Новости за 29.08.2015

We are all different, both in our thinking and our appearances. Forensic science is based on the unique patterns of our physical and biochemical make-up, so why are there assumptions that we will behave in predictable and similar ways because of the way we look (“Police will get lessons to tackle unconscious bias”, 23 August)?

I’m thinking of writing a book about crap capitals. The idea was inspired by a drive through Ankara towards the end of our Turkish family road trip. I’ve always been aware that it is not the jewel in Turkey’s crown but I wasn’t prepared for just how hideous it is. Last week, I wrote about the “Hat Law” Kemal Ataturk brought in to ban the wearing of the fez so as to make his new republic more “Western”. In 1923, he swapped Istanbul for Ankara as his capital for almost the opposite reason; most of Istanbul is in the smaller... Читать дальше...

Rebekah, I know just how you feel. Almost. I have also been out of full-time work for a long time. Thirteen months, in two spells. True, not quite your four years on the sidelines, but then my redundancy package was considerably less attractive than the £10m Rupert M gave you when you departed as chief executive at News International.

Discworld and the fall of Troy

This newspaper is  proud of its campaigns to raise the quality of recruitment to public service professions dedicated to tackling disadvantage at source. We supported Teach First, the charity launched in 2002 that places top graduates in challenging schools. Its success has been such that it was copied in Germany in 2008, with the launch of Teach First Deutschland, and the original Teach First is now the single biggest graduate recruiter in the UK.

When an angry man planned the murders of two former colleagues at a TV station in Virginia last week, he knew exactly what he wanted to achieve. The killer filmed the murders, posted a 56-second clip to his Facebook page and tweeted the fact that it was available. Then he killed himself.

Seven weeks ago, this space was devoted to Donald Trump, just as he was starting to make a mark on Campaign 2016. Don’t worry, I argued, this was a summer silly season story; come September’s return to reality, our strutting impresario would succumb to the laws of political gravity – but that, even so, he was a nightmare for the Republican establishment. I was dead wrong on the first point, and dead right on the second.

Spare a thought, if you will, for a Mr Qi, of China. He invested some £100,000 in shares in May, just before the stock-market bubble burst. He has lost £40,000, at least on paper. His dreams of making enough on the stock market are, for now, dashed, and he will have to postpone his plan to buy his own home. I do not know what the Mandarin for “negative equity” is, but Mr Qi is feeling the effects of it, as are many more Chinese private investors. Reports tell us that the only way Mr Qi can find... Читать дальше...

Some years ago, stepping down from the platform at the Oxford Literary Festival, I was waylaid by an elderly gentleman with white hair bearing a book for signature. “Perhaps you could put ‘To Roger’,” he somewhat diffidently proposed, whereupon recognition, borne on the memory of many an ancient newsreel and bygone sporting primer, suddenly dawned. “Are you Sir Roger Bannister?” I wondered. Sir Roger admitted that he was. “Well in that case,” I assured him, trembling with the excitement of meeting a genuine sporting hero in the flesh... Читать дальше...

Here is a quiz question. Who was the last person to be prime minister while a member of the House of Lords? I have been reading the collection of essays called British Conservative Leaders, edited by Charles Clarke and others, which traces the descent of the Tory leadership from the Lords to the Commons. Lords Derby, Beaconsfield and Salisbury are well known. The second is better known as Benjamin Disraeli, although he was the Earl of Beaconsfield for the last four of his seven years as Prime Minister. Читать дальше...

It’s an unusual press conference when the protagonist welcomes those assembled from far and wide and suggests, if they are of a nervous disposition, that they go home again. But last Tuesday’s gathering at St Ermin’s Hotel, central London, to hear Harvey Proctor’s lengthy protestation of his innocence and denunciation of the police was always going to be remarkable.

Imagine, for a moment, what it is like to be a clean champion. Consider the moral courage required to dedicate to a life which many believe to be a lie. Visualise the dark nights of the soul, in which sleep is denied by the unfairness of institutionalised deceit and inevitable doubt.

Just when you thought you’d lost all faith in romance thanks to the ‘swipe-right/swipe-left’ culture of popular dating apps, here’s some refreshing news: most users are actually after relationships rather than casual hook-ups.

Usain Bolt stormed to his third gold medal of the World Championships on a night when poor changeovers extinguished the 4x100 metres medal hopes of the United States and Great Britain.

Mo Farah wrote his name into the record books by completing a hat-trick of long-distance doubles at global championships by retaining his world 5,000 metres title in Beijing.

“There’s a lot of directing to be done,” is Jeremy Herrin’s first comment about new play, People, Places and Things. He’s not wrong: the latest work from innovative playwright Duncan Macmillan is a piece about drug addiction, and an actress called Emma who checks into rehab to try to get clean. But it’s no dour tale of gritty realism, as you might expect; Macmillan’s masterstroke is to set it entirely from her point of view, and the director must therefore find ways to evoke both the iridescent highs of taking drugs... Читать дальше...

Many people in a happy relationship have "in-jokes". But new research has proven that laughing together with your partner is a great tonic for keeping those lovey-dovey feelings going.

This is from a TV preview, published on Thursday: “Divorcee and former air hostess Zsuzsi Starkloff talks on camera for the first time about her relationship with Prince William of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin and pageboy at her wedding.” What? Prince William of Gloucester was a pageboy at the wedding of somebody called Zsuzsi Starkloff? That’s what it looks like at first glance.

Put the building blocks in place now and enjoy the benefits later

A veteran stage technician, who worked in the West End for more than three decades, has quit his job after a social media row with fans of actor Benedict Cumberbatch.

One of the canards of climate change scepticism has been an apparent “pause” in warming over the past two decades. Why should anyone get hot under the collar about increasing temperatures, say sceptics, when the thermometer has not reached far beyond a peak achieved in 1998? As with all such “denialism”, this focuses on a single statistic at the expense of the bigger picture: ocean temperatures – a good indicator – have risen precipitously since that year, and over a longer period surface measurements point to a similarly sharp increase. Читать дальше...

It is an open secret that the Prime Minister cares little about reform of the House of Lords; by the looks of things, he cares even less about whom he appoints to it. For 100 years, prime ministers have used the extraordinary power of patronage they possess to look after friends, neutralise enemies, flatter allies and reward past favours by creating peers – who, let us not forget, help to make our laws – and we have seen some pretty rum lists over the years.

Avid followers of this column – as well as people in recuperation units with limited reading material – may have noted that I am the owner of a chocolate labrador, Betty. Real-life acquaintances are also starkly aware that, like most dog people, I arrive at social gatherings smelling vaguely of liver sausage snackadoodles and have a biodegradable poo bag trailing out of my coat pocket.

I got an email from my friend Em last week with the subject line, "It's our Anniversary!" It makes me feel a little light-headed typing this, but it has been almost 20 years since we first met at university in Liverpool. She thinks we should mark the milestone and I tend to agree – why should couples get all the fun?

It was a moment that gave the world a new adjective: "Beamonesque". Denoting a spectacular feat of progress that comes out of nowhere – defying logic, precedent, and belief – "Beamonesque" dates from 3.45pm on 18 October 1968 in the Estadio Olímpico Universitario in Mexico City. That was when the American Bob Beamon set off down the runway in the Olympic long jump final. Six seconds later he landed at the far end of the pit.