Table of contents for 1411 in The Week

What happened Rishi Sunak warned senior colleagues to brace for a “challenging” winter ahead as the Cabinet met on Tuesday to discuss strikes, backlogs in the NHS and the political fallout from last week’s Autumn Statement. Jeremy Hunt set out £55bn of tax rises and spending cuts in the statement, which was fiercely condemned by some Tory MPs. Among the measures unveiled by the Chancellor was an extension to the freeze on income tax thresholds until 2027-28; cuts to tax-free allowances for dividend and capital gains tax; and an increase in the windfall tax on the profits of oil and gas firms. State pension payments and benefits escaped cuts: they’ll increase by 10.1%, in line with inflation. A forecast from the Office for Budget Responsibility warned that the UK was…

There are some words that make your heart sink, said Marie Le Conte in The Independent. It could be the name of an ex-partner, or of a place “long gone, but still missed”, or any other word that unlocks painful memories. Like “Brexit”, for instance. And there it was, back again, in the weekend’s papers. “Britain mulls Swiss-style ties with Brussels,” The Sunday Times reported. “Senior Government figures”, it said, were planning to seek access to the European single market. The story played “all the greatest hits”. The Government, it said, wants frictionless trade with the EU, but not free movement of people. There was talk, once again, of Swiss, Canadian and Chequers models. Eurosceptic Tory backbenchers were soon, once again, “frothing at the mouth”. On Monday, Downing Street categorically…

Guess, the US fashion retailer, after Banksy urged his 11.6 million Instagram followers to head to its flagship store on Regent Street and “help themselves” to its clothes. The graffiti artist was making a point about Guess allegedly using his work without permission. Within an hour of his message appearing, the store had closed and staff were seen stripping clothes off mannequins. Black Friday shoppers, after Which? warned that only one in seven deals were likely to offer a genuine discount. Last year, some goods had actually been cheaper before the promotion.…

37% of French people say they are less motivated to work than before the pandemic. 24% say work is very important to them, down from 60% in 1990. French Institute of Public Opinion/The Daily Telegraph 31% of British voters think that a Labour government led by Keir Starmer would be best at managing the economy; 30% favour a Rishi Sunak-led Tory government. 25% of adults describe their financial situation as “struggling”; 49% are “coping”; 25% are “comfortable”. Opinium/The Observer 56% of voters think the UK was wrong to leave the EU; 32% think it was right; 12% don’t know. Among Leave voters, the split is 19% wrong, 70% right. YouGov/The Independent…

Anne Glenconner’s marriage Lady Anne Glenconner has led a gilded life, says Hilary Rose in The Times. Now 90, she was raised at Holkham Hall, a vast Palladian pile in Norfolk, and in her youth attended parties at Sandringham with the young princesses. She was a maid of honour at the Coronation, and served as Margaret’s lady-inwaiting. But as she recounts in her latest memoir, she has seen plenty of life’s darker sides too. Aged 23, she married Colin Tennant, Lord Glenconner, who was abusive and serially unfaithful. Early on, he told her: “I’m going to break you, Anne.” And he tried his best to do just that. Once, he dragged her out of a children’s birthday party and beat her so savagely that she was left lying bloodied and…

A flock of sheep in Inner Mongolia has been filmed walking continuously in a near-perfect circle for 12 days straight. The clip, published by Chinese media, was hailed online as a “sign of the apocalypse”. More prosaically, scientists suggested that the behaviour was more likely a result of a bacterial infection called listeriosis, sometimes known as “circling disease”, which can cause livestock to move in a circular fashion. The mascots for the Paris 2024 Olympics were unveiled last week: Les Phryges are based on Phrygian caps – the floppy conical hats worn in the French Revolution and are meant to “embody the French spirit”. However, many observers remarked that they closely resembled the giant inflatable red clitoris erected by a feminist group next to the Eiffel Tower last year. No…

POLAND Woefully ill-prepared for a Russian attack Polityka (Warsaw) Last week’s missile strike on Poland showed how woefully unprepared Warsaw is for an attack, says Marek Swierczynski. The rocket, which killed two farm workers near the Ukrainian border, is now thought to have been a wayward strike by Ukraine’s air defence system. But for a few hours, Europe had teetered “on the edge of the abyss”, as Nato tried to establish whether the incident had been a Russian attack on one of its members. You’d have expected Poland – “a front-line country” – to be ready for such an eventuality in its border areas. Apparently not. There were no warning alarms or appeals to stay at home, no statements from our political and military leaders to calm Polish nerves; instead,…

Ex-culture secretary Nadine Dorries has written 16 novels, but her next book will be a non-fiction account of the fall of her former boss, provisionally entitled The Political Assassination of Boris Johnson. “It’s a whodunnit,” she told the London Evening Standard. Dorries is a well-known loyalist, but she hates it when people say she must “fancy” the ex-PM. He is just a friend. “I could ring Boris in the middle of the night if I had a problem and I know he’d be there for hours talking to me.” When Bono was growing up, his opera-loving father thought little of his ambition to become a rock star. And even after he’d started selling out stadiums, Bob Hewson proved difficult to impress. Once, in an effort to win his admiration, Bono…

“There are two classes of forecasters: those who don’t know and those who don’t know they don’t know.”J.K. Galbraith, quoted on LabourList “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”F. Scott Fitzgerald, quoted in The Times “The higher the monkey climbs, the more he exposes his backside.”Jeff Sparrow on billionaires, in The Guardian “People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use.”Søren Kierkegaard, quoted in Substack “It was so cold I almost got married.”Shelley Winters, quoted in The Guardian “It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured.”Tacitus, quoted in Forbes “If you would know what the Lord God thinks of money, you only have to look at those to whom He gives it.”Maurice Baring, quoted on Bloomberg…

To The Times The unerring Matthew Syed is right about the theatre of cruelty that is reality TV (“I’m sorry, but humiliating Matt Hancock is not just harmless fun”). With their smirking fakery, Ant and Dec may try to convince us that I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! is just light entertainment. No: it is a modern equivalent of bear-baiting, where desperation for fame is juxtaposed with voyeurism and audiences bay for blood. Like Syed, I hope that opinion will shift, the cruelty will be recognised and the programme will be axed. Janice Ketley, Englefield Green, Surrey To The Times Matthew Syed criticises the treatment of Matt Hancock on the show, but he fails to realise that opportunities for ordinary people to hold our leaders to account, at…

by Jonathan Coe Viking 368pp £20 The Week Bookshop £15.99 “Few contemporary writers can make a success of the state-of-the-nation novel,” said Rachel Cunliffe in The New Statesman. But one who can is Jonathan Coe. His latest charts 75 years of British history, following the lives of a single family, headed by matriarch Mary Lamb, who live on the outskirts of Birmingham, near the Bournville factory. Coe covers so much ground in just 350 pages by alighting only on key moments: VE Day in 1945; the Queen’s coronation; the 1966 World Cup; the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. The result is a “piercing” satire on Englishness that is “designed to make you think by making you laugh”. This is a warm and comforting book, said Melissa Katsoulis in The…

Mia plans to disrupt the Hunt Ball; Brad is less enthusiastic but has an idea. Just as Ben seems to be getting back on track, Jill lashes out saying that she’s ashamed of him, and leaves him sobbing. Julianne takes Ruairi out for his birthday, but shoots down his plan for an internship. Ruth angrily confronts Jill, demanding she apologise to Ben. As Ruairi and Ben reconnect, vet nurse Paul interrupts them. Paul talks to Ruairi and ends up inviting him to a karaoke night. Ruairi declines, but the next day he asks Paul to the ball. At the Food Bank, Oliver tells Brad how much the ball means to him and the money it raises for charity. Guilty Brad feels bad about the sabotage, but Mia convinces him. They…

Jacob Kenedy was born in London in 1980. After reading natural sciences at Cambridge, he toyed with several careers – biologist, glassblower, percussionist – before settling on cooking. He had stints at Moro in London, and Boulevard in San Francisco, before opening Bocca di Lupo (literally “mouth of the wolf” in Italian) in Soho in 2008. Described by Boulevard head chef Nancy Oakes as “the most gifted natural cook I have worked with”, Kenedy is renowned for his bold reinterpretations of Italian regional dishes. This winter, Bocca di Lupo is inviting diners to BYOT – Bring Your Own Truffle – to shave over dishes at the restaurant. Truffles are available to buy from Kenedy’s neighbouring ice-cream parlour, Gelupo. Bocca di Lupo, 12 Archer Street, London W1 (boccadilupo.com). Serves 4 as…

● Check that your passport complies with local rules. For instance, if you are travelling to the EU, it needs to be valid for three months after you are due to return, and must be no more than ten years old. (If you applied for a new passport early, it might be valid for ten years and a few months.) ● If you’re travelling to India, e-visas have been suspended, so you’ll need a paper one. These can take time to get. If you are heading to the US, note that if you’ve visited Cuba, Syria, Iran or North Korea since January 2021, you can’t now enter with a £19 Esta (electronic visa), but will have to apply for a £141 visa via the US embassy. ● If your child…

Bill Treacher 1930-2022 Bill Treacher, who has died aged 92, was one of the original cast members of EastEnders. He was also the first person to land a part in the soap, said The Daily Telegraph. When its creators, Julia Smith and Tony Holland, started looking for an actor to play Arthur Fowler – an unemployed former factory worker and paterfamilias of one of Albert Square’s main clans – they immediately turned to Treacher, with whom they’d worked on Z-Cars. Not only was he from London’s East End, he had, they said, the “warmth, directness and an ability to be convincingly ordinary without being dull” that the part required. Treacher took some persuading (he was worried about the two-hour journey to Elstree Studios from his home in Suffolk), and though…

Bob Iger In a plot twist few in Hollywood saw coming, Bob Iger has returned to Disney just three years after retiring as CEO. He came back after the ousting of his handpicked successor, Bob Chapek in a dramatic boardroom coup. The news was so unexpected, reported Variety, that many “Mouse House” staffers thought it was a hoax – until reassured by the jump in shares celebrating the end of Chapek’s “stormy tenure”. Once dubbed the “Cashmere Prince” on account of his silky people skills, Iger, is “one of the most admired CEOs in entertainment and media history”, said Michal Lev-Ram in Fortune. Some thought that after 15 years at the helm, he would “never truly leave the Walt Disney Company”. They were right. Iger, 71, who started out as…

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Naturism is a growing force, and these days naturists are not content just to bare all on chilly beaches. According to a British Naturists survey, 14% of people describe themselves as naturists, up from 6% in 2011. And while activities such as naked volleyball and naked swims remain popular, some naturists are now branching out, with ten pin bowling sessions, vineyard tours and visits to galleries. In 2019, the RA invited nudists to a special viewing of its Renaissance nudes show. Fans who lavished $600 on a “hand-signed” collection of Bob Dylan’s essays have been given refunds, after spotting that the rock star’s signature had been generated by a machine. A number of celebrities now rely on “autopen” devices to sign things for them.…

The Scottish Parliament does not have the authority to legislate for a second independence referendum, the Supreme Court has decreed. In a unanimous ruling, the judges said that permission for the plebiscite would have to be obtained from the Government at Westminster. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon tweeted that, though “disappointed” by the verdict, she respected it. She noted that the court does not make law, it interprets it, and said the campaign for “Scottish voices to be heard” would go on. “Scottish democracy will not be denied,” she said. She has previously proposed using the next general election as an informal referendum.…

Paris Cultural crusade: A French cultural organisation has leapt to the defence of the French language, by filing ten legal complaints over advertisements riddled with anglicisms. Observatoire des Libertés claims the French public’s growing acceptance of English – long a concern among linguistic purists – now threatens the very survival of the national tongue, and it berates the authorities for failing to enforce the 1994 Toubon Law, which says that public advertisements must be written in French. Among the organisation’s targets is a billboard promoting “Happy days à La Ciotat” and a sculpture with the slogan #I Love Nice, raised to honour the victims of the July 2016 terrorist attacks in the southern city. Paris Make do and mend: France’s government is to launch a fund next month which will…

1 The “Trelawny” National Anthem (traditional), performed by the Fisherman’s Friends2 Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas, performed by Richard Burton3 Bad Penny Blues by Humphrey Lyttelton, performed by Humphrey Lyttelton and His Band4* Extract from Dawn Chorus (bird song), from the BBC Sound Archive5 The Hippopotamus Song, written and performed by Flanders and Swann6 A Hymn to Him (Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?) by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, performed by Rex Harrison7 The “Trout” Quintet by Franz Schubert, performed by Members of the Melos Ensemble8 Bring Me Sunshine by Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee, performed by Morecambe and Wise Book: an anthology of poems published since 1960 Luxury: a “power” chair * Choice if allowed only one record…

There are growing fears over the impact on that well-loved British institution: Christmas dinner. Britain, which produces about 11 million turkeys a year, two-thirds of which are for the festive period, has lost 40% of its free-range turkey flock to bird flu and culling; goose and duck production has also been badly affected. Ministers have sought to offset the impact of this by allowing turkey producers to freeze then thaw birds and still sell them as fresh, in the hope that will help farmers’ flocks outrun the virus. Britain produces some one billion birds for eating every year, but until a vaccine for avian flu is developed, those who farm those birds face a very uncertain outlook. The UK’s flock of free-range chickens, Europe’s largest, is under threat. If birds…

A voice, at last, for the Cherokees Grace Segers The New Republic After nearly two centuries, congress is taking “baby steps” towards honouring a commitment to the Cherokee Nation, says Grace Segers. The commitment formed part of the 1835 Treaty of New Echota – a treaty (opposed by most Cherokees) that gave the tribe $5m in exchange for seven million acres of their homelands. In return for what was in effect a forced displacement, the treaty stipulated that the tribe would also be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives. But as with so many other promises to American Indians, the US government ignored this commitment. The Cherokee Nation, for its part, has been so busy trying to rebuild itself and survive that it only recently got round…

Increasing numbers of people are paying tens of thousands of pounds to have their legs broken, and made longer. This “lengthening” surgery can add several inches to a person’s height; and there is now so much demand for it (mainly from men) that it is being offered by clinics all over the world. “For the first time, orthopaedic surgeons can have a piece of the plastic surgery business,” Dr Dror Paley, a specialist in Florida, told Simon Usborne in The Guardian. “But that doesn’t mean its being done well. In fact, patients are coming to me with horrible complications.” Paley’s technique involves breaking the thigh bone in each leg, and driving a telescopic nail into the marrow cavity. Over the next few weeks, the patient uses a handheld device to…

In The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell describes the “smoke-dim” slums of northern England in the 1930s, said The Times – with their bug-infested bedrooms and dripping walls. Our world has been transformed since then, but the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak is a stark reminder that millions of people in Britain are still living in appalling conditions, at the mercy of bad landlords. The child of refugee parents from Sudan, Awaab was born in Rochdale in 2018. By then his father had already reported that black mould was growing on the walls of their poorly ventilated one-bedroom flat. The landlord, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), had told him to paint over it; he did, but the mould returned, and spread. He kept emailing, and a health visitor also sent…

Stand by for “a war of attrition” against a “compact and committed Iran team”. That’s how England’s World Cup opener on Monday had been billed, said David Hytner in The Guardian. But in the event, it proved an unexpected breeze for Gareth Southgate’s men. England grabbed “a hold of the tie in the first half”, and by the final whistle had fired six goals past their opponents, equalling their best ever World Cup return and consigning to “unwanted history” their miserable showing in the Nations League. Iran are no pushovers: they’re ranked 20 in the world, said Jason Burt in The Daily Telegraph; but England will clearly face better teams this tournament. Both the USA and Wales, the other two teams in their group – who drew 1-1 on Monday…

F1 Max Verstappen won the final grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi. The Dutchman’s 15th victory of the year meant he finished 146 points clear of second-placed Charles Leclerc in the drivers’ standings. Snooker Mark Allen of Northern Ireland recovered from a 6-1 deficit to beat Ding Junhui of China 10-7 in the final of the UK Championship. Football In the World Cup, Saudi Arabia achieved a shock 2-1 win against Argentina and France beat Australia 4-1 after an early wobble. There were also 0-0 draws between Denmark and Tunisia and Mexico and Poland.…

Looking for Theophrastus by Laura Beatty, 2022 (Atlantic £16.99). What appears to be a quest to learn the truth about a little-known Greek philosopher opens out exponentially. Written in a gentle voice, and in prose so fine you worry it might break, the book travels from Alexander the Great, through literary history via Chaucer, George Eliot and Steinbeck, landing in the present with a soft encouragement to be more alive to however life blossoms around you. Middlemarch by George Eliot, 1871 (Wordsworth Classics £2.99). Always and forever and unimprovable. I was in China earlier this year and whenever earnest discussions ended in cul-de-sacs of ineffable confusion, my final offer was always: “Read Middlemarch”. Molly & the Captain by Anthony Quinn, 2022 (Abacus £16.99). Quinn’s books are unbeatable treats. His latest,…

Programmes Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix Live in Maui Documentary chronicling an ill-fated attempt to make a film of Jimi Hendrix’s concert on Maui in 1970. Sat 26 Nov, BBC2 21:00 (90mins). Simon Schama’s History of Now Schama, who was born in 1945, looks at world events during his lifetime, and the writers and artists of his generation who’ve fought for truth and democracy. Sun 27 Nov, BBC2 21:15 (60mins). Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters Visually arresting film that explores Haiti’s history via its legendary carnival. Sun 27 Nov, BBC4 21:30 (75mins). Secrets of the Middle Aisle Denise Van Outen explores the appeal of the “middle aisle” at Lidl and Aldi, and the thinking behind its seemingly random offerings. Mon 28 Nov, C4 20:00 (60mins). Alison…

Give a feast for the mind this Christmas with a delicate blend of news, culture and knowledge. THEWEEK Subscribers save an extra £5, with gift subscriptions starting from just £41. 99 £36. 99. Visit: subscription.theweek.co.uk/christmas22 or call: 0330 333 9494 quoting offer code: P22XM Gift subscriptions start with the first issue in the new year. Calls charged at your standard network rate. Direct debit offer. Additional terms and payment options available with a £5 discount. Prices quoted are UK only, overseas offers also available.…

Ouseburn Farm was founded in 1976 on a derelict leadworks in Newcastle. The five-acre working farm, which is largely run by volunteers, has gardens, a café and a visitor centre. It provides work experience for adults with learning disabilities, and supplies vegetables to a restaurant that sponsors the farm (free, open during term time Tue-Sun; ouseburnfarm.org.uk). The UK’s first city farm, Kentish Town City Farm was created in 1972 on four acres in north London. Today it welcomes adults with special needs, schoolchildren and visitors who help with its community garden, chickens, donkeys, pigs and sheep. There is a wildlife pond and riding arena (free, open daily; ktcityfarm.org.uk). Balsall Heath City Farm, in Birmingham, was opened in 1980 on a triangle of land beside a railway line. It has 50…

Walking the Menalon Trail As the mythic home of the god Pan, the Greek region of Arcadia lent its name to the pastoral vision of Roman and Renaissance poets. Located in the heart of the Peloponnese peninsula, it is short on nymphs and dryads today, but bucolic nonetheless – and there’s no better way to enjoy its charm than by walking the Menalon Trail, says James Stewart in The Sunday Times. Recently created by local volunteers, this 50-mile hiking route follows old shepherds’ paths and mule tracks across the rugged Menalon massif, via pine forests and “sun-hazed” meadows, “sylvan” gorges and old stone villages beside whose shady squares “old boys with walrus moustaches” sit and watch the world go by. For a relaxed trip, consider going with an operator such…

Sue Baker 1947-2022 Sue Baker, who has died aged 75, blazed a trail through a man’s world by becoming Fleet Street’s first female motoring correspondent. She was also one of the first presenters of the BBC’s Top Gear. She joined the programme in 1980, three years after its launch, and appeared in 113 episodes over 11 years. This was long before Jeremy Clarkson and his gang turned it into a “testosterone-rich lads’ show”, said The Daily Telegraph, with jokes, pranks and attention-grabbing stunts. Back then, she said, Top Gear was a straightforward magazine programme – letting viewers know “which new cars are coming on the market, and what we think of them”. When she travelled, it was to places such as South Korea where new cars were coming out, and…

“Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and complete absence of trustworthy financial information,” remarked America’s most celebrated insolvency professional, John J. Ray III last week, after sifting through the wreckage of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, once valued at £32bn. Given that Ray performed the same service at Enron, whose spectacular 2001 crash later inspired a musical, that’s quite a claim, said Alex Hern in The Observer. But “inside the crazy world of FTX” – a “polyamorous” Bahamas-based community where “an in-house psychiatrist was on hand to dole out prescription stimulants” – the financial rules were as loose as the lifestyle. Ray wasn’t even able “to put together a list of FTX staff”. That task was made harder by the speed with…

Bookies Betting firms including bet365 and London-listed Flutter Entertainment are set to be among “the biggest beneficiaries” as punters rush to bet on national teams. But there are risks. A USA World Cup win, starting at 100/1, “would cause Flutter maximum losses”. ITV “If Harry Kane and co fare well, ITV shareholders will be cheering hard.” The broadcaster “could have its biggest ever World Cup” – since the contest has never before been held in the run-up to Christmas, when advertising is strong. Pub groups It’s unclear whether people will prefer to watch games at home or in the pub, but the tournament looks likely to offer a balm after a punishing year. Simon Emeny of Fuller’s reports “a big spike in bookings for rooms and tables since the Premier…

Saudis, who were given a national holiday on Wednesday to celebrate their team’s triumph over Argentina in the group stage of the World Cup. Saudi Arabia’s 2-1 victory was described as one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history. Donald Trump, whose Twitter ban was lifted. Elon Musk, the platform’s new owner, had launched a poll of users to decide whether the former president should have his account reinstated. The vote was in favour, but Trump has indicated that, as he has his own site now (Truth Social), he’ll not be returning to Twitter. Neighbours, the long-running Australian soap, which was given a reprieve. The show stopped broadcasting in July, but Amazon is now partnering with the production company Fremantle to make a new series, which will begin filming…

Postal workers were due to go on strike for 48 hours this week, and their union, CWU, has now confirmed more strike dates in the run-up to Christmas. Royal Mail said that it had made its “best and final offer”. Members of the rail union the RMT are also planning strikes next month. Travellers have been warned to expect disruptions before and over Christmas, exacerbated by engineering works. These include the complete closure of London Liverpool Street from 25 December to 2 January.…

Greenville, North Carolina YouTuber’s rise: A 24-year-old known as “MrBeast” has ended PewDiePie’s near-decade reign as the most popular content creator on YouTube. Jimmy Donaldson, from North Carolina, has attracted 113 million subscribers to his channel, where his high-production videos have cumulatively had 18.7 billion views. He specialises in extravagant stunts, often filmed in his own 60,000sq ft studio, and in hosting potentially lucrative challenges. One of his biggest video hits involved 456 people competing in a recreation of Netflix’s survival drama Squid Game to win a $456,000 prize. Berkeley, California Lab-grown meat: The US Food and Drug Administration has declared that a lab-grown meat product developed by a Californian start-up is safe to eat – a decision that could pave the way for America to become only the second…

“Once upon a time, dodgy capitalists put on extreme displays of wealth. These days, great cheats such as Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX do the opposite. They are loveable mop-top vegans, who dress down, have fun, profess their simplicity and ‘fight climate change’. There is a clever arrogance about behaving and dressing like this in the company of other rich and powerful people. Far from being humble, you are showing your superiority. You make those who feel they must dress conventionally feel inferior. You also appear to reconcile the human craving for virtue with the even greater human craving for money. Any lessons here? Don’t entrust your money to a man who exposes his legs at business meetings.” Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph…

Autocrats who move fast and break things Simon Kuper Financial Times Elon Musk buying Twitter for a “ludicrous” $44bn; Putin’s hostile takeover bid for Ukraine: both are classic examples of the “overpraised loner” being found out, says Simon Kuper. And both are evidence of a trend characteristic of our age: one-man autocracy. Whether we’re talking of nations (Putin’s Russia, Xi Jinping’s China) or businesses (Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, Musk’s Tesla), a similar narrative is at work. It starts with the rise of an individual who, unbound by rules, “seems more agile than his collectively ruled rivals” and acquires a special aura. “He stabilised Russia/invented Facebook. Why, he’s a genius!” But with no one to restrain him, the autocrat soon starts trying to defy the odds with one rash scheme or another:…

Rats can feel the beat Rats can feel the rhythm, and will nod their heads along to the beat, a study has found. Researchers from the University of Tokyo fitted ten rats with accelerometers that could measure the slightest movement of their heads, then played them excerpts from five pieces of music – including Beat It, by Michael Jackson, and Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D major. These were played at various tempos, from a bit slower than their original speed, to four times faster. It had been speculated that the tempo required to get us tapping our feet might be linked to our heart-rate. But it turned out that although rats’ heart-rates are much faster than ours, their beat synchronicity was most apparent when the music was within…

Last Tuesday, the world reached a remarkable milestone, said The Washington Post. According to UN projections, its population reached eight billion (and in the Philippines, a newborn was chosen to symbolically represent the eight-billionth person). The “day of eight billion” comes only 11 years after the day of seven billion; and it means there are 5.5 billion more people alive today than in 1950. Should we be concerned? Back in 1798, Thomas Malthus warned that population growth would inevitably lead to war and famine; the world’s population has risen eight-fold since then, and as recently as the 1960s, his gloomy view prevailed. Yet what Malthus failed to see was that competition for resources as populations grew would create new incentives to overcome scarcity and conflict, driving death rates down. Owing…

They may have left it far too late, but finally England showed some fighting spirit last week, said Oliver Brown in The Sunday Telegraph. With less than ten minutes to play at Twickenham on Saturday, Eddie Jones’s side trailed New Zealand 25-6; and at that point victory for the All Blacks would have been no more than they deserved, given England’s “maddeningly error-strewn” performance and the excellence of New Zealand’s rugby. But then came a “breathless, mesmerising” passage of play that earned England “one of the most improbable draws in their history” – and sent the home fans into raptures. The “cavalry charge began” after the All Blacks’ No. 15, Beauden Barrett, was sent to the sin-bin for a foul on Marcus Smith, said Robert Kitson in The Observer. Ruthlessly…

End the scourge of mould To The Guardian No one can fail to be touched by the death of Awaab Ishak in Rochdale (“Death of two-year-old from mould in flat a ‘defining moment’, says coroner”), but this was entirely preventable. As a young architect in the late 1960s, I began to work with tenants living in appalling damp and mouldy conditions, and the landlords and councils always blamed the tenants for their lifestyles, and told them to paint over the mould. Housing managers need to be criminally liable for their determined ignorance about how to maintain satisfactory indoor air quality, which they have ignored for years. We can insulate houses with breathable and hygroscopic materials that can mitigate, and even prevent, mould, but these methods are not used in housing…

by Haruki Murakami Harvill Secker 224pp £18.99 The Week Bookshop £14.99 Fans of Haruki Murakami are “highly unlikely” ever to have the opportunity to “corner him at a book-signing session”, said Kathryn Hughes in The Guardian: the author of Norwegian Wood and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle famously doesn’t get “out and about much”. But the “beautiful essays” in this collection offer the next best thing: in them, Murakami looks “straight and hard” at the business of novel writing. One essay recounts the oft-told story – “which never loses its talismanic power” – of how a 29-year-old Murakami, then the owner of a jazz café, had an epiphany while attending a baseball match. As one of his team struck the ball, he said to himself “I think I can write a…

Bjarte Eike & Barokksolistene: The Playhouse Sessions Rubicon Classics £14 The Norwegian violinist Bjarte Eike and his period-instrument collective’s 2017 album, The Alehouse Sessions, was a thrilling Baroque-folk crossover that attracted “a cult following” among classical musicians, said Alexandra Coghlan in Gramophone. Taking inspiration from English tavern life in the 16th and 17th century, it delivered an “all-out musical party, wild with dances, dalliances and drunken brawls”. This terrific follow-up is a “mellower and more polite affair”, but it has the same “joyful, idiosyncratic spirit”. For this album, said Ivan Hewett in The Daily Telegraph, the group has imagined an evening session during the Commonwealth under Cromwell, when playhouses were banned, and out-of-work actors and musicians performed illicitly in taverns and public houses. It includes songs from Shakespeare plays and…

Lisbon city centre Spend 3 nights in the 4-star Pestana CR7 Lisboa hotel, located in the historic district of Baixa Pombalina. From £263pp b&b (incl flights). 020-3368 6846, broadwaytravel.com. Depart 21 January. Best of Costa Rica Visit San José, explore lava trails and discover the wildlife in Cloud Forest over 12 days. From £2,129pp (incl. accommodation and flights). 020-7263 3000, llamatravel.com. Depart 5 January. Hiking and spa in Norway Four nights at fjord-edge Hotel Ullensvang allow for hiking followed by relaxation in the hotel’s wellness area. From £501pp b&b (excl. flights). 01737-214250, discover-the-world.com. Depart April. Five nights in New Orleans Stay at the Hotel Monteleone, situated in the French Quarter and within blocks of Jackson Square. From £1,058pp (room only, incl. London flights). 0344-493 0787, britishairways.com. Depart 29 January. Covid-19:…

Nexperia/Newport Wafer: fab outcome? China has reacted angrily to news that the Government has blocked a takeover of Newport Wafer Fab – the UK’s largest microchip-maker – by a Chinese-owned Dutch company, said Bloomberg. Nexperia, which is owned by the Shanghai-listed Wingtech group, bought an 86% stake in the Wales factory last year for $75m. Deploying new powers granted by the National Security and Investment Act, Business Secretary Grant Shapps has now ordered it to sell the plant. Nexperia plans to appeal the decision which, according to UK manager Toni Versluijs, “sends a clear signal that the UK is closed for business”. The Chinese foreign ministry went further, describing the move as an abuse of “state power”. Newport Wafer Fab, which was founded in 1982 by Drew Nelson, “churns out…

Who will win the battle of Black Friday? Andrea Felsted and Leticia Miranda Bloomberg A year ago, supply-chain snarl-ups had stores “scrambling to fill empty shelves”, say Andrea Felsted and Leticia Miranda. This Black Friday, they face the opposite problem. Desperate to shift the “bloated inventories” now “pressuring their profits”, US retailers are luring consumers with “record online discounts”. Although the markdowns will be welcomed by many cash-strapped shoppers, there’s a “musty” whiff about them: “your Black Friday bargain is most likely spring’s leftover sweatpants”. The picture in Europe is “more complex”. Surprisingly, PwC expects UK consumers to spend £7.5bn this Black Friday – £500m more than last year – suggesting that demand is holding up despite the dark economic backdrop. In mainland Europe, by contrast, “the war in Ukraine…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1339 An Ettinger pass holder and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 5 December. Send it to The Week Crossword 1339, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) travel pass holder in assorted colours, which retails at £115, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 White trees from Saigon developed (6) 4 Military aide involved in plan for terror (6) 8 Informally, I am not on English course (7) 9 Make wider route in Scottish mountain (7) 11 Think food store needs rebuke (10) 12 Second police officer for…