Table of contents for 1588 in The Week

Golden eagles are set to return to England’s skies, as part of a Government reintroduction scheme. The raptors, whose wings can span eight feet, have been largely absent from England for 150 years; but Forestry England has now identified eight “recovery zones”, mostly in northern areas such as the Pennines and the Lake District, where they might thrive again. The first juvenile eagles could be released into the wild as soon as next year, pending a consultation. A former professional ballerina who is “70% paralysed” has been able to dance on stage again, via an avatar whose movements were dictated by her brainwaves. Breanna Olson, 46, was left in a wheelchair after being diagnosed in 2023 with an incurable form of motor neurone disease that weakens muscles and, over time,…

Controversy of the week The Russia threat “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” That was Theodore Roosevelt’s famous advice to statesmen. Yet in addressing the threat from Russia, Keir Starmer is increasingly “performing a morbidly fascinating inversion of this – speaking loudly while having no stick at all”, said Eliot Wilson in The Spectator. Last month, the PM announced that the UK would be “stepping up the pressure” on Moscow by authorising UK forces to seize tankers in the shadow fleet that entered British waters. So were special forces at the ready, when, last week, two sanctioned tankers sailed into the Channel? Apparently not. Moscow had sent a heavily armed frigate to escort them; and as the Kremlin had no doubt wagered, all the UK mustered in response was…

The official inquiry into the 2024 Southport attacks has concluded that Axel Rudakubana’s rampage “could and should have been prevented”. Rudakubana, then 17, burst into a dance class in the seaside town, stabbed three young girls to death, and injured many others. The report reserves particular criticism for his parents for failing to raise the alarm when he started building up an arsenal of weapons, because they were afraid he’d be arrested, and for previously obstructing the efforts of doctors and others to engage with the boy’s evident problems. The report also notes, however, that professionals had repeatedly “excused” Rudakubana’s erratic and violent behaviour on the basis of his autism, and focused on his welfare, not the risk to others. His head teacher had tried to warn that he might…

A bumper load of 38,000 bananas was sent to a single supermarket on the sparsely populated Orkney Islands. Staff at the branch of Tesco in Kirkwall (population 7,390) had meant to order 380kg of the fruit (about 2,500 bananas); instead, they ordered 380 boxes. Owing to ferries being cancelled in high winds, the bananas couldn’t be returned, so they were distributed to schools and community groups. A DIY whizz with too much time on his hands has pioneered a novel hobby: building supersized models of ordinary household items. Steve Wainwright’s creations include a giant tape measure that he uses as a coffee table, a huge pencil and a 13-amp plug that serves as a cupboard. He took up the hobby after retiring in 2020, and finding that “you can only…

FRANCE The decline and fall of the gay bar Libération (Paris) More and more gay bars in Paris are closing, says Érik Rémès. They used to be so full of life and music. Now, so many of them are empty, the shutters pulled down, perhaps a “sad piece of graffiti” on the facade. “The internet has changed everything.” Dating apps such as Grindr, Scruff and Tinder have caused the gay community to turn to screens and living rooms instead of public spaces, and in so doing have robbed the scene of its “electric energy” of old. In the past, when people breathed in the “hot air of the bars” or were soaked in “the sweat of the dance floors”, a glance did what algorithms now do. “Strangers crossed paths and…

A new study has unlocked the secrets of the octopus’s sex life – and how it uses one of its eight arms to mate. Scientists have long known that male octopuses use a specialised limb, the hectocotylus, to transfer a “parcel” of sperm to the female’s reproductive tract. But how the arm identifies a suitable partner or delivers the sperm to the right spot had been unclear. In an effort to find out more, Harvard researchers placed a pair of California two-spot octopuses in a tank, one either side of a barrier with arm-sized holes. Whether it was dark or light, the males reached the hectocotylus through the gaps, inserted the tip into the mantle, located the oviduct (where fertilisation takes place) and deposited the sperm. However, males didn’t try…

Shortly before his death from cancer in 2021, Antony Sher received a phone call from the then Prince Charles, who confirmed to him that he was his favourite actor. “He was comforting, full of praise,” Sher wrote in his newly published diary. When the prince signed off – “Bye bye, Tony” – he sounded “almost emotional”. Sher was very touched. But then he turned to his husband, Greg Doran, and said, “Mind you, when Robert Stephens was dying, Charles personally went to his bedside in the hospital. Not just a call.” Simon Farnaby was impressed by the late Queen, when he directed her in the Paddington sketch made for her Platinum Jubilee. For one thing, she was adept at taking “notes”. Her delivery was a tad formal, until he suggested…

“Pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space/Cos there’s bugger all down here on Earth.”Eric Idle, quoted in The Guardian “Man is an invention of recent date, and one perhaps nearing its end.”Michel Foucault, quoted in the Financial Times “The light of day is the best disinfectant.”Louis D. Brandeis, quoted in The Guardian “I like to think I lead a complex emotional life, but then the sun comes out and I am happy. I am functionally no different from a big leaf.”Journalist Morgan Jones, quoted on The Knowledge “Art is not what you see but what you make others see.”Edgar Degas, quoted in the Carolina Journal “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.”Carl Jung, quoted in The New York Times “A man in love is not complete until…

“Are Arsenal about to blow the Premier League title?” Ahead of last weekend’s round of fixtures, the Gunners were nine points clear at the top of the table with seven games to go, said Sam Wallace in The Sunday Telegraph. Notwithstanding a recent loss of form, they looked a safe bet to claim their first title since 2003. But all that changed last week: the lacklustre manner in which they succumbed to a 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday suggested that Manchester City may yet overtake them in a last-minute twist to this title race. It was the performance, as much as the result, that drew boos from the home crowd, who could blame neither “referee conspiracy” nor “bad luck” for this defeat. Cue frank talk from manager Mikel…

To the Financial Times As someone who sat up all night to watch the first Moon walk, I read your articles on the Artemis mission with great pleasure. Space travel inspired me then, and it still does. It inspired me to study physics as my degree subject. So I read with jaw-dropping disbelief that the same Government that wishes to invest heavily in quantum computing and fusion technology is simultaneously reducing its investment in university physics departments. At the heart of all these topics and many others lies a fundamental understanding of physics, whether it is to calculate complex orbits, explain what happens at the atomic level in quantum computers, or explain why CO2 causes climate change. The Government fails to understand the key role physics labs play in exploring…

Everyone is familiar with their hits Cabaret and Chicago, said Clive Davis in The Times. Yet John Kander and Fred Ebb’s later musical Kiss of the Spider Woman – “a fiercely intelligent portrait” of two men who form an unlikely bond in a prison cell in Argentina during its Dirty War – “has slipped from view”. Now, though, a new film version is about to land, and we also have this “glorious, scaled-down” stage production in Leicester (then Bristol). Based on Manuel Puig’s novel, and with a book by Terrence McNally, the piece is “as bold and thoughtful as any Sondheim”, and the “dynamics of a drama” played out in a cramped space are well served by Paul Foster’s “chamber approach” here. With deft choreography, and a full sound drawn…

“Brace yourselves,” said Lucy Mangan in The Guardian: Margaret Atwood’s sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, published in 2019, “has come for us”. Set in the totalitarian regime of Gilead a few years after the TV series ended, The Testaments (on Disney+) is focused not on the “handmaids” – who provide children to powerful men – but on the daughters of the elite, who are groomed from birth to become wives. It’s a “kind of YA reboot” – albeit one that “encompasses bloody punishments” and “rotting corpses swinging from gibbets”. The structure of the series departs radically from that of the book, but the show is so “consumingly brilliant” that I reckon even purists will forgive this, said Charlotte Ivers in The Times. Chase Infiniti plays Agnes MacKenzie, the adopted daughter…

A row has broken out in Spain between the governments of Madrid and the Basque region over Picasso’s Guernica, perhaps his most celebrated work, says Stephen Burgen in The Guardian. The Basque authorities have requested that the painting be exhibited temporarily in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, to mark the 90th anniversary of the bombing of the town, some 30 miles away, by German and Italian forces during the civil war. The 11ft by 26ft black-and-white work, “an international symbol of the horrors of war”, has hung in the Reina Sofía Museum in Madrid since 1992; concerns about its fragile state mean the museum refuses to let it travel. But the request has become highly politicised, and the discussion heated. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Madrid region’s conservative president, and Aitor…

Programmes The Murder Line An agent investigates the murder of two criminals on the US-Canadian border. With Minnie Driver. Six episodes: Sat 18-Wed 22 Apr, ITV1 22:00 (50mins each). Queen Elizabeth II: Her Story, Our Century Marking what would have been the late Queen’s 100th birthday, this documentary looks back on the past century through the prism of her life. Sun 19 Apr, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Mint New romantic drama. The daughter of a notorious crime family finally finds love – but complications soon arise. Mon 20 Apr, BBC1 21:00 and 21:30 (30mins each). Suez: 24 Hours that Broke the British Empire Two-part documentary giving a minute-by-minute account of the final day of the Suez Crisis – 6 November 1956. Mon 20-Tue 21 Apr, C4 21:00 (60mins each). Chernobyl: Days that Shocked…

Serves: 4-6 as a side 3 aubergines, cut into 1cm cubes vegetable or sunflower oil, for deep-frying 6 garlic cloves, 3 peeled and left whole, 3 grated 2 tbsp olive oil 1 cinnamon stick 3 dried red chillies (optional) 1½ red onions, finely diced 10-15 curry leaves (fresh, if available) 2.5cm piece of fresh ginger, grated ½ tsp hot chilli powder (or more if you like it spicy) 3 tomatoes, diced sea salt (optional) • If you sprinkle the aubergine cubes with salt to draw out a bit of moisture before frying, it can really enhance the flavour of the aubergine, but this is up to you. • Heat enough oil in a deep-fat fryer (if you have one) or in a heavy-based saucepan (don’t fill the pan more than…

Popular with celebrities including the Queen, Sole Bliss makes stylish shoes for those with bunions or wide feet and has just launched a men’s collection (solebliss.com). FitFlop claims to make “the world’s most comfortable footwear” for men and women, thanks to its proprietary “comfort technology”. Several of its sporty, casual styles are wide fit as standard (fitflop.com). Vivobarefoot makes “proudly foot-shaped, rather than shoe-shaped” shoes, making you stronger and more stable. Helpful for those with bunions, plantar fasciitis and flat feet (vivobarefoot.com). British brand Esska makes comfortable party shoes (esskashoes.com), while Calla is another fashion-led brand for women with problem feet, and offers a resale and repair service too (callashoes.co.uk). Sargasso & Grey makes smart women’s shoes with a “quiet, classic aesthetic”, featuring seam-free cushioned linings for bunion sufferers (sargassoandgrey.com).…

Crafted at Powdermills East Sussex Set in 78 serene acres beside Powdermill Lake near Battle, this new hotel/members’ club is a lovely place to recharge your “creative spirit”, says Jenny Coad in The Times. Its Georgian main building – formerly a gunpowder mill – has “great bones”, and its 55 rooms are decorated in “vogueish” colours, with lots of bespoke features, including wooden furniture by Sebastian Cox. There are also three cottages with kitchens. The restaurant and pub serve excellent food, and there are lots of activities on offer, from padel and paddleboarding to ceramic classes and hot-and-cold therapy. Doubles from £224 b&b; staycrafted.com.…

OpenAI: Altman’s sea of troubles British ministers have every reason to be annoyed that OpenAI has abruptly suspended its Stargate UK project – part of a £31bn package of US tech investment announced last September – “blaming regulatory concerns and high energy costs”, said The Observer. The snub, by the maker of ChatGPT, is a blow to Britain’s AI ambitions and “a major setback to Keir Starmer’s hopes of boosting growth through a data centre boom”, said James Titcomb in The Daily Telegraph; and it has revived arguments that high energy prices are killing British industry. Frankly, OpenAI boss Sam Altman (pictured) has bigger worries, said Andrew Ross Sorkin in The New York Times. His personal safety is one: this week, a 20-year-old man and suspected AI opponent was charged…

Breaking free from the US energy prison Nils Pratley The Guardian Gas currently accounts for about 35% of Britain’s total energy supply – and that won’t change any time soon, says Nils Pratley. The biggest slice of overall demand is domestic consumption, and to replace “all those gas boilers with heat pumps” won’t be “a quick job”. So the key question in the medium-term is where those “gas molecules should come from”. According to forecasts from energy analysts Wood Mackenzie, declining supplies from Norwegian gas fields mean the UK could be forced to rely on increasing levels of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US. Hence the case for more drilling in the North Sea. “Once the current political agonising is over, one assumes the Jackdaw gas field, equating to…

The week’s best shares James Halstead The Times James Halstead makes floors for use in hospitals, schools, gyms and sports stadiums globally. Shares are “on the floor”, but this 111-year-old family firm is a survivor with a robust balance sheet. Yields 7%. Buy. 126.4p. L’Oréal Investors’ Chronicle The world’s biggest beauty firm owns a vast stable of budget and luxury brands. Buoyed by innovation and advertising, L’Oréal is unrivalled in a growing market driven by “a global obsession with health and longevity”. Buy. €358.20. ME Group International Citywire The deal to install laundry machines at Asda supermarkets should drive opportunities for ME, which also operates photobooths and vending equipment, says Peel Hunt. Earnings could grow from £55.5m to £200m. Target price 275p. Buy. 146p. Next The Times The retailer faces…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1512 Two Connell Guides and two 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 27 April. Send it to The Week Crossword 1512, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. By Paul McKenna This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 7 Fun on sports day can fly (4,4)  9 First male in a set of three (6) 10 Run with a politician’s swindle (4) 11 Put forward good deal in church linen (10) 12 Female with new mare, right? (6)  14 Helpful person behind revolutionary sort of university (8) 15 Test rental ain’t on, I garbled…

Deptford has a long and varied history and the area has often faced hardships. And over many years, people have organised to relieve some of these. One such person was Lady Florence Josephine Pelham-Clinton, who was known to support the local community. After her death, a trust was established to continue her work. The 999 Club’s approach to achieving our vision is to provide a friendly open door for anyone who is sleeping on the streets or otherwise homeless. We then empower them with the skills to escape from homelessness. Visit 999club.org for more information.…

What happened Trump’s blockade President Trump sought to pile pressure on Tehran this week by announcing a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for ships using Iranian ports. The measure is designed to restrict the regime’s ability to profit from its control of the vital energy artery. Accusing Iran of “world extortion”, Trump said anyone who menaced the US fleet would be “blown to hell”. Iran accused the US of “piracy” and threatened to target ports in the Gulf states. The move followed the collapse last weekend of peace talks between the US vice-president, J.D. Vance, and Iranian officials. Free passage through the Strait of Hormuz was one of the US demands that Iran failed to agree to. Others included the dismantling of Iran’s uranium enrichment facilities and the…

An African-American blues singer whose music rocketed to No. 2 in the UK charts has turned out to be entirely AI fabricated. Eddie Dalton and his digitally created song Another Day Old appear to be the latest creations of Crusty Records, which previously produced a series of parodic, expletiveladen country songs, with titles such as I Ain’t Gay. A Polish videogame called I Am Jesus Christ that lets players live out the New Testament – turning wine into water, casting the money changers out of the temple, and even hauling a cross up to Calvary – has elicited a mixed response from Christians. Some have praised it for popularising the gospel; others say it trivialises scripture and may be blasphemous.…

If a general election were held today, projections suggest that Reform UK would fall one seat short of a majority, with 28% of the vote share. The Tories would win 21% of the vote, and Labour 20%. The Green Party would win 12%, quadrupling its presence in Parliament to 22 seats. A poll by YouGov, however, awarded Reform 24% of the vote, followed by the Tories on 19%. The Greens came third with 18%, while Labour fell to fourth place with 17%. More in Common/YouGov 47% of voters in England say they sometimes feel unsafe because of petty crime and anti-social behaviour. 62% of English people agreed that they were fairly treated by the police, compared with 66% in Wales and Scotland. The Daily Telegraph…

Life as the sixth Friend In the summer of 1994, Lisa Kudrow (below) joined five other struggling actors on a private plane to Las Vegas. Once there, the director James Burrows, a sitcom veteran, sat them down and told them something important, says Adam White in The Independent. Never again, he said, would they be able to socialise in public together without being noticed. Because once their new show, Friends, hit the airwaves? Forget it. “I remember everyone going, ‘oooooh’,” laughs Kudrow. “Everyone but me, anyway. I was the odd one out. I thought maybe…? I mean, it’s a good show, but I don’t know about that.” Burrows, of course, was right; and that trip wasn’t the only time Kudrow felt like the odd one out. Unlike the others, she’d…

In 2004, the energy giant Chevron discovered a huge new oil and gas field about 80 miles northwest of the Shetland Islands. Rosebank, as it was named, is the biggest undeveloped oil field in the North Sea, and is estimated to contain between 300 and 500 million barrels of oil equivalent. Another big discovery, the Jackdaw gas field, was made a year later – this time by Shell affiliate BG International, about 150 miles off the coast of Aberdeen. Since then, however, efforts to develop both fields have stalled. Jackdaw was eventually given the go-ahead in 2022; and Rosebank a year later. But both decisions were challenged in court by environmental groups. Last year, the Court of Session in Edinburgh found that the Government had erred by not taking into…

J.D. Vance: our man in Budapest Editorial The Wall Street Journal “What a spectacle,” says The Wall Street Journal. As the latest twists in the war in Iran were playing out last week, America’s vice-president was busy electioneering – for Hungary’s leader Viktor Orbán. J.D. Vance showed up in Budapest to do a campaign-rally speech and a press conference, during which he hailed Orbán for standing up for “the God of our fathers” and inveighed against EU “interference” in Hungarian affairs. It’s not the first time Vance has sought to bolster culturally conservative forces in Europe. Last year, he travelled to Germany to campaign for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. (That didn’t work out. Germany’s centre-right won a plurality in the election, and the AfD recently called for…

Taking vitamin D in middle age may cut the risk of dementia in later life. For a long-term study, scientists at the University of Galway analysed data on 793 people, whose vitamin D levels were measured when they were aged 39, on average, and free of dementia. About a third had low levels of the vitamin (defined as less than 30 nanograms per millilitre of blood) and 5% were taking supplements. Each of the participants had a brain scan around 16 years later to measure levels of amyloid and tau, proteins that are biomarkers of Alzheimer’s. Those with lower levels of vitamin D at the start of the study had higher tau levels later on, even when factors such as age and sex were taken into account. The results only…

In May 2025, Ye – formerly Kanye West – released a single called Heil Hitler, which contained a lengthy sample from one of Hitler’s speeches, said Dan Hancox in The Guardian. Around the same time, he started selling swastika T-shirts on his website. As a result, the musician, who has frequently been accused of racism, homophobia and sexism, was sued by his own talent agency, and denied entry to Australia. So news that he had been booked to headline the three-day Wireless Festival in north London was, shall we say, “a little surprising”. It brought condemnation from Jewish groups; sponsors withdrew; and a week later the Home Office barred Ye from entry into the UK, prompting the cancellation of the entire festival. Industry insiders were shocked by this sudden unravelling…

Ahead of this year’s Masters tournament, Rory McIlroy had one question to answer, said David Facey in The Sun. How do you top the dramatic play-off victory at Augusta 12 months ago that “ended years of heartbreak” and allowed you finally to complete the career Grand Slam? “Simple. You come back and win it again”, thereby joining Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods in the “elite club” of golfers who have won back-to-back Masters. Yet McIlroy’s extraordinary victory on Sunday was anything but simple, said Ewan Murray in The Guardian. The Ulsterman had built up a record six-shot lead on Friday, only to see it evaporate on Saturday. “His swing had lost its wonderful, distinctive rhythm” and there were points when he looked down and out. But anyone doubting…

Tennis Jannik Sinner beat Carlos Alcaraz in the Monte-Carlo Masters final, to regain his world No. 1 spot. Football Tottenham captain Cristian Romero will miss the rest of the season after suffering a knee injury in his relegation-threatened side’s 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. Boxing Tyson Fury marked his latest comeback by beating Arslanbek Makhmudov on points in London. Six Nations England’s women opened their title defence with a 33-12 victory over Ireland in front of a record crowd at Twickenham.…

Car Magazine Mercedes has reinvented the GLC, its compact SUV, for this all-new EV, blending “wafting comfort” with the tech and range customers now expect. At launch, there is just the dual-motor GLC 400 with other versions coming later, including a single-motor with a bigger range. Twin motors give a combined 483bhp, so this “2.5-tonne brute” can do 0-62mph in just 4.3secs. The 94kWh battery gives a range of up to 403 miles. Autocar The new GLC is “really, really fast”, and the air suspension gives a very smooth ride and exceptional motorway refinement. There’s “constant oomph”, thanks to the two-speed gearbox, but the steering is “fairly numb”, and the GLC lacks a bit of character. A “plush and comfortable all-rounder”, but it can’t match the range and “dynamic pizzazz”…

Chuck Norris 1940-2026 On the champions’ podium of 1980s action cinema, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone “fought over gold and silver position”, said Ryan Gilbey in The Guardian. “Bronze belonged indisputably to Chuck Norris, who has died aged 86.” He was an expert martial artist, a six-time world middleweight karate champion who ran his own chain of dojos in California. Among his pupils in the mid-1960s was Steve McQueen, who suggested that he should pursue a screen career. A spectacular fight sequence with Bruce Lee in The Way of the Dragon in 1972 – in which he played a rare villainous role – led to a series of “gung-ho” action pictures, such as Missing in Action (1984) and Invasion U.S.A. (1985). Violent and unsophisticated they may have been, but Norris…

The water’s lovely For US stock markets, “the war might as well be over”, said John Authers on Bloomberg. Having rallied by more than 10% since last week’s ceasefire, the main indices – as of Wednesday morning – were “higher than they were when war broke out” and “almost back to the all-time highs they set in the months before”. Investors appear to feel “it’s safe to go back in the water” (except, perhaps, in the Strait of Hormuz). The market sees the US blockade as a strategic shift “from warfare to economic countermeasures”, said Robin Brooks of the Brookings Institution, noting that “this is the clearest sign yet that we’ve entered a negotiating phase and that the war is winding down”. An Isa washout The new mood of optimism…

Viktor Orbán’s 16-year rule over Hungary came to an emphatic end on Sunday, when he suffered a landslide election defeat to Péter Magyar, leader of the upstart centre-right Tisza Party. Magyar, who ran on a pledge to rid Hungary of corruption and repair strained relations with the EU, had defected from Orbán’s Fidesz in 2024. His new party won 138 of the 199 seats available, on a record turnout of near 80%. The scale of Magyar’s victory, which sparked huge celebrations in Budapest, will give him the ability to reverse many of the constitutional changes that Orbán had made to tighten his grip on power. Magyar’s win was met with barely disguised delight in EU capitals including Brussels, where Orbán had long used Hungary’s veto powers to frustrate EU plans…

The Chagos Islands deal, which was shelved, after the US failed to confirm its approval. Under the terms of the treaty, sovereignty of the islands would have been handed to Mauritius, and the UK would have leased the island of Diego Garcia, which hosts a UK-US military base. But before the UK could enact the treaty, the US had to assent to an update to the agreement that set up the military base – which it now seems to be unwilling to do. Holidaymakers, after airports in Europe warned that if the Strait of Hormuz does not open soon, there is a very real risk of flights being grounded over the summer. They say they are about three weeks away from “systemic” jet fuel shortages, and that airports that rely…

Dublin Fuel protests: The Irish government announced a €505m (£440m) support package on Sunday for those “most impacted” by rising fuel costs, in an effort to end days of protests and blockades that had rocked the country. Fuel prices in Ireland, already some of the highest in Europe, have jumped 17.4% or so since the start of the Iran war, exacerbating the country’s cost-of-living crisis. Starting last Tuesday, hauliers, farmers and others blockaded major roads, ports, the country’s only oil refinery, and Dublin city centre, demanding government assistance. The disruption caused huge traffic jams and hundreds of filling stations ran dry, leading to the police and army being called in to clear some of the blockades. The relief measures announced by the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, include further cuts to duties…

“Anyone with parents who worked all hours will know that what kept them balanced was literally not having the time to reflect on things. Don’t let me romanticise that world. The rise of leisure was a humane and hard-won achievement. But life wouldn’t be life without perverse outcomes, and I sense that most people are not conscious of how leisure trips them up. To have lots of “executive time” without going astray takes a certain kind of temperament. I seem to have it, and don’t propose to work harder or acquire parental duties. The rest of you? A different matter. I instruct you to keep up the grind. A gaping diary is a dangerous thing.”…

Don’t rely on one chip shop for your chips John Thornhill Financial Times Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz provides a terrifying lesson in how tightening a chokehold on a single commodity can upend the entire global economy, says John Thornhill. On the other side of Asia, however, there’s a chokehold threat that’s scarier still: “Taiwan’s control of more than 90% of the world’s leading-edge silicon chips.” These are vital to the operation of everything from AI and data centres to smartphones and smart weapons: disruption to their supply, in the words of US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, would pose “the single biggest threat to the world economy”. Since Beijing’s stated mission is to take over Taiwan, such disruption is a distinct possibility. So, belatedly, Washington has taken steps…

Is the merlin set for extinction? A fifth of the UK’s native plants and dozens of bird species could be heading for extinction by 2070 – including the merlin, the country’s smallest bird of prey, a study has warned. A team at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology modelled how more than 1,200 native species would fare under various different levels of greenhouse gases, intensive farming, meat and dairy consumption and so on. In the worst-case scenario, in which agricultural and urban intensification damages the environment and fossil fuel use contributes to 4°C of warming, 196 species of plant, 31 birds and seven butterflies would vanish. (For context, about 50 plants, nine birds and four butterflies have become extinct in Britain since 1500.) The merlin and the ringed and…

When Donald Trump attacked Iran some six weeks ago, we called the decision reckless, said The New York Times. He’d started a war without consulting Congress or key US allies; he’d given “thin and contradictory justifications” for it to the American people; and he couldn’t explain why this effort at regime change would end better than the US’s previous ones in Iraq and elsewhere. Since then, the recklessness has become only clearer. We now know that instead of careful military planning, he’d acted on “gut instinct” and wishful thinking. After Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu predicted that the attacks would spark a popular uprising in Iran, the head of the CIA reportedly dismissed this notion as “farcical”. Trump ignored him. Similarly, he failed to plan for the Iranians blocking the Strait…

As if America’s standoff with Iran weren’t complicated enough in itself, the way it plays out will depend in large part on a separate struggle, said David Blair in The Daily Telegraph. If the current fragile ceasefire between the US and Iran is to last, Donald Trump will have to stop Israel attacking Hezbollah in Lebanon. And that, in turn, will require Iran to stop its terrorist proxy from launching rockets at Israel. Neither of those things looks likely at present. This week, Israel and Lebanon began their first direct talks in decades, about disarming Hezbollah, but hopes for progress weren’t high. After Israel launched a barrage of missiles at Lebanon last week, PM Benjamin Netanyahu warned that “we will continue to strike Hezbollah wherever necessary”. Hezbollah leaders, for their…

“Relentless drama, no significant injuries to any of the 34 runners and a winner who inked himself onto the exclusive list of Aintree legends.” This year’s Grand National “produced everything racing could realistically hope for and more”, said Greg Wood in The Guardian. On an afternoon more incident-packed than any we’ve grown accustomed to at Aintree in recent years, ten-year-old I Am Maximus powered past Iroko and the faltering Jordans to seal a two-and-a-half-length victory, and become the first horse since the fabled Red Rum (who won in 1973, 1974 and 1977) to regain racing’s biggest prize. I Am Maximus, who won the race in 2024 and was runner-up last year, has a justified reputation for lairiness (“he’d eat you without salt”, according to his trainer, Willie Mullins). But jockey…

The final frontier To The Guardian Saying that there are no aliens in the universe because we haven’t seen them is like scooping one cup of water out of the ocean, finding no fish and declaring that the entire ocean is void of life. The observable universe has approximately a septillion stars in at least 200 billion galaxies. The closest star to our Sun is more than 40 trillion kilometres away. Even with advanced space technology travelling at 20,000 miles an hour, it would take more than 33,000 years to reach it. Michael Fuller, Ampthill, Bedfordshire Where has the UN gone? To The Times While European allies are understandably focused on how to respond to President Trump’s latest threat to withdraw from Nato, another quieter withdrawal from an equally important…

The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley Picador 224pp £16.99 The Week Bookshop £14.99 The Palm House, Gwendoline Riley’s seventh novel, “is a triumph of non-sentimental nostalgia”, said Johanna Thomas-Corr in The Times. The book, which opens in 2017 when “a sepia-tinged sky, coloured by Saharan dust, hangs over London”, is “composed of a series of vignettes” about two friends. Laura Miller, an introverted writer, and Edmund Putnam, the deputy editor at Sequence, “a high-minded magazine slowly curdling into irrelevance”, meet in pubs to talk and reminisce. Putnam has been driven to despair, and resignation, by his new boss, a philistine they call “Shouty Bumcrack”. All this is interrupted by flashbacks to Laura’s adolescence in the Wirral in the 1990s. Riley’s novels thrive on “tense relationships and cringeworthy encounters, depicted with pitiless…

California Schemin’ 1hr 47mins (15) Endearing comedy about a hip-hop duo from Dundee For his “assured directing debut”, the actor James McAvoy has chosen the true story of two rappers from Dundee, who pulled off one of the most audacious hoaxes in recent music history, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. In the early 2000s, old friends Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd were working in sales while trying to break into the music business. They were convinced they had the chops to make it, but when they pitched their work to record companies in London, they were not taken seriously, apparently because of their accents. One executive dismissed them as “the rapping Proclaimers”. So in a “masterstroke”, they broadened their accents, and – calling themselves Silibil N’ Brains –…

Seven by Joanna Kavenna, 2026 (Faber £16.99). An insanely brilliant book. Kavenna has conjured some sort of alchemic mix of Slaughterhouse-Five with a David Lodge academic satire, and Piranesi. It’s a story about a made-up board game, its obsessive players and artificial intelligence, which is more insightful than the slew of non-fiction books on AI by so-called experts. I cackled my way through this bonkers masterpiece. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden, 2024 (Penguin £9.99). I am knee deep composing my next book, and when writing non-fiction I mostly read novels, primarily because the writing can be inspirational when non-fiction so rarely is; and the narrative is how non-fiction should be structured, but rarely is. This is gorgeous storytelling: tortuous, taut and thrilling, sad, sensual and ultimately hopeful. A…

Putting old herbs to use It’s tempting to chuck “on the turn” herbs away, says Anna Berrill in The Guardian. But think twice before discarding them: they have many uses. With hard herbs such as rosemary or thyme, the “obvious choice”, according to Alice Norman, founder of Suffolk regenerative bakery Pinch, is to “freeze them for future stockmaking”. Alternatively, she recommends making a herb salt – achieved by blitzing the herbs with fine salt in a 3:4 ratio. The resulting mix, stored in an airtight jar in the fridge (it’ll keep for a month or so), “can be used for so many things, from seasoning game to roast potatoes”, or as a substitute for plain salt in homemade bread. Chef Sami Tamimi, author of Boustany, recommends putting “past-their best” soft…

● Anyone can learn a language: it’s not about talent, but about having the right frame of mind, the right habits. ● Set clear, realistic goals. These will be determined by the reason you’re learning the language – for example, to talk to loved ones, enhance your career, or for travelling. ● Learn in the right order, says Lindie Botes, a language coach. Start by listening to as much of the language as possible, via music, podcasts, TV and films. Getting a feel for the sound, pace and intonation will lay a good foundation for pronunciation. ● Next, familiarise yourself with the writing system, especially if it differs from your native language. ● Then cover the basics, such as greetings, simple sentence structure and introducing yourself – not just the…

Daphne Selfe 1928-2026 Famed for her “slender figure, cascading grey hair and high cheekbones”, the British model Daphne Selfe, who has died aged 97, “retained well into her senior years the striking appearance that had first won her modelling jobs in her 20s”, said The New York Times. Having left modelling to focus on her children, she made a spectacular comeback in her 70s, and in her 80s was heralded as “the world’s oldest working model”. It was a phrase she rather disliked, claiming it made her “sound like some contraption that Heath Robinson might have dreamt up”, but her newfound fame challenged traditional ideas about beauty and ageing. She stopped dyeing her hair and spurned Botox, saying “age happens to us all”. She attributed her looks to “Nivea, broccoli…

2026 was supposed to be the year that luxury came roaring back after a prolonged downturn. But the war in Iran is rattling even the most well-padded salons, said Adrienne Klasa in the FT. Market leader LVMH – the French giant controlled by billionaire Bernard Arnault – has just reported weak Q1 figures in its “bellwether fashion and leather goods division”. Sales in some of the Gulf’s glitzy malls plummeted 70% in early March. But LVMH, shares in which are down 25% this year, still hopes to recoup some of the losses. “We know this wealth hasn’t evaporated,” said CFO Cécile Cabanis, “so we would expect to see some of that [business] coming through elsewhere.”…

EV-makers Average UK unleaded petrol prices have surged by 25.3p a litre and diesel by 48.9p since war broke out, taking the pulling power of electric vehicles to “another level”, said Olivia Surguy in The Sunday Times. China’s BYD reported its best-ever first-quarter sales in Britain. March sales soared by almost 134% year-on-year, noted Reuters, well outpacing Tesla’s 20% rise. Solar panels “British families are tired of being held hostage by global fossil fuel prices,” noted Octopus Energy, as it reported a 54% surge in sales of solar panels in March, compared to February, and a 50% jump in heat pump sales. The solar surge is so pronounced there’s a risk that “a glut” could “overwhelm” the grid this summer, said The Daily Telegraph. “Households could be paid to use…

Adam Back After a two-year investigation, New York Times journalist John Carreyrou believes he has finally established the true identity of the enigmatic bitcoin inventor known as “Satoshi Nakamoto” – who disappeared in 2011, leaving a still untouched digital wallet of 1.1 million coins. He has named him as Adam Back, a “mild-mannered” 55-year-old British developer based in Malta, said Madeleine Spence in The Sunday Times. Trouble is, Back denies it. Yes, he was an early evangelist, a leading member of the “Cypherpunk” online libertarian movement that foreshadowed the crypto’s emergence in 2008 – but he was not the creator. The identity of Satoshi has been “one of the internet’s most enduring mysteries”, said Joe Tidy on BBC News: not least because his stash of coins is today worth around…