Innholdsfortegnelse for 1422 i The Week

Liz Truss was “outlasted by a lettuce”, said Polly Toynbee in The Guardian, but she still managed to do a vast amount of damage in her 49 days as prime minister. Within hours of last September’s mini-Budget, the pound plummeted and the UK’s borrowing costs soared. Bond markets went into shock and the Bank of England had to launch a £65bn bailout. Britain is still paying a “moron premium” for all this today. And whose fault was it? According to Truss, “left-wing economists” were to blame, along with Treasury officials who failed to prepare her, and Tory MPs who didn’t back her. “Fundamentally, I was not given a realistic chance to enact my policies by a very powerful economic establishment, coupled with a lack of political support,” she wrote in…

Harry Styles, whose victory speech at the Grammys sparked a backlash about his perceived “white privilege”. Accepting the album of the year award, Styles said “this doesn’t happen to people like me very often”. His critics noted that he is the 33rd white male winner of that award, whereas no black woman has won it since 1999. Beyoncé had been tipped to win it this year. Cheating students, after the creators of the ChatGPT bot said that they were working on a new tool that will enable teachers to detect if essays have been written by AI or humans. Delilah, the Tom Jones ballad that has become an unofficial anthem of Welsh rugby, which will no longer be played at Welsh Rugby Union matches. WRU officials said its lyrics, about…

Geneva Spy claim: Patriarch Kirill – the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a close ally of President Putin – spied for the KGB in Geneva in the 1970s, it has been alleged. Based on declassified police records, two Swiss newspapers have reported claims that while posted to the World Council of Churches, Kirill gathered information for the KGB, and also tried to manipulate other Council members into denouncing the US and toning down their criticism of the USSR. Since then, Kirill is reported to have paid frequent visits to Switzerland, to indulge his passion for skiing and for expensive Swiss watches. Rome Grandparent ruling: Italy’s supreme court has ruled that children cannot be forced to see their grandparents. The decision was the culmination of a four-year legal battle…

1* Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg, performed by Eva Cassidy2 My Brother Jake by Andy Fraser and Paul Rodgers, performed by Free3 O soave fanciulla by Giacomo Puccini, performed by José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, Teresa Stratas and the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, conducted by James Levine4 Sugar on the Floor by Kiki Dee, performed by Etta James5 You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me by Vicki Wickham, Simon Napier-Bell, Pino Donaggio and Vito Pallavicini, performed by Dusty Springfield6 Not While I’m Around from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim, performed by Barbra Streisand7 Make You Feel My Love by Bob Dylan, performed by Adele8 Phantom Thread III, written and performed by Jonny Greenwood Book: a botanical encyclopedia Luxury: a bed with…

Microchips are the brains of modern electronics. Each one is a collection of anywhere from a few hundred to tens of billions of transistors – tiny on-off switches – on a small wafer of silicon. The 1s and 0s of binary code that form the basis of digital computing are conveyed by these on-off switches. All data on computers is stored and processed in this way, so the key to computing power is the number of transistors; Moore’s Law, coined by the chip pioneer Gordon Moore, predicted that the number of transistors on a chip would double every two years. Last year, Samsung started mass-producing three nanometre chips; these pack in 150 million transistors per square millimetre. Today’s business has its origins in the miniaturisation of computing power needed for…

The vain hope that Trump will fade away McKay Coppins The Atlantic I’ve had lots of conversations about Donald Trump with Republican officials lately, says McKay Coppins, and I have noticed a common theme. Almost all of these party figures believe he’s a liability and are desperate for him to depart the political scene. Yet they have no idea what to do about it. They’re just waiting for some deus ex machina to come to their rescue. Some are clinging to the hope that Trump will be brought down by his legal troubles – though most, including his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, reckon Trump could “easily weaponise any criminal charges brought against him”. Others are hoping that his presidential campaign will crash and burn of its own accord, or…

At current trends, new cancer diagnoses will jump by a third by 2040, to exceed 500,000 a year, according to Cancer Research UK. And though survival rates for some cancers have improved, deaths are set to rise by nearly a quarter, from 167,000 a year to 208,000. Much of the rise in cases is due to the ageing population, the charity said, but smoking and obesity levels are still major contributors; around four in ten cancers are believed to be preventable. The charity said that to avoid the NHS being “overwhelmed”, the Government must invest more in preventative measures; ensure cases are diagnosed and treated faster; and recruit more specialist staff. “It takes 15 years to train an oncologist, pathologist, radiologist or surgeon,” said Prof Charles Swanton, its chief clinician.…

If you want a glimpse of the “hidden human cost of this country’s deeply dysfunctional energy market”, said The Times, consider the “abhorrent” practices of British Gas’s debt collectors. “At a time when energy firms are enjoying bumper profits”, bailiffs hired by the British Gas have been forcing their way into people’s homes and installing pay-as-you-go meters with expensive tariffs – so that if a struggling customer can’t afford to pay, they get no power. Those classed as vulnerable are not meant to be forced onto such meters. But a Times undercover investigation into the bailiffs of Arvato Financial Solutions, a debt-collection firm used by British Gas, found that this rule was often being ignored. They fitted meters in the home of a single father of three young children; of…

“I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.”Flannery O’Connor, quoted on The Conversation “The plural of anecdote is not data.”Science writer Ben Goldacre, quoted in The Sunday Times “There is a difference between being resigned to a situation and reconciled to it.”Amor Towles, quoted in The Arizona Republic “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.”Blaise Pascal, quoted on NPR “Experience is what you get when you don’t get what you want.”Randy Pausch, quoted in the Shepparton News (Australia) “Anything that is too stupid to be spoken is sung.”Voltaire, quoted in The Guardian “Boris was an affair the Conservative Party had to have, even though in its heart it knew it would end badly.”’David Cameron, quoted…

To The Daily Telegraph I heard a teacher on the radio protesting that teachers work hugely long hours, often more than 60 per week, while not being paid anywhere near enough. I now see that, in order to earn the standard annual salary, teachers only need to work 1,265 hours a year. I ran my own business for many years, and the standard number of working hours per annum was more than 1,700. Most staff would also work overtime without extra pay. The claims of the National Education Union suggest that it takes us for fools. Quentin Skinner, Warminster, Wiltshire To The Daily Telegraph When I retired as a teacher, most staff I knew were working between 50 and 60 hours a week, and I was working 60. That translates…

by Jonathan Duke-Evans OUP 464pp £35 The Week Bookshop £27.99 (incl. p&p) There’s a common assumption that the concept of “fair play” was “invented, then exalted by a moustachioed brotherhood of upper-class and upper-middle-class Victorian Englishmen”, said Henry Hitchings in The Times. Not quite so, says Jonathan Duke-Evans in this thought-provoking book: both the phrase itself – and the ideas that underlie it – are much older. Such ideas, he suggests, go back as far as the eighth century, as shown by Beowulf’s insistence that he fights “his adversary Grendel on equal terms”. By the 16th century, it was widely used “in discussions of combat, card games and religious controversy”. It was Daniel Defoe who first claimed, in 1705, that an attachment to fair play was an “essentially English characteristic”,…

at Frestonian Gallery This small exhibition, Vision and the Visionary, makes a thoughtful and intriguing pairing of British painters. The first, Bridget Riley, needs little in the way of introduction: a pioneer of op art, she is one of the most important artists to have emerged from this country since the War, her influence stretching beyond the art world. Riley is represented here by a handful of prints which, while marvellous, serve chiefly as a foil to the works on paper fielded by co-exhibitor Luke Elwes (b.1961). The latter, happily, holds his own: based on his observations of light on water near his Essex studio, Elwes’s watercolours are beautiful things, vivid evocations of twilight colour set off against cracks of negative space. If the obvious reference is Monet, there are…

● Wash clothes as little as possible. Of course underwear and sportswear need to be kept properly clean, but other garments can be spot cleaned, or freshened up with a steamer. Fashionistas swear by the £60 handheld model from Steamery.co.uk. It will kill bacteria and leave clothes crease free. ● Always separate colours, darks and lights; don’t overfill the washing machine; and for small and delicate items, use a laundry bag. As well as cutting energy use by 38%, washing at 30°C rather than 40°C is kinder to delicates and will help preserve colours. Tougher stains will need a 40°C wash. ● Go easy on the detergent and softener, as too much can leave a dull, stiff finish. Avoid softener for synthetics. ● If you use a dryer, don’t overfill…

Sylvia Syms 1934-2023 Sylvia Syms, who has died aged 89, was one of the biggest stars of British cinema in the 1950s, and an actress of enormous versatility. In a six-decade-long career, she played everything from the nurse in the classic war film Ice Cold in Alex and a stripper in the beatnik drama Expresso Bongo, to Margaret Thatcher (on stage and on screen) and the Queen Mother. But the role of which she was most proud was in Basil Dearden’s 1961 film Victim, said The Times. Made at a time when homosexual acts in Britain were still a criminal offence, the film is about a married barrister (Dirk Bogarde) whose homosexuality is in danger of being exposed. Then 27, Syms was warned that appearing in the film, as the…

The role of LDIs in Truss’s downfall Patrick Hosking The Times Liz Truss’s claim that she was undermined by Britain’s left-leaning economics establishment “sounds borderline paranoid”, says Patrick Hosking. But the former PM may have a point when she argued that “liability-driven investment” (LDI) in pension funds unleashed the gilt market turmoil that eventually drove her out. It is hard to disentangle this hugely “complicated moment in markets and politics”. Truss, though, is right that the rapid downward plunge was “amplified” by these leveraged funds, which had been increasingly deployed by most traditional pension funds as a “balance-sheet management technique”. When wrongfooted by the rapidly falling market, pension funds scrambled to find cash to meet margin calls, triggering a “terrible self-feeding selling spiral”. The pension regulator was so busy encouraging…

What happened Rishi Sunak unveiled a shake-up of Whitehall this week in the hope of generating faster economic growth. The sprawling business department has been split up, creating three new ministries – Energy Security and Net Zero; Business and Trade; Science, Innovation and Technology – led by Grant Shapps, Kemi Badenoch and Michelle Donelan respectively. Opposition parties said the reorganisation would be a costly distraction, but Sunak said the changes would help the Government deliver on his priorities. Greg Hands was named as Tory chairman, replacing Nadhim Zahawi. Lee Anderson, a former Labour councillor dubbed the “Red Wall Rottweiler” for his outspoken views, will serve as his deputy. There was no change to the position of Dominic Raab, the Deputy PM, who is being investigated over bullying allegations and who…

The Jockey Club has announced it will no longer require racegoers to wear formal dress at its venues. The organisation, which owns 15 racecourses across the UK, including Aintree, said it wanted to make racing more “accessible and inclusive”, and that racegoers should wear whatever makes them feel “comfortable and confident”. The card company Moonpig is hoping to integrate ChatGPT into its website, so that customers can get the chatbot to write loving messages for them, rather than sweat over compositions of their own. When one journalist asked the bot to write a verse for her football-mad boyfriend, it came up with: “Soccer is love, and you’re the one / Who makes my heart beat as fast as a goal is won.”…

Tens of thousands of nurses and ambulance staff walked out on Monday, in what was described as the biggest strike in the history of the NHS. The nurses, from 73 NHS trusts across England, walked out again on Tuesday, as part of their dispute over pay. NHS physiotherapists in England were due to strike on Thursday, and ambulance staff were poised to walk out again on Friday. The action was predicted to lead to the postponement of 50,000 appointments, visits or operations. Unions in Wales suspended their strikes when ministers offered NHS workers an extra 3% pay rise. Separately, staff at 150 universities across the UK were due to strike on Thursday and Friday.…

Washington DC Warning to China: President Biden used his annual state of the union address on Tuesday to deliver a stark warning to Beijing that the US is in a strong position to compete with China, and to defend its own interests. Referring to the shooting down of the Chinese weather balloon (see page 19), he said: “Make no mistake: as we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country.” Biden also made reference to the war in Ukraine, vowing that the US would stand with Kyiv for “as long as it takes”. Most of the rest of the speech, however, was concentrated on the domestic issues likely to be preoccupying the electorate as the US heads towards its next presidential election…

“Since the late 20th century, upper-middle-class taste has been getting more democratic and ‘relatable’. But at the same time, food culture has been getting more absurd and more pretentious. Noma in Copenhagen boasts of its ‘devout creativity’ and ‘pursuit of knowledge’. Muse in Mayfair once offered guests a ‘gastronomic autobiography’ in place of a menu. I’m amazed by the way plain-spoken, sturdily meritocratic friends – who wouldn’t be seen dead at the opera – can launch into vaporous ecstasies over a flan. TV producers are allergic to ‘elitism’, but the public hungers for instruction in comically esoteric cookery.” James Marriott in The Times…

The human condition isn’t a medical issue Dominic Lawson The Sunday Times Do you suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? According to the comedian Johnny Vegas, who was recently diagnosed with the neurological condition, “everybody” has it to some extent, says Dominic Lawson. Other celebrities to have recently outed themselves as sufferers include Sue Perkins, Ant McPartlin and Rory Bremner. Once defined as a childhood condition affecting mostly boys who’d “once have been written off as naughty, inattentive and disruptive”, it’s now seen as a clinical malaise affecting adults too, and requiring stimulant drugs such as Ritalin to cope with it. People everywhere are queuing up to be diagnosed. But the evidence suggests we are pathologising behaviour that in many cases is just part of the human condition. One…

The shifting “Goldilocks zone” In the search for signs of extraterrestrial life, astronomers have honed in on planets which, like Earth, orbit in a “Goldilocks zone” around their star – where conditions are neither too hot, nor too cold, for water to exist on their surface. On this basis, it has been suggested that there are at least 300 million habitable planets in our galaxy alone. But according to researchers at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland, this figure is likely to be a vast overestimate. This is because it assumes that all Goldilocks zones are stable, when in fact they are not: they can shift as the star brightens or dims, meaning that planets can fall in and out of them. Now scientists think that between a third…

Baz Luhrmann works very hard, but he does seem to have a lot of help. Talking to The Sunday Times, the Australian film director revealed that from the moment he gets up in the morning, he can count on his “team” for support. “When it’s wake-up time, I jump out of bed and force myself to do a plank and perhaps three other exercises, while one of my team is talking to me,” he explained. “I have an incredibly highly trained team, so even when I’m still in bed in my pyjamas, I’ll have people helping me.” All this “might sound extreme”, he admitted – “but it’s all I’ve ever known”. A 40-year-old digger driver has identified herself as the woman who took Prince Harry’s virginity. In his memoir Spare,…

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s… a balloon?” There was great outrage in the US last week, said Michael Mazza in the New York Post, when a Chinese airship was spotted slowly wending its way across the country and hovering over a nuclear missile base in Montana. Not since the Soviet Union launched its Sputnik satellite in 1957 have so many eyes been cast skyward. For many Americans, it was “the first tangible experience of rivalry with China” – “a visible, brazen violation of American sovereignty right over the American heartland”. Beijing insisted that it was just a “civilian weather airship” that had been blown off course, but US officials gave that explanation short shrift. On Saturday, an F-22 fighter jet shot down the balloon off the coast of…

England’s Six Nations opener against Scotland at Twickenham last Saturday marked the “first outing of the Steve Borthwick era”, said Robert Kitson in The Observer. And signs were there that England’s new head coach – who took over from the sacked Eddie Jones in December – is moving his team in the right direction. England “moved the ball more enthusiastically” than they have for some time, and their scrum, for the most part, was unusually solid. When they opened up a 20-12 lead early in the second half, the match looked to be heading England’s way. But from that point on, Gregor Townsend’s side rallied magnificently, said Stephen Jones in The Sunday Times. Tries from Ben White and the superb Duhan van der Merwe – together with a penalty from…

Football Leeds have sacked Jesse Marsch as manager. The American took over 11 months ago, succeeding Marcelo Bielsa. Leeds last won a Premier League game on 5 November, and are currently 17th in the table. Rugby union Ireland are top of the Six Nations, after beating Wales 34-10 in their opening match. France beat Italy 29-24. Tennis An assault charge against Nick Kyrgios has been thrown out by a magistrate in Australia, after the world No. 20 admitted he had pushed over his former girlfriend during an argument in 2021.…

by Salman Rushdie Cape 352pp £22 The Week Bookshop £17.99 Since Salman Rushdie moved to the US in 2000, his novels have fallen into two camps, said Hadley Freeman in The Sunday Times. Some (Fury, Quichotte) have been “satirical takes on modern America”; the others (such as Shalimar the Clown) have been “lyrical narratives about his native India”. Rushdie’s new novel, Victory City – his first to be published since the “brutal attack” last August that left him blind in one eye – belongs in that second group. A historical fantasy set in medieval India, it purports to be a modern translation of an epic autobiographical poem, written by a demigod named Pampa Kampana. Although packed with death and destruction, it comes across as “one of Rushdie’s most joyful” novels.…

This new production of The Tempest, starring Alex Kingston as Prospero, is “one of the most confident, complete evenings Stratford has offered in ages”, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Director Elizabeth Freestone’s animating conceit is that the storm-wracked island has been engulfed by the litter that has washed up on its shores – foregrounding the play’s underlying themes of mercantilism and colonialism. The set has been created from “theatrical cast-offs and recycled junk” – yet the design features moments of “spellbinding beauty”, including several “coups de théâtre revealing Edenic vistas of unspoilt verdancy”. From the spot-on lighting to the inventive sound and movement, this production is “artistically water-tight” and thoroughly engaging. Kingston, who made her name at the RSC 30 years ago, gives a “magnificent, revelatory” performance, said…

Nearly four decades after the death of Noele Gordon, the soap star’s “pioneering achievements” are all but forgotten, said Christopher Stevens in the Daily Mail. But Nolly, which was written by Russell T. Davies (and which can be seen on ITVX), “aims to bring her back to the fore – and castigate the chauvinistic male TV establishment that cancelled her for the crime of being female and forceful”. Gordon is played by Helena Bonham Carter sporting “a mink coat that reeks of gin and ciggies, and an auburn hairdo that could scrub pans”. The drama focuses on 1981, when she was sacked from Crossroads, then one of the most popular British programmes ever made, after 17 years in the role. Davies clearly has a huge affection for the TV of…

Alice tries to connect with Ruairi by reading Jennifer’s journal, but he pushes her away when she asks about Julianne. Tony and Pat try to clear the air with Lilian, who’s still raw about being kept ignorant of Jennifer’s condition. Lee talks to Pat about his daughters. Justin struggles to cheer up Lilian, who is appalled that he’s asked James, Leonie and Mungo to stay. Ruairi announces he’s returning to London early and tells Brian that neither of them deserved Jenny. Harrison calls on Adam’s help when Brian trespasses at Home Farm house and won’t leave. Natasha and Tom get excited when a modelling scout approaches them about the twins. Lilian lets off steam to Lynda, who reminds her how supportive she was after the explosion. Following an afternoon with…

Clay-pot rice dishes have been a feature of Chinese cooking for more than 2,000 years. A classic combination that should be on everyone’s hit list is this Cantonese black bean pork ribs rice pot, says Kwoklyn Wan. The rice gets its rich flavour from the marinated ribs on the top, while the meat should slide off the bone after time well spent on the marinating and tenderising processes. Serves 2 Equipment needed: clay pot or large saucepan 350-400g pork ribs, cut into 2.5cm pieces 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp white rice vinegar 180g Thai fragrant rice (or long-grain rice) 1 red bird’s-eye chilli, deseeded and finely sliced 2 spring onions, finely sliced For the marinade: 2 tbsp fermented black beans 3 garlic cloves, minced 1 tbsp oyster sauce 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine (Shaoxing…

Haines Collection is a platform for the resale at discounted prices of unwanted textiles, wallpapers and other decorative goods (hainescollection.co.uk). Colours of Arley uses plastic bottles diverted from landfill to make attractive striped fabric to order (coloursofarley.com). Blake & Bull re-enamels and refurbishes old Aga ranges; it also converts gas models to electric (blakeandbull.co.uk). Vinterior is the place to start looking for vintage furniture. An online marketplace, it has thousands of pieces, from wardrobes to cocktail trolleys (vinterior.co). Scaramanga sources antique and vintage goods from all over the world and restores or upcycles them. You will find everything from stools, mirrors and cupboards to old post boxes (scaramangashop.co.uk). Barker and Stonehouse sells recyclable mattresses and sofas, and furniture made from reclaimed wood (barkerand stonehouse.co.uk/sustainable-collection). SOURCES: THE INDEPENDENT/EVENING STANDARD…

Cherry blossom season in Japan The arrival of cherry blossom is a major event in Japan, says Kate Crockett in The Mail on Sunday. And for the first time in three years, foreign visitors can now travel to the country to witness it. The best place to see Somei Yoshino cherry trees bloom is in Kyoto, but the display doesn’t last long: according to Japan’s Meteorological Corporation, “cherry blossom fever” will start on about 27 or 28 March, and peak on 5 April. For a luxurious trip, you could travel with the company Scott Dunn, which has a 12-night “Japan in Spring” itinerary (costing from £13,800 per person). If you can’t get that organised in time, consider visiting in autumn. “Leaf-peeping” season, or “koyo season”, as it’s known, is celebrated…

Kit Hesketh-Harvey 1957-2023 Kit Hesketh-Harvey, who has died aged 65, wrote the screenplay for Maurice, the Merchant Ivory film that launched Hugh Grant’s career. He also wrote librettos, stage musicals, TV sitcoms and novels, and appeared on radio panel shows. But he was perhaps best known for Kit and The Widow, said The Times, a camply comic cabaret act in the spirit of Tom Lehrer and Flanders and Swann, in which he sang witty, “brilliantly crafted” songs accompanied by Richard Sisson on the piano. Its success took the duo from the Edinburgh Fringe to the West End to private shows in grand houses. Prince Charles was among the act’s many fans. Christopher John Hesketh-Harvey was born in 1957 in what is now Malawi (then Nyasaland), where his father was district…

The New York hedge fund Hindenburg Research, named after the doomed German airship, was founded by Nathan Anderson in 2017 “to hunt for impending corporate disasters and then hold a torch to them”, said The Economist. Boy, did it achieve a big bang with Adani, India’s leading industrial conglomerate. Within ten days of “the Adanirattler” getting into action, share losses at the group had exceeded $100bn, forcing it to abandon a $2.4bn share sale. And ripples from the crisis had begun spreading globally. In London, Lord (Jo) Johnson, brother of the former PM, resigned from the board of Elara Capital – an investment bank accused by Hindenburg of “using Mauritius-based funds to manipulate the share price of Adani-linked companies and obscure their ultimate ownership”, said Rupert Neate in The Guardian.…

Chris O’Shea The hoodie-wearing Centrica boss is rarely “short of quote”, said Charlotte Wace in The Times – ideally one that can be emblazoned across his chest to boost his “everyman credentials”. But cosy platitudes such as “Make Tea Not War” sit uneasily with revelations that British Gas hired debt agents to force their way into the homes of its most vulnerable customers. O’Shea, 49, an accountant from Fife, has rarely missed an opportunity “to appear humble” since becoming CEO of Centrica in 2020. Unsurprisingly, he is now effusive in his contrition. “I am really, really sorry,” he told Sky News. It may take more than that to restore public trust. Still, there are consolations. Centrica shares dived when the scandal broke last week – but are still up by…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1349 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 20 February. Send it to The Week Crossword 1349, 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 8 Much less rent with what sounds like an advance (3,5) 9 Standard length opera coming first (6) 10 Game Dad gets fish on choppy sea (5-5) 11 Opinion that is found in car company (4) 12 Very likely to have unusual issue (4-2) 14…

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Two Neolithic monuments in Yorkshire known as the “Stonehenge of the North” have been given to the nation. The Thornborough Henges complex near Ripon, which dates back to around 2,500BC to 3,500BC, is made up of three large earth circles that are four metres high and 200 metres across. Two of the three henges have now been given by the construction firm Tarmac into the care of Historic England, so that they can be properly conserved, and visited for free by the public. A rare sea eagle has returned to the Isle of Wight after spending two years flying 10,000 miles around Europe. Sea eagles, whose wing span can stretch to more than two metres, were once a common sight in the UK but went extinct about a century ago.…

Black Sabbath, with news that Birmingham Royal Ballet, under the direction of Carlos Acosta, is to stage a new ballet about the heavy metal band. It will feature eight tracks by Black Sabbath, whom Acosta described as “probably Birmingham’s biggest export”, plus new music. Fawlty Towers fans, who learnt that the classic sitcom is being reworked for a new series. John Cleese, 83, has apparently agreed to write and star in it, alongside his daughter Camilla. BP, which announced that its annual profits had more than doubled, to £23bn, in 2022, thanks in part to a sharp rise in the gas price linked to the war in Ukraine. Shell had earlier announced record annual profits of £32bn (see page 36).…

54% of British adults believe the Church of England should perform same-sex weddings. 55% think that gay priests should be able to get married. Among Anglican respondents, 46% back gay marriage in church, and 51% think gay priests should be allowed to marry. The Times/YouGov In a poll taken in August 2022, 32% of 18- to 24-year-olds said getting a degree was a “waste of time”, up from 27% a year earlier. Hepi/The Daily Telegraph Nicola Sturgeon’s approval rating has dropped to -4, its lowest level since she became leader in 2014, and down from +7 in October. Support for the SNP in the next Scottish election stands at 44%, down from 50% in December. The Sunday Times/YouGov…

Michael Rosen’s grief In 1999, Michael Rosen’s 18-year-old son Eddie died suddenly of meningitis at their home in London. Eddie had gone to bed with a headache; the next morning, Rosen went to check on him, and found him cold and unmoving. In a new memoir, he recalls that at that moment, he both knew, and didn’t know, that Eddie was gone. Then the paramedics came, and confirmed it; Rosen still remembers the sound of the body bag being zipped closed. Not long after, he and Eddie’s mother went to Paris to get away, and visiting Montparnasse cemetery, they fell into conversation with a woman who was crying at her son’s grave. He’d died ten years earlier. “It was an incredible moment,” he told Alex Moshakis in The Observer. “On…

A waste collection company in Brighton has been told by lawyers from The Lord of the Rings franchise to change its name and slogan. The Lord of the Bins, which collects waste across Sussex, uses the slogan “One ring to remove it all” to attract customers, but was sent a cease-and-desist notice by Middle-earth Enterprises. “They claim customers could think [we] were endorsed by or affiliated to Lord of the Rings,” said Nick Lockwood, who runs the company. “But anyone in their right mind knows we’re a completely separate and non-competitive business.” A Ugandan man who has 102 children and 578 grandchildren has asked his wives to start using contraception, as he can no longer afford to clothe and feed all his descendants. Musa Hasahya Kasera, 68, got married and…

RUSSIA Sport must not turn a blind eye to terror NTV (Cologne) What extraordinarily bad timing, says Tobias Nordmann. Just as Russia’s “war of aggression” against Ukraine is showing signs of gaining momentum, the “highest authority in world sport” has extended an olive branch to Moscow. When Russia launched its invasion, its athletes were banned from most international sports. Yet now, the International Olympic Committee’s German president, Thomas Bach, lamenting how much they’d be missed if they didn’t compete, says Russian athletes should be allowed to compete at next year’s Paris Games as neutrals. Can he be serious? Many Russian athletes are employed by the army, in effect making them “ambassadors for a murderous regime”. Besides, sport and politics always overlap: witness the decision of Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak to…

Since being wiped out in the 17th century, the dodo has become the poster bird for extinction: you can’t get deader than a dodo. But now the venture capital funded “de-extinction” company Colossal Biosciences says it plans to bring the bird, or something very like it, back to life. In 2002, scientists obtained a snippet of dodo mitochondrial DNA, which revealed that the bird’s closest living relative is the Nicobar pigeon. Since then, the same team has reconstructed the dodo’s entire genome. Now, by comparing this to the pigeon’s genome, they hope to work out which genetic sequences “make a dodo a dodo”, and edit these into pigeon cells. The pigeon DNA will then be progressively tweaked, until it resembles that of a dodo. Using this to create a dodo…

If anyone was celebrating Brexit’s third anniversary last week, they were doing it jolly quietly, said Brian Reade in the Daily Mirror. “Where was the bonging of Big Ben and pealing of church bells”, to mark “our glorious escape from those evil EU slavemasters”? Perhaps the “stony silence” from the Brexiters was unsurprising, given that the IMF thinks the UK will perform worse than any other big economy this year. Since “freedom day”, trade with the EU has slumped by around 20%. Bloomberg Economics recently estimated that withdrawal from the EU has reduced the size of the UK economy by 4%, costing us £100bn a year. “As for taking back control of our borders, how’s that going? Asking for a friend in Dover.” Brexit is destined to join Suez and…

Before Christmas, I watched the people next door knock a big hole in their wall, said Katie Gatens in The Times. Extension? DIY repair gone wrong? “Then a metal flue went up.” The neighbours had become one of the 175,000 households that install woodburning stoves each year – five times more than in 2007. Cosy and nostalgic, these stoves have become a “totem of suburban middle-class privilege”. But to some, they have also become a source of intense shame. Last year, the “vocal vegan” George Monbiot published an “astonishing mea culpa” in The Guardian, confessing that at his home in Wales, he had not one but three stoves. He had installed them thinking they were a greener alternative to gas heating, but had then discovered that wood-and coal-burning stoves are…

Spurs went into their home match against Manchester City “desperate for something to spark their season”, said David Hytner in The Guardian. Fifth in the Premier League table, Antonio Conte’s side had given fans little to cheer in recent months. But on Sunday, all that changed with a morale-boosting 1-0 victory against Pep Guardiola’s “curiously off-colour” City. The difference between the two teams was Harry Kane, whose 15th-minute strike took him past the long-standing goal-scoring record for Tottenham held by Jimmy Greaves. Kane’s goal for Spurs was one Arsenal also relished. It meant that the Gunners – after their shock loss to Everton the previous day – would still have a five-point lead over City at the top of the Premier League. For Man City, this was the latest in…

Emissions inequality To the Financial Times We must be glad that the FT carried the news of the UN report on global emissions based on the work of Thomas Piketty (“Top emitters create nearly half greenhouse gas”). It’s just perhaps a surprise that such a significant report did not hit the front page. That almost half of global greenhouse gas is produced by just 10% of the world’s population was only outclassed as an astonishing fact by the subsequent statistic – that between 1990 and 2019, a mere 1% were apparently responsible for nearly a quarter of the total growth in pollution. These of course being the very years when growing economic inequality became so obvious. The possibly heartening – or perhaps also disturbing – conclusion must be that the…

by Nigel Biggar William Collins 480pp £25 The Week Bookshop £19.99 Many people today see the British empire as an “exploitative, racist project akin to the Third Reich”, said Tim Stanley in The Daily Telegraph. In his new book, the Oxford moral philosopher Nigel Biggar begs to differ: the empire, he admits, was terrible in some respects, but that shouldn’t stop us from also recognising that it did good. While critics lament the fact that “our ancestors plundered”, Biggar points out that they also “laid railways and built schools”, and improved medical care. Yes, the arrival of British rule and Christianity eroded local cultures, but it also meant a “war” on practices such as widow burning in India or female genital mutilation in Africa. On slavery – perhaps the most…

Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, 1938 (Penguin £9.99). The funniest and truest novel about journalism. The hapless Boot, Lord Copper of the Daily Beast, the roguish Sir Jocelyn Hitchcock, star of the Daily Brute – we reporters have known real-life versions of them all, and drunk with them at the bar of Ishmaelia’s Liberty Hotel. And we have all tried to deflect a foolish boss with some variant of “Up to a point, Lord Copper”. Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable by E. Cobham Brewer, 1870 (Chambers £35). Everything is so easy to look up online now, my once-treasured reference books lie unconsulted. I miss the serendipitous discoveries they offer. Look up “cabinet minister” in Brewer (“these ministers are permitted to consult the Sovereign in the private cabinet of the palace”)…

Programmes Bettany Hughes’ Treasures of the World: Eastern Turkey In a new series, the historian visits archaeological sites that reveal the story of human civilisation through ordinary lives. Her first stop is the cave cities of Cappadocia. Sat 11 Feb, C4 19:00 (60mins). The Gold Hugh Bonneville and Dominic Cooper star in this drama about the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery and the police task force on the trail of the gold bullion. Sun 12 Feb, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Inside Our Autistic Minds Chris Packham helps other people with autism make short films that they hope will help their family and friends understand them better. Tue 14 Feb, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Storyville: The Spy in Your Mobile Documentary about Pegasus, the notorious spyware that has been sold to governments around the world.…

Greek islands cruise Slip away for some sunshine on a 7-night adventure that takes in Corfu and Mykonos. From £817pp full-board (incl. London flights); ref. Z.XRZM. 0808-239 2522, cruise118.com. Depart 14 May. Rome and Florence break A 4-night trip that takes in the ancient splendour of the Colosseum and masterpieces of Renaissance art. From £329pp b&b (incl. Bristol flights). 020-8511 1705, deluxebreaks.co. uk. Depart 9 July. Seven nights of luxury Stay at the beachfront Litore Resort Hotel & Spa, on the Turkish coast, from £449pp all-inclusive (incl. Birmingham flights). 020-8051 0956, orbistravels.co.uk. Depart 22 April. Caribbean boutique escape Seeking silky sands and a long stretch of turquoise shores? Then stay 7 nights at the 4-star Orient Beach Hotel on Saint Martin. From £1,452pp b&b (excl. flights). 020-3024 8211, expedia.co.uk. Arrive…

Britishvolt: back from the dead? Less than a fortnight after the collapse of Britishvolt, a buyer has been lined up for the UK’s great battery hope, said Leah Montebello in the Daily Mail. The Australian group Recharge Industries has been selected by administrator EY as the preferred bidder, beating three other offers submitted last week. The deal – supported by cricket legend Lord (Ian) Botham in his role as a UK-Australia trade envoy – “revives hopes” that the £3.8bn gigafactory Britishvolt planned near Blyth in Northumberland will go ahead. “Home-grown battery power is essential to the future of Britain’s car industry,” said Alistair Osborne in The Times. But is Recharge up to the job? True, the Aussie start-up, which is backed by the New York investment outfit Scale Facilitation, has…

The Chancellor and Governor of the Bank of England joined forces this week to reveal “a roadmap” for the creation of a new central bank digital currency (CBDC) in Britain – dubbed “Britcoin” – which could enter circulation by the end of the decade, said Szu Ping Chan in The Daily Telegraph. The final decision on whether to go ahead with the multibillion-pound project won’t be taken until at least 2025. Officials stressed that any official digital currency would sit alongside cash and be worth the same as its banknote equivalent. “Unlike other digital currencies such as bitcoin, it would also be risk-free.” Eleven countries, including China, have already introduced online currencies, said Rebecca Christie on Reuters Breakingviews, and the European Central Bank will decide this year “whether to move…