Innholdsfortegnelse for 1374 i The Week

On Ukraine’s border with Poland, there’s “a palpable sense of a country being entirely emptied of its women and children”, said David Cohen in the London Evening Standard. Nearly all of the Ukrainian women I met in the Polish border town of Kroscienko, fleeing the Russian invasion, had left male family members behind to fight. In one family were three generations of women: Inna, 56, her daughter Olena, 35, and her granddaughter, Karolina, eight, who had fled Kharkiv in the east after a week of Russian bombardment. As they left, said Inna, her granddaughter was so scared of being killed “that her hands were shaking and she couldn’t get her shoes on”. They’re part of a vast exodus: more than a million Ukrainian refugees are now in Poland alone, with…

Vilnius “Every inch”: In an attempt to calm nerves in the three Nato nations potentially most vulnerable to further Russian aggression, US secretary of state Antony Blinken made a whistle-stop tour of the Baltic states this week. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union after the Second World War and only regained independence in 1990-91. The latter two have significant ethnic Russian minorities. All three joined Nato in 2004 in a considerable expansion of the defence alliance. In the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, Blinken reaffirmed the Nato principle that “an attack on one is an attack on all”. The US and other members of the alliance “will defend every inch of Nato territory should it come under attack”, he said. The US has ramped up its military…

1* Lose My Breath (Homecoming: The Live Album) Beyoncé Knowles Kelendria Rowland, Michelle Williams, Rodney “Darkchild” Jerkins, Fred Jerkins III, Sean Garrett, LaShawn Daniels and Shawn Corey Carter, performed by Destiny‘s Child 2 My AfriKan Dream by Alan Lazar, performed by Vicky Sampson 3 A Song for Mama by Kenneth Brian Edmonds, performed by Boyz II Men 4 Dance With My Father by Luther Vandross and Nat Adderley Jr, performed by Luther Vandross 5 Un-Break My Heart by Diane Warren, performed by Toni Braxton 6 I‘m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman by Max Martin, Rami and Dido Armstrong, performed by Britney Spears 7* It‘s My Life Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora and Max Martin, performed by Bon Jovi 8 Survivor by Beyoncé Knowles, Anthony Dent and Mathew Knowles, performed by Destiny’s Child Book: Will by Will Smith…

No slacking: little brother is watching you Sarah O’Connor Financial Times Never mind Big Tech, says Sarah O’Connor – it’s “little tech” that should have us worried. “Algorithmic management” of the workforce may have started in Amazon warehouses but, fuelled by the rise in remote working, it’s now spreading across the white-collar economy. In many workplaces new software products are being installed to keep tabs on employees. One such product, Appriss Retail, boasts of using “machine learning methods to detect employee deviance”. Another – RemoteDesk – aims to help managers create “an office-like environment through continuous webcam monitoring to secure employee identity and ensure productivity”. It’s scary stuff. Yet while the EU is proposing new regulations to ensure adequate human oversight of the algorithms, quite a few UK politicians want…

White people are much more likely to be diagnosed with cancer than black, Asian and mixed-heritage people in England, a study has found. Published in the British Journal of Cancer, and based on 3,000,000 cases between 2013 and 2017, the research revealed that cancer rates are 40% lower in mixed-heritage people than in the white population, 38% lower in Asian people and 4% lower in black people. However, the pattern is different for some specific cancers. Black people, for instance, are more likely to get stomach and liver cancers. According to the researchers, these ethnic disparities are likely to be largely driven by non-genetic risk factors, such as smoking and obesity rates; screening rates could be at play too. In all the ethnic groups, lung, bowel, breast and prostate cancers…

Last Wednesday, French officials seized a yacht thought to be owned by Igor Sechin, the boss of Russia’s largest oil company, Rosneft. On Saturday, Italian police boarded another superyacht belonging to Gennady Timchenko, an oligarch close to Vladimir Putin. Across the EU and in the US, Putin’s cronies are being targeted and their assets swiftly frozen, said The Times. Yet for all Boris Johnson’s claims that Britain is “leading the West” on sanctions, the UK has been noticeably slow to react. It initially targeted only 11 “relatively obscure oligarchs”. Alisher Usmanov, a Kremlin-linked billionaire with extensive UK interests, was only recently added to the list. The Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has been sanctioned by the EU and US, but not yet by the UK. The Government has pointed to…

On 4 June 1993, a 23-year-old Australian with a cocky manner and peroxide blond hair ran up to the wicket at Old Trafford to deliver his first ball in Ashes cricket, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. Although considered a bright prospect in Australia, nothing Shane Warne had done to this point had suggested he was anything out of the ordinary. His early Tests had been unremarkable, and a few weeks previously, in a warm-up game at Worcester, Graeme Hick had hit him to all parts of the ground. Now, from a short, casual-looking run-up, he bowled to Mike Gatting, who was on four. “Two-thirds of the way down the pitch the ball dipped into the leg-side, opening Gatting up like a can of beans, before ripping diagonally across…

Book of the week In Search of Mary Seacole by Helen Rappaport Simon & Schuster 416pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 The “extraordinary” Mary Seacole – who was renowned for giving succour to British troops during the Crimean War – has in recent years become something of a “political touchstone”, said Andrew Lycett in The Spectator. While many see her as a black pioneer who bravely made her way in “an inhospitable society”, others claim she was something of a “charlatan” – a woman who falsely presented herself as a nurse and “doctress” when in fact she mainly sold food and drink. In this long-awaited biography, Helen Rappaport sets out to bring “clarity to Seacole’s life”, a task made particularly challenging owing to the patchiness of much of the evidence,…

The assault on Ukraine’s heritage Ukraine’s cultural heritage is in peril, said Vandana Kalra in The Indian Express. The country is home to many “priceless works of art, cultural artefacts and monuments”, all of which could be at risk from indiscriminate bombing in its major cities. Some have already been destroyed. On 28 February, the Ivankiv Historical and Local History Museum near Kyiv was “burned to the ground by a Russian assault”: its holdings included 25 paintings by Maria Prymachenko, a “celebrated” artist who once attracted praise from Picasso. And even if Ukraine’s artistic heritage does survive the bombs, said Neda Ulaby on NPR, there is the additional fear that Putin will seize artefacts, icons, paintings and memorials and have them transported to Russia. Kyiv’s National Museum of the History…

After their date, Rex and Amy decide to be friends. Later, he leads everyone to the party in his new home, a narrowboat on the river. Hannah tells a shocked Neil about the BL plan to shut Berrow. Phoebe can’t understand how Kirsty will cope in Plovdiv – she’s part of Ambridge and the rewilding job would fulfil her passion. With a BL board meeting planned, Justin tells Lilian about his vision for the Berrow site, while Neil and Hannah secretly meet Brian to make plans to save the farm. Amy and Chris meet up in the churchyard. She says they can’t see each other again; she feels too guilty about Alice, but Chris argues they’ve done nothing wrong. Overcome, they kiss but hear a noise and fear they’ve been…

Cornwall retreat A 2-night stay at the lovely Polurrian on the Lizard hotel, overlooking the West Cornish coastline, costs from £119pp b&b, with dinner credit. 020-3608 0135, secretescapes.com. Arrive 3 April. All-inclusive week in Turkey Glistening coastlines, sandy beaches and cocktails – indulge during a stay at the Labranda Mares Marmaris. From £269pp, including Liverpool flights. 020-4505 9777, travelo deal.com. Depart 21 April. Award-winning Spain Spend 5 nights at the Hotel Son Matias Beach in Palma Nova, with direct access to the award-winning beach, from £439pp half board. 020-3451 2688, firstchoice.co.uk. Depart 11 May. Bordeaux Wine Festival Enjoy a fabulous wine-filled weekend away with a stay in a 3-star hotel, bespoke itinerary and a unique tasting experience. From £498pp b&b. 020-8877 4940, smoothred.com. Arrive 23 June. Covid-19: please check government…

Elvira Nabiullina The Russian central bank governor, known for “sending coded messages with her attire”, chose “funereal black” as she warned, “ashen-faced”, of the devastating hit to the country’s economy from sanctions, said Richard Partington in The Observer. For Elvira Nabiullina, 58, the war “unpicks almost a decade of work going against the grain of Putin’s isolation” by opening up the Russian economy. When Western sanctions followed his invasion of Crimea in 2014, “she opposed capital controls” and floated the rouble on currency markets – part of a strategy of building a “fortress Russia” economy, less dependent on the US dollar. Seen as “competent, modest and honest”, she is “highly respected in the international community, including among some of Putin’s harshest critics”. A lover of French poetry and opera, Nabiullina…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1302 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 21 March. Email the answers as a scan of a completed grid or a list, with the subject line The Week crossword 1302, 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 6 Head is behind society photographer (7) 7 Cutting a little money off in debt (5) 9 Composer ends exhausted from argument (4) 10 I’m oddly mental about scrubbing final bit of dirt (10) 11 Pinch of salt is important, small amounts scattered…

Although Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has been reviled across the world, opinion polls suggest a majority of Russians support the war. But do they actually know what it is they are supporting? Absolutely not, said The Times. With his so-called “special operation” going so badly, Putin has ended all pretence of allowing truth to permeate his “perverted information bubble”. Access to social media such as Facebook has been blocked; the last vestiges of Russia’s independent media have been muzzled. More sinister still, the Kremlin has passed a law that threatens anyone spreading what is deemed to be “fake news” with up to 15 years in jail. In practice, that means it is illegal to describe the conflict as an “invasion” or as a “war”: all reporters must follow the lead…

Pandemic-induced lifestyle changes are being credited for a resurgence in the popularity of large dogs. As families have moved out of city centres, registrations of English setters, Pyrenean mountain dogs, and old English sheepdogs have all surged. Six of the ten breeds with the largest increases in Kennel Club registrations last year were classed as “large”. This year’s Oscar nominees have been urged not to bore the viewers at home with endless thank-yous when they accept their awards. “They don’t know your agents, they don’t know your managers, your lawyers, or any of the other moochers you pay a percentage to,” said Will Packer, who produces the ceremony. His advice: talk about you, and “be quick”.…

Washington DC Conspiracy claim: The congressional committee investigating the attack on the Capitol last year by a mob of Trump supporters claims there’s enough evidence to show that, in fighting to overturn the 2020 election result, the defeated president and his team “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States”. It is the first time lawyers for the investigation have laid out evidence of a criminal case against Trump. The committee’s 61-page filing is based on thousands of pages of testimony from White House staff. But Trump and his allies view the committee as politically biased: only two Republicans agreed to join it. In response, Trump has claimed he is the victim of “Marxist tactics” and lies. “The actual conspiracy to defraud the United States was the Democrats…

Life may flash before our eyes Brain scans of a man’s final moments have offered tantalising evidence that our lives may indeed flash before our eyes as we die. The scans were those of an 87-year-old epilepsy patient in Canada, who’d happened to have a fatal heart attack while linked up to an electroencephalogram (EEG). Researchers compared the scans from 30 seconds before his heart stopped to those immediately after, and noted that at the point of death there had been a surge in activity in parts of the brain associated with memory, concentration and dreaming. “Surprisingly, after the heart stops pumping blood into the brain, these oscillations keep going,” said study author Dr Ajmal Zemmar. “Something we may learn from this research is: although our loved ones have their…

Vladimir Putin may have led his country into a costly and possibly unwinnable war, said Mark Galeotti in The Times – but “he cannot walk this back”. The war is, for him, about Russia’s status as a great power, and his own status as “a great ruler”. He won’t resign: “in a system with no meaningful rule of law, he would be entrusting his fortune, life and fate to a successor to whom he had also just left a monstrous policy disaster”. And it’s unlikely that anyone can make him go. Impeaching Russia’s president requires a two-thirds vote in both chambers of a parliament “packed” with his political appointees. “Perhaps the only institution that could oust Putin would be the army”, but it is very carefully watched by the Federal…

Given the week they’d had – losing a nail-biting Carabao Cup final to Liverpool, then finding out their club was up for sale – it was no surprise Chelsea began their match at Burnley last Saturday as if “wondering what was the point”, said Jonathan Liew in The Observer. For 45 minutes, the Blues were poor, but two quick goals by Kai Havertz helped them to a 4-0 victory. Throughout the match, Chelsea fans chanted the name Roman Abramovich – even during a minute of applause to show solidarity for the Ukrainian people. The manager, Thomas Tuchel, was visibly displeased. This was not “the moment to do this”, he said. The wider question confronting Chelsea is whether Abramovich can actually sell the club, especially for his reported asking price of…

This Disney+ miniseries does something that feels positively radical these days, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph: “It tells a story straightforwardly and in chronological order.” The subject is Elizabeth Holmes – once the US’s youngest self-made female billionaire, owing to the hype around her company’s blood-testing technology, now a convicted fraudster. The drama is slow to get going, but it becomes irresistible. Amanda Seyfried plays Holmes, the college dropout turned Silicon Valley pin-up, with “saucer-eyed oddness”, while the excellent supporting cast includes Stephen Fry and William H. Macy. Seyfried somehow manages to keep our sympathy as this complex woman – “blunt but charming, hyper-focused but chaotic” – slips ever further into corruption and lies, said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian. It’s a “hugely skilful” performance in a show…

The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, 2013 (Vintage £9.99). This is the story of an Australian doctor who is haunted by memories of a love affair and by his experiences as a POW in the Far East. It’s not an easy read, but the quality of the writing is extraordinary and the emotions it provoked in me have never left. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, 1927 (Vintage £7.99). I’m a huge Woolf fan and it’s hard to choose a favourite, but this is a little masterpiece. It centres on the Ramsay family and their visit to the Isle of Skye. As always with Woolf, there isn’t a huge narrative, but it’s a brilliant evocation of consciousness, perception, loss and our relation to time. The Mill…

Programmes The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan The comedian is back for more travels to unlikely destinations – this time, Sierra Leone, a country with a traumatic past but high hopes for the future. Sun 13 Mar, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Jeremy Kyle Show: Death on Daytime Documentary series about the daytime show that was cancelled following the tragic death of a participant. Sun 13 and Mon 14 Mar, C4 21:00 (75mins each). Tom Daley’s Hell of a Homecoming The Olympic diving champion takes on a gruelling 290-mile journey to his hometown of Plymouth in aid of Comic Relief. Mon 14 March, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Holding New comedy-drama based on Graham Norton’s bestselling novel. A gruesome discovery in a small Irish village threatens to expose a web of secrets. With Conleth Hill…

Serves 4 For the marinade: 2 large pieces of skinned chicken breast 3 large boneless chicken thighs 115ml full-fat Greek or unstrained yoghurt 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 2 Kashmiri chillies, roughly chopped 2 green chillies, finely chopped, or 1 tsp chilli powder 2.5cm fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped 1 lemon, juiced 2 tbsp tandoori masala 1 tbsp each of ground turmeric and coriander 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp salt For the sauce: 85g butter 5 tbsp olive oil 1 medium onion, sliced 2 tbsp tandoori masala 1 tsp ground coriander ½ tsp each of ground turmeric and red chilli powder 200g tomato passata 2 tbsp tomato purée 150ml sour cream 4 tbsp double cream 100ml hot water 100g baby spinach leaves small bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped •…

The writer and illustrator who produced Dogger Shirley Hughes 1927-2022 One of Britain’s best-loved children’s writers and illustrators, Shirley Hughes specialised in warm but unsentimental stories of ordinary family life. In her instantly recognisable style, she drew cheerfully dishevelled children in hand-me-down clothing, windy walks in urban parks, harassed mothers pushing laden buggies, neighbours chatting on doorsteps. The best known of her richly illustrated books was probably 1977’s Dogger, said The New York Times, a quotidian drama about a little boy named Dave, whose beloved stuffed toy is lost when he is distracted by a school fair, and the prospect of an ice cream. There are several twists and turns before Dave and Dogger are finally reunited, thanks to the kindness and self-sacrifice of Dave’s older sister Bella. In 2007,…

Rocketing petrol and diesel prices may accelerate the shift to electric vehicles, says David Byers in The Times. But there are plenty of bumps along the road. How do the sums add up? The cars Battery-powered EVs now account for one in five new car registrations, but the generous grants for buying them have been cut by 40%, from £2,500 to £1,500, and now only apply to cars worth up to £32,000. Many new EVs cost more. A cheap way of buying is through a salary sacrifice scheme, which allows you to pay in instalments before tax is deducted – making hefty savings. Charging “If you plan to drive long distance, the system is completely broken,” complains one EV driver. There are 27,000 public charging points across the UK, compared…

The package of Western sanctions on Russia is of unprecedented scope, said Robin Wigglesworth in the FT – and its effects have been “swift and severe”. The rouble has lost 30% of its value in the last week; interest rates have reached a whopping 20%; and Russians have been queuing up at banks to withdraw cash. Moscow’s stock market has been shut since Putin launched his invasion, but the value of Russian firms on the London Stock Exchange fell 98% in two weeks. Why? Because the West has deployed “weapons of mass financial destruction”. First, it excluded an array of Russian banks and businesses from the global Swift payments system; then it froze Russia’s access to roughly $600bn of assets its central bank held overseas. Putin prepared for this, said…

One in five British voters (22%) say they have developed a more positive view of Boris Johnson as a result of his response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine; 12% say they have a more negative view. Overall, 54% think he should resign as PM; 35% think he should stay. Among Tory voters, 62% say that their view of him has not changed; 64% say he should stay, and 30% that he should resign. Redfield & Wilton Strategies/New Statesman 81% of adults noticed a rise in their cost of living last month, up from 62% in November; 51% said they’d reacted to rising prices by cutting down on nonessentials; 37% are using less electricity or gas at home; 22% are spending their savings. Office for National Statistics…

David Bowie’s Berlin Arguably the creative peak of producer Tony Visconti’s long collaboration with David Bowie was on the Berlin trilogy of the late 1970s. All three albums captured the mood of the then-divided city, says Will Hodgkinson in The Times – a mood Visconti recalls well. “Berlin was dark… people didn’t want to live there,” he says. “If you travelled by car from East to West Germany, you couldn’t even stop for petrol. You had to make sure you had a full tank, because if you stopped you would be shot.” Bowie once drove from Paris to Berlin, passing through East Berlin, with Iggy Pop. Previously, an Italian trucker crossing East Germany’s border had forgotten his passport. “They shot and killed him,” says Visconti. “Then, a day later, the…

When the UK was leaving the EU, the question arose of whether to incorporate the Lisbon Treaty’s provision that members should pay full regard to animal welfare, “since animals are sentient beings”. The Government decided not to, on the grounds that UK animal welfare laws were already comprehensive. Labour declared that the Tories had voted “against” animal sentience, and a media flurry ensued. “Shameful bastards, denying what is obvious – animal sentience,” tweeted the comedian Sue Perkins. In response, the Animal Welfare (Sentience) Bill was drafted, which has been moving slowly through Parliament since May 2021. The bill recognises that animals are sentient beings and sets up an Animal Sentience Committee, to ensure that the Government is taking the issue into account when formulating policy. Initially, only vertebrates were deemed…

“Being right half the time beats being half-right all the time.” Malcolm Forbes, quoted in The Economist “Rats and roaches live by competition under the law of supply and demand; it is the privilege of human beings to live under the laws of justice and mercy.” Writer Wendell Berry, quoted in The New Yorker “Lawyer: one skilled in circumvention of the law.” Ambrose Bierce (in The Devil’s Dictionary), quoted in The Times “I tried every diet in the book. I tried some that weren’t in the book. I tried eating the book. It tasted better than most of the diets.” Dolly Parton, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Humanity is a mystery. It needs to be unravelled, and if you spend your life unravelling it, don’t say you’ve wasted time.”Fyodor Dostoevsky, quoted in the…

Wise after the event To The Daily Telegraph Less than a fortnight ago, we were happy to trade with Russia and Russians, buy energy from them, and allow them to sponsor major sporting institutions and events. Yet their political, military and commercial cadres are exactly the same as they were, and their nature was known. We were dealing with people who beyond all reasonable doubt were – and are – murderers (Litvinenko, Salisbury), thieves (the vast misappropriation of Russian wealth into a handful of pockets) and war criminals (Syria). Now we suddenly refuse to deal with them. The parallels with China are almost too awful to draw. Will we continue in the coming months and years to fund this country – despite its treatment of the Uyghurs and Tibetans, along…

On the BBC’s “brilliant” new Ukrainecast pod you sense the full might of the corporation “swinging into action” to bring clarity to the horrific events unfolding in Ukraine, said James Marriott in The Times. Victoria Derbyshire, Gabriel Gatehouse and Vitaly Shevchenko, the Russia editor at BBC Monitoring, draw on experts, foreign correspondents, audio archives and interviews with civilians in the war zone. These last contributions are especially compelling. In the episode titled The Convoy Advances, we hear a Ukrainian woman whose family in Russia have been so duped by Putin’s propaganda that they “will not believe there are Russian shells falling all around her. Putin will keep her safe, they promise.” It is “chilling stuff”. Also highly recommended: the Ukraine and Russia episode of The Rest Is History; the James…

Showing now The “fabulously ambitious” A Century of the Artist’s Studio – 1920-2020 includes works by Picasso, Louise Bourgeois and Inji Efflatoun (see right) among others. Until 5 June, Whitechapel Gallery, London E1 (whitechapelgallery.org). A “rich crop of prizes” should garland The Collaboration, Anthony McCarten’s “fantastic” new play about a period in the 1980s when Andy Warhol (Paul Bettany) teamed up for an artistic venture with Jean-Michel Basquiat (Jeremy Pope) (Spectator). Until 2 April, Young Vic, London SE1 (youngvic.org). Book now Last summer’s musical sensation Anything Goes is being revived, with Simon Callow and Bonnie Langford among the stars. 11 April-3 September, with dates in Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Dublin, Manchester and London (anythinggoesmusical.co.uk). Glasgow’s magnificent Burrell Collection – a trove of more than 9,000 objects, from medieval stained glass to…

Driving a steam train in Poland For “gricers” – as railway enthusiasts are known – driving a steam train is a dream. And it’s one that can be realised on the last scheduled, standard-gauge steam train service in the world, says Martin Fletcher in the FT. The Wolsztyn to Leszno line looked doomed in 1997 until a British fan, Howard Jones, flew out to western Poland to rescue it, with funds raised from fellow gricers back home. Today, he runs “footplate courses”, on which guests ride in the cab on the twice-daily service, helping the local engine drivers by pulling levers, turning handles, shovelling coal and blowing the whistle as the train plies its 30-mile route. It feels like interacting with a living being – a gargantuan, firebreathing “dragon” –…

Russia: leavers and remainers The Yale School of Management is keeping a list of major Western companies that suspend or sell their operations in Russia, updated on a daily basis, said Gregory Schmidt in The New York Times. It’s certainly hard to keep up. Credit card titans (Amex, Mastercard and Visa) have all signed up, as have Boeing, Ford and Volvo and a roster of entertainment companies including Netflix. Big Tech and Big Oil are mostly on board, as are the French luxury giants LVMH and Hermès. The Big Four bean-counters (PwC, KPMG, EY and Deloitte) are also pulling out – a process made easier because “these groups are structured as partnerships of local firms, so the businesses in Russia can continue to operate”. The big hold-outs were food and…

Sunak is now wartime Chancellor Ben Wright The Daily Telegraph “We haven’t seen much of Rishi Sunak in recent weeks,” says Ben Wright – presumably because he’s been so busy ditching successive versions of his spring statement as it is overtaken by global events. The mini-budget, due later this month, had been billed as “a chance to get to grips with the nation’s finances” after the pandemic. That aim was already under pressure from the cost-of-living squeeze; but now the UK is fighting an economic war. We face the double whammy of an energy and commodities crunch, and shrinking output. Indeed, the message from bond markets is that “the economy is circling the stagflation plughole”. I suspect Sunak “will soon be getting misty-eyed” about the days when his chief worry…

Seeing him tap away at his laptop for hours on end every day in the front window of his house, the locals in his suburb of Manila have long assumed their aloof English neighbour is an author working on his latest novel. He rarely ventures out into the oppressive humidity of the tropical day, preferring the sanctuary of the home he shares with his much younger Filipina wife, Mercy May. Two decades after he paddled his canoe out into the North Sea to fake his own death, this is where John Darwin’s journey has taken him, via Panama, prison and the divorce courts. And life is certainly quiet. He has few friends, he is not in contact with most of his family back in the UK; in fact, the only…