Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1190 i The Week

What happened Chaos in the prisons The Ministry of Justice took emergency control of HM Prison Birmingham this week following a damning inspection of the privately-run facility. Inspectors found chronic levels of drug-taking, self-harm and violence among inmates, and squalid conditions: cells were infested with rats and cockroaches; the floors of communal areas were stained with old blood and vomit. Staff at the jail, which has been run since 2011 by the contractor G4S, were locking themselves in their offices for safety, and sleeping on the job. Peter Clarke, the chief inspector of prisons for England and Wales, said he had never seen anything like it, revealing that he had been forced to retreat from one of the wings because of the intoxicating effect of the drug fumes. A new…

The Church of England, which has experienced a surge in the number of young people training to be priests. The latest figures for 2018 show that 169 candidates under the age of 32 have been recommended for training, compared with 128 in 2016. The Church badly needs new, young recruits, because a quarter of its paid clergy are over 60. Magritte, the Belgian surrealist, after a street in Brussels was named “Ceci n’est pas une rue” (this is not a street) in honour of his painting The Treachery of Images, aka Ceci n’est pas une pipe.…

The Government is investigating reports that pirates have been looting – for scrap metal – Royal Navy warships that were sunk off Malaysia and Indonesia in the Second World War, and later designated as war graves. Gavin Williamson, the Defence Secretary, said he was “very concerned” by the reports and was in talks with local authorities about them. Chinese-owned barges fitted with cranes allegedly used explosives or large anchors to break metal pieces from ten wrecks, which were the final resting places of more than 1,000 Navy sailors, in violation of the UN International Salvaging Convention.…

Thomas Thomson, a 19th century Scottish scientist, has had a statue erected in his honour in St Petersburg, even though he had no connection to the city whatsoever. The sculpture, erected in 2011, was meant to commemorate Jean-François Thomas de Thomon, a French architect who designed several of the city’s 18th and 19th century buildings. But as a local website has discovered, Alexander Taratynov, the chief sculptor, modeled his work on a mislabelled picture in Thomas de Thomon’s Wikipedia entry, which turned out to be an image of Thomson, former regius professor of chemistry at the University of Glasgow. “We were confident the internet would give us the correct information,” explained a chastened Taratynov. Keeping chickens as domestic pets has become such a fad in the US that a whole…

RUSSIA Turning a teenager into a terrorist Gazeta (Moscow) The Russian authorities are acting with growing “cruelty and theatricality”, says Andrei Kolesnikov. In the latest case of people being charged with serious offences on the flimsiest evidence, four people are in custody (with six more under house arrest, including three teenagers) for plotting the violent overthrow of the state. It appears to be blatant entrapment: they had merely been swapping complaints about the regime online. But their forum was infiltrated by alleged government agents, who encouraged them to set up a group called “New Greatness” and provided resources, an office and a manifesto. Just when the young activists were getting bored with it, they were arrested. One of the six is Anna Pavlikova. The 18-year-old’s family home was raided at…

Humanity has launched its first mission to the Sun – or at least its outer atmosphere. On Sunday 12 August, Nasa’s Parker Solar Probe blasted off from Florida, attached to a Delta IV Heavy rocket. Over the next seven years, the probe will circle the Sun 24 times, eventually coming within 3.8 million miles of its surface – seven times closer than any previous craft. The probe will be the fastest human-made object ever (reaching speeds of 430,000mph) and will have to withstand temperatures of up to 1,400°C as it journeys into the Sun’s corona, or upper atmosphere, where temperatures can reach several million degrees celsius. The Sun’s visible surface, while still scorching, is several hundred times cooler than this, and resolving this puzzle – which scientists liken to walking…

“Like Sinatra, Slim Shady and measles before him, Nigel Farage is back,” said Matthew d’Ancona in The Guardian. In an article for The Daily Telegraph last week, the former UKIP leader announced that he was going back on the campaign trail under the banner of the Eurosceptic pressure group Leave Means Leave. He called the Prime Minister’s Chequers plan a “cowardly sell-out” and condemned those plotting to reverse the Brexit process. “The time has come to teach them a lesson – one that they will never forget,” he declared. Farage’s return to the fray – although in truth he never really went away – carries risks for Leavers. The core of their argument since the referendum has been that the voters have spoken and that there’s nothing more to discuss.…

They say that money can’t buy happiness – but Tereza Burki, a 47-year-old financier, was willing to give it a go, said the Daily Mail. In 2013, she paid £12,600 to an elite dating agency, Seventy Thirty, to find her the “man of her dreams”. Alas, the agency failed to do so, and last week the High Court ordered that it repay her her fee, plus £500 to compensate for her “sadness”. In a twist, Burki was ordered to pay it £5,000 for calling it a “scam” in a review: the judge stressed that the agency was not a fraudulent operation. It had, however, misled her. It boasts of having 7,000 members, but the judge estimated that only 100 of them were men actively looking for love. Burki’s requirements were…

Rarely does a cricket team get bowled out in a single session, said Jonathan Liew in The Independent. It’s only happened to England three times in the past 80 years. That makes it all the more shocking, then, that all three of those instances have occurred since October 2016 – most recently on Sunday, in the first innings of the third Test against India, which they eventually lost by 203 runs. “Yes, the ball moved around. Yes, India’s bowlers were excellent, particularly Hardik Pandya.” Yet it doesn’t matter who they’re facing or where they’re playing: “if you can play cricket on it, England can collapse on it”. It may seem churlish to complain about a team who had won their three previous Tests, said Ali Martin in The Guardian. But…

To The Times Your leading article invites suggestions to replace the demeaning title of “junior doctors” under the subhead, “The seniority of the person in the white coat matters”. This traditional uniform, proudly worn by hospital doctors, promoted patient confidence, but was banned in 2008 by a Labour government. It claimed, with no evidence, that white coats spread infection. In fact, the move served only to undermine professional self-respect, condemning hospital doctors of all grades to sartorial anarchy. This uniform diktat contributed to the discomfort of “postgraduate doctors in training” – the only possible generic title for “junior doctors”. Their precise contractual grade is not relevant to patients. “Junior” doctors should introduce themselves as: “I am Doctor X of the cardiology team” or “of Doctor Y’s team”. Emphasising the team…

Best books… Misha Glenny Misha Glenny, the author and journalist, picks his six favourite books. His bestselling book McMafia is the inspiration for his Edinburgh Fringe show, currently on at the Assembly Checkpoint (assemblyfestival.com) Fallen Bastions by G.E.R. Gedye, 1939 (Faber £20). A beautifully written account of how the shadows of dictatorship fell across central Europe in the late 1930s. It affected me greatly when I first read it, in my early 20s, and I am now compelled to return to it as I start to catch glimpses of those same shadows again. Cosa Nostra by John Dickie, 2004 (Hodder £12.99). Without question, the most comprehensive and compelling narrative history of the Sicilian Mafia. Dickie’s clear but engaging style successfully demolishes some of the more ludicrous myths about the Mafia,…

The role of a wine merchant has undergone radical changes in recent times. Until a few years ago, it was mainly to take orders from well-established customers for their annual requirements of Claret, Burgundy and Port with occasional additions of Champagne or Riesling. Whilst these categories are still important, customers under retirement age demand value for money rather than familiarity with the label or wine region. Conscientious merchants such as Haynes Hanson and Clark now go out of their way to find quality wines that are close neighbours of more well known wine regions, of the same grape varieties. This applies to the wines I’ve chosen this month from the northern Rhône, Bordeaux and the Loire Valley. If their location was less than a mile in a different direction, the…

The quality of no-alcohol and very low-alcohol beers has shot up in recent years, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian. Brewers like Big Drop, Small Beer Brew Co. and Infinite Session have been able to set up solely on the basis of selling “nolo” beers – and some of the best breweries in the UK and abroad are getting in on the act. Here are four that I’d particularly recommend. Mikkeller Drink’in the Sun 0.3% (£2.25 for 330ml, Wine Society; £15.99 for six bottles, drydrinker.com) is pricey, but so good I couldn’t leave it out: a fragrant, hoppy pale ale, packed with passion fruit and citrus – “the perfect summer beer”. Thornbridge Big Easy 0.5% (£16.80 for 12 bottles; thornbridge brewery.co.uk) is “fresh, hoppy and happy-making”; the best low-alcohol beer…

The Daily Telegraph Let’s face it: the majority of new cars now come with a “massive dollop of tech” that most of us just don’t need. The Citroën Berlingo is the perfect antidote to this frustrating trend. “It has everything you need and nothing you don’t.” With “jaunty styling”, bags of room (including underfloor and overhead storage), and an airy feel thanks to the sunroof, this may well be the perfect family car. Auto Express There’s little else that can compete with the Berlingo as a “practical, spacious, no-frills people-mover”. Impressively, it makes you feel more like you’re driving a car than a van: it has light steering, a tight turning circle and, while you can feel its height going around corners, body roll is controlled. The 1.5-litre diesel engine…

A dip with sharks in Cornwall British divers travel the globe to swim with sharks, but you can do it off the coast of Cornwall too – and not just with tiddlers, says James Stewart in The Sunday Times. Between June and November, blue sharks hunt mackerel and squid there, and the snorkelling tour operator Charles Hood has spent eight years working out how to find them. At his favourite spot, an hour by boat from Penzance harbour, divers usually get to swim with several at once. It’s terrifying at first: they’re often more than 6ft long and curious, swimming so close you can see their teeth. But they are not aggressive to humans, and their sheer beauty is mesmerising – not only their “hydrodynamic design”, but their gorgeous colours…

EY invests in cryptocurrency software The British accountancy firm EY has acquired software developed by a Silicon Valley start-up to manage investments in cryptocurrencies, the latest example of how digital money is moving from the fringes to the mainstream. Andy Crypto-Asset Accounting and Tax (CAAT) was bought from Elevated Consciousness by EY’s Americas Tax Innovation Foundry. “I look forward to all the opportunities that this technology will afford our clients and professionals in such a dynamic market,” says Foundry leader Chirag Patel. In another development, last November PwC announced it would accept payments from clients in Bitcoin, Business Insider reported. And banks “are now entering the market in force” too, writes investor and commentator Jim Greco on Medium. At a recent cryptocurrency conference, Consensus 2018, “every Wall Street bank was…

After notching up another all-time high, the US S&P 500 broke the record for the longest bull market in its history: the index has risen by some 330% since March 2009, eclipsing the FTSE All-Share index’s 137% gain. Official figures revealed that the Government registered its biggest budget surplus in July for 18 years on the back of higher than expected tax revenues. Total state borrowing for the 2018-19 fiscal year, four months in, is £12.8bn, down from £21.3bn at the same stage in 2017-18. Venezuela came to a standstill as thousands of businesses closed in order to adapt to a 95% devaluation of the bolívar, henceforth known as the sovereign bolívar. The Maduro government argues the devaluation will tackle runaway inflation, which is forecast to reach 1,000,000%. Critics said…

Bull market record The S&P 500 index in New York hit another record intraday-high on Tuesday, “powered by economic growth and better-than-expected corporate earnings”, said Quartz. “Barring a significant fall” on Wednesday, the market was on course to notch up “the longest-running bull market in US history”. The upward trend that began in March 2009 has lasted nine years, five months, 13 days and counting – topping the bull run of 1990-2000. But because it has been largely underpinned by ultra-low interest rates and “unorthodox” stimulus programmes, traders have often eyed it nervously, said the Financial Times. As Barry Gill at UBS Asset Management notes: “It has been the most hated bull market of all time – no one has ever wanted to believe in it.” Further to run? The…

Elon Musk “This past year has been the most difficult and painful of my career,” the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla told The New York Times in an emotional interview last week. It may yet get worse, says The Observer. Musk’s decision “to bare his soul” about his sleepless weeks at the carmaker’s factory did not impress investors, who sent shares tumbling 9% – wiping $5bn off Tesla’s value. Investors and friends are concerned about Musk’s health and stewardship of the company, the anxiety focusing on his use of Ambien, the insomnia treatment, which “sometimes appears to have the opposite effect”. The board worries too about his tendency, “in a mood-altered state”, to take to Twitter, where he recently shocked the market with a bizarre plan to take Tesla private. It…

Controversy of the week A president at bay Will Donald Trump stand for re-election? Suddenly that seems far from certain, said Jonathan Chait in New York magazine. Until now no news event, however shaming, has dented his standing with supporters. But the conviction this week of his 2016 campaign manager, Paul Manafort, on eight counts of fraud; and the guilty plea to crimes involving the president entered by Michael Cohen, until recently Trump’s personal attorney, have changed that. Trump came to office by successfully casting his opponents, indeed the entire Washington establishment, “as a corrupt oligarchy enriching itself at the public expense”. Seeing as he’d vowed to “drain the swamp”, many excused his “gross bullying racism”. But one by one, erstwhile members of his inner circle – his former national…

Anish Kapoor, after one of his artworks was slightly damaged when a man fell into it. Descent into Limbo is a very dark, two-and-a-half-metre-deep hole in the centre of the floor inside a concrete block. The visitor may have mistaken it for a black circle painted on the floor of the Serralves museum in Porto, Portugal. Kevin Spacey, with reports that his latest movie – made before sexual assault allegations against him began to emerge last year – took only $126 at the box office on its opening night in the US. In other words, about 14 people in total paid to see Billionaire Boys Club (in which Spacey appears in a small supporting role) in the ten cinemas in which it was showing. Jamie Oliver, who was accused of…

56% of UK workers think their boss is probably monitoring their activity at work, by tracking the amount of time they spend away from their desk, their internet browsing history or their phone logs. A third suspect their social media activity is being monitored outside of work hours. TUC/The Independent 75% of English and Welsh children aged 11-16 say it is important to go to university, down from 86% in 2013. While 77% say they are likely to go into higher education, the proportion who are “very likely to” has fallen from 38% to 32%. Ipsos Mori/The Guardian 48% of Scottish voters support a public vote on the final Brexit deal. 31% are against the idea. YouGov/The Independent…

Blanc’s hard upbringing Raymond Blanc started to learn about ingredients at the age of six, when his father, a watchmaker, set him to work in the family’s vegetable garden near Besançon in eastern France, says Sathnam Sanghera in The Times. The family was poor, and “the garden would supply the whole house, we had to feed seven”, recalls the Michelin-starred chef, 68, “so I learnt everything about the soil, everything about seasonality”. His first job in a restaurant, a Michelin-starred establishment in Besançon, was as a cleaner; he was promoted to washer-up and then waiter, but one day he presumed to give the chef some advice about his cooking – whereupon the man broke his jaw with a frying pan. “The times we lived in were brutal,” he says. Not…

In the late 1950s, the US air force developed a secret plan to detonate a nuclear weapon on the Moon as a show of force. In the 1980s, the Reagan administration invested billions in the “Star Wars” initiative, to design ground- and space-based lasers and particle beams that could neutralise nuclear weapons. But Operation Desert Storm in 1991, against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, was the first war where space was used to practical effect. Coalition forces relied on the air force’s nascent GPS network to cross tracts of desert left undefended by Iraqi commanders, who were convinced that no mechanised troops could cross this hostile terrain. But travelling at night, without roads or maps, and aided by satellites, US and allied troops outflanked the Iraqis in a manoeuvre known as the…

Leave expat Americans in peace Kurt Couchman National Review America and Eritrea share an unfortunate distinction: they’re the only two nations that tax their citizens regardless of where they live in the world. It’s a ludicrous system, says Kurt Couchman, and it’s high time the US replaced it with one based on residence, like everybody else. Under the present law, the first $104,100 earned by expat Americans each year is taxed under the laws of the country they live in, and is exempt from US income taxes – but any additional income faces taxation in both countries. And even if the income of expat Americans falls under the threshold, they (and any foreign financial institutions they use) still have to file detailed returns to the Internal Revenue Service. So to…

People should be able to vape more freely in public, including on trains and buses, MPs have said in a report. The Science and Technology Committee said that while e-cigarettes are often subject to the same prohibitions as normal cigarettes, there is “no public health – or fire safety – rationale for treating the use of the two products the same”. Making vaping relatively more attractive – including relaxing regulations on its advertisement – would encourage more people to switch. Experts estimate that e-cigarettes (used by 2.9 million people in the UK) are about 95% safer than normal cigarettes. “The blunt fact is that 79,000 people in England still die of smoking every year, which is sort of unconscionable, particularly when we know there is the means by which we…

You may have missed it, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph, but last week’s A-level results were proof of a “progressive triumph” for the Tories. Eight years ago, David Cameron launched a major overhaul of higher education, trebling permitted tuition fees to £9,000 and lifting the cap on student numbers. His grand plan “destroyed” Nick Clegg, his coalition partner, and left many Conservatives terrified of even mentioning tuition fees. But the changes are working. This year saw the largest share of students offered university places, with the biggest rise in “the most deprived communities”. The best courses are growing; the less-popular ones are shrinking, with even Exeter, Bristol, and other Russell Group big hitters having to fill hundreds of places through the clearing system. Clearly, Cameron’s “market reforms” are…

“If at first you don’t succeed, then failure may be your style.” Quentin Crisp, quoted in The Times “The existence of Starbucks is evidence that man is an irrational creature.” Psychologist Keith Humphreys, quoted in the Daily Mail “Before TripAdvisor, the customer was only nominally king. After, he became a veritable tyrant, with the power to make or break lives.” Linda Kinstler in The Guardian “Politicians are inured to cynicism. They’re positively cynical about cynicism.” Lionel Shriver in The Spectator “Love is like central heating. You turn it on before guests arrive and pretend it’s like this all the time.” Comedian Laura Lexx, quoted in the Daily Mail “Angels can fly because they can take themselves lightly.” G.K. Chesterton, quoted on DailyWire.com “Knowledge accumulates in universities,…

A thousandth of a second. That was all that separated Christian Coleman, the American sprinter, and Britain’s Reece Prescod on Saturday, said Sean Ingle in The Observer. Initially, it looked as if Prescod had pulled off a “sensational victory” in the Birmingham Grand Prix’s 100m final. But it turned out Coleman had “got the nudge” by the smallest of margins. Yet Prescod’s run was stunning: his time of 9.94 seconds, a personal best, put him in the top ten runners in the world this year. To appreciate just how fast Prescod sprinted, “you only have to look at the men he ran past”, said Riath Al-Samarrai in the Daily Mail. The Londoner beat American Noah Lyles, the fastest man in the world this year, as well as Yohan Blake, the…

The Painswick Kemps Lane, Painswick, Gloucestershire (01452-813688) The Painswick is one of those “honey-coloured sandstone hotels that make even the most hard-hearted of us dream of Bridget Jones minibreaks”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. It is also certain to restore your faith – should it ever waver – in the “civilising powers of a good lunch”. The dining room is all “muted tones, parquet flooring, dado rails and oatmeal-coloured banquettes”. And the cooking by Jamie McCallum – who once led the kitchen at the ever pleasing and reliable Wild Honey in Mayfair – is “confident bistro food aimed at a grown-up crowd”. You “admire the good taste and technique without being distracted by it”. Long-braised pork has been finely shredded, spun through with fresh herbs, pressed, then seared…

Tips of the week… how to cut your screen time ● Establish boundaries that naturally restrict screen time at home. For example, no screens at meals or in bedrooms. ● Download the free Moment app, which will track and make you aware of how much time you’re spending on your smartphone. ● Try having five-minute phone “check-ins” every half an hour or hour, instead of keeping the phone by you all the time. Eventually you can expand these intervals. ● To cut your children’s screen time, keep in mind the ultimate goal: that they learn to moderate screen time themselves. ● Try to follow the rules yourself; kids will be reluctant if they think you’re a hypocrite. ● Negotiate how much time per day you’re willing to let them spend…

Luxurious Lake Como The Grand Hotel Cadenabbia provides uninterrupted views across the lake to Bellagio. 3 nights half board and London flights from £394pp.01483-345713, inghams.co.uk. Depart 3 October. Thailand and Laos trip A 13-day adventure including the Unesco-recognised city of Luang Prabang. 5 breakfasts and 12 nights’ accommodation from £873pp. 0808-274 5111, intrepidtravel.com. Depart Bangkok 19 September. Historic Valletta Enjoy the ancient skyline of the Maltese capital from the Hotel Phoenicia. 3 nights, b&b, including London flights from £304pp. 0330-920 2499, maltadirect.com. Depart 10 November. Tranquil Dungeness The Pump Station is a beach house transformed from a Second World War fuel outpost. Sleeps 8. 7 nights for £1,750. 01227-464958, mulberrycottages.com. Arrive 31 August.…

How to guard against invoice fraud Antivirus software alone will not protect your professional services firm, Barclays Corporate Banking is warning, because fraudsters often employ low-tech methods rather than trojans or other malicious software. One of the most dangerous weapons in the fraudster’s arsenal is social engineering: fraud which relies on tricking an employee into giving away passwords or transferring money to the wrong account. After receiving an apparently genuine email from a supplier, one anonymous client of Barclays paid almost £150,000 to an account held by fraudsters at another bank. They stand little chance of recovering the money. The key defence is awareness, says Barclays. Companies need to make their staff aware of the threat of invoice fraud and encourage them to check invoices carefully, check email addresses and…

When workers from a company that went bust ten years ago plan a reunion involving a beer or two, it doesn’t ordinarily attract much attention, says Larry Elliott in The Guardian. But when that firm is Lehman Brothers, it’s a different story. The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has dubbed the proposed get-together “disgraceful” and “absolutely sickening”, given that the bank’s implosion in 2008 helped trigger “a decade of people suffering austerity”. But will former Lehman employees really be toasting the part they played in the financial crisis? It seems unlikely. “The talk, as at most reunions, will probably be about kids, sport and holidays.”…

Even as stock markets continue to rise, investors in some of Britain’s best-known funds have been losing out, said Kate Beioley in the FT. According to the six-monthly list of “dog funds” compiled by Bestinvest, there has been a “123% jump in the number of lacklustre performers” since January, with a record £33.6bn (a fivefold increase) held in “poor” funds that have undershot their benchmark for three years running. Several managers, notes Bestinvest, appear to have found themselves “out of step with a market focused on energy and technology”. The dubious title of “top dog” goes to Invesco Perpetual. It now has five big flagship funds in the dog category, accounting for almost half the money invested in them. Three, including Invesco Perpetual High Income, are managed by veteran Mark…

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra concertgoers will soon be able to have “real-time” programme notes delivered to their smart-phones during the performance. Having allayed concerns about the light of screens during trials, the RPO believes that 10% of its ticket-buyers will sign up for the EnCue app, to receive commentary “at the exact moment the action is happening onstage”. Sales of “dumb phones” – basic handsets that are not connected to the internet, and allow the user only to make calls and send texts – are on the rise as a growing number of consumers seek some respite from the digital world. Sales of the phones increased by as much as 5% last year. By contrast, those of smartphones rose only 2%.…

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has dropped all charges against a chief inspector of South Yorkshire police at the time of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Norman Bettison was accused of misconduct in public office for allegedly underplaying his role in the incident and claiming that he had never “besmirched” Liverpool fans. He had been due to stand trial next year. But the CPS said that owing to two witnesses changing their statements, and a third having died, it no longer had a realistic chance of securing a conviction.…

Lausanne, Switzerland Citizenship denied: A Muslim couple from North Africa who refuse to shake hands with people of the opposite sex have had their application for Swiss citizenship denied. Officials in Lausanne said that as well as refusing to shake hands, the couple – who have not been identified – had shown “great difficulty in answering questions asked by people of the opposite sex”. Officials said their application was turned down on the grounds that the couple did not appear to be integrating well and did not respect the principle of gender equality. In a separate case in Sweden last week, a Muslim woman who had her job interview terminated when she declined to shake her interviewers’ hands won 40,000 kronor (£3,400) in compensation for religious discrimination. Farah Alhajeh, 24,…

“In the end we almost all fail, routinely and repeatedly; and failure, properly handled, is one of the best teachers life can send us. ‘If at first you don’t succeed’ was always a terrible adage. Trying repeatedly does not necessarily lead to success. Failure is telling us something, and you should notice when it gets insistent. Try something different; somewhere different; someone different. Failure weeds out what doesn’t work to give air and space to what does. Apply that within one life – your own – and you will see the redeeming power of failure, if only an individual will respond to it with sufficient ruthlessness. Life is short. Be ready to junk what isn’t working.” Matthew Parris in The Times…

How the fat cats undermine democracy Anne Perkins The Guardian One of the most depressing features of today’s “winner-takes-all society”, says Anne Perkins, is that while the wages of almost all workers have “flatlined”, the pay their bosses are awarding themselves is rising to levels completely “untethered from reality”. Britain’s corporate culture is increasingly coming to resemble that of the US. The High Pay Centre’s latest annual survey shows that between 2016 and 2017, the average pay of FTSE 100 bosses rose by 11% to £3.93m per year (or 23% and £5.66m per year if you include Jeff Fairburn, CEO of housebuilder Persimmon, who trousered £47.1m last year, and Simon Peckham, boss of Melrose, who received £42.8m). FTSE 100 bosses now earn 145 times as much as their average employee.…

Boxers vs. briefs If you’re a man trying for a baby, think carefully about your choice of underwear. A study has confirmed that men who prefer boxer shorts have higher sperm counts than Y-front wearers: because tight-fitting underwear can raise the scrotum’s temperature, scientists have long suspected that it affects sperm production. For the Harvard University study, researchers quizzed more than 650 men attending a fertility clinic about their preferred choice of underwear; 345 said they mainly wore boxer shorts, while 311 said they favoured tighter briefs. The team then analysed the men’s sperm, taking into account factors such as age, whether they smoked, and whether they often used saunas or hot tubs. On average, the boxer short-wearers had a 17% higher sperm count and a 25% higher sperm concentration…

The cost of Princess Eugenie’s forthcoming wedding to Jack Brooksbank has been widely criticised: the security bill – which will be met by taxpayers – is expected to be as much as £2m now that Eugenie (who carries out no royal duties) is insisting on a carriage procession through Windsor like her cousin Prince Harry. But Sarah Ferguson, her mother, is delighted with plans for the event, to which 1,200 members of the public are being invited. “Jack and Eugenie are very contemporary, very inclusive,” she said. “They are all about love and they want this wedding to be about that – to really absorb the love they have for each other with everybody else.” Kirstie Alley refused to take a psychological test before appearing on Celebrity Big Brother because…

It’s hard to believe, said Tom Leonard in the Daily Mail, but President Trump’s fury – never far from the surface – has now reached a pitch we’ve never seen before. The catalyst? A book by his former adviser, Omarosa Manigault Newman, in which she accuses him of being in “mental decline”, unable to read properly and of using the N-word “multiple times”. Trump has responded by calling her a “crazed lowlife” and “wacky and deranged” – unpresidential slurs that were particularly ill-advised given she was the only black person in his inner circle. It’s not only her insults that have got to him: it’s the fact she was his protégée. Newman caught Trump’s eye as a “bullying, conniving and shockingly devious” contestant in his reality TV show, The Apprentice;…

When the final whistle blew on Sunday, “there was joy and celebration” from the Brighton fans, said Ian Ladyman in the Daily Mail. But there was no disbelief. Their team had just beaten Manchester United 3-2 at the Amex, “and who was really that surprised”? If anything, the score flattered the Red Devils: they had “no rhythm and no cohesion”. United were shocking in central defence, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph. Eric Bailly and Victor Lindelöf were caught out again and again. But there were problems all over the pitch: the midfield lacked creativity and control; the forward line was “leaden”. For a club of United’s resources, it was “humiliating”. This defeat was a vindication of sorts for José Mourinho, said Sam Dean in The Daily Telegraph. After…

Doctors in the dock To The Guardian I was greatly heartened to find that Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba has been allowed to continue her medical training. I am a retired doctor with considerable paediatric experience and find the whole saga deeply depressing. The courts and the General Medical Council displayed a total lack of understanding of the practice of medicine. Indeed, the only person to come out of this with any dignity is Dr Bawa-Garba. She was the last line of defence against an extremely difficult diagnosis (most consultant physicians will have missed the diagnosis of sepsis at some time) in a child with Down’s syndrome, which makes children more vulnerable. She had to cope with too much work with other sick children, little or no senior support, agency staff and…

Theatre The Merry Wives of Windsor Playwright: William Shakespeare Director: Fiona Laird Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (01789-403493). Until 22 September; then Barbican, London EC2 (020-7638 8891) 7 December to 5 January 2019 Running time: 2hrs 50mins (including interval) ★★★ With The Merry Wives of Windsor, the only play he set in England in his own times, Shakespeare in effect “invented the sitcom”, said Paul Taylor in The Independent. The tale of Falstaff’s vain efforts to woo two married women simultaneously is a piece that tends to work especially well if performed in modern dress. And in this delightful revival, director Fiona Laird – helped by “dazzlingly witty hybridised costumes” by Lez Brotherston – has turned to the exuberant hues of The Only Way is Essex, that primus inter pares of…

For the past decade, the Turkish artist Banu Cennetoglu (pictured) has been installing a project called “The List” in cities across Europe. It is a record of the names of all the refugees and migrants who have lost their lives trying to reach Europe since 1993 – 34,361 at the latest count –and Cennetoglu has exhibited it using a variety of public spaces: transport networks, newspapers, billboards. She has taken it to Berlin, Istanbul, Athens and Basel among other places, and last month she installed it on a 280-metre-long hoarding in Liverpool as part of the city’s Biennial art festival. Alas, since then it has been repeatedly damaged, and last week was violently ripped apart – although no one knows by whom. Cennetoglu says The List has never been vandalised…

Vieux Château Saint André, Montagne Saint-Emilion 2014 (13%) There are any number of right bank Bordeaux wineries producing highly extracted alcoholic fruit bombs: not something that could ever be said about Vieux Château Saint André. This is the home and creation of Jean-Claude Berrouet, the legendary head winemaker of Château Pétrus for 44 years. This wine certainly boasts its pedigree. Perfect balance and a long silky finish means this wine belongs firmly in the classic tradition. One of the best value for money Bordeaux I have tasted this year. Domaine Vallet Ritou Syrah 2016 (12.5%) A Saint-Joseph in all but name, made entirely from Syrah: the grape of choice in the northern Rhône. Anthony Vallet, a dynamic young winemaker with a lightness of touch, has crafted a charming early maturing…

Chocolate and almond “nice cream” Serves 6-8 prep time: 15 mins, plus 4-5 hours freezing for the fudge: 50g coconut flour 3 tbsps cocoa powder 6 tbsps maple syrup ¾ tsp vanilla extract pinch of salt for the ice cream: 6 peeled, sliced and frozen bananas (you can use fresh, but these take longer to set) 75g smooth almond butter 3 tbsps maple syrup 1 tsp vanilla extract • This fabulous “nice cream” has a creamy edge and chocolate fudge chunks in the middle. There are no grains in the recipe and no flour, and it is sweetened with natural sugars, meaning that all the ingredients support good health. This is a nice cream your body won’t mind you eating. • Put…

LDesign Bluetooth FM Transmitter If your car music system doesn’t have Bluetooth, you can link your phone to it using this device, which transmits via FM radio. It’s also a hands-free calling device and a charger (from £14; amazon.co.uk). V-Auto This smart gadget from Vodafone is a great way to track your journeys – helpful for claiming mileage. The V-Auto app gives you a road safety score, and you can use it to find your car if you forget where you parked (£85, then £4 a month; halfords.com). Nextbase 612GW Dash Cam Footage from a dash cam could be crucial if you need to prove that an accident wasn’t your fault. This one records in 4K quality, and tracks your GPS and speed (£199; halfords.com). Flic Wireless Smart Button The…

Brownber Hall, Cumbria Set in a lovely corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, on the edge of the Lake District, this “sturdy” mid-Victorian country house opened two years ago as a “boutique guest house with a chic young twist”. It’s “light, fresh and airy, with a sense of uncluttered calm”, thanks partly to the “friendly, informal” service, says Stephen McClarence in The Times. The eight bedrooms “blend hipster and homely” with an “eclectic” choice of contemporary art and antiques. Bathrooms have waterfall showers. Breakfasts are “impressive”, and an excellent “pizzeria-style” dinner is available from Thursday to Sunday, or by arrangement at other times. Doubles from £90 b&b. 01539-623208, brownberhall.co.uk .…

Barack Obama said: “When she sings, it captures the possibility of synthesis, reconciliation, transcendence” The Queen of Soul who sang for four presidents Aretha Franklin 1942-2018 She was known as the Queen of Soul, but Aretha Franklin, who has died aged 76, was more than that, said The Times: in a career spanning seven decades, she left behind “the limitations of musical genre to become a legend in her own lifetime”. Although her music was rooted in gospel, she could sing anything, from R&B, jazz, blues and rock to opera: at the Grammy Awards in 1998, after Pavarotti phoned in sick, Franklin stepped in with only 20 minutes’ notice to deliver a “deathless” rendition of Nessun dorma in his stead. Her “spine-tingling” voice, imbued with an emotion that “seemed to…

KPMG: questionable ethics that need accounting for Fashion retailer Ted Baker makes much of what it calls the “Tedication” of its staff, said Kate Burgess in the FT. To protect our ethos and reputation, they say, “we always ask ourselves: ‘Would Ted do it that way?’” Maybe so, but its auditors, KPMG, “seem to have been reading from a different script”. The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has fined the firm £3m (discounted to £2.1m following a settlement) for a breach of ethical standards in regard to Ted Baker’s 2013-14 accounts. It seems KPMG was providing “expert” witnesses for Ted Baker in a court case while it was also handling its books. This is but the latest pearl in “a string of high-profile scandals” involving KPMG, said The Daily Telegraph. It…

Greece is still shackled by its crisis Philip Aldrick The Times After eight years and three rescue packages, Greece has formally exited its s300bn bailout programme. But the scars from “the poisonous medicine of austerity” run deep, says Philip Aldrick. The Greek economy is a quarter smaller than its pre-crisis peak, unemployment is at 20% and even the IMF isn’t convinced that Athens can manage, long term, “without further debt relief”. In short, Greece isn’t out of the woods. Before the crisis, the country was “a pin-up for crony capitalism”. But having been “let down by their political masters”, the Greek people “were then crucified by their eurozone partners”. The original s110bn bailout in 2010 was used to rescue foreign banks that had bought Greek bonds, ensuring that “private debt…