Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1144 i The Week

What happened The Florence speech Brussels gave a tentative welcome last week to a speech by Theresa May in Florence, in which she set out plans to keep Britain in the EU in all but name until 2021. In an emollient address, the Prime Minister proposed that the UK, after formally leaving the EU in March 2019, should continue to follow the bloc’s rules and pay into its budget for a transition period of “around two years”. She signalled that these extra budget contributions (which would amount to some s20bn) would be part of a larger exit payment, and also offered to enshrine the rights of EU citizens living in the UK by treaty. The PM had hoped that the speech would help kick-start the stalled Brexit negotiations, but EU…

May must act to solve the housing crisis Philip Collins The Times “The covenant of British politics is broken,” says Philip Collins. Since the War, our system has operated on the implicit assumption that home ownership is “an index of progress”, and that the party in power should ensure it is achievable for anyone who works hard. But with housebuilding at its lowest peacetime level since 1923, and property prices exorbitantly high, that deal is no longer working. Housing costs for the average family have tripled since 1961, from 6% of income to 18%. The typical age for buying a first home “is moving from the 30s to the 40s”. People also have to make do with living in smaller places than their grandparents did at the same age, places…

A ray of hope for the planet The threat of climate change may not be quite as grave as predicted, scientists have found. While the world is still heating up, it has not been warming quite as rapidly as computer models forecast, which means – say scientists in the journal Nature Geoscience – that if we act fast to cut global carbon emissions, its most catastrophic effects can still be avoided. At the 2015 UN Paris Climate Change Conference, one of the study’s authors, Professor Michael Grubb, warned that the summit’s goal – of limiting warming to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels – was “incompatible with democracy”. But he now thinks that owing to a less rapid than expected rise in global temperatures in the 15 years up to 2014, there…

Football: Sampson gets the chop In football, sacking people is never an easy task, said Sam Wallace in The Daily Telegraph. There’s always the question of what behaviour is inappropriate enough to warrant it. The Football Association concluded that Glenn Hoddle had crossed a line, as England manager, with his claim that disabled people were being punished for their sins in a previous life. It made the same call about John Terry, sacking him as England captain for sleeping with the girlfriend of his teammate and friend Wayne Bridge. Those sackings were messy and embarrassing. But they don’t compare to the mess the FA has made of sacking the manager of the England women’s team, Mark Sampson. Sampson should never have been appointed in the first place, said Martin Samuel…

“Think of Britain’s greatest film exports, and James Bond instantly springs to mind,” said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. But a new British Film Industry (BFI) database reveals that 007 has an “unlikely rival in Queen Victoria, who has joined him as the most featured character in British film”. The monarch, played most recently by Dame Judi Dench in Victoria and Abdul, has appeared 25 times on the big screen. That’s the same as 007, who has had “24 official outings, plus the 1967 Casino Royale spoof starring David Niven”. And it’s one more than Sherlock Holmes. The BFI also calculates that Dench is the most prolific living British actress, said Alisha Rouse and Alexander Holmes in the Daily Mail. The Oscar winner, 82, has starred in 41 UK…

One of the problems with being a wine writer is that not only do we all have “different tastes in wine, we also interpret tastes differently”, says Jane MacQuitty in The Times – and not all of us can access every taste or smell. About 25% of people can’t detect bitterness, for instance, while another 25% are “supertasters”, and thus hate that oily finish of a cheap viognier. If you fall into the latter camp, try the Co-op’s white peach-spiced 2016 Irresistible Viognier (£7.49), with its “clean-as-a-whistle” finish. Vanilla is another tricky odour: 3% of people can’t detect it, spoiling the pleasure of a great Rioja. If that’s you, but you want to join the Rioja party, splash out on the 2009 La Rioja Alta Viña Arana Reserva (£20.49; Waitrose),…

The billionaire heiress at the centre of a political scandal Liliane Bettencourt 1922-2017 Having avoided publicity her entire life, Liliane Bettencourt – the L’Oréal heiress and the world’s richest woman –made headlines worldwide in her old age, when she became embroiled in a family dispute about her capacity to manage her affairs, and a political scandal. At the end of a criminal case brought by Bettencourt’s daughter, a society photographer named François-Marie Banier was found guilty of exploiting her frail state. Over the years she had, it turned out, given him cash and assets worth up to s1.3bn. During his trial, it emerged that she’d also handed envelopes stuffed with cash to politicians. With even President Nicolas Sarkozy suspected of accepting illegal campaign funds from her, L’Affaire Bettencourt gripped France…

Labour’s fantasy economics Jeremy Warner The Daily Telegraph There used to be a City maxim known as the “Forty Year Rule”, which held that “really serious banking crises only happen after all those old enough to remember the last one have retired or died out”, says Jeremy Warner. “Something similar applies to the political cycle.” To anyone old enough to remember the economic disasters of the 1970s, it seems “beyond belief” that the hard Left’s policies are making such a popular comeback. Yet the more Labour swings to the Left, “the more its electoral prospects seem to improve”. As Germany’s election showed, this “erosion of the centre ground” isn’t a peculiarly British phenomenon. But it speaks volumes for the way that centre-right politicians have “lost the plot”. Small wonder people…

Controversy of the week Corbyn’s path to power Jeremy Corbyn didn’t have high hopes when he ran for leader of the Labour Party in 2015, said The Economist. After he won, few thought he would survive long. Now, with a weak Theresa May struggling to unite her party behind one vision of Brexit, “the unthinkable image of a left-wing firebrand in No. 10 Downing Street is increasingly plausible”. In his speech to Labour’s conference in Brighton on Wednesday, Corbyn cast his party as the “government in waiting”, and bookies have him as the favourite to be the next PM. Meanwhile, shadow chancellor John McDonnell “set out a Marxist programme of exorbitant spending and state confiscation guaranteed to bankrupt Britain in weeks”, said the Daily Mail. Not content with renationalising the…

The zen rock star Sitting still doesn’t come naturally to Liam Gallagher, says Craig McLean in The Daily Telegraph. The former Oasis singer – and gobby hellraiser of Britpop – is touring the world to promote his first solo album. How does he cope with the long flights? “Don’t read. F*** reading. What do I do?” he ponders. “I just sit there and stare out the window. Pure mind control, mate. I’m a zen c***, me. I don’t need to read a book to turn off. I don’t drink on a plane any more either, ‘cause I just end up getting f***ing w***ered. Have a kip. Might watch the odd little film for half an hour, then I’m bored of that. So I just stare out the window, man. I…

A man who posted a message online asking strangers to buy his friend a birthday drink got rather more than he bargained for. Nick Matthewman was celebrating his 20th in a pub in Sheffield when his friend Rory decided to ask people on Twitter to use the Wetherspoons app to “send him a bev”. Within hours, the post was retweeted almost 8,000 times; soon waiters were coming over to their table bringing not only bottles of beer, but also eight glasses of milk, a pint of John Smith’s, a bottle of Prosecco and various random items from the food menu including a pot of barbecue sauce, a pot of crispy onions and a plate of peas. An Australian who stopped his car to investigate an unusual squealing sound looked inside…

GERMANY Migrants will cost hundreds of billions Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich) Germany’s government is being uncharacteristically cagey about how much refugees are costing the nation, says Wolfgang Bok. Since 2014, 1.7 million people – largely unskilled and uneducated – have applied for asylum there, yet there’s a suspicious lack of hard data on how the nation is coping. For a country “that typically tots up the cost of every bolt and screw”, this can only be explained by fear of what voters would say if they knew how vast the sums were. Germany allocated almost s94bn to provide for refugees from 2016 to 2020. But its states say that covers just half their expenses, so the true cost is closer to s188bn. And even that may not include funding for…

In the 1880s, archaeologists in Sweden uncovered a Viking grave containing – along with the body – shields, an axe, a spear, a bow, the bones of two horses, and gaming pieces that might have been used to plan battle tactics. Here, they declared, a great Viking warrior was buried, and assigned him the name Bj 581. More than a century on, detailed DNA analysis of the grave remains has confirmed something that some archaeologists posited as long ago as the 1970s, but that the original team didn’t even contemplate: the Viking was female. There is no proof that she was, in fact, a warrior: the grave goods could have been heirlooms; perhaps there was once a male body in the grave. But the researchers say their findings suggest that…

Ian McEwan has written many fine novels, but for a time he was convinced that his best, and possibly his defining, work, had gone missing. The writer has revealed how he became obsessed with finding “an incredibly beautiful” 40,000-word novella that he recalled writing. Presuming it had gone missing in a house move, he spent ages searching for this “perfect” book in desks and cupboards, but to no avail. He now accepts that he imagined it. “It was a false memory,” he told The Times. “The novella does not exist. But even as I write this, I sense the ghost of it, a bundle of dogeared, handwritten pages, lying in a drawer…” Liam Gallagher hasn’t spoken to his brother Noel in years – but he makes public digs at him…

Having it both ways To The Times It seems that the EU wants the UK to contribute for many years as if we were a member state, but without the benefits of the Single Market. They also want EU nationals living here to retain – indefinitely, it would seem – the rights they would have as EU citizens, to be enforced by the European Court of Justice. EU negotiators have talked about “having one’s cake and eating it”. Isn’t that the essence of their demands? Richard Skipp, Bristol Transition will take time To The Times It would be wrong to criticise the Government for proposing a two- or three-year transitional period between EU membership and a trading arrangement for the future. When the UK joined the Common Market in 1973,…

Theatre Oslo Playwright: J.T. Rogers Director: Bartlett Sher Harold Pinter Theatre, Panton Street, London SW1 (0844-871 7622) Until 30 December Running time: 2hrs 55mins (including interval) ★★★★ This “big, substantial, mature, thought-provoking” play takes as its unlikely subject the Israeli-Palestinian backchannel peace talks held in Oslo in the early 1990s, said Christopher Hart in The Sunday Times. Featuring “men in grey suits, sitting in a large grey room, talking and arguing” for the best part of three hours, it sounds about as “thrilling as the Brexit negotiations”. Yet Oslo is utterly gripping throughout, thanks to the writer’s “impeccable stagecraft”, Bartlett Sher’s “classy, energetic direction”, and some top-notch acting. I expected to find Oslo interesting enough, said Susannah Clapp in The Observer. “I did not expect to find myself following the…

What the experts recommend The Straight and Narrow 45 Narrow Street, London E14 (020-3745 8345) This is “the neighbourhood restaurant you want around the corner”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. The reasonably priced one that “will leave you feeling someone gave a damn about you having a good time”. But to really enjoy it, you do need to be of the view, as I am, that “food and music are meant to go together”. On the evening of our visit, the wonderful piano player was so lively, he had me singing Dancing Queen over my meatballs. I’m told that some nights, the place erupts into a group singalong. The food is pure pleasure too. We enjoyed some lovely “British tapas” starters – a great Scotch egg; mackerel pâté;…

New cars: what the critics say What Car? SUVs may be all the rage, but small hatchbacks are still “big business” – particularly for Volkswagen. In the UK, one in every four cars sold by the firm last year was a Polo, so a lot rides on this sixth-generation model. Like all recent Polos, this one has five doors – the three-door model was scrapped owing to a lack of demand – as well as an updated design and a new range of engine choices. Autocar The new Polo is “a smart and thoroughly modern-looking car”, with crisp lines and a “confident” stance. Inside, VW has struck a balance between its usual simplicity and “youthful” flare: the “contemporary-looking” cabin has some nice materials and a 6.5in touchscreen. The car is…

L’Oréal/Nestle : new makeover? The death of the L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt has made her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, the richest woman in the world, said Forbes. As of last Friday morning, her net worth was $46.3bn – just a nudge ahead of Walmart heiress Alice Walton. But what does the transition mean for the future of the French cosmetics giant? Bettencourt-Meyers steps into the spotlight amid growing speculation about the future of the family’s 33% stake in L’Oréal – as well as the 23% stake held in it by the Swiss food giant Nestlé. She has signalled little will change. But analysts have floated a variety of scenarios, including L’Oréal buying stock back from Nestlé, or the latter staging a full-on takeover bid for the former. “All these permutations pre-suppose…

Richard Smith Several weeks after owning up to “the largest credit card hack in US history”, Equifax boss Richard Smith has “retired”, says The Guardian. What a mess he leaves behind. The embattled credit agency faces “multiple state and federal inquiries” and a class action lawsuit alleging “negligence”, after a massive breach exposed the personal details of 143 million people. One Democratic senator calls it “one of the most egregious examples of corporate malfeasance since Enron”. Days before the hack was revealed, several top executives sold stock totalling $1.7m; Equifax has since lost 27% of its value. Smith, 57, who joined from General Electric in 2005 and kick-started a decade of growth, doesn’t leave empty-handed. Bloomberg reports that he has at least $18.4m in retirement benefits. Nhlamulo Dlomu Given the…

Book a Michelin starred 8 course tasting menu for 2, just £90 JSW, an award-winning restaurant in Hampshire with accolades including a Michelin star and three AA Rosettes, is offering an 8-course tasting-menu meal for two for £90. Add wine to the experience for an extra £55. Visit TheWeekSociety.co.uk for details. In partnership with TRAVELZOO Book now for My Name is Prince, The Official Exhibition This October will see the World Premiere of the first ever official exhibition about iconic superstar and legendary performer Prince, at the O2 in London. My Name Is Prince, will celebrate the legacy of one of pop music’s most influential figures, Prince Rogers Nelson. Adult tickets from £25.00. Limited availability. Book online at THEWEEKTICKETS.CO.UK or call 0207 492 9948 Book a Dartmoor mini break with…

Dublin Abortion referendum: Ireland is to hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion, its prime minister, Leo Varadkar, has announced. Abortion is only legal in Ireland in cases where there is a real and substantial risk to the life of the mother (including the risk of suicide). In practice, this means that the victims of rape and incest are denied abortions; as are those diagnosed with severe foetal abnormalities. As a result, thousands of women travel abroad for abortions each year, the majority of them to Britain. Varadkar said the abortion referendum would take place in May or June 2018 – just weeks before Pope Francis is due to visit the country in August. It is not yet clear what the wording of…

Silence is golden for gun dealers Gail Collins The New York Times If there was one thing we anticipated from the Trump era, says Gail Collins, it was “a flood of totally irrational legislation on behalf of the gun lobby”. But since February, when a law making it easier for Americans with a severe mental impairment to buy weapons was passed, there has been nothing. The lull ended last week, though, when a House committee approved the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act, “adorably nicknamed Share”. The bill, provided it passes, will make it easier to buy gun silencers, which – advocates claim – will help protect hunters’ hearing. People can already buy silencers, it just takes a while, since it involves a fee, fingerprinting and background checks. And they…

Wristbands that enable wearers to write and send emails just by thinking about what they want to say could be on the market within three years. While tech giants such as Facebook invest millions in complex brain-machine interfaces involving helmets and implants, a team in New York is working on something simpler: an electromyography armband that intercepts signals travelling from the brain to the muscles in the hand – including those instructing the fingers to type. The idea is that people just have to tap their fingers on any surface – or simply think about the action – and the device will pick up and interpret the signals, and produce the text. “Just as you don’t think about which muscles you activate when you speak, you won’t have to think…

“For all our grand plans, life is really the accumulation of small experiences.” Matthew Syed in The Times “This is the only place in the country where they pay you to have lunch.” Unnamed member of the House of Lords, quoted in The Guardian “One has no great hopes of Birmingham. I always say there is something direful in the sound.” From Jane Austen’s Emma , quoted in The Guardian “Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.” Charles de Gaulle, quoted on The Browser “The Englishman walks before the law like a trained horse in a circus. He has the sense of legality in his bones, in his muscles.” Maxim Gorky, quoted on Forbes.com “One of the pleasures of old age is the…

To The Guardian The debt crisis Larry Elliott predicts is the result of our failure to resolve the financial crisis of 2008. The credit crunch demonstrated that Western economies were living beyond their means and that there was too much money and too much debt in the system. The required solution was for creditors to give up a considerable portion of their wealth, and return living space to debtors. Significant austerity was unavoidable. Governments chose quantitative easing instead, which allowed the wealthy to get out of cash and into assets, retaining or regaining any loss caused by the crash. The rest of us had to bear the brunt of austerity: cuts in benefits, the erosion of full-time jobs, the rise of the gig economy, and increases in rents. Additional debt,…

Best books… Miranda Hart Comedian and actress Miranda Hart picks her five favourite books. She is introducing her new children’s book, The Girl with the Lost Smile, at Cheltenham Literature Festival on 6 October (www.cheltenhamfestivals.com) Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, 1874 (Penguin £5.99). An epic love story, with evocative portrayals of our great West Country. Most importantly, in Bathsheba Everdene, Hardy created a feisty heroine fighting for her independence. Her intriguing aspect was her complexity, not her beauty. Go feminist Hardy! Stately as a Galleon and Other Songs and Sketches by Joyce Grenfell, 1978 (out of print). A collection of the best works by Grenfell – the first female observational stand-up, I suppose – with characterful sketches portraying women of her era. Without her, no Victoria Wood,…

This simple and very tasty meal is perfect with jasmine rice or on its own, says Ching He Huang. Instead of sea bass, you could use sustainable cod from Icelandic waters – just be sure to cook it a little longer as it’s a meatier fish Miso sea bass with shiitake and pak choi 1 tbsp miso paste knob of fresh root ginger, peeled and grated 2 x 200g sea bass fillets, skin on 2 tbsps rapeseed oil 2 tbsps mirin 1 tbsp low-sodium light soy sauce juice of 1 lemon For the pak choi: 1 tbsp rapeseed oil 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut into 1cm thick slices 200g pak choi leaves 1 tbsp low-sodium light soy sauce • Put the miso paste…

The week’s best buys Babcock International The Times Babcock has been “unfairly classed in with other outsourcers”. Visibility of future earnings has improved: the group has a £19bn order book, with resilient long-term UK defence contracts. Undervalued. Buy. 838.50p. Go-Ahead Group The Mail on Sunday Shares in the public transport firm have fallen 30% this year But broker Jefferies reckons this is an opportunity: it sees “solid prospects” for the bus division and expects the group to sustain the dividend. Buy. £16.20. Impax Asset Management Investors Chronicle After a “transformative acquisition” of US rival fund manager Pax, the sustainable investment specialist looks “even more likely to deliver” on ambitious growth forecasts. Profits should rise to £15.6m. Buy. 128p. M.P. Evans Shares The Indonesian palm oil producer’s profits have more than…