Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1077 i The Week

What happened As the EU referendum campaign entered its final fortnight, the Leave side was given a boost by a series of polls that showed a majority favouring Brexit. Five of the last eight major surveys suggested Out was narrowly in the lead. On Tuesday night David Cameron and Nigel Farage appeared, separately, on ITV’s referendum debate, answering often hostile questions from the audience. The Prime Minister was criticised for failing to bring down immigration (see page 8), while the UKIP leader was accused of legitimising racism, because he had raised the possibility that new immigrants might commit sexual assaults on British women. The referendum continued to create ructions inside the Conservative Party. Cameron this week condemned what he called the “complete untruths” put out by Tories on the other…

Berlin Genocide vote: German MPs have voted overwhelmingly to recognise the Ottoman government’s massacre of up to 1.5 million Armenians in 1915-16 as “genocide”. The use of the word is bitterly contested by the Turkish government, which warned that the vote would “seriously affect relations” between the countries. Twenty-seven countries, including France, Italy and Russia (but not the UK) have already formally recognised the slaughter, during the First World War, as a genocide. Representatives of the Armenian embassy in Berlin attended the Bundestag vote, and held up signs reading: “Recognition now – says thank you!” Gotthard Pass, Switzerland World record tunnel: The world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel – the Gotthard Base Tunnel through the Swiss Alps – was officially opened last week. The twin-tube tunnel had taken 17 years…

1 Myfanwy by Joseph Parry and Richard Davies, performed by Treorchy Male Choir and the Jonathan Price String Ensemble 2 Gadael, written and performed by Y Triban 3 Stairway to Heaven by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, performed by Led Zeppelin 4 Cavatina (theme from the film The Deer Hunter) by Stanley Myers and John Williams, performed by Stanley Myers 5 Gimme Shelter by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, performed by the Rolling Stones 6 Fix You, written and performed by Coldplay 7 Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy, performed by James Rhodes 8* Good Golly Miss Molly by John Marascalco and Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, performed by Little Richard Book: Kallimni ‘Arabi Mazboot by Samia Louis Luxury: Fishing rod * Choice if allowed only one record…

Venezuela is an extreme example of what economists called the “natural resources curse” or “Dutch disease” (a term coined in the 1970s by The Economist to describe the decline of manufacturing in the Netherlands following the discovery in 1959 of the large Groningen gas field). This is a situation where an abundance of a particular commodity causes such a boom that it tends to discourage investment in other industries and makes a country’s finances highly vulnerable when the price of that commodity slumps. After Maduro took office in 2013, Venezuela’s oil price slumped by 50% in just one year, and state earnings from oil have crashed from $80bn in 2013 (on IMF estimates) to a projected $20-$25bn in 2016. Even the most gifted, pragmatic politician would have struggled to cope…

GERMANY Deep down we’re still a racist country Berliner Zeitung (Berlin) I wonder if Germans are quite as free of racist prejudice as they pretend, said Sabine Rennefanz. True, they expressed huge sympathy for black footballer Jérôme Boateng – revered for his role in helping Germany win the 2014 World Cup – after he was insulted by a right-wing politician last week. When the deputy head of the xenophobic Alternative for Germany, Alexander Gauland, mused out loud that Germans may admire him but “wouldn’t want to have him as a neighbour”, thousands leaped to his defence on social media, saying they’d “love it” if Boateng lived next door. Well, maybe, given he’s a multi-millionaire sporting star. But what if he were an unknown? When I lived in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district,…

Sunscreens that say they need to be applied only “once a day” do not, in fact, offer all-day protection, according to Which?. Researchers from the consumer group tested products by Boots, Piz Buin, Riemann and UltraSun. They all claimed to offer at least eight hours’ protection – yet after six to eight hours, their sun protection levels had fallen 74%, on average: the equivalent of an SPF30 cream falling to SPF8. Which? advises consumers to regularly reapply all creams, regardless of their labelling, and called on “once-a-day” claims to be banned (as they are in Australia). However, Boots said its “once-a-day” Soltan creams were formulated to a higher level of SPF than advertised, to allow for a drop in effectiveness. Which? also tested a range of normal SPF30 creams and…

What is it with Jeremy Corbyn and the press? Plenty of politicians have problems with sections of it. But Corbyn distrusts it all – and especially the liberal media, said John McTernan in The Daily Telegraph. Last week, Vice News screened a fly-on-the-wall documentary about the Labour leader called Jeremy Corbyn: The Outsider. In the opening scene, he’s on the phone, railing against a recent article about anti-Semitism in his party by The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland. Freedland, he says, is “not a good guy at all”; he’s “obsessed with me”. Then he lays into the BBC, which is also “obsessed” with his leadership, he says. There “is not one story on any election anywhere in the UK that the BBC will not spin into a problem for me”. I was…

“When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago.” Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted on The Browser “Marriage is the bond between a person who never remembers anniversaries and another who never forgets them.” Ogden Nash, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” John Ruskin, quoted on Forbes.com “It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up.” Muhammad Ali, quoted in the South Florida Reporter “When a man opens a car door for his wife, it’s either a new car or a new wife.” Prince Philip, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Things turn out best…

Pooh trumps the EU To The Times I received an email this morning from my local paper, the Witney Gazette (covering the Prime Minister’s constituency). It led with the headline “Last chance to register…” and I hoped that many of those who had not yet registered to vote in the EU referendum would be jolted into signing up before the deadline. On reading further, however, I discovered that the deadline was that for the Pooh Sticks Championships. Let no one say the EU diminishes our grasp on the quintessential features of our daily lives. Michael Hocken, Delly End, Oxfordshire Power to the people To The Guardian John Harris identifies a fault line in British politics that also cuts through the EU debate: the centralisation of power. The UK is the…

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain Chatto & Windus 256pp £16.99 Rose Tremain’s new, Swiss-set novel is about two things, said Melissa Katsoulis in The Times: lifelong friendship and the idea of neutrality. Gustav and Anton first meet at kindergarten in a small Swiss town just after the Second World War. Gustav lives alone, miserably, with his mother; whenever he shows emotion, she tells him to be “like Switzerland… to hold yourself together”. Anton, a piano prodigy from a wealthy Jewish family, seems to offer Gustav a “whole new life”. The narrative moves backwards in time (to Gustav’s father’s “morally complex” wartime dealings with Jewish refugeees) and forwards (to the two friends in middle-age). Rich and emotionally subtle, this is a “glorious rebuke to neutrality”, in which music and remembrance…

No one could mistake Versailles, the French costume romp being aired on BBC2, for Downton Abbey, said Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph. It cost twice as much to make (£21m) and it isn’t exactly coy about sex. “In the first 20 minutes alone we were treated to a naked King Louis XIV being smeared with lemon juice and straddled by a topless ingenue, a pair of bewigged toffs engaged in oral sex, and a courtesan in a see-through blouse striding from a lake.” The whole thing has the feel of “a pervy Ikea ad”. But if all this was designed to attract more viewers it doesn’t seem to have worked, said The Sun. Each time one of the seven sex scenes in the first episode was shown, more and…

A Passage to India by E.M. Forster, 1924 (Penguin £9.99) was one of the first pieces of mandatory reading at school that I really enjoyed. I was engrossed by Forster’s depiction of the mythical Marabar caves, and the heat, crowds and exoticism of a country I could only imagine. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré, 1963 (Penguin £8.99). Well, obviously. The opening description of the Cold War spy waiting at Checkpoint Charlie for the MI6 contact to cross over from the East is iconic. Years later, as a gapyear backpacker, I walked through that same checkpoint into East Berlin and it all came flooding back. One for My Baby by Tony Parsons, 2001 (Harper £7.99) is a wonderful, touching story of love lost and…

Programmes Pappano’s Italian Double Bill at the Royal Opera House Two classic short Italian operas – Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci – conducted by Antonio Pappano. Sun 12 June, BBC4 7pm (160mins). Britain & Europe: The Immigration Question Mishal Husain looks at the effects of migration from EU countries into the UK. Tue 14 June, BBC2 9pm (60mins). Born on the Same Day This documentary series compares the lives of well-known people – in this episode, the explorer Ranulph Fiennes – with those of contemporaries who have their own stories to tell. Tue 14 June, C4 9pm (60mins). Marx: Genius of the Modern World Historian Bettany Hughes re-examines the life of Karl Marx in the first of a three-part series about thinkers who shaped the modern world. Thur 16 June, BBC4…

Octopus with potatoes, olives, mint and orange Serves 4 ½ sweet red onion, sliced paper thin 300g small new potatoes, peeled 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 400g cooked, frozen octopus tentacles, thawed in the fridge or in a large bowl of water 2 oranges, peeled and segmented, juice reserved 24 pitted black olives or Kalamata olives handful mint leaves salt and black pepper For the dressing: 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tbsp of the reserved orange juice ½ tsp sherry vinegar a pinch of cayenne pepper salt and black pepper • Put the onion slices in a bowl of ice-cold water and leave to soak for 20 minutes. Drain and pat dry. • Fill a medium-size pan two-thirds full of water and bring to the boil. Add…

He was, by his own estimation, “The Greatest”; and Muhammad Ali was unarguably one of the greatest boxers the world has ever seen. A man of ferocious strength who jabbed and moved – floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee – with the grace of a ballet dancer, he was a three-time world heavyweight champion, and the victor of some epic bouts that have gone down in legend. But his fame rested on far more than his brilliance as an athlete, said Kevin Mitchell in The Observer. Exuberant and vainglorious, poetic and funny, as quick with his words as he was fast in the ring, Ali thrilled the world with his showmanship. He also changed it, by insisting – at the height of the civil rights era – that…

The pound resumed its fall after polls underlined the lead taken by the “Leave” campaign in the EU referendum. Banks were reported to be selling sterling assets at their fastest rate since the financial crisis to protect themselves from any fallout. Fed chair Janet Yellen warned that a UK EU exit vote could have “significant economic repercussions” globally. A set of weak US employment figures appeared to scupper the chances of a US rate rise in June; market sentiment towards a move in the summer has cooled markedly. Swiss voters decisively rejected the introduction of a guaranteed Universal Basic Income (UBI), regardless of whether people are in work – but the idea of a fundamental rethink about benefits is taking hold. Finland, the Netherlands and Canada are all considering the…

● Another arrow Four years after vowing to defeat deflation via a programme of “Abenomics”, Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is “preparing a new assault”, said Rahul Jacob on Reuters Breakingviews. His government is limbering up to launch another fiscal stimulus – worth between ¥5trn (£32bn) and ¥10trn (£64bn) – which may coincide with a fresh dose of monetary stimulus from the Bank of Japan. There’s no shortage of ideas for spending the extra cash. Infrastructure projects are one option; “handing out vouchers directly to citizens is another possibility”. But it would be best deployed on measures that address Japan’s chronic long-term demographic challenge of an ageing workforce: vouchers for childcare and care for the elderly, for instance, would make it easier for women to work. ● Belle laide Can…

Chris Wright The 71-year-old founder of Chrysalis Records is back in business, says The Times. More than 25 years after selling the label at the height of its popularity, Chris Wright has teamed up with former colleagues to buy it back, from Warner Music. Originally formed in the late 1960s to promote progrockers Jethro Tull, Chrysalis grew into one of Britain’s biggest independent labels, breaking bands including Blondie, Ultravox and Spandau Ballet. It was also the force behind the ska label 2 Tone Records. Chrysalis has since lost many of its artists. “It hasn’t been cherished,” says Wright, who describes the decision to buy it back as “poignant and emotional”. He hopes to find a niche signing artists who “feel neglected” by the larger labels. Peter Thiel The PayPal founder…

What happened France’s preparations for the Euro 2016 football championship were knocked sideways last week by severe flooding across much of the country and the threat of further strikes by unions fighting proposed labour reforms. After weeks of protests, the giant CGT union, which represents workers across a range of industries, called for a national Day of Action on 14 June, four days after the tournament opens this week. But Prime Minister Manuel Valls insisted that there could be no compromise. A “minority organisation”, he said, could not be allowed to stand in the way of reform. The authorities also warned of possible terrorist attacks by Isis at football events around France. A state of emergency is already in force, and almost 100,000 security personnel will be deployed at likely…

“Some emotions are so peculiar, we don’t even have a name for them. Perhaps you’ve experienced the feeling the French sociologist Roger Caillois called ilinx: an elated disorientation caused by random acts of destruction, such as kicking over the office recycling bin. Maybe you’re familiar with hygge, the Danish word for feeling snug and cosy with friends when it’s cold outside. Maybe you even have a touch of basorexia – a sudden desire to kiss someone. New words can also bring feelings to life. It wasn’t until I learnt the Japanese word amae, roughly translated as “the pleasure of surrendering to another in perfect safety”, that I began to discover this feeling in my own life – and discovered how nervous it made me feel.” Tiffany Watt Smith on Literary…

Newspapers can survive – if they innovate Peter Preston The Observer Newspapers are dying. The money from print advertising on which they relied has migrated online, yet the bulk does not flow into their digital editions: it goes to Google and Facebook. No wonder The Guardian and Telegraph are shedding staff. The end is nigh. That’s the accepted wisdom, says Peter Preston, but we’ve been here before. The doom-mongers said the same of the movies when TV arrived 70 years ago. And sure enough, four decades on, the number of cinemas had shrunk from 4,700 to under 2,000, the number of tickets sold from 1.64 billion to just 54 million. Yet the cinema industry didn’t cry “woe”. It adapted. Realising people didn’t want to sit in front of the telly…

Statins for breast cancer? The cholesterol-lowering drugs statins could be used as the basis for a new treatment for breast cancer, a study has suggested. The research centred on ER positive breast cancer where cancer growth is stimulated by the hormone oestrogen, and which accounts for 80% of cases. Currently, hormonal treatments such as tamoxifen are used to cut off the oestrogen, and are usually effective. However, in a minority of cases, the cancer becomes resistant to the lack of oestrogen, and returns. Working in the lab, scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research in London looked into why this happens – and found evidence that in the absence of oestrogen, cancer cells use a cholesterol molecule 25-HC to mimic oestrogen and stimulate further growth. They don’t know if cholesterol-busting…

Not everyone was impressed by Muhammad Ali’s braggadocio. An air stewardess reminded the boxing champion that he needed to belt up before take-off. “Superman don’t need no seat belt,” he told her. “Superman don’t need no plane,” came her reply. Nothing is too good for Amir Khan’s little girl. The boxer revealed this week that his wife, Faryal – a former Manhattan socialite – had spent £100,000 on their daughter’s second birthday party. She hired Disney princesses, a Peppa Pig and a ballerina to entertain 250 guests at the Macron football stadium, near their home in Bolton. Khan – who is worth an estimated £21m – told Hello! magazine: “My wife did an amazing job.” As if she didn’t have enough weighty responsibilities, the Queen once hoped to become president…

It must have been a terrible moment for “the zookeeper who pulled the trigger”, said the conservationist Professor Robert John Young in The Conversation. Last week, a 17-year-old gorilla was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo, after a little boy fell into his enclosure. Footage showed the silverback, named Harambe, standing over three-year-old Isiah Dickerson, plucking at his clothes and dragging him around the moat. The screaming of onlookers appeared to be making Harambe agitated – and therefore dangerous. Captive apes are trained to go indoors on command, but Harambe ignored his keepers’ calls. A tranquilliser dart would have been too slow to take effect. In the end, the zoo had no choice but to shoot the animal dead. If there are lessons to be learned, said Rob Lyons on Spiked,…

Tennis: another “demoralising defeat” for Murray Andy Murray must wonder what would be a better use of his time, said Simon Briggs in The Daily Telegraph: playing Novak Djokovic or “banging his head against a wall”. On Sunday, in the French Open final, the Scot suffered yet another “demoralising defeat” by his nemesis. He started superbly, winning the first set; but as the match quickly reverted to an all too familiar pattern, he was left “chasing shadows”. Murray can, at least, take pride in becoming only the tenth man in the Open era to reach the final of all four Grand Slams, but his success rate is growing ever more dismal: he has lost an astonishing eight of his ten Grand Slam finals, five of them to Djokovic. This was…

To The Guardian Your suggestion that Christianity might continue to be relevant produced a predictable knee-jerk reaction from your readers. Hester Brown “couldn’t believe” that The Guardian could take such a line. She evidently knows nothing about the paper’s history. Its founders and first editors were Unitarians, who took a firm stand against unthinking orthodoxy – which for them was creedal Christianity. Today it continues to take such a stand, but now the prevailing orthodoxy is hubristic humanism. Jeremy and Rosemary Goring, co-authors of The Unitarians (Religious and Moral Education Press, 1984) To The Guardian If the Christian faith is no longer needed, how is it that most food banks are on church premises and run by Christian volunteers? The Salvation Army runs shelters for the homeless; many churches, including…

Exhibition of the week Bhupen Khakhar: You Can’t Please All Tate Modern, London SE1 (020-7887 8888, www.tate.org.uk). Until 6 November You may never have heard of him, but in his native India the painter Bhupen Khakhar is seen as a “cultural pioneer”, said Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. Born in 1934 in Bombay (now Mumbai), Khakhar was an entirely selftaught artist who spent his days working as a bookkeeper, but by night moonlighted as a painter, performer and playwright. By the time of his death, in 2003, he had become an “all-but-legendary” figure in his homeland, celebrated for the “vibrant” and “unflinchingly factual” canvases that brought the “visual language” of Indian art together with Western influences. This show at Tate Modern is the first international retrospective of his work, and…

Barbecues and picnics are not ideal occasions for savouring fine wines, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian. Instead, opt for budget varieties with bright, fruity flavours. Bargain Booze has a perfectly decent, crisp, citrusy Frontera Sauvignon Blanc 2015 from Chile’s Central Valley, at £4.49; while Aldi has a 2015 Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, at £5.29, in its “Exquisite” range, which makes a good substitute for Sancerre. Aldi’s Stellenbosch Cape Red 2015 (£5.99), a beefy blend of shiraz, cabernet sauvignon, grenache and mourvèdre, would also fit the bill; as would Asda’s exuberant Wine Atlas Cigales 2013 (£5.75), a robust alternative to Rioja. I’d also recommend the fragrant, juicy Domaine Mas Barrau Cabernet Franc 2014 (£7.90; Booths). Finally, if it’s really hot outside, try Les Calandières Mediterranée Rosé, a satisfyingly dry, savoury blend…

Lisbon is having a moment, says Steve King in Condé Nast Traveller. Parts of the Portuguese capital that were no-go areas five years ago have been “reclaimed and reinvented”, and bars, restaurants, galleries and hotels are springing up at a “dizzying” rate. But it is really to the preceding century of political and economic troubles – and resulting stasis – that the city owes its unique charm. The past still shines forth from every mosaicked pavement and crumbling 18th century facade, and international brands have not yet marred the city’s shopping streets: here, “the quirky, the independent, the family-run” are still the norm. In Lisbon, you feel as though you’re “drifting effortlessly through layers of history” – and nowhere more so than in the Palácio Belmonte, its most characterful hotel.…

“I am America. I am the part you won’t recognise. But get used to me. Black, confident, cocky; my name, not yours; my religion, not yours; my goals, my own; get used to me.” “I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale, handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick. I’m so mean I make medicine sick.” “At home, I am a nice guy but I don’t want the world to know. Humble people, I’ve found, don’t get very far.” “Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when…

It has been a tale with “more twists than this season’s Premier League”, said Rebecca Smith in Management Today. But having long resisted calls from MPs to give evidence about working practices at his Sports Direct retail chain, Mike Ashley finally appeared before the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee, trumpeting his intention to defend the company’s “good name”. The Newcastle United owner has had his back to the wall ever since an investigation last year alleged “Victorian” working practices at the firm’s Shirebrook warehouse in Derbyshire, and claimed thousands of workers were being paid below the minimum wage. When it came to the crunch, the shy entrepreneur was all contrition, said BBC News online. He admitted that workers had been paid below the minimum wage, and pledged to implement several…

“Bitcoin is back,” said The Economist. Fans and holders of the cryptocurrency have been celebrating after its price jumped by more than 20% in the last week of May to nearly $550 – a level last reached in August 2014. The price is now heading towards the $600 mark. One of the chief factors driving the rally is China, where the currency seems to have become an outlet for “frustrated” savers “searching for high-yielding assets”. The Beijing authorities, worried about a bubble, have banned banks from dealing in bitcoin. But individuals have been speculating “with gusto”. More than 90% of bitcoin transactions globally are conducted on two Chinese exchanges: Huobi and OKCoin. Nonetheless, “the resurgence may be short-lived”. Speculation in China will only add to Bitcoin’s price volatility, hindering “its…

Controversy of the week Last week marked the point when “the EU referendum became a proper contest”, said James Forsyth in The Sun. With Government departments legally required to fall silent, Out has gone on the attack, hammering home the issue that voters regularly put top of their list of concerns: immigration. It’s the issue that gives real weight to the Leave campaign’s battle cry of “loss of sovereignty”, said Gideon Rachman in the FT. Over the past decade, more than a million migrants from Eastern Europe have arrived in the UK, making a mockery of official predictions, made in 2003, that the average intake from the newly joined countries would average 13,000 a year. And since the EU absolutely refuses to budge on its principle of free movement of…

The disillusioned activist Jonnie Marbles was already a seasoned political activist when he threw a shaving foam “custard pie” at Rupert Murdoch, says Charlie Gilmour in The Guardian. Yet the stunt – during the Leveson Inquiry – was not well planned. “My partner and I were like, we should do something tomorrow. Shall we go to Tate Modern, or should we attempt to get into Parliament, where I will pie Rupert Murdoch? We sort of edged towards the second one. I thought it would be very silly, a bit funny, a bit of an adventure. I didn’t think I’d actually manage to pull it off.” But he did. At the hearing, to his horror, the people between him and the media mogul began to leave – until his path was…

A grandfather in the US has apologised for picking up the wrong child from school. Joseph Fuller, 65, intended to collect his six-year-old grandson after driving to the school in South Carolina. But he mistakenly approached another child, hugged him and asked if he was ready to go. The child said “yes”, so Fuller took him to his car, where his wife – without turning to look – handed the boy a Happy Meal. They realised there had been a mix-up when they got home. “He had a tooth missing at the front,” explained Fuller, “and I knew my grandson did not have a tooth missing.” A stonemason in Siberia is offering technology-addicted Russians a fitting memorial: iPhone gravestones. Designer Pavel Kalyuk says he can even engrave the iTombstones, which…

UNITED STATES I am too scared to use the bathroom The New York Times After I came out as a trans woman, says Meredith Russo, my co-workers took it in their stride – until my boss came to talk to me about bathrooms. She told me I had to use the men’s room. Every time I encountered men in the bathroom in my skirt and make-up, they’d act startled, assuming they’d entered the women’s room by accident, then glare at me, or angrily insist I should be in the ladies’ loo. “It got so bad that I stopped going to the bathroom at work altogether” and developed a urinary tract infection. People justify the new spate of “bathroom laws” by raising the spectre of cisgender men wearing women’s clothes to…

The oldest handwritten documents ever found in this country have been unearthed in the City of London. In total, 410 wax tablets were found at the site, 87 of which have been deciphered. Dating back to the first decades of Roman rule, they include the first ever written reference to London, in what appears to be an address, and the earliest intrinsically dated document. Dated to 8 January 57AD, it’s a promissory note for 105 denarii “for merchandise which has been sold and delivered”. A third tablet features a series of letters; archaeologists from the Museum of London speculate that it was an educational tool. More than 100 people are named, including slaves and soldiers, a cooper, a judge and a brewer. Although countless documents would have been produced by…

The inquest into the death of Cheryl James at Deepcut barracks “has come 21 years too late”, said The Guardian. Private James, a recent recruit, died of a single gunshot wound to the head while on guard duty at the Royal Logistics Corps barracks in Surrey in November 1995 – just weeks after her 18th birthday. The initial inquest, carried out by the Army itself, “took just one hour to reach an open verdict”. Her parents, Des and Doreen James, convinced that she was the victim of foul play, fought for two decades for a new inquest. Ultimately, after a fresh seven-week hearing, coroner Brian Barker QC concluded that their daughter had in fact committed suicide. However, he also condemned the “sexualised” and bullying culture at Deepcut, and found that…

Right now, in a laboratory in California, an experiment is under way “from which all decent people should recoil”, said A.N. Wilson in the Daily Mail. Scientists believe they have found a way to grow human organs in pigs, by injecting animal embryos with human stem cells. Previous experiments with human-pig “chimeras” (named after the mixed-species monster of Greek mythology) failed because the human cells were overrun by pig cells, meaning the organ remained stubbornly porcine. But now scientists have found a way to remove the section of pig DNA responsible for growing a pancreas. This creates a vacuum in which to grow a human pancreas – with the potential to be “harvested” once the pig is fully grown. But there are grave ethical concerns. For one thing, the human…

For years, there was feverish speculation about the salaries paid to Fifa bigwigs, said Luke Harding in The Guardian. Yet it turns out the “spectacular scale of greed” at the organisation was worse than anyone thought. Last week, it was revealed that in their final five years in office, three men – disgraced former Fifa president Sepp Blatter, former secretary general Jérôme Valcke and former chief financial officer Markus Kattner – secretly awarded themselves raises and bonuses worth £56m. Most astonishingly, Fifa continued to sign off on these “lurid” payments even after it was plunged into crisis. Last year, just days after the arrests of 14 Fifa officials, Blatter was granted a new deal, including a £1.1m annual bonus and an £8.4m four-yearly bonus. Blatter and Valcke are already in…

The Nice Guys Dir: Shane Black 1hr 56mins (15) Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling’s “candy noir” If earnest art-house movies make you feel exhausted and you long for some good, old-fashioned Hollywood entertainment, then you’re in for a treat with The Nice Guys, said David Sexton in the London Evening Standard. Set in 1970s LA, this riotously enjoyable action thriller from writer-director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) features Russell Crowe as a beefy private eye hired to prevent a rival investigator (Ryan Gosling sporting a comedy moustache) from tracking down a missing woman. It’s not long before the two men reluctantly join forces in a plot involving mobsters, porn stars and corrupt politicians. The odd-couple pairing of Crowe and Gosling “proves hilarious”, said James White in Empire. The former is “gruffly…

The Louvre in Paris closed its doors last Thursday, after days of torrential rain raised the level of the adjacent Seine river more than 20ft, said The Art Newspaper. There was no immediate threat to the gallery’s collection, but some 250,000 of its artworks are stored underground, and work began to move them to higher floors: fortunately, the floodwaters started to recede over the weekend. The Musée D’Orsay on the opposite bank of the river was also briefly closed as a precaution. Had the flood been any worse, the Louvre would have been “screwed”, said Vice. Some 86,000ft² of its storage is underground – including the entire Islamic collection. When an orange flood alert is issued – as it was last week – staff close the gallery’s watertight doors. If…

At Ambridge Hall, Robert treats Lynda to breakfast in bed for her birthday. Later, they chat to Jennifer about the survey the Borsetshire Wildlife Trust is doing in the Millennium Wood. She explains that Brian commissioned it because he’s worried about the impact of so many people visiting the wood to see the elvish dwellings. At the Single Wicket competition, Johnny and Tom are dismayed to find that Rob is commentating: when Johnny wins, he avoids shaking Rob’s hand. Helen’s lawyer, Anna, tells her that Rob wants to see their newborn son, Jake. A panicky Helen refuses, afraid that Rob will take another child away from her. But Anna warns her that he may take the matter to court. At their 40th wedding anniversary party, Brian declares in his speech…

What the experts recommend Simpsons Fish & Chips 73-75 Priors Road, Cheltenham (01242-521964) According to the 2016 National Fish and Chip Shop Awards, the best fish and chip shop in all the land is Simpsons. Ever heard of it? No, nor me, says Giles Coren in The Times. You’d expect to find Britain’s best chippy in a seaside town or a great port city – not in a rather “bland bungalow suburb” on the way into Cheltenham. But on the evidence of the lunch I had with my wife and children, I’d say Simpsons is worthy of the claim. The service staff are smiley and helpful. The dining space, with its wooden floors and Union Jack theme, is big, bright and wonderfully fresh-smelling (“hats off to the extraction guys”). The…

New cars: what the critics say Autocar The A3 has always been an impressive car, and with its “alluring combination of style, quality, dynamics and refinement”, the compact hatchback is a perennial “strong seller”. But Audi never rests on its laurels, and it has given its latest model a light facelift. There are new 1.0 and 2.0-litre petrol engines, and Xenon headlights and cruise control now come as standard. Auto Express Design changes have been limited to a few tweaks – namely a wider grille and rear end. The “classy” interior remains a strong point – it’s “one of the most upmarket-feeling cabins in its class”. The A3 is “as practical as ever”, particularly in the roomy Sportback model, and Audi have done a great job with the in-car technology:…

With only about 500 Siberian tigers left in the wild, your chances of spotting one are slim. But since last year, one conservationist has been offering tourists the opportunity to try, says Sophy Roberts in the FT. Located near Khabarovsk, the last stop on the Trans-Siberian railway before Vladivostok, Alexander Batalov’s research base lies at the heart of a beautiful tract of snowy taiga, or subarctic forest, that is one of the animals’ prime hunting grounds. Guests stay in simple but “curiously romantic” wooden cottages, and accompany Batalov as he tracks the tigers and sets up motion-activated camera traps to film them. Finding their “vast” paw prints or golden hairs in the snow, perhaps alongside blood from their kills, is a genuine thrill. But be aware, if you do enjoy…

McKinsey: conflict of interest? McKinsey is “one of the world’s most influential consulting firms”, advising many of the largest companies on strategic questions, said Miles Johnson and Harriet Agnew in the FT. It also has “a famed alumni network” – ex-McKinseyites currently in big roles include Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and Liberty Global chairman John C. Malone. Less well known, however, is the firm’s “secretive” internal investment arm, which manages the fortunes of partners past and present and is now prompting questions about “possible conflicts of interest”. Known as McKinsey Investment Office (MIO Partners), the “highly profitable” fund has been operating for 30 years and has total assets of around $9.5bn. But what really stands out, said Mark Melin on ValueWalk.com, is its performance. “There…

The most dangerous form of Brexit Jeremy Warner The Sunday Telegraph Vote Leave has “pushed exactly the right buttons” in large parts of the country by focusing on immigration, says Jeremy Warner. But in doing so, it has effectively “ruled out the least economically dangerous way of disengaging from the EU”. Were Britain to follow Norway into the European Economic Area, continued access to the single market would be guaranteed. But because it is a founding tenet of the EU that “the single market cannot be disentangled from the principle of free movement”, that would be “incompatible with the introduction of immigration controls”. Make no bones about it, leaving the single market would mean years of uncertainty and severe damage to asset prices – creating just the sort of environment…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys Conviviality Shares Conviviality provides drinks to pubs, hotels and restaurants, and to its own retail estate. Boosted by strong trading from Matthew Clark, sales have surged 137%. The acquisition of Bibendum adds potential. Yields 4.1%. Buy. 210.5p. Halfords Group The Times The car parts and bicycle retailer is midway into its self-help programme; improving stores, increasing dividends and making acquisitions in a fragmented market. Growth prospects look good. Buy. 407p. LondonMetric Property The Times The retail and property specialist is moving into “big box” distribution depots, used by retailers selling over the internet. Net asset value and rental income are up, funding dividend growth. Prospective yield is 4.7%. Buy. 158p. Renew Holdings The Daily Telegraph Engineering support group Renew has a growing order…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1008 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 20 June. Send it to: The Week Crossword 1008, 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). ACROSS 1 Splits remaining in Civil Service (6) 5 Something enjoyed by youth, party animal primarily in SW county? (4,4) 9 Piggott riding in Irish district (8) 10 Russian composer with connection in Georgia? (6) 11 Taking care of youngsters, daily paper’s with it (12)…