s dilemma is strung out over eight almost “plot-free episodes”. “The premise is, and I don’t want to make this sound too sophisticated: which man has the bigger penis?” said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. The defining moment comes when one man reveals his huge manhood to…

Best books… Ruth Padel The award-winning poet, author and classicist chooses her five favourite books. Her new novel, Daughters of the Labyrinth (Corsair £18.99) – a contemporary story set partly in her beloved Crete – is out now The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault, 1956 (Virago £8.99). One of my favourite evocations of classical Greece. It is beautifully written, vivid and natural, with no hint of the research that must have gone into it. But it’s also a deeply emotional, delicately drawn love story between two men. It brings to life the horrors of ancient warfare, the original Olympic Games, and philosophers Socrates and Plato, as classical Athens falls from prosperity into war and social division, and democracy crumbles under pressure. Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, 2017 (Bloomsbury…

Programmes A Very British Country House A two-part look behind the scenes at Cliveden House and its estate, as it hosts a variety of guests and events, including Instagram influencers and a wedding. Sun 18 Jul, C4 20:00 (60mins). Baptiste New series of the moody detective drama: Julien Baptiste travels to Hungary to help the British ambassador (Fiona Shaw) find her missing family. Sun 18 Jul, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Uprising Documentary by Steve McQueen and James Rogan, exploring the 1981 New Cross fire, and its effect on race relations. Tue 20, Wed 21 and Thur 22 Jul, BBC1 21:00 (three parts, 60mins each). Torn Apart: Family Courts Uncovered Dispatches uses unseen footage and personal testimony to investigate what goes on behind the closed doors of family courts, with some shocking…

Hummus is delicious, quick and easy to make if you have a food processor or blender, says Jenny Chandler. The ice cubes are the magic touch, making this the creamiest, smoothest hummus ever. Hummus 4 servings 1 x 400g can of chickpeas or 300g home-cooked chickpeas juice of 1 lemon 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste) 2 tbsp water and 2 ice cubes a pinch of salt • Pour the chickpeas into a sieve set over a bowl, straining off the gloopy cooking juices. • Put the chickpeas into a processor or blender along with the lemon juice, garlic and olive oil. Give the tahini a good stir and then add that, too, with the water and ice cubes. •…

Coleman Sundome Beach  Shelter The well-built Sundome wins points for durability. Its design leaves you quite open to the elements, but it has internal pockets for storing phones and snacks, and even a drying line for clothes (£35; mountain warehouse.com). Outwell Windscreen Air The top-end Outwell windshield uses cutting-edge inflatable technology to provide an excellent shield for cooking or just lounging. Ideal as a caravan extension, it is surprisingly easy to set up (£390; outwell.com). LittleLife Family Beach  Shelter A sturdy family-favourite, this tent is spacious and designed to protect against all kinds of British weather (and, with a zip-up door, prying eyes too). It has a 50+ UPF rating, and a ventilation panel at the back to keep things cool and airy (£60; littlelife.com). SKLZ  Sport-Brella Umbrella Shelter This…

The UK inflation rate hit 2.5% in the year to June, the highest for nearly three years, topping the Bank of England’s 2% target for the second month running. The upward tick is likely to fuel debate about interest rate rises. Consumer prices in the US rose by 0.9% from May-June – the largest monthly gain since 2008. Fed chair Jay Powell said he was ready to intervene if inflation spiralled out of control, but stressed the Fed still expects price rises to ease this year. Chancellor Rishi Sunak urged Britons to return to work after the lifting of the order to work from home on 19 July. But many companies said they would opt for a staggered approach. The Bank of England lifted restrictions on bank dividends and share…

● Wise up “Blink and you missed it,” said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. The UK’s “biggest tech flotation” ever happened last week, “to about a hundredth of the pre-publicity generated by the overhyped and undercooked Deliveroo”. Wise – the profitable cross-border payments company formerly known as TransferWise – finished its first day in public form valued at a “punchy” £8.75bn, “more than twice its valuation at its last private funding round last year”. The company isn’t eligible for the FTSE 100 because its Estonian CEO and co-founder, Kristo Käärmann, “insisted on giving himself enhanced voting rights”, thus earning “a boo” from governance purists. “He gets a cheer, though, for demonstrating that appetite for high-growth, highly prized tech businesses is alive and well in London.” ● Robin Hood rides again…

Bill and Melinda Gates Fortunately for the future of one of the world’s largest philanthropic foundations, the Gates divorce seems to have been concluded harmoniously, said The Times. Bill and Melinda will continue working as co-chairs of the $55bn Gates Foundation for two years, but Melinda will step down “if the arrangement unravels”. Still, ending a 27-year marriage is never easy, and Gates is feeling the strain. Appearing at this year’s Sun Valley gathering – an Idaho get-together dubbed a “summer camp for billionaires” – he appeared “close to tears” as he “‘fessed up” to wrecking his marriage. There were reports of an extra-marital affair but, according to The New York Times, it was his association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, that was the final…