Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1055 i The Week

What happened The assault on Isis A masked Briton became a new media figurehead for Islamic State (Isis) this week after a video posted online showed him directing the murder of five hostages accused of spying for the UK. In the film – which echoes the propaganda involving the British militant known as Jihadi John, killed by a US drone strike two months ago – the man issues a series of threats to David Cameron before shooting one kneeling victim in the head. The film also shows a British-speaking boy threatening to “kill the kaffir [non-believers] over there”. The masked man is suspected to be Londoner Siddhartha Dhar, a former bouncycastle salesman who fled to Syria while on police bail for alleged terrorism offences. The boy was identified as the…

Paris Diary dispute: A French MP and a university lecturer have published the full text of Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl on their websites, arguing that as it is now 70 years since she died in a Nazi concentration camp, the copyright to it has expired. However, this is disputed by the Anne Frank Fonds, a charity founded by Anne’s father, Otto. The foundation says that Otto made significant alterations to the work and is thus a co-author; and that as he lived until 1980, the copyright (which it owns) will last another 35 years. This contention has dismayed historians, who note that, if true, it could undermine the diary’s claim to authenticity. Malmö, Sweden Border checks on the Bridge: Half a century of passport-free travel in…

London is the spoiled brat of Britain Simon Jenkins The Guardian “Britain’s capital city is becoming a spoiled brat,” says Simon Jenkins. Not content with hogging a vast share of the country’s wealth and facilities, it keeps lobbying for new publicly funded “baubles”. Here it’s another concert hall, costing £278m; there it’s a £175m garden bridge across the Thames. New football grounds, new rail links, a cycle “superhighway” – London always gets what it wants. “The latest figure for infrastructure spending on each Londoner is £5,500 a year, against Yorkshire’s £580 a head and the Northeast’s £220.” For the sake of the capital as much as the cash-starved regions, we must address this obscene imbalance. Rather than providing a faster way for people in Birmingham and Manchester to head for…

If you thought you didn’t drink that much on New Year’s Eve yet still woke with a sore head, it might not have been entirely your fault: according to a new study, most wines contain more alcohol than it says on the bottle. Researchers at the University of California took samples from 100,000 bottles of wine from across the world and discovered that in 60% of cases, the wine’s alcohol content was higher than stated on the label, with an average discrepancy of 0.42 percentage points. In other words, a wine that claimed to be 13.5% abv was likely to be closer to 14%. “Errors of this magnitude could lead consumers to underestimate the amount of alcohol they have consumed in ways that could have consequences for their health and…

Were you to visit a certain university in Singapore, you might be greeted by a receptionist named Nadine. She parts her hair neatly, and smiles politely. She would give you a friendly “hello”, and if you’d met before, would remember your name and engage you in small talk. But if you felt there was something a bit odd about Nadine, you’d be right, said the Daily Mail, for Nadine is no ordinary receptionist: she’s one of a new generation of androids, and eerily lifelike. Created at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University, she can not only make conversation, she can display emotions. For instance, if you tell her you’re getting married, she’ll respond in a different tone to the one she’d use if you said you were going into hospital. She needs…

Cricket: Stokes’s “spectacular” innings It was “one of the greatest shows cricket has ever seen”, said Paul Newman in the Daily Mail. In Cape Town on Sunday, against a South Africa side ranked No. 1 in the world, Ben Stokes plundered perhaps “the most spectacular, skilful, swash-buckling and brutal of all Test innings”. The records kept tumbling: first the all-rounder scored 200 off 163 balls, the second-fastest double-century in Test history; then he reached 250 off 196 balls, faster than any player before him. Finally, he was run out for 258 – the highest ever score by a No. 6. Incredibly, it wasn’t enough to prevent a draw, but that didn’t detract from the 24-year-old’s remarkable achievement. He now looks destined to be England’s best all-rounder since Ian Botham. Yet…

To The Times Why the attack on civil servants in your editorial? I certainly wasn’t appointed OBE for simply doing my job. I suspect it was rather more for delivering projects in difficult circumstances that led to substantial savings in public expenditure. Perhaps 10% of those savings would have been a better reward, but that would have provoked a different line of attack. No doubt my 22 years in the Territorial Army and work with the Benevolent Fund also contributed. But there are no guarantees, because the number of officials being recognised in even the largest government departments can be counted on one hand in any one honours list. The bar is set high. Your argument of being rewarded for simply doing a job can, of course, equally be applied…

Donmar Warehouse, London WC2 (0844-871 7624). Until 13 February Running time: 2hrs 45mins Back in the 1980s, Christopher Hampton’s delicious stage adaptation of the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos triumphed at its RSC premiere, ran for five years in the West End and then made an Oscar-winning leap to the big screen. Yet this tale of sexual intrigue among the French aristocracy is not always a “box-office cert”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Revivals have often floundered. The key to it, as this revival at the Donmar by Josie Rourke “brilliantly grasps”, is to “ensure the piece makes complete psychological sense – so that we follow every weather-vane twist of emotion and dagger-like plunge of plot”. The trick, too, is to “keep things as light as…

It was the most eagerly awaited show of the Christmas season, said Maurice Chittenden in The Sunday Times. And on New Year’s Day, an audience of 8.4 million tuned in to watch Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman reprise their roles of Holmes and Watson in a 90-minute Sherlock special, The Abominable Bride. The selling point, teed up by pre-publicity, was that it took the series out of its 21st century setting and relocated it back in Victorian times. But it was a time transition that left many baffled, said Will Worley in The Independent. At one point Holmes is shown in the modern world, dreaming he’s in the 19th century: at another he’s in the 19th century believing he’s in the modern world. It wasn’t just the time travel that…

Showing now Bill Bailey: Limboland at the Vaudeville, London WC2 (020-7316 4709). In one of Bill Bailey’s “best shows for years”, the comedian shuttles effortlessly between anecdotes, music and brilliant riffs (Guardian). Until 17 Jan; then 2-3 May, G Live, Guildford; then Coventry and on, until 2 July. See www.billbailey.co.uk. Book now The Tricyle Theatre’s hit production of Lolita Chakrabarti’s Red Velvet heads to the West End. It tells the story of Ira Aldridge, a pioneering black actor in 19th century London. With Adrian Lester. 23 Jan-27 Feb, the Garrick, WC2 (0844-482 9673, www.branaghtheatre.com). Jonathan Cohen conducts the wonderful ensemble Arcangelo and the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang in a programme of Mozart violin concertos. 5 Feb, St John’s Smith Square, London SW1 (020-7222 1061). The National Gallery is staging the…

The chicken stock Makes 4-4.5 litres 200g leeks, washed and roughly sliced 200g celery sticks, snapped into two or three short pieces 300g carrots, unpeeled, roughly chopped 300g onions, unpeeled but root end removed, roughly chopped 1 head of garlic, sliced in half, any rooty bits removed 3kg raw chicken carcasses, including wings and necks, if available (if you prefer the flavour of roasted chicken bones, simply keep the carcasses from chicken roast dinners and freeze until needed) 2 pig’s trotters (optional) about 5 litres water • Place all of the ingredients in a very large saucepan with enough water to cover everything, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. You don’t want the liquid to bubble away merrily as it will reduce too fast…

The hellraising rocker and founder of Motörhead Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister 1945-2015 Ian Kilmister – better known as Lemmy – was a rock star whose appetite for excess was, even by the standards of his milieu, “dedicated and unrepentant”, said The Times. And as frontman of the thrash-metal band Motörhead, he provided a “ferocious soundtrack” to accompany his rock ’n’ roll lifestyle. Dressed in black denim, biker boots and a cowboy hat, with an iron cross around his neck, he played his “bass at a volume and velocity designed to make your teeth rattle”. He credited his famous rasping vocals to the 40 cigarettes he smoked a day; lived on Jack Daniel’s; and though no Adonis, apparently slept with 1,000 women (a number he considered not “unreasonable”, given he’d started at…

Stung by last year’s allegations of “Victorian” work practices, Sports Direct announced a “revolution” over the holiday period, said Simon Goodley in The Observer. Founder Mike Ashley’s stated new ambition is to make the firm “the best highstreet retail employer after John Lewis”. To that end, he has promised thousands of warehouse staff a 15p-per-hour pay rise. We’ll see in coming months if that translates into anything more than a PR stunt. In the meantime, Ashley faces a new personnel challenge – in the shape of his daughter Anna’s boyfriend.. Michael Murray, 26 – a former student nightclub promoter – has been hired by Sports Direct to manage a £250m roll-out of fitness superstores, “despite having no commercial property experience”, said Ashley Armstrong in The Daily Telegraph. The revelation has…

2016 will make or break managers Rob Cox Reuters Breakingviews “There is no sign that 2016 will bring calamity, but it does portend the more difficult times when careers are made or broken,” says Rob Cox. A combination of choppier markets, pricier capital in the US, and middling global growth means that “capable executives will make a greater difference than in recent years”. Holders of capital will have to be cautious. “When dollardenominated assets offer greater yields to investors, riskier ones like Indonesian equities, Glencore debt or the Z-round funding of a Silicon Valley unicorn, look less appealing.” Some business chiefs, of course, have trickier agendas than others. But even those dealt stronger hands will need to play them well. Nowhere is there more at stake than in the management…

Who’s tipping what The best buys for the year ahead Barclays The Sunday Times Barclays’ strongly performing retail banking and Barclaycard operations are set to deliver, with former JP Morgan “star banker” Jes Staley as CEO, and Aviva’s “turnaround champion” John McFarlane as chairman. Buy. 218.9p. Breedon Aggregates Shares This quarry, asphalt and concrete plant operator is growing organically while increasing its geographic coverage through acquisitions. The construction market is set to grow thanks to increased infrastructure spend. Buy. 63.25p. Cambria Automobiles The Guardian Shares in the motor dealership are at an all-time high but should still have “much further to go”. Cambria is favoured by Aston Martin and Land Rover, and has a record of buying and turning round underperforming dealerships. Buy. 80p. DS Smith The Times A “solid…

An Ettinger coin purse 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 18 January. Send it to: The Week Crossword 986, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX, or email the answers to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Set by Tim Moorey (www.timmoorey.info) This week’s crossword winner will receive an Ettinger (www.ettinger.co.uk) Brogue Collection coin purse in black, which retails at £150, and two Connell Guides (www.connellguides.com). ACROSS 1/27 Badly expressed, Labour talk on old Bill crackers entirely (4,5,3,6) 6 English philosopher without personal transport on the way back? (5) 10 Sounds like powerful person not producing anything (6) 11 Tell story about say, being lower in rank (8) 12 Callous criminal attorney shed (5-7)…

Controversy of the week Cameron’s loose cannon Oliver Letwin has a special talent for creating bad headlines, said The Sunday Times. David Cameron’s “blue-sky thinker”, the minister in charge of policy at the Cabinet Office is “ferociously clever”, but very prone to gaffes. Letwin has in the past stated that he would rather “go out on the street and beg” than send his children to a state school, and once declared that the NHS would cease to exist under the Tories. Five years ago, he was photographed absent-mindedly discarding confidential government papers in rubbish bins in St James’s Park. These days, Downing Street keeps him behind the scenes, “lest he ruminate in public”. Yet trouble still follows him around. Last week, a “toe-curling memo” that Letwin wrote to Mrs Thatcher…

Elkins Park, Pennsylvania Cosby charged: The comedian and actor Bill Cosby has been charged with aggravated indecent assault in relation to an incident in 2004 in which he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted a female friend. Over the past year, scores of women have accused Cosby (pictured) of assaulting them; however, this is the first time he has been charged with a criminal offence. The charges were filed just days before the statute of limitations in the case was due to expire. The complainant, Andrea Constand, first accused Cosby in 2005, and later settled a civil suit. The actor has been freed on $1m bail pending trial; he faces up to ten years in prison if convicted. Burns, Oregon “Militiamen” occupy wildlife centre: Armed members of a self-styled militia occupied…

Four British adventurers who aimed to complete “the first midwinter, unsupported crossing of Iceland” – and make a film out of it – had to be rescued three times before aborting their mission. The four former public schoolboys, all 19 or 20, intended to walk 250 miles across Iceland’s central highlands, but had to call for help before they even started, when their car got stuck en route. Fifteen miles into the walk, they got hit by a storm, and had to summon an Icelandic Search and Rescue (SAR) unit. It ferried them to a nearby town, where one of the team stayed owing to ill health. The others carried on, but then one of them got frostbite, and a second SAR unit was sent out to treat him. A…

A rotten joke about our teeth It’s a decades-old joke in the US that Brits have terrible teeth, but according to the latest research, Americans have no cause to laugh: their dental health is generally no better than ours – and in some respects, it’s worse. Teams from Harvard University and University College London analysed thousands of dental records on both sides of the Atlantic to collect data on tooth extractions, people’s perception of their dental health, and its impact on their lives. They found little difference between the two countries, except that the average American has more teeth missing than the average English person – 7.31 compared with 6.97. They also found greater income-related oral health inequalities in the US. “The oral health of Americans is not better than…

Political forecasts are a mug’s game, said Patrick Wintour in The Guardian. No expert guessed a year ago, for instance, that the Tories would win an overall majority in the 2015 election, or that Jeremy Corbyn would end up as Labour leader. But when it comes to 2016, we can predict one thing with reasonable confidence: the defining political event of the year in Britain will be an in-out referendum on EU membership. David Cameron has said that 2016 is the year he wants the UK finally to settle its place in Europe. Political debate is now set to revolve around such questions as whether the Prime Minister can complete “the deal” at the European Council meeting next month; whether he can then hold the Tories together (Cameron announced this…

Gary Anderson has joined the elite, said Sunni Upal in the Daily Mail. On Sunday, a year after winning his first World Darts Championship, the “Flying Scotsman” became only the fourth person to successfully defend the title. Having made an underwhelming start to the final, the 45-year-old showed “the resolve of a champion” to defeat his close friend Adrian Lewis. And he finished in exactly the same fashion as last year: on his favourite double 12. Like many darts players, Anderson “has a colourful background”, said Gary Jacob in The Times. For 20 years, he built fireplaces in Edinburgh; today he lives in Somerset, where he “shuts himself away from the game by spending time with his animals” (his current obsession is tropical fish). The player’s success is all the…

The Master Builder Some 12 years after his acclaimed turn in Brand, Ralph Fiennes turns to another Ibsen classic to play the tormented Halvard Solness, a married middle-aged architect who falls under the spell of a young woman. Old Vic boss Matthew Warchus directs. In a strong year for star turns, the Old Vic then has Timothy Spall starring in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker (26 March-14 May). The Old Vic, London SE1 (0844-871 7628), 23 January-19 March. Battlefield In 1985, Peter Brook staged The Mahabharata as a nine-hour epic. Now, at the age of 90, the great director returns to the work to stage one chillingly timely section concerning the horrors of war and profound questions of life and death. Young Vic, London SE1 (020-7922 2922), 3-27 February. Nell Gwynn…

Julia Margaret Cameron was a “pioneer of early photography”, said Lucy Davies in The Daily Telegraph. When her daughter gave Cameron her first camera in 1863, she was already a 48-yearold mother of six. But against the odds, this “forthright, chaotically eccentric” woman went on to create something “rather magical”. At that time, photography was in its infancy and was regarded as little more than a means of documentation. Cameron, however, believed it could be elevated to the status of great art. Her work, which favoured idiosyncrasy and “emotional depth” over technical perfection, made her extremely famous, and her reputation enabled her to photograph some of the leading lights of the era, including Alfred Tennyson, Charles Darwin and the actress Ellen Terry. Now, to mark the bicentenary of her birth,…

Programmes The 80s: Ten Years That Changed Britain A look at the decade that saw the rise of alternative comedy, Margaret Thatcher, the Falklands war and New Romanticism. With contributions from Richard Branson, Katharine Hamnett and Ken Livingstone. Sun 10 Jan, C4 10pm (90mins). Goya Exposed with Jake Chapman Artist Jake Chapman has long been fascinated by Goya’s The Disasters of War, a series of etchings depicting the atrocities of the 19th century Peninsular war. Here, Chapman asks why these etchings are so central to his own creations. Sun 10 Jan, BBC4 10pm (30mins). Busting The Drugs Millions: Inside The National Crime Agency The story of a major NCA money-laundering investigation that led to the destruction of one of the UK’s largest criminal networks. Thur 14 Jan, C4 10pm (65mins).…

New cars: what the critics say The Daily Telegraph When it launched in 1997, the RX was the first car to be billed as a premium SUV – a cross between an SUV and a luxury saloon. The early models were “dull and forgettable”. That didn’t stop wealthy Americans buying the car in droves. But in Europe, sales have been relatively “modest”. Lexus hopes its new fourth-generation RX will appeal to Europeans, while retaining its US fans. Auto Express The new RX is certainly “eye-catching”. In its “makeover”, the front has been given a huge grille and “origami-style” folds and creases. Some potential buyers might find it a bit much, but it’s more exciting than rivals such as the BMW X5. The interior has a “premium feel” – with lots…

UK banks: culture shock “A new year and, for bankers, it seems, a new regime,” said The Observer. And a pretty soft one at that. In the latest sign of its “more relaxed approach”, the Financial Conduct Authority has “abandoned” a key review of Britain’s banking culture less than a year after its launch. The financial watchdog has reportedly decided that each bank is unique “and cannot easily be compared”, said Emma Dunkley in the Financial Times. But the Chancellor – who signalled a more “positive tone towards the City” in the summer when he “defenestrated” the regulator’s interventionist former boss, Martin Wheatley – is under pressure from MPs to revive the review. So he should, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. This is a wholly undeserved “let-off”, after…

Corbyn’s reshuffle Jeremy Corbyn replaced his shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle with Emily Thornberry this week – the biggest change of his first reshuffle. Pundits had predicted he would consolidate his power in a “revenge reshuffle”, which would see the demotion of shadow ministers who had criticised him. In the event, the 30-hour reshuffle – dubbed “the night of the blunt knives” – proved rather less dramatic. The Labour leader even retained Hilary Benn as shadow foreign secretary, despite their very public disagreement over air strikes in Syria. He had apparently been warned that removing Benn would spark mass resignations. By promoting his ally Thornberry, Corbyn gains a shadow defence secretary who shares his opposition to Trident, unlike Maria Eagle, who supports renewing it. Eagle remains in the cabinet, however,…

The “black” white woman Until this June, Rachel Dolezal was a pillar of the black community in Spokane, Washington. She taught Africana studies at Eastern Washington University, and was president of the local branch of the US National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. But then her parents went to the press to expose her as a white woman, who used fake tan and hair-braiding to pass herself off as mixed race. Dolezal’s response – insisting that she “identified” as black, whatever her genes – provoked a wave of fury and mockery from the black community. “It was really hard,” she told Chris McGreal in The Guardian. “Within 24 hours everything was gone that I had worked for. I lost threequarters of my friends.” She also lost her teaching…

SWITZERLAND Our skiing industry faces meltdown Le Temps (Geneva) The Swiss Alps has suffered a third successive Christmas with barely any snow in what turns out to have been the warmest December ever recorded. Only the highest ski slopes have been skiable; and while there were a few snowfalls elsewhere, it quickly melted, leaving skiers to make do with narrow strips of artificial snow surrounded by green fields. Serious injuries have become more common as a result of exposed rocks. The truth is that skiing at low and medium altitudes is doomed. But try telling all this to the winter tourism industry, says Sylvain Besson. A powerful lobby is bent on pouring new capital into new hotels and cable cars, and still doesn’t grasp that our government can’t go on…

Four new elements have been added to the periodic table – completing its seventh row, and necessitating the updating of textbooks worldwide. They are the first to be added since 2011. All “superheavy”, meaning they have more than 104 protons, the new elements have been given the atomic numbers 113, 115, 117 and 118. The researchers who “discovered” them – from Russia, California and Japan – have the honour of suggesting the elements’ two-letter symbols and their names, which international rules state must derive from mythology or the names of minerals, places, properties of the element, or scientists. The new elements do not occur naturally on Earth (though you might find one when a black hole occurs in space) and were created using particle accelerators. In 2011, US broadcaster NPR…

Nigel Farage believes that he has been the victim of an assassination attempt. The UKIP leader had a “frightening” crash near Dunkirk in October, when one of the wheels came off his Volvo V70 – and he suspects foul play. According to Farage, French police told him that the nuts on all four of his car wheels had been deliberately loosened. He told LBC Radio that when you are somebody who is taking on the establishment, “there is a small minority who really object to what you stand for, and are prepared to go, I’m afraid, to deeply unpleasant lengths”. He may have spent much of his life dressed as a woman, but Barry Humphries has no time for transgender rights. Dame Edna Everage’s creator agrees with his friend Germaine…

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” Mark Twain, quoted in The Times “We are part animal. Humanity is an aspiration, not a fact of everyday life.” Novelist William McIlvanney, quoted in The Guardian “Adulthood is when your expenditure on Christmas presents exceeds the value of gifts you expect to receive.” Economist John Kay, quoted on The Browser “In all pointed sentences, some degree of accuracy must be sacrificed to conciseness.” Dr Johnson, quoted on Forbes.com “Painting is a blind man’s profession. He paints not what he sees, but what he feels, what he tells himself about what he has seen.” Pablo Picasso, quoted in The Times “The only good government is a bad…

Don’t silence Letwin To The Times Should Oliver Letwin apologise for “giving offence”? Where his comments were unfounded he must admit it, regret it and withdraw them. But if drawing attention to problems apparently prominent in one ethnic group is never to be permitted then the shutters have descended on debate and free speech. The contrast he drew between the responses to poverty by the white working class over long periods of time and by some ethnic minorities needs evaluation and consideration, not suppression; the more so because other ethnic groups experience similar material conditions without a marked involvement in rioting. The notion that “bad housing” is a cause of such behaviour is as implausible now as it was then. Mr Letwin’s “bad moral attitudes” is a censorious phrase for…

The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley John Murray 368pp £14.99 The Week bookshop £12.99 (incl. p&p) This “enigmatic and distinctly unsettling debut novel” has already been hailed as a modern classic, and praised by Stephen King, said Julie Myerson in The Observer. Set in 1976 on a “wild and useless length of English coastline” in the Northwest, it is about two teenage boys on a Catholic retreat in an old house. The narrator’s parents, accompanied by a priest and a collection of “oddballs”, are hoping to cure his mentally disturbed brother at a holy well. There are moments when the novel “clunks and creaks”, but it is “a likably original thriller about faith”, and “the human potential for evil”. “I read The Loney in one sleepless night, and it has…

The Danish Girl Dir: Tom Hooper 2hrs (15) Eddie Redmayne flutters his eyelashes The Danish Girl may be set in Denmark between the Wars, but the issue of gender reassignment it deals with could hardly be more topical, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. Alicia Vikander plays the artist Gerda Wegener, who one day asks her husband, Einar (Eddie Redmayne), to help her finish a portrait of a ballerina by donning a pair of silk stockings. This is the beginning of a slow realisation on Einar’s part that he is a woman trapped in a man’s body, a realisation that impels him to undergo pioneering surgery from which he emerges as Lili Elbe. The part gives Redmayne, fresh from his Oscars triumph as Stephen Hawking, a chance for another “astounding…

Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee, with photos by Walker Evans, 1941 (Penguin £14.99). This is a description of a summer spent living among sharecroppers in Alabama. As a young reporter, this book helped me shed much of my callow opportunism. Agee’s feelings for his subjects are matched only by his awe of their humanity. The fact that it initially sold only a few hundred copies makes me feel better about those Treme [Simon’s 2013 drama] ratings. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, 1970 (Vintage £8.99). This would be Morrison’s masterwork, if, um, she hadn’t followed it with Beloved and Song of Solomon. Two Nations by Andrew Hacker, 1992 (Scribner £12.99). This thoughtful volume from a careful political scientist demolishes the indulgent notion that we are in…

Family fun in la France profonde Domaine des Etangs, Massignac An 11th century château set in 2,100 acres of woods, fields and lakes, Domaine des Etangs may be “the smartest, most heavenly family holiday camp ever”, says Tatler. Formerly the country retreat of the late French billionaire Didier Primat, and recently revamped by his daughter, it has “exquisite” interiors, with leather and marble Hermès furniture, copper bathtubs and telescopes in the seven bedrooms, and “an actual Roman thermal bath” in the basement. There are equally snazzy cottages available for rent nearby. And there’s no end of things to do. Pack a picnic and go fishing, rowing, riding or mountain biking, or stay on site, where there are the two swimming pools, tennis courts, trampolines and zip wires, and – in…

It was an unhappy New Year for global markets, which suffered big losses after shares in China plummeted on renewed growth concerns. Chinese shares fell by 7% on Monday, with trading in Shanghai and Shenzhen halted for the first time under new “circuit-breaker rules”. That prompted the biggest New Year sell-off on the FTSE 100 since 2000, with shares down by 2.4%. Markets in the US, Germany and France fell by 1.6%, 4.2% and 2.5% respectively. Oil also had a volatile start to the year: the rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran caused a shortlived rally before the price of Brent crude fell below $35 a barrel for the first time in more than a decade. Early Christmas trading figures were a mixed bag for retailers. Next, usually one of…

● A surge in paternity leave. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to take two months’ leave after his daughter’s birth could help finally put paternity leave on the map. ● Driverless cars will step up a gear. Now Google and Ford have teamed up, 2016 could well be the year when innovators convince lawmakers of the safety of driverless cars. ● Uber will float. The taxi app and several of its fellow “unicorns” have remained in private hands for longer than usual. But the stream of private cash will run dry at some point. An IPO can’t be too far away. ● A cyber attack that really matters. Attacks have been getting more sophisticated, and it’s only a matter of time before a big bank, military target or government “gets…

Ivan Glasenberg Few executives enter 2016 under as much pressure as the Glencore boss, for whom 2015 was a “humbling” experience, says The Guardian. As shareholders grew increasingly nervous about the storm in commodity markets, Glencore became the first London-listed big miner to chop its dividend and raise new capital. But even Glasenberg’s “display of confidence” didn’t stop the rot in the share price, which has fallen from 530p when Glencore floated in 2011, to 90p. Glasenberg needs two things in 2016. First, a viable plan to tackle the company’s debt pile which, despite reductions, still stands at $18bn-$19bn, leaving “little room for error”. Secondly, some luck. “Nothing would restore investors’ faith like rising prices for commodities, especially copper. That, though, is entirely outside his control.” Timothy Everest The “Cool…

Dua had only been working for two months with the al-Khansaa Brigade, the all-female “morality police” of the Islamic State (Isis), when her friends were brought to the station to be whipped. The police had hauled in two women she had known since childhood, a mother and her teenage daughter, both distraught. Their abayas, flowing black robes, had been deemed too form-fitting. When the mother saw Dua, she rushed over and begged her to intercede. “Their abayas really were very tight. I told her it was their own fault; they had come out wearing the wrong thing. They were unhappy with that.” Dua sat back down and watched as the other officers took the women into a back room to be whipped. When they removed their niqabs, her friends were…