The Week covers the Best of the British and Foreign Media. With its non partisan reporting, The Week gives the reader an insight into all the the news, people, arts, drama, property, books and how the international media has reported it. This concise guide allows the reader to be up to date and have a wealth of knowledge to allow them to discuss all these key topics with their friends and peers.

The main stories… …and how they were covered

THE WEEK

The Week

Politics

Spirit of the age

Good week for

Bad week for

Nuclear reactor talks

Windrush payments

Poll watch

The UK at a glance

Europe at a glance

The world at a glance

People

Castaway of the week • This week’s edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs featured farmer and president of the NFU, Minette Batters

Viewpoint: Among the tombstones

Farewell

The last time they banned Christmas • During the Civil War, Parliament abolished one of the high points of the English ritual year, arousing great popular resentment

How Puritans had fun

Best articles: Britain

IT MUST BE TRUE… • I read it in the tabloids

Best of the American columnists

The threat from China: will Biden be too nice to Beijing?

Best articles: International

Australia: paying the price for angering Beijing

What the scientists are saying…

The birth of a “28-year-old” baby

Australia’s ancient fish

Sport

How Gérard Houllier saved Liverpool

Sporting headlines

Pick of the week’s correspondence

The North-South divide

The Christmas quiz • Test your grasp of current affairs and general knowledge with our quiz

Books of the year • The critics’ top eight choices based on Christmas selections in national newspapers, the London Evening Standard, the TLS, The Spectator and the New Statesman

Podcasts... from Covid vaccines to high-stakes gambling

Albums of the week: seven new releases

Films to stream

Film and TV

The Good Lord Bird: a riotous abolition drama

Exhibition of the week Masterpieces from Buckingham Palace • The Queen’s Gallery, London SW1 (030-3123 7300, rct.uk). Until 31 January 2022

News from the art world

Best books… Alan Davies • The actor and comedian chooses his favourite books of memoir and fiction drawn from life. His second memoir, Just Ignore Him (Little, Brown £18.99) – about bereavement and abuse in his childhood – is out now

At-a-glance guide to the best holiday television

The Archers: what happened last week

Coming up for sale

Stylish city flats

Beetroot gravadlax with cucumber pickle and horseradish sauce • This impossibly festive and beautiful cured salmon dish will have people raving over your culinary skills long into January, says Kate Young. It takes a bit of thought and planning, but that’s par for the course at this time of year.

Four of the best food books of the year

The best... stocking fillers

Tips of the week... for a homemade Christmas

Where to find... treetop walks

Vivacious star who made her name in the Carry On films

Companies in the news ...and how they were assessed

Airbnb float: dotcom redux?

Seven days in the Square Mile

Issue of the week: deal or no deal? • The uncertainty has been paralysing for business, but how much is really at stake?

Making money: what the experts think

Pandemic slang • “Coronavirus has transformed the working world” – including its slang, says The Economist. Rather ominously, there’s a “gamut” of new euphemisms related to being fired:

Commentators

City...