Innholdsfortegnelse for 1415-16 i The Week

Dublin Varadkar returns: Leo Varadkar has returned as Irish taoiseach. He will replace Micheál Martin, who is now tánaiste (deputy PM) as part of a pre-agreed rotation. The nomination of the Fine Gael leader, who previously served as taoiseach from 2017 to 2020, was approved by members of the Dáil last weekend. As well as replacing him as tánaiste, Martin, of Fianna Fáil, will take over from Simon Coveney as foreign minister in April. The rotation – the first of its kind in Ireland – was agreed in 2020 as part of a coalition deal between the two centre-right parties, which were once bitter rivals but which now share power with the Greens. Brussels A warning from Qatar: Qatari diplomats have warned that the EU’s response to the influence-peddling scandal…

CHINA A zero-Covid reckoning? No chance The New York Times Many Chinese people are celebrating liberation from the government’s hated zero-Covid policy, even as the virus rips through the population, says Li Yuan. How “wonderful”, they exclaim, no longer to have to worry about quarantine camps, or to be made prisoners in our own homes. Some proudly describe their symptoms, celebrating the right to get sick. But beneath it all is a “collective and profound trauma” that won’t easily heal, which is why large numbers of people, gripped by grief and anxiety, want a “national reckoning”. Articles on social media (quickly deleted by censors) demand that officials apologise for the “farce” of perpetual lockdowns. Others call for people who died in suicides or accidents linked with zero-Covid to be named…

Celebrities in America love to make a splash with elaborate Halloween costumes, but few have gone as far as Heidi Klum. This year, the supermodel decided to wear “something different”, and settled on dressing up as a worm. It took her 12 hours to get into the outfit, made of spandex and foam, and she conceded that being “stuck inside the worm body” was not very comfortable. “But Halloween,” she reflected, “is not about comfort.” When a French pensioner noticed a blue jacket hanging from a peg on the wall of the Picasso Museum in Paris, she assumed it had been abandoned. The 72-year-old duly took it home, and finding that it was a bit on the large side, asked her tailor to alter it. A few days later, she…

A new drug has been found to have significant benefits for women with advanced forms of the most common breast cancer. Capivasertib works by blocking the activity of a cancer-driving protein molecule called AKT. For a phase three trial, it was prescribed to more than 300 advanced cancer patients, who were also treated with the hormone therapy fulvestrant; a similar number of patients were given fulvestrant and a placebo. The results showed that the new drug-based treatment gave patients seven months in which their disease did not progress, whereas being treated with fulvestrant only resulted in 3.6 months. And in the group that had the new treatment, 23% of patients’ tumours shrank, compared with just 12% in the control group. Capivasertib is being manufactured by AstraZeneca, based on research conducted…

Run time: 2hrs 20mins This joyful and “cheerfully chaotic” panto will be breaking with convention after Christmas by going on the road until April, said Clive Davis in The Times. And hurrah for that, because in these bleak times, it’s the kind of “knockabout entertainment that we need”. It’s raucous, visually inventive, unashamedly traditional – and it marks a “triumphant” return to panto damehood for Sir Ian McKellen, said Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard. Wearing a series of wildly garish outfits – from frou-frou nightie to Beefeater dress – the “original great Knight out treats us to dance routines, a stream of innuendo that’s only just family-friendly”, and amusing snippets of everything from Shakespeare to Gandalf. At several points, McKellen’s onstage wife, comedian John Bishop, “looks incredulous at the…

The award-winning author is one of the judges for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2023 (the longlist is to be announced on 7 March). Her latest novel, Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North (Doubleday £12.99), is out now Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, 1980 (Faber £8.99). Orphaned sisters Lucille and Ruth are looked after haphazardly by various female members of their family until their Aunt Sylvie, a drifter, steps in. I come back to this haunting, luminous book time and time again. It reads like poetry: a quiet masterpiece on not belonging. Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, 1911 (Wordsworth £2.99). Ethan Frome is stuck in an existence working his unproductive farm and married to a hypochondriac. Enter her vivacious cousin, Mattie, hired as extra help. It’s brilliant about longing,…

The Georgians by Penelope J. Corfield A comprehensive history of the Georgians, comparing past views of these exciting, turbulent, and controversial times with our attitudes today. In this wide-ranging history, Penelope J. Corfield explores every aspect of Georgian life-politics and empire, culture and society, love and violence, religion and science, industry and towns. £25.00 £19.99 The Palace Papers Tina Brown Picking up where The Diana Chronicles left off, The Palace Papers reveals how the royal family reinvented itself after the traumatic years when Diana's blazing celebrity ripped through the House of Windsor like a comet. Brown takes readers on a journey that shows the Queen's stoic resolve as she coped with the passing of Princess Margaret, the Queen Mother and her partner for seven decades, Prince Philip, and triumphed in her…

Emilia 2 East Street, Ashburton, Devon (01364-653998) This recently opened restaurant on the edge of Dartmoor is a place of “almost tear-jerking” charm, said William Sitwell in The Daily Telegraph. Housed in a former bank in the pretty town of Ashburton, it consists of a “modest-sized room with a kitchen at one end” and a “scattering of old wooden tables”. The Italian-inspired menu is a “model of tight, appetising precision” – and the food could hardly be more delicious. My buddy and I begin with a stew of peppers and borlotti beans, which is a “paean to rich and hearty rural bliss”. Subsequent dishes are also “too good not to share” – “impeccable” tagliatelle with veal ragù, and a “similarly glorious” dish of roasted ray. Finally, there’s creamed rice with…

National Art Pass gives access to more than 800 museums, galleries and historic houses and 50% off major exhibitions in the UK. Add a Plus One and they can bring a guest each time (from £45; artfund.org). A Secret Escapes gift card can be used on luxury hotel breaks, holidays and spa days. You can get a card in a presentation box or, for a last-minute gift, there’s a printable e-voucher (from £50; secretescapes.com). The Ginger Pig offers vouchers for a range of hands-on Butchery Classes in London. After learning how to get the most from each cut, there’s an informal two-course meal (from £195; thegingerpig.co.uk). Recipients will learn how to fly a real aircraft with a Double Landing Flying Lesson at locations throughout the UK (was £259, now £165;…

The Swiss resort of Pontresina stands firmly in the shadow of nearby St Moritz, “peerless party town of the ski world and winter retreat of the financial elite”. But it wasn’t always so, said Nick Trend in The Daily Telegraph. From the 1860s until after the Second World War, it was just as fashionable. And today, it not only offers access to the same ski areas as St Moritz (you just have to rely on your hotel minibus), it’s also “far prettier”. While St Moritz has “transformed itself with slick contemporary architecture”, the narrow streets of Pontresina are still lined with 19th century villas and “steep-roofed” chalets. The “premier” address in town is the Grand Hotel Kronenhof (pictured). It’s a “Belle Époque beauty” redolent of Pontresina’s glory days, from its…

Stella McCartney The environmentally conscious British designer has previously sent fungus-based handbags, plant-based faux furs and bioengineered “MicroSilk” dresses down the runway, said Lauren Indvik in the FT. Now Stella McCartney has become a driving force behind a venture capital fund that will invest in start-ups developing other green technologies for the rag trade. McCartney, 51, is a founding investor in Collab SOS – a new $200m climate-linked fund, managed by the New York asset management group Collaborative Fund. And she has brought some proper welly with her. Among the fund’s other backers is the €345bn luxury group LVMH, run by the world’s newly anointed richest man, Bernard Arnault (“the wolf in cashmere”), for whom McCartney acts as a sustainability adviser. Companies in the fund include Keel Labs, which has…

What should you be watching out for in 2023? Here’s what a crop of Bloomberg journalists think: Allegra Stratton Some 1.8 million people are due to remortgage in the next 12 months. Many will find their new mortgage too much, so the Government may have to do something – “perhaps allowing people to flip to interest only”. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is already holding roundtables with experts like Martin Lewis. Action seems likely. Javier Blas European governments will struggle to maintain the same level of energy subsidies as they did in 2022, “which perversely may mean that even if wholesale prices drop, retail prices may remain as high, or even higher” next year. John Stepek The most significant economic variable will be unemployment – which is “key to the severity of…

Public servants & war veterans Sir Crispin Tickell, diplomat, died 25 January, aged 91. Monique Hanotte, heroine of the Belgian resistance, died 19 February, aged 101. Baroness (Elspeth) Howe, committee woman, died 22 March, aged 90. Sir James Anderton, police officer, died 5 May, aged 89. Deborah James, teacher and bowel cancer campaigner, died 28 June, aged 40. Field Marshal Lord Inge, former chief of the general staff, died 20 July, aged 86. Major General Stuart Watson, D-Day veteran, died 14 August, aged 100. Stella Edwards, wartime ATA pilot, died 15 August, aged 103. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, died 8 September, aged 96. Johnny Johnson, Dambuster, died 7 December, aged 101. Politics & law Jack Dromey, former Labour MP, died 7 January, aged 73. Madeleine Albright, former US secretary…

What happened The Government won a significant legal victory this week when the High Court ruled that its plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful. Delivering the ruling, Lord Justice Lewis said that the Government scheme was “consistent” with the UN’s refugee conventions and UK human rights laws. However, he said that the cases of the eight asylum seekers who had applied for the judicial review (with refugee charities and a civil service union) had not been considered properly, and ordered that they be reasssessed. Last week, four migrants drowned in the Channel when the inflatable boat they were travelling in started to sink in freezing conditions. A day earlier, Rishi Sunak had unveiled a five-point plan to stem the number of people attempting the crossing; it includes…

An NHS trust has been widely mocked for advertising for a “director for lived experience”, on a salary of £110,000pa. The ad, posted by the Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, says the “exciting” new post – reportedly a first in the NHS – requires someone who is “interpersonally talented” and a “strategic bridge-builder”. Candidates should have “personal experience of life-altering health condition(s)” and “power imbalances”, and be educated to Masters level. Pubs may be closing in droves, but ice cream parlours are booming. According to the Local Data Company, there are 43% more in British town centres now than in 2017. In central London, there are 32 within half-a-mile of Covent Garden alone.…

Washington DC Charging Trump: The congressional committee investigating the storming of the US Capitol on 6 January 2021 has formally recommended that criminal charges be brought against Donald Trump. At the committee’s final meeting, members voted to refer the former president to the justice department to face charges of insurrection, obstruction of an official proceeding of congress, and conspiracy to defraud the United States – a move unprecedented in American history. The department will now decide whether or not to bring charges. Trump’s spokesman, Steven Cheung, dismissed the committee’s hearings as “show trials” held by “Never-Trump partisans who are a stain on this country’s history”. In the run-up to Christmas, Trump was mocked for promising a “major announcement” – which turned out to be the launch of a line of…

The calamity unfolding on our border Marc A. Thiessen The Washington Post The crisis at America’s border with Mexico “has never been worse”, says Marc A. Thiessen. Border patrols reported a record 1.7 million “encounters” (arrests and deportations) in the 2021 fiscal year; this year that has increased to almost 2.4 million. Other metrics show a similar alarming trend. The number of known “gotaways”, for instance – migrants who evaded patrols and slipped into the US – is up from nearly 390,000 last year to almost 600,000; terrorist watch list arrests at the border have jumped from 15 to 98; the number of migrants known to have died crossing the border is up from 557 in 2021 to more than 800. And migrant numbers are set to soar even higher…

Why you should run for the bus People derive all sorts of benefits from playing sports and working out, but just a few brief bursts of exercise, such as running for a bus, or walking briskly upstairs, can have a major impact on health, a study has found. For the research, a team at the University of Sydney recruited 25,241 people taking part in the UK Biobank study, with an average age of 62, who said they didn’t do any form of recreational physical activity (including walking) more than once a week. To get an accurate picture of their daily activity levels, the participants were given fitness trackers to wear for one week. On average, they took eight short bursts of exercise per day, amounting to four-and-a-half minutes in total.…

So that’s it, said David Hytner in The Guardian. The strangest, most controversial World Cup of the modern era reached its conclusion at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday with what was widely judged to have been the “finest World Cup final of all time”. By the end of this “pulsating”, wildly see-sawing contest, it seemed that Argentina had won three times over: when they went 2-0 up in the first half; when they took a 3-2 lead during extra time; and finally, when they edged out France in an unbearably tense penalty shootout. The victory gave Argentina their third World Cup, and their first since 1986. How fitting that they were led to it by Lionel Messi, scorer of their first and third goals, and a crucial link in the…

To The Times I profoundly disagree with Emma Duncan [that what the NHS needs is more managers, see page 10]. In the 42 years I worked for the NHS, from 1974 to 2016, there was a massive increase in management, drawing much-needed resources from frontline work, much as a cancer eats into a healthy body. When I became a hospital consultant in 1988, one person ran the human resources department of my hospital. When I left, there were 16 people. To give a single example of its pointlessness, I had paid my fee to the General Medical Council by direct debit since qualifying. In the last few years of my tenure, I got emails from HR, just before the DD was about to go out, threatening me with suspension if…

Neil, Hannah and Jazzer resolve to confront Martyn at the Christmas party. It’s all hands on deck at Brookfield, as Ruth and David prepare for an event. David’s concerned about Ben, but Pip reassures him. George calls on Fallon for a singing lesson but ends up doing exercises with Harrison. Tracy and Ruth have a heart-to-heart. Ed and Emma pilfer logs and end up canoodling. At the party, Neil has no luck getting Martyn to talk about work. Later, a tipsy Martyn reveals an old story to Neil and Jazzer, which they later use as leverage. Now Jazzer’s back full-time, he reckons he’ll propose to Tracy. Kirsty and Rex realise someone’s been stealing logs and set up a camera. Ed and Emma go for a family meal with the extra…

Spare Prince Harry It was one of the most searing images of the twentieth century: two young boys, two princes, walking behind their mother's coffin as the world watched in sorrow. As Diana, Princess of Wales, was laid to rest, billions wondered what the princes must be feeling. For Harry, this is that story at last. £28.00 £21.99 (released 10 January) The State of Us: The good news and the bad news about our society Jon Snow Jon Snow traces how the life of the nation has changed across his five-decade career. In doing so, he shows how the greatest problems at home and abroad so often come down to inequality and an unwillingness to confront it. £20.00 £15.99 (released 2 March) The Road: A Story of Romans and Ways to the…

Unless you stick to a few “simple classics”, making cocktails at home necessitates buying “myriad obscure and expensive ingredients”, says Susy Atkins in The Daily Telegraph. And who has time to “shake, stir, slice, dash, twist and concoct a masterpiece from ten different ingredients?” Hence the appeal of pre-made bottled cocktails. But which are actually worth buying? I tasted a wide range, and discovered “some excellent ones”. One “super” brand is Tom Savano. Try the award-winning English Garden Lychee Martini (£21 for 50cl; tomsavano.com), which has a “lovely floral scent”. Also very good are the World of Zing cocktails, made by Pritesh Mody. The Saffron & Rose Gimlet (£22 for 50cl; Majestic) has a “fine balance and delicate rose scent”, with a “soft saffron note on the finish”. And offering…

Two-fifths of secondary school teachers in England say they’ve bought their pupils vital supplies, such as pens. A quarter have given food to their pupils. One in eight have cleaned their dirty clothes. One in ten have bought items of uniform. One in three has helped resolve a family conflict. Commission on Teacher Retention/The Times Nearly one in five British adults say they do not feel safe in public places such as restaurants due to Covid-19. YouGov/The Independent 56% of British adults say it is reasonable for nurses to strike at Christmas. 41% feel it’s unreasonable. 43% of adults think it’s reasonable for railway workers to strike at Christmas, while 54% think it’s unreasonable. Savanta/The Daily Telegraph…

The inspection regime that fails inspection Lucy Kellaway The Sunday Times Six years as a teacher in five different schools has convinced me of one thing, says Lucy Kellaway: the Ofsted inspection system is a joke. Its goals are worthy and its inspectors well-meaning: it’s the regime itself that’s the issue. It leads teachers to waste long hours on paperwork in a frantic effort to tick all the right boxes and get their schools “Ofsted ready”. This causes huge stress and diverts attention from what should be schools’ first priority: ensuring better education for children. As for the Ofsted ratings themselves, they’re often arbitrary (many schools were downgraded from “outstanding” to “good” this year because officials decided the top category was too big), and do little to improve standards. They…

JANUARY Arise, Sir Tony Blair: 14 years after leaving Downing Street, the former Labour prime minister Tony Blair is controversially knighted in the New Year Honours list. As Moscow builds up its troop deployments near the Ukrainian border, Joe Biden warns Vladimir Putin that the US will respond “decisively” if Russia invades. A jury acquits the defendants known as “the Colston Four” of criminal damage, for their part in toppling a statue of the 17th century slave trader and philanthropist Edward Colston in 2020, and tipping it into the harbour in Bristol. During an audience at the Vatican, the Pontiff castigates couples who “substitute cats and dogs for children”, saying “renouncing parenthood diminishes us. It takes away our humanity.” Jonathan Van-Tam is hailed as a “national treasure” as he announces…

If we hadn’t evolved to walk on two feet, we’d not have freed up our hands to make tools, set fires, plant crops, build houses and tap away on computer keyboards. But how did bipedalism emerge? It’s widely assumed that when Africa’s dense tropical forests retreated millions of years ago, hominins shifted from lurking in trees to foraging on the ground. With food sources more dispersed, they’d have evolved to walk, and with no shortage of hyenas and dogs around, they’d have had to run too. But why get up on two legs for that? After all, great apes still run quadrupedally. To investigate, a team observed a group of chimps who live in Tanzania’s Issa Valley, in the kind of wooded savannah that replaced the forests, to see how…

In future years, England’s cricketing winter of 2022 may not be remembered primarily for the “historic series win in Pakistan”, or even for the triumph in the T20 World Cup, said Ali Martin in The Guardian. It may be best remembered for something else: “the emergence of Harry Brook”. Long regarded as a bright prospect, the 23-year-old batsman showed in England’s Test series against Pakistan that he has the potential to be a genuine superstar. With three centuries in the three-Test series (plus another score of 87), Brook broke David Gower’s long-standing record for most runs by an Englishman in a series in Pakistan. He finished with an average of 93.60, and scored his runs at a fearsome clip. More crucially still, his contributions were absolutely vital to England being…

Looking back on 2022 1 There were four chancellors of the exchequer in 2022. List them in order. 2 Half of the world’s iPhones are made at a factory in Zhengzhou, China, where there was considerable unrest this year. Name the company that runs it. 3 Which British author became, aged 87, the oldest person ever to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize? 4 The ill-fated nationwide arts event referred to in the media as the Festival of Brexit is properly known as what? 5 A “little book” by which author sold at auction for £1m this year? 6 Which famous line did John Lewis stop using in its marketing this year? 7 The launch of Nasa’s new Moon mission – following on from Apollo – blasted off in November.…

Avatar: The Way of Water Dir: James Cameron 3hrs 12mins (12A) “I absolutely loved the first Avatar film,” said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday: James Cameron’s science fiction epic “looked fabulous, explored timely environmental themes and had genuine emotional depth too.” Now, 13 years on, he has finally produced a sequel – and it’s a “crushing disappointment”. Yes, the visual effects are “stunning”, but the script is “poor” and the plot a “dull” reprisal of the original, “only with added water”. Sam Worthington returns as ex-marine Jake Sully. When the film opens he is living happily on the moon Pandora with his wife (Zoe Saldaña) and children. This idyll is shattered, however, when a force of “sky people” invade, led by Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who died in…

• Flat champagne or wine makes delicious vinegar. Collect the dregs in a container in the fridge until you have 1 litre, then mix with 100ml raw cider vinegar and pour into a glass jar. Leave for at least six weeks. • Candied peel is great in biscuits or dipped in dark chocolate. Boil citrus fruit peel in a pan filled with equal parts sugar and water. Then dry in a low oven for two hours. • Blend the leafy tops of carrots with any herbs you’ve got hanging around. Add olive oil, a handful of nuts, grated cheese and a squeeze of lemon for a fresh, zesty pesto. • Most leftovers can be used in stock: parmesan rind, onion peel, potato skins, herb stalks, plus leftover meat bones, fat…

Binance: fear, uncertainty and doubt Changpeng Zhao, co-founder of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, looked like “crypto’s last man standing”, said Matthew Field in The Sunday Telegraph. But cracks are beginning to appear in Binance’s finances too. Last week, rattled customers pulled around $6bn of funds from the exchange, leaving CZ (as Zhao is known) fuming. He alleges that his former rival, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried – who was recently arrested in the Bahamas – paid news outlets to run negative stories about Binance. “They are still writing FUD” (crypto-speak for “fear, uncertainty and doubt”), he claimed in a Twitter interview. CZ is at pains to present himself and Binance as “the mature face of crypto”. But efforts “to reassure investors their money is safe” have received a setback, said…

Borrowers face a serious reality check Larry Elliott The Guardian It is now exactly a year since the Bank of England started raising interest rates from a record low of 0.1%, says Larry Elliott. At each of its nine subsequent meetings, Threadneedle Street has increased the cost of borrowing so that it now stands at 3.5%. “By historic standards, that seems nothing to get worked up about.” In the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, after all, rates “were often well into double digits”. From 1997, when the Bank got its independence, to the financial crisis a decade later, rates “never dropped below 5%”. Even so, the speed of the current rise – and the dawning realisation among borrowers that there will be no return to “emergency levels” – is bound…

• The Good At the start of 2022, digital art – in the form of NFTs (nonfungible tokens) – seemed on track “to take over” the art world, said Josie Thaddeus-Johns on Artsy. But the emptying of crypto-wallets has prompted a shift from Bored Apes to more traditional works. (In October, the sale of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection, including works by Cézanne and Klimt, fetched $1.6bn at Christie’s, New York, the highest amount ever at a single auction.) Perhaps the most heartening trend of the year, though, was new interest in younger contemporary artists, and hitherto overlooked 20th century women painters. Sales of works by the surrealists Dorothea Tanning and Leonora Carrington exceeded estimates, and it was “a banner year for the ultra-contemporary market”. Anna Weyant’s Falling…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1343 An Ettinger pass case and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 9 January. Send it to The Week Crossword 1343, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass holder (assorted colours), which retails at £115, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). Taking all white squares around the perimeter from square 1 is a quotation (12 words), a book title (3 words) and its author’s name (2 words) starting at 34. The abbreviation at unclued 27 could help ACROSS 10 Important person with a billion banked? (5) 11 Crusading…