Cassandra

FOR her final piece on cultural delights to be enjoyed in the coming months, Casandra used her own experience (and that of friendly food writers) to write about restaurants. She hopes that her fellow forecasters have the good fortune at least to sample one of these eateries before the year is out.

1. L'Enclume, Cartmel, Britain

Simon Rogan is a chef wedded to innovation. L’Enclume, located in the Lake District, benefits from the produce of Mr Rogan’s nearby farm and from the efforts of his culinary research project, Aulis. The restaurant has no set menu and diners are welcome to feast on whatever is in fresh supply—plates may even vary between tables.

GAYS do not exist in Sochi according to its mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov. Such a claim, reported by documentary-maker John Sweeney, jars with the statement made by Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, that homosexuals would be welcome in the city during its hosting of the winter Olympics, due to start on February 7th. A law passed in June of last year banned the promotion of “non-traditional” sexualities to those under 18 in Russia, strangling the media and damaging gay rights.

Controversy and corruption haunts Sochi: the $50 billion price-tag makes them the most expensive games ever held and many question where exactly funds have been spent.

CASSANDRA perused a new book this weekend, “Nature in the Balance: The Economics of Biodiversity”, edited by Dieter Helm and Cameron Hepburn. Even in early chapters, its revelations about the extent of biodiversity destruction around the world are concerning:

“If current trends are extrapolated, then the scale of the current extinction will be as great as, or greater than the five mass extinctions that have occurred on Earth over the past 540 million years”.

Governments must pursue credible policies, argue the two academics, to reverse the damage caused by humans in pursuit of food, fuel and financial gain.

SOME plan novels, hiding away in their rooms. Others tutor teenagers, in need of help with their maths homework. The life of a twenty-something living at home is not always glamorous. A difficult job market since the financial crisis has stalled youthful efforts to move on up the pay-scale and, crucially, to move on out of the parental domain.

Analysis released in the past week by Britain’s Office for National Statistics suggests that more than 26% of people aged between 20 and 34 live with their parents.

TOMORROW marks six months until the start of the 20th Commonwealth games in Glasgow. Scotland’s largest city will see 4,500 athletes from 70 teams competing in 17 different sports, from judo to lawn bowls. Local excitement is already mounting for the event, as seen in the video above.

Many also hope that the games will bring a needed boost to Glasgow: a decade ago the city was ranked as the poorest in Britain. Glaswegians also die younger than other Britons. A study by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, reported in The Economist, found that between 2003 and 2007 there were 4,500 more deaths in the city than might have been expected given the age and poverty of the population.

YESTERDAY evening Cassandra found herself in the cinema, enraptured and appalled by “The Wolf of Wall Street”. The excesses of Leonardo DiCaprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, may bring overdue Oscar glory to the actor (who has been nominated for an Academy Award on three previous occasions). Office parties with entertainers in various states of undress, luxury yachts and a plethora of dollar bills dazzle on screen. Mr Belfort, satisfyingly for those tired with the capitalist cornucopia on display, gets his due in the end.

HORRIFIED at the jolly excess of the festive season, many people around the world are currently experiencing a “dry January”: no booze until February 1st. The Economist recently presented the case for raising alcohol prices through taxes levied on a drink’s strength (so that the most harmful drinks are more expensive). Cassandra wishes, however, to provide some light at the end of the tunnel for the abstemious, with a choice of five wines to sip (moderately) in the coming months.

1. Vietti Rocche Barolo, Piedmont, Italy

Barolo wines are from Piedmont, in north-western Italy, and their “tar and roses” scent comes thanks to the black-skinned Nebbiolo grape.