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14 July

In the headlines

Penny Mordaunt is the new bookies’ favourite in the Tory leadership race: the trade minister comfortably beats all five of her rivals in head-to-head polling. But her old boss, former Brexit minister Lord Frost, tells TalkTV he has “grave reservations” about her abilities, as she failed to “master the necessary detail” for negotiations. The second elimination vote is at lunchtime today. Netflix will start offering cheaper subscriptions to new users who don’t mind sitting through ads. The move, due later this year, comes after subscriber numbers declined for the first time in more than a decade. A self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh has been discovered on the back of another of his paintings, Head of a Peasant Woman, after it was x-rayed ahead of an exhibition. Conservators are trying to work out how to remove several layers of glue and cardboard to uncover the image underneath.

British politics

The PM the Tories can learn from

The Tory leadership candidates have all “retreated to the safe space of Thatcherite dogma”, says Aris Roussinos in UnHerd. Liz Truss copies Maggie visually; Rishi Sunak promises a “grown-up conversation” about the economy. But how much of the British state “is even left to shrink”? Try to get a GP appointment, or a police officer to investigate a burglary. And as the “historic shift of wealth and power” from the West to Asia gets under way, we’ll be wracked by rising prices and plummeting living standards. Even Emmanuel Macron, supposedly the “last neoliberal”, has nationalised France’s energy giant EDF “to see his country securely through the near future”.

Energy

Germany’s anti-nuclear folly

Europe is facing a debilitating energy crisis, says The Wall Street Journal, and for some reason the Germans are choosing to “make it worse”. Last week, lawmakers blocked an effort to extend the lives of three nuclear reactors. Shutting the plants down has become an “article of faith” for Germany’s Green party, even though the architects of the original 2011 decision, the Christian Democrats, have reversed course. Have these Teutonic treehuggers not noticed that Vladimir Putin is “threatening to cripple” Germany’s economy by turning the gas off this winter? Only this week, Russia’s Gazprom shut down its direct pipeline to Germany for “maintenance”.
Inside politics

Rishi Sunak has joined the long list of Tory politicians – including Sajid Javid, Theresa May and George Osborne – who think the way to project power is to stand with your legs awkwardly far apart. “Where are they taught this?” asks journalist Adam Bienkov on Twitter.

Global update

Taiwan’s Matsu Islands have received a “steady stream of unwelcome visitors” in recent years, says Foreign Policy: Chinese sand-dredging vessels. Sand is a crucial component in concrete, glass and tarmac, and the stuff in the desert is too smooth for the job. So China, in need of the material for its construction boom, is pinching it from its island neighbour. Taiwan chased nearly 4,000 Chinese dredgers out of its waters in 2020, a 560% increase from 2019. For China, it’s a “double win”: it grabs a much-needed resource while forcing Taiwan to divert vital military resources to its coast guard.

Noted

Passengers on a 14-hour flight to Brisbane got a shock when they disembarked and saw a massive hole in the side of the plane. Emirates later said the Airbus A380 continued flying despite the damage – caused by a burst tyre – because it didn’t impact the “fuselage, frame or structure of the aircraft”. Sounds reassuring.

Gone viral

French parkour groups have an eco-friendly outlet for their abilities: turning off shop lighting at night. This compilation has racked up more than seven million views on Twitter. It’s “bored youth summertime vandalism at its best”, says The Economist’s Stanley Pignal.

Inside politics

Rishi Sunak has joined the long list of Tory politicians – including Sajid Javid, Theresa May and George Osborne – who think the way to project power is to stand with your legs awkwardly far apart. “Where are they taught this?” asks journalist Adam Bienkov on Twitter.

Snapshot

It’s the current frontrunner in a contest to pick a new “I Voted” sticker in upstate New York. Fourteen-year-old Hudson Rowan’s monstrous design has racked up nearly 180,000 votes in the Ulster County Board of Election’s online competition. His closest rival has a measly 6,700. Put your vote in here.

Quoted

Quoted 14.7.22

“Very often the most intolerant and narrow-minded people are the ones who congratulate themselves on their tolerance and open-mindedness.”

Christopher Hitchens