Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1073 i The Week

What happened Corbyn’s first test “We hung on,” declared Jeremy Corbyn last week after the local elections failed to produce the Labour meltdown that some analysts had predicted. In England, the party lost 18 councillors – fewer than the 200 that some had anticipated, but still a poor result by historical standards: the last time an opposition lost seats in a midterm election was 30 years ago. In Scotland, meanwhile, Labour suffered its worst collapse since 1910, being beaten into third place by the Tories (see page 23). The party held on to government in Wales, however, and won mayoral contests in Bristol and London. Overall, Labour secured 31% of the vote, against the Tories’ 30%. In his first statement as the new mayor of London, Sadiq Khan warned that…

Academies U-turn The Government has binned its controversial plan to turn all English state schools into academies – which meant they would be funded directly by central, not local, government, and overseen by charitable bodies known as academy trusts. In the last Budget, George Osborne announced that all state schools would have to become academies by 2022. But after an outcry from head teachers, Tory backbenchers and councillors unhappy that high-performing schools would have to convert to academy status, Education Secretary Nicky Morgan last week announced a climbdown. Schools will now be forced to become academies only if they are in “underperforming” local authorities, or if their local authority can no longer support them because too many of its other schools have become academies. Junior doctor talks The British Medical…

A life in solitary Albert Woodfox spent 43 years, almost without pause, in a 6ft by 9ft concrete box. He is one of the so-called “Angola Three” – former Black Panther activists who were put into solitary confinement in 1972, after being convicted of stabbing to death a prison guard at Louisiana’s notorious Angola prison. Woodfox, now 69, always insisted he was framed, and this February his conviction was overturned. Having survived around 15,000 days in a windowless isolation cell, with no human contact, he is now a free man. It’s a lot to get used to, he told Ed Pilkington in The Guardian. “Everything is new, no matter how small or large.” He had a day out at a beach in Texas recently. “You could hear the tide and…

How to get the countryside booming Matt Ridley The Times “Compared with most countries,” says Matt Ridley, “Britain has a fairly healthy rural economy.” In rural France, farm buildings are left to rot; rural America is littered with car graveyards. But in Britain, barns are converted into offices, “remote areas have job vacancies in picturesque villages”, and the rural economy depends less and less on declining industries such as forestry and farming, and more and more on “entrepreneurs, sitting in converted barns, selling services on the internet to the world”. Yet instead of encouraging this trend, ministers are sitting on their hands. They’ve just reneged on their commitment to provide everyone in the countryside with access to fast broadband. They won’t tackle the perverse incentives that make it more profitable…

Why Labradors are greedy Scientists have found a possible genetic reason for the Labrador’s famously outsized appetite. When a Cambridge University-led team of researchers compared the DNA of more than 300 Labradors, both lean and obese, they found that the latter were far more likely to carry a genetic mutation which disrupts the production of neuropeptides linked to appetite control. Dogs with a single copy of the mutant gene were, on average, 1.9kg heavier than those without it; while those with two copies were 3.8kg heavier. Study co-author Eleanor Raffan speculated that the mutation, which affects more than a fifth of Labradors, may have first appeared in a now-extinct ancestor of the modern retriever known as the St John’s water dog, which Newfoundland fisherman used to retrieve nets of fish…

Life is harsh for the 10,000 refugees in Idomeni camp, on Greece’s recently closed border with Macedonia, said Mark Townsend in The Observer. Conditions are primitive. Food, provided by volunteers, is scarce. Violence is rife. And among the refugees are some 300 unaccompanied minors, many of them traumatised Afghans and Syrians, orphaned or sent away by their despairing families – and now “trapped”. If they officially register with the Greek authorities, they are detained indefinitely by local police. If they enter Macedonia illegally, “they risk being severely beaten by the country’s notorious border patrol”. If they remain, they may be preyed on by a 60-strong gang of Syrian men in the camp who extort and threaten while the Greek police look on. This wretched scenario is being played out in…

The King of the Deep “Floating above the world’s deepest salt water sinkhole, William Trubridge knew that he might have just taken his last breath,” says Jacqui Goddard in The Times. The British-born freediver (pictured) had reached a depth of 122 metres without breathing equipment – a world record. But just two days later, Trubridge “decided on an encore”, and set a new record of 124m. Each time, he swam head-first down a rope, holding his breath for more than four-and-a-half minutes. Known as the “King of the Deep”, Trubridge can reach such remarkable depths because he has mastered special breathing exercises. At 124m, the lungs shrink to one-thirteenth of their usual volume; Trubridge prepares for this on the surface with a breathing technique that inflates them to the size…

Theatre An Enemy of the People Playwright: Henrik Ibsen Director: Howard Davies Chichester Festival Theatre, West Sussex (01243-781312) Until 21 May Running time: 2hrs 30mins (including interval) “Hugh Bonneville playing a champion of truth, outraged by the suppression of free speech?” This is the “intriguing casting” down at Chichester, said Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail, where Bonneville gives a decent enough performance as the “naive, high-minded” man of the people Dr Stockmann in Ibsen’s timeless drama of social conscience. It is Bonneville’s first stage role for 12 years, said Ann Treneman in The Times. And so familiar has he become as the Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey that, at first, “it was quite hard to shake the idea” that this was some sort of Downton “am-dram effort” in…

Jerry Jeanmard at Rebecca Hossack The American artist and interior designer Jerry Jeanmard is something of a magpie. Over the years, he has hoarded eye-catching bits of paper, which he uses to create his spontaneous-seeming yet vivid collages. The examples he has created for this show, at the Rebecca Hossack gallery, are fashioned from all sorts of unlikely sources: magazine cuttings, scraps of envelopes, lottery tickets and even torn segments of what appear to be invoices have all somehow found their way into his kaleidoscopic compositions. It’s easy to get the impression that Jeanmard’s creations are almost as much of a joy to make as they are to look at. These works occupy an unlikely halfway house between pop art, surrealism and Victorian photocollage. The effect is charming, humorous and…

I find that many people like to drink “walloping big reds whatever the time of year”, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian. So before we go into “full summer mode” and I start enthusing about the crisp whites and rosés I am “joyfully popping in my fridge”, here are three big reds for those who like them: For Malbec, look out for the consistently reliable Viñalba range from Bodegas Fabre in Argentina – the big, spicy Reservado Malbec 2013 is a solid buy at £10.99 at Majestic, and an even better one at £8.99 as part of the store’s “mix six” deal. The whopping Frares Priorat 2013 (£13; Marks & Spencer) is a weighty blend of grenache and carignan from southern Spain. It “packs a huge punch despite being unoaked”.…

Jashita, Yucatan, Mexico Just 10km from the Mayan ruins and buzzing nightlife of Tulum, this eco-hotel in Soliman Bay has all the seclusion of a private beachfront villa, says Kate Lough in the London Evening Standard. There are three infinity pools, comfy daybeds, and attentive yet invisible waiters; there’s also a spa in the treetops for when you “need a rest from paradise”. Suites are “spacious and elegant”: one, the Nefertiti, has a hot tub overlooking the “endless Caribbean sea”. The hotel’s restaurant is located next to the beach – breakfast is a highlight – and the rooftop bar is an ideal spot for margarita sundowners. Standard rooms from £130 a night, b&b, during low season. www.jashitahotel.com…

School dropout who became Fleet Street’s best-paid hack Jonathan Cainer 1957-2016 Known as the best-paid hack on Fleet Street, Jonathan Cainer was an astrologer who made millions from newspaper horoscopes, along with spin-off telephone hotlines, books and a website. Although he worked for several tabloids over the years – with editors sometimes fighting for his services – he was most closely associated with the Daily Mail. Yet he was not natural Mail material: a self-described former “dole scrounger” and “unreconstructed hippy”, Cainer, who has died suddenly aged 58, was a left-wing vegan with an eccentric attachment to the colour purple. Entering his London pied-à-terre, one visitor noted, was like walking into a bottle of Ribena. Jonathan Cainer was born (in Sagittarius) in December 1957, in Surbiton, Surrey. He was one…

“Sir Philip Green has learnt a thing or two over more than 40 years in retail,” said Jeremy Warner in The Sunday Telegraph, “and one of them is that attack is always the best form of defence.” True to form, “Big Phil” came out fighting ahead of the parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of BHS, which opened this week. The Arcadia boss called for the Labour MP Frank Field, who chairs the Work and Pensions Committee, to stand down, claiming he was “clearly prejudiced”. Field, who rebuffed the demand, had stated that Green should make good BHS’s £571m pension deficit, or be stripped of his knighthood. Whatever one thinks of Green, who dumped BHS and its pension liability for £1 last year, he surely “has a point”, said The Observer.…

When it comes to presentations, nerves can derail even the most seasoned performer, says Mind Labs’s Dr David Lewis in Management Today. “Your mouth goes dry. You become very confused. Even ideas you were very familiar with before the presentation start to vanish from your memory.” Here’s how to keep the jitters at bay. Prep, prep, prep. The “most negative stress” in humans is triggered by the sense of having no control over situations. Combat it by knowing your material inside out. Know how you’re going “to get into the subject”, and how you’re “going to get out”. De-complicate. You can never have complete control where technology is concerned, but you can reduce the risk of disaster by insisting on reliable, easy-to-use kit. Don’t be talked into using anything requiring…

Donald Trump emerged last week as the near certain Republican candidate for president when his last two rivals pulled out of the race for the party nomination. Senator Ted Cruz (see page 16) and Ohio governor John Kasich quit the contest after Trump scored a landslide victory in the Indiana primary, and the billionaire businessman now needs only the formal endorsement of the Republican Party convention in July to secure the nomination. Hillary Clinton has already secured almost enough delegates to be sure of winning the Democrat nomination. In a blow to the Trump campaign, several Republican heavyweights, including former president George W. Bush and his father George H. W. Bush, publicly refused their endorsement. But the influential ex-governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, who had described Trump as a “madman…

Paris “Deradicalisation” centres: An 80-point plan to counter the spread of homegrown jihadism has been announced by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. The most striking aspect of the plan is the setting up of 12 dedicated deradicalisation centres across the country which will offer advice and support to potential and repentant Islamist extremists, the aim being to prevent them from joining or re-joining jihadi groups. These “reinsertion and citizenship centres” will enable France to increase the number of people in state-run “deradicalisation” programmes from 1,600 to 3,600. Other measures include additional funding for the intelligence services, and for academic research into radicalisation. The government estimates that there are more than 9,000 radicalised Muslims in France at risk of becoming jihadis. About 2,000 French nationals or residents are believed to have…

1 Relax-ay-voo by Sammy Cahn and Arthur Schwartz, performed by Dean Martin and Line Renaud 2 There’s a Place by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles 3 Doodlin’ by Horace Silver, performed by Dusty Springfield 4* Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Herbert von Karajan 5 How the West Was Won by Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, performed by the MGM Studio Orchestra and Alfred Newman 6 Once in a Lifetime by Brian Eno, David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth, performed by Talking Heads 7 Mama Said Knock You Out by LL Cool J and nine others, performed by LL Cool J 8 Layla by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, performed by Derek and the Dominos Book:…

Kentucky Fried Chicken is, apparently, so “finger lickin’ good” that the fast-food chain is now making a range of edible nail polishes in classic KFC flavours. “Simply apply and dry like regular nail polish and then lick – again and again and again,” KFC said in a statement. The polishes are being launched in Hong Kong, “to remind the younger generation of the great taste and good times the brand stands for”. China’s booming livestreaming services have been told to stop broadcasting footage of women eating bananas in an “erotic” fashion. The platforms have been warned that they must monitor their output aroundthe-clock to ensure that they are not hosting “seductive” fruit eating, or any other content that could “harm social morality”. Wearing stockings and suspenders while hosting a live…

MIDDLE EAST A brave battle to tell the truth Al Jazeera (Doha, Qatar) It’s “not just the news that is depressing” these days, says Khaled Diab; so too is the state of the global media. Everywhere you look, the press is under assault from repressive regimes, terrorists and corporate interests. Freedom House’s latest report found global media freedom was at its lowest level in a dozen years: according to the Washington DC-based watchdog, just 13% of humanity enjoys access to a free press. Conditions are particularly bleak in the Middle East. Indeed, given the dangers facing reporters there, “it is almost a miracle that anyone would make journalism their career choice”. Yet the war on the press disguises a “paradoxical truth” – that, thanks to digital and social media, Arabs…

Scientists have for the first time managed to keep human embryos alive in the lab for nearly 13 days – well beyond the point at which they would normally implant in the womb. The breakthrough will enable scientists to examine human development at a critical stage; and could lead to more effective IVF treatments, as well as shed light on the causes of early miscarriage. However, it also looks set to stir up fresh ethical debate about when human life begins, by leading to calls for reforms to the 14-day limit on in-vitro research on human embryos. Introduced in Britain in 1984, and in the US a decade later, the law limits research to the point at which the egg is deemed to become an individual: after 14 days, it…

Lingerie tycoon Michelle Mone was at an entrepreneurs’ event in Vietnam when a “six-yearold boy” came on stage, and presented her with flowers. Charmed, she scooped him up in her arms for a photo opportunity – and only then realised that he was not a child, but a grown man. “Most embarrassing moment. Speaking to 3,000 people, thought this was a six-year-old, picked him up, he’s a MAN,“ Baroness Mone wrote on Twitter. The audience, she said, was “screaming with laughter”, and from the front row, a woman shouted out: “Put him down – I’m his wife.” Mone added: “I thought something was wrong, as his teeth were bright yellow from nicotine.” The man later outed himself as a 22-year-old estate agent, but denied having yellow teeth. John Malkovich has…

“I once went to one of those parties where everyone throws their car keys into the middle of the room. I don’t know who got my moped but I drove that Peugeot for years.” Victoria Wood, quoted in the Daily Mail “The police in Britain shout: ‘Stop! Or I’ll shout stop again!’” Robin Williams on the contrast with America’s gun-happy police, quoted in The Guardian “Political incorrectness gone mad.” Charles Moore, describing Donald Trump in The Spectator “It is impossible to overlook the extent to which civilisation is built upon a renunciation of instinct.” Sigmund Freud, quoted in The New York Times “Fathers don’t curse, they disinherit. Mothers curse.” Irma Kurtz, quoted on Forbes.com “We have to change truth a little in order to remember it.” George Santayana, quoted on…

Grammatical tyranny To The Guardian As a lecturer to English language university students on analysing English grammar, I was both surprised and horrified to see that the same ability to label grammatical categories and parts of speech, such as determiners and subordinating conjunctions, is expected of ten-year-olds in their English Sats test. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan defends the Government position on this by saying that children need to know the basics. However, it seems she has failed to grasp the basic fact that labelling language is not the same as using it effectively – just as labelling the parts of the engine does not enable you to drive effectively – and that this knowledge does not contribute to the very necessary basic English language skill of being able to express…

Bloomsbury 432pp £25 The Week bookshop £21 (incl. p&p) China’s Cultural Revolution is “one of the most extraordinary and perhaps least understood” events of the 20th century, said Graham Hutchings in the Literary Review. Frank Dikötter’s outstanding new book, part of a trilogy about Mao Zedong’s China, sheds “important new light” on the period. The Cultural Revolution began in the summer of 1966, when communist leader Mao called for the people to “re-radicalise” the revolution. “Bourgeois” and “feudal” elements, he claimed, had infiltrated the government; such “revisionists” had to be eradicated. Across China, young loyalists responded by forming “Red Guard” factions – paramilitary groups that carried out a campaign of fanatical persecution. Millions were hounded, publicly denounced, tortured; senior officials were purged; museums and religious sites were ransacked. This was…

Florence Foster Jenkins Dir: Stephen Frears 1hr 50mins (PG) Fluffy confectionery with Meryl Streep Florence Foster Jenkins is based on the true-life story of the eponymous New York socialite, who, bizarrely, believed that she was a great opera singer. In reality, she sounded like “a cat fighting a duck in a wheelie bin”, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. But no one told her: in an “Emperor’s New Clothes fable in reverse”, they didn’t want to ruin the fun. With Meryl Streep at her most “human” in the title role, this delightful comedy from director Stephen Frears is “the perfect antidote for sobering times”. Not the least of its pleasures is a “career-best” turn from Hugh Grant as Florence’s louche but affectionate husband, determined to protect his wife from…

In February, the Los Angeles-based artist Illma Gore published online an image of her portrait of a naked Donald Trump, which depicts him with a strikingly small penis. Within three days it was all over the internet, and had been viewed more than 50 million times. Since then, Gore told The Observer, she has been “under attack from Trump and his supporters”, receiving anonymous phone calls, and death and rape threats. She has now become accustomed to being approached by angry fans of the tycoon-turned-politician. But she wasn’t prepared for what happened at the end of last month, when, as she was walking in her neighbourhood, a car pulled up next to her and a young man got out and punched her in the face; he then yelled “Trump 2016!”…

Pat receives a call from DS Madeley asking her to come to the station for an interview. She is keen to put Helen’s side of the story. But DS Madeley keeps asking her about the time Helen threatened to “kill” Rob if he came between her and Henry. Later, Pat discovers that the police now plan to call her as a prosecution witness, so she is not allowed any contact with Helen. Pat is devastated: she was so looking forward to visiting Helen at last. Josh reveals that he has put a picture of the hens in the caravan on Facebook, captioned “Hens on Holiday”: this may explain a sudden surge in egg sales. The local TV news comes to do a piece on them. Helen tells her lawyer, Anna,…

When Waitrose starts stocking fresh seaweed – as it did last month – you know that this previously niche superfood is “swimming its way into the mainstream”, said Ella Turner in The Daily Telegraph. Seaweed is “one of this year’s biggest trends in veg”, and we are seeing it “on the menus of some of London’s top and most creative restaurants”, according to a spokeswoman for the supermarket. But why has seaweed, a staple of our diets in ancient times – and still a staple in Japan and China – come back into fashion? Simple: it’s both delicious and healthy. Buckets of health benefits A study by Newcastle University scientists found that eating seaweed can cut our rate of fat absorption by around 75%, said Turner. Indeed, sales of the…

New cars: what the critics say Autocar You could “never accuse” the original RS Q3 of being slow. A sporty version of Audi’s Q3, it was a small SUV with added oomph. Now, Audi has “turned the wick up even higher” by “wheeling out” a Performance version. The car has had a boost in power, taking it up to 362bhp. And it does 0-62mph in a remarkable 4.4 seconds, making it one of the fastest SUVs on the market. Car Magazine There’s little to distinguish the car from the standard RS Q3: just some matt titanium “liberally splashed” on its exterior. Like all Audis, it’s nicely finished, inside and out, with styling that’s “elegantly restrained” – or “tediously predictable”, depending on your taste. Space in the back is a little…

Avoiding tourists in Greece Close to the party island of Mykonos, yet a world away, lies a tiny trio of islets brimming with “bashful charm”, says Mark Ellwood in The Independent. Koufonisia is made up of three rocky specks – Pano, Kato and Keros – largely undiscovered thanks to “basic logistics” (the ferry route only opened three years ago). Keros is off-limits to tourists, owing to its archaeological significance, but Pano, the main island, is a swirl of steep streets, whitewashed buildings and charming tavernas. It has “astonishing beaches”, flanked by rocky inlets and few roads, so hiking is the preferred mode of transport. Kato is mostly uninhabited but good for a day trip. There’s one taverna on the island, and a campsite where you can join the barely clad…

Lending Club: loan tremors Players in the fast-growing online lending market used to joke that the only thing that could slow momentum would be the embroilment of industry pioneer Lending Club in a vast fraud, said Ben McLannahan and Aime Williams in the Financial Times. This week that, more or less, is what came to pass. The San Francisco-based firm’s founder, Renaud Laplanche, has resigned following a probe into “the alleged mis-selling of loans”. The shock news prompted Lending Club’s shares to collapse by more than 25% – “its worst day on record”. Laplanche, a “telegenic” French entrepreneur, started Lending Club in 2006, said The Wall Street Journal. It was then one of the first firms to use the internet to connect borrowers directly with individual investors. It also attracted…

Trump and the US Fed’s authority Martin Wolf Financial Times Donald Trump has announced that, if he takes the White House, he would probably replace Janet Yellen as chair of the US Federal Reserve, says Martin Wolf. Trump has nothing against Yellen personally; his problem is that she is a Democrat. The move would certainly be “unusual”: no recent president has refused to re-nominate a Fed chair appointed by a predecessor, whatever their political affiliation. But it is not as “outlandish” as Trump’s critics claim. When they do come to replace the Fed chairs they’ve inherited, most presidents choose someone from their own party. Indeed, compared with some of the “nonsense coming out of the Republican Party” – Ted Cruz favours a return to the gold standard – Trump’s views…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys Centrica The Times The energy firm is raising cash to fund two acquisitions, while waiting for the oil price to pick up before making disposals. The near 6% yield is “highly attractive”, and there’s the prospect of long-term recovery. Buy. 208p. Domino’s Pizza Investors Chronicle The cash-generative pizza delivery outfit’s growth and earnings potential remain strong; it is increasing UK openings to 65 this year. The joint venture acquisition of Joey’s in Germany should bring upside, too. Buy. 918p. Royal Dutch Shell The Times The oil and gas firm may be forced to cut its 7.5% dividend payment in the future, but capital spending is decreasing, and savings from the BG deal are above expectations. The yield is among the best on the…

For the past few months, the Remain campaign has been warning that Brexit would result in economic Armageddon, said David Owen in The Sun. But this week, as the campaign proper began, David Cameron took a step further and actually “invoked the threat of World War III”. “Whenever we turn our back on Europe, sooner or later we come to regret it,” declared the PM in a speech at the British Museum, which conjured up memories of Trafalgar, Waterloo and the two World Wars. “Can we be so sure that peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of a doubt? Is that a risk worth taking?” he asked. Cameron even heavily implied that Churchill would have voted to remain. This is “Project Fear gone mad”, said…

Fort McMurray, Canada Wildfire strikes: Wildfires in Alberta engulfed the oil sands city of Fort McMurray last week – forcing the evacuation of its entire population. Some 88,000 people fled their homes as the fire roared through the Canadian city. Around 2,400 buildings were destroyed, many of them burnt to the ground. This week, Rachel Notley, the Alberta premier, described the destruction as “heartbreaking” and “overwhelming”, and said it could be weeks before the city – which is currently without power or drinking water – was safe enough for people to return to. However, she estimated that 90% of Fort McMurray was still standing, including most of its schools, and vowed that it would be rebuilt. By Wednesday, the fire had grown to 880 square miles, but firefighters described it…

BELGIUM Catholics who see Muslims as their allies De Morgen (Brussels) For years, schools across Europe have fiercely resisted making concessions to Islamic pupils. Courts in Germany and Switzerland have ruled that Muslim schoolgirls should be obliged to join swimming lessons with boys. In France, a ban on religious symbols in schools is rigidly enforced. But in Belgium, Flemish Catholic schools have thrown in the towel, says Bart Eeckhout. Head teachers say they plan to admit children who wear headscarves; they will also provide Muslim prayer rooms and even offer training in Islam. Some people are aghast at this turnaround, while others see it as bold step in the right direction at a time of rampant Islamophobia. But the decision may not be motivated by a spirit of tolerance. Catholic…

The Government may introduce a unilateral ban on the use of microbeads in shower gels and facial scrubs if the EU doesn’t take action on the issue, Environment Minister Rory Stewart told MPs last week. Plastic microbeads are mainly found in skin exfoliants and scrubs, but are also used to create a glittery effect in children’s bath products. Small enough to pass easily through sewage filtration systems, they end up in the sea, and in the food chain. In written evidence, Professor Richard Thompson, from Plymouth University, told a Commons committee that a third of 504 fish tested from the Channel had plastic in their digestive tract – albeit only two micropieces on average. Though experts say microbeads account for a tiny proportion of the plastic waste in oceans, it’s…

There was an unmistakable “hint of disappointment” in Nicola Sturgeon’s voice last week as she hailed her party’s victory in the Scottish elections, said The Herald (Glasgow) – and you can see why. On the one hand, the SNP had just won a historic third term in office, all but wiping out the Labour vote. On the other, it had lost its majority, suggesting that Sturgeon’s mass appeal does not stretch quite as far as she and her advisors hoped. The person really celebrating last week was Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Conservative leader. The Tories have been a largely irrelevant force north of the border since their 1997 general election wipeout, but they gained 16 seats at Holyrood last Thursday, doubling their tally and making their party, rather than Labour,…

“Amir Khan was out before he hit the floor,” said Ron Lewis in The Times. Six rounds into last Saturday’s fight for the WBC middleweight title, Saúl “Canelo” Álvarez went for a “devastating” right hook. Delivered at a speed of 8.63mph, it had around 270 newtons of force – the equivalent of 13 bags of sugar dropping on Khan’s face from a height of one metre. It was a punch that “could have knocked anyone out”, and it sent the 29-year-old Bolton boy “crashing to the canvas”. Fortunately, he was not badly hurt, and was back on his feet in minutes. But the defeat wrecked Khan’s hopes of becoming boxing’s pound-for-pound No. 1. Frankly, this defeat was inevitable, said Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian, because Khan is simply not a…

To The Daily Telegraph The absurdity of Maurice Ravel’s music enriching his brother’s wife’s masseuse’s husband’s second wife’s daughter exemplifies our over-generous copyright laws. The original copyright act of 1842 set the term at seven years from an author’s death. This has been extended, first to 50 years from death, then to 70. In the US, copyright is 70 years after death for works published later than 1 January 1978, and 95 years from publication for works that came out before then. The authors do not benefit. They are dead. It’s those who have inherited the rights who enjoy the largesse – often banks, companies or unrelated individuals. One company, Chorion, until recently owned Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler, Enid Blyton and others. (Christie is currently owned by Acorn Media Group;…

Jonathan Cape 336pp £16.99 The Week bookshop £14.99 (incl. p&p) The title story of Mark Haddon’s first shortstory collection is a “virtuoso piece of writing”, said Kate Kellaway in The Observer. A “minutely described” account of a pier collapsing, it overturns what Philip Larkin called the “miniature gaiety” of the seaside. Haddon’s eye misses nothing: the balustrades whose “pistachio-green paint has blistered and popped”; the arcade manager with the “dead receiver” pressed to his ear. Through such observation, Haddon achieves what newspaper reports of calamity rarely do: “he makes it real”. The “biggest surprise” of this collection is not Haddon’s brilliance as a short-story writer but in the “darkness” of his vision, said Arifa Akbar in The Independent. Although his previous books (including the 2003 bestseller The Curious Incident of…

All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, 1946 (Penguin £12.99). Warren’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel follows the career of a once-idealistic lawyer who sheds his ideals, his principles and just about everything else in his pursuit of power. It’s a forerunner of House of Cards, but with even more skulduggery. All the President’s Men by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, 1974 (out of print). The prose may be lumpy, the characterisation almost non-existent and the pacing wildly erratic, but Woodward and Bernstein’s account of how they uncovered the Watergate affair – the greatest political scandal of all time – is as riveting now as it was 40 years ago. An Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris, 2013 (Arrow £7.99). A brilliant fictionalised account of the Dreyfus affair, which scandalised…

Programmes Let’s Do It: A Tribute to Victoria Wood Friends and fellow actors – from Lenny Henry to Celia Imrie – pay tribute to the much-loved comedian, who died last month. Sun 15 May, ITV1 7.30pm (65mins). Louis Theroux: A Different Brain The reporter meets patients recovering from brain injuries who must relearn how to walk, talk and eat, and come to terms with serious personality changes. Sun 15 May, BBC2 9pm (60mins). Killer Women with Piers Morgan The journalist and TV host travels across the US to meet some of the country’s most notorious female killers, in a quest to discover what drives women to kill. Wed 18 May, ITV1 9pm (60mins). Britain’s Billionaire Immigrants Meet the Chinese elite who are obsessed with buying all things British – from…

Red mullet with seaweed Serves 4 plain flour, to dust fish salt 4 red mullet or snapper (each 400g-500g), scaled, trimmed and gutted vegetable oil 200g edible seaweed, roughly chopped 100g unsalted cashew nuts, chopped 12 cherry tomatoes butter 300g samphire • Preheat the oven to 200°C. Grease a baking sheet, or line it with baking parchment. • Cover a plate with flour and season generously with salt. Roll the mullet in the flour then rub a little oil over the fish. Slice the sides of the fish twice at an angle, to allow even cooking and prevent the fish from curling in the oven. • Stuff the cavities with equal amounts of the seaweed and nuts, and add 3 tomatoes in each fish. Put the fish on the baking…

Leicestershire May break Get back to nature in the beautiful Leicestershire countryside with a weekend stay at a working farm in a canvas cottage (sleeps 6). From £500. 01455-292888, www.thedandelionhideaway.co.uk. Sri Lanka charity work Spend 3 weeks helping to build a resource centre for local street children near Colombo, and explore nearby attractions. £1,250, excluding flights and visa. 0845-652 5412, www.aidcamps.org. Depart 30 July. Lancashire luxury An overnight stay in a 2-bed, self-catering apartment in Thurnham Hall, sleeping up to 6 people, costs from £79 per night in May and June. 0800-358 6991, www.dealchecker.co.uk. Book by 31 May. All-inclusive Chile Enjoy 4 nights at the Alto Atacama Desert Lodge and Spa, in the San Pedro region, at low-season prices. From £1,746pp, excluding flights. 020-7186 1111, www.miravivatravel.com. Until 15 September.…

The Bank of England prepared to deliver its quarterly inflation report against a backdrop of sharply slowing growth in the economy. BoE economists were expected to deliver their most detailed warning yet on the potential impact of Brexit. In a sign that the Bank may be preparing for the aftermath of a “leave” vote, it has asked banks to prepare for the possibility of a rate cut. The Chancellor warned of “tens of thousands” of job losses in the financial services industry if Britain leaves the EU. Greek ten-year bond yields fell below 8% for the first time in more than six months and the Athens stock market surged on evidence of progress in Greece’s debt talks with creditors. There is optimism that the gap between Germany and IMF over…

● Barclays’s springboard “No deposit, no problem,” ran the Barclays press release announcing the bank’s upgraded “Family Springboard” mortgage, which scraps “the requirement for first-time buyers to provide a 5% deposit”. But don’t be fooled by the headlines, said Merryn Somerset Webb in FT Money. This isn’t a “100% mortgage”. It’s “an intergenerational offset mortgage”, because an integral part of the deal – which offers borrowers a 2.99% fixed rate on a maximum loan of £500,000 – is a commitment by parents to put 10% or more of the purchase price into a Barclays savings account. So long as the borrower makes the repayments, the parent gets the money back after three years, plus 2% annual interest. The catch is that if the kid misses a payment, “mum stops getting…

Martyn Dodgson and Andrew Hind “It is the end of the road for ‘Fruit’ and ‘Nob’”, who have been found guilty in Britain’s biggest ever insider trading case, following a landmark eight-year investigation, said Caroline Binham in the FT. “Fruit” was the nickname used by Martyn Dodgson, 44 (pictured) a former Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers banker; “Nob” is his family friend, Andrew Hind, an exfinance director at Topshop. Both face a maximum sevenyear term. Three others accused of working with them are “enjoying a totally different fate”. The jury at Southwark Crown Court acquitted Andrew Harrison, a former Panmure Gordon broker, and two “prolific” Belgravia-based day traders, Ben Anderson (“Uncle”) and Iraj Parvizi (“Fatty”) – although the pair allegedly netted £6.3m of the £7.4m total gains. The trial marks…

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). ACROSS 8 US lyricist’s courage spoken of (4) 9 Leaders in a business first out to lunch? (3,7) 10 Corporation box includes head of administration (6) 11 Tendency to blast a new single out (8) 12 Without rooms for treating sick pupils (4) 13 Master baker, temporarily unavailable is avoiding work (7,3) 16 Back of the study is a perfect place (4) 17 Knocked back beer like a king (5) 19 Piece of potato is cold with it (4) 20 Court poser replaced by public official (10) 23 One uneasy with certain people, like Cinders (4) 24 Vessel that sounds rather macho (8) 27 Minor actors –…