Britain is facing a "winter of disconnect", says Metro, as the National Grid warns of rolling three-hour blackouts "if the gas supply crisis in Europe escalates". Liz Truss has rejected a proposed £15m public information campaign to encourage people to save energy, says The Times, as she is "ideologically opposed" to telling people what to do. The world is facing its highest risk of nuclear "Armageddon" since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, according to Joe Biden. Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser yesterday, the US president said that Vladimir Putin was "not joking" about using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Two Russians have sailed 300 miles from their homeland to an Alaskan island to avoid the military draft. The pair charted a small boat across choppy waters to St Lawrence Island, between Russia and North America in the Bering Sea, to claim asylum. |
Putin with Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Alexey Druzhinin/Getty |
Don't rule out a Russian withdrawal |
Analysts are struggling to see how the war in Ukraine will end, says Timothy Snyder in his Substack newsletter. Many can't look beyond the terrifying possibility of a Russian nuclear strike. But I think there's another, more "plausible" scenario: that Russia's battlefield defeats will precipitate an internal power struggle, leading to the swift withdrawal of Moscow's forces from Ukraine. It may even be starting to happen already. In recent weeks two prominent political figures – Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, and Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the feared Wagner mercenary group – have openly and "brutally" criticised the Russian high command for failures in Ukraine. Crucially, both men effectively control their own private armies, with fighters deployed in the war. |
If Kadyrov or Prigozhin get even the slightest inkling that Putin is losing his grip on power, everything changes. They would want to get their men out of Ukraine and back to Russia, either to protect their interests or to "make a play for Moscow". The same logic applies to the Russian army itself: ambitious commanders would "pull back while they still have units to command". None of this would necessarily result in armed conflict breaking out in Russia. But it would leave Vladimir Putin with no choice but to pull his troops out of Ukraine – keeping the army on side, and in close proximity, would be essential "for his own political survival". |
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New York's newest "hot girl hangout" is the old-school Jewish deli, says Bon Appétit. The fashion elite's love affair with "delicore" was sealed last month when "vampy prairie clothing designer" Batsheva Hey staged her New York Fashion Week Show at the 50-year-old Ben's Kosher Deli. Before that, in August, world-famous DJ Diplo staged a not-so-secret rave (above) at Katz's Delicatessen, founded in 1888, featuring "free-flowing Vodka Red Bulls and late-night pickle and latke snacks". The best attire for these events? A hat and hoodie featuring the logo of your favourite neighbourhood deli, sales of which are up 30% this year. |
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Fred Astaire was once invited by fellow actor Anthony Perkins to see his new Broadway show, says Nigel Rees in the Quote Unquote newsletter, which he found "rather dire". Ever the gentleman, Astaire felt he had to say something positive when he visited his friend backstage. In the end he simply shook his head in wonder and said: "Tony, I don't know how you do it!" |
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The 16th-century Danish king Christian IV had a novel way to tax ships passing his realm, says the QI Twitter account. To calculate what they owed, captains were free to declare their cargo at any value they chose, without it being audited – "but the king reserved the right to buy the cargo at that price". |
Trump is far shrewder than his critics think |
Donald Trump has always understood how the world works "better than his opponents", says The Economist. Because he possesses such qualities in abundance, his appreciation for "greed, cowardice, selfishness and other weaknesses" has given him a "granite confidence" in human corruptibility. And across the decades of his life – whether as a New York property tycoon, a TV star or as President of the United States – "that faith has been vindicated more often than it has been confounded". According to Maggie Haberman's new biography, Confidence Man, Trump has always been "shrewd and smarter than his critics gave him credit for, possessed of a survival instinct that was likely unmatched in American political history". |
In the Trump White House, knowing that "allies as well as enemies must be dominated", he "bullied and humiliated" senators and generals. "You're losers and you're babies," he told America's military leaders; he rewarded servile lawmakers by "tossing branded chocolate bars at them". Haberman does not shy away from "the Good Trump", who repeatedly checks on sick friends and is often "funny and fun to be around, solicitous and engaged". People familiar with his all-caps tweeting and press persona who met him in the White House found him "calm and charming". But in public, he knew his brand. During the 2020 campaign, a top advisor urged him to turn on the charm, "to persuade people that you're not an asshole". No, said Trump: voters "want a fighter". |
Sofia Loren trying – but not quite managing – to feed grapes to co-star Ettore Manni in Two Nights With Cleopatra, 1954 |
If you have "gorgeous hands" and "a basic grasp of Greek and Latin", then you've a chance at becoming "London's first grape feeder". That's according to a recruitment ad (or PR move) from Richard Caring's new venture Bacchanalia, where diners will be fed grapes by hand. Set to open in Mayfair later this year, the restaurant will serve Italian and Greek food among 2,000-year-old antiques, and sculptures by Damien Hirst. |
"Sleep tourism", where people go on holiday with the sole purpose of getting some quality shut-eye, "has skyrocketed since the pandemic", says CNN. Zedwell, London's first sleep-centric hotel, provides window-free rooms with noise-reducing walls, floors and doors, ambient mood lighting, and a distinct lack of "anxiety-inducing distractions" like TVs and phones. The Hästens "sleep spa" in Coimbra, Portugal boasts custom-built beds, each one taking 200 hours to make, which use special linens to "eliminate static build-up from your body and help you create a more positive energy while you sleep". |
It's a perfectly ordinary houseplant – a philodendron – that's been connected to a robotic arm via special biosensors on its leaves, allowing it to "control" a machete. The movements of the blade are entirely determined by "biological pulses" from the plant, says artist David Bowen, who created the project. "Essentially the plant is the brain of the robot controlling the machete." |
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"You're only as young as the last time you changed your mind."
Timothy Leary |
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