The Week -julkaisun 1443 -irtonumeron sisällysluettelo

The NHS turned 75 this week, at a time when it is arguably “at the lowest ebb in its history”, said Kat Lay and Eleanor Hayward in The Times. There are a record 7.4 million people on waiting lists. One in ten NHS posts are vacant, morale is at rock bottom, public satisfaction is at its lowest for 40 years, and doctors are striking again over pay this month. A recent King’s Fund report that measured the NHS against 18 comparable systems found that, on many critical measures, the UK is falling short. It has fewer doctors than most of its peers; the second-fewest general hospital beds; the lowest number of CT and MRI scanners. Unsurprisingly, this results in a high rate of avoidable mortality (only America’s is worse). As…

Wimbledon, which became the latest event to be targeted by Just Stop Oil. Play at the tournament was interrupted twice on Wednesday, despite extra security checks that had caused hours-long queues at the gates. Pride in London was also targeted by protesters, who tried to block a float sponsored by Coca-Cola. Just Stop Oil had earlier criticised the parade’s organisers for accepting funding from “high polluting industries”. The House of Commons, after the SNP’s Mhairi Black said she was stepping down at the next election because she was tired of its “toxic” environment. Black, who became the youngest MP when she was elected in 2015, aged 20, described Westminster as “one of the most unhealthy workplaces you could ever be in”. Madonna, who was forced to postpone her seven-month Celebration…

Amsterdam Slavery apology: King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has apologised for his country’s role in the slave trade. Speaking at an event marking the 160th anniversary of its abolition in the Netherlands, he described slavery as a “crime against humanity”, and asked for forgiveness for his own family’s lack of action. Last month, a government-commissioned study found that the House of Orange had profited by the equivalent of €545m between 1675 and 1770 from Dutch colonies where slavery was enforced. The government officially apologised last year; it declined to pay reparations, but promised €200m for “raising awareness”. Brussels Stoltenberg stays: Jens Stoltenberg has agreed to remain Nato secretary general for a further year. A former PM of Norway, Stoltenberg, 64, had planned to step down in September, having served since…

1 Let It Be by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles2 Compared to What (Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 1969) by Gene McDaniels, performed by Les McCann and Eddie Harris3 Clarinet Concerto in A major, K 622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Karl Leister and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner4 The Weakness in Me, written and performed by Joan Armatrading5* What a Wonderful World by Bob Thiele (as George Douglas) and George David Weiss, performed by Louis Armstrong6 Serenade for String Orchestra in C major, Op. 48 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Herbert von Karajan7 A Foggy Day (in London Town) by George and Ira Gershwin, performed by Frank Sinatra8 Not Dark Yet, written and performed by Bob Dylan Book: Westward…

Doctors have described symptoms that might now be categorised as ADHD for several hundred years. In 1798, the Scottish physician Sir Alexander Crichton noted “mental restlessness” and “the fidgets” in some children. In 1902, the paediatrician Sir George Frederic Still wrote in The Lancet about an “abnormal defect of moral control in children”, which interfered with their powers of concentration. The use of stimulants to treat such conditions began in the 1930s; a Rhode Island doctor had noticed that Benzedrine made children behave better and improved their school performance. By the late 1960s, the condition was beginning to come into focus: it featured in the diagnostic “bible” of the US psychiatric profession, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), albeit described as a “hyperkinetic reaction of childhood”, a…

The rise of the robotaxi Benjamin Schneider MIT Technology Review “In some San Francisco neighbourhoods, at certain hours of the night, it seems as if one in ten cars on the road has no driver behind the wheel,” says Benjamin Schneider. These “ghostly” vehicles are commercial robotaxis. Although still limited to designated areas, they’ve become part of the city’s transportation system. And the companies that operate them, Waymo and Cruise, want to expand their reach in the months ahead, to cover the rest of San Francisco, as well as Austin, Phoenix and even Los Angeles. The two companies have now each racked up over a million driverless miles, and their safety record seems good. Waymo, for instance, has had just two police-reportable crashes (with no injuries) and 18 minor contact…

All smokers and former smokers aged 55 to 74 will be assessed for lung cancer screening as part of a new effort to increase survival rates of the disease, the Government has announced. GP records will be used to determine patients at risk, who will then be invited for scans every two years. The Department of Health and Social Care said that the first phase of the £270m-a-year scheme will reach 40% of the eligible population by March 2025, with the aim of 100% coverage by March 2030. In an earlier trial of the scheme, mobile units were sent to sites such as supermarket car parks, to ensure easy access in deprived areas where smoking rates are highest. Some 2,000 cases were detected, 76% of which were at stage one…

“You may want to sit down for this,” said Jonathan Liew in The Guardian. A long-awaited report commissioned by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) was published last week, and it revealed – shock, horror! – that a sport codified by the English nobility to allow them to bet against each other, and then exported around the world by imperialists, is elitist and riven with racism and sexism. The 317-page report, Holding Up a Mirror to Cricket, is the work of a specially convened panel, and it is both very thorough – more than 4,000 people submitted evidence – and “devastatingly frank”. It reveals, for example, that a staggering 87% of cricketers of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage have encountered racial discrimination while playing. In 2021, 58% of England cricketers…

“Marriage requires searing honesty at all costs. I learnt that from my third wife.”Alan Arkin, quoted in The Times “Places move into people just as much as people move into places.”Nicola Dinan, quoted in The Guardian “First come the innovators, who see opportunities that others do not. Then come the imitators, who copy what the innovators have done. And then come the idiots, whose avarice undoes the very innovations they are trying to use to get rich.”Warren Buffett, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “To choose between the lesser of ‘who cares?’”Aaron Sorkin on the voters’ dilemma, quoted in the FT “You don’t get anything clean without getting something else dirty.”Cecil Baxter, quoted in Forbes “Revenge is a confession of pain.”Latin proverb, quoted in Metro “[The difference between reading a book…

Football The former Liverpool and England player Steven Gerrard – having been sacked as Aston Villa’s manager in October – has signed on as head coach of the Saudi Pro League side Ettifaq FC. Cycling Belgium’s Jasper Philipsen won stage 4 of the Tour de France, while Britain’s Adam Yates held the yellow jersey for a second day. Tennis Andy Murray sailed through to the second round with a 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 victory over fellow Briton Ryan Peniston. Defending champion Elena Rybakina and world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz also progressed.…

Yooyun Yang at Stephen Friedman Gallery There’s something almost uncomfortably personal about the pictures in Passing Time, an exhibition by the Korean artist Yooyun Yang (b.1985), her first in a European gallery. Painted on traditional hanji paper, a material created from mulberry tree bark, the works here plunge the viewer into intimate private situations – ones we sense we should never have intruded on. One tightly framed portrait is dominated by the outstretched palm of a young woman, forbidding us a clear view of her face. Another gives an extreme close-up of a face, the only visible parts of which are the nose and an effortfully closed eye; are we looking at a figure suffering an uncontrollable outburst of grief, or one in the throes of ecstasy? Other pictures here…

There’s a new natural adventure playground, with a kingdom of slides and water play, at the Eden Project Summer of Play, Cornwall. There are outdoor games too, such as a giant Jenga set, included in the admission fee (from £11). Booking for the playground is essential (22 Jul-3 Sept; edenproject.com). The family friendly Festival of Sport, on the Holkham Estate in Norfolk, features a range of sporting activities from rugby, hockey and gymnastics to trampolining, kayaking and lacrosse (11-14 Aug, day tickets £185 for one adult and one child; festivalofsportuk.com). There are dog trials, aeroplane acrobatics, classic cars, cookery demonstrations and a vintage funfair at the Chatsworth Country Fair, Bakewell, Derbyshire (1-3 Sept, day tickets from £24; chatsworth.org). Affordable fun is the theme at Summer at Somerset House in London.…

Wales’s “island of lost souls” A “short, bumpy” boat trip from Martin’s Haven in Pembrokeshire, the island of Skomer is home to the largest seabird colony in southern Britain, says Kerry Walker in National Geographic Traveller. On the 3.5-mile walk around its coast, you’ll see puffins “diving in and out of burrows like wind-up toys” – more than 38,000 of them nest here in summer, and the number keeps increasing. But there are plenty of other species too, including the biggest concentration of Manx shearwaters on Earth. Stay overnight at the island’s hostel, the Old Farm, in August, and you’ll witness these nocturnal birds setting off across the Atlantic in their tens of thousands. It’s one of the world’s great wildlife experiences. Fledglings look for any high point, including nearby…

Julian Sands 1958-2023 Julian Sands was propelled to fame in 1985, when he starred as the romantic, free-thinking George Emerson, who wins the heart of Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter) in Merchant Ivory’s Oscar-winning hit A Room with a View. Tall and handsome, with high cheekbones and a shock of blond hair, he was tipped after that to become a Hollywood leading man, said The Daily Telegraph – but that was not an outcome that appealed to him. In the wake of A Room with a View, James Ivory offered him the lead role in his next film, Maurice. But a few weeks before filming was due to begin, Sands backed out, said The Times, and fled to the US (leaving behind his soon-to-be ex-wife, the journalist Sarah Sands, and…

Whether or not Thames Water’s travails mark “the beginning of the end of the privatisation model”, they pose a nasty dilemma for investors, said the FT. Thames, which is laden with £14bn of debt, is looking to raise another £1bn in a tightening regulatory environment. The question for shareholders, who pumped £500m of fresh equity into the company in March, is whether they risk “pouring more money into such a troubled business”. Some British institutions – such as the UK Universities Superannuation Scheme and the manager of BT’s pension fund – may feel they have little choice. As the pensions expert John Ralfe observed: “they do not want to look like the baddies who brought Thames Water down”. Thames “was rinsed by its former owners”, the Australian financial outfit Macquarie,…

A generation of graduates – whose degrees have been disrupted by Covid and striking academics – are hoping that a placement at a big bank, law firm or accountant “will be the gateway to a lucrative City career”, said the Financial Times. What can they expect? Schemes are still on offer Despite job cuts and an economic slowdown, the brakes don’t appear to have been put on internship schemes: PwC, KPMG and big banks like HSBC are offering “hundreds of internship places”, ranging from a few weeks to several months. “The most coveted schemes” are as hard to get on as ever. Banks such as Goldman Sachs accept little more than 1% of those who apply, and “once interns are in the building, the stakes are just as high”. Adjusting…

The week’s best shares Halfords Group Investors’ Chronicle Inflation and weak consumer confidence have hit volumes and profits at the group’s cycling business. But it’s scaling up its car servicing and repairs arm – sales climbed 61% – and gaining market share across all areas. Buy. 200p. Lok’n Store Group The Times The self-storage firm is exposed to rising interest rates and a housing market downturn. Yet revenue is expected to rise thanks to occupancy gains and higher charges. Developments are largely freehold, in prime locations. Buy. 824p. Polar Capital Technology Trust The Daily Telegraph This discounted AI-focused trust invests in large-cap US tech stocks such as Microsoft and Apple. Good growth potential, notwithstanding the risk of the AI bubble bursting. Buy. £22.05. J. Sainsbury The Sunday Times The grocer’s…

What happened Thames Water was scrambling to shore up its financial position this week, in order to avoid the risk of collapse. The surprise departure of its chief executive, Sarah Bentley, had caused the price of its bonds to plummet last week, and prompted the Government to draw up contingency plans for the firm’s emergency renationalisation. Thames Water, which serves 15 million customers in London and the southeast, is struggling with debts of over £14bn, and has so far raised only £500m of a proposed £1.5bn cash injection it has been trying to secure from its shareholders since last year – raising questions about its viability. The turmoil led to renewed scrutiny of the water industry, which was already under severe political pressure over leaks and sewage spills. In the…

Americans have become so hooked on the ITV dating show Love Island that they have started adopting Essex accents, The Times reports. Instructional videos on how to speak in an Essex accent have multiplied on TikTok, as have videos of Americans trying theirs out for the camera. Anthony Taylor, a 45-year-old from New York, told the paper that he now regularly says “Fank you, babe” to his wife. Ely Cathedral hosted its first silent disco last week, in an effort to raise funds for its £1m-plus annual maintenance bill, and lure in younger worshippers. “I’m not naive enough to think that everyone at the disco will then come to worship the next day,” said its dean. “But bridging the gap is a very gentle, slow process, inching towards each other.”…

The Commons Privileges Committee has criticised several of Boris Johnson’s closest political allies for trying to “interfere” with its original investigation into his response to Partygate. In a new report published last week, the cross-party group accused three peers and seven MPs, including former ministers Jacob Rees-Mogg, Nadine Dorries and Priti Patel, of trying to influence the outcome of the inquiry, induce committee members to resign, and discredit the committee “as a whole”. Many of the Tories in question described the report as an attack on free speech, and said they stood by their earlier criticisms, that the committee was a “kangaroo court” engaged in a “witch hunt”. MPs will decide whether to approve its new findings on Monday.…

Chicago, Illinois Campaign woes: President Biden told reporters that Vladimir Putin was “clearly losing the war in Iraq” last week, raising renewed questions about his cognitive abilities. It was his second slip-up in 24 hours: the day before, he had declared that Europe was united over “the onslaught in Iraq”. Biden has long admitted to suffering from sleep apnoea, and the White House has now been forced to reveal that he has been using a CPAP breathing machine at night, in an effort to treat the sleep disorder. Reporters had raised the issue after the president was seen with mask lines on his face. Polls suggest that two-thirds of US voters have concerns about the 80-year-old’s mental and physical fitness to serve a second term. But he is still campaigning…

“Not very long ago the idea of a centrist zealot would have seemed a paradox. Who could be less susceptible to partisan fury than a person soberly committed to moderation? But in recent years, we have seen the birth of a politics that proclaims the values of rationality and reasoned debate, but which is just as prone to tribalism and righteous anger as any other. Think of James O’Brien – the world’s angriest centrist dad – who warns that Britain is moving in a “fascistic direction” on LBC. In these strange times, a sensible cause such as Remain is capable of attracting a figure like Steve Bray, the anti-Brexit activist who stands outside Parliament screaming into a microphone.” James Marriott in The Times…

Chipping away at the roots of natural justice Matthew Syed The Sunday Times I hold no brief for Daniel Korski, the Tory mayoral hopeful whose campaign imploded last week over allegations of groping, says Matthew Syed. His accuser, the TV producer Daisy Goodwin, had no reason to lie about him touching her breast in a No. 10 meeting ten years ago. And as other women have apparently come forward with similar stories, Korski has serious questions to answer. Yet there’s something troubling about the lack of any due process in his abrupt removal from the stage. Supporters jumped ship, fearful of scandal by association. The Cabinet Office declined to hold an inquiry, on the grounds he no longer worked there. Senior Tory figures felt his troubles had become a “distraction”,…

HRT linked to raised dementia risk Women who take hormone replacement therapy are at a greater risk of dementia, a study has found. The research, published in the BMJ, seems to contradict earlier studies, which have found that HRT may actually protect against cognitive decline if treatment is started soon after the onset of menopause. However, the team behind the new study stressed that they had not proved a causative link – and there are other plausible reasons for the association. For instance, it could be that women who seek out HRT for “brain fog” or poor sleep during menopause are actually experiencing early signs of dementia. Another possibility is that the hot flushes associated with menopause are drivers of dementia, and that the women who have them are more…

Ann Leslie, the journalist who died last week (see page 38), was famously tough, but even she was no match for the Iron Lady. During the 1979 election campaign, Leslie joined Margaret Thatcher on her “battle bus”. “Having given birth the previous year, my bladder was not entirely stoic about having to spend hours out of reach of a public lavatory,” she recalled. “I pleaded with her: ‘Mrs Thatcher, please can we have more potty stops?’” The future PM gave her a withering stare, and told her: “No one needs to go more than twice a day. I go first thing in the morning and last thing at night – and that’s quite enough!” Westminster’s tallest MP, the 6ft 9in back-bencher Daniel Kawczynski, posted a striking photo last week of…

The Rwanda asylum scheme is working brilliantly, said Sunder Katwala in The Independent – for Rwanda. The Kagame regime has received £140m from the UK – equivalent to 1% of Rwanda’s GDP – for “doing next to nothing”. It has agreed to process some of our irregular arrivals, but has yet to receive any and, as a result of a ruling by the Court of Appeal last week, may never do so. The court concluded that “deficiencies” in the system meant there was a real risk that Rwandan officials would make mistakes in processing asylum claims. This could lead to migrants with genuine claims being returned to countries where they faced ill-treatment, in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Rishi Sunak should never have pushed ahead with the…

Four years ago, Ben Stokes produced one of the greatest-ever Test innings to propel England to an extraordinary one-wicket victory in the third Ashes Test at Headingley, said Mike Atherton in The Times. And for a while at Lord’s on Sunday, a similar “miracle looked on the cards”. Chasing 371 to win in their fourth innings, England had slumped to 45-4 before their captain strode to the crease. Stokes proceeded to hit a magnificent 155, sharing partnerships of 132 for the fifth wicket with Ben Duckett and 108 for the seventh wicket with Stuart Broad. During that latter stand, Australian fielders ringed the boundary whenever Stokes faced a ball, inviting him to take a single. His response was simply to smash it over them. He struck nine sixes in all…

Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (01789-331111). Until 5 August Running time: 3hrs For his RSC debut, Omar Elerian has presented As You Like It conventionally, as a “good-natured comedic romp packed with laughter”, said Diane Parkes on What’s on Stage. There is a twist, however: all of the main parts are played by actors in their 60s, 70s and 80s – which guarantees exemplary verse-speaking. Yet this isn’t age-blind casting, in which the actors’ age goes unacknowledged. A very funny Touchstone (James Hayes) explains that the surviving actors from a production staged in the 1970s have reunited to recreate it. This framing device brings added poignancy to the play – and comedy too, derived from the mismatch between the “lusty youths” of the text and the performers’ advanced years, as well…

This “consistently entertaining” BBC drama was written by Candice Carty-Williams, whose 2019 novel Queenie was a publishing sensation, said Ellen E. Jones in The Guardian. The plot revolves around two rival siblings: Bosco Champion (Malcolm Kamulete), a 25-year-old rapper who is fresh out of prison (“trumped-up charges, M’lud”), and his sister Vita (Déja J. Bowens). She is rumoured to have written many of his best bars, but she has never made it in her own right – until a rival of Bosco’s gives her a shot. Like the hip-hop saga Empire, the series is “satisfyingly soapy”; and the soundtrack is full of “certified bangers”. The BBC announced Champion as part of a raft of shows that it said would “push the boundaries”, said Anita Singh in The Daily Telegraph. “This…

Lee is relieved to be back at work, but uneasy about Friday’s meeting with Rob – Helen advises him to keep his cool. Eddie enlists the Grundys in a bid to take over the fête. Mia has a plan to distract Lynda: a fête brochure. Helen is glad that someone has paid her big solicitor’s bill – but who? Harrison gives Lee advice on his meeting with Rob. Meanwhile, Harrison tells Fallon that a new job has come up: wildlife crime officer; despite it being less pay, he wants to go for it. Stella thanks Ruth and Pip for their support, but she’s still annoyed with Adam. With business slow at the Tea Room, Fallon is dismayed to learn from Jim that there’ll be a café at the new EV…

Charred courgette and chickpea salad Feeds 2-3 700g jar chickpeas or 2 x 400g cans chickpeas, drained 4 tbsp olive oil 2 tbsp sumac 3 courgettes, quartered lengthways, then chopped into thirds 2 baby gem lettuces large bunch of mint, leaves picked 1 tsp dried chilli flakes (optional) salt and black pepper For the lemony yoghurt dressing: juice of 1 lemon 3 tbsp Greek, natural or plant-based yoghurt 1 garlic clove, crushed 1 tbsp olive oil • Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 5. • Rinse the chickpeas, then tumble into a roasting tray and pat dry. Drizzle with 2 tbsp of olive oil, then sprinkle over the sumac. Season and toss well. Roast for 25-30 mins until golden. • Brush the courgettes with the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil and season.…

SOURCE: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH…

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Apple: second bite at $3trn Apple “fleetingly crossed” the $3trn barrier in January 2022, before succumbing to a “torrid” year of “market turbulence” and “supply chain challenges” that wiped out a third of its value, said Callum Jones in The Times. Now, after a “remarkable comeback rally”, its valuation has again reached the $3trn mark. “Shares are up nearly 50%” so far this year, easily beating the Nasdaq tech index’s 30% revival, said Aaron Tilley in The Wall Street Journal. Its gains reflect “the lasting impact and resilience of the iPhone”, which has been making hay in emerging markets like India. Investors have also cheered the launch of a mixed reality headset that could set Apple’s course “beyond the iPhone”, said Patrick McGee in the Financial Times. Either way, the…

The risks of France’s financial boom Patrick Jenkins Financial Times Only a few miles from the poor Paris suburb where last week’s shooting took place, “the French financial sector has been booming”, says Patrick Jenkins. This is largely a result of President Macron’s determination to make Paris the “main beneficiary of Brexit”. The gains have been considerable, the most dramatic being the decision by five big US investment banks to move 1,600 staff to Paris – seduced in part by a lower taxation regime and labour market reforms. A clutch of US hedge funds including Citadel, Millennium and Point72 have also announced office expansions. “A bigger prize” still may beckon if Labour wins in Britain next year and “proceeds with tax plans that would hit the private equity industry”. Many…

Breaking away, with news that officials in Orkney are to investigate “alternative forms of government”. The leader of the local council said that Orkney was being “failed dreadfully” by both London and Edinburgh, and suggested that it might be better off as a Crown Dependency, or even a territory of Norway. Naomi Campbell, who announced the birth of her second child, a boy, saying “it’s never too late to become a mother”. The supermodel, 53, also has a two-year-old daughter.…

28% of UK adults support the plan to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2030. 53% say it’s a bad idea. 29% say they’d feel confident buying an electric car to use as their only vehicle based on the current infrastructure. 39% would not. Survation/Daily Mail In a survey of 18- to 44-year-olds in 14 countries, including the UK, the US, Australia, France, Egypt, India and Japan, 82% said they’d posted a video online – on TikTok, for instance – in the past year. Ipsos/YouTube 81% of voters believe that the Government should accept pay review bodies’ recommendations of a 6% or more pay rise for public sector workers. YouGov/The Times…

A hostage’s consolation For most of the 1,763 days that Terry Waite was held hostage in Beirut, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s special envoy sat alone on the floor of a cell, chained to a wall, says Josh Glancy in The Sunday Times. The cell was in darkness but, just occasionally, a chink of light would get through the shutters. “I would say to myself, ‘Light is stronger than darkness. I must always keep hoping.’”It was only when he became very ill with a bronchial infection that he was moved out of solitary. In the new cell, he sat up, unable to sleep, gasping for breath. At that point, his fellow hostage, the US journalist Terry Anderson, leant across and put his hand on his. “He never said anything,” Waite says.…

How fast are cases rising? Since 2020, there has been a 400% increase in adults seeking an ADHD diagnosis in the UK, according to the ADHD Foundation. Psychiatry UK, which provides assessments for the NHS and for private patients, has seen a “dramatic” rise in referrals. There was an 18% increase in the monthly average of NHS patients receiving treatment for the condition between 2021 and 2022. The UK doesn’t publish national data about the number of children seeking a diagnosis, but child psychiatrists told The Observer that the numbers had doubled, tripled, even quadrupled in recent years. What exactly is ADHD? The condition, which was only defined in the 1980s (see box), and recognised by the NHS in 2000, is a behavioural syndrome characterised by a range of symptoms,…

Aldi has apologised to a 63-year-old from Birmingham after he found a live snake in a bunch of broccoli he’d bought at a branch in Stourbridge. Neville Linton, who has a phobia of snakes, came across the creature when he unwrapped the vegetable on his kitchen counter, and noticed the snake curled up between the broccoli’s florets. “It was pretty frightening,” he said. “I backed off when I saw it start moving.” The snake was taken to Dudley Zoo, where it was identified as a non-venomous ladder snake. A taxidermist from Arizona is making ultra-realistic piggy banks out of dead piglets. Rachel Lewis, 38, told reporters that she’d wanted to make a taxidermy piggy bank for a long time, as she’d thought it would be “really cute”. When she finally…

CHINA A nation that seems to have lost its mojo The Atlantic (New York) Chinese people seem to be experiencing a major crisis of confidence, says Michael Schuman. As long as their economy was “in hyperdrive”, the mood in the country had been bright. But with growth slumping to a modest 3% in 2022, it seems “the go-go years” are over. And with them has gone the “boundless optimism” that once inspired the nation. Read today’s statistical surveys, and you get the impression of a society increasingly “reluctant to invest in an uncertain future”. The proportion of adults starting new companies fell from over 15% in 2014 to 6% last year; the number of babies born in China has taken a “nosedive” by almost half since 2016, to a mere…

“No tricks, no ambiguity,” said Rishi Sunak, as he unveiled his five pledges back in January. “We’re either delivering for you or we’re not.” Six months on, and a set of goals that were criticised at the time for their lack of ambition now look set to be missed, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer. Stop the small boats? That’s looking ever more challenging. Grow the economy? At best, it’s flatlining. Reduce national debt, curb inflation, cut NHS waiting lists? Not at this rate. Core inflation is higher than when Sunak made that promise; NHS waiting lists have got longer; national debt has hit 100% of GDP. All of this is a serious problem for a PM whose selling point is that he is a “workaholic nerd”. Sunak is not…

Cancel culture, already the blight of British universities, seems to be creeping into banking, said The Daily Telegraph. Look at the plight of the former UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who says that his personal and business accounts have been closed without explanation by a bank that he has used since 1980: Coutts & Co, NatWest’s high-end private division. Farage claims that he has since tried to open an account with nine other banks, but has been rejected – a form of punishment, he suspects, for his role in Brexit. One must be careful not to rush to judgement in such cases, said The Times. But he is not alone in apparently being targeted for violating fashionable corporate orthodoxies. An Anglican vicar in Cumbria had his bank account with the Yorkshire…

To The Times I am not quite sure to whom Suella Braverman is referring when she mentions “the British people”. I am a pure white British citizen without a drop of foreign blood, going back four generations, and I would like us to welcome as many asylum seekers as possible with warmth and open arms. I taught English to asylum seekers for many years, and they were mostly fine people who desperately wanted to live a good life and contribute to our society; they could not understand why they were not allowed to work and had no desire to be a burden on the state. No one would get in a fragile boat to cross a treacherous body of water to reach Britain if they were not desperate. If we…

Gargoyles by Thomas Bernhard, 1970 (out of print). My favourite from Bernhard. Such mean funniness, such funny meanness. The mystery of Bernhard for me is why I feel love for a man suffering under such graphic contempt for humanity. Well, he’s a good companion, even when he’s underlining our faults for us, to us. But was he as amused by his disgust as we are? Stop-Time by Frank Conroy, 1967 (out of print). Intelligent, poetic, insightful, bizarre. Conroy’s memoir of his fraught childhood and adolescence offers up so many indelible moments, but it’s his artful rendering of these moments that positions Stop-Time at or near the top of the list of autobiographical writings. American Genius, A Comedy by Lynne Tillman, 2006 (Soft Skull Press £15.99). Tillman proves her uncanny brilliance…

Programmes A Year on Planet Earth Stephen Fry narrates this wildlife series exploring seasonal changes around the world. First up: winter. Sun 9 July, ITV1 20:00 (60mins). Exploring India’s Treasures with Bettany Hughes The historian starts her cultural tour of India in the northern holy city of Varanasi. Sun 9 July, C4 20:00 (60mins). Brave Britain with Fergal Keane In this poignant documentary, the reporter seeks out people living in some of Britain’s most hardpressed communities whom he first met 20 years ago. Tue 11 July, BBC1 20:00 (60mins). Heat Four-part thriller starring Danny Dyer. Dark secrets come to light as two expat friends living in Australia go on their annual family holiday. Tue 11, Wed 12, Thur 13 and Fri 14 July, C5 21:00 (60mins each). First Night of…

“If we are asked to picture a summer wine, most of us will think of crisp whites and rosés, with and without bubbles,” says David Williams in The Observer. But some reds are delicious with al fresco meals, and respond well to “being served with a bit of a chill”. For me, the two French regions that have “mastered the art of the summer red” are Beaujolais and the Loire. Among the “mouthwatering Beaujolais bottles” that I’ve enjoyed recently are Asda’s pleasingly “sappy” Extra Special Fleurie 2022 (£8.50), and M&S’s Classic Beaujolais-Villages 2022 (£10.50), which has an “easeful supple feel and raspberry juiciness” that makes it perfect with salad and a steak. Or for a “silky, deep immersion in berry land”, try Thibault Ducroux “En Roue Libre” Beaujolais 2021 (£18.95;…

• Sellers may accept a lower offer from a buyer who can move fast, so engage a solicitor and get your finances in order before you start looking. If you’re a cash buyer, get proof of funds so that you can include it in your offer letter. • Estate agents and sellers favour reliable, upstanding buyers, so reply to messages, be on time for viewings and be polite to the owner. Behaving well can also open doors to off-market opportunities with agents, which is key in a seller’s market. • Find out why the vendor is selling, how long they’ve lived there, when it went on the market and if they’ve had any offers. • Sellers moving for work or schools may be motivated by the timing. If a house…

Dame Ann Leslie 1941-2023 Dame Ann Leslie, who has died aged 82, was one of the most remarkable and versatile journalists of her generation, said The Times. Sharp-witted, forthright and seemingly fearless, she reported (mainly for the Daily Mail) on political events, wars, elections, and revolutions in more than 70 countries from the 1960s to the 1990s. She covered everything from the Manson trial to the fall of the Berlin Wall, and she interviewed some of the period’s most significant figures. They included George W. Bush, whom she accused of being “two sandwiches short of a picnic” – a jibe that was intended to rile the president, but which actually just baffled him. Leslie described herself as a “foreign correspondent specialising in international politics” to distinguish herself from those war…

Vincent Bolloré As France erupts, readers of Le Journal du Dimanche have been denied their traditional weekly fix, said Politico. The title’s journalists are on strike, in protest at a feared “far-right lurch” following its acquisition by media tycoon Vincent Bolloré – dubbed “the French Rupert Murdoch”. The trophy paper is one of the assets acquired by Bolloré’s Vivendi group following its controversial takeover of rival Lagardère, which was cleared by the EU last month. After a lifetime of empire-building, Bolloré, 71, supposedly retired last year, said the FT – celebrating his departure with a Catholic mass and a party at which he wore “traditional Breton clothes as bagpipes played”. Still, “sitting out retirement on a beach was probably never on the cards” for a financier “whose name has become…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1370 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 17 July. Send it to The Week Crossword 1370, 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 1 Positive lead in posh food? Not entirely (6) 5 Tropical fruit from California taken with wallop (8) 9 Suspension? That’s the answer (8) 10 Review of energy finished (2,4) 11 Remark about place near Italy gets praise (10) 12 Mention view on the radio…