Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1008 i The Week

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.…

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…

According to The Guardian’s poll of polls, the two main parties are now neck and neck: both Labour and the Conservatives are projected to get 273 seats in the election – 53 short of an outright majority. The SNP is projected to get 49 seats (up from 6) and the Lib Dems 28 (down from 56). 45% of people expect Prince Charles to be a good king. 29% think he will not be. 38% think his views are in touch with the public’s. 30% think they are out of touch. YouGov/The Sunday Times 54% of men and 31% of women in their 70s and 80s describe themselves as sexually active. However, only 31% of men and 20% of women of that age say they often kiss their partners. English Longitudinal…

The chef caught stealing It’s three years since the celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson was caught shoplifting food from a Tesco in Oxfordshire – a crime so baffling that he still can’t understand his motives. “It was deliberate – but why? I own restaurants – it’s not like I need the food!” he told James Steen in The Daily Telegraph. He actually did it five times. The first time was accidental: while using a self-scanning machine, he inadvertently bagged some items that he hadn’t paid for. After that, he started doing it on purpose. “Was it a challenge? Was it something that sparked my naughtiness, or my desire to live on the edge?” He was never exactly Ronnie Biggs: when he eventually got caught, his haul consisted of three onions,…

A cat that was presumed dead after being found lying stiff and covered in blood on the road stunned its owner by crawling out of its grave, five days after it was buried. Dubbed Bart the Miracle Cat, it has now been treated for its injuries by vets in Tampa Bay, Florida. “He had extensive damage in his head area, lost an eye, had really bad abrasions on his face and a broken jaw,” said Tampa’s Humane Society spokesperson Nash McCutchen. A man who had sex with a dolphin at a Florida amusement park in 1971 has claimed that the dolphin seduced him. In a new film, Dolphin Lover, Malcolm Brenner, 63, explains that he began a year-long “relationship” with Dolly, a bottlenose, after she made amorous advances: “She announced…

Yemen is easily the most “wretched” country in the Middle East, said Christian Merville in L’Orient-Le Jour (Beirut). Its bureaucracy is “gangrenous”; corruption is even worse than in South America’s banana republics; inter-tribal conflict is so fierce it’s on the brink of being a failed state. Last September, Iran-backed rebels of the Houthi tribe – a small Shia minority in an otherwise Sunni country – swept into Sana’a, the capital, demanding a power-sharing deal and effectively imprisoning President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in his palace when he failed to deliver. Last week Hadi and his ministers resigned. Yemen has now replaced Afghanistan as the country posing the deadliest terrorist threat to the West, said Jean-Pierre Perrin in Libération (Paris), because the southeast is the home base of al-Qa’eda in the…

Girls tend to outperform boys at school, even in countries where women’s rights are curtailed, reports BBC News online. Psychologists at the universities of Missouri and Glasgow looked at the attainment levels in standardised tests of 1.5 million teenagers and found that girls did better than boys in maths, reading and science in 52 of 74 studied countries. This was true even in Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates – where opportunities for women tend to be limited. There were only three countries or regions where boys did better than girls: Colombia, Costa Rica and the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. However, the pattern was different at the highest attainment levels: there, boys did tend to outperform girls. The researchers said their findings were worrying as they suggest that…

“Everyone is entitled to seek offence where they may,” said Matthew Norman in The Independent. “How could Twitter prosper were it otherwise?” But for the life of me, I cannot understand what sin Benedict Cumberbatch is supposed to have committed last week. Appearing on a US chat show, the actor bemoaned the lack of work in Britain for “coloured actors”. This, bizarrely, was taken as a racist slur, for which he offered a grovelling apology – calling himself an “idiot” and a “fool” for using such “an inappropriate word”. But if it’s really so offensive, why does the US’s most venerable civil rights group, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, retain its name? And why is the near-identical “people of colour” considered politically correct? “It all seems…

“The best way out is always through.” Robert Frost, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Lacking confidence, the uneducated tend to think they don’t know things that really they do. The educated are often obstinately certain that they know things they really don’t.” David Aaronovitch in The Times “Anti-Semitism is a light sleeper.” Conor Cruise O’Brien in The Sunday Telegraph “Every public man, at the end of the day, goes home to his private house, closes the door, and becomes someone else.” Hilary Mantel, in the RSL Review “Drifting lazily downstream, occasionally putting out a boathook to avoid collision.” Lord Salisbury’s definition of conservatism, quoted in The Guardian “Age doesn’t matter, unless you are a cheese.” Luis Buñuel, quoted on The Browser “I love mankind, it’s people I can’t stand.” Linus…

Golf’s youngest No. 1 When a 21-year-old Tiger Woods became golf’s youngest ever world number one, it was hailed as an unbeatable achievement. But this week, his record was smashed by a 17-year-old, says ESPN. Lydia Ko’s ascent seemed “ordained” when she won her first LPGA Tour title at 15. And at the Coates Golf Championship on Saturday, the New Zealander showed off her greatest strength: her “indefatigable nature”. She was remarkably unaffected by a “meltdown” on the penultimate hole, “salvaging” a second-place showing that was enough to put her in the record books. To cement her status as women’s world number one, Ko must win her first major: so far, her best result has been the runner-up spot at the Evian Championship. The ten-hour drought It’s not often that…

To The Independent The initiative by the Muslim Council of Britain to open the doors of some mosques to the public appears to be positive in the present climate. But it is mere symbolism, whereas what is needed are policy shifts of substance. In his letter to 1,000 mosque leaders two weeks ago, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles asks how faith in Islam can be part of British identity. The likelihood is that for a majority of imams, the two are, in fact, irreconcilable – this would certainly be the case for Saudi–funded mosques and those inspired by Deobandism, with its roots in South Asia. Indeed, they have been singularly hostile to being part of a British identity and integrating into mainstream society. We know that the meaning of the name…

Theatre The Ruling Class Playwright: Peter Barnes Director: Jamie Lloyd Trafalgar Studios, London SW1 (0844-871 7632) Until 11 April Running time: 2hrs 40mins Autoerotic asphyxiation in a tutu. A full-size crucifix in an English stately home. One unicycle, two lunatics with messiah complexes, and too many Tourettian outbursts to keep count of. “Ah, Peter Barnes is back in the West End,” said Ian Shuttleworth in the FT. First staged in 1968 – and later adapted into a film starring Peter O’Toole – The Ruling Class was Barnes’s “breakthrough play”. A roaringly unsubtle satire on Britain’s upper class, it opens with the 13th Earl of Gurney accidentally killing himself during oxygen-deprived sexual arousal. To the horror of his family, the earl’s untimely death prompts the return of his son and heir,…

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1932 (Vintage £8.99). The most prophetic book of the 20th century. Written in the days of Hitler and Stalin, it envisages a future dystopian world ruled by consumerism and biotechnology, in which happiness is the supreme value. Today, many people would easily mistake it for a utopia. Chimpanzee Politics by Frans de Waal, 1982 (Johns Hopkins University £18). It narrates the real political struggles within a chimpanzee band over a period of three years, 1976-1978. This book completely changed my view of chimpanzees and Homo sapiens alike. Probably the funniest science book I have ever read. A must-read for politicians of all species! Sources of the Self by Charles Taylor, 1989 (Harvard University Press £25.95). The most insightful book I’ve read about Western civilisation,…

Programmes Unnatural Histories: Yellowstone Yellowstone is considered one of the great American wildernesses – but it was human intervention that made it one, with railroad barons playing more of a part than conservationists. Sat 7 Feb, BBC4 7pm (60mins). Kid Criminals In the US 70,000 children are behind bars. This two-part series looks at life in a maximum-security juvenile facility in Indiana. Tue 10 Feb, C4 10pm (60mins). Britain’s Biggest Primary School: In at the Deep End Involving four-part series about the challenges faced by an east London primary school with more than 1,000 pupils. Thur 12 Feb, C5 9pm (60mins). Modern Times: 24 Hour Parcel People We just click to buy; but small armies of people are needed to pack, process and deliver our online shopping. This documentary looks…

The great Lebanese winemaker Serge Hochar, who died recently, produced wonderful wine right through his country’s civil war, says David Williams in The Observer. Salute his determination and good taste with one of these outstanding Bekaa Valley wines: Hochar Père et Fils, Lebanon 2009 (£13.99; Majestic Wine). This sweetly spiced red from Hochar’s Château Musar is reminiscent of a Rhône red, and certainly illustrates his skill. Château Musar, Lebanon 2007 (£21.99; Waitrose). It was for its top estate wines – an “exotic and complex” blend of cabernet sauvignon, cinsault and carignan, and a white from the local merwah and obaideh grapes – that Musar gained global renown, putting Lebanon’s ancient wine-making culture back on the map in the 1970s and 1980s. Cadet de Ka, Lebanon 2011 (£8.99; Marks & Spencer).…

● Insurers are now allowed to offer cheaper deals to customers who approach them directly, rather than through brokers or comparison websites. It’s worth trying firms that specialise in young people, such as Only Young Drivers and Marmalade. ● Taking an additional course, such as Pass Plus, can help young drivers get a lower premium: Adrian Flux, for instance, gives a discount of up to 25% for those with a Pass Plus qualification. ● Don’t assume that third-party insurance (which only covers damage and injury incurred by other parties involved in the accident) will be cheaper than comprehensive. Although this tends to be the case for older drivers, it can be just as expensive for youngsters. ● Black box or telematics policies, which require you to install a device that…

Snowshoeing in Turkey People don’t usually visit Turkey for its snow, says Graeme Green in The Sunday Times. But the country’s southern highlands can provide an unexpected winter walking adventure. In the Taurus Mountains’ Aladaglar National Park, snowshoeing tours have opened up “wild and beautiful winter landscapes” that would otherwise be inaccessible. The shoes are no longer the “tennis rackets” of old; they are now more skateboard-sized, with clips to secure them in place. They do give traction, but still take some getting used to. Weather conditions can make hiking here feel “more like an Everest expedition than a leisure activity”, but the views, plus the promise of dinner and free-flowing raki, keep you going. Come the next morning, as the “evocative drone” of the muezzin calls Muslims to prayer,…

Geraldine McEwan 1932-2015 One of Britain’s most versatile actresses, Geraldine McEwan, who has died aged 82, worked with everyone from Laurence Olivier to Joe Orton during her six-decade career – but was latterly best known for playing Miss Marple in a BBC series based on Agatha Christie’s stories. In this, she followed in a long line of distinguished actresses, from Margaret Rutherford to Joan Hickson, yet made the part her own. “I decided to be Miss Marple my own way,” she said at the time, “as lighter, flightier and with a twinkle, because it’s no challenge to copy someone.” You don’t need to be a detective to find the clues that led McEwan to acting, said The Times. Born in Windsor, the daughter of a Labour Party activist, she was…

Another week, another round of retrenchment in the new era of $50 oil. This week the focus was on BP, which some had predicted would report a 40% slump in final quarter profits. In the event, BP surprised on the (relatively) positive side, said Adam Gale in Management Today. Underlying profits for the year fell 10% to $12.1bn, and by a less-thanfeared 20% in the final quarter. And despite the impact of sanctions, Rosneft (in which BP holds a minority stake) actually managed to return a profit. “Vladimir Putin will be happy.” In fact, BP’s rosier-looking performance was partly due to a change in the way Rosneft accounted for the rouble’s plunge, said the FT. And the subsequent 3% rise in shares is arguably more a reflection of the recent…

A Bazaar Life, by David Alliance with Ivan Fallon (The Robson Press) Once “a towering figure in the British textiles industry”, Lord Alliance tells in his autobiography how he narrowly avoided getting caught up in the 1980s Guinness share-ramping scandal, says Patrick Hosking in The Times. His suggestion that there was “an anti-Semitic element” to the affair is backed up by former business secretary Lord Mandelson’s foreword: he argues that Jews were made “the scapegoats in an establishment cover-up where the real culprits got off scot-free”. Red Notice, by Bill Browder (Simon & Schuster) The Hermitage Capital Fund founder – a grandson of a former head of the US Communist Party – was once the most successful fund manager in Russia, with $4.5bn under management. Initially a “fan” of President…

The week’s best buys Avon Rubber The Daily Telegraph Avon is locked into a ten-year contract as sole US defence supplier for gas masks, and its rubber-teat division, aimed at dairy farmers, is performing well despite that industry’s travails. Profits are rising and there is strong revenue visibility. Buy. 795p. Foxtons Group The Times Shares in the London estate agent have cooled along with the wider property market. But the firm is cash-generative and debt-free, with sales margins of 30% and plenty of scope to grow. Yields 5.5%. Buy. 180p. Grainger The Mail on Sunday This residential landlord majors on properties bought cheaply as regulated tenancies, then sold at a premium. It is now expanding into modern rentals where income is higher. Shares have dipped but fears look overdone. Buy.…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 939 An Ettinger card case 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 16 February. Send it to: The Week Crossword 939, 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) visiting card case for business cards or to use as a mini wallet, and two Connell Guides (www.connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 Procedure made up indoors under the table (5,8) 8 Fish with a tail (4) 9 Communication from landlord using lengthy lease? (4,6) 10 Unfair one, for instance in plot (6) 11 Burglar interrupted damaged small private shed (8) 12…

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…

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…

Lille, France Pimping case: Dominique Strauss-Kahn – the former head of the IMF – has appeared in court in Lille charged with “aggravated pimping”, a crime punishable by up to ten years in prison. Strauss-Kahn is one of 14 defendants accused of hiring prostitutes for sex parties at the Carlton Hotel in Lille, as well as in Washington and Paris, between 2009 and 2011. One witness told investigators that she’d walked into one such orgy, and found Strauss-Kahn being “taken care of” by seven or eight women in a scene she described as “carnage, with a heap of mattresses on the floor”. Strauss-Kahn has admitted to attending the parties, but has always insisted he had no idea who the women were, or that they were being paid to have sex…

1 Because the Night by Patti Smith and Bruce Springsteen, performed by Patti Smith 2 Comin’ Thro’ the Rye by Robert Burns, performed by Robyn Stapleton 3 Test Match commentary from Botham’s Ashes (Headingley Test 1981) by Brian Johnston and Henry Blofeld 4* Symphony No. 7 (second movement) by Beethoven, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan 5 Feeling Good by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, performed by Nina Simone 6 Wild Horses by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, performed by The Rolling Stones 7 Take This Longing, written and performed by Leonard Cohen 8 Spem in Alium by Thomas Tallis, performed by the Tallis Scholars, conducted by Peter Phillips Book: The Collected Poems of W.B Yeats Luxury: a harp with a teach-yourself book * Choice…

In an effort to make Saudi Arabia’s courts conform more closely to the demands of a modern nation state, the late King Abdullah issued decrees in 2007 calling for legal and judicial overhauls of the practice of flogging, and last November ordered a committee to be formed to compile and codify sharia in Saudi Arabia. But few changes occurred, not least because Saudi Arabia’s legal system isn’t codified and doesn’t rely on judicial precedent, so individual judges have wide latitude in interpreting religious texts. A legal code is thus unlikely to end the imposition of flogging as a punishment, though it might limit its use. For many, the Badawi case reflects the anxiety Saudi rulers feel about displeasing the religious establishment. Anyone in the regime who calls for even limited…

Brain damage in abused children Severely neglected children aren’t just at risk of psychological trauma: it seems they can suffer brain damage. Researchers at Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital studied 130 of the abandoned and orphaned Romanian children whose appalling treatment, in overcrowded staterun institutions, shocked the world when it was exposed after the fall of communism in 1989. Photographers sent back pictures of malnourished infants, chained to filthy cots. When researchers took brain scans of these children, and compared them with those of children who’d grown up in stable homes, they noted significant damage to material in the brain known as the white matter, which helps neurons communicate, and affects how the brain learns and functions. However, they later found that, over time, the children who were lucky…

Gwyneth Paltrow takes pampering seriously: even to the extent of “steaming“ her vagina. On her lifestyle blog, Goop, the Oscarwinning actress sings the praises of the Tikkun Holistic Spa in LA, where the “golden ticket” is Mugwort V-Steam therapy. “You sit on what is essentially a mini throne, and a combination of infrared and mugwort steam cleanses your uterus, et al. It’s an energetic release – not just a steam douche – that balances female hormone levels. If you’re in LA, you have to do it.” But gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter disagrees. “Steam is probably not good for your vagina,” she says. “Herbal steam is no better and quite possibly worse.” The supermodel David Gandy isn’t the first in his family to move among the rich and famous. His grandfather,…

What’s the greatest threat facing Europe today? Judging from the headlines, you might think it’s the extremists of Islamic State, said Joan Smith in The Independent on Sunday – but their atrocities are distracting attention from a far greater danger: Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Last week, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg described 2014 as a “black year” for European security, noting that the alliance had recorded more than 400 incursions into foreign airspace by Russian warplanes last year, around four times as many as in 2013. The day before, RAF jets had been scrambled to intercept two Russian bombers over the English Channel. Meanwhile, Moscow has shattered a fragile ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, and stepped up its “undeclared war” on its neighbour, a conflict that has now claimed around 5,000 lives.…

“He does this all the time.” That’s what Andy Murray said to himself in the third set of the Australian Open final, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. And he was right. “Novak Djokovic wins the Australian Open all the time. He beats Murray all the time, too.” So it proved on Sunday: the Serb dismissed the Scotsman in four sets, capping his victory with a 6-0 whitewash in the final set. But an hour before that grim conclusion, Murray was actually leading 2-0 in the third set – and it looked as if he might buck the trend. The problem, Murray later said, was that he became distracted. “And what distracted him? The thing that Djokovic does all the time”: he seemed to be “on his last legs”,…

Football Harry Redknapp resigned as QPR manager. Chelsea bought Colombian winger Juan Cuadrado from Fiorentina for £23m and sold André Schürrle to Wolfsburg for £22m. Manchester United sold Darren Fletcher to West Brom for free and Wilfried Zaha to Crystal Palace for £3m plus add-ons. Tennis Serena Williams won the Australian Open, beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets. It was her 19th major singles title, giving her the second-largest haul in women’s tennis history. Golf Rory McIlroy won the Dubai Desert Classic.…

Inherent Vice Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson 2hrs 28mins (15) Hallucinogenic film noir pastiche No one before now has ever adapted a novel by the reclusive US author Thomas Pynchon, said Peter Travers in Rolling Stone, and for the simple reason that his “near-Joycean language defies translation into other forms”. But if anyone could get away with it, it had to be Paul Thomas Anderson, “the most audaciously original filmmaker of his generation” – a man incapable of composing “a dull shot”. And the result, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph, is “a stupendous five-star knockout”. Inherent Vice stars Joaquin Phoenix, a marijuana-addled private eye in 1970s California on the trail of a missing tycoon who may or may not have been bumped off by his mistress (Katherine Waterston). Don’t…

Marek Szczesny at l’étrangère It is appropriate that a gallery named in honour of the classic existentialist novel by Albert Camus should choose the Polish artist Marek Szczesny for its inaugural exhibition. Szczesny was born in 1939, and his formative years coincided with the most dramatic political and social upheavals in recent European history. In 1978, he escaped communist Poland for Paris, where he has lived and worked ever since. Given his background, it is perhaps unsurprising that Szczesny’s paintings are terrifying, alienated things. They are peopled by spindly, nightmarish figures against bleak backgrounds. Make no mistake – this is not art for the faint of heart. But there is an extraordinary power to it, and a healthy sense of absurdist gallows humour. Think surrealist-period Mark Rothko on a particularly gloomy…

Showing now Artes Mundi 6, National Museum Cardiff and other venues (029-2055 5300, www.artesmundi.org). Theaster Gates has just won the UK’s biggest art prize: the £40,000 Artes Mundi 6 award. Here, his winning installation is shown alongside ten shortlisted artists, any one of whom “is a worthy contender for a solo exhib-ition in the Tate” (Independent). Ends 22 Feb. Book now Rufus Sewell stars in a revival of Patrick Marber’s awardwinning play, Closer, about the turbulent love lives of four characters in 1990s London. 12 Feb-4 April, Donmar Warehouse, London WC2 (0844-871 7624). Damon Albarn and Moira Buffini have written a new musical, wonder.land, inspired by Alice in Wonderland. 29 June-12 July, Palace Theatre, Manchester (0844-871 7654, www.mif.co.uk); it opens at the National Theatre in London in November, with booking…

Auto Express In the ever “competitive” supermini market, the i20 has sold well – but it has never really been in the “limelight”. Now, with this second-generation model, Hyundai is trying to change that. The car has been given a “radical” shake-up, with everything apart from the engines on offer (three petrol and two diesel) overhauled. Can the car now compete with the popular VW Polo or Vauxhall Corsa? The Daily Telegraph The i20’s new design is certainly impressive. It has a “contemporary” look, with gloss-black rear window pillars that give it a welcome “touch of individuality”. Inside, the “well laid-out” dashboard has a finish worthy of a more expensive car. And the i20 is now more spacious than most of its competitors. There’s a roomy boot and ample space…

Fitness Blender offers more than 400 free workout videos, ranging from highintensity interval training to yoga. Led by fitness fanatics Daniel and Kelli, they can be browsed by length or the muscles you want to work (free; www.fitnessblender.com). Crunch Live is the online outpost of New York’s Crunch Gym. The classes put a premium on high-energy “entertainment” – but they also cover the “more sensible” basics, including aerobics and core fitness (£7 a month; www.crunchlive.com). The Body Coach “motivates his clients” by social media and email. Send him a picture of yourself and he’ll email you a 90 or 180-day programme (from £147 for a 90-day plan; www.thebodycoach.co.uk). Pilatesology covers “seemingly all needs”: there are Pilates classes for pregnant women, for instance, and for people who have had a hip…

Norfolk Broads The recently refurbished River End Cottage (sleeps 6), just a stone’s throw from the quayside in Beccles, is available for a week’s stay from 14 Feb for £532. 01263-715779, www.norfolkcottages.co.uk. Party in Las Vegas Four nights at the Hard Rock Hotel, with bus tour, costs from £685pp deluxe room only, incl. flights. 020-3542 8888 (quote dealchecker), www.dealchecker.co.uk. Book by 10 Feb, travel by 29 March. Hong Kong and Fiji Enjoy 2 nights at the Metro Park Kowloon, Hong Kong, then 6 nights at the Fiji Hideaway Resort. Prices from £1,349pp b&b incl. flights. 0800-988 4834, www.aus travel.com. Travel April-May. Four-star Mexico A 7-night stay at the Sandos Caracol Eco Resort & Spa, in Playa del Carmen, costs from £1,149pp all inclusive, with flights from Gatwick. 01293-735831, www.hayesandjarvis. co.uk.…

Qatar: corporate muscle There’s a new force in the cockpit of British Airways’ owner, International Airlines Group, said Simon Goodley in The Observer. State-owned Qatar Airways has acquired a 10% stake, in a move that cements an already “close commercial friendship” with BA. Yet it’s proving controversial in some quarters. Middle Eastern hubs “may be the way of the future” for the airline industry, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail – as Dubaibased Emirates is demonstrating. But it is surely “a trifle foolish” for the owner of Britain’s flag-carrier to welcome Qatar to the share register so enthusiastically, “given the country’s support for some of the nastier terror outfits in the Middle East”. And at first glance, Qatar’s strategic logic isn’t obvious, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. Why…

When Apple recorded the largest-ever quarterly profits made by a public company last week, analysts could scarcely contain their excitement, said Rupert Neate in The Observer. “Stunning”, “outstanding”, “a monster”; these were just some of the reactions to the news that the firm had made $18bn in just three months “by selling 34,000 iPhones an hour around the clock from October to December”. Apple’s shares rose to a record high of $120. In addition, it secured its position as the world’s largest company by market capitalisation, said The Wall Street Journal. To put things in context, Apple made six times more in the last quarter than Google; and could, if it chose, buy up the entire S&P SmallCap 600. If it keeps up sales this year, it will bring in…

The election and your portfolio Matthew Lynn The Daily Telegraph There are plenty of reasons to dread this year’s election campaign, but your portfolio oughtn’t to be one of them, says Matthew Lynn. Stock markets historically perform well around a general election – “regardless of whether the Left or the Right is about to take power, or whether the new government is pro or antibusiness”. So why not sit back and “enjoy some easy profits as the drama unfolds”? Because my hunch is that “whatever happens, the markets are not going to like it”. A Tory majority will fuel worries about a referendum on the EU; a Labour victory threatens possible price controls; and a hung Parliament will mean prolonged uncertainty. True, the main shape of markets this year will…

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…

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.…

Washington DC Romney bows out: Mitt Romney has ruled out a third attempt at the White House, clearing the way for Jeb Bush’s nomination. Three weeks after announcing that he was considering a run, Romney had reluctantly accepted that many of the big-money donors who backed him in 2012 now favoured Bush – the former governor of Florida – as the “establishment” candidate. The second son of the 41st president of the US, and the younger brother of the 43rd, Bush has emerged as a sharp strategist, who – by forming a fundraising committee in December – tied down donors early in the process (although he has yet to formally announce that he is running). However, there are many who think a fresher face is needed to run against Democrat…

“The habit of using military metaphors to describe peacetime politics is ridiculous and irresistible. British elections are infected with the vocabulary of combat: ‘war room’ for headquarters, ‘battle bus’ for coaches, ‘boots on the ground’ for activists. Journalists, never shy of overstatement, are complicit, and politicians need no encouragement. This week David Cameron declared ‘all-out war’ on mediocrity in schools (with what? Banality-seeking missiles?). This is the same Prime Minister who affected outrage because Ed Miliband allegedly said he would ‘weaponise’ the NHS. Such hysteria is all part of the ‘air war’ to depict your enemies as a threat to civilisation and yourself as its salvation.”…

All Labour is good for now is muckraking Dominic Lawson The Sunday Times There are sections of the Labour Party still so “convulsed with loathing for Margaret Thatcher” they will do anything to blacken the name of her associates, says Dominic Lawson. Look at the vile treatment of the recently departed Leon Brittan. His blood was barely cold before Labour MP Tom Watson declared that the former home secretary “stands accused of multiple child rapes”. Watson based his charge on the word of a man (known only as “Nick”) who’d told him that as a child he’d been repeatedly abused in a Westminster flat by a man calling himself “Leon”. Watson was backed by another Labour MP, Simon Danczuk, who claims that Brittan had covered up a dossier exposing a…

China is currently running what may be the largest ecological engineering project in the world – and the Great Green Wall seems to be working, reports the New Scientist. In 1978, the Chinese began planting millions of trees to create a giant windbreak across the country’s arid north, and halt the expansion of the Gobi Desert. The project is not due for completion until 2050 – by which time more than 100 billion trees will have been planted – but the latest research suggests it is already taking effect. “Vegetation has improved and dust storms have decreased significantly in the Great Green Wall region, compared with other areas,” said Minghong Tan of Beijing’s Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research. Storms from the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts blow the…

When Islamic State fighters stormed into Kobane last September, said Dominique Soguel on The Christian Science Monitor, it took them a matter of days to seize much of the city and its surrounding villages, thereby consolidating the group’s hold on northern Syria. More than 250,000 Syrian Kurds fled the area to neighbouring Turkey, but a small core of fighters belonging to the Kurdish People’s Protection Unit decided to take on the rampant jihadis. “To those watching events unfold, a Kurdish defeat appeared inevitable.” Yet it hasn’t turned out that way. Last week the Kurdish fighters, among them many women, finally succeeded in driving Isis out of Kobane. Their victory came at a steep price, though: four months of fierce fighting and allied air strikes have reduced most of the city…

“Dippy is leaving the building,” said Maev Kennedy in The Guardian. After 35 years of dominating the central hall of the Natural History Museum, the 105ft replica of a diplodocus skeleton is making way for a whale. Dippy is the cast of a dinosaur fossil found in Wyoming in 1899 and later acquired by Andrew Carnegie; the philanthropist sent a copy to Edward VII, after the King had “dropped a heavy hint” that London should have one. The cast has been a favourite ever since it arrived in 1905, and in 1979 it was given pride of place in the entrance hall. But in 2017 Dippy will be replaced by “a real and even more vast specimen”: the skeleton of a blue whale that was beached off Ireland in 1891…

“Just when England thought it was safe to dip their toes back in Australian waters, up popped Mitchell Johnson,” said Paul Newman in the Daily Mail. In the Tri-Series final on Sunday, the Australian fast bowler transported them back to the darkest days of their “Ashes misery” 12 months ago, taking three wickets in just ten balls. That “virtually ended England’s hopes of chasing 278 for eight” – and, sure enough, England fell short by 112 runs. It was the third time they had played Australia on this tour, losing each time. Two weeks away from the World Cup, that was not the warm-up they wanted – especially as they will meet the “old enemy” again next Saturday, in their first match of the tournament. Still, things are looking up…

Writing off Greek debts To The Guardian I applaud Owen Jones’s reminder that defeated Germany in 1953 benefited from debt relief. The German taskmasters dominating the EU speak from a position of economic strength today very much because the Allies wrote off the entire German public debt notched up by the Nazis (670% of its GDP), and this help was augmented by Germany’s share of aid under the Marshall plan – $1,448m between 1948 and 1951. This relief laid the grounds for the German postwar economic miracle, the Wirtschaftswunder, whose heirs are Merkel and her colleagues. Unlike Germany, Greece never received proper reparations for the devastation inflicted on it by the Nazis, and its share of Marshall plan aid was small ($376m). With that perspective, it behoves us to agree…

10.04 by Ben Lerner Granta 256pp £14.99 The Week bookshop £12.99 (incl. p&p) “I read the first 70 pages of 10.04 sceptically,” said Jonathan Beckman in The Daily Telegraph. I had enjoyed Ben Lerner’s debut, Leaving the Atocha Station, a novel “about a poet (like Lerner) who wins a scholarship to Madrid (as Lerner did)”. But I worried that his new book, about a hip Brooklyn writer (called Ben) whose first novel was a great success (as Lerner’s was), writing a novel (which turns out to be the one we’re reading) might prove too much of a good thing. “No need to worry. 10.04 is an even better book, still introspective but with less of the rancid brio of youth.” It’s still early in 2015, but “I doubt I’ll read…

There’s a cinema in England that offers a totally different experience from any other, said James Jackson in The Times. At the Milton Keynes Cineworld, audiences watching the spy spoof Kingsman: The Secret Service feel their seats tip and jolt in time with the action, while aromas (matching the on-screen action) waft into their nostrils. When a character vomits violently, a spray of water squirts in every viewer’s face. This is the new immersive cinematic experience known as 4DX, or 4D for short. First developed in South Korea in 2009, 4D was launched to enhance the experience of watching the James Cameron film Avatar. Since then, the technology – hydraulics fitted under seats, fans fixed to walls to create weather effects, and countless other modifications – has been installed in…

Two statues of naked men riding on panthers were proclaimed this week as “probably the only surviving bronze sculptures” by Michelangelo, says The Guardian. A team of Cambridge academics has produced compelling evidence that the “mysterious” metre-high pieces, known as the Rothschild Bronzes, are by the Renaissance master. They have detailed, for instance, many similarities to other nudes by Michelangelo, while a neutron scan has revealed that they were made in the early 16th century. “Crucial to the attribution” is a tiny sketch by an apprentice of Michelangelo, showing “a muscular youth riding a panther”. The Rothschild Bronzes are thought to have been made between 1506 and 1508. They were attributed to Michelangelo in the 19th century, when they were owned by the Rothschild family, but since then have been…

Lilian agrees to sell her share in The Bull. She tells Jolene that Matt’s left and emptied their accounts. Adam and Charlie chat about their New Year’s Eve kiss. Adam dismisses it as a drunken mistake, and Charlie claims to agree. Helen’s thrilled that Ian and Adam have decided to get properly married. Jennifer confronts Kate about Lucas. Kate admits her marriage is over, claiming Lucas’s parents poisoned him against her. Lilian finally tells Jennifer that Matt’s left her. Ed sells four cows. Justin agrees to let the Archers stay on at Brookfield as tenants while work is done at Hadley Haugh. Jennifer and Kate sit Phoebe down for a chat. Phoebe says she’s found it hard to talk since Kate’s been back. Kate says she’d like Phoebe to live…

Many Koreans strongly believe in the health-giving powers of the ginseng root, which has been used for thousands of years to boost energy levels. You can buy ginseng from health-food stores and some Asian food stores, where you will also find kimchi paste (kimchi is a traditional Korean method of fermenting different vegetables and roots) and chilli powder Ginseng kimchi Makes one jar, approx 2 litres 20 (300g) thin, fresh ginseng roots 100g coarse sea salt kimchi paste 50g cooked short-grain rice ½ cucumber 200g gochugaru, (Korean chilli powder) 100g finely chopped leek 2 tbsp minced garlic 1 tbsp finely grated ginger 100g shredded fresh daikon (mooli) 50g Chinese leaf, the white part ¼ Savoy cabbage 100ml fish sauce 2 tbsp salt 2 tbsp granulated sugar • Cut the ginseng…

Quiksilver Pro Chamonix ABS backpack If you’re skiing off-piste in an area prone to avalanches, it’s worth carrying this backpack. Its two airbags inflate at the touch of a lever, reducing your risk of sinking into the snow (£135; www.quiksilver.co.uk). Salomon Quest Helmet Using Salomon’s “Auto Custom Air” technology, this helmet’s lining inflates when you put it on so it fits snugly – and safely – around your head. There’s also excellent ventilation, which can be adjusted to let in more air (£135; www.salomon.com/uk). SkiA Sweetspot Ski Trainer Before you go, improve your balance with a pair of training devices. Clipping to the bottom of ski boots, they let you test out your technique on any hard surface. They come in four difficulty levels (£45; www.skia.com). Atomic Savor³ These ski…

Demis Roussos 1946-2015 Rotund, bearded, with a tremulous tenor voice and a taste for billowing, floorlength kaftans, Demis Roussos was an “unlikely heart-throb”, said The Daily Telegraph. Yet the singer, who has died aged 68, sold millions of records in the 1970s, and attracted a huge female following. He credited his success in part to good timing: foreign holidays were becoming accessible to the mass market, and his romantic ballads appealed to those who yearned to escape grey Britain for Mediterranean beaches. It was this that Mike Leigh tapped into when, in his TV play Abigail’s Party, he had Alison Steadman’s social-climbing hostess sway around the room to Roussos’s slushy hit Forever and Ever. (He doesn’t “sound fat”, she remarks.) To some, this confirmed the view that Roussos’s music was…

Global stock markets held steady, despite the raised threat of a stand-off between Greece and its creditors over the new government’s proposed debtrepayment plan. The FTSE 100 ended January having notched up its best monthly performance in nearly a year. But fears of a global slowdown grew. The Baltic Dry Index, a key indicator of worldwide shipping costs, hit a 28-year low, amid weakening demand from China and the rapid fall in commodities prices. Phibro, a 114-year-old former giant of commodities trading, is being wound down by its parent Occidental Petroleum. Glencore chairman Ivan Glasenberg was reported to have taken a personal paper loss of $3bn. In Britain, the Institute for Fiscal Studies forecast that the worst of the spending cuts were still to come. To meet plans set out…

● Greek bond deal Greece’s new “rock star” finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, certainly seems to have mastered the art of cultivating confidence locally, said Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Daily Telegraph. Shrugging off the prospect of a debt stand-off, the ASE Index in Athens jumped 11% on Tuesday on hopes that his s345bn “masterplan” would “avert a showdown” with the troika and other sceptical creditors. Bank stocks surged 17%, while Greece’s ten-year bond yields fell back from recent dangerous highs to 9.26%. ● Beneath the charm Varoufakis has “charmed markets” with a surprise proposal for a “menu” of bond swaps, said Elaine Moore in the FT. These would include GDP-linked bonds, which theoretically “pay more to creditors when times are good and less when they are bad” (though there are perennial…

Steve Easterbrook It’s not much fun under the golden arches at the moment, says The Guardian. McDonald’s has suffered a disastrous year, prompting the swift departure of chief executive Don Thompson. The new man charged with “beefing up the chain” is Steve Easterbrook – a bloke from Watford whose immersion in McDonald’s culture dates from his school days in the late 1970s, when shakes and fries were “still a novelty”. Some analysts wonder whether Easterbrook, a longtime insider, is “the fresh blood needed at the top”, says The Economist. But he is credited with turning around the fastfood giant’s “grotty” UK operation – now one of McDonald’s best-performing markets. Winning back customers’ trust, particularly in the US, will take time. But Easterbrook has already shown it can be done. Ena…