Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1107 i The Week

What happened The rage of the diplomats Britain’s ambassador to the EU, Ivan Rogers, unexpectedly resigned last week, lifting the lid on growing tensions between Downing Street and the civil service over Brexit. In a leaked valedictory email to staff, Rogers accused Theresa May and her ministers of still not knowing what they wanted to achieve in the forthcoming negotiations. He urged his colleagues to continue offering “unvarnished” advice and to stand up to “muddled thinking”. Rogers was backed by a string of both serving and former civil servants, who voiced their own criticisms of the Government. Brexit supporters hit back, accusing Rogers and others of trying to frustrate the democratic process. Downing Street sought to draw a line under the issue by swiftly replacing Rogers with Tim Barrow, a…

Washington DC Trump’s “fake news”: Donald Trump has angrily rejected claims that members of his team were in touch with officials in Russia for at least five years before the election; that the Kremlin encouraged him to run for the presidency; and that it has compromising intelligence on him personally. The allegations, gathered last year by Trump’s political opponents, were reportedly contained in a leaked addendum to the joint intelligence report on Russia’s interference in the election: they come from just one intelligence source, and were completely unverified. Trump dismissed them as “fake news”. Earlier, he conceded that Russian “entities” had been involved in the hacking of Democrat email accounts, but made no mention of the report’s other conclusions – for instance, that Vladimir Putin had ordered the hacks to…

Chicago’s gangs now rule the streets Rich Lowry National Review Chicago has been “conducting a long, bloody experiment” over the past couple of years into what happens when you stop providing effective policing for gang-ridden areas. Now we know the answer, says Rich Lowry: you end up with a very busy morgue. No fewer than 762 people were murdered in the city in 2016, a “nearly unheard of 50% increase” on the year before: New York and Los Angeles combined had fewer homicides. And this is a direct result of the passivity of the Chicago police, who have retreated from the streets in the wake of the highly controversial shooting in 2014 of a black youth, Laquan McDonald, by a police officer. The city authorities are right to feel “chastened”…

An artificially intelligent “chat service” could replace the NHS’s much-criticised non-emergency helpline, 111. Accessed via a smartphone app, the chatbot is to be trialled in north London over the next six months. Instead of being put straight through to a human, users who dial 111 will be invited to download the app, and type in their symptoms. The app will then compare these symptoms with a database of every known illness, and – having asked a few follow-up questions – advise them of the right course of action; whether to dial 999, make an appointment to see their GP, visit a pharmacy, or stay at home. The process typically involves about 12 texts back and forth, and takes under two minutes – about ten minutes less than 111 calls to…

The past week of industrial action “is sure to rank among the worst in living memory”, said the Daily Mail. It began with a 24-hour walkout by Tube staff that brought much of London to a standstill, costing the economy an estimated £300m. That was followed by three days of strikes on Southern Rail, “cynically timed to cause maximum disruption” to commuters already at their wits’ end after nine months of chaos. Meanwhile, a 48-hour strike by British Airways cabin crew grounded dozens of flights. And this “menacing new union militancy” appears to be spreading: the RMT is threatening to mobilise its members on the northern rail network, paralysing commuter services in Leeds, Manchester, Hull and Newcastle upon Tyne. The Government must stand up to these “bully boys”. It could…

“The whisper of insurrection is inaudible to those in authority, until it becomes the roar of full-scale rebellion.” Ben Macintyre, in The Times “There is no point at which you can say, ‘Well, I’m successful now. I might as well take a nap’.” Carrie Fisher, quoted in New York magazine “To be a real philosopher all that is necessary is to hate someone else’s type of thinking.” American philosopher William James, quoted on Forbes “Where others see the river of time flowing as it always has, the reactionary sees the debris of paradise drifting past his eyes.” Historian Mark Lilla, quoted in The Guardian “It’s obvious that women are smarter than men. Think about it – diamonds are a girl’s best friend; man’s best friend is a dog.” Joan Rivers,…

Learning curve To The Big Issue Chris Patten commiserates with Chinese universities on having to adhere to the party’s leadership. “Good luck with them,” he writes, “in…” But in what? In furthering knowledge, perhaps? Or in helping their students towards an informed, critical understanding of their country and the world? No. What the chancellor of Oxford University wishes them is “good luck… in the international league tables”. Has higher education, even in our ancient universities, really come to this? Donald Mackinnon, Newport, Gwent Off the rails To The Guardian Rafael Behr mentions false memory regarding the old British Rail, a condition he appears to suffer from himself. He writes that BR was synonymous with shabbiness. Really? In 1993, InterCity, the network’s flagship, was rated by passengers at 95% in this…

Wine lovers tend to be set in their ways: once they discover what they prefer in terms of grapes or regions, they stick within those parameters. I’m as guilty of this as the next person. That’s why we should all be grateful for wine merchants like Robin Davis at Swig. He has made it his lifelong passion to hunt down obscure wines that excite his palate and are properly priced. I love all of these wines from South Africa, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal and France, but especially the Soli pinot noir and the Papegaai white. It is stimulating to explore the new frontiers of wine making – and all of these delightful wines are generously priced, at less than what is available elsewhere in the market. A A Badenhorst Secateurs Red…

If you’re not trying to abstain in the new year, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian, here’s an alternative resolution: try something new. For instance, those who generally eschew peaty Scotch whisky could have a go with the younger, fruitier Rampur Select (£40.95 for 70cl, The Whisky Exchange), a new single-malt from India, with hints of mango, apricot and dried apple. Well diluted, it would work beautifully with a good chicken curry. When it comes to wine, in my view, if you haven’t heard of something, that in itself is a pretty good reason to give it a whirl. German reds, to give one example, are a relatively undiscovered gem; consider Aldinger Lemberger 2015 (£11.95, The Wine Society). My own resolution for 2017 is to get better acquainted with sake,…

Bamford Haybarn Spa, at the Daylesford farm in the Cotswolds, hosts yoga classes run by Indian yogi Vettri Selvan. You can also have massages and other spa treatments while staying in the farm’s comfortable cottages (from £610 a cottage for four nights; www.daylesford.com). Careys Manor, in the New Forest, has an award-winning Thai spa. After a massage or “muscle-melting” Thai herbal poultice, you can dine on Bangkok-style street food (from £360 a night; www.careysmanor.com). Galgorm Resort and Spa, a country estate in Antrim, has built a new thermal village. The “star turn” is the Celtic Sauna, based on Finland’s intense aufguss ritual, in which hot, herb-infused air is wafted around (from £155 a night; www.galgorm.com). Grayshott Spa, in Surrey, offers week-long regimes aimed at improving digestive function. You’ll cut out…

Walking the Scottish Isles Take in majestic scenery while testing your stamina with the 8-day Harris and Lewis Adventure Trail. From £1,048pp full board. 0345-470 8558, www.hfholidays.co.uk. Arrive 17 July. Magical Madeira A 7-night stay at the Pestana Carlton Madeira hotel, on the island’s south coast, costs from £599pp b&b, incl. transfers and Manchester flights. 01293-765003, www.sovereign.com. Depart 13 March. Family fun in France La Grand Ferme, a three-acre property in Normandy, offers a week of activities from £1,100 all-inclusive for four people. 01273-803030, www.family adventureholidays.com. Book by March; depart 29 July. Crete’s glorious coast Spend 5 nights at the Domes of Elounda hotel, by the islet of Spinalonga. From £899pp half board, incl. flights. 01784-817720, www.discerning collection.com. Book by 31 January; travel in May.…

Aberdeen Investment Trusts ISA and Share Plan At Aberdeen, we believe there’s no substitute for getting to know your investments face-to-face. That’s why we make it our goal to visit companies – wherever they are – before we invest in their shares and while we hold them. With a wide range of investment companies investing around the world – that’s an awfully big commitment. But it’s just one of the ways we aim to seek out the best investment opportunities on your behalf. Please remember, the value of shares and the income from them can go down as well as up and you may get back less than the amount invested. No recommendation is made, positive or otherwise, regarding the ISA and Share Plan. The value of tax benefits depends…

Mike Ashley Compared with previous years, 2016 was a year of “peace, love and reconciliation” at Sports Direct, said The Observer. “Was Mike Ashley’s New Year’s resolution to stop being so conciliatory?” At any rate, the old “belligerence” is back: Ashley has just delivered a big “up yours” to shareholders by ignoring a big vote to remove his chairman, the much-criticised former policeman Keith Hellawell. Ashley clearly “has no intention of improving his Punch and Judy relationship with the City”, said The Times. And why should he when big investors are so supine? Hedge-funder Crispin Odey once said that the retail billionaire could not be “house-trained”. Yet he has just bought a large tranche of Sports Direct shares. “I’m very happy with him,” says Odey. “He’s a natural winner.” Mark…

Controversy of the week May’s “vision deficit” “Apart from Brexit, and the not-too-challenging task of keeping Jeremy Corbyn out of Downing Street, it is not immediately apparent what Theresa May is for,” said The Independent. Six months on since she took power, many voters are still none the wiser as to her plans for the country – beyond the unavoidable split with the EU. A “minor media offensive” this week did little to address the “vision deficit”. May has replaced David Cameron’s “Big Society” with her own slogan, the “Shared Society” – a development of interest mainly “to satirists and newspaper columnists”. She also announced that she wants to improve mental health care (see right) and to do something about the housing crisis. Fine sentiments, certainly – but they might…

Jerusalem Lorry attack: A 28-year-old Palestinian man drove a lorry into a crowd on a busy street in Jerusalem on Sunday, in an attack the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had probably been inspired by Islamic State. Four soldiers – one male, three female, and all in their 20s – were killed before the driver was shot dead. A little-known Palestinian group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which ended a period of relative calm in Jerusalem following a wave of politically-motivated shootings and stabbings last year. Separately, Netanyahu was formally interviewed by police over corruption allegations related to his relationships with two wealthy businessmen; he is also accused of making back-room deals with a publisher to get more favourable coverage in his newspaper. He denies wrongdoing. Abuja Girls…

Taxing the young for elderly care Ben Chu The Independent No one denies that our desperately underfunded social care system is in need of reform, says Ben Chu, but the prevalent idea that we should “fold” social care into the NHS and let taxpayers shoulder the burden is the wrong way to go about it. At present, pensioners with assets of more than £23,250 (including the value of their house) have to cover the cost of their own care, though usually not until after they die and their home is sold. Rightly so, as the alternative means forcing “younger taxpayers to pay more to fund the care of the asset-rich elderly”. But in 2020, not only is that threshold set to rise substantially, there will also be a £72,000 cap…

Are you suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS)”? It’s a debilitating mental disorder that has been sweeping across America in recent weeks, said Bernard Goldberg on RealClearPolitics.com. Reported symptoms include hysterical crying, loss of libido, comfort eating, shortness of breath – and the complete loss of any sense of proportion. It looked at first as if it might be a passing affliction limited to students on college campuses, but it has spread to the liberal population at large and is intensifying as Donald Trump’s 20 January presidential inauguration approaches. Victims of TDS are routinely comparing Trump to Hitler, and voicing dark warnings about how his presidency “could imperil democracy as we know it, and may very well spell doom for American civilisation”. It’s not deranged to be terrified about the…

Traffic linked to dementia People who live near busy roads are more likely to develop dementia, new research has found. For the cohort study, scientists in Canada examined health data on some 6.6 million adults in the province of Ontario over 12 years, and, by looking at their postcodes, divided them into groups according to how far they lived from “a major thoroughfare with medium to large traffic capacity”. Once they had adjusted the figures for various factors, including preexisting illnesses, and whether the subjects lived in urban or rural areas, they found those whose homes were within 50 metres of a busy road were 7% more likely to be diagnosed with dementia than those who lived at least 300 metres away. Traffic pollution contains a number of damaging toxins,…

David Cameron had a lackey to cut the crusts off his toast when he was prime minister, according to a Tory MP. Jake Berry told BBC Radio 5 live he made this discovery during a Tory party “away day”. Berry came down to breakfast with a “bit of a sore head”, spotted an unguarded plate of toast on the table and wolfed it down. The PM, returning to the table, was crestfallen. “He said, ‘You’ve eaten my toast,’ and I said, ‘There is more toast available,’ and he said, ‘But I’d had the crusts cut off for me.’” Mr Berry added: “I don’t known what it says about a man if he has the crusts cut off his toast.” Donald Trump’s signature hairstyle may be for the chop. A recent…

While the attention of most of the UK media has been fixed on Brexit and Trump, said Siobhan Fenton in The Independent, “Northern Irish politics has been tiptoeing to the edge of a cliff”. The one blessing is that this crisis has nothing to do with violence or religion, but is, rather, a “straightforward, almost dull financial scandal”. It relates to a botched energy scheme that First Minister Arlene Foster established when she was enterprise minister. Dubbed the “cash for ash” scheme, it was designed to encourage companies to use eco-friendly boilers, but the subsidy was set too high, giving firms an incentive to burn fuel pointlessly: it could cost taxpayers as much as £490m. Foster refused to stand down over the row, but Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness forced…

Rugby union: Leicester give Cockerill the boot When Leicester City won the Premier League last season, it was hailed as one of the greatest upsets in sporting history, said Mick Cleary in The Daily Telegraph. But Leicester Tigers, the city’s rugby side, are no underdogs. They expect to win the title, and they have done so ten times – more than any other club. Yet with the club struggling this season, adrift in fifth place, they decided last week to sack director of rugby Richard Cockerill. He had spent almost his entire career at Leicester: 11 years as a player, then 12 as a coach. But his job became a lot harder in 2014 when Aaron Mauger was appointed to work alongside him as head coach, said Owen Slot in…

To The Times If the bookseller Stephen Bloom feels he is the victim of “an aggressive and vindictive” witch-hunt, he has only himself to blame. His obnoxious behaviour towards his customers is well-known in our friendly market town. The joy of a second-hand bookshop is browsing and sometimes coming upon a treasure. If Mr Bloom is irritated enough to charge an entry fee for “time-wasters”, he would be advised to sell books by mail order. Before his time there was a superb bookshop in Hawes run by the famous local philanthropist Kit Calvert. You could browse for hours without being disturbed. One day I came out with a very reasonably priced first edition of Middlemarch. I hope Mr Bloom will move on soon and that his replacement might take their…

Theatre The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus Playwright: Tony Harrison Director: Jimmy Walters Finborough Theatre, London SW10 (0844-847 1652) Until 28 January Running time: 1hr 15mins (no interval) ★★★ Tony Harrison’s play – originally staged in the ancient stadium of Delphi in 1988, and then in the NT’s cavernous Olivier two years later – is an altogether extraordinary work, said Paul Taylor in The Independent. It is “an intricate palimpsest, an intellectual pantomime and an impassioned critique of cultural elitism” that features clog dancing, phallus-waving satyrs, snooty gods, rumbustious rhyming couplets, and a pair of highly strung British archaeologists. The inspiration for the play, said Henry Hitchings in the London Evening Standard, was the discovery, in 1907, of scraps of a lost Satyr play by Sophocles in an Egyptian rubbish dump. Harrison…

Best books… Mary S. Lovell Writer Mary S. Lovell, who has written acclaimed biographies of the Mitfords and the Churchills, among others, picks her five favourite books. Her own latest book, The Riviera Set, is published by Little, Brown at £25 Les Parisiennes by Anne Sebba, 2016 (W&N £20). An enthralling narrative of women’s reactions to German occupation as Paris became a place of “power, fear, aggression, courage, deprivation and secrets”. Some chose to maintain glamour no matter what, others to resist; most just coped as best they could, and this is a sympathetic look at the choices they made. West with the Night by Beryl Markham, 1942 (Virago £9.99). Bestselling memoir of the author’s life in East Africa after moving there at the age of four, in 1906. She…

This and That 3 Soap Street, Northern Quarter, Manchester (0161-832 4971) The scrumptious “rice and three curries” I ate here was without doubt “the best-value lunch I’ve had in years”, says Tom Parker Bowles in The Mail on Sunday. In fact, at just £5.50, this “great steaming plate of hearty, no-nonsense, lovingly made northern Indian grub” is “probably the greatest lunch deal you will find in this country”. The rice itself was a “buttery, fluffy delight”; from the extensive selection of curries (the menu changes daily), I chose chana masala (“chickpeas, pert and freshly spiced, with a low, steady chilli grunt”); a ladleful of “damned fine” keema (of lamb mince with peas, scented with cumin, cloves, chilli, pepper and cardamom); and karahi lamb (“the meat falls apart at the…

Land Rover Discovery One of the year’s most anticipated cars, the fifth-generation Discovery “takes things upmarket”. Sleeker than before, with a luxurious finish inside and out, it’s a classy, family-orientated SUV. Off road, it remains as “imperious” as ever, owing to Land Rover’s All-Terrain Progress Control. On sale in the spring, from around £43,000. Mercedes-Benz E-Class Coupé The new E-Class launched last year in two impressive incarnations, the saloon and estate. Next in line is the “svelte” coupé, with an elegant design inspired by the C-Class and S-Class. It comes with a choice of diesel and petrol engines – and the flagship V6 does 0-62mph in just 5.3 seconds. On sale in April, from around £38,000. Ford Fiesta For seven years in a row, the Fiesta has been the bestselling…

John Berger 1926-2017 The novelist, critic, dramatist and essayist John Berger, who has died aged 90, was a hugely influential figure in European cultural life from the 1960s onwards – and a polarising one. He was a Marxist but never a Stalinist; a public schoolboy who rejected the officer class, and railed against the elites. His admirers adored him; Susan Sontag described him as “peerless”. His critics found him irritating at best, and deceitful at worst. Stephen Spender dismissed him as “a foghorn in a fog” (to which Berger replied that in a fog, a foghorn is surely precisely what you need). Born in Stoke Newington, north London, in 1926, Berger described his background as working class; certainly his parents were not wealthy, but they had enough money to send…

Lloyds Banking Group: taxpayer off the hook Good news for those keen to see the bailed-out banks off the Government’s books, said Ben Chapman in The Independent. “The taxpayer is no longer the largest shareholder in Lloyds Banking Group.” That honour now belongs to the global investment group BlackRock, after a £473m share sale this week saw the state’s stake in the bank fall below 6% for the first time. The Government’s shareholding peaked at 43% following the £20.3bn rescue of Lloyds at the height of the financial crisis. The bank’s boss, António Horta-Osório, hailed this week’s sale as “a key milestone” in Lloyds’ journey back to full private ownership – but questions over value for money remain. According to UK Financial Investments (UKFI), which manages the Government’s stake in…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys Cape The Times Legacy issues over decades-old asbestos claims have resurfaced at Cape, which provides services to the energy and natural resources sector. But it is winning contracts. Results are ahead of forecasts and it yields 7%. Buy. 178.5p. Costain Group The Times Costain is a promising play on UK infrastructure spending on energy, transport and water: 90% of its work is repeat contracts, margins are a healthy 4-5%, and there’s a £100m cash pile for acquisitions. Buy. 371.75p. Phoenix Group The Mail on Sunday A leading player in the closed-life insurance sector, Phoenix has a disciplined approach to acquisitions. Its size confers cost efficiencies and allows it to invest broadly. The dividend is generous. Buy. 748.5p. Cineworld Group City AM A couple…

Paris Kardashian case arrests: French police arrested 17 people in dawn raids on Monday, on suspicion of involvement in the robbery of £8m worth of jewellery from Kim Kardashian in Paris last year. Three suspects, including her chauffeur in the city, were later released without charge. The US TV star (pictured), married to rapper Kanye West, was tied up at gunpoint and left in a bath during the robbery at her rented apartment on 3 October. Many of those detained are in their 60s or 70s; some have criminal records for armed robbery. Police say they tracked the gang down by analysing traces of DNA on a jewel the robbers dropped, and on cable ties used to bind Kardashian. Strasbourg, France Swiss win mixed-swimming case: The Swiss authorities had a…

Woes of a world champ After years in the shadow of his younger brother, Andy, Jamie Murray came into his own in 2016 – ending the year as the world’s No. 1 doubles player. But he doesn’t seem terribly elated, says Decca Aitkenhead in The Guardian. “The losses, they really hurt,” he muses, “whereas winning is just what you’re supposed to do. That’s what’s expected of you. When I’ve lost matches I felt worse, far worse, than I have felt the pleasure of winning certain tournaments. I mean, this year I won two grand slams, and of course I was really happy. But I wasn’t, like, jumping for joy.” At most, he feels a quiet satisfaction in his success. “It’s more just the fact that I started playing tennis at…

A would-be burglar chose the wrong target when he tried to break into a store in Florida. As its name suggests, Spy Spot Investigations sells GPS tracking devices, covert recording devices – and lots and lots of surveillance cameras. “We’ve got a whole bunch [of them],” said store manager Evan Tennenbaum. Some are hidden, others are in plain view – and between them, the cameras captured the action in high resolution, and got a clear shot of the miscreant’s face before he fled empty-handed. A Taiwanese man who dreamed his late father had asked him for a “hilarious” funeral did his best to deliver: he ordered 50 pole dancers, who performed all along the funeral procession on a convoy of jeeps, along with a troupe of drummers, a marching band,…

CZECH REPUBLIC Don’t give gun owners a licence to kill Hospodárské Noviny (Prague) Is America’s gun culture coming to Europe? It will if some Czech politicians have their way, says Petr Honzejk. Following the example of Israel, the Czech Republic’s interior minister, Milan Chovanec, has proposed a constitutional amendment that would allow citizens to open fire on terrorists. He no doubt hopes to win brownie points as a minister prepared “to do something” about terror. But it’s a terrible idea. Czech law already allows gun users to fire in self-defence: no court in the world would convict someone who shot at a “madman” like the terrorist who drove a truck into a Berlin crowd before Christmas. Besides, our situation is nothing like Israel’s, where terror attacks are routine. Its citizens…

The annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is always a remarkable affair, but this year’s may be the “craziest yet”, said the FT. Owing to the falling cost of sensors and connectivity, the Internet of Things is now upon us – and manufacturers are wasting no time in cashing in, producing a slew of household items in “smart” formats. For instance, Moen has a smart shower that lets you set your desired water temperature via your phone, and sends an alert when it’s ready – saving you vital seconds – from just $1,200 (plus installation). Another trend visible at CES 2017 is for voice-controlled devices, for the really lazy – such as a kitchen bin that opens when you tell it to, so that you don’t have the bother…

“Over the past few years, my wife’s phone has been hacked,” said Jeremy Clarkson in The Sun. “Friends have been pursued across ploughed fields by the paparazzi.” Every girl I ever spoke to was billed in the next day’s papers as a “mystery blonde”. Newspapers are a “constant thorn in my side”. So you might think that I’d be “whooping for joy” at the news that the Government is considering a plan to bring the press “to heel”. But I’m not. “I’m horrified.” And you should be too. The freedom of the press is under immediate threat, said The Times. Following a period of consultation that ended this week, Culture Secretary Karen Bradley has to decide whether to trigger Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013. This law,…

He’s been dubbed Yorkshire’s Basil Fawlty, a shopkeeper so rude that councillors want to run him out of the pretty Dales village of Hawes, said Robert Mendick in The Daily Telegraph. In four years, the parish council has received no fewer than 20 complaints about Steve Bloom – most of them stemming from his unusual policy of charging visitors 50 pence to browse his shelves. His second-hand book shop, Bloomingdales, has amassed a string of one-star reviews on the council’s website; and it is said that one customer became so incensed by his discourteous ways, he tipped Bloom’s dinner over him. But matters reached a head recently, when a visiting doctor wrote to the council to complain that Bloom had called him a “pain in the arse”. Now there is…

Russia, India, Iceland: these are some of the hotbeds of chess across the world, says Philip Oltermann in The Guardian. But nowhere, surely, is the game more popular than in the east German village of Ströbeck. With a population of just 1,060, its identity is “defined” by chess. Everyone learns how to play it – at primary school, lessons have been compulsory for centuries. Now, the importance of Ströbeck’s chess traditions has been formally recognised: the government has just added it to Germany’s inventory of “intangible cultural heritage”. According to local legend, chess arrived there in 1011 when a nobleman was imprisoned in the village. With nothing to do, he carved 32 chess pieces and taught his guards how to play the game. By the 17th century, an “idiosyncratic” Ströbeck…

Moonglow by Michael Chabon From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Moonglow unfolds as a deathbed confession from an old man, with his tongue loosened by powerful painkillers, his memory stirred by the imminence of death, tells stories to his grandson, uncovering bits and pieces of a history long buried. Available 26.01.17. The Week price: £13.99, usually £18.99 Leon: Fast & Free Each recipe in this beautiful cookbook is completely gluten, dairy and refined sugar-free. From recipes for gluten-free Spaghetti Vongole to chocolate beetroot cake, breakfast dahl to chicken and olive tagine, this book contains recipes for every meal of the day and every occasion, and proves that a free-from menu can be utterly delicious. The Week price: £20.00, usually £25.00 The January Man by Christopher Somerville This beautiful book brings the…

Serves: 4-5 olive oil 2 red onions, finely sliced 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 6 slices streaky bacon, cut into small pieces 2 star anise 12 venison sausages 3 bay leaves 2 large sprigs rosemary 1 tsp smoked paprika 400g can chopped tomatoes 200ml chicken stock 1 tbsp light soy sauce 100ml red wine 400g can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced sea salt and black pepper • Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. • Heat a little olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the onions, garlic, bacon, star anise and a pinch of salt and sauté until the onion is beginning to soften. • Prick the sausages, add to the pan and continue to sauté until they start to brown. Transfer…

For cloudy headlights Smear some toothpaste on a clean rag and start scrubbing. The mild abrasives in the toothpaste should remove a thin layer from the degraded, cloudy lens surface, and will also fill in any little scratches. For chipped windows As a short-term fix for tiny cracks or holes, try filling in the damage carefully, on both the inside and outside of the window, with a bit of clear nail polish. That should make minor cracks or chips almost invisible. For frozen locks Apply a dollop of hand sanitiser to your key and work it into the lock. The alcohol in the hand sanitiser should thaw the ice. For old car stickers To get rid of an unwanted sticker on your car, start by pulling off as much as…

La Réserve, Paris La Réserve was an “instant classic” when it opened two years ago, and it remains the most “thrillingly sensuous” hotel in Paris, says Condé Nast Traveller. Occupying a former hôtel particulier built by Haussmann as a present from Napoleon III to his half-brother, it lies very near the Place de la Concorde, and has splendid views towards the Eiffel Tower. The interiors are full of “saturated colours and strokeable textures” – opulent and “sexy”. Rooms are luxurious (Roselli rain showers, Quagliotti linen) and high-tech (concealed TVs, wireless speakers); there is a large indoor pool, and the food is excellent – classic French fine dining, but not too rich. Doubles from £945. +33 1 58 36 60 60, www.lareserve-paris.com .…

Jill Saward 1965-2017 Jill Saward, who has died aged 51, became famous as a victim of a notoriously violent crime: the so-called Ealing vicarage rape of 1986. The brutality of the attack – a burglary that descended into an orgy of violence – shocked the nation; and there was an outcry when the perpetrators were given longer terms for the burglary than the rape (Saward’s trauma, the judge explained, had not been “so great”). But Saward refused to let the crime define her. Instead, said the Daily Mail, she was defined by her response to it: she dedicated the rest of her life to campaigning for the victims of sexual violence; she also forgave her attackers. Feelings of hatred, she said, “create a barrier and you’re the one who gets…

How to tempt the British grocery shopper? This Christmas “lobster and crab macaroni cheese” and “salted caramel ice-cream” came up trumps for Morrisons, which has stormed ahead of City predictions by posting its best festive figures in seven years, said Ashley Armstrong in The Daily Telegraph. The Bradford-based supermarket said it had “found its mojo” after posting a 2.9% rise in like-for-like sales in the final nine weeks of 2016 – evidence that the turnaround plan put in place by chief executive David Potts two years ago is finally bearing fruit. Morrisons’ delivery partnership with Amazon also boosted its figures. This Christmas season is likely to prove a mixed bag for retailers, but the grocers appear to have had the best of it. Aldi reported that a winning combo of…

A “Michael Fish moment” for economists Sam Leith Financial Times The Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, took a bold step last week when he conceded the profession was “in crisis”, says Sam Leith. Criticism of economic forecasters, he said, was a “fair cop” given their failure to foresee the 2008 crisis and their overstatement of the immediate damage of the Brexit vote. It was the profession’s “Michael Fish moment” – on a par with the BBC weatherman’s infamous failure in 1987 to predict the worst hurricane in 300 years. Haldane’s candour carries considerable risks, but it has advantages. A well-timed apology “can do you a power of good”. As a rhetorical figure, it is called concessio: lose a battle to win the war. Haldane’s point about the 2008…