Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1060 i The Week

What happened Tory revolt over EU deal David Cameron toured European capitals this week to build support for his EU renegotiation package, and persuade other member states to endorse it at a summit next Thursday. The PM claims the draft deal, published last week, contains important concessions and is the basis for a satisfactory new settlement for Britain in Europe, but critics have dismissed its proposals as trifling and inconsequential. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, reportedly told friends the deal was “a load of rubbish”, predicting it would “fall apart” after the UK’s in/out referendum, expected in June. Tory backbenchers accused the PM of “scaremongering” after No. 10 warned that the “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais would relocate to England if the UK voted to leave the…

Dublin Gangland shootings: Police in Dublin launched a major security operation this week – setting up roadblocks across the city – in response to two murders in the criminal underworld. The first hit occurred last Friday, when six gunmen – two of them disguised as police officers and armed with AK-47s – launched a terrorist-style attack on a rival gang who’d gathered at a Dublin hotel for a boxing match weigh-in. The dead man was David Byrne, a key figure in the gang, which is run from the Costa del Sol by Irish drug lord Christy Kinahan. Kinahan’s son Daniel was believed to have been the prime target for the hit, but he escaped unhurt. The strike is thought to have been organised by rival gang boss Gerry Hutch, in…

1 The Trumpet Shall Sound (from Messiah) by Handel, performed by John Tomlinson and The English Concert and Choir 2 Lo son lumile ancella (Adriana’s Aria, from Adriana Lecouvreur) by Francesco Cilea, performed by Renata Scotto and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by James Levine 3 Ether, written and performed by the Ted Nash Big Band 4 Tea for Two by Vincent Youmans and Irving Caesar, performed by Daniel Hiribarrondo and Sylvia Dorame 5 The Song and Dance of Tears by Bright Sheng, performed by the Hong Kong Philharmonic, conducted by Bright Sheng 6* Laudate Dominum by Mozart, performed by Kiri Te Kanawa and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Colin Davis 7 There is No Rose of Such Virtue (15th century carol), performed by The Choir of Trinity College…

The Tories are trying to bleed Labour dry Jane Merrick The Independent on Sunday If Jeremy Corbyn is still leader at the next election, says Jane Merrick, the likelihood is that the Tories will coast to victory. Yet that hasn’t stopped David Cameron and George Osborne taking measures that threaten “Labour’s very existence”. Their first assault, the Trade Union Bill, will force union members to opt in to pay their union’s political levy (they currently have to opt out); if it goes through, Labour stands to lose some £6m in union donations every year. The second assault is a “staggering” 19% cut in Short Money, that vital prop of our democracy which helps opposition parties carry out their parliamentary duties by funding the research and staff required to scrutinise the…

Is Earth two planets in one? Around four-and-a-half billion years ago, a small planet, named Theia, collided with a bigger one, the early Earth, blasting debris into orbit that became the Moon – so the theory goes. But while conventional wisdom has it that Theia merely sideswiped Earth and then carried on into space, scattering debris in its wake, new research suggests it actually smashed head-on into Earth, fusing the two planets together. Researchers from the University of California analysed the Moon rocks brought back by the Apollo missions, and volcanic rock from Earth’s mantle, to compare their oxygen isotopes. As rocks on each planetary body in the Solar System have a unique oxygen isotope ratio, they expected to find significant difference between those from Earth and those from the…

“The right to insufferable superiority is not enshrined in the UN declaration,” said Marina Hyde in The Guardian, “yet it continues to be extended to Julian Assange, along with a load of other rights” not granted to ordinary mortals. Last week, the WikiLeaks founder appeared, Eva Perón-like, on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, to announce that a UN panel had declared him the victim of a gross injustice. The Working Group on Arbitary Detention, made up of academic lawyers from South Korea, Mexico, Benin, Australia and Ukraine, had ruled that his voluntary confinement in the embassy amounted to “arbitrary detention”, and was in breach of international law. (However, its findings are not binding.) There are those who consider the prefix “UN” to be a “gold standard”. If…

“I thought that we middle-aged men ruled the world,” said Giles Coren in The Times. So I was surprised to learn that we are officially the most miserable people in Britain. Over the last three years, the Office for National Statistics asked 300,000 people how happy they were, and found that respondents in the 40-59 age bracket had the lowest levels of satisfaction and the highest levels of anxiety. Happiness seems to drop off after the age of 35, reaching a nadir between 50 and 54, and picking up again only at 60. And men are, on average, significantly less satisfied than women. It’s no great mystery, said Simon Kelner in The Independent: middle age is a battlefield. We mid-lifers have all the responsibility of caring for children and elderly…

Cycling is no stranger to scandal, said Simon Usborne in The Independent. But as the sport “emerges from the shadow of pharmaceutical doping”, it faces a new kind of cheating – “mechanical doping”. Two weeks ago, when officials at the Cyclo-cross World Championship inspected the bike of under-23 women’s race competitor Femke Van den Driessche, they found a hidden motor. The Belgian tearfully insisted the bike wasn’t hers, and had been swapped accidentally with her own, identical model. But the officials were unconvinced: they confirmed it was the sport’s first top-level case of “technological fraud”. Rumours about “doped bikes” have been circulating for years, said BBC Sport online. Some of the world’s “top riders” have come under suspicion: both Fabian Cancellara and Ryder Hesjedal have been filmed using what appears…

Dad’s Army Dir: Oliver Parker 1hr 40mins (PG) Who did they think they were kidding? “Don’t panic, it’s actually rather good fun!” said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. Like many who adore Dad’s Army, I had “mixed feelings” at the prospect of a big-screen version of the 1960s and 1970s sitcom. But I’m relieved to say that it’s not bad at all. The plot sees the bumbling Home Guard platoon, led by Toby Jones’s pompous Captain Mainwaring, thrown into a ferment by the arrival of a glamorous journalist (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who’s writing a report on their activities. Meanwhile, word arrives from MI5 that there may be a Nazi spy in their midst. The cast is “strong” and “game”, said Nick de Semlyen in Empire. The likes of Bill Nighy,…

In 2011, Rizvan Rahman, a former art teacher and small-time dealer, was jailed for selling forgeries of paintings by well-known artists to galleries throughout Britain. But now, says The Times, “he is discovering that a bit of honest toil at the canvas can be far more lucrative”. Rahman’s own Lucian Freud-like nudes are being exhibited in Mayfair, with seven sold in the first week alone, for a total of £110,000. Despite his skill, and the fact that police found a copy of The Art Forger’s Handbook in his house, Rahman denies painting the forgeries that got him jailed, which were purportedly by artists including L.S. Lowry and Mary Fedden: he claims he himself was duped. However, he was allowed to paint during the five months he served in prison, and…

At The Bull, Rob gets Henry to join in teasing Helen about not eating her food. Helen rushes off to the toilet. Henry goes after her and says he and Rob have a surprise. It turns out to be pudding. Mike and Vicky can’t take Roy for his birthday outing on the Blackberry steam train as Bethany’s ill. Roy asks Kirsty instead. Kirsty suggests inviting Helen and Henry. Helen agrees and says she’ll collect Henry from school early. Helen doesn’t tell Rob about her planned trip, so is shocked when he turns up at the school as she tries to leave with Henry. Helen admits she’s meeting Kirsty and that she told the school Henry had a doctor’s appointment. Rob apologises to the teacher, saying Helen muddled her dates. Helen…

Leandro Carreira at Climpson’s Arch Arch 374, Helmsley Place, London E8 Climpson’s Arch in Hackney is a highly unusual restaurant, said Amol Rajan in The Independent. It offers “rising star” chefs a showcase for their talents for a set period (minimum six months) and has rapidly won a reputation “as a laboratory for entrepreneurial excellence”. Notable alumni include Dave Pynt, now at the lauded Burnt Ends in Singapore, and Tomos Parry, who has “since done remarkable things at Kitty Fisher’s” in Mayfair. The new chap in charge at Climpson’s is “Portuguese man of phwoar” Leandro Carreira, who learnt his trade at Mugaritz (“one of those worldbeater” places near San Sebastián) and a string of impressive kitchens in London. And on the evidence of what I tasted, the buzz around this…

Kenya and Tanzanian tour An 11-day tour from Nairobi – taking in the Masai Mara reserve and Serengeti National Park – costs from £949pp, excluding flights. 020-7371 1113, www.onthegotours.com. Until 23 December. Catalan cycling break Explore Catalonia during an easy-moderate 5-night cycling tour. Prices from £492pp, with cycle hire and 4-star b&b (excluding flights). 01273-224066, www.freedomtreks.co.uk. Until 30 June. Lake District literature Take in the Children’s Book Festival – 4-6 March at Wray Castle – during a 7-night stay at Jonty’s Cottage, Elterwater (sleeps 4), from £496. 01539-437417, www.thegoodlifecottageco.co.uk. Malaysian nature break Book by 29 February for a 35% saving at the Pangkor Laut Resort, by the Straits of Malacca. Prices from £1,125pp b&b, with Heathrow flights. 0844-556 6060, www.dialaflight.com. 10 May-15 July.…

Dropout who provided the music for the Summer of Love Paul Kantner 1941-2016 Paul Kantner, who has died aged 74, was a founding member of Jefferson Airplane – one of the seminal bands of the California counterculture, and the only group to perform at all three of the great hippy gatherings of the era: Woodstock, Monterey and the ill-fated Altamont festival. Airplane’s guitarist, Kantner also wrote many of its songs, and became romantically involved with its female vocalist Grace Slick. Such was the couple’s belief in peace, free love, LSD and protest, Rolling Stone magazine dubbed them “the psychedelic John and Yoko”, and they too knew how to grab headlines – after the birth of their daughter in 1971, they claimed to be naming her “god” (“with a small ‘g’…

This is no time for more austerity Editorial Financial Times “George Osborne has staked his political future on restoring order to Britain’s public finances,” says the Financial Times. With his “fiscal charter” he made a pledge, enshrined in law, to return the budget to surplus by 2019-20. Many saw the charter as a hostage to fortune, and the latest assessment from the Institute of Fiscal Studies does indeed suggest that “the numbers will not add up”. The IFS thinks low inflation will depress wage growth, leading to lower income-tax receipts; while recent stock market falls could wipe a further £2bn off capital gains receipts. But this is no time for more painful cuts in pursuit of an arbitrary target: Osborne has already driven “the biggest fiscal consolidation by any leading…

A major Syrian army offensive on Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, has caused tens of thousands of people to flee to the Turkish border. But despite pleas from the EU, Turkey closed its frontier to any more refugees last week, insisting that it had already reached “capacity”. President Assad’s forces, backed by Russian warplanes, have now sealed off the last major supply route into rebel-held parts of the city, cutting off food supplies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel denounced the Russian air strikes, which she said had deliberately targeted civilians. Earlier, world leaders meeting in London had pledged a record £7bn in aid and £27bn in loans to help Syrian refugees across the Middle East. But the news was overshadowed by the breakdown of UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva, where it had…

Manchester, New Hampshire Outsider victories: Donald Trump (pictured left) emerged as the clear victor in the New Hampshire Republican primary this week, with 35% of the vote. The result will give him ten delegates at the Republican convention in July. The more moderate Ohio governor John Kasich came a surprise second, with 16%, while Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio were third, fourth and fifth respectively, having achieved around 11% of the vote. Chris Christie scored just 7.5%, and said he’d now be taking a “deep breath” before deciding whether he had a future in the race. The Democratic primary was won, as expected, by the self-described “democratic socialist” Bernie Sanders (pictured right). Like his fellow outsider Trump, the 74-year-old Vermont senator – a lifelong political activist known for…

Was it all as chaotic as Dad’s Army? For the first year of its existence, in 1940, undoubtedly so. The comedic premise of the long-running series – the glaring mismatch between Captain Mainwaring’s bumbling platoon and the seriousness of the Nazi threat – reflected the reality, albeit with inevitable exaggerations. In fact, many aspects of the show were grounded in direct experience. Co-writer Jimmy Perry had himself signed up with the 10th Hertfordshire Battalion aged 17; Private Pike was in part a self-portrait. An elderly member of the unit, who often referred to fighting the “Fuzzy Wuzzies”, was the model for Lance-Corporal Jones. Why was it called into existence? Because in the spring of 1940, people were genuinely terrified by the prospect of a German invasion. In May, having captured…

Silent discos – where partygoers dance to music relayed through earphones – have been banned in the Swiss town of Lausanne, for being too noisy. Locals say that although the music is not broadcast on loudspeakers, the discos are not silent because revellers can’t resist singing along to whatever they’re listening to, creating a hideous off-key cacophony. A 107-year-old Londoner has revealed the secret of her longevity: she quit smoking – aged 102. Muriel Froomberg said she decided to kick her 40-a-day habit five years ago, so that she could have a “long life” and see her greatgreat grandchildren grow up. By that time, it is estimated that she had got through 1.3 million cigarettes. A woman shocked her husband by turning up at her memorial service – days after…

INDONESIA No wonder terrorists keep attacking us The Jakarta Post How many must die, asks Rendi A. Witular, before Indonesia takes terrorism seriously? In the past 15 years, it has suffered nine major terrorist attacks that have killed a total of more than 285 people. Last month, in a part of Jakarta crammed with embassies and malls, four civilians were killed and at least 20 injured. Yet our terrorism laws are toothless. We can’t arrest suspected terrorists – even Indonesians who return after fighting for Isis abroad – unless they’ve already procured explosives or arms. Even when convicted, terrorists’ sentences get shortened by prison officials who “consider them well behaved merely because they never miss their prayers”. In jail, they’re allowed to mix freely with the prison population, radicalising inmates…

British engineers have invented a device that they believe could save the lives of 100,000 albatrosses – and countless petrels, shearwaters and other sea birds – every year. Designed to stop birds being caught on long-line fishing lines, the Hookpod is a weighted polycarbonate “pod” that encases the hook until a pressuresensitive sensor within it detects that the hook is under water. With barbs sheathed until then, there is no risk of seabirds getting snagged on the line. In extensive trials, off the coasts of Brazil, Australia and Africa, only one bird was caught – and that was because the pod hadn’t been set properly, and opened early. “We are confident that if people are using this correctly, they will never catch birds because it removes the hook from where…

What has got into England’s chief medical officer, Dame Sally Davies, asked Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. This “doubtless well-meaning” lady can scarcely open her mouth these days without seeking to scare the living daylights out of the rest of us. A few weeks ago, she alarmed the country by slashing the official alcohol guidelines almost to zero, and by declaring that there was no safe level for drinking. Now “this irrepressible martinet is tightening the screw again”. Speaking to a parliamentary committee meeting last week about her new booze limits, Davies called for Britons to rethink their whole attitude to alcohol. “I would like people to do as I do when I reach for my glass of wine,” she told MPs. “Think: ‘Do I want my glass of…

“Time spent arguing is almost never wasted.” Christopher Hitchens, quoted on The Browser “A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain upon the affections.” George Eliot, quoted on Forbes.com “Go ahead: try defeatism. Won’t work.” US academic Eric Jarosinski, quoted in The Guardian “There is nothing good to be had in the country, or if there is, they will not let you have it.” William Hazlitt, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “To do evil, a human being must first of all believe that what he’s doing is good.” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, quoted in The New York Review of Books “The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” Novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, quoted in The…

The Assange verdict To The Times A UN working group has found that Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” on the basis that he would be arrested (on a valid extradition warrant) were he to leave the Ecuadorian embassy. On this logic one must assume that if a crime suspect holed themselves up in a building which the police could not enter – say because it was booby-trapped – then that person would also be “arbitrarily detained” if the police waited outside. The panel’s conclusion makes the UN a laughing stock. It is also ironic that most, if not all, of the countries represented on the panel (South Korea, Mexico, Benin, Ukraine, Australia) have questionable human rights records. Australia, for example, arbitrarily detains refugees on the desolate island of Nauru,…

Shylock is My Name by Howard Jacobson Hogarth Press 288pp £16.99 The Week bookshop £14.99 (incl. p&p) Howard Jacobson’s retelling of The Merchant of Venice is a thorough “exploration of modern Jewish identity”, said Lucasta Miller in The Independent. It’s set in Cheshire’s “golden triangle”, where art collector Simon Strulovitch is having a hard time raising his rebellious teenage daughter, Beatrice. Then, in a moment of “magic realism”, he encounters in a graveyard the figure of Shylock, who is searching for the “closure denied him in Shakespeare’s play”. In time, Shylock takes on the role of friend and confidant, offering a view of life that is “both savagely funny and intellectually searching”. As always, Jacobson’s “virtuoso” style shifts easily between the “satirical” and the “serious”. Shylock supplies “the heart of…

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, 1861 (Penguin £5.99). The title alone could be the title of many of the novels I most admire. The idea that Pip imagines the cruel Miss Havisham is his benefactor, when all the while it is Magwitch, is absolutely convincing, yet stunning; a salient point of the novel is how disappointing Pip is. He does not live up to his own expectations or ours. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, 1850 (Penguin £7.99). The most daunting opening of any novel: “Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.” The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1850 (Roads £9.99). Sexual condemnation, declaring sexual differences weird or wrong – will…

Programmes Trapped New ten-part Icelandic crime drama, made by Everest director Baltasar Kormákur. Sat 13 Feb, BBC4 9pm (50mins). Decadence and Downfall: The Shah of Iran’s Ultimate Party In 1971, the shah of Iran celebrated 2,500 years of Persian rule by throwing a five-day party, at an estimated cost of $200m. Hosted in a city of specially made silk tents, it was so extravagant that it contributed to his downfall. Sun 14 Feb, BBC4 9pm (75mins). The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story Cuba Gooding Jr and John Travolta star in this new series based on the O.J. Simpson trial, told from the perspective of the legal teams. Mon 15 Feb, BBC2 9pm (60mins). The Renaissance Unchained In this four-part series, Waldemar Januszczak challenges traditional views of the Renaissance,…

Korean sticky ribs with gochujang Serves four 8 beef ribs, about 1cm thick 3 spring onions, finely sliced 2 tbsp black sesame seeds Marinade: 60ml soy sauce 60ml toasted sesame oil 140g orange-blossom honey 2 tbsp (heaped) gochujang 1 tbsp fish sauce 4 garlic cloves, bashed 2 serrano chillies, roughly chopped 2 tsp cracked rainbow peppercorns ½ tsp sea salt • Lay out the ribs in a single layer in a ceramic baking dish. • Put all the marinade ingredients into a blender and process until smooth. Pour it over the ribs and sprinkle with the spring onions and sesame seeds. Cover and refrigerate for 6-24 hours. • Remove the marinaded ribs from the fridge and leave until they reach room temperature. • Heat a grill or barbecue to a…

St Mawes Hotel, Cornwall More relaxed and affordable than its “breezily chic” sister property, The Idle Rocks (just a short walk away), this recently revamped pub with rooms is now the coolest hotel in the fashionable fishing village of St Mawes, says Tatler. Owned by former Aston Martin chairman David Richards and his interior-designer wife Karen, it has “colourful”, “playful” decor, with lots of stripy armchairs, worn wooden tables, and sailing paraphernalia on the walls. Food is served in the restaurant and in the bar – honest, simple fare, including “spot-on” pizzas. Go for one of the three sea-view rooms, and make time for a movie in the hotel’s “groovy” new cinema. Doubles from £155 b&b. 01326-270170, www.stmaweshotel.com…

● It’s usually best to drive on fresh snow, rather than in the wheel tracks of other cars. But only do this if you’re certain that the snow isn’t deep. ● Listen closely to your tyres. If they’re unusually quiet, you’re probably driving on ice – and will need to be extra cautious. ● A crucial tip for driving in icy conditions is to steer smoothly. Crashes at this time of year are often caused by tyres losing grip when someone has turned too sharply. ● If your car does start to slide, try to work out which tyres have lost grip. If it’s the front ones, straighten the steering wheel and take your feet off the pedals – it may sound counter-intuitive but it’s the most effective way to…

HSBC: staying put? After ten months of “agonising debate” and determined lobbying, HSBC is reportedly “leaning towards” keeping its HQ in London, said Henry Sender in the Financial Times. A formal decision is expected shortly. But if Europe’s largest bank does stay put, rather than upping sticks to Hong Kong, it would mark a shift in thinking on the part of chief executive Stuart Gulliver – hitherto a key advocate of returning the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation to its roots. He now seems to have “lost faith” in his own argument that the bank should be where the growth is. Recent turmoil in Chinese stock markets has reportedly had less impact on HSBC’s thinking than political concerns about Hong Kong’s legal independence. A vote to remain would boost…

● Allowance angst April looks set to justify its reputation as “the cruellest month”, said Claer Barrett in the FT – at least if you’re “an upper-to-middle Englander” with a healthy pension pot. Owing to another lowering of the lifetime allowance, you could face a whopping 55% tax charge on future pension withdrawals if your pot exceeds £1m. The Treasury claims that lowering the allowance will only affect the wealthiest 4% of pension savers now, but industry experts argue that far more people will be “snared in its clutches” – because the new £1m ceiling doesn’t just apply to your pension contributions, but to the investment growth of your funds over time. No wonder it has been dubbed a “stealth tax raid”. ● A guessing game According to John Lawson…

Anne Richards The new boss of M&G has her work cut out shaking up the Pru’s investment arm, says The Sunday Times. Investors pulled s16.5bn from M&G’s mutual funds in Europe last year – and Anne Richards, 51, joins at a critical point ahead of a possible Brexit. Still, she has earned her spurs over 12 years at Aberdeen Asset Management. The latter’s founder and CEO, Martin Gilbert, was apparently keen to keep her on board, but he knew his efforts were likely to be in vain. “He said there are really only three jobs in fund management – at M&G, Schroders and Aberdeen – and he wasn’t going anywhere,” she relates. “It was a bit like a break-up. He understood, but it wasn’t easy.” A possible pay package of…

Controversy of the week Our failing prisons In the final phase of his premiership, David Cameron has dared to highlight one of the great scandals of our time, said Steve Richards in The Independent – what happens in our prisons, “and, equally important, what happens when prisoners are released”. In a speech on Monday, the PM declared that “current levels of prison violence, drug-taking and self-harm should shame us all”. Last year in England and Wales there were 89 prison suicides, 595 serious assaults on staff and 14,247 prisoner-onprisoner assaults. Most damningly of all, 46% of adult prisoners, he said, are convicted again within a year of release. Launching what he called the “biggest shake-up of prisons since the Victorian era”, Cameron declared that six new “reform prisons” will be…

The pyjama battle Kate Chisholm had no idea she’d make global headlines when she wrote to the parents at her primary school urging them not to turn up to school in their pyjamas. But what she certainly will have known is that some parents would take it badly. Since taking over Skerne Park Academy, in a deprived part of Darlington, Chisholm has turned the failing school around, not least by cracking down on parents who let their children skip school, or arrive late. And for that, she has suffered no end of abuse. “I’ve been called an overpaid prostitute and a failed fat supermodel,” she told Harry Wallop in The Daily Telegraph. “Both times this was parents saying this to me in front of their kids.” One father even took…

An unlikely inspiration for the Home Guard was Tom Wintringham, a former communist agitator and International Brigade commander in the Spanish Civil War. On return from Spain, Wintringham – expelled from the Communist Party in 1938 for suspected Trotskyist tendencies – began a campaign, broadcast through his newspaper columns and books, for an armed civilian guard to repel a Nazi invasion. Rejected by the regular Army when war broke out, he set up a private training school in July 1940 for what would become the Home Guard, at Osterley Park, home of the Earl of Jersey. In the summer of 1940, at least 5,000 recruits passed through its doors. Wintringham’s vision for the force diverged significantly from the War Office’s. Volunteers were trained in guerrilla tactics (by instructors who included…

Why does no one talk about our deficit? Robert J. Samuelson The Washington Post There is one subject, says Robert J. Samuelson, that all the White House hopefuls have been studiously ignoring throughout this campaign – America’s budget deficit. Is that because it has been brought safely under control? If only. While the annual deficit has been cut from an alarming $1.4trn in 2009 to a projected $544bn this year, a “sobering” new report by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warns that the deficit may soon start ballooning again, as Medicare and social security costs soar to cover an ageing population; interest payments on previous debts climb; and US economic growth slows. Overall, national debt – the total of all past deficits – is nearly $14trn, and the CBO…

This year’s Oscars goody bag is reported to be a corker. Awarded to anyone nominated in the main acting or directing categories, the gift bag is scheduled to contain items worth a record $200,000. They include everything from a ten-day first-class trip to Israel ($55,000) and the rental of an Audi car ($45,000) for a year, to a $250 sex toy. Seven years after his wife Natasha Richardson was killed in a skiing accident, Liam Neeson has revealed that he is dating again. However, the actor has not revealed his new girlfriend’s identity. He has simply said that she is “incredibly famous” – sparking frenzied speculation online – and that she enjoys simple pleasures. “It’s amazing how far a simple bunch of freshly picked flowers will go in a lady’s…

It seems that Operation Midland, the police inquiry into the alleged sexual abuse and murder of children by establishment figures, “is about to be put out of its muckspreading, travestying misery”, said Tim Black on Spiked. No fewer than 27 officers spent 14 months investigating the case, at a cost of at least £2m. The operation unleashed headlines such as: “I watched Tory MP murder a boy during depraved Westminster VIP party.” The lead detective in the case described such lurid claims as “credible and true”. The names of the living and the dead – Field Marshal Lord Bramall, ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor, Leon Brittan, Ted Heath – were dragged through the mud. Yet not a shred of evidence against them was uncovered. The whole thing was based on the…

Football: the secret of Leicester’s success It wasn’t quite the match of the season, said Paul Wilson in The Observer. Manchester City were too dismal for that. But Leicester’s 3-1 victory over their “closest rivals”, away at the Etihad Stadium, was perhaps the “result of the decade”. This was the moment when even the naysayers started to believe in the Foxes: five points clear at the top of the table, having lost only once since October, they are now favourites for the title. The game was a showcase for the “freshness and fearlessness” that make Leicester so formidable, said Jonathan Northcroft in The Sunday Times. Once again, they proved that they are England’s best counter-attackers, dazzling with “lightning-bolt” striking. Yet the game also highlighted an underrated aspect of their game:…

To The Guardian As heads of leading independent schools within the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC), we are surprised to discover that, yet again, we are under threat. In fact, the number of pupils at UK independent schools has never been higher, and overall our exam results remain unparalleled. Nationally, nearly a third of pupils received A or A*s at GCSE in 2015, compared with just 7% in state schools, and half of A-level entries were awarded A or A*. Commentators often bemoan the fact that independent schools are so good that our pupils dominate the most successful universities and careers. How can this be when we are busy failing and going out of business? Lord Lucas, the owner of the Good Schools Guide, is correct in saying that the…

Theatre The Master Builder Playwright: Henrik Ibsen Director: Matthew Warchus The Old Vic, London SE1 (0844-871 7628) Until 19 March Running time: 2hrs 45mins (including two intervals) Ibsen’s “wild” late drama, written in 1892 when he was 64, certainly packs a lot in, said Jane Shilling in The Daily Telegraph. The story of ageing architect Solness and his fatal attraction for a much younger woman, Hilde, moves “from dubious property development to madness” and middle-aged infatuation – and on to “wish fulfilment and the mystical ascent of a church steeple to commune with the Almighty”, via an “excoriating anatomy of an unhappy marriage”. It’s not an easy piece to pull off, but Matthew Warchus’s “beautifully controlled” production is full of delicate touches, from Gary Yershon’s score to the faint drift…

America in Revolt: The Art of Protest at Shapero Modern After a long period of political apathy, young people in Britain have rediscovered their taste for protest. Looking around this show of DIY protest posters made by students at Berkeley in the 1970s, one can’t help but make parallels. Though today’s outlets of dissent may be different (Twitter has a lot to answer for), the key issues – military intervention abroad, government support for ethically questionable regimes – still resonate. In an unconventional way, most of these images are rather beautiful. All are printed on fragile paper used for early computer printouts, and the delicate material lends an odd poignancy to some of the less subtle agitprop here. One image replaces the stars of the US flag with the silhouettes…

To my mind one of the best drinks at this time of year is vodka, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian. Indeed, given that the market is “saturated with new gins, it’s time for a voddy revival”. My current obsession is marmalade vodka, be that Chase’s sweet, orange-flavoured Marmalade Vodka (£36.50 for 70cl; John Lewis), or Fortnum & Mason’s more intense, bitter orange Sir Nigel’s Marmalade Vodka (£25.50 for 50cl), which is wonderful with dark chocolate or blue cheese. I also like the T.E.A (Tea Enriched Alcohol) company’s almost grappa-like Earl Grey Vodka (£33.95 for 70cl; The Whisky Exchange). Of the unflavoured British vodkas I tried at a recent tasting, I particularly liked the fragrant Two Birds English Vodka, from Market Harborough, which is based on barley (£28 for 70ml,…

Swimming with jellyfish Swimming in Palau’s Jellyfish Lake instils “pure dread” at first, says Ian Urbina in The New York Times. This saltwater pool seething with millions of jellyfish is one of the “crown jewels” of this archipelagic Pacific nation, known as “the Serengeti of the Sea” for the world-beating biodiversity of its dazzling coral reefs. However, the lake’s “ominous, pulsating orange” inhabitants – some as large as bowling balls – belong to a non-stinging species, and as they brush against your body and face, fear gives way to “slow-motion euphoria” at the “sheer beauty and weirdness” of the experience. Go early in the morning: by midday, the lake also seethes with Chinese tourists, for whom Palau is now a top holiday spot. Go to www.pristineparadisepalau.com for more details. An…

What Car? The ForTwo Cabrio is that rare thing, a car “without rivals”. A two-seat, convertible city car, it’s “unlike anything else on the road” – the Fiat 500C and Peugeot 108 Top may be vaguely similar, but neither is as tiny as the 2.7m-long Smart car. This new model is effectively the same as the latest ForTwo coupé, with one significant difference: it has a folding fabric roof, its “party piece”. The Daily Telegraph The roof opens electronically, in just 12 seconds. The side bars have to be removed manually, however – although even then the car isn’t “truly open” in the style of a classic convertible. Inside, it’s a little too “busy”, and the dials are rather unclear. But the seats are fairly comfortable, and the heater works…

The FTSE 100 fell to its lowest level in three years, following a dramatic sell-off in bank shares globally amid growing concerns about the health of the sector. Panic-selling saw billions wiped off share values and corporate bonds, as traders worried about the possibility of another liquidity crunch, and “contagion fear” took hold. The Vix index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, rose by 10%. Investors took shelter in benchmark government bonds and gold. Markets rallied on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank, the focus of much of the anxiety, moved to assuage market fears and indicated that it was considering buying back several billion euros of its senior debt. Goldman Sachs forecast that a Brexit could send the pound plummeting by 15%-20%. The Bank of England was reported to have boosted its firepower…

Supermarket sweep. “On the quiet British high street, disruption was afoot”: a new breed of self-service grocery chains was gobbling up local shops. Tesco founder Jack Cohen told the magazine in 1968 that he interfered in everything from the price of peas to the state of the toilets: “I’m the biggest nagger in the business,” he said. Women at work. The days of championing women in business were still far in the future – as a 1968 ad for Gestetner photocopiers revealed. “The man from Gestetner has a new model,” said the ad, which showed a pretty woman leaning over a photocopier. “Shuts up when not required.” Beetle sequel. In 1967, VW was hunting around for a successor to its 20-year-old Beetle, which then had 4.7% of the US auto…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys AstraZeneca The Times The pharma is suffering from a predicted patent cliff. But sales from “growth platform” drugs are up by 11% and now account for 57% of the total. Plenty of interesting development is in the pipeline. Yields 4.7%. Buy. £41.43. Hargreaves Lansdown The Times Despite recent share price falls, the wealth manager’s new business inflows, customer numbers and assets under administration are up, and long-term trends for pension self-investment are in its favour. Buy. £12.85. St Modwen Properties The Times The regeneration specialist has a pipeline of 1.6 million square foot of commercial property and other big schemes in Birmingham and Swansea Bay. It owns half of a ten-acre site in New Covent Garden coming onto the market. Buy. 413.5p. Micro…

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 A pot’s stirred with one? (8) 5 What anglers have at sea? (6) 9 Personal experiences European secured ends in tears (3,5) 10 Carefree bishop, flexible and graceful (6) 12 Moderate ignoring Pole many times (5) 14 Study chosen taken on again (9) 15 Female in inn sagas unfortunately creating mischief (11) 16 Harry the Horse? (3) 18 Rested for a day (3) 19 Come top in it? Fantastic! (11) 21 Barney inside seen fighting with Republican gets a strong drink (9) 22 Very hot fever, getting faint (5) 23 Extra thoughts about behind and feet (6) 24 Hearing German car, love to be…