Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1269 i The Week

Taking on the virus: is Britain ready? “About blessed time!” said the Daily Mail. Boris Johnson finally offered some leadership over the coronavirus outbreak this week, chairing an emergency Cobra meeting and setting out the Government’s battle plan. Britain, he warned, must prepare for the worst, which could be very bad indeed. Cabinet ministers have been told that as much as 80% of the population could become infected, with a consequent death toll running into the hundreds of thousands. Up to a fifth of workers could be off sick at the same time, putting huge pressure on public services. The NHS may have to cancel countless operations, and the police might only be able to respond to the most serious crimes. For now, officials are concentrating on containing the virus…

Washington DC Super Tuesday: Joe Biden (right) staged a remarkable comeback on Super Tuesday this week, winning nine of the 14 states that voted to select the Democrat presidential candidate that day. The 76-year-old former vice-president narrowly won Texas, which had been expected to fall to the left-wing senator Bernie Sanders, and the key swing states of Virginia and North Carolina; but Sanders was projected to end up with California – the most populous state in the US, which sends 415 delegates to the Democrat convention in July. Elizabeth Warren, a former favourite, didn’t even win her own state of Massachusetts; it went to Biden. Mike Bloomberg only took American Samoa, despite spending $500m of his own money on his campaign, and announced his withdrawal from the Democrat race. Days…

“At the risk of my feminist licence being revoked, I don’t think the best use of £24m ayear is for the Scottish government to supply free sanitary products to every woman and girl, regardless of need. Schemes to end ‘period poverty’ by distributing free tampons at food banks are excellent. But the Scottish Labour Party, determined to out-woke the SNP, proposed free tampons for all. Fearing social media fury, no politician dared vote against it. If you want to help poorer women why not fund domestic violence shelters, Sure Start centres or mental health... But these are knotty, long-term issues which don’t have the ‘ta-dah!’ flourish of handing out free stuff.” Janice Turner in The Times…

If you lose your cash, you lose your discipline Tom Welsh The Daily Telegraph We in Britain are an imprudent people: an astonishingly high proportion of us have set aside no savings at all for our old age. And this isn’t just a function of low wages and low bank interest rates, says Tom Welsh: it’s a long-standing cultural thing. Compared to the Germans, we’re spendthrifts. And now another factor is fuelling our propensity to spend: the death of cash. As the cashpoint firm Link warned last week, all free ATMs in the UK could vanish within two years as digital payments become the norm. We are fast becoming a cashless society. And some social groups – the elderly, people without bank accounts – will find life far harder as…

Seagulls prefer stolen food Seagulls don’t just swoop down to grab the sandwich from your hand because it’s easy prey: it seems they actually prefer food stolen from humans. To investigate suspicions that seagulls are particularly attracted to food that has been handled, a team from the University ofExeter devised an experiment in which they approached individual herring gulls with two buckets, both concealing a wrapped flapjack. Once the researchers had gained the gulls’ attention, they removed the buckets and picked up one of the flapjacks, and handled it for 20 seconds before placing it back on theground. Of 38gulls tested in various seaside towns in Devon and Cornwall, 24 picked up one of the flapjacks – and of those, 19 chose the one that had been handled. To see…

Donald Trump often skips breakfast, and sometimes misses lunch too. Dinner is his “big thing”, says his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski. Typically, it’s from McDonald’s and includes two Big Macs, two fish burgers and a milkshake. It’s not been great for the presidential figure. Trump’s ex-doctor, Ronny Jackson, says he had a plan to help “Potus” lose weight – but he left his post before he could see it through. “We were working on his diet,” he told The New York Times. “We were making the ice cream less accessible, we were putting cauliflower in the mashed potatoes.” The Prime Minister’s sister, Rachel Johnson, has offered a lukewarm response to the news of another arrival into the clan. Speaking at Jewish Book Week, she detoured from the topic of…

“It’s not often that climate activists get to punch the air,” said The Guardian. But campaigners were understandably jubilant last Thursday when the Court of Appeal ruled that the Government’s plans to build a third runway at Heathrow were illegal. The judgment was greeted with delight by many who live under the airport’s flight paths; the third runway would have added at least 260,000 flights per year to the existing 475,000. But the judges also set an “extraordinary precedent” by ruling that the runway proposal didn’t take account ofthe Government’s commitments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement. It established an important principle. It’s the law, now, that we have to keep our emissions down. In general, Boris Johnson isn’t keen on uppity judges, said The Economist. But in this…

Premier League: Watford humble Liverpool “So the invincibles are vincible after all,” said Jim White in The Daily Telegraph. Liverpool’s astonishing 44-match unbeaten run in the Premier League finally ended last Saturday, with a 3-0 away defeat to Watford. The shocking loss – their first in 423 days – dashed their hopes of becoming the third side in top-flight history to win the League without losing a match. And it halted their run of consecutive wins at 18 – a tie for the all-time record with Manchester City. More surprising than the loss itself was its utterly one-sided manner, said Sachin Nakrani in The Observer. “Quite simply, Liverpool were battered.” The Hornets, who began the match second from the bottom of the league, refused to display any “inferiority complex”. Instead,…

To The Sunday Times Having advised the Greeks on the return of the “Elgin” (sic) marbles, I have looked into the history of their removal from the Parthenon. The seventh Earl of Elgin was from a family of Scottish thieves who were ostracised from polite society after he despoiled the Parthenon and his son looted and burnt the Summer Palace in Beijing. Such was the scandal over Elgin’s criminality that Lord Byron wrote The Curse of Minerva, excoriating him. A parliamentary inquiry was held, in which it became clear Elgin had stolen the marbles. He asked the British government for a huge sum of money and an English peerage in exchange for the marbles. Instead, the state reimbursed the bribes he had lavished on the Ottomans to turn ablind eye…

Soccer Mommy: Color Theory Loma Vista £9.99 As she proved on her debut album Clean, Sophia Allison – the 22-year-old Nashville musician who records as Soccer Mommy – is a “master at painting vivid pictures with lyrics, coupling earworm melodies and warm instrumentation with words that pack an emotional punch”, said Hannah Mylrea on NME. On this beautiful follow-up, Allison splits the songs into three sections, represented by blue (symbolising sadness), yellow (for physical and mental sickness) and grey (for darkness and loss). It may sound a mite pretentious, but stick with it: this is a “mature, brilliant album that wields its power over three distinct movements”. The disconnect between content and form is key to Allison’s writing, said Bessie Yuill in The Independent. Her “brutal honesty” is offset with…

Sanctuary: Artist-Gardeners 1919-1939 at the Garden Museum This selling exhibition at the Garden Museum focuses on a number of green-fingered British artists from the interwar period (1919-39) who drew inspiration from horticulture. While there are some relatively well-known names here – Eric Gill, Eric Ravilious and Evelyn Dunbar are all present and correct –most artists included will be unfamiliar to all but the most devoted fans of British art of the era. It’s a welcome introduction to a lot of overlooked talent: Harry Bush (1883-1957), for example, spent years painting the same set of views of his garden in suburban Wimbledon, producing canvases that echoed the marvels of Dutch Golden Age landscape painting. Other highlights include Margaret Duncan’s improbably dramatic view of Reigate, a gently surreal still life by Gerald…

A downcast Kate tells Alice that she isn’t pregnant, and has offered Jakob his freedom. Johnny asks Freddie if he’d like to move in with him and Hannah to help with rent; Freddie agrees. Lilian unveils The B’s new sign. After a failed audition, Roman turns to Tracy for moral support. Tracy later asks Helen for advice: should she let him meet her kids? Meanwhile Oliver saw Roman flirting with someone else and wonders if he should tell Tracy. Jim tries to track down Michael, the other victim of Jayston’s abuse, and discovers that the story has been broken in the press. Michael writes to say Jim gave him the courage to come forward. After the initial shock, Jim feels at peace and later thanks Shula for her help. Philip…

What the experts recommend Dulwich Lyceum 7 Croxted Rd, London SE21 (020-8670 5837) This new restaurant, named after Aristotle’s school of philosophy, sits at a crossroads “between Dulwich proper and the more knockabout charms of West Norwood,” said Keith Miller in The Daily Telegraph. Like its older sibling, the excellent Peckham Bazaar, it draws its inspiration from the Balkan Peninsula – “a crossroads in the ancient world, as in the modern one”. Chef-patron John Gionleka, who was born in Albania and studied for the Greek Orthodox priesthood, has a “distinctive” cooking style, based on robust ingredients and “strong and potentially antagonistic flavours”: native oysters paired with rhubarb; “beautifully slow-cooked lamb shoulder” accompanied by giant beans and ktipiti, a dip made from red pepper and feta. Evoking not any one…

Tips of the week… how to use a slow cooker ● Slow cookers cook at around 98°C. The “high” and “low” settings affect how long it takes the contents to get to a simmer (three or four hours on “high”, eight on “low”). ● Any casserole that needs a long, gentle simmer will work in a slow cooker. Three to four hours on “high” or seven to eight on “low” is equivalent to a one-hour simmer. ● Put the ingredients that need the most cooking, such as meat, or some root vegetables, at the bottom; heat is generated in the base and lower sides of the cooker. ● Try not to lift the lid while the pot is coming to a simmer, as heat will escape. Once it’s bubbling, lifting…

Egyptian dictator who was ousted during the Arab Spring Hosni Mubarak 1928-2020 On 6 October 1981, during a military parade in Cairo, Islamist soldiers jumped out of a truck, and in ahail of bullets and grenades, assassinated Egypt’s president, Anwar Sadat. Sitting beside him was his vice-president, aformer high-ranking air force officer. Hosni Mubarak had until then been viewed as no more than a stolid retainer, said The Economist –yet a week later, he assumed the presidency, and introduced sweeping emergency laws that would help keep him in power for the next 30 years. Autocratic and ruthless, he survived six assassination attempts and challenges from numerous internal rivals – until January 2011, when growing anger over corruption, inequality and his brutal suppression of dissent boiled over into massive pro-democracy protests…

“It was the only criminal case brought against UK banking executives for their actions during the financial crisis,” said Kalyeena Makortoff in The Guardian – and last week it collapsed spectacularly. Three former Barclays executives, “accused of funnelling secret fees to Qatar in exchange for emergency funding” in 2008, have been found not guilty of fraud. After a trial that lasted five months and cost the taxpayer £9-£10m, it took the jury less than six hours to throw out the case against Roger Jenkins, Tom Kalaris and Richard Boath. The verdict is a “fresh blow to the credibility of the Serious Fraud Office”. The emergency money was crucial for Barclays, said Jane Croft and Caroline Binham in the FT. The £11.2bn raised from Qatar and other Gulf states “helped the…

“Who better to deliver the final word on surviving difficult times than Warren Buffett,” asked Mark Atherton in The Sunday Times. As markets plummeted last week, “the world’s most successful investor”, who runs the £434bn Berkshire Hathaway group, told CNBC: “We’re buying businesses to own for 20 or 30 years. We buy them in whole, we buy them in parts, and we think the 20-and 30-year outlook is not changed by the coronavirus.” Plenty of people seem to have taken a gung-ho page from Buffett’s book. Fund supermarkets report that “adventurous investors”, looking to profit from market upheaval, have been ploughing money into Chinese and Asian funds. Investment platform AJ Bell reports that one of its most-bought funds currently is AGI Allianz China, which is 100% invested in Chinese industrial…

Jack Welch If anyone embodied the “cult of the CEO” over the past century, it was Jack Welch, the head of General Electric from 1981 to 2001, “who took the company founded by Thomas Edison a century before and brutally transformed it into the biggest US company by market value”, said the FT. In his pomp, Welch, who has died aged 84, was hailed as a business superstar: in 1999, Fortune named him “manager of the century”. To The Wall Street Journal, he was the man who “singlehandedly remade the conglomerate and changed the landscape of American corporations”. “There was no corporate leader like ‘neutron’ Jack,” Donald Trump tweeted this week. “He was my friend and supporter. We made wonderful deals together.” Born in Massachusetts to an Irish Catholic family…

Controversy of the week A mandarin’s revenge “Imagine the archetypal career civil servant, and Sir Philip Rutnam is it,” said Mark Townsend and Toby Helm in The Observer. Privately schooled and educated at Cambridge and Harvard universities, the owlish Permanent Secretary to the Home Office had always been considered “unflappable and discreet”. But last weekend, the 54-year-old mandarin became Home Secretary Priti Patel’s “biggest headache”, when he resigned from her department in fury. In an extraordinary, “explosive” statement, he accused her of bullying and creating “fear” among colleagues. “I have received allegations that her conduct has included shouting and swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands,” he said (Patel denies the claims). Rutnam also announced that he would sue for constructive dismissal, having been the target of a“vicious and…

Tom Daley’s off day This time four years ago, Tom Daley was tipped for gold at the Rio Olympics. “I was 22, at my peak,” he told Tom Lamont in The Guardian. It was the diver’s third Olympics: to prepare for it, he’d trained extensively for four years; he’d avoided alcohol for two years, and had made sure to get nine hours’ sleep every night. He was in such winning form that in a qualifying round, he set an Olympic record – but on the morning of the semi-finals, he woke up feeling a tiny bit out of sorts. “There was just something,” he says. “You know when you wake up and nothing will click? It was weird. Almost like I wasn’t in my own body.” Hours later, he was…

An 81-year-old woman used her pet parrot to torment her neighbours during a 16-year harassment campaign. Catherine Searle blared opera music to encourage the bird to squawk – making her neighbours’ lives a misery. “She’s continuously finding ways to overstimulate her parrot for days on end by playing the television loudly and is using it as a weapon,” said Lydia Appleton, the woman’s target. Searle was given a suspended sentence and restraining orders at Maidstone Magistrates Court. A motorist called Astin Martin has been handed a driving ban after being caught doing 93mph in a 30mph zone. The driver from Northumberland, whose full name is Astin Martin O’Brien, 30, led police on a dramatic chase before being jailed for eight months. The vehicle he chose for his high-speed escape bid?…

BELGIUM The big hole that is opening up in Brussels Der Tagesspiegel (Berlin) EU leaders are facing up to the reality of life after Brexit, says Albrecht Meier: Britain’s departure from the bloc has blown a s75bn hole in Brussels’ budget for the next seven years. Last week’s summit should have helped set in motion projects like the EU’s “green new deal” to tackle climate change and cut emissions. Instead, the talks descended into acrimony as leaders squabbled over how to fill the void left by UK contributions. The “frugal four” – Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden –want EU spending to be capped at 1% of gross national income. They enjoy the tacit support of Germany, which fears it may be forced to plug the gap left by the…

In popular culture, drivers of expensive cars are as brash as their cars are flash – and it turns out that the stereotype may have some basis in fact. A new study by the University of Nevada has found that drivers of high-end cars are less considerate towards pedestrians than other drivers. The finding was made during a project to find out why, in the US, some groups – including men and black people – are more likely to be knocked over on the road than others. The team monitored pedestrians as they approached two crosswalks – the US equivalent of zebra crossings – in Portland and noted how often drivers stopped for them, and the type of vehicle involved each time. It turned out that the gender and race…

There is “double cause for celebration” behind Downing Street’s black door, said Camilla Tominey in The Sunday Telegraph. This week, Carrie Symonds – the Prime Minister’s “First Girlfriend” – revealed on Instagram that she and Johnson had got engaged at the end of last year. The former director of communications for the Tory party added: “And we’ve got a baby hatching early summer. Feel incredibly blessed.” It means that Boris Johnson will become the first sitting PM to marry since Lord Liverpool in 1822. But he won’t be the first in recent decades to balance sleepless nights and dirty nappies with one of Britain’s most demanding jobs: Tony Blair’s wife Cherie gave birth to Leo in May 2000, and David Cameron and his wife Samantha had Florence in 2010. On…

Tyson Fury’s brilliant victory over Deontay Wilder last month raised a truly mouth-watering prospect, says Gareth Davies in The Daily Telegraph: that of a “showdown” between the “Gypsy King” and Britain’s other boxing superstar, Anthony Joshua. The pair hold all four heavyweight belts between them – meaning that a Fury-Joshua fight would be for the “overall crown”. The time for the bout is clearly now, yet it looks set to be long delayed – or even scuppered altogether – by boxing’s exceptionally convoluted politics. Last week, Wilder triggered a clause in his contract giving him the right to a rematch with Fury. This means that in order to win the right to fight Joshua, Fury first has to beat Wilder for a second time (their rematch is expected to take…

Next month, the first major UK exhibition devoted to Artemisia Gentileschi, arguably the greatest female Old Master, will open at the National Gallery in London. And last week a conservation studio unveiled an exciting discovery, said Joanna Moorhead in The Art Newspaper: a painting of David and Goliath newly attributed to the artist, a follower of Caravaggio. It was bought in 2018 by a collector who enlisted Simon Gillespie Studio in London to restore the painting. Upon examination, the work “seemed characteristic of Gentileschi in its atmosphere and especially in the sinuous figure of David”, said the scholar Gianni Papi in The Burlington Magazine. There is also evidence that King Charles I owned a depiction of the subject by Gentileschi. But then came the clincher: further cleaning revealed the remains…

Programmes Hilary Mantel: Return to Wolf Hall Film following the Booker Prize-winning author in the run-up to publication of her third Thomas Cromwell novel, entwining her life story with the phenomenon of the trilogy’s success. Sat 7 Mar, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Liar Series two of the psychological drama continues. As the investigation unfolds, Laura wonders who she can trust. Joanne Froggatt stars. Mon 9 Mar, ITV1 21:00 (60mins); series one is available on catch-up. Joanna Lumley’s Hidden Caribbean In Havana, the first stop on Lumley’s latest journey; she visits a cigar factory and Hemingway’s favourite beach. Tue 10 Mar, ITV1 21:00 (60mins). Child of Our Time: Turning 20 A catch-up with three of the subjects of the ongoing series following people born in Britain in 2000. Now 20, they reflect…

Brown trout with leeks Serves 2 2 medium or 1 large brown trout, scaled and gutted extra virgin rapeseed (canola) oil sea salt small bunch of lovage 4 leeks, trimmed of their tops and sliced into 2cm rounds 200g butter, cubed 500ml cider • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Make a few diagonal incisions on each side of the fish, rub with oil and season with salt. Stuff the belly of the fish with some of the lovage. • Place the leeks upright, in a layer, in a large roasting pan. Dot the butter around the leeks. Place the rest of the lovage on top of the leeks and top with the fish. Pour over the cider. • Bake the fish in the oven for 20 minutes, basting occasionally. Allow…

Auto Express There is “a glut of new city cars” hitting the market this year; many of them are electric, including the Vauxhall Corsa-e, the Mini electric and the Peugeot e-208. The Honda e has been one of the most anticipated, and it has “charm by the bucket-load”. But you “pay for the privilege”. With a range of just 137 miles, you wonder if it’s a compelling small electric car – or a pricey frippery? What Car? You can get the Honda e with 134bhp or 152bhp, but the latter will only increase the already-quick 0–62mph speed by 0.7 seconds. “Off the line, the e is very responsive”, making it very well suited to urban driving. Performance does “tail off” at motorway speeds, but it’s still impressive. The ride is…

The Mudhouse Puttalam, Sri Lanka This “rustic hideaway” is set on a 60-acre wilderness estate in the forested and lake-studded heartland of Sri Lanka. Adhering to a “sustainable” ethos, it is a “grounding, healing” sort of place, says Tatler – and wonderful for children, who can run around “free and safe”. There is no electricity – just lamps, candles and bonfires – and everything is handmade, including the furniture and the mud houses in which guests are accommodated. The food is “fabulous”, and there are plenty of guided activities, including boating, wild swimming, hiking in the hills and yoga classes. From £147pp (£74 per child over four) full board; themudhouse.lk…

Aston Martin: wacky racers Few need reminding that James Bond’s favourite carmaker is up against it, after “a turbulent year” that culminated recently in a £500m bailout, said Myles McCormick in the FT. But 18 months after it floated, Aston Martin is even further into the red than thought. The company’s losses deepened to £104m last year (up from £68m previously). The figure was “accentuated” by a £49m charge caused by shelving a plan to launch the first all-electric Aston vehicle. But it has nonetheless prompted a major boardroom clear-out. Both the finance chief, Mark Wilson, and the chair, Penny Hughes, were “propelled into orbit” after the carmaker hit the ejector-seat button last week, said Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph. “Even James Bond doesn’t dispatch his enemies this…

Paris Polanski protest: Several high-profile French actresses walked out of the César Awards ceremony last Friday in disgust at Roman Polanski winning best director for J’accuse, an account of the Dreyfus affair. Polanski – who was not in attendance – has been a fugitive from justice in the US since 1978, when he fled the country shortly after admitting to having had unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl. Adèle Haenel (pictured), who has been nominated for best actress, shouted “Shame” as she left the room. She recently revealed that she had been abused as a child by another director. There were also angry protests outside the ceremony. Paris Macron gets tough: President Emmanuel Macron revealed this week that he plans to force his controversial pension reforms through the National Assembly…

1 Greatest Living Creature, written and performed by John Grant 2 Non-Alignment Pact, written and performed by Pere Ubu 3* I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, byGeorge Frideric Handel, performed by Joan Sutherland, with the LSO (Adrian Boult) 4 Teacher Don’t Teach Me Nonsense, written and performed by Fela Kuti 5 Dido’s Lament: When I amLaid in Earth, by Henry Purcell, performed by Jessye Norman, with the English Chamber Orchestra (Raymond Leppard) 6 World in Action, by Shawn Phillips and Mick Weaver, performed by Matt Berry 7 The Wheels on the Bus, by Verna Hills, performed by Leonard Pearcey and Mary Thomas 8 The People United Will Never Be Defeated! by Frederic Rzewski, performed by Igor Levit Book: physics textbooks * Choice if allowed only one record Luxury: back catalogue…

Flu, first described by Hippocrates in 412 BC, is one of the oldest diseases known to man. It was thought in the past to be caused by astrological influences, hence the name. The first known flu pandemic was in 1580 and there have been nine more in the last 300 years. It wasn’t until 1933 that British scientists first isolated a human flu virus. There are three main flu families, A, B and C. In recent history, three main types of influenza A have circulated freely in humans, each causing a pandemic. The H1N1 Spanish flu strain is still in circulation and causes periodic epidemics; the swine flu pandemic of 2009 was caused by a new variant of it. The 1957 Asian flu pandemic, which killed millions worldwide, was brought…

How death is eying up the White House Jack Shafer Politico The vice presidency has long been regarded as the booby prize of US politics, says Jack Shafer – a powerless post awarded simply to boost the candidate’s appeal with certain sections of the electorate. One of its former incumbents, John Nance Garner, memorably likened it to a “warm bucket of piss”. But today, it has “miraculously become Washington’s second most desirable job”. That’s not because the role has changed, but because the “actuarial odds” suggest the next VP has an unusually high chance of having to step in to complete their boss’s term. Donald Trump, 73, is clinically obese, eats poorly, reportedly only sleeps for 4-5 hours a night, and had a mysterious, rushed visit to hospital in November.…

The Earth has acquired a tiny new moon – but it isn’t going to stick around for long. On 15 February, astronomers in Arizona spotted a dim object moving across the sky. Over the next few days, further monitoring confirmed that it had been gravitationally bound to Earth for about three years. The object is between 1.9 and 3.5 metres across – about the size of a car – and is circling our planet in an oval-shaped orbit that lasts 47 days. Announcing the discovery, the Minor Planet Centre said “no link to a known artificial object has been found” – implying that the object is probably an asteroid that was captured by Earth’s gravity as it passed by. If so, it would be only the second “mini-moon” known to…

Welcome to “Brexit Two, the rematch”, said Gideon Rachman in the FT. As UK and EU negotiators prepared for the formal start of post-Brexit trade talks this week, the two sides exchanged threats like boxers at a title-fight weigh-in. Boris Johnson’s corner warned that Britain – which is hoping to put pressure on the EU by holding parallel trade talks with the US – would walk away from the negotiations as early as June if there was no prospect by then of a Canada-style free-trade deal. Brussels, meanwhile, ramped up its “level playing field” demands, which it insisted were a condition for any deal. French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian warned that Britain and the EU would “rip each other apart” in the forthcoming talks. It is all “very exciting”…

“When ideas fail, words come in very handy.” Goethe, quoted in Forbes “Fix it, close it or sell it.” Management advice from Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, quoted in The Times “Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known.” Carl Sagan, quoted in Popular Science “I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” Susan Sontag, quoted in Lapham’s Quarterly “Americans love change, but they hate to be changed.” British journalist Godfrey Hodgson, quoted in The Washington Post “Life is physics orchestrated.” Theoretical physicist Brian Greene, quoted in Nature “A generation that cannot endure boredom will be a generation of little men, of men unduly divorced from the slow processes of nature.” Bertrand Russell, quoted on Aeon.co “A luxury liner is just a bad play surrounded by water.”…

Making life easy... To The Daily Telegraph I arrived at Venice airport on Monday. Everyone was tested by staff in protective outfits. We were all asked to stand to one side and a device was pointed at our foreheads to test our temperature. I believe ifour reading was above a certain degree, we would have been taken into isolation and tested further. No one objected. I flew back to Gatwick from Venice on Tuesday. The plane was full, and many passengers wore masks. Onleaving the plane, everyone went through baggage claim and out through an empty customs area. There were few staff in the airport and no one was tested. Since we had flown in from Venice, near the worst outbreak of coronavirus anywhere outside Wuhan, China, why was no…

National Portrait Gallery, London WC2 (020-7306 0055, npg.org.uk). Until 28 June “When it comes to wielding a pencil, an etching needle or just a felt pen, David Hockney has no rivals,” said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. Although most celebrated for his paintings, the great artist is at heart a draughtsman: a “graphic master”. Now aged 82, he has been drawing himself and his friends with rigorous scrutiny for six decades, and as this “staggering” new show of his portraits at the National Portrait Gallery makes clear, the results of his tireless sketching are a joy. The show brings together around 150 works that trace Hockney’s career from the 1950s to the present day, focusing on self-portraits and depictions of a select group of his regular sitters: the fashion designer…

Best books… Rachel Reeves The economist, author and MP for Leeds West chooses her favourite books to coincide with International Women’s Day, on 8 March. Her latest book, Women of Westminster (Bloomsbury £9.99), is out now in paperback A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf, 1929 (Penguin £8.99). I read this in one sitting in a café in San Francisco, having bought it in the City Lights bookshop. Amanifesto of sorts, of what women need to live an independent and intellectual life, and how many have been deprived of this. The Village by Marghanita Laski, 1952 (Persephone Books £15). The fantastic Persephone Books brings forgotten books, particularly by women, back to life. This novel is set in postwar England where old class prejudices are being challenged and broken down.…

Lager is often seen as the “lowest of the low in the beer world”, says Melissa Cole in The Guardian. But the weak “yellow stuff” we call lager has little in common with the real thing, which must be “left in a cold maturation environment for at least a month” (lagerung means “storage” in German). Fortunately, traditional methods are being revived, and some delicious brews are now available. These can reach “dizzying heights in alcohol content”, such as the complex and elegant Kulmbacher Eisbock (£3 for £330ml; beersofeurope.co.uk; 9.2%), which is perfect “paired with a good, poky cheese”. The more modern, hop-forward drinks can taste almost like a pale ale, yet still have the “refreshing drinkability” we associate with lager: try Camden Brewery’s Show Off (£1.95 for 330ml; Morrisons; 5.8%),…

Dyson Airwrap Making styling your own hair easy while avoiding the use of extreme heat, the Airwrap became a “Holy Grail product” when it launched last year. The different attachments allow you to create loose waves, curls or smooth hair (from £400; dyson.co.uk). Sarah Chapman Pro Hydro-Mist Steamer Created by Sarah Chapman – the founder of Chelsea’s Skinesis Clinic, and Meghan Markle’s facialist – this steamer is designed to mimic the effects of a spa facial, with tiny steam particles (£119; net-a-porter.com). Foreo Luna Play Ideal for frequent travellers, the smallest (and cheapest) of Foreo’s silicon cleansing brushes uses sonic pulses to massage your face as it cleanses. You’re advised to use it for a minute twice a day, and the battery should last for about 100 uses (£29; superdrug…

Luxury hotel in Cheshire Spend two nights at the Rookery Hall Hotel & Spa, a unique country house with commanding views, from £147pp b&b. 01270-610016, handpickedhotels.co.uk. Arrive 24 April. Southwest France Enjoy some peace and quiet with seven nights at the charming Le Colombier, from £301pp (two sharing) self-catering, excluding flights. 01954-261431, vintagetravel. co.uk. Arrive 18 April. A week in Cyprus Stay at the elegant five-star The Royal Apollonia, located directly on the beach, from £899pp full-board, including Belfast flights. 020-3368 6221, broadwaytravel.com. Depart 15 April. Sacred land of Peru The six-night independent tour starts in Lima with stops in Cusco and Aguas Calientes, from £1,659pp b&b, including tour guide and flights. 01342-889308, tropicalsky.co.uk. Depart May.…

Stock markets suffered their worst week since the financial crisis of 2008 as concerns about the spread of the coronavirus and its impact on global growth spooked traders. In a broad sell-off, the US S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones all entered “correction” territory – defined as a 10% fall from their recent peak. Goldman Sachs warned that US firms could record zero earnings growth this year if the virus spreads widely. The FTSE 100 fell 8% in four days, wiping some £162bn off the value of Britain’s largest companies, before clawing back some lost ground this week. Central banks moved onto a war footing to shore up growth. The US, Australia and Malaysia all cut interest rates. The Fed’s emergency half-point cut (to 1%-1.25%) is likely to be followed…

● Gold’s “swoon” Is nowhere safe, asked Bloomberg. Having risen to a seven-year high of$1,689 at the start of last week, even gold – that traditional safe haven – was left “with a black eye” by the bloody end of it. The precious metal’s stately rally (it has added almost a quarter to its value since the start of 2019) was rudely interrupted when prices fell by 3.6% last Friday – the worst one-day fall since 2013. True, compared to the 10% hammering taken by equities, that was small beer. But for some, the slide carried echoes of a worrying precedent. Gold’s “swoon” mirrored ablip during the financial crisis when the spot price fell by more than a quarter between July and late October 2008 – “a rare phenomenon for…

Prepare for a government bailout Editorial The Observer The coronavirus panic has triggered a developing emergency for the world economy, says The Observer. The “parallels with the 2008 financial crisis have become all too clear”, and the question now is how central banks and governments can stem the bleeding. But after a decade of record-low interest rates, central banks can’t cut much further. Perhaps the “least well-equipped” is the European Central Bank, which has already resorted to negative rates to counter weak growth. And while the Bank of England is slightly better placed, its rate remains stuck at 0.75% (compared with 5.75% at the outset of the last crisis), and it is already running a £435bn quantitative easing programme. The wider economic point is that “monetary policy cannot keep factories…

The week’s best shares IntegraFin Holdings The Sunday Times IntegraFin provides investment products to financial advisers via its Transact platform and its valuation has grown impressively: from £650m in 2018, to £1.6bn. Nonetheless cheaper than peers. Buy. 479p. CRH Investors Chronicle Brexit uncertainty has impacted the UK construction market, but this building materials group is benefiting from “positive demand” in the US. Disposals have reduced losses and margins are expected to expand. Buy. £26.17. Frontier Developments The Sunday Telegraph Digital delivery has boosted demand and driven up margins for the video games developer. With support from “deep-pocketed” Chinese tech giant Tencent, “stellar” growth is predicted. Buy. £11.50. Golden Prospect Precious Metals The Mail on Sunday This trust invests in overlooked small gold mining firms with strong management, robust balance sheets…