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Johnson’s power grab

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What happened

Johnson’s Treasury raid Boris Johnson seized control of the Treasury last week in a radical reshuffle that prompted the Chancellor’s resignation. Sajid Javid opted to quit the post after being told that he would have to sack his entire team and accept in their place a new joint unit of advisers shared between No. 10 and No. 11. This, he said, was something “no self-respecting minister” could accept. Javid’s exit followed months of tension between his team and Johnson’s chief strategist Dominic Cummings. He has been replaced as Chancellor by his deputy, Rishi Sunak, 39, a former Goldman Sachs investment banker who entered the Commons five years ago.

What the editorials said One of the axioms of British government, said The Guardian, is that administrations are built on the PM-Chancellor relationship. Think of Thatcher-Howe, BlairBrown or Cameron-Osborne. So it’s a big deal that Javid has been forced out within two months of an election victory, and one month before what has been billed as a defining budget. It betrays “either recklessness or desperation”. Javid is the first Chancellor since Iain Macleod in 1970 not to deliver a budget.

Under normal circumstances, this would indeed be a “political catastrophe”, said The Daily Telegraph. But these aren’t normal times.

No. 10 knows it can’t afford to hang about if it is to have any chance of driving through its radical, post-Brexit programme. Gordon Brown turned the Treasury into the “subtlest, Javid was the highest-profile casualty of a strongest, most deadening force for orthodoxy reshuffle that rewarded loyalists at the expense Sunak: now the platinum boy in the British state” – and Javid appeared to of dissenting voices, trimming the Cabinet from have fallen prey to its “groupthink”. Downing Street had to 31 to 26 attendees. Julian Smith, Andrea Leadsom and reassert its authority. The reshuffle has sent a clear message Geoffrey Cox lost their jobs as Northern Ireland Secretary, that Johnson and Cummings are calling the shots, said The Business Secretary and Attorney General respectively. Cox’s Economist. But it remains to be seen how pliable Sunak will job went to Suella Braverman, a prominent Brexiter who has be as the new head of the Treasury. The “golden boy of the criticised judges for becoming too political (see page 22).

2015 intake”, with a Northern seat and a massive majority, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, a critic of wasteful aid spending, he may prove a more powerful Chancellor than people expect. became International Development Secretary.

What happened

Weather warning Britain was hit by more high winds and torrential rain this week, as Storm Dennis brought the worst flooding in 200 years to parts of the UK. Five people died and more than 1,400 homes and businesses were flooded in England and Wales. A record 600 flood warnings and alerts were issued at the peak of the storm (the second to hit Britain in as many weeks). Officials said the country was in “uncharted territory”.

What the editorials said Yet again our communities are under water, said The Sun, “but Boris Johnson is nowhere to be seen”. The Tories won the election promising to stick up for ordinary voters, but the PM is focusing on grand projects like HS2. It’s time he got his priorities straight “and put those wellies on”. Johnson needs to get a grip, said The Independent.

Coordinating a response from local authorities, the Treasury and the Army is “a huge job” and relies on No. 10’s full support. The PM should have called a Cobra meeting. Instead, he spent half of the week holed up at Chevening, his country retreat. It’s “perplexing behaviour”.

It wasn’t all bad A pioneering police scheme in Durham has slashed reoffending rates by 15% after two years. Under the scheme, more than 2,660 offenders who had committed offences such as burglary and assault avoided prosecution if they agreed to take part in a four-month rehabilitation programme; if they walked away from it, they were prosecuted in the normal way. It has won global praise, and at least five other forces across the UK are considering similar programmes.

A teenager travelled more than 4,000 miles from Canada to have her first pint in the British pub where she was born 18 years ago. Isobel Casey’s mother unexpectedly went into labour at the Hartford Mill pub in Wyton, Cambridgeshire, on 14 February 2002, and gave birth next to the ball pit for toddlers. The family moved to Vancouver in 2006, but vowed to return to the pub for the coming-of-age moment, which they did last week. Casey, who hopes to study in the UK next year, was shown how to pour her own pint at the pub to mark the occasion.

A woman attending an art exhibition about marine plastic waste in Stockholm stumbled upon a mixtape she had made in 1993, and had lost while on holiday on the Costa Brava in Spain. Stella Wedell, from Berlin, thought the tape and the track list, which included songs

by Shaggy and UB40, looked familiar, so checked it when she got home against the CD from which, aged 12, she had made the tape. The list was identical.

The artist, Mandy Barker, who found the tape washed up on the Canary Islands in 2017, has promised to return it.

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THE WEEK 22 February 2020

© COVER IMAGE: CAMERA PRESS/HEATHCLIFF O’MALLEY

The worst-hit areas were South Wales, Blame the Environment Agency, said The Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Rescuing a resident in Hereford Times; whenever Britain is hit by bad flooding, Shropshire. The River Wye, near the Welsh its “sticking-plaster solutions” fall apart. We’re still building border, reached a record 23ft and the River Severn also on floodplains, and the agency hasn’t reconciled competing reached its highest ever level. More heavy rain was forecast interests (such as those of farmers upstream and homeowners on Wednesday and 126 flood warnings – including six downstream) on issues such as river management. If it severe “danger to life” warnings – remained in place. continues failing in its “central task” – protecting us from However, the Government resisted calls to hold an floods – the job should go to another arm of government. emergency Cobra meeting about the flooding.

…and how they were covered

NEWS 5

What the commentators said

What next?

“It’s quite a feat for Johnson to have made a martyr of the mild-mannered Sajid Javid,” said Camilla Cavendish in the FT. Still, this “land-grab” made sense. Given how hard it will be to extract Britain from the EU, it’s essential that the Government’s key figures are working in concert. Sunak is much more closely aligned with the PM’s views than Javid is, said Katy Balls in the I newspaper. For that reason, he was already No. 10’s preferred point of contact with the Treasury. He was an early Brexiter, and supports the plans to end cheap labour through a new points-based immigration system – “something Javid was privately worried about”.

Sunak this week dispelled speculation about a possible delay to the Budget, confirming that the event would go ahead as planned on 11 March. He is understood to be considering a cut in higher-rate tax relief on pension contributions – a move that would raise £10bn a year.

Sunak is a more natural fit with No. 10, said Stephen Daisley in The Spectator, but the 39year-old is hardly going to enjoy a “relationship of equals” with Johnson and Cummings. By installing him and a new pooled team of advisers, the PM has effectively annexed the Treasury.

This will make life easier for Johnson, but it’s likely to have a negative impact on the quality of governance, which “thrives on give and take” and a certain creative tension between No. 10 and No. 11. Other PMs considered taming the Treasury in this way but stopped short of doing so, realising that “the divide between political will and economic realities was a load-bearing wall” which couldn’t be removed without causing “some longer-term structural mischief”.

It was difficult to see the sense in any of Johnson’s reshuffle, said Janet Street-Porter in The Independent. Hard-earned experience and skill seemed to count for nothing compared to “loyalty and a non-questioning mindset”. We got yet another Housing Minister – the tenth in a decade – while Julian Smith, who “won the trust of all parties in Northern Ireland”, was unceremoniously dumped. The news footage of the PM leading his new Cabinet in a pantomime call-and-response exercise – “How many hospitals are we going to build?”

“Forty!” – only made his team look even more like a bunch of obsequious mediocrities, said Marina Hyde in The Guardian. If you thought Jeremy Hunt and Philip Hammond were uninspiring, wait until you see Alok Sharma and Suella Braverman. Believe it or not, Liz Truss is now the longest-serving Cabinet minister. “It’s not exactly Team of Rivals, is it?”

The City is predicting a giveaway Budget, but it remains to be seen whether the Chancellor diverges from the strict fiscal rules announced by his predecessor last year. Under those rules, the deficit on day-to-day spending must be cleared by 2023; public sector net investment is capped at 3% of GDP; and spending plans must be reviewed if debt interest payments reach 6% of revenue.

What the commentators said

What next?

The “human calamity” is clear – homes and livelihoods are ruined, said Oliver Duff in the I newspaper. But it’s no surprise; cash-strapped councils have been building on unsuitable land for years. Between 2001 and 2014 alone, 250,000 new homes (12% of our new housing stock) were built in areas susceptible to flooding, leaving residents “at the mercy of Britain’s famously grim winter weather”. The floods are “not acts of God”, said Simon Jenkins in The Guardian.

They are “acts of government, preventable by upland river management and lowland common sense”. After Cockermouth in Cumbria flooded in 2009, the National Trust slowed run-off from hills despite opposition from farmers, who prefer land to be well drained for grazing; the disaster hasn’t been repeated. The Government, though, prefers headline-grabbing ploys like the £1.2bn Met Office “supercomputer” announced this week.

The Government unlocked emergency funding for victims; flood-hit households and businesses can apply for grants to make them more resilient in future, and tax breaks to ease the immediate burden.

Storms are “toxic” for ministers, said Jamie Blackett in The Daily Telegraph; David Cameron once said that he sacked his environment secretary, Owen Paterson, because he “had a bad flood”. So for the incumbent, George Eustice, to say he’s “happy” with our defences was “shockingly insensitive”. Officials blame climate change, said Ross Clark in the Daily Mail; but it’s no excuse. The real problem is paltry spending on flood defences; last year’s £815m was a tenth of the subsidies handed out for renewable energy sources. It’s time defences were made “top priority”. Climate change is certainly making storms more extreme, said Emma Gatten in The Daily Telegraph; and worse is to come. Some 5.2 million homes in England are at risk of flooding – a number that will double if warming continues at current rates. The scale of the problem is clear – and Britain isn’t prepared.

“I’m just going to plug in our new electric car” © MATT/DAILY TELEGRAPH

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The bursar of St John’s College, Oxford, caused a stir last month.

In response to students demanding he acknowledge the climate emergency by divesting the college of its oil shares, Andrew Parker said he couldn’t do that right now – but he could, if they liked, turn off their gas central heating. Was he being flippant? A bit. The divestment movement isn’t calling for an immediate end to the use of fossil fuels, but trying to put pressure on the industry to invest more in renewables. Nor was he fair in suggesting the young are unwilling to make personal sacrifices for the climate cause: for a start, 9% of 16- to 24-year-olds have turned vegan. But he is right in one respect: while railing against their forebears for creating this crisis, the young are still reaping the benefits of the unsustainable system.

In particular, they are addicted to travel: millennials take more foreign holidays than any other age group, and Gen Z are likely to follow suit. Then there are the harmful new trends they’ve embraced with gusto, from Deliveroo (with its ocean of single-use plastic) and throwaway fashion to video and TV streaming (which accounts for a remarkable 1% of CO2 emissions). According to a new survey, 16- to 34-year-olds are in fact less likely to recycle their waste than over-55s, and less likely to avoid out-of-season vegetables too. Still, they’ve reason to feel aggrieved. No generation has it all, but at least the baby boomers were invited to seize the good stuff that came their way: their grandchildren, by contrast, are meant to resist the plenty that is on offer to them.

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The Government had promised £2.6bn for flood defence schemes in England in the six years up to 2021, to “better protect” 300,000 homes. A total of £4bn has been pledged for flood defences between now and 2026.

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22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Politics

6 NEWS Controversy of the week

Labour’s identity crisis The Labour leadership contest has descended into a “farcical civil war” over the rights of transgender people, said Celia Walden in The Daily Telegraph. Last week, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – the two women still in the running against Keir Starmer to replace Jeremy Corbyn – signed a controversial 12-point pledge card designed to defend trans rights, calling on the party to expel members who express “transphobic” views. Drawn up in support of the Labour Campaign for Trans Rights, the pledges call on signatories to “organise and fight against... transphobic hate groups”. Among the organisations singled out for criticism is Woman’s Place UK (WPUK), a group of feminists and trade unionists who have concerns about trans women accessing Marchers at last year’s Trans Pride women-only spaces, such as changing rooms, toilets, domestic violence refuges and prisons. In response, supporters of WPUK adopted the hashtag #ExpelMe – daring Labour either to defend them or kick them out.

The pledges have proved “hugely popular”, said Vic Parsons in The Independent. Thousands of Labour members are standing up for trans people like me. As well as recognising that we are disproportionately likely to be homeless, unemployed and victims of hate crime, the pledges include a commitment to “listen to trans people about transphobia”. And people really should listen to us. We regard the likes of WPUK as transphobic “for good reason”. The group’s belief that trans women will prey on others in women-only spaces “derives from a fundamental fear of trans people”. On the contrary, we need to take a stand against this pledge card, which is an “astonishingly authoritarian document”, said Janice Turner in The Times. It not only demands that signatories “accept there is no material conflict between trans rights and women’s rights”, which is clearly debatable; it also says anyone who disagrees is a bigot, and must be expelled. It means a “witch hunt” against thousands of mainly female party members – or anyone who supports WPUK. At first glance, it may seem “mind-boggling” that a question of gender identity “concerning around 1% of the UK population” has proven so incendiary, said Zoe Strimpel in The Sunday Telegraph – “but take another look and it’s not surprising at all”. In 2020, issues of sex and gender cut to the “psycho-sexual bone”. When it comes to transgender politics, the stakes “really are existential”: are you what you say you are? The answers have “profound implications for how society is ordered” in future. For now, however, the issue of “identity politics” is “uniquely challenging for the Left”, said Gaby Hinsliff in The Guardian. The Conservatives are a party of individualists; Labour is a party of “collective struggle”. That solidarity is currently breaking down as women who have “waved placards all their lives” find themselves picketed at WPUK meetings by people they’d “once have marched alongside”. If the next leader’s task is bringing Labour together, “this doesn’t bode well”.

Spirit of the age Elite schools are increasingly appointing “experts” whose sole job is to help pupils with applications to Oxbridge and other top universities, a report by the Centre for Social Justice has found. St Paul’s School in London, a top boys’ private school, has 11 such full-time members of staff.

A South Korean mother who lost her seven-year-old daughter to a blood disorder four years ago has been “reunited” with her using a virtual-reality headset and gloves. In Meeting You, a documentary viewed by millions, Jang Ji-sung spoke to her daughter Na-yeon, who could speak and move but not respond directly to Jang’s words. The child’s image was synthesised using photos and videos, as well as motion capture footage of a child actor.

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Good week for:

Philanthropy, with the news that Jeff Bezos is donating $10bn of his personal wealth to help “save Earth”. The Amazon chief executive said he would fund “any effort that offers a real possibility to help preserve and protect the natural world”.

Rory Stewart, whose eccentric campaign to sleep in Londoners’ homes has gone down a storm. More than 2,000 people have signed up to have the mayoral candidate as an overnight guest.

Working, as official figures revealed that the number of people in work in the UK reached a record high in the final quarter of 2019. The employment rate rose to 76.5%, and average pay passed its pre-financial crisis peak after a decade of stagnation.

Bad week for:

Royal marriages, with the news that the Queen’s nephew, the Earl of Snowdon, is divorcing his wife, Serena. A week earlier, her grandson Peter Phillips announced he was divorcing.

Dominic Cummings, after one of the “weirdos and misfits” he hired to revolutionise government was fired for his views on race and eugenics. Andrew Sabisky, a “super-forecaster”, had claimed that black people have lower average IQs than white people, and had suggested compulsory contraception for the “underclass”.

Trinity College, Cambridge, when activists from Extinction Rebellion dug up a lawn to protest at its investment in fossil fuels.

One person chained themselves to an apple tree grafted from the one said to have inspired Sir Isaac Newton.

Hygiene, with a survey revealing that one in 30 people in Britain and America have defecated in their own shower.

New immigration policy

Low-skilled migrants will be barred from the UK under plans for a points-based immigration system revealed by the Government this week. From January, when free movement with the EU ends, only skilled workers will enter the country, in an effort to reduce British firms’ reliance on “cheap labour” from Europe. Points will be awarded for speaking English, having a job offer or qualifications, or working in an industry with shortages.

Business leaders warned of potentially “disastrous” shortages in the hospitality, care and agriculture sectors.

A scheme for seasonal workers in agriculture has, however, been increased.

Brexit negotiators clash

The chief Brexit negotiators for the UK and EU butted heads this week over their hopes for the outcome of talks set to begin next month.

Britain’s David Frost set out his proposal for a free trade deal similar to Canada’s, under which the UK would be able to break free from EU rules. Michel Barnier, however, retorted that a Canada-style deal was impossible. The “particular proximity” of the UK and EU, he said, meant Brussels would demand a “level playing field” – a common set of rules on workers’ rights, subsidies and so on.

Poll watch Just 12% of Britons believe that police would be able to find and arrest a vandal who has damaged their property, and 22% think they would solve a burglary. 24% are confident a mugger or thief would be arrested, while 33% think a stalker would be caught, and 36% think someone who had sexually harassed them would. While 74% think someone would be arrested for attempted murder, only 46% think they would be for rape, and 56% for domestic violence.

YouGov/Daily Telegraph 14% of people in the UK say they would avoid contact with people of Chinese origin or appearance in order to protect themselves from the coronavirus. 10% say they would avoid eating in Asian restaurants for the same reason.

Ipsos MORI/Daily Mail

Europe at a glance Dublin Coalition talks: Ireland’s Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has rejected the idea of a “grand coalition” between his Fine Gael party and Fianna Fáil, its historic rival, in order to keep Sinn Féin out of government. Instead, he said he would “relish” the chance to rebuild his party in opposition. Irish politics has been upended by the shock election result a fortnight ago, in which Sinn Féin – the left-wing party that was once the political wing of the IRA, and is still regarded with distrust by many voters – took the largest share of the popular vote (24.5%). Fianna Fáil took 38 seats, Sinn Féin 37, and Fine Gael 35, leaving no obvious route to a stable coalition majority in the 160-seat lower house. Unless TDs (members of the lower house) can form a majority in support of a new leader – seen as unlikely – Ireland faces months of coalition talks, with Varadkar as caretaker Taoiseach, and the possibility of a new election (see page 22).

NEWS 7

Paris Sex tape: Benjamin Griveaux (pictured), President Macron’s candidate for Paris mayor, quit the race last week, when images from a video of him masturbating were published online by Petr Pavlensky, a Russian performance artist. The woman to whom Griveaux sent the material (along with explicit text messages), 29-year-old student Alexandra de Taddeo, is now the artist’s girlfriend. Pavlensky has been arrested and could face two years in prison for violating privacy laws. Macron’s allies have speculated that the operation to humiliate his candidate could have had Kremlin involvement.

Minden, Germany Anti-Muslim terror plot: The German authorities say they have broken up a far-right terrorist group that was allegedly plotting deadly attacks on ten mosques across the country. Police say the group, calling itself “The Hard Core”, was inspired by the atrocity in Christchurch, New Zealand last year, and was planning to murder politicians and Muslim asylum seekers in the hope of provoking a civil war. Twelve suspects were arrested in raids across Germany last Friday; a range of weapons were seized. Police had been monitoring the group for five months and had infiltrated it. They made the arrests following a meeting last week in the town of Minden, when it became clear that the group was readying for an attack.

Rome Salvini faces trial: Matteo Salvini, the leader of Italy’s anti-immigrant League party and the former interior minister, faces trial on charges of kidnapping. He has been accused of abusing his powers when, as interior minister last year, he prevented 131 rescued migrants from disembarking from a coastguard boat. Last week, Italy’s Senate voted to lift Salvini’s parliamentary immunity in the case, meaning he could face 15 years in prison (and be banned from politics) if convicted. Salvini said he remained proud of what he had done – “and I’ll do it again as soon as I get back into government”, he added.

Athens Refugee camps on hold: The Greek government has suspended plans to build new refugee camps on several islands in the Aegean, in the face of fierce opposition from residents. Currently, the islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros are home to more than 50,000 refugees, housed in overcrowded and insanitary makeshift camps. Ministers wanted to requisition and clear huge areas of land to build more suitable accommodation.

However, local people fear the camps would be permanent, damaging tourism in the islands: many hotels and restaurants have already seen their takings cut in half.

The government has warned that it will reactivate the plan unless a better solution can be found. Kostas Moutzouris, the regional governor, welcomed the suspension of construction plans, but said that “ultimately it’s back to square one, with no clear solution in sight”.

Paris Film academy quits: The entire governing board of the César Academy, the film industry body which awards France’s equivalent of the Oscars, resigned en masse just weeks before this year’s ceremony on 28 February. More than 400 actors, producers, directors and movie personalities had denounced the “dysfunction” within the academy and demanded “profound reform” after Roman Polanski’s latest film, An Officer and a Spy, topped its list of nominations for this year’s Césars. The French-Polish director has been wanted in the US since 1978, when he fled the country rather than face prison after pleading guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old girl. The head of the academy, Alain Terzian, had insisted that the Césars “should not take moral positions”. However, following the backlash, the academy said it would work with France’s culture ministry to bring about “root and branch reform”.

Milan, Italy Nun on the run: An Italian woman on the run from police managed to evade arrest for two years by posing as a nun and enjoying free stays at convents across northern Italy. The case has similarities to the 1990 comedy caper Nuns on the Run, starring Eric Idle and Robbie Coltrane. But rather than fleeing from vengeful criminals, the 47-year-old Italian – identified by police only by her initials, R.T. – was trying to escape a conviction for fraud and theft; she had been sentenced in Sicily to 28 months in prison. One of her ruses was to ring up a convent posing as a mother superior and ask if her “niece” could stay at the convent for a while. At other convents she simply turned up dressed as a nun and was allowed to stay. Her luck ran out earlier this month when a nun at a Benedictine convent in Gallarate, in Lombardy, grew suspicious about her identity and rang the police.

Catch up with daily news at theweek.co.uk

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

8 NEWS

The world at a glance

Las Vegas, Nevada Bloomberg surge: The former mayor of New York, Mike Bloomberg (pictured), has surged into second place in the race for the Democrat presidential nomination, which is now seen – by the betting markets at least – as a two-horse race between him and the left-winger Bernie Sanders (see page 15). Bloomberg entered the contest too late to run in any of the states to vote in primaries or caucuses to date, but he has already spent $300m on TV advertising. His surge in the polls means that for the first time, he qualified for a candidates’ TV debate, held in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Bloomberg’s rise has led to increased scrutiny of his record, and bitter exchanges with Sanders, who accused him of aping Donald Trump in trying to “buy” the presidency.

Nevada, which holds its main caucuses this weekend, is the third state to vote in the candidate selection process. Sanders is expected to win, while Joe Biden is tipped to perform more respectably than in the first two states. Some in the party fear a fiasco similar to that in Iowa, where technology problems delayed the result.

Washington DC Power struggle: The US Senate, which earlier this month acquitted President Trump on impeachment charges, has passed a resolution blocking him from using military force against Iran without the permission of Congress. The legislation was backed by the Senate by 55 to 45, with eight Republicans defying Trump, and party leaders, to join the Democrats in a bipartisan effort to limit the president’s powers. The rare rebuke to the president is likely to prove symbolic, however: the Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds “super-majority” needed to nullify a presidential veto.

Some legislators from both parties remain angry about Trump’s decision in January to authorise the killing of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani – and are eager to enforce congressional authority over matters of war and peace. Trump viewed the resolution as a personal affront, tweeting that “If my hands were tied, Iran would have a field day. Sends a very bad signal.”

Washington DC Politicised justice: More than 2,000 former federal prosecutors and Justice Department officials have publicly called for the US attorney general, William Barr, to resign, after he controversially intervened to lower his department’s sentencing recommendation for Roger Stone. A long-time Republican campaigner and friend of President Trump, Stone was due to be sentenced this week for obstructing the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump has publicly attacked the judge, prosecutors and even jury members in the case for supposed bias – and publicly congratulated Barr on his decision. Barr denies being pressured by Trump, and last week, in a rare show of dissent, he called on the president to stop “undercutting” him by tweeting about court cases – saying it made it “impossible for me to do my job”.

Wilmington, Delaware Boy Scout bankruptcy: The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) has filed for bankruptcy as it struggles with declining membership and hundreds of sexual abuse claims. In response to scandals in organisations such as the Catholic Church and USA Gymnastics, some states have recently changed their laws to allow more time for victims of sexual abuse to sue perpetrators. This has brought a wave of new civil lawsuits against the BSA from victims whose cases were previously prevented by statutes of limitations. The filing, which was made in Delaware, will allow the BSA to bring all the lawsuits into one court and to try to negotiate a settlement, rather than using its funds to fight each case in court. The group is setting up a trust fund to provide compensation to victims.

Cayman Islands Tax haven blacklisted: The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to join the likes of Oman, Samoa, Fiji and Vanuatu on an EU blacklist of “non-cooperative” tax havens, in a sign of the UK’s loss of influence on EU decision-making following its departure from the bloc. The decision was taken last week at a meeting of national ambassadors to the EU27, the FT reported; it was ratified by finance ministers this week. Previously, intensive UK lobbying had kept the Cayman Islands off the list.

Blacklisted states face significant obstacles in accessing EU funds, and EU firms must take more onerous compliance measures if they do business in the jurisdictions. The Cayman Islands is home to fewer than 70,000 people, but has more than 100,000 registered companies.

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Brasília Racism row: Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, has angered many in the country’s large black community by appointing a controversial black journalist – who denies that racism exists in Brazil – to lead the Palmares Cultural Foundation, an influential government-funded institute charged with defending the rights and heritage of black Brazilians. Bolsonaro first appointed Sérgio Camargo to the job at the end of last year, but his nomination was suspended following a backlash. Last week the Supreme Court overruled the suspension, and Bolsonaro confirmed the appointment. Camargo describes himself as a “black right-winger, an anti-victimist”. He has previously argued that “black people complain because they are stupid and misinformed by the Left”.

The world at a glance Pansi, Burkina Faso Church atrocity: Armed militants killed at least 24 people and injured a further 18 in a gun attack on a Protestant church in Pansi, a village in northeastern Burkina Faso, last Sunday. It was the latest in a string of jihadist attacks on churches and other civilian targets in the country. Pansi lies in Yagha province, an especially volatile region close to the border with Niger. About 60% of Burkina Faso’s 20 million people are Muslim and a quarter are Christian. It has long been a relatively peaceful nation and was considered to be resistant to Islamist extremism, but it has seen a deadly spillover of violence from neighbouring Mali in recent years. More than 1,800 people were killed in jihadistlinked attacks in Burkina Faso last year, and some 760,000 people have fled their homes, according to official figures.

NEWS 9

Wuhan, China Coronavirus spreads: The number of people infected with the coronavirus Covid-19 rose to above 75,000 worldwide on Wednesday – all but 1,000 of them in China, where more than 2,000 people have died. There have been only six fatalities outside China. Of recent deaths reported in China, well over 90% have been in Hubei province, where the outbreak began in the city of Wuhan, giving grounds for cautious optimism about limiting its spread. However, the WHO warned that reports of a decline in new cases should be treated with caution, and that “every scenario is still on the table”; there was concern over outbreaks in Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.

Responding to growing anger over Beijing’s handling of the crisis, President Xi (above) sacked the Wuhan and Hubei party bosses – and stated, in a speech last week, that he had given instructions on fighting the disease as early as 7 January. However, this merely fuelled debate over why the risks were not clearly communicated to the Chinese public at that point. Data from Chinese health officials released this week showed that 80% of Covid-19 cases had been mild, and that the death rate was 2.3%.

New Delhi Criminal politicians: India’s Supreme Court has condemned the “alarming rise” of “criminal candidates” in Indian politics, and ordered party bosses to explain why so many recently elected MPs have criminal records. In 2019, 43% of new MPs had one, up from 24% in 2004. The issue “comes down to cold, hard cash”, political scientist Milan Vaishnav told the BBC. Candidates who can fund themselves (via “rents” to the party) are attractive to bosses – and many such candidates have criminal records.

Juba Locust plague: Swarms of desert locusts that are ravaging crops and grazing land across east Africa have spread further inland.

Kenya has seen its worst locust infestation for 70 years; Somalia and Ethiopia their worst in 25 years. Now the pests have reached South Sudan, where 60% of the population already faces severe food insecurity as the country struggles to emerge from civil war. The UN food agency warned of a potential food crisis if the outbreak is not brought under control.

Desert locusts can travel nearly 100 miles per day and can eat their own body weight in vegetation. Large swarms, of 40 to 80 million adults, can consume in one day crops that would provide food for 35,000 people.

Aleppo, Syria Assad attacks: The UN warned that “the biggest humanitarian horror story of the 21st century” is unfolding in northwestern Syria, and demanded an immediate ceasefire. In recent weeks, the Russianbacked Assad regime has advanced rapidly, consolidating its hold on Aleppo and capturing large parts of neighbouring Idlib province. Its forces have targeted hospitals, schools and refugee camps.

Some 900,000 people have fled their homes since December, leaving many stranded in sub-zero temperatures.

Doha Taliban-US “deal”: A spokesman for the Taliban has said that a peace deal with the US will be signed at a ceremony in the Qatari capital, Doha, by the end of the month. US media reported that President Trump had signed off on a peace deal in principle earlier this month, which would agree the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan after almost two decades.

And last week the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, said the two sides had reached a preliminary agreement. Despite the Taliban’s announcement, militant attacks on military targets in Afghanistan continued this week.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

People

10 NEWS

Stormzy’s Glasto nightmare Striding the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury last summer, Stormzy seemed in his element.

But, in fact, he was consumed with panic: his earpiece had broken, leaving him unable to hear his backing music. “I couldn’t hear shit,” he told Gary Younge in GQ. “I’m just rapping and just praying to God that I’m on time. And the ---

song just finishes and I’m thinking... this is a shit show.”

He rushed to the side of the stage to get the device fixed – only for it to break again one song later. Convinced he had blown the gig of a lifetime, he fell apart when he got off stage.

“I was just bawling my eyes out. I thought, ‘You’ve just absolutely f****d that’. I just broke down.” In fact, the set was a triumph that cemented his status as a 21st century British icon; but though proud of his success, Stormzy is wary of adulation. “I’m a human being,” he says. “I don’t always move correct. I get angry, I get bad road rage...

I’m not f***ing Gandhi.”

Modelling in a hijab Halima Aden is only 22, but she has already broken down several barriers, says Elle Hunt in The Observer. Two years ago, the practising Muslim became the first hijab-wearing model to walk at New York fashion week; she is also the first to have made the cover of Vogue, and to have worn a burkini in Sports Illustrated.

It’s proof, she says, that the industry is changing. “The fact I’ve graced these magazine covers and wear a hijab, have my identity, wear it proudly... fashion is doing a beautiful job.” It was very different when she was growing up in Minnesota; then, “the only times I saw somebody dressed like me was on CNN – and they weren’t doing anything I approve of. I feel we all deserve representation and I didn’t have that.”

Castaway of the week

This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured Ian Wright, former footballer and now broadcaster 1 Duettino – Sull’aria from The Marriage of Figaro, by Da Ponte and Mozart, performed by Edith Mathis and Gundula Janowitz, Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (Karl Böhm) 2 Looking for You, written and performed by Kirk Franklin 3 River Deep – Mountain High by Phil Spector, Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, performed by Ike & Tina Turner 4 Redemption Song by Bob Marley, performed by Bob Marley & The Wailers 5 Mysteries of the World by Dexter Wansel, performed by MFSB 6* Endlessly by Clyde Otis and Brook Benton, performed by Randy Crawford 7 Crown by Michael Omari, James Napier and Matthew James Firth Colman, performed by Stormzy 8 Just Fine by Mary J. Blige, Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Terius Nash and Phalon Alexander, performed by Mary J. Blige Book: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

by Mark Haddon * Choice if allowed only one record Luxury: 7-iron club and golf ball

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Lewis Pugh has been dubbed the “human polar bear”, said Damian Whitworth in The Times. In only Speedos and goggles, the lawyer turned environmentalist has swum in some of the world’s coldest waters – from a glacial lake on Everest to the Arctic Sea. Now, at 50, he has just swum beneath an ice sheet in Antarctica, to highlight the impact of climate change: it involved trekking for two hours across a glacier, in order to plunge into a sub-glacial tunnel. The experience was brutal. “You feel on fire. The body is screaming, ‘Get out!’ The mind is saying, ‘Focus, focus, focus.’ And you’ve got to put both to one side and go with the heart. That’s what’s going to drive you through the tunnel.” As the space got narrower and narrower, there were stalactites just above his head, and he could hear the booming sound of a huge block of ice shifting. It was an extraordinary experience. “Every time I went around the corner it was a different colour. It’s the most beautiful place I’ve seen in the whole world in my whole life.” But Pugh does not relish these polar challenges. On the contrary, he would far rather be swimming in the Indian Ocean, along coral reefs. “I have endured enough cold for ten lifetimes. The cold has gnawed its way deep into my bones.

I just want to be warm again. I swim in the polar regions for one reason – to get them protected.”

Viewpoint:

Pleasure-adjusted years “In the 1970s, medical researchers evolved the concept of QualityAdjusted Life Years: what mattered was not just keeping people alive, but free from pain and distress. My own path-breaking addition to science is Pleasure-Adjusted Life Years. A brief, decadent existence can contain more life than one prolonged by fastidious habits and Lenten self-denial. Thus Ian Fleming (dead at 56) lived until he was around 90. Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones and other members of the 27 club were all but centenarians. As for Isadora Duncan, she is more or less eternal. A stickler for wellness, on the other hand, a customer of Goop, might never see 30.”

Janan Ganesh in the Financial Times

Farewell Sir Leonard Appleyard, diplomat in China during the Cultural Revolution who later assisted in the Hong Kong handover, died 7 February, aged 81.

Caroline Flack, TV presenter best known for hosting the reality show Love Island, died 15 February, aged 40.

Peter Pyemont, visionary prep school head whose pupils included Eddie Izzard, died 7 February, aged 80.

Andrew Weatherall, influential DJ, producer and musician, died 17 February, aged 56.

© KELVIN TRAUTMAN

Raworth on running Sophie Raworth is surely Britain’s fastest newsreader.

The BBC anchor only started running in earnest nine years ago, aged 42, yet she has since taken part in three ultramarathons and 15 marathons, and is about to join England’s over-50s team for a half marathon – which she expects to complete in just 90 minutes.

“The extraordinary thing is, I appear to be getting faster as I get older,” she told Jim White in The Sunday Telegraph. And she has learnt a thing or two along the way. During her first marathon, she didn’t drink anything, so that she wouldn’t have to stop for loo breaks.

The strategy backfired when she collapsed from dehydration at mile 24: “I was unconscious for 20 minutes.” It was terrifying, she says – but she was soon back in training, running 40 miles a week. It’s “totally changed” her body shape. But it’s the effect on her mind that she really relishes.

“I love the freedom it gives me, almost like a meditation, very calming,” she says. “If you’re stressed about something, it’s gone by the end of a run.”

Briefing

NEWS 13

The destruction of Dresden

Seventy-five years ago, the RAF and the USAAF reduced the historic city of Dresden to rubble, killing tens of thousands When did the attack begin?

Just after 10pm on the night of 13 February 1945, RAF “pathfinder” bombers dropped magnesium flares known to the Germans as “Christmas trees” over Dresden to light up the target.

Minutes later, more than 250 Lancaster heavy bombers released nearly a thousand tons of bombs onto the city in just 15 minutes. A second wave, of more than 500 Lancasters, came three hours later, dropping 1,800 tons of bombs.

Over the next two days, the United States Army Air Force also mounted major attacks on Dresden – but in eyewitness accounts these pale into insignificance with the horror of the RAF’s raid.

Explosions. Buildings collapsing. People jumping from buildings. People running along being on fire, screaming.” It was like something “from hell, in medieval pictures”. The firestorm created a vacuum at ground level. People were slowly “sucked into a vortex and then, with a final whisk, lifted up into the sky with their hair and clothing alight”, remembered a British POW, Victor Gregg. Others died stuck in molten tarmac on the roads; or drowned or boiled alive having sought refuge in the city’s reservoir. Some 25,000 people out of a population of 600,000 died.

What was the reaction?

Joseph Goebbels wept at the news, and then added a zero to the death toll in his Why was the RAF raid so horrific?

Dresden in February 1945 By this point in the War, RAF Bomber propaganda reports. “From horrific Command had become very proficient at destroying German reality,” writes the historian Ian Kershaw, he created “an even cities, by creating firestorms from the air. It had refined and scaled more horrific – and long-lasting myth” (see box). Among the up the techniques first used by the Nazis on Rotterdam, London Allies, after initial jubilation there was disquiet, particularly and Coventry. Bombers dropped a mixture of high explosives – when the Associated Press called it a “terror bombing”. Winston such as large “blockbusters” capable of blowing up an entire city Churchill, who had pushed for the attack, wrote in a memo that block – and incendiary bombs. The high explosives knocked “the moment has come when the question of bombing of German down walls and ripped off roofs, exposing beams and improving cities simply for the sake of increasing the terror, though under airflow for the incendiaries. These would create hundreds of small other pretexts, should be reviewed”. He called the attack on fires which were designed to turn into one huge firestorm. Often, Dresden “a serious query against the conduct of Allied bombing”. as in Dresden, a second wave would come several hours later, After pressure from the RAF the memo was redrafted, but the designed to hit as the emergency response was in full swing. raid brought into focus the truth about the bombing campaign.

Why was Dresden targeted?

The city was, to some extent, a legitimate target. It was the capital of Saxony, Germany’s seventh largest city and a major industrial and transport hub. Its famous factories, such as the Zeiss Ikon optical works, had been turned over to war industries. It was also an important railway junction, with a large marshalling yard.

Dresden was receiving vast numbers of refugees from the Eastern Front, which was at this point only 155 miles from the city, and sending out reinforcements to fight the Red Army. For this reason, the Soviet Union had specifically requested the city’s bombing.

What was the effect on the city?

Historic Dresden, known as “Florence on the Elbe” or “the jewel box”, on account of its baroque splendour, had only previously suffered minor raids.

Now it was reduced to rubble.

The RAF effectively incinerated the Altstadt, the medieval old town, and much of the historic city. Dresden was unprepared, with almost no dedicated air raid shelters. Much of the population sought shelter in cellars under the old apartment blocks, which were entirely inadequate as a vast firestorm formed and sucked all the oxygen out of the air. Thousands were suffocated, their bodies found mummified by the heat in the ruins.

What did survivors witness?

“The whole city started burning. It was an inferno,” remembered Roman Halter, a Polish Jew who was a 17year-old slave labourer there at the time. “One never saw such carnage.

What was the truth about that campaign?

Since 1942, the RAF, under Arthur “Bomber” Harris, had been committed to the “area bombing” of German cities to destroy industry by “de-housing” and demoralising the workforce. Dresden was only one of many attacks. Some, arguably, were worse.

About 42,000 people were killed in Hamburg in July 1943. Essen, Berlin, Cologne, Darmstadt, Wessel and many others were devastated. Ten days after Dresden, Pforzheim was destroyed, killing 17,600 people. Between 300,000 and 600,000 German civilians were killed by Allied bombers. But in its suddenness, scale and one-sidedness – the RAF lost just six planes – Dresden stands out.

Death tolls and war guilt The firebombing has long been a battleground in a culture war over Germany’s past. Right-wing extremist groups have co-opted the episode to push their own agenda: using inflated death tolls first propagated by the Nazi regime, they portray the bombing as a war crime that killed up to 300,000 people, calling it a Bomben-Holocaust, a holocaust by bombs – relativising German guilt and suggesting that the Allies rewrote history. Since 1999, there have been yearly “funeral marches” by far-right groups on the anniversary; about 1,200 marched in Dresden on Saturday, opposed by around 1,500 anti-fascists.

The populist AfD treads more carefully, but has called for less emphasis to be given to Germany’s wartime history; its co-chairman Tino Chrupalla recently claimed that some 100,000 people had been killed in Dresden. This flies in the face of an official inquiry by the city of Dresden, which in 2010 concluded that the initial official estimate of around 25,000 dead was correct. At a memorial last Thursday, President Steinmeier called on Germany to remember both “the suffering of the people in German cities, and the suffering that Germans inflicted on others”. He added: “We won’t forget the German guilt.”

Was it justified?

By today’s standards, it was no doubt an atrocity. In Dresden, the RAF directly targeted civilians, destroying 14,000 homes. The raid probably did little to hasten the end of the War, which came only three months later.

However, area bombing has to be seen in context. Britain’s own cities had been ravaged by the Nazis, and until D-Day, it had no other way to fight back in Europe. Area bombing was effective, though indiscriminate and horribly costly; 55,000 Bomber Command aircrew were killed during the War, 44% of the total. In early 1945, the Germans were still fighting hard. The cabinet had been advised that without continued bombing, the War could continue until late 1945.

“I do not personally regard the whole of the remaining cities of Germany,” Harris wrote after Dresden, “as worth the bones of one British grenadier.”

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

14 NEWS The sickness at the heart of our GP system Allison Pearson The Daily Telegraph

Market forces are wrecking universities Owen Jones The Guardian

How to fix the UK’s housing problem Liam Halligan Financial Times

Labour must stop bashing the rich Sonia Sodha The Observer

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Best articles: Britain Does your GP let you talk about more than one ailment when you see them? Count yourself lucky if they do, says Allison Pearson.

Surgeries across the country increasingly enforce a strict “one appointment, one problem” policy. I raised the issue on Twitter the other day and was inundated with responses. Among them was one from a mother whose daughter ended up in A&E with pneumonia after her doctor refused to examine her cough during a visit about depression. All agreed it was a crazy policy, given that conditions often involve a number of different symptoms, and that people can be shy about admitting upfront what’s bothering them. The problem goes back to the overly generous deal Tony Blair’s government cut with GPs in 2006. Very high salaries (“roughly twice what a French GP earns”) enable our doctors to live comfortably while working just a few days a week.

Result? It can take weeks to see a GP and, even then, you’re rushed through. No wonder our survival rates for cancer, so reliant on prompt diagnosis, lag far behind many of our peers.

The trebling of tuition fees was supposed to unleash a “golden age for English universities”, says Owen Jones. It would make them more effective, we were told, more responsive to the needs of students. How empty those promises look nearly a decade on.

The sector is now in crisis: nearly a quarter of English universities are in deficit, and rolling strike action by staff is set to begin this month in 74 institutions. University academics are up in arms about their growing workload and lack of job security: 70% of higher education researchers are stuck on fixed-term contracts.

Under financial pressure to get “bums on seats”, universities are splashing cash on advertising and “flashy buildings” to impress visitors, and presiding over rampant grade inflation: the number of first-class degrees has shot up 80% since the introduction of tuition fees. Introducing the logic of market economics into higher education has led to a situation whereby students are taking on huge debts for increasingly poor-value degrees taught by “overstressed, underpaid, precarious” staff. “What a mess.”

The UK has built around three million too few homes over the past 30 years, says Liam Halligan. That’s why property is so unaffordable. It’s not because we lack space to build. Far from being “concreted over”, the green belt has more than doubled in size since the 1970s. It accounts for 13% of England’s landmass; housing, including gardens, accounts for just over 1%. No, the real problem is the “shortage of land, with planning permission, controlled by those incentivised to build quickly”. The big developers who monopolise supply have staged a “deliberate go-slow” to keep prices high. To break this deadlock we have to reform our land market. As things stand, the granting of planning permission can lead the value of land to shoot up many hundredfold, with this “planning gain” going almost exclusively to landowners and developers. Planning gain should instead be split between developers and local authorities, as it is in much of the developed world. This would “dampen price speculation, resulting in cheaper land and, therefore, more affordable homes”, while generating funds to build local schools and hospitals.

How can the Left best tackle the “toxic populism” embraced by right-wing leaders such as Donald Trump and Boris Johnson?

One school of thought, says Sonia Sodha, is that it should try to beat them at their own game by adopting the “them vs. us narrative” with a new spin: targeting bankers instead of immigrants, billionaires instead of benefit scroungers. But there’s a flaw to that plan, which is that bashing the rich doesn’t impress voters. The latest research on public attitudes to the wealthy suggests that far from resenting them, most people rather admire them and want to join their number. The evidence shows that voters can be won over to the case for higher taxes when the policy is presented as a practical means for delivering a better society, but aren’t swayed when it’s presented simply as a means for punishing the undeserving rich. This is something Labour still needs to learn. During the election campaign, it never explained why the “privileged few” should pay more, assuming this was as “self-evident” to everyone else as it was to them. Jeremy Corbyn’s successors must beware of making the same mistake.

IT MUST BE TRUE…

I read it in the tabloids Landlords are coming up with ever more innovative ways to avoid paying business rates on empty properties, councils have warned. Their latest wheeze, said Martin Stubbs of Bradford Council, is to say buildings are being used for agricultural purposes, thereby exempting them from the tax.

“Some of them have taken to bringing snails in and tell us they are snail farms,” he said.

“It’s a box with some snails in it, it’s as simple as that.”

Armed robbers stole 600 toilet rolls from a delivery man as fears the coronavirus could cause supply shortages gripped Hong Kong. The victim was threatened at knifepoint as he unloaded his van next to a supermarket in the Mong Kok district – an area known for its Triad crime gangs – before his assailants fled with £100 worth of rolls. Two men were later arrested.

A man from Florida has complained to a hospital after being told to stop taking a life-sized Donald Trump cut-out to kidney dialysis sessions. Nelson Gibson said he started taking the model to the treatments for “emotional support”, but has since been asked to refrain. “They told me it was too much,” he said, “and that it wasn’t a rally.”

Several workers at a US fast food restaurant have been fired after one was filmed taking a bath in its industrialsized kitchen sink. Footage posted online showed the man sitting up in the soapy sink water at a branch of Wendy’s in Greenville, MI. Another person can be heard shouting “Wash yourself”, to which the worker replies: “It feels like a hot tub. I’m just enjoying life, boss.”

Best of the American columnists

NEWS 15

Bernie Sanders: making socialism acceptable?

“Sooner or later, the Democrats’ speeches, like those of Donald Trump, decades-long march to the left was appear to come from the heart. bound to end in the explicit embrace Authenticity is an overrated virtue of socialism,” said the National in politics, but when you “look back Review. That moment appears to have on the past two decades of politicians who promised everything would be arrived. The first two contests of the primary season have established Bernie different, then delivered more of the Sanders, the self-described democratic same, only somehow worse”, you can see why so many voters now prefer socialist Senator from Vermont, as “honest devils over two-faced saints”. the indisputable front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination.

If it’s any consolation to moderate With the party’s other candidates splitting the moderate vote between Democrats, the US is not the only them, the 78-year-old Sanders is the country where a radical socialist has one to beat. He has “strong supporters eclipsed the floundering centre-left, Sanders: the appeal of authenticity nationwide”; he has momentum; and, said Rich Lowry on Politico. as the top fundraiser in the Democratic primaries, he has the Sanders, who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, bears a money “to go the distance”. close resemblance to “his equally aged, gruff and dishevelled ideological cousin from the UK, Jeremy Corbyn”. His electoral The rise of Sanders represents a sea change in US politics, said prospects are about the same, too, said Thomas L. Friedman in Russell Berman in The Atlantic. For years, the Republicans have The New York Times. “On what planet” is an avowed socialist – one who wants to take away the private health care coverage successfully “weaponised” the term socialism against liberals of some 150 million Americans, and replace it with a huge, in order to portray them as dangerous radicals, but the tactic untested, national health system open to illegal immigrants – is no longer working. Young voters are open to Sanders’s ideas “going to beat the Trump machine this year”? Liberals talk today. “Socialism as an epithet has lost its sting.” More than his ideology, it’s Sanders’s sincerity that really appeals to liberal excitedly of a revolution. Here’s a revolution: “four more years voters, said Megan McArdle in The Washington Post. His of Donald Trump, unencumbered by the need to get re-elected”.

The economy: numbers tell half the story Annie Lowrey The Atlantic

Biden: end of the line, end of an era?

David Von Drehle The Washington Post

And the award for most crass posturing...

Freddy Gray Spectator USA

America’s economy has enjoyed one of its best decades on record, says Annie Lowrey. Yet behind the rosy growth and unemployment figures, the reality is that millions of people are being bled dry by the “spiralling cost of living”. For them, the recent boom years have felt “precarious or downright terrible”. Housing costs have outstripped wages in roughly 80% of America’s metro regions; even in rural areas there has been a jump in the number of households spending half or more of their income on housing. Young people simply can’t afford to move to areas where the best jobs are. Healthcare costs have also grown ever more exorbitant: between 2010 and 2016 alone, average family insurance premiums jumped by 28%, to $17,710. The cost of college tuition has likewise skyrocketed, as have childcare costs, which have increased 2,000% in the past 40 years, putting a crushing burden on young families. All this helps explain why roughly two in five American adults would struggle to come up with $400 in an emergency, and why fully one in three US households is classified as “financially fragile”. As President Trump hails growth figures, the “Great Affordability Crisis hides in plain sight, obvious to households but unmentioned in the country’s headline economic numbers”.

Well, it looks like it’s all over for Joe Biden, says David Von Drehle. Judging by his dire showing thus far, another of the veteran Democrat’s White House bids has hit the buffers. If indeed he is soon knocked out of the race, it will mark the passing not just of his leadership hopes, but of a time-honoured breed of US politician. Although he’s no JFK or Mayor Daley, Biden “bears many of the identifying traits of a classic Irish-American on the hustings”: the blarney, the heart on the sleeve, the roistering style of deal-making. “Irish-machine politics” built cities such as New York, Boston and Chicago, and reached a “kind of apotheosis” in the early 1980s, when Ronald Reagan was president and the Democratic speaker Thomas “Tip” O’Neill controlled Congress. But over recent years, as the US has become more ethnically mixed, Irish heritage has become “a nonfactor”.

Today’s voters look at Biden and just see an old white guy. How completely the old world has vanished was made clear by the brief rise of Beto O’Rourke. Even though he bears a resemblance to the “Irish-American prince” Bobby Kennedy, and has an unmistakably Irish surname, “people kept mistaking him for Hispanic”. Times have moved on. Biden is the last of his political species.

Another year, another appalling Oscars, says Freddy Gray. The ceremony has “always been fundamentally silly”, but it’s now beyond parody. This year’s Academy Awards had a vegan menu and featured even more pontificating than usual. Brad Pitt held forth about impeachment; the filmmaker Julia Reichert called for the “workers of the world” to “unite”; Natalie Portman had the names of all the female directors who weren’t nominated sewn into the hem of her dress cape; Joaquin Phoenix ranted about sexism, nationalism and the evils of cows’ milk. It was all so tiresome, and explains why audience figures for the Oscars have tanked in the past decade. Until recently, movie stars “slightly restrained their sanctimoniousness” because they knew people listened to what they said. But now, sensing that nobody cares about their views any more, they’re “just howling into cyberspace, ever more desperate to be heard”. The internet has “killed the Hollywood star. Fame has been disrupted.” Andy Warhol predicted that, one day, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes, but it’s more the case that everyone is now famous to at least 15 people. “Instagram, Twitter and Facebook mean we don’t have to ogle the stars anymore; we are too busy ogling ourselves.”

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

16 NEWS

Best articles: International

Crackdown in Iran: the purge of the moderates Iran’s clerical elite has gone to great thousands arrested in protests over lengths to fix this week’s election, said petrol price rises in November. Then Al-Monitor (Washington). In Friday’s the country’s top general, Qassem parliamentary poll, voters will have Soleimani, was killed in a US drone strike on 3 January. The assassination found their choices even more narrowed than usual. The hard-line initially brought thousands of Guardian Council, whose members supporters to the streets, but the mood are appointed by Supreme Leader turned sour a few days later, when it Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, always vets emerged that Iranian forces had shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing election candidates. But this time it eliminated 9,000 of the 16,000 176 people, and tried to cover it up.

Iran’s new generation – two-thirds of people who applied to stand – the most draconian purge since the 1979 the population is under 30 – view this revolution. Moderate and reformist week’s elections as a sham. Their anger politicians say they’re only able to could be about to boil over.

Ayatollah Khamenei and Rouhani: at odds stand in 60 of the parliament’s 290 When Rouhani won his second term in 2017, there was a seats. “Khamenei is close to consolidating power in parliament real “sense of optimism” that Iran would prosper, said Ellie and the government,” said Middle East Eye (London). At the same time, the security forces are cracking down on critics and Geranmayeh in World Politics Review (New York). But sanctions imposed by the Trump administration have been raiding journalists’ homes. The reformist president, Hassan “devastating”: the economy contracted by 8.7% last year.

Rouhani, slammed the purge in “unprecedentedly strong Liberal Iranians feel “exhausted, frustrated and increasingly terms”, describing the race as “engineered”. But though he called on his supporters to turn out in large numbers, many hopeless” because the reformists have achieved so little, while this week, conservatives – of whom there are many – are likely moderates planned simply to boycott the ballot altogether. to turn out in force, galvanised by Soleimani’s assassination.

The Islamic Republic has endured much since 1979, said Gerrit Trump aimed to change Iran’s behaviour, but his campaign Wustmann on Telepolis (Hanover), “but the situation has never “has only placed the two sides closer than ever to direct conflict, been as fragile as it is now”. Hundreds were killed and while allowing Iran’s hardliners to tighten their grip on power”.

SWITZERLAND

The Swiss role in a global spy game Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich)

GERMANY

A crisis in Germany’s political order Deutsche Welle (Bonn)

RUSSIA

The return of the Soviet show trial The Moscow Times

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Switzerland’s role in “one of the largest espionage operations in history” has been revealed, says Thomas Knellwolf – and the country is reeling. For half a century, the Swiss security company Crypto AG sold encryption machines to more than 120 world governments. But, all along, the firm was secretly owned and controlled by America’s CIA and its German equivalent, the BND. The machines were deliberately weakened, allowing the CIA and BND to spy on friends and foes, while making millions from sales. For the CIA, it was “the intelligence coup of the century”; it reportedly let them eavesdrop on Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979-81, and supply Britain with intelligence about Argentina in the Falklands War. This “brazen” operation – made possible by Switzerland’s “neutrality” and good name – lasted until the 2000s. The Swiss government knew all along – its own equipment wasn’t tampered with – but failed to stop it. It’s a mess. If we don’t address this head on – investigate it, disclose everything and prosecute where necessary – no country that was duped will trust us again. Who will buy sensitive technology from the Swiss if we tolerate such duplicity?

Germany’s postwar political order is in peril, says Christoph Strack. The dramatic resignation of the CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (known as AKK and seen as Angela Merkel’s anointed successor as chancellor) dealt a “severe blow” to the governing centre-right party. Her authority was shot; the final nail in her coffin came when local CDU politicians in the eastern state of Thuringia defied her by controversially joining forces with the far-right AfD to vote in a regional premier.

Merkel said the alliance was “unforgivable”; the chosen premier stepped down – followed a few days later by AKK. It’s all evidence that the CDU – in power since 2005 – has “lost its way”. Finding a successor to Merkel is a “formidable challenge”, and relies on the party working out what it stands for. Meanwhile, the CDU’s historic rivals, the SPD, are “haemorrhaging support”, and the rise of the AfD has prompted warnings that the “dark spirits” of Germany’s past could be re-emerging. The timing of all this is particularly unfortunate: Germany’s economy is running out of steam; US foreign policy is contributing to global instability; and Brexit has posed profound questions for the EU. If AKK’s departure is a political earthquake, aftershocks will surely follow. “Testing times lie ahead.”

Stalinist show trials are making a comeback in Russia, says Andrei Kolesnikov. In the latest travesty, a troika of military judges sentenced seven young men to between six and 18 years in penal colonies.

They were convicted on dubious terror charges; prosecutors claimed that they belonged to a group called “Network” which had plotted attacks during the 2018 presidential election and World Cup, with the ultimate aim of overthrowing the government. But human rights groups insist the charges were entirely “fabricated”, and that the accused were tortured into confessions. Indeed, the only evidence against them is that they identified as anarchists or anti-fascists, and all played Airsoft, a paintball-style shooting game. Several of them had never even met before their arrest. We must be clear: handing an 18-year jail term to a 27-year-old who hasn’t killed or injured anyone, or stolen billions – unlike many members of Russia’s elite – is “pure Stalinism”. Its sole aim is to show that Russia’s autocracy won’t tolerate dissent; an echo of an era when the paranoid Soviet leader purged imagined enemies. As President Putin pushes through reforms aimed at keeping him in power beyond the end of his current term in 2024, the lives of young men are being wrecked.

Health & Science

NEWS 19

What the scientists are saying…

Girls are hitting puberty younger

Around the world, girls are starting puberty about a year earlier than they did four decades ago, a new study has found.

The onset of menstruation (menarche) has traditionally been seen as the marker for female puberty, but the authors of the latest research say this is problematic: firstly because menstruation can begin later than other signs of puberty, and secondly because people may not remember exactly how old they were when they had their first period. So for their analysis, the Danish team took as their marker the development of glandular breast tissue (thelarche). Having examined data from 30 studies for which girls had their breast tissue expertly assessed, they worked out that since 1977, girls have, on average, been reaching this milestone about three months earlier with every passing decade.

(There were regional variations, however, with girls in Africa reaching puberty later than those in Europe and the US.) The study didn’t set out to explain why puberty is creeping forward, but the authors suggest that since a higher body mass index has been linked to the earlier development of glandular breast tissue, the “ongoing global obesity epidemic” could be a partial explanation for the observed change in pubertal age.

The wonders of a table cloth

If you want to impress your friends with your culinary skills, dust off your table cloth. In a German study, diners gave higher marks to a bowl of tomato soup when it was served on a simple white and grey checked cloth; they also sat at the table for longer, and polished off more of it. Dimming the lighting, however, had little impact: it just made the soup taste saltier. The study is the latest in the field

ovarian cancer, the driver mutations began up to 35 years before the disease was diagnosed (suggesting tell-tale signs could have been there as early as childhood); with kidney, bladder and skin cancers, the mutations occurred almost 20 years before diagnosis; but with liver and cervical cancer, it was less than five years.

“Unlocking these patterns means it should now be possible to develop new diagnostic tests that pick up signs of cancer much earlier,” said co-author Dr Peter Van Loo, of the Francis Crick Institute in London.

West Africa’s “ghost” people

Instantly tastier

of “gastrophysics” – assessing how perceptions of taste are affected by the environment. In 2015, for instance, Oxford University researchers found that people enjoy their food more when they eat it with heavy cutlery. People have also been found to rate cheap wine more highly when they are told that it is expensive.

A new way to diagnose cancer?

Scientists have discovered that the genetic mutations that give rise to cancer can occur decades before symptoms appear, raising the possibility of developing an entirely new way of diagnosing the disease, much earlier. For the study, an international team sequenced the genomes of nearly 2,700 tumours. This enabled them to model the typical “life history” of each cancer, and to spot when the crucial “driver” mutations started to occur. They found that there was considerable variation between different forms: with

The turtle that was as big as a car

Fossils unearthed in a desert region of Venezuela have shed new light on one of the biggest-ever turtles: the car-sized Stupendemys geographicus. First described by palaeontologists in the 1970s, the turtle lived between 12 million and seven million years ago in what, at the time, was a vast swampland populated by many other oversized animals, including 11-metre-long crocodiles and 700kg rats. With its three metre-long shell and estimated body mass of 1,145kg, Stupendemys is thought to have been 100 times heavier than its closest living descendent, the Amazon river turtle.

Stupendemys geographicus The newly discovered fossils reveal that Stupendemys males had front-facing horns on its shell – an adaptation never previously seen in side-necked turtles (so named because instead of retracting their necks, they tuck them sideways beneath the front of their shells). It is thought they used these both to fight other males and to defend themselves against predators.

“Bite marks and punctured bones indicate interactions with large caimans that also inhabited the northern Neotropics,” the researchers wrote in Science Advances.

UCLA scientists have found evidence of a mysterious “ghost population” of ancient humans, who lived in Africa half a million years ago. The evidence has not come in the form of a fossil – but in pieces of their DNA found in people from West Africa today. “We don’t have a clear identity for this archaic group,” said computational biologist Prof Sriram Sankararaman.

“That’s why we use the term ‘ghost’.” This population probably split from the lineage that led to Homo sapiens, Denisovans and Neanderthals as much as 1.2 million years ago, he said. The ancestors of Denisovans moved east, and those of Neanderthals migrated west – but it seems the mystery population stayed in Africa, where Homo sapiens evolved. The “introgression” between the ghosts and the ancestors of modern West Africans could have occurred within the past 125,000 years, around the same time as Denisovans and Neanderthals were mating with humans in Asia and Europe respectively. According to the study, modern West Africans derive between 2% and 19% of their genetic ancestry from this archaic population, just as all non-Africans have inherited DNA from Neanderthals and/or Denisovans.

A balmy day in Antarctica Antarctica has logged its highest ever recorded temperature – a reading of 20°C taken on Seymour Island, off the Antarctic Peninsula. The reading was a single one, not part of a long-term data set; but it was made just a few days after a record 18.3°C was logged on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, at the Esperanza Base. The “finger” that sticks out from the northwest of the continent, the peninsula is one of the fastestwarming places on Earth, having heated by almost 3°C over the past 50 years.

Temperatures there do fluctuate, owing to complex weather patterns in the area; however, the trend is upwards – which is alarming, given the possible impact on Antarctica’s ice sheets. “We tend to think of Antarctica as remote and beautiful, home to iconic wildlife,” John King, of the British Antarctic Survey, told The Times. But “90% of the ice locked up in the world is in these ice sheets”.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Matt Stuart | London, 2014

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22 NEWS Pick of the week’s

Gossip

Donald Trump has an unlikely obsession: badgers.

The president used to grill his former chief of staff, Reince Priebus (who hails from Wisconsin, the “Badger State”) about the creatures during key White House meetings, a new book claims. How do they “work”, exactly? Do they have a personality? What do they eat? “Enthralled” by the animals, Trump would interrupt staff as they tried to steer him back to troop numbers in Afghanistan, say, or health insurance.

“Are they mean to people?” the president would ask the beleagured Priebus, “Or are they friendly creatures?”

Victoria Beckham and Stella McCartney have fallen out; they’ve unfollowed each other on social media and McCartney has reportedly uninvited the Beckhams to a family party she is throwing.

What on earth could have caused such a rift? Nannystealing, apparently.

“Victoria heard on the playground grapevine that Stella’s nanny was one of the best in town,” a source told The Sun. “She got her number and made her a lucrative offer to jump ship.

When Stella found out, she went nuclear.”

Comedian David Mitchell used to find Twitter fun. “It was rare for anyone to say anything negative,” he recalls of the website’s early incarnation. “It was people chatting away to each other, saying, ‘Oh I’m just having a sandwich. Cheese and pickle’, and someone replies ‘Cheese and pickle, my favourite’.” What’s changed now? “Now it’s all, ‘Cheese and pickle? You know what the dairy industry does, don’t you?’”

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Talking points The judiciary: should it butt out of politics?

Boris Johnson is gunning representatives from delivering for Britain’s judges, said The on their election mandate.

Uncertainty about the likely Guardian. Unhappy with what he regards as their increasingly legal consequences of their political role, particularly with actions often leads ministers regards to Brexit, he wants to to take the safe option of restrain their ability to hold inaction. At other times, their the Government to account. opponents launch legal appeals simply to hold proposals up The PM and his new Attorney General, Suella Braverman, and exact concessions, thus reportedly have two reforms using the courts for “politics in mind. The first is to give by other means”. ministers more of a say in judicial appointments. The There’s no denying that there second is to weaken the power is a problem with judicial of the Supreme Court – which review, said Jonathan ruled last September that Sumption, a former justice the Government’s decision Braverman: the new Attorney General of the Supreme Court, in The to suspend Parliament was Sunday Times. The courts unlawful – by placing parts of the royal have become too ready to challenge ministers in cases where they simply dislike the underlying prerogative off-limits to judicial review. Both policy. This creeping judicial activism ideas are “troubling”, aimed as they are at fettering the independence of the judiciary and “undermines the foundation of our democracy, which depends on an elected assembly being weakening its power to challenge executive the ultimate judge of policy”. But this isn’t overreach. At best, this is a retrograde step. something the Government can fix on its own.

At worst, it’s “pure Trumpism: an attempt to “The problem is one of judicial attitudes. And remake the courts in Johnson’s own image”. you cannot change judicial attitudes by an act of Parliament.” Any attempt to curb the powers “No one is seriously advocating untrammelled of the judiciary, or to select judges on the basis executive power,” said Sir Stephen Laws in The Daily Telegraph. Ministers simply think that the of their attitude, would prove ineffective and illiberal. This issue needs to be sorted out in balance of power between judges and elected conjunction with the judges themselves. politicians is out of kilter and needs adjustment.

“Heavy-handed government intervention can The reality is that judicial review does often disrupt politics in an unhelpful way by inhibiting only provoke unnecessary rows and digging-in with heels, without in the end achieving much.” decision-making and preventing our

Ireland: on the road to unification?

We seem to be edging closer to the breakup of the United Kingdom, said Martin Kettle in The Guardian. Sinn Féin’s success in last week’s general election in Ireland marks a “turning point” for the Republic. Mary Lou McDonald’s party now looks set to be part of either the new government or the main opposition – ending almost a century in which power in Dublin has been “carved up” between the centrist Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil parties. It’s an “astonishing change of fortune” for Sinn Féin, whose links to the terrorist IRA once made it a “virtual pariah in the South”. But while its success may have been largely because of its left-wing policies on housing and health, its unequivocal backing for a united Ireland now makes a referendum on the issue significantly more likely on both sides of the border. Whatever happens, Irish unification is firmly back on the agenda. The former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern thinks a vote on the matter is now “inevitable” within a decade.

Brexit has “spurred on” this shift, said Jennifer Duggan in Time. Under the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement, there will be an open border for goods between the Republic and Northern Ireland; an economic border will instead be drawn in the Irish Sea. With Northern Ireland having voted 56:44 to Remain, the result will be to drive Belfast and Dublin closer together. But

other factors are also at play, said Emma Duncan in The Times. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) requires the UK to call a referendum in Northern Ireland when there’s “reason to believe there is a majority for reunification”. Opinion polls are split almost 50:50, but with Catholics expected to outnumber Protestants in the 2021 census, things are “moving in that direction”.

The GFA reconciled some Catholics to staying in the UK, said The Economist. But the agreement also set out a clear “political route to a united Ireland”. And if the people of the North and the Republic “choose that path, the politicians must follow it”. The island of Ireland now needs a “plan” for unification: it needs, for instance, a way to make unionists feel at home in the Republic. That’s not likely if Sinn Féin are in charge, said Eilis O’Hanlon in the Belfast Telegraph. “There have been increasingly giddy predictions from politicians, academics and journalists in recent years that a united Ireland is just around the corner.” But there’s still a long way to go. The Economic and Social Research Council survey shows that, yes, only 52% of people in Northern Ireland wish to stay in the UK – but on the other hand, only 29% say they would actually vote for a united Ireland. To a significant minority of voters, both the UK and the Republic “feel like imperfect answers”.

Talking points Citizenship: the haves and the have-nots Today, there are two types deportation of “foreign of British people, said criminals” – foreign citizens Kenan Malik in The who have been sentenced to 12 months or more in Observer. There are the “British-British”, whose prison – is the law, under Labour’s UK Borders Act citizenship can never be taken away from them.

(2007). Britain’s right to Then there are immigrants deport them is “automatic”, and the children of unless to do so would infringe their human rights. immigrants, whose status seems to be “contingent That’s because citizenship upon continued good is a “privilege, not a right”, behaviour”. Recently, we’ve said Rod Liddle in The seen this “two-tier system” Spectator. The plane heading to Jamaica last at work in a variety of Chevon Brown: deported for speeding cases. There was Shamima week carried people who Begum, whose citizenship was revoked because had served time for manslaughter, rape and drug dealing. “Sobbing” over sending them to a she joined Isis, though until then she had spent her whole life in Britain. There were the country where they hold citizenship makes no Windrush migrants, arbitrarily stripped of their sense at all. People who come from one country right to live in the UK. And last week, the Home and abuse the laws of another should be removed. This idea is “accepted worldwide”.

Office tried to deport 42 Jamaican nationals who had served time in prison – though many of them had grown up in the UK, or were raising Even so, it is arguably “disproportionate” to their children here. (After an 11th hour human send people back to a country where they have rights challenge in the Court of Appeal, 25 were not been since they were a child, said Amelia Gentleman in The Guardian. Chevon Brown, taken off the plane, but 17 were duly deported.)

This “discriminatory” tendency is on the rise. for example, now 23, was sentenced to 14 More than 150 people have been stripped of months after being caught driving at 115mph, their citizenship since 2010. then deported to Jamaica last year – “ripped”, as he says, from his family in Oxford, and sent to a country he left at the age of 14, where he Those are false comparisons, said The Daily has no relatives. In such cases, deportation is Telegraph: the cases are quite different. The Windrush migrants were not deported because “manifestly unjust and inhumane”, said Sarah they had committed crimes; it was an error, and Baxter in The Sunday Times. It represents a “life sentence of exile to an unknown land”. their treatment was “scandalous”. But the

Caroline Flack: who’s to blame?

The suicide of Caroline Flack lawyers often go ahead without has “provoked an outpouring of cooperation, for good reasons. anguish”, said Melanie Phillips The press, though, is a different in The Times – and of rage. The matter. Few defendants have been presenter of Love Island, who subjected to the “onslaught of heartless publicity” that Flack had had a history of anxiety and depression, was awaiting trial to endure. It was “open season” as soon as her arrest became public. for assaulting her boyfriend, The Sun called her “Caroline Lewis Burton, when she died last weekend. The following day, Whack” – she allegedly hit Burton her management company turned with a lamp. The tabloids even on the Crown Prosecution Service, printed pictures of her bloodaccusing it of staging a “show spattered flat. She was mobbed trial” and pushing ahead with the by photographers; no one called case, although Flack was fragile off the dogs, despite her “obvious and Burton did not want to press Flack: vulnerable, hounded vulnerability”. And where the charges. Others blamed Love media goes, social media follows.

Island’s producers, pointing out that two contestants had also died by suicide. Many This is one of the “great hypocrisies of the more, though, blamed the tabloids and social British public”, Roy Greenslade told The New media. Hundreds of celebrities and others York Times: that they avidly read everything appealed for a “Caroline’s law” against media about these celebrities, and increasingly write intrusion. On her Radio 5 Live show, Flack’s about them online too. “Then when things go friend Laura Whitmore declared: “To paparazzi wrong, they turn on the media and say it’s all and tabloids looking for a cheap sell, to trolls the media’s fault.” Flack is yet another casualty hiding behind a keyboard: enough!” of our obsessive curiosity about the lives of strangers, and the industry that exploits it, said It’s wrong to blame the prosecutors, said Joan Sean O’Grady in The Independent. “As long as Smith in The Guardian. It isn’t up to victims to we have celeb culture – and it is nothing new press charges – in domestic violence cases, the – we will have celeb tragedies.”

NEWS 23

Wit & Wisdom “Cheese is milk’s leap towards immortality.”

Clifton Fadiman, quoted on The Browser “The diet book is one of those fool-and-money separation devices that seems, like roulette or slot machines, never to lose its power.”

Christopher Hitchens, quoted in Forbes “When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.”

Writer Hunter S. Thompson, quoted on Citywire “The actor who isn’t typecast doesn’t work.”

Attributed to Bette Davis in The Observer “Every man takes the limits of his own vision for the limits of the world.”

Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, quoted in Lapham’s Quarterly “Nothing dates harder and faster and more strangely than the future.”

Author Neil Gaiman, quoted in The Atlantic “I’ve never any pity for conceited people, because I think they carry their comfort about with them.”

George Eliot, quoted in Forbes “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”

Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted in Town and Country “One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.”

Will Durant, quoted in The I newspaper

Statistic of the week Facebook has 35,000 “content and security reviewers” who take down more than a million fake accounts every day; the company has uncovered more than 50 “disinformation operations” aimed at influencing democratic elections since the 2016 US presidential race.

The Independent

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

24 NEWS

Sport Football: Man City banned from Europe

There’s nothing fair about FFP. It’s intended In the 11 years since the Emirati royal Sheikh to “cement a handful of elite clubs and shut the Mansour bought Manchester City, the club has rest outside”: by limiting how much owners can won the Premier League four times, said Martyn invest, it makes it harder for clubs to compete Ziegler in The Times. Its players have lifted two with the already wealthy giants like Barcelona FA Cups and four League Cups. The only major and Bayern Munich. City was just trying to trophy that has eluded City is the one its owner “get inside football’s fancy castle before the values most: the Champions League. But for the establishment upped the drawbridge”. That’s next two seasons, the club won’t appear in that all very well, said Paul Hayward in The Daily competition at all. In a “seismic” decision last Telegraph. But City signed up to those rules. week, Uefa (European football’s governing body) Uefa has done the right thing: this ban sends handed down the ban and a s30m (£25m) fine a “message that the age of unfettered power as punishment for City breaching “financial fair for billionaire owners has passed”. play” (FFP) rules between 2012 and 2016. The decision is not final – City has appealed – but The big challenge for City now is holding this once the Premier League concludes its own team together, said Barney Ronay in The investigation, further punishment may be in store: there is even speculation that rivals will call for the Sheikh Mansour: a costly mistake? Observer. Will Raheem Sterling, Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva – some of the finest players in club’s recent league titles to be stripped. the world – really be willing to sit out the Champions League? It’s hard to see how a club with a wage bill of £300m can even afford Under FFP, clubs can make losses of no more than s30m over a to hold onto all those stars, when the cost of missing out on three-year period, said David Conn in The Guardian. The rules European football is at least £100m a year. And then there’s Pep also state that a club’s owner cannot get around this by injecting Guardiola, said Ian Herbert in the Daily Mail. Since the brilliant money through a sponsorship deal – which is what Mansour has manager arrived in Manchester in 2016, there has been a sense been accused of doing. Over the four years in question, Etihad that he is “merely passing through”, and this crisis could Airways was ostensibly paying the huge annual sum of £67.5m precipitate his exit – although he insists he wants to stick around to sponsor City. But according to leaked emails, in the 2013/14 for the next two seasons. Whatever happens, though, City will season all but £8m of that money actually came from Mansour’s still have plenty of advantages: the “best training complex, best own company vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group. City was academy facilities, best player acquisition system”. And if they’re also punished for “failing to cooperate in the investigation”, forced to give homegrown players more chances, that can only and it certainly didn’t help itself: the leaked emails show that be a good thing. It might just be that a more “humble, joyful the club’s behaviour towards Uefa has been “hostile”. You can Manchester City emerges from the wreckage”. see why City are angry, said Martin Samuel in the Daily Mail.

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Sport Can rugby league redeem Folau?

example, saw his career Catalans Dragons aren’t in Australia end when a “overly familiar with being photograph, taken on a the centre of attention”, drunken night out, said Mark Palmer in The appeared to show him Sunday Times. This urinating into his own Perpignan rugby league mouth. But what side is the only French distinguishes those players club in the Super League, from Folau is that they a competition that features have shown remorse – ten English teams and one whereas he hasn’t. He will Canadian side. But last surely hope to follow in the month, the Dragons footsteps of Ben Barba, the signed “perhaps the most Folau: unrepentant Australian player whose controversial rugby player transfer to St Helens in 2017, following on the planet”: Israel Folau, who was a lengthy drugs ban, caused a great stir – sacked by Australia’s rugby union team only for him to play so well that his past last year over an Instagram post saying misdemeanours were quickly forgotten. that “drunks, homosexuals [and] adulterers” will go to hell. And his debut Folau got off to a promising start on last Saturday, in the Dragons’ 36-18 win Sunday, said Ian Herbert in The Mail on over Castleford Tigers, showed what Sunday. Even though he hadn’t played a Folau has in store. Two away supporters match in four months, he still looked the brought rainbow flags to the Dragons’ “most powerful and athletic player on the stadium, in protest at his homophobic field”. But the real test will come in away comments; they were allegedly told by games. Next month, the Dragons will staff to remove them. travel to Wigan Warriors, for a match the home team have decided to rename “Pride Folau is hardly the first controversial Day” – and the reception will be rather figure in rugby league, said Aaron Bower more hostile than the one Folau received in The Guardian. Indeed, the Dragons in Perpignan. “Considerably tougher have had “no shortage of players with territory lies ahead.” chequered pasts”. Todd Carney, for

NEWS 25 Commentary box Morgan’s thrilling England

England’s Twenty20 series against South Africa was meant to be “preparation, refinement, revision” for the T20 World Cup in Australia later this year, said Barney Ronay in The Guardian. And by the end of this frenetic “three-stage drag race” through South Africa, it was clear that while England “may or may not be the best T20 team in the world, they are surely the most entertaining”. They were at their most thrilling in the third and final match, in which they successfully chased 222 – the fourth highest chase in an international T20 – to win the series 2-1. It was a victory sealed by the captain, Eoin Morgan, who scored 57 off a staggering 22 balls.

Leading England to World Cup glory last year has given him a “powerhalo”: right now, he is the single most important player in English cricket.

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IN C I N E M A S F E B 28

LETTERS Pick of the week’s correspondence The Blitz and Dresden To The Spectator

I am an 82-year-old Londoner who experienced the Blitz.

I still clearly remember the terror of endless nights in the dripping-wet, bone-cold, dank, smelly Anderson shelter. I was surprised neither A.N. Wilson nor Sinclair McKay (“Was Dresden a war crime?”) referred to the comparative death tolls in British and German cities. From 7 September 1940, London was systematically bombed by the Luftwaffe for 56 of the following 57 days and nights.

More than 40,000 civilians were killed by Luftwaffe bombing during the War, almost half of them in London.

At the time of Dresden, Britain’s citizens had been suffering six years of indescribable misery at the hands of the German people, not just of Hitler and his ministers. There may have been an element of revenge, but Churchill and “Bomber” Harris were trying to end the agony inflicted on Britain and Europe twice in 30 years.

Jon Stone, Broughton Hackett, Worcestershire

Giant projects

To the Financial Times

This is not the first time a Northern Ireland to Scotland bridge has been suggested. A bridge was actually completed by the mythical Irish giant Finn MacCool. Construction began at what is now known as the Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim. Obstacles to completion then were not Second World War munitions, but a Scottish giant – funny how things come in roundabouts.

Mike Stone, London

End of the line?

To The Independent

We in the North should be wary of Boris Johnson’s announcement that, while the first leg of HS2 will go ahead, the second from Crewe to Manchester and Leeds is under yet another review.

When the Channel Tunnel was first announced in the 1980s, parliamentary support was only forthcoming because an essential part of the proposals was a plan to operate high-speed rail services through it on both sides of the

Exchange of the week

Water, water, everywhere To The Daily Telegraph

As a geophysicist, I find it fairly obvious that global warming means the Atlantic will be putting far more water into the atmosphere from now on. As our weather in Britain is mainly driven by Atlantic weather fronts, flooding in these islands is going to become far more common.

The flood defences being built now by the Environment Agency only shift the problem downstream – and were anyway designed for the lesser floods of the last century.

If Brunel were alive today, we’d probably see a far more long-term vision, such as diverting excess water from upstream of the choke points through large underground tunnels connected to the nearest estuary such as the Ribble or Humber.

After all, our tunnelling expertise is second to none after the Chunnel and Crossrail projects. Why not capitalise on this and then export the engineering skills to other countries in a similar position?

John Howard, Birmingham To The Daily Telegraph

Forty years ago I was employed as a geologist by an aggregate company to develop gravel pits around the UK. Under no circumstances would planning permission be granted for any permanent structure on a river’s flood plain, where sand and gravel are generally deposited. Any structure that might restrict the flow of water across the flood plain was prohibited; not even a Portakabin would be tolerated.

Nowadays, entire housing estates are built on flood plains.

And people wonder why they are regularly flooded out of house and home.

Jeremy Spencer-Cooper, Easebourne, West Sussex English Channel, enabling passengers to get on a train in Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff or Plymouth and get off in Paris.

A depot for the regional Eurostar services was actually constructed at Longsight in Manchester, with a large Eurostar-branded sign attached to the outside that proclaimed to passing train passengers, “Le Eurostar habite ici” (French for “The Eurostar lives here”).

As we all know, the plan was never completed and a parliamentary committee declared in 1999 that “the regions have been cheated”.

Colin Burke, Manchester

Independent thinking To The Guardian

Rafael Behr makes many valid points, and correctly describes the risks of nationalism going sour (“Nationalism is winning – on both sides of the border”). But he confuses support for independence with nationalism.

It is nothing to do with nationalism that makes a growing number of us want

to see an independent government at Holyrood – where Scottish legislators, who sit in a semi-circle chamber conducive to compromise, are elected through a system of proportional representation which was designed to check the extremists of any one party (nationalist or otherwise), and which allows more of the electorate to feel that they have a stake in government.

Compare that with the adversarial, childish jeering and mayhem that passes for legislative debate in Westminster’s chamber, where an absurd winner-takes-all voting system leaves millions unrepresented. Westminster is not the enemy, it is an anachronism. It is not a case of “nationalists rewriting the past” – it is about wanting to move forward from the past.

Not in search of utopia, but in search of the greater selfrespect that will come from being governed under a system fit for the 21st century.

Julie Darling, Rosewell, Midlothian

27

Our green future To The Times

Alice Thomson raises questions about the green credentials of electric vehicles (EVs).

Although battery production adds to emissions, these are plummeting as new technology and cleaner ways of powering factories take over. In the UK, lifecycle emissions of a Nissan Leaf are only a third of that of a conventional vehicle.

Not only do multiple analyses confirm that EVs are greener, but they will become more so as the grid decarbonises. National Grid says that it will be able to run a zeroemissions electricity system by 2025 and support a non-EV phase-out date of 2030. Rather than looking for reasons not to move to the future of travel, we should be excited about the revolution about to take place.

Dr Jonathan Marshall, head of analysis, Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit

If it ain’t broke, smash it To The Guardian

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised by Julian Smith’s sacking. After all, he only played a leading role in restoring the Stormont institutions, was held in high regard by most parties in Northern Ireland and, as you report, “was regarded as a very good secretary of state with a grip on complex problems”.

Clearly not the sort of person Boris Johnson would want in his Cabinet when the minor issues of leaving the EU and Northern Ireland’s future status are yet to be resolved.

Declan O’Neill, Oldham, Greater Manchester

“I’ve reduced the amount of meat I admit to eating” © GRIZELDA/NEW STATESMAN

● Letters have been edited

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

ARTS Review of reviews: Books Book of the week Unspeakable

by John Bercow W&N 464pp £20 The Week bookshop £15.99

“Brevity”, writes the recently departed Speaker John Bercow in his new memoir, “is not my strong suit.” You can say that again, said Craig Brown in The Mail on Sunday. This autobiography should really have been called Unstoppable, “as it goes on and on and on, surfing the waves of its own long-windedness”. Bercow never uses one adjective when three are available: Ken Clarke is “authoritative, passionate and humorous”; Bercow’s wife, Sally, is “stimulating, clever and hugely attractive”. When assessing his own life, he dwells on every achievement, however modest: at primary school, he was “Highly Commended” for tap dancing; he once beat Boris Johnson 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 at tennis. He keeps reminding us “what a wonderfully fair Speaker he was”, and quotes his “pompous put-downs” as if they were poetry. “Egotism bursts out from every page.”

Rather surprisingly, given his Remainer sympathies, Bercow “began his political career on the racist fringes of the Tory Right”, said Dominic Lawson in The Sunday Times. In his late teens, this son of a Jewish taxi driver joined the Powellite Monday Club,

People Like Us

by Hashi Mohamed Profile 320pp £16.99 The Week bookshop £14.99

“Few have known poverty like Hashi Mohamed, or overcome it so dramatically,” said Tanjil Rashid in The Times. After coming to London as a parentless nine-year-old (his father having died in a traffic accident, his mother left behind in east Africa), he was “raised on benefits by immigrant Somali relatives”. The school he attended was so brutal that he once “saw his headmaster pummelled by a parent in the playground”. But he went on to attend Oxford and now, at 36, is a barrister, writer and broadcaster. In this “fine” memoir, he relates this “rags-to-riches” tale, and asks “what it takes to make it in modern Britain”.

A refreshing aspect of People Like Us is its “willingness to address controversial issues with candour”, said Mercy Muroki in The Sunday Times. Mohamed praises middle-class parenting – encouraging conversation, demanding high standards – for preparing children for the “pressures of adulthood”. By contrast, he says, inner-city black kids must learn to adapt their language, or “code switch”, if they want to be socially mobile. For all that, readers may feel unsure how to acquire the elusive “it” that, he admits, successful people have. As his own unusual career path suggests, there is “really no single way” to make it in modern Britain.

29

which wanted Commonwealth immigrants to “go back where they came from”. His shameful flirtation with “macho, control-orientated politics” was a response, he suggests, to his physical inadequacies – not just his small stature, but also the acne which earned him the teenage nickname “Crater Face”. After entering Parliament in 1997, Bercow drifted to the Tory Left, said Stephen Bush in the New Statesman. As Speaker, he pursued a modernising agenda, boosting the power of backbenchers and establishing a nursery where MPs could drop off their children. What a shame that this “legacy” is now largely forgotten, overshadowed by his contentious role in Brexit and the accusations of bullying levelled against him.

Anyone who has seen Bercow “bloviating from the Speaker’s Chair” will recognise the voice of this book, said Andrew Rawnsley in The Observer: verbose, repetitive, often “mottled with rage”. Unspeakable is “memoir as both therapy and revenge”: an attempt to get his own back on all those who have crossed him, and a way to show the world just how far “Crater Face” has risen. I felt so ashamed reading this book in public that I had to hide the cover, said Quentin Letts in The Times. “But it does have a value. As an example of auto-hagiography, of extended hypocrisy, of unwitting and damaging self-revelation, it is both unspeakable and unbeatable.”

Novel of the week Actress

by Anne Enright Jonathan Cape 272pp £16.99 The Week bookshop £14.99

Anne Enright’s new novel is a fictionalised version of that Hollywood staple, “the biography of a star written from the perspective of someone who grew up in their shadow”, said Robert DouglasFairhurst in The Times. It charts the life of Katherine O’Dell, a “flame-haired” Irish film star who briefly enjoys fame before years of “unhappy alcoholic decline”. Her “unsparing” biographer is her novelist daughter, Norah, who points out that virtually everything about her mother was fake, “from her dyed red hair to her put-on Irish accent”. At the same time, she “discovers uncomfortable parallels with her own life”, not least their “appalling treatment” at the hands of men. Though unsettling, Actress is an absorbing work in which ordinary life is transformed into “something beautiful and strange”. The book is “by no means light reading”, said Kate Kellaway in The Observer. But its “desolations” are always offset by “diverting writing, garnished with hope”, and an emotional intelligence that “knows no bounds”.

On the contrary, for a novelist as “exceptionally gifted” as Enright, this feels like a “plodding” effort, said Leo Robson in the New Statesman. Long stretches are written in “straight biographese”, and Katherine’s story has an “off-the-peg” feel: rather than being a fully fleshed-out character, she emerges as someone who merely “did a lot of actressy-y things”. I couldn’t disagree more, said Ruth Scurr in The Spectator: this is a “perfect jewel of a novel, a dark emerald set in the Irish laureate’s fictional tiara, alongside her Man Booker Prize-winner The Gathering”.

Complex and multifaceted, but always lucid, it’s a “deeply humane, often darkly funny novel about the exercise of power over sexually attractive women”.

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

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

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Drama

ARTS 31

Theatre: Leopoldstadt

Wyndham’s Theatre, London WC2 (0844-482 5151). Until 13 June

Running time: 2hrs 35mins

★★★★

Tom Stoppard has said that emotionally nimble production draws us into what could be a Leopoldstadt is likely to be his final play, said Dominic daunting sprawl of characters and events”.

Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. If so, I cannot think I remained daunted, said of a more “apposite and moving David Benedict in Variety. For way” for Britain’s “greatest much of the play, most of the living dramatist” to sign off characters are more “expository mouthpieces for ideas rather than with this epic yet intimate family drama. Stoppard, 82, was than fully fledged characters” – born Tomáš Straüssler in Zlín, and it’s hard to follow who’s Czechoslovakia in 1937, but who. Only the tighter postwar scene truly blazes with his own Jewish identity was submerged after his family’s Stoppard’s brilliance. At times, flight from the Nazis, and his the sprawling cast of characters widowed mother’s remarriage. and interlocking relationships A “wise, witty and devastatingly sad” family drama With Leopoldstadt, which can be “baffling”, agreed Sarah ranges over 50 years from Crompton on What’s On Stage.

Vienna in 1899 to the aftermath of the Holocaust, Stoppard “Yet I think that is part of Stoppard’s point” about how quickly addresses his Jewish heritage on stage for the first time. And if the we forget even recent generations. The “aching centre of this play, play isn’t among his very finest, it is still a profoundly moving its great plea, is that it is important to try to remember and to understand”. It left me profoundly moved. drama about family, identity, and the costs of assimilation.

The focus of this “late masterwork” is the Merz family, said Nick Curtis in the London Evening Standard. In 1899, they are The week’s other opening businessmen, lecturers and doctors who marry out, celebrate Death of England Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London Christmas, and are convinced that assimilation and social SE1 (020-7452 3000). Until 7 March advancement are in reach for Jews formerly confined to the It’s “bold” of the NT to commission two black writers, Leopoldstadt quarter of Vienna. As we revisit them in 1924, then Roy Williams and Clint Dyer, to explore white working-class just before Kristallnacht in 1938, and then in a 1955 coda, we see masculinity. Rafe Spall’s “blistering” performance drives this how tragically they were mistaken. The play is by turns “wise, “exhilarating, thought-provoking” one-man play (Sunday Times). witty and devastatingly sad” – and Patrick Marber’s “warm,

Theatre: The Whip

© MARC BRENNER; STEVE TANNER

Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon (01789-331111). Until 21 March

Running time: 3hrs

★★★★

There’s currently a “mini-boom personal scenes”, and some in history plays and period compelling moments of political dramas” delivering a cascade of argy-bargy. The production also becomes rather gorgeous to “ideas, knowledge and energy” onto our stages, said Dominic look at, as the designer Ciaran Cavendish in The Daily Bagnall lights his attractive set Telegraph. At Stratford, the “with alluring delicacy”.

There’s cracking acting too, RSC’s latest offering is The said Michael Davies on What’s Whip, in which the playwright Juliet Gilkes Romero builds On Stage. Richard Clothier is a complex but ultimately “charismatic and constantly compelling drama out of the interesting to watch” as the passage through Parliament conflicted and compromised of the Slavery Abolition Act whip, Lord Boyd. Corey of 1833. Her focus is on the Montague-Sholay is excellent Whigs’ (fictionalised) chief whip, as the “angry, intelligent” Korley: a “magnificent” performance Alexander Boyd, who enters into Edmund, whom Boyd has a “tortuous process of murky saved from a life of slavery, compromise” as it becomes clear that colossal sums (£20bn in said Arifa Akbar in The Guardian. Katherine Pearce brings “great today’s money) must be found to compensate the slave-owners, humanity” to the part of Boyd’s maid, Horatia. And there’s a some of whom sit in Parliament. It’s not a flawless play: it’s “magnificent” performance from Debbie Korley as Mercy Pryce, unwieldy at times and could use some trimming. But by the a “former slave turned activist whose hair-raising testimony of end it had more than won me over: a “textbook example of slavery marks a dramatic turning point in the play”. how to bring to light a fascinating subject while avoiding coercive simplification”.

Album of the week The first half of Kimberley Sykes’s production is too “stately Sibelius: Symphonies 4 & 6 Hallé/Elder Hallé £12.99 in its exposition”, as the characters explain themselves and Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé bring a “sympathetic, powerful their complex agendas, said Dominic Maxwell in The Times. character” to Sibelius’s enigmatic fourth and sixth symphonies Everything gels far better in the second half, as the personalities in this final disc in their symphony cycle, begun more than a and issues get clearer and the drama turns from “stodgy” into decade ago. There’s “grandeur, warmth, and flashes of pacy, “gripping and affecting” as it approaches the muddled exuberance” (Guardian). conclusion to the anti-slavery bill. There are some “touching 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 22 February 2020 THE WEEK

32 ARTS Emma Dir: Autumn de Wilde 2hrs 5mins (U) Opulent adaptation of the Austen classic ★★★

First Love Dir: Takashi Miike 1hr 48mins (15) Boy meets girl in an ultraviolent thrill ride ★★★★

Sonic the Hedgehog Dir: Jeff Fowler 1hr 39mins (PG) An intergalactic flop ★

When Lambs Become Lions Dir: Jon Kasbe 1hr 16mins (12) Elephant poaching in the Kenyan bush ★★★

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Film Jane Austen’s 1815 novel is “catnip” for filmmakers, said Mark Kermode in The Observer: there have been countless adaptations – as well as, perhaps best of all, Amy Heckerling’s 1995 high school version, Clueless.

This “latest colourful incarnation”, directed by music video veteran Autumn de Wilde, is a crowd-pleaser, even if it “reduces the complexities of the original text to a more caricatured screen romp”. The plot is fairly faithful; the “remarkable” Anya Taylor-Joy plays Emma, a spoilt young heiress who entertains herself by match-making while being circled by the dashing Mr Knightley (Johnny Flynn). This film is almost “too pretty”, said Laura Freeman in The Spectator. “The look is Tinkerbell Regency”, with ravishing couture and interiors. Mia Goth is “the best thing in it” as Emma’s unsophisticated friend Harriet Smith. With superb camerawork and some excellent acting, this “scenically lush” version is “pleasant enough”, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. It’s the heroine who lets the side down.

Austen said that in Emma she had “a heroine whom no one but myself will much like”. But we still want – and need – to love and forgive her. Not this Emma, who is “simply too much of a mean girl”.

Takashi Miike’s new film is a “relative romp” compared to the “shuddering horror” of his past 102 features, said Danny Leigh in the FT: it’s a “sweetly comic Tokyo B-movie with just the occasional decapitation”. After “laconic small-time boxer Leo” (Masataka Kubota) is diagnosed with an inoperable tumour, he wanders the streets in an existential state, where he meets Monica (Sakurako Konishi), a young and terrified sex worker who has become caught up in gang warfare. It’s a “meet-cute that trounces any Richard Curtis screenplay”, said Nick Chen on Dazed. In Monica, Leo finds someone worth fighting for. The pair run off together on an ultraviolent adventure; the action is “kinetic, character-driven”, and unusually coherent. Miike approaches the anarchy like a “musician playing his favourite violent instrument”: the most chaotic scenes are accompanied by a free jazz soundtrack composed by Kôji Endô. Less daring than some of his extravagantly gruesome previous work, First Love is also far easier to watch, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. Cool, thrilling and darkly funny, it “broods and glowers for an hour or so before turning unabashedly bananas”.

When the trailer for this film came out last year, “all hell broke loose” among fans of the 1990s video game, said Brian Viner in the Daily Mail. The movie version of the titular hedgehog, they said, looked “all wrong”, with “creepy” human teeth. Sonic returned to the drawing board, the release date was pushed back – and the creature “still doesn’t look remotely like a hedgehog”. In this debut feature from Jeff Fowler, Sonic – “who, as I’m sure you’re aware, is an intergalactic adventurer capable of moving at supersonic speeds” – falls through a portal and lands in Montana, where he clashes with evil scientist Dr Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey. “If there’s an ace in the hole,” said Steve Rose in The Guardian, it’s Carrey’s performance, with “darting eyes, twirlable moustache and exaggerated movements that verge on interpretive dance”. Otherwise, it’s as you’d expect, said Ed Potton in The Times: “cursory plot, aimless momentum, cartoonish characterisation”, and so on. “There’s enough here to divert small people for a while, but their parents would do well to bring a blindfold and ear plugs.”

The novice filmmaker Jon Kasbe spent four years “embedded” in the Kenyan bush collecting footage for this new documentary about elephant poaching and the illegal ivory trade. The result is “a deeply nuanced and, at times, incredibly tense” film, said Steven Sheehan on The Digital Fix. With an “evocative score” and “involving, cinematic presentation”, it’s “a non-fiction thriller”. Kasbe observes the lives of a “swaggering poacher” known simply as X and his nemesis, a “sympathetic wildlife ranger called Asan”, said Kevin Maher in The Times. And “in a piece of outrageous dramatic good fortune”, the two men turn out to be cousins. There are tiny hints of “scripted reality” which jar somewhat; but it doesn’t matter when the characters are so “intimately revealed”. “I’m not sure that I was completely on board with this film,” said Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian. It seems so “smoothly carpentered” and neat. “Is it almost too good to be true?” It also fails to examine the demand for ivory, without which there would be no illicit trade. Still, it is certainly a “taut” and “atmospheric” piece.

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Art

ARTS 35

Exhibition of the week British Baroque: Power and Illusion Tate Britain, London SW1 (020-7887 8888, tate.org.uk). Until 19 April Baroque art was a dynamic, “ludicrous” The Sea Triumph of Charles II (c.1674), which often bombastic style that produced some breathtaking depicts the king as a paintings, said Jonathan “modern-day Neptune” Jones in The Guardian. surrounded by “trumpetblasting maidens” and Prevalent in Britain from the classical putti; and a silver early 1600s, it enjoyed its golden age here during the chandelier that once reign of Charles I, who “shimmered at the heart of commissioned baroque Whitehall social gatherings”. masters such as Rubens and More intriguing still are the van Dyck. So it is somewhat show’s “revelatory” insights into this period, during inexplicable, then, that British Baroque, Tate which Britain transitioned Britain’s “comically from absolutist monarchy inadequate” survey of the to parliamentary democracy. style, skips this era entirely One of the final exhibits and instead limits itself to is John James Baker’s The Whig Junto (1710), exploring the half century between Charles II’s depicting a group of distinctly un-regal politicians; as a restoration in 1660 and the death of Queen Anne in representation of power, 1714. Completely bypassing it could hardly be more the greatest achievements of different from Verrio’s celebration of divine rights. the baroque in this country, it instead brings together Verrio’s Sea Triumph of Charles II: baroque taken to its “ludicrous” limits dozens of derivative portraits, The show’s “chief interest” still lifes and sculptures alongside various manuscripts, pieces of comes with a section devoted to architecture, said Jackie furniture and architectural drawings from the period. Baroque art Wullschläger in the FT. The great visual geniuses of late 17th rejoiced in “movement, passion and abundance”; if only the same century England were its architects: Christopher Wren, Nicholas Hawksmoor and John Vanbrugh, who are here represented by could be said of this show. “Restoration Britain may have been outrageous and dirty (in every sense), but it was not boring.” sketches and models. A particular thrill is a series of “beautiful” preparatory drawings for St Paul’s Cathedral, showing its True, it’s a “rather drily museological” experience, said Rachel conception in fascinating detail. Elsewhere, however, this Campbell-Johnston in The Times. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting “uneven” exhibition fails to disguise the fact that the Restoration was “British art’s most excruciatingly dull epoch, lacking a single look at an “often overlooked” period, and the best of the exhibits speak for themselves. Highlights include Antonio Verrio’s noteworthy painter”. It is a pretty “disheartening” experience.

Where to buy…

The Sistine Chapel restored

The Week reviews an exhibition in a private gallery

Marc Padeu

© THE ROYAL COLLECTION/HM QUEEN ELIZABETH II

at Jack Bell Gallery The Blue Man of Njombé, this latest show by painter Marc Padeu (b.1990) brings together a number of paintings based on scenes from the everyday life of banana cultivators in his native Cameroon. Depicting family dinners, cigarette breaks and people relaxing in their living rooms, they present intimate views that have the effect of making the spectator feel somewhat intrusive, an uninvited visitor far from home. Padeu is a superb colourist, transforming these unremarkable scenes into explosions of bright colour; in one example, he turns a banana grower’s football shirt into a blazing red beacon that sings across the gallery. The use of such intense colour is not just a stylistic choice: it may seem odd that some of the men depicted sport bright orange hair, but repeated exposure to chemicals used in banana

Detail from From 60 till now (2019)

cultivation often have the effect of producing just such an unwanted dye job. Uncomfortable details like this run through these works, adding up to a sobering portrait of the globalised fruit industry. Prices range from £18,000 to £25,000.

13 Mason’s Yard, London SW1 (020-7930 8999). Until 28 February.

For the first time in centuries, ten tapestries designed by Raphael have been returned to their rightful place on the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, says Tom Kington in The Times.

Raphael was commissioned in 1515 by Pope Leo X to sketch out scenes from the Acts of the Apostles, which were turned into tapestries woven with silk, gold and silver by experts in Brussels. They were hung in the chapel beneath his great rival Michelangelo’s paintings of the Old Testament – but were pawned to pay off the pope’s debts after his death. They were later repurchased and stolen on various occasions, before eventually finding their way back to the Vatican. Now they have been restored, and this week, just for a week – to mark the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death – visitors can see the tapestries as they were meant to be seen. “Can you see the harmony?” said Dr Alessandra Rodolfo, a Vatican curator.

“The Sistine Chapel is complete again.”

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

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The List

37

Best books… Aravind Adiga

The Booker Prize-winning novelist chooses his favourite books. His new novel, Amnesty – a Guardian and Financial Times 2020 fiction pick – is out now, published by Picador at £16.99 The Guide by R.K. Narayan, 1958 (Penguin £5.85). Raju, an ex-convict mistaken for a godman by gullible villagers and pampered with food and respect, begins to wonder why he shouldn’t try to become a real saint: and ends up fasting to death. Although he is often patronised by literary critics, Narayan wrote the defining allegory of modern India; the novel also inspired a gorgeous Hindi film.

In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh, 1992 (Granta £9.99). I could pick any work

by Ghosh, India’s leading candidate for a Nobel prize in literature, to praise, but this early non-fiction book, which blended anthropology,

autobiography and historical research in a stunning new way, showed young Indian writers that just about anything was now possible for us.

Wake in Fright by Kenneth Cook, 1961 (Text Publishing £8.99). You don’t have to wake up in a pub somewhere in Australia with a hangover and no clear notion of how you got there to appreciate this little masterpiece, but I found that it really helped. Kenneth Cook’s terrifying novel about a young teacher’s lost weekend in the Outback was also turned into a famous Australian film.

The Romantics by Pankaj Mishra, 1999 (Picador £10.99). Mishra’s haunting

Bildungsroman guides you through the ancient mysteries of Varanasi, the most sacred of Hindu cities, and leaves you pondering a new one: why on earth has the man never again published a novel?

The Best Poems of the English Language: From Chaucer Through Robert Frost edited by Harold Bloom, 2007 (HarperCollins £14.99).

The most memorable poetry in here is often Bloom’s own, as when he contemplates the “many enigmas” of Kipling, or the “cognitive originality” of Emerson; and who but a very great critic would find the key to Marvell’s metaphysics in the fact that he liked gardening and drinking by himself.

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

Following its acclaimed run in Stratford, John Kani’s Kunene and the King, a “poignant drama about contemporary South Africa”, has opened in the West End. Kani once again stars alongside Antony Sher (FT). Until 28 March, Ambassadors Theatre, London WC2 (atg.co.uk).

Taking in everything from watercolours by Beatrix Potter to a mycelium chair designed by Tom Dixon, Mushrooms: The Art, Design and Future of Fungi explores every aspect of the humble organism. Until 26 April, Somerset House, London WC2 (somersethouse.org.uk).

Book now

Young Rembrandt This exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints from the first decade of Rembrandt’s career shows “an ambitious teenager becoming one of the greatest masters” (Times). 27 February-7 June, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (ashmolean.org).

Tickets are now on sale for events at this year’s Stratford Literary Festival. Headliners include Hilary Mantel, Rory Bremner and

Programmes

Last Tango in Halifax

Sally Wainwright’s beloved comedy-drama returns for its fifth series. Seven years into their marriage, Alan and Celia aren’t seeing eye to eye. Sun 23 Feb, BBC1 21:00 (60mins).

Murder 24/7 Three murders

are investigated in real time and extreme detail in this new series, filmed with Essex Police. Part one follows the case of Courtney ValentineBrown, who was stabbed in an eviction gone wrong. Mon 24 Feb, BBC1 21:00 (60mins).

Flesh and Blood Four-parter

about adult siblings who are thrown into turmoil when their widowed mother finds a new man. Russell Tovey, Imelda Staunton and Stephen Rea star. Mon 24, Tue 25, Wed 26 and Thur 27 Feb, ITV1 21:00 (60mins each).

The Windsors The royal

family are charged with cheering up the country after Brexit in the new season of the satirical soap. Tue 25 Feb, C4 22:00 (30mins).

The Truth About...

Takeaways Science

documentary exploring the effects of regular takeaway consumption on the body and the brain. Thur 27 Feb, BBC1 20:00 (60mins).

Films

Bridge of Spies (2015) Hamish Pearch’s Cochlea Brick Tuft

Lemn Sissay, while Aardman Animations will run modelling workshops for children.

9-17 May, various venues, Stratford-Upon-Avon (stratfordliteraryfestival.co.uk).

Just out in paperback

Late in the Day by Tessa Hadley (Vintage £8.99). A novel about the crosscurrents and unspent passions in a group of four friends and lovers. Set after the death of one, it also travels back in time to a “glorious adulterous day” in Venice. Hadley is the “real deal” (Times).

The Archers: what happened last week

© COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Television

Alistair is nervous about his upcoming review and Jakob advises him on selling more herd-health packages. Lynda tells Brian she has enlisted Tracy to spy on The B’s Valentine event, but Tracy’s also acting as a double-agent for Jolene. At Brookfield, Alistair pitches a herd-health package: Ruth is keen but David is wary. Freddie and Ben are worried about Johnny, who has become obsessed with working out and refuses to come out for Valentine’s night. Chris inadvertently congratulates a stunned Jakob on impending fatherhood. Emma asks Tracy whose side she’s really on, the ReBulls’ or The B’s? Neither, says Tracy. Emma also reveals she’s going for a drink with Gavin next week. David tells Alistair they’ve agreed to take the package; meanwhile Shula and Alistair notice that Jakob is out of sorts. At the Grey Gables gym, Freddie finds pills in Johnny’s bag. Lynda finds them arguing, but thinks Freddie is trying to sell drugs. When Kenton and Jolene discover Tracy’s duplicity, it’s all-out war with Lynda. Jakob comes clean to Alistair.

Steven Spielberg directs this fact-inspired thriller about spy exchange during the Cold War, with Tom Hanks and Mark Rylance. Fri 28 Feb, Film4 18:00 (180mins).

The Big Sick (2017) Sweet

romcom about a Muslim comedian who gets caught up with his ex-girlfriend’s family after she falls into a coma. Fri 28 Feb, BBC2 23:05 (115mins).

New to Sky The End Harriet Walter

brings “humanity, humour and grace” to her role as a depressed widow and mother in this Australian drama about the right to die (Guardian). On Sky Atlantic.

Curb Your Enthusiasm, the

semi-autobiographical sitcom created by “irascible antihero” Larry David has made another “uproarious comeback” (Telegraph). On Sky Comedy.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Best properties

38 Canalside properties

▲

Cheshire: Branches, Gawsworth, Macclesfield. In a lovely setting within the Macclesfield Canal Conservation Area, with views over the canal to the Cow Brook valley, this stone-built family house is set over three floors at the end of a long driveway. Master suite, 2 further suites, 1 further bed, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, hall, 2 receps, 850sq ft games/ entertaining room, balcony, terrace, double garage with gardener’s cloakroom, kitchenette and utility, range of outbuildings, workshops, private moorings, approx.

2.6 acres of woodland. £935,000; Savills (01625-417450).

▲ Somerset: Canal Terrace, Bathampton, Bath. An improved Grade II end-ofterrace cottage, arranged over three floors, in an idyllic location on the towpath of the Kennet & Avon Canal, in the village of Bathampton. Double bed, nursery/ dressing room, kitchen/dining room, 1 further recep, family bath, vault, gardens. £425,000; Crisp Cowley via OnTheMarket.com (01225-288694). ▲

London: Henson Building, Oval Road, Camden NW1. A contemporary thirdfloor apartment in the exclusive Henson Building, with wonderful views over the Regent’s Canal. Presented in immaculate condition throughout, the flat has bright and stylish interiors.

Master bed with en-suite shower, bed 2/study, family bath, open-plan kitchen/ double recep with balcony overlooking the canal, hall, concierge. £1m leasehold; Foxtons (020-7424 6000).

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

on the market

39

▲ Wiltshire: Wharfinger House,

Bradford-on-Avon. This Grade II house is set in the heart of the market town of Bradford-on-Avon, on the towpath of the Kennet & Avon Canal. Master suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen/breakfast room, 3 receps, hall, 4-room cellar, utility, gardens and grounds, parking area. £975,000; Savills (01225-474500).

Suffolk: Lock Cottage, Nayland. Built circa 1800 and accessed via a footbridge, this former lock keeper’s cottage is tucked away on an island next to the former Nayland Lock (not strictly a canal) between the River Stour, mill stream and lock pool in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Master suite, 3 further beds, family bath, kitchen, dining room, sitting room, large drawing room, sun room, shower/utility room, hall, walkways, lawned gardens. £650,000; David Burr (01206-263007).

▲

▲

London: Blomfield Road, Little Venice W9.

On the market for the first time in 60 years and in need of refurbishment, this stucco-fronted Grade II house sits directly opposite the Regent’s Canal, in the heart of Little Venice. 4/5 beds, 2 family baths, kitchen/breakfast room, drawing room with balcony, 2 further receps, 2nd kitchen, WC, garden, £5.5m; Aston Chase via OnTheMarket.com (020-8022 6939).

▲

London: Lyme Terrace, Camden NW1. This unique and quirky property overlooking Regent’s Canal was redeveloped by renowned architects Emrys to create a stylish modern family home, which has been nominated for various architectural and interior design awards.

3 beds, family bath, shower, WC, steam room/shower, open plan kitchen/double recep with balcony, 1 further recep with a hidden full-size double bed, underfloor heating, garden. £2m; Knight Frank (0203642 5713).

▲ Warwickshire: Bridge House, Napton on the Hill. The Bridge dates from the 1890s, and was until recently a well-known pub which has now been extensively renovated by the present owners to create a lovely family home adjoining the Oxford Canal. 2 suites, 4 further beds, family bath, open-plan kitchen/recep, utility, 3 further receps, WC, stores, annex, cellar, garden, 1.25 acres. £950,000; Knight Frank (01789-297735).

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Visit the Sandringham Estate with Jennie Bond And explore Norfolk via heritage train lines

Meet Jennie Bond on this exclusive tour This short break in the beautiful area of Norfolk is a fantastic trip for rail enthusiasts and fans of the Royal family.

Sandringham is the much-loved country retreat of Queen Elizabeth II, and has been the private home of four generations of British monarchs since 1862. As part of this five-day tour of Norfolk, you’ll have the rare chance to see the magnificent rooms and gardens of the Sandringham Estate, accompanied by Jennie Bond, former BBC royal correspondent, who will share tales of royal history and the family today.

As well as an exclusive tour of the Sandringham Estate, you’ll experience unforgettable rides on Norfolk’s heritage train lines, taking in the romantic landscapes of East Anglia while chugging along on the Bure Valley Railway and the Poppy Line.

Completing your nostalgic journey through the heart of England is a cruise along The Broads aboard the Southern Comfort Mississippi paddle boat.

Spaces on this trip are strictly limited, so we recommend booking soon to avoid disappointment.

K E Y D E TA I L S :

5 days, 9-13 July 2020 |

from £649 pp

Call 01858 582 870 to book, quote ‘TW14/20’ Reasons to book: Tour Sandringham and partake in exclusive Q&A session with Jennie Bond • Historic train journeys • Cruise the Norfolk Broads • Four nights’ accommodation on a half-board basis

Find out more at TheWeekTravel.co.uk or call 01858 582 870 Terms & Conditions: Holidays are organised by, and subject to, the booking conditions of Arena Travel and are subject to availability. They are ABTA-bonded and ATOL protected. Price per person is based on two sharing. Single supplement £120pp. Subject to availability. Exact order of itinerary may vary according to local conditions and at the tour manager’s discretion. Phone numbers are standard UK rates, opening hours are as follows: Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-1pm.

LEISURE Food & Drink

41

What the experts recommend Erst 9 Murray Street, Ancoats, Manchester (0161-826 3008) Over the past few years, wine bars have undergone a rather “startling transformation”, says Marina O’Loughlin in The Sunday Times. Once, they were fusty, subterranean dives populated by chaps in “florid cravats”. These days, the best are accessible, fun and “supercool” – and serve food that is a significant advance on “slate tiles heaped with sheeny salami, greying pâtés and shrivelled cornichons”.

An example of this new breed is Erst, from the team behind Manchester’s popular Trove bakery and cafés. The short menu – a “magpie collection” of dishes – has been devised by people who really like to eat. Crispy potatoes with yeast sauce are “fiendishly good”. A boudin noir is so “splendidly priapic” that my pupils dilate just recalling it. The decor, it’s true, is a bit lacking in warmth – and alarmingly, they seem to be “reinventing strip lighting” – but that’s more than made up for by the “intriguing dishes”, the excellent wine and the friendly, knowledgeable staff. Dinner for two, without service, £87.

Seabird The Rooftop, The Hoxton, Southwark, 40 Blackfriars Road, London SE1 (020-7903 3050) I’ve always loved rooftop restaurants with “unreasonable zeal”, says Tim Hayward in the FT. So I’m pleased to report that this new seafood place – on the top floor

question one’s life priorities”. So recently established that it “still smells new”, Seabird has “somehow managed to achieve proper, old-school rooftoprestaurant magic, straight out of the traps”. Starters £5-£18; mains £16-£43.50.

Seabird: “astonishingly good”

of the newly built Hoxton Hotel – is splendid. The view over London from here is amazing, and the food is “astonishingly good”. Our meal started with “spanking fresh” razor clams and another dish of clams steamed in their own broth, accompanied by a “shockingly fresh” coriander pesto. Sensing that the kitchen could be “trusted with good fish”, I ordered a whole grilled John Dory – a dish which “I’ve had comprehensively buggered by fine restaurants all over the world”.

And my faith was rewarded: served with a piquant mojo verde, the fish was “perfectly grilled”. It was the kind of dish that makes one “take pause and genuinely

The Gumstool Inn Calcot & Spa, Tetbury, Gloucestershire (01666-890391) The Gumstool Inn is the more humble of the two restaurants housed within Calcot & Spa, a boutique hotel in the Cotswolds, says Tom Parker-Bowles in The Mail on Sunday. I visited with my father on a misty January evening when I was still nursing a “middling hangover” from the night before, and its “uncomplicated charm” quickly put us at ease. There was a crackling fire, and the service was smooth and unobtrusive: “exactly what’s needed for those with a somewhat tender constitution”. I started with an “inspired” Asian duck salad, the “shredded quacker” mixed with cashews and cool radish, all brought together with a sharp lime dressing. The mains were “damned fine” too: chateaubriand from local cows, “cooked the rarer side of pink and hewn into great bloody hunks”; liver with capers and “shards of crisp pancetta”. Nearly everything was spot-on, right down to the espresso with a “marked acidic kick”.

This is a place that has the confidence to treat “good ingredients” with “knowing respect”. About £30 a head.

Rescue noodle soup with leftover chicken There’s nothing like a bowl of homemade soup to make you feel a thousand times better, says Melissa Hemsley. If I’ve had a Sunday roast chicken, I make this on a Monday, using store cupboard ingredients. You could swap in anything that needs using up.

Serves 4 1 tbsp ghee or butter 1 large leek or onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1.2 litres of vegetable stock or bone broth 1 big handful of a mix of fresh herbs, such as parsley and dill, stems and leaves chopped (keep the chopped stems and leaves separate) 1 tbsp of fresh (or 1 tsp of dried) thyme leaves 1 bay leaf, dried or fresh 2 celery sticks, diced 2 carrots, thinly sliced 2 handfuls of 2cm chunks of root veg, such as sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, potato or (in the summer) courgette 400g of noodles or spaghetti, any type 1 tsp olive oil 300g mix of cabbage, rainbow chard and/or chard, stems finely chopped and leaves shredded (keep the stems and leaves separate) 300g leftover shredded chicken juice of ¼ lemon or 1 tsp apple cider vinegar 2 big handfuls of frozen peas or sweetcorn sea salt and black pepper

© PHILIPPA LANGLEY

• In a large wide saucepan, heat the ghee or

butter and fry the leek or onion over a medium heat for 8 minutes while you prep everything else.

Add the garlic and fry for another minute.

• Add the stock or broth, chopped parsley or dill stems, thyme, bay leaf, celery, carrots, root veg and some salt and pepper, pop the lid on and cook for 15 minutes until the carrots are almost tender.

• Meanwhile, cook the noodles in a separate pan until almost tender (check the label for suggested timings), then drain and rinse under cold water to stop them cooking further. Toss with the olive oil to stop them clumping and set aside.

• Back to your soup pan: add the chopped

cabbage and chard stems, shredded chicken, lemon juice or vinegar and cook for a few more minutes. Add the chard leaves, frozen peas or sweetcorn and cooked noodles for a final 2 minutes so that the chard wilts, the peas cook and the noodles heat through.

• Season to taste and serve up straight away, topped with the fresh herb leaves.

• Waste not: you don’t have to use noodles here, you can add any pasta shapes you like, so just use whatever odds and ends of pasta packets you have. You could even add the pasta straight into the soup to cook and save on using a second pan.

Taken from Eat Green by Melissa Hemsley, published by Ebury Press at £22. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £18.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweek.co.uk/bookshop.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Marketplace

42

uniquely yours...

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nevillejohnson.co.uk | 0161 873 8333 STUDIES

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THE WEEK 22 February 2020

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

Consumer

LEISURE 43

A brand new vintage car: “the spirit of the 1960s”

Imagine sitting down and designing the ignition. There aren’t even any your own dream sports car. That, said airbags, let alone any other modern Alex Robbins in The Daily Telegraph, safety features. There’s also precious was what Dubai-based Frenchman little room – though on the plus side, Anthony Jannarelly set out to do when the pedal box is adjustable. he teamed up with the racing boat maker Frédéric Juillot. Their ambition The 3.5-litre Nissan V6 engine was to create a vehicle with “the spirit produces 325bhp and fires with a “crisp of a 1960s sports car, but the bark”, said Andrew Frankel in Autocar. underlying mechanicals” of a reliable At full throttle, it’s as “spectacularly Jannarelly Design-1 21st century one. From the outside, loud” as you’d hope a vintage car From £86,000 they seem to have succeeded: the car would be, and the unassisted steering has beautiful, “cartoonish” proportions. But is it really possible has a “terrific feel”. The traction is also excellent, even in bad to have a “vintage feel, without the drawbacks of a classic car”? weather, and the manual gearbox (automatic is also available) has “delightful precision”. All in all, this really is a car that The set-up inside is certainly “bracingly old-fashioned”, said “puts you in touch with the simple, delightful business of Jason Barlow in Top Gear. There is a USB port and a decent driving”. While Jannarelly only plans to make 499 Design-1s, sound system, but apart from that it has just a simple instrument a second model is in the works. I think “we’re going to be cluster and an array of switches, including the flick-up toggle for hearing a whole lot more from him in the future”.

Ro oberts Revival iStre eam 3 Although famous for their retro lookk, Roberts radios have all th he modern features.

The iStream 3 DAB+/FM internet smart radio is mad de from high-quality materials and comes in various colours (£200; johnlewis.com).

▲

▲

Groov-e Rio o Fitting neatly in your pocket, p the Rio is for pe eople who like to have v a radio with them at all times. It has access to 32 DAB and 32 FM stationss, and the battery lasts five hours (£35; currys.co.uk).

▲V VQ Monty Available in either real wood or pa atterned designs (su uch as this Cath Kidson one), the Monty is a small, sim mple portable rad dio and Bluetooth spe eaker (£100; my yvq.co.uk).

Revo SuperSignal With top sound quality an nd impressive power, this is an excellent radio, which also has au ux and Bluetooth co ompatibility. Its un nusual design is ap pleasing mix of ne ew and old (£172; am mazon.co.uk).

And for those who o have everything…

Where to fin nd... the most remote stays in the world

● Hands-on chiropractic or osteopathic treatments tend to prove less effective than exercise-based options, so while it is important to seek expert advice, there are a lot of ways to ease back pain at home. ● Guided yoga classes can often help, by increasing your range of movement.

The NHS also provides Pilates videos on its website, which should help boost core body strength – and so help prevent injury. ● People often avoid weight training for fear of hurting their back, but some strength training is useful. Try squats and lunges, adding weights as you get stronger. ● The NHS suggests capsaicin cream, which contains the substance that gives chillis their heat, for pain relief, though like heat wraps and dietary supplements, the cream won’t treat the underlying cause. ● While there are plenty of standing desks and expensive office chairs available, the best thing is simply to move around and vary your position throughout the day.

Since no one can afford to be seen without a reusable water bottle, Chanel has come up with the perfect 21st century accessory: the “flask bag”. The gold-coloured metal bottle in a lambskin case had almost sold out a week after it hit the UK shelves. £4,410; chanel.com

Morocco’s Dar Azawad Dune Camp is a collection of white tents on the red Cjegaga Dunes, 37 miles from the nearest desert hamlet. It’s only accessible by 4x4 or camel (doubles from £179; darazawad.com).

On the Atlantic coast in Iceland, Hótel Búðir stands amid volcanoes and glaciers. In the winter, spot the Northern Lights, and in the summer, swim by a beach lit by bonfires (doubles from £233; hotelbudir.is).

At the “gateway to Arctic Europe”, Lyngen Lodge is a luxurious Norwegian cabin with little between it and the North Pole (doubles from £189; lyngenlodge.com).

The Fogo Island Inn off Canada’s East coast is a white box on copper stilts amid lakes frequented by wild caribou (doubles from £1,164; fogoislandinn.ca).

In the NamibRand Nature Reserve, an expanse of desert filled with zebras, giraffes and springboks, lies the Wolwedans private villa, with glass walls and a private butler (doubles from £304; Wolwedans.com).

SOURCE: THE TIMES

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

Tips of the week... how to tackle back pain

SOURCES: THE TIMES/REMOTE PLACES TO STAY BY DEBBIE PAPPYN AND DAVID DE VLEESCHAUWER

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

SOURCES: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH/ THE I NEWSPAPER/WHAT HIFI?

VQ Susie-Q Q With internet radio, dig gital and FM, Spotify Conn C nect and Bluetooth, the Susie-Q is an impressive and S verssatile machine. Encased in real wood with chrome trim mmings, it also has a striking vintage design (£20 00; amazon.co.uk).

▲

▲

The best… digital radios

44

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Great Escapes

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

Travel

LEISURE 45

This week’s dream: islands on the edge of the world

With their “epic” landscapes and turn from blue to red at sunset, you “sapphire” seas, the Azores are feel “as weightless and still as a baby wondrous, and wonderfully unspoilt, in the womb”. On Pico, a 50-minute says Trish Lorenz in Condé Nast flight away, there are 550-year-old Traveller. Spread across almost 400 family-owned vineyards to visit, and miles of the Atlantic, the archipelago the highest peak in Portugal to climb lies directly to the west of Portugal – – Mount Pico (2,351 metres), the roughly 900 miles from Lisbon – and steep slopes of which are an “extrawas uninhabited until the 15th century, terrestrial environment” of wrinkled, when the Portuguese arrived and started cooled lava and “clumps of purple heather and ferns”. Near the summit, to settle the nine principal islands. All are volcanic, but they have so little else steam whistles from cracks in the in common they could be in different ground, and the rocks are hot to solar systems – from Pico, with its lavathe touch.

Neighbouring São Jorge has a worldcovered moonscape, to verdant Flores, where waterfalls plunge hundreds of class surf spot, Fajã de Santo Cristo, feet over emerald green cliffs. that is accessible only by hiking down Sete Cidades lake in Ponta Delgada The main island, São Miguel, offers misty, forested cliffs, along ancient sophisticated urban pleasures in its colonial capital, Ponta paths fragrant with wild mint. And then there is Flores, the wildest and most “elemental” island of all, where “green meets Delgada, including Õtaka, a restaurant where chef José Pereira blue” wherever you look, and waves attack “jagged” columns of “combines Azorean ingredients with Japanese techniques”.

Beyond it lie “hydrangea-filled” hills, crater lakes and medicinal black basalt around the coast. Azores Getaways (azoresgetaways. thermal pools. Floating on your back in one, watching the sky com) offers trips staying in good local hotels.

Hotel of the week

Getting the flavour of…

An elegant hideaway in Rajasthan

Troutbeck New York State, United States Recently revamped by Anthony Champalimaud, this mid-1700s former homestead in the Hudson Valley feels “more like a friend’s chic country home” than a hotel, says Tatler. Its “lofty” communal spaces have roaring open fires, hardwood floors and panelling, and vintage furniture “set against a colour palette of rust, green and blue”. There are also “charming” converted outbuildings and a “romantic” walled garden. When Troutbeck was a private house, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway and Martin Luther King Jr all stayed, and artists and authors still flock here, creating “a cultural house-party vibe”.

Doubles from £187.

Troutbeck.com.

Perched on top of a “splendid” barrage built beside a lake in Rajasthan in 1890, Chhatrasagar has attracted a loyal following since it first opened as a tented camp in 2000. Last year, it was thoroughly revamped, and the result is a “triumph”, says Stanley Stewart in the FT. Replacing the tents are elegant villas, each with firepits on private terraces front and back. There’s an infinity pool and an open-sided dining pavilion made from rose-coloured Jodhpur stone, and a spa is planned. A rewilding initiative launched in 2005 means Chhatrasagar, always a haven of peace, is now also a “serious wildlife destination”. Its 1,800 acres of open woodlands are home to nilgai (large antelopes), wild boar, jackals, foxes and leopards, and there is some of the best birding in India around the lake, where guests can enjoy “regal” picnics. Greaves India (greavesindia.co.uk) can organise trips.

Wacky races in the Caucasus

If you fancy an adventure on your next road trip, then sign up for a Driving with Zoë classic car rally in beautiful Georgia, says James Stewart in The Daily Telegraph. Led by professional rally driver Zoë Whittaker, the trip involves driving characterful but often unreliable locally owned motors, such as an ex-Soviet police Lada or a Volga, “the Cadillac of the Communist bloc”,

and breakdowns are inevitable. Among other “challenges” are the absence of safety belts in some cars, and the occasionally alarming driving of other motorists (driving tests have only recently become compulsory in the country). But some of the cars are “magnificent”, and the country is “soulstirringly lovely”, from the “bosky” hills of Trialeti to the “crumbling” Silk Road fortresses of the Kura valley and beyond.

Visit zoewhittaker.com or email zw@ zoewhittaker.com for further information.

An artistic break in Wales

“Glamorous” art holidays in Tuscany and Provence can be expensive and oversubscribed. For a more “dreamy bohemian environment”, you could head to the Welsh Academy of Art instead, says Simon Heptinstall in The Guardian. Set in “remote and inspiring” Black Mountains scenery a few miles north of the foodie town of Crickhowell, the Academy occupies a “rambling” Victorian school building, and is run by portrait artist Lucy Corbett. Offering day classes as well as longer courses, it is usually “abuzz” with students, artists and models, and lessons involve demonstrations, “critical feedback” and “practical tips” rather than “fluffy compliments”. Guests must book their own accommodation (the converted barn next to Lucy’s farmhouse is a good option). Visit welshacademyofart.com.

© AZORES GETAWAYS

Last-minute offers from top travel companies Lovely St Mawes stay Ideally located on the pretty harbour, the Ship & Castle Hotel offers a 3-night stay with dinner each evening, from £130pp b&b. 0344-682 7000, ukbreakaways.com. Arrive 17 April.

Six-night Italian adventure Start with 2 nights in Rome, followed by a stop in Florence and a 2-night sign-off in Venice. From £249pp b&b, trains & flights included.

020-3887 4441, theflightsguru. co.uk. Depart 24 March.

Picturesque Hungary Spend four nights at the Art’otel Budapest by Park Plaza, with panoramic views, from £285pp room-only, including Manchester flights.

0871-277 1070, lastminute. com. Depart 20 March.

Half-board in Thailand Six nights at the Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, in a striking beachfront location, cost from £1,042pp b&b, including London flights. 01204-874865, destinology.co.uk. Depart 16 April.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

Charity

46

If you’ve ever walked past a homeless person but wished you knew how to help

PLEASE READ THIS Today, there is something simple you can do to help homeless people off the streets. most compassionate of people may feel it’s simpler just to walk on by.

We’ve probably all walked away from homeless people because we didn’t know what we could do to help. Is it wise to give them money? Would it be better to buy them food or a hot drink? Will they be offended if we do? In the end, even the

But by making a donation to Emmaus today, you can help to get homeless people off the streets, for good.

Your gift means we can welcome more homeless people into an Emmaus community. There they’ll have a safe place to live and meaningful work to do in our social enterprises, recycling and selling donated furniture and other goods.

Emmaus also provides the personal support and training that people need to overcome homelessness and move on with their lives.

Emmaus helps people learn new skills

Please help Emmaus to give more homeless people work, purpose and a fresh start.

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If your name, address or tax circumstances change please let us know.

Please return to: Freepost RTTL-LJGS-SHEY, Emmaus UK, Unit 302 Scott House, The Custard Factory, Gibb Street, Birmingham B9 4AA

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THE WEEK 22 February 2020

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Obituaries

47

Brave mercenary behind the “package holiday coup” Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare was an accountant who became one of the world’s most infamous mercenaries.

A dapper veteran of the Second World War, he made his name in the mid-1960s, putting down a communist-backed rebellion in what would become DR Congo. He helped save many lives, though arguably his reputation owed as much to his “self-mythologising” as his military skills, said The Guardian. In 1978, his exploits inspired the film The Wild Geese, starring Richard Burton as a character based on him.

But a few years later, Hoare, who has died aged 100, rather destroyed his own mystique by coming out of retirement to lead an attempted coup in the Seychelles that ended in farce – and ultimately landed him in jail.

Michael Hoare 1919-2020

and led them into this brutal battle. It was to his advantage that the war photographer Don McCullin had hitched a ride with them, and was therefore on hand to record some of what followed. Hoare and his men helped drive the Simba forces back to Stanleyville, where – fearing defeat – the rebels took as many Belgian and Americans hostage as they could, said The New York Times. 5 Commando and Belgian paratroopers rescued 1,600 of them, as well as hundreds of locals, but found scores dead, including nuns who had been hacked to death and priests with their throats cut. There were claims his men – whom he nicknamed the Wild Geese after the 18th century exiled Irish mercenaries – committed atrocities of their own, though he’d only acknowledge turning a blind eye to their looting of Stanleyville. “I did not regard it as a shooting matter,” he said later. “Not after what I’d seen.”

The son of Irish parents, Thomas Michael Hoare was born in India in 1919. At school in Hoare: hated communists After that, Hoare settled quietly with his England, he dreamt of military glory. His parents steered him instead towards accountancy, but as soon as second wife in South Africa, where he wrote books and later war broke out, he joined the London Irish Rifles. Having served worked as a “technical adviser” on The Wild Geese. But he had in India and Burma, he achieved the rank of major. Finding an abiding hatred of communists, and in 1983, he agreed to lead London stultifying after the War, he moved to South Africa, said a band of 44 “over the hill” mercenaries to the Seychelles, to the Daily Mail. He guided safaris, rode a motorbike the length of overthrow its socialist government. They arrived on a charter the continent, and went in search of the lost city of the Kalahari. plane, posing as members of a drinking club called the Ancient Then in 1961, he met the Congolese politician Moïse Tshombe.

Order of Froth Blowers and carrying weapons in the false Belgium had granted Congo its independence, and during a messy bottoms of their suitcases. But at the airport, an official spotted transition, the resource rich Katanga region had seceded. Tshombe a gun muzzle and a firefight erupted. Six hours later, the – the president of the breakaway province – hired Hoare to help mercenaries fled in an Air India jet that they had hijacked. Back defend it. His involvement then was brief, but three years later, in South Africa, Hoare was jailed for 20 years for air piracy, and Tshombe – by then Congo’s prime minister – hired him again, served three. The judge called his operation a “farce”; the press this time to lead government forces trying to put down the Simba dubbed it the “package holiday coup”. Nevertheless, as recently rebellion, a conflict that had drawn in Cuba and China. Hoare as 2018 Hoare insisted he remained proud of having been a dog put together a band of 300 mercenaries – dubbed 5 Commando – of war, and of having “commanded the legendary Wild Geese”.

South African musician who collaborated with Paul Simon Joseph Shabalala, who has died aged 78, was the founder and leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the hugely successful South African vocal group that won global renown after working with Paul Simon on his hit 1986 album Graceland. In the next few years, they won five Grammy Awards, released more than 50 albums and, in 1990, sang at Nelson Mandela’s birthday, four months after he was released from prison.

Joseph Shabalala 1941-2020

documentary about South African music. Paul Simon saw it, and approached them to work with him on his album. His project proved deeply controversial, as by travelling to South Africa he broke a UN cultural boycott, but Shabalala was glad to be involved. “He came to me like a child asking his father, ‘Can you teach me something?’” he recalled. “He was so polite.

That was my first time to hug a white man.” And from his cell on Robben Island, Mandela refused to join in the condemnation, said The Times: he later told Shabalala that his music had inspired him, and described the group as “cultural ambassadors” for the Rainbow Nation.

Joseph Shabalala was brought up on a whiteowned farm in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal, near Ladysmith, where he worked from the age of 12.

Even as a boy, he was known for his singing and They recorded two songs with Simon – in his teens, he moved to Durban, where he joined Shabalala: a cultural ambassador Homeless, with a melody based on a Zulu a group. He founded his own group in 1959. wedding song – and Diamonds on the Soles Ladysmith referred to his home town, black was for black oxen, of Her Shoes, and took part in the Graceland international tour. “the strongest animals on the farm”, while Mambazo is the Zulu After that, they toured the world themselves, appeared on Sesame word for axe, said The Guardian. At first they sang a cappella in Street and in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker film, and sang with a Zulu style called isicathamiya, but as time went on, Shabalala Dolly Parton and Stevie Wonder. They performed at Mandela’s helped them refine and develop this into their unique sound, inauguration in 1994, and in front of the Queen at the Royal which switched “suddenly and dramatically from stirring, intense Albert Hall. But Shabalala’s success did not insulate him from and bass-heavy vocal work to quiet, delicate and almost personal tragedy. His brother was murdered in 1991 and Nellie, whispered passages – matched with equally unexpected dance his wife of three decades, was shot dead by a masked gunman in moves”. The band became hugely successful in South Africa in 2002. Another of his brothers was killed in 2004. He is survived the 1970s, singing traditional songs as well as Shabalala’s own by his second wife and his four sons, all of whom joined him in compositions, and in 1979, they were featured in a BBC Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

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

CITY 49

SoftBank: psycho-terror strikes

Remember when every company SoftBank so much as sniffed at “was destined to be the next Google”, asked Jeff Bishop on RagingBull. Those days are gone. The giant Japanese tech investor has just announced “another piss poor quarter”: overall profits fell 99% to just $24m after the group’s huge Vision Fund notched up a $2bn loss. Some investors are concerned founder Masayoshi Son is “losing it”. Alas, his stable has certainly faltered.

“Uber’s value cratered” ahead of its IPO and then “continued its freefall”. And another former trophy asset, WeWork, “needed a $1bn bailout from SoftBank just to WeLive another day”. Last week, “Masa” admitted that plans to launch a second $100bn Vision Fund are looking dicey. Unfortunately, “promising start-ups” and “300-year plans” don’t mean anything to activist New York hedge fund Elliott Management, which has taken a 3% stake in SoftBank and is clamouring for change. “Most bosses dread Elliott” – a past master at what has been described as “psycho-terror”, said The Economist. The hedge fund is pushing SoftBank to return $20bn to shareholders via a share buyback – the recent approval of the Sprint/T-Mobile mobile merger will help in that respect by enabling the group to shed some $40bn in Sprint debt. But Elliott’s second demand, of corporate reform, may be harder to get by the “strong-willed” Son. Prepare for a tussle.

HSBC: for whom the bell tolls

Talk about wielding the axe, said Simon Clark and Margot Patrick in The Wall Street Journal. “Europe’s biggest bank” plans to cut 35,000 jobs and $100bn of assets over the next three years, as it scales back operations in Europe, the US and its investment bank “to invest more in its fast-growing Asian and Middle Eastern operations”. HSBC already “makes half of its revenues in Asia”, but falling profits in 2019 (down by around a third to $13.35bn) have spurred a major restructuring under interim CEO Noel Quinn. The job losses are “deeper than expected and represent about 15% of the workforce”, said Dharshini David on BBC Business. HSBC hasn’t said exactly where the cuts will come, but “employees may face an anxious time”. No one more so, perhaps, than Quinn himself, said Lucy Burton in The Sunday Telegraph. Having been catapulted into the top job as “a caretaker” following the ousting of John Flint last summer, he still doesn’t know if he’ll keep his place. The uncertainty has prompted much “Kremlinology” in the City. As one analyst put it: “The cynic in me suggests the board wants to observe the market reaction to Quinn’s refreshed strategy,” before taking a call on his fate.

Centrica: Conn-founded

Centrica’s decline on Iain Conn’s watch as CEO has been “spectacular”, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian: “from national energy champion to FTSE 100 relegation” in five years flat. Shares in the British Gas owner, worth 280p each in 2015, now trade for around 72p – valuing Centrica at a “puny” £4.2bn. In fairness, Conn’s strategy of concentrating on the consumer side, and adding “connected home” initiatives, made sense – the group contained far “too many odds and ends”. The “tragedy for shareholders” was that “Conn’s bet ended up as a gamble on the Government staying out of the retail energy market”. And he lost. Conn reckons last year’s government price cap on bills has already cost the group £300m. “Centrica’s fragile financial arithmetic couldn’t stand the strain.”

Seven days in the Square Mile Economists predicted that China’s growth would slow sharply in the first quarter because of the coronavirus, amid growing fears of a ricochet effect on other regional economies. South Korea’s President Moon called for “all possible measures” to prevent an economic “emergency”: many of the country’s biggest exporters have been badly hit by delayed parts shipments.

There are also worries that the virus could tip the world’s third-largest economy, Japan, into recession.

Europe’s powerhouse, Germany, is also thought to be vulnerable: its economy stagnated in the final quarter of last year.

In Britain, there was some good news for the new Chancellor, Rishi Sunak: average weekly wages in the UK are back to pre-crisis levels. Weekly pay reached £512 in Q4 2019, which, adjusted for inflation, is the highest since March 2008. Employment reached another record high of 32.93 million.

Shares in Laura Ashley surged by 45% after the troubled retailer secured a loan deal following speculation about its survival. The ratings agency Moody’s downgraded French carmaker Renault’s debt to “junk”, following poor results.

Bombardier Transportation, the owner of Britain’s biggest and oldest train factory, was sold to the French company Alstom for around £6bn. President Trump included junk bond king Michael Milken in a “who’s who of white-collar criminals” receiving presidential pardons, said The New York Times.

RBS/NatWest: cosmetic rebranding or southern power grab?

Earlier this month, Royal Bank of Scotland indicated that its new boss, Alison Rose, would be based solely in London. Now we know why she chose to become “Queen of the South”, said The Times. After 293 years, the lender – still HQ’ed in Edinburgh – is ditching its RBS name and rebranding itself “NatWest”, in an overhaul designed to put its 2008 bailout, and a string of recent scandals, behind it. Existing RBS branches, most of which are in Scotland, will keep their name, as will Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland.

£4.2bn. But you can’t change history. “For all the shiny hopefulness from a new-old name, a new chief executive and a promised new era – RBS still looks like tarnished goods.”

The UK government’s 62.4% stake “weighs on the share price”.

According to Ian Fraser, author of Shredded: Inside RBS, the Bank that Broke Britain, this is little more than a cosmetic change: the real power has long been in London. Indeed, should a second Scottish independence referendum deliver a Yes vote, the lender “Switching its name to NatWest brings Royal would consider removing its headquarters Bank of Scotland full circle,” said Lex in the FT. RBS HQ in Edinburgh: heading south? from Edinburgh completely, said Greg Russell Two decades ago, when RBS “pounced” on in The National. Some Scots are furious about the English bank for a then record £22bn, “NatWest was a toxic what they see as a Sassenach attack on their financial heritage, name with a horrid history”. RBS subsequently “proceeded to said The Times. The move was slammed by one former SNP MP, prove itself every bit as flawed”, and only survives today thanks Paul Monaghan, as “a very poor decision that will cost RBS to a £45.5bn state bailout. Pre-tax profits rose 26% last year to thousands of customers and many jobs”.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

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Age of Disruption Funding the zero-carbon future

Britain has set an ambitious perhaps even daunting - target of cutting carbon emissions to net-zero by 2050. But it’s more achievable than we might think.

Indeed, with smart forward planning and wise investment, Britain could lead the way to a cleaner, brighter future for us all.

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges our world will face over the next few decades. And it’s one that governments around the globe are taking increasingly seriously.

So far, 195 nations, including the UK, have signed up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s Paris Agreement, ratified in 2016, which aims to limit the increase in global average temperature to less than 2°C above pre-industrial levels.

Meanwhile, one of Theresa May’s final acts as prime minister was to make the UK the first member of the G7 group of nations to legislate (via the Climate Act 2019) for net-zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.

Given this focus, and a growing tendency of consumers to take ethical and environmental issues into account when choosing goods and services, businesses need to plan ahead for major changes as we transition towards a zero-carbon future. So what will this look like?

A blueprint for radical change

Even if carbon credits (a controversial method of “offsetting” carbon emissions by buying credits from low-pollution countries) are used in part to meet the UK’s 2050 target, the government’s own Committee on Climate Change notes that a steep mountain must be climbed in a very short space of time – just 30 years – in order to deliver a zero-carbon economy.

One obstacle is the UK’s capacity for rapid uptake of new technologies.

The CCC recommends, for example, the widespread installation of heat pumps and other green technologies to heat homes – but it admits that as yet there are not enough qualified installation engineers to facilitate the required ramp-up in scale.

Transport is another key area. Currently there are only 210,000 electric cars in the UK. Just 1% of the population owns an all-electric car, while only 2% own hybrids. The purchase price of these vehicles remains a barrier, while government subsidies for electric cars have been cut, and there is still a shortage of charging points.

But few sectors of the economy will be impacted as directly as power generation – we need to move from a reliance on fossil fuels towards much greater use of clean, renewable energy. Here, considerable progress has already been made. Carbon emissions in Britain have fallen by 42% since 1990, reports energy regulator Ofgem. That’s more than any other major developed economy, and it’s mostly due to the near-eradication of coal usage for electricity generation.

However, progress has slowed. In 2018, the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by just 2.5%, down from a 3% drop in 2017 – the smallest reduction since 2012. Ofgem says that for the UK to meet its climate change targets, “significant” investment is needed, especially in renewable energy technologies.

The British wind energy revolution

Renewables already produce nearly a third of Britain’s energy. Wind power specifically provides half of the UK’s renewable power, according to RenewableUK, the wind power generators’ trade association. Britain is also the world’s leading producer of offshore wind – offshore wind farms now generate enough power annually to run 4.5m homes, according to RenewablesUK. How has this been achieved? It helps that via the Renewables Obligation, energy companies must now by law supply a proportion of their electricity from green sources or risk being fined. This creates demand for “green” energy generation. Meanwhile, the cost of new offshore wind power has halved since 2015. That’s partly down to evolving technology, but also due to smarter financing models.

For example, Britain’s offshore wind capacity is set to double over the next ten years, as the government has incentivised investment through its “Contracts for Difference” scheme. In effect, renewable developers bid for the chance to lock in a price for the electricity they will sell over a 15-year period. This protects them from volatile energy prices, while competition between bidders drives down costs.

The need for battery storage and a ‘smarter’ grid

Significantly more investment is needed, both in the UK and across the world, if wind power is to reach its full potential. One problem with both wind and solar energy is their intermittent nature. This will mean investing in a “flexible” or “smart” national grid that can better cope with these sources of energy, with both domestic and industrial users incentivised via more responsive pricing to use energy during off-peak periods.

Intermittent generation will also require huge investment in energy storage, to capture energy when it’s generated and release it when it’s needed. Short-term storage, such as batteries and pumped hydropower, could be used to store green power for use when there is little wind or solar power available. Longer-term storage solutions include air storage, flow batteries or hydrogen storage.

There is still much to be done to achieve the transition to a zerocarbon economy. However, according to the government, Britain’s lowcarbon economy could grow at a rate of 11% a year – four times faster than the rest of the economy – until 2030, potentially creating up to two million “green collar” jobs in the process. With governments everywhere hungry for new ways to boost growth, this looks like an irresistible opportunity.

THE EXPERT VIEW

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Investing in green energy “We in the Western Isles will never run out of wind,” says Mary Schmoller, who chairs Storas Uibhist, the parent company of South Uist Renewable Energy Ltd. Unusually, both the island and the company are owned by local residents. They bought South Uist from its previous owner in 2006, and in 2013 installed three 2.3-megawatt turbines to generate energy and cash.

“Getting an island might sound great,” says Schmoller, “but there are lots of upkeep expenses. The windfarm helps us look after the rest

of the estate.” Income from selling power to the national grid has paid for a new marina, which was completed in 2017, and will fund a new ferry port, due to be finished by 2023.

Earlier this year, Lombard came on board to support the refinancing of the turbines - and, perhaps, to fund future projects.

“We would like to work with Lombard on another three turbines,” says Schmoller. The ultimate goal, which would require a broader investment in infrastructure, would be to sell energy back to the Scottish mainland via a 600-megawatt subsea cable.

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To learn more in our Business Unwrapped podcast, visit theweek.co.uk/podcast.

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Talking points

CITY 51

Issue of the week: the corona threat Covid-19 has already heavily disrupted global supply chains. How bad could things get?

The threat posed by the coronavirus to production leaves little room for delays”. global businesses appears to be Many firms cannot trace all their intensifying, said Daisuke Wakabayashi suppliers, making it hard to predict the in The New York Times. Global stocks impact of stoppages on their output, let dipped this week after a sales warning alone global growth. China churns out from Apple, which is “widely regarded a third of the world’s chemicals, half its LCD screens and two-thirds of its as a bellwether of global supply and polyester. “Companies that think they demand for goods”. The iPhone-maker, which is “highly dependent” on both are isolated could be in for a surprise.”

Chinese factories and consumers, noted that “production is ramping up more Sars’ fatality rate may be higher than slowly than expected” as China attempts Covid-19’s, “but economically speaking, to re-open factories – hampering supply the new coronavirus is far more deadly”, of its smartphones. Apple is far from the said Carey Huang in the South China only company contemplating extraMorning Post. Even at this stage, it’s obvious that the economic impact will ordinary measures because of failing Apple: a sales warning rattled global investors be more severe than that of any other supply chains, noted the FT. The boss of Jaguar Land Rover, Sir Ralph Speth, admitted that the carmaker previous epidemic. “Whole cities have been locked down” – and had resorted to “flying components out of China in suitcases” (it “the nightmare may be just beginning” for millions of small is running out of key fobs in particular) in a race to prevent its UK Chinese manufacturers if foreign customers shift orders to other plants from closing at the end of the month. countries. “If the disruption goes on long enough, it could trigger a wave of bankruptcy among SMEs”, which contribute more than 60% of China’s GDP and account for 80% of jobs. That, in turn, Most economists have so far “only nudged down their forecasts for full-year global growth”, said The Economist. And stock will weigh on banks, adding “pressure to the country’s towering markets have, on the whole, continued to climb higher. Let’s hope debt pile”, which stood at 300% of annual GDP late last year. “their optimism is justified”. History provides little guidance.

“The worse-case scenario cannot be ruled out.” If this epidemic China’s economy has grown from 4% of global GDP to 16% isn’t contained soon, “massive financial collapse, an exodus of since the Sars epidemic of 2003. It has also “become enmeshed in foreign companies and large-scale bankruptcies all loom on the supply chains of mind-boggling complexity”, while “just-in-time horizon. In short, nothing less than economic meltdown.”

Dog funds: what the experts think ● Multiplying mutts

the funds on the doglist had “a disciplined valuation driven philosophy”, which had been out of favour of late. Two of its giant failing income funds used to be run

by Woodford. It seems as though “the curse of Neil Woodford” continues to blight some of the country’s largest funds, said Mark Atherton in The Times.

Funds bearing “his fingerprints” were among those delivering the worst value.

Beware the dog, said Imogen Tew on FTAdviser. Markets might have been flying of late, but that hasn’t stopped the number of underperforming funds rising by more than 50% in the past six months, according to Bestinvest’s latest “Spot the Dog” survey. The report, which “names and shames” the worst-performing equity funds over three years, UK funds: in the doghouse identified 91 funds meeting “the dog criteria” – up from 59 last summer. The level of UK assets held in dog ● Finding another pet funds has also jumped alarmingly – from Should you ditch your dogs? Not £32.6bn to £44bn since the last report. necessarily, said Jonathan Jones in The Daily Telegraph – though, as the report ● Worst in show advises, “unless there are good reasons to For the fourth time in a row, Invesco has believe performance will turn around”, it topped the list of fund groups in the may make sense to switch. “Time will tell doghouse – leading the pack, by a long whether the so-called Boris Bounce helps way. The fund house managed to chalk up these funds turn a corner,” said the 11 “dog funds” holding £13.1bn of assets, report’s author, Jason Hollands. In the making up more than a third of the total meantime, fund managers continue to £44bn. The second and third worst rook customers over fees: British savers culprits were JPMorgan’s JPM US Equity invested in the 91 dogs are paying an Income fund (£3.8bn of assets) and Link, estimated £410m a year for the privilege. which manages the £3bn Equity Income Unsurprisingly, fund experts are full of Fund formerly run by disgraced star fund ideas for replacements, said Mark manager Neil Woodford. There were also Atherton. So do your research. But before multiple entries from fund houses “taking the plunge and moving your Schroders, Jupiter and M&G. Invesco’s money, be clear that you could be locking excuse for its poor performance was that in some hefty losses”.

Money tribes Amid all the selfies, the photo app Instagram is also hosting a growing tribe of amateurs offering financial “inspo”, says Katharine Gemmell in the FT. The new “money influencers” are “friendly, casual and typically positive”.

Here’s a sample of what they’re up to: @thebudgetmom Washington-based Kumiko Love is typical of the “frugal types” sharing tips, goals and values.

Her 450,000 followers love her open approach to money – she even lists her savings balance on her profile (currently $404,000 and rising). @thefinancialdiet This “media/news company” tailors its offering to Instagram. Poster Annie Atherton says that few people actively seek financial content on the platform, so she uses visual inspiration – delivering money advice like a “Trojan horse”. @mrsmummypennyuk Tackling debt is a big Insta preoccupation: one of the most popular financial hashtags is #debtfreecommunity. Financial blogger Lynn James gained a big following while she was paying down £16,000 of credit card debts. @personalfinanceclub San Diegobased Jeremy Schneider is typical of the new type of Instagrammer offering investment ideas – tapping into the US “Fire” movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) by sharing small bite-sized infographics.

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

52 CITY Shutting the City out of Europe Jeremy Warner The Sunday Telegraph

The race to find a jab for Covid-19 Lex Financial Times

A profession hooked on pseudoscience Philip Aldrick The Times

Horses for courses in the job market?

Bartleby The Economist

THE WEEK 22 February 2020

Commentators Britain is hoping to have its cake and eat it in negotiations over the future relationship between the City and the EU, says Jeremy Warner: “it wants both access and freedom to diverge”. Michel Barnier, the EU’s top negotiator, “has told us to stop kidding ourselves” – hence the drive to find “some kind of halfway house” known as “equivalence”. Sadly, even if this is achieved, it will be “a very poor substitute for the levels of access currently enjoyed”. This matters. “Finance is far and away Britain’s biggest and most important industry”, earning £200bn annually. “Both the public finances and the balance of trade would be in serious trouble” without it. Around a quarter of all City revenue is “directly dependent on EU market access”. And without London’s markets-driven approach to finance, the EU economy “risks starving itself of the capital it needs to grow, and stagnating”. We must hope that EU policymakers see the dangers of cutting off their noses to spite their faces, and come to appreciate the benefits of unimpeded capital markets. “Unwise to bank on it, though.”

The race is on “to trounce the coronavirus”, says Lex, and ambitious biotechs are hoping to do so “in record time”. One US company, Inovio, came up with a possible vaccine against Covid19 in just three hours after trawling through its algorithms. And the shares of “other ambitious minnows” – Novavax and Vaxart – “have respectively doubled and tripled over the past month”.

Discovery is one thing; the real problem, though, is getting to market. Small biotechs aren’t capable of manufacturing vaccines at scale, and Big Pharma has been dragging its feet. The industry giants have every reason to hold back – they can be left with “big sunk costs”. Getting a vaccine to market usually takes years and, by that time, the disease may have waned, as with Sars. There are also reputational risks: a swine flu vaccine, rushed through

by Britain’s GSK, was later linked to narcolepsy. Recognising that “private sector incentives are sometimes inadequate”, governments around the world are ramping up “risk-sharing partnerships”. There is at least now hope that the market’s failure “to create new, necessary vaccines can and will be overcome”.

“Economics appears to be in the grip of an existential crisis,” says Philip Aldrick. It’s easy to see why. A recent audit of International Monetary Fund forecasts is enough to cast the profession into gloom. Fathom Consulting examined 469 recessions in 194 nations since 1988 – and found that the IMF “foresaw only four a year in advance, and none when it came to rich nations”. The fund’s economists did predict 47 recessions – but none of them actually happened. Now even the experts have “had enough of experts”; economists are starting to show “a little humility”.

In a new book, Radical Uncertainty, John Kay and former BoE governor Mervyn King write that many economic models are “as fragile as a balsa wood structure in a wind tunnel”.

Economics, they argue, should be “helping people to think more clearly about the world” instead of “using pseudoscience” to do it for them. Rather than claim omnipotence, economics should advertise its limits. The problem, as the authors admit, is that our demand for forecasts – however unreliable – “is insatiable”.

When it comes to dreaming about future careers, “youth must be allowed a bit of hope”, says Bartleby. Which probably explains why so many teenagers want to become designers, actors and musicians. But a new OECD study indicates that even more sober-sounding ambitions are “unrealistic”. Four of the five most popular career choices cited in a survey of 15-year-olds across 41 countries were “traditional professional roles”: doctors, teachers, business managers and lawyers. By contrast, some of “the fastestgrowing occupations”, such as IT support, were rarely mentioned, suggesting a “mismatch” between preferences and prospects. Parts of the OECD survey are disturbing. Even though performance in maths and science is evenly matched between the sexes, “a gender gap persists in terms of aspiration”. More boys than girls still expect to work in science or engineering; things are even worse in technology. Still, “at least teenagers who want to tackle climate change, as many profess to, are in luck”. US statisticians predict that “the two fastest-growing occupations” in coming years will be “solar-photovoltaic installers” and “wind-turbine technicians”.

City profile Jes Staley “Barclays is known for its corporate dramas,” says The Sunday Times. But this one could be particularly scandalous. The bank’s CEO, Jes Staley, is being investigated by UK regulators over his relationship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial last August. “It’s well known I had a professional relationship with Epstein,” Staley, 63, told reporters, sounding rattled. The American banker said the relationship was “maintained” during his previous 34-year stint at JPMorgan, but that it had “tapered off quite significantly” when he left – and he’d had no contact with Epstein since joining Barclays in 2015. Earlier that year, Staley and his wife Debora visited Epstein at his Virgin Islands home.

Staley has already “survived” one big regulatory investigation at Barclays, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. In 2018, he was judged to be “merely incompetent” (rather than lacking personal integrity) while “trying to unmask an internal whistle-blower”. But the new investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Bank of England is different. “It’s about whether Staley lied, or was less than frank, when describing to the Barclays board his relationship with Epstein”.

Only “a finding of 100% cleanliness will do”. In other circumstances, Staley might have expected applause – Barclays’ 2019 numbers showed a 25% jump in profits to £4.4bn. But if he is “found to be even an inch out of line” in his account of his dealings with Epstein, he will be dumped immediately.

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Shares

CITY 55

Who’s tipping what The week’s best shares

Directors’ dealings

Grainger The Times The UK’s largest privatesector landlord has completed a £187m share placing to double its portfolio of 9,000 flats. Well set to benefit from demand; the larger portfolio will boost earnings and income. Buy. 312.2p.

Rank Group Shares The casino-to-bingo operator is generating strong revenues and rising profits. The acquisition of online bingo outfit Stride Gaming, and investment in marketing, should boost growth and provide financial muscle. Buy. 301.5p.

GlaxoSmithKline Investors Chronicle GSK is spinning out its consumer healthcare division to focus on biopharma. A £3.3bn investment in R&D has led to six potential drug approvals this year. Given potential growth, shares look cheap. Buy. £17.71.

Howden Joinery Group The Sunday Times With a growing portfolio of 740 out-of-town stores, Howden kitchens are favoured by builders and tradesmen... and the Queen – it was granted a warrant in 2015. A market leader with a healthy balance and rising profits. Buy. 727.6p.

Tate & Lyle Shares The cash-generative food producer is well-aligned with current trends, thanks to its plant-based ingredients, corn-based and zero-calorie sweeteners. Set for global growth and yields an attractive 3.7%. Buy. 786.6p.

Games Workshop 7,000

3 directors sell 18,000

6,000

5,000

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The rise of fantasy table-top games has resulted in “tremendous commercial opportunities”. “Outstanding” results have prompted the three principals, including CEO Kevin Rountree, to hive off £1.3m in shares in total.

…and some to hold, avoid or sell

Form guide

AA Investors Chronicle The insurance business and roadside membership are growing, thanks to new contracts with Admiral and Uber. But there’s an FCA pricing review ahead, and some of its £3bn debt will need refinancing. Sell. 45.66p.

Craneware The Times Craneware’s software helps (mainly US) hospitals monitor spending. Shares have been hit by a “sales hiccup” and the loss of a large customer. But strong cash reserves and a pipeline of recurring revenues are plus points. Hold. £19.65.

Plus500 The Times The financial betting firm has been hit by tough regulation on contracts for difference (a type of derivative), causing revenues to more than halve, and profits to slump. Plans for a new Seychelles licence are “unclear”. Sell. 911p.

Centrica The Times The owner of British Gas is pursuing radical cost-cutting as tariff caps hurt revenues, offloading its non-consumer nuclear holdings and oil and gas business. Growth prospects and leadership remain uncertain. Avoid. 71.75p.

Man Group Investors Chronicle The world’s largest listed hedge fund has been performing erratically: assets under management have “pretty much moved sideways” since the end of 2017. The weak track-record is uninspiring.

Sell. 152p.

TI Fluid Systems The Daily Telegraph This fuel systems specialist has had “significant design wins” relating to thermal efficiency management systems for electric cars. The IP and the balance sheet appear sound, shares are cheap and it yields 3%. Hold. 235p.

Shares tipped 12 weeks ago Best tip DiscoverIE Group Investors Chronicle up 23.73% to 584p Worst tip Shield Therapeutics The Sunday Times down 15.34% to 154.5p

Market view “There is uncertainty, not just about the epidemiological progress of the virus, but effects on the global economy.”

Citigroup analyst note.

Quoted in the FT

Market summary Best and worst performing shares

Key numbers for 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

18 Feb 2020 7382.10 4118.84 29117.79 9678.06 23193.80 27530.20 1590.80 57.21 4.44% 0.63 1.54

Week before 7499.40 4170.07 29293.32 9669.76 23685.98 27583.88 1573.20 54.33 4.37% 0.59 1.58

1.8% (Jan) 2.7% (Jan) +4.1% (Jan)

$1.302 E1.205 ¥143.488

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

Change (%) –1.56% –1.23% –0.60% 0.09% –2.08% –0.19% 0.48% 5.30%

WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS RISES Price % change 844.20 +8.48 NMC Health 870.80 +5.35 Barratt Developments 231.70 +4.98 Taylor Wimpey 221.00 +4.00 Kingfisher 3243.00 +3.81 Persimmon FALLS Tui (Lon) Centrica Ocado Group Royal Bank of Sctl.Gp. Smurfit Kappa Gp.

855.20 73.66 1130.50 206.90 2784.00

–11.63 –10.30 –9.88 –7.01 –6.89

BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL 0.77 +282.50 Tertiary Minerals 0.12 –52.94 Baron Oil

Source: Datastream (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 18 Feb (pm)

Following the Footsie 7,700 7,600 7,500 7,400 7,300 7,200 7,100

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Jan

Feb

6-month movement in the FTSE 100 index

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

SOURCE: INVESTORS CHRONICLE

Ashtead Group Investors Chronicle The equipment hire group is capitalising on an immature US market. Cyclical vulnerability should be offset by the structural shift towards rental.

Buybacks offer returns to shareholders and reinforce momentum. Buy. £26.29.

56

The last word

“A five-year sentence – even saying that makes me weak at the knees” Chris Atkins studied at Oxford and made documentaries for the BBC and Channel 4. But his world was shattered in 2016 when he was sent to prison for fraud. In an extract from his newly published prison diaries, he recalls the chaos he encountered On 24 June 2016, Chris Atkins’s life fell apart when he was found guilty of fraud at Southwark crown court. He had become involved in an elaborate tax scam to finance one of his films. A week later, he was sentenced to jail and transported straight to Wandsworth prison.

three-year-old son Kit, and the prospect is devastating.

31 July A slip appears under my door: activity allocated – dry lining. I’m over the moon, though none the wiser about what dry lining actually is.

Downstairs, one of the more affable screws is peering up at the huge wooden board 3 July that shows where each I keep failing to get my prisoner lives. “Afternoon, guv,” I say, sensing a chance head round my situation.

It’s like trying to look at to use my new job to secure a whole mountain while a move to a less challenging hanging off the side of it. section of the prison. “My A five-year sentence means cellmate’s moving to H I’ll serve two and a half Wing; are there any more years, which is 30 months. spaces?” I ask. The screw Even saying that figure looks at me, one eyebrow out loud makes me weak raised. “Are you on full-time at the knees. My cellmate Wandsworth prison: “The constant violence quickly fades into the background” work?” I brandish my slip.

Ted knows the system “I’m about to start dry backwards, and maps out my prison journey. As a white-collar lining,” I reply. “What’s dry lining?” I’m not ready for this criminal on my first offence, I’ll qualify for Category D status, a curveball. “Well, it’s, er, quite commonplace these days... er...” big step on the path to open prison. Unfortunately, I can only get I peter out. The officer peruses the board. “There’s one space free made Cat D once I have less than 24 months to serve. This means with a Romanian fella,” he says. “I’ll take it,” I reply.

I’ll have to spend at least six months in Wandsworth.

I run back to the cell, tie my things together in a sheet, and head Two pieces of pink A4 paper are shoved under the door. “These for the distinctly calmer environs of H Wing. When I get to my are the canteen sheets,” advises Ted, who has just been re-arrested new cell, the door is locked, and the occupant is peering out after absconding from a long sentence for drug smuggling. The through the observation panel. He speaks with a thick Eastern canteen is basically the prison shop. We can order toiletries and European accent. “Do you smoke?” “No,” I reply, and smile. groceries, and have them delivered a week later. I only have 50p “You sure you don’t smoke?” he asks a little louder. “I definitely to spend. Ted is sitting on the don’t smoke.” He disappears giddy sum of £1, and deduces back into the cell. A few minutes “Spice is a synthetic variety of cannabis that later, he returns to the door with that we have both been put on the unemployed rate of 50p per doesn’t show up on drugs tests. It’s why 50% a dark expression. “Do you day. It’s darkly ironic that I’ve Hopefully his insistence of prisoners look like extras on a zombie film” smoke?” been convicted of conspiracy to is due to his strong aversion to rob a million quid and Ted has smoking, rather than a serious been jailed for importing £10m of cocaine, but we haven’t got mental illness. Eventually, an officer opens the door, and I’m enough between us to buy a pack of Hobnobs. overwhelmed by a deluge of pornography. There is smut on the doors, the underside of the bunk bed, even on the window frames.

Many of our neighbours are keeping themselves fit by pulverising Standing in the middle is a stocky man in his 40s, who introduces their cell doors. “These lowlifes are all riddled with drugs,” says himself as Dan. I ask him what he did on the outside. “I worked Ted. This, too, seems a pretty ironic criticism, given his line of the London Underground.” “Were you a train driver?” I ask. His work. “How do you know they aren’t on drugs that you’ve eyes narrow. “I was pickpocket.” supplied?” I ask. “None of them could afford my drugs,” he scoffs in reply. “They’re all f***ed on spice.” A synthetic variety of The door is unlocked for afternoon “Social and Domestics” – cannabis, spice is a one-time “legal high” that was criminalised in a brief window out of the cell. I head down to find that an 2016, but doesn’t show up on standard drugs tests. It’s the reason Australian named Scott is marching around patting people on the 50% of prisoners these days look like extras on a zombie film. back. “Welcome to the Ritz!” he calls to me. “Come and meet the rest of the White Collar Club.” I follow him into his cell, which is 6 July two normal cells knocked together, and resembles a small studio I am desperate to call home. I’ve submitted the necessary forms flat. A group of guys are playing board games, and Scott to get a Pin, so I can make phone calls – but there’s a four-week introduces me to his cellmate, Lance. “Ah, you’re Atkins. Film backlog. Sentenced cons like me have one induction visit, and chap. Where did you go to school?” His loud public-schoolboy thereafter two visits a month, each just an hour long. I manner is utterly out of place. Scott and Lance have got this cell cannot believe this will be the only contact I’ll get with my as a perk of being Listeners – prisoners trained by the Samaritans THE WEEK 22 February 2020

The last word

© THE TIMES MAGAZINE/NEWS LICENSING

to comfort other inmates who are suicidal or self-harming. Their room also serves as a white-collar common room.

They insist I’m welcome any time.

57 instructing him to self-harm, and usually keeps the TV on to drown them out.

Right now, he is apoplectic as his TV has been confiscated, apparently by a vindictive screw. Mitz portrays himself as the victim of officer brutality. I actually witnessed this altercation. Mitz was blatantly hustling spice on a landing, and the officer politely asked him to get behind his door. Mitz told the screw to “suck your f***ing d***, you f***ing p****-hole”, and then everything kicked off. I just nod sagely while Mitz vents – but back in my cell, I turn into a gibbering wreck. I start stuffing handfuls of peanuts into my mouth. “That man should be treated in a secure mental health unit,” I rant. “Not counselled by amateurs!”

6 August Kit is finally coming to visit. I have no idea what impact the past five weeks have had on him. For the previous three years, he’d been living with me half the week, and would usually insist on sleeping in my bed. Since coming inside, I’ve had nightmares about him not recognising me, or refusing to talk.

But when I walk into the visits hall, he sprints up and hugs me tight. “Daddy!

Read me a story!” He’s just had his fourth birthday, and he tells me about Atkins: found solidarity in the White Collar Club his new toys. We don’t talk about why Daddy is living in this strange building. He’s clocked that I’m not 9 December at home any more, but he’s unlikely to understand the reason. I My ex-partner Lottie, my son Kit and my parents are coming to can barely get my head round it myself. I neck a lot of coffee while visit – but in the hall, I find my mum sitting on her own, looking bewildered. Lottie and Kit are queuing for coffee, and I realise Kit mainlines chocolate. Despite the surroundings, it is extremely uplifting to sit with my family for a while. that my father isn’t here. Apparently his name wasn’t on the list, and his path was blocked by a security officer. Then the scanner 28 August didn’t recognise my mother’s fingerprints, and an officer asked for I’m still short of prison duties and worry that I’m miles from the her date of birth. My mum sometimes loses her memory, which gets worse with stress, and she forgot her birth date. The screw Enhanced status that I need to secure more favourable treatment.

Meanwhile, my new cellmate Martyn has started running the leapt on this to claim initially that she wasn’t really my mother.

Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He admits he’s not actually an Quite why a 72-year-old woman would enter this s***hole for alcoholic, but the job gets him out of the cell in the evening. He any other reason than visiting her son is beyond me. The screws returns from his first session mildly miffed. “The AA is full of often treat relatives as if they’re criminals as well – as indeed they Muslims, who are all teetotal anyway,” he says. “They’re just sometimes are. Kit realises something is wrong and sits quietly doing it for the bloody unlock.” holding my hand. I only get this He fails to notice the irony. one precious hour with him all “When my four-year-old comes to visit, he tells week, but our time is poisoned 5 September me about his new toys. We don’t talk about by how my mother has been treated. At the end of the visit, I embark on my own new career why Daddy is living in this strange building” I’m as education orderly – a step up pulled aside for a strip search. As I undress, a passing from dry lining (which, it transpired, involved putting up internal walls). On my second officer recognises me from Listener work. “Hey, don’t waste your day working in E Wing, utter carnage unfolds on the landing time with him,” he says. The visits officer stands firm. “I have to fill the quota. It doesn’t matter which a***holes I look at.” outside. When things kick off, a screw blows a whistle and officers come running. I’m initially shocked by the constant violence, but it quickly fades into the background. This new job 10 March allows me briefly to meet most of the new arrivals in Wandsworth I’m working on E Wing when a whistle goes downstairs. As I and get a fascinating insight into how everyone else has f***ed up take up position to watch the ruckus below, several screws run their lives. A young lad slouches in boasting that this is his 16th into a cell to wrestle with a troublesome prisoner. Supervising the conviction and his eighth time in prison. I take his date of birth melee is a large officer who I realise is Custody Manager Chaplin and realise he’s only 19. Another guy is shaking with fear and from the Offender Management Unit – my gateway to Cat D shock, and I assume he’s received a life sentence. He tearfully status and the magic ticket to an open prison like HMP Ford. explains that he’s got ten weeks for a driving offence.

I buttonhole him. “Mr Chaplin? I wondered if I could ask you about my recat[egorisation] appeal?” Blood-curdling screams are emanating from the nearby cell. “PUT THAT DOWN OR 15 September YOU’LL GET A WEEK IN THE BLOCK!” Chaplin calmly sips I’m chatting with Lance in his outsized pad when Officer O’Reilly his tea. “You’re Atkins, aren’t you?” “I CAN’T BREATHE!” runs in. “We’ve just found a noose in some idiot’s cell. Can you “We emailed the court. They said your ‘confiscation’ [i.e. the come and talk to him?” In their role as Listeners, Lance and Scott penalty applied by court order to deprive a defendant of any are on call 24/7 to deal with prisoners who are suicidal or selffinancial benefit obtained from his or her crime] was two harming. “It’s the only worthwhile thing I’ve done inside,” Scott says. An epidemic of mental illness and endless bang-up is fuelling hundred grand.” “IF YOU STOP SPITTING THEN I’LL GET OFF YOUR BACK.” “That’s not quite correct,” I say, trying a rise in self-harm and suicide attempts. The Listeners are a vital not to sound like a smartarse. “GO F*** YOUR MOTHER, safety net, and the Samaritans visit every few months to train new recruits. Scott encourages me to sign up. “It’ll change the way you YOU FAT C***!” “I spoke to HMP Ford and they’ve said they’ll have you at that figure,” replies Chaplin. “STAFF! WE NEED look at the world.” He points at his palatial cell. “And you’ll pick MORE STAFF!” “We still have to process your appeal. It up some serious perks.” I tell him to put my name down. shouldn’t take long.” It’s really time to quit while I’m ahead. “I don’t suppose I can get on tomorrow’s bus?” I venture. Chaplin 25 November laughs. Then he goes to assist in pummelling eight cans of crap I’ve developed a sense of anticipation about who will walk out of the guy in the cell. through the door of the Listener Suite. It’s like a penal version of Stars in Their Eyes: “Today, Matthew, we will be talking to...

Extracted from A Bit of a Stretch by Chris Atkins, published by Mitz! A man with danger in his eyes and blood on his arms.”

Atlantic Books at £16.99. To buy from The Week bookshop Mitz is pretty terrifying. One minute he’s calm and lucid, the for £14.99, call 020-3176 3835. next he’s screaming blue murder. He constantly hears voices

22 February 2020 THE WEEK

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Crossword

59

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1197

This week k’s winner will receive an ettinger.co.uk) Bridle hide Ettinger (e travel 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 2 March.

Send it to: The Week Crossword 1197, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX, or email the answers to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.info) 1

ACROSS

DOWN

1 Church next to a quiet cove (4) 3 Ready to absorb large amount in real business (5,5) 10 Broadway show band’s opening surely almost tuned? Yes, take it away! (9) 11 Passage is kept by porter (5) 12 Useless Italian holds biro the wrong way round (5) 13 Cheat tax? Leads to endless ramifications (8) 15 Concerning brave creature, dodgy one-liner not right (7) 17 Type of valve designed to deter (7) 19 Pinched tenor Edward not strong internally (7) 21 Fish on line: it could be heavy to lift (3-4) 22 Side with refined bats bowled first (8) 24 Loans taken to cover university entrance (5) 27 Hunting finally banned, the country set lobby (5) 28 Animated miners’ leader certainly not black (4-5) 29 Season well with herb mentioned (10) 30 Eye complaint that’s occurred in the last year (4)

1 Coupe cars dash into castle unexpectedly (10) 2 Nest one found on large lake (5) 4 Make return on holding a lot of shares (7) 5 Pan two-step dancing (7) 6 Fire built up in Italian cafés (5) 7 Dish is briefly in container part (9) 8 Something in the garden stood out in leaves (4) 9 Do shake tin to get cooler (4,4) 14 Good day in the pits with distinct backing for Chile (5,5) 16 Go like this to beat a punter (3,6) 18 Reject act with feathers (4,4) 20 Firmly positioned in satellite, speedily erected (4-3) 21 Offending against convention not good for head of Ministry (3,4) 23 No lead in pencil? That’s material (5) 25 Shed say, suitably designed and constructed (5) 26 Said to be dream converted residences (4)

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Name Address

Clue of the week: Ensemble is sure to struggle in Schubert piece (7,4, initials T & S) Steve Randall, The Sunday Times’ clue-writing contest winner

Solution to Crossword 1195 ACROSS: 1 Landau 4 Abaci 8 Had a bash 10 Teapot 11 Beware 12 Premise 13 Apparently 15 Taut 16 Anna 18 King Canute 21 Chianti 22 Lappet 24 Jersey 25 Nut pines 26 Hewer 27 Beirut DOWN: 1 Lease 2 Niagara 3 Academe 5 Battery 6 Chariot 7 Gone bust 9 Hypotension 14 Panicked 17 At issue 18 Kintyre 19 Colette 20 Nippier 23 Event Clue of the week: Lies lead to Farage, as reality gets distorted (5,5) Solution: FAIRY TALES (F + anagram of as reality)

The winner of 1195 is Mr W. Moore from Newbottle

Tel no Clue of the week answer:

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TITLE - MR/MRS/MS/OTHER

FORENAME

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3

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

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EMAIL

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1 5 2 7 3 8 4 9 6

4 6 8 1 9 2 5 3 7

2 8 4 6 1 7 9 5 3

5 1 7 9 2 3 6 8 4

6 9 3 5 8 4 7 1 2

9 4 1 3 7 5 2 6 8

7 2 5 8 6 1 3 4 9

8 3 6 2 4 9 1 7 5

Charity of the week The Pankisi Valley in Georgia, neighbouring Chechnya, has for 200 years been a refuge for persecuted Chechens – most recently during the Chechen wars against Russian suppression. Roddy Scott spent weeks documenting life in the valley and the actions of a group of fighters going to relieve Grozny in 2002, during which Roddy was killed in a night battle.

The charity set up in his name provides English-language and IT classes to this deprived community. The hope and opportunity these classes have brought, in an area where there is a strong Wahabi presence, and the spectacular results, has led to recognition by the Georgian government and support from the US, Estonian and UK embassies. Demand for the work of the charity, one of the longest-running in the area, continues to expand.

Please give your support: justgiving.com/roddyscottfoundation

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