Innholdsfortegnelse for 1542 i The Week

Controversy of the week The Connolly case “Now and again, judges make decisions so egregious,” said Isabel Oakeshott in The Daily Telegraph, “that they inflame a nation inured to the selective callousness of authority.” So it is with the case of Lucy Connolly, a 42-year-old childminder who last week lost an appeal over the “manifestly cruel” 31-month jail term she is serving for posting a single (and quickly deleted) tweet. Last summer, when false rumours were spreading that the killer of three children at a dance class in Southport was an illegal migrant, Connolly – herself the mother of a 12-year-old daughter – tweeted: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f**king hotels full of the bastards for all I care.” Connolly acted in haste, said Allison Pearson in…

Shellfish, with the appearance of vast numbers of octopuses in British waters, owing to an unprecedented marine heatwave. With no quota for octopuses, this has proved a boon to some fishermen in Cornwall and Devon, but the cephalopods are causing problems for others – by raiding their pots for crabs and lobsters. Thames Water, which was hit by a record £104.5m in fines for environmental breaches related to sewage spills. Ofwat said the fines would be paid for by the business, not its customers. The water company was fined a further £18.2m for breaking dividend rules by paying out to investors while falling short in other areas.…

Paris Guilty old men: Four members of a gang, dubbed the “grandpa robbers” by the French media, have been found guilty of stealing jewellery worth £7.5m from the US media star Kim Kardashian. The men, three in their 60s or 70s, had tied her up for five hours in her Paris hotel suite in 2016 and held her at gunpoint. Four other gang members were found guilty of assisting the plot. The raid’s mastermind, Aomar Aït Khedache (pictured), 69, a retired restaurateur now disabled, deaf and mute, received the heaviest sentence of three years in prison. But given the men’s ages and the fact they have already served time, none will actually return to custody. Paris Islamism threat: President Macron – responding to a newly declassified government report on the…

1 Hit the Road Jack by Percy Mayfield, performed by Ray Charles 2* Petite Fleur, written and performed by Sidney Bechet 3 Nipepee (Cool Me With Your Fan) by Shaib Abeid, performed by Ikhwani Safaa Musical Club with Seif Salim 4 Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 7: I Allegro maestoso by Clara Schumann, performed by Isata Kanneh-Mason with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Holly Mathieson) 5 A Day in the Life by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles 6 Kaira, traditional, performed by Toumani Diabaté 7 So What, written and performed by Miles Davis 8 Folon, written and performed by Salif Keita Book: That Glimpse of Truth, edited by David Miller Luxury: nail clippers * Choice if allowed only one record…

The European Convention on Human Rights came into force in 1953, designed to safeguard basic freedoms and rights, in response to wartime atrocities (it is unconnected to the EU). British lawyers and officials played a significant role in drafting it. The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg was founded in 1959, so that individuals and groups could petition it if rights were being violated, though the UK only allowed such petitions in 1966. From 1978, the court interpreted the Convention as a “living instrument”, allowing it to create new rights in accordance with what it sees as the spirit of the Convention. Thus, Article 8, the right to respect for private and family life, was originally designed to protect people from oppressive states. The court has since reinterpreted it…

The great continental divide Yascha Mounk The Dispatch Over the past couple of decades, there has been a “great economic divergence” between Europe and America, says Yascha Mounk. They used to be similarly affluent. In 2007, Britain’s nominal GDP per capita was $50,400, while America’s was $48,100 and Germany’s was $42,400. But the US has since shot ahead: according to the latest data, its GDP per capita now stands at $82,800, while Germany’s is $54,300 and Britain’s has fallen to $49,500. This isn’t just down to mega-rich people in the US skewing the data. Americans are pulling away from their European peers in median disposable income as well, and on other quality-of-life metrics, such as access to good housing. The average home size in the US is about 2,164 square…

Scientists in Nottingham have created a two-hour test for brain tumours. More than 12,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with brain cancer annually and many die within a year. Currently, diagnosis involves sending a sample of the tumour to a specialised lab, which will run four or five tests to determine what sort of tumour the patient has and what their prognosis is. This takes six to eight weeks, and can be stressful for patients and delay the start of treatments. The new test uses a hi-tech portable device to sequence the tumour’s DNA and can give a detailed read-out within hours. A study involving 50 patients found it to be 100% accurate, reports The Times. It makes a huge difference, said patient Charles Trigg, 45. “I can’t change…

“Uncork the Gauke!” In the coalition years, said Danny Shaw in The Spectator, whenever George Osborne was in a tight spot, his aides would call on David Gauke, the “unflappable” Treasury minister, to tour the studios and calm the waters. Now, the Gauke has been uncorked by the Labour Government. With men’s jails at 99% capacity, he was asked to look at ways of solving the overcrowding crisis in England and Wales, and last week he unveiled his proposals – most of which will be adopted. They include hastening the deportation of foreign inmates (there are 10,800); scrapping most jail terms of less than a year – typically handed to non-violent offenders; and introducing an “earned progression model” in which well-behaved inmates are released after serving a third of their…

“The truth is often paywalled, while the lies are always free.”David Frum, quoted in The Sunday Times “It is a joy to be hidden, and a disaster not to be found.”D.W. Winnicott, quoted in Psychology Today “When my kids become wild and unruly, I use a nice, safe playpen. When they’re finished, I climb out.”Erma Bombeck, quoted in Good Housekeeping “The men of action are, after all, only the unconscious instruments of the men of thought.”Heinrich Heine, quoted in Forbes “Speed has never killed anyone. Suddenly becoming stationary, that’s what gets you.”Jeremy Clarkson, quoted in The Scotsman “This is just a reminder that when you get old, you can either look old, or you can look weird. You can’t look young. You already did that, that part’s over.”Comedian Dustin Anderson,…

To The Guardian Finally, Keir Starmer reluctantly announces that the Government is considering reinstating the winter fuel payment, at least for some pensioners, although the exact details have not been released as yet. He has done so because he’s been forced into it by public demand, and belatedly realises that the appallingly callous decision is largely responsible for the fact that Labour polled so badly in the recent council elections. Starmer and Rachel Reeves will never be forgiven for this. Their reputation is now indelibly damaged, and quite rightly so. Ruthlessly targeting the poorest, most vulnerable members of society was indefensible. In 2017, Labour itself cited research to argue that as many as 4,000 lives would be put at risk by Conservative plans to scrap winter fuel payments. So Starmer…

About 2,000 years ago, art on the Indian subcontinent underwent “a stunning transformation”, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. Where it had previously been “enigmatically abstract”, it started to become “incredibly accomplished at portraying the human body – and soul”. This extraordinary cultural development, pioneered by Buddhist artisans, is the subject of this exhibition at the British Museum, which examines the region’s devotional art reaching back more than 2,000 years, and tells “a passionate story about the three great religions of ancient India – Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism – and their vitality across time”. Featuring around 180 objects (sculptures, paintings, manuscripts and drawings), it is filled with treasures, from a miraculous statue of the elephant-headed Hindu deity Ganesha to a silk painting of the Buddha “set in a dreamworld of…

Against the Grain by James C. Scott, 2017 (Yale University Press £14.99). Scott is one of those rare academics whose writing is a thing of beauty. This book shows how the first states – such as Sumer in Mesopotamia – could not have emerged without grain. As a durable and transportable form of value, grain could be taxed – and everything else flowed from that. The City of Blue and White by Anne Gerritsen, 2020 (Cambridge University Press £32). This fascinating book tells the extraordinary story of China’s porcelain industry, which from the 14th century began to export everywhere. Six centuries ago, China was already the “factory to the world”. Empire of Cotton: A Global History by Sven Beckert, 2014 (Penguin £14.99). Silver, cotton and sugar fuelled the shift to…

Programmes The Black Forest Murders Gripping German drama based on the real-life 2016 police investigation into the disappearance of a woman from a small village. Sat 31 May, BBC4 21:00 and 21:45 (45mins each). When Bruce Springsteen Came to Britain Fifty years after his first UK concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon, The Boss looks back on his long relationship with Britain. Sat 31 May, BBC2 21:30 (65mins). Our Guy in Vietnam Marking another 50th anniversary – the end of the Vietnam War – Guy Martin travels to the country to explore its violent past and its aims for the future. Sun 1 Jun, C4 21:00 (60mins). Lockerbie: Our Story The families of six victims of the Pan Am 103 bombing give their personal accounts of the atrocity – many of…

● Use strong passwords, keep them safe, and don’t open any email attachments without verifying the identity of the sender. ● Don’t give out personal information unless you have to – many fields online are optional. Identity thieves and other scammers can accumulate details from various places to get a clear picture of you. ● On some sites, you could use decoy information, such as a fake date of birth. This throws off potential scammers, and might help trace the source of a data leak. ● Be careful about giving a fake name though, particularly on social media sites, as if you do get hacked, you may need to prove your identity to regain access. ● When shopping, you could input a false address if you’re using click and collect.…

Chris Garrett 1984-2025 Chris “Swampy” Garrett was a chain-smoking former tree surgeon from the Isle of Man who dedicated most of the last ten years of his life to clearing bombs in Ukraine, said The Daily Telegraph. He defused more than 5,000 tonnes of landmines planted by Russian troops, along with countless booby traps and unexploded ordinance, at great risk to himself. Having initially fought with the Azov Brigade, he also trained hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers in the art of explosive ordnance disposal (EOD), and educated civilians about the dangers such devices posed. Financed by donations, he worked tirelessly to save lives in the country he had come to regard as home. Bearing a huge tattoo on his back, of a skull and crossbones and the slogan “Danger: Mines”, he…

Prepare for disaster For all their rhetoric, many firms don’t. A quarter of large British businesses still lack a formal incident-response plan for a cyberattack, for example. You can’t predict the precise nature of a crisis, but workshops and table-top scenarios are “a way to hone thinking”, to articulate “guiding principles” and create “the building blocks from which an actual crisis response will materialise”. Take a decentralised approach When trouble strikes, the natural instinct is “to centralise” by setting up command centres and task forces. Yet research suggests that, at least initially, it is better to hand more control to local managers. “By its nature, a crisis confronts organisations with novel, fast-moving problems… Running things up the chain means delays.” Prioritise It’s natural to focus on getting through the immediate…

The week’s best shares GoDaddy The Daily Telegraph This US web services provider’s core business is domain names, hosting and security. Moving into higher-margin payments, marketing and branding. Cash-generative and buying back shares. Forecast yield 6.4%, rising. Buy. $182.84. Marks & Spencer Group The Mail on Sunday April’s brutal cyberattack could cost the retailer £300m with disruption continuing till July. But M&S is in “rude financial health”: profits were up 22% and the dividend rose. The dip in shares presents an opportunity. Buy. 376p. Mulberry Group The Mail on Sunday Mulberry bags have many fans: from the Princess of Wales to Kate Moss. New boss Andrea Baldo is targeting a 30% sales lift, solid profits and share price recovery. Holders of 500 or more shares get a 20% discount. Buy.…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1467 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 9 June. Send it to The Week Crossword 1467, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. By Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 What could be the aim on table dance after protest (6,4) 6 Partner for life in branch (4) 9 Investment’s very good (7) 10 Paper trousers for scruffy types (3-4) 12 Not a live wire! (5) 13 One in tailored worsted article (9) 14 Check lights for internationals (4,7)  16 Mamma’s partner turning up…

What happened Labour under pressure In what was seen as a clear pitch to Labour voters, Nigel Farage declared this week that Reform UK would lift the two-child benefit cap and restore the winter fuel allowance for all pensioners. In his speech, Farage said that his party was built on the principles of “family, community and country”, and promised bigger tax breaks for married couples. Labour and the Tories both said his plans – which could cost up to £80bn – were built on “fantasy” economics. Nevertheless, his speech added to the pressure on Keir Starmer, who has promised a partial U-turn on fuel payments in response to backbench anger, and is said to be considering lifting the two-child cap in the autumn. Last week, Cabinet tensions ahead of Rachel…

In a practice called “body doubling”, employers are asking remote staff to work in the same digital space as a colleague – by spending all day on a Zoom call or equivalent. Employers say it helps keep workers at home focused on the job, and so boosts productivity. But though some employees welcome having someone to talk to, others say it makes them feel self-conscious and invigilated. The makers of Labubu dolls – furry monsters that people often hang from handbags – suspended in-store UK sales last week, after scenes in which customers reportedly fought each other to get hold of the toys. Hugely popular on social media, they are sold in “blind boxes”, so buyers don’t know which model they are getting until they open it.…

A 53-year-old white British man from West Derby in Liverpool was questioned on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving and driving under the influence of drugs, after a car was driven into crowds celebrating Liverpool’s Premier League victory on Monday. Merseyside Police made the unusual decision to release details of the suspect’s ethnicity after extensive misinformation circulated online. They also stressed that they were not treating it as a terrorist event. Fifty people were treated in hospital after being hit by the car, a Ford Galaxy. The driver had reportedly been able to drive onto the route of the parade by following an ambulance that was attending an incident. None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries; all but seven had been discharged by Wednesday. “We were very, very fortunate,” said…

Washington DC Embassy killings: The man suspected of shooting dead two Israeli embassy staff as they left an event in Washington DC last week has been charged with first-degree murder, and could face the death penalty. Elias Rodriguez, 31, had flown to the capital from Chicago on Tuesday, having checked in a gun with his baggage. The next evening, he approached four people outside the Capital Jewish Museum, where they’d been attending a reception for young diplomats hosted by the American Jewish Committee, and shot two of them dead: Yaron Lischinsky, 30, and Sarah Milgrim, 26, a couple who’d met through work. Rodriguez chanted “Free Palestine” as he was led away by police. About an hour after the shootings, an essay describing Israel as a “genocidal apartheid state” went live…

“There are a lot of things that people are said to be protesting against. But according to Lord Glasman, of the culturally conservative Blue Labour faction, what voters are really annoyed about is the lanyard class: the officious, rules-based, lanyard-wearing professional cadre who set the tone in corporate HR and run the public sector. In the 1980s, the lanyard barely existed. Now, when you start a job, you get a laptop and a lanyard. They are also vessels for people to advertise their politics, with Pride lanyards and BLM lanyards. Trump and Reform UK are a rebellion against having to wear them, having to be compliant: the workers have nothing to lose but their lanyards.” Angus Colwell in The Spectator…

How Denmark learnt to close its doors Daniel Johnson The Daily Telegraph Anyone who thinks it takes a right-wing populist to get tough on immigration hasn’t taken note of Mette Frederiksen, says Daniel Johnson. Denmark’s Social Democrat PM believes it’s the poor who pay the price of mass migration and need protection from it. In 2016, her party voted in favour of a controversial “jewellery law”, which obliges migrants to surrender their valuables as part of their contribution to the cost of asylum. And when her party went on to gain office in 2019, it proceeded to pass laws that have given Denmark – among the most liberal of EU nations – one of Europe’s toughest migration regimes. Residence permits are now usually given to irregular migrants for one to…

A breakthrough in gene editing A baby born with a life-threatening genetic condition is thriving, after becoming the first person in the world to receive a novel Crispr gene-editing therapy tailored to his specific disease-causing mutation. Within days of his birth, it became clear that K.J. Muldoon was not developing normally; weeks later, doctors diagnosed him with an ultra-rare CPS1 deficiency. Having received two mutations from his parents, K.J. was not producing a crucial enzyme, compromising his liver’s ability to clear away compounds that are produced when protein is broken down. This led to his blood containing high levels of ammonia – which is toxic to the brain and other organs. Infants with this disorder are sometimes given liver transplants, but most do not survive long enough for that. So…

The artist Maggi Hambling is as prolific as ever – though she’s now having to work with one fewer finger. The 79-year-old has revealed that she had to have her right pinkie amputated last year. She had tripped while carrying a glass, which sliced through her finger. “I just sat at the bottom of the stairs with blood everywhere,” she told the Charleston Festival, “because I thought [the hospital] would be full of drunks.” The next morning, doctors sawed a ring off her finger – hoping it would then heal. “But it just went black and began to stink, so I had to have it off.” Before he reinvented himself as a globetrotting elder statesman and friend to royalty, George Clooney was known as a cocktail-waitress-dating womaniser with a penchant…

“Keir Starmer has secured his legacy,” said The Daily Telegraph: his “shameful surrender of the Chagos Islands will go down as this nation’s foreign policy nadir”. Last week, the PM signed a long-dreaded treaty that officially hands control of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius – effectively ceding a strategically vital territory that sits in an area of interest for China. To add insult to injury, once the treaty is ratified by MPs, we will pay Mauritius £101m a year for the next 99 years to rent back a key UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. “This lousy deal amounts to a massive gift from British taxpayers to the Mauritian government,” said Andrew Tettenborn in The Spectator. So why sign it? The answer, I’m afraid, “is legalism”:…

Arsenal Women’s Champions League final against Barcelona on Saturday was a match very few people expected them to win, said Kathryn Batte in The Sunday Telegraph. The Catalans have dominated the competition in recent years, winning it in three of the past four seasons, and this year, both in Europe and domestically, they had “appeared unstoppable”. They “won the Spanish league at a canter”, and swatted aside Chelsea 8-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals. But on a balmy night in Lisbon, Renée Slegers’s side pulled off an upset “for the ages” by winning a desperately hard-fought contest 1-0, thanks to Stina Blackstenius’s 74th-minute goal. While the Swedish substitute was the match winner, every Arsenal player played their part: it took a “monumental defensive performance to keep Barcelona at bay”. This…

Tennis Emma Raducanu made it through to the second round of the French Open with a three-set victory over world No. 43 Wang Xinyu of China. Jack Draper, the British No. 1, beat Italy’s Mattia Bellucci to go through as well. Cricket England won their one-off Test against Zimbabwe by an innings and 45 runs. England’s women cricketers secured a 3-0 win in their T20 series against West Indies. Rugby union Bordeaux-Bègles won the Champions Cup for the first time, beating Northampton 28-20 in Saturday’s final.…

Showing now The Vancouver-based Ballet BC continues to tour its “exceptionally fine double-bill” – Passing by Johan Inger and Frontier by Crystal Pite – bringing a more contemporary flavour to classical ballet (Times). Touring until 11 June (danceconsortium.com). Kenwood House provides a suitable setting for Heiress: Sargent’s American Portraits, an exhibition of the artist’s “elegant and pleasing” studies of the “dollar princesses” who married into the British aristocracy in the late 19th century (Times). Until 5 October, Kenwood House, London NW3 (english-heritage.org.uk). Book now Sheffield DocFest returns with a wealth of British and international documentaries, including the premiere of Still Pushing Pineapples, the poignant story of Dene “Agadoo” Michael, the former singer of Black Lace. 18-23 June, various venues, Sheffield (sheffdocfest.com). Anthony Scaramucci, Kate Mosse and Michael Palin are among…

I generally believe that “it’s possible to drink virtually any wine with any food”, says Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times. But there are a few “problem foods” that distort the palate so much that they “really are difficult to pair with wine”. A case in point are globe artichokes, which for most people make everything “taste oddly sweet and metallic”. The best accompaniment, I’ve found, is a pale, light sherry, such as a manzanilla or fino. Asparagus is also tricky. It can go well with a German riesling (its traditional partner in Germany, where white asparagus is normally eaten), but green asparagus also works well with a “really fresh” sauvignon, such as those from Italy’s Friuli region (try Tunella Sauvignon Blanc 2023, available at Corney & Barrow; £14,95). Chilli…

The live-fire food festival Meatopia OnFire will be in Glasgow from 6-8 Jun, and in London from 28-31 Aug. Top chefs will be cooking over sustainable wood or charcoal and there will be live bands and DJs (from £24.50; meatopia.co.uk). Hampshire’s boutique Lymington Seafood Festival (11-13 Jul) has fishy street food, cookery classes and a Genesis tribute band (from £10; lymingtonseafoodfestival.co.uk). The Good Food Festival at Goodwood is great for all ages, with award-winning street food, artisan stalls and live demos (15-17 Aug, from £12.50; goodfoodshow.com). “Eat, drink, stink” is the slogan for The Isle of Wight Garlic Festival (16-17 Aug), which has stalls, cookery demos, live music and a dog show (from £14.50; garlicfestival.co.uk). Marco Pierre White and James Martin will be cooking at the 20th Bolton Food & Drink Festival (22-25 Aug),…

Eskfield Penicuik Estate, Midlothian Set at the foot of the Pentland Hills, a 30-minute drive south of Edinburgh, the Penicuik Estate was a “hub of the Scottish Enlightenment” in the 18th century, says Steve King in Condé Nast Traveller. Its beautiful park is a “designed landscape” in the manner of the period, and its cottages and converted stable block are now available as holiday lets. All have been “gorgeously done up” – and none more so than Eskfield, a spacious one-bed pavilion in the Palladian style. It has a high-spec kitchen, a terrace with a wood-burning stove, a sauna, and hot and cold plunge pools. A private chef can be arranged. Cottages from £265 per night; penicuikestate.com.…

South Western Railway: renationalisation guinea pig Ministers hailed a “new dawn” for Britain’s railways as the first train service to have been renationalised under Labour started operating last Sunday, said Gwyn Topham in The Guardian. Transport Minister Heidi Alexander called it a “cultural reset”. Well, up to a point. The very first new South Western Railway (SWR) service – the 05.36 from Woking to Waterloo – “involved a rail replacement bus”. SWR will be run by the state-owned train operator, DfTO, which already runs several services, including LNER and Northern, “taken back into public control because of financial or contractual failures”. The remaining nine franchises will be renationalised as contracts expire. Great British Railways, the new body overseeing all aspects of the network, is due to be established in 2027.…

How the Bank of England lost £115bn Neil Collins Reaction When a national disaster costs the taxpayer billions, the pressure for an inquiry is almost impossible to resist. So why, asks Neil Collins, aren’t we more exercised about the Bank of England’s “reckless” quantitative easing programme? QE was implemented after the 2008 banking crisis, when the threat of recession was very real. All the world’s central banks practised it, creating money to buy in their own bonds. But the BoE’s approach differed in one major respect: it bought up more “long-dated bonds” when yields (which move inversely to prices) were historically low – a recipe for eventual losses on an epic scale when, inevitably, they went up. The Bank is now selling these bonds via “quantitative tightening” at fractions of…

What happened President Trump issued his strongest criticism of President Putin to date on Sunday, following waves of heavy drone strikes against civilian targets in Ukraine. After three nights of attacks which left at least 29 dead, the US president said, on his Truth Social platform, that Putin had “gone absolutely CRAZY!”, adding that he appeared to want to conquer “ALL of Ukraine, not just a piece of it” – which would “lead to the downfall of Russia!”. The Kremlin played down what it called Trump’s “emotional reactions”, adding: “This is a very critical moment, which is fraught with emotional stress for everyone.” In response, Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he wanted Ukraine to be able to strike targets in Russia with German weapons – a departure from his…

Wild camping, which will remain legal on Dartmoor. In a ruling that turned on the meaning of “open-air recreation” in the Dartmoor Commons Act, the Supreme Court found against local landowner Alexander Darwall, a hedge fund manager. Darwall had complained that being unable to remove campers hampered his wildlife conservation efforts and could put his cattle at risk. Renationalisation, as South Western Railway became the first train operator to be returned to state ownership under Labour (see page 35). The first train left Woking on Sunday bound for London Waterloo – though passengers travelling beyond Surbiton had to change onto a rail replacement bus. The AI apocalypse, after the latest model of ChatGPT reportedly refused an instruction to turn itself off. It had been told to shut down after it…

Net migration to the UK in the year to December 2024 was 431,000 – down from 866,000 the previous year – the biggest drop on record. The reduction was driven by a sharp decline in the number of work and study visas from non-EU countries, as a result of a series of restrictions introduced by the Conservative government last year. These included a ban on foreign students and care workers bringing dependants with them, and an increase in the salary thresholds required for skilled worker visas. The Government announced reforms last week that it said would reduce net immigration by a further 100,000, but it is not clear when they will come into effect. Until 2019, annual net migration fluctuated between about 200,000 and 300,000.…

Bringing home the dead Oleksii Yukov spends his days engaged in the most macabre of tasks: recovering the remains of soldiers killed in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Since the invasion in 2022, he and his team of volunteers have gathered more than 3,000 bodies from front-line areas of Donbas and Kharkiv. All the corpses, whether Russian or Ukrainian, are carefully bagged up, along with uniforms, letters, scattered teeth – anything that might help identify them. Then, at the morgue, they are separated: the Russians are sent into storage to await repatriation as part of an exchange; the Ukrainians, once identified, are returned to their families for burial. But Yukov does not distinguish between them. “I’m not worried whether the dead I recover are Ukrainians or Russians,” he says. “My task…

A Dundee “optical boutique” named Spex Pistols has changed its name after legal threats from the Sex Pistols. The punk band’s lawyers sent a “cease and desist” letter focusing on the shop’s logo, which it said was “clearly intended to bring the band to mind”. Richard Cook, the shop’s owner, concluded that sadly it was safer to rename the shop, which is now called Land O’Spex. He added that in 14 years of trading, his shop had “never” been confused with the Sex Pistols. A Norwegian homeowner woke up on Monday morning to find a 135-metre container ship in his garden. The NCL Salten ran aground at about 5am at Byneset on Trondheim Fjord, narrowly missing Johan Helberg’s house. “I didn’t hear anything,” said Helberg. “Five metres further south and…

GERMANY The “trauma” of looking at a nude statue Die Welt (Berlin) Cancel culture has hit a new low, said Matthias Heine. Until last year, the foyer of the Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues in Berlin had been graced by an 18th century bronze replica of the Medici Venus – a classical-style nude, and one of the few items of government office decor “intended to make the world more beautiful, not ugly”. But then a so-called “equal opportunities commissioner” decided the statue could be perceived as “sexist” and was possibly in breach of the General Equal Treatment Act, and quietly ordered its removal. “Apparently this shocking sight is easier to bear elsewhere”: the bronze is now on display at Leipzig’s Grassi Museum, “where many more people…

Lynne White has a superpower: she can thrive on three hours of sleep a night. “My brain doesn’t get tired, and my body doesn’t get tired,” the 82-year-old, who lives in a retirement village in California, told Tom Whipple in The Times. She has always been this way. As a child, she was mystified when other kids napped in the afternoon. Later, she was impatient with colleagues who were grumpy for lack of sleep; and after she got married, she was infuriated by her “indolent” husband lying-in on Sundays. Finally, she realised that they were not all lazy – that it was she who was unusual. Now, researchers have identified a genetic mutation that makes people “natural short sleepers”. Those with it spend a lot less time asleep: White goes…

People high up in politics are very careful about what they write down, said John Rentoul in The Independent. So when one cabinet minister sends a letter to another, “the first question we should ask is: what did she mean by that?” Two months ago, just before the Spring Statement, the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner sent a document called “Alternative proposals for raising revenue” to the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves. Ministers are not supposed to write to their colleagues with “helpful” suggestions outside their policy areas. “Reeves will have been furious to have received it, and Keir Starmer would have been irritated to be copied in”: the decision had already been made to raise no taxes, and to put all the burden on the welfare budget instead – yet…

Time was, a visit to Canada was viewed as “a safe introduction to royal touring for novices”, said The Independent. King Charles and Queen Camilla’s trip to Ottawa this week, however, fell into a “very different category”: it was a two-day exercise in “high-stakes diplomacy”, in which the couple’s every move was scrutinised for deeper meaning. The King had flown to Canada to open the new session of its parliament: the monarch hasn’t fulfilled that constitutional duty since 1977. And the King probably wouldn’t have been in attendance this time were it not for Donald Trump’s extraordinary – and “highly undiplomatic” – repeated suggestion that Canada could become his country’s “51st state”. Other visits have been merely “ceremonial”; this one was intended as a “riposte”, to send a clear signal…

It has been dubbed the most valuable game in football, worth some £200m to the winning side, said Ben Fisher in The Guardian. And in Saturday’s Championship play-off final, Sunderland secured their “return to the big time” – after an eight-year absence – with a nail-biting 2-1 victory over Sheffield United. United, the favourites, went 1-0 up in the first half, and continued to dominate until Eliezer Mayenda equalised for Sunderland in the 76th minute, said Gregor Robertson in The Sunday Times. Then, in the 95th minute, with extra time looming, 19-year-old Tommy Watson collected the ball just outside the area, “looked up and, with a rare pocket of space and time”, caressed the ball past Michael Cooper to secure an unlikely victory for Sunderland. Sadly for Sunderland, their talented…

Natasha worries that Henry is looking at inappropriate content on his phone and alerts Helen. When confronted, Henry confesses he was vetting the men Helen has been texting on a dating app. At Grey Gables, new temporary manager Dane turns up, and is not what Oliver expected; they interview Zainab for the receptionist job. At The Bull, Lilian helps a young woman on a date with a threatening man; later, shaken, she tells Kenton she’s not all right. Tired from working all day on the trees at Grey Gables, Ed and Emma are bickering when Oliver surprises them with a free night and dinner to celebrate their anniversary. As Helen and Ian chat about Peggy and her legacy, Helen admits that someone on the app has caught her eye –…

How to throw together a posh picnic If you need to host a proper picnic this summer – whether at Royal Ascot, Henley, or Glyndebourne – don’t fret, says Margaret Hussey in The Daily Telegraph. No one expects anything too elaborate these days: “practical, easy-to-serve dishes” are the “order of the day”. For chef Skye Gyngell, that means a simple salad featuring ingredients that “hold their shape” – such as cooked beans with olive oil, lemon zest, a touch of garlic and herbs; or roasted beetroot with red-wine vinegar, honey, walnuts and goat’s cheese. She also suggests poached chicken salad, which is made by poaching a chicken, shredding the cooled meat and layering it over iceberg lettuce, chopped carrot and celery. She adds toasted almonds, a “scattering of fragrant lovage”,…

Barry Fantoni 1940-2025 So. Farewell then… Barry Fantoni, you were a writer, cartoonist, artist, jazz musician and sometime actor, but were perhaps best known as the creator of E.J. Thribb, Private Eye magazine’s 17-and-a-half-year-old poet in residence, whose obituary verses appeared under the heading “In Memoriam”. Comically deadpan, these were written in rhymeless free form and addressed the deceased person directly. Most contained the line “that was your catchphrase”; many referred to the views of Thribb’s friend Keith or the memories of Keith’s mum; and they almost invariably began, “So. Farewell then…” Fantoni, who has died aged 85, joined the satirical magazine in 1963, two years after it was founded, and became an “indispensable part of its fabric” for nearly half a century, said The Times. He contributed a flow…

Sir Jony Ive and Sam Altman The softly focused joint portrait “looked like a wedding announcement”, said The Observer. In fact, it “marked a blockbuster deal”. Sam Altman’s OpenAI will acquire io – the legendary former Apple designer Jony Ive’s hardware startup – for $6.4bn, in “a bold move” designed to take on Apple. Both parties seem convinced they are a perfect match. According to Sir Jony, 58, who designed the iPhone, the iPad and the iPod, “everything I have learnt over the past 30 years has led me to this place, to this moment”. Altman, for his part, suggests the acquisition could increase the ChatGPT maker’s valuation by $1trn. Details are thin, but investors certainly see the potential: Apple’s market cap fell by $45bn on news of the deal.…