Innholdsfortegnelse for 1537 i The Week

What happened The death of Pope Francis Tributes for Pope Francis poured in from around the globe following his death on Monday, at the age of 88. His native country, Argentina, announced a week of national mourning, and numerous nations, including the US, UK and India, ordered their flags to be flown at half-mast. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower went dark and the bells of Notre-Dame Cathedral rang out 88 times before a Mass in Francis’s honour. The Argentine pontiff succumbed to a stroke less than a month after returning to the Vatican from five weeks in hospital, where he had been battling double pneumonia (see page 34). In defiance of doctors’ orders to spend two months convalescing, he had resumed a limited schedule. The day before his death, he…

Controversy of the week A golden opportunity? Could Keir Starmer be about to succeed where Boris Johnson, Theresa May and Rishi Sunak failed, asked Sean O’Grady in The Independent. Is he on the cusp of seizing “the Holy Grail of Brexit”: a trade deal with the US? A deal was reportedly “ready to sign” this week as Chancellor Rachel Reeves headed to Washington DC for the IMF’s spring meeting, where she was set to meet the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. The agreement would see the UK reduce its digital services tax on US companies, said Kiran Stacey in The Guardian. In exchange, the UK would get relief from President Trump’s 25% tariffs on steel, aluminium and cars. However, officials admitted it “may have to be ripped up at the…

United Airlines, after one of its flights was forced to make an emergency landing owing to a “wildlife strike”: it seems a rabbit had got sucked into one of the plane’s engines, starting a fire. The craft, which had just taken off from Denver, landed safely, with no injuries reported. Mitchells & Butlers, the owner of the Toby’s Carvery chain, which was criticised for chopping down a 500-year-old oak tree that overlooked one of its restaurants in north London (see page 14). When the stump was found, the council in Enfield called the police. But Mitchells & Butlers – which had a lease on the land – admitted it had had the tree cut down, having been told (wrongly, it turns out) that it was dead and posed a safety…

Amsterdam Fertility scandal: Data released this month by Holland’s newly instituted national registry of fertility clinics reveals that at least 85 sperm donors in the Netherlands have, without knowing it, fathered far more children than the law allows. In 1992, a law aimed at reducing “involuntary incest” capped the number of children per donor at 25, a limit reduced to 12 in 2018. But strict privacy laws, together with fears clinics were flouting the rules, prompted the creation of the registry, on which donors and mothers are identified using codes. Many of the “mass donors” it has now uncovered have fathered between 26 to 40 children: one as many as 125. The psychological and practical challenges this gives rise to are likely to affect not only the children (whose future…

“Details of the wedding of Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sánchez, which will take place in Venice in June, are starting to leak out, and they’re suitably lavish. But the truth is we’re less amazed than we would have been a few years ago, before weddings became staggering endurance events for which the guests must scrimp and save and plan and take a week off work. Even for we Normals there will be a rehearsal dinner the night before in Porto. A brunch the day after. On the actual day, there will be fireworks or fire-eaters or pink swans and a fake Fab Four. The message to brides and grooms is: think Bezos, and forget about the cost and stress. It’s Your Big Day!” Shane Watson in The Times…

Starmer earned £500 for his book. Big deal John Rentoul The Independent We import a lot of ideas from America, says John Rentoul. Here’s one we could certainly do without: the idea that politicians should publish their tax returns. Ever since Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson got into a spat over money in the 2012 London mayoral contest and decided to battle it out by revealing their tax returns, other leaders have felt obliged to follow suit. Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves published theirs last week. These revealed that their salaries as MPs in the 2023-24 tax year were £81,390 and £76,955 respectively; that he earned £5,174 interest on his savings and she £64; and that they received £498 and £12,372 in book royalties. In what way does uploading this…

Signs of life on a distant planet Scientists have found what they’ve called the “strongest indicator” yet of alien life – signs of chemicals in the atmosphere of a distant planet that on Earth are produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria. As the levels are far higher than those found here, the finding, if confirmed, could mean that the planet has a deep ocean teeming with life. The observations on K2-18b, which orbits a star 124 light years away, were made using Nasa’s James Webb Telescope, which was launched in 2021. It is the most powerful space telescope ever built and there had been hopes that it would help answer questions about life beyond Earth. However, the findings are not conclusive: Professor Nikku Madhusudhan of the University of Cambridge, who…

“There are some spectacles of US decadence and decline that almost seem too on the nose,” said Moira Donegan in The Guardian. Last week’s hen party in space was one of them. As the world looked on, Jeff Bezos’s firm, Blue Origin, launched a “phallically shaped pod full of women”, including Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sánchez and pop star Katy Perry, into space. The 11-minute trip “was touted as a triumph of feminism” and a “win for science”; instead, as the pod briefly breached Earth’s atmosphere, we got two minutes of Sánchez shrieking that she could see the Moon and Perry singing What a Wonderful World. On touching down, they had nothing profound to say about the experience, said Nick Ferrari in the Daily Express. Perry kissed the earth and “breathlessly”…

Those watching this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) are likely to have noticed the umpires brandishing a curious new piece of kit, said Nagraj Gollapudi on ESPN. When each new batter arrives at the crease, he must insert his bat into a “rectangular implement” with a cut-out shaped like a house. The checks, introduced on 13 April, are designed to ensure that all bats conform to a law introduced by the ECB in 2018, restricting their dimensions. The law limits the thickness of a bat’s edges to 4cm, its overall depth to 6.7cm, and its width to 10.8cm. Hitherto, the IPL’s checks on bat dimensions were sporadic and took place in dressing rooms before the game. That led to claims that players were submitting one bat for checks and then…

The best possible age To the Financial Times It’s good to know the excellent Janan Ganesh reckons his age (43) is the best possible age to be. But his assertion that relationships in later life become mere “clockwork” needs challenging. You can still, after 30 or 40 years of marriage, be ambushed by sudden tenderness, energising arguments and rushes of wonder at what Iago enviously calls the “daily beauty” of someone else’s life. It’s less about living like an automaton “until you start to doubt how much free will any of us have”, as Ganesh puts it. More a feeling that a choice, though not the only possible choice, was made, and that the security it brings is in fact liberating. As the decades pass a clock does start to…

The Welsh playwright Gary Owen has an impressive track record of “hot-wiring the classics” and “taking them on a white-knuckle joyride around 21st century issues”, said Rachel Halliburton in The Sunday Times. He has previously reimagined Iphigenia, Romeo and Juliet and The Cherry Orchard; now he has produced a “powerful” adaptation of Ibsen’s 1881 play Ghosts. Its themes – venereal disease, incest and suicide – were so shocking back then that booksellers banned it and no Norwegian theatre would stage it: the play had its premier in Chicago in 1882. Owen’s update is a “cracker” – as “fresh as it’s twisted”, said Robert Gore-Langton in The Mail on Sunday. “I was taken aback by its inventiveness and the amount of comedy that a delighted audience discovered.” In this era of…

When Queen Victoria died in 1901, having spent decades in black-clad mourning, a “stuffy establishment” passed with her, said Rachel Campbell-Johnston in The Times. By the time of her son’s coronation in 1902, to the strains of Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance Marches, Britain must already have seemed a different place – a land of hope and glory, but also of “glamour and extravagance”. A “portly glutton” with an insatiable appetite for the finer things, Edward VII embodied his pleasure-loving age. He reigned for nine years with his Danish-born consort Queen Alexandra – an elegant woman whose taste in dresses and jewellery set trends in their gilded circle; even her limp was copied by courtiers (they called it the Alexandra glide). They were succeeded by George V, their son, and Queen…

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis, 1950 (HarperCollins £7.99). This left such a lasting impression on me as a child, and looking back I think it’s because there are so many layers to it – there’s the adventure and escapism, or finding yourself in characters such as Lucy and Edmund, and then finding the god in all of us. I kept climbing into the backs of wardrobes because of C.S. Lewis. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, 1890 (Penguin £7.99). I was just starting out when I got a free copy of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde by writing to a book club at the back of The Sunday Times; I’ve still got the book. I think the darkness of it really left an…

Programmes Louis Theroux: The Settlers Theroux returns to the West Bank to spend time with Israeli settlers – whose settlements (illegal under international law) have accelerated since the Hamas attacks – and Palestinians impacted by them. Sun 27 Apr, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Disclosure: Hunting the Whisky Bandits Undercover investigation into the criminal network operating around Scotland’s whisky industry, and the fraudsters conning investors out of millions. Mon 28 Apr, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Groomed: A National Scandal Powerful film focused on the stories of five women who underwent years of horrific abuse at the hands of criminal grooming gangs, and the failings that allowed it. Wed 30 Apr, C4 21:00 (90mins). VE Day 80: We Were There Rachel Burden talks to the last surviving veterans to hear their memories of the end of…

BBC Bitesize has syllabus-tracked materials on all the main subjects (all exam boards), with podcasts, videos, quizzes and tips on how to revise, plus links to resources on iPlayer (bbc.co.uk/bitesize/learn). Students can access a vast database of flashcards, or customise their own with Quizlet. The mobile app is great for language vocab revision (quizlet.com/gb). There are 700 free video tutorials on all three GCSE sciences, and for biology and chemistry A levels, on Free Science Lessons (freesciencelessons.co.uk). Physics & Maths Tutor has past papers, predicted papers (focused on topics likely to appear) and crash holiday-revision courses, and not just for physics and maths (physicsandmathstutor.com). BBC Sounds: Time To Study has links to audio resources, such as a dedicated podcast series for GCSE English literature, and playlists for studying and mindfulness…

Capella Bangkok Bangkok, Thailand Bangkok has “a galaxy’s worth of five-star stays”, but few to match the Capella, says Chris Schalkx in Condé Nast Traveller. A low-rise pile of “blond wood and creamy marble” set beside the Chao Phraya River, it offers some unique perks – river views from every room, suites with travertine Jacuzzi tubs on their balconies, and villas with private pools “right on the waterfront”. With their pale tones and “sleek” lines, the interiors are a balm in a city “where lavishness often screams”, and there’s a large spa and two restaurants, one Thai, the other offering Michelin-starred cuisine from the “hotshot” chef Mauro Colagreco. Doubles from £931 b&b; capellahotels.com.…

The Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, headed to Washington this week as the Government stepped up negotiations over a UK-US trade deal. Top of the agenda, said The Times, is protecting Britain’s multibillion-pound pharmaceutical industry. While currently spared the 10% baseline tariff imposed on “liberation day”, the industry faces a potential 25% sectoral levy. The biggest market for the UK’s two biggest drug makers, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the US, and it “has a trade deficit with the UK on pharmaceuticals” – a red flag for Donald Trump. Officials are scrambling to gain an exemption, with discussions driven by the British Embassy in Washington and the Biotechnology Innovation Organisation – a US trade body. The stakes are high, said Archie Mitchell in The Independent. AstraZeneca derives 40% of its revenues, worth…

Jamie Dimon “Who said the art of letter writing was dead?” asked Emma Jacobs in the FT. JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon’s annual missive to shareholders ran to 57 pages this year. It was described by Lex as a “masterclass” in tactfully “managing up” to President Trump, who Dimon has chosen not to confront openly, despite his attacks on free trade and financial institutions. Indeed, “the sharpest criticism” in his letter concerned not politicians, but bad office habits. “Get rid of the jargon,” Dimon writes. “Talk like you speak… avoid management pablum.” He reserves his “greatest ire” for meetings – “kill” them, he writes. And if you can’t, don’t spend the meetings sneaking glances at your phones. “This has to stop. It’s disrespectful. It wastes time.” Peter Hargreaves An old stager…

Only 4% of British men say that they never help with the chores, down from 24% in 1947, but women still do a lot more around the house, the Office for National Statistics has found: they clock up 57 minutes more unpaid work a day on average. Nevertheless, only 9% of women say they’d rather be a man, down from 37% in 1947. Among men, 4% said that they would rather be a woman back then; now 5% would. An internet-driven craze for Dubai chocolate has been blamed for a world shortage of pistachios. Launched in 2021, the bars, a mix of pistachio cream, pastry and chocolate, sold modestly until 2024, when a clip about them went viral, leading to surging demand, and a 35% rise in the price of…

Royal Air Force fighter jets were scrambled from Malbork Air Base in Poland three times last week to intercept Russian military aircraft that were heading from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad towards Nato air space over the Baltic Sea. On two occasions, the aircraft were Ilyushin Il-20Ms – spy planes which carry sophisticated surveillance equipment. These were the RAF’s first interceptions as part of Operation Chessman, a new Nato mission to bolster Europe’s air defences. Non-crime hate incidents The Conservatives have called for the recording of non-crime hate incidents (NCHIs) by police forces in England and Wales to be scrapped in most cases. NCHIs are defined as alleged acts perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people with “protected characteristics”, such as race or gender, but which fall…

Baltimore, Maryland Clooney’s nominee: Wes Moore, the governor of Maryland, has been singled out by George Clooney as the strongest potential candidate for the Democratic nomination in 2028. Speaking to CNN, the actor – seen as a Democrat “kingmaker” since he encouraged Joe Biden to drop out of last year’s election – said that Moore (pictured) was “levitating” above the field: “He speaks sort of beautifully. He’s smart… He’s a proper leader.” A former Rhodes Scholar, Moore, 46, served in the US army in Afghanistan and worked as an investment banker before going into politics. Washington DC Defence blunder: Pete Hegseth, the embattled US defence secretary, revealed details of a planned strike on Houthi positions in Yemen in a second Signal chat group, The New York Times has reported. This…

An Austrian company is planning to brew beer made from human urine. Öklo, which sells and rents out environmentally friendly mobile composting lavatories, is creating a pilsner using urine harvested in its loos, stripped of ammonia and other chemicals, to publicise its waste-water treatment methods. Öklopisner, as it is punnily entitled, will conform to the German beer-purity law of 1516, allowing only malted barley, hops, yeast and water to be used. Donald Trump toilet brush sales are seeing a huge surge in popularity in China, as the country reacts to the tariff war with the USA. The brushes have been available since the president’s first term in 2016, when he was popular in China and Trump memorabilia boomed. Now, by contrast, said The Daily Star, Chinese people “are expressing their…

RUSSIA Our soldiers are “ticking time bombs” Holod (Moscow) With their snappy uniforms and decent salaries, Russian soldiers who went off to fight in Ukraine were supposed to be the “new Russian elite”, says Lesya Lapina. Instead, growing numbers of these now wounded and mentally damaged men wander our streets like “ticking time bombs”, ready to explode. Many of these “SVOchniks” (named after the acronym for “special military operation”, the official term for the war in Ukraine) have returned from the front with PTSD. “Domestic violence abounds”, and several have even committed murder back at home. Russian civilians used to bombard these supposed heroes with questions about their exploits; now, with the country jaded by three years of death and destruction, we avoid them “like the plague”. Understandably, many Russian…

Elon Musk has plans to populate the world with a “legion” of children to ward off an “apocalypse”, according to the mother of one of his sons. The tech billionaire is believed to have at least 14 children with four different women, but sources say the true number could be far higher. As an outspoken “pronatalist”, Musk apparently sees it as his duty to bring children of “high intelligence” into the world, to combat depopulation. Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer who gave birth to one of Musk’s sons last year, claims that he suggested that she could also donate her eggs, to speed things up. “To reach legion-level before the apocalypse,” he texted, “we will need to use surrogates.” Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressed his sadness at the death…

“You can’t have everything. Where would you put it?”Steven Wright, quoted in The New York Times “A difficulty for every solution.”Herbert Samuel on the civil service, quoted in Time “If two wrongs don’t make a right, try three.”Canadian educator Laurence J. Peter, quoted in The Knowledge “Some people seem to think Trump’s playing chess, when most of the time the staff are just trying to stop him from eating the pieces.”Unnamed White House official, quoted on X/Twitter “Local elections are like tea leaves… Most people can’t make much sense of them, and the small group who claim they can generally see what they want to.”Zoe Williams in The Guardian “What a vast difference there is between the barbarism that precedes culture and the barbarism that follows it.”Friedrich Hebbel, quoted in…

Tennis players have rarely been reluctant to lodge complaints about their opponents, said Jim White in The Daily Telegraph. Excessive grunting; being too slow (or quick) to serve; deliberately firing balls at a rival’s head: objections of this sort have regularly been raised. Yet never before has a player “uttered a grievance about personal hygiene” – until last week in Rouen, when the British No. 4, Harriet Dart, complained to the umpire that her French opponent, Lois Boisson, was unusually smelly. “Can you ask her to put on deodorant?” Dart requested at a changeover. “She smells really bad.” In a sport where players spend most of their time “at least 80 feet apart at opposite sides of the court”, it seemed an “odd” complaint – and it came across as…

To The Daily Telegraph I was not quite prepared for what a difference the Supreme Court’s judgment would make to me personally, as an ordinary member of the public. I had followed the issue in the news, along with the statements of figures including Sir Keir Starmer. But I had not realised what a demeaning effect such views had on me. On Wednesday, however, I felt a sense of relief – a sense that, as a born woman, I was OK, and that others’ views were not going to be imposed on me, diminishing my rights. Thank goodness this saga has been brought to a close. Heather Erridge, Weston-super-Mare, Somerset To The Guardian Since coming out as a trans woman a few years ago, I have been in the habit…

Pope Francis 1936-2025 Pope Francis I, who has died aged 88, was the first Pope from the Americas, and the first from outside Europe for 1,200 years. He was also the first to live at the Vatican around the corner from his predecessor, said The Daily Telegraph, having been elected following the shock resignation of Benedict XVI – and the first Jesuit to lead the Roman Catholic Church. Known for his belief in social justice, he marked himself out with his informal style. “Buonasera,” he famously greeted the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square following his election, aged 76. He dressed simply, eschewing the red shoes and ermine-trimmed cape Benedict had worn. Instead of moving into the papal apartments, he remained in the Vatican guest house; and was soon seen…

UK interest rates could be heading sharply downwards – thanks to a combination of sticky inflation and the feared fallout from Trump’s tariff plans, said James Sillars on Sky News. “Financial markets have priced in a 100% chance” of a quarter-point cut, from 4.5% to 4.25%, at the next BoE meeting on 8 May, according to LSEG data. Two or three more cuts are expected by year’s end. The sub-4% club UK lenders are “sharpening their pencils” for a price war, said Callum Mason in The i Paper. Lloyds, Barclays and Santander are already offering deals below 4%, though these are only available to those with very large deposits. Looser lending rules Buyers without much of a deposit have a growing number of options, said Marc Ashdown on BBC Business.…

Gold bugs, after the price of a standard 12kg gold bar soared above £1m for the first time. Bullion dealers say the value of the metal has spiked owing to investors looking for places to protect their cash in a time of volatile financial markets. Liz Truss, who announced that she will be launching her own “uncensorable” social media platform in the summer. The former Tory PM, who has previously attacked the “supine legacy media”, said the platform would take on the “deep state”.…

84% of Britons think the climate is changing, while just 4% think it isn’t. Of those who think it is changing, 67% accept the consensus that human activity is the cause, while 17% think climate change is unrelated to human activity. 23% of Britons think that concerns on the issue have been exaggerated, while 62% think they haven’t. YouGov/The Independent 50% of Americans see Russia as an enemy of the USA, while 38% see Russia as a competitor, and 9% see it as a partner. Pew Research One in eight Britons (13%) deem it acceptable to have carpet in the bathroom, a figure which rises to almost one in five (19%) among 50 - to 64-year-olds. YouGov…

Surviving Bergen-Belsen In 1944, Lola Hassid Angel and her family were arrested in occupied Greece and deported to Bergen-Belsen. She was only seven when they arrived at the concentration camp in northern Germany, after an eight-day train journey, but within a year there, she says that she had “reached adulthood”: she’d seen things she should never have seen; heard sounds she should never have heard; and been confronted by horrors that she could neither forgive nor forget. For decades, she was reluctant to talk about her experience; but as the world marked the 80th anniversary of the camp’s liberation last week, she explained that now she wants people to know what happened – she wants today’s leaders to know what war is really like. “The Germans had a zeal for…

The child of a British catering assistant and a US Air Force official, Andrew Tate grew up in poverty, and lived with his mother on a Luton estate. He became a pro kick-boxer, and achieved wider fame on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016; he was expelled when videos emerged of him hitting a woman with a belt (he said it was consensual). Proudly describing himself as a “misogynist”, who regards women as “property”, he was banned from X/Twitter in 2022 for declaring that women should “bear responsibility” for being raped. Now reinstated, he has 10.7 million followers: his bio reads “2025 Worlds [sic] Sexiest Man”. He has made his wealth online, offering get-rich-quick advice at his Hustlers University, and self-help tips enshrined in his “41 Tenets for Men” (e.g. “each…

No, America was winning, Mr President Rich Lowry National Review I’m baffled by President Trump’s tariff policy, says Rich Lowry. Everyone has been worrying about the impact it will have. But the real question is why Trump feels a need to reorder the world economy, when the current system is working so well for America. He claims we’re being “ripped off”, but if that is the case, the thieves in the rest of the advanced world have gained remarkably little, while the “purported victim” has thrived. Since 1990, our per-person output has soared ahead: it is now about 40% higher than Western Europe’s and 60% higher than Japan’s. Since 2020, our economy has grown three times as fast as the G7. While America accounted for 21% of global GDP in…

The proportion of teenagers who are overweight or obese has risen by 50% in the past 15 years, an analysis of GP records has found. In 2008-2010, 22% of 12 - to 17-year-olds in England were overweight or obese; by 2021-23, the figure had risen to 33%. The increase was particularly steep around the time of the Covid pandemic, said the researchers from the University of Bristol. They also found that adolescents who were obese were at higher risk of 14 health conditions: they were 12 times more likely to develop liver disease in their teens or early 20s, and 11 times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes. Factors such as an overreliance on ultra-processed foods, lack of sleep driven in part by excess screen time, and fewer opportunities…

Chelsea have long dominated English women’s football, said Kit Shepard in The Times. They have won the Women’s Super League for the past five seasons, and are currently on course to capture their second domestic treble. Even so, the trophy cabinet at Stamford Bridge remains marked by a sense of incompleteness: the Blues have never lifted the biggest club title of them all: the Women’s Champions League. All that was supposed to change this season with the appointment of Sonia Bompastor as Chelsea head coach, replacing the long-serving Gemma Hayes. Having won the Champions League with Lyon in 2022, the Frenchwoman was hired “to deliver continental glory”. Yet for now, that goal seems likely to remain elusive. Last Sunday, Chelsea lost 4-1 to Barcelona at Estadi Johan Cruyff in the…

Football Leicester will be relegated from the Premier League, after losing 1-0 to Liverpool. The Reds now need one more victory to secure the title. F1 McLaren’s Oscar Piastri won the Saudi Arabian GP, beating Max Verstappen. The Australian now leads the title race by ten points. Tennis Holger Rune beat world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz in straight sets in the final for the Barcelona Open. Cycling Danish cyclist Mattias Skjelmose claimed the Amstel Gold Race, winning a sprint finish against favourite Tadej Pogačar.…

At work, Freddie finds Rochelle looking lost and brings her to lunch, where she asks about further training. After a last-minute cancellation, Kenton has an idea to boost Easter trade at The Bull: Morris dancing. He bribes a reluctant Jazzer to help out with a free family meal. As Emma and Pat discuss tactics, Mick reports that campaigner Feargal Sharkey is at Grey Gables! Emma meets him and he offers support. Freddie gets a police tip-off about animal-rights activists and finds a secret camera in the lairage – Vince is away but reckons it’s a prank. Following Feargal’s advice, Emma visits Martyn to make the case for a storm tank, and threatens more bad PR for Borsetshire Water. Rex asks Rochelle how she squares work at the abattoir with her…

Harry’s The Gallivant, Camber Sands, East Sussex (01797-225057) I’m not usually a fan of restaurants inside fancy hotels, says Grace Dent in The Guardian: their menus tend to be heavy on the “consommé and froth”, and light on the kind of dishes you might feel like eating. Thankfully, Harry’s – where Matthew Harris, formerly of the Miche-linstarred Bibendum now plies his trade – is different. The setting is glamorous, like a “1950s beach shack given a Soho Farmhouse makeover”, with dim lighting and soft music, but nothing feels “fussy or stiff”: the menu hails from the “homelier side of classic French cooking”; and nobody talked us through the dishes at great length, or demanded homage to the chef. As for the food, it was superb: our starters – a Waldorf salad…

● Avoid the identikit blue suits associated with estate agents. Try to make yourself stand out via your choice of pattern or cut – but without peacocking. ● M&S has interesting styles and a range of fits, including slim and regular and a more contemporary tailored fit, with single - or double-breasted options, plus different lapels, pockets and textured fabrics. ● A patterned suit – houndstooth, chalk stripe, pinstripe, check, plaid or herringbone – can be distinctive. You could tone it down by wearing it with a low-key shirt and tie. ● Mixing patterns can look chaotic; aim for one large and one small pattern. Try a smaller patterned shirt or tie in a colour picked out from a bold large-patterned suit. ● If you don’t have to wear a…

Supermarket price wars: who loses? Tesco boss Ken Murphy was adamant last week that there is no “irrational price war” erupting between Britain’s supermarket giants. Yet he certainly “appears to be preparing for one”, said Laura Onita in the Financial Times. Tesco has warned that annual profits will fall by almost half a billion pounds this year to free up the necessary “firepower” to cut prices. While Murphy didn’t name the original “aggressor”, there’s no doubt who he meant. Asda’s returning executive chair, Allan Leighton, fired the opening salvo – cutting prices on 10,000 products, or almost a third of the Asda range – in a bid to regain some of the struggling chain’s market share. His gung-ho stance frightened supermarket investors so badly that the ensuing sell-off wiped more…

Britain has to back Trump against China Matthew Lynn The Daily Telegraph The UK “is trying to play a clever game” in the economic war between America and China – “positioning itself as a bridge between the two sides”, says Matthew Lynn. Thus, the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, argues we shouldn’t cut economic ties with Beijing; and the controversial fast-fashion giant, Shein, may soon be welcomed onto the London Stock Exchange. “We are acting as if it is business more-or-less as normal” – it’s time to stop kidding ourselves. We will have to choose a side in the economic war. “Staying neutral might well prove a profitable niche”, short-term, with money to be made from both sides, but it is unsustainable in the long run. Despite everything Trump has done, Britain…

The week’s best shares Admiral Group The Times The insurer benefits from a keenly priced approach. 2024’s acquisition of home and pet brand, More Than, has boosted the core UK business. Long term, the arrival of self-drive cars should reduce claims and drive profitability. Buy. £32.58. Diploma The Daily Telegraph Shares in the gasket and seal supplier have been hit by uncertainty. Yet it’s a high-quality business with a strong balance sheet for further acquisitions, clear competitive advantage and an excellent growth record. Buy. £39.60. Engie The Daily Telegraph The renewables-focused French energy business builds local networks and onsite production facilities globally – and also operates in energy storage and nuclear. Growing, with a very generous divi. Buy. €18.67. H&T Group The Mail on Sunday The UK’s biggest pawnbroker, with…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1462 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 5 May. Send it to The Week Crossword 1462, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. By Paul McKenna ACROSS 9 On camera I mixed drink (9) 10 A gallant sort such as Bond? (5) 11 Cocktail is back – pricey with drop of Cinzano included (7) 12 Present discontinued drama (7) 13 For painter’s cleaner I put tenner up (10) 14 Jeer new present (4) 16 Particular girl after dusk provides yellow flower (7,8) 20 Gasp of surprise from fellow leaving review of satire (4) 21 Lookout to guard…