World

When Christine Lagarde stood before the Court of Justice of the Republic last week to defend herself against charges of criminal negligence in her handling of a long-running fraud case in France, the head of the IMF concluded: ‘I have acted in conscience, in confidence and guided by the general interest.’ But today, the court decided otherwise and announced a guilty verdict. The 60-year-old need not worry about going to prison or even paying a fine – and she won’t even receive a criminal record. Yet nonetheless the verdict is a serious blow for Lagarde, and the IMF. After all, Lagarde was supposed to be the much-needed steady pair of hands

When I was ten I used to pray that I would be really, really popular at school. My prayer was so successful that every day I had to choose between five different groups in break who were all desperate to play with me. The choice was agonising. Leaving four groups disappointed — and cross — taught me to be careful what you pray for. Popular figures have greater enemies; mind you, there’s always Trump. Then, when I was a single, despo actress-writer type of person of 31, I decided I simply had to have a baby. So I started praying as an early insurance. I also attended a few mind-and-body

I have a confession to make. I go to Trump Tower in New York a lot. It’s an easy jaunt for a New York-based hack: where better to chat with Trump supporters than in its golden lobby or with opponents outside its golden doors? Maybe you’ll spot a celebrity like Kanye West or, if you are really lucky, Nigel Farage. And occasionally the place becomes the story itself, whether it’s about the expense of the secret service renting an entire floor to provide security for the next president, or this week when a sniffy restaurant review – headlined ‘Trump Grill could be the worst restaurant in America’ – prompted a miffed

Tax officials are attempting to recoup millions of pounds in tax relief granted to celebrities, according to the BBC. The monies relate to a scheme designed to kick start economic growth in deprived areas including the building of two data centres on Tyneside that remain unused some years on. The BBC says that ‘Wayne Rooney, Arsene Wenger, Jimmy Carr and Rick Parfitt were among 675 people who invested £79 million in 2011 but got back £131 million in relief – or £50 million “tax profit”‘ but ‘there is no suggestion of wrongdoing by anyone who put money into Cobalt Data Centres 2 and 3, nor that they were aware they

Transport secretary Chris Grayling says he is powerless to intervene in the dispute between Govia Thameslink, which operates the Southern Railway franchise, and the unions RMT and Aslef, whose strikes over proposals for Driver Only Operation have brought misery to passengers over a period of many months. I am not convinced. Whatever the law says, it is surely within the Government’s power to pass new legislation making it an offence for railway workers to strike, or to allow the Government to seize control of a strike-bound railway service. There is, however, an even better way for Grayling to spend his time: he should make public money available to any railway

SpeccieLeaks presents: Transcript of private meeting between President Trump and President Putin, 14 February 2017, Andreyevsky Hall, Grand Kremlin Palace PUTIN: So how are you liking Russia? TRUMP: Fabulous. Amazing. And this room — incredible. You have beautiful taste, my friend. Beautiful. PUTIN: You like gold? TRUMP: Very much. We used a tremendous amount of gold in the Trump Tower. PUTIN: Yes, it’s something. Truly. I have seen it on television. TRUMP: Those chandeliers there. How much were those? PUTIN: Well, I don’t know. But I will have this information provided to you. TRUMP: That would be great. We just opened a new hotel in DC, right next to the

On the face of it, Brits and Californians don’t have much in common: one prefers a spot of Earl Grey, the other misguidedly quaffs health-faddish Kombucha. Yet Californians and Englishmen may agree on one thing: self-government. Many golden state separatists see the successful Brexit campaign as an inspiration. In fact, on the official ‘Yes California Independence‘ website, the president of the movement – Louis J Marinelli – mentions Brexit and what it could mean for his fellow Calexiteers: In 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the international community with their ‘Brexit’ vote. Our ‘Calexit’ referendum is about California joining the international community. You have a big decision to make. Supporters of

The row about Russia’s state-sponsored doping programme will continue for years. The fact is that Russia has a long tradition of Olympic cheating. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, when the big issue in Olympic sport was amateurism, the Soviet Union and satellites sent unabashed and obvious full-time professional athletes, while the International Olympic Committee, under the mad Avery Brundage, pretended not to notice. Politics first, ethics second. The end result was that amateurism, a dubious proposition at best and in practice an element of the class war, has now gone for ever. Question: will undoped sport go the same way? Russia promotes, the IOC condones, and ethics comes second

SpeccieLeaks presents: Transcript of private meeting between President Trump and President Putin, 14 February 2017, Andreyevsky Hall, Grand Kremlin Palace   PUTIN: So how are you liking Russia? TRUMP: Fabulous. Amazing. And this room — incredible. You have beautiful taste, my friend. Beautiful. PUTIN: You like gold? TRUMP: Very much. We used a tremendous amount of gold in the Trump Tower. PUTIN: Yes, it’s something. Truly. I have seen it on television. TRUMP: Those chandeliers there. How much were those? PUTIN: Well, I don’t know. But I will have this information provided to you. TRUMP: That would be great. We just opened a new hotel in DC, right next to

Will someone please dress Melania Trump? She looks like something out of The Only Way is Essex in those tight-fitting, mono-coloured dresses, matched with the plastic smile. But the fashion industry will not intervene, for its members have discovered a moral conscience. Designers including Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford and Derek Lam have made known their extreme reluctance to deal with America’s future First Lady. ‘I’d rather put my energy into helping out those who will be hurt by Trump and his supporters,’ said Jacobs. Separately, Lam stated that he would ‘rather concentrate [his] energies on efforts towards a more just, honourable and a mutually respectful world.’ Who knew these fashion leaders