The Week V. 1008

What the editorials said George Osborne warned this week that the stand-off between Greece and the eurozone over the country’s debt was the “greatest risk” facing the global economy. The Chancellor was speaking after a meeting with Greece’s new finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, who was visiting Downing Street on a whistle-stop tour of Europe designed to win support for renegotiating the terms of Greece’s s240bn bailout. The anti-austerity Syriza party won Greece’s recent election on the back of a pledge to have half the debt written off. The party is now talking about repackaging the debt into a new form of bonds that would link repayments to economic growth. Syriza has already reneged on some of the terms of Greece’s bailout by halting privatisation plans and raising the minimum wage.…

Labour found itself in a slanging match with business leaders this week, after the chief executive of Boots, Stefano Pessina, declared that a Labour victory in the coming election would be a “catastrophe”. Labour leader Ed Miliband struck back by accusing Monacobased Pessina of being a tax avoider – but this only provoked fresh attacks. Restaurant tycoon Richard Caring said Labour was trying to win “cheap votes”; while Stuart Rose, the former head of Marks & Spencer, called Miliband “a 1970s throwback” whose proposed hike in corporation tax would deter investment and create “empty high streets”. Miliband also had to contend with criticism from inside his own party. Two Blairite former ministers, Lord Hutton and Alan Milburn, accused him of abandoning the centre ground and rejecting the legacy of the…

The Smithsonian Institution is opening a museum in London, its first outpost outside the US. Based in Washington DC, the Smithsonian has 19 museums in the US, displaying everything from African tribal art to stagecoaches. Due to open at the Olympic Park in 2017, the London gallery will feature exhibits from its collection of 137 million items. These include the first aeroplane, the space suit that Neil Armstrong wore for the Moon landing – and the original Muppets. Donations and messages of support have poured in for a disabled pensioner who was mugged outside his house in Gateshead last month. Alan Barnes, 67, who is 4ft 6in tall and visually impaired, was pushed to the ground as he took his bins out. He broke a collarbone and was left too…

When Jessica Newell was born in December 2013, she seemed to be “a normal, healthy baby”, said Margarette Driscoll in The Sunday Times. But at six months, “her development slowed, and then began to regress”. She was diagnosed with Leigh syndrome, one of several severe conditions caused by faulty mitochondria – the parts of our cells that provide them with energy. As a result, Jessica now “barely moves, and when she does it seems to be in slow motion”. Her swallowing reflex has degenerated, and she is fed through a nasal tube. “She will never walk or talk and is unlikely to live for more than a few years.” Until recently, her parents would never have considered having another child. But thanks to a vote in the House of Commons…

Veto for English MPs The Conservatives have announced plans to give English MPs an “effective veto” on laws that only affect England. Announcing the proposals this week, William Hague explained that at the committee stage, such bills would be scrutinised only by MPs representing English seats. The bills would then go before the entire House of Commons – but a Grand Committee of English MPs would retain the right to veto them before their final reading. Tory backbenchers have complained that the proposals do not go far enough, as MPs representing Scottish seats would still be able to block English laws at the final vote. School league tables The Government’s secondary school league tables were dismissed as glaringly inadequate this week after hundreds of highly regarded schools – including Eton…

Ball pits are typically found in children’s soft play centres. But grown-ups have clearly been feeling left out of the fun. Last month a temporary adult ball pit opened in west London, and tickets sold out almost immediately. Billed as an “immersive winter art installation”, Jump In – which closes this Friday – is deeper than the ball pits aimed at children, and filled exclusively with white balls. More than 100 of Bordeaux wine estates now have Chinese owners. The Chinese have been investing heavily in the region’s chateaux since 2010, partly to cash in on a growing demand for the wine at home: 80% of the bottles estates produce are exported to China, which is now the world’s biggest market for red wine.…