Innholdsfortegnelse for V. 1357 i The Week

What happened Sleaze in the Commons Boris Johnson was accused last week of treating Parliament with contempt – and presiding over a new culture of sleaze – for attempting to block the suspension of Owen Paterson, a former cabinet minister who’d been found to have breached lobbying rules. The PM whipped his MPs to back an amendment to abolish the Standards Committee, and allow Paterson’s case to be re-examined, but the move caused such an outcry that the Government reversed course the next day (see page 22). This week, ministers admitted that the Government had made a “mistake”, but Johnson refused to apologise, or to cancel a hospital visit in order to attend an emergency debate – prompting claims from Labour that he was “running scared”. As the media detailed…

“I have one small objection to Cop26,” said Allison Pearson in The Daily Telegraph: it’s an utter farce. Around 400 private jets landed at Glasgow airport, carrying world leaders and billionaire businessmen telling us to reduce our carbon footprint. President Joe Biden had a “quick zizz” at exactly the moment a speaker said: “This is one of the most important events in history.” China, Russia and Brazil failed to show up. India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, promised the country would reach net zero by 2070 (read: “maybe never”). Justin Welby said our leaders would be “cursed” if they didn’t reach an agreement; he compared them to Nazi appeasers, but later apologised when he realised he’d “got carried away by the fire and brimstone vibe”. The whole thing was absurd, and…

Crisp lovers, who may face shortages of their favourite snacks, owing to an IT upgrade disrupting production at the Walkers crisp factory, the world’s biggest. Walkers said it would prioritise the most popular flavours while the problem was being resolved. Oxford University, which was accused of “moral failure” for accepting £12m in donations from a Mosley family trust. The late F1 boss Max Mosley had set up the trust to house money he inherited from his father, the fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley. Noting that Max Mosley had campaigned for his father’s postwar Union movement, critics described the money as “tainted”.…

Houston, Texas Deaths at a concert: At least eight music fans aged between 14 and 27 were killed last Friday, when the crowd stampeded at a concert by rapper Travis Scott held at the Astroworld Festival in Houston. Hundreds more were injured. The surge began at 9.15pm and officials declared a “mass casualty incident” at 9.38pm, but it took a further 37 minutes for the concert to be stopped, even as medics tried to pull victims from the crowd and administer CPR. Scott (pictured) and Canadian rapper Drake, who was onstage with him, now stand accused of “inciting mayhem”. Some 35 lawsuits have been filed against them and Live Nation, the company that staged the concert. Scott, who launched the festival in 2018, has twice before been convicted of misdemeanour…

In praise of indifference “Few things are as oppressive as compulsory enthusiasm. Nobody familiar with office life will have managed to avoid the absurd pantomime of excitement which now attends almost all corporate activities: from the greying and weary middle managers who must pretend to be thrilled about PowerPoint presentations to the prospective interns who have to write begging letters proclaiming themselves to be ‘passionate’ about the prospect of making those same greying and weary middle managers coffee for a couple of weeks. Authentic enthusiasm has its place, but we must not be afraid of indifference, which nowadays looks positively like a virtue.” James Marriott in The Times…

The mobile has robbed us of compassionJanice Turner The Times Why did they do it? What possessed those two experienced police officers to take photos of two sisters who’d been stabbed to death, and share the images with friends on WhatsApp with the caption “two dead birds”? Misogyny? A sick form of gallows humour? Perhaps both, says Janice Turner. But their vile behaviour is also a reflection of the “selfie age” we live in, of the way new technology fosters narcissism at the expense of compassion. The officers were “doing what social media rewards us all for: proving that we were there”. Look, here’s me with a famous person. Look, here’s me at a murder scene. People have grown so used to photographing and sharing things, many now instinctively reach…

The disappearing right whales The waters off the east coast of the US and Canada teemed with North Atlantic right whales – until their high blubber content, and slow speed, made them a prime target for whalers. They had been hunted close to extinction by the end of the 19th century, and now researchers at the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium have warned there are just 368 left, and fewer than 100 of them are believed to be breeding females. Hunters have not been a threat for nearly a century, but the whales, which tend to swim relatively close to the surface, are still at risk from humans: they collide with fishing boats and get tangled in nets. Previous research has shown that 86% of right whales have been caught…

“Whisper it,” said Kat Lay and Tom Whipple in The Times, “but there are – perhaps – signs that it could be safe to press ahead with planning for Christmas.” Surveys suggest that coronavirus in the UK may be in retreat. In England, where about one person in 50 have Covid, case numbers are falling, largely as a result of a drop of infections among secondary-school children. Scientists have cautioned that this downward trend may just be a temporary effect of halfterm. They’ve also warned that cases are still rising among the over-50s as a result of waning immunity. But with booster jabs dealing with that latter problem, and the prospect of new antiviral treatments on the way, the “mood music is beginning to sound optimistic”. The antiviral pills could…

Scotland were one of the surprise packages of this year’s Six Nations, beating both England and France away from home, said Alasdair Reid in The Times. And on Sunday, Gregor Townsend’s side proved those wins “were no flashes in the pan” by battling to a 15-13 victory against Australia. The match was too error-strewn to be a classic, said Michael Aylwin in The Guardian, but it contained plenty of drama. Scotland’s two debutants, hooker Ewan Ashman and flanker Josh Bayliss, were especially impressive, said Richard Bath in The Daily Telegraph. Indeed, 21-year-old Ashman – called into action in the tenth minute – was responsible for the afternoon’s standout moment: a wonderful, twisting try in the corner to give his team a crucial lead in the second half. His performance personified…

Same old sleaze To The Guardian When Paul Dacre proved to be unappointable to Ofcom, the Culture Secretary said “let’s have a new interview process”. When Priti Patel was found to have bullied her staff, the PM said “no case to answer”. When Owen Paterson was found to have breached parliamentary standards, the Tory party said “let’s have a new system”. They will say these cases are all different, but to the average voter it looks like sleaze and corruption. Did it ever go away? No wonder the Government wants to curtail judicial review. Peter Clark, Burton in Lonsdale, North Yorkshire The elderly should pay To The Times Robert Colvile writes that “The budget is more proof that Britain is turning into an elderly care system with a state attached”.…

Theatre: The Ocean at the End of the Lane Duke of York’s Theatre, London WC2 (0333-009 6690). Until 14 May Running time: 2hrs 20mins Two Christmases ago the National’s spellbinding staging of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel – a tale of childhood friendship, fear and the power of stories – was a huge hit in the theatre’s smallest auditorium, the Dorfman. Alas, a planned transfer was “scuppered by you-know-what”, said Nick Curtis in the London Evening Standard. Now, though, it has made it to the West End – and with a “refreshed sense of wonder and visual dazzle”. It is a triumph, agreed Anya Ryan in The Independent – a “hauntingly memorable” evening, with some moments that are “genuinely terrifying”, such as when oversized puppets “flip overhead and veer menacingly into…

Programmes Stieg Larsson’s Millennium First terrestrial broadcast of the Emmy awardwinning six-part TV adaptation of the crime novels, made in Sweden in 2010. Sat 13 Nov, BBC4 21:30 (90mins). The Lakes with Simon Reeve Reeve travels to Cumbria to meet campaigners and farmers, all with their own visions for the Lake District’s future. Sun 14 Nov, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland Actors Miriam Margolyes and Alan Cumming take a campervan around their shared homeland, starting in Glasgow. Tue 16 Nov, C4 21:15 (60mins). Bridget Riley – Painting the Line A revealing portrait of the 90-year-old artist, with archive footage, contributions from other artists, and a rare interview with Riley herself. Fri 19 Nov, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Films Vice (2018) Director Adam McKay’s offbeat biopic of Dick…

This recipe came about when a cake we were trying had tahini added to the sugar instead of honey, says Dee Rettali. The accident inspired me to create these biscuits – which are now a firm favourite at the bakery. They’re almost like cookies, as they’re quite brittle, and they’re delicious with a glass of mint tea. Makes 28 biscuits Equipment: large baking tray, lined with baking parchment 150g salted butter, at room temperature 125g soft brown sugar 120g tahini paste 280g organic plain white flour zest and juice of 1 organic unwaxed lemon ½ tsp dried mint 1 tsp za’atar mix (see below) 25g sesame seeds 45g unrefined golden caster sugar 1 egg, beaten, to glaze for the za’atar mix (makes 1 small jar): 4 tbsp fresh or dried thyme 4…

Flamboyant hoofer, choreographer and game-show host Lionel Blair 1928-2021 With his bouffant hair, gleaming smile and permatan, Lionel Blair was an “allround entertainer who could sing, dance, act, tell jokes and hold together the flimsiest of low-budget television game shows”, said The Daily Telegraph. He described himself as the prototype for the old joke: “Open the fridge and I’ll do a 20-minute turn in the light.” And in recent years, he had specialised in sending up that image, appearing on everything from Ricky Gervais’s Extras – playing himself as a has-been entertainer trying to revive his career by appearing on Celebrity Big Brother – to Celebrity Big Brother itself. But Blair, who has died aged 92, wasn’t just famous for being famous. He was a skilled hoofer and choreographer who’d…

Fears that inflation might prove more intractable than hoped were fanned by data showing that the US cost of living is rising faster than it has for three decades. Its consumer prices index for October showed that prices rose by 6.2% over the last 12 months – a sharp jump from September’s 5.4% figure. Bond markets globally were rattled by the BoE’s unexpected decision to keep interest rates on hold: the ensuing rally in the UK gilt prices, as traders unwound their bets, was echoed by surging eurozone bond and US treasury prices. The latest Chinese investment figures surprised. Global holdings of Chinese stocks and bonds have jumped by $120bn to $1.1trn in 2021 – despite Beijing’s crackdown on companies and a liquidity crisis in its property market. Airlines cheered…

Jan Marsalek Some 18 months after Wirecard, Germany’s biggest fintech, imploded, there is still no sign of former COO, Jan Marsalek, who escaped on a private jet to Minsk when the fraud was exposed. Yet the mysterious Viennese executive continues to cast a long shadow, says Sam Jones in the FT. Marsalek, 41, combined his “corporate responsibilities” with “a web of geopolitical interests”: he also has links with the farright Austrian Freedom party and is under investigation for “connections to Russian spymasters”. It now emerges that his contacts included a senior Austrian military official and a top diplomat; both have now left their posts. The Austrian government is struggling to restore the trust of EU allies as a security and intelligence partner. Wherever he is, Marsalek isn’t helping. Nguyen Thi…

The Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, accused the UK of “deliberately forcing a breakdown” in negotiations over Northern Ireland. He was reacting to the threat made by UK Brexit Minister David Frost to trigger Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs the region’s post-Brexit trading arrangements. The provision allows either side (the UK or the EU) to suspend parts of the deal and seek new agreements. If Britain triggered Article 16, warned Coveney, then the entire post-Brexit agreement between the UK and the EU could be “set aside”. In order to avoid a hard land border on “the island of Ireland”, the Protocol had placed customs checks between mainland UK and Northern Ireland. But the resulting “sea border” has caused economic disruption and fury among unionists. There have…

Nine out of ten British adults bought themselves “treats” to help them cope with lockdown, and many are now suffering from buyer’s remorse, a survey has found. For instance, one in 20 respondents splashed out on a hot tub, 36% of whom regret it. Gaming equipment, DIY kit, Peloton static bikes, air fryers and pizza ovens were among the other items frequently cited by regretful respondents to the Aviva survey. Typically, they had spent £1,400. A new TV channel for dogs is to launch in the UK, to help pets cope with their owners returning to work. The founders of DogTV (which first appeared in Israel in 2009) say its programming is designed to minimise behavioural problems that can occur when dogs are left alone.…

Two-thirds (68%) of Republicans think the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump; 80% think America is at risk of losing its values and culture; 30% of Republicans – and 11% of Democrats – agree that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save our country”. American Values Survey/The Independent Almost half of UK adults (46%) say it is too soon to tell whether Brexit has been a success or a failure. Of those who have made up their minds, 11% judge it to be a success and 37% a failure. Overall, two-thirds of people think that Brexit has led to higher prices in shops. Under a fifth think leaving the EU has been good for business. Half think it has been bad for business.…

Helen Mirren’s self-doubt She’s won an Oscar for playing the Queen, and is held up as one of the most glamorous stars of her generation. Yet Helen Mirren, 76, still experiences moments of self-doubt – to the extent that at events, she has sometimes had to lock herself into a lavatory to give herself a pep talk. Being surrounded by other A-listers is particularly stressful, she told Ellie Stott in Platinum magazine. “I always wear stripper shoes because it’s pretty intimidating to find yourself in a room full of incredibly beautiful women who are at least a foot taller than you,” she says. She accepts that she has “swagger” after a career spanning five decades, but she doesn’t feel special. “What always comes up in my head is that I’m…

Russian police have launched a crusade against young people who are taking risqué photographs next to national landmarks, and posting them on social media. One woman has been sentenced to 14 days behind bars for a picture showing her buttocks near the Kremlin walls. A couple have been sent to jail for ten months for “insulting believers’ feelings” after taking a photo suggestive of oral sex in front of the onion domes of St Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Last week, a model apologised for a photo that showed her kissing another woman in front of the “eternal flame”, a monument to the Soviet war dead. Huddersfield is currently hosting an exhibition of The Worst Record Covers in the World. Steve Goldman’s collection began around 40 years ago when he found…

MADAGASCAR Burning up our lands and our legacy L’Express de Madagascar (Antananarivo) What was once the vast Madagascar jungle is now a charred and smoking wreck, said Nasolo-Valiavo Andriamihaja – and we can’t blame climate change. It isn’t naturally occurring wildfires that consume 250,000 acres of forest every year: it’s blazes set by farmers making space for crops and livestock – a practice to which authorities turn a blind eye. Worse still, many fires are set by arsonists who are angry at a government that offers them little relief from poverty, and resort to burning the forest by way of protest. Whatever wisps of vegetation that might survive these man-made fires are quickly gobbled up by the herds of voracious goats that follow them. The result is that you can…

Even before babies know what words mean, they are able to identify new words by recognising likely syllable patterns – and can pick them out from continuous speech. Now, researchers have found evidence that dogs can do it too. The team monitored the brain activity of various dogs while exposing them to a stream of three-syllable nonsense words (to be sure they had not heard them before). They found that the animals’ brain activity differed according to whether the syllable patterns they were being played occurred frequently, or only rarely; and that it also varied depending on whether the dogs were listening to syllables that only sometimes appeared together, or that always did. This, the team says, indicates that dogs are using the same complex computations as babies to detect…

Lady Gaga went “full method” while she was playing the murderous socialite Patrizia Reggiani in Ridley Scott’s new film House of Gucci. “I lived as her for a year and a half,” she told Vogue. “And I spoke with an accent for nine months of that.” Off camera, too? “Off camera,” she confirms. “I was either in my hotel room, living and speaking as Reggiani, or I was on set, living and speaking as her.” Some of her traits lingered even after the film wrapped. “It’s not an imitation, it’s a becoming,” she said. Tea-drinking traditionalists have been shocked by Timothy Spall’s revelation that he likes to “double bag”: to drink a mix of Yorkshire and Earl Grey in one cup. “Stick ‘em in… Yorkshire or whatever the equivalent builders…

“Death is sort of an affront to American life. It’s so anti-aspirational.” Zadie Smith, quoted in The Guardian “In politics and journalism, friendship is more corrupting than money.” Matthew Parris in The Times “Corrupt politicians make the other 10% look bad.” Henry Kissinger, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “In real life, I assure you, there is no such thing as algebra.” Fran Lebowitz, quoted in Reader’s Digest “The necessary has never been man’s top priority. The passionate pursuit of the non-essential and the extravagant is one of the chief traits of human uniqueness.” Philosopher Eric Hoffer, quoted in Entrepreneur “Having a guitar in your hand distracts from having a large nose.” Elvis Costello, quoted in The Times “The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we…

The Mexican Grand Prix, held at a “dizzying altitude of 2,238 metres”, is the most elevated circuit on the F1 calendar, said Tom Cary in The Daily Telegraph. So it was always likely to favour Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, whose car, famously, “sprouts wings at altitude”. And so it proved at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez on Sunday: the Dutchman was simply on “another level” from the moment he swept past Mercedes teammates Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton – who’d somehow secured first and second position on the grid – with a brilliant manoeuvre on the very first turn. From then on, the 24-year-old was barely troubled, said Giles Richards in The Guardian: with the “calm assurance of a veteran”, he “delivered another clinical performance” of the kind that has defined…

To The Daily Telegraph Oxford University and two of its colleges, St Peter’s and Lady Margaret Hall, seek to justify the willing receipt of millions of pounds of Mosley Charitable Trust money, as the donations were considered and approved by an independent committee taking “ethical and reputational issues into consideration”. As a boy growing up in Hackney in the 1950s I saw, and I will never forget, Oswald Mosley and his Blackshirt gangs marching through the East End spouting disgusting anti-Semitic and racist propaganda, and provoking 1930s-style Nazi street fights. I wonder which ethical standards or issues of reputation were taken into account by the committee when approving receipt of these donations. For colleges to rely on the committee decision is a classic fig-leaf exercise. The Mosley name should never…

Spencer 1hr 51mins (12A) A bold and expressionistic portrait of Diana “Halloween may be over, but there’s an artfully ghoulish quality to Spencer,” said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman. Made by the Chilean director Pablo Larraín, this “audacious” new film is about Princess Diana’s last Christmas as a member of the royal family in 1991 – and there is something “gleefully macabre” in the way it presents the monarchy. Sandringham comes across as a “gildedcage” version of the hotel in The Shining, and the military-style operation to prepare it for the festivities subtly suggests that the princess – desperate to leave her husband, but determined not to lose her children – is entering a battleground. What follows is not a Crown-like dramatisation, but something more like an “expressionistic horror film”…

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Lilian steers Justin away from his luxury plans for The Stables. Impressed by Shula’s new pitch, he gives a cautious yes. Pip and Toby are at loggerheads over their living arrangements. At Jazzer’s request, Harrison checks up on Blake. He’s fixated on seeing Philip in prison and asks Harrison for help. A conflicted Harrison says he’ll try, in exchange for Blake giving evidence against other slave traders. Hearing the plan from Blake, Kirsty is horrified. She confronts Harrison, who agrees that Blake seeing Philip is a bad idea, but may be worth the risk. With Bert gone, Rex is worried about being evicted, despite Pip’s reassurance. Spotting a way out of his own situation, Toby suggests he moves in, but Rex refuses. Lynda plans to revive The Mystery Plays. After…

Mini nuclear reactors have long been touted as a better means of generating power than larger, eye-wateringly expensive plants that risk becoming white elephants before they’re completed. Now their time has come. That’s the thinking in Whitehall, which is pumping £210m into Rolls-Royce’s new small modular reactor (SMR) business in hope of weaning “Britain off its reliance on imported energy”, said Howard Mustoe in The Daily Telegraph. “The investment marks a victory for Rolls”, which has long championed SMRs, not least as a “potentially lucrative export market”. The taxpayer is being joined by two big foreign backers: France’s BNF Resources and the US nuclear giant Exelon. The plan is to build up to 16 SMRs (each the size of two football pitches) at £1.8bn a pop, each capable of generating…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1286 An Ettinger travel pass case and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 22 November. Email the answers as a scan of a completed grid or a list, with the subject line The Week crossword 1286, to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass case (assorted colours), which retails at £105, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 Choose the French in a difficult situation (6) 4 Sadly England’s captain lacking energy getting people in a state (8) 10 Rare cat lost in fierce struggle (3,4) 11 Country song enthralling soldiers (7) 12 Gone off with partner to get position…

An NHS programme to vaccinate children against the human papillomavirus is having a dramatic effect on cervical cancer rates, according to the first study involving real-world data. Funded by Cancer Research UK, the study found that rates of the disease among the first people who were offered the jab aged 12 or 13 (who are now in their 20s) were 87% lower than in an unvaccinated population. The researchers estimate that so far, it has prevented 450 cancers. A solid gold bible – scarcely bigger than a fingernail – has been unearthed on farmland near York. Buffy Bailey, an NHS nurse, was searching the land with her husband, Ian, when her metal detector picked up a signal. She dug into the ground expecting to find a ring pull or bottle…

Malala Yousafzai, the campaigner and Nobel Prize-winner, who revealed that she had tied the knot with her partner. Malala, 24, said that she and cricket manager Asser Malik had taken part in a nikkah ceremony, in which a bride and groom consent to be married. “Today marks a precious day in my life,” she wrote. Damon Galgut, who won the Booker Prize with his ninth novel. The Promise is about a white South African family, and their unfulfilled promise to give their black domestic worker a house. Irn-Bru, which could emerge as one of the winners of Cop26. Delegates from all over the world were exposed to Scotland’s favourite fizzy drink for the first time in Glasgow. “I am hooked on it,” said Dreli Solomon, from Vanuatu. Others, however, were…

Warsaw Abortion protests: The death of a woman who experienced complications during pregnancy has reignited public anger over Poland’s strict abortion laws. The woman had gone to hospital when her amniotic fluids broke at 22 weeks. Previous scans had shown that her foetus suffered abnormalities, but her family say that doctors refused her a life-saving abortion, though it was clear to her that she was at risk of septicaemia. She died of septic shock. “Her heart was beating too,” chanted the crowd at a protest attended by tens of thousands of people in Warsaw last week. Until last year, when a ruling by the constitutional court tightened the law, abortions could be legally performed in cases where the baby suffered severe congenital defects. Doctors are still permitted to carry out…

1* I Can See Clearly Now, written and performed by Johnny Nash2 Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis by François Villon and Georges Brassens, performed by Georges Brassens3 At Seventeen, written and performed by Janis Ian4 Here Comes the Flood, written and performed by Peter Gabriel5 Sultans of Swing by Mark Knopfler, performed by Dire Straits6 Letting You Go by Jason Robert Brown, performed by Philip Quast7 When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease, written and performed by Roy Harper8 Little Plastic Castle, written and performed by Ani DiFranco Book: The Collected Works of Victor Hugo Luxury: her own shed * Choice if allowed only one record…

Under the Gender Recognition Act 2004, you can change your legal gender if you’re over 18 and pay a fee (initially at least £140, but since reduced). You need two medical reports – one confirming you’ve been diagnosed with gender dysphoria (“distress arising from an incongruence between a person’s felt gender and assigned sex/gender”), and one detailing the treatment, if any, you’re having or plan to have. You also need to provide documentary evidence that you’ve been living under a new gender for at least two years – i.e. without legally being of that gender, which causes many difficulties. By May this year, 5,871 Gender Recognition Certificates had been awarded. Plans to allow people to officially self-identify – change gender just by signing a statutory declaration – were dropped by…

How to turn America greenAndrew Sullivan Substack “When you hear that humans just need to find a reliable, plentiful energy source that doesn’t blacken our lungs and burn the planet to a crisp, remember that we have already found one,” says Andrew Sullivan. It’s called nuclear power. It generates huge amounts of consistent electricity in a very compact space, regardless of the weather – and does so without releasing any greenhouse gases. The technology allows France, which gets 70% of its energy from nuclear plants, to spend about half what “green” Germany does on electricity while producing “just one tenth of the carbon emissions”. Although nuclear plants have a strong safety record compared with coal, oil and other fossil fuels, a few highly publicised accidents have created, in the US,…

In a world first, e-cigarettes could be made available on prescription in England, to help smokers quit, the Government has announced. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has invited e-cigarette manufacturers to submit their products for approval; those that get the green light could then be prescribed by doctors on a case-by-case basis. There are around 6.1 million smokers in England. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said that making e-cigarettes available on the NHS could tackle the “stark disparities in smoking rates across the country”. However, the policy is not uncontroversial: some argue that the state shouldn’t pay for people’s e-cigarettes, as former smokers will save money by switching to vaping; others point out that there are widespread concerns about the safety of vaping.…

The racism scandal that has engulfed Yorkshire County Cricket Club is “a disaster for one of Britain’s most famous sporting institutions”, said The Times. Last week, the Cricinfo website leaked parts of a confidential report revealing that Azeem Rafiq, the county side’s youngest-ever captain, had suffered years of racist abuse and bullying at the club, leading him to consider suicide. It also revealed that, although the 12-month investigation upheld seven of Rafiq’s allegations of “racist and bullying” behaviour, the board took no disciplinary action. Astonishingly, the board even found that when another player, Gary Ballance, repeatedly used the word “p**i” against Rafiq, it was delivered “in the spirit of friendly banter”. Yorkshire is facing a reckoning for its “stubborn refusal to address its longstanding problems with racism”. Sponsors including Harrogate…

The Czech energy billionaire Daniel Kretínsky was among those present on Sunday to watch West Ham take on Liverpool, said Henry Winter in The Times. What he saw “was a perfect advertisement for the club he is considering investing in”: not only was there a great atmosphere at the London Stadium, but the afternoon was capped by a thrilling 3-2 victory, which took David Moyes’s team to third in the Premier League, three points behind leaders Chelsea. West Ham were undoubtedly assisted by Liverpool’s goalkeeper, Alisson, who endured an uncharacteristically torrid afternoon, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. They also benefited from one or two questionable refereeing decisions. But, overall, “the better team won on the day”: West Ham were simply more resilient and determined than their opponents. Once…

Cricket England opener Jason Roy was ruled out of the rest of the T20 World Cup with a torn calf. He was replaced in the squad by James Vince. Football Eddie Howe was named as Newcastle’s new head coach, replacing Steve Bruce, who was sacked last month following the club’s takeover by a Saudi-led consortium. Tennis Novak Djokovic won the Paris Masters, beating World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. It was the World No. 1’s sixth victory at the tournament.…

The pre-publicity for the BBC’s new drama series Showtrial “banged on” about the fact that it has the same producers as Vigil and Line of Duty, said Alison Rowat in The Herald. Will this be their hattrick? It starts, of course, with a murder: Hannah (Abra Thompson) is a student, found dead after a ball in Bristol. Chief among the suspects is her ex-friend Talitha Campbell (Celine Buckens) – rich, arrogant and “deeply unpleasant to everyone she meets”. The drama is stuffed with strong women intended to give it “feminist cred”, but fundamentally it’s still entertainment built on foul deeds done to women. For me the jury is out. I thought it was “great”, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Away from the students, much of the drama concerns technical…

Best books… Charles Cumming The spy writer chooses six books that inspired his series of novels about BOX 88, a secret Anglo-American agency run by intelligence officer Lachlan Kite. The latest, JUDAS 62 (HarperCollins £14.99), is out now Black Earth City by Charlotte Hobson, 2001 (Faber £9.99). The pandemic prevented me from travelling to Voronezh, the Russian city where my main character Lachlan Kite works as an English teacher. Charlotte Hobson studied there in the early 1990s and her memoir, so detailed and atmospheric, acted as a time machine, transporting me back to post-Soviet Russia. The Enigma of Kidson by Jamie Blackett, 2017 (Quiller, £16.95). Lachlan Kite is packed off to Alford College – a thinly disguised Eton – aged 13. Blackett’s biography of an enigmatic history teacher, revered by…

Pfizer: Covid bonanza “Investors piled into pandemic-battered stocks” last week after Pfizer published trial data about its “game changer” Covid-19 pill, which “slashed” the risk of hospitalisation and death for high-risk patients by 89%, said Hannah Kuchler in the FT. The hope is that the antiviral, Paxlovid, puts the end of the pandemic “in clear view”. “Salivating” investors pushed Pfizer’s own shares 11% higher, said Grady McGregor in Fortune. The announcement came a week after the UK became the first country in the world to approve a Covid-19 antiviral pill, molnupiravir, which was jointly developed by US pharmas Merck and Ridgeback. Doctors say the pills “should be considered as supplements to vaccines rather than alternatives”. Investors aren’t so sure – shares in several vaccine-makers fell on the news. But overall,…

Shedding black won’t make the world go greenPatrick Hosking The Times Fund managers “are moving to weed out carbon-related investments with the same zeal that a 17th century Calvinist might cast out incense, surplices and other popish abominations”, says Patrick Hosking. Yet all they’re doing is sending management of the dirty stuff underground. Miner BHP and its shareholders may “feel good about washing their hands” of $1.35bn worth of “reputational-defiling” coal mines, “but that coal will continue to be mined and burnt just as before”, only now it will be enriching “more opaque and less accountable owners”. The new investment climate is already spawning “valuation anomalies”. On some new green indices, for example, companies are weighted not by market value, but by “a complex evaluation of their effect on planet…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best shares FRP Advisory Group Investors’ Chronicle Even with government support in place, the insolvency specialist’s revenues and profits were up. Growing via acquisitions; demand is increasing with insolvencies – up 31% in Q2. Buy. 126p. Hotel Chocolat Group Investors’ Chronicle Rising online sales offset the impact of lockdown store closures, reflecting the premium chocolatier’s transition to a “global digital-led brand”. New products, such as hot chocolate machines, are boosting profits. Buy. 526p. IWG The Sunday Times The owner of flexible office provider Regus is seeing a rebound in occupancy, with levels estimated to be above 70%. It has made a capitallight move into franchising. Undervalued. HSBC gives a 440p target. Buy. 310p. Lok’n Store Investors’ Chronicle Lack of UK self-storage supply is boosting demand…