Table of contents for 1413 in The Week

What happened Cabinet ministers gathered this week for a series of Cobra meetings to coordinate their response to a looming wave of strikes. On Monday, the RMT union announced further strike action over Christmas, targeting planned engineering work on the railways. This is on top of the series of 48-hour walkouts rail workers were already due to hold next week, and at the start of the new year. Up to 100,000 nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are also planning two days of walkouts before Christmas. They are set to be joined by thousands of ambulance workers. Unions said crews would still cover Category One incidents, which include life-threatening injuries and cardiac arrests. Other striking groups include Border Force employees and Royal Mail staff; firefighters and control-room staff are…

I turned on the radio last Wednesday, and the lead story on BBC News was “about how some woman had asked another woman where she was from”, said Rod Liddle in The Sunday Times. There were many people commenting on this incident, most of them “beside themselves” with rage. It seems that at a Buckingham Palace event, the first woman, 83-year-old royal courtier Lady Susan Hussey, had asked the second, Ngozi Fulani, who runs the domestic violence charity Sistah Space, where she was from; and had persisted with this line of questioning, dissatisfied with the answer that she was from Hackney. Was this insensitive? Yes. Was this racist? Perhaps. But it seems odd that the story led the national news for two days, and that Hussey had to step down…

Eddie Izzard, who failed in her bid to become Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Sheffield Central. The comedian, who identifies as a gender-fluid trans woman, came second with 175 votes. The victor, local councillor Abtisam Mohamed, won 433. Primary school maths, after several politicians visiting a school in London failed to pass a Sats test taken by ten-year-olds. More than a dozen MPs and peers took Sats tests, on the understanding that their individual scores would not be revealed. Fewer than half reached the expected standard in maths; and only half reached the expected level for spelling, punctuation and grammar. Raheem Sterling, who missed England’s 3-0 victory against Senegal in the World Cup’s last 16, because he had to fly home from Qatar at the last minute to deal with a…

Brussels Terror trial: The trial began this week of ten Islamic State suspects accused of helping to carry out suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016. More than 300 people were injured in the attacks and 32 killed. The terror cells involved in the Brussels blasts are thought to be the same as those that carried out the Bataclan theatre massacre and other attacks in Paris in November 2015, in which 130 people were killed: six of the Brussels defendants have already been found guilty by a Paris court of involvement in those atrocities. Two suspected plot leaders will not be on trial: Abdelhamid Abaaoud was killed in a 2015 shootout with police in Paris; Oussama Atar, who is being tried in absentia, is likely to have been killed by an…

1 Kyenkyen Bi Adi M’awu by Alhaji Frimpong, performed by K. Frimpong and his Cubano Fiestas2 Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett, performed by This Mortal Coil3* Strange Fruit by Lewis Allan, performed by Billie Holiday4 Back to Life by Jazzie B, Caron Wheeler, Nellee Hooper and Simon Law, performed by Soul II Soul5 Ex-Factor, written and performed by Lauryn Hill6 The Stars of Track and Field by Sarah Marti, Stephen Jackson, Stuart Murdoch, Christopher Geddes, Richard Colburn, Michael Cooke and Isobel Campbell, performed by Belle & Sebastian7 Peru by Oluwaseyi Akerele, Adedamola Adefolahan, Ivory Scott, and Kolten Perine, performed by Fireboy DML and Ed Sheeran8 Love Without Tragedy/Mother Mary by Terius Youngdell Nash, Carlos Alexander McKinney and Robyn R. Fenty, performed by Rihanna Book: Caste: The…

Eliot left clear instructions that he wished “to suppress my own biography”. Valerie Eliot, his widow, became notorious for blocking biographers’ investigations. Nevertheless, the story of his troubled personal life has been thoroughly investigated. He and Vivien separated in 1933, though Eliot would not consider divorce. By this time, Vivien was suffering from serious mental health issues: she was committed to an asylum outside London in 1938 and died there in 1947. Since then, it has emerged that he also had long celibate dalliances with two women: Emily Hale (who may have been The Waste Land’s “hyacinth girl”), and Mary Trevelyan. The poet’s politics have posed a stumbling-block to later generations. There is a clear antisemitic strain in his earlier writings: “The rats are underneath the piles / The Jew…

A fatal lack of progress on road safety Emily Badger The New York Times Nearly 43,000 people died on America’s roads last year, says Emily Badger. It’s a tragic toll, but one often seen, quite wrongly, as an “unavoidable cost of mass mobility”. In reality, many of these deaths are avoidable, as other countries have shown. Over the past 25 years, advances in car safety such as seatbelt usage, standard-issue airbags and safer car frames have greatly reduced driver and passenger deaths across the developed world. Yet per-capita traffic fatalities in the US are still far higher than in comparable countries. Why? Because as cars have grown safer for those inside them, America “didn’t progress as other countries did to prioritising the safety of people outside them”. Other nations have…

News last week that an Alzheimer’s drug had, for the first time, been shown to slow the progress of the disease was hailed as “momentous”; but experts have cautioned that questions remain about the “real world” effectiveness of lecanemab. In the trial, patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s experienced slightly slower cognitive decline over 18 months. However, there are side effects associated with the drug, including brain bleed, and 7% of the patients in the trial had to withdraw because of them. Added to that, it is not yet clear what happens after 18 months, and whether patients who take it will actually end up being able to live independently for longer. There are also concerns that the NHS does not diagnose Alzheimer’s early enough to make use of…

“Something odd is going on in Britain’s job market,” said Richard Partington in The Guardian. We’re in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and heading into recession, yet growing numbers of people are giving up work and becoming “economically inactive” – not in a job, and not looking for one. Across the world, Covid disrupted employment patterns. In other advanced economies, employment levels have since bounced back. In the UK, by contrast, 630,000 people are “missing” – they left the workforce some time between February 2020 and August 2022, and haven’t come back. In total, there are now nine million 16- to 64-year-olds who are economically inactive – one in five of the working-age population. Some of these people will be better off fiftysomethings who have decided that they no…

“There is no more wretched prison than the fear of hurting someone who loves you.”Rainer Maria Rilke, quoted in The New York Times “I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.”Mary Wollstonecraft, quoted in Blasting News “Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.”Bertolt Brecht, quoted in the Financial Times “Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read.”Groucho Marx, quoted in DCist “It is human nature to hate him whom you have injured.”Tacitus, quoted in Forbes “A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”Mark Twain, quoted in Skies “We do not know what to do with this short life, yet we want another which…

Boxing Tyson Fury successfully defended his WBC world heavyweight title with a ten-round victory over Derek Chisora. Tennis Pioneering coach Nick Bollettieri – who worked with Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and many more – has died at the age of 91. Rugby union Eddie Jones was sacked as England’s head coach. Football After a thrilling round-of-16, the World Cup quarter-finals, to be played this weekend, are Croatia vs. Brazil, Morocco vs. Portugal, Netherlands vs. Argentina, and England vs. France.…

As a teenager, Clint Dyer visited the National Theatre and was so shocked to see a photograph of Laurence Olivier “blacked up” in the foyer, he took out a pen and scrawled “Shame on you” on it. Now Dyer is the National’s deputy artistic director, said Nick Curtis in the London Evening Standard, and has become the first black director to stage Othello at a major British theatre. It is a “sensational” production, said Sarah Crompton on What’s on Stage, confidently directed and beautifully acted, in which the tension is “ratcheted up to breaking point as every moment passes”. We are presented with a society “riven not only by racism and fear of the outsider”, but by such a “hatred and distrust of women” that “no one believes them or…

Apple TV’s spy drama, Slow Horses, was a hit when it aired in April, said Barbara Ellen in The Observer, and now it’s back for a second season, which works well, for the most part. Directed by Jeremy Lovering, the show stars Gary Oldman as the spy boss Jackson Lamb. An irascible hard drinker “who looks as though he’s found all the overflowing ashtrays of 1976 and rolled in them”, Lamb presides over Slough House, a “dumping ground” for spies who’ve made career-ending mistakes. The plot involves Russia, radiation poisoning and red herrings, and though its twists don’t quite equal those of the first season, it’s still “a solid watch, with fleshed-out characters and moreish plot developments”. Slow Horses is, by my reckoning, “the best reason there is for remembering…

The National Gallery has been granted planning permission for a controversial redevelopment, says David Sanderson in The Times. The gallery plans to remodel its Sainsbury Wing extension, which opened in 1991. Designed by Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown (after Prince Charles described an earlier planned extension as a “monstrous carbuncle”), the Sainsbury Wing is regarded as a classic of the postmodern style, and is Grade I listed. But it now serves as the main entrance, and the idea is to make that more accessible and welcoming. The new plans, by Selldorf Architects, involve removing some parts of the wing. Eight former presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects said these would change “a finely conceived space into an airport lounge”. Denise Scott Brown said it would make her…

Brad and Chelsea tell Tracy they don’t want Christmas presents this year. Tracy feels bad, but Jazzer has an idea to get free stuff online. Joy suggests that Mick joins Fallon’s choir with her, but he mistakenly signs up for Jolene’s. Ben’s tutor has noticed he’s struggling with coursework but he insists he’s fine. Pip is worried about Ben; Rex tries to coax him out but Ben says he needs to study. To Pip and Ruth’s amusement, David says he’s cooking Christmas dinner this year. Ben calls unannounced to see Chelsea. After he’s left, Chelsea tells Jazzer he seemed wired and odd; she thinks she should tell his family but Jazzer advises not getting involved. Stella helps Pip with Rosie’s nativity play costume. Mick shares his relationship worries with Kirsty.…

Santa’s sleepover Stay a night at Alton Towers Resort, with 1-day entry to the theme park and the Lightopia Christmas Wonderland. From £415 b&b for 4. 01538-704096, altontowersholidays.com. Arrive 16 December. Prague’s Old Town Stay 2 nights at the INNSiDE by Meliá Hotel, designed by architect Meritxell Cuartero, with the Christmas market mere steps away. From £183pp b&b. 0808-239 0397, melia.com. Arrive 16 December. In the heart of Kraków Spend 2 nights at the Hotel Pollera within the Old Town, perfectly situated to wander around the city’s Christmas market. From £117pp b&b. 020-3564 6725, booking.com. Arrive 16 December. A festive cathedral city Stay 2 nights at the Ruby Ella Hotel, perched between the festive market in Cologne’s Old Town and the Belgian Quarter. From €249pp room-only. 0049 89 125 095…

John Lewis/Abrdn: property venture John Lewis is embarking on a shiny new venture as a property developer, said Hannah Boland in The Daily Telegraph. Last week, it announced a £500m deal with asset manager Abrdn to build 1,000 rental homes on the site of an old warehouse in Reading and above two of its supermarkets in Bromley and Ealing. The flats will be “kitted out in John Lewis furnishings”. The move forms part of chair Dame Sharon White’s plans to “revive the business by generating 40% of profits outside retail by 2030”, said Tom Howard in The Times. The Partnership “wants to build 10,000 homes over the next decade” and the ground looks fertile. The UK “build-to-rent” market is growing fast – fuelled by the housing shortage, soaring rents and…

Friendshoring: a tricky business Hugo Dixon Reuters Breakingviews The US and its allies want to build up suppliers of crucial goods such as solar panels in “friendly” countries, to avoid becoming vulnerable to “geopolitical blackmail”, says Hugo Dixon. Proponents of “friendshoring” can point to China’s Covid-related problems and Russian gas supply disruption as cautionary tales. Even so, it should be done carefully. “The risk of restricting trade to countries deemed friendly is that it could escalate into a full-blown Cold War – splitting the world into two trading blocs”, and knocking global production at an already fragile time. To that end, the policy must be “defensive” rather than “aggressive”. It shouldn’t be deployed “to damage China’s economy” which, for all the talk about diversifying supply chains, is still tightly entwined…

What happened Keir Starmer vowed this week to carry out the “biggest ever transfer of power from Westminster to the British people”, as he unveiled a new report into sweeping constitutional reforms. Written by former PM Gordon Brown, the report contains 40 proposals, including replacing the House of Lords with a 200-seat elected chamber, moving 50,000 civil servants out of London, and giving new powers to England’s regions, Scotland and Wales. Starmer says he is committed to replacing the House of Lords if he becomes prime minister, but Labour will launch a consultation on the other measures. Last week, Labour inflicted a bruising by-election defeat on the Tories, retaining the seat of Chester with an increased majority. A 14-point swing to Labour left the Conservatives with their worst result in…

There has been a 12-fold increase in the number of Britons who describe their religion as “shamanism”, from 650 in 2011 to 8,000 last year, according to the latest census. “Shamanism takes you directly to the source of the divine in nature-based spirituality,” one practitioner told The Guardian. “Often people are really desperate to find a place of gratitude, openness, kindness and compassion by the time they get to me.” A third of heterosexual British men would consider having more than one wife or long-term girlfriend, a Swansea University survey has found. But women seem less keen: just 11% said they’d entertain the idea of having more than one husband or long-term male partner.…

GPs and parents have been advised to be on guard for symptoms of the bacterial infection Strep A, after a string of child deaths in the UK. Issuing a rare warning last week, the Health Security Agency said the rise in infection rates might be partly down to increased social mixing following the easing of Covid restrictions. Most cases are mild, and Strep A and the scarlet fever that is caused by it are easily treated if caught early; but in very rare cases, the bacteria can enter the bloodstream, causing a serious illness called Invasive Group A Strep. Symptoms to look out for include a temperature, a headache, a sore throat and a rash on the body that feels like sandpaper.…

Tallahassee, Florida DeSantis boost: Florida governor Ron DeSantis has opened up a 20-point lead over Donald Trump in the latest poll of Republican voters about their choice of presidential candidate. The poll, organised by Marquette University Law School in Milwaukee, found that 60% of “potential” Republicans would back DeSantis for the White House nomination, while 40% would back Trump. DeSantis is yet to say whether he will enter the race, but the poll also found that, if he did, he’d have a better chance of beating President Biden than Trump would. Last week, Trump further outraged his critics by calling for the “termination” of the US constitution, and reiterating his claim he was the true winner of the 2020 election. He was commenting about reports that, ahead of that election,…

“A pun is a play on words with little or no emotional content. Is this why, though comedy is less male-dominated than it was, great one-liner comics still tend to be male (Jimmy Carr, Tim Vine, Gary Delaney)? Some men like a play fight, a bit of horseplay. Even those who hate a bit of horseplay are often up for a bit of wordplay. It tames language, it tames reality. It can also be wildly tedious. An incessant run of puns fired at you by some human Christmas cracker: what time can we leave? Handled in moderation, though, the dad joke, the play on words, the pun… these things are surely, like the amputated tightrope-walker, armless fun.” Dominic Maxwell in The Times…

A winter’s tale of unnecessary hardship Sarah O’Connor Financial Times When it comes to energy, Britain is two distinct nations, says Sarah O’Connor. There’s the one most of us live in, where you pay bills across the year through direct debit. And there’s the one where you have to pay for energy in advance, topping up online or at a Post Office or newsagents. Most citizens of that latter country don’t want to live there: they have prepayment meters only because the landlord insists, or because, behind in their payments, they’ve been obliged to install one by the energy company. But that means you have to pay a portion of that debt each time you top up, which is what 1.5 million people were doing even before the cold weather…

Reviving “zombie viruses” A virus that had been trapped in the Siberian permafrost for almost 50,000 years has been revived by a team of scientists in France. Known as a pandoravirus, it only infects single-cell organisms and poses no known risk to humans. However, the team, from the Aix-Marseille University, said that the fact that a long-dormant bug could be thawed out and start infecting other cells highlights the risk of “zombie viruses” emerging as long-frozen ground warms up. For safety reasons, they said they had only looked for dormant viruses that would infect an amoeba known as acanthamoeba, as the biohazard risk associated with these prehistoric amoeba-infecting viruses is negligible. The concern is that as the world warms, an unknown virus, capable of infecting animals, or plants, might emerge…

Richard Osman is the king of the “cosy crime” genre, but his laid-back approach to research can cause him problems with readers. In his first book, one of his characters pops into a Waitrose in Tunbridge Wells. Inevitably, residents of the town were quick to inform him that there isn’t one. “I have felt guilty ever since,” he told Richard Herring’s podcast. But he tried to make up for his error in the next book, by having another character visit the town, and muse: “I’m sure I read somewhere there’s a Waitrose, but there isn’t.” When Boris Johnson got Covid in March 2020, he became convinced that his dog, Dilyn, had it too, recalls Matt Hancock in his new book. The PM raised the dog’s case with Chris Whitty, the…

“Standing in my kitchen in Suffolk after a quiet New Year’s Eve, I scanned my copy of The Times for clues as to what might be lurking around the corner. The only thing in my patch was a news-in-brief item about a mystery pneumonia outbreak in China.” So reads the opening entry of Matt Hancock’s Pandemic Diaries, which were published this week and serialised in the Daily Mail. This is, no doubt, an “unvarnished and searingly honest account of what really went on behind the scenes”, said Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph. “Voters will at last be able to see which key Government figures were to blame for any failings in the UK’s response – and which noble, unfairly maligned heroes were ahead of curve right from start.” In…

If there is one English player who has taken this World Cup by storm it has to be 19-year-old Jude Bellingham, said Felix Keith in the Daily Mirror. True, he hardly qualifies as a breakout star – “How can you be when you’ve played 112 times for Borussia Dortmund?” – but he has nonetheless caught the eye with a series of “utterly remarkable” performances. And last Sunday, he was again “the star of the show” as England beat Senegal 3-0, a victory that took them through to a quarter-final against France, the defending champions. After a ponderous opening 35 minutes, England had badly needed someone “to kick-start their match”, and that someone, needless to say, turned out to be Bellingham. The midfielder was the chief instigator of both goals England…

Talking about Brexit… To the Financial Times We should be grateful to the CBI’s Tony Danker for breaking the “Don’t mention Brexit!” conspiracy of silence that has pervaded British public discourse for too long. No points, however, go to Rishi Sunak for his predictably ideological retort that “Brexit can deliver enormous benefits and opportunities for this country”, without a shred of evidence to back it up, a statement that, in reality, is nothing more than a more polite version of Boris Johnson’s infamous two-word message to British business during his premiership. Political parties should come clean and address, in a serious and grown-up manner, how they propose to offset the damaging economic effects of Brexit, the evidence for which is now overwhelming. Richard Wright, London … in a grown-up manner…

by Ian Kershaw Allen Lane 512pp £30 The Week Bookshop £23.99 (incl. p&p) “Is history, for good or ill, written by remarkable individuals?” asked Philip Stephen in the FT. Would the world today be the same if Lenin had never boarded a train to Russia in 1917? Was Thomas Carlyle right when he said the past was “the history of the great men who have worked there”? Or was Marx nearer the mark, when he said: “Men make their own history, but not as they please, in conditions of their own choosing”? Ian Kershaw, the historian and biographer of Adolf Hitler, attempts to answer these questions in his “illuminating” new book. He picks 12 examples from Europe in the 20th century. There are six dictators: Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Franco, Mussolini…

In recent years, the story of modernism has had “a top-to-bottom overhaul”, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. Art historians have “switched attention” from the largely white, male figures long seen as the movement’s canonical heroes to focus on “lesser-known, formerly excluded figures” – notably female artists. This exhibition, “a survey of expressionism from a woman’s perspective”, is “the latest example of this tendency” – and it is very impressive. The show concentrates on four women artists active in early 20th century Germany: Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne von Werefkin. It examines how they gave to subjects such as self-portraiture, landscape and still-life a distinctly female perspective that is a counterpoint to that of their more celebrated male peers, such as Münter’s partner Wassily Kandinsky. The…

The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, 1886 (Penguin £7.99). This was one of the prescribed books for my English Literature A level so I suppose I had to read it. The fates unforgivingly deal blow after blow upon the flawed Michael Henchard, one of the author’s most brilliant characters. The Mayor of Casterbridge opened the door to my reading almost every one of Thomas Hardy’s novels. His birthplace in Dorset is a must visit. My History by Antonia Fraser, 2015 (Orion £10.99). I have been fascinated with this lady’s life since I saw her, albeit from two tables away, in a London restaurant dining with Harold Pinter. I spurned the opportunity to express my admiration for both of them, not wishing to disturb their evening. Her memoir, excellently written,…

Programmes Big Ben Restored: The Grand Unveiling Historian Anna Keay tells the story of the six-year, £80m restoration of the world’s most famous clock tower. Sun 11 Dec, C4 19:00 (60mins). Waitrose at Christmas A revealing fly-on-the-wall look at the supermarket’s seasonal preparations, from a wrapping-paper factory floor to the vineyards of its Leckford Estate. Mon 12 Dec, C4 20:00 (60mins). Storyville: A Bunch of Amateurs Poignant documentary about a group of ageing film-makers, and their bid to save their beloved Bradford Film Club. Tue 13 Dec, BBC4 22:00 (95mins). Vienna Blood: Deadly Communion The period whodunnit returns with a new three-parter. Oskar and Max are perplexed by a murder in a luxury fashion house. Wed 14 Dec, BBC2 21:00 (90mins). Children of the Taliban Documentary examining how life has…

● Wool is the ideal choice for an all-purpose suit, being hard-wearing and breathable. If warmth is a priority, consider wool flannel or a cashmere blend. Linen and cotton look relaxed, but they do crease. ● Avoid polyester as a lining material, as it does not allow moisture to escape; viscose, rayon or cupro are breathable, durable alternatives. Consider sweat shields in the armpits to prevent discolouration. ● Make sure the jacket will fit comfortably by pretending to hold a steering wheel. Check that it sits smoothly across the chest, even when you move. Around the waist, and under the shoulder blades, there should be just enough fabric that you can pinch it. Sleeves should finish between the base of the palm and the boniest point on the wrist. Shoulders…

Jiang Zemin 1926-2022 The former Chinese president Jiang Zemin, who has died aged 96, was a colourful figure, relative to some of his country’s other recent leaders, said The Daily Telegraph. At school, he had learnt to recite the Gettysburg Address in English, and on a groundbreaking state visit to Washington in 1997, he startled some by quoting it to the then president, Bill Clinton. He also loved Western classical music, and often serenaded his fellow world leaders with his rendition of ’O sole mio. His sometimes comical vanity – he was seen wildly applauding his own portrait at a parade in 2009 – left him little loved in China and often mocked. But many Chinese people now look back on his leadership with nostalgia. Jiang became general secretary of…

Pramod Mittal The Anglo-Indian steel tycoon Pramod Mittal once spent £50m on his daughter’s wedding, said The Times. These days, he’s better known as “Britain’s biggest bankrupt”. But even that tag is now under scrutiny. When Mittal filed for bankruptcy in 2020, he claimed he owed £2.7bn. The debt was so large that he secured an individual voluntary agreement (IVA) to pay just 0.18p for every £1 owed – leaving creditors, such as London-based Moorgate Industries (owed £140m), badly out of pocket. But a judge has now overturned the IVA following claims that many of the alleged debts were fraudulent “shams” created by organisations with links to Mittal. He is reportedly “disappointed” with the ruling; an “international hunt” is now on for his “hidden assets”. Jamie Fiore Higgins Before she…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1341 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 19 December. Send it to The Week Crossword 1341, 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 6 Drunken peers for a binge (5) 7 Keys for where astronauts might have a drink? (5-4) 9 Odd Indian father brings a dessert (3,4) 10 Keep belting runs and leave coach behind (7) 11 One Duke’s wife leaves for another (9) 12 Greek character’s…

Pine martens are making a comeback in the south of England. The cat-sized mammals were once common across Britain, but were driven to the brink of extinction in the 20th century by habitat loss and hunting. Now, cameras hidden in the New Forest as part of a long-term study have captured the animals playing together, and also some young pine martens, suggesting the population is growing. Leanne Sargeant, of Forestry England, called it a “real success story”. A fir tree that was planted in a front garden in Worcestershire 44 years ago has become a major festive attraction. Avril and Christopher Rowlands bought the6ft tree in 1978 after spending their first Christmas together in their new home in the village of Inkberrow. Now over 50ft tall, it requires more than…

Sir Elton John, with news that he will headline the Glastonbury Festival next summer, as the last UK stop on his 350-date farewell tour. “There is no more fitting way to say goodbye to my British fans,” said the 75-year-old in a statement. Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, after it was named “the greatest film of all time” by Sight and Sound, the magazine of the British Film Institute. Chantal Akerman’s 1976 drama is the first feature by a female director to top the decennial poll. The winner in 2012, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, came second; Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane was third.…

11% of UK adults say they dread opening letters from energy companies, banks and other creditors. Around three in ten have fallen behind with at least one bill. YouGov/Money and Mental Health Policy Institute 57% of British adults say they back the nurses’ strike later this month. 30% oppose it. 42% of adults blame the Government for the pending strikes. 23% blame the nurses’ union. Opinium/The Observer In a poll taken before Rishi Sunak agreed to lift the ban on onshore wind farms, 67% of respondents said they’d be in favour of such a move. 12% opposed it. The rest didn’t know. Among Tory voters, 66% supported the ban being overturned; 22% wanted it to stay in place. YouGov/The Times…

The effective altruist It’s been a decade since the philosopher William MacAskill pioneered the “effective altruism” movement, says James Marriott in The Times. One of its ideas is that graduates should give away at least 10% of their income, and he sets a good example: he donates anything he earns over £26,000. It is, he says, the right thing to do; but it means he must live like a perpetual student, renting a room in a shared house in Oxford, and spending his spare time playing board games. “It is something I really struggle with,” he admits. “I made this pledge back when I thought having a part-time secretary was a wild thing.” Now, the amount he donates is dwarfed by the amount he raises, and he wonders whether if…

Police officers in Texas were surprised to discover that a “reckless driver” causing havoc in a Walmart car park last week was in fact a bored dog. According to the Kilgore Police Department, the pet was waiting for its owners to finish their shopping when it became “antsy” and started to “bounce” around in the car. Soon it had set the car in motion, and crashed it into two vehicles. “One of the victims saw the suspect barrelling down on him but couldn’t get out of the way,” the KPD said in a statement. “He was shocked to see the driver was a dog. Fortunately, no one was injured.” A man in Maharashtra who married identical twin sisters is being investigated by police for bigamy. According to local reports, Pinki…

UGANDA Rescued by an eight-year-old car mechanic Nile Post (Kampala) Ugandan children are growing up way too fast, says Mable Twegumye Zake. It’s not uncommon for kids here to start work from an early age, forced to contribute to the family finances or help pay for the upkeep of younger siblings. Just the other day, I witnessed this for myself when my car got a flat tyre. The mechanic who came to my aid was “a short, skinny young boy clad in an oversized dark blue coverall”. He was only eight, he told me as he got to work, but he and his brother have been working since the age of six to “help put food on the table”. Psychologists call the phenomenon of children taking on adult roles “parentification”…

We may like to think that we live in a meritocracy – a society where people are justly rewarded for their talents and efforts, said The Observer. Alas, it is no more than a comforting illusion. Britain in the 21st century remains an “elitist country in which a socially stratified education system” funnels the offspring of the privileged “into the highest-status jobs”, while holding back children whose parents have “never benefitted from such opportunities”. Only around 7% of children are privately educated, but they account for almost one in three undergraduates at Britain’s most selective universities, and they dominate the professions. It is therefore right that Keir Starmer has reaffirmed his party’s commitment to remove charitable status from private schools, and require them to charge VAT on their fees. He…

Is Britain still a Christian country? Not according to the 2021 census, said Chine McDonald in the FT. Census data released last week shows that the proportion of people in England and Wales who describe themselves as Christian has now fallen below half (46%), down from 59% a decade ago, and 71% in 2001. A similar drop was reported in Scotland earlier this year (from 53% in 2011 to 33% now). These are striking statistics, but not especially surprising ones. Faith has been perceived to be in decline here since at least the 19th century. It was in 1867 that Matthew Arnold’s poem Dover Beach described the “melancholy, long, withdrawing roar” of the “Sea of Faith”. But while the ranks of practising Christians grow thinner, the faith still exerts a…

England’s return to Test cricket in Pakistan after a 17-year absence has certainly been “worth the wait”, said Mike Atherton in The Times. Five days of astonishing cricket reached a nail-biting conclusion on Monday, with Ben Stokes’s side pulling off an improbable victory in the fading light at Rawalpindi. With about ten minutes of play remaining and every England fielder crowded round the bat, spinner Jack Leach trapped Naseem Shah LBW to give England a 74-run win. Played out in front of a rapt full house, this “nerve-jangling” final day showcased the “enduring value of the five-day game”. It is remarkable that England managed to win this Test, given the “road of a pitch” prepared by the Rawalpindi groundsmen, said Nick Hoult in The Daily Telegraph. Even by Pakistani standards,…

To The Guardian The question “Where are you really from?” is micro-racist. Behind that lies a worse question: “Why are you here?” And behind that lurks the openly racist “Why don’t you go back there?” For postwar immigrants and their descendants, such racism is never far below the surface. The questioner might reasonably be told to fuck off, or given the pithy retort: “We’re here because you were there.” Chris Hughes, Leicester To The Times I am regularly quizzed about my origins. Rather than make complaints of institutional racism, I use the natural curiosity of my interrogators as an opportunity to explain the shameful treatment of members of the Polish armed forces in the Second World War, including my father-in-law, who fought with the British. There are far more discreet…

by John Banville Knopf 320pp £14.99 The Week Bookshop £11.99 As the author of three trilogies, John Banville is “no stranger to using recurring characters”, said Ian Critchley in Literary Review. But The Singularities takes this to extremes: so stuffed is it with “old Banville protagonists” that it is close to being a “literary greatest-hits collection”. The setting is Arden House – the crumbling Irish country house from Banville’s 2009 work The Infinities. Various characters from that work are joined by William Jaybey (from The Newton Letter) and Freddie Montgomery (from The Book of Evidence), among others. One doesn’t begrudge Banville his “game with his readers”: The Singularities is a “pleasure to read”. With its “assembly of characters” and country house setting, this novel seems to have the “makings of…

Kevin Cummins: Joy Division Archivum at Paul Stolper Even before the tragic suicide of their singer Ian Curtis in 1980, the band Joy Division cultivated an identity of sepulchral seriousness unlike anything in pop music before. Their records mixed portentous lyrics with eerie, echoey music that projected both Gothic grandeur and post-industrial malaise. The band’s image, meanwhile, owed much to the pictures of NME photographer Kevin Cummins, who followed them around on tour, capturing their intense performances. This show brings together some 50 of Cummins’s Joy Division photos, many of which were developed and printed the same day they were taken. Many shots will be familiar to fans: there is a classic portrait of Curtis in close-up; there are concert pictures in which he flails wildly as his bandmates, dressed…

Olio is an app that facilitates the distribution of surplus food, free of charge. It connects neighbours with each other and local businesses to create “food-sharing communities”. Too Good To Go allows cafés, restaurants, hotels and shops to advertise fresh food that would otherwise be thrown away, just before closing hours, at heavily discounted prices. Buyers don’t know what’s inside the food bag, but will get up to 90% off the RRP. Fat Llama allows people to rent almost anything – from household tools and electrical appliances to camper vans and bikes – to and from fellow users at below market rates. Borrowers are verified and the app offers lender protection. Gumtree is an online local marketplace for second-hand items. Founded in 2000 by friends aiming to build a community…

Wine and walking in Portugal Offering “the perfect pairing” of vineyard visits and peaceful, leisurely walks, Exodus’s small group tours are a great way to explore the hilly regions of northern Portugal, where many of the country’s best-known wines are produced. The trip starts off in the popular Douro Valley, east of Porto, says Joanna Booth in The Times, where your guides lead you away from the most crowded spots to less-visited wineries and local restaurants. In the Basto region, an hour to the north, tourists are a rarity. The area is known for its vinho verde (“sparkling, easy-drinking” whites and dark, intense reds), and the walking is wonderful – through the Minho’s fertile farmland, and through the forests and around the granite peaks of Trás-os-Montes, where, save for the…

Christine McVie 1943-2022 A revered figure in the rock world, Christine McVie, who has died aged 79, was a member of Fleetwood Mac, and the writer of many of the band’s best-loved songs, including You Make Loving Fun, Songbird and Everywhere. Known as the level-headed one, she avoided the limelight, but she did not escape the drink- and drug-fuelled madness that engulfed the band in the 1970s, said The Daily Telegraph. By 1976, Mick Fleetwood had split up with his wife, after finding out that she’d been having an affair with Bob Weston, the band’s ex-guitarist; Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, who had recently joined as a couple, had seen their relationship collapse into acrimony; and McVie had left her binge-drinking husband and fellow band member John McVie, and started…

“The number is up” for Vodafone CEO Nick Read, who has been unceremoniously ditched after presiding over a truly “shocking” crash of confidence and value, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. On his four-year watch, shares in the former telecoms champion have tumbled 40% to their lowest price this century, prompting fresh debate over whether the debt-laden company can afford its dividend. The feeling in the City is that survival now depends on appointing a radical, “free-thinking” new boss. Once “a trailblazing innovator, bursting with ambition and confidence”, Voda has declined into “a bloated reflection of European bureaucratic decay, trapped by regulation and unable to conceive of an escape”, said Christopher Williams in The Daily Telegraph. Read isn’t wholly to blame for “one of the great British corporate declines”. Still,…

The Price of Time: The Real Story of Interest by Edward Chancellor (Allen Lane £25). Chancellor starts this timely, “readable” history with the ancient Mesopotamians, who developed compound interest before they could “put wheels on carts”, said Tom Knowles in The Times. Super-low rates tend to lead to soaring inflation and/or financial instability – as we are learning. Butler to the World: How Britain Became the Servant of Tycoons, Tax Dodgers, Kleptocrats and Criminals by Oliver Bullough (Profile £20). “A polemical take” on how Britain’s “postimperial” institutions – from banks and law firms to universities – became corrupted by the corrupt, said Andrew Hill in the FT. “A depressing but important read,” said The Times. Edible Economics: A Hungry Economist Explains the World by Ha-Joon Chang. (Allen Lane £20). The…

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