Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1173 i The Week

What happened The Windrush row Home Secretary Amber Rudd sought to quell the furore over the treatment of the Windrush generation of migrants this week by unveiling a compensation scheme and a simpler path to citizenship for the people affected. The Government will waive the usual fees and citizenship tests, and individuals won’t have to provide proof of date of entry and continuous residence in Britain. The measures will apply not just to the families of Caribbean migrants who came to the UK between 1948 and 1973, but to anyone from a Commonwealth nation who settled in the UK over that period. Rudd said the public expected migration laws to be enforced, but conceded that policies designed to create a “hostile environment” for illegal migrants had had an “unintended and…

Toronto, Canada Van attack: Ten people were killed in Toronto on Monday when a man deliberately drove a van onto a crowded pavement. A suspect identified as Alek Minassian was arrested after a brief confrontation with police about a mile away from the scene. Canadian authorities said that Minassian has no known links with terrorist groups, but on Facebook he had recently praised an American, Elliot Rodger, who killed six people in 2014 after vowing to “destroy” women. Rodger turned his gun on himself; it has been speculated that Minassian sought “suicide by cop”. In footage of his arrest, he can be seen shouting to an officer: “kill me... I have a gun in my pocket”. The officer warns him that he will be shot if he does not get…

How the West lost control in the Middle East John Bew New Statesman How impotent the West looks in Syria today, says John Bew. We wring our hands over the war and launch air strikes against President Assad’s chemical weapons facilities, yet our influence over events on the ground grows ever more marginal. Russia, Iran and Turkey are the “true power-brokers” in Syria: each has a substantial military presence in the country, and earlier this month their presidents met in Ankara to discuss Syria’s future. Meanwhile, the West looks on weakly. It enfeebled itself from the outset in 2011 by rushing to declare “Assad must go”. It was an “aspiration dressed up as a policy”, one that never took account of what might replace him. And when that increasingly looked…

Scientists have accidentally created an enzyme that has an appetite for the kind of plastic commonly used to make bottles, which normally takes hundreds of years to break down. In 2016, scientists discovered – in the soil beneath a waste dump in Japan – a bacterium that had evolved to consume polyethylene terephthalate (PET), using an enzyme that probably once broke down the waxy coating on plants. To find out more about this enzyme, they began tweaking its structure and in the process inadvertently created a new version that digests plastic even faster. The difference was fairly marginal – about 20% – but the team believes that it may be possible to engineer the enzyme further, to create a super-fast plastic eater that could have industrial applications. Currently, only about…

A day before she celebrated her 92nd birthday last week, the Queen received the one gift she’d publicly requested: confirmation that the Commonwealth heads of government, gathered in London for their biennial summit, had endorsed the Prince of Wales as their next leader. It was, she had said in her opening address, her “sincere wish” that her son should carry on the work started by her father in 1949. For the Queen to speak so candidly was unusual, and prompted speculation that she had done so to make Charles’s succession a fait accompli, said Jonathan Dimbleby in The Daily Telegraph. In fact, the opposite was almost certainly true: she had felt able to express her wishes because consensus had already been reached. And there were good reasons to anoint Prince…

She looks gorgeous in her online photos; she has 132,000 Twitter followers; and she has been dubbed the most influential critic of Western involvement in Syria. Yet I’d hesitate to ask the Lebanese activist Sarah Abdallah on a date, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Why? Because there’s no proof that she actually exists. No one has interviewed her. No one else appears in her photos. For all I know, she’s a “basement-dwelling male expert in social media manipulation”. Online identity fraud is becoming a major problem, as the money-saving expert Martin Lewis drew to our attention this week. He’s suing Facebook for hosting fake adverts that use his face and name to promote dodgy financial products. Facebook insists it isn’t responsible for them because it is a platform not…

On the hottest day in the history of the London Marathon, Eliud Kipchoge confirmed what we already knew, said Sean Ingle in The Guardian: the 33-year-old Kenyan is “the finest 26.2-miler of all time”. He won the race in 2:04:17 – a “staggering” time considering the 24°C temperatures. More surprising, however, was the impressive showing by Mo Farah. Competing in only his second marathon, the British runner “held on for third”. He finished in 2:06:21, shaving a remarkable 52 seconds off the British record set by Steve Jones 33 years ago. Remarkably, Farah now holds national records for the 1,500m, 3,000m, 5,000m, 10,000m, half-marathon and marathon. Before this race, Farah’s “doubters” suspected he was only taking part in the race to secure “one last massive payday”. They were “wide of…

To The Times In my 33 years as a judge I dealt with thousands of immigration appeals. It is certainly the case that when Theresa May was home secretary, she deliberately created a hostile environment for immigrants. On her watch, immigration law, never simple, became of Byzantine, bizarre complexity and with increasingly stringent and draconian provisions. This was not helped by the fact that the Home Office was, and manifestly still is, dysfunctional and not fit for purpose. If you are not an immigrant you may think that all this does not matter to you. It does, because it affects the rule of law and, thus, every man, woman and child in this country. Dr Stephen Pacey, North Muskham, Nottinghamshire To The Guardian Those familiar with the history of Liverpool,…

If you’re looking for “distinctive, food-friendly wines made from unusual grapes by thoughtful winemakers in beautiful places”, Slovenia and Croatia fit the bill perfectly, says David Williams in The Observer. From the supermarkets, M&S’s peachy Golden Valley Grasevina 2016 (£10) does a great job of representing Croatia’s Slavonija region. And Puklavec & Friends Sauvignon Blanc Pinot Grigio 2016 is a pristine Slovene wine from the Jeruzalem region (£8.79; Waitrose). Other “beauties” that will take a bit more rooting out include the “gloriously floral and invigorating” Matosevic Alba Malvazija Istarska, Istria, Croatia 2016 (£15.99; Latitude). The Istria peninsula is known for white wines that have that “elusive ability of combining ripe, summery stone fruit, citrus, herb and fennel-like greenness”. Another great example is Kozlovic Malvazija 2016 (£14.95; Novel Wines); they also…

● Think big: ponds shrink visually once they’re filled with water and have plants around them. But keep the shape simple – if it’s too wiggly the lining won’t fit neatly. ● In city gardens, pools tend to look best if they’re above ground level. However, if you want to attract wildlife, dig down. ● Choose a position based on what the pool will reflect – the sky or plants rather than the garden shed. Place it away from trees that will shed leaves onto it. ● Ponds that catch the sun are best for aquatic plants such as water lilies, but can have algae problems. Shaded ponds are likely to have better water clarity. ● Butyl lining is ideal for irregularly shaped ponds: install it on a warm day…

The George Hotel, Inveraray, Argyll and Bute The George Hotel, on Loch Fyne, is remote enough to feel like a retreat, and close enough to Glasgow to make for an easy weekend break. Which is why “generations of Weegies have come to think of it as their private bolthole”, says Mark Palmer in The Sunday Times. Its 17 bedrooms combine “old-fashioned Scottish sturdy with more luxurious touches” – some have open fires – adding up to a sense of indulgent cosiness. The dining room’s menu gives a “nod to local cuisine”, and for whisky lovers “there is fun to be had” in the hotel bar: the list of malts “runs into three figures”. Rooms from £70 per night. Pets welcome. 01499-302111, www.thegeorgehotel.co.uk .…

TSB: IT fiasco Last weekend was supposed to mark the symbolic moment when TSB severed its final ties with Lloyds Banking Group, after being spun off in 2015 to the Spanish bank Sabadell. It resulted in a complete farce, said Rebecca Smith in City AM. A full five days after the bank began an IT upgrade to transfer 1.3 billion customer records from the Lloyds platform to a swanky new one of its own, customers were still complaining that they couldn’t access their mobile or online banking accounts. Hundreds of “furious” punters took to Twitter to vent about the glitch and TSB’s cack-handed management of it, said Simon English in the London Evening Standard. Some had stumbled upon details of other people’s accounts; others were credited with cash that wasn’t…

Trump: a force for global reform? Larry Elliott The Guardian Donald Trump’s “lone ranger approach” to world trade has certainly shaken things up, says Larry Elliott. At last week’s spring meetings of the IMF and World Bank, there was palpable concern – and not just about the threat of tariffs. The deeper anxiety is that Trump’s rejection of a 70-year-old “multilateral system” risks “sending the world spinning back to the 1930s”. Yet the system originally created by the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference is today deeply flawed. The IMF’s “messianic belief in free movement of capital”, even in countries with immature financial systems, was partly responsible for the 2008 financial crisis. Another fundamental weakness, highlighted by the trade tension between the US and China, is that there’s no mechanism for dealing…

Controversy of the week A plot to kill Brexit? “Leaving the customs union doesn’t sound like much of a cause,” said Juliet Samuel in The Daily Telegraph. “After all, who wants to die in a ditch over beef tariffs or toy safety regulations?” Yet the issue is fast emerging as the key battleground in Brexit negotiations. Last week, the Lords challenged the Government line by amending the EU withdrawal bill with a clause advocating a customs union – i.e. proposing that Britain should remain inside the “fence between the EU’s common market in goods and the rest of the world”, and should still impose the EU’s common tariffs on imports and observe its goods regulations. MPs will have a chance to vote on the bill next month. In the meantime,…

Zephaniah’s doubters When, aged eight, Benjamin Zephaniah announced that his ambition was to write poetry, his mother asked him to name one British person who earned a living from it. “I said, ‘Bill.’ She said, ‘Bill who?’ And I said, ‘Bill Shakespeare.’ ‘Him dead!’ she said. ‘And he died a long time ago! And you will never live off poetry!’” As an off-the-rails teenager in Birmingham, Zephaniah (below) found his probation officers equally discouraging: “They told me I was scum and that I was going to be nothing – not even a decorator.” At 60, as a professor of poetry and creative writing with 16 honorary doctorates to his name, he has proved them all wrong, says Tom Ough in The Daily Telegraph – but even he is still sometimes…

A new Canadian chocolate company has gone viral, particularly in Scotland, thanks to its unusual name. Shyte Chocolate – an acronym for “seriously helps you to energise!” – produces a range of premium protein-infused chocolate bars. There are suspicions that Shyte’s master chocolatier, Kevin Richards, may be in on the joke. “We may be silly, but we take our chocolate very seriously,” he writes on its website. “Please... Eat Shyte.” A growing number of British women are celebrating their pregnancies in a novel way: by commissioning paintings on their baby bumps. The trend for the temporary artworks – ranging from animals to flags and globes – has recently spread from the US. Last week, the radio presenter Emma Barnett posted a picture of her bump painting of a lion (below).…

Plastic straws will soon be banned in England, along with stirrers and cotton buds, reports The Times. Environment Secretary Michael Gove announced the move as part of a drive to curb “society’s addiction” to “single-use” plastic items. The UK uses 13.2 billion cotton buds a year – more than any other EU member – as well as 44.1 billion stirrers and 42 billion straws. Later this year, Gove will publish a consultation proposing a ban on the items, which he said had been targeted because “they are already available (or can be developed) in alternative forms”. He added that, when discarded, the products find their way into rivers and seas, where they have been found “blocking the noses of sea turtles and perforating the stomachs of penguins”. The Government is…

There were fireworks, processions and parties across Israel last week as the state celebrated the 70th anniversary of its establishment, said Simon Tisdall in The Observer. But growing tensions with Iran cast a shadow over the festivities. The two countries have long been bitter foes, and have often clashed indirectly in conflicts involving Tehran’s proxies in Gaza (Hamas) and Lebanon (Hezbollah). Now that Iran is seeking to embed itself militarily across Israel’s border in Syria – a development that Israel sees as an existential threat – the two have started to trade blows openly. In February, Israel shot down what it said was an armed Iranian drone launched from Syria. And since then, it has carried out at least two air raids on an Iranian base in Syria, killing several…

“‘Liking’ things is a bit like liking things, but with an emphasis on people seeing you Liking them, rather than actually liking them.” David Mitchell in The Observer “Knowledge comes by taking things apart: analysis. But wisdom comes by putting things together.” US politician John A. Morrison, quoted in Forbes “When you are famous it is hard to work on small problems.” Mathematician Richard Hamming, quoted on The Browser “The distance needed for humour is always missing from dreams.” Novelist Siri Hustvedt, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle “To love existence is to love what is indifferent to you.” Poet Frank Bidart, quoted in The Boston Globe “Never ask anyone over 70 how they feel. They’ll tell you.” Barbara Bush, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Some people become so expert…

Rugby union Leinster beat Scarlets 38-16 to reach the final of the Champions Cup. They will face Racing 92, who beat Munster 27-22 in the semi-finals. Football In the semi-finals of the FA Cup, Man U beat Tottenham 2-1 and Chelsea beat Southampton 2-0. Tennis In a play-off for promotion to the Fed Cup World Group, Britain were beaten 3-2 by Japan. Rafael Nadal beat Kei Nishikori to win the Monte Carlo Masters and retain his world No. 1 status. He has now won 36 straight sets on clay.…

Jamaica Street Stores 37-39 Jamaica Street, Bristol ( jamaicastreetstores.com ) This “ramshackle” restaurant might not be perfect, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times. But “I get crushes, and this is one of them”. The building itself is an “absolute beauty” – a former screen-printing works with huge windows and high ceilings, kitted out with “exuberant art” and an array of greenery, including actual trees. The food is what I think of as “Bristol eclectic” – plenty of vegetable-based dishes, a generous hand with the spices, and everything seasoned “with a joyous burst of levity and fun”. Pumpkin and saffron “hummus” served with homemade crisps is the “happiest of pairings”. Korean-ish fried chicken with spiced peanuts and kimchi mayonnaise is a “folksy fusion”. And cauliflower is here…

The Daily Telegraph Climb into a Mustang and you’re driving “a very special bit of American history”. In 2015 Ford finally got round to developing a right-hand-drive model for the UK, and it’s now been given a modest but powerful boost. The new, lower-bonneted design, with an optional spoiler, is more aerodynamic and has “presence in spades”; it also sounds glorious, “like brass bands having sex”. Autocar This is “a performance car for the working man” rather than a pretentious sports car. It offers “inimitable space, scale and style”, and looks “menacing and seductive in equal measure”. It also holds the road well, with the front-mounted engine giving extra stability, and it has “a compliant, nonchalant gait”. Above all, it will make you stand out from the crowd and is…

Sziget takes place on the island of Obuda on the Danube, 40 minutes from Budapest. Stormzy, Kendrick Lamar and Liam Gallagher are performing (8-15 August; szigetfestival.com). Summerburst in Stockholm is a weekend of electronic music. A-Trak, Will Sparks and Diplo are on the line-up (15-16 June; summerburst.se). Bilbao BBK Live is a hillside festival two miles from the city centre. The big names this year are Noel Gallagher, Florence + the Machine, The xx and Gorillaz (12-14 July; bilbaobbklive.com). Flow in Helsinki is a carbon-neutral festival in an old power station. Patti Smith, Arctic Monkeys and Kendrick Lamar headline (10-12 August; www.flowfestival.com). Mad Cool Madrid, close to the city’s airport, has galleries and markets as well as performers such as Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand, Pearl Jam and Depeche Mode (12-14 July;…

Norwegian Fjords cruise Spend 7 nights aboard Azura with stops in Flam, Sognefjord, Olden and Bergen. Full board from £699pp (based on two sharing). 0808-250 2957, www.cruise118.com. Depart 14 July from Southampton. Austrian village break 7 nights half board at the Hotel Garni Silvester in Hinterglemm, is from £599pp. Birmingham flights included. 0114-250 4090, www.voyagertraveldirect.co.uk.Depart 30 June. All-inclusive luxury in Kos Stay at the 5-star Kipriotis Panorama Hotel & Suites, with captivating views, for 7 nights from £671pp. London flights included. 020-8588 9513, www.travelinteraction.com. Depart 3 June. Dream Phuket escape Close to Patong Beach, the Thavorn Beach Village & Spa in Kamala offers 6 nights from £810pp, half board. Manchester flights incl. 0800-422 0775, www.awayholidays.co.uk. Depart 21 June.…

Yields on benchmark ten-year US Treasury bonds broke through the “psychologically important” level of 3% for the first time in four years, prompting stock markets to fall, on fears of steeper borrowing costs. Heightened investor anxiety focused on geopolitical risk had previously helped push the oil price above $75 a barrel. There was good news for the UK Chancellor: after more than 15 years of borrowing to meet the cost of day-to-day services (known as the “current budget”) the Government has finally balanced the books. Official figures showed that Britain ran a £112m surplus on the current budget last year. Shares in Sky jumped after the US cable TV giant Comcast made a formal £22bn bid for the broadcaster, topping one worth about £19bn tabled by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century…

The only way is up Once again, the Bank of England is sending out mixed messages over interest rates. Markets had been pricing in a near-certain quarter-point increase to 0.75% in May. But governor Mark Carney has now hinted that “softer” economic data means it is not a foregone conclusion, said Shane Hickey in The Observer. That hasn’t stopped lenders jumping the gun. Indeed, “rates on the most popular mortgage deals have reached their highest levels in two years”, shooting up by 0.25 percentage points since last month. The average two-year fixed mortgage rate has now reached 2.5%, adding £44 a month to the cost of repaying a typical £175,000 loan. Mortgage rates “have spiked at various points” in recent years before falling back, says Tashema Jackson of the price…

Vincent Bolloré News of the detention of one of France’s most powerful tycoons, following allegations of corruption in Africa, has exploded like “a judicial bomb” in Parisian establishment circles, said Challenges (Paris). Vincent Bolloré, 66, who quit as chairman of the entertainment group Vivendi last week in favour of his son Yannick, built a business empire extending from “Madonna’s record label” to some of Africa’s largest ports, said The Times. He’s now accused of “swaying” elections in Guinea and Togo in 2010, by providing politicians with cut-price advice from his advertising agency, Havas, in exchange for port concessions. Bolloré has recently been embroiled in a convoluted media feud with Italy’s former prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. But this looks like trouble on a different scale. Moya Greene After eight tumultuous years,…

Brussels Paris attacker convicted: Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving member of the jihadist cell suspected of carrying out the 2015 Paris terror attacks, has been convicted of the attempted murder of police officers during a shoot-out in Brussels in March 2016, when he was trying to evade capture. A Belgian-born French national of Moroccan descent, Abdeslam, 28, was sentenced to 20 years in jail – the maximum possible sentence – for the shooting, in which three officers were injured. An accomplice, Sofien Ayari, 24, was also sentenced to 20 years. A third man, Mohamed Belkaid, who police believe was also involved in the Paris attacks, was killed in the shoot-out. Abdeslam, who is being held in a high-security prison in northern France, is due to be tried on charges of…

How bad is the problem? The number of wild birds in the UK has shown a clear, long-term decline, with many well-known, much-loved species such as the curlew (top right), song thrush, lapwing and nightingale particularly affected. Official figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs – based on surveys undertaken by trained volunteers – suggest that, overall, Britain’s wild bird population has dropped by 8% since 1970. This statistic is flattered by some individual successes, such as the reintroduction of the red kite and the growth in goldfinch (above) numbers thanks to the provision of seed in gardens, as well as by a considerable increase in wintering waterbirds. Still, the underlying trends are worrying. Why are the trends worrying? Since 1970, seabird populations have fallen by 20%,…

Why women are the fairer sex Women of European ancestry are far more likely than men to have fair hair – possibly because gentlemen really do prefer blondes. As part of a project to assess the genetic basis of hair colour, a team from the UK, the Netherlands, Australia and Italy analysed DNA data from almost 300,000 people of European descent (chosen because their hair colour is so variable) and compared it with their self-reported natural hair colour. They identified 124 separate genes involved in determining hair pigmentation – more than 100 than were previously known about – and also made the unexpected discovery that women are twice as likely as men to be naturally blonde, while men are three times as likely as women to have black hair. “It’s…

Mary Berry has revealed that she was once mistaken for a drugs trafficker. The 83-year-old former Bake Off star was flying to the US for a cookery demonstration and had transferred her ingredients (flour, sugar etc.) into little plastic bags for the journey. On arrival at the airport, sniffer dogs made a beeline for her case, and when it was opened officials took one look at the white powder and put her in a cell. “It was alarming,” said Berry (below) – but when they asked her if she planned to make money from the stuff, she kept her cool, replying: “I do, and my fee has already been agreed.” Charlize Theron had to put on three stone for her latest film – and it made her miserable. In an…

It is 25 years since a black teenager with dreams of becoming an architect was stabbed to death at a southeast London bus stop simply because of the colour of his skin, said The Guardian. The horrific crime committed in Eltham on 22 April 1993 evolved into a “national scandal”, owing to the Metropolitan Police’s “appalling failure” to bring Stephen Lawrence’s killers to justice. Although the suspects were named by local residents, it took police more than two weeks to arrest them, and the original prosecution was later dropped for lack of evidence. Lawrence’s family and friends, meanwhile, were shockingly treated and even spied on. It was only thanks to the “extraordinary determination” of his parents, Doreen and Neville, that the public was confronted with “the reality of racism both…

 “All things must pass,” said Barney Ronay in The Guardian. “Even, it turns out, the glorious, unrepeatable and, by the end, strangely interminable reign of Arsène Wenger.” After 22 years at the helm, the 68-year-old Frenchman has announced that he will stand down as Arsenal manager at the end of the season. With 1,230 Arsenal games under his belt, he is the seventh longest-serving manager in world history. But after a run of poor results, the club had finally had enough: Wenger was reportedly told that he would be sacked in the summer if he didn’t quit. It’s a sorry end to “one of the great, transformative, utterly distinctive careers in British sport”. “One of the great, transformative, utterly distinctive careers in British sport” When Wenger arrived in London in…

Overburdening the NHS To The Daily Telegraph You report that several hospitals are encouraging patients to wear day clothes, rather than pyjamas, in order to speed up their recovery. This is nothing new. When I qualified as a physiotherapist 30 years ago, patients who were not bed-bound were washed and dressed daily. If they did not have regular visits by friends or family, their clothes would be washed in the hospital laundry. Sadly, times have changed. Most elderly patients arrive at A&E without toiletries or appropriate footwear, never mind changes of clothing, having been bundled into ambulances by overstretched crews. Many have no family living nearby who could take such items to the hospital, or take them home for washing. When relatives who do live locally are asked to assist,…

Musical Tina: The Tina Turner Musical Book: Katori Hall, Frank Ketelaar and Kees Prins Director: Phyllida Lloyd Aldwych Theatre, London WC2 (0845-200 7981). Until 16 February 2019 Running time: 2hrs 45mins (including interval) ★★★ Even theatregoers inclined to be sniffy about jukebox musicals “will be overwhelmed” by this one, said Paul Taylor in The Independent. That’s due partly to the riches of Tina Turner’s back catalogue (the show features 23 of her songs), and partly to the inspiring story of a black woman overcoming severe adversity – including violence at the hands of her husband Ike – to become a global star. But on top of that there’s the “stupendous” performance as Turner of Adrienne Warren, a Broadway actress here making her London debut. Warren has all of Turner’s “unstoppable…

Best books… David Baldacci Bestselling US crime writer David Baldacci, the winner of a Specsavers Nielsen Bestseller Award at the 2018 London Book Fair, picks his favourite books. His latest novel, The Fallen, has just been published by Macmillan at £16.99 11/22/63 by Stephen King, 2011 (Hodder £9.99). King brings his unmatched storytelling skills to this time-travel thriller about a teacher who goes back in time to try and prevent John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The research, the character development, and the plethora of twists and turns make this immensely thick book read like a short story. Ann Cleeves’ Shetland series 2006-2018 (Pan £7.99 each). These mystery novels set on the islands off the coast of Scotland star local police detective Jimmy Perez. If you crave atmosphere – especially craggy, windswept…

Roasting mackerel in the oven transforms this humble fish, and is my favourite way of cooking it, says Annie Bell. That essential oiliness comes up a treat with a sharp mustard dressing, apples and chicory. Mackerel, chicory and apple roast Serves 6 6heads of Belgian chicory, trimmed and separated into leaves 2 eating apples, peeled, quartered, cored and thinly sliced about 7 tbsps of extra virgin olive oil sea salt, black pepper 1 tsp Dijon mustard 1 tsp grainy mustard 1 tbsp cider vinegar 1 tbsp finely chopped walnuts around 600g of fresh mackerel fillets flat-leaf parsley, to serve • Preheat the oven to 220°C. Place the chicory leaves and apple slices in a large roasting pan (25cm x 35cm) with 3 tbsps of olive oil to coat them. Season…

Ecoffee Cup Made from bamboo fibre and fitted with a resealable non-drip lid, this cup comes in plain colours, psychedelic 1960s prints or 12 William Morris designs (from £8; ecoffeecup.eco). Joco Glass Coffee Cup The Joco is made from tough, nonporous borosilicate glass. It has a secure lid and a silicone sleeve to protect your hands from heat and the glass from breaking (from £20; trouva.com). KeepCup A simple cup made from lightweight but durable plastic, with a solid lid. It will keep your coffee hot for three hours or more (from £10; uk.keepcup.com). Thermos Stainless King Travel Mug A chunky 470ml mug that will keep drinks either hot or cold for six to seven hours. The swivel-locked top prevents leakage and there’s even storage for teabags (£26; thermosonline.co.uk). Frank…

Formidable first lady who presided over the Bush clan Barbara Bush 1925-2018 The wife of the 41st US president, and the mother of the 43rd, Barbara Bush, who has died aged 92, was a huge presence in American political life. One of the most popular of all America’s first ladies, she was loved in particular for a down-to-earth, homely manner that was in sharp contrast to her predecessor’s slightly icy one, said USA Today: where Nancy Reagan was always immaculately coutured, Bush made no secret of the fact that her trademark pearls were $90 fakes, and admitted to being a few pounds overweight. “I don’t threaten anybody. I’m just a nice, fat grandmother,” she said, when asked to explain her popularity. But her folksy demeanour belied a sharp wit, an…

When Britain’s largest carmaker, Jaguar Land Rover, announced plans to cut 1,000 jobs at its Solihull plant this month, citing declining sales of diesel cars and Brexit uncertainty, experts warned that other sites would likely follow. It didn’t take long, said Peter Campbell in the Financial Times. The Japanese carmaker Nissan has now signalled it will cut hundreds of jobs at its Sunderland factory. The resurgence of the UK car industry has been one of the great manufacturing success stories of the decade. But thanks to its heavy exposure to diesel engines, the sector has hit a roadblock. New car sales are down across the board, falling 5.1% so far this year. But diesel sales slumped by a third in Q1 “as consumers shunned the once-dominant fuel”. Sales to Europe,…

Were Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind Tesla cars and SpaceX, to write a guide to business etiquette, “it would likely be a slim volume, though a lively read”, says Lila MacLellan on Quartz. A recent email to staff, exhorting them to raise productivity, outlines some of his no-nonsense workplace rules: Slim the supply chain “Often, it is like a Russian nesting doll of contractor, subcontractor, sub-subcontractor etc. before you finally find someone doing actual work.” Practise common sense “If following a ‘company rule’ is obviously ridiculous in a particular situation, such that it would make for a great Dilbert cartoon, then the rule should change.” Communicate clearly “Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We…

The week’s best buys Amazon The Times The world’s largest e-commerce firm now has 100 million subscription-paying prime members. The revenue is fuelling investment in cloud computing systems, delivery drones and “everything in-between”. Buy. $1,527.49 Carnival The Times The cruise specialist is at the centre of a “booming industry”. Advance bookings are up despite a price hike and the average age of passengers is falling. It’s also expanding into emerging markets with two new ships. Buy. £46.73. Duke Royalty The Mail on Sunday Duke is a fast-growing “royalty” finance firm (borrowers pay a proportion of annual revenues to lenders) operating in industry, leisure and technology sectors. Experienced management and strong demand should boost profits and shares. Buy. 39p. JD Sports Fashion Investors Chronicle The spending power of younger customers is…