Table of contents for 1431 in The Week

What happened President Biden flew into Belfast on Tuesday to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the deal that brought an end to 30 years of violent sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland. A huge security operation had been put in place, amid heightened fears of a terrorist attack. Hours before Biden’s arrival, police in Londonderry found four suspected pipe bombs in a cemetery. Dissident republicans had staged a parade in the city the previous day, during which petrol bombs were thrown at a police vehicle. Biden highlighted his country’s abiding commitment to peace and security in Northern Ireland, saying “the American people are with you every step of the way”, and expressed his hope that the province’s parties would return to power-sharing soon. The Stormont Assembly has…

“First do no harm” is the overriding principle of the Hippocratic Oath that guides all medics, said Theodore Dalrymple in the Daily Mail. By choosing to strike for four consecutive days this week, in pursuit of an astonishing 35% pay rise, England’s 61,000 junior doctors have turned that ideal on its head. “Their principle appears to have become: First do harm, then we’ll see.” The doctors might claim that emergency services will be maintained during their 96-hour walkout. But “the whole purpose of the strike is to inflict suffering on the public”, so as to force the Government to the negotiating table. The doctors’ argument, said Tom Calver in The Times, is that their pay has collapsed in real terms since 2008, falling far behind comparable professions. Using the higher…

Rupert Murdoch, whose summer wedding to Ann Lesley Smith, a former police chaplain, was called off, barely a fortnight after it was announced. Vanity Fair reported that the media billionaire had become “increasingly uncomfortable” with Smith’s “outspoken evangelical views”. Other reports suggested that she was struggling with suddenly being in the public eye. Overweight fishermen, with the revelation that boat crew with a body mass index of 35 or over could be banned from leaving port. New rules designed to prevent accidents will require them to get a medical certificate from November onwards. The industry is considering legal action, as livelihoods could be put at risk.…

Paris Playboy pose: A minister in President Macron’s government has defended her decision to pose for the cover of Playboy, saying that she regarded the photo shoot as an “act of emancipation”. Marlène Schiappa, the minister for social economy, appeared clothed, but in revealing poses, with “49.3” written on her cleavage; Article 49.3 was used to push through Macron’s pension reforms. PM Élisabeth Borne described it as “not at all appropriate”. Schiappa hit back at “detractors and hypocrites”, adding: “In France, women are free.” A former erotic novelist, Schiappa brought in legislation outlawing catcalling in 2018. Milan, Italy Berlusconi’s health: Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s former prime minister, is suffering from leukaemia and receiving treatment in intensive care, it was revealed last week. The 86-year-old’s condition was made public after he was…

“A Labour thinktank has decided that the next election will be decided by a group of voters they have named ‘Stevenage Woman’. It’s maddeningly patronising to think that you can lump hundreds of thousands of people together in one bracket, yet politicians have been at it for years. Tony Blair’s campaign in 1997 was a love song to ‘Mondeo Man’. In 2019, Boris Johnson appealed to ‘Workington Man’. In between, we’ve had ‘alarm clock Britain’, ‘Aldi Mums’, ‘Bacardi Breezers’ and, my personal favourite: William Hague’s ‘Pebbledash People’. Some advice from this Stevenage Woman: treat us not as lemming-like ‘types’ but as intelligent individuals.” Clare Foges in the Daily Mail…

The elites accusing each other of elitism James Marriott The Times Back in the 1950s, it was easy to identify Britain’s elite, says James Marriott. The “Establishment” was distinct and relatively homogenous. Identifying today’s elite, though, is a trickier matter. In a new book, Matthew Goodwin points the finger at out-of-touch, upper-middle-class liberals who dictate the “national conversation” through their control of institutions such as the media and publishing. Among those he mentions are Emily Maitlis, Hugh Grant, Gary Lineker and Keir Starmer. The “Islingtonians” have responded by pointing at Tory ministers and City fat cats. So fragmented has our ruling class become that none of its members really consider themselves part of the elite – and are certainly not willing to accept the label. The French economist Thomas Piketty…

Perseverance’s vital sample Nasa’s Perseverance rover has collected samples of Martian rock that could harbour evidence of ancient microbial life on the red planet; but unfortunately, it will be years before the samples reach a terrestrial lab where they can be analysed. The six-wheeled, car-sized rover has been roaming around collecting samples and taking photographs since it landed in Mars’s Jezero Crater in February 2021. For its latest assignment, it travelled to the top of an ancient delta, and drilled down to extract a sample of rock that is rich in carbonate minerals. These can be created as a byproduct of life, and can record evidence going back billions of years. “If biosignatures were present in this part of Jezero Crater, it could be a rock like this one that…

Sarah Ferguson has revealed that she consulted a “dog whisperer” when she adopted the late Queen’s corgis, to steer them through their “canine grieving”. “People have picked me up for saying that the corgis can sense the late Queen’s presence,” she told The Sunday Times. “But it’s true. Her dogs, Muick and Sandy, whom we’ve adopted, often do bark at nothing, which makes me think that Queen Elizabeth is passing by and laughing. I’m not being weird.” The Florida governor Ron DeSantis has been accused of being a revoltingly messy eater. Sources told The Daily Beast that on a flight in 2019, DeSantis ate a chocolate pudding by scooping it up with three fingers. He would “sit in meetings and eat”, a former staffer recalled, “like a starving animal who…

The list of British institutions reconsidering their uncomfortable relationship with slavery has just acquired an illustrious new member, said The Times. Buckingham Palace announced last week that King Charles has given his backing to a new research project investigating the links between the British monarchy and the transatlantic slave trade. The Royal Archives would be opened up to assist with the project, the Palace said, adding: “This is an issue that His Majesty takes profoundly seriously.” The statement followed The Guardian’s report that, in 1689, William III was given £1,000 of shares in the slave-trading Royal African Company, awarded to him by the notorious slave-owner Edward Colston. It’s about time, said Brooke Newman in The Guardian. There’s already an extensive paper trail linking the Crown to “the enslavement and death…

The Spanish golfer Jon Rahm began the Masters in the worst possible fashion, scoring a double-bogey six on the very first hole, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. He calmed himself by repeating the mantra of his idol Seve Ballesteros – “I miss, I miss, I miss, I make” – and reminding himself that there were 71 holes to go. Four days later – on what would have been Ballesteros’s 66th birthday – the 28-year-old “made his own mark in this tournament’s storied history” by claiming the title for the first time. Rahm finished 12 under par, four shots ahead of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, who were tied in second place. It was the Spaniard’s second major, following his victory at the 2021 US Open. It meant he reclaimed…

Cricket In the Indian Premier League, Rinku Singh struck five consecutive sixes off the final five balls of the game to propel Kolkata Knight Riders’ batsman to a three-wicket victory over Gujarat Titans. Football The Lionesses beat Brazil on penalties to win the inaugural Women’s Finalissima – a match played between the winners of the Euros and the Copa América. Tennis Andy Murray lost 6-1, 6-3 to Australia’s Alex de Minaur in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Masters. Britain’s Jack Draper lost in three sets to Hubert Hurkacz of Poland in the second round.…

It’s “rare for a play to be a phenomenon before it even opens”, but A Little Life has managed that, said Sarah Crompton on What’s On Stage. The 2015 novel by Hanya Yanagihara on which it is based – about a New York lawyer whose life has been destroyed by physical and sexual abuse – is regarded with quasi-religious reverence by some (but as “trauma porn” by its detractors). And theatregoers have leapt at the chance to see Happy Valley’s James Norton (pictured) on stage. Although not belonging to either fanbase, I was impressed by this long, gruelling adaptation from the acclaimed Belgian director Ivo van Hove. It is “as involving and accurate a depiction of the longterm effects of abuse as you could expect to see” – but I…

Fans of Daisy May Cooper have come to love her “distinct brand of confident fecklessness” from her stellar turns in shows such as This Country and Am I Being Unreasonable?, said Ben Dowell in The Times. “Now, she has gone a step further”, with this “grimy and very British show”, which (perhaps surprisingly) comes from the US broadcaster HBO but is being shown on BBC1. Cooper plays Costello, “a single mum and occasional sex worker” whom we meet being evicted from her London flat. She is locked in a love/hate friendship with Selby (Jack Farthing), a “louche, highly privileged homosexual, newly released from prison”, who acts as a father figure to Costello’s daughter, Iris (Fleur Tashjian). There are elements of the series that don’t ring true – Iris is suspiciously…

Last month, Tracey Emin opened her own artists’ space near her home in Margate; now Gilbert & George have opened a gallery of their own, in London’s Spitalfields, reports The Guardian. As distinctive as ever in their tweed suits, the pair envisage the Gilbert & George Centre as a bricks and mortar representation of their “art for all” motto – and a gift to the evolving East End community they have worked alongside for many decades. The duo, who describe themselves as “two men who are one artist”, moved here in 1968, said the FT. Back then, Spitalfields was impoverished and crumbling – as seen in Don McCullin’s “brutal” 1973 photographs of its homeless and hopeless. Gentrification swept away that Spitalfields years ago, but with their new free exhibition space,…

With Open Day approaching, Tom is under pressure, but George steps in to help. After cooking Sunday lunch for his children, Brian opens Jennifer’s will – she has left Martha £15,000 but nothing to her other grandchildren, to everyone’s shock. Bridge Farm Open Day is a success, with the new Dairy window proving a hit. Alice has been avoiding calls; when Brian finds her, she breaks down and says Jennifer must have left Martha the money because she didn’t trust Alice to stay sober. There are blushes for Helen and Lee when Susan jokes about them getting engaged. At the Eurovision committee meeting, Harrison and Jolene play Justin at his own game. Adam and Kate talk about the will and say they’ll support Alice. George and Chelsea clash over Brad…

Light and comforting, this soup, popular in Jakarta, has a distinctive aroma, courtesy of a spiced infusion of nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon, says Petty Pandean-Elliott. It takes time, but your patience will be rewarded with juicy, fork-tender morsels of oxtail, and the toppings introduce even more texture, flavour and goodness to the dish. For a lighter, and more traditional, version, use water instead of beef stock. Serves 4 For the soup: 1.5kg chopped oxtail, fat trimmed and discarded 2.5 litres beef stock or water 5 makrut lime leaves, torn 2 banana shallots, thinly sliced 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped 10g fresh root ginger, thinly sliced 10g galangal, thinly sliced 1 stick cinnamon 1 whole nutmeg, coarsely ground 1 tsp cloves 1 tsp black peppercorns 4 carrots, chopped into 1cm lengths 2…

Cornwall clifftop retreat Spend 3 nights at the Polurrian on the Lizard, an Edwardian seaside hotel overlooking the west Cornish coastline. From £254pp b&b. 01326-240421, polurrianhotel.com. Arrive 20 June. Cumbria boutique hotel Two nights at the Macdonald Leeming House, with its lovely gardens and direct access to the shores of Ullswater, cost from £176pp half-board. 020-3608 0135, secretescapes.com. Arrive 15 May. Four nights in Barcelona The Catalonia Avinyó hotel stands in the centre of the city, with Las Ramblas and Plaça Sant Jaume very close. From £529pp b&b (flights incl). 0800-408 0778, jet2holidays.com. Depart 8 May. Malta’s capital Stay 4 nights at the Castille Hotel in Valletta, which offers breathtaking views of the Grand Harbour. From £444pp room-only. 020-8175 1145, loveholidays.com. Arrive 4 July. Covid-19: please check government websites for…

Tina Backhouse Tina Backhouse’s career as a Pfizer sales director came unstuck shortly before her 49th birthday in 2019 when she developed arthritis and lost her memory, says The Sunday Times. It was only after taking “a temporary position” at Theramex – a newly established women’s healthcare business – that she realised she had menopausal symptoms. Now she has become an evangelist for HRT, presiding over the UK arm of Theramex, which provides more than half of Britain’s supply. Servicing a booming market has been challenging: Theramex’s German plants moved to 24-hour production after the Government slashed HRT drug prices to “improve access”. Still, it’s lucrative work. Theramex was sold last year to private equity firms Carlyle and PAI for a reported $1.4bn. Terry Gou If anyone has an interest…

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When the King and Queen travel to Westminster Abbey for next month’s coronation, they will do so in a horse-drawn carriage with heating, air-conditioning, hydraulic suspension and electric windows. The carriage will not be used for the entire coronation, however: on departing the Abbey, the newly-crowned couple will use the 260-year-old Gold State Coach, which is said to be far less comfortable. English literature students at the University of Greenwich have been given a trigger warning about depictions of spiders in the novel Dracula. Academics flagged that the book, which features vampire brides and stakes being driven through hearts, contains “descriptions of spiders and other insects”, as well as “misogyny”, “animal abuse” and “death”.…

The UK is among a number of countries to have special forces operating inside Ukraine, according to what appear to be leaked US military documents (see page 6). One of the documents, dated 23 March, states that the UK has the largest contingent of special forces in Ukraine, at 50, followed by Latvia (17), France (15), the US (14) and the Netherlands (1). The document does not state where the forces are located or what they are doing. The UK’s special forces include the SAS, as well as several other secretive military units. This week, the Ministry of Defence tweeted that the leak had demonstrated a “serious level of inaccuracy”, and urged people to be “cautious” about taking the papers at “face value”.…

Louisville, Kentucky Livestreamed shooting: Five people were killed on Monday, when a bank employee opened fire at his workplace in central Louisville, Kentucky. The gunman, identified as Connor Sturgeon, 25, was livestreaming on Instagram as he burst into a staff meeting at the Old National Bank and began firing with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. He was later killed in a shootout with police. Sturgeon had reportedly worked at the bank for two years, but believed he was being fired. One employee at the bank locked herself in the vault when the attack began; another described helplessly watching the bloodshed unfold as she attended the meeting virtually. Eight other victims, including a rookie police officer who was shot in the head, were injured. The massacre was the 146th mass shooting –…

A performance of the musical The Bodyguard was cut short in Manchester last week, when rowdy audience members wreaked havoc by attempting to sing along. Stewards held up signs at the start of the show, specifically requesting the audience to “please refrain” from joining in. But as the finale approached, two spectators in the upper circle began a boisterous countdown to the Whitney Houston song I Will Always Love You. The pair then tried and failed to hit the song’s high notes, before being forcibly ejected from the theatre. Patients and doctors at a hospital in Alaska were surprised last week to find a moose on the loose in the lobby. The animal, which strolled in through the front doors at Providence Health Park in Anchorage, meandered around the building,…

FRANCE Don’t deprive Paris of its eco-friendly “trots” RTL (Paris) Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater, says Martial You. Earlier this month, Parisians voted to make their city the first European capital to outlaw rented e-scooters. They may be popular with the young, but when riders of these “trottinettes”, as they’re known, speed along busy streets or pavements, they cause consternation among older residents. So when Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, put their use to a referendum, 90% of voters backed a ban – which the authorities say they will now impose. Really? Is that such a good idea for a town that wants to remain the world’s “number one tourist city”? Bear in mind that turnout for this referendum was a “ridiculous” 8%. Besides, most of the…

China has become a “dark and repressive place” under Xi Jinping, said Ian Williams in The Spectator. His growing intolerance of dissent, and his tacit support for Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, have prompted many Western leaders to reassess relations with Beijing. But not, it seems, Emmanuel Macron. Last week the French president made a three-day visit to China, trailed by a 50-strong entourage of business leaders, in what he called a bid to “relaunch a strategic and global partnership” with the country. Macron spoke about a “shared responsibility for peace” and international stability, urging Xi to use his influence over Putin. “I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses and everyone back to the negotiating table,” he told the Chinese president. What a “ridiculous…

“Do you think adults convicted of sexually assaulting children should go to prison?” Of course you do. Nearly every decent person thinks that, said Daniel Johnson in the Daily Mail. Yet according to Labour’s “vile” new social media campaign, Rishi Sunak takes the opposite view. Labour’s “hateful” smear relies on the tendentious interpretation of sentencing data going back to 2010, when the PM wasn’t even an MP (since then, 4,500 people convicted of such crimes served no prison time). Their grotesque attack is the “most offensive thing I have witnessed in 50 years” of covering British politics. It’s also a bizarre “unforced error”, said Tom Harris in The Daily Telegraph. It makes Labour look desperate and Keir Starmer – who backed the ad – a hypocrite. When Boris Johnson accused…

Sunday’s clash between Liverpool and Arsenal at Anfield “wasn’t just an incredible game of football”, said Barney Ronay in The Guardian. “It was two incredible games of football crammed into a single running time.” The first was won comfortably by Arsenal, who looked “like pedigree specimens” as they romped into a 2-0 lead. But the second was won – and “won fearsomely” – by Liverpool, who emerged with a 2-2 draw after “producing a final 50 minutes of clarity, snap, swift passing and furious midfield press”. This version of the Reds was the one that has twice won 7-0 at home this season – not the “enfeebled” model that has played poorly so often. Arsenal’s “fatal mistake” was “making Liverpool angry”, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph. With 40…

by Lynne Olson Scribe 448pp £25 The Week Bookshop £19.99 Very few women have successfully broken into the “men’s club” of Egyptian archaeology, said Joshua Hammer in The New York Times. But in this “fast-paced, highly entertaining” biography, Lynne Olson tells the story of one who did. Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt was born in 1913, into an upper-middle-class Parisian family. Fascinated with Egypt from an early age, she specialised in hieroglyphics at university before joining the Louvre as a junior curator. When the Second World War broke out, she helped transport many of its treasures – including the Mona Lisa – to “châteaux in the Loire, away from the eyes of rapacious Nazi collectors”, said Michael Dirda in The Washington Post. And she joined the “now legendary” Musée de l’Homme Resistance network,…

Mother and Son by Ivy Compton-Burnett, 1955 (out of print). I’m obsessed with Compton-Burnett’s mad world. Here, the murderous psychopath is a cat called Plautus; the human crisis is a son telling his mother he doesn’t want sugar in his tea. “Are you proof against insult, Miss Wolsey? Because if not, this is no place for you.” The Death of the Heart by Elizabeth Bowen, 1938 (Vintage £9.99). A perfect, devastating novel. The characters act and speak incoherently and unsurely; the novel is exact, penetrating and certain about them. It could have been viciously satirical, and it is terribly funny, but somehow it never seems to be looking down on its subjects. The History of Pendennis by William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848 (Penguin £18.99). The 19th century loved Pendennis as much…

Programmes Lyra This documentary about the young journalist Lyra McKee, who was shot dead in 2019, looks at her life against the backdrop of Northern Ireland’s political history. Sat 15 Apr, C4 21:25 (95mins). Our Changing Planet In the second part of the BBC’s seven-year project, Steve Backshall, Liz Bonnin and Chris Packham return to three threatened ecosystems to see the effects of – and responses to – climate change. Sun 16 Apr, BBC1 19:00 (60mins). Joanna Lumley: My Best Bits – In My Own Words The actress takes a candid look back at the highlights of her career. Sun 16 Apr, C5 21:00 (120mins). Walter Presents: Don’t Leave Me Italian crime drama. When a boy’s body is found in Venice’s lagoon, detective Elena Zonin returns to her hometown to…

● Consider battery life before buying an e-bike. If it runs out, of course you can still cycle to your destination, but it takes more effort. The manufacturers’ stated range is often based on optimal conditions. ● Most e-bikes take between three and four hours to charge. Many have their battery incorporated into the frame, which can make them a faff to charge. You might want to look for one with a removable battery. ● Check the weight of the bike: the battery, electronics and motor make e-bikes considerably heavier than regular bikes. If you live in a flat and need to lug it up stairs, you’d do well to find a lighter-weight model. (Brompton’s folding e-bike weighs 17.4kg; Carbo has a folding e-bike that is 13.3kg.) ● E-bikes aren’t…

Nigel Lawson 1932-2023 One of the last of the “big beasts” of late 20th century politics, Nigel Lawson, who has died aged 91, became Margaret Thatcher’s chancellor in 1983, and remained in the role for six years – making him, at the time, the longest-serving chancellor since David Lloyd George. An arch tax cutter, deregulator, and privatiser of nationalised industries, he was the main architect of Thatcher’s radical economic policies, said Julia Langdon in The Guardian, and was credited with securing the Tories their third consecutive election victory in 1987. When he resigned two years later, following a series of bitter rows over his support for the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), the “more perceptive political analysts” predicted that this marked the beginning of the end of the Thatcher era.…

The death of Queen Elizabeth robbed Tupperware of its most powerful influencer. Now the purveyor of plastic food containers, beloved of frugal royals, is facing possible collapse, said BBC Business. Shares in the 77-year-old firm, founded by former chemist Earl Tupper, plunged 50% in New York on Monday after it said there was “substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern”. In its mid-20th century heyday, Tupperware was renowned for its “direct sales force” – many reps were housewives who held “Tupperware parties” in their homes. The brand retains definite kitsch value. But recent attempts “to reposition it to a younger audience” have fallen flat.…

Britain Chancellor Jeremy Hunt might have hoped for a more positive reading from the International Monetary Fund following a raft of more upbeat data locally. Not a bit of it, said Graeme Wearden in The Guardian. In its latest World Economic Outlook, the fund confirmed that the UK is “on track to be the worst-performing advanced economy this year” – and the only one still shrinking. True, the prediction that GDP will shrink by 0.3% in 2023 is “an improvement” on the IMF’s previous forecast of a 0.6% contraction. But the US, by contrast, is forecast to grow by 1.6% this year, the eurozone by 0.8%, Japan by 1.3% and even Russia by 0.7%. The best that can said about Britain is that its growth is predicted to return to…

The week’s best shares Gresham House Energy Storage The Times This fund constructs and operates lithium battery sites for storing cheaply-bought energy – then sells it back when demand spikes. Capacity is building at “breakneck speed”. Yields 4.5%. Buy. 159.7p. Helical The Times The shift to hybrid working hasn’t boosted office landlords, and the market still lags pre-Covid levels. Yet Helical’s letting activity is recovering and rent collection is at a solid 98%. The discount looks too wide. Buy. 305.5p. Strix Group Investors’ Chronicle The kettle safety controls-maker was hit by shutdowns in China, the withdrawal of key brands from Russia and the cost-of-living crisis. But green shoots are emerging and the Billi acquisition should support growth. Buy. 94p. TinyBuild The Sunday Times The fall in disposable incomes has squeezed…

The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has had the most successful global opening ever for an animated movie, despite receiving terrible reviews (see page 25). It took $377m around the world in its first five days on release. Family harmony, with the news that Prince Harry will attend the coronation of King Charles III on 6 May. However, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, will not be joining him. It will be the fourth birthday of their son, Prince Archie, who will remain in the US. Rudolph Erasmus, a South African pilot who successfully made an emergency landing after a venomous 5ft Cape cobra slithered up his shirt at 11,000ft, then curled up under his seat. “Listen, the snake is underneath my seat,” he told the four passengers in his private…

Fewer than half (49%) of adults in the UK say that they trust the police in general. 47% say they distrust the police. 51% believe that if they were a victim of a crime, they’d trust the police to take their case seriously. 42% say they wouldn’t. Savanta/The Independent More than one in ten teachers say they have been physically assaulted by a pupil in the last year, according to a survey of members of the NASUWT teaching union. 22% have been subjected to pushing or shoving, and 58% have faced verbal abuse. If France’s 2022 presidential election were repeated now, Marine Le Pen would beat Emmanuel Macron in a runoff vote by 55% to 45%. Elabe/BFMTV…

A pop star on his anxiety Lewis Capaldi should be on top of the world, says Lisa Verrico in The Sunday Times. The Scottish singer’s second album is due out next month; its first two singles have already gone to No.1, and tour dates all over the world have sold out. Yet he is miserable. Twitching from the Tourette’s he was diagnosed with last year, the 26-year-old reels off a list of ailments that would befit a man three times his age, from an ear infection to bronchitis. But the source of his unhappiness is perhaps the anxiety that he suffers from. It’s not the fame or his success that troubles him. “Being famous is easy,” he laughs. “You’re out and about and people say hello. What’s hard about that?…

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, is a 38-year-old former guitar teacher and the wife of a Russian Orthodox priest. In 2019, she became a member of Putin’s United Russia party and was later appointed to the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house, representing the province of Penza. In 2021, Putin appointed her his envoy for children, and she has proved adept at putting a sweet, motherly face on the government’s policy of abduction. Lvova-Belova, who often poses in traditional Russian dress on social media, claims to have hugged more than a thousand children, and has personally accompanied “evacuations” of youngsters from occupied Ukraine, which often end in well publicised handovers to adoptive families. Russians, she has said, are uniquely equipped to “warm them with care and love”. In addition…

Why Biden should stop preaching Walter Russell Mead The Wall Street Journal President Biden needs to tone down his liberal rhetoric, says Walter Russell Mead. He’s right to be worried about Chinese, Russian and Iranian expansionism. But his habit of framing world politics as a contest between autocracy and liberal democracy risks alienating key allies. America can’t afford to be too exacting on this front, particularly if its version of democracy means taking controversial stands on issues like trans rights. If it wants to hold the balance against China in the Indo-Pacific, it will have to work with many countries, such as Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia, that are “anything but liberal and democratic”. The same goes for its dealings in Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. “Vacuous posturing about…

British cows could be given “methane blockers” to help the Government meet its climate change targets, reports The Guardian. There are 9.4 million cows and calves in the UK, and the methane emitted from their burps and manure is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. In its new net-zero strategy, the Government said that “high efficacy methane-suppressing products” were likely to enter the market in 2025, and that if they prove effective, it might become obligatory to add them to cattle feed. It is not anticipated that this would lead to significantly higher prices for consumers, and farmers’ groups broadly welcomed the idea. However, green campaigners were sceptical; they argue that if this “fix” works at all, it would only address one of the environmental problems created by farming,…

Poo has become a big issue in British politics, said Esther Webber on Politico. “Rishi Sunak’s Government is scrambling to manage rising public anger over the dumping of untreated sewage into Britain’s rivers and oceans by privately owned water firms.” Tory MPs and councillors in coastal and rural seats fear the issue may cost them dearly in forthcoming elections: their inboxes are filled with furious emails; the “dog-walker demographic” is up in arms. Yet little progress is being made. The Environment Agency’s latest figures show that there were an average of 825 sewage spills per day in England last year – and that was a relatively good tally, down 19% on 2021, owing to dry conditions. Last week, the Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey launched her new “Plan for Water”, an…

“Advances are made by answering questions. Discoveries are made by questioning answers.”Astrophysicist Bernard Haisch, quoted on Medium “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”Jim Rohn, quoted in the Daily Mail “I never meant to say that the Conservatives are generally stupid. I meant to say that stupid people are generally Conservative. I believe that is so obviously and universally admitted a principle that I hardly think that any gentleman will deny it.”John Stuart Mill, quoted in The Guardian “Rice is great when you’re hungry and you want two thousand of something.”Mitch Hedberg, quoted on Mashed “So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.”John Locke, quoted on Substack…

Saracens’s dreams of lifting the Champions Cup were brutally crushed on Sunday, as they were swatted aside in the quarter-finals by La Rochelle, said Ian Malin in The Guardian. The London side simply couldn’t cope with the “bludgeoning power” of the defending champions, who won 24-10. “In truth, the scoreline flattered Saracens”, who were “ill-disciplined and inaccurate”, and “looked nothing like the side that has been so dominant in the Premiership this season”. It was a game that “emphasised the growing gulf” between the top French clubs and their English counterparts. What made things even worse for Saracens was the fact that Billy Vunipola limped off with a knee injury, bringing his season to a premature end. The No. 8 is now in doubt for the World Cup in the…

To The Daily Telegraph I was a junior doctor in the 1970s, working about 60 hours per week and salaried, which meant no overtime after working a 48-hour weekend, or a 24-hour shift, merely Monday off to sleep, then four more full days of work. I felt that I was privileged and on a steep learning curve. I had signed the Hippocratic Oath, and one of the promises we made was to do no harm. If these arrogant young doctors think a strike will not harm patients, possibly even cause unnecessary deaths, they should not be pursuing a career in medicine. If they are prepared to work hard and achieve further qualifications, they can expect to be earning at least ?150,000-a-year in ten years. Dr Bryan Goodrich, Poole, Dorset To…

by Max Porter Faber 128pp £12.99 The Week Bookshop £9.99 Max Porter’s fourth book, set in the mid-1990s, is a “virtuosic novella that tracks a single day in the life of a troubled boy”, said Michael Delgado in Literary Review. Sixteen-year-old Shy is a resident of Last Chance, a rural home for young offenders. As the novel opens – at 3:13am – the teenager is “sneaking away”, carrying a backpack full of rocks. The narrative follows him as he walks – he’s headed for a pond – assailed by “breathless memories”. Porter’s “jagged” prose is inspired by the music of the era, specifically the drum ‘n’ bass that Shy adores. It makes for a “wonderful, troubling act of empathy”. Like Porter’s previous books (including his prize-winning debut Grief is the…

Francesca Gabbiani at Cedric Bardawil When we think of Southern California, we tend to picture long lines of palm trees under blue skies, giving way to a view of the Hollywood Hills; and with perhaps just a glimpse of a distant gas station or skyscraper. In Hot Panoramas, Montreal-born, Geneva-raised artist Francesca Gabbiani (b.1965) subverts these paradisiacal imaginings of the world’s entertainment capital into combustible nightmares: the palms are present and correct, except that here they are infra-red lightning rods bursting into flame in the dead of night. Elsewhere, we see an irradiated Sun rising over melting icecaps, infinity pools repossessed by weeds and algae and what appear to be the chemtrails of rockets blazing across the dark sky, hot shards of debris tumbling in their wake. Most of the…

Elderflower Fields, in East Sussex, has a science dome, plus sport and art activities for young children, as well as a giant picnic and a family dance-off (from £160/adult; 26-29 May; south.elderflowerfields.co.uk). The space-themed Bluedot festival in Cheshire pairs acclaimed music (Grace Jones) with science talks, interactive play and Jedi lightsaber training (from £219; 20-23 Jul; discoverthebluedot.com). Womad, in Wiltshire, features music from all over the world. There’s a children’s field with rock climbing, puppetry and themed crafts (from £220; 27-30 Jul; womad.co.uk). Deer Shed in North Yorkshire is an independent family festival with a range of activities, from quidditch and kayaking to comedy and gizmobots (from £190; 28-31 Jul; deershedfestival.com). Big Feastival in the Cotswolds has a kids’ cooking school, street food, a Crafty Corner, and acts including Sigrid…

A brewery in Botswana There can be few tastier ways to help with conservation in Botswana than a trip to the Okavango Craft Brewery, says Sue Watt in The Daily Telegraph. Located in Maun, the “sleepy” gateway town to the Okavango Delta, it arose from the work of a local NGO, Ecoexist, that aims to minimise the sometimes deadly encounters between elephants and farmers in the area. Farmers are encouraged to move their crops away from the animals’ migratory paths, and are given training in protecting their fields and increasing their yields – and the brewery sweetens the deal by buying up their surplus millet, with which all its beers are made. With names linked to the area and its inhabitants (such as Old Bull Stout, and the non-alcoholic Mock…

The West is caught in a “doom loop” Andy Haldane Financial Times “It is a centuries-old story of policymakers talking tough then bending the knee,” says Andy Haldane. When the latest financial drama reached a crisis point last month, a decade of radical financial reform – aimed at ridding the world of “too-big-to-fail” institutions – was simply ditched. “We remain caught in a ‘doom loop’, with insured risk-taking begetting further risk-taking”, thanks to a widening “state safety net” that now extends way beyond banks. The two enormous shocks of Covid and the cost-of-living crisis were cushioned by “the largest double-dose of fiscal and monetary medicine in human history”: direct support to households and businesses in the UK alone amounted to around 20% of GDP. “The case for social insurance is…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1358 An Ettinger pass holder and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 24 April. Send it to The Week Crossword 1358, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass holder in assorted colours, which retails at £115, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 6 A politician finally sacked for something explosive (8) 8 Salt in the main goes with chow, for example (3,3) 9 Could be the deficient retail supply (8,7) 10 Plate brought back for a cat? (6) 12 More rum for the outsider (8) 13 Cover…