Villain
Rachel Reeves, whose new book appears to have plagiarised other work. The Women Who Made Modern Economics reproduces “entire sentences and paragraphs” from Wikipedia, The Guardian and various blogs, says the FT. Ironically, one of the book’s themes is “women not receiving credit for their work or ideas”.
Hero
US Senator Chuck Grassley, who has developed quite the reputation as a matchmaker. This week, the 90-year-old Republican celebrated the marriage of the 20th couple who had met while working in his office. Singles in the Washington DC area have asked on social media whether he has any job openings.
Villains
Organisers of a Swiss ski competition, who have been accused of stealing snow from a nearby glacier threatened by climate change. A Zurich newspaper has released footage of diggers harvesting snow from the Theodul Glacier, near Zermatt, which has shrunk by 10% in the past two years. Alpine World Cup officials allegedly scooped up five football pitches’ worth of the white stuff for their November tournament, which was cancelled last year due to lack of snow.
Hero
Giorgia Meloni, for flying the flag for “heartbreak leave”. The Italian PM was recently confronted with footage of her long-term partner making suggestive comments to a female colleague, after which she announced their separation and took a “personal day” off from her party conference. Quite right too, says Elle Hunt in The Guardian. Sometimes, people are “too heartbroken, too tearful, or simply too sad to be able to work”. Credit to Meloni for admitting it.