Spare our hotels from Michelin madness

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Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, for bravely taking a dip in the Seine to prove the water is clean enough for Olympic events. Swimming in the capital’s river has been banned since 1923 because of health risks, says The Guardian. In 1990, then mayor Jacques Chirac “promised to make it clean enough to swim in, but failed”. After a monumental clean-up effort ahead of the Games, which begin on Friday, the waters have finally been declared safe. Bravo!

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Football fan Dan Thomas, for being so confident of England’s success in Sunday’s Euros final that he had a tattoo of the trophy and the words “England Euro 2024 Winners” inked on his leg several days before the big game. The 29-year-old data consultant insists he doesn’t regret it, and says he’ll just turn the four into an eight when England win the next tournament in 2028. It’s not a pretty sight, but if you really want to see it click here.

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Paul Kagame, who swept to victory in the Rwandan elections this week with a huge and not in any way suspicious 99% of the vote. The 66-year-old strongman, who has led the country since 2000, may have slightly boosted his winning margin by banning his top rivals from running.

Podcast: The Arc of Love with Esther Perel
Celebrated psychotherapist Esther Perel (pictured) has drawn together some of her best observations about love from her seminal podcast Where Should We Begin?, which features real-life therapy sessions with couples tackling dilemmas ranging from polyamory to divorce. The Arc of Love features a handful of partners who map out the different stages of a relationship – from young love to deciding whether to have children. “Perel’s thought-provoking questions take you right into the therapy room,” says The Guardian, “and her wise asides bring you out.” 54 minutes each.

TV: Omnivore
This new Apple TV+ series is a “beautiful, contemplative and appetising culinary journey around the world in eight ingredients”, says Dan Einav in the FT. It’s created and narrated by René Redzepi, co-owner of Copenhagen’s world-famous Noma restaurant, and each episode follows one ingredient from its place of origin to the kitchen: you see local paprika producers in Serbia; salt being excavated from a dried lake bed in Djibouti; a sushi artisan in Tokyo who “slices a hulking slab of fresh tuna into delectable morsels”. Some of the narration is overdone, but this is still “a feast for the senses”. Eight episodes, around 40 minutes each.

America’s “first superstar sex therapist”

When Ruth Westheimer began her sex advice radio show in 1980, says The Washington Post, few imagined it would become a hit. Westheimer, who has died aged 96, was a 52-year-old therapist with a thick German accent; the show, Sexually Speaking, was just 15 minutes long and aired on local New York radio after midnight on Sundays. But Americans couldn’t get enough. They loved her candid, no-nonsense approach, and “Dr Ruth” soon became America’s “first superstar sex therapist”. She had syndicated radio and TV shows; wrote a column for Playgirl magazine and several bestselling books; and appeared in ads for everything from soft drinks to (inevitably) condoms. Comedians often mocked the 4ft 7in broadcaster’s accent, once described as “a cross between Henry Kissinger and a canary”. But she knew her grandmotherly persona was central to her appeal. “If I had been young and pretty,” she said, “it wouldn’t have worked.”

Born in Wiesenfeld, Germany, in 1928, Westheimer endured a traumatic childhood in which most of her Jewish family were presumed murdered at Auschwitz, says The Economist. She became a lifelong Zionist, training as a sniper for a Jewish paramilitary organisation, before moving to New York in 1956. Despite her perky catchphrase – “get some!” – Dr Ruth was against casual sex and emphasised the value of long-term relationships. (She herself was married three times.) Much of her advice was wonderfully simple. Bored in the bedroom? “Try new positions, perhaps just on Wednesdays.” He wants more sex than you? “Give him an orgasm. It only takes two minutes!” She felt she was performing a public service, akin to a food writer swapping recipes. “I believe in educating people to be sexual gourmets,” she said. “Why keep the excitement of sexual exploration to ourselves?”