Table of contents for 1572-1573 in The Week

Controversy of the week The Russian threat “The drumbeats prophesying war are getting louder,” said Adam Boulton in The i Paper. In the past fortnight, we’ve had two stark warnings about the growing threat from Russia: from the new head of MI6, Blaise Metreweli, who says our two countries are already in a “space between peace and war”; and from the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, who claims that Europe and Russia must prepare for a conflict on a scale not seen since the days of “our grandparents and great-grandparents”. The evidence of Moscow’s hostility is “everywhere”, said Hamish de Bretton-Gordon in The Daily Telegraph. The Kremlin’s spy vessels “prowl our waters”, mapping the undersea cables that underpin our economy and security. Cyberattacks from Russian sources have become “routine”. Drones…

Southern Water, which was embroiled in a new pollution row, this time over the accidental release of millions of plastic bio-beads from a waste treatment plant. The beads, contaminated with lead, cadmium and arsenic, have washed up on several beaches, and on one of Britain’s last remaining salt marshes, at Rye Harbour. Airport security, after a man was able to board a BA flight to Norway at Heathrow, despite having no ticket, boarding card or passport. He had tailgated other passengers through security and evaded checks at the gate, before being apprehended on the plane.…

For the second year running, Donald Trump tops the UK’s naughty list: 50% of Britons think he deserves a place on it. He is followed by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor (on 48%), Keir Starmer (42%), Elon Musk (40%), Nigel Farage (37%) and Rachel Reeves (37%). NHS staff are top of the nice list, with 41% voting for them, followed by the Princess of Wales (35%) and money-saving expert Martin Lewis (33%). Ipsos 74% of Britons expect large scale political unrest in the UK in 2026; 59%, across 30 nations, predict political protests in their own country. Ipsos 57% of US voters think Donald Trump is not doing a good job on the economy, his lowest rating yet. NPR/PBS/Marist…

JANUARY Seventeen-year-old Luke Littler becomes the youngest darts world champion in the history of the sport. Justin Trudeau bows to pressure to resign as Canadian PM, ending his nine-year stint in power. Two months after being criticised in an independent report for his handling of abuse allegations, Justin Welby steps down as Archbishop of Canterbury. Tens of thousands of people flee their homes to escape surging wildfires in Pacific Palisades, in Los Angeles. Among the celebrities to lose their houses are Anthony Hopkins, Jeff Bridges and Paris Hilton. In an effort to drum up trade, Chancellor Rachel Reeves visits Beijing for the first high-level economic meeting between Britain and China since 2019: critics dub it “operation kowtow”. Tulip Siddiq (above) resigns as a Treasury Minister over her links to her aunt’s…

A couple from North Yorkshire defended their decision to name their son Lucifer. Jess Bell and Stefan Wake explained that they had settled on the name after enjoying the Netflix series Lucifer, about the fallen angel. “The name is lovely and it actually means ‘light bringer’, which is exactly what he has done for our lives,” Bell said. “We are just normal, loving parents and certainly have no interest in associating our son with the devil.” Residents of a village near Wrexham became so irate about the state of one of the local roads, they turned it into a pothole theme park. A sign at the entrance to the road in Pontfadog said that “Pothole Land” boasted “the deepest, longest, widest” potholes in Wales, and that visitors would have the chance…

Stephen Sondheim’s 1986 musical Into the Woods is “the work of a genius at the peak of his powers”, said Andrzej Lukowski in Time Out. With a “tremendous” book by James Lapine, it draws on fairy tales including Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk and Little Red Riding Hood, and pushes these “familiar stories into absurd, existential, eventually very moving territory. It’s both playful and profound, mischievous and sincere, cleverly meta but also a ripping yarn”. Sondheim’s lyrics are by turns bathetic, audacious and poignant, and his lush score of baroque nursery rhymes “feels as vividly alive as the forest itself”. It’s a “sublime but fiddly” piece that is rarely revived because it’s hard to pull off, and requires a large cast of first-rate singing actors. So enormous credit is due…

Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes Disney+ Jeff Pope’s dramatisation of the events, in the febrile weeks after the 7/7 bombings, that led to the police shooting an innocent 27-year-old Brazilian electrician makes for gripping, harrowing viewing, said The New Statesman. It is not perfect: the depiction of Met Police commissioner Ian Blair as a “ridiculously camp” fool is misguided. But the account of how de Menezes came to be mistaken for an Ethiopian terrorist, and the lies told afterwards, is starkly told. This is a “J’accuse” that is “both subtle and grand”. Leonard and Hungry Paul BBC iPlayer Rónán Hession’s debut novel, about two men still living at home in their early 30s, became a word-of-mouth hit – and was so loved by Julia Roberts that she…

Blow Your House Down by Pat Barker, 1984 (Virago £9.99). A group of women in a northern town grapple with the spectre of a faceless killer. I first encountered this Nietzschean psychodrama in the 1980s when writing my thesis on modern horror fiction (a genre into which it doesn’t fit) and found it to be a souls hakingly impressive work that has stayed with me ever since. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925 (Penguin £8.99). This was a book that I was made to read at school, but which then became a personal favourite. From its opening sentence (“In my younger and more vulnerable years…”) to its perfect closing line (“borne back ceaselessly into the past”), not a single word is out of place. The Haunting of Hill…

Winners Precious metals The gold price, at around $4,340 per troy ounce, surged more than 60% to a new record in 2025 and is on track for its best performance since 1979. Silver has put in an even more blistering performance, more than doubling to a record $68/oz. The rally was underpinned by “elevated” central-bank buying, said Bloomberg: uncertainty has boosted gold’s safe-haven status, which some now question. The Bank for International Settlements recently warned of a potentially “explosive” combination of all-time highs in gold and equity markets. Tech stocks Despite persistent worries of a bubble – and some jittery sell-offs – AI continued to drive global momentum. Bellwether Nvidia became the first ever $5trn company in October, thanks to demand for its AI chips from Silicon Valley’s “hyper-scalers”. Palantir…

The BoE is fighting last year’s battle Marcus Ashworth Bloomberg There are hopes that last week’s “Santa rate cut” will give the economy a festive boost. In fact, the Bank of England is only “belatedly waking up to the fact that Britain is struggling”, says Marcus Ashworth. The 5-to-4 vote split shows that the “hawks” on the Monetary Policy Committee, still convinced the “preeminent risk” is high inflation, are proving stubborn – even if they lost by a squeak this time. That’s worrying. “Under their sway, the BoE has been too worried about fighting the last war on inflation to grasp that anaemic growth is bad for employment, particularly for younger workers.” Another rise in the jobless rate to 5.1% makes for “a bleak midwinter backdrop”. The BoE hasn’t been…

What happened The squeeze on Venezuela Donald Trump ramped up the pressure on President Nicolás Maduro by ordering a “total and complete” blockade of oil tankers subject to US sanctions heading to or from Venezuela. He accused Maduro’s government of using “stolen” oil to “finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder and kidnapping”. Referring to the US deployment to the region of a dozen warships and more than 14,000 troops, Trump wrote that Venezuela was “completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America”. Oil prices jumped in the wake of Trump’s blockade order, which came days after US forces had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Since September, the US military has killed around 100 people in more than two dozen…

Mountain rescue volunteers have warned that they are being “overloaded” by calls from inexperienced climbers who have been inspired to tackle dangerous routes by social media influencers. Llanberis Mountain Rescue, which covers Snowdon and the surrounding area, says that of its 22 emergency call-outs last month, seven were to rescue young men (under 24) who were attempting the perilous Crib Goch scramble that features in thousands of TikTok posts, owing to its knife-edge ridge and dramatic views. More than a quarter of dog owners plan to serve their pet a full Christmas dinner. Crufts advises that this should be specially prepared, as leftovers are likely to be too rich and salty for dogs, and possibly toxic.…

After weeks of back and forth between the House of Lords and the Commons, Labour’s Employment Rights Bill passed into law last week. It will give workers the right to paternity leave from the first day on the job, and confer new workplace protections for pregnant women and new mothers. Workers will also be given the right to an offer of a contract specifying guaranteed hours, and to claim unfair dismissal after six months (down from two years). Labour backed down from its plan to give workers the right to claim unfair dismissal from day one. The act applies to England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland.…

Brussels Green policy watered down: After intense pressure from the crisis-hit automotive industry, the European Commission has decided to water down its plan, approved in 2023, to ban the sale of non-zero emission cars by 2035. The commission has proposed that the ban should apply only to 90% of new cars, meaning that some of those made after 2035 could be plug-in hybrids, or have petrol or diesel engines. As a counterbalance, manufacturers will be obliged to use low-carbon steel made in the EU on assembly lines. The proposals, which must be approved by the EU Parliament, represent a major retreat on one of the EU’s flagship green policies, and have been condemned by climate campaigners. Some member states – notably Italy and Germany – had lobbied hard for the…

Too many cover-ups harm society Janice Turner The Times One of the more unwelcome legacies of Covid, says Janice Turner, is that it “normalised and legitimised face covering in public”. Our cities are now filled with masked people, many zooming around on souped-up electric bikes. Some are working illegally as couriers, some are youths disguising their identity while crossing a hostile gang’s turf, and for some it’s just a rebellious fashion statement. Ski masks, balaclavas and other face coverings have become a “declaration of defiance and detachment” – a way to lock out the world and, in some cases, a way to foil the live facial recognition cameras police are increasingly using to collar known criminals. The overall effect is both alienating and intimidating. Parliament is shortly due to create…

Thanks, but no thanks To the Financial Times I contrast Donald Trump’s deportation drive – dramatically described in Peter Andringa’s visual investigation piece “Trump’s immigration data dragnet” – with the news that the president is inviting Danes to emigrate to the US. Were it not for the US’s high murder and child mortality rates, and the fact that the US is the only OECD country with no paid maternity leave, it might of course be tempting. It remains somewhat of a concern, though, whether you would then expect me to fight against my Danish compatriots and family over Greenland? Living in Belgium, I am also not used to having my text messages censored, so I might have some trouble adapting to how you do things in the US. Upon reflection,…

This new musical adaptation of Treasure Island is “the perfect show” for the holidays, said Dominic Cavendish in The Daily Telegraph. Indeed, Paul Foster’s production at the Bristol Old Vic – which brings Robert Louis Stevenson’s tale to life amid a modern-day pub storytelling competition – “is so finely wrought it warrants a much longer life”. Jake Brunger (book and lyrics) and Pippa Cleary (music and lyrics) were responsible for The Great British Bake Off Musical (2022). That was a “sweet but lightweight” concoction; this is “saltier and more satisfying”. Lustily performed by eight actor-musicians, and infused with a love of Bristol and its maritime heritage, it “combines comic touches and modern flourishes” with traditional “swashbuckling derring-do”. If I have a gripe, it’s that there are too many mood-setting numbers.…

● If you’ve tried the usual remedies (sleeping, drinking lots of water, painkillers, electrolytes, Berocca) and still feel lousy, you could try sweating it out on a treadmill. ● Some people swear by Coca-Cola, aka “the little red ambulance”. For a quicker cure, try putting a sugar cube between your teeth and drinking water until it dissolves. ● It’s a grotty option, and not actually recommended, but for those who swear by it, it’s reassuring to know that people have been drinking their way through their hangovers for centuries: the expression “hair of the dog” was used in 400BC. ● Industry insiders often rely on a mix of hard and soft drinks. Soho pub landlord Oisín Rogers suggests poached eggs on toast with two sausages and brown sauce, a cup…

Meg O’Neill BP hasn’t lost its power to shock, said Bloomberg. Without warning, just days before Christmas, the British energy giant has ousted its boss and made the first external CEO hire in its 115-year history – following “a top secret process” masterminded by its new chair, Albert Manifold. The winning candidate, Meg O’Neill – an avowed “fossil fuel enthusiast” – is an American who led Australia’s largest oil and gas independent, Woodside Energy, for four years, and before that spent more than two decades at ExxonMobil. Sources report she has been “given licence for a complete page-turn”. Her arrival underscores BP’s “hard pivot back to oil and gas” after a capital-destroying green-energy shift. BP’s outgoing CEO, Murray Auchincloss, “never lived down his earlier championing” of BP’s green push, said…

THE WEEK CROSSWORD 1497 Two Connell Guides and three Week-branded items will be given to the sender of the first correct solution to the crossword and the clue of the week opened on Monday 5 January. Send it to The Week Crossword 1497, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR, or email the completed grid/listed solutions to crossword@theweek.co.uk. Tim Moorey (timmoorey.com) This week’s winner will receive Week-branded items, as well as two Connell Guides (connellguides.com). ACROSS 1 Basil, for example, is one man’s name (4) 3 Youngster getting rise in benefit? The opposite (10) 9 Stick with family arrangement for growth down under (3,4) 11 Crude oil found following journey in capital (7)  12 Forecast operating cost needing changing (13) 14 Break finger badly on middle part of chainsaw (8) 16 It may…

Christian Turner, who was named the UK’s new ambassador to Washington. Unlike the last ambassador, Lord Mandelson, who was forced to step down over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, Turner is a career diplomat. Susan Boyle, the retired Scottish singer who made her name on Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, after Hollywood star Timothée Chalamet named her as one of the greatest Britons of all time. The actor, 30, said he remembered Boyle’s audition, in which she sang I Dreamed a Dream, “like it was yesterday”. “She dreamed bigger than all of us,” he said. “Who wasn’t moved by that?” Extraordinary odds, after a couple from Brecon scooped £1m on the Lottery, for the second time. Richard Davies, 49, and Faye Stevenson-Davies, 43, won their first million on the EuroMillions in…

Teachers in England will be given training to spot the signs of misogyny and tackle it in schools, as part of the Government’s plan to halve violence against women and girls. Pupils will be taught about negative online role models, alongside issues such as consent, pornography, the dangers of sharing intimate images. Teachers will be able to send pupils as young as 11 on “behaviour change programmes”. The Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said the policy “risks demonising boys before they’ve even started their lives”.…

Legend has it that, on the morning after England were knocked out of the 1990 World Cup by West Germany, Margaret Thatcher asked her cabinet ministers why they were looking so glum. “The Germans have beaten us at our national sport,” came the reply. “Never mind,” she is said to have told them: “we’ve beaten them twice this century at theirs”. It turns out the story isn’t quite true, her biographer, Charles Moore, told Iain Dale’s All Talk podcast. But the truth is even better. Thatcher said it not to the cabinet, but to the then-German chancellor, Helmut Kohl. Needless to say, “it didn’t go down well”. The late Rob Reiner’s original vision for his romantic comedy When Harry Met Sally (pictured) was that it would not have a happy…

To The Guardian I am a retired doctor and I do not want resident doctors to strike, but it would be much wiser if the Prime Minister and Health Secretary were to refrain from using pejorative terms and be honest. The formula is simple. First, acknowledge that doctors have been hard done by over the years. Acknowledge their years of rigorous training. Be aware of how much unpaid work doctors do. They cover staff shortages at a moment’s notice, for which they do not get paid. The NHS is running on its staff’s goodwill. A new MP, without any training, now earns £93,904 a year, with subsidised food, expenses paid for a second home, a provision to have a second job, and no obligation to attend parliamentary sessions, while a…

Opened at last After 20 years under construction, the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) officially opened to the public last month. Located nine miles from central Cairo, and just a mile from the pyramids at Giza, the complex covers some 5.4 million square feet – making it the largest archaeological museum in the world – and cost an estimated $1.2bn. At its grand opening (which had been repeatedly delayed owing to revolutions, economic crises and the pandemic), President Sisi described the GEM as “a gift from Egypt to the world”. Its 12 galleries hold some 100,000 artefacts covering seven millennia of Egyptian history, from pre-dynastic times to the Roman era. The showstoppers include a monumental, 30ft-tall statue of Ramses II (pictured), dating to around 1200BC, and the entire contents of King…

At Meadow Farm, Esme asks David’s advice on getting extra silage. She tracks some down in Wales and plans to drive there. Ben suggests Josh goes as well, so he can watch Nina’s gig. Eddie and Clarrie visit Pat, to thank her for helping with the turkey plucking – Clarrie wonders if Pat is OK. In exchange for a turkey, Tracy volunteers Jazzer to dress in a turkey costume and help Eddie with sales. Susan is thrilled with the repaired shop, but there’s disappointment for Chris when he discovers the flat unfinished and the builders gone. On top of that, Carly breaks up with him. Spirits are low at Bridge Farm – Helen thinks there’s an underlying cause. Tony is annoyed when Tom announces he won’t be around for the…

Own-label supermarket champagnes are often excellent value, said Victoria Moore in The Daily Telegraph, and “one of the best” is Tesco Finest Premier Cru Brut NV (£22 with a Clubcard until 31 December). A “chardonnay-forward” fizz made by Union Champagne, it’s “creamy and welcoming with notes of brioche”. Also “extremely well-priced” is Waitrose Blanc de Noirs Brut NV (£28, down to £25 until 1 January). With its aromas of “toast and black cherries”, this is a bubbly to “see you through cold nights”. But in my view, one own-label champagne stands above the rest, said David Williams in The Observer: Co-op Les Pionniers Champagne Brut, made for the supermarket by Piper-Heidsieck. Each year, it surprises me anew with its “level of brioche-patisserie intensity”. The 2013 vintage version, costing about £35,…

Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet has a covered rink and an outdoor ice path, plus a winter village with one of the tallest artificial Christmas trees in the UK (from £11, until 4 Jan; cheshireoaksonice-tickets.onice.co.uk). Preston’s new ice rink is under its elegant Victorian market canopy, and has a ski chalet-style bar serving bratwurst and beer (from £10, until 4 Jan; prestononice.co.uk). White House Farm on the edge of Norwich, Norfolk, has a covered ice rink in the Great Barn, with festive food and market stalls (from £12, until 4 Jan; icenorwich.com). Watergate Bay Hotel, near Newquay, is home to Cornwall’s first beachside ice rink. Hot chocolate, mulled wine and wood-fired pizzas are served ringside with sea views (from £15, until 11 Jan; watergatebay.co.uk). Enjoy 360° views of the skyline at…

Britain’s economy has been in the doldrums, but the FTSE 100 has enjoyed a banner year – gaining nearly 20% since January and almost breaking through the 10,000-point barrier in the week before Christmas. Midas Touch “The undisputed FTSE 100 champion” this year was gold and silver producer Fresnillo (up 376%), which became the go-to choice for UK investors looking to play the precious metals rally. Endeavour Mining (up 153%) also benefitted, as did Antofagasta (92%). The other big gainers were mainly banks and engineering companies. Both Lloyds and Barclays gained by around 75% – trouncing most Magnificent Seven US tech stocks. Rolls-Royce (up 97%), the engine-maker-turned-small-nuclear reactor pioneer, has now been a top ten performer for three years in a row. Turkeys Although three-quarters of the FTSE 100 delivered…

Politics and public service Jean-Marie Le Pen, French far-right politician, died 7 January, aged 96. Aga Khan IV, spiritual leader, died 4 February, aged 88. Oleg Gordievsky, double agent, died 4 March, aged 86. Group Captain John Hemingway, Battle of Britain pilot, died 17 March, aged 105. Trevor Lock, police officer, died 30 March, aged 85. Betty Webb, codebreaker, died 31 March, aged 101. Pope Francis I, died 21 April, aged 88. Marthe Cohn, wartime spy and Holocaust survivor, died 21 May, aged 105. Lord (Norman) Tebbit, politician, died 7 July, aged 94. Lord (Ian) Blair, police officer, died 9 July, aged 72. Dame Stella Rimington, intelligence officer, died 3 August, aged 90. Ft Lt John Cruickshank VC, Second World War veteran, died 9 August, aged 105. The Duchess of…

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