How mutually intelligible are russian and ukrainian

A Private Spy: The Letters of John le Carré By John le Carré, edited by Tim Cornwell Viking. 752 pp. $40 - - - If it's the unbuttoned occasions that we approach a writer's letters for, there's a startling example in "A Private Spy," with the young John le Carré writing to the Scottish author James Kennaway in 1964 about Kennaway's novel "The Bells of Shoreditch." "You're God," le Carré tells Kennaway. But, "there were two scenes I didn't dig." Proving that the '60s vibe was as pernicious as any virus, le Carré, if not growing his hair long and wearing flowers in it, was at least letting it down and finding things to dig. Or, in this case, not. The great spy novelist was an inveterate letter-writer, and the correspondence gathered here covers his entire life, from the private pains of his school days through his courtship of his first wife, Ann - including letters to her from the Swiss Alps, where, as a member of the Downhill Only Ski Club, he trained British ski racers - … [Read more...] about Book World: Needy, defensive, kind: The John le Carré revealed in his letters

McLaren are running Oscar Piastri in their 2021 Formula 1 car at the Circuit de Catalunya this week as they prepare him for his world championship debut next year. Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free It is the third time Piastri has driven for the team since joining them from Alpine, where he was a reserve driver. Alpine gave Piastri his first experience of contemporary F1 machinery in last year’s official post-season test day. As their junior driver Piastri drove two-year-old F1 cars in private tests from 2020 to halfway through this year, when he stunned the team by signing to race for McLaren next year. McLaren are now embarking on a similar programme to the one Piastri had as an Alpine junior. His first two-day test took place at Paul Ricard at the start of November in an unspecified older car, once an agreement had been reached to allow Piastri to depart Alpine early. He then drive the team’s current car in the only day of post-season testing at Yas … [Read more...] about Piastri tests 2021 McLaren F1 car in Spain · RaceFans

Qualifying: 16-6 There was only one winner in the Haas team-mate battle, and it is fair to say it wasn’t Mick Schumacher, his failure to keep pace with Kevin Magnussen ultimately costing him his Formula 1 race seat. Schumacher found himself with a new team-mate for this year’s championship, Haas dropping his fellow 2021 rookie Nikita Mazepin due to circumstances out of the Russian driver’s hands. Perhaps it would have been a different story – and different 2023 plans – for Schumacher had that not happened. But it did, Haas recalling former driver Magnussen in the 11th hour of pre-season testing in what proved to be an inspired choice by Guenther Steiner and co. The Dane was immediately in the points, scoring on his returning with a brilliant fifth place at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Haas was up and running, the team taking the all-new technical regulations by the scruff as, like they did in 2016, they used their year off – which 2021 pretty much was – to design a decent car. … [Read more...] about Kevin Magnussen v Mick Schumacher: One clear winner, one out of a job

The Stephen F. Austin State University Board of Regents voted Tuesday to accept an invitation to join the University of Texas System, selecting the Austin-based system from four across the state that had extended invitations to join their ranks this year. Board members said all four systems — the Texas A&M University System, the Texas State University System, the Texas Tech University System and the University of Texas System — assured them that the East Texas university would be able to keep its autonomy, as well as its name, mascot and school colors. And a financial analysis showed the university would benefit financially in some form from joining any of the systems. But regents said joining the UT System was the most attractive option because of the access to funding from the Permanent University Fund, which consists of assets created by oil and gas revenue from 2.1 million acres of land in West Texas that rake in billions of dollars annually. “Any other regional … [Read more...] about SFA moves to join University of Texas System

Mika Hakkinen has cast doubt on claims Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had fallen out with outgoing team principal Mattia Binotto, as a reason behind his departure from the team. Ferrari announced Binotto had resigned from his role as team boss on Tuesday after a season in which the Scuderia improved on the performance of previous seasons, but ultimately fell well short of title glory in a car which picked up 12 pole positions in the 22-race season, converting only four of their poles into victories. Tensions have been raised at times on both sides of the garage, particularly when errors on strategy combined with reliability issues mid-season to help enable Max Verstappen to turn his points tally into an unassailable advantage. Binotto had been under pressure as a result of the near-misses Ferrari had this season, with the F1-75 proving to be at least a match for Red Bull’s RB18 at most circuits this season. When presented with the possibility that the Ferrari driver may have … [Read more...] about Mika Hakkinen sceptical of Ferrari rumours surrounding Binotto and Leclerc