Innholdsfortegnelse for 1379 i The Week

Controversy of the week Not long ago, Rishi Sunak, Britain’s dapper, popular Chancellor, was deemed “the most likely successor to Boris Johnson”, said The Economist. Even his large personal fortune told “a story of can-do competence”. But now that same wealth has “abruptly become a source of weakness”, and Sunak’s star is “fading fast”. On 6 April – the same day the Treasury increased national insurance contributions – it emerged that his wife, Akshata Murty, an Indian citizen, held “non-domiciled” tax status in the UK. In exchange for paying £30,000 per year, she has avoided paying tax in Britain on income generated abroad. The UK is thereby losing a hefty sum, since Murty’s stake in her billionaire father’s giant IT Bangalore-based company, Infosys, paid her a reported £11.6m last year.…

Berlin Embassy “spy” extradited: A security guard at the British embassy in Berlin has been extradited from Germany to the UK on charges of spying for Russia. David Smith, 57, a British citizen, was arrested in August last year and extradited last week. He has been charged with nine offences under the Official Secrets Act 1911, relating “to the collection and communication of information useful to the Russian state”; he is accused of trying to pass sensitive data to the military attaché at the Russian embassy in Berlin. The alleged offences took place between October 2020 and August 2021. At a preliminary court hearing after arriving in London, Smith pleaded not guilty to the charges. The extradition came days after a mass expulsion of Russian diplomats from European capitals. More…

“I really hate ‘wine o’clock’ – the time of day when middle-class mothers of young children pour themselves giant drinks. The children are finally out of the way and the wine is calling. It has spawned its own merchandise: you can get a teddy with a top that says, ‘It’s wine o’clock somewhere.’ It’s awful because it encourages the idea that having young children is a nightmare to zone out of at the earliest opportunity. Perhaps we should be wondering what has happened to make mothers want to numb themselves with drink: the unrealistic expectations on parents today. The ‘Mummy needs wine’ culture is a barely concealed primal scream.” India Knight in The Sunday Times…

The nasty party’s nasty refugee policy Nick Cohen The Observer If only Britain’s shamefully inadequate treatment of Ukrainian refugees were a simple case of incompetence, says Nick Cohen. Alas, it’s not: it’s the result of cynical politics. We could’ve offered them temporary protection straight away, as every EU country did, or just scanned their passports to check they weren’t on a watch list. Instead, ministers insisted on a lengthy visa process, justified on the “disgraceful” grounds that these desperate people – overwhelmingly women and children – might be Russian spies. “There are those who’d come to our country… who plot to strike at our very way of life,” Home Secretary Priti Patel told a Tory conference last month. Patel hasn’t found any such spies, nor explained how the Kremlin would…

The truth about Trump’s missing hours Tim Naftali The Atlantic “A major presidential scandal isn’t complete without missing evidence,” says Tim Naftali. In 1973, a judge famously revealed that one of the tapes handed over to the Watergate grand jury had a blank section: 18-and-a-half minutes of a conversation between President Nixon and his chief of staff, “Bob” Haldeman, had been erased, supposedly by accident. Haldeman’s notes show that the gap in the tape recording coincided with the point in the meeting when the two men discussed the Watergate break-in and its implications. Fast-forward to today, and another piece of missing evidence is making headlines: a seven-hour gap in the White House call logs on 6 January 2021, the day Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. Has Donald Trump, the only…

The strange acoustics on Mars There are a number of obstacles to humans settling on Mars, from its dry rocky surface to its miserably inhospitable climate. Now Nasa scientists have noted another: the poor sound quality. The first audio recordings of the Red Planet, captured by the agency’s Perseverance rover, reveal that a “deep silence” reigns on Mars. This, says Nasa, is because of the impact on sound waves of its thin, carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. Nasa’s analysis reveals that while on Earth, sound typically travels at 343 metres per second, on Mars it moves not only more slowly, but at different speeds, depending on the pitch. Low-pitched sound moves at 240 meters per second, while higher-pitched sounds move at 250mps. As a result, sound is muffled, and distorted. The CO2…

“Is that really the best that the Government could do,” asked The Times. Last week it finally delivered its long-awaited energy security strategy. The plan was expected to provide some answers to the pressing questions of how we might reduce our reliance on Russian oil and gas, curb soaring household fuel bills, and reach the target of net-zero emissions by 2050. Yet, in the event, the published strategy “amounted to little more than a glorified press release”. It set out an assortment of projects and targets, but offered little in the way of detail – and nothing that will help bring bills down any time soon. The headline proposal is an aspiration to approve “up to eight new nuclear reactors” this decade, with a view to nuclear power meeting a…

Scottie Scheffler is “a man in a hurry”, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. Before February, he hadn’t won a single trophy on golf’s main tour. But since then he has become the world No. 1, winning four titles. His triumph at last week’s Masters was perhaps the most comfortable. His “inexorable” last round gave him a three-shot victory over runner-up Rory McIlroy – and that despite the Northern Irishman producing one of the performances of his life. Scheffler also neutered the threat of Australian Cameron Smith, who’d been expected to provide a last-day duel, but fell behind after he landed in the water at the 12th. Scheffler’s lead was so extensive that his own botched putt on the final hole proved a source of amusement rather than drama. The…

The Chancellor’s wife To The Daily Telegraph Taxation in Britain is rules-based. Both rules and resources are heavily weighted in favour of the enforcers. To add a moral obligation to pay the most tax possible, on top of this mountain of regulations, is no less than autocratic. If the Chancellor’s wife is morally wrong to maintain her non-dom status, as senior Labour MPs have alleged, then so is every ISA, every pension fund and every expenses claim they themselves enjoy. In the words of Sir Keir Starmer, “breathtaking hypocrisy”. Nick St Aubyn, Dunsfold, Surrey The law vs. the optics To The Daily Telegraph Rishi Sunak’s wife must have realised what a furore there would be over her non-dom status while he was Chancellor. It doesn’t matter if it is legal;…

by Rebecca Lowe September Publishing 416pp £18.99 The Week Bookshop £14.99 “Ever since Dervla Murphy packed a pistol and pedalled from Ireland to India in 1963, recounting her adventures in Full Tilt, there has been a demand for two-wheeled adventure tales,” said Caroline Eden in the FT. The Slow Road to Tehran is the latest addition to the genre: in it, British journalist Rebecca Lowe describes her year-long, 11,000km trip through the Middle East on a bicycle she names “Maud”. Lowe admits she was unprepared to the point of foolhardiness: she set out having had “zero hours of training”, and didn’t bother to map out her terrain in advance. “We think you’ll probably die,” her family told her. She proves, however, a “thrillingly single-minded” adventurer, and is “so refreshingly self-deprecating…

• Wait for a cloudy day to clean windows so it’s easier to see streaks. Use warm water with a few drops of washing-up liquid or white vinegar and a microfibre cloth. If you live in a hard water area, use distilled water. • For tough window stains, cut a lemon in half and rub on; leave for 10mins, then rinse with hot water. For black marks on frames, use a mix of baking soda and white vinegar. • Take a stained rug outside and dampen it. Spray on a good dollop of shaving cream, work it in and let it soak in for 20mins. Then use a high-pressure hose to blast off the foam and hang it outside to dry in the sun. • Freshen up your carpet with…

No time for distractions in No. 11 Alistair Osborne The Times Here’s “just the thing to cheer Rishi Sunak up”, says Alistair Osborne: “worse than expected” UK GDP figures. “February was meant to be the first month to show a post-Omicron bounce.” Yet in reality, growth that month came in at just 0.1%, well down on both January’s 0.8% number and the 0.3% forecast. And the economic news is likely to get worse. The latest figures don’t yet reflect “Putin’s war on Ukraine, tax rises and a looming 54% leap in energy bills”. Brace yourself for March. True, February’s pitiful growth was partly down to a 3.8% drop in health sector activity, while services – buoyed by rising leisure spending – were a bright point. The Chancellor can also take…

What happened Emmanuel Macron will face Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election run-off, after the two candidates won the most support in the first round of voting on Sunday. In a crowded field of 12 candidates, President Macron won 28% of the vote while Le Pen, of the far-right National Rally party, came second with 23%. There was also strong support for the hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon (22%). Anti-immigrant polemicist Éric Zemmour won 7%, while mainstream parties fared woefully: the Republican candidate Valérie Pécresse won 5% of vote; the Socialist Anne Hidalgo, 2%. Macron stepped up his campaign in working-class areas this week, as several polls showed his lead over Le Pen ahead of the final round of voting on 24 April was within the margin of error.…

A “canine butcher”catering especially for dogs has opened in central London. “A. Houndmarch” in Knightsbridge, conceived by the designer Anya Hindmarch, sells dog snacks starting at £5 for 50g, bespoke dog tennis balls, and dog-poo bag holders for £125 each. Dogs and their owners can also attend “behaviour workshops” in the shop, and have their portraits drawn. St Blaise Town Council in Cornwall has said it will no longer plant daffodils in a local park, in case children eat them. Barry West, chairman of the residents’ committee, condemned the moved as “totally bonkers”. “There have always been daffs in the park,” he said. “Are they going to put signs up saying don’t eat the daffodils next?”…

Washington DC Groundbreaking appointment: Ketanji Brown Jackson has been confirmed as the first black female justice of the US supreme court. In what is being seen as a significant victory for President Biden, the 51-year-old’s nomination was approved last week by a 53 to 47 vote in the Senate, following two days of fierce questioning. The Republican senator Ted Cruz interrogated Jackson – a double Harvard graduate and former supreme court clerk – as to whether critical race theory is taught at a private school where she is a trustee, and asked her if she thought babies could be racist. Other Republicans suggested that as a trial judge, she had been soft on child pornographers – although legal experts said that her sentencing decisions had been within normal parameters. In…

A Londoner was left mortified after mistakenly attaching the results of a sexual health check-up rather than a covering letter to a job application. Jacques Paul said that he “freaked out” when he realised he’d attached the wrong PDF to the online form. “Within 72 hours I got a standard message saying that they weren’t proceeding with the application,” he lamented. He thought about asking for feedback, “but I think I knew what it was. It looked like I was submitting my application and saying, ‘And here’s another good thing about me – I don’t have any STDs.’” A German motorist was shocked to receive a E50 speeding ticket, with a picture of his dog apparently driving his car attached to the notice. Don Kylian, the driver’s nephew, shared the…

Brooklyn Beckham and the billionaire heiress Nicola Peltz married at a lavish celebrity-packed bash in Palm Beach on Saturday. The couple had two ceremonies, one Catholic, one Jewish, to reflect the different faiths of the bride’s family. During the Jewish ceremony, reports the Daily Mail, the rabbi caused”consternation and mirth” by repeatedly calling Brooklyn “David” as he led the couple through their vows. When Warren Beatty proposed to Joan Collins in 1960, he hid the ring inside her favourite dish – chopped liver. The 88-year-old actress recalled that she entered the New York flat she then shared with Beatty to find it “laden with Jewish delicatessen delights”, including the liver. “Imagine my surprise when I found that massive ring inside the container as I greedily ladled myself a spoonful,” she…

“I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realise I should have been more specific.”Lily Tomlin, quoted in Parade “Insanity is hereditary; you get it from your children.”Sam Levenson, quoted in The Jerusalem Post “We never really grow up, we only learn how to act in public.”Bryan White, quoted in the New Statesman “I don’t believe in astrology; I’m a Sagittarius and we’re sceptical.”Arthur C. Clarke, quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it.”Bob Hope, quoted in Forbes “Always borrow money from a pessimist. He won’t expect it back.”Oscar Wilde, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”Dale Carnegie, quoted in The Indian Express “It is…

To The Times I am 16 years old and in recovery from anorexia nervosa. The new law that calories will have to be on menus terrifies me. The Government should really be investing more in teaching people to have a positive relationship with food. Calories are not something to be feared, as the diet industry has taught us: they are units of energy that keep our bodies alive. Calorie-counting does more harm than good: it cruelly changes the pleasure of eating to tediously obsessing over a number. As one of the 1.25 million people in the UK who suffer from an eating disorder, I know how one can creep up on you. I agree that obesity is a problem. However, putting a number next to fish and chips on a…

by Ali Smith Hamish Hamilton 400pp £16.99 The Week Bookshop £13.99 Ali Smith’s first novel since her “extraordinary Seasonal Quartet” has a fitting title, said Alex Preston in The Observer, as it “springs from the same source as its predecessors”. Like them, it was “written and published swiftly”, to cram in recent events. It’s 2021, and Sandy, an artist, is “struggling through lockdown”. Her father is in hospital following a heart attack – and she “only has his dog for company”. Smith skilfully evokes the grim monotony of pandemic life, said Catherine Taylor in the FT – from the “regularity of testing” to “the exhaustion of medical staff”. Much of the plot concerns Sandy’s “renewed acquaintance” with an old university friend Martina, who gets in touch to tell her about…

Freddie and Josh hatch a plan to make Josh’s eggs part of Lower Loxley’s Easter celebrations. Ruairi returns from university with a treat for Brian and Jennifer of a posh weekend in Bath. He still refuses to forgive Alice; in response, she says it’s up to him to stay out of her way. Roy and Tracy notice Oliver’s been acting strangely and wonder if he has a new lady friend. When Alice says she’s considering applying for a job, her solicitor warns that they have an uphill custody battle, and that Alice stands a better chance as a full-time mum. Vince visits Josh at work and offers to look over some of his business ideas. Chris is shocked to learn that Alice has decided to give up work to care…

Frida Kahlo’s studio at the Blue House in Mexico City, where she was born and lived with Diego Rivera, overlooks an art-filled garden (£9; museofridakahlo.org.mx). Barbara Hepworth described Trewyn Studio in Cornwall, where she lived from 1949 until her death in 1975, as “a sort of magic”. The garden houses many of her sculptures arranged to her design (£7; tate.org.uk). Visitors to Henry Moore‘s Hertfordshire studio and garden can see his sculptures from every angle and even touch them. There’s a café overlooking the garden and a shop (£15.50; henry-moore.org). A former fisherman’s hut in Catalonia’s Portlligat, Salvador Dalí’s quirky house features an enormous bear in the lobby and a penis-shaped swimming pool, plus serene views over the bay (£12; salvador-dali.org). Rembrandt’s canal-side mansion in Amsterdam has the world’s biggest…

Mexico’s Little Cornwall Known for its excellent pasties, the mountain town of Real del Monte is “a curious piece of Cornwall lost in Mexico”, says Richard Collett in The Daily Telegraph. Thousands of Cornish immigrants came here and to the neighbouring city of Pachuca from the 1820s onwards, to revive the region’s silver mines. Today, Union flags adorn the windows of shops, the remains of typical Cornish wheelhouses and mining chimneys “dot the skyline”, and in Pachuca there is a 130ft monumental clock with a mechanism based on Big Ben’s, and a football museum – the oldest team in Mexico, C.F. Pachuca, was founded in 1901 by Cornish miners. Most ubiquitous, however, are the pasties, served all over town, and often spiced up with local ingredients such as coriander, chilli,…

Pamela Rooke 1955-2022 For the past 40 years, Pamela Rooke had lived quietly in her Sussex home town of Seaford, where she bred cats and worked as a veterinary nurse. But in the 1970s, Rooke, who has died aged 66, was Jordan – one of the leading figures in the punk movement. Having started work at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s bondage shop Sex when she was still in her teens, she appeared on stage with the Sex Pistols, managed Adam and the Ants and became a muse to Derek Jarman. Dubbed the Queen of Punk, she wanted, she said, to be “a living work of art”, to stand out from a “beige and taupe world”. Travelling into London from her parental home on the East Sussex coast, she’d get…

Fears that the hard-right Marine Le Pen “could pull off a shock upset” in the French presidential election are mounting in markets, said Tom Rees in The Daily Telegraph. “Tightening polls” ahead of last weekend’s vote “caused investors to ditch French government debt” – taking France’s ten-year bond yield to “a seven-year high” of 1.25%, and increasing the gap between its bonds and German “bunds”. A widening gap is regarded by investors as “a key measure of political risk in Paris”. “Investors have largely ignored the risks of a Le Pen victory until this week,” said economist Jessica Hinds of Capital Economics. If it happens, the likelihood is some really big moves in the euro and French borrowing costs. “The euro could fall towards parity with the dollar” and the…

Howard Schultz When in doubt, summon Schultz. That seems to be the thinking at Starbucks, which has once again turned to its billionaire founder to “reimagine” the business. Howard Schultz’s appointment as interim CEO marks his “third go-around” at the coffee business he founded in Seattle and built into a global giant in the 1980s and 1990s, said Leslie Patton on Bloomberg. He isn’t taking his new role lightly. He has frozen a $20bn package of stock repurchases, “saying it would be better spent on employees and café improvements”, and fired Starbucks’ top lawyer – pledging “better benefits for workers to dissuade them from unionising”. Controversially, he’s also moving the firm into nonfungible tokens (NFTs) to capitalise on its “treasure trove” of collectibles. Shareholders greeted these expensive-sounding plans sceptically, sending…

30% of US adults say it’s true or probably true that “top Democrats are involved in elite child sex-trafficking rings”. Over half of Republicans think it’s true or likely that there is “a single group of people who secretly control events and rule the world together”. YouGov/Vice Half of French women and 44% of French men believe that dodging housework ought to be a crime. 15% of women say they’d be prepared to file a lawsuit against their partner for ducking chores. Ifop/The Times Over half of 18- to 24-year-olds in the UK believe democracy is serving them badly. Adults over 65 are the most likely group to think it’s working for them. IIPR/The Guardian…

Tebbit on the Brighton bomb Norman Tebbit is remembered as the great political street fighter of his generation, says Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph. But the former Tory minister, now 91, reckons he wouldn’t be here at all, were it not for a fireman called Fred Bishop. In 1984, Tebbit and his late wife Margaret were staying at The Grand hotel in Brighton when it was bombed by the IRA. They were in bed at the time, and the ceiling of their room collapsed onto them. “Margaret and I were injured, bleeding, tangled up, and I doubted whether we were going to survive.” Within minutes, though, Bishop and his team arrived on the scene. “They ran through what they thought was sea mist [it was smoke from the bomb]…

Ukraine boasts some of the most fertile land on Earth. The rich black soil of its central belt, known as chernozem (black earth), is perfectly suited to growing grains, thanks to its rich humus content and its high moisture storage capacity. There is also a lot of it: Ukraine is the largest nation in Europe bar Russia, and it has some 42 million hectares of agricultural land, an area considerably larger than the whole of Italy. For this reason, it has been known for centuries as “the breadbasket of Europe”. Ukraine today is – or was until 24 February – an agricultural powerhouse: the eighth largest producer of wheat, the fourth largest producer of barley, the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil. It exported $27bn worth of agricultural products in…

IRAN The dangers of letting women watch football Al Monitor (Washington) Iran’s national football team will face England in the group stage of this year’s World Cup in Qatar. But the spotlight in Iran isn’t on the threat posed by Gareth Southgate’s team, says Kourosh Ziabari: it’s on the right of women there to even attend matches. Since 1979, female fans have been banned from entering stadiums. Fifa persuaded Iran to relax the ban in 2018, but even then, “women were allocated minuscule quotas to watch matches” in strictly limited circumstances. Now, a fresh row has erupted. In March, 2,000 women who’d legitimately bought tickets for a World Cup qualifier against Lebanon were abruptly turned away when conservative authorities changed their minds; those who resisted were tear-gassed and reportedly beaten.…

Hundreds of adults and children with type-1 diabetes have been fitted with an artificial pancreas, as part of a new NHS trial. The device, which sits next to the skin, continuously monitors glucose in the blood, and uses an algorithm to calculate the amount of insulin required to keep levels steady. The insulin is then delivered via a pump. “It is not very far away from the holy grail of a fully automated system, where people with type-1 diabetes can get on with their lives without worrying about glucose levels or medication,” Prof Partha Kar, NHS national speciality adviser for diabetes, told The Guardian. The mother of one six-year-old patient described it as a “godsend”. Before the device was fitted, Ange Abbott-Pierce said she and her husband had to get…

Forty years after it was launched by Margaret Thatcher’s government, Channel 4 is being put up for sale, said Steven Barnett on The Conversation. The decision to press ahead with legislation this year, announced by Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries, is a risky one which has been widely condemned as an act of “cultural vandalism”. Channel 4 is, after all, “a great British success story”. A state-owned channel that doesn’t employ its own creative staff, it commissions programmes from independent production companies – a flourishing sector that it has played a vital role in creating. It supports more than 10,000 jobs, all over the UK; it is required by law to promote diversity, innovation and new talent. It doesn’t cost the taxpayer a penny. And it makes a profit, too –…

“No sign-off will ever be as complete,” said Brough Scott in The Sunday Times, as that just achieved by the winner of this Grand National. This was Sam Waley-Cohen’s very last horse race. The only amateur in a 40-strong field, the 39-year-old jockey is to retire from the sport to concentrate on his chain of upmarket dental practices. And the horse he was riding, Noble Yeats, was a 50-1 shot owned by his father, Robert. So for Waley-Cohen to describe his first – and presumably last – ever victory in jump racing’s biggest event as “a fairy tale, a fantasy” was no exaggeration. His success has single-handedly revived the all-but-extinct spirit of sporting amateurism. This was a truly gruelling race with “more than its usual share of carnage” – by…

American football Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Dwayne Haskins was killed as he tried to cross a highway while training in Florida. The 24-year-old was hit by a truck and died at the scene. Rugby union Jess Breach and Lark Davies scored two tries apiece as England beat Wales 58-5 in rugby union’s Women’s Six Nations, to set up a dramatic finale against France on 30 April. Formula 1 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc won his second consecutive race, as defending champion Max Verstappen was forced to retire in the Australian GP.…

Cults, scams and con artists make for such “reliable podcast fodder”, it sometimes feels as though there are “more series about QAnon than there are actual members of QAnon”, said James Marriott in The Times. But while the genre has become tired, when it’s done as well as in the new Wondery podcast Twin Flames, it remains a “winner”. It tells the story of two Americans, Jeff Ayan and his partner Shaleia, whose business Twin Flames Universe supposedly helps people find love (at a cost – $4,444 for the full subscription). Their theory, not backed by science, is that “everyone has a twin flame: that is, the person who possesses the missing half of your soul”. We hear Jeff whispering weirdly compelling “gnomic bullshit” (“All of it is yours… everything,…

Music and Silence by Rose Tremain, 1999 (Vintage £9.99). This story of an English lutenist, summoned to the court of Christian IV of Denmark in 1629, celebrates the restorative power of music in a counterpoint world of light and shadow, dream and reality, order and chaos. The multi-layered narrative is tonally ambitious and beautifully sustained. The Rest Is Noise by Alex Ross, 2007 (Harper Perennial £16.99). A history of the 20th century told through its music, explaining everything from dissonance to minimalism. It makes you want to listen to everyone from Stravinsky to John Adams all over again. Life by Keith Richards, 2010 (W&N £10.99). The most compelling riff on rock‘n’roll ever written. A dark, indiscreet and moving road trip with the Rolling Stones guitarist, including essential backstage insights behind…

Programmes Easter from King’s Readings and music, including a performance by soprano Anita Monserrat of Handel’s I Know That My Redeemer Liveth, from King’s College Cambridge. Sat 16 Apr, BBC2 18:20 (75mins). Titanic: Building the World’s Largest Ship Rather than recounting its sinking, this documentary chronicles the extraordinary work that went into constructing the illfated steamship. Sat 16 Apr, C4 19:20 (60mins). The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe Eddie Marsan and Monica Dolan star in a dramatisation of the true story of John Darwin, who faked his own death and escaped to Panama. Sun 17, Mon 18, Tue 19 and Wed 20 Apr, ITV1 21:00 (60mins each). Life After Life Adaptation of Kate Atkinson’s 2013 novel about the many lives of Ursula Todd (Thomasin McKenzie), born in 1912, and…

Four-star Halkidiki stay Spend five nights at the Alkion Resort, perfectly located on a mountainside with amazing sea views, from £240pp b&b, including Manchester flights. 020-7183 2819, planmytour.co.uk. Depart 9 May. Charming Zanzibar resort Experience the island in comfort when you stay seven nights at the AHG Waridi Beach Resort, from £876pp half-board, including London flights. 020-8974 7200, travel republic.co.uk. Depart 22 June. Country house hotel Escape to the beautiful wilderness of Dartmoor National Park with a two-night stay at the Mill End Hotel. From £146pp room-only. 01647-432282, millendhotel.com. Arrive 8 June. Stylish Thai city break Stay a week at the COMO Metropolitan Bangkok hotel, with an award-winning Nahm restaurant, from £1,686pp b&b, including Edinburgh flights. 020-3993 1955, bestat travel.co.uk. Depart 22 July. Covid-19: please check government websites for testing…

Porsche float: German snub Germany’s “most coveted and profitable auto brand” is being “let loose on the market” by its parent Volkswagen, with a partial float planned by the end of the year, said Joe Miller in the Financial Times. Porsche’s hotly awaited listing “will probably eclipse Deutsche Telekom’s record-breaking 1996 offering” (it will reportedly be valued at around s90bn) and any other German IPO in terms of media excitement – not least because VW has chosen “a US-only quartet” (Goldman Sachs, Citi, BoA and JPMorgan) of investment banks to handle the business. “There’s nothing new about US banks encroaching on European territory”: nonetheless, this is “a slap in the face” for the local player, Deutsche Bank, and its European rivals. “Until now, excluding Deutsche Bank from a leading role…

The week’s best shares Coats Group Investors’ Chronicle The world’s leading maker of threads, yarns, zips and trims is tapping into ESG trends with a fast-growing “EcoVerde” recycled range. Sales and cash have exceeded pre-pandemic levels as it targets $50m in cost savings. Buy. 77p. Fever-Tree The Sunday Times Margins have deteriorated amid rising inflation, higher costs and a jump in commodity prices. But the posh tonicmaker’s sales momentum is “very strong” as it expands globally. A potential takeover target. Buy. £17.70. Hays The Daily Telegraph Shares in the temp-focused recruiter have fallen amid global economic worries. Risky, but highly cash-generative with solid finances and exposure to 20 sectors across 33 different countries, including the green economy. Buy. 120.4p. Hilton Food Group Investors’ Chronicle The food packer’s Australasian revenues have…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1307 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 25 April. Email the answers as a scan of a completed grid or a list, with the subject line The Week crossword 1307, 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 8 Sort of deck whichever way up it is (4) 9 Hotpot ever cooked too much (4,3,3) 10 Man on Caribbean island is famous royal spouse (6) 11 Seasonal fare drops suddenly (8) 12 Struggling in stores one side of London (8) 14…

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