Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1100 i The Week

“His hair-trigger temper will make him a singularly dangerous custodian of the nuclear codes” Preparing for President Trump Is Donald Trump “remotely suitable” to be president of America, asked Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. Did he really mean it, “the hatred, the belligerence, the racism, the boasting and the lies” of the last few months? Or was his “witches’ Sabbath of a campaign all a gigantic act”? For now, the jury’s out, said The Washington Post. Since his victory, Trump has at times been “responsible, reassuring – downright presidential”. He was gracious about his meeting with President Obama, whom he described as “a very good man”. He has appointed the relatively moderate Republican Reince Priebus as his chief of staff. Having promised to “rip up Obamacare”, Trump has now stated…

Jenkins, Kentucky Social media arsonist: An aspiring weatherman has admitted to starting a wildfire in Kentucky so that he could film himself reporting from the scene, and post the footage on Facebook. Johnny Mullins, 21, documented the blaze’s spread until he was arrested last week. “A forest fire warning is out for all of the eastern Kentucky Mountains,” he advised on 5 November. “I do not think these are being set intentionally. We have a very dry air mass that continues to stay in place and we are under dangerous drought conditions.” Local police chief James Stephens said Mullins, who is now facing arson charges, hadn’t meant to do any harm, and that he had just wanted people to look at his online weather reports. “He’s not a bad kid…

Weed is ready to hit the mainstream Katy Steinmetz Time The 2016 US election “may go down as a watershed for weed”, says Katy Steinmetz. Amid all the drama of the campaign, relatively little attention has been paid to the various marijuana-related measures that individual states approved, but these promise to have a transformative effect. Before the election, recreational use of marijuana was legal in four states and the District of Columbia. It’s now legal in eight – and one of the four new states to legalise it is California, America’s most populous state and the fifth-largest economy in the world. In addition, four more states voted to legalise the medical use of marijuana. “The upshot is that more than half the states in the US now have medical marijuana…

Apparently rendered speechless by Donald Trump’s victory, Yoko Ono (pictured) has instead issued a 20-second howl of pain. The performance artist posted a recording on Twitter of herself wailing, ululating and hyperventilating, ”as my response to [Trump]”. It has since been retweeted more than 26,000 times. Jeremy Paxman has declared himself “baffled”, after becoming the target of a student union protest. Reading University Students’ Union is boycotting University Challenge, citing “misogynistic and sexist remarks” made by the presenter. “I have racked my brains to discover what on earth [they are] on about,” says Paxman. The claims apparently refer to an incident 18 months ago, when Reading was competing against Imperial College London on the BBC2 quiz. A technical hitch halted the recording. “In the conversation to fill the void –…

“He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars. General good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer.” William Blake, quoted in The Guardian “Liberals cannot help believing that all human beings secretly yearn to become as they imagine themselves to be.” John Gray, in the New Statesman “I don’t consider myself a pessimist at all. I think of a pessimist as someone who is waiting for it to rain. And I feel soaked to the skin.” Leonard Cohen, quoted in The Independent “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last and the White…

What the experts recommend The Shore 13-14 Alverton Street, Penzance, Cornwall (01736-362444) The decor at this first-rate Penzance fish restaurant is a touch limp, says Keith Miller in The Daily Telegraph – the “stark, pallid room only weakly enlivened by a few maritime touches” (driftwood, a soothing shorescape painting, and so on). But the food! Oh, my. All three starters we tried were “impeccable”: lobster in a Thai-accented chowder; cured pollack with ponzu sauce and ginger; and lightly cured mackerel with lemon, fennel and dill. The generously sized mains were excellent, too: monkfish with dashi, kale, daikon radish and shimeji mushrooms; and “chunky, juicy” hake on beetroot risotto. The only mild misfire was plaice with pig’s cheek (the menu’s “only foray onto dry land”). Both were delicious, but they…

“His pared-back melodies struck a chord with troubled youth, who would listen to them and plunge into an ocean of delicious sadness” Singer-songwriter with a fatalistic tone and a wry humour Leonard Cohen 1934-2016 Leonard Cohen, who has died aged 82, gave up a promising literary career to become one of the most extraordinary singer-songwriters of his generation. Enigmatic, gravel-voiced and broodingly handsome, “he cultivated an air of spiritual yearning mixed with smouldering eroticism”, said The Washington Post. His songs – spare, oblique, uplifting yet bleak – dwelt on love and faith, war and politics, depression and exaltation. An unconventional pop star (if he was one at all), he didn’t release his first record until he was 33 – an old man by 1960s standards; “his incantatory, half-spoken songs were…

Steven Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross Who will President-elect Trump choose for his top economic roles? Reports that Jamie Dimon, the boss of JP Morgan, had been approached to become treasury secretary have been dismissed, said The Daily Telegraph. Since Trump once called Dimon “the worst banker in the United States” – and Dimon returned the favour with “thinly veiled attacks” on Trump’s campaign – it may not have been the most harmonious relationship, said the FT. No surprise, perhaps, that Trump appears to be looking closer to home. This week, it emerged that two leading New York investors, Steven Mnuchin (pictured) and Wilbur Ross, are on his shortlist for the roles of treasury and commerce secretaries. Both are “pragmatists and free marketeers”, and long-term Trump supporters. Ross, 78, a “softly…

Controversy of the week The threat to Nato If I were Vladimir Putin, said Kim Sengupta in The Independent, I’d be musing right now on how much longer the US “will remain the world’s only superpower”. Over the past few months, Donald Trump has loudly questioned the usefulness of Nato; he has said that the West should accept the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea; and warned the Baltic states not to bank on him defending them against Russia. Putin has every reason to think that America’s new isolationist president will “accept a relationship between Europe and Russia that is very much to Moscow’s advantage”. The threat to Nato and the world order is truly alarming, said David Aaronovitch in The Times. Getting cosy with Russia is all very well, but what…

Aleppo, Syria Bombing resumes: Pro-Assad forces resumed their bombardment of besieged eastern Aleppo early this week, striking several rebel-held districts for the first time since mid-October. Russia said it was not involved in the renewed bombing, but confirmed that it had carried out multiple strikes on what it said were Islamic State targets in Idlib province, using jets deployed from its aircraft carrier the Admiral Kuznetsov. The carrier is one of eight Russian ships now stationed off the Syrian coast – Moscow’s largest naval deployment since the Cold War. The strikes came hours after US President-elect Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin discussed the need to cooperate to defeat Islamic terrorism. Currently, the US is backing the anti-Assad rebels, but Trump has always said his priority is targeting Isis. Maiduguri,…

All hail the end of celebrity endorsements Bryony Gordon The Daily Telegraph Centuries from now, when the great brains of the future look back on this era of global politics, a key question that they’ll be seeking to answer, says Bryony Gordon, is this: how come Hillary Clinton couldn’t win when she had Jon Bon Jovi on her side? And Lady Gaga. And Katy Perry. Her opponent, by contrast, got by with the likes of “wrestler turned sex-tape star” Hulk Hogan, and the ex-boxer and convicted rapist Mike Tyson. We in the present day should ponder this, too, for herein lies our consolation amid the present gloom. The victory of the “ludicrous” Trump may herald the rejection of “tolerance, respect and polite political discourse”, but it also, I rejoice to…

Smoking triggers DNA mutations Researchers have, for the first time, examined the impact of smoking on human cells – and it makes for sobering reading. The team in the US analysed the DNA sequences of more than 5,000 cancers, in tumours from both smokers and non-smokers, and found that people who smoke 20 a day for a year typically develop an extra 150 mutations in every lung cell. They also develop 97 more mutations in the cells of the larynx, 23 in the mouth, 18 in the bladder, and six in the liver. Mutations are changes to a cell’s genetic programming that can occur when cells divide. Many are harmless, or easily repaired, but when they start to build up, cells are more likely to begin dividing uncontrollably – which…

“Well, that settles it,” said Sarah Vine in the Daily Mail. “If there was any lingering doubt about the strength of Prince Harry’s feelings for Ms Meghan Markle, we now know for sure: he is madly in love with the woman he has been seeing for ‘a few months’.” Kensington Palace last week issued an “extraordinary statement” on Harry’s behalf, furiously denouncing what it called a “wave of abuse and harassment” directed at his 35-year-old girlfriend, and declaring that he was “deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her”. His concern is surely misplaced. It seems unlikely that Markle is “a shy and retiring individual” who “hungers” for anonymity. She is not only a transatlantic TV star, thanks to her role in the legal drama Suits, but…

Cricket: one of the great Test debuts It was a draw that felt like a “resounding victory”, said Mike Atherton in The Times. Just a fortnight after England were humbled in Bangladesh, they “nearly pulled off one of the great heists” against India, the world’s No. 1 side. When time was called on the first Test, in Rajkot on Sunday, India were “six wickets down and teetering”. On home ground, India are all but unassailable, said Paul Newman in the Daily Mail. Only once had they been beaten in their previous 13 home Tests. Yet England were “by far the better side”. Before this match, no visiting batsman had made a century in India since 2013; but four England players – Joe Root, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes and Alastair Cook…

Theatre Lazarus Written by David Bowie and Enda Walsh Director: Ivo van Hove King’s Cross Theatre, London N1 (0844-815 7141) Until 22 January 2017 Running time: 1hr 50mins (no interval) David Bowie was always the most “theatrically minded” of rock stars, said Paul Taylor in The Independent, and Lazarus, which is a kind of sequel to The Man Who Fell to Earth (the 1976 Nicolas Roeg film in which Bowie starred) sits squarely in that tradition. Bowie worked on this show the year before he died, and “how consoling” it is to discover what a “rare and mesmeric testament” it is. The production combines Bowie’s music – familiar hits and three new songs – with a script by the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, which takes up the story of Thomas…

Best books… Nadiya Hussain Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain picks her top novels. She will talk about her life and book, Nadiya’s Kitchen, at Stratford ArtsHouse on 30 Nov for the Stratford Literary Festival Autumn Series (www.stratlitfest.co.uk) The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, 2002 (Picador £8.99). I was about 16 when a Waterstones opened in our town, and this was the first book I picked up. I was so engrossed, I read it at work in a six-hour shift. It is told by the ghost of a young girl who was murdered and watches from heaven as her family fall apart. It’s a different take on a crime. Underground to Canada by Barbara Smucker, 1977 (Penguin £6.99). We read this at school. It follows two young slave girls…

New cars: what the critics say What Car? With more and more people abandoning hatchbacks and saloons for SUVs, the Kuga has sold very well. But a few years on from its last serious update, it was looking a bit tired – and with the likes of the Seat Ateca “trying to muscle in” on the market, it needed a facelift. So full marks to Ford for its timing. There are new, luxurious models available and, for the first time, a 1.5-litre diesel engine. Auto Express The new Kuga is “better looking than ever”: the updated grille, lights and tailgate give it more presence on the road. Unfortunately, it’s “not the same story” inside, where the design is a little “cheap looking” and dated. Still, there’s lots of legroom and…

BAT/Reynolds: deal up in smoke? It was billed as the biggest foreign deal by a British company in recent years, but is British American Tobacco’s takeover of the US ciggies merchant Reynolds still a runner? Reuters reported this week that Reynolds American had rejected BAT’s $47bn offer to buy the 42% of the company it doesn’t own – a move that would have created the world’s biggest listed tobacco company. Reynolds, which owns the Camel and Newport brands, is said to be holding out for a higher price. BAT’s cash-and-stock offer would mark its return to the “lucrative and highly regulated US market after a 12-year absence”, said CNBC – and was thought likely to trigger copycat deals. Some analysts predicted that it could “encourage” the current market leader, Philip…

Berlin Raids on Islamic group: German police have carried out nationwide dawn raids on more than 200 mosques, apartments and offices associated with a newly banned Islamic campaigning group, DWR. Members of DWR (which stands for Die Wahre Religion, meaning “the true religion”) have been a familiar sight in German town centres for the past ten years, handing out Islamic literature – including millions of copies of the Koran – to passers-by. Normally, religious groups are protected in Germany, and interior minister Thomas de Maizière said there was no evidence that DWR had been planning any kind of terrorist attacks. However, de Maizière claimed that DWR, which has several hundred members, was “propagating extremist ideologies”, and using its activities as a front for radicalising people; some 140 Germans who have…

Don’t play snooker Ronnie O’Sullivan is probably the greatest snooker player of all time, says Matt Rudd in The Sunday Times. The 40-year-old (below) played his first professional tournament at the age of 16, and has since bagged 28 ranking titles. But he doesn’t actually enjoy the game. “It’s not an endorphin sport,” he says. “It’s about controlling your emotions. A thought goes in and you go: ‘Shh!’ Then another. Then another. When you get back on the table, the only reason you pot is because you left your emotions in your seat.” That, combined with the constant touring, can have a terrible effect on the psyche: O’Sullivan has endured breakdowns, drug abuse, alcoholism and failed relationships. He would never want his own children to take up snooker. “Any other…

The NHS’s email system was temporarily disrupted this week when an IT worker inadvertently sent a test email to all 1.2 million of her colleagues – and dozens of workers then hit “reply all”, when asking to be taken off the distribution list. One health service statistician estimated that at least 186 million emails had been sent, overloading the system for eight hours. Apple has apologised for telling a customer that he couldn’t have a refund for his new iPhone unless he showed that he wasn’t Saddam Hussein. Sharakat Hussain is 26 and comes from Birmingham, yet when Apple was processing his refund, an employee checked the US government’s “Denied Parties” list, decided there was a risk he might be the late Iraqi despot, and sent him an email asking…

ISRAEL The US can’t lecture us any more The Jerusalem Post (Jerusalem) Thank you, America, says David M. Weinberg: your behaviour over the past year has made Israel look like a democratic paradise. The nastiness of the US presidential campaign has appalled the entire world, and given Israelis a new appreciation for their own system. We used to complain about our fractious parliament, with its proliferation of fringe parties: but at least our voters get more than two options. Tens of millions of Americans can only wish “they had a serious third-party candidate”. And if we sometimes cringe when our politicians accuse one another of fascism, or corruption, at least no one here “mixes female hygiene, the size of male organs, and other deplorables into political discourse”. Nor have Israelis…

Amid all the darkness, there is a “glimmer of hope”, said Frances Ryan on The Pool. Last week, Lego announced it would no longer be running promotional deals in the Daily Mail. This follows a social media campaign by a group called Stop Funding Hate, which has been calling on large corporations to stop advertising in newspapers that promote “hatred, discrimination and demonisation”. The idea is that ordinary people can use “capitalist logic” to force businesses – and thus the media – to develop a conscience. In other words, “you have to hit them in the wallet”. Other companies being targeted include John Lewis, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer, whose “big-hearted Christmas adverts” clash with the xenophobic “bile” of the right-wing press. At what point does “not like” become “hate”,…

“I know it was your idea, but it was my idea to use your idea” Exchange of the week Losing like a liberal To The Guardian Trump’s victory is being explained in terms of the political elite being out of touch with, and unrepresentative of, the ordinary people. But if those people are racist, misogynist, homophobic and bigoted, or are tolerant of those attitudes in their political leaders, then shouldn’t it be seen as a good thing they are not represented? It is better that those who make the important decisions don’t share those views, and instead work to change those attitudes where they are held by “the people”, than that they echo them and govern their country in that spirit. David Wall, Northampton To The Guardian Why are people…

100 Streets Dir: Jim O’Hanlon 1hr 33mins (15) Undercooked drama with Idris Elba A young drug dealer (Franz Drameh) dreams of being an actor. A taxi driver (Charlie Creed-Miles) finds his life turned upside down by an accident. A former rugby star (Idris Elba) sees his marriage hit the rocks when his long-suffering wife (Gemma Arterton) learns he has been having an affair. These are the main plot strands of 100 Streets, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph, the debut feature of TV director Jim O’Hanlon. Set within a square mile in Battersea, it aspires to be a social tapestry of the kind Robert Altman used to make. That’s “all well and good”, but it leads you to expect the storylines should intertwine in ways more interesting than having…

What Trump means for US business Editorial The Economist Donald Trump’s attitude towards business “has three contradictory strands”, says The Economist. “He is passionate about unleashing the might of the private sector to revive growth.” Yet he is also a protectionist and “a populist who thinks the economy is rigged in favour of big business and crony capitalists”. Those three different strands will respectively “excite, worry and scare” US companies. Policies that boost competition and attack cronyism make sense. But the risk is that under Trump they spiral into a nastier confrontation – with Wall Street and Silicon Valley as flash points. Trump’s protectionist policies are also “clearly bad for business”: 44% of the sales of firms in the S&P 500 index are now earned abroad. Plenty of corporate chiefs…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys Crest Nicholson The Daily Telegraph The housebuilder has an enviable mix of inner-city apartments and village properties focused in the South of England. High margins, manageable debt, rising earnings and a 3.8% yield add to its appeal. Buy. 435p. Gamma Communications The Daily Telegraph This recently listed telecoms services provider has no debt, as well as growing revenues and strong margins – and is challenging incumbents with its excellent customer service and reliability. A good bet. Buy. 446.75p. McBride Investors Chronicle The turnaround at this own-brand household goods manufacturer is going well: it has cut costs and refocused, and margins are rising. Stage two of the overhaul, now in train, is to upgrade and boost capacity. Buy. 190p. Ryanair The Times Weak sterling…