The last few days have seen political disputes and tensions reaching boiling point. Theresa May has faced a barrage of criticism from all sides surrounding her Chequers plan for Brexit, whilst seemingly preparing Britain for cyber warfare against the Russian state. And Donald Trump has been busy accusing the New York Times of treason, sedition and all other forms of heinous crimes! The Weekly's attention, however, has been drawn to another disagreement this week with a rather more comical outcome. A commercial rights dispute between the Denmark football team and the Danish Football Association (DBU) led to a situation where none of the players in the country's top two divisions, or those based overseas were eligible to play in Wednesday's international match against Slovakia. The result was that Denmark were forced to field a starting eleven which included a salesman, a student and an internet star, best known as an internet freestyle footballer with a big YouTube following. And they only lost 3-0! It almost begs the question why the politicians don't step aside too and let some of us have a go!

Headlining the property news this week was confirmation that industrial giant Segro has knocked Land Securities off its perch to claim top spot in the UK-listed property company rankings. The rise of Segro ends several decades of dominance by LandSec. Not bad for a company that was built around the humble Slough Trading Estate (immortalised forever by David Brent, aka Ricky Gervais, in the BBC Comedy "The Office"). Segro has tapped into the surge in e-commerce that has fueled the demand for warehouse and logistics space, whilst Land Securities and British Land have suffered more recently from their exposure to the traditional retail sector. Only in May, for example, LandSec took an 11% write-down on its stake in Kent's Bluewater Shopping Centre. In hindsight, Segro's decision in 2011 to sell out of retail property and regional offices looks to have been a smart move and The Weekly suspects the trajectory will continue upwards. Whilst Segro's key focus remains close to home, with the Greater London market and Thames Valley accounting for more than half their portfolio, they have also made a concerted drive to invest in Northern (13%), Central (7%) and Southern Europe (12%). The move to online shopping has been slower in continental Europe, but it is now gathering pace. Segro, again, look well-placed to reap the benefits.

As we start the third morning of the England v India Test Match, cricket fans have just one more chance to say farewell to one of England's cricketing greats. Alastair Cook's record of 161 Test Matches, 32 centuries and 12,000+ runs (and counting) has broken all records. He will leave Test cricket with the most caps, runs, hundreds, catches and wins for England. And his first innings score of 71 on Friday means he'll bow out on a batting high, even if he's mentally "run out of steam" to carry on. Breaking records have come easy for Cook, but as the release of the 2019 Guinness World Records showed this week, there are others who have to try rather harder to etch their names in the record books. Indeed, judging by some of the wackier world records we've found, some people will do almost anything to get one. Take, for example, the record holder for the fastest time to drink an entire bottle of ketchup (17.53 seconds); fastest time to pass through a toilet seat 3 times (21.04 seconds); the most walnuts to be crushed by a person's head in one minute (a staggering 217!); or the longest female leg hair (13.84 cm)! The Weekly doesn't doubt that each record requires a dedication 'of sorts', but when you gather 752 people together to form the 'largest human image of a pencil', you quickly realise that some records are worthier than others!!