The takeover of English summer time 

Wimbledon starts next week: as usual, England will provide the setting while the world’s most talented foreigners come to play each other and — Andy Murray notwithstanding — walk off with the trophies. It’s a bit like the British economy, as Harry Mount suggests in his brilliant cover essay for this week’s magazine. We know that London has become the Rome of the globalised world, but what we’re now seeing is the foreign takeover of English summer cultural events. The newcomers are enthusiastically adopting it all: Wimbledon, Ascot, even test matches at Lord’s. Last week, at the ARK fundraiser, Wills and Kate made appeared at an event where global zillionaires bid millions for charity (as Rachel Johnson also reports in her diary this week). But the royal couple were simply eye candy for the real elite, the international hedge-fund monarchy. The Derby, the sports contests, the summer fetes  — all monuments to a vision of English arcadia — are now celebrations for a global hyper-rich who obsessed with Englishness and swimming in dosh.

It’s not all bad, says Harry, and wisely. The English should be proud that foreigners are so keen to enjoy our rare, sunny moments. It’s just a shame that most English people can’t afford to join them. Well worth a read. You can buy a copy here.