Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1301 i The Week

What happened The Covid divide Boris Johnson came under mounting pressure this week to impose a short national lockdown, after the Labour leader Keir Starmer broke ranks to call for a “circuit breaker” in England. Documents released on Monday had revealed that government scientists recommended such a policy last month, as a way of bringing the virus back under control. The Government opted at that time to introduce more limited measures such as the 10pm curfew for pubs and restaurants. On Monday, the PM set out a new three-tier system for local lockdowns, dividing England into areas of medium, high and very high risk. Liverpool was the first region to face the strictest measures, with the closure of all bars and pubs not serving full meals, and household mixing banned…

Tommy Steele, who was awarded a knighthood, more than six decades after his first chart hit, in the Queen’s birthday honours. Joan Armatrading was among the other musicians honoured (she was made CBE). Poirot actor David Suchet was knighted; Mary Berry and Maureen Lipman were made Dames; and Marcus Rashford, the footballer and campaigner, was made MBE. Bletchley Park, the Second World War codebreaking centre, after it was given £1m by Facebook in recognition of its status as the “spiritual home of modern computing”. A museum since 1994, Bletchley was plunged into financial crisis by the lockdown. It said the money would help keep it going for another two years. Public health, with the news that the pandemic may have encouraged people to stop smoking. More than 643,000 smokers in…

More than 1,300 arts organisations and venues across England – including Bristol Old Vic, London’s Wigmore Hall and the Cavern Club in Liverpool – are to be granted emergency government funding, it was confirmed this week. The recipients welcomed the distribution of the £257m in bailout money – the first allocation from the £1.57bn Cultural Recovery Fund. However, there were warnings that it might not be enough to avert a crisis in the arts, and that more must be done to help freelancers in the industry who’ve lost their livelihoods in the pandemic.…

Assisi, Italy Patron saint of the internet: An Italian teenager who used his computer skills to spread his Catholic faith has been beatified at a ceremony in Assisi, putting him on course to become the first “millennial” saint. Carlo Acutis, who died of leukaemia in 2006 aged 15, was born in London to Italian parents and brought up in Milan. Dubbed the “cyberapostle of the Eucharist”, he built a website providing information on religious miracles. He also worked with the homeless. The Vatican agreed to his beatification after accepting that a Brazilian boy had been cured of a pancreatic disease in 2013, as a result of a priest praying for Acutis’s intercession. Paris Pricey pied à terre: King Mohammed VI of Morocco has invited mockery and derision from his domestic…

Hockney in lockdown “Lockdown was good for me,” says David Hockney. Holed up in his farmhouse in Normandy, with no visitors to distract him, the artist was able to devote himself entirely to his work, he told Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. He has drawn the fires in his grate, pears ripening in orchards and even droplets of rain on his window. “I don’t think a day has gone by when I haven’t drawn.” Drawing is of fundamental importance. “The teaching of drawing is the teaching of looking,” he explains. “That’s the importance of art. To remind us to look and to see. Even if you are stuck inside with only one tree outside your window, you can see the leaves happen, you can see the tree grow and change.…

The Qiui Cellmate has a unique selling point: it is the “world’s first app-controlled chastity device”. Billed as both an “anti-cheating” and a “submission sex play” product, it clamps a metal ring around the (male) user’s genitals and only allows a trusted partner to release it. However, researchers have revealed that it is vulnerable to being exploited by hackers, who could potentially trap thousands of users en masse. Qiui denied the claim and added that, in emergencies, the devices could be prised open with a screwdriver. A new wellness trend is sweeping the Netherlands: “cow hugging”. The practice, which dates back a decade but is surging in popularity, involves touring a farm before resting on a cow for up to three hours. The cows’ huge size, slow heartbeat and warm…

INDIA Crimes of a caste-ridden patriarchy Hindustan Times (New Delhi) It is a case that has left “a gaping wound in the conscience of a nation”, says Yashovardhan Azad. Last month, a 19-year-old Dalit woman, from the bottom of Hinduism’s caste hierarchy, was allegedly gang-raped by four upper-caste men in Hathras district, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. She was left “barely alive” and partially paralysed by the brutal attack, and lost her fight for life two weeks later. Events played out as they usually do in such cases. Police were painfully slow to register a complaint or launch an investigation; officials cast doubt on her family’s version of events. Shockingly, the police cremated her body in the middle of the night, against Hindu tradition and seemingly without…

The song of the blue whale is by far the loudest on the planet. A mistle thrush can be heard half a mile away; the blue whale’s low-frequency bellows and trills can be heard by other whales at distances of at least 500 miles. Only male whales sing these songs – just detectable by the human ear – and until now, it was assumed they were mating calls. But a team of scientists at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Station, led by biologist William Oestreich, have found that the whales are also using their voices for a very different reason: saying goodbye before setting off on a 4,000-mile trip to warmer climes. The whales the scientists have been studying off the coast of Monterey for the past five years – using underwater…

Much was made of Donald Trump’s maskless photo-op on his return to the White House, following his hospitalisation with Covid-19. But it was nothing compared to the president’s original plan. “When he left the hospital, he wanted to appear frail at first when people saw him,” said The New York Times. Then, the 74-year-old was going to rip open his button-down shirt to reveal a Superman top underneath. But wiser voices may have prevailed. “He ultimately did not go ahead with the stunt,” the paper deadpanned. In his new book on Princes William and Harry, Robert Lacey offers an insight into the Duchess of Cornwall’s character. The historian claims that when she was still Camilla Parker Bowles, she once arrived at a supermarket in Chippenham and parked in a convenient…

This has been a uniquely “turbulent” year for the Los Angeles Lakers, said Alex Raskin in the Daily Mail. Last October, during a pre-season tour of China, team members were holed up in their hotel rooms for days because the manager of another NBA team, the Houston Rockets, had tweeted in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, prompting a diplomatic row. Two months later, Kobe Bryant, one of the most “iconic” players in Lakers history, was killed (with his daughter and seven others) in a helicopter crash. Then came the Covid crisis and a four-month suspension of the season. “Yet, through it all – calamities, big and small – the Lakers remained determined to chase the franchise’s first championship since 2010 – also the year of Bryant’s last title,” said…

To The Spectator Petronella Wyatt thinks only the Chinese are more regimented than the British. My wife and I are currently in La Rochelle which is in a “zone verte”. Yet when it comes to wearing masks the compliance level is close to 100%, even when walking around en plein air. Failure to comply risks looks of withering disapproval. I simply couldn’t imagine a similar response back home. Stephen Miller, Belwood, Midlothian To The Daily Telegraph Nick Timothy berates the Government for its handling of the coronavirus. Mistakes have been made, but out of 20 European countries, we have the tenth highest number of Covid-19 cases per million of population (as of 1 October). For Covid-19 deaths per million of population, we are third, but of these 20 countries, we…

A puppet’s epic walk In what must be “one of the most ambitious public artworks ever attempted”, a team of artists are planning to walk a giant puppet of a nine-year-old refugee girl from Syria to the UK, said Mark Brown in The Guardian. Dreamt up by Good Chance, the team behind a “celebrated dramatisation” of the refugee camps at Calais, and executed by the creators of the puppets for War Horse, the project will start at the Turkish-Syrian border next April. The puppet, nicknamed Little Amal, will then travel 4,971 miles to Britain, via Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and France. The 3.5-metre-tall figure will stop in 70 towns of all sizes on the journey, where it will be welcomed with street parties and will take part in performances.…

Fallon’s fretting over Johnny’s lost scratch card, but Alice guesses that something else is wrong. Fallon’s afraid of telling Harrison about not wanting children, while Alice admits she’s pregnant. Out for a spin around Brookfield, Ben and Jill spot some old coins in Marneys field. Jill tells Ben to ask at the university for help, and soon there’s interest from archaeology student Evie and Felpersham Museum. After their first midwife appointment, Alice is distressed and worried that her earlier drinking might have harmed the baby, and comes clean to Chris about breaking the pact. She and Chris promise there’ll be no more drinking. While enjoying some home brew with Alistair, Jazzer discovers a winning scratch card. He doesn’t remember buying it, but convinces himself he did. Meanwhile Freddie has posted…

To coincide with its 40th birthday, homelessness charity The Passage has published a cookbook, with recipes from chefs and celebrities. Claudia Roden offers this “deconstructed” version of mantı, a Turkish meat-stuffed pasta. Pasta with minced lamb and yogurt sauce Serves 4 1 large onion, cut in half and sliced 3 tbsp olive or sunflower oil 400g minced lamb 1½ tsp cinnamon ½ tsp allspice 1½ tbsp pomegranate molasses (optional) 200g pappardelle 25g flat leaf parsley, chopped 400g plain whole milk yogurt at room temperature 2 garlic cloves, crushed chilli pepper, to taste 40g butter, melted salt and freshly ground black pepper • In a large frying pan, fry the onion in the oil over a medium-low heat, stirring often, for about 15 minutes, until very soft. Add the minced lamb,…

The theme of the launch for the new Ferrari Roma was “La Nuova Dolce Vita”. The car, with all its “curves and cutaways”, is meant to reflect the glamour of the 1960 Fellini film (though no Ferraris actually feature in it), said Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph. It may not quite live up to that hope, but there’s no denying that this is a good-looking car, with an “opulent and exceedingly high-tech” interior. Ferrari claims it’s “for people looking for an everyday car”, which seems questionable, but if you have £171k to spare, the Roma is a great “blast from the company’s past”. Taking inspiration from the classic Ferrari grand tourers of the 1950s and 1960s, the Roma is “understated” by the maker’s aggressive standards, said Mr JWW in…

Apple: 5G flagship Every major new Apple launch tends to split the critics. The arrival this week of a range of four “5G-enabled” iPhones, spearheaded by the flagship $799 iPhone 12, was no exception, said Tim Higgins in The Wall Street Journal. Some pundits reckon the move will spur “record sales” and a lucrative new upgrade cycle for the computer titan – reminiscent of “the kind of dramatic growth seen in the iPhone’s earliest days, when every annual iteration promised new technological leaps and must-have features”. Analyst Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities called the launch “a once-in-a-decade type opportunity”. Still, plenty of sceptics “question the appeal of faster speeds”, and some Apple fans may be put off by concerns about “the technology’s impact on health” – despite reassurances –…

The unequal recovery from Covid-19 Editorial The Economist The pandemic has given the world economy its biggest shock since WWII, says The Economist. But while the crash was “synchronised”, “huge gaps” are now opening up between the performance of countries, “which could yet recast the world’s economic order”. According to OECD forecasts, the US economy will next year recover to become “the same size as in 2019”. In China, by contrast, the economy is predicted to grow by 10%. The difference is down to a variety of factors. “Most important is the spread of the disease”, which has “all but stopped” in China. Another advantage is the dominance of manufacturing: it is far easier to operate factories than to run service-sector businesses under social distancing. But a third factor is…

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, who was forced to disown a “crass” advertisement suggesting that a ballet dancer named Fatima might have to retrain for a career in “cyber”. The ad was part of a 2019 campaign to promote careers in the cyber sector, but it triggered an online backlash from people who said the Government should be doing more to support jobs in the arts. Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress, who was attacked for taking on the role of Cleopatra in a new Hollywood film. On social media, her critics said that an Arab or African actress should have been cast as the Queen of the Nile, even though she was of Macedonian Greek descent.…

47% of Britons suffer “recycling shame” – feeling guilty about failing to sort paper, glass and plastics properly. 70% of Britons say they have returned to their wheelie bin to fish out items already thrown out. 24% say they are avid recyclers at home, but don’t sort their waste when they are out. Signify/The Daily Telegraph 42% of UK voters think current coronavirus restrictions do not go far enough in their area of the country. 14% think they go too far, and 34% think they are about right. YouGov/The Times 50% of the British Medical Association’s members say the law should be changed to allow them to prescribe life-ending drugs. 39% disagree. BMA/The Times…

Lansing, Michigan Kidnap plot: Six men with connections to a right-wing militia have been charged with conspiring to kidnap the Michigan state governor Gretchen Whitmer – a Democrat who has frequently clashed with President Trump over his coronavirus response. According to the FBI, they discussed recruiting 200 men to storm the state capitol, before deciding that they’d seize her instead at her holiday home. Investigators say their intention was to foment a civil war. Whitmer became a hate figure for some on the libertarian Right in the US earlier this year when she gave strong support to state lockdowns. In April, thousands of protesters, some armed, besieged the capitol in Lansing in protest, and President Trump tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!” in apparent approval. Washoe County, Nevada Covid reinfection: A 25-year-old man…

1* The Greatest Love of All by Linda Creed and Michael Masser, performed by George Benson 2 Waiting in Vain by Bob Marley, performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers 3 Puttin’ On the Ritz by Irving Berlin, performed by Ella Fitzgerald 4 Once, written and performed by Stan Getz 5 Begin the Beguine by Cole Porter, performed by Julio Iglesius 6 The Prince of Denmark’s March by Jeremiah Clarke, performed by the London Gabrieli Brass Ensemble 7 Are You Gonna Go My Way by Lenny Kravitz and Craig Ross, performed by Lenny Kravitz 8 Smile by John Turner, Geoffrey Parsons and Charlie Chaplin, performed by Nat King Cole Book: Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama Luxury: a neck rest * Choice if allowed only one record…

For the Yurok in northwestern California, offsetting has become a way of life. For each tonne of carbon that the tribe can prove its forests have sequestered from the atmosphere, the California Air Resources Board issues the Native American tribe one offset credit. Polluting industries can then buy these in order to comply with the state’s greenhouse emissions cap. The project, among the first in the US, has become a major source of income for the tribe, and has allowed it to buy back around 60,000 of acres of its historical territory. This is kept as sustainable forestry, improving water quality and protecting local species such as salmon. Unfortunately, not all schemes work as well. The voluntary market is about a hundredth the size of the compliance market, and big…

Putting US politics back in the slow lane Alyssa Rosenberg The Washington Post “Mr Vice-President, I’m speaking.” That’s what passed for “fireworks” at last week’s vice-presidential debate in Salt Lake City, says Alyssa Rosenberg. After the rancorous clash between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, and the president’s subsequent antics, the “relative normality” of the debate between Vice-President Pence and Sen. Kamala Harris had a curiously calming effect. As Commentary editor Noah Rothman put it on Twitter: “The complete sentences. The false sincerity. The naked mendacity delivered in affecting and compelling tones. It’s like we fell into a portal to The Beforetime.” But while many found the serious tone of the debate refreshing, some viewers complained about the “lack of pyrotechnics”, citing the fly that perched on Pence’s head as the…

When we gaze with affection on our pets, we like to think the feeling is reciprocated, but new research suggests dogs are actually not much good at recognising human faces. A team at Eötvös Loránd University, in Budapest, conducted MRI brain scans on 30 men and women and 20 dogs (all pets) as they were shown videos of dog and human faces. When the humans were shown the faces, the visual cortex in their brains burst into life; but the dogs’ brains displayed no more excitement on being shown the faces than when shown the back of people’s heads. “We found no dog brain regions which seemed to be tuned to care about faces,” researcher Attila Andics explained in The Journal of Neuroscience. For recognition purposes, the canine brain relies…

“Well, you live and learn. Then, of course, you die and forget it all.” Noël Coward, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Another belief of mine: that everyone else my age is an adult, whereas I am merely in disguise.” Margaret Atwood, quoted on Medium.com “You can never plan the future by the past.” Edmund Burke, quoted in The Times “In France, if we wish to drain the swamps, we do not consult the frogs.” French senator Michel Delebarre, ibid. “America is the only nation in history which, miraculously, has gone directly from barbarism to degeneration without the usual interval of civilisation.” Georges Clémenceau, quoted in Forbes “Democracy requires a certain relish for confusion.” US columnist Molly Ivins, quoted on The Browser “One day you’re cock of the walk, the next…

Football England beat Belgium 2-1 to go top of their group in the Uefa Nations League. Marcus Rashford equalised with a first-half penalty; Mason Mount added a goal in the 64th minute. F1 Lewis Hamilton equalled Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 race wins by winning the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, Germany. He has a 69-point lead over his teammate Valtteri Bottas. Golf English player Tyrrell Hatton won the PGA Championship at Wentworth, beating Victor Perez of France by four shots.…

Diana Jones: Song To A Refugee Proper Records £11 The US folk revival that began in the 1940s “had as its figurehead a refugee”, said Ludovic Hunter-Tilney in the FT. In his Dust Bowl Ballads, Woody Guthrie sang of being an “Okie” who joined the mass migration from poverty-stricken Oklahoma, in search of work and opportunity in California. On her beautiful new album, Diana Jones draws on that tradition to sing about modern-day refugees, with music rooted in acoustic guitars and mandolins, and a style influenced by the old-time sounds of Appalachian country music. Many of the album’s cameos are drawn from the US-Mexico border, said Neil Spencer in The Observer, where the two young brothers in the song Where We Are “flounder in a chain-link cell”. But the album…

For French critics, it’s a national insult, for their US counterparts, it’s a frothy delight, and for Netflix, it’s a huge hit. Emily in Paris is a comedy-drama series about an obnoxious young American who goes to work for a marketing firm in Paris, said Ed Cumming in The Independent. Of course it’s not the real Paris – it’s that theme-park version of the city familiar from Amélie and scores of films like it. And yes, it’s irritating nonsense, but it is made by Sex and the City’s Darren Star, a man who “knows how to engineer something for an audience”. No one is going to turn it on expecting La Haine. Starring Lily Collins (daughter of Phil), Emily in Paris could be seen as a metaphor for US imperialism,…

If the War Goes On by Hermann Hesse, 1946 (Canongate £9.99). This short, intense book – rich in reflections on militarism, peace, war and politics – is set out in a series of articles spanning both World Wars. Hesse despised “the bloody absurdity of war”, and exiled himself from his German homeland in protest and in pursuit of a neutral space. A fascinating interior journey of a true democrat. Voices and the Sound of Drums by Patrick Shea, 1981 (Blackstaff Press, out of print). Patrick Shea was a very rare bird, a Catholic who in the 1970s reached the upper echelons of the mostly Protestant and Unionist Northern Ireland Civil Service. This memoir of his life in that “unbeautiful city of Belfast” is a gracious telling – fair, sane and…

The City of London Sinfonia will perform six socially distanced concerts in of Southwark Cathedral in October and November. The first features two serenades for strings, by Elgar and Tchaikovsky. In keeping with the CLS’s approach, the concert will begin with a short meditation session to enhance the restorative effects of the music; 22 October (cityoflondonsinfonia.co.uk). Over at Kings Place, the Brodsky Quartet perform Beethoven’s late string quartets – twice, at 6pm and 8pm – on 6 November; Kings Place, York Way, London N1 (kingsplace.co.uk).…

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, South Africa was becoming a “star player on the new world wine scene”, says Jane MacQuitty in The Times. Then the “lockdown-spooked” government imposed a series of measures – including delaying the harvest and a ban on alcohol – that were “devastating” for the wine industry. To help out, buy South African if you can. A fine example of the country’s most widely planted grape variety is Cederberg’s No. 1 Chenin Blanc 2019 (£9.99; Waitrose), which has a “big, buttery, banana-custard wallop”. South Africa also has some “awesome Rhôneinspired whites” – such as Voor Paardeberg’s delicious The Search 2018 (£9.99; Waitrose), a mix of grenache, marsanne and roussanne. South African reds are now largely free of their infamous “burnt rubber taint”. Kanonkop’s Kadette Pinotage 2018 (£14.99;…

Fjällräven Expedition Pack Down Hoodie This hoodie will keep you warm on chilly autumn days, but is slim enough to fit easily under a waterproof jacket. It is made from ethically sourced down and recycled nylon (£280; fjallraven.com). Aku Trekker Lite III GTX Low-weight and yet very well built, these boots from Italian maker Aku look sleeker than most. They are very robust, with a rigid sole, but have a very breathable upper layer of suede (£180; aku.it). Montane Trailblazer 8L Mission Backpack Extremely compact and snug-fitting, this well-priced backpack has loads of pockets and compartments, and is good for a day hike. It has a harness-like design to keep it close to your body without restricting movement (£50; montane.com). Páramo Cambia LS Zip Neck The Páramo range is made…

China’s stock market climbed to a record high, valued at more than $10trn, on the back of the country’s accelerating economic recovery. Imports in September were up 13.2% year-on-year, buoyed by demand for iron ore, agricultural commodities and semiconductors. Exports leapt by 9.9%, bolstered by strong sales of electrical devices and medical kit. The IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook painted a more challenging picture for the rest of the world, predicting that global GDP will contract by 4.4% in 2020. The Fund’s chief economist, Gita Gopinath, called on governments to continue providing support, arguing that “the ascent out of this calamity is likely to be long, uneven and highly uncertain”. In an escalation of trade tit-for-tats, the WTO gave the EU permission to impose tariffs on US exports worth $4bn,…

● Blue note After slipping nearly 4% in September, America’s benchmark S&P 500 index is “back near a record high”, said DealBook in The New York Times. Analysts are betting that a “blue wave” election – in which the Democrats win the presidency and control of Congress – “could be good for the stock market”. It wasn’t always thus. Back in June, Wall Street analysts were fretting about damaged confidence and the roll-back of President Trump’s tax breaks. But then talks over a $1trn package to stimulate the US economy failed, and coronavirus cases rose – to the point where a “blue wave would likely prompt us to upgrade our forecasts”, wrote Goldman Sachs analysts recently. ● Future worries Goldman’s argument is that the arrival of a giant, uncontested stimulus…

Tidjane Thiam When the former Credit Suisse CEO was ousted in February, “after a deeply embarrassing surveillance scandal erupted on his watch”, the news attracted “little notice outside Zurich”, said Kate Kelly in The New York Times. Thiam – who had previously led insurers Aviva and Prudential – denied any knowledge of the “spy games” and was later cleared of involvement. What’s more, during his five-year tenure at Credit Suisse he’d done “the job he was hired to do” – returning the bank to profit after a long decline. Yet the Swiss rejected the tall, Ivorian-born polyglot as “an outsider”. And we’re beginning to get a handle on just how insidious that rejection was. Last November, the bank’s chairman Urs Rohner held a 60th birthday party at which Thiam was…

A travel writer who suggested that staycationers might visit parts of Wales during the half-term holiday says he received such a torrent of online abuse, he has made “no further plans” to visit the country. Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, Simon Calder listed Ceredigion and Gwynedd as possible places to visit (along with other UK destinations). He said the abuse, from people concerned about Covid, was “off the scale”, but an “interesting lesson” on current sensitivities. The growing trend for car park operators to install Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras has led to a surge in the number of private parking fines issued – from 6.8 million to 9.8 million in a year. Last year, operators raked in a total of £1bn in fines.…

Next year’s A levels and GCSEs have been delayed by three weeks, to give students in England more time to catch up on missed teaching time during the pandemic. There had been calls for the exams to be cancelled, but Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said that they would go ahead, even if coronavirus restrictions were still in place in some areas – supported by contingencies for “all scenarios”. Results for both A levels and GCSEs will now be announced in the same week in late August. This will delay university admissions, but should not stop university terms starting on schedule.…

Edinburgh Uncivil war: A simmering row between Nicola Sturgeon and Alex Salmond escalated into open conflict last Sunday, when the First Minister claimed in a Sky News interview that her predecessor was “angry” because she had refused to “collude” in a plan to make sexual assault allegations against him “go away”. In March, Salmond was acquitted of 13 sexual offence charges, having earlier been awarded £512,250 in costs when a court ruled that a Scottish government investigation into his alleged misconduct had been unlawful. Sturgeon has since been embroiled in a Holyrood inquiry into how the case was handled. For his part, Salmond – whose allies accuse Sturgeon and her husband, the SNP’s CEO Peter Murrell, of conspiring to discredit him – was said to be “astonished” by his former…

Nagorno-Karabakh Ceasefire ends: Fighting resumed between Azerbaijan and Armenia this week over the disputed mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, after a ceasefire – brokered by Russia – broke down almost immediately. The territory lies within the internationally recognised borders of Azerbaijan, but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians. At least 500 people have been killed since the conflict erupted three weeks ago, the worst flare-up since a bloody war in the early 1990s in which 30,000 people died. Some 70,000 Armenians in the territory (about half the population) have fled the Azeri bombardments, which are hitting civilian areas as well as military bases. Azerbaijan accuses Armenia of bombing its second city, Ganja. Turkey, a close ally of Azerbaijan, has rejected international calls to end the fighting. Dhaka Death penalty: Bangladesh…

“When a British PM or monarch becomes sick, we get a few grudging, opaque statements from a faceless spokesperson. When Donald Trump goes to hospital, a posse of white-coated medics emerges the next day with the latest news. Led by the president’s personal physician, they comprise three specialists in pulmonary critical care and two in infectious diseases; one anaesthetist; three nurses; and one clinical pharmacist. Some may see this as an American commitment to transparency. I see it as a typically American projection of power. Look at me, the president seems to say, I command a veritable medical army before which even a lethal virus must tremble.” Peter Wilby in the New Statesman…

Joe won’t make Europe’s dream come true Mary Dejevsky The Independent Will Joe do it this time? Across the capitals of Europe, there’s a confident belief that if Biden wins the election – as it seems ever more likely he will – the world can return to the blissful normality of the pre-Trump era. “Dangerous wishful thinking,” I fear, says Mary Dejevsky. The truth is that a Biden-led America will be no “more orientated towards or supportive of Europe than Trump has been”. Don’t forget that Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama, was as disinclined as Trump is to see America act the part of the world’s policeman; remember that the “pivot to Asia” was an Obama policy. It was Robert Gates, Obama’s defence secretary, who in 2011 warned that Nato risked…

The link to the Stone Age It’s well known that being old or overweight dramatically increases the risk of developing severe Covid-19. But a study by an international research team, published in Nature, has now identified a risk factor linked to something far more surprising: the sex partners chosen by your ancestors in the Stone Age. Scientists in the Covid-19 Host Genetics Initiative examined 3,199 infected people, and found that a key determinant of whether or not they developed a bad case of the disease and needed hospitalisation was to be found in a genetic variant of a segment of DNA known as chromosome 3. This variant, which can triple the risk of patients falling severely ill with the virus, also has another surprising property: it matches the variant found…

Furlough 2.0: will it be enough? Another week, another government U-turn, said The Independent. “After repeatedly insisting he would not extend his furlough scheme” when it expired on 1 November, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, did “just that”. Last Friday, he announced an expansion of the Job Support Scheme to protect employees of companies forced to close as a result of the Government’s new three-tier “traffic light” lockdown restrictions. The new scheme – dubbed Furlough 2.0 – is “less generous” than the original programme, said Ben Chu in the same paper, with a cap of 67% of each worker’s salary, up to £2,100 a month (down from 80%, and £2,500 before), while firms will still have to pay national insurance and pension contributions. It will also be available only to…

Tennis: Nadal’s extraordinary achievement With “new dates, new balls and a new roof” over its main court, this year’s French Open had an unfamiliar feel, said Stuart Fraser in The Times. But in one respect, there was nothing new about the Grand Slam: it ended last Sunday with the “same old men’s singles champion”, as Rafael Nadal beat his “arch-nemesis” Novak Djokovic to claim his 13th title on the Roland Garros clay. Nadal had expressed concern that the autumnal weather, combined with the heavier balls being used this year, would dampen his effectiveness on his favourite surface. His fears proved unfounded: Nadal didn’t drop a set in making it to the final, and in that match, played under Court Philippe-Chatrier’s new roof, he produced one of his finest ever performances…

The tools for the job To the Financial Times The failure of the Government’s testing strategy is a lesson in confusing resources with capabilities. Commercial NHS test and trace has resources but not capabilities. NHS labs and local authority directors of public health supported by Public Health England have capabilities but not resources. To resolve this conundrum, we should provide the experts who are custodians of those capabilities with the resources they need to do their job. Duncan Robertson, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University, Leicestershire Beijing’s’s global reach To The Times While British universities struggle with Covid-19, they are also challenged by China’s globalised censorship regime (“Academics want say over university deals with hostile regimes”). The Hong Kong national security law carries the threat of prison sentences for…

The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded last week to 77-year-old American Louise Glück – a poet long admired for her “clear, playful and technically accomplished verse that draws on the autobiographical without being confessional”, said Frederick Studemann in the FT. Glück’s win marked a return to “safer ground” for a prize that has been dogged by controversy in recent years. In 2018, a sexual and financial scandal rocked the Swedish Academy, and no winner was announced that year (though Olga Tokarczuk was retrospectively awarded the prize). And last year’s choice of Austrian novelist Peter Handke “drew sharp criticism” from some quarters, given his support for the late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević. Glück, by contrast, was a popular winner. I’ve been reading Glück for more than 20 years, and I…

The lives of comedians – real and fictional – have provided rich source material for filmmakers. Here are five films about comedians to watch: Limelight Released in 1952, Charlie Chaplin’s late-era film is set in Edwardian London and is about an ageing clown’s selfless devotion to a suicidal young dancer (Claire Bloom). It is rambling and often overly sentimental, but a masterpiece nonetheless. And it contains Chaplin’s only ever screen appearance alongside Buster Keaton. The King of Comedy Martin Scorsese’s jet-black 1982 satire of America’s burgeoning celebrity culture stars Robert De Niro as a nerdy, thirtysomething mediocrity who is so desperate for fame as a stand-up comic that he kidnaps a talk-show host (played by Jerry Lewis) in order to secure a slot on his show. Funny Cow A fictional…

Maison François 34 Duke Street, London SW1 (020-3988 5777) As someone who considers the “French all-day brasserie to be one of the high points of modern civilisation”, the opening of Maison François, near Piccadilly Circus, strikes me as excellent news, says Grace Dent in The Guardian. It’s a place that offers a multitude of options. In the fabulously “low-key deluxe” basement bar, you can “sit out the current woes” with a glass of Burgundy and “a plate of 32-month-aged Comté”. Alternatively, you can go to the banquette-filled dining room, where you “might stick to small plates with friends, or do a sturdy-old-school three courses”. Matthew Ryle’s cooking is rooted in French classics, but has a “modern, future-facing feel” – evident in “Instagram-friendly œufs en gelée” and red mullet perched…

Tips of the week... cooking the perfect roast dinner ● For beef, give it a hot blast first for 30 minutes at 220°C, followed by ten minutes for every 500g at 160°C. If you’re using a meat thermometer, cook until the middle of the joint is at 50°C. Rest the meat afterwards. ● If you often find chicken underwhelming, try brining it first. The night before, submerge it in a boiled (and then cooled) solution of water, salt, sugar and aromatics, and leave it in the fridge overnight. ● Just two vegetable components is enough, but look beyond boiling to other more interesting recipes. ● Maris Piper, Désirée and King Edward are the top three potato varieties for a roast. Peel them as close as possible to the time of…

Guitar virtuoso whose band sold 80 million records Eddie Van Halen 1955-2020 In 1962, two brothers from the Netherlands emigrated to California with their parents. They had no money and very little English – but it didn’t take them long to settle into their new life: at school in Pasadena, the pair formed a band, and in the 1980s, it took the American rock scene by storm. Van Halen sold 80 million albums, attracted vast crowds to their stadium tours, and made headlines with their off-stage antics. But Eddie Van Halen – the younger of the brothers, who has died aged 65 – was also a virtuoso performer, regarded as one of the world’s greatest rock guitarists, with a style that was dazzlingly frenetic, yet complex and melodic. As a…

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has “performed a remarkable volte-face” on his “long-held view” that the platform “should take a hands-off approach to content moderation, in the name of free speech”, said the FT. Henceforth, it will “ban Holocaust denial or distortion”. The move is the latest of many “tweaks” Facebook has made to its policies since being hit by July’s #stophateforprofit boycott, which saw “dozens of big marketers” temporarily withdraw their ad spend. Doubtless, the possibility of a Democrat in the White House is playing on Zuckerberg’s mind – though, as Bloomberg notes, Facebook users “can still deny other genocides, such as the Armenian or Rwandan ones”.…

Covid has “turned the stock market upside down” – laying low some of the UK’s “most august names” while creating a “new wave” of winners, says the Daily Mail. “Prepare to be shocked at how the mighty have fallen.” IAG vs. Just Eat: IAG, which owns three European airlines including BA and Iberia, is now ranked lower in the valuation pecking order (at just £5.3bn) than a fast-food business. Just Eat’s value has soared to £12.9bn. M&S vs. B&M: Marks & Spencer was the first UK retailer to make £1bn in profit, in 2008. How times change. Shares are down 55% this year, valuing it at just £1.9bn. By contrast, the “discount chain” B&M has flourished. After a 29% leap, it’s valued at £5bn. Hammerson vs. Boohoo: The landlord, which…

The week’s best shares Diploma Investors Chronicle Diploma sells niche technical products in three main markets: seals, controls and life sciences. Cash-generative, with organic growth supported by acquisitions and high margins. Limited cyclical vulnerability. Buy. £22.00. Diurnal Group The Sunday Times This early-stage drug firm targets hormone deficiencies and has a treatment for adrenal insufficiency on the market. Now raising £10m to complete trials of a low testosterone treatment. “Blockbuster potential.” Buy. 63p. MaxCyte The Daily Telegraph MaxCyte’s electroporation machines facilitate gene editing for rare diseases. Revenue comes from sales to top pharmas and “milestone” payments. A shift to Nasdaq would boost shares. Buy. 370p. The Renewables Infrastructure Group The Times “Trig’s” swelling portfolio of power assets includes 45 wind farms and 28 solar operators, from Sweden to the UK.…