Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1172 i The Week

What happened The strike on Syria US, British and French forces fired more than 100 cruise missiles at targets inside Syria last Saturday. The barrage, launched from fighter jets, warships and submarines, struck three facilities linked to Syria’s chemical weapons programme. In a tweet, Donald Trump hailed a “perfectly executed” joint strike, adding “mission accomplished”. The strikes were designed to punish the regime of Bashar al-Assad for what local doctors said was a poison gas attack on the town of Douma a week earlier, in which at least 75 people, including many children, died. Theresa May – who faced criticism in the House of Commons for not seeking prior parliamentary approval for joining the US-led operation (see page 6) – said the raid was “right and legal”. It would, she…

Washington DC Trump “morally unfit”: The former head of the FBI, James Comey, has branded President Trump a shameless liar, who will “stain everyone around him” and who is “morally unfit” to be president. In a media interview to promote his new book, A Higher Loyalty, Comey – who was sacked by Trump after allegedly declining to give an assurance of his personal loyalty – said that a person who “treats women like they’re pieces of meat, who lies constantly about matters big and small... [is] not fit to be president”. However, Comey (above) said he didn’t think Trump should be impeached, rather that it was up to the American people to vote him out of office. In response, Trump called Comey a disgruntled “slimeball” and “leaker”, who should be…

A nightly glass of wine, far from protecting your heart is likely to result in you dying sooner, the largest ever study of its kind has found. Researchers from the University of Cambridge used data on 600,000 drinkers to estimate how regular drinking affects the life expectancy of an average 40-year-old. They found that more than 12.5 weekly units – the equivalent of five 175ml glasses of wine – typically robs someone of six months of life. (The UK’s recommended weekly limit for both sexes is 14 units.) Twice this amount shortens your life by one to two years, while three nightly glasses of wine, or more than 44 units per week, cuts life expectancy by four to five years. The study showed that while modest drinking makes non-fatal heart…

It promised to be a “generation-defining moment”, said Nicky Woolf in the New Statesman. At last, Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, was to be dragged before Congress and “made to answer the Questions of the People”. In the event, his testimony before two hearings on Capitol Hill last week – held in response to revelations about Facebook’s negligence in protecting users’ data – didn’t live up to its billing. Dressed in a dark suit, the 33-year-old looked “absolutely terrified” to start with. Yet he went on to give a polished, if “somewhat robotic”, performance, emerging from the hearings “unscathed”. His coaching by a “crack team of outside consultants and lawyers” clearly helped, as did the fact that some of his interrogators appeared to lack a “basic conception of how…

“Anyone living in the west London suburb of Ealing knows of the Mattock Lane protesters,” said Anoosh Chakelian in the New Statesman. On this quiet road, they can be seen every day, standing outside a Marie Stopes sexual health clinic, praying, waving placards and – it has been alleged –sometimes harassing the women going in there by handing them teddy bears and foetus dolls, and asking them to choose either pink or blue rosaries. Catholic groups have been holding these antiabortion “vigils” for more than 23 years – but not for much longer. Last week, Ealing council decided, after a public consultation, that the protests were having a “detrimental effect on the locality”, and imposed a public spaces protection order around the clinic, banning any protests within 100 metres. The…

The Commonwealth Games final is the biggest match in netball, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. And there could be no better advert for the sport than last Sunday’s “enthralling” final. With just 20 seconds to go at the Coomera Indoor Sports Centre, England were level with hosts and reigning champions Australia. Desperate to break the deadlock, they shot twice at goal – only to miss. But then, in the very last second of the match, they were awarded a penalty for a foul. One of England’s best goal shooters, Helen Housby, converted it – and England had a historic 52-51 victory. “It’s a blur,” said the 23-year-old zoology student after the match. “I just remember having the ball in my hands and then running away screaming.” England were never…

To The Daily Telegraph It appears that all businesses, large or small, are to be bound by extremely onerous new rules under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which come into force on 25 May. I attended a seminar on them and here is a taster of what I will have to do. I have to contact everyone on my e-newsletter subscription list and ask them to resubscribe all over again, and confirm their email address in writing by either email or surface mail. I then have to confirm they have agreed to receive this at the address posted. Once they confirm this, I can tell them that their subscription has been accepted and that they can unsubscribe at any time. I have to ask everyone currently receiving invitations to…

Custody Dir: Xavier Legrand 1hr 34mins (15) Riveting portrait of toxic masculinity ★★★★ A film about a custody battle may sound about as fun as being trapped “by a ranting divorcé at a dinner party”, said Larushka Ivan-Zadeh in The Times. But take it from me, this French-language feature debut from writer-director Xavier Legrand, which won the Silver Lion award at Venice, is riveting. Miriam (Léa Drucker) claims her husband Antoine (Denis Ménochet) is violent and controlling; he says he just wants to see his young son, Julien (Thomas Gioria). The court awards him weekend visitation rights, but rules he mustn’t know where Miriam lives. What follows is “a demonstration of slighted masculinity being given an inch, taking a mile, and chewing it up with breakneck fury”, said Tim Robey…

Earlier this month, Aldi’s £9.99 Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin was named one of the best gins in the world for the second year running, winning a gold medal from the International Spirits Challenge. Aldi won’t say who makes it, but there are several big-name drinks-makers who do contract work for the supermarkets, says Henry Jeffreys in The Guardian. Here are some other “hidden treasures” at bargain prices. When it comes to sherry, I’d recommend Morrisons’ Oloroso dry sherry (£6 for 37.5cl; Morrisons) which is “pungent, earthy and rich but with a bone-dry finish”. There are fewer bargains around when it comes to Scotch, but one is Ben Bracken Islay single malt (£17.49; Lidl) – a “good, smoky and distinctive single malt at a very good price”. As for champagne,…

This vast château is a “beautiful freak of a building”, says Ruaridh Nicoll in the Financial Times. With countless windows, turrets and domes, 426 rooms and 282 fireplaces, it’s the biggest in the Loire Valley – “a folly so grand it’s hard to take in, like something seen in a fever”. Chambord was built by France’s King Francis I “to impress and intimidate”. Construction began in 1519, “and has never really ended”; one of its 77 staircases is believed to have been designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Yet aside from two short, “unhappy stints”, the château has never been lived in. Notoriously “hard to heat”, and with a “terrible” mosquito problem, it was passed down over the years “from one absent baron to another”. Now, it’s owned by the state…

ZTE: Chinese threat? The US and Britain have issued “a first-of-its-kind” joint warning about Russian cyberattacks against government organisations, companies, homes and offices – “a milestone in the escalating use of cyberweaponry between major powers”, said The New York Times. But what of the threat from China? In a move likely to add to existing trade tensions, the two countries have also moved against one of China’s biggest telecoms equipment makers, ZTE, citing “potential risks” to national security, said Neil Connor in The Daily Telegraph. Shares in state-controlled ZTE, which makes mobile phones and network equipment, were suspended in Shenzhen and Hong Kong when the US barred it from importing American components for seven years, citing an old beef about the “illegal” sale of equipment to Iran and North Korea.…

Controversy of the week May’s Syrian gambit Leaders mired in the fog of domestic policy often see “a beautiful clarity in faraway war”, said Polly Toynbee in The Guardian. Give them a “saluting general and a noble cause, and everything looks easier”. But make no mistake: Theresa May has taken a terrible risk in joining President Trump’s assault on Syria. By common agreement, the strikes will achieve very little. Polls suggest that the British public is widely opposed to military action (see Poll watch). May has now tied the country to Trump’s “fickle whims” and increased the chance of a “perilous” confrontation with Russia. Who knows what military adventure his dysfunctional White House will embark on next? Worst of all, she made this “fruitless, unpopular and incredibly dangerous gesture” without…

Algiers Deadly plane crash: An Algerian military plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed near the capital, Algiers, last week, killing 257 passengers and crew. The Russian-made Ilyushin Il-76 transport plane came down soon after take off from a military base 20 miles outside Algiers. Its destination was Tindouf, to the west. The cause of the crash is unknown and an investigation has been launched, while the government has declared three days of national mourning. It was the deadliest plane crash in Algeria’s history, and the worst anywhere in the world since July 2014, when a Malaysian Airlines flight was shot down by Russian-backed rebels over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. Last week’s incident comes four years after another Algerian military plane crashed, killing 77 people. Chibok,…

We must return the treasure in our museums Philip Stephens Financial Times Emmanuel Macron has put the wind up Europe’s great museums, says Philip Stephens. The French president has told them they must cease holding Africa’s heritage prisoner, and he has appointed two experts to decide which items in French institutions to return to France’s former colonies. But such talk is anathema to places like Britain’s Victoria & Albert Museum. It recently rejected a demand by the Ethiopian government for the return of a collection of Ethiopian jewellery and gold artefacts it had put on display. The V&A argues, with some validity, that to break up the collection of a renowned museum, most of which had been legitimately acquired, would destroy a public benefit that should be available to all.…

A French man has survived despite having no heartbeat for 18 hours, reports The Times. The unnamed 53-year-old suffered a heart attack while out walking and was discovered lying unconscious by a river. It was found that he was suffering from hypothermia, with a body temperature of 22°C (instead of the normal 37°C), and this protected his brain and other organs. Doctors, realising he might be revivable, placed him on a heart-lung machine after initial attempts at heart massage failed; this kept him alive until his temperature rose sufficiently for doctors to attempt to revive his heart again. Although the heart massage broke some of his ribs, the man appears to be otherwise unharmed. “The probability of him surviving was near to zero,” said Dr Jonathan Charbit of Montpellier University…

On a quiet Saturday afternoon in Birmingham 50 years ago, Enoch Powell delivered his shrill “rivers of blood” speech, in which he sought to “stir terror” at the thought of a Britain overrun by dark-skinned immigrants, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. To mark the anniversary, the BBC announced that it had rerecorded the speech in full – it was originally only filmed in part – using the actor Ian McDiarmid, for broadcast on Radio 4 last Saturday. Whereupon, some, as they looked ahead, “were filled with foreboding” – and fury. Thousands protested online against the transmission of Powell’s diatribe. The Labour peer Lord Adonis wrote to Ofcom, asking it to cancel the programme. “Denunciations multiplied.” The broadcast became “a rallying point for that new breed of modern reactionary: the…

“We have as many personalities as we have friends.” Quote attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson in The Oldie “Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not.” Ursula K. Le Guin, quoted on CountryLiving.com “All I ask is the chance to prove that money can’t make me happy.” Spike Milligan, quoted in The Independent “Many a man owes his success to his first wife and his second wife to his success.” Actor Jim Backus, quoted in Forbes “I’m not afraid of dying. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Woody Allen, quoted in The Independent “Writing was invented by accountants.” Philip Hensher, quoted on The Browser “The word ‘reality’ is one of the few words which means nothing without quotes.” Vladimir Nabokov, quoted…

Horse racing Tiger Roll won the Grand National. It was 38-year-old jockey Davy Russell’s first victory in 14 attempts. Formula One In his first victory since last June, Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo won the Chinese Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton came fourth, putting him nine points behind Sebastian Vettel in the drivers’ championship. Commonwealth Games The hosts, Australia, finished the tournament top of the medals table, with 80 gold medals. England came second, with 45 golds. Wales were seventh, on ten golds; Scotland were eighth, with nine.…

Exhibition of the week America’s Cool Modernism Ashmolean, Beaumont Street, Oxford (01865-278000, www.ashmolean.org ). Until 22 July American culture flourished during the 1920s and 1930s, said Laura Cumming in The Observer. This was the era that gave us everything “from skyscrapers and jazz bands, to speakeasies and Scott Fitzgerald, mass production, hard-boiled gumshoes and Hollywood”. Strangely, though, the US art of the period is barely acknowledged on this side of the Atlantic; Britain’s public collections contain almost no American paintings created during the interwar years. Yet as a “powerfully atmospheric” new exhibition at the Ashmolean museum reveals, the period produced some fascinating artists who sought to create their own, distinctly American take on European modernism. The show brings together more than 80 works created by a group…

20 Stories No. 1 Spinningfields, 1 Hardman Square, Manchester (0161-204 3333) Most restaurants at the top of very tall buildings turn out to be “expensive and loveless”, says Grace Dent in The Guardian – relying as they do on a “lemming-like clientele who just want a pretty view”. The fantastic food at 20 Stories, by contrast, provides what I confidently predict will be “one of my favourite dinners of 2018”. Don’t get me wrong: the panoramic views of Manchester are indeed stunning. It’s just that Aiden Byrne’s cooking is wonderful too. Squab pigeon with cherries and a “vibrant puddle” of violet mustard; plump roast scallops on an earthy pearl risotto; leek salad with goat’s curd and a confit egg yolk with truffle – all these are great. So, too,…

Miloš Forman 1932-2018 In the 50 years he spent exiled from his native Czechoslovakia, Miloš Forman, who has died aged 86, directed only nine films, but two of them – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus – were “Oscar-winning smashes as uplifting as anything seen in the cinema”, said The Daily Telegraph. Growing up under communism inspired a deep hostility to oppressive regimes, and much of his work celebrates rebels – Randle McMurphy, Jack Nicholson’s character in Cuckoo’s Nest, who stirs up the inmates of a psychiatric hospital against the nurse in charge, being the prime example. “To me it was not just literature but real life,” he said of the Ken Kesey novel on which the film was based. “The Communist Party was my Nurse Ratched, telling…

The pound hit its highest level since the 2016 Brexit vote, reaching nearly $1.44. Sterling has quietly gained 11% against the dollar since June, partly on expectations of a May interest rate rise. Lower than expected inflation figures – CPI inflation fell to 2.5% in March – have taken the pressure off the Bank of England to act, but economists still put the odds of a hike at 80%. The data is good news for consumers: falling inflation and wage growth mean that British workers have seen their first real pay rise in a year. As global leaders headed to Washington for meetings of the IMF and World Bank, the World Trade Organisation said that it expected global trade volumes to expand by 4.4% in 2018, but warned that rising…

Brexit’s post-imperial delusions Editorial The Economist Keen Brexiteers have long hailed the Commonwealth, whose representatives met in London this week, “as an alternative to the European Union”, says The Economist. What an “amiable delusion”. The alliance of 53 countries has largely “shed its post-imperial reputation as a white man’s club”; it strives “to spur economic development” among members and has notched up diplomatic victories, including helping to end apartheid in South Africa. But hopes of its emergence as a “would-be trading bloc” on a par with Europe are forlorn. Many Commonwealth nations, it is true, have been growing much more quickly than their EU peers. Yet while the EU “accounts for nearly half of Britain’s trade, the Commonwealth accounts for just a tenth”. And the UK’s biggest potential partner, India,…

The week’s best buys Croda International The Times The speciality chemicals maker has been growing and expanding its manufacturing base, while maintaining “industry-leading” margins. Well diversified and set for progress. Buy. £45.99. easyHotel The Times “Super-budget” hotels chime with a cautious consumer backdrop and economic uncertainty. Run by an industry veteran, the chain has 27 hotels in 18 cities and franchises from Iran to Málaga – and is still expanding. Buy. 114.5p. Eddie Stobart Logistics Investors Chronicle After listing a year ago, ESL has completed a series of acquisitions to broaden its capabilities, including iForce – a key player in the e-commerce sector. Expanding into Europe with existing customers. Buy. 126p. ITV Investors Chronicle The broadcaster is benefiting from a strong content portfolio and increasing revenues from studio, online and…

Brussels A more gentle army: In an effort to make military life more attractive to a younger generation, Belgium’s army is considering letting new recruits sleep at home during their training. The average age of personnel in Belgium’s army is 44 – more than a decade older than in the armies of Germany, France or Britain – partly because a large number of new recruits to the 28,500-strong force now quit early, complaining that they’re homesick and miss their friends. However, communal life in barracks has long been seen as a crucial part of the process of moulding a cohesive unit of comrades. According to the European Defence Agency, Belgium would be the first country in modern Western military history to let new recruits live at home – and some…

A new kind of footballer Footballers today get a bad rap, according to the Spurs and England defender Eric Dier. They’re not the crass, philistine bunch they’re made out to be. “The Spurs dressing room is cosmopolitan,” Dier told Matthew Syed in The Times. “There are guys from all around the world, so you can talk about anything.” The midfielder Victor Wanyama is from Kenya, so last year’s controversial Kenyan elections have been debated in some detail. The winger Son Heung-min “is from South Korea, so he tells us about the political relationship between the South and North”. Dier and the Belgian midfielder Mousa Dembélé have just had “a four-day argument about weddings... We were arguing about the concept of marriage.” Dier himself is typical of the new breed. His…

A man bought a car to drive to Bristol after working out that it would be cheaper than getting the train from London. Tom Church, 27, was told a peak-time return would cost £218.10 if bought on the day. So he spent £80 on a second-hand Honda Civic, then paid for road tax and insurance, and filled it up with petrol. “The total cost was £206.81,” he said. “And I still have a car at the end of it.” A huge blue penis has appeared on the side of a block of flats in Stockholm. For ten years, the owners of the block have given a local art collective free rein to decorate the five-storey building. Usually, the murals remain up for six months – but when this latest creation…

Concussion and dementia People who suffer concussion or other head injuries are more likely to develop dementia later in life, scientists have found. Moreover, the risk appears to increase substantially the earlier in life the injury occurs. In one of the largest ever studies to examine the links between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and cognitive decline, US and Danish researchers analysed the health records of almost 2.8 million people from Denmark over 36 years. Overall, those who’d sustained a TBI had a 24% greater chance of being diagnosed with dementia than those who hadn’t. For those injured in their 20s, the raised risk was 63%, while for those in their 30s, it was 37%. A TBI’s severity was also a factor: a single severe head injury raised the risk of…

They are not inviting Theresa May, Donald Trump or Barack Obama – but Prince Harry and his fiancée, Meghan Markle, have asked Victoria and David Beckham to their wedding. The former Spice Girl appeared to confirm that she would attend during a TV interview last week, but denied rumours that she’d been asked to design the bride’s dress. As Harry will be sixth in line to the throne, it has been decided that his wedding can be a relatively informal affair, without an “official list”. Hollywood A-listers were out in force this week at a party where Gwyneth Paltrow is rumoured to have married her boyfriend of three years, Glee co-creator Brad Falchuk. It was billed as an engagement party, but because Paltrow announced her engagement in January, many are…

“The late Henry Vincent, the career criminal who died while attempting to burgle an elderly couple, was clearly popular,” said Tony Parsons in The Sun. His friends and family, from a community of Travellers in Orpington, Kent, have mourned his death “as if he were a cross between George Michael and Martin Luther King”, with flowers and teddy bears and cards. “Too good to walk this earth,” sobbed one tribute. “Heart of gold,” sighed another. Unfortunately, these heartfelt farewells appeared opposite the very house in Hither Green, southeast London, where Vincent was fatally stabbed with a screwdriver during a struggle with the homeowner, 78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks. Locals, “furious that their street is being turned into a memorial for a dead thief”, removed the tributes. Then the Travellers put them up…

“He explained he wanted the grass at the Etihad Stadium to be cut to exactly 19mm” And so, after a week of chaos, order has been restored, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. Last Saturday, Manchester City ended their three-match losing streak with an impressive 3-1 victory over Tottenham. The next day, Manchester United’s shock 1-0 loss to West Brom gave City an unassailable 16-point lead at the top of the table, handing them their third Premier League title in seven seasons. For months, the Sky Blues’ triumph had been a foregone conclusion: this season, they have been the best team in England “by a mile”. All that remains to be decided is how many records they will break. With 87 points, they need three wins from their remaining…

Windrush disgrace To The Times As the child of Caribbean immigrants, the son of a wartime British Army sergeant and the brother of one of the UK’s first black hospital matrons, I am affronted by Whitehall’s cavalier treatment of the children of the Windrush generation. As the former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, I am outraged at the callousness and betrayal of trust by ministers towards people born under a flag that once promised no distinction between its subjects. I was born, unexpectedly, in London, the last of ten children. Had my parents chosen a later departure, I too might now be made stateless, homeless and jobless. Cecil Rhodes remarked that “to be born an Englishman is to win first prize in life’s lottery”. I was lucky;…

Theatre The Moderate Soprano Playwright: David Hare Director: Jeremy Herrin Duke of York’s Theatre, St Martin’s Lane, London WC2 (0844-871 7623). Until 30 June Running time: 2hrs 15mins (including interval) ★★★ You might think that a drama about the husband-and-wife team behind the foundation of Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1934 would be a trifle worthy. But you’d be wrong, said Michael Billington in The Guardian. David Hare’s play is both deeply moving and very funny. It’s also a distinctly unusual one for this day and age, because it celebrates the power of married love and the transcendent joys of a “supposedly elitist art form”. Hare extracts “rich comedy” from the conflict between the bull-headed obduracy of John Christie, who conceived the idea of an opera house on the Sussex Downs,…

Best books… Terence Stamp The film star Terence Stamp picks his five favourite books. His memoir, The Ocean Fell into the Drop, which traces his love of acting and mysticism, was published last year by Repeater Books at £9.99. The Three Just Men by Edgar Wallace, 1926 (House of Stratus £7.99). It took me an interminable time to learn how to read. And then at school I was exposed to the usual pap given to newcomers to literature. It wasn’t until I was returning my mum’s books to Beckton Road Library, East London, that the title of Wallace’s thriller caught my glance: my first proper book. The Razor’s Edge by W. Somerset Maugham, 1944 (Vintage £8.99). After getting a crush on Gene Tierney, having watched the film – twice –…

We might be biased, but our mum’s recipe for granola really is the best, say Gracie and Sophie Tyrrell. She created this bar version so that we never went without a hearty breakfast when we were busy – and we still love it. Granola bar Makes 12 bars 200g jumbo rolled oats 50g roughly chopped pecans 50g flaked almonds 25g goji berries 100g mixed seeds 2 tsps ground cinnamon 100g coconut oil, melted 150ml maple syrup a pinch of salt • Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 20cm brownie pan with baking paper. • Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. • Tip the mixture into the prepared pan and spread it evenly. Press down with a large flat spatula or fish slice…

Daphne Sheldrick 1934-2018 Dame Daphne Sheldrick, who has died aged 84, dedicated 60 years of her life to wildlife conservation in Kenya. Known as the “elephant mother”, she helped establish the 5,000-square-mile Tsavo East nature reserve with her husband David, turning unpromising bush into a protected space for Kenya’s elephants and other species. While he concentrated on devising anti-poaching units, she cared for baby elephants whose mothers had been killed by ivory hunters, said The Washington Post. Elephants depend on their mothers’ milk for the first few years of their lives, and one of Sheldrick’s great achievements was devising an acceptable formula milk that enabled her to save the lives of scores of elephants, who were then released to the wild. But aiding the orphaned creatures was no Disney-like experience.…

Last year, Netflix was booed at the Cannes Film Festival. This year, having been effectively barred from competing for the prestigious Palme d’Or following a row with organisers, the US streaming giant isn’t even putting in an official appearance. Still, no one seems to care on Wall Street, said Tim Bradshaw in the Financial Times. Even as fellow FANG tech stocks – Facebook, Amazon and Google – “have come under pressure in recent weeks amid rising legal risks”, Netflix has “surged”. Shares jumped more than 7% on Tuesday on news that it is on course to rack up more than 125 million global subscribers. They’re now up by more than 60% this year. Co-founder and CEO Reed Hastings, who also sits on the board of Facebook (down 7% in the…

David Schwimmer The new boss of the London Stock Exchange has the same name as the actor who played Ross in the sitcom Friends, says Lex in the FT. Not much is known about him in the City, “but we have no reason to believe he ever fancied Rachel, dressed up as an armadillo or kept a pet monkey”. An American former Goldman Sachs banker, Schwimmer, 49, joins after a damaging spat between the exchange’s previous boss, Frenchman Xavier Rolet, and its chairman, Donald Brydon. Schwimmer’s first task is to “bring harmony where there was discord”, but the “broader mission” is to capitalise on his predecessor’s legacy: Rolet turned the LSE “from a minnow into a £15bn European market powerhouse”. Cho Hyun-min There’s a sense of déjà vu at Korean…