Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1248 i The Week

What happened Mission impossible? The European Union accused the British Government of playing a “stupid blame game” over Brexit this week, after a Downing Street source claimed that German demands had made a Brexit deal “essentially impossible, not just now but ever”. It followed the row between Boris Johnson and Angela Merkel in which – according to the Downing Street source – the German chancellor said a deal based on the proposals put forward by the Prime Minister last week was “overwhelmingly unlikely”. The only way to break the deadlock, Merkel apparently said, was for the UK to agree that Northern Ireland should stay in the EU customs union, and remain permanently aligned with EU single market rules. The apparent breakdown in talks all but killed off any remaining hopes…

Goldsmith Street, a newly-built residential terrace in Norwich, which became the first council housing to be awarded the Riba Stirling Prize for architecture. A “modest masterpiece” was how the judges described the 105-home street, which was one of the first new council housing projects to be built in a generation. Manchester, which finally has a Michelin star, after a gap of 40 years. The accolade was awarded to former Noma chef Simon Martin, whose restaurant, Mana, opened in Ancoats last October. Stella Creasy, who is to become the first MP to be given a locum to cover her maternity leave. The locum MP will represent her constituency, in north east London, for seven months. He or she will address constituency issues, and meet and correspond with ministers, but will not…

Paris IVF protests: A new law which will allow lesbian couples and single women access to IVF and other fertility treatments, on the same basis as heterosexual couples, has triggered protests in Paris. The law, which is President Macron’s first major social reform, was passed by the lower house of parliament two weeks ago and is expected to come into effect early next year. At least 40,000 people took part in the demonstrations, which were an echo of those against same-sex marriage in 2013 – but on a rather smaller scale. Currently, gay and single women in France are barred from having fertility treatments, even privately. Many travel to other countries for them, including Britain. Paris Police HQ attack: A police administrator who murdered four of his colleagues at the…

1 Cabaret by John Kander and Fred Ebb, performed by Liza Minnelli 2 The Crane Wife Part 2 by Colin Meloy, performed by The Decemberists 3 El Padre Antonio y el Monaguillo Andrés by Rubén Blades, performed by Rubén Blades and Seis del Solar 4 Passin’ Me By by Romye Robinson, Trevant Hardson, Emandu Wilcox, Derrick Stewart and John Martinez, performed by The Pharcyde 5* What You Know, written and performed by Ali Dineen 6 On The Radio, written and performed by Regina Spektor 7 Déjate Querer, written and performed by Gilberto Santa Rosa 8 Rosa Parks by Andre Benjamin and Antwan Patton, performed by OutKast Book: Moby Dick by Herman Melville Luxury: coffee * Choice if allowed only one record…

Extinction Rebellion’s protests come at a cost: the Metropolitan police spent £16m deploying 10,000 police officers – who could have been fighting street crime – during April’s protests; they are estimated to have cost London’s shops £12m in lost takings. This is unlikely to bother the movement’s leading figures, whose thinking, according to a recent report from the centre-right think tank Policy Exchange, is “rooted in the political extremism of anarchism, eco-socialism and radical anti-capitalist environmentalism”. Although “rebels” only need to sign up to the core principles, the movement makes no secret of its radical politics. The Declaration of Rebellion proclaims an uprising against a Government that has “shattered meaningful democracy and cast aside the common interest in favour of short-term gain and private profits”. According to its handbook This…

RUSSIA Why the Kremlin fears the occult The Moscow Times Six months ago, Alexander Gabyshev, a self-declared “shaman-warrior”, identified Vladimir Putin as a “demon” and set off on foot from Siberia to drive him from the Kremlin, says Pavel Aptekar. Russians have been following his 5,000-mile odyssey with amusement, but the authorities failed to see the joke. Last month, having covered less than half the distance, Gabyshev was arrested, and is now expected to be charged with “extremism”. Why the heavy-handed approach? Because many still believe such superstitions. Even today, occult beliefs are widely held in Russia – and they were rife during the Cold War, when the Soviet regime ran an active psychic warfare campaign. One still hears talk of “psychotronics” or mind control from senior officials. In 2006,…

Around the world, more than a quarter of a billion children will be obese by 2030, according to a damning new forecast, up from 150 million now. The World Obesity Federation predicts that in 11 years, 12% of UK children aged five to nine will be obese, and 10% of ten- to 19-year-olds. Of 196 countries studied, China is expected to have the largest number of obese children: 61.9 million. It is followed on the list by India (27.4 million) and the US (16.9 million). The UK, where currently just over a third of children leave primary school either overweight or obese, is 37th on the list, with a predicted 1.3 million youngsters living with obesity by 2030. Separately, Public Health England warned that nearly four in ten children in…

From Prince Albert to Princess Diana, the royals have often taken on the press, said Alex Barker in the FT. Last week, we learnt that the Duchess of Sussex is suing The Mail on Sunday for publishing a private letter to her estranged father, in which she begged him to stop talking to the media, shortly after her wedding. What made the move “remarkable” was the “500-word online broadside” that came with it. In an emotional statement “brimming with righteous anger”, Prince Harry complained that an “almost daily” campaign of vilification against Meghan had left him a “silent witness” to her suffering at the hands of the press pack. “I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces,” he declared. Two days…

Athletics: the record breakers of Team GB Not so long ago, while she was at university, Dina Asher-Smith studied history, said Sean Ingle in The Guardian. Now, she “makes it”. In Doha, last week, the 23-year-old sprinter became the first British athlete ever to win three medals at a single World Athletics Championships. Her silver medals in the 100m and the 4 x 100m relay were impressive enough. But her triumph in the 200m was something else. “Not so much arace as a 91-step exhibition” of Asher-Smith’s remarkable athletic talents, it made her the first British female sprinter in history to win a World Championship title. Now, to truly cement her “place in the firmament”, Asher-Smith needs to win an Olympic title in Tokyo next summer, said Oliver Brown in…

“Free” always costs To The Daily Telegraph In his letter, Gerry Doyle wonders what the result of “free prescriptions for all” will be. As a retired doctor I can tell him: vast collections of unopened packages of pharmaceutical compounds occupying whole chests of drawers in people’s homes. This can be stated confidently because it is the case for many of those who already receive “free” prescriptions by dint of being benefit recipients or over 60. It should also be noted that in a medical insurance scheme in the US, a new “benefit” was introduced that reduced to zero the cost of attending the family practice element of the scheme. Attendance immediately increased by 33% and this continued throughout the year. A charge of $5 (then $3, now $4) was introduced…

The Cockroach by Ian McEwan Jonathan Cape 112pp £7.99 The Week bookshop £6.99 In Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, a man wakes up to find himself transformed into a giant insect, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. In Ian McEwan’s new Brexit-inspired novella, “it happens the other way round”: a Westminster cockroach wakes up as prime minister, with the brief of implementing a highly damaging referendum result. McEwan’s stand-in for Brexit is “Reversalism”, an “absurd economic theory” under which people hand over money to work, and then “go to the shops where they are paid to take stuff away”, while policemen hand £50 notes to those caught speeding. McEwan has great fun with this “Swiftian” conceit, said Sam Leith in The Guardian, and elsewhere offers “sharp spoofs of populist rhetoric, tabloid…

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-69) was an artist who painted light “like no other”, said Culture Whisper. “He was an alchemist, able to transform paint into glowing flesh.” This new exhibition at Dulwich Picture Gallery brings together 35 superb paintings, drawings and etchings from the years 1639-1658, “widely considered to be his most innovative”. At the time, he was living on the Breestraat in the heart of Amsterdam, “and the cold northern light that streamed in through the windows provided the illumination for some of his most recognisable works”. The exhibition shows how he laboured to create innovative art that would “push forward the possibilities of paint”. In a modern twist, the gallery has invited cinematographer Peter Suschitzky (celebrated for his work on films including Star Wars: The Empire Strikes…

Best books… Emma Barnett The journalist and broadcaster – presenter of The Emma Barnett Show on Radio 5 Live and BBC2’s Newsnight – picks her five favourite books. Her own book, Period: It’s about Bloody Time, is published by HQ at £12.99 The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst, 2004 (Picador £9.99). This is delicious from start to finish. Hollinghurst speaks to that hopeful teenager in all of us – battling with love, identity and ambition. It’s also a weirdly beautiful meditation on class and not belonging to a world you wish to. I have re-read it far too many times. What Mothers Do: Especially When It Looks Like Nothing by Naomi Stadlen, 2004 (Little, Brown £8.99). This book changed my maternity leave. It was the only book that spoke…

Programmes Spiral The absorbing French crime drama returns for a seventh series (first two episodes). Sat 12 Oct, BBC4 21:00 (115mins). Mark Ronson: From the Heart The songwriter and music producer, known for his collaborations with Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars, discusses his life, his broken marriage and his musical influences. Sat 12 Oct, BBC2 21:30 (75mins). Dublin Murders Eight-part psychological crime thriller starring Killian Scott and Sarah Greene as Irish detectives investigating the murder of a child at the height of the Celtic Tiger. Mon 14 Oct, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes that Changed Us The second episode in a three-part series looking at landmark murder cases. Here we see how a mother’s fight to win justice for her murdered daughter led to the…

This is a dense, moist cake for an autumn afternoon, says Kate Young, best enjoyed with a pot of strong tea. You might be surprised by the inclusion of tarragon, more commonly used with fish or chicken, but the herb’s warm flavour, with hints of anise and vanilla, goes beautifully with apples too. Apple and tarragon cake Serves 10-12 for the cake: 2 large cooking apples, like Bramleys 150g butter 150g light brown sugar 3 eggs 150g ground almonds 2 tsp baking powder 100g plain flour 1 tbsp finely chopped tarragon leaves a pinch of salt for the topping: 1 crisp eating apple, sliced very finely through the core a pinch of light brown sugar equipment: 20cm round cake tin • Preheat the oven to 150°C fan. Grease and line…

Garmin Edge 130 This small, simple computer has no base map, but is ideal for reading your metrics, including ascent, average speed, and power. It can be connected to a heart-rate monitor using the Ant+ network (£135; wiggle.co.uk). Lezyne Mega Xl GPS  With a huge battery life of 48 hours thanks to its black and white screen, this computer can be customised to display your data of choice. It has Ant+ connectivity, and is solid enough to withstand some bumps (£160; wiggle.co.uk). Beeline Velo Put your destination into this gadget and it will display a single arrow that directs you on your route, while telling you how far you are from upcoming turns. It’s great for those who don’t want to be distracted by too much information (£99; beeline.co). Mio…

Idyllic Jurassic Coast Stay 2 nights at the Grade II Moonfleet Manor Hotel, with Chesil Beach on its doorstep, from £109pp (b&b). 01305-786948, moonfleetmanorhotel.co.uk. Arrive 22 November. Boutique Amsterdam hotel Spend four nights at the 4-star Hotel van de Vijsel, located in the city centre, from £309pp b&b, including Birmingham flights. 020-3897 1185, loveholidays.com. Depart 2 December. Tranquil Hvar island stay Escape to Croatia’s Labranda Senses Resort, with nearby beach, for 5 nights from £409pp all-inclusive, including Manchester flights. 020-3993 7601, fleetwaytravel.com. Depart 2 May 2020. A week in San Francisco Situated just steps from Union Square, a room-only stay at the stylish The Marker hotel, from £1,107pp, including London flights. 0344-739 4488, virginholidays.co.uk. Depart 12 December.…

The pound fell after a Downing Street source branded a Brexit deal “essentially impossible”, following a phone call between the PM Boris Johnson and the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. Stock markets rallied, after last week’s clobbering, on signs of progress in the US-China trade dispute. But the new head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, used her first speech in Washington to warn that the global economy faces a “synchronised downturn” and a $19trn corporate debt timebomb. She said vulnerabilities were growing as funds and insurers take on riskier investments to boost returns, and companies pile on cheap debt for acquisitions. The OECD proposed a shake-up of corporate taxation aimed at large multinationals. The reform would overturn a century of rules that have allowed tech giants such as Facebook,…

Tim Cook It’s often said that Apple chief Tim Cook lacks his predecessor Steve Jobs’s charisma. Still, you can’t fault his communication skills, said Tripp Mickle in The Wall Street Journal. Cook has pulled off the unlikely feat of winning “Donald Trump’s ear” while “avoiding a backlash” from either his employees or the president himself. At first sight, it looks “an unlikely alliance” given the two men’s “contrasting personalities and divergent views on many issues”: Cook supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. But the rapport clearly runs deep. “The two have dined together the past two summers at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster” and the president likes to phone Cook on Thanksgiving. Cook has also “fostered close ties” with Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, “giving him a backchannel to…

News that the women behind the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign have lost their battle with the Government over when they are entitled to draw their state pension is unlikely to end the argument, said The Mirror. Campaigners are mulling “launching a Court of Appeal fight”. The ruling followed years of struggle on behalf of 3.8 million women, born in the 1950s, who face a hike in the qualification age, from 60 to 66, by 2020. Waspi says it supports equalising pension ages with men. Its beef is with the “unfair” way that the changes are being implemented and the major – in some cases devastating – impact on many women’s finances. At the heart of the row are complaints about lousy communication, said Tanya Jefferies on This…

A few months ago Ireceived an alarming email from someone called Julian Diggle. Diggle claimed to have found a password I used for social media accounts on an adult website. “You visited this website to experience fun,” he wrote. He claimed to have hacked into my computer, taken control of its web camera, and produced a short film of me experiencing my fun. “You’ve got fine taste OMG,” he continued – before adding that I now “have only two alternatives”. If I disregarded his email, he would send his documentary to everyone in my address book. He asked me to imagine “the disgrace” of this, particularly “should you be in a romantic relationship”. Option two was to pay him $1,000 – £820 – in bitcoin. I was pretty sure it…

Controversy of the week The green uprising The Prime Minister dismissed them as “uncooperative crusties” blocking the streets of the capital with their “hemp-smelling bivouacs”. But the Extinction Rebellion protesters that I met this week were farmers, doctors, scientists and civil servants, said Polly Toynbee in The Guardian; there wasn’t a “dreadlocked treehugger” in sight. They set up camp on sites across Westminster on Monday; and though nearly 600 people were arrested in two days, the police were soon overwhelmed, as they were in April. Extinction Rebellion is winning; it is at the vanguard of a major “culture change” in the UK. “Weekly, the news tells of sea ice and glaciers melting, species vanishing, the emergency evident.” And these protests – along with Greta Thunberg’s school strikes – are changing…

A group of women affected by the rise in the women’s pension age from 60 to 66 have lost their case against the Government. The women who brought the judicial review do not dispute that the women’s pension age should be brought in line with men’s. However, they argued in the High Court that the reform was discriminatory even so, because women born in the 1950s – who have already suffered major “inequalities in the workplace” – weren’t informed about the change until shortly before they turned 60, when they had expected to be able to retire. As a result, they had insufficient time to change their plans – and suffered “significant detriments” (see page 53).…

Washington DC Extreme proposals: According to an in-depth New York Times report based on interviews with more than a dozen White House and administration officials, President Trump proposed earlier this year that border guards shoot undocumented migrants in the legs, in order to thwart their attempts to cross into the US. He has also reportedly often talked about electrifying border fences, and fitting them with spikes to pierce human flesh, and even lining a border wall with a water-filled trench stocked with snakes or alligators. Last year, the president publicly advised soldiers to shoot migrants who try to throw rocks at them. When aides told him that that would be illegal, he apparently came back with his other ideas. They would be illegal too, he was told. This week, after…

“How (and why) did the ugly suffix ‘ee’ worm its way into the English language? It has long bugged and baffled me. Why are people who escape from jail called ‘escapees’ (they’re not: they are ‘escapers’) and people who attend meetings labelled ‘attendees’ (they’re not, they are ‘attenders’)? The ‘ee’ ending is only accurate when applied to people who have something done to them: ‘amputee’, ‘parolee’. The final straw for me was a notice near the driver (why not ‘drivee’?) of a local bus which read ‘24 standees only’. I was lucky enough to get a seat so I suppose I had become – in the eyes of the bus company – a ‘sittee’.” Robert Chesshyre in The Oldie…

An Impossible dream to save the planet Edward Lucas The Times I’m not keen on animal slaughter, but I love the taste of meat, says Edward Lucas. So for the past 35 years “I’ve dutifully tried every vegetarian substitute”. None impressed me. But then last month, at a café in Washington DC, I bit into an Impossible Burger – and everything changed. Made from soya, potato proteins, coconut fat and genetically modified strains of yeast, it “looked, smelled and tasted” like real meat. So much so, in fact, that when the company starts selling in the UK, I can’t see myself eating processed meat again. Impossible Foods is one of many big firms moving into this field, and their products are only going to get tastier as they perfect new…

Thumbs are getting faster Young people who have grown up using smartphones can now type about as fast on their devices as older people typically do on a full sized Qwerty keyboard, a study has found. Researchers gave 37,000 volunteers from 160 countries a typing test to do on their mobile phones, and found that teenagers were reaching 40 words per minute. However, the volunteers in their 40s only hit 29 words per minute while those in their 50s were slower still (26wpm). “We are seeing a young generation that has always used touchscreen devices, and the difference to older generations that may have used devices longer, but different types, is staggering,” said Prof Antti Oulasvirta, from Aalto University in Finland. Red meat: not bad for health? It’s widely agreed…

On arriving at Leon Brittan’s country home in North Yorkshire, on 4 March 2015, the police formed into a line and advanced across the lawn, said The Times. Watching the 20 officers comb the ground, the housekeeper thought they must be looking for shallow graves. In the house, they seized the late Tory politician’s shoes, to extract his DNA, and took swabs of spots on the carpet. In Surrey and Leicestershire, police had also descended on the homes of Lord Bramall, the former head of Britain’s Armed Forces, and ex-Tory MP Harvey Proctor. While their lives were being turned upside down, Carl Beech, the former nurse whose fabricated stories about a VIP paedophile ring had triggered the raids, was telephoning the news agency Exaro to inform them that the search,…

“There’s a new political star in town,” said Marina Hyde in The Guardian. Jennifer Arcuri – the US businesswoman at the centre of a conflict of interest row involving Boris Johnson – is finally talking, and she turns out to be “hilariously good value”. “[Men] fall in love with me in about ten minutes,” Arcuri told the Daily Mirror last week, “because I know what to say. I make men trip over their dicks. That’s what happens. They go insane around me.” An hour-long interview on ITV’s Good Morning Britain this week proved equally entertaining, said Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. Arcuri spoke about how she and the then mayor of London had “bonded” over a “love of classic literature”. But she repeatedly refused to say whether or not…

Just before a football manager is sacked, there is always a moment when the players appear “passive to the point of helplessness”, said David Hytner in The Guardian. That was how Tottenham looked on Saturday in their 3-0 defeat to Brighton. Having been battered 7-2 by Bayern Munich only four days earlier, they desperately needed a win; instead, they “caved in” once again. Spurs, and their manager Mauricio Pochettino, are “at the lowest of ebbs”. For so long, this Tottenham team were a “modern miracle”, said James Gheerbrant in The Times. The club paid “subpar wages”; it went two transfer windows without a signing. Yet Spurs still finished in the top four in each of the last four seasons; just four months ago, they played in the Champions League final.…

To The Times John Britton should not be promoting a potentially harmful and socially unpleasant habit simply because it is safer than the biggest killer mankind has ever known. Many of us oppose the current philosophy of “harm reduction”, supporting instead a drive to “freedom from addiction”, a state that nearly all smokers desperately want to achieve. This is where we should be putting our efforts, not encouraging a habit that perpetuates addiction, has been shown to be relatively ineffective for smoking cessation and puts us in bed with the tobacco industry, which manufactures most of the products. Philip Barber, consultant respiratory physician, MFT Foundation Trust, and co-chairman, GM tobacco control Clinical Advisory Group To The Times Those of us who are public health pragmatists have long since become used…

Theatre: “Master Harold”... and the Boys Lyttelton, National Theatre, London SE1 (020-7452 3000). Until 17 December Running time: 1hr 40mins Athol Fugard’s semi-autobiographical work is a modern classic of South African theatre, said Chris Bennion in The Times. Written in 1982 but set in 1950, it’s a “deceptive and disarming” work: though the humour is gentle and the pace slow, it packs a big punch. Fugard’s painfully honest play is almost an act of “self-flagellation”. As a white teenager in apatheid-era South Africa, he had once treated a black servant in a deeply shameful way: Master Harold draws on that incident. And once it limbers up, Roy Alexander Weise’s production is “as elegant and nimble” as the foxtrot that the play’s two black characters, fatherly Sam and hothead Willie, are…

Enoc Perez at Ben Brown Fine Arts The Puerto Rican-born artist Enoc Perez (b.1967) is best known for painting buildings, but in his new exhibition, he takes a step inside. The show, entitled The Cinematic Self, features a series of large paintings that depict interior views of the homes of a starry list of 20th century cultural luminaries, from Hugh Hefner’s bedroom at the Playboy Mansion and Francis Bacon’s chaotic South Kensington studio, to Elvis Presley’s Jungle Room at Graceland. The works serve as an alternative form of portraiture, building a picture of the subjects Perez has chosen through their personal effects and their taste in decor: the living room of Fiat boss Gianni Agnelli is a picture of mid-century modern good taste; while the railway cabin in which…

Last Chance Helene Schjerfbeck at the Royal Academy, London W1 (royalacademy.org.uk). This “fascinating” show features work by Helene Schjerfbeck – an artist who is a national icon in Finland but virtually unknown elsewhere (Daily Telegraph). Ends 27 October. Book now Simon Heffer, Victoria Hislop, Prue Leith, Alexander McCall Smith, Dom Joly and A.N. Wilson are among those talking at the Dorchester Literary Festival. 15-20 October, various venues, Dorchester, Dorset (dorchesterliteraryfestival.com). Light Falls, a new play by Simon Stephens, with original music by Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, is about a family – dispersed across the north of England – dealing with a sudden tragedy. Sarah Frankcom directs. 24 October-16 November, Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester (royalexchange.co.uk). The veteran rock singer, poet and artist Patti Smith is discussing her life and new memoir, Year…

Rosé needn’t only be a summer treat, says Fiona Beckett in The Guardian – but for autumnal dishes, forego the whispy pink ones and look for a slightly heftier variety. And maybe serve it a little warmer than you normally would. Domaine Tempier Bandol Rosé 2018 (£28.95; Lea & Sandeman) is a great place to start. From the “most interesting of the Provence rosé appellations”, it is perfectly suited to this time of year. If you like pink fizz, try Balfour 1503 English Sparkling Rosé (£19; Morrisons), which has an “appealing, savoury note, rather than just tutti frutti, red berry fruit”. For a real bargain, try French Organic Rosé (£6.99; Aldi), a darker Languedoc rosé to enjoy with a pork chop. Corent Côtes d’Auvergne 2018 (£9.50; Wine Society) is a…

● Plant-based iron is harder for the body to absorb than heme iron (the kind you get in meat), so vegans need to eat a lot of it. Beans, chickpeas and lentils, nuts and seeds, and dark green veg like spinach, broccoli and kale are all good sources. ● Soya milk and some coconut and oat milks are available fortified with calcium and vitamin D. In general, oat milk is more calcium-rich than nut milk alternatives. ● Try using almonds to make pesto instead of pine nuts; they have much more protein. ● Often overlooked, iodine is important. Its usually derived from fish and eggs; the best vegan source is seaweed. ● Vegan diets tend to be less energy dense, and since small children don’t have very large appetites, it…

The Newt in Somerset, near Bruton Built in 1687, Hadspen House was home for two centuries to the Hobhouse family of “activists, politicians and conservationists”. Following a six-year makeover, it has opened as a hotel – a “lively, cultured, kindly and well-orchestrated haven” with few equals in the UK, says Fiona Duncan in The Daily Telegraph. The service is “superlative”, the 23 rooms are pleasingly “unfussy”, the two restaurants are “superb”, and there are many other delights, including a spa with a “beautiful” pool, a thatched ice cream parlour, and huge gardens (previously by Penelope Hobhouse, but now entirely replanted). Doubles from £255 per night.thenewtinsomerset.com.…

American opera star whose voice was a “mansion of sound” Jessye Norman 1945-2019 Jessye Norman, who has died aged 74, was one of the most prominent opera singers of the last quarter of a century. Often called upon to perform at solemn national occasions in her native US, she sang at the second inaugurations of Presidents Reagan and Clinton; at the funeral of Jackie Onassis; and at the memorial service for the victims of 9/11. In 1996, she was invited to take part in Queen Elizabeth’s 60th birthday celebrations, and in 1989, she wrapped herself in a tricolour to sing La Marseillaise at a vast event to mark the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. (“I love that I can find myself on the train between Lyon and…

Forget the impact of a no-deal Brexit, said The Times: Scotch whisky distillers are already braced for “disruption” in their largest market – with “steep US tariffs due to be imposed in a fortnight”. Single malt whiskies are among more than a dozen UK products targeted to pay 25% duties after the WTO this week permitted the US to impose duties on EU goods worth $7.5bn, in the latest development in the long-running dispute over subsidies between Airbus and its American rival, Boeing. Distillers are despondent: “It’s a sad indictment of global politics that whisky is being dragged into a dispute in the aerospace industry,” said one. “Trade wars benefit nobody.”…

Driverless cars hit the streets of London last week in a trial by the autonomous vehicle maker Oxbotica. Passengers were given rides in self-driving cars with a supervisor behind the wheel, ready to take control if necessary. Oxbotica is working with Addison Lee to get driverless cabs on the road by June, but says unsupervised cars are still years away. In what is thought to be the first case of its kind, a British energy executive was recently tricked into paying some £200,000 to scammers who had used “deep fake” technology to mimic his boss’s voice. The executive received a call from a man who sounded just like his company’s German CEO, telling him to make an urgent payment into a bank account in Hungary.…

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has urged the US ambassador to withdraw the diplomatic immunity given to an American woman who allegedly killed a British teenager in a car accident in August. Police believe Anne Sacoolas, (pictured) who is married to a US intelligence officer, pulled out of an RAF base in Northamptonshire on the wrong side of the road, and collided with 19-year-old Harry Dunn’s motorbike. Reportedly, she spoke to the British police, then boarded a private plane back to the US.…

An encounter with Sinatra They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes: Harry Connick Jr has learned that you should be wary of performing for them, too. As a rising star aged 22, he was asked to sing at Frank Sinatra’s 75th birthday concert. Backstage, he met the great Ella Fitzgerald – who told him even she was nervous. “Now I’m terrified.” Moments later, he went out. “And it went wrong. I forgot the words. It was just disastrous,” he told Adrian Deevoy in The Mail on Sunday “After the concert I said to my girlfriend Jill, who is now my wife, ‘I have to explain why I screwed up.’ Frank was getting into the elevator with his wife and we got in. I said, ‘Mr Sinatra, I’m the guy who…

A Russian man is suing Apple, on the basis that an iPhone app turned him gay. The claimant, D. Razumilov, says he felt compelled to dabble with homosexuality after receiving an app payment in a cryptocurrency called GayCoin, instead of the bitcoin he had been expecting. “Don’t judge until you try,” read a note that allegedly came with it. “I thought, in truth, how can I judge something without trying?” So he decided to try a same-sex relationship. “Now I have a boyfriend and I do not know how to explain this to my parents,” reads his court submission. He claims Apple manipulated him into becoming gay, and is demanding one million roubles in compensation – about £12,600. A Chinese man who paid for his prized cat to stay at…

CHINA Beijing must now deal with a pig of a crisis South China Morning Post (Hong Kong) The unrest in Hong Kong isn’t the only headache facing China’s leaders, says Wang Xiangwei. They’re equally worried about the soaring price of pork, which in China is starting to feel like a “national crisis”. Pork is China’s meat of choice, particularly at holiday times. It’s a “time-honoured symbol of living the good life”, and the country’s 1.4 billion people eat nearly 55 million tonnes of the stuff a year – “as much as the rest of the world combined”. But the price of the staple has risen dramatically this year, and is expected to keep rising into 2020. The culprit is African swine fever, which has spread to all 31 mainland provinces,…

More than half of Europe’s endemic tree species – those native to Europe only – are at risk of extinction, and 15% are critically endangered, according to a new report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Ash, elm, rowans and horse chestnuts are among the 454 species on the IUCN’s Red List, owing to a combination of invasive plants, pests and diseases, logging and urbanisation. Some are facing multiple threats: horse chestnuts, which are classed as “vulnerable”, are being attacked by the leaf-miner moth and the horse chestnut scale insect, as well as a fungal disease called leaf blotch and bleeding canker bacteria. Bleeding canker, which can kill a tree outright, is believed to be present in more than 50% of horse chestnuts in Britain. David Allen,…

People say that Elton John is a shopaholic – but he is not the only one. In his memoir, the Rocketman recalls that John Lennon and Yoko Ono went on lavish spending sprees. “John and Yoko were as bad as me when it came to shopping,” he says. “The apartments they owned in the Dakota [building] were so full of artworks, antiques and clothes that I once sent them a card, rewriting the lyrics to full of shoes.’” Elsewhere in the book, Me, he casts light on his friendship with Princess Diana – and the famous photograph of them together at the fashion designer Gianni Versace’s funeral in 1997. At the time, all the newspapers reported that when Diana leaned towards John during the service, it was to offer him…

“It is a mark of our age of protest that progressive politicians must purport to be perpetual outsiders, always at the barricades, even when they hold power.” Janice Turner in The Times “If I don’t like the way the times are moving, I shall refuse to accompany them.” Rumpole of the Bailey, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “When you have boarded the wrong train, every station is the wrong station.” Simon Kelner in the I newspaper “We all make mistakes, but the thing is to learn from them. And make different mistakes.” Debbie Harry, quoted in The Guardian “Sovereignty: the right to eat chlorinated chicken.” Definition from The Little Book of Brexit Bollocks, quoted in The Times “There is no document of civilisation which is not at the same time…

Football The England women’s team lost 2-1 to Brazil, their fourth defeat in five matches. In men’s football, Wolves beat Manchester City 2-0. Newcastle beat Manchester United 1-0. Liverpool beat Leicester 2-1. Rugby union In the World Cup, New Zealand beat Namibia 71-9. France beat Tonga 23-21. Japan beat Samoa 38-19. Cricket Chris Silverwood was named Trevor Bayliss’s successor as England head coach. He previously coached Essex, before becoming England’s bowling coach.…

Judy Dir: Rupert Goold 1hr 58mins (12A) Renée Zellweger shines in this tragic biopic When Judy Garland was a young MGM starlet, the studio boss Louis B. Mayer liked to remind her there were “other, prettier girls” who’d love to take her place. This engrossing biopic makes the case that such soul-crushing treatment led to Garland’s addiction to diet pills and booze and, ultimately, to her early death, said Kevin Maher in The Times. It’s a tragic tale, elevated by an extraordinary performance by Renée Zellweger. Belting out Garland’s songs herself rather than resorting to lip-synching, she devours the title role to make Judy “one of the great film-star biopics”, up there with the likes of Mommie Dearest. Alas, the supporting cast pales by comparison, said Nigel Andrews in the…

“Parliament, you may have heard, isn’t currently held in high repute,” says Cal Revely-Calder in The Daily Telegraph. So it was fitting that the big art sale of last week was of a 14ft canvas of the House of Commons, in which the MPs are all chimpanzees. Banksy’s Devolved Parliament, a 2009 work, went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London last Thursday, and after 13 minutes of bidding, it sold to loud applause for £9,879,500, a new record for the street artist; its guide price had been between £1.5m and £2m. “Record price for a Banksy painting set at auction tonight,” noted the artist on Instagram. “Shame I didn’t still own it.” He then published an acerbic quote from the critic Robert Hughes, saying: “The price of a work…

Over Sunday lunch at Lower Loxley, Russ remarks on how well Tracy is getting on with Oliver, the “wealthy older man”. Tracy responds: “Like you and Lily... except you’re not wealthy.” Tracy asks about their wedding pans. Lily explains that Russ is still married. Jennifer bleats on to Brian about her fear that Lexi wants to keep Xander. At Berrow, Hannah spots a blocked gutter that is ruining the straw. Neil says it’s on his to-do list. Fed up, Hannah clears the gutter herself. Neil scolds her for breaching health and safety regs. Hannah then trips on a pothole Neil failed to fix, cutting her head. When Justin hears about it, he tells Neil he’ll be keeping an eye on him. Ruth votes in favour of Home Farm leasing the…

Bo Tree Kitchen 65-67 University Avenue, Belfast (028-9050 7544) This exceptionally good value Thai restaurant in Belfast is a family operation, says Nicholas Lander in the FT. It is run byHelen O’Malley and her former husband, Pun Bua-In, known as Suthat. Among the waiting staff is Suthat’s second wife, Ooa, and often at least one of O’Malley’s five children with her second husband, David. It’s an “unusual collaboration” – but a “resounding success”. Everything is “prepared with great attention to detail” byateam of young Thai chefs. Tom ka gai, a coconut soup with mushrooms, galangal and lime juice, is “light and creamy”. Kueytiew ki mao, a stir-fry with chicken and vegetables, is “fresh and spicy”. Even their version of the ubiquitous phat thai – full of king prawns and…

The electric Porsche: an “extraordinary” achievement The Porsche Taycan has been “one of the most hotly-anticipated cars of 2019”, said Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph. The maker’s first ever pure electric (non-hybrid) car, it is an “extraordinarily accomplished vehicle” – as exciting to drive as any Porsche and “beautifully built”. But don’t be fooled into thinking that swanning around in a car like this is anything but “virtue signalling”. Its tailpipe may produce zero carbon emissions, but “high-performance battery cars are no environmental free lunch” – and Porsche’s are only guaranteed to have 70% or more capacity for eight years. Drive an electric super-saloon if you like, but these cars are not going to “save the planet”. Still, there’s no denying this is an amazing car, said What Car?…

The English Truffle Company‘s days out in Hampshire, Wiltshire and Dorset involve two hours of foraging, lunch and afternoon tea with fresh truffle samples (till January; £165 for a day; englishtruffles.co.uk). Forage London runs mushroom hunts led by John Rensten and a team of enthusiasts around London, the New Forest, Hampshire and Dorset (until November; £50 a morning; foragelondon.co.uk). Mushroom Discovery Days, with walks in Wiltshire and Hampshire, are a good introduction to foraging (until November; £90 a day; thewildsideoflife.co.uk). With pit-stops to find seaweeds, succulents, fruits and seeds, Galloway Wild Foods run foraging walks in Scotland and the Lake District (private walks year round; prices on request; gallowaywildfoods.com). Wild Food UK‘s courses, at a wide range of locations, vary in length and can include cooking with wild foods as…

The reinvention of Detroit Detroit is bouncing back from decades of severe post-industrial decline. Having become, in the latter part of the 20th century, something of a mecca for disaster tourists, “Motown” is now attracting visitors with the “pulse, grit and giddiness” of its many new creative ventures, says Amelia Duggan in The Daily Telegraph. Eastern Market is a fabulous hub for food and music, with more than 200 stalls, some dazzlingly good. More unusual is Detroit Vineyards, a “gorgeous” bar in a former factory, whose owner, Blake Kownacki, aims to create the world’s biggest urban vineyard by encouraging locals to grow grapes in vacant city lots. Other highlights include experimental cocktail bars, a “quirky” vinyl emporium (Third Man Records, launched byJack White of The White Stripes) and a “sumptuous”…

Pizza Express: short of dough “To misquote Harold Wilson, a weekend is a long time in business,” said Larry Elliott in The Guardian. Last Friday, Pizza Express was reported to be in the early stages of talks to refinance its debts. By Monday, “there were rumours the company was fighting for its survival” – weighed down by some £1.1bn in debt, of which £665m needs imminent refinancing. “Hang on a minute, though.” Just as with the rest of the casual dining sector, business could be better for Pizza Express. Still, “the notion that it may be going the way of Jamie’s Italian” is probably misplaced. The company, founded in 1965, has stood the test of time. What’s more, in contrast to stricken chains such as Byron, Prezzo and Carluccio’s,…

Draghi saved the euro, but ruined Europe Hamish McRae The Independent When central bankers retire, “their reputations slip, sometimes disastrously”, says Hamish McRae. That is likely to be the fate of Mario Draghi, the outgoing president of the European Central Bank. Draghi is famous for his 2012 pledge to do “whatever it takes” to save the euro. To that end, the ECB pumped money into the eurozone economy and bought up the bonds of distressed member states – later adopting the “extreme” policy of “imposing negative interest rates” to push up growth. Eventually, a recovery got going. But now growth is faltering, and many believe the ECB’s “ultra-easy” policies are to blame. Deutsche Bank recently claimed that negative rates have “ruined” Europe’s financial system. Evidence of the distorting and “socially…

● Red October “Are you braced for Red October,” asked Tom Rees in The Daily Telegraph. October is often “a bloody month for financial markets” (1929, 1987, 2008, 2018) – and is this year “already living up to its fearsome reputation”. Last week, stocks on the FTSE 100 “took their biggest dive since 2016” as recession worries took hold. Goldman Sachs analyst John Marshall argues that high October volatility “is more than just a coincidence”. The month, he says, marks “a critical period” for investors and companies, as performance pressures hit their peak just before year-end. Others maintain that “the long list of huge October plunges has created a self-perpetuating, psychological effect among traders”. One thing’s clear: with US-China relations on tenterhooks and Brexit looming, this month is shaping up…

The week’s best shares ConvaTec Group The Times ConvaTec makes medical kit, from colostomy bags to insulin pumps and wound dressings, for the NHS and private care providers. A global leader in a growing market, focusing on improving margins and R&D. Buy. 176p. Ferguson Investors Chronicle The plumbing and heating products supplier is continuing to outperform as it demerges its UK arm to focus on the US, where most of its revenues are generated. Cashflow and return on capital have surged. Buy. £62.24. IG Design Investors Chronicle IG designs and distributes greetings cards and gift-wrap. A recent US acquisition is providing cost savings and bolstering growth potential. Deepening relationships with large customers is a boon. Buy. 600p. NCC Group The Sunday Telegraph This cybersecurity firm has fixed its staffing problems,…