Sommaire pour 1424 de The Week

What happened President Biden made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday, in a highly symbolic show of support for Ukraine almost a year to the day after Russia invaded the country. During a visit which had been shrouded in secrecy, Biden reiterated America’s “unwavering” support for Kyiv, and staged a walkabout with Ukraine’s President Zelensky as air-raid sirens sounded nearby. He announced $500m in new military aid, and new sanctions on Russia. Zelensky thanked Biden for visiting “at a huge moment for Ukraine”. In a speech in Warsaw the next day, Biden condemned Russia’s war of “choice”. “Ukraine will never be a victory for Russia,” he vowed. “Never.” Also on Tuesday, President Putin delivered his annual state-of-the-nation address in Moscow, in which he announced that Russia will suspend its…

“What is it about the past that some young people find unbearable,” asked Simon Heffer in The Daily Telegraph. “After all, no one is expecting them to live through it.” Last week saw yet another case of this contemporary tendency to recoil in horror from the attitudes of earlier generations – in the form of the “vandalism” of Roald Dahl’s children’s books by “sensitivity readers”. Puffin has made hundreds of changes to the stories. The word “fat” has been removed from every book (Augustus Gloop in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is now “enormous”), as have the words “crazy” and “mad”. The Oompa-Loompas are no longer “tiny”; they are merely small – and gender neutral. The Cloud-Men in James and the Giant Peach have become the Cloud-People. Matilda doesn’t read…

Supermarkets, which are facing such shortages of imported fruit and veg that Tesco, Morrisons, Aldi and Asda are rationing sales of some fresh produce. The shortages have been blamed on crops in North Africa and southern Europe being damaged by severe weather, disruption to transport routes, and high energy prices leading to less being grown in heated greenhouses in the UK. Contemporary art, after an unnamed collector accidentally smashed one of Jeff Koons’ glass “balloon dog” sculptures at an art fair in Miami. According to onlookers, the woman had gently tapped or poked the $42,000 sculpture – perhaps to see if it actually was a balloon – sending it tumbling off its pedestal. “It was an event!” said an art adviser to the gallery that was sponsoring the piece. “Everybody…

Amsterdam Collaborators named: The identities of some 300,000 Dutch people suspected of being Nazi collaborators in the Second World War are to be made public in 2025, when a huge trove of sensitive files goes online. The Central Archive of Special Jurisdiction contains the names of thousands of people suspected of having informed on their countrymen, joined Nazi-affiliated groups or fought in the German army; but under current rules, these names can only be made public if the subject of a search has died or their family has given permission. That is set to change when archivists finish digitising thousands of documents. Most of those named will have died by 2025, but groups supporting relatives of former collaborators expressed concern that the step could still lead to old wounds being…

1* Geduld from St. Matthew Passion by Bach, performed by Hans Peter Blochwitz and La Chapelle Royale, conducted by Philippe Herreweghe2 The Stately Homes of England, written and performed by Noël Coward3 La fleur que tu m’avais jetée from Carmen by Bizet, performed by Plácido Domingo and the LPO (cond. Sir Georg Solti)4 O mio babbino caro by Puccini, performed by Kiri Te Kanawa and the LPO (cond. Sir John Pritchard)5 Scream by Caitlin Albery Beavan and Jim Bell, performed by Caitlin Albery Beavan6 Parking Fines, written and performed by Joe Lycett7 I Will Survive by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris, performed by Gloria Gaynor8 Ombra cara di mia sposa from Radamisto by Handel, performed by Emoke Baráth and Ensemble Artaserse (cond. Philippe Jaroussky) Book: The Complete Novels of Jane Austen…

The San Andreas Fault, which runs almost the length of California, is perpetually feared to be on the verge of unleashing “the big one”: an earthquake that could cause huge damage to West Coast cities such as San Francisco. But it’s another fault line that Americans should really be worried about, says Kathryn Schulz in The New Yorker. While the San Andreas Fault is thought to be capable of causing a magnitude 8.2 earthquake, the Cascadia subduction zone, which runs for 700 miles off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, could unleash a quake of up to 9.2 magnitude in strength – or, in layman’s terms, one of the five or six biggest shocks in recorded history. “That’s the very big one.” An earthquake on that scale would be the…

The brave new world of US journalism Patrick Maines RealClearPolitics In 1972, National Review published an analysis entitled: “Is it true what they say about The New York Times?” The study had examined the content of America’s flagship newspaper, says Patrick Maines, and it concluded – to the great surprise of many of the magazine’s conservative readers – that the paper’s news pages were admirably free of editorial bias. Last month, another study came to “a very different conclusion about the objectivity of [America’s] legacy media, particularly The New York Times”. Published in the Columbia Journalism Review, it was written by Jeff Gerth, a decorated investigative journalist formerly with the Times, who spent a year-and-a-half researching the coverage of “Russiagate”. Gerth’s report destroys what’s left of the debunked claims that…

Cancer waiting times last year were the worst on record in England, NHS figures show. On average, 51,000 patients every month waited beyond the two-week target to see a cancer specialist after a GP referral, according to an analysis by Macmillan Cancer Support – more than ten times the number a decade ago. In total, more than half-a-million people overall were affected by the delays. “It’s time the UK Government stops sidestepping its responsibility for such systemic failures within cancer care,” said Steven McIntosh, an executive director at Macmillan. The analysis does reveal that the total number of people being seen by a specialist for suspected cancer hit an all-time high, which McIntosh described as “encouraging”. But he described it as unacceptable that each month, thousands of people are “left…

“By their very nature, missing person inquiries can be fraught,” said Fiona Hamilton in The Times. Detectives must untangle complicated lives, and deal with distressed families. Such cases are difficult “even when police operate under the radar”, and they’re much harder when the inquiry takes place in the full glare of the media. But even by these standards, the case of Nicola Bulley was an upsetting and disturbing one. The disappearance of the mother of two unleashed a storm of “ghoulish” public interest, and led to some highly questionable decisions by Lancashire Police. On Sunday, she was found dead in the reeds by the River Wyre in Lancashire, less than a mile from where she was last seen. The police had quickly concluded that there was no evidence of third-party…

England’s first Test against New Zealand was a match that looked extremely challenging on paper, said Ali Martin in The Guardian. Tours of New Zealand have been historically tough for England – they last won a match there 15 years ago. In addition to which, this was a “day-night Test”, played with a pink ball instead of a red one – a format that England have never taken to. Yet under captain Ben Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum, both appointed last summer, England have become a side that pays no heed to past failures or what the doubters say. At the Bay Oval, they were at their aggressive best, and “wrapped up a comprehensive 267-run win” on the morning of the fourth day. It was Stokes’s tenth victory in 11…

Football Marcus Rashford scored twice as Manchester United beat Leicester 3-0 to move within three points of second-placed Manchester City. Tennis British No. 1 Cameron Norrie lost 6-3, 7-5 in the final of the Buenos Aires ATP to world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz. Cricket Australia were dismissed for just 113 in the second innings of their second Test against India. India won by six wickets, and lead the series 2-0. Rugby union Leicester Tigers upset Premiership leaders Saracens with a 24-18 victory.…

by Marion Turner Princeton U. Press 336pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 Of all the vividly realised characters in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, it is the Wife of Bath who has “most riotously escaped the Middle Ages”, said Erin Maglaque in The New York Times. Married and widowed five times, she is an astonishing creation – a wealthy businesswoman with many friends, who stands up against sexism, reflects on ageing, tells “wickedly funny” stories, and “unapologetically loves sex”. And, as Marion Turner argues in this fascinating book, Alison of Bath is also the first “real woman” in English literature, a world away from the two-dimensional princesses, witches and damsels in distress who came before her. A professor of English at Oxford, Turner aims in this “biography” not only to celebrate her…

The impresario Nica Burns’s new West End theatre – @sohoplace – may have an insistently modern name and a “sleekly anonymous” glass exterior, said Clive Davis in The Times. But the in-the-round interior, seats piled high, conjures the “aura of a classical amphitheatre”. And it is an ideal setting for this gripping new production of Medea, starring Sophie Okonedo and Ben Daniels. “When you are watching a play as elemental as Euripides’ study of a mother who is about to do the unthinkable – murder her children out of revenge against her errant husband, Jason – you cannot help but feel pulled into the vortex.” Dominic Cooke’s “subtle, brilliant” staging “takes one of the most deplorable creatures to spring from the teeming forest of monsters in ancient myth, and, without…

A Winter in Arabia by Freya Stark, 1940 (Bloomsbury £12.99). The beautifully written story of Stark’s daring expedition around what is now Yemen in the 1930s. Her detailed descriptions of people, customs, architecture, all set in the context of rich history, made me desperate to visit Yemen. One day…! Blood River by Tim Butcher, 2007 (Vintage £10.99). I began reading this in Rwanda on the shores of Lake Kivu, on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where much of the expedition is set. Its magnificent drama and horror gripped me as I made my own, usually much tamer, journeys through Africa. Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It by Geoff Dyer, 2003 (Canongate £9.99). A travel book that, like so much of travelling, gets stuck…

Programmes Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice Musical biography of one of the most successful female singers of all time, with contributions from Dolly Parton, Jackson Browne and many others. Sat 25 Feb, BBC2 21:00 (95mins). Endeavour Final series of the popular Morse prequel. A newly sober Morse investigates two unexplained deaths linked to an Oxford orchestra. Sun 26 Feb, ITV1 20:00 (120mins). Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty Timely three-part series about London policing, starting with a 1969 Times exposé of corruption within the force. Mon 27 Feb, BBC4 22:00 (60mins). The Mormons Are Coming Three young Mormons arrive in Lancashire to embark on a life-changing experience as missionaries. Tue 28 Feb, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). Stephen Fry: Willem & Frieda – Defying the Nazis Fry tells the…

Seven nights in St. Lucia Stay at the Rabot Hotel from Hotel Chocolat, which offers stunning views of the Piton Mountains. From £2,233pp b&b (incl. London flights). 0344-493 0787, britishairways.com. Depart 6 June. Luxurious Budapest stay Explore the Hungarian capital from the 5-star Matild Palace, a luxurious, Belle Époque-era gem. From £424pp b&b for 3 nights (excl. flights). 020-3564 6725, booking.com. Arrive 23 March. Drift through Happy Valley Start your 4-night narrowboat break from Sowerby Bridge and travel along to Hebden Bridge, made famous in the hit BBC drama. From £230pp (4 sharing). 0344-984 0322, drifters.co.uk. Depart 24 April. New Orleans getaway The Eliza Jane, which sits near the French Quarter and Warehouse Arts District, offers a 7-night stay from £1,407pp room-only (incl. Manchester flights). 020-8175 1145, loveholidays.com. Depart 20…

Man U/Spurs/Liverpool FC: in play on Wall Street Three months after the Glazer family put Manchester United up for sale, at least two bidders have emerged with “competing visions for one of the world’s most valuable sporting teams”, said the FT. The first to go public was Jassim bin Hamad Al Thani, son of the former emir of Qatar, and former head of the gulf state’s sovereign wealth fund. Within hours, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire founder of UK chemicals group Ineos, confirmed that he too had made an offer. Both claim to have supported the club since boyhood. Whoever wins will pay a handsome price, likely to surpass “the current record paid for a sports team” – $4.6bn spent on the Denver Broncos NFL franchise last year. But interested…

Wanted: reform at the World Bank Larry Elliott The Guardian The US has “already made up its mind” who should succeed David Malpass at the World Bank, says Larry Elliott. “Non-Americans need not apply”, and the favourite is Rajiv Shah, who runs the Rockefeller Foundation. “That the White House should have the right to appoint the president of such an important organisation is a scandalous anachronism” – dating from the carve-up at the 1944 Bretton Woods conference in which “the Europeans got to pick the managing director of the IMF, while the Americans got the Bank”. Unsurprisingly, this stranglehold rankles in Beijing, New Delhi and Brasília. There has been talk of persuading the current PM of Barbados, Mia Mottley, to stand for the developing world. Whoever gets the job must…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1351 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 6 March. Send it to The Week Crossword 1351, 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 Tenant’s despair remedied with this? (14) 10 Soldier favoured protection from fire (7) 11 Difficulty returned, not new (7) 12 One playing away in Rugby Union alerted for trouble (9) 13 Type of chair manufactured by Danes (5) 14 Detective gets permit for opening…

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Gwyneth Paltrow marketed one that “smelled like her vagina”, but the latest trend is for candles that capture the heady scent of street food. The French firm Overose has a croissant candle that emits a “crispy puff pastry” scent, to evoke the “romantic air of Paris”. At Joya Studio in New York, £40 buys you a candle that smells like sautéed garlic, designed with a local pizza chef. One buyer said it left him “confused and hungry”. Producers of popular stage musicals have been advised to avoid phrases such as the “best party in town” in their marketing, to deter a disruptive element. Insiders say that audiences have become increasingly rowdy; last month, police were called after a fight broke out during a performance of Jersey Boys in Edinburgh.…

One of the contenders to replace Nicola Sturgeon as the leader of the SNP faced fierce questions about her Christian beliefs this week, at the start of what may prove a bruising campaign. As a member of the Free Church of Scotland, finance minister Kate Forbes, 32, admitted that she might not have voted in favour of Scotland’s equal marriage laws, had she been an MSP at the time, and that she has “significant concerns” about the SNP’s gender recognition bill. The MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch’s comments sparked a fierce backlash, but she insisted that her campaign had not been derailed. She vowed that she’d not be rolling back any rights and apologised for any pain her remarks had caused. The other confirmed runners are health secretary Humza…

East Palestine, Ohio Toxic waste: Federal authorities have taken over the operation to clean up a massive toxic waste spill in Ohio, amid mounting concern about the impact of the disaster on the local community. On 3 February, a freight train carrying vinyl chloride – a known carcinogen – and other potentially hazardous material derailed on the outskirts of the small town of East Palestine. Fearing an explosion, local officials evacuated the area and then carried out a “controlled burn” of the chemical. Days later, residents were given the all-clear to return to their homes. But concerns have remained that the air, soil and local water supply may still be contaminated. Residents have complained of nausea and headaches, and about 3,500 fish are reported to have died in nearby waterways.…

“I’m a great believer in nominative determinism: that people’s names will influence what they become, just as dog owners so often share characteristics with their pets. So, given the trouble we had with Chris Pincher in the Carlton Club, it was alarming to see a fellow called Greg Hands become Conservative Party chairman. I’ve taken a nervous look at the list of names of MPs of all parties, and fear there may be trouble ahead. There are two Bacons rootling around in the Westminster undergrowth, a Barker, and a Blunt not always noted for his tact. And as Father of the House, a Bottomley may arouse concern.” Matthew Parris in The Times…

May the Lords save us from this insane bill Bagehot The Economist “One of the silliest pieces of legislation ever to come before Parliament” is how Labour’s Lord Liddle described the Retained EU Law Bill now going through the Lords. He’s right, says Bagehot. The last time our politicians were crazy enough to impose a blunt deadline on themselves was in 2017 when Britain invoked Article 50, setting in train “a two-year countdown with a gaping legal vacuum at the end of it”. That gave the EU a huge negotiating advantage “and sent British politics into meltdown”. Only by deciding to preserve the vast body of EU law, but refashioned for the domestic statute book – a Herculean task–was chaos averted. Even so, the bill’s author Jacob Rees-Mogg and his…

A step towards a Pill for men? Researchers in the US have shown that they can temporarily render male sperm infertile using a fast-acting drug. Their discovery, reported in the journal Nature Communications, appears to provide proof of concept for a form of on-demand contraception that men could take before sex, when needed; but whose effects would wear off within hours. The drug works by targeting soluble adenylyl cyclase, an enzyme crucial in sperm motility. The researchers, from Cornell University’s biomedical research unit, have proved that it prevents pregnancy in mice, that it immobilises human sperm in test tube conditions, and that there are no long-term effects on fertility. Unlike the Pill for women, no hormones are involved. The next step is to try it out on rabbits, and then…

Keir Starmer, it seems, is blessed with that “most potent of political advantages, good luck”, said Miranda Green in the Financial Times. Last week Nicola Sturgeon, that “one-woman block to Labour’s recovery in Scotland”, unexpectedly announced her resignation; and on the very same day, the Equalities and Human Rights Commission gave the Labour Party a “clean bill of health in its fight against antisemitism in the ranks”. Starmer seized the moment to announce that Jeremy Corbyn, whose tenure as leader was stained by antisemitism within the party, would not be allowed to stand for Labour at the next election. “The Labour party is unrecognisable from 2019 and it will never go back,” Starmer told party members. “If you don’t like that, if you don’t like the changes we have made,…

More than 500 million: that’s what Chelsea’s American owners have spent on new signings since the summer, said Tony Cascarino in The Sunday Times. They’ve bought “some of the best talent around”: Chelsea’s squad is now so deep, they often have players not even on the bench who’d “walk into the starting 11 of most teams in the country”. Yet Chelsea’s form has been worryingly poor. Having already suffered seven defeats this season, they’re currently tenth in the Premier League. Last Saturday, they reached a new nadir with an “abysmal” 1-0 home defeat to bottom-placed Southampton. Chelsea’s fans are in no doubt who’s to blame, said Jim White in The Daily Telegraph: manager Graham Potter. Not since the “caretaker residency” of Rafael Benítez a decade ago has a Blues coach…

by Pamela Anderson Headline 256pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 Pamela Anderson’s memoir gives you plenty of celebrity bang for your buck, said Jane Mulkerrins in The Times. The “Baywatch bombshell” tells all about the debauched parties at the Playboy Mansion, and the “OTT Hollywood extravagance” of her 1990s heyday. There’s much “unselfconscious name-dropping of showbiz mates” (Elton John, Vivienne Westwood, Amy Winehouse, even – improbably – Julian Assange). There are the six marriages, notably to the “lairy” Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee, with whom she “inadvertently created the first celebrity sex tape”, stolen from their home by a “disgruntled” tradesman. There was nowhere the pair could resist getting intimate (Lee even had her name “inked on his penis”), until he became violent, and Anderson filed for divorce. Although her…

“Everybody loves Vermeer,” said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. His paintings are “irresistible”: “the magical light, the air of perfection, the whispery moods, the intoxicating combinations of yellow and blue”. They are also very rare things indeed: Johannes Vermeer (1632-75) seems to have produced only about two paintings per year; it is thought that he completed about 45 in total, of which just 37 survive; three are disputed, and one has been missing since a robbery in 1990. So it is a great coup that Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum has managed to unite so many of them for this landmark exhibition. Seven years in the making, the show is easily the largest Vermeer retrospective ever, bringing together a full 28 of his paintings, from little-known early landscapes to world-famous masterpieces. As…

Bouchon Racine 66 Cowcross Street, London EC1 (020-7253 3368) The chef Henry Harris used to run a “beautiful bistro in Knightsbridge called Racine”, which closed in 2015, says William Sitwell in The Daily Telegraph. After a break from full-time cheffing, he is back with this fabulous new venture, housed in a “panelled room of tantalising hospitality” above the Three Compasses Pub in Farringdon. Bouchons are restaurants typically found in Lyon, which serve “good honest food to good honest workers”; and the menu here – chalked on a “vast blackboard” – is a “roll-call of Lyonnaise beauties”. I start with Bayonne ham and celeriac remoulade, and move on to “pure and wholesome” rabbit in mustard sauce. My son, meanwhile, has immaculately spiced steak tartare, which comes in a “generous dollop”. A…

● Smaller, slimmer, short-haired or less active dogs might benefit from a coat in winter. Large, hairier dogs originally from colder climes tend to be happier without. ● In freezing conditions, dogs can suffer from frostbite – typically on the paws, ears and tail. Check with a vet if these areas seem painful and appear pale and grey and cold to the touch. Dog booties may help, or apply Vaseline to the paws to protect against compacted snow and frost. ● When it’s very cold, save your big walk for the middle of the day when it is a bit warmer, and perhaps shorten your route. Always dry your dog thoroughly, especially around their paws, after a walk in cold weather. Dogs can poison themselves by licking the road salt…

Raquel Welch 1940-2023 Raquel Welch, who has died aged 82, only had three lines in her breakout film, 1966’s One Million Years B.C.; but it wasn’t the movie itself that made her name. Before it was even released, a publicity shot showing her dressed as a cavewoman in a doeskin bikini had caused a sensation, and turned her into a global sex symbol. The New York Times described the shot as “a marvellous breathing monument to womankind”; the feminist critic Camille Paglia hailed it as “the indelible image of a woman as queen of nature, a lioness – fierce, passionate and dangerously physical”. Made into a bestselling poster, it adorned the walls of countless adolescent bedrooms. Yet the actress’s “relationship with her sex goddess status was complicated”, said The Times.…

Régis Schultz The new boss of JD Sports has “one of the plum jobs in retail”, says The Sunday Times. But can he crack America? The long history of failed UK ventures there – Tesco, M&S, WH Smith – suggests scepticism is warranted. But “the softly spoken Frenchman” reckons JD’s alliance with trainer-maker Nike will help “kick open” the market. Régis Schultz, 54, grew up in Alsace and cut his retail teeth helping out in his mother’s food shop. Over a varied career, “he has sold hammers to British home owners, groceries to Parisians and flat-packed furniture in the Middle East”. Now he’s relying on the craze for athleisure continuing. “Sneakers,” Schultz observes, “are a global culture.” He should know: he has been wearing them to work every day for…

Anti-war films, after All Quiet on the Western Front, Netflix’s German-language adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s 1929 novel, swept the board at the Baftas. Although the film was not universally well received in Germany, where some critics complained that it was Oscar-baiting “war kitsch”, and a travesty of the original novel, it won seven awards in London, including best film and best director, a record for a foreign-language film. Gareth Southgate, with news that his extraordinary career in English football – from vilified failed penalty-taker to revered manager – has inspired a new play by James Graham. Dear England will be staged at the National Theatre this summer, with Joseph Fiennes in the lead role.…

The Royal College of Nursing announced on Tuesday that it was pausing next week’s strike action, while it entered “intensive” talks with the Government. Both sides said they were committed to finding a settlement, raising hopes that they might be close to a deal. Next week’s walkout had been due to include A&E and intensive care nurses for the first time. However, in a fresh blow for the Government, the BMA announced this week that nearly 37,000 junior doctors in England had voted to walk out in March. Health chiefs warned of unprecedented disruption. And in Scotland this week, teachers began a new round of strikes.…

Jemima Khan’s marriage Jemima Khan was a second-year student at Bristol when she met Imran Khan, then a 43-year-old retired cricketer, at a restaurant in Knightsbridge. Within months they were married; Khan converted to Islam and moved to Lahore, where she soon had two sons. In Pakistan, the fact that her late father was half-Jewish was weaponised to undermine Imran’s burgeoning political career – “I was 25% Jewish here, 250% Jewish there,” she told Charlotte Edwardes in The Mail on Sunday. But back in London, she felt like “a misfit” too. “I was all covered up and living this grown-up life as a mother, running a business and charity while my friends were going to nightclubs.” And when the marriage fell apart, it was almost harder to adapt to life…

TURKEY The glorious heritage lost to the quakes The National (Abu Dhabi) As well as causing untold human suffering, the earthquakes that struck Turkey and Syria this month have had a devastating impact on the region’s architectural heritage, says Justin Marozzi. The 2,000-year-old castle that once loomed magnificently over the Turkish city of Gaziantep now lies in ruins; the nearby 17th century Sirvani Mosque was also badly damaged. In Diyarbakır, some 200 miles further east, a Unesco World Heritage site, which comprises an ancient fortress and the adjacent Hevsel Gardens, also suffered damage – as did Antakya’s old city. In Aleppo in Syria, the “mighty citadel” that withstood the Turkic conqueror Timur in 1400 was ravaged. Perhaps none of this is surprising: if Turkey can’t build earthquake-resistant buildings today, what…

Meghan and Harry have been mocked in a new series of the US cartoon South Park. They feature in it as the “Prince and Princess of Canada”, who appear on a TV show to promote the Prince’s new memoir, Waaagh, then embark on a “worldwide privacy tour”, visiting France, India and Australia while holding signs that read “Stop looking at us!” and “We want our privacy!!”. They settle in South Park itself in an attempt “to make people think we’re really serious about wanting to be normal”. The rally driver and bon viveur Peter Graham-Moon, who died this month, was best known for the extravagant revenge that his wife Sarah took on him for his womanising. The Times obituary reported that in 1992, she poured five litres of white paint…

“Middle age is when you need to sit on the bed to put your trousers on.” Colin Dexter, quoted in The Guardian “A consultant is someone who borrows your watch to tell you the time.” Adage, ibid. “Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can’t build on it, it’s only good for wallowing in.” Katherine Mansfield, quoted in Forbes “There is nothing in this world as invisible as a monument.” Robert Musil, quoted in the Daily Hampshire Gazette “Football combines two of the worst things in American life. It is violence punctuated by committee meetings.” George Will, quoted in The Washington Post “Everybody winds up kissing the wrong person goodnight.” Andy Warhol, quoted in the Daily Nous “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at…

To The Daily Telegraph The biggest threat to the environment comes from climate change, which is why we need more nuclear power as a green alternative to fossil fuels. Sizewell will supply six million homes with reliable low-carbon electricity for at least 60 years. Displacing gas, it will prevent about nine million tons of carbon emissions from going into the atmosphere each year. Emissions produced during construction will be offset in the first few months of operation. By creating hundreds of acres of wildlife habitats, we will increase biodiversity around the power station by 19%. The Planning Inspectorate spent six months looking at our proposals in detail and found that the benefits of the project would strongly outweigh the impacts. That’s why local support for Sizewell C outweighs opposition by…

by Eleanor Catton Granta 432pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 It’s ten years since, at 28, Eleanor Catton became the youngest ever Booker Prize winner for The Luminaries, a historical saga set in her native New Zealand. Now at last she’s back with a second book, said Shahidha Bari in the FT, and it’s quite a surprise – an “explosive” thriller about climate change and the future of humanity. Its protagonists are “eco-warriors” who plant sustainable crops on disused land, and its plot kicks off when they risk their integrity by making a pact with an “enigmatic” American billionaire who is interested in the same neglected swathe of the South Island as they are. Catton casts a “beady comic eye” on her millennial eco-activists, said James Walton in The Daily…

Brian evades Alice’s attempts to plan Jennifer’s funeral. Kate is thrilled by a surprise visit from Noluthando. Brian gets angry when Kirsty and Roy make an ill-judged goodwill gesture of tidying his garden. Justin meets Julianne at an event and discovers the truth of her arrangement with Ruairi. Alice persuades Ruairi to go to The Bull’s Valentine’s party, where they dance with Paul and friends. Noluthando tries to fix Freddie up with a girl. Justin probes Ruairi for information on Julianne’s business dealings. Will fakes a reason to spend time with Brian and shares his own experiences of grief. Brian helps Kirsty and Roy as they clear out Phoebe’s room, and he asks for their help in the garden. It’s the last straw for Alice when she finds Ruairi and…

Serves 2 to 3 2-3 bone-in chicken thighs, skins removed and reserved (optional) 2 tbsp olive oil 1 large onion, thinly sliced 3 celery sticks, thinly sliced 6 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed 30g fresh ginger, sliced 2 bay leaves 4-5 thin slices of fresh turmeric or ½ tsp ground turmeric 2 tsp cumin seeds 2 tsp coriander seeds 1 tsp black mustard seeds ½ tsp black peppercorns 3 cloves small bunch of parsley, leaves and stalks chopped separately 100g brown basmati rice, thoroughly rinsed 1.2 litres chicken stock or vegetable stock 160g spring greens, finely shredded • If serving with crispy chicken skin, preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Spread the chicken skins flat on a baking tray, sprinkle with a little salt and roast in the oven for…

No1 Food Prep has a range of plans with tasty, healthy meals free from sugars and refined carbs in weekly packages, or meal or snack subscriptions, delivered across the UK (from £16.90 a day; no1foodprep.com). Established in 2003, The Pure Package has ethically sourced personally tailored plans for everything from weight loss to paleo, pre- and post-natal, delivered within London (from £46.95 a day; purepackage.com). Good gut health is central to the ethos of Kurami, which delivers fresh gluten- and dairy-free meals, crafted by nutritionists, within London. There is a calorie-controlled option and packaging is 100% recyclable (from £39.40 a day; kurami.co.uk). Detox Kitchen creates nutritious meals with ingredients sourced in the UK, free from dairy, wheat and refined sugar. Meal plans are delivered in Greater London, but “fridge fills”…

Finding peace on Patmos The Greek island of Patmos has long been a place of “spiritual solace”, says Rachel Howard in House & Garden. It was here, most likely, that Saint John “rattled off” the Book of Revelation, and in the 11th century a Byzantine emperor bequeathed the whole place to monks. These days, it’s a glamorous party spot in high season, popular with “aristocrats, interior designers, fashion editors and their muses”. But it has not been ruined by development, and in spring or autumn it is very peaceful. Stay at Pagostas, a small guesthouse with “spare but richly textured” interiors, in the island’s labyrinthine old town. Strike out on “long walks to remote hermitages”, or for “rousing dips in empty coves”. Visit pagostas.com and walkinginpatmos.com for more information. Living…

Dickie Davies 1928-2023 Dickie Davies, who has died aged 94, was a giant of British sports broadcasting, said Jeremy Wilson in The Daily Telegraph, and for a period in the 1970s and 1980s, one of the most recognisable figures on British television, with his “bushy moustache, thick sideburns and magnificently coiffured brown hair – interrupted only by a patch of entirely natural white running through the fringe”. For almost 20 years, he was the affable host of World of Sport, ITV’s slightly downmarket rival to the BBC’s Grandstand, covering everything from the FA Cup and athletics to badminton, hang gliding and wrestling. Richard John Davies was born in Cheshire in 1928 and educated at Oldershaw Grammar School. After completing his national service, he took an office job with the Cunard…

Great news for all those pushing for a better work-life balance, said Heather Stewart in The Guardian. Fifty-six of the 61 companies “taking part in the world’s largest trial of a four-day week have opted to continue with the new working pattern” – a result hailed as evidence that it could work across the UK economy. The pilot, promoted by 4 Day Week Global (a not-for-profit founded in New Zealand), found that well-being “improved dramatically for staff” across a wide variety of sectors, and that “business productivity” was either “maintained or improved in nearly every case”. Joe Ryle, director of the 4 Day Week Campaign, called it “a major breakthrough moment”. A single six-month study of 61 firms is hardly grounds “for such a massive change to Britain’s working practices”,…