Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1311/1312 i The Week

What happened The Covid Christmas Boris Johnson last week defied calls to cancel the five-day relaxation of Covid-19 rules over Christmas, but urged the public to keep gatherings small, short and local. He said there had been “unanimous agreement” at a meeting of the leaders of the four nations of the UK that they shouldn’t “criminalise people’s long-made plans”. However, the UK-wide approach to the festive season broke down soon after the meeting. In Wales, the number of households that can form a “Christmas bubble” was cut from three to two, while Scots were urged to meet for just one day and to avoid overnight stays. Wales and Northern Ireland announced strict post-Christmas lockdowns. With Covid cases rising across most of England, ministers moved several more local authorities in the…

Seattle, Washington Mega-philanthropy: MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has given more than $4.2bn to 384 charities and good causes across the US, in her second round of donations this year (she gave away $1.7bn in July). Scott has committed to giving away most of her $60bn fortune, which is mainly made up of Amazon shares that were granted to her as part of her divorce settlement in 2019. “This pandemic has been a wrecking ball in the lives of Americans already struggling,” she wrote, in a blog post, but it has “substantially increased the wealth of billionaires”. Beneficiaries of her philanthropy range from meals on wheels services and food banks to civil rights groups and higher education institutions, including historically black universities. Her ex-husband’s net worth…

Muthill Villagers in Perthshire turned a phone box into a larder in April, to make sure everyone in the community had access to basic provisions. Corrina Robertson, from Muthill, came up with the idea after worrying that some of her neighbours might be struggling financially – or simply unable to get to the shops. Soon, people were dropping off food, as well as toiletries, books, puzzles and games. “Nobody knows everyone’s circumstances and not everyone is in a great financial position, so it’s give what you want, take what you need and leave what you don’t,” she explained. Lake District As athletes had more time on their hands, and few events to compete in, solo records were smashed all over the country. In July, a Cumbrian vet became the first…

To The Times Tom Whipple (“Do face masks protect against Covid-19?”) states that the Danish mask trial was “inconclusive about whether masks protect the wearer”. Hardly. The Danmask-19 survey, a randomised controlled trial with more than 6,000 participants, found no statistically significant difference between mask-wearers and non-wearers when it came to catching Covid-19. To be precise, 1.8% of those wearing masks caught Covid-19, compared with 2.1% of the group who didn’t wear them – a difference of 0.3 percentage points among hundreds of people over several weeks. If that is inconclusive, I do not know what would be conclusive. Peter Hitchens, London To The Times Peter Hitchens is wrong. The Danish study showed a 14% reduction in infections among wearers, an effect which, if demonstrated in a much larger trial,…

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris Arrow £8.99 (£6.99) This thriller initially seems to be about medieval Britain, but is in fact set 800 years in the future – in a society that has reverted to strict religious repression. Its hero, Christopher Fairfax, is a young priest sent to a village in Exmoor to oversee a burial. There, he uncovers unsettling truths about what is known as the Apocalypse. This is a “genuinely thrilling” novel that “exposes the fragility of modern civilisation”, said The Daily Telegraph. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid Bloomsbury £8.99 (£6.99) Novels about contemporary issues can often be “cringe-inducing”, said The Daily Telegraph – not this hugely enjoyable satire. It begins with Emira, a black nanny, being accosted by a security guard in a supermarket…

A new big-budget sci-fi drama, Raised by Wolves is so “po-faced”, it makes Game of Thrones feel “like a Benny Hill rerun”, said Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph. It’s slow, too, and wildly convoluted, and it wrestles with grand themes without reaching clear conclusions. But it’s “a blast” even so – beautifully designed, with plenty of “stomach-churning twists”. Set about 100 years from now, it unfolds on a distant planet to which “creepy” android couple Father (Abubakar Salim) and Mother (Amanda Collin) have brought human embryos to raise after Earth is destroyed in a war between fanatical atheists and religious zealots. The planet is fissured by sinkholes, said Suzi Feay in the FT, into which the atheist Mother and Father’s “adorable moppets” keep falling, until there is only one…

After bidding farewell on Radio Borsetshire, Susan tells Neil that she’s not bothered that the show has ended. But when she sees the online comments from listeners she contacts Tracy, who starts a petition to get her back on air. As they pluck turkeys, Oliver realises that Eddie is around 20 birds short for his orders. Eddie convinces Oliver to buy some at auction secretly to cover the shortfall. Blake, Kenzie and Jordan, Philip and Gavin’s three workers, speculate about their new employer and talk about their troubled pasts. Blake thinks they should thank Philip and Gavin, in spite of everything. Kirsty and Philip talk about their new start in Wales. Roman has got an acting job in the Maldives and wants Tracy and the kids to come. Tracy tells…

Uncut Gems had Adam Sandler cast wildly against type as a shady New York diamond dealer hustling to pay off his gambling debts – but only getting in further over his head. Clemency is a superb, and superbly acted, death-row drama from writer-director Chinonye Chukwu. It stars Alfre Woodard as the conscientious warden of a maximum security prison whose life is unravelling. Parasite became the first non-English-language film to win an Oscar for best film. Bong Joon-ho’s black comedy thriller, set in Seoul, is a layered, and shocking, examination of ambition and class conflict. The Assistant makes no mention of Harvey Weinstein, but this chillingly plausible drama is all about him. Julia Garner plays the intern at a New York film company, terrorised by a boss we never actually see.…

Adding orange zest to a steamed pudding gives a little acidity to cut through the richness, says Calum Franklin, and it also gives it the most incredible aroma when it’s served at the dining table 110g golden syrup, plus an extra 30g for serving 190g butter, softened, plus an extra 10g for greasing 130g soft brown sugar zest of 2 oranges 3 eggs, beaten 180g self-raising flour, sifted 20ml whole milk custard, to serve Equipment required: 1.2-litre (2 pint) pudding basin • Grease a 1.2-litre (2-pint) pudding basin with butter and place a small circle of parchment paper in the bottom. Firmly press the paper down into the base, avoiding making any creases. Pour half the golden syrup into the basin. • In a bowl, whisk the remaining syrup together…

Nordica Enforcer 94 These versatile and stable skis have a carbon chassis and a full wood core sandwiched between two sheets of metal. The equivalent women’s model is called the Santa Ana (£439; snowcountry.eu). Lange LX 90 boots  Lange’s super-comfy boots are made from plastics of various stiffnesses fused together in layers, which gives great flex and rebound motion (£233; ekosport. co.uk). Bridgedale lightweight ski merino socks These low-bulk and extra-breathable socks are great for wearing in snug boots. They are also 20% merino wool, so are naturally odour-controlling (£25; amazon.co.uk). Dragon Alliance RVX OTG Comp These comfy goggles have wide vents and crystal-clear anti-fog lenses, which you swap by easily clicking them on and off (£190; uk.dragonalliance.com). 30seven heated mittens Waterproof and highly breathable, these mittens come with rechargeable…

Thanks to the pandemic, “more than half” of FTSE 100 companies “cut, deferred or cancelled” some £37bn in dividend payments this year, said Camilla Canocchi on ThisIsMoney. com – a blow for income investors. But some were still quids in. Research by AJ Bell shows that companies still paid out around £60bn this year – just 20% less than in 2019. British American Tobacco, the maker of Lucky Strike and Pall Mall cigarettes, is set to top the pile for dividend payments this year – paying out a yield of nearly 8%, or £4.95bn, to shareholders. Other “dividend restorers” including BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Rio Tinto and GlaxoSmithKline are also paying out more than £4bn. And now the Prudential Regulatory Authority has lifted its ban on bank dividends, big lenders…

Cal Henderson The Slack co-founder is “one of Britain’s most successful exports to Silicon Valley”, says James Titcomb in The Sunday Telegraph. Ironically, Cal Henderson’s main coups – he also co-created the photo sharing app Flickr – began life as side projects. What he really wanted to do was create a successful video game. His last attempt, a game called Glitch, bombed – but its chat system mutated into the office comms platform, Slack; it was sold to Salesforce for $28bn this month “in one of the biggest software deals ever”. Slack was designed to make workers more productive, a trait the “unashamedly nerdy” Henderson, 39, admires – even when relaxing. He’s in the habit of listening to audiobooks “at triple speed” to “maximise productivity”. Anna Wintour “One of the…

Controversy of the week Rugby in the dock What’s it like to win the Rugby World Cup? “Steve Thompson should know,” said Henry Mance in the FT – he was in the England team that lifted the trophy in Sydney in 2003. But the 42-year-old has no memory at all of the tournament today. Indeed, he sometimes even struggles to recall his wife’s name. Thompson is one of eight former players, all under 45, who are preparing to sue the sport’s governing bodies for negligence after being diagnosed with early onset dementia – a result, they believe, of the repeated blows to the head they suffered during their careers. The lawsuit represents an overdue “reckoning” for rugby union. Since the sport turned professional in 1995, the players have grown ever…

John le Carré 1931-2020 “David Cornwell, who wrote under the pen name John le Carré, virtually created a new school of fiction,” said The Times – “not so much spy stories as anti-spy stories, convoluted tales of disillusionment and betrayal.” His most famous book, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, a bleak and brilliantly plotted story about Cold War defectors and double agents, was conceived as a kind of riposte to Ian Fleming’s glossy James Bond thrillers. Spies, declares its main character Alec Leamas, are “a squalid procession of vain fools, traitors too... pansies, sadists, and drunkards, people who play cowboys and Indians to brighten their rotten lives”. Le Carré’s own early life was the perfect preparation for writing about this shadowy “secret world”. “His time in the…

Two Italian girls who posted videos of themselves playing socially distanced tennis – between the rooftops of their apartment blocks in Genoa – had a surprise visit from Roger Federer. The 20-time Grand Slam winner flew to Italy to knock up with the girls – both keen players – after their clips went viral. “Passion does not go away because of lockdown,” he said. “That video resonated with a lot of people and with me too.” The girls were visibly shocked when Federer appeared. “I didn’t think he was real,” said Vittoria Oliveri, 13. “I thought it was a mannequin.” Rare camera trap images of a group of Cross River gorillas, in the mountains of southeast Nigeria, raised hopes in July that the species is recovering from years of poaching.…

An unexpected hit of the pandemic was competitive marble racing, which grew in popularity enormously, said The Guardian. Millions tuned into online videos of the glass balls racing down winding tracks. The “sport” now has its own teams, leagues and referees – and even a slot on ESPN. Ultra-athletes, mostly denied the chance to race competitively, instead dedicated themselves to breaking records, said The Sunday Times. Times were shaved off many iconic endurance runs – including the 874 miles from Land’s End to John o’Groats, which Carla Molinaro completed in the fastest-ever time for a woman: 12 days, 30 minutes and 14 seconds. Novak Djokovic, the world’s No. 1 male tennis player, was defaulted from the fourth round of the US Open after a ball he angrily hit towards the…

What the scientists said in 2020 ● Chilli perks up a dull meal, and it may be good for your heart too. Researchers in Italy tracked 23,000 people, and found that chilli lovers – who consumed them four times a week or more – were 40% less likely to have a heart attack, and 61% less likely to die of a stroke, during the study period than those who generally avoided them. Overall, their mortality rate was 23% lower than the chilli avoiders. Interestingly, this protective effect persisted regardless of the participants’ diet: whether they ate a Mediterranean diet, or rarely ate fresh fruit and vegetables, their taste for chilli appeared to make a positive difference. ● Yoga could be worth taking up if you are plagued by migraines, according…

The Apartment Set over Christmas and reaching its climax on New Year’s Eve, Billy Wilder’s sublime 1960 comedy is pretty dark, and it was risqué for its time. Focusing on an office underling who lets his superiors use his apartment for their affairs, it wrenches hope from the depths of suicidal despair. My Night at Maud’s The third of Éric Rohmer’s Six Moral Tales, this 1969 film stars Jean-Louis Trintignant as a devout Catholic snowed in on Christmas Eve with an atheist divorcée (Françoise Fabian). Their conversations about life and love are long and intense – but playful, and refreshingly real too. Metropolitan Whit Stillman’s 1990 comedy of manners follows a group of wealthy WASP teens through the Christmas season in New York. It’s hard to believe the brittle, backwards-looking…

Best books… Emily Mortimer The actress and screenwriter chooses her favourite books by female writers of the 20th century. She has just written and directed a new BBC/Amazon production of Nancy Mitford’s The Pursuit of Love, which comes out next year The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford, 1945 (Penguin £8.99). This book is as good as anything Evelyn Waugh wrote. It’s outrageously funny, wickedly honest, and the wild, passionate and love-addicted Linda Radlett still reads as a radical. The Return of the Soldier by Rebecca West, 1918 (Virago £8.99). The first ever fictional account of the effects of shell shock: a soldier comes home from the trenches unable to remember the last 15 years of his life. Very sexy, romantic and sad about time and the choices we make.…

Somerset House has just announced DODGE, a new funfair-themed outdoor experience opening in January. Its famous courtyard will feature a colourful installation by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Ilori, complete with flags in his signature designs along the South Wing. The centrepiece is Bumps per minute, an interactive dodgem cars rink designed by Mercury Prize-nominated composer Anna Meredith and sound designer Nick Ryan. There will also be a pop-up restaurant, outdoor seating booths and late-night DJ sets. From 20 January to 20 March; Somerset House, Strand, London WC2 (somersethouse.org.uk).…

Cranberry spiced punch Serve this punch on ice with fresh, tangy cranberries, says Kathy Kordalis. You can also mix in orange juice, fresh orange slices and some prosecco. Serves 6-8 400ml whisky 1 litre cranberry juice 3 tbsp vanilla essence 3 tbsp maple syrup 200g fresh cranberries to serve: 6-8 cinnamon sticks Mix the whisky, cranberry juice, vanilla essence, maple syrup, fresh cranberries and some ice in a jug or punch bowl. Serve with extra ice, some of the cranberries and cinnamon sticks. Tip: if you can’t find fresh cranberries, infuse 150g of dried cranberries in the whisky overnight. Muddled berries with cloves To keep proceedings fuss-free, serve it in jugs with some gin alongside, so those who fancy it can add a dash if they like. Serves 6 1-2…

BMW iX BMW is putting everything it knows about electric cars into its new upmarket flagship. It will go an impressive 376 miles between charges, and get from 0 to 62mph in under five seconds. The swanky interior is dominated by curved digital screens; the car comes 5G ready, with a hexagonal steering wheel and all the latest autonomous driving tech. On sale in late 2021, from £100,000. Hyundai Tucson The South Korean carmaker has given its popular Tucson a radical new design for 2021, putting the mid-sized SUV a step up into Range Rover territory, with LED headlights hidden within the grille to give it a unique look. Hyundai has become a surprise leader in electrification, and the Tucson will be available as a mild, full and plug-in hybrid.…

● Jab jamboree The great silver lining of Covid-19 is the boost it’s given to the pharma industry – and the sector’s “neglected Cinderella”: vaccine development, said Lex in the FT. It was often sidelined in the past in favour of more easily developed treatments, but the billions pouring into the hunt for a Covid jab should serve us all well in the future. Germany’s BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer on a vaccine, was previously best known for its pioneering work in cancer treatment – it uses the same mRNA technology to provoke an immune response to fight off tumours. Covid has had the effect of turbo-charging the process by “putting mRNA vaccines to an early test”. Their future looks promising. ● Hot Hut “We have created more millionaires than…

Practical help for the high street Editorial Financial Times Tesco and other supermarkets have bowed to pressure to pay back what they saved from the Government’s one-year business rates “holiday”, says the FT. How about using the £1.8bn or so saved to fund a one-year extension of the broader rates holiday? “It would give struggling retailers and hospitality businesses a vital breathing space.” Long term, though, a thorough revamp is needed. The system introduced in 1990 – a tax linked to assessed rental values – is no longer fit for purpose. Rateable values, left unchanged from 2010 to 2017, have become “disconnected” from the reality on the ground. Retail rents have slumped in deprived areas but soared in the richest, while sales have rapidly shifted online. Rates should be revalued…

JANUARY Following a dramatic New Year flit from Japan, former Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn turned up in Beirut, alleging a sensational plot to oust and imprison him. The forex company Travelex was held to ransom by “cybergangsters” demanding a seven-figure sum, paid in bitcoin. China marked the Year of the Rat by halting stock-trading as a deadly new virus broke out in Wuhan. President Trump signed the first phase of a new trade agreement with China, without lifting the $360bn of tariffs already imposed. In Britain, the new Johnson government rescued the regional airline Flybe. The chancellor, Sajid Javid, said his first Budget would focus on “levelling up” Britain. In a landmark for retail, online fashion upstart Boohoo overtook M&S in market value. BlackRock, the world’s largest investor, with $7trn…

Politics & law Lord Chalfont, politician, died 10 January, aged 100. Daniel arap Moi, former president of Kenya, died 4 February, aged 95. Hosni Mubarak, former president of Egypt, died 25 February, aged 91. Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, ex-Secretary-General of the UN, died 4 March, aged 100. Betty Williams, peace activist, died 17 March, aged 76. Lord Garel-Jones, politician, died 24 March, aged 79. Lord Armstrong, civil servant, died 3 April, aged 93. John Lewis, civil rights leader and congressman, died 17 July, aged 80. Clive Ponting, whistleblower, died 28 July, aged 74. John Hume, politician, died 3 August, aged 83. Lord Lester, human rights lawyer, died 8 August, aged 84. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, justice of the US Supreme Court, died 18 September, aged 87. Valéry Giscard D’Estaing, former French…

Mol, Belgium Super-spreader Santa: Scores of residents and staff at a nursing home in the Belgian city of Mol have become infected with coronavirus following a Christmas visit from a “super-spreader Santa” – a man dressed as the festive figure of Sinterklaas (St Nicholas). The municipal authorities in Mol have said the care home’s managers made an “error of judgement” in allowing the visit, by the son of one of the residents. Photographs of the event reprinted in the Belgian media show that the “Santa” was masked – but that many of the residents in the room were not. The man, who felt well at the time but tested positive a few days later, is reported to be devastated about the outbreak his well-intentioned but misguided visit may have caused.…

JANUARY President Trump raises the stakes in America’s stand-off with Iran by ordering a lethal drone strike on the country’s revered general, Qasem Soleimani. Tehran strikes back at two US bases in Iraq, and accidentally shoots down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing 176 people. Following crisis talks at Sandringham, the Queen gives her reluctant blessing to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step down as senior royals. A Chinese man is confirmed to have died of a mysterious virus that emerged in the city of Wuhan in December; it is identified by the media as a novel coronavirus. Days later, cases are confirmed in Japan and South Korea. Jess Phillips quits the Labour leadership contest, having failed to secure the backing of any trades union. On BBC Question…

A psychiatrist in Ottawa was censured for repeatedly falling asleep during sessions with one of his patients. The woman complained that the doctor, named only as Dr N.J.K., had dozed off in at least five appointments. “She explained that she had lived a life of invalidation, keeping secrets to herself because she thought no one would care,” read a ruling on behalf of the College of Physicians and Surgeons. “His falling asleep made her feel weak and unimportant.” Dr N.J.K. apologised, and said he would move the patient’s appointments to the morning. A pensioner from Forfar in Angus had a nasty shock when he found his own grave in a local cemetery. “I’m still alive,” said Alan Hattel, 75. “My phone hasn’t rung for three or four months. Now I…

British diversity To The Guardian Nesrine Malik believes that the Brexit referendum of 2016 let loose a toxic racist and anti-immigration bile into British life. Although a Remain voter, I find this difficult to reconcile with the results of an Ipsos Mori poll in December 2018 showing that 48% of British voters believed immigration to have had a positive impact on the country, higher than anywhere else in the EU. In addition, Britain is the only major country in Europe without a radical-right party in its legislature. In Germany, the AfD is the official opposition; in Sweden, after the 2018 general election, the radical-right Sweden Democrats were strong enough to prevent the formation of a majority government; and in France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party won the 2019 European…

How puffins scratch Many birds use tools to help them catch or extract food: crows fashion twigs into hooks; macaws have been observed using wood to crack nuts. Now, puffins have been observed using sticks not to get food, but to scratch themselves: possibly they were trying to dislodge parasites; or they may just have had an itch, said Oxford University’s Dr Annette Fayet. Monkeys went sailing Fossilised primate teeth found in Peru bolstered the theory that millions of years ago, monkeys hopped onto floating islands of vegetation in west Africa, and “sailed” across the Atlantic. The teeth belong to a species of monkey that was previously unknown, but which was closely related to a primate species that lived in the same Oligocene period in Africa, 33 million years ago.…

Tips of the week... how to get plants in the right light ● Be aware that our eyes are not very good at measuring light levels. Use a free light meter app, and you will see that the light level at a window can be double that just a metre away from it. ● Most houseplants are varieties that grow on the rainforest floor – so they are not adapted for bright, direct light (within about a metre of a window). Exceptions are cacti and other succulents, and some species from the Mediterranean, such as bougainvillea and pelargoniums. ● Within 1-2 metres of a window is usually the sweet spot for “bright but indirect” light that doesn’t burn leaves, which suits most houseplants, particularly north-facing windows, and east- or west-facing…

The giraffe was, some said, a gift from Cleopatra: a woman who understood present-giving. When Julius Caesar brought it back to Rome from Alexandria in 46 BC, the Romans saw a creature made of two parts. Cassius Dio wrote in his Historia Romana that it was “like a camel in all respects except that its legs are not all of the same length, the hind legs being the shorter... Towering high aloft, it... lifts its neck in turn to an unusual height. Its skin is spotted like a leopard. And for this reason, it bears the joint name of both animals.” Camelopardalis: camelopard. Throughout history, we have tried to explain how something so mixed and miraculous came to be. The Persian geographer Ibn al-Faqih wrote in the tenth century that…