Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1122 i The Week

What happened Macron on the march European stock markets surged this week after the centrist Emmanuel Macron won the first round of the French presidential election, easing fears of a victory by the far-right National Front (FN). Macron won 24% of the vote, while FN leader Marine Le Pen – with whom he’ll now go head to head on 7 May – garnered 21%. Trailing them was François Fillon, the conservative former PM and one-time favourite, whose campaign was derailed by corruption allegations. The vote was a humiliation for the two mainstream parties that have long dominated French politics: for the first time in almost 60 years, neither will have a candidate in the second round of the presidential election. The 39-year-old Macron, who is expected easily to win the…

Washington DC March for science: Thousands of scientists took part in a rain-sodden march (left) in Washington DC on Saturday – Earth Day, on the environmentalist calendar – to affirm the principle of scientific objectivity in the face of the perceived threat to it from political interference and “post-truth” populism. “Build labs, not walls,” they shouted, along with “Hey, Trump, have you heard, you can’t silence every nerd!” (“What do Trump and atoms have in common?” read one of the placards. “They make up everything.”) Holding a march for science was an idea hatched by three US-based scientific researchers who, like many others, see the Trump administration as a threat to science. The US president is on record as describing climate change as a “hoax”. The biggest march was in…

Inheritance: the enemy of equality Ian Jack The Guardian Britain is supposed to be a meritocratic society, says Ian Jack. But whether you are rich or poor will increasingly depend on a single factor: inheritance. Today, the average inheritance is worth just 3% of all the other income a recipient can expect to get in a lifetime. But that percentage is set to shoot up due to the soaring rise in house prices in recent decades. It has meant the older generation now sits on a vast stock of wealth: according to a new study, 65- to 85-year-olds own £400bn worth of property. And most are passing the proceeds on to their children, or grandchildren, who in turn invest it in property. That’s great for those who inherit, but it…

An alternative to plastic bottles It’s well known that our addiction to bottled water has environmental consequences: more than 200 billion plastic bottles are used worldwide every year. It takes a lot of water and oil to manufacture them, and only a fraction are recycled. Now the race is on to find a more sustainable alternative – and a team at Imperial College London is working on just such a thing: a flexible, edible sphere made from seaweed, known as the Ooho. You can poke a hole in it, and suck out the water, or pop the whole blob in your mouth in one go. Oohos are already being handed out at festivals; but there are some obstacles its creators must overcome if they are to make serious inroads into…

Osborne: bowing out – “for now” “We’re all in this together.” That was George Osborne’s slogan, and until he trashed it in 2012 – by cutting taxes for the rich – he assumed the title of Britain’s next Conservative prime minister, said John Rentoul in The Independent. He tried, over the next few years, to win it back – in vain; now, he seems finally to have accepted that his political career is over. Announcing his departure, he said that it was only “for now”. But that sounds like “bravado, with a dash of mischief”. There is no recent precedent for a minister quitting and returning to take the top job. There has been speculation that he will use his powerful new role, as editor of the London Evening Standard,…

Tennis: “Nasty Nastase” lashes out Forty-five years have passed since Wimbledon rose to applaud Ilie Nastase, said Kevin Mitchell in The Observer. Despite losing to Stan Smith in a classic final, the Romanian “entertainer” was so scintillating that he won over the crowd with his charm. But after his “appalling” behaviour last week, no British audience “will ever again give him such acclaim”. During Romania’s Fed Cup match against Britain, in Constanta, the 70-year-old team captain roared at Johanna Konta and her team captain, Anne Keothavong, calling them “fucking bitches”. His comments left Konta in tears, and landed Nastase a suspension. Yet that was only the pinnacle of his “vileness”. The previous night, he had put his arm around Keothavong, asking repeatedly for her room number, and speculated about a…

To The Times What on Earth is Jeremy Corbyn trying to achieve with his proposal to create four new bank holidays? They would put more demands on staff and on small businesses, as well as on travellers. In my small business, the existing bank holidays already cause problems in meeting delivery commitments through delays on congested roads, as well as late deliveries from suppliers. Jane Combes, Newquay, Cornwall To The Daily Telegraph Sri Lanka, my country of birth, has a holiday at every full moon. There are also holidays at Vesak (the Buddhist festival), Eid and the Christian festivals. The people are happy with very little wealth. Money is not everything in life. Britain needs more holidays. Dr Finella Brito-Babapulle, Kew, Surrey To The Daily Telegraph The Centre for Economics…

Their Finest Dir: Lone Scherfig 1hr 57mins (12A) A stirring tale of British pluck ★★★ You’d need “a heart of stone and a funny bone of porridge” not to enjoy this “eminently lovable British film”, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. Adapted from a novel by Lissa Evans, Their Finest stars Gemma Arterton, as a plucky Welshwoman recruited to write for the Ministry of Information’s propaganda machine during the dark days of the Blitz, and Sam Claflin, as her sceptical colleague who collaborates with her on a stirring (if factually dubious) film about the Dunkirk disaster. Inevitably, romance blossoms. Both actors shine, and are given droll support from Richard E. Grant as Arterton’s supercilious boss. Yet the “biggest hoot here” is Bill Nighy as an ageing, incredibly vain matinee idol,…

Best books… David Grann Bestselling author David Grann selects his six favourite books. His own latest book, the true-life murder mystery Killers of the Flower Moon, is available from Simon & Schuster at £20 The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich, 2008 (Harper Perennial £9.99). In this exquisitely written work of fiction, Erdrich reveals how an act of racial injustice reverberates through a community for decades. Ultimately, how the descendants of the perpetrators and victims intertwine becomes the story of America. Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell, 1938 (Penguin £7.99). No one has written with more unflinching honesty than Orwell, and, in this age in which journalism is under siege, his chronicle of his time fighting in the Spanish civil war is a reminder of the power of truth-telling.…

Limoncello fridge cake with nougat and nuts For the cake: 100ml whipping cream 300g mascarpone 120g caster (superfine) sugar 700g ricotta 90g soft nougat, cut into pieces 90ml limoncello zest of 1 lemon 350g digestive biscuits For the topping: 40g liquid honey handful of mixed unsalted pistachios and almonds, roughly chopped • Pour the cream into a large bowl and place in the freezer for 25 minutes. Using an electric whisk or a food processor, whip the mascarpone and chilled cream together until the mixture becomes thick. • Gradually whisk in 40g of the sugar. Mix the ricotta with the remaining sugar, then stir in the nougat pieces, limoncello and lemon zest. Set aside. • Line a Charlotte mould with cling film. Cover the base and sides with the cream…

Controversy of the week Labour pains “On Friday 9 June, Jeremy Corbyn may find himself heading to Buckingham Palace to ask the Queen’s permission to form a government,” said Asa Bennett in The Daily Telegraph. Labour could win the election outright, or as part of a “progressive alliance” with the Greens, the SNP and the Lib Dems. It could happen – but the unlikeliness of this scenario is becoming a real problem for the Tories. How can they motivate people to vote to stop Corbyn taking power, if so few expect it to happen? Labour’s start to the campaign hasn’t helped, said The Times. Thirteen of its MPs have said that they won’t stand. Corbyn’s close ally Len McCluskey was this week re-elected as leader of Unite, in dubious circumstances…

Captured by Islamic State A slight, gentle-faced boy, Ahmed al-Hardani is a survivor. Two years ago, aged 14, he was captured by Islamic State, in northern Iraq. The militants were rounding up thousands of Yazidi men; most were killed, and Ahmed has not seen his father since. He, however, was taken to the city of Tal Afar, where he was interrogated for 15 days, then sent to live in a house seized from a Shia family. One day, the militants came for him: an informant had told them that he had kept hold of his mobile phone. He’d been using it to send messages to his mother. They tortured him for days, demanding to know where he had hidden it. “They whipped me around 250 times over a few days,…

Travellers passing through Heathrow last week were less than impressed by the special promotion at WHSmith. Pictures posted online showed that the newsagent was offering 48 KitKats, or 48 Flakes, for £45 – “Our Best Offer”. That’s far too much chocolate, and it’s not a bargain either, working out at almost 94p per bar for chocolates that normally cost about 60p when sold individually. A photographer who settled down beside an Alaska river to capture scenes of bears playing in the water was startled when one of them joined him. Video footage recorded by Drew Hamilton shows the bear wandering over, and plopping down next to the chair that he’d set up for himself. It sat there for a while, gazing at the view, then joined its brethren in the…

CHINA Our medicine is being sold back to us The Economic Observer (Beijing) Traditional Chinese medicine has been practised for thousands of years, says Guo Chenqi. But it’s no longer Chinese: foreigners have taken over the industry. Japanese and South Korean companies produce 80% of the traditional medicines consumed in China; Chinese firms just 5%. Even herbs that foreign companies use in the preparations are now cultivated more cheaply abroad, in places such as Myanmar and Azerbaijan. And though the recipes for these preparations were created in China centuries ago, China doesn’t own the patents for them. Japan and South Korea together hold 70% of herbal medicine patents, China “an embarrassing 0.3%”. That’s because Japan started modernising production back in the 1970s, developing granular forms of drugs that are “easier…

Usually, landscapes change gradually, over millennia – but in 2016, in an event unprecedented in modern times, an immense river in the wilds of northwest Canada disappeared in a matter of weeks, reports The New York Times. A team of researchers had been monitoring the delta of the Slims River (pictured) – which is fed by the Kaskawulsh Glacier – for some years. Last spring they returned to Yukon to take more measurements – and found that the river was more or less gone. Further investigation of the region, using drones to survey harder-to access valleys, revealed that last year’s warm spring had produced intense meltwaters which had cut a new channel through the ice of the glacier. As a result, waters that would normally have reached the Slims, and…

Now that Emmanuel Macron is predicted to occupy the Élysée Palace, attention is turning to the woman who would become France’s first lady. Macron’s wife, Brigitte Trogneux , has been the subject of feverish speculation in France for some while. The couple (pictured) met when he was just 15 and she was his drama teacher, at his school in Amiens. She was then nearly 40, and married with three children (one of whom was in Macron’s class); but, overriding parental concern, he vowed that one day he would marry her – and so he did, in 2007. It’s not clear, however, when their relationship blossomed into a romance. “Nobody will ever know at what moment our story became a love story,” Trogneux is quoted as saying. “That belongs to us.…

Ugo Ehiogu was one of the finest English defenders of his generation, said Louise Taylor in The Guardian. But that won’t be the first thing people remember about the footballer and coach, who died last week at the age of 44 after collapsing at Tottenham’s training ground. Whenever someone met him, they were struck by just how kind he was. On the field, whether he was playing for Aston Villa, Middlesbrough or England, he was always a “warrior”; off it, however, he was a “gentle giant”. Ehiogu “stood for values not always associated with modern football”, said Henry Winter in The Times. He was unfailingly “civilised”: when approached by a fan, he would happily stop for a chat or a selfie. “He made people feel valued.” Yet as a footballer…

The Promise was never going to be a big hit in Turkey, said Raf Sanchez in The Daily Telegraph. No film about the Armenian genocide, even a sweeping big-budget epic starring Hollywood A-listers Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac, can pull off that trick. The genocide – which involved the systematic murder by the Ottoman government of some 1.5 million Christian Armenians between 1915 and 1922 – is accepted as historical fact in most countries. Not in Turkey. There the official line is that it never happened: indeed, it’s actually a crime to discuss it. Yet even taking that into account, the makers of The Promise (which was released in the UK this week) have been aghast at the ferocity of the backlash against their movie. Before it had even come…

At this odd time of year, when the evenings are light but still have a sharp nip to them, I like a white wine that has body as well as freshness, says Victoria Moore in The Daily Telegraph – and perhaps a “seductive perfume”. Viognier is a good place to start. Cono Sur Bicicleta 2016 (£7, Morrisons) is simple, fresh and excellent value. Or for a little more, you could try Gayda Viognier 2016 Pays d’Oc, France (£10.15, Haynes, Hanson & Clark). It has an apricot edge and a slight musky scent “without being too floral or blowsy. Love it.” Another option would be one of the subtle whites from the Lugana region, in northeastern Italy, which have a “pillowy feel” and a “wash of lemon”. Cá’ dei Frati “I…

Theatre director who was prosecuted for obscenity Michael Bogdanov 1938-2017 The theatre director Michael Bogdanov, who has died aged 78, made it his mission to shake audiences out of their complacency, and into some kind of action. His Measure for Measure had actors in punk costumes; a Taming of the Shrew featured military bands and a motorcycle. A “cultural iconoclast”, an “unreconstructed socialist” and a man of great passion and warmth, he loved to provoke, said Michael Coveney in The Guardian, and had the reviews to prove his success in that ambition. But “Bodger”, as he was widely known, got more than he bargained for when, in 1980, his production of Howard Brenton’s The Romans in Britain landed him in court, on charges of attempting to procure an act of…

Why this election is an irrelevance Tom Stevenson The Daily Telegraph The election will dominate the headlines in the coming weeks, “but from an investment perspective, it is a very small earthquake indeed”, says Tom Stevenson. It’s hard to assess the “significance” of the expected Conservative victory: history suggests “almost no meaningful correlation between domestic political outcomes and investment performance”. The currency market has jumped to the conclusion that having a large majority until 2022 will give the PM a freer hand to negotiate a “softer” Brexit. “Well, it might, and it might not” – but it certainly shouldn’t be the basis for an investment strategy. The fall in the pound since June has been “unalloyed good news” for the FTSE 100, which is dominated by overseas earners. But the…

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Dortmund, Germany Surprise suspect in bus attack: German police say that the Borussia Dortmund bus bombing – widely assumed to have been perpetrated by jihadi terrorists, or neo-fascists – was actually the work of a financial speculator, named only as Sergej W, a 28-year-old with dual German-Russian citizenship. They believe his motive was to send the football club’s share price plunging so that he could clean up on the complex bets he’d made before the attack. The suspect, who was staying in the same hotel as the footballers, overlooking the scene of the bombing, allegedly bought 15,000 “put options” on the club’s shares (a financial derivative that allows a speculator to benefit if the price of an asset falls), and stood to make up to s3.9m in profits. He has…

The rotten politics of pesticides Timothy Egan The New York Times When you bite into a strawberry, says Timothy Egan, “you shouldn’t have to think about childhood brain development”. Now you do. In his zeal to abolish government regulations, President Trump is “putting chemical industry toadies between our food and public safety”. The man he has chosen to head the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Scott Pruitt, has rescinded a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos, a pesticide that research has linked to neurological damage in children, including ADHD, autism and lower IQs. The pesticide was banned from household use 17 years ago, but is now widely used in commercial agriculture on about 50 types of crops, including berries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, apples and peaches. Under Obama, the EPA proposed banning the chemical.…

More than 800 women who have had transvaginal mesh implants are suing the NHS, or the device’s manufacturers, and calling for the treatment to be banned. The meshes – which are made from polypropylene – are implanted to treat pelvic organ prolapse and stress incontinence after childbirth. But the litigants say they have been left in severe pain, with some saying they can now barely walk, and that their sex lives have been ruined. One patient told the BBC that the mesh had cut through her vaginal wall “like cheese wire”. In some cases, the protrusion is so severe that intercourse has become impossible; in others, the mesh has perforated organs. In the US, women have been paid billions of dollars in compensation over faulty meshes, and pharmaceutical giant Johnson…

“He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars, whereas the general good is the plea of the scoundrel.” William Blake, quoted in The Guardian “One is never as unhappy as one thinks, nor as happy as one hopes.” Moralist Duc de la Rochefoucauld, quoted in The Times “Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.” John Lennon, quoted on Forbes.com “The holy passion of friendship is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime, if not asked to lend money.” Mark Twain, quoted in The Guardian “In man’s struggle against the world, bet on the world.” Franz Kafka, quoted on The Browser “US popular culture is riddled with stories of men…

Foreign aid is good To The Guardian Most defences of development aid are, well, too defensive. What is classed as “aid” is more properly described as a small repayment towards the much greater sums we extract from poor countries. We free-ride on their education systems, especially by importing health workers. We extract raw materials under trade terms that systematically disadvantage them. We boost our corporate profits (some of which find their way into tax revenues) by exploiting their cut-price labour, exporting carbon emissions as a bonus. Our banks launder the proceeds of corruption among their elites (and again, our treasuries benefit). Our industrial fishing fleets decimate their waters. It’s not a question of “generosity”; it’s a question of justice. Richard Middleton, Crossmichael, Dumfries and Galloway No “suicide note” To The…

Lorne 76 Wilton Road, Victoria, London SW1 (020-3327 0210) The duo behind Lorne, an outstanding addition to the fast-improving dining scene in Victoria, have a “serious” pedigree, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Guardian. Between them, Katie Exton (sommelier and front of house) and Peter Hall (chef) have worked at The Square, The River Café, Chez Bruce, and Brawn, among others. It shows. It’s Exton who would “make me want to be a regular” here: so sensitive to our needs, “she could moonlight as a mind reader”, and she is hugely knowledgeable about the splendid list of wine. And it is the beef short rib that would make me a Lorne “devotee”: I’ve no idea how many hours they let it cook (in a lot of good wine), but it…

New cars: what the critics say The Daily Telegraph While SUVs and high-end saloons become ever more popular, mid-range executive cars have suffered a “precipitous” decline. Take the Insignia: launched in 2008, in 2011 it sold 46,000 units in the UK; last year, that fell to 25,095. To reverse its fortunes, Vauxhall has essentially turned it into a German executive car – designed by Opel in Germany – and renamed it the Insignia Grand Sport. Autocar The new Insignia is a much more handsome car than its predecessor, and it is more elegant than most saloons. Inside, the quality is mixed though: the soft-touch materials are pleasant enough, but the hard mouldings are shiny and plain. Still, this is a thoroughly practical car: the legroom in the second row outdoes…

Arconic: poisoned pen “Call it the business equivalent of an own goal,” said Lindsay Fortado in the FT – or a classic example of Teutonic humour falling flat. The German boss of the US engineering group Arconic has been fired after sending an “ill-advised letter” to one of the world’s most feared hedge fund managers. Klaus Kleinfeld had been fighting a battle against Elliott Management – an activist hedge fund which has long been gunning for his removal on the grounds of underperformance. The precise gist of Kleinfeld’s “bonkers, sarcastic missive” to Elliott’s founder, Paul Singer, is hard to gauge, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. It referred knowingly to the financier’s behaviour at the 2006 World Cup, presenting a “delightful vision” of him “standing in a Berlin fountain intoning…

Andrew Tyrie The surprise announcement that the Tory MP Andrew Tyrie will not seek re-election in June deprives Parliament of “a master of the awkward question and the stinging aside”, said the FT. As chairman of the Treasury Select Committee since 2010, Tyrie, an economist, became one of Westminster’s most feared interrogators. His forensic scrutiny made him the scourge of politicians, civil servants and financiers, with a lineup of prominent victims ranging from George Osborne to former Barclays boss Bob Diamond. More recently, he helped unseat Charlotte Hogg as Bank of England deputy governor, over a conflict of interest. Tyrie – who in 2000 penned an excoriating account of Parliament’s weakness, entitled Mr Blair’s Poodle – can take credit for beefing up both the committee system and Parliament in general.…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best buys Ashmore Group The Times The emerging markets-focused fund manager has seen its assets grow 7%, thanks to its benchmark-beating investment performance. The “skilled specialist boutique” yields 4.7%, with “plenty of cash to sustain it”. Buy. 343p. Associated British Foods The Times Fashion retailer Primark is still “roaring away”, with sales up 11%. The groceries arm has posted a 20% improvement, smaller ingredients profits have risen 50%, and the sugar business’s profits have hit £123m. Buy. £27.18. Hays Investors Chronicle The recruiter’s net fee income is up by a record 10%, driven by international operations. Brokers are upgrading forecasts, and the growing cash pile boosts prospects of special dividends. Buy. 170p. Imperial Brands The Daily Telegraph The owner of JPS and Gauloises Blondes faces…