Portrait of the week | 11 December 2010

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Katia Zatuliveter, 25, a Russian working for Mike Hancock, a Liberal Democrat MP who sits on the House of Commons Defence Select Committee, was arrested. She appealed against a deportation order, made after an investigation by MI5, and denied alleged links to Russian intelligence services. John Varley, the chief executive of Barclays, told a seminar: ‘It is possible that free-if-in-credit banking is a structure that has outlived its time.’ After a 17-month investigation, the Financial Services Authority found that the Royal Bank of Scotland and its former chief executive Sir Fred Goodwin were not guilty of fraud, dishonesty or failure of governance before the government bought a 70 per cent stake to prevent its collapse. Susan Philipsz, an artist who works entirely with the sound of her own voice, won the Turner Prize.

Snow and freezing temperatures returned after a day’s thaw. In Scotland 2,000 drivers were stranded on the road overnight. Representatives of energy companies told the Commons Energy Committee that prices would rise by 15 to 25 per cent by 2020. The UK National Screening Committee said that universal screening for prostate cancer using a blood test called PSA was not advisable, because of over-diagnosis. A study published in the Lancet found that in middle age a daily dose of 75mg of aspirin taken for five years notably reduced the incidence of common cancers. On Radio 4’s Today, James Naughtie accidentally but clearly pronounced the surname of Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Secretary, with an initial C.

Liberal Democrats became agitated about how to vote on the raising of university tuition fees in the Commons this week: popular choices were: for, against and abstain. David Davis, a Conservative backbencher, decided to vote against. David Chaytor, a former Labour MP, pleaded guilty to charges of false accounting in relation to his parliamentary expenses, and will be sentenced early next year.