The Kurds’ “It’s nobody’s THE ORIGINAL struggle for business how RHINESTONE freedom much I earn” COWBOY BRIEFING P11 PEOPLE P8 OBITUARIES P43

19THAUGUST 2017 | ISSUE 1138 | £3.30EWTHE BEST OF THE BRITISHEEK AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Moggmania Could this man lead the Tories? Page 21

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS www.theweek.co.uk 2 NEWS The main stories…

What happened What the editorials said “Sanity has prevailed,” said the Daily Mail. After all the The plan for Brexit backbiting over Brexit, ministers are finally starting to The Government sought to step up the pace of present a united front. Hammond recently Brexit talks this week by publishing the first of suggested that nothing much would change a series of position papers. Under the proposals, after March 2019 and implied that this Britain will seek to smooth the exit process by transitional period could last indefinitely. mirroring its current arrangements with the EU But the idea of us “being stuck in this kind of for up to three years after quitting the bloc in half-in, half-out limbo for years on end” has March 2019. After this interim period – during now been banished. Having accused ministers which we would negotiate but not implement of inertia, critics are now accusing them of new trade deals with non-EU nations – the UK rushing out proposals with unseemly haste. will seek one of two customs arrangements “They can’t have it both ways.” with the EU. Under the first, it would use vehicle-recognition software and other means The Brexit negotiations have been so chaotic to streamline border checks. Under the second, that “even the slightest sign of common sense the UK and EU would enforce each other’s feels like a breakthrough”, said the Financial customs rules following a new partnership deal. Times. But while the Government is finally London will insist in either case that the Irish Trucks queuing at Dover starting to advance some proposals, its ideas border remains free of physical customs posts. “still lack detail and practicability”. It is hard to take these documents seriously, said The Guardian. Their The publication of the papers follows weeks of Cabinet prime purpose is simply to paper over Tory divisions and infighting over Brexit. In a show of unity, Chancellor Philip “signal to MPs that Theresa May’s government is back at its Hammond and Liam Fox, the International Trade Secretary, desks and back in business after its election debacle”. It’s wrote a joint article for The Sunday Telegraph, in which they good news, though, that the Government has publicly agreed that there should be a transition phase to avoid a committed itself to the idea of a transitional period for Brexit. “cliff-edge” exit from the EU, but that it should be strictly “It means Mrs May’s earlier claim that no deal with the EU time-limited and not become a “back door to staying in”. is better than a bad deal is now in the dustbin of history.”

What happened What the editorials said Nazis in America The violence in Charlottesville gave Trump a perfect chance to distance himself from the white supremacists and neo-Nazis President Trump provoked fury with his who have always “cheered him on”, said The half-hearted condemnation of the white New York Times. “He blew it.” Even in his supremacist march in Virginia last week, later statement, he refused to assign blame for during which an anti-fascist protester was Heyer’s murder, saying only that she had been killed. Heather Heyer died when an alleged “tragically killed”. Trump’s conduct contrasts right-wing activist drove a car into a crowd sharply with other right-wing Republicans – of anti-fascists in the university city of notably his old rival Ted Cruz – who didn’t Charlottesville. Trump initially said “many hesitate to condemn, said The Guardian. Trump sides” were to blame for the violence. After has failed utterly in a president’s first duty, to criticism from politicians and the media, he speak for the nation in “traumatic times”. made a further statement condemning white supremacists, before stating again on Tuesday But the “deeper” problem highlighted by the that there was “blame on both sides”. Charlottesville clashes, said The Wall Street White extremists in Charlottesville Journal, is the rise of divisive “identity politics”. Extremist groups including the Ku Klux Klan Increasingly, extremists of every kind are had gathered in Charlottesville to protest at plans to stirring up trouble between Americans of different politics, remove a statue of the Confederate general Robert E. Lee race, gender or religion. The Left must take some from a public park. Some openly carried assault rifles, wore responsibility for this state of affairs: witness its efforts to paramilitary uniforms and chanted Nazi slogans. James silence dissenting voices on college campuses. Trump is more Alex Fields Jr, 20, was charged with Heyer’s murder. “symptom than cause” of America’s true sickness.

Conservationists have A man has donated a kidney It wasn’t all bad launched a campaign to to a teacher he hadn’t seen in A cloakroom attendant at a save London’s “stretcher five years. Ali Golian, 30, was London concert hall had to fences”, made from inspired to become a radiologist stand in for a soprano at the last stretchers used to carry after working with Sonia minute – and won rave reviews. civilians during the Blitz. Leonardo, 42, at King’s College Milly Forrest, 23, who is about More than 600,000 metal Hospital in London. They had to start a master’s in singing, stretchers were made to fallen out of touch, but Golian works part-time at the Wigmore transport people injured made contact with her when he Hall, manning the cloakroom in bombing raids; after the read in a Facebook post that she and checking tickets. Last War, they were recycled had been sick. She told him that month, the venue asked her as fences on south London her kidneys were failing and to stand in when singer Ruby estates. But many have that she was on a waiting list for Hughes fell ill. Despite having now fallen into disrepair, and the Stretcher Railing Society is trying a live donor – so he immediately just 36 hours to practise her to raise both awareness and money to help preserve them. “It’s offered her one of his own. solo by Purcell, Forrest wowed quite hard to think of physical reminders of the Second World Following the transplant earlier the audience: The Guardian War,” said conservation manager Rosie Shaw. “It’s extraordinary this year, Leonardo has made

described her as “breathtaking”. that they are still there.” a full recovery. © NEW YORK TIMES/REDUX/EYEVINE/THE STRETCHER RAILING SOCIETY

COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM THE WEEK 19 August 2017 …and how they were covered NEWS 3

What the commentators said What next? It’s painfully evident, said Rafael Behr in The Guardian, that the Government is still clinging to Up to 12 position papers will the “unfeasible” idea that Britain will be able to keep all the benefits of EU membership after be published before October, leaving the bloc and setting itself up in competition to it – a model that amounts to “having our when the European Council cake, eating our cake and asking our dining partners to be patient while we order more cake”. is due to rule on whether The customs plans are an exercise in “magical unrealism”, agreed Ben Chu in The Independent. withdrawal talks – covering Even if we can agree tariff arrangements with the EU, there will still be major trade frictions migrants’ rights, the UK’s exit owing to the need to comply with EU standards. Turkey has a customs union with the EU but bill and the Irish border – its imports still have to be checked, which leads to long lorry queues at the Turkish-Bulgarian have made sufficient progress border. Innovations could help minimise these impediments – some standards checks could be to proceed to the next phase: performed at factories, for instance – but the system will never be seamless. agreeing the UK’s future relationship with the EU. The Irish border problem does gives Britain some “leverage”, said Oliver Wright in The Times. Brussels is worried about Ireland becoming a back door into EU markets for goods that haven’t EU negotiators have insisted paid the external EU tariff, but it also doesn’t want to be accused of sabotaging the peace that they won’t budge on the process by imposing a controversial hard customs border. The message from sequencing of talks, London to EU negotiators this week was: we’re not going to impose customs posts but by publishing on the border – “and if you do it’s on your own head”. its proposals on customs “Remoaners” are still desperately hoping that we won’t leave the EU customs arrangements and union at all, and that a second referendum will miraculously restore the status quo the Irish border ante, said Dominic Lawson in the Daily Mail. David Miliband added his voice to this week, the those calls last week, calling Brexit “an unparalleled act of economic self-harm”. UK is hoping to These people are wasting their breath. Even Hammond has now conceded that highlight how the UK will exit the EU in March 2019. “Any referendum thereafter about EU withdrawal issues membership would not be on the basis of our previous terms.” We would have to are inextricably apply as a new member, agree a timetable for joining the euro, and do without our “Egg sandwich?” linked to the current rebate. “Good luck selling that to the British people, Mr Miliband.” © MATT/THE DAILY TELEGRAPH future relationship.

What the commentators said What next? Trump’s response to the Charlottesville killing fits into an “ugly pattern”, said Matthew Right-wing groups say they d’Ancona in The Guardian. Earlier this year, the president claimed to be “the least racist will go ahead with a “free person”, but his record suggests otherwise. In the 1980s, he backed a high-profile campaign for speech” rally in Boston this the death penalty for five black and Latino youths accused – and later acquitted – of a murder in weekend, despite fears of Central Park; he popularised the conspiracy theory that Obama was born in Kenya; and he has violence. The city’s mayor, retweeted the messages of white supremacists. He seems perfectly happy “to surf on the tide Marty Walsh, said they of white resentment” that swept him to power. His claim that “many sides” were to blame for would not be welcome, the Charlottesville violence was no “throwaway” remark, said Josh Levin on Slate. He twice but at least 4,000 people repeated the phrase as if it was the only part of the speech that he “truly believed”. The racists indicated on Facebook that who chanted “Heil Trump” in Virginia surely know they have an “ally in The White House”. they planned to attend.

What worries me is their wider support, said Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker. One striking The fate of the statue at aspect of the clashes in Charlottesville was how the police “stood calmly by” as armed men the centre of the row in paraded through a quiet college town. “The message is sickening and unmistakable.” Black Charlottesville remains people angry at the murder of teenagers are “met with tanks and riot gear”; white people unclear. The decision to waving Nazi and Confederate flags are “met with politesse”. The spectacle of uniformed men order its removal has been marching under swastika banners and flaming torches was indeed “stomach-turning”, said challenged in the courts and Melanie Phillips in The Times. But the other side are no innocents. The anti-fascist “Antifa” the case continues. Another movement has a record of violence and rioting. Yet their behaviour is routinely “ignored, statue of a Confederate downplayed or even endorsed” by the Democrats and their “media acolytes”. In refusing to soldier in Durham, North single out the white supremacists for criticism, Trump may genuinely have felt that “both Carolina, was toppled by warring sides had unconscionable agendas”. protesters this week.

Editor-in-chief: Jeremy O’Grady The US is sometimes described as a “nuclear monarchy”. As Editor: Caroline Law Deputy editors: Harry Nicolle, Theo Tait THE WEEK Jonathan Freedland pointed out in The Guardian, the president Consultant editor: Jemima Lewis Assistant editor: Daniel Cohen City editor: Jane Lewis cannot modify the US healthcare system without winning over Contributing editors: Charity Crewe, Thomas Hodgkinson, Simon Wilson, Rob McLuhan, William Underhill, Digby Congress, or impose a travel ban without being overseen by the courts. But when it comes to calling Warde-Aldam, Tom Yarwood Editorial staff: Asya Likhtman, Anoushka Petit, Tigger Ridgwell, William Skidelsky Picture down Armageddon, there is no one standing in his way. Donald Trump has virtually unconstrained editor: Xandie Nutting Art director: Nathalie Fowler Chief power to unleash “fire and fury like the world has never seen”, as he recently put it; his commanders sub editor: Kari Wilkin Production editor: Alanna O’Connell would have no legal grounds to defy him. Technically, it doesn’t matter whether the US is under Founder and editorial director: Jolyon Connell Production Manager: Ebony Besagni Senior Production attack or not. Ordering a strike is the commander-in-chief’s prerogative. He could do it from the Executive: Maaya Mistry Newstrade Director: David Barker Direct Marketing Director: Abi Spooner Inserts: Abdul Ahad Pentagon war room, or with a single phone call from, say, a buggy on his golf course in New Jersey. Classified: Henry Haselock, Henry Pickford Account Directors: Scott Hayter, John Hipkiss, Victoria Ryan, Jocelyn Sital-Singh The president is shadowed by an aide carrying a briefcase known as the “nuclear football”; inside UK Ad Director: Caroline Fenner Executive Director – Head of Advertising: David Weeks it is the “black book” that presents a menu of target nations and categories, and a card known as Chief Executive, The Week: Kerin O’Connor the “biscuit”, detailing the nuclear codes. The codes verify the president’s identity to the war room, Group CFO/COO: Brett Reynolds Chief executive: James Tye which passes the order down the chain to the firing crews. Of course, there may be unofficial checks Dennis Publishing founder: Felix Dennis and balances to stop him doing this. But ultimately, the system is designed around one man, making

decisions very fast; there would be half an hour’s warning at most of a nuclear attack. “The biggest THE WEEK Ltd, a subsidiary of Dennis Publishing Ltd, problem we have is nuclear,” declared Trump in 2015 – “having some maniac, some 31-32 Alfred Place, London WC1E 7DP. Tel: 020-3890 3890. Editorial: The Week Ltd, 2nd Floor, 32 Queensway, London madman go out and get a nuclear weapon.” A worrying prospect indeed. Theo Tait W2 3RX. Tel: 020-3890 3787. email: [email protected]

Subscriptions: 0330-333 9494; [email protected] The Week is licensed to The Week Limited by Dennis Publishing Limited. The Week is a registered trademark of Felix Dennis. 19 August 2017 THE WEEK 4 NEWS Politics

Controversy of the week Contaminated eggs Supermarkets withdrew The Korea missile crisis a total of 11 products from their shelves last week, after “How did we get here,” asked Fareed Zakaria in The it emerged that 700,000 Washington Post. Why does it suddenly appear that we’re “on potentially contaminated the brink of a war in Asia”? From the start, President Trump’s eggs had been sent to the administration “has wanted to look tough on North Korea”. UK. The eggs, which mostly But when the latest crisis blew up – precipitated by reports that came from the Netherlands, Pyongyang had developed an intercontinental ballistic missile, were contaminated with and a nuclear warhead small enough to fi t on it – Trump’s fipronil, an insecticide that can cause damage to the reaction was “deeply worrying and dangerous”. He threatened kidneys and liver – but only if to bring down “fire and fury like the world has never seen” consumed in huge quantities. on North Korea; when pressed on the issue, he doubled down, At least 16 countries have promising that “military solutions are now fully in place, been affected; in the UK, the locked and loaded”, should Kim Jong Un “act unwisely”. eggs were not sold in their Throughout his career, Trump has made “grandiose promises An anti-US rally in Pyongyang shells but used in salads and and ominous threats”. The problem is that “he is no longer a sandwiches. Some of these businessman trying to browbeat someone into a deal”, said The New York Times. “He commands products were consumed the most powerful nuclear arsenal in the world, and any miscalculation could be catastrophic.” before they could be withdrawn, but the Food Standards Agency says a There is, in fact, method in Trump’s madness, said Fraser Nelson in The Daily Telegraph. For nearly health risk is “very unlikely”. 25 years, Pyongyang has been “stringing America along”. Deals were struck in 1994, 2007 and 2012 to “encourage or bribe” North Korea to drop its nuclear ambitions. Each time it carried on Grenfell inquiry regardless. Now that its nuclear missiles could strike America, is it really so unreasonable for Trump The inquiry into the Grenfell to give up on “the old cycle of talks, treaties and treachery”? The key to a solution is China, whose Tower fire will examine the food and fuel keep North Korea viable. “Trump’s rhetoric is intended for Beijing, not Pyongyang.” actions of Kensington and He wants to convince the Chinese that his administration really might do something “rash”, whether Chelsea Council, it was it’s starting a war or encouraging America’s allies in South Korea and Japan to develop their own announced this week. The nuclear weapons. There are signs that the strategy is working: China recently agreed to help impose probe will also consider the tower’s refurbishment, the sanctions, and now appears to accept that it must put pressure on Pyongyang to disarm. adequacy of building regu- lations, and the authorities’ Ultimately, though, Trump’s position is a bluff, said Jeffrey Lewis in Foreign Policy. “There is no response to the fire. Sir credible military option.” North Korea has as many as 60 nuclear weapons, not to mention a vast Martin Moore-Bick, chairing conventional arsenal. “Do you really think US strikes could get them all? That not a single one the inquiry, had previously would survive to land on Seoul, Tokyo or New York?” That leaves two options, said The suggested its scope could be Washington Post. One is to assemble a coalition of nations to impose economic sanctions so punitive far more limited. Survivors’ that Kim decides he would be better off making a deal. The other is “to live with a nuclear North groups expressed concern Korea, as we have long lived with a nuclear China” – deterring its use of those weapons by assuring that it won’t address broader questions of housing policy – Kim that his state would be annihilated in retaliation. Our view is that it is worth trying the former but Theresa May said social before accepting the latter. But it will require “patience, diplomacy, coherence and quiet strength. housing proposals would be Just to list those qualities is to acknowledge how unlikely success seems at this moment.” set out “in due course”.

Good week for: Spirit of the age Barack Obama, who posted the most “liked” tweet in history. Poll watch The first ever professional More than three million Twitter users endorsed his tweet in 67% of voters think leaving emoji translator is putting response to racist protests in Charlottesville, in which the the EU without a deal would together an etiquette guide. ex-president quoted Nelson Mandela: “No one is born hating be better than a soft Brexit. Keith Broni, 27, says he can another person because of the colour of his skin, or his 68% of voters would prefer help people avoid social background, or his religion.” a hard Brexit to a soft Brexit. faux pas by explaining the 53% which has fallen to its lowest level since 1975. of Remain voters think different ways the icons are Unemployment, a hard Brexit would be used around the world. An In the three months to June, unemployment in Britain dropped better than a soft Brexit, as emoji considered friendly to 4.4%, down from 4.6% in the previous quarter. do 85% of Leave voters. in one country can cause LSE/Oxford/Daily Mail offence in another: in Latin Bad week for: America, the “A-okay” Skye, which has become overrun by tourists. The remote Scottish 67% of Britons are against symbol is deemed insulting, island has seen a huge increase in visitors since it featured in pop Camilla Parker Bowles while in the Middle East, the taking the title of queen thumbs up is equivalent to videos by Harry Styles and Kanye West, and in the film of The when Prince Charles a raised middle finger. BFG. Hotels are so booked up that some visitors have taken to becomes king, according sleeping in cars; cruise ships are disgorging up to 2,000 passengers to a Norstat poll for the Suffolk County Council has onto the island at a time; the roads are blocked with camper vans; Sunday Express. Just 19% renamed the “cat’s eyes” on and there are constant queues for public lavatories. think she is fit for the role. its roads, following reports The Garden Bridge, which has been officially scrapped. Plans However, few people that tourists were taking the to build the tree-covered bridge across the River Thames were want Charles to take the term literally. Visitors had throne at all, an ICM poll reportedly been horrified by approved by former mayor Boris Johnson, but failed to win the for The Sun has found. signs saying “cat’s eyes support of his successor Sadiq Khan. An estimated £46.4m of A mere 22% think he should removed”, mistaking it for taxpayers’ money has already been spent on the project. become king; 51% want evidence of animal cruelty. Big Ben, which may fall silent for four years. Restoration of the Prince William to leapfrog The council will henceforth clock tower is due to start next week, and the loud “bongs” are his father, while 11% think refer to the safety devices considered a threat to the hearing of workers. But senior Prince Harry should as “road studs”. politicians, including Theresa May, have called for a rethink. succeed the Queen.

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 Europe at a glance NEWS 5

Copenhagen Berlin Sisimiut, Greenland Submarine Merkel races ahead: Barring a Theresa Wildfires in icy north: Greenland has mystery: Peter May-style collapse in support over the been hit by a series of wildfires this year, Madsen, a Danish coming weeks, Angela Merkel looks certain according to Dutch researchers, who last inventor who to be re-elected as chancellor next month, week published satellite images showing built his own with polls putting her CDU party 12% to the biggest fi re ever recorded on the private 40-tonne 17% ahead of the SPD at the start of the island. The blaze was fi rst spotted on submarine, has six-week campaign. The parties, which 31 July, and is still raging about 90 miles been arrested currently govern in a “grand coalition”, northeast of the town of Sisimiut. on suspicion of had been neck and neck in the polls just Wildfires are rare events on the vast the “negligent a few months ago. Support for the SPD island (which, at 2.17 million sq km, is manslaughter” of had surged after it picked Martin Schulz, around ten times the size of the UK), Kim Wall, a a combative left-winger, as its candidate where 80% of the land mass is covered 30-year-old Swedish journalist who for chancellor. However, the “Schulz by ice up to 1.9 miles thick. Academics disappeared last week after boarding the effect” proved short-lived, and the SPD has say the island’s melting permafrost – sub to interview him. Wall, a highly done badly in regional elections. Merkel a consequence of global warming – is respected journalist who has written for launched her campaign last weekend with likely to be a contributory cause. Jessica The Guardian and The New York Times, a populist attack on German carmakers McCarty, a geography professor at was researching a feature about Madsen over diesel emissions test rigging. Miami University, told the BBC that the (pictured) and his crowdfunded vessel, fi re appeared to be burning through the UC3 Nautilus. Police believe he peat. “I work a lot in this fi eld and no deliberately sank his sub in a bay one has ever thought of doing a fi re 30 miles from Copenhagen; no trace study in Greenland, I can tell you!” of Wall has yet been found.

Sept-Sorts, France Pizzeria attack: A man believed to be under the influence of drugs – and possibly suffering from severe mental health problems – deliberately crashed his car into the outdoor terrace of a pizzeria in a village near Paris on Monday night, killing a 13-year-old girl and injuring her younger brother and 12 other people. The incident happened in Sept-Sorts, 34 miles east of the capital, close to the town of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre. It is the latest in a string of attacks across France and elsewhere in which a vehicle has been used as a weapon. Last week a man rammed a group of soldiers in Paris, injuring six, before being shot and wounded as he tried to escape. The pizzeria attack is not being treated as a terrorist offence. The driver, a 32-year-old Frenchman, survived and is in custody; he had attempted to kill himself in the week before the attack, officials said.

Málaga, Spain Porto-Vecchio, Corsica Dubrovnik, Migrant surge on “Western route”: Spain Nudist shot by clothes wearer: Naturist Croatia could be set to surpass Greece as a gateway sunbathers were forced to fl ee a popular Tourist caps: for migrants reaching Europe by sea, beach on the French island of Corsica last Dubrovnik has following a trebling of numbers on the week, when a local café owner used a rifle become the latest Western Mediterranean route, according to fi re lead shots at them in protest at tourist hotspot to to the International Organisation for their lack of clothes. The man, who has announce a cap Migration. Almost 8,300 people have not been named, fi rst threatened the on visitor arrived in Spain from Morocco so far this sunbathers, instructing them to get dressed numbers in a bid year, with numbers increasing sharply in or leave, and then opened fi re when they to avoid ruinous recent months. Around 11,700 migrants refused. One woman, an Italian in her overcrowding. arrived in Greece in the same period. Italy 30s, was hit in her thigh as she ran away: The mayor of the is still receiving the highest number of she was not seriously injured in the attack, city, where cruise migrants (96,800 in the year to date), most at Carataggio beach, near Porto-Vecchio. ships unload thousands of tourists at a of them via Libya; but numbers fell by The group has pressed criminal charges. time, has announced a daily cap of 4,000 50% between June and July. The horrific The beach is one of a number in France tourists entering the old city, which will conditions in Libya, where reports abound where naturism is usually tolerated, but come into effect within two years. This of migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa being which is also used by “textiles” (as clothes summer has seen anti-tourist marches in tortured and killed by traffickers – plus wearers are known in the nudist argot). Venice and Barcelona, while last week the renewed efforts by the Libyan coastguard There are about 2.6 million nudists in regional government of Spain’s Balearic to block migrant boats from setting sail for France, which claims to be the world Islands announced new caps on the Italy – may be behind the surge in numbers leader for naturist holidays, with some number of hotel beds and stricter rules on attempting the Spanish route. 150 campsites and 120 beaches. short-term rentals such as Airbnb.

Catch up with daily news at www.theweek.co.uk 19 August 2017 THE WEEK 6 NEWS The world at a glance

Washington DC Washington DC Lawsuit over transgender ban: Five transgender people serving in “Enemy within”: Anthony Scaramucci, the combative fi nancier the US military have launched legal action against President who lasted ten days as Trump’s communications chief, has Trump and top Pentagon officials over Trump’s planned ban on warned that an “enemy within” the White House may be plotting transgender troops. The lawsuit demands a reversal of the policy, to oust the president. In his fi rst interview since losing his job on the grounds that it is discriminatory and unconstitutional. (over a sweary rant to a journalist about Trump’s ex-chief of staff Other suits are expected once the administration takes concrete Reince Priebus and chief strategist Steve Bannon), Scaramucci steps towards putting the ban into effect. Trump announced the said Trump was seen by the Washington establishment as an plan on Twitter last month, catching the US military off guard, interloper, and “for whatever reason, people have made a decision but the White House has yet to send any specific policy directive that they want to eject him”. He implied that Bannon, a hard to the Pentagon. There are no reliable statistics on the number of right-winger, was among those undermining Trump, and transgender people on active service in the US military; studies predicted he would soon be sacked. Scaramucci likened himself to have estimated the number variously between 2,450 and 8,800 “Mr Wolfe from Pulp Fiction” – a character called in to clean up (with thousands more in the National Guard and Reserve). after a killing – but conceded he hadn’t yet mastered the art of survival as “a political operative… And I have to own that.” Denver, Colorado Pop star vindicated: The singer Taylor Swift has been awarded the symbolic $1 in damages she had sought, after a Denver jury found that a radio DJ groped her during an event with fans in 2013. DJ David Mueller put his hand under her skirt and on her bottom while standing beside her for a photo (pictured). He had sued Swift, saying her claim was false, and had ruined his career: his suit was thrown out by the court. The singer said she would be making a donation to organisations that help sexual assault victims defend themselves.

Washington DC Opioids vow: President Trump has declared America’s opioid drugs crisis to be a “national emergency” and vowed to spend “a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of money” on resolving it. It follows a report last month by a presidential commission, led by New Jersey governor Chris Christie, which described the death toll as “September 11th every three weeks”. Overdoses of opioids – a broad category of legal and illegal drugs ranging from prescription painkillers to fentanyl and heroin – killed an estimated 33,000 Americans in 2015, the latest year for which fi gures are available. The opioid crisis has been blamed for rising mortality rates among adults aged 25 to 44, and for a surge in the number of men “missing” from the labour market.

New Orleans, Louisiana “Mini Katrina”: New Orleans suffered its worst fl oods for years last week, with large parts of the city centre under water. Some residential neighbourhoods saw their worst fl ooding since the Hurricane Katrina disaster, with several feet of fl oodwater. Unlike the 2005 crisis, the fl oods were not caused by the failure of the levee system to keep river and seawater out, but the failure of the city’s drainage system – a 20-mile chain of canals and pipes – to cope with a storm that dumped almost ten inches of rain in a few hours.

Havana Caracas Sonic attack on diplomats: At least six US diplomatic staff have Maduro seizes on Trump threat: been withdrawn from Havana since last autumn suffering from Nicolás Maduro, who had been unexplained symptoms including hearing loss and dizziness, heading for pariah status as Latin apparently as the result of some kind of “acoustic attack” on their America’s fi rst dictator for decades, Cuban government-owned homes, the US State Department has has been given a dramatic boost by Trump. In apparently revealed. Officials declined to reveal the exact symptoms; however, off-the-cuff remarks, the US president threatened that “we have they are reported to include at least one case of permanent many options for Venezuela, including a military option if hearing loss. Two Cuban diplomats have been expelled by the necessary”. Maduro, like his predecessor Hugo Chávez, has long US in response. The US is investigating the possibility that a rogue warned of US coup plots and invasions. Trump’s remarks were element of Cuba’s intelligence establishment conducted the sonic condemned by several governments, as well as by the Venezuelan attack with the aim of disrupting reconciliation efforts. opposition, for playing into Maduro’s hands. In response to Alternatively (and a more likely explanation, according to US Trump, Maduro announced “civic-military” armed drills for intelligence sources), a new kind of eavesdropping technology may later this month, while his defence minister warned “traitors” have gone awry, causing unintentional injury to the diplomats. that “you are either a Venezuelan patriot, or pro-Yankee”.

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 The world at a glance NEWS 7

Baghdad Nairobi “Ungodly” heat: As the “Lucifer” Election violence: At least 24 people were killed, heatwave in Southern Europe begins to most of them by Kenyan police and security forces, ease, parts of the Middle East are enduring in sporadic violence last weekend following the a summer of “ungodly” heat. Last announcement that Uhuru Kenyatta had won a Thursday, temperatures in Baghdad second fi ve-year term as the country’s president. touched 51°C (124°F), leading the Iraqi Last week’s voting had passed off peacefully, as government to declare a mandatory millions of Kenyans queued for hours to chose public holiday so that civil servants could between Kenyatta, 55, and Raila Odinga, 72, a shelter at home. Temperatures in the Iraqi veteran of Kenyan politics on his fourth attempt to win the presidency. Violent capital have been stuck in the high 40s, protests broke out on Friday night and Saturday in Odinga’s strongholds – poorer and on some days have exceeded 50°C, for areas of Nairobi and the western city of Kisumu – after the electoral commission the past fortnight. “The heat is ungodly,” announced that Kenyatta had won by 54% to 45%. Odinga maintains that the results a Baghdad resident told The Guardian. were rigged; however, election observers – including the EU, the African Union and “The generator in my neighbourhood that local groups – unanimously agreed that there was no systematic rigging. provides electricity for about 300 houses The country feared a repeat of the 2007 post-election bloodshed, when claims of has caught fi re from the heat. All it vote-rigging against Odinga prompted widespread rioting and a security clampdown generates is smoke.” Other countries by the government, tipping Kenya into its worst crisis in decades. About 1,300 people enduring similar temperatures include were killed in the ethnic and sectarian violence that followed. Syria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Gorakhpur, India Child deaths: At least 64 children died last week at a state-run hospital in Uttar Pradesh, after oxygen supplies ran out. The fi rm that provides the oxygen cut off supplies to Gorakhpur’s Baba Raghav Das Hospital following a dispute over an unpaid bill. Desperate parents tried to use handheld pumps to push air into their children’s lungs, to no avail. Public outrage has been directed at the ruling BJP party, which has promised an investigation.

Freetown Johannesburg, Killer landslide: South Africa Hundreds of Assault case: people were killed Grace Mugabe in Sierra Leone – seen by some on Monday when as a successor mudslides and torrential fl ooding engulfed to her ailing the town of Regent on the outskirts of the husband, Manila capital, Freetown. Nearly 400 bodies had Robert, as Police massacre: Filipino police killed been recovered by Wednesday, but the Zimabwe’s 32 people in drug raids near the capital, fi nal death toll is expected to be much president Manila, in what is thought to have been higher: hundreds more may have been – appears to the bloodiest single night of President buried alive in their homes, at the foot have fl ed justice Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs. of Sugarloaf Mountain, as they slept. after being accused of assaulting a woman Thousands have been killed since An estimated 3,000 people have been in a Johannesburg hotel room. Gabriella 2016, when Duterte vowed to cleanse left homeless. “The disaster is so serious Engels, 20, accused Mugabe (pictured) of the country of drug traffickers and users, that I myself feel broken,” said the vice beating her with an extension cord after calling them “sons of whores” and urging president, Victor Foh. The illegal fi nding her with Mugabe’s two sons in the ordinary civilians: “If you know of any construction of homes on the slopes of hotel room. Engels needed 14 stitches to addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself.” Sugarloaf is said to have left large areas her face. Mugabe, 52, was due to appear Police said the people killed in this week’s denuded of tree cover and susceptible in court in Johannesburg this week, but raids were suspected “drug personalities” to catastrophic landslides. appears to have escaped to Zimbabwe. who had resisted arrest.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 8 NEWS People

Rolling Stone revived business how much I earn,” she Ronnie Wood is counting his told Simon Hattenstone in The blessings. “I’ve had a fi ght with Guardian. “When I worked in a touch of lung cancer,” he told Barratts shoe shop in Oxford Louise Gannon in The Mail on Street, I certainly didn’t discuss Sunday. “There was a week with the other sales assistants when everything hung in the how much are you being paid, balance and it could have been and nobody ever does in this curtains.” The Rolling Stone country and that is one of the – who was a smoker for half nicest things about it.” Besides, a century, before giving up last she says, what did the exercise year – recently had a cancer actually prove? “Because there removed from his lung. is no comparison. Nobody Mercifully, it hasn’t spread. knows, for example, how “I was bloody lucky, but then, much people at ITV get paid. I’ve always had a guardian It’s like asking what does angel looking out for me. By everyone get paid at rights I shouldn’t be here.” McDonald’s without asking Until he met his third wife, Burger King.” Even the Sally Humphreys, Wood’s apparent gender pay gap is not hellraising was legendary. At altogether clear cut. “How do one point, in 2008, he was so you prove two people on the blitzed on booze and drugs that same show are doing an equal his family despaired of ever job? Has one of them been getting him straight. But then around longer, has one of them someone had the bright idea been poached from somewhere of asking the artist Damien else and therefore they had to Hirst – himself no stranger to be offered more money? excess – to help. “I didn’t Obviously, I think people Pat McGrath is the most influential make-up artist in the world, says know Damien back then,” says should get paid the same for Sali Hughes in The Guardian. She designs the make-up for around Wood. “I was living in Ireland the same, but in this instance 80 major fashion shows each year, has her own range of cosmetics in a mad cocoon and Damien I do think it’s a bit more and a slavish Instagram following of 1.5 million, and has just been just came over, took charge, complicated than that.” made beauty editor-at-large of British Vogue. And she owes it all put me in the back of a bread to her mother, Jean. A Jamaican-born Jehovah’s Witness, living van [to avoid the paparazzi], Gaiman’s fame pain in straitened circumstances in Northampton, Jean was obsessed got me on a fl ight back to Neil Gaiman is that rarest of with make-up. “She would stand in front of the TV and we’d have London.” Hirst booked Wood beasts: a famous living novelist. to guess what she’d done differently with her eyes. I’d think: ‘Get into rehab, and then, once he The author of American Gods out of the way!’ But she wouldn’t move until I’d told her,” says was clean, came back to collect and Coraline is seldom out of McGrath. “She always put on a full face of make-up then got in the him. “He took me to this house the bestseller lists, and his bath to get that dewy fi nish. It was next level, but this is where I got that he’d stacked full of black-clad, gothic style and my make-up tips from – at seven years old!” McGrath caught the canvases, paints, brushes, lugubrious face make him more beauty bug, but in 1970s Britain, “there was no make-up for women easels, crayons – enough to recognisable than most literary of colour. NOTHING.” So she started mixing her own pigments and furnish a whole art school – fi gures. But he’s not thrilled developing a bold, experimental style. She had a eureka moment and said, ‘Go on then, start about this. “I used to be one day in her teens, while “stalking Spandau Ballet outside paying the rent.’” Wood has exactly famous enough,” he Radio 1”, wearing New Romantic clothes and bright lipstick on her since gone on to have a second told Hayley Campbell in The cheeks and eyes. The DJ Janice Long spotted her and asked, “Will career as an artist – and he and Observer. “From 1992 until you do that on me?” “I didn’t even know that was a job. She said it Hirst are now fi rm friends. around 2008 I was never was, so I went home knowing what I was going to do with my life.” “He did it because he cares. famous enough to get a fancy He hates waste. He didn’t seat in a restaurant, but if I want me to go to waste.” needed to talk to somebody, Viewpoint: they would take my calls. Farewell Feltz on BBC pay Now I am somebody who is Airport drinking Richard Gordon, Vanessa Feltz gets paid recognised in the street. I [no “Ministers are puzzling over what can author of the Doctor in £399,000 a year as a BBC longer] feel like I’m an amiable be done about irresponsible drinking the House books, died 11 August, aged 95. radio star – considerably less invisible person observing life, in British airports. This could be seen than her malee counterparts, but not part of it, which by many as disingenuous. Over the Ian Graham, but more thann any other is how I like being as a past 20 years, the taxman has fared archaeologist, died female radiopresenter. writer.” Even his sales incredibly well out of Britain nailing 1 August, aged 93. We know thisis because fi gures can’t cheer him the ‘spend it cos you’re on your hols’ Oliver Jessel, all BBC salarieses over up. “There’s nothing like experience, which leads every fi nancier, died 21 £150,000 wereere made studying the bestseller holidaymaker, myself included, to June, aged 87. public lastmonth lists of bygone years feel slightly remiss if they don’t lug Bernard Kenny, former – much to herr for teaching a two-litre bottle of Stolichnaya onto miner who was awarded disgust. “Iwas an author the fl ight. Some £300m of booze was the George Medal for embarrassed humility. shifted in UK airports last year, about bravery for trying to save Jo Cox MP, died and I thought Today’s a fi fth of the UK’s alcohol retail total. 14 August, aged 79. it was bestsellers Ministers turned the fi rst stage of our prurient and are holiday into an off-license-come-fun- Sister Ruth Pfau, nun voyeuristic. tomorrow’s pub then wondered why a percentage who fought the spread of leprosy in Pakistan , It is forgotten of us treated it exactly thus.” died 10 August, aged 87. nobody’s things.” Grace Dent in The Independent © GUARDIAN NEWS & MEDIA , BEN HASSETT/AUGUST.

Desert Island Discs returns in the autumn

Briefing NEWS 11 The sorrows of the Kurds The recent turmoil in the Middle East has seen the resurgence of Kurdish dreams of nationhood

Have the Kurds ever been a nation? How have the Syrian Kurds fared? No. The estimated 30 million Kurdish There are some two million Kurds in people living in adjacent mountainous Syria, making up about 10% of its popu- areas of northern Iraq, southeastern lation, concentrated in three northern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northern enclaves. After Syrian independence in Syria – a region referred to as Kurdistan 1946, they were denied basic rights: their – remain the world’s biggest ethnic group political parties were outlawed, their land without a state of their own. Kurdish confiscated and redistributed to Arabs. tribes seem to have inhabited the region Kobane In mid-2012, as civil war raged, the for millennia; and certainly from the time ROJAVA Mahabad Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) Mosul of their conversion to Islam, in the seventh Raqqa KRG and its militia, the People’s Protection Halabja century AD. Most are Sunni Muslims, but Kirkuk Units (YPG), took control of the Kurdish they are not Arabs. They speak local enclaves. Two years later, they repelled dialects of Kurdish, an Indo-Iranian an Isis attack on the city of Kobane; and language. There are also communities of then – with US military support, but to Kurds in, for instance, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey’s dismay – extended their control Istanbul, Lebanon and Western Europe. over a swathe of northern Syria. In 2016, they declared the establishment of Is independence a new ambition? the Democratic Federation of Northern Modern Kurdish nationalism began in the 1880s, when a Syria – Rojava (see box). The YPG also forms the backbone of rebellion designed to hack out a Kurdish state between the the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which have driven Isis Ottoman Empire and imperial Iran failed. After WWI, the Treaty back to the Islamists’ de facto capital, Raqqa. of Sèvres, which partitioned the Ottoman Empire, including mainland Turkey, provided for a Kurdish state under British And what about the Kurds in Iraq? control. However, Turkish nationalists led by Mustafa Kemal Iraq’s six million Kurds have faced the most brutal repression of Atatürk drove out the foreign armies aiming to enforce its terms, all. Armed rebellions in the Kurdish-dominated north were put and Sèvres was replaced by the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, which down in the 1930s, 1940s, 1960s and 1970s. Between 1986 and created modern Turkey and made no mention of Kurdistan. Since 1989, Saddam Hussein’s regime launched a genocidal campaign, then, Kurdish aspirations to autonomy have been repressed in killing up to 182,000 Kurdish civilians, and destroying 2,000 each modern nation, with varying levels of brutality. villages; in the town of Halabja in 1988, about 5,000 Kurds were killed with mustard gas and nerve agents. Yet this didn’t stop What happened to the Kurds in Turkey? another rebellion in 1991, after the fi rst Gulf War. This too was As the largest minority group in Turkey, today numbering perhaps put down. However, the US imposition of a no-fly zone allowed 15 million and accounting for up to 20% of the population, they the creation of a “safe haven” that in turn enabled the forming of form a grave threat to the official image of modern Turkey as a the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). homogenous nation. Under Atatürk, their identity was denied – they were designated “Mountain Turks” – and their language and And has the KRG been a success? dress banned; the words “Kurd” and “Kurdistan” were forbidden. Since the invasion of 2003, Iraqi Kurdistan – pro-Western, A number of Kurdish revolts were put down in the 1920s and partially democratic, and guarded by its fearsome peshmerga 1930s; many thousands of civilians were killed, and populations (meaning “those who face death”) – has prospered, relative to the deported. The separatist conflict fl ared again in the 1970s, when rest of Iraq. And after being driven back by Isis’s advance on the militant Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), led by Abdullah Mosul in 2014, the KRG counter-attacked and claimed areas Öcalan, demanded an independent Kurdish state. A full-scale previously not under its control, such as the oil-rich city of Kurdish insurgency erupted in 1984, Kirkuk. It has continually tussled which has since cost more than Rojava: Syria’s socialist enclave with Iraq’s Shia-dominated central 40,000 lives. By the mid-1990s, 3,000 Bigger than Belgium, with a population of some four government, and in June announced Kurdish villages had been destroyed million, Rojava is the antithesis of its neighbour Islamic that an independence referendum by the Turkish military, and 378,000 State: a secular, multi-ethnic territory designed on would be held on 25 September. people displaced. Extrajudicial killings principles of socialist democracy, gender equality and and “disappearances” were common. environmental responsibility. The PYD, which governs How are Kurds treated in Iran? it, is affiliated to Turkey’s PKK and takes inspiration Events there have followed a similar Has that conflict ended? from the philosophy of PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan. pattern: after WWII, a short-lived It was slowed by Öcalan’s capture in Öcalan himself started out as a militant Maoist; and the Soviet-backed republic based in the 1999, and then by Turkey’s current PKK is still widely considered a terrorist organisation. largely Kurdish city of Mahabad was leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who, However, he has been in a Turkish prison ever since declared, then collapsed. There were 1999, when he was captured in Kenya, with the help of after taking office in 2003, offered the CIA. In jail he has mutated from rebel leader to rebellions, harshly suppressed, in some autonomy for Kurdish areas philosopher, and advocates the creation of separate 1967 and 1979. After the Iranian and loosened restrictions on the Kurdish communities within their existing states. He Revolution of 1979, the Kurds, being Kurdish language and culture. An also holds that the problems of Middle Eastern societies mostly Sunni, were discriminated official ceasefire was agreed in March – corruption, bad governance – can’t be solved without against by Iran’s Shia government: 2013, which mostly held until it was achieving full equality for women. The PYD supports Ayatollah Khomeini declared a jihad destabilised by the Syrian civil war – this view. It has an all-female fighting force, the against Kurdish separatism. Things when Turkey, concerned at the Women’s Protection Units, which has played a crucial improved in the late 1990s, but the prospect of Syrian Kurds forming role in the civil war, and a female police force dealing Democratic Party of Iranian with sexual assault and rape. But the odds are stacked their own homeland, tried to prevent against Rojava’s utopian experiment, which is opposed Kurdistan recently renewed its Turkish and Iraqi Kurds crossing the by Turkey, and at odds with Iraqi Kurdistan; while the commitment to armed struggle. It is border to help fi ght Isis. This triggered PYD itself has often been accused of authoritarianism. not demanding independence, but the renewal of the PKK’s bloody war. federal autonomy within Iran.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Best articles: Britain NEWS 13

Only by leaving the EU will Britain be free to become a “social democratic nirvana”. So claim prominent left-wing advocates of IT MUST BE TRUE… Don’t listen to “Lexit”, says Ben Chu. They argue that EU laws stand in the way I read it in the tabloids of us reforming our economy along more Corbynist lines. But you the advocates only have to look at Europe to see this is nonsense. In France, Residents of Durango, Colorado, were woken by a university tuition is negligible; in Belgium, zero-hour contracts are of “Lexit” joyriding bear driving down banned; in Portugal, domestic energy consumers benefit from the street. The animal had regulatory price caps; in Hamburg, people voted to return their Ben Chu broken into the Subaru car power grid from private fi rms to municipal hands. Did the and then accidentally The Independent “neo-liberal jackboots of Brussels” try to block any of this? No. released the parking brake, The Lexiters talk of a post-Brexit UK fi nally being able to stand causing it to roll down the hill up to the multinationals. “But who fi ned Google and Microsoft and smash into a postbox. billions of dollars for anticompetitive behaviour? Who has The bear fled the scene ordered Apple to repay s13bn in avoided corporation tax?” The before police arrived, but left plenty of evidence behind. European Commission. The EU may be fl awed, but the idea that It had smashed a window, it’s some kind of right-wing project represents “a combination of ripped the steering wheel wilful ignorance and ideologically induced blindness”. free of the shaft, destroyed the radio and defecated on The chief constable of Northumbria knows he took a huge risk in the seats. “It would have paying a convicted child rapist £10,000 to inform on a paedophile taken a human hours to do Paying snitches gang. But he insists he would do it again – and quite right too, what this bear did in a is repugnant says Sean O’Neill. The payment has horrified many people – the couple of minutes,” said NSPCC said it “beggars belief” – but how else do these critics one local resident. but necessary think crime-fighters gather intelligence? Bugging phones and emails only gets you so far “in a world where everyone’s phone Sean O’Neill has sophisticated encryption, and criminals are forensically aware”. You need human intelligence of a sort that “is not The Times routinely available from churchwardens and lollipop ladies”. Drug squad officers get it from drug dealers; MI5 “turns” terrorist sympathisers. Between 2011 and 2016, 43 police forces in England and Wales handed over a total of £20m to registered informants. Of course, evidence from such dubious sources must be painstakingly cross-checked before it is relied upon, but it can be invaluable. In this case, officers in Northumbria took a bold decision that was by far the lesser of two evils, and “it paid off”.

Should we judge our nation’s progress through GDP growth fi gures or by assessing levels of happiness and well-being? Neither, There’s more says Julian Baggini: the fi rst measure is too arbitrary; the second The rise in “extreme too subjective. Instead, we should measure people’s access to the grooming” for dogs has been to wealth than things that enable them to live well, such as affordable housing, criticised by animal charities, good medical care, healthy food and technology. For the reality who say pets don’t like being just money is that a bigger bank balance is only of benefit to the extent made to look foolish. The that it provides you with more of these things. If your pay rise hobby – in which pet fur is Julian Baggini is far outstripped by house price inflation, you’re no better off. dyed, trimmed and sculpted Conversely, people’s “real wealth” can improve even during a into elaborate shapes – has The Guardian slump. Look at Japan, where living standards have risen for years been big in the US and parts despite the lack of, until recently, what is normally understood by of Asia for years. And it’s economic growth. Societies don’t get richer just by increasing the now taking off in Britain, size of their “cash pot”; they also do so “by exploiting the same where one in five dogs and or fewer resources better”. That’s worth remembering when it cats has its own social media comes to tackling inequality. Everyone assumes we have to reduce account. But Caroline Kisko, the income gap between rich and poor, but what matters more is secretary of the Kennel Club, improving people’s quality of life. It’s not all about the money. says pets should not be groomed in such a way as to An eye-watering 1,100%. That’s how much the top rate of invite mockery. “Dogs know stamp duty has soared by over the past decade, says James when they’re being laughed It’s time to Bartholomew. Between 1984 and 1997, house sellers paid a at. Some will feel silly.” rein in this tax nominal levy of just 1%, but today the most expensive properties An Indian man claims he is (those priced at more than £1.5m) face a 12% tax, and the rate not only immune to electric for even £250,000 houses has risen fi vefold to 5%. This has shocks but can also “eat” on freedom brought in cash for the Treasury, but at a great cost to the electricity. Naresh Kumar, James Bartholomew country. An academic study published last week confirmed what dubbed “India’s living light many people already knew, concluding that these penal transfer bulb”, says he draws energy from high voltage wires, The Daily Telegraph taxes are an “inefficient way of collecting tax revenue” and “likely have very substantial detrimental effects on the functioning of the which he holds in his mouth housing market”. The study found that people across all stamp or hands. “Whenever I feel hungry and there’s no food in duty bands were moving less often in order to avoid the levy. the house, I hold naked wires People who wanted to downsize, or to relocate for personal or job and within half an hour I’m reasons, were opting to stay put. Stamp duty is therefore acting as satisfied,” he says. “My wife a “tax on freedom”. Ministers should cut the rate to 1% again. It is not impressed but surely might hit the Exchequer, but then, so will HS2 – and it would also other people will be.” allow people “to live happier, more fl exible lives”.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK TAKE THEROADLESS TRAVELLEDWITH SOMEBODY WHO KNOWSITWELL. LET’STALKHOW.

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Why do so few women work in Silicon Valley? It has been a very bad summer for university campuses are fast the “bros” of Silicon Valley, said spreading to corporate America. Melissa Batchelor Warnke in the Los Angeles Times. Recent weeks The “hysterics” would have us have brought a series of scandals believe that it’s entirely down to relating to sexual harassment and sexist bias that 80% of Google’s discrimination in the tech industry. tech employees are male, said The latest involves Google, which Jonah Goldberg in National fi red one of its software engineers Review. But it surely owes more last week for airing controversial to the fact that, on average, views about gender. In an internal women are less interested than memo, James Damore questioned men in becoming programmers the value of the company’s and software engineers: more diversity programmes and argued than 80% of computer science that women’s innate differences and engineering graduates in the from men – such as “their stronger Damore: victim of “wilful misrepresentation”? US are male, while women interest in people rather than receive 75% of psychology things” and “higher levels of anxiety” – might account for their degrees. “Women have fl ooded into, or even come to under-representation in the tech fi eld. Google CEO Sundar dominate, all manner of fi elds.” Isn’t it possible that their Pichai fi red him, pointing out that, “to suggest a group of our under-representation in the tech industry is a product of colleagues have traits that make them less biologically suited to personal choice? “I don’t hear many people bleating about the that work is offensive and not OK”. lack of sexual diversity among trash collectors.”

Damore’s memo has been widely portrayed as a sexist Self-selection no doubt accounts for much of the dearth of “screed”, said Rich Lowry in National Review, but that’s women in the tech world, said Ross Douthat in The New York a wilful misrepresentation. Damore states repeatedly in the Times. But it’s also the case that a male-dominated profession memo that he believes in diversity. He also takes care to can be “distinctly unpleasant for the women who work in it, in qualify his points about gender differences, making a point that ways that can justify special scrutiny”. That’s surely the case “many of these differences are small and there’s significant with Silicon Valley, the “land of nerd kings and brogrammers”. overlap between men and women, so you can’t say anything The fact that Apple’s new headquarters has a 100,000 sq ft about an individual given these population-level distributions”. fi tness and wellness centre but no childcare centre is “a more That’s not good enough for his critics, said The Wall Street telling indicator of what really matters to Silicon Valley than Journal. They demand “ideological conformity”. Alas, the all the professions of gender egalitarianism that have followed “progressive cultural taboos” that are smothering debate on James Damore’s heretical comments about sex differences”.

The man who would replace Donald Trump

A “howl of such anguish that it that Trump is “completely out of cracked mirrors and sent small forest control”, and Pence – the only animals scurrying for cover” rang member of the executive whom out from the residence of the vice Trump can’t fi re, owing to the fact president the other day, said Frank he, like the president, was elected by Bruni in The New York Times. the people – needs to be ready to “Mike Pence was furious. He was step in. He could learn from Gerald offended.” Why? Because a press Ford, who became president with article had dared to suggest that he the resignation of his boss Richard was positioning himself to run for Nixon, from whom he had president, should his boss fall by the successfully distanced himself. wayside. Pence’s “operatic outrage” When Ford took office, he addressed showed just how close to the bone the nation, saying: “My fellow the story was. It described how, while Americans, our long national remaining assiduously loyal to Trump nightmare is over. Our Constitution in public, Pence has been busily “Treacherous ground”: Vice President Mike Pence works. Our great republic is a networking behind the scenes and government of laws and not of building an independent power base. He has formed his own men.” Pence might want to jot down that line. political fundraising committee, the only sitting vice president ever to do so. And last month he installed Nick Ayers, “a sharp- But would Pence be an improvement on Trump? Not in my elbowed political operative”, as his chief of staff – a position book, said Richard Cohen in The Washington Post. Sure, Trump traditionally occupied by a veteran bureaucrat. is a “menace”, but he is at least incompetent, which stops him realising most of his plans. Pence, by contrast, is “predictable, “This is treacherous ground for any vice president,” said Ryan steadfast and experienced”, which raises the worrying prospect Lizza in The New Yorker. During Bill Clinton’s impeachment, Al that he might actually succeed in advancing his very socially Gore was careful to avoid doing anything that might suggest he conservative, anti-abortion agenda. He is also “shockingly was angling to replace his boss. Even in private, he was steadfast hypocritical”. He claims to be “a Christian, a conservative, and in his support, rarely venting his “deep reservations” about a Republican, in that order”, yet he has happily enabled Trump, Clinton’s personal conduct for fear of aiding the Republicans. never taking him to task for his cruel comments about Mexicans, Pence should feel no such compunctions about harming his boss’s Muslims or the disabled. “Pence professes loyalty to Trump, but

© TWITTER prospects, said Susan Hennessey in Foreign Policy. The reality is when it comes to principles, he’s not even loyal to himself.”

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Best articles: International NEWS 17

South Africa’s president Zuma hangs on – for now South Africa’s politicians have blown great influence over the president. In their best chance yet to get rid of the May, the extent to which the Guptas country’s corrupt president, Jacob had “captured the state” was laid Zuma, said Tom Eaton in Times Live bare by leaked emails, detailing the (Johannesburg). It has often been huge kickbacks they have collected said that there are many “good, from foreign companies by using progressive” MPs in the ruling African their influence to arrange lucrative National Congress who would have government contracts. It also emerged turned against him long ago, were it that the Guptas have bought a bolthole not for threats of retribution by his for Zuma in Dubai, should he have to vengeful supporters – which was why flee the country – a £19m mansion a seven previous attempts to oust him few doors down from one owned by had failed. But last week parliament Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. scheduled yet another no-confidence motion, this time by secret ballot, so Zuma: survived another no-confidence vote This “messy” victory was probably that disaffected MPs would run little preferable for the country than an risk by voting against him. Alas, it seems that only about 34 of outright defeat, said Daryl Glaser on the Huffington Post. Had them “have a conscience”: as a result, Zuma survived the vote, he been ousted, Zuma’s many supporters in KwaZulu-Natal by 198 to 177. One can only speculate how many “pieces of province and rural areas would have come out on the streets. silver” the “sell-outs” demanded for their continued support. It It’s also the best outcome for South Africa’s growing opposition. confirms what we always suspected – that most ANC MPs are Replacing Zuma would have allowed the ANC to reorganise in “hollowed-out bootlickers, kowtowing before their king”. time for the 2019 elections. With him still in charge, its support will continue to erode. In December, the ANC will choose its The movement against Zuma gathered pace again in March, next leader, said James Macharia on Reuters.com. Zuma is when he replaced the independent-minded finance minister backing his ex-wife Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, relying on her Pravin Gordhan with a pliant crony, said the Daily Maverick protection to see him through his final term. But next month he (Johannesburg). The move was widely thought to have been at faces an impeachment challenge in court. His victory in the behest of the three Gupta brothers, business tycoons with parliament may be just a temporary reprieve.

GERMANY Germany is generous to its former presidents, says Gerd Appenzeller: it gives them an honorary payment (“ehrensold”) of s236,000 a year. Christian Wulff is no exception, though he resigned in disgrace in 2012 after just two years in the job; he was accused of corruption, after accepting a loan This former from an entrepreneur. Many were angry he got anything at all: though later acquitted of corruption in court, he caused outrage by trying to bully journalists into not covering the scandal. Yet it appears president has that for Wulff, even this enormous sum is not enough. He has now taken on a lucrative role as legal representative for the Turkish fashion retailer Yargici, which calls itself a “fun-loving brand for no honour women”. This is widely regarded as beneath the dignity of a former president: they are supposed Der Tagesspiegel to retain the “aura” of office. They are not expected to work, and many continue to represent the country at official events. Wulff’s predecessor, Horst Köhler, refused the ehrensold altogether. As (Berlin) Germany’s youngest-ever president – he was just 51 when sworn in – Wulff may prefer to go on earning. But there’s nothing honourable about accepting a massive state pension at the same time.

FRANCE Disaffected voters in France “have found a new bone to gnaw at to soothe their anger at those in power”, says Le Monde. Presidents’ wives are typically “relegated to the shadows”, outside of state functions – although most have worked for charitable causes behind the scenes. Emmanuel Macron Our first lady wanted to change that, legislating for an official role in which his wife, Brigitte, would have clear responsibilities. But before the role had even been outlined, 280,000 people had signed a petition deserves an condemning the idea. They seemed to suspect it was a ploy to enrich his family, at a time when politicians are being castigated for giving their wives fake jobs at taxpayers’ expense (the cause of the official role downfall of Macron’s right-wing rival François Fillon). In Macron’s case, it was nothing of the kind. Le Monde He made clear there was never any intention of paying Brigitte, and that it was not a “family job”. (Paris) He just wanted transparency, ending the peculiarly “French hypocrisy” of treating the president’s spouse as a mere “trophy wife”, as François Hollande’s former partner Valérie Trierweiler put it. Now Macron has had to backtrack, settling for a definition of the role with no legal force. What a pity. It’s legitimate to question our leaders’ plans, but this “ill-considered crusade” has no merit.

ISRAEL The eldest son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “out of control”, says Uri Misgav. Yair Netanyahu’s “fits of rage” are now the talk of Israel. First, a neighbour revealed that the 26-year-old didn’t pick up his dog’s mess, and gave her “the fi nger” when she complained about it. Then Yair A princeling fl ipped out and wrote a vulgar rant on Facebook in response to a critical post from the think tank Molad, which noted that he doesn’t work and lives lavishly in the official presidential residence at embarrassing taxpayers’ expense. Yair wrote that Molad would do better to investigate the alleged crimes of Omri Sharon, the son of the late prime minister Ariel Sharon; implied that the son of the former PM Ehud the country Olmert was gay or treasonous, or both; and topped it off with emojis of a raised middle fi nger and a Haaretz smiling pile of poo. The tantrum has left him vulnerable to multiple defamation suits. Some argue (Tel Aviv) that the media should leave Yair alone, because he’s not an elected official. But “his parents, the imperial couple” have been trying for years to portray him as “the natural heir to the throne”, pushing him into official meetings and hauling him along on diplomatic trips. An effective leader “would have called his son to order”. Netanyahu, though, inflicts him on the country.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Health & Science NEWS 19 What the scientists are saying… Cannabis linked to hypertension for almost a year. Patients injected Cannabis smokers are three times more themselves once a week for 48 weeks with likely to die from high blood pressure either exenatide or a placebo. Those in the than those who have never used the drug, placebo group experienced a typical rate researchers have found. The risk also of decline in their motor functions, while grows with every year of use, according those in the exenatide group registered to the scientists, from the School of Public a modest improvement. Scans also Health at Georgia State University, in the indicated that the brains of those taking US. The study looked at 1,213 people the drug showed less degeneration. The aged 20 or older, who were questioned study’s lead author, Tom Foltynie, said: about their use of marijuana in 2005-06 ‘‘This is the strongest evidence we have so as part of a national health and nutrition far that a drug could do more than provide survey. The information was later merged symptom relief for Parkinson’s disease.” with mortality data and adjusted for However, the scientists stressed that factors including tobacco smoking, age, further research was required. Exenatide gender and ethnicity. The findings, comes from a class of compounds published in the European Journal of originally isolated from the venom of Preventive Cardiology, suggested no a lizard called the Gila monster. These association between using marijuana and compounds not only help control blood dying from heart or cerebrovascular High risk? Cannabis may raise blood pressure sugar levels in patients with diabetes, but disease, such as strokes. But the link with also seem to protect neurons from toxins. hypertension deaths could influence the between identical twins. Funding for the debate over the legalisation of marijuana project has come from the Railway Safety Cannibalism in Somerset in the US and elsewhere. “If marijuana and Standards Board; and Britain’s A new study of engraved bones found in use is implicated in cardiovascular largest railway franchise, Go-Ahead, a Somerset cave has shed light on the diseases and deaths, it rests on the health has expressed interest. At first, the system cannibalistic rituals of early Britons. The community and policy makers to protect would be used only in new “fast-track” bones, thought to be around 15,000 years the public,” said Barbara Yankey, who lanes, open to passengers whose faces had old, were unearthed at Gough’s Cave in co-authored the study. been scanned as part of a registration Cheddar Gorge in the 1980s. An earlier process and who then paid fares online investigation suggested that they were the All aboard for facial scanning or at a station “ticket” machine. remains of at least five people, including Could the end of the line be in sight for the a child aged about three, who appeared to railway ticket? British scientists are testing New hope for Parkinson’s have been eaten by fellow humans. But the a facial recognition system that might A drug commonly used to treat diabetes latest analysis goes further: it reveals that see some ticket barriers replaced within could slow the progress of Parkinson’s decorative zigzag incisions were apparently three years, according to The Times. The disease, research has revealed. Existing made between the butchering process and technology, developed by Bristol Robotics treatments merely ameliorate symptoms eating. “This wasn’t just a case of someone Laboratory, uses rapidly flashing near- of Parkinson’s, such as tremors and dies and then they’re eaten,” said Chris infrared lights to capture 3D images of stiffness, but a study published in The Stringer of the Natural History Museum, faces in unprecedented detail. The picture Lancet suggests that the drug exenatide who took part in the research. “They’ve can then be checked against a database of targets its underlying pathology. cleaned off the flesh, then someone sits customers. Unlike existing systems, it is Researchers tracked 60 people with the down and very carefully carves this design, smart enough to identify people even when condition at the National Hospital for and only afterwards do they break open they’re wearing glasses, and can distinguish Neurology and Neurosurgery in London the bone to get the marrow out.”

March of the zombie caterpillars The perils of being lonely British caterpillars are being killed by a “zombie virus” that Loneliness could be far worse for your causes them to march towards the Sun, before exploding. health than obesity, and may even Wildlife experts say the “baculovirus” overrides the shorten your life. That’s the conclusion caterpillars’ natural instinct to hide in undergrowth, where of American scientists who reviewed they are safe from predators, leading them to crawl towards 218 studies into the impact of the top of host plants or trees. They then die and their loneliness and social isolation, covering bodies liquify – before bursting open in a shower of almost 3.5 million people. The data contagious goo that spreads the virus. The popped remains showed that the risk of premature of caterpillars of the oak eggar moth – a common British death was 50% lower for those with variety – have been found in Winmarleigh Moss, near “good social connections” than for the Garstang, Lancashire, and across the West Pennine Moors, lonely, reported The Daily Telegraph. littering the heather and bilberry plants on which they feed. By comparison, obesity raises the risk “It’s like a zombie horror film,” Dr Chris Miller, of The of early death by 30%. “Being Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North connected to others socially is widely Merseyside, told the Daily Mail. considered afundamental human Experts says the virus is very rare in Britain and that need, crucial to both well-being and infestations normally flourish in small areas before quickly survival,” said the report’s lead author, dying out. But a Wildlife Trust spokesman called for Julianne Holt-Lunstad, of Brigham vigilance. “We ask everyone who sees caterpillars, or snails for that matter, high up on Young University, Utah. A recent study leaves to report it to us.” There is growing concern about the fate of the UK’s butterfly found that 18% of UK adults feel population, with declining numbers recorded for 70% of native species last year. lonely often or always. © CHRIS MILLER

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 20 NEWS Talking points

Pick of the week’s Child sex gangs: a question of race? “It’s a pattern we simply cannot them as culpable for their own Gossip ignore,” said Nazir Afzal, a abuse”. We shouldn’t get too former chief crown prosecutor, hung up on the men’s race and Hell hath no fury like a disgruntled ex-employee, in the Daily Mail. Over the past religion, agreed an editorial in as David Davis is learning. six years, male gangs have been the same paper. They have other The Brexit Secretary’s prosecuted for organised things in common, such as the former chief of staff, James sex-grooming crimes in no fewer fact that they are usually Chapman, announced last than 16 English cities and towns. engaged in more than one form week that he wants to start a The latest site in this grim roster of criminality, and often work new political party dedicated is Newcastle, where last week in the night-time economy as to stopping Brexit. Chapman 17 men and one woman were taxi drivers or in fast-food – whose CV also includes a convicted of sexually abusing outlets. It’s not easy to “sort stint as political editor of the Daily Mail – then launched more than 20 vulnerable young Convicted: Newcastle abusers correlation from causation, a Twitter tirade against his females. In all but two of these motive from opportunity”. former boss, claiming that grooming scandals, most of the perpetrators “DD” had been “working were Muslim men of South Asian heritage, But there seems to be a glaring inconsistency at a three-day week since day predominantly of Pakistani origin. And all but work here, said The Daily Telegraph. In some one”, never read the three of their victims were teenage white girls. cases, the courts are only too happy to raise the contents of his ministerial It’s clear that the growth of these gangs has been race issue. In 2015, for instance, a convicted box, and “can’t even make fuelled by misogynistic attitudes towards women child rapist was given a longer sentence because plain ham sandwiches (no in general, but in particular by contempt for his victims were, like him, Asian. The judge butter) – an unfortunate woman in his private office white girls, whom one of the Newcastle gang argued that their suffering would be made has to bring one to him members reportedly referred to as “trash” who greater by ostracism within their community. every day”. Chapman also were “only good for one thing”. Yet in the Newcastle case – which Lord claimed to have been with Macdonald, a former director of public Davis when he “leered” at Once again, commentators are lamenting the prosecutions, called a “profoundly racist” crime Labour MP Diane Abbott, “taboo” around the ethnicity of these men, said – race wasn’t even mentioned as a factor in adding: “He was drunk, Sonia Sodha in The Guardian. Yet we seem to sentencing. Admittedly, the parallel between the bullying and inappropriate.” talk of little else in the wake of these scandals. It cases is “imperfect”, but it does suggest that distracts us from the more important issue of “political correctness” is still preventing an how to ensure these crimes never happen again. honest debate about this problem. Let’s leave The abusers aren’t unique in having prejudiced race out of it when it comes to sentencing, said attitudes towards young girls. One of the Sarah Baxter in The Sunday Times. Judges reasons they often got away with it, after all, is shouldn’t have to take account of a community’s that many people in authority “didn’t see these “shame” culture. “Rape is a crime. It’s not girls as worth the bother or, even worse, saw special. Not racial. Just wrong.” Social media: toxic for teenagers? “Put down the phone, turn off the laptop, and Once it was novels, crosswords and newfangled do something – anything – that does not involve modes of transport. (“Excessive use of bicycle The late John Gielgud was a screen.” That, said the psychologist Jean fatal,” warned The New York Times in 1887.) famously absent-minded. Twenge in The Atlantic, is my plea to today’s This anxiety tells us more about the failings of Christopher Reeve once teenagers, who are “on the brink” of a major the old – our fear, nostalgia and difficulty recalled bumping into the mental health crisis. For the past 25 years, I adapting to change – than about the lives of the Shakespearean actor at have been studying behavioural changes across young. If anything, we should encourage our Pinewood Studios. “We had generations of Americans. The data stretches children to spend more time online, said met at a social occasion; now I was dressed in full back to the 1930s, taking in huge upheavals Robert Hannigan – the former director of Superman regalia. As he such as the War and the sexual revolution. But GCHQ – in The Daily Telegraph. “This country shook my hand he said, ‘So I have “never seen anything like” the seismic is desperately short of engineers and computer delightful to see you. What changes caused by modern technology. Children scientists.” We need our children to develop the are you doing now?’” born between 1995 and 2012 – I call them iGen “cyber skills” to compete in the digital economy. – have grown up with a smartphone in their Besides, for this generation, “life online and Alex Salmond has been hands, and it has “changed every aspect” of ‘real’ life are not separate”. Snapchat and accused of degrading their lives. They do much less face-to-face Instagram “can be as sociable as mooching political women in his socialising than their predecessors: the number around the streets with a group of friends”. Edinburgh Festival show. The former SNP leader’s of teenagers who see their friends frequently has comedy debut, Alex dropped by more than 40% since 2000. In On the contrary, said Allison Pearson in The Salmond… Unleashed, 2015, only 56% of 17-year-olds went on a date, Daily Telegraph: there is now clear evidence that contains the joke: “I down from 85% for Generation Xers. Modern social media provides none of the benefits of real promised you today we’d teenagers are slower to learn to drive, or earn human contact, and has serious consequences either have Theresa May or money, and spend more time in the parental for mental health. Studies in the US show that Nicola Sturgeon, or Ruth home. Instead of having fun and becoming teens who spend three hours a day online are Davidson or Melania Trump, independent, they are “on their phone, in their 35% more likely to have a risk factor for but I couldn’t make any of room, alone and often distressed”. suicide. The suicide rate among girls aged 12 to these wonderful women come… [ba-dum, goes 14 – some of the heaviest users of social media – the onstage drummer]… I’m not so sure, said David Aaronovitch in The has tripled in a decade. “If that isn’t enough to to the show!” Times. Every generation worries that new make you sneak into their rooms and confiscate inventions will destroy the next generation. the damn phone, I don’t know what is.”

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 Talking points NEWS 21

Jacob Rees-Mogg: our future PM? Wit & How did it happen, asked Jeff Rees-Mogg is “a cartoonist’s Cimmino in National Review. idea of a patrician”, said Wisdom How did a double-barrelled, Sam Leith in the London Eton-educated devout Catholic, Evening Standard, and people “Education is what you get who lives with his wife, six seem to like that. He has given when you read the fine children and nanny in a his children silly names – print; experience is what Somerset manor house, suddenly Anselm, Sixtus – and has never you get if you don’t.” fi nd himself a contender for the changed any of their nappies, Folk singer Pete Seeger, Tory party leadership? Last “because that’s the nanny’s quoted in The Times week, a survey of Conservative job”. He tweets in Latin. He “Everything considered, members suggested that Jacob even quotes P.G. Wodehouse work is less boring than Rees-Mogg, the MP for North when he’s fi libustering amusing oneself.” East Somerset – who has been environmental legislation. Charles Baudelaire, described as “the Honourable quoted on Forbes.com Member for the 18th century” “It’s time to dig beneath the – was the second favourite to nonsense about nannies and “Everything must succeed Theresa May as leader, double-breasted pyjamas,” said be learned, from after Brexit Secretary David Matthew Parris in The Times. reading to dying.” The Tories’ “rogue candidate” Davis. Rees-Mogg has developed “For the 21st century Gustave Flaubert, an enthusiastic following on social media – a Conservative Party, Jacob Rees-Mogg would be quoted in The Observer movement dubbed “Moggmentum”. The man hemlock. His manners are perfumed but his “The difference between himself played down the speculation, said The opinions are poison.” He is “an unfailing, a politician and a statesman Guardian. “Domine, non sum dignus,” he unbending, unrelenting reactionary”. On every is that a politician thinks declared (“Lord, I am not worthy”). But he also issue from gay marriage to Brexit to cuts, he has about the next election while conspicuously failed to rule out a future bid. “the opinions of a Colonel Blimp”. Before we the statesman thinks about get “too carried away”, we should remember the next generation.” “I’d vote for him like a shot,” said James that it’s August, said Katy Balls on her Spectator Theologian James Freeman Delingpole in The Spectator. Rees-Mogg is blog – when silly stories tend to spin out of Clarke, quoted in The Times “polite, eloquent, witty, well informed, control. Even if Rees-Mogg were to aim for coherent, principled”, and clever – he made a No. 10, the Tory leadership rules “would work “The universe is not fortune in the City. He believes “unashamedly” against such a rogue candidate”: MPs get to complicated, there’s in the kind of real conservativism – a small whittle them down to the fi nal two before the just a lot of it.” state, family values and low taxes – that the members vote. Rees-Mogg knows this very Richard Feynman, party’s leaders haven’t dared advocate since the well. But he also knows that “leadership talk” quoted on The Browser Thatcher era. He’s authentic, unlike most can increase the chance of getting a “plum” “There is a tragic flaw in politicians today, and voters respond to that. ministerial role. our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Shulman’s selfie: a “revolutionary act” only nutcases want to be president.” It was a “standout moment for used photos like this one during Kurt Vonnegut, Instagram, the platform dominated her 25 years as editor of Vogue quoted in The Guardian by avocados and willowy young – “the same Vogue which women performing post-salad encouraged its female readers to “I deeply respect American handstands,” said Lucy Siegle in conform to a certain glamorous sentimentality, the way one The Observer. Alexandra Shulman, stereotype: impossibly thin, respects a wounded hippo. who recently stepped down as tanned, and devoid of all wobbly You must keep an eye on it, editor of Vogue, last week posted bits”. Perhaps, having peddled for you know it is deadly.” a photo of herself in a bikini on wildly unrealistic body images for Teju Cole, quoted in holiday in Greece, casually so long, her selfie was “some form The Wall Street Journal captioned: “Time for the boat of penance” – an apology to the “All art constantly trip.” A “social media meltdown” countless ordinary women that aspires towards the resulted, as people around the she has bombarded with photos of condition of music.” world praised her “brave” and “remorseless physical perfection”. English essayist Walter “empowering” action. Yes, it Pater, quoted in The Times seems that “an undoctored picture Shulman: “undoctored” “In fairness to Shulman, she did of a 59-year-old” in an ordinary push the boundaries during her Boden bikini is an “act of revolution”. time at Vogue,” said Gaby Hinsliff in The Statistics of the week Guardian. On various occasions she took Just 0.34% of criminal cases Why exactly did it cause such a stir, asked designers to task for using ridiculously thin in Russian courts result in Alison Rowat in The Herald (Glasgow). Because models. But the fact is that, in her industry, not guilty verdicts – a higher Shulman “looked like an ordinary woman. She any deviation “from a rigidly policed ideal of conviction rate than during had lumps. Bumps. Wobbly bits. Veins. Most beauty – young, skinny, white” is considered Stalin’s purges. gobsmacking of all, she seemed entirely cool unacceptably “commercially risky”. In fact, her The Times about it.” The reaction “tells us something own holiday snap makes the point quite clearly. about the First World’s obsession with body “Put a normal woman in a bikini and it’s Almost 48% of girls aged image, and the general invisibility of middle- obvious how little of the magic is down to the between 11 and 18 in the UK aged women”. Shulman is certainly “a very clothes.” Some bikinis “are prettier than say they have been bullied or abused on social media. brave woman”, said Amanda Platell in the Daily others”, but “there’s only so much a few Mail. But she would have been braver if she had triangles of cloth can achieve”. The Guardian

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 22 NEWS Sport

Athletics: is Team GB good enough? For too long, Britain was a nation of “incorrigible Championships or the Olympics for six years into baton-droppers”, said Oliver Brown in The thrilling victory”. And to Farah’s great frustration, Sunday Telegraph. But at the World Athletics he is bowing out amid “suspicion” over his Championships last Saturday, the men’s successes, said Andy Bull in The Guardian. 4x100m relay team “restored national pride”, There are questions over the two drug tests that gatecrashing Usain Bolt’s final competitive race he missed in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics. to win gold. It was hardly a “showpiece send-off” More troubling still is his relationship with his for the Jamaican, who tumbled to the floor with coach, Alberto Salazar, who is under investigation cramp. But even if he had been without injury, it is by the US Anti-Doping Agency. When Farah was unlikely his team could have caught up with Team in his mid-20s – the age at which distance runners GB: their time of 37.47 seconds was the fastest in tend to peak – he was a middling athlete; it was the world this year. To cap “an unforgettable only after he started working with Salazar that evening for relays”, the women’s 4x100m team he achieved his best times, at the unusually late took an “unlikely silver”. Then on Sunday, in the age of 28. “Hard as this is for Farah’s many fans 4x400m, the women’s team took silver, and the to hear, his career invites scrutiny.” men bronze. Since 2012, British Athletics has invested heavily in relays, on the grounds that they Still, Team GB can ill afford to lose another of are less competitive than individual races. Last Britain’s 4x100m winners its stars, said Rick Broadbent in The Times. Just weekend, that strategy more than paid off. four people – Farah, Jessica Ennis-Hill, Greg Rutherford and Christine Ohuruogu – have produced 19 of Team GB didn’t fare as well in the solo events, however, said Britain’s last 22 gold medals at global championships. But Ennis- Andrew Longmore in The Sunday Times. The only individual Hill and Farah have now retired from the track, with Ohuruogu medals went to Mo Farah: he won the 10,000m, but finished soon to follow, while Rutherford is injured. Meanwhile, no young second in the 5,000m last Saturday. Racing for the final time talents are ready to take their places – and the likes of Laura before he swaps distance running for marathons, it was not Muir, who came fourth in the 1,500m, and Katarina Johnson- the “last hurrah” Farah had hoped for: at 34, he couldn’t Thompson, who finished fifth in the heptathlon, are failing to find the speed that had turned his “every race at the World fulfil their potential. British athletes will need to “get better”. Football: Huddersfield’s “improbable” journey It was supposed to be the moment that “cold, hard in the Premier League the lowest was £58m. The reality” would bite for Huddersfield Town, said club has an “unusually close” relationship to the Nick Townsend in The Sunday Times. Returning to town: the fan base is “almost entirely local”, and the top flight for the first time since 1972, they had the players’ canteen is still open to the public. Unlike been dismissed as favourites for relegation. Yet in so many Premier League bosses, the owner, Dean their first Premier League match of the season, at Hoyle, is a fan who lives nearby, and keeps season- Crystal Palace, they won 3-0 – putting them top of ticket prices pegged at just £199 – the cheapest in the table for a day. “This was as good a return to the league. But if anyone is responsible for the club’s the elite as the club could have envisaged,” said success, it’s David Wagner, said Matt Hughes in Sam Dean in The Sunday Telegraph. They were The Times. Since joining less than two years ago, “organised, powerful and aggressive”. And in Steve the German manager has brought in canny signings Mounié – the Beninese striker who scored two goals and introduced the “high-octane gegenpressing” – they might have one of the signings of the summer. pioneered by his mentor, Liverpool manager Jürgen Wagner: canny signings Klopp: the side play high up the pitch, putting The Terriers’ “improbable” journey to the Premier pressure on the opposing team. When Wagner took League is nothing short of a “football fairy tale”, said Simon over, Huddersfield had finished no higher than 16th since being Kuper in the Financial Times. Their wage bill last season was a promoted to the Championship in 2012. To be in the Premier mere £11m, the fourth-lowest in the Championship. By contrast, League just two seasons later is an extraordinary achievement.

Golf’s new young gun Sporting headlines Justin Thomas is very much Spieth, Thomas’s close friend and Tennis Roger Federer a modern golfer, said John Huggan rival, in The Open last month; withdrew from the Western & in The Daily Telegraph. Although marking the first time in 94 years Southern Open, guaranteeing he cuts a slight figure, weighing that two players under the age of that Rafael Nadal will reclaim less than 11st, the 24-year-old 25 have won back-to-back majors. the world No. 1 ranking from Kentucky native hits the ball And it continued a curious trend in Andy Murray next week. “startlingly” far, putting enormous golf: Thomas is the eighth first- Football Chinese effort into every shot. In the past, time major winner in the last of businessman Jisheng Gao that “aggression” has cost him nine such events – in that time, and his family bought an 80% dearly – most recently at June’s only Spieth has won more than stake in Southampton. In the US Open, when he started once. It was a great week, too, for Premier League, Man United promisingly but fell away to a Jordan Smith, a 24-year-old from beat West Ham 4-0. Burnley ninth-place finish. But in the PGA Thomas: “milestone” win Bath, said Ewan Murray in The beat Chelsea 3-2. Arsenal Championship last weekend at Guardian. Only two years ago, he beat Leicester 4-3. Liverpool Quail Hollow, in North Carolina, there were no was struggling to make ends meet in golf’s third drew 3-3 with Watford. such mistakes: Thomas held his nerve to win his tier. But with his victory in the European Open Cricket India beat Sri Lanka first major by two shots. And he did it in style, last month, he earned a maiden major start at by an innings and 171 runs making a birdie on the penultimate hole. Quail Hollow. Smith “made the most of it”: he to complete their first finished the tournament in ninth place, ahead Thomas’s win was a “milestone”, said Bob whitewash in a three-Test of any other British player. Harig on ESPN. It followed the victory of Jordan series overseas.

THE WEEK 19 August 2017

LETTERS 25 Pick of the week’s correspondence

Mexico’s avocado mafia Exchange of the week as shelter from the bombs, To The Guardian often taking a deckchair Your article about the avocado The real North Korea with them to sleep in. shortage misses the point about As the back of their knees the nature of the problem and To The Guardian rested against the wooden bar who is responsible. A farm in In 2012 I was part of a team of “Games Makers”, to chauffeur across the front of the western Mexico that I owned North Korea’s Paralympic team – which consisted of one deckchair, the popliteal vein, until recently could not get its competitor, Rim Ju Song, and a small entourage. I was struck which lies behind the knee, product on the market because not only by their dedication, but also their sense of humour, was compressed for several the commercialisation is good manners and informed curiosity about British culture. hours, causing a clot to form. controlled by mafias, including They appeared model citizens of the world. I make this point Simon Pike, Hoarwithy, local political organisations in the hope that, in this futile nuclear dance, we do not judge Herefordshire whose demands, if not met, a people by its leaders, or think of them as fodder for the “fire lead to rotting crops. and fury” brigade, simply because they are in the unfortunate All at sea There is more than enough position of being ruled by individuals of dubious character. To The Guardian being produced to meet local Alan Corcoran, Godalming, Surrey Tanya Gold implies that as and international demand at a Londoner, she would know reasonable prices, but until the To The Daily Telegraph little about the Royal National producers have direct control I visited North Korea in 2009 and in 2014. Everything I was Lifeboat Institution. Strangely, over marketing their avocados, shown and told was exaggerated or false, from lies about the busiest RNLI station is on the system of poorly paid history and politics to children miming in “live” shows and the Thames, just in front of harvesters, high prices for local model farms with actor farmhands who disappeared as soon Somerset House. It is consumers and the extortion of as our tour group’s backs were turned. The one genuine thing permanently manned. producers will continue. we saw was the utter loathing for the US and its allies. The John Fisher, Hitchin, Among other things, the people’s suspicions of the West and their devotion to (or fear Hertfordshire commercial and marketing of) their leader was palpable. Trump’s posturing and threats organisations insist on bringing play into Kim Jong Un’s hands, giving him the international Byron’s bear essentials in their own pickers – who are recognition he craves and on which he depends for survival. To The Times generally very poor people, Trump is engaged in a very dangerous game. Does he know? When Byron went to usually indigenous, from the Veronica Timperley, London Cambridge in 1805, he was highlands. Once one deducts so irked at not being able to the costs of transport, To The Independent keep his dog that he studied accommodation, etc, from David Usborne rightly describes North Korea as “tiny, isolated the rules and noted they did their pay, they earn below the and impoverished”. Without meaning to trivialise the potential not prohibit bears. So he minimum wage and have no seriousness of the situation, I couldn’t help but recall the Peter bought one from a travelling protection and security. Sellers film The Mouse that Roared. The plot revolves around menagerie, and still had it One of the pickers sent to us an impoverished tiny principality seeking to enrich itself by when he graduated. Byron was ordered at nightfall to cut declaring war on the US with the intention of immediate would lead his bear on a so close to electrical cables that surrender in the hope that they would then get Marshall aid chain around Cambridge, he was electrocuted. There was from America and so cure their financial problems. Perhaps and wrote to a friend that he no compensation for his Kim Jong Un has seen the film and sees this scenario as a way was minded to have him sit family. In fact, the team boss of solving his country’s financial woes. It would certainly for a fellowship. harangued the other pickers explain the apparent lunacy of carrying out aggressive acts and A story did the rounds that about the stupidity of making threats against the most powerful country on Earth. Byron once booked two seats indigenous people and told us Patrick Cleary, Devon on a mail coach in the names that if we interceded, we would of Byron and Bruin. He be blacklisted. He was backed by eagles, particularly during advice was to put a large paper dressed his bear in a travelling up by local political leaders mating season. A simple cap or bag over one’s head and get cap and “had him squat on and other local families hat helps limit any damage to under the kitchen table. Since the seat as demure as a terrified by what could happen the head by a diving bird. large paper bags are no longer Quaker”. A short-sighted if we persisted. The most effective method generally available, and most tailor who sat down opposite The problem has an is to hold a golf club upright, people nowadays do not have commented on what he took enormous human dimension, resting against the shoulder. a kitchen table, has this advice to be Bruin’s “very nice warm and the only people who gain Apparently this poses an been updated? I think we travelling coat”. are those who market the impediment to the eagle’s dive should be told. Richard Martin, Filkins, avocados abroad and the path and deters it from Kaye McGann, Standlake, Oxfordshire political organisations attacking. In my case, the club Oxfordshire associated with them. So the of choice is a TaylorMade next time you eat an avocado 3-wood. It seems to do the job Legs in peril of Mexican origin, spare a quite effectively. To The Daily Telegraph thought for the suffering Haroun Rashid, London In 1940, during the involved in its production. Blitz, there was a Charles Posner, Nuclear know-how sudden and unexplained Lavenham, Suffolk To The Guardian increase in the number When I was in the lower sixth, of people in London Defence club in 1960, we had a talk by the suffering from deep vein To The Daily Telegraph Women’s Voluntary Service as thrombosis. It was soon I see that Harris hawks are part of a scheme whereby one established that the vast attacking walkers in Britain. At in four women in the country majority of sufferers the Lahore Gymkhana Golf would be advised what to do in had spent the night in Club, we are regularly attacked the event of nuclear war. The an Underground station © EDWARD STEED/ THE NEW YORKER/CARTOON BANK

● Letters have been edited 19 August 2017 THE WEEK BEDS, SOFAS AND FURNITURE FOR LOAFERS LOAF.COM BATTERSEA NOTTING HILL SPITALFIELDS ARTS 27 Review of reviews: Books

Book of the week Though Winder is “clearly obsessed with the 13th century”, he “doesn’t only fixate on sheep”, said Johanna The Last Wolf Thomas-Corr in the London Evening by Robert Winder Standard. He considers wheat (which Little, Brown 480pp £20 “provided bread, cakes and ale”); the The Week Bookshop £17 sea (which “fostered” our trading and colonial habits); and the rain (responsible, apparently, not only for In 1281, Edward I commissioned a the world’s first canal network but Shropshire knight named Peter Corbet also our fatalism and “flexible” to eradicate England’s wolves, said temperament). Even our love of bacon Dominic Sandbrook in The Sunday sandwiches, he says, owes much to the Times. “For nine years, Corbet and his weather: because of our damp climate, pack of hounds roamed the forests of we cannot dry-cure pork as the French the English Midlands.” By 1290, Canterbury Meadows by Thomas S. Cooper (1862) and Italians do, and so have been “Corbet had done it”; from that year forced to rely on salt and smoke. on, there were no more “firm sightings” of wolves. According to The Last Wolf is “hugely ambitious,” and its arguments are Robert Winder, this episode, more than any other, marks the certainly intriguing, said Richard Morrison in The Times. Some birth of Englishness. The wolf’s disappearance made large scale of Winder’s claims, though, are pretty far-fetched. Plumbing, he sheep farming possible. “Sheep gave us wool; wool made us rich. writes, has “never been an English skill”, which is plainly No sheep, no rich merchants, no glorious perpendicular “nonsense”: Victorians such as Thomas Crapper and Henry churches, no Lavenham, no Chipping Campden, no rural idyll, Doulton invented modern plumbing. Equally bizarre is his no nostalgic pastoral.” The Last Wolf is a “provocative and characterisation of northern grittiness as a “geological fact”. But, thoroughly entertaining” investigation of how England’s as Winder concedes, trying to nail down the national character identity has been shaped by its climate and geography. Though “is like trying to grab smoke”, said Robert McCrum in The some of its arguments are a “bit of a stretch”, the book is a Observer. And what he offers is not so much a definitive “nicely understated rebuke” to the “fashionable idea” that conclusion as a “fascinating transit through a maze of reflecting nationhood owes more to ideology than geography. For Winder, mirrors”. The Last Wolf is a “well crafted” and “deeply the “key thing is not the people but the place”. researched” exploration of our “sheepish past”.

The One Device by Brian Merchant Novel of the week Bantam 416pp £20 Beautiful Animals The Week Bookshop £17 by Lawrence Osborne Hogarth 304pp £14.99 The iPhone, Brian Merchant writes in The One The Week Bookshop £12.99 Device, might be the “pinnacle product of all capitalism to this point”. This is “one of those “Lawrence Osborne writes thrillers about sentences that seems absurd until you properly affluent Western Europeans who accidentally think about it, and then abruptly does not”, said encounter the rest of the suffering world,” said Hugo Rifkind in The Times. Apple has sold Deborah Levy in the Financial Times. In his about a billion iPhones since the product’s latest, set on the Greek island of Hydra, two launch a decade ago – more than 20 times the privileged young women befriend each other sales of the Toyota Corolla, the world’s while holidaying with their families. On a bestselling car. The iPhone is “not just the bestselling phone in the world, deserted beach, they discover a Syrian refugee, but also the bestselling camera, music player, computer and video screen”. Faoud, whom they persuade to commit an Merchant’s book – part discussion of the technologies that produced the “Oedipal crime” which will help him escape to iPhone, part journalistic quest to understand its place in the modern world – mainland Europe. Holding readers “in his is a “formidable”, if inevitably geeky, history of Apple’s iconic product. thrall”, Osborne offers an “unsentimental As Merchant shows, the iPhone wasn’t really a “breakthrough invention critique of the contemporary world in crisis”. in its own right”, more a “collection of previous developments”, said Jacob This is a “vaguely silly, vaguely profound and Mikanowski in The Guardian. Its lithium batteries “were developed by extremely enjoyable” book, said Sam Kitchener scientists working for Exxon during the 1970s oil crisis”. Touchscreen in Literary Review. Osborne “manages suspense technology was invented by a brilliant young electrical engineer “as a way to with great skill”, while taking “care to note alleviate his carpal tunnel syndrome”. Even Steve Jobs, Apple’s mercurial boss, every shot of ouzo or tsipouro that passes was less crucial to the iPhone than is widely believed: most of the early work his characters’ lips”. For all that it is on the device “was hidden from him, to keep him from killing the project in atmospheric, some of the writing in Beautiful the crib”. Merchant’s research has “great depth”, and his book is full of Animals is affected by an “air of ramshackle “compelling anecdotes”, said Aleks Krotoski in the London Evening Standard. improvisation”, said Robert Douglas-Fairhurst All the same, it could have done with fewer “factoids” and more “analysis”. in The Times. “The result is strangely We now know how the iPhone was made, but it would have improved the unnerving”; weird, but mostly “successful”. book if Merchant had zoomed out, to give a sense of “the bigger picture”. To order these titles or any other book in print, visit www.theweek.co.uk/bookshop or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835 Opening times: Mon to Fri 9am-6pm, Sat 9am-5.30pm and Sun 10am-2pm

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 28 ARTS Drama Edinburgh International Festival: theatre highlights

Flight This “small but it certainly wasn’t for me. It is, miraculous” show from the in short, “drivel”: a “bit of Scottish touring company Vox chat interspersed with some Motus is essential viewing, said hilariously bad songs”. Maxie Szalwinska in The Sunday The Studio, until 27 August. Times. The audience is corralled into individual booths for a Meet Me at Dawn Zinne refugee saga following two Harris’s new play, in which two orphaned brothers as they cross women called Robyn and Helen Europe from Afghanistan. The meet on a beach after a boating staging is “revolving diorama accident, is a “21st century meets graphic novel” in a way classic” full of passionate never seen before, and has “an poetry, love and despair, said exquisite freshness of vision”. Joyce McMillan in The Church Hill Theatre and Studio, Scotsman. Inspired in part by until 27 August. the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, it is an 85-minute Krapp’s Last Tape Performed “symphony of loss, longing by Barry McGovern, “one of Neve McIntosh in Meet Me at Dawn: “exquisite” and occasional wild comedy”. Ireland’s finest actors”, and Orla O’Loughlin’s “pitch- directed by Michael Colgan, who has just retired after 33 years perfect” production boasts “exquisite” performances. Traverse as the head of Dublin’s Gate Theatre, this is Beckett’s one-man Theatre, until 27 August. masterpiece in experienced hands and done “masterfully”, said Ann Treneman in The Times. It’s the first production from the The Divide (Parts One and Two) Alan Ayckbourn’s new theatre company that the pair have set up together, and it “Handmaid’s Tale-esque” projection of a plague-ravaged is clearly a “labour of love”. Church Hill Theatre and Studio, dystopian future – where the sexes are strictly segregated – has until 27 August. “many nice ironies and performances”, says Michael Billington in The Guardian. But the two-part epic drama often strains the Martin Creed’s Words and Music In this “endearing, exposing audience’s patience over its six-hour running time. “You can see show” full of “ticklish humour”, the “impish” Turner Prize- where Ayckbourn is taking us. It just takes a long time to get winning artist improvises with a microphone and guitar and sings there.” King’s Theatre, until 20 August; then The Old Vic, a few songs, said Lyn Gardner in The Guardian. The results “veer London, 30 January-10 February 2018. from the inconsequential to the profound”. Creed’s show won’t be for everyone, said Ann Treneman in The Times, and (For tickets, see www.eif.co.uk or call 0131-473 2000) … and the pick of the Festival Fringe

Black Mountain This from Britain to Ghana to Jamaica, psychological thriller by up-and- is “as emotionally generous as it coming playwright Brad Birch is stinging. It shows us an keeps you guessing right to the unhealed wound and a touch end, said Ann Treneman in The of grace.” Northern Stage at Times. Superb performances, and Summerhall, until 26 August. sure direction from James Grieve, mean we are never quite certain Letters to Morrissey In Gary whose side we’re on. The show is McNair’s “nicely judged, just “a step above much of the Fringe. the right side of nostalgic solo After Edinburgh, it goes on tour. show”, we get a touching Do catch it if you can.” account of growing up in urban Roundabout at Summerhall, Scotland, and a “reverential until 26 August; then tours to (but not humourlessly so) tribute” Salford, Kendal, Margate, to the Smiths frontman, said Lincoln, Darlington, Poole, Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Stoke-on-Trent and Richmond Telegraph. Traverse Theatre, (www.painesplough.com). Gary McNair’s show Letters to Morrissey: “nicely judged” until 27 August.

Nassim There are many shows on this year’s Fringe dealing with Adam There are several shows at this year’s Fringe with xenophobia and racism, said Joyce McMillan in The Scotsman. transgender themes, including You’ve Changed at Northern Stage “I doubt whether any of the writers involved approach the subject at Summerhall, and Testosterone at Pleasance Courtyard. The more gently, or with more quietly transformative effect, than the pick of them, in terms of theatrical sophistication, is Adam at the Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour.” His brilliant show involves Traverse, said Lyn Gardner in The Guardian. It’s a “sensitive and a new actor at each performance to help tell the story of a little clever crafting” by Frances Poet of the true story of Adam boy, Nassim. Traverse Theatre, until 27 August. Kashmiry, who “not only had to journey across the border controls erected around gender, but also the borders of countries”. Salt Slavery, racism and “the pit-of-the-stomach churn these This is a journey from female to male, and from Egypt to subjects induce are tackled on stage shamefully seldom”, said Glasgow. Traverse Theatre, until 27 August. Maxie Szalwinska in The Sunday Times. This piece from writer- performer Selina Thompson, which retraces the slave triangle (For tickets, see www.edfringe.com or call 0131-226000) © DAVID MONTEITH-HODGE,

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 Film ARTS 29

This “sexy, boozy, violent and cool” thriller stars Charlize Theron as a British spy sent to 1980s Berlin to recover a missing microfilm, said Jamie East in Atomic Blonde The Sun. There she runs into a French agent (Sofia Boutella), with whom she has a passionate fling, Dir: David Leitch and an unhinged MI6 station chief (James McAvoy). 1hr 55mins (15) But who, if anyone, is to be trusted? The plot and characters are “superficial”, said Geoffrey Macnab Introducing a new in The Independent. Yet for sheer entertainment value, Atomic Blonde can’t be faulted. There are action hero some brilliant fight scenes between the “cartoonishly indestructable” Theron and her opponents. Best of ★★★ all is a ten-minute scene in which Theron battles her way down a staircase through a cluster of KGB agents, said Kevin Maher in The Times. It’s “one of the most exhilarating sequences committed to film this year”. Admittedly, the film’s plot is derivative, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph, with its sub-Le Carré smoke and mirrors. But it’s worth seeing for Theron’s action masterclass. She makes Jason Bourne and James Bond “look like a mild-mannered kindergarten teacher and the school’s arthritic janitor, respectively”.

A Ghost Story is “unlike anything else you’ll see this year”, said Phil de Semlyen in Empire. Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara play a couple living in A Ghost Story a little house somewhere in Texas, until one day Affleck is killed in a car crash. The dead man then Dir: David Lowery rises from the morgue, with the sheet that covered 1hr 32mins (12A) him draped over his head, and proceeds to wander around his former home, looking out through large Touching meditation cut-out holes. There he watches Mara’s character on love and loss (who can’t see him) as she endures the stages of grief, until – most devastating of all – he is forced to remain when she leaves. There is a “fine line between ★★★ profundity and pretentiousness”, said Adrian Thrills in the Daily Mail, and the film “doesn’t always stay on the right side”. There’s one scene lasting many minutes, for instance, where we simply watch Mara binge-eating a whole pie. Yet gradually the oblique storytelling “works its spell”, said Geoffrey Macnab in The Independent. Once you acclimatise to it, A Ghost Story is a “beguiling” meditation on love, loss and letting go.

The original Nut Job, which came out in 2014, was “sawdust-grade summer-holiday filler”, said Robbie Collin in The Daily Telegraph. This sequel, I’m sorry The Nut Job 2: to report, is even worse – and it “knows it”. As Nutty by Nature before, the main characters are an obnoxious squirrel named Surly (voiced by Will Arnett), his long- Dir: Cal Brunker suffering squirrel girlfriend Andie (Katherine Heigl), 1hr 31mins (U) and their assorted animal friends. This time, the challenge is to stop the park where they live being Nut very good turned into an amusement park by the rapacious mayor (Bobby Moynihan). Pixar films such as Inside Out have proved that children don’t need ★ “relentless” hyperactivity to hold their attention, said Jonathan Dean in The Sunday Times. Yet Cal Brunker’s exhausting movie ricochets from explosions to rollercoasters to hurricanes without letting up. There’s an amusing cameo from Jackie Chan as a ninja rodent, said Helen O’Hara in Empire. But overall, this film will give anyone aged over five a “severe nut allergy”.

The Rotten Tomatoes effect and why Hollywood’s had a bummer of a summer This summer’s cinema releases have been weekend, before negative audience response dominated by lazy sequels in franchises we’re kicked in. Now the downturn is immediate. Online grown bored of, said Dave Holmes in Esquire. review aggregators such as RottenTomatoes.com “A fifth Transformers. A fifth Pirates of the and Metacritic.com mean people can check within Caribbean. A millionth Planet of the Apes, a hours of a film’s premiere if it’s any good. And if trillionth Alien.” Is it any wonder that audiences it isn’t, they take their money elsewhere. are staying away? The industry has just reported This was the year that moviegoers voted with a disastrous drop in summer ticket sales of their feet, said Charles Bramesco in The Guardian. 10.8% on last year. They’re tired of “brain-dead remakes”, sequels One reason people aren’t going to the cinema is and clunky franchise openers, such as the Tom that modern TV is so much better. “The talk of last Cruise action film The Mummy, which wastes its summer was Stranger Things, and the talk this running time on what feels like scene-setting for summer is Game of Thrones,” points out industry the film we’ll get in two years’ time. By contrast, analyst Jeff Bock. “It used to be, ‘What’s playing “films content with their own finality” – such as this summer in theatres?’” Then there’s the Rotten Cruise remake The Mummy Baby Driver, Dunkirk and the indie horror movie Tomatoes effect, said Kyle Stock on Bloomberg. Get Out – surpassed expectations. This could be Time was when a hefty marketing budget could ensure that an “inspiring bellwether of hope”. Maybe the movie moguls will a second-rate blockbuster at least enjoyed a lucrative opening finally realise “they can no longer phone it in”.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Art ARTS 31

Exhibition of the week Edinburgh Art Festival Various locations, Edinburgh (0131-226 6558, www.edinburghartfestival.com). Until 27 August “Edinburgh in summertime Gallery of Modern Art isn’t a city many of us is True to Life, an “eye- associate with art,” said opener” of a show devoted Alastair Sooke in The Daily to British realist painting in Telegraph. From stand-up the interwar years that is comedy gigs to “men in packed with unjustly kilts ‘serenading’ tourists “neglected” artists. But the with the screech of bagpipes “crowning glory” of the on the Royal Mile”, the city’s art programme is the huge number of events Scottish National Gallery’s going on as part of its survey of Caravaggio’s annual festival tends to followers, featuring genuine obscure the visual arts “masterpieces” by the likes programme that takes place of Artemisia Gentileschi, here every August. Small Georges de la Tour and wonder, if this year’s Jusepe de Ribera, as well offering is anything to go as six works by the Old by. Indeed, so “meek” and Master himself. “meagre” is 2017’s iteration that it “risks pitching True to Life, showing off Edinburgh’s Art Festival long-ignored but now into terminal irrelevance”. fashionable realists such as The initiative presents Meredith Frampton, is the works by some 250 artists festival’s “best” show, said at more than 40 venues Waldemar Januszczak in and is nominally (and very Marguerite Kelsey (1928) by Meredith Frampton The Sunday Times. The loosely) themed around the National Museum of writings of Scottish sociologist Patrick Geddes (1854-1932). Scotland also has a fascinating exhibition devoted to Bonnie While there are some decent individual exhibitions, the festival Prince Charlie and the Jacobites. Though it consists largely of wall as a whole is a directionless and unimaginative affair. texts “interspersed with occasional objets d’art et d’histoire”, it had me “poring over every comma”. But the contemporary art on Nevertheless, there is plenty worth seeing, said Laura Cumming show runs the gamut from embarrassing to “desultory”. The in The Observer. For contemporary work, head to the Jupiter worst offender is a “home-made greenhouse” constructed in the Artland sculpture park, where artist Pablo Bronstein has shadow of Edinburgh Castle by artist Bobby Niven. Nothing – constructed a “spectacular” architectural folly “straight out of “not even the spectacle of the artist himself making pizzas in an Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. Better still are the exhibitions oven he also constructed on the site” – gives it any “artistic point” taking place in Edinburgh’s museums. At the Scottish National whatsoever. Overall, this festival feels like a missed opportunity.

Where to buy… Blenheim’s lost masterpieces The Week reviews an “No one could exhibition in a private gallery accuse the Duke of Marlborough of being afraid Eadweard Muybridge of a challenge,” at Beetles+Huxley says Hannah Furness in The Sunday The pioneering work of Eadweard Telegraph. Muybridge (1830-1904) in motion The 12th Duke, photography occupies a singular formerly Jamie place in art history. The flick book- Blandford, style studies he created of humans, who inherited Blenheim Palace horses and other animals in the 1870s in 2014 after a “colourful” early adulthood, and 1880s – using multiple cameras to has embarked on an ambitious project to locate capture the briefest gesture – are seen and retrieve the hundreds of artworks and as instrumental to the development of Animal Locomotion books sold by his ancestors over the years. In the moving image, and have been a key Plates 617 (top) and 720 (below), 1887 particular, he wishes to locate works lost in point of reference for artists ever since. a “famous” 1886 sale, when paintings by Van For the viewer, however, the appeal Dyck (pictured), Titian, Rembrandt, Rubens, almost ritualistic quality. Some of the Gainsborough, Reynolds, Caravaggio and of his work lies not so much in its many small image sheets in this show technical accomplishment but in its Holbein were sold at Christie’s to cover death hold the attention more than others, duties. Before the sale, he said, Blenheim had glorious strangeness. His human but it is nonetheless a welcome the “best art collection in the Western world”. models are more often than not opportunity to see so much of In 1881, 18,000 books from the palace’s depicted naked, some playing tennis, Muybridge’s work in one place. Sunderland Library were sold, making nearly some riding horses, some wrestling Prices range from £700 to £4,200. £60,000. Even itemising the lost artefacts will be on the ground (famously, a direct a decade-long enterprise. “It’s colossal,” said influence on Francis Bacon), granting 3-5 Swallow Street, London W1 Alexa Frost, the archivist heading the project.

© TATE., © EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE. IMAGE COURTESYthe OF BEETLES+HUXLEY images in which they appear an (020-7434 4319). Until 2 September.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

The List 33

Best books… Christian Jennings Television The author and foreign correspondent Christian Jennings selects his Programmes six favourite thrillers. His latest book, Flashpoint Trieste: The First Inspector Montalbano In Battle of the Cold War, is available from Osprey at £20 the first of a new series, the dogged Sicilian detective The Day of the Jackal by Blood of Victory by Alan The Calculus Affair by investigates the murder of a Frederick Forsyth, 1971 Furst, 2002 (Weidenfeld & Hergé, 1956 (Egmont £7.99). 70-year-old prostitute. Sat 19 Aug, BBC4 21:00 (115mins). (Arrow £7.99). The best Nicolson £8.99). A Russian The 18th in The Adventures of thriller of the last 50 years tells émigré writer, recruited by Tintin series is a superb Cold Astronauts: Do You Have the story of the English British intelligence in 1940, War thriller. Tintin must save What It Takes? In this 60th assassin who targets French must stop crucial Romanian his friend Professor Calculus anniversary year since Sputnik president Charles de Gaulle. oil reaching the Third Reich. from kidnapping by two launched the Space Race, Atmospheric, accurate, tautly In the dark world of wartime dastardly, mythical countries, 12 exceptional candidates are written, it has defined the Europe, the mission falls Borduria and Syldavia. Rarely put through the gruelling tests genre ever since. apart in a way only Furst have the Balkans been so well, faced by astronauts. Sun could invent. and so satirically, portrayed. 20 Aug, BBC2 21:00 (60mins). City of Thieves by David Benioff, 2008 (Sceptre £8.99). The Quiet American by Naples ’44: An Intelligence The State Writer-director Leningrad 1941: a Russian Graham Greene, 1955 Officer in the Italian Peter Kosminsky’s powerful soldier and a looter are (Vintage £8.99). An American Labyrinth by Norman new drama series, about a group of young British people spared execution and given idealist, a British foreign Lewis, 1978 (Eland £10.99). joining Isis in Syria, airs over an impossible mission. In a correspondent and a young Although non-fiction, four consecutive nights. Sun starving city, they must find Vietnamese woman star in Lewis’s description of his 20 Aug, C4 21:00 (60mins). eggs for the wedding cake of this intricately layered tale time as an Eighth Army officer an officer’s daughter. The of love and war, in which serving among the desperate India’s Partition: The picaresque quest that follows Greene foresaw the American population of wartime Naples Forgotten Story British is terrifying, sad and funny. debacle in Indochina. deserves thriller status. film-maker Gurinder Chadha explores the division of the Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit www.biblio.co.uk subcontinent that led to religious strife and horrific violence. Tue 22 Aug, BBC2 The Week’s guide to what’s worth seeing and reading 21.00 (60mins).

Last chance Deadliest Place to Deal Picasso: Minotaurs and Matadors at the Hard-hitting documentary Gagosian Gallery, London W1 (020-7495 exploring the bloody war 1500). Curated by Sir John Richardson, this being waged against drugs by “brilliant” exhibition explores Picasso’s Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines. Thur 24 fascination with tauromachy of all kinds Aug, BBC1 22:45 (60mins). (Time Out). Ends 25 August. Showing now Films Mosquitoes at the National Theatre, London Far from the Madding SE1 (020-7452 3000). Lucy Kirkwood’s Crowd (2015) Thomas “idea-crammed” play features “bulletproof” Vinterberg’s gripping performances from Olivia Williams as a adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s novel of rural life. With Carey successful scientist and Olivia Colman as her Picasso’s minotaur: the artist in a bull mask, 1959 Mulligan, Sun 20 Aug, BBC1 envious sister (The Stage). Ends 28 September. 20:05 (115mins). discussion about sex scandals in politics, to Book now Ian McEwan chatting with Geordie Greig about Starman (1984) Classic Fans were thrilled when the New York dance- the highs and lows of the writer’s life. 14-15 1980s sci-fi about a benign punk band LCD Soundsystem reformed last October (www.clivedenliteraryfestival.org). alien (Jeff Bridges) who takes year. There are still a few tickets left for their the form of the husband of gig at London’s Alexandra Palace on 23 Just out in paperback a Wisconsin widow (Karen September (www.lcdsoundsystem.com). Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore Allen). Wed 23 Aug, Film4 (Windmill £8.99). Set in Bristol at the time of 16:35 (135mins). This year’s Cliveden Literary Festival, set in the French Revolution, Dunmore’s final novel the historic surrounds of Cliveden House in depicts the life of Lizzie Fawkes, a young New to Amazon Prime Buckinghamshire, boasts a feast of delights, radical recently married, in scenes of “uneasy ranging from Michael Gove chairing a menace” (Guardian). Comrade Detective purports to be a genuine Romanian cop series from the 1980s, The Archers: what happened last week unearthed from the archives Emma is resentful of opposition to the Bridge Farm housing development. Don’t people realise and dubbed into English. In how hard it is for her generation to get on the housing ladder? With the PA system out of action, fact, the show – which follows Brian is persuaded to dress up as a town crier at the fete. He’s softened by the promise of meeting the exploits of troubled the Duxfords. But when he meets Lulu Duxford, she does her best to evade him. Meanwhile, a Bucharest police detective fight breaks out between the fruit pickers and local youths. Ed steps in and breaks it up. Alistair is Gregor Anghel and his partner stressed by the amount of time Anisha is spending working for Matt. He can’t understand why she – is an elaborate, note-perfect doesn’t see through his slick act. Emma drops in on Justin to tell him about the opposition to the spoof, boasting the vocal housing development, explaining that some think the affordable homes will attract undesirable talents of the likes of Kim people. Justin encourages her to speak out at the next parish council meeting. Phoebe reveals to Basinger and Joseph Gordon- Lily that there was a problem with the condom during her night with Constantin. Lily insists on Levitt. Weird, but well worth driving Phoebe to a discreet pharmacy she knows near Borchester, for the morning-after pill. a look. Streaming now.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 34 Best properties

Striking country houses

▲ Perth and Kinross: Cammock Lodge, Glenisla, Blairgowrie. This former shooting lodge has been recently upgraded and has beautiful views over Glenisla. Master suite with dressing room, 5 further beds, family bath, kitchen/dining room, 3 receps, hall, office/ playroom, cloakroom, outbuilding with garage, workshop and garden stores, gardens, wooded grounds, timber chalet, 2.34 acres. OIEO £495,000; Knight Frank (0131-222 9600).

▲ Suffolk: Onehouse Hall, Onehouse, Stowmarket. A part-moated Grade II listed house in almost 6 acres with meadows, formal gardens and a lake. Master suite, guest suite, 3 further beds, 2 further baths, 2 WCs (1 en suite), breakfast/kitchen, 3 receps, cinema room/bed 6, hall, cellar, garage, gardens, orchard, copse, meadows/paddocks, carp lake, 5.7 acres. £930,000; David Burr (01359-245245). ▲ Oxfordshire: Fox House, Little Coxwell. A period house and two small cottages on a no through road near the Berkshire Downs, with views to White Horse Hill. 2 bed suites, 3 further beds, family bath, breakfast/kitchen, 3 receps, cloakroom; 1-bed cottage, stable yard with 2 stables, games room, wet room, cloakroom and garage; outbuildings housing 2 offices, utility and stores. The 0.8 acres of gardens include a terrace, kitchen garden, swimming pool and greenhouse. £1.62m; Butler Sherborn (01993-822325).

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 on the market 35

▲ Lincolnshire: The Old Vicarage, Pinchbeck. A Grade II Georgian former vicarage in 2 acres of established gardens, with a listed coach house in need of renovation. 7 beds, 3 baths, breakfast/kitchen with Aga, 2 receps, conservatory, study, laundry, coach house, outbuilding, gardens, vegetable garden, pond. £795,000; Longstaff (01775-766766). ▲ Roxburghshire: Ashybank House, Denholm. A Georgian country house in 11 acres of secluded grounds in the heart of the Scottish Borders. Master suite, 4 further beds, family bath, breakfast/kitchen with Aga, 3 receps, hall, study, utility, WC, attic, outdoor storage and party room, landscaped gardens, fields, fishing rights on the River Teviot. Further acreage available separately. £650,000; Rettie (01289-305158). ▲ Aberdeenshire: Skellater House, Strathdon. A refurbished laird’s house, dating from 1727, on a gentle slope close to the Lonach Hills, with fine views. 5 beds, family bath, shower, breakfast/ ▲ Shropshire: kitchen, 2 receps, Earnstrey Hill House, office, hall, utility, Abdon, Craven Arms. games room, A family home with fine cloakroom, garage/ views of the Shropshire workshop, gardens Hills. 4 beds, 3 baths, and grounds, attic rooms, kitchen/ separate 1-bed dining room, 4 receps, guest/staff/holiday utility, office, 4 stables, cottage, 6.2 acres. barn, manège, paddocks, OIEO £795,000; 11 acres. £895,000; Knight Frank Savills (01952-239500). (0131-222 9600). ▲ Gloucestershire: Upton House, Upton Cheyney, Bath. A Grade II house in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, with far-reaching views. Master suite, 7 further beds, 3 further baths, breakfast/kitchen, 3 receps, hall, snug, utility, cloakroom, attic rooms, self- contained 3-bed wing with kitchen and 1 recep. The 2.4 acres of beautiful gardens and grounds include garaging ▲ North Yorkshire: The Old Rectory, Middleton, Pickering. A Georgian and a swimming former rectory on the fringe of the North York Moors National Park. pool. £2.75m; Master suite, 3 further beds, family bath, 3 WCs, breakfast/kitchen, Strutt & Parker 4 receps, utility, boot room, pantry, games room, bed 5/store, study, (020-7629 7282). outbuildings, stores, garden, terrace. £795,000; Savills (01904-617820).

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“Excellent” LEISURE 37 Food & Drink What the experts recommend Ikoyi 1 St James’s Market, London SW1 diced with blackcurrant, dill and fennel. (020-3583 4660) And hake, liquorice-black with squid ink The pair behind Ikoyi, Jeremy Chan and on the outside, is “startling and beautiful Iré Hassan-Odukale, both went into jobs in its creamy white centre” and bathed in in finance before realising their true a sparklingly clear broth of tomato and calling was cooking, says Fay Maschler dashi. Stark is a “lovely, unexpected little in the London Evening Standard. Well thing” and Broadstairs is lucky to have it. done them; lucky us. If you make the Six courses, £45, plus drinks and service. argument, as some do, that London is now “the most dynamic restaurant city Where to eat in Copenhagen: on Earth”, the presence of this superb When it comes to amazing food, the new West African-inspired eaterie is Danish capital is about far more than “a bit of a clincher”. A perfect example, just Noma, says Brontë Aurell in the FT. not to be missed, is the first-course dish No visitor should miss the great food of Manx Loaghtan rib and asun relish. market at Torvehallerne; I’d especially Asun, the peppery rub and marinade recommend the open sandwiches at usually applied to goat meat (rather Hallernes Smørrebrød (top choice: than Isle of Man lamb), is here “rendered Copenhagen’s Höst: “award-winning interior” pickled herring) and the pastries at Lauras as a shiny, spicy, habanero-spiked Bakery. If my children are with me, they sauce”; the resulting flavour is or “Dalston-sur-Mer”, as the local wags will insist on a visit to Nørregade Bolcher “profound”. Other highlights included have it. But never in “preserved-in-aspic” nearby, for the fantastic handmade “smoke fish” mackerel (torched with Broadstairs. I’m not certain I should be boiled sweets. For street food, Papirøen raw okra and fermented locust bean making an exception for Stark: it’s a market, by the harbour, is the place to butter) and the delicious cocktails and “ludicrously tiny” 12-seater that only go. My favourites there are Handmade puds. Meal for two, including wine opens Wednesday to Saturday evenings – (open sandwiches) and Fish ’n’ Chips and service, about £165. arguably more a “labour of love” supper (“not your average fish and chips!”). club than a restaurant. But chef Ben For a fancy meal out, I love Höst: the Stark 1 Oscar Road, Broadstairs, Kent Crittenden is the “real deal” and his “award-winning interior is both cosy (01843-579786) mighty talent deserves to be trumpeted. and hyggelig” and the food is wonderful. In ten years of living in the “bucket- On the six-course no-choice menu, I had the rosehip ice cream with green and-spade Kentish seaside town” of there’s usually chicken liver parfait of strawberries last time, and “I’m still Broadstairs, I’ve never reviewed a place “preternatural silkiness and delicacy, and dreaming of it”. Last, for a killer brunch, on my own doorstep, says Marina huge flavour; this time it comes with go to Mad & Kaffe: “give me their O’Loughlin in The Guardian. Sure, I’ve pickled Kent cherries” and a shingle of smoked salmon with smoked cheese mayo written about places in nearby Margate, hazelnut granola. There’s cured trout, any Sunday and I’ll love you for ever”.

Recipe of the week: Syrian turmeric cake Turmeric cake, or sfouf, may sound unusual – and it is – but this exotic flour-free cake will be the talk of any dinner party, say Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi, The spicy aromatic flavours combined with the almonds make a delicious moist cake that lasts for a good few days. If you want a gluten-free option, simply replace the semolina with fine polenta. This cake is our version of Itab’s mum’s turmeric pancakes, and it’s an easy but impressive option if you are cooking for a large number of people

Serves 6-8 250g ground almonds 175g fine semolina 1½ tsp baking powder 2 tsp turmeric 1 tsp aniseed, crushed 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp nigella seeds 300g butter, at room temperature 200g sugar 3 eggs, at room temperature icing sugar, to garnish handful of broken pistachios, to garnish For the sugar syrup: 80g sugar juice of 1 lemon

• Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a round or until a skewer inserted into the middle of 23cm springform tin with baking paper. the cake comes out clean. • Mix the ground almonds, semolina, baking • While the cake is in the oven, make the sugar powder, turmeric, aniseed, cinnamon and syrup. Put the sugar, lemon juice and 80ml nigella seeds together in a large bowl. water in a pan and simmer until the sugar • Beat the butter and sugar together until the dissolves. The longer you simmer it, the mixture is pale and fluffy. A food processor thicker the syrup will become. Ten minutes works perfectly well for this. Add the eggs, should be about right. one at a time, incorporating well. If it starts • Take the cake out of the oven and insert to curdle or looks too runny, simply add a a skewer around the edges, then, while still spoonful of the dry ingredients. warm, pour the syrup all over so that it seeps • Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed into the cake itself. butter, sugar and egg, then pour the mixture • Leave to cool, then remove from the tin. into the springform tin and level the surface Sprinkle the cake with the icing sugar and with a spatula. Bake for around 40 minutes, pistachios, and serve.

Taken from Syria: Recipes from Home by Itab Azzam and Dina Mousawi, published by Trapeze at £25. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £22, call 020-3176 3835 or visit www.theweek.co.uk/bookshop. © PHOTOGRAPHY: LIZ AND MAX HAARALA HAMILTON

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New cars: what the critics say What Car? Auto Express Autocar The previous XV wasn’t This model is “certainly The new XV is better an especially good car – a step forward in terms on the road, too. It feels “in fact, it was quite a of looks”. The new design noticeably more agile bad one”. Its handling is very handsome, with and sharper to drive, was poor, and it was a more modern front end. with nicely weighted expensive, to boot. Now, The interior has also been steering and improved Subaru has given the upgraded – it looks more refinement. The car SUV a “substantial upmarket, with more excels off-road, outdoing reworking’: built on the shiny plastics and soft- most rivals – although, Subaru XV manufacturer’s brand-new touch materials, though annoyingly, there’s no £22,000 (est.) platform, the car has the infotainment screens diesel option. This model updated engines, a new still lags behind that of may not offer the polished chassis and a redesigned many rivals. The cabin is driving experience of, interior and exterior. Can spacious – particularly in say, the Seat Ateca but those changes turn its the rear – though the boot it’s “undoubtedly better”

fortunes around? is on the small side. than its predecessor. The best… projector ▲ Sony VPL-HW45ES This award-winning Sony HD projector is by far the best option in

▲ BenQ W3000W30 The its price range. It may cost a lot, but that gets compactcom you an amazingly bright and detailed picture W3000W30 can – even if its 1080p resolution isn’t quite as producepro a high as some fancy models (£1,995; massivemas 100in www.sevenoakssoundandvision.co.uk). image onto a wall from just ▲ PhilipsPh PicoPix 8ft away. That PPX 4935 Measuring just 15cm by image is crisp, too, with 15c15cm,m, this portable projector is capable Full HD resolution of 1080p of producingpro a 50in screen at an HD (£1,099; www.richersounds.com).www.richersound Ready resolution of 720p. It runs off a rechrechargable battery, which lasts up to two hours off a charge (£450; wwwwww.maplin.co.uk).

▲ OptomaOptoma ▲ H183XH183X If EpsonEpson EH-TW5350EH-TW5350 A real babargain,rgain, you’reyou’re looking this Epson produces the kind of 3/TR for a budget detail and colour that you’d expect projectorprojec for from a much pricier projector, with occasionaloccasiona 1080p resolution. It’s compact and use, the H183X offers excellent image quality.quality With lightweight – but you’ll want to resolution of 800p, however, it’s deemed “HD“HD Ready”, connect it to external speakers, which means you won’t get the same level of detail as rather than using the built-in ones a Full HD projector (£329; www.richersounds.com). (£600; www.epson.co.uk). SOURCES: WHAT WHAT HI-FI?/STUFF/T HI-FI?/STUFF/T3/TRUSTED REVIEWS Tips of the week… how to And for those who Websites… make the most of YouTube have everything… for travelling

● If you come across a video but don’t have TripIt pools all your holiday reservations – time to watch it, you can save it for another from flights to restaurants – into a single, time by adding it to YouTube’s Watch Later shareable itinerary. Just forward it your playlist. Just click on the “Add to” button booking confirmation emails and it does below the clip and the option will appear. the rest for you (www.tripit.com). ● YouTube selects picture quality Eater has exhaustive restaurant guides for automatically. But if you want to improve a number of cities, including Tokyo, Paris the quality of a video – or lower it to limit and Lisbon. If you’re travelling in the US, data use – you can choose your preferred take advantage of its surprisingly good setting. On a computer, click the cog icon. recommendations for where to eat at the In the app, click the three-dot icon. airport (www.eater.com). ● When sharing a clip with someone, you Routehappy is a search engine for flights can ensure that it starts at a particular point that gives each airline a score, taking into in the video. Find the moment you want, account legroom, Wi-Fi and whether meals click the Share button and then tick the The WaterRower Classic is that rare thing: are provided. You can’t actually use it to “Start at” box – you’ll get a customised link. book tickets, though; it’s just an information an exercise machine that actually looks ● You can use the keyboard to control resource (www.routehappy.com). videos. Pressing the space bar pauses and good. Made from solid American black walnut wood, it has a built-in monitor for Weather2Travel offers detailed information plays a clip, while the cursor keys let you about a huge number of destinations. rewind and fast forward. tracking speed, time and distance. Pick a month and it will tell you average ● Subtitles are available on some videos. £1,149; www.waterrower.co.uk temperatures, rainfall and hours of On a computer, click the button to the left of sunshine, as well as the times for sunrise the cog. In the app, click the three-dot icon. and sunset (www.weather2travel.com).

SOURCE: LIFEHACKER SOURCE: FT SOURCE: THE INDEPENDENT

19 August 2017 THE WEEK Our selection of the best new books, with up to 20% off and free UK delivery on orders over £20.

Home Fire The Dun Cow Rib by Kamila Shamsie by John Lister-Kaye LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER John Lister-Kaye has spent a lifetime PRIZE 2017. After years spent raising exploring, protecting and celebrating her twin siblings after their mother’s the British landscape and its wildlife. death, Isma is finally living her dream His memoir is the story of a boy’s of studying in America. But she can’t awakening to the wonders of the natural stop worrying about Aneeka, her world. He spent joyous childhood beautiful, headstrong sister back in holidays scrambling through hedges London - or their brother, Parvaiz, and ditches after birds and small beasts, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his keeping pigeons in the loft and tracking own dream: to prove himself to the foxes around the edge of the garden. dark legacy of the jihadist father he A wise and affectionate celebration of never knew. Britain’s natural landscape.

The Week Bookshop price: £14.99, usually £16.99 The Week Bookshop price: £17.00, usually £20.00

The Book of Disquiet St Petersburg by Fernando Pessoa by Jonathan Miles One of the great literary works of the From Peter the Great to Putin, this is twentieth century. Written over the the unforgettable story of one of the course of Fernando Pessoa’s life, it was most magical, menacing and influential first published in 1982, pieced together cities in the world. St Petersburg from the thousands of individual has always felt like an impossible manuscript pages left behind by metropolis, risen from the freezing Pessoa after his death in 1935. Now this mists and flooded marshland of the fragmentary modernist masterpiece River Neva on the western edge of appears in a major new edition that Russia. This is an epic tale of murder, unites Margaret Jull Costa’s celebrated THE massacre and madness played out COMPLETE translation with the most complete EDITION against the squalor and splendour of version of the text ever produced. this brilliant city.

The Week Bookshop price: £22.00, usually £25.00 The Week Bookshop price: £20.00, usually £25.00

The Power and the Story I’d Rather Be Reading by John Lloyd by Guinevere De La Mare In this sweeping global survey, one of A visual love letter to all things Britain’s most distinguished journalists bookish. Features beautiful art, and media commentators analyses for photography, and illustrations the first time the state of journalism depicting the pleasures of books worldwide as it enters the post-truth - from the likes of Jane Mount, age.A fascinating insight into a trade Lisa Congdon, Julia Rothman, and that has claimed the right to hold Sophie Blackall-interwoven with power to account and the duty to poems, quotations, and aphorisms. make the significant interesting - while A cheerful homage to the pleasure making both the first draft of history, of getting lost in a good book and and a profit. the perfect gift for bibliophiles.

The Week Bookshop price: £20.00, usually £25.00 The Week Bookshop price: £7.99, usually £9.99

Visit TheWeek.co.uk/bookshop or call 020 3176 3835 to order

Terms & Conditions: Prices quoted do not include delivery, and are valid until 14th September 2017. UK standard delivery: £2.99 or FREE on orders over £20. Visit www.theweek.co.uk/bookshop for more information. Travel LEISURE 41

This week’s dream: the wild enchantments of Circe’s isle Rearing from the Tyrrhenian Sea 1967, so many of the island’s 3,500 midway between Rome and Naples, the inhabitants still live in cave houses, and island of Ponza has the same “rough there are no five-star hotels, and no big magic” today as in ancient times, says spas – indeed, the best beauty treatment Carla Power in Condé Nast Traveller. is the sand on Cala Felce (one of the Homer knew it as Aeaea, where the many tiny beaches that “scallop” the sorceress Circe seduced Odysseus and coast), which the locals mix with turned his men into pigs. The emperor seawater and lather onto their arms Augustus banished his daughter Julia to and faces. The Acqua Pazza restaurant it, but on discovering its delights, built recently earned a Michelin star, but his own villa on its towering cliffs. In the otherwise this is a place of anonymous 20th century, Mussolini was exiled here. trattorie serving local dishes such as Today, it is a “low-key playground of grilled saberfish and stuffed courgettes. the cognoscenti”, lying close to Capri For the visitor, there is blissfully little and Ischia, but a world apart from them to do. Climb the cliffs above the beach – an “elemental” place, free of bling, at Frontone to the Museo Etnografico tourist crowds and Berlusconi lookalikes Ponza, off Italy’s west coast: an “elemental” island (stuffed with items from scythes to “comparing the length of their yachts”. babies’ cradles). Take a boat trip An hour by hydrofoil from the mainland, the island welcomes around the coast to admire “the psychedelic shapes and shades” the occasional “megastar” guest, such as Beyoncé, but otherwise of its cliffs and rocks. Then retire for a Campari and vodka at Bar it is favoured largely by “elegant Romani”. The Fendis, the Tripoli and, like Odysseus, contemplate “the pleasures of exile”. famous fashion family, have a b&b here: Villa Laetitia, “dark- Bellini Travel (020-7602 7602, www.bellinitravel.com) has a chocolate hued” and bristling with cacti. Building was banned in week for two at Hotel Chiaia di Luna from £1,950, excl. flights.

Hotel of the week Getting the flavour of… Polo playing in Spain “bottle-green” meadows and mountains and It may be the weirdest sport on Earth “rugged” beaches, the lodge is a kind of (Sylvester Stallone said it was “like trying to Eden, in whose grounds frolic otters, beavers, play golf during an earthquake”), and it’s foxes and deer. Guides take guests out by certainly “murder on the bollocks”. But polo boat and on foot to spot the bears (salmon is such addictive fun that wealthy patrons season, in summer, is the best time to go), as spend a fortune on horses and pro players well as walrus, moose, bald eagles, orcas and just to get a crack at it themselves. For the humpback whales. Steppes Travel (01285- rest of us, there’s Polo Valley, says Sam Leith 601050, www.steppestravel.com) has an in Tatler. On a four-day course at this resort eight-day trip from £6,495pp, incl. flights. in Sotogrande, southern Spain, you stay in The Rectory, a “well-appointed” house, eat meals with Mexico’s living history Crudwell, Wiltshire other guests, and learn the basics of the sport Set near several extraordinary Mayan ruins, Occupying a Georgian country from “hunky, tanned” instructors. Polo the restored hacienda hotels of Mexico’s house in beautiful Cotswolds initially seems almost impossibly complex – western Yucatán Peninsula are “a call from walking country, this stylish but hitting the ball well for the first time another era”, says James Henderson in The 15-bedroom “design hotel” has results in “indescribable satisfaction” that Sunday Telegraph – “hauntingly beautiful”, recently undergone a £2m revamp, will have you hooked for life. Polo Valley and a welcome antidote to the brash modern says Tom Chesshyre in The Times. (020-8246 5301, www.polovalley.co.uk) has resorts on the peninsula’s east coast. Built Expect Farrow & Ball paint, three days from about £960pp, full board. by rich sisal planters, each has a run of splashes of modern art, fantastic old maps of Britain, and lots of log Romanesque arches painted in blood red or fires. Bedrooms have velvet sofas, Tracking giant Alaskan bears gold, standing out amid luxuriant greenery. antique wardrobes and “spotless” Unique to Alaska’s Kodiak Island – one of The oldest, Hacienda Chichén Itzá, dates bathrooms. Food is “refined” (with the most remote places on the planet – back to 1523, and has Mayan carvings in dishes including sautéed clams Kodiak bears are the larger cousins of the the walls. Another, Temozon, has seen the with seaweed butter and Duroc grizzly. They are so “improbably huge” signing of treaties by Mexican and US pork chop with spinach). There’s that when photographed beside “grinning presidents. Chablé, the latest conversion, has an idyllic garden with a little pool, hunters”, they look as if they’ve been a superb restaurant overseen by Mexico’s and, at round tables on the lawn, Photoshopped, says Richard Waters in The most famous chef, Jorge Vallejo, and a spa cocktail waiters ply guests with G&Ts and excellent pisco sours. Daily Telegraph. To track them in the wild, centred on the crystal-clear waters of one of check in at the “luxurious” Kodiak Brown the region’s many cenotes, or subterranean Doubles from £150, b&b. 01666- 577194, www.therectoryhotel.com. Bear Centre, a 40-minute helicopter ride sinkholes. Steppes Travel (see above) has a from “pretty” Kodiak City. Surrounded by seven-night trip from £3,360pp, incl. flights.

Last-minute offers from top travel companies South Ireland tour Bulgaria’s hidden heritage Montréal city break Winter sun in Mauritius Hit the road on a 2-day tour See the sights in Plovdiv, Enjoy easy access to a host Escape to the Maritim Resort from Dublin to Cork, with Nessebar, Varna and Sofia of top attractions with a and Spa, in tropical gardens by stops at the Cliffs of Moher, during a 7-night tour, from 7-night stay at Le Germain the sea. A 7-night all-inclusive Blarney Castle and more. From £1,128pp half-board, incl. hotel, from £1,578pp b&b, stay costs from £1,353pp, incl. £174pp b&b, incl. entrance Birmingham flights. 01858- incl. London flights. 0344-739 London flights. 01293-831182, fees, +1 (702) 648 5873, www. 897832, www.travelsphere. 4368, www.virginholidays. www.hayesandjarvis.co.uk. viator.com. Depart 7 October. co.uk. Depart 19 September. co.uk. Depart 14 October. Depart 12 December.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Obituaries 43 The handsome, hard-drinking singer of Rhinestone Cowboy

Glen Campbell, who has died Yet behind the wholesome public image a Glen aged 81, was “one of the darker story played out, said The New York Campbell sweetest singers anyone could Times. Campbell began drinking heavily and 1936-2017 ever hope to hear”, said Neil using cocaine, and by his own admission, McCormick in The Daily Telegraph. As he later had little recollection of anything that demonstrated on smooth country classics such had happened during the 1970s. There were as Rhinestone Cowboy and By the Time I Get three broken marriages; a well-publicised, to Phoenix, he had the “pure flowing tone of tempestuous one-year relationship with the a crooner”, but with “a whisky catch at the singer Tanya Tucker, who was half his age back of this throat that tugged at the heart of (she called him “the horniest man I ever met”); a melody and left listeners feeling every shift and news reports of bad behaviour while under in the lyric”. For despite his apple-cheeked, the influence. According to one tabloid story, all-American handsomeness, Campbell’s during an argument with an Indonesian man, deceptively simple delivery hinted at his the sozzled singer declared that he was going to personal demons of alcohol and drug call up his good friend Ronald Reagan and tell addiction. “I need you more than want you”, him to bomb Jakarta. His cocaine habit came he sang on the wonderful Wichita Lineman, to an end when Campbell woke up one suggesting a man only half in love; but then he morning in a Las Vegas hotel room and continues, “And I want you for all time.” Has couldn’t remember who he was. “It was really, there ever been a more a romantic couplet? really strange,” he later recalled. “Nobody else Campbell: “a genius for storytelling” was there but somebody was talking. It was as Campbell was born in rural Arkansas in 1936, if God had sent an angel to rescue me. I didn’t the seventh son of a sharecropper. His upbringing was want any whisky, any drugs, anything. That was the end of it.” characterised by hard work and privation. The family home didn’t In fact, cleaning up wasn’t so simple, said The Times. It was only have electricity, he would reminisce in later life, adding with a after his fourth wife, Kimberly Woollen – an evangelical Christian twinkle, “We had to watch TV by candlelight.” When he was 23 years his junior – issued him with an ultimatum that he went four, his father bought him a guitar, which his Uncle Boo, who on the wagon. Even then, there were relapses. In 2003, Campbell played in a country band, taught him to play. Ten years later, spent ten days in prison after a drink-driving incident, during Glen quit school to join his uncle in Wyoming. He started playing which he told the arresting officer he wasn’t drunk, merely in bars, and by 1962 had migrated to LA and earned himself “over-served”. He then kneed the policeman in the thigh. a place in the Wrecking Crew, a renowned group of session musicians who played on songs by everyone from Elvis Presley to Campbell was the kind of “smooth establishment star that the Frank Sinatra. Campbell had to wait until 1967 for his own solo convulsions of the 1960s supposedly made extinct”, said Ludovic career to take off. When it did, it was in large part thanks to a Hunter-Tilney in the Financial Times. But his continued success, lyricist named Jimmy Webb, who gifted him three of his most selling more than 45 million records over the course of his career, enduring hits: By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Galveston and told a different story. Even after he announced, in 2011, that he Wichita Lineman. Suddenly, Campbell was famous, riding high was suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease that ultimately killed in the charts and in demand on chat shows. For three years he him, he continued to tour. His final album, Adiós, which was hosted his own TV show. He even parlayed his success into a film released earlier this year, revealed that he still possessed “supple career, playing the sharp-shooting sidekick in True Grit (1969). vocals, immaculate musicianship and a genius for storytelling”. Mercurial Shakespearean actor who became a TV vet

Robert Hardy was a gifted idol in an era when audiences swooned for the Robert actor who mastered all roles working-class grit of a Burton or an Albert Hardy “except marriage”, said Finney. Yet over the years that followed, he 1925-2017 Christopher Stevens in the established himself as one of the best-loved faces Daily Mail. Mercurial, mischievous and easily on television, said The Times – an actor whose distracted, he admitted to having “spent a good “intelligence and larger-than-life portrayals could deal of my adult life married, but I don’t think on enliven the smallest part or the dullest drama”. the whole I did it very well”. His two marriages Film roles included the stolid if kindly Lord Bob ended in divorce. What he did do well was bring Lilburn in The Shooting Party (1985) and the those same qualities to the roles with which he irrepressible Sir John Middleton in Sense and was indelibly associated: that of Siegfried Farnon, Sensibility (1995). Late in life, he reached a new the irascible, soft-hearted owner of a veterinary audience as the Minister for Magic, Cornelius practice in TV’s All Creatures Great and Small; Fudge, in four Harry Potter films. He was and of Winston Churchill, whom Hardy played “gently dropped” after the 2007 movie because, a remarkable eight times in a range of films and Hardy as Siegfried Farnon then in his 80s, he cost £1m per film to insure. television dramas. Stevens said he shall best remember Hardy as a brilliant “raconteur”: the actor’s stories By his own account, Hardy wasn’t easy to work with. While included the time he was in Richard Burton’s dressing room after playing Siegfried in All Creatures Great and Small – which was a production of Hamlet and Churchill himself paid a visit. “Your TV’s most popular drama for much of its run, between 1978 and Highness,” the then prime minister addressed Burton, “I am in 1990 – he insisted on script approval, and would personally great need. Do you have a lavatory?” rewrite great tracts of dialogue, if he felt his character was slipping into caricature. Possessed of an acute intellect, he had Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy, who has died aged 91, was born written the definitive book on the history of the English longbow. in 1925, the son of the headmaster of Cheltenham College. He Despite frequent offers from publishers, he refused to collaborate studied English at Oxford, then embarked on a career as an actor. on his memoirs. “I am a writer,” he said, “and I will write it Hardy was too patrician in tone and bearing to become a movie myself.” Sadly, that autobiography never appeared.

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Snap: fading snapshot Most trendy tech start-ups “can withstand the red ink as long as they keep attracting more people to use their services”, said Jennifer Saba on Reuters Breakingviews. But after reporting its second consecutive quarter of disappointing results, Snap – the company behind the disappearing message app Snapchat – is worrying the market. Investors last week ignored the good news that revenue has jumped by some 150% year-on-year and focused instead on Snap’s “slowing user growth” and “widening” $443m losses. The Seven days in the upshot is that a third of its market value has been “erased” since its glitzy market debut Square Mile in March – a poor omen for other “brand-name unicorns”, such as Spotify and Vice, currently waiting to float. Not so long ago, Snap was seen as “a feisty young challenger Business groups broadly welcomed the to Facebook”, thought capable of toppling “the social media giant from its perch”, said Government’s proposal of an interim customs agreement with the EU after Rory Cellan-Jones on BBC News online. That confidence now appears misplaced. Brexit. The latest trade figures show Having used its “deep pockets” to buy up Instagram and WhatsApp, Facebook “has that it is badly needed. Despite the relentlessly copied any challenger it couldn’t buy” – in Snap’s case, its popular “stories” competitive slump in sterling, Britain’s feature. It seems that the “big winners of the past decade” – Google, Amazon, Facebook trade deficit widened in June to £12.7bn and Apple – are now using their growing stranglehold on ad revenues to cement their as exports of goods fell by nearly 5%. technological lead. “Disruption is over” in the tech industry – “and Facebook won”. UK unemployment fell again in the quarter to June, bringing the jobless J Sainsbury/Nisa: convenience carry-on rate down to 4.4% – its lowest since When Tesco launched a surprise £3.7bn swoop on Booker in January, it jolted Britain’s 1975. But the squeeze on Britons’ real earnings continued. Average weekly grocery market “into a frenzied state of consolidation”, said Ashley Armstrong in The earnings growth, at 2.1%, is still some Daily Telegraph. Tesco’s plan to take over Booker – whose roll call of convenience shop way below CPI inflation, at 2.6%. brands includes Londis, Budgens, Happy Shopper and Premier – prompted a knee-jerk Japan reported its longest spell of reaction; Sainsbury’s opened discussions with rival chain Nisa. Now the supermarket economic expansion in more than a has performed a U-turn, announcing this week that it is “shelving” the £130m bid, decade, chalking up its sixth successive potentially leaving the way free for another big player, such as the Co-op, to muscle in. quarter of GDP growth. The IMF Big mistake? Not necessarily, said Nils Pratley in The Guardian. “Convenience stores warned that China’s credit boom is on are the industry’s current obsession because they work well in the age of online and a “dangerous trajectory” and posed top-up shopping.” But the pressure is off Sainsbury’s now that the Competition and the risk of a “disruptive adjustment” Markets Authority has rightly concluded that it needs to take “a long, hard look” at the and/or “a marked slowdown in proposed Tesco/Booker combo. If Nisa is still available “when the dust settles”, fine. But economic growth”. President Trump if it “hops off” to the Co-op, it’s “not a disaster” for Sainsbury’s. The latter currently ordered a review of China’s practices regarding intellectual property. has better things to do: “like ensuring the promising reboot of Argos continues”. Standard Life and Aberdeen Asset Uber/Benchmark Capital: Kalanick sued Management completed an £11bn merger, which will create Europe’s The recent ousting of Uber founder Travis Kalanick was supposed to draw a line under second-largest fund manager. the ride-hailing company’s “tumultuous” year, said Katie Roof on TechCrunch.com. Yet Learndirect, Britain’s biggest provider the soap opera continues. Following reports that Kalanick has been plotting to regain the of adult training, was reported to be firm’s helm (as Steve Jobs once did at Apple), one of Uber’s earliest investors, Benchmark close to collapse, following a damning Capital, is now suing him for “fraud, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty”. Ofsted report. New measures introduced Benchmark’s beef, said Business Insider, is that Kalanick has undermined the search for by Uber will make possible both tips a new CEO and reneged on a promise to turn over Uber’s vacant boardroom seats to and waiting charges. Liquidators for independent directors by delaying “signing the necessary paperwork”. Kalanick professes BHS began a legal action against Philip to be “baffled” by his former backer’s “hostile actions”. Expect more fireworks to come. Green’s Arcadia retail empire.

Telit Communications: how investors were scalded by Cats There’s nothing like a jolly Aim scandal to probably responsible for the “engaging liven up the dog days of August. Here’s a dossier” that eventually “outed Oozi”, said “simply bizarre” one, said Nils Pratley in The Alistair Osborne in The Times. Fellow board Guardian. In a tale worthy of T.S. Eliot’s Old directors, all appointed by Cats, were “far too Possum’s Book of Practical Cats (“a cat must close to the man” to question either him or have three different names”), the boss of the “his missus”, latterly the “art curator” of racy tech company Telit, one Oozi Cats, has Telit’s “Uffizi-style collection”. Successive resigned after allegedly being unmasked as nominated advisors (“nomads”) also failed the international fugitive Uzi Katz – a “property to spot anything wrong. flipper” from Boston who, along with his wife, Ruth, has been on the run from US justice “Slippery creatures, cats,” said Lex in the since their indictment for mortgage-related Financial Times. But then, London’s junior wire fraud in 1992. Cats: alleged fraudster market has always had “some pretty louche inhabitants”. Critics will argue that these Shares in Telit – a specialist in the hot “internet of things” sector shenanigans are further evidence that Aim needs tighter that counts electric carmaker Tesla as a customer – crashed by regulation. Cooler cats might conclude that “sporadic blow-ups” more than half on news of the investigation, said Iain Withers in are inevitable in a market “which makes start-ups more available The Daily Telegraph. Scalded investors will doubtless note that to investors”. Either way, the lesson here for investors is Cats himself raised more than £24m from a share sale in May, encapsulated in the old Scottish motto: “Touch not the cat but reportedly to pay off personal debts in the US. Short sellers were [meaning without] a glove.” © FACEBOOK

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 46 CITY Talking points

Issue of the week: the battle for Hollywood A Silicon Valley upstart has revolutionised film and TV. But established players, led by Disney, are fighting back Netflix, the online film and TV media assets” that enhanced his streaming service, recently made the first company’s classic properties. But acquisition in its 20-year history, said although Netflix’s stock tumbled on MarketWatch.com. The company has news that “those beloved characters” snapped up Millarworld – the Scottish- will begin to vanish from its screens, based firm founded by “comic-book it actually has “nothing to fear” from legend” Mark Millar, the creative force Disney, because people love watching behind blockbusters including Kick-Ass rubbish TV as well as the quality stuff – and Kingsman. The move is central to and Netflix is brilliant at providing the Netflix’s quest “to operate more like a latter. “Disney can bring the magic”, but Hollywood studio” by producing more its “cherry-picked collection of immortal of its own content. In particular, it hopes media assets can’t compete with Netflix’s to emulate the success of Disney’s 2009 sprawling mountain of garbage”. buyout of Marvel (home to characters including Iron Man and Captain Disney’s “gamble” on streaming is America) which helped transform the perhaps its “biggest test in decades”, fortunes of the “House of Mouse”. Iron Man: helped transform the Mouse House said Ricardo Lopez in Variety. And There’s just one problem: Disney is every other studio will be watching the fighting back. Last week it outlined plans for its own streaming experiment closely. But while Netflix has changed the game – service and said it would eventually cut ties with Netflix not least by introducing viewers to “binge-watching” and by completely. “Say goodbye to Tinkerbell or Pete’s Dragon playing establishing itself as a “critical force” (it plans to spend $6bn on a loop for your toddler.” No wonder “parents are howling”. on content this year) – it has vulnerabilities, said Matthew Garrahan in the FT. Rapid growth and 100 million subscribers This news should surprise no one, said Stephen Witt in the have propelled its market value to $74bn – more than big media Financial Times. Netflix and Disney have been “infringing on one companies such as 21st Century Fox and Viacom. Although the another’s turf” for ages. “Some time this year, the Hollywood company is profitable, “it borrows heavily”, which worries legend and Silicon Valley upstart realised they were wearing the analysts given the extra firepower needed to take on Hollywood same dress to the party. Now it’s war.” Netflix faces a formidable and the likes of Amazon. The streaming pioneer is still growing. opponent: Disney boss Bob Iger has been “a canny buyer of “But there is a target on its back – and it is getting bigger.”

Making money: what the experts think Picks and shovels ● Playing the Vix cryptocurrency might be Apple and Google steal the headlines, Last week’s “nuclear” stock “getting ahead of itself”, but could lesser-known tech “enablers” sell-off cost a lot of people said Dominic Frisby on – the “picks and shovels” companies money, “but at least one MoneyWeek.com. How behind the latest big developments – person walked away sage that seemed when, produce better returns, asks James smiling”, said Joe Ciolli at within just three weeks, the Connington in The Sunday Telegraph. Here’s a selection to consider… Business Insider. That would price fell 30% to $1,800. be “50 Cent” – the nickname “What has happened since Infineon Technologies (German listed, of one particular “volatility has blown the eyeballs out market value £19.5bn). This semi- vigilante” renowned for of everyone.” Having conductor firm makes components betting big “on a stock turned and rallied by some used in systems such as emergency market shock”. He “raked 150%, bitcoin’s price is braking and battery management. in a whopping $21m in currently hovering around According to Hyunho Sohn of Fidelity’s mark-to-market gain” the $4,250 mark; “it’ll Global Technology Fund, “it has a when Wall Street’s Vix Index probably be $5,000 by the market-leading position” and is “poised to gain from the move to of volatility (known as the time you read this”. electric and autonomous cars”. “fear gauge”) jumped “50 Cent”: volatility vigilante? 44% to its highest level since ● Cash floodgates Nvidia (US listed, market value £75bn). May. Who exactly is this rakish investor? Some even deem that price conservative, Nvidia’s graphics processing units are Back in May, the Financial Times, citing said Evelyn Cheng on CNBC.com. become increasingly important for sources in banks familiar with the trades, According to Ronnie Moas of Standpoint “vision systems” in autonomous cars. unmasked “50 Cent” as none other than Research, “the floodgates are opening… Artificial intelligence (AI) is another Ruffer LLP – the $20bn London-based hedge funds and very deep-pocketed avenue for expansion, says Ben Rogoff fund, renowned for its conservative individuals” are piling in. Moas’ new of Polar Capital: Nvidia’s GPUs could be used to “train” AI networks. investment approach, whose client roster short-term price target is $7,500, but he includes the Church of England. Despite reckons it may surge to $50,000 by 2027 Blue Prism (UK listed, market value last week’s coup, “50 Cent” isn’t “exactly as institutional investors and central banks £578m). This firm makes software rolling in the dough”. Thanks to the embrace bitcoin. Even so, there’s no doubt “robots” that automate tasks to create “prolonged period of calm” ahead of last we’re currently in a huge “speculative a so-called “digital workplace”. week’s fireworks, losses over the year to bubble”, said Frisby. Eventually, it will According to Chris Ford of Smith & date total a painful $150m. collapse spectacularly “and the world will Williamson’s Artificial Intelligence Fund, wonder how it can possibly have been so it is “one of the very few pure AI firms ● Bitcoin bubbling stupid”. But, in the meantime, “an entire anywhere” and an “undiscovered” gem. “We think this technology will At the end of June, when the price of new technological infrastructure will become ubiquitous for financial firms to a bitcoin hit $2,500, I urged caution have been built”. That’s the thing about reduce cost and improve accuracy.” on grounds that the price of the bubbles: they tend “to change the world”.

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 Sa th wi ve plus an th up ma our be free to The Week Wines rk £2 et UK tt 7 Our wine editor Bruce Palling on breaking the rules of food and wine pairing, pric er del es, along with his latest wine selection from Lea & Sandeman. iv ery Is there any point to rules about what to MiP* Rosé Domaine Sainte Le Pech Mégé Domaine des drink with different foods? After half a Lucie, 2016 If you thought rosé Trinités, Languedoc- century of dedicated exploration, I have was an amusing but trivial wine Roussillon, 2014 The largest to admit that there is not much point to to quaff on summer days, think wine-producing region of most of them. Yes, many whites wines again. MiP* (made in Provence) France (between Montpellier are easier to drink with fi sh than red, abuts Mont Sainte-Victoire in and Carcassonne on the slopes and no, I wouldn’t drink white the southern Rhône and of the Cévennes) is not known Burgundy with a rib of beef, but aside benefits from a limestone wall for producing elegant wines from this, most of the time it is a that radiates heat back onto the – too often they are heavy and question of personal taste. Cheese is a vines. Composed of three of the galumphing. This is made case in point. The usual preference was main Rhône grape varieties from a trio of Rhône grapes Our full terms and red wine with cheese but more recently, (Cinsault, Syrah and Grenache), it is (Grenache, Syrah and Carignan) based adventurous souls have recommended wonderfully aromatic and, despite its on biodynamic principles. It has a Sancerre with Brie or goat’s cheese and delicacy, complex, making it ideal as an delightful freshness and balance that is Dennis Publishing (Ltd) uses a Sauternes with Stilton. My friend, apéritif. It has enough structure to make seriously addictive and would work Jeremiah Tower, who practically it a perfect accompaniment with well with either white or red meat. invented California cuisine, once served Provençal food. This is one of Lea & Château d’Yquem with roast beef and it Sandeman’s bestselling wines. Caburnio Tenuta Monteti, was deemed a huge success. Tuscany, 2012 This interesting There are some wines, such as those Grüner Veltliner Hochterrassen bottle is from the coastal region made with the Sangiovese grape in Italy, Salomon Undhof, 2016 Grüner of Tuscany, home to Sassicaia that beg for a robust food to show off Veltliner has only become and Ornellaia, two of the their complexity. Sometimes, it is the fashionable in the past 20 greatest non-traditional Italian balance between the two that is years, though it has long been reds, and is the creation of memorable. I still recall a meal at a Austria’s favourite and most Paolo Baratta, a former Italian grand Parisian restaurant 40 years ago, prolific grape variety. With politician. This region is not where the calf’s liver and the red time, these wines can be particularly friendly to Burgundy (a Gevrey-Chambertin from confused with serious white Sangiovese, hence most of the 1971) perfectly complemented each Burgundy, but at this age, they grape varieties here are classic Bordeaux, other. The wine was enhanced by the have a light minerality and a but there is also 15% Alicante, which taste of the liver, which it then peppery fl avour with a hint of green gives it a powerful lift. Great with any eradicated, so that it was like a culinary fruit. Sommeliers offer Grüner Veltliner robust food, this has good balance and tennis match with each bite or taste as an alternative to Pinot Grigio as it harmony, and is extremely good value. being completely new and perfect. has more class and freshness. Strong fi sh such as red mullet can Cèdre Héritage, Château du easily go with either red Burgundy or a Dombeya Chardonnay, Cèdre, Carhors, 2014 The good Beaujolais, while chicken is more Stellenbosch, 2015 A more approachable baby than happy to team up with a delicate surprisingly restrained South brother of their fl agship wine, red or white. Other food though, African Chardonnay that is not this is 95% Malbec and 5% especially game, should always be eaten overblown, highly alcoholic or Merlot rather than the 100% with red wines. Hugh Johnson, when over-oaked. Made by Rianie Malbec of its big brother. No asked what goes best with grouse, Strydom, who worked in France shrinking violet, it doesn’t have replied “the most expensive and old and Italy before taking control that overripe burnt fl avour that Bordeaux or Burgundy that you could of Haskell Wines in 2002, it is many from Cahors exhibit. It is afford”. These excellent wines from Lea more like a south of France, or the most popular wine from the & Sandeman could easily stretch across even Australian, Chardonnay, southwest of France on the Lea & different food categories, especially the with a freshness and steely core. There Sandeman list and gastropubs love it for rosé and the Grüner Veltliner, so don’t is a touch of oak, but the fl avour is its straightforward fruit driven fl avours. be afraid to break some rules. clean and the alcohol moderate. A perfect barbeque wine.

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THE WEEK 19 August 2017

Commentators CITY 49

All things considered, the financial markets took last week’s “Kim and Trump show” in their stride, says Larry Elliott. There was City profiles The US threat “the customary flight to save haven assets”, but the underlying assumption is that there will be no war between the US and North Kenneth C. Frazier to China’s Andrew Ross Sorkin asked in Korea, and that smart investors should “buy into the dips”. Yet The New York Times: “At credit bubble even without a shooting war, things could still “turn nasty” for what point do the CEOs of markets and the global economy. China’s gigantic credit bubble the largest companies in the Larry Elliott poses a huge threat – and an obvious trigger for its “pricking” is United States tell President the ongoing possibility of US trade sanctions. President Trump Trump that enough is The Guardian has recently toned down his aggressive rhetoric in the hopes of enough?” For the boss of persuading Beijing to apply pressure to North Korea. But there Merck Pharma, that are limits to how far China is prepared to go. It’s easy to imagine moment came this week. a scenario in which Trump, “talked down” from attacking North Citing “a responsibility to take a stand against Korea, “decides that somebody has to pay for his climbdown”. intolerance and extremism”, China is the obvious candidate; “economic sanctions are imposed, the nation’s most prominent a trade war erupts and China’s credit bubble bursts”. Markets African-American executive haven’t awoken to this possibility. It is probably time they did. quit Trump’s American Manufacturing Council in The Government is being urged to change the way that rail fares protest at the president’s are calculated, because higher than expected inflation has refusal to directly condemn Stop rigging delivered the biggest price rises since 2010. About time, says Jim the neo-Nazis and Klan Armitage. A good “chunk” of the 40% rise in fares over the last sympathisers rampaging in the stats on Charlottesville. Trump’s decade is down to the Government’s insistence on using the Retail response was to hit out. rail fares Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation to set them. “RPI seemed Now that Frazier has pretty clever when it was first created to watch the price of bully resigned, tweeted the Jim Armitage beef and carrots after WWI.” But it’s hopelessly inaccurate for President, he will have today – practically every statistician in the country argues that the “more time to LOWER London Evening Standard Consumer Prices Index (CPI) is a much better gauge. Why then is RIP-OFF DRUG PRICES”. Whitehall so “fixated on this old jalopy”? The cynical answer is that RPI (currently 3.6%, compared with 2.6% CPI) consistently overstates inflation, meaning that fares rise faster – an important consideration for a government “ideologically” in favour of passengers, rather than taxpayers, funding public transport. Perhaps this is what the public wants. But it would be better to have “an honest debate” about fare increases, rather than rigging the stats, and pretending fares only go up “by inflation”.

At the start of the “Age of Unicorns”, venture capitalists were often accused of “coddling” entrepreneurs as though they were Sober times royalty, says Erin Griffith. There was simply “too much money, chasing too few deals” to risk alienating any promising tech for coddled entrepreneur. Many backers were so keen to burnish their “founder-friendly” credentials that they even gave up the crucial unicorns right to vote against the companies’ founders. That era is now It’s not unusual for Trump to ending. The poor stock performance of Blue Apron and Snap attack any public figure who Erin Griffith (whose share structures both deny voting rights to investors), and criticises or even mildly questions his actions. Still, Fortune recent shenanigans at Uber, have persuaded investors that maybe they went too far with the founder-friendly thing. Founders, his decision to turn on meanwhile, are realising that “if they want their companies to go Frazier – the son of a Philadelphia janitor who rose public, they need to give up some control”: Standard & Poor’s to attend Harvard Law and FTSE Russell have excluded Snap from their indexes because School – was extraordinary. of the firm’s structure. “The Age of Unicorns did these companies Frazier is a doughty a disservice by allowing them to stay private and avoid scrutiny. opponent: he first came to The Age of Start-up Sobriety suggests it’s time they grew up.” prominence defending Merck against potentially Arsenal FC’s manager Arsène Wenger describes football’s transfer ruinous lawsuits involving market as “beyond calculation and beyond rationality”. One can the anti-inflammatory drug Why Neymar see his point, says The Economist. This year’s August transfer Vioxx. And he has the opposite leadership style to “window” has been a particularly lavish one. The s222m paid by is cheaper Trump. “I am a person who Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) for the Brazilian forward Neymar da does not subscribe to the Silva Santos Júnior was “more than double the previous record hero-CEO school of than he seems price for a footballer”; the s179m splurged by Manchester City thought,” he said in 2013. Editorial on new defenders, meanwhile, “outstrips 47 countries’ defence So far, Frazier’s “principled budgets”. Are such prices sustainable? It’s debatable. Prize money stand” has cost Merck nothing, said Tom Buerkle The Economist and ticket sales alone will always “struggle to generate enough revenue” to recoup an outlay like Neymar; and, in the internet on Reuters Breakingviews: era, clubs can no longer rely on bottomless broadcasting revenues. the firm’s shares actually rose following Trump’s Still, that doesn’t necessarily make Neymar a bad investment. Twitter tirade. Perhaps that “The goals he scores may matter less than the gloss he lends to influenced other “waverers”. the club’s brand, and the sponsors he will lure.” Neymar already Three more CEOs, including earns more from endorsements than any other footballers bar Intel’s, have since resigned Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. If he “unlocks new markets from the president’s council. as well as defences then PSG may have backed a winner”.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Shares CITY 51

Who’s tipping what

The week’s best buys Directors’ dealings Apple Cambian Greggs Howden Joinery

Investors Chronicle Shares Sharecast 480 If Q3 results are anything to go Cambian’s shares have jumped The bakery chain’s solid by, growth in the world’s nearly 75% in 2017, but could balance sheet may allow it to biggest company looks unlikely grow more. Its new specialist return capital to shareholders 460 CEO sells 270,000; CFO and to let up – and isn’t fully children’s behavioural services sooner than expected, wife sell 994,216 recognised in the share price, focus should pay dividends, according to Berenberg. In now nine times the forecasts provided it doesn’t grow too a strong position to deal with 440 for 2017-18. Buy. $159.32. fast again. Buy. 213.5p. the “challenging” consumer environment, with room to 420 Bluejay Mining Coats expand further. Buy. £11.72.

The Mail on Sunday Shares 400 This Aim-listed explorer, Supplying industrial threads to Playtech Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug focused on Greenland, has one Nike and Adidas has boosted The Sunday Telegraph of the largest and highest-grade Coats’s profits annually and Underpinning some 130 games Shares in the kitchen specialist have fallen by 11% since May, ilmenite (used to make delivered superior returns on licences globally, Playtech has but directors continue to sell. titanium dioxide) projects in its business investment. The a net cash forecast of s722m CEO Matthew Ingle realised the world. Expected to be current 11% operating margin by the end of 2019. There’s £1.1m from a disposal; and highly profitable once should increase further as room for acquisitions to boost CFO Mark Robson and commercial production starts manufacturing automation tech expertise or expand into his wife subsequently next year. Buy. 18.25p. improves. Buy. 73.9p. related areas. Buy. 974.67p. pocketed more than £4m. SOURCE: INVESTORS CHRONICLE

…and some to hold, avoid or sell Form guide

Dixons Carphone Minoan Group Purplebricks Shares tipped 12 weeks ago London Evening Standard The Mail on Sunday The Sunday Times Best tip Exane BNP Paribas has Development in Minoan’s The online estate agent has ULS Technology slashed its rating in the group, 6,500-acre Crete site is said to “taken off like a rocket” Investors Chronicle which recently reported a have been thwarted by the since fl oating in 2015. But up 10.98% to 118.75p 10% rise in annual profits, Greek planning system. The the slowing housing market from “outperform” to go-ahead has been given for a gives pause for thought – Worst tip “underperform”, arguing that coast resort but Minoan must particularly as directors are ECSC Group “macro headwinds” in the move fast as extended loans reducing their stakes in the The Mail on Sunday down 52.02% to 190p mobile business could threaten will soon fall due. Hold. 8.6p. company. Sell. 444p. profitability. Sell. 248.2p. Pets at Home Vertu Motors Ladbrokes Coral Group Investors Chronicle Investors Chronicle Market view Sharecast Shares in the retailer have The auto dealer is heavily “Markets appear to have left Credit Suisse has downgraded spiked after a better-than- exposed to contraction in the the fears of late last week the bookie to “underperform” anticipated Q1 update. It’s not new car market and slipping behind, with investors coming out of their and slashed its target price to known whether gross margins profit margins on used cars. defensive positions to move 110p, citing the risks to profits have substantially improved, so Limited levels of free cash back into riskier assets.” posed by the UK government’s analysts are resisting upgrading fl ow put it at further risk if Joshua Mahony of IG triennial review of stakes and numbers until half-year results the car fi nance market on BBC News online prizes. Sell. 117.1p. are announced. Hold. 192p. collapses. Sell. 42p. Market summary

KeyKey numbers for investors BestBest and and worst performing shares Following the Footsie

15 Aug 2017 Week before Change (%) WEEK’S CHANGE, FTSE 100 STOCKS 7,600 FTSE 100 7383.85 7542.73 -2.11% RISES Price % change FTSE All-share UK 4048.31 4127.66 -1.92% Worldpay Group 421.40 +9.85 Dow Jones 21987.35 22173.07 -0.84% Coca-Cola HBC (CDI) 2561.00 +7.11 7,500 NASDAQ 6331.03 6418.61 -1.36% TUI (LON) 1319.00 +5.60 Nikkei 225 19753.31 19996.01 -1.21% Easyjet 1322.00 +3.36 Hang Seng 27174.96 27854.91 -2.44% Intertek Group 4810.60 +3.31 7,400 Gold 1270.30 1261.80 0.67% FALLS Brent Crude Oil 50.67 52.25 -3.02% G4S 297.30 –10.07 7,300 DIVIDEND YIELD (FTSE 100) 3.87% 3.72% Provident Financial 1882.00 –7.52 UK 10-year gilts yield 1.13 1.21 Rio Tinto 3375.50 –6.88 US 10-year Treasuries 2.26 2.28 BT Group 296.65 –6.40 7,200 UK ECONOMIC DATA BP 441.10 –5.74 Latest CPI (yoy) 2.6% (Jul) 2.6% (Jun) BEST AND WORST UK STOCKS OVERALL Latest RPI (yoy) 3.6% (Jul) 3.5% (Jun) 7,100 CSF Group 2.75 +292.86 Halifax house price (yoy) +2.1% (Jul) +2.6% (Jun) Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Fairpoint Group SUSP 1.00 –90.00 6-month movement in the FTSE 100 index £1 STERLING $1.285 E1.097 ¥142.436 Source: Datastream (not adjusted for dividends). Prices on 15 Aug (pm)

19 August 2017 THE WEEK 52 The last word The great shrink

How did computers go from giant, room-filling slabs of machinery to tiny gadgets you can fit in your pocket? Tim Cross considers the miracle of “Moore’s Law”, and asks what will happen when computer chips stop shrinking

In 1971, Intel, then an the cost of a “foundry”, as obscure fi rm in what would such factories are called, only later come to be known doubles every four years. as Silicon Valley, released A modern one leaves little a chip called the 4004. It change from $10bn. Even was the world’s fi rst for Intel, that is a lot of commercially available money. The result is a microprocessor, which meant consensus among Silicon it sported all the electronic Valley’s experts that circuits necessary for Moore’s Law is near its end. advanced number-crunching Bob Colwell, a former chip in a single, tiny package. It designer at Intel, thinks the was a marvel of its time, industry may be able to get built from 2,300 tiny down to chips whose transistors, each around components are just fi ve 10,000 nanometres (or nanometres apart by the billionths of a metre) across early 2020s – “but you’ll – about the size of a red struggle to persuade me blood cell. A transistor is an that they’ll get much further electronic switch that, by than that”. One of the most fl ipping between “on” and powerful technological “off”, provides a physical forces of the past 50 years, representation of the 1s and in other words, will soon 0s that are the fundamental have run its course. particles of information. In 2015, Intel, by then the There are other ways of world’s leading chipmaker, Great beginnings: the IBM 7090 mainframe computer could fill a large room making computers better with revenues of more than besides shrinking their $55bn that year, released its Skylake chips. The fi rm no longer components. The end of Moore’s Law does not mean that the publishes exact numbers, but the best guess is that they have computer revolution will stall. But it does mean that the coming 1.5 billion-2 billion transistors apiece. Spaced 14 nanometres decades will look very different from the preceding ones, for none apart, each is so tiny as to be literally invisible, for they are more of the alternatives is as reliable, or as repeatable, as the great than an order of magnitude smaller than the wavelengths of shrinkage of the past half-century. Moore’s Law has made light that humans use to see. computers smaller, transforming them from room-filling behemoths to svelte, pocket-filling slabs. It has also made them Everyone knows that modern computers are better than old ones. more frugal: a smartphone that packs more computing power But it is hard to convey just how than was available to entire much better, for no other nations in 1971 can last a day or consumer technology has “The transistors in this chip are literally more on a single battery charge. improved at anything invisible, an order of magnitude smaller than But its most famous effect has approaching a similar pace. The been to make computers faster. standard analogy is with cars: if the wavelengths of light humans use to see” By 2050, when Moore’s Law the car from 1971 had improved will be ancient history, engineers at the same rate as computer chips, by 2015 new models would will have to make use of a string of other tricks if they are to have had top speeds of about 420 million miles per hour – fast keep computers getting faster. enough to drive round the world in less than a fi fth of a second. This blistering progress is a consequence of an observation fi rst One trick is better programming. The breakneck pace of Moore’s made in 1965 by one of Intel’s founders, Gordon Moore. Moore Law has in the past left software fi rms with little time to noted that the number of components that could be crammed streamline their products. The fact that their customers would be onto an integrated circuit was doubling every year. Later amended buying faster machines every few years weakened the incentive to every two years, “Moore’s Law” has become a self-fulfilling even further. As Moore’s Law winds down, the famously short prophecy that sets the pace for the entire computing industry. But product cycles of the computing industry may start to lengthen, it’s also a force that is nearly spent. Shrinking a chip’s components giving programmers more time to polish their work. Another is gets harder each time you do it, and with modern transistors to design chips that trade general mathematical prowess for more having features measured in mere dozens of atoms, engineers are specialised hardware. Modern chips are starting to feature simply running out of room. For the law to hold until 2050, specialised circuits designed to speed up common tasks, such as engineers would have to fi gure out how to build computers from decompressing a fi lm, performing the complex calculations components smaller than an atom of hydrogen, the smallest required for encryption, or drawing the complicated 3D graphics element there is. That, as far as anyone knows, is impossible. used in video games. As computers spread into all sorts of other products, such specialised silicon will be very useful. Self-driving Moreover, the benefits of Moore’s Law are dwindling. Shrinking cars, for instance, will increasingly make use of machine vision, in chips no longer makes them faster or more efficient in the way which computers learn to interpret images from the real world. that it used to. And the rising cost of the ultra-sophisticated equipment needed to make the chips is eroding the fi nancial gains. Another idea is to try to keep Moore’s Law going by moving it Moore’s second law, more light-hearted than his fi rst, states that into the third dimension. Modern chips are essentially fl at, but

THE WEEK 19 August 2017 The last word 53 researchers are toying with chips that stack model can be applied to much more than just their components on top of each other. smartphones. Chips have already made their Building up would allow their designers to way into things not normally thought of as keep cramming in more components. IBM computers, from cars to medical implants to reckons 3D chips could allow designers to televisions and kettles, and the process is shrink a supercomputer that currently fi lls a accelerating. Dubbed the “internet of things” building to something the size of a shoebox. (IoT), the idea is to embed computing into But making it work will require some almost every conceivable object. fundamental design changes. Modern chips already run hot, requiring beefy heat sinks Smart clothes will use a home network to and fans to keep them cool. A 3D chip would tell a washing machine what settings to use; be even worse, for the surface area available smart paving slabs will monitor pedestrian to remove heat would grow much more traffic in cities and give governments slowly than the volume that generates it. forensically detailed maps of air pollution. IBM’s shoebox supercomputer would But for the IoT to reach its full potential will therefore require liquid cooling. Microscopic require some way to make sense of the channels would be drilled into each chip, torrents of data that billions of embedded allowing cooling liquid to fl ow through. chips will throw off. The IoT chips Gordon Moore: a self-fulfilling prophecy themselves will not be up to the task: the There are more exotic ideas, too. Quantum chip embedded in a smart paving slab, for computing proposes to use the counter-intuitive rules of quantum instance, will have to be as cheap as possible, and very frugal with mechanics to build machines that can solve certain types of its power: since connecting individual paving stones to the mathematical problem far more quickly than any conventional electricity network is impractical, such chips will have to scavenge computer, no matter how fast or high-tech (for many other energy from heat, footfalls or even ambient electromagnetic problems, though, a quantum machine would offer no radiation. Much effort is going into improving the energy advantage). But, like 3D chips, quantum computers need efficiency of computers, for several reasons: consumers want their specialised care and feeding. For a quantum computer to work, smartphones to have longer battery life; the IoT will require its internals must be sealed off from the outside world. Quantum computers to be deployed in places where mains power is not computers must be chilled with liquid helium to within a hair’s available; and the sheer amount of computing going on is already breadth of absolute zero, and protected by sophisticated consuming something like 2% of the world’s electricity shielding, for even the smallest pulse of heat or stray generation. electromagnetic wave could ruin the delicate quantum states that such machines rely on. User interfaces are another area ripe for improvement, for today’s technology is ancient. Keyboards are a direct descendant of Each of these prospective improvements, though, is limited: either mechanical typewriters. The mouse was fi rst demonstrated in the gains are a one-off, or they apply only to certain sorts of 1968, as were the “graphical user interfaces”, such as Windows calculations. And, unlike the glory days of Moore’s Law, it is not or iOS, which have replaced the arcane text symbols of early clear how well any of this translates to consumer products. Few computers with friendly icons and windows. Cern, Europe’s people would want a cryogenically cooled quantum PC or particle-physics laboratory, pioneered touchscreens in the 1970s. smartphone, after all. Ditto liquid cooling, which is heavy, messy Siri may leave your phone and become omnipresent: artificial and complicated. Even building specialised logic for a given task intelligence and cloud computing could allow virtually any is worthwhile only if it will be regularly used. But all three machine to be controlled simply by talking to it. Samsung already technologies will work well in data centres, where they will help makes a voice-controlled television. Technologies such as gesture to power another big trend of the next few decades. Traditionally, tracking and gaze tracking, currently being pioneered for a computer has been a box on virtual-reality video games, may your desk or in your pocket. In also prove useful. Augmented the future, the increasingly “Siri may leave your phone and become reality (AR), a close cousin of ubiquitous connectivity provided omnipresent: you will be able to control virtual reality that involves by the internet and the mobile- laying computer-generated phone network will allow a great virtually any machine simply by talking to it” information over the top of the deal of computing power to be real world, will begin to blend hidden away in data centres, with customers using it as and when the virtual and the real. Google is working on electronic contact needed. Computing will become a utility that is tapped on lenses that could perform AR functions. demand, like electricity or water. The ability to remove the hardware that does the computational heavy lifting from the hunk Moore’s Law cannot go on for ever. But as it fades, it will fade in of plastic with which users interact – known as “cloud importance. It mattered a lot when your computer was confined computing” – will be one of the most important ways for the to a box on your desk, and when computers were too slow to industry to blunt the impact of the demise of Moore’s Law. perform many desirable tasks. It gave a gigantic global industry Unlike a smartphone or a PC, which can only grow so large, data a master metronome, and a future without it will see computing centres can be made more powerful simply by building them progress become harder, more fi tful and more irregular. But bigger. As the world’s demand for computing continues to grow, progress will still happen. The computer of 2050 will be a system an increasing proportion of it will take place in shadowy ware- of tiny chips embedded in everything from your kitchen counter houses hundreds of miles from the users who are being served. to your car. Most of them will have access to vast amounts of computing power delivered wirelessly, through the internet, and This is already beginning to happen. Take an app such as Siri, you will interact with them by speaking to the room. Trillions of Apple’s voice-powered personal assistant. Decoding human tiny chips will be scattered through every corner of the physical speech and working out the intent behind an instruction such as, environment, making a world more comprehensible and more “Siri, fi nd me some Indian restaurants nearby”, requires more monitored than ever before. Moore’s Law may soon be over. computing power than an iPhone has available. Instead, the The computing revolution is not. phone simply records its user’s voice and forwards the information to a beefier computer in one of Apple’s data centres. A longer version of this article fi rst appeared in The Guardian. Once that remote computer has fi gured out an appropriate Adapted from Megatech: Technology in 2050, edited by Daniel response, it sends the information back to the iPhone. The same Franklin, published by Economist Books at £15.

19 August 2017 THE WEEK

Crossword 55

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1069 This week’sw crossword winner will receive An Ettinger Brogue Collection key case and two Connell Guides will be given to the an EttingerEtt (www.ettinger.co.uk) Brogue sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Tuesday CollectionCollec 4-hook key case, which retails 29 August. Send it to: The Week Crossword 1069, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX, or at £125,£12 and two Connell Guides (www. connellguides.com).connel email the answers to [email protected]. Tim Moorey (www.timmoorey.info) 12 33456784 ACROSS DOWN 9 1 Special area for prize bull? 2 Rows of conifers seen around (1,5,2,3,3) one Alaskan city (9) 10 11 10 Dramatic heroine is final 3 Muse about turning up at ball (5) character introduced by essayist (5) 4 Joining two pieces of wood is 11 See me with fantastic Ring thoroughly boring activity (9) seat? (9) 5 Literary villain has a drink with 12 Reserves fuel in area below football people (5) 12 13 ground (7) 6 Seriously damaged 13 Advantage taken in tanneries (2,7) revolutionary Iran, a blissful 7 Type of board used in France state (7) and Germany? Yes, yes! (5) 14 15 16 17 18 14 Offence by American? It leads to 8 Positive result from online the beak (5) business? (3,4) 16 Home golf tournament exposed 9 The British population’s certainly (2,3,4) determined in this (6) 19 20 21 19 Again lots about yearning (9) 15 Tax on Royal Mail? (5,4) 20 With time on boat, one noted 17 Enraged at cooking in cafe (3,6) otter (5) 18 Irish town that’s left one 22 When this gets out, it’s no good depressed (9) 22 23 24 25 26 getting acclaimed! (7) 19 Can rule out this type of 25 King inside and mostly listening energy (7) carefully (3,4) 21 Dope is beginning to isolate 27 Car part starts to emit diesel? Italian town (6) It’s worn out (9) 23 Company hard on lawyer 27 28 28 Name works unopened in turning up for a particular corners (5) task (2,3) 29 Yank consortium improved 24 Too much in party repeated (5) range (5,9) 26 A date, then love coming up for 29 this girl (5)

Name Address Clue of the week: A little difficult working for company, apparently? (3) Tel no The Times Clue of the week answer:

Solution to Crossword 1067 ACROSS: 1 A place in the sun 10 Nurture 11 Topical 12 Impatient Subscribe to today for just £2.16 per 13 Troon 14 Entire 15 Tommy-rot 18 Restrain 20 Arctic 23 Satis 25 Glissandi issue – saving over £58 on the annual UK shop price. 26 Abandon 27 Peeking 28 Taking a beating DOWN: 2 Parapet 3 Adulterer 4 Evener 5 Natation 6 Hop it 7 Succour 8 Nylon stockings 9 Antidepressant 16 Mare’s-nest 17 Virginia 19 Setback Your subscription will start with 6 trial issues. You can cancel your subscription 21 Tension 22 Dieppe 24 Sidon at any time during the first six weeks and we’ll refund your money in full. YES! I would like to subscribe to The Week with 6 TRIAL ISSUES. Clue of the Week: Cowboy on plains sure of getting shot (14, first letter U) Nn Solution: UNPROFESSIONAL (anagram of on plains sure of) PLEASE COMPLETE FORM IN BLOCK CAPITALS

The winner of 1067 is Nicholas A. Walker from Birmingham TITLE FORENAME

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Sudoku 613 (difficult) POST/ZIP CODE COUNTRY

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