Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1057 i The Week

What happened Iran emerged from international isolation last weekend after UN inspectors confirmed that it had curbed its nuclear programme sufficiently to merit the lifting of economic sanctions. Iran can now sell its oil internationally and is set to gain access to some $100bn in frozen assets. Iranian banks will also be readmitted to the Swift electronic banking system, critical for modern trade. President Rouhani hailed a “turning point” for Iran. US Secretary of State John Kerry said: “Today marks the first day of a safer world.” Iran agreed the terms of the deal with major world powers back in July, and implemented them quicker than expected; shipping 98% of its enriched uranium stockpile to Russia; dismantling 14,000 centrifuges; and pouring concrete into the core of a reactor at Arak…

Bremen, Germany Ex-terrorists short of cash: Three former members of the far-left Red Army Faction (the Baader-Meinhof gang) have been named as the prime suspects in a botched armed robbery last June. Police say they have DNA evidence to suggest that the trio (pictured) – who have been on the run for more than 20 years, and are thought to be in their 50s – were behind the failed attempt to steal s1m from an armoured van near Bremen. The Red Army Faction declared an end to its campaign in 1998. Prosecutors believe the trio are not trying to fund more terrorist activities, but simply need money to pay for their old age. Rennes, France Drug trial death: In the worst accident of its kind in France’s medical history, one…

A senior prison official has been detained in Russia on suspicion of stealing a 30-mile stretch of road. Police claim Alexander Protopopov – acting deputy director of Russia’s prison service – arranged for the highway, in the far-northern Komi region, to be taken apart; then sold off the 7,000-odd reinforced concrete slabs for profit. He is believed to have committed the crime in 2014-15, when he was director of Komi’s prisons. In that role, he won awards, including one for creating “spiritual unity”. An unnamed artist has painted a picture of the journalist Katie Hopkins being crucified to raise money for Syrian refugees. “We thought that a court jester would be too obvious and decided that Lady Macbeth was too likeable. Then we remembered one of our favourite Hopkins quotes,…

INDIA The privileged few are being tamed at last Khaleej Times (Dubai) It has been more than 18 months since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power on a promise to build a new India. It’s too early to gauge the impact of his economic policies, says Sanjeev Sanyal, but he has made “palpable progress” on one front: “taming India’s entrenched elite”. The country has long been dominated by a clique of 200 or so extended families, “totalling perhaps 4,000-5,000 people”. Their control of public life has given them a powerful sense of entitlement – but one that is at last being challenged. One of Modi’s more effective blows against this dynastic class has been to evict many families from prestigious, Lutyens-designed government bungalows in central Delhi: few of the…

The Ancient Romans brought WCs, warm baths and sewage systems to their conquered lands, yet it seems their sanitary efforts made no difference to people’s health. Dr Piers Mitchell, of Cambridge University, examined levels of parasites in fossilised excrement from before and after the Romans arrived, expecting to find that the sanitary systems they brought with them had had a positive impact. Instead, his analysis revealed that the levels of whipworm and roundworm remained the same, as did those of the parasite responsible for dysentery – while fish tapeworm flourished under Pax Romana, spreading to areas where it is not thought even to have had a viable habitat. The reason, Mitchell believes, is that although the Romans did bathe regularly – and so probably smelt better than the “barbarians” –…

Jeremy Corbyn has a cat with no name. In an interview with The Independent on Sunday last week, the Labour leader revealed that he calls the cat “The Cat” – but translated into Spanish (Corbyn’s wife, Laura Alvarez, is Mexican and he is fluent in Spanish). “I always call it El Gato,” he told the newspaper. “When I see the cat I say: ‘Buenos días, El Gato.’ Actually, cats don’t know their name, cats know voices. What [El Gato] does respond to, when I ask him to come in, is the tune of Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree. I whistle it. I can’t sing, you see.” Corbyn’s previous cat was called Harold Wilson. The next series of Top Gear is due for broadcast in May, but…

“I’ll take this as a healthy reminder that subtlety… isn’t everything.” Alan Rickman’s acceptance speech after winning a Bafta for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, quoted in the Daily Mail “Life is like playing a violin solo in public and learning the instrument as one goes along.” Novelist Samuel Butler, quoted in The Times “Second is first loser as far as I am concerned.” Linford Christie, quoted in The Times “If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable as adults to act as devils.” P.D. James, quoted in The Wall Street Journal “To speak ill of others is a dishonest way of praising ourselves.” Will Durant, quoted on BookReporter.com “Ninety per cent of politicians give the other ten per cent a bad reputation.” Henry Kissinger, quoted in…

Heating up the fat To The Daily Telegraph In the past, those who lived hard, active lives – such as sailors, farm workers and navvies – often consumed 5,000 or more calories a day. Unlike us, on our 2,000 calories a day, they were not fat. Not only did they not share our sedentary lifestyle, but their homes and work places were also cold. In order to keep warm, they ate like horses and worked like them too. Warm houses are a modern invention. For our ancestors, rich and poor alike, warmth was to be found only at certain points in the home – directly in front of a fire, or in bed (if they were lucky). The polar explorer Richard E. Byrd once said the coldest place he had…

What did you think of the special effects in Suffragette? You didn’t notice any? That’s because you weren’t supposed to, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. The movie is stiff with what’s known in the trade as “invisible effects” – rather than create a scene for real and at great cost, the film-makers digitally enhance it postproduction. For instance, the bustling crowds at Epsom Races were mainly created by CGI. And what’s true of Suffragette is true of “almost every mid to high-budget film you see now”. The glamorous beachside mansions in The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)? The swirling snowstorms in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)? All were created by computer wizardry. But skilful as this work is, it’s rarely acknowledged. Film-makers don’t want audiences knowing…

Chinese artist Ai Weiwei hailed a victory for freedom of expression this week after Lego announced that it would sell him its plastic bricks after all. In September, the Danish firm declined a bulk order from Ai (pictured), saying it had a policy of not endorsing the use of its bricks in works with a “political agenda”. In response, art lovers around the world set up Lego collection points, where people could donate their old Lego to the artist. But in the event, Ai didn’t use Lego at all in his project: portraits of Australian freedom fighters for a show in Melbourne. Instead, he bought Lego-like bricks made by a firm in China. “I couldn’t tell much difference and the price is much, much lower,” he said. Four months on,…

Rob’s angry with Ian for refusing to be a godfather. Helen pleads with Rob not to say anything to Ian. Rob criticises Helen’s choice of friends, but is defensive when Helen points out that Rob shouldn’t have said anything to Ian about Charlie. Helen goes off for her pamper day at Grey Gables, but can’t relax. Afterwards Kirsty drops Helen home and reminds her that she can talk to her any time. Alistair gives the Brookfield cows the all-clear for TB. Ruth and Jill agree that Matthew’s a nice lad. Ruth hopes Pip doesn’t get hurt when Matthew goes. Jennifer offers to host a leaving do for Charlie. Alex tells Phoebe to choose him or Oxford. Phoebe picks Oxford and they break up. Kirsty tells Roy that Helen looks pale…

Sausage, chickpea and spinach stew Serves 4 about 3 tbsp lard 2 medium onions, finely sliced 5 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped medium-small 400g-600g pork or venison sausages, or 6 fat sausages – not chipolatas – chopped into 2cm lengths (and split in half if you’re feeding young children) 400g tin chopped tomatoes 400g tin chickpeas or 350g dried chickpeas (soak overnight) sea salt and freshly ground black pepper a good-sized bunch of fresh spinach leaves or wild garlic, cavolo nero or ruby chard • Melt the lard in a medium cast-iron casserole pot over a medium heat. Sauté the onions for 2-3 minutes, until soft. (For added heat, you can also add 2 finely chopped small red chillies or some harissa or paté di peperoncini, to taste.) • Add…

Renault Mégane The Ford Focus has long been hugely popular in the UK – in 2015, it was the third-bestselling car. But this year, Ford will have “a fight on its hands”, with challenges in the hatchback market from rivals including Renault. With a “bold” new look and upmarket cabin, the new Mégane “cuts a dash”. On sale in the spring, from around £16,000. Honda NSX Honda isn’t usually associated with supercars. But the NSX could give Ferrari a run for its money: it combines a petrol V6 engine with three electric motors, and promises “physics-defying” handling. Having been announced almost a decade ago, it’s been long delayed – but “the wait will be worthwhile”. On sale in the autumn, from around £120,000. Rolls-Royce Dawn Reviving a name from its…

Zeitz MoCAA, Cape Town Located on Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, the Museum of Contemporary African Art – opening this autumn – will house the “first-rate” collection of pan-African art amassed by former Puma CEO Jochen Zeitz. Architect Thomas Heatherwick’s design “reworks the 42 concrete cylinders of a disused grain silo”; there are 6,000 square metres of gallery space over nine floors, as well a rooftop sculpture garden and a 28-room hotel to be managed by the “extraordinary” South African hotelier Liz Biden. Louvre, Abu Dhabi The first of three museums due to open on Saadiyat Island, ten minutes from downtown Abu Dhabi, Jean Nouvel’s Louvre building echoes the forms of traditional Arab architecture, with a low, pale dome pierced with irregular apertures like those in palm-frond thatching, dappling the interiors…

In the midst of another week of turmoil in global stock markets, and a continued rout in the oil price, the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, indicated that the economy is too weak for him to contemplate raising interest rates from crisis-era lows. “The world is weaker and UK growth has slowed,” he said. The pound fell to a five-year low against the dollar. The IMF downgraded its global growth projections for 2016 and 2017 to 3.4% and 3.6% respectively, citing “the Chinese economy, lower commodity prices and strains in some large emerging market economies”. China reported that its economy grew at 6.8% last year, its slowest pace in decades. The opening of the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting at Davos coincided with an Oxfam report showing…

Hang on in there if you can. Peter Lynch, the Fidelity investment legend, put it well: “Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach. If you are susceptible to selling everything in a panic, you ought to avoid stocks and mutual funds altogether.” Volatility is normal. If we are prepared for turbulence, we won’t be surprised when it happens. Between 1991 and 2015, the FTSE 100 rose or fell by more than 10% in a three-month period on 18 occasions. Sticking with investments usually pays off. In the UK, the chance of shares beating cash over a ten-year period is more than 90%. Moreover, trying to time markets is “extremely risky” – missing just a few of the best-performing days can seriously compromise your…

Ernest Saunders “Passing through Geneva Airport the other day, I spotted a familiar face,” says Jeremy Warner in The Sunday Telegraph. It was Ernest Saunders, the former Guinness chief jailed for his part in the 1980s shareramping scandal. Now in his 80s, he looked “remarkably unchanged” – a fact he attributes to the healthy lifestyle he enjoys in Switzerland. I asked him if he thinks much about the old days: “All that’s behind me,” he replied. “Luckily, here in Switzerland they still value wisdom and experience, so I’m in demand.” Yet I detected “bitterness” in his tone. There may be some consolation for Saunders, however. Successful CEOs rarely get more than “a footnote in the history books”. But corporate notoriety may last forever. Steve Howard After peak oil, peak government…

Right now there are more than seven billion humans on the Earth. That’s a lot of mouths to feed. To sustain them all, we’ve taken 40% of the planet’s total land mass and turned it into cornfields and almond orchards, cattle ranches and orange groves, all to churn out the cereals, produce and meat that feed humanity. Unfortunately, that’s left us in a bit of a bind. The world population is expected to grow to 9.6 billion by 2050. By most estimates, if we want to avoid mass malnutrition, we’re going to have to up our food production by 70% by 2050. The problem is that most of the land we can work for food is already being cultivated. The rest is on mountains, covered by desert sands or in…

What happened World athletics’ reputation was dealt a further blow last week when the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) published a report concluding that corruption was “embedded” in its governing body. An earlier report by Wada had found evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russian athletics. This new one details how senior officials at the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) covered up doping, and how they extorted money from athletes who had failed drug tests by threatening them with exposure. The report singled out former IAAF president Lamine Diack for blame, but said the ruling council – of which Sebastian Coe, the IAAF’s current president, was a member – “could not have been unaware” of what was going on. Yet despite the indictment, the report’s author, Dick Pound, maintained that Coe…

Flint, Michigan Emergency declared over contaminated water: The water in the Michigan city of Flint has been so dangerously contaminated with lead that President Obama last week declared a state of emergency. The declaration unlocks $5m in emergency federal funding, and authorises the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to provide the city with water, filters, cartridges and other supplies for 90 days. In April 2014, Flint switched its water supply from Detroit’s water system to the Flint River in order to save money, but there were soon reports that the water was discoloured and malodorous – and of a surge in people suffering headaches and rashes. Last October, tests showed increased levels of lead in the blood of some children, raising fears of a public health catastrophe in the city.…

Beijing’s failure to do more to control the economic slowdown has focused attention on the small group of officials meant to be running the show. According to Andrew Polk, a Beijing-based economist with The Conference Board, “there isn’t an economic heavyweight” in President Xi’s inner circle capable of leading broad-ranging reform. “For all their faults, Xi’s predecessors gave domestic and foreign investors confidence that, over time, there’d be more space for markets and the private sector,” Arthur Kroeber of GaveKal Dragonomics told the FT. “Xi has failed to live up to this.” In the 1990s, President Jiang Zemin’s right-hand man was the steely market reformer Zhu Rongji, who had been handpicked a decade earlier to open up Chinese industry to the world. More recently, Wang Qishan, an experienced banker, took…

THE NETHERLANDS Our cannabis laws don’t make sense De Volkskrant (Amsterdam) The Netherlands led the way in legalising drugs 25 years ago with its cannabis coffee shops, says Frits Lauwaars. Now it’s time to go further, and legalise supply. The idea of letting customers in at the front door, while trying to stop suppliers going in the back, was never going to work. Every day a coffee shop owner is charged with procuring supplies – and though no “self-respecting” judge ever imposes punishment, “blinkered” prosecutors go on charging them just the same, wasting taxpayers’ money on gathering evidence and legal fees. The impetus for change is coming from local authorities, who say the proliferation of illegal attic “cannabis nurseries” is a growing fire hazard. They want to see supply regulated…

Three thousand years ago, the residents of a small settlement in the Fens fled their homes when a fire tore through the wooden structures. Now, the remains of those roundhouses have been unearthed – providing an extraordinary glimpse of everyday life in the Bronze Age, reports The Daily Telegraph. It seems the families living there were preparing or eating a meal when their stilted houses caught fire; the structures then sank into the boggy waters surrounding them. Carbonised and preserved by the fire, the houses’ stilts and rafters can still be seen in the positions in which they fell, while pots containing food, and clothes that seem to have been hastily abandoned, have been found around them. “Normally at Bronze Age settlements, we just find a ring of postholes,” said…

A furious online “lynch mob” has been pursuing me for the past week or so, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times. Why? Because I dared take exception to the “mawkish” public reaction to the death of David Bowie. But how could I not? The response was so self-indulgent and “embarrassing”. All that competitive “social media grief” designed to draw more attention to the author than the subject; all those “pixel tributes, moans, sighs and cries, memorial avatars and hashtags”; all that “infantile” guff about how the pop star had allowed people finally to be themselves and how his demise had left them “in bits”. I’m sure Bowie – who, in accordance with his own explicit wishes, was quietly cremated last week “without any fuss” and without even his friends…

Cricket: Broad blows South Africa away It was a spell of bowling as good as any in cricket history, said Paul Newman in The Mail on Sunday. In Johannesburg last Saturday, on the third day of England’s third Test, Stuart Broad “simply blew South Africa away”. At lunchtime, the hosts were favourites to win the match. But when the sides returned from the interval, “the force” was with Broad: he took a staggering five wickets in 31 balls, conceding just one run, and completed the innings on six for 17. Having “demolished” South Africa for 83 runs, England then “raced” to a three-day, seven-wicket victory – and to a series win, with a final Test still to be played. That knocked South Africa off “the top of the Test tree”,…

To The Independent What should be the attitude of the Labour Party leadership to the forthcoming referendum on leaving the European Union? Labour supporters are to be presented with an unenviable choice: vote to withdraw or approve terms of membership drawn up by a Tory prime minister. The status quo is not to be on offer. It has been repeatedly pointed out, not least by The Independent, that the prime purpose of the referendum is to resolve problems within the Conservative Party. The Labour leader should therefore advise those of his party’s followers who are unable to square their consciences with voting one way or the other, to abstain. A low turnout could bring benefits all round. It might teach our leaders that they should not play party games with…

Suede: Night Thoughts Warner Music £12.99 ★★★★ Suede’s Brett Anderson is one of “countless musicians who would either have never ventured into pop, or would have sounded utterly different when they did”, had he not encountered the inspiration of David Bowie, said Dan Cairns in The Sunday Times. So it is apt (and perhaps also “a little unlucky”) that this excellent new album should be released just as music fans are trying to digest the news of Bowie’s death. Still, there are songs here – When You Are Young, Like Kids and, above all, I Don’t Know How to Reach You – “of such fragile beauty, such impassioned defiance, such youthful vigour, they glitter with some of the same fairy dust” as that sprinkled by Bowie himself. In their 1990s…

Best books… John O’Farrell The author, comedy sketch writer and columnist John O’Farrell picks his favourite books about football. His latest novel, There’s Only Two David Beckhams, is a comic football fantasy set at Qatar 2022 (Black Swan £7.99). My Father and Other Working-Class Football Heroes by Gary Imlach, 2005 (Yellow Jersey £9.99). Stewart Imlach represented Scotland in the 1958 World Cup but never received his cap. His son explores his father’s life as an ordinary neighbourhood football star, providing us with an insight into the sport in a very different age. European Fields: The Landscape of Lower League Football by Hans van der Meer, 2006 (Steidl £32). A simple idea, beautifully done; a book of photographs of ordinary pitches hosting obscure matches. A great pictorial representation of how the…

What will happen in the world of wine in 2016? First, said Fiona Beckett in The Guardian, with the “honourable exception” of M&S, we can expect supermarket ranges to go on shrinking. Bad news for adventurous drinkers, though good news for the indies. The focus on “clean eating” will, I suspect, result in a growing demand for fresh, natural-tasting wines such as Christelle Guibert’s and Vincent Caillé’s richly textured Vine Revival Terre de Gneiss Muscadet 2014. It’s pricey at £22.50 (from Caviste in Hampshire, or £22.99 from Handford in London SW7), but it’s easily the most exciting muscadet I’ve had recently. English sparkling wine looks set to get ever bigger. Look out for the name Dermot Sugrue, the ex-winemaker at Nyetimber who is now at Wiston. And finally, maybe we’ll…

Alan Rickman 1946-2016 Alan Rickman, who has died aged 69, was a versatile actor whose unmistakable rich, velvety voice, languorous delivery, and brilliant use of the droll pause and the sardonic cocked eyebrow, made him the most irresistible of baddies. His wickedness tempered, as it usually was, by a sly, knowing humour, he was hilarious as the icy German master-thief Hans Gruber in the 1988 blockbuster Die Hard, and as the campy villainous Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). But long before going to Hollywood, he had made his name on the British stage, and dazzled theatregoers with his performance as the vulpine seducer Valmont in Christopher Hampton’s hit play Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It was a thrillingly erotic production: as co-star Lindsay Duncan noted, “a lot…

Paedophilia is a hideous crime – it ruins lives; no one is in any doubt that accusations of it should be taken seriously. But “vexatious allegations can ruin lives too”, said The Times. That is something the Metropolitan Police should have considered before embarking on their disgraceful investigation of Lord Bramall, a veteran of the Normandy landings and one of Britain’s most decorated military officers. Ten months ago, acting on the say-so of a single informant who had accused Brammal of raping and indecently assaulting a boy in the 1970s and 1980s, the police launched a high-profile raid on the 92-year-old general’s home, causing huge distress to his wife, Avril, who was dying of Alzheimer’s disease. “Given my distinguished career, to have 20 policemen come through your house for ten…

The woman who fled Isis Sophie Kasiki is one of very few Western women to have gone to Syria to join Isis – and then escaped to tell the tale. Even now, the 34-year-old Frenchwoman, a former social worker, can’t explain why she made such a terrible mistake, says Kim Willsher in The Observer. Kasiki (not her real name) comes from a Catholic family of Congolese origin, and is married to an atheist. She didn’t tell her husband when she converted to Islam; nor that she was in contact with three young Muslim men who had gone to fight with Isis. These men, she says, gradually brainwashed her. In February 2015, without telling her husband, she took their four-year-old son and fled to join the Islamists. Once installed in Raqqa,…

Cameron and the politics of apathy Janan Ganesh Financial Times For a clever politician, David Cameron is remarkably uninterested in politics, says Janan Ganesh. Our PM doesn’t feel the need to plough through heavyweight tomes on holiday; and though he loves a box set, he has never bothered with Borgen, the Danish political drama, because it’s “too much like work”. This lack of engagement makes him unusual among politicians but thoroughly in tune with a large group of voters – those who “don’t much care”. Labour sees voter apathy as a sign of “dysfunction” and seeks to whip up a new politics of mass participation. Cameron knows better. He knows that in Britain, where life for most people is “tolerable-to-good”, many don’t care to engage in politics because they’re satisfied…

It’s not hard to guess what the leaders of Hungary and Poland talked about when they met for private talks earlier this month, said Wolfgang Münchau in Der Spiegel (Hamburg). Both men are resolved to turn their backs on democracy. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been steadily transforming Hungary into an “illiberal” state; now Poland’s de facto leader, Jarosław Kaczynski, whose Law and Justice Party (PiS) recently won an absolute majority, is racing to do likewise. It has packed the constitutional court with party loyalists and moved to take control of the state media. What’s happening in Warsaw, declared Martin Schulz, president of the EU parliament, has the “characteristics of a coup”. And he’s right: what they’re doing is incompatible with the EU’s democratic principles. In Germany, politicians of their…

Happiness is in the DNA Some of the world’s poorest countries feature at the top of the international happiness scale – and now scientists think they may know why. It seems there is a specific gene variant – an “allele” – that regulates sensory pleasure and pain reduction; and the more of it found in a population, the happier that population tends to be. Researchers from Bulgaria and Hong Kong discovered that Ghana, Mexico and Nigeria all had populations with a high incidence of this particular allele, and all came high on the happiness scale. The appearance of the genetic feature was least common in the people of Jordan, Iraq, Hong Kong, China, Thailand and Taiwan, and they were the ones least likely to rate themselves as very happy. The…

Louis Richardson was cleared of rape last week, said Michael Powell in The Mail on Sunday, yet the wonder is that his case ever came to trial in the first place. The 21-year-old Durham University undergraduate’s accuser was a fellow student who had continued to have sex with him for weeks after the night of the alleged rape. Along the way, they had swapped flirty Facebook messages: in one, she called him a “sexy menace”; in another, she sent a picture of her cleavage with the words: “Present for you, darling.” She levelled the rape accusation only after admitting her dalliances with Richardson to her boyfriend during a holiday. She later tried to withdraw her allegations – only to be told it was out of her hands. The jury took…

A record for The Rocket Ronnie O’Sullivan is no longer the “explosive” teenager who won the Masters 21 years ago, says Daniel Johnson in The Daily Telegraph. “There is the odd speck of grey in the hair”, the signs of fatigue on his face. But “the style, the ease” is still there – and on Sunday, “The Rocket” beat Barry Hawkins to win the Masters for a record-equalling sixth time. Weeks after returning from an eight-month sabbatical, this 10-1 victory demonstrated his unrivalled “genius”. It was “vintage” O’Sullivan: there were “bewildering” misses alongside moments of brilliance. At 40, it’s unclear how many more tournaments he’ll compete in. But O’Sullivan is such a “box-office attraction” that snooker needs him to “keep going” as long as he can. Haye’s brief comeback David…

The Revenant Dir: Alejandro González Iñárritu 2hrs 36mins (15) A gruelling masterpiece ★★★★ This “dazzling” survival epic from director Alejandro González Iñárritu is “almost as gruelling to watch” as reports in the press have suggested it was to make, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. But it’s “worth the discomfort”. It tells the true-life tale of Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio), a rugged fur-trapper in 1820s Montana, who after narrowly escaping death at the hands of Arikara tribesmen, is horrifically mauled by a grizzly bear. Left for dead by a ruthless fellow trapper (Tom Hardy, in “superb dastardly form”), Glass must haul his ravaged body hundreds of miles across the American wilderness to exact vengeance. Thanks to the stunning work of cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, this is more than just an…

Miró’s Studio at Mayoral As anyone who visited Joan Miró’s 2011 Tate Modern retrospective will know, the great Catalan artist’s work has the power to brighten up even the darkest of January days. The stunning primary colours and energetic shapes that became his calling card form one of the 20th century’s most iconic and seductive bodies of work. However familiar his paintings and sculptures might seem, they never fail to surprise and delight. Now, we have a chance to gain an insight into how he created them. The Mayoral gallery has created a facsimile of Miró’s Mallorca studio at its Mayfair outpost, which offers 25 rarely seen paintings and drawings, as well as a wealth of fascinating archive material. Works like 1978’s Woman in Front of the Moon serve to…

Programmes The Girl Who Forgave the Nazis Auschwitz survivor Eva Kor made headlines last year when she publicly forgave former SS guard Oskar Gröning for his crimes. This documentary tells her story. Sat 23 Jan, C4 8pm (60mins). Attenborough and the Giant Dinosaur The naturalist recounts the discovery of the largest known dinosaur, a new species of titanosaur found in Argentina in 2014. Sun 24 Jan, BBC1 6.30pm (60mins). The Great Gangster Film Fraud Amazing account of a Jordanian entrepreneur and an Irish actress who claimed £2.5m in tax breaks for a film they never intended to make – then made a film in an attempt to prove their innocence. Sun 24 Jan, BBC4 10pm (85mins). The Mad World of Donald Trump Reporter Matt Frei investigates the billionaire and presidential…

The new “avocado” The sudden ubiquity of the avocado in 2015 was pretty odd given that humans have been eating them for around 12,000 years, says Fay Schopen in The Guardian. Simply Nigella even featured a “recipe” for avocado on toast. But what trendy foods are we likely to become “incredibly annoyed” by this year? My guesses are, first, shrubs. Not the plants but the drinking vinegars. They have a “venerable history” and are far more palatable than they sound; even so, it’s a surprise to see them now on offer in hipster hangouts in New York and London. Next, seaweed. What do you do with seaweed? “No one knows.” But we will buy it anyway. Last, kombucha (left), a fermented tea. “People say it tastes fantastic. They are lying.”…

Tips of the week... how to book a cheaper holiday ● Airfares tend to be lowest around 50 days ahead of departure. Try to book in the morning; that’s when airlines release tickets that were previously on hold. ● When you’re hunting for tickets, remember to keep deleting your browser history – some websites will charge you more if you’ve paid them repeated visits. ● The best time to book a hotel room is a month before your stay. Booking any earlier than this isn’t cheaper; in fact, prices tend to be highest two or three months ahead. ● When you’re visiting a city, aim to be there on a Sunday night – it’s usually the cheapest time for hotel rates. ● And for a good-value weekend break, pick a…

A Brazilian idyll Latin American countryhouse retreats don’t come more “wondrous” than Ibitipoca, in Brazil, says Paul Richardson in the FT. Though just three hours’ drive from Rio, this 18th century fazenda (estate house) is set in a vast private nature reserve that’s home to numerous rare species (including puma, maned wolf and woolly spider monkeys) and that feels like the back of beyond. Its visionary owner, mining magnate Renato Machado, is rewilding large areas degraded by agriculture; he has also created an “extraordinary” sculpture park here. The house itself – recently donated to a staff cooperative – is wonderfully atmospheric and the service is superb, with frequent treats and surprises, from customised riding trips to candlelit baths and meals in idyllic outdoor settings. Miraviva (020-7186 1111, www.miravivatravel.com) has a…

Tata Steel: dizzying death spiral The steel industry, trade unions and opposition MPs all rounded on the Government this week, after Tata Steel confirmed that it is axing 1,050 jobs – 750 of them at its plant in Port Talbot, South Wales, said Robert Lea in The Times. The redundancies will take the “job toll in the steel industry to more than 6,000” in the past six months. Only three months ago, the Prime Minister convened an “emergency summit” at which he promised to help manufacturers tackle problems including cheap Chinese imports and high energy costs – but did he deliver? Not according to shadow business secretary Angela Eagle, who accused ministers of being “asleep at the wheel” during the crisis. “Who would think that steel is the foundation of…

● Bearfest Another week, another nasty lurch downwards for investors, said the Financial Times. On Wednesday, global stocks hit two-and-a-half-year lows – and Japan entered a bear market (defined as a 20% fall from a cycle peak) – following a further slide in the oil price. The doom-mongers are out in force. Last week, almost 900 professional investors crammed into a Grosvenor Square ballroom to listen to London’s greatest “perma-bear”, Albert Edwards of Société Générale, who first predicted doom for the stock market in 1996, and has largely stuck with that call ever since. “Maybe this is the one year in ten he’s right,” said one hedge fund manager. ● Psychological tipping point Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital reckons that investor psychology has hit a tipping point, noted MoneyWeek. “In…

Worrying memories of 1936 Satyajit Das The Independent When the US Federal Reserve delivered its first interest rate rise in almost a decade last month, it forecast that rates would rise to 2.375% by the end of 2017, says Satyajit Das – but that’s already looking doubtful. In the US, there are fears that the tightening of monetary policy “will exacerbate the downturn of a business cycle that has already lost its momentum”. Internationally, the major concern is that higher rates and a stronger dollar (it has risen by 20% in a year) will accelerate the “rapid slowing” of growth in emerging markets. “The recent history of attempted rate normalisation is troubling”: since the crisis, central banks from Europe to Australia and Canada have found it difficult to get rates…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys BT The Times The takeover of mobile operator EE enables BT to offer a seamless “quad play” of services – fixed line, mobile, broadband and TV. Crossselling opportunities and cost savings should follow. Yields a healthy 3%. Buy. 463.25p. Barratt Developments The Times Thanks to the continuing boom, the housebuilder’s completions rose by almost 10% in the first half; average selling prices for private homes were up 11%; and the order book is 20% higher. Yields 4.7%. Buy. 613p. Devro Investors Chronicle The sausage-skin maker should start to benefit from its £100m investment splurge. There’s plenty of growth potential, mainly in Asia, driven by rising demand in China. Lock in potential now. Buy. 281p. Renew Investors Chronicle The engineer provides services to regulated…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 988 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 1 February. Send it to: The Week Crossword 988, 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). This crossword is dedicated to Paul Williams, who recently passed away after having for many years checked, and often improved, each puzzle in The Week, this being his last. Six answers given a final letter would make the names of English authors. The six…