Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1334 i The Week

The UK reported zero daily Covid deaths on Tuesday for the first time in the pandemic, raising hopes that the country’s reopening will go ahead as planned. The milestone, which was hailed by Health Secretary Matt Hancock as evidence that “the vaccines are clearly working”, increased pressure on Boris Johnson to press ahead with plans to lift virtually all remaining lockdown restrictions in England on 21 June. A final decision on the roadmap is due on 14 June. However, scientists cautioned that a recent rise in case numbers could derail plans to fully reopen the country. Daily cases exceeded 3,000 for seven days in a row this week, leading to bleak warnings that the UK could be in the early stages of a third wave. The surge was blamed on…

Commodore Jude Terry, who will become the Royal Navy’s first ever female admiral. She will take on the roles of the Navy’s director of people and training and naval secretary, and will be promoted to the rank of rear admiral in August 2022. Pets at Home, the pet shop chain, whose annual sales broke through the £1bn barrier for the first time in the year to the end of March, thanks to the pandemic “pet baby boom”. The UK’s pet population rose by an estimated 8% over the year. Proms traditionalists, with the news that this year’s BBC Proms will get a British theme and a “traditional” Last Night: it will be “business as usual”, with Rule, Britannia! and Land of Hope and Glory belted out by a flag-waving audience.…

The Prime Minister this week endorsed £1.4bn of funding to help schoolchildren catch up after the pandemic, but faced criticism for choosing a figure only a tenth of the size recommended. Sir Kevan Collins, the education recovery commissioner, had told ministers £15bn was needed for extra free tuition and teacher training. Union and education leaders called £1.4bn a “pitiful” amount. Leaked plans to extend the school day by half an hour were also moved into a “next stage” review which will report by the end of the year.…

Paris Restrictions on UK visitors: The French authorities have introduced tough new restrictions on arrivals from the UK because of fears over the so-called Indian (or “Delta”) variant, which has become dominant in parts of Britain. From this week, Britons must provide “compelling reasons” for travel to France and a negative PCR or antigen test; and will face seven days’ quarantine, monitored by police. EU nationals and French residents can still travel to France. The country is currently on the UK’s “amber” list, to which travel is permitted, but not advised by the Government. The French decision is a huge blow to the country’s tourism industry. Britons make up its most numerous source of holidaymakers, and the industry had expected to reopen to them on 9 June, along with travellers…

1 Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba and Jerry Ragovoy, performed by Miriam Makeba 2 Ave Maria (after Arcadelt) by Jacques Arcadelt and Pierre-Louis Dietsch, performed by Chœur de Chambre de Namur (conductor: Leonardo García Alarcón) 3 My Hometown, written and performed by Bruce Springsteen 4 Jerusalema, written and performed by Kgaogelo Moagi (Master KG) and Nomcebo Zikode 5 You Know My Name by Tasha Cobbs Leonard, performed by Tasha Cobbs Leonard and Jimi Cravity 6 Redemption Song by Bob Marley, performed by John Legend 7 I Believe by Louis Biancaniello, Tamyra Gray and Sam Watters, performed by Fantasia 8* It Is Well With My Soul by Horatio Spafford and Philip Bliss, performed by Wintley Phipps Book: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson Luxury: double portion of Quality Street *…

“Commuting by rail has rarely been so pleasant,” said The Economist. For the past 18 months, overcrowded, late-running peak time rail services have been a thing of the past. Now, you’re practically guaranteed a seat; almost half of trains arrive ahead of schedule. Why? Because the pandemic has seen passenger numbers fall by some 90%, as people have worked from home in unprecedented numbers. But this new, civilised form of commuting has come at a heavy cost. The Government has spent some £12bn bailing out rail franchise holders, as revenue usually generated from fares collapsed. The franchise model has effectively been replaced by the new contract model: franchisers have been paid a flat fee for running services. The past 18 months have raised profound questions about the future of rail…

GPs have warned that they are being overwhelmed by a “tsunami of patients”, as people who held back during the lockdown start making appointments again. According to a report by The Health Foundation, 28 million appointments were made in March, as restrictions started to ease, making it one of the busiest months on record; and it warns that with the NHS facing a shortage of GPs, the system doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the expected surge in demand. There were 279 million appointments made with GP practices in England from April 2020 to March 2021, down from 310 million the year before. Meanwhile, the proportion of face-to-face appointments fell from 79% to 54%. GPs say they are now dealing with a huge backlog of patients, many of whose…

Exile has long been a favoured punishment for dissidents, said Jeremy Cliffe in the New Statesman. For most of history, autocrats knew that “to flee one’s country was to detach oneself from its politics”: exiles could do little to shape events at home. But over the past decade or so, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Telegram have “transformed all that”. It is now possible to report the news, engage in political debates, and even fan the flames of revolution from outside one’s country – which is why Belarus’s government, “implausibly citing a bomb threat”, used a military jet to force a Ryanair flight carrying the opposition blogger Roman Protasevich to land in Minsk last month. The persecution of exiles is not new – a Soviet agent put a pickaxe through Trotsky’s…

“Never keep up with the Joneses. Drag them down to your level.” Quentin Crisp, quoted on iNews.co.uk “Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” Albert Einstein, quoted in Discover magazine “Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.” Oscar Wilde, quoted in Lapham’s Quarterly “You can be young without money, but you can’t be old without it.” Tennessee Williams, quoted on SeekingAlpha.com “It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time.” Winston Churchill, quoted in Forbes “Doubt grows with knowledge.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quoted on ArtsJournal.com “Just because you don’t take an interest in politics, it doesn’t mean politics won’t take an interest in you.” Pericles,…

Tennis Dominic Thiem, the 2019 finalist, lost in the first round of the French Open; the fourth seed was beaten in five sets by Pablo Andújar. Britain’s top-ranked man and woman, Dan Evans and Johanna Konta, also suffered first-round losses. Football Zinedine Zidane resigned as the coach of Real Madrid, citing a lack of “support to build something” at the club. Rugby union Exeter beat Newcastle 74-3 in the Premiership. Last year’s champions now trail leaders Bristol by three points.…

Handel: Rodelinda (The English Concert) Linn £25 Rodelinda, one of Handel’s strongest operas, premiered in London in 1725 and was an immediate success, providing a showcase for the great singers of the time, such as the “legendary castrato” Senesino. These days, said Richard Fairman in the Financial Times, the Baroque era’s castrati roles can be sung either by women or men (mezzos or countertenors, respectively). In this case, Senesino’s role (as Bertarido) is taken by Iestyn Davies, as “expressive a countertenor as they come”. This terrific disc is the first in a new Handel opera series performed by The English Concert, and directed by Harry Bicket, said Fiona Maddocks in The Guardian. Davies is wonderfully intense, and “sends the dramatic temperature soaring at each entry”. Soprano Lucy Crowe sings the…

It’s 17 years since the last episode of Friends, said Ed Power in The Daily Telegraph, and though the cast couldn’t be persuaded to make a sequel, the demand to see them together again has been overwhelming. The result is this “chuckling Frankenstein” of a show: part This Is Your Life, part documentary, part interview, it shows the stars meeting up on the old set, reminiscing and greeting a “drizzle” of special guests. It’s nostalgia served up by the shovelful. It’s a mixed bag, agreed Lucy Mangan in The Guardian, but there’s a thrill in seeing the actors chat and play off each other with an “easy, unfakeable” camaraderie. Their exchanges go deeper than anything the interviewer, James Corden, elicits from them, said Adam White in The Independent. It’s interesting,…

Everything Good Will Come by Sefi Atta, 2005 (Myriad Editions £8.99). If you liked Elena Ferrante’s Neapolitan series, then you’ll love this novel, following Sheri and Enitan from their girlhood to adolescence to womanhood. They love each other; they fight each other; they choose different paths in life. Nobody does female friendship and all its glorious complication like Sefi Atta. Cleopatra’s Sister by Penelope Lively, 1993 (Penguin £12.99). I think this novel should be more famous. It’s a love story, but told in such an unexpected way. You wait half the novel for the lovers to meet and when they do, the suspense of “will they, won’t they” is as gripping as any boxset. Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam, 2020 (Bloomsbury £8.99). An affluent white family rents a…

Programmes The Scottish Island That Won the Lottery Documentary exploring what happened when the residents of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides won a £3m postcode lottery jackpot. Sat 5 Jun, C4 20:00 (60mins). Time Three-part drama. Arriving in HMP Craigmore, a new inmate must quickly learn how to survive prison life. Sean Bean and Stephen Graham star. Sun 6 Jun, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Panorama – Paralympics: The Unfair Games? Former Paralympian Richie Powell investigates what he sees as the Games’ flawed classification system, which pits competitors of different abilities against each other. Wed 9 Jun, BBC1 19:30 (60mins). Coventry Cathedral: Building for a New Britain Archive footage and interviews are used to tell the story of rebuilding Coventry Cathedral, now recognised as a masterpiece of postwar British architecture. Wed…

Samosas are a fabulous picnic food, and they’re even better when you make your own, say Max Halley and Ben Benton. Eat these ones hot, warm or cold: they’re sensational whatever the temperature. Makes 20 samosas 1 x 270g pack of filo pastry about 2 litres of rapeseed (or canola) oil, for deep-frying for the filling: 100g butter (plus 3 tbsp more, melted, for samosa construction) 1 large white onion, diced 750g waxy potatoes, peeled and diced 2 tsp garam masala 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp chilli powder ½ tsp ground turmeric 2 tsp salt juice of 1 lemon a handful of mint leaves, torn • Start by heating the butter in a large frying pan. Add the onion and fry, stirring occasionally, for ten minutes or until soft…

● Aim to brush your teeth for two minutes, twice a day, especially before bed, with a toothpaste that contains fluoride. Replace your brush every two to three months, and add interdental cleaning before you brush, either with brushes, floss or water-jet tools. ● You want fluoride to stick to the teeth, so avoid or minimise swilling out with water. ● A cheap manual brush will do the job as well as an electric one – if your technique is good. Otherwise, look for an electric one with a head that rotates both ways . ● Be aware that tea, coffee, red wine and turmeric all stain teeth, if you consume them often. Acidic foods also cause damage. ● You can get your teeth whitened by a professional if you…

Made.com : Loadsafurniture The City IPO bandwagon rolls on, fuelled by increasing optimism about the recovery and a new sense of “excitement” among retail investors, said Sabah Meddings in The Sunday Times. Latest to hop on board is Made.com – the online furniture emporium known for its “arty lighting and velvet sofas”, which was co-founded in 2010 by tech entrepreneur Brent Hoberman. The outfit, now run by Philippe Chainieux, is hoping to achieve a £1bn valuation.Made.com joins some 36 other companies that have listed in London this year – such as Dr. Martens, Moonpig, Virgin Wines and Deliveroo – raising £8.7bn so far. Bankers describe a 1980s-style “Loadsamoney” investor culture. “It’s cool to be in equities,” said one. “I don’t think it’s been like that for years.” The…

Are private equity vulture capitalists? Alex Brummer Daily Mail The ruthless modus operandi of “vulture capitalists” is “all too familiar to those of us who have studied their baleful influence over the years”, says Alex Brummer. Many have spent the pandemic “picking away at the carcass of British business”. Nowhere is this more evident than on our “ravaged” high streets, where a “staggering” 37,609 jobs have been lost at firms linked to private equity since the pandemic began – “the equivalent of one in three of all jobs in shops, pubs and restaurants at major firms”. True, the move to online shopping, and the lockdown, are responsible for some of the boarded premises. “But private equity sharks – with their eyes on short-term profits – have massively accelerated the trend.”…

Controversy of the week The Wuhan lab theory What a difference a year makes, said The Sunday Times. Back in 2020, nearly all scientists regarded the notion that Covid-19 might have leaked from a Chinese lab as “beneath contempt”. It was a fringe conspiracy theory, aired only by right-wing US talk show hosts and xenophobic Donald Trump supporters. The single acceptable view was that the virus had jumped from animals to man. Scientific journals refused to promote such ideas; Facebook banned posts claiming the virus was man-made. No longer. Late last month, The Wall Street Journal revealed that a US intelligence report stated that three researchers from the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) sought hospital treatment for symptoms consistent with Covid in November 2019, weeks before the first official cases…

The Good Food Guide, the gourmet’s bible, which is ceasing publication after 70 years, having been badly hit by the pandemic. Waitrose, which owns the guide, said it won’t be published this year, and that there were “no plans to publish future guides”. Bridge, with the revelation that standards plummeted during the pandemic, when about 30,000 players moved online. The number of investigations into cheating allegations by the governing body, the English Bridge Union, shot up from one a year to 50. The British Museum’s cleaners, who have been regularly wiping away kiss marks on display cases holding revered relics of St Thomas Becket at its current exhibition. The Museum said that it “respects the rights of visitors to express their faith, whilst asking that they abide by current health…

Half of adults in the UK say they want either a “major overhaul” or “complete reform” of this country’s economic system. A similar proportion of adults in the US and Germany agree, while in France, two-thirds say they do. 67% of Britons want more regulation of business, while 62% say it is “very important” for the Government to build more public housing, and 53% for it to increase benefits. 50% want a universal basic income, a higher figure than in other countries polled. Pew Research Centre/ Financial Times 60% of Britons say it is still not reasonable to holiday in countries that are on the Government’s “amber” list. 20% say the maximum £10,000 fine for breaking the rules is too lenient. ComRes/Independent…

“Kids these days, eh? They’re just too bloody diligent, and they have too much homework! This is, apparently, the viewpoint of the scientist Robert Winston, who says that homework has a ‘very limited purpose’, and that children should be free instead to pursue new hobbies and take up a musical instrument. Hmm. Hobbies? I’m not sure what century Winston thinks we’re in right now, but I’m pretty sure that, given less homework, there’s not going to be a sudden rush on balsa wood. I can’t see my children dashing in and shouting: ‘Dad, we’ve no homework now, for ever, so please can I learn the trombone?’ Ultimately, I worry that without homework, there’s only TikTok.” Kevin Maher in The Times…

The 96 have been denied justice again Tony Evans The Independent Will anyone ever be held to account for the killing of 96 people in the Hillsborough disaster? The victims were denied justice again last week, says Tony Evans, when two ex-South Yorkshire police officers and the force’s former lawyer were acquitted of perverting the course of justice – on a technicality. The Hillsborough Independent Panel found nine years ago that the police were in the main responsible for the deaths, and that there was a subsequent police cover-up to shift blame onto fans. However, the defendants were alleged to have doctored police statements before an inquiry, not for a trial; ergo, there was no perversion of justice. So they are off the hook, like David Duckenfield – the match…

Are cats befuddled by mice? The sight of cats playing with mice before killing them can be disturbing; but it may be the result of a strategy mice have acquired to help them escape, says the New Scientist. When mice are caught they produce sweat chemicals called lactones – which are similar to the nepetalactone molecules found in catnip. This comes from the herbaceous plant Nepeta cataria, and when cats get a whiff of it, it triggers the release of beta-endorphins in their bodies, which sends them wild: they chew on the leaves, they roll around, shake their heads, they drool and become slightly sedated. Feline expert Prof Benjamin Hart, of UC Davis Veterinary School, California, suggests that mice may have evolved to excrete lactones when stressed because it has…

The Mitfords were famously “unsurpassed at put-downs”, writes Max Hastings in The Times. After Nancy launched the great “U and Non-U” controversy in 1954 – decreeing that words such as perfume, mirror, mantelpiece, toilet and serviette were “non-U” – or incorrigibly vulgar – Hastings’s mother, the journalist Anne Scott-James, was sent by a newspaper to interview her. “Am I U?”, demanded Scott-James (U being shorthand for upper class). Ms Mitford contemplated her without enthusiasm for a few seconds, and grudgingly replied: “You have U legs.” When Boris Johnson was asked if he’d draw a bee for charity, he was only too happy to oblige. His effort is now being sold in a limited run of 200 digital prints at £70 each, to raise money for Bees for Development, a charity…

Dominic Cummings made plenty of “self-serving” statements in his appearance before MPs last week, said The Independent. But there was one that carried the unmistakable ring of truth: his claim that Matt Hancock’s assertion that he threw a “protective shield” around care homes from the outset of the pandemic was “complete nonsense”. Few would argue with that. It’s partly down to his mistakes that more than 42,000 deaths involving Covid have happened in care homes in England and Wales. On 19 March 2020, the Department of Health and Social Care urged hospitals to free up beds by discharging patients. There was no requirement to test them for Covid. Between mid-March and 15 April, when this policy was reversed, some 25,000 untested patients were released into care homes in England. Cummings…

Football: Chelsea crowned champions in Portugal Thomas Tuchel’s immediate task on being made Chelsea manager in January was to qualify for next season’s Champions League, said David Hytner in The Guardian. Few thought that he could “actually win the thing” this season. Yet on Saturday night at the Estádio do Dragão in Porto, he did precisely that, guiding the Blues to their second Champions League title with a “perfectly calibrated” 1-0 victory over Manchester City. Nearly everything Tuchel has touched at Chelsea has “turned to gold”, and he produced a tactical masterclass in Portugal to make it three wins in a row over his friend and rival Pep Guardiola. The Blues “defended like demons” against City’s creative talents, and counter-attacked with devastating precision. Kai Havertz’s goal in the 42nd minute…

Careful what you wish for To the Financial Times The hallmark of Dominic Cummings’s political projects has been the removal of barriers to executive power – whether in the form of the EU, judges or the UK Parliament. Ironic, then, that the essence of his testimony to the select committee last week was that the executive had no idea how to wield that power. Tim Gordon, chief executive, Liberal Democrats, 2012-2016, London An anarchist’s progress To The Times Daniel Finkelstein is right about Dominic Cummings (“Why Cummings was doomed from the start”). Yet it is astonishing that the PM failed to spot the perils of employing Cummings at the heart of government in spite of stacks of evidence warning him against the appointment. Cummings has always reminded me of the…

The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed Viking 384pp £14.99 The Week Bookshop £11.99 Nadifa Mohamed’s third novel is a “fictionalised retelling of the story of Mahmood Mattan, one of the last men to be executed in Wales” – for a crime he didn’t commit, said Ashish Ghadiali in The Observer. A Somali seaman who lived in Butetown, Cardiff, Mattan was hanged, in 1952, for “slitting the throat” of a female pawnbroker. It later emerged that police had suppressed evidence that exonerated him, while bribing the main prosecution witness. Using her considerable powers of imagination, Mohamed delivers us deep into Mattan’s “inner world”. The result is a moving work that “confirms her as a literary star of her generation”. Mattan’s story is a “grim, desperate and horribly familiar one”, and the…

With its sprawling history of martial heroism, palace intrigue and decadence – and its monumental architecture – the Roman Empire has always been a gift to film directors. Here are five movies that glory in it: Julius Caesar Joseph L. Mankiewicz raised eyebrows by casting Marlon Brando as Mark Antony in his 1953 screen version of Shakespeare’s play. But the film proved a huge critical success, with Brando giving a performance to match John Gielgud’s as Cassius and James Mason’s as Brutus. Ben-Hur Featuring vast sets and 10,000 extras, William Wyler’s 1959 film was the most expensive ever made at the time. It won an unprecedented 11 Oscars, including best actor for Charlton Heston as the nobleman condemned to slavery. The climactic chariot race remains a byword for thrilling screen…

The Daily Telegraph Few Maseratis of late have matched up to the promise of the Italian marque’s rich racing history. Does its first electrified vehicle – a mild hybrid saloon – reverse this trend? Not quite. Named after “the dusty Libyan wind which blows down from the highlands to the Mediterranean”, the Ghibli looks great from the outside and the hybrid system works well. But the car has some major flaws. Auto Express The new hybrid system – a 48-volt starter/generator system alongside a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol turbo engine – works smoothly and delivers 326bhp. However, it fails to provide on either economy or emissions; plenty of petrol-only rivals can beat its 29.4-33.2mpg figures. The ride quality is also disappointingly harsh on even the smoothest roads, and the engine noise…

Norfolk’s Raynham Estate has 800 acres of historic parkland on which you can forage and sleep, in a super-king-size bed in a yurt (from £390 for three nights; raynham.co.uk). At Cirencester Park in the Cotswolds, Cloud Nine are this year setting up bell tents, and there will be polo lessons and riding as well as bushcraft (from £480 for three nights; cloudnineglamping.com). A pop-up season of arts programming is coming to Hertfordshire’s Aldenham Estate. It has a private lake, and accommodation in bell tents (from £125 a night; homefarmglamping.com). On the banks of Windermere in the Lake District, the Graythwaite Estate is opening a glamping site with watersports, axe-throwing, volleyball and a pizza van (from £210 for three nights; graythwaite.com). At the Marston Estate in Somerset, enjoy lakefront yoga, rowing…

The OECD revised up its forecast for world economic growth this year from 4.2% to 5.8%, observing that expansion of 4.4% next year will bring GDP in most places back to pre-pandemic levels by the end of 2022. Equities on both sides of the Atlantic continued to push higher. The pan-Europe Stoxx 600 index hit record levels, as did Germany’s Dax. Business sentiment in Italy was reported to be rising at the fastest rate of any country in the eurozone. The pound hit its highest level against the dollar in more than three years (above $1.42) off the back of a raft of positive data. Inflation continued to cause concern, though. A key US gauge – the Commerce Department’s core personal consumption index – posted its biggest year-on-year jump since…

● Return of the memes Cryptocurrencies have been “wilting”, said the FT. The main beneficiaries on Wall Street seem to be “meme stocks” – that group of companies, unloved by the investment establishment, whose prices went stratospheric in January when an army of amateur day traders piled in. Now after a lull, “some of that fervour is back”. Shares in the games retailer GameStop rose by a third last week, and the cinema operator AMC Entertainment has enjoyed a 200% surge “since bitcoin began wobbling” in early May. “These traders aren’t married to any sector, they’re married to the style,” said Dan Pipitone of the brokerage TradeZero – and they clearly have staying power as a new and important force in investment. ● Richer example In 2019, Julian Richer –…

Raffaello Follieri The Italian financier, once famous for dating Hollywood actress Anne Hathaway, hit a spot of trouble in 2008 when he was jailed in the US for the “Vati-con”, said The Sunday Times. “Funds meant to buy up Catholic churches in the US ended up financing his lavish lifestyle”, including private jets, a nice New York pad and “a dog-walking service for his and Hathaway’s pet labrador, Esmeralda”. Follieri, who conned investors using “a fake letter from the late Pope John Paul II”, is now back, with two new UK firms: Follieri Capital and Follieri Energy (which makes “premium lubricants”). Does he still have a taste for the high life? “The private jets and superyachts on his Instagram suggest the pope is indeed a Catholic – and investors should…

In the Disney cartoon 101 Dalmatians, Cruella de Vil was never seen without her cigarette holder and a plume of smoke; but today’s mores required her smoking habit to be ditched in a new film. Emma Stone, who plays the villain in the new live-action prequel Cruella (see page 33), lamented Disney’s decision: “It was difficult to not have that cigarette holder,” she said. “I was so excited to have that green plume of smoke in there, but it was not possible.” Lockdown has sparked a surge in men seeking hair transplants, with one doctor at the Westminster Clinic in London reporting a 50% bump in enquiries. The British Association of Hair Restoration Surgery says the country now has more than 200 clinics – ten times as many as a…

Boris Johnson was reprimanded this week for failing to take a serious interest in the funding of renovations to his Downing Street flat, in a report by the independent adviser on ministers’ interests. Lord Geidt said the PM “unwisely” allowed the works at No. 11 to proceed without “rigorous regard for how this would be funded”. However, the report, published last week, cleared Johnson of breaking the ministerial code. It concluded that he only found out about a substantial donation for the refurbishment from the Tory donor Lord Brownlow when he read about it in the press this year. Geidt said officials who knew about it failed to tell the PM.…

Edinburgh Lockdown easing paused: Much of Scotland will remain at Level 2 in the nation’s five-tier system, owing to rising Covid cases, Nicola Sturgeon announced this week. Lockdown restrictions had been expected to be eased next week. However, while some areas outside the central belt can move to Level 1, meaning entertainment venues can reopen, the First Minister said 13 council areas will not see an easing of restrictions. Glasgow, meanwhile, which has been under a stricter Level 3 lockdown for nine straight months, will enter Level 2 on Saturday, meaning six people from up to three households can meet up indoors. And island communities such as Orkney and Shetland will move to Level 0, or “nearly normal”, rules. Sturgeon said a “slight slowing down” of the easing was needed…

Elton John’s drag names “My relationship with drag has been a lifelong love affair,” says Elton John in The Sunday Times. It started when his manager, John Reid – “also the first person I ever slept with” – took him to Danny La Rue’s club in London in the early 1970s. Back then, Elton was “a very sheltered gay man”; but soon, he was dressing in drag himself. Over the years that followed, he accrued “so many gay friends and employees it felt natural to give each other drag names”. It was, he says, “my way of telling them I loved them”. His own name became “Sharon” – “because I was so common”. Rod Stewart was always “Phyllis”. Freddie Mercury became “Melina” after Melina Mercouri, the Greek actress, and John…

The Argentinian news channel Canal 26 reported that William Shakespeare, “one of the most important writers in the English language”, had died last week, months after receiving the Covid vaccine. Newsreader Noelia Novillo confused the Bard, who died in 1616, with William “Bill” Shakespeare, an 81-year-old from Warwickshire who was the world’s second person to get the Pfizer vaccine, and had died of a stroke. “We’ve got news that has stunned all of us, given the greatness of this man,” said Novillo, hailing him as the “master”. She later said she had “expressed myself badly” A . fugitive handed himself in after weeks on the run in rural New Zealand – but not before enjoying a meal of champagne and oysters, and chartering a helicopter to bring him to police.…

FRANCE Dumbing down the presidency Le Point (Paris) It was “a milestone beyond which it will be difficult for the president to return”, says Arthur Chevallier. Last week, Emmanuel Macron appeared in a video filmed at the Élysée Palace with the YouTube stars Mcfly and Carlito, a comedy duo with 6.6 million followers. They played “true or false”; Macron claimed that the football megastar Kylian Mbappé was about to move to his own favourite club, Marseille. They then retired to the garden to listen to a heavy metal band called Ultra Vomit. The video was by some measures a success: it was watched 13.8 million times. But it’s doubtful whether this attempt to get down with the kids will have done Macron much good with older voters. When first elected,…

British scientists have begun investigating the viability of various methods for sucking carbon from the atmosphere, as part of the UK’s aim to hit net-zero emissions by 2050. The £30m project, which is funded by UK Research and Innovation, will include restoring areas of degraded peatland in the Pennines and in west Wales; and spreading basalt chips that lock in CO2 as they break down on farmland in Hertfordshire and Devon. Previous studies have found that, were chips to be spread on half of all farmland, it could absorb up to two billion tonnes of CO2 a year. Biochar, a charcoal that is used as mulch, can also be spread over the land, trapping carbon and locking it into the soil. Researchers will examine how much can be added without…

“The increasingly bitter battle over what it means to be British” has claimed its “latest sacrificial lamb”, said Richard Morrison in The Times. The National Trust chairman, Tim Parker, last week announced that he was standing down. Why? Apparently because “mouthy Tory MPs” and some members feel that on his watch, the Trust has become too “woke”, readily adopting “fashionable left-wing social, environmental and political causes”. Parker resigned a day after some members had pushed for a motion of no-confidence against him. They were infuriated in particular that the National Trust chose to publish a register of its properties with links to colonialism and slavery. Parker is hardly a “bleeding heart pinko”. He served under Boris Johnson when he was mayor of London, and as boss of Kwik Fit and…

The first time Boris Johnson got married, to Allegra Mostyn-Owen in 1987, he reportedly arrived without his wedding trousers or shoes, said The Daily Telegraph. He also misplaced the ring and lost the wedding certificate. Third time round, it was a much smoother affair. At around 1.30pm last Saturday, confused tourists were ushered out of Westminster Cathedral. Soon after, Carrie Symonds arrived in a limousine, wearing a gown by the Greek designer Christos Costarellos (hired for just £45). The PM and Symonds were married in front of the 30 guests allowed under Covid restrictions – including his siblings Rachel, Jo and Leo, father Stanley, and half-sister Julia. Afterwards, the guests moved to the Downing Street garden, which was done up in “bohemian festival” style, with hay bales and bunting, and…

England’s two-match Test series against New Zealand – which began on Wednesday at Lord’s – could easily be seen as a gentle warm-up for battles later this year against the likes of India and Australia, said Steve James in The Times. Yet few in the England camp will underestimate their opponents: for a country of only five million, New Zealand punches well “above its weight”. It currently heads the one-day international rankings, and in January this year, a defeat of Pakistan took it to the “top of the Test mountain”, too, for the first time (though it has since been displaced by India). Experts attribute its success to the consistently “smart” way in which it organises its domestic game: “sophisticated marquees”, for instance, allow training to take place all year…

To The Guardian In March and April 2020, many elderly patients were hurriedly transferred to care homes from hospital despite never having been in a care home before. Hospitals and care homes were in lockdown, so we could not see loved ones to explain what was happening to them. When my beloved partner was transferred thus, the care home denied me the chance to talk to him on the phone or even to wave to him from outside. It was unbearably cruel and I have to live with the fact that I was not more proactive. At the beginning of last April, we received a letter saying the home had admitted a patient with Covid from the hospital. My partner died there, as did others. He was not tested for…

After months stuck at home, you might be unwilling to pay £10 in order to enter “yet another confined space”, said Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. Believe me, though: the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Rooms, two of which are now on show at Tate Modern, are more than worth it. Kusama, 92, has become a social media sensation for creating a number of these “tiny chambers”, illuminated by minuscule lights and lined with mirrors, which reflect each other in an infinite number of configurations. Walking into one of those on show here is like entering a “hallucinatory palace of light”; you find yourself “drifting through a star-spangled infinitude”, hypnotised by “prismatic glints”. The experience is “beautiful” but “disquieting”. Kusama, who has been affected by hallucinations for much of…

At the dairy, Clarrie wonders how Alice hid her drinking for so long, while Kirsty shows up for her first day at work. When Vince offers business advice on the pigs at Lower Loxley, Elizabeth gently asks him to leave things to her; she’s taken aback when Vince says it’s a sign of his love. Alarmed by Lee’s collection of superhero figures, Helen gets Ian to help arrange things in the new house, and a compromise is reached. Ian and Adam step in when Lee’s efforts to redecorate the boys’ bedrooms go awry. Worried about Alice, Ruairi suggests that he moves out so that she can move home for a while; Brian and Jennifer aren’t sure. Over tea, Neil unburdens himself to Shula about the strain Susan is under, and…

Nikon D3500 A top choice for anyone looking to get into photography, the D3500 has a Guide Mode to explain the settings, and huge battery life (£499 with AF-P DX 18-55 VR lens; cliftoncameras. co.uk). Canon EOS 250D DSLR Canon’s well-built 250D is much smaller than most DSLRs, but it has a moveable screen and a large sensor for impressive photo quality (£600, with 18-55mm DC lens; argos.co.uk). Panasonic LUMIX G100 Perfect for budding vloggers, the G100 has 4K recording and three microphones to record sound from all angles. It’s also very compact, so is a good one to take on travels (£680 with LUMIX G Vario 12-32mm f3.5-5.6 lens; very.co.uk). Canon EOS 2000D DSLR A little more budget-friendly, especially if you already have a lens and just buy the…

F1 boss who fought a privacy battle against the press Max Mosley 1940-2021 Clever, charming and capable of ruthlessness, Max Mosley, who has died aged 81, would have probably enjoyed a political career, had his name not been irretrievably tainted by its association with British fascism. Instead, he found an outlet for his thrill-seeking energy in motor racing – and for his political skills in the battles within Formula 1, said The Guardian. A driving force behind the sport’s global success, he became, in 1993, the head of its ruling body, the FIA. He will be remembered in particular for his work to improve safety standards following the deaths of two drivers – Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger – in the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Later, however, he became…

Great news for aficionados of Heinz salad cream, said Julia Bradshaw in The Daily Telegraph. It’s “coming back to Britain” with two other national favourites, tomato ketchup and mayonnaise, as part of a £140m investment in Kraft Heinz’s existing Wigan plant. Heinz shifted production of sauces to Europe in 1999, prompting ministers to dub the return home “a post-Brexit vote of confidence”. The plan is certainly one of the largest investments in UK manufacturing since the split with the EU, said BBC Business. It’s also a milestone for Kraft Heinz – marking “the firm’s biggest expansion of a manufacturing site outside the US in more than 20 years”.…

“Money has been pouring into renewables,” said Holly Thomas in The Times. Global inflows into clean energy ETFs (exchange-traded funds) rose to $14.7bn in the six months to the end of March – up from $1.3bn for the same period a year earlier – and experts say they’re a safe bet. Here are some picks: Wind David Harrison of the Rathbone Global Sustainability fund likes the Danish turbine-maker, Vestas – “a quality company with a strong reputation globally” and a profitable servicing business. He’s also a fan of the Spanish wind farm builder and operator, EDPR. Mike Appleby of Liontrust thinks investment trusts are a good way to get exposure to wind farms: he rates Greencoat UK Wind. Solar Appleby tips the London-listed US Solar Fund as a way of…

The week’s best shares Biffa Investors Chronicle The waste manager’s £126m deal to buy Viridor’s collections business and certain recycling assets will add 21,000 customers. The debt burden (some 2.7% times cash profits) is predicted to fall. Buy. 295p. Daily Mail and General Trust The Times DMGT’s paper and exhibitions arms have been eclipsed by a £1bn stake in car dealer Cazoo, injecting volatility. But a spread of B2B activities means the “risk-reward balance is nicely poised, and could favour the brave”. Buy. 866p. Redrow The Daily Telegraph The builder should benefit as an economic bounceback catalyses demand for new homes. Stable, with a bank of 26,000 plots and cushioned by government measures, prospects are much better than the valuation suggests. Buy. 679.4p. Ruffer Investment Company The Daily Telegraph This…