Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1024 i The Week

What happened David Cameron has embarked on a whirlwind round of diplomacy as part of his plan to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Brussels. The PM – who has promised to hold an in/out referendum before the end of 2017 – launched his reform drive at an EU summit last week, where he admitted that it would be tough and that he had not encountered a “wall of love” from fellow leaders. On Monday, he laid on a dinner at Chequers for European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker. Cameron was then due to visit five European capitals over the second half of the week to hold further talks with leaders. The PM believes that EU treaty changes are needed to bring about the reforms he wants, which include a UK exemption from…

Berlin 65-year-old has quadruplets: A 65-year-old mother of 13 gave birth to a further four children in Berlin last week, making her the world’s oldest mother of quadruplets. Annegret Raunigk (pictured), a teacher of English and Russian whose oldest child is 44, was artificially inseminated in Ukraine last year. She said she was “shocked” to find out she had a quadruple pregnancy, but never considered reducing the number of embryos and had no reservations about the challenge facing her. The three boys and one girl were born premature at 26 weeks, but have “good chances of surviving”, according to RTL Television, which has exclusive rights to the story. Zurich, Switzerland Assisted suicide: A British father of three who feared his spinal tumour would leave him paralysed killed himself at the…

This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured co-founder of online encyclopedia Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales 1 Sweet Home Alabama by Ed King, Gary Rossington and Ronnie Van Zant, performed by Lynyrd Skynyrd 2 Shout at the Devil by Nikki Sixx, performed by Mötley Crüe 3 Delta Dawn by Larry Collins and Alex Harvey, performed by Tanya Tucker 4 Tom Sawyer by Geddy Lee, Neil Peart, Alex Lifeson and Pye Dubois, performed by Rush 5 Fight the Power by Carlton Ridenhour, Eric Sadler, Hank Boxley and Keith Boxley, performed by Public Enemy 6* Violin Concerto in A Minor, first movement by Bach, performed by Les Solistes Romands, Arthur Grumiaux and Arpad Gérecz 7 Let it Go by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, performed by Idina Menzel 8 Jackson by Billy Edd Wheeler and Jerry Leiber, performed…

Are we really all in this together? Tim Montgomerie The Times Is David Cameron genuine about wanting to govern as a “onenation Tory”? If he is, he’ll need to rethink some of his current priorities, says Tim Montgomerie. For far from showing that “we’re all in this together” and that the Tories are the true “party of hardworking people”, too many Tory policies still look like blatant sops to their core vote. For instance, at a time when ministers are looking to make a further £12bn in welfare cuts, what justification is there to end inheritance tax on properties worth up to £1m, a reform that will disproportionately benefit the better-off? Workers at the bottom of the pay scale are facing a squeeze on their in-work credits, yet people earning…

The stones that rewrite history The discovery of a set of stone tools, predating early man by a staggering 700,000 years, could force a rewrite of our early history. Until now, the earliest known tools dated back some 2.6 million years, and it was presumed that tool culture originated with the homo genus that emerged at around that time. Received wisdom was that only this group had the dexterity and cognitive ability to manufacture the instruments. However, the newly discovered set – which includes primitive anvils, hammers and cores – dates back 3.3 million years. The tools are presumed to have been made by an as yet undetermined hominin species with a “strong grip and good motor control”, which may or may not have been a direct human ancestor. The…

What’s the big picture right now? Overall, pretty positive we think. The financial world is still in the midst of an extended recovery following the huge downward lurch in 2008, but growth is becoming more balanced. Several beneficial factors, including lower oil prices, have helped. The determination of central bankers to maintain that positive trajectory by keeping the money spigots open, has created one of the most benign liquidity environments in years. There’s been a global tsunami of cash, with Quantitative Easing (QE) from the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan picking up the baton from the US Federal Reserve and Bank of England. China has also recently cut rates, which should counter recent signs of economic slowdown. Our base case is that China will avoid the hard…

The idyllic fishing village of Mullaghmore, on the west coast of Ireland, has for 36 years lain under the shadow of “one of the worst atrocities of the Troubles”, said Valentine Low in The Times. This is where Earl Mountbatten of Burma – the last viceroy of India, former admiral of the fleet, war hero and great-uncle to Prince Charles – was murdered by the IRA while on holiday. His fishing boat was blown to pieces by a bomb planted on board. Three others died with him, including his 14-year-old grandson, and a 15-year-old local boy. On the day of Mountbatten’s murder, said Robert Hardman in the Daily Mail, his adoring great-nephew confided to his diary that he felt almost suicidal with grief. “I fear it will take me a…

“Simple can be harder than complex.” Steve Jobs, quoted in The Observer “There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America.” Bill Clinton, quoted in the International Business Times “One has to discover everything for oneself. And get over it all alone.” Tove Jansson, quoted in The Guardian “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” Attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes, quoted in The Guardian “Regarded as a means, the businessman is tolerable; as an end he is not so satisfactory.” John Maynard Keynes, quoted on The Browser “Friends are God’s apology for relations.” Writer Hugh Kingsmill, quoted on Forbes.com “Most of the great triumphs and tragedies of history are caused not by people being fundamentally good or…

The law is an ass To The Independent A judge in Northern Ireland has ruled that a Christian-run bakery discriminated against a gay customer by refusing to make a cake with a slogan supporting gay marriage. No doubt the great majority of liberal-minded folk are more than happy that homosexuals are now accorded their proper place in society, and that same-sex couples can have their relationships legally recognised. However, as with many other progressive developments, this one can be taken to extremes. Maybe the judge felt that as the law stood she could make no other decision. In that case the law, as often, is an ass. The confectioners should surely not be obliged to print propaganda on their cakes, whether it be in relation to homosexuality or anything else.…

Hunters in the Dark Hogarth 352pp £12.99 The Week bookshop £11.69 (incl. p&p) Lawrence Osborne’s “elegant, stylish and ambiguous novels” have been compared to those of Evelyn Waugh, Paul Bowles, and particularly Graham Greene, said Neel Mukherjee in The Guardian. Like its predecessors, Hunters in the Dark features Westerners “adrift” in a culture that remains “opaque” to them. Robert, a Sussex schoolteacher escaping from his petty, claustrophobic life, wins $2,000 in a Cambodian casino – only to fall in with Simon, a dangerous, charming American expat. The plot resembles “a Newton’s cradle, one sphere colliding with another and transferring its momentum, and so on, in a long, complex series”. A brilliant travel writer, Osborne conjures up Cambodia with “dazzling immediacy”, said Peter Kemp in The Sunday Times. “Beautifully apt phrases…

Radio 4 Extra is now, rather “unexpectedly”, Britain’s favourite digital radio station, said Tara Conlan in The Guardian. With a schedule “packed with classic comedy” including Hancock’s Half Hour and Round the Horne, as well as documentaries and dramas retrieved from the BBC’s vaults, it attracts 2.17 million listeners each week – more than Radio 3, and far ahead of other digital stations such as Radio 1Xtra. The station has a relatively small budget, and is designed to make use of the BBC’s “incredible” back catalogue: you can catch golden oldies such as The Goon Show, cult hits such as The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, or adapations of Saki and Jane Austen. But 4 Extra also carries more up-to-date shows, said Gillian Reynolds in The Daily Telegraph. It has…

Felicity Lott, the great English soprano, picks her best books. She is performing with the London Conchord Ensemble at the Rathfinny Wine Estate’s Festival of Chamber Music and Wine in East Sussex, 12 -14 June (www.rathfinnyestate.com). The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig, 1942 (Pushkin Press £12.99). This autobiographical book is a poignant evocation of a lost civilisation. I became aware of Zweig through the opera he wrote with Richard Strauss. His descriptions of a world before passport control, when travelling was a pleasure, brings a wry smile. He was prophetic in saying that “the greatest curse brought down on us by technology is that it prevents us from escaping from the present even for a brief time”. The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal, 2010 (Vintage £9.99).…

Programmes B.B. King: The Life of Riley Shown again to mark his recent death, this acclaimed documentary looks at the extraordinary life of the blues legend. Sun 31 May, BBC4 11pm (100mins). Carry on Forever Martin Clunes narrates this three-part series telling the story of the Carry On films. Mon 1 June, ITV1 10.40pm (60mins). The Secret Life of our House In this natural history experiment, entomologist George McGavin infests a house with thousands of animals, normally thought of as pests, to give an insight into the ecology under our noses. Tue 2 June, ITV1 9pm (60mins). The Syndicate Lenny Henry and Anthony Andrews star in the third series of Kay Mellor’s lottery drama. This time the winners are the staff of a stately home. Tue 2 June, BBC1 9pm…

West Thirty Six 36 Golborne Road, London W10 (020-3752 0530) I’ve reviewed a few themed restaurants in my time, said John Walsh in The Independent. I’ve eaten terrible hotdogs surrounded by Rolling Stones memorabilia (Sticky Fingers), ingested polystyrene chicken in a mock Alpine chalet (Bodo’s Schloss) and even dined in total darkness (Dans le Noir?). “But never in my born days did I imagine I’d find a restaurant whose prevailing theme” appears to be “my Aunt Maud’s house in Putney”. West Thirty Six is a “screechingly trendy” new townhouse bar and restaurant, with decor inspired by a typical suburban home in the 1960s. The look is “simultaneously cute, naff and distressed”, and there are frayed carpets and grey pouffes. The food, thankfully, is more hit than miss. The aged rib-eye burger…

Pembrokeshire rural haven Hill Top Farm Cottage, a 5-star cottage near the village of Martletwy sleeping 6, is available for a week’s stay from £599. 01437-772760, www.coastalcottages.co.uk. Arrive 20 or 27 June. Far East cruise Fly to Singapore for a 2-day stay, then cruise from Thailand to Hong Kong on Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas. 16 nights from £1,499pp incl. flights. 0800-953 4963, www.cruise1st.co.uk. Depart 7 Nov. 4* New York and Vegas Stay 3 nights at the Lexington New York City, then 4 nights at the SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, from £1,099pp room only, incl. flights. 01293-735831, www.hayesandjarvis.com. Depart 20 June. Mont Blanc milestone Celebrate 150 years of mountaineering during a 7-night stay at the Chalet Hotel Sapinière Chamonix from £379pp half board, incl. flights. 01483-791114, www.inghams.co.uk.…

The first Queen’s Speech of the new Parliament included legislation to pave the way for an EU referendum, new rules to make strikes more difficult to organise, and another push to cut regulation affecting business. The Government also plans to link future increases in the income tax personal allowance to the national minimum wage – promising that no one working for 30 hours a week on the minimum wage as it rises will pay tax. The Chancellor received a boost from the latest public-sector borrowing figures, which came in at a seven-year low of £6.8bn in April. Coffers were boosted by high VAT and corporation tax revenues. Stock markets in New York fell sharply after strong economic data refuelled expectations that the US Fed will raise interest rates this year.…

The week’s best buys Babcock International Investors Chronicle The outsourcing giant, which gleans 55% of revenues from the public sector, is a key beneficiary of the election result. Orders are already at a record high. Growing internationally, too. Buy. £11.10. Booker Group The Times The cash-and-carry group plans to acquire Londis and Budgens’ lossmaking owner, Musgrave Retail Partners, for £40m. That should bring £833m in potential additional sales. Not cheap, but Booker is a “disciplined company” that yields 5.1%. Buy. 169p. HomeServe The Times After a tumultuous few years, the emergency repairs insurer is returning to growth in the UK. “Affinity partners” include Thames Water and United Utilities. Also reaping rewards from expansion in the US. Buy. 418.25p. Marks & Spencer The Daily Telegraph Underpinned by a solid food performance,…

What happened Iraqi forces launched a major offensive this week to retake the strategic city of Ramadi and the surrounding Anbar province from Islamic State (Isis) militants. A spokesman said government troops aided by Shia militiamen aimed to cut off the city, seized by the jihadis nine days earlier in a humiliating setback for the Baghdad government. US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter had publicly accused Iraq’s army of showing “no will to fight” in Ramadi; he claimed troops had withdrawn even though they vastly outnumbered their Isis attackers. Isis gave further evidence of its military strength in Syria, where it seized the ancient city of Palmyra (see page 20). Its fall, and the loss of vital gas fields nearby, are seen as a serious blow to the regime of President…

Washington DC Bin Laden cache: Some 400 documents found in Osama bin Laden’s final hiding place were declassified by US intelligence last week – revealing that the al-Qa’eda leader was an affectionate family man who read widely while obsessing over security and micromanaging staff. Selected from a far larger, still-classified collection of material (allegedly including pornography) taken by US commandos from the Pakistani compound where they killed bin Laden in 2011, they include tender messages to his three wives and children, alongside history books, US government reports and conspiracy theories attributing the 9/11 attacks (which bin Laden masterminded) to the US government. His own letters, however, are realistic, eschewing the apocalyptic tone of newer jihadi movements such as Isis; and, unlike them, he remains fixated on attacking the US rather…

A farmer in the Australian outback was reported for animal cruelty after one of his workers allegedly swore at a sheep. An “undercover operative” for the animal rights group Peta secretly filmed one of Ken Turner’s farm hands using profanities in front of the animals. Peta filed a complaint with the Australian RSPCA, but the case was dropped because no law was deemed to have been broken. “The allegation was that bad language was used by an employee in front of the sheep,” said Mr Turner. “I still haven’t had a sheep come to me [to complain].” Britain was hit last week by its biggest earthquake in seven years, causing a slight shudder in parts of Kent. The 4.2 quake, although strong by British standards, caused no structural damage and…

UNITED STATES Is Harvard turning away Asians? New York Post If you’re applying to an Ivy League university and your surname is Wong or Liu, you might want to change it to Lopez. It would certainly help your chances, says Betsy McCaughey. A group of Asian-American organisations recently filed a complaint against Harvard, accusing it of operating an unofficial quota system. The university denies doing so, but the evidence suggests that it and other Ivy League institutions are guilty on this front. Asians seem to have taken the place of Jews, who were likewise discriminated against by Ivy League universities back in the 1920s. How else do you explain the fact that Harvard’s racial make-up (15-18% Asian, 42-49% white, 6-8% African-American, 7-13% Hispanic) has remained steady over the years despite…

For creatures the length of a double decker bus, basking sharks are remarkably hard to keep tabs on, says The Independent. Indeed, very little is known about this endangered species – which is why environmentalists are now calling for the public’s help. In late spring, the world’s second-largest fish starts migrating to the seas around Cornwall in search of plankton blooms – and their distinctive dorsal fins or snouts can often be seen emerging from the water. This year the public is being urged to report any such sightings, on a special hotline at the University of Exeter. Its researchers will be manning the phones, with a view to finding the sharks as soon as they arrive, and fit them with GPS tags; the tags will then send a message…

Pope Francis revealed this week that he has not watched television since 1990, after making a vow to the Virgin Mary. The Pontiff doesn’t even watch matches played by his beloved Buenos Aires football team – instead getting the results relayed to him by the Vatican’s Swiss Guards. “It’s a promise I made to the Virgin of Carmen,” the Pontiff told an Argentinean newspaper. He does not surf the internet either, and only reads one newspaper a day – the left-wing Italian daily La Repubblica. When journalist Laura Moser decided to bring her daughter along to meet President Obama, she was no doubt hoping the toddler would be on best behaviour. But Claudia Moser had other ideas. A photograph has emerged of the little girl throwing a massive tantrum face-down…

“Unless Labour picks a leader who understands Watford, it has no chance at all in 2020,” said Philip Collins in The Times. Back in the days when Labour won elections, it used to conduct focus groups in Watford, “because it was the sort of place the party needed to win from the Tories”. And, as luck would have it, they might have just such a leader in Liz Kendall, said Donald Macintyre in The Independent. Born and bred in Hertfordshire, and educated at Watford Grammar School for Girls, the MP for Leicester West has a background which couldn’t have been better designed to appeal to “aspirational swing-voter England”. Launching her leadership campaign last week, Kendall made a strong bid for the centre ground, denouncing Ed Miliband’s “core vote” strategy. She…

Cricket: Stokes lifts England “out of the doldrums” What a “magnificent” match, said Mike Atherton in The Times. In one of the finest Tests in years, England beat New Zealand by 124 runs on Monday. Both sides played with “verve, skill and tremendous spirit”, scoring 1,610 runs – a record for a Lord’s Test. Yet the outcome remained something of a conundrum. “How, for example, did England win having been 30 for four on the opening morning? How, given that they scored more than 500 in their first innings, did New Zealand lose?” Any answer must start with Ben Stokes. The 23-year-old delivered “one of the most brilliant all-round performances of recent times”. His 92 in the first innings “lifted his team out of the doldrums”; his second-innings century off…

The Sturgeon leak To The Daily Telegraph It is little wonder that trust in politicians is so low. We have Alistair Carmichael, the former Scottish secretary, leaking a confidential memo of a conversation between Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister, and the French ambassador, and then blatantly denying that it was him that did it. Only when an inquiry revealed Mr Carmichael as the source of the leak did he admit responsibility. Mr Carmichael is to give up his £17,000 [ministerial] severance pay, but let us remember that the cost of the inquiry was £1.4m, funded by the taxpayer. It should also be remembered that he won the seat of Orkney and Shetland by a paltry 817 votes. Had they known of Mr Carmichael’s “dirty tricks” campaign, the constituents of these…

Theatre World Factory Direction/design: Zoë Svendsen and Simon Daw Young Vic, London SE1 (020-7922 2922) Until 6 June Running time: 1hr 45mins ★★★★ In order to cut costs and keep your garment factory going, would you slash wages by a third or sack half your workers? Perhaps you’d be prepared to hire illegal Vietnamese workers on the cheap? When the aircon breaks down, do you fix it or let your staff stew? What does it feel like when your cost-cutting leads directly to someone’s death? “Welcome to World Factory, one of the guiltiest pleasures” in London theatre, said Matt Trueman on Whatsonstage.com. The enterprising Young Vic’s latest hit is part interactive theatre, part giant board game, and part old-fashioned agitprop. Created by Metis and Company of Angels, it’s “a piece…

Showing now The Father at Tricycle Theatre, London NW6 (020-7328 1000). Florian Zeller’s “very clever and increasingly upsetting” play is about a man with dementia, and his daughter’s efforts to care for him (FT). With Kenneth Cranham. Ends 13 June. Then 22-27 June at Theatre Royal Bath. Richard Diebenkorn at the Royal Academy, London W1 (020-7300 8000). Though Richard Diebenkorn is considered a postwar master in the US, his “light-filled” paintings are barely known over here. This mini-retrospective seeks to correct that (Evening Standard). Ends 7 June. Book now The highly civilised Wilderness Festival puts a big emphasis on food, with banquets cooked by Raymond Blanc and Angela Hartnett. There are talks by Deborah Moggach and Dan Snow, and music from Björk. 6-9 Aug, Cornbury, Oxfordshire (www.wildernessfestival.com). Booking is open…

To qualify as a manzanilla, a sherry must be made around the seaside city of Sanlúcar de Barrameda, says Hamish Anderson in The Daily Telegraph. There, they produce the most delicate style of sherry – typically dry and yeasty with a salty burst of sea air. Serve manzanilla cold and fresh, store it in the fridge and preferably consume it within a week. Tesco Finest Manzanilla, Barbadillo (£6 for 50cl; Tesco) is a good starting point as an inexpensive introduction to the wine. On a warm day, my go-to sherry is Manzanilla “La Gitana”, Hidalgo (£9.99; Majestic). “With flavours of fresh nuts, green apple and the sea, it offers refreshment few can match.” Despite being less than a decade old, Equipo Navazos has “redefined what the best sherry can achieve”.…

Outdoor swimming in King’s Cross It has been dubbed “London’s hottest new attraction”, but in fact, it’s probably the “coolest”, says Adrian Bridge in The Daily Telegraph. The temperature of the water in the new swimming pond behind King’s Cross Station is a distinctly chilly 13°C. Still, it’s an “extraordinary” place for an open-air dip. Officially named “Of Soil and Water: King’s Cross Pond Club”, the pool – which will remain in situ for two years – was conceived as an art installation, enabling swimmers to “engage with nature” in an urban setting. And there is indeed a “thrilling juxtaposition” between the tranquillity of the pond, fringed by plants, and the sight of blokes in hard hats labouring away “within touching distance”. For information on opening times and admission prices,…

Magazine editor who identified the Sloane Ranger Ann Barr 1929-2015 Ann Barr, who has died aged 85, was one of Britain’s finest glossy magazine journalists. As features editor of Harpers & Queen, she spotted and nurtured a host of talent – from Nicholas Coleridge (who was 16 when she snapped up his first article) and Craig Brown to Loyd Grossman. But she may be best remembered as the co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger Handbook, in which she and another of her protégés – Peter York – delineated an entire social tribe. Though posh, these were not the dukes and earls that were then the staple of gossip columns, but the second rungs: well-spoken Carolines, Emmas and Amelias in their padded Alice bands and stand-up collars; and Henrys, Ruperts and…

Default alone won’t save Greece Roger Bootle The Daily Telegraph Greece and the eurozone are surely very close to an “event”, says Roger Bootle. Further payments to the IMF are looming, the coffers are empty, and it looks very unlikely that this time “the government in Athens will be able to find another few hundred million euros down the back of the sofa”. Doubtless the diplomats who specialise in “fudge and mudge” are working overtime to concoct some sort of default arrangement that will keep Greece in the eurozone, at least temporarily. But while that would alleviate its financial problem, it would bring little immediate relief to profound economic problems which, if allowed to fester, are the fastest way to fulfil the American fear of sending Greece out of the…

● Anniversary waltz A year ago the Indian PM, Narendra Modi, came into office promising to bring “good times”, said The Economist. “Much has gone well” – though “serendipity shares the credit” with Modi. Helped by low oil prices, he has presided over an improving economy whose 7.5% growth rate now outpaces China. Local stock markets have reflected the optimism of Modi’s promises of probusiness economic reform, said Jeff Salway on Citywire. “India was one of the bestperforming markets last year”: the Mumbai Index put on 30% and many funds investing in India have done even better. But having hit an all-time high at the start of March, the Sensex has fallen 8%. Does this “stutter” represent a buying opportunity, or does it signal more bearish times for India ahead?…

Add up the world’s cats, dogs, rats, pigs and cows, and there would still be more chickens. The domestic fowl is the world’s most ubiquitous bird and most common barnyard animal. More than 20 billion chickens live on our planet at any given moment – three for every human. The nearest avian competitor is the red-billed quelea, a little African finch numbering a mere two billion or so. Only one country and one continent are fowl-free: Pope Francis I regularly dines on skinless breast bought in the markets of Rome, since there is no room for a coop in the tiny state of Vatican City; and in Antarctica, chickens are taboo. Grilled wings are a staple at the annual New Year’s celebration at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, but the…

Controversy of the week In 1986, the people of Ireland were asked in a referendum whether they wanted divorce to be legal, said Paul Vallely in The Independent on Sunday. “They overwhelmingly voted No.” Not surprising, everyone said at the time, since Ireland was “the most Catholic country in Europe”. How things have changed. Last Saturday, it became the first country in the world to legalise homosexual marriage by the popular vote – with a resounding 62% in favour. The result revealed “the profound transformation undergone by Irish society in a single generation”. Modern Ireland has “shown its face”, said The Irish Times. As Dublin’s Archbishop Diarmuid Martin conceded, the time when bishops could instruct the Irish people how to vote has long gone. After “decades of exclusion, silence and…

Simon Pegg grows up Simon Pegg has built a film career playing a certain type of geeky, comic book-loving perpetual teenager. But the star of Spaced, Shaun of the Dead and The World’s End is now 45. He has a wife and child, a house in Hertfordshire and £10m in the bank. It’s time to grow up. “I thought the other day that I’m going to retire from geekdom,” he told Craig McLean in the Radio Times. “I’ve become the poster child for that generation, and it’s not necessarily something I particularly want to do. I’d quite like to go off and do some serious acting.” To compound his dilemma, Pegg is currently co-writing the script for the third Star Trek film – while becoming increasingly impatient with this kind…

• The European hedgehog got its name from its preferred habitat and the pig-like grunts it makes. • Hedgehogs have about 5,000 spines. These are really modified hairs. Each lasts about a year then drops out and a replacement grows. • Hedgehogs have some natural resistance to snake venom. This means that they can win a fight with an adder – and are not averse to eating it afterwards. • When exposed to pungent smells or tastes, hedgehogs exhibit a behaviour called “self-anointing” in which they rub frothy saliva on their quills, so that they look as if they are covered in soap bubbles. Despite various theories, no one knows the reason for this. • There may be up to 500 fleas on any one hedgehog, but the specific hedgehog…

FRANCE Charlie Hebdo staff are at breaking point Libération (Paris) The burden of representing a “global icon” has caught up with the survivors of the Charlie Hebdo massacre, says Laurent Joffrin. Since gunmen killed five of its six cartoonists in January, the satirical magazine’s remaining staff – hailed as standard bearers of the “right to blaspheme” – have to rely on police guards to get them safely through the day, and “shrinks” to keep them sane. They’ve also been involved in bitter disputes about how to disburse the s4m in donations they received in the aftermath (now all to be given to the victims’ families), and how to run the magazine. Worst of all is the constant yapping of critics, who blame them for bringing the tragedy on themselves, when…

There are very few teenagers who don’t own a mobile phone, says The Observer. In the US, around 75% do; in Britain it’s more like 90%. But according to new research, they shouldn’t be allowed to take them to school. The study, conducted by two economists at the London School of Economics, looked at four schools in English cities, and found that in those that banned the devices, test scores improved by 6%. Louis-Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy found that banning phones had the most positive impact on low-achieving pupils, and those from low-income families: for them, it was equivalent to having an extra hour of teaching a week. However, it had no discernible effect on high achievers, who were presumed to be less easily distracted by the gadgets. Most…

It has been called “the Venice of the Sands”, said Harry Mount in the Daily Mail, but that description scarcely does justice to Palmyra. Once the greatest Roman city in the Middle East, it exists today as a “magical expanse of Roman ruins in the middle of the Syrian desert”. Its central thoroughfare is still lined with hundreds of intact arches and columns; it boasts exquisite temples, tombs, aqueducts and theatres. But for how much longer? Islamic State militants overran the World Heritage Site last week, driving the Syrian army out of the city that the ruins adjoin. Beheadings have already begun, and there are fears that fanatics may soon raze the ruins with bulldozers and explosives, just as they did in Iraq, with the ancient Assyrian cities of Nineveh…

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, I was repeatedly barred from the red carpet, said the film producer Valeria Richter in The Independent. My crime? Wearing comfortable shoes. Four times I was stopped and told that I must wear high heels. Four times I explained that, with a partly amputated foot, I have no choice but to wear flats. Other festival-goers, too, fell foul of this “disgraceful” dress code, said Libby Purves in the Daily Mail. With delicious irony, a group of women was turned away from the premier of Carol – a film about a lesbian love affair – for their refusal to wear a torturous form of footwear “designed to make them attractive to men”. “News just in!” said Suzanne Moore in The Guardian. “The film industry is…

It’s hard to think of a bigger blunder in the history of motor racing, said Kevin Eason in The Times. On Sunday, Lewis Hamilton started the Monaco Grand Prix in pole position – and by lap 64 he was an “extraordinary” 25.7 seconds ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. But when two other drivers collided, the virtual safety car (an electronic warning to slow down) was deployed, followed by the real safety car. With just 14 laps to go, Mercedes ordered Hamilton – but not Rosberg – into the pits, where he was held up. By the time he emerged, Rosberg and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel were ahead of him, and Rosberg won the race – “the luckiest in his, or any, Formula One career”. Mercedes clearly thought that Hamilton…

Tomorrowland Dir: Brad Bird 2hrs 10mins (12A) Disney’s vision of the future ★★ There was a time when Hollywood movies had proper stories. Then the “bean counters” discovered they could make more money by prioritising branding and merchandising, which is why we now get sterile blockbusters like Tomorrowland, said Kevin Maher in The Times. This simultaneously bland and confusing sci-fi epic – inspired, like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, by a Disney theme-park attraction – stars George Clooney as a misanthropic inventor, who teams up with a feisty teenager (Britt Robertson) to visit the alternative-reality utopia of the title. Their mission? To harness the power of creative thinking and save the universe from “negative energy”. The best way to enjoy this film is to forget the baffling plot and…

The artist Adam Dant was paid £17,000 to depict the drama of the general election campaign, said Steven Swinford in The Daily Telegraph. His work will be hung in Parliament alongside masterpieces by the likes of Hogarth and Gillray. But reaction to his preliminary sketches has not been rapturous. The art critic Brian Sewell wrote in The Mail on Sunday that “Dant draws like a talentless schoolboy, incapable of any depth, truth, wit, mischief or criticism”. His sketches, said Sewell, “offer almost nothing of the likeness or the character of politicians”; he singled out Dant’s likeness of George Osborne (pictured) for particular disdain, saying that it “could as easily be a union official pleading for a strike”. However, Dant, who was commissioned by the Speaker’s Advisory Committee on Works of…

Will tells Nic that she can’t change his mind about being Ed’s best man. Pip informs Rex about some farmland he could rent out towards Penny Hassett, and invites him to the Young Farmers’ event. She asks about Rex and Toby’s girlfriends. Rex points out that Toby may have more than one. Stefan, a Berrow Farm worker, comes to Jennifer and David with information about the flood. On condition that he stays anonymous, he tells them that he’s almost certain he saw Rob blocking up one of the big concrete drains. Stefan suspects he may have wanted to avoid a flood in the cattle shed. Emma begs Will to think about being Ed’s best man. David talks to Charlie, who’s shocked at the idea of a Berrow Farm worker being…

Bring on the courgettes... it’s time to “spiralise” If the verb “to spiralise” isn’t yet in your culinary lexicon, it’s time it was, said Clare Hargreaves in The Independent. Sales of spiralisers – a razor-sharp cutting device that creates thin ribbons of vegetables, perfect for use as a pasta-substitute – are booming thanks to the recent crop of “beautiful bloggers” and their healthy-eating cookbooks. The Hemsley sisters’ branded spiraliser flew off the shelves last year, while retailer Lakeland says that by the end of March it had sold 27 times more of its own version than it had expected to sell in the entire spring and summer seasons. Of course, the idea of using thinly chopped vegetables as eye-catching carb substitutes is nothing new: every cool young chef was at…

New cars: what the critics say Wired The business saloon market was “fiercely competitive” even before Jaguar decided to “join the fray”. Unlike its predecessor, the X-type, the rear-wheel-drive XE is an “all-new car”. Built from more than 70% lightweight aluminium, it comes in a choice of three engines, including a mighty 325bhp V6. Can it “hold its own” with the BMW 3-series or the Mercedes C-class? Auto Express Don’t be put off by the pictures – the XE looks “much better in the flesh”. It has “real presence”: its “coupé-like stance” gives it “drama”, while wide, slim headlights “accentuate the width”. And the car feels “welcoming inside”, with a “simple yet stylish” interior – although there isn’t quite enough space for three in the back. Satnav comes as standard,…

The Headland, Fistral Beach, Newquay There’s an air of “Victorian asylum about this Gothic pile”, sitting on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic, says Jonathan Prynn in the London Evening Standard. Familiar to viewers of the film version of Roald Dahl’s The Witches, the hotel has undergone a major refurbishment in recent years. It now has 96 “tastefully bland” rooms plus 39 self-catering cottages, and public spaces are all “on a monumental scale”. The views, of course, are fantastic. In the restaurant, the menu is steadfastly local, and though the service is slow, it is always friendly. It may look forbidding, but The Headland is “a jolly place to stay”. 01637-872211, www.headlandhotel.co.uk. B&B from £89.…

Vodafone/Liberty Media: big banana What price independence? Vodafone is coming under increasing pressure from its biggest shareholders to sell off its “far-flung” operations and “embrace a £120bn merger” of its European business with Liberty Global, the company behind Virgin Media, said The Sunday Telegraph. Liberty – controlled by US “Cable King” John Malone (pictured) – has long been touted as a suitor for Vodafone, which is set to become Britain’s smallest mobile operator following the planned merger of rivals O2 and Three; Vodafone also currently faces “building a broadband and pay-TV business from scratch”. The firm’s investors, confident of a deal, have sent shares to a 14-year high, said Henry Mance and Daniel Thomas in the FT. But Malone, 74, is fully aware of the difficulties. He won’t take on…

Stewart Ford The 2009 implosion of the “death bond” seller Keydata “was the biggest financial collapse involving small investors” in decades, says The Guardian. Its founder is now paying the price. Stewart Ford has been fined a record £75m by the FCA – some 20 times the previous highest fine the City regulator has levied on an individual. Keydata investors thought they were buying low-risk bonds, based on second-hand insurance policies; but the scale of the fees meant the prospect of returns was minimal. Ford, a print worker who grew up in an Edinburgh orphanage, built a £2.8bn empire after studying the documents he printed for financial clients. Victims brand him “a heartless financial trickster”. He claims a “stitch up”, and is filing a £700m damages claim against the FCA…

We’re all increasingly vulnerable to ID theft, says Ali Hussain in The Sunday Times. Here James Freedman, a showman who describes himself as “the only honest pickpocket you’ll ever meet”, offers his protection tips. Protect your smartphone. Phones are valuable, but not nearly as much as the information they contain, so always protect your phone with a PIN. If you’re not using it, disable or block Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on your phone to guard against hackers. Watch your body language. Pickpockets often hang around near “Beware of Pickpockets” signs, and then watch people instinctively tap their pockets to pinpoint their valuables. Don’t keep your driving licence with your credit cards. Losing your cards is bad enough without giving the thief your address, full name and date of birth too. Beware…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 955 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 8 June. Send it to: The Week Crossword 955, 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 8 Tried hard with publicity in the past (3,1,2) 9 One in hot northern US Cape Cod could be boiling therein (8) 10 John on board is a nut (4) 11 Digital item associated with chips? (4,6) 12 All the…