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THEWEEK 2November 2019

The main stories...

It wasn’t all bad

“Voterscanbeexcusediftheyhaveballotfatigue,”saidThe

DailyTelegraph.Weareall“BrendasfromBristol”now.But

“thiselectionisnecessary”.BrexitDayshould

havebeenthisweekand,thoughJohnsonhas

failedtomeetthedeadline,“hetriedhisbestto

getitovertheline,butwasthwartedatevery

turn”.Anelectionmeans“the coffinlidcanat

lastbenaileddownonthiscluelesszombie

Parliament”,saidtheDailyMail.Andwitha

choicebetweenJohnson’sBrexitandCorbyn’s

socialism,thiswillbethemostcrucialelection

in 40 years(seepage 53 ).“Theresultwill

defineourcountry’sdestinyforageneration.”

“TherehavebeenmanypointsintheBrexit

processwhentheUKneededanelection,”said

theFinancialTimes.“Ironically,thisisnotone

ofthem.”JohnsonreturnedfromBrusselswith

adealtowhichMPshave,inprinciple,given

theirapproval.Britain’svoters“shouldbeundernoillusion”:

thetimingoftheelection“hasbeensetfortheConservative

Party’sadvantage”.Evenso,itwillbeacloseand

unpredictablecontest,saidTheTimes.TheToriesgointothe

campaignwithahealthypolllead–butsodidTheresaMay

in2017.“The riskis that Mr Johnson’sgamblewillresolve

nothing and returnyetanother hung Parliament.”

Britainwillheadtothepollsforitsfirst

Decembergeneralelectionsince (^19) 23,afterMPs

thisweekvotedtogotothecountry.Boris

Johnson’splantoholdBritain’sthirdelection

infouryearswasapprovedby4 38 to 20 on

Tuesday;thevotewillbeheldon 12 December.

Johnsonhadtriedandfailedthreetimestoget

Parliament’sbackingforanearlyelection:a

two-thirdsmajoritywasneededunderthe

Fixed-termParliamentsAct.ButLabour

leaderJeremyCorybnfinallyagreedtodrophis

opposition,afterconfirmationfromBrusselsof

aBrexitextensionuntil 3 1Januarymeantthere

wasnolongeranyprospectofano-dealexit.

TheLiberalDemocratsandtheSNPhadalready

promisedtogivetheirsupport,arguingthatan

electionwasthebestwayofstoppingBrexit.ThePM,forhis

part,saidhewouldcampaignto“getBrexitdone”,because

delayswere“seriouslydamagingthenationalinterest”.

Johnsontoldthe 1922 CommitteeofConservative

backbenchersthatitwouldbea“toughelection”,andgave

theTory whip back to tenofthe21 MPs thathe hadexpelled

from theparty forhelping to delay Brexit lastmonth.

What happened What theeditorialssaid

Takingagamble

A Christmas election

All credittoTrump, said The WallStreetJournal.He took

agamble thatcouldhave endedin UScasualtiesand failure,

and has succeededinsendingan important

messagetothe jihadists: there can be“no

victory” for them.It’scertainly avictory

for US military ingenuity andplanning, said

The Times. But it’s only asetbackfor Isis.

The killingofOsamabinLaden dealt a

“real blowtothe morale of al-Qa’eda”.But

the killing of Baghdadi isunlikely to dothe

same to Isis, asit operatesinafar more

decentralisedway.In fact,shortly before

his death,the self-styled “emir” hadrecast

Isis as aglobal organisation with 14

“provinces”in morethan 20countries.

The big question now,said TheWashington Post, iswhether

the USwillretainthe capacity tostrike againstIsis should it

re-emergeasaforce.The US relied onadisaffected Isis fighter

working with Kurdish forces tolocate Baghdadi’s hideout, but

havingruptured relations with the Kurds,they won’t get such

help again.Operationslike this lastonewillfromnowon

becomeimpossible.

Afterafive-year manhunt, US special

forceslast week corneredthefugitive

leader ofIslamic State,AbuBakr

al-Baghdadi, inahideout in northwest

Syria.The commandos landedby night

fromeighthelicopters and stormed the

compound. Baghdadi fleddownatunnel,

andthendetonated thesuicidevesthe

was wearing,killing himself andthree

children. Despite afirefight with

Baghdadi’s bodyguards,there wereno

US casualties. AtriumphantDonald

Trump gloatedover Baghdadi’s death,

calling hima“sickand depraved”thug who haddied

“whimpering and crying and screaming”.

The presidentthankedAmerica’sformerKurdishallies,

as well as Russia,Syria andIraq fortheircooperation.

Baghdadi’s identity had been establishedahead of the raid

by DNAtestsonunderwearstolen by aKurdish spy.The

Pentagon saidhisremains were buriedat sea.

What happened What the editorials said

Baghdadi:blewuphisownchildren

The killing of Baghdadi

Parents who hate the waste

involved in buying clothes for

their babies that are outgrown

in weeks now haveamore eco-

friendly alternative: to rent them

instead. At Bundlee, which

launched last year, parents pay

amonthly subscription of £24.

For that, they getaset of 15

good quality pieces of baby

clothes (and insurance against

stains). When these have

become too small, they send

them back (to be cleaned and

re-let) and getabigger set

delivered through the post.

The Dutch non-profit that

createdafloating rig to gather

plastic from the Great Pacific

Garbage Patch has now

launchedasystem to stop

plastic getting into the sea in

the first place. The Interceptor

is asolar-powered machine

that traps plastic debris as it

flows down rivers. Its designers

hope to place the systems

in 1,000 of the world’s most

polluted rivers within five years.

They estimate that, in total,

these would pick up 50,000kg

of plastic wasteaday,reducing

the amount that flows into the

oceans by 80%.

A36-year-old

Nepalese climber and

former Gurkha has

ascended the world’s

14 highest peaks in

just 189 days –

smashing the previous

record by six years.

Nirmal Purja, who

served in Britain’s elite

Special Boat Service,

reached the summit of

the smallest of the 14

mountains that soar above 8,000 metres–Shishapangma, in China

–onTuesday. To climb all the “8000ers” isaprized challenge

among climbers. During his mission, Purja took the photo of a

winding queue to the summit of Everest that went viral earlier this

year, and also took part in four rescues of other climbers.

COVER CARTOON: HOWARD MCWILLIAM

©AFP PHOTO/NIRMAL “NIMS” PURJA (BREMONT PROJECT POSSIBLE)