Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1183 i The Week

What happened May’s third way The Cabinet was set to assemble at Chequers, the Prime Minister’s country retreat, on Friday to thrash out an agreed stance on the Brexit deal. After months of arguments in the Cabinet over future customs plans, Downing Street said on Monday that it had found a “third way” between the two contested options: the so-called “maximum facilitation” plan, which relies on technology to reduce border friction, and the “new customs partnership”, which would lead to Britain collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU. However, Theresa May’s search for a compromise prompted a new round of Tory infighting. Brexiteers expressed fears that the new plan would represent a mere rebranding of the PM’s favoured customs partnership option. Jacob Rees-Mogg warned May that her Government would collapse…

Visitors to Edinburgh, with reports that the city intends to levy a “tourist tax”, a first for the UK. With visitor numbers soaring, the council wants to introduce a £1 or £2 levy on hotel rooms and Airbnb-style short-term rentals, to pay for improved local infrastructure and allay residents’ concerns about congested streets and overcrowded public spaces. French butchers, who have appealed to the government to protect them from militant vegans. The confederation of French butchers claims the militants’ actions are akin to “terrorism”, and that they are waging a violent campaign to impose a minority view on the population. In the past few months, there have been a spate of attacks, in Lille and Paris, in which butcher’s shops have been sprayed with fake blood, and had their windows…

Paris Veil honoured: Thousands of people gathered in Paris last week to pay their last respects to Simone Veil – the Holocaust survivor who became one of France’s greatest postwar politicians. Veil, who died last year aged 89, has been afforded the rare honour of a burial in the Panthéon. She is only the fifth woman to be buried in the mausoleum of France’s national heroes. A champion of human rights, Veil (pictured) secured her most significant victory in 1975, when she persuaded France’s legislators to legalise abortion in the face of stiff opposition. She later served as the first elected president of the European Parliament. Paris National service: The French government has unveiled plans to reintroduce a form of national service for French teenagers, to foster patriotism and improve…

A History Boy’s lesson Dominic Cooper had a whale of a time as a young actor on The History Boys, he told Gavanndra Hodge in The Daily Telegraph. The hit play gave him his big break; he met his best friend, James Corden; and he got on well with its writer. Alan Bennett relished Cooper’s “backchat”, and the cast’s spirit of youthful irreverence worked for the production – until it started to threaten it. “By the time we were in New York, we would be flying in, pizza hanging out of our mouths, seconds before the curtain went up. We were 20, in New York, in a hit show and we became too cocky. One time Stephen Campbell Moore tried to corpse us by drawing a penis on a notepad,…

Police were surprised to receive a phone call from a man clinging to the bonnet of a car as it headed down a Florida highway at 70mph. Junior Francis had argued with his ex-girlfriend Patresha Isidore over their shared Mercedes, and climbed onto it in an attempt to stop her driving away. “He was threatening me, so of course I wasn’t going to stop and let him get in,” said Isidore, who was arrested and charged with culpable negligence. Francis survived the journey unharmed. The botched restoration of a 16th century carving of St George and the dragon has caused an outcry in Spain. The wooden sculpture in the church of San Miguel de Estella, Navarre, was looking “somewhat dirty”, so the priest asked a local teacher to touch it…

UNITED STATES It makes sense to give Trump his wall NYmag.com The good news, says Andrew Sullivan, is that the Trump administration is no longer tearing toddlers away from their migrant parents and detaining them separately. The bad news is that the underlying problem remains: the US lacks the resources to cope with the current wave of migrants from Central America. There’s a backlog of almost a third of a million asylum cases awaiting adjudication, and it takes up to nine months to process each one. Trump may be mishandling this issue, but the Democrats’ stance – which amounts to favouring de facto open borders and calling anyone who disagrees “a white supremacist” – is making things worse. Like it or not, Trump was elected on a pledge to tackle…

Scientists have for the first time used gene editing techniques to make pigs resistant to one of the world’s costliest livestock diseases, says The Times. Bred at the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute, the animals had a short section of their DNA excised to stop them being infected with PRRS, a deadly virus which costs the industry about £1.75bn a year in Europe and the US alone. The virus enters pig cells through a surface protein called CD163; by “editing” the genetic instructions for making the protein, the scientists were able to shut the virus out – with no sign of harm to the animals. However, it remains unclear when, if ever, farmers will be able to make use of the technology. Scientists need first to make sure that there…

When same-sex couples were granted the right to form civil partnerships in 2005, there were those who felt shortchanged: if they were going to enter into a union that has exactly the same legal connotations as marriage, why shouldn’t they be able to call it a marriage? Why should gay couples be excluded from this ancient institution? Nine years later, legislators in England, Scotland and Wales bowed to that argument and extended marriage to gay couples – only for opposite-sex couples to start demanding the right to form civil unions. Soon, they might acquire that right. In response to a case brought by London couple Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, the UK Supreme Court ruled last week that to deny civil partnerships to different-sex couples was incompatible with the European…

It’s not often that the retirement of an 81-year-old man changes the face of a nation. But the announcement by Justice Anthony Kennedy that he is to stand down from the US Supreme Court has done just that, said Justin Webb in The Times. His exit spells “the slow death of liberal America”. It means that Donald Trump can now select a judge who will ensure that the Court has a rock-solid 5-4 conservative majority. Stand by for a bonfire of all the liberal rulings that over the past 40 years have thrilled people in San Francisco and dismayed the folks back in Columbus, Nebraska. We could soon see the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling which established abortion rights across America, and gay marriage rights; and…

After Germany lost their opening game to Mexico, their manager Joachim Löw declared: “I guarantee we will be in the knockout round.” But this, so far, has not been “a World Cup where anyone should be offering guarantees”, said Rory Smith in The New York Times. Germany, reigning champions and “permanent semi-finalists”, failed to reach the last 16. Portugal lost to Uruguay. Argentina bowed out after winning only a single game. And Spain lost to Russia (dubbed by former international Andrei Kanchelskis as “the worst Russian team I’ve ever seen”). So far, the tournament “has belonged not to soccer’s great aristocratic houses, but to its petite bourgeoisie”. “The World Cup in the modern era is a mountain that any generation can climb only once, if it’s very lucky,” said Simon…

A power company rip-off To The Daily Telegraph The purpose of “smart meters” is to allow the eventual introduction of charging of domestic users at different rates according to the time of day, the day and the season. Power companies already know when we use most energy in the aggregate but, except for very large energy users, they are unable to bill the customer according to the exact time that energy is used. Smart meters allow them to do this, so if you are unreasonable enough to want to turn the lights on when it gets dark, or cook food at mealtimes, or charge the electric car that the Government wants to force you to have, ready for the morning commute, then you will be hit with penal levels of…

Musical Fun Home Composer: Jeanine Tesori Book and lyrics: Lisa Kron Director: Sam Gold Young Vic, The Cut, London SE1 (020-7922 2922). Until 1 September Running time: 1hr 40mins ★★★★ You would have thought composer Jeanine Tesori would “have her work cut out” to create something as “perfect in its singularity” as Caroline, Or Change, her musical about a black maid in a Jewish household at the time of the US civil rights movement, said Paul Taylor in The Independent. But with lyricist Lisa Kron, she has now “pulled off another groundbreaking masterpiece”. The Tony award-winning Fun Home is a “sublime” adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s acclaimed memoir – published in the form of a graphic novel – about growing up lesbian in small-town Pennsylvania with a closeted gay funeral director…

Thomas Cole’s vast painting The Oxbow (1836) is a landmark in American art history. To put it simply, American art had previously been characterised by a slavish devotion to European traditions; Cole’s painting changed this forever, presenting the continent’s landscape as something awe-inspiring in its own right. It has since moved many artists to pay homage, a tradition that continues to this day with the postmodern interpretations offered up here by the Massachusetts-based artist Stephen Hannock (b.1951). Hannock presents a series of paintings based on Cole’s view, but which also take in the hyperbolic flourishes of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Alfred Hitchcock’s storyboarding for North by Northwest. The canvases have an eerie, flat sheen that lends these twilight vistas a stagey, cinematic sort of drama at odds with Cole’s attempts…

Programmes World’s Tiniest Masterpieces Sculptor Willard Wigan has made some of the smallest artworks in history. This film follows him as he creates sculptures that can fit inside the eye of a needle. Sun 8 July, C4 22:10 (55mins). The Rise and Fall of Nokia Selling must-have handsets, Finnish firm Nokia dominated the mobile phone market in the 1990s – and accounted for an astonishing 4% of Finland’s GDP – before crashing in the 2000s. This film examines what went wrong. Tue 10 July, BBC4 21:00 (60mins). Picnic at Hanging Rock New six-part TV adaptation of Joan Lindsay’s novel about the mysterious disappearance of a group of Australian schoolgirls in 1900. With Natalie Dormer. Wed 11 July, BBC2 21:05 (55mins). First Night of the Proms Proms 2018 launches with a…

The Lotus Exige Sport 410 has barely any storage space. “Right, that’s the negatives out of the way,” said Chris Knapman in The Daily Telegraph. For this model, Lotus has taken everything it can from the Exige Cup 430, which is really a “road-legal track car”, and put it into a car just as exciting, but made with road use in mind. The result, whether in its coupé or roadster form, is a car that “sets a new benchmark in performance with usability”. The unassisted steering is perfectly responsive and it turns like a “laser”. It’s also “something to behold”, said Richard Lane in Autocar. Getting into the car with any grace is a challenge, but once you’re in, the cabin doesn’t feel cramped. And it’s beautifully made: when you’re…

Dyson V6 Trigger Handheld models from Dyson are as reliable and impressive as its larger products. This one will work for 20 minutes and empties with the click of a button (£150; www.argos.co.uk). Black & Decker PV1820L This sleek and compact option only has ten minutes of battery life, but it also charges quickly and the nozzle pivots 200 degrees to help reach awkward angles (£81; www.amazon.co.uk). Vax Gator 10.8V A budget option, the Gator is a little less powerful and versatile than others on the market, but it’s a good, simple tool for a quick clean (£40; www.argos.co.uk). Black & Decker PD1820L This soft-brushed model has a wraparound hose, which keeps the body small while helping you get to hard-to-reach places (£89; www.amazon.co.uk). Gtech Multi MK2 The lightweight Multi…

A vintage skiff on the Thames With their “classic Victorian curves” and “softly gleaming” timber, the camping skiffs that Tom Balm hires out for trips on the Thames are just like the one featured in Jerome K. Jerome’s 1889 classic Three Men in a Boat – and some of them even date from that era, says Stephen Bleach in The Times. Go downstream (rather than struggling up, like Jerome’s cantankerous heroes) and you’ll have a splendidly relaxing time, though the locks can be challenging for beginners, as is setting up the hoops and tarpaulin that transform the boat into a “surprisingly roomy” waterborne tent at night. The river from Henley to Marlow is pretty, but it reaches “its full loveliness” around Cookham (home to some “marvellous” Stanley Spencer paintings) and…

Amazon/PillPack: pass the tranquilisers When Amazon sneezes, “entire industries catch a cold”, said the FT. The latest to feel the freeze are America’s big chemists. “By spending $1bn” on the online pharmacist PillPack last week, “Amazon made $14bn disappear” as shares in six companies, including Walgreens Boots Alliance and CVS Health, slumped by as much as 10%. What other company could have that impact, “just by the industrial equivalent of clearing its throat”? PillPack is a pretty small player in the $560bn US prescription drug industry, said Claire Ballentine and Katie Thomas in The New York Times. But it runs a slick operation catering to consumers with chronic conditions and multiple prescriptions; and its licence to ship drugs in 50 states clears the way for Amazon “to quickly become a…

Big business doesn’t speak for Britain Roger Bootle The Daily Telegraph Theresa May’s Chequers meeting with Cabinet ministers comes against a backdrop of “blood-curdling warnings from business leaders about the costs of leaving the EU without a deal”, says Roger Bootle. And clearly “they should be listened to carefully”. But it’s wrong to assume that what’s best for them is also best for the nation. Big listed companies tend to “over-emphasise short-term difficulties” that follow a dramatic event like Brexit, and “under-emphasise both the possibility of adapting and the longterm benefits once things have settled down”. Yet they “don’t represent the future”. Indeed, the firms that may be critical in ten or 20 years’ time “may currently not even exist”. It’s noticeable, too, that few of those running small businesses…

Is the Western alliance about to undergo its greatest crisis since 1966, when President de Gaulle took France out of Nato? It’s looking that way, said James Forsyth in The Spectator. transatlantic relations are already at their lowest ebb for decades: Donald Trump has initiated a trade war with the EU and was openly antagonistic to European allies at last month’s G7 summit, dismissing Nato as “too costly for the US”, and the EU as a bloc “set up to take advantage of the United States”. But what EU leaders really fear is a confrontation with the US president at next week’s Nato summit. They’re terrified he may go beyond scolding them for not investing enough in defence, and actually withdraw America’s security umbrella from members that fail to meet…

Firefighters from across the north of England and the Midlands were still battling this week to extinguish moorland fires in Greater Manchester and Lancashire. The first blaze on Saddleworth Moor started on 24 June: as it spread over seven square miles, 160 firefighters were joined by 100 soldiers. A second “major incident” was then declared when two smaller fires merged due to high winds near Winter Hill, 30 miles away. Authorities suspect that both blazes, and a third smaller fire, were started by arsonists. A 22-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the Winter Hill arson, but later released. Local residents have been advised to keep windows and doors shut due to smoke covering the area.…

New York Fresh charges against Weinstein: Harvey Weinstein has been charged with further sexual offences, which carry terms of up to life imprisonment. Last month, the former film mogul appeared in court to plead not guilty to charges of first degree rape and other forcible sexual acts allegedly committed against two women in 2004 and 2013. If convicted of those, he could be jailed for up to 25 years. Now, New York prosecutors have charged him with another count of a first-degree criminal sexual act, and two counts of predatory sexual assault, for allegedly forcibly performing oral sex on a third woman, in July 2006. One of the most serious offences in New York’s penal code, predatory sexual assault is brought against suspects who are believed to have assaulted multiple…

1 Lucille by Roger Bowling and Hal Bynum, performed by Kenny Rogers 2 Vegetable Attack, written and performed by The Tofu Love Frogs 3 Chickens by Charles Carl Carter, performed by Harry Belafonte and The Belafonte Folk Singers 4 Anarchy in the UK by Paul Cook, Steve Jones, John Lydon and Glen Matlock, performed by the Sex Pistols 5* Smalltown Boy by Steve Bronski, Jimmy Somerville and Larry Steinbachek, performed by Bronski Beat 6 Once in a Lifetime by David Byrne, Brian Eno, Chris Frantz, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth, performed by Talking Heads 7 I’m Your Man, written and performed by Leonard Cohen 8 Pull Up To The Bumper by Kookoo Baya, Grace Jones and Dana Mano, performed by Grace Jones…

Humans have known how to make fire for at least 100,000 years, but making cold is a very modern skill. Modern refrigeration, though, is only an enhanced version of what happens when water evaporates: when a liquid turns into gas, heat is borne away with it. In the early 19th century, scientists discovered that if you used volatile liquids such as ether or ammonia, the process could be supercharged. This is what happens in the loops of a refrigeration cycle, whether in a fridge or an air con unit: a volatile coolant is compressed into a liquid state then forced to evaporate inside the unit, so that it absorbs a large amount of heat. Next it is pushed out of the unit, where it is mechanically condensed so it expels…

An area of forest the size of Italy was lost last year, slashed and burnt to make room for farmland, according to a new study. A total of 113,000 square miles was cleared, in the Amazon and the Congo basin, as well as across countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, making 2017 the second worst year for deforestation since records dating back to 2001. There was a particularly large rise in tree loss in Colombia, attributed to the government’s recent peace deal with the Farc rebel group that had, until then, made large areas of forest a no go zone for loggers, miners and other commercial enterprises. The figures were produced by Global Forest Watch, which is run by the US-based World Resources Institute (WRI). “Vast areas continue to be…

It’s the best part of 15 years since allegations first emerged that Britain was complicit in the kidnap and torture of suspected terrorists in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Now, finally, we have a long overdue official report into this dark period – and it makes for “shocking” reading, said Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail. According to Parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), Britain’s involvement in George W. Bush’s “barbarous” programme was far more extensive than previously revealed. On at least 13 occasions, British agents witnessed suspects being mistreated; and on more than 150, they were told about instances of mistreatment, either by their foreign counterparts, or by the detainees themselves. The report also found that the then foreign secretary Jack Straw – who in 2005 told the…

“People never believe in volcanoes, until the lava overtakes them.” Philosopher George Santayana, quoted on BBC News online “Aim low. Succeed.” Giles Coren in The Times “Reinvention is important, because the only certain thing is change.” Emma Rice, former artistic director of the Globe, quoted in The Observer “The most beautiful manners I have met with are in countries where men carry knives.” Historian R.G. Collingwood, quoted in The Spectator “That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” Aldous Huxley, quoted in the Valdosta Daily Times “Always go to other people’s funerals, otherwise they won’t come to yours.” Yogi Berra, quoted in The Guardian “Contrarians drink to remember.” Dave Weinbaum, quoted in Forbes…

Murray’s critical call Andy Murray “did not go lightly” from Wimbledon, says Kevin Mitchell in The Guardian. He “checked every statistic”, and talked at length to his team and his medical advisers, before concluding on Sunday morning that he couldn’t do himself justice in a five-set match. It was his fifth late withdrawal from a tournament since he last played at Wimbledon. In January, he underwent surgery on the hip that had been troubling him for eight years. His concern, he said, was not the risk of injury to the hip; he pulled out because he didn’t think he was fit enough to last the distance. Murray wants to play at least two more Wimbledons. He might yet regret not using the 2018 tournament as a “laboratory” to test his…

To The Guardian I am constantly amazed at the poor understanding of what a civil partnership is. Unlike the situation in many other countries, in English law a civil partnership is essentially the same as marriage, shorn of its religious privileges. Civil partnerships were introduced for same-sex couples in 2004 because it was thought that society was not yet ready for same-sex marriage – but it is really only the name that is different. The “protections” they offer are exactly the same and most of them are also enjoyed by cohabitants. Hospitals recognise cohabiting partners; your next of kin is the person you designate, not necessarily a family member. Many pension schemes extend benefits to cohabiting partners. The vaunted spousal tax breaks are only available to the very rich or…

Leave No Trace Dir: Debra Granik 1hr 49mins (PG) Understatedly brilliant father-daughter drama ★★★★ This understated father-daughter drama “should be as dull as ditchwater”, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. It’s slow; little is said. Yet somehow it “pulls you in and keeps you pulled in”. Ben Foster plays Will, a forces veteran, who with his teenage daughter Tom (Thomasin McKenzie) lives off-grid in a national park outside Portland, Oregon, foraging for food, avoiding contact with others and generally feeling happy. But then a rare trip to town leads to their being reported and officialdom moves in. Foster is excellent as the troubled if well-meaning parent, but the film’s ace card is McKenzie, said Ian Freer in Empire. She delivers an utterly convincing portrait of a child yearning for a…

In 2015, a landscape painting by a pub-sign artist named Tom Wright was found in a Suffolk cellar. In itself, it was worthless – except that the valuers examining it noticed the name “Lucian” written on the back of the canvas. When a conservator removed the top layer of paint with a scalpel, a surprising discovery was made, said The Sunday Times: there was an entirely different landscape underneath, which has now been attributed to Lucian Freud. The two men knew each other. In the late 1930s, Wright was hanging a sign at a pub in Suffolk when he got talking to Freud – who persuaded the other man to join him at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing, in Dedham. Research by Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers suggests…

Thomas Carr Seafood and Grill 59 High Street, Ilfracombe, Devon (01271-555005) This ambitious restaurant is far from being the finished article, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. My meal includes a lobster macaroni cheese in which the macaroni is overcooked and there’s not enough cheese, and crispy salmon skin, which isn’t crispy enough. But when it works, it is fabulous. Prawns in garlic butter is “all four of those words done right”: the prawns are so fresh they “squeak and bounce beneath the teeth”. A pearly piece of hake comes in a deep shellfish bisque, with handfuls of lemongrass and ginger. The soup is mounted with ladles of cream, yet feels “invigorating and curiously healthy” – and on top there’s a quenelle of the sweetest white crab meat. It…

● When choosing a deal, make sure you’re comparing like with like. “Bargain” deals often include lots of fees or a huge deposit. ● Look for an “in terminal” deal. Getting to off-airport firms can be a real hassle. ● Book an early deal with free cancellation. Then check again for last-minute deals. ● Take your own child seats. Boosters may fit in hand luggage; even if you have to pay to put a larger seat in the hold, it can still work out a lot cheaper than renting them, and rented seats can be very rickety. ● The same goes for satnavs: renting can cost s100, so download a smartphone app. ● Avoid buying insurance at the desk. Buy an “excess insurance” policy in advance. ● Take a picture…

Quiet St Helier break Spend 4 nights at the traditional Runnymede Court Hotel from £396pp b&b, including Exeter flights. 0800-640 9058, www.channelislandsdirect.co.uk. Depart 16 August. Seven nights in Sorrento Set on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Naples, the Art Hotel Gran Paradiso offers 7-nights from £815pp, including Manchester flights. 01733-224808, www.thomascook.com. Depart 7 September. Pearl of Asia Discover the rich mix of cultures in Hong Kong and Bali on a 10-day trip from £1,689pp, deluxe b&b, including London flights. 020-8068 3176, www.exoticca.co.uk. Depart 28 August. The east coast and Canada Two nights in New York and a 7-night all-inclusive cruise, first stop in Halifax, Canada. From £1,549pp, London flights included. 020-8102 8970, www.kreativecruises.com.Depart 21 September.…

Expectations of an August interest rate rise were heightened by new PMI figures showing that the key UK services sector reported its fastest rise in activity since last October in June, adding to signs that the economy rebounded in the second quarter. Business Secretary Greg Clark indicated that the Brexit transition period, due to end in December 2020, could be extended to allow companies time to prepare if systems and infrastructure needed to avoid border friction aren’t ready. The British Chambers of Commerce said that “business patience is reaching breaking point”. US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross walked back reports that President Trump is keen to pull out of the World Trade Organisation, but said the administration is looking at ways to improve it. The EU is reportedly considering talks on…

First-half score “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but sadly unavailable to investors,” said Fidelity’s Tom Stevenson in The Daily Telegraph. “Had your crystal ball been operating at the beginning of 2018, you could have done no better than to bet against the Shanghai A-share market” (down by about 15% since January) “and put the proceeds into America’s tech-heavy Nasdaq index” (up by 20%). But in a “difficult” first-half for investors, “it is unlikely many people came close to this divergent strategy”. A “momentum investor” would have stuck with both the US and China; a “contrarian” would have bet against both. As things have turned out, stock markets in 2018 have seen “lots of volatility” and “not much progress other than in pockets like the Faangs”. Indeed, your performance this year…

The feuding Rothschilds Branches of the 250-year-old Rothschild banking dynasty “traditionally serve chocolate soufflé” at family reunions, said Harriet Agnew in the Financial Times. “Latterly they’ve been serving up lawsuits.” Time for a truce. After a lengthy and bitter legal battle over the “ownership” of the valuable Rothschild name, the family’s rival French and Swiss branches have reached an agreement that neither can monopolise it in branding. Peace reigns at last among the descendants of Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who founded the family’s first bank in Frankfurt in the 1760s. The principal antagonists in this latest skirmish were David de Rothschild, who has built Rothschild & Co into “a powerhouse at the heart of the French establishment”, and his cousin, Benjamin. The latter chairs Edmond de Rothschild – a Swiss-based private…

At least 40 secondary schools in England have banned girls from wearing skirts, a new analysis of school uniform policy has found. While some schools have introduced an “all trousers” policy to make transgender pupils feel more comfortable, others have done so to cater to Muslim pupils who consider regulation school skirts to be immodest. Doctors have called for sanctions against patients who share video clips of their GPs on social media, under the tagline “how hot is my doc”. At a meeting of the BMA, doctors said that, while recordings of appointments can be a valuable aide-memoire for patients, it is not acceptable to post the footage online so that others can comment on their GP’s appearance.…

Jeremy Corbyn has been put under pressure to call for a softer Brexit by a new poll showing that 58% of the members of Unite (Labour’s biggest backer) think Britain would be worse off out of the single market; only 21% think it would be better off. 57% also want a referendum on the Brexit deal. YouGov/The Guardian Almost two-thirds of UK adults think they are subject to too many online and phone security measures. 60% are annoyed by the requirement for ever more elaborate passwords. FICO/The Independent Sajid Javid has replaced Jacob Rees-Mogg as the most popular choice of Tory activists to be the party’s next leader. ConservativeHome/ The Guardian…

“We are more than ever obsessed with individual identity, our personal brand, putting our stamp on the world. But we bow to the plain text of the smartphone, bland and unblotted. A WhatsApp message will never have the personality of a sibling’s spider-scribble. Digital communication can never match the intimacy of a handwritten letter. If you want to tell someone I love you, I miss you, I’m sorry, I’m thinking of you, do it by hand, sealed in an envelope. Embarrassed teenagers confessing to a crush now do it by Snapchat. A few seconds and the message vanishes. Blushes are spared, but so much else is lost.” Laura Freeman in The Daily Telegraph…

Watch out for a £60 billion Brexit dividend Ed Conway The Times We know now that Brexit has made Britain poorer, says Ed Conway. We’ve swung from being “one of the fastest-growing economies in the G7 to one of the slowest”. But don’t despair: the dip need only be temporary. There could be a real Brexit dividend of £60bn on the horizon. That’s the amount Britain’s businesses have stockpiled in company bank accounts since the referendum. For good reason. They’re hardly going to invest in new plants or risky acquisitions while our future economic arrangement with the EU remains unknown. That’s why business investment is growing by a measly 2% a year instead of a projected 10%: just this week, car manufacturers warned their investment spending would be half that…

Herpes virus link to Alzheimer’s Two strains of the herpes virus have been found to be unusually abundant in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers, bolstering what is known as the “pathogen hypothesis” of the disease. The discovery was made by chance: researchers were studying how genetic activity in the brain is affected by Alzheimer’s, but when they took brain tissue from deceased patients, and compared it with that of people who’d not had the disease, they found that the most striking difference was not in human genes, but the presence of two herpes virus strains, HHV-6A and HHV-7. On average, the diseased brains contained twice the number of viral genomes as the healthy ones. “We didn’t go looking for viruses, but viruses sort of screamed out at us,” said lead…

It’s not always easy being the chatelaine of the real Downton Abbey. The Countess of Carnarvon is used to tourists flocking to Highclere, where the series was filmed, and being disappointed to find that it is not as it appears on TV. Once, for instance, she overheard a visitor demanding to see a portrait of the Earl of Grantham. And she gets a lot of fan mail, some of which is hard to answer. After the fictional estate’s heir, Matthew Crawley, was killed in a car crash in the third series, “we actually got letters of condolence... I try to reply to most letters, but those left me stumped.” Leonard Bernstein was born 100 years ago this year, and to mark the composer’s centenary, his daughter has produced a memoir…

The boys were huddled on a mud bank 2.5 miles inside the cave when the British divers emerged from the murky water in front of them, said Muktita Suhartono in The New York Times. As his light flickered from one boy to another, one diver called out: “How many of you?” “Thirteen,” a boy answered. “Brilliant,” said the diver. After ten days, a vast international search effort had finally paid off: the missing football team aged 11 to 16 and their coach, who were trapped by floodwaters in the Tham Luang cave complex in northern Thailand, had been found. And – as the video recorded by the rescuers showed – they were in “surprisingly good condition”. Rick Stanton, a firefighter from Coventry, and John Volanthen, a computer engineer from Bristol…

“Finally, at 11.52pm local time, the last kick of an epic night,” said Daniel Taylor in The Guardian. Eric Dier, England’s fifth penalty-taker, slotted his spot kick calmly to his left and was soon “submerged” by his teammates. “Here was the hard proof that England, contrary to the impression they might have given for much of the previous 30 years, did know how to win a penalty shoot-out.” This was their first knockout victory in a World Cup for 12 years, and their first ever World Cup shoot-out win. When Jordan Henderson’s penalty was saved, it looked as if England were headed down a familiar path. But in the end disaster was averted, because Colombia’s fourth effort hit the bar and their fifth was saved – ensuring Moscow 2018 will…

Formula 1 Max Verstappen won the Austrian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton retired, after running out of power with eight laps remaining; and Sebastian Vettel retook the lead from Hamilton in the drivers’ championship. Football Mohamed Salah signed a new five-year deal with Liverpool. Wayne Rooney moved from Everton to DC United, the Washington DC Major League Soccer side. Tennis British number ones Johanna Konta and Kyle Edmund both reached the Wimbledon second round without a dropping a set in their opening matches.…

It’s no surprise that Michael Jackson is “the most widely depicted cultural figure in contemporary art”, said Mark Hudson in The Daily Telegraph. The man was a “basket of tragic contradictions”: a musical “idol” who became “a grotesque, self-mutilated projection of showbiz values”; a “beautiful African-American man who – while protesting his black pride – denied his identity at every turn”. The unresolved allegations of child abuse that dogged him until his premature death in 2009 make him more troubling still. This “bold and enterprising” new show is “an opportunity to see what artists have done with his image”, bringing together the work of around 50 painters, photographers and multimedia artists who have depicted him over the years. While this isn’t the most profound of exhibitions, it is a “consistently…

The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, 1920 (Harper Collins £7.99). The first “grown-up” book I remember reading. Written during WWI, I found it exhilarating. It cultivated my lifelong fascination with the Great War and the mystery that life is, because it is a mystery that cannot be comprehended. A Year of Grace, collated by Victor Gollancz, 1950 (out of print). One of the first books my wife Joanna and I shared. Compiled when Gollancz was recovering from a breakdown during WWII, it introduced us to thinkers from many religions who shaped our lives, like Ramakrishna, Rumi, Martin Buber and Simone Weil. Thames: Sacred River by Peter Ackroyd, 2007 (Vintage £25). I am never happier than when near water. The River Thames is the artery along which much of…

Pat asks Lilian for news on the housing development and is furious to learn that the number of affordable homes is being reduced. She marches to the Dower House to demand an explanation. Justin points to the increasing cost of materials and labour, and says his hands are tied. Pat vows to fight the decision. Anisha returns from Newmarket and tells Rex she’s been offered a job. When Rex wonders where this leaves him, Anisha asks him to come with her. Rex agrees. Anisha breaks the news to Alistair, who accuses her of stabbing him in the back. Anisha says he’ll be able to buy her out with the money from the divorce. Alistair reminds her of the loans they took out to improve the practice. He says that she…

Strawberry ricotta cakes Makes 6 small, 9cm individual cakes, or you can use a 22cm round tin for a single large cake 115g butter 125g caster sugar 3 eggs, separated 2 tbsps cornflour or potato flour 175g ground almonds 200g ricotta 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out zest of 1 lemon a pinch of salt 400g strawberries 2 tbsps vanilla sugar (made from mixing sugar with the empty vanilla pod) • Heat your oven to 190°C. Line the cake tin with baking paper (we like to use a circle of baking paper pushed into each tin). • Use a large flat spoon or a mixer with a paddle attachment to cream the butter and the sugar together until fluffy and creamy. • Slowly add the egg yolks, one at a…

The healthy gut retreat at The Clover Mill, Worcestershire, resets gut bacteria with a probiotic diet (20-25 July; £1,721 per person for two sharing; www.theclovermill.com). At the Slieve Donard resort in Northern Ireland, you can try a sleep ritual break with candlelit visualisations, guided breathing and a massage (from £210 for one night; www.hastingshotels.com). Equestrian Escapes takes on pupils of all abilities at locations across the UK to learn a new skill, get fit and relax (from £315 for two nights; www.equestrian-escapes.com). Mother and baby retreats at the Four Seasons in Hampshire have nannies on hand, so that mothers can enjoy the spa and other facilities (£495 for one night; www.andbreathepostnatal.com). Go on guided off-road runs in Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, on a luxury running weekend, complete with a pool…

The Middle House, Shanghai, China Arranged across two towers clad in dark aluminium louvres, this fourth hotel in Swire’s The House Collective is “gorgeous”, says Condé Nast Traveller. In the lobby, a 3,760-piece Venetian chandelier bathes emerald porcelain walls in its gentle glow, while Italian architect Piero Lissoni has worked “minimalist magic” in the 111 rooms. There’s an “incredible” subterranean “wellness centre”, two restaurants (Chinese and Italian), a café offering European “comfort food”, and a garden terrace already beloved by Shanghai’s “high and mighty” for its cocktails and fine city views. Rooms from £330. 00 86 21 3216 8199, www.themiddlehousehotel.com .…

Domineering paterfamilias of the Jackson clan Joe Jackson 1928-2018 In the early 1960s, Joe Jackson, who has died aged 89, was a failed R&B musician, working as a crane operator in Gary, Indiana, and struggling to support his eight children. Then one day he heard his son Tito playing one of his guitars. Realising that his children had inherited his musical talent, he at once became determined that they’d have the success that had eluded him. He scrabbled together money to buy them their own guitars, and in 1963, his older sons – Tito, Jermaine and Jackie – formed the Jackson 3; soon after they were joined by Marlon and Michael, and became the Jackson 5. Without Joe Jackson’s relentless drive, it’s hard to imagine the world would have experienced…

It was billed as the world’s biggest tech float in four years, involving an outfit with ambitions to be China’s “coolest company”, said Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. Yet smartphone-maker Xiaomi “got the cold shoulder” from investors ahead of its Hong Kong initial public offering next week. Priced at the low end of its range before trading began, the company was valued at just $54bn – little more than half the ambitious $100bn target originally set by founder Lei Jun to reflect the potential of his creation, which he dubs “a new species” of tech company. Xiaomi’s “minimalist-chic” smartphones and smart home appliances (it makes everything from ricemakers to air purifiers) have garnered comparisons with Apple, said Yuan Yang and Louise Lucas in the Financial Times. In China,…

This year’s most entertaining business books for the beach: Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou (Picador £20). Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was once the world’s “youngest self-made billionaire”, says Business Insider. This is the “definitive account” of the blood entrepreneur’s rise and fall, written by the reporter who helped break the story. Bean Counters: The Triumph of the Accountants and How They Broke Capitalism by Richard Brooks (Atlantic £18.99). “A timely, immensely readable indictment of the Big Four accountancy firms by a Private Eye investigative reporter,” says The Sunday Times. American Default: The Untold Story of FDR, the Supreme Court and the Battle over Gold by Sebastián Edwards (Princeton $29.95) “Most people think” the US would never default on its debt, says Martin…

The week’s best buys Antofagasta Investors Chronicle The Chilean copper miner has entered its next growth phase and is expanding output. Long-term trends of urbanisation, infrastructure and renewable energy spending are driving demand. Buy. £10.11. AstraZeneca The Mail on Sunday The pharma giant has reported positive results from its ovarian cancer treatment trial. But expected good news from a trial on prostate cancer patients hasn’t yet been priced in: Citi’s new target is £62. Buy. £52.53. Cake Box Holdings The Mail on Sunday This franchised business, newly floated on Aim, majors on egg-free fresh cream cakes that can be personalised for special occasions. Expanding aggressively as sales soar and profits jump. Buy. 137.5p. FDM Group The Daily Telegraph The specialist IT recruiter’s clients include HSBC, Sky, the Department for Work…