Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1030 i The Week

What happened The European Union faced the worst political crisis in its history this week after Greece voted decisively against accepting the terms of a eurozone bailout deal. Sunday’s referendum saw 61.3% of voters reject the austerity measures. The Syriza-led government in Athens hailed the surprise result as a victory for democracy over economic “terrorism”. But with Greek banks running perilously low on cash, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras hastened to show that he was still prepared to reach a compromise with creditors, replacing his outspoken finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, with a more emollient candidate. EU leaders had insisted last week that a “No” vote would spell Greece’s certain ejection from the euro. But after conferring on Monday, the leaders of Germany and France said the door was still open to…

The Hague, Netherlands Anti-police riots: There were violent scenes in The Hague last week when hundreds of people took to the streets to protest against the death of a Caribbean tourist in police custody. Mitch Henriquez, a 42-year-old businessman and father of three, from the island of Aruba, died of asphyxiation hours after being held in a chokehold and pinned down by five officers as he left a UB40 concert. Early reports that he had been carrying a gun proved unfounded. Demonstrators gathered outside a police station on Monday, the first of four nights of protests in the poor and mainly immigrant Schilderswijk district. Police were pelted with stones and fireworks, and doused in petrol. Local residents then defied a hastily imposed ban on public assembly in the area, leading…

This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured former England cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff 1* I Just Can’t Help Believin’ by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, performed by Elvis Presley 2 Somewhere Over the Rainbow by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen, performed by Judy Garland 3 Rocket Man by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, performed by Elton John 4 Ring of Fire by Merle Kilgore and June Carter, performed by Johnny Cash 5 Better Together, written and performed by Jack Johnson 6 Fly Me to the Moon by Bart Howard, performed by Frank Sinatra 7 Roll With It by Noel Gallagher, performed by Oasis 8 New Kid in Town by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and J.D. Souther, performed by the Eagles Book: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper…

We’re slower than China – thank goodness Andrew Rawnsley The Observer Can we please just get on with it. That’s the perennial cry of hard-headed men of business when confronted with the glacial pace of big infrastructure projects, says Andrew Rawnsley. “The Government must commit to the decision now and get diggers in the ground,” wailed the CBI last week as ministers dithered over a new runway at Heathrow. The same cry goes up over the failure to build more houses, or start fracking. But when people lament “Why can’t we take the politics out of this?”, what they’re really saying is: “Why can’t we take the democracy out of this?” Those who would expand Heathrow point to China, noting it churns out a new runway every week; easy to…

Statins and aggression Statins – given to millions of people to control cholesterol levels – appear to make women more aggressive, but to have the opposite effect in most men. Previous studies have indicated that some people become irritable and even violent on statins, but the findings were inconclusive. Now, the first randomised control trial has shown a clear link between the drug and aggressive behaviour in older, post-menopausal women. The findings for men were more complex: three men experienced a surge in aggression – but this was linked to poor sleep triggered by the drugs. Once these “outliers” were removed from the analysis, there was found to be a significant decline in male aggression levels. For the study, 1,000 people were either given statins (simvastatin or pravastatin) or a…

The first night of the Royal Opera House’s “wretched” new production of Guillaume Tell could hardly have been more disastrous, said Tim Ashley in The Guardian. Having updated Rossini’s story of Swiss resistance to an Austrian occupation, transplanting it from the 14th century to some modern-day conflict, the Italian director Damiano Michieletto then turned the ballet in Act III – in which Austrian soldiers force a group of girls to dance with them – into “a protracted and pruriently voyeuristic gang rape”. The usually tolerant Covent Garden audience reacted with “unprecedented anger”: “sustained booing swept through the auditorium, drowning out the music, and continuing until the end of the episode”. The disgraceful scene – in which the actress is “molested with a gun” – was designed entirely to “shock”, said…

Instantly recognisable in her turbans and colourful robes, Camila Batmanghelidjh is far from your “typical Whitehall apparatchik”, said Ellen E. Jones in The Independent on Sunday. Yet since founding her charity, Kids Company, nearly 20 years ago, she has been doing the Government’s job for it: hugging hoodies, in David Cameron’s infamous words – or, more specifically, providing food, shelter and emotional support to tens of thousands of disadvantaged children, many of whom have been traumatised or brutalised by horrendous levels of abuse and neglect. Now, however, ministers are threatening to stop funding the charity, unless its charismatic founder steps down from day-to-day control. Batmanghelidjh denies suggestions of financial mismanagement at Kids Company. She says she is being punished for speaking out against the child protection system. The Government’s gall…

Tennis: is Nadal a “spent force”? “Is Rafael Nadal finished at the highest level?” asked Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. The Spaniard’s shock second-round defeat at Wimbledon last week came at the hands of Dustin Brown, a dreadlocksporting 30-year-old qualifier “who used to travel from tournament to tournament in a van”. Granted, Brown produced some astonishing tennis for someone ranked 102nd in the world – especially given the German-Jamaican journeyman had never previously beaten a seed in a Grand Slam. But this was Nadal’s fourth consecutive “shock” defeat at SW19. In 2012, he lost to Lukáš Rosol (then ranked 100); in 2013 it was Steve Darcis (then 135); last year it was Nick Kyrgios (then 144). After six months out last year with a wrist injury and an appendix operation,…

To The Times The outrage of the SNP and Labour in relation to the proposals for English votes for English laws is hypocritical. For many years these, and other, parties have supported the devolution of powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Yet when an extremely modest form of devolution is proposed for England (for that is essentially what giving England’s MPs the final say over English laws amounts to), the Government is accused of risking the Union. Why should the citizens of the other three nations of the UK be allowed devolution, but not England? Why does allowing devolution to the former strengthen the Union, but giving it to the latter threaten it? Complaints that the new arrangements will lead to two classes of MPs miss the point, which…

Theatre The Importance of Being Earnest Playwright: Oscar Wilde Director: Adrian Noble Vaudeville Theatre, London WC2 (0844-482 9675) Running time: 2hrs 20mins (including interval) ★★★ If you thought David Suchet’s performance as the “mincing, moustache-smoothing” Poirot was a trifle camp, wait till you see him as Lady Bracknell, said Quentin Letts in the Daily Mail. Yes, one of “England’s great actors” is “hamming it up cheerfully” as Aunt Augusta, Oscar Wilde’s “terrifying combination of Cleopatra and Hyacinth Bucket”. As Lady B, Suchet does “not so much enter a room as occupy it totally”, said Michael Billington in The Guardian. It’s a “majestically funny” performance, full of unexpected nuances and emphases. And this is a “highly entertaining” show, in which all the actors take pains to give us “real people instead…

Jackson Pollock achieved a “remarkable amount in a short artistic career”, said Alastair Smart in The Daily Telegraph. By the age of 38, in 1950, he was at the height of his success. He had beaten the alcoholism that had dogged his adult life, and “turned centuries of Western artistic tradition on its head”. His vibrant “drip” paintings, created by splashing paint on a canvas, had won over critics and the public alike: in 1949, Life Magazine had named him “the greatest living painter in the United States”. But his “glory period” was short-lived: by the following year he had started drinking heavily again, and abruptly changed his style. Gone were the vibrant colours of old, replaced by thick black enamel paint; where his most famous works were entirely abstract,…

Here are my five “star whites” for balmy summer evenings, says Victoria Moore in The Daily Telegraph. Tesco Côtes de Gascogne Blanc 2014, France (£4.69). Chill this colombard/ugni blanc blend right down and it’s reminiscent of a juicy, ice-cold pear, peach and melon cooler. Quinta de Azevedo 2014 Vinho Verde, Portugal (£8.29; Waitrose). Spritzy and light (at 11% abv), this is like a dry white wine version of Badoit. Château Beaumont Les Pierrières Blanc 2013, France (£8.95; Lea & Sandeman). This cracking white Bordeaux tastes like a miniature fine wine, at an ordinary wine price. Taste the Difference Gavi 2014, Italy (£8; Sainsbury’s). A wonderfully pithy, crisp wine with vivid, sharp citrus notes. Domaine Raffault Chinon Blanc 2014, France (£13.50; Yapp). I can’t get enough of this Loire chenin blanc…

The stockbroker who saved 669 children from the Nazis Sir Nicholas Winton 1909-2015 Sir Nicholas Winton, who has died aged 106, was a stockbroker, president of the Rotary Club of Maidenhead, and tireless charity fundraiser. In 1983 he was made MBE for his services to the community. Yet unbeknownst even to his wife and children, he had a far greater claim to distinction, one that he had kept secret for half a century: in 1938, Winton had travelled to Prague, and arranged the evacuation of hundreds of Jewish children to the safety of London. By the end of the War, almost all were orphans, “their parents killed at Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen or Theresienstadt”, said The New York Times. Now in their 70s and 80s, and scattered all over the world, they…

A year of two halves for stocks? Buttonwood The Economist An investor who slept through the year so far might feel they had “not missed” much, says Buttonwood. The US and UK stockmarkets ended the six months to 30 June more or less where they started. Ten-year US Treasury bond yields are only modestly higher, and a reawakened investor would not “be particularly surprised to find that Europe was still engulfed in a Greek crisis”. Yet despite appearances, a great deal has changed this year, and “recent events have emphasised three lessons”. First, political risk (in Greece and elsewhere) is growing, and affecting markets in more unpredictable ways. Second, global investors are ever more dependent on the “largesse” of central banks (in the form of ultraloose monetary policy) to underwrite…

What happened David Cameron promised to make a decision on airport expansion by the end of the year, following the publication of an independent report which backed the building of a third runway at Heathrow; this would considerably increase the airport’s capacity – by nearly 700 flights per day. The Government-appointed panel, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, said that its decision in favour of Heathrow had been “clear and unanimous”, because of the huge economic benefits it would bring. But Davies set a list of conditions for expansion, including a ban on night flights, and legally binding noise limits; and said that Gatwick remained a “credible” alternative. Though welcomed by business leaders, the report caused cosiderable consternation among senior Tories, including Zac Goldsmith, a possible candidate for mayor of London,…

The world of competitive hot dog-eating was left reeling last week by the shock defeat of its biggest star. Eight-time champion Joey “Jaws” Chestnut performed strongly at the contest in Coney Island, New York, consuming 60 frankfurters in ten minutes in front of thousands of fans – but Matt “Megatoad” Stonie clinched the title, with 62. Eight people were trapped in a sports club for three hours by a fox that stalked them from the car park. When one man tried to leave the building, the fox chased him back in; a woman tried to distract it with food – only to have her hand bitten. Earlier, another man had fallen off his bike as he tried to escape the creature. Customers at the Alconbury Sports and Social Club in…

RUSSIA Don’t reinstate this blood-soaked monster The Moscow Times The history of modern Russia has just turned full circle… aided by a shove from the Kremlin, says Alexander Golts. Back in 1991, Muscovites took to the streets to thwart a military coup by Soviet hardliners against reformist president Mikhail Gorbachev. And to signal their rejection of what the hardliners stood for, they pulled down the vast statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, blood-soaked founder of Russia’s secret police, which overlooked the KGB headquarters in Lubyanka Square. In the wake of the Bolshevik Revolution, “Iron Felix” had tens of thousands of “bourgeois enemies” shot, yet his memory is still cherished by communists and nationalists, who want the statue reinstated. Last month they formally proposed that Moscow hold a referendum on whether it should…

Hopes that a form of genetically modified wheat would eliminate the need for environmentally harmful pesticides have been dashed by a major trial, reports The Independent. The wheat had been modified with a synthetic gene so that it emitted a substance called betafarnesene, which aphid pests secrete as a pheromone in response to the presence of a threat. Its scent then serves as a warning to other aphids to keep away. In a Government-funded field trial, at Rothamsted Research testing facility in Hertfordshire, the wheat produced the scent as intended – but it failed to repel the aphids. Scientists at Rothamsted said the problem may have been that the wheat released the betafarnesene continuously, giving the pests time to get used to it, whereas when they release it themselves, it…

Damon Albarn really loves his job. The British singer appeared at the Roskilde festival in Denmark this weekend with one of his musical collaborations, Africa Express – and enjoyed the experience so much he refused to stop playing. After five hours on stage, the 47-year-old played The Clash’s Should I Stay or Should I Go? The audience begged him to stay, but by that time it was four in the morning, and the festival’s organisers had lost patience. A burly security officer hoisted Albarn over his shoulder and marched him off stage (pictured). Frank Sinatra loathed journalists – with one exception. In 1988, Sandra White, then an undercover reporter for the Daily Mirror, managed to inveigle her way into a charity dinner hosted by Ol’ Blue Eyes. She found herself…

At last, said Rod Liddle in The Spectator, Britain’s politicians have come up with a “strong and forthright” response to Islamist terrorism. Their plan? To tinker with the wording of news reports on the subject. A group of 120 MPs wrote to the BBC last week asking it to drop the term “Islamic State”, on the grounds that it is offensive to moderate Muslims. The MPs suggested replacing it with the Arabic acronym Daesh, which has the double advantage of being derogatory (it sounds like an Arabic word meaning “one who crushes something underfoot”), and not having the word Islam in it. But the BBC’s director general, Lord Hall, refused, arguing that using a “pejorative” term to describe the terrorist group might compromise the BBC’s “impartiality”. Although his reasoning may…

The new McEnroe When John McEnroe suggested recently that “real characters have become an endangered species in tennis”, he clearly did not have 20-year-old Australian Nick Kyrgios in mind, says Tim Lewis in The Observer. The antics of the 26th seed have certainly enlivened this year’s Wimbledon. In his first-round match he got into trouble for shouting “dirty scum” in selfadmonishment. In his third-round win over seventh seed Milos Raonic, he “threw his racquet down so violently that it bounced up and landed five rows back in the first tier of the stands”. And in his fourth-round loss to Richard Gasquet, Kyrgios had several arguments with the umpire, hugged a ballboy and bounced his racquet into the crowd. “I feel you should express yourself,” he said. “You know, it’s a…

Amy The decline and fall of a jazz singer The decline and fall of a jazz singer ★★★★ One of the strengths of this “brilliant” documentary about the troubled jazz singer Amy Winehouse is that it doesn’t offer “simple-minded” theories about what caused her tragically early death at the age of 27, said Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent. Her parents’ separation; the neglect of her father, Mitch (“My dad was never there,” she says of her childhood); her drug addiction; the “wayward” influence of her ex-husband Blake Fielder-Civil (who introduced her to hard drugs) – all were factors, but none was solely responsible. As in his acclaimed film Senna, director Asif Kapadia combines rare TV footage with startlingly intimate home videos to reveal a side to his subject that most…

An art dealer based near St Ives has been convicted of knowingly selling fakes of paintings by a famous Cornish artist for thousands of pounds, says The Guardian. David Carter bought cheap imitations of works by, among others, the local fisherman and artist Alfred Wallis, known for his naive, untutored style, and sold them on at a vast profit. Suspicions were first aroused after one of his victims, Carol Gasser, bought what was supposedly a Wallis work, Boats Leaving Newlyn Harbour (pictured), for £5,000 in March 2011. Carter had said that the work was genuine and that he could prove its provenance. But a few months later, Gasser showed it to an auctioneer who questioned its authenticity. Gasser then reported the art dealer to trading standards. Carter had also offered…

Radio Borsetshire interviews David about the flood risk report. Meanwhile, news that the new road plans could be sunk makes the front page of The Echo. Phoebe’s grateful to Roy for her birthday party. Phoebe’s boyfriend, Alex, meets Hayley and Kate. Kate has a few drinks and embarrasses Phoebe by telling Alex about giving birth to Phoebe in a teepee at Glastonbury. Over the phone, Brian begs Debbie to talk to Adam and stop him making changes at Home Farm. Charlie’s annoyed that Rob has let Stefan leave Berrow Farm for good. With no answers about the blocked culvert, it seems to be case closed, suggests Rob. Tony and Pat announce that they are retiring and handing control to Tom and Helen. Rex is horrified when Toby arrives with 250…

The Grove 95 Overstrand Road, Cromer, Norfolk (01263-512412) “You can often judge a restaurant by how well the staff disguise their despair at your very existence,” says Leah Hyslop in The Daily Telegraph. By that yardstick, The Grove, in Cromer, is a real find. Before my visit I had “just been on a baconmaking course, so I was carrying half a pig”. When the waiter “didn’t bat an eyelid” at my request to store this bacon in the restaurant’s fridge, I immediately warmed to the place. And the pub’s food proved to be as down-to-earth and welcoming as its staff. Crayfish tian was a “perfect” starter; pan-fried quail with kale was wonderfully moist (though it could have done with a zingier sauce); marmalade and chocolate bread-andbutter pudding was a “treat”. There’s…

New cars: what the critics say The Sunday Times For six decades, DS was the badge Citroën gave its “fancier” hatchbacks. Now the French company has decided to make the DS a “standalone luxury marque”, creating a relationship much like the one Toyota has with its premium brand, Lexus. The updated DS 5 is the first of the new models, and it aims to compete with “executive-charming” Audis and BMWs. Does it have a “fighting chance”? What Car? From the outside, the new DS 5 looks much like its “distinctive” predecessor, with the exception of new headlights. And, as before, the cabin feels “premium and stylish” – giving the German competition a run for its money. The various buttons are easy to operate; and the front seats are large and…

BP: the price of certainty “Expensive thing, certainty,” said Alistair Osborne in The Times.“BP’s paying $18.7bn for it.” That’s what the oil major is shelling out to settle all federal, state and local government claims arising from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico – which left 11 people dead and “turned the company into a legal black hole with oil rigs attached”. It sounds a lot, but to judge by the share price jump that followed the unexpected news, investors think BP has “got a decent deal”. The money is to be paid over 18 years, said Lex in the FT. So in real terms it amounts to rather less than the headline figure, plus it lets BP plan with more confidence, and keeps the…

● Handsome gains We all know the standard advice when it comes to buying art: only buy things you love and would be happy to look at for the rest of your life. But even if you never intend to sell, says David Budworth in The Times, “there can still be a pleasure knowing that the artist you spotted is on the rise and that their work has increased in value”. And for those picking the right emerging artists, there are – let’s face it – “handsome gains” to be made. The summer is a great time to be looking, as the graduate shows are in full swing (at Camberwell 16-22 July; Goldsmiths 16-20 July; Dundee 22-29 August; and Bath Spa 19-23 September). They are often not well promoted or…

Yanis Varoufakis Farewell then, Yanis Varoufakis – libertarian Marxist, lover of game theory, scourge of German politicians and the IMF. Soon after the referendum result, Varoufakis noted drily on his blog: “I was made aware of a certain preference by some Eurogroup participants for my ‘absence’ from its meetings. For this reason, I am leaving the Ministry of Finance.” Varoufakis, an Athens economics professor, has “mesmerised” the media with his leather jackets, motorbike and rock star presence. But he will be remembered “for his substance”, said Suzanne Moore in The Guardian. His core standpoints – that responsibility for the Greek crisis does not lie with Greece alone, and that the human cost had become too much to bear – are clearly right. He put his points eloquently: Greece, he said,…

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 20 July. Send it to: The Week Crossword 961, 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 Chocolate cake and fingers get good marks (7,6) 8 Sadist caught at the centre of dreadful oiks (5) 9 Son dashes out for plimsolls (9) 11 One close outside back of room for changing (8) 12 Woody in rural Leningrad (5) 14…

Controversy of the week In the wake of the massacre of 30 British tourists in Tunisia, David Cameron “talked tough”, said James Rubin in The Sunday Times. He described Islamic State (Isis) and its affiliates across the world as an “existential threat”, and promised a “full-spectrum response”. At present, though, Britain offers nothing like the full spectrum: as Defence Secretary Michael Fallon pointed out last week, it is absurd that British pilots are authorised to attack Isis in Iraq but not in Syria – even though Isis controls territory on both sides of the border. The current prohibition on air strikes in Syria dates back to the Commons vote in 2013, when Labour and rebel Tory MPs rejected a proposal to intervene militarily against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. But owing…

Waite’s words of comfort It is almost three decades since Terry Waite was kidnapped by Islamists in Beirut, says Cole Moreton in The Mail on Sunday. The former envoy for the Archbishop of Canterbury spent almost five years in solitary confinement, much of it blindfolded and chained to a radiator. He would sometimes hear the cries of other prisoners being executed – and at one point he thought he was next. “They came into the cell and told me I had five hours to live,” he recalls. “I actually went to sleep. The body shuts down to give you respite from what is happening. They came back, undid my chains, took me into the next room and asked if I wanted anything. I was still in a blindfold. I said…

“This is a dynamic place, a city where you can build a career,” says Neil Rami, chief executive at Marketing Birmingham – a partnership promoting the city that may be benefiting more than any other from London’s overheated property market and fleeing middle class. Between 2012 and 2013, Britain’s second city welcomed at least 5,000 Londoners (that number is based on NHS registrations, so is probably an underestimate), lured by houses that are half the price and a booming job market. Deutsche Bank has 2,000 employees in Birmingham after moving hundreds of jobs out of the capital. Birmingham will also host the construction headquarters of the new HS2 rail line. “We are starting to see the benefits of the recovery, particularly for higher-skilled jobs that are being created in cities…

It was identified less than 40 years ago, in what was then Zaire – but the first Ebola outbreak may have occurred more than 2,400 years before that, in Ancient Greece, reports The Washington Post. An analysis of the writings of the historian Thucydides has revealed striking similarities between the symptoms of Ebola – the latest outbreak of which has killed more than 11,000 people in West Africa – and that of a plague that struck Athens in 430BC. The plague began during the Peloponnesian War – when Sparta was laying siege to the city state – and killed 25% of its population in five years. Thucydides – who survived – describes its symptoms as including sudden fever, headache, fatigue and pain in the stomach and extremities, accompanied by severe…

A backbench colleague described Lloyd George’s first Budget speech, which droned on from 3pm till 8pm, as “without exception the worst that has been delivered in the House of Commons”. Little did that critic – Hilaire Belloc – know that the 1909 Budget, which laid the foundations of the modern welfare state, would come to be seen as “the most epoch-making of the 20th century”. It’s unlikely that George Osborne’s Budget this week will be remembered for as long, said Donald Macintyre in The Independent. But as the first exclusively Tory Budget in almost 20 years, it will certainly help define this Government. Among its most eye-catching measures is an inheritance tax (IHT) giveaway. IHT is currently levied at 40% on assets above £325,000 for a single person, or £650,000…

“If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Einstein, quoted in The Observer “Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.” Terry Pratchett, quoted in The Times “Too many people spend money they haven’t earned to buy things they don’t want to impress people they don’t like.” Will Rogers, quoted in the Las Vegas Review-Journal “True terror is to wake up one morning and realise that your high school class is running the country.” Kurt Vonnegut, quoted on NJ.com “Childhood has no forebodings; but then, it is soothed by no memories of outlived sorrow.” George Eliot, quoted in The Times “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come.” Victor Hugo, quoted in the Daily Star…

Juncker is a bully To The Guardian Rafael Behr is right that Greece’s tragedy does not invalidate the case for the EU. But he is too kind to Europe’s leaders, who display precious little humility or respect for national feeling. As well as demanding payments that Greece cannot possibly make, and seeking remedies that will further weaken its economy, they are causing huge suffering to many of their fellow Europeans. Their behaviour is not only stupid, it is also immoral. So there is a morality tale here, and you do not have to be either a UKIP supporter or a member of the “hard-left” to feel distaste for the bullying, supercilious approach of Jean-Claude Juncker et al. The “Yes” campaign in Britain’s EU referendum may well achieve a reluctant acceptance…

Grey by E.L. James Arrow 576pp £7.99 The Week bookshop £7.59 (incl. p&p) “What do women want?” That, according to Freud, was “the great question that has never been answered”, said Christina Patterson in The Sunday Times. But in recent years a former TV executive called E.L. James seems to have solved the puzzle, with her book Fifty Shades of Grey and its sequels. “What women want is thousands of pages of barely literate prose. What they also want, apparently, is pompous billionaires who can’t see a pretty young woman without wanting to hang her from a ceiling, lash her with a horsewhip and stuff her with a butt plug.” After amassing sales of 125 million, you can’t really blame James for returning to her S&M theme. Her latest book,…

Have you noticed, asks Terrence Rafferty in The Atlantic, how almost every meaty screen role these days seems to get snapped up by a British actor? Even if the movie is about a national icon – Abraham Lincoln, say, or Martin Luther King – it’s still a Brit who gets to play them. It’s even more glaring on TV, where every other series seems to be he headed by a Brit: Matthew Rhys in The Americans, Charlie Cox in Daredevil, Damian Lewis in Homeland, to name but three. Figures from the US Department of Homeland Security showed a 500% increase last year in the number of British actors and directors receiving visas to work in the US. It’s a trend that Hollywood star Michael Douglas calls “a little crisis“ for…

The Old Ways by Robert Macfarlane, 2012 (Penguin £9.99). Macfarlane walked 1,000 miles exploring Britain’s ancient wild places. He reflected, listened, learnt – and recorded, in spare but brilliantly evocative prose. His description of his night on the Sussex Downs, haunted by wild, unworldly cries among the trees, is unforgettable. A thrilling book. Counting Sheep by Philip Walling, 2014 (Profile Books £8.99). As a former shepherd who became a barrister, Walling has a shepherd’s knowledge of sheep and land, and a barrister’s sharply honed use of language. I can now recognise random breeds of sheep that I pass in fields, something that I enjoy as much as Walling’s rural history enhanced by wonderfully idiosyncratic prose. Claxton by Mark Cocker, 2014 (Jonathan Cape £14.99). As Norfolk is my favourite place in…

Programmes The Outcast Two-part adaptation of Sadie Jones’s bestselling coming of age novel set in postwar Britain, with Greg Wise and Jessica Brown Findlay. Sun 12 July, BBC1 9pm (90mins). Last Days in Vietnam: Storyville Heart-wrenching documentary about the final, chaotic push by the US forces to evacuate Saigon at the end of the Vietnam war. Mon 13 July, BBC4 10pm (95mins). Inside the Ku Klux Klan The makers of this documentary gained exclusive access to a modern-day, Missouri-based faction of the white supremacist group. Mon 13 July, C4 10pm (60mins). Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners Historian David Olusoga explores our nation’s former slave trade, revealing the range of people involved, and the vast sums they were paid in compensation when slavery was abolished. Wed 15 July, BBC2 9pm (60mins). Escape…

This is my take on a traditional French Caribbean Creole banana pie, says Vanessa Bolosier. I like to slice the fruit rather thicker than most recipes suggest; if you make them too thin, the pie can go a bit soft and mushy. Tarte à la banane (banana pie) Serves 6 300g shortcrust pastry dough butter, for greasing 5 bananas 4 eggs 6 tbsp golden caster (superfine) sugar 1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthwise 300ml double (heavy) cream 1 pinch grated cinnamon 1 pinch grated nutmeg 1 tbsp rum • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6. Grease a 22cm tart tin. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the pastry quite thin, then use to line the tart tin. Prick the pastry all over with a fork. •…

European leaders called an emergency summit for Sunday of all 28 EU leaders in Brussels, giving Greece just days to reach a deal with its bailout creditors, or face national bankruptcy and a collapse of its banking sector. In China, about 40% of all listed firms tried to insulate themselves from the stockmarket crash by suspending dealing in their shares. The global oil price continued its slide of recent weeks, amid renewed fears of over-supply and slower demand. The IMF warned against an early US interest rate rise. Novartis won US regulatory approval for its new heart-failure pill Entresto, widely seen by analysts as a potential blockbuster drug. High-street bellwether Marks & Spencer announced a setback in efforts to revive its clothing business; underlying sales of clothing and home furnishings…

Finance ministers play a role in government analogous to that of finance directors in companies, says Jonathan Guthrie in the FT. Thus, the resignation of Greece’s Yanis Varoufakis this week “has lessons for bean counters everywhere”. Don’t become more popular than the boss. Varoufakis built a European media profile on a par with such esteemed “thought leaders” as Pippa Middleton. “The corporate equivalent is the FD getting more questions at a strategy day than the CEO.” Don’t tweet. “There is only downside” to tweeting; even CEOs, who “are more predisposed to megalomania than FDs”, do so rarely. Varoufakis, by contrast, had more than 500,000 Twitter followers. Bad cops shouldn’t lead deal talks. The good cop/bad cop routine only works if the bad cop is a “semi-detached naysayer against whom good…

The week’s best buys AstraZeneca The Sunday Telegraph The pharma giant has developed immuno-oncology treatments, which should see sales double from 2017. The “patent cliff” is past its worst; shares are up from a 12-month low and should rise sharply. Yields 4.4%. Buy. £41.67. Brewin Dolphin Investors Chronicle Brewin is completing its transformation from stock broker to higher-value discretionary wealth manager and pensions specialist. Assets and margins are up, and it offers a near 4% rising yield. Buy. 298p. C&C Group Investors Chronicle The drinks group, best known for Magners cider, is strongly cash generative, with a robust balance sheet despite challenging trading conditions. Dividend increases should continue, and there’s scope for re-rating. Buy. 365c. Cohort Shares The defence specialist has seen expectation-beating performances in all divisions, driven by organic…