Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1056 i The Week

What happened Doctors on strike Hospital doctors across England this week staged their first strike in 40 years, to protest at proposed changes to their pay and conditions. Almost 16,000 junior doctors took part in the 24-hour walkout, many of them joining picket lines outside their own hospitals. Hospitals could only offer emergency care, and were forced to cancel or postpone around 4,000 routine operations. However, an estimated 10,000 junior doctors reported for work as usual. The doctors’ union, the British Medical Association (BMA), called the action after last-ditch talks over Government plans to impose a new employment contract – linked to plans to offer a round-the-clock, seven-days-aweek health service – ended in failure. David Cameron warned that the strike would lead to “real difficulties for patients, and potentially worse”.…

Cologne, Germany Sex attacks: An official report detailing hundreds of sexual assaults on women by male migrants in Cologne and several other German cities on New Year’s Eve (see page 20) has sparked a wave of anti-migrant protests across Germany. The report, released last week, relates how in Cologne more than 1,000 men had gathered at the central train station before splitting into smaller groups and molesting and robbing women. Police confirmed that the attackers were mainly of North African or Arab appearance, and have so far identified 19 suspects, of whom ten are asylum seekers and nine illegal immigrants. In Cologne, vigilantes have now vowed to “clean up the streets”: in once incident, about 20 men assaulted six Pakistanis after organising a “people hunt” on Facebook. In Leipzig, police…

FRANCE Terror has entered our schools Le Monde (Paris) After the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people, daily life has changed for all French citizens, even schoolchildren, says Aurélie Collas. Now, before entering school, everyone’s identity is “systematically verified” and bags checked. Parents are no longer allowed to stand chatting at school gates or to accompany their kindergarteners into the classroom. Teachers have to learn emergency first aid. Students have been put through their first US-style lockdown drill, where they practise hiding silently in darkened classrooms. Principals are, of course, eager to ensure the safety of students and teachers, but the government has gone too far. The education and interior ministries have created an atmosphere of fear by bombarding school administrators with reams of security procedures and instructions…

It was at a railway station that Germany first displayed its welcoming policy to refugees: as trainloads of travel-weary asylum seekers arrived at Munich Central Station last summer, hundreds of ordinary Germans turned out to greet them, with offers of food, clothing and shelter. Now, owing to events outside another railway terminus, Angela Merkel’s Willkommenskultur could be coming to a “sorry end”, said Stefan Wagstyl in the Financial Times. Last week, it emerged that hundreds of women taking part in New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne’s central square had been robbed, attacked and sexually assaulted by gangs of men of reportedly North African and Middle Eastern appearance. In countless reports, women spoke of being chased down side streets and dragged away from their friends, surrounded by dozens of leering, jeering…

One year ago last week, two armed men burst into the Paris offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and ordered the editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, to identify himself. When he did so, they shot him dead – along with ten of his colleagues. The same Islamist gang then went on to murder three police officers, and four people in a Jewish supermarket. In the aftermath of this massacre, said Ed Vulliamy in The Observer, millions of people, including world leaders, marched through the streets of Paris declaring their solidarity and commitment to freedom of expression. But “does the universal claim of a year ago – ‘Je suis Charlie’ – still hold”? The good news, said Natalie Nougayrède in The Guardian, is that Charlie Hebdo “is still up and running, its…

“The FA Cup still matters,” said Henry Winter in The Times. For the minnows of English football, it offers a “glimmer of glory”. And across the country, supporters flock to this most romantic of tournaments, “flooding club phone lines” for tickets. Then why don’t Premier League sides take it seriously, asked Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times. In the third round last weekend, many managers treated the tournament as “an unnecessary encumbrance”. Beset by an injury crisis, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp put out a side of “also-rans” against Exeter City; in Everton’s match against Dagenham and Redbridge, Roberto Martínez rested his side’s stars. Yet both teams would do well to mount a proper challenge: at a time when neither is challenging for the league title, an FA Cup triumph –…

To The Times It is a measure of how deeply ingrained and accepted alcohol is in our society that the publication of the chief medical officer’s guidelines for safe drinking has caused such an uproar. What was intended to be sensible advice based on best evidence appears to have been taken as a personal attack by some sections of society. They are, after all, guidelines, and as such are meant to advise only. Imagine the outcry if the evidence had not been published and it was subsequently found there was a direct link between alcohol and cancer. Those responsible would have been accused of hiding information. It is everyone’s personal choice how much alcohol they drink, and this has always been so. This new evidence changes nothing. Perhaps we forget…

Human Acts Portobello 224pp £12.99 The Week bookshop £10.99 (incl. p&p) “We are used to hearing about the horrors of North Korea,” said Phil Baker in The Sunday Times, but Human Acts lays bare a brutal episode in the history of its southern neighbour. In 1980, protests in the city of Gwangju were put down by the South Korean dictator Chun Doo-hwan; hundreds were killed. The novel begins with a boy looking for his friend’s body in a gymnasium full of corpses. “It is a grim but heartfelt performance, touching on the possibility of forgiveness and the survival of the spirit.” This is the second of Han’s novels to be translated into English, said Francesca Wade in the FT. The Vegetarian was a “short, quirky and memorable” novel about one…

The Hateful Eight Dir: Quentin Tarantino 3hrs 8mins (18) And then there were none? Because he shot it in gorgeous 70mm widescreen Panavision, Quentin Tarantino’s masterful new movie looks like a “grandiose spaghetti western”, said Allan Hunter in the Daily Express. Nevertheless, its plot is “pure Agatha Christie”. Soon after the American Civil War, eight “hateful” characters assemble in an isolated house: a trading post in snow-swept Wyoming. One is a notorious murderer (Jennifer Jason Leigh), being taken to face justice by a ruthless bounty hunter (Kurt Russell). But who can be trusted? And who will survive? Samuel L. Jackson, playing a disgraced former army officer, again displays his remarkable gift for conveying the “profane poetry” of Tarantino’s talky dialogue, said Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. Yet Leigh is also…

Last chance Queen Anne at the Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (0844-800 1110). Helen Edmundson’s “fascinating new play” dramatises the friendship between the last Stuart ruler and Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (Guardian). With Emma Cunniffe and Natascha McElhone. Ends 23 January. Book now The National Theatre is staging a revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, August Wilson’s play set in 1920s Chicago and inspired by the life of the eponymous blues legend. Sharon D. Clarke stars. 26 January-18 May, Lyttelton at the National, London SE1 (020-7452 3000). In the Royal Academy’s exhibition Painting the Modern Garden: Monet to Matisse, Monet’s paintings of gardens hang alongside those of Cézanne, Pissarro, Manet, Sargent, Van Gogh, Matisse and Klimt. 30 January-20 April, Royal Academy, London W1 (020-7300 8090). Bryn Terfel is the usurper tsar…

Uvaggio Vermentino, Lodi, California, US 2013 (£11.99; Berry Bros. & Rudd). Lodi’s punchy, herby, lime-and-peach of the Vermentino, and its cherrytart-and-juicy red Primitivo 2011 (£14.95; also Berry Bros) are among the most successful wines made from Italian varieties outside their native land. Pittnauer Velvet, Burgenland, Austria NV (from £11.70; Bottle Apostle or l’Art du Vin). The red wines of Austria are still rather underrated in the UK. Two to try are Pittnauer’s intriguing Velvet blend; and the vivacious black berries and liquorice of Feiler-Artinger Blaufränkisch 2014 (£11.29; Waitrose). The Liberator Old Breton Episode Five, South Africa 2013 (from £16.50; Wine Trust 100, Bottle Apostle or Wood Winters). Cabernet franc is fast becoming my favourite red grape, and this is a “joyous” example. Join our new wine club, in partnership with…

Abney Park Cemetery Nature Reserve in Stoke Newington was opened in 1840 as an arboretum and cemetery. It’s a haven for wildlife: tawny owls, rare moths – and, in spring, wild flowers (www.abneypark.org). Hampstead Hill Garden and Pergola, in a little-known pocket of Hampstead Heath, was built by Lord Leverhulme a century ago for his parties. There’s an impressive elevated walkway, with plants hanging overhead (www.cityoflondon.gov.uk). The Old English Garden, a recently revamped part of Battersea Park, is the work of award-winning garden designer Sarah Price. More contemporary in feel than its name suggests, it’s at its best in high summer (www.batterseapark.org). On the site of a former coal yard, Camley Street Natural Park is in the heart of King’s Cross. It’s been turned into a floating forest garden, with…

Pablo Neruda’s dream homes Best known for his dazzling love poetry, Pablo Neruda was also an obsessive collector of bric-a-brac and “designer of fantastical spaces”. To see the results, visit the three houses the Chilean writer shared with his lover, Matilde Urrutia, from 1951 until his death in 1973. Each is “fabulous”, and touring between them is a delight, says Joyce Maynard in The New York Times. La Chascona, in Santiago, is full of African masks, stuffed animals, statues of angels and “wonderfully odd” crockery among which Neruda concealed talismans and “secret messages” for his lover. In Valparaiso, La Sebastiana has a wonderful writing room with a collection of bronze hands. And perched spectacularly on the wild coast to the south is Isla Negra, Neruda’s favourite, with a vast fireplace,…

Saudi Aramco: selling off the silver? How long will Apple retain its title of the world’s largest traded company? Not for very much longer if reports that the Saudis are planning to list their giant state oil producer turn out to be true, said Andrew Dewson in The Independent. Saudi Aramco, which controls 16% of proven global oil reserves, would be the first company ever to float with market capitalisation of more than $1trn. And the very fact that the Saudis are even considering selling a stake in this “highly secretive” behemoth is a “potent symbol of the financial pain” being wreaked by the plummeting oil price, which fell to a new low close to $30/barrel this week, said Terry Macalister in The Guardian. The kingdom is struggling to contain…

As apocalyptic warnings go, RBS’s letter to its clients this week was a humdinger, said Nick Fletcher in The Guardian. Predicting a “cataclysmic year” ahead, as the world slips into a deflationary crisis, the bank advised punters to “sell everything” except high quality bonds. Markets, the letter claimed, are flashing the same stress alerts as they did before the 2008 Lehman Brothers crisis. “This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small.” And RBS is not a lone voice on the doom wagon. The celebrated investor George Soros has also suggested that there are worrying comparisons with 2008. And last week the Chancellor, George Osborne, added his voice, warning that the UK economy faces a “cocktail” of serious threats from the…

Controversy of the week Corbyn’s new cabinet We’ve got used to dismissing Jeremy Corbyn as “a benign eccentric, cowed by a job he never expected to acquire”, said the FT. But after last week’s shadow cabinet reshuffle, that perception has “melted” away. Corbyn ruthlessly moulded his new team in his own image, making it “more socialist, pacifist and loyal to him”. Pat McFadden, a Blairite who had the temerity to criticise the current Labour leader for justifying terrorism, was fired as shadow minister for Europe. Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher, a former adviser to Gordon Brown, suffered the same fate. Corbyn didn’t get it all his own way, said James Forsyth in The Spectator. Hilary Benn hangs on as shadow foreign secretary despite his row with Corbyn over Syria; four…

Zliten, Libya Multiple Isis attacks in Libya: Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a police training centre in the Libyan town of Zliten last Thursday in which at least 50 people were killed and more than 100 wounded. In the worst single terrorist atrocity in Libya since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, militants drove a truck full of explosives into the gates of the military camp as police recruits gathered for training. Isis has grown in strength in Libya in recent months – encouraged by the ongoing political vacuum – and now controls the city of Sirte. The group also attacked oil facilities in the port of Es Sider and nearby Ras Lanuf last week, using heavy weapons including tanks. Calls have been growing…

It’s time to make the English suffer Joris Luyendijk The Guardian “Why merely kick a man while he’s down if you can go through his wallet too?” That seems to be Britain’s take on the EU, says Dutch journalist Joris Luyendijk. It’s chosen a time when the EU is reeling from one crisis to another to demand “concessions”. Some may feel this is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cut the English loose”, but alas, the EU can’t afford the distraction of Brexit right now. Yet that doesn’t mean we must cave in to British blackmail. On the contrary, we should help England’s pro-EU contingent win the referendum by spelling out “the ways in which we will make the English suffer if they leave”. Let’s talk openly about wooing the Scots, who,…

Gene editing breakthrough For the first time, scientists have managed to “edit” the genes of a grown animal – a breakthrough that could pave the way for new treatments for inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and haemophilia. Using a gene-splicing mechanism called CRISPR-Cas9, researchers treated mice with the incurable muscle-wasting disease Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). The disorder, which generally affects only boys, is caused by defects in the gene coding for dystrophin, a protein that helps strengthen and protect muscle fibres. Without dystrophin, skeletal and heart muscles degenerate; sufferers typically die in their mid-20s. The new technology works by guiding an enzyme called Cas9 to a precise spot in the genome, where the enzyme snips out the faulty DNA. Cells then repair the gap. The researchers, whose work was…

Jerry Hall and Rupert Murdoch (pictured) are to tie the knot, after a whirlwind romance. The couple, who started dating four months ago, announced their engagement in the Births, Marriages and Deaths column of The Times. It will be a third marriage for Murdoch, 84, but the first for Hall, 59, whose 1990 wedding ceremony with Mick Jagger – father of her four children – was later declared to be invalid. The age gap shouldn’t be a problem: Hall once revealed that she prefers older men, as they “make better lovers. They are more experienced, they know how to please you and if they do have problems, they can be easily fixed with a quick trip to the doctor’s.” As for younger men, “well, they want you to listen to…

“Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming.” David Bowie, quoted in the Daily Mirror “Fame simply means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are.” Erica Jong, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “A man of herbivorous ways and carnivorous views.” Historian Peter Hennessy on Jeremy Corbyn, quoted in The Times “The orthodoxy in Whitehall is that while less enlightened nations have nuclear weapons, Britain has a nuclear deterrent.” Guy Keleny, in The Independent “I’m not worried about the deficit. It’s big enough to take care of itself.” Ronald Reagan, quoted in The Times “I know a Scottish guy who loved his wife so much, he actually told her one day.” Billy Connolly, quoted in The Sunday Telegraph “‘To borrow and to borrow and to borrow’…

“The gamekeepers were the poachers all along,” said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. It turns out that Gabriel Dollé, who until 2014 was the antidoping chief at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), was not “eradicating the dopers”, but enabling their activities. Last week, the IAAF belatedly banned Dollé for five years; three other officials were handed lifetime bans. The whole saga is yet another blow to athletics’ “tattered reputation”, said Ben Bloom in The Daily Telegraph. But a new 14-point “Manifesto for Clean Athletics”, released this week by UK Athletics (UKA), could offer a way forward for the sport. UKA’s most controversial suggestion is to scrap all world records and take athletics right back to year zero, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. But would that…

Book of the week The Vanishing Man: In Pursuit of Velázquez Chatto & Windus 304pp £18.99 The Week bookshop £16.99 (incl. p&p) In 1623, the future Charles I travelled to Madrid “in a daring if ill-considered attempt to woo the Spanish king’s sister”, said Michael Prodger in the London Evening Standard. The jaunt was a humiliating failure – but while Charles didn’t bag a Spanish princess, he did bring home a portrait of himself by Philip IV’s court artist, Diego Velázquez. The painting later disappeared. In 1845, a Reading bookseller called John Snare bought a murky portrait of Charles I at an Oxfordshire auction for £8 (about £700 in today’s money). It was advertised as a probable Van Dyck, but Snare was convinced that it was the missing Velázquez. He…

Guys and Dolls Score and lyrics: Frank Loesser Book: Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows Director: Gordon Greenberg Savoy Theatre, London WC2 Until 12 March, then touring until 30 July (0844-871 7687, www.guysanddollsthemusical.co.uk) Running time: 2hrs 40mins (including interval) The new year may have kicked off with some lousy weather, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph, but the “undimmed musical master-piece” that is Guys and Dolls is “lighting up the West End like a heavensent shaft of summer sun”. Gordon Greenberg’s jewel of a production – an import from the Chichester Festival Theatre now enjoying a shortish run at the Savoy before heading off on a mammoth tour – “induces shivers of delight at every turn, keeps the wisecrack wit coming, and hits you with one classic tune after another”.…

Leonardo DiCaprio seems a shoo-in to receive a Best Actor Oscar nomination this week – and he’ll certainly have earned it, said Tim Walker in The Independent. While filming his new movie The Revenant, a 19th century survival story in which he plays a rugged fur-trapper, the actor plunged into an icy river for one scene; and for another, sank his teeth into a bleeding hunk of raw bison liver. Such commitment in the name of art is “catnip” for Oscar voters. DiCaprio won’t be the first actor to have suffered on set, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. In Hollywood’s golden age, Debbie Reynolds danced until her feet bled in Singin’ in the Rain. Margaret Hamilton, who played the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wizard of…

A giant statue of Chairman Mao was reduced to rubble last week, days after pictures of the newly built edifice went viral online. Made from steel and concrete, and painted gold, the 120ft statue towered over farmland in Henan province, one of China’s poorest regions. Though built with private money, news of its construction had caused both merriment and anger on social media, with users suggesting that the £300,000 it cost would have been better spent improving services for the villagers living in its shadow. Henan was the region worst affected by the great famine of 1958-62, triggered by Mao’s Great Leap Forward. It’s not clear why the statue was torn down, but it seems officials decided it had been built without proper permission. Though reportedly on the rise in…

Ruth’s worried that David isn’t happy about her plans for the farm. David hides his doubts. Clarrie is keen to keep Grange Farm pristine. She’s shocked to see Eddie building a pig pen and can’t see how they can afford pigs. Justin tells Brian he wants Berrow to go arable, and would like to give Home Farm the contract. Tom calls in at Brookfield in search of missing pigs. Shula has a new horse for the meet, but it proves too lively and Rob comes to her rescue. Shula now thinks Rob’s wonderful. Rob is furious with Helen when she declines the dinner he’s prepared, and throws it away. Helen apologises. She asks Rob about the large sum he’s withdrawn from the money Peggy gave them. Rob retorts that the…

Auto Express Ford took the Mondeo upmarket in 2014, with the launch of the fifth generation. The new Mondeo Vignale is fancier still. Available as a saloon or estate, the car is targeted at customers “looking for something luxurious”. That puts it up against some tough competition, including the BMW 3-Series and the Mercedes C-Class. Can it give those models a run for their money? What Car? From the outside, the Vignale looks “very much like a Mondeo”. Ford has made some tweaks, however, including “lashings of chrome trim”. Inside, they have put some effort into creating a “luxury feel” – leather has been “lavishly applied” – but it’s undermined by the use of hard plastics. The seats are comfortable, and there’s lots of the standard kit: sat-nav, a rear-view…

Ethiopia’s Bale mountains Explore the Bale Mountains on horseback before visiting Lalibela during a 12-night Ethiopian itinerary. Prices from £2,495pp, excl. flights. 01439-748401, www.wildandexotic.co.uk. Depart 3 Feb. Baltimore illuminated Stay at the 4-star Hotel Monaco while visiting the Light City festival. Four nights from £869pp room only, incl. Heathrow flights. 0844-804 4480, www.purelycapitalregionusa.co.uk. Depart 31 March. Windmill in Lincolnshire Explore Boston and beyond from The Flour Mill (sleeps 2), a first-floor apartment in a working mill. Arrive 23 January for a week’s stay for £530. 01237-459888, www.holidaycottages.co.uk. Russian tipple tour The 6-day Vodka Shot trip includes guided sightseeing in St Petersburg and Moscow, and an overnight train ride, from £300pp (excl. flights). 020-7371 1113, www.onthegotours.com. Depart 9 Feb.…

After the biggest new year fall for US stocks on record, global markets were hit by a fresh round of turmoil as Chinese share prices and the renminbi continued to tumble. Stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen were frozen for a second time in four days last Friday, prompting the authorities to ditch new “circuit breakers” intended to quell panics – on grounds that they were having the opposite effect. The sell-off extended across emerging markets, leading to big falls in currencies. The oil price continued to slip lower, amid forecasts that it could fall as low as $10/barrel before the current rout is over. BP announced a £2.4bn restructuring: it will slash its headcount globally by 5%, with the loss of 4,000 jobs, including 600 in the North Sea.…

● Oil’s ongoing fall “The conventional wisdom is that falling oil prices ought to be good for us all,” said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. The 70% decline since mid-2014 is the equivalent of a worldwide tax cut of $7.8bn a day, according to Trend Macrolytics. But the plummeting price “is a key factor behind the disastrous start to the year on financial markets”, which has seen a 15% fall in Chinese stock markets trigger “nasty losses across the globe”. This is partly because oil prices and the dollar tend to move in different directions. As the energy price has plummeted, so the dollar has surged – causing the Chinese renminbi to fall to a five-year low against the greenback, and further denting confidence in Chinese stocks. With analysts…

The global ramifications of Brexit Simon Nixon The Wall Street Journal With a vote now “almost certain” to occur this year, the British referendum on the EU is the single biggest “known unknown” hanging over the European economy, says Simon Nixon. Bookmakers put the odds of a departure at 36%; about the same probability assumed by institutional investors, according to an Absolute Strategy Research survey. That’s no minor risk, and “investors should prepare themselves for the consequences”. The greatest impact would be on the UK itself. In addition to political instability at home, it would mean “significant uncertainty” for British-based firms, given that Brexit campaigners can’t even agree among themselves “what kind of future trading arrangement the UK should demand, let alone what kind of arrangement the EU might be…

“Sink estates” plan David Cameron promised this week to flatten “sink estates” and improve mental health services, as part of efforts to tackle the country’s “big social problems”. The PM vowed to spend £140m on replacing nearly 100 of the UK’s worst estates – which he described as “a gift to criminals and drug dealers” – with improved housing. Separately, he outlined plans to extend mental health care for new mothers, and to set a new waiting-time target for teenagers with eating disorders. Labour said the Tories had previously cut mental health spending, and the pledges were “too little, too late”. Flooding fallout Environment Agency (EA) chairman Philip Dilley resigned this week, following a furore over his decision not to return from a family holiday in Barbados during last month’s…

Quentin on a new civil war Racial strife is a recurring theme in Quentin Tarantino’s films. His latest, The Hateful Eight, is set shortly after the American Civil War, and concerned largely with the seething hatred between a black major from the Union side, and two Confederate fighters still smarting from defeat. This hatred is still live, he told Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. In fact, even as Tarantino was editing the film, nine black churchgoers in South Carolina were massacred by a “white supremacist asshole” who had previously posed online with a Confederate flag. “All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they haven’t before,” he says. “I mean, I’ve always felt the Rebel flag was some American swastika. And, well,…

A benefits claimant who said he couldn’t leave the house because of his acute anxiety has been caught working as a “stripping ninja”. Mark Hetherington, 51, told benefits officers that his anxiety was so severe, he couldn’t even get out of bed or brush his teeth unaided. But undercover investigators filmed him performing erotic dances under the stage name Ian Kognito, wearing only nipple tassels and a ninja mask. Hetherington, of Blackpool, pleaded guilty to fraud. “He accepts he should have told the Department for Work and Pensions that his confidence had improved,” said his barrister. A puddle in Newcastle became a global talking point last week, with more than half a million people watching it online. The puddle was blocking a footpath, leaving pedestrians to splash through it, leap…

ISRAEL The love affair that’s too subversive Haaretz (Tel Aviv) An “insidious attempt to close the Israeli mind” is under way, says William Kolbrener. Officials in the country have just barred the prize-winning 2014 novel Borderlife from inclusion in the school curriculum after concluding that its subject matter – a love affair between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man – is just too subversive. The education ministry ruled that “young people of adolescent age tend to romanticise and don’t, in many cases, have the systemic vision that includes considerations involving maintaining the national-ethnic identity of the people”. In other words, if young people read this book, they’ll “marry out”, so let’s protect them from the work. Leaving aside the chauvinism involved here, it’s a depressingly “Orwellian” approach. Literature is…

American ambitions to explore the solar system were given a boost last week when Congress voted to increase Nasa’s funding by $1.3bn – bringing its budget to more than $19bn. Some $1.6bn of this is to be spent on planetary science, with a large portion specifically set aside for Nasa’s mission to Europa (pictured), one of Jupiter’s four main moons. Originally, the Clipper mission was to involve only close fly-bys of Europa, using high-resolution cameras and radar technology to explore its composition; but lawmakers have now stipulated that the mission must also include a landing craft, to further examine an icy satellite that is considered one of the solar system’s best bets for the discovery of alien life. Europa is 1,900 miles wide, and covered by a thick ice shell.…

“I am miserable,” said Giles Coren in The Times. I’m back in the boring office after Christmas, a tax bill is looming, the summer holidays are miles away – and now I can’t even drown my sorrows. The UK’s chief medical officer has “reduced the amount of booze I can healthily drink in a week to a quantity that would once have had me yodelling ‘down-in-one, down-in-one’”. In the biggest shake-up to Britain’s alcohol guidelines in 20 years, Sally Davies declared last week that there was no such thing as safe drinking: even the smallest amount of alcohol increased the risk of developing a range of cancers. She advised that people abstain from drinking for at least two days a week, and reduced the recommended weekly limit for men, which…

Chris Gayle sure thinks highly of himself, said Lawrence Booth in the Daily Mail. Treated “like a messiah” wherever he plays cricket, the big-hitting Jamaican calls himself “World Boss”. So when he took a shine to TV presenter Mel McLaughlin last week, he doubtless fancied his chances. While being interviewed on-air by the Australian, he asked her out. “To see your eyes for the first time is nice,” he said. “Hopefully, we can have a drink afterwards.” When McLaughlin was stunned into silence, Gayle continued in that vein: “Don’t blush, baby.” His comments were clearly sexist, said Holly Baxter in The Independent. And, in interrupting “a woman in the middle of her job”, they were unprofessional too. Following a media uproar, Gayle offered an apology of sorts, but pointed out…

Blame it on Europe To The Guardian At last there is an admission – from Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England – that immigration is driving down the wages of our lower-paid workers. How is it that it takes our leaders so long to come to a simple conclusion that anyone with common sense realised years ago? It is obvious that if supply outweighs demand, then prices (wages) are driven down and job vacancies are reduced. It is also obvious that the more people that come into the country and visit the hospitals, the more stretched they become, which creates longer waiting times; and the more children that go to our schools, the bigger the classes will be. It is also obvious that the main cause of…

University of Chicago Press 352pp £21 The Week bookshop £18.50 (incl. p&p) Christopher Oldstone-Moore’s new book is a learned monograph on “the rises and falls of the beard, from ancient times to the current hipster mini-revival”, said Robbie Millen in The Times. It seems that Alexander the Great was the first great enemy of the beard. Unlike Greek leaders before him, Alexander went clean-shaven, to project an image of youthful heroism. “In the 23 centuries since, shaving has been the default mode of masculine style,” writes the author, “punctuated by four great beard movements”: one started by the Emperor Hadrian; the others during the High Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the late 19th century (before this last resurgence, facial hair was so unpopular among the British ruling classes that Prince…

Goodnight Mister Tom Writer: David Wood, adapted from the novel by Michelle Magorian Director: Angus Jackson Duke of York’s, London WC2 Until 20 February, then touring until 14 May (0844-871 7615, www.goodnightmistertom.co.uk) Running time: 2hrs 15mins (including interval) If you’re seeking a family show with “real emotional depth and staying power”, said Paul Taylor in The Independent, then David Wood’s “remarkably appealing” stage adaptation of this 1981 children’s classic is “just the ticket”. First seen at Chichester, and now revived in the West End, this wartime tale of a curmudgeonly Dorset widower who takes in a young evacuee from London isn’t always easy to watch. “The story has to go through a painful obstacle course involving a baby’s death and the misguided psychiatric notions of the period about how best…

Masters of the Everyday: Dutch Artists in the Age of Vermeer Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, London SW1 (030-3123 7301, www.royalcollection.org.uk). Until 14 February “When it comes to taste, perhaps we are nothing but slavish robots, following the fashions of the times,” said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. In the 17th century, the most celebrated Dutch artist was not Vermeer or Rembrandt but a now little-known painter named Gerrit Dou, whose “polished” style – beautifully illustrated in The Grocer’s Shop – won him international renown. Indeed, Vermeer’s reputation sank so low in the early 19th century that his enigmatic work was condemned as “awkward” and “tasteless”. This “ravishing” exhibition underlines how profoundly our attitudes towards the painters of the Dutch Golden Age have changed over the years. Alongside works by…

Now We Are Six by A.A. Milne, 1927 (Egmont £7.99). Milne’s rhythmic verses are haloed by melancholy here, and not just for the middleclass values they radiate. My mother read me them in the 1960s. Years later, my wife and I did likewise for our children. The King’s Breakfast provoked our son to start communicating at the age of five. Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse, 1915 (Everyman £10.99). Some think Wodehouse is just chinless Berties in spats. They should read Psmith (the p is silent, “as in pshrimp”, as Psmith himself says), about an imperturbable chancer of such blithe egalitarianism that he addresses everyone as “comrade”. Here, Psmith finds himself running a paper in New York. When a mafia gunman perforates his hat, Psmith’s bonhomie is understandably tested. The Way…

Programmes The Jihadis Next Door For this powerful documentary, director Jamie Roberts gained rare access to a new wave of fanatics spreading extremism in Britain. Among those featured is Abu Rumaysah – who is now one of the world’s most wanted men. Tue 19 Jan, C4 9pm (60mins). Phone Shop Idol Six-part series following the ups and downs of Britain’s mobile phone sales force as they battle it out in Shop Idol, an industry competition which scours Britain to find the best mobile phone salesperson. Tue 19 Jan, BBC2 10pm (30mins). The Town that Took on the Taxman Film following shopkeepers from the Welsh town of Crickhowell who – with help from the BBC – embark on a mission to copy the tax avoidance schemes used by multinationals, and apply…

Baked eggs with spinach and kipper Serves one 2 handfuls baby spinach 1 kipper fillet 2 large eggs 80g feta cheese sea salt and black pepper • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. • Gently steam-sauté the spinach in 1 tbsp of water in a pan for just long enough for it to wilt down nicely. • Cook the kipper by boiling in the bag if you have a pre-packed one, according to the instructions, or under a hot grill for 10-12 minutes. Flake the flesh. Mix together the cooked spinach and the flaked kipper in a small ovenproof dish and season with a little salt and pepper. • Make a couple of indentations and crack an egg into each. Crumble the feta over the top of the whole…

● You can now delete something permanently without having to empty the Trash. Select the relevant files and hold down alt, command and delete at the same time; they will then be irrecoverable. ● The Notes app, which lets you share your jottings across Apple devices, has been updated for El Capitan: it now lets you include drawings, video files and map locations. ● Apple’s Mail email app now recognises gestures, if you have a trackpad (rather than a mouse). Using two fingers, you can delete an email by swiping left. ● El Capitan can also help you track flights: if it spots a flight number in Mail or Notes, it highlights it. You can then click on the highlighted box to find out when a plane is scheduled to…

Having launched 11 hotels across Asia and the Middle East since its founding in 1995, Six Senses opened this, its first European property, six months ago. It’s as “delightful” as its surroundings, says Tatler – the Douro Valley wine region, with its rolling hills, emerald vineyards and “languid” river. Occupying a palatial 19th century mansion, the hotel has 57 bedrooms with huge windows, “elegantly muted” decor, oak floors, freestanding baths and rainshowers. There is an immense spa, with indoor and outdoor pools; access to a 1950s-vintage wooden boat for river cruises; and a vast wine cellar, with complimentary tastings held nightly. Doubles from h285 b&b. 00 351 254 660 600, www.sixsenses.com.…

Pierre Boulez 1925-2016 The composer and conductor Pierre Boulez, who has died aged 90, was a towering figure of postwar music, said the Los Angeles Times: “an enfant terrible who mellowed with age but never flagged from his crusade” – to persuade music lovers and the music establishment to let go of the past and embrace the avant-garde. An uncompromising “firebrand”, he booed Igor Stravinsky in a Paris theatre for his conservatism; was openly contemptuous of any composer who saw merit in tonality or tunes; and in 1968, declared that the operatic repertoire was so stale, all opera houses should be “blown up” (a remark that led to his brief arrest more than three decades later, by antiterrorism police in the febrile atmosphere after 9/11). Yet in later life, Boulez…

“Bemoaning the quality of M&S womenswear is a British suburban habit as traditional as golf,” said Jonathan Guthrie in the FT. And after six years at the receiving end, CEO Marc Bolland has clearly had his fill. The Dutchman has quit following “lousy sales” in the general merchandise division, which suffered a 5.8% reversal during the crucial Christmas period, in sharp contrast to record food sales. The new man in charge, Steve Rowe – who began his M&S career as a “Saturday boy” in men’s knitwear – is a popular choice, noted The Daily Telegraph. But it remains “an open question whether anyone can turn M&S around”. Bolland’s reign has been better for investors than critics make out, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. M&S has averaged a total return…

“Just as he blazed a trail through the world of rock ‘n’ roll, David Bowie’s dalliance with the stock market gave financial markets something they’d never seen before,” said Peter Campbell in the FT: “pop bonds”. In 1997, the musician sold $55m of securities backed by the current and future revenues of the 25 albums he made before 1990. The “Bowie Bonds” were bought up by Prudential Insurance and promised a generous 7.9% interest rate over ten years. They also started a trend. The mastermind behind them, US financier David Pullman, went on to carve out a niche securitising the back catalogues of other stars including James Brown and Marvin Gaye. “It was a good deal for Bowie,” said The New York Times. The Thin White Duke “got upfront cash”…

Tracey McDermott It was “a bit disrespectful” of the Chancellor to blurt out on the radio that “the admirable” Tracey McDermott, who is acting chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, is no longer a candidate for the full-time job, says Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. McDermott hadn’t yet publicly announced her decision and, until recently, had seemed keen on taking the top job at the City regulator. Indeed, she was “the front runner”, says Alistair Osborne in The Times. So what can explain her change of prospects? One theory is that the FCA’s “cack-handed” ditching of its review into banking culture earlier this month – an issue that MPs on the Treasury Select Committee will now examine – “rather did” for her career. McDermott, who trained as a…

The week’s best buys BAE Systems The Daily Telegraph The defence giant needs export orders for the Eurofighter Typhoon, but is “guaranteed” a long-term income from its stake in the $1.3trn F-35 Joint Strike Fighter programme. Undervalued compared to peers; pays a “hefty” 4.7% dividend. Buy. 505.5p. Carr’s Group The Daily Telegraph Straddling agriculture, food and engineering, Carr’s is “an odd mix” that rewards. US animal feed sales are strong, engineering prospects are good, and agriculture is on track despite floods. Buy. 153p. Next The Times The retailer has suffered falling shares after a poor run-up to Christmas, but it didn’t resort to discounting and continues to expand cautiously. Strong cash flow should allow further buy-backs or special dividends. Yields 5.8%. Buy. £68.60. Randgold Resources The Sunday Times Randgold is…

For a man who had spent five decades surprising and thrilling the world with his constant reinventions, the manner of his death could not have been more fitting. Though rumours that David Bowie was ill had been circulating for more than a decade, he had told almost no one that he had terminal cancer, said Newsweek. Yet all the clues were there in Blackstar, his final album, which was released just two days before his death. “Look up here, I’m in heaven,” he sang, in the single Lazarus. “I’ve got scars that can’t be seen.” The video shows the artist lying on a hospital bed, and vanishing into a wardrobe. Only after Bowie’s death did his long-time collaborator Tony Visconti confirm what by then seemed obvious: Bowie’s final work was…

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 25 January. Send it to: The Week Crossword 987, 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 Starter with pork and pallid pickle (6) 5 Lady getting disciplined in ward (8) 9 Expensive letter opener (4) 10 Allude to favour when parking suspended (5) 11 Spoils device used the wrong way round (4) 12 Investment proposal and where it’s kept? (8,4) 14 Labour…