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THE WEEK

25 JANUARY 2020 | ISSUE 1263 | £3.80

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Putin forever

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4 NEWS What happened

Exit the Sussexes

What the editorials said

“A centuries-old institution survives not only through the accumulated weight of tradition, but through the ability to Prince Harry rejoined his wife in Canada this make sharp adjustments to its course” when week after completing one of his last duties needed, said The Guardian. This exit deal is as a working royal. Buckingham Palace not what anyone wanted: the Sussexes were announced at the weekend that the Sussexes after a gentler split, while the royal family were stepping back entirely from royal life. would rather have kept “the members most Under an arrangement reached after five days attractive and appealing to the younger of talks involving senior aides, the couple generation”. But it makes sense. The Palace will, as of this spring, no longer formally has done the Sussexes a favour by forcing a represent the Queen or receive public funds clean break, agreed the Daily Mirror. It frees for royal duties. They’ve agreed to repay the them to plot their own course, unencumbered £2.4m of taxpayers’ money used to refurbish by a “messy mix” of private aims and public Frogmore Cottage, their Windsor home, and duties. By allowing them to keep the HRH Harry and Meghan: a clean break titles on the understanding they don’t use to pay commercial rent on the property, which they’ll continue using as a UK base while spending most them, the Queen has also left the door open for them to return of their time in North America. as working royals should they change their mind.

The Queen expressed her relief that a “constructive and supportive way forward” had been agreed, adding that she was “particularly proud” of how Meghan had so quickly become part of the family. Harry, who has had to give up his military patronages, admitted that he had initially hoped for a halfway house arrangement, under which he would continue to serve the Queen without public funding. He was “taking a leap of faith”, he said, but “there really was no other option”.

What happened

Russia’s ruler for life?

The “half-in, half-out role” envisioned by the Sussexes would never have worked, said the Daily Mail. The Queen recognised that and “acted decisively, but compassionately”. At 93, the monarch deserves better than to have to wrestle with crises such as this but, with luck, her intervention has now drawn a line under the royal rift. Indeed, by “fashioning an elegant escape hatch for those unsuited to royal life, she may actually have strengthened the monarchy”.

What the editorials said After 20 years in power, Vladimir Putin has already ruled Russia for longer than any other modern ruler except Stalin, said The Times. Now it seems the 67-yearold intends to stay “in or around the Kremlin for life”. Whatever role he chooses to take on, the prospect of a “disruptive” succession battle has been pushed far into the future.

Given his record, Putin’s manoeuvring should come as no surprise, said The Economist. His regime has “killed too many people, and misappropriated too many billions, to make it plausible that he would ever voluntarily give up effective power”.

It wasn’t all bad A university student in Auckland and a chef in southern Spain have created the first sliced bread “Earth sandwich”.

Etienne Naude, 19, from New Zealand, recruited his collaborator in Spain online, then worked out the latitude and longtitude of two precisely opposite points on the planet.

This week, he and 34-year-old Angel Sierra put slices of bread on these points, to make a sandwich filled with 12,724km of Earth. The first Earth sarnie, made in 2006, was a baguette.

A 75-year-old man who took up ballet four years ago in memory of his late wife has passed his grade one exam. Bernard Bibby, who was married to Celia for 55 years, said dancing had brought them together because he was “the only boy at the youth club who could jive”. Following her death in 2015, he decided to sell his TV to force himself to go out and find new ways to entertain himself. After trying ballroom and Latin dancing, as well as tap, he settled on ballet. He took his exam in November at the Bridge Academy of Performing Arts in Rochester, and received the result last week.

Bundles of cash found around Blackhall Colliery, a former pit village in Co Durham, were left by two benefactors who prefer to remain anonymous, police said. Since 2014, 13 bundles amounting to £26,000 have been found and handed to police (who gave each back when it was not claimed). The donors, who’d responded to a police appeal for information, said they’d had a windfall, and wanted to share it; one said she felt an “emotional connection” to the village, because of a kindness once shown to her by one of its residents.

COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM THE WEEK 25 January 2020

© COVER IMAGE: STEF NAGEL

In a surprise move, Vladimir Putin last week announced sweeping changes to the Russian constitution that could allow him to hold on to power indefinitely. The constitution bars him from a third consecutive term as president. However, the overhaul would radically reduce the powers of the presidency while beefing up the role of the State Council, which is at present merely an advisory body – prompting speculation that Putin plans to become the council’s permanent chairman, Mishustin and Putin When it comes to constitutional sleight of and to continue as Russia’s effective leader when his term of office ends in 2024. Alternatively, he could hand, Putin “has form”, said The Guardian. In 2008 he switched places with his prime minister to dodge the rule serve as prime minister with new, wider powers. limiting a president to two consecutive terms: Medvedev took Immediately after Putin’s statement, Prime Minister Dimitry over the top job, but it was Putin who continued to call the shots. However, Putin has cause to be wary. His decision to Medvedev and his entire cabinet stood down to “facilitate” stand again for president in 2012 resulted in “mass street the changes. Medvedev, a long-time ally of the president, protests”. The question now is whether he can pull off a was replaced by a little-known technocrat, Mikhail similar stunt without a similar “backlash”.

Mishustin, who previously ran Russia’s tax service.

…and how they were covered

NEWS 5

What the commentators said

What next?

“So that’s them gone, then,” said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. And who can blame the Sussexes, given the horrible way the media treated them? The Queen said she recognised the “challenges” they faced as a result of “intense scrutiny”. Translation: the “press made their lives hell”. The tabloids have been especially cruel to Meghan, said Camilla Cavendish in the FT. The Duchess of Cambridge wasn’t attacked for putting lily of the valley in her wedding bouquet, but when Meghan included the toxic plant, a paper accused her of endangering the lives of her bridesmaids. Does this unfairness stem from racism (see page 22) or from “dislike of a pushy American”? Or is it simply that “the press don’t like people who don’t like them”?

The Sussexes will honour several more public engagements in the coming months before officially relocating to North America in the spring. The exit arrangements will be reviewed in a year’s time by all the parties involved.

It’s probably more a case of the press not liking people who sue them, said Alan Rusbridger in The Observer. Last October, Prince Harry added his name to the list of people claiming to have been hacked by both The Sun and The Mirror, compounding the difficulties facing those titles’ publishers, who are “forking out eye-watering sums to avoid any cases going to trial in open court”. Meghan, meanwhile, is suing The Mail on Sunday for publishing extracts from a private letter she sent to her father. This might account for some of the venomous coverage.

Harry and Meghan are now free to do their own thing across the Atlantic, said A.N. Wilson in the Daily Mail. But even as lower-profile members of the royal family, they’ll need to tread a fine line when it comes to their commercial activities, lest they damage the image of the monarchy. Many minor royals manage to earn a living without causing any issues, but the perils are clear. Even the “saintly” Sophie Wessex had to step down from her PR firm in 2001 after her business partner tried to cash in on her royal connections. This week, it emerged that Peter Phillips, the Queen’s eldest grandson, has appeared in a “tacky” advertisement for a Chinese state-owned dairy. The 30-second segment shows him taking a bottle of milk from a silver salver carried by a butler, amid shots of grand buildings and carriages, and declaring: “This is what I drink.” Let’s hope the Sussexes never embarrass the royal family in such a way.

Harry is already working with Oprah Winfrey on a mental health series for Apple TV, reports Roya Nikkhah in The Sunday Times. Meghan, meanwhile, has struck a deal to provide a voice-over for a Disney film in exchange for a donation to an elephant charity. It remains unclear whether the couple will be able to exploit their trademarked “Sussex Royal” brand. “That is still one of the areas being worked through,” said a royal aide.

What the commentators said

What next?

Putin’s annual State of Russia speech was expected to be the “usual tedious outline of statistics and policy developments”, said Mark Almond in the Daily Mail. But this is a president who loves to surprise. Complaining about the presidential workload, he proposed a raft of bold constitutional changes. Most likely, he plans to dump the day-to-day business of running the country on a compliant prime minister and president while he focuses on the big issues of defence and foreign affairs. Putin remains popular among most Russians, said Tony Brenton in The Daily Telegraph: he restored order after the chaotic Yeltsin years, and won back Crimea.

But a stagnant economy, falling living standards and widespread corruption have led to a “growing gloom” in Russia; simply rearranging the deckchairs won’t solve its problems.

The Russian parliament was set to vote on the reforms this week. They are then expected to be put to the public in a referendum – which Putin is expected to win – within months.

Opposition figures are planning to stage a “mass protest” against the proposals on 29 February.

In 1952, Stalin’s physician rashly suggested that the dictator, then 73, might start thinking about retirement, said Ben Macintyre in The Times. Stalin had him arrested and accused of working for British intelligence. Putin’s actions are straight from the “Stalin playbook”: refusing to relinquish power or appoint a successor, playing his “potential heirs off against one another”. Luckily for him, Russia’s political class is “more fearful of his absence than his presence”, said Andrew E. Kramer in The New York Times. Under his regime, oligarchs, generals, intelligence officers and oil bosses compete for money and status. They need Putin to stay in power, if only as the arbiter in their disputes. Putin’s move is clearly a “cynical” powergrab, but it may have some positive side-effects, said Yana Gorokhovskaia in The Guardian.

He plans to make parliament more powerful relative to the presidency, which will increase competition for seats, and attract a better class of politician – surely “a good thing for Russia”.

Putin will be in control for years to come, but when he does quit, an unexpected part of his legacy might be the growth of a democratic culture “absent from Russia for the last 20 years”.

THE WEEK

Every year brings a new crop of fashionable ingredients and cooking styles (see page 43), but one recent foodie trend appears to be here to stay: people posting photos of their restaurant dishes on social media. In an interview last week, Heston Blumenthal lamented this practice, revealing that he often had to suppress the urge to prevent diners at his restaurant, the Fat Duck, from Instagramming their food before they tuck in, as it stops them from being “in the moment”. Many would no doubt sympathise with that view, but not the food writer George Reynolds, who took Blumenthal to task in The Guardian for his “boomerishly reactionary” take on the issue. As an innovative chef who delights in creating playful, visually arresting food, he argued, Blumenthal of all people should be relaxed about diners snapping away. Indeed, he should embrace it, and use it as a “creative spur”.

Resistance on this front does seem futile. The reality, as Rebecca Nicholson pointed out in the same paper, is that, for many people, the fun of documenting an experience and presenting it to an audience is a key part of the experience itself. Indeed, a recent Australian study found that people enjoyed a holiday less when they couldn’t share images of it with people online. Then again, a 2013 study found that people who went round a museum photographing things, rather than just looking at them, remembered less of what they saw. So I guess it’s a case of horses Harry Nicolle for courses. Personally, I just worry about the food getting cold.

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The Kremlin wants the new cabinet to push through an ambitious £316bn package of “national projects” in a bid to boost Russia’s stagnant economy – as well as Putin’s approval ratings.

The spending will be concentrated mainly on infrastructure, medicine and education.

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25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Politics

6 NEWS Controversy of the week

Labour leadership race

Trump on trial The trial of Donald Trump, which opened in the Senate on Tuesday, is the third presidential impeachment in US history – and the “most legitimate”, said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. For the first time, a president faces removal from office not because he walked into a “legal trap” set by his opponents (as happened to his predecessors Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, in 1868 and 1998), but because he committed the “high crimes and misdemeanours” on the charge sheet. In Trump’s case, no legal “chicanery” is needed. No one denies that he made that “fateful” phone call to Volodymyr Zelensky in July last year – in which he pressured Ukraine’s president to dig dirt on his rival, Joe Biden, on pain of losing $400m in military aid and also a coveted White House meeting. It was “as clear an abuse of power as is possible to imagine, using the muscle of the US government” for personal political gain.

An abuse of power?

On the contrary, Trump’s impeachment is a “sham”, said Doug Collins in The Wall Street Journal.

Ever since he was elected, Democrats have sought to trigger the “nuclear option” and remove him from office. Previous impeachments have been preceded by a thorough investigation. This time, the Democrats have “ram-rodded” the case through the House of Representatives on the thinnest of evidence. The case – that the president offered Zelensky a quid pro quo – is simply not made out.

Whatever the truth, it is “extremely unlikely” he’ll be found guilty, said Ben Riley-Smith in The Daily Telegraph. Trump stands accused of “abuse of power” and “obstruction of Congress” – two charges passed by the lower house in December. But a two-thirds majority in the Senate is now needed to remove him – and with Republicans holding 53 of the 100 seats, that’s not going to happen. The trial’s opening exchanges were stubbornly partisan: majority leader Mitch McConnell set out plans to dispose of the proceedings in as little time as possible. Next week, senators will vote on whether to admit new evidence and call witnesses. If the Democrats win a majority in that vote, by swaying four Republicans, the trial will go on longer; if not, Trump may be acquitted next week.

The president wasn’t even in the US for the start of proceedings, said David Charter in The Times.

He was 4,000 miles away in Davos (see page 7), addressing the World Economic Forum, and had to catch up on events at his hotel. If he seemed unconcerned, it may be because the case is having little effect on his approval ratings. Indeed, it is likely to benefit him, said David Smith in The Guardian.

Trump’s campaigning style has always been about “us versus them”. For liberals, the trial is “yet another nail in the coffin of a man who has long been beyond redemption”, but in “Trumpworld”, it’s seen as a groundless attack on a president with a fine record. Trump has “already raised millions of donor dollars off impeachment”, and he’ll carry on trying to “turn it to his political advantage”.

Spirit of the age Marks & Spencer is selling sliced, peeled potatoes in plastic packets – to cater to the growing number of customers who, it says, like to cook from “semiscratch”. A non-recyclable bag containing 700g of peeled spuds costs £2, whereas a kilo of regular potatoes costs £1.20. The slices are treated with an antioxidant to stop them turning brown.

Cocaine dealers on the dark web are targeting socially aware drug users by marketing their cocaine as “ethically sourced” and “conflict-free”. While it is “impossible” to know if the claims are accurate, says Antony Loewenstein, the author of Pills, Powder, and Smoke, users (who are increasingly middle-aged and middle-class) are seeking out such products.

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Good week for:

Francis Elive, a teacher in Cardiff, after all 30 pupils in his class achieved an A* in their maths GCSE, an exam they had taken six months early. At Fitzalan High School, Elive is known as the “maths whisperer”, because of the confidence he instils in his pupils, but he insists he has no special tricks. “All my pupils have worked very hard, and I am really proud of them,” he said.

Opera, with news that two companies receive around £100 in public funding for every ticket they sell. The Arts Council’s funding of Opera North equated to £108 for each ticket it sold in 2017-18; English National Opera received the equivalent of £97 per ticket. By contrast, the National Theatre got just £22.

Greggs, which has teamed up with Just Eat to take advantage of the growing market for delivered food. A trial of the service has already allowed Greggs fans in some areas to have sausage rolls delivered to their doors; the service is now going nationwide.

Bad week for:

HS2, with a warning that the high-speed rail project could end up costing £106bn, raising fears among its supporters that the Government will cancel it. According to the Financial Times, the official Oakervee report gives lukewarm support to the 250mph railway, but has recommended a further review of phase two of the project – the stretch running north from Birmingham.

Coca Cola, which enraged campaigners by refusing to ditch single-use plastic. The firm, which produces the equivalent of 200,000 plastic bottles a minute, says its customers like plastic bottles. But it will now aim to use more recycled plastic.

Jess Phillips quit the contest to become Labour leader this week, having failed to secure the backing of any trade unions. The candidates each need two unions to endorse them in order to be able to participate in the final ballot, which opens on 21 February.

As of Wednesday, Keir Starmer and Lisa Nandy were the only two candidates to have qualified for the ballot. Starmer had secured the backing of Unison and Usdaw, while Nandy had that of GMB and the NUM, as well as the Labour Party affiliate Chinese for Labour.

Fears of global epidemic

Airports around the world began screening flights arriving from China this week, as the rapid spread of the coronavirus raised fears of a global epidemic.

Seventeen people have died and at least 509 cases of the Sars-like virus have been confirmed in China since it was first identified in the eastern city of Wuhan on 31 December. The virus has now spread to both Shanghai and Beijing, and one or two cases have been confirmed in Thailand, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and the US. Airports including Heathrow are monitoring flights from Wuhan, and this week the WHO was considering declaring an international emergency.

Poll watch Keir Starmer would beat Rebecca Long-Bailey by 63% to 37% if they were the two candidates left in the final round of the Labour leadership contest. In a first round poll taken before Jess Phillips dropped out of the race, Starmer scored 46%, Long-Bailey 32%, Phillips 11%, Lisa Nandy 7% and Emily Thornberry 3%.

YouGov In a poll of 500 business owners, board directors and senior managers with a household income of more than £100,000 per year, 69% admitted to having “significant” problems in their personal relationships.

Only 20% of the general population said they did.

71% of those experiencing personal problems said these had a serious impact on their productivity.

YouGov/The Times

Europe at a glance Paris Strikes ease: The public transport network in Paris was returning to normal this week, after the city’s main rail union, the Unsa-RATP, voted to return to work on Monday. France has endured six weeks of transport chaos, since members of several unions walked out in December over President Macron’s controversial pension reforms, with the worst disruptions in the Paris region. France’s state-owned railway, the SNCF, said the proportion of its staff now out on strike was less than 5%, and that 85% of lines were running normally.

But while the strikes appeared to be running out of steam in the face of a partial climbdown by the government, left-wing hardliners in the CGT union remained fully opposed to any reforms. On Tuesday, CGT energy workers cut power to parts of Paris, including Orly airport, the Rungis market – the world’s largest wholesale fresh food market – and the offices of the more moderate CFDT union.

Bologna, Italy Sardines pack Bologna: The hard-right leader Matteo Salvini, a key figure in the last Italian government before being forced to resign as interior minister in September, is hoping to make a comeback by winning next week’s regional election in EmiliaRomagna. The region has been a stronghold of the centre-left Democrats (PD) for 70 years; if it now falls to Salvini’s League party, that could lead to the collapse of the national government (a coalition between the PD and the Five Star Movement), and pave the way for Salvini’s return. Tens of thousands of protesters from the so-called Sardines movement – which is fiercely opposed to Salvini’s policies – packed the central square in the regional capital, Bologna, in a show of defiance against him.

Madrid Billionaire jailed: An 83-year-old billionaire art collector has been sentenced to 18 months in jail and fined £44m for attempting to smuggle a Picasso painting, thought to be worth about £22m, out of Spain. In 2012, Jaime Botín, a scion of the banking family that controls Santander bank (and himself a former vice-chairman), had sought to sell Head of a Young Woman (1906) at a Christie’s auction in London. But he was denied an export permit, and the painting was quickly designated a national treasure by the Spanish authorities. Three years later, the work was seized by police from Botín’s yacht, off the coast of Corsica, and last week a judge rejected Botín’s claim that he’d been taking it to Geneva for safekeeping, and convicted him of smuggling. As a first-time offender, though, he is unlikely to serve any jail time.

Catch up with daily news at theweek.co.uk

Davos, Switzerland Climate conflict: President Trump used his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos – which this year focused on climate change – to decry climate “prophets of doom”. Climate “alarmists always demand the same thing”, he said: “absolute power to dominate, transform and control every aspect of our lives”. And he warned that the US would always put economic growth ahead of environmental concerns. The teenage activist Greta Thunberg was in the audience, though Trump did not name her. In her own speech, she attacked political leaders, saying that “in case you hadn’t noticed”, the world is “on fire” (see page 13).

Palermo, Sicily Farming fraud: Ninety-four people have been arrested in Sicily for their alleged role in a massive fraud involving the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy. According to the authorities, the Sicilian Mafia has illegally received s10m in EU agricultural subsidies in the past decade. The mobsters seized in the dawn raids are said to have bribed officials; to have set up front companies to fraudulently obtain funds for thousands of hectares of “ghost” farmland (land that was either non-existent, or owned by the Italian state or regional government); and to have obtained much of the land eligible for EU aid via extortion and threats to its real owners. Investigators say two well-known Mafia clans, the Batanesi and Bontempo Scavo families, are at the centre of the fraud. The clans had been fierce rivals for years, but, according to police, they ended their turf war in order to collaborate on the scheme.

NEWS 7

Berlin “Campus for democracy”: The sprawling complex of buildings that make up the former headquarters of East Germany’s Ministry for State Security – the Stasi – is to be converted into a “campus of democracy”. The old “Building 1”, where Erich Mielke (the Stasi’s head for 32 years) had his office, is already a museum: under plans unveiled by the Berlin authorities, the rest of the site is to be turned into a “Place of Learning and Remembrance”, with sections on life in the GDR, on the Stasi’s methods and on the democratic resistance movement. Last week, a ceremony was held to mark 30 years since the Stasi’s offices were stormed by thousands of protesters, two months after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Kiev Trump probe: Ukraine’s government has opened a criminal investigation into associates of President Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. They are accused of launching an illegal surveillance operation against the then US ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch.

She had been fiercely opposed to a scheme advanced by Trump’s team to get Kiev to investigate Trump’s rival, Joe Biden – a possible abuse of power for which Trump now faces impeachment; and after a smear campaign led by Trump’s allies, she was recalled from her post in April 2019. She later gave crucial testimony to Congress.

The main target of Ukraine’s investigation is Lev Parnas, a Ukrainian-American businessman and potential witness in Trump’s impeachment trial. President Zelensky’s government was at pains to avoid taking sides on issues relating to the impeachment, but the publication of letters by and to Parnas pointing to surveillance of the ambassador forced its hand.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

8 NEWS

The world at a glance

Richmond, Virginia Gun rally: Some 22,000 gun rights activists – some of them dressed in full combat gear and carrying semi-automatic weapons – massed outside Virginia’s capital on Monday, to protest against Democrat plans to impose new gun controls in the state. In advance of the event, there were fears of violent clashes like those at the 2017 white supremacist rally in the Virginian town of Charlottesville, and President Trump was accused of stoking tensions by tweeting his support for the protesters. The Democrats want to “take away your 2nd Amendment rights”, he tweeted.

“This is just the beginning. Don’t let it happen.” Last week, Virginia’s governor declared a state of emergency due to “credible” evidence that militias and far-right hate groups were planning to use the rally to foment “insurrection”.

In the event, however, warnings of violence appeared to have discouraged counter-protesters from attending, and the rally passed off peacefully.

Ottawa Air disaster compensation: Justin Trudeau has announced that his government will provide emergency interim payments of 25,000 Canadian dollars (about £14,650) to the families of the 57 Canadian citizens and 29 permanent residents who were killed when a Ukrainian passenger jet was shot down shortly after take-off from Tehran airport on 8 January. (Canada has a large Iranian community of more than 200,000.) The money is to cover the cost of funerals, travel and other immediate needs. “I want to be clear: we expect Iran to compensate these families,” said Trudeau. “But I have met them, they can’t wait weeks. They need support now.” It took three days for Tehran to come clean and admit that its forces had shot down the plane in error. It has now agreed to send the flight recorders from the aircraft to Kiev, for analysis by Canadian, French and American experts.

Mexico City Plane raffle: Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (aka “Amlo”), has floated the idea of offering his presidential plane as the prize in a raffle. The government bought the luxuriously appointed Boeing 787 Dreamliner eight years ago, for $218m. Amlo, a famously frugal left-winger who insists on flying economy on scheduled flights, vowed that he would sell it, and give the proceeds to the poor – but has so far struggled to find a buyer at its valued price of $130m. Last week, he suggested that a raffle might be the solution. “There would be six million tickets, you see, each one would be 500 pesos”, or around $25. If they all sold, it would raise $150m. The winner would get the plane, plus free servicing for the first two years. Other options include hiring it out, or giving it to the US in exchange for medical equipment.

Bogotá Ousting Maduro: Juan Guaidó, the president of Venezuela’s national assembly, travelled to Colombia this week in an effort to drum up international support for his campaign to overthrow Maduro’s authoritarian regime. More than 50 nations have recognised Guaidó as the country’s legitimate interim president.

He was greeted with full presidential honours by Colombia’s Iván Duque, and also met US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who pledged further (unspecified) measures – in addition to existing sanctions against the Maduro government – in support of “President Guaidó and the Venezuelan people”. Guaidó was due to travel on to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Maduro has long accused the US of orchestrating a coup to oust him, but this week he told The Washington Post that he was hopeful of a future relationship based on mutual respect and dialogue.

Brasília Plagiarising Goebbels: Brazil’s culture minister has been sacked for giving a speech on the role of the arts in which he plagiarised the Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Roberto Alvim’s speech, a warning that the government would in future only subsidise new works that reflect President Bolsonaro’s hard-right world view, was filmed with one of Hitler’s favourite operas – Wagner’s Lohengrin – as its soundtrack, and posted on the culture ministry’s social media channels. In the speech, he repeated Goebbels’s 1933 exhortation that art should be made “heroic”, as well as his warning that if art does not rise to the national occasion, “it will be nothing”. Alvim (pictured), a veteran theatre director, apologised for what he said was an “involuntary mistake” caused by his aides googling the words “nationalism” and “art” to find ideas for his speech.

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay Mass prison escape: At least 75 members of The First Capital Command, a powerful and notoriously violent Brazilian drug gang, escaped from a prison in Paraguay last weekend – the biggest prison break in the country’s history. Members of the cartel had spent weeks digging a tunnel out of their wing of the prison in the eastern city of Pedro Juan Caballero, next to the Brazilian border. But the authorities believe that the breakout – at 4am last Sunday morning – happened with the connivance of corrupt prison officers. “We found the tunnel and believe that it was a cover-up to legitimise or hide the release of the prisoners,” said the interior minister, Euclides Acevedo.

There was “complicity” with guards at the jail, he said.

The world at a glance Marib, Yemen Deadly mosque attack: At least 111 Yemeni soldiers were killed when Houthi rebels launched a missile and drone attack on a military camp in Marib, around 100 miles east of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, last week. Most of the dead were killed when missiles rained down on a mosque inside the camp. The strike by the Iranianbacked rebel group, which controls much of the west of the country, follows months of relative calm in the civil war that began in 2014, when the Houthis seized control of Sana’a from the Saudi-backed government. The casualty figures in the country are hard to verify, but the Marib attack is believed to be one of the deadliest in the course of a war that has killed an estimated 100,000 people, displaced millions and triggered what is currently the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Tehran Leader defiant: Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, gave his first public sermon for eight years last Friday. Seen as an effort to rally the nation, it followed a turbulent fortnight in which Iran and the US came to the brink of war, and the Revolutionary Guard’s accidental shooting down of a Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people triggered renewed anti-regime protests. Khamenei, 80, struck a defiant tone, calling the protesters US “stooges”, and Donald Trump a “clown” who pretended to support the Iranian people, but who would push a poisonous dagger into their backs.

NEWS 9

Beijing Plastic ban: A raft of new measures to curb the production, sale and use of single-use plastic, including a ban on plastic bags in all of the country’s major cities by the end of this year, and a nationwide ban on plastic straws, have been unveiled by the government in Beijing. Smaller cities and towns will have until 2022 to introduce the bag ban, while market traders selling fresh food will be exempt until 2025.

Other plastic items, such as plastic food utensils and plastic packaging used for retail deliveries – a major source of the growth in China’s waste in recent years – will also be phased out, and Beijing has imposed a total ban on the import of plastic waste. Plastic waste is a major environmental problem in China: vast amounts of it are buried untreated in landfill or simply dumped in rivers.

Beijing Lowest birth rate: China’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest level in seven decades, despite the ending of the one-child policy in 2016 (couples can now have two). The rate in 2019 was 10.48 per 1,000 – the lowest since 1949, according to official figures. However, owing to a small reduction in the death rate, China’s population still rose fractionally, from 1.39 billion last year to 1.4 billion. Its birth rate is now lower than the US’s (12 per 1,000) and the UK’s (10.9) but higher than Japan’s (8).

Luanda Santos accused: The Angolan government has vowed to use “all possible means” to force the return of Isabel dos Santos, the daughter of the former president, who is accused of “ripping off” the resource-rich country to build a business empire. Dos Santos, whose father ruled Angola for almost four decades until 2017, has an estimated fortune of $2.1bn. This week, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and The Guardian published the results of an investigation into her affairs. Based on 715,000 leaked documents, it details how she and her husband made their money by acquiring large stakes in Angolan industries. Dos Santos, who is now based in London, denies wrongdoing.

Riyadh Bezos hack: Saudi Arabia has denied as “absurd” a claim that its Crown Prince hacked Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’s phone.

According to media reports, malware infected Bezos’s phone after he opened a video message sent from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s personal WhatsApp account. Investigators hired by Bezos later discovered that huge amounts of data had been accessed, leading to embarrassing leaks. The hack took place five months before the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident who wrote for Bezos’s Washington Post.

Canberra Stormy weather: Heavy rain and thunderstorms lashed parts of Australia’s south and east coasts late last week, causing flash flooding in many areas. Although the rains doused some of the fires that have been raging in the region for months, more than 80 were still burning this week. In other extreme weather events, dust storms thousands of feet high and miles across swept inland across New South Wales.

And the capital, Canberra, was struck by high winds and golf ball-sized hailstones that smashed through car windscreens and damaged buildings.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

People

10 NEWS James May on Clarkson James May might have made his name presenting Top Gear alongside Jeremy Clarkson, but the pair have little in common beyond a passion for cars, he told Simon Usborne in the FT. “I disagree with Jeremy about everything. He likes to make out that I’m really oldfashioned and living in the 1950s.” In fact, May says, it’s the other way round: Clarkson is the one with one foot in the past. “Jeremy is very reactionary and conservative in his views, and I think he’s slightly terrified about the decline of the class system. He likes country sports and, you know, tramping around in tweeds shooting at things.” For May, who has a passion for carpentry (“screwdrivers and chisels really excite me”), such pursuits are of limited appeal.

“I’d rather go to an art gallery or do some woodworking.”

Anderson’s domestic bliss When Gillian Anderson’s last relationship ended, she wrote a list of “needs” and “wants” in a future partner, she told Lorraine Candy in The Sunday Times. “Doing this made it clear to me going forward who would be good for me.” In 2016, the actress found her man in Peter Morgan, creator of The Crown – and discovered another ingredient for happiness. “My partner and I don’t live together,” she says.

“If we did, that would be the end of us.” Maintaining separate households helps her focus on her kids, and means she and Morgan appreciate one

another more. “It’s exciting. I start to miss the person I want to be with, which is a lovely feeling.” There are other perks, too. “It is so huge for me to be able to see a pair of trousers left lying on the floor at my partner’s house and to step over them and not feel it is my job to do something about it!”

Ellroy’s freewheeling youth Los Angeles was a “freewheeling, egalitarian” kind of place when James Ellroy was growing up in the 1950s. The writer’s mother – who was raped and murdered when he was ten – was a “hard-drinking”, “shit-kicking” nurse who treated film stars for alcoholism, he told Sam Leith in The Spectator. His dad was “a big handsome bullshitter” who passed on to him the love of books, which later helped him become one of America’s most successful crime novelists.

He learnt one or two other things from his father, too.

“After my mother’s death, I was about 11, my dad said to me, apropos of nothing: ‘Hey kid, I f***ed Rita Hayworth.’

‘Dad, you lie like a rug, you did not f*** Rita Hayworth.’

We talked that way to each other, my dad and me.” It wasn’t until ten years after his father’s death that he happened upon a Hayworth biography in a bookshop. “I looked the old man’s name up in the index and yeah, it didn’t say whether he – err-err – with her, but he was her business manager in the late 1940s right at the time of my birth. So there you go, it’s that kind of LA.”

Castaway of the week This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured the FA’s director of women’s football, Dame Sue Campbell 1 Dare to Dream by Paul Begaud, Vanessa Corish and Wayne Tester, performed by John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John 2* Music of My Heart by Diane Warren, performed by Gloria Estafan and NSYNC 3 Land of Hope and Glory by Edward Elgar (lyrics by A.C. Benson), performed by Benjamin Luxon and the BBC Symphony Orchestra 4 I Dreamed a Dream by Claude-Michel Schönberg, English lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer, performed by Susan Boyle 5 The Wind Beneath My Wings by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley, performed by Bette Midler 6 Proud by Heather Small and Peter-John Vettese, performed by Heather Small 7 One Moment in Time by Albert Hammond and John Bettis, performed by Whitney Houston 8 Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand) by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, performed by Diana Ross Book: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela * Choice if allowed only one record Luxury: a photo album

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Olivier Richters is “the manliest of all the menfolk”, says Mark Smith in The Times. The second tallest person in the Netherlands, he stands at 7ft 2ins, has size 16 feet and weighs 23 stone. In 2017, he showed up uninvited at the Cannes Film Festival to try to kick-start his acting career. “Everyone wanted a selfie... It was amazing.” The move paid off: at 30, he is landing roles alongside the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch and Ralph Fiennes. Inevitably, he is asked to play tough guys, but in person, he is no hardman. “I’m sorry,” he says, reaching for a tissue with which to dry his eyes. He is recalling the operation he underwent to correct a deformity which meant his bones were compressing his heart. “Whenever I think about [the operation], I have to cry. I mean, you wake up and they’ve completely reformed you.” Surgery isn’t his only emotional trigger. “Oh God,” he says later, reaching for the tissues again. He’s thinking about Kiwi, his girlfriend’s pet pygmy parrot. They went on holiday recently, and “we couldn’t find anyone to look after him, so we booked him into a pet hotel,” he sobs. “It was a really nice one.”

Two days later, Kiwi was dead. “They think he just couldn’t handle the stress of being separated from me, and it gave him a heart attack.” The tears continue. “If I’d known such a thing could happen, I would never have gone on vacation. Oh God.”

Viewpoint:

Mumbling actors “Perhaps it was bound to happen to us eventually. The other evening, my wife and I watched Martin Scorsese’s film The Irishman. Right from the start, we found ourselves straining to make out the dialogue. After five minutes, we gave up and switched on the subtitles. Much of the dialogue was strangely indistinct, as if the cast had arrived on set after a painful encounter with a dentist. ‘Whur hur a hur hur,’ one gangster would sternly say to another. ‘Hur whur a whur HAR!” the other would indignantly reply. If I ever meet Mr Scorsese, I’ll make a polite suggestion about his mumbling actors. ‘Mur bur a hur mur?’ I’ll ask. “Hur mur bur a whur mur?’ I’m sure he’ll understand.”

Michael Deacon in The Daily Telegraph

Farewell Lord Chalfont, Labour defence minister, died 10 January, aged 100.

Peter Hobday, presenter on BBC Radio 4 Today, died 18 January, aged 82.

Terry Jones, director and founding member of Monty Python, died 21 January, aged 77.

Lord Maclennan of Rogart, the last leader of the SDP, died 18 January, aged 83.

Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R. Tolkien; also his curator, died 15 January, aged 95.

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Briefing

NEWS 13

The world on fire Wildfires scorching vast swathes of landscape and destroying homes are becoming an increasingly common sight around the world Why do wildfires break out? markedly more vulnerable. In the western US, for instance, the annual average A wildfire needs three components to take hold: fuel, oxygen and an ignition burnt area rose from 250,000 acres in source. They occur in areas wet enough 1985 to more than 1.2 million in 2015. to allow profuse vegetation to grow, but Alaska’s boreal forests have in recent with extended hot periods: mostly in decades seen their worst wildfires in 10,000 years. And from Siberia to grassland, scrub or forest. Sources of Australia, Brazil to Indonesia, ignition vary around the world. In Canada and Alaska’s Northwest Scandinavia to Portugal, fires are burning Territories, fires started by lightning at a historic rate. accounted for 82% of the area burned between 1975 and 2015. In the US as Why is this happening? a whole, humans start 85-90% of Rising global temperatures mean “a greater probability of fire starting, fire wildfires, mostly through carelessness – cigarettes, unattended fires – or arson. spreading, and fire intensifying. That’s basic physics,” says Prof Stefan Doerr, a In Australia, research suggests half of wildfire expert at Swansea University. A arsonists are youths playing with fire; the rest are disturbed adults bent on University of Idaho study last year found excitement or personal revenge. Other Wildfire in New South Wales on 9 September 2019 that in the US, increased dryness “explains about three-quarters of year-to-year human causes include the “burning off” variability”. However, local variables also play a part: in Portugal, of land for farming, and sparks from machinery or power lines. agricultural decline has led to an increase in unbroken forest, which burns faster. In Brazil and Indonesia, it’s the opposite: fires Where do they happen?

Approximately 4% of the global land surface burns every year. are driven by slash-and-burn farming, as demand for soya, beef and palm oil rise. But this, in turn, drives climate change, Bands of fire sweep across the world, following dry seasons and destroying carbon-rich rainforest and peatland, which has not agricultural practices. April and May see widespread fires in Southeast Asia as farmers clear crops and maintain fields. Summer evolved to regenerate after fire. In September 2015, Indonesia’s brings new blazes in the boreal (subarctic) and temperate forests wildfires emitted carbon at a rate of 15-20 million tonnes per day: more than the whole US economy’s daily emissions. of North America and Eurasia (particularly Siberia). In the tropical forests of South America, equatorial Africa and Asia Are fires becoming more destructive? (particularly Indonesia), fires flare up between July and October, as people use slash-and-burn to clear rainforest and savanna for Areas such as Australia and the western US are seeing more and bigger fires. On 7 February 2009 – Black Saturday – more than planting and grazing. Australia’s fire season runs from November to April. But it is Africa, according to Nasa, that is the real “fire 400 fires were recorded in Victoria, Australia, and 173 people continent”. Its satellites detect 10,000 active fires globally on an died. “Megafires”, which consume more than 100,000 acres, are becoming more common. Wildfires have always been powerfully average day in August – and 70% of them happen in Africa. destructive: they can travel up to 6mph in woodland and at nearly 14mph on grassland. But megafires are on a different scale. They Are wildfires a natural phenomenon?

Absolutely. They have affected the Earth’s surface ever since it has can engulf entire towns in minutes, and even create their own been covered in vegetation. The earliest evidence of wildfire, in the weather systems. Rising hot drafts hit cooler air in the atmosphere, creating “dirty thunderstorms” that generate high winds form of carbonised plant fossils, was found in the Welsh borders, and “dry lightning”, and can hurl firebrands up to 25 miles away and dates from about 420 million years ago. Many of the world’s – spreading fires still further. The intensity of megafires destroys ecosystems have evolved with fire, and depend on it. Forests regenerate after being burnt, with ecosystems – killing even trees that have evolved to withstand fire and tinder-like brush being cleared away How to fight a wildfire seeds deep beneath the forest floor, as and dense canopies broken up so Firefighters will try to contain a fire before it becomes well as wiping out animal populations. young plants can get the sunlight they too big to control, using both “wet” (water and fire need to grow. Fire helps to remove retardant) and “dry” techniques: forming control lines (fire breaks) by stripping out vegetation, so the fire old, disease-ridden plants, and return What will the future bring? burns itself out. If that fails, firefighters move to the their nutrients to the soil. Heat from Australian climate scientists have been “extended attack”, throwing resources at it: everything predicting that rising temperatures fire is actually necessary to release the from large water tankers to aircraft, which drop water seeds from some tree cones (scrub would bring an increase in dangerous mixed with fire retardant. Again, they establish control oak, for instance). Large-scale fires since the 1980s. Again, there are lines (natural, like a river, or manmade, by clearing wildfires can eventually lead to many variables. Land management brush with bulldozers) and sometimes “backburn” habitats with higher diversity than and advanced firefighting techniques land inside it to stop the fire advancing. They tend to unburnt old forest. (see box) can help to reduce wildfire attack the flanks to narrow the fire to a small front, damage, while climate change is usually from the relative safety of burned areas.

Are they becoming worse? expected to make some areas wetter.

Another technique is preventative: managing the Yes and no. Nasa’s satellite But the basic pattern is clear. amount of fuel a fire can consume by reducing brush and leaf litter. This can be done by grazing animals or spectroradiometers (light-measuring Australia is now about 1.4°C above with machinery, but the simplest method is using sensors) have detected a decrease in pre-industrial temperatures, and an controlled “hazard reduction burns” outside the fire the area burnt across the world each area three times the size of Belgium season. It has been claimed, in Australia, that “green” has burnt this season. The – currently year: between 2003 and 2019 the laws have led to reduction burns being banned. There area reduced by 25%, because many forlorn – hope of UN climate talks is is no such ban, though hotter weather has made them fire-prone grasslands and forests have to keep global temperature rises difficult to carry out safely. In California, it is thought been converted into farmland – that decades of effective firefighting has actually led to below 2°C. So whatever happens, which is less vulnerable to wildfire.

Australia’s fires are a clear sign of a build-up of vegetation, fuelling “megafires”.

Many areas, though, are becoming things to come.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Why charity shops represent the future John Vidal The Guardian

Why it’s trains and planes that garner the cash Ross Clark The Daily Telegraph

A scandalous case of NHS foot-dragging Jeremy Hunt The Independent

Belfast should look to Dublin, not to London Matthew Parris The Times

The world is drowning, says John Vidal – drowning in throwaway plastic tat. Every year, the average Briton throws out 400kg of waste – half the weight of a small car: and much of that consists of plastic. So what to do? Companies make a big deal of recycling.

But recycling levels have stalled in the UK and, in truth, they’ll never keep up with the vast and escalating supply of new plastic products. No, in the end the only way to avoid ecological disaster “is to starve the beast of consumerism”. Buy less. Reuse more.

And stop hankering for shiny new things we don’t need. Nor is this an unrealistic ambition. We have form in this regard: the UK is the second-biggest exporter of “pre-loved goods”, and our charity shops and car boot sales generate more than £700m a year. People often inveigh against the sight of high streets lined with second-hand stores. They’re wrong. We should, on the contrary, welcome these volunteer-run shops – with their range of useful, reasonably priced goods that would otherwise be dumped – as “pioneers of a new kind of socially aware consumerism”.

The funny thing about transport subsidies, says Ross Clark, is that they always attach themselves to services favoured by the betteroff. Look at the £106m bailout just given to Flybe. It’s hard to see how rescuing an airline that “helps transport wealthy Londoners to their weekend homes in Cornwall” can be justified either economically or environmentally. The same goes for HS2, a scheme that caters more to ministers’ love of prestige projects than the needs of ordinary people. If the real aim were to help low-income earners in the regions to get around, the Government should be pumping money into buses, the transport favoured by the less well-off (and which accounts for 62% of all public transport journeys). But buses lack glamour. “In 2018/19, the rail industry was supported to the tune of £7.1bn, of which £2.6bn went to HS2.” Buses in England received less than a third of that: just £2.18bn. Ministers should stop indulging transport projects that accord with how they like to get around the country, and instead direct money to the day-to-day services the average voter depends on.

The most shocking thing about the NHS scandals in Mid Staffs and Morecambe Bay isn’t the fact that patients died needlessly, says Jeremy Hunt. Sadly, in an organisation of 1.4 million people, mistakes will always be made. No, the real scandal is that it took so long – four and nine years respectively – for the appalling level of care in those hospitals to come to light. As health secretary, I pushed through the policy – first recommended after the 2002 inquiry into the serial killer Harold Shipman – of making NHS trusts appoint medical examiners to independently verify the causes of hospital deaths. And wherever this system has been introduced, it has proved “transformational” – helping detect systemic safety risks and identify improvements. “Remarkably, pilot studies found that 24% of hospital death certificates were inaccurate and 22% of causes of death were wrong.” It’s deeply worrying, therefore, that just months before the April deadline for all NHS trusts to appoint medical examiners, most have yet to set up these key posts. If they don’t get on with it, there will be more scandals and more broken promises of “never again”.

The cause of Irish unification has for so long been associated with anger and the “break-up” of the Union, says Matthew Parris, that people have not realised that the move makes sense for everyone.

But they are starting to do so. Four months ago, a poll in Northern Ireland indicated – for the first time – a slender majority in favour of unification. Only the over-65s showed a clear majority against.

What’s more, 90% of nationalists and 33% of unionists thought a poll on unification would be held within the next decade. And if that’s the mood now, think what it will be like after Brexit, when Britain starts to diverge from Europe while the province stays in alignment with its southern neighbour and the rest of the EU. And as the economic logic of unification becomes clearer, one starts to detect, in both the North and the Republic, the emergence of an “all-island consciousness”, particularly among the young. True, Northern Ireland subsists on a vast subsidy from Westminster: at around £10.8bn, it’s a greater cost to the British taxpayer than were payments to the EU. But I sense a growing recognition over there that such dependency is holding Northern Ireland back.

NEWS 15 IT MUST BE TRUE…

I read it in the tabloids During the Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent state visit to Myanmar, a post appeared on the official Facebook account of the host country’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi, stating: “Mr Shithole, President of China, arrives at 4pm.” It went on to refer to Xi as “Mr Shithole” several further times. Facebook later apologised for the mishap, blaming “a technical issue” that had caused Xi’s name to be wrongly translated from Burmese to English.

A West London couple have won a four-year legal battle to ban their neighbour from feeding their cat. Jackie (above) and John Hall were “upset and distressed” that their handsome Maine Coon, Ozzy, spent long periods away from their home, so they installed a GPS tracker on his collar to see where he ended up. The trail led to the house of a local landscape gardener, Nicola Lesbirel, who they claimed spent years “grooming” Ozzy, feeding him, keeping him at her home, even changing his collar. The Halls hired a top QC and last week, a court injunction was granted banning Lesbirel from feeding Ozzy or taking him in. She said the case had cost her £20,000 in legal fees.

A Ukrainian man awoke to find that his wife had placed a metal “chastity nut” on his penis, after discovering that he had been sleeping around.

The unnamed man, in serious pain, was taken to hospital in the city of Zaporizhia, where a local rescue crew was enlisted to cut the nut off with a bandsaw. He is expected to regain full function in his penis. He is also considering getting a divorce.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

© BRADLEY PAGE/DAILY MAIL/SOLO SYNDICATION

Best articles: Britain

16 NEWS

Best of the American columnists Talk of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moving to Canada has prompted a mixed reaction in my country, says J.J. McCullough. There is, of course, great excitement among a “narrow community” of avid royalists, who have long dreamt of such a thing. Back in 2011, a member of the Monarchist League of Canada suggested that Harry “could set himself up here and found a Canadian branch of the royal family”. But other monarchists fear that having a scion of the Windsor dynasty living permanently in Canada, as opposed to just visiting, could upset the country’s delicate constitutional balance. The Globe and Mail last week accused the Sussexes of breaking an “unspoken constitutional taboo”. The key to “Canada’s unique and highly successful monarchy”, asserted the Toronto-based newspaper, was having a royal family that is somehow “of” Canada, but also nowhere near it. The paper has a point. Most Canadians, after all, are still under the false impression that their country has been independent from Britain for 150 years; and many are “indifferent” to our lingering ties to the House of Windsor. In a poll last year, only 19% of citizens were able to name Elizabeth II when asked: “Who is Canada’s head of state?” Having Harry around the place all the time could lead to some awkward debates about the nation’s “post-colonial identity”.

Harry makes life awkward for Canada J.J. McCullough The Washington Post

The notorious attack that never was Kyle Smith National Review

Does a woman have a chance against Trump?

Michelle Cottle The New York Times

Remember Jussie Smollett? He’s the US actor who became a cause célèbre last year, says Kyle Smith, after he was accused of falsely claiming to have been attacked by two racist Trump supporters. He said they had accosted him in Chicago with a noose and a bottle of bleach. His “ludicrous”, inconsistent story collapsed under scrutiny, yet to widespread fury, the local state’s attorney ended up dropping charges against him without demanding a guilty plea on the basis that Smollett had been punished enough, by secretly serving some community service and forfeiting a $10,000 bond. But Chicago wasn’t going to stand for that. Public outrage led to the appointment of a Smollett: “a ludicrous, inconsistent story” special prosecutor, and it emerged this month that Google has been required to give this prosecutor access to over a year’s worth of Smollett’s emails, location data and messages. This is terrible news for the actor, who, against all the evidence, has continued brazenly to proclaim his innocence. We’ll soon all know the real story behind “the most notorious fake attack by non-existent evildoers since The War of the Worlds radio show”.

Is America ready to elect a female president? It’s a fraught question these days, says Michelle Cottle.

Elizabeth Warren contends that back in 2018, Bernie Sanders, now her rival for the Democratic nomination, confided to her that he believed a woman couldn’t win in 2020. He fervently denies saying any such thing, and, as Sanders himself has taken to pointing out, Hillary Clinton won three million more votes in 2016 than Donald Trump did (albeit in the wrong places). But the real issue isn’t whether it’s an outrageous, sexist claim; it’s whether it might be true. It’s hard to shake the suspicion that Trump’s “retrograde brand of politics – his naked appeals to sexism, racism and other forms of old-school bigotry – can be weaponised all too easily against a woman opponent”.

The polls are not reassuring in this respect, either. In recent surveys, most Americans have said that they’re personally ready for a female president, but that they don’t believe their neighbours are. That belief in itself has an impact on electability. The reason Sanders’ alleged remarks have struck such a nerve is that, deep down, female candidates and their supporters fear “he might be right”.

The American presidency: is it for sale?

Can you buy the Democratic presidential nomination? Two billionaires are doing their best to find out, said Brian Slodysko, Meg Kinnard and Michelle L. Price in the Associated Press. The Californian former hedge fund manager Tom Steyer has spent more than $100m of his own money on his campaign since July. But even that sum pales in comparison with the amount spent by his fellow candidate Michael Bloomberg, the media mogul and former New York mayor. In the two months since he formally entered the race, Bloomberg has spent $225m – more than three times as much as Donald Trump spent of his own funds in 2016. Bloomberg has flooded the key “Super Tuesday” primary states with TV and social media ads (he has also spent $10m on a 60-second spot during next month’s Super Bowl) and hired 1,000 staffers across 33 states on generous salaries. And, from his steadily rising poll figures, this “big money approach appears to be paying some dividends”.

Bloomberg is only just getting started, said John Ellis in The Washington Post. With a personal net worth of more than $60.2bn, he’s prepared to spend an “astronomical amount”. He might blow $1bn or $2bn or even more on this race, outspending Trump by as much as “5 to 1” – and he says he’ll keep

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

spending to defeat the president even if someone else wins the nomination. “Numbers like that upend every model of every presidential race in history.” US politics has never seen anything like this, agreed Jonathan Chait in New York Magazine. By choice, Democrats wouldn’t opt for an uncharismatic plutocrat like Bloomberg to represent them, but he might be their best hope. It’s going to be hard to win a presidential election against a well-funded incumbent benefitting from a thriving economy.

Maybe they need Bloomberg’s financial firepower.

“This dangerous notion is precisely what the Democrats must resist,” said Libby Watson in The New Republic. Yes, it’s vitally important to defeat Trump, but the last thing we want to do is to lock America into “a battle between competing aristocrats”. Neither Bloomberg nor Steyer is likely to win the nomination, said Eric Levitz in New York Magazine. But they’re demonstrating that billionaires can influence public opinion “through paid messaging alone”. Democrats delighted

by Bloomberg’s willingness to spend whatever it takes to rid the country of Trump should remember that “the typical billionaire donor” is well to Bloomberg’s right. The super-rich will be watching closely to see what a lot of money can buy.

Best articles: International

NEWS 19

Taiwan’s election: giving a black eye to Beijing Taiwan’s voters dealt China a powerful Straits. If it does not, China mustn’t blow in last week’s election, said Sarah be afraid of using “military pressure”.

Zheng in the South China Morning After all, Beijing has more than Post (Hong Kong). The ballot was enough power to “contain” Taiwan’s “so-called independence” – and Tsai’s framed as a referendum on relations supporters know it. with Beijing – and voters emphatically backed Tsai Ing-wen, of the Democratic Progressive Party, who China is “arrogant” in presuming that it can force Taiwan into compliance, opposes closer links with the mainland.

She beat her nearest rival, Han Kuo-yu, said HoonTing in the Taipei Times.

The argument made by Chinese from the pro-Beijing Kuomintang, by officials (“Taiwan is a part of China almost three million votes. It was a because I say it is”) neglects to take crushing victory, but until about a American support for Taiwan into year ago, Tsai’s re-election seemed unthinkable, said Kathrin Erdmann account. US leaders were once Tsai Ing-wen: a thumping victory on Deutschlandfunk (Berlin). Her party ambivalent on the issue, loath to had been thrashed in local elections, and she looked “wooden” erect barriers to China’s huge market. But Donald Trump’s compared with rivals. But everything changed when China’s administration sees China as “the greatest threat to US president Xi Jinping claimed it was “inevitable” that Taiwan security and civilisational values worldwide”. President Xi’s would one day be ruled from Beijing. And when violent protests “uncompromising” approach to Taiwan will only be hardened erupted in Hong Kong, voters quickly realised that Chinese rule by the election result, said Kathrin Hille in the FT (London). He views “unification” with the mainland as a means of cementing would spell an end to the democracy and freedom they enjoy. his place alongside China’s other transformational leaders, such as Deng Xiaoping. Yet Beijing now has limited options. Political China will prevail despite the result, said the Global Times rapprochement seems out of the question and, realistically, (Beijing). The one-China principle, that there is only one Chinese military force is not “feasible”. For now, China’s most likely state, has a “strong moral foundation” and the overwhelming path is to try to isolate and intimidate Taiwan’s government, support of our people. Taiwan must now stop antagonising using “displays of economic, diplomatic and military might”.

Beijing or risk undermining peace and stability in the Taiwan

VATICAN CITY

The “pilgrim” with a love of the limelight Deutsche Welle (Bonn)

FRANCE

Ministers must stop condoning police violence L’Obs (Paris)

SWITZERLAND

An open invitation to break the law Neue Zürcher Zeitung

When Pope Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, he promised to keep quiet and live as a “simple pilgrim”, says Christoph Strack. As plain Joseph Ratzinger, he pledged “unconditional obedience” to his successor, Pope Francis. How differently things have turned out. Aged 92, he recently appeared on German television dressed in full papal regalia. Determined not to be forgotten, he makes public statements every few weeks; “he might as well tweet”. Now, he has stunned Catholic leaders with an outspoken warning against slackening the Church’s commitment to celibacy for priests. In October, a Catholic synod for the Amazon region agreed that older married men should be eligible for ordination to address shortages of priests there. But Pope Francis delayed giving his final approval, presumably struggling with conservative elements in the Vatican. Ratzinger’s public intervention – in a book to be published next month – was clearly designed to tip the scales. Was this his idea, or is he being manipulated by “string pullers”, as he now suggests? Either way, the Church – already weakened by sex abuse scandals around the world – has been plunged into a new “crisis” by his actions.

French leaders are deliberately stoking an epidemic of police violence, says Pascal Riché. The number of injuries and deaths at the hands of officers – who are seemingly immune from disciplinary action – is far beyond the norm for a Western country. During the frequent protests of the past year, several protesters have lost an eye to rubber bullets, and innocent bystanders have been hurt too; 14 months ago, an 80-year-old woman died after being hit by a tear gas canister police had hurled into her apartment. But the government remains unmoved. Last week, a policeman was filmed knocking down and beating a young woman during a protest about state pensions. It was a “shocking” act of unprovoked violence; and it couldn’t be justified by saying it was “seen out of context”. But when PM Édouard Philippe was confronted with the clip during a television interview, he would only acknowledge that it was “unacceptable”, before showering the police with praise and commiseration for the difficulty of their job. This has become the norm. Clearly, the government’s aim is to shore up the police at all costs: it lives in fear of being “overwhelmed” on the street, as it nearly was during the gilets jaunes protests. But that is no excuse for trying to justify the unjustifiable.

Climate activists in Lausanne are celebrating a “historic” judgment in their favour, says Lucien Scherrer. The group of 12 had occupied the offices of Credit Suisse in a protest against fossil fuel investments. Dressed in tennis gear, they also demanded Roger Federer end his sponsorship ties with the investment bank. The protest duly led to a charge of trespass and a fine of 21,600 Swiss francs (£17,000). When they appealed, aided by a crack team of international lawyers, no one expected the fine to be reversed. Yet that’s exactly what happened: a judge has cleared the group on the basis that their action was a “necessary and appropriate” response to the climate crisis. This sets a terrible precedent. In a democracy, criminal actions should never gain legitimacy merely because they’re considered morally right. Such an approach could give campaigners the right to commit crimes in the name of any of the other “emergencies” Switzerland so often hears about – from the housing crisis to a shortage of crèches. Environmentalists retort that democracy has “failed” on climate change. But can’t they see that weakening the rule of law isn’t the answer? Far from being a “magnificent” victory, the judgment is in fact a “devastating” blow to the rule of law.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

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Health & Science

NEWS 21

What the scientists are saying…

Does sex delay menopause?

Having sex frequently appears to delay the onset of menopause, researchers have found. The team, at University College London, looked at data on nearly 3,000 women who were tracked for a decade from their mid-40s, and found that those who had reported having sex at least weekly were 28% less likely to have gone through the menopause by their mid-50s than those who had sex less than once a month. The researchers suspect that the physical effects of sex indicate to the body a possibility of pregnancy; if women stop having sex, ovulation is pointless and therefore ceases, to conserve energy.

“There’s a ‘use it or lose it’ kind of thing going on,” said Megan Arnot, first author of the study, published in Royal Society Open Science journal. While the biological mechanism that produces this effect isn’t clear, the team think it may be linked to oestrogen – which plays a key role in ovulation – the release of which is thought to be stimulated by sex. But Arnot admits that as the “whole hormonal mechanisms surrounding the menopause are really poorly understood”, it remains possible that other, non-causal factors could explain the correlation between sexual activity and menopause onset.

Ancient stardust discovered

The oldest material known to exist on Earth has been discovered in a meteorite that struck Australia in the 1960s. An analysis of dust grains from the rock established that they are about 7.5 billion years old – meaning they predate Earth by three billion years. The particles are believed to have originated in stars which died long ago, flinging their contents out into space. “They’re solid samples of stars

deliberate action, the team replicated the experiment in cages without external holes, or without anyone holding out a nut, and found that far fewer tokens were handed over. “They were intrinsically motivated to help each other,” said Dr Désirée Brucks, a member of the team.

But this selflessness does not extend to all parrots. When the experiment was repeated with blue-headed macaws, fewer tokens were passed.

Robots made from frog cells

African grey parrots: no token gestures

– real stardust,” said lead author Prof Philipp Heck of the University of Chicago.

Parrots behave selflessly

Parrots have been found to help their peers even when there is nothing in it for them.

Purely selfless behaviour – “instrumental helping” – has been observed in bonobos and orangutans, but was thought to be beyond the capacity of birds. In an experiment at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, African grey parrots were taught that they could exchange tokens for walnuts, before being placed in paired compartments with small openings between them. One of the two compartments also had an external hole – through which tokens could be passed to a human – but tokens were only given to the parrots in the adjacent one. From the outset, the birds with the tokens passed them to their neighbours, who used them to claim nuts. To check that this was a

Supercoolers and loo-roll robots More concepts and prototypes were on display than ever at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, said The Guardian. As usual, some seemed superfluous (voice-activated taps); others just silly (connected underwear). But among them were products that could improve our lives. The £300 Matrix Juno supercooler can chill a can of beer in two minutes and a bottle of wine in five. It works through a process known as thermoelectric cooling, in which electricity is used to absorb heat. And a range of devices are coming out to help people look after their teeth. Colgate’s latest brush, the Plaqless Pro, has a built-in sensor that scans your teeth to give you real-time information on how effectively you are brushing them, in terms of plaque removal.

Meanwhile, for people in a real hurry, the French The helpful Charmin RollBot firm FasTeesH has produced a mouthguard-like electric brush that promises to clean all your teeth at the same time, in just ten seconds.

In other bathroom-related developments, Kohler has put an Alexa-equipped speaker into its Moxie showerhead, so that even while standing naked under gushing water you can shop online or listen to the news, says the FT. The s260 HiMirror will “detect wrinkles, dark spots and pores” on your face, and recommend products to “scrub them out”. Should you find yourself on the loo but with no loo paper, Procter & Gamble’s Charmin RollBot will fetch some for you (assuming you have a smartphone to hand).

The firm has also produced a sensor to tell the next person when it’s safe to go in.

The world’s first “living robots” have been created, using stem cells from African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis). The “xenobots”, which measure less than 1mm across, can perform simple tasks such as walking or swimming, and can even repair themselves if damaged. But they cannot reproduce or evolve, and can only eat food which is pre-loaded into them – meaning they die after about a week. “They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal,” said Joshua Bongard of the University of Vermont, part of the development team. “It’s a new class of artefact.” Xenobots are formed from skin cells and heart-muscle cells – with the former providing structure, and the latter a pulse that functions as an “engine”.

They were designed with help from an “evolutionary algorithm”, which worked out how the cells could best be configured to create beings capable of performing specific tasks. The researchers then built them in a lab, using cells scraped from the embryos of Xenopus laevis. Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers predict many uses for future versions of xenobots – including removing microplastics from the oceans and delivering drugs in the body.

Major trial for new cholesterol drug A drug which helps the body to flush out cholesterol could soon become available on the NHS, reports The Times. Inclisiran, which is manufactured by Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis, switches off a gene that produces a protein linked to high levels of low-density lipoprotein – or “bad” – cholesterol. In previous studies, injections of inclisiran have been found to halve cholesterol levels within a fortnight. Now, in conjunction with Novartis, the NHS is planning to conduct a large trial that will test the drug’s effectiveness both as an “addon” to statins (which also lower cholesterol) and as a replacement for them. The Department of Health thinks that if inclisiran were given to 300,000 people a year, it could prevent 30,000 deaths over a decade.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

22 NEWS Pick of the week’s

Gossip

Ian Hislop was surprised to find that Private Eye magazine had been included on a list of fake news sources compiled by a university in the US. It turned out to be because of a story it had run about a turkey pardoning Donald Trump at Thanksgiving.

“Some of the other stuff we put in the magazine isn’t true either,” he explained to the college, in a phone call. ”Theresa May doesn’t run a school. She actually was the prime minister.”

Photos of Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston meeting at the Screen Actors Guild awards have sparked fevered speculation that the pair – who divorced 15 years ago – are getting back together.

The couple were visibly delighted to run into each other, but they parted after a few moments, and there is no evidence that they are dating. But that didn’t stop their fans on social media going wild. “WE WILL BE TELLING OUR GRAND-KIDS ABOUT THIS,” read one comment. “THAT’S HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS.” Her relationship with Peter Sellers ended with her divorcing him on grounds of cruelty. But Swedish actress Britt Ekland says the only partner from whom she has parted on bad terms was Rod Stewart. She dated the rock star for two years in the 1970s. “I had to pay $100 a month board and lodgings when I was living with him,” she told The Mail on Sunday. “I would go shopping with him, and watch him buy clothes from Yves Saint Laurent, but nothing for me.” Yet he would help himself to her things: “Rod would wear my knickers. He liked them.”

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Talking points Laurence Fox: waging war on the woke On the face of it, Laurence prejudice that affect ethnic Fox was an odd choice of minorities. White people don’t panellist for the BBC’s experience racism, so they don’t always perceive it, and Question Time, said Seun Matiluko in Metro. A scion they’re not qualified to define of the Fox acting dynasty, he it. Fox, an Old Harrovian, clearly doesn’t think racism is is best known for his role in a problem in “lovely” Britain, the Morse spin-off Lewis.

But consider an interview and it’s true that we don’t he gave last year, in which have people “wearing he described himself as pillowcases on their heads “radicalised against woke” and doing Nazi salutes”, said – and it all becomes clear. The Hugo Rifkind in The Times BBC hoped for fireworks, and – but that doesn’t mean the battle against racism has been it got them. It was during a won. And just because he is discussion about Prince Harry sick of the debate, it doesn’t and Meghan Markle that Fox Fox: “white male privilege” lit the fuse. Dismissing the mean it has to end. People have a right to gripe about their country’s flaws, suggestion that Markle had been the victim of racism, he said: “It’s so easy to just throw your even if other countries have them worse. charge of racism at everybody, and it’s really starting to get boring.” Britain, he said, is “the I get all that, said Dan Hodges in The Mail on most tolerant, lovely country in Europe”, before Sunday. But what troubles me is that we have accusing lecturer Rachel Boyle of racism, for reached a point where you can be accused of pointing out his “white male privilege”. Fox’s racism merely for not accepting an allegation of racism. It’s true that Markle is not as popular suggestion that he was bored of talking about racism generated applause from the white as Kate Middleton, but nor was Sarah Ferguson members of the audience, but it was notable ever as well regarded as Princess Diana. So it is that black attendees sat on their hands. possible that race isn’t the issue. Black people who are convinced it is must be listened to, but it should be as part of a two-way conversation.

People hate being told they have “white privilege”, said Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu And that can’t start with a demand to “check in the I newspaper. They think they’re being your white privilege”, not least when Markle is “enjoying a life of privilege beyond most accused of being rich, or racist. But they’re not: the term simply refers to the protection that people’s dreams. If we can’t have that white people have from the suspicion, bias and conversation, then we will all suffer.”

The House of Lords: moving north?

To a Yorkshireman like me, the idea of relocating the House of Lords to the “ancient and beautiful city of York” has “instant romantic appeal”, said William Hague in The Daily Telegraph. Such a move – mooted last weekend by the Tory chairman James Cleverly – evokes images of barons and baronesses “strolling around the famous walls” and “finding solace in the incomparable Minster”. I know there are many practical disadvantages in splitting the two Houses of Parliament. But one advantage would be in providing a place for the 795 sitting members of the Lords to go to after 2025, when the Palace of Westminster begins its long-overdue £4bn refurbishment. It would also be powerful symbolically, showing the PM to be “the most serious advocate of government by the North, in the North, since Richard III was struck down on Bosworth Field”.

With other destinations (including a temporary space in London) also under consideration, this “ermine and miniver invasion of York” may never happen, said The Sunday Times. But the idea shows Downing Street is at least thinking imaginatively about its oft-repeated commitment to “level up the regions”. At the election, new Tory voters in the North and Midlands helped Boris Johnson to an 80-strong majority. By floating this plan, the Government hopes now

to cement its gains in former Labour heartlands.

It has to do something, said Simon Jenkins in The Guardian. The UK “bottoms Europe’s league table” in the gap between its capital and its regions, in everything from “wealth and health to productivity and investment”. At the same time, the “London magnet” warps “every infrastructure decision, from HS2 to Crossrail to research centres to museums”. Put simply, it’s a situation that won’t be reversed until politicians “view the nation from outside the capital”.

Why just the Lords? Why not “the whole shooting match”, asked Lord Kerslake on Politics Home. To split the two Houses of Parliament would create logistical chaos. If the Government really wants to break away from the “Westminster Village”, it should move both together. The PM’s plan is a “gimmick”, said The Independent. The unelected Lords is “one of the world’s great anachronisms”, surviving only because the public has “better things to care about”: a situation unlikely to persist if “plush new offices” are built for it at taxpayers’ expense. This idea is in the ignoble tradition of previous Johnson innovations – from his Thames estuary airport to the infamous garden bridge (both rejected after millions were spent).

Far from being a smart move, it will “achieve nothing, beyond a headline”.

Talking points The BBC: Auntie feels her age It’s hard to remember “a from better-off pensioners, worse or more dangerous which will be extremely unpopular. The licence fee will time for the BBC”, said Emily Bell in The Guardian. This be reviewed in 2022, and the Charter is up for renewal in week, the corporation’s director-general Tony Hall 2027, said The Times. Hall is unexpectedly resigned. “right to conclude that new Whoever succeeds him will leadership is needed to guide be fighting on multiple fronts the BBC through these pivotal at once. Commercially, the years”. In recent years, the Beeb is facing unprecedented corporation has spread itself too thin – with eight national competition from global streaming giants: its share TV stations, 11 websites and 40 local radio stations – of video-on-demand viewing is crowding out rival news 18%, compared to Netflix and Amazon’s 55%. Financially, providers while failing to it is being painfully squeezed. compete with the new big streaming services. The BBC’s Internally, staff morale has Hall: steadied the ship audience is now limited: the been sapped by a long-running row over equal pay for women. And politically, average age of a BBC One viewer is 61. A it faces a hostile Conservative government which compulsory licence fee no longer makes sense. If believes “there are no votes to be lost in eroding Auntie wants to survive, she should prepare for a future based on “voluntary subscriptions”. the funding and the power of the BBC”.

Hall’s seven-year tenure “will be remembered as one of relative stability”, said Alex Barker in the FT. He steadied the ship after the fall-out from the Jimmy Savile scandal, which cost his predecessor George Entwistle his job after just 54 days. Hall also secured an 11-year extension to the BBC’s Royal Charter. But the price for this was what some see as a “devil’s bargain” with the then-chancellor, George Osborne: agreeing to meet the cost of free TV licences for the over-75s from the BBC’s own budget. The Beeb is currently trying to withdraw free licences

The subscription model could be made to work, said Roger Mosey in the New Statesman. But it would risk “destroying the very essence of the BBC – which is its commitment to universality”, to serving all audiences. It would do better to chase younger viewers who have drifted away.

The UK needs the BBC, said Sean O’Grady in The Independent. It is one of Britain’s “vanishingly few” global brands, and its trusted journalism is crucial to our democracy. We can only hope that a director-general of “exceptional gifts” is found to “save it from destruction”.

The Brexit bong ding-dong: “deranged”?

It has long been suspected that tower (first estimated at £29m, now expected to Boris Johnson “isn’t the sort be well over double that). of man you could trust to organise a booze-up in a With the right will, the administrative complications brewery”, said the Daily could have been overcome.

Record (Glasgow). “Now he has proved he can’t even bring Big Ben should ring out for us a bong in a bell tower.” Last Brexit, agreed Stephen Glover in the Daily Mail. Since week, the Prime Minister called restoration work on Elizabeth on the public to “bung a bob” Tower began three years ago, to pay for Big Ben to chime at Not everyone was sold on the idea the bell has chimed on 11pm next Friday – midnight Remembrance Sunday and New Year’s Eve, Brussels time – when Britain formally leaves so why not on the day we leave the EU? This the EU. But it subsequently transpired that even is not about “rubbing the noses of committed if people succeeded in raising the £500,000 Remainers in the dirt”: it’s about marking a big needed to bring the clock tower, which is change. “Our departure is a huge national event, being refurbished, back into service for the whether you like it or not, and that is what Big night, parliamentary rules might prevent the Ben is in the business of noting.”

Government from accepting the donations.

Forced to abandon the idea, Johnson announced plans to project a giant clock face onto Downing It beggars belief that we’re having this “deranged” debate, said Ian Dunt on Politics.

Street. Buildings on Whitehall will also be lit up co.uk. Britain is about to negotiate “the most for the occasion, and the PM will make an important trade deal in its history” and the address to the nation. right-wing tabloids rant about a “Remainer It seems the stultifying forces of officialdom have stitch-up over Big Ben bongs”. Alas, the row is just a taste of how we’re likely to spend the rest prevailed, said Charles Moore in The Daily of the year as the Brexit process plays out. Stand Telegraph. Yes, £500,000 (“nearly £50,000 per by for more “accusations of treachery”, lies and bong”) is a lot of money, but it’s not so much other frantic attempts at blame shifting. when set against the cost of restoring the clock

NEWS 23

Wit & Wisdom “Hate is too great a burden to bear. It injures the hater more than it injures the hated.”

Civil rights activist Coretta Scott King, quoted in Metro “Life is not a battle between good and bad, but between bad and worse.”

Joseph Brodsky, quoted on The Browser “Who knew that the greatest mass thrill that the internet would provide would not in the end be sex or celebrity, but telling people off?”

David Baddiel in The Sunday Times “You can observe a lot by just watching.”

Baseball player Yogi Berra, quoted on NextDraft.com “Science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”

Isaac Asimov, quoted in The Topeka Capital-Journal “Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.”

Robert Frost, quoted in Forbes “We are all here on earth to help others; what on earth the others are here for, I don’t know.”

W.H. Auden, quoted in the Manchester Evening News “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”

Anthropologist Margaret Mead, quoted in The New York Times

Statistics of the week

Britons spent an average of 2.4 hours a day on their mobiles last year, 15% more time than two years ago. The global average was 3.7 hours, up 35% since 2017.

The Times Discarded phone chargers are estimated to account for 51,000 tonnes of waste a year in the EU. The New York Times

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Sport

24 NEWS

Rugby union: Saracens go down Eight months ago, Saracens won the Champions Cup, the most prestigious competition in European rugby, for the third time in four seasons, said Gavin Mairs in The Daily Telegraph. Three weeks later, they won the Premiership title for the fourth time in five seasons. It was a period of success unrivalled by any English club before them – and it looked likely to continue for many more years. But at the end of this season, in the biggest scandal English rugby has ever seen, Sarries will be relegated to the Championship, English rugby’s second tier. The club had already been fined £5.36m and docked 35 points in November, for exceeding the Premiership’s £7m cap on players’ salaries in each of the previous three seasons.

But having failed to bring their spending below that limit this season, they have been hit with another massive penalty.

dominated by a handful of rich clubs”, said Brian Moore in The Daily Telegraph. That’s why the Premiership had to act. Overspending doesn’t guarantee glory – Saracens also owe their trophies to “tremendous work by coaches and players”, as well as an excellent academy – but it “makes success much more likely”.

Even so, this punishment is needlessly harsh, said Stephen Jones in The Sunday Times. And it will come back to bite the Premiership. The rest of the season will be “dull as ditchwater”: Sarries’ relegation means all the other clubs are safe. The big question now is whether Saracens can hold onto some of their star players, said Ben Kay in The Times. Owen Farrell is reportedly intent on staying – but will his England teammates Maro Owen Farrell: staying put?

Itoje and Billy Vunipola really want to slum it in the Championship? Their options are limited: most Premiership “What a mess,” said Robert Kitson in The Guardian. To think clubs won’t be able to afford their wages, as they’re already that when the original punishment was announced last autumn, “spending up to the cap”. And while French clubs may come the club had the “bare-faced cheek” to claim it hadn’t done calling, moving overseas would make players ineligible for anything wrong – even though it continued to “operate over the England. Saracens are considering various options: loaning salary cap by as much as £2m”. And what about the players? Did players out for a year, or offering them part-sabbaticals so they none of them wonder how Saracens could “assemble and retain can focus on their international career. In other words, this isn’t this calibre of squad while no one else was doing so”? The whole “Armageddon” for Sarries, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail. point of a salary cap is to prevent English rugby being “still more A club of its stature can “ride a year or more in adversity”.

Cricket: a new era for England?

When Joe Root’s England captaincy eventually performance was “on another level”. Young comes to an end, “he will look back fondly at this players often “get worked out” by opposition tour of South Africa”, said Mike Atherton in The bowlers, but there are no obvious flaws in Pope’s Times. “It was here, he may reflect, that the technique. He appears to have “a long and architecture of a new side was conceived”, its distinguished career ahead of him”. building blocks “put in place”. In the second Test, it was a maiden century from Dom Sibley, “Root’s captaincy has been under intense scrutiny,” a 24-year-old batsman, that helped seal victory. said Elizabeth Ammon in The Times. But tactically, And in England’s third Test, in Port Elizabeth, at least, he has “vastly improved” over the last two two 22-year-olds came to the fore: Ollie Pope Tests. In the second Test, his creative field placings was named man of the match for his own maiden paid off; in the third, he “read the conditions century and his six catches, while Dom Bess, a brilliantly” and even took four wickets with his swing bowler, took five wickets in the first innings. own bowling. But let’s not get carried away, said They helped the side to victory by an innings and Scyld Berry in The Daily Telegraph. Neither of 53 runs – England’s biggest overseas win in nine those matches can be ranked among England’s years. Pope is proving to be “the best young finest away wins. And the victories have come Pope: man of the match batsman England have had since Root started his against the weakest South Africa side in years. For career”, said Chris Stocks in The Guardian. He had already all the excitement over the side’s exciting young talents, England scored 75 against New Zealand in December, but this remain “a mid-table outfit”.

Scotland’s header ban

Sporting headlines

In Scotland, heading the ball was if we’re still “a long way from once thought to be “close to an art football without headers”. form”, said Aidan Smith in The Actually, we’re not as far as you Scotsman. Between 1973 and 1981, might think, said Stefan Bienkowski the national team qualified for on BBC Sport. Headers are three successive World Cups becoming “less and less prevalent through a headed goal. But now, in professional football”, as playing Scotland is set to become the first the long ball has fallen out of European country to ban children fashion. In the Premier League, the under 12 from heading the ball. It’s number of headers attempted by hard to argue with the proposals players fell 9% between the 2015/16 when the dementia risk is so high: season and 2018/19; in Germany’s “research reveals that professional Bundesliga, the number was down footballers are three and a half “an astonishing 22%” in that time. times more likely to die from a And even Scottish football is neurodegenerative disease”. Little Headers: not so popular changing: in the Scottish surprise, then, that England is Premiership, the number of headed under pressure to follow suit. Given everything goals plummeted 28% over those four seasons, we now know, it would be irresponsible not to from 10.17 per club to 7.33. The impact of this “try and minimise the potential dangers” – even ban “may not be all that drastic” after all.

Football Liverpool beat Manchester United 2-0 to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to 16 points, with a game in hand.

Manchester City drew 2-2 with Crystal Palace.

Newcastle beat Chelsea 1-0.

Golf Lee Westwood won the Abu Dhabi Championship by four strokes.

Tennis On her Australian Open debut, 15-year-old Coco Gauff defeated Venus Williams in the first round.

Chess Magnus Carlsen stretched his unbeaten record to 111 games, breaking the world record.

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

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LETTERS Pick of the week’s correspondence Far-fetched HS2 costing To The Daily Telegraph

The fundamental question over HS2 is this: if the original cost estimate had been £106bn, would the project have been approved?

And the answer is no, because the calculated benefits would not have justified such a cost.

But as with so many government enterprises, an unrealistically low-cost estimate is used initially.

Thereafter, no one has the courage to cancel the project because, as the costs ramp up, this would be seen as wasting the money that has already been spent.

It’s all a con – and we, as taxpayers, are paying the price.

Terry Lloyd, Derby

Plastic-free challenge

To The Guardian

Re John Vidal’s article (“The solution to the plastic waste crisis? It’s not recycling”).

After his earlier article on plastic (“The plastic polluters won 2019 – and we’re running out of time to stop them”), I pledged not to buy any plastic for a week. This was eyeopening, as my family discovered that all the apples (and most of the other loose fruit) in our supermarkets had plastic stickers on every piece of fruit. Milk bottles were out (plant milk cartons have plastic tops); as was bread, salt, pasta, cereal (plastic inners) and tofu (entirely encased in plastic).

On our second trip out, we finally hunted down nonplastic-wrapped yeast to make our own bread. It opened our eyes to what a mountain of plastic we normally cart home in our eco-friendly cloth bags.

This inspired some changes around the house, which has reduced our consumption dramatically. It has had the added benefit of our food being healthier and cheaper.

We now shop at Unboxed, a local store selling most essentials – including herbs and spices – without packaging. We make our own plant milk in the blender and bread in the bread maker (this all takes an average of 15 minutes every evening), and tofu with soy beans grown by a local farmer. We now stop

Exchange of the week

Dealing with difficult pupils To The Guardian

There would be an argument in favour of the use of isolation rooms or cubicles for troublesome young people in school if there was any evidence that they worked. In fact, there appears to be no such evidence. The evidence that we do have is that teachers who use praised-based strategies to improve pupils’ behaviour in class experience far fewer disruptive incidents, and hence less need to be punitive. Yes, it is important and indeed necessary for any disruptive pupil to face a consequence as a result of their behaviour, but evidence suggests that effective punishments tend to be mild and irksome in nature, such as being kept back at the end of lessons, short detentions at the end of the day, and having their parents informed of their misbehaviour.

If strategies used by teachers and schools were evidencebased we would have much happier schools, teachers, pupils and parents. Isolation units do not work.

Dr Jeremy Swinson, educational psychologist, Liverpool To The Guardian

Perhaps the children’s commissioner, Anne Longfield, should consider a little more the welfare of the well-behaved children in our schools. Why should their education be put at risk by the badly behaved minority? Disruptive pupils often inhibit the learning of others, destroy harmony in the classroom and sometimes make a teacher’s job impossible. If these children find the consequences of their behaviour uncomfortable, there is a simple remedy: stop being disruptive and start behaving in a civilised manner.

The important thing to remember is that no learning takes place in a noisy, uncontrolled classroom. Parents need to take responsibility for the behaviour of their offspring.

Patricia Rigg, Crowthorne, Berkshire before buying anything, and consider the packaging options. The shift hasn’t been easy, but it hasn’t been impossible. If we all make small changes to day-to-day life, a plastic-free world is within reach.

Dr Yoriko Otomo, Canterbury, Kent

Alcoholic assistance

To The Times

In regards to the concerns raised by David Nutt, the Government’s former chief drug adviser, about the impact of alcohol on parliamentary decision-making, perhaps a compromise could be found by following the practices of the Achaemenid Persians, as reported by Herodotus: “They usually discuss the most important issues when drunk; but what they decide is put to them again the following day, when they are sober, by the master of the house where they are having the discussion.

“If the decision still seems right when they are sober, they act on it; and if not, they

put it aside. Any discussions they have when sober are revisited when drunk.” The recent record in London (where the system is halffollowed) and Tehran (where it is absent) suggests that both might profitably reconsider their processes.

Christopher Tuplin, Gladstone professor of Greek, University of Liverpool

Bullying in the NHS To The Times

27

out. Someone had subsequently used his account to look at a consultant’s personal medical results. He was made to “confess” and sign a document admitting his negligent behaviour. And I was accused of dropping a blood bottle into a regular bin rather than a clinical bin. The bottle had been traced to me and a committee put together to sanction me for this crime.

At another hospital I was called to answer for having examined a child in the wrong clinical room. Apparently, I had been anonymously reported. Such bullying tactics are widespread in the NHS and do indeed keep doctors from raising genuine concerns about patient safety.

If, from your early years of training, you have been consistently threatened and undermined, it can be very difficult to maintain the resilience to speak up. We need independent advocates for NHS whistleblowers.

Dr Katie Musgrave, GP trainee, Loddiswell, Devon

Unexpected support

To The Guardian

You underestimate Rebecca Long-Bailey’s support. As well as her fans in the party, virtually every Conservative would love her to become Labour leader.

Peter Brooker, West Wickham, Kent

The royal spud To The Times

“Sussex Royals” sounds like a variety of potato. Fits in nicely with Jersey Royal, British Queen, Duke of York and King Edward.

Andrew Harrington, Brompton, North Yorkshire

Your report on West Suffolk Hospital (“Anger over ‘witch hunt’ in hospital”) will be shocking to many, but did not surprise me.

My husband (a GP) and I have just exchanged memories of times when, as junior doctors, we were both brought before committees, accused of minor misdemeanours.

He had logged into “...but you’ll find we get all sorts here” a results system online and forgotten to log © THE SPECTATOR

● Letters have been edited

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

ARTS Review of reviews: Books

29

Book of the week

economists predict that AI will have a less disruptive impact than many now assume. Still, it is clear that technology A World Without Work is already significantly reshaping the

by Daniel Susskind labour market. And Susskind suggests that “returns to capital will continue Allen Lane 336pp £20 to rise relative to labour”, leading to The Week Bookshop £15.99 deeper “inequality, unhappiness and social unrest”. His remedy is a bigger “What do you do?” is often the first role for the state, said Alana Semuels in The New York Times. Governments question we ask when we meet someone new, said John Arlidge in should step in to redistribute wealth – The Sunday Times. Understandably so, perhaps by becoming shareholders of since people’s jobs reveal more about the most valuable companies, and them than practically anything else. introducing a basic income. Such But according to the Oxford economist ideas are “thought-provoking at a time Will robots spell the end of the Age of Labour?

Daniel Susskind, this “icebreaker” will when younger generations are nurturing a growing interest in socialism”. soon be redundant. In this lively and “challenging” book, Susskind argues that the “Age of Labour” – defined by easy-toIf you want to “get up to speed” on technology and the future find, mostly secure jobs – is rapidly coming to an end. Artificial of work, then I recommend this book “wholeheartedly”, said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. However, it is strikingly similar to intelligence (AI) is already making travel agents and supermarket cashiers redundant; soon, it will devour not only truck drivers, others I’ve read – making me wonder “whether one of those jobs cabbies and bricklayers, but accountants, back-room lawyers and that robots might take could be writing books of futuristic even journalists. In the past, fears of machines taking all the jobs economics”. And as for Susskind’s high-tax policy proposals, they proved unfounded: new technologies tend to create as many jobs will “prompt a sharp intake of breath” from “anybody to the as they destroy. But this time, Susskind says, things are different. right of John McDonnell”. Actually, if there’s a fault with this book, it’s that Susskind is too timid, said Dorian Lynskey in The Thanks to the sophistication of today’s technology, there are ever fewer tasks that can “only be performed by people” – he thinks Guardian. “If AI really does to employment what previous most human jobs will be displaced within decades. technologies did not, radical change can’t be postponed indefinitely. It may well be utopia or bust.”

That’s going too far, said Rana Foroohar in the FT. Many

The Sphinx: The Life of Gladys Deacon

Novel of the week Agency

by Hugo Vickers Hodder 384p £25

by William Gibson Viking 416pp £18.99

The Week Bookshop £21.99 (incl. p&p)

The Week Bookshop £16.99

She was sculpted by Jacob Epstein and painted

by Giovanni Boldini; Marcel Proust said he had never seen “a girl of such beauty”. In this “astonishing” biography, said Simon Callow in The Sunday Times, Hugo Vickers charts the life of Gladys Deacon, an “exquisitely beautiful young American” who dazzled European high society and became the second wife of the 9th Duke of Marlborough – before ending up in a Northamptonshire psychiatric hospital. Gladys’s life was “besmirched” by two incidents, said Ysenda Maxtone Graham in The Times. In 1892, when she was 11, “her American father, Edward, shot her mother’s French lover dead as he cowered behind a sofa in the Hotel Splendide in Cannes”. The second incident occurred in her early 20s, when she decided to have a small dip at the top of her nose removed by having paraffin wax injected into her face – a “pioneering cosmetic surgery” that went “disastrously wrong”, leaving blotches on her face for the rest of her life.

Even so, Gladys still managed to “bag the duke”, said Marcus Field in the London Evening Standard. In 1921, she married Charles Spencer-Churchill – but the union was not a happy one. “In 1931 she produced a revolver at a Blenheim dinner, threatening to shoot the duke in front of their guests.” Evicted from the palace, she spent the next 30 years living alone in a “squalid farmhouse” – she was known as the “Witch” of Chacombe – before being institutionalised. The Sphinx is not entirely new: it’s an “extensively reworded” version of Vickers’s 1979 biography of Gladys, published two years after her death. But it is told with “brio and wit”; and “as the tale of a doomed American adventure into the British aristocracy, this revised edition couldn’t be better timed”.

“It was either a genius marketing stunt or a strangely appropriate meta-moment,” said Francesca Carington in The Daily Telegraph.

Weeks ago, Dominic Cummings called on “weirdos from William Gibson novels” to work at No. 10. Now it transpires that the sci-fi author’s latest novel envisages a 2017 in which “Brexit never happened”. In Gibson’s alternate reality, freelance “app-whisperer” Verity Jane is hired by a shady firm to test an AI device. But, it emerges, this world is in fact a “stub”, produced by people in 2136 meddling with earlier realities and causing them to “branch off”.

“Once you have got your head round the cyberjargon and the twin timelines, Agency is an enjoyable read,” said Allan Bryce in The Times.

Gibson has particular fun with his “crazy” future universe, a world where paper bags “fly back to the shops of their own accord when emptied – the ultimate in recycling”. It certainly offers a “compelling” vision, said Jon Day in the FT. Yet with its shifting perspectives and many “bots and apps”, Agency feels over-complicated – its “various parts don’t quite cohere”.

To order these titles or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835 Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

FINAL WEEK! SALE ENDS 31ST JANUARY

Drama

ARTS 31

Circus: Cirque du Soleil: Luzia Royal Albert Hall, London SW7 (020-7589 8212). Until 1 March

Running time: 2hrs 20mins

★★★★

Cirque du Soleil’s annual postquality of the action” with some Christmas residency at the Royal stunning set pieces. A corde lisse Albert Hall is now seen as an artist “twirls endlessly” beneath almost traditional part of the a cascading sheet of water; festive calendar, said Clive Davis reptilian pole dancers “slither down from the canopy of a in The Times. Alas, in recent years the shows put on by the luscious rainforest”; an acrobat is flung through the red haze of Canadian-based global juggernaut have proved flashy a steaming dance hall.

The most “joyfully but disappointing – like one of those “elaborately” wrapped awesome” bit of all is the swingChristmas gifts that turns out to-swing section, said Lyndsey to be “five pairs of socks and Winship in The Guardian. This involves two vast swinging a bottle of deodorant”. But the good news for fans of lavishly platforms and acrobats flinging expensive circus-based spectacle, themselves between them – A “fresh and invigorating” feast for the eyes said Neil Norman in The Stage, “twirling, twisting or just is that Cirque has put a run of seemingly floating, suspended high in the sky”. At times, so much brilliance is unfolding at once underwhelming years firmly behind them. The new show, Luzia that you scarcely know where to look, said Daniella Harrison on – loosely themed around Mexico – is “fresh and invigorating”, and full of heart as well as spectacle. The “corporate soullessness” What’s On Stage. Luzia really is a “feast for the eyes” – the that has plagued recent productions has been “replaced by “perfect entertainment to brighten up the dull winter months”. something approaching joy”.

After a series of “misfires”, it did indeed seem as if Cirque had The week’s other opening lost its touch, agreed Jack Taylor in The Daily Telegraph. But Beckett Triple Bill Jermyn Street Theatre (020-7287 2875). director Daniele Finzi Pasca has bucked the trend with this “wellUntil 8 February pitched and ambitious” show. Luzia – a portmanteau word that Trevor Nunn directs three short Beckett plays around the theme combines the Spanish for “light” and “rain” – blends circus of old age and memory, all perfectly paired to the “small, subterstaples and contemporary techniques in a “stylish, visually ranean” Jermyn Street Theatre. James Hayes brings mournful, satisfying journey” through Mexican mythology and culture, and poetic power to the failed writer in Krapp’s Last Tape (Guardian). the splendour and scale of the venue “elevates the epic, dreamlike

Theatre: The Strange Tale of Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel

© MATT BEARD; MANUEL HARLAN

Home, Manchester, 4-8 February; touring until 28 March (toldbyanidiot.org)

Running time: 1hr 30mins

★★★★

This charming, funny – and at “nails” Chaplin’s signature times sublimely silly – “treat” waddle, and repeatedly brings of a show from Told by an the house down with her Idiot (an “anarchically skittish” pointed glances to the audience, theatre company that has been while Jerone Marsh-Reid has pleasing audiences for 25 years) perfected Stan Laurel’s is based on a true story, said endearing “doe-eyed blinks”.

Dominic Cavendish in The Daily In my view, it doesn’t quite Telegraph. Or at any rate, it come off, said Dominic Maxwell is based on a biographical in The Times. Yes, it’s skilfully fragment. In 1910, the then played, but the storytelling – unknown Charlie Chaplin and “loose by design” from the off Stan Laurel set sail together to – ends up so “haphazard”, it’s New York from their native hard to know (or care) what’s England as part of Fred Karno’s going on. Yet even if the thread famous music hall troupe. Very is at times hard to follow, the Marsh-Reid, Vitale and Haverson: exceptional little is known about the real-life sheer “beguiling oddity” of the relationship between this pair of piece ultimately wins through, comedic geniuses. But from this premise, director Paul Hunter and said Brian Logan in The Guardian. The series of manic, wellan exceptional cast of four have conjured “blissful entertainment defined cameos from Nick Haverson (as Karno, Oliver Hardy and that pays dual homage to the heyday of the music hall and the Charlie’s raucous dad) are a particular joy. And taken sketch-bydawn of the silver screen”. sketch, this “fantasia on Chaplin and Laurel – all at sea, but on Told by an Idiot are known for “inventive, highly physical, the precipice of superstardom – is seldom less than magical”. carefully crafted chaos”, said Lucinda Everett on What’s On Stage. And this “complex and delightful” show – which is touring Album of the week the country following a run at Wilton’s Music Hall in London – Pet Shop Boys: Hotspot x2 Records/Kobalt £10.99 gives us exactly that. Without paying undue attention to A career that now spans 14 studio albums is a remarkable feat chronology, the show explores the comic pair’s (imagined) – and in the case of the Pet Shop Boys, “the standard isn’t relationship, as well as other key moments that shaped them as slipping”. The ten tracks on Hotspot, their third collaboration with producer Stuart Price, are “reliably well-upholstered and lyrically individuals. And, aside from the odd song, it’s all done through pithy; elegiac one minute, skittish the next” (Sunday Times). mime – as if in a silent movie – with piano accompaniment and projected retro surtitles to help us navigate. Amalia Vitale Stars reflect the overall quality of reviews and our own independent assessment (5 stars=don’t miss; 1 star=don’t bother) Book your tickets now by calling 020-7492 9948 or visiting TheWeekTickets.co.uk 25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Film

32 ARTS

Bombshell

★★★ The takedown of Fox News mogul Roger Ailes Dir: Jay Roach

1hr 49mins (15)

Well, this is unexpected, said Kevin compromised, if not outright villainous”, Maher in The Times. Jay Roach, the the film-makers opted for some clever director of Austin Powers – “the man casting. The women are played by Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and who gave us fembots, Felicity Shagwell Margot Robbie – all hugely talented and a sexually transgressive secret agent stars, with feminist cred of their own. who purrs, ‘Do I make you horny, baby?’” – has now made what may But the fact remains that although become the definitive film about the Kidman’s character, Gretchen Carlson, #MeToo movement. Bombshell tells did eventually blow the whistle, these women tolerated abusive behaviour for the story of the women who brought down Fox News chief executive years to further their careers. Had they Roger Ailes (John Lithgow) for sexual ignored their own self-interest and harassment in 2016. It’s a serious sounded the alarm earlier, other women subject, but what Roach has created is might have been spared. “Ailes was Nicole Kidman: “utterly earnest” “a timely satirical takedown” that finds awful, but he also had a lot of help from the very women he made rich and famous.” black humour in its challenging subject matter, while never “losing sight of its devastating repercussions”. The script is sprinkled with “exquisitely written bon mots”, and Ailes’s It is often the case that “topical tales hell-bent on catching a widespread mood” feel a bit “hasty and undigested”, said abuse is perhaps rendered shocking precisely because of the “wise-cracking japery that surrounds it”.

Anthony Lane in The New Yorker. And the tone is “all over the place”, said Simran Hans in The Observer. It is “grimly funny” in places, yet the performances are “utterly earnest”. And it But ultimately, you cannot escape the story’s “uncomfortable takes great pains to “sand down” the politics of its central contradictions”, said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. Bombshell’s protagonists are women who – “with icy characters to make them more palatable (smoothing over Megyn smiles and iron ambition” – willingly worked for a powerful Kelly’s racism and erasing Carlson’s homophobia). Instead of network (owned by Rupert Murdoch) that “institutionalised” confronting these tensions, it “pats itself on the back” by ending with a note celebrating how these women “got the Murdochs to the harassment of women. Presented with the task of making “heroines out of characters that some will see as deeply put the rights of women above profits, however temporarily”.

A Hidden Life Monotonous yet affecting tale

★★★ Dir: Terrence Malick

This latest film by Terrence Malick tells the true story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, who was imprisoned in 1943 for refusing to swear an oath of allegiance to Hitler, and later beatified by Pope Benedict XVI, said Danny Leigh in the FT. A Hidden Life has Malick being Malick from the start, focusing his “fish-eye gaze of wonder” on the Alpine village where Franz (August Diehl) lives with his wife (Valerie Pachner) and young daughters.

But while eyes may instinctively roll at the director’s familiar “fixation” with magical dawn light, the film confronts real darkness, and the result is Malick’s “best film in years”.

Visually beautiful, philosophical, theological and “slowly, slowly, slowly meditative”, A Hidden Life possesses “a certain

2hrs 54mins (12A)

hypnotic, cumulative power”, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. But be warned: it is so “long-winded and meandering”, some viewers may be moved to do their own praying, “as in, dear God, is this ever going to end?”

Franz is painted as such a Christ-like figure of compassion, he really has “nothing to transcend in the course of the film”, said Tom Shone in The Sunday Times. “Not even his suffering registers: his soul has long flown the roost and perches loftily in the rafters.”

That does make the film monotonous, and yet it still turns up treasures: “the rhythmic movement of scythes in a field; and a gesture of love between two condemned men so unexpected and tender, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head”.

Just Mercy Sober death-row drama set in Alabama

★★★★ Dir: Destin Daniel Cretton

Adapted from the memoir of the civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy is a death row drama about the case of a black tree feller from Alabama who, in 1987, was convicted of the murder of a white teenager on the basis of fabricated evidence. Director Destin Daniel Cretton has produced a “refined, sober” film that never resorts to “flashy melodrama”, said Clarisse Loughrey in The Independent.

Rather, it pauses to observe “the entire landscape of systemic racism and corruption”.

Jamie Foxx as the wrongly convicted man, and Michael B. Jordan as Stevenson, the young lawyer fighting to prove his innocence, give “dialled-down” performances that pay dividends THE WEEK 25 January 2020

2hrs 17mins (12A)

by “lending greater weight to those moments (a courtroom showdown, a jailhouse breakout) when Cretton “turns up the dramatic heat”, said Mark Kermode in The Observer. The film’s absence from the Oscar nominations is “further evidence that #OscarsSoWhite still applies”.

Jordan and Foxx deserve every plaudit, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph, but it’s a pity the film itself is so “lethargic”. It could have been a “crackling yarn”, a real-life John Grisham thriller with the “racial indignation dialled up”. Instead it is “thuddingly honourable”, with a “dawdling” gospel-inflected score and a narrative that somehow misses “the urgency of this life-or-death fight”.

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Art

34 ARTS

Exhibition of the week Theaster Gates: Amalgam Tate Liverpool (0151-702 7400, tate.org.uk). Until 3 May Theaster Gates (b.1973) we see an “enormous, is no conventional artist, wedge-shaped sculpture, clad with slate roofing said Rachel Campbelltiles”, memorialising Johnston in The Times.

Malaga’s demolished A painter, a film-maker, homes. “It has a sombre, a sculptor, a musician, an architect and a social funerary presence activist, the Chicagoevoking an ancient based polymath has ziggurat or pyramid.” created a “compelling Nearby is a neon sign new model of artflashing the island’s making” that often name, representing what explores the dark history it might have looked like of racial inequality in had it ever become a America. For this new tourist destination. exhibition, Gates has Everything is “faultlessly focused on the story of executed and beautifully Malaga, a “tiny island” appointed”. If I have a off the coast of Maine criticism of Gates, “it on which “a colony of is that he is too elegant, black and white people” his sensibility too refined coexisted in “mixedfor his own good”. heritage harmony” from Given the subject matter, A “forest of wooden plinths” topped by African masks the mid-19th century. it all seems rather too However, its existence was an affront to the authorities on tasteful, or, if you were being unkind, just “a touch bland”. the mainland, where racial segregation was enforced – and in I disagree, said Waldemar Januszczak in The Sunday Times. Gates 1912, Malaga’s residents were evicted to make way for a nevercompleted tourist resort; even the graves were removed. They endows his art with a remarkable “visual poetry”. One highlight were left without “homes, jobs or any form of support”. Some consists of “a forest of wooden plinths”, each topped by an ended up in institutions. A century on, Gates examines the plight African mask bearing “expressions of calm and anguish”. Better of the island’s inhabitants with a display that encompasses film, still is a video work that presents various scenes of “black melding sculpture, installation and archival material. The result is a into white”: a kissing mixed-race couple; a black dancer removing fascinating show that confirms him as a singularly “ambitious” his white shirt; and a group of mixed-race children grinning and “determined” artist. through a “wall of innocence”. Gates’s message becomes all the more powerful when we consider that Liverpool’s docks, visible Gates’s first British show features some “powerful, eye-catching through the gallery’s windows, once controlled most of the British stuff”, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. In one room, slave trade. This is a powerful and quietly disturbing show.

Where to buy…

Anna Freeman Bentley at Frestonian Gallery The places we live in say a lot about us: an unmade bed in an otherwise pristine room tells its own story, while the carefully selected furniture in a chaotic artist’s studio betrays another entirely.

Anna Freeman Bentley (b.1982) has produced a series of paintings focusing on precisely such incongruities, capturing deserted interiors full of idiosyncratic details that hint at the character of their absent inhabitants.

Against a backdrop of garish colour, Freeman Bentley captures scenes including a palatial living room divided up by unharmonious conjunctions of paintings and modernist furniture; a lunch buffet, the contents of its dishes rendered in serpentine squiggles of colour; and a dining room scene, in which an excessively polished table THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Mixing (2019)

abuts both a vast abstract painting and a Venetian blind, the slats of which peek open at points to reveal the cityscape outside. They may well leave you feeling as though you’ve broken into someone else’s private world.

Prices range from £2,400 to £22,000.

2 Olaf Street, London W11 (020-3904 1865). Until 22 February.

After decades of doubt, a gloomy self-portrait has been authenticated as a genuine work

by Vincent van Gogh – and his only work to have been painted while he was suffering from psychosis.

Self-Portrait (1889) has been in Norway’s national collection since 1910, but its authenticity had been questioned since 1970.

In 2014, the painting was sent to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam for study. After five years of research, experts have concluded that it was painted in August 1889 in the mental asylum near Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, when the artist was emerging from a severe crisis, says The Art Newspaper. Van Gogh depicts himself with a haggard, depressed expression.

The depiction of his ear is vague, perhaps deliberately so; he had mutilated his left ear in late 1888. Within a year he was dead, aged only 37, having apparently shot himself. This week the painting went on display at the Van Gogh Museum, where it is on loan.

© THEASTER GATES AND COURTESY OF THE ARTIST; ANNE HANSTEEN/VINCENT VAN GOGH

Self-portrait with psychosis

The Week reviews an exhibition in a private gallery

Galleries

35

Peaks & Glaciers ÂŽ

2020

Our nineteenth annual exhibition of paintings of the Alps Until 6 March 2020

e e

Edward Theodore Compton (1849-1921) The Lyskamm from the Gnifetti Hut, Valais, Switzerland (detail)

To advertise here please email classiďŹ ed@theweek.co.uk or call Nicholas Fisher on 020 3890 3932 or Rebecca Seetanah 020 3890 3770

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Will you give £75 to help a refugee family to keep out the bitter winter cold?

When they arrived in Lebanon after fleeing Syria in fear for their children’s lives, Hanaa and her husband Abdul had no savings and no money to pay rent. The only place they could find to live was the unfinished building you can see on your right.

There were no exterior walls. For two consecutive winters the family had to huddle together in the centre of the ‘room’ in a desperate attempt to keep warm. They felt every blast

of icy wind and were at essentials such as a terrible risk of respiratory heating stove, thermal diseases like tuberculosis blankets, warm clothes and and pneumonia. a tarpaulin for insulation.

It is a miracle the For a family like family survived, Hanaa’s who but they cannot are struggling to rely on another make ends meet to provide a Syrian refugee family miracle this and living with a Winter winter. UNHCR, in a desperately Survival Kit the UN Refugee exposed shelter, Agency, needs It could mean your support to help survival. parents protect their Right now, with the children this winter. situation in Syria uncertain, Please will you give 1.7 million refugees in £75 to provide a refugee Lebanon and Jordan family like Hanaa’s with remain unable to return a Winter Survival Kit home. They are living, to protect against the like Hanaa’s family, in freezing weather? unfinished or derelict The kit contains buildings, or in makeshift

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The List

37

Best books… Dave Eggers The American author chooses his five favourite works of satire. His latest book, The Captain and the Glory, a satire of the Trump presidency, is published by Hamish Hamilton at £9.99 The Good Soldier Svejk by Jaroslav Hašek, 1921 (Penguin £10.99). Any lover of Catch-22 should read this, which does to First World War soldiering what Joseph Heller did to the Second World War. Hašek was a private in the AustroHungarian army, and if this is based at all on his own service, he was the worst soldier in the history of armed conflict.

The Posthumous Memoirs of Brás Cubas by Machado de Assis, 1881 (Oxford University Press £22.99). This great Brazilian novelist was openly influenced by Tristram Shandy in this faux memoir by an aristocrat named Brás Cubas. Speaking from beyond the grave, he lovingly skewers

the customs and powers-thatbe of 19th century Brazil in roughly 160 short chapters.

The Custom of the Country

by Edith Wharton, 1913 (Bantam Classics £5.50). For me, this is the sharpest and funniest Wharton novel, and nothing less than a masterpiece of social satire. A young social climber claws her way up through New York and Parisian society during the Belle Époque. Every new peak she reaches soon becomes an insufferable plateau, and the climb begins again.

The King David Report by Stefan Heym, 1972 (Northwestern University Press £21.50). A great allegory of

how history is revised to suit tyranny. Ethan the Scribe is hired by King Solomon to write a hagiography of his father, King David. Although Ethan considers the late king a liar, braggart and philanderer, the report is pre-titled: The One and Only True and Authoritative, Historically Correct and Officially Approved Report on the Amazing Rise, Godfearing Life, Heroic Deeds, and Wonderful Achievements of David, Son of Jesse.

Trump: Think Like a Billionaire by Donald Trump, 2004 (Ballantine Books £6.99).

This book was ghostwritten by Meredith McIver, our era’s Ethan the Scribe.

Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit biblio.co.uk

The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeing and reading Showing now

Romantics Anonymous Director Emma Rice’s sweet – in every sense – musical about a chocolate maker gets a fresh outing at the Bristol Old Vic ahead of an international tour. Until 1 February (bristololdvic.org.uk).

The Barbican’s Beethoven Weekender (1-2 February) is one of a host of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the composer’s birth (barbican.org.uk). In another, the London Philharmonic will perform Symphony No. 1 as part of its 2001: New Century, New Sounds programme at the Southbank Centre on 8 February (southbankcentre.co.uk).

© BRECHT VON MAELE; PRIVATE COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN IMAGES

Jewish Book Week returns to two London venues – Kings Place, N1, and JW3 in NW3 –

Programmes

Keeler, Profumo, Ward and Me The reporter Tom

Mangold tells the inside story of the Profumo affair; Mangold worked closely with Stephen Ward as he became the scapegoat for the scandal. Sun 26 Jan, BBC2 22:00 (60mins).

The Windermere Children

Drama set in 1945 and based on the true story of a group of children who’d survived the Holocaust and were taken to recuperate at a camp in the Lake District. Romola Garai and Iain Glen star. Mon 27 Jan, BBC2 21:00 (90mins).

The Gene Revolution: Changing Human Nature

New Storyville documentary exploring the far-reaching implications of the Crispr gene-editing technique. Mon 27 Jan, BBC4 21:00 (90mins).

Farage: The Man Who Made Brexit Filmed over

five months following the EU elections in May 2019, this portrait of Nigel Farage sees him attempt an ill-fated alliance with the Tories. Wed 29 Jan, C4 21:00 (90mins).

Auschwitz Untold: In Colour On the 75th

anniversary of its liberation, footage of the notorious death camp has been colourised for this powerful documentary, told from the perspective of 16 survivors. Wed 29 Jan, C4 22:30 (90mins).

Landscapes of the Mind: The Art of Tristram Hillier is a “long overdue” retrospective of the surrealist painter’s haunting depictions of his native Somerset and other landscapes (Times). Until 18 April, The Museum of Somerset, Taunton (swheritage.org.uk).

Book now

Television

Films

Tristram Hillier’s The Beach at Yport (1940)

with talks and readings by authors including Simon Schama, Elif Shafak and Edmund de Waal. 29 February-8 March (jewishbookweek.com).

Just out in paperback

The Volunteer by Jack Fairweather (WH Allen £7.99). The “extraordinary” true story of Witold Pilecki, who voluntarily went to Auschwitz in order to arrange a resistance ring to filter information to the Allies (Telegraph).

The Archers: what happened last week

Jazzer and Roy tell Tom about Kirsty’s engagement. He calls in to congratulate her and apologises for what he put her through in the past. At home, he promises to support Natasha more. Jazzer and Alistair try to talk Jim out of going to Jayston’s funeral, to no avail. After a misunderstanding involving Alistair, a snarling Gavin accuses Kirsty of having a “lover” and they argue bitterly. Ruth and David go to a wedding fair to promote Brookfield as a venue. Lillian gets unexpected support from Peggy for the renamed B at Ambridge, but is still nostalgic for old times. A potential client from the wedding fair comes to see Ruth at the farm: it’s Vince Casey’s daughter. Kirsty discusses wedding plans with her mum. Over tea, Jim and Shula talk about facing up to fears. The Grey Gables staff are fed up after the team-building day at Spiritual Home, but Kate tells Freddie she has moved on. At the village shop, Lynda reveals to Lilian that she has started a petition to change the pub’s name back to The Bull. Alistair tells Jim that he and Jazzer will accompany him to the funeral.

Daphne (2017) A young woman reassesses her directionless life after witnessing a crime in this highly praised debut. Wed 29 Jan, Film4 22:50 (105mins).

Shot Caller (2017) Prison

thriller about a stockbroker turned gang member, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Fri 31 Jan, Film4 23:05 (140mins).

Coming up for auction David Hockney’s The Splash – one of his three 1966 paintings of a sun-drenched Californian pool – will be the undoubted highlight of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 11 February. Other works going under the hammer include Turning Figure by Francis Bacon and Grapes by Roy Lichtenstein. On display from 7-11 February at Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1 (sothebys.com).

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Best properties

38 Properties with church connections

▲

Gloucestershire: King John’s Castle, Tewkesbury. A Grade II* castle that comes with its own title, “Lord of the Manor of Mythe and Mythe Hook”. The site is believed to have once housed a freestanding chapel for Tewkesbury Abbey.

Master bed, guest suite, 3 further beds, family bath, 1 further bath, kitchen/sitting room, utility, shower, 2 receps, 2 garden studios, gated driveway with wide parking area, openbay garaging and garden stores. Private colourful gardens extending to 0.4 acres. £925,000; Knight Frank (01242-246959).

▲ North Yorkshire: The Old Rectory, Middleton, Pickering. A pretty Georgian former rectory overlooking its large lawned garden on the fringe of the North York Moors National Park. Master suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen/ breakfast room, 3 receps, utility, boot room, pantry, games room, bed 5/store, study, 3 WCs, outbuildings, garden. £765,000, Savills (01904-617820). ▲

London: Church Rise, Forest Hill, SE23. Set in the spire of a converted church, this flat has striking interiors, and contemporary fixtures and fittings, while retaining original features, from the wooden beams to the stained-glass window.

The property spans the second to the eighth floors and offers panoramic views over London. Second floor master suite, 3 further beds, family bath, shower, kitchen/ breakfast room, double recep, 1 further recep, WC, hall. £1.75m; Foxtons (020-8613 6200).

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

on the market

39

▲ London: Waldegrave Road, Crystal Palace

SE19. Situated in a converted church built in 1883 by architect W.J.E. Henley, this flat has many striking architectural features. 1 bed, 1 bath, kitchen, large rececp, hall, secure video entry system. £315,000; Foxtons (020-8772 8080).

▲

Cornwall: Churchtown Cottage, St Clement, Truro. An idyllic Grade II thatched cottage with character features, set beside the church in this creekside hamlet. 3 beds, family bath, kitchen/ breakfast room with Aga, dining room, sitting room with woodburning stove, snug/study, hall, lovely gardens, detached garage. OIEO £500,000; Jackson-Stops (01872-261160).

Norfolk: The Methodist Chapel, North Lopham. A remarkable Grade II former Methodist chapel, built in 1810 and serving the village until the congregation dwindled and it closed in 2014. The chapel has been beautifully converted and finished with underfloor heating and built-in storage, while retaining the original chapel doors. Master suite, 2 further beds, family bath, utility, drawing room with gallery above and kitchen area, recep hall, garden, double cart lodge, set in around 0.56 acres. £450,000; Bedfords (01284-769999).

▲

▲

Cheshire: The Old Priest’s House, The Village, Prestbury. Dating from 1448, this Grade II former vicarage to St Peter’s Church is considered by English Heritage to be one of the best examples of Tudor architecture in the country.

Master suite with dressing room, 2 further suites, kitchen/recep, 1 further recep, family room, utility, WC, parking. £850,000; Savills (01625-417450).

▲

Isle of Wight: The Lodge, Newport. A stone house believed to have been built in 1858 as the original lodge house to Carisbrooke Cemetery. The Lodge has been modernised and extended in recent years, preserving the original character and features, including the mullioned arched windows. Master bed, 1 further bed, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, 2nd kitchen, recep with log burner, 1 further recep, WC, hall, porch, front and rear garden, parking, outbuildings. £375,000; Lancasters (01983-209020).

▲ Highlands: Moyness Kirk, Auldearn, Nairn. A sympathetic Georgian church conversion, full of original features but with an ultra-modern interior. Master suite with dressing room, guest suite, 3 further beds, family bath, open plan kitchen/recep, family room, utility, mezzanine, WC, gym, garden, garage. OIEO £550,000; Strutt & Parker (0131-226 2500).

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

40

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Marketplace

To advertise here please email classiďŹ ed@theweek.co.uk or call Nicholas Fisher on 020 3890 3932 or Rebecca Seetanah 020 3890 3770

New releases this month Save up to 20% on our selection of new books, plus FREE UK delivery on orders over £20 The Other Bennet Sister

Motherwell: A Girlhood

Janice Hadlow

Deborah Orr

For fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Hadlow’s The Other Bennet Sister tells Mary’s story.

Simultaneously a wonderfully warm homage to Austen and a delightful new story in its own right, it’s a tale of a young woman finding her place in the world.

Motherwell is a sharp, candid and often humorous memoir by the late journalist, Deborah Orr, about the long shadow that can be cast when the core relationship in your life compromises every effort you make to become an individual.

£16.99 £14.99

£16.99 £14.99

Crisis of Conscience: Whistleblowing in an Age of Fraud Tom Mueller

Dr Guy Leschziner

The Secret World of Sleep

Crisis of Conscience looks at cases drawn from Big Pharma, the military and beyond. Whistleblowers expose corruption, usually at enormous cost to themselves.

Mueller shows how we should all think and act more like them if our democracy is to survive.

With compassionate stories of his patients’ conditions, Leschziner illustrates the neuroscience behind our sleeping minds, revealing the biological and psychological factors necessary in getting the rest that will maintain our health, as well as improve our cognitive abilities and overall happiness.

£25 £21.99

£8.99 £7.99

The Way We Eat Now: Strategies for Eating in a World of Change Bee Wilson

How to Drink Without Drinking

Exploring the hidden forces behind what we eat, this book explains how modern food has transformed our lives and world. To re-establish eating as something that gives us joy and health, we need to find out where we are right now, how we got here and where we’re going.

Whether you’re taking on the challenge of Dry January or simply want to cut down, avoiding alcohol doesn’t have to mean missing out on flavour or fun. You can be assured that every recipe in this book has earned its place as a tasty and exciting alternative to alcohol.

£9.99 £7.99

£15.99 £13.99

Questions and Answers About Plastic

A Year of Nature Poems

Katie Daynes

Fiona Beckett

Joseph Coelho

This timely and topical book has answers for over 60 questions about plastic, presented in a friendly and quirky way to help kids understand this global predicament and inspire them to be part of the solution.

This is a beautiful anthology of nature poems by best-loved children’s poet, Joseph Coelho, paired with folk art from Kelly Louise Judd. See how animals behave through the seasons, and the cycle of trees and plants, from the first blossoms of spring through to the stark winter wonderland.

£9.99 £7.99

£6.99 £5.99

Visit TheWeekBookshop.co.uk/newreleases or call us on 020 3176 3835 to order

FREE UK DELIVERY on orders over £20

Terms & Conditions: Prices quoted do not include delivery, and are valid until 7 February 2020. UK standard delivery is FREE on orders over £20, otherwise costs £2.99. All stock is subject to availability. Our phone lines are open: Monday to Friday 9am-5.30pm, Saturday 9am-5.30pm, Sunday 10am-4pm.

Marketplace

42

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Available from the confectionery aisle of selected Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Holland & Barrett and WHSmith stores and online at ocado and Ricola.com

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Wish you well.

To advertise here please email classified@theweek.co.uk or call Nicholas Fisher on 020 3890 3932 or Rebecca Seetanah 020 3890 3770

LEISURE Food & Drink

43

Food trends of the year: what we’ll be eating in 2020 “nose-to-tail”. Inspired by Aussie chef Josh Niland’s approach, which utilises all the once-discarded offcuts, expect to see fishskin crisps and black puddings made from fish blood and fat. Other crazes to watch out for include cold brew tea, sweet whipped butters and berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend. And in franciacorta (left), a bottle-fermented sparkling wine from Lombardy, drinkers will have yet another cheaper alternative to champagne.

Veganism has been the “mega-trend of the past few years”, says Katy Salter in The Daily Telegraph – and it “shows no signs of going anywhere just yet” (look out for tempeh, emerging as a rival to tofu). But alongside it, in 2020, there will be a far more concerted effort to make food more sustainable in other ways. As restaurants and brands are recognising, we are an “increasingly eco-conscious bunch”. This year, companies will “either be shouting about their eco credentials, or frantically trying to improve them”.

Carbon neutral beef and wild dining Restaurants will increasingly go in for “carboncalculatin ng” – detailing the carbon footprints of their dishes.

Offsetting will alsso be a growing trend: steak chain n Gaucho says that by planting treess and investing in green energy, it will be able to serve “carbon neutral beef” at its revamped resttaurant in London’s Charlotte Streeet. Supermarkets are taking the issu ue of plastic waste more seriouslly: northern chain Booths is trialling entirely loose fresh producee at two of its branches, wh hile Waitrose is introducing a range of packagingreducing initiatives, among them pick ’n’ mix frrozen veg and pasta dispensers. But food iin 2020 won’t all be about “trying g t y g to be greener”: there will also be a new focus on “escapism”. “Offgrid” feasting is set to become a craze.

“Gill-to-fin”: the new “nose-to-tail”

Sandwiches will become ever more elaborate (like the chicken oyster bocadillo at Sabor in London). And in restaurant design, the long ascendency of exposed brick and bare bulbs will finally give way to a more joyful aesthetic: OTT interiors are “making a welcome comeback”.

Banana blossom and sweet butter Plant-based food is here to stay, says Harry Wallop in The Times. We’ve had jackfruit and konjac; this year’s hot new vegan ingredient will be banana blossom (right). The purple-skinned flower that grows at the end of a banana cluster, it has a chunky, flaky texture – making it ideal for “faux fish fingers”. Speaking of fish, “gill-to-fin” is set to become the new

Foods turn to West African cuisine Making use of surplus ingredients is a growing trend in food production, says Tony Naylor on the BBC Good Food blog.

Dash Water uses “wonky” British produce in its drinks; and Black Cow uses whey (a by-product of cheesemaking) in its vodka.

When it comes to national cuisines, our fascination with Japanese ingredients and techniques will continue to grow, and more of us will be cooking north African and Middle Eastern food. But West Africa is the culinary region set to make the biggest mark, says Katy Salter. Next month, William J.M. Chilila, a finalist on MasterChef: The Professionals, will open Akoko in London’s Fitzrovia, a restaurant promising a “fine-dining twist” on classics such as smoked jollof rice.

Chilila says West African food is the perfect cuisine forr our ”, “eco-conscious times” being based on “sustainability” and “resourcefulness”.

Lemon-saffron chicken kebabs This is a variation of a traditional Persian dish which uses yoghurt to help tenderise the chicken, says Yasmin Fahr. It is great for getting dinner on the table quickly: you can marinate the chicken the night before, then pop it in the oven ven when you get home. But don’t stress if you can’t do it ahead of time – it still tastes delicious with only a 15-minute marinade.

Serves 2 or 4 sharing ½ tsp saffron threads 1 tbsp warm water 2 tbsp low-fat Greek yoghurt or skyr juice of 2 lemons salt and freshly ground black pepper 675g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into 5cm chunks 2 medium-sized tomatoes, left whole or quartered 1 small red onion, halved and cut into 2.5cm slices 1 tbsp olive oil 1-2 large pieces of lavash or pitta bread, lightly toasted, for serving fresh herbs such as mint, basil and parsley, for serving 75g feta (preferably Bulgarian), crumbled, for serving

© PATRICIA NIVEN

• In a shallow bowl, add the saffron threads and crush them into a powder using the back or bottom of a wooden spoon. Mix with the water, stirring until mostly dissolved. Mix in the yoghurt and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.

• Add the chicken and coat well with the marinade. Let sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or a minimum of 15 minutes.

• Preheat the grill with the rack 15cm from the heat source. Place the tomatoes and onion on one side of a baking tray (sheet pan) and toss with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Set the chicken pieces on the other side and put under the grill. Cook until the top of the chicken starts to

look slightly charred – about 6-7 minutes, depending on the strength of your grill.

• Remove the baking tray and turn over the chicken pieces, tomatoes and onion, then return to the grill until the chicken is cooked through and reaches 75°C in the thickest part of the meat – about 6-7 minutes more (there should be no pink visible, or squishy, glassy-looking part in the middle of the chicken). The tomato skins should be blistered and charred in spots and the onions will be a deeper purple hue and silky in texture.

• Remove and serve with the tomatoes and onions, toasted lavash, fresh herbs and some feta to make little sandwiches.

Taken from Keeping It Simple by Yasmin Fahr, published by Hardie Grant at £16.99. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £14.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweek.co.uk/bookshop.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Great Escapes

44

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THE WEEK 25 January 2020

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To advertise here please email classiďŹ ed@theweek.co.uk or call Nicholas Fisher on 020 3890 3932 or Rebecca Seetanah 020 3890 3770

Consumer

LEISURE 45

Volvo’s electric brand: “a breath of fresh air” Has Volvo “slipped out of its safe and The 143-litre boot capacity is cut to comfortable slippers and built itself an 126 once the charging cable bag is in old-school muscle car”? That’s the there. The glass partition in the boot, impressions you get from the Polestar however, which reveals all the electrical 1, except for the fact it’s a plug-in plugs and sockets, is a lovely touch. It hybrid, said Andrew English in The shares most of its solid, if unexciting, Daily Telegraph. This is the first car interior, with Volvo. from Volvo’s new electric car brand, and it’s “certainly a different kind of The Polestar 1’s drivetrain, however, Polestar 1 Swedish car”, with tonnes of power – is much more complicated than its From £139,000 almost too much. Next year’s fullystyling, said Antony Ingram in Auto electric Polestar 2 will be almost as fast and much cheaper; but Express. Up front, there’s a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder this model feels as if it could become a “collectors’ item”, petrol engine. In the middle are a pair of battery packs, and a marking the transition to a new type of supercar. pair of electric motors (with a 78-mile electric-only range) powers the rear axle. All this makes for a 601bhp car that goes The Polestar 1 doesn’t rewrite the rulebook for highfrom 0 to 62mph in 4.2 seconds – and even those figures don’t performance GT cars, said What Car? It “obliterates it”. do justice to the way it “surges through the gears”. It has great Despite the fact it has “more batteries than a branch of Currys”, grip, steering and body control, and though the ride is pretty the maker has squeezed four seats in, but the back row is tiny. firm, there’s no denying it’s a “breath of fresh air”.

Tips of the week... how to tackle phone addiction ● Charge your mobile phone in a room other than your bedroom to avoid getting sucked into the device before you’re even out of bed. ● People often open apps without thinking because they are the first things they see on unlocking their phone, so move most apps out of easy reach. Tools like maps, calendar and camera can stay, but put the rest into folders off your first page. ● Then get into the habit of typing the name of the app you want in your search bar to open it. The extra effort will make you pause just enough to consider if you really need to. ● Notification bubbles have been designed to hook your attention. Turn your phone’s screen to greyscale to counteract this. ● As much as possible, disable notifications from apps. ● If you’re really serious about cutting down, delete social media apps altogether, and use them on your computer, if at all.

SOURCE: THE TIMES

And for those who h have everything…

4GEE Wi-Fi Mini Despite its compact design, this model still has six hours of battery when running. It’s linked to the EE network, which has good 4G coverage, and is available on a monthly contract with no up-front costs, just like a phone (from £15; currys.co.uk).

Where tto fi find...

Wh d cabin escapes

It may not look like a bicycle helmet, but the makers of the Hövding 3 say it’s the safest one you can buy. Worn like a collar, it inflates to form a protective hood when its sensors, which read your movements 200 times a second, detect a collision. £249; hovding.com

Just off the Cotswold Way near Bath, The Oak House feels much more rural than it is. It’s kitted out with largely recycled finds and perches beautifully on stilts (sleeps two, from £128 per night; canopyandstars.co.uk).

The architecture-award-winning The Black Shed, set on a working farm on the Isle of Skye, has spectacular sweeping views over Loch Dunvegan (sleeps two, from £700 a week; cabinly.co.uk).

Built by the farmer on whose fields it sits, the cedar-clad Secret Exmoor Cabin in Devon has a modern Scandi feel to it (sleeps four, from £125; kiphideaways.com).

Inspired by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Falling Water at Ponden Mill in West Yorkshire sits dramatically above a waterwall and has fine views (sleeps two, from £120; canopyandstars.co.uk).

At beautiful Gwalia Farm in mid-Wales there is a log-built, grass-roofed glamping cabin hidden in a thicket of trees by a lake (sleeps two, from £88; gwaliafarm.co.uk).

SOURCE: FINANCIAL TIMES

SOURCE: THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

SOURCES: T3/TECHADVISOR.CO.UK/ TECHRADAR.COM

▲

▲

TP-Link M7350 This model is best for those who want a 3G or 4G connection for one or two people, since its battery won’t hold out as long some others. It requires a SIM, and has a handy LCD display for telling you the signal strength and battery status (£65; johnlewis.com).

▲ Solis X Smartspot This all-inone combined router and power bank is very easy to use.

It delivers 4G LTE internet in 130 countries, and can connect to ten devices. You don’t need a SIM card, but data is £7 a month for 1GB, or £7 a day for unlimited data (£180; amazon.co.uk).

▲

Huawei E5573 Available either on a contract from £10 per month, or as a stand-alone device with a pay-as-you-go SIM, this is a sleek, portable model for up to ten users with a 150Mbps download speed (£43; amazon.co.uk).

Macaroon This device works by offering online data deals that you can top up anytime, via a smartphone app.

It connects to ten devices and has a solid battery life (£140; amazon.co.uk).

▲

The best… portable Wi-Fi hotspots

2020 LOW DEPOSIT OFFER

PAY ONLY £99PP*

BOOK ON OR BEFORE 15TH FEBRUARY 2020

Glacier Express

DAYS FRO 2 2 5

CLASSIC GLACIER E PRESS

WHAT’S INCLUDED

Spectacular views and stunning scenery have made the Glacier Express from Brig to Chur famous the world over. Explore the Alps on Switzerland's terrific rail network during this incredibly popular mountain holiday.

Days 1-2. To Switzerland. We board the Eurostar to Paris at London St Pancras. We continue by train in First Class, travelling to Strasbourg where we overnight. Our journey continues by train to Chur via Basel on Day 2, where we check into our hotel.

Days 3-4. The Bernina Express. Today's excursion takes us on the historic Bernina Express, passing glaciers, mountain streams and alpine meadows. Day 4 is at leisure. Discover the area by mountain railway, using your included Swiss Travel Card for 50% fares.

Day 5. The Glacier Express. We board the iconic Glacier Express today for a wonderful journey in panoramic carriages to Brig. We travel along the beautiful Rhine Valley, climbing steadily then steeply as we make our way up and over the Oberalp Pass, the distant peaks of the Italian Alps in view to the south. We then travel through the Furka Base Tunnel, and into the flourishing Rhône Valley, before travelling through expansive vineyards to the small town of Brig.

Days 6-7. To Zermatt. Today we take the mountain railway to Zermatt. We walk the short distance to Brig railway station to board our narrow-gauge train, heading south through picturesque vineyards and alongside the River Rhône to Visp. From here we join the mountain track for the steep ascent to Zermatt.

This spectacular approach takes us through 8 tunnels and across 42 bridges, the gradient of the ascent

• Fully escorted by a UK Tour Manager from start to finish • First and Standard Class rail travel (Standard Premier Class on Eurostar journeys with a light meal and drinks)

requiring cogwheels to be engaged. Here you are free to explore in full view of the mighty Matterhorn.

Day 7 is at leisure.

• 8 nights’ hotel accommodation

Day 8. To Spiez Castle. Today we travel to Schloss Spiez or Spiez Castle, in the town of Spiez, overlooking the waters of Lake Thun. This impressive castle and its decorative gardens play host to us as we wander its halls and enjoy the Alpine sunshine.

In a special moment, we sit down to a wine tasting against a spectacular backdrop of mountains and the lake's blue surface.

Day 9. Return to London. Today we begin our journey home, walking to the station for the rail service to Paris via Geneva. Once in the French capital, we transfer to the Eurostar service to London St Pancras.

By Rail

1

FROM

1 STRASBOURG

Nights in hotel

• 15 meals including 8 breakfasts, 1 lunch and 6 dinners • GRJ Swiss Travel Card, permitting 50% discounted fares on free days for rail, boat and most mountain railway journeys

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS • Mountain railway excursion to Zermatt • Journey on the Bernina Express • Visit to Spiez Castle • First Class journey on the Glacier Express in panoramic carriages

Basel

SWITZERLAND

Chur 3

Spiez TO PARIS

Brig Geneva

4

Poschiavo

Zermatt

DEPARTURES 2020 15 APR 29 APR 13, 27 MAY 3, 10 JUN 17, 24 JUN

SOLD OUT SOLD OUT SOLD OUT SOLD OUT SOLD OUT

1 JUL 26 AUG 2, 9, 16 SEP 23 SEP 30 SEP

Call 01904 734497 or visit www.GreatRail.com to book or request your free brochure This tour may be suitable for reduced mobility passengers. Please call for details. Book with 100% confidence, flight-inclusive holidays are ATOL or ABTOT protected, non flight-inclusive holidays are protected by ABTOT. Dates and prices are subject to availability. Prices shown are per person, based on 2 people sharing. Prices may change prior to and after publication. Itinerary may differ depending on the departure date you choose. *Book on or before15th February 2020 and pay only £99pp deposit on selected 2020 Worldwide, European & UK departures. The balance of the deposit, (which is the difference between the full deposit payable and the low deposit amount already paid by you), is payable by the date notified to you as well as in the event of cancellation (in which case you may also be liable for additional cancellation and administration charges as stipulated in our booking conditions). Terms and conditions apply.

Please call for further details. Calls will be recorded.

SOLD OUT SOLD OUT SOLD OUT £2,295 £2,245 Tour code: GEJ

Travel

LEISURE 47

This week’s dream: Alaska’s frozen wastes and frontier spirit It is twice the size of Texas; its coastline that the Iditarod – a “gruelling”, is longer than that of the rest of the US’s 1,000-mile sled dog race – begins, with put together; and it is home to the tallest celebrations on the frozen waters of mountains in North America. But bald Willow Lake. Go for breakfast first statistics can’t prepare you for how vast at Gwennie’s, where the stacks of pancakes are skyscraper high, and the Alaska feels, nor for how spectacular it “frontier kitsch” (eagle-print wallpaper, is, says Harry Pearson in Condé Nast Traveller. The best time to visit is stuffed bears’ heads and so on) is “so March, when there’s a lot of snow vintage it’s almost tasteful”. From but the nights are getting lighter, and Anchorage, it’s a 45-minute flight the cold “won’t kill you”. (Summer across to Talkeetna (population 876), sees “swarms of flies and hordes of which inspired the TV series Northern Exposure and has a timeless air of tourists”.) And though there are endless wilds to explore, the state is so sparsely “pioneering wholesomeness”. populated that you don’t have to wander After reindeer meat loaf and slices of peanut-butter pie at Talkeetna’s Denali far out of its towns to experience its deep peace, and contemplate the state’s BrewPub, walk out onto the frozen Denali Park: “unfathomable beauty” “eldritch and unfathomable beauty”. river outside town for a moonlit view Arrive in Anchorage, the largest city, at the very beginning of of Denali, North America’s highest peak. And it’s worth flying March, and you’ll catch the final days of the Fur Rondy, a festival on to the seaside town of Homer, and thence to the old Russian trading settlement of Seldovia, which has a clapboard Orthodox that once marked the return of fur trappers from the wilderness.

Events include Native Alaskan blanket tossing and “something church and sits near dark, volcanic-shale beaches that command called the Cornhole Ice Breaker Tourney”. It’s also in early March sublime views of the snowy Augustine volcano.

Getting the flavour of…

Hotel of the week

A culinary tour of Laos

Torel 1884 Porto, Portugal Occupying a 19th century palace in the heart of Porto, this recently opened hotel is as “enchanting” as the city around it – the perfect place “to fulfil that ‘must-haveromantic-weekend-somewheredivine’ feeling” one occasionally gets, says Tatler. Inspired partly by the history of the Portuguese empire, interiors are elegant “with a hint of decadence” – “a candlelit ambience behind plush drawn curtains”. The 12 high-ceilinged rooms and apartments have vast arched windows, four-poster beds and “huge” free-standing baths (the Asia suite has a library of 3,000 books too). And the bistro is “convivial”, with a “sensational” list of local wines.

Doubles from £110; torel1884.com

From the gold-roofed temples of Luang Prabang to the waterfalls of the Bolaven Plateau, Laos has many treasures – but none is greater than its cuisine. On one of Inside Asia’s gastronomic tours, guests visit some of its finest restaurants and participate in cooking classes, says Claire Boobbyer in The Sunday Telegraph. First stop is Doi Ka Noi, in the capital Vientiane, where you’ll immediately notice the difference between the cuisine here and that in neighbouring Thailand. Dishes here are spicier, with far more aromatic herbs and more bitter, earthy and smoky flavours. Also included is a day at the Tamarind Cooking School, a coffee roasting class, and a chance to try a soup made with weaver ants and their eggs in the town of Champasak. A nine-night trip costs from £2,535 per person, excluding flights (insideasiatours.com).

Sicily’s unspoilt western isles

Although they are just half an hour by hydrofoil from Trapani on the west coast of Sicily, the Egadi islands don’t get many foreign visitors. But with their simple villages, beautiful coves and wild interiors, they attract plenty of local holidaymakers, says Jenny Coad in The Sunday Times. The biggest of the three, Favignana, is less than six miles across, making it easy to explore by bicycle. Its best-known swimming spot, Cala

Rossa, was the site of the decisive naval battle of the First Punic War in 241BC. Elsewhere there are pleasant restaurants and a beach bar, La Costa, that has “an Ibiza-like scene without the bling (and prices)”. Of the other islands, Marettimo is particularly attractive, with hills that rise to 2,250ft and make for lovely hiking.

Rewilding the Cairngorms

Much of the native flora and fauna of the Cairngorms has been damaged by centuries of poor management, but one organisation is now intent on turning the tide. Launched last year, Cairngorms Connect is the most “ambitious” habitat restoration project Britain has ever seen, says Holly Tuppen in The Guardian – overseeing an area of 230 square miles (and making up 13% of the national park). It contains some of the UK’s most prized ecosystems, including its only sub-Arctic montane plateau, and forests that are home to pine martens, wild cats and eagles. This year, a newly refurbished visitor centre is opening; there will also be volunteering opportunities and interpretive walks. Rewilding tour operator Scotland: The Big Picture is also offering a four-day Cairngorms Connect weekend (15-18 May) taking visitors on “a conservation-oriented journey” through the area’s diverse landscapes. See cairngormsconnect.org.uk and scotlandbigpicture.com.

Last-minute offers from top travel companies Weston-super-Mare stay Two nights at the charming Grand Atlantic Hotel, which overlooks the sea, cost from £89pp half-board, including four drinks vouchers. 01942447539, bayhotels.co.uk.

Arrive 21 February.

Picturesque Corfu studio Stay seven nights at the peaceful Paleo Studios, in a garden-view apartment, from £360pp self-catering, including Birmingham flights. 020-8492 6868, olympicholidays.com.

Depart 2 May.

Four-star Cuban getaway Spend three nights at Hotel Telégrafo La Habana (b&b) and seven nights at Blau Varadero Hotel (all-inclusive) from £1,299pp, including flights. 020-7071 3636, lovecuba.com. Depart 11 May.

Twelve days in Ecuador The adventure begins in Quito, travelling through the Andes (full-board) and the Galápagos Islands and ends in Guayaquil.

From £1,649pp b&b, including Dublin flights. 020-8068 3176, exoticca.co.uk. Depart 17 May. 25 January 2020 THE WEEK

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Obituaries

49

The producer of Cathy Come Home and This Life in southwest London. With a harrowing Tony Garnett, who has died abortion scene at its heart, Garnett had to fight Tony Garnett aged 83, was one of Britain’s hard to get it made, said Anthony Hayward in 1936-2020 most successful and important film and television The Guardian. He and Loach created an even bigger impact with Cathy Come Home, about producers. He made his name in the 1960s a young family torn apart by homelessness. collaborating with Ken Loach on a number of groundbreaking social realist dramas – from Starring Carol White and Ray Brooks, the film was shot on location in London, and many Cathy Come Home (1966) to Kes (1969). But whereas Loach has since remained focused on scenes were improvised. Cathy caused an uproar: it was discussed in Parliament, issues of poverty and social justice, Garnett ranged further, said Michael Hogan in The galvanised the formation of Shelter and, 30 Daily Telegraph. As the co-founder of World years after it was made, was voted the most Productions, he was responsible for the important TV drama of the 20th century by readers of the Radio Times. touching gay coming of age film Beautiful Thing (1996), as well as a host of influential TV shows, from Jed Mercurio’s first series, the In 1967, Garnett commissioned In Two Minds, a play about schizophrenia, which was another hard-hitting hospital drama Cardiac Arrest, to subject close to his heart. In 1963, he had Between the Lines, about corrupt cops, which was a forerunner for Mercurio’s Line of Duty married his teenage sweetheart, Topsy Jane.

She had starred in The Loneliness of the Long (also made by World Productions). Then there was the seminal 1990s drama This Life which, Distance Runner, and seemed destined for a Garnett: told working-class stories in the character of Anna – the charismatic, selfglittering career. But soon after she started destructive, bed-hopping barrister played by Daniela Nardini – work on her next film, Billy Liar, she had a breakdown. Her part was taken by Julie Christie, who became a major star. Jane never surely contained the original Fleabag. recovered, and vanished from view.

Tony Garnett was born Anthony Lewis in the Birmingham district of Erdington. His mother, he revealed decades later, died when he Disenchanted with the state of British film, and the prospect of was five, after having an illegal backstreet abortion; his father, a a Thatcher government, Garnett left for America in 1979, but his years in Hollywood were not productive. In his memoir, he wrote mechanic turned salesman, committed suicide three weeks later, possibly because he feared prosecution. Tony went to live with an that he had returned to the UK “exhausted and a washed-up uncle and aunt, and took their surname. “I automatically closed failure at 52”. Around then, he embarked on five years of down, feeling nothing,” he wrote in his memoir. “I never cried.” psychoanalysis. Frustrated by BBC bureaucracy, he co-founded But he read voraciously, and at Birmingham Central Grammar World Productions in 1990, before retiring in 2006. He is School, he acted in school plays. Later, he studied psychology at survived by the son he had with Jane before her “existential the University of London. Acting in a student production, he was death” (she actually died in 2014); another son from his second spotted by the BBC, but after a few years as a jobbing actor he marriage, which also ended in divorce; and his partner, Victoria became a script editor, and then a producer, on the BBC’s The Childs. In a 1993 interview, Garnett said that he had once Wednesday Play (and later Play for Today). A committed thought that by making films he could change the world. “But socialist, Garnett was determined to put working-class lives on there’s a lot more homelessness now than when we made Cathy. screen, and in 1965, he made Up the Junction with Ken Loach, The only positive result of that film, as far as I can see, is that the people who made it now live in very nice houses.” adapted from Nell Dunn’s book about a trio of “factory girls”

© SARAH LEE/EYEVINE

Skilled actor who appeared alongside Basil Brush In 1969, Derek Fowlds, stationed in Malta during his National Service in the RAF. He won a scholarship to Rada in 1958, Derek Fowlds a classically trained actor, and made his West End debut in 1961 in The 1937-2020 played Hamlet on stage in Exeter. His next major gig Miracle Worker. He was one of three Macbeths in a production at the Young Vic in 1975, and was rather different, said The Daily Telegraph. appeared in a number of films, including Doctor For the next four years, he was the human foil in Distress (1963) before finding fame with Basil to an irrepressible fox puppet with a “Boom!

Brush. He wasn’t entirely convinced by the job, Boom!” catchphrase and a voice like Terrybut was persuaded to stay until 1973 by the fee, Thomas. Playing Mr Derek on The Basil Brush which was a princely £125 per show.

Show turned Fowlds into a household name – and damaged his hopes of being a leading On Yes Minister, there was no puppet to upstage classical actor, he felt. Nevertheless, he went him, but he did find himself treated as something on to star in two more hit TV series: he was of an inferior by one of its other stars. “Paul the put-upon civil servant Bernard Woolley in [Eddington] would say to me: ‘This is a masterYes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister, and for 17 years he played the local police sergeant Fowlds: played Hamlet and Macbeth class in acting for you, Derek’,” he wrote in his memoir. From 1992, he played the grouchy, turned publican Oscar Blaketon, in the ITV impatient Oscar in Heartbeat, basing the character on a drill Sunday evening drama Heartbeat. sergeant he had known during National Service. “Oscar doesn’t suffer fools gladly,” said the actor. “I am more introverted than Derek Fowlds was born in Balham, southwest London, in 1937. he is, far more wishy-washy, laid-back.” Fowlds’ first marriage, His father, a salesman, died when he was four, at which point to Wendy Tory, ended in divorce in 1973; the next year, he the family moved to Hertfordshire, to be closer to his mother’s married Blue Peter presenter Lesley Judd, but they separated after family. Derek failed his 11-plus, and went to Ashlyns Secondary less than a year. Jo Lindsay, his partner of 36 years, died in 2012.

Modern in Berkhamsted – where he started to develop an interest His two sons from his first marriage survive him. in acting. He left school at 15, but continued acting while 25 January 2020 THE WEEK

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CITY Companies in the news ...and how they were assessed

51

Sirius/Anglo American: fertile argument

“Here’s a puzzler for the Prime Minister to answer,” said Ben Marlow in The Daily Telegraph. If the Government’s justification for bailing out Flybe was “to protect the UK’s regions”, where is the help for Sirius Minerals? A request last year to keep the Yorkshire potash mine alive with a Treasury guarantee on a vital loan was rejected.

“Now, having exhausted every other route”, Sirius has been forced into the arms of the giant multinational miner Anglo American, in what amounts to a fire sale.

Shares in the outfit, which has already created 1,200 jobs and hoped to create 2,500 more, were trading at 45p three and a half years ago. Anglo’s bid values them at just 5.5p – but the alternative, as Sirius chairman Russell Scrimshaw pointed out, was “administration or liquidation within weeks”.

Sirius aimed, at full production, to “churn out 20 million tonnes of fertiliser every year for export around the world” by extracting polyhalite (above) – a plant food rich in potassium. Yet the only things to have flourished in its North York Moors mine of late are “losses”, said Simon Duke in The Times. Sirius wanted to tap into “soaring food demand” from “a rising global population”. Having nabbed the company for “a snip”, it’s up to Anglo American to establish whether there really is a market for polyhalite.

Fevertree: losing its fizz?

Is Britain’s G&T boom finally losing its fizz, asked Joe Curtis in City AM. Certainly, one of its chief standard-bearers, the posh tonic-maker Fevertree, seems to have fallen flat, having suffered a “subdued” Christmas. After warnings in the autumn that sales this year would be lower than analysts expected, shares “plunged” again this week on news that the picture is even worse than thought. The former stock market darling now expects revenue growth of just 9.7% to £260.5m, compared to 2018’s rocketing 40% growth rate. It all leaves rather a nasty taste in the mouth for investors, said Cat Rutter Pooley in the FT. Fevertree shares are now right back at 2017 levels, “almost half their mid-2018 peak”. The problem seems to be mainly “domestic” – revenues in the rest of the world continued to grow. But the troublesome question is whether “the market for pricey drinks mixers is not only at saturation point, but has begun to shrink”. Fevertree’s future is meant to lie in the US – but growth there was also in the low double digits.

The company will need now to “show some real sparkle Stateside” to drown out the doomsters. Still, founders Charles Rolls and Tim Warrillow are sitting pretty, said The Times. They’ve taken £330m “off the bar counter through well-timed share sales”.

Barclay brothers/Sidra Capital: Ritzy business

Fresh from announcing plans to dispose of their Telegraph Media Group newspapers, the billionaire Barclay brothers have put another trophy asset up for sale, said Peter Vercoe on Bloomberg. They are reportedly in talks to sell the 114-year-old Ritz Hotel to Sidra Capital – an investment group of wealthy Saudi Arabian families. The Barclays acquired the hotel for around £75m in 1995, and spent tens of millions more restoring it to its former glory. They now want at least £750m for it, although “there’s no certainty the talks will lead to a deal”. A sale of the Ritz has been mooted since Sir David and Sir Frederick Barclay authorised a review of their business interests last year, said Judith Evans and Arash Massoudi in the FT. The hotel made a pre-tax profit of £7m on a turnover of £47m in 2018; its casino made an £8.9m loss. If a deal is done, the Ritz will become the latest swanky London hotel to end up in Middle Eastern hands. In 2018, the Grosvenor House hotel in Park Lane was acquired by the Qatar Investment Authority.

Cranswick: flying pigs

“Veganism shmeganism,” said Lex in the FT – it turns out that Britain’s premier pork producer, Cranswick, has also had a cracking year. Revised sales forecasts have pushed this year’s earnings up by about 10%, and shares have swiftly followed suit. “Investors can thank African swine fever”, which “has felled more than a third of China’s pig herds”, for a bonanza on the back of “escalating meat prices” – up 18% year-on-year in December. Cranswick has long had an eye on China. It began by exporting the so-called “fifth quarter” (heads, trotters and all the innards spurned by squeamish Brits), and now ships whole carcasses. Exports more than doubled in the first half – no wonder Cranswick is “like a pig in clover”. But pork isn’t the only thing on the menu: the company also sells chicken and olives. Indeed, combined poultry and antipasti-style gourmet products now account for nearly a third of its revenues.

Seven days in the Square Mile Global markets staged a broad recovery as concerns eased over the economic impact of the coronavirus in China.

Asian markets rebounded and, in Europe, Germany’s trade-sensitive Dax index hit an all-time high. The 50th meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos got under way, with climate change and sustainability the meeting’s main themes. The increasingly fraught relationship between Britain and America over tech issues stepped up a notch when the Chancellor, Sajid Javid, said the UK would not back down on introducing a new tax on large US tech firms. Washington said it would consider retaliatory levies on UK carmakers if the measure goes ahead.

The price of palladium, which has surged 80% in a year to hit a record high above $2,500/oz (making it more valuable than gold), continued to cause concern in the car industry. Palladium is a crucial ingredient used in catalytic converters, and chronic shortages of it cost the industry $18bn last year, according to a Citi report.

Shares in Boeing were suspended after the company warned of a further delay in returning the troubled 737 Max jet to service. The plane won’t be certified to fly until at least mid-2020, months later than expected. UK banks were accused of leaving customers vulnerable to fraud by failing to warn them against using online banking if they haven’t upgraded to the latest version of MS Windows.

An investigation into the troubled retailer Ted Baker found £58m worth of “phantom stock”. The department chain store Beales fell into administration.

Negative thinking Cloud computing is “enormously energy intensive”, said Philip Aldrick in The Times. But that hasn’t stopped Microsoft from attempting to reach “the most ambitious environmental target set by a corporate giant yet”. The US software group has pledged to be “carbon negative” by 2030 – overshadowing Amazon’s 2040 commitment – and aims to have offset all the emissions made since its 1975 foundation by 2050.

The company, co-founded by Bill Gates and run by Satya Nadella, will invest $1bn in an innovation fund to develop new ways of capturing and storing carbon, because “the technology that we need to solve this problem does not exist today”.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

Sponsored

Age of Disruption

Automation and the productivity challenge How can we tackle the issue?

Productivity in the UK has stagnated since the financial crisis of 2008. Investment in increased automation is a big part of the solution – but how can businesses plan ahead for the wave of disruption this implies?

“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything,” says Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman. “A country’s ability to improve its standard of living over time depends almost entirely on its ability to raise its output per worker.”

That’s bad news for Britain.

Productivity growth has stalled just about everywhere in the developed world since the financial crisis of 2008, but the UK slowdown has been among the most pronounced. Had the pre-financial crisis trend remained intact, UK productivity would be a good 25% above where it is today.

There’s no single issue behind the slowdown. The financial crisis affected the ability and willingness of banks to lend, which made it harder for innovative small businesses to raise funds. Meanwhile, the collapse in interest rates (and thus, debt-servicing costs) meant that businesses that might otherwise have gone bust - so-called “zombie companies” - have limped along, crowding out new competitors.

Persistent skills shortages are another factor. Almost 30% of 16-24 year olds in the UK have low levels of literacy and numeracy, compared to less than 10% in Japan, Holland and South Korea. And wages have remained low in the post-crisis period, encouraging companies to hire more staff, rather than invest in expensive technology that might enhance productivity in the longer term.

Are we just measuring the wrong thing?

That said, the problem may be exaggerated. Sebastian Chambers, managing partner at CIL Management Consultants, notes that both the City (due to the financial crisis) and the North Sea oil industry (due to the fall in oil and gas prices) have seen their relative importance in the economy decline since 2008. Instead, employment growth has been in areas that are inherently less productive, because staff costs are higher relative to turnover.

“In manufacturing, you might get £100 of revenue from 10p spent on labour. In the restaurant industry, 20p of labour might only get you £1 of revenue,” he notes. “But that doesn’t mean that individual firms aren’t improving their productivity.” Indeed, Chambers is convinced that the UK is leading the world in the service industry and that what has happened here will happen elsewhere.

Technology is the most obvious way to boost productivity. Self-service tills and automated hotel check-in desks are classic examples of consumerfacing automation. Computerised stock-taking can streamline supply chains, while lawyers increasingly use automation and artificial intelligence to check and verify documentation. As for distribution, in almost every year since 1975, the cost of sending a parcel has fallen, due to improvements including higher-quality vehicles and more accurate mapping. A future of driverless vans and drone delivery may reduce costs further.

Inevitably, there are concerns about technology, the foremost being the impact of automation on employment. A 2013 study by Oxford University concluded that “47% of US employment was at risk.” Yet if we look at the most recent sweeping technological innovation – the internet – we can see that while many jobs disappeared, plenty were created. Recent forecasts take this into account. In 2017, accountancy group PricewaterhouseCoopers thought that artificial intelligence would put about 30% of UK workers out of jobs. In 2018, that stance softened – 20% of jobs would be affected, and as many new roles would be created as lost. The overall impact on UK employment would be “broadly neutral.”

Learning to work with robots

What might be at stake is the quality of jobs rather than the quantity. In a New York Times article last year, Eduardo Porter argued that “automation is changing the nature of work, flushing workers without a college degree out of productive industries, like manufacturing and high-tech services, and into tasks with meagre wages and no prospect for advancement.”

So investment in training and education is vital, both for employees and employers. Daniel Newman and Olivier Blanchard, authors of the book Human/Machine: The Future of our Partnership with Machines, argue that individuals should specialise in skills and tasks that are hard to automate – anything involving “leadership, judgement, insight, creativity, abstract thinking… and strategic vision.”

As for business owners – look at automation as an opportunity. Look at technology as a way to augment, not replace, your team – freeing them up to focus on adding value to the customer experience. Automation solutions are now widely available and can be tested in affordable ways.

There’s no doubt that the automation revolution will challenge us all.

But businesses that plan ahead and invest in staff development and new technology can get ahead of competitors, by contributing to vastly improved customer experiences and a more efficient economy – not to mention helping to make the productivity conundrum a thing of the past.

THE EXPERT VIEW

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‘Embracing change’ Guy Turvill is the third generation of his family to run Swiss Laundry, one of the largest independent linen hire and laundry companies in the UK. Over 80 years, it has thrived - and created new jobs - by embracing change and seeking out more productive ways of working.

In 2016, for example, Swiss Laundry used finance from Lombard to invest heavily in an automated production line at its plant in Great Yarmouth. Instead of lifting and sorting laundry by hand, staff now operate a computerised monorail system that carries, sorts and stores

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Talking points

CITY 53

Issue of the week: the Huawei dilemma The US is putting pressure on Britain not to give Huawei a role in our 5G network. Should we listen?

Big Tech “was back in force” at Davos UK officials are “expected to give the go-ahead”. Government sources last this week, with the message that “it can be a power for good, rather than evil”, week accused the US of “sabre-rattling”, claiming that Washington had engaged said Chris Nuttall in the FT. No company perhaps sums that dichotomy in an “extraordinary” last-ditch lobbying up better than Huawei, the Chinese 5G campaign to try and pressure Boris giant currently “caught in the middle of Johnson “into falling in behind the US US-China trade tensions”. CEO Ren ban”. The US is threatening to limit Zhengfei told the gathering that his intelligence sharing with Britain in the company “could survive further US “Five Eyes” alliance (which also includes Australia, Canada and New Zealand) if attacks on its business” with “minimal it allows Huawei a 5G role. impact”. But elsewhere, the pressure on the company continued to mount. Ren’s Whether to allow access to Huawei daughter, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, appeared at a court hearing in Canada or not is one of the biggest decisions Meng Wanzhou: fighting extradition to the US this week to fight extradition to the US Johnson’s government will take, said on charges of fraud and sanctions the FT. Superfast communications will underpin “the internet of things”, smart cities, self-driving cars, violations, which her lawyers dismissed as “fiction”. The US, even telemedicine. That, in turn, will create “new vulnerabilities” meanwhile, has stepped up efforts to block Huawei from to spying and sabotage. Ultimately, the question is whether British participating in the development of 5G, the latest high-speed or US interests come first, said James Moore in The Independent. wireless technology now rolling out around the world.

The UK mobile industry “badly wants Huawei to stick around”: Britain is already heavily invested in Huawei technology, said experts judge the Chinese kit to be “cheaper and better” than Steven Swinford and Francis Elliott in The Times – removing it that of two alternative providers, Nokia and Ericsson. Moreover, would cost “billions”. But the real question now is whether to replacing the infrastructure already there would be throwing a commit. The Government’s national security council will meet “two-year spanner” into the UK’s 5G works at a time when the later this month to decide whether to give Huawei the “green economy “needs all the help it can get”. Our own spooks claim light” to help build “non-core” parts of the network. Despite that although “there are risks” inherent in jumping into bed with claims from America that doing so would be security “madness”, Huawei, “they can be managed”. We should listen to them.

Making money: what the experts think arranged overdraft charges. “The Western investors changes mean a have been eyeing up customer with a India’s consumer £20,000 balance sector for years. Can will earn less than the might of Amazon £200 a year.” finally open the door?

Anyone with an The tech giant’s CEO, arranged overdraft, Jeff Bezos, certainly meanwhile, can thinks so. “I predict expect to pay 39.9% the 21st century is for the privilege, and Santander: “bound to irritate customers” going to be the Indian the amount that century,” he said this account holders can earn in cashback from week at an event in New Delhi, pledging household bills has been dramatically to spend $2bn on digitising small and scaled back. The changes are bound to medium-sized businesses in the country so irritate customers – not least because, that more of them can do business online. despite cutting the perks, the bank has no The online commerce market in India is plans “to scrap the £5 monthly charge for worth about $39bn and growing, said the 123 account”.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen in The Guardian.

But India is still “largely reliant on its 12 million independent neighbourhood ● A bonfire of perks shops”, which together account for Santander is far from alone, said Kate “almost 90% of the country’s retail Palmer in The Times. Just days after being sales”. No wonder Bezos’s visit was not told by the Financial Conduct Authority universally welcomed. Shopkeepers staged “to help savers more”, some 16 banks and protests against it and a government building societies have cut their best deals official warned him that his “charm in a bonfire of perks. NatWest is cutting offensive” would get him nowhere. the rates of its instant saver to just 0.1% on balances up to £25,000 from February. ● Santander stings “Things could get even worse for savers.”

Bad news for Santander customers, said With inflation now at its lowest level in Katharine Gemmell in the FT. The bank three years (the consumer price index fell has announced that it will cut the interest to 1.3% in December), the Bank of rate on its flagship 123 current account England is “widely expected” to reduce (from 1.5% to 1%) and increase its the base rate from 0.75% to 0.5%. ● Amazon in India

Hedgies are back After several years in the doldrums, things seem to be looking up for hedge funds, said Laurence Fletcher in the FT. “A strong tailwind in stocks and bonds” saw the sector chalk up “its biggest annual gains in more than a decade” in 2019, with the industry “bagging” a total of $178bn according to LCH Investments – a fund of hedge funds run by the Edmond de Rothschild group, which tracks the dollar gains made by managers. It was, said LCH chairman Rick Sopher, “a significant improvement after several years of muted returns”. In 2018, the industry lost $41bn in aggregate for investors, although the top 20 managers still made gains.

So who’s at the top of the pile?

“Despite a lacklustre year”, Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Associates retained its top spot in the overall ranking with $58.5bn in gains since its launch in 1975. But funds creeping up on the rails include Christopher Hohn’s TCI and Steve Mandel’s Lone Pine – both of which returned to the ranks of the top 20 last year. The latter “recovered from a difficult year in 2018” to post a $7.3bn gain in 2019, taking “total gains since launch” to $33.2bn and putting Lone Pine in fourth position overall. Not everyone, though, was a winner. The poor performance at “global macro manager” Caxton Associates (despite big gains last year) and “systemic investment manager” Two Sigma saw both funds fall out of the top 20.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

54 CITY The benefits of breaking free from Brussels Matthew Lynn The Daily Telegraph

Davos wakes up to the value of workers Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson Financial Times

Hargreaves should do the right thing Alex Brummer Daily Mail

A “reality cheque” from Love Island Zoe Wood The Guardian

THE WEEK 25 January 2020

Commentators “Non-alignment” isn’t the catchiest of phrases, but it’s set to dominate the business pages this year as Britain quits Europe, says Matthew Lynn. Two points are already clear. The EU wants us “to align completely and forever with its rules and regulations”; and the UK, as Chancellor Sajid Javid has argued, will refuse. “In the end, that may mean only a limited deal is possible” – with “some tariffs, quotas and border restrictions”. Not aligning with Europe will certainly create some losers: supply chains will be less efficient for highly-integrated industries like car manufacturing, and trade will be less “seamless”. But freedom from “EU diktats” will create winners, too – in technology and financial services, where innovators can anticipate “a lighter touch”, and in exciting sectors like biotech and transport. Since “even the most ardent Remainers” would admit that the EU’s agricultural protectionism “never really worked for the UK”, the same is also true in food and drink. Firms that lose out from non-alignment will be “angry and make a lot of noise”. Remember the quiet winners. too.

“Workers of the world, good news!” says Andrew EdgecliffeJohnson. You’ve been rebranded as “stakeholders” and now officially matter to your bosses just as much “as the shareholders on whose returns their bonuses are calculated”. That, at any rate, is the news from Davos 2020, where business leaders have been discussing “how to make work more inclusive, soothe politicians’ concerns about the gig economy” and “upskill” workers to cope with future “career curveballs” such as AI. Clearly, this approach has an upfront cost, but it confers big long-term benefits. As the late Herb Kelleher of Southwest Airlines once observed: “A motivated employee treats the customer well… It’s not one of the enduring green mysteries of all time.” Debates about inclusion and social mobility at events like Davos “can feel abstract” – the cynical view is that “the execs in suits and snow boots” will be back to talking “buybacks and tax efficiencies” by their next earnings call. Yet studies show “few things build consumers’ trust in business like treating employees decently”. Paying them a living wage and actually listening to them would be a good start.

Peter Hargreaves’ move to set up a £100m charitable foundation to support underprivileged children is a “tremendous act of generosity”, says Alex Brummer. Given he is worth £3.2bn, there’s probably “more to come”. But it does beg the question of how a Bristol-based stockbroker came to be quite so wealthy – particularly now that the Hargreaves Lansdown platform model is under such “intense scrutiny”. The implosion of Neil Woodford’s investment empire exposed some 300,000 HL clients to losses, directly or indirectly. “This calamity was no accident.”

Indeed, a key question is how much of a role the discount offered to HL clients by Woodford played in his funds “being so prominently promoted” on the platform’s Wealth List of top 50 funds – and how much HL benefited in terms of management fees. Compared with most other publicly quoted firms, the profit margins at Hargreaves Lansdown are “supercharged” – the firm makes close to 50%. That’s great for Hargreaves’ philanthropy.

But it’s high time HL made good on the losses of clients who have “paid so dearly for following its guidance on Woodford”.

“Love Island is back on the telly with millions of viewers tuning in for a daily fix of romance, winter sun – and fast fashion,” says Zoe Wood. The hit dating reality TV show is “a golden opportunity to get noticed”, and the brand making the most of it this season looks to be I Saw It First, the fast-growing Manchester fashion house currently seducing teens and twentysomethings with its “cheap, sexy clothes”. The firm was started by Jalal Kamani, a member of the billionaire dynasty behind Boohoo – “the online retailer that is now more valuable than Marks & Spencer” – and it now competes with the family business. Despite growing criticism of fast fashion, the model is clearly thriving.

There is, as yet, little financial data relating to I Saw It First, but Boohoo has grown so rapidly that sales have exceed £1bn in the last 12 months. I Saw It First boasts that our “trend-led customer can always find something new to be obsessed with”. However, if shoppers “start to shun less sustainable retailers”, it and other online brands can expect to be “first in the firing line”.

City profiles Fred and Peter Done Nice work if you can get it.

The billionaire brothers Fred and Peter Done not only own the high-street bookmaker Betfred, but are also making millions from a business that treats public-sector staff for health problems – such as gambling addiction, said Rob Davies in The Guardian.

Their new cash cow, Health Assured, has dozens of contracts with NHS trusts.

The Dones – who grew up “in the slums of Salford” and opened their first bookies in 1967, funded by a win on England’s 1966 World Cup victory – have pocketed £5.2m in dividends from Health Assured. MPs described it as “an awful conflict of interest”. NHS mental-health chief Claire Murdoch condemned it as “hypocrisy and tokenism”.

The duo might well be quidsin on this caper, but the price is a public furore.

Mike Coupe

Sainsbury’s chief Mike Coupe is “finally out of the money”, said the FT. “It took long enough.” The supermarket has been drifting “ever since the merger with Asda he devised failed”. Coupe, who has held the top job for six years, will go down in the corporate annals as the hubristic boss who was memorably caught on camera singing We’re In The Money in 2018 – just before his prized deal bombed. Since then, Sainsbury’s hasn’t had “much of a strategy beyond shutting stores” – leaving it “vulnerable” to assault by the discounters, Aldi and Lidl. Coupe’s successor, Simon Roberts, is a Boots alumnus – just like the new man in charge of Tesco, Ken Murphy. But Roberts starts with a base salary 9% lower.

“Seems like he’s out of the money too.”

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Shares

CITY 59

Who’s tipping what The week’s best shares

Ferguson The Daily Telegraph Having exited non-core businesses to focus on the US, the plumbing supplies firm is finding opportunity for growth in a fragmented market. It has strong cash flows, rising margins and “very strong management”. Buy. £72.16.

Games Workshop Group Investors Chronicle Another record performance at the miniature fantasy figuresmaker, with profits up 40% as it continues to engage with its community. Royalties provide additional income – there’s a TV series based on its Warhammer tabletop game planned. Buy. £66.75.

Harworth Group The Mail on Sunday This expanding regeneration specialist is bringing new homes and business parks to neglected areas in the North.

Well managed, with 120 sites and planning consent for 10,000 new homes. Buy. 154p.

Ten Entertainment Group The Daily Telegraph The ten-pin bowling firm’s alleys in retail and leisure parks offer affordable family fun – and Ten is adding new sites and improving existing ones.

Cash-generative with sales up 10.2% and profits growing 15% per year. Buy. 310p.

Impax Asset Management 450 400

Director sells 28,333

350 300 250

Travis Perkins The Sunday Telegraph Having disposed of its heating and plumbing business, the builders’ merchant is selling DIY chain Wickes. That will hopefully be a catalyst for improved performance in its star Toolstation division.

Buy. £16.61.

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

CFO Charlie Ridge has sold almost £100,000-worth of shares in the sustainabilityfocused investment firm. This is his second recent disposal, and follows a strong update.

But competition in the sector may be “heating up”.

…and some to hold, avoid or sell

Form guide

AO World The Times The white goods internet retailer is diversifying and revenues are rising in the UK. But it’s still loss-making.

Profitability does seem attainable, but it’s at least two years away and risks are high.

Avoid. 86p.

Greggs The Sunday Times The baker enjoyed a record 2019, with coffee, breakfasts, healthier products and “old-school bakery” goodies boosting sales. But headwinds include the rise in the national living wage and increased pork costs. Hold. £24.24.

Reach Shares Shares in the newspaper group, which publishes the Mirror, Express and regional titles, are up nearly 50% since December on improving digital revenues.

Still cheap, but the gain is “fantastic”. Take profits.

Sell. 143p.

Croda International The Times A very strong performance in the chemicals group’s life sciences unit has offset the impact of trade wars and new legislation in China. Strong across all three of its divisions, but markets will be tough for at least a year. Hold. £50.60.

Joules Group Shares After poor Christmas sales, the British lifestyle brand has warned that profits will be “significantly below” expectations, thanks to stock problems, China-US tariffs and supply chain costs.

Sell. 178.5p.

Ryanair Investors Chronicle The low-cost airline trimmed guidelines twice last year as the Boeing 737 Max debacle dragged on. But as capacity comes out of the industry, Ryanair is poised to scoop up bookings and extend recent momentum. Hold. s16.18.

Shares tipped 12 weeks ago Best tip Ten Entertainment Group The Mail on Sunday up 36.51% to 329p Worst tip Randall & Quilter Investment The Daily Telegraph down 4.03% to 178.50p

Market view “The market is rallying on hope that China is handling the outbreak well.”

Sebastien Galy of Nordea on investor jitters surrounding the coronavirus outbreak.

Quoted in the FT

Market summary Key numbers numbers for investors Key investors FTSE 100 FTSE All-share UK Dow Jones NASDAQ Nikkei 225 Hang Seng Gold Brent Crude Oil DIVIDEND YIELD (FTSE 100) UK 10-year gilts yield US 10-year Treasuries UK ECONOMIC DATA Latest CPI (yoy) Latest RPI (yoy) Halifax house price (yoy) £1 STERLING

21 Jan 2020 7610.70 4223.35 29331.41 9390.94 23864.56 27985.33 1560.15 64.71 4.32% 0.66 1.78

Best shares Best and and worst performing shares Week before 7622.35 4229.23 29020.01 9272.77 24025.17 28885.14 1549.90 64.83 4.31% 0.75 1.82

1.3% (Dec) 2.2% (Dec) +4.0% (Dec)

$1.305 E1.177 ¥143.519

1.5% (Nov) 2.2% (Nov) +2.1% (Nov)

Change (%) –0.15% –0.14% 1.07% 1.27% –0.67% –3.12% 0.66% –0.19%

WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS RISES Price % change 1487.00 +7.36 NMC Health 2977.00 +6.47 Persimmon 5186.00 +6.27 Berkeley Group 645.00 +5.36 BAE Systems 987.30 +5.20 National Grid FALLS Whitbread Pearson BT Group Smurfit Kappa Group Johnson Matthey

4429.00 576.00 178.58 2720.00 2822.00

–7.32 –4.79 –3.78 –3.75 –3.72

BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL 3.70 +48.00 Lekoil 45.70 –48.47 Ince Group Source: Datastream (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 21 Jan (pm)

Following the Footsie 7,700

7,600 7,500 7,400 7,300 7,200 7,100 7,000

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

6-month movement in the FTSE 100 index

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

SOURCE: INVESTORS CHRONICLE

Dunelm Group The Times The resilient homewares retailer has been “hugely revitalised” by a simplified product range and “first-class online offering”. Margins are improving and profits have recovered. There’s more to come. Buy. £11.09.

Directors’ dealings

The last word

60

The lovers in Auschwitz, reunited after 72 years David Wisnia met Helen Spitzer amid the Holocaust – but their story didn’t end there, says Keren Blankfeld.

And when they finally met up again in 2016, he had one crucial question to ask her know the details,” he said.

This month, Wisnia plans to fly with his family to Auschwitz, where he has been invited to sing at the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by Russian soldiers on 27 January 1945. The last big anniversary, five years ago, which he attended, included about 300 Holocaust survivors.

This time, he expects to recognise only one fellow survivor there.

As the Holocaust fades from living memory, Wisnia finds himself speaking more urgently about his past: quite a turn for a man who spent most of his life trying not to David Wisnia: became an interpreter and aide with the 101st Airborne look back. Wisnia’s oldest On their set date, Wisnia went to meet Spitzer at the barracks between crematories 4 and 5. son learnt only as a teenager that his father – who worked hard to lose his accent – wasn’t born in America. Eventually, Wisnia’s He climbed on top of a ladder made up of packages of prisoners’ children and grandchildren coaxed him to talk about his past, and clothing. Spitzer had arranged it, a space amid hundreds of piles, in 2015, he published a memoir, One Voice, Two Lives: From just large enough to fit the two of them. Wisnia was 17 years old; Auschwitz Prisoner to 101st Airborne Trooper. That was when she was 25. “I had no knowledge of what, when, where,” said his family learnt about Zippi.

Wisnia, now 93, as he looked back recently on his life. “She taught me everything.” They Spitzer – who came from were both Jewish inmates in “Wisnia and Spitzer knew that their Slovakia, where she studied as Auschwitz, both privileged a graphic artist – was among the prisoners. Wisnia, forced initially relationship wouldn’t last in Auschwitz. first Jewish women to arrive in to collect the bodies of prisoners Around them, death was everywhere” Auschwitz in 1942. Malnourwho committed suicide, had been chosen to entertain his ished and ill with typhus and Nazi captors when they discovered he was a talented singer. malaria, she was assigned to gruelling demolition work – until Spitzer held the more high-powered position: she was the camp’s a chimney collapsed on her, injuring her back. Through her language and design skills, and sheer luck, Spitzer eventually graphic designer. They became lovers, meeting in their nook at a set time about once a month. After the initial fears of knowing secured an office job – and when she met Wisnia, she was they were putting their lives in danger, they began to look forward responsible for organising Nazi paperwork. She made charts of to their dates. Wisnia felt special. “She chose me,” he recalled. the camp’s labour force. She was free to move around parts of the camp. She showered regularly, didn’t have to wear an armband, They didn’t talk much. When they did, they told each other brief and even corresponded with her only surviving brother in snippets of their past. Wisnia had an opera-loving father, who’d Slovakia through coded postcards. Yet Spitzer was never a perished with the rest of his family in the Warsaw ghetto. Spitzer, collaborator. Instead, she used her position to help others, who also loved music, taught Wisnia a Hungarian song. Below manipulating paperwork to reassign prisoners to different jobs the boxes of clothing, fellow prisoners stood guard, prepared to and barracks. She had access to official reports, which she shared warn them if an SS officer approached. For a few months, they with resistance groups – an activity fraught with peril. were each other’s escape, but they knew these visits wouldn’t last.

Around them, death was everywhere. Still, the lovers planned a For his part, Wisnia was assigned to the “corpse unit” when he life outside of Auschwitz. They knew they would be separated, arrived – collecting the bodies of prisoners who’d flung themselves but had a plan, after the War, to reunite. It took 72 years. against the camp’s electric fence. But within months, word got around that he was a gifted singer. He started performing regularly Last autumn, Wisnia sat looking through old photographs in the to Nazi guards and was assigned a new job at a building the SS house in which he’d lived for 67 years in his adopted hometown called “the Sauna”. There, he disinfected the clothing of new of Levittown, Pennsylvania. Still a passionate singer, he spent arrivals with the same Zyklon B pellets used in the gas chambers. decades as a cantor at his local temple. Now, he gives speeches in which he tells war stories to students, or sometimes at libraries Spitzer, who’d noticed Wisnia at the Sauna, began making special or to church congregations. “There are few people left who visits. Once they’d established contact, she paid off inmates with THE WEEK 25 January 2020

© NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE

The first time he spoke to her, in 1943, by the Auschwitz crematory, David Wisnia realised that Helen Spitzer was no regular inmate. Zippi, as she was known, was clean, always neat. She wore a jacket and smelled good. They were introduced by a fellow inmate, at her request.

Her presence was unusual in itself: a woman outside the women’s quarters, speaking with a male prisoner. Before Wisnia knew it, they were alone, all the prisoners around them gone. This wasn’t a coincidence, he realised.

They agreed to meet again in a week.

The last word food in return for keeping watch each time they met. Their relationship lasted several months – until, one afternoon in 1944, they realised it would probably be their final climb up to their nook. The Nazis were transporting the last of the prisoners on “death marches” and destroying evidence of their crimes, as the Soviets advanced.

The War might end soon. Unlike the 1.1 million people murdered at Auschwitz – most of whom died within months – Wisnia and Spitzer had survived more than two years in the camp. During their last rendezvous, they made a plan to meet in Warsaw after the War, at a community centre. It was a promise.

61 American army, based in France, as he waited to emigrate to the US. When he finally arrived in New Jersey in 1946, he was picked up by his aunt and uncle, who couldn’t believe this 19-year-old in GI uniform was the little boy they last saw in Warsaw. Wisnia plunged into New York life, going to dances and riding the subway from his aunt’s house in the Bronx. In 1947, he met his future wife, Hope – and five years later, the couple moved to Philadelphia, where he sold encyclopedias before his career as a cantor took off.

Zippi and Erwin later devoted years to humanitarian causes, joining UN missions from Peru to Indonesia. In between, Erwin Wisnia left Auschwitz on one of the last taught bioengineering at the University of transports. In December 1944, he was Helen Spitzer: fed information to the resistance New South Wales in Sydney. In 1967, they settled in New York, where Zippi spoke transferred from Poland to the Dachau regularly with historians. But during the hours she devoted to concentration camp in Bavaria. Soon after, having left Dachau on a death march, he happened upon a hand shovel. He struck an SS detailing Auschwitz’s horrors, she never once mentioned Wisnia. guard and ran. The next day, while hiding in a barn, he heard Years after Wisnia had settled down in Levittown, a friend of the what he thought were Soviet troops approaching. He ran to the lovers told him that Zippi was in New York. Wisnia, who’d told tanks and hoped for the best. The soldiers turned out to be his wife about his old girlfriend, thought this might be an Americans. He couldn’t believe his luck. Since childhood, Wisnia opportunity finally to ask how she had managed to survive Auschwitz. The friend arranged a meeting. Wisnia drove to had dreamed of singing opera in New York. Before the War, he’d even written a letter to President Roosevelt requesting a visa. His Manhattan and waited at a hotel lobby near Central Park. “She mother’s two sisters had emigrated to the Bronx in the 1930s – never showed up,” he said. “She decided it wouldn’t be smart. and throughout his ordeal in Auschwitz, their address had She had a husband.” become a sort of prayer for him. Now, faced with soldiers from Over the years, Wisnia had four children and six grandchildren. the 101st Airborne, he was beyond relieved. The troops adopted him after hearing his tale, told in fragments of English, German, In 2016, he reached out again to Zippi – and she finally agreed to Yiddish and Polish. They fed meet. That August, he took two of his grandchildren with him to him Spam, gave him a uniform, “On his way to meet her in Manhattan, and taught him to use a machine the reunion. During the car ride gun. From that moment, he to Manhattan he was silent, not Wisnia was silent. It had been 72 years knowing what to expect. It had became “110% American”. since he’d seen his former girlfriend” been 72 years since he’d seen his former girlfriend. He’d heard she Wisnia became an interpreter and civilian aide with the US army, interrogating Germans and was in poor health but knew little about her life. He suspected taking prisoners of war. His unit moved south to Austria, before she’d helped keep him alive and wanted to know if this was true. eventually reaching Hitler’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden.

Here, they helped themselves to the Führer’s wine and other Wisnia found Spitzer lying in a hospital bed in her apartment.

She’d never had children, and had been alone since her husband treasures. Even though, as a Pole, he could not be a fully fledged GI, he performed other jobs for the army after the War – one of died in 1996. Over the years, she’d gone increasingly blind and which was making deliveries to the displaced person’s camp in the deaf – and at first, she didn’t recognise him. Then he leaned in city of Feldafing. Once he joined the Americans, his plan to meet close. “Her eyes went wide, like life came back to her,” said Avi, up with Zippi in Warsaw was no longer a consideration. America Wisnia’s 37-year-old grandson. Suddenly there was a flow of words between them, all in their adopted English tongue. “In was his future. front of my grandchildren, she said to me: ‘Did you tell your wife Spitzer was among the last to leave the camp alive. She was sent what we did?’” Wisnia recalled, chuckling. “I said, ‘Zippi!’” As to Ravensbrück, a women’s camp – before eventually herself they talked, Spitzer marvelled at Wisnia’s perfect English. “My being evacuated in a death march. She and a friend escaped by God,” she said. “I never thought we’d see each other again.” removing the red stripe on their uniforms, allowing them to blend After two hours, he finally had to ask: did she have something with fleeing locals. As the Nazis surrendered, she first made her to do with the fact that he’d survived so long in Auschwitz? She way home to Slovakia. But her parents and siblings there were held up her hand to display five fingers. Her voice was loud, her gone, save for one brother, who’d just got married. She decided Slovakian accent deep. “I saved you five times from bad to leave him to start his new life. At the time, Europe was teeming shipment,” she said. “I knew she would do that,” said Wisnia with millions of displaced people. Amid this chaos, she made it to to his grandchildren. “It’s absolutely amazing.” the first all-Jewish displaced persons camp in the US zone of occupied Germany, which happened to be Feldafing – the same There was more. “I was waiting for you,” Spitzer said. Wisnia camp that Wisnia delivered supplies to. The odds were was astonished. After her escape, she had waited for him in remarkable – but Wisnia had no idea she was there. Soon after Warsaw. She’d followed the plan. But he never came. She had arriving in Feldafing in September 1945, Spitzer married Erwin loved him, she told him quietly. He had loved her, too, he replied.

Tichauer, another Auschwitz survivor and the camp’s acting Wisnia and Spitzer never saw each other again. She died in 2018, police chief, who worked closely with the US military. Spitzer, aged 100. On their last afternoon together, before Wisnia left her now called Tichauer, was again in a privileged position. Although apartment, she asked him to sing to her. He took her hand and she too was a displaced person, her husband’s position meant that sang her the Hungarian song she taught him in Auschwitz. He she distributed food among refugees. wanted to show her that he remembered the words.

After the War ended, Wisnia heard from a former inmate that Spitzer was alive – but by then he was enmeshed with the

A longer version of this article appeared in The New York Times. © The New York Times 2019.

25 January 2020 THE WEEK

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Crossword

63

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1193

This week k’s winner will receive an ettinger.co.uk) Bridle hide Etttinger (e trravel pass case in black, which retails att £105, an nd two Connell Guides (c connellgu uides.com).

An Ettinger travel pass case 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 3 February. Send it to: The Week Crossword 1193, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX, or email the answers to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.info) 1

ACROSS

DOWN

6 Starts tea for an audience with appropriate vessels (5) 7 Poor rate for working US detective (8) 9 Speak again about daughter in a frock (9) 10 Consumer fraud? Chain’s given up (5) 12 Subtle skill, not a lady from Helsinki! (7) 13 Balloonist, temperature dropping in a pickle! (7) 14 Shout about stunt by Labour’s leader is cock! (11) 19 Referee is nipped in rear badly (7) 21 Meissen shattered and it causes misery (7) 23 It could be mixed into Campari primarily (5) 24 Cross set in a church floor covering (9) 25 Reebok perhaps for worker on run (8) 26 Former champion constantly first in tennis (5)

1 Spirit in clubs? (Sort out anagram first!) (8) 2 Theatrical remarks made by top teams? (6) 3 Amateur medic improved engaging individuals (10) 4 Votes in favour of timeless Irish poet (4) 5 Heard cheers for itineraries (6) 6 Adult gets into highly enjoyable duty (6) 8 Mean to declare income ignoring wife (7) 11 Highly disagreeable standing order (4) 13 Old paper from stern anaesthetist? (4,6) 15 Join end of queue for case (7) 16 Standard went up by gum! (8) 17 Week behind with air movement (4) 18 Liveliness shown by heartless pirates at sea (6) 20 Type of republic, not entirely crazy (6) 22 Crib last part of exam and risk no end of reprimand (6) 24 Overturned car in an English river (4)

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Name Address Clue of the week: Homer specialist translated fine Grecian poem (first half only) (6,7) The Daily Telegraph Toughie, Micawber

Solution to Crossword 1191 ACROSS: 1 Own goal 5 Rocker 10 Coda 11 Bangladesh 12 Meeter 13 Entr’acte 14 Post-haste 16 Spray 18 Perks 19 Telegraph 22 Macaroni 24 Etches 26 Edward Lear 27 Lyra 28 Retort 29 L-plates DOWN: 2 Wholesome 3 Graft 4 Alberta 6 Of late 7 Kidnapper 8 Resit 9 Anaesthetised 15 Take apart 17 Apple tree 20 Eye-drop 21 Nodder 23 Adder 25 Celia

Tel no Clue of the week answer:

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TITLE - MR/MRS/MS/OTHER

FORENAME

SURNAME ADDRESS

8 9

5

1

9

3 2 5 1 5 7 9 8 4 3 4 1 9 6 9 4 6 8 3 5 1 9 3 6 2 7 8 6 7 1 9 4 1 5 6

POSTCODE

Sudoku 737 (easy) DAYTIME TEL NO.

EMAIL

Fill in all the squares so that each row, column and each of the 3x3 squares contains all the digits from 1 to 9

Solution to Sudoku 736

6 2 5 8 9 1 3 7 4

1 9 7 2 3 4 5 8 6

4 3 8 7 5 6 2 1 9

2 8 1 3 6 5 4 9 7

5 4 9 1 8 7 6 2 3

3 7 6 9 4 2 1 5 8

8 5 2 6 7 3 9 4 1

7 6 4 5 1 9 8 3 2

9 1 3 4 2 8 7 6 5

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25 January 2020 THE WEEK

TM CRUX European Special Situations Fund

years and motoring - that’s the

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Fund featured; TM CRUX European Special Situations Fund I ACC GBP class. *The Henderson European Special Situations Fund was restructured into the TM CRUX European Special Situations Fund on 8 June 2015. Any past performance or references to the period prior to 8 June 2015 relate to the Henderson European Special Situations Fund. This financial promotion has been approved under Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by CRUX Asset Management Ltd. This financial promotion is issued by CRUX Asset Management Limited who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FRN: 623757) and is directed at persons residing in jurisdictions where the Company and its shares are authorised for distribution or where no such authorisation is required. The value of an investment and the income from it can fall as well as rise and you may not get back the amount originally invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Please read all scheme documents prior to investing. The KIID and Fund Prospectus and other documentation related to the Scheme, are available from the CRUX website www.cruxam.com.