Innholdsfortegnelse for 1442 i The Week

Lima, after a restaurant in the Peruvian capital was voted the best in the world. Central – which promises to take diners through “15 different Peruvian ecosystems, categorised by altitude” – is the first restaurant in South America to top the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list. South Koreans, who became a year or two younger owing to the scrapping of a centuries-old system that deemed them to be one at birth, and to turn two on 1 January. This “Korean age” system meant that a baby born on 31 December would become two the next day. A separate system, in which people were zero at birth, and turned one on 1 January, has also been abolished. Elton John, who became, at 76, the most-watched Glastonbury headliner in the history of…

Just 18% of adults in the UK who voted Leave in the 2016 referendum believe Brexit has turned out well or very well. 30% believe it’s gone neither well nor badly; 22% say it’s turned out badly or very badly; 26% think it’s still too soon to say. Among Leave voters who believe Brexit hasn’t gone well, 70% think it could have gone well, and nearly half think that politicians could have made it work, but didn’t try. 72% of Leave voters would vote the same way if another referendum were held today. UK in a Changing Europe/Public First Nearly one in four parents with assets of £250,000 or more are helping to pay their adult children’s mortgages. 20% are helping with rent payments. Saltus Wealth…

The great Appalachian novel Barbara Kingsolver is a titan of US literature; and her latest book, a bold reworking of David Copperfield, set in her own home state of Virginia in the 1990s, is “the defining novel” of her career. She had, she told Lisa Allardice in The Guardian, always wanted to write the “great Appalachian novel”, a story about poverty, neglect and the devastating impact of the opioid crisis on communities that had already endured generations of industrial exploitation. But she had no idea how to make it a book that anyone would read; eventually, she found her inspiration – not in America, but in Broadstairs, in Kent. Intrigued by an ad for Bleak House B&B, she had checked in for a break at the end of a UK…

An Italian teacher who avoided work for 20 years has finally been sacked. Cinzia Paolina De Lio was employed to teach literature and philosophy at a secondary school near Venice, but used sick leave, holiday allowances and other means to ensure that she taught for only four years of her 24-year career. When she did show up, pupils reported that she was unprepared for lessons, sent text messages while conducting oral exams, and awarded grades in a random fashion. Her dismissal was upheld by the supreme court this month, which described her as “permanently and absolutely unsuitable” for the job. When contacted for comment, she responded: “Sorry, I’m now at the beach.” A seven-year-old Chinese crested has been crowned the world’s ugliest dog. Scooter, who suffers from birth defects, has…

FRANCE Macron’s bully boy reaction to climate protest Libération (Paris) I’m starting to think Emmanuel Macron actually likes conflict with the public, says Alexandra Schwartzbrod. Just as the social crisis caused by his pension reforms was starting to die down, he has picked another fight – this time with environmentalists. Last week his government announced that it will be forcing the dissolution of Les Soulèvements de la Terre (Earth Uprisings), an umbrella group of environmental campaign collectives. The pretext for doing so was an ill-tempered demonstration in Sainte-Soline, western France, against plans for a new reservoir, which the protesters claim would harm the ecosystem and benefit agribusiness at the expense of small farmers. Undoubtedly the protest got out of hand – about 30 police officers were injured and two activists…

Elon Musk (pictured) seemed to challenge Mark Zuckerberg to a cage fight last week – and it looks as though the two billionaires could indeed end up grappling in a ring. Odds are in Zuckerberg’s favour: he is 12 years younger than Musk, and in famously good shape. But Musk’s father Errol has warned that there is no good outcome for his son. “If Elon beats this guy, Elon will be called a bully, being so much heavier and taller, while if he loses the humiliation would be total,” he lamented. Theresa May famously ran through a wheat field. Now it turns out that Keir Starmer also has a rule-breaking past. An old friend from his university days, John Murray, has revealed that during one of their summer holidays years…

“When the past no longer illuminates the future, the spirit walks in darkness.”Alexis de Tocqueville, quoted in The Guardian “Russian Army: 2021, second best in the world; 2022, second best in Ukraine; 2023, second best in Russia.”Ukrainian designer Oleh Postyrnak, quoted on Radio Free Europe “Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assault of thoughts on the unthinking.”John Maynard Keynes, quoted in The New Statesman “In all affairs, it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.”Bertrand Russell, quoted on KQED “I feel these days like a very large flamingo. No matter what way I turn, there is always a very large bill.”Joseph O’Connor, quoted in The San Francisco Chronicle “Failure is not the…

Tennis Carlos Alcaraz won the title at Queen’s, beating Australia’s Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4 in the final. It was the 20-year-old’s first grass court title, and returns him to the top of the men’s rankings. Cricket The Ashes between England and Australia – the first five-day women’s Test – was won by Australia by 89 runs. England’s men drafted in 18-year-old spinner Rehan Ahmed to their squad for the Second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Football German midfielder İlkay Gündoğan – Pep Guardiola’s first signing at Manchester City – has joined Barcelona on a free transfer.…

Asteroid City A star-studded play within a documentary within a film Dir: Wes Anderson 1hr 45mins (12A) Nearly three decades into his career, Wes Anderson is “trendier than ever”, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. Social media is awash with parodies of, and tributes to, the pastel colours, symmetrical framing and deadpan whimsy found in his films, which include The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel. “So it’s rather lovely – and exciting” – that the director is back, as “completely inimitable” as ever, with what may be “his oddest and most conceptually complex film to date”. Asteroid City is set in an imaginary Arizona town in the 1950s, where a range of characters (played by such big-name stars as Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton…

Gustav Klimt’s final portrait was sold at auction in London on Tuesday, says Kelly Grovier on BBC News. Dame mit Fächer (Lady with a Fan), 1917-18, was “still sitting on the artist’s easel” when Klimt died aged 55 from pneumonia in February 1918, after contracting the Spanish flu. A month before that, he had suffered a stroke that had left him paralysed and unable to paint. “Different in texture and tone” from his better-known masterpieces of a decade earlier, such as The Kiss, Lady with a Fan is an “exquisitely enchanting” work, a “wonder of interweaving patterns and mingled rhythms”. The identity of the woman depicted is unknown. It is among the very few portraits by Klimt to be owned privately. The painting was last sold in 1994, for $11.6m…

Lee is anxious about the possible consequences of Rob’s accusations – what if he loses his job or can’t visit his daughters in the US? Tony and Pat are horrified when Helen tells them she saw Rob, but she angrily defends her decision. Back at work, Stella interferes with Kate’s solstice plans at Spiritual Home and is off-hand with Adam. Harrison considers a career change, to Fallon’s alarm. Lee is frosty with Tom, blaming him for the mess they’re all now in. Hearing about their encounter, Kirsty makes Helen promise not to contact Rob again. Sparks fly when Kate lights a solstice fire against Stella’s orders; Stella then turns on Adam. Following a chat with Lynda, Fallon concedes that Harrison should be happy, and they’ll make any change work. After…

SOURCE: EVENING STANDARD…

Two nights in Warwickshire Escape to the countryside and indulge in dinner with prosecco when you stay at The Belfry Hotel & Resort. From £129pp b&b (promo code DBBPRO). 01675-238600, thebelfry.com. Arrive 13 August. South of France holiday Spend 7 nights in Villa Fleur, a modern 3-bed house in Montelimar sleeping six people with gardens, terrace and pool. From £172pp (excl. flights). 0800-074 0122, jamesvillas.co.uk. Arrive 26 August. Cornish coastal hideout Stay 2 nights at Hotel Meudon, near Falmouth, and unwind in total seclusion with access to subtropical gardens and a private beach. From £189pp b&b. 01326-250541, meudon.co.uk. Arrive 11 September. Dominican Republic stay The Casa de Campo Resort & Villas offers both exclusivity and luxury, and a private beach. 7 nights from £742pp room-only (excl. flights). 0344-493 0787, britishairways.com.…

HSBC: Canary call HSBC staff nicknamed the bank’s skyscraper at 8 Canada Square the “tower of doom”, said Riya Makwana in The Daily Telegraph. They won’t have to suffer it much longer. In a blow to Canary Wharf, Britain’s largest bank is heading back to the Square Mile when its lease runs out in 2027. The new HQ will be a much smaller building near St Paul’s that once housed BT. The move has “triggered all kinds of theories”, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. “A victory for homeworking bankers? A stepping stone to the relocation of HSBC’s headquarters to Hong Kong? Proof that Canary Wharf’s days as a financial centre are numbered?” For now, the explanation is more humdrum. The bank is bent on reducing office space globally by…

The growing stink at Thames Water Oliver Gill The Daily Telegraph Nationalise the water companies? It would be a radical step. But that outcome might be inescapable at Thames Water, which supplies one in four UK households, says Oliver Gill. The utility’s parlous financial situation has been brought into focus by the sudden resignation of CEO Sarah Bentley less than halfway through her turnaround plan. The company is racing to raise £1bn from investors, including China’s state-owned sovereign wealth fund, as it battles to pay down a £14bn debt pile. If that fails, an “emergency nationalisation” is on the cards. Ministers and the regulator, Ofwat, are already in discussions about placing Thames into a special administration regime. Its troubles stem from “years of underinvestment” since privatisation. Thames’s previous owner, the…

Tory ministers have a long record of making rather callous statements about the economy, said Paul Waugh in The i Paper. Norman Lamont famously claimed that unemployment was “a price well worth paying” to beat inflation. On the same theme, John Major declared that “if it isn’t hurting, it isn’t working”. In the wake of the Bank of England’s decision to hike interest rates by half a point to 5% last week – heaping financial pain on mortgage holders – Rishi Sunak reached instead for an “earnest and soothing” tone. “It is going to be OK and we are going to get through this,” he told workers at an Ikea warehouse. The PM, who has made halving inflation by the end of the year one of his “key pledges”, reassured…

Budget UK travel, after the Youth Hostel Association put a third of its 60 properties on the market. Many will continue to be run as hostels, but some are likely to be turned into private homes. Irritable parents, with news that Hasbro is relaunching the Furby – the chatterbox furry toy that was a massive hit in the late 1990s. However, the new model has one major improvement: an off switch. Original Furbies could not be shut off, and were prone to “wake up” and start chatting in the middle of the night.…

Dachi, Ukraine Bloody slog: Three weeks into Kyiv’s counteroffensive, there have been further reports of small territorial gains by its forces as they continue to probe for weak points in Russian defences along the war’s 600-mile front line in southern and eastern Ukraine. Pro-Kremlin bloggers said that Ukrainian troops had crossed the Dnipro River and established a small bridgehead – paving the way for a possible advance towards Crimea. Ukrainian officials also said that they had for the first time retaken territory lost to Russia in 2014, capturing several Russian positions near Donetsk. But Moscow’s forces have been dug in for months, and the going remains extremely tough for Ukrainian troops, with miles of heavily mined, open territory still to cross before they reach Russia’s main defensive positions. At least…

1 Morning Has Broken (Trad.), additional music by Rick Wakeman, lyrics by Eleanor Farjeon, arranged and performed by Cat Stevens2 These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ by Lee Hazlewood, performed by Nancy Sinatra3 Station to Station, written and performed by David Bowie4 Walls Come Tumbling Down! by Paul Weller, performed by The Style Council5 I Will Survive by Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren, performed by Gloria Gaynor6* Piano Concerto in G Major, M. 83 by Maurice Ravel, performed by Martha Argerich and the LSO, conducted by Claudio Abbado7 Dancing Queen by Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus and Stig Anderson, performed by Abba8 La chanson des vieux amants, written and performed by Jacques Brel Book: Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot Luxury: a jukebox * Choice if allowed only one record…

There have been Barbie TV shows since the 1980s, and animated feature films since the beginning of this century. However, the new film promises to be something of a step-change in the doll’s media profile. It is directed by the Oscar-nominated arthouse director Greta Gerwig, and the leads are played by two of Hollywood’s biggest stars – Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. It’s a live-action comedy: after being expelled from Barbieland for being less than perfect, Barbie and Ken set off to the real world to find true happiness. The set, featuring Barbie and her friends’ Dreamhouses, was built at the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, Watford, and was drenched in so much pink that it caused an international run on a fluorescent shade of paint made by Rosco. “The…

Juneteenth isn’t for everyone Ernest Owens The Daily Beast It’s upsetting to watch something very personal to your life being “ruined on the national stage”, says Ernest Owens. That has been my experience with “Juneteenth”, the annual commemoration of the emancipation – on 19 June 1865, in Galveston, Texas – of the last enslaved African Americans. Growing up in Texas, it was a big part of my youth. I remember watching the parade down at Galveston Beach, the delicious barbecues, the flags, the gallons of signature red soda. It was “our Fourth of July – a celebration which reminded me that the South still had something to say, and that black people didn’t have to wait for the validation of our white peers to gather around our history”. But since…

Five-year-olds in Britain are significantly shorter than their peers in many other European countries including Bulgaria, Lithuania and the Netherlands, a study has found. The average boy of five in Britain is 112.5cm tall, and the average girl 111.7cm; in Bulgaria, average height for a boy of five is 121cm while for a girl it is 118cm. Overall, British children came 102nd (for boys) and 96th (for girls) in the list of 200 countries – down from 69th in 1985, when both boys and girls were about 111cm tall, on average. “They have fallen by 30 places, which is pretty startling,” said Prof Tim Cole, of the Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. “The question is why?” Cole (who was not involved in the study) said that illness, infection,…

Seventy-five years ago last week, a weathered five-deck troopship tied up at Tilbury docks in Essex, said Henghameh Saroukhani on The Conversation. It was a ship with a “complicated and disturbing” history: it had previously served as a German vessel of war, and had been used for fascist propaganda and to transport Jewish Norwegians to Auschwitz. But it was the journey that ended on 22 June 1948 that came to define the HMT Empire Windrush. More than 800 passengers from the Caribbean disembarked from it that day, many to begin new lives in the UK. Among them was the Trinidadian calypso singer Lord Kitchener – real name Aldwyn Roberts – who treated waiting journalists to an impromptu recital of his now legendary song, London Is the Place for Me, which…

Some comparisons… To The Times While I agree with most of Janice Turner’s column (“Respect risk-takers who have to scratch the itch”), she writes: “It is appalling the world’s attention is held by a few drowned rich men, not hundreds of poor lost in the Ionian Sea.” However, as with the Thai cave boys or the Chilean miners, it’s people stuck with time running out that is the compelling story. Thus comparisons with the migrant boat tragedy are misguided. There was no countdown. By the time most people had heard of it the migrants were already sadly dead. The callousness of officials is a different story. Conrad Truedson, Eugene, Oregon …don’t add up To The Sunday Times I agree with the thrust of Rod Liddle’s argument against lockdowns. However, I…

Olivier, National Theatre, London SEI (020-3989 5455). Until 11 August Running time: 2hrs 50mins Since 1966, the England men’s football team has had an unerring ability to dash a nation’s dreams, said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. So a play about the squad’s supposed “resurrection” under manager Gareth Southgate feels “potentially hubristic” – and at risk of “dangerously overhyping a gifted man who still hasn’t taken home any actual silverware”. But fear not. As a playwright, James Graham has long displayed the world-beating form that still eludes England on the biggest stages. He has made “genuinely classic work” out of such unlikely subjects as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and parliamentary whips’ offices in the 1970s. And with Dear England – a “wildly entertaining romp” given a pulsating staging…

A River Runs Through It by Norman Maclean, 1976 (University of Chicago Press, £11.50). I always felt this was as close to perfect writing as I could imagine. It’s lean and lyrical, and a poignant reflection on family and love and the search for meaning. And through it all is the river, the Blackfoot, and the fly-fishing that holds everything and everyone together. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie, 1937 (HarperCollins £9.99). Agatha Christie spent a lot of time in Iraq with her archaeologist husband, and wrote overlooking the Tigris at the site of Assur. I often wished she’d written more about it, but this is her great Poirot river book. It’s a classic murder mystery packed with fun and silliness and cleverly woven plot twists, and one I still…

Programmes Evacuation Three-part documentary about the UK’s dramatic withdrawal from Kabul in 2021, with firsthand accounts from service personnel. Sun 2, Mon 3 and Tue 4 July, C4 21:00 (60mins each). Jon Snow: A Witness to History The journalist looks back on the people and events that have shaped his life and career. Sun 2 July, C4 22:00 (60mins). Blindspot Ross Kemp returns to TV drama for the first time in 15 years in this four-part thriller about a young woman who witnesses an attack on her estate. Kemp is the detective on the case. Tue 4, Wed 5, Thur 6 and Fri 7 July, C5 21:00 (60mins each). Florence Nightingale: Nursing Pioneer New documentary about the woman credited with transforming the nursing profession. Wed 5 July, BBC4 20:00 (70mins).…

Vinho verde is “one of the quintessential summer wines”, says Susy Atkins in The Daily Telegraph. It is made in the far northwest of Portugal, typically from a blend of grapes, and its name, “green wine”, refers to the fact that it has traditionally been sold, and drunk, while very young. Its relatively low alcohol content, as well as its “floral scents”, “notes of tropical fruits” and “crisp finish” make it ideal for parties and for “lazing about in the sun”. Vinho verde also offers excellent value: very few bottles cost more than £10. M&S Classics No 7 Vinho Verde (£8.50) is a “brightly fruity version”, with peach and pineapple standing out. Chosen by Majestic Vinho Verde (£8.99 or £7.99 as part of a mix six offer) is a “summer…

• Antihistamines block the body’s allergic response, and are the go-to treatment. They work best if taken in advance. • Nasal steroid sprays can reduce inflammation and clear a blocked nose. Decongestant nasal sprays should be used only for extreme symptoms, because they can make hayfever worse if used regularly. • Saltwater nasal sprays (NeilMed Sinus Rinse) can be helpful to thin mucus and rinse allergens from the nasal passages. • Cromoglicate eye drops (Optrex Hayfever or Opticrom) are good and can be used with an antihistamine, but severe eye symptoms may need prescription eye drops. • Probiotic-rich foods such as yoghurt, kefir, kimchi and kombucha may help symptoms. Prebiotics – bananas, onions, garlic and wholegrains – can also be effective. • Foods rich in dairy and refined sugars can…

Daniel Ellsberg 1931-2023 The “most important whistleblower of our times”, Daniel Ellsberg was the military analyst who smuggled hundreds of pages of top secret material about US actions in Vietnam out of his office at the Rand Corporation, and shared them with a reporter from The New York Times, said The Guardian. Published in 1971, the so-called Pentagon Papers (an assessment of US decision-making in Indochina since 1940 commissioned by the defence secretary Robert McNamara) made it clear that almost everything the American public had been told about the Vietnam War was false – from its origins to contemporary views about its winnability. Ellsberg’s leaks did not end the war, but they set in chain a series of events that led to the resignation of President Nixon. A former hawk,…

Mooky and Israel Greidinger The bankrupt cinema chain Cineworld will emerge from Chapter 11 proceedings next month. But there will be no “schmaltzy finale” for a pair of brothers who dared to dream big – or for their shareholders, who’ve suffered a “wipeout”, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. Still, what a plot! The Greidingers, whose family opened their first picture house in Haifa, Palestine in 1929, parlayed the business into a global colossus via the debt-fuelled takeovers of chains including Britain’s Cineworld and the US giant Regal. Had Covid not “ruined the plot”, they might have muddled through, if rising interest rates hadn’t done for them anyway. The brothers have bagged a near $35m payout to sweeten their departure, but their £1bn stake is worthless. The Showering brothers Life…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1369 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 10 July. Send it to The Week Crossword 1369, 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 American flicks (8) 5 Injury from run in the country? (6) 9 Pretty fine work of art (8) 10 Puzzle for resolution in game? (6) 12 Go from Spanish region in traditional type of knitwear (4) 13 Misfortune in The Mousetrap? (4,6) 15 My…

It was the weekend when Putin’s “attack dog” turned on his master, said David Patrikarakos in The Mail on Sunday. For 18 months, troops employed by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s Wagner Group had fought alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. But when his men started to die in their thousands in the “meat grinders” on the front line over the winter, Prigozhin took to delivering increasingly furious tirades against Russia’s military chiefs, whom he accused of failing to support them. The final straw seems to have come on 10 June, when the defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, unveiled a plan to make “volunteer factions” sign contracts with the Russian military, meaning that Wagner mercenaries would be effectively absorbed into the regular army. Prigozhin’s rebellion amounted to an astonishing betrayal, said The Times: he even…

For the first time, a majority of full-time students have paid jobs, a think-tank has found. 55% of the 10,163 undergraduates surveyed by the Higher Education Policy Institute said they did part-time paid work during term time, up from 34% in 2021. Those in paid employment worked 13.5 hours a week, on average. Music-lovers who wanted the Glastonbury experience last week, but without the discomfort, were able to check into a pop-up tent “hotel”, complete with swimming pool and helipad. The tents and yurts, with showers and flushing loos, cost up to £25,000 a night. Their owner said it was better than staying in a real hotel, where you might sit “next to a photocopier salesman”, which would “ruin the experience”.…

The Metropolitan Police has identified a sixth suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence, following an investigation by the BBC. Lawrence was stabbed to death in 1993 by a gang of young white men, but only two people have ever been jailed for his murder. Lawrence’s friend Duwayne Brooks, who was present at the scene, always insisted that there had been six attackers. Matthew White, a drug user who died in 2021, matched witness descriptions of one of the attackers, and there is evidence that he had admitted to his involvement. Yet he was initially treated as a witness, and when he was arrested (in 2000 and 2013) the CPS decided there was insufficient evidence for a prosecution. Lawrence’s mother Doreen said the revelations were “shocking, but unsurprising”, given the…

Washington DC Modi welcomed: President Biden and India’s PM Narendra Modi put on an extraordinary display of bonhomie last week during the latter’s state visit to Washington. Modi was treated to a lavish dinner at the White House, and was afforded the rare privilege of addressing a joint session of congress. In sentiments echoed by Modi, Biden hailed the US’s relationship with India as “stronger, closer and more dynamic than at any time in history”. But the visit wasn’t just an opportunity for warm speeches: the two countries also announced a raft of defence and technology deals, including for India to purchase American spy drones, and for General Electric to co-produce advanced fighter jet engines in India, in a sign of strengthening military ties. Analysts said that the agreements –…

“Each Western generation has to fight the idea that autocrats are competent. To that end, the past week has been one to mark. The question is how that myth – of the masterful, cat-stroking strongman – survives. Almost all of the world’s richest countries are democracies. So are all the countries to which people want to move. Nato expands; the Warsaw Pact is 32 years dead. Famine, per Amartya Sen, never happens in a functioning democracy. What undoes autocracies in the end, and you’ll pardon the MBA-speak, is the absence of feedback loops. A state with no checks on power needs an executive genius at the top to function. History doesn’t produce enough.” Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times…

Why France goes top of the green class George Monbiot The Guardian Hats off to France, says George Monbiot. Its politicians, unlike ours, are taking seriously the threat of environmental disaster. France has set up a ministry for ecological transition and enacted green reforms that our government “vaguely promises for 2040 or 2050”. Its new circular economy law bans all single-use plastics from public procurement; obliges shops to let customers use refillable containers and charge them less accordingly; and obliges manufacturers and retailers to either give away or recycle unsold items. Spare parts and repair instructions now have to be sold with most products, and companies are banned from doing anything to restrict product longevity. All new washing machines will have to have filters to catch plastic microfibres by 2025.…

Honing in on morning sickness Scientists are increasingly confident that they have pinpointed the cause of the nausea and vomiting during pregnancy misleadingly known as morning sickness (it’s not just in the morning). About two-thirds of pregnant women experience it; in one in 50 cases, the vomiting is so severe, it can endanger the woman and the unborn child. The culprit has long been suspected to be a single hormone called growth differentiation factor 15 or GDF15, which was first detected in high levels in the blood of pregnant women some 20 years ago. Since then, two genes associated with morning sickness have been identified, one of which encodes GDF15. Studies have also found that some variants of the gene increase the risk of very severe morning sickness (hyperemesis gravidarum).…

A few years ago, Germaine Greer expressed her scorn for trans rights principles by declaring: “I’ve asked my doctor to give me long ears and liver spots, and I’m going to wear a brown coat, but that doesn’t turn me into a f***ing cocker spaniel.” I was reminded of her words last week, said Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph, when it was reported that a schoolgirl at Rye College in East Sussex “identified as a cat”. A recording was released on TikTok of two Year 8 pupils discussing the case, and a teacher reprimanding them for refusing to take such choices seriously. Further news reports suggested that this wasn’t a one-off. At one school in Wales, it seems, a pupil insists on “meowing” rather than speaking in English. “It’s…

To The Guardian If high inflation requires that money should be extracted from the public, raising the rate of interest is an irrational way to set about it. The logical way to do it is by raising the rate of income tax, so that the burden is shared across the community in a structured way rather than falling on a section only. Of course, that would require a government being honest with the public and facing the hostility that this would bring, both within Parliament and beyond. Kevin McGrath, Harlow, Essex To The Daily Telegraph The underlying problem with the British economy may be that, since the 2008 financial crash, no government has allowed a natural, market-driven, downward economic adjustment without state intervention to mitigate its effects. Economic downturns are…

Buttermere, in the Lake District, is 2km long and surrounded by fells. There’s a car park at Buttermere village and a dog-friendly path for exploring the shores, or the Buttermere to Rannerdale ridge walk with epic views. Originally an inlet of Mount’s Bay, Loe Pool is Cornwall’s largest natural lake, separated from the sea by a shingle beach. There’s a popular 10km circular walking route around the lake, accessed from the Penrose Estate. Kielder Water is the largest man-made lake in the UK (10.8km). It is set within 400 sq km of woodland, and there are lots of walks, including the Lakeside Way that follows the 42km shoreline. At over 5.6km long, Bala Lake is the largest in Wales. A freshwater glacial lake, it’s perfect for wild swimming, and there’s…

The Amazon’s culinary capital Perched at the mouth of the Amazon, the city of Belém has perhaps the most distinctive cuisine in Brazil, says Tomé Morrissy-Swan in National Geographic Traveller. At Ver-o-Peso – Latin America’s largest open-air market – you can see an amazing range of local ingredients: huge river fish, leaves such as the “mouth-numbing” jambú, and fruits including honey-scented tucumã and “sour, gummy” bacupari. Street stalls in the old town (which has “striking” colonial buildings, many in “slow decay”) serve dishes such as unha (coriander-infused crab croquettes) and tacacá (a prawn soup made with jambú and fermented cassava, or tucupi). Several of Belém’s chefs have won nationwide acclaim for their sophisticated modern takes on local culinary traditions. Don’t miss Thiago Castanho’s restaurant Remanso do Peixe, or Saulo Jennings’…

Sir Ben Helfgott 1929-2023 In 1948 Ben Helfgott saw some weightlifters “pumping iron” in a London park, said The Times. It was just three years since he had been liberated, close to starvation, from a Nazi concentration camp. Yet walking boldly up to the muscle-bound group, he picked up a bar, and “lifted more than 80kg, only 15kg below the British lightweight record”. He went on to represent Britain at two Olympics. He competed, he said, to express his gratitude to the country that had taken him in, and to honour his mother, father and sister who had been murdered in the Holocaust. At the 1956 Games in Melbourne, he broke down during the opening ceremony. “I thought of my parents and of how proud they would have been of…

Material World: A Substantial Story of our Past and Future by Ed Conway (W.H. Allen £22). A “brilliant book”, says Martin Wolf, in which journalist Conway assesses the past and future roles of six vital minerals – sand, salt, iron, copper, oil and lithium (see page 48). We Need to Talk About Inflation: 14 Urgent Lessons from the Last 2,000 Years by Stephen D. King (Yale £20). In this “historically informed and lucid book”, HSBC’s senior economic adviser concludes that “inflation is never truly dead. At best, it is sleeping,” says Wolf. Traffic: Genius, Rivalry and Delusion in the Billion-Dollar Race to Go Viral by Ben Smith (Penguin £26.99). An “insidery account” of the digital media revolution that brought us BuzzFeed and Gawker, says Andrew Hill. The Big Con: How…

The week’s best shares BAE Systems The Times BAE provides some of the world’s most advanced defence systems – armoured vehicles, combat ships, radar systems. A “solid performer” with strong order-flow. Yields 3% with ongoing buybacks. Buy. 957.8p. Capita The Times Outsourcer Capita’s technical services include collecting the BBC licence fee and the London Congestion Charge, and staffing call-centres. Restructuring is nearly complete and uncertainties are fading. Buy. 30.28p. Ceres Power Holdings The Sunday Times The green energy tech firm is gearing up, amid favourable global trends and rising hydrogen demand. Not yet profitable, but there’s a Chinese deal pending and royalties will soon feed through. Buy. 313p. Fuller Smith & Turner The Daily Telegraph The London-focused pubs-to-hotels group’s sales and profits are meeting expectations, despite a hit from rail…