Innholdsfortegnelse for 1405 i The Week

What happened Moscow launched a series of devastating air strikes on Ukrainian cities this week, in response to an explosion on the only bridge linking Russia to Crimea. Kyiv was one of several cities hit by Monday’s air strikes, which killed at least 14 people. There were further deadly strikes on Tuesday, including on the hard-hit front-line city of Zaporizhzhia. Vladimir Putin said the aerial bombardment was in retaliation for what he called a “terrorist attack” on the Kerch bridge. Built after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, it serves as a vital supply route for Moscow’s troops. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for blowing up the bridge, but officials in Kyiv celebrated the attack. Russia’s aggression was condemned by the UN, Nato and G7 leaders, who vowed to “hold…

“A challenging winter.” That’s what National Grid tells us we’re heading for in its grim Winter Outlook Report, said Oliver Gill in The Daily Telegraph. All being well, the supply of energy should be enough to meet demand, it says. And if we do start running low on the electricity flowing through the high-voltage cables, or “interconnectors”, that run under the sea from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, there are at least back-up plans. We can “fire up” three of our ageing coal-fired power stations; we can pay households and businesses to use electricity at off-peak times. But if conditions turn nasty – if, say, Putin cuts off yet more of Russia’s gas supply, or another “Beast from the East” makes the winter bitterly cold – then, for the first…

Jeremy Clarkson, who was ordered to shut the restaurant on his Diddly Squat Farm in Oxfordshire. The TV presenter opened the café in July, despite having been denied planning permission, and customers poured into the area. He said he’d found a “loophole” that allowed him to operate the business in a former lambing shed, but the council has disagreed. Christmas lunch, with reports of an avian flu outbreak. Suffolk’s Gressingham Foods, the UK’s largest goose producer, is said to have had to cull thousands of birds.…

Two-thirds of adults in England say they regularly experience “Sunday scaries” – i.e. anxiety about the coming week. Work stresses, lack of sleep and looming to-do lists are reported as the top causes of Sunday evening worry. OHID/Censuswide Only 45% of Britons aged 16 to 34 say they strongly support or tend to support Britain’s role in the war in Ukraine. 15% oppose it. Among those aged 55 to 75, 80% support Britain’s role, and 10% oppose it. Ipsos/The Times Liz Truss’s approval ratings are now at -47%, below both Boris Johnson’s low of -44% during the Partygate scandal and Theresa May’s -46% in the days before her resignation. Opinium/The Observer…

Eric Idle’s Beatle friend Eric Idle made his name as one of the Monty Python team, but he says that he isn’t “particularly close” to any of the troupe’s surviving members. “Michael [Palin] is always the first to write a sweet letter if he finds out you’ve been through a few things, because he is genuinely kind like that,” he told Simon Hattenstone in The Guardian. “But I don’t think of it like we were mates. We were colleagues.” He has had other famous friends, though – notably George Harrison. The Beatle was a Python fan; he funded their film Life of Brian, and he and Idle became close. When Idle was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer three years ago, he says it was the memory of his friend that helped…

A restaurant for dogs has opened in a fashionable neighbourhood of San Francisco. Dogue offers a $75 tasting menu on Sundays that includes dishes such as filet mignon topped with quail eggs. At other times, pooches can drop in for meat-filled pastries and $4.95 “dogguccinos”. It is the brainchild of chef Rahmi Massarweh, who says he just wants to give dogs good, healthy food. But critics suggested the concept was a bit distasteful in the current socioeconomic climate. “As if the rest of the country didn’t hate us enough already,” lamented one local. Social media users in China have been tickled by images of hundreds of elderly people crawling along the ground in long “crocodiles”. The exercise fad took off in Jiangsu province a year ago, and now 1,000 people…

The UK regulator is expected to issue more than 100 new permits for gas and oil exploration in the North Sea. The Government is anxious to boost Britain’s energy security, and sees extracting more fossil fuels as part of that equation. It says the North Sea fuel will replace imported fuel, and so reduce transport-related carbon emissions. But climate campaigners claim the new licensing round is inconsistent with the UK’s “netzero carbon” by 2050 commitment, and that it is potentially unlawful. They and oil industry executives agree that the reserves are not big enough to lead to cheaper prices for consumers. Nearly 900 sectors, or blocks, are being offered for exploration, but priority will be given to a cluster off Norfolk, Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, as these are known to have…

Politicians love to rally their supporters against imagined enemies, said Matthew Parris in The Times. In his 1999 conference speech, Tony Blair took aim at “the forces of conservatism”. Addressing last week’s Tory conference, Liz Truss’s target was what she called the “anti-growth coalition”. These, she declared, are the people holding Britain back. Labour, the Lib Dems, the SNP, the “militant unions” – they’re all members of the AGC. So, apparently, are “the vested interests dressed up as think tanks”, eco-protesters, Brexit deniers, north Londoners living in townhouses, and assorted pundits and podcasters. The dynamism of the British economy, it seems, is being smothered by the interventions of these “sneering, naysaying Enemies of the People”. Critics may jest, but Truss has a point, said Matthew Lynn in The Daily Telegraph.…

Jürgen Klopp has achieved a remarkable amount during his tenure as Liverpool’s manager, said James Pearce on The Athletic. From Champions League glory in Madrid, to ending the club’s painful 30-year title drought, the German has been the “most transformative figure” in Liverpool’s recent history. But after seven years at Anfield, is his magic wearing off? So far this season, the Reds have accrued just ten points from eight Premier League games, their worst return at this stage of the season since 2012-13. They currently lie tenth in the table, 14 points adrift from leaders Arsenal, who beat them 3-2 last Sunday. They keep making the “same glaring errors” and have become “ridiculously easy to play through”. For a side that nearly won the Quadruple five months ago, it really…

Football Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal for Man United against Everton on Sunday made him the first player in history to score 700 club goals. Rugby union Northampton beat Wasps 40-36 in the Gallagher Premiership. Leaders Saracens beat Newcastle Falcons 34-14. Tennis Barbora Krejčiková upset world No. 1 Iga Świątek in the final of the Ostrava Open. She won 5-7, 7-6, 6-3. Athletics British sprinter C.J. Ujah, whose failed doping test cost Team GB a relay silver at the Olympic Games, has been cleared.…

Running time: 3hrs When Kenneth MacMillan’s Mayerling premiered in 1978 it was “revolutionary”, said Sarah Crompton in The Observer – taking ballet into hitherto unexplored realms of “psychosis and misery”. It is based on real-life events, and although our protagonist is a prince, he is no “dreamboat”. Crown Prince Rudolf, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire, is riddled with syphilis, addicted to morphine, plotting against his father – and soon to die in a suicide pact with his teenage lover. More than 40 years on, the piece still feels “radical”, and the Royal Ballet’s magnificently danced revival is utterly “engrossing”. With a score of Liszt excerpts, and set design by Nicholas Georgiadis in “glowing autumnal colours, its imaginative, inventive confidence is truly astonishing”. To open the new Covent Garden season with…

“If you’re in the market for a gentle comedy-drama in which nothing bad happens, then Ralph & Katie may be the thing for you,” said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. Leon Harrop and Sarah Gordy play the Ralph and Katie of the title, a newlywed couple going through the normal relationship mini-dramas – misunderstandings, a mother who won’t stop sticking an oar in – while living with Down’s syndrome. Set in the Lake District, the show is a spin-off from The A Word, the BBC series about a family living with autism; but don’t be put off it if you haven’t seen that, because it “stands on its own”. It’s also very heartwarming – one of those “cosy sorts of shows, like Doc Martin, where every character is a…

Next Season by Michael Blakemore, 1968 (Applause Books £13.99). The acclaimed director’s take on a young actor’s start in the world of repertory theatre in the 1960s is still achingly true. This novel brilliantly captures the passionate optimism of youth and the often painful reality of the profession. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, 1958 (HarperCollins £6.99). We’ve all been Paddingtons at some point in our lives, seeking the hand of friendship, be it on our first day in a new school, a new job, or a new country. Endearing, hilarious, and brimming with generosity of spirit. Astonish Me! by Dominic Dromgoole, 2022 (Profile £20). In this upcoming book, the ex-artistic director of London’s Bush and Globe Theatres recreates the flavour of opening nights and creative moments through history.…

Programmes Hans Zimmer: Hollywood Rebel The story of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated composers, from his childhood in Germany to cinema acclaim. Includes interviews with Ron Howard, Christopher Nolan and Steve McQueen. Sun 16 Oct, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Four Quartets, Starring Ralph Fiennes The actor’s sister Sophie Fiennes brings his acclaimed 2021 stage performance of T.S. Eliot’s four poetic meditations to the screen. Sun 16 Oct, BBC4 20:00 (85mins). Somewhere Boy New drama about an 18-year-old boy forced into the outside world after being brought up in enforced seclusion by his father. Sun 16 Oct, C4 22:00 and 22:30 (30 and 25mins). Storyville: The Fire Within Werner Herzog writes, directs and narrates this haunting homage to Katia and Maurice Krafft, volcanologists and filmmakers who died in an eruption in Japan…

Seville’s old town Stay 5 nights at Hotel Bécquer in Seville’s old town and visit the Gothic cathedral and royal palace, from £392pp self-catered (incl. London flights). 020-3386 8411, lastminute.com. Depart 10 December. Skiing in Andorra Polish up your snow skills with 7 nights at the Hotel Magic Ski in La Massana. From £837pp half-board (incl. Birmingham flights and lift pass). 020-3170 8206, sunweb.co.uk. Depart 26 February 2023. Ras Al Khaimah relaxation Explore Dubai’s emirate neighbour during a 7-night stay at the 5-star DoubleTree Marjan Island. From £1,015pp (incl. Edinburgh flights). 0871-474 3000, onthebeach.co.uk. Depart 21 March 2023. Über-cool Berlin Designed by Werner Aisslinger, the 25hours Hotel has funky interiors and overlooks the famous zoo gardens. 3 nights from £234pp (room only). 020-8612 8000, booking.com. Arrive 12 January 2023. Covid-19:…

Opec’s dangerous alliance… Matthew Lynn The Daily Telegraph The defiant announcement by Opec that it is squeezing supplies by two million barrels a day couldn’t have come at a worse time for European governments battling to “keep energy prices under control this winter”, says Matthew Lynn. To the “small collection of autocrats who run the oil cartel”, this must have seemed a perfect moment to strike. But if they think their move will help restore some of the global power Opec once enjoyed, they’re making a terrible mistake. By making production cuts designed to worsen the energy crisis, they’re backing a losing side, in the form of the “brutal Russian regime” – and “directly taking on” the world’s largest oil producer, America. Opec’s announcement had a predictable impact on the…

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What happened Liz Truss sought to mend ties with her mutinous party this week as MPs returned to Westminster. It was reported that the Prime Minister would hold regular “policy lunches” with small groups of MPs, and once-a-month meetings at No. 10 with all Tory backbenchers. She appointed Greg Hands, a supporter of her former rival Rishi Sunak, as a minister. She also made Treasury veteran James Bowler the department’s new Permanent Secretary, despite Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng having identified the outsider Antonia Romeo as his preferred candidate. Kwarteng announced that he was bringing forward publication of his fiscal plan, and independent economic forecasts, to 31 October, but this news failed to reassure the bond markets (see page 42). The Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank warned that Kwarteng would need…

Staff at the University of Manchester have been urged not to use words such as “pensioner” or “elderly”, to avoid causing offence. Instead, the university’s inclusive language guide suggests that over-60s should be referred to as “mature individuals”, “older people” or “learners”. The guide also discourages staff from referring to people’s age, as in “we are a young and vibrant team”. Sales of hooded blankets, thermals and slippers have soared in recent weeks, as British shoppers seek to reduce their reliance on central heating during the cost-of-living crisis. John Lewis said that its dressing gown sales were up 76% compared with last year, and that customers were buying onesies much earlier in the year than normal.…

Criminal barristers in England and Wales have voted to end their strike in response to an improved offer from the Government. The deal includes an immediate 15% increase in legal aid fees for most cases going through the Crown Court system, and a fund to compensate barristers for some of the time they spend preparing legal aid cases, which was previously unpaid. Members of the Criminal Bar Association voted by 56.8% to 43.2% to accept the offer. Their industrial action started in April and escalated until barristers began an indefinite strike on 5 September.…

Creeslough, Ireland Station blast: Ten people were killed last week in a huge explosion at a petrol station in County Donegal. It tore apart Applegreen service station and its on-site convenience store, a communal hub for the 400 inhabitants of Creeslough village. Among the dead was five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe (pictured) and her father Robert, who were buying her mother a birthday cake when the blast occurred. A major rescue operation from both sides of the border scoured through the rubble for more than 24 hours, rescuing eight injured people and recovering the bodies. The explosion appears to have been an accident – probably the result of a gas leak. Copenhagen Mink massacre: Denmark’s once hugely popular Social Democrat prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, has had to call an early general…

1 Jerusalem by Alwyn Humphreys, William Blake and Hubert Parry, performed by the Honley Male Voice Choir & the Band of HM Royal Marines 2 Come on Eileen by Kevin Rowland, Jim Paterson and Billy Adams, performed by Dexys Midnight Runners 3 Someone Like You, written and performed by Van Morrison 4 7 Days by Craig David, Mark Hill and Darren Hill, performed by Craig David 5 I Think We’re Alone Now by Ritchie Cardell, performed by Tiffany 6 Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty, performed by Undercover 7* Last Request by Paolo Nutini, Jim Duguid, Matty Benbrook, performed by Paolo Nutini 8 Fix You by Chris Martin, Jonny Buckland, Guy Berryman and Will Champion, performed by Coldplay Book: The Edge: The Guide to Fulfilling Dreams, Maximising Success and Enjoying a Lifetime of Achievement by Howard E. Ferguson Luxury: a…

There’s no universally agreed definition of a tactical nuclear weapon, but they typically have yields in the tens of kilotons, or less. A kiloton means the explosive energy of a thousand tons of TNT. Fat Man, dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, had a yield of around 20 kilotons. By contrast, today’s strategic nuclear weapons have yields in the hundreds and sometimes thousands of kilotons. Although tactical weapons are considerably less powerful, they can be powerful enough to destroy a small city; and the smallest, with a yield of one kiloton or less, would still be a hundred times as powerful as any conventional bomb the US air force has ever dropped. Russia has about 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, which could be delivered using its Kalibr or Iskander missile systems. (The…

The Onion claims to be “America’s finest news source”, said Dave Pell on NextDraft. And it is, if you’re after satire. Its news parodies “hit the mark like nothing else”. The classic example is its famous headline on the subject of US school shootings: “No Way To Prevent This, Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.” Now the publication itself is in the news: it has gone to the supreme court to defend the right of everyone to poke fun at officialdom. Last week, it filed a court brief in support of Anthony Novak, an Ohio man who was arrested and jailed for four days in 2016, after he created a spoof of his local police department’s Facebook page. The page suggested that the department had outlawed the feeding of…

Only smokers should vape Just when it seemed that decades of public health campaigning were paying off, and younger generations were starting to regard smoking as a dirty habit for old people, manufacturers came up with vaping. The devices were designed to help long-term smokers wean themselves off cigarettes; but vaping has since become popular among teenagers who might never have started smoking. Now, following an analysis of 400 existing studies, a team at King’s College London has concluded that more should be done to encourage smokers to switch to vaping – and to dissuade non-smokers from taking up the vaping habit. Prof Ann McNeill, the study’s lead author, described smoking as “uniquely deadly”. Switching to vaping, she told The Guardian, would lead to a “substantial reduction” in smokers’ exposure…

To understand the current turmoil in Iran, it helps to understand that the veil has long been as much a political symbol as an expression of faith, said Katy Shahandeh in The New Arab. In the 1930s, women were “forcibly unveiled”, to symbolise “modern Iran”; after the 1979 revolution, “they were forcefully veiled”, to symbolise the power of the Islamic state. As the country’s first supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini put it: “If the revolution is to have no other result than the veiling of women, then that is enough for the revolution.” Since coming to office last year, President Ebrahim Raisi has “taken that message to heart”, said Patrick Wintour in The Guardian. In July, he ordered the re-implementation of a 2005 plan called “strategies to spread the culture of…

Ask any parent of young children about the state of British childcare, and they’ll tell you, said Lucy Pasha-Robinson in The Guardian: “the system is woefully unfit for purpose”. British parents pay the third-highest childcare costs in the world, according to the OECD. Government funding is provided for three- and four-year-olds (not for younger children), but it rarely covers the full cost of the care, so parents have to top up. And many can’t even get a nursery place. Owing to long-term recruitment problems, exacerbated by Brexit and Covid, nurseries are closing at an alarming rate. The number of childcare providers fell by 4,000 in England in the year to March: year-long waiting lists are standard. This means that today, many parents simply cannot “afford to work”. In the past…

He’s a driver who seems incapable of winning a Formula 1 title without an element of “Wagnerian theatrics”, said Giles Richards in The Guardian. Last year, at Abu Dhabi, Max Verstappen clinched his maiden title amid “huge controversy” when a misapplication of the rules surrounding safety cars allowed him to overtake Lewis Hamilton on the final lap. And this Sunday in Japan, he secured his second title – but again in conditions of “high farce”. The 25-year-old Dutch driver went into the Grand Prix in Suzuka, the 18th of the 22-race season, knowing a full points victory would secure him the title, said Rebecca Clancy in The Times. But though he duly won, he assumed that he’d earned only half the points, as the race had been shortened owing to…

Annie Ernaux, the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature, has “long been a literary sensation in France”, said Claire Lowdon in The Sunday Times. The 82-year-old is deservedly celebrated for her “startlingly original oeuvre”, which blurs the distinction between fiction and memoir: her books, which draw heavily on her own experiences, but are often written in a highly detached style, have sold in large numbers in France and have scooped many top literary prizes. While the rest of the world has been slower to catch on, that now looks set to change. For those new to Ernaux, The Years – a “memoir unlike any other” – is a “fine place to start”. Rather than focusing on the author’s private life, it is written largely in the first person…

Time to Ottolenghify your larder? Over the past two decades, Yotam Ottolenghi has done more than any other chef to “change our relationship with Middle Eastern cooking”, says Damian Whitworth in The Times. His recipes for dishes with bright colours and bold flavours have brought many once-obscure ingredients to the fore, and made “millions of home cooks more ambitious in their outlook”. Now, he “wants to embed” his approach yet “more deeply in our kitchen lives” by showing us how to “Ottolenghify” our larders. His new book, Extra Good Things (co-written with Noor Murad), suggests batch-cooking sauces and condiments – oils, jams, pickles and ferments – so that any time you want to cook an Ottolenghi recipe, you have the building blocks available. Armed with the likes of harissa butter,…

• Wood needs to sit in a dry shed for at least a season before being used on a fire. Cut or buy the right size log for your fire – usually 30cm long and 7cm to 15cm wide. And make sure your chimney is swept. • Start with tinder; either scrunch newspaper into grapefruit-sized balls, or use a firelighter in the middle of the grate. Lean kindling sticks over the tinder, with tips pointing up like a wigwam. • Build up the sides with small dry logs; these will generate enough heat to help set fire to larger logs, which you can lay on top. • Extra-long matches give you more time to light the fire, and allow you to put the flame right at the heart of the…

Loretta Lynn 1932-2022 Loretta Lynn, who has died aged 90, was the coal miner’s daughter from Kentucky whose “unmistakable” voice, “plucky songs and inspiring life story made her one of the most beloved American musical performers of her generation”, said The New York Times. Married at 15, and a grandmother by the time she was in her 30s, she sang “three-minute morality plays” that reflected the concerns of millions of ordinary American women. Many were songs of poverty and heartbreak drawing on her hardscrabble childhood, and her tempestuous marriage to Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, a womanising sometime bootlegger who became her manager; but she also sang about everything from the stigma of divorce to the contraceptive pill, and came to be held up as a symbol of rural pride and female…

• A historical pinch point The rate on a typical five-year fixed mortgage rose above 6% last week for the first time in 12 years – upsetting a standard “given” in the UK property market, said Joe Easton on Bloomberg, that paying a mortgage is cheaper than renting. According to a report by investment bank UBS, soaring interest rates have pushed repayments past 40% of the average homeowner’s income. The report notes that average monthly mortgage payments were £800 at the end of 2021; now they’re in excess of £1,100. The 40% benchmark is a “historical pinch point” that is a key indicator for house price falls, said UBS. The bank has joined a growing group of experts, including Capital Economics and Oxford Economics, warning that house prices are likely…

Ben Bernanke News that the former chairman of the US Fed has won the Nobel Prize for Economics (along with two other scholars), for research into banks and economic slumps and recessions, has split the commentariat, said DealBook in The New York Times. Unlike most laureates, Bernanke “was able to actually apply his research… to a real-world scenario” – the 2008 financial crisis – and his response to it remains contentious. Supporters say that he saved the global financial system by bailing out banks and unleashing a wave of stimulus that stopped the “Great Recession” from becoming a “Great Depression”. But his critics “draw a direct line” between his actions and today’s soaring inflation. This is a “bankruptcy moment” for the economics Nobel, tweeted one. Roger Waters When the auction…

Liverpool, which won its bid to host next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The event should have taken place in Ukraine, as the winner of this year’s contest, but for safety reasons organisers decided to shift it to the UK, which came second. Thousands of people are expected to pour into Liverpool for the contest in May. Airbnb landlords responded to the news by cancelling whatever bookings they had, and bumping up prices. Noah, which was Britain’s most popular boys’ name in 2021, knocking Oliver off the top spot it had held for eight years. In total, 4,525 boys were named Noah. Olivia, however, held onto its crown as the most popular girls’ name, with 3,649 registrations. Henry replaced Jack in the top ten list, while Freya, Florence and Willow replaced…

Liz Truss travelled to Prague last week to attend the first meeting of the 44-nation European Political Community, a new forum created by the French president, Emmanuel Macron. Leaders from the EU, Turkey, Norway and Moldova were among the other attendees, while Ukraine’s president gave an address via video link. Topics covered included the war in Ukraine and energy security. Truss said her presence was “not about moving closer to Europe”, but she referred to Macron as a “friend” – having previously said the “jury was out” as to whether he was a “friend or foe”.…

Menlo Park, California Metaverse setbacks: Executives at Meta have ordered a “quality lockdown” for the rest of the year, to fix bugs in the tech giant’s “metaverse” project. A year ago, Mark Zuckerberg declared that he was changing Facebook’s name to Meta, to reflect his ambition to create a virtual reality world where millions of people would work, shop and socialise. Thousands of staff and billions of dollars were diverted to the project. But according to internal memos obtained by The New York Times, the metaverse has got off to a slow start. Users of Horizon Worlds, a game that is the closest thing to it so far, complain that it’s so glitchy, it is almost unusable; a poll of employees found that only 58% understood the metaverse strategy; and…

“Liz Truss doesn’t want to be PM so much as a new Boudica. As if to prove the point, her hair is now transformed, via a bucket load of Maggie T-style hairspray, into a helmet. She wants revolution, not evolution, and the result is non-stop revolts, U-turns, warnings and sniping. Stop the madness. There’s too much drama, too much trauma. Indeed, it feels there has been too much news since we woke up and discovered that we’d voted for Brexit. I think I speak for the nation when I say: dial it down, please. Can we just embrace the dull and quietly competent for a while? Forget Boudica. Let’s have a Barbara who emits a steady thrum of boring workaday proficiency.” Ann Treneman in The Times…

SAUDI ARABIA Why we will get used to skiing in 40oC Die Welt (Berlin) Saudi Arabia hardly seems an ideal setting for winter sports, says Sven Flohr. Temperatures there routinely exceed 40oC, and it seldom even rains, let alone snows. Yet despite all that, the country has, unbelievably, been awarded the right to host the next Asian Winter Games in 2029 – in a mountain resort to be built next to its planned desert mega-city, Neom. It sounds too implausible to be true; but the idea of staging a football World Cup in Qatar once seemed unthinkable too. More to the point, there were no other applicants. Liberal democracies are now reluctant to host these gigantic events: even the 2026 World Cup will be shared by Mexico, the US and…

In her new memoir, the actress Geena Davis recalls receiving some useful career advice from Dustin Hoffman on the set of Tootsie (1982). “Never sleep with your co-stars,” he told her, as it complicates everything. If propositioned, he advised her to say: “Oh, I would love to – you’re very attractive – but I don’t want to ruin the sexual tension between us.” Davis squirrelled the line away – and soon had to deploy it to ward off an amorous Jack Nicholson. “Aw, man,” he replied. “Who told you to say that?” The Queen and Prince Philip’s barbecues at Balmoral were famously informal, yet there were still rules – as David Cameron discovered when he was PM. “You sat down and Prince Philip and Her Majesty the Queen served your…

“The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right.”Judge Learned Hand, quoted in The Washington Post “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”Eric Hoffer, quoted in The New York Times “Man is the only animal that can remain on friendly terms with the victims he intends to eat until he eats them.”Samuel Butler, quoted in Dawn “Life is seldom as unendurable as, to judge by the facts, it ought to be.”Brooks Atkinson, quoted in Forbes “Most ideas are step-by-step children of other ideas.” Alex F. Osborn, quoted in Forbes “Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”G.K. Chesterton, quoted in The Guardian “Self-pity in its early…

To The Times Julian Glover’s plea to preserve “protected landscapes” raises interesting questions about the clash between growth on the one hand, and the protection of individuals, society and nature on the other. Most domestic legislation in the past century has led to measures that restrict growth, whether these be to do with the environment, planning restrictions or employment protection. This is because most people have made it clear that this is what they want. If the Prime Minister and her Chancellor do not yet realise that, they soon will. This does raise the question of whether continued and indefinite growth is actually going to be possible in a democracy. “Singapore-on-Thames” is often touted as a model, but the methods of Lee Kuan Yew in achieving Singapore’s miracle will not…

by Elizabeth Strout Viking 304pp £14.99 The Week bookshop £11.99 “Elizabeth Strout is writing masterpieces at a pace you might not suspect from their spaciousness and steady beauty,” said Alexandra Harris in The Guardian. Lucy by the Sea is the third sequel to her acclaimed bestseller My Name is Lucy Barton. It takes place early during the pandemic, when Lucy and her ex-husband, William, leave New York for a friend’s empty beach house in Maine – for “just a few weeks”, he says. It is “a study of a later-life reunion between a man and woman who married in their 20s”. It isn’t “a tender tale”, as William isn’t an easy man to like, but it is “as fine a pandemic novel as one could hope for”. Over the course…

Toby’s sad to leave Rosie as he moves to Stratford; he and Pip bid a friendly farewell and promise that they’ll make things work. Leonard has arranged a photographer as a surprise for Jill’s birthday. Jill wants Beth in the family photo, but Beth gets upset and leaves the party. George’s plan backfires when Eddie points out that his “contact” has sold him pheasant chicks instead of turkey poults. Leonard helps Ruth decorate the bedrooms at Brookfield. Jolene is on to Eddie’s scam to get free drinks after the diary revelations. Ben’s worried about Beth, but tells her he needs to talk to Chelsea too. She respects him for doing the right thing, but says he needs to tell her everything. At The Bull, Kenton and Jolene plot revenge, and…

Serves 4 200ml double cream 3 garlic cloves, crushed 5 thyme sprigs 3 large Agria potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandoline 4 large kohlrabi, peeled and thinly sliced with a mandoline 150g Alsace bacon, thinly sliced 100g butter salt and freshly ground black pepper 2 tbsp combined chopped flat-leaf parsley and chives, to serve 2-3 tbsp freshly grated parmesan, to serve For the garlic crumbs: 2 tbsp olive oil 100g panko breadcrumbs 75g butter 1 tsp garlic granules ½ tsp onion powder • Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/Gas 4. Line an ovenproof baking dish with baking paper. • Pour the cream into a small saucepan. Add the garlic and thyme, place the pan over a medium heat and bring the cream to a boil. Reduce the heat…

Carved from the ancient forests of Sherwood, the 3,800-acre Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire has the longest avenue of limes in Europe, a serpentine lake, kitchen garden and orchard with more than 100 apple varieties (open daily; from £2.50). Enjoy the fiery Japanese maples reflected in the moat at Dunham Massey in Cheshire, plus the scents of autumn: the leaves of the katsura trees give off a burnt-sugar smell at this time of year (open daily; from £4). Polesden Lacey in Surrey has 200 acres of ancient woodland to explore and great views over Ranmore Common. Don’t miss the Upper Sunk Garden, which is a mass of red from the smoke bush, sumach and acer griseum, contrasting with the yellow of the tulip trees (open daily; from £7). Wimpole Estate in…

Antwerp’s reborn art museum It is one of Europe’s great temples of art, but for 11 years Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Arts was closed to the public as it underwent a €100m renovation. Last month, it finally reopened, says Nick Trend in The Sunday Telegraph – making this a great time to visit a handsome city that is “unaccountably ignored” by tourists. The museum’s collection of 16th and 17th century Flemish painting (Bruegel, Rubens, van Dyck, Frans Hals and more) is peerless. Art lovers could also visit the Rubens House (where the painter lived), and two other “fabulous” historic collections – the Rockox House and the Mayer van den Bergh Museum. On top of that, there is great food and some very fine buildings, including the Cathedral of Our…

Andrew van der Bijl 1928-2022 Brother Andrew, who has died aged 94, was a Dutch missionary who smuggled thousands of Bibles into eastern bloc countries during the Cold War, said The Times. Driving across Europe in a blue VW Beetle, posing as a teacher, he’d approach borders with the Bibles piled up beside him – and pray for the guards to wave him through. “Lord, when you walked on Earth you made blind eyes see,” he’d recite. “Now, I pray, make seeing eyes blind.” He was credited with waking up the Church to the persecution of Christians in authoritarian regimes, many of whom felt forgotten by their co-religionists in the West; and in 1967 he published a memoir, God’s Smuggler, which sold ten million copies. Buoyed by this success, Brother…

Such are the travails facing the pub business, Tim Martin, the Wetherspoon boss, has taken to quoting Shakespeare to describe the challenges, said The Times: “the multiplying villainies of nature do swarm upon” us, he declared last week, as he unveiled a £30m loss for the year to 31 July. Still, with the energy crisis biting, there is at least a new stream of punters to woo. Young’s has begun offering “work from pub” days for people finding it too chilly to WFH. They cost £15 per day, and usually include a sandwich lunch and unlimited tea and coffee. As one happy customer told The Observer, it beats the “soul-destroying” experience of working at a kitchen table on a cold Monday morning.…

Shitcoin Reddit-speak for the pound – a downgrade from Britcoin. “Apparently britbongs use it to purchase crumpets and tea,” observed one wag on the platform. “Other than that it doesn’t have any usage.” Reverse ferret A journalistic term for an abrupt volte-face in a political or strategic line, believed to derive from Kelvin MacKenzie’s tenure as editor of The Sun in the 1980s and 1990s. Reverse reverse ferret U-turning on your U-turn. Either an extreme act of pragmatism, an indication of desperation, or a ruse to play for time. Linkers Slang for index-linked gilts. LDI A derivative-based product sold to pension funds to avoid the risk of a shortfall when paying pensions – with explosive consequences when gilt yields shot up, again and again and again – once, twice, three…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best shares 3i Infrastructure The Daily Telegraph 3i has a concentrated portfolio of 18 firms that are either providing or maintaining essential infrastructure. It’s “highly dependable”, with an excellent long-term record of maximising returns. Buy. 314p. Alphabet Investors’ Chronicle With more than four billion users worldwide, the Google owner’s low valuation doesn’t reflect its ad dominance – or the strength of its proprietary data, fast-growing cloud service and speculative venture arm. Buy. $98.64. Croda International The Sunday Times The chemicals giant majors on life sciences and beauty products, with a promising focus on lipid nanoparticles, given the likely surge in mRNA therapies. Sales are up 20%, debt is down and cashflow strong. Buy. £65.40. Greggs The Mail on Sunday Greggs is a “genuine British success…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1333 An Ettinger pass holder 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 24 October. Send it to The Week Crossword 1333, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass holder in assorted colours, which retails at £115, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 It could be the aim at table dance after protest (6,4) 6 Small flute; Scottish council area (4) 9 A1 is for London or Edinburgh (7) 10 Scruffy women tease a great deal (7) 12 Last to leave Hearts’ new ground (5) 13 Leader,…