The father of The toys IS WILDERS rock ’n’ roll taking over A BUSTED OBITUARIES P48 Hollywood FLUSH? LAST WORD P61 MAIN STORIES P4 25TH MARCH 2017 | ISSUE 1117 | £3.30EWTHE BEST OF THE BRITISHEEK AND INTERNATIONAL MEDIA Britain’s busiest MP Osborne joins the press Page 6 ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EVERYTHING THAT MATTERS www.theweek.co.uk 4 NEWS The main stories… What happened What the editorials said Demanding a referendum was a win-win strategy for the SNP, The referendum standoff said The Guardian. No. 10 would either concede or refuse – in Nicola Sturgeon’s bid to be granted legal which case the party could accuse it of power to hold another referendum on trying “to stifle Scotland’s voice”. Theresa Scottish independence looked set to be May’s best response now would be to endorsed this week by MSPs in Holyrood. “engage with the substance of Ms Sturgeon wants the vote to be held in the Sturgeon’s complaint – the refusal to autumn of next year or the spring of 2019. compromise on a hard Brexit. A majority But Theresa May rejected that option last of Scots voted to remain in the EU, but week, saying that “now is not the time”: so did majorities in Northern Ireland, a referendum would disrupt the UK’s two- London, Liverpool and Manchester.” year exit negotiations with the EU, she said. However, the Prime Minister, who will Brexit has complicated life for formally notify the EU next Wednesday that Sturgeon: “political chess master”? campaigners on both sides of the debate, the UK is quitting the union, did not rule said The Economist. It’s hard for ministers out a Scottish independence vote at a later date, after Brexit. to argue against Scottish self-determination, after all, when many of them were urging Britons last summer to “vote Leave, May accused the SNP of using the Brexit vote as a “pretext”, take control”. As for the SNP, it has talked of the folly of saying it would be unfair to ask Scots to decide their future at leaving “the single market to which you send the lion’s share a time when the situation was still in flux. But Sturgeon said of your exports”, yet it is now proposing to do just that by obstructing a referendum would “shatter beyond repair any taking Scotland out of the British union. The scene is set for notion of the UK as a respectful partnership of equals”. a protracted struggle, said The Sunday Times. Gordon Brown Scotland’s future had to be decided by Scottish people, she believes a third way can be found between SNP nationalism said, rather than being “imposed on us”. Former PM Gordon and a Tory Brexit, by repatriating various powers from Brown, meanwhile, called for Holyrood to be granted a raft Brussels to Edinburgh, but that idea seems “unlikely to cut of new powers after Brexit as part of a “third option”. much ice with those for whom it is independence or nothing”. What happened What the editorials said A defeat for populism In capitals across Europe, the Dutch result was greeted with a “collective sigh of relief”, said The Guardian. The clear Fears of a populist surge across Europe eased defeat of “xenophobic populism” will last week after voters in the Netherlands encourage hopes of a similar outcome in the failed to rally behind the anti-immigrant coming elections in France and Germany. But extremist Geert Wilders. In national elections, there’s no reason for complacency. Wilders has his far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), which won an extra five seats and now controls the had until this month been leading in the polls, second-largest party in parliament. And Rutte – won just 20 MPs in the 150-seat parliament – whose party lost eight seats – owes his survival far below many predictions. The largest single partly to a timely spat with Turkey that allowed party in the new assembly will again be Prime him to play tough in front of a domestic Minister Mark Rutte’s centre-right People’s audience, said The Daily Telegraph. His victory Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), at the polls does not mean that Europe’s with 33 seats. In a victory speech, Rutte told continuing “anti-establishment revolt” is over. supporters that the Netherlands had “said ‘stop’ to the wrong sort of populism”. Certainly, the result offers few clues as to the Wilders: rebuffed likely behaviour of French voters, said The Wall The big loser in the election was the Dutch Street Journal. Unemployment in the Labour Party, a partner in the previous coalition Netherlands is under 10%, growth is running above 2%, and government, which lost 29 of its 38 seats – the worst result the country has a tradition of tolerance. The story is very in its history. The major winners were the Green Left party different in France, with a stagnant economy and “violent and the pro-EU, liberal D66. After a fiercely contested unrest” in its Muslim communities. Europe’s political class campaign, turnout was 82%, the highest in 30 years. “got lucky” last week. It may not happen again. An 11-year-old from A former CEO of the American It wasn’t all bad Nottingham is to outdoor clothing company A woman who fell over and become the youngest Patagonia has donated a million broke her ankle in Cornwall was person in the world to acres of land to the nation of rescued by a man 200 miles conduct a 75-piece Chile, to create three new away, after he spotted her plight orchestra. Matthew national parks. Kristine McDivitt on a webcam. Frankie Davies Smith will conduct the Tompkins had owned the land had gone to do some shopping Nottingham Symphony with her late husband, the in Boscastle when she “fell in a Orchestra (NSO) in founder of the North Face brand heap”. She couldn’t phone for the overture to Doug Tompkins: a billionaire help because she had no signal Johann Strauss’s Die and keen conservationist, he on her mobile, and no one was Fledermaus next bought up vast swathes of around. But a man in Worcester month. One of seven wilderness in South America in had seen her fall over and called children, Matthew (pictured) – who plays violin, guitar, drums, order to preserve it, before his mother, who lives in piano and viola – first heard the piece when he was seven, and has dying following a kayaking Boscastle. She found Davies, since memorised it. “There aren’t many children who [can] conduct accident in Chile in 2015. The took her back to her house, and a 75-strong orchestra from memory,” said Derek Williams, the donated land will also expand helped her get to hospital. NSO’s main conductor. “It’s a really incredible thing to witness.” three existing national parks. COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM THE WEEK 25 March 2017 …and how they were covered NEWS 5 What the commentators said What next? Sturgeon is often presented as a “sort of political chess master”, said Dominic Lawson in The The SNP has advised its Sunday Times, but she doesn’t look much like one to me. A year ago, the SNP said it wouldn’t parliamentarians and activists call for another referendum unless polls showed 60% support for independence “for at least to adopt a less aggressive and a year”. Yet today’s polls suggest opinion has barely shifted since the 2014 vote, when Scots overtly nationalistic approach voted by 55% to 45% to stay in the Union. The SNP, meanwhile, still lacks convincing answers than they did in 2014, in an on economic and currency issues. The latest polls show that “a mere 10% of Scots want to give effort to win over swing up sterling for the euro: the idea of becoming a sort of drizzly Greece is not alluring”. voters, says Ewen MacAskill in The Observer. “A poll “On the face of it, these are less than propitious circumstances for a fresh tilt at national this month suggested that emancipation,” said Alex Massie on CapX. But while immediate concerns such as Scotland’s a referendum would be annual deficit – 10% of GDP – favour the Union, “deeper currents favour the nationalists”. decided by a bloc of swing There has been “a steady realignment of Scottish politics” over recent years towards voters, mainly women, nationalism. The latest Scottish Social Attitudes survey – “the gold standard” of polls – shows relatively well-off and that around twice as many Scots support independence today as did a generation ago. predominantly left-leaning.” Given that May has ruled out a referendum in the near future, what happens now? Sturgeon The next real test of opinion insisted last week that she had “various options”, said David Torrance in The Herald, but she will be local council elections didn’t elaborate any further. The SNP could hold an “advisory” referendum, but that would in Scotland on 4 May, says lack legitimacy, especially if unionists boycotted it. The party could also call an early election Mure Dickie in the FT. The with a view to gaining a stronger mandate, but voters tend to react badly when politicians Tories are hoping to benefit engineer polls “to suit their own agendas”. Chances are, then, that both sides will play a long from the fact that most Scots game. May will delay a referendum as long as is politically feasible, hoping the tide turns have no desire to go through against the SNP. Sturgeon, for her part, will “sit tight” while making the most of May’s Brexit another divisive referendum.