Joe Biden says a temporary ceasefire in Gaza is “close” and could be implemented by next Monday. Hamas is reportedly considering a draft agreement, which would involve a 40-day pause in fighting and the exchange of dozens of Israeli hostages for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Sweden has cleared the final hurdle to becoming the 32nd member of Nato, after Hungary’s parliament approved Stockholm’s application. The move, which follows Finland’s accession to the defence alliance last year, seals a “major shift” in the balance of power between Russia and the West, says The New York Times. One of the world’s smallest fish can produce sounds as loud as gunshots and bulldozers. Acoustics boffins say the 12mm-long Danionella cerebrum (below) makes noises exceeding 140 decibels by tapping out vibrations on a gas-filled organ called a “swim bladder”.

Lee Anderson and the “cult of multiculturalism”

The first thing to say about the Lee Anderson fiasco, says Sherelle Jacobs in The Daily Telegraph, is that “Lee Anderson is a blockhead”. His “ludicrous” claim that Islamists have “got control” of London mayor Sadiq Khan can only have been born out of “ignorance or downright anti-Muslim prejudice”. Khan may be a “shoddy mayor”, but as far as Muslim fundamentalists are concerned, he is the ultimate “infidel”. He was shortlisted as “Islamophobe of the year” by the Islamic Human Rights Commission after he called for a complete UK ban on Hezbollah. He received death threats and was “branded an apostate” for voting in support of gay marriage.

But Anderson’s outburst is symptomatic of a deeper issue. The entire mainstream political class is so terrified of the idea that multiculturalism might not be working that they are blind to the segregation and extremism that has sprung up in pockets of the country. The noble idea of a mixed society has been usurped by the “jaw-droppingly naïve” idea that culturally distinct micro-societies within the nation state can exist “without disturbance to the general health of the nation”. Instead, an “oblivious and carnivalesque cult of multiculturalism” – one that prizes the “hipster theme park of Brick Lane”, while pretending the “grooming neighbourhoods of Rochdale” don’t exist – remains the “civic religion of the London elite”. As unsavoury as Anderson’s comments were, they tap into a “raw and rising” frustration that the political class still refuses to grapple with some very real issues: “immigration, integration and Islamic fundamentalism”.

David Cameron has been foreign secretary for a few months now, says Eleni Courea in The Guardian, “and has by all accounts loved every minute of it”. Foreign Office officials are impressed with his energy and work ethic, while diplomats say he’s a “natural mediator” who knows how to handle foreign dignitaries. As a member of the House of Lords, he has no constituency to worry about, and with Rishi Sunak focusing on the domestic front, he has near-total licence “to set British foreign policy”. One civil servant describes him as the de facto “foreign affairs PM”.

The V&A is on the hunt for a British “Swiftie” to advise them on the fan culture surrounding Taylor Swift, says the Evening Standard. The lucky candidate will be one of five part-time “superfan advisors” on current cultural trends – others include Crocs, drag and emojis – that the museum is hiring to inform its future collections. If you think you’ve got what it takes, apply here.

Why Germany has legalised weed 

Last Friday, the German parliament legalised marijuana, says Milena Hassenkamp in Der Spiegel. The original plan was to permit the sale of the drug in shops, creating “the world’s largest legal cannabis market”. But thanks to EU regulations, the situation will be rather more bureaucratic: from 1 April, your “common stoner” will be allowed to possess 25g of weed in public, and 50g – enough for 150 joints – in private. They will have to grow the grass themselves, or in “so-called cultivation associations”, and won’t be able to smoke it within sight of schools or kindergartens. These labyrinthine rules probably mean there will still be a place for good old-fashioned dealers – casual smokers “are unlikely to take the time to learn the intricacies of cannabis cultivation”. What was planned as an “election gift” to younger voters has ended as a very German muddle.

The new law is a “mess”, says Angelika Slavik in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, but it’s a “step in the right direction”. During the pandemic, the “relationship between citizens and the state” changed. This was understandable: we were dealing with a “previously unknown threat”, and no one immediately knew which measures to combat the virus would be appropriate. But out of this chaos, a governmental “we-know-what-is-right-for-you attitude” emerged. The legalisation of cannabis increases citizens’ freedom of choice instead of restricting it, and helps reverse “the current trend towards state over-protection”. After all, freedom includes “being able to make decisions for your own body”, even if those decisions include “unhealthy food, high-risk sports or too much weed on a Friday night”.

To The Times:

The reaction to the discovery of an unexploded bomb in Plymouth showed a very different attitude to risk than was normal in the postwar years. In 1948, I attended a boarding school next to a disused army training ground, where we were allowed to play. On the gate was a notice that said: “Any boy finding live ammunition MUST bring it to the headmaster’s study without delay.” The notice was removed after someone took in a hand grenade.

Adam Lewis
Radlett, Herts

It’s a 4,000-year-old tube of lipstick, says Smithsonian Magazine. The delicate vial containing a “deep red paste” was unearthed in Iran in 2001, when a river flooded several ancient graveyards. The mixture “bears a striking resemblance to the recipes of contemporary lipsticks”, according to researchers, who also found “vegetal fibres” that suggest the ancient slap may have produced a subtle scent.