Innholdsfortegnelse for 1377 i The Week

Will Smith’s therapist has a name, “Uncle Fluffy”, for the movie star’s public persona – the nice guy who signs every autograph and shakes every hand, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. At the Oscars ceremony on Sunday night, “Uncle Fluffy abruptly left the building”. The trouble began when a presenter, comedian Chris Rock, addressed an unscripted comment to Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, whose head is shaved. “Jada, can’t wait for G.I. Jane 2,” he joked, referencing Demi Moore’s severe buzzcut in the film G.I. Jane. It was “tactless”, given that Pinkett Smith shaved her head after developing alopecia. Smith then “strode onto the stage and slapped Rock in the face”, an act so shocking many thought it was a set-up, only to realise the actor was “deadly…

Only 38% of people are satisfied with their GP services, according to a survey taken late last year, down from 68% in 2019 – and the lowest level since the British Social Attitudes Survey began in 1983. Only 36% of people are satisfied with the way the NHS is run and performing overall, down 17 points since 2020, and the lowest level since 1997, while 41% are dissatisfied. The shift has occurred among people of all ages, income groups, sexes and party political affiliations. Forty years on, one in four 18- to 34-year-olds in Britain have never heard of the Falklands War, and half do not know when it took place. One in ten in that age group think the war was sparked by the UK invading the islands. Help…

Klitschko on propaganda Although Vitali Klitschko – the ex-world heavyweight boxing champion and current mayor of Kyiv – detests the Putin regime, he has some sympathy for the Russian people. “The Russians are not stupid,” he told Richard Spencer in The Times. “But every morning, 24 hours, they receive lies from the television, from newspapers… they don’t know the truth.” It’s a situation he can relate to. His father was a major-general in the Soviet army, and he grew up in a loyal Soviet family. “I was very patriotic, my father was a communist,” he recalls. Only when his boxing career took off did he start to see things differently. “As a sportsman I had a chance […] to fly to the West, the United States, and I tried to…

A 30-year-old man has been charged with smuggling after being arrested on the US-Mexico border with 60 reptiles hidden on his body. The animals included dozens of horned lizards and nine snakes. Border patrol agents said they had found the reptiles “inside his jacket pockets, pants pockets, groin area and pant legs,” and that when asked to account for the animals, the man had insisted they were “his pets”. An artist in Welwyn Garden City has raised hundreds of pounds for Ukrainian refugees by selling a portrait of Vladimir Putin made of dog poo. Dominic Murphy says he normally paints “delicate watercolours” of scenes from Alice in Wonderland, but branched out with the help of his dog, Sybil. He created the portrait, entitled Poo-tin’s a Shit, by mixing the excrement…

ITALY How to fight the marauders of Venice Il Gazzettino (Venice) Venice and its“feathered residents” have never got along well together, says Roberta Brunetti. It used to be pigeons that really bothered us, but in 2008, then-mayor Massimo Cacciari banned the sale of wheat grains in Piazza San Marco and overnight their number fell. But the promised dawn of featherless bliss was not to be. Now we face a new menace: seagulls. Once, these birds used to stick to hunting fish in our canals. But as visitor numbers have soared, so too has the number of gulls swooping on unsuspecting tourists to steal a quick snack. In 2005, there were 25 breeding pairs recorded in the city; now there are fully 500. The problem is so bad that restaurateurs have…

“The royal tour has been a staple of the British royal family playbook for as long as the mass-media age has existed,” said James Ball in the New Statesman. They’re usually a hit, but the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s recent eight-day tour of the Caribbean was anything but a triumph. It will be remembered for protests and calls for slavery reparations; for the Jamaican prime minister telling the royal couple that his country was“moving on” by dropping the Queen as head of state; and for some truly cringeworthy photos. The worst of these showed William and Kate clasping the hands of Jamaican children corralled behind a chain-link fence. The images were innocent enough in origin: the royal couple had been attending a football match and were greeting spectators on…

“Joe Biden’s visit to Europe at a time of acute crisis for the continent should have been a reassuring event,” said The Daily Telegraph. That it turned into a “gaffe-strewn embarrassment” was not just unfortunate – it was “dangerous”. Biden’s staff had to correct the impression given by the president’s public statements on a number of occasions: at one point he seemed to suggest that US troops would be sent into Ukraine. Far more worryingly, in his big speech in Warsaw last Saturday, he added an unscripted remark, saying of Vladimir Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.” In other words, he appeared to be calling for regime change. “The very suggestion feeds into the Kremlin’s paranoia that the West is intent on destroying their country, a…

by John Richardson Jonathan Cape 368pp £35 The Week Bookshop £27.99 (incl. p&p) No novelist could have made Pablo Picasso up, said Laura Freeman in The Times. “The life is better than fiction.” And it’s a life that has a perfect chronicler, in the art historian John Richardson. The first three volumes of Richardson’s “monumental biography”, covered Picasso’s life till the age of 50. Richardson wasn’t even midway through the fourth when he died, aged 95, in 2019. And so this final instalment breaks off in 1943, with Picasso aged 61 – and destined to “live, paint and love for another 30 years”. Despite being written in testing circumstances – Richardson’s eyesight was failing – there isn’t the slightest “let-up” in quality. This volume is as “clever, amusing, flamboyant” as…

David Hare’s new play is his “most dramatically gripping and politically thoughtful” for decades – and in the main role, Ralph Fiennes is a “triumph”, said Mark Lawson in The Guardian. He plays Robert Moses, the controversial urban planner who shaped the New York metropolitan area for the age of the automobile, and influenced a generation of US civil engineers, architects and planners. The play focuses on two contrasting episodes from Moses’s long career. In 1926, he strong-armed New York’s governor Al Smith into approving two giant expressways linking the city to Long Island. Then, in 1955, he failed in his attempt to put a road through Washington Square Park. It sounds dry, but the play“crackles” with “dynamic, ideas-driven dialogue” about the duel between elected and unelected power. I am…

This year’s Oscars will be remembered as the one where Will Smith hit Chris Rock on the face – and then went on tearfully to win the best actor statuette. But the night contained other upsets, too. There had been predictions that Jane Campion’s homoerotic western, The Power of the Dog, would sweep the board, but in the event, Netflix’s film flipped just one of its 12 nominations into a win: Campion took best director, becoming only the third woman to do so. Sources reported that the film had been more admired than loved by the Academy’s members. Belfast, which had received seven nominations, including best picture, also ended up with just one award: Kenneth Branagh won his first Oscar for the film’s original screenplay. Instead, best picture went to…

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales by Jon Scieszka, 1992 (Puffin £7.99). I love everything about this book, in which famous fairy tales are retold with a deliciously dark twist. There’s a surprise on every page and Lane Smith’s illustrations are genius. The very ugly duckling growing up to be… just a really ugly duck makes me laugh every time. It’s a really satisfying page-turner. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend, 1982 (Penguin £7.99). I saw a documentary on Sue Townsend and it made me love her and the book even more. She didn’t show anyone her work for years, just wrote every day and then put the manuscript away. The book changed her life and I can identify with that. It’s…

Programmes Thatcher & Reagan: A Very Special Relationship Two-part series in which Margaret Thatcher’s biographer, Charles Moore, explores the relationship between the PM and the president. Sun 3 April, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Muhammad Ali Ken Burns’ new eight-part documentary series about the life of the heavyweight champion. Sun 3 April, BBC2 22:20 (50mins). House of Maxwell Three part series charting the rise and fall of the media mogul Robert Maxwell and his family. Monday 4 April, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Storyville: The Truffle Hunters Award-winning film that follows a handful of elderly men who hunt for a rare white truffle that grows in the forests of Piedmont. Wed 6 Apr, BBC4 22:00 (75mins). Art That Made Us In this eight-part series, Antony Gormley, Cornelia Parker and others examine works of art created…

Small fishing village A stone’s throw from the beach, Storm Cottage is in an excellent location in the centre of Robin Hood’s Bay, 2 nights self-catering (4 sharing) from £180pp. 020-8827 1971, vrbo.com. Arrive 22 May. Madeira getaway Spend 7 nights at the luxurious 5-star Saccharum, situated in a quiet and serene corner of the island, from £583pp b&b (including Manchester flights). 020-8175 1145, love holidays.com. Depart 11 May. Five-star Egypt break Stay 7 nights at the Albatros Palace Resort, on the Red Sea shoreline, from £1,155pp all inclusive (including Glasgow flights). 020-4571 4317, olympicholidays.com. Depart 2 November. Glamping in Suffolk Peasblossom is a large bell tent with a king-size bed and two roll-out single beds, set in a wonderful wild meadow. 5 nights from £593. 01328-888071, glampinghideaways.co.uk. Arrive 14…

A Russian oil tax is a cop-out Lex Financial Times Military stalemate on the ground in Ukraine is being “matched by stasis in the global economic war against Russia”, says Lex. The Putin regime is still fuelling its war with exports of oil and gas. But some energy traders and economists are now backing a countermeasure: they argue that one way of ensuring that western Europe can still receive“the hydrocarbons it needs, while stemming finance for Russia’s brutal invasion forces”, is to put “a direct tax on Russian energy products”. The idea has some appeal. A tax would probably increase the Russian oil price, “encouraging consumers to seek cheaper sources of crude”. And Western consumers would probably suffer less than Russia’s oil industry, “which has limited choices in where to…

What happened Rishi Sunak was reported to be considering a second council tax rebate this week, following the backlash against his Spring Statement. The Chancellor’s mini-Budget last week included some measures to help the lower paid, such as a 5p cut per litre to fuel duty and a rise in the threshold for paying national insurance. But critics said the measures didn’t do enough to help families facing a record hit to living standards, and would be more than offset by frozen thresholds dragging millions of workers into higher tax bands. The Resolution Foundation think tank claimed that Sunak’s failure to increase welfare benefits in line with inflation would drive 1.3 million people below the poverty line. The negative reaction to the Spring Statement was exacerbated by Sunak’s effort to…

Debrett’s, that long-standing guide to all matters of etiquette, has turned its attention to the correct form when ‘WFC’ – or ‘working from cafés’. Do not, it tells its readers, be a “table hogger”. Make regular food or drink orders. And never look askance at noisy neighbours. If someone’s crying baby is interrupting your concentration, “that is your problem, not theirs”. The landlord of a Dartmoor pub who included a “ploughperson’s lunch” on his menu found himself at the centre of a Twitter storm last week, after an image of it went viral. Dicky Harrison, of The Tors in Belstone, said he’d changed the name two years ago, as a lighthearted nod to local women who farm; but on social media, he was accused of promoting “woke cancel culture”.…

Paris Ugly campaign: The French presidential election campaign grew more rancorous this week, ahead of first-round voting on 10 April. Éric Zemmour, the farright candidate, was widely condemned for seeming to tolerate chants of “Killer Macron” at a rally last weekend. The chants were made in response to his claims that the president’s immigration policies had led to fatal terrorist attacks. Macron called Zemmour a “disgrace”, and sought to cast himself as the guardian of national unity, in the face of extremists sowing hatred and discord. He remains the strong favourite to win; however, many voters were still undecided this week. Budapest Crucial election: Hungarians will cast their votes this weekend in what is expected to be the closest general election for years. Viktor Orbán, of the right-wing Fidesz party,…

1 Sanyu Lyange, traditional, performed by Juliana Kanyomozi2 Cantata No. 147: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by Leopold Stokowski, the New London Symphony Orchestra, and the Norman Luboff Choir3 Le Bucheron by Franklin Boukaka and Manu Dibango, performed by Franklin Boukaka4 Heart of Glass by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, performed by Blondie5 Umqombothi by Sello Chicco Twala and Attie Van Wyk, performed by Yvonne Chaka Chaka6 Steal Away by Wallace Willis, performed by Nat King Cole7 Don’t Worry, Be Happy written and performed by Bobby McFerrin8* I Wish I Knew How it Would Feel to be Free by Billy Taylor, performed by Nina Simone Book: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Luxury: a basket-weaving needle * Choice if allowed only one record…

The idea of dividing the day into 24 hours dates back to the ancient Egyptians. The Romans cut up the daylight into 12 periods of equal length that they called hours – but which actually varied in duration according to the time of year, from about 45 minutes in winter to 75 in summer. This wasn’t very precise, but it gave them their own version of daylight saving. Measuring time – done by sundial and water clock, if at all – remained an impressionistic business until the 17th century, when the pendulum clock was introduced. Even so, until the 19th century, time was a local affair. It was determined by local solar mean time: Bristol was ten minutes behind Greenwich. That all changed with the railways: timetables had to be…

The drive to criminalise abortion Mary Ziegler The New York Times A profound shift is under way in how America treats women who seek to end their pregnancies, says Mary Ziegler. For decades, anti-abortion groups have sought to portray these women as innocent victims in need of protection from the “abortion industry”. But in anticipation of the supreme court weakening, or removing, the constitutional right to abortion provided by Roe v. Wade, Republican controlled state legislatures are rushing to pass a wave of draconian anti-abortion bills, “some of them truly eye-popping”, that depict women as law-breakers rather than victims. Missouri alone has in recent weeks tried to limit out-of-state travel for abortion, and proposed allowing the delivery of abortion pills to be prosecuted under drug-trafficking laws. Legislators have even moved…

There has been a large rise in the number of people in the UK being prescribed anti-anxiety drugs, a study has found. Researchers at the University of Bristol analysed the primary care given to almost 2.6 million adults registered at 176 GP practices in the UK from 2003 to 2018. Prescriptions of anti-anxiety medication, known as anxiolytics, remained steady from 2003 to 2006, but then began rising markedly. The researchers found that the largest increase was in people under 25, and that women were twice as likely to be prescribed the drugs as men. Overall, the prescription of benzodiazepines – a group of drugs including Valium – was found to have fallen over time, but their use has increased among under-35s. Co-author Dr Charlotte Archer said research was now needed…

Poor Rishi Sunak, said Patrick O’Flynn in The Spectator. Not long ago he was the toast of his party, thanks to the furlough scheme and his “smoothy chops” public performances. Such was his popularity, there was talk of him soon replacing Boris Johnson as PM. But now, the Chancellor has learnt that writing large cheques during the Covid emergency was a lot easier than managing the cost-of-living crunch that followed it. Last week, his mini budget was criticised from all sides for failing to meet the scale of the crisis facing millions of families and doing nothing for those on benefits. The botched PR operation that followed only added to the sense that Britain’s richest MP is worryingly out of touch with the lives of the “scrimping classes”. To show…

“Hollywood is the one place on Earth where you could die of encouragement.”Dorothy Parker, quoted in the Catholic Star Herald “One will rarely err by ascribing extreme actions to vanity, ordinary actions to habit and mean actions to fear.”Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted on The Browser “Facebook just sounds like a drag. In my day, seeing pictures of people’s vacations was considered a punishment.”Betty White, quoted in The Washington Post “Ambition is a lust that is never quenched but grows more inflamed and madder by enjoyment.”Playwright Thomas Otway, quoted in The Economist “One should always play fairly when one has the winning cards.”Oscar Wilde, quoted in Forbes “Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it.”Jonathan Swift, quoted in The Washington Post “If teachers are going to affect you as role models, there’d…

War: we saw it coming To the Financial Times The one jarring note [in the exemplary article“The war of Putin’s imagination”) was the unfounded notion that no one expected this aggression from the Kremlin. I served as the UK’s defence attaché in Moscow for five years, 2011-2016, during which time this long, dark march to war was obvious. We reported the inevitability of conflict in detail, regularly and with the despair of Cassandra. The evidence of Vladimir Putin’s chosen path was never concealed. His many declarations were meant to be heard and understood: the colossal rearmament programme; the demand for more complex, more lethal weaponry; the militarisation of society; domination of education, the media and the courts to exclude contrasting views and, ultimately, the alienation and destruction of those among…

by Terence Dooley Yale University Press 368pp £25 The Week Bookshop £19.99 In this thoughtful, “impeccably researched” book, Terence Dooley narrates the“tumultuous history” of Irish country houses in the early 20th century, said Gareth Russell in The Times. During the War of Independence (1919-21) and the civil war that followed it, the IRA burned down some 300 of the country’s biggest houses – a fifth of the total. Some were buildings of great architectural value – such as the vast Palladian mansion Summerhill House in Meath, known as the “wonder of Ireland” – while others were relatively small. It’s usually assumed that the IRA targeted the “Big House” because it was a “symbol of foreign oppression and condescension”, said Andrew Gailey in Literary Review. Expelling their Anglo-Irish owners was “an…

The Italian painter Carlo Crivelli has been largely erased from art history, said Hettie Judah in The i Paper. “A true maverick”, Crivelli (c.1430-95) was a master illusionist with an unrivalled mastery of the trompe-l’œil style. His work “pits eye against brain” and “seems to bend space”, flaunting “the structure of his own illusions”. Yet in the centuries since his death, Crivelli has been “dismissed”: he painted in tempera rather than oils, and by embracing obvious artifice and visual trickery, he did not “fit into the established narrative of the Italian Renaissance”, which tended towards “greater naturalism”. This fascinating exhibition at Birmingham’s Ikon Gallery argues that, instead, Crivelli should be “celebrated for taking his own route”. The show brings together a selection of his illusionistic master pieces in a “spirited”…

● Use a packing checklist; there are lots online. You might not need everything on the list, but it will cover most essentials. ● Lay everything out on the bed or floor before packing; you can see any obvious gaps or if you’ve got too much of one thing. ● Rolling clothes takes up less room than folding. Pack heavier stuff near the wheels of your bag to make it easier to wheel. ● Take a big scarf. If you’re going somewhere cold it will keep you warm and can be used as a blanket on the plane. A lightweight scarf is a good option if you need to cover up. Take a spare outfit in hand luggage in case your suitcase gets lost. ● Always pack an empty bag…

Madeleine Albright 1937-2022 In 1997, Madeleine Albright became the first female US secretary of state. It was a remarkable achievement for a woman who had only started her political career at 39, and who had arrived in the US as a refugee at 11. She had twice had to flee her homeland of Czechoslovakia – first to escape fascism, and then to escape communism – and this turbulent background would inform her diplomacy, said The Times. Albright “saw America as a champion of freedom and democracy. She believed in its continued global leadership in a post-Cold War era, and in the importance of its transatlantic alliances.” When it came to questions of action or inaction, her “mindset”, she famously said, was Munich, while most of her generation’s was Vietnam. She…

Meng Wanzhou The Huawei executive whose detainment in Canada became a flashpoint of US-China tensions, “returned to the corporate stage” this week at an earnings presentation, said Michelle Toh on CNN Business. As US sanctions “continue to slam” the Chinese tech group, her message was mixed. Huawei made record profits in 2021, yet sales slumped by nearly 29%. Its declared goal is still “survival”. Meng, who was held for nearly three years under house arrest for alleged fraud at the behest of the US government, alluded briefly to her ordeal, saying the world had “changed so much” during her time away. “Over the past six months, I’ve been learning and trying to catch up,” she said. The daughter of Huawei’s founder Ren Zhengfei, Meng was greeted as a hero at…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1305 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 11 April. Email the answers as a scan of a completed grid or a list, with the subject line The Week crossword 1305, 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 Run into two ladies in a southern state (7) 7 Put question and answer around for fabulous writer (5) 9 One jolly active lady (4) 10 Union rule holds scope for disruption (6,4) 11 Female clothing very much seen in astute society…

The most remote pub on the British mainland has been acquired in a community buyout after a 14-month-long fundraising campaign. The Old Forge is in the Highland village of Inverie, which is only accessible by boat, or via a two day trek across mountains. Its former owner put it up for sale last year, following reports that he had upset some locals by reducing the pub’s opening hours. Residents said that they wanted the pub to be a welcoming community hub. A British botanist has become the first Westerner to set eyes on the rare plant that first ignited his passion for the subject when he was eight years old. Chris Thorogood, 38, travelled 6,600 miles to see the Rafflesia banaoana – a strange, red spotted species that spans half…

Twenty people who attended lockdown-breaking parties in Downing Street and Whitehall are being issued with fixed penalty notices, the Metropolitan Police said this week. However, it said it would not be disclosing their identities; nor did it reveal which gatherings they’d attended. In total, 100 people, including Boris Johnson, were sent legal questionnaires as part of Operation Hillman. A spokesman for the PM said that he had not been fined, but that No. 10 would make it known if he, or Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, received a penalty in the future. Asked whether the PM had misled Parliament, in claiming that no lockdown rules had been broken, the spokesman said that the PM had always “set out his understanding of the events”.…

“On the face of it, the Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch seems to have said something reasonable about the teaching of British empire: the positives of imperialism should be taught alongside the negatives. But it falls apart on examination. How much sense does it make to ‘balance’ colonial crimes, such as the deaths of millions in the Indian and Irish famines, against, say, the introduction of railways? Seeking to have pride or shame in history this long is like being proud or ashamed of the wind, or the colour purple. We need to understand imperial history, not give it an overall rating as if it were a pizza cutter you might be reviewing on Amazon.” Sathnam Sanghera in The Times…

We don’t have as many friends as we think Edward Luce Financial Times The world has turned its back on Russia. Even China is having second thoughts about giving its backing. That’s the gist of most coverage of the Ukraine war, says Edward Luce, and it’s dangerously naive. “Not for the first time, the West is mistaking its own unity for a global consensus.” While 141 nations may have voted at the UN to condemn Putin’s violation of international law, 35 others – including China, India, Vietnam, Iraq and South Africa; accounting for almost half the world’s population – abstained. Add in those such as North Korea, which voted with Russia, and that’s more than half. In addition, many of those nominally on the West’s side are“hedging their bets”. Saudi…

Napping linked to dementia People who nap a lot during the daytime are more likely to go on to get Alzheimer’s, and those who already have the disorder tend to nap more than is typical for their age, a cohort study has found. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the US tracked 1,400 volunteers with an average age of 81 over more than a decade. For up to two weeks each year, they wore a watch that logged their daytime napping patterns. They also took yearly cognitive tests. Overall, those who napped more than an hour a day were found to have a 40% higher risk of getting Alzheimer’s than those who did not nap daily or who napped for less than an hour. The reason for this link…

Gordon Ramsay came in for fierce criticism in Cornwall, when he spent lockdown at his second home in the county. And it seems it has tarnished his view of the Cornish. Asked last week how he’d make his favourite dish, the chef told Radio 2 listeners that he’d head to the “beautiful Cornish coast” for some seabass. “Trust me,” he added, “I absolutely love Cornwall, it’s just the Cornish I can’t stand.” When host Vernon Kay queried his remark, Ramsay doubled down, saying: “I’m sorry. I promise I did mean it.” The “fake heiress” Anna Sorokin has now inveigled her way into the art world. Five copies of drawings the fraudster knocked out in jail went on show in New York last week. One shows her sunbathing in a prison…

In the six weeks since the invasion of Ukraine began, “massive changes” have swept Russia, said Marc Bennetts in The Sunday Times. Sanctions have sent the economy into a tailspin, leading to shortages of medicines and other vital goods; tens of thousands of people have fled the country; and thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed. But any form of opposition to the war requires great courage. Putin has condemned domestic critics as“traitors” and “scumbags”; opposition activists have had abuse and threats daubed on their doors. Harsh new media laws forbid any use of the words “war” or “invasion”, with prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who spread “fake news” about the“special operation” in Ukraine. One Moscow newspaper, Zhyolud, resorted to satire in an effort to avoid…

Tennis: a “magical” individualist hangs up her racket For quite a while now, the sport of tennis has been bracing itself for some “big farewells”, said Christopher Clarey in The New York Times. Roger Federer and Serena Williams are both 40; the injury-prone Rafael Nadal is 35; Andy Murray (34) has a metal hip. Had any of these “ageing and ailing superstars” retired, no one would have been that surprised. What few predicted, however, was that a brilliant player who seemed to be “just getting started” would be announcing that she was permanently hanging up her racket. But that’s what the world No. 1 – 25-year-old Ashleigh Barty – did last week. The reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion said she’d decided to quit the sport in order to “chase…

To The Daily Telegraph Investing heavily in wind generation will not solve our energy crisis, but will only lead to expensive, unreliable electricity, with more frequent blackouts. The construction of more wind farms will further damage our landscape and wildlife. Faced with the oil embargo in the 1970s, France opted to go nuclear. Since then, 58 reactors have been built on French soil and the French have also built (or are currently building) reactors in Africa, Asia, America and Europe. France is the world’s biggest exporter of electricity, which is a huge boost to its economy. Nuclear plants are expensive to build due to stringent regulations and drawn-out public inquiries, but they prove to be a very reliable, low-cost source of energy over their lifetime. Nuclear must qualify for the…

by Stephen May Sandstone 288pp £8.99 The Week Bookshop £6.99 Joseph Stalin“never spoke or wrote” about the two months he spent in London in the spring of 1907, attending the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, said Alasdair Lees in The Daily Telegraph. Into this “psychological aperture” steps Stephan May, whose sixth novel is an “openly confected” retelling of those “few overlooked weeks”. It begins with a 29-year-old Stalin – then known by his nickname, Koba – landing at Harwich, fresh from “a campaign of terror and banditry” in his native Georgia. In London, he stays in a dosshouse in Stepney, while better-off attendees – including Lenin – lodge in Bloomsbury. May’s Stalin is a “figure of fascinating contradictions” – an “idealist and a thug” – and…

News of the possible closure of the pig unit spreads around Ambridge. Justin shows up at training for Tracy’s over-65s cricket team. In the pub, Tracy sings his praises. Tony, riled by the favouritism, mentions Berrow, unaware that Jazzer and Tracy don’t know about it. Tracy sacks Justin from the team. When Alice calls on Amy, Usha and Alan pretend she’s away. After Alice leaves, Alan lets Amy know the coast is clear, but says he’s never lying to her friends for her again. Amy visits Alice and admits to sleeping with Chris. Alice screams at her to leave. Worried that Alice might start drinking, Amy warns Chris, who rushes round to find Alice sober. Chris apologises for sleeping with Amy. Alice is furious, and remains so when Chris points…

Bloobloom has a slick website showcasing its in-house collection. You can test-drive five frames free. Prescription glasses come with anti-scratch, anti-reflective and superhydrophobic coatings. Free UK delivery (bloobloom.com). Superdrug Glasses Online has designer brands as well as its own designs. There’s a range of filters and a virtual mirror to help you pick them (opticians.superdrug.com). Mister Spex sells more than 150 brands on top of its own collection. It has a Virtual Try-On service, or you can test four pairs free for ten days (misterspex.co.uk). Ace & Tate is all about cool eyewear, including sunglasses and accessories. It offers a virtual try-on service using your webcam, or you can try four frames at home. Free delivery (aceandtate.com/gb). Try Ambr Eyewear if you want protection from blue light emitted by digital screens.…

An epic rail journey across Vietnam Restored immediately after the Vietnam War, the country’s North-South Railway is still seen as “a shining symbol” of a “progressive, unified” nation. More than 1,700km long, it links Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City and passes close to many famous sights in between, says Alex Robinson in Wanderlust. There are sleeper cabins, but it is also worth staying overnight at various places along the way. Your stops might include Ðong Hoi, for the Phong Nha caves, with their towering stalactites; Hue, the capital of the 19th century Nguyen emperors, replete with temples, palaces and tombs; and the “beautifully preserved” old trading port of Hoi An, from which the 1,500-year-old ruined city of My Son (a sort of “Angkor Wat in miniature”) is easy to…

Autherine Lucy Foster 1929-2022 Autherine Lucy Foster, who has died aged 92, didn’t set out to become a campaigner, said The New York Times. The child of Alabama sharecroppers, she was a shy, reserved person. But having always excelled academically, she was keen to get a good education and so, in 1952, her friend Pollie Anne Myers suggested they both apply for the University of Alabama – the state’s flagship institution. The college was all white; they were both black. “I thought she was joking at first, I really did,” Lucy Foster recalled. In September 1952, they were accepted. But a few days later, officials realised their skin colour and told them they weren’t welcome after all. So began a long legal battle, led by Thurgood Marshall and other civil…

The Ukraine invasion has “upended one of the world’s most important breadbaskets”, said Javier Blas on Bloomberg: we’re facing “a critical juncture in food prices”. How are British supermarkets responding? With a trademark row. Waitrose has sent a legal letter to Asda claiming the latter’s new “Just Essentials” budget range – intended to help shoppers tackle the cost of living – is “too similar” to Waitrose’s own “Essentials” range launched in 2009, said BBC Business. Asda retorts that the word is “a generic and commonly used term” to describe value ranges. The debate rages on. In a world of emptier shelves and unobtainable ingredients, it’s almost comforting.…

A delay to the NI rise What’s the point of bringing in a new levy from April “if you’re going to give half of it back by raising national insurance thresholds and giving away £6bn?” Delaying the rise would have made sense. Changing tax thresholds Since the previous Budget, the Chancellor has amassed a £7.5bn windfall because the Treasury has “barely moved income tax thresholds between 2019 and 2022 and has frozen them until 2026”. Huge numbers of workers have been dragged into higher tax bands. Boosting pensions The state pension triple lock was put on hold this year because of the pandemic. Although pensions will rise in April, it will only be by September’s 3.1% inflation figure. Inflation is likely to be 7% by then. Childcare help Nurseries are…

The week’s best shares Cambridge Cognition Holdings The Sunday Times This neuroscience tech specialist designs clinical-trial software for conditions such as Alzheimer’s. Used by hospitals in 100 countries and by Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Roche. Sales set to surge. Buy. 116.5p. ContourGlobal Investors’ Chronicle Energy instability could drive demand for this power provider, which owns conventional and renewable assets globally, and also offers carbon capture. Sales set to fall, but profits should hold. Buy. 199p. DWF Group The Mail on Sunday The only law firm listed on the FTSE’s main index, DWF is winning plenty of business offering corporate clients a one-stop shop for legal advice and “connected services”. Well-run and growing. Yields 3.93%. Buy. 115p. Henry Boot The Times Henry Boot operates in multiple property markets – from land promotion…