Once among the fastest ships afloat, the Cutty Sark has been stationary for almost 70 years, dry-docked beside the Thames in Greenwich. It has become one of London’s classic tourist attractions but I was to get a novel view of its teak decks, soaring masts and finely tapered prow. After two years of negotiation, Wire
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Emmanuel Macron likes to take risks. Confronted with anti-vaccination protests during the Covid-19 pandemic, the French president could have backed down as he did in the face of the anti-government gilets jaunes demonstrations three years earlier. Instead he raised the stakes, declaring his wish to “piss off” the unvaccinated and insisting that only the inoculated
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Reading Gillian Tett’s column, an inquiry into the logic of banning Russian arts in response to war crimes in Ukraine (Magazine, FT Weekend, April 16), there was a missed opportunity to draw upon Julian Barnes’s novel The Noise of Time, the semi-fictionalised account of the trials and tribulations of Dmitri Shostakovich and his perseverance in
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Andres Schipani’s report “Culture: Battle to save churches and heritage” (April 16) concludes with the comment of Father Nestor Kyzyk that “without the past we’ll never have a future”. As many as 29 churches and other historic buildings have been damaged or destroyed in Mariupol and Kharkiv. Yet Russia is a signatory to the 1954
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In “Moments to change a life” (Life & Arts, April 16) Enuma Okoro’s Easter reflections on the Emmaus story — so timely and timeless — invited us to celebrate good reading, with echoes of Archimedes’ Eureka turning point in a lightbulb moment for Mr and Mrs Cleopas in Saint Luke’s Gospel. Okoro’s optimism, coupled with
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The profile of Father Paolo Benanti (“The monk helping the Vatican take on AI”, Magazine, April 9) covered some incredibly important issues concerning the ethics of artificial intelligence. But unmentioned was AI-originated existential risk (AIXR), which is less tangible than bias or inequality, but equally profound. Some scientists and philosophers argue that ever-more-capable AI might
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Shell has begun the “nightmare” task of extricating itself from its biggest Russian energy project as China’s state-owned companies line up as the only current option for western oil and gas majors divesting Russian assets that much of the world will not touch. The UK-headquartered group is in “early stage negotiations” with Cnooc, CNPC and
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Coronavirus infection rates are falling rapidly across the UK, easing pressure on the strained health service, according to official data. About 3.7mn people were infected with Covid-19 in the week ending April 16, according to Office for National Statistics estimates published on Friday. The latest infection figures are 15 per cent lower than those recorded
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