Innehållsförteckning för 1391 från The Week

What happened Boris Johnson’s premiership was left hanging by a thread this week, following a wave of Tory resignations. Chancellor Rishi Sunak and health secretary Sajid Javid both quit on Tuesday afternoon, publishing letters in which they questioned the competence and integrity of the Prime Minister. Their departures triggered a mass of more junior resignations. Johnson, who insisted he had a “colossal mandate” from the 2019 election and would “keep going”, swiftly appointed Nadhim Zahawi, the education secretary, as the new chancellor. The immediate catalyst for the resignations was Johnson’s handling of a sex scandal involving his party’s deputy chief whip, Chris Pincher. The MP for Tamworth resigned from the senior role last Thursday after being accused of drunkenly groping two male guests at the Carlton Club in London. Downing…

Sir Keir Starmer has spelled out how he would “make Brexit work”, said The Guardian. “This is good news.” The Labour leader, once a staunch Remainer, knows all too well how much damage has been done by our decision to leave the EU; polls suggest that four in ten Britons want to rejoin it. “But Sir Keir does not want to restart the wars of the referendum.” He doesn’t want to rejoin the EU, or its single market, or even its customs union. Instead, his “pragmatic” plan aims to tackle the most “acute” problems. He wants to reduce trade barriers with an “agri-food” deal that would allow products to move easily between the UK and the EU – and which he hopes would also resolve the main rows over the…

Covid infections in the UK have risen by almost a third in a week, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. The results of swab tests sent to randomly selected households suggest that 2.3 million people across the UK had Covid in the week ending 24 June, with many infections blamed on the fast-spreading Omicron sub-variants BA.4 and BA.5. According to separate Government figures, 10,081 people with coronavirus were in UK hospitals at the end of June, up from 7,475 a week earlier.…

Akron, Ohio Police shooting: Hundreds of people took to the streets of Akron over several nights this week to protest the killing of yet another unarmed young black man, prompting the authorities to declare a state of emergency. Jayland Walker, 25, was killed last week in a hail of police gunfire, after a car chase with at least eight officers pursuing him for refusing to stop for a traffic violation. A police video shows him running from his car wearing a ski mask. He was then struck more than 60 times by 90 bullets. Walker was unarmed but police claim they were fired on and that a gun was later recovered from his car. Chicago Independence Day killings: Seven people were shot dead and at least 46 others wounded this…

“The standing ovation, once the exception, is now the rule. Post-Covid, I got it. After months of empty theatres and keeping the ghost lamps burning, I’d have clapped any man and his dog to the skies. But university revues, pub two-handers, primary-school plays? I feel a scab for sitting when every man jack is on his feet. But I do it: a sit-in protest. ‘Grinch,’ you’ll say, and fair enough. But I want a standing ovation to mean something. An exclamation mark, not just a standard full-stop. I want to save it for the best. If you stand for every clog dance, what are you going to do when Vadim Muntagirov pulls off a perfect solo from La Bayadère?” Laura Freeman in The Spectator…

No, the UK is not the US in miniature Dominic Sandbrook UnHerd Why do so many people keep insisting that Britain is America? asks Dominic Sandbrook. They were at it again just recently, after the US supreme court struck down Roe v. Wade, making out that this ruling placed our abortion rights in jeopardy. “Where the Republicans go the Tories follow,” tax specialist and ex-Corbyn adviser Richard Murphy warned darkly. “You think what you see in America couldn’t happen here?” asked Labour MP Stella Creasy. Well, yes, unless we adopt a version of the US Constitution, develop “a deeply religious political culture” and spawn a fervent anti-abortion movement, that is exactly what I think. In a recent YouGov survey, just 5% of people felt that women should not have the…

Had we not had Covid vaccines, almost 20 million more people would have died around the world in the year after they became available, a study has indicated. Researchers at Imperial College London used mathematical models of Covid transmission to estimate the number of people who would have died, in 185 countries and territories between December 2020 and December 2021, had no vaccines been administered. “We knew it was going to be a large number, but I did not think it would be as high [as this],” said co-author Dr Oliver Watson. However, the research also found that many more lives could have been saved had the vaccines been more equitably distributed. According to the modelling, nearly 600,000 additional deaths could have been prevented, had the World Health Organisation’s goal…

In all the furore about culture wars, we’re at risk of overlooking the “war on culture” that is being fought “under our noses”, said Alice Crossley on Reaction. More significant than the bickering between Gen Z and boomers is the eroding of arts and humanities subjects at our universities, owing to the prevailing view that “a wealth of knowledge” matters far less than “economic wealth”. There was an outcry last week when Sheffield Hallam University said it was suspending its English literature course. Yet it was only the latest manifestation of a broader trend in higher education: the University of Roehampton recently cut its arts and humanities courses, in order to focus on what it described as “skills-led” learning with “greater engagement with employers”. And similar plans are said to…

“Never set up an inquiry unless you know in advance what its findings will be.”Sir Humphrey Appleby, quoted in The Sunday Times “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.”Gore Vidal, quoted in The Daily Telegraph “The basic test of a decent police force is to catch more criminals than it employs.”Sir Robert Marks, quoted in The Times “Remember, any lie you are told, even deliberately, is often a more significant fact than a truth told in all sincerity.”Halldór Laxness, quoted on The Browser “A difference of taste in jokes is a great strain upon the affections.”George Eliot, quoted in Forbes “Men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains upon their own appetites.”Edmund Burke,…

To The Times The English literature degree may have fallen out of fashion, as James Marriott claims (“Eng Lit is doomed by lack of prestige”), but as a novelist I wonder whether some of the blame for this can be laid at the door of the media. The BBC has decided that contemporary fiction is fit to adapt only if it features lissom teenagers having rampant sex. Book coverage in most newspapers has shrunk to a quarter of its number of pages in the 1980s. As most of us earn less than the minimum wage, to write literary fiction in Britain takes a level of resolve that approaches lunacy. Literature is not about entryism into a social elite, as Marriott suggests, or forming “the tolerant, self-critical, ‘morally mature’ citizens of…

by Jessie Burton Picador 400pp £16.99 The Week Bookshop £13.99 In 2014, Jessie Burton’s debut novel The Miniaturist – about 18-year-old Nella Oortman’s coming of age in 17th century Amsterdam – became a global bestseller, said Gwendolyn Smith in The i Paper. Now Burton is back, with a “beguiling, tender sequel”, set 18 years later. Nella, now 37, is a widow (The Miniaturist climaxed with her husband’s execution for sodomy), who still lives in the “same grand address on Amsterdam’s Herengracht canal”. A “cold, austere place” in the previous book, the house is now suffused with “warmth and familiarity” – though it still “thrums with secrets”. “Wise and fabulously immersive”, this book, if anything, surpasses its predecessor. I disagree, said Claire Allfree in The Daily Telegraph. Burton remains a “lovely…

Catherine Goodman at Marlborough London Catherine Goodman paints with an intensity that could be considered unfashionable: the vivid primary colours and intertwining forms of her canvases hit the viewer in the face, like a door swinging open at just the wrong moment. The effect is rarely less than remarkable. This new series of paintings, called And Everything Changed, created during the Covid-19 lockdowns, is a particularly personal, and somewhat sobering addition to Goodman’s repertoire; while the world shut down, the artist was tasked with caring for her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother. We see distorted visions of the female form just distinguishable through splatter-blasts of colour and line; in a few works, that figure rests in reflective poses; in others, she is splayed out on the floor, wildly contorted. Plant life around the…

The benefits of going Nordic Move over the Mediterranean diet, says Peta Bee in The Times: there’s mounting evidence that the Nordic diet is just as good, if not better, for your health. One study published this year found it can prevent obesity and cut the risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure. Another, at Umeå University in Sweden, suggested that toddlers who’d been fed home-cooked Nordic dishes as babies ate twice as many vegetables as those who’d been fed standard baby food. Key elements of a Nordic diet include whole grains such as steel-cut oats; gut-friendly fermented foods such as pickled herrings and kefir; nuts and seeds; and berries, pears and plums. Look out also for skyr – an Icelandic cultured dairy product similar to…

● You can put up to £9,000 into a junior Isa (Jisa) each tax year with no capital gains or income tax implications. The Isa can be cash, stocks and shares or a mix of both, but watch out for charges on managed funds. Only parents or guardians will be able to open the Jisa, but anyone can contribute. ● If your child is 16 or over, they can apply for an adult cash Isa and save up to £20,000 in it this tax year, but they can’t invest in a stocks and shares Isa until they’re 18. Money in a Jisa can be rolled into an adult Isa, and is locked away until they are 18. ● Despite the turmoil in the stock market, most experts believe it’s still…

Dame Deborah James 1981-2022 Dame Deborah James was a teacher, campaigner and podcast host who became known to the public as “Bowelbabe”. At the age of 35, the mother of two had been diagnosed with stage-4 bowel cancer; she was told that only 35% of patients at that stage live another year, and only 8% are alive in five years. The odds were terrible; but James was determined not to be a victim, said The Times. Pulling herself out of her depression, she started a blog, to document the progress of her disease, and to highlight the fact that bowel cancer can strike people young. Funny, moving, honest, the Bowelbabe blog struck a chord, and gained hundreds of thousands of followers. They would see pictures of Deborah pockmarked and strained…

The vultures have had their wings clipped Alex Brummer The Daily Mail The post-financial crisis years of “free and easy money” have come “to an abrupt end”, says Alex Brummer – and with them, the “gung-ho era of private equity deals” financed by bank debt. Uncertain markets, inflation and surging interest rates have clipped the vultures’ wings. We’ve seen as much at Boots, whose putative buyers have now withdrawn. In another sign of stress, buyout kings KKR and the “vampire kangaroo” Macquarie have retreated from the £15bn takeover of UK Power Networks, owned by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing. While private equity barons are “becoming more wary”, alarm bells are ringing in investment banks. The Wall Street Journal reports that Bank of America, Goldman Sachs and an “already overstretched” Credit…

The week’s best shares Essentra The Times The group is slimming down to focus on its higher-growth components arm, which makes metal and plastic parts for industries including car-making and construction. Further disposals could be a catalyst for shares. Buy. 272p. Henry Boot The Mail on Sunday Henry Boot acquires greenfield land, which it sells on to builders with planning permission; and transforms brownfield sites for industrial and residential use. Responsible and reputable – trading is strong, profits up. Buy. 288p. Inchcape The Mail on Sunday The car dealer has a strong online presence and trades in 40 countries – selling and servicing vehicles. Shares are down on economic growth fears, but Inchcape is well-run, robust and cash-generative with rising profits. Buy. 691p. International Consolidated Airlines Group The Daily Telegraph…

What happened Vladimir Putin declared victory in Luhansk this week, after his troops took the last Ukrainian-controlled city in the province, in the east of Ukraine. Russia said the capture of Lysychansk had brought it closer to fulfilling its aim of taking the entire Donbas region, which is comprised of Luhansk and neighbouring Donetsk. Putin stated that the units that had secured “victory” in Luhansk should now rest, to “increase their combat capabilities”. Kyiv said its troops had withdrawn from Lysychansk to avoid “fatal consequences”, citing Russia’s superiority in numbers and equipment. At a Nato summit in Madrid last week, the US announced that it would send additional troops and weaponry to Europe, as part of the largest scaling-up of Nato defences since the Cold War. Nato allies backed the…

Halifax has come under fire for telling its customers to go elsewhere if they don’t like its pronoun policy. The bank was accused of virtue signalling after tweeting a picture of one of its new staff badges, printed with the name Gemma, and below it, “she/her/hers”. In response, its social-media manager said: “We strive for inclusion, equality and quite simply in doing what’s right. If you disagree with our values, you’re welcome to close your account.” Social-media addicts ground down by the negativity of online life can now sign up to an invitation-only app that encourages its users to send each other daily compliments, and where meanness is banned. The app, Morale, is described as a “help community in your pocket”.…

44% of voters in Scotland oppose SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon’s plan to hold a second referendum on independence in October 2023. 43% are in favour of the idea. 48% say they’re in favour of independence; 47% are opposed. Panelbase/The Sunday Times 71% of Americans think that Joe Biden should not seek a second term in office. Harvard CAPS/Harris/The Times Among Tory members, Ben Wallace is the favourite to succeed Boris Johnson as party leader, on 15.8%. Penny Mordaunt is second, on 15.5%; and Liz Truss is third, on 13.9%. Tom Tugendhat is on 7%, Nadhim Zahawi on 6.6%, and Jeremy Hunt on 6.4%. Conservative Home…

Sajid Javid’s family tragedy It’s four years since Sajid Javid got the news that his brother, Tariq, had taken his own life, says Caroline Wheeler in The Sunday Times. A supermarket chain manager, Tariq had been signed off work with stress a month earlier, but he’d shown no further signs of his state of mind. Yet Javid – one of five brothers – can’t help but feel a sense of survivor’s guilt. “You think about what we could have done,” he reflects. “Maybe I could have made a difference. I guess I will never know the answer to that. I was very busy at the time. I was home secretary and there was a lot going on, but I do think about what more I could have done to make…

Large groups of smartly dressed young men are descending on screenings of the children’s animation Minions: The Rise of Gru. The trend started on TikTok among teenagers who grew up with the Minions films. It involves wearing a formal suit in homage to the hero’s loveable villain, Gru, and copying his signature hand gesture. Participants call themselves Gentleminions, after Gru’s yellow servants – and they can be rowdy. “We are currently not admitting unaccompanied children wearing suits for Minions: The Rise of Gru,” declared the Regal cinema in Wadebridge in Cornwall, citing “issues” with “associated behaviour”. Geese on Ullswater in the Lake District are being pulled underwater to their deaths by unseen forces. Wayne Owens, from Howton, said he’d seen a number of geese dragged backwards “at speed”, then disappear;…

Tortoises may hold key to long life The record for the oldest living tortoise is currently held by a 190-year-old called Jonathan, who was five when Queen Victoria was crowned, and who is said still to enjoy a vigorous sex life at his home in Saint Helena. Now, Danish scientists have shed more light on why the likes of Jonathan go on and on. They analysed the age-related decline of 52 species of tortoises and turtles, and found that 75% of them exhibited low or negligible “senescence”, or signs of ageing. A few, including black marsh turtles, even showed negative senescence, meaning the chance of them dying actually falls as they get older. (This does not imply that the animals are immortal; their risk of death may not rise with…

Kirstie Allsopp raised eyebrows in 2018 when she admitted she’d “smashed” her sons’ iPads, to punish them for persistently breaking her screentime rules. “I banged them on the table leg,” the TV presenter explained. Now, she has had another run-in with an Apple product. “I just swallowed an AirPod while downing my vitamins,” she tweeted last month. “I don’t recommend it.” She added that she hadn’t needed to go to hospital to retrieve the wireless earphone, as she had managed to “chuck it back up” soon afterwards. Popbitch, the celebrity newsletter, has recounted a reader’s memorable brush with a Julie Andrews fanatic at a pizza restaurant in the Hamptons. “Someone behind me kept saying the name Julie Andrews,” the reader recalled. “[It was] along the lines of: well, everyone thinks…

“There is something rotten in the state of British policing,” said Camilla Cavendish in the FT. Last week, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary took the unprecedented step of placing the Metropolitan Police force in “special measures”. Many of its failings were already well-publicised, such as the racist messages and even pictures of murder victims sent by officers on WhatsApp; the botched investigation into the killings of four gay men by the serial killer Stephen Port; and the murder of Sarah Everard by a serving officer, Wayne Couzens. But the watchdog also unearthed a litany of “systemic” problems at the Met, such as the failure to record reasons for stop-and-search, a vast backlog of online child-abuse referrals, and its “barely adequate” documenting of crime: some 69,000 crimes go unrecorded each year.…

For some, he’s a foul-mouthed bully who demeans the sport of tennis; for others he’s a “tortured and underachieving genius”. But whatever your take on Nick Kyrgios, he’s undoubtedly box office, said Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail. And in a year when Wimbledon had no Russians and carried no ranking points, the 27-year-old’s strong showing over week one was a big fillip for the tournament. Especially mesmerising was the Australian’s thirdround clash against fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, a contest notable for its near-constant drama and “astounding” tennis. It was, quite simply, “among the best first-week matches ever seen”. No one who watched could “take their eyes off it for a second”, agreed Oliver Holt in The Mail on Sunday. After a high-quality first set, which Tsitsipas won on a…

Rugby union Australia beat England 30-28 in the first match of a three-Test series. Cycling Dutch cyclist Fabio Jakobsen won stage two of the Tour de France, two years after sustaining lifethreatening injuries in the Tour of Poland. The very next day his compatriot Dylan Groenewegen, widely blamed for causing Jakobsen’s injuries, won stage three. Tennis At Wimbledon, Britain’s Cameron Norrie beat the Belgian David Goffin 3-6 7-5 2-6 6-3 7-5 to reach the semi-final. Heather Watson lost in the fourth round to Jule Niemeier of Germany.…

Running time: 3hrs 10mins Richard III tells the story of a “morally bankrupt schemer, bereft of empathy and surrounded by sycophantic hypocrites”, who reaches the summit of power but is “fatally exposed by his own narcissism and ineptitude”. No wonder they call Shakespeare’s greatest works “timeless”, said Michael Hughes on What’s on Stage. This new RSC production, directed by its outgoing artistic director Gregory Doran, boasts superb design, lighting and costumes – and stars Arthur Hughes, the first actor with a disability to play the character at Stratford. Hughes, who has radial dysplasia in his right arm, has already played Richard in the Henry VI plays. Here, he delivers on that promise, with a king whose “paranoia consumes and overwhelms his ambition”. Hughes’s Richard is a dead-eyed schemer and “swaggering…

Joshua Reynolds’ Portrait of Omai may soon leave the UK, says George Parker in the FT. It is a portrait of one of Britain’s “first non-white celebrities”: Omai, or Mai, was a Pacific Islander who travelled with Captain Cook’s second expedition back to London in 1775. There, he gained instant fame, meeting George III and attending the opening of Parliament; he returned to the Pacific with Cook in 1776. Reynolds’ life-size painting (detail, above) showing Mai in a classical pose, is a masterpiece of 18th-century portraiture – but “also marks a historic cultural encounter between Western society and one of the earliest visitors from Polynesia”. Last year, its owner (thought to be Irish billionaire John Magnier) applied for an export licence, to sell it abroad. The Government imposed a temporary…

Steph’s Suddenly Single party is a flop. Hardly anyone shows up, other than the male stripper. She admits to Ben that the party was a bid to win Liam back, but now she looks awful on “social”. When Ben comforts her, Steph misreads his sympathy and kisses him, just as Beth walks in. Ben chases after Beth, protesting his innocence. Chris and Alice spend the afternoon with Martha and get on brilliantly. They’re elated when an email arrives from social services saying that there will be no further action regarding Martha’s accident. Ben’s stunned that Steph hasn’t told Beth that she instigated the kiss, saying he’d never look twice at someone like her. Vince convinces Beth to talk to her sister. It doesn’t go well, with Steph insisting that Ben…

Cromlix near Dunblane in Perthshire is owned by Andy Murray, who has kitted it out with a state-of-the-art all-weather court in Wimbledon colours, plus a practice wall (b&b doubles from £250; cromlix.com). The Nare’s all-weather tennis court has breathtaking views over Carne beach in south Cornwall. Tennis coaching is available (b&b doubles from £360; narehotel.co.uk). Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire has two allweather courts, and guests can also enjoy Europe’s largest underground spa and a saltwater pool (full-board doubles from £330; baronseden.com/hoar-cross-hall). Foxhills, set in 400 acres of Surrey woodland, has a vibrant tennis club with 11 courts (acrylic, synthetic clay and allweather) and five full-time coaches (b&b doubles from £160; foxhills.co.uk). Park House Hotel in West Sussex has two championship-standard grass courts with views towards the South Downs (b&b…

A Land Rover adventure in Kenya The only camp in the Lolldaiga Conservancy in northern Kenya, the Safari Series offers an array of unusual experiences, from tracking lions on foot to bivouacking beneath the stars. But for some, the most alluring may be the chance to drive a vintage Land Rover through the bush, says Nick Hammond in The Daily Telegraph. You’ll never feel more “hot-bloodedly, heart-thumpingly alive” than when careering across the wilderness in one of these old workhorses; the camp owns eight of them, including a rare 107 Series I from the 1950s. Set on the Laikipia Plateau, the conservancy spans a “breathtaking” variety of habitats, with big game aplenty, and the chances are that you won’t spot anyone else on your drives – a solitude that much…

Sir Colin Blakemore 1944-2022 Sir Colin Blakemore, who has died aged 78, opposed the testing of cosmetics on animals, said The Daily Telegraph; he disapproved of fox hunting; and he tried to avoid factoryfarmed meat. But as a neuroscientist, he was convinced that experimenting on animals for the purposes of medical research was a necessary evil; and in the 1980s and 1990s, his defence of vivisection – coupled with publicity about experiments he had conducted on kittens, while looking for a cure for childhood blindness – made him the target of animal-rights extremists. He received death threats, paint stripper was poured over his car, bricks were thrown through his windows, and a parcel containing explosives and hypodermic needles was sent to his daughter. Blakemore refused to be cowed, said The…

The battle to retain customers in the teeth of soaring inflation has led to a notable gap on Tesco’s shelves, said The Sunday Times. Kraft Heinz has pulled “its baked beans and ketchup brands” after the supermarket “refused to allow it to raise prices”. Tesco has helpfully suggested that shoppers might switch to Branston baked beans, made by Japan’s Mizkan Group, or its own-brand versions. That might be an unpalatable move too far for some customers, but analysts reckon the supermarket – which is fighting to ward off discounters Aldi and Lidl – could score a PR win if the row cements Tesco’s “reputation for value” in shoppers’ minds.…

Deutsche Bank analysts, led by Jim Reid, reckon that “if the PM can stay on, he will likely pivot towards easier fiscal policy now the Chancellor has resigned. However, it’s tough to price that in as it’s not clear whether [he] can survive”. Jordan Rochester, currency strategist at Nomura, reckons it’s only a matter of time before Johnson departs. “Does it matter for the pound? In the short term no, but in the next few weeks possibly yes,” he said. The new leader will want to win over voters and the Tory party, so perhaps we [will] see “subsidies for energy and tax cuts.” Alvin T. Tan of the Royal Bank of Canada believes Johnson’s departure could add to sterling negatives. “The impact… from Johnson’s political troubles in recent months…

Gary Stevenson The campaigner behind the YouTube channel GarysEconomics earned enough money during his six years as a trader at Citigroup in London to never work again, said Rupert Neate in The Observer. In doing so, Stevenson, 35, fulfilled a childhood dream. “I was a clever, poor, ambitious kid who just didn’t want to be poor any more.” But he didn’t just walk away – he started to denounce his former career as an exercise in “betting on inequality”, and now works “to right the system” via his videos. Stevenson describes inequality as an untreated “cancer in our economy” that won’t be fixed until the backgrounds of politicians and economists better reflect society. “These guys think the economy’s great, because it’s great for them… The only way to change the…

The sun is beginning to set over the Donbas front line, and I’m hurtling down hedgerow-lined roads eerily reminiscent of English country lanes at 100km an hour, bouncing around in the back of a civilian SUV as the burly fighters in the front neck cans of Monster and buckle on helmets. We’ve entered the grey zone, the no-man’s land of abandoned villages and contested territory in the steppe landscape of eastern Ukraine; as we approach a stretch of road where the hedgerows thin out, making us visible to the Russian positions on the nearby hillside, the driver accelerates until we’re safely back in the cover of the trees. The platoon commander, “Pedro” – soldiers here all use noms de guerre, a tradition drawn from Ukraine’s long history of resistance to…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1319 An Ettinger shoe horn 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 18 July. Send it to The Week Crossword 1319, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid or listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive an Ettinger (ettinger.co.uk) Bridle Hide travel shoehorn in black, which retails at £75, and two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 Tons in bags? (6) 5 Dad backing Mum? That’s clear (8) 9 Fellow in robbery is a pagan (8) 10 Award, one welcomed by leader of rap group (6) 11 Flexible ministers touring Norway – they could go off anywhere (5,7) 13…

Stretches of major road in England, Wales and Scotland were brought to a standstill this week by “go slow” protests in support of cuts to fuel duties. Hundreds of drivers, in lorries, vans, cars and tractors, took part in the protests, travelling in convoy at speeds of 30mph on roads including the M4, the A92, the M5 and the A12 in Essex. Some said that, owing to rising fuel prices, they were paying hundreds of pounds a week just to get to work. Thirteen people were arrested for driving at “excessively slow speeds”. The demonstrators, who mobilised on social media, are now planning further protests, with talk of trying to paralyse roads in London.…

Berlin Transgender reform: The German government has unveiled plans to make it easier for transgender people to legally change their names and gender. If it is approved by MPs, the law will scrap the need for people to seek court approval, and reports from experts, before their gender can be changed on official documents. Instead, adults will be able to declare the change at their local registry office; children over the age of 14 will be able to do likewise, if they have parental permission. “The current law treats those affected as if they are sick. There is no justification for this,” said Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (pictured). Berlin Bronzes returned: Two Benin Bronzes were handed by Germany to Nigeria’s ambassador at a ceremony in Berlin last week, following the…

1 Roam by Kate Pierson, Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Robert Waldrop and Cindy Wilson, performed by The B-52s 2* Dreams by Gabrielle and Tim Laws, performed by Gabrielle 3 You Might Need Somebody by Nan O’Byrne and Tom Snow, performed by Shola Ama 4 He Needs Me by Arthur Hamilton, performed by Nina Simone 5 Bills, Bills, Bills by Kevin Briggs, Kandi, Beyoncé, LeToya Luckett and Kelly Rowland, performed by Destiny’s Child 6 I’d Rather Go Blind by Etta James, Ellington Jordan and Billy Foster, performed by Etta James 7 Maps by Brian Chase, Karen O and Nick Zinner, performed by Yeah Yeah Yeahs 8 For All We Know by J. Fred Coots and Sam M. Lewis, performed by Donny Hathaway Book: The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur Luxury: Self-inflatable bed * Choice if allowed only one…

Many Hongkongers felt a sense of betrayal when their city was handed back to China in 1997. This was compounded by the question of citizenship. Negotiating the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, prime minister Margaret Thatcher had spoken of Britain’s “moral responsibility and duty to the people of Hong Kong”. But, because of opposition from backbench MPs who feared an influx of immigrants to Britain, she denied Hong Kong’s people the right to full British citizenship. Instead, they could apply for British National (Overseas) status, which did not afford them an automatic right to live and work in the UK. In 2020, after Hong Kong’s new national security law was passed, the British Government reversed this position. Boris Johnson opened the door to the 2.9 million Hongkongers with British National (Overseas)…

While all eyes were on “yet another Tory sex scandal” in Westminster last week, momentous political events were unfolding 400 miles to the north, said Tim Shipman in The Sunday Times. Nicola Sturgeon set out plans to hold a second independence referendum on 19 October 2023. She also announced that she would seek approval from the Supreme Court to hold a new referendum without permission from the UK Government (since Boris Johnson and his ministers have no intention of allowing a second poll). If, as expected, the court rejects her application, Sturgeon said that the SNP would double down by treating the 2024 general election as a “de facto referendum”, with a manifesto offering only one policy: that Scotland should be an independent country. She argued that if the SNP…

The email every middle-class parent dreads arrived in my inbox last week, said Camilla Long in The Sunday Times: “Unfortunately, your flight to Palma has been cancelled.” Cue pandemonium as we rushed to find a new flight, rearrange rental cars and contact the organisers of the villa to inform them about our revised travel plans. It’s an experience that many have endured over recent months, and that many more will go through during the holiday season, along with endless airport queues and long waits for baggage. “The chaos this summer will make the fall of Saigon look like a slight altercation at a ties-only gastropub in Henley. Airports will be full of crying women in Heidi Klein kaftans banging their fists on check-in desks.” It’s a fretful time for those…

“Bazball”: that’s what they’re calling the relentlessly aggressive approach to Test cricket that England have embraced under new head coach Brendon McCullum, said Nick Hoult in The Daily Telegraph. And on Tuesday at Edgbaston, the strategy notched up another triumph. In their single Test against India (completing the series begun last summer), England did what they’d already done to New Zealand three times this summer: they made mincemeat of a fourth-innings run chase that had seemed out of reach. Having dominated the first three days, India were bowled out for 245 in their second innings, leaving England 378 for victory – a total higher than any they’d chased in their 145 years of Test cricket. Yet they made it look easy, said Ali Martin in The Guardian. After Alex Lees…

The modern doctor’s lot To The Daily Telegraph You report that almost 19,000 family doctors plan to leave the NHS in the next five years owing to retirement, stress and burnout. Another reason is that the role of GPs is boring and a reflection of what they have become – public-health doctors buried in vaccination programmes, time-consuming and remote consultations, overwhelming bureaucracy and failing management. Look at what has been taken away from them: acute medicine and maternity care. These areas were what formed the bond between doctor, family and community. To restore general practice, GPs need to provide 21st-century care, accommodating specialisation and embracing hi-tech diagnosis and therapy. Central to this is speed of access in the appropriate setting to specialised doctors. GPs need to be allowed to do…

These are all powerful books examining the estates of motherhood, womanhood and writerhood – however obliquely or directly. They have bolstered me in my own life as a writer, and in my new role as a mother: Motherhood by Sheila Heti, 2018 (Vintage £9.99), is a thoughtful, frank novel about a woman deciding in her late 30s whether or not to have a child. Intellectual yet conversational, it’s a meditation on responsibility and freedom, and the purpose of life itself. I found it extremely moving. Making Babies by Anne Enright, 2004 (Vintage £8.99). Joyous! Enright is a mistress of writing the beauty in the chaos of the early months, and as someone so good at capturing darkness, she is of course so very funny. With originality and truth, she perfectly…

Programmes Trom Six-part drama set on the Faroe Islands. A journalist’s life is turned upside down when he receives a message from his estranged daughter, saying her life is in danger. Sat 9 July, BBC4 21:00 (90mins). The Real Mo Farah The long-distance runner discusses his childhood, his journey from Somaliland to the UK as a boy, and the training that led him to Olympic glory. Wed 13 July, BBC1 21:00 (60mins). Camilla’s Country Life Film following the Duchess of Cornwall as she marks her 75th birthday by guest editing Country Life magazine. Wed 13 July, ITV1 21:00 (60mins). Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe Documentary about the construction of Nasa’s James Webb Space Telescope – the successor to Hubble, and a hundred times more powerful. Thur…

A week in Sardinia Seven nights at the adults-only Grand Hotel Resort Ma&Ma, on the Island of La Maddalena, cost from £609pp b&b, including London flights. 020-8016 3295, thomascook.com. Depart 20 September. All-inclusive in Cancún The Dreams Sapphire Resort & Spa, on the coast of the glorious Riviera Maya, offers 7 nights from £1,549pp, including Manchester flights. 0344-472 9646, virginholidays.co.uk. Depart 3 October. Five nights in Dubai Step into a world of luxury at the Swissotel Al Murooj, directly opposite The Dubai Mall, from £706pp room-only including Birmingham flights. 01234-230440, loveholidays.com. Depart 13 September. Four-star waterfront hotel Stay 3 nights at the Monet Garden Hotel in Amsterdam city centre, with the Nemo Science Museum and Artis nearby, from £281pp b&b. 020-3024 8211, expedia.co.uk. Arrive 13 December. Covid-19: please check government…