Innholdsfortegnelse for 1570 i The Week

MI5 and the British Army failed to act on intelligence that a British agent inside the IRA was involved in abductions and murders in Northern Ireland, and then helped him evade justice for his crimes, a damning report has revealed. The agent, codenamed Stakeknife, was MI5’s top asset during the Troubles, when he worked in the IRA’s notorious “nutting squad”, an internal security unit. According to a nine-year police inquiry, his intelligence was valuable, but the oftenmade claim that it “saved hundreds of lives” was a “fable”; in fact, more lives were lost overall than saved because of Stakeknife. The agent has been widely identified as Freddie Scappaticci, who died in 2023 aged 77. The report called on the Government to name Stakeknife, whose identity has never been confirmed.…

Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania Cost of living: President Trump used an event in Pennsylvania this week to blame the cost-of-living crisis on his Democrat predecessors. Although the price of some staples has fallen since he took office, other costs have gone up, and inflation sits at 3%. Trump sought to dismiss the issue as a Democrat “hoax”, before backtracking, and urging voters to be patient. He was, he said, on track to “make America affordable again” and prices were falling “tremendously”. He also complained about immigrants from “filthy, dirty, disgusting” countries such as Somalia, and boasted that the US now has “reverse migration”. A poll last month found that 33% of adults approve of Trump’s handing of the economy. This week, the victory of a Democrat candidate in mayoral elections in…

“I am sure the Christmas creep is getting creepier, as in sooner, every year. The big day is weeks away and yet already it is some sort of miracle to bag a parking place near any town centre. It’s a collective madness. ‘Last minute gifts!’ shouts an email that arrived 25 days before Christmas. ‘Black Friday extended!’ cries another. Winter markets, with their ticky-tacky chalets, are ubiquitous. Ordering a turkey (£85) involves the planning usually reserved for booking a holiday. Everything seems to be at least a week earlier this year. How much earlier can it get? I am afraid to report that, this week, I saw a bunch of Mini Egg packets in a shop. Easter panic soon!” Ann Treneman in The Times…

The unpopular views of right-wing populists Janan Ganesh Financial Times Given how fond populists are of invoking the will of the people, it’s amazing how at odds their favoured preoccupations are with popular opinion, says Janan Ganesh. Right-wingers such as J.D. Vance and his Maga pals harp on about the urgent need for people to have more babies, for example. Do they not realise how weird they sound? “Not even one American in ten is ‘very worried’ about declining fertility.” Or take the Right’s hatred of the Covid lockdown, rooted in a conviction that, like them, everyone thinks the controls were draconian and quite unnecessary. Polls show that, if anything, people would have liked the lockdown to have been stricter. Then, there’s the great unmentionable, Brexit, a topic the Right…

Steve Bannon, Epstein’s loyal crony Mona Charen The Bulwark Many prominent people were embarrassed by the recent release of a trove of emails to and from the sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, says Mona Charen. But while Harvard economist Larry Summers, for instance, has expressed shame at these links, one of Epstein’s cronies has so far escaped accountability: Steve Bannon. The Maga strategist and former Trump consigliere exchanged hundreds of emails with the felon, advising him how to handle negative news stories and improve his image. When Bannon missed a flight in London, he emailed Epstein, who arranged a lift in his private jet. “U r an amazing assistant,” joked Bannon. To which Epstein replied: “Massages. Not included.” The emails suggest the pair “often met in person”; Bannon at one point…

The five ages of mankind Most people probably think that adolescence ends around the age of 21. But according to new research, it lasts until the age of approximately 32. Scientists from the University of Cambridge analysed MRI scans from 3,802 people, from newborns to individuals in their 90s, to explore how the brain’s wiring changes throughout life. This revealed that there are five distinct ages of brain development. From birth until the age of nine or so, the brain rapidly gets bigger, while also pruning its synapses – the connections between its cells. Next is the phase the scientists called “adolescence”, when connections become shorter and more efficient, allowing information to be passed from one part of the brain to another more quickly. This period is associated with mental…

Donald Trump has a habit of alluding to other men’s genitalia, and according to his vice-president, J.D. Vance, he recently embarrassed an unnamed politician by suggesting that his small feet implied an inadequacy in that department. Vance reports that four of them were discussing something “really important” in the Oval Office, when Trump held up his hand and said: “No, no, no, hold on… Shoes.” Whipping out a catalogue, he asked them their size so that he could gift each a pair. The nameless politiciancheck saidthis hepage wasin? a seven, at which point, says Vance, “the president leans back in his chair and says, ‘You know you can tell a lot about a man by his shoe size.’” But he is not the first US president with such a preoccupation.…

“To government ministers and police chiefs, it is the biggest investigative breakthrough since DNA screening,” said Mario Ledwith in The Times. “To privacy campaigners, it is ‘turning the country into an open prison’.” Live facial recognition is already used by eight police forces, who used the technology to scan tens of thousands of faces a day with “ruthless efficiency”, looking for matches to a police hit list of offenders and suspects. Now the Government is looking into expanding its scope. Under the plans, all 43 police forces in England and Wales would have access to facial recognition. The Home Office would also develop a national face-matching system based not just on images of all offenders in custody, but potentially the passport and driving licence photos of everyone in the UK.…

Lando Norris had been written off by countless people over the past 18 months, said Tom Cary in The Daily Telegraph. The British driver has been dismissed as “too fragile, too mentally weak” to be a genuine contender for the F1 title – especially when doing battle with a “cold-blooded, alpha driver like Max Verstappen”. Yet last Sunday, in the season finale in Abu Dhabi, the 26-year-old proved his doubters wrong. Norris went into the race knowing that a podium finish would be enough to make him “Britain’s 11th Formula 1 world champion”. And he duly achieved that goal, with a performance of calmness and control. There were wobbles along the way: Norris slipped from second to third on the opening lap, when he was overtaken by his McLaren teammate…

Football Crystal Palace rose to fourth in the Premier League after beating Fulham 2-1. Aston Villa are third, after beating leaders Arsenal 2-1. Wolves remain bottom, on two points, after losing 4-1 to Manchester United. Cricket England fast bowler Mark Wood has been ruled out of the remainder of the Ashes with a knee injury. Australia’s Josh Hazlewood has also been ruled out of the remainder of the contest. Golf Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen won the Australian Open, edging ahead of Australia’s Cameron Smith on the final hole.…

Book of the week Holbein by Elizabeth Goldring Yale 424pp £40 The Week Bookshop £35.99 (incl. p&p) If the Tudors “exercise a stronger hold on the public imagination than their Plantagenet precursors or Stuart successors”, it is largely “because we can all picture them so clearly”, said Peter Marshall in Literary Review. And that, in turn, is down to one man: the German artist Hans Holbein. Between the late 1520s and the early 1540s, Holbein lived mostly in England and produced an “extraordinary sequence of portraits and drawings” of Henry VIII, his wives and courtiers. Today, as Elizabeth Goldring explains in her “superb and groundbreaking biography”, it is hard to “appreciate just how novel Holbein’s portraits appeared to the first people who saw them”. Before he emerged, portraiture was a…

How do you solve a problem like Maria? In this handsome and wonderfully sung Christmas production at Leicester’s Curve – a venue with a “truly impressive musical pedigree” – Molly Lynch solves it with “sass”, “girlish abandon” and “rockabilly vim”, said Clive Davis in The Times. Some Marias are too demure for their own good; here, though, it’s clear from the off why the Mother Abbess (Joanna Riding) thinks this young novice should spend some time out in the world. Lynch is superb as Maria, “bringing warmth, charm, and vulnerability to the role with effortless grace”, agreed Amarjeet Singh on What’s on Stage. And hers is just one of several “stunning performances” in Nikolai Foster’s captivating and beautifully designed show – including from David Seadon-Young as Captain von Trapp, who…

Bel-Ami by Guy de Maupassant, 1885 (Penguin £9.99). I often gravitate to books with an amoral central character and Bel-Ami contains one of the most compelling. Georges Duroy arrives in Paris as an innocent but opportunistic young man from the provinces, who exploits his charm and good looks to devastating effect to ascend the social ladder. Even shallow, uneducated men can succeed if they’re calculating enough. Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger, 1959 (Penguin £10.99). Between 1946 and 1948, English explorer Thesiger crossed and recrossed the 250,000 square miles of the Empty Quarter, the largest sand desert in the world. This is his account of that extraordinary journey – on foot and by camel – written in clear, concise, prose reflecting a life unhampered by possession. An austere masterpiece. The Spy…

Programmes A Mary Berry Christmas The much-loved cook – now 90 – welcomes special guests including Alison Steadman and Zoe Ball to help her prepare festive fare. Wed 17 Dec, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Sir Chris Hoy: Cycle of Hope Documentary following the Olympic gold medallist as he deals with his terminal cancer diagnosis, and plans a cycling event to raise money and inspire others. Thu 18 Dec, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Christmas Treasures of the National Trust The teams at three historic houses, from Northumberland to Devon, prepare to open their doors for festive events. Fri 19 Dec, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Films The Menu (2022) Ralph Fiennes stars as the sinister celebrity chef in this satire-horror about a group of diners at an exclusive restaurant on a remote island. Mon 15 Dec, Film4…

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney The two Hollywood actors behind the fairy-tale transformation of Wrexham Association Football Club have hit the financial big league, said City AM. The sports division of Apollo Global Management – the US investment giant with around $900bn of assets under management – has taken a minority stake in Wrexham AFC, and is promising to provide “long-term, patient capital”. The move underlines the “stunning upturn” in the once sleepy Welsh club’s prospects and global profile since the duo bought it for $2m in 2021, said the FT – and made a documentary series, Welcome to Wrexham, for Disney, charting their fortunes as owners. The club has since enjoyed “three consecutive promotions” and is now gunning for the Premier League. Success has also burnished the credentials of…

More than half of teenagers have gone online for mental-health support in the past year, including 25% who’ve used AI chatbots, a survey has found. Those who had been affected by serious violence, either as victim or perpetrator, are the most likely to have sought help online, according to Youth Endowment Fund research. Among them, 90% had gone online for support, almost twice the rate of the others surveyed (48%). A “reality” show in which contenders are dropped into perilous situations, and must fight each other to the death, is being hailed as the first to be entirely AI-generated. In Non Player Combat, contestants have human vulnerabilities and detailed backstories, but even the challenges they face are created by AI.…

6% of British adults say they often feel lonely. 24% say they feel lonely at least occasionally. Among those aged over 70, this figure drops to 17%, while among 16- to 29-year-olds, it rises to 33%. ONS Among Labour members, Ed Miliband has a positive approval rating of 55%, the best of senior party figures. The Times/Blonde Money People in English-speaking countries are more likely to feel negative about AI than those in western European nations. In Britain and the US, only 25% are positive about AI and 38% and 39%, respectively, are negative. By contrast, 37% in Spain feel positive, and 21% negative; in Denmark, 35% are positive, 21% negative. YouGov…

In prison in Iran Few people will ever grasp the horror of the ordeal suffered by Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who spent six years in prison in Iran, says Madeleine Spence in The Sunday Times. But Anoosheh Ashoori, who was released the same day in 2022, understands it very well. An aeronautical engineer who came to study in Britain at 18, Ashoori, now 71 and retired, raised his family in London and was on a trip to see his mother in Tehran when he was bundled into a car by four strangers in 2017. He was blindfolded, and made to lie down. “One of the men told me: ‘We’re taking you to the end of the world.’” It began a five-year ordeal in which Iran used him as leverage…

A £14,600 Fabergé pendant has been recovered by police in New Zealand after it was swallowed by a would-be thief. The man had gone into a jewellers in Aukland and ingested the date-sized “Octopussy” egg, which is set with 60 diamonds and 15 sapphires and opens to reveal an 18-carat-gold mini octopus. He was kept under close watch for the next six days, until it emerged. “Medical intervention was not required,” noted police. A purple dinosaur has been filmed dumping rubbish in a street in Essex. CCTV footage shows a person in a T.rex costume waddling across a road in Southend before throwing their bags down next to some wheelie bins. It comes two months after the city council unveiled divisive new rubbish regulations. “Clearly, he’s struggling with the new…

When archaeologists discovered a near-perfect circle of pits in the ground near Stonehenge in 2020, it wasn’t clear if they’d been dug by man or developed naturally. Five years on, a study published on Internet Archaeology has found that they were deliberately carved out of the landscape more than 4,000 years ago. The site, two miles from Stonehenge, consists of 20 or so pits, around ten metres wide and five metres deep, in a circle over a mile wide – making it Britain’s largest-known prehistoric monument. Durrington Walls, another Neolithic monument, lies at their centre. Researchers used a novel combination of techniques to examine the pits, without full excavation. Optically stimulated luminescence, which dates sediment using radiation, was used on core samples. This revealed that the pits had been dug…

“The race to replace Keir Starmer has begun,” said Peter Franklin on UnHerd. With Labour languishing in the polls, and its recent Budget widely panned, Parliament is buzzing with rumours and speculation. Allies of Health Secretary Wes Streeting are reportedly pushing for him to be installed as the new Labour leader, with Angela Rayner returning to her old role as deputy, as part of a “Wangela” dream ticket. Both parties have denied any such pact. Others being mentioned as possible leadership contenders include Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester; Lucy Powell, the party’s newly elected deputy leader; and even Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who is popular with members but who led Labour to a crushing general election defeat in 2015. “Astonishingly, it’s taken Labour roughly half as long as…

“Students of history will know that only one team – Don Bradman’s 1936/37 Australians – has come back from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series,” said Mike Atherton in The Times. That is the scale of the task now confronting Ben Stokes’s England, after just “six days of competitive cricket”. While last week’s second Test, at the Gabba in Brisbane, lasted longer than the first – it took four days instead of two – the final result was no less “crushing”: Australia won by eight wickets, and again “looked the tougher, more disciplined and more capable team”. Nor are there many “optimistic straws” for England to grasp at ahead of the third Test in Adelaide. Much of the team is out of form; England keep dropping catches – five…

A tax on the lucky… To The Guardian Jonathan Liew’s article is a brilliantly witty and accurate depiction of the skewed nature of current public discourse on wealth and fairness in this country. Maybe it’s nothing new, but the reaction to the so-called mansion tax that Liew describes seems indicative of an increasing lack of any sense of privilege among the most privileged in our society. My wife and I own our home (worth £250,000), though with a substantial mortgage. Our annual household income is around £70,000, which has to cover the aforementioned mortgage as well as the cost of raising three young children. I don’t always feel lucky (I mainly just feel tired), but I know that in the grand scheme of things, I am incredibly lucky and privileged.…

by Carla Kaplan Hurst 616pp £27.50 The Week Bookshop £24.99 (incl. p&p) “Courage of a steely, smiling and peculiarly English kind was a quality the six Mitford sisters possessed in spades,” said Miranda Seymour in the FT. And as Carla Kaplan demonstrates in her “well-researched” biography, none was “pluckier” than Jessica (or “Decca”) Mitford – the “witty, subversive fifth sister” who devoted her life to left-wing causes. In 1937, aged 19, Decca eloped to Spain with her “handsome cousin” Esmond Romilly to support the Republicans. The couple married, and moved to America, but Esmond died in 1941, while serving in the Canadian Air Force. “In the wake of his death, Decca joined the Communist Party”, and soon after married the “brilliant” Jewish lawyer Bob Treuhaft, said Anne Chisholm in The…

There is something of a “modern obsession with cynically adapting films for the theatre”, said Holly Williams in The Times. But when it comes to the Royal Exchange’s “gloriously cheering” new Christmas show, all is forgiven – and then some. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is a “simply perfect film, and with all its singin’ and dancin’ and showbiz glitz”, it’s a perfect fit for the stage. Raz Shaw directs with “visual panache and knowing wit”, and if the satire is broad, it’s also enormous fun. The cast is top notch: when they dance or sing, you “swoon with them”. And “while I’m a sucker for any tap-dancing sequence, there is something particularly thrilling about seeing Alistair David’s tightly drilled yet playful choreography performed in the round” at this circular…

● If you’re hosting, try not to get harried, and plan accordingly to create as little stress for yourself as possible. As Nigella Lawson suggests, never try out a new recipe for a party; go for something tried and tested. ● If you can’t make a party, don’t text at the last minute. Cancel the week before if you can, or apologise the next day. Don’t arrive with flowers, or something that creates a task for the host, unless you know them well enough to sort it yourself. ● Martha Stewart suggests sitting people in threes – neutral, interesting, boring – as two boring people together creates a cold zone which can spread, and an interesting pair is a waste. Always separate couples. ● As host, you must rescue someone…

Skye Gyngell 1963-2025 When the pioneering Australian chef Skye Gyngell first visited the nurseries at Petersham House near the Thames at Richmond in 2004, the gardens were overgrown and there was nothing except “a rickety old shed with a two-ring stove”, said The Times. But Gyngell, who has died aged 62, spied an opportunity. At first, her café was just a few tables “among the shrubbery”. But the reviews were so good that reservations soon came streaming in, and celebrities including Mick Jagger and Stella McCartney flocked to the venue. By 2011, she had won a Michelin star. Gyngell was astounded. “Have you seen our loos? They’re literally in a wooden shed, and they’re cold,” she said. Gyngell was born in Sydney in 1963. Her father was the media tycoon…

Your Life is Manufactured by Tim Minshall (Faber £20). An illuminating journey into the hidden world of manufacturing with a Wonka-ish Cambridge engineering professor as our guide. Minshall swoops between “a universe of fantastic scale and complexity” and everyday minutiae, said The Guardian. You’ll never hear the “tock” of a kettle the same way again. The Thinking Machine by Stephen Witt (Bodley Head £25). This “excellent biography” weaves together the story of Jensen Huang, Nvidia and the “world’s most coveted microchip”, said The Economist. It’s that rarest of things, said The Sunday Times: a book that leaves you “feeling optimistic about the future”. We Live Here Now by C.D. Rose (Melville House £14.99). This novel follows a young art dealer who agrees to source a work, by a mysteriously vanished…

What happened Reform UK has received a record £9m donation from Christopher Harborne, a British-Thai cryptocurrency mogul, according to the latest quarterly declarations to the Electoral Commission. It’s the largest-ever single donation by a living person to a British political party. News of the gift comes at a time when Reform is leading in the national polls, but has been forced onto the defensive over a series of other, less welcome, stories. Last week Nigel Farage denounced what he called “a false story” in the Financial Times, which reported that he had told donors that he expected “a deal or merger” between his party and the Tories ahead of the next general election. “The idea I’d work with them is ludicrous,” he said. Reform also faced more questions about Farage’s…

Nnena Kalu, a 59-year-old from Glasgow, who became the first artist with a learning disability to win the Turner Prize. Kalu’s work – colourful cocoon-shaped hanging sculptures and swirling drawings on paper – was lauded by the judges for its “lively translation of expressive gesture” and “powerful presence”. Take Back Power, a new activist group, which made headlines with its first stunt: throwing crumble and custard over the case that houses the Crown Jewels, at the Tower of London. The group’s chief demand is the creation of a new citizen’s assembly, to tackle inequality by imposing higher taxes on the rich; but it appears to be run by former members of Just Stop Oil. Residents of Tunbridge Wells, whose water supply was finally restored. Thousands of households and businesses in…

Brussels X ruling: The EU has enraged the Trump administration by fining Elon Musk’s social media company, X/Twitter, €120m under its Digital Services Act. The 2022 law is designed to ensure transparency and accountability in online platforms, and the European Commission said the fine was for three separate breaches: €45m for X’s deceptive use of its blue ticks, which convey the impression that accounts have been “verified” with “meaningful” identity checks, whereas users simply pay for them; €35m for X’s failure to disclose who pays for adverts; €40m for denying research access to public data. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has damned it as an attack on “the American people”; the vice-president, J.D. Vance, says it shows the EU is anti-free speech; Musk himself has called for the…

1 Anchors Away by Charles A. Zimmermann and Alfred Hart Miles, performed by the United States Navy Band 2* Hearts of Stones by Eddie Ray and Rudy Jackson, performed by The Charms 3 Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour by Offenbach, performed by Joan Sutherland, Huguette Tourangeau and Plácido Domingo with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (cond. Richard Bonynge) 4 Four Strong Winds by Ian Tyson, performed by Ian & Sylvia 5 Barrett’s Privateers, written and performed by Stan Rogers 6 The Doctor by Poul Ruders, performed by Marianne Rørholm and Hanne Fischer with the Royal Danish Orchestra (cond. Michael Schønwandt) 7 We Praise the Tiny Perfect Moles by Orville Stoeber and Margaret Atwood, performed by Orville Stoeber 8 Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68: II by Beethoven, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra (cond. Otto Klemperer)…

YES 1 The criminal courts are massively backlogged and close to collapse; we must make trials faster, more 2 Juries often struggle to understand the law, and by their nature are not able to give a clear explanation for their verdicts. 3 In much of the free world, jury trial is not used, and judges manage to make judgments just as well, or better, than juries. NO 1 Jury trials are the bedrock of British justice, ensuring that in cases involving serious offences we are judged by our peers. 2 Judges belong to an elite, and may have out-of-touch views and prejudices against minority or marginalised defendants. 3 Jury trials make up only 3% of criminal cases in England and Wales; they are not the real problem with the court…

SRI LANKA A terrible bias laid bare by the cyclone Tamil Guardian (London) As the waters of Cyclone Ditwah recede, it’s clear that discrimination remains at the heart of the Sri Lankan government, said the Tamil Guardian. The storm has left a trail of devastation in its wake: in Sri Lanka alone, at least 600 people have been declared dead, with the northeast, where Tamils are the majority, “particularly devastated”. Yet “this is not a disaster that was unforeseen”. Weeks before the cyclone made landfall, Sri Lanka’s Department of Meteorology warned of extreme weather patterns building over the region. Its warnings “were roundly ignored by the Sri Lankan government”. There was no preparation or mobilisation. Most egregious of all, when the storm hit, critical government updates were issued in Sinhala…

This year, the hole in the ozone layer was the smallest since 2019. The “hole”, an area of the stratosphere where concentrations of ozone (O₃) are comparatively very low, forms over Antarctica during the southern spring and lasts for three months or so. This year, at its largest, in early September, it spanned 21.08 million km², an area larger than Antarctica, but about 30% smaller than the largest hole on record. It was also short-lived: by early December, it was declared closed. The figures show “steady progress” has been made in healing the layer since ozone-depleting chemicals were banned, said Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, which collected the data. The hole grew, for reasons still being examined, in the early 2020s. But the hope is that the layer, which protects Earth…

Adults have often struggled to know how to treat teenagers, said The Mail on Sunday. But today the problem seems particularly acute. An increasing number of adolescents and younger children are being told, while still at school, that they suffer from “conditions” that require therapy or pills. “With surprisingly little resistance or opposition, treatments such as the prescription of stimulant drugs for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have become normal and uncontroversial for children as young as five, and much more so in higher age brackets.” It seems that everyday problems, such as anxiety, disappointment and exam stress are increasingly being medicalised. “Is this really justified? Is it at least far too widespread?” The Health Secretary Wes Streeting certainly seems concerned: he has ordered an independent review into the reasons…

“Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.”George Bernard Shaw, quoted on Panarchy “When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.”Norm Crosby, quoted in The Spectator “The axe forgets, the tree never does.”African proverb, quoted in The Times “That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.”Doris Lessing, quoted in The Daily Jagran “Anyone can do any amount of work provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at the moment.”Robert Benchley, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle “Avoid having your ego so close to your…

To The Times Libby Purves has spoken an uncomfortable truth. The boycott of Eurovision 2026 by four countries, announced immediately after Israel’s participation was confirmed by the European Broadcasting Union, reflects the resurgence of barely concealed antisemitism that has disfigured dialogue so widely in Europe. The excuse that it is only Israel being targeted, rather than Jews, has been comprehensively exposed as a fig leaf. Countless Jews in the UK and abroad weep not only at the massacre of 7 October but also at the tragedy in Gaza, yet that is buried under the wave of hate-filled slogans and, since Manchester, even antisemitic violence. We forget at our peril how often in history Jews have proved to be the canary in the coalmine. John Dunston, Oxford To The Times Libby…

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans Michael Joseph 288pp £16.99 The Week Bookshop £14.99 This debut by Virginia Evans was a sleeper hit in the US, said Laura Hackett in The Times. And despite its rather off-putting “pink illustrated cover”, it deserves to succeed “on this side of the Atlantic too”. Sybil Van Antwerp is a seventysomething retired legal clerk and divorced mother of two. All her life, she has been a dedicated letter writer, and the novel consists of many of her letters, with a “few emails thrown in the mix”. Hundreds of pages of an “old woman writing letters” may not sound terribly exciting, but there’s a “great deal of action in these pages” – from the death of her son, Gilbert, to the present-day agonies of her failing…

A diamond encrusted Fabergé egg made for Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II has sold at auction for a record-breaking £22.9m, including fees. “The 112-year-old Winter Egg is one of 43 surviving jewelled eggs made by the House of Fabergé in St Petersburg for the Russian royal family before it was deposed,” says The Times. Commissioned in 1913 by the tsar as an Easter present for his mother, the dowager empress Maria Feodorovna, the Winter Egg is considered one of the finest: it is 10cm tall, made from carved rock crystal, intricately engraved and studded with more than 4,500 diamonds. “It opens to reveal a removable diamond and platinum basket carrying a posy of white quartz flowers, symbolising the arrival of spring.” Peter Carl Fabergé, a Russian of Huguenot descent, designed 50…

In a bid to save Clarrie’s swollen hands, Eddie builds a turkey-plucking machine. Emma takes Martha for a sleepover, so Chris goes out with Carly. Keen to see Martha, George comes over, but when Chris drops in unexpectedly and finds him there, he takes Martha home. Emma consoles dejected George and visits Amber, who admits she’s having doubts about the wedding – Emma advises her to be honest with George. When Amber tries, he storms out. Ian offers Susan a solution for the Village Shop. Amber tells George she’s going to Ireland for some space, but later admits to Brad that the real reason she’s confused is because she has feelings for him and knows it’s mutual. She makes Brad promise they never say anything. Eddie’s turkey plucker is not…

Catch at the Old Fish Market 1 Custom House Quay, Weymouth (01305-590555) The area around Weymouth Harbour’s Old Fish Market is “horribly pretty, even in the dark”, says William Sitwell in The Daily Telegraph. And it’s home to this fabulous restaurant, specialising in local fish. After walking up some winding stairs, you enter a charming, dimly lit space with low beams and an open kitchen. At first, the nine-course menu looks “rather daunting”, but such is the brilliance of the cooking that everything slips down effortlessly. Hash brown topped with raw tuna and smoked egg yolk is a “one-bite glory”. There’s “blissful” shellfish broth with sliced squid and onion, and fine seabass with hollandaise and green sauce. But one dish towers above the rest – and indeed is one of the…

Join Santa and his cheeky elves aboard The Elf Express, Aviemore – a steam train trip through the Cairngorms. Upgrade to first class for a festive tea, or enjoy panoramic views in the observation carriage (until 24 Dec, £55 for two; strathspeyrailway.co.uk). For an alternative festive day out, try Butser Ancient Farm in Waterlooville, Hampshire, which hosts a “Magical Quest” event with storytelling around a campfire and crafts in thatched roundhouses (13-14 and 20-21 Dec, from £11.50; butserancientfarm.co.uk). Brunel’s mighty steamship, the SS Great Britain, Bristol, is the backdrop for a sound-and-light spectacle with stories about Christmas at sea. There are seasonal tunes at the Great Western Dockyard, too (from £13, until 4 Jan; ssgreatbritain.org). The illuminated trail at The Lost Gardens of Heligan, St Austell, Cornwall, is packed with magical light…

Immobilia Cairo A 1930s art deco landmark in once-glorious, now-gritty downtown Cairo, the Immobilia was long the city’s tallest building. This year, its upper floors have opened as “a secret hotel of sorts”, says Chris Schalkx in Condé Nast Traveller – a collection of one- and three-bedroom serviced apartments with a small restaurant serving excellent light meals. These “high-design hideaways” mix “art deco bones” – original doors and parquet floors – with an eclectic array of art and antiques, from vintage kilims to lamps of Murano glass. They offer the kind of characterful stays that Cairo has long lacked, with “cactus-lined” roof terraces perfect for dinner parties. Doubles from £240; egyptbeyond.com.…

Unilever/Magnum/Ben & Jerry’s: ice cream float Shares in the €8bn Magnum Ice Cream Company (MICC) have made their long-awaited debut in Amsterdam, with secondary listings in London and New York, after being carved out of the Unilever conglomerate. Yet the rekindling of a row with Ben & Jerry’s has put a dampener on the celebrations, said Guy Taylor in The Times. The Vermont-based ice cream maker, which Unilever bought for $326m in 2000, had called to be “released” from Magnum before the demerger, amid an ongoing dispute linked to its political positions – particularly on the Israel-Palestine conflict. But Magnum boss Peter ter Kulve has taken the same tough line as his Unilever predecessors. Even without that headache, the Magnum float hasn’t exactly hit “a sweet spot”, said Lex in…

A half-cocked EU deal won’t fly Jeremy Warner The Daily Telegraph Measures to bring Britain back into Brussels’s orbit are building up “a parliamentary head of steam”, says Jeremy Warner. Thus, the Lib Dems have claimed “a token victory” with their bill calling on the Government to negotiate a “customs union-lite” deal – along the lines of that enjoyed by Turkey. But although it’s now “undeniable” that leaving the EU has harmed the UK economy, partially rejoining the bloc is no elixir for the country’s woes. For many UK companies, the big advantage held out by the customs union is that it “reduces paperwork, lowers the cost of trade and speeds things up”. But signing up “would also mean conforming to the EU’s common external tariff and to its various…

The week’s best shares 3i Infrastructure The Times 3IN focuses on infrastructure, energy transition, digitalisation and demographic change; investing in and managing firms to add value and capital growth. A leading player in a sector underpinned by demand. Yields 3.7%. Buy. 369.5p. AJ Bell Sharecast Shares have tanked on a margin warning. But Shore Capital defends the trading platform as a “winner”, with high organic growth, recurring revenues and the “scale to carry on conquering”. Target 600p. Buy. 485.8p. Phoenix Group The Times The pension salary-sacrifice hit to the retirement savings and pensions group will be limited. There’s time to adapt, and the rise in gilts is a bonus. Forward yield 9.5%-10.5%, with upside potential under the Standard Life name. Buy. 694.5p. Softcat Citywire This IT provider is a “picks…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1495 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 22 December. Send it to The Week Crossword 1495, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 8 Game on board eastern auditors mentioned (7,8) 9 Capital Hitlerites liberated? Forget it! (2,6) 10 Sunday Times corrected splitting words (6) 11 Bill to announce opera (7,4) 16 Did they follow Mrs T’s vegetables? (7,8) 18 Gorge spectacular for tourists, magnificent round about Wye (5,6) 21 Entertain in low club? Ends in riot (6) 23 Hodge’s bad penning…

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