Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1267 i The Week

What happened Johnson’s Treasury raid Boris Johnson seized control of the Treasury last week in a radical reshuffle that prompted the Chancellor’s resignation. Sajid Javid opted to quit the post after being told that he would have tosack his entire team and accept in their place a new joint unit of advisers shared between No. 10 and No. 11. This, he said, was something “no self-respecting minister” could accept. Javid’s exit followed months of tension between his team and Johnson’s chief strategist Dominic Cummings. He has been replaced as Chancellor by his deputy, Rishi Sunak, 39, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker who entered the Commons five years ago. Javid was the highest-profile casualty of a reshuffle that rewarded loyalists at the expense of dissenting voices, trimming the Cabinet from…

Philanthropy, with the news that Jeff Bezos is donating $10bn of his personal wealth to help “save Earth”. The Amazon chief executive said he would fund “any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world”. Rory Stewart, whose eccentric campaign to sleep in Londoners’ homes has gone down astorm. More than 2,000 people have signed up to have the mayoral candidate as an overnight guest. Working, as official figures revealed that the number of people in work in the UK reached a record high in the final quarter of 2019. The employment rate rose to 76.5%, and average pay passed its pre-financial crisis peak after a decade of stagnation.…

The chief Brexit negotiators for the UK and EU butted heads this week over their hopes for the outcome of talks set to begin next month. Britain’s David Frost set out his proposal for a free trade deal similar to Canada’s, under which the UK would be able to break free from EU rules. Michel Barnier, however, retorted that a Canada-style deal was impossible. The “particular proximity” of the UK and EU, he said, meant Brussels would demand a “level playing field” – a common set of rules on workers’ rights, subsidies and so on.…

Las Vegas, Nevada Bloomberg surge: The former mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg (pictured), has surged into second place in the race for the Democrat presidential nomination, which is now seen – by the betting markets at least – as atwo-horse race between him and the left-winger Bernie Sanders (see page 15).Bloomberg entered the contest too late to run in any of the states to vote in primaries or caucuses to date, but he has already spent $300m on TV advertising. His surge in the polls means that for the first time, he qualified for a candidates’ TV debate, held in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Bloomberg’s rise has led to increased scrutiny of his record, and bitter exchanges with Sanders, who accused him of aping Donald Trump in trying to…

1 Duettino –Sull’aria from The Marriage of Figaro, by Da Ponte and Mozart, performed by Edith Mathis and Gundula Janowitz, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Karl Böhm) 2 Looking for You, written and performed by Kirk Franklin 3 River Deep – Mountain High by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, performed by Ike &Tina Turner 4 Redemption Song by Bob Marley, performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers 5 Mysteries of the World by Dexter Wansel, performed by MFSB 6* Endlessly by Clyde Otis and Brook Benton, performed by Randy Crawford 7 Crown by Michael Omari, James Napier and Matthew James Firth Colman, performed by Stormzy 8 Just Fine by Mary J. Blige, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Terius Nash and Phalon Alexander, performed by Mary J. Blige Book: The…

The firebombing has long been a battleground in a culture war over Germany’s past. Right-wing extremist groups have co-opted the episode to push their own agenda: using inflated death tolls first propagated by the Nazi regime, they portray the bombing as a war crime that killed up to 300,000 people, calling it a Bomben-Holocaust, aholocaust by bombs – relativising German guilt and suggesting that the Allies rewrote history. Since 1999, there have been yearly “funeral marches” by far-right groups on the anniversary; about 1,200 marched in Dresden on Saturday, opposed by around 1,500 anti-fascists. The populist AfD treads more carefully, but has called for less emphasis to be given to Germany’s wartime history; its co-chairman Tino Chrupalla recently claimed that some 100,000 people had been killed in Dresden. This flies…

The economy: numbers tell half the story Annie Lowrey The Atlantic America’s economy has enjoyed one of its best decades on record, says Annie Lowrey. Yet behind the rosy growth and unemployment figures, the reality is that millions of people are being bled dry by the “spiralling cost of living”. For them, the recent boom years have felt “precarious or downright terrible”. Housing costs have outstripped wages in roughly 80% of America’s metro regions; even in rural areas there has been ajump in the number of households spending half or more of their income on housing. Young people simply can’t afford to move to areas where the best jobs are. Healthcare costs have also grown ever more exorbitant: between 2010 and 2016 alone, average family insurance premiums jumped by28%, to…

Antarctica has logged its highest ever recorded temperature – a reading of 20°C taken on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. The reading was a single one, not part of a long-term data set; but it was made just a few days after a record 18.3°C was logged on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at the Esperanza Base. The “finger” that sticks out from the northwest of the continent, the peninsula is one of the fastest-warming places on Earth, having heated by almost 3°C over the past 50 years. Temperatures there do fluctuate, owing to complex weather patterns in the area; however, the trend is upwards – which is alarming, given the possible impact on Antarctica’s ice sheets. “We tend to think of Antarctica as remote and beautiful, home…

“Cheese is milk’s leap towards immortality.” Clifton Fadiman, quoted on The Browser “The diet book is one of those fool-and-money separation devices that seems, like roulette or slot machines, never to lose its power.” Christopher Hitchens, quoted in Forbes “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” Writer Hunter S. Thompson, quoted on Citywire “The actor who isn’t typecast doesn’t work.” Attributed to Bette Davis in The Observer “Every man takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.” Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, quoted in Lapham’s Quarterly “Nothing dates harder and faster and more strangely than the future.” Author Neil Gaiman, quoted in The Atlantic “I’ve never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.” George Eliot, quoted in…

The Blitz and Dresden To The Spectator I aman 82-year-old Londoner who experienced the Blitz. I still clearly remember the terror of endless nights in the dripping-wet, bone-cold, dank, smelly Anderson shelter. I was surprised neither A.N. Wilson nor Sinclair McKay (“Was Dresden a war crime?”) referred to the comparative death tolls in British and German cities. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights. More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the War, almost half of them in London. At the time of Dresden, Britain’s citizens had been suffering six years of indescribable misery at the hands of the German people, not just of Hitler and his ministers. There may have been anelement of…

For the first time in centuries, ten tapestries designed by Raphael have been returned to their rightful place on the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, says Tom Kington in The Times. Raphael was commissioned in 1515 by Pope Leo X to sketch out scenes from the Acts of the Apostles, which were turned into tapestries woven with silk, gold and silver by experts in Brussels. They were hung in the chapel beneath his great rival Michelangelo’s paintings of the Old Testament – but were pawned to pay off the pope’s debts after his death. They were later repurchased and stolen on various occasions, before eventually finding their way back to the Vatican. Now they have been restored, and this week, just for a week – to mark…

Programmes Last Tango in Halifax Sally Wainwright’s beloved comedy-drama returns for its fifth series. Seven years into their marriage, Alan and Celia aren’t seeing eye to eye. Sun 23 Feb, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Murder 24/7 Three murders are investigated in real time and extreme detail in this new series, filmed with Essex Police. Part one follows the case of Courtney Valentine-Brown, who was stabbed in an eviction gone wrong. Mon 24 Feb, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Flesh and Blood Four-parter about adult siblings who are thrown into turmoil when their widowed mother finds a new man. Russell Tovey, Imelda Staunton and Stephen Rea star. Mon 24, Tue 25, Wed 26 and Thur 27 Feb, ITV1 21:00 (60mins each). The Windsors The royal family are charged with cheering up the country after…

Serves 4 1 tbsp ghee or butter 1 large leek or onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1.2 litres of vegetable stock or bone broth 1 big handful of a mix of fresh herbs, such as parsley and dill, stems and leaves chopped (keep the chopped stems and leaves separate) 1 tbsp of fresh (or 1 tsp of dried) thyme leaves 1 bay leaf, dried or fresh 2 celery sticks, diced 2 carrots, thinly sliced 2 handfuls of 2cm chunks of root veg, such as sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, potato or (in the summer) courgette 400g of noodles or spaghetti, any type 1 tsp olive oil 300g mix of cabbage, rainbow chard and/or chard, stems finely chopped and leaves shredded (keep the stems and leaves separate) 300g leftover shredded…

VQ Susie-Q With internet radio, digital and FM, Spotify Connect and Bluetooth, the Susie-Q is an impressive and versatile machine. Encased in real wood with chrome trimmings, it also has a striking vintage design (£200; amazon.co.uk). Groov-e Rio Fitting neatly in your pocket, the Rio is for people who like to have a radio with them at all times. It has access to 32 DAB and 32 FM stations, and the battery lasts five hours (£35; currys.co.uk). VQ Monty Available in either real wood or patterned designs (such as this Cath Kidson one), the Monty is a small, simple portable radio and Bluetooth speaker (£100; myvq.co.uk). Roberts Revival iStream 3 Although famous for their retro look, Roberts radios have all the modern features. The iStream 3 DAB+/FM internet smart radio…

Lovely St Mawes stay Ideally located on the pretty harbour, the Ship &Castle Hotel offers a 3-night stay with dinner each evening, from £130pp b&b. 0344-682 7000, ukbreakaways.com. Arrive 17 April. Six-night Italian adventure Start with 2 nights in Rome, followed by a stop in Florence and a 2-night sign-off in Venice. From £249pp b&b, trains & flights included. 020-3887 4441, theflightsguru. co.uk. Depart 24 March. Picturesque Hungary Spend four nights at the Art’otel Budapest by Park Plaza, with panoramic views, from £285pp room-only, including Manchester flights. 0871-277 1070, lastminute. com. Depart 20 March. Half-board in Thailand Six nights at the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, in a striking beachfront location, cost from £1,042pp b&b, including London flights. 01204-874865, destinology.co.uk. Depart 16 April.…

SoftBank: psycho-terror strikes Remember when every company SoftBank so much as sniffed at “was destined to be the next Google”, asked Jeff Bishop on RagingBull. Those days are gone. The giant Japanese tech investor has just announced “another piss poor quarter”: overall profits fell 99% to just $24m after the group’s huge Vision Fund notched up a $2bn loss. Some investors are concerned founder Masayoshi Son is“losing it”. Alas, his stable has certainly faltered. “Uber’s value cratered” ahead of its IPO and then “continued its freefall”. And another former trophy asset, WeWork, “needed a $1bn bailout from SoftBank just to WeLive another day”. Last week, “Masa” admitted that plans to launch a second $100bn Vision Fund are looking dicey. Unfortunately, “promising start-ups” and “300-year plans” don’t mean anything to…

Amid all the selfies, the photo app Instagram is also hosting a growing tribe of amateurs offering financial “inspo”, says Katharine Gemmell in the FT. The new “money influencers” are “friendly, casual and typically positive”. Here’s a sample of what they’re up to: @thebudgetmom Washington-based Kumiko Love is typical of the “frugal types” sharing tips, goals and values. Her 450,000 followers love her open approach to money – she even lists her savings balance on her profile (currently $404,000 and rising). @thefinancialdiet This “media/news company” tailors its offering to Instagram. Poster Annie Atherton says that few people actively seek financial content on the platform, so she uses visual inspiration – delivering money advice like a “Trojan horse”. @mrsmummypennyuk Tackling debt is a big Insta preoccupation: one of the most popular…

The week’s best shares Ashtead Group Investors Chronicle The equipment hire group is capitalising on an immature US market. Cyclical vulnerability should be offset by the structural shift towards rental. Buybacks offer returns to shareholders and reinforce momentum. Buy. £26.29. GlaxoSmithKline Investors Chronicle GSK is spinning out its consumer healthcare division to focus on biopharma. A £3.3bn investment in R&D has led to six potential drug approvals this year. Given potential growth, shares look cheap. Buy. £17.71. Grainger The Times The UK’s largest private-sector landlord has completed a £187m share placing to double its portfolio of 9,000 flats. Well set to benefit from demand; the larger portfolio will boost earnings and income. Buy. 312.2p. Howden Joinery Group The Sunday Times With a growing portfolio of 740 out-of-town stores, Howden kitchens…

Controversy of the week Labour’s identity crisis The Labour leadership contest has descended into a “farcical civil war” over the rights of transgender people, said Celia Walden in The Daily Telegraph. Last week, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – the two women still in the running against Keir Starmer to replace Jeremy Corbyn – signed a controversial 12-point pledge card designed to defend trans rights, calling on the party to expel members who express “transphobic” views. Drawn up in support of the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights, the pledges call on signatories to “organise and fight against... transphobic hate groups”. Among the organisations singled out for criticism is Woman’s Place UK (WPUK), a group of feminists and trade unionists who have concerns about trans women accessing women-only spaces, such as…

Royal marriages, with the news that the Queen’s nephew, the Earl of Snowdon, is divorcing his wife, Serena. A week earlier, her grandson Peter Phillips announced he was divorcing. Dominic Cummings, after one of the “weirdos and misfits” he hired to revolutionise government was fired for his views on race and eugenics. Andrew Sabisky, a “super-forecaster”, had claimed that black people have lower average IQs than white people, and had suggested compulsory contraception for the “underclass”. Trinity College, Cambridge, when activists from Extinction Rebellion dug up a lawn to protest at its investment in fossil fuels. One person chained themselves to an apple tree grafted from the one said to have inspired Sir Isaac Newton. Hygiene, with a survey revealing that one in 30 people in Britain and America have…

Just 12% of Britons believe that police would be able to find and arrest a vandal who has damaged their property, and 22% think they would solve a burglary. 24% are confident a mugger or thief would be arrested, while 33% think a stalker would be caught, and 36% think someone who had sexually harassed them would. While 74% think someone would be arrested for attempted murder, only 46% think they would be for rape, and 56% for domestic violence. YouGov/Daily Telegraph 14% of people in the UK say they would avoid contact with people of Chinese origin or appearance in order to protect themselves from the coronavirus. 10% say they would avoid eating in Asian restaurants for the same reason. Ipsos MORI/Daily Mail…

Pansi, Burkina Faso Church atrocity: Armed militants killed at least 24 people and injured a further 18 in a gun attack on a Protestant church in Pansi, a village in northeastern Burkina Faso, last Sunday. It was the latest in a string of jihadist attacks on churches and other civilian targets in the country. Pansi lies in Yagha province, an especially volatile region close to the border with Niger. About 60% of Burkina Faso’s 20 million people are Muslim and aquarter are Christian. It has long been a relatively peaceful nation and was considered tobe resistant to Islamist extremism, but it has seen a deadly spillover of violence from neighbouring Mali in recent years. More than 1,800 people were killed injihadistlinked attacks in Burkina Faso last year, and some 760,000…

“In the 1970s, medical researchers evolved the concept of Quality-Adjusted Life Years: what mattered was not just keeping people alive, but free from pain and distress. My own path-breaking addition to science is Pleasure-Adjusted Life Years. A brief, decadent existence can contain more life than one prolonged by fastidious habits and Lenten self-denial. Thus Ian Fleming (dead at 56) lived until he was around 90. Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones and other members of the 27 club were all but centenarians. As for Isadora Duncan, she is more or less eternal. A stickler for wellness, on the other hand, a customer of Goop, might never see 30.” Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times…

The sickness at the heart of our GP system Allison Pearson The Daily Telegraph Does your GP let you talk about more than one ailment when you see them? Count yourself lucky if they do, says Allison Pearson. Surgeries across the country increasingly enforce a strict “one appointment, one problem” policy. I raised the issue on Twitter the other day and was inundated with responses. Among them was one from a mother whose daughter ended up in A&E with pneumonia after her doctor refused to examine her cough during a visit about depression. All agreed it was acrazy policy, given that conditions often involve a number of different symptoms, and that people can be shy about admitting upfront what’s bothering them. The problem goes back to the overly generous deal…

Girls are hitting puberty younger Around the world, girls are starting puberty about a year earlier than they did four decades ago, a new study has found. The onset of menstruation (menarche) has traditionally been seen as the marker for female puberty, but the authors of the latest research say this is problematic: firstly because menstruation can begin later than other signs of puberty, and secondly because people may not remember exactly how old they were when they had their first period. So for their analysis, the Danish team took as their marker the development of glandular breast tissue (thelarche). Having examined data from 30 studies for which girls had their breast tissue expertly assessed, they worked out that since 1977, girls have, on average, been reaching this milestone about…

The judiciary: should it butt out of politics? Boris Johnson is gunning for Britain’s judges, said The Guardian. Unhappy with what he regards as their increasingly political role, particularly with regards to Brexit, he wants to restrain their ability to hold the Government to account. The PM and his new Attorney General, Suella Braverman, reportedly have two reforms in mind. The first is to give ministers more of a say in judicial appointments. The second is to weaken the power of the Supreme Court – which ruled last September that the Government’s decision to suspend Parliament was unlawful – by placing parts of the royal prerogative off-limits to judicial review. Both ideas are “troubling”, aimed as they are at fettering the independence of the judiciary and weakening its power…

Football: Man City banned from Europe In the 11 years since the Emirati royal Sheikh Mansour bought Manchester City, the club has won the Premier League four times, said Martyn Ziegler in The Times. Its players have lifted two FA Cups and four League Cups. The only major trophy that has eluded City is the one its owner values most: the Champions League. But for the next two seasons, the club won’t appear in that competition at all. In a “seismic” decision last week, Uefa (European football’s governing body) handed down the ban and a s30m (£25m) fine as punishment for City breaching “financial fair play” (FFP) rules between 2012 and 2016. The decision is not final –City has appealed –but once the Premier League concludes its own investigation, further…

To The Daily Telegraph As a geophysicist, I find it fairly obvious that global warming means the Atlantic will be putting far more water into the atmosphere from now on. As our weather in Britain is mainly driven by Atlantic weather fronts, flooding in these islands is going to become far more common. The flood defences being built now by the Environment Agency only shift the problem downstream – and were anyway designed for the lesser floods of the last century. If Brunel were alive today, we’d probably see a far more long-term vision, such as diverting excess water from upstream of the choke points through large underground tunnels connected to the nearest estuary such as the Ribble or Humber. After all, our tunnelling expertise is second to none after…

Best books… Aravind Adiga The Booker Prize-winning novelist chooses his favourite books. His new novel, Amnesty – a Guardian and Financial Times 2020 fiction pick – is out now, published by Picador at £16.99 The Guide by R.K. Narayan, 1958 (Penguin £5.85). Raju, an ex-convict mistaken for a godman bygullible villagers and pampered with food and respect, begins towonder why he shouldn’t try to become a real saint: and ends up fasting to death. Although he is often patronised by literary critics, Narayan wrote the defining allegory of modern India; the novel also inspired a gorgeous Hindi film. In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh, 1992 (Granta £9.99). I could pick any work by Ghosh, India’s leading candidate for a Nobel prize in literature, to praise, but this early non-fiction…

Tips of the week... how to tackle back pain ● Hands-on chiropractic or osteopathic treatments tend to prove less effective than exercise-based options, so while it is important to seek expert advice, there are a lot of ways to ease back pain at home. ● Guided yoga classes can often help, by increasing your range of movement. The NHS also provides Pilates videos on its website, which should help boost core body strength – and so help prevent injury. ● People often avoid weight training for fear of hurting their back, but some strength training is useful. Try squats and lunges, adding weights as you get stronger. ● The NHS suggests capsaicin cream, which contains the substance that gives chillis their heat, for pain relief, though like heat wraps and…

Michael Hoare 1919-2020 Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare was an accountant who became one of the world’s most infamous mercenaries. A dapper veteran of the Second World War, he made his name in the mid-1960s, putting down a communist-backed rebellion in what would become DR Congo. He helped save many lives, though arguably his reputation owed asmuch to his “self-mythologising” as his military skills, said The Guardian. In 1978, his exploits inspired the film The Wild Geese, starring Richard Burton as a character based on him. But a few years later, Hoare, who has died aged 100, rather destroyed his own mystique by coming out of retirement to lead an attempted coup in the Seychelles that ended in farce – and ultimately landed him in jail. The son of Irish parents,…

Economists predicted that China’s growth would slow sharply in the first quarter because of the coronavirus, amid growing fears of a ricochet effect on other regional economies. South Korea’s President Moon called for “all possible measures” to prevent an economic “emergency”: many of the country’s biggest exporters have been badly hit by delayed parts shipments. There are also worries that the virus could tip the world’s third-largest economy, Japan, into recession. Europe’s powerhouse, Germany, is also thought to be vulnerable: its economy stagnated in the final quarter of last year. In Britain, there was some good news for the new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak: average weekly wages in the UK are back to pre-crisis levels. Weekly pay reached £512 in Q4 2019, which, adjusted for inflation, is the highest since March…

Shutting the City out of Europe Jeremy Warner The Sunday Telegraph Britain is hoping to have its cake and eat it in negotiations over the future relationship between the City and the EU, says Jeremy Warner: “it wants both access and freedom to diverge”. Michel Barnier, the EU’s top negotiator, “has told us to stop kidding ourselves” – hence the drive to find “some kind of halfway house” known as “equivalence”. Sadly, even if this is achieved, it will be “a very poor substitute for the levels of access currently enjoyed”. This matters. “Finance is far and away Britain’s biggest and most important industry”, earning £200bn annually. “Both the public finances and the balance of trade would be in serious trouble” without it. Around a quarter of all City revenue…

Elite schools are increasingly appointing “experts” whose sole job is to help pupils with applications to Oxbridge and other top universities, a report by the Centre for Social Justice has found. St Paul’s School in London, a top boys’ private school, has 11 such full-time members of staff. A South Korean mother who lost her seven-year-old daughter to a blood disorder four years ago has been “reunited” with her using a virtual-reality headset and gloves. In Meeting You, a documentary viewed by millions, Jang Ji-sung spoke to her daughter Na-yeon, who could speak and move but not respond directly to Jang’s words. The child’s image was synthesised using photos and videos, as well as motion capture footage of a child actor.…

Low-skilled migrants will be barred from the UK under plans for a points-based immigration system revealed by the Government this week. From January, when free movement with the EU ends, only skilled workers will enter the country, in an effort to reduce British firms’ reliance on “cheap labour” from Europe. Points will be awarded for speaking English, having a job offer or qualifications, or working in an industry with shortages. Business leaders warned of potentially “disastrous” shortages in the hospitality, care and agriculture sectors. A scheme for seasonal workers in agriculture has, however, been increased.…

Dublin Coalition talks: Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has rejected the idea of a “grand coalition” between his Fine Gael party and Fianna Fáil, its historic rival, in order to keep Sinn Féin out of government. Instead, he said he would “relish” the chance to rebuild his party in opposition. Irish politics has been upended by the shock election result a fortnight ago, in which Sinn Féin – the left-wing party that was once the political wing of the IRA, and is still regarded with distrust by many voters – took the largest share of the popular vote (24.5%). Fianna Fáil took 38 seats, Sinn Féin 37, and Fine Gael 35, leaving no obvious route to a stable coalition majority in the 160-seat lower house. Unless TDs (members of the lower…

Raworth on running Sophie Raworth is surely Britain’s fastest newsreader. The BBC anchor only started running in earnest nine years ago, aged 42, yet she has since taken part in three ultra-marathons and 15 marathons, and is about to join England’s over-50s team for a half marathon – which she expects to complete in just 90 minutes. “The extraordinary thing is, I appear to be getting faster as I get older,” she told Jim White in The Sunday Telegraph. And she has learnt a thing or two along the way. During her first marathon, she didn’t drink anything, so that she wouldn’t have to stop for loo breaks. The strategy backfired when she collapsed from dehydration at mile 24: “I was unconscious for 20 minutes.” It was terrifying, she says…

Landlords are coming up with ever more innovative ways to avoid paying business rates on empty properties, councils have warned. Their latest wheeze, said Martin Stubbs of Bradford Council, is to say buildings are being used for agricultural purposes, thereby exempting them from the tax. “Some of them have taken to bringing snails in and tell us they are snail farms,” he said. “It’s a box with some snails in it, it’s as simple as that.” Armed robbers stole 600 toilet rolls from a delivery man as fears the coronavirus could cause supply shortages gripped Hong Kong. The victim was threatened at knifepoint as he unloaded his van next to a supermarket in the Mong Kok district – an area known for its Triad crime gangs – before his assailants…

SWITZERLAND The Swiss role in a global spy game Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich) Switzerland’s role in “one of the largest espionage operations in history” has been revealed, says Thomas Knellwolf – and the country is reeling. For half a century, the Swiss security company Crypto AG sold encryption machines to more than 120 world governments. But, all along, the firm was secretly owned and controlled by America’s CIA and its German equivalent, the BND. The machines were deliberately weakened, allowing the CIA and BND to spy on friends and foes, while making millions from sales. For the CIA, it was “the intelligence coup of the century”; it reportedly let them eavesdrop on Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81, and supply Britain with intelligence about Argentina in the Falklands War. This “brazen”…

Fossils unearthed in a desert region of Venezuela have shed new light on one of the biggest-ever turtles: the car-sized Stupendemys geographicus. First described by palaeontologists in the 1970s, the turtle lived between 12 million and seven million years ago in what, at the time, was a vast swampland populated by many other oversized animals, including 11-metre-long crocodiles and 700kg rats. With its three metre-long shell and estimated body mass of 1,145kg, Stupendemys is thought to have been 100 times heavier than its closest living descendent, the Amazon river turtle. The newly discovered fossils reveal that Stupendemys males had front-facing horns on its shell – an adaptation never previously seen in side-necked turtles (so named because instead of retracting their necks, they tuck them sideways beneath the front of their…

Donald Trump has an unlikely obsession: badgers. The president used to grill his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus (who hails from Wisconsin, the “Badger State”) about the creatures during key White House meetings, a new book claims. How do they “work”, exactly? Do they have a personality? What do they eat? “Enthralled” by the animals, Trump would interrupt staff as they tried to steer him back to troop numbers in Afghanistan, say, or health insurance. “Are they mean to people?” the president would ask the beleagured Priebus, “Or are they friendly creatures?” Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney have fallen out; they’ve unfollowed each other on social media and McCartney has reportedly uninvited the Beckhams to a family party she is throwing. What on earth could have caused such a…

Morgan’s thrilling England England’s Twenty20 series against South Africa was meant to be “preparation, refinement, revision” for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, said Barney Ronay in The Guardian. And by the end of this frenetic “three-stage drag race” through South Africa, it was clear that while England “may or may not be the best T20 team in the world, they are surely the most entertaining”. They were at their most thrilling in the third and final match, in which they successfully chased 222 – the fourth highest chase in an international T20 – to win the series 2-1. It was a victory sealed by the captain, Eoin Morgan, who scored 57 off a staggering 22 balls. Leading England to World Cup glory last year has given…

Alistair is nervous about his upcoming review and Jakob advises him on selling more herd-health packages. Lynda tells Brian she has enlisted Tracy to spy on The B’s Valentine event, but Tracy’s also acting as a double-agent for Jolene. At Brookfield, Alistair pitches a herd-health package: Ruth is keen but David is wary. Freddie and Ben are worried about Johnny, who has become obsessed with working out and refuses to come out for Valentine’s night. Chris inadvertently congratulates a stunned Jakob on impending fatherhood. Emma asks Tracy whose side she’s really on, the ReBulls’ or The B’s? Neither, says Tracy. Emma also reveals she’s going for a drink with Gavin next week. David tells Alistair they’ve agreed to take the package; meanwhile Shula and Alistair notice that Jakob is out…

Erst 9 Murray Street, Ancoats, Manchester (0161-826 3008) Over the past few years, wine bars have undergone a rather “startling transformation”, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times. Once, they were fusty, subterranean dives populated by chaps in “florid cravats”. These days, the best are accessible, fun and “supercool” – and serve food that is a significant advance on “slate tiles heaped with sheeny salami, greying pâtés and shrivelled cornichons”. An example of this new breed is Erst, from the team behind Manchester’s popular Trove bakery and cafés. The short menu – a “magpie collection” of dishes – has been devised by people who really like to eat. Crispy potatoes with yeast sauce are “fiendishly good”. A boudin noir is so “splendidly priapic” that my pupils dilate just recalling…

Imagine sitting down and designing your own dream sports car. That, said Alex Robbins in The Daily Telegraph, was what Dubai-based Frenchman Anthony Jannarelly set out to do when he teamed up with the racing boat maker Frédéric Juillot. Their ambition was to create a vehicle with “the spirit of a 1960s sports car, but the underlying mechanicals” of a reliable 21st century one. From the outside, they seem to have succeeded: the car has beautiful, “cartoonish” proportions. But is it really possible to have a “vintage feel, without the drawbacks of a classic car”? The set-up inside is certainly “bracingly old-fashioned”, said Jason Barlow in Top Gear. There is a USB port and a decent sound system, but apart from that it has just a simple instrument cluster and…

Troutbeck New York State, United States Recently revamped by Anthony Champalimaud, this mid-1700s former homestead in the Hudson Valley feels “more like a friend’s chic country home” than a hotel, says Tatler. Its “lofty” communal spaces have roaring open fires, hardwood floors and panelling, and vintage furniture “set against a colour palette of rust, green and blue”. There are also “charming” converted outbuildings and a “romantic” walled garden. When Troutbeck was a private house, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and Martin Luther King Jr all stayed, and artists and authors still flock here, creating “a cultural house-party vibe”. Doubles from £187.Troutbeck.com.…

Joseph Shabalala 1941-2020 Joseph Shabalala, who has died aged 78, was the founder and leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the hugely successful South African vocal group that won global renown after working with Paul Simon on his hit 1986 album Graceland. In the next few years, they won five Grammy Awards, released more than 50 albums and, in 1990, sang at Nelson Mandela’s birthday, four months after he was released from prison. Joseph Shabalala was brought up on a white-owned farm in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal, near Ladysmith, where he worked from the age of 12. Even as a boy, he was known for his singing and in his teens, he moved to Durban, where he joined a group. He founded his own group in 1959. Ladysmith referred to his…

Earlier this month, Royal Bank of Scotland indicated that its new boss, Alison Rose, would be based solely in London. Now we know why she chose to become “Queen of the South”, said The Times. After 293 years, the lender – still HQ’ed in Edinburgh – is ditching its RBS name and rebranding itself “NatWest”, in an overhaul designed to put its 2008 bailout, and a string of recent scandals, behind it. Existing RBS branches, most of which are in Scotland, will keep their name, as will Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland. “Switching its name to NatWest brings Royal Bank of Scotland full circle,” said Lex in the FT. Two decades ago, when RBS “pounced” on the English bank for a then record £22bn, “NatWest was a toxic name with…

● Multiplying mutts Beware the dog, said Imogen Tew on FTAdviser. Markets might have been flying of late, but that hasn’t stopped the number of under-performing funds rising by more than 50% in the past six months, according to Bestinvest’s latest “Spot the Dog” survey. The report, which “names and shames” the worst-performing equity funds over three years, identified 91 funds meeting “the dog criteria” – up from 59 last summer. The level of UK assets held in dog funds has also jumped alarmingly – from £32.6bn to £44bn since the last report. ● Worst in show For the fourth time in arow, Invesco has topped the list of fund groups in the doghouse – leading the pack, by a long way. The fund house managed to chalk up 11…

Jes Staley “Barclays is known for its corporate dramas,” says The Sunday Times. But this one could be particularly scandalous. The bank’s CEO, Jes Staley, is being investigated by UK regulators over his relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial last August. “It’s well known I had a professional relationship with Epstein,” Staley, 63, told reporters, sounding rattled. The American banker said the relationship was “maintained” during his previous 34-year stint at JPMorgan, but that it had “tapered off quite significantly” when he left – and he’d had no contact with Epstein since joining Barclays in 2015. Earlier that year, Staley and his wife Debora visited Epstein at his Virgin Islands home. Staley has already “survived” one big regulatory…