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BOOKS P29 BRIEFING P13 BEST INTERNATIONAL ARTICLES P19 THEWEEK 30 JANUARY2021 |ISSUE 1316 |£3.99 THE BESTOFTHE BRITISH AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Thebravest man CanNavalny change Russia? Page16

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9771362 343166 ALL YOUNEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THATMATTERS theweek.co.uk 2 NEWS The main stories…

What happened What the editorials said A grim milestone Covid has takenatoll on every nation, said The Times, but Britain stands out. In theweek from 10 to 17 January, we The UK becamethe firstcountry in Europe – recorded an average of 935 Covid deaths per and only the fifth in the world, after the US, day, giving us theworld’s highest per capita Brazil, India and Mexico –topass the milestone death rate. Thesocial impactofthiscrisis may of 100,000 recorded coronavirusdeaths. “It’s yet comparetothat of“theinfluenza pandemic hard tocomputethe sorrowcontained in that that killed an estimated 228,000 people in grim statistic,” said the Prime Minister, Boris Britainin1918”. When this is over, there will Johnson. He was, headded, “deeply sorry for need to be athoroughaccounting of the every life that has been lost” but insisted: “We Government’s “botched” response. did everything we could.” Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer for England, said that Although hindsight always makes it easy to Britainhad now reached the peak of thesecond see where things could have been done better, Covid wave, but warned that the tally ofdaily Britain’s handling of Covid does compare deaths would remain high for some weeks yet. poorly to othernations’, saidThe Daily Telegraph. On vaccines,though, we have a On Wednesday, the Government announceda good record–andthat is where hope now lies. limited hotel quarantine systemfor people flying The PM: sorrowful The PM has promised anational commem- into the countryfrom Covid hotspots.Some orationfor the Covid dead. “But a more lasting ministers hadcalled for the quarantining of allarrivals, but memorial would be to ensure that the vaccine programme for nowthe measure will only apply to British travellers does not stall”,and is aspringboard that returnsusto returning from 30 high-risk countries, including Brazil,South normality as swiftly aspossible. All in good time, said The Africa andPortugal.Non-UK residents from those countries Guardian. Tory MPs aredemanding to know when lockdown are already barred from entering Britain. Travellers will have will be eased, butour focus for now must beon“driving to quarantine in hotelsnear airports, attheirown expense transmission downand giving people sufficient money so that and under thesupervision ofsecurity guards,for ten days. they are able to stick tothe rules,including quarantining”.

What happened What the editorials said Biden’s first week Biden isn’t wasting anytime, said the San Francisco Chronicle. In just a few days, hehas madereal progress in reversing As soon as he entered the White House last Trump’s agenda.Hehas ordered construction week, Joe Biden setabout dismantling his of the border walltostop. Andhehas unveiled predecessor’s legacy. Within three days of aseries of measures aimed at tackling climate taking office,the new president had signed change and addressing discrimination. Most 30 executiveorders,many of which reversed importantly, he has set about tacklinga policies introduced by Donald Trump: he pandemic whichhas killed 436,000Americans, had the US rejoin the Paris Climate Accord; not least by startingtofix the “chaotic”vaccine he made the wearing of masks mandatory on roll-out. But the realhard workisonlyjust federal property,and on planes, trains and beginning, said The Guardian: forcingan some buses; he revoked the ban on nationals ambitious legislative agendathrough aSenate from seven mainly Muslim countriesentering thatissplit50/50 will be a realchallenge; as the US; andheput an end to theban on will“binding up the nation’swounds” after transgender people serving inthe military. four years ofTrump. Biden: getting to work But Biden’s callfor bipartisancooperation Biden seemsdetermined not to“letacrisis go suffered its first setback when Republicans in to waste”, said the NewYork Post. His plans Congress madeitclear that they will oppose his proposed for a sweeping coronavirusstimulus package maybepopular $1.9trn coronavirus stimulus package.Itwillbefurther among left-wingers, but moderate members of Congress aren’t tested by the article of impeachmentthe Democrats sold on it: they recognise that it could cripple, rather than delivered to theSenate,charging Trump with “incitement bolster, the economy. If Bidenisserious about workingwith to insurrection” (see page8). Republicans, now would be agood time for him to show it.

It wasn’tall bad Afour-year-old from Birmingham In their second such lockdown who’d learnt the alphabet by the collaboration, The Gruffalo Adog that spent aweek waiting time she was 14 months old has creators Julia Donaldson and patiently for its owner outside now become one of the youngest Axel Scheffler have reimagined aTurkish hospital has finally members of Mensa. Dayaal Kaur some of their best-loved gone home. When Cemal took the test to join the society characters, to show them Şentürk was taken away in an when she was three, and was coping with life in the ambulance, his faithful dog accepted on her fourth birthday, pandemic. “Iggety, ziggety, Boncuk followed the vehicle to with an IQ of 145. “She says zaggety, ZOOM, /Ireally want the hospital, in Trabzon. She things all the time that Ihave somebody real in my room,” stayed outside it until nightfall, to Google,” said hermother, says the witch, from Room on then returned every morning, Rajvinder Kaur, asolicitor. “She is the Broom,while the old lady in to wait again. “When the door fascinated by space, so she is ASquashand aSqueeze asks: opens she pokes her head always asking me things like “Wise old man, won’t you tell inside,” said asecurity guard. ‘Why does the Moon orbit the me please /When will it be Six days later, Şentürk emerged Earth?’” Her father says her social over, this viral disease?” The –and an overjoyed Boncuk was skills and sense of humour are as images are free to download there to greet him “breathtaking” as her intelligence. on The Gruffalo Facebook page.

COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM THE WEEK 30 January 2021 …and how they were covered NEWS 3

What the commentators said What next? The number of people who have died as aresult of Covid in the UK is thought to be much Boris Johnson has confirmed higher than 100,000, said Anthony Cuthbertson in The Independent. That tally only includes that pupils in England will those who died within 28 days oftesting positive. But 100,000 is already astaggering figure. not be returning to class after It’s twice as many people as died in the Blitz,and surpassesthe UK’s combined death toll from the February half term. The “the Great Plague, the Aids pandemic and every singleterror attack and war since 1945”. If new target date for reopening that’s notenough to convince you that things have “gonebadlywrong”, said Tom Whipple schools is 8March. The final in The Times, consider this: over the past year,the average Briton has been more than twice decision will depend on as likely to die of Covidassomeone in Germany, and 4,000 times aslikely as someone in vaccinationtargets being met. Vietnam. Thisispartly down to pre-existing factors such as “population density, international Schoolswill get two weeks’ travel,demographicsand obesity”, but government mistakes have also played a big part. notice of any reopening.

Perhaps the biggest of those errors was waiting until 23 March to impose the first national Johnson told MPs that he lockdown, said Samuel Lovett in The Independent. Research from ImperialCollege London hoped other lockdown showed that acting even one week earlier couldhave prevented as manyas26,800 deaths. restrictions could begin to That set the trajectory of thefirst wave. Other notable mistakes include the failure to properly be eased at some point after protectcare homes,where nearly a third of Covid deaths have occurred. schools reopen.Therewas as yet toolittle data to Withluck,vaccineswill put these dark days behindusand enable agradual return to decide whentostart lifting normality, said Alex Morton on CapX. But if we don’t lockour borders right down, we run the restrictions, he said, adding risk of allowing a new, vaccine-resistantstrain into the country. That would send usback to that in the week of 22 square one. The trouble is, it’s simply not practical for Britain toseal itself off, said Matthew February, the Government LynninThe Daily Telegraph. It may have worked for Australia and New Zealand, but we’re would have more information afar more globalised economy that is uniquelydependent on thefree flow of people. It might on whethervaccines block have madesense to have temporarily closed off our borders ayear ago, when the first Covid transmission and thedegree cases came out ofWuhan.“With the vaccine rolling out, it doesn’t make sense now. It would to which they reduce simply turn what is already an economic disasterintoacatastrophe.” hospitalisation and deaths.

What the commentators said What next? So much for unity, said Nick Timothy in The Daily Telegraph. Biden and the Democrats may Biden has boosted his have pledged to govern by consensus, but thepresidentspent his first week in office doing any- coronavirus vaccination thing but. He signed aflurry of executive orders on left-wing causes like transgender rights, target for his first100 days liberalised immigration laws and environmental matters –anoddly divisive agendafor one in office. His plan is that supposedlyguided byunity. The problem, said Janan Ganesh in the FT, is that his campaign soon, 1.5 millionpeople raised “impossible hopes”. If, as many in his party expect, heplanstobethe most left-wing will be vaccinatedeach day. president since the 1960s (oreventhe 1930s), then he’ll “alienate Republicans and split the US. If, in keeping with his career so far, national togetherness is the higher dream, then he must The Senatehas confirmed forfeitordilute much of his domestic programme.” Democrats are entitled to raise the prospect Janet Yellen, the ex-headof of unity orofradical reform – but they cannotreasonably expect toachieveboth. America’s Federal Reserve, as the first ever US female Much ofBiden’s first year in office will be spent on domestic challenges, said Christopher treasury secretary –putting Meyer in TheIndependent –notleast the pandemicand fixing America’s battered economy. her in charge of Biden’s After that,though, he’s likely to turn his gaze abroad, where he’ll seek to restore tieswith allies, economic responseto return to multilateralism and global organisations, and take atough stance on Russia and Covid-19. Biden has China. And things could get awkward whereBritain is concerned, said Jon Allsop in Foreign signalled he is willing to Policy.Biden once referred toBorisJohnsonasTrump’s“physical and emotional clone”, and make concessions to get was opposedtoBrexit. Many Democrats still recallJohnson’s jibe in2016 that Barack Obama his stimulus package had an “ancestral dislike” for Winston Churchillbecause he is “part-Kenyan”. But there’s still throughCongress, possibly scope for cooperation, said Dominic Lawson in the Daily Mail. The UK and the US share plenty by reducingthe number of common ground on issueslike climate change and trade,and the PM was oneofthe first of Americans who qualify foreignleaders Bidencalledaftertaking office. The factisthat “Biden is an intenselypragmatic for $1,400payments, the politician”: you canbet that he’ll want to forge agoodrelationship with America’s closest ally. FT reported.

Editor-in-chief: Caroline Law Afew months ago, we ran abriefingonhow using screens affects Editor: Theo Tait THEWEEK children. Reassuringly, the research suggested that, by and large, Deputy editor: HarryNicolle Executive editor: LaurenceEarle City editor: JaneLewis Assistanteditor: Robin de Peyer screen time is fine as long as it doesn’t replace anything important: Contributing editors: Simon Wilson, RobMcLuhan, Catherine Heaney,DigbyWarde-Aldam, TomYarwood, school, exercise, sport, reading, family time, socialising. But that was during the happy period WilliamSkidelsky Editorial staff: Anoushka Petit, Tigger Ridgwell,Sorcha Bradley, Aine O’Connor Editorial between the lockdowns, when all those other things were still available. Nowadays, screens actually assistant: Asya Likhtman Picture editor: Xandie Nutting Art director: NathalieFowler Sub-editor: TomCobbe have replaced nearly everything else, and not just for children. Lessons and work are piped in via Production editor: AlannaO’Connell the internet; playtime is on the iPad, socialising on WhatsApp. Family visits are by Zoom, exercise Editorialchairman and co-founder: Jeremy O’Grady ProductionManager: Maaya Mistry Production Executive: is on YouTube, groceries on Tesco.com. Nearly everything is online, except for walking in the mud. Sophie Griffin Newstrade Director: DavidBarker DirectMarketing Director: Abi Spooner And that, of course, is for the lucky ones. Life today is like some Edwardian dystopia, with Account Manager/Inserts: JackReader Classified: Henry Haselock Account Directors: Jonathan Claxton, Joe Teal, humanity divided into two classes. There are the insiders, who can work from home, and whose Hattie White AdvertisingManager: Carly Activille GroupAdvertising Director: CarolineFenner food is brought safely to the door; and the outsiders, who have to venture out into the dangerous Founder: Jolyon Connell world. The Office for National Statistics figures on Covid deaths by occupation (see page 4)show ChiefExecutive, The Week: Kerin O’Connor ChiefExecutive: JamesTye just how much worse the odds are for the latter: carers, healthcare workers, service staff and people DennisPublishingfounder: FelixDennis who, as the ONS puts it, work “in elementary occupations” (i.e. jobs that consist of simple and routine tasks requiring the use of tools and physical effort). For decades, sci-fi writers have imagined THE WEEK Ltd,asubsidiary of Dennis, 31-32 Alfred how our lives might migrate into cyberspace, away from the physical world. But it seems that some Place, London WC1E 7DP. Tel: 020-3890 3890 Editorial: 020-3890 3787 people will have to stay behind, in what the nerds (rather disgustingly) call meatspace. Theo Tait Email: [email protected]

Subscriptions:0330-333 9494; [email protected]©DennisPublishing Limited 2021. Allrights reserved. The Week is aregistered trademark. Neither the whole of this publication nor any part of it may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval systemortransmittedinany form or by any means without the writtenpermission of the publishers 30 January 2021 THE WEEK 4 NEWS Politics

Controversy of the week EU vaccine row The head of AstraZeneca “Teething problems” has confirmed that Britain’s orders of its coronavirus “The bill forMrJohnson’s Brexit is comingin,” said Andrew vaccine will not be diverted Rawnsley in The Observer, anditis“apunishingly steep one”. to Europe, to make up for a Some of those whoare wailing about thenew orderdeserve shortfall there. Owing to littlesympathy: Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, lower than expected yields at for instance, whowere“lustysponsors of thegreatexperiment its plant in Belgium, the firm with the UK’s prosperity” –orthe Leave-supporting singer of had warned the EU that it The Who, Roger Daltrey, who joined achorus of rock stars would not be able to fulfil its entire order of the vaccine, furious that the new visa rules make touring in Europe so which its regulators were due much harder. But the bill is being paidbymany others too: by to approve within days. In the fishing fleets in Scotland and the WestCountry, which are response, Brussels said that tied up because they areunable to export theircatch;bythe doses produced in the UK farmers whosemeatisrottingatEuropean harbours; by the should be sent to the EU, and Welsh portswhose trade is being diverted to France andSpain; warned that it could restrict by theCity of London, from whichbillions of poundsworth the export of vaccines made of transactions hasdisappeared; by the smallbusinesses which Fishermen: footing the Brexit bill within the EU (such as the are overwhelmed by the red tape now involved in exporting to Europe. Thecost of thepaperwork Pfizer jab). On Tuesday, however, AstraZeneca CEO alone is estimatedataround £7bn peryear. “Welcome to Brexit.” Pascal Soriot said that as Britain had placed its order Leaving Europewas meant to free British business from the burden of EU bureaucracy,said The three months earlier than the Guardian.Instead,ithas embroiled exportersinatangle of newcustoms declarations, conformity EU, it would be first in line assessments, rules of origin certifications andVAT demands. Furthermore, anyattempt to deregulate for deliveries (see page 45). our economy –employment rules arenow being reviewed–is likelytoprovokearetaliation from Brussels underthe “level playingfield” provisions in theBrexit deal. Thevolume of freighttrafficis High-risk occupations down almost athird on thistimelastyear, saidThe Times. Some of this is certainlydue to Covid Women most at risk of dying and “teething problems”, as Johnson argues: companies hadlittle time to preparefor this last-minute of Covid-19 include assembly deal.But many newobstacles arepermanent. Businesses will have“to adapt to thisnew reality.” line workers, care workers, home carers and retail assistants, according to new “The disruption is greaterthan theLeavers expected,” said Hamish McRae in TheIndependent– ONS figures for England and butthat’s partly becausesome in theEUwant to hurt Britain “bycreatingsilly bureaucratic Wales. Among men, factory hurdles”. The French, in particular, haveahistoryofusing non-tariffbarriers to keep outimports. workers, security guards, In time, though, such protectionistploys usually fail,becausethey’renot in consumers’ interests. And chefs and restaurant workers, despite theturmoil,there arestill reasons to be “glad we’reout”, saidRossClark in the DailyMail. and taxi and bus drivers, are Just look at the fiascoofthe much-vaunted“pan-European” vaccine programme. TheEUislagging the most at risk. Nurses are farbehindthe UK, partlybecause itsregulatorhas been slow to approve vaccines, andpartly because twice as likely to die as their it haschosenpoorly: it invested heavily in thevaccine made by France’s Sanofi, allegedlyunder peers, but teachers are no more likely to die of Covid-19 pressurefrom Paris, but this won’tbeready untilthe end of theyear. Under fire, Brussels has reacted than other members of the by threatening to banvaccine exportstothe UK. Thiscombination of “nationalism, bureaucracy, general population, the inefficiencyand bloody-mindedness”should remind us that, in many ways, we’rebetteronour own. figures reveal.

Good weekfor: Spirit of the age Clare Smythand Hélène Darroze, who became the first Poll watch Academics at the University two female chefs in Britain to be awarded the maximum three 49% of UK adults cannot of York removed an image Michelin stars. Smyth runs Core in London W11; Darroze explain terms like antigen or of the three wise monkeys – presides over TheConnaught in Mayfair. epidemiologist. 47% say the representing the Buddhist Monique Roffey, whowon the£30,000 Costa bookawardfor same about antibody, and maxim “see no evil, hear no her sixthnovel, TheMermaid of Black Conch.Judgespraised the 43% about contact tracing. evil, speak no evil” –from book, set on afictional Caribbean island, forits “beautiful While 88% say they have aposter for an art history heard of the Rnumber, only conference, after deciding it language and compelling story”. 42% say they can explain it. was offensive, reports The Kenneth Branagh, with reports that he will be starring as Boris Savanta ComRes/Guardian Times. They explained the Johnson in anew Skydramaset duringthe pandemic. This “iconology promulgates a Sceptred Isle is scheduled for release in 2022. Willingness to accept a long-standing visual legacy Covid vaccine is steadily of oppression and exploits rising in Europe. 81% of racist stereotypes. We bring Bad week for: Britons and 66% of Swedes this to your attention, so Glastonbury, whichwas cancelledfor thesecond year in arow. say they would have the that we may be held TheEavisfamily,who runthe festival,said that 2020 ticket vaccine, compared with accountable for our actions holders wouldhavethe option of rolling theirdepositsover fora 61% and 45% respectively and, in our privileges, do secondtime –and promisedsomething “really special”for 2022. in November. Italy has seen and be better.” Bond fans, afterthe release of 007’s25thbig screen outing, No a19-point increase to 71%, while in France, 46% now One of England’s oldest Time To Die,was postponedfor the third time. Thedelay, until say they would have the jab, boys public schools, 8October, willcome asyet another blow to cinema-owners, who up from 32%. Winchester College, had been hoping to reopenwith asure-fire blockbuster. YouGov/Guardian has revealed that it is Edinburgh, with theplanned closureofits landmark department considering admitting girls. store,Jenners,and the lossof200 jobs. Foundedin1838, Jenners In aworldwide poll, 69% of The 600-year-old school is is owned by MikeAshley’s Frasers group; but its grand building, 14- to 18-year-olds and 58% one of only four all-boys on Princes Street, belongs to the Danish billionaire Anders Holch of over-60s agree that there boarding secondary schools is aclimate emergency. left in Britain. Povlsen. He haspromised thatitwillremain ashop, thoughsome UNDP/BBC unused parts mightbeturned into ahotel.

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 The UK at aglance NEWS 5

Edinburgh Edinburgh Independence plan: The SNP has revealed its “roadmap” to a Privatemessages: TheScottish new vote on Scottish independence. If the party wins a majority Parliament has ordered prosecutors in May’s election, it says itwillrequest aSection 30 order from to release evidence, including the UK Government – allowing it to passlaws normallyreserved WhatsApp messages, relating to the for Westminster – in order to hold asecond referendum. The leak ofallegations against former 11-point plan insists that “there could benomoral or democratic first minister Alex Salmond. Allies justification fordenyingthat request”, andwarns that itwill of Salmond, who was acquitted last “vigorously oppose” any attempt by the UK Government to March ofsexually harassing two challenge the legality of that voteinthe courts.Accordingtoa civil servants, claimthemessages “four-nation” poll for The SundayTimes, amajorityofvoters suggest that PeterMurrell –SNP CEO and husband ofFirst in both Scotland and Northern Ireland wantindependence Minister Nicola Sturgeon –pressured police to pursueallegations referendums. However, Scottish Conservativeleader Douglas against himtothwarthis political comeback. On Sunday, Rosssaid the“focus”should be on protecting jobs and fighting Sturgeon denied aconspiracy, sayingshe would “never apologise” the pandemic, notonplans to break up the Union. for doing all she could to ensurethe complaints were investigated.

Northwich, Cheshire Flood chaos: Thousands of people across the north ofEngland, the Midlands and Wales were forced to fleetheir homes last week, owing to severe flooding caused by StormChristoph. In Northwich, Cheshire, firecrews used dinghies to evacuate 40 residents from a care home, after the town centrewas inundated. In Rossett, north Wales,afamily trapped in their isolated home by fast-flowing water had to be winched to safety by a helicopter. OutsideBolton,aroad was blocked by a landslide, andin Denbighshire, a Grade II-listed road bridgeovertheRiverClwyd wasswept away. With more rain forecast, many flood warnings remained in place this week, and Environment Secretary George Eustice cautioned that further “challenges” were to come.

Swansea Office outbreak: At least 535 workers at theDriver andVehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)inSwansea have tested positivefor Covid-19 since September.About 1,800staffare reported to have been asked to come into the agency’s offices, despite rising case numbers at thetime.Unnamed employees claimdistancing measures arenot beingfollowed; that managers havesuggested they turn off test-and-trace apps; andthatthey have been warned that absences through sickness ofmorethan tendays willtrigger a warning. The DVLA hasdenied asking workers to turn offthe test-and-trace app, and insistedits offices arefully Covid-safety- compliant,but Mark Serwotka, of the Public andCommercial Services Union, called the situationa“scandal”.

Cardiff Stepping down: The leaderofthe Welsh Conservatives resigned last weekend after it emerged that he’d haddrinks in the Senedd with three colleagues in December –just days afterWales introduced aban on pubs servingalcohol.Paul Davies, who was made leader in 2018,insisted he had not broken any Covid rules, but said he was“trulysorry” for hisactions even so. He said he wassteppingdownbecause the rowhad become a“distraction”.Althoughcasenumbers arenow falling in Wales, thegovernment was not expected to ease restrictions when lockdownmeasurescame up for reviewonFriday.

London London Wedding raid: Police raided an Orthodox Jewish girls’school Lorrydeaths: Four menhavebeen convictedofthe manslaughter in northLondonlastweekend,inresponsetoreports that 150 of the39Vietnamesemigrants who were found dead in theback people hadgathered there forawedding.Although many of the of arefrigerated lorryinGrays, Essex, in October 2019. Two guests fled, fivepeoplewerehanded fines of £200.The principal ringleaders, Ronan Hughes, 41, and Gheorghe Nica, 43, were of the school,whichiscurrently beingused as aCovid testing sentencedto20and 27 years respectively, while lorrydrivers centre, died of Covid ten months ago. Chief RabbiEphraim Maurice Robinson, 26, andEamonnHarrison, 24,weregiven 13 Mirvis called the lockdown breach “shameful”. In the earlyhours and18years. The trial exposed acomplex smugglingoperation, of Sunday morning, police raided an illegalrave in Hackney, in whichthe would-bemigrants hadpaidupto£13,000eachfor attended by 300people. Organisers padlocked thedoors from a“VIP” service.Atthe Old Bailey, Mr JusticeSweeney notedthat the inside, in an attempt to stop officers gettingin. Lastweek, theman at thetop of theconspiracy –amysterious Vietnamese the Government announcedthat it wasincreasing the penalty individual referred to as Phong,who apparently tookpayments for people attending illegal parties to £800,from£200. andorganised safe houses –had yet to be brought to justice.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK

Europe at aglance NEWS 7

Amsterdam Copenhagen Moscow “Asian El Chapo” arrested: The alleged No refuge: More protests: Awoman who was head of Asia’s biggest crimesyndicate was The Social kicked tothe ground by policeduring arrested by Dutch police last Friday, as he Democrat demonstrationsinSaint Petersburg has prepared to board aflight fromSchiphol prime minister emerged as anew symbol ofRussia’s airport in Amsterdam.One ofthe world’s of Denmark anti-corruptionmovement. Margarita most wanted men, Tse Chi Lopisbelieved has declared Yudina,54, wasoneoftens of to bethe ultimate leader of theSamGor that her goal is thousands of people who braved freezing drugs syndicate –commonly known as for the country temperatures, and the threat of arrest, on The Company. Specialising inmeth- not to offer Saturday toprotestagainst thedetention amphetamine, as well as ketamine and asylumtoany of Alexei Navalny (seepage 16). In a fentanyl, it dominates the $70bn Asian refugees.Although her party isconsidered video that went viral, causing widespread drugs market. According to the UN, its centre-left, Mette Frederiksen has backed a disquiet, she was seen beingkicked inthe sales of methamphetamine alone were hardline on immigration inanattemptto stomach, after asking a policeofficer why worth up to $18bn in2018, while outflank thepopulist right-wing Danish afellow protester hadbeendetained. This Australian federal policesay the syndicate People’s Party. “We cannot promise zero week, Navalny’s supporters called for is responsiblefor 70% of all the illegal asylumseekers,”she told parliament. “But more demonstrations over the weekend. drugs that enter Australia.They had we canset up that vision.” Only 1,547 The US, EU and UK haveall called for reportedly been trackingTse–aChinese- people applied for asyluminDenmark last Navalny’s immediate release. born Canadiannational dubbed the Asian year, the lowest number since 1998.Inher El Chapo – for a decade. Hewas arrested ambitiontodrive that down to nil, she has underaninternational warrant, andthe the support of the immigration minister Australian authoritiesare now seeking his Mattias Tesfaye, who is the son ofa extradition so that he can stand trial there. refugee fromEthiopia.

Eindhoven, the Netherlands Curfew riots: Police clashed with rioters on the streets ofcities and towns across the Netherlands this week,inthe worst unrest the country has experienced for decades. The violence erupted lastweekend, following the introduction ofanight-time curfew, from 9pm to 4.30am, aspart of the government’s attemptstohaltthe spread of thecoronavirus. At first, the disorder was mainly confined to Eindhoven andAmsterdam, but it then spread over successivenightstoRotterdam, The Hague andmany smaller towns. Shops were looted, police were attacked and cars set on fire; inthe port of Urk,acoronavirus testing centre was burned down.Police reportedthat mostofthe people defying the curfew were teenagers, and PM Mark Rutte insisted thatitwas not a political protest,but “criminalviolence”. The Netherlands has had970,156 confirmed Covid cases, and 13,772 deaths.

Paris Rome Vatican City Border controls: France introduced PM’sgamble: Giuseppe Conte resigned as Dishonestbanker: new bordercontrols last Sunday as part Italy’sprimeministeronTuesday, days The former head of intensive efforts to avoid athird nation- after one of his coalitionpartners pulled of the Vatican wide lockdown. People arrivinginFrance out of thegovernment over adisagreement Bankhas been from EU countries by airorsea mustnow abouthow to spend s209bn of EU Covid found guilty of be able to produceanegative PCR test recovery funds. The withdrawal of ex-PM embezzlement, result obtainedinthe previous 72 hours (a Matteo Renzi’s liberal Italia Viva party and sentencedto requirement that hasbeeninforce since meant that Conte’scoalition–which is nearlynine years mid-January for eligible non-EU arrivals). backed by the main centre-left Democrats in jail.Angelo Separately, the government issued new as well as thepopulistFiveStarMovement Caloia, 81, was rules on facecoverings, in effect banning –nolonger hadamajority in theSenate, presidentofthe the useofhomemade masks.France makingithard for it to govern.The PM’s bank (the Institute went into its second nationallockdown decision to quit wasuniversally regarded for theWorks of Religion) forten years in October –earlierthancomparable as tactical: the lawprofessor,who is not until 2009. Two Italianlawyers who Europeancountries, including the UK.It amember of any party,will be hopingto worked as consultants underhim were hassufferedfar fewer deaths in the second form anew, more durable, government also convicted: GabrieleLiuzzo,97, and wave thaneitherthe UK or Germany, but and return as PM,perhaps withindays. his sonLamberto Liuzzo, 55. Thethree the number of new cases hasbeenrising The gamble rests on theassumptionthat were found guilty of embezzling s19m, steadily for the past sevenweeks.The many centrist opposition MPswould join and stashing it awayinsecretSwissbank lockdown wasliftedinDecember,but his coalition, rather thanrisk asnap accounts, whileoverseeing thesaleof29 a6pm to 6am curfewremainsinplace, election which pollssuggest woulddeliver Vatican-ownedpropertiesinRome, Genoa with barsand restaurants closed. big gains to hard-right parties (see page 16). and Milan between 2002 and2007.

Catch up with daily news at theweek.co.uk 30 January 2021 THE WEEK 8 NEWS The world at aglance

Washington DC Ottawa Newbroom: President JoeBiden Queen’srep quits: The Queen’s officialrepresentative inCanada is poised to reverse a lawwhich – GovernorGeneral Julie Payette–abruptlyresigned last week, prevents USfederal funds from amid allegations thatshe had presided over a toxicwork beinggiven toforeign non- environment inwhichstaffwerebullied andharassed. Last year, governmental agencies that perform the state broadcaster CBC carried a reportinwhich several abortions,offer abortion-related former employees allegedthat Payette, 57, threw tantrums inthe services, oradvocatefor abortion office,andreduced her stafftotears. “She screams andhumiliates reform. Known as the “global gag staff in front of others,” said one.Inresponse,the PrivyCouncil rule”,itwas introduced bythe ordered an official probe, by an independent consulting firm, Reagan administration, but expandedbyDonald Trump. The which had just delivered its findingstosenior officials when US will now also join the internationalvaccine-sharing scheme Payette resigned.Ascientist, engineer and former astronaut, she Covax. The changes, which mark a major shift in USglobal was appointedtothe ceremonialposition by BuckinghamPalace, health policy, were announced last week by Dr Anthony Fauci in 2017,onthe advice of the Canadian PM, Justin Trudeau. As (pictured), whom Biden has made his chief medical adviser, in a Governor General,she hadessentially acted as head of state in the speech to theWorld Health Organisation. In his speech, Fauci Queen’sabsence. Her term hadbeen due to last fiveyears. also paidtribute to the WHO’s work infightingthe pandemic, and said hewas “honoured” to announcethat theUSwas cancellingitswithdrawal from the organisation, which Trump had accused of being“too China-centric”. Separately, the 80-year-old medic saidhefelt “liberated” to be workingfor anewadministration, andthat he’d felt like “the skunk atthepicnic” while working with Trump. However, he said he’dnever consideredresigning. “I always felt that ifIdidwalk away, the skunk atthe picnic would no longerbeatthepicnic,” he explained.

Washington DC Impeachment redux: The speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, formally submitted the article of impeachment against Donald Trump to the SenateonMonday. However, DemocratsandRepublicans haveagreed to a two- week delaytohis Senatetrial on chargesof“incitement of insurrection”. It willnowbegin on 8 February. The delaygives Trumpmore timetoprepareadefence; Democrats hope it will also allow timefor new evidence to emerge. However, the chances of Trump beingconvictedappearedthisweek to be receding. On Tuesday,ameasure that wouldhavedeclaredthe impeachment unconstitutional (as Trump is no longer in office) wasonly defeated by 55 votes to 45, suggestingthat the Democrats will struggle to secure the 67votes needed for a conviction.

Mexico City President has Covid: Mexico’s left-wing populistpresident, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has become thelatest world leader to contract Covid-19. He announced on Sunday that he wasundergoing “medicaltreatment” for what he called mild symptoms. The 67-year-old president,who hadaheart attack in 2013,has consistently played down thepandemic andquestioned the valueofsocial distancing measures andmask-wearing. Known for rejecting the privilegesofoffice, he hassaid he will wait to be vaccinated along with the rest ofhis age group, whichislikely to be in mid-March. Mexico’sofficialCoviddeath tollisrising rapidly,and is currently the fourth highest in the world, at 150,000; its deathrate per one million cases is the 20th highest in theworld.

Washington DC Star poet: Two volumes of poetry Manaus, Brazil by AmandaGorman, the 22-year- Health service“collapse”: The old whoperformed at President healthcare system in Manaus– Biden’s inauguration ceremony theAmazoncitybelievedtobethe lastweek, have soaredtothe top source of amorecontagious strain of of theAmazonUSbestseller lists, the coronavirus –has “collapsed”,Brazil’shealth ministerhas although neither is available until admitted. Eduardo Pazuellowas speaking after an airforce plane September. Gorman’s assured beingused to transport urgentlyneededoxygen to the remote delivery of herown poem, The Hill regionbroke down. Last week,Venezuelasent trucks containing We Climb –arousingcallfor unityina“diverse andbeautiful” 132,000 litres of oxygen to thecity –apolitically chargedgift America –madeher famous overnight. Herpublishersaidthat from aleft-wing government regarded as illegitimate by Brazil’s in response to “overwhelming demand”, it would produce a right-wing president, JairBolsonaro.Nearly220,000Brazilians hardback editionofthepoem by April, with afirstprint runof have nowdiedwith Covid-19,giving the countrythe highest 150,000. Gorman, whogrewupinLos Angeles andstudied deathtoll afterthe US.However, its per capitadeath rate is sociology at Harvard, saysshe hopestorun forpresident in 2036. lower than thatofmany countries in the Americas and Europe.

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 The world at aglance NEWS 9

Tunis Baghdad Delhi Ten years Isis bombs: At least 32peoplewerekilled Farmers get violent: Long-running protests on: Violent andmore than 100 injured inadouble againstreforms to India’s vast agricultural protests suicide bomb attack on a busy Baghdad sectorturned violent thisweek,as erupted in marketlastweek. ClaimedbyIslamic hundreds of thousandsoffarmers broke Tunisia’s State,itwas byfarthe worstsuch atrocity through police barricades inseveral parts capital,Tunis, in theIraqicapital for three years.The of Delhi, some going on to stormthe and at least bombs were detonated mid-morning in the historicRed Fort complex. At least one ten other cities main commercial area of the city,atBab protesterwas killed, and scores of police last week, al-Sharqimarket, which wasteemingwith officers were injured. Tens of thousandsof sparked by shoppersexcited by the recent liftingof farmers –many Sikhs fromPunjab – have a viral video of policemistreatinga months of Covid-19 restrictions. One been living in protestcampsonthe out- shepherd. They coincided with the tenth bomber, according to Iraq’sinterior skirts of the capital since November.The anniversaryofthe oustingofPresident Ben ministry, drew a crowd of people to him authoritieshad permitted them to stage a Ali,the first leader of the Arabworld to be by claiming he was ill;when they came to tractor rally once the official Republic Day toppled in the “ArabSpring” uprisings of offerhelp hedetonatedhis device. The parade hadended; but, ignoringthat, vast 2011. The protests are directedatthe secondsuicide bomber apparently blew crowds broke down barriers onfour major failure of successive governments to tackle himself up when peoplegathered to move routes into Delhi, and “invaded” the city. poverty anddeliveronthe promises of the wounded from the first explosion. Pope The new laws,backed byPMNarendra 2011. Tunisia’salready weak economy has Francis, scheduled to visit Iraq in March, Modi,wouldopen up wholesale food beenwreckedbythe pandemic. deplored it as a “senseless act ofbrutality”. markets to privatebusiness (see page 19).

Qixia,China Miners saved: Eleven miners wererescued from a collapsed goldmine in China’s easternShandong province this week, having spent two weeks trapped underground. Ten miners are knowntohave been killed in the 10 January blast atthemine inQixia. China hassomeofthe world’s mostdangerous mines: 573 miners were killed last year. But the overall trend is towards greater safety.Lastyear’s death toll was a 22% drop year on year and, for the first time since 1949,there was no majorgas explosion at a coal mine.

Harare Tigray, Ethiopia Covid deaths: Starvationfears: Zimbabwe’s Ethiopia’s govern- foreign minister, ment is accused Sibusiso Busi of conducting Moyo, hasdiedof a“cultural Covid-19 –the third cleansing” high-ranking politician in thecountry to operation in do so in recentweeks. Moyo becamewell Tigray, involving Hong Kong knowninternationallyin2017 as theface the destruction of First lockdown: Hong Konghas imposed a of themilitary-backed coup thatremoved its churchesand lockdown forthe first time since the start Robert Mugabe from powerafter 37 mosques. Prime of thepandemic, though so far it affects years.The massivesurge in Covidcases MinisterAbiy Ahmed insists the war only around 10,000 people livingin since late December ledthe government to againstthe restiveregionisover; but housing blocks in theJordan area of the impose a30-day lockdown that includes a accounts emerging from Tigray claim his Kowloon peninsula –one of the poorest nationwide curfew, theclosureofnon- troopsare conducting acampaign of mass and most denselypopulated areas in Hong essential businesses and aban on rapesand massacres, and using starvation Kong.Imposed at theweekend,itisbeing gatherings of any sort. Officially,the as atool of war. Such claims are hard to strictly enforced by hundreds of police. In country hasrecorded just over 1,000 verify, as phone networks are down and Beijing, meanwhile, theauthorities have Covid deaths since the start of the no aidagencies or journalists are allowed lockeddown parts of thecityand ordered pandemic,but doctorgroups say the access. Two million people –athird of 1.6millionresidents to takeCovid tests, absence of masstesting means the true Tigray’spopulation –are thoughttohave after two new cases wereidentified as deathtollwill provetobevastly higher. fled theirhomes in the courseofthe war. beingofanew, more infectiousvariant.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 10 NEWS People

Life during the Aidscrisis But it wasn’t like that: many of Russell T. Davies became them were just “ordinaryboys famous by writing about the being as stupid andashornyas lives of gay men; but inhis any boy ever is.And scared,” teens, he wasanxious about he adds. “And in denial.” hissexuality – anditmay have saved his life. He wasliving in The truthabout hacking Swansea, andasa“horny” It’s years since the phone 17 yearold,hewas excited hacking scandal broke, says to learn that therewas a gay Paula Cocozza in The saunainnearby Newport. Guardian –yetactress Caroline “I used to think, ‘I could go Quentinonlydiscovered 18 andhavelots of sex in that months ago that she’d been saunaright now,’” he recalls. avictim of it. She’d had her Eventually, in 1980, he plucked suspicions,but “I kept up thecourage to seek the thinking: ‘If I’ve been hacked, place out – but then walked the police willphone me, won’t on past, “scared ofmen and they?’ But thatisnot the case. sex and becoming what I am”. They’re under no obligationto Now, herealisesthat going in tellanybody.” It wasafriend would have opened the door to who’d also beentargeted who that world of casual sex, just at urged her to getalawyer; it the wrong moment, says Decca turned out herphonehad been Aitkenhead in The Sunday hacked for 12yearsfrom1996: Times.The UK was on the “right the way through meeting cusp of the Aids epidemic [my husband], my pregnancies, – but when he started to hear my miscarriages,everything... rumours that gay men were You know,what’s awful about beingkilled by amystery virus, it is it did formyrelationship When Francesca Jones was eight, doctors told her she’d never he was incredulous. “Ithought: with my dad.” Her father had play tennis professionally. Arare genetic condition –ectrodactyly ‘This isridiculous;itcan’tbe leftwhen she was 15. After she ectodermal dysplasia –means she’s missing afinger on each hand true,’”herecalls. “A disease became famous,the papers ran and has only three toes on her right foot, and four toes on her left. that affects haemophiliacs and stories about him. “Lots. And Jones, though, didn’t listen: she carried on playing, using an extra- Haitians andhomosexuals – about one of my sisters. But light racquet with athin handle to aid her grip, and learning to keep how impossible is that?” they’reboth dead. My mother her balance despite her missing toes. Now, the Bradford-born Partly, he accepts that he didn’t was distressed. Because why 20-year-old has qualified for her first Grand Slam event –February’s want to believe it, because it wouldn’t Itell her I was Australian Open –where she could be pitted against the likes of would “stop the party”; but expecting ababy before I’d tell Serena Williams. It’s extraordinary that she has got this far, said when his friends started dying, anewspaper?Mymother’s Mike Dickson in the Daily Mail; yet Jones is philosophical about the it was impossible to ignore. dead. Ican’tsaytoher: ‘I told hurdles she has overcome. “I think every human being has physical Now, he haswritten adrama you!’Ican’t.I’ll never have weaknesses,” she says. “Each person is dealt their set of cards and series, It’s a Sin (seepage31), that opportunity. And it’s vile, each person has to play their game with their set of cards, and try which tackles the question of actually. It’svile to know that to win the game. That’s how Isee it.” She says she has lost count whysome HIV-positive men some shittylittle man in a dirty of the number of operations she has had to have. But she doesn’t hadunprotected sex, despite raincoatknows allyour think of herself as adisabled athlete –and insists her motivation knowing they could infect medical history, your private has nothing to do with proving wrong the doctors who wrote her others.“Those people have stuff,whetherornot youare off. “I am not playing out of revenge,” she says. “I am playing to been for decades portrayed as going to haveababy or have apositiveimpactonthepeople who hopefully read my story. villains... criminals, in fact.” miscarry ababy.” I’d love people to take strength from my story to build their own.”

Castaway of the week Viewpoint: Farewell This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured Exit thebear the astronaut Tim Peake Hank Aaron, baseball “Inone way, it doesn’t matter player who toppled Babe 1 Don’t Stop Me Now by Freddie Mercury, performed by Queen whether Joe Biden will be any good. Ruth’s homerun record, 2 It Must Be Love by LabiSiffre, performed by Madness We should just enjoy the relief. died 22 January, aged 86. 3 WaterlooSunset by Ray Davies, performed by The Kinks Imagine if abearmoved into your Dame Margaret Booth, 4 Mr Blue Sky by JeffLynne,performed by the Electric houseand for four years, every day, pioneering femaleHigh Light Orchestra it did huge dumps on your bed, in Courtjudge, died 1 5 Word Up! by Larry Blackmonand Tomi Jenkins, performed the fridge, in each individual sock. It January, aged 87. by Gun mauled the neighbours, it roared all Nathalie Delon, French 6* IDon’t Want to Miss aThing by DianeWarren, performed night, it chewed through awall, then actressknown forthe by Aerosmith insisted you had to pay for the wall, 1967 film Le Samouraï, 7 Glycerine by GavinRossdale, performed by Bush it locked your kids in cages, and died 21 January, aged 79. 8 Always Look on theBright Side of Life by Eric Idle,performed when the bear catcher came to take Elijah Moshinsky, by MontyPython it away, it summonsed its untrained opera director, died cubs to blow up his van. You’d just 14 January, aged 75. be delirious that it was gone. This Grace Robertson, wouldn’t be the time for anyone photojournalist who Book: an atlas to ask, ‘So, what do you think your chronicled postwarUK, next pet will be like?’” died 8January,aged90. Luxury: atelescope *Choiceifallowed only one record MarkSteel in The Independent

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Briefing NEWS 13 HowTesla made it to the top Tesla isthe mostvaluable car-maker in theworld: ithastransformed theindustryandmadeElonMuskthe richest man on theplanet

What are the company’s origins? US government, which gave it a $465m Teslamay now be indeliblylinkedto clean energy loan, and DaimlerAG, the Elon Musk, butitwas infact foundedby Mercedes-Benz owner, which tooka two other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs: 10% stake. Productionincreasedto Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning. about100per month by mid-2009. Havingfounded an early e-book venture, NuvoMedia,and sold itfor$187m in Did everything then go smoothly? 2000,they embarked on a new project: Far from it, becauseTesla’splan was so they believed that a prototype electric ambitious. Producingahigh-end sports sportscar called the AC Propulsiontzero carwas only the first step. The nextwas couldserve as the model for ahigh- to producealuxury sedan competing performance electriccar.InJuly 2003, with the likes of Mercedes andBMW: they founded Tesla Motors, named after the Model S, which was introduced in the inventor NikolaTesla, a pioneer of 2012, costing some $58,000 (latercame alternatingcurrent (AC) and thekind of an SUV version, the Model X). Third, motor used inthe tzero. However, most therewould be a car aimedsquarely at venture capitalists passed onthis unusual the mass market: the Model 3, which project; so Musk, anotherenthusiast for started rolling offthe production line the tzero, became Tesla’smain investor The Cybertruck: the next evolution of Tesla in 2017, priced at $35,000. The barriers (tothe tune of$6.3m) andits chairman. to mass-producing on thisscale are huge. Musk bought a vast formerGMand Toyota plant in Fremont, What made their idea different? California, in 2010. The same year, Tesla became the first US car Unlike previouselectric cars, such as General Motors’ much- companysince Ford in 1956 to launch on thestockmarket. Even maligned EV1 model, Tesla was the first to use lithium-ion so,gettingthe Model 3 to marketresultedinvarious near-death batteries ofthe sortfound in laptopcomputers:its engineers experiences: in 2013, Muskvery nearly sold Tesla to Google. developed their own innovative battery packs. Thesewould give its firstmodel, the Roadster,anunprecedented range and power: Why has Tesla been so successful? it would do 0-60mph in 3.9secondsand cover245 milesona Not only did it show that electric cars were viable, it also made singlecharge. Tesla’s founding vision was unique: itwanted to them desirable. Tesla hasreinvented the designing, building and buildsleek, stylish carswith zero engineemissions that wouldn’t selling ofcars.Where mostofthe industrybuys components just appeal to nerdsand theecologically minded. The plan was from manysuppliers, Tesla has builtupits ownsupply chain: it to use thetzero’s electric drivetrain with the chassis of aBritish hascustom-built its ownelectric engines,battery packs andself- sports car, the Lotus Elise. Itwas very much aSiliconValley driving tech, even its ownglass. It also doesn’t advertise oruse vehicle, too, with state-of-the-artelectronics, a video display and adealer network (customers buy online). What’s more, Musk’s carbon-fibreinterior: it hasbeen called theiPhone 1 of cars. ambition isn’tjusttosell cars: he wants to bring about a global transitiontoclean energy.In2016, he opened a“Gigafactory” When did Tesla start making cars? making battery packs with Japan’s Panasonic in Nevada. Tesla In 2006,the Roadster was unveiled to great fanfare atanevent now not only has a car-charging network, butasolarpowerarm, in Santa Monica, California.Guests included the then-California SolarCity, too.Progress in recent years hasbeen startling:Tesla GovernorArnold Schwarzenegger; 100 cars were sold to increased production from 120,000 vehiclesin2017to350,000 customersdubbed the“Signature One Hundred Members”, in 2018, though it still made a£1bn loss. In 2020, it delivered including George Clooney. The car went down a storm. “This is 499,950 cars, overtook Toyota as the world’s mostvaluable car not your father’s electric car,” saidThe Washington Post. “The company, and made a$330m profit in the third quarter alone. $100,000 vehicle,with its sportscar looks, is moreFerrari than Prius – Elon Musk: the real-lifeIronMan What does the future hold? andmore about testosteronethan “How strange,” tweeted Elon Musk when news broke Tesla now has factories in theUSand granola.” Butassooften with Tesla, on 7January that he had overtaken Amazon’s Jeff China, as well as huge new plants in the problem was makingenough Bezos to become the world’s richest person, worth the works in Germany and Texas. vehicles to meet demand. Production some $185bn. Born in Pretoria, South Africa, 49-year- Next year, it plans to launch anew wasbeset by delays, unforeseen old Musk was an introverted, bookish child who was Roadster, which it says will boasta problemsand spiralling costs, andno bullied at school (once so badly that he was hospital- 0-60mph time of about two seconds cars were madeuntilMarch 2008.By ised for afortnight), before emigrating to Canada and –the same as aFormula1car.Its September that year, only 30 cars had the US to study physics and economics. In his 20s, he Cybertruckpick-upisdue before founded two digital businesses, Zip2 and X.com, which actually been delivered to customers, became PayPal: he was ousted as chief executive of that.Yet although Tesla’s value hit andbyChristmas Tesla was on the the latter, but made $165m. In 2002, he founded $500bn last year –more than Toyota, verge of bankruptcy. SpaceX, the space transport outfit which he hopes will Volkswagen, Hyundai, GM and Ford enable people to live on other planets, and now combined –itstill lags behind in How did it pull through? divides his time between SpaceX, Tesla and projects terms of scale: Toyota produced more Musk had always been amajor like Hyperloop, aproposed ultra-high-speed train line. than eightmillion unitsworldwide. influenceonthe design of Tesla’s cars, Musk combines messianic business aims with ataste Many investors now view itsshare and wasinfuriated that coverage of for showmanship: Robert Downey Jr spent time with price as detached from reality. the 2006launchminimisedhis role. him to prepare to play the tech genius Tony Stark in Demand forelectric carsisescalating As its problems mounted, apower Marvel’s Iron Man.In2018, Musk smoked marijuana –globalsales reached3.2 million in struggle sawEberhard sackedaschief during alivewebcast, and claimed that he had secured 2020 –but nowalmostall major car funding to take Tesla private. He didn’t, and so was executive; Musk replacedhim in fined £20m by regulators. The same year he began a companies arealsoproducingelectric 2008, and fired aquarter of Tesla’s relationship with the pop star Grimes; last year, the models.Tesla may have pioneered employees. In 2009, its pioneering couple gave their baby son the name XÆA-Xii. electric vehicles, but it faces stiff electric designs were recognised by the competition in theyears ahead.

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One of thekey lessons of the GrenfellTower disaster, says Madeline Grant, is how amazingly“expensive it is to build IT MUST BE TRUE… Don’t let the cheaply”. It’s alesson many leaseholders in flats across theUK I read it in the tabloids havediscovered to their cost.Afriend of mine, forexample, who hassavedfor years to buyhis London home, hasbeentold that One of Italy’s top young chefs builders pass has provoked outrage in his its insulation,which passed allsafety checks at the time, is in fact home country by serving the buck flammable –and that he is personally liable forthe costs of fixing lasagne “toothpaste” at his it. It’s the same storyfor thousandsofothers nowstuck in anight- Rome restaurant. Valerio Madeline Grant marishsituation, unabletosell or remortgage their flats,facing Braschi, 23, winner of soaring insurance premiums and theprospect of havingtostump MasterChef Italia and head The Sunday Telegraph up tens of thousands of pounds to make theirhome safe. When chef of 1978, is serving up cars or toastersare defective, manufacturershavetofixthem, tubes of warm purée of yet in the construction industry,those responsibleget offscot- minced meat and tomato free. True, assigning liability is trickyinacaseinvolvingmultiple sauce, which diners squeeze onto atoothbrush made from governments, councils,developers andbuilders, over decades. But egg pasta, and eat with a we do know that “one groupunambiguouslydid nothing wrong sauce of liquefied parmesan. –the leaseholders”.Sowhy arethey the ones facing ruin? “It might be abit extreme for the purists,” he admitted. Numbers influence socialpolicy,says Ed Conway, but none have had such ahugeimpact on our lives as the “R number”. We know How ministers it’s ameasure of how many people, on average, someone with Covid is likely to infect. We know it determines whether lockdown fell for the canbelifted.Yet few know how it’s calculated.Farfromderiving from some data-crunching formula, it’s the product of negotiation. mystique of R Every week agroup of academics from 11 different institutions meet online, each making acaseforwhat he orshesuspects the Ed Conway reproductionratetobe. These judgement calls,which oftendiffer wildly, are then combined intoakind of average... and hey The Times presto. Riseffectively an educated guess. Experts are baffled that ministersset such store byit: “no other leading nation” has let it dictate policy in thisway. Buthavingbeen slatedatthe start of the pandemic forfailing to follow thescience,the Government overcompensated: it thought that fixating on a “scientific” metric like R would silencethe critics. Yet there’snothing scientific about US rock band The Flaming investingasingle data point with more relevance than it deserves. Lips have stagedtwo Covid- proof gigsinwhich100 Almost half a trillion pounds. That’s how much thewealth of the audience members partied world’s ten richest individuals is said to haverisen since the start inside giantindividual Tax the super- of thispandemic, says Simon Jenkins. You can quibble with the inflatable bubbles. Each figures,but there’snodenyingthatcurrent economicpolices have capsule contained aspeaker, rich and rescue enabled “a super-rich elite to amasswealth inthe middle of the awater bottle,afan, atowel worst recession since the GreatDepression”,evenasbillions –and a“Igotta go pee /hot democracy struggle to survive. In the latter part of the20th century, thegap in here” sign, which could between rich and poor was diminishing; now, thanks partly to the be used to attract staff. The Simon Jenkins huge profitsaccruing to owners of the new online technologies, focus of the Oklahoma City the gap is widening again.And it’s destabilising democracy. gigs was “safety, safety, The Guardian There’s only one way to tackleit: through taxation. America and safety”, said singer Wayne Europe must together confront Apple,Facebook and the other Coyne. “But fun too!” global giants, which havegot awaywith “operatingvirtually tax-free”. If Argentinacan levy aone-off emergency surtax on its A“vagina-scented” candle sold by Gwyneth Paltrow’s 12,000 richestcitizens, there’s no reasonwhy richer nationscan’t Goop lifestyle brand has do thesame. Governments mustalso be farless indulgent of tax exploded in aLondon home. avoidance:the world’stax havensdenynationalexchequerssome Jody Thompson, 50, said $250bn ayear.Theymustact now.Wecan’t afford, either her £68 This Smells Like morallyorfinancially,tolet today’sgrotesque inequality continue. My Vagina candle blew up without warning, emitting Some conclusions about policy outcomesreally don’trequire elab- huge flames and causing an orate analyticalstudies forustoreach them, says Ross Clark. One “inferno”. “It was scary at such conclusion is that, when “yourcar breaks down on the motor- the time,” she said, “but The dumb funny looking back that way, you arelesslikely to be hit by an HGV” if you’re not in a Gwyneth’s vagina candle liverunning lane. SouthYorkshire’s seniorcoroner, examiningthe exploded in my living room.” IKE BOWERS/FACEBOOK

policy of smart ©M case of two men killed by alorry on the M1, instantly drew that motorways conclusion: he is callingfor an urgent review of smart motorways. Alump of But don’tcount on Highways England seeing such obvious sense. volcanic rock Ross Clark In astatement after the M1 deaths, it claimed that smart motor- with an ways with “all lane running”(i.e. no hard shoulder) hadreduced uncanny The Daily Telegraph casualty ratesby28%. Really?Isn’t that more to do with better resemblance lighting andcrash barriers thanabsenceofahard shoulder? True, to Sesame Street’s Cookie smart motorways would be less dangerous if they all had “stopped Monster has vehicle detection radar” to alert motorists to the danger: butonly been found inB Brazil.razil “T Thishis 7.4% of them do. The rest depend on eagle-eyedCCTV operators is very unusual!” geologist whose alertstake17minutes on average to getthrough.“Smart?” Mike Bowers said of his stone. Hardly.It’sjustawayofboosting roadcapacity on thecheap.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 16 NEWS Best articles: Europe

Taking on the “tsar”:the courage of Putin’s fiercest critic You have to admire Alexei and poisoned. But he keeps coming Navalny’s courage, said The New back: in December, he posed as YorkTimes. Vladimir Putin’s asenior bureaucrat and duped fiercestdomestic critic returned to amember of Russia’s FSB spy Russialast week, after fivemonths agency into apparently describing recovering in Germany fromhis the plot to kill him – Novichok, near-fatal poisoning by“Putin’s the man said,had been smeared political goons” with the nerve in Navalny’sunderwear. Now, agent Novichok. He was, of course, he has uppedthe stakes, said arrested as soon as hereached Anton OrekhinEcho Moskvy Moscow, and isnow languishing in (Moscow).Inthe past, he largely the city’s notorious Matrosskaya refrained from attackingPutin Tishina prison. “Yet still he personally, focusing instead torments his tormentor,” said The on hiscronies. Butthis latest Economist.Twodaysafter he was investigation has made things detained, Navalny’s teamreleased Navalny arrested: athorninthe Kremlin’s side personal.Navalnyhas delved into atwo-hour film devoted towhatit “intimate aspects” of Putin’s life in calledPutin’s “billion-dollar secretpalaceonthe Black Sea”. a bid to destroy the “celestial image” manyordinaryRussians Set on an estate 39 times the size of Monaco, the palace boasts have of him. And it may work: the video investigation was an underground ice-hockey rink, a casino and ared-velvet viewed almost 25million times on the day it was released. “hookah lounge” with a dancing pole. Its groundshouse vineyards and oyster farms; it even has atunnel to the beach. Navalny’s arrest precipitated protests across Russia, said Robyn “It’s an entire city, or ratherakingdom,” Navalnysaidinapre- Dixon in TheWashington Post.Tens of thousands of people recorded video. “It has impregnable fences, its own port, its own took to the streets in over 100towns andcitiesfromSiberia security, achurch, its own permit system,ano-fly zone, and even to Moscow on Saturday – the largest show of defiance against its own bordersystem. It’s like aseparate stateinside Russia. Putin’sregime in years.Russiahasseensuch protests before, And in thisstatethereisasingle andunchanging tsar: Putin.” said Alexander Baunov in TheMoscow Times, but this time it felt different. The usual crowdofliberals and academics were Putin claims that nothing in thevideo belongstohim.But joined by working-class Russians who are fed up with Putin’s rumours have beencirculating since 2010,said Grigory “lawlessness” –and thinkNavalnymight just improve their lot. Levchenko in Meduza (Riga), when the businessman Sergei Kolesnikov saidthat hehad been involved inaproject to build Putin is now facing the biggest threat to his power since entering aresidence for Putin, built byhis“friends”usingfunds from theKremlintwodecadesago,said Gideon Rachman in the FT. state-owned businesses. Later, photos of its plush interiors were The authorities are spooked.Saturday’sprotests were met with leaked online. Butthe investigationbyNavalny’s FBK anti- afearsomecrackdown: 3,700 people were arrested, including corruption organisation piles up the details. It features aerial Navalny’s wife, Yulia (who waslater released). Navalnyhimself drone shots ofthe estate, along with floor plans andinventories is duetostandtrial in February on charges of violating the terms apparentlyleaked by a shocked contractor. There’s a wine of asuspended sentencefor fraud (he has been prosecuted a cellar, aTurkishbathand a cinema; there are 47 sofas worth numberoftimes).Hecould face three years or more in jail;he $20,000-$27,000,and even an Italian toilet brush costing $840. may evendie there.Maintaining the momentum of these protests willbeaformidable task, said TheProject (Moscow).But Navalny has longbeenathorn in Putin’s side. The 44-year-old there’s reason to think Navalny’sbraverymayjust bring lasting has been repeatedly arrested on trumped-up charges, beaten up change. After all, if anyonecan takeonPutin, it’s probably him.

BRUSSELS With Joe Biden installed in the White House, European leaders can breatheasigh of relief, says Baptiste Roman.Gone is the“amateur and chaotic” diplomacythat characterised the Trumpera;no longerwill they discoverthe president’s decisions via Twitter. Biden is arespectful multilateralist. He Is Joe Biden has appointed seasoned professionals to foreign policy roles: Antony Blinken, aFrench speaker who grew up partly in Paris, is secretary of state; theObama-era veteranJohnKerryisclimateenvoy.But really afriend thingswon’t pick up where they left off. TheUSnolongerthinksofitself as the world’s policeman. of Europe? Biden will review Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of Germany, but it’s hard to imaginethe US interveningasithas in thepastin, say, Kosovo. “Europewillnot be apriority.” Instead, Biden’s Le Taurillon focus will be on curtailing China’s ambitions. The fact that the EU hassigned amajor tradedeal (Paris) with Beijing,ignoring the Biden camp’spleas, is alreadyasource of tension. Trump may have left the White House –but hisfour years in office look to have changed US foreign policy for good.

ITALY It’s time Italy recognised the staggering costs of its chronic political instability, says Milena Gabanelli. The country hashad no fewerthan66governments since the Second World War; evensince electoral reforms were passed in 1993, it has hadten prime ministers –compared with fiveFrench Crippled by the presidents,and just threeGerman chancellors, in thesame period. True to form, the present coalition is tottering –for the secondtime in two years –having beentorpedoed by the withdrawal of Matteo revolving door Renzi’stinyItalia Viva party (which polls below3%). PM Giuseppe Conte resigned this week –but was reportedtobeplanning to try to form anew government. All this upheaval has adisastrous of government effect on Italy’s finances: every newgovernment wantstoreview its predecessor’s spending decisions. Corriere della Sera Frequent interruptions to thebuildingofa35-miletunnel for thenew Turin-Lyon high-speed rail (Milan) line, forinstance, are said to have cost s600m.Nearly1,000 positionshavetoberenewed with each newgovernment, paralysing ministries formonths. Alas, Italy’sconstitution handssomuch powerto smaller partiesthat any mild swing can easilyturninto apolitical “earthquake”. IfItaly wants to prosper, it must find away to inject some stability into its tumultuous politics.

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Best articles: International NEWS 19

Kamala Harris: “the last voice in the room” What a moment, said Jennifer Rubin a50-50 Senatewas the Republican in The Washington Post.Even though Dick Cheney in 2001,said Li Zhou we’veknown since November’s on Vox(New York), but he only electionthat Kamala Harris was going broke two tiesover the few months to bethe firstwoman – and first black that thesituation lasted. Harriswill andSouthAsianAmerican–to hold likely have to doitmuch moreoften, the officeofvice-president, seeingher owing to the more partisannature take the oath on theCapitol platform of today’sSenate. She’s also expected last week wasstill powerfullymoving. to wield considerable influence in the Even if JoeBiden does nothingelse White House. As the political science as president, his selectionofHarris, professorJody C.Baumgartner puts whose parents came to the USfrom it, “Vice-presidentsare only as Jamaica and India, marks a “leap powerful as their presidents letthem forward for women of colour”. Every be” –and Biden is apparently keen to official event, fromthe wreath-laying take full advantageofher expertise. at theTomb of the Unknown Soldier He has saidthatHarris,who prior to the formal welcoming of foreign Thenew vice-president: atie-breaking vote to her four years in the Senate spent leaders, will look different with her more than two decadesasaCalifornia there. It can’thelp but “recalibrate our assumptions about what prosecutor, will be his top adviser –or, as he put it, “the last voice acommander-in-chief,one day, might look like”. in the room” when key decisions aretaken.

Once regarded as little more than aceremonial role, the vice- Judging by her own ill-fatedrun for the Democratic presidential presidency hasgrown in importance sincethe Nixon era, said nomination in 2019,Harris is going to meet afair amount of Christian PazinThe Atlantic (WashingtonDC). And Harris’s role resistance inher newrole, saidDan Morain on CNN (Atlanta, in this administration isset to be a particularly consequential one, Georgia). Some on theLeft attacked her back then for not giventhat she holdsthe pivotal tie-breakingvote in theSenate, beingprogressiveenough,taking issue with parts ofher law which isevenly splitbetweenDemocrats and Republicans. Harris enforcement record.Otherscomplained that shewas too ambi- will be helping to formulate legislation, usingher “bully pulpit” tious. People onthe Right, meanwhile, painted her as aradical to champion it, andpotentially casting the decisivevotethatgets socialist(after herfirst debatewith Vice-PresidentMikePence, it throughCongress. “No vice-president has done allofthat DonaldTrump referred toher as a “monster” and “unlikeable”). before.” The downside to thisarrangement isthatHarris will As her biographer, I’d saythatHarris“is, on some levels, awork have to make sure that she’s around to cast her tie-breaking vote in progress and, no doubt,will fall short of some people’s expec- in theupper chamber when it’s needed.That mightcomplicate tations”. But her mixture of toughness, determination and empathy her foreign travelplans.The last vice-president to preside over should certainly stand her in good stead as vice-president. Modi’s farm reforms: aroute out of Indian poverty? The “immovable object and the concern for them, as have more than unstoppable force” are locked in a 100 British MPsand lords.Thiscomes stalemate, said The Economic Times at a bad time for Modi, who wants to (Mumbai). For two months now, tens of improve his image abroadafter his thousands ofIndia’sfarmers have been “vocal support” for Donald Trump. camping at the outskirts ofDelhi to protest againstcontroversial agricultural Modi mustshoulder the blame for reforms. The Government insists that ramming these laws through with the new laws – which would open up barely any consultation, said The Indian the system, allowing farmers to sell their Express. This inevitablysowed distrust. produce directly to private businesses It’s ashame, becausethe reformsmake ratherthantogovernment-controlled sense.Indianagriculture is in desperate wholesale markets –willbenefitfarmers need of reform. The subsidised system and boostproduction.But farmers producesfar moregrainthanisneeded, believe thelaws willleavethem at the Protests by farmers have put the policy on hold at huge economicand environmental mercy of the markets,threaten their cost.Mostofthe protesting farmers subsidies and allow powerful cartels to dominate agriculture. come from India’srichestagricultural state of Punjab, said NarendraModi’s administration offeredlastweektoput the SunilJaininTheFinancial Express(Noida).Theyare reformsonholdfor 18 months while ajoint committeesought “almostcompletely insulated from anymarket risk”, so have asolution. Farmers’ unions rejected this compromise, saying no incentive to modernise. If the statecharged them forall the they would accept nothingless thanthe full repeal of the laws. water they use, whichisdoing “tremendous damage to the watertable”, that mightchange.It’sironic that Modiisgetting All powertothem,said Prem Singh in The Indian Express such grief for these laws when his administration is actually (Noida).Over thepast 30 years, the forces of unbridled doing something right for once,said DerekScissorsonAEI.org capitalismhave been steadily marchingthrough India, (Washington DC).These reforms mimic “whatChina did 40 plundering nationalresources in the“unabated pursuitof yearsago, which itself set thestage forthe industrial take-off profits”. Thefarmers’ movement has at last challenged this many Indians longfor”. In acountry where morethan half trend. As the protests drag on,India’sgovernment is losing face thepeople workonfarms,the reformsintroduceacrucial bothathome andabroad, said Sumit Sharma in the AsiaTimes ingredient for development: morechoices. They offer aroute (Hong Kong).Last month, Canada’s prime minister, Justin outofpovertyfor the900 million Indians“nowhere close to Trudeau,expressedhis solidaritywiththe farmers,and his middleincome”.Government handouts won’tdothat.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK

Health &Science NEWS 21 What the scientists are saying… Eat nuts to cut dementia risk surprises – younever know what Regularlyeating a handfulofnuts from discoveries youmay happenupon,” said middle ageonwardscould help staveoff conservation biologist Rebecca Brunner, dementiainlater life, researchershave of the University of California, Berkeley, found. In a long-termstudy involving who spotted thefrog’s flipping movements 16,737 people,men andwomen who whilestanding inapool atthebottom of startedtoeat more thantwo portions of the waterfall.She said thefrog hadn’t kept nuts a weekintheir 40s were 21% less up the signalling for long, possibly because likely to show signs of reducedcognitive it uses toomuch energy.“Presumably function intheir 60s, 70s and80s than visual cues alsoincrease predation risk, people who ate nuts less than once a although their habitats areincredibly month.“Higher intake of nuts in midlife slippery and hard to access,”she added. wasrelated to a lower risk of cognitive impairmentinlate life,” said the team, Talking is worse than coughing from the National University of Singapore, Talking may lead to more transmission of in thejournal AgeandAgeing. It’s not the Covid-19 thancoughing, particularly in first studytofind a link between nut eating poorlyventilated areas, researchers from anddementia; andanumber of studies CambridgeUniversityhave warned.Inthe have shown other benefits associatedwith new study, published inthe Proceedings nut eating. One found that eatingafew Glass frogs: flirting with awave? of the Royal Society A, ateamused nuts a day wasassociated with a22% mathematicalmodelling to examinehow reduced risk of all-cause mortality. though they’re not sure why. Using high- Covid-19 spreads in different situations However, the researchers behind that speed cameras to film the flights of more indoors. They concluded that when people studystressed then that they hadn’t than 20 fly species, the researchers found are together in a poorly ventilated space, established a causallink, and noted that that,overall, Calyptratae flieswere five and not wearingmasks,prolongedtalking although they had tried to factor insuch times faster at taking off than other flies; is morelikely to spread the virus than a differences,peoplewho eat nuts regularly but when their halteres were removed, they short cough. The reason is that tiny aerosol may well have morehealthyhabits overall. lost this advantage. “It’s partofthe reason droplets linger in the air longer than the they’re sosuccessful –they can escapevery larger ones emitted duringcoughing How flies make their getaway quickly,”said Assoc. Prof Jessica Fox, a –which quickly fall to the ground. There’sareason housefliesare so member ofthe team from Case Western Whether people actuallycatch Covid infuriatingly difficult to swat: their legs Reserve University inCleveland, Ohio. depends on how much aerosol they allow them to fly offfive timesfaster breathe in, and that will depend on than other types offly. Allfly species Glass frogs wave to their mates various factors, includingwhether theyare have shortened hind wingscalled halteres, Glass frogs livinginthe spray ofwaterfalls wearing amask, how close they are to the reports the New Scientist. These don’t oftencan’t make themselves heard above infected person, andthe ventilationinthe generate much lift, but are used as sensory the dinofthe water – so rather than croak- room. Tohelppeople get a sense ofthe organsfor balance while theinsect is in ingtoattract a mate, they wave, and bob risksofbecoming infectedindoors, the flight.Now scientists have discoveredthat theirheads.That, at least, is the most likely researchers have developed anonline the group of flies knownasCalyptratae, explanation for the unusual gesturing, calculator, called Airborne.cam. “The idea which includes houseflies andblowflies, which was observed byUSresearchers is not toobtain absolute riskfigures from rhythmically move thesewings when working deep in the Ecuadorean the tool,”said Dr Pedro Magalhães de standing. The team also established that rainforest. “One of the best things about Oliveira,“but to useitto see how miti- this makes their reactions much quicker, fieldwork is that nature isalways fullof gation strategies impact risk of infection.”

Monkeysmakeclever thieves In defence of rapid tests

The monkeys who roam the Uluwatu Agroup of prominent scientists have TempleinBali are notorious forrobbing come to the defence of rapid lateral flow unsuspectingtourists, then holding onto tests, describing them as an essential their possessions until food is offeredas tool in the pandemic. The scientists – aransom, says TheGuardian. Now including Prof Sir John Bell, regius scientistshavediscovered thatthe long- professor of medicine at the University tailedmacaqueshaveworked out which of Oxford, and Dr Susan Hopkins, of Public Health England –were reacting objects aremosthighly valued by the to an earlier study which concluded that visitors,and so most likely to be exchanged mass lateral flow testing risked being for food.Not onlydothey targetthese dangerously counterproductive, as the items –mobile phones, wallets, sunglasses tests miss more than half of all positive and so on; they also demandabetter cases. This criticism, argue Bell, Hopkins rewardtoreturn them. They drive ahard bargain et al., was based on amisunderstand- Ateamfrom the University of Lethbridge ing. Compared with PCR swab tests, in Alberta, Canada, spent 273daysfilming the monkeysand tourists interacting. They lateral flow tests do appear to miss found that whereas themonkeyswould usually hand over low-valueitems, such as many positive cases. But PCR tests detect “non-viable RNA fragments” (in hairpins,quitequickly, in return forarelatively perfunctory treat,the negotiations people who are no longer infectious) as when high-valueitems were at stake couldbefraught: in one case, thebartering well as viable ones, whereas lateral flow went on for17minutes, and thewaitwas 25 minutes in total. “These behaviours are tests pick up the live virus. “The authors socially learned andhavebeenmaintained acrossgenerations of monkeys for at least confuse ‘missed infection’ with 30 years in this population,” said study leader Dr Jean-Baptiste Leca. infectiousness,” write the scientists.

30 January2021 THE WEEK 22 NEWS Talking points

Pick of the week’s Statues: the culture wars erupt again Gossip “In the middle of adark January, and down the country” in nine months into a pandemic”, order to coordinate attacks on what is the “great, burning issue them. Such “acts ofdesecration” Bridgerton,the Netflix at theforefront ofeveryone’s havebecome common in recent period drama filmed at Castle Howard in Yorkshire, mind”, asked David Olusoga years; Jenrick’s planismerely features an abundance of in The Observer. Accordingto an overdue “Conservative sex –and producers went to Robert Jenrick, the answer is fightback”.And he’s quite great lengths to make sure the fate of the nation’s statues. right: we shouldn’t be tryingto actors were at ease. They Last week, the Housing Minister erase our heritage. The plan to hired intimacy coordinators, outlinedplans to protect public involve local peoplemay bea and aclosed set was memorials from what he called “masterstroke”;hisnewlaw “absolutely sacrosanct”, “bayingmobs” and“woke will ensure that “much-loved” said director Julie Anne worthies”. Jenrick saidhewould statues can continue to be Robinson.Thatis, closed but for the castle’s “room change the law to protect historic enjoyed byfuturegenerations. monitors”, who refused to monuments fromattacks, such leave their posts –leading as the one by Black Lives Matter The problemisthat many of to some awkward moments. demonstrators on the statue of Jenrick’sclaims are“simply “We would be shooting a slave trader Edward Colston in untrue”, saidCharlotte Higgins sex scene,” said Robinson, Bristol last summer. In future, in The Guardian.Aside from “and they would say, ‘Can he added, local peoplewillbe Churchill: in need of protection? Colston – always an extreme you go easy on the bed, consulted on the fate of “heritage example – have any statuesbeen go easy on the bedpost?’” assets”, andany decision to remove them will ripped down bybayingmobsinBritainlately? require planning permission. No. Whatishappening, inreality, is“a reappraisal of what andwho is celebratedin Left-wingers have been quick to attack Jenrick, Britain’spublic realm”. This is mostly “being said AndrewRobertsinThe DailyTelegraph. undertaken bythe opposite of angry mobs –by One race and equality thinktank, the incredibly worthy,rather dull committees setup RunnymedeTrust, even accused himoftrying by mayors andlocal authorities”. Local people to “precipitate a contrived culturewar, to are already very much involved. (One of the agitate the Tory base”. Butthat’s very unfair: examplesJenrick decried, of a Birmingham this culturewar has beengoing on foryears. streetbeing namedDiversity Close, was It wasn’t the Tory base, afterall,who threw actuallythe resultofa“cheerful community Colston into Bristol’s docks, or who defaced competition”.) Icansee thatsuch innovations the statueofChurchill in Parliament Square annoy many Tories, but history is not “some with thewords “was a racist”, or who produced dead,unchanging object”. It is always being amapof monuments to “empire-builders up revised andcontested. “Anythingelse is myth.” Joe Biden had top billing at last week’s presidential inauguration, but it was a photo of Bernie Sanders Vaccines: the bumpy road to freedom lookinggrumpy in home- made mittensthat stole the We arein“thedarkest days ofthe pandemic”, “primer” jab seemstoprovide a “good level of show. The senator’s pose said theFT. Daily deaths are well into four protection for severalweeks”; and thereissome led to aslewofonline figures in theUK;hospitals are struggling to evidencethat delayingthe boosteractually memesinwhich he was cope; andinacold, wet January, peopleare increases the vaccine’s efficacy. If our aim isto slotted into Leonardo da living under oppressive lockdown restrictions save as many lives as possible, then the strategy Vinci’s The Last Supper,and that might not be lifted for weeksoreven is the correct one, said DeborahDunn-Walters stills from TV shows such as months. Butthere is, at least, one “chink of in The Guardian.But anxiety about how much Game of Thrones and Sex light”, andthat isthe pace ofthe vaccine protection thejaboffersserves to highlightan and the City.Sanders took it roll-out. Asofthisweek,more than sixmillion important point: even ifavaccine has an efficacy all in good heart. “I’ve seen them,” he chuckled, adding: people –9%of the population –had hadtheir of 95%, one in 20 people could get Covid-19. “I was just sitting there first jabs,and theGovernment is confidentof trying to keep warm, trying hitting its target of 15 million by the middle of That is why talk of issuing people with vaccine to pay attention.” February. For anation“starvedofgoodnews” passports is premature, said The Economist. this is something to savour; andyet “caveats Asidefromthe ethicalquestionsthatarise from Singer Elaine Paige recently remain” aboutthe programme. Forone thing, allowing alucky fewaccess tonormal life while recalled getting her break at “wide variations in progress existbetween the rest linger in lockdown, it may not be safe to the age of 20 in themusical regions”. For another, these numbers have been let the vaccinated roam free.Theymay not fall Hair.She said she was made possible, in part, by thecontroversial illthemselves, but theymay stillbeabletoinfect nervousabout the show’s notorious nude scene –until decision to delay second dosesby12weeks or others. There is also theriskthat if avirus a“handsome and tall” actor more –though the makers of the Pfizer/BioNTech circulates in apartiallyvaccinated population, called Gary offered her his jab recommendagapofonlythreeorfour. it will gain resistance to that vaccine, said James moral support. When Paige Kirkup on UnHerd. So evenafter abig chunk of stood next to him for the It’s true that Pfizer has no data on theimpact the populationhas hadtheir jabs,weshould big reveal, though, he got of delaying thebooster shot,said Michael keep alid on things. But it won’t be easy. Many rather more in return. “He Fitzpatrick in TheTimes.The BMA hasurged over-60s arelikely to stop playingbythe rules was 6ft 6in to my 5ft and out theGovernment to cut thegap to sixweeks. But once they feel safe; and thenthe young,who of sheer fear Iput out my when people are dyingatarate of more than aren’t at much risk anyway, willsee no reason hand to grab his,” she said. “Only it wasn’t his hand I 1,000 aday,“it makes sense to provideasingle whytheyshouldn’t cutloose, too. Thenation’s was holding.” dose of thevaccinetothe maximum number willingness to stand togetherduringthiscrisis is of people in theminimumpossible time”. The going to be tested as neverbefore.

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 Talking points NEWS 23 Google: “acting the bully” in Australia Wit& “Try to imagine evenasingle traditional newsmedia daywithoutGoogle,” said companies. Itmay sound like Wisdom JamieBartlettinThe Times. rather atechnicalargument, “You would belost, said Andrew Griffin in The “We look at theworld metaphorically and literally. Independent.But makeno once, in childhood /The Bouncing from irrelevant mistake: it “could change rest is memory.” website to website. Hopelessly the future ofthe internet”. It PoetLouise Glück, quoted wandering the streets without comesdown to afundamental in TheWashington Post a littlebluedottoguide you.” question. Shouldyou be able “Storytelling reveals This isthe fatethat may befall to shareother people’s content meaning without committing all25million Australians (who freely online, or should you theerrorofdefining it.” useGoogle for 95% of their payfor it? TimBerners-Lee, Hannah Arendt, quoted internet searches). Why? the inventor of the world wide on The Browser Because theirgovernment has web, argues that the law “risks drafted legislation that would breaching afundamental “Falsehood flies, compel Google, Facebook and principle”. When youput a and thetruth comes others to pay news companies price on linkingtoparticular limping after it.” if their storiesareshared on Morrison: taking on Big Tech information, you no longer Jonathan Swift, quotedin the tech companies’ platforms have a free and open web. The Sunday Times – which Googlethinks willbe“unworkable”. If “Calamities are of two it were to become law, said Google’s managing ButGoogle andFacebook don’t just “link” to kinds: misfortuneto director for Australia,Mel Silva, “it would give news stories, said Damien Cave in TheNew ourselvesand good us no real choice but tostop making Google York Times: they takeheadlines, summaries and fortune to others.” Search availableinAustralia”. pictures, and serve them up to users, fromwhom AmbroseBierce, quoted they generate ad revenue.Besides, it’s not really in Lapham’s Quarterly Googleis“acting the bully”, said The Sydney a point ofprinciple: Google hasjustagreed to Morning Herald.Itwon’t work. “We don’t paylicensing fees tonewspublishers in France to “We are not what we respond to threats,” warned Prime Minister usetheirstories. The issue inAustralia ispower: knowbut whatweare Scott Morrison. And there’s acrucial principle “who gets to decide the payments”.Under the willing to learn.” at stake here. Techcompanies should “pay a fair proposedsystem, an independent adjudicator Mary CatherineBateson, price for the useofmedia content generated by will helpset prices.Thisgreatly strengthensthe quoted inthe FT others”. The new law wasakey recommend- news media’s hand. Google’s “overreaction” is ationofagovernment competitioninquiry last evidenceofits fear that othercountrieswill “IfI’msuchalegend, year, whichfound that Googleand Facebook follow suit,said The Times. Itillustrates why why amIso lonely?” were abusing their dominant online position, governmentsaround the world should join Judy Garland, quoted anddraining advertising revenue from Australia in “standing up tothe digitalbullies”. in The Independent “Thereisno security onthis Earth. Only opportunity.” Class: the search for “authenticity” General Douglas MacArthur, quoted How muddledare contemporary Nouveau riche industrialists in Forbes attitudes to the workingclasses, acquired coats ofarms“in order said Kenan MalikinThe to cultivatethe impression that “As often as not, weare Observer.Onone hand, many their status hadnothing to do homesick mostfor theplaces people payscant regard to the with hardwork”. Now, kudos we have never known.” grim realities ofworking-class comesfromboasting about how NovelistCarson McCullers, life; on the other, they fetishise far youhavetravelled againstthe quoted in the its “authenticity” and seekto odds,and your fierce work ethic. Mooresville Tribune appropriate it. Accordingtoa “Washingtonwithout BritishSocial Attitudes report, Iadmit it,said Pravina Rudra in DonaldTrump will be like 47% of peopleinprofessional The DailyTelegraph:I’m oneof The Silence of theLambs and managerial jobs describe the“wannabe-working-class without HannibalLecter; themselvesasworking class, Lefties”. Over the years, I’ve we mayfeelsafer, but it’s including 24% of thosewhose played up to theimage of a alot less compelling.” parents alsodid middle-class Do we know our place? “small-town kidmadegood”, RobertShrimsley in theFT jobs. Astudypublished lastweek ignoringthe fact thatIgrew up examined this phenomenon. Researchers in acomfortablecul-de-sac andthatmyparents interviewed175 actors,architects and other would no doubt have sentmetoaprivate school professionals, 36 of whom were frommiddle- had Ifailed to get into my local grammar. It’s a Statisticofthe week classbackgroundsbut identified as working subconscious thing, prompted partly by the fact The average price of a class,and foundthat these “misidentifications” that –“laughably” –people like mefeelworking property in London is now are based on “originstories” that people reach class compared to the rarefied types whoinhabit £514,000, based on figures for when askedabout their backgrounds; they thecreative industries. There’s also an element from November, up almost ignore theirown upbringing, andfocus on those of guilt about our privilege –adesire to make 10% year on year, and anew record. Atemporary break on of their grandparents. the factsbetterfitour dreamofsocial mobility. stamp duty in England, on We shyaway fromthe middle-class label properties costing under This trend representsa“fascinating social because we know, deep down, that “ifthe world £500,000, has helped fuel transformation”, said James Marriott in The were truly as equalaswedemand”, we would sales and drive up prices. Times.Not so long ago, middle-class Britons notbeinour jobs.Others would havebeaten The Guardian were more likely to pretendtobeposh. us to it,had they hadthe opportunities.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 24 NEWS Sport

Cricket: England triumph in Galle England’s brief,entertaining tourofSri Lanka to India for a four-match Test series, the need culminatedinGalle onMonday with an for further improvement is abundantly clear. In “extraordinary day of Testcricket”, said Nick Sri Lanka, they were helped not only by “the HoultinThe Daily Telegraph. Theday in question generosity ofthe home side’s batsmen”, but also – the fourth of the Second Test – began with by “some ludicrous field settings”–plus astring England’s final pairatthe crease, and with the of favourable umpiring decisions. Inspiteofsuch visitorsstill 42 short ofSri Lanka’sfirst innings advantages, all thatreally separated the teams was total of 381. On aturning pitch, Sri Lankalooked the “sublime batting” ofRoot, who, after scoring to be“in the ascendancy” – and with every chance adouble century in thefirstTest, hit anequally of levelling the series. Buthaving swiftly brought magisterial186 in the second. Against India, the England’s first innings to aclose, Sri Lankathen “cricketing andfinancial powerhouseofthe “implodedwiththe bat” –just as they’d done on game”, such over-reliance on one player is sure dayone of theopening Test. They were skittled to bepunished. out for a mere126, with England’s two spinners, DomBessand Jack Leach, taking fourwickets But thereare signs that others may step up, said apiece. Seta“tricky, but not impossible target Andy Bull in TheGuardian. Bessand Leach of 164”, England slumped to 89 for 4–with their proved asurprisingly successful spin pairing, captain, JoeRoot, falling for just 11. Yetopener Buttler: adependable number six sharing 22 wicketsacrossthe two Tests. And DomSibley and wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler when they misfired, inthe first innings of the came to the rescue with an unbroken stand of 75 to guide secondTest, James Andersonwas on hand to “pickupthe slack”, England to victoryshortly beforethe close. contributing sixwickets.InIndia, too, England’s attack willbe further bolstered bythe return of Jofra Archer. The batting With 15 wickets falling across itsthree sessions, and the result remains more of aconcern, said Scyld Berry in TheDaily stillunclear deep into theafternoon, theday wasareminder Telegraph. Evenhere, though,there is causefor encouragement: of why Test cricket “never ceases to shock and surprise”, said Sibley andJonnyBairstow both made invaluablecontributions Mike Atherton in The Times. And Englandwill besureto“take at keymoments,andButtleristurning into adependablenumber immense confidencefrom the result”. Nonetheless,astheyhead six. Englandwill head to India feeling encouraged. Football: Frank Lampard shown the door Since buying Chelsea Football Clubin2003, Roman said JordanSeward in theDaily Mail.Gary Lineker Abramovich has embedded aculture inwhich tweeted that it was an “utterly ludicrous” decision. managers must swiftlygetresults or face the axe, said JasonBurt inThe DailyTelegraph. Andon And he was right to say so, said Henry Winter in The Monday,Frank Lampard became that culture’s Times: this “shameful” dismissal “strikes attheheart latestvictim: ayearand a half into his tenure, he of football”. Lampardmay have lacked experience was given his marching orders bythe Russian as amanager, but he was profoundly committed billionaire. The decision wasn’tterribly surprising, bothtoChelsea FCand to the “long-term project of said Paul Joyce and Matt Lawton in The Times. developing young talent”. It’s lucky thatgames are Lampardspent £220m in thetransfermarket last being played behind closed doors – otherwise the summer, an outlay Abramovich clearly authorised club’sfanswould surely maketheir anger clear. The because“he wanted to see Chelsea back in likely reality isthatLampard’s tenure at Stamford contentionfor the majortrophies”. Buthaving Bridgewas always a“place-holding exercise”,said startedthe seasonpromisingly, briefly topping the Was his tenure always Martin Samuelinthe Daily Mail.Hegotthe job Premier League in December, Chelsea’s form dipped precarious? at atime when it was comparatively unappealing, precipitously inthe past two months. They’ve slid to with the club banned from thetransfer market. ninth inthe table – well out of contentionfor even aChampions Now,with an expensively assembled squad inplace, it makes League place. Such asituation was never likelytobetolerated. sense for Abramovich to install a successor, in the form of Evenso, the news was greeted with incredulityinsome quarters, Thomas Tuchel –who doubtless was “always a planBfigure”.

England’s new golfing star Sporting headlines Tennis Andy Murray pulled Early on the final day of the rankings, and enters the world’s out of the Australian Open, Abu Dhabi Championship, Rory top five for the first time, said after failing to organise a McIlroy looked on the cusp of James Corrigan in The Daily “workable quarantine” that amuch-needed tournament Telegraph. Since November would have allowed him to victory, said Ewan Murray in 2019, he has earned more than be ready to compete in the The Guardian. The Northern £5m –“not bad for ayoung lad tournament. The Scot had Irishman, who last won atitle 14 from Buckinghamshire who was missed his scheduled flight months ago, had hit birdies on ignored as an amateur for to Melbourne after testing the second and third holes, and the Great Britain and Ireland positive for Covid-19. was two shots ahead of second- Walker Cup team”. What Hatton placed Englishman Tyrrell Hatton: underappreciated hasn’t yet done is mount a American football Kansas Hatton. But then came aremark- serious challenge in golf’s City Chiefs secured aplace in able turnaround. While McIlroy’s tee shots biggest trophies, said John Westerby in The the Super Bowl with a38-24 veered consistently to the right, Hatton “reeled Times. “Despite his good form last year, win over Buffalo Bills and will off five birdies between the 7th and the 16th”. he missed the cut in all three majors that were face Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He ended up five shots ahead of his playing played.” It’s apattern the29-year-oldwillbe Women’s football partner to claim his fourth title in 14 months. aiming to change in the coming months. “I’m Manchester City beat Hatton’s victory means that this relatively hoping that in 2021, the majors fall in good Brighton &HoveAlbion 7-1 in unappreciated golfer leapfrogs McIlroy in the weeks for me,” he says. the Women’s Super League.

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 Ifyou’refindin gitdifficulttotalk dadjustneeds alittlehelpfromyou abouttheclimateimpactofdair yat tobringclimate-friendlydrinkin gand the dinnertable,you’renotalone.For eatingtopofmindforhim(ormumor manydads, * milkandyoghurtandother anyoneelseinyourlifewhomightneed cow-processe dproductsareseemingly aplant-basedkickstart).That’swhy protecte dbyanostalgicforcefield we’vebeendeveloping aset of rhetor- thatfendsoffallmanneroffact icalmanoeuvresandannoyinglysolid andlogicandarticle links argument satOOatly.com/HelpDad pointingtotheirplanet-taxing to helpyououtwitdad’s effects.Eve nyourmulti-media brain.Justbewarned, keynotepresentatio nshowing employingthesemethods how swappingmilkforoatdrink maytriggerheateddis- cansavetheplanet73%in cussionorexcessiveeye greenhousegasemissions ** rollingoreven agood doesn’t standachanc eagainst old-fashionedstormout. a, “That’snice,sweetheart”, Thisisperfectlynormal. fromdadashefade sintothe Afterall,thedairyspell basementwith acreamcheese isuncommonlystronginhis sandwich.Asfrustrating generation.Butifyoumanage asthi scanbefor asonor tobreakthrough,justknow daughter ,it’simportant thatyoumightactuallyend torememberthatdad uphavinga probablyhas alotonhis meaningful mind,lik eworryingabout conversation themortgageorfixingthat withdad… squeakycabinetorwonderingwhether Yes,youread or nothisteamwillberelegated.Maybe thatcorrectly.

* AccordingtosurveybyIPSOSonbehalfofOatly ,Dec 2020,showingmiddle-a gedmen intheUKasleastlikelytoconsiderloweringtheir dairyintakebasedontheclimate. ** Oatlygenerates73%lessCO 2evs. milk,calculat ed fromgrowe rtogrocer.ReportbyCarbonCloud.

LETTERS 27 Pick of the week’s correspondence

Adose of philosophy Exchange of the week possibilityofworking at all. To The Guardian The vast majority ofaupairs The argument about The BBC: too much pain? come fromthe EU,and the vaccination strategybetween Government’s continued the doctorsofthe British To The Daily Telegraph refusal to providevisashas Medical Association and If thenation’s mental health is deteriorating as a consequence been devastatingfor thoseof the scientists on the Joint of the pandemic and lockdowns, then muchofthe blameslies us whohave for many years CommitteeonVaccination and with how the BBC presents these matters. invested our timeand energy Immunisationmay have more Clive Myrie’s recent reports on the six o’clock news are a in this valuable cultural and to do with ethicsthanthe case in point. Do wereallybenefit from listening to intensive linguisticexchange.Wecan underlying science (“Doctors care unit staff having to break bad news to relatives, or only hope that someone in call for shorter gap between watchinggravediggers at work? Mostadults will have had Government eventually sees the Pfizer Covid vaccine doses in some experience of grief –wedonot need theBBC to follyinthis and comesupwith UK”; “UKvaccine adviser says hammerhome the message that this pandemic is causing asolution–itreally can’t be delayofCovidsecond dose many deaths. that difficult. will save lives”). The BBC shouldconsider the impact ofits reporting, Dr Ruth Campbell, director, The BMA has a Kantian though I suspectincreasingnumbers ofviewers are simply Au Pair Ecosse,Stirling (rule-based) moral philosophy reaching for the off switch. typifiedbythe Hippocratic Jane Moth,Snettisham, Norfolk The value of education oath. Doctors have an To TheGuardian obligation to do thebest they To TheDailyTelegraph The endingofthe letterfrom canfor eachpatient, and any Iprofoundly disagree with JaneMoth,who disapproves Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief actionorinaction that causes of themoving BBC interviews with those we depend upon executive ofthe Russell Group, potential harm to a patient in thistragicpandemic, fromexhausted ICUstaff to tells you allyou need to know is deemed to break this gravediggers. about the marketisation ofUK obligation. The sad truth is that there are still people who refuseto universities. He claims that On the other hand, scientists acceptthereality of thisillness. Dedicated hospital staff are universities remain focused on the JCVItake a utilitarian heckled as they come andgotowork bydeluded Covid on “deliveringhigh-quality view of moral philosophy, deniers. Those supplyingvaccines to our most vulnerable learning outcomes for their seekingthe greatest good for populationstoooften findthey refuse it. students”. Why not focuson the greatestnumber. They The only way to convince them ofthe truth isfor educating students to become arguethat lives arelikely to be journalists to risk their health byensuring that we hear from thoughtful,caring citizens with saved by delayingthesecond those on thefront line. I am so grateful we have broadcasters inquiring minds? Justanidea. dose to individuals, even if who enable ustohear these voices, even though I too find it Wyn Jeffery, Southampton some of those individuals almostunbearably moving. become vulnerable again. Dame Esther Rantzen, Bramshaw,Hampshire Vaccine refusenik Perhaps the two parties To The Times should stoparguing that they well-being. Asaprimate go off on theirown to beused In yourcasestudy (“I am have theright interpretation species that is relatively hairless as “robotaxis”. InApril 2019, not a lab rat and will not get of the science andrecognise a we are unable to use grooming he saidthat by 2020, Tesla vaccinated”),NatalieRita fundamental and honourable rituals to establish and would have a million on the states: “We’veseen inthe news philosophicaldisagreement. maintain social bonds. road; last July he was confident Covidishigher among black It is thefunction ofthe Chatting about the weather that “the basic functionality” people butnothing was done Government to decide which andstock performances isour would becompletethis year. about it.” What didshe expect moral stance to support. equivalent of removing salt Independent assumptions anyone todoabout it? Perhaps Prof Paul Glendinning, crystals and lice fromeach suggest this will not be feasible work night and day to develop Marsden, West Yorkshire other. until 2030. avaccine thatcould be 90% AllanMilneLees,Bath So far, stock markets have effective and which she is now What’s in astatistic? swallowed all thesepredictions refusing to have becauseshe To The DailyTelegraph Musk:heading for afall? –butwon’tforever. The doesn’t want to be a“lab rat”? You report Boris Johnson To the NewStatesman question to ask is:“When will Words fail me in theface of warning that the new variant ElonMusk maybe“amore the Musk bubble burst”? such irrationality. of thecoronavirus is “more interesting person to occupy Christian Wolmar, London Lesley Bell, Mirfield,West deadly”,with themortality capitalism’s topspot”–but Yorkshire rate being“30%” higher. watchout for his downfall. His Au pair despair However, from the promises about producing a To The Independent information provided one fullydriverlesscar have been The impact of Brexit on couldsay thatthe survivalrate brokensomany timeshewill the fishing industry and appears to drop from99% eventuallylose credibility. on meatproducers has hit to 98.7%. That is just as true The nameofthe Autopilot the headlines daily, and andnot quite as alarming. software installedinTeslas is perhaps the Government Malcolm Whittle,Newbury, misleading, since driversmust is correct in insisting these Berkshire payattention at all times even are short-term issues, when the system is engaged. which will be fixed. The big role of small talk Several Tesla drivers who Spare athought for To The Economist failedtorealise this have paid those of us whorun au pair As Johnson rightlynotes, with their lives. agencies. Our businesses we humans need regular Musk has promised ceased at 11pm on 31 undemanding social numerous times since 2015 December and we have interactions such as small that cars would soon be able gone from having busy, talk to support our to drivethemselves, and even viable agencies to no ©PRIVATE EYE

● Letters have been edited 30 January 2021 THE WEEK

ARTS 29 Review of reviews: Books

Book of the week Her artist parents,who separated beforeher birth, “reckonedachild Devils, Lusts and would beanencumbrance” – so her mother drank turpentine in thehope Strange Desires of aborting.Highsmith survived a by Richard Bradford difficult childhood, andthe Spanish Bloomsbury Caravel 272pp £20 flu,and became a“smart,hard- drinking student” at Barnard College The Week Bookshop £15.99 in NewYork,said Scott Bradfield in The Spectator. There, she developed a PatriciaHighsmith gave the world penchant for “pretty,well-bred girls”. an array ofmemorablevillains,said After graduating, she worked for a Wendy Smith in TheWashington Post while as acomicbook writer before – most famously the ambitious psycho- publishing her debut novel, Strangers path Tom Ripley. RichardBradford, on a Train, in 1950. Turned intoa the novelist’s latest biographer, suggests filmbyAlfred Hitchcock, it seta that such creations were rooted in her pattern of commercial success that own“creepy andunsettling” behaviour. She liked to seduce facilitatedalife of “obsessivetravelling”. She established various married women or those incommitted lesbian relationships, homes in Europe, including one in rural Suffolk. seekingout affairs “that required subterfuge and lies”. Highsmith, Highsmith’s unpleasantness – and hertendency to lie – make he argues, wassomeone who “courted emotional violence”,using her a difficult subject, said Ian Thomson in the London Evening it as “fuel for her fiction”. An unrepentant alcoholic, she was Standard.Bradford’s biography, though, is a disappointment, eccentric –she carried snails about in herhandbag –and bigoted: being full of grammatical errors –asurprise given that he’s a shehated black people, Latinos, Catholics and Jews. Previous universityprofessor–and“crudely reductive”interpretations biographershavelooked for redeemingfeatures: Andrew Wilson, of her loveaffairs. Well, I found Bradford’s central thesis whose Beautiful Shadow appeared in2003, tried to be her convincing, said Roger LewisinThe Times –thatHighsmith “imaginary empatheticfriend”; Bradfordinsists thatHighsmith approachedlifelikea“crazy experimenter”,twisting it into wasrarely anything other than “foul” and “execrable”. the deviant forms that inspired her crime fiction. And I also Born in Fort Worth, Texas,in1921, Highsmith “did not “rather concur”with his view thatshewas “an outstandingly have an ideal start in life”, saidJohn Carey in The Sunday Times. horrible, mad old bat”.

Mission Economy by Mariana Mazzucato Novel of the week Allen Lane 272pp £20 ALie Someone Told You The Week Bookshop £15.99 About Yourself by Peter Ho Davies “Ever since 1969, peoplehaveasked Sceptre 192pp £14.99 themselveswhy if humans can landon The Week Bookshop £11.99 the Moon, can’ttheysolve pressing problemshere on Earth,” saidJohn Kay “It’s abraveman”, in the year 2021,who dares in theFT. In her new book, Mariana write about pregnancy, abortion andbearing Mazzucato suggests that theycan. Many children, saidClaireLowdon in The Sunday of our greatestchallenges, the University Times. Butinhis “admirable” new novel,a College London economics professorcontends–including poverty, dementia work of fictionalised autobiography, PeterHo andclimatechange –woulddisappear “if onlygovernments could apply the Davies, aformer Granta Young British Novelist, mission-driven methods of the Apollo project”. Styled as a “how to”guide for sets down “all of hiscompromised, human policymakers, MissionEconomy is aradical call nottodoawaywith capitalism, responses to the challenges of parenthood”. but to “mend” it,saidTom Kibasi in TheGuardian.Unbridled free market The novel openswith thenarrator andhis wife policies, Mazzucato suggests,haveproducedarangeofills–and an inability agonising over whether to terminate apregnancy to tackle bigproblems collectively. Herremedy is to bolster thestate, enabling –becausetheir baby almost certainlyhas arare it to rediscover its “entrepreneurial role”. As partofher “mission economy”, geneticabnormality. Theyopt foranabortion, governments would define “grand challenges”then set “missions to solve them and later have ason –who in his earlyyears is in partnership with business”. Her book is awelcome“shot in the arm”. “slow to develop”. In “deceptivelysimple, Mazzucato’s goals may be laudable, buther thinking is too oftensimplistic, pared-back” prose, thenarrator detailsall the said EmmaDuncan in TheTimes.Despitewhatshe claims,the state today is far “difficultemotions” this engenders. from “minimalist”: in normal times, it accounts for nearlyhalfofall economic “Thisisacomplicatedstory,toldwith fearless activity, andevenwithout radical remodelling is capable of leading “moonshot honesty,” saidJamesSmart in TheGuardian. projects” –asithas successfully donewiththe Covid-19vaccine. In general, Although funny at times,ithas a“thoughtful what preventsthe state from formulating“missions” isn’tits inabilitytodoso, frankness” that can“stop youinyourtracks”. butthe oppositionsuchprojects would encounter. Forinstance,the reason the In depicting it as “baffling, traumatic and UK Government hasn’t yet decarbonised the economy is becausevotersdon’t transformative”, Ho Davies’s portraitof want to paymorefor power andtransport.But,after all, “thepeople’s fatherhood feels refreshinglytruetolife. reluctance to do theright thingisacommon problem for left-wing thinkers”. To order thesetitles or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk or speak to abookseller on 020-31763835 Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday10am-4pm

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 30 ARTS Podcasts... missing people, identity and nuclear war

Pandora Sykes’snew podcast spiriting me across theBritishIsles. only debuted a few weeks ago, It also sparked in me adesire to andisalready asmash hit, said learn more about English folklore. Francesca Angelini in The In the programme,the London- Sunday Times.Called The based broadcaster andproducer Missing,itexplores 20 unsolved Zakia Sewell, whose heritage is disappearances–some of them amixof Caribbean, Welsh and decades old – and has the English, explores English national hallmarks of the true crimegenre: identity, partly through interviews “gripping whodunnit narratives, with folk musicians, morris dancers, moody music, emotive case andher own family members. It is studies”. Butits aimisto dig up illuminating,“beautifully made” new information, withthe help andunexpectedly stirring. of the organisations Locate International andMissing People, Julie McDowall is so obsessed rather thanmerely to provide with nuclear war, the Scottish “voyeuristic entertainment”. writer namedher pet dog after Crucially, the show hasthe the largest hydrogen bomb to have approval and involvementof Atomic Hobo: investigating the “eeriness and terror of nukes” been detonated – Tsar Bomba,said thoseleftbehind, said Miranda JamesMarriott in TheTimes. She Sawyer in The Observer. And Sykes, who formerly co-presented is also themaker and presenter of Atomic Hobo,anindependent The High Low podcast, proves an “excellenthost, her script and podcast about atomic bombs, andour preparations fornuclear presentation striking the right balancebetween intrigue and war. Only a show “driven by true geekery” could boastsuch empathy”. Will it lead toabreakthrough in anyofthe cases? I am “diverselyesoteric” episodes as these: atomic bombs andsex; doubtful, but it’s aworthwhileproject allthe same–and it makes the history ofunderground nucleartesting; the impact ofnuclear for an absorbinglisten. testinginKazakhstan; nuclear retaliationinthe ageofHarold Macmillan; andatomic-themed pop music of the 1950s. There At themoment, whatIamreally looking for in a podcast orradio are massesofwell-chosen archiveclips.It’swell researched, show is the feeling of “going somewhereother thanthe corner well scripted and the host narrates in an ethereal (perhaps too shop”,said Rachel Humphreys inThe Guardian. My Albion, ethereal for some) “Scottish whisper thatseems to hint at the which finished its four-episode run onRadio4last month (and eeriness and terrorofnukes”. Terrifying subject matter; hugely remains availableonBBC Sounds) didawonderful job of enjoyable podcast. Albums of the week: three new releases Patricia Bicep: Isles Shame: Drunk Kopatchinskaja: Ninja Tune Tank Pink Plaisirs £9 Dead Oceans illuminés £10 Alpha Classics £15

This latest album featuring the “bare-footed Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson, the The past year has been “rough on most violin maverick” Patricia Kopatchinskaja is Northern Irish “bloggers-turned-DJs- of us”, said Will Hodgkinson in The Times named after a“perplexing” Dalí painting turned-producers” who record as Bicep, –but “spare athought for those up-and- featuring rectangular boxes, eggs, a have pulled off aremarkable feat, said coming bands who should be having the bleeding knife and 34 bearded cyclists, Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. They’ve time of their lives”. The south London five- said Geoff Brown in The Times. Thankfully, made abanging dance album that works piece Shame were still at school when they what is on it –20th and 21st century in the age of (enforced) home listening. wrote the songs on their acclaimed 2018 music with afolk twist –is“much easier Isles is not aretro-sounding collection, debut Songs of Praise.By2020, two years to grasp”. There’s Sándor Veress’s but in its scope and ambition it recalls of solid touring had made them summer Musica concertante;the 1966 Concerto “blockbusting crossover dance albums” festival headliners-to-be; and then the for Strings by Alberto Ginastera; and Les of the mid-1990s from the likes of Leftfield, pandemic brought it all screeching to ahalt. Plaisirs illuminés itself, aDalí-derived Underworld, Orbital and The Chemical Still, when gigs become possible again, this double concerto by Francisco Coll. It’s a Brothers. The melodies are “lush or “superb” second album will stand them in “rewarding” programme, and “just the wistfully melancholic”, but the beats are great stead. It’s abelter, whichbrings to kind of fare to get maximum voltage” from tough and driving. It is exactly what’s mind the atmospheric rock produced by Kopatchinskaja and the Camerata Bern needed for the “ultimate living-room rave”. the likes of Talking Heads, Television and chamber orchestra. The two schoolfriends, now based in east Echo and the Bunnymen. The disc is ashowcase for London, are one of dance’s biggest acts, It’s an intense record, with lyrics Kopatchinskaja’s “dazzling virtuosity”, said said David Smyth in the London Evening dominated by themes of chaos and Andrew Clements in The Guardian –and Standard. This compelling collection shows uncertainty, said Rhian Daly on NME. And the “remarkable” Camerata Bern. The why. Sounds are layered in “absorbing for Shame, it’s also a“massive leap on” Veress and the Ginastera are performed style –melancholy, not euphoric, but still from their debut: more ambitious and more with “remarkable finesse”. And in the brimming with restless energy”. One day accomplished. Drunk Tank Pink confirms Coll, Kopatchinskaja and cello soloist Sol we’ll hear these songs as they should be their status “as one of the most exciting Gabetta make afine partnership, pushing experienced –onapacked dancefloor – bands at the forefront of British music. each other on to higher levels of brilliance. but “this will do very nicely for now”. Long may they reign there.” The Week’s own podcast, The Week Unwrapped,covers the biggest unreported stories of the week (available on Apple and Google)

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 Film and TV 31

Films to stream New releases

Last summer’s biggest Dear Comrades! blockbuster, Tenet, hada Dir: Andrei Konchalovsky(2hrs) (15) time-twistingstory premise ★★★★ that made for hypnotic action The massacre of around 80 unarmed protesters scenescombiningbackwards in the Russian cityofNovocherkassk in 1962 – andforwards motion. Here an atrocity kept secret for 30 years – is the are some other fine films in subject of this riveting dramafromveteran which Chronos moves in director Andrei Konchalovsky, saidKevin mysterious ways: Maher in The Times. Winner ofthe Special JuryPrize at last year’s Venice Film Festival, Back to the Future Two of it strikes a“wry”, satirical note atfirst, with the biggest hits of the 1980s “drollone liners about Soviet ineptitude” as were time travel films – The workers at thecity’s powerplant go on strike Terminator, amongthe over rising food prices.The subsequent decade’s darkest blockbusters, massacre, however, is depicted “unsparingly”. Mulligan and Fiennes: “moving and beguiling” andthis witty jaunt,as The film’s protagonist, local Communist Party charming now as on first member Lyuda Syomina (Julia Vysotskaya), novel, The Dig is a“moving and beguiling” release. Michael J. Fox stars has a reputation for endorsingthis kind of period piece that offers “a well-timed double as a small-town teen who is crackdown. But when her teenage daughter, dose of consolationand escape”,saidRobbie zappedbacktothe 1950s. Svetka – aworkeratthe plant – goes missing, Collin in The DailyTelegraph.Inthe summer she istornbetween her loyalty to the party, of 1939, when theworld waspreparing for Live Die Repeat: Edgeof and herpersonal anguish. war, Suffolk landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Tomorrow Perhaps the most Mulligan)employed Basil Brown,alocal self- charming of time-twisters is Shot inblack and white, the film is taught archaeologist (Ralph Fiennes, sporting Groundhog Day,the 1993 “disturbingly handsome”, said Mark Kermode abroad Suffolk accent)toinvestigate the romcom in which Bill Murray in The Observer;asthe chaos mounts,the mysterious grassy mounds on herestate. The repeatedly relives a single day. “eerie stillness” of its cinematography strikes digrevealed them to be aninthcenturyAnglo- This rollicking 2014 action a“horriblythreatening chord”. Yet for a Saxonburialsite, concealing, amongother flickborrows that premise, chillyfilm, ithas “unexpectedwarmth”, treasures, an 89ft-long ship;and so,“just but in this case, itisTom largely thanks to Vysotskaya, who perfectly as the nation’sfuturebecame obscured by Cruise stuck in a 24-hour captures Lyuda’s dreamsand her disillusion. shadow, ashaft of light wassuddenly thrown loop, inwhich he battles Konchalovskyshows the “incompetence, on itsdistantpast”. At first, we follow the aliens with Emily Blunt. paranoia, bureaucracy and secrecy” that led to relationship that develops betweenBrown this mass murder, said PeterBradshaw in The andPretty.But as excitement about thefind Looper Rian Johnson’s 2012 Guardian. Afterwards, officialdom “blandly” intensifies,and theprofessionals descend on it, mind-bender stars Joseph declares there will be aparty with dancing at thefilm’sscope widens, to focus in particular Gordon-Levitt as a looper 7pm,apparently to “expunge anyill feeling”. on theromance between marriedarchaeologist –anassassinliving in the Bloodstained asphaltiscovered with aclean PeggyPiggott(Lily James) andPretty’s nephew 2040s, whose targets are sent new layer. As thefilm’s endingaddsanother (Johnny Flynn), who is waiting to be called up. from the 2070s, when secretly level of “bleakirony”, it offers apowerful disposing of dead bodies is conclusion to a“passionate drama offear and This is a“gentle andalmost painfully polite” more difficult than time rage”. Available on Curzon Home Cinema. film,said Peter Debruge in Variety. Butithas travel. Things get complicated abeautifully “dreamy” atmosphere,with when his future self, played lingering shots of the “honey-coloured” Suffolk by BruceWillis, is beamed in TheDig landscape; anditconveys apoetic senseof for execution. Dir: Simon Stone(1hr52mins)(12A) history, time and human fragility. The diggives ★★★★ the charactersavaster perspective, just as world Predestination Based on Based onthe truestory ofthe excavation at warislooming for the second time in theirlives. Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 Sutton Hoo,and adapted fromJohnPreston’s Available on Netflix from 29 January. short story All YouZombies, this 2014 thriller stars Ethan

), APPLE TV AND AMAZON Hawke as agovernment It’s aSin:RussellT.Davies’s moving newAidsdrama agentwho travels in timeto prevent crimes.It’s engagingly Russell T. Davies’s new drama (Callum Scott Howells), all weirdand labyrinthine,and series, It’s aSin,issomething newcomers to London in 1981. further lifted by abrilliant of acompanion piece, 20 years The three meet in “a whirl of on, to his groundbreaking excitement”, said Camilla Long in turn from SarahSnook as “masterpiece” Queer as Folk, The Sunday Times, moving into a

EXCEPT BACK TO THE FUTURE Jane/John, Hawke’s gender- said Lucy Mangan in The shared flat they call the Pink bendingnew recruit. Guardian. But while that story of Palace, as the world “opens” to 1990s gay life was a“gorgeous them. At first, they scoff at the idea Arrival AmyAdams playsa fantasy” that made no mention of an illness that seems to target linguist drafted in by theUS of the scourge of Aids, It’s aSin gay men. But gradually, “fear and government to communicate focusesonthe outbreak of the confusion” build, along with with alien newcomers to epidemic in the 1980s. It has the shocking prejudice. This is the Earthand avert world war in same “gusto”, “irreverence” and best thing Davies has ever written, “joy” as Queer as Folk –which Excitement and fear said Anita Singh in The Daily DenisVilleneuve’s gripping this time only heightens the Telegraph. It’s testament to his skill but unusually delicate and tragedy. The focus is again on the lives of that we care about all the characters from the reflective 2016 blockbuster, three young gay men, in this case Ritchie (Olly off; indeed, even the death of aman we hadn’t with time travel elements. Alexander), Roscoe (Omari Douglas) and Colin met “had me weeping”. THE FILMS TO STREAM ARE AVAILABLE ON GOOGLE PLAY ( ©

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Artist of the week: Paula Rego

Paula Rego is one of ourgreatest was a horrific sequence that livingpainters,said Jan Dalley in depictswomen in various states of the FT. Still working at theage of physicalandmental traumaafter 86, she is“aclassic inher own seeking out dangerous illegal lifetime”, an artist whose “quasi- backstreet abortions: cryinginto mythologised yet psychologically their sheets, writhing in agony acute illuminationsofthe human on an operating chairand, in condition” opened the doorsfor one particularly striking instance, other femaleartists, and gave staring directlyout at theviewer renewed vigour to figurative artat as if in accusation. Itisas far from atime when it haslost much of its the idealised visionoffemininity prestige, compared toabstraction so prevalent in Western art as you andconceptualism. Rego’s“fierce could imagine. Yetinspiteoftheir portrayals oflife –often women’s misery, the women depicted retain lives” – frequentlydraw on her their fundamental dignity. “They roots in hernative Portugal. are not pictures of victims,” she Since movingtoBritain to study said. The series gained instant art in theearly 1950s,her work notoriety in Portugal, but hasalso hasshiftedfrom abstract to been widely credited with helping representational,with her best- to shift attitudes towardsthe knownpaintingsevidencingan campaign for abortion rights, eerie, surrealist-informedcharacter saidJosé da SilvainThe Art that has beenoften imitated but Newspaper. When asecond neverbettered. This summer, referendum on the subjectwas Tate Britain will playhost to “the heldin2007, thecountry voted largest andmost comprehensive” overwhelmingly in favour of exhibition ofRego’sarttodate, liberalising abortion laws. bringing together morethan 100 paintings, drawings and collages. “Devastating” as much ofRego’s work is, she “has awicked sense Rego’sart hasalways explored of humour and joiedevivre”, said powerstructures and hierarchies, HettieJudah in the Inewspaper. said ClaireSelvin on ARTnews. War (2003): shot through with dark absurdity Someofher bleakest works are Much of her early work is shot through with darkabsurdity: explicitly critical of the Portuguese dictator António Salazar, 2003’s War, for instance, is based on a newspaper photograph of whose “Estado Novo”regime lasted from 1933 until fouryears children fleeing the carnage of the Iraq conflict. Rego replacedthe after his death in 1970. Later,she tackled domestic violenceand children’sheads with thoseofrabbits. “It seemed morereal to colonialism. She isalsoone ofthe few artists who can genuinely transformthem into creatures,”she explained. In another notable claimtohave initiatedfundamentalpoliticalchange. When series, she painted women inthe poses ofdogs,agesture more Portugalnarrowly rejected relaxing its strict,Salazar-era subversivethan demeaning. “In these pictures every woman’s a abortion lawsina1998 referendum, the artist –whohad herself dog woman,not downtrodden, but powerful,”Regohas said. undergoneseveral terminations in her youth – channelled her fury Such images aretestament to Rego’s “extraordinary imaginative into aseries of paintings that demonstrated the measures women power”, saidArtlyst. It is no exaggerationtostatethat she “has were forced to take when denied the right to choose. The result revolutionised the wayinwhichwomen are represented” in art.

News from the art world

Returning Nazi loot...... and astolen Leonardocopy Eight years ago, tax investigators discovered a A500-year-old copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s 1,500-strong “hoard of art looted by the Nazis” Salvator Mundi has been found in aNaples flat in the Munich flat of 80-year-old Cornelius and returned to amuseum “where staff were Gurlitt, said David Crossland in The Times. It has unaware it had even been stolen”, reports BBC taken nearly adecade of research, but one of the News. Italian police officers discovered the works recovered from the apartment –adrawing painting in abedroom cupboard when searching entitled Playing the Piano by 19th century an apartment belonging to a36-year-old man, German artist Carl Spitzweg –has finallybeen who has since been arrested “on suspicion of reunited with its rightful owners. In 1939, Nazi receiving stolen goods”. Believed to have authorities confiscated the work from Henri been painted in the early 1500s by Girolamo Hinrichsen, aJewishmusic publisher from Alibrandi, one of Leonardo’s students, the Leipzig whose business had recently been seized painting is part of the collection of the Doma under Hitler’s “Aryanisation” laws; he and much Museum, within Naples’s San Domenico of his family would later perish in the Holocaust. Maggiore church. At present, it is not known The drawing was acquired by Hildebrand Gurlitt, when the work was stolen, “as no one had an art dealer appointed by the Nazis to market reported it missing”. Police are investigating the confiscated art. When the Third Reich collapsed, theft, and say that there was no sign of abreak- Gurlitt held onto the works he had amassed, in at the museum, which has spent much of the which subsequently passed to Cornelius, his past year closed due to pandemic restrictions. son. Playing the Piano –one of Hinrichsen’s Salvator Mundi: returned “It is plausible that it was acommissioned theft most prized possessions –isthe 14th work from by an organisation working in the international Gurlitt’s collection to be returned to its rightful owners. art trade”, said Naples prosecutor Giovanni Melillo. AULA REGO; SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE ©P

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 34 The List

Best books… Tim Harford The Archers: what The economist and broadcaster chooses his favourite books. His Cautionary happened last week Tales podcast starts anew season on 26 February; his latest book, How to When a booking is cancelled, Make the World Add Up,ispublished by The Bridge Street Press (£20) Ruth and David discover a vitriolic online review of GettingThings Done by Earthsea trilogy, but always InvisibleWomen byCaroline Brookfield and wonder who Edwin C. Bliss, 1976 (Scribner, with subtlety andhumanity. Criado Perez, 2019 (Vintage could have written it. Lee finds out of print). Istumbled upon £9.99). Used wisely, statistics Kirsty on the streets searching this as aboyanditopenedmy Dragon Warriors byDave canshowustruths about the for Philip’s workers; he warns her that it’s dangerous but she mind to the then-radical idea Morrisand OliverJohnson, world that we can’tsee in any bristles. Later, a concerned that you could usetime badly, 1985 (Corgi, out of print). other way. But the statistics Helen follows up, telling Kirsty or wisely. Bliss’s book is This isnot astory –it’s aset of have to becollected and to leave the search to the written foraworld offiling rules for playing awonderful analysed with everyone police, but Kirsty lashes out. cabinetsand secretaries, so game of the imagination.Iread in mind, not just a default Pip guesses that Rex posted todayI’d recommend instead this book at the age of 12 and white male. Apowerful, the review and David David Allen’sbookwith the wastransported. insightful book. confronts him. Rex comes same title. clean and apologises, but Pip ThinkingStrategically Humble Pi byMatt Parker, can’t let his betrayal go. Shula gets a call from Philip – he’s AWizard of Earthsea by by Avinash K. Dixit andBarry 2019 (Penguin£9.99).Ilove in prison on remand and says Ursula K. Le Guin,1968 J. Nalebuff, 1991 (W.W. maths, andIlove stories about he’s desperate and has no (Puffin £7.99).I’m always Norton & Co.£13.99). An things going wrong. Planes one else to talk to; Gavin has willing to be whisked awayto introduction to game theory – crash, lakes disappear down turned himself in and given afantasy world, and Le Guin’s the use of mathematics to misplaced mineshafts,and evidence against Philip. Pip is amongthe wisest,most understand cooperative and marketing campaigns go lets off steam to Ruth about original,and most beautifully competitive interactions, from terribly awry. Parker’s book is her frustrations with Phoebe portrayed. Itishard to think tennis to business to the Cold hilarious, in a way thatbelies and Rex. Later, Brian proudly of a grandtheme that isn’t War. This was the book that the depth and importanceof assures Pip that Phoebe will be able to manage any exploredsomewhere in the turned me intoaneconomist. hismessage. tensions among the Rewilders. Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit biblio.co.uk Vince and Elizabeth get tipsy during a wine tasting for his daughter’s wedding. They The Week’s guide to what’s worth watching giggle their way through a meeting with Russ and a Programmes prospective artist, but end Grayson’s Art Club: Get Creating Another up agreeing to an exhibition lockdown, another creative call-out fromthe for Lower Loxley’s gallery; Turner Prize-winning artist. In their studio, Vince even buys a piece. The Perryand his wife, Philippa, reflect onlastyear’s next day, Vince impresses Art Club –which saw members ofthe public Russ with his art knowledge send in works for an exhibition–and share and they discuss the gallery’s prospects. Shula visits Philip advice on submissions forthe new run. Sun in prison. He defends his 31 Jan,C419:00 (60mins). actions and says he’s pleading not guilty. When Shula Britain’sLost Masterpieces In thefirstof reminds him of the harm he’s anew three-part series, art historian Bendor caused, he retorts with insults. Grosvenorand author Emma Dabiri setout Teyonah Parris in WandaVision, on Disney+ to discoverwho painted twoneglected works in thecollectionofBrighton Museum,ajourney Carell, Timothée Chalametand Maura Tierney Online concerts that takes them from Brighton to Rome.Mon star.Sat 30 Jan, BBC2 22:00(115mins). On Sunday 7February, the 1Feb,BBC4 21:00 (60mins). Northern ChordsFestival TheConversation (1974) Francis Ford Orchestra will perform classics Craftivism:Making aDifference Comedian Coppola’s classicpsychological thriller stars includingWilliamWalton’s JennyEclair travelsaround thecountry to meet Gene Hackman as aparanoid surveillance music forLaurence Olivier’s crafters(knitters, crochetersand so on) who are expert, who facesacrisis of conscience when 1944 Henry V,aspartofthe using their skills to highlight arangeofpolitical hislatestrecordings revealapossible murder Chamber Music Sundays at causes. Mon1Feb, BBC4 22:00(60mins). plot. Sat 30 Jan, BBC2 23:55(110mins). Kings Place. Tickets £22.50, 6.30pm(kingsplace.co.uk). My ManGodfrey (1936) One of thegreatest Ramy Emmy-nominated comedy-drama about Steven Isserlis and Mishka films of itsera, this“screwball comedy with a an Egyptian-Americanman grappling with his RushdieMomen play works social conscience”(Guardian) is about awealthy faith, andcaught betweenthe demands of his by Janácek andShostakovich Manhattan socialitewho plucks a“forgotten Muslimfamily andeveryday life as aNew as partofWigmore Hall’s man” offthe streetsduringthe Depression, and Jersey millennial.“The smartest,darkest Spring Series;Tuesday persuades himtobecome herfamily’s butler. TV comedythat you’re notwatching” 2February, 7.30pm, available Carole Lombard,William Powell andEugene (Guardian).Starring RamyYoussef.Fri for 30 days (donations Pallette star. Tue 2Feb,Film415:00 (110mins). 5Feb,C423:05 (30mins). welcomed; wigmore-hall.org. New to subscription TV uk). TheRoyal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Films WandaVision ElizabethOlsen,Paul Bettany hasre-released tenconcerts, Beautiful Boy (2018) Poignantly observed andTeyonah Parris star in this Marvel spin-off including Tasmin Little biographical drama, based on thebestselling –“asideways reinvention of the superhero performing The Lark memoirs of DavidSheff andhis son, Nic Sheff, genre” (Times)–initially set in 1950s suburbia. Ascending.Until 28 Feb, about afamily struggling to copewithaddiction It’s in thestyle of asitcom,but there are hints £10each (liverpoolphil.com). through cycles of recovery and relapse. Steve that all is not as it seems. On Disney+.

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Houses rarely on the market

▲ Warwickshire: MousleyHouse Farm, Mousley End, Warwick. A traditional farm- house, believed to dateback to the 18th century, in an idyllic setting surrounded by countryside. The property has been in the sameownership for three decades. This family home sits in aroughly2.5- acre plot made up of paddock, walled garden, lawns, an orchard and patio areas. Main suite, 1further suite, 4further beds, 2familybaths, kitchen,4receps, attic, study, patio. £1.25m; Mr &Mrs Clarke (0330-111 9766).

▲ Somerset: Pear Tree House, Litton, Radstock. Adetached Georgian cottage, dating from the mid-1800s, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is on the market for the first time in 60 years. 3beds, family bath, kitchen, 3receps, 1-bed annex, garage, studio andmature gardens that have previously featured in the NationalGarden Scheme; 5.8 acres. £850,000; Knight Frank (01173-371997).

▲ Essex: FollyMill, Thaxted, Dunmow. An attractive Grade II manor house, dating back to the late 16thcentury, in an estate of about 222acres. The Renton family bought the estate in 1938, turning it into awell-known shoot andparty venueover the course of the following 80 years. Main bed,5further beds,3baths, kitchen,3receps, 1-bed annex, terrace, barn, doublegarage, outbuildings, garden, woodland, arable land. £2.75m; Savills (01245-269311).

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 on the market 37

▲ Northamptonshire: Ballad, Middleton Cheney, Banbury. Originally two cottages, this Grade II* home hasn’t changedhands in 55 years. 7beds, family bath, kitchen,3receps, garage, cellar, gardens. OIEO £500,000; Fine& Country (01295-239666). Kent: Glebe House,StMary’s Platt, ▲ Sevenoaks.AnelegantGrade II former vicarage built in 1849, and on the market forthe firsttime in 41 years. The property sitsin2.2 acres of land. Main bed,6further beds, 2baths, kitchen/ breakfast room, 2receps, study,conservatory, cellars, outbuildings, gardens.£2m; Knight Frank (01732-744473).

Hertfordshire: The White ▲ London: Airedale ▲ House, Much Hadham. A Avenue, Turnham charmingGrade II*homeof Green, W4.A architectural importance, striking semi- offered for sale for thefirst detached house timeinmore than 60 years. It filled with period is believed to date back to the features. It hasn’t Elizabethan or Jacobean era, been on the market has links to acclaimed in the last 30 years, architect RaymondErith and is in need of (Quinlan Terry’s tutor), and modernisation. The was mentioned by Pevsner. property benefits The property includes from a42ft garden, amature and beautifully which backs onto landscaped garden extending Homefield Park. to roughly 0.75 of an acre, Main bed,3further with arange of outbuildings beds,2baths,self- providing storage, garaging contained studio and utility areas. Main suite, apartment, kitchen, 6further beds, 2baths, 2receps,cellar, kitchen,3receps, study, cellar, garden.£2m; gardens, paddocks.£2m; Marsh &Parsons Savills (01279-756800). (020-89942556).

▲ London: 42 Canonbury Square,N1. An opportunity to buy an impressive five- storey, GradeIIhouse on an elegantgarden square within the Canonbury Conservation Area, which has been owned by the samefamily for more than three decades.The garden, oncefeatured in The New London Garden, is nearly 90ftlong. Main suitewithwalk- in wardrobe,4further beds, 2baths, kitchen, 3receps,garden room, ▲ Kent: Old Rectory House, Ripple, Deal. AsubstantialGrade II former double garage,patio. rectory, which was soldtothe current owner about 50 years ago. Queen £5m; Hamptons Anne wing: 4beds, 2baths, kitchen, 2receps, attic. Victorian addition: International(020- 3suites, 1furtherbed,kitchen, 4receps, conservatory. Groundsofaround 3369 4378). 1acre, garage, outbuildings. £1.25m, Bright &Bright (01304-374071).

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THE WEEK 30 January 2021 To advertise here please email classifi[email protected] or call HenryHaselock 020 3890 3900 LEISURE 39 Food & Drink What the experts recommend The joysofbrown food partly becausewefeelthatthey, like us, In the Instagramage,there’sabias have minds thatmakethem individual. towards elaborate and colourful dishes So why do we happilyeat octopuses? that look appealingonsocialmedia, says Katy McGuinnessinThe Sunday Times. Aperfectpasta dish forwinter But anumberofchefsare nowrebelling Nowisthe time ofyearwhen citrus fruits against this trend, by pointingout that the are at their best, says RachelRoddy in key thing is flavour, andmanyofthe foods The Guardian. And perhaps perfect for we most enjoy–from pies andstews to this winter is the Italianfavourite spaghetti simplevegetable soups–are more muted with lemon, parmesan andcream –adish in tone. “A lot of the food Iloveisliterally that is very comforting, and also extremely brown andbeige,”says Anna Tobias, who quick andeasytoprepare.Tomakeitfor opened Café Deco in Bloomsbury last four,cook450gofspaghetti in alarge autumn. “A plateofstew with mashed pan of salted water (set your timer for potato on thesideismoredelicious than one minute less thanthe recommended one withamillioningredients.” Tobias cooking time). Meanwhile, taketwo isn’t aloneinbelieving our priorities have unwaxed lemons: use avegetable peeler to become skewed: Nigella Lawson’snew Individuals with distinct personalities pare the rindfrom one, andcut thepared book, Cook,Eat,Repeat,features a stripsintoverythinslivers; then grate the chapter entitled “A loving defence of coast of SouthAfrica–has focused rind fromthe other, before squeezing out brown food”, in which she triestocounter attention on themoralityofeating this its juice. In awidefrying pan, gently warm our culture’s “rampant championing of the creature, says Simon Barnes in The 50g of butter with apeeled andgently colourful”, and urgeshomecooksnot to Spectator. Physically,octopusesare crushed garliccloveand addthe lemon judgefoods by how good they look in mysterious andalien:theyare molluscs slivers andzest,plus two tablespoons of photos –whether on social media or in (partofthe same phylumassnailsand lemon juice. Once the butter is foaming books.“To the naked eye,brown foodis mussels) andbecausetheir brains are gently, stir in 120ml of single cream and beautiful: rich, warm andfullofdepth diffusedthrough their bodies, theireight two tablespoons of parmesan,and bring andsubtlevariegation,” shenotes.“None legs have“limitedautonomy”.And yet up to abubble. Turn theheat to low of this can be easilycaught on camera.” they are clearly of superior intelligence: andkeep warmwhile the pasta finishes theycan navigate allsortsofmazes and cooking.Once it’s ready,drain it Why do we eatoctopuses? open containers; they have excellent long- (reserving some of the water)and toss it ThepopularityofNetflix’s My Octopus and short-term memories; andpeoplewho in thecreamysauce, swishingvigorously. Teacher –adocumentary about ayear- work withthem, in aquaria,insist they Add two more tablespoons of parmesan long relationship between aman and an havedistinct personalities.InBritain, we andafewgrindsofblack pepper –and a octopus he encountered diving offthe have ahorror of eating dogs andhorses, littlepasta water if it seems stiff.

Recipe of the week Lockdown cocktails Cointreau was asurprise hit of last year’s This super-healthy winter soup makes afulfilling lightmeal on its own, says lockdown, says Victoria Moore in The Daily Jane Mason. It’s usually made with black beans, but any bean will work. Telegraph. In spring, sales of the orange liqueur –the most popular brand of triple Crema de frijol (blended bean soup) sec –rose so rapidly that “many shops temporarily ran out of stock”. It seems that Serves 8200g dried beans, soaked overnight in water 1onion, quartered a“lockdown cocktail-making boom” was 3garlic cloves, peeled 1sprig epazote (optional) 2tomatoes, cored and halved fuelling demand for this “back-bar staple”. apinch of ground cumin 3cloves apinch of salt to garnish: dried oregano 1avocado, cut into small cubes soured cream crumbled queso fresco chopped To judge from the simultaneous spike in coriander 3corn tortillas, cut into small strips and fried gently in oil until crispy sales of tequila, most people then were 1large ancho chilli, cut into strips and fried gently in oil until crispy using Cointreau to make margaritas. In the depths of winter, that drink no longer • Drain the beans, rinse texture with ablender. seems quite appropriate, and so what them and place them in At this point, you can push Cointreau-based cocktails should you be apan. Add the onion, the soup through asieve making now? One good option is the garlic, epazote, tomatoes, if youwant to get rid of all sidecar –one of my favourite winter cumin, cloves and salt. the skins. The soup will be cocktails –which is made using cognac, Add water to cover the much thinner, but it will triple sec and lemon juice (typically in a ingredients by 4cm. still be extremely delicious 2:1:1 ratio). • Bring the pan to aboil –moreofabroth than a soup. If your soup is too But perhaps for this “grey January”, awhite on ahigh heat. Cook for lady is even more suitable. Made with gin, thick, add some vegetable 45 mins, checking often to triple sec and lemon juice (in a2:1:1 ratio) stock to thin it out. make sure there is enough with adash of sugar syrup and one egg white, water, until the beans are very soft. • Ladle the soup into warmed serving it’s astrong,short drink with “a gentle sting”. • Discard the garlic and the epazote. bowls and top with alittle of each of For afuller guide to making it (and lots of Blitz the bean mixture to avery fine the garnishes. Serve piping hot. other drinks besides), it’s worth giving Richard Godwin’s excellent cocktail newsletter, The Taken from Mexico: The World Vegetarian by Jane Mason, published by Spirits, abrowse.You can find it at thespirits. Bloomsbury Absolute at £20. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £15.99, substack.com. call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 40 Marketplace

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Consumer LEISURE 41

New cars: what the critics say TheDaily Telegraph What Car? Top Gear The Fiat 500, which True, with itsretro charm, All 500s get the same relaunched in 2007, is still thereare not many cars 117bhpmotor, and the selling “like hotcakes” that compete with the top range of 199 miles among “style-conscious looks of the“über-chic” is respectable for a urbanites”. Nowthat 500. The car feelswell smallcity car. However, thosebuyersare turningto put togetherinside, but cheaper modelswith electriccars, so mustFiat. it’s irritating that you asmallbattery havea But canthis EV replace don’t get atouchscreen rangeof115 miles. “An the beloved petrol version, infotainmentsystem,LED easy car to drivetidily”, Fiat 500 which will remain on sale? lights or other top tech it hasacceleration that is from £19,995 It is just as stylish, and with entry-level models. instantly responsive,but though it’s still cramped, Fewadults wouldbe notsomuch thatitsnaps that never stoppedbuyers comfortable sittingin your head back. It steers before.Italsomakes most the back for long, but lightly,feels “stable and of itsrivals,like the Mini the boot is afinesize (at refined” –and it could well Electric,lookoverpriced. least in hard-top versions). replace its predecessor.

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SOURCE:THE GUARDIAN SOURCE: FINANCIAL TIMES SOURCE: WHICH?

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 42 Obituaries

Film director best known for his work on the Up series

MichaelApted, whohas brightseven-year-old who hopedtobecome Michael Apted died aged 79, wasaprolific an astronaut, but flunked his Oxford exams, 1941-2021 British filmdirector,with struggled with mentalillness, and became aslew of acclaimed and homeless;chatterbox Tony from Bethnal Green commercially successful films to his name, from who only brieflyfulfilled his childhooddream Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)and Gorillas in of becoming ajockey, butwaslastseen living the Mist (1988) to the1999 Bond film The comfortably with his wife, Debbie, inthe WorldIsNot Enough. Buthis most enduring countryside; gentleBruce, who wanted to legacywill be the Granada TV documentaryhe becomeamissionary, became a teacher in first worked onasayoung researcher,in1964. Bangladesh and Hackney – and gave ahome Inspired by the Jesuit saying“Givemeachild to Neil;and Lynn, one of atrio of friends at the until heisseven and I willgive you the man”, same East Endprimary school, whohoped to Seven Up! featured 14children agedsevenfrom work in Woolworths, but became achildren’s arangeofbackgrounds, who were interviewed librarian –and died after thereleaseof56 Up. abouttheir lives, theirhopes and their expectations. There was atrio of prep school As they’d got older,some participants had boys who already knew they weredestinedfor started toresenttheintrusiveness of theseries, Oxbridge; there were Paul and Symon,growing and said that itgave askewed impression of up in achildren’shome;andNick, the son of their lives. A few dropped out forparticular afarmer, striding around amuddy lane in instalments. One cut tiescompletelyat21. oversizedwellies. It wasconceived as aone- Apted: known for strong female leads Apted, who described theseries as his life’s off programme for World in Action aboutthe work, wasclosetosome of the “children”, Britishclasssystem, but it madesuch an impact, Apted ended and said he feltaresponsibility to all of them; but he admitted up re-interviewing his subjects every seven years for the next that this sometimes conflicted with his instincts as a film-maker. 55 years: when he revisitedthemforwhatproved to bethe last “You want dramatic things to happentothem tomakethefilm time in 2019, they were 63. exciting,” he said. “On the other hand, how can you wish that?”

The series has beendescribed as one of the mostinfluential ever The son of aninsurancebroker, Michael Apted was born in made; but later, Apted reflectedthatheshould havetaken more Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1941. He was a shy boy whose care in selectingthe children.For one thing,there were only four mother used to walk him to school to make sure he wasn’t girlsinthe line-up, and they all settledearly on intodomestic life. bullied. He won a scholarship to CityofLondon School, and As a result, he said,the series “missed the boat”onthe “biggest went from there to DowningCollege, Cambridge. After Seven social revolution” of his lifetime:the changing role ofwomen in Up!, he directedepisodes of Coronation Street, as well asvarious society. He also regretted that so many of the children came from dramas. Hemade his first feature filmin1972, and moved to the extreme endsofthe social scale.But viewers,manyofwhom America in 1980 to direct Coal Miner’s Daughter,starring Sissy had themselves grown up with the series, were fascinated bythe Spacek. InHollywood, he was known for filmswith strong way theparticipants’lives unfolded, with theirups and downs, femaleleads.Apted’s firsttwo marriagesended in divorce. He triumphs and tragedies.There wasNeil, the charming,button- is survived byhis third wife,Paige,and three ofhis four children. American talk show host who interviewed 50,000 people

Larry King, who has died “Who isLarry King?”–he replied: “All the Larry King aged 87, was alegend ofUS things that Larry Zeiger never was.”He’d always 1933-2021 broadcasting,and theking wanted to work in radio, though, and when he of the talk show. Over five heard there were opportunities in Florida,he decades, he interviewedsome 50,000 people, movedtoMiami –and got a job sweeping floors from presidents and movie stars to death row at a local station, with apromise hemightget a inmates. Sporting his trademark bracesover a chance on air.One morning, the DJdidn’t turn shirt with rolled-up sleeves,hepresentedhimself up, andthe manager duly gave himthe slot. Half as an old-school news man, said The Times –but an hour before going on air, he renamedhimself: he described himself as an “infotainer”.Herarely Zeiger, he’d beentold, sounded “tooethnic”. In prepared forhis interviews,and he tended to lob 1958, he movedtoabiggerstation, where he “soft balls”. He wanted, he said,toask the kind broadcastfromapopularMiami restaurant – of questions acurious member of thepublic would and started interviewingits customers, someof ask;and he believed that not having aprepared whom were famous. ButKing was agambler, listmade himbetter able to listen to his guests’ said theLATimes,and in the 1960s he lived answers. It led to the oddgaffe: in 2007, he asked King: famed for soft ball questions too large –and becameinvolved in afinancial Jerry Seinfeldifhis hit1990s sitcom hadbeen scandal that cost him his career. After several cancelled when, in fact,NBC hadfamously beggedthe comedian years in thedoldrums, he bouncedbackin1978, with TheLarry to make another series. But it facilitated abreezy, non-confronta- KingShow,which provedamassive hit.Then, in 1985,the cable tional stylewhich couldberemarkablyeffective.“Idon’t pretend channel CNNofferedhim hisown TV show, LarryKingLive. to know it all,”hesaid in 1995.“Not, ‘What aboutGeneva or Cuba?’ Iask,‘Mr President, what don’tyou likeaboutthis job?’ It ran for25years. “Every dayofmylifeisalearningexperience, Or ‘What’s thebiggest mistake youmade?’That’s fascinating.” and I’mfascinated by everything,” he said in 2014.“My curiosity in allthose years hasnever dimmed since Iwas alittle kid.” King Kingwas born LawrenceHarvey Zeiger in Brooklyn, New York, married hischildhoodsweetheart aged19. It proved short-lived, in 1933. Hisfatherdiedwhenhewas nine, at which pointhis as didmost of his next sevenmarriages. He wasmarriedlongest motherwent on welfare, before findingworkasaseamstress. A tohis last wife, Shawn Southwick, from whom he separated in troubled boy, Larry only just graduatedhighschool. Askedonce, 2019. He hadfive children, two of whom predeceased him.

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Cineworld: bruised but unbowed When Cineworld finallypresented its bosses’ controversial“long-term incentive scheme” to shareholders thisweek,thecompany was given a“bloody nose”, said Dominic Walsh in The Times.But theprotest wasn’t large enough to derail the £200m-plus plan –worth a possible £65m each to thestricken cinema chain’sCEO, Mooky Greidinger, and his brother anddeputy, Israel. “Almost a third” ofCineworld’s shareholders voted against the scheme, which required 50% approval.The “outcome in favour” was helped by the Seven days in the votingrights conferred bythe brothers’ 20% stake –sparking suggestions of a“conflict Square Mile of interest”. In November, Cineworld was forced to seekfinanciallifelines from lenders worth $750m. But the chain,whose 127 UKcinemas are currently closed, is also reliant UK government borrowing rose to its on government support, saidBen Marlow in The Daily Telegraph: “with 5,000 staff highest ever December level last month furloughed since October, the boardshouldn’t need reminding how fortunate they are as the new wave of Covid restrictions kicked in: official figures put the monthly to have such well-paid jobs”. Allthe moresosince Cineworld’s eventualrebound will deficit at £34bn. Meanwhile, the depend on“mass immunisationenabling its sitestoreopen”, rather thanthe “turn- prospect of adouble-dip recession around genius, or otherwise”, ofthe Greidingers. It’s apity fund managers didn’t vote continued to loom. The latest figures down this munificent proposal, said NilsPratley inThe Guardian. The stageisnow set suggested that the service sector,which for “everypublic-company executiveinthe land” to “demandaCovid recovery bonus”. accounts for 80% of the economy, has been particularly hard hit by renewed HSBC: Westminster grilling lockdowns; overall, the economy is “Chinese stooge or Western bank?” That was what MPs on the Commons’ foreign affairs contracting at its fastest pace since last SelectCommitteewondered astheysummoned HSBC’s top brass for a grilling this week, May. Unemployment in the three months to November rose to 5%. said KatherineGriffiths inThe Times. In an “uncomfortable”appearance,CEO Noel Quinn and chief compliance officer Colin Bellfaced questionsabout the bank’s treatment Janet Yellen was confirmed as the first of customersinHongKong following last year’spoliticalunrest, as well as its role in the woman to head the US Treasury following aSenate vote. She urged “international spat” over Chinese telecoms firm Huawei. HSBC is heavilydependent on President Biden to “act big” on the next Asian revenues, but risked an international“backlash” lastsummer,whenitbackeda Covid relief package. Bitcoin suffered its new “Security Law” givingBeijing sweepingpowers over Hong Kong,said Poppy Wood worst week in months on fears of tighter in City AM. Mattersintensified when the bank froze the accounts of somedemocratic regulations in the US, falling below activists. “Ministers are concerned Chinese Communist Party members working for the $30,000 after setting arecord $42,000 bank’stop ranks could influence theindependenceofHSBC’s China arm,” said The earlier this month. Sunday Telegraph. A “dossier” compiled for the MPsincluded allegations that aChinese European safety regulators ruled that HSBCexecutive accusedofsexual assault was “protected” because ofhis partystatus. Boeing’s 737 Max plane, which suffered two fatal crashes, is safe to fly again Shell/Ubitricity: charging ahead after a22-month ban. AFrenchcourt Thereisno shortageofevidenceofthe accelerating “climate change revolution”, said began hearing acase against more than Alex Brummerinthe DailyMail. Take Shell’s decision to buy one ofthe biggest electric- adozen multinationals accused of causing grievous harm to aFrench- vehicle charging networks, Ubitricity. “The drive awayfrom hydrocarbons is looking Vietnamese woman when they sold the very real” when even Big Oil puts its weightbehind it. Shell wasone of thefirst to set Agent Orange defoliant, weaponised by out plans for “green forecourts”, saidJillian Ambrose inThe Guardian. Butwith electric the US military during the Vietnam War. vehicles closetothe “tipping point” of mass adoption, “on-street charging”isconsidered Apple was expected to post its first-ever critical to uptake. Ubitricity’s great selling pointisthat it integrateschargepointsinto $100bn-revenue quarter after strong existing infrastructure, like lamp posts. In 2018, BP paid £130m to acquire Chargemaster holiday sales. Tesla boss Elon Musk andnow claims to have“theUK’s largest public car-charging network”. Not ifShell has offered a$100mprize for the best its way. This deal is set “to accelerate the race to corner the market” in EV charging. technology to capture carbon dioxide.

AstraZeneca: the battle for jabs in Europe

“Europe invested billions to help develop the sell “to other nations at higher prices”. On world’s first Covid-19 vaccines… And now, Monday, the bloc struck back, calling for tight the companies must deliver,” said European controls on exports of Covid vaccines produced Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in the EU. AstraZeneca’s vaccine, created in this week. You can understand her agitation, conjunction with Oxford University, has said Nikos Chrysoloras and Katharina Rosskopf production sites in both the EU and the UK. on Bloomberg. The EU’s “underwhelming” vaccination response (the bloc trails both the Britain is unaffected by the supply cut –though US and UK) threatens to “prolong recession- Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi warned the inducing lockdowns” –and politicians, “eager EU against engaging in “vaccine nationalism”. to dodge the blame”, are running for cover. An The irony, said The Economist, is that the EU escalating supply spat with AstraZeneca has has yet to approve AstraZeneca’s jab, which only served to highlight the “fiasco”. makes blocking exports seem abit rich. The situation is further complicated by the furore The row began last Friday when the British- surrounding an erroneousreport on the Swedish pharma warned that production Von der Leyen: agitation vaccine’s efficacy in the German business daily pressures meant it would “fall far short” of a Handelsblatt, said Politico. Von der Leyen contractual obligation to supply Brussels with afirst trancheof seems determined to cut through the noise and bring Astra’s top 100 million shots, said Politico. Top officials “all but accused” brass to heel, said the FT. Her stance highlights “the intensity of AstraZeneca of “cutting supplies” intended for the EU in order to the battle for jabs”, which are “still in short supply globally”.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 46 CITY Talking points

Issue of the week: Britain’s high streets Online pioneers are winning the great retail carve-up – but at what cost to our town and city centres? Boohoo’s purchase of Debenhams “terrificclip”. According to theCentre for £55m and thelikely sale ofPhilip for Retail Research,54retailers failed Green’s Arcadia empiretoAsos “mean last year, spanning 5,214 stores and eulogies are once again being written 109,407 jobs. Noneofthis squares for Britishtown centres”, said Bryce brilliantly with the PM’s “levelling Elderinthe FT. Neither online retailer up” and “build back better” mantras. “wants the stores”; they just want the “A £100bn ‘infrastructure revolution’ brands. Bad news for Debenhams’ 118 is a nice sound bite. Butthere’snot UK shops and Arcadia’s estateofmore much infrastructure people care about than 400 sites – and forsome 20,000 more thantheir local high street. And jobs thatmaybelost. Apost-mortem they’re turning into ghost towns.” is now under way. Was the pandemic to blame or were thegroups already Thereare certainly“wider repercus- fatally holedbythe “overenthusiastic End of an era: Debenhams was founded in 1778 sions” to these business failures, said cash extraction” offormer owners? the FT. “At stake is not just thefuture Whatever thecase, there’s symbolisminthe factthat Debenhams of international fashion destinations, such as London’s Oxford –“abusiness founded two years after thesigningofthe US Street.”Store chains like Debenhams andArcadia’s Topshop Declaration of Independence” – has“fallen prey to one that’s the “actedashigh-streetanchortenants acrossthecountry”, and their same age as BarronTrump”,the ex-US president’s youngest son. demiseputs “hundreds ofsmaller townand city centres at risk”. The Governmentmust actfast to slowthe “shake-out”; reforming Viewedinamorepositive light, the latest developmentsmight be punitive business rates is a crucial first step. “Since Debenhams’ seen as a “coming of age” for Britain’s“online fashion pioneers”, annualrates bill was £75m at the lastcount”, the question of said Alex Brummerinthe DailyMail. “TheUKmay have hada whenthe Government will actwould certainly havebeenrelevant hard time competing with Silicon Valley in puretech”, but there to any would-be buyer, said Nils PratleyinThe Guardian. Yet we are “genuinely robustcompanies” beingbuilt on digitalbusiness are noclosertoananswer. “Ministershint at reformbut never plans in the“traditional UK sphere” ofshopkeeping.Canyou get round to it.” MaybeDebenhams andArcadia couldhave spot thethemehere, asked Alistair Osborne in The Times. “No survived longer in “physical form” had the problem been one wants to own shops.” It’s the main reason why weak, or addressed. “We’ll never know.” Butthousands of people now hollowed-out, high-street brands arekeeling over at such a likelytolose their store-based jobs are“entitled to wonder”.

Chinese fintech: what the experts think Runaway markets? ● Ant music Hong Kong exchange,noted After adramatic rebound from the There’s hope again for the the BBC. The companyis Covid crash last March, US benchmark Chinese payments giant now nearing a “trillion- indices have reached “record highs in Ant Group, whose massive dollar valuation” and the early days of 2021”, said Katie flotation was scuppered founder Pony Ma has “leap- Martin in the FT. “Popular stocks like by Chinese regulators in frogged” Jack Ma(no Tesla continue to defy efforts at sober valuation” –nowonder some fund the autumn,said BBC relation)tobecome China’s second-wealthiest man. managers are “on the alert for apull- Business. Lastweek, back”. Seth Klarman of Baupost Group founder Jack Ma made has warned of investors who mista- his“first appearance” ● Bubble fears kenly believe that risk in markets “has since thecrackdown on Fuelled by the upward simply vanished”. He likens them to hisempire, which includes ascent of tech and “frogs being slowly brought to the boil”. the e-commerce behemoth e-commerce stocks, Alibaba.Now,the mainlandChina’s CSI 300 There are certainly concerns. Analysts governor of the People’s index of Shanghai and at Absolute Strategy Research recently Jack Ma: back in business? produced a“checklist of bubble indi- Bank of China(PBOC), Shenzhen-listed shares “hit cators” that put the current rally in US Gang Yi,“hassignalled that the door its highest level since the global financial “growth” stocks in the same context as remains open”for Ant’s marketdebut. crisis” thismonth,said ThomasHale and the boom and bust of Japanese equities Hudson Lockettinthe FT.Some officials in the 1980s, or the 1990s dotcom ● Tencent’stenacity at thecentral bank fear thattoo much debacle. “Clients are increasingly Some sawthe Chinese government’saction “loose liquiditycould inflate an asset worried,” according to ASR founder Ian againstMa“as avengeful Communist bubble”. Hence, thePBOC’s move this Harnett. That said, “people find away Partylashing out at theoutspoken week to tighten conditions by withdrawing to rationalise every bubble”, and there’s businessman”.But Beijing hasbeen some Rmb78bn ($12bn) fromthe financial aperceived “career risk in missing out”. “grapplingwith newtechnologies and system. Mainland-listed stocks duly Some point to an “explosion” of ama- theirpossible implications forthe stability dropped 2%.But traders report that it’s teur investing, via commission-free of theChinese financialsystem”. Indeed, hard to kill the momentum. Nearly $34bn sites like Robinhood, as aparticular action was almostinevitable afterAnt has flowed from the mainlandinto Hong concern. “But barring anear-unimagin- captured such alarge chunkofthe Chinese Kong’sstock market so far in 2021, able withdrawal of support from central payments and wealth management market, according to Bloomberg data: much of it banks, or aburst of inflation that tech expert Shazeda Ahmed toldAl intorocketing tech shares likeTencent and seriously jolts the bond markets”, many Jazeera. “I always felt like [Ant Group] the shoppingplatformMeituan.AsAndy investors agree it is “hard to imagine” were in theposition the PBOC wanted to Maynard of ChinaRenaissance Securities what could trigger a“large reversal” in risky assets. Michael Kelly of Pinebridge be in.” But whilethe clampdown has concludes: the mood remains “totally... Investments reckons it “will take at least taken the wind outofAnt’ssails, shares intact in terms of itspositivity”. In China’s adecade for this to unwind”. in arch-rival Tencent have surged on the stock markets,euphoria stillrules.

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NE ’VE YOU IF OX EB TH Commentators CITY 49

Last spring, fearful that thepandemicwould causeashortage of migrant workers to harvest the UK’s fruit and veg, ministers City profile Trade-offs launched a “Pick for Britain” campaign to attract local workers, says Sarah O’Connor.“It was aperfect test of whether the Leon Black The co-founder of Wall down on economycould wean itself offlow-paid migrants.” The campaign Street buyout firm Apollo attracted plenty of applicants, but fewstuck with it: bythe end of Global Management is the farm the season, just a tinypercentage remainedinthe job –proof, said “one of the most successful critics, ofthe country’s work-shy nature. This narrativeignores financiers of his generation”, Sarah O’Connor the reality. “Britons aren’tlazy – they’re rational.Theywill do said the FT. But Leon Black toughorantisocial jobs ifthepaycompensates sufficiently, like now faces apublic “reckon- Financial Times working on an oil rig. Butpicking jobs don’t pay apremium ing” over his ties with the compared with working in a shop or café”, and theworkisboth convicted sexual predator harder and seasonal. The Government is “skirtingaround a hard Jeffrey Epstein, who was found dead in his cell in 2019. truth”. If it really wants to replace migrantworkers in ourfields, Following an independent pay andconditions willneed to be better – “and that means inquiry commissioned by his higher food prices”. Ministersshould level with people about the firm, Black has announced “trade-offs” involved in curbing lower-paid migration into the UK. his retirement as CEO after 30 years. He’ll be replaced Lockdown has been“boomtime for supermarkets”, says The later this year by fellow Economist. AlthoughBritain’soverall GDP has shrunk byaround co-founder Marc Rowan. Apyrrhic atenth inthe pastyear, supermarkets’ sales have grown fast. The two biggest in terms ofmarket share – Tesco and Sainbury’s– victory for enjoyed respectivelike-for-like jumps of 7.2% and 8.6% in the pastquarter. But something’sup. “A boomingtop line is not supermarkets feeding through into higher profits.” Indeed, Sainsbury’s expects they’llfallby£330mthis financial year, while Tesco predicts they Editorial willremain flat. The big grocers have had theirmarginssqueezed by costs associated with the pandemicand Brexit.“But the biggest The Economist hit to profitability” hascomefromthe switch to “online sales”. Chargingaslittle as 99p fordeliveries on orders over £40 was only sustainablewhen theinternetwasarelatively small sales channel. And there’s probably no goingback. “McKinsey reckons it takes two months for customerhabits to be formed”; after ten months ofconvenient online shopping,many Britons are unlikely to relish returningtothe supermarket trek.Eventually, delivery fees will havetorise. Right now, noplayerwantstoblink first. The review cleared Black of any involvement with When China’spresident Xi Jinping swept into Davos in 2017,he Epstein’s criminal activities – was “cheered by starstruck delegatesasthe newchampion offree pointing to a“professional trade and theguardian ofthe international order”,says Ambrose relationship” to explain why China has he paid $158m to Epstein Evans-Pritchard. Howthings change. Xi’s online speech to the over afive-year period to lost its World EconomicForum thisweek was full of his usualcatch- 2017, said the FT. It was an phrases – such as “thestrong should not bully the weak”. But apparently successful one. moral clout after a year in which the true face of the Chinese regime hasbeen Indeed, Black, who was revealed inHongKong andinthe horror of the Uighur concen- worth $7.7bn in 2019, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard tration camps,Xi’s “pitch for moral world leadership hasreached “attributes asizeablepart” the pointofsurrealistabsurdity”.Xiwas clearly hoping for the of his wealth to “the late The Daily Telegraph re-election ofDonald Trump andacontinuation ofAmerica’s paedophile’s financial retreat into “global isolationism”. Instead, he must deal with Joe acumen”. The report states that Epstein handled every- Biden andthe likelihood of a “reconstitutedWestern alliance” in thing from tax audits to “a the form of the Trans-Pacific Trade bloc. Xi is no longerdealing dispute over the ownership with aUSthat has “abdicated” leadership; nor can he count on of asculpture by Picasso”. Davos “tokeeplapping up thesameimplausible platitudes”.Ifhe He was apparently the makes an appearance nextyear, he’ll need anew speechwriter. “architect” of the Apollo chief’s private office, which “The warning on IG Group’s website says 75% of its customers managed his investments. lose money tradingits financial spread-betting products,” says Nils Pratley. That hasn’t deterred punters. From IG’s pointof In return, Black’s fees The lockdown “bankrolled” Epstein view, the pandemic hasbeen“beautiful forbusiness”:the number following his 2008 guilty plea boom in of activeclients increased by 55% betweenJune andNovember, to aprostitutioncharge, said helping profits jump 129%.Strange to think that afew yearsback The New York Times. Black, spread-betting many questioned if thespread-bettingboomcould last.“Volatility who is also chair of New in share prices, which Covid hasprovided, usually brings out the York’s MoMA, believed his Nils Pratley punters, but there areprobably two extraingredientsatwork.” adviser deserved asecond TheaverageIGclient (male, aged30-50,earning £65,000 ayear), chance. But disquiet about The Guardian “deprived”offoreign holidays and restaurants, has both spare his links to Epstein has been time andcash. “Havingaleveraged flutter... fillsthe space building. “Many of Apollo’s biggest clients” have been between Zoom meetings andpossibly evenduringthem.” The “awaiting the results of phenomenon seems to be global. Doubtless the firm’s clienteleare the report”. The one firm “a sophisticated bunchwho understand risks”; some “may even conclusion? Leon Black’s haveimproved on the75% losing batting average”. Butit’s worth long reign as the “face and remembering that thiskindofsurge in retail investor interest voice” of Apollo is over. “often comes just before markets turn ugly”.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK ADVERTISEMENT FEATURE Stayinglegal in China’s expandingmarkets Youshould get to know the red tape, but it doesn't need to stand in your way

hina is aterritory richin governmentalsoposts its ownUnreliable risksthrough earlyplanning andeffective potentialfor UK tech Entity List,whichrestrictsorprohibits any duediligence. companies with ahungerfor companies namedfromoperating.Though Of course,UKcompaniesstill have to abide technologyand innovation. Ye t theremay be little chance of your company by UK regulations,includingthose that cover organisations wantingto appearing on it,you can’t affordtorelyonany briberyand theexportofstrategic military and C capitaliseonthese suppliers that do. dual-use technologies.What’smore, Chinahas opportunities must sometimes overcome high Beyond this,there arelicencesrequiredto its ownlegal practices around contracts, legaland regulatory barriers.While China is operateawebsite or aweb-based service, along workers’ rights anddisputes,not to mention its increasingly open to foreigntechimports and with customsand licencingrestrictions that owndistinctcourt systemtoenforce them. investment, thereremainseveral legalbarriers governthe import or manufactureofIT China’sCorporate Social CreditSystem(CSCS), that businesses need to be aware of. equipmentorelectronic goods. Obtaining whichapplies to allcompaniesworking in It is firstlyimportant to make sure youcan these licencesmay involveindependent testing, China, is anotherconsideration.Companies legallyoperate in China. Chinahas negative technical documentation andproduct need to meet alltheir CSCS goals–and ensure lists that determinewhichsectors areopento inspection from Chineseauthorities. that anysuppliers or partners aremeeting foreignimports andinvestment. The Tech businesses tend to have adigital them as well. component, meaningthatthey’re likelytobe This mightsound likealot of redtapetoget affectedbyChina’scybersecurity anddata through,but youcan cutthrough it with regulations.China’sCybersecurity Lawgoverns preparation andresearch. Legaladvisersand howdata can be collected, stored and market entry consultancies can help firms transferredacrossborders.Insome navigate theregulatory barriers,while working Tech businesses circumstances,companies mayneed to seek with localconsultantsorindustry specialists governmentapprovalfor thecross-border can also help.The Digitaland Tech China tend to have a transfer of personal data or importantdata, website(gov.uk/digitalandtechchina)is and, as ageneral rule of thumb, data should be crammedwithinformation, guidance and digitalcomponent, locatedonChineseservers.It’salsoworth useful resources, whileyou can also talk to the beingaware of China’sNational Intelligence China-BritainBusinessCouncil (cbbc.org), meaning that Law, whichrequirescompanies to provide theDepartment forInternational Trade supportand assistance to intelligencebodies andtechUK(techuk.org). they’relikelytobe on request. Theselawsmay affect howyou decide to structureyourChinabusiness, how To read an expanded versionofthisarticle, affectedbyChina’s data is controlled andhow youmanageyour visit china.theweek.co.uk core IP,soit'swisetoget adviceonpotential cybersecurity and issues earlyon. There arealsointellectual Broughttoyou by propertyrisks when operatinginChina, data regulations although companiescan offsetthese Shares CITY 51

Who’s tipping what

The week’s best shares Directors’ dealings Genus Netflix Unilever Quartix Investors Chronicle The Times The Sunday Times 450 The animal geneticsspecialist’s The streaming giant has Consumer staples are market-leading pigs business secured its dominant position attractivelyvalued, and is growingstronglyandvery in an increasingly crowded Unilever is leading the wayin Director sells profitablyglobally,amid market, attracting37million environmental sustainability 400 7,194,377 rising demand for elite cattle new subscribers. Investment –cheerleading other manu- semen. Investing in R&Dfor in originalcontent is reaping facturers in acampaignto growth. Justifiably pricey. rewards in efficiency and recycle black plastic (previously 350 Buy. £46.21. profitability. Buy. $501.77. hard to detect). Buy.£43.78.

Kooth Safestore Unite Group 300 The SundayTimes Investors Chronicle The Times Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan This online therapy service is Economic uncertaintyhasn’t The pandemichas been a the NHS’s biggest children’s curtailed the self-storage “seriousdisruption” for Unite, Founder CEO AndyWalters has sold£28.85m of sharesin mental health provider, provider’sexpansion – which provides high-quality the vehicle-tracking software running forums and occupancyratesare up. student accommodation. But firm to make room for growing professional counsellingon The price premium to peers it has raised £300m ina demandfrom institutional its app. Growth isup49%. is justified by greater scale placing to invest in new investors. This equates to 15%

of Quartix’smarket cap, but NVESTORS CHRONICLE

Expanding into the adult andgeographic diversity. developments. Prospective :I market. Buy. 271.5p. Buy. 831p. yield 2.3%. Buy. 962.5p. Walters retains22.2%. SOURCE

…and some to hold, avoid or sell Form guide Shares tipped 12 weeks ago AngloAmerican AxonEnterprise Superdry Best tip The SundayTelegraph The Daily Telegraph InvestorsChronicle MaxCyte Shares in thelarge mining Recentevents in Washington Despite rising e-commerce The Daily Telegraph firm have more than doubled mayhave prioritised US sales, inventoryproblems up 85.54% to 686.5p since last March, and are well spendingonlaw enforcement have hastened a23.4% Worst tip above pre-pandemic levels. –good newsfor Axon, which revenue fall at thefashion The Renewables Butthe stock is highly cyclical, makes non-lethal Taser retailer. 173storeshave Infrastructure Group andfurthercompanyresults weapons. Shares have soared, closedand there’s uncertainty The Times are on theway. Take profits. but this is asolid long-term around debt covenant tests. down 8.94% to 126.8p Sell. £26.28. play. Hold. $159.36. Sell. 207p. Market view Avon Rubber SageGroup Synairgen “Every ladder is leaning The Times TheTimes The DailyTelegraph against the same wall – The saleofthe non-coredairy The accounting software Synairgen hasdeveloped a interest rates and quantitative business hasenabled the specialisthas slimmeddown respiratory drug for Covid easing. If interest rates rise, rubberspecialist to cutdebts and is movingtowards a which hasproved effective there will be areal and reduce its pensions deficit. cloud-based service,promising in earlytesting.The stock reckoning.” Benefitingfrom surging morepredictable revenues. hassoared, butit’s volatile Daniel Kozlowski of demand forrespiratorymasks Competition is fierce, but –and thetrials aren’t yet Plaisance Capital, on for the emergency services. shares arecheap. Yields 3%. complete.Bankwinnings. frothy stock markets. Quoted in the FT Hold.£34.20. Hold for income.601.2p. Sell. 171p. Market summary

Key numbers for investors Best and worst performing shares Following the Footsie

26 Jan 2021 Week before Change (%) WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS FTSE 100 6654.01 6712.95 –0.88% RISES Price %change FTSE All-share UK 3761.64 3793.91 –0.85% Pearson 761.40 +12.14 Dow Jones 30943.90 30927.36 0.05% Johnson Matthey 3003.00 +9.72 7,000 NASDAQ 13603.83 13112.70 3.75% Sage Group 610.40 +8.96 Nikkei 225 28546.18 28633.46 –0.30% Ocado Group 2787.00 +8.02 Hang Seng 29391.26 29642.28 –0.85% B&M European Value 530.80 +6.91 6,500 Gold 1856.85 1833.05 1.30% FALLS Brent Crude Oil 55.94 55.82 0.21% Intl. Cons. Airl. Gp. 139.95 –12.34 DIVIDEND YIELD (FTSE 100) 2.92% 2.91% Melrose Industries 167.10 –8.94 UK 10-year gilts yield 0.26 0.29 Rolls-Royce Holdings 96.32 –7.96 6,000 US 10-year Treasuries 1.03 1.10 Glencore 255.00 –6.85 UK ECONOMIC DATA BP 282.35 –6.27 Latest CPI (yoy) 0.6% (Dec) 0.3% (Nov) BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL Latest RPI (yoy) 1.2% (Dec) 0.9% (Nov) 5,500 Gstechnologies 1.00 +244.83 Halifax house price (yoy) 6.0% (Dec) 7.6% (Nov) Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Arkle Resources 1.225 –35.53 £1 STERLING $1.373 E1.131 ¥142.419 Source: Datastream (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 26 Jan (pm) 6-month movement in the FTSE 100index

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 52 The last word Theprivate diary of an MP’swife

In an extract from her bestselling diary, Sasha Swire –the wife of Hugo Swire, the former MP for East Devon and Northern Ireland minister in David Cameron’s coalition government –describessome memorable moments at the Tory top table

21 April 2011 mission toget money for his BoyGeorge [Osborne] comes ex-wife. My eyesswitchto to lunchatLincombe with his one of his flunkies and PA,Poppy. He is doingHugo wonder how testingthe job a favour, opening the Flybe mustbe. Training Academy atExeter. After dinnerwewithdraw to HandGeorge toddle offto the blue room forcoffee, and Flybe’s £12m training centre he tells me he received a where they each have aturn briefingabout me from Laura in theflight simulator. Hutchings,who worksfor George’s efforts are interest- him, andwhich he now ing. When asked whatairport repeats to me:Iam lippy and he would like to flyinto, he dominant but fun,according says Manchester, which is to Laura. Heisvery friendly the one he uses to get to towardsmeandwhen coffee hisconstituency[Tatton, is over, he comesover,points Cheshire].Hecommences to meand says, “I’ll see you hisdescent, with Hlooking upstairs in five!”Arather decidedlyqueasy asthe drunken lady from Business aircraft makesitserratic NorthernIreland reels back progress towardsthe airport. in laughter and says, “Her His firstattemptispoor,so hospitality doesn’t extend much so theinstructor that far, sir!” shouts, “ABORT! ABORT!” “Prince Andrew says he’s heard Iamlippy and dominant, but fun” Then Hturns to George and 30 June 2012 says,“Oh dear, webetternotletthat one get out, chancellor”. Hslams his red box down onthe kitchentable andopens it.It feels like I’m being stoppedbyatraffic light, one thatprohibits BoyGeorge is looking rather cross as H fake vomitsoutthe any traffic fromproceeding. RED. STOP.WAIT. GO. I do go... window. He asks to have another go. Soon enough, the “plane” outside.Red, the colour of blood and power. Of kings and is put into emergencymeasures and prepares itself for what is cardinals and Roman generals and whores andthe devil. The commonly known in the industry as acrashlanding. Apparently, greatcarrier of governmentdocuments. it would havecaused considerablecasualties after the plane, havingcleared the perimeter fence, pancakes on to the runway The Sun goes down in apale fire betweenthe farmbuildings. andcomes to ahalt, havingdestroyed theentire terminal building, Then everything falls away. The birds,the noise,me.Light which subsequently explodesin changes everything; all the world aball of fire, hell and damnation. obsequious and answering to “Dominic Cummings looks like this ball ofpower. Flowers draw “George, youhavejust taken out one of those odd amoebas you find in up their petalsinakind of sleep, your constituency!” says H. jars in school science labs” but not the jasmine, the cool beautyofthe night. BoyGeorge turns to Hwearing histrademark impish grin andsays, “But that terminal building is Myhusbandshould be sitting herebesideme. Tell me about not in my half of theconstituency!” loneliness,yours,and Iwill tell you mine. Instead, Iwalk around thehouse andsee H, through the window,inaglare of Let’s hope, forall oursakes, his steering of theeconomy out of artificial brightness, still hunched andworking on hisbox.Our recessionisalittle bitbetter. marriage is in adifficultplace. Ibarely seehim any more;he’s always in Ireland or theHouse or working in theconstituency, 22 June andwhen he’s home he hardly speaks to me.Itismidnight when Over to Hillsborough[the official UK government residence in he finallycomestolie downinthe corner of my cage,but it’s not Northern Ireland] for the dreaded garden party. The royal this from calm, it’s fromexhaustion. Iflare up. It hasaneffect, year is Prince Andrew, and as soon as the Patersons [former because the next day he textsKate [Kate Fall, Prime Minister Northern Ireland secretary Owen Paterson andhis wife] find David Cameron’sdeputy chief of staff andhis “gatekeeper” at out, they appear to receive an urgent recall to theconstituency, No. 10] saying if he is not brought backfromexile at thenext leavingHand me the honour of hosting him. Adinner with 20 reshuffle,his wife is going to divorce him.“Don’t worry,”she of Northern Ireland’s mostprominent businessmenand, Ihave replies. “You are being moved.” to say, Andrew chairing thediscussion roundthe table is excruciatingly painfultowatch: amixture of blokeyness and 16 June 2014 royal arrogance. Isit there trying to listentohow brilliantheis Hugo wasappointed Minister of State for Foreignand and what agood jobheisdoingastrade envoy,when all Iam Commonwealth Affairs in September 2012, remaining in office seeing is him in swimming shorts, attendingtopless pool parties untilJuly2016.Heretired as MP forEast Devonatthe 2019 at Jeffrey Epstein’s mansion, while on hisown personal trade general election. OCK ROSE PHOTOGRAPHY; DESMOND O’NEILL FEATURES ©R

THE WEEK 30 January 2021 The last word 53

Dominic Cummings, the defenestrated constituents. Please pass on my best wishes consigliere of Don Michael [Gove], has gone andloyalty to all left inthe bunker.” It elicits tontoagain, and has hadarant with Alice no response. Thomson[The Times journalist]. In it, Ed Llewellyn [then Downing St chief ofstaff] is 8 June: Election night, Sidmouth described as “a classic third-rate suck-up-kick- We see the exit poll at 10pm andaudiblygasp. down sycophant presiding over ashambolic From then on,wefeel we arebeingphysically court”. Craig Oliver, the directorofcomms, andmentallyabused asthe resultscome in. is “just clueless”. [Hugoeventually held on to his seat, butwith adecreased majority.] Dave himself is “asphinx withoutariddle – he bumbles fromone shambles to another 20 August 2019 without the slightestsense of purpose”. It felt like theLast Supper. Well, the last “Everyoneistryingtofind thesecret of interesting supperofour political lives. At a David Cameron,” says Cummings. “But he selectdinner at No. 10,Iam inpride ofplace is whatheappears to be. He hadapicture on theright ofthe PM[BorisJohnsonhad of Macmillan on hiswall – that’sallyou succeeded May the previous month]. H is need to know.” Thediscomfort for Kate et al tucked into some room, telling Boris he’s off is that the quotes comefrom someone who at thenextelection, but thathewants to get was–and is still –incredibly close to Don involved inaspecific projectafter he hasleft. Michael.Ihavemet Cummings a few times;he He puts it to Boris, who is enthusiastic: “Let’s looks like one ofthose odd amoebas you find do it, Hugo!” in jars in school science labs,but what always Hugo and Sasha Swire in 2006 struck me washis over-inflated view of his The First Lady [Carrie Symonds]isano-show: ownimportance. shehas pissed off to Greece, apparently, which disappointedH, whowouldn’t wear hisblood-pressure monitor, becausehe 3June 2017 thought he might gettositnext to her, which would send his In July 2016, Theresa May hadsucceeded Cameron as PM. The reading offthescale.Boris isabout the best placement you can following April, shecalled a snap electionhighlighting her “strong get. Cheeky. Flippant. Enthusiastic.Bombastic.Ebullient. and stable” leadership. It would result inahung parliament. Energetic. We haveagood laugh.

The Marchioness [Hugo’s mother, theDowager Marchioness Ikick it off: “You can’tserve this food, it’s disgusting.You’ll Townshend]arrivestocanvass. I put upapictureofHand“my neverconvert aRemainerwith this slop.” mum” on Twitter. It getseighteen hearts, and a comment pings in:“Fucking hell mate! She looks younger than you!” “Cripes, it’s not that bad, is it?”

Idon’tcanvass because I can’t “The goat’s cheeseisthree bear the aggressionagainst H. Dairylea triangles crushed Ifeel I couldcreate an incident; “Boris stuffs in more mouthfuls together. It’s inedible.” Hwould have to unlock my and knocks back the cheapo plonk teeth from my antagonist’s ankle “Here, Sasha.” He makes me a as the blood startstosurge. The at an alarming rate” sandwich, because hethinks a Marchioness gets theusual 20% piece ofbread mightimproveit. negativity onthe doorstep, “We never see him around here”, etc. “Well, he’s beenterriblybusy, you know,flyingaround theworld Iaccept. He stuffs in moremouthfuls and knocks back the cheapo for theForeign Office,” she replies grandly. plonk atanalarmingrate. Ilook athisrotund build, thick, creased neck,pale, sweatyface; he looks back, as ifheisworking In the kitchen after Hleaves for the day, she tells me she isvery out if I’mshaggable. He’d probably do the same if a sheep walked worried. That Imust support him if everything goes wrong. in theroom.Hehas definitelylost that “I’ve lost alotofweight Which annoys me, becauseit’s not as ifIhaven’t supported him because I amcommittingadulteryand my children won’t talk to our wholedamn marriage andsacrificed quite a lot of my own me andmygirlfriend is hot” look. Ireckon other things areonhis ambitioninthe process. Isay, “Look, if he loses, [it] settles the mind and hehas returned to comforteating. whole goddam question of leaving, butatthe endofthe dayall Ican do is cook himbacon and eggs. He will have to sort the Boris laterarticulates avision, which is based on building:a humiliation out in his ownhead. It will be like abereavement and sort of Victorian,grandprojectprogramme. He calls himself he will,intime,get over it.” a“Brexiteer Heseltine”. Imumble that Idon’t thinkHeseltine would findthat flattering.“No,heabsolutely hates me.” Thereis This fromHugo’s whip:“Hello all; hope you arewell. Two quitealotofpraisefor GeorgeOsborne.David Cameron’sname questions the Chief needs your clarificationon: What areyour is not mentioned. “I can’treallysleepatnight,” Boris says. “It’s mutualaid plans [whereby MPs in safe seatssend parties to all so worrying.” He says he reads poetryevery nightbefore going nearby marginals]for tomorrow and howmanyare youtaking? to sleepand he’s goingtoget adog, whichmighthelp. Also,what are your mutualaid plans forpolling dayand how many are you taking?” At theend of the evening, Boris is having fun and doesn’t want to returntohis emptyflat where he lies awake all night becauseof Hugo’s reply:“Iamimmediatelydispatching three infantry what comesnext. David wasalwaysone for pushingyou outthe divisions backed up by an armoured battalion and fullair cover. door,inquite abrusque way. For allhis hinterlandand hotyoung Iamonly retaining acallow youth armed with apitchfork (it’s vixenand his agile mind, Boris just came acrossassomeone who allwenow have) to help me persuade my fewremaining is desperatelylonely and unhappy. pensionerswho haven’t defected on account of oursplendid manifesto to help me holdoff theindependent candidate from Copyright ©Sasha Swire 2020, extracted from Diary of an MP’s beating me, whichsomeare nowpredicting her to do notleast on Wife published by Little, Brown, an imprint of Little,Brown account of thesamesplendid manifesto and excellentcampaign Book Groupat£20.Tobuy from The Week’s bookshop for with its highly effective precision bombingofmyelderly £15.99, call 020-3176 3835.

30 January 2021 THE WEEK 54 Marketplace

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26 27

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Registeredasanewspaperwiththe RoyalMail. Printed by Wyndeham Bicester.Distributed by Marketforce(UK) Ltd. Subscriptions: [email protected]. 30 January 2021 THE WEEK