Innholdsfortegnelse for 1541 i The Week

A flotilla of 66 “little ships” sailed across the Channel from Ramsgate this week to mark the 85th anniversary of Operation Dynamo – the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk. Between 26 May and 4 June 1940, about 850 privately owned boats and their crew assisted in the rescue of more than 300,000 Allied troops from the advancing Nazis. Organisers of the event said they hoped it would ensure that the legacy of the little ships “continues to inspire future generations”. A British ultra-endurance runner is believed to have become the fastest person to cross the width of Australia on foot. William Goodge, 31, embarked on the 2,361 mile journey from Cottesloe Beach in Perth on 15 April, and finished 35 days later at Bondi Beach, Sydney. Along…

Melania Trump, after a bronze statue of the First Lady, gazing imperiously over the countryside near her home town in Slovenia, was vandalised – chopped off at the ankles and carted away. It had been installed near Sevnica to replace a previous iteration of the same statue to Melania, hewn from wood. It was burnt down. Rail enthusiasts, with the cancellation of the UK’s longest train route after 104 years. Launched in 1921, the Aberdeen to Penzance service took 13 hours and 20 minutes, and included 35 stops. From now on, direct trains will run only as far as Plymouth. Visitors to Edinburgh, after the city was named the most expensive in western Europe for a short break. Factoring in meals, a three-star hotel, transfers and sightseeing, a two-night stay…

44% of Britons say that they sometimes feel like “strangers in their own country”. Asian British people are more likely to feel like strangers (47%) than white residents (44%), and those earning under £10,000 (50%) more likely than those earning £100,000 or more (32%). 53% of those polled say multiculturalism benefits the UK, while 47% say it harms national identity. More in Common 56% of Britons think it was wrong to leave the EU. 53% would support rejoining Europe, and 66% want closer relations with it. YouGov 47% of 16- to 21-year-olds say they would prefer a world without the internet. 50% would support a digital curfew. British Standards Institution…

Living opposite Hitler In 1929, Edgar Feuchtwanger was five years old and living in Munich with his well-to-do Jewish parents when they got a new neighbour: Adolf Hitler. The Nazi leader had moved into a flat in the building opposite theirs, and before long his officials and members of the SS were flocking to the area too. Feuchtwanger’s father decided that they were safest hiding in plain sight, so they stayed there until 1939, when they fled to Britain. Now 100 and living in Hampshire, Feuchtwanger can still remember seeing Hitler lying on a deckchair; and standing off to one side with his nanny, while Hitler got into a car. “He thanked us,” Feuchtwanger told Astrid Probst in The Guardian. To him, Hitler seemed “just an ordinary person”, but of…

A school was evacuated and a bomb-disposal team called in after a pupil brought in a hand grenade to a show-and-tell assembly. The boy, at Osmaston CofE Primary School in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, produced the Second World War device from his pocket, having taken it from home without his parents’ knowledge. Head teacher Jeanette Hart took it from him and placed it behind a tree in the car park, before calling emergency services (it was found to be harmless). “It was quite an eventful assembly,” she said. A fast-flying mallard has been snapped by a speed camera in central Switzerland – and it may not be its first offence. Police in the town of Köniz said that their camera clocked the duck travelling at 52km/h in a 30-km/h zone; they also…

SOUTH AFRICA The case of the Afrikaner asylum seekers Daily Maverick (Cape Town) “Let’s just say it wasn’t your typical refugee exodus,” says Richard Poplak. Last Sunday, at Johannesburg’s international airport, a “cluster” of 59 Afrikaners (and their bags) were “spirited onto an aircraft chartered by the United States government”. This group made up the first tranche of white farmers granted “refugee” status by the Trump administration, which alleges that this minority is targeted for persecution by the South African state. “Make no mistake: South Africa is a violent place. The bloodshed comes suddenly, its viciousness often prompted by ancient rage and loathings.” But what the state has certainly not done is “single out a minority group for violent persecution”. To allege that it has targeted white Afrikaners “is an…

Male prisons are once again full to bursting, so the Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood is letting more convicts out of jail, said The Sun. Back in July, she reluctantly announced that eligible prisoners in England and Wales would be freed after serving 40% of their term, instead of 50%, warning that if she didn’t make some space, courts wouldn’t be able to send new offenders down, leading to a total breakdown in law and order. Her new scheme involves prisoners recalled for breaches to their licence. Those serving sentences of between one and four years will now be rereleased after 28 days, instead of having to wait for a parole board hearing. So it’s a bit different, but the result will be the same – “more wrong ’uns on the…

For a footballer who went through an entire playing career without receiving a single yellow card, “it may seem like an unlikely end”, said Michael Savage in The Guardian. But this week Gary Lineker was “dispatched” by the BBC after accepting that he had made a serious error of judgement. Last week, Lineker, 64, reposted an anti-Zionist video on Instagram that included an emoji of a rat – often used as an antisemitic symbol in Nazi Germany. He acknowledged his error by deleting the post; and the next day, he apologised. But with the criticism showing no sign of abating, the BBC felt his position had become untenable. On Monday, Lineker confirmed it: he was finally leaving. He had been due to front the BBC’s FA Cup and World Cup…

At last year’s PGA Championship, Scottie Scheffler was handcuffed, arrested and had his mugshot taken after failing to observe a policeman’s instructions while approaching the venue by car, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. He was soon released (with all charges dropped) and finished joint eighth in the tournament. This year’s event was a much happier one for the world No. 1, who ended it by claiming the third major title of his career with a typically dominant five-stroke victory. Scheffler, 28, has a rare capacity to “steady the ship as others waver”, said Ewan Murray in The Guardian – which helps explain why all three of his major victories have been by at least three shots. On Sunday, at Quail Hollow in North Carolina, Scheffler began the final round…

Putin: ready for peace… To The Times William Hague reproduces the widespread image of Vladimir Putin as the dark ex-KGB puppetmaster manipulating Trump to delay peace, clear the way for ultimate subjugation of Ukraine, and quite possibly follow up with much of eastern Europe. This is a seductive picture, but it is wrong. For Putin, the war has been a disaster: instead of the anticipated two-week walkover, it has brought Russia vast human and material destruction, military humiliation, battlefield deadlock, and no prospect of achieving its originally stated objectives. Putin knows all this. He is a hard-headed realist. His aim now will be to end the whole wretched business on terms he can present to Russians as victory, or at least justifying the huge sacrifices Russia has made. The big…

Rachel Joyce’s novel about a “Bunyanesque modern-day everyman who goes out to post a letter to his terminally-ill, long-lost friend”, but ends up walking instead from Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed to see her in person, became a bestseller in 2012 and was turned into a film a decade later. This new stage adaptation is infused with the same “syrupy, unabashed sentimentality” as both of those, said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian, but it has a “winning twist”: a musical score by Passenger (the singer-songwriter Michael Rosenberg) that “blasts the story through with folksy heart and foot-stomping soul”. Throw in the vibrant choreography and imaginative staging, and this “idiosyncratic” show has the makings of a “quirky West End transfer”. It’s hard to make sense of a 500-mile hike on stage, said Sarah…

Look at the reverse of a US dollar bill and below “The United States of America” you will notice the words “In God we trust”. That’s all very well for the US government, whose motto it is. There is no higher authority. But for “we the people”, we have little choice but to put our faith in the government to give these intrinsically worthless bits of paper value – whether they be dollars, pounds or euros. It wasn’t always like this. For millennia, the idea that you would trust in the government would have been absurd, especially when your dinner was at stake. (Some of us still believe it is.) It wasn’t the government that gave money its value but what that money was made of – gold and silver…

“Choosing whiskies you like, rather than ones that might appreciate, is a sensible approach. If you don’t get the returns, cracking open the bottles is a great alternative” Whisky as an alternative asset class has undergone a transformation over the past 15 years. According to the Knight Frank Wealth Report, the definitive guide to alternative assets, and its Luxury Investment index (KFLII), the value of rare whisky bottles increased 280% over the ten years to the end of 2023. The Rare Whisky Apex 1000 index, which tracks the price movement of 1,000 rare bottles, recorded growth of 416% between 2012 and 2022. Meanwhile, various sources have cited growth in the value of whisky casks of between 10% and 15% over the past decade. However, while the performance of bottles and…

Tom and Natasha muse about what they’ll do with their inheritance from Peggy. After the cricket, Lynda learns of Vince’s secret sponsorship deal paying Rex; she’s disappointed in Lily, who begs her not to tell. Joy visits Rochelle; by chance, Rex is driving the taxi to take Joy home. At the shop, Lily gets angry at Joy about Rochelle; later, when Rex defends Rochelle, Lily accuses him of taking sides. After the abattoir ordeal, David tells Pip they need to review security at Brookfield, and he’d prefer not to do Open Farm Sunday. Following a family outing, Helen and Tom receive emails from the solicitor saying they’ll receive a very small sum from Peggy’s estate, as do the rest of the family. As Rex wonders about his life choices, Brian…

One Club Row 1 Club Row, London E1 (oneclubrow.com) Patrick Powell has been “one of my favourite chefs for quite some time”, says Grace Dent in The Guardian. He used to work at the Michelin-starred Allegra in Stratford, in east London, where the food was rather refined. But at the “shabbychic” One Club Row, in Shoreditch, he has found inspiration in the kind of food served in hip bars in New York; and the results are “more hearty than fussy or finickity”. We start with pickled jalapeño gougères and “chunky, crisp” lobster and ham croquettes: both are perfect to eat while sipping one of the four house martinis. Next comes a “very delicious” steak tartare, served with beef-dripping bread, and a “remarkably pretty tuna crudo”.The mains, which are “marginally even…

● If your brown sugar has gone hard, put it in a bowl with a sheet of damp kitchen paper and microwave in ten-second bursts until it’s soft. For crystallised honey, do the same minus the paper. ● Nuts toast nicely in a microwave. Heat on a tray in a single layer in 20-second intervals, stirring each time, until fragrant. ● If you microwave a peeled onion for 30 seconds, it will remove the compounds that make you cry when chopping them. ● Microwave a lemon or lime for 15 to 20 seconds and you’ll get more juice out. ● Wrap stale bread in a damp paper towel and microwave for ten to 20 seconds to soften. Be careful not to overdo it. ● Garlic cloves are easier to peel…

Andrew Norfolk 1965-2025 When Elon Musk seized on the issue of child-grooming gangs earlier this year, he claimed that the “mainstream media” had covered it up, said Janice Turner in The Times. It was nonsense. Plenty of people had, of course, turned a blind eye for years to the fact that in towns across England, girls, some as young as 11, were being abused by groups of men of mainly Pakistani heritage, who plied them with alcohol and drugs and then touted them around, to be gang raped on dirty mattresses in unused flats and rooms above shops. Police thought these girls, most of whom were white and in care, were not worth the paperwork, let alone the community tensions an inquiry would cause; social workers often regarded them as…

● “Britain has lost more billionaires over the past 12 months than at any point in its history,” said compiler Robert Watts in The Sunday Times. “Falling fortunes have led many to drop off the list and others are no longer eligible, having fled Britain after Labour’s non-dom crackdown.” Trump added to “the dip”. The combined wealth of the 350 entries is down 3% to £772.8bn – marking the list’s “third consecutive drop in collective value”. ● Topping the list for the fourth consecutive year are the Hinduja clan, though their wealth – deriving from banking, finance, media and energy – has shrunk by £2bn to £35.3bn. David and Simon Reuben and family (£26.9bn) and Sir Leonard Blavatnik (£25.7bn) took second and third places. ● The biggest faller was Manchester…

Bian Ximing “A handful of larger-than-life figures have dominated Chinese commodities trading,” said Bloomberg. The latest is a “reclusive billionaire” based in Gibraltar. Bian Ximing – who moved to the Rock after making an early fortune in plastic tubes – now moves markets in China from his eyrie “at the tip of the Iberian peninsular”. Having cleaned up in gold (he made $1.5bn from a prescient bet), Bian’s brokerage, Zhongcai, is now “all in” on copper. Described as “unassuming”, the 61-year-old rarely visits his homeland, but even so he has built a loyal following in China for his Warren Buffett-style online “musings”. “There are traps and opportunities everywhere – opportunities in risks and traps in opportunities,” he wrote last year. “Investment is essentially a game of survival.” Trinny Woodall In…

Tesco has unveiled a wedding-list service, featuring “bundles” of everyday products. For £63, a wedding guest could give a bundle of “Really Useful Stuff”, which includes five packs of 12 luxury toilet tissue, eight kitchen rolls and 100 bin bags. Or they could opt for the £39 “I Love Brew” bundle – a six-month supply of tea bags and packets of biscuits. The retailer says that many couples have already furnished a home, and so prefer gifts that will reduce their day-to-day costs. The march of AI continues: at the Chelsea Flower Show this year, visitors to an “intelligent” garden are invited to use an app to ask 12 trees, fitted with various sensors, how they’re feeling. So far, they’ve mainly reported being thirsty.…

Keir Starmer said at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday that the Government wanted “to ensure… more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payments”. More than nine million pensioners lost out on annual payments worth up to £300 last year, after Chancellor Rachel Reeves restricted eligibility for what had been a universal benefit to those with incomes below £11,500. The move, which saved around £1.5bn, has been much criticised, and was partly blamed for Labour’s poor performance in recent elections. Starmer said that ministers would “look at the threshold”. The new plan is expected in the Budget in the autumn.…

The Hague, Netherlands Abuse claims: The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stepped down from the post while a UN investigation is carried out into claims he sexually abused a female colleague. Karim Khan, a British barrister, is accused of groping the colleague and trying to coerce her into “non-consensual sex acts”. He denies the claims, which first surfaced last October, but pressure on him to take a leave of absence intensified after it was reported, in The Wall Street Journal, that he had tried to pressure the alleged victim into retracting her claims for the good of the court’s reputation. Khan was elected in 2021 to serve a nine-year term. Lisbon Far-right surge: Portugal’s ruling, centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD) has cemented its position as the dominant political…

1 Chop My Money (I Don’t Care) by Paul Nonso Okoye and Peter Obumneme Okoye, performed by P-Square featuring Akon and May D 2 Joromi, written and performed by Sir Victor Uwaifo 3 Love to Love You Baby by Giorgio Moroder, Pete Bellotte and Donna Summer, performed by Donna Summer 4 Zombie by Fela Kuti, performed by Fela Kuti and Afrika 70 5 Coat of Many Colours, written and performed by Dolly Parton 6 I Have Nothing by David Foster and Linda Thompson, performed by Whitney Houston 7 Touch Me in the Morning by Ron Miller and Michael Masser, performed by Diana Ross 8* I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today by Will Jennings and Joe Sample, performed by The Crusaders and Joe Cocker Book: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt Luxury: seeds to grow yam, rice and corn *…

Bureaucracy is as old as civilisation; the two are in fact inextricably intertwined. The earliest known forms of writing come from ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, detailing administrative functions such as tax collection. When Northcote and Trevelyan were making their recommendations in the mid-19th century, they were inspired by the examination system for the Chinese imperial civil service. The criticisms go a long way back, too. In the 18th century, the term bureaucracy – rule by desk – was coined by a French economist, Vincent de Gournay, who saw it as an “illness”. In 1904, the German sociologist Max Weber concluded that it was the most efficient and rational way of organising social units, but also saw that it can trap humans in an “iron cage” of rule-based control (a prediction…

Say goodbye to US tech innovation Bina Venkataraman The Washington Post “It’s fun to be from the most inventive country on Earth,” says Bina Venkataraman. For all its problems, America still leads the way in curing diseases and developing new technologies. This is not just some “accident of geography or artefact of culture”. The “hidden engine” driving this innovation is basic research supported by taxpayers. Lithium-ion batteries, online messaging, GPS, MRI scans – they can all be “traced to the symbiosis between research funded by government and private industry”. The same goes for virtually the entire US biotech industry. It should worry everyone, therefore, that science grants are being slashed as part of the Trump administration’s efficiency drive. Don’t expect the free market to step into the gap. While US…

All the “billion-dollar contracts and bling” of his visit to the Gulf last week shouldn’t blind us to the fact that “Donald Trump pulled off a diplomatic coup, perhaps the boldest of his second term”, said Pierre Haski in World Crunch (Paris). Surprising even his own Treasury officials, the US president announced in Riyadh that he was lifting all sanctions on Syria – paving the way for the country’s reintegration into the international community after the toppling of dictator Bashar al-Assad in 2024. The news sent shockwaves through Syria, said Syria TV (Istanbul). Thousands flocked to squares in Damascus, Aleppo and elsewhere to celebrate – “waving flags and chanting slogans, amid a sense of joy and hope for what lies ahead”. For a country that has been blighted by 13…

The claim that GLP-1 agonist weight-loss drugs will usher in a “golden age” of medicine has been boosted by the results of a series of studies. One of these, which involved analysis of data on 26,000 adults taking semaglutide (marketed as Ozempic and Wegovy), found that the drug leads to significant improvements in mood and well-being. This was true both for adults with no mental health disorders and those with conditions such as schizophrenia. Presenting their findings at the European Congress on Obesity in Málaga, the researchers, from the University of Bern, said that this was unlikely to be only because losing weight makes people happier, and pointed to evidence that the drugs reduce neuroinflammation. Another study presented in Málaga indicated that in overweight people, GLP-1 agonists can halve deaths…

“There has been an undeniable, perhaps still underappreciated, shift in British politics,” said Dr Jake Scott on CapX. In just a few years, we’ve gone from the Tory aide and former Spectator journalist James Forsyth declaring that immigration is no longer “a political problem” to parties competing to sound tough on the issue. Last week, in what has been dubbed his “island of strangers” speech, Keir Starmer promised to curb migrant numbers with the help of new legislation. He claimed that the Tories’ “open borders experiment” had failed, but was also careful to acknowledge the “massive contribution” migrants made to Britain. It was hardly inflammatory stuff, yet it caused quite a stir after critics accused the PM of aping the language of Enoch Powell. That the media class indulged this…

“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.”Carl Jung, quoted in Investor’s Business Daily “I try to invest in businesses that are so wonderful that an idiot can run them. Because sooner or later, one will.”Warren Buffett, quoted on The Motley Fool “I want my children to have all the things I couldn’t afford. Then I want to move in with them.”Phyllis Diller, quoted in Good Housekeeping “Do not use semi-colons. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”Kurt Vonnegut, quoted in The Guardian “Economics is less a science than a performing art.”Neil Postman, quoted in The New Statesman “Almost all absurdity of conduct arises from the imitation of those we cannot resemble.”Samuel Johnson, quoted in Forbes “Idealism increases…

To The Guardian No doubt this was an idiotic act of wanton vandalism, but let’s get a bit of proportion here. The Sycamore Gap tree was not particularly old. If it was so “iconic”, why had the local council failed to place a Tree Preservation Order on it? The monetary value placed on the tree in court – £622,191 – was ridiculous. How was that calculated? Based on outrage? How will society benefit from a custodial sentence for these two fools? Would it not be more fitting for a court to decide that they should plant 2,000 trees each? Planting trees is loathsome, back-breaking work. Justice served and hopefully a lesson learnt. Matt Powell, Holne, Devon To The Guardian Matt Powell suggests the Sycamore Gap vandals be punished by an…

Marlene Dumas’s 1997 painting Miss January “made art-market history” at Christie’s in New York last week, says The Art Newspaper. Her “towering” 280cm-tall portrait, which “depicts “a beauty queen standing confidently, nude from the waist down save for a single pink sock”, was sold for $11.5m ($13.6m with fees) – the most expensive work by any living female artist sold at auction. It was sold from the collection of the Miami collectors Mera and Don Rubell. Christie’s described the 71-year-old South African artist as one of the most influential painters in the world, declaring that Miss January “triumphantly demonstrates a formal mastery of the woman’s body while simultaneously freeing it from a tradition of subjection, upending normalised concepts of the female nude”.…

Many luxury products can be considered a Veblen good – one for which, counter-intuitively, demand intensifies even as prices rise. But wine enjoys another attribute that is harder to replicate among, say, watches or cars – its inherent scarcity increases over time, simply because people drink it. According to wine investment firm WineCap’s recently published Wealth Report, 96% of UK wealth managers expect demand for fine wine to increase in 2025 – more than for fine art (94%), watches (90%), luxury handbags (86%) or coins (78%). Collectors, it adds, are attracted to fine wine by its proven long-term price appreciation and intrinsic scarcity. And should those cases of first-growth Bordeaux fail to gain in value as expected, you can at least open them and drink them. So, where to begin?…

Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman, 2001 (Penguin £8.99). A love story set against the backdrop of a racially segregated world, with light-skinned “noughts” systemically oppressed by the ruling, dark-skinned “crosses”. Stirring and inspiring, it remains one of the most powerful examples of how children’s literature can convey the devastating impact of prejudice and inequality. Asking For It by Louise O’Neill, 2015 (Quercus £9.99). A fictional but all-too-familiar story about the aftermath of the rape of a young woman in a small town. This searing YA novel explores themes of complicity, victim-blaming and the devastating legacy of sexual violence, and portrays how both the media and our communities can play a role in the miscarriage of justice. Circe by Madeline Miller, 2018 (Bloomsbury £9.99). A brilliant retelling of Greek mythology…

Programmes The Last Anniversary Australian drama based on Liane Moriarty’s novel. A journalist ruffles feathers after mysteriously inheriting a house in a close-knit island community. Sat 24 May, BBC1 21:00 and 21:50 (50mins each). Death Valley Crime Mystery starring Timothy Spall. A Welsh D.I. solves a murder with the help of a retired actor who once played her favourite TV detective. Sun 25 May, BBC1 20:15 (45mins). Jane Austen: Rise of a Genius Six-part docudrama marking the writer’s 250th anniversary. In episode one, Jane is 17 and beginning to write stories. Mon 26 May, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Implosion: The Titanic Sub Disaster Documentary following the investigation into the causes of the 2023 tragedy, and asking if it could have been avoided. Tue 27 May, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). The Rise and Fall of…

Serves 4-6 2 tbsp loose-leaf Earl Grey tea (or 3 teabags) 250ml (9fl oz) boiling water zest of 1 orange 1 lemon, zested and sliced 2 tsp sea salt flakes side of salmon, skin on (about 800g/1lb 12oz) 1 tbsp olive oil ½ tsp soft light-brown sugar • For the marinade, brew the loose-leaf tea or 2 of the teabags in the measured hot water for 4-5 minutes. Strain into a shallow container that is large enough to fit your salmon fillet and set the soaked tea leaves to one side (discard the teabags). • Allow the tea to cool to room temperature, then add half the orange zest, half the lemon zest and 1 teaspoon of the sea salt flakes. Stir until the salt has dissolved, then lay the…

Skyscanner makes it easy to search for the cheapest flights, car hire and hotels, with plenty of useful filters. You can set price alerts and you book direct with the provider. FlightAware is useful to check the status of your flight and the route on a live map. If you’re travelling with friends, consider opening a Monzo account. Foreign transactions are free from fees and you can split bills easily on the app. Google Translate is invaluable if you don’t speak the local language. You can download languages for offline use and use your phone camera to instantly translate menus, food labels, signs and so on. Google Maps allows you to store huge chunks of maps for use offline, with turn-by-turn directions; you can also use it to see how…

Gran Hotel Mas d’en Bruno Tarragona, Spain Known for its “rich, minerally” reds, the Catalan wine region of Priorat lies in a dramatic mountain landscape two hours’ drive southwest of Barcelona. Set amid its vineyards is this “stylish” retreat, says House & Garden – a revamped 18th century farmhouse that opened as a hotel two years ago. Its 24 suites have fireplaces, red marble baths and vineyard views, and several have private terraces with fire pits. Food is a “major draw”, including excellent tasting menus inspired by the traditions of the region. There’s a spa, a big outdoor pool, and lots to do, including wine tastings, e-bike tours and yoga. Doubles from £360 b&b; masdenbruno.com.…

Marks & Spencer: hacked off M&S bosses had been hoping “to bask in the success of the last financial year” when they presented this week’s annual results, touting a bumper surge in profits to around £840m, said Isabella Fish in The Times. So much for that. A month on from the retailer’s catastrophic Easter weekend cyberattack, the unresolved crisis, which has “compromised both customer and staff data”, overshadowed everything else. M&S warned this week that disruption to its online operations would last until July; and its top brass face tricky questions about how the retailer was so vulnerable to the ransomware attack unleashed by Scattered Spider hackers. The group is believed to have gained entry via an IT supplier, and was “able to work undetected in the systems for around…

Crypto is the ultimate “swamp asset” Editorial The Economist No US presidency in modern history has “generated so many conflicts of interest at such speed”, says The Economist. But forget about Qatari Boeing 747s: “the worst self-dealing in American politics is found not on a runway but on blockchains”. Thanks to its “grubby relationship” with the executive branch of US government, “crypto has become the ultimate swamp asset”. It is possibly now “the largest single source” of the Trump family’s wealth – and that of several cabinet officials; the industry’s largest players are among his leading political donors. The contrast with what is happening in other countries, as the underlying technology merges with mainstream finance, is striking. The EU, Japan and UAE have all given digital assets “new regulatory clarity”.…

The week’s best shares Aberdeen Group The Mail on Sunday Having put the vowels back into the investment house, the new CEO has clear plans for improving focus and profitability. The interactive investment platform, ii, is going from “strength to strength”. Yields almost 9%. Buy. 168p. Animalcare Group The Mail on Sunday Run by sector veterans, Animalcare specialises in easy-to-administer drugs for pets, horses and farm animals: products range from arthritis treatments to pet toothpaste. Overseas expansion is driving profits growth. Buy. 248p. AstraZeneca The Daily Telegraph The pharma giant is well placed to capitalise on a growing and ageing population, given its focus on cancer and heart-disease treatments. Boosted by solid finances and higher R&D spending. Buy. £101.80. Christie Group The Mail on Sunday This corporate agent matches buyers…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1466 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 2 June. Send it to The Week Crossword 1466, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. By Paul McKenna This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 Freezing cold inside lorry (6) 5 Learner with, at all times, mature advantage (8) 9 A circle drawn roughly round English veg (8) 10 Oh, for Heaven’s sake! An encouragement (4-2) 11 Backer in team reassessed Wedgewood, say (12) 13 Drop a narrative (4) 14 Person from Perth out without a scratch? (4,4) 17 A…

What happened Keir Starmer hailed a “new era” in relations with Europe this week after the UK and Brussels agreed a post-Brexit “reset”. Under the deal, announced at a summit in London with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, the EU will lift checks on food produce crossing the Channel in return for the UK committing to abide by EU food standards. As part of a new security pact, British defence firms will be able to participate in joint EU procurement programmes. Britons will be able to use border e-gates at more EU airports. The two sides also agreed, in principle, to establish a new youth exchange scheme and work towards a joint electricity market. The PM said the deal was a “win-win” that would deliver cheaper food and electricity…

Austria, which won its third Eurovision Song Contest. The nation’s contestant, JJ – a 24-year-old countertenor – dazzled the continent with a track called Wasted Love, which opens as an operatic ballad then shifts into a techno club anthem. The UK crashed out 19th out of 26, with 88 points from the judges, and nul points from the public. The Pig family, who welcomed a new addition – a baby sister for the never-ageing Peppa and George. Apparently, the piglet, named Evie, was delivered in the private Lindo Wing of St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, where Catherine, the Princess of Wales, had her three children. It costs around £10,000 per delivery, suggesting the Pigs are more prosperous than previously assumed.…

Inflation rose to 3.5% in April, up from 2.6% in March, according to official figures. Gas and electricity prices went up on 1 April, due to changes in the Ofgem energy price cap, as did water bills, council tax and many phone and broadband prices – pushing inflation further above the Bank of England’s target of 2%. Companies were also hit by increases in employer national insurance contributions and the UK minimum wage. The rise was higher than economists had expected (see page 45).…

Chautauqua, New York Rushdie attacker jailed: The man who tried to kill Salman Rushdie while he was delivering a lecture in 2022 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, the maximum term possible. Hadi Matar, 27, had been convicted of attempted murder at trial in February. He had rushed onto the stage, and stabbed the writer multiple times in the face, neck, chest and thigh, leaving him blind in one eye. Prosecutors said Matar (above) had been motivated by a speech in 2006 by Hezbollah’s then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah, endorsing the 1989 fatwa issued by Iranian religious leaders over Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. London, Kentucky Killer tornadoes: At least 28 people were killed last Friday, and scores more injured, when 52 tornadoes ripped through parts of the US Midwest…

“Yet another thing we have been robbed of by the mobile phone age: back in the day, wielding a big heavy handset at the end of a curly cord, you could slam – yes, slam – the phone down with a satisfying bang or ding. It felt good. Phone-slamming was almost a national pastime. You saw it in films all the time. Those old rotary dial phones were made of strong stuff, perhaps specifically designed to withstand the force of these rages. Slam down your mobile with similar force and you will do a grand’s worth of damage. All we are left with is something a bit lame: you can stab rather than press the red button, with a little more emphasis than usual.” Adrian Chiles in The Guardian…

A shocking failure to care about care John Power The Spectator Faced with a major problem, ministers have a fatal habit of “killing off a flawed solution without putting anything in its place”, says John Power. And so it is with the care-worker visa, which the Government is abolishing to bring down migration figures. How it expects the sector to cope without this scheme is a mystery. There are more than 130,000 vacancies in social care in England – about 8.3% of the sector. True, that’s slightly better than in 2020/21, when the rate hit 10.7%, but that was almost entirely because in 2023, 57,666 foreign care workers “were hired under the now-doomed visa route”. Who will now take their place? The domestic workforce? Few Brits want to do care…

Jilly Cooper has revealed that she once “necked” Sean Connery – though both were married and their spouses were a few feet away. “We lived in Fulham and Sean and his lovely wife Diane were in Putney, and they came for dinner,” she told The Mail on Sunday. “I was in the kitchen, pretending to cook, and he came in and took me in his arms and kissed me,” she said. The next day, they discussed it on the phone. “He said, ‘Look, I love Diane,’ and I said I loved Leo and really better we didn’t. Isn’t that lovely?” Lauren Sánchez gathered a posse of celebrity friends in Paris last week, for a lavish “bachelorette party” ahead of her wedding to Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos in June. The former…

Previously, when MPs had debated Kim Leadbeater’s assisted dying bill, the atmosphere had been “one of gracious respect and emotive compassion”, said Rachel Cunliffe in The New Statesman. But when it returned to the Commons for the committee stage vote last Friday, the mood was very different: sour, contentious, marred by accusations of bad faith. Time was very short. MPs were requested to keep their contributions to under 15 minutes, and later, to under five. The vast majority of MPs wishing to speak were denied the opportunity. When the first vote finally came, it wasn’t on the amendments they’d spent four-and-a-half hours debating, but to decide whether to proceed to a vote at all. After that, only two amendments, of the dozens proposed, were actually voted on. “This is not…

It was a day that will be for ever etched in the memories of Crystal Palace fans, said David Hytner in The Guardian – one where history was made and “legends created”. Playing in their third FA Cup final, the south London club won the first major trophy of their 120-year history with a 1-0 defeat of Manchester City. It was Eberechi Eze’s “smoothly dispatched” 16th-minute goal that earned Palace their victory, said Jonathan Northcroft in The Sunday Times. Yet their path to the “promised land” was far from straightforward. City dominated the match, “controlling all but a few minutes and a few counterattacks”. They ended it with 78% of the possession, had the lion’s share of chances, and missed a first-half penalty. Moreover, they believed, with some justification, that…

Tennis Carlos Alcaraz beat Jannik Sinner in straight sets to win the Italian Open for the first time. Emma Raducanu beat world No. 17 Daria Kasatkina in the first round of the Strasbourg Open. Football Nottingham Forest kept their hopes of Champions League qualification alive with a 2-1 victory over West Ham. They play fourth-placed Chelsea in their final game on Sunday. Cricket England Test captain Ben Stokes said he has quit alcohol to help with his recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained in New Zealand in December.…

“At last! After two years of disruption, with shuttered galleries and dispiriting queues, the National Gallery is reopening in its entirety,” said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. It is a momentous occasion. The Sainsbury Wing extension has been rebuilt, and “more than 1,000” pieces from the museum’s permanent collection have been rehung. The result is exhilarating, traversing “the entire tradition of Western European painting” from the 13th century to the early 20th. “And, to think, we get to take this voyage for free.” Rehangs “used to mean little more than moving pictures about”, said Bendor Grosvenor in Art Review. These days, though, they often represent a total “re-envisioning of what is shown across the entire gallery” – and of how an institution defines its purpose. They can also go…

“You can’t build long-term confidence in a system that doesn’t honour its own transactions. Consignors lose faith, buyers hesitate, brands erode” In 2024, $7.7bn less was spent on art than the year before – a 12% drop in global sales, according to the latest Art Basel and UBS Art Market Report. Despite this, the overall number of transactions increased by 3%. So, activity and appetite haven’t fallen, but increased. Spending is down, yes, but participation is up. The market isn’t shrinking, it’s shifting. Buyers are buying differently. The 12% global decline is largely driven by China’s 31% drop. A $3.77bn contraction in one region accounts for nearly half the total global fall. If we were to strip that figure out, what remains is perhaps energy redistributed into smaller segments, younger…

Simon Mann 1952-2025 Simon Mann was a buccaneering adventurer and mercenary who came to public prominence in 2004, when he was accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea. The plan, hatched at White’s club, was to depose the country’s dictatorial president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and replace him with an exiled opposition activist. In return, said The Guardian, the mercenaries and their ten financial backers would get a stake in the country’s oil reserves. Unfortunately, however, Obiang got wind of the plot before they’d even set off. Mann had been due to meet the bulk of the 80-strong mercenary force in Zimbabwe. He had been trying to buy weapons there; and they were flying in from South Africa. But when he went to the airport, Robert Mugabe’s forces were waiting,…