Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1261 i The Week

Sam Mendes, after 1917, his film following two British soldiers in the First World War, triumphed at the Golden Globes, scooping the awards for best picture (drama) and best director. In the TV awards, Phoebe Waller-Bridge cleaned up again, with two awards for Fleabag, along with Olivia Colman (this time for her role as Elizabeth II in The Crown) and Jesse Armstrong, the creator of Succession, which won best drama series. Heterosexual couples, who were finally able to enter into civil partnerships in England and Wales. The partnerships, which confer almost identical legal rights to marriage, became available to same-sex couples in 2005. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that denying them to opposite-sex couples was discriminatory. Gavin & Stacey, with new figures showing that a quarter of the UK…

Paris Notre Dame “not saved yet”: The French general overseeing the reconstruction of Notre Dame has warned that the 12th century cathedral could collapse. General Jean-Louis Georgelin described the cathedral, which was ravaged by fire in April, as being “in a state of peril” – and said that efforts torestore it could destroy it. The cathedral was undergoing major renovations at the time of the fire, and 50,000 scaffolding poles had been erected around its spire. These poles, which fused during the blaze, must be removed to make the building safe. However, Georgelin says there is a strong risk of the scaffolding falling during this operation, causing the collapse of Notre Dame’s vaulted ceiling. The cathedral is likely to remain closed to visitors for several years; last month itwas unable…

1 Native New Yorker by Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, performed by Odyssey 2 You’ve Changed by Bill Carey and Carl T. Fischer, performed by Billie Holiday 3 Feed the Birds (Tuppence a Bag) by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, performed by Julie Andrews 4 Ghost Town by Jerry Dammers, performed by The Specials 5* Being Boring by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, performed by Pet Shop Boys 6 Desafinado by Antônio Carlos Jobim, performed by Stan Getz and João Gilberto 7 Parsifal – Prelude, Act 1 by Richard Wagner, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (conducted by Herbert von Karajan) 8 Shut Up, written and performed by Stormzy Book: Travels with My Aunt by Graham Greene Luxury: some decent vegetables * Choice if allowed only one record…

Spain’s Christmas lottery, El Gordo (The Fat One) is the world’s biggest, paying out a total of s2.3bn. So when journalist Natalia Escudero discovered she had a winning ticket during a live report on the draw, she screamed with delight and resigned on the spot, shouting: “I’m not coming to work tomorrow!” Alas, she later realised she’d won only s5,000. Escudero apologised for any confusion caused, but pointed out that her report was partly true: “I am going on holiday.” A US model who promised nude selfies for anyone who donated $10 to a fund for Australian bushfire victims has proved more successful than she’d envisaged. Kaylen Ward raised more than $700,000 after making the pledge on social media – but said the stunt had had some major implications: “My…

Chilli may be good for the heart Adding a bit ofchilli to your food could reduce your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke, a study has found. Researchers in Italy analysed data onalmost 23,000 people who were tracked over eight years, and found that those who had eaten a diet rich in the hot spice were 40% less likely to have aheart attack, and 61% less likely to die of a stroke during the study period. Overall, the chilli eaters (who consumed it four times a week) had a mortality rate that was 23% lower than those who generally avoided the pepper. “An interesting fact is that protection from mortality risk was independent of the type of diet people followed,” said Dr Marialaura Bonaccio, who led the observational…

“Ascribed to natural disasters, the word ‘biblical’ usually feels like hyperbole,” said The Times. Not so in Australia, where vast wildfires – burning since September – have now laid waste to five million hectares (an area roughly the size of Belgium) across New South Wales and neighbouring Victoria. They are so big, they can be smelt 1,200 miles across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand. They have turned that country’s glaciers brown, and the skies above southeast Australia red. More than 1,400 homes have been destroyed; thousands of people have had to flee affected areas; and at least 24 people have lost their lives. “The toll on the natural world, meanwhile, almost beggars belief.” According to scientists at the University of Sydney, an estimated half a billion animals have died,…

“When I met the young woman at the heart of the Cyprus rape case, I knew instantly that she had been the victim of a serious sexual assault,” said Julie Bindel in The Mail on Sunday. It was “the way she spoke, the terror in her eyes”, and other “classic signs” of PTSD, such as hyper-vigilance and wanting to sleep all the time. The 19-year-old from Derbyshire, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was on a working holiday in the resort of Ayia Napa last July when she contacted Cypriot police to report an assault by a group of up to 12 Israelis, aged between 15 and 22. In her statement, she said she’d agreed to consensual sex with one of the men, with whom she had arelationship –…

The great Liverpool manager Bill Shankly used to say that the two best teams on Merseyside were “Liverpool and Liverpool reserves”. And on Sunday, in the FA Cup third round, those words rang true once again, said Henry Winter in The Times. Against a full-strength Everton side, Jürgen Klopp, the latest of Shankly’s successors, fielded a team of youngsters – and they beat their local rivals 1-0. The winning goal, an exquisite curled strike, was scored by Curtis Jones, an 18-year-old Scouser. He wasn’t the only “local lad”: Neco Williams, an 18-year-old right-back who joined the academy when he was six, was equally “nerveless”. This win sent a message to the rest of the country: it showed how Liverpool “get so many elements right, not just in recruitment, but in…

Stoner by John Williams, 1965 (Vintage £8.99). I am mostly a novel reader and mostly American novels at that. But at a moment when language is being routinely debased inthe US, I hope British readers will appreciate these examples of fine writing from America’s literary past and present, starting with Stoner. Who would have thought that the life of a melancholy professor in a Missouri college in the early 20th century would make such exhilarating reading? Overlooked in its time, it’s now considered a classic. So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell, 1979 (Vintage £8.99). This is a short, spare novel set in the Indiana farmland that will break your heart. After all these years, it’s still one of my favourite books. Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, 1985 (Pan…

Programmes Vera Brenda Blethyn once again dons her hat and mac to play DCI Vera Stanhope, in this new season of the popular detective series. Sun 12 Jan, ITV1 20:00 (120mins). Cold Feet The five Manchester friends are reunited for a ninth series. The group is still adjusting to Adam and Karen’s new relationship. Mon 13 Jan, ITV1 21:00 (60mins). Exposed: The Church’s Darkest Secret Powerful two-part documentary about the Church of England’s cover-up of sexual abuse by Bishop Peter Ball, and those who brought him to justice. Mon 13 and Tue 14 Jan, BBC2 21:00 (60mins each). Good Omens Comedy fantasy series based on the 1990 novel by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Michael Sheen and David Tennant star as an angel and a demon living on Earth and…

Whipped butter bean dip A real game-changer, this is like hummus, but even silkier, says Jessica Dennison. Serves 4-6 1 x 400g tin of butter beans in water 2 tbsp rapeseed oil or vegetable oil, plus 100ml for frying ½ tsp sea salt flakes, plus extra to taste ½ agarlic clove, peeled and crushed juice and grated zest of ½ a lemon ¾ tsp ground cumin grated zest of ½ alemon, to garnish for the crispy herbs: selection of any or all of the following: 12 sage leaves 2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves only 2 sprigs of tarragon, de-stalked 2 tbsp baby capers, drained • Drain the butter beans, reserving 2 tablespoons of the tin juice. Using a food processor or stick blender, blend with the oil, salt, garlic, lemon…

● If you tell your friends what you have resolved to do, you will feel more pressure to see it through. You could also try partnering up with someone else so you can track each other's progress. ● Writing your resolutions down will also make you feel more accountable. ● Don’t feel you have to go full throttle, immediately: that tends to lead to an all-or-nothing mindset. It may be more productive to work up gradually to a new habit. ● Create an outline for your goal, breaking it down into monthly or weekly chunks, then tackle it little by little. ● If you have a slip, don’t give up. Instead, see it as an opportunity to learn more about your habits and weaknesses and how you can combat them.…

The prices of oil and gold both jumped on the outbreak of hostilities between the US and Iran. The gold price hit a seven-year high. The volatility eased midweek but analysts remained wary. “The risk of a very dangerous spiral of tit-for-tat remains elevated and every single step from both sides could prove critical,” said Rabobank. The former Renault-Nissan boss, Carlos Ghosn, held an explosive press conference in Beirut following his flit from Japan, alleging that the “plot” to oust him may have embroiled the Japanese government and accusing the country of “repaying me with evil”. In Britain, Chancellor Sajid Javid announced plans for his first Budget to “level up” Britain. These include devoting £100bn to infrastructure and investment and focusing Treasury objectives on narrowing the North-South gap. In a…

Going up Acquis The body of EU law now being imported back to Britain. Once pronounced with an “exaggeratedly Frenchified” accent. Now call “ackwhiz” in disparaging tones. Meme-jacking The harnessing of a popular meme for pushing a brand on social media. Tiger team A group of specialists assembled to work on a particular project. First used by Nasa in the 1970s, it’s now back in style. Ripe Polite description of a fashionable product, company or idea about to go horribly wrong. De-shopping Buying products, usually clothing, with the aim of wearing/using once before returning and asking for a full refund. ELI5 Explain like I’m five years old. Perhaps one of the most useful abbreviations in cyberspace. Past their sell-by date Bandwidth (except in technical comms). Journey (except when actually…

Controversy of the week The war on Whitehall It was the “wackiest” government job description since “the emperor Caligula sought to make his horse a consul”, said John Naughton in The Observer. Last week, Dominic Cummings – the PM’s powerful senior strategist – launched a bizarre recruitment campaign. In a rambling near-3,000-word post on his personal blog, he called for “misfits… wild cards, artists, people who never went to university and fought their way out of an appalling hellhole… people with different skills and backgrounds” to send in their CVs. Spurning applications from “public school bluffers” and “Oxbridge humanities graduates”, Cummings said he was looking for “unusual mathematicians, physicists, computer scientists data scientists”, along with economists, policy experts and other “super-talented weirdos” to work as special advisers and civil servants…

A 36-year-old PhD student was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years in jail this week, after being convicted of 136 counts of rape. Posing as a good Samaritan, Reynhard Sinaga would approach young men he found stranded outside nightclubs in central Manchester, and invite them back to his flat nearby – to charge their phone, or wait for a cab. He would then drug them, and as they slept, film himself raping them. The son of a wealthy Indonesian businessman, he was finally caught after one of his victims realised what was going on, and fought back. He is believed to be the most prolific rapist in British legal history. Most of his victims – identified from footage and “trophies” found in his flat – had…

“The hardest thing to explain to my sons about the 1970s is the soul-sapping boredom children endured. Parents would happily leave primary age kids in a car with a bottle of lemonade each as the sole distraction while they got gently sloshed in a warm pub. Nobody resented the fact games of Monopoly never ended because there was nothing else to do. The result was that millions were enchanted by anything mildly diverting, and TV shows of spectacular mediocrity were elevated to works of genius. This surely explains the BBC’s decision to resurrect the children’s show Crackerjack. Did I like Crackerjack? Yup, I loved it, but mostly because the alternative was bouncing around on a space hopper.” Rowan Pelling in The Daily Telegraph…

TURKEY Erdogan’s disastrous vanity project Cumhuriyet (Istanbul) Recep Tayyip Erdogan has already left his mark on Istanbul with his giant building projects. In the last three years, the city has gained atunnel under the Bosphorus, a third bridge across the waterway and a gleaming new airport. Now, Turkey’s president is planning the biggest of them all, says Emre Kongar: he wants to build a 28-mile canal through the heart of Istanbul: a second Bosphorus, an alternative shipping link between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara. Istanbul’s new mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu, of the opposition Republican People’s Party, opposes the $10bn project. And no wonder: besides damaging the environment, it would compromise water sources, increase the risk of earthquakes and create more traffic in an already congested city. It is…

Some say the ring-necked parakeets that have become afamiliar sight in British parks are all the descendants of a pair released by Jimi Hendrix in Carnaby Street in 1968. Others have claimed the birds were imported for use during the making of The African Queen in west London in 1951 and let go when filming wrapped. Athird theory is that they escaped from nearby Syon Park in the 1970s, when a plane crashed through an aviary roof. But according to a new study, the truth is more prosaic: while it’s not clear when parakeets first arrived in Britain, today’s populations are most likely the result of a series of accidental and intentional pet releases over several decades. Using geographical profiling to map half a century of sightings, a team from…

Her role in the 1992 erotic thriller Basic Instinct secured Sharon Stone’s status as a global sex icon – a reputation she still enjoys at 61. So when her profile appeared on the dating app Bumble, perhaps it could have been forgiven for assuming it was phoney. Not so, said the actress. “I went on the @bumble dating sight [sic] and they closed my account,” she tweeted. “Some users reported that it couldn’t possibly be me! Hey @bumble, is being me exclusionary? Don’t shut me out of the hive.” The late Wendy Phillips was a school cleaner who spent her entire life in South Wales. But in the 1990s, she enjoyed a taste of Hollywood stardom, after being cast in the film Valley Girls. A Japanese TV crew once landed…

“Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.” Mark Twain, quoted in The Times “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism.” Fredric Jameson, quoted in The Independent “You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements.” Norman Douglas, quoted in Forbes “Small can be beautiful; a satsuma is not a failed orange.” Rev Canon Dr Rob Kelsey, in a letter to The Guardian “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” Former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower referencing Dr J. Roscoe Miller, quoted on Quartz “If a woman never…

From inside the bell jar To The Spectator I enjoyed James Walton’s review ofElizabeth isMissing. Sadly I’m now unable to watch television as I have dementia myself, like the character played by Glenda Jackson. While I therefore cannot comment on Walton’s critique, I can stress how happy I am to see dementia getting an airing on national TV. The disease is one of the biggest social challenges this country, and indeed the world, faces. It is certainly a bummer of a diagnosis and it can strip away your self-esteem. We who have dementia may forget details in the blink of an eye, but emotions remain embedded as they involve a part of our brain often left intact. I’ve already apologised to my daughters for if and when I forget who…

The Death of Jesus by J.M. Coetzee Harvill Secker 208pp £18.99 The Week bookshop £14.99 J.M. Coetzee’s new novel – the final part of a trilogy – brings to a close “one of the strangest literary projects of the past decade”, said Doug Battersby in the FT. The three books trace the life of a boy named David who, along with his guardian Simon, arrives as a refugee in a nameless land where citizens are “washed clean” of their memories. Volume one (The Childhood of Jesus) concerned the search for David’s biological mother; volume two (The Schooldays of Jesus) dealt with his time at a dance school. In this final instalment, David is hospitalised by a mystery illness and draws a “growing crowd” to his bedside by telling stories from…

The Gentlemen Dir: Guy Ritchie 1hr 53mins (18) Guy Ritchie returns to his Mockney roots After a lean old decade, Guy Ritchie has gone back to what he does best, says Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. The Gentlemen is a swaggering London gangster caper “littered with expletive-filled” one-liners, and “posh actors” trying to persuade us they are East End geezers – and doing a very amusing job of (almost) convincing us. The film – about an Oxford-educated American (Matthew McConaughey) who has made a fortune farming marijuana on the country estates of England – has a plot twist too far, but “Ritchie is definitely back in town”. Hugh Grant excels as a grubby tabloid investigator, spitting out his “foul-mouthed lines with consummate musicianship”, says Robbie Collin in The…

Maria Helena Vieira da Silva at Waddington Custot By comparison with other European countries, Portugal barely figures in modern art history. But thanks to this visually gripping exhibition, it can be confidently said that it produced at least one genuine 20th century master. Active from the late 1920s, Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908-92) was a brilliant painter whose work built on cubist principles to create something truly original, and – though she spent most of her life in Paris – distinctly Portuguese. Le jeu des cartes (1937) gives us multiple decks of playing cards fanning out towards the picture’s vanishing point, the various designs blurring into a vortex of shapes resembling Portuguese ceramic tiles; another highlight gives us a thrillingly distorted view of her native Lisbon, painted from memory…

Auto Express It may not suit those susceptible to “badge snobbery”, but the new Mazda CX-30 is good enough to rival most premium compact SUVs. It’s distinctive and “stylish”, both inside and out, and feels expensive. The engines – neither of which have a turbo – are not as powerful as they could be; but if you’re in the market for this kind of car, it’s well worth considering. The Daily Telegraph The CX-30 looks like a Mazda 3 hatchback that’s “had a hefty dinner”. But that’s no bad thing. The relatively spacious interior is particularly impressive. It’s full of “smart styling” and, more importantly, the set-up is “as intuitive to use as you could hope for”. It’s a “blessed relief” to find buttons you can operate by feel, and…

“Britain’s most beautiful rail line”, the West Highland line runs from Glasgow to Mallaig across the remote and often snow-covered Rannoch Moor. The Caledonian Sleeper has recently joined the older stock on the line (sleepers from £140; sleeper.scot). The first transport route to be designated a Unesco heritage site, the Semmering railway connects Vienna and southwestern Austria. Completed in 1854, it has stunning views and crosses 16 viaducts (£38 return, £20 for a two-course meal; oebb.at/en). Germany’s Harz line travels among medieval market towns and ascends Brocken mountain to join “one of the world’s most spectacular networks of narrow-gauge steam lines” (seven-day trips from London from £1,395; greatrail.com). Once used by Russian aristocrats heading to the Mediterranean, the line from Moscow to Nice takes you from winter to spring in…

Gertrude Himmelfarb 1922-2019 Gertrude Himmelfarb, who has died aged 97, was a leading American historian, best known for herpromotion of Victorian moral values as a solution to modern social problems. In books including The Idea of Poverty, and The Demoralization of Society, she argued that educating the poor, and instilling in them a belief in hard work, thrift, propriety, and self-reliance, had brought real social and economic improvements to 19th century Britain – work that was then undone by the moral relativism that spread through the West in the 20th century. In the US, she was cited approvingly by the likes of Newt Gingrich and George W. Bush. People were surprised – and in some cases annoyed – when she was also named as an inspiration by Gordon Brown. Yet…

News that a Boeing 737-800 bound for Kiev crashed minutes after take-off from Tehran airport on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and crew, was another black day for the plane-maker, said Joe Curtis in City AM. Although the disaster came amid conflict between the US and Iran, Ukraine Airlines blamed it on a “technical failure following a fire”. Boeing said it was “gathering more information”. But this is another black mark on the company’s safety record; getting its cash cow, the 737 Max jet (grounded last March following two fatal crashes) back in service looks ever more challenging. Boeing fired its chief executive, Dennis Muilenburg, before Christmas and some analysts, notably Blackstone, thought the worst was behind it. But now it looks like a long haul ahead, said The Independent.…

The decade that growth forgot Larry Elliott The Guardian The British economy has suffered some severe recessions since WWII, but the 2008-09 slump was the worst, says Larry Elliott. So nobody “was expecting miracles” from the decade beginning in 2010. But there was an assumption that we would probably see “a couple of years of rapid growth to compensate for the lost output”, and trim the budget deficit before the economy returned to its pre-crisis trend-rate of growth at about 2.5% a year. So much for that – and, indeed, for the belief that the Bank of England would gradually remove quantitative easing and raise interest rates. “All of which makes this past decade extraordinary, and in some ways the strangest for the economy of the entire postwar era.” The…

As hundreds of thousands of people signed up for Veganuary, Pret a Manger has become the UK’s first major high street coffee chain to sell dairy-free croissants, made with margarine and sunflower oil. The “very berry” jam croissant is on sale for £1.70 at all 389 of Pret’s branches. Greggs, meanwhile, expanded its vegan offering with a vegan steak bake. In other good news for vegans, an employment tribunal in Norwich ruled that “ethical veganism” qualifies as a protected “philosophical belief”. Jordi Casamitjana, 55, who shuns buses in case they kill insects, claims he was unfairly dismissed by the League Against Cruel Sports for raising concerns that its employee pension fund had investments in companies involved in animal testing.…

45% of Tory voters think Nigel Farage should be given a peerage. 32% do not, and 23% don’t know. Among the general public, however, only 21% say the Brexit Party leader should be made a Lord, and 53% oppose the idea. YouGov/The Times Two-thirds of British adults who responded to a Deltapoll survey did not recognise any of the Labour leadership candidates, on being shown their photographs and told their names. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry emerged as the most known candidate: 26% said they recognised her, closely followed by Keir Starmer, on 24%. But only 15% of people recognised both Rebecca Long-Bailey and Jess Phillips. The Daily Telegraph…

Three years in Alcatraz William Baker is one of the last surviving inmates of Alcatraz, says Rob Crossan in The Sunday Times. He embarked on a life of crime in his teens, and was sent to “the Rock” in 1957, aged 23. “When I first saw it, I thought it looked like a big old haunted house. I got transferred there, like all prisoners did, by boat across San Francisco Bay. To me, it looked like a living, breathing thing, ready to gobble me up out of the water.” But once inside, it wasn’t that scary. “We were bad boys and we’d seen a lot of jails.” Although he was confined to a cell measuring just 5ft by 9ft, there were compensations: “The food was the best in the whole…

Why our power outshines Germany’s Adam Tooze Prospect Whisper it quietly, says Adam Tooze, but Britain – which a decade ago lagged far behind the other big European nations on green energy – is now a “world leader in offshore wind power”. The contrast with Germany, Europe’s other pre-eminent coal power of the last century, is striking. Germany may have pioneered a small-scale revolution in solar and wind energy in the early 2000s, but its economy has remained stubbornly dependent on coal-fired power: its large manufacturing base and decision to halt nuclear power has seen to that. In Britain, however, a very different mix of factors – its island setting, the collapse of union power, market reforms – has spurred the large-scale development of renewables. And as aresult, our CO2…

The number of patients admitted to hospitals with eating disorders has risen 37% in the past two years, according to figures from NHS Digital. There were 19,040 admissions to English hospitals in 2018-19, up from 16,558 the year before and 13,885 in 2016-17. Around a quarter of the admissions last year involved children under the age of 18, with 2,403 of those for anorexia, up 12% on the previous year. Ten of the anorexia patients were under the age of nine. A further 213 were aged ten to 12. Experts cited a number of possible factors behind the increase – including the pressures of social media, and long waiting times for specialist outpatient treatment in the NHS. “The causes are complex, and much more research needs to be done in…

Here is “a simple test” for everyone seeking to be the next leader of the Labour Party, said Robert Shrimsley in the FT. “Who did more for the most needy in society: Jeremy Corbyn or Tony Blair?” The answer, obviously, is the three-time election winner who enacted the national minimum wage and greatly boosted public spending. Yet in the first skirmishes of the leadership contest, no one is seeking Blair’s mantle. Instead, contenders “vie to prove their left-cred, their often hilariously overstated working-class roots”, and –in most cases – their loyalty to Corbyn, “the man who led them to their worst defeat since 1935”. It’s true that the candidates are largely paying lip service to Corbynism, said Heather Stewart in The Guardian. But the “left-wing front runner”, shadow business secretary…

Cricket: England break their overseas curse England’s players were starting to call their South Africa trip “the cursed tour”, said Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. Mishap after mishap befell the squad: several players were struck down by illness; the first Test ended in a heavy defeat; Rory Burns and Jofra Archer suffered injuries. And there were periods when the second Test looked equally dire: when England were bowled out for 269 inthe first innings; then when South Africa batted into the final hours of the fifth day. But thanks to three late wickets from Ben Stokes, England beat the hosts by 189 runs, to secure their first Test win overseas in 11months. Stokes may have sealed victory once again, but Dom Sibley’s maiden Test century made him the…

To The Guardian I can see why Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings may want to radically change the civil service. Clearly the traditional civil service attributes of honesty, integrity and impartiality do not fit well with their way of doing business. Cummings’s reported concern about the Kafkaesque influence of senior mandarins perhaps reflects the apparent refusal of the Johnson Government to acknowledge that there may be some barriers to achieving their objectives. Civil servants have the job of turning ideological aspirations into real-world deliverables. This often involves dealing with politically inconvenient practicalities – for example, HMRC advising that it may take up to five years, rather than one year, to develop the complex IT needed to support new Brexit customs arrangements. Advice to ministers highlighting such problems may influence them…

The great news for dance fans in 2020 is that The Red Shoes will be criss-crossing the UK on a long national tour, said David Dougill in The Sunday Times. This is the first revival of Matthew Bourne’s Olivier-winning adaptation ofthe 1948 Powell and Pressburger film – an “exhilarating” theatrical triumph, full of flair, fantasy and brilliantly witty choreography. It was a smash hit in 2016 and, if anything, this revived show – playing at London’s Sadler’s Wells until 19 January – is even “sharper” than before, said Zoë Anderson inThe Independent. Ashley Shaw has returned as Vicky Page, the ambitious ballerina torn between love and art. But new to the show is Adam Cooper, star of Bourne’s groundbreaking Swan Lake, who brings “real weight” tothe part of Lermontov, the…

TV viewers examining the schedules could have been forgiven for wondering if we needed another screen version of Dracula. The answer turns out to be “yes, yes, yes”, said Carol Midgley in The Times. Adapted by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss of Sherlock fame, this three-part BBC production is the “goriest, most energetic and fun Dracula to date”. It features all the usual vampire iconography – crucifixes, mirrors, sunlight – while “also sending them up”, and Dracula himself (played by the Danish actor Claes Bang) is a charismatic and brilliantly diva-ish count. It isn’t perfect: there are some longueurs, and its camp one-liners won’t be to everyone’s taste, “but there’s no point doing Dracula again if you’re not going to shake it up”. Everything Dracula lovers need is here, said…

Late last year, the National Portrait Gallery announced that it would close its doors for three years for an extensive refurbishment. The work, which is set to cost £35m, will create a new entrance, and will mean that the NPG will close up shop from June 2020 until at least spring 2023. The decision has been greeted with “outrage” in the art world, said the Daily Mail. This week, The Burlington Magazine, the “bible” of Britain’s fine art scene, described the plan to close as “astonishing” and “frankly disgraceful”. The editorial questioned how the museum could justify receiving grants from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport of around £7.6m per year if it is not showing its collection to the public (with the exception of the 300 paintings…

David is still leaving messages for Josh, to no avail. When Rex finally reaches him, Josh admits he lent the digger used in the robbery to a “friend”, but kept no record of it. Ghost Stories is a sell-out success thanks to quick thinking by Jazzer. After dropping in on Tony and Pat, Joy is invited to spend Christmas at Bridge Farm, but Tom finally blows up, accusing her of flirting with Tony. At Grey Gables, Eddie and Clarrie have a happy day with Oliver, who says they can stay on at Grange Farm. Phoebe tries to make up with Pip and Rex, but Pip still needs time. Lilian hires a consultant to overhaul The Bull; meanwhile, Kenton accidentally runs over Eccles the peacock. Gavin announces to Philip and Kirsty…

What the experts recommend Noto 47A Thistle Street, Edinburgh (0131-241 8518) I decided that this Edinburgh newcomer must be “a place that took the right things seriously” when I spotted homemade English muffins on its Instagram feed, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times. And so it proved when I visited: located in a dining room of “almost monastic” simplicity, Noto lets its food do the talking. Chef-owner Stuart Ralston’s menu is based on British and French classics, but with “Japanese flourishes”: beef tartare is “given a bump” via a paste made from the Asian citrus fruit yuzu; the hollandaise in eggs royal has a “tingly heat”, thanks to the addition of Korean chillies. There is something “stealthily clever” about the cooking here: while the menu is full of…

Simba  graphene eye mask Made from graphene, this high-tech eye mask moulds closely to your face and blocks out the maximum amount of light. If you plug it into a USB port it can also be gently heated (£40; simbasleep.com). GOpure PuriBloc  portable tap water filter capsule Drop one of these little pods into a bottle of tap water and it will quickly filter it using a ceramic core with natural anti-bacterial properties. One pod can treat up to 1,000 litres of water (£20; lakeland.co.uk). Pliqo pack-in bag  A replacement for unwieldy garment bags, Pliqo’s clever folding system enables you to pack a suit down to the size of a small laptop bag, so you can carry it like a briefcase or stow it in a larger case (£125; pliqobag…

An elegant spa retreat in Hampshire Lime Wood Lyndhurst Set in the “leafy majesty” of the New Forest, this “chic” country hotel celebrated its tenth birthday last year. The Georgian house it occupies is splendid, the lawns and meadows surrounding it are idyllic and its spa is “exceptional”, making it “the perfect place to unwind”, says Tatler. Light pours in through the retractable roof of the cheerful courtyard bar, but everywhere is “bright and airy”. The Angela Hartnett restaurant serves “delicious” truffle pasta and extra healthy dishes by the “nutritional therapist” Amelia Freer. Dotted about the estate are four “mini-luxe” cottages with fireplaces and lovely views. And then there’s the spa itself, with floor-to-ceiling windows, three pools (one outdoor, one for hydrotherapy and a big indoor one for laps),…

Travelex: held to ransom Nearly a week after a New Year’s Eve cyberattack crippled its operations, foreign exchange company Travelex is still being “held to ransom” by hackers demanding payment to restore its IT systems, said Joe Tidy on BBC Business. The situation is so dire that the firm has had to “resort to using pen and paper” after taking down websites in 30 countries “to contain the virus and protect data”. It means that a “large network of other firms that use its services” – including Virgin Money, First Direct, Barclays and Sainsbury’s Bank –has also been “struggling to fulfil customer orders”. The company, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi-based finance group Finablr, has not revealed what data could be at risk. Indeed, according to one security…

● Iran fears What does it take to knock a bull market off course? Try a spot of geopolitical brinkmanship in the Middle East, said James Dean and Martin Strydom in The Times. After the killing of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani last week, global stock markets fell and the price of Brent crude rose by nearly 5%, climbing past $70 a barrel. Gold, meanwhile, “traded at its highest price in nearly seven years”, hitting $1,588 a troy ounce on Monday – demonstrating its renewed standing as “one of the most popular assets for storing wealth in times of crisis”. Iran’s retaliation this week prompted more gyrations, noted the FT. But after “an initial jolt of volatility”, markets stabilised. The restraint in Iranian comments after the event “feeds into the…

Rishi Sunak The PM is apparently mulling the creation of “a new economic super-ministry” after a big Cabinet reshuffle in February, said George Parker in the FT. And who’s being tipped to lead it? Step forward rising star Rishi Sunak, the Treasury chief secretary who stood in for Boris Johnson in TV debates during the election campaign. He is deemed by one official to be “a perfect fit” for the new souped-up role. Born in Southampton of Punjabi descent, Sunak was educated at Winchester College, got a first in PPE at Oxford and an MBA from Stanford, where he met his wife Akshata – daughter of Narayana Murthy, billionaire founder of Indian outsourcer Infosys. Yet despite these establishment connections, Johnson’s “favourite minister” has a secret weapon, says one strategist. “He…

Who’s tipping what Aveva Group The Sunday Times The industrial software giant has been “flying” since the merger with French Schneider Electric. And there’s great potential to exploit artificial intelligence and the “internet of things” in factories, mines and production plants. Buy. £47.22. Asos The Sunday Times Despite profit warnings and high-street carnage in 2019, the online fast fashion retailer’s UK sales are up 15%. Asos has automated warehouses for overseas expansion and could be a takeover target. Buy. £33.09. Burberry Group Investors Chronicle Burberry has refurbished stores, improved its digital presence, and isdeveloping a “social retail” concept in China. New lines are “very promising”. With luxury M&A “heating up”, it looks an “attractive proposition”. Buy. £21.20. Codemasters Group The Mail on Sunday A small but fast-growing player in the…