The Week的1504目录

What happened Protests erupted across Israel after the bodies of six hostages were found in Gaza on Saturday. Hundreds of thousands took to the streets on Sunday, to condemn Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failure to reach a ceasefire deal with Hamas that might have brought them and the other hostages home. There were more street protests on Monday, when Israel’s largest trade union held a general strike. President Biden said Netanyahu wasn’t doing enough to get a deal. The Israeli PM asked for “forgiveness” for not bringing the hostages back alive, but remained defiant over ceasefire talks, saying Israel had to keep control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a strategic strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border that has become a sticking point in negotiations. The UK, meanwhile, suspended 30 (out…

“We are heading back towards Europe,” said Ian Dunt in The i Paper. “It is going to take a long time.” It will be difficult and frustrating. But the reward will be a closer, healthier relationship with our closest trade partners. Last week, Keir Starmer went to Berlin to meet Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and to launch bilateral negotiations between the UK and Germany; he then continued his charm offensive in Paris, meeting President Macron. The PM said before the trip that Britain had a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our relationship” with Europe, to “turn a corner on Brexit”. His meetings didn’t technically have much to do with EU relations: Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is up for review next year; negotiations will be with Brussels, not with the member states. But…

Donald Trump, after Abba joined the list of musicians demanding that he not use their work at his rallies. Trump had played hits including Money, Money, Money and The Winner Takes it All at an event in Minnesota, the state with the most Swedish Americans. Celine Dion, Beyoncé, and the estate of Isaac Hayes are among others to have tried to stop Trump using their work. Jas Athwal, the new Labour MP for Ilford South in London, who was outed as a bad landlord – though he has described himself as a “renters’ champion”. Tenants of some of his 15 flats complained to the BBC that their bathroom ceilings were covered in black mould; others said they had serious ant infestations. Athwal insisted that he had been unaware of the…

Provo, Utah DNA link: DNA taken from Nicholas Rossi – the American sex offender who faked his own death in 2020 to avoid rape charges, then lived under an assumed identity in Scotland – has been matched to a sample taken in 2008 after a separate alleged rape in Ohio. Rossi, 37, was arrested in Glasgow in 2021 after being recognised by someone at the hospital where he was being treated for Covid. He had been posing as an Irish academic named Arthur Knight, and had married a British woman. Following a long legal battle, he was extradited to the US in January, and is now facing two trials. Raleigh, North Carolina RFK Jr sues: Having suspended his presidential bid and endorsed Donald Trump, Robert F. Kennedy Jr is now…

NORWAY This diseased industry won’t come clean Dagbladet (Oslo) Norway is the world’s largest producer of farmed salmon; but for how long, asks Lars Helle. Its fisheries are now in a state of crisis: so many salmon have been contracting infections and dying in their open-top pens that there’s a real danger, say fish biologists, of biological collapse. And to make things worse, farmed salmon are escaping their pens in fjords and contaminating wild fish with lice and diseases. The outbreaks have already forced the closure of some salmon fishing rivers. And the ocean is at risk too: we now learn that salmon farms pump polluted water “directly into the sea, where wild fish ingest a cocktail of faeces, fish feed and sludge”. Yet instead of addressing the issue, the…

It has been 15 years since Noel Gallagher stormed out of Oasis, saying he “simply could not go on working” with his younger brother Liam. The band’s heyday was well behind it, and a split had started to look inevitable: the Gallaghers had had a series of furious rows, many of them about Liam’s fighting and drinking. But fans had been watching eagerly for signs of a truce, and possible reunion, ever since. Last week, 30 years after the release of Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe, the news finally came: they’d be going on a 17-date tour next summer. Cue Oasis mania, said George Chesterton in The Daily Telegraph, and visions of hordes of fiftysomething blokes donning Adidas tracksuits and bucket hats to revisit their youths – a heady time…

The Tories’ sixth leadership election in eight years is finally “starting to get real”, said John Oxley on UnHerd. While Labour spent the summer recess dealing with the early challenges of office, their political rivals were mulling the merits of six potential leaders. This week and next, they will whittle the list of candidates down to four, who will go on to be showcased at the party conference in Birmingham. Tory MPs will then choose the two candidates to be put to a vote of party members, with the winner expected to be announced on 2 November. There will likely be plenty of intrigue before then. As of the start of this week, fewer than half of the 121 Tory MPs in the Commons had publicly committed to a candidate.…

“A good little player” was Kevin Pietersen’s verdict on Joe Root after sharing the crease with him in the latter’s first Test. And in the 12 years that have elapsed since then, Root has proved time and again just what a good player he is, said Simon Wilde in The Sunday Times. Throughout this period, he has been England’s batting linchpin; and last Saturday at Lord’s, he “reached the top of the pile of England batsmen” when he scored his 34th Test hundred to move one clear of Sir Alastair Cook. Remarkably, it was his second century of the match, said Ali Martin in The Guardian: Root’s second-innings hundred, which took him just 111 balls – making it his fastest ever – came on the back of a first-innings contribution…

Since the 1970s, the British artist Peter Kennard has been creating striking photo-collages that are designed to speak “truth to power”, said Sarah Kent on The Arts Desk. Using simple materials – for some of his best-known pieces he used little more than a pair of scissors and some carefully chosen images culled from newspapers – he has repeatedly “gone on the attack to reveal the hypocrisy of politicians, his revulsion at war and the insanity of the arms race and, more recently, the ruthless exploitation of the planet’s resources”. His work has been displayed everywhere from protest banners to the pages of newspapers, and has given activist groups such as the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the anti-Apartheid movement, the “visual equivalent of marching songs”. Many of his collages…

Maida Grill House 38 Liverpool Street, Salford (0161-312 9772) If you know what “rice and three” is, it’s “because you are from, or lived for a while in, Greater Manchester”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. A tradition that originated some 40 years ago in a curry house in the Northern Quarter, it consists of a “plate of steaming rice stacked high with your choice of three curries”. And it remains “very much a thing”. To find out where best to sample it, I sought advice from Thom Hetherington, who “has worked in and around Manchester’s hospitality sector for years”. He directed me to Maida Grill House in Salford. It’s a place with few frills: the dining room is a “functional white space”, and you order at the glass-fronted counter.…

Running for just a minute or two a day can boost bone health in women. It doesn’t have to be sprinting, but aim to include a few running steps in daily walks. Strength training is hugely beneficial. If you haven’t done it before, start with elastic exercise bands, which are colour coded by resistance. You can also increase the resistance by shortening the bands. When you are strong enough, move on to weights – dumbbells or a kettlebell – at least twice a week. Target the whole body with weighted lunges and squats, hip abduction and adduction, leg press, back extension and abdominal exercises. Ball and racket sports that involve rapid changes in direction and jumping, such as tennis, squash, volleyball, rugby, football and netball, will boost bone strength. If…

Volkswagen: factory closures? In a further sign of “the deep woes roiling Europe’s auto industry”, Volkswagen is considering factory closures in Germany “for the first time in its 87-year history”, said Bloomberg – a move likely to put the Wolfsburg-based carmaker on a crash course with unions. With car sales in Europe still nearly a fifth lower than pre-pandemic levels, VW is not the only big player in trouble. At Stellantis – the group created from the 2021 merger of Fiat and PSA Peugeot Citroën – net profit plunged by nearly half in the first six months of 2024. “The continent is uniquely exposed to the twilight of the combustion era” and “dwindling prospects in China”. But the woes of VW, a “key part of Germany’s postwar economic miracle”, are…

What happened A far-right party has won a regional election in Germany for the first time since the Second World War. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) took 32.8% of the vote in the poll in the eastern state of Thuringia on Sunday, giving it a clear win over the conservative CDU, which came second with 23.6%. In neighbouring Saxony, the CDU defeated the AfD by just 31.9% to 30.6%. Björn Höcke, the AfD’s leader in Thuringia, who was fined in July for using a Nazi slogan, hailed the AfD’s victory as “historic” and warned rival parties against excluding it from any coalition deals in the regional parliament. Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose SPD party was trounced in both states, urged other parties to govern without the AfD, which he accused of…

Reports that singletons could signal their availability to prospective partners by trundling around Spanish supermarkets with upside-down pineapples in their trolleys led to chaotic scenes in stores this week. The craze was sparked by a humourist on TikTok, who claimed that 7pm to 8pm was a secret “hook-up” hour in the Mercadona chain. Network Rail has fenced off a Grade II-listed viaduct in Cheshire, to protect it from Harry Styles’ fans. The pop star is said to have had his first kiss under the viaduct, and it has become a shrine for fans, who have visited in their thousands to take selfies against it and write messages on it. Now, they can’t reach the viaduct’s arches, but can leave messages on a wall newly built for that purpose.…

The inquiry into the Grenfell Tower fire that killed 72 people on 14 June 2017 has found that all the deaths were “avoidable” in its damning final report, published on Wednesday. The fire started in a fourth-floor kitchen and quickly spread up the building via external cladding that had been fitted as part of a refurbishment of the block. Residents were told to “stay put”, that fire doors would protect them. But many died of smoke inhalation even before the fire reached the upper floors. Led by Sir Martin Moore-Bick, the seven-year inquiry concluded that the tragedy was the result of successive governments failing to regulate the construction sector effectively, and ignoring evidence that flammable materials were being used on high-rise buildings; it says the fire was also the fault…

Cinema’s sonic wizard The American sound designer Ben Burtt began experimenting with audio as a child, when he was stuck in bed with an illness and given a tape recorder to keep him busy. “I flipped the tape around backward,” he told John Bleasdale in The Guardian. “So, on hearing something, I knew it could be used differently.” Since then, he has lent his sonic wizardry to some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. He created the sounds of slithering snakes in Raiders of the Lost Ark by squeezing macaroni cheese in a gloved hand. For E.T., he created the alien’s sounds (using various animals, including otters, while an actress who was a heavy smoker read its lines). For Star Wars, he came up with the metallic crackle of the lightsabre by…

Ireland has long been a low-tax choice for tech firms wishing to establish bases in Europe: eight of the top ten global IT firms have a significant presence there. Its temperate climate is another draw for those wishing to establish data centres, of which there are now 82, the majority on the outskirts of Dublin. Meta (Facebook), Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Vantage, among others, have all built big facilities. Collectively, they already account for more than a fifth of Ireland’s energy use. According to the IEA, data centres will account for a third of its electricity demand by 2026. Since August 2022, after a series of blackout warnings were issued by EirGrid, Ireland’s power grid provider, there has been a de facto moratorium on further development in Dublin. Google’s…

The US is slipping as a superpower… Amy Zegart Foreign Affairs Power isn’t what it used to be, says Amy Zegart. Whereas nations once derived it from tangible assets such as territory and standing armies, they now increasingly derive it from knowledge and the ability to generate transformational technology. Worryingly for America, it’s flagging on this front. Take defence. Because Congress so often fails to pass an annual budget, the Pentagon “increasingly runs on stopgap budget measures that fund only existing programmes, not new ones”. The result is that big, expensive weapon systems blunder on, while ideas for smaller innovative projects never take off. Equally worrying is the way the US is falling behind on education. In the 2022 tests of 15-year-olds worldwide, the US ranked 32nd in average maths…

One in six pharmacies in England could close in the next year, a new report has warned. NHS funding of pharmacies has fallen by 30% in real terms since 2015, leaving many struggling to stay afloat, says the trade body Community Pharmacy England. Its poll of more than 6,100 pharmacy managers or owners found that nearly two-thirds were operating at a loss; 16% predicted that they would have to close their premises within a year. (Boots has already closed hundreds of branches.) As a result of these pressures, 79% of 2,000 pharmacy staff surveyed said they have less time to spend with patients; 94% said they had seen significant increases in costs. Manufacturing problems, shortages of ingredients and Brexit have all been blamed for stocks of drugs, including for epilepsy…

Many people in the West believe that the war in Ukraine has become a “grinding” stalemate, said Philip Pilkington on UnHerd. But a “pivotal” moment may be approaching. After a long period of attrition and fairly static battle lines on Ukraine’s eastern front, the Russians “are now advancing on Pokrovsk, a key transport and logistics hub in Donetsk”. Some analysts think that if Pokrovsk falls, the entire Ukrainian front line in the Donbas will start to collapse. Without the city’s railway station and its network of roads, many Ukrainian outposts will be hard to resupply. And the Russian advance has been speeding up: Moscow captured 93 square miles of territory in August, according to one trusted assessment – four times more than the average in the first seven months of…

“You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.”Cormac McCarthy, quoted in The Observer “First you’re an unknown, then you write one book and you move up to obscurity.”Martin Myers, quoted in The i Paper “Getting old is like climbing a mountain; you get a little out of breath, but the view is much better.”Ingrid Bergman, quoted on The Knowledge “If you have not struck oil after ten minutes, stop boring.”Preacher Charles Spurgeon’s advice on sermons, quoted in The Times “With publicity comes humiliation.”Tama Janowitz, quoted in Forbes “The Labour Party is like a stagecoach. If you rattle along at great speed, everybody is too exhilarated or seasick to cause any trouble. But if you stop, everybody gets out and argues about where to go next.”Harold…

To The Guardian I’m a consultant in stroke medicine and spend my life treating people with cardiovascular disease, much of it directly caused by the tobacco industry. Curtailing the ability of people to smoke in outdoor public spaces represents a vital next step in the denormalisation of smoking. Framing this as an economic issue (for the hospitality industry), or as an issue of individual choice (for smokers), is to make at least two category errors. Smoking is not an issue of personal choice, because smokers are addicted to nicotine. Billions are spent on ways to keep people smoking. Even if you accept that a ban poses an economic hazard for the hospitality industry, you might hope that we had learnt from the “Eat Out to Help Out” fiasco that placing…

by Tom Lee Granta 208pp £14.99 The Week bookshop £11.99 In 2008, shortly after the birth of his first child, Tom Lee suffered a “psychological breakdown”, said Alice O’Keeffe in The Times. He was prescribed anti-depressants, which had little effect; the problem morphed into “acute anxiety”, which lasted years and “left a lasting scar”. In his new memoir, he revisits this period and sets it against another story: that of “his parents’ treatment for psychiatric breakdowns a generation before”. Both were briefly institutionalised in Severalls, a now-closed psychiatric hospital in Essex. Lee became fascinated with the place, and the older, more paternalistic model of mental health treatment it represented. Deftly weaving these threads together, he has produced a “wise, gentle” and thought-provoking book. Lee’s account of living with mental illness…

The whereabouts of Salvator Mundi is one of “the art world’s biggest mysteries”, said The Art Newspaper. The painting, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, gained instant celebrity in 2017 when it sold at Christie’s for a staggering $450m, making it the most expensive work ever to go under the hammer. Then it vanished from view. Over the years, rumours have circulated as to its whereabouts, with some claiming that its owner, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), had it stashed away on his superyacht. But now, the BBC has reported that the “elusive depiction of Christ” has, in fact, been kept for the past seven years in a vault in Geneva, awaiting the construction of a new museum in Riyadh, where it will serve as an “anchor”, just…

At the Stables’ event, Justin tries to keep Alice hidden, but she helps them win a valuable client. As George frets, Clive impatiently tells him to stay quiet – wealthy people like Alice never go to jail. A shocked Susan bumps into Clive and says she wants nothing to do with him. Later, she and Tracy wonder how they can keep him away from their father. With Emma tense at work, Fallon asks if she’s OK. Justin asks Fallon about her plans for the charging station. Clive taunts Susan and Tracy after seeing Bert; later, he badmouths them to George and says he’s done with hiding. In the shop, Kate recognises Clive and reveals his criminal past; when Joy refuses to serve him, he turns nasty as he leaves. Harrison…

Steph was a Jamaican chef I worked with many years ago in Melbourne, says Helen Goh. Her recipe for roasted jerk-spiced meats has stayed with me ever since. I like to serve this dish with a simple slaw made with sliced cabbage and pineapple, some freshly flaked coconut, jalapeño, spring onion, coriander and mint. Serves 4, with rice and salad 1 tsp whole allspice berries (aka pimento) 2 bay leaves, roughly torn 1½ tsp hot chilli powder 1½ tsp paprika ½ tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp mixed spice (the sweet one, like pumpkin spice) 25g light soft brown sugar 1½ tbsp runny honey 1-2 green jalapeño chillies, finely chopped 1-2 red Scotch bonnet (habanero) chillies, finely chopped 1 small red onion, cut into 1cm dice (100g) 2 spring onions, finely…

Murray Star Maze at Scone Palace, in Perth and Kinross, has a tartan-style, star-shaped maze of copper and green beech trees (£12, children free; scone-palace.co.uk). Leeds Castle in Kent has a difficult maze comprising 2,400 yew trees in the shape of a crown. At the end there’s a spooky grotto with mythical beasts (from £22.50, or £31.50 for year-round access; leeds-castle.com). Designed in 1962 with 1,209 English yews, the maze at Chatsworth, in Derbyshire, is one of the UK’s most challenging (£17/adult, £8/child, open year-round; chatsworth.org). Set in subtropical gardens on the Helford estuary in Cornwall, Glendurgan Garden Maze is nearly 200 years old. The restored serpentine, cherry-laurel maze has a thatched summerhouse in the centre (£12, until 3 Nov; nationaltrust.org.uk). Known for its safari park, Longleat in Wiltshire has…

Borgo Tre Torri del Benaco, Italy Lake Garda is less “glitzy” than nearby Lake Como – and the “low-key” style of this luxurious new apartment-hotel matches it well, says Emma Love in House & Garden. Occupying an 18th century farmhouse perched high above the lake’s western shore, it has “minimalist” interiors featuring natural materials: travertine floors, oak beams, white linens. The four suites have kitchens and their own terraces. There’s a small pool where drinks and snacks are served, and a wellness area with hot tub, cold plunge pool and sauna. Breakfast is delivered to your suite, and there are good restaurants nearby. Suites from €600 b&b; borgotre.com.…

The limits of Elon Musk’s power Gideon Rachman Financial Times Owning X has handed Elon Musk “a massive megaphone to broadcast his views”, says Gideon Rachman. Yet arguably the real “extent and source of his geopolitical power” lies in his control of SpaceX, Starlink and Tesla – companies that enable him to act as “an unguided geopolitical missile, whose whims can reshape world affairs”. His decisions over who should have access to his Starlink internet satellite service – yes to Ukraine, no to Gaza – have influenced those conflicts. “If Musk often talks and acts as if he is more powerful than any government it may be because, in certain respects, that is true.” Governments, however, retain one key power; “the ability to make and enforce the law”. Musk’s latest…

The week’s best shares Cranswick The Daily Telegraph The farmer, producer and supplier of comestibles from sausages to dips continues to be a financially sound, quality firm with a solid growth strategy. Profitability should be boosted by automation-driven efficiencies. Buy. £47.65. Polar Capital Global Healthcare Trust The Daily Telegraph This trust, which invests across the healthcare sector, highlights innovation, AI and emerging market growth themes. Should benefit from anti-obesity, Alzheimer’s and respiratory disorder treatments. Buy. 390p. Qualcomm The Daily Telegraph This US chip-designer supplies Android smartphones and big-name laptop makers. “Very strong” results have beaten expectations. Has challenges, but sales forecast to rise 25% in three years, boosting profits by 42%. Buy. $175.30. Ricardo Investors’ Chronicle The engineering consultant aims to double profits by 2027 via “green solutions” focused on…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1430 Two Connell Guides and three Week-branded items will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 16 September. Send it to The Week Crossword 1430, 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 Week-branded items including a notebook, coffee mug and tote bag, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 9 If you don’t get a shift on there’s always this! (11,4) 10 Taken from cover and shot (7) 12 Finish at uni getting a detailed pic (5-2) 13 Poet caught in difficult situation, pacifying gifts going round (9) 14 AA man lost in tunnel (5) 15…

Why subscribe? ✔ Get your first 6 issues for free ✔ Continue to save up to 56% on the shop price ✔ Try a digital subscription for subscriber newsletters, unlimited access to theweek.co.uk and more ✔ Cancel or pause at any time Get your first 6 issues free Visit theweek.co.uk/offer Or call 0330 333 9494 Offer code P1504 Calls charged at your standard network rate. Direct Debit offer. 6 issues free then continues from £45.99 every 13 issues for print (29% off the shop price) or £50.99 every 13 issues for print + digital (56% off the shop price). Your subscription is protected by our Money-Back Guarantee. Cancel anytime and we will refund on any unmailed issues. The Week is a member of the Independent Press Standards Organisation (which regulates…

Downing Street, which gained its third feline resident – a kitten acquired by the Starmer family. The as-yet-unnamed Siberian will join Larry, now 17, who is the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office, and JoJo, the rescue cat the Starmers brought with them. The children had wanted a dog, but the PM said that after a “long summer of negotiation” they had compromised on a kitten. Culinary innovation, after Heinz announced that it is now selling spaghetti carbonara in a can – like cat food, as one Italian restaurateur put it. The dish will cost £2, and sit on supermarket shelves alongside Heinz’s tins of spaghetti bolognese.…

Leipzig, Germany Afghans deported: Germany deported 28 Afghan offenders back to their native country last week – the first such operation since the Taliban returned to power three years ago. The men, who’d reportedly been convicted of crimes including rape and manslaughter, were each given €1,000 in cash before boarding a Qatar Airways plane from Leipzig. Amnesty International and other rights groups said that the deportations were in breach of international law, which prohibits returns to unsafe countries and war zones. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted that the men had no right to remain, and suggested that Germany could now step up deportations to both Afghanistan and Syria. He has been under intense pressure to tighten the asylum system since the attack in Solingen last month (see page 16) in…

“Every summer holiday since the pandemic I have experienced a vertiginous sense of the fragility and complexity of civilisation. Lanzarote, where I went this year, is a desolate black volcanic island off Africa, but its shores are lined with ‘traditional British pubs’ serving English breakfasts. That you can order a bacon sandwich and a mug of tea in a caff there is obviously mad. The complexity of the interaction is dizzying: the desalination plant required by an island with no fresh water, computers that allow me to tap my English bank card on a Spanish machine, the effortless provision of bacon when there is not a single living pig for thousands of miles.” James Marriott in The Times…

To speak freely you need a law that has teeth Sonia Sodha The Observer Academic free speech is a basic tenet of democracy, says Sonia Sodha – and in the UK it’s under threat. Scholars who step out of line – who criticise China (a major source of university funding), or question prevailing orthodoxies on gender – face retribution. Take UCL’s Michelle Shipworth, who as part of a data analysis course utilised contentious figures suggesting that China had the second highest prevalence of modern slavery; and for disciplining two Chinese students for cheating – she had to stop teaching her module. In theory, academic free speech is protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, and scholars silenced for voicing gender-critical views can pursue an Equality Act claim. But enforcing…

Trials begin for lung cancer jab A 67-year-old man has become the first person in the UK to receive a vaccine for lung cancer cells. Janusz Racz, who has non-small-cell lung cancer (the most common form) is a participant in an early stage trial to test that the technology is safe. In total, 130 or so patients, about 20 of them in the UK, will have the jabs alongside standard immunotherapy. Based on mRNA technology, the BNT116 vaccine, made by German company BioNTech, primes the immune system to identify specific antigens that tend to occur on tumours, so that it starts to hunt down and attack any cells bearing them. (Other cancer vaccines are tailor-made for the individual’s own tumour.) The hope is that the tumours are thus destroyed, and…

In a new book, Tony Blair marvels at the fact that he was able to become PM, though he had no record in office: he had never run a ministry, let alone a country. “It’s bizarre,” he says. “In any other walk of life, that doesn’t happen.” He reckons he was much better at governing at the end of his decade at Downing Street than at the start – so he has written down his tips. At first, he says, the new leader knows nothing, so he or she will “listen eagerly”. It’s the next stage that’s risky – when you’ve got some experience, but it “makes you believe that you know more than you actually do. That’s why I say stage two is the most difficult, and many people…

When a newly elected Keir Starmer stood outside No. 10 promising a politics that would “tread more lightly on your lives”, it was a promise he seemed certain to break, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. It didn’t take long: the PM has now unveiled plans not just to revive Rishi Sunak’s age-phased smoking ban – but to extend it, as soon as possible, to anyone lighting up in outdoor spaces such as pub gardens and small parks. It’s an illiberal and unnecessary move, and politically an “unforced error”, said Sam Leith in The Spectator. There are no real health or fiscal benefits; it will harm the hospitality sector; and there “isn’t a great constituency of people out there who have been passionately campaigning for it to be illegal…

He started his tenure with comfortable wins against Ipswich Town and Brentford, but Arne Slot’s third game in charge at Liverpool seemed likely to present a sterner challenge, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph. Manchester United – arguably Liverpool’s “greatest rivals” – had held the Reds to two league draws last season and had beaten them in the FA Cup. But in the event, the match-up proved no contest: Liverpool breezed to a 3-0 victory, courtesy of two first-half goals from Luis Díaz and a third after the break from Mohamed Salah. All three stemmed from sloppy errors in midfield – the first two by Casemiro (who was replaced at half-time), the third by Kobbie Mainoo. Erik ten Hag has been at Old Trafford since April 2022, but United…

F1 Britain’s Lando Norris came third in the Italian Grand Prix, after starting in pole position. The race was won by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen finished sixth, and afterwards described his Red Bull as an “undriveable monster”. Tennis British No. 1 Jack Draper reached the quarterfinals of the US Open with a straight sets win over Tomáš Mechá? of the Czech Republic. Football Manchester City top the Premier League after beating West Ham 3-1 – with their striker Erling Haaland scoring his second hat-trick of the season.…

In the weeks since the opening of the first two plays in Clint Dyer and Roy Williams’s reprised Death of England trilogy – which is being performed together for the first time – “racist riots” in England’s cities have given their “interrogation of toxic whiteness a new urgency”, said Suzi Feay in the FT. First staged at the National in 2020, the first two parts are monologues, which introduce us to Michael (Thomas Coombes), a working-class white man raised by a racist father, and Delroy (Paapa Essiedu), his black British, pro-Brexit best friend. Their friendship is “both cemented and complicated” by Delroy’s love for Michael’s sister Carly. In Closing Time, a two-hander that was staged at the National three years later, Carly and Delroy’s mother Denise “talk about their lives”…

Roast Chicken and Other Stories by Simon Hopkinson with Lindsey Bareham, 1994 (Ebury £22). As I discovered when I came to write my own, good cookbooks aren’t just about great recipes. They are about tone, about the sense of a trustworthy, non-judgemental hand on your shoulder. Hopkinson’s book, arranged by ingredient, and beautifully illustrated rather than full of shiny photography, gets that just right. The Food of Sichuan by Fuchsia Dunlop, 2019 (Bloomsbury £30). Dunlop has done more than almost anyone to widen our understanding of the breadth of Chinese food. This book, first published in 2001 and now reissued and updated, demystifies everything. With Dunlop as your guide, an eye-widening and delicious world of chillies, Sichuan peppercorns and fermented bean pastes opens up before you. Motherland: A Jamaican Cookbook…

Programmes Paralympics Closing Ceremony It’s time to bid adieu to Paris and a summer of sport with the closing spectacle of the Paralympics, live from the Stade de France. Sun 8 Sep, C4 18:30 (240mins). The Magic of Mozart at the Proms Sheila Hancock joins Katie Derham for a Prom featuring some of the composer’s most beloved works, including The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. Sat 7 Sep, BBC2 20:25 (110mins). Mr Bates vs. The Post Office: The Impact Documentary tracing the extraordinary effects of the ITV drama on the subpostmasters it portrayed, including Alan Bates and Jo Hamilton. Mon 9 Sep, ITV1 21:00 (65mins). Trump: Should We Be Scared? Matt Frei examines the likely policies of a second Trump presidency, and talks to White House insiders from his…

Sven-Göran Eriksson 1948-2024 Sven-Göran Eriksson was “the mild-mannered Swede with a surprisingly colourful private life” who became the first foreign manager of the England football team, said The Scotsman. Recruited in 2001, he presided over the “golden generation” of players that included David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Michael Owen and, later, Wayne Rooney; and he led them to the quarter-finals of three major tournaments, while losing just one match in qualifying rounds. Yet his five-and-a-half-year tenure came to be regarded as a disappointment, said The Guardian. There was a sense that he’d failed to deliver on England’s promise. Indeed, when the squad arrived in Germany for the 2006 World Cup, it was as the “support act for the WAG phenomenon”. While the players trained at their camp a few miles away,…

Would I hire this person again? The late management guru Peter Drucker gauged the usefulness of activities by asking: “If we did not do this already”, would we do it “knowing what we now know?” Ask the same of your hires. If the answer is a clear “yes”, well done – and you might reflect on “why these people are successful”. If “no”, prepare “some awkward feedback”. How often am I hearing dissent? Most managers know the benefits of creating an environment conducive to “robust debate”. But how does it actually take place? Don’t include “the office contrarian” in your assessment; they’re incapable of agreeing with anyone. What should we automate? Particularly topical as AI offers new ways to rethink office work, but a question you should ask routinely –…

Mark Neale Never underestimate the market power of “middle-aged British dog walkers”, said The Times. Mark Neale, the entrepreneur behind Mountain Warehouse – which has been trouncing chains such as Millets and Blacks with its outdoor clothing – is now poised to conquer America. Neale has struck a deal to acquire Eastern Mountain Sports (EMS) for £7.6m, describing it as “a brilliant foothold” into “by far the biggest outdoor market in the world”. Neale, a Welshman with an Oxford physics degree, is a serial entrepreneur who founded Mountain Warehouse in 1997 after previous ventures making toys and greetings cards. He is married to Michelle Feeney, former boss of tanning company St. Tropez, whose ambitious new venture is the “sustainable fragrance” brand Floral Street. Charlie Mullins When Britain’s most famous plumber…

Near the end of third grade, my twin daughters, Ariel and Natasha, officially joined the Young Pioneers of China. This organisation is under the auspices of the Chinese Communist Party, and members are between the ages of six and 14. In order to become a Young Pioneer at Chengdu Experimental primary school, the state institution my daughters attended in the southwestern Chinese city, there was no application, no interview and no ceremony. Parents were not consulted or informed. The twins simply came home one afternoon wearing Young Pioneer pins on their right breasts. Ariel and Natasha told me and my wife, Leslie, that from now on they would be required to wear the pins on Mondays, when Chengdu Experimental held its weekly flag-raising ceremony, as well as on other special…