Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1012 i The Week

What happened The Islamic State militant known as “Jihadi John” – notorious for fronting a series of horrific propaganda videos featuring the beheading of journalists and aid workers in Syria – was identified last week as Mohammed Emwazi, a 26-year-old computer studies graduate from west London. The revelation prompted a row over the perceived shortcomings of the security services, which kept tabs on Emwazi for years. Born in Kuwait, Emwazi arrived in Britain at the age of six. It’s unclear exactly when he became radicalised, but he was already on MI5’s radar in 2009 when, weeks after graduating from Westminster University, he was refused entry to Tanzania amid suspicions that he was en route to Somalia to join the terrorist group al-Shabaab. The Tanzanians put him on a plane to…

Oldenburg, Germany Killer nurse jailed: A German nurse suspected of killing dozens of patients by injecting them with lethal overdoses has been sentenced to life in prison by a court in Oldenburg. The 38-year-old man, identified only as Niels H under German privacy laws, was convicted of two murders and two attempted murders. He had, however, told a psychiatrist that he’d given overdoses to some 90 patients, 30 of whom died. Investigators are now looking into the deaths of 200 patients at Delmenhorst hospital near Bremen and at his previous workplaces. Niels H apparently told the psychiatrist that he had administered overdoses of the heart drug Gilurytmal so that he could then show off his “excellent” resuscitation skills. He claimed to have selected only patients with “an extremely poor prognosis”,…

This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured psychotherapist Julia Samuel 1  Good Good Lovin’ by James Brown and Albert Shubert, performed by James Brown 2 All You Need Is Love by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles 3 Sweet Caroline, written and performed by Neil Diamond 4 Something About the Way You Look Tonight by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John 5 Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings, performed by Eric Clapton 6* Blue Moon by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, performed by Ella Fitzgerald 7 Bitch by Meredith Brooks and Shelly Peiken, performed by Meredith Brooks 8 Symphony No. 2 by Rachmaninov, performed by the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gennady Rozhdestvensky Book: Other Men’s Flowers by A.P. Wavell Luxury: a notebook and a…

Two American tourists in Wales had to abandon their rental car after following their satnav straight onto a deserted beach. The Texans had set the GPS device to take them to Caldey Island, off the coast of Pembrokeshire. It failed to tell them they needed to board a car ferry to get there, and instead led them down a slipway and onto the beach at Tenby. They dutifully followed the instructions until their car got stuck in wet sand. They said Kim Kardashian’s bottom would break the internet – but a picture of a cocktail dress (above), posted by a woman in South Wales, came far closer last week. Having been uploaded to Tumblr, the picture swept the internet, and divided populations over one simple question: what colour was it?…

The danger of having a lie-in People who sleep more than eight hours a night have an increased risk of suffering a stroke, reports Time. Researchers at Cambridge University followed 10,000 people with an average age of 62 over ten years, in which time 346 of them suffered a stroke. They found that those who said they routinely slept more than eight hours a night were 46% more likely to suffer a stroke than those who slept six to eight hours; but it was the people whose sleeping pattern changed – from less than six hours to more than eight hours – who were at the greatest risk. The researchers suggest that older adults who sleep a lot, and particularly those whose sleep patterns change, should regard it as a…

“How loyal are you to this country?” asked Suzanne Moore in The Guardian. “How proud are you of it?” You are a Muslim and I am not, you see, so I can ask these things. “My loyalty is taken for granted, though it shouldn’t be. Yours is always suspect.” Hence, the BBC survey of “Muslim attitudes” that was published last week – and immediately pored over for evidence of an “us-and-them” divide. The BBC itself presented the findings as a good news story, said Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. “Most British Muslims ‘oppose Mohammed cartoons reprisals’,” declared the headline on the BBC’s website. But on closer inspection, this turned out to mean that 24% of those questioned believed acts of violence against publishers of offensive cartoons could be justified.…

“There’s nothing simpler than avoiding people you don’t like. Avoiding one’s friends, that’s the real test.” Lady Violet in Downton Abbey, quoted in The Sunday Times “People don’t believe in ideas, they believe in people who believe in ideas.” Scholar Zeev Mankowitz, quoted in The Guardian “If I see ‘upcoming’ in the paper one more time, I will be downcoming and someone will be outgoing.” Unnamed editor of The Wall Street Journal, quoted in The Times “Oh, gee, I can’t talk right now. Why don’t you give me your home number and I’ll call you later.” Jerry Seinfeld responds to a cold caller, quoted in The Guardian “You are never so stupid as when you are 17. Never. When you are eight you’re not stupid. You’re many things, but not…

Exhibition of the week Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album The Courtauld Gallery, London WC2 (020-7848 2526, www.courtauld.ac.uk). Until 25 May In 1793, at the peak of his career, Francisco Goya was struck down by a debilitating illness that left him deaf and changed his art for good. From that point on, his work became darker, and showed “an increased preoccupation with mortality and madness”, said Nancy Durrant in The Times. He began filling private sketchbooks with drawings that explored “his own fears and obsessions”. Goya made eight such albums, but after his death, their pages were dispersed, and ended up scattered across different collections or simply lost. Now, for the first time, one of them has been reassembled to make up the bulk of this new show at…

Poldark Forty years after Poldark gripped TV viewers in the mid-1970s comes this new adaptation of Winston Graham’s romantic saga. Aidan Turner stars as the 18th century Cornish mineowner. Sun 8 Mar, BBC1 9pm (60mins). The Billion Pound Hotel A behind-the-scenes look at the world’s most luxurious hotel, Dubai’s Burj Al Arab. It cost about a billion pounds to build and suites cost up to £10,000 a night. Mon 9 Mar, C4 9pm (60mins). Sex, Lies and Love Bites: The Agony Aunt Story Psychotherapist Philippa Perry examines our relationship with the advice columns, starting from the 17th century. Tue 10 Mar, BBC4 9pm (60mins). Nurse Paul Whitehouse plays eight different characters in this four-part comedy about an overstretched community mental-health nurse. Tue 10 Mar, BBC2 10pm (30mins). Quelle Catastrophe! France…

New cars: what the critics say The Daily Telegraph A seven-seater, familyfriendly SUV, the XC90 has been a hit since its 2002 launch. But it has only been tweaked since then, making this full revamp long overdue. It’s the “first of a new breed” for Volvo: it has the company’s new structural platform, and it’s the first car to follow their new policy of only installing four-cylinder engines. Can it now compete with fancy rivals, as Volvo hopes? The Sunday Times Well, it looks far better than the Audi Q7, say, or the BMW X5. There’s a “plumper, more imposing front end” and “snappy” LED running lights. The interior is a vast improvement too, with clever new controls and a “decent” touchscreen. And there’s more room inside: shorter adults can…

“I am not Spock, but given the choice... I would be Spock” Leonard Nimoy 1931-2015 Leonard Nimoy had been labouring in obscurity for 15 years when, in 1966, he was chosen “to boldly go” into space on the USS Enterprise, said The Washingon Post. The 23rd century exploratory mission was a “utopian federation of men, women, blacks, whites, Americans, Russians, and Asians – and Mr Spock, a pointy-eared half-human, half-Vulcan with upswept eyebrows, a splitfingered salute and a blessing, “Live long and prosper”, that became a catchphrase. Rising from cadet to captain, Spock was – as Isaac Asimov once observed – a “creature of pure reason and no emotion”. Yet Nimoy made him loveable, and he became the show’s most popular character. When it emerged that Paramount Pictures was planning…

It comes as no surprise that not a single bank featured in Superbrands’ annual list of the public’s favourite brands, which was topped by British Airways, said Management Today. Perhaps more worrying for those who hope for a banking resurgence is the fact that Britain’s banks were also conspicuously absent from the “Business Superbrands” list, which ranks how brands are seen by marketers and other professionals. Will this week’s crop of annual results do anything to shift that view? Possibly not at state-owned RBS which, despite improvements, registered its seventh consecutive annual loss. But over at Barclays, CEO Antony Jenkins sounded a more upbeat note, said Kamal Ahmed on BBC News online. Awarding himself a £1.1m bonus – his first as chief executive, taking his total 2014 package to £5.5m…

Calling time on Britain’s granny state Editorial The Economist The Government claims that when it comes to austerity, Britons are all in it together, says The Economist. Yet pensioners seem notably exempt. Since 2010, the basic state pension has risen by 16% (5% in real terms) “under a formula that guarantees generous increases whatever the economic weather”. The “granny state” even subsidises their savings, offering bonds yielding 4% interest exclusively to the over-65s. Younger Britons, by contrast, have seen their incomes “serially squeezed” and working-age handouts slashed. Buoyed by their generous pensions and decades of rising house prices, the wealthiest fifth of pensioner households enjoy average incomes well over twice the British average. For them, “the winter fuel allowance is less an inducement to turn on the radiator than an…

The week’s best buys Bodycote The Times Bodycote provides thermal processing for aerospace, defence, energy and automotive markets. Highly cash-generative and, with profits up 5% in 2014, a special dividend is due. There’s “further to go”. Buy. 762.5p. Cineworld Group The Mail on Sunday The cinema group is improving profitability in the UK and expanding solidly in Eastern Europe. This year’s blockbusters include new Avengers, Bond and Star Wars movies. The pipeline for 2016 also looks good. Buy. 452.25p. Circassia Pharmaceuticals The Daily Telegraph Shares in the biotech firm have lost their initial froth, falling 16% since floating a year ago. But a promising cat-allergies cure is on track for 2017: there are ten million cat sufferers in the US alone. Buy. 260p. Essentra Investors Chronicle Strong management has transformed…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 943 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 March. Send it to: The Week Crossword 943, 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 Fruit for a formal meeting? (10,5) 9 Bullfighters giving pain to bull repelled (7) 10 Clubs find out about apple pudding? (7) 11 By virtue of a legal entitlement, go far with this abroad (2,2,5) 12 Bad temper left…

What happened One of Russia’s best-known opposition leaders was shot dead in central Moscow last week in what many supporters claimed was a Kremlin-backed assassination. Boris Nemtsov, an outspoken critic of President Putin, was walking home from dinner when a gunman opened fire just outside the walls of the Kremlin. He was hit four times in the back and died instantly. Two days later, tens of thousands of Russians marched through the centre of Moscow to pay their respects to Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister. The Kremlin denied any involvement in the murder, described by Putin as “vile and cynical”. But allies point out that the killing came as Nemtsov stepped up his attacks on the regime. In a recent interview he denounced Russia’s “mad, aggressive” war in Ukraine,…

Madison, Wisconsin Walker pulls ahead: Governor Scott Walker has surged ahead of establishment favourite Jeb Bush (brother of George W.) in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to the latest polls. Admired by conservatives for winning a showdown with labour unions in his home state of Wisconsin, the 47-year-old Evangelical Christian (left) has turned a six-point deficit into an eight-point lead over Bush in the past month. He also fared well at the recent right-wing Conservative Political Action Conference, which is a key audition stage for candidates, coming in second to grass-roots favourite Rand Paul. Washington DC Netanyahu’s warning: Israel’s prime minister used his controversial address to Congress this week to warn the Obama administration that its proposed sanctionslifting deal with Iran would lead to nuclear war. Although…

The world’s most successful investor follows a strict diet in order to stay on top of the game. Warren Buffett revealed this week that he gets a quarter of his daily calorific intake from Coca-Cola (at least five cans a day), and the rest from potato-based snacks and junk food. “This morning, I had a bowl of chocolate chip ice cream,” he told Money.com. “I checked the actuarial tables, and the lowest death rate is among six-year-olds. So I decided to eat like a six-year-old. It’s the safest course I can take.” Madonna has revealed that she suffered whiplash after falling down the stairs during her performance at the Brits last week. “I didn’t hurt my butt but I hurt my head,” she told Jonathan Ross on his ITV chat…

Rugby union: Ireland’s wake-up call for England It wasn’t that England played badly in their Six Nations match on Sunday, said Daniel Schofield in The Daily Telegraph. It’s that Ireland were little short of brilliant. Their 19-9 victory was their tenth win in a row, equalling an Irish record. They look by far the best team in this tournament and are likely to win it. But for too long, the Irish have failed to get the credit they deserve. They picked up the Six Nations trophy last year, when they were also impressive against the giants from the Southern Hemisphere, beating South Africa and Australia and coming remarkably close to defeating the All Blacks. Yet time and again they are dismissed as a “onedimensional” team that is too heavily reliant…

Theatre Man and Superman Playwright: George Bernard Shaw Director: Simon Godwin Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1 (020-7452 3000) Until 17 May Running time: 3hrs 40mins ★★★ In 1903, when Shaw published this rambling drama of ideas (“a comedy and a philosophy”, he styled it), the critics pronounced it “unstageable”. Shaw himself cut whole swathes of it when directing its premiere; and since then it has seldom been revived. But the good news, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph, is that Simon Godwin’s modern-dress revival makes you glad it has been. “Mischievously blowing the dust off the period-trappings”, he brings out the piece’s intellectual energy and “infectious” comic zest. And as Jack Tanner – a kind of inverted Don Juan figure who disavows the opposite sex while proclaiming the power…

British Virgin Islands: Golden Pavilion, Tortola. An exceptional, Balineseinspired villa in a stunning promontory setting, with fabulous 180° ocean views and just a short walk from the secluded Little Bay beach. 4 beds, 5 baths, 1-bed guest cottage, 4 receps, dramatic terrace, heated infinity pool, hot tub, gym, landscaped gardens and grounds with sitting areas and direct water access, 4.2 acres. $5.95m; Knight Frank (020-7861 1097). Saint Vincent & the Grenadines: Lower Bay House, Bequia. Located 150ft above sea level, this exquisite waterfront home is set between two picture-perfect, white sandy beaches, just 14 nautical miles from Mustique. 3 beds, 4 baths, indoor and outdoor kitchen and dining areas, recep, drinks gazebo with bar, plunge pool with waterfall into a larger swimming pool, access to the sea and a cave…

Virgin/Stagecoach: franchise furore Typical, said Simon Calder in The Independent: “Britain’s newest rail franchise began not with a train, but with a bus.” Engineering works meant that passengers on the first Virgin Trains East Coast departure from Leeds last weekend had to take a bus replacement service to York. It wasn’t the most auspicious start for the new joint venture, 90% owned by Stagecoach but bearing Richard Branson’s licensed brand – particularly given the controversy surrounding the awarding of the franchise. The line has been profitably run by the state-owned Directly Operated Railways (DOR) since 2009, following previous fiascos at the hands of two private operators: National Express and GNER. TSSA union leader Manuel Cortes called the re-privatisation – rushed in ahead of the election – “a national disgrace”. The…

Controversy of the week It “bodes ill” that Ed Miliband should have deliberated over his university tuition fees policy for several years – “and still come up with the wrong answer”, said The Independent. His plan, first trailed back in 2011, was finally unveiled last week, after much agonised argument within the Labour Party. Miliband wants to cut fees at English universities from the current maximum of £9,000 per year – charged, in practice, by most courses – to £6,000. The £2.7bn annual cost will be offset by cutting tax relief on pensions for high earners. This may sound good to students facing average debts of £44,000, and their parents, said Camilla Cavendish in The Sunday Times. But it is “not the bargain it appears to be”. At present, graduates…

Margolyes makes enemies Miriam Margolyes is in trouble with her friends. The British actress is an outspoken critic of Israel – whose policies she believes are directly responsible for the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. “People understandably and correctly associate Israel with Jews and Jews are killing people – innocent people,” she told Matthew Stadlen in The Daily Telegraph. “It’s being done in my name and I simply can’t accept it.” Her critics claim this is naive and self-hating. “My friend Maureen Lipman is disgusted with me and speaks clearly about that publicly. As does Howard Jacobson, whom I don’t really know, much admire and wish that I knew. But he pillories and lampoons me in a very public way. I totally accept his right to do so but it…

Jihadis are bred in the playground James Bloodworth The Independent Why are our jihadis so angry with us? How can we stop others going the way of Mohammed Emwazi? The media is fixated on finding political or social explanations for the radicalisation of Jihadi John, says James Bloodworth. It was Western policy in the Middle East. It was racism. But I suspect the answer is more to do with sex than society. Boris Johnson was closer to the mark when he described jihadis as “porn-obsessed losers who can’t get girlfriends”. Emwazi himself – bullied at school, and lacking in friends – fits the profile. And you only have to note the jihadi obsession with how women behave to see the role adolescent male insecurity plays in their psyche. The frustrated…

Turkey’s dangerous game with Isis “No one should mess with Turkey’s armed forces.” That’s what Turkey’s foreign minister boasted last week, after a 700-strong task force had crossed the Syrian border to embark on what he described as a daunting military operation deep inside Isis-controlled territory. Their destination was the sole piece of sovereign Turkish territory outside Turkey – the tomb of Suleiman Shah (grandfather of the first Ottoman sultan), situated 20 miles inside Syria. At the end of the First World War this tiny exclave had been ceded to Turkey by France (then the mandated power in Syria), and ever since it has been guarded by a small Turkish garrison. The aim of the incursion, said Cengiz Çandar in Al-Monitor (Washington), was to bring the “sacred relics” and the…

England has become “a slightly worse place for idle ex-wives”, said The Economist. The country’s legal system has long been famous for its generous divorce settlements. “The poorer partner – typically a wife bringing up children – can expect housing and many years of income.” But thanks to a court judgment last week, the balance has now tilted “a little”. Tracey Wright, 51, and her ex-husband, Ian, a top racehorse surgeon, divorced in 2008. Mrs Wright received a £450,000 mortgage-free house in Newmarket; Mr Wright, 59, was ordered to pay £75,000 per year in maintenance. Mr Wright went to court to argue that it was unfair to expect him to support his ex-wife even after his retirement. The Court of Appeal found in his favour. It is “imperative”, said Lord…

Are the Greens the kind of principled people British politics desperately needs, asked Cole Moreton in The Independent on Sunday. Or are they – “with apologies to Kermit the Frog” – just a bunch of “muppets”? After last week’s debacle, when the party’s leader, Natalie Bennett, gave one of the worst political interviews in living memory, it seems a moot point. Asked by LBC’s Nick Ferrari how the Greens planned to fund the building of 500,000 social rental homes, she ummed and erred, coughed and spluttered. “So you don’t know,” Ferrari eventually asked. “No, well, umm...” The Australian-born 49-year-old later apologised for giving a “terrible” interview, which she blamed on a “brain fade”. In the Westminster village, the verdict was “instant and unforgiving”, said Tom Clark in The Guardian. “A…

The lure of violent men To The Independent Sad to say, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown’s article “Jihadi girls come from a long line” is right about the tendency of some women to attach themselves to violent and irrational men and movements. The 25 Points of the German National Socialist Party, drawn up at its foundation, made its policy clear: “No woman can be a member of the leadership.” Yet it attracted women in droves. Middle-aged women filled the front rows at meetings. Girls screamed in hysterical adoration. When Hitler promised to “give each German woman a husband”, they believed him without enquiring from where, in view of the loss of two million men in the First World War, these bridegrooms were to materialise. And it is just the same in other batty,…

It Follows Dir: David Robert Mitchell 1hr 37mins (15) Disturbing teen horror flick ★★★★ The best scary ideas are frighteningly simple, said Kim Newman in Empire. Imagine a curse passed on by sexual intercourse. Once you have it, you’re hounded by a shape-shifting, murderous demon, which pursues you slowly but relentlessly. The only escape is to have consensual sex with someone else, thereby shifting the curse on to them. In David Robert Mitchell’s ingenious new teen horror flick, that is the nightmare faced by 19-year-old Jay (Maika Monroe), who finds herself cursed the moment she loses her virginity. The movie manages to be not only “scalp-prickingly scary”, but also surprisingly “tender”, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. There’s a touching love story involving Jay’s besotted friend Paul (Keir Gilchrist),…

Best books… Robert Chandler Robert Chandler, the poet and literary translator, picks his favourite short books about Russia. He has co-edited the newly published Penguin Book of Russian Poetry (Penguin Classics £12.99). The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald, 1988 (Fourth Estate £8.99). Witty and mysterious, this is an unforgettable picture of Moscow in 1913 – of people trying to live their ordinary lives as the ground starts to shift beneath them. From the first sentence, everything here reverses the reader’s expectations. Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, 1833 (transl. Stanley Mitchell, Penguin £9.99). Almost all Russians see Pushkin as their greatest writer. His verse is supremely elegant, witty and musical. The late Stanley Mitchell spent 15 years on this translation. I have read the entire poem aloud – not once…

What the experts recommend Rick Stein 7 High Street, Winchester (01962-353535) For his first restaurant outside Cornwall, Rick Stein has alighted upon Winchester, says Zoe Williams in The Daily Telegraph. And on a midweek lunchtime the place is full to bursting with groups of four and six. It seems Hampshire is “either a county full of retirees, or one in which there are a lot of February birthdays”. The appeal is clear: “big name, plenty of classics, reasonable prices”. But for the time being at least, the “spark and perfectionism” for which Stein is renowned are only partly in evidence. Sea bream and squid dishes were merely adequate; and mussels came in a very heavy cream sauce, verging on custardy, in which the advertised taste of saffron was “vanishingly mild”. On…

Hôtel des Dromonts, Avoriaz, France Avoriaz is “on a mission to upgrade from mid-budget to sophisticated hotspot”, says Minty Clinch in The Independent. The town lies within reach of the Portes du Soleil, a series of resorts “straddling” the French-Swiss border. It has “at least one five-star hotel in the pipeline”, but the Hôtel des Dromonts – for 50 years Avoriaz’s only hotel – shouldn’t be overlooked. Once run-down and dingy, this 1960s Le Corbusier-inspired highrise had a s2m revamp last year, which turned its 34 cell-like units into a range of comfortable rooms and suites decorated with retro fabrics and red cedar. Communal areas are decked out in cowhide and hung with old photos. You can follow the hall of mirrors to the spa, or clip on your skis…

Nasdaq emulated major indices on both sides of the Atlantic by setting a new high, breaking through the 5,000 mark for the first time since it began its rapid descent in 2000. Stock markets in India jumped after PM Narendra Modi delivered a “make or break” budget: moves to cut corporate tax and invest in modernising the country’s infrastructure won applause from investors. The Bank of England formally called time on “fireside chats” and “a raise of the governor’s eyebrows” as part of an ongoing transparency overhaul. Deputy governor Minouche Shafik observed that “the days when ‘constructive ambiguity’ was seen as a helpful foil for central bankers are behind us”. Bill Gates retained his place at the head of the annual Forbes billionaire list, with a $79bn fortune, closely followed…

Bill Winters The new boss of scandalridden Standard Chartered “looks ideal”, said Alex Brummer in the Daily Mail. “A refugee from the autocratic tendencies of Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan”, Bill Winters is “something of a grandee”, having served on the Vickers banking commission and conducted a Bank of England review. Whether this makes him the right man for StanChart is another matter. “He is a merchant banker, taking on a largely commercial bank” – and “an American without any notable Asian or emerging market experience”. Still, no one can touch Winters when it comes to “naked ambition”, said Simon Goodley in The Observer. He’s renowned for stripping off with other financiers in a fundraising video version of The Full Monty – belting out the tune in a (rather wobbly)…