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The Guardian

Rishi Sunak faces cabinet backlash over plans to curb foreign student visas (dim., 19 mai 2024)
Education secretary Gillian Keegan, Jeremy Hunt and David Cameron oppose move, while university leaders warn of economic and cultural impact Rishi Sunak is facing a cabinet revolt over plans to scrap a graduate visa scheme that allows overseas students to live and work in the UK for up to two years after graduation. Under pressure from some on the right of his party to demonstrate that the Tories are tougher on immigration than Labour, Downing Street is considering further restricting or even ending the graduate scheme, which some believe can be used as a backdoor entry route to the UK. Continue reading...
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Heart patients forced to wait over a year for treatment in England (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Waiting lists are at a record high, almost double since 2020, with heart disease being the largest cause of premature death in deprived areas Fifteen hospital trusts across England each have more than 200 patients waiting longer than a year for heart procedures, NHS figures reveal. The British Heart Foundation (BHF) warns that heart care waiting lists are now at a record high, reaching 414,596 at the end of March 2024 in England, almost double what it was in 2020. The number of people waiting longer than a year for heart tests and treatments has risen to 10,893. Four years ago, the figure was just 53. Continue reading...
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Israeli minister vows to quit war cabinet if PM fails to agree new Gaza plan (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Benny Gantz’s threat to withdraw his opposition party from coalition calls into question future of government The Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz has threatened to resign if Benjamin Netanyahu fails to adopt an agreed plan for Gaza, calling into question the future of the Israeli government. During a press conference on Saturday, Gantz announced that if a plan for postwar governance of the territory is not consolidated and approved by 8 June, his opposition National Unity party will withdraw from the coalition government. Continue reading...
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‘I am ready for a rematch’: Usyk looks to family and future after world title win (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Ukrainian sheds tears after split-decision win over Tyson Fury ‘I thought I did enough but I’m not a judge’, says Fury Oleksandr Usyk, the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, broke down in tears but shrugged off concerns that he might have suffered a fractured jaw while defeating Tyson Fury in a riveting battle in Riyadh. After he was taken to a local hospital for a routine MRI scan which cleared him, Usyk returned to the Kingdom Arena where he had beaten Fury on a split decision. Talking freely, without any apparent pain, Usyk confirmed that he had needed just four stitches to close a small cut above his eye. Immediately after the fight, while still in the ring, Usyk had said, “Thank you so much to my team. It’s a big opportunity for my family, for me, for my country. It’s a great day.” Continue reading...
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Schools in England send police to homes of absent pupils with threats to jail their parents (Sun, 19 May 2024)
‘Heavy-handed’ crackdown ignores underlying reasons for failure to attend classes, say critics Some schools in England are sending police to the homes of children who are persistently absent, or warning them their parents may go to prison if their attendance doesn’t improve, the Observer has learned. Headteachers say they are now under intense pressure from the government to turn around the crisis in attendance, with a record 150,000 children at state schools classed as severely absent in 2022-23. From September, all state schools in England will have to share their attendance records every day with the Department for Education. Continue reading...
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Third of voters believe Starmer was wrong to let Elphicke into Labour party (Sat, 18 May 2024)
In latest Opinium poll, only 16% say accepting rightwing Tory MP’s defection was the right move – against 33% who see it as a mistake More voters believe Keir Starmer was wrong to allow a rightwing Tory MP into Labour than think it was the right move, after anger from within the party’s ranks over the defection. Natalie Elphicke, the Dover MP, said the Tories had become “a byword for incompetence and division” when she made her shock departure to Labour earlier in May. The party leadership regarded it as a major coup to win the support of the MP on the frontline of the Channel crossings issue that Rishi Sunak has attempted to prioritise. The move came despite concerns among MPs that her views conflict with Labour in a variety of areas. Continue reading...
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Assad officials face landmark Paris trial over killing of student and father (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Prosecution of three high-ranking Syrian officials to be tried in absentia could pave way for president’s case At midnight on 3 November 2013, five Syrian officials dragged arts and humanities student Patrick Dabbagh from his home in the Mezzeh district of Damascus. The following day, at the same hour, the same men, including a representative of the Syrian air force’s intelligence unit, returned with a dozen soldiers to arrest the 20-year-old’s father Mazzen. Continue reading...
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Eurostar reverses wheelchair policy that left user stranded, after Observer campaign (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Passengers were left abandoned and humiliated after operator banned staff from providing assistance Eurostar has reversed a new accessibility policy that left a wheelchair user stranded and has retrained its London staff following pressure from the Observer. Travellers with disabilities claimed that they would be barred from Eurostar services after the company banned its London staff from pushing passenger wheelchairs. Those who require assistance were told they must travel with a companion or cancel their ticket if they were unable to access services unaided, according to passengers who contacted the Observer. Continue reading...
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Indonesia’s Ibu volcano spectacularly erupts forcing nearby villages to evacuate (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The volcano on the remote island of Halmahera spewed grey ash clouds into the sky as streaks of purple lightning flashed around its crater A volcano on the remote Indonesian island of Halmahera has spectacularly erupted, spewing a grey ash cloud into the sky and forcing people from seven nearby villages to evacuate, authorities have said. Mount Ibu erupted on Saturday evening, sending ash 4km into the sky, as streaks of purple lightning flashed around its crater, according to information and images shared by Indonesia’s volcanology agency. Continue reading...
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‘Embrace the bog’: Chelsea flower show expert champions flood-proof garden (Sun, 19 May 2024)
As the prestige flower event begins, horticulturalists are shown how a waterlogged patch can help counter climate crisis Gardeners should “embrace the bog” that has formed in backyards across the country after record rain, a designer at this week’s Chelsea flower show has said. Naomi Slade will unveil her design for a floodproof garden on 21 May, showing that even with the unusually wet weather seen in recent months, British gardens can still be full of colourful flowers. Continue reading...
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Inflation in the UK is about to tumble. But how far – and for how long? (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The chancellor will have good news to pass on this week. But he knows the cost of living crisis may not be over yet Jeremy Hunt knows it. Rachel Reeves knows it too. The Office for National Statistics will come bearing good news on Wednesday when it releases the latest inflation figures. The only real question is just how good the news will be. In the year to March, annual inflation as measured by the consumer prices index stood at 3.2%. The figure for April will be a lot lower and if Hunt gets lucky it might even fall as low as the government’s 2% target. Continue reading...
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‘A kick in the teeth’: Leeds artists fear loss of spaces is killing cultural scene (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Council spending cuts are forcing studios and venues to close, driving out the city’s creative businesses Last year, the city of Leeds held a year-long celebration of culture, complete with festivals, newly commissioned works of art and community projects. More than 1,000 events took place, with hundreds of volunteers and local schools taking part. This year, however, artists and ­creatives in the West Yorkshire city are being forced out of their workshops and galleries, and say the dwindling number of spaces is crushing Leeds’s creative scene. Continue reading...
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‘People haven’t woken up to the scale of this’: Gordon Brown on the UK’s child poverty scandal (Sat, 18 May 2024)
A quarter of Britain’s children live below the poverty line. Near his Fife home, the former PM shows how charities help families and says this issue must be a priority for any government • The Observer view: Labour must tackle this scourge • Torsten Bell: We can end child poverty • Archbishop urges Starmer to ditch ‘cruel’ benefit cap Outside a warehouse squeezed between a waste recycling plant, an auto parts outlet and a scaffolding company in Lochgelly, Fife, a blur of figures in hi-vis jackets are busily ­packing boxes into headteacher Ailsa Swankie’s car. Not for the first time, she is taking delivery of household essentials, hygiene products and food from the area’s heaving “multibank” – an institution she describes as an “absolute lifeline”. The specific items differ with each pick-up – sometimes ­toilet rolls, other times washing ­powder or hot water bottles, donated by local businesses or sourced cheaply. But the need for each trip is always the same: an increasing number of families at her school who have found themselves struggling to afford what should be basic products. “We do have a lot of working families who work very, very hard, but they’re still really struggling,” Swankie says. “If I took nappies back to school, they’d all be gone by 3pm.” Continue reading...
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‘It’s all been preposterous’: Stephen Merchant on fame, standup and the pressures of cancel culture (Sun, 19 May 2024)
From The Office sidekick to standup legend and a serial killer, the multitalented Stephen Merchant is impossible to pin down. He talks about cancel culture, why pubs are more interesting than outer space and hanging out with Christopher Walken Stephen Merchant has always been obsessed by the idea of the ordinary man “thrust into extraordinary circumstance”. Since he was a kid in Bristol, the son of a plumber and a nursery nurse, those were the kinds of films he sought out and the stories he wrote, about normal people who experience something that “jolts them out of their life and gives them a way of reframing it”. He’s talking to me from his office in Nichols Canyon, LA, in a house once owned by Ellen DeGeneres, where he lives with his partner of seven years, actor Mircea Monroe. It’s early morning there, the white light offering shadows of shifting leaves, and he wears a black baseball cap and speaks thoughtfully without pause. Is he, I ask, that ordinary man? “Well, possibly,” he says, slowly. “Maybe. Yeah.” Merchant’s early career is perhaps better known than the success that followed. He met Ricky Gervais when he got a job as his assistant on the radio station XFM and the two went on to write and direct The Office in 2001, quietly changing expectations of British comedy for ever. Then there was some acting, a lot of very popular radio and standup. In his 2011 show, Hello Ladies, which later became a sitcom, he talked about his height: “6ft 7in is too big… Growing up I spent as much time as possible in the distance.” Continue reading...
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Arabic Flavour, Aberystwyth: ‘Food that tells a story’ – restaurant review (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Ghofran Hamza is on a solo mission to bring glorious Syrian cuisine to lucky mid-Wales Arabic Flavour, 4 Northgate Street, Aberystwyth SY23 2JS (01970 228 078). Starters and meze £4.75-£8.25, mains £14.50-£18.95, desserts £2.95-£7.75, wines from £21 Occasionally, during the wait for our starters at Arabic Flavour, one of us would pop off to the loo; a moment of magical thinking perhaps, in which a sudden absence from the table could somehow make the food arrive. They would stop by the kitchen door to sneak a look in through the window, willing there to be more people in there. Perhaps the rest of the brigade had simply popped out when last we looked. But no, there really was just one person in that kitchen doing everything: the compact, completely focused and utterly poised figure of Ghofran Hamza, the young Syrian refugee by way of Lebanon, who is determined to tell her 21st-century story at the stove. The lack of kitchen personnel means a dinner at Arabic Flavour is unlikely to be quick. Do not go ravenously hungry. Prepare a few conversational gambits. Perhaps do not go in a large group. But really, do go. Continue reading...
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‘It was smart to marry the competition’: meet the ‘power couples’ who work together (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Meet four couples who are married to each other – and the job. Yes, it can get shouty, but knowing your partner so well brings unexpected benefits, both to the working relationship and to time at home Chris Cartlidge and Lucy Khan Continue reading...
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Richard Hawley: ‘If I stopped what I’m doing the songs would still come’ (Sun, 19 May 2024)
On a beer-fuelled tour of Sheffield that begins ‘at the crack of midday’, the musician discusses the strange magic of his home city, how his musical, Standing at the Sky’s Edge, hit a nerve in austerity-ravaged Britain, and his main hope for Keir Starmer On 8 November 2007, the great Pelé visited Sheffield. The occasion was the 150th anniversary of the world’s oldest football club, Sheffield FC, which was celebrated with a match between the hometown team and Inter Milan at Sheffield United’s Bramall Lane. Pelé, by then in his late 60s, walked on to the pitch to a rapturous ovation, but then he did something unexpected: he knelt on the turf, took out a tiny pair of scissors, carefully snipped a few blades of grass and popped them in a bag in his pocket. “Without Sheffield FC, there wouldn’t be me,” he declared. Richard Hawley, the 57-year-old singer, songwriter and longsuffering Sheffield Wednesday season-ticket holder, relates this story with the care and wonder of someone charged with protecting a sacred memory. But his point is a bigger one: Sheffield and football should be synonymous. As, arguably, the birthplace of the world’s most popular sport, the city should be home to museums, statues and tourist walking tours. If Pelé wanted to make a pilgrimage to South Yorkshire, how many others who love the game would follow him? Continue reading...
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Verjus, top pesto, umeboshi: are restaurant menus becoming more baffling? (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Whether the descriptions are long and verbose, or short and opaque, there’s a fair chance you’ve suffered from ‘menu overwhelm’. What lies behind the changing language? You will have seen the advert on TV. The scene: a fancy restaurant dining room where a panicked young man scans a menu full of baffling words – melange, deconstructed, micro agretti – while all the time being scrutinised by his girlfriend’s hard-to-impress parents and a comically imperious waiter. Rescued by a surreptitious web search on his phone, he now knows what gravlax is and can order with confidence. Embarrassment is swerved, lunch is saved. We’ve all been there. Hands up, who knew what agretti is? No? Had the samphire-like marsh grass appeared as monk’s beard, the name chefs prefer, would that have helped? Thought not. Continue reading...
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My husband finds life easy, and ‘corrects’ me because I don’t | Ask Philippa (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Your brain is wired to need order to feel safe, he should respect that The question I am mid-40s and married. My husband is good at dealing with life. He never worries, is never insecure, always positive, has unlimited energy and always has a solution for everything. He deals with our kids seemingly without effort, doesn’t set many rules and never worries if they eat enough vegetables or go to bed too late. Everything is a breeze; rules are to be broken and life must be enjoyed. I am not like that. I like to abide by rules and routines, and I get irritated quickly and think of all the possible consequences of any particular action. The problem is that he always corrects me (and often in front of the kids), gives me unwanted advice repeatedly, telling me that things are “easy” and that my worries are “nonsense”. Continue reading...
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Are you a LAT couple enjoying living apart together? (Sun, 19 May 2024)
One couple, two home addresses… it’s certainly tempting A growing number of couples, a new report says, are Living Apart Together – “LAT.” So: this is when you maintain both a romantic relationship and your own private home, and it’s led by older women who (according to Brides magazine) are prioritising a newfound freedom. “After years of taking care of their husbands and children, these women seek a new chapter where their individual needs are at the forefront.” I mean, I love it, obviously. I love that this is the new “When I’m an old woman I shall wear purple”, when I’m an old woman I shall get my own bedroom, these women finding their voices, their sexuality, their freedom in their 50s, but it also highlights how, the world being the way it is, these versions of utopia are only available to the wealthy. Who wouldn’t want their own house just so, their bathroom untouched by other feet, unlittered with half-empty bottles of Head & Shoulders shampoo? Who would honestly say no, if money were no object, to a room of their own and all the nudity, slobbiness, collecting of curios and war rugs that implies? It’s like when parents break up and the modern advice is for their children to remain in the family house while the parents move into separate flats. Three homes! If they had the luxury of those kinds of choices, I counter, perhaps the parents wouldn’t have broken up in the first place. It reminds me of the best divorce I’ve ever heard about, where the parents simply moved into different wings of their manor house and the children didn’t really notice anything had changed at all. Continue reading...
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IF review – imaginary friends reunited in a kid-pleasing live-action fantasy (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Actor-director John Krasinski’s animated tale of an anxious tween and her make-believe buddies is not in Pixar’s league, but it boasts a heartfelt sweetness and an engaging young star What if imaginary friends didn’t vanish into the murk of forgotten memories as soon as the child who conjured them grew up? What if the invisible bestie lingered on, trying hard not to be wounded by the rejection and waiting in vain to be of use once more? If that sounds familiar, that’s because it is. The central premise of American actor-director John Krasinski’s IF – his first family film after the horror movie double of A Quiet Place and its sequel – is borrowed from several Pixar films. There’s an obvious parallel with the subplot of Bing Bong in Inside Out. A heartbreakingly cheerful pink cat/elephant/dolphin mashup in a too-small top hat, Bing Bong is the long-discarded imaginary friend who still lurks in the subconscious of Riley, and who’ll do anything, even sacrifice himself, for the girl who dreamed him into existence. But there’s also an almost too close for comfort overlap with Toy Story, and the idea of an intensity in a child’s imagination that is potent enough to breathe life into inanimate objects, and of the bruising transience of the period in infancy in which disbelief is fully suspended and magic is real. Continue reading...
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Premier League 2023-24 fans’ verdicts, part one: Arsenal to Fulham (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Fans review the season with one game to play: the stars, the flops and the moments that made them smile Part two: Liverpool to Wolves It’s been a privilege. Yes, it looks destined to end in glorious failure, but we’ll keep faith until the fat lady sings. No matter the outcome, there’s so much pride in the unity of spirit that has sustained our campaign to the final day and given us the sort of exhilarating entertainment we last witnessed a couple of decades back. Some might not agree with all of Mikel’s decisions along the way, but there’s certainly no disputing his achievements. 9.5/10. Continue reading...
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WSL 2023-24 season review: our writers’ best and worst (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The best players, most thrilling games and finest signings – plus the biggest flops and greatest gripes of the eventful season It has to be Khadija Shaw. Bunny’s output speaks for itself with 21 goals in 18 games, including a run of three hat-tricks in four games at the turn of the year. For a moment it seemed as though Lauren James would match Shaw’s goal tally but the Manchester City striker’s commanding presence has set her apart from anyone else in the WSL this season. Xaymaca Awoyungbo Continue reading...
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The making of Jimmy Anderson: ‘Like a golden nugget falling into your lap’ (Sun, 19 May 2024)
A phone call from an impressed parent helped ignite the storied career of England’s greatest ever fast bowler It all started with a phone call. “It was highly unusual for Val to ring me. In fact I don’t think she ever did before or since, that wasn’t her style at all,” says John Stanworth, recalling how Valerie Brown, the wife of the then captain of Burnley CC, Peter Brown, telephoned one Sunday evening in the late-90s. It would be a tipoff worth interrupting Antiques Roadshow. A different kind of rare and inestimable commodity was about to be unearthed. “Val just said: ‘The lads and Peter keep talking about this lad, he’s a bowler. Have you heard of James Anderson?’” Continue reading...
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Bigger, yes, but better? Pep Guardiola tweaks template for latest City kick to line | Jonathan Wilson (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Champions have become less guardiolista to allow Haaland to flourish and it is telling the best player of late has been Gvardiol Familiarity inevitably breeds, if not contempt, then at least discernment. When Leicester won the Premier League what mattered was not how they had done it but merely that it had been done. You could talk about the performances of N’Golo Kanté, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, pontificate about how Claudio Ranieri had developed Nigel Pearson’s side or dwell on the significance of the discovery of Richard III’s body under a car park, but fundamentally all that mattered was that they had defied the laws of football finance and logic and that they had done it. But as Manchester City edge towards a sixth title in seven years, the manner of the win feels important. Continue reading...
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Gaël Monfils: ‘I’m getting a little bit old. People forget that I still have it’ (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The Frenchman has battled with injuries and perceptions to remain one of tennis’s great entertainers at the age of 37 At any tournament in almost any part of the world, one of the certainties over the past 20 years is that whenever Gaël Monfils plays, fans are present. Tennis, after all, is entertainment, and there have been few greater entertainers than the 37-year-old. He is one of the purest athletes the sport has seen and displays immense skill, feel and showmanship. At his best, Monfils makes tennis look so easy. But the Frenchman is adamant that it is not. Especially not in the final years of his career: “[People say] ‘Ah, Monfils is not disciplined’,” he says smiling, from the grounds of the Italian Open on the eve of the tournament. “Guys, don’t think this because I’m enjoying myself on the court. The work I do outside is big.” Continue reading...
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Morikawa and Schauffele end third day of US PGA at top as Lowry equals record (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Californian Schauffele looking for his first major Shane Lowry races up leaderboard with a 62 It was only going to take something special to switch discussion around this US PGA Championship away from Scottie Scheffler and his brush with Louisville law enforcement. The world No 1 unravelled on day three here, which was entirely understandable given the strain associated with four charges, including one for assaulting a police officer. Shane Lowry took it upon himself to create a fresh and uplifting storyline. The Irishman stood on Valhalla’s 18th green over a putt of 11ft 6in which could have created history. If he found the bottom of the cup with his birdie attempt, he would have posted the first 61 in major history. Continue reading...
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Emma Hayes ‘hasn’t got another drop to give’ after Chelsea WSL title triumph (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Exhausted Chelsea manager signs off with fifth successive title ‘I felt we deserved title,’ says Manchester City’s Gareth Taylor Emma Hayes said she doesn’t “have another drop to give” after bowing out as Chelsea manager with a fifth Women’s Super League title in a row, while Manchester City’s Gareth Taylor felt his team would have deserved to be champions. Hayes spoke passionately and emotionally after her side won the league on goal difference with a 6-0 win at Manchester United, her final game before she leaves to take over the US women’s national team in time for the Olympics. “I’d say it’s taken its toll, rather than changed me,” she said of her 12 years at the club. “I categorically cannot carry on. So, I am absolutely leaving at the right time. I don’t have another drop to give it.” Continue reading...
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Will Muir inspires Bath to big win over Northampton to secure home semi-final (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Bath 43-12 Northampton Will Muir scores two of Bath’s six tries to seal second place Bath could hardly have wished for a more encouraging May day beside the River Avon. A comfortable win over the Premiership leaders was almost the lesser bonus compared with the unexpected prize of a home semi-final. Sale have done them a mighty favour which may not be repaid when the Sharks head to Somerset in the last four a week on Saturday. Admittedly this was largely a Northampton second string but Bath are precisely the kind of team who could finish the season at a proper gallop. Powerful up front and hard to contain behind, Johann van Graan’s side are now 80 minutes away from a first Premiership final for nine years and, historically, home semi-final advantage has proved a significant advantage. Continue reading...
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Rishi Sunak’s scare tactics aren’t going to work against a soothing Keir Starmer | Andrew Rawnsley (Sun, 19 May 2024)
As he demonstrated at the launch of his pledge cards, the Labour leader has succeeded in de-risking perceptions of his party Who scares wins. That has been the motto of many, often successful Conservative election campaigns. Fear may not be an edifying strategy for securing power, but the Tories have repeatedly demonstrated that it can be highly effective. Time and again, they have persuaded voters that Labour is just too risky to be trusted with government. The “red scare” of 1924, whipped up with the aid of the fraudulent Zinoviev letter, brought an abrupt end to the short life of the first Labour government. The “tax bombshells” dropped on Neil Kinnock in 1992 exploded his dreams of becoming prime minister. Tory claims that Ed Miliband would wobble atop a “coalition of chaos” helped to floor that Labour hopeful in 2015. The big scare has often been a winning formula for the Tories. So it was pretty much inevitable that Rishi Sunak would press a quivering finger on the fear button. Not least because he is so short of any other ideas for making the general election look competitive for his party. He’s previously tried marketing himself as Mr Stability, Mr Delivery and Mr Change. None of these iterations has put a dent in Labour’s headline poll ratings. They insistently place Sir Keir Starmer’s party about 20 points ahead of the Tories. In his most recent attempt at a relaunch, an exercise he performs almost as often as he changes his undies, the Tory leader tried another costume. This time he cloaked himself in the garb of Mr Security. In what Downing Street puffed as a big speech, the prime minister tried to chill the country’s bones with the warning that Britain is entering a very dangerous period. His ostensible subject was the threat from “an axis of authoritarian states”. His electoral purpose was to try to build an argument that voters will be safer sticking with him than taking a punt on Labour. Continue reading...
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Jürgen Klopp brought not only victories but a fan’s passion for the game | Kenan Malik (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The Liverpool manager, who bows out today after nine years, knew football was ‘the most important of least important things’ ‘It’s not so important what people think when you come in,” Jürgen Klopp observed on being unveiled as Liverpool manager in October 2015. “It’s much more important what people think when you leave.” Today is the day Klopp leaves. It is the final day of the Premier League season in England, and Manchester City will probably be (again) crowned champions. It is also the final day of Klopp’s tenure as Liverpool manager, a moment that will wring the emotions, and not just at Anfield. Football is deeply tribal, but Klopp stepping down is an event that resonates well beyond Liverpool supporters, even beyond the world of football. Continue reading...
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Grinding our bums, flashing our boobs: the internet is making juveniles of us all | Martha Gill (Sun, 19 May 2024)
When people were offered a window between New York and Dublin, puerile behaviour beat bridging worlds How will technology change us as a species? In Silicon Valley, all prophesies seem to have converged into one: that it will usher in some sort of planetary Buddhist revolution. To read its mission statements and watch its Ted Talks is to hear phrases such as “connectedness”, “common understanding” and “overcoming barriers”. You could probably pitch a social media platform and a spiritual handbook simultaneously these days: “This will lead humanity to smiling, peaceful enlightenment.” The soothsayers in Hollywood, meanwhile, see it differently. Introduce new tech within a blockbuster film and things tend to go one of two ways. Awe and then terror, as the product wreaks havoc on the planet; or alternatively, the rise of an emotionless new society, where, surrounded by intelligent machines, people start behaving a bit like robots themselves. The stereotypical sci-fi citizen is cold, sombre, aloof and efficient. In the minds of scriptwriters, at least, tech will at some point leach the very humanity out of us. Continue reading...
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Simone Lia: Onomatopoeia – cartoon (Sun, 19 May 2024)
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We’ve got the talent and the tech. So why can’t Britain grow its own world-beaters? | Will Hutton (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Companies are deserting the FTSE because of a shortage of investment – but there is a solution Britain had it in its power to be a genuine hi-tech superpower. Instead, the opportunity slipped through our fingers, as we have been “tech-stripped” on a monumental scale. On one estimate, up to half the FTSE 100 could now be populated by vigorous British tech companies but those are all now foreign owned with one exception, Sage. The implications for our industrial, business, services and even defence base are dire – one of the most important condemnations of the last 14 years. The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, complacently declared last week that this was just how capitalism operated – even as we learned that another 21 companies worth £24.6bn had joined the exodus from the UK’s public markets this year alone. It was a variant of Philip Hammond’s comment in 2016 on Japanese SoftBank taking over yet another of our tech jewels, the chip designer ARM. What was obviously an exercise in technological vandalism was instead proof positive that Britain was “open for business”, a view echoed at the time by that other high priest of wealth generation, Nigel Farage. This reflex mantra of Tory ministers and Brexiters alike is a necessity: to say anything else would reveal the paucity of their world view. Continue reading...
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Chris Riddell on Russia’s advance on Kharkiv – cartoon (Sat, 18 May 2024)
It may be wounded but, with China’s backing, the bear is feeling bullish • You can order your own copy of this cartoon Continue reading...
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The two-child benefit cap in the UK is unfair and doesn’t work | Martyn Snow, bishop of Leicester (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Ending this shortsighted and unfair policy would lift half a million children out of poverty immediately In Leicester, where I live and work as bishop, two in five children now live in poverty. That’s 12 pupils in every classroom struggling to focus. Some haven’t eaten breakfast. Others are no doubt worried about arguments they have overheard at home about money, and how to afford next year’s school uniform. When I visit our local schools, I hear of teachers bringing in food for pupils who would otherwise go hungry and schools covering the costs of trips to protect children from the shame of being left out. I’m hugely proud of all that our churches do to support those in need, whether it’s with holiday clubs or food hubs. But we cannot by ourselves reverse the trend of growing child poverty seen across the country. One policy change, however, could: ending the two-child benefit cap. The limit restricts the child element of universal credit to two children per household, so that families lose about £3,200 a year for any third or subsequent child born after April 2017. This is a huge amount for any family trying to make ends meet: of the 1.5 million children affected in 2023, 1.1 million were living in poverty. Continue reading...
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Meet Becky, aged 14, suicidal, alone and unwanted. Victim of a cruel and uncaring state | Louise Tickle (Sat, 18 May 2024)
I have followed the life of this desperate child as her life has been ruined by a bankrupt system You’re a teenage girl and you’ve been locked in a bare hospital room for more than 15 months. Your bed is a platform attached to the floor. There’s a plastic toilet and a sink moulded into the wall. Your only human contact is through a hatch in the door. Sometimes you get to hold your mum’s hand through it. You’ve tried to kill yourself multiple times, including trying to throw yourself off a bridge over the M6. That was after escaping being driven to an unregulated children’s home miles away from your family. You can’t understand why your mum’s not able to look after you, as she does with your two siblings. Continue reading...
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The Observer view: it’s up to Israel’s allies to persuade Netanyahu to stop standing in the way of peace (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Even his defence minister knows that there can be no military solution to the war with Hamas The emotional vow by Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to “destroy” Hamas after it massacred about 1,200 people on 7 October 2023 was understandable. But in practice it was never a realisable aim. Eight months into the ensuing conflict, more than 35,000 Palestinians are dead, yet Hamas is still fighting in parts of Gaza that Israel’s army thought it controlled, a new humanitarian crisis looms around Rafah, 640,000 people have been displaced again, and the agony of Israeli hostages and their families is daily renewed. Three more bodies were recovered on Friday. Defeating Hamas remains a vital objective for Israel and most western and Arab governments, as well as ordinary people appalled by its actions. But, from the very first, Netanyahu has failed, or rather refused, to articulate a “day after” strategy for administering (and rebuilding) Gaza once its terrorist rulers are supposedly “destroyed”. Despite the evidence, he refuses to accept that military force alone will not work. Hamas’s defeat, if it is to be permanent, must be political, legal, economic and psychological as much as physical. Continue reading...
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Of course faith has a place in our society (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Keir Hardie and many others were inspired by their religion I’m often puzzled by the antagonism that so many on the left express towards religion (“Faith groups want more say in secular Britain. Labour should tell them to go to hell”). Keir Hardie, no less, made no secret of the fact that his passion for social justice was founded in his Christianity, and there are countless other examples of prominent socialists who were inspired by their faith. Up and down the land, religious charities of all denominations give practical help by feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless and comforting the bereaved. Wilson Firth Colkirk, Norfolk Continue reading...
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The Observer view on child poverty: Labour must tackle this scourge as soon as possible | Observer editorial (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Growing up in a poor household is one of the biggest barriers to opportunity, yet it affects millions of children • Gordon Brown on the UK’s child poverty scandal • Torsten Bell: We can easily end child poverty • Archbishop urges Starmer to ditch ‘cruel’ benefit cap Almost one in three British children now live in relative poverty. Former prime minister Gordon Brown last week referred to this generation as “austerity’s children”: children who have known nothing but what it is to grow up in families where money concerns are a constant toxic stress, where a lack of a financial cushion means one adverse event can trigger a downward debt spiral, and where parents have to make tough choices about essentials such as food and heating. Rising rates of child poverty are a product of political choices; that we have a government that has enabled them is a stain on our national conscience. The headline rate of child poverty is underpinned by other alarming trends. Two-thirds of children living in relative poverty, defined as 60% of median income, after housing costs, are in families where at least one adult works, a product of the number of low-paid jobs in the economy that do not allow parents to adequately provide for their children. Unsurprisingly, child poverty rates are higher in families where someone has a disability, and 58% of children from Pakistani and 67% of Bangladeshi backgrounds live in relative child poverty. Child homelessness is at record levels – more than 140,000 children in England are homeless, many living for years on end in temporary accommodation that does not meet the most basic of standards. One in six children live in families experiencing food insecurity, and one in 40 in a family that has had to access a food bank in the past 30 days. Continue reading...
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The Guardian view on antimicrobial resistance: we must prioritise this global health threat | Editorial (Fri, 17 May 2024)
Patients are already dying as wonder drugs lose their effectiveness. International action is urgently needed As apocalyptic horror stories go, it’s up there with the scariest. Yet it’s not fiction writers but top scientists who are warning of how the world could look once superbugs develop resistance to the remaining drugs against them in our hospital pharmacies. Patients will die who can currently be cured; routine surgery will become dangerous or impossible. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – it happens not only with bacteria but also viruses, fungi and parasites – is one of the top global public health threats facing humanity, says the World Health Organization (WHO). It kills 1.3 million people and contributes to 5 million deaths every year, predicted to be 10 million by 2050. In addition to the appalling human toll, it will increase the strain on and costs of health services. But is it high enough up the agenda? Covid-19 knocked it off, and the climate crisis gets more attention. AMR does not so often get top billing. This week efforts have been made to change that, with talks at the UN triggering wider coverage chronicling the sorry plight we are in. From the pharmaceutical industry to the WHO to NHS England, the same tune is being played: we are not doing enough to avert disaster. Continue reading...
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Eight climate activists arrested in Germany over airport protest (Sat, 18 May 2024)
About 60 flights cancelled after members of Letzte Generation glue themselves to ground at Munich Eight climate activists have been arrested after causing Munich airport to close, leading to about 60 flight cancellations. Six activists broke through a security fence and glued themselves to access routes leading to runways, officials and local media reported. Continue reading...
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Sticky trick: new glue spray kills plant pests without chemicals (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Edible oil droplets trap bugs without the harm to people and wildlife that synthetic pesticides can cause Tiny sticky droplets sprayed on crops to trap pests could be a green alternative to chemical pesticides, research has shown. The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops. Continue reading...
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Think before you click – and three other ways to reduce your digital carbon footprint | Koren Helbig (Fri, 17 May 2024)
The invisible downside to our online lives is the data stored at giant energy-guzzling datacentres It’s been called “the largest coal-powered machine on Earth” – and most of us use it countless times a day. The internet and its associated digital industry are estimated to produce about the same emissions annually as aviation. But we barely think about pollution while snapping 16 duplicate photos of our pets, which are immediately uploaded to the cloud. Continue reading...
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Economic damage from climate change six times worse than thought – report (Fri, 17 May 2024)
A 1C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world gross domestic product, researchers have found The economic damage wrought by climate change is six times worse than previously thought, with global heating set to shrink wealth at a rate consistent with the level of financial losses of a continuing permanent war, research has found. A 1C increase in global temperature leads to a 12% decline in world gross domestic product (GDP), the researchers found, a far higher estimate than that of previous analyses. The world has already warmed by more than 1C (1.8F) since pre-industrial times and many climate scientists predict a 3C (5.4F) rise will occur by the end of this century due to the ongoing burning of fossil fuels, a scenario that the new working paper, yet to be peer-reviewed, states will come with an enormous economic cost. Continue reading...
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Archbishop of Canterbury urges Starmer to ditch ‘cruel’ two-child benefit cap (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Head of Church of England Justin Welby tells Observer that ending policy would lift thousands of UK children out of poverty The Observer view: Labour must tackle this scourge Gordon Brown: People haven’t woken up to this Torsten Bell: We can easily end child poverty Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, has issued an impassioned plea to the government and Keir Starmer’s Labour party to scrap the two-child limit on benefit payments to families, branding it as a cruel and immoral policy that plunges hundreds of thousands of children into poverty. The intervention by the head of the Church of England will place particular pressure on Starmer to make a firm commitment to end the policy, which he has so far refused to do, as he tries to position Labour as being responsible with the public finances. Continue reading...
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Hospitals to share waiting lists under Labour plans for quicker care (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Party says pooling resources across regions would deliver 40,000 extra appointments a week for patients Hospitals would have to share waiting lists and pool resources under Labour’s plans to reduce waiting times by delivering up to 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week. The party has announced that patients would be offered appointments at nearby hospitals, rather than necessarily at their local one, which would enable people to receive faster treatment. Hospital staff and resources would be pooled across a region and would run evening and weekend surgeries. Continue reading...
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Fewer than one in 10 arts workers in UK have working-class roots (Sat, 18 May 2024)
The cultural sector falls short on other measures of diversity too, with 9o% of workers white, says new report Six in 10 of all arts and culture workers in the UK now come from middle-class backgrounds, compared with just over 42% of the wider workforce, according to new research. And while 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%. Continue reading...
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Jeremy Hunt urged to honour pledge on infected blood compensation payouts (Sat, 18 May 2024)
As the inquiry publishes its final report, the chancellor is under pressure to find £10bn to put right a longstanding injustice The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, will come under pressure to stay true to his word and sign off on immediate compensation payments totalling up to £10bn to victims of the contaminated blood scandal when the long-awaited final report on the affair is published on Monday. The scandal is described as the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, with more than 3,000 people having died as a result of receiving contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s. It is estimated that, even today, a person infected during the scandal dies every four days. Continue reading...
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Nadhim Zahawi says it was a mistake for Tories to force Boris Johnson from No 10 (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Former chancellor, who was one of those who urged Johnson to go, says Tories should have realised ‘Twitter was not the country’ Former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said he and his Conservative colleagues were wrong to force out Boris Johnson as prime minister in 2022. Johnson resigned after less than three years in No 10 after more than 50 resignations from government of MPs and staff and waves of backbenchers urging him to quit over the handling of the Chris Pincher affair and numerous other scandals. He resigned as an MP a year later. Continue reading...
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£30,000 raised for Wirral ‘local legend’ denied UK citizenship (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Nelson Shardey, 74, became tearful on hearing of support for effort to gain settled status after 50 years in UK A retired 74-year-old newsagent who has lived in the UK for nearly 50 years said “tears were running” from his eyes after strangers fundraised more than £30,000 to support his legal fight to remain in the country. Nelson Shardey, who has been described as a Merseyside “local legend”, is pursuing a legal challenge against the Home Office after he was refused indefinite leave to remain, despite living and working in the UK since 1977. Continue reading...
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Tony O’Reilly, one of Ireland’s leading business figures, dies aged 88 (Sat, 18 May 2024)
O’Reilly, who was also an international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, died in Dublin on Saturday Tony O’Reilly, one of Ireland’s leading business figures, has died at the age of 88. O’Reilly, who had a career in the media as well as being an international rugby player for Ireland and the British and Irish Lions, died in St Vincent’s hospital in Dublin on Saturday. Continue reading...
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Thousands in Devon no longer have to boil drinking water, says supplier (Sat, 18 May 2024)
But authorities say households in some areas need to continue safety measures amid waterborne parasitic disease Anger in Devon as more cases of waterborne disease expected Thousands of people in Devon can now safely drink their tap water again without having to boil it first, the region’s water supplier has announced after a parasite outbreak. South West Water said about 14,500 households in the Alston supply area could use their tap water safely, although about 2,500 properties in Hillhead, the upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear should continue to boil their supply before drinking it. Continue reading...
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Two men who used plane to smuggle people into UK jailed (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Myrteza Hilaj and Kreshnik Kadena convicted after NCA operation into Albanian crime group involved in illegal migration Two men who used a plane to smuggle people from northern France to an aerodrome in Essex have been jailed. Myrteza Hilaj and Kreshnik Kadena, both from Leyton in east London, were found guilty at Southwark crown court in March of facilitating the commission of a breach of immigration law. Continue reading...
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‘Is this what people wear now?’ Sewing Bee host criticises M&S jumpers and socks (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Patrick Grant says rise of low-cost retailers means new clothes ‘haven’t got cheaper, they’ve just got worse’ While filming The Great British Sewing Bee, the presenter and clothing entrepreneur Patrick Grant found himself in need of a pair of black socks. The production team bought a pair from the Marks & Spencer shop close to where the popular BBC show was being filmed. Grant said: “They went to everybody’s favourite high street store, that used to sell on the basis of quality and value, and they bought me their Autograph socks, which are supposed to be their best socks. Continue reading...
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Rudy Giuliani indicted for role in Arizona fake-elector scheme (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Ex-New York mayor last of 17 defendants to be served in plot to overturn Donald Trump’s election loss to Joe Biden in 2020 Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is the last of 17 defendants to be served an indictment in Arizona’s fake-elector case for his role in an attempt to overturn former president Donald Trump’s loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, the Arizona attorney general said. Kris Mayes posted the news regarding the Trump-aligned lawyer on her X account late Friday. Continue reading...
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Georgian president vetoes ‘foreign influence’ law (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Salome Zourabichvili says bill contradicts constitution but ruling party is expected to override her action in coming days Georgia’s president has vetoed a “foreign agents” bill that has split the country and appealed to the government not to overrule her over a law she said was “Russian in sprit and essence”. Salome Zourabichvil followed through on her stated intention to use her veto on Saturday although the governing Georgian Dream party has the votes to disregard her intervention. Continue reading...
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French forces launch ‘major operation’ in New Caledonia, as unrest claims another life (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Operation will aim to retake road linking airport with Noumea, as the capital’s mayor says the situation is ‘not improving’ French forces have launched a “major operation” to regain control of a road linking New Caledonia’s capital Noumea to the main international airport, as another person was killed in a sixth night of violent unrest. Officials said more than 600 heavily armed gendarmes were dispatched to secure Route Territoriale 1, the main road connecting the capital with the airport. Flights to and from New Caledonia’s main island have been cancelled since the unrest began, stranding travellers and cutting off trade routes. Continue reading...
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German star at Cannes condemns ‘madness’ of protective culture for UK child actors (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Cast member of Palme d’Or contender shot in Kent says the high number of chaperones and intimacy coordinators on set was over the top Is Britain leading the way in protecting young people and children from the potential traumas of working on a film set, or has it all gone far too far? Two of the most prominent European stars attending the Cannes film festival, both with high-profile premieres, have very different views. Franz Rogowski, the acclaimed German actor who plays a key role in Bird, British director Andrea Arnold’s contender for the top Palme d’Or prize, said this weekend that the proliferation of chaperones and intimacy coordinators that had been required on the shoot on location in Kent qualified as well-intended “madness”. Continue reading...
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Ukraine war briefing: Kyiv accuses Russia of targeting civilians in Kharkiv region (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Ukrainian prosecutors investigating possible war crimes in Kharkiv and Vovchansk as Zelenskiy says his troops are fighting back: What we know on day 816 Ukraine says Russian shelling targeted civilians in two cities in the north-eastern region of Kharkiv on Saturday. Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating as a potential war crime a Russian airstrike on a residential area of the regional capital Kharkiv in which six civilians were wounded, including a 13-year-old girl, 16-year-old male and an eight-year-old. Moscow denies deliberately targeting civilians but thousands have been killed and injured since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. In Vovchansk, a city just 5 km from the Russian border and about 70 km to the north-east of Kharkiv, Ukrainian prosecutors said Russian shelling killed a 60-year-old woman and injured three other civilians. Two civilians – aged 70 and 83 – were killed when trying to leave Vovchansk by car, the Kharkiv regional prosecutor said. “The battle in the area of Vovchansk is ongoing,” Ukraine’s armed defences said. Only 100 residents remain in the town at the centre of Moscow’s grinding push that’s now largely in ruins. Across the border in Russia’s Belgorod region, Moscow’s defence ministry said its forces shot down a Tochka-U missile fired by Ukraine. A similar missile caused a Belgorod apartment building to collapse last week, killing at least 15 people, Russia said. Late on Saturday, Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said a Ukrainian drone attack injured a woman and a man in the village of Petrovka. They were treated for shrapnel injuries in Belgorod, he wrote on the Telegram messaging app. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reported successes by troops fighting a renewed Russian assault in the Kharkiv region. He said in his nightly video address that Ukrainian forces were on surer footing. “The occupier is losing its infantry and equipment, a tangible loss, even though, just as in 2022, it was counting on a quick advance on our land,” Zelenskiy said, referring to Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in February of that year. His remarks come a day after he warned Kyiv has only a quarter of the air defences it needs to hold the frontline. A divisive mobilisation law in Ukraine came into force on Saturday, as Kyiv struggles to boost troop numbers. The legislation, which was watered down from its original draft, will make it easier to identify every conscript in the country. It also provides incentives to soldiers, such as cash bonuses or money toward buying a house or car. Zelenskiy also signed two other laws Friday, allowing prisoners to join the army and increasing fines for draft dodgers fivefold. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces captured the village of Starytsia in the Kharkiv region on Saturday, eight days after the new Russian push in the area began. Zelenskiy said his forces repelled an assault further south in the eastern Donetsk region around Chasiv Yar, a city seen as a key target in Russia’s campaign. “Our soldiers destroyed more than 20 units of the occupier’s armoured vehicles,” he said. In the village of Stanislav in the southern region of Kherson, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said a Russian drone strike killed a man about 40 years old and injured a woman. The battlefield accounts could not be immediately verified. Continue reading...
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Slovakian PM remains in serious condition as suspect appears in court (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Second operation to remove dead tissue has ‘contributed to a positive prognosis’ for Robert Fico, health minister says Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, remained in a stable but serious condition as the man accused of trying to assassinate him made his first court appearance. The Slovakian health minister, Zuzana Dolinková, said on Saturday that a two-hour surgery to remove dead tissue from multiple gunshot wounds had “contributed to a positive prognosis” for Fico. Continue reading...
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Six-month-old shot repeatedly during standoff with child’s father (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Child is in hospital in a stable condition, as police say father was found dead of self-inflicted gunshot wound A man suspected of shooting his 6-month-old son multiple times after taking the boy and his mother hostage was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in the rubble of a suburban Phoenix home that caught fire during a swat standoff, police said. The baby was reported to be in a critical but stable condition at a local hospital Saturday, police said in a statement. They said earlier his injuries suffered the day before were not believed to be life-threatening. At about 3am on Friday, the father of the child allegedly broke into the home where the child and mother lived, according to police in Surprise, Arizona, about 30 miles north-west of Phoenix. The child’s father did not live in the house, police said, adding that the man held the mother and child hostage for several hours before the mother managed to escape. Continue reading...
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Navalny ally says he will ‘never give up’ in fight against Putin (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Leonid Volkov, who was brutally attacked in March, says he shares his late friend’s belief in ‘beautiful Russia of the future’ Leonid Volkov, a close ally of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, has vowed to “never give up” fighting against Vladimir Putin despite recently being attacked outside his home. Navalny died in an Arctic prison in February, which Volkov blamed directly on the Russian president. Continue reading...
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Police arrest six student protesters at University of Pennsylvania (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Pro-Palestinian students were attempting to take over a university hall to protest school’s refusal to negotiate in ‘good faith’ More than a dozen pro-Palestinian activists, including six students at the University of Pennsylvania, were arrested after attempting to occupy a hall on the university campus late Friday. The protesters were arrested around 9pm after trying to take over Fisher-Bennett Hall but had been met with a response from university and Philadelphia police, according to reports. The Daily Pennsylvanian reported that protesters caused the evacuation of an alumni event at the Penn Museum. Continue reading...
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Virginia governor allows Confederate groups to keep tax exemptions (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Republican Glenn Youngkin also vetoed bills related to maintaining access to contraception, saying they were ‘not ready’ Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin has vetoed two bills that would have stripped tax exemptions for the United Daughters of the Confederacy, an organization that has opposed the removal of statues of southern state generals during the US civil war and other markers of the southern states’ attempt to secede from the Union in defense of slavery. The Republican governor vetoed several measures, including those related to maintaining access to contraception, saying in a statement they were “not ready to become law”. Continue reading...
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TV tonight: Martin Freeman’s soul unravels in The Responder (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The excellent scouse cop drama continues to unsettle. Plus: Rob and Rylan hit Florence, and it is wonderful to see. Here’s what to watch this evening 9pm, BBC One Continue reading...
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The Bullet by Tom Lee review – a complicated inheritance (Sun, 19 May 2024)
This insightful memoir addresses the author and his parents’ struggles with mental illness, and offers a historical account of treatments The year 2008 “should have been a good time in my life”, the novelist Tom Lee reveals in this memoir. He was a new father, homeowner, and his first book was imminent. Instead, he was in emotional freefall because of acute anxiety. “I had forgotten how to be,” he writes. The bullet of the title is mental illness, one he felt was heading his way, because of its impact on his family. Both of Lee’s parents were institutionalised at the now defunct Severalls hospital in Colchester. Here, he shows how, having dodged their fate into adulthood, his collapse into bedridden stasis made him panic about whether he would ever recover. He’s subtle in detailing his cautious self-medicating with Ativan (“more suburban than subversive”) and dawning realisation that ill-health tracked him long before he was aware. Later, he suffered another illness, acute respiratory distress syndrome (Ards), which proved nearly fatal. He was placed in an induced coma and labelled by a consultant as “the sickest man in London”. He refers to Ards as an “invader”, unlike anxiety, the enemy within. Continue reading...
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George Miller: ‘Where do I keep my Oscar? I swear, I don’t know’ (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The Furiosa, Mad Max and Happy Feet director talks tap dancing, life as a twin and what he’d tell his younger self Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email What is the best thing about being a twin? The shared experience. We spent the first 20 years of our lives together every day. We both have a similar curiosity about the world, and he practised as a doctor for 50 years. His take on human behaviour was really amusing, funny and very wise. It was always interesting to have conversations with him, so we would just compare notes. It’s why I love collaborating with people because it’s always about the discourse. Continue reading...
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Now You See Us: Women Artists in Britain 1520-1920 review – revelations and mystifying omissions (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Tate Britain, London A Flemish ‘paintrix’ at the court of Elizabeth I, a magnificent mouth artist and a glamorous suffragette are finally given their due in a show tracing female artists’ rocky road to recognition. But the story too often takes precedence over the art Mary Delany (1700-88) was a witty memoirist of 72 when she in effect invented the paper collage in Britain. Noticing the affinity between a geranium and a scrap of red paper, she took her scissors and cut a petal from it freehand. The exquisite plant that grew from Delany’s work looked so exactly like a watercolour people mistook it for a painting. She had discovered a new way, she wrote to her niece, “of imitating flowers”. Delany’s collages are startlingly beautiful – nearly transparent apparitions materialising on inky black paper. They have the translucence of both watercolour and actual pressed flowers. Two appear in this exhibition: a flowering raspberry glowing crimson against the blackness and a fragile white lily unfurling its petals, as it seems, by night. They might be emblems for the show itself: discoveries, and rediscoveries, brought out of darkness into light. Continue reading...
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The Balconettes review – neighbours finding trouble in invitation to hot guy’s flat (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Cannes film festival Noémie Merlant’s first film as a director is relentlessly silly, self-indulgent and unsuited to its themes of misogyny and sexual violence Here to prove that “actor project” movies are always the ones with the dodgiest acting is the otherwise estimable French star Noémie Merlant who presents her writing-directing debut in Cannes, with herself in a leading role and Céline Sciamma on board as producer and credited as script collaborator. It’s got some funny moments and there’s a great scene in a gynaecologist’s treatment room whose calm, straightforward candour completely annihilates all those other coyly shot gynaecologist scenes you’ve ever seen in any movie or TV drama. And the opening sequence is very dramatic, centring on a woman whose story is sadly neglected for the rest of the film in favour of the younger, prettier people. But I have to say that the film is relentlessly silly, self-indulgent and self-admiring with a certain tiring kind of performer narcissism, always tending towards a jangling tone of celebratory affirmation which can’t absorb or do justice to the themes of misogyny and sexual violence that this film winds up being about. The cod-thriller scenes of corpse disposal do not convince on a realist level (though given that these corpses keep coming back as unfunny ghosts, a realist level is not needed) and do not work as comedy either. Continue reading...
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Long Island by Colm Tóibín review – the sequel to Brooklyn is a masterclass in subtlety and intelligence (Sun, 19 May 2024)
This follow-up, set 20 years on, kicks off with a marriage in crisis and skilfully conveys how blind we are to our own motivations The great thing about writing a sequel is that you can go straight in with the action, and no need to worry about setting the scene. Colm Tóibín certainly does that in Long Island, the follow-up to his 2009 novel Brooklyn. That book shifted Tóibín from being a respected, prize-friendly literary novelist to a commercial success: his publishers’ publicity materials at the time accurately predicted that it would be his “breakout novel” , which would “do for him what Atonement did for [Ian] McEwan”. Brooklyn succeeded artistically and commercially because it told a simple story well: a satisfyingly sad tale of thwarted love in 1950s Ireland. It featured Eilis Lacey, a young woman living in Tóibín’s old stamping ground of Enniscorthy, a town in County Wexford near the country’s south-east coast. In Brooklyn, Eilis went to the US and secretly married, came back to Ireland for a family death and then hampered her mother’s hopes by returning to America rather than settling down with local boy Jim Farrell. Her decision seemed to surprise Eilis as much as it did the reader: her dominant characteristic in Brooklyn was a maddening passivity toward her own destiny – at least, right until the moment she decided to return to America. Continue reading...
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Vintage fashion to upcycling: five great reasons to visit the Westfield Good Festival (Thu, 09 May 2024)
From denim workshops to lessons on mending household items, Westfield’s Europe-wide festival gives visitors the chance to transform their wardrobes and reduce waste As consumers, we’ve all come to appreciate that individual changes to our behaviours can have a collective impact on efforts to protect the planet and reduce environmental damage. The Westfield Good Festival, which is taking place at Westfield shopping centres across Europe this month, aims to help consumers make these kind of changes to their behaviour. The event, in collaboration with brands and with organisations working in the community, will showcase activities and initiatives to inspire people to embrace the circular economy and get creative with repairing and repurposing. “Brands and consumers can share insights, best practice and motivate one another towards adopting eco-friendlier shopping habits,” says Katie Wyle, UK head of shopping centre management for Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW). Continue reading...
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Is your online business ready for a physical space? Six ways to tell (Thu, 01 Jun 2023)
Westfield’s new competition could land you a trading spot in one of Europe’s best shopping destinations. But are you ready to rise to the challenge? For many businesses, launching exclusively online is a safe option, enabling them to start building with lower overheads, fewer commitments and a chance to test the water. But there often comes a time when a more visible, physical presence is required. The Westfield Grand Prix is giving sustainable businesses that very opportunity – the chance to win a free retail space in one of the two London Westfield centres for up to 12 months. Winners will also receive a contribution to pay for design and fit-out, together with personalised guidance and financial support from design and retail experts, as well as in-centre advertising created by the retail media agency Westfield Rise. Most entrepreneurs would jump at the chance to sell their wares in one of the world’s most iconic malls. But before taking the leap, your readiness should be considered. How do you know when your business is ready? Continue reading...
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How to make a memorable business pitch: entrepreneurs reveal seven top tips (Thu, 01 Jun 2023)
From knowing your figures to speaking from the heart, three business owners share their secrets for winning investors with a knockout presentation Motivational speakers and life coaches love to tell us that if we can dream it, we can do it. But coming up with an initial idea for a product, service or business is only the start of the journey; try as you might, simply manifesting the cash to fund your startup just isn’t going to cut it. What budding tycoons actually need to move them up to the next level is investors. Whether the money might come from a personal contact, venture capitalist, or angel investor, a stand-out marketing deck and killer pitch are required. It’s a tried and tested route that most businesses will have to engage in to achieve their potential. Continue reading...
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‘You have to fail, to learn’: three entrepreneurs on the value of a business pitch gone wrong (Thu, 01 Jun 2023)
While the initial knock-back may sting, the insights you gain from an unsuccessful presentation can propel you to success It’s a big moment for any entrepreneur. The pitch can make all the difference when it comes to securing investment, getting stocked, gaining customers – or being selected as the winner of the Westfield Grand Prix, where the prize is a free retail space in one of the two London Westfield Centres for up to 12 months, along with a contribution to pay for design and fit-out. When it comes to opportunities that could be a gamechanger, a lot is riding on one brief moment that makes up a pitch. But what happens if it goes wrong? Ask any entrepreneur about their failed pitches, and they’ll have plenty of examples. But most have something else in common too: the firm view that those failed pitches helped them move on to better things. Continue reading...
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Sunday with Deborah Meaden: ‘The cats get me up about 9.30am by tapping my face’ (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The business guru talks about her family, her menagerie, vegan lunches and a day of contemplation Up early or lie-in? My husband, Paul, is up and out coaching for the local rugby team; I’m not an early riser. The cats get me up about 9.30am by tapping my face. First thing you do? I walk around the garden in bare feet. Then I’m on feeding duties. As well as the cats, we’ve got horses, sheep, rescue dogs, ducks and angry geese. I wander with my coffee and say good morning to them all. Breakfast? I only eat breakfast on holiday. I have wholemeal toast around lunchtime, but don’t eat properly until around 6pm. Sunday morning? I see my sister, Gail, who lives 20 minutes away – close, but not too close. I keep horses there so we go out for a ride, then I treat myself to an oat-milk latte and we have a chat. Sunday afternoon? I’ll have a fiddle around in the garden. I don’t pretend I look after it particularly well because we have a gardener and he should take all the glory when people say, ‘Oh, how lovely.’ Then Paul and I walk our five dogs as a group before I take them out one by one. They’ve got different personalities. I do that so they focus on me, to remind them I’m in charge. Sunday dinner? A ‘this isn’t chicken’ roast with stuffing, cabbage, leeks and broccoli. Paul makes himself a chicken casserole. I’ve been vegan for three years. I don’t cook and he’s a fantastic cook, but he makes the fair point that I decided to go vegan, he didn’t, so he’s not cooking two meals. Monday dread? On Friday, I look at the next week ahead so I know what is coming my way, but I never look at it on a Sunday. It is my day away from everything. Sunday is a time for contemplation, not for work – it’s for remembering what life’s all about. Wind down? I sit with a heap of animals on my lap and can barely see the television. We watch something lovely like The Piano, because Sunday nights have a different feel to other days. We’ve just finished Baby Reindeer. That is definitely not for a Sunday. Deborah Meaden Talks Money (Red Shed) is out in paperback on 23 May Continue reading...
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Notes on chocolate: a glorious gelato in touristy Venice (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The crowds can be trying, but there are still good reasons to visit the canal-rich city I am in Venice. It is a-throng with slow moving, selfie-stick-touting tourists, less intent on sightseeing than on seeing themselves in the sights. Where are the shops where normal people shop for pans and cloths? There are lots selling glass or beautiful handmade paper. But normal, everyday stuff? Not so much. I read that the resident population on the island is a fifth of what it was in the 1950s. The first woman in the world to graduate from university was born here. I struggle in crowds, so I go searching for peace and quiet. The Peggy Guggenheim affords a relatively peaceful and breezy terrace on which to canal-watch, just a shuffle away from Marini’s very happy man on a horse: the Angel of the City. The gift shop (I love me a gift shop) has no chocolate, but a Mondrian Miffy. Continue reading...
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Why it can pay to delay when you start drawing your UK state pension (Sun, 19 May 2024)
For every nine weeks you delay your pension goes up by about 1%, but for some it could end up costing them more UK state pensions: are older retirees getting a bad deal? You can boost your weekly state pension by delaying when you start to draw it. For some people this will represent a very good deal – but it all depends on how long you live for once you start receiving it. We each have a date from which we can claim our state pension. Once we do, we can receive a weekly sum based on our national insurance contributions and the level of the state pension at the time. Continue reading...
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The best new camping and glampsites around the UK, from festival vibes to no-frills meadows (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Pods, campervans, bell tents and even Star Wars domes feature in our round-up of sites set in glorious countryside from the South Downs to the Hebrides Wild Canvas, one of the recent wave of pop-up campsites with a festival vibe, has a host of new additions for its fifth outing this summer. The campsite makes the most of its riverside setting on the Turvey House Estate near Bedford. It has a new wellness area, the Nest, with direct river access (BYO paddleboard!) plus a yoga yurt, a mobile sauna, a treatment tent for massages and free early-morning activities from meditation to boot camp. Continue reading...
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The moment I knew: I said ‘marry me or never see me again’ – and he went straight down on one knee (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Chelsea Reed and David shared a workplace and a love for 60s pop. Then an expiring visa threatened to end everything before it had even begun It was 2015, and my then-boyfriend and I were living in Canada on working holiday visas from Australia. In the dead of a Toronto winter, I got a job at a restaurant that hosted open mic nights every Sunday, and as a singer-songwriter myself, I was excited to perform. The open-mic host, David, a bespectacled guy with a neat haircut, bore a striking resemblance to Buddy Holly or Ferris Bueller. He played a few songs to warm up the crowd, and I was instantly impressed – and jealous of his talent. Continue reading...
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Eats shoots and leaves: the problems with pests (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The flowers are blooming and everyone’s loving the first signs of warmer weather in the garden, especially the birds and slugs Gardening ups and downs! One warmer May morning I arrive with seeds for sowing but find something’s eaten all but one of the baby pea plants. I feel almost tearful, and fear for the survivor. I sow more seed and scatter the soil with organic slug pellets, guilt fighting anger. The climbing French beans haven’t yet raised their heads. Does everything seem a bit slower this year? Too wet too early perhaps. Though it might more easily be my impatience. Continue reading...
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Chelsea Women fans: share your views on Emma Hayes’ departure (Thu, 16 May 2024)
We would like to hear from Chelsea Women fans about how they feel about the Emma Hayes era coming to an end After 11 years as Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes is to step down at the end of the season. We would like to hear from Chelsea Women fans about how they feel about Emma Hayes’ tenure coming to an end. What did her time with the club mean to you? Continue reading...
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Carers in the UK: have you been threatened with prosecution for benefit fraud? (Mon, 08 Apr 2024)
We’d like to hear from carers in the UK who have been investigated for alleged benefit fraud by the DWP Tens of thousands of unpaid carers looking after disabled, frail or ill relatives are being forced to repay huge sums to the government and threatened with criminal prosecution after unwittingly breaching earnings rules by just a few pounds a week. People who claim the £81.90-a-week carer’s allowance for looking after loved ones while working part-time are being forced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to pay back money that has been erroneously overpaid to them, in some cases running to more than £20,000, or risk going to prison. Continue reading...
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Tell us: do you have a portrait of King Charles in your workplace? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
We would like to hear from people who have seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how they feel about it Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is offering portraits of the king to all Church of England churches, as well as job centres, coastguards, universities and other public institutions, having previously offered them to local authorities, court buildings, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services. Do you have a portrait of the king in your workplace and how do you feel about it? Or have you seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how do you feel about it? Continue reading...
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Tell us: have you recently become more engaged with the natural world? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
From birdwatching to gardening, we would like to hear from people who have a renewed interest in nature, Have you recently become intrigued by nature? We would like to hear from people who have recently become more engaged with the natural world, from birdwatching to gardening. Whether it was because of an amazing documentary or a new bird-identifying app, tell us what piqued your interest below. Continue reading...
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‘Shouldn’t we be proud?’: new Stalin statues symbolise Georgia’s battle to control the past as well as the present (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Trend is being linked to Kremlin-inspired ‘foreign influence’ bill that has led to huge street protests Europe live – latest updates Vasil Berdzenishvili, 47, was happy to take a moment out from washing his car to talk about Joseph Stalin. He looked across at the bronze bust of the Soviet leader next to the slide in the children’s park and nodded. Yes, he was pleased that his village of Mukhrani, 30 miles north of the Georgian capital Tbilisi, had honoured this man. “There were plus and minuses but he was very powerful, the most powerful, he won a war, a generalissimo – and he was Georgian,” he beamed. Continue reading...
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‘Modern death is clinical, antiseptic’: the festival that wants to revive the Irish wake (Sun, 19 May 2024)
Artists, singers, writers and scholars gather in County Mayo as a ‘clarion call’ to protect the rite of passage they believe is under threat It was a scene once common in homes across Ireland: a body in an open coffin surrounded by family, friends and acquaintances who shared stories, sang songs, ate sandwiches, and sipped tea or perhaps something stronger. Over three days they bade farewell to the dead in humanity’s oldest rite. The Irish wake is part of a tradition practised in some form by every culture dating back thousands of years, a ritual to comfort the bereaved and acknowledge loss. Continue reading...
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Netflix’s One Hundred Years of Solitude brings fame to Gabriel García Márquez’s Colombian hometown (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Locals hope TV adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude will bring new life to Aracataca, birthplace of author’s magical realism In sweltering mid-afternoon heat, children splash in the clear water of the canal that threads through town as elderly neighbours look on from rocking chairs on the porches of their sun-washed houses. Butterflies spring from every bush, sometimes fluttering together in kaleidoscopes. At the foot of Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountains, about 20 miles from the Caribbean coast, Gabriel García Márquez’s fictional world of Macondo lives on. Continue reading...
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Lai Ching-te, the political brawler who went from a Taiwan mining village to the presidency (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Friends and analysts say Lai’s tough upbringing in a working-class family has prepared him well for his next opponent: China The house itself is a modest, two-storey dwelling on a larger parcel of picturesque land. Mist floats down from the jungled hills behind, settling in the narrow lane that winds towards the rundown remnants of a mine. The only people there on the day the Guardian visits are curious tourists. They are there for one thing: to see the family home of Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s next president. Continue reading...
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‘Personalising stuff that doesn’t matter’: the trouble with the Zoe nutrition app (Sat, 18 May 2024)
The wellness project claims to help users make ‘smarter food choices’ based on ‘world-leading science’. But many scientists claim its fee-based services are no better than generic advice “Your body is unique, so is the food you need.” This is the central credo of personalised nutrition (PN), as professed by its leading UK advocate, the health science company Zoe. Since its launch in April 2022, 130,000 people have subscribed to the service – at one point it had a waiting list of 250,000 – which uses a pin prick blood test, stool sample and a wearable continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to suggest “smarter food choices for your body”. Like other companies working in this space, Zoe has all the hallmarks of serious science. Its US equivalent Levels counts among its advisers many respected scientists, including Robert Lustig, famous for raising the alarm about the harms of refined carbohydrates such as sugar. Zoe is fronted by King’s College London scientist Tim Spector and claims to be “created with world-leading science”. Continue reading...
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Disappearing ink, fake polls and voter fraud: EU fears as Russian propaganda ads target Euro elections (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Researcher uncovers vast Facebook campaign and accuses Meta of ‘lack of willingness’ to counter it The stories are doom-laden, laced with vitriolic sneers about Emmanuel Macron, Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Ursula von der Leyen. Ukrainians are “ready to depose” their leader, Macron is breaking French “rules” with aid to Ukraine, an “uncontrolled influx” from the east is “seriously harming the Germans”. According to new research, these are just a few examples of a vast pro-Russian propaganda campaign washing over Facebook accounts of French and German citizens, before the European parliament elections next month. Continue reading...
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‘Clean water is a basic right’: protesters against sewage in seas and rivers gather across the UK (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Surfers and families vent their frustration with water companies after more news of poisoned drinking water and polluted lakes “Cut the crap” and “Fishes not faeces” read some of the many colourful slogans at Gyllyngvase Beach in Falmouth where hundreds of protesters gathered on Saturday to demand action over the scourge of sewage pollution in British waterways. Wearing fancy dress and waving inflated plastic poops, they paddled into the bay on surfboards, kayaks and standup paddle boards – as did protesters at more than 30 other events across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – with the Cornish charity Surfers Against Sewage leading the way. Continue reading...
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‘Once you take choice away, there’s nothing left’: assisted dying edges closer in Jersey, but can they protect against a ‘duty to die’? (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Hospice patient Lynne Cottignies welcomes proposals to make it legal to help eligible people end their lives. Many others have serious concerns Lynne Cottignies has been planning her funeral. A wicker coffin and a church service with Ave Maria and All Things Bright and Beautiful, followed by a wake at the Royal Jersey golf club where she was lady captain a few years ago. Later, close friends and family will scatter her ashes on a beach near her Jersey home, a spot where they have enjoyed happy sunset barbecues. Between now and then, Cottignies, 71, faces the prospect of increasing and potentially unbearable pain as the cancer that started in her breast spreads. “I’ve had a lot of different chemo treatments, and just about every side-effect possible. But now time’s up. I’m too weak for anything else.” Continue reading...
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Experience: my fiance died on our wedding day – and then I discovered his secret life (Fri, 17 May 2024)
It was like I was trapped in a movie – with a hideous plot twist I met Eric on a dating app in early 2018 when I was living in New York. He was handsome, talkative and interesting. I was falling for him – but there was something he needed to know. In 2015, I’d been in love with a guy called Mike. On my 30th birthday, my parents threw me a party at their house. Everyone was having a great time until I heard my brother scream Mike’s name. As I ran towards the noise, I saw Mike on the ground by my parents’ pool. He’d slipped into the water and wasn’t breathing. I frantically tried to do CPR on him, but he remained unconscious. At the hospital, I was told that Mike wouldn’t ever wake up. No one knows how he got hurt. He broke some bones in his back, and had a brain injury, but we don’t know how that happened. Continue reading...
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Cannes 2024 week one roundup – the jury’s out, the sun isn’t… (Sat, 18 May 2024)
The weather didn’t play ball, but Magnus von Horn’s fierce fairytale and Andrea Arnold’s kitchen-sink take on English mysticism should count among the first-week highlights for Greta Gerwig’s jury The Cannes film festival opens just as the heavens do, too. It’s raining on the red carpet and on the black limousines and on the immaculate white pavilions that line up on the beach. The rain falls on the A-listers as they climb the stairs to the Palais, and on the stoic huddled masses who gather behind the police cordons. Everybody’s bedraggled and windswept; it feels as though the whole town’s been at sea. “My main wish is that we see some great films this year,” says Iris Knobloch, the festival’s president, casting an anxious eye at the sky. “But also I’m wishing for a little sunshine as well.” If it’s raining in Cannes, it means there’s a glitch in the script. It’s one of the event’s in-built paradoxes that a festival which predominantly plays out in darkened rooms should be so dependent on good weather; so in thrall to its complementary circus of photocalls, yacht parties and open-air film screenings. All it takes is a downpour to trigger a disturbance in the force, a creeping sense of existential dread. The punters came expecting Technicolor. But the scene is all wrong: the world has gone monochrome. Continue reading...
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David Copperfield ‘was in my nightmares’: the women alleging sexual misconduct - video (Thu, 16 May 2024)
A Guardian US investigation is reporting allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour by illusionist David Copperfield. Testimonies from two women, both of whom are portrayed by actors, describe their alleged experiences and the impact it had on their lives. Copperfield denies all of the allegations and has never been charged with criminal wrongdoing Continue reading...
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Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea – video (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s Continue reading...
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British surgeon in Gaza speaks out as Israel offensive deepens in Rafah – video (Tue, 14 May 2024)
British surgeon Dr Omar El-Taji has been in Gaza for more than a week with medical nonprofit Fajr Scientific, working in one of Gaza’s largest remaining hospitals as Israel’s invasion of Rafah deepens. The European hospital, which was founded by Unrwa with a grant from the EU, has limited resources and fewer local staff to deal with high numbers of patients being admitted with devastating injuries. ‘These people have gone through this for six to seven months now, they cannot go through this any more,’ says El-Taji, who is currently living at the hospital after the medical team’s safe house was evacuated. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has so far rejected US pressure to hold off on a full-scale attack, claiming Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas and that Israel can only achieve its war aims by killing militants and leaders in the city Israeli tanks reach residential areas as IDF pushes further into Rafah Continue reading...
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Clashes at Georgian parliament as 'foreign agents bill' passes – video (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Georgian protesters opposed to a 'foreign influence' bill picketed the Georgian parliament amid a major police presence during the third, and final reading of the bill. Police attempted to disperse demonstrators and people were seen being detained. The 84-30 vote has cleared the way for the bill to become law. The draft now goes to the president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, which is controlled by the ruling party and its allies. Government critics and western countries have criticised the new bill as authoritarian and Russian-inspired Georgia parliament approves ‘foreign agent’ bill amid ongoing protests Why are Georgians protesting against a ‘foreign agents’ bill? Continue reading...
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Why genocide is so hard to prove – video (Thu, 09 May 2024)
South Africa's case against Israel over allegations of genocide before the international court of justice has raised a central question of international law: what is genocide and how do you prove it? It is one of three genocide cases being considered by the UN's world court, but since the genocide convention was approved in 1948, only three instances have been legally recognised as genocide. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks back on these historical cases to find out why the crime is so much harder to prove than other atrocities, and what bearing this has on South Africa's case against Israel and future cases What is the genocide convention and how might it apply to the UK and Israel? ‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid Continue reading...
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‘Cringeworthy’: what people in Dover think of Labour and Keir Starmer – video (Fri, 10 May 2024)
Keir Starmer appeared in Dover and Deal alongside the Labour party’s newest MP, the former Tory Natalie Elphicke, to announce the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme if Labour is elected. The Guardian spoke to people in Dover to get their reaction Continue reading...
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‘Disrupt whenever possible’: police clash with protesters blocking bus to Bibby Stockholm – video (Fri, 03 May 2024)
Hundreds of protesters prevented an attempt to collect asylum seekers from a south London hotel and transfer them to the Bibby Stockholm barge. The Guardian witnessed crowds blocking the bus and the road outside the Best Western hotel in Peckham before police were able to move in and break up the protest. The bus eventually left the area after seven hours, with no asylum seekers onboard London protesters block transfer of asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm Continue reading...
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'Fed up of politics': the view from Blackpool on byelection day – video (Thu, 02 May 2024)
Ahead of the byelection in Blackpool South, the Guardian takes the temperature in the once prosperous northern coastal town, with many voters expressing complete apathy and disdain for the state of politics. The area is going to the polls because the former Tory MP Scott Benton resigned after being found guilty of breaching standards rules in a lobbying scandal. Labour is hopeful of taking back the seat, which Benton won with a majority of 3,690 in 2019 Polls open in England’s local elections with Tories braced for heavy losse Analysis: Will Tories dump Rishi Sunak if election results worse than expected? Continue reading...
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Marina Hyde on Russell Brand’s baptism; plus ‘deepfake’ cheerleaders: the woman wrongly accused over a viral video – podcast (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Marina Hyde: ‘So Russell Brand was baptised in the Thames, and all his sins were washed away. Cheaper than a lawyer, I suppose’; plus Jenny Kleeman meets Raffaella Spone, the woman accused of creating and circulating a damaging ‘deepfake’ video of teenage cheerleaders. The problem? Nothing was fake after all. Continue reading...
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‘Super cute please like’: the unstoppable rise of Shein – podcast (Fri, 17 May 2024)
It is taking fast fashion to ever faster and ever cheaper extremes, and making billions from it. Why is the whole world shopping at Shein? By Nicole Lipman Continue reading...
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The children of the contaminated blood scandal – podcast (Fri, 17 May 2024)
It is the NHS’s worst treatment disaster – with 30,000 patients infected. Two survivors, Ade Goodyear and Andy Evans, explain why it took so long for it to be brought to light Ade Goodyear was 15 when he was told he had contracted HIV. Like about 30,000 other NHS patients – including more than 300 children – who were given blood transfusions or commercial blood products before 2019, he was infected by contaminated blood. Some patients got HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions after childbirth or other medical procedures. Ade was infected with HIV at the medical centre of his school. Pupils at his Treloar’s college, which had a specialist haemophilia unit, were among those given injections of a blood plasma product called factor VIII concentrate. Concerns had been raised a decade before by the World Health Organization because it was a commercial product that mixed plasma from tens of thousands of often high-risk donors. If one had an infection such as HIV, it could contaminate the whole batch. Continue reading...
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The Premier League’s race for Europe and Celtic’s title – Football Weekly Extra podcast (Thu, 16 May 2024)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nedum Onuoha and John Brewin as Manchester United and Chelsea get important wins in their hunt for European football next season Rate, review, share on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Audioboom, Mixcloud, Acast and Stitcher, and join the conversation on Facebook, Twitter and email. On the podcast today: the race for fifth/sixth and Europa League football next season is still alive – Chelsea could still catch Spurs and only Manchester United winning the FA Cup would earn Newcastle a spot. Continue reading...
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AI, algorithms and apps: can dating be boiled down to a science? – podcast (Thu, 16 May 2024)
Last week the founder of the dating app Bumble forecasted a near future dating landscape where AI ‘dating concierges’ filter out prospective partners for us. But does AI, or even science, really understand what makes two people compatible? Madeleine Finlay speaks to Amie Gordon, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, to find out what we know about why two people go the distance, and why she and her colleague associate professor of sociology Elizabeth Bruch, are designing their own dating app to learn more. Clips: Bloomberg Read more about Amie’s app here Continue reading...
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What keeps the world’s top climate scientists up at night? – podcast (Thu, 16 May 2024)
Hundreds of climate experts expect global temperatures to rise to at least 2.5C (4.5F) above preindustrial levels by 2100. Damian Carrington reports When the Guardian’s environment editor, Damian Carrington, decided to survey the world’s top climate scientists, he had no idea how many of them would want to participate. “I was astonished by the flood of responses that came back,” he tells Hannah Moore. Continue reading...
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Donald Trump comes face to face with former fixer Michael Cohen – podcast (Wed, 15 May 2024)
This week, it was Donald Trump’s former fixer Michael Cohen’s turn to take the stand in the hush-money trial in New York. Cohen walked the jury through the steps he says he took to make any potential story that would damage Trump’s image go away, in advance of the 2016 election. The defence is trying to chip away at Cohen’s credibility, to sow seeds of doubt among the jury listening to his testimony. So how did he do? Jonathan Freedland asks former federal prosecutor Ankush Khardori what he makes of the prosecution’s star witness so far Archive: Fox News 5, CBS News, CNN, Sky Australia Continue reading...
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Sign up for the Fashion Statement newsletter: our free fashion email (Tue, 20 Sep 2022)
Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, direct to your inbox every Thursday Style, with substance: what’s really trending this week, a roundup of the best fashion journalism and your wardrobe dilemmas solved, delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday Explore all our newsletters: whether you love film, football, fashion or food, we’ve got something for you Continue reading...
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Sign up for the Guardian Documentaries newsletter: our free short film email (Fri, 02 Sep 2016)
Be the first to see our latest thought-provoking films, bringing you bold and original storytelling from around the world Discover the stories behind our latest short films, learn more about our international film-makers, and join us for exclusive documentary events. We’ll also share a selection of our favourite films, from our archives and from further afield, for you to enjoy. Sign up below. Can’t wait for the next newsletter? Start exploring our archive now. Continue reading...
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Guardian Traveller newsletter: Sign up for our free holidays email (Wed, 12 Oct 2022)
From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. From biking adventures to city breaks, get inspiration for your next break – whether in the UK or further afield – with twice-weekly emails from the Guardian’s travel editors. You’ll also receive handpicked offers from Guardian Holidays. Continue reading...
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Sign up for the Feast newsletter: our free Guardian food email (Tue, 09 Jul 2019)
A weekly email from Yotam Ottolenghi, Meera Sodha, Felicity Cloake and Rachel Roddy, featuring the latest recipes and seasonal eating ideas Each week we’ll send you an exclusive newsletter from our star food writers. We’ll also send you the latest recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi, Nigel Slater, Meera Sodha and all our star cooks, stand-out food features and seasonal eating inspiration, plus restaurant reviews from Grace Dent and Jay Rayner. Sign up below to start receiving the best of our culinary journalism in one mouth-watering weekly email. Continue reading...
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The big picture: Dorothy Bohm on the streets of Lisbon (Sun, 19 May 2024)
The pioneering ​photographer, who would have been 100 next month, showcases her eye for the uncanny​ with this image of a newspaper stand From the moment her father took his Leica camera from around his neck and gave it to Dorothy Bohm as she boarded a train out of Nazi-occupied Lithuania in June 1939, she seemed fated to her vocation. Bohm – then Dorothea Israelit – was 14 at the time and the journey took her to England as a refugee; she lodged with a family in Hassocks in the heart of the Sussex countryside. She did not see her parents – eventually sent by Russian forces, separately, to detention camps in Siberia – for another 20 years. The separation, she later said, gave her a profound sense of impermanence; the Leica felt like one antidote to that: “The photograph fulfils my deep need to stop things from disappearing,” she wrote. “It makes transience less painful.” Over her long life – Bohm died last year aged 98 – that need never left her. This picture, taken in Lisbon in 1996, is included in a small exhibition and a wonderful retrospective book of the photographer’s work, Dorothy Bohm at 100, in which notable friends and fellow photographers pay tribute to her pioneering influence. Her career began when she set up a portrait studio in Manchester in 1946, but she subsequently travelled extensively with her camera across Europe and beyond, before settling in London, where she was a prime mover in creating the Photographers’ Gallery in 1971. Dorothy Bohm at 100 is published by Beam Editions on 20 June (£35). A print sale exhibition of her work is at the Photographers’ Gallery, London W1 until 23 June Continue reading...
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Mythology, heritage, identity: student work at New York’s International Center of Photography (Sat, 18 May 2024)
These images highlighting themes of climate resilience, personal trauma and identity are part of an exhibition of the work of students from more than 25 different countries The annual student showcase will be on view at the International Center of Photography in New York from 18 May until 2 September Continue reading...
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Mesmerising microbes: bacteria as you’ve never seen it before – in pictures (Sat, 18 May 2024)
Tal Danino’s day job at Columbia University, New York, is engineering “living” medicines. “We program microbes for cancer therapy using synthetic biology,” he says. As a side hustle he manipulates and photographs the microbial world; his images are collected in a book, Beautiful Bacteria. Taking bacteria from substances such as wastewater, dental plaque or kimchi, Danino lets them multiply in a petri dish, adding dyes. The results are artworks differing from the digital enhancements often made in scientific photography to make images more informative. Indeed, he says, the microbes deserve some credit: “They do often deviate from our plans, becoming active collaborators in the creation of the work.” Beautiful Bacteria: Encounters in the Microuniverse is published by Rizzoli (£38.50). To order a copy for £33.88 go to guardianbookshop.com or call 020-3176 3837 Continue reading...
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Girls’ night: the teenage ritual of preparing to go out – in pictures (Sat, 18 May 2024)
For her debut book, the Irish photographer Eimear Lynch travelled around Ireland to photograph groups of girls immersed in the, often lengthy, ritual of dressing up and applying their makeup together Girls’ Night is available now from IDEA Continue reading...
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‘I hope people wonder what the man is doing’: Carla Vermeend’s best phone picture (Sat, 18 May 2024)
The photographer and her husband came across an abandoned boat while out walking and took the opportunity to float a surreal idea Every September, Carla Vermeend and her husband go on holiday to Terschelling island, in the Netherlands. “It has lots of nature, right in the middle of the Wadden Sea, which is listed by Unesco as a world heritage site,” says Vermeend, a Dutch photographer. During their visit in 2014, the couple were walking by the sea together. Continue reading...
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The week around the world in 20 pictures (Fri, 17 May 2024)
War in Gaza, the Russian offensive in Kharkiv, protests in Georgia, the Northern lights and the Cannes Film Festival: the last seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists Warning: this gallery contains images that some readers may find distressing Continue reading...
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