Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1327 i The Week

What happened The death of Prince Philip A royal funeral unlike any other seen in Britain is set to take place on Saturday afternoon, following the death last week of the Duke of Edinburgh. Covid restrictions mean that only 30 mourners can attend instead of the 800 envisaged in the original plan for the event, codenamed Operation Forth Bridge. The Prime Minister gave up his place to allow space for an extra family member. Mourners will wear face masks, and the coffin will be carried from the state entrance of Windsor Castle to St George’s Chapel in a Land Rover adapted for the job by the Duke himself. The death of Prince Philip, just two months short of his 100th birthday, prompted a flood of tributes from world leaders and…

Sir Anthony Hopkins, who became the oldest recipient of a best actor Bafta, at 83, for his role in The Father. Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland scooped best film, best director and best actress for Frances McDormand. Other acting awards went to Daniel Kaluuya for Judas and the Black Messiah and Bukky Bakray, the 19-year-old star of Rocks, who won the EE Rising Star prize. Professor Sarah Gilbert, the academic behind the Oxford vaccine, who could make as much as $20m from her 3% stake in Vaccitech. Her vaccine start-up is reported to be preparing to float on the New York Stock Exchange later this year. Lord Woolley, who is to become the first black man to become head of an Oxbridge college. Simon Woolley – the founder of Operation Black Vote,…

75% of Britons think the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine is safe, despite concerns about links to blood clots. Confidence in the jab is down just two points since March, and is only three points lower than confidence in the Pfizer jab. 13% think the Oxford jab is unsafe; 12% are unsure. YouGov/The Times 58% of Britons think it would be acceptable to ask people to show a vaccine passport to take public transport. 75% say the same about boarding a plane, and 65% about eating in a restaurant. Savanta ComRes/ The Independent 16% of Britons say that, on balance, they have enjoyed lockdown. 8% say it had a positive effect on their lives. Public First/The Sunday Times…

Minneapolis, Minnesota Police shooting: There were violent protests this week in Minneapolis – where Derek Chauvin is on trial for the murder of George Floyd – after another unarmed black man was shot dead by a white police officer. Daunte Wright (left), 20, a father of one, was pulled over by police in the suburb of Brooklyn Center for a traffic violation. When the exchange turned fractious, and he got back into his car, an officer shot him. She claims she had meant to Taser him, but accidentally pulled out her pistol instead of her stun gun. She was identified as Kim Potter, 48, who has 26 years’ experience in uniform. The killing led to days of unrest in which crowds of protesters clashed with police, who used rubber bullets…

Why journalists are misleading our politicians James Kirkup Reaction.life A-levels, then university. If you read the national press you’d think this was the pathway all our children follow, says James Kirkup. It isn’t. More of them go into Further Education (to learn the skills required for jobs) than take Higher Education degrees. And many medium-sized towns, notably those in Red Wall seats, don’t have a university but do have FE colleges. Yet you’d never guess it from our newspapers, which bang on about universities far more than FE. The reason is plain: most journalists are graduates and assume everyone’s like them. It wasn’t always thus. In 1968, just 10% of journalists had a degree. But by 2013, 82% had one; and when those reporting on politics lack any feel for…

The search for a natural blue Blue is one of the rarest colours in nature, so blue consumer items, from clothing to make-up to sweets and drinks, are coloured with synthetic dyes. These are usually derived from petrochemicals, and there have long been concerns about both their safety and their environmental impact. But now the “long search for a natural alternative to artificial blue food colouring may have come to an end”, says the New Scientist: researchers have isolated a vivid natural pigment from red cabbages. Scientists at the University of California, Davis, found they could treat the red-coloured anthocyanin pigments in cabbage with an enzyme that turns them blue. Similar in hue to the synthetic Brilliant Blue FCF, the anthocyanin pigments have been used to colour ice cream and…

The “popular cliché” last year was that the pandemic would speed up existing business trends, said The Economist. But that hardly does justice to the “massive rupture” it has caused to office life. Before Covid, Americans were spending just 5% of their working time at home; by spring 2020 the figure had soared to 60%. And as lock-down eases that’s probably the future for most of us. Companies are happy with working from home (WFH) because staff are more productive and work longer hours. Employees relish the new work-life balance: a new survey by one of Britain biggest accountants, Grant Thornton, found that nine out of ten of its staff wanted to work most of the week from home. Some may never even see the inside of an office again.…

Billy upstages Joe The opening week of the cricket season saw the first ever match-up in first-class cricket between England’s Test captain, Joe Root, and his younger brother Billy, said Elizabeth Ammon in The Times. The pair were taking part in a County Championship match between Yorkshire (Joe’s team) and Glamorgan (Billy’s). And on this occasion it was the less illustrious sibling who shone. Billy Root scored 110 not out in Glamorgan’s second innings, his sixth first-class century, bringing up three figures against his brother’s bowling. Joe, by contrast, had a poor match, scoring just 16 runs in the first innings and 13 in the second. No surprises in Cup The quarter-finals of the Heineken Champions Cup – rugby union’s premier European club competition – produced few surprises, said Angus…

To The Daily Telegraph When Prince Philip met Thurgood Marshall, an American Supreme Court Justice, he mischievously inquired: “Would you like to know what I think about lawyers?” Marshall, flash-quick and twinkly eyed, retorted: “Only if you’d like to know what I think about princes.” Everyone, it seems, has something to say about princes these days. To many of my fellow millennials, Prince Philip occupied the status of a fusty relic: the royal embodiment of bygone eras and fallen empires. But we do ourselves a disservice if righteous indignation over un-PC gaffes or ill-advised outbursts become the focus of our reflections. We may do better embracing the preferred spirit of Marshall’s predecessor, Learned Hand, of “that... which is not too sure it is right”. We might ask ourselves if we…

A newly discovered Gainsborough A portrait of a musician that sold for just £2,500 at auction last year has been revealed to be “a completely unknown” work by Thomas Gainsborough, said Dalya Alberge in The Observer. The painting, which depicts a man holding “a scroll of manuscript music”, was described only as “British School” when it came up for sale in France last December. However, after close study and conservation efforts to remove “layers of accumulated dirt”, experts now believe that the painting is indisputably the work of Gainsborough, one of the most important English 18th century artists, whose portraits have been known to fetch more than £1m. The likely identity of the portrait’s sitter is of particular interest to music scholars: evidence suggests that the work is a likeness…

Kirsty is struggling – with work so quiet, and the fallout of the past year, she feels lost. Helen encourages her to retrain as a conservation consultant. Jazzer gives Jade her birthday presents but, fed up with her jibes, he ends up dumping her. Later, he confesses to Jim that he has feelings for someone else. The next day, Jazzer shows up at Tracy’s and tells her he wants to be with her. Tracy says she needs a reliable man, but eventually invites him in. Brian takes Martha for a walk, letting Alice sleep, and brings back a bottle of wine. After initially refusing it, Alice accepts, saying Chris can drink it. Phoebe and Kate argue when Kate suggests moving Spiritual Home’s yurts to the rewilding land; Brian is furious…

A modest proposal Britain is shockingly bad at celebrating its local culinary specialities, says Tim Hayward in the FT. Across Europe, “every other town, village or cluster of cottages... closes for three days each year to celebrate a local cheese, shellfish, sausage or fungus”. When we Brits go on holiday, we scan the internet for such celebrations – and “delight in sitting under the fairy lights, dancing to an execrable local mobile disco”, while the local populace gathers in “robes and special hats” and toasts the foodstuff in question. But in the UK, such festivities are “vanishingly rare”. Our most successful attempt at “food-related jollity” is the annual cheese-rolling at Cooper’s Hill in Gloucestershire – but it’s less associated with Double Gloucester than with “the number of injuries” it produces.…

Bar-Be-Quick Dual Firepit Barbecue More stylish than your average barbecue, this little device comes with a grill but doubles up as a firepit. The legs simply fold under when you want to put it away (£45; argos. co.uk). Traeger Ranger Pellet Grill At the upper end of the market, Traeger’s impressive grill and smoker has a box on the left that you fill with wood pellets, and a dial to control temperature. It’s heavy, though, and requires electricity (£522; bedsbbq.co.uk). Weber Smokey Joe Premium Charcoal Barbecue Easy to assemble and use, this sturdy Weber model is light and has a useful carry handle. It’s also a bigger option if you’re catering for a group (£89; weber.com). Cobb Premier AIR Super fuel-efficient and quick to heat up, the Cobb has a…

At the age of 30, the Duke of Edinburgh was a dynamic naval officer, enjoying what promised to be a long career in the services. Then in July 1951, with King George VI in poor health, he took leave to devote more time to royal duties; six months later, while he and Princess Elizabeth – his wife of five years – were on a tour of Kenya, he was given the news that the king had died of cancer, aged 56. “He looked as if you’d dropped half the world on him,” recalled his equerry, Mike Parker. Both men knew that in that moment, everything had changed. It fell to the Duke to break the news to his wife. The couple were then flown back to London. Elizabeth, 25, emerged…

The Bank of America reported that more money was pumped into stock funds over the past five months than during the previous 12 years, as investors bet big on recovery. Inflows to global equity funds have hit $572bn since the autumn, easily topping the $452bn notched up over the bull run since the financial crisis. In the continuing rush to market, Singapore’s Grab – a combined ride-hailing company, bank and food delivery business – announced its imminent Nasdaq debut, valued at $39.6bn, via a special purpose acquisition company (Spac). It is both the largest ever offering by a Southeast Asian company in New York and the largest ever Spac deal. In Britain, there were high hopes for the reopening of the economy, which returned to growth in February, despite restrictions.…

● Coining it Bitcoin hit a new record high this week, rising to around $63,950 on Wednesday morning, having more than doubled in price since January. It was good news for Coinbase as it prepared to list on Nasdaq, said Dealbook in The New York Times. America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was touted to start trading “at a potential valuation of more than $100bn”. Heady times. The float is certainly a “milestone”, generating excitement in an already buoyant market for digital assets, said Miles Kruppa in the FT. “The challenge is that few people know how to value the company, which counts on volatile transactional revenues in lightly regulated markets” for most of its business. As recently as 2017, investor IVP valued Coinbase at just $1.6bn. ● Boom and bust Coinbase’s…

Controversy of the week The slow road to normal The long-anticipated reopening of pubs and restaurants in England coincided with “snowfall across the country”, said Eleanor Longman-Rood on Reaction.life. But though customers can still only be served outside, the cold weather didn’t deter crowds of tipplers, and owners of venues with outside space did their best to accommodate them. At The Kentish Belle in Bexley, bar staff began pouring pints as soon as “the clock struck midnight”, and patrons were waiting: one man arrived in his dressing gown. Yet according to a YouGov survey, there is something that people have been looking forward to even more than a convivial drink – and that is a haircut. After four months in which salons have been closed, the pent-up demand is so…

Hot tub-owners, who were warned to be on their guard following a spate of thefts. Insurers report that usually thieves break into garages and take deflated pools; but recently, some have been emptied of water and taken from gardens, despite their bulk. Residents of Bitche, in northeastern France, after the commune’s official page was removed from Facebook, owing to an algorithm deeming it offensive. It has since been reinstated. The Hundred cricket tournament, which caused widespread anger by announcing plans to scrap the term “wickets”. To make the sport more accessible, it will refer to “outs”, as in baseball.…

Edinburgh Referendum rows: Nicola Sturgeon declared this week that Boris Johnson would not stand in the way of a second independence referendum, were the SNP to win a majority in the election on 6 May – in what was seen as an attempt to ramp up the pressure on Downing Street. She also said that she’d not make “any kind of arrangement” with her former ally Alex Salmond, even if she needed the support of MSPs in his Alba Party to bolster her demand for another plebiscite. She added that opinion polls suggested the SNP would win a majority, so it was not something she’d have to contend with. Edinburgh Covid “in retreat”: Restrictions on travelling in Scotland were lifted this week, as cases of Covid continued to fall. People…

Guttenberg’s little plan In the 1980s, Steve Guttenberg was officially Hollywood’s busiest working actor, cranking out nine leading roles in four years, including in the Police Academy franchise, and the 1987 hit Three Men and a Baby. It was the job of his dreams – and he loved every minute of it. “Being a movie star is the No. 1 job in the world,” he says. “You get picked up, taken to work, they call you by your last name: ‘Hello, Mr Guttenberg. Hello, Mr Clooney. Would you like a breakfast burrito?’ ‘I’d love one, thanks!’” he recalls fondly. It was a life he’d aspired to ever since dropping out of college in the 1970s to try his luck in Hollywood. Did he have a plan? “I wanted to be…

All Nippon Airways is turning one of its grounded Boeing 777’s into a restaurant, where people who can’t afford first-class flights will be able to experience some of its trappings. Diners will pay up to £390 to sit in either first- or business-class seats, and feast on dishes such as Wagyu beef. Before the “flight”, they will be invited to spend time in the business class lounge, at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. Nippon is not the first airline to diversify in this way in the pandemic: BA is offering to deliver first-class meals to punters’ doors. A giant monitor lizard sparked panic among shoppers when it ran into a 7-Eleven store in Thailand – and clambered onto its shelves. The 6ft-long lizard is thought to have emerged from a canal in…

TURKEY A snub to Europe, and to women Tagesschau (Hamburg) If this didn’t qualify as a snub, I don’t know what would, says Helga Schmidt. Last week, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen was left standing awkwardly on the sidelines at a meeting with EU Council president Charles Michel and Turkey’s President Erdogan in Ankara. With only two chairs set out, Michel and Erdogan took a seat beneath the respective EU and Turkish flags – leaving their female counterpart stuck on a sofa across the room. Now, one expects such behaviour from Erdogan: it suits his so-called strongman persona, and may have been a response to von der Leyen’s criticism of Turkey’s recent withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention, which aims to protect women from male violence. But the really…

Young black bears in California have been showing uncharacteristic signs of friendliness towards humans, and wildlife experts fear that a brain disorder may be the cause of this “dog-like” behaviour. The phenomenon has been noticed since around 2014; videos have appeared on social media showing strange encounters in the state, and neighbouring Nevada. In one clip, a black bear cub approaches a snowboarder at the Northstar ski resort and steps onto his board; in another, a dazed-looking bear wanders into a residential back yard and sits on the porch munching apples fed to it by curious onlookers. In still another, a bear walks into a classroom and sits down at the back. Other symptoms include tremors and a tilted head. Unlike grizzlies, which have a fierce reputation, black bears tend…

Bob Hoskins was delighted when Steven Spielberg sent him a script in the 1980s, and asked if he’d like to play the villain. But then he heard nothing – until a year later, when a letter arrived from the director, explaining that he’d cast someone else in the role, and enclosing a cheque for $250,000, to make up for his wasted time. Immediately, Hoskins put pen to paper: “Dear Mr Spielberg, no need to apologise. If there are any more films you don’t want me to be in, please let me know.” Shirley Williams (left), the ex-Labour minister and SDP co-founder who died this week aged 90, was not a woman to trifle with. Aged 29, she took part in a rally in support of Malawian independence, which was assailed…

“The mind cannot absorb what the backside cannot endure.” Prince Philip on long sermons, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “There are two things that are important in politics. The first is money, and I can’t remember what the second one is.” Former US senator Mark Hanna, quoted on FloridaPolitics.com “You never know what is enough unless you know what is more than enough.” William Blake, quoted on Poets.org “Babies are such a nice way to start people.” Humorist Don Herold, quoted in Good Housekeeping “The Earth is mostly just a boneyard. But pretty in the sunlight.” Author Larry McMurtry, quoted on NPR.org “Lots of people claim to know what the people want. Democracy is how we know which of those people are telling the truth.” Essayist Helen Andrews, quoted on…

Football Premier League leaders Manchester City lost 2-1 at home to Leeds – who had their captain, Liam Cooper, sent off in the first half. Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-1, ending a run of six successive defeats at Anfield. Women’s rugby England consolidated their position at the top of the Six Nations table with a 67-3 victory over Italy. Cycling British cyclist Mark Cavendish won the second stage of the Tour of Turkey. It was the 35-year-old’s first stage win for three years.…

Lise Davidsen: Beethoven, Wagner, Verdi (LPO/Sir Mark Elder) Decca £11 It is six years since Lise Davidsen won Plácido Domingo’s Operalia competition in London, said Richard Fairman in the FT. At the time, she caused such a stir because she was already, aged 28, so “fully formed as a singer, a Wagnerian-in-waiting who had helmet and spear already within her grasp”. On the Norwegian soprano’s second recital disc for Decca, recorded with the London Philharmonic, Wagner’s five Wesendonck Lieder are certainly a highlight: beautifully recorded, rewarding and radiant. Davidsen’s soprano has “a brighter gleam and greater expansiveness than that of any other singer to have emerged onto the opera scene in the last decade”, said Erica Jeal in The Observer. Her singing is “vibrant and utterly focused”, whether hitting the…

From the close-up of a knife plunging into a piece of meat at a dinner party, the plot of Intruder was “signposted like a golf sale”, said Victoria Segal in The Sunday Times. It stars Elaine Cassidy as Rebecca, a journalist whose husband Sam (Tom Meeten) stabs a burglar in the back during a break-in at their seaside house. It’s an “intriguing” opening, but things spiral into absurdity when Rebecca takes responsibility for the killing, and tries to pass it off as self-defence. Her friend Angela (Helen Behan), who is having an affair with Sam, then turns into a Fatal Attraction- style liability – whereupon Rebecca forges an alliance with the local drugs kingpin. Sally Lindsay is stuck in the middle of it all, playing an honest copper. The whole…

Best books… Douglas Stuart The writer chooses his six favourite recent books. His debut novel, Shuggie Bain (Picador £8.99), was the winner of the 2020 Booker Prize, and comes out in paperback this week As You Were by Elaine Feeney, 2020 (Harvill Secker £14.99). An intimate glimpse into the lives of three women thrown together on a Galway hospital ward. The language absolutely crackles as they conceal and reveal their secrets and private shames. Memorial by Bryan Washington, 2020 (Atlantic £14.99). A quietly aching book about the end of a gay relationship. When Mike flees to Japan to see his dying father, he leaves Benson amongst the debris of their love affair, with his prickly Japanese mother. Mayflies by Andrew O’Hagan, 2020 (Faber £14.99). Told in two timelines, this dark…

With a month to go until galleries reopen (regulations permitting), book early for the big shows. The Royal Academy welcomes visitors back with David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020, showcasing the artist’s works on iPad; 23 May-26 September (royalacademy.org.uk). Hepworth Wakefield hosts Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life, the largest survey of Hepworth’s work since her death in 1975, featuring her carved marbles and bronzes; 21 May-February next year (hepworthwakefield.org). At Tate Modern, The Making of Rodin focuses on the French master’s models and the origins of his art; 29 April-31 October (tate.org.uk).…

Squid may look a little intimidating, but it’s easy to cook, says Billy White. It’s also a really good source of protein. This simple salad makes a great lunch or first course – and if you ask nicely, your local fishmonger or supermarket fish counter will clean and score the squid for you. Serves 4 2 medium squid, cleaned and scored extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling 1 small red onion, finely diced 2-3 limes: 1 juiced (or more to taste), 1-2 cut into halves or wedges to serve 1kg ripe mixed tomatoes (ideally on the vine), chopped into bite-sized chunks 1 small Romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped a bunch of fresh coriander, chopped 2 ripe avocados, flesh only, cut into bite-sized chunks coarse sea salt, to taste a pinch of chilli…

● Who owns a fence depends on title deeds – but with older homes it can be unclear. Check for documents with the local authority or Land Registry – where you can apply for a “determined boundary” for £90. ● Avoid moving into a leasehold property if you have a very yappy dog – some leases have strict covenants about nuisance pets. ● If someone’s cat is fouling your garden, though, they are not legally responsible. ● While you might own a property, a right of way for a neighbour may be in the title deeds. They may have also acquired one if they have used it for more than 20 years. ● If a neighbour won’t let you use their garden to work on the side of your house,…

Intelligent, determined to be useful, and impatient to get things done, Philip engaged fully with a range of causes, said Gyles Brandreth in The Daily Telegraph. Similarly, on his thousands of royal engagements (some 22,000 solo in total), he was too restless a man to just nod and smile and deliver platitudes. Instead, he made jokes, to lighten the mood, break the ice – or spice things up. He could be very funny, but sometimes his off-the-cuff remarks landed extremely badly. His comment to British students in Beijing, that they risked getting “slitty eyes”, for instance, led to claims that he was racist, and not fit to represent Britain. He’d admitted, in 1960, that he suffered from “dontopedology”, the condition of putting one’s foot in one’s mouth. He knew he…

The cybersecurity firm Darktrace, which has announced plans to float and is valued at around £3bn, is “the kind of tech listing the London market has been hoping for”, said Helen Thomas in the Financial Times – an antidote to froth. The Cambridge-based outfit has “proper technology behind it” and a genuinely new take on cybersecurity. Whereas traditional cyberdefence “involves building walls against potential attacks” – leaving companies constantly chasing a moving target – Darktrace deploys artificial intelligence (AI) to understand what a business’s “normal state” looks like. If there’s any change, it intervenes. Darktrace has eschewed the hubristic fanfare that preceded Deliveroo’s doomed debut, said Jim Armitage in the London Evening Standard, which included a “guest” appearance from the Chancellor. Still, there’s plenty to trumpet here. The tech is…

Membership of the invitation-only audio social media app is considered a hot ticket. But it may be a particularly useful vehicle for entrepreneurs, said Gabrielle Bienasz on Inc. Here’s how to grow your business on Clubhouse: Use it for networking Clubhouse is “a varied place” – one member describes it as “the comment section come to life”. The best way to drum up new clientele is to speak in rooms relevant to your industry, where you can show off your expertise. A useful mantra is: “Be brief, be bright, be gone.” Brush up your skills You can pick up “golden information” if you take the time to listen. Particularly useful for entrepreneurs are rooms featuring marketing and branding experts. Urge your employees to tune in too. Find investors Plenty of…

Lex Greensill The “implosion” of his finance group has morphed into “an unseemly bunfight” across the world, but where on earth is Lex Greensill, asked the Australian Financial Review. Although the Aussie financier’s ex-adviser, former PM David Cameron, has now broken cover – admitting to “mistakes” in his lobbying efforts – Greensill, 44, has “gone to ground”. Holed up at his home in England, he is refusing all interviews, as administrator Grant Thornton sorts through the books and starts disposing of assets. Greensill is a farm boy from Queensland, who has made much of his roots, said The Sydney Morning Herald. The Greensill website describes how Lex’s “humble beginnings” on his parents’ melon farm spurred his interest in “making finance fairer”. He had, we are told, seen at first hand…

The week’s best shares Helical The Times This London-focused property developer trades on good office space in well-connected locations: tenants include TikTok. Rent collections, at 92.9%, are improving, its loan to value ratio is low, and shares are cheap. Buy. 412.5p. Hikma Pharmaceuticals The Times Hikma’s treatments for Covid patients in intensive care made it an early pandemic winner. But the delay of its cheap generic version of GSK’s asthma drug, Advair, hit shares. The latter is now slated to launch in May. Buy. £23.87. Hilton Food Group Investors Chronicle Demand for the meat-packaging group’s products is up, helped by new “state of the art” facilities in Europe and Australia. Profits are up by a fifth on strong revenue growth, and a New Zealand plant is opening in Q3. Buy.…

Hull University has said it will not mark students down for incorrect spelling in some subjects, because the proficiency requirement could be seen as “homogenous north European, white, male and elite”. The institution, which is one of a number of universities introducing “inclusive assessments”, said it wanted to “challenge the status quo” for the benefit of students who speak English as a second language, have dyslexia or come from poorly performing schools. Android users will soon be able to get notifications reminding them to stop looking at their phones while walking. The Heads Up feature is being tested for the Digital Wellbeing app, which helps people manage their phone usage.…

Boris Johnson has ordered a formal inquiry into the collapsed financial services company Greensill’s role in government – and into David Cameron’s lobbying efforts on its behalf. It has emerged in recent weeks that, last year, the former PM lobbied Chancellor Rishi Sunak via text message on behalf of the firm, which he’d joined as an adviser in 2018. It also seems that civil servants were subsequently asked to give extra consideration to Greensill’s request for taxpayer-funded loans. This week, Cameron finally released a statement about his actions. He insisted he had broken no rules, but acknowledged that, as a former PM, he should have followed only “the most formal channels”. He also claimed that his stake in Greensill – reported to have been worth up to $60m – had…

Bordeaux, France Wine disaster: Winemakers in some of France’s most prestigious wine-producing regions – including Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Rhône Valley and Champagne – are expecting one of their worst grape harvests in decades, following several nights of sub-zero temperatures last week. Unseasonal heavy frosts, with temperatures of -6°C in places, following days of warm weather that encouraged fast growth, have been especially damaging. “It’s a national phenomenon,” said Jérôme Despey, the secretary general of the FNSEA farming union. “You can go back in history, there have been [similar spring freezing] episodes in 1991, 1997, 2003, but in my opinion it is beyond all of them.” A spokesman for Rhône winemakers said 80%-90% of the crop would be lost. Northern Italy has also experienced freezing weather after weeks of sunshine. Growers…

“Jean Cocteau described smoking opium as an interlude in the rush of existence. ‘Everything one achieves in life, even love, occurs in an express train racing towards death,’ he wrote. ‘To smoke opium is to get out of the train while it is still moving.’ I feel the same about religion. It is about removing oneself from life while still living it: a pause, a grace note, a moment when nothing is getting done. Maybe it’s primarily a relief for those of us who live in our heads too much, or who live very online lives. But I see the calm it gives others too: the repetition of little acts, the recitation of the same words, the unity that such rituals can give a life over the decades. I saw…

Why murder is coming back into fashion Rafael A. Mangual The Hill 2020 will, of course, primarily be remembered as the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, says Rafael A. Mangual. But in America, it may also be remembered as the year that marked the definitive end of “the Great Crime Decline” that changed US cities for the better in the last decade of the 20th century and beyond. Although the full data won’t be available for months, “criminologists estimate that 2020 will have seen – for the first time since the mid-1990s – more than 20,000 criminal homicides”. Houston saw its murder numbers increase by 42% last year over 2019’s; Denver’s numbers jumped by 50%; Chicago’s, by 55%; New York’s, by 45%; Philadelphia’s, by 40%. Some have attributed the surge…

The Government’s official definition of a healthy weight should be scrapped because it triggers eating disorders and contributes to anxiety about body image, an MPs’ report has found. The Women and Equalities Committee called for Body Mass Index (BMI) – an index based on the relationship between a person’s height and weight – to be replaced by the “weight neutral” approach used in the US, which encourages exercise and healthy eating, but without necessarily the goal of weight loss. An estimated 35 million adults in Britain are technically overweight or obese, with a BMI of 25 or above – more than 60% of the total. The report found that 61% of adults and 66% of children feel negative or very negative about their body image most of the time. However,…

I trust you have been keeping up with the Kardashians, said Jessica Boulton in the Daily Mirror – the American family whose reality TV series set new global standards of beauty. They emerged into the limelight in the mid-Noughties, after Kim Kardashian – then Paris Hilton’s stylist – shot to fame with a sex tape. Since then, the sisters’ selfies have flooded social media, got us all “hooked on contouring” and prompted women to hope for a different response to the age-old question: “Does my bum look big in this?” As one plastic surgeon has noted, said Laura Bassett on MSNBC.com, many clients come in specifically asking to look like a Kardashian: big, round, flawless butt; full but perky breasts; tiny waist. Yet it’s a look that can only really…

Horse racing: the jockey who shattered the glass ceiling The 2021 Grand National is destined to go down as the most significant one ever, said Barry Glendenning in The Guardian. For the first time in its 182-year history, the “world’s most iconic horse race” has been won by a woman. Until recently, 31-year-old Rachael Blackmore – the daughter of a farmer and schoolteacher from Tipperary – was little known outside Ireland. Yet she is currently in the form of her life. Last month, she won six races at Cheltenham. And at Aintree on Saturday, she produced a tactically flawless performance to bring home Minella Times eight lengths clear of second-placed Balko Des Flos. “Not since Lady Godiva rode naked through the streets of Coventry in the 13th century has any…

The neglect of Easter To The Observer Barbara Ellen contrasts the widespread popularity of Christmas with the lack of public impact of Easter. There are two reasons for this. Christmas was originally a midwinter festival of pagan revelry which was baptised into Christianity in the fourth century. In a secularised Britain, it happily reverts to its previous role of feasting and fun. Easter, on the other hand, proclaims a story that is so shocking and unsettling it cannot easily be placarded in public. That is why the early Church tried to shield this mystery from public view with its disciplina arcani. What happened on Good Friday and Easter Day is so threatening to how we think of ourselves, that the only way we can cope with it is to tame…

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley Granta 208pp £12.99 The Week Bookshop £9.99 Gwendoline Riley is known for writing short, unsentimental novels that hover “on the edge of comedy and bleakness”, said Madeleine Feeny in The Spectator. My Phantoms, her sixth such book, is narrated by Bridget, a fortysomething academic, and focuses on her strained relationship with her late mother Helen. Helen, a woman “miserably yet willingly shackled to convention”, remained incapable of genuine engagement even when in the final throes of cancer. Painfully funny and acute, this novel is a “distilled psychological tour de force”. It is, indeed, a “well-made” piece of fiction, but it isn’t much fun to read, said Melissa Katsoulis in The Times. Despite the publisher calling it “remorselessly funny”, it proves to be a “clipped, panicky”…

Screenwriters have often taken as their subject other writers (both real and fictional), to explore the complex relationships between life and art. Here are five interesting examples: Barton Fink Mixing screwball satire, sinister psychodrama and Gothic fantasy, this dark Coen Brothers film from 1991 stars John Turturro as a renowned New York playwright who is invited to Hollywood – and becomes trapped in its ruthless machine. Capote Philip Seymour Hoffman won an Oscar for his mesmeric performance – fey, friendly and ruthless by turns – as Truman Capote in this 2005 biopic. It focuses on the difficult period when Capote was researching a real life murder at a farm in Kansas for his non-fiction masterpiece In Cold Blood. Reprise Director Joachim Trier’s tragicomic 2006 debut is about two young Oslo…

Later this year, the “remote” town of Fuendetodos in northeastern Spain will host a series of events marking the 275th birthday of its most famous citizen, said Sam Jones in The Guardian – the great artist Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), who rose from humble origins to paint royalty, capture the horrors of war as never before, and to change the course of art history. The celebrations will focus on one particular body of work: a mysterious and frightening series of murals which were painted 200 years ago and are still only partially understood today. In 1819, Goya was losing his hearing and becoming increasingly reclusive. Tormented by old age, haunted by the atrocities he had witnessed during Napoleon’s 1808-13 invasion of Spain, and repelled by the autocratic tendencies of the…

The triumphant M4: not for a shrinking violet The new M4 has been one of BMW’s most hotly anticipated cars “in a generation”, said Jonathan Burn in Auto Express. And the maker has “nailed it”. The coupé’s “dramatic makeover” may be the “obvious talking point”, but this is not a case of style over substance. The car still delivers “thundering performance”, but it has also become more “manageable” to drive. The one drawback to all this? You’d better “be prepared to pay for it”. “This is not a car for a retiring violet,” said Andrew English in The Daily Telegraph. The M4’s new “bulging, muscly” look confirms that subtlety is no longer its bag. And that’s before you notice the “berserk radiator grilles”. There are a whopping 100 body colours…

● At your local leisure centre – depending on your age and ability – you can look for a “veterans” or “development” team. ● Visit the website of the national governing body for the sport you’d like to play. For example, you can find netball clubs by postcode on englandnetball.co.uk. ● If you search your sport and local area on Facebook, and then click on “groups”, you should see groups near you. ● The site Meetup (meetup.com) aims to connect those wanting to try out hobbies with others – from walking groups to group tennis lessons, as well as activities that have nothing to do with exercise. ● Keep an eye on local community boards, as teams often still post adverts. ● If you would like to start something new…

Alibaba/Ant Group: bowing to Beijing Shares in the Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba jumped on Monday, “adding $40bn to its value”, on news that the Chinese government has whacked it with a record $2.8bn fine for competition breaches, said Jacky Wong in The Wall Street Journal. Confused? It seems that following founder Jack Ma’s “dramatic fall from favour”, investors were “relieved that Beijing hadn’t done anything worse”: at least the “fundamental business model remains intact”. But given the intensity of the regulatory assault on Ma’s business empire, the investor optimism could prove misplaced. Alibaba’s shares have “lost nearly a quarter of their value since November”, when regulators unexpectedly pulled the $34bn mega-float of its finance affiliate, Ant Group. Now they’ve further hobbled the group behind the mobile payment and lifestyle…

Business should speak out on Scotland Matthew Lynn The Daily Telegraph The pandemic is still raging and we’re struggling to emerge from deep recession, says Matthew Lynn. “But, hey, maybe it is a good moment for a major constitutional crisis?” Next month’s Scottish elections are an effective vote on independence, and polls suggest many Scots are in favour of it. But the economic risks of a Yes vote are “far greater” than they were when the first referendum was held. In 2014, Yes campaigners had no currency plans; they made “wildly extravagant” claims on growth; and “fudged the figures on debt”. Now we learn there would be “a new currency backed by a central bank no one has ever heard of” monetising, post-Covid, “one of the steepest deficits in history”.…