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6 NEWS
What happened
If its not broken, dont fix it. That will be most peoples
sensible response to Mays plans, said The Guardian. After
years of upheaval, Englands school system is
at last working pretty well Cities such as
London and Birmingham, once bywords for
underachievement, now have schools whose
exam results are some of the best. To shake up
the system again, in the misguided belief that
more grammars will increase social mobility, is
nuts. May should leave well alone, agreed
The Times, and listen to the many experts,
including the outgoing Ofsted chief Sir Michael
Wilshaw, who have warned against her plans.
What happened
NEWS 7
What next?
May is right to challenge the selection taboo, said Mary Dejevsky in The Independent. It is
perverse to encourage school diversity to the point of allowing pretty much anyone to set
up a free school, then to allow selection on all sorts of criteria sports, music but to ban the
most basic selection of all: by academic ability. As May points out, our system now selects on
the basis of income: specifically, the ability to afford a home in the catchment area of a good
school. Two-thirds of parents would like to send their child to a grammar, said Tim
Montgomerie in The Times. Why shouldnt they have that option? The old arguments against
grammars wont apply if we ensure that new schools open in poorer urban areas, that they take
in pupils at various ages, and that entrance tests are made as tutor-proof as possible.
If every place at Mays grammars went to a child whose parents couldnt afford to go private or
to live near a good state school, it would be fine, said Jonathan Freedland in The
Guardian. But we all know that wont happen. And even if it did, where would
that leave poor children who didnt make the cut? May says there will be no return
to the binary choice of old, but a selective system, by its very nature, involves
selecting some people and not others. May says it will be fine, as there will be a
range of other flourishing schools to choose from. But part of the reason schools in
London and elsewhere have done well is that there is no stigma attached to them,
no question that they are for rejects. Once clever children are creamed off into
grammars, these academies and free schools wont look so appealing.
What next?
It is getting harder to make sense of Syrias agony, said John Jenkins in the New Statesman.
Politically and morally, the situation grows ever more complex. Until now, Russia could be
cast as an outright villain: in the past year, its warplanes have killed some 2,500 civilians
(including 200 children and 28 medical staff); even more than Isis. Yet now it has emerged as
Washingtons preferred partner for peace. Its a deal that has echoes of the Cold War, when
the two superpowers would come together to settle the fate of a third country, said Mary
Dejevsky in The Guardian. But Syrias problems wont be easily solved: there are simply too
many players involved. Besides, Obama cant be sure of support for his peacemaking even in
Washington. There are some in the Pentagon who would like the deal to fail so as to leave the
way clear for a more hawkish President Clinton to take a tougher line next year.
The deal is hardly worth the paper its written on, said David Blair in The Sunday Telegraph.
Fine words mean little in Syria: the UN Security Council has already passed a resolution calling
on all sides to allow aid agencies unhindered access throughout Syria, and international law
expressly forbids the indiscriminate slaughtering of civilians from the air practised by Syrias
air force. All to no effect. The trouble is that the US negotiators are in no position to impose
their will. In Syrias civil war, bargaining power grows from the barrel of a gun, and
everyone knows that Obama just isnt prepared to use force against the Assad regime. But its a
mistake to be too cynical and pessimistic, said Patrick Cockburn in The Independent. Of
course, therell be problems. Russia will have its hands full trying to keep Assad from bombing
his own people; and the US will have to put pressure on Saudi Arabia and Qatar to stop
supplying arms to the jihadi groups. But at least ceasefires, aid convoys and negotiations are
now at the top of the international agenda for Syria. In that regard, this is a historic deal.
THE WEEK
Politics
8 NEWS
Controversy of the week
Exit Cameron
Is David Cameron trying to trash his own reputation? asked
Fraser Nelson on his Spectator blog. First he produced the
worst resignation honours list for decades, showering peerages
and gongs on the members of his chumocracy. Then, this
week, he handed a gift to those who had always claimed he
had no real sense of public service, and that he would only
remain in politics while it was useful to him. Having
promised several times that he would stay on as an MP, to full
his duty to the people of Witney, he abruptly resigned. Even
Gordon Brown fought another election but Cameron has
bolted. He couldnt even be bothered to hang around long
enough to defend his record. He has gone and done a Tony
Blair, said Peter Oborne in the Daily Mail. He has deserted
Crushed: on holiday in Cornwall
British politics and ounced off to make money. A book deal
awaits him along with, no doubt, some well-paid speaking engagements.
The former PM has apparently been crushed by his recent reversal of fortune, said Richard Kay in
the Daily Mail. The plan was that, having won two elections and three referendums (AV, Scotland
and Brexit), he would retire in a blaze of glory in 2018, clearing the path for George Osborne to
succeed him. Then he would leave politics, perhaps moving to America, and wife Samantha could set
up a fashion label. The loss of power after the Brexit vote has been brutal; he has only spoken to
Theresa May once, to tell her of his resignation. I have some sympathy with his decision, said Martin
Kettle in The Guardian. The prospect of sitting on the backbenches as May trashes his legacy
reversing his policies on austerity and grammar schools, and banishing his allies can hardly have
held much appeal for him. He said it would be hard for him to be a good backbench MP, and that
he would become a distraction or worse to the new Government. Theres some truth in that.
Cameron is a decent, good man who served his country well, said Iain Martin on Reaction. He
didnt go mad in ofce, which is quite a distinction in the modern era. I hope that his achievements
leading the coalition; reforming schools and welfare will be remembered, as well as his missteps.
Posterity wont be kind, said Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. This week the Commons Foreign
Affairs Committee issued a damning report on the 2011 military intervention in Libya, nding
Cameron ultimately responsible for the UKs failure to develop a coherent strategy as the country
slid into anarchy. It added to the sketch that history will draw of him: that he was hopelessly
short-termist doing what he needed to get out of an immediate hole but failing to think things
through. As PM, Cameron was a gambler, said The Times: bold and decisive, but not guided by
real vision. And of course, hell be remembered for the bet he lost. For good or ill, he was the
prime minister who took Britain out of Europe. That is his legacy, however historians ne-tune it.
Restoring Westminster
A senior parliamentary
committee has advised that
the Palace of Westminster is
in urgent need of restoration;
it puts the cost of the works
at 4bn, and suggests that
MPs and peers should move
out for six years while it is
done. The Joint Committee
says the Grade I-listed
building is deteriorating
rapidly with leaking roofs
and crumbling stonework
and that the work should
start by 2023, to avert the risk
of a catastrophic event.
Poll watch
77% of voters place
themselves near the
political centre (centre-left,
centre or centre-right); only
20% believe that Jeremy
Corbyn also occupies that
territory, while 47% class
him as solidly left-wing. By
contrast, Theresa May is
seen as occupying the
centre ground by 43% of
voters, and is considered
right-wing by only 28%.
Opinium/The Social Market
Foundation/The Observer
Only 45% of voters in the
US believe Hillary Clintons
doctors statement, that
she has been suffering
from mild pneumonia; 46%
do not believe it (see page
25). 30% think that the age
of Clinton and Donald
Trump is a concern, while
34% think that neither their
age, nor Clintons health,
is an issue.
YouGov/The Guardian
Europe at a glance
Paris
Terror plot: Four women aged between 19
and 39, and two men, have been charged
with terrorist offences for allegedly trying
to blow up a car near Notre Dame
Cathedral in Paris. The bombers
apparently ed after six gas canisters in the
Peugeot 607, parked close to the cathedral,
failed to explode. On being arrested, two
of the women reportedly tried to stab the
police ofcers. It is the rst time that
women have been identied as commandos
involved in jihadi attacks inside France:
police say they were also plotting an attack
on Pariss Gare de Lyon. A letter found in
a handbag that one of the suspects had left
in the car suggested that the women were
responding to calls for terrorist action from
Isis leader Abu Mohammed al-Adnani,
who was killed last month. French PM
Manuel Valls said that Frances security
services now have about 15,000 people
under surveillance, and that they are foiling
attacks and smashing networks every day.
NEWS 9
Aarhus, Denmark
Ethnic quotas: A school in Denmarks
second-largest city has taken the radical
step of separating pupils by ethnicity.
Under its new policy, rst-year pupils at
the Langkr upper secondary school near
Aarhus have been divided into seven
classes: four made up only of migrant
children, and three where the ratio of
migrants to pupils with Danish-sounding
names is about equal. In 2007, only 25%
of the schools pupils were from migrant
families; that gure is now 80%. The
head teacher, Yago Bundgaard, denies
that the move amounts to discrimination,
and says it is designed to stop ethnic
Danes from leaving the school altogether;
but critics say that the policy is racist, and
reects an increase in anti-immigrant
sentiment in the country. Last year,
Denmark passed a law allowing police
to seize the valuables of arriving refugees,
to offset the cost of hosting them.
Ankara
Teacher purge: In what President Erdogan
is calling the largest ever campaign against
the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party
(PKK), Turkeys government has suspended
more than 11,000 teachers suspected of
having links with the party. The PKK
which Ankara lists as a terror group and
which is recognised as such by the US and
the EU has waged a 30-year insurgency
that has killed 40,000 people, most of them
Kurds. (Kurds make up an estimated 20%
of Turkeys population.) The crackdown
comes weeks after Turkey began military
operations in Syria against US-backed
Kurdish militia that it believes to have PKK
links. It also coincides with a purge of tens
of thousands of supporters of US-based
cleric Fethullah Glen, whom Turkey
blames for the attempted coup in July.
Brindisi, Italy
Born at sea: A
Nigerian woman
eeing Africa across
the Mediterranean
has given birth to
a boy on the rescue
ship taking her to
Europe. Faith
Oqunbors contractions began shortly after
she left Libya in a rubber dinghy crammed
with 253 people (including her husband,
two children and several other pregnant
women). Hours later they were all picked
up by a Mdecins Sans Frontires rescue
boat, Aquarius, and taken to the Italian
port of Brindisi. Im lled with horror,
said midwife Jonquil Nicholl (above, with
Oqunbor), over what might have occurred
had she given birth in that unseaworthy
rubber boat. Last year, more than 3,700
people are thought to have died trying to
cross the Mediterranean from Libya.
Krynica, Poland
EU horse-stealing: Hungarys PM Viktor
Orbn and the head of Polands ruling
party, Jarosaw Kaczynski, met in Poland
last week to call for a major shake-up of
the EU in the wake of Brexit. In a debate
on economic patriotism, they condemned
the EU for its elitism, for its smell of
international capital, and for allowing
immigration to threaten historical
identities. Calling for a cultural counterrevolution, the pair boasted of their close
ties. We trust each other enough to steal
horses together, said Orbn, referencing
an old Hungarian saying. And from one
particularly large [stable] called the EU,
Kaczynski added. They will join West
European leaders at a summit this week to
discuss the EUs future. Luxembourgs
foreign minister has called for Hungary to
be excluded from the EU for its massive
violation of the blocs values, notably its
hard-line stance on refugees.
Chamonix,
France
Cable car rescue:
Several cable cars
carrying a total of
110 people were
left dangling over
the slopes of Mont
Blanc last week,
after high winds
caused the wires to
get tangled. In a dramatic evening rescue,
65 people were winched to safety by
helicopters hovering overhead, and 12
climbed down with the help of rescuers
using ropes. But fog then closed in and the
remainder, some of them children, had to
spend a freezing night trapped 12,605ft
above sea level. They were freed the next
day when rescuers were able to restart the
cars by relaxing the tension of the tangled
cables. Rescuers were called to a total of
36 stranded cable cars dotted across 3.1
miles of cable.
Barcelona, Spain
Catalan protests: Some 800,000 people
rallied in ve cities across Catalonia on
the regions national day, La Diada, last
Sunday, to demand secession from Spain.
We dont really care anymore about who
will govern in Madrid, said one protester,
a reference to the political disarray that
has left Spain without a government for
nine months and given further impetus to
calls for independence. After last years
local elections, pro-separatist parties have
been the dominant force in Catalonias
assembly but have yet to win a majority of
the popular vote: polls suggest about 48%
of Catalonias 7.5 million people now
back independence. But Catalan premier
Carles Puigdemont says that if Madrid
keeps refusing to allow a referendum, his
government will call regional elections
next year as a means of ratifying a break
with Spain. The Catalan train hasnt
stopped, he told cheering protesters.
Catch up with daily news at www.theweek.co.uk
10 NEWS
New York
Trump praises Putin: Donald Trump has declared Russias
President Putin to be far more of a leader than Barack Obama.
Answering questions from military veterans at a forum in New
York, the Republican nominee continued to insist despite
evidence to the contrary that he had opposed the Iraq war,
while repeating his mantra that some US troops should have
stayed in Iraq to take the oil. Trump, however, refused to be
drawn on how he would defeat Isis, on the grounds that he didnt
want to broadcast to the enemy exactly what my plan is. At the
same event, Hillary Clinton called her support for the Iraq war a
mistake, then pointed out that unlike her rival, she took
responsibility for her mistakes. Earlier, she had apologised for a
more recent error of judgement saying that half of Trumps
supporters could be put in the basket of deplorables.
New York
Flaming phones: Share prices in
Samsung fell rapidly on Monday
as more horror stories emerged
about the explosive effects of its
agship smartphone, the Galaxy
Note 7. Samsung issued a recall of
the devices last week, in response
to multiple reports of the devices
overheating while charging, and in some cases exploding. This
week it was reported that a six-year-old boy in New York had
been injured when a phone burst into ames; while in Florida,
a man claimed that his Galaxy Note 7 had blown up his car.
Nathan Dornacher said he left the phone on charge when he went
inside his house and came back to nd the Jeep on re (pictured).
NEWS 11
Norilsk,
Russia
Blood
river: The
mystery of a
river in the
Russian
Arctic that
began
owing red last week has been solved.
Norilsk Nickel, the worlds largest nickel
producer, initially denied all responsibility
for the phenomenon. But after authorities
launched an investigation into the cause,
the company came clean, admitting heavy
rain had caused one of its ltration dams
to overow into the Daldykan River. It
insisted that short-term river colour
staining with iron salts was not a hazard
to people or wildlife. Environmental
groups say it is too early to tell.
Dhaka
Deadly blast: Thirty-three
workers were killed in a re
at a packaging factory on
the outskirts of Dhaka last
week, and dozens more
were injured. The re, which
engulfed the factory as staff
were coming off a night
shift, seemed to have been
caused by a boiler exploding.
The factorys owner, Syed
Mokbul Hossain, a former
MP, later admitted he didnt
know when the boiler was
last inspected. Factory safety
is a major concern in
Bangladesh: 1,135 people
were killed in 2013
when a garment
factory
building
collapsed.
Borno, Nigeria
Famine fear:
Nigeria is on the
brink of a famine
unlike any we have
ever seen
anywhere, the UNs assistant secretarygeneral warned last week. Almost 250,000
children in the northeast are already
severely malnourished, and millions more
are thought to be starving in nearby
refugee camps that are too dangerous for
aid agencies to reach. Extremist group
Boko Haram has murdered, kidnapped
and raped thousands of people across the
region since launching its uprising in
2009, forcing two million to ee their
homes. Nigerian ofcials have also been
accused of stealing food from desperate
people living in camps. There is no
food, said one resident. People are
forced to beg and cook leaves to survive.
Tehran
Briton jailed: A
British woman
has been jailed for
ve years by an
Iranian court on
national
security grounds.
Charity worker
Nazanin ZaghariRatcliffe, a
British-Iranian
dual citizen, ew to Tehran in March to
visit her parents with her toddler daughter,
Gabriella; she was arrested at the airport
on her return, on 3 April, and accused of
trying to overthrow the Iranian state. The
idea that anyone with a baby could be
busy overthrowing the regime is obviously
nonsense, said her husband, Richard
Ratcliffe (pictured with her). Theresa May
has raised the case with Irans president.
Zhanjiang, China
Naval drills: China and Russia began eight
days of routine naval drills in the South
China Sea this week, after a Russian eet
arrived at the Chinese port of Zhanjiang.
The Joint Sea 2016 operation the largest
ever joint exercise between the worlds
second and third-biggest military powers
is seen as a bid to counter US inuence,
which China blames for stoking tensions in
the region. Earlier this year, an arbitration
court in The Hague declared illegal Chinas
efforts to build islands in the South China
Sea. China claims 85% of the contested
waters, but the Philippines, Malaysia,
Vietnam and other neighbouring countries
have competing claims. In a sign that the
ties between the two countries are growing
ever stronger, Russia has backed Chinas
rejection of the Hague ruling. The Chinese
navy said the latest drills would include
island seizing activities such as antisubmarine operations and island defence.
17 September 2016 THE WEEK
12 NEWS
Waites recovery
It is now 25 years since Terry
Waite was released from
captivity, and the psychological
wounds have healed. I dont
have dreams or ashbacks or
memories that have caused me
to have real terror, he told
Peter Stanford in The Daily
Telegraph. At the time, though,
he was in an awful state. As the
Archbishop of Canterburys
international envoy, he had
been taken hostage in war-torn
Beirut, and spent ve years
chained up in a series of
basements, where he was
tortured and kept in solitary
connement. Back in England,
with his wife and four children,
he found he couldnt cope with
sitting down for a family meal.
I had been alone for so long
that I found the emotional
exchange too much. I used to
get up in the middle of the
night and have a meal by
myself. For a while, he took
a job at Cambridge University,
which allowed him to live
away from home for part of
the week. It was, he says, a
process of decompression,
made possible by his familys
love and patience. Someone
once said to me, if you come
out of a traumatic experience,
dont try to rush everything.
Come up as if you are coming
up from diving on the seabed.
If you come up too quickly,
you get the bends. Do it gently
and youll be all right.
A novel friendship
Jay McInerney met his literary
mentor and lifelong friend
under unusual
circumstances, says Will
Pavia in The Times. In
1980 (four years before
his rst novel, Bright
Lights, Big City, made
him rich and famous),
McInerney (right)
was a mess: a
coke-snorting,
New York party
boy whod just
been left by his
wife and red
from The New
Yorker. Then
one day a
publisher
friend, Gary,
phoned to say
that he was
having lunch
with Raymond
Carver. Gary
knew that I was
a huge fan of
People
Carvers, so he said: Im
sending him down to your
apartment. I thought it was a
joke, but about ten minutes
later, there was Raymond
Carver at my door.
McInerney politely offered him
some cocaine. It was part of
my life at the time. I thought it
would be a good ice-breaker.
It seems extraordinary now.
Carver was intrigued,
because he had recently given
up drinking. I think he decided
that this wasnt cheating on
his sobriety. It did indeed
break the ice. We ended up
talking for hours.
Cleggs tales of the Tories
At the start of the coalition
government, Nick Clegg was
pleasantly surprised by his new
Tory colleagues, says Simon
Hattenstone in The Guardian.
Michael Gove was funny and
cultured, and George Osborne
remarkably open-minded.
One of the gifts he has is the
ability to think of politics from
someone elses point of view,
which is genuinely unusual,
and why he was such a
consummate dealmaker. But
gradually, these relationships
began to sour. Clegg was
aghast at how ruthlessly
Osborne wanted to cut
benets. It really didnt matter
what the human consequences
were, because focus groups had
shown that the people they
wanted to appeal to were very
anti-welfare. As for Gove, his
journalistic talents make him
a bad politician, says Clegg.
The skill of tossing off 800
words on one subject and
then on another the next
week is completely
different to governing.
People such as Gove and
[Boris] Johnson have
elevated striking poses
into a political art
form. They
used these skills
to win the EU
referendum
to Cleggs
despair. He
wishes that
Gove had
won the Tory
leadership
too, if only to
teach him a
lesson. He won
the argument,
and he should
have been in a
position of power to
face the music.
Viewpoint:
Farewell
Prescotts ambition
John Prescott claims still to feel burning
anger, more than 65 years on, because
he failed the 11-plus. Yet far from being
crushed by this rebuff, young John seems
to have been spurred on to greatness.
If he had got into the grammar school
system he so detests, he might have led
an obscure life as a lecturer at a northern
polytechnic. Instead, he emerged from
Ellesmere Port Secondary Modern School
with a chip on his shoulder that drove
him to become deputy leader of the
Labour Party, deputy prime minister and
rst secretary of state, acquiring two
Jags and several houses as he rose, and
punching fellow citizens who annoyed
him. Now he is Lord Prescott. Sweet are
the uses of adversity.
Charles Moore in The Daily Telegraph
James W. Cronin,
Nobel Prize-winning
nuclear physicist and
Big Bang expert, died
25 August, aged 84.
Rear-Admiral Hugh
Edleston, Falklands
hero who helped
to save HMS
Glamorgan, died
13 June, aged 67.
Philip Kingsley, hair
doctor to the stars,
died 3 September,
aged 86.
Ken Purchase, MP
who called for Labour
to return to its core
values, died 28
August, aged 77.
Brieng
NEWS 15
Future historians may come to regard the daily paper as a quaint cultural artefact of the 20th century
How bad are things for the press?
paywalls, and seem to be making a
Very bad. Newspaper circulation and
success of it but they greatly reduce
advertising revenues are plummeting. The
web trafc. Many papers have had to
Sun had a circulation of more than three
admit they just dont work. Last year
million in 2010; earlier this year it was
The Sun axed its paywall, having
down to 1.7 million. The Daily
attracted only 250,000 subscribers.
Telegraph fell from 691,000 to 488,500
over the same period; The Guardian,
Did newspapers ever make money?
from 302,000 to 166,500. This spring
Some used to be very protable. As
The Independent ceased to exist as a
Rupert Murdoch put it in 2005, they
print title. Since 2005, more than 300 UK
provided rivers of gold. But sometimes,
local papers have closed. Its the same
he added, rivers dry up. According to
story across most of the Western world.
the FT, the prots of the market leaders
According to the World Association of
The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail
Newspapers and News Publishers, over
and The Sun fell by 40% in the past
the past ve years print circulation has
decade. True, some quality papers
fallen by 23.9% in Europe, and 11% in
struggled in the past, but they were
North America. (Although, thanks to
sustained by non-prot trusts (The
growth in India, China and elsewhere in
Guardian), or by large, protable groups
Newspapers in their heyday: a vendor in 1955
Asia, it has risen by 22% globally:
(The Times). The big problem is that the
newspaper decline is a First World problem.)
way people consume news has probably changed forever.
Why is this happening?
In a word, the internet. The old business model for newspapers
was cover price plus advertising. Now that news is published
for free online, sales have been badly hit. Advertising is moving
from print to the web: UK print ad revenue fell in 2015 by 11%,
or 150m more than the combined wage bill of The Times, The
Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. For years newspapers
had hoped to reach a digital tipping point, when income from
online ads would offset lost print sales. This hasnt happened.
Online advertising doesnt make much typically less than 10%
of overall revenue. The vastly successful Mail Online site, for
instance, attracts 14 million visitors a day, yet its 2015 revenues
of 73m were dwarfed by those of the Mails shrinking newspaper business. Another digital pioneer, The Guardian, has a huge
online presence but is in dire nancial straits it had an operating
loss of 69m in 2015. The appetite for news is as great as ever
perhaps greater but the papers struggle to monetise content.
The terrible
cost of your
coffee capsules
David Derbyshire
Daily Mail
Apple has
swallowed its
own hype
Helen Lewis
The Sunday Times
NEWS 17
IT MUST BE TRUE
CERTAINTY
After decades of delay, Britain cannot afford another false start over a new runway.
Only Gatwick can promise to deliver by 2025 within environmental standards and at no
cost to the taxpayer. Only Gatwick can end the runway debate without starting a new one.
Britain needs certainty and now is the time to decide. Its time for Gatwick.
Get the facts about the runway debate at gatwickobviously.com/debate and @LGWobviously
NEWS 19
GREECE
Creditors are
sucking the
life out of us
Dimokratia
(Athens)
RUSSIA
Silenced for
daring to tell
the truth
Vedomosti
(Moscow)
UKRAINE
Odessas
governor sides
with the mob
Foreign Policy
(Washington DC)
Greeces nightmare of austerity seems to have no end, says Dimokratia. The left-wing Syriza
government, elected in 2015 expressly to end the vicious cuts, signed a third memorandum with
international creditors last year, and those creditors demands are now coming in waves. Just when
wed got used to eking out some kind of existence, another round of benet cuts and tax hikes hits
pensioners and wage earners alike. Unemployment is at nearly 24%, the highest in the EU: the slump
is comparable only to the USs Great Depression in the 1930s. Yet rather than trying to stimulate
growth, the creditors are sucking all life out of the economy: we simply dont have the money to pay
for anything other than food and rent. Families are destroyed; people lose hope. Pessimism is, in fact,
the only rational response: even the latest International Monetary Fund report tells us it will be
another 44 years before the unemployment rate drops to 6%. Of course, it fails to cite the IMFs
own role in bringing this calamity upon us. Our creditors have sentenced an entire country and its
people to death. With that strategy, they wont see much return: neither will generations of Greeks.
In gagging Russias sole remaining independent polling agency, Vladimir Putin has killed the goose
that lays the golden eggs, says Greg Yudin. The Levada-Centre, though no friend of the Kremlin,
has for years reliably conrmed Putins popularity at levels that wouldnt be credited were they
reported by either of the two rival agencies: funded by the Kremlin, both are just assumed to do its
bidding. But as Levada gets much of its funding from US universities, it has fallen foul of the 2012
law that allows the Kremlin to label any NGO funded from abroad as a foreign agent which
stigmatises it as a nest of spies and effectively stops it operating. And why has the Kremlin chosen to
do so now? Because, days before parliamentary elections, Levada recorded a sharp dip in support for
Putins United Russia party, from 39% to 31%. (The other two pollsters report it holding steady at
about 40%.) Putin was livid: hed tried every trick, including bringing the vote forward, to make his
own pollsters predictions come true. Now, by gagging Levada, he has left Russia without a single
objective measure of public sentiment. From now on, hell have to rely on ones he knows are false.
Ukrainians are having second thoughts about the foreigner they invited to clean up Odessa, says
Vladislav Davidzon. Mikheil Saakashvili is a former president of Georgia, where he introduced badly
needed reforms. But his high-handed, not to say authoritarian, behaviour so exasperated his
countrymen that he was eventually forced into exile in New York. There, however, he acquired the
reputation of a principled anti-corruption crusader. So it made sense when Ukraines President
Poroshenko tapped that zeal by appointing him governor of the notoriously chaotic Odessa region.
But not only have the results so far been underwhelming, Saakashvilis dark side has suddenly
come to the fore. Far from trying to calm things down when a pogrom was recently unleashed
against a small Roma community in Odessa (the rampaging mob believed it was harbouring a man
who had raped and murdered a young girl), Saakashvili appeared to sanction the violence. He
insisted that he shared the villagers outrage against the Roma community, calling it a real den of
iniquity. The governors response, especially inammatory in a region with a history of ethnic
tension, is unworthy of a Westernising reformer, and a troubling indicator for the future of Odessa.
17 September 2016 THE WEEK
20 NEWS
ISRAEL
American aid
is making us
weaker
The Boston Globe
(Boston)
PHILIPPINES
This uncouth
leader is a
threat to peace
South China Morning Post
(Hong Kong)
UNITED STATES
We cant blame
the internet for
everything
Reason.com
(Los Angeles)
I support Israel, says Jeff Jacoby, which is why I dont support US aid to Israel. That might seem
a non sequitur, but it makes perfect sense. For decades, the traditional pro-Israel view has been that
military aid from Washington now $3.1bn a year is a vital cornerstone of the US-Israel alliance.
But the reality is that Israel has a booming economy today and has no need of American charity.
The largesse comes with strings attached, and might actually be making Israel weaker. The US,
for instance, stipulates that Jerusalem must spend around 75% of each years assistance in America.
The aid thus subsidises US defence contractors, rather than helping Israel develop its domestic arms
industry. Whats more, numerous Israeli military experts argue that an over-reliance on US-made
jets and ever more advanced missile systems is skewing Israels defence priorities, preventing it from
thinking creatively about ground strategies to tackle the terrorist threat. The aid also enables the US
to exert pressure on Israeli decision-making, thus complicating the alliance. Israel is healthy enough
to stand on its own two feet, and it should be a matter of pride for it to do so.
The Philippines notoriously foul-mouthed president, Rodrigo Duterte, learned last week that its a
bad idea to insult the leader of the free world, says Yonden Lhatoo. Son of a whore, I will swear at
you was the phrase he used when asked how he intended to answer Barack Obamas concerns
about his violation of human rights. The US president promptly cancelled the meeting hed arranged
to hold with the Filipino leader during the East Asia summit in Laos, forcing an embarrassed Duterte
to issue an apology. To be fair to Duterte, he hadnt really meant to insult Obama. His profanity,
putang ina, is a general term of annoyance for Filipinos, much like dammit. If you watch the full
video of the press conference, its clear that Dutertes outburst is directed more at the reporter who
raised the question than at Obama. In any case, Dutertes uncouthness is a triing issue compared to
his terrifying vigilante campaign against drugs. What does it say about the rule of law in a country
where the president goes on record to boast that he has been personally involved in multiple extrajudicial killings? More alarming still is what a man like this might do to the fragile balance of
peace in a mineeld of regional tensions over conicting territorial claims in the South China Sea.
America is succumbing to anti-porn hysteria, says Elizabeth Nolan Brown. Concern about the effect
of ubiquitous online lth has been rising for some time, but the debate has now tipped into fact-lite,
melodrama-heavy fearmongering. If you doubt that, read the recent Wall Street Journal article
co-authored by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and bizarrely the former Baywatch star and Playboy
model Pamela Anderson. The overwrought piece talks of us being a guinea-pig generation for an
experiment in mass debasement; it warns that porn addiction is destroying relationships, and that
children raised amid wall-to-wall digitised sexual images are growing up as the crack babies of
porn, incapable of real intimacy. It holds up disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner, with his
repeated, self-sabotaging sexting, as a prime example of the malign inuence of online porn. What
overblown nonsense. You cant blame the internet for every form of compulsive behaviour. Across
the ages, people have cheated on spouses, sent ill-advised sexual communications, and gotten off on
exhibitionism. So lets have a bit less of Photoshop begets anorexia and Grand Theft Auto
causes antisocial behaviour. Social media is simply not responsible for all our problems.
NEWS 23
NATURE
24 NEWS
Pick of the weeks
Gossip
Talking points
North Korea: raising the nuclear stakes
What else is new, cynics
but Pyongyang knows it wont
might have asked, in response
turn off the tap, for fear of
to the reports last week that
triggering regime collapse.
North Korea had conducted
That would send millions of
yet another nuclear test, ring
refugees ooding into China,
three medium-range ballistic
and could lead to the creation
missiles close to the Chinese
of a united Korea, allied to the
border during the G20
US. Beijing is already furious
summit. There is something
about US plans to deploy a
wearyingly predictable about
missile defence system in South
the way these tests play out,
Korea, said Gordon G. Chang
said John Nilsson-Wright in
on The Daily Beast. It wont
The Independent: the
do anything to further promote
bravura announcement on
US interests in the region
North Korean TV, swiftly
hence Pyongyangs condence
followed by international
that it has the green light to
condemnation, and the
pursue its nuclear ambitions.
imposition of new sanctions,
Kim: taunting the West
to little effect. Meanwhile,
Its easy to regard Kim as a
the countrys brutal young leader, Kim Jong Un,
crazed dictator, said Max Fisher in The New
carries on taunting the West for its
York Times, but if his goal is the preservation
powerlessness, while boasting of his countrys
of his regime, his belligerence is rational.
growing military and technological prowess.
Threatened by the growing prosperity of the
South, North Korea long ago adopted a
Yet we shouldnt ignore this provocation, said
military rst policy, putting the country on a
The Guardian. Last weeks test may have been
permanent war footing; this has enabled it to use
the fth since 2006, but it was the second this
military spending to justify keeping its people in
year and the most powerful to date. And
poverty, and the need to root out traitors to
while Pyongyangs claims to have miniaturised
justify its oppression, and the threat of war to
a nuclear weapon so that it could t on a missile
prop up its internal legitimacy. Meanwhile, its
should be taken with a pinch of salt, its
leaders have presented themselves as volatile and
weapons programme is clearly progressing fast.
unpredictable, so that their adversaries abroad
It wont be stopped by sanctions or by
tread warily: they do seem genuinely to fear a
criticism from China, its only regional ally.
US invasion. They know that with one false
North Koreas main supplier of food and oil,
move, they could spark a real war. But they take
China is fast losing patience with its neighbour,
that risk because they feel they have no choice.
Talking points
Hillary Clinton: time to come clean?
Almost exactly 20 years ago,
without this setback, which
Republican presidential
will only bolster Trumps
nominee Bob Dole slipped and
attempt to portray himself
fell off a stage during a rally.
as a big tough guy running
He was 73 at the time, said
against a frail woman. The
Jonathan Freedland in The
way it was handled has also
Guardian, and the tumble
reinforced Clintons reputation
swiftly led TV comedians to
for secretiveness, said Richard
rename him Bob Old. His
Cohen in The Washington
campaign never recovered. Is
Post. Had she been upfront
history about to repeat itself
about her diagnosis from the
with Hillary Clinton? For
start, she might have earned
months, right-wing websites
some sympathy. Instead, by
have been circulating
rst attempting to put her
conspiracy theories about
symptoms down to the heat
Clinton suffering from some
and then disingenuously
grave, secret illness, and these
claiming she was feeling
wild claims appeared to be
An unhealthy instinct for privacy great, she turned the
vindicated on Sunday when she
incident into yet another issue
was lmed collapsing after leaving early from a
about transparency.
memorial event for 9/11 victims in New York.
It later emerged that she had been diagnosed
Clinton must purge her unhealthy instinct for
two days earlier with pneumonia. Her team
privacy, agreed the FT. Apart from anything
insist shes now on the mend, but with less than
else, it lets Trump off the hook. Hes a 70-yeara fortnight to go before her rst crucial TV
old man with a penchant for junk food, and he
debate with Donald Trump, the timing of this
has so far released no medical records other than
illness could hardly have been worse.
a brief note from his doctor declaring, without
evidence, that Trump would be the healthiest
Given the huge physical demands of a
individual ever elected to the presidency. He
presidential run, its remarkable that Clinton
has also refused to release his tax records. Until
and Trump have held up as well as they have,
Clinton embraces full transparency, she will
said Jonathan Tobin in Commentary magazine
struggle to turn the spotlight onto her rivals
(New York). At 68 and 70 respectively, theyre
shortcomings. Cover-ups are always more costly
the oldest pair of major-party candidates in
in the end than early disclosure. Will Clinton
history. With luck, Clinton will soon throw off
learn her lesson? The outcome of this election
her pneumonia, but she could have done
could depend on it.
NEWS 25
Wit &
Wisdom
His speeches go on for so
long because he has nothing
to say, so he has no way of
knowing when he has
finished saying it.
John Major on
Neil Kinnock, quoted in
The Times
There are few things
of greater advantage
than learning to appreciate
the strong points of
your opponents.
J.W. von Goethe,
quoted on The Browser
If you do not change
direction, you may end up
where youre heading.
Philosopher Lao Tzu,
quoted in The Guardian
Work isnt to make money;
you work to justify life.
Marc Chagall,
quoted on Bustle.com
The best things in life
are free. The second-best
things are very,
very expensive.
Coco Chanel, quoted in
the Financial Times
To delight in war is
a merit in the soldier, a
dangerous quality in the
captain, and a positive
crime in the statesman.
George Santayana, quoted
in The Wall Street Journal
If God wanted us to
vote, He would have given
us candidates.
Jay Leno, quoted in the
Observer-Dispatch
(Utica, New York)
Whoever fights monsters
should see to it that in
the process he does not
become a monster.
Friedrich Nietzsche, quoted
in The New York Times
Sport
26 NEWS
Commentary box
Wawrinkas perfect timing
Whiteheads achievement
Sporting headlines
Football In the Premier
League, Man City beat Man
Utd 2-1, Liverpool defeated
Leicester 4-1, and Spurs beat
Stoke 4-0.
Tennis Angelique Kerber beat
Karolina Pliskova to win the
US Open womens title, and
replaced Serena Williams as
world No. 1. Jamie Murray
won the mens doubles with
Brazils Bruno Soares.
Boxing Britains Kell Brook
was defeated by world
middleweight champion
Gennady Golovkin in a fifthround stoppage.
Athletics Mo Farah won the
Great North Run for the third
year in a row.
NEW
FREEDOM SINCE 1966
fiat.co.uk
LETTERS
Pick of the weeks correspondence
A great leader?
Or a disastrous one?
To The Daily Telegraph
Bow to Brexit
To The Observer
Veil of confusion
To The Times
29
Borrowing trouble
To The Guardian
ARTS
Review of reviews: Books
31
Shrinking Violets
by Joe Moran
Profile 288pp 14.99
Selection Day
by Aravind Adiga
Picador 352pp 16.99
The Week Bookshop 12.99
Drama
32 ARTS
Theatre: Labyrinth
Hampstead Theatre, London NW3 (020-7722 9301). Until 8 October Running time: 2hrs 30mins (incl. interval)
You gotta love the Hampstead
sparking economic catastrophe.
Theatre for its risk-taking
Jetting across continents in a
verve, said Dominic Cavendish
blink, fuelled by fast-paced,
in The Daily Telegraph. The
blackly funny dialogue, the debt
start of the autumn season is the
crisis attains a thrillers pace in
most frenziedly competitive
director Anna Ledwichs glitzy
point of the theatrical calendar.
production, said Holly Williams
And what has Hampstead
on WhatsOnStage.com. The
programmed? A new play
clarity and zip means that the
about the origins and onset of
complex world of high finance
the Latin American debt crisis
proves fascinating to someone
of the 1980s, featuring a
who hands up knew literally
14-strong cast of relative
nothing about it.
unknowns. Its not as if the
This racily exciting evening
writer, Beth Steel whose debut,
features top-notch acting, too,
Wonderland, won praise two
said Michael Billington in The
McDougall (left) and Delaney: does he have the hunger?
years ago is a big name either.
Guardian. Delaney as John has
But if Labyrinth is a gamble, its
the right air of a Candide-like
a gamble that pays off handsomely. The play, though not
innocent slowly succumbing to the system. Tom Weston-Jones
entirely original (its topical boom-to-bust subject matter owes a as his Mephistophelian mentor exudes a narcissistic hedonism,
debt to Lucy Prebbles 2009 hit Enron), is richly researched and
and theres high-grade support from Philip Bird as Johns dodgy
almost indecently entertaining.
dad, and Elena Saurel as a financial journalist.
This fizzing play has an energy that lifts it out of the
ordinary, agreed Ann Treneman in The Times. The year is 1978,
The weeks other opening
and sitting in front of Wall Street big shot Howard Richman
Burning Doors Soho Theatre, London W1 (020-7478 0100),
(Martin McDougall, on fantastic form) is naive young John
until 24 September, then touring (www.belarusfreetheatre.com)
(Sean Delaney), who has the hunger. Nobody can work
This latest work sees Belarus Free Theatre, banned in Belarus, at
harder than me, he shouts. I dont need sleep. I dont do lunch
their best. Focusing on Putins Russia, Burning Doors draws on
breaks. I am an animal! Soon enough John is on his way to
the experiences of three imprisoned artists. Its a scorching
Brazil, Chile and Mexico, selling loans to governments for (more
piece of theatre: uncompromising, urgent and angry (FT).
or less) fantasy infrastructure projects loans that will end up
KT Tunstall: KIN
Virgin Records
9.99
Peter Maxwell
Davies: An
Orkney Wedding,
with Sunrise,
Scottish
Chamber
Orchestra
Linn 12
Stars reflect the overall quality of reviews and our own independent assessment (4 stars=dont miss; 1 star=dont bother)
THE WEEK 17 September 2016
MANUEL HARLAN
Film
Captain
Fantastic
Dir: Matt Ross
1hr 58mins (15)
Viggo Mortensen puts the
hippy ideal to the test
Hell or
High Water
Dir: David Mackenzie
1hr 42mins (15)
Superior heist thriller
with Jeff Bridges
Ben-Hur
Dir: Timur Bekmambetov
2hrs 5mins (12A)
Pointless remake of
a movie classic
ARTS 33
Art
34 ARTS
Where to buy
So we beat on
at the Eagle Gallery
It is the end of an
era for the Tate
galleries, said Jack
Malvern in The
Times. Last week
Tates director,
Nicholas Serota,
the longest-serving
and arguably most
influential of
Britains arts chiefs,
announced his
resignation after
28 years. Serota
(pictured) transformed British attitudes to art by opening Tate
Modern in a derelict power station in Bankside.
It became the most popular museum of
modern art in the world; a major extension
was added this year. Serota, 70, also oversaw
the opening of Tate St Ives. The popularity of
Tate Modern took him by surprise, said Adrian
Searle in The Guardian. No one expected so
many visitors: 5.25 million in its first year alone.
Serota thought he had an art museum; what
he got was a major tourist attraction. But he
never forgot that it should stay serious:
he respects art, and is in turn respected by
artists. Serota will leave next year and take up a
part-time role as chair of Arts Council England.
Sayonara to Serota
The List
37
Miriam Gonzlez Durntez, lawyer and wife of former deputy prime minister
Nick Clegg, picks her favourite books. Her cookbook Made in Spain: Recipes
and Stories from My Country and Beyond is published by Hodder at 25
My Brilliant Friend by Elena
Ferrante, 2011 (Europa
Editions 11.99). The first of
Ferrantes four Neapolitan
novels is a rich, detailed and
intricate analysis of a
friendship between two girls,
Lenu Greco and Lila Cerullo.
A vivid description of human
emotions, rivalry and the wish
to escape from poverty and
violence. A masterpiece.
Persepolis by Marjane
Satrapi, 2000 (Vintage 9.99).
A comic book-style memoir of
growing up in Iran during the
Islamic Revolution. Intelligently written, wonderfully
funny, yet also devastatingly
heartbreaking, it contains my
favourite quote of all time
Titles in print are available from The Week Bookshop on 020-3176 3835. For out-of-print books visit www.bibliofind.com
Whos Afraid of
Conceptual Art Dashing
Conviction: Murder at
the Station Two-part
Paranoid Eight-part
Book now
Programmes
Television
Helens trial begins. Rob using a walking stick enters the witness box. He says that he tried to take
the knife from Helen, but looked down to see it disappear into his shirt. During cross-examination,
Anna puts it to him that he placed the knife in Helens hand and dared her to kill herself; Helen then
acted in defence of her son. Rob insists Helens a liar. When Anna accuses him of being a bully, Rob
breaks down, crying: Why, Helen? All I ever did was love you. In the stand, Kirsty admits that when
she arrived Helen had done nothing to save Rob but adds: Robs the worst kind of abuser, one
who leaves no bruises; he lies and bullies and manipulates. Anna asks Helen why she rang a
domestic violence helpline. Helen tells the court that Rob raped her over and over again. Helens
family reel from this revelation. The prosecution barrister accuses Helen of fabricating the rape to
avoid prison. Jess unexpectedly comes forward to give evidence against Rob. She tells the court Rob
also forced her to have sex. Rob claims Jess is taking revenge for him divorcing her. The jury retires
and after a heated debate decides Helens not guilty of attempted murder and wounding with intent.
Films
Best properties
38
Properties in scenic settings
Perth and
Kinross:
Croiscrag,
Loch Rannoch,
Pitlochry.
A traditional
Highland lodge on
the banks of Loch
Rannoch. Main
house: 5 beds,
family bath, 3
receps, library,
games room and
kitchen/breakfast
room. 3 adjoining
cottages (one
4-bed, and two
2-beds), all ideal
as holiday lets.
Mature gardens
run down to the
loch, with a stonebuilt jetty and
storage for
kayaks and bikes.
950,000;
Knight Frank
(0131-222 9600).
Surrey: Zenda,
Wanborough,
Guildford.
Wanborough lies in
an Area of Great
Landscape Value,
just north of the
Hogs Back Ridge of
the North Downs.
Zenda sits in gardens
and grounds of about
1 acre, and enjoys
a secluded position.
2 beds, family bath,
living room with
conservatory,
kitchen/dining area,
utility and boot
room, double
garage, barn and
substantial stabling.
895,000;
Strutt & Parker
(01483-306565).
on the market
39
East Sussex:
Dower House,
Blackboys. Believed
originally to have
formed part of the
Possingworth Farm
Estate, this elegant
sandstone country
house has a summer
house, heated pool
and a picturesque
lake. Second-floor
bedroom/home
office with roof
terrace, 4 further
beds, 2 baths,
3 receps, kitchen/
family room,
secondary kitchen,
conservatory, about
5 acres. 1.25m;
Strutt & Parker
(01273-475411).
Pembrokeshire:
Hook Quay, Hook,
Haverfordwest. Nestled
between the foreshore of
the River Cleddau and
the woodland behind,
Hook Quay extends to
around 40 acres and
includes a converted
weigh house by the quay
now used as a summer
house, with views of the
estuary and the propertys
own mooring. 4 beds,
family bath, 1 shower, 2
receps and kitchen/
breakfast room. There are
numerous outbuildings,
including a garage and a
greenhouse, as well as an
orchard and a walled
cottage garden. 850,000;
Fine & Country (01834862138).
when I visited the brewery last week. You kuw, I chipped in, what with
Theakyon? I didnt even know they
Bitter
and
nodded
look
welcome return.Thats
made
an
un-
LEISURE
Food & Drink
41
Taken from Cicchetti by Liz Franklin, published by Ryland Peters & Small
at 9.99. To buy from The Week Bookshop for 7.99, call 020-3176 3835
or visit www.theweek.co.uk/bookshop.
Wine choice
Unlikely as it might sound, bag-inbox and pouch wines are having
a moment, says Fiona Beckett in
The Guardian. Bags are better for
the environment than bottles;
and the wine generally lasts
longer after they are opened.
Tom Craven of Vinnaturo (a
bag-in-box specialist; see www.
vinnaturo.com) has a range from Tuscan
biodynamic producer Cosimo Maria Masini,
including a 40 three-litre box of a delicious,
dark, fruity Sangiovese Ros that tastes of
just-squished strawberries, and an organic
Sangiovese Red (36, three litres), a wild,
edgy wine that is delicious lightly chilled.
Andrew Nielsen of Le Grappin (see www.
www.eebria.com/legrappin), meanwhile, has
a classy and pricey white burgundy: Du
Grappin Mcon-Villages at 28 for 1.5
litres. He calls it a bagnum.
Bag-in-box wines have untapped potential for
supermarkets, too. Asda is the first to take on
Camper Vin, a dinky van-shaped bag-in-box
that holds 2.25 litres (the equivalent of three
regular-sized bottles) of South African chenin
blanc, for 13. The wine is not spectacular,
but it is excellent value.
Consumer
Tips how to
o make the
most of a dry
y garden
If your garden is dry because the soil is
chalky, say, or sparse then you will
struggle to grow many kinds of plants.
Accepting that, and planting accordingly,
will save you time, money and frustration.
Pines, rosemary, olive trees and perennial
wallflowers are all good bets.
Larger plants find it difficult to establish
themselves in dry conditions, so opt for
small, young plants, which will adapt to
their environment as they mature.
Dont condition all the soil. Instead, figure
out where youre putting your plants, and
add lots of organic matter in those spots.
Before you start planting, water the hole
well. Then, once youve planted, backfill the
hole with dry soil, to lock in the moisture
around the plants roots.
Once planted, its generally better not to
water plants in a dry garden, as watering
encourages the growth of leaves which
will require more moisture. But you can
water in the first season if a plants very dry.
SOURCE: THE TIMES
Dyson
son
Supersoni
Supersonic
onic
oni
Dysonss ffirst hairdryer,
the Super
Supersonic
personic launched
per
ed
earlier this year after
four year
years of development
ment
to huge acclaim. Weighing
ighing just 370g, it is near-s
near-silent
r-silent
and power
powerful, drying hairr incredibly quickly. Its
s
pricey, thou
though (300; www.dyson.co.uk).
Parlux Advance
nce Light Beloved
by professional hairdressers, Italian
brand Parlux is famed for the
quality and reliability
iability of its
products. This dryer is quiet and
light, and has a heatproof body;
its available in a range of colours
(110; www.parlux.co.uk).
arlux.co.uk).
And for
fo those who
have everything
ng
Auto Express
The car comes with plenty
of extras: all models have
decent safety kit, and the
more expensive TechX has
air con and touchscreen
navigation. However,
the cabin which has
room for four adults at
a push is let down by its
shoddy plastics. In a cheap
car, corners have to be
cut but the e2o isnt all
that cheap, even with the
4,500 grant. Still, its a
massive improvement on
the G-Wiz.
Braun Sa
Satin 7 Iontech
The hands
handsome Satin 7
has a useful
use Satin
Protect button, which
caps temperatures
at 70C
temp
to prevent
preven damage. At
2200W, its
it powerful for
the price,
price and uses active
ve
ions to reduce
redu frizziness
(50; www.argos.co.uk).
www.ar
Mahindra e2o
Top Gear
The G-Wiz was
infamous: launched in
2001, it was classed as an
electric quadricycle (rather
than a car). As a result, it
didnt have to pass crash
tests and had a dire
safety record. It was
eventually bought by the
Indian car-maker
Mahindra, who put it out
of its misery in 2011. But
now, the firm has followed
it up with the e2o, a proper
electric car with some
official crashworthiness.
LEISURE 43
Shutterstock
GREENLAND
To Copenhagen
Torngat
Mountains
National Park
Ivittuut
15 days Southbound
from Narsarsquaq, Greenland to St. Johns, Canada. Departing 10 July 2017.
Quassiarsuk
Narsarsuaq
Narsaq
Ne Lab
wf a ra
ou nd do
nd r
la
nd
Voyage Highlights:
Battle Harbour
rjan Bertelsen
FREEFLIGHTS
INTOTHEWILD
CONNECT
WITH YOUR
INNER
EXPLORER
Saint Pierre
and Miquelon
St. Johns
15 or 16
DAYS
FROM
4535pp
Travel
LEISURE 45
Leeu Estates,
Franschhoek, South Africa
South Africas spectacular Cape
Winelands are known for their
stylish farm and winery hotels. Set
between the Franschhoek River
and the Dassenberg mountains,
this one is the most ambitious
of the lot, says Peter Browne in
Cond Nast Traveller. The main,
Cape Dutch-style house is
decorated in a restrained palette
of grey, cream and lavender, with
oak floors and bespoke furniture.
Chef Oliver Cattermole deploys
farm-fresh ingredients to
prodigious effect in the
restaurant, and theres a sleek
spa, a wine-tasting studio and
a rose garden thats home to
a herd of small antelope.
Doubles from 385. +27 21 492
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Obituaries
46
CITY
Companies in the news
...and how they were assessed
CITY 49
Shares in the owner of Primark, Associated British Foods, fell by a hefty 11% this week
after it warned that it would rather take a hit on the fall in sterling than push up prices
at the discount fashion chain, reported Deirdre Hipwell in The Times. We have a
commitment to being the best value in clothing retail, and we are not going to let this
blow us off course, observed the groups CFO, John Bason. Primarks predicament is
being shared by every other UK company that sources most of its products in US dollars.
Most, however, lack the comfort of a twin engine, said Carol Ryan on Reuters
Breakingviews. The idea behind the groups odd business model selling cheap clothes
on the one hand and producing foods such as sugar and tea on the other is that when
one business stalls, the other can step in. Will it hold this time? Credit Suisse notes that
changes to the EU sugar regime could see sugars contribution to group earnings grow
to more than 10% by 2018. But performance at Primark, which currently accounts for
two-thirds of AB Foods profits, was weakening even before the hit to sterling. The
discount chain is on course for its first ever like-for-like sales drop. Having a twin engine
may help, but sugar cant sweeten AB Foods retail slowdown.
The City loves the smell of gun smoke in the morning, said Jonathan Guthrie in the
Financial Times. HarbourVest, a Boston-based private equity group, has resurrected the
dawn raid rapid-fire purchasing of a target companys shares as part of a daring
1.1bn swoop on UK rival SVG Capital, once the venture capital arm of Schroders. The
Boston buccaneer hauled up the Jolly Roger by alerting SVG bosses on Sunday night.
On Monday morning, its broker snapped up 8.5% of the group, taking its exposure to
more than 50%. The surprise attack looks hard to reverse. Old-school raiders such as
Lord Hanson would surely have approved.
50 CITY
The Bank of
Englands
baffling list
Neil Unmack
Reuters Breakingviews
Have we
hit peak
zero-hours?
Jack Torrance
Management Today
Apple and
our wireless
future
Madhumita Murgia
Financial Times
Crickets
content
revolution
Editorial
The Economist
Commentators
The Bank of England has published a list of 100 companies
making what it calls a material contribution to the British
economy, and thereby qualifying for its 10bn corporate bondbuying spree, says Neil Unmack. Yet so far, the main achievement of the stimulus has been to flummox traders. The main
problem is that the definition of material contribution is pretty
vague. Companies dont need to be headquartered in Britain
(hence the inclusion of Apple and McDonalds), but must employ
people or sell goods here. And the absence of precise thresholds
has meant some confusing anomalies. For instance, although the
US telecom behemoth AT&T is eligible, O2s owner, Telefnica
with 23 million UK customers is not. And why include
Manchester Airport but not Gatwick or Heathrow? True, the list
isnt yet complete, but it highlights the difficulties raised by
central banks buying bonds. While the BoEs programme may be
small, it makes a difference: yields on some eligible bonds fell by
5% this week. Rather than doing their basic job of pricing credit
risk, markets are being forced to second-guess the central bank.
After an apparently relentless drive to push low-paid workers
onto zero-hour contracts, the tide may be turning in the UK, says
Jack Torrance. In a bid to rehabilitate its toxic image, Sports
Direct has offered store staff (but not those in its warehouse) the
option of moving to fixed-hours contracts. McDonalds has
already made the move, and pub chain JD Wetherspoon plans to
follow suit. The appeal of zero-hours contracts to employers is
obvious: they mean flexibility, lower fixed costs and the ability
to turn on the tap at peak times. No wonder 900,000 British
workers are employed in this way, up 20% on last year. But
the downsides are increasingly clear. As well as the rising
reputational risk, they sap staff motivation. Its hard to give a
toss about a customers whims when you dont feel like your boss
gives a toss about yours. Zero-hours contracts are unlikely to die
out; some industries rely on their flexibility to function. But for
responsible companies in the public eye, they could soon be as
unfashionable as Sports Directs Argyle golf sweaters.
The world let out a collective gasp when Apple launched the
iPhone 7 with a small but significant change, says Madhumita
Murgia. The tech giant has pulled the plug on the headphone
jack, meaning users must either go through the rigmarole of
plugging their headphones into an adaptor (because another
adaptor is what we all need) or take the plunge and go wireless.
Given this means buying two buds known as AirPods for 119,
which need to be charged every five hours, the move is inevitably
unpopular. But its just the beginning of a wireless future in
which embedded devices such as AirPods which also take
calls and relay instructions become ubiquitous. Prepare for a
world of smart contact lenses, ear implants and wristbands
which will start to meld the virtual and real; weve already had
a taste of it with Pokmon Go. Apple is no stranger to forced
revolutions: in the past it has hastened the death of the
CD-Rom and floppy disk through tiny but powerful design
changes. If Apple has decided to take on wires, it will win.
Although Englands international cricket team draws big crowds,
the game struggles at the county level, says The Economist.
Traditional five-day games are poorly attended. Hence the
proposal for a new league modelled on the Indian Premier League,
whose focus on the shortest form of one-day cricket (known as
T20) has made India the global centre of cricket. For two
months each spring, eight teams hire the worlds best players to
play three-hour games, generating huge razzmatazz. T20
cricket was actually pioneered in England in 2003, but the cricket
authorities failed to capitalise on it. The current league, which
includes all 18 county teams, is too unwieldy to command a big
broadcasting deal and thus cannot afford global megastars.
Supporters argue a new super-league would generate sums that
could subsidise long-form county cricket and reignite interest
in the game. Opponents fear the soul of cricket is at risk. Either
way, weve come a long way from the village green. Ten years
ago, who would have thought that cricket would be talked
about as content to be distributed on Netflix or Facebook?
City profiles
Simon Kirby
Britains 56bn high-speed
rail project has been left
without a driver at a critical
juncture, says Mark
Hookham in The Sunday
Times. Simon Kirby, the
chief executive of HS2, has
been poached by the
engineering giant RollsRoyce, with no successor
lined up. Kirby, who joined
the scheme from Network
Rail, is Britains highestpaid civil servant, with a
pay package of 750,000.
Rolls-Royce has apparently
been trying to recruit him for
some time: hell join as COO,
but without a position on the
board. HS2 said it would
launch a global search for
Kirbys successor, but the
Government may have to
offer an even bigger pay
package to lure someone of
Kirbys calibre. Private sector
engineers, with experience
of managing big projects, are
on very serious money.
Dame Nemat
Minouche Shafik
Talking points
CITY 53
Perhaps the most pertinent statistic of all, said Nick Clegg in the
FT, is that only 15% of the UKs total trade is with countries
that are neither members of the EU, nor covered by an EU trade
agreement. Fox would like to line up new deals with China,
India and the US. He can try but, as Australia has made clear,
we will not be able to progress beyond informal talks, because the
UK is not legally able to sign its own agreements until it leaves the
EU. Even then, potential partners will want to see the terms
we manage to negotiate with the EU before making their own
offers a process likely to take years. However much ministers
like Fox seek to gee-up Britains exporters, our trading relationships are hanging in the balance. We are in the calm before the
storm. Whatever form Brexit takes, it is going to be a rough ride.
Plastic fantastic
This week Britain experienced a cash
revolution, said Katie Allen in The
Guardian. The first polymer 5 notes
were issued by the Bank of England
on Tuesday, with a design featuring
Winston Churchill. For Victoria Cleland,
the Banks chief cashier, it was a
momentous day. Her team has been
working for six years to develop the
notes cutting-edge security features
and improved durability. The fivers
have also had to pass health and
safety tests just in case they should
fall into the paws of peckish toddlers
and pets. Last year 5,364 notes had
to be replaced because they had been
chewed or eaten.
The Bank has issued 440 million of the
new fivers, and is planning to introduce
plastic 10 and 20 notes by 2020, said
The Economist. Indeed, despite the
increasing use of electronic money
online, and in mobile payment systems
and digital wallets the quantity of
physical banknotes in circulation has
risen significantly over the past decade,
increasing from 1.9 billion to 3.4 billion
between 2004 and 2016, with their total
value jumping from 36bn to 68bn.
One reason for this extra demand is the
financial crisis: plummeting interest
rates have reduced the opportunity
cost of holding cash outside bank
accounts. With interest rates cut again
following the Brexit referendum,
Britons are unlikely to lose their
appetite for hard currency any time
soon whatever it is made of.
Shares
CITY 55
Dechra Pharmaceuticals
Investors Chronicle
Shares in the veterinary
pharma trade at a justiable
premium, given growth
opportunities. Revenue is up
following acquisitions of
Genera, Brovel and Putney,
which give access to new
markets and territories.
Buy. 13.49.
Dixons Carphone
The Times
The electrical and
telecommunications retailers
shares were clobbered by the
Brexit vote. But demand and
sales remain strong, and the
company is less exposed to
a downturn than had been
feared. Buy. 389p.
Redx Pharma
The Mail on Sunday
Focused on cancer, infectious
diseases and immunology, this
biotech collaborates with large
organisations to develop good
drugs quickly. The stock has
been sluggish, but Redx has
a good pipeline and is well
regarded. Buy. 26.75p.
Dunelm Group
The Sunday Times
The Brexit shock has passed,
but there may still be pain to
come and Dunelm, the
cut-price John Lewis, tends
to thrive in a bad economy.
The group has little debt and
a history of special dividends.
Buy. 905p.
Premier Oil
The Daily Telegraph
The UKs largest independent
oil producer has made
substantial progress in
agreeing a deal with lenders to
restructure debt. Oil ows are
better than expected, and
earnings and prots are
improving. Buy. 69p.
Director sells
110,322
350
300
250
200
Nov
Jan
Mar
May
Jul
Sep
Form guide
Ashmore Group
London Evening Standard
Sentiment about the investment
manager has improved and
ows will likely follow, says
Peel Hunt. But this will take
time. Meanwhile, full-year
numbers were mixed and
shares are ahead of forecast
momentum. Sell. 355p.
Macfarlane Group
Shares
Directors have been buying
shares in the packaging and
distribution rm. But it could
be hit by weak sterling, as a
large proportion of its raw
materials are imported. Rivals
James Cropper and Mondi are
more attractive. Sell. 61p.
N Brown Group
Investors Chronicle
The specialist mail order
fashion retailer faces threats to
its margin, cash ows and
dividend. Capex remains high
as the rm invests in a digital
rst business model, and
forex represents a signicant
challenge. Sell. 211p.
Fenner
London Evening Standard
J.P. Morgan Cazenove admits
that the engineers rig count
appears to have stabilised.
But given the volatile state of
the oil and gas market, the
broker does not expect
improvement. Target price
is 151p. Sell. 160p.
Pearson
Sharecast
Shares in the education
publisher slumped after US
peer John Wiley released
disappointing Q1 results.
Liberum fears increasing
structural pressure and expects
another prot warning. Target
price is 470p. Sell. 830p.
Market view
Investors have got a case
of the pre-Fed jitters.
Connor Campbell of
SpreadEx. Quoted in
City AM
Market summary
Key numbers
numbers for investors
Key
investors
FTSE 100
FTSE All-share UK
Dow Jones
NASDAQ
Nikkei 225
Hang Seng
Gold
Brent Crude Oil
DIVIDEND YIELD (FTSE 100)
UK 10-year gilts yield
US 10-year Treasuries
UK ECONOMIC DATA
Latest CPI (yoy)
Latest RPI (yoy)
Halifax house price (yoy)
13 Sep 2016
6665.63
3643.41
18078.43
5144.47
16729.04
23215.76
1323.65
47.20
3.78%
0.92
1.72
0.6% (Aug)
1.8% (Aug)
+6.9% (Aug)
Best
shares
Best and
and worst performing shares
Week before
6826.05
3726.47
18508.06
5267.02
17081.98
23787.68
1337.25
46.89
3.71%
0.66
1.54
0.6% (Jul)
1.9% (Jul)
+8.4% (Jul)
Change (%)
2.35%
2.23%
2.32%
2.33%
2.07%
2.40%
1.02%
0.66%
6,600
6,400
2740.00
780.50
936.00
5230.00
334.70
13.43
10.13
7.96
7.52
7.52
6,200
6,000
5,800
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Ashtead Group
The Times
Boosted by weak sterling and
strong construction markets,
shares in the equipment hire
rm have leapt 37%, yet are
still good value. Ashstead is
committed to returning cash to
shareholders. Buy. 12.58.
Directors dealings
56
57
alcohol has to go, and probably
coffee, too to allow one
method while banning another
makes no sense at all.
Crossword
59
An Ettinger travel pass holder and two Connell Guides will be given to the sender of
the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 26
September. Send it to: The Week Crossword 1022, 2nd floor, 32 Queensway, London W2 3RX,
or email the answers to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Set by Tim Moorey (www.timmoorey.info)
ACROSS
1 Top sandwiches first in restaurant:
beef or fish (4)
3 Challenging type caught in different
locations (10)
9 Right name possibly for unpleasant
experience (9)
11 Railway found on the outskirts of
Rio de Janeiro (5)
12 Aristocrat holds assistant back from
specialist (having little patience, its
said!) (13)
14 English relative is after butter
dish (7)
16 Tell someone quickly that film is
cancelled (4,3)
17 Queen has one in bed? Unlikely! (7)
19 Son in straw hat, a swanky one (7)
20 New shoe-horn a bit quirky? Could
be my design (5,8)
23 Muse about backing a
Conservative? Not half (5)
24 Obscure knight leaving count tied
in knots (9)
25 What orderly would dislike in a
mess? (10)
26 Refuse in study and yard (4)
DOWN
1 Criminals hijacking plot (10)
2 Bounder with marked accent
needing no introduction (5)
4 Moderate hurry after start of
concert (7)
5 More wanting new phone service
on dire mobile (7)
6 Some morticians endlessly
contrive sympathy (13)
7 Dramatisation with stand-in
away (6,3)
8 Old communist wrong to show
up (4)
10 Sounds like its permitted in a
philosophy class? (8,5)
13 Brass face installed in English
vessel right away (10)
15 Parade, but not this month? (5,4)
18 City playing here in brown (7)
19 Unreliable transport provided by
old railway firms holding on (7)
21 Rooms were acceptable but
lacking finish (5)
22 Mostly favoured game in the
country (4)
10
11
12
13
14
16
15
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Name
Address
Clue of the week: Put the A in art, essentially (2,5) Sunday Telegraph
Tel no
Clue of the week answer:
9
4
6
7
8
9
5
3
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Puzzle supplied by
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