Table of contents for V. 1292 in The Week

What happened Going back to school As Scotland’s pupils returned to school this week, Boris Johnson insisted that England’s schools would fully reopen in September, declaring that the country had a “moral duty” to get children back into the classroom. No. 10 later confirmed that schools – which closed across the UK at the end of March and only partially reopened before the summer break – would be the “absolute last” group to close in any local lockdowns. Other venues such as pubs, restaurants and shops would be expected to shut their doors first. Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said a forthcoming study by Public Health England would show that there is little evidence to suggest coronavirus is transmitted at school. But the Government came under pressure from teaching unions…

The beavers of the River Otter, who can stay. The beavers were first seen on the Devon river in 2013; they are thought to have been released illegally. Ministers have now decided to let them stay, and to consult on their introduction to other rivers. Mark Zuckerberg, with the news that his fortune passed $100bn (£76bn) for the first time. He joins an exclusive club of the world’s centibillionaires. Only Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates also have that status, according to Bloomberg Billionaires. Fans of Dirty Dancing, after a sequel to the film was announced. Jennifer Grey will reprise her role as Frances “Baby” Houseman, more than 30 years after the first movie was released.…

The National Audit Office is to launch an investigation into PPE contracts awarded during the pandemic, after it emerged the Government spent £150m on 50 million face masks which were not usable, as they failed to meet NHS requirements. The purchase was part of a £252m face mask contract it struck in April for healthcare staff with Ayanda Capital, a little-known investment firm with no history of PPE procurement or government contracts. The deal was brokered by Andrew Mills, an adviser to Liz Truss and the Department for International Trade, who is also an adviser to the Ayanda Capital board.…

Paris Covid surge: The wearing of face-coverings outdoors was made compulsory in parts of Paris this week, due to the growing number of Covid-19 infections. The order applies to people aged 11 and over in “certain very crowded zones”. Failure to comply will result in a s135 fine. A similar rule applies in Nice, Lille and Toulouse. There was widespread speculation this week that the UK government would shortly add France to its quarantine list, meaning that tourists returning to the UK would have to self-isolate (Belgium and Andorra were added last weekend). PM Jean Castex warned on Tuesday that the country had been going “the wrong way” for two weeks, and cases had nearly doubled in 24 hours. Nice, France Summer crime wave: A spate of violent crimes has…

A whistle-blower speaks Grigory Rodchenkov helped uncover one of sport’s biggest ever scandals, says Murad Ahmed in the FT. For years, he ran Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory – which meant providing dozens of athletes with a cocktail of performance-enhancing drugs, optimised to avoid detection. Then, four years ago, he blew the whistle – fleeing to the US where he lives in secret, fearing for his life. Yet even now, he retains a perverse pride in his former work. “Whatever I am doing, I would like to show my highest level of expertise,” he says. It worked: in 2014, Russia topped the medals table at its Winter Olympics in Sochi. Was he proud? “It was a very, very complicated feeling. I had no choice... My [career] progression was based on how Russians…

Why sperm swim like otters Antonie van Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch scientist who first observed sperm through a microscope in 1677, described them wiggling their tails from side to side “like eels in water”. But this understanding of their swimming technique, which has persisted ever since, is in fact false, scientists have discovered: sperm employ a different, more sophisticated motion, reminiscent of otters corkscrewing through water. Using 3D microscopy and high-speed photography, researchers discovered that sperm have wonky tails which can only wiggle in one direction – meaning that if they stayed upright as they swam, they’d end up going round in circles, like a boat with one oar. “Human sperm figured out if they roll as they swim, much like playful otters corkscrewing through water, their one-sided stroke would average…

Boris Becker’s estranged wife was none too happy to see photos of her son Amadeus on holiday with the tennis star and his new partner. “There are RULES”, Lilly Becker told the Daily Mail. When she first went on holiday with Boris and his children, she said, “I called his ex-wife, Barbara, beforehand. You just DO.” Not only did Lilian De Carvalho Monteiro (below) entirely fail to do that, “Next thing I knew she was in all the papers putting sunscreen on my son. CREAMING HIM! He didn’t need creaming. Go cream Boris! My son is OUT OF BOUNDS.” BBC Breakfast ’s weather presenter, Carol Kirkwood, painted a vivid picture of London’s Greenwich Park this week. “Look at it!” she exclaimed to viewers as the camera panned round. “Fabulous! The…

The bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 75 years ago killed “some 200,000 people, most of them civilians”, said Nicholas Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times. “They also transformed the nature of war, raising the spectre of Armageddon” – ushering in the nuclear age and the Cold War. We have lived “in the shadow of the bomb ever since”, said David Von Drehle in The Washington Post. At the time, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch feared that atomic weapons had “signed the mammalian world’s death warrant, and deeded an Earth in ruin to the ants”. Yet, 75 years later, nuclear weapons have never been used in battle again. “What’s more, while the bomb has not ended all wars, its menacing umbrella has spared the world from another industrial-scale conflagration among great…

Mind the gap To the Financial Times Many thanks for your illuminating and interesting articles on gender equality, particularly the differences in male and female compensation. I am always struck by the comments that follow. Often those who take the time are of the opinion that either there is no gender pay gap, women disproportionately choose careers that pay less, or they take time away during crucial earning years etc. The implication is women have freely decided to forgo income. Or the alternative reading is the pay gap is so negligible as to not warrant consideration. I wonder why these same people never ask, “How did it happen that the most important jobs, often disproportionately filled by women, are rewarded with such low pay?” Why is it that from the…

Brian finds Adam injured after an accident in the Land Rover – his foot is badly hurt and he’s taken to hospital. Brian will help with the harvest and suggests that Alice step in at the Home Farm office. Emma and Fallon are busy baking at the Tearoom. Fallon is anxious about cashflow, since Helen is ending the rent reduction, and Natasha is interfering with a business plan. Emma is enjoying being chair of the Flower and Produce Show committee, and wants to run it her way. Between it and her work at the Tearoom, she feels like she’s making a difference in the village. Alice isn’t keen on the Home Farm job and has had a row with Chris, who’s fed up with her midweek drinking. She has found…

Eat Out to Help Out deals The Government’s Eat Out to Help Out initiative (giving diners 50% off meals, up to £10 a head, on Mondays-Wednesdays until the end of August) has been eagerly embraced by restaurants, says Jack Rear in The Daily Telegraph. Which makes it a good time to visit places whose “prices might otherwise be a little off-putting”. To take advantage of the deal, “Britain’s top steakhouse” Hawksmoor (with four branches in London and one each in Manchester and Edinburgh) has launched a steak and chips special that will set diners back just £10. At the acclaimed Rudy’s pizzeria in Manchester, the initiative means that all its sourdough pizzas are available for under £5. At the “decidedly unpretentious” Kendells Bistro in Leeds, the three-course prix fixe menu…

“Is this the driver’s Lamborghini we’ve been waiting for?” It’s certainly the “sweetest-driving” version of the Huracán – its “entry-level supercar” – yet, said Sean Carson in Auto Express. This rear-wheel-drive version of the Evo model is substantially cheaper and lighter than the four-wheel-drive model, but it still has 602bhp. The engine is “demonic”, and defines the experience of driving this car as one that “should be savoured”. Lamborghini has taken a “brilliant, old-school approach to looks, noise and engagement” that means every drive is an “event” worth getting excited about. Thanks to the £34,000 price drop for the RWD model, this is the most “attainable” Huracán, said Richard Lane in Autocar. But it has more than enough power and speed – going from 0-62mph in 3.3 seconds. The sound…

McDonald’s: McMorality tale When former McDonald’s CEO Steve Easterbrook was fired last November for having a “consensual relationship” with a subordinate (in breach of company rules), he was dismissed “without cause” – enabling him to claim a $40m severance package, said The Economist. Now, McDonald’s is suing its British-born former boss to claw back the cash, alleging that he “lied to the board” about three additional sexual relationships with employees and “approved a stock grant worth hundreds of thousands of dollars” to one of them. The company said explicit photos sent from Easterbrook’s phone provided “indisputable evidence” of the affairs. What a carry on, said Alistair Osborne in The Times. Easterbrook – widely credited, in happier times, with revitalising the fast food giant – “is yet to give his…

Amid predictions that tourism won’t recover fully until 2023, international airports have a “rare, low-traffic chance to make many of the changes flyers have long wanted”, said Brandon Presser in Bloomberg Businessweek. This could be the “most significant overhaul of the airport experience” since 9/11, with the potential “to turn airports into beacons of innovation”. Checking in: If long queues were “once the price of safety, they’re downright dangerous now” – so expect further moves to streamline check-in. Airline apps coupled with QR-code boarding passes and self-drop luggage stations could soon make the process fully digitised. “Free of human gridlock”, airport spaces could be transformed. Security: Some airports already provide security without human interaction. They could go further, coupling eye-in-the-sky surveillance with state-of-the-art sensors – as in the “smart tunnel”…

Controversy of the week The Channel migrants “A heavily pregnant woman and ten young children stumble ashore at Dungeness beach. A baby in a gym bag is rescued from a leaky boat. Young men try to row across the world’s busiest seaway in inflatable kayaks. Welcome to the English Channel, mid-summer 2020,” said the Daily Mail. So far this year, more than 4,000 migrants have crossed illegally from France, twice the 2019 number. Calm seas mean they have arrived at up to a record rate of 235 a day. Convinced that their hope of a better life lies in Britain, they pay extortionate sums to traffickers for places in unseaworthy craft. The UK has given France £114m since 2015 to stem the flow, to little effect (Paris is said to…

Britain’s first “Dutch roundabout”, in Cambridge, which was hailed as a “piece of heaven” for cyclists – to whom it gives right of way. It was closed the day before its official opening, because a confused motorist smashed into a beacon. Michelle Obama, who has revealed that she is suffering from “low-grade depression” because of the pandemic, racial injustice and the “hypocrisy” of the Trump administration. Harassed parents, with the news that there is a serious dearth of au pairs. The British Au Pair Agencies Association (Bapaa) said a “perfect storm” of Brexit and a pandemic has led to a crisis, with as many as 20 families vying for every carer. Simon Cowell, who broke his back after falling off an electric bike. “Some good advice,” he tweeted: “If you…

57% of Britons think schools should reopen fully after the summer holidays. 25% think they should not, and 18% are undecided. YouGov/The Times When citizens of 13 EU member states were asked which of 35 countries they would be willing to offer financial help to in a crisis, the UK came below all but Colombia and Tunisia. On average, the UK received a net score of -8%, compared with 30% for Italy, 29% for Spain, and 17% for Greece. YouGov/The Independent Keir Starmer has for the first time pulled ahead of Boris Johnson on who would make the best prime minister, with 34% of Britons choosing the Labour leader, compared with 32% selecting the PM. YouGov/The Times…

New York NRA in court: The state of New York has begun legal action to dissolve America’s leading gun rights organisation, the National Rifle Association (NRA), alleging that its bosses used the group as their “personal piggy bank” and misspent up to $64m. In a 164-page civil lawsuit filed last week, New York’s attorney general Letitia James alleged that four senior leaders of the NRA, including its chief executive Wayne LaPierre, had spent NRA funds on personal luxuries such as private jets and family trips to the Bahamas. “The NRA’s influence has been so powerful that the organisation went unchecked for decades while top executives funnelled millions into their own pockets,” said James, who called it “a breeding ground for greed, abuse and brazen illegality”. The NRA, which has around…

1 Ghost Town by Jerry Dammers, performed by The Specials 2 Wild Is the Wind by Ned Washington and Dimitri Tiomkin, performed by David Bowie 3 It’s a Sin, written and performed by Pet Shop Boys 4 Love Hurts by Boudleaux Bryant, performed by Emmylou Harris with Gram Parsons 5 Hope There’s Someone, written and performed by Antony and the Johnsons 6 Cantelowes, written and performed by Toumani Diabaté 7* Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards, written and performed by Billy Bragg 8 Crown by Michael Omari, James Napier and Matthew James Firth Colman, performed by Stormzy Book: Vickery’s Folk Flora by Roy Vickery Luxury: Derek Jarman’s garden * Choice if allowed only one record…

“My God, what have we done?” wrote Enola Gay’s co-pilot Robert A. Lewis in a secret log composed while flying back from Hiroshima. His sense of awe and foreboding at the scale of the destruction was widely shared. However, for many years, in the US and Britain at least, Truman’s justification for dropping the bombs – “to end the War quickly and save countless lives” – was generally accepted. Most of America’s political and military leadership shared his view. In May 1945, the high-level Interim Committee had concluded by consensus (though one member later dissented) “that the bomb should be used against Japan as soon as possible; that it be used on a war plant surrounded by workers’ homes; and that it be used without prior warning”. In the 1960s,…

If only TikTok were more like Hello Kitty Joshua Keating Slate In these days of heightened US-China tensions, says Joshua Keating, it’s easy to forget how hostile America was back in the 1980s to its then great trade rival, Japan. From the public demolishing of Toyotas to xenophobic movies such as Gung Ho and Rising Sun, “Japan-bashing” was all the rage. The subsequent warming of relations was partly down to the fact that America’s economy recovered, while Japan’s went into a prolonged slump. But it also had a lot to with the growing popularity of Japanese culture. The Sony Walkman, Nintendo video games, manga, Hello Kitty – these arrivals changed popular perceptions of Japan and had a strong influence on the US. It’s striking that China today, for all its…

The long-standing mystery of where Stonehenge’s hulking sarsen stones come from has finally been solved, reports The Times. While it has been known for some time that the monument’s smaller bluestone rocks were transported from the Preseli Hills in Wales 200 miles away, the origins of the sarsens (the majority of the stones there) have been harder to pin down. Last year, a sample of sarsen rock taken by a worker on a restoration project in 1958 was finally returned to the site by his family. That gave scientists the opportunity to use chips from the sample to create a geochemical “fingerprint”, which they then compared with sarsens from 20 sites across southern England. To their surprise, the sample perfectly aligned with sarsen recovered from West Woods, in Wiltshire, 15…

How should political parties deal with MPs arrested on suspicion of sexual assault? It’s a vexed question, said Gabriel Pogrund and Caroline Wheeler in The Sunday Times. Three years ago, Tory whips publicly suspended Charlie Elphicke – the former MP for Dover and Deal convicted last month of three charges of sexual assault – even though Parliament had changed its rules a year earlier to allow arrested MPs to remain anonymous. They apparently did so for three reasons: to encourage other women to come forward, to safeguard young staff, and to show that the Tories took such claims seriously. “That principle appears to have been forgotten.” A fortnight ago, a former Tory minister in his 50s was arrested after a former aide accused him of rape and sexual assault. This…

Commuters, as a tribe, tend to be “unloved”, said Simon Jenkins in the London Evening Standard. Victorians called them “the dark horde”. T.S. Eliot compared them to the souls in hell. But now suddenly we need them, desperately. “Come back, commuters. Rally to your city. It needs your fares, your rents, your Starbucks, your Prets, your nights on the tiles.” Without them, cities are dying. In London, Tube travel is down around 75%. “Shopping is crippled, at 32% of normal footfall.” Boris Johnson is urging us to return to our offices, without success: a third of UK office workers have returned to their desks, against 70% to 83% in Germany, Italy and France. But the Government is contradicting itself, said Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times. While the PM was…

To The Times Further to your leading article “Gesture Politics”, which states that the Home Office “has an appalling record in removing migrants already refused entry here”, illegal immigrants invariably arrive in the UK without passports or any documentation giving proof of their nationality. They are told to do this by the gangs organising their passage here. The result of this is that removal of such persons is highly problematic. The vast majority of countries refuse to accept back their own citizens unless they have proof of their nationality. So efforts are made by Border Force staff to get the illegal entrant to sign a document applying for a passport of their country of origin. If he or she refuses, then removal is virtually impossible. This was a problem when…

Fontaines D.C.: A Hero’s Death Partisan £10 The young Irish band Fontaines D.C. got off to a flyer with their 2019 debut Dogrel, said Ben Beaumont-Thomas in The Guardian. Its songs were as vivid as those on the Arctic Monkeys’ debut, and “were so good that they reset the bar for mainstream indie-rock bands”. This second album is darker: in the wake of his band’s sudden success, frontman Grian Chatten sounds “unmoored, even nihilistic”. But if A Hero’s Death is something of a “difficult second album”, it is also another roaring success: a “powerful” collection in which poetry suffuses both lyrics and music. Rather than try and ape their “five-star instant classic” of a debut, said Will Richards on NME, this bleaker follow-up finds them “investigating their meteoric rise and…

A 90-minute drama written for the BBC by Jimmy McGovern, Anthony is a “heartbreaking” and “thoroughly original” study of a young life cut short, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. In real life, Anthony Walker was the 18-year-old victim of a racist murder in 2005. With “inventive brilliance”, though, McGovern shows us the life he could have lived, starting seven years later, and working backwards to his death. This imagined existence is ordinary, but “kind, and meaningful, and periodically beautiful, and gloriously random”. We see a birth drama, a marriage, a chance meeting with a girl, a budding legal career, a friendship with a troubled youth Anthony helps off the street. Known for hard-hitting dramas such as Hillsborough and The Street, McGovern is a friend of Anthony’s mother, Gee Walker,…

Ordinary People by Diana Evans, 2018 (Vintage £8.99). An amazing book full of wisdom and empathy. Few writers write so eloquently about human relationships. It is like she sees through our souls, understands our flaws and failures and still embraces the whole human experience. Apeirogon by Colum McCann, 2020 (Bloomsbury £18.99). This is a spectacular, tender book by a writer who has clearly excelled in his craft and yet never lost his curiosity. Thought-provoking and emotional, it manages to bridge gaps and gently heals one of the deepest, most painful wounds in the world today – “the Palestinian and the Israeli conflict”. The Green Road by Anne Enright, 2015 (Vintage £8.99). Enright is undoubtedly one of our most prominent novelists – I always respect her intelligence and the power of…

Some of the major exhibitions forced to close early, or postpone opening altogether, will soon be welcoming visitors. Among the reopenings is the Victoria and Albert Museum’s sumptuous Kimono: Kyoto to Catwalk, featuring garments from the Japanese Imperial Court to Star Wars, from 27 August to 25 October (vam.ac.uk). Reopening later than planned – but no doubt worth the wait – is the National Gallery’s blockbuster Artemisia, the first major UK exhibition of work by Artemisia Gentileschi, one of 17th century Italy’s most trailblazing painters. It’s on from 3 October to 24 January 2021 (nationalgallery.org.uk).…

Although spring rolls are widely available in restaurants and supermarkets, they are at their best when prepared at home, says Pippa Middlehurst. Filled to bursting with delicious stir-fried vegetables, they are great served as a snack, or as part of a Chinese meal – and if you make extra, they freeze very well. Makes 12 small or 6 large spring rolls Neutral oil, for frying 2 garlic cloves, grated 5 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked and sliced 8 Chinese cabbage (napa cabbage) leaves 1 medium carrot, peeled and grated 1 large handful of bean sprouts 3 spring onions, julienned 1 tbsp light soy sauce 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp light (soft) brown sugar a pinch of freshly ground white pepper a pinch of fine sea salt 1 packet of square…

HipLok DX Plastic tabs down the side of this lock mean it easily clips onto a belt or back pocket while you’re riding. It is Sold Secure gold-rated, and the lock is protected from the weather by a rubber seal (£70; hiplok.com). SFR Essentials Triple Pad Set  If your children are cycling, skateboarding or roller-blading this summer, consider some elbow and knee pads. This pack comes in two sizes and also comes with wrist guards with a soft lining (£15; johnlewis. com). Smith Optics Attack  These are some of the best cycling glasses available at a good price. The magnetic arms snap on and off so you can swap between lenses, and the lack of a frame means that peripheral vision is excellent (£190; smithoptics.eu). Abus StormChaser  2020 road helmet…

Britain was reported to be officially in recession for the first time in 11 years, after suffering the biggest slump on record between April and June, when the economy shrank 20.4%. Chancellor Rishi Sunak described the situation as “unprecedented” and “very difficult”. New figures confirmed the battering Britain’s labour market has taken: overall employment dropped by 220,000 in the three months to June. But the tally looks set to rise sharply once furlough ends in October. The Bank of England forecast UK unemployment will hit 7.5% by the year’s end. At its meeting, the Bank left the record low interest rates at 0.1%, but didn’t rule out negative rates in future. Stock markets continued to rally. Wall Street banks reportedly earned hundreds of millions in fees from Chinese groups selling…

Don’t rule out Trump – just yet Larry Elliott The Guardian “A month ago, it looked like curtains for Donald Trump,” says Larry Elliott in The Guardian. But the outlook today, “while not exactly rosy”, is good enough to prompt debate about whether the president could pull off an against-the-odds victory to match that of Harry Truman in 1948. “Trump is no Truman”, and the damage the virus has inflicted on the economy – on which he was depending – is hardly a vote-winner. Still, he has three things going for him. First, the number of new Covid-19 cases in the US appears to have peaked. Second, “somewhat ironically”, activity in China has bounced back more rapidly than expected and is keeping global stock markets buoyant. And finally, Trump “has…

The week’s best shares Asos Investors Chronicle The online fashion retailer continues to ride e-commerce trends with verve. Lockdown sales were “impressive” – thanks to a quick reaction to consumer demand for athleisure and casual wear. Buy. £33.58. Coca-Cola HBC The Motley Fool Coca-Cola’s bottling partner has been “steadily increasing revenue, earnings per share, and profit” for years. This year will buck the trend, but it’s likely a “temporary blip”. An exchange-rate-risk-free proxy for the US giant. Buy. £21.19. Diageo The Motley Fool A drop in the distiller’s revenue and profits while bars have been closed was “to be expected” – and shares are going cheap. “A great entry point” for the long-term investor, with a 2.7% dividend and a stable of premium brands. Buy. £25.85. Team17 The Motley Fool…

Online influencers facing criticism for holding a mask-free 70-strong house party in the Hollywood Hills have defended themselves by saying that going to parties is their work. “Our jobs are to entertain people,” said Thomas Petrou, one of the residents of Hype House, the mansion where the TikTok stars’ party was held. Police have recorded a surge in crimes committed against vegans, leading some to campaign for them to be labelled as hate crimes. While only nine crimes against vegans were recorded in 2015, 55 were last year, making it a total of 172 in the past five years. One man was punched in the chest by a man who had asked if he was a vegan, while in another case, meat pizzas were repeatedly sent to a vegan family’s…

The UK is officially in recession for the first time in 11 years, after figures showed the economy slumped by 20.4% between April and June. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic decline; there had been a 2.2% drop in GDP in the first quarter of 2020. The country has now lost 17 years of growth, shrinking to the size it was in the second quarter of 2003. Among leading economies, the UK has fared the worst, with a larger second-quarter slump than Spain (18.5%), France (13.8%), Germany (10.1%) and the US (9.5%).…

Aberdeen Covid restrictions: Lockdown measures were reimposed last week in Aberdeen, after Nicola Sturgeon confirmed a “significant” outbreak of coronavirus in the city. The First Minister said all pubs, bars and restaurants had been ordered to close, after 54 new cases of Covid-19 were detected, while a five-mile travel limit was reintroduced and residents were advised not to visit other people in their homes. Swathes of northern England were also ordered back into lockdown after cases reached worrying levels across the region. As many as four million people in Greater Manchester, east Lancashire and parts of West Yorkshire are now banned from meeting people from different households indoors. In the past week, there have been 69 cases per 100,000 in Blackburn with Darwen, which has now surpassed Leicester – where…

Kouré, Niger Attack on aid workers: Six French aid workers, along with their guide and their driver, were killed on Sunday when armed men on motorbikes ambushed their vehicle at a wildlife reserve in Niger. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but it is presumed that one of the jihadist groups active in the area was behind it; French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation. The deadly ambush took place in a reserve known as the Giraffe Zone, home to the last remaining population of west African giraffes, in the south-western region of Kouré. Violent attacks carried out by groups affiliated to al-Qa’eda and Islamic State have surged in Niger in recent years, as in the wider Sahel region. In January, 89 Nigerien soldiers were killed in a…

“Sad that the music magazine Q is gone. Personally, though, I don’t think it was killed by Covid. I think it was killed by music. The truth is that pop just doesn’t matter like it used to. These days we can listen to any song ever recorded, any time we like, free of charge. As a result, we pay it far less attention. When I was young, and the only way to get a particular song was to take a 40-minute bus ride into town to spend £15 on the album it came from, you made sure you got your money’s worth. You listened obsessively. Even if you didn’t like it at first, an inner voice would bark: ‘You had to do an eight-hour shift washing dishes to pay for…

INDIA Sectarianism is unifying? Pull the other one The Telegraph (Kolkata) When India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundations for a new Hindu temple last week, he said the building would help “unite the country”. It was a curious claim, says The Telegraph. The temple is being built on a site in the northeastern city of Ayodhya, which once housed the Babri Masjid – a 16th century mosque destroyed by Hindu fanatics on a “dark” day in 1992. The destruction sparked religious riots that killed 2,000 people and, since then, the site has been the subject of a struggle between Muslims and Hindus, who claim the mosque was built on the birthplace of the deity Rama. Last year, India’s Supreme Court approved the building of a Hindu temple –…

Doctors in Britain are likely to be told to stop prescribing paracetamol, ibuprofen or opioids to patients with chronic pain – because there is “little or no evidence” they do any good, and they can cause active harm. Draft guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), which are currently being put out to public consultation, say that instead of treating these patients with conventional painkillers, which can be addictive, GPs should offer physical exercise, psychological therapy, antidepressants or acupuncture. Chronic pain – defined as lasting or recurring pain with no clear cause that persists for more than three months – affects a huge amount of people in Britain. Dr Nick Kosky, who chaired the guidance committee, said there was a “mismatch between patient expectations and treatment…

“If there’s one thing you’d think the Tories might have learned in government, it’s that trying to reform the planning system will cause an almighty row,” said Isabel Hardman in The Spectator. But Boris Johnson seems determined to venture where his predecessors David Cameron and Theresa May have tried and failed: he declared last week that he would “tear down” the outdated planning rules, and “start again”. In a white paper, Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick set out the Government’s vision of a “much simpler and faster system” that he said would help young people onto the housing ladder, and deliver on the PM’s promise to build 300,000 new homes a year. Under the proposed new rules, councils in England would be forced to designate land in three categories – “growth”,…

“Every hero becomes a bore at last.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, quoted on Politico “Money – the one thing that keeps us in touch with our children.” Gyles Brandreth, quoted in the Daily Express “For us who live in cities Nature is not natural. Nature is supernatural. Just as monks watched and strove to get a glimpse of heaven, so we watch and strive to get a glimpse of earth. It is as if men had cake and wine every day but were sometimes allowed common bread.” G.K. Chesterton, quoted in Forbes “We retain the facts which are easiest to think about.” B.F. Skinner, quoted on The Browser “There are no right answers to wrong questions.” Ursula K. Le Guin, ibid. “Never make someone a priority when all you are to…

The classic Hollywood romantic comedy has gone out of fashion in the past decade or so, but there have been some interesting new riffs on the genre. Here are five good recent efforts: Enough Said This LA-set film about two middle-aged divorcees falling reluctantly in love features fine central performances from Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini, in one of his final roles before his tragic early death. Writer-director Nicole Holofcener offers an unusually grown-up romcom. Obvious Child This sharply funny film from first-time director Gillian Robespierre is perhaps the first ever romantic comedy to feature a twentysomething heroine who goes through with an abortion. Stand-up comedian Jenny Slate shines as Donna Stern, also a stand-up, who is struggling chaotically with the challenges of adulthood. Crazy Rich Asians The first Hollywood…

In 1916, a middle-aged insurance broker called Wilhelm Hansen travelled from his home in neutral Denmark across the “killing fields” of Europe to Paris, said Jackie Wullschläger in the FT. He was “on a mission”: to build a spectacular art collection and bring it home to Ordrupgaard, his villa outside Copenhagen. The War had brought France’s art market to the point of collapse and Hansen (1868-1936) seized his opportunity to snap up French masterpieces for as little as half their pre-war price. He would continue collecting for the rest of his life, amassing a treasure trove that took in works by all of the “pre-eminent” French artists of the 19th century, from Corot and Delacroix to Monet, Cézanne and Matisse. He was particularly fond of Gauguin, buying up outstanding works…

Tips of the week... how to keep pets cool in the heat ● Keep an eye on your pet’s behaviour for signs of heatstroke. Excessive panting or drooling, lethargy, vomiting or collapsing can all be symptoms. ● Walk your dog early in the morning and later in the evening to avoid the heat and hot pavements, which can burn their paws. ● Some pets, particularly those with white or light coats, can get sunburn, and may need pet-safe sunscreen. Cats and dogs may need it on their ears, horses on their nose. Try Petkin Doggy Sunmist spray SPF15 (£6; petsathome.com). ● On very hot days, try putting out a damp towel for pets to sit on, wrap an ice pack in a towel, or just fill a paddling pool with…

Northern Ireland’s man of peace John Hume 1937-2020 John Hume, who has died aged 83, almost had “the status of a secular saint in Ireland”, said The Times. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which brought “imperfect” peace to Northern Ireland, “could never have occurred without Hume’s initiatives and his perseverance”. It earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998 alongside the Ulster Unionist David Trimble. Hume, known for his “endlessly reiterated statements of belief” – he was “not much given to self-doubt” – clung to the idea that dialogue was the answer. As the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), which advocated Ireland’s peaceful reunification, “he was nationalist enough for Sinn Féin to talk to, while his consistent abhorrence of violence made him someone with whom Unionists…

“The clock is ticking for TikTok,” said Tyler Blint-Welsh on WSJ.com. The Chinese video-sharing app, downloaded two billion times in the West, has until 15 September to find a buyer for its US arm – or suffer death by strangulation by being banned from doing business with US companies. President Trump’s “strong-handed approach” has angered Beijing, which claims the US is “actively sabotaging” China’s consumer-facing tech champions. He’s certainly whacking China in its “softest spot”, said Pete Sweeney on Reuters Breakingviews. Transactions with Tencent, operator of the WeChat messaging app, could also be blocked – thus “crippling” it in the West and putting at risk a “vast portfolio of investments”, including Epic Games, creator of the Fortnite video game. “The ban could sting China harder than the campaign against Huawei.”…

● Friends electric An “army of enthusiastic retail investors” – who have already helped lift Tesla’s shares to dizzy heights this year – got another reward this week when the electric carmaker announced “the first stock split in its history”, said Richard Waters in the FT. News of the five-for-one split helped fuel a further 7% jump in the shares, now trading at nearly $300 apiece. The bonanza has cemented huge gains for the company’s early backers, said Loukia Gyftopoulou on Citywire. The Edinburgh fund group Baillie Gifford has made £12bn in a year for investors of its flagship Scottish Mortgage fund, whose 6.7% stake in the car company is second only to Tesla boss Elon Musk’s 18% stake. The asset manager has become “Musk’s most vocal champion”, despite his…

Jimmy Lai The Hong Kong media entrepreneur’s arrest is “the latest blow to free speech in the territory”, said The Economist. But Jimmy Lai “has long been a thorn in China’s side” and reckoned he “had it coming”. That rarity in Hong Kong, “a pro-democracy business tycoon”, Lai has been “a nagging critic” of the Beijing regime since becoming radicalised during the 1989 Tiananmen Square unrest. A self-made man, he arrived in Hong Kong from the mainland as a 12-year-old “stowaway” in 1960, took factory work and later founded the Giordano clothing brand. Lai commands a great deal of respect in the former colony, said The Daily Telegraph. Shares in his Next Digital company “skyrocketed by 260%” following his arrest, as sympathetic investors rallied to show their support. Tim and…