Table of contents for 1529 in The Week

What happened Trump and Ukraine Days before he was due to fly to Washington to meet President Trump on Thursday, Keir Starmer announced plans to raise UK defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. The PM said that the foreign aid budget would be cut to fund the increase. Earlier, France’s President Macron had visited the White House, and in a touchy feely meeting with Trump, sought to make Europe’s case on the war in Ukraine. Afterwards, Macron suggested that a truce in the conflict could be feasible within weeks. Trump said Vladimir Putin had “no problem” with European peacekeeping troops being stationed in Ukraine – but the Kremlin later rejected this. Last week, Trump shocked European leaders by siding with Russia against Ukraine and calling President…

Controversy of the week Has Volodymyr Zelensky patched up his fractured relationship with Donald Trump? News that the Ukrainian leader was due to fly to Washington on Friday, to sign a minerals deal with the US, certainly suggests a rapprochement. And we must hope it lasts, said Robyn Dixon in The Washington Post, because the “feud” that erupted last week – when Trump froze Ukraine out of peace talks with Russia, called Zelensky a “dictator” and blamed him for starting the war – threatened to destroy the relationship between Ukraine and its most powerful ally. Trump’s diatribe “landed like a bombshell”, said Robert Tait in The Guardian. “But it did not come out of nowhere.” The pair have a history, dating back to Trump’s first presidency, when he was impeached…

64% of British voters think that the Government is spending too much on foreign aid, according to a YouGov survey taken before the PM announced cuts to the foreign aid budget. 14% believe it’s spending too much on defence. 53% of British adults agree that it would be bad if Donald Trump’s agenda in the US led to British firms reducing their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion. 22% disagree. Apella Advisors/Find Out Now 32% of adults aged 65 and over would vote for Reform UK in an election tomorrow; 26% would vote Tory and 18% Labour. Among 18- to 34-year-olds, 36% would vote Labour, 20% Reform and 17% Tory. Techne UK/The Independent…

My life on the streets In December last year, Shelter estimated that there were 3,900 people sleeping rough on any given night in England, an increase of 10% on the year before. Colin Rosie was once among them, says Maddy Fletcher in The Mail on Sunday. He became homeless almost overnight in London in 2013, when a business deal he’d been working on fell through. He realised he couldn’t afford to pay his rent, so packed a bag and hit the streets. The biggest challenge of sleeping rough, he soon discovered, was sleeping at all: “You’re not going to go to bed and wake five or six hours later, because you can’t get comfortable. So a lot of it was napping. A lot of it was just being tired.” He…

Runners taking part in a 10km race in Glasgow were sent the wrong way by a member of the public, who impersonated a marshal and buried signs marking the correct route. The saboteur, who hasn’t been identified but is reported to be female, diverted the course at about the 9km mark, causing about 30 of the 115 participants to go on a 2.5km detour. Acorn Trails, the organiser of the race, apologised for the “mischievous interference”. A tourist attraction in China known for its winter scenery has apologised after it used cotton wool and foam to make it look snowy during a patch of unseasonably warm weather. Photos on social media show bundles of cotton wool strewn over the ground, and wads of cotton blanketing the rooftops of Chengdu’s Snow…

Leighann McCready didn’t have a chance to see her 19-year-old daughter’s bedroom, at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire, when she was alive, said Katie Tarrant in The Sunday Times. But following Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck’s death by suicide in December 2021, McCready asked the Army if she could visit it. Having initially refused, officials relented when she explained that she just wanted to spend time in the space where her child had lived. But once in, McCready found the piece of evidence that would help her secure a measure of justice for her daughter: a superior’s letter of apology. Battery Sgt Maj Michael Webber – who was 20 years older than Beck, five ranks above her and married – had allegedly pinned the teenager down at a drink-fuelled event during…

In their 153-year history of playing England, Scotland have never beaten the “auld enemy” five times in a row, said Robert Kitson in The Observer. Last Saturday’s Calcutta Cup very nearly marked the first time that they did. The dramatic game at Twickenham went right down to the wire, and Scotland had a big chance to win when Duhan van der Merwe’s 79th-minute try brought his team to within a point of England. Finn Russell’s kick from the resulting conversion initially looked to be heading for its target but, “agonisingly for the visitors”, it curved “just wide of the left upright” to hand England a 16-15 victory. It was by no means a convincing win: Scotland scored three tries to England’s one, and were “much the better attacking side behind…

Airports: a business plan To The Economist It is understandable that Heathrow and other British airports in private ownership would wish to increase passenger numbers, revenues and profits. But this is not in the national interest in an era of decarbonisation. The crucial fact is that most air travel is for leisure. Even at Heathrow, only around a quarter of passengers are travelling on business. There is therefore ample opportunity for business travel to increase, displacing leisure travellers to other London airports with spare capacity, and beyond. This will happen through market forces, because business travellers will pay a premium for the advantages of Heathrow. Eventually, all spare capacity at airports would be taken, and then the lowest-value flights would be priced off, such as the weekend jaunts by stag…

The Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight doesn’t make dull television, and his latest series – for Disney+ – “may be his best yet”, said Benji Wilson in The Daily Telegraph. Set in late 19th century London, it stars Erin Doherty as the leader of a gang of female pickpockets. Also in the mix is Malachi Kirby, as a Jamaican who finds himself thrust into the East End’s thriving bare-knuckle boxing scene. There, he soon threatens the supremacy of Stephen Graham’s Sugar Goodson, a publican who is the scene’s “self-styled alpha”. The series is deeply violent – the clue’s in the title – “but if you can get past that”, it’s “blockbuster” TV with a “sensational” performance from Doherty. Like Peaky Blinders, this series is “very moreish”, said Carol Midgley in…

Tom is worried that his father is taking on too much, and when Susan senses the strain they’re under, she offers to bake Tony a birthday cake, which goes down a treat. At Ambridge Hall, Khalil points out a graze on Constanza the llama’s leg, and Robert notices how good he is with animals. The Tearoom opens, but Alistair can still smell the sewage. Bridge Farm fails its cleanliness tests, to Clarrie’s confusion – it seems spotless to her. Helen is delighted to find out they have a taker for the waste milk, then she learns it’s Celia Sparrow, whose cheese she gave a deliberately low score at the food fair. Sure enough, Celia offers way below the recommended rate for the milk, but Helen is forced to accept the…

Don’t Tell Dad 10-14 Lonsdale Road, London NW6 (donttelldad.co.uk) Lonsdale Road, in London’s Queen Park, has a “lovely, rackety Copenhagen vibe”, says Jay Rayner in The Observer. There’s a micro-brewery, a yoga studio and various restaurants, of which perhaps the best is Don’t Tell Dad. By day, the place is a bakery; by night, head chef Luke Frankie cooks food “I’m going to call Cosmopolitan English”: rooted “very much in the here”, but with occasional non-English touches. Crab tart is “impressively deep-filled”, and “tastes like something straight out of Jane Grigson’s cookbook English Food”. Panzanella – made of “impeccable” tomatoes, dense sourdough and “snowy fleshed fillets of fried sardine” – is a “summer afternoon on the beach, here amid a London winter”. A “thumping mallard”, complete with shot, is served…

● Start with small changes and don’t demonise their favourite junk foods, instead emphasise the positives of healthier ones. Nagging will only lead to resistance. ● Try appealing to their vanity. With teens, rather than selling food as a healthy option, explain how it will be good for their skin. ● Fitness is a good angle, especially for teenage boys. Instead of cereal, offer oats for breakfast, and explain that it gives a sustained release of energy and protein. ● Try to recreate what they see on the high street, such as breakfast burritos, or encourage them to cook. Asian flavours are popular at the moment. You could jointly look for inspiration on social media. ● Make it easier for them to rustle up a healthy snack by leaving prepped…

David Hessayon 1928-2025 David Hessayon was the world’s bestselling gardening writer. His books did not adorn coffee tables, however. Nor was it his intention to coach aspiring Vita Sackville-Wests. On the contrary, said The Daily Telegraph, he loathed that school of gardening, with its talk of “hidden vistas” and the fleeting beauty of antique roses. (His other pet hates included the Chelsea Flower Show, with its “tweeds and beads”.) Distributed through garden centres, his Expert guides were cheap and cheerful, “broke every rule of good design and remained obstinately unfashionable, their covers a riot of clashing pinks and oranges, with Day-Glo green lawns set off by neat crazy-paving and kidney-shaped ponds”. They were written, he said, “for the housewife who isn’t really interested in gardening but feels she must keep…

Juicy payouts Most respondents expect fatter payments than last year: 15% were in line for £250,000-£2m – up from 10% in the 2024 poll. One in five said they expected £100,000-£250,000, up from one in eight. Winners and losers Bankers and investment bankers were most likely to report “substantial” rises – scrapping the EU bonus cap has enabled “payouts of up to 25 times basic salary at some institutions”. High-flyers in the legal and asset management sectors also reported big increases. The broad losers were energy and management consultancy, where payouts were “substantially less” than last year. Exuberance deficit Far from feeling richer, there’s a mood of caution as bonus payouts struggle to keep pace with increased living costs (VAT on school fees, higher mortgage rates). Paying down debt and…

Doug Gurr The new boss of the Competition & Markets Authority, Doug Gurr, has warned takeover merchants that the regulator hasn’t “suddenly become naive”: a deal “that was terrible six months ago” won’t suddenly become “marvellous”, he says. But the change in regulatory mood is unmistakable, said Oliver Shah in The Times. The Government ousted Gurr’s predecessor, Marcus Bokkerink, in January, summarily firing him by phone. And the new regime “has undoubtedly got bankers and bosses plotting”. You can’t really blame them. Because the person “in charge of monitoring predatory mergers and acquisitions” is a former Amazon boss. When Gurr, 60, quit Amazon in 2020, after running the UK operation since 2016, he took a role “among the bones and stone at the Natural History Museum”, said George Nott in…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1454 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 10 March. Send it to The Week Crossword 1454, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 9 Up to speed with respect to the masquerade, say (2,3,4) 10 In cold places home is one good place to go (5) 11 Might you and I stand next to gazunder, right? (5) 12 Greens surprisingly urge a pass (5,4) 13 Point out rank poser (4-3) 15 Husband on return of layabout that is stroppy (7) 17 Free…

What happened Germany’s federal election on Sunday delivered victory to the conservative CDU – and gave the far-right AfD its best results ever. Led by Friedrich Merz, who is set to become the next chancellor, the CDU took 29% of the vote, on a record 83% turnout. The AfD came second with 21%; Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD trailed third on 16%; the Greens won 12%; and the Left Party, boosted by strong support among the young, took 9%. Merz, a former lawyer with no government experience, will(with the CDU’s sister party the CSU) seek to form a coalition with the SPD. That would leave his coalition with a majority of 12 in the 630-seat parliament. Mainstream parties are expected to maintain the “firewall” against the hard-right, and freeze the AfD…

Children now enjoy listening to stories more than reading them, a survey by the National Literacy Trust has found. More than two in five children aged eight to 18 in the UK say they enjoy listening to audiobooks or podcasts outside school, whereas only a third say they read books, magazines or newspapers for pleasure. Weight-loss drugs are fuelling demand for “body lift” operations, The Sunday Times reports. With more than 500,000 people in Britain taking drugs such as Wegovy on a weekly basis, plastic surgeons say they’ve seen a “noticeable increase” in patients asking for procedures to have saggy excess skin removed. This surgery “not only enhances body contour but also boosts confidence”, one surgeon told the paper.…

Vannes, France Abuse trial: A former surgeon, believed to be the most prolific child sex offender ever to face justice in France, has gone on trial in Brittany accused of assaulting or raping 299 victims, with an average age of 11. Joël Le Scouarnec, 74, is said to have committed the alleged offences at over a dozen hospitals in western France between 1989 and 2014. Most of the victims were his own patients, assaulted while under anaesthetic or during post-op check-ups. The case reflects badly on the French medical authorities: in 2005, Scouarnec was given a suspended prison sentence after an FBI tip-off led to his conviction for possession of child abuse images, yet he was allowed to continue working with children until he retired in 2017. He is currently…

1 Really Saying Something (US Extended Version) by Norman Whitfield, William “Mickey” Stevenson and Edward Holland Jr, performed by Bananarama (with Fun Boy Three) 2 De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da by Sting, performed by The Police 3 Main Theme – Carter Takes A Train from Get Carter, written and performed by Roy Budd 4 Singin’ in the Rain by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, performed by Harry Ive (aged five) 5 Don’t You (Forget About Me) by Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, performed by Simple Minds 6 Define Dancing (from Wall-E), written and performed by Thomas Newman 7 Suite bergamasque, L. 75: 3. Clair de lune by Claude Debussy, performed by Claudio Arrau 8* “40”, written and performed by U2 Book: a complete set of Jeeves & Wooster novels Luxury: a bed * Choice…

At the height of the Cold War, the US decided that it needed a strategic outpost in the Indian Ocean. Diego Garcia, a tropical atoll in the dead centre of the ocean and far from any threat, was ideal. Construction began in 1971. Today, Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia has an anchorage, an airstrip, and radar and communications facilities. It is home to about 2,400 people, mostly Department of Defence civilians. The roughly 400 US servicemen, and 40-odd members of the British Forces who “maintain sovereignty”, see it as a plum posting, with its beaches and clear waters. Diego Garcia’s location allows for deployment of air and naval forces across the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia. It also provides a key refuelling and supply station. It is within…

ISRAEL Netanyahu’s cynical betrayal Haaretz (Tel Aviv) Is there no limit to Benjamin Netanyahu’s “cynicism”, asks Uri Misgav. Last week, Israel experienced another day of mourning when the bodies of the two Bibas children finally returned home. Ariel was aged four when he was taken hostage on 7 October; Kfir was just nine months old. We’ve long known that the boys and their mother Shiri hadn’t survived: Hamas claims all three were killed in a 2023 Israeli air strike; but Israel says that forensic tests show the boys were murdered in captivity and that a third body was not that of Shiri, but an unidentified Gazan woman. And Netanyahu is complicit in this tragedy. Our “detached and narcissistic” PM cynically used the family’s plight to bolster support for his Gaza war…

Scientists have grown human-like teeth in the lab – a breakthrough that could lead to living replacements for lost and rotten teeth. The team from Tufts University in the US harvested cells from human wisdom teeth and pig jawbones: pigs grow five or six sets of teeth during their lives, and the jawbones contain underdeveloped teeth that have yet to break through the gum. These cells were combined and cultivated in the lab, then seeded onto a biodegradable tooth-shaped scaffold, where they grew into tooth tissue. The final step involved implanting the fledgling teeth in the mouths of six pigs, where they continued to grow. The resulting teeth were “not perfect” in shape or size, but did closely resemble the real thing, said Prof Pamela Yelick. More work is needed,…

“Just before Christmas, when attention was elsewhere”, the Government published a consultation paper on copyright and artificial intelligence, said The Daily Telegraph. In dry and technical language, it put forward a proposal that would have “profound” and disturbing consequences: that copyright protections enjoyed by authors, publishers, musicians and artists should be removed, essentially so that giant AI companies can “plunder their work”. This week, the creatives hit back, said Mark Sellman in The Times. Andrew Lloyd Webber, Kate Bush, Paul McCartney, Helen Fielding, Tom Stoppard and Stephen Fry, among others, signed a letter to The Times, warning that the theft of copyright would “devastate” the creative industries, which contribute £126bn to the UK economy, and employ 2.4 million people. About 1,000 musicians also released an album of recordings of empty…

“Everybody dies famous in a small town.” Miranda Lambert, quoted on OverDrive “Politicians are interested in people. Not that this is always a virtue. Fleas are interested in dogs.” P.J. O’Rourke, quoted in The Washington Post “If you have no critics, you’ll likely have no success.” Malcolm X, quoted in Parade “We are here on Earth to fart around, and don’t let anybody tell you any different.” Kurt Vonnegut, quoted on The Knowledge “I bet everyone’s always talking about what a narcissist I am.” Joke on BlueSky, quoted in The Times “People are never so completely and enthusiastically evil as when they act out of religious conviction.” Umberto Eco, quoted in The Sunday Times “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” Benjamin Disraeli, quoted in Forbes “Not…

To The Times William Hague is entirely correct to advocate the need for a “seriously higher” defence budget and to suggest that this will necessitate a range of reforms, including to sickness benefits, NHS productivity and pensions, etc. On their own, however, even if successfully implemented, these will not pay for the level of defence that will provide Britain’s – and contribute to Europe’s – security. However, the big question, which he does not mention, is taxation. Whatever promises were made before the general election, the moment has come for the Government to make it clear that to provide a proper level of defence, personal taxes must rise. This must not be done by “stealth” but openly, explicitly and with fairness. It will take political courage, but if done properly…

The former artistic director of the RSC picks his favourites. He will be talking about his book, My Shakespeare (Bloomsbury £16.99), at Jewish Book Week on 2 March in London (jewishliteraryfoundation.co.uk) Preparing for rehearsals for The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol, at Chichester Festival Theatre, I finally pulled down the great Ukrainian novelist’s masterwork Dead Souls, 1842 (Penguin £9.99). It has to take the prize for the funniest book with the gloomiest title I have ever read. The novels of Henry James are great read out loud in the bath. My latest is his last, The Outcry, 1911 (The New York Review of Books £14.99), which is about artworks flooding across the Atlantic during the Gilded Age. I obsessively tracked the diaspora of Shakespeare’s First Folio around the world recently.…

Programmes Towards Zero Three-part Agatha Christie adaptation starring Anjelica Huston, Matthew Rhys and Mimi Keene. Sun 2 March, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Dispatches: Skinny Jab Scandal Reporter Ellie Flynn investigates Britain’s love affair with “skinny jabs”, and discovers the drugs being sold at a high street chain to an underage patient. Tue 4 March, C4 20:00 (60mins). Storyville: The Covid Queue at Pavilion 6 Documentary that offers a snapshot of life in a Covid-19 vaccine centre. Tue 4 March, BBC4 22:00 (70mins). Seeking Satoshi: The Mystery Bitcoin Creator Journalist Gabriel Gatehouse sets outs on a quest to find the man thought to have launched the controversial cryptocurrency. Tue 4 March, C4 22:00 (75mins). A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story Four-part drama about the last woman to be hanged in the…

This is the roast potato’s fancier sister, who comes home for the holidays and judges the whole family, says Poppy O’Toole. It’s rather posh – but delicious. There are a boat-load of flavours going on, but they all complement each other beautifully without any single element overpowering the rest. I’m also a big believer in minimal waste – and this dish is a great way to use up leftover wine. Serves 4 800g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and quartered 1 vegetable stock cube 100ml neutral oil 200ml white wine ½ shallot, finely diced 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 50g butter, cubed 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves finely chopped 2 thyme sprigs, leaves finely chopped salt and black pepper • Get your potatoes into a saucepan of cold water, crumble in the…

The Fine Cheese Co. sells a curated selection of artisan cheeses from across Europe, and has a monthly subscription box complete with crackers (finecheese.co.uk). Pong sells cheese from leading independent British producers, plus classics from all over the world. It claims to be the UK’s most affordable cheese club, and promises you won’t get the same cheese twice over the course of a year (pongcheese.co.uk). Famed for its curation of British and Irish cheese, Neal’s Yard Dairy also offers a cheese of the month subscription, with live virtual tastings (nealsyarddairy.co.uk). The Courtyard Dairy sells a collection of British and European cheese. It offers expert advice from its in-house cheesemongers and a rolling monthly subscription (thecourtyarddairy.co.uk). Cheese of Muswell Hill specialises in artisanal cheese. Its subscription comes with detailed tasting notes…

The Beacon Tunbridge Wells, Kent This Arts and Crafts house (once home to a Lord Mayor of London) is now one of the best “restaurants with rooms” near the capital, says Mark C. O’Flaherty in The Daily Telegraph. The building commands “epic” rural views, and the interiors are “cosy and classic, but with offbeat touches”. My bedroom had a round bathtub, Chinese silks on the walls, a “luxurious” white marble bathroom and an “outlandish” crystal chandelier. The food is excellent, and carefully varied with the season – I had an oxtail pie and a roast duck dish ideally suited to the cold weather at the time. Doubles from £143 b&b; the-beacon.co.uk.…

Global carmakers: industry gear-change The collapse of the proposed $58bn merger between Japanese carmakers Honda and Nissan has prompted an interesting rescue request, said the Financial Times. Fearful that Nissan might fall into “potentially hostile foreign hands” – the Taiwanese iPhone manufacturer Foxconn has been sniffing around – a Japanese delegation has approached Tesla, requesting a “strategic” investment. It’s an example of just how thoroughly the global car industry has been “upended”, said Claudia Assis on MarketWatch – by Chinese competition, the EV transition and, now, US tariffs. No one is breathing easily. While US carmakers fret about foreign supply chains, Germany’s former giants have been whacked by declining Chinese sales. Rather than buying Porsche, the once-dominant high-performance sports car, well-heeled Chinese buyers are turning to a cut-price knockoff: the…

The American colonisation of UK defence Ruth Sunderland Daily Mail “American private equity barons have extended their greedy tentacles into parts of British life where they have no business to be”, such as elderly care, vets and children’s homes, says Ruth Sunderland. Most dangerous has been their incursion into defence. In recent years, a string of UK companies have been sold off to “vulture” funds – including the aerospace pioneer Cobham and Ultra Electronics, which makes submarine-hunting sonobuoys. Both were picked up by the US firm Advent which, predictably, lost no time breaking them up. Britain excels in defence and aerospace, yet politicians “have waved deals through” with “guarantees” that “prove to be nothing of the sort”. If ministers saw private equity capital as a way of minimising public spending…

The week’s best shares Anpario This is Money Anpario’s natural food additives bolster animal health and disease resistance, while avoiding antibiotics. Avian flu is fuelling growth in the US and acquisition Bio-Vet adds dairy farming to the mix. Further gains expected. Buy. 463p. Centrica Sharecast Citi has reiterated its “buy” rating on the British Gas owner following “stellar” 2024 results. Rewarding investors with a 16% guaranteed cash return (4% dividend yield; 12% share buyback). New target: 187p. Buy. 148p. Glencore Investors’ Chronicle Profits slid last year on lower coal prices, but the mining and trading giant is restoring buybacks. Priced attractively to peers, with copper key to future earnings. Threatening to quit London if the valuation doesn’t rise. Buy. 340p. HSBC Holdings Investors’ Chronicle The Asia-focused bank is enjoying good…

Climate campaigners, after the Transport Secretary indicated that she was poised to approve a second runway at Gatwick. Describing herself as no “flight-shaming eco-warrior”, Heidi Alexander said aviation was “critical to the economy”, and noted that Gatwick has capacity problems. Its proposal is to make its standby emergency runway fit for permanent use, to allow an extra 100,000 flights a year by the end of the decade. Deutsche Bahn, the German state railway once admired for its efficient service, with a new analysis showing that, after years of decline, its trains are now less punctual than those of the worst operator in the UK. Tesla, after shares in the electric car maker slumped 9%, in response to figures showing that sales in Europe fell by almost a half in January.…

“Congratulations to Gwynedd, Wales, where the local council’s policies have lowered house prices. This should be the ultimate aim of all housing initiatives. ‘Cutting red tape’, ‘kickstarting’ the construction industry, promising unfeasible numbers of new homes: none of these have worked. But Cyngor Gwynedd, by charging a 150% council tax premium on second homes, and requiring planning permission for use as holiday lets, has succeeded. Not everyone sees it this way. ‘Botched second homes crackdown wipes £30k off house prices,’ declaimed The Daily Telegraph. But I imagine that the many Gwynedd residents who struggle with expensive housing will be delighted.” Rowan Moore in The Observer…

Pipe dreams of a peacekeeping force Francis Tusa The Independent Dream on. Not going to happen. That’s how Army planners have responded in private to the idea of the UK sending a 12,000-strong peacekeeping force to Ukraine, says Francis Tusa. Our depleted Army, probably at its “nadir” since 1940, simply isn’t in a position to mount such a deployment. Our main battle tank force has a notional strength of 227 tanks, only 213 of which are reported to be in a fit state for use in operations. Denmark and Sweden have more credible tank forces. Our stocks of artillery are in even worse shape, with only a handful of AS90 guns available, even for training. We’re still using the same infantry combat vehicles we used 30 years ago in Kuwait,…

It’s hard to overstate how wildly Donald Trump’s foreign policy is deviating from that of his predecessor – and even “from his own campaign pitch of America First restraint”, said Dave Lawler on Axios. Before taking office, Trump caused alarm by threatening to seize the Panama Canal and Greenland. Since then he has “stunned” even his own advisers with his plan for the US to take over the Gaza Strip. He says he wants Canada to become the 51st US state; he has taken an axe to America’s main foreign aid agency, USAID. And now, to the horror of European partners, he is abandoning Ukraine. Although not the first Western leader to rail against the “dictator” that started the war, he is the first to have been referring to President…

A pesticide to save honey bees A parasite that feasts on European honey bees, Varroa destructor is only 1.6mm long, but it can have devastating consequences. The mite, which arrived in the UK in the 1990s, latches onto the bee larvae and adult bees, and feeds on the fat body, an organ crucial for insect bodily functions. This leads to reduced yields and can cause colony collapse. It costs the British bee-keeping industry some £27m a year, and by killing crucial pollinators also poses a threat to the wider food chain. But attempts to tackle the mite have foundered, owing to the difficulty of killing it without harming the bee or its ecosystem. Now, though, researchers think they have the answer: a pesticide that uses a technique called RNA interference to…

Rishi Sunak’s chief whip, Simon Hart, has published his diaries, spilling the beans on some of the more bizarre moments in the job. On one occasion, Hart (below) recalls being woken up at 2.45am by a phone call from a “clearly pissed” Tory MP, who told him that he’d been lured to a brothel in Bayswater by a woman he’d met on the street, and whom he now suspected of being a KGB agent. “She wants £500 and has left me in a room with 12 naked women and a CCTV.” At other times, he had to deal with a Commons employee who’d gone to a party dressed as Jimmy Savile, and a Spad who’d defecated on someone’s head at an orgy. Sunak, he says, was “refreshingly strait-laced” and inclined…

For years, the biggest threat to 007 “was the apocryphal ‘woke police’”, said Adam White in The Independent: a “mob of rainbow-haired bisexuals” determined to turn James Bond into a woman and replace his vodka martini with “vegan wine”. But now, we know how Bond will really be killed off: through “a slow, sad corporate takeover”. Last week, the Broccoli family yielded creative control over the franchise to Amazon MGM Studios. For Brits, 007 “is not just A.N. Other action hero”, said Janice Turner in The Times: “he’s our soft power, our collective national id” – an alluring mix of “tradition and modernity” and “understated cool”, “salted” with a dash of humour. Now, it’s only a matter of time before Jeff Bezos and his algorithm-led streaming platform turn Bond into…

“Until now, just two players of this generation have staked a claim to be sculpted into the game’s Mount Rushmore,” said Oliver Brown in The Daily Telegraph. Such are the “celestial” gifts of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, that they have “belonged in a category of their own”. Yet perhaps it’s now time to add Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah to this elite category. The Egyptian may be 32, but he is putting together a “season for the ages”. In Liverpool’s 27 Premier League games so far, he has scored 25 goals and contributed 16 assists – giving him 41 “goal involvements” in total (in non-league games, he has another ten). The all-time record for goal involvements in a Premier League season is 47, jointly held by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.…

Cricket England lost to Australia by five wickets in their first match of the Champions Trophy, despite Ben Duckett scoring 165. Athletics Kenyan marathon runner Brimin Kipkorir – winner of the 2024 Sydney Marathon – has been suspended after failing a drugs test. Football Rangers sacked their manager Philippe Clement after the team lost 2-0 at home to St Mirren. They trail Celtic by 13 points. Six Nations France scored 11 tries as they beat Italy 73-24. Ireland beat Wales 27-18, taking the Triple Crown.…

Joe Haines 1928-2025 Joe Haines, who has died aged 97, was fascinated by the workings of power, and observed it close up by acting as a “sort of consigliere” to two powerful men, said Julia Langdon in The Guardian. A dyed-in-the-wool Labour man, he served as press secretary to Harold Wilson from 1969 until the end of Wilson’s second stint as PM in 1976. He then went to work at the Daily Mirror. When Robert Maxwell expressed a desire to buy the paper in 1984, Haines denounced him as a “cheat”, a “crook and a liar”; but he stayed on, becoming the paper’s political editor and a trusted adviser to the media magnate. Haines’s vanity was flattered by the reliance both men came to have on him, but he retained…