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16-18 April

Life

The rise and fall of Imran Khan

“What’s tragic is that there once was hope for Imran Khan,” says Pia Krishnankutty in the Indian website The Print. The playboy cricketer turned politician, who was ousted as prime minister of Pakistan on Sunday, used to be something of a “national hero”. In 1992, he captained Pakistan to victory in the Cricket World Cup. After retiring from sport he went into philanthropy, raising vast amounts of money to build Pakistan’s first cancer hospital in 1994. So when Khan formed a political party in 1996, the excitement was palpable. But Khan’s stint as PM proved a huge disappointment. During his three-and-a-half-year tenure, the 69-year-old “battered” Pakistan’s economy, made the country more and more reliant on Beijing, and touted conspiracy theories that US officials (and Pakistan’s press) were out to get him.

Love etc

Brooklyn Beckham’s billionaire bride

“It may be deeply unfashionable to admit it post-pandemic, but I’m obsessed with celebrities,” says Harriet Walker in The Times. So last weekend’s super-celebrity wedding between Brooklyn Beckham and Nicola Peltz was very much up my street. He’s the 23-year-old son of a footballer and a pop star turned fashion queen; she’s the 27-year-old daughter of a billionaire hedge fund manager. They hit relationship milestones quickly. She got his name tattooed on her back, he got her eyes tattooed on his neck, they made matching necklaces with their wisdom teeth plated in gold – and within seven months of dating they were engaged. In an act of magnificent self-awareness – or, even better, a complete lack of it – their first dance was to Elvis Presley’s Only Fools Rush In.

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Tomorrow’s world

The skyscrapers made from trees

Eco-conscious architects are increasingly seeking to build skyscrapers from a distinctly old-fashioned material, says The Wall Street Journal: wood. When glued and pressed into so-called “mass timber”, wood can be as strong as concrete and steel. The number of mass-timber multistorey building projects in the US has risen 50% in 18 months, to more than 1,300. Skellefteå, a city in northeastern Sweden, has a 20-storey hotel and cultural centre “made almost entirely of spruce and pine harvested from nearby woodlands”. Elsewhere, there are proposals for a 70-storey wooden skyscraper in Tokyo and an 80-storey one in London.

Shopping

A modern cabinet of curiosities

Those who want to spend hundreds of thousands of euros on “bizarre and exclusive living room décor” should head to the Tuscan town of Arezzo, says Filippo Casini in Vice. There, they’ll find the Theatrum Mundi (“World Theatre” in Latin), an invite-only gallery “offering its extravagant but discreet services to millionaires from all over Europe”. Its weird and wonderful collection includes T-Rex teeth, an original Star Wars lightsaber, and an authentic Soviet spacesuit.
Property

THE BEACH HOUSE This Grade II clifftop cottage in Sidmouth, Devon, has views over the Jurassic Coast and is right on the scenic South West Coast Path. It has a garden with a timber-framed summer house, and five bedrooms, each with sea views. Exmouth station is a 25-minute drive away. £2.95m.

On the way out

Cricket teas, which many clubs have stopped serving for fear of being sued over allergic reactions. “I nearly choked on my pain aux raisins” when I read the news, says Giles Coren in The Times, while at the North London Cricket Club. Good thing I didn’t, as otherwise I’d have had to sue the club “out of existence”. Tea – and lunch, for all-day matches – “is the whole point of the game. The cricket is just something to pass the time between meals.”

Quoted

quoted 16.4.22

“Mama told me, be a maid in the living room, a cook in the kitchen and a mistress in the bedroom. But I hire someone to be a maid and someone to cook so I can take care of the rest.”

Jerry Hall

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