THE WEEK THAT WAS

HER MAJESTY’S SHIP Costa Concordia, the luxury cruise ship that capsized after dashing against rocks off the coast of Tuscany, wasn’t the only stricken vessel in the news. Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, suggested, via leaked correspondence, that the nation should buy the Queen a yacht as a Jubilee gift, at an estimated cost of £60 million. With the idea floating free of its moorings, David Cameron intervened and invited private investors to fund a similar project, without taxpayer involvement. Lord Ashcroft, former deputy Tory party chairman, dug fastest and deepest, announcing he would donate £5 million to the plan. A LIGHT BLUE MONDAY Blue Monday – supposedly the most depressing day of the year – failed to live down to expectations. Inflation fell to a better-thanexpected 4.2 per cent, the improved outlook due in part to retailers attracting shoppers back to the high street with heavy discounts on clothing. Energy prices also tumbled unexpectedly, as the Big Six suppliers reduced their gas and electricity tariffs to reflect falling wholesale costs.

However, a sharp rise in unemployment saw it reach 8.4 per cent, its highest level for 17 years. And it was announced that the cost of a second-class stamp would go up more than 50 per cent – from 36p to at least 55p. LOST IN CYBERSPACE Wikipedia, the online encyclopaedia, denied access to its English-language site for a day, in protest at the US government’s proposed antipiracy legislation. Meanwhile, shares in Google, the internet search engine, fell by 10 per cent after quarterly results showed profits around $280 million short of analyst estimates. However, a rise in Apple shares, which briefly topped $400 billion on Thursday, a record for the tech company, made its value greater than the entire GDP of Greece.