IHT Quick Read: April 13

The United States imposed new sanctions Friday on about two dozen Russians accused of human rights violations, and Moscow vowed to retaliate as a fractious dispute between the two countries escalated further into a cold war-style, tit-for-tat clash. The Obama administration barred 18 Russians from traveling to the United States and froze any assets they may have here under a new law intended to punish human rights violations. A handful of other more highly placed officials, including the head of the Russian region of Chechnya, were put on a list not publicly revealed. Russian officials promised to ban a like number of Americans. Peter Baker reports from Washington and Ellen Barry from Moscow.

As they have every April for decades, wine merchants from around the world donned their tweed jackets, tucked in their pocket squares and descended on Bordeaux this week to assess the latest vintage. In visits to revered chateaus in localities like Pomerol, Margaux and Saint-Estèphe, they swirled, sniffed, spat and scored the 2012 Bordeaux. But this year one of the biggest names, Château Latour, will not be available when the other 2012 wines go on sale in the coming weeks. Anyone who wants the 2012 Latour will have to wait years, thanks to a decision by the chateau’s owner, the French billionaire François Pinault, to withhold the wine from the annual sale of Bordeaux futures. Eric Pfanner reports from Pauillac, France.

As Zimbabwe prepares to choose a new president this year in long-awaited elections, voters are increasingly questioning the erstwhile opposition, the only serious challenger to the tight grip Mr. Mugabe and his party, ZANU-PF, have held on this nation for decades. Morgan Tsvangirai’s underdog movement has long been the vessel of millions of Zimbabweans’ hopes for a more democratic, peaceful and prosperous future in what was once one of Africa’s most stable and wealthy nations. But four years of governing alongside Mr. Mugabe â€" and in some ways, analysts say, being co-opted by him and his allies â€" has taken a toll on its reputation. Lydia Polgreen reports from Harare, Zimbabwe.

Silicon Valley is battling in Washington to make the immigration process easier for thousands of people, many of them Indian engineers, while also pushing to hire many more guest workers from abroad. Rarely has the industry been so single-mindedly focused on a national policy issue, with executives like Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook and John T. Chambers of Cisco personally involved. Its efforts seem to be paying off, as a group of eight senators negotiate details of a comprehensive immigration deal to be announced early next week. Somini Sengupta reports from San Francisco.

ARTS For those who are thinking of hanging Old Master paintings on their walls without spending millions, there is good news: it can be done in those midseason events that auction house marketing departments omit to hype. This week, Sotheby’s held one of those sessions, where the offerings Wednesday ranged from works vaguely reminiscent of the work of known masters to newly discovered masterpieces of considerable importance. Souren Melikian reports from London.

SPORTS The elite Formula One racing series faces a test as broadcasting rights change hands, shifting Formula One’s traditional free television base to pay TV, raising the question of whether it can maintain audience levels. Brad Spurgeon reports.

First Tastes of the 2012 Bordeaux

PAUILLAC, Franceâ€"I joined hundreds of wine buyers and critics for the annual tastings of the new vintage in Bordeaux this week. But amid all the talk of business, the wines themselves sometimes seemed to be overshadowed. So how does 2012 Bordeaux look

Assessing the quality of a vintage at this stage, only a half-year after the harvest and a year or so before the wines will even be bottled, is always tricky. That caveat is especially relevant for 2012.

Certain Bordeaux vintages lend themselves to easy generalizations. 2009 was good across the board, producing opulent, delicious wines that appealed to critics and consumers. 2010 was equally good or even better at the high end, yielding classic wines for long aging. 2011 was several notches below its two predecessors, but produced some very good white wines.

Now comes 2012, which defies generalizations. There are good wines from almost every part of Bordeaux, at almost every price level â€" and very disappointing ones, too. Quality is unusually heterogeneous. It is what is sometimes called, euphemistically, a “winemaker’s vintage,” one that favors those with the skills and experience to deal with a challenging growing season.

Spring was cool and wet, delaying flowering and development of the grapes. A brighter August and September saved the vintage, but the vines struggled to make up for their late start. While some vintages are picked in September, 2012 dragged well into October - and then the chateaus had to work overtime to harvest before the rains set in.

“We had to bring in all our pickers from all our properties and pay them well to keep them smiling,” said Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.

In these conditions, merlot, one of the two main red varieties in Bordeaux, fared relatively well, because it ripens quickly. But the other important red grape of Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, did not always develop fully.

In theory, this ought to have favored the wines of the “Right Bank” of Bordeaux - appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, to the east of the Gironde estuary - which rely heavily on merlot. The “Left Bank,” which includes Pessac-Léognan and the Medoc appellations of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe ought to have suffered.

To some extent, this was borne out by my tasting. Pomerol seems to have been the most favored red appellation in 2012, with plenty of ripe, rich yet nicely balanced wines, including Chateau Petit-Village and La Conseillante. Yet Saint-Emilion, even though just next door to Pomerol, was much less impressive, with many wines showing unpleasant herbaceous flavors - or worse, clumsy efforts to cover them up.

On the Left Bank, the wines were all over the map; some were powerful and structured, resembling the 2010s in style if not in quality, while others were light and airy. Some were smooth and refined while others showed harsh, drying tannins.

From the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, I liked chateaus Lynch-Bages, Batailley, Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Pierre and Rauzan-Ségla. Some less heralded estates, like Grand-Puy Ducasse, Les Ormes de Pez and Phélan-Ségur, also made a good impression.

From Pessac-Léognan, south of Bordeaux, I was impressed with Domaine de Chevalier and chateaus Pape-Clément, Fieuzal and Seguin.

This is definitely a vintage to taste before buying. Sampling several hundred red Bordeaux in their formative stage is less fun than it might sound; after a day of dawn-to-dusk tastings, your teeth and gums are stained purple, your tongue hurts and you generally resemble a character in a teenage vampire film, though you feel considerably older.

At that point, it is always nice to turn your attention to the whites. The dry whites of 2012 are satisfactory, though perhaps a notch below those of 2011, which I liked for their freshness, and those of 2010, which have a tangy intensity that is captivating.

The wild cards of 2012 are the sweet wines Sauternes. Here the vintage was even more difficult than elsewhere in Bordeaux. The yields in the vineyards were tiny, and producers struggled to reach the concentration that is customary for these rich, unctuous wines. Several of the biggest names, including chateaus d’Yquem, Suduiraut and Rieussec, decided not to make any wine at all.

With that in mind, I had low expectations when I headed into the Sauternes tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. True, these wines are rather light; this is not a Sauternes vintage to keep for decades. But many of the wines showed excellent botrytis - the “noble rot” that gives Sauternes its distinctive complexity. They were also very fresh, in a nervous, energetic way that I liked. Among others, chateaus Doisy-Daëne, Myrat, Sigalas-Rabaud, Coutet, Rayne-Vigneau, Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Lafaurie-Peyraguey all seem to have pulled through nicely.

First Tastes of the 2012 Bordeaux

PAUILLAC, Franceâ€"I joined hundreds of wine buyers and critics for the annual tastings of the new vintage in Bordeaux this week. But amid all the talk of business, the wines themselves sometimes seemed to be overshadowed. So how does 2012 Bordeaux look

Assessing the quality of a vintage at this stage, only a half-year after the harvest and a year or so before the wines will even be bottled, is always tricky. That caveat is especially relevant for 2012.

Certain Bordeaux vintages lend themselves to easy generalizations. 2009 was good across the board, producing opulent, delicious wines that appealed to critics and consumers. 2010 was equally good or even better at the high end, yielding classic wines for long aging. 2011 was several notches below its two predecessors, but produced some very good white wines.

Now comes 2012, which defies generalizations. There are good wines from almost every part of Bordeaux, at almost every price level â€" and very disappointing ones, too. Quality is unusually heterogeneous. It is what is sometimes called, euphemistically, a “winemaker’s vintage,” one that favors those with the skills and experience to deal with a challenging growing season.

Spring was cool and wet, delaying flowering and development of the grapes. A brighter August and September saved the vintage, but the vines struggled to make up for their late start. While some vintages are picked in September, 2012 dragged well into October - and then the chateaus had to work overtime to harvest before the rains set in.

“We had to bring in all our pickers from all our properties and pay them well to keep them smiling,” said Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.

In these conditions, merlot, one of the two main red varieties in Bordeaux, fared relatively well, because it ripens quickly. But the other important red grape of Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, did not always develop fully.

In theory, this ought to have favored the wines of the “Right Bank” of Bordeaux - appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, to the east of the Gironde estuary - which rely heavily on merlot. The “Left Bank,” which includes Pessac-Léognan and the Medoc appellations of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe ought to have suffered.

To some extent, this was borne out by my tasting. Pomerol seems to have been the most favored red appellation in 2012, with plenty of ripe, rich yet nicely balanced wines, including Chateau Petit-Village and La Conseillante. Yet Saint-Emilion, even though just next door to Pomerol, was much less impressive, with many wines showing unpleasant herbaceous flavors - or worse, clumsy efforts to cover them up.

On the Left Bank, the wines were all over the map; some were powerful and structured, resembling the 2010s in style if not in quality, while others were light and airy. Some were smooth and refined while others showed harsh, drying tannins.

From the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, I liked chateaus Lynch-Bages, Batailley, Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Pierre and Rauzan-Ségla. Some less heralded estates, like Grand-Puy Ducasse, Les Ormes de Pez and Phélan-Ségur, also made a good impression.

From Pessac-Léognan, south of Bordeaux, I was impressed with Domaine de Chevalier and chateaus Pape-Clément, Fieuzal and Seguin.

This is definitely a vintage to taste before buying. Sampling several hundred red Bordeaux in their formative stage is less fun than it might sound; after a day of dawn-to-dusk tastings, your teeth and gums are stained purple, your tongue hurts and you generally resemble a character in a teenage vampire film, though you feel considerably older.

At that point, it is always nice to turn your attention to the whites. The dry whites of 2012 are satisfactory, though perhaps a notch below those of 2011, which I liked for their freshness, and those of 2010, which have a tangy intensity that is captivating.

The wild cards of 2012 are the sweet wines Sauternes. Here the vintage was even more difficult than elsewhere in Bordeaux. The yields in the vineyards were tiny, and producers struggled to reach the concentration that is customary for these rich, unctuous wines. Several of the biggest names, including chateaus d’Yquem, Suduiraut and Rieussec, decided not to make any wine at all.

With that in mind, I had low expectations when I headed into the Sauternes tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. True, these wines are rather light; this is not a Sauternes vintage to keep for decades. But many of the wines showed excellent botrytis - the “noble rot” that gives Sauternes its distinctive complexity. They were also very fresh, in a nervous, energetic way that I liked. Among others, chateaus Doisy-Daëne, Myrat, Sigalas-Rabaud, Coutet, Rayne-Vigneau, Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Lafaurie-Peyraguey all seem to have pulled through nicely.

First Tastes of the 2012 Bordeaux

PAUILLAC, Franceâ€"I joined hundreds of wine buyers and critics for the annual tastings of the new vintage in Bordeaux this week. But amid all the talk of business, the wines themselves sometimes seemed to be overshadowed. So how does 2012 Bordeaux look

Assessing the quality of a vintage at this stage, only a half-year after the harvest and a year or so before the wines will even be bottled, is always tricky. That caveat is especially relevant for 2012.

Certain Bordeaux vintages lend themselves to easy generalizations. 2009 was good across the board, producing opulent, delicious wines that appealed to critics and consumers. 2010 was equally good or even better at the high end, yielding classic wines for long aging. 2011 was several notches below its two predecessors, but produced some very good white wines.

Now comes 2012, which defies generalizations. There are good wines from almost every part of Bordeaux, at almost every price level â€" and very disappointing ones, too. Quality is unusually heterogeneous. It is what is sometimes called, euphemistically, a “winemaker’s vintage,” one that favors those with the skills and experience to deal with a challenging growing season.

Spring was cool and wet, delaying flowering and development of the grapes. A brighter August and September saved the vintage, but the vines struggled to make up for their late start. While some vintages are picked in September, 2012 dragged well into October - and then the chateaus had to work overtime to harvest before the rains set in.

“We had to bring in all our pickers from all our properties and pay them well to keep them smiling,” said Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.

In these conditions, merlot, one of the two main red varieties in Bordeaux, fared relatively well, because it ripens quickly. But the other important red grape of Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, did not always develop fully.

In theory, this ought to have favored the wines of the “Right Bank” of Bordeaux - appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, to the east of the Gironde estuary - which rely heavily on merlot. The “Left Bank,” which includes Pessac-Léognan and the Medoc appellations of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe ought to have suffered.

To some extent, this was borne out by my tasting. Pomerol seems to have been the most favored red appellation in 2012, with plenty of ripe, rich yet nicely balanced wines, including Chateau Petit-Village and La Conseillante. Yet Saint-Emilion, even though just next door to Pomerol, was much less impressive, with many wines showing unpleasant herbaceous flavors - or worse, clumsy efforts to cover them up.

On the Left Bank, the wines were all over the map; some were powerful and structured, resembling the 2010s in style if not in quality, while others were light and airy. Some were smooth and refined while others showed harsh, drying tannins.

From the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, I liked chateaus Lynch-Bages, Batailley, Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Pierre and Rauzan-Ségla. Some less heralded estates, like Grand-Puy Ducasse, Les Ormes de Pez and Phélan-Ségur, also made a good impression.

From Pessac-Léognan, south of Bordeaux, I was impressed with Domaine de Chevalier and chateaus Pape-Clément, Fieuzal and Seguin.

This is definitely a vintage to taste before buying. Sampling several hundred red Bordeaux in their formative stage is less fun than it might sound; after a day of dawn-to-dusk tastings, your teeth and gums are stained purple, your tongue hurts and you generally resemble a character in a teenage vampire film, though you feel considerably older.

At that point, it is always nice to turn your attention to the whites. The dry whites of 2012 are satisfactory, though perhaps a notch below those of 2011, which I liked for their freshness, and those of 2010, which have a tangy intensity that is captivating.

The wild cards of 2012 are the sweet wines Sauternes. Here the vintage was even more difficult than elsewhere in Bordeaux. The yields in the vineyards were tiny, and producers struggled to reach the concentration that is customary for these rich, unctuous wines. Several of the biggest names, including chateaus d’Yquem, Suduiraut and Rieussec, decided not to make any wine at all.

With that in mind, I had low expectations when I headed into the Sauternes tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. True, these wines are rather light; this is not a Sauternes vintage to keep for decades. But many of the wines showed excellent botrytis - the “noble rot” that gives Sauternes its distinctive complexity. They were also very fresh, in a nervous, energetic way that I liked. Among others, chateaus Doisy-Daëne, Myrat, Sigalas-Rabaud, Coutet, Rayne-Vigneau, Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Lafaurie-Peyraguey all seem to have pulled through nicely.

First Tastes of the 2012 Bordeaux

PAUILLAC, Franceâ€"I joined hundreds of wine buyers and critics for the annual tastings of the new vintage in Bordeaux this week. But amid all the talk of business, the wines themselves sometimes seemed to be overshadowed. So how does 2012 Bordeaux look

Assessing the quality of a vintage at this stage, only a half-year after the harvest and a year or so before the wines will even be bottled, is always tricky. That caveat is especially relevant for 2012.

Certain Bordeaux vintages lend themselves to easy generalizations. 2009 was good across the board, producing opulent, delicious wines that appealed to critics and consumers. 2010 was equally good or even better at the high end, yielding classic wines for long aging. 2011 was several notches below its two predecessors, but produced some very good white wines.

Now comes 2012, which defies generalizations. There are good wines from almost every part of Bordeaux, at almost every price level â€" and very disappointing ones, too. Quality is unusually heterogeneous. It is what is sometimes called, euphemistically, a “winemaker’s vintage,” one that favors those with the skills and experience to deal with a challenging growing season.

Spring was cool and wet, delaying flowering and development of the grapes. A brighter August and September saved the vintage, but the vines struggled to make up for their late start. While some vintages are picked in September, 2012 dragged well into October - and then the chateaus had to work overtime to harvest before the rains set in.

“We had to bring in all our pickers from all our properties and pay them well to keep them smiling,” said Olivier Bernard of Domaine de Chevalier in the Pessac-Léognan appellation.

In these conditions, merlot, one of the two main red varieties in Bordeaux, fared relatively well, because it ripens quickly. But the other important red grape of Bordeaux, cabernet sauvignon, did not always develop fully.

In theory, this ought to have favored the wines of the “Right Bank” of Bordeaux - appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, to the east of the Gironde estuary - which rely heavily on merlot. The “Left Bank,” which includes Pessac-Léognan and the Medoc appellations of Margaux, Saint-Julien, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe ought to have suffered.

To some extent, this was borne out by my tasting. Pomerol seems to have been the most favored red appellation in 2012, with plenty of ripe, rich yet nicely balanced wines, including Chateau Petit-Village and La Conseillante. Yet Saint-Emilion, even though just next door to Pomerol, was much less impressive, with many wines showing unpleasant herbaceous flavors - or worse, clumsy efforts to cover them up.

On the Left Bank, the wines were all over the map; some were powerful and structured, resembling the 2010s in style if not in quality, while others were light and airy. Some were smooth and refined while others showed harsh, drying tannins.

From the Medoc, north of Bordeaux, I liked chateaus Lynch-Bages, Batailley, Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Pierre and Rauzan-Ségla. Some less heralded estates, like Grand-Puy Ducasse, Les Ormes de Pez and Phélan-Ségur, also made a good impression.

From Pessac-Léognan, south of Bordeaux, I was impressed with Domaine de Chevalier and chateaus Pape-Clément, Fieuzal and Seguin.

This is definitely a vintage to taste before buying. Sampling several hundred red Bordeaux in their formative stage is less fun than it might sound; after a day of dawn-to-dusk tastings, your teeth and gums are stained purple, your tongue hurts and you generally resemble a character in a teenage vampire film, though you feel considerably older.

At that point, it is always nice to turn your attention to the whites. The dry whites of 2012 are satisfactory, though perhaps a notch below those of 2011, which I liked for their freshness, and those of 2010, which have a tangy intensity that is captivating.

The wild cards of 2012 are the sweet wines Sauternes. Here the vintage was even more difficult than elsewhere in Bordeaux. The yields in the vineyards were tiny, and producers struggled to reach the concentration that is customary for these rich, unctuous wines. Several of the biggest names, including chateaus d’Yquem, Suduiraut and Rieussec, decided not to make any wine at all.

With that in mind, I had low expectations when I headed into the Sauternes tasting, but was pleasantly surprised. True, these wines are rather light; this is not a Sauternes vintage to keep for decades. But many of the wines showed excellent botrytis - the “noble rot” that gives Sauternes its distinctive complexity. They were also very fresh, in a nervous, energetic way that I liked. Among others, chateaus Doisy-Daëne, Myrat, Sigalas-Rabaud, Coutet, Rayne-Vigneau, Clos Haut-Peyraguey and Lafaurie-Peyraguey all seem to have pulled through nicely.

In the Hytner Era, the National Theater Hit Its Mark

LONDONâ€"At last, a date has been named. I’m referring not to the next general election but to a handover to come that may loom larger in the minds of culturally minded Britons. Nicholas Hytner has announced that he will step down at the end of March, 2015 as artistic director of the National Theater, a position he has filled with considerable glory since 2003, over time repositioning the primacy of the three-auditorium complex as arguably the defining theatrical address in the English-speaking world.

That may be a lofty claim, but it is borne out by Mr. Hytner’s track record, both critically and commercially â€"and this coming from a softspoken director of theater, opera and film who, before taking on the National, had never run anything in his life.

Mr. Hytner had barely settled at his desk when he programmed “Jerry Springer: The Opera,” a deliberately rude, scabrous musical that would have been unimaginable under the auspices of his predecessor, Trevor Nunn. The production went on to transfer to the West End and suggested that the National under its new leader might not be business as usual. Nor has it been, as the ensuing decade has proved.

Mr. Hytner still has two more years to go, so there’s the potential for many a further ace up his sleeve. Interest looms especially high in “The Light Princess,” directed by Marianne Elliott (“War Horse”) and opening later this year in the mid-sized Lyttelton. That show marks the musical theater debut of the American singer-songwriter Tori Amos, whose absorption within the ad hoc family of National creatives bears testament to Mr. Hytner’s desire to fling the doors of his building wide open.

Such healthy eclecticism is evidenced by a quick scan of the productions that the National has sent to Broadway over the past decade. Those range from Tony-winning hits like “War Horse,” “The History Boys” and “One Man, Two Guvnors” to brave misfires (in commercial terms, that is) like the director Melly Still’s production of “Coram Boy” and Simon Russell Beale and Essie Davis in a revival of Tom Stoppard’s “Jumpers.”

Closer to home, the National’s gift for feeding the West End is currently at an all-time high with four of its productions running concurrently in London’s commercial thoroughfare. Among those, Ms. Elliott’s staging of Simon Stephens’splay “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” nominated for eight 2013 Olivier Awards, is tipped to be the next National venture to cross the Atlantic. Expect a Tony or two to follow.

With respect to the National repertory under his watch, Mr. Hytner shook things up by proclaiming that he wasn’t necessarily going to play to his established strengths. That’s to say that the man who directed arguably the finest revival of a classic musical in my experience - his 1992 “Carousel” for the National, a production subsequently seen on Broadway - has yet to dip into the canonical musical ranks during his National regime. That, again, exists in stark contrast to Mr. Nunn’s occupancy of the same job.

Instead, Mr. Hytner’s chosen musicals have tended toward the defiantly quirky and new (“Jerry Springer,” “London Road”) or British premieres of New York shows that needed the cushion of a subsidized playhouse to get ahead overseas - “Fela!”, for instance, or “Caroline, or Change,” the second of which made a clean sweep of all three London theater awards during the 2006-7 season.

Nor has Mr. Hytner’s National championed any narrow definition of the word “play.” Sure, there have been the expected collaborations with Alan Bennett, Mr. Hytner’s longtime friend and colleague, on plays ranging from the sublime (“The History Boys,” the undervalued “Habit of Art”) to the ridiculous (the current “People”), while classic revivals have encompassed both the familiar (“Hamlet,” “The Cherry Orchard,” “Saint Joan”) and the exotic (Ibsen’s epic “Emperor and Galilean,” with a cast of 50).

But such titles have co-existed pretty much throughout with experimental pieces like “The Animals and Children Took to the Streets,” which was first seen at south London’s Battersea Arts Center before shifting homes to the weighty imprimatur that came with its new address. Ditto the National’s support of Shunt, a site-specific performance troupe that has performed at a variety of unusual locales around the capital. Mr. Hytner’s gifts as advocate, too, cannot be ignored, the director often acting as spokesperson for the necessity of theater nationwide in a country that over time has watched more than a quarter of its regional theaters vanish for funding reasons.

It would be fatuous to claim that every one of the 200-plus shows that Mr. Hytner has curated has struck gold. Those who made it through - and many did not - even such recent offerings as “The Captain of Kopenick,” “Travelling Light,” and “Damned by Despair” can testify to the essential fallibility of any institution that programs as many as 25 shows a year. But the successes have tended to resound more loudly than ever, their global import strengthened by the creation under Mr. Hytner’s directorship of NT Live, which has enabled the National’s output to be screened worldwide. That project was begun in 2009 with Mr. Hytner’s own revival of Racine’s “Phedre,” starring Helen Mirren in the title role. At the same time, an initiative sponsored by Travelex has helped keep seat prices affordable (and enabled its sponsor, Lloyd Dorfman, to get the smallest of the National’s houses named for him in due course).

What next The British press is abuzz with double-page spreads speculating on Mr. Hytner’s successor, with names ranging from the high-profile (Sam Mendes, Stephen Daldry) to more definite dark-horse entries (the actor-turned-director Daniel Evans, for instance). Ms. Elliott seems to be the preferred name of choice, though she has gone on record saying she doesn’t want the job.

Then again, so did Mr. Hytner at various points way back when. And look what happened to him.

Matt Wolf is the theater critic for the International Herald Tribune.

Britain to Go After Companies Exploiting Unpaid Interns

LONDON â€" Companies accused of using unpaid interns to do full-time work are facing investigation by Britain’s tax authorities to determine whether they are breaking the country’s minimum wage law.

Intern Aware, a group that campaigns for the rights of interns, welcomed on Friday a decision by Jo Swinson, the employment minister, to hand over the group’s list of 100 alleged offenders to the tax collector.

In a letter to the group, Ms. Swinson said the list would be treated as intelligence to identify employers who were breaking the rules.

The London-based group represents one of a number of campaigns that have sprung up around the world to expose abuse of the growing phenomenon of unpaid internships.

“The movement is growing in various places around the world, including the United States, France, Canada and Australia,” Gus Baker, the organization’s co-director, told Rendezvous.

As full-time work becomes scarcer for young people in Europe and elsewhere, a growing number face the prospect of working for nothing in the hope that their unpaid internships will turn into paid employment. Indeed, it has become a defining characteristic of this generation, wrote Teddy Wayne in The New York Times last month.

“The notion of the traditional entry-level job is disappearing,” Ross Perlin, the author of “Intern Nation: How to Earn Nothing and Learn Little in the Brave New Economy,” told Teddy.

Steven Greenhouse, the doyen of labor reporters in the U.S., wrote last year on the American experience:

“While unpaid postcollege internships have long existed in the film and nonprofit worlds, they have recently spread to fashion houses, book and magazine publishers, marketing companies, public relations firms, art galleries, talent agencies â€" even to some law firms.”

Mr. Baker of Intern Aware said there is a growing culture of unpaid internships in Britain and elsewhere that campaigners say is leaving young people eager to get into the job market open to exploitation. He said 100,000 people were working without pay in Britain alone.

Legitimate internship programs are designed to give would-be employees supervised workplace experience, sometimes with the prospect of future employment.

Even in those cases, fair wage activists are concerned that unpaid internships offer a potential advantage to those from more affluent families with the resources to fund them, excluding poorer applicants from the best job opportunities.

The companies that are on the list that is going to the tax man are accused of hiring interns to do work that would otherwise have to be paid for, contrary to the law.

In Britain, many of those working for no pay may be legally entitled to receive the minimum wage, which is on a sliding scale according to age, rising to £6.19, or $9.50, an hour for workers over 21.

A spokesman for the British government’s department of business said, “Internships can be a valuable way of helping young people get into work and realize their ambitions.”

But he reminded employers that if interns were regarded as workers under minimum wage legislation they were entitled to be paid. He said that any complaints about exploitation would be fast-tracked to the tax authorities.

However, as Steve Greenhouse noted in his article on the U.S. situation, unpaid interns are loath to file complaints for fear of jeopardizing future job prospects.

The British activists have not revealed which companies are on their target list.

However, Britain’s Independent newspaper just highlighted one unpaid job on offer at Reading F.C., an English premier league soccer club.

It noted that the club, owned by a wealthy Russian businessman, paid its top players the equivalent of $2.3 million a year, while an advertised one-year internship for a “performance analyst” offered neither salary nor expenses.

Are unpaid internships an inevitable part of the 21st century labor market Or are some companies exploiting vulnerable job-seekers to get something for nothing Tell us what you think. And let us know of your personal experiences.

IHT Quick Read: April 12

NEWS A report on the first three victims of the H7N9 bird flu, by researchers from China, was published with commentary from American health officials, who said the disease “raised many urgent questions.” Denise Grady reports.

A new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile. Thom Shanker, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt report from Washington.

Russia, the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas, is making a bet that methane-powered cars are an alluring market for future growth. Andrew E. Kramer reports from Moscow.

A draft document prepared for Cyprus’s international lenders set the total cost at 23 billion euros, or about $30 billion, rather than 17 billion euros, and said Cyprus would pay the difference. Liz Alderman reports from Athens.

Three prisoners in the German state of Hesse are suspected by prosecutors in Frankfurt of trying to provide support to neo-Nazis behind bars. Melissa Eddy reports from Berlin.

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler â€" Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg â€" are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls. Nathaniel Popper and Peter Lattman report.

A government study released Thursday supports what many German consumers have long suspected: Internet broadband service is much slower than advertised. Kevin J. O’Brien reports from Berlin.

ARTS The American film “Django Unchained” was abruptly pulled from theaters in China on Thursday, its opening day, a surprising move that underscored the fragility of Hollywood’s evolving relationship with the Chinese movie industry. Gerry Mullany reports from Hong Kong and Michael Cieply from New York.

A French civil court judge said she will rule Friday on whether a major auction of sacred Hopi Indian artifacts can go forward in Paris despite claims by the tribe that they were stolen and that selling them is sacrilegious. Tom Mashberg reports.

SPORTS One man never made a team, but there have been a handful in the history of the game who made all the difference. Add Lionel Messi to that list. His presence was never better felt than at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night. Rob Hughes on soccer.

IHT Quick Read: April 12

NEWS A report on the first three victims of the H7N9 bird flu, by researchers from China, was published with commentary from American health officials, who said the disease “raised many urgent questions.” Denise Grady reports.

A new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile. Thom Shanker, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt report from Washington.

Russia, the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas, is making a bet that methane-powered cars are an alluring market for future growth. Andrew E. Kramer reports from Moscow.

A draft document prepared for Cyprus’s international lenders set the total cost at 23 billion euros, or about $30 billion, rather than 17 billion euros, and said Cyprus would pay the difference. Liz Alderman reports from Athens.

Three prisoners in the German state of Hesse are suspected by prosecutors in Frankfurt of trying to provide support to neo-Nazis behind bars. Melissa Eddy reports from Berlin.

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler â€" Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg â€" are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls. Nathaniel Popper and Peter Lattman report.

A government study released Thursday supports what many German consumers have long suspected: Internet broadband service is much slower than advertised. Kevin J. O’Brien reports from Berlin.

ARTS The American film “Django Unchained” was abruptly pulled from theaters in China on Thursday, its opening day, a surprising move that underscored the fragility of Hollywood’s evolving relationship with the Chinese movie industry. Gerry Mullany reports from Hong Kong and Michael Cieply from New York.

A French civil court judge said she will rule Friday on whether a major auction of sacred Hopi Indian artifacts can go forward in Paris despite claims by the tribe that they were stolen and that selling them is sacrilegious. Tom Mashberg reports.

SPORTS One man never made a team, but there have been a handful in the history of the game who made all the difference. Add Lionel Messi to that list. His presence was never better felt than at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night. Rob Hughes on soccer.

IHT Quick Read: April 12

NEWS A report on the first three victims of the H7N9 bird flu, by researchers from China, was published with commentary from American health officials, who said the disease “raised many urgent questions.” Denise Grady reports.

A new assessment by the Pentagon’s intelligence arm has concluded for the first time, with “moderate confidence,” that North Korea has learned how to make a nuclear weapon small enough to be delivered by a ballistic missile. Thom Shanker, David E. Sanger and Eric Schmitt report from Washington.

Russia, the world’s second-largest producer of natural gas, is making a bet that methane-powered cars are an alluring market for future growth. Andrew E. Kramer reports from Moscow.

A draft document prepared for Cyprus’s international lenders set the total cost at 23 billion euros, or about $30 billion, rather than 17 billion euros, and said Cyprus would pay the difference. Liz Alderman reports from Athens.

Three prisoners in the German state of Hesse are suspected by prosecutors in Frankfurt of trying to provide support to neo-Nazis behind bars. Melissa Eddy reports from Berlin.

The Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler â€" Olympic rowers, nemeses of Mark Zuckerberg â€" are laying claim to a new title: bitcoin moguls. Nathaniel Popper and Peter Lattman report.

A government study released Thursday supports what many German consumers have long suspected: Internet broadband service is much slower than advertised. Kevin J. O’Brien reports from Berlin.

ARTS The American film “Django Unchained” was abruptly pulled from theaters in China on Thursday, its opening day, a surprising move that underscored the fragility of Hollywood’s evolving relationship with the Chinese movie industry. Gerry Mullany reports from Hong Kong and Michael Cieply from New York.

A French civil court judge said she will rule Friday on whether a major auction of sacred Hopi Indian artifacts can go forward in Paris despite claims by the tribe that they were stolen and that selling them is sacrilegious. Tom Mashberg reports.

SPORTS One man never made a team, but there have been a handful in the history of the game who made all the difference. Add Lionel Messi to that list. His presence was never better felt than at the Camp Nou on Wednesday night. Rob Hughes on soccer.