Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1062 i The Week

The battle over Brexit It was supposed to be finalised at “an English breakfast” last Friday, said The Daily Telegraph. But in the event it wasn’t until dinner the next day that EU leaders, after more than 30 hours of negotiations, finally agreed to a new deal with Britain – a deal, it is claimed, that gives the UK a “special status” within the EU. David Cameron duly confirmed that the in/out referendum on the UK’s membership would be held on 23 June. Admitting that he felt no “love” for Brussels, the Prime Minister said the changes he had achieved (see box, opposite) did not address all the frustrations that he and others had with the EU, but were a big step in the right direction. “The choice is in…

Stockholm “Swedish Fritzl” guilty: A doctor dubbed the “Swedish Fritzl” was sentenced to ten years in prison by a Stockholm court this week for kidnapping a woman he had met for a date and holding her in a specially constructed bunker at his home. Martin Peter Trenneborg (pictured), 38, drugged his victim with Rohypnollaced strawberries before driving her 350 miles to his home in southern Sweden. He had hoped to keep her as his “girlfriend” for years, but was caught after just six days when he forced the woman, who had been reported missing, to attend a police station to say she was not being coerced. He was also accused of rape, but was acquitted of that charge due to insufficient evidence. Calais, France “Jungle” part-closure: Belgium imposed controls along…

1 These Foolish Things by Eric Maschwitz and Jack Strachey, performed by Bryan Ferry 2 Al Atlal by Ibrahim Nagi and Riad Al Sunbati, performed by Umm Kulthum 3 Hey Jude by Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles 4* Everybody’s Talkin’ by Fred Neil, performed by Harry Nilsson 5 Holding Back the Years by Mick Hucknall, performed by Simply Red 6 Hotline Bling by Aubrey Graham, Paul Jefferies and Timmy Thomas, performed by Drake 7 Someone Like You by Adele and Dan Wilson, performed by Adele 8 Stay With Me by Sam Smith, James Napier, William Phillips, Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne, performed by Sam Smith Book: Delirious New York by Rem Koolhaas Luxury: Family photograph album * Choice if allowed only one record…

There are millions of people whose lives will be directly affected by Britain’s EU referendum but who will have no say in it whatsoever. These include some 2.4 million European citizens living in the UK – 79% of them in work – whose immigration status and jobs would be thrown into doubt if Britain chose to leave the EU. Only Cypriots and the Maltese (owing to their membership of the Commonwealth) and the Irish (owing to a special treaty with Ireland) will be able to vote: the rest must simply watch and hope. Then there are those Britons (about 2.2 million) who have taken advantage of the EU’s principle of free movement to live abroad, the largest number from any member state. Of this group, those who have been away…

Hillary could lose – and still win Nate Silver FiveThirtyEight.com Could Hillary Clinton win the Democratic presidential nomination even after losing to Bernie Sanders? Some are fretting about this possibility, says Nate Silver. Their concerns derive from the Democratic Party’s idiosyncratic election rules. The basic rule is that the nominee is the candidate who wins the most votes from delegates at the party convention this summer. But while most of those votes will be apportioned to candidates strictly on the basis of their performance in primaries and caucuses, about 700 “superdelegates” will be free to vote for whichever candidate they wish. In other words, these “supers” – all senior party members – have the power to swing the result towards their favoured candidate. This is alarming some liberals, who have…

China is building the world’s biggest telescope – and its uses will include the search for extra-terrestrial life. The 500-metre-diameter radio telescope, situated in Guizhou province and due to be completed in September, will mainly be used to search for clues as to the universe’s origins, but Wu Xiangping, director-general of the Chinese Astronomical Society, said it would also assist in the “search for intelligent life outside the galaxy”. Costing ¥1.2bn (£127m), the telescope – which will dwarf the 300-metrediameter Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, currently the world’s biggest – is the latest symbol of China’s commitment to astronomy; the country hopes to land a man on the Moon by 2025. The Guizhou project requires the displacement of more than 9,000 people, each of whom will receive ¥12,000 (£1,275) in…

“Does it seem just that someone who played no physical part in a killing – neither wielding the knife, nor pulling the trigger – can be convicted of murder?” asked The Independent. In England, under the law of joint enterprise, they can. Indeed, until last week, if two people set out to commit one offence together – say, assault – and the first person committed another crime, such as murder, then the second person could be deemed guilty of the second crime, even if he or she merely “foresaw” its possibility, and did not participate in it or encourage it. In 2012, for instance, 20 London teenagers were charged with the murder of Sofyen Belamouadden, 15, who was stabbed to death at Victoria Station – though some, fighting en masse…

“A few decades ago we had Johnny Cash, Bob Hope and Steve Jobs. Now we have no Cash, no Hope and no Jobs. Please don’t let Kevin Bacon die.” Bill Murray, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Thomas Edison, quoted in The Independent “There’s nothing safe about sex. There never will be.” Norman Mailer, quoted in The Times “I always assume that a good book is more intelligent than its author. It can say things that the writer isn’t aware of.” Umberto Eco, quoted in The Sunday Telegraph “If name-dropping were an Olympic sport, Alan Yentob would be suspected of doping.” Henry Mance, in the Financial Times “Authority forgets a dying king.” Lord Alfred Tennyson, quoted in The Daily…

Obama’s brave stand To the Financial Times President Barack Obama has not “agonised rather than acted” in Syria; he simply decided not to involve the US in another overseas civil war with no resolution probable in this generation. He has calmly stuck to that position despite prods to “go to war” from many quarters, including FT columnists. I think it is braver, by far, for a US president to “stand down” rather than act out the usual role of the “strong” American president. What exactly would have been accomplished, other than killing innocent people, if he had followed your editorial advice and launched a missile strike against Damascus when Bashar al-Assad crossed the “red line” in 2013? David Weaver, DRW Associates, San Juan Capistrano, California, US Are the police insane?…

Mothering Sunday by Graham Swift Scribner 136pp £12.99 The Week bookshop £10.99 (incl. p&p) “The weather isn’t usually very appealing in Graham Swift’s fiction,” said Peter Kemp in The Sunday Times: heavy rain and grey cloud tend to prevail. “So it’s a pleasant surprise to find that his compact new novel, Mothering Sunday, takes place on a day of blazing sunshine. Even more elating, it is dazzling in other ways too.” It is set in Berkshire on 30 March 1924 – Mothering Sunday, the day when servants were traditionally allowed a day off to visit their mothers. Jane, a 22-year-old servant, meets her lover, Paul, the son of her employers’ friends, in his grand, empty family house. Paul is about to get married; this will be their last encounter. At…

A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, 1980 (Penguin £7.99). In this slim novel, a young man just back from the First World War is hired to restore a wall painting in a Yorkshire church. Carr writes of love, humour and redemption in quirky prose unlike anything you’ve read before. Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad, 1900 (Penguin £8.99). Speaking of quirky prose… Conrad’s colonial Far East is depicted in inch-thick layers of dark and luscious colours. Jim, the fallen, enigmatic hero, remains fascinating yet unknowable as moral study overlaps with high-seas adventure. The Rack by A.E. Ellis, 1958 (Valancourt £12.99). I distrust anything deemed a cult classic, often a polite term for a book no one enjoys. But this very moving novel is an exception. Set in a TB…

Programmes Stag Smart black comedy about a stag party that takes a nasty turn in the wilds of Scotland. With Stephen Campbell Moore. Sat 27 Feb, BBC2 9pm (60mins). Churchill’s Secret A starry cast led by Sir Michael Gambon dramatises the tense events that unfolded in 1953, after the great wartime PM suffered a nearfatal stroke. Sun 28 Feb, ITV1 8pm (130mins). The Last Seabird Summer? Adam Nicolson traces the historic relationship between the inhabitants of the Hebridean Shiant islands and their seabirds. Tue 1 Mar, BBC4 9pm (60mins). Pompeii: New Secrets Revealed With the help of new technology, Mary Beard shines fresh light on the city that was buried beneath the ash of Vesuvius in AD79. Thur 3 Mar, BBC1 9pm (60mins). Land of Hope and Glory: British Country…

I class this dish among my “posh comforts”, says James Martin, though I’m not sure that “posh” is quite the right word – although it contains both oysters and lobster, you can get hold of these easily nowadays. This recipe also contains a fair bit of champagne, but you could use prosecco instead. The grated potatoes make a great topping – just give them a squeeze to remove excess water Oyster and seafood pie with samphire Serves 4-6 140g unsalted butter 2 heaped tbsp plain flour 600ml double cream 350ml champagne sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 500g salmon, boneless and skinless, cut into chunks 400g smoked haddock, boneless and skinless, cut into chunks 1kg cooked lobster, shelled and cut into chunks 8 oysters, shucked 350g raw king prawns,…

Ballyvolane, County Cork A grand but homely Irish country house hotel, Ballyvolane recently passed into the hands of a new generation of the Green family, which has owned it since 1953. Manager Justin Green (who used to work at Somerset’s trendy Babington House) has upped the “cool” quotient, says Fiona Duncan in The Sunday Telegraph – but it remains “atmospheric”, a place where you feel both “glamorous” and able to “properly unwind”. There are roaring fires, gleaming wooden floors, burntorange walls and beautiful antiques. The six bedrooms are luxurious, with “splendid” bathrooms; the food is “delicious”; and the “lovely” grounds include a three-acre walled garden. Doubles from £145 b&b. +353 25 36349, www.ballyvolanehouse.ie…

The reclusive author of To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee 1926-2016 “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter, Scout, in one of the most famous passages from To Kill a Mockingbird – “until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.” But few could claim to really understand Harper Lee, the novel’s elusive author, said the Los Angeles Times. Stunned and unnerved by the book’s success, Lee withdrew from public life shortly after its publication in 1960, and for more than 50 years, almost nothing was heard of her. Then, in 2014, it was reported that a second manuscript had emerged. It attracted hundreds of thousands of pre-orders, but when it was finally published, in…

Acquiring Argos was meant to be the deal that established Mike Coupe’s reputation as the visionary new boss of Sainsbury’s. “So near, yet so far,” said Jack Torrance in Management Today. Having provisionally secured an agreement to buy Argos’s parent, Home Retail Group, for £1.3bn last month, Coupe’s plans have been thrown into disarray by the emergence of a counterbidder – the South African retail giant Steinhoff, which is dangling the considerably higher cash offer of £1.4bn, or around 175p per share. Steinhoff sells furniture in the UK under little-known brands such as Harveys and Bensons for Beds. But it is no mean rival, said Mark Vandevelde in the FT. Known in the trade as “Africa’s Ikea”, the group, which is backed by billionaire Christo Wiese, is the world’s second-largest…

We face an extended period of political and economic uncertainty ahead of the EU referendum, says Tom Stevenson of Fidelity in The Sunday Telegraph. Here are five trades worth considering if the polls start pointing towards Brexit… Favour the FTSE 100 over mid and small-caps: the latter are more domestically focused and are therefore most likely to underperform if sterling weakens or the UK economy slows. Be cautious about cyclical sectors: notably, housebuilders and retailers. Both would suffer in a slowing economy, and retailers that source predominantly overseas would have their margins hit by a fall in sterling. Reduce exposure to financials: UK banks would suffer from a less predictable political and economic backdrop – not to mention any reduction in their ability to “passport” services to the EU. Go…

The week’s best buys Constellation Healthcare Technologies The Mail on Sunday Constellation helps US doctors process bills efficiently to enable prompt payment by insurers; its ambitious management should make the most of the £37bn-a-year market. Turnover and profit are forecast to double this year. Buy. 148.25p. Dairy Crest Group Investors Chronicle The sale of the dairy business has removed the burden of trading in an oversupplied milk industry. Meanwhile the cheese (Cathedral City) and spreads lines are thriving, and the infant formula business should drive global growth. Buy. 592p. Interserve The Times This construction and support service group has suffered disproportionately from market jitters. Although prospects in the Middle East are unclear, trading overall is robust – and the foundations look solid. Yields 6%. Buy. 396.5p. JD Sports Investors Chronicle…

• Welfare: an “emergency brake” will enable Britain to restrict new EU migrants’ access to in-work benefits, gradually phasing in their entitlement over their first four years in the country. The UK would be able to apply this brake for an initial period of seven years. It could then ask to apply it again, but would need the approval of the Commission to do so. • Child benefits: payments of child benefit to children living in other EU countries will be linked to the cost of living in migrants’ home countries. This will apply to new arrivals straight away, but, in a major concession to East European nations, it won’t apply to EU workers who are already here until 2020. The current scheme costs £25m a year. • Ever closer…

“You’ve finally put the children to bed, poured the Rioja and located all 13 of your remote controls. You have 52 minutes until News at Ten – just enough time, if you fast forward the opening credits, to watch another episode of Transparent, which you were really into until you got distracted by [Martin Scorsese’s] Vinyl. Only you’ve completely forgotten where you can watch it. Is it Netflix? No: not available. Then it must be Sky. Nope: not there either. Finally, after typing it into various search engines, you remember it’s exclusive to Amazon Prime. At last, you crow – something that justifies the steep £79 annual membership. If only you hadn’t run out of time to watch it.” Laura Craik in London Evening Standard Farewell Umberto Eco, Italian academic…

An algorithm to decide if you live or die John Naughton The Observer Do algorithms kill people? They certainly play their part in killing Pakistanis, says John Naughton. According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, more than 2,400 people in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia were killed in drone strikes from 2010 to 2014. And as we’ve learnt from Edward Snowden’s security leaks, one thing that helps determine who gets to be on the drone “kill list” is the algorithm used by the US National Security Agency in its Skynet programme. The algorithm is fed the “metadata” of 55 million mobile phone users in Pakistan – who they phone, the kind of messages they send, and so on – and the profiles it creates then form part of the “target information…

A new cure for cancer? A cancer treatment that uses genetically modified white blood cells to boost patients’ immune systems has achieved “unprecedented” results in its first clinical trials. Unlike chemotherapies, which attack both cancerous and healthy cells, the new method works by taking white blood cells called T-cells from patients, and genetically engineering them to specifically target the cancer. After multiplying in a laboratory, the T-cells are then reintroduced into the patient. In tests on patients with various forms of late-stage blood cancer in the US, 94% of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia went into full remission; and half of those with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma achieved similar results. Experts, however, are urging caution: the research is still to be peer-reviewed; it’s unclear whether it could be used to treat non-blood…

The Queen is a stickler for protocol – and not just among her human subjects. Dr Roger Mugford, an animal psychologist who worked as a dog trainer at Buckingham Palace for more than 20 years, has revealed that Her Majesty’s pet corgis are fed on silver dishes in strict order of seniority. “At feeding times, each dog had an individually designed menu, including an array of homeopathic and herbal remedies,” he recalls in Town and Country magazine. “Their food was served by a butler in an eclectic collection of silver and porcelain dishes.” But the Queen liked to hand out the goodies herself. “As I watched, the Queen got the corgis to sit in a semi-circle around her, and then fed them one by one, in order of seniority. The…

Women of Britain, be warned, said Cathy Newman in The Daily Telegraph. If you’re in favour of staying in the EU, “you’d better keep your mouth shut”. Just look what happened to the actress Emma Thompson last week, when she dared stick her pro-European head above the parapet. Asked at a film premiere whether she intended to vote to stay in the EU, she replied that it would be “mad not to”, and described Britain as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island”. Right-wingers erupted with fury. The Tory MP Conor Burns dismissed Thompson as “the worst sort of fatcat luvvie”, while former UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom offered to “spank her silly bottom”. And The Sun put a picture of Thompson on…

Football: a new low for Manchester United? There have been many occasions since Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013, said Henry Winter in The Times, when one was led to think that Manchester United had sunk as far as they could go. Last season, they drew 0-0 with League Two side Cambridge United, and were hammered 4-0 by MK Dons. But their latest humiliation, a 2-1 Europa League defeat last week to Midtjylland, marked a new low. The club “succumbed meekly” to a Danish side that had not played competitively in two months. Even the fans, accustomed by now to such indignities, couldn’t believe what they were seeing: “We’re f***ing s***e,” they sang. United did at least win this week, beating Shrewsbury 3-0 in the FA Cup, but nobody was “fooled”…

To The Times Self-interest, currently fashionable, is fast becoming the most prominent emotion in the debate on whether the UK should leave the EU. There are economic arguments and questions of national sovereignty to be weighed on both sides but, as yet, no one appears to have given serious consideration to what damage might be done to Europe if the UK left the Union. If the answer to this more important question is that the damage would be devastating, with a real risk of weakening if not unravelling the whole structure, then I believe our choice may look rather different. I suggest that a broken and demoralised Europe just across the Channel, lacking the practical influence of this country, would constitute a far greater threat to our future, indeed to…

Theatre Uncle Vanya Playwright: Anton Chekhov, adapted by Robert Icke Director: Robert Icke Almeida Theatre, London N1 (020-7359 4404) Until 26 March Running time: 3hrs 20mins (including three intervals) ★★★ “Chekhov’s characters go endlessly round in circles at a snail’s pace: discuss.” Well, in Robert Icke’s leisurely version of Uncle Vanya, that is “literally true”, said Ian Shuttleworth in the FT: the four-posted raised box “in which the (in)action takes place” is constantly rotating, but ultraslowly. And interesting as that proved as a design concept, said Ann Treneman in The Times, I often found myself staring at a wooden post rather than at the actors. “This was disorienting and made it harder to hear.” With a running time of almost three-and-a-half hours punctuated by three intervals, the production often felt…

Andreas Eriksson at Stephen Friedman There’s something eerily familiar about these new paintings by Swedish artist Andreas Eriksson. At first sight, they might strike you as slightly warped landscapes, or in some cases, even aerial maps. But it doesn’t take long for an uncanny sensation to stir: it’s almost as if you’d grown up seeing such views from your window every morning. Oddly enough, Eriksson stresses that none of his works depict real places. Indeed, he doesn’t even make preliminary sketches before he applies paint to canvas, stripping and scraping it around until he achieves a texture that he feels comfortable with. All this might be a mess were he not such a brilliant colourist. Here, the murky backdrop of North Sea greys and greens is offset by shimmering Mediterranean…

New cars: what the critics say The Sunday Times The Focus may be known as a practical, “trusty” car, but it also has a sportier heritage, having once been a fixture on the rally circuit. Harking back to that history, Ford has brought out a new model of the Focus RS (Rallye Sport) hot hatch. Unlike its two-door predecessor, it has five doors, turning it into a family car – albeit a very fast one, boasting 345bhp and able to hit 0-62mph in 4.7 seconds. Auto Express This car offers a choice of four driving modes, each successively sharpening the car’s responses. Whichever mode you’re in, the Focus RS feels “docile” as you pull away; but if you floor the throttle, it “erupts off the line”, emitting a “growl”. The…

Playing the Crusoe game Ever wanted to “feel like a castaway”? Then you need to speak to Alvaro Cerezo, says Andrew Marantz in The New York Times. Having spent his 20s seeking out cartoon-like desert islands (all white sand, coconut palms and turquoise surf) for his own pleasure, this 35-year-old Spaniard founded a company, Docastaway, to market his expertise. Clients holiday on uninhabited islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans or the Caribbean, choosing between “Comfort Mode” (more or less luxurious camping) and “Adventure Mode” (a survival holiday, with minimal support). Cerezo works hard to maintain the “illusion” (his word) of isolation, clearing beaches of flotsam, and bribing military officials to keep fishing boats, distant cooking fires and so on out of sight. It’s a “game” worthy of Marie Antoinette,…

LSE/Deutsche Börse: better together? In the early Noughties, Deutsche Börse’s attempts to acquire the London Stock Exchange turned into a lengthy saga of “börse wars”. The Germans were beaten off then, said Emma Haslett in City AM. Now they’re back. Shares in the LSE jumped more than 16% on Tuesday on reports that it is in tie-up talks with Deutsche Börse; the plan is for a “merger of equals” to create one of the world’s largest exchanges. The LSE is negotiating from a position of strength, said the FT. Under the leadership of Xavier Rolet, it has “gone from defensive prey”, fighting off bids from larger rivals, “to challenging its German counterpart for the crown as Europe’s largest market infrastructure provider”. That’s reflected in the structure of the proposed board,…

The bosses who dared speak out on Brexit… Sarah Gordon Financial Times The bosses of 36 FTSE 100 companies put their names to an anti-Brexit letter published this week. But what was really striking, says Sarah Gordon, is how many refused to sign. Two-thirds of the FTSE 100, including Britain’s biggest supermarkets and several of our largest banks, failed to support a missive which, while supportive of EU membership, “was about as bland as it could be, presumably to minimise objections”. Why? Some boards (including, reportedly, Lloyds) may be finding it hard to reach a joint position. Others think the decision makes no difference to them. But many are simply too “weedy” to speak out, “for fear of alienating customers or staff”. That is a “staggering” failure. The public wants…

Controversy of the week Apple, valued at $538bn, is the world’s largest corporation, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. And it seems to have become so puffed up that it now openly defies governments “not only on tax, but on matters of national security”. The FBI has requested that Apple help unlock an iPhone that belonged to the Islamic terrorist Syed Rizwan Farook, who, with his wife, killed 14 people in San Bernardino, California, last December. The FBI is understandably “desperate” to collect information about Farook’s associates and communications. But last week Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, refused to comply with a federal court order demanding that the phone be opened, arguing that it would compromise the security of all iPhone users: he called it a “chilling” example of…

A mother’s guilt Sue Klebold has spent the past 17 years trying to work out where she went wrong, says Emma Brockes in The Guardian. In 1999 her son Dylan and his friend Eric Harris shot dead 13 people at Columbine High School, before killing themselves. Klebold intinctively blamed herself. “A mother is supposed to know,” she says. Yet she’d had no idea that her teenage son was profoundly depressed, or that he was hiding an illegal gun in the house – let alone that he was planning a massacre. She has gone over and over Dylan’s stable, middle-class childhood, looking for clues as to how her gentle “sunshine boy” turned into a killer. “I remember being certain that the birthday cake I had given Dylan on his third birthday…

A north London man called Bacon Double Cheeseburger was among the record 85,000 people who opted to change their names by deed poll last year. Mr Cheeseburger, formerly Simon Smith, said he fancied a change, and the Burger King favourite was the first thing that sprang to mind. Another man renamed himself Happy Birthday; a woman changed her name to Penelope Pitstop; while a couple decided to become Mr and Mrs Amazing. The UK Deed Poll Service also reported changing a Cock to Cox, and a Smellie to Smiley. A city in Australia has been gripped by “hairy panic” – a form of tumbleweed that piles up in gardens and drifts into homes. Residents of Wangaratta, Victoria, have had to spend hours each day clearing up the weed, which in…

NIGERIA Our soldiers can get away with anything Premium Times (Abuja) For far too long, Nigeria has been “brutalised” by its soldiers, says Godwin Onyeacholem. Vivid proof of this was provided by a video that recently went viral, of a group of army cadets, two women and seven men, taking turns to beat up a blameless man in a park in the capital Abuja. It was like a scene from a nature documentary, where a pride of lions corners a zebra and begins “tearing it left, right and centre”. By the time the soldiers were done, “the poor fellow was soaked in his own blood”. I wish I could say this “bestial maltreatment” was so aberrant that the army was appalled and promptly sacked all the cadets. Alas, violence from…

Neanderthals and humans mated tens of thousands of years earlier than was previously thought, a study has shown. Researchers in Germany discovered that the 50,000-year-old remains of a Neanderthal woman, recovered from southern Siberia, carried traces of Homo sapiens DNA – and analysis indicated it was the result of one or more of her ancestors interbreeding with a human some 100,000 years ago. Previously, it was thought such couplings only followed the “great migration” of humans out of Africa 60,000 years ago, which ultimately led to the Neanderthals becoming extinct. “An early modern human population must have left Africa much earlier than had been shown before and met with Neanderthals, possibly those moving from Europe towards the East,” said study leader Sergi Castellano. This is the first time human DNA…

Matt Dawson is still haunted by the thought of what might have been, said Rebecca Hardy in the Daily Mail. When the rugby star’s two-year-old son Sami fell ill earlier this month, Dawson and his wife assumed at first that it was just a nursery bug. “If the wind had been blowing in a different direction, we might have said: ‘He’ll be fine. Let’s put him to bed, give him some Calpol and let him sleep it off.’” Instead, they took him to hospital – a decision that may have saved his life. Sami was diagnosed with meningitis and spent the next fortnight in a critical condition. Fortunately, he’s now on the mend. Two-year-old Faye Burdett wasn’t so lucky. She died on Valentine’s Day, after fighting the disease for 11…

They’re “dangerous, dozy and downright rude”, and these days, Smombies – smartphone zombies – are everywhere: on the pavement, in the train, and even behind the wheels of cars, says Melanie Harvey in the Daily Record. Fixated by their phones, they’re oblivious to the world around them. They neither notice nor care if drivers have to swerve to avoid them, or elderly people have to move out of their way. Nothing can be allowed to distract them from their tiny screens. In the US, thousands of pedestrians have been injured as a result of being absorbed by their mobile phones: according to a study at Ohio State University, people aged 16 to 25 are most at risk. And here in the UK last week, a 20ft-tall sculpture had to be…

Brendon McCullum saved his best for last, said Scyld Berry in The Sunday Telegraph. In his final international match, against Australia last Saturday, New Zealand’s “inspirational” captain scored the fastest Test century of all time. He reached a hundred in just 54 balls, breaking the 56-ball record set by Viv Richards three decades ago. On a pitch that favoured Australia’s bowlers, the feat was truly exceptional. McCullum started in “blazing” form – and then just kept on accelerating. It was one of the “greatest counter-attacks in Test history”. Yet McCullum is more than just a talented batsman, said Mike Atherton in The Times. He is one of cricket’s “most significant modern captains”, a man who transformed his team and his sport. When he took over the captaincy in 2013, the…

Bone Tomahawk Dir: S. Craig Zahler 2hrs 12mins (18) The good, the bad and the excruciatingly violent ★★★ “It takes a movie like Bone Tomahawk to expose the lily-livered laziness of many production-line multiplex movies,” said Tom Huddleston in Time Out. Part western, part horror film, S. Craig Zahler’s “terrifically enjoyable” debut stars a bewhiskered Kurt Russell as a doughty sheriff who rounds up a posse to rescue a woman who has been abducted by cannibalistic Native Americans. After his ramshackle crew – which includes an alcoholic doctor (Richard Jenkins) and a trigger-happy womaniser (Matthew Fox) – sets off into the wilderness, the film begins to resemble “a Beckett play in cactus country”, said Nigel Andrews in the Financial Times. It is by turns chilling, hilarious and bleakly philosophical. The…

Students at Jesus College, Cambridge have voted that a bronze cockerel looted from Africa, which stands in its hall, should be handed over to the Nigerian government in a repatriation ceremony. The cockerel (pictured) – known properly as an “okukor” – was “among hundreds of artworks taken from the Benin Empire, now part of modern-day Nigeria, after a punitive British naval expedition in 1897 that brought the empire to an end”, said The Guardian. The British forces killed thousands and set Benin City ablaze. Many bronze sculptures were looted from the royal palace, including the cockerel, which was adopted as a mascot by Jesus College (there are three cockerels on the college crest). Nigeria has repeatedly called for all the Benin bronzes, which it regards as an important part of…

It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air in Ambridge. At a special showing of Brief Encounter at The Bull, Pip becomes tearful at the thought of how far away Matthew will be in Cumbria. David also finds a resonance, at the idea of a wife who has been “a long way away”. Deeply moved, he and Ruth have a heart to heart. While Bert watches Johnny ploughing and admires his tilth, he reminisces about his days with Freda. Johnny the ladies’ man wonders if he’ll ever have such a deep relationship with anyone. Rob comes home to find Helen and his mother, Ursula, getting on like a house on fire, just as he had predicted. Pip invites Rex to her birthday drinks and asks if he was the…

Sartoria 20 Savile Row, London W1 (020-7534 7000) This swanky but “enormously affable” new Italian restaurant from Francesco Mazzei (of L’Anima fame) will make you feel like you’re in a Fellini film when you’ve really just popped in for a bit of polenta, says Grace Dent in the London Evening Standard. “Not that they do plain old polenta. They do soft black polenta with wild mushrooms, truffle and hazelnuts.” They also do a “gloriously, lovingly hewn plate” of antipasti which includes smoked duck, Tuscan fennel sausage and “an unctuous blob of fresh, fiery ’nduja” – and fior di latte mozzarella to die for. Veal with tuna and quinoa; lobster tagliolini; fullflavoured Welsh lamb; zucchine fritte – all were delicious. The tiramisu is the best in London and the fresh blood-orange…

Finnish Lapland Seven nights at the Ylläs Log Cabins (sleeps 4) cost from £659pp self-catering, including Manchester-Kittilä flights and transfers. 01483-791114, www.inghams.co.uk. Depart 27 March. Bustling Barcelona Take in the bustling Catalan capital during a 2-night stay at the Hotel Glories, from £199pp room only, including flights – www.hotelexclusives.com. Book by 29 February for select March departures. North America highlights A whirlwind 8-night trip to New York, Toronto and Niagara Falls costs from £799pp room only, including flights. Call 01293-762456 to book, www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk. Depart 30 March. Four-star East Anglia Little Glebe, a single-storey annexe (sleeps 3) in Middleton, Suffolk, is available until 5 March for a 3-night stay for £275, or for a week’s stay from £356. 0333-202 0899, www.cottageholidays.co.uk.…

The pound slumped to a seven-year low against the dollar after currency markets were jolted by the unexpected scale of support for Britain leaving the EU, and Boris Johnson’s decision to join the Leave campaign. UK stock markets, by contrast, initially jumped – buoyed by recovering global sentiment and hopes that a weaker pound would help lift the economy. Bank of England governor Mark Carney said the Bank stood ready to slash interest rates if the UK enters another downturn, but ruled out a move into negative territory, arguing that it could harm the recovery. Britain recorded its biggest surplus for January since 2008 (£11.2bn), thanks to a 6.5% rise in income tax-related payments. But the OBR warned that the Chancellor would still end the year having spent £6bn more…

Boyd Tunnock The last week in January was the best ever for sales of Tunnock’s Tea Cakes, says The Sunday Times. This is music to the ears of the firm’s boss, Boyd Tunnock, 83, who has built an international empire from the Glasgow bakery founded by his grandfather. “Aye, we reach around the world now,” says the tycoon, whose family is worth an estimated £75m. Tunnock drives a Rolls-Royce Ghost, and keeps its boot filled with treats; he recently stopped a road sweeper “going along in his wee machine”, and gave him a four-pack of caramel wafers. Indeed, his enthusiasm for Tunnock’s snacks is matched only by his love of machinery and gadgets. A joystick by his desk lets him manipulate 35 cameras trained on the factory floor. “It’s great,”…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 993 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 7 March. Send it to: The Week Crossword 993, 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 7 Guide soldiers on the hill (6) 9 Brand on the gravy train? (3) 10 Spoken of frothy drink in mug (4) 11 More rum for the outsider (8) 12 Soprano (in German) is one (6) 13 Greet local Indian with no end…