Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1268 i The Week

What happened The virus moves West The global outbreak of the coronavirus Covid-19 worsened this week: the number of cases passed 80,000 and the death toll approached 3,000. Almost all the cases were still in China, but the spread of the virus – which has an estimated mortality rate of 2% – accelerated elsewhere, affecting up to 40 countries. Fears that it could sweep Europe grew after a major outbreak in Italy where, as of Wednesday, at least 323 people had been infected and 11 had died. In the northern Lombardy and Veneto regions, 11 towns were quarantined, and sporting events were called off. Spain, Austria, Croatia, and Algeria recorded their first cases, and a Brazilian man who’d recently visited Italy became the first person in Latin America diagnosed with…

Stormzy, who became the first celebrity to be awarded a VIP card entitling him to free Greggs food for life. In a tweet, the rapper said he felt he had “peaked” when he unwrapped the gift from the PR-savvy high-street bakery chain. Nando’s has a similar “black card” scheme for celebrities, which entitles them to free meals for up to five people at its restaurants. Hilary Mantel, after the final part of her Wolf Hall trilogy was hailed by critics as “magnificent” and a“masterpiece” –if a trifle on the long side for some tastes, at 912 pages. Advance orders for The Mirror and The Light, which will be published next week, have exceeded even those for Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments. Aspiring models, with the unveiling of the world’s first beauty…

Paris Abuse allegations: The founder of the Catholic charity L’Arche – which runs communities for people with learning disabilities – sexually abused six women between 1970 and 2005, according to areport commissioned by the charity. During his lifetime, Jean Vanier was regarded as a great humanitarian. But around the time of his death last year, several women – who had links with L’Arche, but who were not disabled – came forward to claim that he had engaged in “manipulative, emotionally abusive”, and “non-consensual” relationships with them under the guise of offering spiritual guidance. The report notes that their accounts were all similar, and describes them as “credible”. Paris Former PM on trial: François Fillon – the former French PM who was the favourite to win the presidency in 2017 –…

1* I Wish, written and performed by Stevie Wonder 2 The Chain, written and performed by Fleetwood Mac 3 Prince Charming, written by Adam Ant & Marco Pirroni, performed by Adam and the Ants 4 Into the Groove, written by Madonna and Stephen Bray, performed by Madonna 5 Girls &Boys, written and performed by Blur 6 Everything I Wanted, written by Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, performed by Billie Eilish 7 Heaven on Their Minds, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, performed by Tim Minchin 8 You’ll Never Walk Alone, written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, performed by Gerry and the Pacemakers Book: Dancing with Demons: The Authorised Biography of Dusty Springfield by Penny Valentine Luxury: Martin acoustic guitar * Choice if allowed only one…

To advocates of the Preston model, the regeneration of the city’s 19th century covered market shows how it can transform public spaces. The £3m project was handed to Conlon Construction, a family-owned firm based in the city. “We’ve landed quite a bit of work in our home town,” said its chairman, Michael Conlon. “It’s allowed us to take people on.” The market was transformed into a modernist glass box which sits beneath the building’s original canopy. In 2018, the year it was completed, it won the Royal Town Planning Institute’s top regional award for planning excellence, which hailed the involvement of local businesses and people in the project. Now the building is home to dozens of local businesses and cooperatives. The city is funding and providing rent-free premises to ten…

FRANCE A sex scandal that deserved to get publicity Politico (Brussels) For the first time in France’s modern history, a politician has resigned over a sex scandal, says John Lichfield. Benjamin Griveaux, President Macron’s candidate for mayor of Paris, quit after a video of him masturbating was posted online. He sent it to a girlfriend, now a left-wing activist, two years ago. The video was made public by the woman’s new partner, a Russian performance artist who once nailed his scrotum to Red Square. “Masturgate”, as the scandal has been dubbed, has outraged politicians of all stripes; they feel France’s relaxed attitude towards their sex lives is endangered by online hounding by hard-right and hard-left critics. It risks “Americanising” public life, they say, and threatens the fabric of French democracy.…

The number of mumps cases in England hit a record high last year, with young people in college and university driving the outbreak. There were 5,042 cases in 2019 – four times the number in 2018, according to data from Public Health England (PHE). Many of these cases were people born in the late 1990s and early 2000s who were not immunised as children with the MMR vaccine. In the early 1990s, the anti-vaccine activist Dr Andrew Wakefield published a paper claiming a link between the jab and autism. His research was subsequently discredited and his licence to practise medicine revoked. But the scare created a generation of unprotected young people known as “Wakefield cohorts”. PHE has launched an MMR catch-up programme for children, and is encouraging all students and…

“The camera will never compete with the brush and the palette, until such time as photography can be taken to heaven or hell.” Edvard Munch, quoted in The Times “You can be a successful poisoner, or you can be a famous poisoner, but you can’t be both.” Frank Dobson, quoted in The Guardian “Celebrity is a mask that eats into the face.” John Updike, quoted in The Times “Strong thumbs, no fingers.” Political scientist Charles E. Lindblom’s description of authoritarian systems, quoted in the South China Morning Post I’ve taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me.” Winston Churchill, quoted in the Financial Times “If you don’t have anything nice to say about anyone, come sit by me.” Alice Roosevelt Longworth, quoted in The Sunday Telegraph…

To The Spectator Jon Stone’s letter recalls the horrors and miseries of being subjected to bombing from the air. How right he is to do so. The deliberate burning and crushing of civilians in their homes is a revolting and indefensible form of warfare. It is no surprise that Hitler used it. What is surprising is that people in this country continue to make excuses for our own use of this method, which was actually far more extensive and deadly than the German bombing of the United Kingdom. There are no such excuses. Those who fall back on utilitarian justifications will also find that these do not work. The bombing of Germany failed on its own terms. Its alleged achievements in diverting aircraft and artillery from the Eastern Front would…

The art world prides itself on its tolerance and free-thinking. But in reality, it seems, intolerance is rife, says Richard Morrison in The Times. Last week, the ArtsProfessional website published Freedom of Expression, a “jaw-dropping” report based on a large, anonymous survey. It found that nearly 80% of arts professionals agreed with the view that “workers in the arts who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracised”. It seems you can speak freely only if you conform to a narrow set of political and social views. Anyone who supports Brexit, or aright-wing party, is likely to be “bullied into silence”. The arts, said one respondent, are “dominated by a monolithic politically correct class”. Entire subjects, from religion to sexuality and gender, are “no-go areas”. Public funding raises its own problems.…

Lynda tells Tracy she’s sure Freddie is dealing drugs again. Freddie confronts Johnny about the pills, who admits they’re for hair loss, not steroids. Johnny offers to explain everything to Lynda but Freddie says it will blow over. Kate returns and finds out Jakob knows about her pregnancy. After she admits she hasn’t taken a pregnancy test, Jakob persuades her to: the result is negative. Kate is upset and leaves. Gavin and Emma get on well over their drink, but there’s an awkward moment when Ed walks in; he feels sad seeing them together. Freddie offers Josh some words of wisdom. Ed tells Kirsty he’s struggling for work. At her suggestion, he asks Philip about building jobs, but Philip puts him off. Later Philip tells Kirsty why: what if Emma…

What the experts recommend The Gallivant New Lydd Road, Camber, East Sussex (01797-225057) This restaurant just by Camber Sands has been on my radar “for years”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. “New chefs have come and gone, and I’ve never quite made it.” However, when I heard that Jamie Guy, formerly head chef of the Mark Hix restaurant group, had taken over, I realised I had to go. With its slat-board panelling and “myriad swimsuits” framed under glass, the dining room evokes the nearby beach. Not that my companion and I get to see any actual dunes: “we are far too interested in our lunch”. Guy’s cooking is “unfussy and extremely satisfying”. A “very good” starter of whelk fritters is followed by a “succession of rugged, big-thighed dishes”,…

New cars: what the critics say Autocar The Mazda 2is an often forgotten supermini; its previous version “probably deserved more attention than it got”. This new one is certainly a “multitalented” car, and is particularly “frugal” thanks to Mazda’s mild hybrid technology. It will still struggle to compete with the class leaders – the Ford Fiesta and Seat Ibiza – but this is now a “much more versatile and complete car”. The Daily Telegraph The interior design steals much from Mazda’s excellent MX-5 sports car, with “slivers of chrome, and small but crisp, easy-to-read instruments”. The materials feel durable, though not very plush, and space is limited, with a 280-litre boot and no chance of seating three in the back comfortably. The car doesn’t get Mazda’s latest infotainment system, leaving…

Self-catering retreat Spend three nights in the lovely Chantry Cottage in Blythburgh, a perfect starting point for coastal walks. From £99pp (four sharing). 01728-666300, suffolkhideaways. co.uk. Arrive 25 March. Barcelona spring break A four-night stay at the El Avenida Palace hotel, located in the city centre, costs from £304pp room-only, including Liverpool flights. 020-3897 1164, loveholidays. com. Depart 27 April. Warsaw, Gdansk & Kraków Discover Poland’s medieval cities and historic treasures during an eight-day trip. From £949pp b&b, including transfers & flights. 020-8068 3176, exoticca.co.uk. Depart 16 May. Luxurious getaway Stay at the delightful five-star Mövenpick Hotel Bur Dubai for four nights, from £584pp half-board, including London flights. 020-3474 3075, blueseaholidays.co.uk. Depart 26 April.…

Stock markets globally suffered a sustained sell-off, falling on consecutive days as investors worried about the spreading coronavirus. Stocks relating to travel and leisure, commodities and oil and gas bore the brunt – easyJet shares slumped 18% – as panicked investors moved cash into safe havens. Long-term yields on US treasuries fell to historic lows; the gold price hit a seven-year high of $1,690 before falling back slightly. IMF head Kristalina Georgieva warned that the epidemic could damage global growth, but also pointed out that a sharp and rapid economic rebound could follow. Some analysts agree, claiming that the spread of the virus is likely to peak in the first quarter. The oil giant Chevron asked 300 staff in its London office to work from home after a staff member…

● The fear spreads When the coronavirus epidemic first emerged last month, “markets dipped into the red, but bounced back within days, sending Wall Street to fresh highs, despite the growing crisis in Asia’s industrial powerhouse”, said Callum Jones in The Times. This week, “investors drew a line in the sand”. Fears that the epidemic could escalate into a global pandemic triggered a sell-off that saw the FTSE 100 suffer its worst day in four years on Monday. Markets elsewhere also sold off heavily, with the Borsa Italiana in Milan leading the declines. The latest restrictions imposed by governments seeking to get a grip on the crisis – notably Italy’s – appear to be “the straw that broke the camel’s back”, noted Samuel Tombs of Pantheon Macroeconomics. It remains unclear…

The Barclay family “We all remember Tolstoy saying ‘each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way’,” noted Desmond Browne QC in the High Court this week. But who would have guessed that the families of the Barclay twins – retail billionaires whose empire also incorporates the Telegraph newspaper group and The Ritz Hotel – would fall out so spectacularly? In a squabble over family assets, Sir Frederick Barclay, 85 (pictured), and his daughter Amanda are suing the three sons (Alistair, Aidan and Howard) and the grandson of his twin brother, Sir David, for bugging the conservatory of The Ritz over “several months” to record their private conversations, said the FT. The matter only came to light recently when Alistair Barclay was filmed late at night “handling the bug” in…

Controversy of the week An imperial PM? No prime minister in recent years “has possessed such command of the political scene” as Boris Johnson, said William Hague in The Daily Telegraph. And as such moments of supreme power are fleeting, he’s in a hurry to stamp his authority on Britain’s most powerful institutions, be it the civil service, the judiciary or the BBC. Any minister out of tune with his policies – even his former chancellor, Sajid Javid – is shown the door. There are even reports he wants a cull of those mandarins – notably Sir Tom Scholar, Permanent Secretary at the Treasury – thought to be at odds with Tory ministers or special advisers. Johnson is looking more like a US president than a British PM, agreed The…

Residents of Oxford and Cambridge, with reports showing that the university cities have the least affordable housing in Britain. The average property in Cambridge costs £470,933, while the mean average salary is £39,434. In London, the average property is £475,458 but the mean average salary is £49,228. Half-term tourists, after a storm carrying sand from the Sahara shrouded the Canary Islands in yellow smog last Saturday, forcing the cancellation of most flights to and from the archipelago.…

Carson City, Nevada Bernie wins big: The left-wing senator Bernie Sanders won a convincing victory in the Nevada caucuses last weekend, consolidating his position as the clear front runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination ahead of Saturday’s primary election in South Carolina and Super Tuesday (3 March), when 14 states, covering 40% of the US population, hold their primaries. President Trump tweeted his congratulations to “Crazy Bernie”, adding “don’t let them take it away from you!” – a teasing reference to speculation that the Democratic establishment will still find a way to stop the self-styled democratic socialist, 78, from winning the nomination. Super Tuesday will be the first electoral test in the Democrat race for the former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg. The billionaire is the bookies’ second favourite.…

“Like many other Europeans, I’ve begun commuting by bike. Ibought an excellent new bike, two locks and a helmet for about s300. That’s about 1% of the average price of a new car, and I’ll never need petrol. Bicycle repairs rarely cost much, and if my bike isn’t stolen, nobody will earn another cent out of my urban transport for another decade or so. Cycling is clean and healthy, but if it does grow, it will decimate jobs and reduce gross domestic product: the story of the bicycle is the myth of ‘green growth’ in one device. If we shift from cars to bikes, and buy less stuff, going green will mean less growth –and no politician ever got elected promising less GDP.” Simon Kuper in the Financial Times…

The boiling issue behind climate change Ed Conway The Times If we’re to meet the net-zero emission target by 2050, says Ed Conway, our biggest challenge isn’t devising new green forms of transport: it’s working out how to replace our gas boilers. Over the past decade, the UK’s boilers have pumped out similar levels of greenhouse gases as its cars. We don’t hear much about this, though, because there is no clear plan for tackling the issue. There is talk of replacing natural gas boilers with hydrogen ones, as hydrogen’s only waste product is water, but it would cost up to £100bn, and we don’t yet have a sustainable way of making the gas. Another solution might be to scrap boilers – at least in urban areas – and instead…

Did herbal tea fuel Viking frenzy? According to Viking legend, the elite warriors known as berserkers “ploughed into combat in a trance-like state of fury”, fearless, without armour, often naked, and unable to tell friend from foe, says Rhys Blakely in The Times. For centuries, historians have hypothesised about what fuelled their rampages. Psychedelic mushrooms? Insanity? Vast amounts of alcohol? Now Karsten Fatur, an ethnobotanist at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, believes he has uncovered the secret: a potent hallucinogen. The plant, Hyoscyamus niger (known as stinking nightshade or henbane) contains hyoscyamine and scopolamine, both of which trigger aggression and hyperactivity. “It would have reduced their sensation of pain and made them wild,” Fatur wrote in a study in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. Its “dissociative” effects would have numbed…

Weinstein convicted: a victory for #MeToo “The criminal case against Harvey Weinstein was a long shot,” said Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor in The New York Times. Many of his accusers had been braced for his acquittal. Prosecutors across the US had privately wondered if the New York district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr – who had previously refused to pursue allegations against the movie mogul – had made a mistake in bringing charges. But on Monday, a Manhattan jury delivered a victory for the #MeToo movement, a movement that Weinstein’s victims had helped ignite. The jurors did not find the 67-year-old guilty of the most serious charge, of predatory sexual assault, but they still convicted a man who had seemed untouchable of two felonies, including first degree sexual…

Boxing: Fury’s demolition job “Were you not entertained?” Those were Tyson Fury’s words on Saturday night, after his demolition of Deontay Wilder, said Paul Hayward in The Daily Telegraph. And we were entertained – of course we were. But Fury’s triumph was so much more than just entertainment. It was “surely the greatest win by a British fighter overseas”. Just over a year after his first fight against Wilder, which ended in a controversial draw, he put in an “astonishingly dominant performance”. He landed 82 punches to his opponent’s 34 and dropped him twice before, in the seventh round, one of Wilder’s trainers bowed to the inevitable and threw in the towel. The victory earned Fury the WBC heavyweight world title, ending Wilder’s five-year reign. To think that this is…

Best books… Joanna Lumley The actress, comedian, author and activist chooses her favourite travel books. Her latest television series, Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Caribbean, will air on ITV1 on 10 and 17 March, at 9pm Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor, 1986 (John Murray £9.99). The second in the trilogy of his great journey on foot from Rotterdam to Istanbul, this is completely engaging and very beautiful. He was young, charming and bold, seeing and doing things that make one gasp with laughter and admiration. Terra Incognita by Sara Wheeler, 1996 (Vintage £10.99). A seven-month journey across Antarctica which she later acknowledges to be a love affair: ice and mountains loom off the page, Wheeler’s infectious style allowing us to experience the coldest events right by her…

Programmes McDonald and Dodds New crime drama about an unlikely police duo in Bath. In the first episode, they must solve a murder in the family home of a prominent industrialist. Sun 1 Mar, ITV1 20:00 (120mins). Britain Underwater: Fighting the Floods Documentary visiting the communities worst hit by storms Ciara and Dennis, as the Environment Agency tries to come up with solutions. Tue 3 Mar, ITV1 21:00 (60mins). Tigers: Hunting the Traffickers A former Royal Marine commando goes on a mission to expose the secrets of the illegal tiger trade in southeast Asia, as the species faces extinction. Wed 4 Mar, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). The Trouble with Maggie Cole Cosy new drama starring Dawn French. In a radio interview, gossipy historian Maggie reveals too much about her neighbours and…

Tandoori chicken Serves 4 8 chicken thighs, on the bone for the marinade: 150ml Greek yogurt 5cm piece of ginger, peeled and grated 4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped ½ tsp garam masala ½ tsp cumin ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp chilli powder salt • Mix all the marinade ingredients together and season with a little salt. Stir well. • Place the chicken in a dish. Make some deep cuts into the flesh then pour the marinade over. Leave for at least an hour to marinate, but for best results it should be left overnight. • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the chicken from the dish and place gently in a baking tray, being careful not to dislodge too much marinade as you do. Bake in the oven for…

The reluctant hero of the Munich air disaster Harry Gregg OBE 1932-2020 Harry Gregg, who has died aged 87, was one of the finest goalkeepers of his generation –and also one of the bravest, both on the pitch and off it, said The Guardian. In particular, he will be remembered for his courage on 6 February 1958, when the plane carrying his Manchester United team crashed as it tried to take off from Munich Airport in heavy snow. Gregg lost consciousness on impact. When he came to, he thought he was in hell. Regaining his senses, he managed to crawl from the wreckage. Outside, the pilot told him the plane’s fuel tanks were about to explode, and ordered him to run for cover. But Gregg had heard a baby crying,…

Shares in Ladbrokes owner GVC have risen 800% under the leadership of Kenny Alexander, the poker-playing Scot whose strategy of buying and merging companies has turned a tiny Aim-listed player into a European gaming giant. But his empire is now under siege, said Sabah Meddings in The Sunday Times. Ken Griffin, the billionaire US tycoon behind hedge fund Citadel, has taken an £80m bet against GVC, joining a burgeoning group of hedgies hoping to benefit from a fall in shares. Some 3.6% of the stock – worth £180.2m – is now being “shorted”. GVC insists the level of its short positions is “unremarkable” compared with industry peers. Maybe. But momentum seems to be growing.…

It took London house prices just 2.3 years to recover from the ravages of the 2008 financial crash, said Jessica Clark in City AM. “Oxford and Cambridge followed the capital” – and now there’s a clean sweep. According to the Zoopla UK Cities House Price Index, property prices across English cities are back to at least their 2007 levels. The last bastion to fall was Newcastle, which only registered recovery last December. According to economist Howard Archer of the EY Item Club, there’s growing evidence that “the housing market is changing up a gear after a largely lacklustre 2019”. There’s certainly a whiff of spring in the air, said Phillip Inman in The Guardian. Land Registry data shows that house prices “have increased in every region in the UK for…

The week’s best shares Biffa Investors Chronicle Environmental policy is supporting the waste manager asit consolidates small, regional operators. The group is investing in higher-margin plastics recycling and energy from waste. Buy. 297p. Blue Prism Group The Times Blue Prism’s robotic software automates administrative processes. Rapidly growing, and close to breaking even thanks to contracts with Audi, Amazon and L’Oréal. Buy. But not for the fainthearted. £16.04. Diageo The Share Centre The drinks giant has an “enviable” portfolio of brands, including Tanqueray gin, Johnnie Walker whisky and Smirnoff vodka. Cash-generative, with rising sales and profits and a buyback programme. Buy. £30.15. dotdigital Group The Share Centre This omni-channel digital marketing group uses artificial intelligence to help clients engage with customers. Margins are high, with rising, recurring revenues as it expands…

An upmarket fashion brand has been accused of cultural vandalism for cutting up letters from historical figures, and placing the scraps in limited edition handbags. The Charles Dickens bag, which costs £2,700, has a concealed compartment containing a section of a letter the author wrote declining a speaking engagement. Other bags contain segments of letters from Marlene Dietrich, Charles Lindbergh and Queen Victoria. Almost half the flights taken by British men aged 20 to 45 last year were for stag dos, while 35% of those taken by women in that age group were for hen parties. The environmental charity Hubbub, which published the figures, urged the public to save money, and CO2, by partying closer to home.…

For years, political parties, the police and prosecutors turned a “blind eye” to allegations of child sexual abuse against high-profile politicians, according to a long-awaited inquiry. However, there was no “organised” paedophile ring in Westminster. The £120m probe – launched in 2014, after Labour’s Tom Watson claimed to have unearthed evidence of a“powerful network” – named a number of suspected paedophiles whose crimes were ignored. For instance, senior Tories, including Margaret Thatcher, became aware in the 1980s that the MP Sir Peter Morrison had “a penchant for small boys”. This, the report said, should have “set alarm bells ringing in government”, but too often, party officials played down such rumours to protect the party’s image. Similarly, the report criticised Lord Steel (above), the former Liberal Party leader, for failing to…

Fellowes on a dying elite “I’ve always been interested by social change,” Julian Fellowes told Bryan Appleyard in The Sunday Times. The Downton Abbey creator and Tory peer says every era ends with some “Luddites” failing to adapt as the world moves on around them. So, whose time is running out now? “The left-of-centre metropolitan elite have had quite a good run,” he says. “For along time the sort of authorities that control everything – not just the BBC, which is the usual moan, but the National Theatre, the National Gallery, the National Trust, the national this, the national that – have all been speaking with one voice. It’s been a kind of Hampstead voice. And they have dealt with their opinions as if they were facts, and everyone else’s…

A man from Hampshire claims to have found an unlikely cure for his mental health struggles. “I drank my fresh morning urine, and dark clouds of depression were lifted from me,” said Harry Matadeen, 32. Soon, he found an even better tonic: urine which has been “aged” for up to four days. “I felt an instant uplift in my energy... I grew to love it.” Now, he says he drinks 200ml of urine a day – and even moisturises his face with it. A man with a tattoo on his forehead bearing the legend “Crime Pays” has been arrested in Indiana for the second time in three months. Donald Murray, 38, led police on a car chase before crashing into a tree and fleeing on foot. He was charged with…

MEXICO Facing up to the epidemic of femicide El País (Madrid) Mexicans are up in arms about their government’s feeble response to an epidemic of “femicide”, says Carmen Morán Breña – the killing of women motivated by misogyny. An average of ten women a day are murdered in the country, many by current or former partners –a chilling toll that has sparked months of protests by women’s groups. Outrage reached a new pitch following the murder this month of Ingrid Escamilla, a 25-year-old who was stabbed to death and partially skinned by her partner. Her death shocked Mexicans not just because it was so grisly, but because photos of her mutilated body were leaked to the tabloids, which published them. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador caused further fury when he…

Hunted since the 17th century, the north Atlantic right whale now faces extinction within the next two decades. A survey has found that there are now just 409 in total, and fewer than 100 females of breeding age. The whales, which can grow to 68ft and weigh 70 tonnes, have been protected since 1972 but still face threats from fishing gear entanglement and collisions with ships. Lead researcher Michael Moore of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution blamed declining numbers on such incidents causing “sublethal and lethal trauma” that “has led to individuals unfit to reproduce”. Between 2017 and 2019, his report suggests, 20 whales died and 12 calves were born. Right whales were so called because they were the “right” whales to hunt: they moved slowly and floated on the…

Griff Rhys Jones often found himself in the shadow of Mel Smith, his comedy partner. “People didn’t always recognise Griff,” Clive Anderson recalls in The Spectator. But “the world and his wife used to recognise Mel”. Once, as Jones was being chauffeur-driven to a recording, he passed Smith standing in the street. “MEL!” he yelled, winding down the window. But rather than pulling in, the driver sped up, telling him: “Famous people don’t like it when you do that.” Mark Zuckerberg was a billionaire at 23 – but was still not immune to nerves. According to a new book, he used to get so anxious at speaking events, aides had to blow dry his armpits to prevent sweat patches. Later, he’d demand the backstage area be cooled to 15°C. Facebook:…

The danger of dredging To The Daily Telegraph I own a small stretch of the River Stour, the boundary between Suffolk and Essex. Here 100,000 schoolchildren have had the chance to study environmental education on our 25-acre nature reserve. Over the past 50 years there has been endless mismanagement of the river by various government agencies. I had a telephone call many years ago from an earnest young man from Anglian Water Authority. It wanted my reaction, as a landowner and conservationist, to a brilliant scheme by one of its engineers, whereby this stretch of the river would never flood again. It entailed filling in an existing ten-mile stretch and creating a new, dead straight stretch. “You know,” he said, “just like a canal.” I can’t recall my exact words,…

Jim Moir at Grosvenor Gallery Over the past decade, Jim Moir (b.1959) – better known as the comedian and actor Vic Reeves – has earned considerable respect for his paintings, which translate the dadaist, vaguely sinister humour of his TV shows onto canvas. This new show, Romance, features some characteristically off-beat paintings and drawings: naif figures depicted alongside surreal bits of text, portraits of gurning celebrities and cartoons of superheroes in improbably mundane situations. Yet much here departs from the wackiness of Moir’s established template, confirming that he is not merely playing for laughs. Aseries of oil sketches of birds, for example, is reminiscent of the quietly enigmatic style of the late Craigie Aitchison, while a number of scenes combining pastoral settings with healthy doses of grotesquerie are truly striking…

What’s stopping you shopping at Aldi and Lidl, asks Jane MacQuitty in The Times. “True, queues can be long, shelves are a jumble and restocking is haphazard”. But the prices can’t be ignored – which means that more of us than ever are “stocking our wine racks from there”. Aldi’s range includes “tip-top Burgundy and Bordeaux”, plus some good Italians and New Worlders. “I’ll even forgive its grubby ports and champagnes, given how good its crémant fizz is.” Try the 2018 Crémant du Jura (£7.99) –a “fruity chardonnay hit”. And from its fast-expanding online offering, grab the “cracking” 2016 Châteauneuf du Pape, Cuvée 13, France (£16.99; aldi.co.uk), which bursts with “earthy red and black forest fruit”. Lidl, with no online ordering, is a “bit more hit and miss” in its…

Lekkerwater Beach Lodge South Africa Newly opened as a beach resort last year, this spot on the Western Cape (within easy reach of Cape Town) was once used by President F.W. de Klerk as his “Camp David – a place where he could plan his vision for South Africa undisturbed”. Perched on a clifftop overlooking the Indian Ocean, it is nothing short of “magnificent”, says Tatler. The seven rooms are “luxuriously simple”, with interiors done out in “ocean blues and soft greys”, and huge windows opening onto private, sea-facing decks. Whales and dolphins often pass by, and the locally inspired dishes served in the restaurant are excellent. Doubles from £195 per person. naturalselection.travel…

Revolut: steaming ahead London leads the way in the “hot” digital banking and payments market – and one of the “fastest-growing upstarts”, Revolut, got a shot in the arm this week, said Simon Clark in The Wall Street Journal. After raising $500m in new funding, the fintech favourite has been valued at $5.5bn, just five years out of the traps. Customer numbers doubled to ten million in 2019 and the outfit, which has aspirations of becoming “a global digital bank”, is steaming into the US and Japan this year. Revolut reckons it can seduce customers away from “traditional bank accounts” with a one-stop app containing a “ton of features”, said Romain Dillet on TechCrunch. “You can insure your phone, get a travel medical insurance package, buy cryptocurrencies, buy shares...”…

India is in the grip of two crises Martin Wolf Financial Times President Trump has been in India, heaping praise on its leader, Narendra Modi. But the country is “facing twin economic and political crises”, says Martin Wolf. Politics has taken an “aggressively illiberal” turn, in the teeth of a “dramatic” slowdown in growth since the 2008 financial crisis. Peer beneath the official statistics, and annual growth has averaged 4.5% according to credible estimates – very poor by recent Indian standards. “A vicious spiral is at work”: high interest rates and low profitability are “worsening debt burdens and so aggravating the problems” for many firms. Yet the government’s response “seems to be to deny the evidence of a slowdown”. By all accounts, “the best advisers have mostly gone”, leaving policy-making…