Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1222 i The Week

What happened More time, please Theresa May infuriated Tory Eurosceptics this week by resuming Brexit negotiations with Labour, and by asking EU leaders for a further extension to the Article 50 withdrawal process, until 30 June. The 27 European leaders, gathered for a summit on Wednesday, were expected to agree to delay Brexit beyond the end of this week. However, it was thought they’d insist on a longer “flextension” that would delay the UK’s departure for up to a year, but with the proviso that Britain could leave earlier if it ratified the withdrawal agreement. Under pressure from France’s President Macron, the EU was also expected to seek firm assurances from the UK that it wouldn’t use its continuing presence in the EU to disrupt the bloc’s business. In the…

Ryanair passengers on a flight from Liverpool to Dublin, who were all treated to two free drinks by the airline’s boss, Michael O’Leary. His horse Tiger Roll had just won the Grand National. But there was one condition: “If anyone orders a ham and cheese sandwich, I’m offloading you personally,” said O’Leary. “You can buy your food in Dublin: on this flight we’re drinking.” MacKenzie Bezos, the ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. In the costliest divorce settlement in history, she gets 25% of their jointly owned Amazon stock (though she was entitled to 50%). Worth some $36bn, it makes her the world’s third-richest woman. The black hairstreak and large blue, two of Britain’s rarest butterflies. The number of endangered black hairstreaks has risen ninefold since last summer. And the…

The jury at the ten-week trial of former South Yorkshire police chief superintendent David Duckenfield, who was in charge of security on the day of the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, has failed to reach a verdict. Duckenfield, 74, had been charged with the gross negligence manslaughter of 95 Liverpool fans. He may now face a retrial. However, Graham Mackrell, the former secretary of Sheffield Wednesday FC, was found guilty, under the 1974 Health and Safety at Work Act, of failing in his duty to protect people at work: he had allocated only seven turnstiles for 10,100 people. His maximum sentence will be a fine.…

The inaugural European Gull Screeching Championship has been held on the Belgian coast, in the village of Adinkerke. Reggy Laatsch from Amsterdam and Bregje Iding from Hasselt, Belgium, overcame a talented field of competitors to take first prize. They had to imitate a gull’s cawing, while some dressed up as the birds. It “sounds quite stupid, but it is real science”, said Jan Seys from the Flanders Marine Institute. “Before you can imitate a gull, you have to make nice observations – otherwise, you’ll never make it.” The town of Joensuu in Finland is to hold the world’s first ever Heavy Metal Knitting Championship this summer. Finland, say the organisers, is heavy metal’s “promised land”, as there are 50 metal bands for every 100,000 citizens. And, like other snowy Scandinavian…

RUSSIA Putin’s cronies are bent on revenge The Moscow Times Last month, they arrested his confidant. So could Russia’s prime minister be next for the chop, asks Oleg Kashin. Dmitry Medvedev, initially hailed as a moderniser, stepped down as president in 2012 to let Vladimir Putin take back the reins. The plan was for him to continue his liberalising agenda as PM, the post he still occupies. But as the political climate became harsher, the plans were quietly dropped. Since then, Medvedev has existed in a political vacuum – virtually his only public activity has been “drowsily” attending public events. Now his close associate Mikhail Abyzov, who had served as a minister for six years, has been detained on charges of stealing $62m. Few take the charges at face value:…

Scientists looking for eco-friendly building materials have created a form of transparent wood that not only transmits light, but – unlike glass – can also store and release heat. It’s sturdy too, meaning that it might even be possible to use it as an alternative to concrete. Developed by researchers at the Wallenberg Wood Science Centre in Sweden, the material was created by removing lignin – a structural component that gives timber its colour – from wood, which allows light to pass through it. The de-lignified wood was then infused with acrylic mixed with polyethylene glycol (PEG), a polymer that melts when heated to relatively low temperatures (30°C), and in the process absorbs energy. When the temperature falls back down, the PEG solidifies – and releases this energy. This means…

Margaret Thatcher had an unexpectedly touchy-feely side, according to Salman Rushdie. “You’d sit with her and she’d put her hands all over you. I had this meeting with her and she was, like, pawing at me – and I thought, ‘I’m being groped by the prime minister!’” Rushdie also claims that Thatcher once spanked Christopher Hitchens for writing an article she didn’t like. “She met him at a party conference, and she said to him, ‘You’ve been a naughty boy, haven’t you?’ And he said, ‘Well, yes, prime minister, I suppose I have.’ And she said, ‘You’d better bend over’… and she spanked him with a rolled-up magazine.” At 85, Madhur Jaffrey has made her debut as a rapper. The actress appears with the hip-hop artist Mr Cardamom in a…

“At 46 years of age, James Cracknell has done something no one close to his vintage has ever done before,” said Jim White in The Daily Telegraph. He has won the Boat Race. Competing for Cambridge – where he is doing a master’s in human evolution – he helped the team triumph by the tightest of margins. Coming 15 years after Cracknell picked up his second Olympic gold, and 13 years after he retired from elite rowing, it was a “remarkable” feat. Until now, the oldest man to win the race was 36. And it completed a clean sweep for Cambridge: they won both the men’s and the women’s races. Cracknell has always looked for “new Everests to climb”, said Jonathan McEvoy in the Daily Mail. He has rowed across…

It’s not often that an artwork causes a diplomatic incident – but the latest piece by Mark Wallinger has done just that, says Martin Bailey in The Art Newspaper. The Turner Prizewinner’s new public sculpture, The World Turned Upside Down – launched last month outside the London School of Economics – is a “large political globe”, which has been inverted to show the world “from a different viewpoint”. But in colouring China yellow and Taiwan pink, the artist controversially depicts the latter as an independent state (as it believes itself to be) – rather than as part of the Republic of China (as it is defined by the UN). This distinction has enraged Chinese students, who demand the map be repainted, while Taiwanese students (and its foreign affairs minister) are…

Jill hosts a family tea on Mothering Sunday to welcome Freddie home. Over tea, Freddie annoys Lily with jokes about Russ’s age. Ben’s keen to learn what life is like inside, but Ruth changes the subject. Pip asks Ben to be Rosie’s godfather, but he turns her down; he doesn’t believe in God. Alistair is disappointed by his new veterinary partner, Jakob Hakansson, who is unfriendly and curt. Tom gives Jazzer an earful for setting up the electric fences in the wrong place. Jazzer’s adamant he wasn’t told about the new field rotation. Freddie suggests to Elizabeth they go bowling; she agrees and cancels her therapy. When Lily finds out, she’s frustrated Freddie can’t see how important these sessions are. Shula meets Russ to discuss her church art project. Elizabeth…

Banana dosas Serves 4-6 less to taste) 250g brown rice flour 50g plain flour 1 tbsp sugar (using more or a small pinch of salt vegetable oil, for greasing runny honey, to serve pistachio, cardamom and vanilla kulfi, to serve (optional) • Mash the bananas into a mushy paste in a large bowl. Now sift the flours over the bananas, and add sugar and salt. Mix well. • Pour about 150ml water into a cup and slowly add it to the mixture while stirring with a wooden spoon. Only add enough water so that the mixture is smooth but lumpy from the bananas, and so it kind of plops off the fork when scooped up and dropped back into the bowl. It should still be quite thick. • Take a…

Candy CS C8LF 8KG Candy’s smart tumble dryer can be programmed to turn off when it senses your clothes are dry. You can also check its status on your phone and delay the start of a cycle, which can be useful if you can make use of off-peak energy prices (£200; argos.co.uk). FoodMarble The FoodMarble has “taken the States by storm”. It’s a breath tester meant to tackle digestive difficulties by telling you how your body is digesting the various foods you eat (£149; foodmarble.com). NutriBullet Balance This blender’s app contains a library of recipes, and tells you the weight of each ingredient as you add it. It then gives you the exact nutritional stats of your smoothie (£150; johnlewis.com). Smarter FridgeCam Set up on your fridge door, this camera will…

Bannisters Port Stephens NSW, Australia Two hours north of Sydney, Port Stephens, with its “miles of powder-soft beach” and cerulean sea, is “the sort of place where you could easily while away a week”, says Condé Nast Traveller. Rick Stein is certainly banking on that: it’s the location for his second Australian venture, inside this “lofty, light-filled” hotel. Bedrooms are “done up in cheery blue and pink palettes”, with terraces overlooking eucalyptus trees that are home to koalas. The restaurant is “more industrial”, with polished concrete and a menu that “celebrates its surroundings” – fish pie, locally caught lobsters and Stein’s own sémillon riesling. Doubles from about £145.bannisters.com.au.…

Ahead of this week’s spring meeting, the IMF downgraded its outlook for global growth in 2019 from 3.5% to 3.3%, citing “many downside risks” at a “delicate moment” for the world economy. As well as trade tensions, these include high debt, the threat of a no-deal Brexit and Italian “sovereign-bank ‘doom loop’ risks”. The revisions were especially marked for Germany and Italy, which is already in recession. The ONS reported that Britain grew marginally faster than expected in the three months to February, notching up a “modest” rate of 0.3% – partly because of stockpiling by manufacturers ahead of Brexit. The drugmaker Indivior’s shares fell by 70% after it was charged with fraudulent marketing by the US Department of Justice. The firm is accused of a “truly shameful scheme” to…

Carlos Ghosn The former Nissan and Renault chairman was due to give a press conference in Tokyo this week, but was prevented by his arrest – “the fourth since November”, said The Wall Street Journal. Instead, he released a video blaming his downfall on what he called “a plot, conspiracy and backstabbing” by individuals within Nissan. “This is not about greed. This is not about dictatorship,” said Ghosn – who, on top of other charges of financial misconduct, faces new allegations of personal enrichment at the expense of the Japanese carmaker. Formerly considered a “celebrity” in Japan, the industry titan once known as “Le Cost Killer” is looking increasingly isolated, said The Daily Telegraph. Having initially stood by its man, Renault, the French car firm he rescued 20 years ago,…

Financial stress is regularly cited as “the number one cause of relationship breakdown”, says The Sunday Telegraph. All the more reason that you should make sure you’re in sync with your partner. Here Alex Holder, author of Open Up: The Power of Talking About Money (Serpent’s Tail £12.99), offers her top tips: Take control Make sure you both have “agency in the relationship” over what you’re going to do about your finances, and how you’re going to spend them. Talk about how you feel things are going and “check in” regularly – it’s an ongoing journey. “Set joint financial goals – and celebrate when you meet your targets.” Find your joint values Accept that you’re probably going to be “merging two different financial attitudes”, but work out what your joint…

For most of its history, the Conservative Party has been “a constant in national life”, a “bulwark against extremes” and a “ruthless” political machine, said Iain Martin in The Times. True, it has always harboured MPs on the extremes – mostly excitable right-wingers, Europhile loonies and other assorted eccentrics. But despite this, it has been a party that sticks together, no matter what. Not any more. In recent days, that resilience has been “tested to destruction”: Theresa May’s government has made such a pig’s ear of Brexit, releasing such powerful forces and opening such fundamental divisions, that Conservatism seems now to be heading inexorably for a “split”. And while I firmly believe its breakdown would be a “national tragedy”, I have to admit, “if this were a family, the divorce…

Pangolins, after Singapore customs officials inspecting containers en route to Vietnam from Nigeria, discovered a total of 26 tonnes of pangolin scales. The scales of the nocturnal mammal, which is on the “critically endangered” list, are prized in China and Vietnam as a cure for asthma and cancer. Veggie burgers, which under proposed EU food-labelling regulations would have to be rebranded as “veggie discs” because the word “burger” apparently implies that they contain meat. Waterstones staff, who delivered a petition over pay to the bookseller’s London HQ; 1,900 of the firm’s 3,100 workers are paid below the real living wage of £9 an hour (£10.55 in London).…

54% of Britons say the country “needs a strong ruler willing to break the rules”; 23% disagree. Britons now have more faith that the military, judges, civil servants, unions and TV broadcasters will act in the public interest than will politicians. Hansard Society/ The Guardian Asked how they would prefer Northern Ireland to vote if it held a referendum on its future, 18% of adults in Great Britain said they hoped it would choose to leave the UK and join the Republic of Ireland. 36% would prefer that it chose to stay in the Union, 45% don’t mind or don’t know. 77% of people in Britain have never visited Northern Ireland, and a further 15% have only visited once or twice. Ipsos Mori/the I newspaper…

Sean Scully’s self-belief Sean Scully is better known in America than in Britain, but at 73 he’s one of the world’s richest artists: his paintings sell for seven-figure sums, and his own art collection is worth some £400m. Not that it’s been easy, says Chris Harvey in The Daily Telegraph. His parents were homeless when he was born in Dublin; the family later moved to London, where he got involved in gangs. His father was a bully, but his mother groomed him, “like Mozart’s father”, to believe he was special – and it worked. As a small child, he once walked down a bus telling every passenger he was beautiful. He always loved art, but was inspired to become a painter by seeing Van Gogh’s Chair: it looked so simple,…

Each member state sends to Nato’s HQ in Brussels a delegation headed by a permanent member (usually a diplomat) and a military representative (a senior officer from the armed forces). The permanent members meet once a week in the North Atlantic Council, but from time to time, the council meets at higher levels – involving foreign or defence ministers, or heads of government. It’s here that major decisions – requiring unanimity – are taken. The military representatives form the military committee, which gives direction and advice on military strategy and is responsible for the overall conduct of military affairs. All member countries contribute forces and equipment, which remain under national command and control until such time as required by Nato for a specific purpose. Nato was never an entirely happy…

Scientists have suggested a new way to highlight the risks associated with drinking. The team at the University of Southampton point out that while public health authorities have successfully drummed home the message that smoking can cause lung cancer, people are less aware that drinking is also a risk factor for many cancers. They therefore suggest exploiting the success of anti-smoking campaigns by expressing the alcohol risk as a cigarette equivalent. In other words, people might be warned, for instance, that drinking a bottle of wine a week is the same, in terms of cancer risk, as smoking five cigarettes a week if you’re a man and ten if you’re a woman. Dr Theresa Hydes, who led the study, said that it would help people make informed choices. However, the…

“I like being over the hill… I’ve discovered there’s a whole new landscape.” Jane Fonda, quoted in The Sunday Times “When you have seen the Hitler-Jugend in action, you become very wary of team spirit.” Edsger W. Dijkstra, quoted on The Browser “There’s many a bestseller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.” Flannery O’Connor, quoted in The Paris Review “The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you except yourself.” Novelist Rita Mae Brown, quoted in The Times “Be a nuisance where it counts.” Journalist and activist Marjory Stoneman Douglas, quoted in The New Yorker “It’s my rule never to lose me temper till it would be detrimental to keep it.” Dramatist Seán O’Casey, quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle “Dignity consists not in possessing honours, but…

The cost of compliance To The Times Your leading article observed that the 5p levy on single-use plastic bags was initially a success, giving an 80% reduction in their use. Your article in the same edition (“Morrisons offers paper bags in battle against plastic waste”) points out that “the main grocery chains are using more plastic overall in their bags for life than in the thinner single-use bags”. This is a predictable example of unintended consequences. Bags for life use much more plastic than the thin ones. We need to drastically reduce single-use bags just to stand still. The policy is still worthwhile, but the minimum charge per bag needs to be significantly higher, at least 50p, in which case shoppers will have more incentive to change their behaviour and…

Metropolis by Philip Kerr Quercus 400pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 Philip Kerr, who died last year aged 62, is best known for his serial character Bernie Gunther, a “sardonic cop and private investigator in Nazi Berlin”, said Adrian McKinty in The Guardian. In Metropolis, the 14th book in the series, Kerr rewinds the clock to 1928, presenting his hero as a promising young detective investigating the murders of four prostitutes. The backward time shift proves inspired: Gunther is the “perfect world-weary investigator” for Weimar Berlin’s “doomed demi-monde”. Wonderfully plotted and full of “witty dialogue”, this is a “bittersweet ending to a superb series”. For 30 years, Kerr had great fun with this winning format, and the final volume proves no exception, said Andrew Taylor in The Spectator. Berlin is…

Best books… Andrew Davies The screenwriter, whose TV adaptations include Pride and Prejudice and Les Misérables, picks books he loves that aren’t well known. He is talking about his work at the Stratford Literary Festival (stratlitfest.co.uk) on 4 May My Dog Tulip by J.R. Ackerley, 1956 (NYRB £8.99). Ackerley never wanted a dog, but acquired this Alsatian bitch when his rough-trade boyfriend was out of circulation. An irksome duty turned into the most important relationship of Ackerley’s life. Funny, touching, poignant. The best dog book I know and one of the best love stories. Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog by Dylan Thomas, 1940 (W&N £8.99). DT wasn’t just a poet, he was a brilliant prose writer, and this collection of stories is a vivid and funny account…

Bordeaux is the world’s most famous wine region, and for many it’s also the best, says David Williams in The Observer. The prices for its finest wines are famously stratospheric (the average price for a bottle of Château Lafite is £731). But there’s no shortage of outstanding Bordeaux wines at more down-to-earth prices. Château Le Maine Martin Supérieur Vieilles Vignes 2013 (£11.99; smilinggrape.com) offers “joyous unoaked bright fruitiness”, for example. And Château Fleur Haut Gaussens La Bergeronnette 2016 (£19.49; vinatis.co.uk) is a deliciously fragrant and fresh red made from the fashionable cabernet franc. I’d also strongly recommend the Bordeaux range at Vine Trail, one of the UK’ s best wine importers. Château Beynat 2016 (£11.57) offers “aromatic red cherry and raspberry succulence”. Then there’s the “startlingly gossamer-silky, pure red burgundy-like”…

French pilot who was a hero of the Entebbe hostage crisis Michel Bacos 1924-2019 Michel Bacos was the pilot of the Air France passenger plane that was hijacked in June 1976, and diverted thousands of miles to Entebbe, Uganda. The passengers were held in a disused airport building, and on the third day were divided into two groups: those with Israeli passports and Jewish-sounding names in one, the rest in another. The non-Israelis were released and flown to Paris, while the other 94 passengers were kept as hostages. The 12 crew were also invited to leave; but Bacos, who has died aged 94, refused. “I told my crew that we must stay until the end, because that was our tradition, so we cannot accept being freed,” he told the BBC.…

Britain’s most “embattled” department store chain, Debenhams, “has fallen into the hands of its lenders” – entering administration despite “an 11th-hour bid” to keep it public from the Sports Direct billionaire Mike Ashley, said Sebastian McCarthy in City AM. Ashley offered a £200m cash injection for the group in the early hours of Tuesday morning, in a deal that “would have forced Debenhams” to make him chief executive, and compel lenders to write off £82m of the chain’s £720m debt. But once again, the tycoon’s “advances” were rejected, scuppering his ambitious plan to unite Debenhams with House of Fraser to form a “Harrods of the high street”. “The outcome is likely to infuriate executives at Sports Direct,” a 29% shareholder in Debenhams, which will now have the value of its…

Civil servants tasked with preparing for a no-deal Brexit were recently offered a special counselling service, it has emerged. The environment department awarded a £40,000, three-month contract to a firm called Care First – its remit being to support staff working on “emergency preparedness in case of a no-deal scenario”. More than 1,300 of the department’s employees have been seconded to work on contingency preparations. The menu at Manhattan’s latest hotspot includes dishes such as venison and squash, and turkey and mac ‘n’ cheese. At Just Food For Dogs – the first kitchen in New York dedicated to canines – the chefs whip up 900kg of fresh food daily. Their venison and squash dish sells for $11.95.…

An inquest has found that the 21 victims of the 1974 Birmingham pub bombings were unlawfully killed in an IRA terror attack. But the jury also said there was not sufficient evidence to blame the West Midlands police for the deaths or to find fault with the way they responded to alleged tip-offs. The six-week hearing included testimony from a convicted ex-IRA bomber known as “Witness O”, who named four of the people he said were involved in the crime, three of whom have died. Relatives of the victims are demanding that those responsible be prosecuted.…

Munich Saving the bees: The state of Bavaria is to pass into law the demands of a “save the bees” petition that could lead to a revolution in farming practices. The implementation of the petition – signed by almost one-fifth of Bavaria’s electorate – means the state will aim for 30% of its agricultural land to meet organic standards by 2030; 10% of its green space is to be given over to flowering meadows; and rivers and streams should be more stringently protected from chemical pesticides and fertilisers. Other states may consider holding similar public votes, although farmers have complained that demands were accepted too readily. Scientists say half of all insect species are in decline and a third endangered. Paris Lower taxes: France’s three-month grand débat – the extensive…

“Bravo Helen Mirren. It’s not easy to alienate millions of people in just two words, but with her lofty ‘F*** Netflix’, she’s done it. Only someone who has never been to an Odeon or Cineworld lately could say that there is ‘nothing like sitting in a cinema... the lights go down. That incredible moment of relaxation and anticipation.’ Haha. That magical ‘communal’ experience includes 20 minutes of ear-splitting adverts, popcorn at a fiver a go and retching at a stranger’s melted cheese on nachos. I suspect Dame Helen attends boutique cinemas, not a retail park multiplex.” Carol Midgley in The Times…

Why I’ve fallen out of love with Brexit Peter Oborne OpenDemocracy I’ve long been an ardent Brexiteer, says Peter Oborne. Not any more. I still see the EU as dysfunctional and undemocratic, but I have reluctantly come to view Brexit as an impossible dream. The economic arguments for it have crumbled as investment-led growth has slumped and companies have shifted jobs abroad. Its two biggest remaining cheerleaders are hedge-fund managers, who stand to make huge profits from the ensuing volatility, and the far-left, who can’t wait to dismantle the EU’s restraints on the imposition of socialism. That alone should give us pause. So too should the unstable geopolitical situation: how can we rely on the World Trade Organisation to be arbiter of global trade when it’s under assault from both…

Dogs can smell seizures In the past, scientists have had some success in training dogs to detect malaria, diabetes and even some forms of cancer. Now they have worked out that epileptic seizures also have a telltale aroma, and have trained dogs to identify it. For the small study, researchers in France collected breath and sweat samples from five people with epilepsy, all of whom had different forms of the condition. Each produced three samples: one taken immediately after a seizure, one after exercise and one after resting. Using treats as rewards, the researchers then trained five dogs to sniff out the scent of sweat during a seizure. When the dogs were then presented with seven more samples they’d not been exposed to before, three of them identified those collected…

Brunei’s penal code: bigotry by law A tiny nation on the island of Borneo in South East Asia, oil-rich Brunei is home to only 430,000 people – and they enjoy a very high standard of living, said Richard Pendlebury in the Daily Mail: paying no tax, and receiving free healthcare and education. Yet last week, a “shadow fell over” the former British protectorate when a penal code based on sharia law, first announced in 2013, quietly came into force in the 78% Muslim country. This imposes death by stoning for adultery, gay sex and heresy. Lesbians now risk the lash, and thieves amputation. News of the code prompted an international outcry: the UN labelled it “inhuman”; George Clooney led calls for a boycott of Brunei-owned exclusive hotels, including The…

Racing: a new Grand National legend It’s one of the most exclusive clubs in sport, said Marcus Armytage in The Sunday Telegraph: horses that have won the Grand National on two occasions. In the 20th century, only two managed the feat: Reynoldstown, in 1935 and 1936, and Red Rum, in 1973 and 1974 (and again in 1977). And at Aintree last Saturday, Tiger Roll – and jockey Davy Russell – joined those two legends when he won “the world’s greatest race” for the second year in a row. Merely competing in two Grand Nationals is “a considerable achievement” for any horse, said Chris Cook in The Observer. Grand National competitors tend not to be youngsters – “they have been racing for several seasons and most have clocked up a lot…

To The Guardian Polly Toynbee is right: “Only the public can end the debate, either choosing an actual Brexit deal laid before them, or coming to the conclusion that there is no deal better than the one we have.” It’s a view shared by a growing coterie of moderate Tories. On Newsnight, Huw Merriman said: “Parliament has failed, can’t deliver, so let’s be realistic and ask the people if they will put the PM’s deal through.” Significantly, a confirmatory public vote also received the highest number of positive votes, with 280, in the second set of indicative votes. A customs union may eventually achieve a Commons majority. However, David Davis warned the Cabinet that if it accepts a softer Brexit, it cannot assume “every Conservative MP would vote for you…

Radical Residency III at Unit 1 Gallery In the past decade, countless former industrial buildings that once offered affordable studio space for artists have been demolished or converted into flats. For emerging artists – particularly those based in London – this has led to rising costs and no end of headaches. So it’s welcome to discover an initiative like Unit 1 Gallery’s Radical Residency programme, which regularly invites young artists to use its premises, granting them up to a month to create new work. This exhibition showcases the results of the project’s latest iteration, featuring ten artists from around the world working in a wide range of different media. Highlights include Tobias Becker’s ghostly photographic prints, Géraldine Honauer’s Duchampian installations, and, best of all, the paintings of South Korean…

Programmes The Massacre that Shook the Empire To mark the centenary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, writer Sathnam Sanghera retraces the build-up to one of the darkest days in British and Indian history. Sat 13 April, C4 21:00 (60mins). Chimerica The first episode of a four-part adaptation of Lucy Kirkwood’s play, starring Alessandro Nivola as a photojournalist trying to salvage his career after he‘s accused of peddling “fake news”. Wed 17 April, C4 21:00 (60mins). Inside John Lewis: Profits & Problems Documentary revealing what goes on behind the scenes of the British institution. Wed 17 April, C5 21:00 (60mins). Climate Change: The Facts David Attenborough takes an urgent look at the science of climate change and the potential solutions to global warming. Thur 18 April, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). British Made…

The Feathered Nest Nether Westcote, Oxfordshire (01993-833030) I know the “cool thing” is to dismiss the Cotswolds as a “bucolic establishment bolthole”, says Grace Dent in The Guardian. But I think they’re “heavenly”. I love the medieval town of Burford, for example, with its “high street festooned with antiques shops and charming tea rooms”. I also loved the food at The Feathered Nest, an exquisitely restored 1692 malthouse six miles down the road. Its much-garlanded chef, Kuba Winkowski, does “fancy fine dining over several courses”. There are small plates of sturgeon and caviar; duck tortellini with winter truffle; octopus and dumpling – and in each the “produce is exemplary, flavours paramount”. We also enjoyed a “wonderful, slender slab of salmon” on an inky garlic reduction, and a “faultless” dish…

Volkswagen T-Cross from £16,995 Autocar Volkswagen is fully on the SUV bandwagon; the T-Cross is its fifth SUV, and its third new one in the past two years. While it slots in as the smallest of the line-up, it offers “discernibly better space and convenience than a supermini”. It may not feel as “funky, flashy or sporty” as some of its crossover competitors, but neither is it as “flaky, flimsy or frivolous”. It is a mature, well-executed car. Auto Express The T-Cross is only slightly larger than a Polo, but owing to a clever design, it’s very practical. The rear bench slides to give a boot that ranges from 385 to 455 litres (though sliding it forward creates a weird hole). All models come with an “excellent” infotainment system, wireless…

Narrowboat for four Spend 4 nights on board Maggy, on a self-catering basis, from £148pp, including a full tank of diesel. 01252-796400, waterwaysholidays.com. Depart from North Kilworth, Leicestershire, on 17 June. Five-star Sweden Three nights’ b&b at the Elite Plaza Hotel Gothenburg cost from £387pp (based on two sharing), including Edinburgh flights. 0800-083 4000, lastminute.com. Depart 30 May. Turkey beach escape Stay 7 nights at the all-inclusive Le Bleu Hotel & Resort, Kusadasi, with a great seafront location. From £489pp, including Bristol flights. 020-3474 3075, blueseaholidays.co.uk. Depart 31 May. A week in Vegas The D Las Vegas is set in the world-famous Fremont Street Experience. Stay 7 nights room-only from £646pp, including Manchester flights. 020-3897 1185, loveholidays.com. Depart 6 June.…

Big Four: break ‘em up? Britain’s Big Four accountants are “beyond saving”, and should be broken up “to restore the profession’s shattered reputation”. That, said James Burton in the Daily Mail, is the conclusion of a scathing report by MPs, which argues that the bean counters are “hopelessly conflicted” because “their consultancy arms earn huge fees from the companies they are meant to scrutinise”. As things stand, the Big Four – PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and EY – audit 97% of all FTSE 350 accounts, said Lucy Burton in The Sunday Telegraph. But after “a string of major scandals” at now-defunct clients including Carillion, BHS and Patisserie Valerie, calls for change in the “disgraced accounting sector” are growing. The competition watchdog, led by Lord (Andrew) Tyrie, will shortly publish its…

A new crisis in American capitalism Editorial The Economist “America is no stranger to corporate scandals,” says The Economist, but a rash of recent accidents and misconduct claims suggests that governance standards are slipping. Boeing stands accused of selling planes with dangerous software; Goldman Sachs faces criminal charges over a fraud in Malaysia; another bank, Wells Fargo, has admitted creating 3.5 million “unauthorised accounts”; and several pharmaceutical companies are embroiled in America’s “opioid epidemic”. It’s tempting to view these cases as unrelated events. But there are common elements. Most of these firms have “dominant market positions”, and the financial cost of their misdemeanours has so far been “limited”. American capitalism, always “restless and dynamic”, now looks “out of kilter”; and the three forces that constrain corporate conduct – regulation, litigation…