Table of contents for V. 1254 in The Week (2024)

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The Week|V. 1254The main stories… …and how they were coveredWhat happenedThe “not him” electionBoris Johnson and Jeremy Corbyn went head-to-head on Tuesday in their first TV election debate. A snap poll suggested the clash was effectively a draw. The PM repeated his well-worn pledge to “get Brexit done”, while Corbyn called for an end to austerity and NHS privatisation. Both men attracted some derisive laughter from the audience: in Johnson’s case, it came after he spoke of the importance of being honest; in Corbyn’s, after he insisted he’d been “absolutely clear” about his Brexit stance.Johnson, Corbyn and Lib Dem leader Jo Swinson had earlier lined up to woo big business at the CBI’s annual conference (see page 55). Johnson promised tax breaks for small businesses, but announced a surprise delay to a proposed cut to corporation tax, saying “the…9 min

The Week|V. 1254Good week for:Honesty, with news that in the past five years, residents of a tiny former pit village in County Durham have handed in to police 12 bundles of cash, each containing around £2,000, after finding them lying around Blackhall Colliery. It’s a mystery who is leaving the cash, or why, but local police officer DC John Forster said he hoped it was some kind of “benefactor”, not a person who is “vulnerable in some way or connected to criminality”.Wild swimmers, after agovernment report found that almost all of England’s 420 bathing beaches now reach minimum standards for clean water, while 71.4% are deemed to be “excellent” (up from 63.6% in 2015).…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Poll watchLabour has cut the Conservatives’ lead to just eight points, according to an Independent/BMG poll taken at the end of last week, after a series of high-profile policy announcements, including the promise of free high-speed broadband. The poll put Labour on 29%, the Tories on 37%, the Lib Dems on 16% (down from 20% last month) and the Brexit Party on 9% (down from 11%). Some 61% of Leave voters now say they will vote Tory, up from 48% last month, while 40% of Remain voters will vote Labour – up from 37%.43% of working-class voters say they will vote Tory, an eight-point increase from 2017. Among upper- and middle-class voters, however, only 40% plan to vote Tory, down six points. ComRes/The Telegraph…1 min

The Week|V. 1254PeopleWinkleman’s fringeFor a TV presenter, Claudia Winkleman has a remarkably relaxed attitude to her appearance. At 47, she has no truck with anti-ageing products (“Are you mad? That train has left the station”), nor for complicated beauty regimes. “I think the last time I washed my face was in the 1980s,” the Strictly host told Jane Fryer in the Daily Mail. “I’ve never used a facial cleanser, and I never, ever take my make-up off before I go to bed.” It’s partly the influence of her mother, former newspaper editor Eve Pollard, who brought her up in a house with no mirrors. “Mum was a staunch feminist and would say, ‘Life’s too short to worry about your shell – and what you look like is the least interesting thing about…4 min

The Week|V. 1254The rise and rise of fake meatIs it just a passing fad?No, it’s a global trend. In America this year, plant-based chicken nuggets and other meat alternatives made by the market leaders, Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat, have appeared on menus in fast food chains such as McDonalds, KFC, and Little Caesars; Burger King has rolled out its soya-based Impossible Whopper nationally. In Britain, Greggs’ vegan Quorn sausage roll, launched in January, has been a runaway success. Burger King’s meat-free Rebel Whopper is already on sale in Europe, and coming to the UK soon. McDonald’s PLT (plant, lettuce and tomato) burger will follow. Meatless burgers have recently gone on sale in all Wetherspoon pubs. And Britain’s supermarkets now offer a rich array of faux meats: vegan ham, plant-based meatballs, soya protein fishfillets, tofu chorizo, seaweed bacon.…4 min

The Week|V. 1254I read it in the tabloidsA private investigator in China has been dubbed the country’s first pet detective. Sun Jinrong has reunited 1,000 missing pets and their owners since starting his business seven years ago. Under Mao, pet ownership was frowned upon as a bourgeois frippery, and owning dogs was banned – but there are now 91.5 million pet dogs and cats in China, creating demand for Sun’s services when they go missing. “Most owners get very flustered,” he explained. “We have advanced equipment and accumulated case data. We can think of ten things to do while the owner can think of only one.”An abandoned puppy born with a tail growing from its forehead has become a social media phenomenon. Staff at a rescue centre in Missouri dubbed the dog “Narwhal the Little Magical Furry…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Best articles: InternationalTURKEYThe battle over Germany’s Isis fightersDeutsche Welle (Bonn)Turkey’s President Erdogan is threatening to send Islamic State terrorists across the border into Europe, says Matthias von Hein. “These gates will open”, he warned, and foreign Isis members will be sent over. “Then you can take care of your own problem.” In fact, the process has already started. Nine German citizens arrived in Germany this week; a British citizen was sent home to the UK. Many in Germany are furious, calling it “political blackmail”: Erdogan is hitting back against recent EU sanctions (imposed because of Turkey’s illegal drilling for oil off Cyprus), and against criticism of his invasion of northern Syria. That’s true enough, but we’ve really no right to complain. German citizens who fought for Isis are our responsibility; they were,…3 min

The Week|V. 1254Woolly mammoths trapped in pitsArchaeologists in Mexico have found the remains of what appear to be two prehistoric mammoth traps. A team working in Tultepec, north of Mexico City, found two six-foot deep, 80-ft wide pits at a site being excavated to create a rubbish dump – and inside them, 824 bones belonging to at least 14 mammoths. The pit may have been dug by hand, and marks on some of the 15,000-year-old bones indicate that the animals were butchered. This raises speculation that hunters swept herds of the animals into pits dug for that purpose – possibly by using torches to frighten them – before killing them.The finding helps solve a long-standing debate, about whether early humans actively hunted mammoths. “There was little evidence before that hunters attacked mammoths. It was thought they…1 min

The Week|V. 1254GossipIn 2017, when he was filming The Lighthouse, about two drunken lighthouse keepers, Robert Pattinson experimented with Method acting, drinking a “revolting” amount on set. “I spent so much time making myself throw up. Pissing my pants,” he explained. Now, though, he has turned against the technique. “I always say... you only ever see people do the Method when they’re playing assholes,” Pattinson told Variety. “You never see someone being lovely to everyone while they’re really deep in character.” Ronnie Wood and his fellow Rolling Stone Keith Richards are great friends, but they’ve had a few fights. Once, when Wood was married to his first wife Jo, Richards burst into the room to find him freebasing cocaine with another woman. “Keith went mental, not so much because of the pipe,…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Wit & Wisdom“A little alarm now and then keeps life from stagnation.”Author Fanny Burney, quoted on The Browser“Married couples redo their houses because they can’t redo their partners.”Giles Coren in The Times“We believe that to err is human. To blame it on someone else is politics.”Politician Hubert H. Humphrey, quoted in the Tama News-Herald“Nothing makes with greater certainty the Earth into a hell than man’s wanting to make it his heaven.”Poet Friedrich Hölderlin, quoted in The New Yorker“Grief changes shape, but it never ends.”Keanu Reeves, quoted in The Guardian“Don’t ever think you’ve succeeded. Always try to do better – otherwise, drop dead.”Conductor Arturo Toscanini, quoted on ArtsJournal.com“Sex: in America an obsession; in other parts of the world afact.”Marlene Dietrich, quoted on GoodReads.com“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Pick of the week’s correspondenceBlood donation is a giftTo The GuardianThank you, Zoe Wood, for reminding usof the real human relationships that lie behind organ transplant, in your article about Liz Houghton and her son Will. Recently, while in hospital, I watched as freely donated blood dripped into my vein and wondered about the unknown people who had made this possible, but whom I could not thank, as one should for a gift. Then I thought perhaps their gift was thanking mefor all the blood I have given in the past.I was reminded of the wonderful book by Richard Titmuss, The Gift Relationship (1970), a fascinating study of blood transfusion systems in different countries. It concludes that the UK system of free donation is superior to those where blood can be bought and sold.…4 min

The Week|V. 1254Musical: Mary Poppins“The wind has changed and she is popping in again,” said Sarah Hemming in the FT. Eleven years after Mary Poppins last wowed the West End, Cameron Mackintosh’s “razzle-dazzle” production – with “gorgeous” designs by Bob Crowley and stunning choreography by Matthew Bourne – has glided back into town. Richard Eyre’s glowing staging is one of which the exacting nanny “would surely approve: trim and tidy, polished to a gleam, but with a dusting of mischief and a pinch of melancholy”. When the show first opened in 2004, I admired its “clinical efficiency” but didn’t quite warm to it, said Michael Billington in The Guardian. In this new incarnation, however, it strikes me as “rapturously pleasurable”, and full of “heart” as well as “art”. Zizi Strallen is athrillingly “unearthly” Mary;…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Exhibition of the week Hogarth: Place and ProgressWilliam Hogarth captured 18th century London like no other artist, said Will Noble on Londonist.com.In Hogarth’s “noisome” city, “criminals swing at Tyburn, horses are flayed on the street and bairns plummet to uber-early deaths as their gin-soaked mothers reach for more snuff”. Hogarth specialised in “satirical series”, visual narratives executed with great humour and grotesquerie. In these glorious sets of images, he charted the lives of various anti-heroes, from the incompatible couple of Marriage A-la-Mode (1743-1745) to the doomed playboy of the riches-to-rags story A Rake’s Progress (1732-1734). This exhibition at the rambling Georgian town house of the architect John Soane (a contemporary and collector of Hogarth) brings together all of the artist’s surviving series for the first time – Gin Lane and Beer Street, The Four Stages of Cruelty,…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Best books… Lenny HenryGerminal by Émile Zola, 1885 (Penguin £8.99). This is a relentlessly harsh depiction of a miner’s strike in France in the 1860s. It grabs you bythe throat and doesn’t stop. I read it for my Open University BA and was struck by how modern the writing was – anincredibly vigorous novel about the brutal effects of poverty.Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, 1961 (Vintage £9.99). I remember reading this book at school. I wasso struck by the story and its philosophies on love, life and the absurdities of war that I have reread it several times. Set during WWII, it features the anti-hero Captain John Yossarian, a US air force bombardier, and is about people trying to maintain their sanity in the madness of war.Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, 1987…2 min

The Week|V. 1254TelevisionProgrammesThe Sinner Bill Pullman plays Detective Harry Ambrose in this slick US drama. The second season opens with Ambrose returning to his rural hometown to investigate two mysterious deaths. Sat 23 Nov, BBC4 21:10 (45mins).Meat: A Threat to Our Planet? Biologist Liz Bonnin travels from Texas to Wales, via Brazil and South Africa, to find out how meat production and consumption is harming the planet, and what can be done about it. Mon 25 Nov, BBC1 21:00 (60mins).My Grandparents’ War In this four-part series, four actors explore their forbears’ Second World War stories. In part one, Helena Bonham Carter talks about her grandfather, a Spanish diplomat in France, who helped save thousands of Jews fleeing the Nazis. Wed 27 Nov, C4 21:00 (60mins).Elton John: Uncensored To celebrate the publication of…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Recipe of the weekThis dish, perfect for newbies in the kitchen, can be served at any meal and may be adapted in many ways, says the team at the Big Mamma restaurant group. Mushrooms, prosciutto di Parma, pesto and ricotta can all be added. Just remember the golden rule: always have pecorino in the fridge!Frittata della MammaServes 4 150ml olive oil 2 purple potatoes (or any all-round variety), cut into 2cm dice 1 carrot, cut into 1cm dice 2 courgettes, cut into 1cm dice 1 red onion, thinly sliced 8 eggs 100g of grated pecorino cheese salt and pepper• In a frying pan (skillet), heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil over a high heat and fry the diced potatoes and carrot for 7 minutes. Add the diced courgettes and onion and cook for…1 min

The Week|V. 1254The best… snow bootsKarrimor Casual Snow Boots Impressive for the price, and available in a men’s and women’s design, these are great for adventurous winter activities. They have a thick sole with good grip, and Thinsulate insulation (from £40; sportsdirect.com).Danner Arctic 600 If you want to splash out, these tick every box; they’re waterproof, warm and grip well, even on ice. Available for both men and women, they’re suitable for skiing trips and winter hiking (£275; global.danner.com).Bean Boots by L.L.Bean More for dealing with the wet than the cold, L.L.Bean’s boots are rubber on the bottom and flexible leather on top. Handmade in Maine, they’re comfortable enough to wear all day, though they’re not very breathable (from £141; global. llbean.com ).Jack Wolfskin Auckland Texapore boots These women’s boots (there is a similar model…1 min

The Week|V. 1254This week’s dream: the rebirth of Malawi’s game parksPoaching and deforestation wiped out much of the big game in Malawi in the latter half of the 20th century, and for years the landlocked country in southern Africa has attracted relatively few tourists. Since 2003, however, the nonprofit organisation African Parks has had great success in restoring three of its wildlife reserves. I first visited afew years ago, says Lucia van der Post in the FT,following in the footsteps of my father, Laurens, whose book Venture to the Interior told of his exploration of the Mulanje Massif. Mulanje struck me as “magnificent” then, and this year, I returned to see its new safari lodges, and fell in love with it again.When African Parks took over the 70,000-hectare Majete Wildlife Reserve 16 years ago, it was a “basket case”. Its…2 min

The Week|V. 1254City profilesJamie OliverHis Jamie’s Italian chain may “have been taken off the menu in Britain”, but there’s no keeping a good TV chef down, said Dominic Walsh in The Times. Oliver’s restaurant operations are expanding overseas, and he is “adding a new concept” to them – an all-day dining venture that will “showcase the best of Jamie Oliver, while giving franchise partners the flexibility to adapt menus to local tastes and trends”. Oliver, 44, founded Jamie’s Italian in 2008, but had to call in the administrators in May. “The collapse left creditors facing losses of £83m, with Oliver himself out of pocket to the tune of £24.2m.” But he rescued Jamie’s Italian International from administrators in a £500,000 deal (the chain has 70 franchises in 27 territories). For Oliver, at least,…1 min

The Week|V. 1254PoliticsControversy of the weekLabour’s digital dreamIn the run-up to all three of Labour’s great election victories, the party promised the British public a “bold, exhilarating new future”, said Owen Jones in The Guardian. In 1945, Clement Attlee rallied postwar voters by committing to a “great programme of modernisation”. Two decades on, Harold Wilson vowed to harness the “white heat of technology”. In 1997, Tony Blair offered a vision of a “new Britain”, striding into the new millennium. Now, under Jeremy Corbyn, the party has made asimilarly “audacious” claim, with its pledge to provide free, full-fibre broadband coverage to every UK home and business by 2030. Last week, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that Labour would nationalise BT’s Openreach, owner of Britain’s creaky broadband network, and create a new state corporation,…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Bad week for:The Apprentice, which was accused of racism after Lord Sugar fired another candidate from an ethnic minority background – the seventh in the series’ first seven weeks. Producers denied claims of bias, and said both the recruitment of the candidates, and their dismissal, was based on merit.Cannabis tourists, who were warned that if they’re caught smoking marijuana in the US – even in states where it has been legalised – they risk being arrested, deported and barred from the country for life. The reason, lawyers explained, is that though states have changed the law, cannabis remains illegal federally.John Lewis, with claims that viewers were disappointed by its much anticipated Christmas ad – featuring a dragon called Excitable Edgar – and preferred Ikea’s first seasonal effort, soundtracked by the grime star…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Europe at a glanceAmsterdamSlower traffic: The speed limit on Dutch motorways is being reduced from 130kmh to just 100kmh (62mph) during daytime hours, in an effort to meet EU environmental targets. PM Mark Rutte’s centre-right VVD party is so closely identified with car-owning voters that it is known as the “Vroom Vroom party”. But Rutte said he felt obliged to make the “rotten” decision so that thousands of suspended construction projects could resume –and thus prevent job losses. The Netherlands has among the highest levels of nitrogen oxide pollution in Europe. Last month, proposals to force farmers to cut their emissions triggered major protests.BerlinCompulsory vaccinations: German MPs have passed a law making it mandatory for parents to have their children vaccinated against measles, in response to asurge in cases. Under the law, which…4 min

The Week|V. 1254The environmental impact of livestockThere are many different ways of producing meat, which have quite different environmental impacts: Welsh hill farmers resent being lumped in with slash-and-burn ranchers in the Amazon. But the overall picture is clear. Livestock farming, most of all cattle farming, has a massive footprint in terms of land use, crop consumption, climate change emissions, freshwater use and water pollution. The biggest analysis of the subject to date, published in Science last year, found that avoiding meat and dairy is the “single biggest way” to reduce your impact on Earth. Meat and dairy farming provide just 18% of humans’ calories, but use more than 80% of the world’s farmland. Without meat and dairy consumption, global farmland could be reduced by more than 75%. It is often claimed that grass-fed beef, using…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Best of the American columnistsMaking money out of “cover-my-ass” memosDahlia LithwickSlateBooks, books, books – we’re inundated with them these days, says Dahlia Lithwick. Last week alone brought new volumes by Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, and Donald Trump Jr. An anonymous Trump official has another one out this week; and John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, has reportedly just reached a $2m deal for his book. Will these books elucidate our democratic values and enrich our polity? Of course not. They’re simply “branding opportunities for an age of media personalities”. Haley is positioning herself for a future presidential run; Don Jr. is “peddling white resentment in the guise of a paean to free speech”; Bolton, who has refused to testify to the impeachment inquiry, wants to tell his story…3 min

The Week|V. 1254Bolivia’s president is forced to flee to MexicoFollowing weeks of protests, Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, has been forced out of office, leaving the country “racked by violence and slipping into anarchy”, said The Washington Post. Morales, “who had grown increasingly autocratic in nearly 14 years in power”, was forced out by protesters infuriated at his party’s blatant rigging of the election held on 20 October. He held on tenaciously, but after army chiefs refused his order to suppress the insurrection, he finally resigned last week, making a dramatic exit by plane to Mexico. At a press conference on the airport tarmac, he complained he had been the victim of a “coup d’état”. In reality, however, the army showed no interest in taking power, and a “dangerous power vacuum” developed. Morales’s entire government resigned, said BBC News, and…2 min

The Week|V. 1254An end to potholes?A super-tough road surface that promises to bring an end to potholes is being trialled in the UK, says The Times. The graphene-reinforced asphalt was developed in Italy and so far has only been tested there. To see how it fares both in hotter and colder countries, its makers are now funding a series of international trials. One is taking place in the Oxfordshire village of Curbridge, where a 750-metre strip of the material has been laid. Tests will be carried out over the next year before a possible roll-out to other parts of Britain. There is growing concern about the state of Britain’s roads, with widespread reports of potholes and cracks going unfilled by cash-strapped local authorities. Although the new material costs 20% more than conventional asphalt, its makers…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Immigration: a return to dog-whistle politics?“It is a great pity,” said The Independent, “that Priti Patel’s ‘resting face’ is the appearance of a smirk.” It makes it harder to take the Home Secretary’s comments on sensitive issues seriously. Then again, that would have been difficult in any case with her remarks last week about immigration. In a bid to turn the issue into a dividing line in the election, Patel declared that, under the Tories, “overall immigration” will be “lower”. The system will apparently be brought under control by a points-based system post-Brexit that will prioritise skilled workers and treat EU citizens the same as migrants from the rest of the world. Labour, by contrast, would – according to Patel – effectively throw Britain’s borders open to everyone in the world, causing net immigration figures…2 min

The Week|V. 1254SportFootball: England’s ruthless run continuesRarely can England have been afforded “a more loving welcome” than the one they received in Pristina on Sunday, said David Hytner in The Guardian. The gratitude for the role Britain “played in forcing Serbia’s withdrawal of troops from Kosovo in 1999” is so great that the home fans held up St George’s crosses when God Save the Queen was played; they bellowed out the names of the visiting players. Yet even if the final qualifier for Euro 2020 was “tight for long spells”, England still demonstrated their ruthlessness by winning 4-0. They finished their campaign top of the group, with 37 goals in eight matches – more than any other side in Euro 2020 qualifying.One thing is certain about this England side, said Jason Burt…4 min

The Week|V. 1254Exchange of the weekTo The TimesFarmers in flood-afflicted areas are justified in laying the blame for their predicament on the Environment Agency. Flooding was rare when routine dredging was carried out, and there has been little flooding since dredging was resumed in the Somerset Levels. The focus of the agency today, however, is towards conservation – the buzzwords are natural habitat and rewilding – and subjects such as land drainage, intensive cropping and commercial farming are regarded with horror.Edwin Baker, retired farmer, ExeterTo The TimesEdwin Baker repeats the claim that floods rarely occurred when the Environment Agency routinely dredged rivers. However, the scientific evidence, for example the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management’s 2014 report, does not support this belief. In most cases, dredging simply lets floodwater move faster, increasing the flood…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Opera: OrphéeLike “almost everything it touches these days”, English National Opera’s autumn season has met with a mixed reception, said Boyd Tonkin on The Arts Desk. So it’s good to report that the fourth and final offering in its series of works rooted in the Orpheus myth – Philip Glass’s 1993 opera Orphée, based on Jean Cocteau’s 1950 film – is an undoubted success. I’m no big fan of Glass’s opera, said Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph. For me his score adds nothing to the “poetic mystery of Cocteau’s marvellous imagery”. Yet there’s no denying it has been given an “exquisite staging” from Netia Jones (making her ENO debut) and designer Lizzie Clachan, who deploy stylish choreography and cinematic effects to create the “atmosphere of a feverish dream”. This is…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Where to buy…Sue Macartney-Snapeat Panter & HallThe artist and illustrator Sue Macartney-Snape (b.1957) is best known for the caricatures she created to accompany The Daily Telegraph’s much-loved “Social Stereotypes” column from 1994 to 2011. These illustrations deployed frenetic exaggeration to brilliant comic effect, perfectly complementing writer Victoria Mather’s sharp analysis of Britain’s modern tribes, and highlighting their foibles. The Serious Art of Being Funny II brings together several dozen watercolour illustrations in much the same vein, in which Macartney-Snape depicts immediately recognisable British archetypes with characteristic flair. Among the most cutting of these caricatures are the wannabe-bohemian barfly of The Unpublished Author; the pasty-faced wine snob of Dull and Oily; and perhaps best of all, acrowd scene depicting an art fair, at which various overdressed collectors and hangers-on try far too hard…1 min

The Week|V. 1254The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeing and readingShowing nowMatthew Bourne’s sumptuous Olivier Award-winning production ofThe Red Shoes is back for a nationwide tour. At The Lowry, Salford, 26-30 November; then Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London EC1, 3 December-19 January, and touring throughout 2020 (new-adventures.net).24/7 at Somerset House is “a novel and intriguing” multimedia exhibition (Observer), inspired by Jonathan Crary’s 2013 book of the same name, that examines the impact of screens, shift work and insomnia on our always-on society. Somerset House, London WC2, until 23 February (somersethouse.org.uk).Book nowHay Festival Winter Weekend Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo, Max Hastings, Jess Phillips MP and Cerys Matthews are among those taking part in this mini version of the main festival. There will also be carol singing and a market. 28 November-1 December, Hay-on-Wye (hayfestival.com).Maxine Peake and Ria Zmitrowicz star in The Welkin,…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Houses near good state schoolsWest Sussex: Church House, Hurstpierpoint. An elegant Grade II William and Mary rectory. Delightful landscaped gardens extend away from the house to the south and, in all, to about 0.64 of an acre. There are highly regarded independent and state schools in the area, such as St Lawrence Primary (rated Outstanding by Ofsted). Master suite, 2 further suites, 2 further beds, family bath, 2 receps, study, pantry, kitchen, gym, garden room, garage, summer house, pool. £2m; Savills (01444-446000).Gloucestershire: Shepherds Cottage, Temple Guiting. A detached Grade II Cotswold stone cottage which is believed to be one of the village’s oldest dwellings. It is situated near to the Temple Guiting Church of England School, rated Good by Ofsted. Master suite, 2 further beds, shower room, kitchen, 2 receps, garage, gardens, parking. £795,000;…3 min

The Week|V. 1254Wine choiceIf you love the “yeasty”, “digestive-biscuit” hit of champagne, but hate the price, then try crémant, says Jane MacQuitty in The Times. Made using the same traditional méthode champenoise, it costs half as much – so it’s perfect for the festive season.Unlike champagne, crémant is made all over France. While Alsace is the biggest producer, its higher yields (and lesser-known grapes) mean it rarely gets my vote. However, Aldi’s citrus-spiked Crémant d’Alsace 2017 (£8.29) is “a cracker”.My favourite region is Burgundy – both because of the producers’ expertise and because the grapes are “predominantly chardonnay and pinot noir”. Cave de Lugny Sparkling Burgundy Blanc de Blancs (£13.99; Waitrose) is a “lemon-brioche triumph”; for a richer, mainly pinot bubbly, try Crémant de Bourgogne Brut (£10; Sainsbury’s). If you want something fruitier…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Tips of the week… get the most from a compost bin● Don’t layer greens (fresh clippings, weeds and food scraps) with browns (autumn leaves, dried grass, wood and paper), as you would with a compost heap. Mix everything together in a bucket, then bin it.● To further speed up the process, run kitchen scraps through a blender, and use a lawnmower to shred leaves and twigs, before throwing them in.● Rip or shred paper and cardboard – never scrunch it.● Eggshells can break down in a bin, but it’s slow. Instead, chuck them on a compost heap, or in your kerbside food recycling bin.● A hot composter, which will cost upwards of £100, will break things down faster than a regular compost bin.● Add shredded paper to soak up extra moisture, and a “bulking agent” (wood chips) to create air…1 min

The Week|V. 1254ObituariesPhotographer who captured the Swinging SixtiesTerry O’Neill 1938-2019As a young photographer, Terry O’Neill, who has died aged 81, was sent to take pictures of The Beatles, said The Times. The Fab Four were working on their first single, and they chatted about the “real jobs” they’d get, in two or three years. Ringo said he might open a chain of hair salons; John mused about tailoring. “We all thought it was going to come to an end,” said O’Neill. In fact, the good-looking, working-class Londoner was only at the beginning of a career that would see him capture the Swinging Sixties on both sides of the Atlantic, and become one of the most celebrated portrait photographers of his generation.His most memorable images include Brigitte Bardot smoking a cheroot; Frank Sinatra…5 min

The Week|V. 1254TikTok/ByteDance: Reds under Gen Z beds?“The red-hot video app TikTok has taken a beating from US lawmakers and regulators, over accusations that it is exposing America’s youth to Communist Party indoctrination,” said DealBook in The New York Times. Some want it blacklisted, like the Chinese telco Huawei – which is not the best of news for TikTok’s Chinese parent, ByteDance, which has sketched plans to float early next year on the back of the app’s meteoric ascent. Last year, the Japanese investment group SoftBank valued ByteDance at a whopping $75bn.ByteDance CEO Alex Zhu has been bending over backwards “to assuage Washington’s fears”. He claims that TikTok doesn’t share US data with China, “or even with its Beijing-based parent company” – it all stays on servers in Virginia. What’s more, TikTok US “doesn’t censor” videos that…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Talking pointsIssue of the week: the election battle for businessLabour’s nationalisation plans terrify business leaders, but they fear the Tories too“In this most Brexit of elections, there is some good news for CEOs everywhere,” said Management Today – “business is actually on the political agenda”. The leaders of the three main parties set out their plans at the CBI annual conference this week, though the reaction to many of the policies wasn’t entirely enthusiastic. The most warmly received politician was the Lib Dems’ Jo Swinson, said Phillip Inman in The Guardian. The party’s “unwavering commitment to remaining in the EU” proved popular with many business delegates, who also share the view expressed by CBI director general Carolyn Fairbairn that the “ideological shift to the extremes” in both the Labour and Conservative…4 min

The Week|V. 1254Who’s tipping whatThe week’s best sharesAirtel AfricaThe TimesThis mobile services provider is a pure-play Africa-focused growth business with a fast-growing mobile payment services arm. Plenty of opportunity for expansion, and shares feel “like a bargain”. Buy. 67.25p.BiffaInvestors ChronicleBiffa’s core waste collection and recycling services are growing strongly, and it is investing in plastics recycling and energy-from-waste. Customers are sticky and margins are improving. Buy. 253p.GreggsInvestors ChronicleThe sausage-roll maker has upgraded profit expectations, thanks to increased footfall. The outbreak of African swine flu in China will likely raise pork prices, but brokers are still upgrading forecasts. Buy. £20.65.Sirius Real EstateThe Daily TelegraphFocused on German business parks, Sirius makes cheap improvements to its properties and then markets them as flexible workspace or self-storage. The dividend is up year-on-year and currently yields 4%. Buy. 74p.Vodafone…3 min

The Week|V. 1254Spirit of the agePsychiatrists have warned that 2.5 million British adults may be addicted to shopping, and suggested that buying-shopping disorder (BSD) be recognised as a mental health condition. In their study of 122 patients who had sought treatment for compulsive shopping, 33% showed signs of addiction to online shopping, which was linked to a “higher severity” of anxiety and depression. Patients, the study said, bought goods mainly “to regulate emotions, for example to get pleasure or relief from negative feelings”.Some 3.5 million British adults aged 20-34 still live with their parents. The figure has risen with house prices. First-time buyers now typically need to save £44,000 for a deposit.…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Maternity unit scandalAn interim report detailing a catalogue of failings in maternity care at hospitals in Shropshire was leaked to the press this week. The report into the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust says that there were dozens of avoidable deaths of women and babies in hospitals where a “toxic culture” prevailed for 40 years. The inquiry has found that in an environment of substandard care, babies died and were born disabled; it also found that staff had been unkind to bereaved parents, got their babies’ names wrong in letters, and in one case, referred to a baby as “it”. The inquiry was launched in 2017 to examine 23 cases, and was later expanded to cover more than 270.…1 min

The Week|V. 1254The world at a glanceWashington DCImpeachment “intimidation”: The former US ambassador to Ukraine testified tothe impeachment inquiry last Friday that she had felt threatened by President Trump, and had been “devastated” when he vilified her – a respected career diplomat – in a phone call to Ukraine’s President Zelensky. Marie Yovanovitch was sacked by Trump in May, allegedly because she was considered a block on illicit efforts to persuade Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden. At the televised hearing, she also testified that Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, had worked with a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor to smear her, and push her out of her job. To add to the drama, Trump took to Twitter to attack her in real time, prompting complaints from all sides that he was trying to intimidate witnesses.Separately, the GOP suffered…7 min

The Week|V. 1254Viewpoint: The fall of an Insta mum“The only real surprise presented by the scandal of Clemmie Hooper, the mummy blogger outed for secretly attacking rival ‘mumfluencers’ through fake accounts, is that it doesn’t happen more often. Clemmie made her money posting glamorous photos of herself and her four children on Instagram. The effort that must take is enough to drive anyone demented. Imagine having to dress them immaculately, brush their hair and get them to pose endlessly for that one perfect shot. And repeat every goddamn day. Work is home, home is work. Reality is faked and faking it is your reality. It’s a wonder her exhaustingly curated house of cards didn’t collapse sooner.”Lucy Mangan in The Mail on Sunday…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Best articles: BritainWhy Sinn Féin is carrying a torch for BorisJon TongeThe Belfast TelegraphThink Brexit has turned politics on its head in England? Then just consider what it’s doing in Northern Ireland, says Jon Tonge. The situation there is so bizarre that one suspects many of the Sinn Féin members who assembled for their party conference in Derry last week were harbouring hopes that Boris Johnson will win the forthcoming election. The party is no friend of the Tories, nor Brexit, but the reality is that a Johnson victory could advance the cause of Irish unity more effectively than armed struggle or any of the other tactics used by republicans over the years. Why? Because the EU withdrawal deal Johnson seeks to deliver envisages an all-Ireland regulation of goods and ade facto…4 min

The Week|V. 1254The billionaire Democrat eyeing up the White HouseWe have a new contender for the 2020 presidential election, said Maureen Dowd in The New York Times. The billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg, who in March ruled out a White House bid, has decided that he may, after all, jump into the race next year. Apparently, he’s ready to spend “whatever it takes” to defeat Donald Trump. A battle between this pair of “rich, caustic New Yorkers” would certainly beentertaining. “‘Little Michael’, as Trump calls Bloomberg, vs. the Big Fraud, as Bloomberg thinks of Trump.” A “self-made billionaire who’s good at business” vs. “a so-called billionaire and bankruptcy king who needed a constant cash flow from daddy Fred”. Fun as the idea is, though, it’s not a good sign for the Democrats – or their “flagging” front runner Joe Biden…2 min

The Week|V. 1254What the scientists are saying…The cl*tor*s: not just for pleasure?It is often said to be the only part of the body that exists solely to provide pleasure. But this idea has been challenged by a controversial study suggesting that the cl*tor*s also has a “procreative” function. According to Roy Jerome Levin, a former reader in physiology at the University of Sheffield, cl*toral stimulation induces a number of internal changes that make it easier for sperm to reach and fertilise an egg. In a new paper, he says that it triggers an increase in blood flow to the vagin* – creating a warmer, “friendlier” environment for sperm; and also prompts “vagin*l tenting” – a shift in the position of the cervix, which moves it away from the “sem*n” pool, and stops the sperm rushing straight…3 min

The Week|V. 1254Prince Andrew: “squirming and dissembling”It is better to keep your mouth shut, and “look a fool, than open it and remove all doubt”. That was Denis Thatcher’s maxim, said Trevor Kavanagh in The Sun – and Prince Andrew must be dearly wishing he had followed it. Last week, he agreed to beinterviewed on Newsnight about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted child sex offender who committed suicide in a US jail earlier this year, while awaiting child-trafficking charges. The Duke must have hoped the broadcast would draw a line under a decade-long saga of “seedy claims and dodgy denials” that has severely damaged his reputation –and inparticular, put to rest the allegation (strongly denied) that he had sex with a 17-year-old girl trafficked by Epstein. But instead, his attempt at crisis management only…4 min

The Week|V. 1254Flood damage: the blame gameSerious flooding in November and December has become an “almost predictable annual hazard” in Britain, said Martin Kettle inThe Guardian. Still, the Government appeared to be caught unawares when one of the wettest autumns on record caused flood waters once again to engulf many parts of the country – particularly badly hit was South Yorkshire’s Don Valley, an area also swamped in 2007 and 2015. It was days before Downing Street “even tried to get a grip”: at first Boris Johnson dismissed the disaster as “not a national emergency”. So when he finally turned up in Yorkshire last Wednesday, it was hardly surprising he was met by shouts of “Where have you been?” But anger was not directed only at the Tories, said David Collins in The Sunday Times: one…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Formula One’s Ferrari fall-out“It took 20 races, but finally the inevitable happened,” said Andrew Benson on BBC Sport. All season long, tensions had been building between the two Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel. And in the Brazilian Grand Prix, they finally came to a head. With five laps to go, Leclerc, the 22-year-old from Monaco, “pulled off a stunning move” to overtake his teammate. But Vettel wasn’t having it: he refused to back off. As he edged across Leclerc, the cars collided; the impact broke Leclerc’s front suspension and ripped off a tyre, while puncturing one of Vettel’s own tyres. Both men were forced to retire from the race. The problem is that Leclerc is the team’s junior driver, so he is meant to play second fiddle to Vettel, a four-time…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Review of reviews: BooksBook of the weekWillby Will Self Viking 400pp £14.99The Week Bookshop £12.99Will Self’s latest book is a“gleefully self-lacerating memoir of drug abuse and rehab”, said Alex Preston in The Observer. Written in “darkly angelic prose”, it is arranged into five chapters, told in the first person and each centred on a single day. We begin in May 1986, with a 24-year-old Will desperately trying toscore some heroin, despite having only 57p in his pocket. Next, we move back to 1979, with Will, aged 17, trapped in the “privet prison” of Hampstead Garden Suburb, having recently discovered the delights of injecting amphetamine sulphate. We move on to his “tarnished Oxford days” (more prodigious drug-taking and athird-class degree) before a “post-university gap year” sees him “sweating out” heroin in aDelhi YMCA. Finally,…4 min

The Week|V. 1254FilmMarriage Story ★★★★★A riveting dissection of a marriage Dir: Noah Baumbach 2hrs 17mins (15)The highest-grossing film of 1979 was the devastating divorce melodrama Kramer vs. Kramer, which earned Oscars for its stars Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman. Now, four decades later, writer-director Noah Baumbach has given us its “true successor”, said Kevin Maher in The Times. Featuring outstanding performances from Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson as adivorcing couple who are being egged on bytheir avaricious lawyers to tear each other apart, Marriage Story is an “intensely moving love story” concealed inside a brutal dissection ofthe fault lines within a marriage. “It isquite the experience. Bring hankies. And then bring hankies for your hankies.”In the opening scene, Charlie, a playwright, and Nicole, an actress who sacrificed her career to support his,…4 min

The Week|V. 1254The Rembrandt raidAn audacious attempt to steal two valuable Rembrandt paintings from a south London gallery has been thwarted, says The Daily Telegraph. An intruder broke into Dulwich Picture Gallery last Wednesday night, and managed to get out of the building with the artworks before being challenged by police, who had responded to the gallery’s alarm system. The Metropolitan Police said the intruder had used a canister to spray an officer in the face with an unknown substance, and as a result was able to get away. Both paintings were later recovered from the grounds, where they had been dumped by the fleeing burglar. Although the gallery refused to confirm which two works had been targeted, the exhibition, Rembrandt’s Light, includes some very famous paintings, including Girl at a Window (pictured) and…1 min

The Week|V. 1254The Archers: what happened last weekJoy is annoyed by a flyer posted by Tony. After talking to Jim, Will invites Jake and Mia to the Bonfire Night party. Russ admits to Elizabeth that filling out divorce papers has made him realise the sacrifices he’s making for Lily. Jill sprains her wrist and Leonard drives her to hospital; later, she invites him to stay at Brookfield. Will and Mia meet up and agree they are both happier. Lillian unwittingly reveals that Will has quit his job and the cottage, to Mia’s anger. She bolts, but Clarrie calms her down and says Will needs to move on. At her birthday party at The Bull, Peggy gets Tony to apologise to Joy about the flyer, and they make up. Looking at photos from the party, Lily and Russ…1 min

The Week|V. 1254What the experts recommendNaïfs 56 Goldsmith Road, London SE15 (020-3490 2422)This new vegetarian restaurant sits “on a quiet residential corner to the north of Peckham’s main drag”, says Keith Miller in The Daily Telegraph. Chef Tom Heale previously worked at Vanilla Black, a “pricey” veggie/vegan place inthe City. Here, he has dialled things “down a notch”, and created, with several family members, what aspires to bea“well-liked” neighbourhood joint. But though the surroundings are “informal and friendly”, Heale’s cooking still feels “artful and ambitious”. The menu is full of “eclectic flourishes”: a dish of “beautifully cooked” fried celeriac uses koji, an umami-packed mould grown on rice; another contains vadouvan, aFrench colonial curry mix. Sensibly, the menu steers “a course between veggiedom and all-out veganism”: about half the dishes contain dairy products, allowing for a…3 min

The Week|V. 1254New cars: what the critics sayThe Daily TelegraphWhatever you do, don’t call it a van. Vauxhall insists that the Vivaro Life is a “luxury passenger vehicle”. And while it may not look exactly fashionable in the era of SUVs, it might just beat them in terms of practicality. Built in Britain, it has room to spare for seven adults, “acres” of boot space and sliding doors for car park convenience. It’s not exactly “luxury”, though.Auto ExpressYou can construct the Vivaro Life exactly as you want – with one, two or three rows of seats. You can even opt for two swivel chairs in the middle row, with a folding table to share with the back row. From the outside, it looks “neat”, and inside you can get ahead-up display, heated leather seats and a rear…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Where to find… the Northern LightsFrom February to March, Noble Caledonia offers a five-night Quest for the Northern Lights tour to Tromsø and Lapland, Norway, complete with dog-sledding (from £3,995pp including flights; noble-caledonia.co.uk).In Saariselkä, Finland, you can view the Northern Lights from your bed in a glass-roofed cabin (three nights from £1,445pp including flights; theaurorazone.com).Between October and March, you could try a four-day break in Iceland, staying in Reykjavík and doing some night viewing from a secluded site (from £599pp including flights; mercuryholidays.co.uk).On a four-night Aurora Tour in the Yukon, Canada’s true Arctic wilderness, you can gaze up at the skies from heated cabins and tents (from £485pp; northerntales.ca).If you don’t manage to see the lights on a 15-day cruise from Dover with the Norwegian cruise line Hurtigruten, they’ll give you a seven-day trip free…1 min

The Week|V. 1254Getting the flavour of…An essential Aussie road tripMany tourists in Australia try to bag the big sights – Ayers Rock, the Great Barrier Reef and so on. But the country’s “wit and wilderness” is best experienced by focusing on one corner of this vast continent – on a road trip through the state of South Australia, says Chris Haslam in The Sunday Times. You might start by “heli-swagging” in the arid but spectacular Flinders Ranges: a helicopter drops you deep in the mountains for a “gourmet blowout” and a night under the stars in a bivouac. Then drive 500 miles south through greener country to the sublime, white-sand surf beaches of the Fleurieu Peninsula. You’ll spot “koalas, kookaburras and kangaroos” along the way, and can stop at some great vineyards. Top tips include…2 min

The Week|V. 1254Companies in the news ...and how they were assessedTesla: “Berlin rocks”The Prime Minister gave his first big speech of the election campaign in a Coventry electric car factory, said Ian Birrell in the I newspaper. How unfortunate that it should have coincided with news that the Tesla boss, Elon Musk, has chosen to build the carmaker’s “first major European factory” in Berlin. “So much for hopes this huge investment would come to our country.” The billionaire entrepreneur declared: “Berlin rocks!”. And, as he explained, “Brexit made it too risky to put a Gigafactory in the UK”. The move, said Birrell, “underlines how our decision to depart the world’s biggest trading block will hurt”. The UK car industry has come to symbolise Britain’s roller-coaster fortunes in recent decades: “in this century, we have hosted more motor manufacturers than any…3 min

The Week|V. 1254CommentatorsTrump and Xi’s European carve-upSimon TisdallThe ObserverThe idea of Xi Jinping as a modern-day Odysseus may seem “a little far-fetched”, says Simon Tisdall. But there’s no denying that China’s president has “trundled a Trojan horse deep inside the EU city gates – with a little help from the Greeks”. On last week’s visit to Athens, Xi increased China’s investment to s2.5bn. Most significantly, he expanded “Beijing’s footprint in the strategic port of Piraeus, from where a rising tide of Chinese imports flow into the EU”, thereby co-opting Greece (an EU and Nato member) into China’s Belt and Road initiative. The US is, of course, livid. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns that Europe is being sucked into “a nefarious Chinese web”. Indeed, the existential challenge facing the EU is “how…4 min

The Week|V. 1254The inside story of May’s disastrous electionOn the evening of 15 March 2017, Nick Timothy accompanied Fiona Hill into the No. 10 garden for one of her regular cigarettes. Theresa May’s joint chiefs of staff were exhausted by the effort of getting Article 50 through Parliament and the sustained opposition from a small minority of Tory MPs. The government majority of only 12 weighed on their minds.Hill recalls: “We were looking down the barrel of multiple fraught votes for Brexit to happen. Nick and I realised we just didn’t have the arithmetic: our political capital had been used up in this Parliament. It was one of those moments when Nick and I had the same thought at the same time. And out it came: ‘How on earth can we get something far bigger and beastlier through?…10 min

Table of contents for V. 1254 in The Week (2024)

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