This fascinating, eccentric book becomes a quirky primer on Peruvian music and culture

When I Give You My Silence was published in Spanish in 2023 its author, the Peruvian Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, rightly predicted that it would be his final novel. He died last year at the age of 89. I Give You My Silence may have been completed with the spectre of death approaching, but there is nothing morbid about this book, which is an eccentric love letter to Vargas Llosa’s native country and, in particular, its music.

The novel’s quixotic hero is a music journalist called Toño Azpilcueta. Toño always hoped to be a professor of Peruvian music, but as the novel opens, he’s earning a meagre living teaching at a girls’ school and writing articles for specialist magazines. Luckily, he’s subsidised by his longsuffering wife, Matilde. Toño is a recognisable type: the impecunious cultural obsessive. If he were British, he would be fanatical about free jazz, or some obscure Delta bluesman. But this is Peru and Toño’s particular infatuation is the vals, a Peruvian musical style that fuses the European waltz with African and indigenous Latin American traditions.

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europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This image shows a close-up of the surrounding region of the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

The data in this image were taken with Webb programme #1939 (J. Lu).

Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu; CC BY 4.0

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This image showcases the location of the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole. The images show a progressinvely closer view of the region using ground- and space-based data.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/E. Slawik/M. Zamani, ESO/S. Guisard, NASA/JPL-Caltech/S. Stolovy (Spitzer Science Center/Caltech), F. Peißker, J. Lu; CC BY 4.0

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This image features data from Webb’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) and MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) to capture the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the field that hosts the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

The data in this image were taken with Webb programmes #1939 (J. Lu), #3571 (F. Yusef-Zadeh), #2491 (N. B. Sabha), and #2075 (C. Chan).

[Image description: A dense star field fills the entire image, with countless stars scattered across a backdrop of glowing clouds in shades of red, orange, pink, white, and blue. At the centre, a brilliant concentration of stars creates a bright, almost white core surrounded by intricate filaments and wisps of illuminated gas and dust that radiate outward. Dark, irregular patches of opaque dust interrupt the glowing clouds, particularly toward the left side of the image, where they appear as silhouetted shapes against the brighter background. The surrounding stellar population varies in brightness and colour, with cool blue stars and warmer orange and red stars distributed throughout the scene.]

Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan; CC BY 4.0

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This image features data from Webb’s MIRI (Mid Infrared Instrument) to capture the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the field that hosts the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

The data in this image were taken with Webb programmes #3571 (F. Yusef-Zadeh), #2491 (N. B. Sabha), and #2075 (C. Chan).

[Image description: A bright, densely populated star cluster lies near the centre of the image, surrounded by intricate clouds of glowing gas and dust in shades of red, pink, orange, and blue. Dark lanes of dust weave through the nebula, contrasting with the luminous central region. Countless stars are scattered across the field, with a few brighter foreground stars showing Webb's characteristic diffraction spikes. An irregular black region occupies the lower-right corner of the image, indicating an area where no observational data was available.]

Credits:ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, F. Yusef-Zadeh, N. B. Sabha, C. Chan; CC BY 4.0

europeanspaceagency posted a photo:

This image features data from Webb’s NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera) to capture the most detailed mid-infrared view yet of the field that hosts the highly evolved star IRS 3, which is located just 0.55 light-years from Sagittarius A*, the Milky Way galaxy's central supermassive black hole.

An international team of astronomers have discovered that dust and water can form and survive surprisingly close to this supermassive black hole. The observations reveal that the evolved star IRS 3 continues to enrich its surroundings with newly formed material despite the intense radiation environment around Sagittarius A*.

The data in this image were taken with Webb programme #1939 (J. Lu).

[Image description: A densely packed field of stars fills the image, with a bright cluster of stars near the centre surrounded by glowing clouds of gas and dust in soft shades of red, pink, and white. Dark patches of dust appear scattered throughout the scene, contrasting with the luminous background. Several bright foreground stars display Webb's distinctive six-pointed diffraction spikes, while countless fainter stars extend across the entire image.]

Credits: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, F. Peißker, J. Lu; CC BY 4.0

De vijfde Tour de France Femmes trok een recordpubliek en eindigde met een Nederlandse eindzege. Toch verdeelde de organisatie nauwelijks meer geld dan vier jaar geleden. Eén mannenploeg verdiende in juli meer dan het complete vrouwenpeloton in augustus.

Marktaandeel bijna gelijk, portemonnee niet

Negen dagen koers, minimaal tweeënhalf uur live per dag op France 2, en een gemiddeld marktaandeel van 32,9 procent. Bij de mannen-Tour lag dat op 35,1 procent. Op de kijkersmarkt scheelt het dus nog geen drie procentpunt. In absolute bereikcijfers is de kloof groter: 23,2 miljoen Fransen keken minstens een minuut naar de vrouwen, tegen 45,6 miljoen naar de mannen. Dat is deels een kwestie van aanbod, want slechts één van de negen etappes werd integraal uitgezonden.

Op het marktaandeel scheelt het nog geen drie procentpunt. Op de bankrekening scheelt het een factor tien.

260.750 euro voor 21 ploegen

De totale prijzenpot van de Tour de France Femmes 2026 kwam uit op 260.750 euro, verdeeld over 21 ploegen. Bij de mannen ging ruim 2,3 miljoen euro rond. Eindwinnares Demi Vollering kreeg 50.000 euro voor het geel; Tadej Pogačar streek twee weken eerder 500.000 euro op. Precies een tiende, en dat percentage is sinds de herstart van de koers in 2022 nauwelijks bewogen.

De verhoudingen lopen door de hele uitslag heen. Een etappezege levert bij de vrouwen 4.000 euro op tegen 11.000 euro bij de mannen. De groene en de bolletjestrui – gewonnen door Lorena Wiebes en Puck Pieterse – zijn elk 3.000 euro waard, waar hun mannelijke collega's 25.000 euro krijgen.

Onderaan blijft het bij zakgeld

Vollerings ploeg FDJ United-SUEZ voerde het prijzengeldklassement aan met ruim 77.000 euro. Aan de andere kant van de lijst blijft er weinig over: zes ploegen verdienden minder dan duizend euro, VolkerWessels Cycling Team hield 250 euro over aan negen dagen koers en het Franse wildcardteam Mayenne Monbana My Pie ging met nul naar huis. Ter vergelijking: de slechtst verdienende mannenploeg incasseerde nog altijd een vijfcijferig bedrag.

Zes ploegen verdienden minder dan duizend euro. Eén ploeg reed negen dagen voor niets.

De kloof in cijfers

• Prijzenpot: 260.750 euro (vrouwen) tegen ruim 2,3 miljoen euro (mannen)
• Eindzege: 50.000 tegen 500.000 euro
• Etappezege: 4.000 tegen 11.000 euro
• Best verdienende ploeg: 77.080 tegen 832.750 euro
• Gemiddeld marktaandeel: 32,9 tegen 35,1 procent

Het argument van de organisatie

Organisator ASO wijst er steevast op dat de Tour de France Femmes al de rijkste wedstrijd van de vrouwenkalender is – wat klopt, en tegelijk vooral iets zegt over de rest van die kalender. De koers duurt negen in plaats van eenentwintig dagen en beslaat ongeveer een derde van de afstand. Dat verklaart een deel van het verschil, maar geen factor tien.

Ook de Franse sportminister Marina Ferrari hield de boot af: het is "een competitie die nog jong is" en die "haar eigen economische model moet vinden". Bij een recordmarktaandeel en een vijfde editie klinkt dat argument langzaam minder overtuigend.