Mormon temples are a common sight in many US cities, but just how much land is owned by the Mormon Church is less clear. Using a largely obscure real estate company, the Church has been expanding its holdings and is showing no signs of slowing down.

How is the Mormon Church acquiring land?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as it is officially known, largely purchases land through its real estate management brand, Property Reserve, which is “relatively unknown to many”, said Bloomberg. Through a “web of subsidiaries”, it has “accumulated billions of dollars of properties from farms and ranches to apartments and hotels, becoming one of America’s largest – and least transparent –  landowners”.

A review of property records suggests the Church owns at least 2.4 million acres, “an area almost twice the size of Delaware”, with an estimated value of more than $20 billion. As well as buying land for temples and farmland, it is now “starting to get more involved in housing and master-planned communities”. These building projects have triggered “debates over everything from water and infrastructure to environmental preservation and local control”.

What is the goal?
The Church says all of its real estate is intended to support its mission, whether the land is used for religious, historical preservation or investment purposes. The portfolio has grown “purposefully to provide durable cash flow to fund the Church’s mission”, according to a statement from Property Reserve.

The Church has been acquiring land for more than a century, and property ownership is “intertwined” with its “emphasis on self-sufficiency and preparing for the future”, said Bloomberg. Just as the Church is becoming “increasingly visible in American culture, from influencers with millions of followers to TV shows such as ‘The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’”, its “most consequential” building projects may be “on a scale that can reshape entire regions”.

This “multibillion-dollar real estate portfolio” has attracted criticism, said The Real Deal. Members are required to donate 10% of their income to the Church, but public disclosure rules on where the money goes are less strict for religious institutions than for businesses.

Founded in 1440 by King Henry VI, Eton College is a “rarefied bubble of educational privilege” that will have taught the country’s next two kings, said The Telegraph. Prince George is following his father, uncle and 20 British prime ministers in attending the £21,891-per-term boarding school.

‘Uncle’ and ‘timelord’
Prince George will be one of “250 apprehensive first years” arriving at the famed Berkshire school for their first term today, said The Telegraph. After settling into their accommodation, they will begin learning “Eton’s peculiar geography” and the typical “rhythm of the day”. School days begin with a 10-minute chapel service, followed by around seven lessons, and at least two hours of “intense sport”, as well as “EW (extra work)”.

“Eton has its own language and its own traditions,” said The Sunday Times. Each house has a “dame”, Eton’s version of a matron, who will “regularly pop in for a chat with George and the other F-Blockers”, or first years. He will also be assigned an “‘uncle’” and a “timelord” from among the older boys in his house. The former will explain the intricacies of Eton’s uniform – a “black morning suit with pinstripe trousers” – and mastering the “front studs, back studs and detachable collars”. The latter will help him arrange his schedule and extracurricular activities, which might include “22in calibre rifle shooting on the school range” or “auditioning for a play”.

‘Unique phrases’
“The school has so many unique names and phrases that there is an ‘Eton Glossary’ on its website,” said the Daily Express. George will be expected to learn and use the terms “pop” (senior prefects), “dry bobs” (those who play cricket instead of rowing in summer) and “beaks” (teachers). On day one, new pupils are quizzed on these “unique phrases of the school”, as well as the colours of each of its 25 houses. 

Even though Eton is close to Forest Lodge, his family’s eight-bedroom Windsor home, George will be a full boarder, said Hello! But he will go home “every two or three weeks”, and will have a room to himself at school, as “there are no shared rooms at Eton”.

Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem arrive at the Venice Film Festival by boat ahead of the premiere of the real-life couple’s film “Bunker”. The psychological thriller, directed by Florian Zeller, is a contender for the festival’s coveted Golden Lion award.

Laurent Vu / Sipa / Shutterstock

Sweden’s “second city” is less crowded than Stockholm, and thanks to the “icy, clean water” off the surrounding coast, Gothenburg is also known for its excellent seafood, said Arielle Domb in The Independent.

Located on the country’s southwest coastline, at the mouth of the River Göta, Gothenburg has been a “crucial” destination for the fish and shellfish trade since the 18th century. Its daily indoor fish market, Feskekörka, is housed within a building that resembles a church, with “pointed Gothic arch windows”, where “vibrant fish stalls” are piled with everything from lobsters and crayfish to whole salmon. A two-day seafood festival “celebrating west coast ingredients” takes place every September. And Gothenburg is also “brimming” with trendy restaurants and coffee shops to enjoy all year round.

If the city has one “must-see district”, it has to be Haga, said Alicia Miller in National Geographic. Grab some salty liquorice at Lakritsroten to munch while you explore the “cobbled streets and cute boutiques”, and stop to browse in the antiques shops. To “get to grips” with the city’s history, consider spending an afternoon at the Museum of Gothenburg, which is “primely placed in the 18th-century former Swedish East India Company headquarters, on the banks of Stora Hamnkanalen” (Great Harbour Canal).

Gothenburg is also within easy reach of a “beguiling” archipelago, said Lizzie Frainier in The Times. Vrångö, the southernmost inhabited island, is a 30-minute ferry ride from Saltholmen port. With fewer than 400 residents, it’s home to two “ruggedly beautiful” nature reserves, each with its own hiking trail.

Labour’s muddled migration policy won’t stop thuggery
Stephen Bush in the Financial Times
Labour has relied on the notion that rising anti-migrant unrest could be curbed “merely by reducing immigration and meeting people’s ‘legitimate concerns’”, writes Stephen Bush. Yet for a third consecutive summer, “falling net migration has been paired with emboldened far-right agitation”. The government, “unable to distinguish between legitimate concern and open hatred”, has responded with a muddled rush towards negative net migration that “neither stems the tide of illegitimate concerns nor addresses legitimate ones”.

The terror and the truthers
Ben Sixsmith in The Critic
I don’t think the “9/11 Truthers” were right, writes Ben Sixsmith, but the actions of the Bush administration “fuelled the idea that something dishonest and malicious was going on”. More recently, Covid paranoia was driven by “establishment irrationality and sweeping authoritarianism”. While conspiracy theories are sometimes “motivated by bigotry”, or simply “make their advocates feel special”, such theories “should often make the powerful ask questions of themselves” and their own behaviour.

Women who lie about having a nanny deserve a special place in hell
Celia Walden in The Telegraph
In a recent interview, TV presenter Cat Deeley praised the “amazing nanny” who looks after her sons, and I “love” her for that, writes Celia Walden. It’s a “mundane” story – “Working Woman Employs Nanny” – but for a “high-profile” mother not to echo “The Great Nanny Lie” is “such a breath of fresh air”. Many “sidestep, minimise or elide” the “judgement-inducing” disclosure that they have paid help. It’s just another way to “propagate the ‘juggle it all’ fantasy”.