Table of contents for 1545 in The Week

Liverpool’s modernist Catholic Cathedral has received Grade I listed status – putting it on a par with England’s more traditional cathedrals, including the Anglican one about a mile down the road. Designed by Frederick Gibberd, The Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, aka the Wigwam, was built in the 1960s. There had been plans for a grand classical cathedral on the site, designed by Edwin Lutyens, but only the crypt was built before the construction was halted by the Second World War. A Galápagos tortoise at Miami Zoo has become a father for the first time at the age of 135. Having lived through two world wars and 25 US presidencies, Goliath has had numerous female partners, but he only managed to sire offspring this year, with Sweet Pea, who…

Controversy of the week The grooming gangs When Louise Casey, the civil service troubleshooter, began her “rapid national audit” of the issue of grooming gangs earlier this year, she believed that a national inquiry was not needed, said The Times. Now that she has finished her audit, she thinks that one is “vital”. “The reason can be summed up in one word: denial.” Her report, published on Monday, exposes “a catalogue of failures and cover-ups, a reluctance by politicians, officials and police over many years to grapple with the realities of grooming gangs”, who have abused thousands of girls in dozens of British towns in recent decades. “Officialdom too often turned a blind eye to this dreadful abuse.” Casey found, in particular, a “failure to address questions about the ethnicity…

MPs voted to decriminalise abortion on Tuesday. An amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which was passed by 379 to 137 in a free vote, is set to change the criminal law in England and Wales so that women procuring a termination outside the legal framework cannot be prosecuted. That framework – with a time limit of 24 weeks in most cases, and the need for two doctors’ signatures – will remain in force. But women who terminate a pregnancy outside it, at any stage of gestation and for any reason, will no longer face arrest or prison. The move came after a series of contentious prosecutions of women for abortion offences. The British Medical Association supported the amendment, but one anti-abortion group described it as “barbaric”.…

“Drawing is the thing you do to understand something, to make it more present in your mind. It is central to understanding and interpreting the world around us. Drawing allows you to see the world more clearly. It’s not just about recording reality, but about understanding it in a deeper, more intimate way. The act of drawing forces the artist to slow down, take note of details and look at the world. It’s really about noticing, about being alert, being aware, and then showing what you see in a way that speaks to others. It’s that act of noticing, of translating what you see and feel, that gives it its profound significance.” David Hockney, quoted in The Times…

The railway that’s gobbling up our future Simon Jenkins The Guardian The Chancellor made no mention of it last week in her spending announcements: the only reference was in a single sentence in a Whitehall handout. If my eye hadn’t alighted on it, I’d never have discovered “the elephant in the room”, says Simon Jenkins. Over the rest of this parliament, said the sentence, the Government is committed to spending a further £25.3bn on HS2. £25.3bn! That’s more than a fifth of the entire investment budget, way more than the outlay on prisons and classrooms. No wonder Rachel Reeves feared to mention it. “The whole of Whitehall now knows HS2 makes no sense.” Its northern legs to Leeds and Manchester have both been axed, stripping the project of all “levelling…

A warning to “skinny jab” users The new “wonder drug” weight-loss jabs may stop the contraceptive pill working, the regulatory body for medicines has warned. In a safety alert, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that women taking Mounjaro shouldn’t rely only on oral contraceptives; to avoid unwanted pregnancies, they should use condoms too, or switch to an alternative method of contraception, such as the coil. The regulator has received more than 40 reports of pregnancies in women who were taking drugs including Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy. These GLP-1 drugs slow the emptying of the stomach, and it is thought that this, along with the diarrhoea and vomiting they can cause, may stop the Pill from being absorbed properly. The MHRA said GLP-1 drugs should not be…

One of John Lennon’s letters to his future wife Cynthia is expected to sell for up to £40,000 at auction next month. Running to four pages, it was written from Hamburg in 1962. In it, the 21-year-old complains about Paul McCartney snoring in the top bunk, and says he can’t wait to get home. “I love love love you and I’m missing you like mad… I wish I was on the way to your flat with the Sunday papers and chocies [sic] and a throbber. Oh yes!” Rod Stewart may have no more lands to conquer in the rock world – but that doesn’t mean his ambition has died down. The rocker has built a sprint track on his estate in Essex – with a view to becoming the fastest…

Is Donald Trump becoming a dictator, or just enjoying playing the part? It’s getting harder to tell, said Susan B. Glasser in The New Yorker. At the weekend, tanks rolled through Washington as the president hosted a huge military parade on his 79th birthday. The event followed his recent decision to send troops into Los Angeles, against the express wishes of California’s Democratic governor, to help quell unrest sparked by his immigration crackdown. Trump and his officials warned that they wouldn’t hesitate to send troops into other US cities if needed. Last Thursday, federal agents handcuffed and forcibly removed one of California’s senators, Alex Padilla, after he shouted a question at the Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem at a press conference. In his first term, Trump at least nodded to…

For many years, Bath have been the “sleeping giant of English club rugby”, said Charles Richardson in The Daily Telegraph. The side won a string of titles in the 1980s and 1990s, but have consistently “underperformed” since then – and they plumbed new depths in 2021/22 by finishing bottom of the Premiership. But now, it seems, their troubles are behind them. At Twickenham last Saturday, they capped a glorious season by claiming their first Premiership title since 1996, with a 23-21 victory over “old enemies” Leicester. The win secured a “historic treble”, following their triumphs in the Premiership Rugby Cup and Challenge Cup. Bath were “not at their absolute best”, and committed several handling errors early in the game, said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. But “once they finally remembered…

Cricket South Africa beat Australia by five wickets in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s. Football Liverpool broke their transfer record by agreeing a £116m deal to sign German midfielder Florian Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen. Tennis Emma Raducanu’s Wimbledon preparations have been hit by a “lingering” back injury, forcing her to pull out of this week’s Berlin Open. Golf J.J. Spaun won his first major with a two-shot victory at the US Open. The American clinched victory with a 65-foot putt on the final hole.…

Okiki Akinfe at Ginny on Frederick The paintings in Where the Wild Things Are, this show by Essex-born artist Okiki Akinfe, vary wildly in size and shape, and are peppered around the gallery space like some berserk sci-fi comic strip – or even, perhaps, the opening credits for the much-loved school drama Grange Hill. Small wonder: Akinfe (b.1999) has a thing for cartoons, frequently incorporating likenesses of, say, Wile E. Coyote into her compositions – which range from a tiny yellow triangular picture, like an abstract hazard sign, to a three-metre-long canvas stretched over a concave frame, on which a demented mêlée of body parts is scrambled to the point of near-total abstraction. Some are rendered academically, others as though they could have been lifted from an issue of The…

Brian Wilson 1942-2025 In the early 1960s, Brian Wilson, who has died aged 82, wrote or co-wrote a string of “exquisite pop songs” with “sublime harmonies” that helped cement a vision of southern California as a blue-skied paradise, said The Times – a hedonistic yet innocent place where “the sun always shone, the surf was up and there were ‘two girls for every boy’”. He extended that vision across more than two dozen top-30 hits in the US and the UK, ranging from Fun, Fun, Fun and California Girls to the more melancholic Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows. When the last of those songs was released, Paul McCartney promptly declared it one of the greatest he had ever heard. He said that the whole of the album…

The Government’s crackdown on non-doms is “one of our most popular policies”, notes a senior Labour official. Yet following “a spate of departures by wealthy people”, and some heavy City lobbying, the Chancellor is reportedly reconsidering some of the more punitive measures, said the FT. In particular, the issue apparently “causing most heartburn” in the non-dom community is the exposure of foreign assets to 40% UK inheritance tax. The Chancellor must tread carefully. IHT on business assets is a vexed issue for locals as well as non-doms; and the last thing she needs following the winter fuel debacle is another U-turn. According to one senior financier, the Treasury is trying to find a way of “backtracking without backtracking”. However it’s presented, Rachel Reeves must act, said The Times. “Squeezing the…

Israel takes on Iran: Netanyahu’s gamble Last Thursday night, the commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace unit, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, held an emergency meeting at a military base in Tehran. Hajizadeh and his officials had been warned not to congregate in one place, said Steve Bloomfield in The Observer, owing to the risk of an imminent Israeli attack, but they assumed that any raid would still be days off. It was a fatal miscalculation. Their bunker was one of dozens of sites targeted that night by Israeli jets, which eviscerated the top ranks of Iran’s armed forces and killed some of its leading nuclear experts. Israel has since continued to pummel the country’s military and nuclear sites, along with energy infrastructure. Iran has responded by firing ballistic missiles…

Nearly two-thirds of Britain’s 22 million pet owners celebrate their animal’s birthday or adoption day, spending £121 each on average. Half have thrown parties for their pet. Toys and food are the most common presents, followed by a new bed or blanket, reports The Times. However, there are other options, ranging from personalised bowls to AI-generated images of the pet in dress uniform. Guinea pig owners are the most likely to celebrate such landmarks. NHS staff have spoken out about a growing trend for patients to film their care and upload it to social media. The Society of Radiographers said it was worried about the privacy of other patients and the impact on staff of having their work scrutinised online.…

A quarter of teachers are aware of pupils taking the “zombie drug” spice outside school, a survey by the NASUWT union has found; 9% are aware of pupils taking the drug on school premises. 19% say they are aware of children taking cannabis at school; 71% say the same of energy drinks. 6% are aware of pupils using gambling websites or apps at school, and 24% out of school. The Times 71% of British adults think that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but among 16- to 34-year-old men, only 46% do. (More than a third think it should be illegal in all or most cases.) Among men aged 35 to 54, 77% think abortion should be legal, rising to 82% among 55 to 75s. Ipsos/The Independent…

Life on the outside It has been two years since a Court of Appeal quashed Andrew Malkinson’s wrongful rape conviction. But by the time his name was cleared, he had spent 17 years in jail, often alongside dangerous men; and he has struggled to adjust to life outside. He can’t bear confined spaces; he says the sound of police sirens are “like glass in my head”; he experiences bouts of rage and despair; and though he loves science (he took an Open University maths degree in jail), he can no longer bear to read a book. “I think I read my eyeballs out under those terrible yellow strip lights in the cells,” he told Emily Dugan in The Sunday Times. “I overdosed with book reading.” He lives with his dog,…

The Ghana Drunkards Association has issued an ultimatum to the government to reduce the prices of alcoholic beverages, or face a massive nationwide protest from its membership, which it claims is 16.65 million strong. Moses Obuah, believed to be the association’s leader, complained that the strength of the Ghanaian currency, the cedi, should have made alcohol cheaper by reducing import prices, but hasn’t. The association, which speaks for both drinkers and bar owners, is known for its forceful public interventions. Bars of soap made from the bathwater of the Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney sold out immediately when they went on sale last week, and were soon being offered on eBay for $2,000. Sweeney apparently often receives strange requests from dedicated fans. “When your fans start asking for your bathwater, you…

JAPAN How to rescue a generation of recluses The Japan Times (Tokyo) “Over one million people live in social isolation in Japan today,” cut off from work, education and even family, says Chaa Chaa Ogino – 1.46 million people, or 2% of those aged 15 to 62, according to a 2022 government survey. Hikikomori, meaning “pulling inward”, is the Japanese term for this acute social withdrawal, popularly associated with young men living in “dark bedrooms”, though “the reality is broader”. “A significant proportion of hikikomori are in their 30s, 40s and even 50s”; many have lost jobs, “and fear judgement”. Many are women. The problem is growing, and solving it is difficult. Hikikomori are often told by those around them to “just get a job”, or to seek help. But…

Youths hurling bricks and petrol bombs at the police; baton rounds being fired in return; barricades set on fire. Such scenes are not unfamiliar in Northern Ireland, said Richard Kay in the Daily Mail. The disorder, in the town of Ballymena last week, was not triggered by sectarian tensions, however, but by the news that two 14-year-old boys charged with the attempted rape of a local girl had needed a Romanian translator. Over three nights, mobs ransacked and torched the homes of migrant families. Dozens were forced to move out. Others put Union flags in their windows, or signs reading “Locals live here” or “Filipino lives here”, in a desperate but not always successful bid to avoid being targeted. In the town of Larne, a leisure centre was set alight…

You have to “feel for George Russell”, said Tom Cary in The Daily Telegraph. Last Sunday should have been a day of unalloyed pleasure for the 27-year-old Mercedes driver, whose “consummate drive from pole position” earned him a fourth career race win at the Canada GP. Instead, his victory was “utterly overshadowed” by an incident further back in the field – involving Lando Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, the two best drivers of the season so far. As the pair approached the end of lap 66 out of 70, Norris, in fifth place, seemed to have passed Piastri, only for Piastri to “get a better run down the back straight” and regain his advantage. Moments later, Norris “had another go”, only to run out of room as he…

David Adjmi’s sublime drama is the most Tony-nominated play of all time, said Sarah Crompton on What’s on Stage. Its ten-year trek from experimental theatre to the toast of Broadway is “already the stuff of legend” – as is the story it tells. Set in a California recording studio in 1976/77, Stereophonic is about the artistic trials and personal tribulations of a mixed-sex, British-American rock band working on a follow-up to their breakthrough album. “Any resemblance to Fleetwood Mac is entirely coincidental” (though it’s notable that the producers settled a lawsuit brought by Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours-era sound engineer, who felt that parts of it drew too closely on his memoir). The play – with soaring rock songs by Will Butler of Arcade Fire – is “almost existential in its concerns,…

“Cardiff is to welcome its first modern art museum,” says Bethan McKernan in The Guardian. The Artistic Museum of Contemporary Art (Amoca), a privately owned, not-for-profit organisation, will display about 1,000 works mostly from the collection of co-founder Anders Hedlund, a Welsh-Swedish entrepreneur. It aims to provide “a platform for contemporary local artists” in the Welsh capital, as well as to showcase global talent. Amoca is in the process of buying a permanent venue, which is expected to open in 2026. But before that, the museum is putting on a series of shows in Cardiff. One, featuring the work of 34 world-leading African and African-diaspora artists (Pillars of Life by Tadesse Mesfin, above) opened at the Temple of Peace in the city centre last week. Hedlund has been based in…

Brookfield is packed for Open Farm Sunday, but hearing that Bridge Farm has been quiet, David makes a speech, prompting the crowd to head there. “Father” Crispin arrives at St Stephen’s to discuss Peggy’s funeral, and hits it off with Kate. Noticing a shoulder twinge, Kate offers him a massage; later, she tartly asks Alan to stand outside during the funeral. Thinking about his legacy, Justin tells a shocked Stella that he wants to rewild the Berrow estate. Crispin arrives for his massage, but passes out on the table; Kate panics that she’s killed him. Crispin recovers but won’t be able to officiate at the funeral; Kate sheepishly asks Alan, who says he’d be honoured. Lilian and Tom make plans for the wake. Peggy’s funeral is emotional for the whole…

France’s “anti-crisis” restaurants It has become one of Paris’s most popular restaurants, serving as many as 300 customers a day, says Adam Sage in The Times. Yet 6.90, in the 18th arrondissement, is far from your typical Parisian eatery. For a start, there are no waiters: diners collect their meals on trays, and are expected to clear their own tables. The menu offers only two main courses: sausages and mash, and vegetarian lasagna. And both cost just €6.90 – “hence the name”. 6.90 is one of a “small but growing number of restaurants in France” that have responded to the cost-of-living crisis by offering cut-price menus. The Bellevue, near Limoges, is another example: it recently opened a “second-class” dining room, offering a three-course weekday lunch, including a glass of wine…

● Get a car in a low insurance group with a smaller engine, such as a VW Up!, Suzuki Alto or Fiat 500. Second-hand cars are cheaper too, if they’re in good nick with a FSH. Modifications can hike up the price. ● Compare quotes three or four weeks before your policy is due to start, to find the best deal. Shop around; and if renewing, don’t just accept your renewal quote. Paying annually is nearly always cheaper. ● Adding an experienced driver with a clean licence who sometimes drives the car can help lower premiums. Don’t pretend they’re the main driver; that would be illegal. ● Black boxes or telematics can help reduce costs over time – provided you drive carefully and stick to the speed limits. ● Having…

Boeing: blow to revival “Can Boeing be fixed?” asked The Wall Street Journal in January. Last week’s tragedy in Ahmedabad won’t make the job facing CEO Kelly Ortberg any easier as he battles “years of reputational damage” from previous fatal crashes involving Boeing’s narrow-body 737 Max 8, said The Economist. The cause of the catastrophe is still unknown, but this is “the first fatal crash” involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner – the most modern wide-body jet produced by the US plane-maker. The market’s “relatively muted” response suggests investors believe the crash wasn’t “due to a fundamental design flaw”, said Oliver Gill in The Sunday Times. “It’s a logical conclusion.” The Max had been flying for little more than a year before its first disaster in 2018, whereas the Dreamliner has…

Reeves’s figures obscure the real challenge Chris Giles Financial Times Watching Rachel Reeves deliver her Spending Review, I felt a sense of déjà vu, says Chris Giles. The “blizzard of figures” delivered by the Chancellor “bore all the hallmarks” of her Labour predecessor, Gordon Brown. “Some were presented in cash terms, others adjusted for inflation, a few expressed as a proportion of GDP…” and so on. It was baffling. The speech, as the Institute for Fiscal Studies observed, “did not appear to be a serious effort to provide any useful information to anyone”. Cutting through the thicket, the numbers do tell a clear story: there will be no austerity, but public-service funding will only rise at a similar pace to that of recent Tory governments, though more focused on health,…

The week’s best shares IG Group The Times Heightened volatility has been a boon for IG, which offers trading through derivatives and contracts-for-difference (CfDs) on everything from shares to forex. Expanding and returning cash via buybacks and divis. Buy. £10.70. James Halstead The Mail on Sunday Prospects are improving for this resilient flooring maker – which majors on floors used in schools and hospitals – as the Government promises to up spending on affordable homes and military accommodation. Target: 300p. Buy. 158p. Johnson Service Group The Mail on Sunday The laundry specialist services the hospitality industry, and special events from Royal Ascot to Wembley Stadium, with workwear, table and bed linen. Profits are up 23%. Set to gain as it moves to the main market. Buy. 144p. Marks & Spencer…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1470 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 30 June. Send it to The Week Crossword 1470, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. By Paul McKenna This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 9 Concern as I am helping around island college (9) 10 Snow leopard is bound to lose power (5) 11 Verify American’s draft (5) 12 Act from commercial traveller told to go again (9) 13 Piebald possibly raced around too much (7) 15 What holds up laciest pants? (7) 17 Harmless drudge who orders what’s…

Theatrical innovation, after Rachel Zegler – the star of Jamie Lloyd’s new production of Evita at the London Palladium – left the stage on opening night, and performed Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from a balcony overlooking the street. Those inside, who had paid up to £250 for their seats, watched her perform the showstopper on a screen. She is expected to do the same every night of the run – attracting large crowds each time. Blaise Metreweli, who became the first woman to be appointed head of the Secret Intelligence Service, or MI6. The 47-year-old, who has become C, was previously Q, running the department responsible for gadgets and secret communications, but also AI and surveillance technologies. Roger Daltrey, the rock star, who was knighted in the King’s birthday…

Nuuk Cold warrior: President Macron of France visited Greenland on Sunday – the first foreign head of state to visit the Danish autonomous territory since Donald Trump began threatening to seize it, by force if necessary. The symbolic visit – a stop-off on the way to the G7 in Canada – was explicitly aimed at conveying France’s and the EU’s “solidarity” with Greenland during testing times. Macron criticised the US for “preying” on Greenland, saying “that’s not what allies do”. He met both Greenland’s and Denmark’s PMs during the trip. Paris Social media ban: France “cannot wait,” said President Macron last week, as he announced his intention to force social media platforms to ban children under 15 from using their sites. His remarks were spurred by the fatal stabbing of…

1 Má Vlast, JB1:112: No. 2, Vltava (The Moldau) by Smetana, performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra (cond. Jiří Bělohlávek) 2 She’s Leaving Home by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, performed by The Beatles 3* It’s Easy To Remember (Take 4) by Lorenz Hart and Richard Rogers, performed by the John Coltrane Quartet 4 Danny Boy by Frederic Weatherly, performed by Daniel O’Donnell 5 Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. 412: I. Allegro by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by Barry Tuckwell, Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields (cond. Neville Marriner) 6 Take This Waltz by Leonard Cohen and Federico García Lorca, performed by Leonard Cohen 7 Bandiera Rossa by Carlo Tuzzi, performed by Canzoniere delle Lame 8 Ode to Joy by Beethoven, performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig (cond. Herbert Blomstedt) Book: Germinal by Émile Zola Luxury: walking boots…

The British wing of BLM dates to 2016, and in its early days campaigned over deaths in police custody, and on issues such as the Windrush scandal and the Grenfell tower fire. The movement surged after George Floyd’s death, with mass protests in London, Manchester, Leeds and beyond. The toppling of the slave trader Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol during a BLM march on 7 June 2020 became a defining image, prompting fierce national debates about Britain’s colonial legacy – and launching what became known as the “statue wars”. At the Euros in 2021, England’s football team took the knee, to boos and applause. In response, then-PM Boris Johnson set up The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities to analyse the impact of racism in the UK. Chairman Tony Sewell…

Where are you, Barack Obama? Mark Leibovich The Atlantic In these troubled times for America, says Mark Leibovich, the country could do with hearing a bit more from Barack Obama. The former president is still “the most popular Democrat alive”, and his communication skills remain as brilliant as ever. Yet he rarely contributes to public debate these days. “His ‘audacity of hope’ presidency has given way to the fierce lethargy of semi-retirement.” His aloofness from the fray feels “jarringly incongruous” in the current political climate. It would be one thing if Obama had disappeared off the scene, perhaps to take up painting like George W. Bush, but he remains very much in the public eye, often cropping up in glamorous settings with famous acquaintances. He’s just not saying much of…

Supermarket aisles groan with jars and sachets of baby foods, many of which are marketed as healthy options, packed with vegetables and “goodness”. But nutritionists have long warned that these processed foods often contain high levels of sugar – and now the NHS has advised parents that they should be used only occasionally, and not seen as an “everyday” food. On its Start for Life website, it advises parents that if they do buy ready-made products, they should check the labels and opt for those with the least sugar, and that they should not let babies suck food from the pouches, as this can cause tooth decay. The site also urges parents not to start their baby on solids before about six months – even if the packaging says that…

The political logic behind the Government’s spending plans, revealed by Rachel Reeves last week, is “crude and probably correct”, said John Rentoul in The Independent. Labour has three main priorities – the cost of living, immigration and the NHS – but there’s not a great deal it can do about the first two. “It can talk about growth and hope for the best.” It can try to persuade the French to stop the Channel boats. “That leaves the NHS” – and the Chancellor has “put all her chips” on it. The health service received by far the most generous settlement: spending will rise by 3% above inflation, or around £29bn a year, over this parliament. The budget for the NHS in England will soon be roughly equivalent to Portugal’s GDP.…

“The state is the great fiction by which everyone endeavours to live at the expense of everyone else.”The French economist Frédéric Bastiat, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “Streams of oratory do not always come from mountains of thought.”Charles Grant, quoted in Forbes “When the going gets tough the majority hurt the minority.”Lord Browne, quoted in The Times “People with bad consciences always fear the judgement of children.”Mary McCarthy quoted on BBC Radio 4 “In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.”Douglas Adams, quoted in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.”French philosopher Jean de La Bruyère, quoted in The Knowledge…

To The Times Your leading article states: “No country can be expected to stand idly by while an avowed enemy works steadily, decade after decade, in secret to create the ultimate weapon.” Although written to justify Israel’s actions, this sentiment surely applies both ways. Israel’s nuclear programme is shrouded in secrecy and the country is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Furthermore, Israel does not accept International Atomic Energy Agency scrutiny of its activities, whereas Iran was locked in via the Obama agreement. It’s this kind of asymmetric situation that is likely to fuel a sense of injustice and unfairness in the minds of Iranians, and a determination to strengthen their position by creating a nuclear weapon. Catherine Allen, Ruislip, Middlesex To The Times Catherine Allen is concerned…

Edward Burra was a trailblazer, said Nancy Durrant in The Times. Whether painting the “Bright Young Things” of the 1920s, or scenes from the Spanish Civil War, Burra (1905-1976) was “as acute an observer as any journalist”, capturing all he saw in expressive, louche and bawdy scenes mostly painted from memory. A notable “boozehound” and an obsessive jazz lover, he painted “pubs, clubs and cabarets”, “shops, speakeasies and seedy streets”. Born to a wealthy family in west London, he was disabled from childhood, suffering from chronic rheumatoid arthritis and anaemia; he spent most of his life with his parents in Rye, East Sussex. Nevertheless, he travelled widely, recording everything with the same photographic eye for the low life – whether in London, Barcelona, Marseille or Harlem. This retrospective at Tate…

A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan, 1988 (Vintage £30). In 1968, I was selling encyclopaedias to American servicemen in Germany. Every one of them was either going to Vietnam, returning from Vietnam, or doing all they could to avoid it. Reading this history-biography 50 years later opened my eyes to the reality of the horror show that thousands of young men my age had wasted their lives for. The Earth by Émile Zola, 1887 (Penguin £12.99). I’d been rebuilding a dilapidated house in a tiny farming community in Normandy, and spoke just enough French to begin to understand the differences between me and my workmates. Then, recommended by a French friend, I read this and learnt how profound those differences really are. Damascus Station by David McCloskey, 2021 (Swift…

Programmes Death in the Desert: The Nurse Helen Mystery Documentary revisiting the tragic death of a young British nurse in Saudi Arabia in 1979, and asking what the British government knew. Mon 23 Jun, C4 21:00 (60mins). Storyville: The Wolves Always Come at Night Poignant docudrama following a young Mongolian herder couple who are forced to leave their rural homeland for the city when a sandstorm wipes out their flock. Tue 24 Jun, BBC4 22:00 (90mins). Electric Cars: How Safe Are They? An investigation into public concerns about EVs’ safety, featuring new research and interviews with industry experts. Wed 25 Jun, C5 20:00 (60mins). Dispatches: Will Nigel Farage be Prime Minister? As Reform UK continues to top the polls, journalist Fraser Nelson explores the party’s rise and asks if it could win…

Gravetye Manor, in West Sussex, now a hotel with a Michelin-starred restaurant, has an elliptical kitchen garden with quirky crops, including unusual tomato varieties. There are garden tours for guests from April to October (gravetyemanor.co.uk). Every dish at Pythouse Kitchen Garden has at least one ingredient from the three-acre, 18th century, walled kitchen garden. There are kitchen garden and foraging workshops, plus a shepherd’s hut, sauna and glamping site (pythousekitchengarden.co.uk). The walled kitchen garden at Gordon Castle, close to the River Spey and Moray coast, has more than 200 varieties of vegetable grown from seed every year, from pumpkins to kale. There’s a relaxed café, a shop and cottages to stay in (gordoncastle.co.uk). An organic family farm near Truro, Nancarrow offers workshops, and seasonal feasts with food from the farm, the kitchen…

Dunas de Formentera Formentera, Spain Back in the day, this “bare-bones beach motel” on the little island of Formentera was the kind of place “in-the-know creatives” from nearby Ibiza escaped to in mid-summer. Lately, tourist numbers have increased and it has smartened up its act, says Maya Boyd in Condé Nast Traveller – and yet it retains its “pared-back vibes”, with “capacious” bedrooms decorated in pale colours, terraces edged with lavender and banana palms, and a crescent-shaped “slip” of a swimming pool. Best of all, however, is the setting – the “scrubby” sand dunes, the starry skies, the “crash of waves” close by – all quite unchanged by time. Doubles from £358; dunasdeformentera.com.…

Brian Cox The Succession star returns to his native Scotland this summer to play the economist Adam Smith in Make It Happen – a new satirical play by James Graham about the Royal Bank of Scotland’s role in the 2008 crash. Cox plays Smith to Sandy Grierson’s Fred “The Shred” Goodwin, and he is relishing the prospect. “Adam Smith comes back as a spirit and lays into them a bit,” he told Prospect. Famed for playing a Murdoch-esque patriarch, Cox has a jaundiced view of capitalism. “I’ve got great sympathy for Logan Roy. He’s a self-made man” who “built this empire up” – yet his entitled children “are only prepared to take. That’s where the capitalist society goes wrong.” What would Smith, the father of laissez-faire economics, make of it…

I was 22 years old when a male prison officer first suggested I find another job. “No offence,” he said, “but I don’t think women should work here.” We were sitting in the education department of a high-security men’s prison, watching as inmates filed into the classrooms around us. I had only been in the job a few months, and was far from settled. The bars and barbed wire, the smells of sweat and stale smoke and cheap coffee, the sounds of shouting and running and alarm bells, the enormous alsatians patrolling the perimeter wall – all were a constant reminder of where I was. And, for some officers at least, where I wasn’t meant to be. Then: click, click, click. One by one, the classroom doors closed, leaving us…