Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1069 i The Week

What happened Cameron’s money David Cameron sought to draw a line under the controversy over his family’s offshore investments this week, by releasing a summary of his tax records for the past six years. George Osborne, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn then published their tax returns in response to pressure for greater transparency in the wake of the release of the so-called Panama Papers. In an unprecedented Commons statement on his personal finances, the Prime Minister admitted that he had mishandled his response to the leaked legal documents, which included details of Blairmore, a Panama-incorporated fund set up by his late father, Ian. He had taken too long, the PM conceded, to reveal that he had owned shares in the fund (he sold them in 2010 for about £31,500, making…

Doctors’ strike An all-out strike by junior doctors will “irreparably damage” the reputation of the medical profession, NHS England’s medical director has warned. Professor Bruce Keogh said the planned walkout on 26 and 27 April, over changes to junior doctors’ contracts, would put patients at risk. Junior doctors have been on strike four times this year, but this will be the first time they’ve walked out of emergency services. Senior staff will provide cover. The BMA said the strike could be avoided if the Government returned to talks; however, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt insists that “the matter is closed”. Edinburgh schools close More than 7,000 pupils in Edinburgh were unable to start the new term this week, following the closure of 17 schools over safety concerns. The schools, which were…

Making friends with Tories David Laws could be forgiven for feeling bruised by coalition government, says Damian Whitworth in The Times. The former Lib Dem minister spent five years in bed with the Tories – first as chief secretary to the Treasury and then as schools minister – before losing his seat when the voters turned on his party in last year’s general election. But he has no regrets. The Lib Dems, he says, had to seize the chance of power – or resign themselves to being nothing but “a press-release factory, forever in opposition”. And although he had some “ding-dong” rows with Tory colleagues, he became rather fond of them. Kenneth Clarke was his favourite: “The funniest, most engaging person the Tories have. My civil servants used to beg…

The revolution that will never happen Christian Wolmar New Statesman Are you waiting for the dawn of the driverless car, asks Christian Wolmar. You wait in vain. True, the Government is devoting £20m to autonomous vehicle (AV) projects. But the much-hyped idea that AVs will revolutionise our transport system is a myth. It’s not just that the sensors they rely on, which work well in California, will struggle to cope in our fog, snow and driving rain. It’s that AVs can’t deal with the problem of risk. Human drivers when, say, entering traffic, do so by flashing their lights or making eye contact. AVs can only do it by having an element of risk built in, else they’ll wait forever for risk-free entry. “And what parent would send his children…

Global obesity laid bare An inquiry into global obesity has revealed quite how much the problem has escalated in recent decades. In 1975, just under 5% of the world’s adults were obese (defined as having a Body Mass Index of 30 or more); in 2014, the proportion had risen to 12.8%. During the same period, the number of obese adults rose from 105 million to 641 million – a leap explained by the rise in prevalence combined with the near-doubling of the world’s population. China now has more obese adults (90 million) than any other country; the US, with just over a quarter of China’s population, is a close second. Other fast-expanding nations include the UK, Ireland and Australia; but Japan, Switzerland and France have remained much the same. American…

It may not be the biggest tax return published this week, but that of Jeremy Corbyn contains plenty of interest. In 2014/15, the Labour leader earned £70,795 as MP for Islington North – less than George Osborne paid in tax. Corbyn also declared earnings of £1,350 for delivering lectures, but, according to some reports, failed to declare a further £450 of income logged in Parliament’s Register of Members’ Interests. If true, this means he could, in theory, be prosecuted for tax evasion. Corbyn also filed his tax return late, incurring a £100 fine. Gwyneth Paltrow has taken to heart the motto that one must suffer to be beautiful. The actress (pictured) – who has previously admitted to steam-cleaning her vagina and allowing leeches to suck her blood – told The…

It was “one of the more unusual statements” to have been issued by an Archbishop of Canterbury, said Adam Lusher in The Independent. “I have discovered,” said the Most Rev Justin Welby last week, “that my biological father is not Gavin Welby but the late Sir Anthony Montague Browne” (Winston Churchill’s last private secretary, who died in 2013). “This comes as a complete surprise,” he added. Indeed it did – and not just to the archbishop. Welby’s mother, Lady Williams of Elvel, said the news had come as “an almost unbelievable shock”. Welby had heard rumours about his paternity in the past, but had discounted them, said Bryan Appleyard in The Sunday Times. He thought he was a “honeymoon baby”, since he was born nine months after his mother, Jane…

Golf: the “horror show” at Augusta’s 12th hole It was an implosion that will go down in history, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. Nine holes into the final day of the Masters, reigning champion Jordan Spieth was five points ahead – a lead that appeared all but unassailable. Yet on the 12th hole, this “most unflappable of players” collapsed. Twice he hit the ball into the water; then, in a final ignominy, he flew it over the green and into a bunker. By the time the young Texan finally sank the ball, after seven strokes, he had fallen to fourth. Suddenly Danny Willett, a 28-year-old vicar’s son from Sheffield, had a comfortable lead – and he held his nerve, becoming the first Englishman to win the Masters in 20…

To The Times The Prime Minister has succeeded in turning a non-story into something approaching a scandal. Of course he benefited from his father’s income; he can hardly have paid his own school fees, and there will doubtless have been an effect on his inheritance. What is concerning is his clearly flawed judgement. Where a simple straight answer to a straight question would have buried the matter, we have been treated to the sight of a senior politician wriggling like a worm on a hook for days to avoid – what, exactly? John Greenshields, Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex To The Times I have for many years hidden my savings and windfalls in tax shelters and used tax deductions to my advantage. Do I have a duty to pay more tax than…

Maestra by L.S. Hilton Zaffre 352pp £12.99 The Week bookshop £10.99 (incl. p&p) “What’s a nice historian like Lisa Hilton doing in a genre like this?” asked Fiona Wilson in The Times. Hilton, a biographer of Elizabeth I, among others, has published an erotic novel which has been compared to Fifty Shades of Grey – though, “frankly, Maestra makes E.L. James’s book seem prudish”. The sex begins on page two. “It doesn’t really stop for the next 300 pages.” But this “fun, sexy novel” is also an “art-world thriller”. Judith Rashleigh is fired from a London auction house after uncovering an in-house fraud – and begins a “quest for revenge” that takes her into “some of the most glamorous and sordid parts of Europe”. Hilton’s publishers are calling Maestra the…

Don’t try to write the Great American Novel, it has already been done. It is Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, 1952 (Penguin £9.99). Any US epic must address race, which remains the greatest single issue the country faces. I often think of the novel’s last line: “Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?” In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust, 1913-1927 (6 Vols, Modern Library £79). When I recently had some unexpected free time, I turned to Proust. I have never encountered such an intense fascination with minute details of behaviour. It says much of Proust’s obsession with his characters’ interior lives that the most dramatic action falls in the second volume when something fails to happen: the protagonist is not kissed. The Grapes…

Programmes The Fearless Chef Extreme chef Kiran Jethwa visits farflung, dangerous corners of the globe, to source the world’s finest ingredients. Here he travels to Bolivia to learn how the coca leaf, the principal ingredient in cocaine, can be used in cooking. Sun 17 April, C4 7pm (60mins). Isis and the Missing Treasures As Syrian troops retake Palmyra, Dispatches investigates how experts are battling to stop Isis cashing in on looted antiquities. Mon 18 April, C4 8pm (30mins). I Want My Wife Back New six-part comedy series starring Ben Miller as a husband who discovers that his wife is about to leave him, on the day of her surprise 40th birthday. Mon 18 April, BBC1 9.30pm (30mins). Imagine… Zaha Hadid: Who Dares Wins Alan Yentob’s profile of the great architect,…

Hamachi and daikon with ponzu dressing Serves 2 2 yellowtail amberjack fillets, or tuna, sea bream or any meaty white fish, frozen for 20 mins to help slicing 1 daikon zest of 1 yuzu or zest of ½ unwaxed lemon and ½ unwaxed orange For the ponzu dressing: 120ml nama shoyu or soy sauce 3 tbsp yuzu juice (using 1 yuzu) or a combination of orange and lemon juice 1 tbsp water 1 tbsp mirin (sweet rice wine) 1/8 tsp crushed garlic • Ponzu is essentially soy sauce mixed with yuzu juice. The yuzu looks just like a satsuma, but tastes somewhere between a grapefruit, a lemon and a tangerine. • If you can’t find the fruit, some supermarkets now sell yuzu juice, and it’s available online (or use orange…

Autocar Seat is rather late to the “SUV party”. It’s entering this thriving market with the Ateca, a five-seater crossover billed as a “sporty lifestyle vehicle”. Like the manufacturer’s other cars, it borrows its core components from a model by parent company Volkswagen – in this case the forthcoming Tiguan. There’s a choice of diesel and petrol engines, with four-wheel drive available only on the 2.0-litre diesel. Auto Express The Ateca is one of the best-looking crossovers: Seat has stretched the “handsome” Leon hatchback and put it on stilts. And the interior is much like the Leon’s – it’s “incredibly user-friendly” and smartly laid out. The car is certainly spacious, “swallowing a family of five without any fuss”. There’s generous head room, and a 510-litre boot – trumping the Ateca’s…

Gorge walking in wild Greece Little visited by foreigners, the “wondrously unsullied” mountains of Zagori in northwest Greece are a “paradise” for walkers, says Tim Pozzi in The Times. At their heart lies the Vikos Gorge (the world’s deepest, by some definitions), a “natural cathedral” whose virgin forests are roamed by wild tortoises (which are apt to wander across your path) as well as boar, wolves and bears (which aren’t). And they are famed too for their 46 villages, little changed in centuries, linked by cobbled paths and 64 “fairy-tale” stone bridges. Thanks to their wealthy mercantile history, all have “beguiling” central squares, grand old buildings, good accommodation and excellent restaurants. Aristi Mountain Resort (00 30 26530 41330, www.aristi.eu/en) has doubles from £115 b&b and offers walking tours. Touring Britain’s…

Protectionism will never wash in Britain Bagehot The Economist Once again, Britain’s “globalised economic model” is facing a “cacophany of condemnations”, says Bagehot – thanks, this time, to the Indian steel giant Tata’s decision to pull out of Port Talbot. It comes at a moment when voters across the West seem to be demanding that physical and economic borders be reinforced. Happily, though, the chatter is unlikely to dent Britain’s “essentially liberal instincts”. A survey by YouGov last year put net agreement that “free trade is good for business” at +6% among Americans, +3% among Germans, and at -4% among the French. “In Britain the figure was +40.” That attitude is reflected in the EU referendum campaign where, remarkably, both sides “squabble over which outcome would do more to lower…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1000 An Ettinger coin purse and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 25 April. Send it to: The Week Crossword 1000, 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 nut coin purse, which retails at £150, and two Connell Guides (www.connellguides.com). 21 letters in 3 symmetrically placed across answers can be made to form a partial cryptic clue. Below the grid, write the partial clue (with which the group at unclued 18 down is associated) and its answer (8) ACROSS 8 Standard beginning outside for a…

To the fury of Leave campaigners, David Cameron’s Government has announced that it will be spending £9m on a 16-page booklet – to be sent to every household in Britain – outlining the case for staying in the EU. Justice minister Michael Gove damned the booklet as “onesided propaganda” and accused the PM of using taxpayers’ money to push the Remain cause. The pro-Brexit camp was further enraged by a new IMF report arguing that a British vote to leave could cause severe economic and political damage, and further weaken the global economy. In the Labour Party, pro-EU campaigners have been urging Jeremy Corbyn to do more to throw his weight behind the Stay campaign. However, one senior party figure, former foreign secretary David Miliband, did draw headlines with an…

Brussels “Man in hat” held: A terror suspect detained in Brussels last Friday has confessed to being the “man in the hat” – the man caught on CCTV cameras with the two Brussels Airport bombers just before their attack on 22 March. A Belgian of Moroccan origin, Mohamed Abrini (pictured), 31, was also wanted in connection with the attacks on Paris in November, and his capture is being seen as a major breakthrough in the linked investigations. He was arrested with three other suspected accomplices. They were identified as Osama K., a Swedish national; Herve B.M., a Rwandan; and Bilal E.M. All four have been charged with terrorism offences. Warsaw Abortion rallies: Thousands of people took part in street rallies in Warsaw and other Polish cities last Saturday to protest…

In scenes reminiscent of the movie Finding Nemo, an octopus at a national aquarium in New Zealand appears to have escaped from its tank – and made its way back to the ocean. Aquarium staff arrived one morning last week to find Inky’s tank empty, with no sign of the common octopus anywhere in the building. They suspect that Inky took advantage of his tank’s lid being left slightly open to climb out, and scuttle four metres across the floor to a 50-metre-long drainpipe that leads directly to the waters of Hawke’s Bay, on North Island. The staff at a Burger King in Minneapolis smashed all its windows, after a prank caller – posing as a fire officer – told them that the restaurant was pressurised and in danger of…

SWITZERLAND Our schools are giving in to extremism Le Temps (Geneva) All kinds of idiocies are indulged in the name of “religious freedom”, says Valérie de Graffenried. In 2013, for instance, a Swiss Muslim schoolgirl was given the right to wear a “burkini” in mixed swimming lessons; but that still didn’t satisfy her parents, who wanted her excused from the classes altogether. It took a ruling by the federal court to make them back down. Now a school in Therwil, near Basel, has excused two Muslim brothers from the daily ritual of shaking hands with the teacher as they enter class. The exemption applies to both male and female teachers, but is designed to free them from physical contact with women. In this country, refusing to shake hands is a…

Historians have long disputed how Hannibal and his 37 elephants navigated the Alps in 218BC: some have proposed a northerly path, passing close to present-day Grenoble; others a more southerly route across the Col de la Traversette on the border between present-day France and Italy. Now a curious discovery may help bring the debate to a close. In 2011, Bill Mahaney, of York University in Toronto, began investigating a peaty bog just below the Col, which seemed a natural resting place for a large army. He and his team found evidence that, below the surface, the soil had been churned up – consistent with large animals passing through. The disturbed area also contained substantial deposits of materials found in horse faeces, and was carbon dated – almost spookily – to…

When Channel 4 asked me – as the former head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission – to present a documentary called What British Muslims Really Think, I thought it would be an “intriguing” exercise, said Trevor Phillips in The Sunday Times. “In fact, it has turned out to be astonishing.” The programme, which aired on Wednesday, was based on the most comprehensive poll of British Muslim opinion ever conducted. It found that, although eight in ten Muslims feel British, many are in fact living in “a nation within the nation, with its own geography and values”. Almost a quarter believe sharia law should replace British law in some parts of the country; 39% think a wife should always obey her husband; and 52% think homosexuality should be illegal…

“So who is the high-profile celebrity who has been cheating on his famous spouse and indulging in an illicit olive-oil assisted threesome, despite playing Happy Families in public?” asked Richard Littlejohn in the Daily Mail. Millions of Americans know: the story recently appeared on the cover of a US supermarket tabloid. The Scots know, too: a Scottish newspaper (I can’t say which) also ran the story. And anyone prepared to spend a few seconds searching the internet can easily find out. In England and Wales, however, there is officially a media blackout. A Court of Appeal injunction has barred anyone within that jurisdiction from identifying the celebrity couple, under the threat of prosecution. Newspapers can’t reveal whether the couple are straight or gay, or even name the other two people…

“They worried that he was too young”, too inexperienced, said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. But last Saturday, in only his 16th professional fight, Anthony Joshua “announced himself as the new IBF heavyweight champion of the world in stunning style”. He easily “outclassed” Charles Martin, flooring the American boxer in the second round to claim the title. It was a momentous victory for the “golden boy of British boxing”. Joshua isn’t short of confidence, said Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. When he tried to have a nap before the fight, he was unable to sleep – not because he feared defeat, but because he couldn’t resist rehearsing his victory speech. Yet the 26-year-old, an Olympic gold medallist who took up boxing as a teenager “to escape a life…

Theatre The Caretaker Playwright: Harold Pinter Director: Matthew Warchus Old Vic, London SE1 (0844-871 7628) Until 14 May Running time: 3hrs (including two intervals) The “reeky, inveigling tramp” of Pinter’s breakthrough play of 1960, The Caretaker, is such a plum role that it has lured Timothy Spall back to the stage after a gap of 19 years, said Maxie Szalwinska in The Sunday Times. Yet neither Spall’s performance as the “belligerent-yet-craven” Davies, nor Matthew Warchus’s production as a whole, are quite the triumphs we hoped for: too often “the menace in this comedy of menace” is missing. The “snaggle-toothed” Spall gives a performance of “slurred, grandiloquent fecklessness that’s superb when it’s not stumbling into grandstanding”. Alas, that is simply not often enough. Spall, with his wild grey hair, heavy black…

James McNeill Whistler Prints at The Fine Art Society Although we probably remember him better for his portraits and the ethereal scenes he painted of London at night, James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) was also a dazzling printmaker. This show brings together 80 examples of the etchings he made throughout his career, making it the largest exhibition of his prints in decades. We see everything from studies of the London docks in the 1850s to beautifully rendered likenesses of society ladies; but two groups in particular stand out. The first is a set depicting Venice, commissioned by The Fine Art Society itself after Whistler bankrupted himself fighting a court case against the critic John Ruskin. Even better is his Amsterdam Set, a series of haunting – and very rare –…

I find the popularity of pinot grigio bewildering, says Victoria Moore in The Daily Telegraph: too often this wine is “neutral” going on “insipid”. Pinot gris, on the other hand – a wine which is often recommended as a complement to raw fish dishes, along with offdry rieslings and sparkling wines – I absolutely love. This is a “textured, aromatic and floral” wine with a “spring blossom in its step”. Here are three excellent examples: Cave de Beblenheim Pinot Gris 2014 Alsace, France (£7.99; Waitrose). This rose-scented pinot gris from Alsace is softly fragranced and medium dry. Mud House Pinot Gris 2014 Nelson, New Zealand (£8.99; Majestic). A simple, off-dry pinot gris that combines freshness with a little floral perfume, like the skins of red apples, and rose water. Trimbach…

Austrian Alps Enjoy stunning views over Rosshütte mountain at Hotel Alpina in the Austrian Tyrol. From £399pp including flights and transfers, departing 14 May. 01483-791116, www.inghams.co.uk. Unwind in Wiltshire Spend two nights at the South Marston Hotel and Leisure Club, with breakfast, lunch and dinner included, as well as unlimited drinks. From £139pp until 30 June. www.greatlittlebreaks.com. Mauritian getaway Indulge in 7 nights by the Indian Ocean at the Solana Beach hotel in Mauritius. Includes flights and transfers from Gatwick. From £949pp in June. 01306-855712, www.kuoni.co.uk. Luxury Cornish lodge Copper Mine Lodge, a Swedish log cabin, overlooks St Ives Bay and has its own hot tub and private sauna. Sleeps ten. £900 for 7 nights arriving 16 April. 01237-459888, www.holidaycottages.co.uk.…

In a generally rosy week for markets, the FTSE 100 hit its highest level in 2016, leaping well above the 6,330 mark, while stocks globally challenged their highs for the year. The bullish mood was powered by the continuing recovery in the oil price, which is up 12% in the month to date, hitting $45/barrel this week. Optimistic traders hope that a line has been drawn under nearly two years of falling prices. Better-thanexpected trade data from China also helped spark risk appetites. The sunny mood wasn’t shared by the IMF, which slashed global growth forecasts, warning of a rising risk that the world could slip into a perpetual cycle of low growth, low inflation and low interest rates. The fund warned that a Brexit would risk causing “severe global…

● Heading offshore? “The Panama Papers have stirred up a storm over the shadowy world of offshore banking,” said Ali Hussain in The Sunday Times. Yet there are many reasons for having an account outside Britain beyond “hiding your wealth from the taxman”. As tax expert Mark Giddens of UHY Hacker Young points out, offshore accounts are useful for anyone who lives, works or buys property overseas, because they’re handy for paying bills. The accounts allow you to hold different currencies, so you don’t have to worry about fees on payments and transfers. And provided you declare all income to HMRC, they’re completely legal. Almost all high-street banks, and some private banks, allow customers to hold accounts in jurisdictions such as the Channel Islands, Gibraltar and Cyprus, though most require…

“When people ask me to define a tax haven, I boil it down to two words,” said Nicholas Shaxson in The Sunday Times: “escape and elsewhere”. You take your money abroad “in order to escape the rules and laws of the society where you live and operate”. These rules could be tax laws, or criminal laws, or financial regulations. “You might be hiding from creditors, or getting divorced and trying to hide money from your spouse.” Many of the clients of Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the recent leaks, have done nothing illegal. Many of the biggest tax havens are scrupulous about observing the law. But the Panama Papers have shown just how murky the whole business is. Ultimately, it’s all about secrecy and evasion.…

The effects of China’s overproduction on the global market are reflected in the fortunes of the world’s biggest steel company, ArcelorMittal, created by the takeover in 2006 of the European company Arcelor by Indian-owned giant Mittal Steel. In 2014 it produced some 98 million tonnes of steel – more than double the output of the Hebei steel group. But having routinely posted annual profits of close to $10bn in the second half of the last decade, its fortunes have plummeted: last year its losses were a staggering $7.9bn. The resulting share price fall, from a high of s65 in 2008 to under s5 today, has wiped an estimated s30bn off the personal fortune of the Mittal family. To cut its mounting debt pile, the Luxembourg-based company, which owns plants in…

A free press? Not under Obama Jack Shafer Politico “The last person in the world who should be lecturing journalists on how to do journalism is President Barack Obama,” says Jack Shafer. Yet Obama had the nerve to do just that at a recent media awards ceremony, taking the audience to task for some journalistic shortcomings even as he hailed the “indispensible” role of a free press. This from a man who, in his seven years in office, has relentlessly blocked reporters from doing their job. His administration has set a new record for failing to fulfil Freedom of Information requests, and has fought a ruthless war against leaks, introducing the Insider Threat Programme to help federal employees spot and report snitches. It has used the Espionage Act to prosecute…

A charity has called for the Government to implement a “national sleep strategy” after a survey it commissioned found that British people are on average getting only 6.8 hours a night – around an hour less than they feel they need. The Royal Society for Public Health wants people to be given “slumber numbers” (guidance on how much sleep different age groups need) and for cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to be made more available for sleep disorders. Lack of sleep is known to increase the risk not only of various medical conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes, but also of mental illness. “Insomnia, the most common expression of mental disease, is like a Cinderella disorder – seldom receiving proper attention, despite being the most treatable precursor to depression,” said…

Ian Cameron spent his career moving money – so you’d expect him to have known a thing or two about tax planning, said the Daily Mail. And so it proves. When the PM’s father died in 2010, he left a publicly declared estate of £2.7m. The bulk of this passed, tax free, to his wife, Mary. Most of the rest went to his younger son, David. The PM’s legacy was £300,000 – just under the threshold for inheritance tax (IHT). But Cameron’s siblings had not been overlooked: in 2006, Cameron Snr had, as part of a house swap, transferred ownership of the £2.5m family home to his elder son, Alexander. He’d also given his two daughters a £1m flat in Kensington that had been held in a trust. None of…

“As so often in public life, it’s not what’s illegal but what is permitted that is the real scandal.” Simon Hoggart, quoted in The Guardian “A little inaccuracy saves a ton of explanation.” Saki, quoted on The Browser “Can there be a more horrible object in existence than an eloquent man not speaking the truth?” Thomas Carlyle, quoted on Forbes.com “You should never make the mistake of comparing the inside of one’s own life with the outside of someone else’s.” Julian Barnes, quoted in The Times “Artists are the elite of the servant class.” Jasper Johns, quoted in The Wall Street Journal “There just isn’t any pleasing some people. The trick is to stop trying.” Robert Mitchum, quoted on UPI.com “As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way,…

Mr DeMille’s close-up To The Daily Telegraph Following the revelations about Archbishop Justin Welby’s real father, Anthony Montague Browne, I would like to confirm that “AMB” was one of the nicest people I have ever met. Very sensitive, he once revealed to me his lifelong anguish at having obliterated four barges of Japanese soldiers with his Beaufighter during wartime service with the RAF. On a lighter note, my father “Toby” O’Brien, former head of PR for the Tories, was later handling the publicity for the film The Ten Commandments (1956). Remembering that Churchill loved films, he arranged with AMB for the director, Cecil B. DeMille, to visit the great man at Chartwell. After an hour of discussing film, with Winston wiggling his bare toes out of the bedsheets, it was…

by David Hepworth Bantam 384pp £20 The Week bookshop £17 (incl. p&p) It was the year that David Bowie headlined the Glastonbury Festival, that The Rolling Stones released Sticky Fingers, and that Led Zeppelin and The Who made the “heaviest rock music ever heard”, said Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph. But was 1971 really “the greatest and most profoundly influential year” in the history of pop music? That’s the claim made by David Hepworth in this “clever and entertaining book”. He’s certainly identified some “seismic” shifts. This was when – thanks to the release of Carole King’s recordbreaking album Tapestry – the music business woke up to the “purchasing power of women”; when audience-researched radio playlists began to replace the “idiosyncratic” DJs of the 1960s; and when the Stones…

Dheepan Dir: Jacques Audiard 1hr 55mins (15) Gripping French art-house thriller Winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Jacques Audiard’s “compelling” new drama focuses on the plight of three Sri Lankan refugees struggling to eke out a living on a Paris sink estate, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. Having pretended to be a family in order to be allowed into the country, Dheepan (Antonythasan Jesuthasan) and his supposed wife and daughter (Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Claudine Vinasithamby), both of whom are actually strangers to him, scrape by on what he can earn from lowly work as a janitor. Yet Dheepan, who in his former existence was a soldier for the Tamil Tigers, can barely suppress the rage that simmers beneath his humble demeanour, said Allan…

The Panama Papers have thrown some light on the art world’s offshore secrets, says the New York Observer – not least the case of a contested masterpiece by Modigliani. The descendants of the Jewish art dealer Oscar Stettiner claim that Seated Man with a Cane (1918), worth £25m, was stolen from Stettiner by the Nazis after he fled Paris in 1939. Some years ago the family went to court to reclaim the painting, last seen at Sotheby’s in New York in 2008. The painting, which failed to attract a buyer, had been put up for auction by gallery owner Helly Nahmad, son of the billionaire art dealer David Nahmad. However, the Nahmads’ lawyers claimed the work was owned not by them but by a Panama-based firm, International Art Centre (IAC).…

Helen rings Kirsty and says she’s stabbed Rob. Kirsty races round, realises Rob is breathing, and calls an ambulance. Rob has stab wounds to the abdomen and chest. Helen is arrested on “suspicion of wounding”. Questioned by DS Madeley, Kirsty says Rob was a controlling husband who once hit Helen. Kirsty visits Pat and Tony and tells them about Rob’s behaviour. They feel awful for not having noticed. Dominic Farrell is appointed as Helen’s solicitor. On his advice, Helen says “no comment” throughout her police interview. DS Madeley visits Bridge Farm. Tom tells her Rob could be very manipulative. Rob’s parents, Ursula and Bruce, confront Pat and Tony about their daughter. Ursula points out that Helen once threatened to kill Rob if he sent Henry away to boarding school. Pat…

Some like it raw Seafood cultures have long understood that “you don’t need heat to eat fish and shellfish”, says the Modern Farmer blog on The Huffington Post. From Peruvian ceviche (raw seafood marinated in strong citrus juice) to sashimi in Japan (sliced raw fish) many fish-lovers find the ideal way to appreciate high-quality seafood is raw or marinated. Other, less well-known ways of enjoying seafood raw include kinilaw from the Philippines, which uses the small green citrus fruit called the calamansi rather than the more typical limes of Latin American ceviche – and sometimes also coconut milk. In China, the best-known raw fish dish is probably yusheng – an elaborate salad of raw fish (usually salmon) tossed with vegetables, herbs, seeds or nuts. But of all the international raw…

Tips of the week… how to get rid of killer weeds ● It’s almost impossible to fork out plants such as ground elder, bindweed or enchanter’s nightshade. Instead, as a first step, try digging out and burning the roots. ● There will, however, probably still be roots that you can’t access. In that case, you can target the weed with weedkiller – glyphosate is the best option. ● Don’t start squirting the weedkiller as soon as you see the first few shoots. Wait until there’s a good crop of foliage, and repeat each time a new crop appears. It’s particularly helpful to apply weedkiller late in the season, just before the foliage begins to die back naturally. ● Oddly enough, you should keep feeding and even watering the weeds to…

G-Rough, Rome Hidden away in a skinny 17th century townhouse on Piazza di Pasquino, this new boutique hotel is super-cool, but welcoming too, says Tatler. The “rough” in its name refers to its stripped-back interiors, with their polished plaster walls and distressed wooden shutters. Set off against this background is “fabulous” mid-century Italian furniture and modern art: each of the ten rooms is named after a different designer and focuses on their work. Go for one of the rooms at the front, which have “sexy little terraces” and “dreamy views”. Guests can also buy exclusive city tours with an art historian, called “Unconventional Luxury Experiences”. Doubles from £240. 00 39 06 6880 1085, www.g-rough.com.…

Freight train rider who became a country star Merle Haggard 1937-2016 Legend has it that when Johnny Cash played San Quentin in 1959, Merle Haggard was among the convicts in the audience, serving time for burglary. Inspired by Cash’s performance, he became a musician himself. But whereas the self-styled Man in Black “carefully nurtured” his image as the rugged outlaw, Haggard – who died last week on his 79th birthday – was the real deal, said Sean O’Hagan in The Guardian: “an outsider by temperament rather than design, someone who had found a kind of redemption in writing and singing songs” about his experience of a troubled, hardscrabble life. “I just enjoyed winning for the loser,” he said of his early success. “I’d never been around anything except losers my…

Sharing one’s experiences of marijuana can be a bit of a bore in real life, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. “So how lucky someone invented MassRoots, a social network for cannabis users, where some 775,000 smokers can share hilarious stories before conking out.” Now the so-called “Facebook of pot” is applying for a listing on Nasdaq, promising investors access to a fastgrowing new industry. It hopes to raise $6.5m. Although legal in some states, cannabis is still banned under US federal law – a factor that MassRoots’s accountants warn could hinder its progress as “a going concern”. Of course, that may be a “familiar feeling” for some of its users.…

Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress by Cyril Northcote Parkinson (1957). Why do companies fail? Partly because most are “bureaucracies”, says Martin Wolf, and prone to Parkinson’s law: “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. Managers should “read and despair”. Andrew Carnegie by David Nasaw (2006). Every executive can learn from the way the 19th century US steel tycoon created new markets and ruthlessly “crushed the opposition”, says John Thornhill. It’s “a riveting human tale”, too; of a Scottish boy who became the richest man in the world, and then gave it all away. When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein (2000). This compelling “character-filled drama” about the collapse of hedge fund LCTM illuminated a truth that still…

Tim Martin There are plenty of theories about where the name of the pub chain J.D. Wetherspoon came from, says Nick Goodway in the London Evening Standard. Here’s the boss to put things straight: “’Wetherspoon’ from one of my teachers,” says Tim Martin. “He couldn’t control a class.” The initials are in tribute to J.D. “Boss” Hogg from TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. “Put together,” explains Martin, “it just had a nice ring.” Now a prominent member of “the Beerage”, he opened his first pub, in Muswell Hill, in 1979, and floated the group in 1992. Today he has 955 pubs and a stake worth about £230m. An ardent Brexiteer, he has coughed up £40,000 to the cause. The referendum will see Martin cast a vote “for the first…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys AA The Times Since floating in June 2014, the roadside assistance firm has refinanced debt and invested in IT. A decline in customer numbers is slowing, and per head spending is rising. “The path to recovery is becoming clearer.” Buy. 249.75p. Carnival Shares Cruise giant Carnival has delivered another set of forecast-beating results. Advance bookings, at slightly higher prices, are well ahead of last year’s, and the group is expanding strongly in China. Buy. £37.80. Dunelm Group The Times The homewares retailer is targeting expansion in the Southeast to gain national coverage. Weak pre-Christmas trading was a blip; Dunelm generates £100m in cash annually and yields an attractive 5%. Buy. 948.5p. Manx Telecom Investors Chronicle The Isle of Man telecoms provider has maintained…

I first met Boris in the early 1990s when we were both working for The Daily Telegraph. It was raining and I was getting into a taxi with a colleague. Boris asked if he might ride with us. Although he didn’t know me, he called me “Petsy”. His bonhomous manner on such a dreary day was what the Italians call troppo forte, as were his clothes. His shirt resembled a Victorian nightdress and he had omitted to tuck it into his trousers, which were rather baggy, like pantaloons. If anyone had told me then that I would become a close friend of the eccentric gentleman seated opposite me, I’d have thought them insane. I did not meet him again for several years. In 1999, I was working at The Spectator…