The Spectator

Portrait of the week | 28 July 2016

issue 30 July 2016

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The collapse of BHS after Sir Philip Green had extracted large sums and left the business on ‘life support’, with a £571 million pension deficit, was ‘the unacceptable face of capitalism,’ said a report by the Business and the Work and Pensions select committees of the House of Commons. The British economy grew by 0.6 per cent in the quarter ending in June. A man was shot dead at a commercial pool party in Headley, Surrey, organised by Summerlyn Farquharson, known as the Female Boss Krissy, and the Jamaican reggae artist Jason White, known as Braintear Spookie. HMS Ambush, a Royal Navy Astute-class nuclear-powered submarine, was in a ‘glancing collision’ with a merchant vessel while submerged off Gibraltar.

A serviceman near RAF Marham in Norfolk was threatened with a knife by two men ‘of Middle Eastern appearance’ who tried to bundle him into a car but were fought off; police suspect an attempted abduction. Openreach, responsible for Britain’s broadband infrastructure, should become a distinct company in the BT group, but need not be sold off, decided Sharon White, the chief executive of Ofcom. Hundreds of office workers in the City of London were evacuated during a gas leak in London Wall.

Traffic queues for the ferry port of Dover were held up for 14 hours because too few people were on duty at border control booths in the town, staffed by French officials. At one stage only one French official was there to inspect the documents of passengers in hundreds of coaches. Chris Froome won the Tour de France for the third time. England beat Pakistan in the second Test at Old Trafford by 330 runs, with Joe Root scoring 254 and 71 not out, taking four catches and claiming a wicket in his only over.

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