Innholdsfortegnelse for 1466 i The Week

What happened Rishi Sunak headed off a Tory mutiny over his flagship Rwanda bill on Tuesday. Rebel MPs had threatened to vote against it, but in the event they opted to abstain instead, allowing the bill’s second reading, on the principle of the law, to pass by a margin of 44 votes. Had they voted it down, it would have been the first time since 1986 that a government bill had been defeated at such an early legislative stage. The bill was part of a twin package, unveiled last week, that is designed to deter Channel migrants. The first part was a new treaty with Rwanda, which introduced fresh safeguards for deported migrants to answer criticism by the Supreme Court that the country is unsafe. The bill would compel UK…

When Rishi Sunak became the third prime minister of 2023, last October, we were promised that he would usher in a new “era of calm”, said Marina Hyde in The Guardian. There was, admittedly, a brief period at the start of his premiership when the Tory Party “was not tearing itself or the economy apart”. But now, it seems to have reverted to “pure, teeth-gnashing chaos”. On Monday, the PM was at the Covid Inquiry, being grilled about Eat Out to Help Out, and why his own colleagues called him “Dr Death”. Tuesday’s rows over the Rwanda bill took us back to the days of Theresa May’s Brexit wars: Eurosceptic headbangers such as Mark Francois and Bill Cash were back in the news, threatening to derail the Government. Some “deranged”…

Rail commuters, with a report showing that retailers charge an average premium of 10% for food bought in stations. A mystery shopper found that 11 of 13 shops surveyed charged more at station outlets, with the mark-up ranging from 1% to 34%. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, whose Archewell Foundation was revealed to have suffered a sharp drop in donations. The charity received $13m in 2021, including $10m from one donor, but last year it received just $2m, from two unnamed individuals who gave $1m each. Archewell employs five people, including an executive director on a salary of $207,405.…

Paris Paty conviction: Six teenagers have been convicted for their roles in the killing of Samuel Paty (pictured), a history teacher who, in 2020, was beheaded by an Islamist extremist for showing pupils caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. Five defendants, all pupils at the school in the Éragny suburb where Paty taught, were found guilty of identifying the teacher to his killer; a sixth was convicted of false accusations. All were given suspended or commuted jail terms of up to two years. Paty was killed by Abdoullakh Anzorov, a radicalised 18-year-old of Chechen descent, who was later shot dead by police. Paris Immigration defeat: In a humiliating blow to President Macron, opposition MPs in France have rejected the government’s immigration bill, a key plank of his second term of office.…

1 Get Lucky by Thomas Bangalter, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams, performed by Daft Punk ft. Pharrell Williams and Nile Rodgers 2 Ring of Fire by June Carter and Merle Kilgore, performed by Johnny Cash 3 Moon River by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, performed by Frank Sinatra 4 Sherry by Bob Gaudio, performed by The Four Seasons 5 Smells Like Teen Spirit by Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl, performed by Nirvana 6 You to Me Are Everything by Ken Gold and Michael Denne, performed by The Real Thing 7* Highs and Lows by Brittany Jean Carlson, Kevin Kadish and Mark Alexander Ballas, performed by Alexander Jean 8 We’ve Only Just Begun by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols, performed by The Carpenters Book: Unleash the Power Within by Tony Robbins Luxury: cotton knickers *…

After the peace process fell apart, the same right-wing Likud Israeli leaders who had helped to derail it – Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu – moved to a unilateral process of “disengagement”. A barrier was built in the West Bank, roughly along the pre-1967 border, to keep terrorists out, but also to annex Palestinian land. In 2005, Sharon withdrew from Gaza, and removed Jewish settlements (while still controlling its borders). In 2006, Hamas won an election in the Palestinian Territories, and took control in Gaza after a short civil war with Arafat’s party, Fatah. Netanyahu, “Mr Security”, responded by building a billion-dollar security barrier around Gaza. He boasted that Israel had never been more peaceful than under his rule. Many Israelis accepted his view that the Palestinians could be managed…

Good riddance to George Santos Jonah Goldberg Los Angeles Times The “infamous fabulist” George Santos has finally been booted out of congress, says Jonah Goldberg. Nobody is feeling particularly sorry for the New York Republican, who is charged with 23 felonies, including stealing from donors to fund a luxurious lifestyle, and who has wasted no time in cashing in on his notoriety. He has created an account on Cameo, a platform on which people pay for personalised video messages from public figures (his earnings reportedly surpassed his congressional salary of $174,000 in just 48 hours). However, the fact that Santos is the first representative since the Civil War to be removed without first being convicted of a crime is troubling some people. They fear it sets a dangerous precedent. It’s…

Thanks to the reckless bravado of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro, Latin America is at risk of “major continental war for the first time in 75 years”, said Alexandra Sharp in Foreign Policy (Washington). Caracas has long staked a claim to Essequibo, a mineral-rich swathe of the Amazon that accounts for two-thirds of neighbouring Guyana – the former British Guiana. That claim acquired added urgency in 2015, when US energy giant ExxonMobil discovered oil reserves off Essequibo’s coast – some 11 billion barrels’ worth to date. And last week, in a referendum staged in order to rubber-stamp Venezuela’s claim to Essequibo, Maduro claimed he now had the mandate to put that claim into effect. But the vote was held in defiance of a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ)…

Scientists in the US have developed a blood test to estimate the “biological age” of people’s organs. Their research indicates that many seemingly healthy people have an organ that is ageing at an accelerated rate – leaving them with a heightened risk of diseases that lead to organ failure. If these people were identified, doctors could treat them before they get sick. Developed at Stanford University, the test looks at hundreds of proteins found in blood to give an estimate of the age of each of 11 organs and tissues, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver and intestine. When used on over 5,000 apparently healthy over-50s, one in five were found to have an organ that showed signs of premature ageing. Those with “older” hearts were found to have a…

When Unai Emery returned to Spain after being sacked by Arsenal in 2019, many felt that he was “best off staying there”, said Jonathan Wilson in The Guardian. The Spaniard had previously had positive stints at Valencia and Sevilla, but had struggled at every foreign club he’d managed – Spartak Moscow and Paris Saint-Germain among them. His methods, it seemed, “didn’t travel”. But since replacing Steven Gerrard at Aston Villa 13 months ago, Emery has proved his critics wrong. He inherited a team lying “fourth bottom” in the Premier League, and propelled them to a seventh-place finish last season. And this season, Villa are currently third in the Premier League, two points behind leaders Liverpool. They have won their last 15 home league matches, and in their last two have…

Football Liverpool moved to the top of the Premier League with a 2-1 victory over Crystal Palace. In the Women’s Super League, defending champions Chelsea suffered their first defeat of the season, losing 4-1 to Arsenal. Tennis Emma Raducanu is expected to return to the tour – following surgery on her ankle and wrists – at the Australian Open. But the former British No. 1 may have to qualify, after missing out on a wildcard. Boxing Devin Haney is the new WBC light-welterweight champion, after beating his US compatriot Regis Prograis.…

Politics On the Edge by Rory Stewart Jonathan Cape 464pp £22 The Week bookshop £17.99 The former diplomat and Harvard professor Rory Stewart spent ten years as a Tory MP, and briefly served in Theresa May’s cabinet. But he came to despair of British politics, finding his fellow MPs shallow and narrow-minded, and the system they operated in “dysfunctional”. In his memoir of his time in Westminster, Stewart is blunt about his own failings, and equally withering about his former colleagues: Boris Johnson is an “egotistical chancer”; George Osborne displays “breathtaking cynicism”. Lauded for its honesty and humour, the book was widely described as one of the best-written memoirs ever produced by a British politician. Praise: “Full of sharp observations and often funny. But the wider picture is depressing: a…

Wonka Timothée Chalamet plays Roald Dahl’s chocolatier in a sugary prequel Dir: Paul King 1hr 56mins (PG) “On paper, it is the worst possible idea”, said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian: a “musical-prequel origin myth” for Willy Wonka, the sinister “top-hatted chocolatier” from Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. But thanks largely to the genius of writer Simon Farnaby and writer-director Paul King – the duo behind the smash hit Paddington films – this pre-Wonka is an absolute Christmas treat: “spectacular, imaginative, sweet-natured and funny”. Timothée Chalamet is “charm itself” as the “puckish” young Willy, who sails to an unidentified European city to make his fortune using the chocolate recipes created by his late mother (Sally Hawkins). There, however, he falls into the clutches of a grotesque couple (Olivia…

A row has erupted over Hitler’s favourite ancient statue, says Amy Kazmin in the FT. The Discobolus Lancellotti, a statue of a discus thrower, was unearthed at a Roman villa in 1781; it is thought to be a Roman copy of a lost Greek original by the sculptor Myron. In the 1930s, it became a symbol of Aryan beauty and was used by Leni Riefenstahl in a propaganda film celebrating the 1936 Berlin Olympics. In 1938, it was sold to Hitler. But after the War, US troops returned it to Italy. Recently, Italy’s National Roman Museum asked Munich’s Glyptothek, which holds the statue’s 18th century base, to return it. The Glyptothek refused, stating that the statue had been legally purchased by Germany and thus remained state property. The Italian press…

Kate is upset to learn that Peggy has decided to move into The Laurels; Kate’s determined to keep her at home. As the Grundys discuss sabotage plans for the sale, Clarrie gets upset about their precarious status. When Justin learns of Lilian’s plan for an outdoor arena, he phones Shula, who knew nothing about it. Eddie confides in Oliver about his and Clarrie’s worries about the future; Oliver advises him to research almshouses. An angry Shula arrives at the Stables and vetoes Lilian’s arena plan. Later, when Lilian discovers that Justin betrayed her to help his own bid, she angrily tells him to move out. Jakob persuades Kate that she must let Peggy move into The Laurels. After talking to Tony, an exhausted Tom and Natasha agree that the time…

The Gunton Arms Norfolk For “dark skies, quiet nights and a lingering waft of woodsmoke”, book a stay at this hunting lodge near Cromer. Chef Stuart Tattersall cooks up meaty feasts over an open fire, and there’s tapas on offer at its nearby sister restaurant, the Suffield Arms. Rooms are seriously stylish, with “intriguing” antiques and beautiful views, and there’s contemporary art from the collection of the owner, Ivor Braka. Doubles from £120 b&b; theguntonarms.co.uk. Lord Crewe Arms Northumberland The Lord Crewe Arms sits in the “pin-neat” village of Blanchland, in the North Pennines. The building has thick walls, stone-flagged floors, and “modern-country” decor, and there’s a “barrel-vaulted” bar and several dining areas with open fires or wood burners. The food is “robust and punchy”, and there’s much to…

Google/OpenAI/Microsoft: AI arms race Watchdogs were “asleep at the wheel a generation ago” when the leading tech companies “erected fortresses around their businesses” and “acquired any upstart that looked remotely threatening”, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. So bully for the Competition and Markets Authority for wading early into the AI fray. Undeterred by losing a previous skirmish with Microsoft this year, the UK regulator is sniffing around the software giant’s partnership with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to discover whether “recent developments” have created “a relevant merger” situation in the rapidly escalating AI arms race. That race stepped up a gear this week when Google – seen as the sector leader before ChatGPT’s launch a year ago – finally released its riposte, said Wired. The company’s new model, Gemini (available via…

Britain’s creaking railways Editorial The Economist The train drivers’ union, Aslef, kicked off December with a week of walkouts: the latest in a dispute that began in June 2022. Still, for Britain’s strike-weary rail passengers, there is “a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel”, says The Economist. Another union, the RMT, has finally agreed a pay deal – a well-below-inflation 5% rise that won’t even “make up for the days spent on the picket line”, along with promises of no job cuts next year. Even its members have apparently run out of patience with strikes, whose power to disrupt has been “blunted” because office workers can just stay at home on strike days. The pandemic continues to bite in that respect. Ministers are trying to claw back…

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What happened Fierce fighting continued across Gaza this week, as Israel resisted international pressure to scale back its offensive. Some of the most intense clashes took place in the Strip’s south, where Israeli troops and tanks reached the centre of Khan Younis, which Israel believes is Hamas’s stronghold. Street battles were also ongoing in northern Gaza, where the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) are trying to consolidate their hold on urban areas. As Israeli air strikes pounded the Strip, Palestinian fighters aimed rocket fire at southern and central Israel. UN officials warned that the humanitarian crisis is deepening in Gaza, where some 1.9 million people have been displaced. However, a UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire was vetoed by the US (the UK abstained; 13 other countries supported a…

Britons are losing the age-old habit of sitting down to three meals a day. A third of the population now eat only two meals a day – and rely on snacks to take the place of the third, a Waitrose report has found. A further one in ten people eat just one proper meal and “graze” for the rest of the time. One in 100 “graze the entire day”. A series of outdoor carol services that have been running on Columbia Road, in London’s East End, since 2006 had to be cancelled this week, after thousands of people turned up having seen footage of the event on TikTok. Its organisers, from St Peter’s Church, said the influx of some 7,000 people had presented a “danger to public safety”. They suggested…

The Cop28 climate summit ended on Wednesday with a landmark deal agreed by almost 200 countries. For the first time, the agreement calls on all countries to “transition away” from using fossil fuels for energy generation. It stops short, however, of calling for them to phase out fossil fuels, something many delegates, including the EU and a block of 39 small island nations, had demanded. Instead, it talks about reducing consumption and production of fossil fuels in an “orderly and equitable manner”, to achieve net zero by 2050. It also calls for a tripling in renewable energy capacity by 2030. The Cop28 president said the final deal had “confronted realities … and set the world in the right direction”. But campaign groups said it didn’t go far enough, and that…

Washington DC Arms plea: President Zelensky flew to Washington this week to make a last-ditch appeal for congressional leaders to approve the sending of more military aid to Ukraine. At a meeting with national security officials, Zelensky (pictured) warned that congress’s failure to break the impasse over a new $61bn aid package was a “dream come true” for President Putin and his “sick clique”. The visit (his third to the US since the invasion) came a week after Republicans blocked an emergency spending bill that also contained aid for Israel and Taiwan. If the package is not approved, US military support for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year. However, some Republicans are insisting that any further aid for Ukraine must be tied to measures to restrict…

“According to a poll commissioned by Ryman, it now costs an average of £60 to fill a Christmas stocking. This doesn’t include the ‘main’ gifts; no, these are just the appetisers in a vast feast set to leave kids with the materialistic equivalent of heartburn. Just what are parents putting in there? Gold bullions? Swarovski crystals? Nearly all say they feel compelled to pack youngsters’ stockings with hi-tech gizmos and expensive cosmetics, among other things. It’s a different kind of inflation, isn’t it? For a few Decembers now, I’ve started to feel suffocated by the sheer amount of stuff, oozing from shop shelves into our homes, come Christmas Day.” Celia Walden in The Daily Telegraph…

How Scottish children have been betrayed Sonia Sodha The Observer Strange to recall, but 25 years ago Scotland’s school system was “the jewel in the British educational crown”, says Sonia Sodha. Its results put those of England to shame. But what a calamitous decline there’s been since then. According to the latest comparative data for developed (OECD) countries, today’s Scottish 15-year-olds are 16 months behind their 2012 counterparts in maths. The problem isn’t lack of resources or class sizes: Scotland spends more per pupil than England and has a better teacher/pupil ratio. The culprit is curriculum reform. In 2010, the SNP government downgraded fact-based learning in favour of a “progressive” approach. The new emphasis on developing “transferable skills” and “interdisciplinary learning” was supposed to be a better way of equipping…

AI can sniff out a wine’s vintage Given a glass of wine, many of us would struggle to identify the country it was from, let alone the region – but AI can now pinpoint the very estate. Researchers from France and Switzerland used gas chromatography to vaporise 80 wines from seven estates in Bordeaux and separate them into their chemical components. This provided a chemical signature for each wine. They then trained an algorithm to look for patterns in these signatures and match them to the wine’s place and year of origin. The program was 100% accurate when it came to predicting the estate. “Not that many people in the world would be able to do this,” said Prof Alexandre Pouget, one of the study’s authors. Determining the vintage proved…

A leading national newspaper and Britain’s oldest magazine are in danger of being “nationalised by an authoritarian Arab state”, said Charles Moore in The Spectator. This is what will effectively happen if, next month, the Government allows the takeover of the Telegraph group and The Spectator by RedBird IMI – a venture largely funded by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, vice president of the United Arab Emirates. In the UAE, it is hard to distinguish between the state and its ruling family, said Moore, a former editor of The Daily Telegraph. But both are opponents of the free press. Sheikh Mansour might easily try to exert influence over the papers’ reporting of Israel-Palestine, say, or the UAE’s own business interests. Virtually everything in the UK seems to be on…

It is quite some time since West Indies have been a major force in world cricket, said Tim Wigmore in The Daily Telegraph. But there is, it seems, “one reliable way” to get the best out of its cricketers – “invite England” to the Caribbean. Last year, West Indies beat England in successive T20 and Test match series. And last Saturday, they recorded a third straight series win – this time in the ODI format. The sides went into the final match in Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval, having split the first two games. Put into bat, England began their innings after a two-hour rain delay, and immediately struggled in the damp conditions. By the tenth over, they were an “ignominious 49-5” – with Phil Salt, Zak Crawley, Harry Brook and Jos…

We risk paralysis… To The Times Matthew Syed’s excellent article should become required reading for any judge, KC or “victims” group before they are allowed to start picking over the complex and at times split-second decisions of others. The tyranny of hindsight is not confined to public inquiries into Covid and the like: Sir Mark Rowley has rightly criticised this trait in the decisions of the Independent Office for Police Conduct. After the passing of the Freedom of Information Act, both Jack Straw and Tony Blair lamented that they had gone too far. We are at risk of public-service paralysis: officers and officials petrified to act for fear of being forensically second-guessed in five years’ time. We will all suffer for this; but it is a scenario we have wished…

Pacific Overtures hasn’t often been revived since its first run on Broadway in 1976, said Clive Davis in The Times. That may be because, even by Stephen Sondheim’s standards, the subject matter is singular: written in 1976, it is about how the US forced hermetic, shogunate Japan to open up to commerce from 1853. But if that doesn’t sound very enticing, do not be deterred, for Matthew White’s new production is a startlingly entertaining treat which, in a stripped-back staging, has the “ethereal beauty of scenes sketched on a vase”. A collaboration with Japan’s Umeda Arts Theatre (it has already been staged in Osaka and Tokyo), this “thrilling” production is a “revelation”, agreed Nick Curtis in the Evening Standard. With “intricate” music, witty lyrics and an “exquisite” traverse setting, Pacific…

The Light Ages: A Medieval Journey of Discovery by Seb Falk, 2020 (Penguin 12.99). This beautiful book reveals the Middle Ages as a time of wonder, intellectual exploration, curiosity and travel – not the Dark Ages at all. Falk uncovers the complexity of medieval scientific thought through the life of an obscure medieval monk, John of Westwyk. Blood and Roses: The Paston Family and the Wars of the Roses by Helen Castor, 2004 (Faber £12.99). This is the story of the Wars of the Roses told through family biography. The Pastons – social climbers whose lives were intertwined with high politics, sexual misadventures, land grabs and everyday domesticity – are one of the most interesting and best-documented medieval families. Pilgrims by Matthew Kneale, 2020 (Atlantic £8.99). One of the very…

Programmes Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution Three-part docuseries about the roots of disco in New York’s 1970s gay and black communities, as people sought escape from discrimination and violence. Sat 16 Dec, BBC2 22:05 and 23:05 (60mins each). Storyville: Pianoforte Behind-the-scenes documentary following young contestants navigating the International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in Warsaw. Sun 17 Dec, BBC4 21:20 (90mins). Imagine… 2023, Russell T. Davies: The Doctor and Me Alan Yentob meets the celebrated TV writer as he returns to the set of Doctor Who, the show he relaunched in 2005, for three special episodes. Mon 18 Dec, BBC1 22:40 (75mins). Nigella’s Amsterdam Christmas The cook and food writer takes viewers on a culinary tour of the Dutch capital, sharing family stories and taking inspiration for a Christmas feast…

Benjamin Zephaniah 1958-2023 Benjamin Zephaniah, who has died of a brain tumour aged 65, was among Britain’s most prominent poets. Referred to as the “people’s laureate”, he was once voted the country’s third-favourite poet, after T.S. Eliot and John Donne. His dub poetry, sometimes performed to a reggae backbeat, could be humorous, but it was angry too, dwelling as it did on racism and other forms of injustice. Zephaniah was a radical, said The Times – and he resisted attempts to co-opt him into the establishment. In 2003, he refused an OBE, saying he detested the idea of empire and explaining, in his poem Bought and Sold: “Smart big awards and prize money/Is killing off black poetry… Tamed warriors bow on parades/When they have done what they’ve been told/They get…

Rupert Soames In his bio on X/Twitter, Rupert Soames outlines his interest in “the eccentric and absurd”. Who better to take over as president of the scandal-ridden CBI? “Having fought fires at both Aggreko and Serco”, he’s certainly well-equipped to speak about the practical difficulties faced by business, said Patrick Hosking in The Times. And like his grandfather, Sir Winston Churchill, he’s “a great cheerleader and communicator”, even if his “patrician manner and Bullingdon Club background” sit uneasily with some. Overall, Soames is “an inspired choice” – perhaps a little “too inspired”, since he can barely open his mouth without saying something vivid. “My shit-o-meter hasn’t pinged in almost a year,” he once proudly declared at Serco. The CBI will be hoping for a similar outcome. Still, “stand by for…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1393 Two Connell Guides and three Week-branded items will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 1 January. Send it to The Week Crossword 1393, 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 Week-branded items including a notebook, coffee mug and tote bag, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 High marks and rosettes for the cleverest moves (13) 8 Authentic article about cold rolling (4) 9 Grand round trip abroad sticking out (10) 10 Greek island associated with a savoury snack (6) 11 Jumper appropriate for unofficial court? (8) 12 Old conductor in action struggling around…

A bus driver in Liverpool has been hailed for his quick response to an accident that occurred during his shift. Brenda Howard, 70, fell while trying to board the bus after a shopping trip in the city centre, breaking her shoulder. Strangers stepped in to help, and the driver, who hasn’t been identified, “went into super mode”, according to Howard’s husband: he helped get her into the bus, asked the passengers to get off, and drove her straight to hospital. She is now on the mend. An amusement park made up of rides and attractions designed by Jean-Michel Basquiat, David Hockney and Keith Haring, among other artists, is to open in Los Angeles, after decades in storage. Luna Luna was dreamt up in the 1980s by the Austrian artist André…

European travel, following the reopening of the Paris-Berlin night train, after a hiatus of nine years. The Nightjet train, which is equipped with deluxe sleeper cabins, leaves Paris’s Gare de l’Est at around 7:15pm and pulls into Berlin’s Central Station at around 8:30am the next day. Glass ceilings, with the appointment of the National Theatre’s first female director. Indhu Rubasingham, 53, will also be the first person of colour to take on the biggest job in British theatre. Rubasingham, who has been artistic director of London’s Kiln Theatre since 2012, will replace Rufus Norris in 2025. Austria, which was ranked the happiest country in the EU, based on official “quality of life indicators”. Poland, Finland and Romania came joint-second in the Eurostat rankings. The major economies of Italy, France and…

Ofsted delayed some school inspections this week after an inquest found that the stress of the inspection process had contributed to a head teacher’s suicide. Ruth Perry took her own life last year following an inspection of her primary school in Reading. She had learnt that easily addressed failures of record-keeping related to safeguarding issues had resulted in her previously “outstanding” school being automatically downgraded to “inadequate”. Ofsted said it was developing new training for its staff and that it would be learning from the coroner’s report.…

Joe Wicks’s narrow escape Raised on a council estate in Surrey, Joe Wicks had a difficult childhood: the fitness coach’s father was a heroin addict, and his mother, who had him at 19, suffered from eating disorders and OCD. He was disruptive at school, and often bunked off – but not, he told Polly Vernon in The Times, because he was naturally rebellious. “It was because I actually wanted someone to say, ‘What’s going on? What’s the matter? What’s happening?’” His teachers never did, and yet he is not bitter about that (it was just the way things were then, he says). And he is similarly sanguine about his stressful home life. “I always felt loved,” he points out. “Always felt like I was good enough.” And looking back, he…

A group of tourists in Venice were dumped into a freezing canal when they failed to heed pleas to stop taking selfies and sit down. According to local media, the five visitors, who were from China, had been moving around taking pictures, while their gondolier tried to navigate their vessel under a bridge near St Mark’s Square. The manoeuvre required weight to be balanced on board, so he asked the tourists to sit down; when they didn’t, the gondola capsized. The tourists were later provided with “hospitality and warmth” in nearby La Fenice theatre. A BBC newsreader has apologised for giving the middle finger live on air as she opened a top-of-the-hour news bulletin. Maryam Moshiri explained that she’d been using her fingers to count down from ten to zero,…

For the first time in five years, there will be a Christmas party at 11 Downing Street for the children of Westminster journalists, The Times reports. This tradition dates back to at least the 1980s, when Margaret Thatcher once looked in on one, and asked a boy why he was crying. “I don’t like jelly,” he said. “Well, that is what Christmas parties are for,” the then prime minister told him: “Eating things we don’t like.” Hugh Grant is getting rave reviews for his turn in Wonka (see page 29), but he says he detested the role. “I couldn’t have hated the whole thing more,” he told a press conference. “I slightly hate [making films], but I have lots of children and need money.” Asked if it had seemed worth…

“France is a paradise inhabited by people who think they’re in hell.”Sylvain Tesson, quoted in The New York Times “The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion… but rather by its superiority in applying organised violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do.”Samuel Huntington, quoted in The Sunday Telegraph “The three grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, someone to love, and something to hope for.”Attrib. Alexander Chalmers, quoted on The Knowledge “Familiarity breeds contempt – and children.”Mark Twain, quoted in The New York Times “The real division is not between conservatives and revolutionaries, but between authoritarians and libertarians.”George Orwell, quoted on Spiked “Sleep is death without the responsibility.”Fran Lebowitz, quoted in The Independent “Gratitude is not only the greatest…

To The Guardian I’m a UK citizen who married my husband in Turkey last month. I am a new assistant manager at a hospice, earning £23,000 a year, and I have been saving for a spouse visa for my husband to join me in the UK. Now, the new £38,700 salary threshold for the visa has taken away my human right to a family life. It treats us worse than criminals. As per the rules, we don’t claim any benefits, I have a stable home and we would pay the NHS surcharge. We aren’t a burden, we contribute. To tear legitimate spouses apart is immoral, discriminatory and disgusting. This has to be stopped. Roxanne Randel, London To The Daily Telegraph In its defence of its new immigration proposals, the Government…

Don Van Vliet at Michael Werner From the late 1960s, the man born Don Van Vliet (1941-2010) was a counter-cultural superstar. Under the name Captain Beefheart, he recorded a string of avant-garde albums that surfed the wave of hippy esotericism but imbued it with paranoia and absurdism. In 1982, however, he retreated to a desert caravan, turning his back on music and committing himself to painting. As Standing on One Hand, this show of canvases mostly dating from the 1980s, attests, Van Vliet was no artistic dilettante. There are similarities to other great American painters of the time – both Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat spring to mind – and nods to prehistoric cave painting. But Van Vliet’s expressive graphic language, incorporating skeletal silhouettes of birds, howling faces, runic symbols…

The Secret of Cooking Bee Wilson Fourth Estate £28 (£21.99) When her husband of 23 years left her during the pandemic, Bee Wilson found that cooking helped her forget her darker thoughts – and she became determined to find ways to make it easier. The result is this “appealing” book, says David Sexton in The Sunday Times. Eschewing gadgets and tricks, Wilson focuses on things that simplify, such as “universal sauces and stews”. Her book is superbly written, and makes for a “wonderful companion”. A New Way to Bake Philip Khoury Hardie Grant £30 (£23.99) While it’s relatively easy to make savoury vegan dishes, pastries and desserts are more of a challenge, said Delicious Magazine. And so this plant-based baking book, by the head pastry chef at Harrods, is a…

Ryan O’Neal 1941-2023 Ryan O’Neal, who has died aged 82, had been acting on TV for a decade when, aged 29, he was cast in Love Story (1970), a shameless tearjerker adapted from a bestselling novel. O’Neal played Oliver, a wealthy, flaxen-haired law student who defies his father by marrying his working-class girlfriend Jenny (Ali MacGraw) – only for her to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. In the final scene, he runs into his father. Learning that Jenny has died, the older man apologises, and in response, Oliver quotes a line that his wife had said to him: “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” It became a catchphrase, Love Story became the highest-grossing film of the year, and O’Neal became an instant movie star, said The New York…

Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has “shelved plans” to visit Rishi Sunak in London this month, citing “scheduling issues”, said Lucy Fisher in the FT. The PM’s invite had “signalled the UK’s desire to attract Saudi investment”, ending a five-year stand-off after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But who needs No.10’s help when you can simply fly into Heathrow? Saudi Arabia is “poised to seize majority control” of the airport, said The Sunday Times, following the exit of its largest shareholder, Spain’s Ferrovial. Grabbing this crucial piece of UK infrastructure, just as a probe is launched into the UAE-backed bid for the Telegraph group, will fuel concerns “about the growing influence of Middle East investors over key British assets”. The Saudi Public Investment Fund…

Millennial parents can expect to experience a sharp sense of déjà vu this year, says Tom Haynes in The Daily Telegraph – many of their old favourites are back on the shelves. But which will prove the best investment choices of the future? Barbie It was a great year for Mattel’s “eternally youthful doll” – a favourite among collectors – thanks to the blockbuster movie. But toy expert Gary Pope, of Kids Industries, advises leaving “Stereotypical Barbie” on the shelf. The collector’s item that will “set future auctions alight”, he reckons, is Weird Barbie (£49) because of her “inherent contradictions”. Star Wars Another franchise that enjoyed a resurgence this year. But Pope reckons there are “slim pickings” for collectors among today’s offerings – with the exception, perhaps, of Lego’s Star…

Who’s tipping what The week’s best shares Babcock International Group The Daily Telegraph The defence contractor has struggled with bad legacy contracts, but performance is “finally improving” as it invests in better IT and training services. Rising margins and promising future revenues. Buy. 399.2p. Games Workshop Group The Times The release of Leviathan – the fantasy figurine specialist’s latest Warhammer edition – saw booming Q1 sales. Growth has slowed, but there’s Asian expansion afoot. Buy. £91.50. Gattaca The Mail on Sunday This high-end recruiter – whose clients include Exxon, BAE Systems, McLaren and Network Rail – specialises in tech experts, scientists and engineers. Profits have soared, mid-turnaround, with the dividend reinstated. Buy. 124p. Literacy Capital The Mail on Sunday Following several astute deals, shares in this small companies’ buyout firm…