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The Guardian

Let Rishi Sunak ‘get on with the job’, says Grant Shapps (sam., 27 avril 2024)
Defence secretary says MPs must give the PM space as Tory figures appear to be vying for leadership Conservative MPs looking for a new party leader need to allow Rishi Sunak to “get on with the job”, Grant Shapps has said. Amid speculation that Sunak could announce an election next week in order to stave off potential challengers for the top job, the defence secretary said now was not “the time or place” to try to put another Conservative leader in place. The party is on its fifth leader since 2015. Continue reading...
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Sadiq Khan: leaseholders in England should have the right to withhold service charges (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
London mayor says residents need a law protecting them from unfair and unexplained increases in levies by landlords Leaseholders hit with large and unjust service charges should have the right to refuse to pay up, Sadiq Khan has said, amid concerns that the government has backed away from its promises to boost the rights of tenants. There are 1.4m leasehold properties in London, a quarter of all such properties in the country. The London mayor said that many of the residents affected were suffering from a “shameful abuse of power” by their landlords. Continue reading...
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Man who raped his wife tried to convince court he was victim of domestic abuse (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Claim of parental alienation made to ‘distress and frighten’, English court told A man who raped his wife and was controlling and threatening towards her and their two children attempted to manipulate the family court into believing he was a victim of domestic abuse, a judge has ruled. In a damning judgment Judge Middleton-Roy found the man’s conduct – which included frequently filming of his family using a body-worn camera – had been “reprehensible and unreasonable” after he pursued false claims against the mother and contested her allegations against him over a prolonged period. Continue reading...
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West Ham United v Liverpool: Premier League – live (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Premier League updates from the 12.30pm BST kick-off Live scoreboard | Reds agree terms for Slot | And mail Barry Jurgen Klopp: “It’s definitely a challenge, but it’s part of the job,” said the Liverpool manager, upon being asked how he would raise his players morale after their largely unexpected defeat at Everton. “I can’t remember ever being as disappointed or frustrated after a game like I was after Everton. “I’ve unfortunately lost a lot of games in my life, but it was special. We were not there. You see the other two [Arsenal and Manchester City] playing very positive football, high results, but we are where we are because in this precise area, we don’t play positive football. Continue reading...
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Middle East crisis live: Hamas ‘reviewing new Israeli ceasefire proposal’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Senior Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya said the Palestinian militant group was evaluating Israel’s proposal See all our coverage of the Middle East crisis Three people have been killed in Israeli strikes on southern Lebanon on Saturday, including two members of Hezbollah, AFP reports, citing statements from the militant group and official media. Hezbollah released statements mourning the deaths of two fighters from the villages of Kafr Kila and Khiam, saying they had been “martyred on the road to Jerusalem”. Continue reading...
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Rageh Omaar receiving care after becoming unwell on air, ITV says (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
International affairs editor became unwell while presenting News at Ten on Friday The ITV News presenter Rageh Omaar is receiving medical care after becoming “unwell” live on-air, ITV has said. The ITV News international affairs editor was presenting the News at Ten on Friday evening when he appeared shaky and to be having difficulty reading the news bulletins. Continue reading...
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Briton in critical care after ‘unusual’ shark attack on Tobago (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Man, 64, being treated for injuries to arm, leg and stomach after attack in shallow waters A British man is in intensive care after an “unusual” shark attack on the Caribbean island of Tobago. The 64-year-old man was receiving critical care after the bull shark attack left him with injuries to his left arm, left leg and stomach, Tobago’s Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation said. Continue reading...
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Humza Yousaf invites other Scottish parties to talks to find ‘common ground’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Beleaguered SNP first minister backed by Kate Forbes but faces confidence votes after ending agreement with Greens Humza Yousaf has written to the leaders of other parties to invite them to talks in an attempt to find “common ground” as he fights for his political future. The first minister, who is facing two confidence motions, is understood to have sent letters to the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour, the Scottish Greens and the Alba party on Friday night. Continue reading...
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The prince, the plotters and the would-be putsch: Germany to try far-right coup gang (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Ex-soldier, conspiracy theorist, astrologer and anti-vaxxer among the first of 27 people on trial for trying to violently topple the German government – led by Heinrich XIII Prince Reuss One of the largest legal proceedings in German history is due to start on Monday with the first of three trials of a group of far-right conspiracists who planned to violently overthrow the country’s parliament. So sprawling is the network, so extensive their plans, that for a mixture of logistical and security reasons, the 27 people due in the dock have been split into three separate groups. Continue reading...
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Conservatives condemn Kristi Noem for ‘twisted’ admission of killing dog (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Revelation in new book that possible Trump running mate killed ‘untrainable’ hunting dog prompts widespread revulsion Conservative pundits have condemned the South Dakota governor and possible Trump running mate Kristi Noem, amid widespread horror over her admission in a new book that she killed both an “untrainable” dog and an unruly goat during a single day in hunting season. Alyssa Farah Griffin, a Trump White House staffer turned critic, said: “I’m a dog lover and I am honestly horrified by the Kristi Noem excerpt. I wish I hadn’t even read it. A 14-month-old dog is still a puppy and can be trained. A large part of bad behaviour in dogs is not having proper training from humans. Continue reading...
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Elite force bucks trend of Ukrainian losses on eastern front (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The Azov brigade, which leaders say has a culture of ‘mutual respect’, is tasked with repelling relentless Russian attacks as the invaders make most of artillery mismatch Fifteen miles east of the garrison town of Lyman, a desperate fight has been taking place on Ukraine’s eastern front for months. The once verdant Serebryansky pine forest has been reduced to burnt-out stumps, reminiscent of images from the Somme, destroyed amid Russian attacks aimed at eliminating Ukrainian foxholes. Fearful that the frontline could crack last summer, Ukraine’s commanders deployed the Azov infantry brigade to the sector. Their task was and is to repel what “Maslo”, a 29-year-old staff sergeant with the unit’s first battalion, described as “constant assaults, every day, sometimes for 24 hours”. Occasionally the brigade makes dangerous counterattacks on foot. Continue reading...
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Three and a bit years after Brexit, are border checks finally here? (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Sort of: this week will see inspections of some goods. But the hit to businesses and inflation will be inescapable When Michael Gove announced the first delay to post-Brexit checks on plant and animal products coming into the UK from the EU, he was keen to make one thing clear. “Although we recognise that many in the border industry and many businesses have been investing time and energy to be ready on time, and indeed we in government were confident of being ready on time,” the then minister for the Cabinet Office said, “we have listened to businesses who have made a strong case that they need more time to prepare.” Continue reading...
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‘A lot would have to go wrong for Biden to lose’: can Allan Lichtman predict the 2024 election? (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
The professor on his famous 13 ‘keys’ to the White House, a method for predicting election results that’s been right nine times out of 10 Sign up for The Stakes: a free newsletter on the 2024 US presidential election He has been called the Nostradamus of US presidential elections. Allan Lichtman has correctly predicted the result of nine of the past 10 (and even the one that got away, in 2000, he insists was stolen from Al Gore). But now he is gearing up for perhaps his greatest challenge: Joe Biden v Donald Trump II. Lichtman is a man of parts. The history professor has been teaching at American University in Washington for half a century. He is a former North American 3,000m steeplechase champion and, at 77 – the same age as Trump – aiming to compete in the next Senior Olympics. In 1981 he appeared on the TV quizshow Tic-Tac-Dough and won $110,000 in cash and prizes. Continue reading...
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She was told her babies were dead. Instead they were sold abroad. What happened when she met them 40 years on? (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Four families torn apart by Chile’s illegal adoption scandal finally found each other decades later. They describe the emotional moment they met – and how they pieced together the lives they had spent apart For Sara Melgarejo, the wait at Santiago airport was agonising. The 65-year-old had travelled about 30km north from San Bernardo, a working-class suburb of the Chilean capital, for the reunion. She walked the length of the building trying to calm her nerves, holding her breath for the arrival of the two children she had spent the last 40 years believing were dead. “My heart was racing and my body was trembling,” she says, “but I felt pure joy.” Siblings Sean Ours, 40, and Emily Reid, 39, walked into arrivals together, having arrived on a flight from the US. Even though they had never met Sara in person, there was no question that she was their biological mother – they share the same eyes, the same infectious smile. Continue reading...
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‘Dismissing global warming? That was a joke’: Jeremy Clarkson on fury, farming and why he’s a changed man (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The former Top Gear presenter claims his controversialist persona was just a caricature, and he’s really a reformed character living the good life. But do old habits die hard? “Are you happy?” I ask Jeremy Clarkson. A few times on Clarkson’s Farm, you said were happy. His thick eyebrows seem low, like storm clouds gathering. “I said that in season one, episode one,” he replies. “And I meant it then. Lockdown was a blessed relief. You thought: no one’s inviting me out, I don’t have to go anywhere. Lisa would say, ‘Let’s go on holiday again next weekend.’ And I could say, ‘No! We can’t!’ It was brilliant. We were stuck here. So I was very happy at work then.” Didn’t he say he was happy at another point, while building his pigpen or sowing on his tractor? He looks at me, eyebrows locking, lips pursed in thought. He has perfect recall of the entire Clarkson’s Farm archive. He was pleased when he did those things, but it wasn’t a blanket expression of happiness. Pleased? “Well, what did I do for 25 years? I drove around corners shouting and achieved nothing. Nothing! And then you plant a field of mustard, which I did last year, and some of it grew. Not as much as I’d been hoping, but some. So you have a sense of achievement.” Could we allow for the possibility that he might be contented, then? Clarkson concedes that springtime is nice. “This is going to sound awfully pretentious, but I’ve never noticed the buds coming on the trees before. I spent a good 20 minutes yesterday staring at buds, going, is that too early? Or is that later than normal?” Continue reading...
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‘Is it aliens?’: how a mysterious star could help the search for extraterrestrial life (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Scientists hope studies into Boyajian’s star could lead to enhanced techniques for identifying distant planetary civilisations It is our galaxy’s strangest star, a flickering globe of light whose sporadic and unpredictable output has baffled astronomers for years. But now the study of Boyajian’s star is being promoted as a research model that could help in one of the most intriguing of all scientific quests: finding intelligent life on other worlds. This is the argument that Oxford University astrophysicist Prof Chris Lintott will make at a public lecture – Is it Aliens? The Most Unusual Star in the Galaxy – at a Gresham College lecture in Conway Hall, central London on Monday. His prime target will be Boyajian’s star, sometimes nicknamed Tabby’s star after scientist Tabetha Boyajian, in the constellation Cygnus whose odd dimming and brightening has been the subject of intense study by space probes and observatories in recent years. Continue reading...
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‘Ours was a love story, not an attempted murder story’: Rachel Eliza Griffiths on the day her husband, Salman Rushdie, was stabbed (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
They had only been married for 11 months when the world-famous novelist was attacked by a frenzied knifeman. His wife remembers the intense drama of hearing the news, and the traumatic aftermath I woke early and alone on the sunny morning of Friday 12 August 2022. I was having coffee at the moment my husband, the Indian novelist Salman Rushdie, was nearly killed in a stabbing on stage in Chautauqua, New York. This was the last morning, innocent and ordinary, before my life was shattered by the 27 seconds Salman’s attacker took to stab him more than a dozen times, driving a knife into his right eye until it nearly touched his optic nerve. Continue reading...
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This is how we do it: ‘Since having prostate cancer I can’t get an erection, but I still get just as much pleasure’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
With penetrative sex no longer an option, Sebastian and Teresa have found different ways to satisfy one other How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously I was really worried about how it would affect Teresa. There’s this whole stigma that a ‘real’ man has a working penis Continue reading...
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‘A sense of wonder enveloped my mother and me’: Mishal Husain on her eye-opening journey through Uzbekistan in search of an ancestor (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The broadcaster knew she had a link to the central Asian country she first visited on her gap year 30 years ago. But retracing her steps, this time with her mother in tow, she made a big discovery about their family ‘Can you read what it says?” It was 1992 and I was standing in Samarkand’s impressive Registan Square, looking up at Arabic inscriptions on 15th- and 17th-century buildings, when an Uzbek man approached me, speaking in Russian. The Soviet Union had just collapsed, but he had lived his life in a period when Cyrillic script had been dominant and Islamic learning discouraged. Now, seeing a stranger trying to decipher the words on the buildings of his city, he wanted to know if I could explain them to him. Back then, I was on my gap year and living in Moscow teaching English at a specialist language school, where many of my pupils were the children of officials, diplomats and – almost certainly – KGB agents. It was a time of political transition and widespread hardship, including rising prices and struggles to access food, even through the black market. The six of us who had come from the UK were largely protected from that, as whatever we had from home was in sterling, precious hard currency, rather than roubles. When the school had a spring holiday that March, we decided to fly nearly 2,000 miles south-east and see something of Uzbekistan, then emerging from decades as one of the Soviet socialist republics. Continue reading...
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40 years of comedy classic Auf Wiedersehen, Pet: ‘The producers thought it was too crude, too manly’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
It’s four decades since the comedy drama detailing the exploits of British migrant workers in Germany burst on to our screens. As they stage a live show, its writers and stars let us in on how they constructed a classic In November 1983, a new television series that focused on working-class labourers debuted on ITV. Auf Wiedersehen, Pet told the story of seven men who felt it necessary to leave their families and Thatcher’s Britain in order to earn a living wage. Dennis Patterson (Tim Healy), Neville Hope (Kevin Whately), Leonard “Oz” Osborne (Jimmy Nail), Barry Taylor (Timothy Spall), Wayne Norris (Gary Holton), Albert Moxey (Christopher Fairbank) and Brian “Bomber” Busbridge (Pat Roach) were, between them, brickies, electricians and carpenters who lived and worked together on a construction site in Düsseldorf, Germany, where they bonded, pined for home and drank away their sorrows. Mostly written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, and performed by a cast of young actors, it proved an immediate hit, and helped launch its leads, who went on to careers in film, theatre and music. The show immediately hit a collective nerve. Like Alan Bleasdale’s Boys from the Black Stuff the previous year – which covered similar themes of high unemployment and the spectre of a bleak future – Auf Wiedersehen, Pet also managed to be funny. It quickly gained weekly audience figures of around 14 million. It has perhaps gone on to endure so well because, by focusing on the complicated business of male friendship with the suggestion that beneath all the bluff and the bravado their love for one another ran deep, it was ahead of its time. Continue reading...
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Michelle Collins: ‘When I was 45, I was told I was too old to work in Hollywood’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The actor on doing the ‘trash walk’ at McDonald’s, wishing she was better with money, and being too tired for sex Born in London, Michelle Collins, 61, was a backing singer for Mari Wilson in the early 80s. From 1988-98, she played Cindy in EastEnders, and last year she returned to the soap. She also had a role in Coronation Street from 2011 to 2014. Her latest project, Stephen, which is about addiction, is in cinemas now and is also a touring installation, launching at the Exchange in Penzance on 4 May. She is married, has a daughter, and lives in London. What is your greatest fear? Being murdered – I listen to too many true-crime podcasts. Continue reading...
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‘You’re absolutely trapped’: welcome to the loneliest seat in sport (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
As the World Snooker Championship heats up, there is nothing that quite mirrors the torture and solitude of The Chair Ding Junhui throws back his head and allows his eyes to droop closed for a few seconds. Opens them. Closes them. Finally, with a kind of resignation, opens them again. Ruffles the hair at his temples with both hands, as if trying to shake himself awake. Meanwhile, oblivious to any of this, his opponent Jack Lisowski continues to pot balls and rack up points: just a few feet away and yet in an entirely different world. Welcome to the loneliest seat in sport. For the next minutes, perhaps even hours, this is your whole world and its horizons are extremely limited. You get a couple of bottles of water and a small table. You can’t leave. You can’t make a sound. No teammates or coach for solace. No way of knowing when you can get up again. Your opponent is busily clearing the table, playing you out of the frame. And – the worst part – it’s usually your own fault that you’re sitting there. Continue reading...
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Poison in the pool: why the latest Chinese doping row is proving so toxic (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Vocal swimmers are the tip of a wave as the sport grapples with trust issues over anti-doping in the run-up to Paris 2024 It has been a week since the New York Times and the German TV channel ARD broke the news that 23 Chinese swimmers had tested positive for trace amounts of the banned performance-enhancing drug trimetazidine (TMZ) in the run-up to the last Olympic Games, and public ripples we have seen since are only the visible tip of a wave of feeling running through the sport. The larger part is below the surface, where there is widespread anger, exasperation and disillusionment at the way the 23 were allowed to compete at the Games anyway after an investigation by their national doping agency, Chinada, found the results were caused by kitchen contamination. Continue reading...
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Julen Lopetegui closes on Milan appointment to dash West Ham hopes (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Lopetegui was one of frontrunners to replace David Moyes Former Wolves manager more attracted by chance to join Milan Milan are close to appointing Julen Lopetegui, which puts him out of the running to replace David Moyes as West Ham’s manager. Lopetegui was one of the frontrunners for the West Ham job, which is expected to become vacant when Moyes’s deal expires at the end of the season. But Milan are also looking to make a managerial change and they are poised to name the Spaniard as Stefano Pioli’s replacement. Lopetegui is more attracted by the chance to join the Italian giants. Continue reading...
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A Premier League return is the only certainty in Leicester’s cloudy future | Ben Fisher (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Enzo Maresca’s side kept their heads to secure promotion but financial worries loom large as club prepare for the top flight A campaign that began with Enzo Maresca insisting his Leicester City players sleep overnight at their sprawling, 185-acre Seagrave training base for the first week of pre-season in the name of team building has ended with their primary mission accomplished, promotion boxed off, the Championship crown likely to follow. Leicester’s most memorable and marvellous moment came when they confounded expectations; this time, it was a case of simply meeting them by getting back to the Premier League at the first attempt. Perhaps it should come as no surprise that surely the most expensively assembled squad in the division – their wage bill was the biggest outside the Premier League top six 12 months ago – has sealed that return after Leeds lost at QPR on Friday night but it turned into a slog after they ceded a 17-point lead. In the last couple of months, their 51-game season has flitted between a sense of collapse and catharsis. “It has been a very long season,” Maresca said with a wry smile this week. Continue reading...
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County cricket: Durham v Essex, Surrey v Hampshire, and more on day two – live (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
County Championship updates, play due to start at 11am BST Sign up for The Spin | And you can email Tanya or post BTL Ben Raine giving Dean Elgar a thorough working over from the Lumley end. But he survives. Essex 33-0. Gets there with a single, what riches after a run of lowish scores. High praise for Duckett yesterday from both his teammate (Ben Slater) “Ben batted really well. We know how good he is. I think he has been a bit annoyed to miss out in the first couple of games, but he has had a couple of decent balls in there and you can get that early season in England. He showed us how good he is today with that knock.” Continue reading...
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Caribbean or bust: England have T20 World Cup title defence on their mind (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
England’s white-ball coach, Matthew Mott, needs a strong campaign but schedule means he ‘hardly sees’ best players As Dukes balls whistle around the shires and white Kookaburras are carted to all parts in the Indian Premier League, England’s thoughts turn to the Caribbean and a T20 World Cup title defence that can ill-afford to go the way of its 50-over equivalent last year. T20 is probably too capricious a format to dub it a case of silverware or bust but it’s clear that Jos Buttler and Matthew Mott need a strong campaign – semi-finals minimum, perhaps – after the grisly one-day international abdication in India. England stumbled out of the traps there, with six defeats in their first seven games. “I feel this actually should be the making of those two as a partnership,” said Rob Key, the team director, at the time, before adding: “If it isn’t, it isn’t, and you move on.” Continue reading...
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PSG and Lyon cast friendships aside before Champions League return (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Respect is mutual between Sakina Karchaoui and Eugénie Le Sommer, but only one of their teams will reach the final “There is no friendship on the pitch,” says the Lyon forward Eugénie Le Sommer. Paris Saint-Germain’s full-back Sakina Karchaoui echoes those sentiments: “Before the match and after the match, yes, but during the match? No friends. We cut contact the days before the match, but once the match is over, we love to tease each other depending on the result.” For PSG there has been scant opportunity to brag. They have barely dented Lyon’s Division 1 Feminine run of 16 titles, 2021 being the outlier when PSG finished top for the first time. In the Champions League PSG have twice been runners-up, to Frankfurt and Lyon, while Lyon have won the tournament a record eight times. Continue reading...
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‘I don’t smoke on the uphills’: Lazarus Lake walks across America (again) (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Gary Cantrell, aka Lazarus Lake or Laz, completed his first trans-continental trek in 2018. He’s now attempting his second, but this time against medical advice Lazarus Lake is shifting in a straight-back chair, searching for the right spot to ease his pinched nerve. After days of steep climbs and steeper descents, the Capon Valley of West Virginia is a welcome oasis. The world is again mercifully flat, if only for a moment. Somewhere out there, the Alleghany mountains lie in wait. But Laz, the mastermind of such grueling endurance tests as the Barkley Marathons and Backyard Ultras, doesn’t want to think about that now; the pizzeria is filling up with smoke. A 20-year-old scurries from the back to apologize while the man sitting next to us is still staring. He’s been speechless since Laz told him he’d just walked 17 miles over Timber Ridge to get here. Under a farmer’s cap pulled down to his squinty eyes, the man grins, rubs his jaw, and finally says: “Come again?” Continue reading...
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‘Woke’ isn’t dead – it’s entered the mainstream. No wonder the right is furious | Gaby Hinsliff (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
When even the Met police and National Trust scones are apparently ‘peak wokerati’, it’s become the establishment norm Is woke dead? Is it over? Has it “peaked”, run its course before we’ve even properly agreed on what this endlessly controversial but somehow never quite defined social justice movement actually was? Though American rightwingers have been hopefully pronouncing its last rites for a while now, until very recently rumours of its death seemed exaggerated in Britain. Sure, some vegan restaurants have gone bust lately, but sadly so have plenty of other restaurants in the face of a cost of living crisis. And yes, oat milk sales are down. But is that because it has been toxified by political association, or because it has fallen out of favour with the wellness lobby, or just because it’s expensive? Even reports of a YouTube-fuelled anti-feminist backlash among some young men, or of young women lapping up the original (not very woke) Sex and the City series on Netflix didn’t feel like much of a tipping point. But then came the paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass’s landmark review on treating transgender children, which found that medical interventions have been underpinned by “remarkably weak evidence” and made clear treatment should be holistic, seeking a full understanding of everything going on in children’s lives. Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
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Tories have always had a fear of political extinction. After the next election, they could be right | Samual Earle (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Even grandees are bracing for the very worst. But remember, such apocalyptic language around the party is nothing new There is a morose mood in the Conservative party. It isn’t just that the Tories expect to lose the next election – they fear that the coming defeat might be definitive, a result from which they never recover. One recent multilevel regression and poststratification (MRP) poll forecasts that the Tories could be reduced to fewer than 100 seats – their lowest ever haul – with Labour predicted to secure an unprecedented 250-plus seat majority. Tory grandees are consequently gloomy. The former Brexit negotiator David Frost has called it a “desperate situation”. Charles Moore, the former Telegraph editor and Thatcher biographer, tells me the party’s condition is “probably worse than I’ve ever seen it”. Some are billing the next election as an “extinction-level event”. Rishi Sunak’s single-minded obsession on forcing through the Rwanda scheme appears, in this light, like a desperate attempt to distract himself and his party from the approaching abyss. Some Tories may feel the party has reached its nadir as an electoral force, but such apocalyptic language is nothing new. In fact, fear of extinction is part of a long Conservative tradition. “It will be interesting to be the last of the Conservatives,” Lord Salisbury, one of the party’s longest-serving leaders, wrote glumly in 1882, as the age of mass suffrage loomed. “I foresee that will be our fate.” (Almost a century and a half later, he’d be relieved to learn that his great-great-grandson is leader of the House of Lords.) In 1945, on the brink of an unprecedented landslide victory, Labour candidates spoke openly about wanting “the complete extinction of the Tory party”. Then, six years later, the Tories returned to power and stayed there for the next 13. In 1974, amid the broadly progressive contours of the postwar consensus, the political scientist Andrew Gamble foresaw a future in which the Conservatives could be condemned to “the museum of Fantastic Zoology”. And here we are. “People often talk about the death of the Tory party, and it doesn’t happen,” Lord Moore told me. Samuel Earle is a writer based in London and the author of Tory Nation: How One Party Took Over Continue reading...
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The Anxious Generation wants to save teens. But the bestseller’s anti-tech logic is skewed (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
There’s no doubt about the mental health crisis facing young people. Jonathan Haidt blames our devices – which oversimplifies the problem In the introduction to his new book The Anxious Generation, titled “Growing up on Mars”, Jonathan Haidt tells a fanciful piece of science fiction about a child conscripted into a dangerous mission to the red planet that will deform the young person as they grow. The journey is undertaken without the parents’ consent. The ham-fisted metaphor is that technology companies have done the same to children and teenagers by putting smartphones into their hands. Haidt, a New York University professor of ethical leadership who researches social psychology and morality, goes on to argue that smartphones ignited a wildfire of anxiety and depression in gen Z around the world, by granting them “continuous access to social media, online video games, and other internet-based activities”. He says there are four foundational harms in this degradation of youth: social deprivation, sleep deprivation, attention fragmentation, and addiction. Continue reading...
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We may have equal marriage - but LGBTQ+ people are still locked out of equal parenthood | Freddy McConnell (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The law is badly lagging behind when it comes to rights for LGBTQ+ families. We need urgent root-and-branch reform The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act is 10 years old. In the UK, any couple can marry. Likewise, thanks to this courageous pair, any couple can now get a civil partnership. On marriage, the law has kept pace with the diversifying society it exists to regulate and protect. If you reflect on what was updated – the religious institution of marriage – and how long it had been the way it was, it hits you afresh how monumental this step forward was. Yet here we are. The equality of love has become a cliche. Young children have only known a world where every auntie and uncle they’ll ever have could get married. It is meticulous and slow but ultimately, whether through parliament or the courts, the law moves forward. Freddy McConnell is a freelance journalist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
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The overturning of Harvey Weinstein’s rape conviction is an affront to women | Moira Donegan (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
#MeToo’s real legacy may not be ending predators’ impunity so much as highlighting the tenacity of that impunity Usually, rape isn’t reported. When it is reported, it is often not charged. And when it is charged, it rarely leads to a conviction. These facts shape both our cultural understanding of sexual violence and women’s sense of their own embodied lives, clarifying something many of us already know – that while sexual violence is technically illegal and officially abhorred, it is also tolerated in practice, with actual arrests and convictions being so rare that most sexual violence is de facto decriminalized. Only occasionally does a notable rape conviction come to pass; when it does, its very rarity highlights this dissonance, making plain the gulf between how rape is officially talked about and how it is usually treated. Now, that gulf has come to the fore again, because on Thursday one of the most high-profile rape convictions in American history was overturned. Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist Continue reading...
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A celebrity politician has been jailed for rape. Will Czech women be listened to now? | Apolena Rychlíková and Jakub Zelenka| (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
We helped bring Dominik Feri to justice. His trial should have rattled a complacent political establishment He was spoken of as an extraordinary talent. A rising star with a million followers on Instagram, who made politics relevant for younger generations. As recently as 2018, Politico ranked him among 28 people who would shape Europe in the years ahead. But earlier this week, Dominik Feri was sentenced to three years in prison for rape. A man once feted as the great hope of the Czech Republic, and the youngest member of parliament in the country’s history is now its first politician to be jailed for sexual violence. Continue reading...
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They were very attentive: eating in an empty restaurant – Edith Pritchett cartoon (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
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How much did #MeToo change for women? Let’s ask Harvey Weinstein today – or Donald Trump | Marina Hyde (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Both were pilloried, but that was then. Today, one has beaten a rape conviction, the other may return as president According to his representatives, former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is still digesting the overturning of his rape conviction by a New York court, but they did come out to say he was “cautiously excited”. Cautiously excited? I’m not sure these are the words I’d alight on to paint a word-picture of a rapist. You might as well say “tentatively aroused”. Then again, as we’re about to discuss, quite a lot of guys don’t particularly have to worry about what they say or do, or how they say or do it. It’s only natural that Harvey should very much want to be one of them again. Speaking of word-pictures, though, how’s this for a vignette of our times? When they heard the news that Weinstein’s conviction had been overturned on Thursday, a whole host of reporters happened to be looking at the exact spot in the exact New York courtroom that he’d sat in when that original judgment had been handed down. This was because they were waiting for Donald Trump to sit in it for Thursday’s proceedings in his hush money trial. Mr Trump, you might recall, is in such a lot of trouble that he is the presumptive Republican nominee and current bookies’ favourite to win the US presidency again, though admittedly he lags behind Weinstein on the sexual assault and misconduct front, given that only 26 women have accused him of it. Ultimately, though, I guess the question is: if #MeToo “went too far”, what would “going just far enough” have looked like? Continue reading...
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The Guardian view on indeterminate sentences: the legacy of a bad law lingers on (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Imprisonment for public protection sentences were flawed and unjust. Labour should commit to finish them off The harmful effects of imprisonment for public protection sentences (IPPs) are well documented. For Tommy Nicol and Francis Williams, whose sisters have both spoken to the Guardian about the impact of punishments with no end-date, the pressure was unbearable. Nicol, who was originally jailed for a violent robbery, took his own life during a mental health crisis at the Mount prison in 2015. Williams, also convicted of robbery, died of an overdose in Bognor Regis last year – hours after telling a probation officer that he was suicidal. These tragedies are far from unique. At least 90 prisoners on IPPs have died by suicide in custody. Others, including Williams, died while on licence (Williams was on the verge of being recalled). One study found rates of self-harm to be 2.5 times higher among IPP prisoners. Evidence to the justice select committee from a forensic psychiatrist compared the clinical presentation of these inmates, almost all of whom are men, to “those who have been wrongfully convicted”. Such is the stress of being given this kind of sentence, which resembles a life sentence but was in many cases handed down for far less serious crimes. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
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The Guardian view on patriotism and the Last Night of the Proms: time for a change (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
For years, Rule, Britannia! has had a divisive presence in the festival. It should make way for other anthems of national identity Here we go again: Britannia will continue to rule at the Last Night of the Proms. Unveiling a wide-ranging programme for this year’s festival, Sam Jackson, controller of BBC Radio 3 and also director of the Proms, assured audiences that the jingoistic 18th-century anthem would take its customary place at the climax, despite calls for it to be dropped. A dignified and unhectoring case for standing the song down was made on Desert Island Discs by the cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a soloist in last year’s Last Night. Revealing that he had left the concert early to avoid it, he said: “I think maybe some people don’t realise how uncomfortable a song like that can make a lot of people feel, even if it makes [the people singing it] feel good.” Continue reading...
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Gaza, Germany, justice and reconciliation | Letters (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
When it comes to reconciling bitter enemies, the notion of ‘justice’ has its limitations, writes former judge Sir Konrad Schiemann Eva Ladipo’s article is impressive (My family’s past, and Germany’s, weighs heavily upon me. And it’s why I feel so strongly about Gaza, 19 April). For millennia different people and different groupings have wanted the same thing, which is regarded as desirable by each. Obviously they cannot both have it – unless what they both want is peace. The challenge has been and continues to be, both in Europe and elsewhere in the world, to construct a political order which enables competing sides to live in continuing peace, notwithstanding that they cannot each have all that they wish. For each side to insist that the other is overcome does not lead to lasting peace – as France and Germany and many other places have shown over centuries. Continue reading...
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MDMA trials are showing it has promise as a psychiatric medicine | Letters (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Readers respond to a letter which said that MDMA is not helpful in mental health care Rachel McNulty (Letters, 19 April) is right to emphasise the need for proper funding of integrated mental health care and social support, but wrong to dismiss MDMA based on a single anecdotal case. I can provide a number of counter-anecdotes showing the value of MDMA to mental health, including a friend of mine who has said that it saved him from taking his life in his youth. However, science-based healthcare is not about anecdotes, but systematically gathered evidence and controlled trials. Such trials are already under way and are showing strong promise for both MDMA and psychedelics as effective psychiatric medicines when used appropriately. They are absolutely necessary to provide a clear evidence base that cuts through both “war on drugs” scare stories and psychedelic hype. Continue reading...
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Sadiq Khan’s green credentials may be critical in London mayoral election (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
As mayor aims to win third term, what has he achieved so far on air pollution, the climate crisis and nature? When Sadiq Khan launched his campaign for a third term as Labour mayor of London, he put his green policies front and centre, highlighting his work on air pollution, the climate crisis and nature. For seasoned Khan watchers, this came as little surprise. The mayor, who last year published a book called Breathe: Seven Ways to Win a Greener World, has been widely praised for his work tackling air pollution, as well as his efforts on nature restoration and getting London to net zero by 2030. The introduction and expansion of the ultra-low emission zone, which excludes the most polluting vehicles from the capital and has contributed to roadside N02 emissions dropping by 50%. The introduction of thousands of new electric buses and taxis, and the continued expansion of the cycle network and promotion of walking. A rewilding programme that has reintroduced a range of species, including beavers, expanded green spaces, and included a mass tree-planting programme. Continue reading...
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Wave of exceptionally hot weather scorches south and south-east Asia (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Warnings of dangerous temperatures across parts of Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and India as hottest months of the year are made worse by El Niño Millions of people across South and Southeast Asia are facing sweltering temperatures, with unusually hot weather forcing schools to close and threatening public health. Thousands of schools across the Philippines, including in the capital region Metro Manila, have suspended in-person classes. Half of the country’s 82 provinces are experiencing drought, and nearly 31 others are facing dry spells or dry conditions, according to the UN, which has called for greater support to help the country prepare for similar weather events in the future. The country’s upcoming harvest will probably be below average, the UN said. Continue reading...
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Weather tracker: heavy rainfall causes flooding and death in east Africa (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Rain in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi kills at least 90 people and damages farmland and infrastructure Eastern Africa has experienced heavy rain in recent weeks, with flooding in Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi. About 100,000 people have been displaced or otherwise affected in each country, with 32 reported deaths in Kenya and 58 in Tanzania, alongside damage to farmland and infrastructure. There are also fears that large areas of standing water could give rise to outbreaks of waterborne diseases. Continue reading...
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Global heating and urbanisation to blame for severity of UAE floods, study finds (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
World Weather Attribution group says intensified El Niño effects caused torrential rain, but rules out cloud seeding as cause Fossil fuels and concrete combined to worsen the “death trap” conditions during recent record flooding in the United Arab Emirates and Oman, a study has found. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution team said downpours in El Niño years such as this one had become 10-40% heavier in the region as a result of human-cased climate disruption, while a lack of natural drainage quickly turned roads into rivers. Continue reading...
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What happens when an ex-Daily Star journalist applies clickbait tactics to running for election? (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Keane Duncan is trying to win the mayorship of North Yorks with policies such as nationalising a hotel. But is there substance behind the headline-grabbing stunts? Keane Duncan’s highest profile success, prior to being chosen as the Conservative candidate aiming to be the first elected mayor of York and North Yorkshire, was as the journalist who broke the news that Morrisons would not sell meat pies to people in Middlesbrough before 9am. “That went off the charts, with millions and millions of views,” recalls the 29-year-old, who worked for a number of local news outlets in the north of England before quitting to focus on politics. Continue reading...
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Four Vietnamese nationals arrested in London over people smuggling (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Joint UK-French investigation alleges group advertised small-boat crossings of Channel on social media Four Vietnamese nationals have been arrested in London after an investigation into alleged people smugglers advertising small-boat crossings of the Channel on Facebook. The joint UK-French investigation alleges the group shared posts aimed at the Vietnamese community and charged migrants thousands of pounds to make the crossing. Continue reading...
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‘It should have been safe’: twin of woman found under coat in A&E says death avoidable (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Exclusive: Inese Briede says her sister, Inga Rublite, 39, might not have died ‘if someone was just checking up on her’ In life, Inga Rublite was just another patient in a busy hospital waiting to see a doctor. In death, the 39-year-old has become a tragic symbol of how overstretched and overburdened the NHS has become. Rublite died after being found unconscious under her coat in an A&E waiting room more than eight hours after arriving. Continue reading...
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Man dies in Devon after after taking ‘unusually strong batch’ of heroin (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Eight others taken to hospital and four arrested on suspicion of supply of controlled substance, say police A man has died and eight others have been taken to hospital after an “unusually strong batch” of heroin circulated across north Devon, police have said. Four people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the supply of a controlled substance. Continue reading...
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Remote working and whiffy workout wear fuel laundry revolution (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Home workers aim to tackle smelly athleisure clothing, save money and be kinder to the environment For years, laundry detergents have focused their cleaning power on stain removal and getting whites white but now a new invisible enemy has emerged in the shape of the musty smell that clings to your gym gear. The shift to remote working has fuelled the popularity of “athleisure” clothing such as T-shirts, joggers and leggings which, rather than shirts and dresses, are now the default work wardrobe of many Britons. Continue reading...
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Work and pensions committee chair tells ministers to fix carer’s allowance issues (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Stephen Timms says DWP letting unpaid carers incur ‘enormous accidental overpayments’ Ministers have been told to “immediately” fix the issues causing tens of thousands of unpaid carers to incur “enormous accidental overpayments” amid growing anger over the carer’s allowance scandal. Stephen Timms, the chair of an influential parliamentary committee, said he was “very troubled” that scores of carers were being forced into financial distress as a result of the government’s mistakes. Continue reading...
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Teachers hurt in Welsh school stabbing speak of incident’s ‘enormous impact’ (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin thank emergency services and NHS staff and pay tribute to colleagues and ‘wonderful pupils’ Two teachers injured in a stabbing at a Welsh school have said they are struggling to comprehend what happened, and spoke of the “enormous impact” the incident has had on their “wonderful” pupils and colleagues. Fiona Elias and Liz Hopkin paid tribute to emergency services workers and NHS staff after the stabbings in the playground at Ysgol Dyffryn Aman in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. The pair and a student were taken to hospital but have been discharged. Continue reading...
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CAA cancels counter-protest against London pro-Palestinian march (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Campaign Against Antisemitism, led by Gideon Falter, cites safety fears and promises more protests to come Campaign Against Antisemitism has cancelled its planned counter-protest against a pro-Palestinian march through central London on Saturday. The group, led by Gideon Falter, had said it wanted to use the “walk together” initiative to support its view that the area around the planned pro-Palestinian march was not safe for Jewish people. Continue reading...
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Liz Truss book enters bestseller list in 70th place with 2,228 copies sold (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Former PM’s first-week sales compare with 21,000 for David Cameron’s memoir and 92,000 for Tony Blair book Liz Truss’s book about her 49-day stint as prime minister sold 2,228 copies in the UK during its first week on sale, after a wall-to-wall promotional media blitz. Ten Years to Save the West: Lessons from the Only Conservative in the Room, combines an account of Truss’s time in office with a call to arms for the political right. Continue reading...
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‘It was wet. It was filthy. It was aggressive. I said, I’ll take the racoon. But keeping exotic pets is cruel’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Lindsay McKenna’s wildlife centre takes in exotic animals when owners can’t cope. She and other experts fear the law is failing the very animals it is designed to protect When Lindsay McKenna went out to buy a piece of furniture from a seller, the last thing she expected was to return with a wild animal. “Something moved in the garage when I was in there helping the guy lift [the furniture],” she said. “It was a racoon in an incredibly small cage, it could hardly turn around. It was wet. It was filthy. It was skinny, aggressive.” Continue reading...
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Iraqi TikTok star Om Fahad shot dead outside Baghdad home (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Officials say unidentified man killed influencer who had previously been imprisoned over dancing videos A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials have said. The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media. Continue reading...
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Polish border ‘pushbacks’ back in spotlight after pregnant woman’s ordeal (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Activists say little has changed in treatment of migrants and refugees under Donald Tusk’s new government The case of a woman from Eritrea who was forced to give birth alone in the forested border area between Poland and Belarus has raised questions about the new Polish government’s response to the continuing humanitarian crisis at the border between the two countries. The previous, rightwing government of the Law and Justice party (PiS) used the migration issue to score political points and was accused of encouraging rights abuses by guards along the border, with reports of frequent violent “pushbacks” of people to Belarus. Continue reading...
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And now for the pinchline: competition crowns world’s funniest crab joke (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Inaugural contest at Crab Museum in Margate allows crustaceans to pick the winner, with the help of tinned fish used as bait How did the crab get out of prison? And why did the crab get bad grades? The answers to these conundrums and other clawsome jokes were among the competitors for the inaugural World’s Funniest Crab Joke competition, held by the Crab Museum in Margate to celebrate International Crab Day. What do you call a red crab piggybacking another red crab all around the town? A double-decapod. A horseshoe crab walks into a bar. “Why the ventral face?” the bartender asks. The crab replies: “Mind your own business and please tip a pint of lager and a packet of crisps on to the pub carpet.” How did the crab get out of prison? It used its escape claws. Why didn’t the crab help the chicken cross the road? Because it was eaten by a pelican crossing. What did the sea urchin say to the crab? Please sir, can I have some claw? What format do you have to save photos of crab soup on to? Floppy bisque. A man walks into a restaurant with a crab under his arm and says: “Do you make crab cakes?” The manager answers: “Yes, we do.” “Good,” says the man, “because it’s his birthday.” How do barnacles get around? A taxi crab. Why did the crab cross the road? It didn’t. It used the sidewalk. Why did the crab get bad grades? Because it was below C level. Continue reading...
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Trump assistant’s hush-money trial testimony focuses on relationship with Stormy Daniels (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Following David Pecker’s testimony, Rhona Graff was called to the witness stand, to comment on Trump and the adult film actor Trump on Trial: What we learned from David Pecker’s testimony The former tabloid publisher David Pecker’s testimony in Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Friday presented a granular look into a hush-money scheme which prosecutors allege was meant to sway the 2016 election in the real estate mogul’s favor. But when Trump’s longtime assistant, Rhona Graff, was called to the witness stand, her testimony humanized the trial, reminding the courtroom that at its core, these proceedings center on an adult film actor named Stormy Daniels – as well as a man who is either flawed or fraudulent. Continue reading...
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US court upholds R Kelly’s 20-year prison term for child sexual abuse (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Singer had appealed 2022 conviction by a Chicago jury stating Illinois’s shorter statute of limitations applied to his case The singer R Kelly was correctly sentenced to 20 years in prison on child sexual abuse convictions in Chicago, a federal appeals court ruled on Friday. Jurors in 2022 convicted the Grammy award-winning R&B singer, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, on three charges of producing child sexual abuse images and three charges of enticement of minors for sex. Continue reading...
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Columbia University calls for inquiry into leadership as student protests sweep 40 campuses (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Professors at Emory University arrested as campuses follow Columbia’s lead in demanding ceasefire and divestment Four students on why they’re protesting against war in Gaza: ‘Injustice should not be accepted’ At least 40 pro-Palestine protest camps have arisen across US campuses following Columbia University’s example earlier this month, as the New York school’s senate called for an investigation into its leadership, the New York Times reported. While many remain provocative though peaceful, demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and divestment by their institutions from companies with ties to Israel, hundreds of students and outside protesters have been arrested, and there have been some fierce clashes with police. Continue reading...
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Andrew Tate’s human trafficking trial can proceed, Romanian court rules (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
‘Misogynist influencer’ was indicted in June along with his brother and two Romanian female suspects Andrew Tate’s trial on human trafficking charges can proceed, a Romanian court has ruled, 10 months after he was first indicted. The self-professed “misogynist influencer” was indicted in June along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian female suspects for human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, allegations they have all denied. Continue reading...
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Tesla Autopilot feature was involved in 13 fatal crashes, US regulator says (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Federal transportation agency finds Tesla’s claims about feature don’t match their findings and opens second investigation US auto-safety regulators said on Friday that their investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot had identified at least 13 fatal crashes in which the feature had been involved. The investigation also found the electric carmaker’s claims did not match up with reality. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) disclosed on Friday that during its three-year Autopilot safety investigation, which it launched in August 2021, it identified at least 13 Tesla crashes involving one or more death, and many more involving serious injuries, in which “foreseeable driver misuse of the system played an apparent role”. Continue reading...
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India election: Modi and rivals trade accusations as voter turnout slumps in second phase (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Parties clash over communal issues in increasingly charged campaign amid concerns unseasonably hot weather affecting voter numbers India has held the second phase of the world’s biggest election, with prime minister Narendra Modi and his rivals hurling accusations of religious discrimination and threats to democracy amid flagging voter turnout. Almost 1 billion people are eligible to vote in the seven-phase general election that began on 19 April and concludes on 1 June, with votes set to be counted on 4 June. Continue reading...
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Crews battle fire threatening longest wooden pier on US west coast (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Over 100 firefighters, 30 lifeguards and 32 police officers called to help as flames tore through restaurant at end of California pier A historic southern California pier caught fire on Thursday, burning for several hours until firefighters battling the blaze from boats were able to extinguish the flames. Flames tore through a restaurant at the end of the Oceanside Pier, the longest wooden pier on the US west coast, and heavily damaged the closed diner and a neighboring business. Continue reading...
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Safe haven or symbol of injustice? What our gardens tell us about the world we live in (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
From manicured, exclusive retreats built on slave money to common ground in which to seed utopian dreams, gardens occupy a fertile space in our lives and imaginations I have a dream sometimes. I dream I’m in a house, and discover a door I didn’t know was there. It opens into an unexpected garden, and for a weightless moment I find myself inhabiting new territory, flush with potential. Maybe there are steps down to a pond, or a statue surrounded by fallen leaves. It is never tidy, always beguilingly overgrown. What might grow here, what rare peonies, irises, roses will I find? I wake with the sense that a too-tight joint has loosened, and that everything runs fluent with new life. For most of the years that I have had this dream, I didn’t have a garden of my own. I rented until I was 40, and only rarely in flats with outdoor space. The first of these temporary gardens was in Brighton. I planted calendula there, which according to the 16th-century herbalist Gerard would “strengthen and comfort the heart very much”. I was training to be a herbalist and my head was full of plants, an entanglement of natural forms. Continue reading...
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Knuckles review – Idris Elba’s Sonic spin-off is ludicrous, hilarious and actually rather moving (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The further this show leans into its silly side, the better it becomes. It is about an echidna space warrior helping his pal get to a bowling tournament, after all Giving a supporting character their own spin-off is a risky business. For every brilliant series such as Better Call Saul, Frasier or Angel (series one, two, three and five), there’s a grave miscalculation in the form of a Joey, The Book of Boba Fett or Angel (series four). After the runaway success of the Sonic films, which have a third instalment on the way, Paramount+ has selected Knuckles, the steely echidna, for the spin-off treatment – and for all the brazen product placement and IP cash-grabbing, it’s a risk that pays off. Idris Elba reprises his role from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 , as a hot-tempered and self-serious red echidna warrior from space who, as we are frequently reminded, is the last of his kind after an owl-led genocide took his home planet. Having been briefly tricked by Doctor Robotnik (a thankfully absent scenery-chewing Jim Carrey) to fight for the bad guys in the previous film, he has now teamed up with Sonic and Tails and moved in with the Wachowskis (Tika Sumpter and a puzzlingly absent James Marsden). This set-up is not going especially well as the series begins, due to Knuckles’s tendency to start the day by punching boulders and attempting to train the “wolf” (actually a docile labrador) to be a fierce warrior. With all the smashed walls and echinadian fighting rituals, Knuckles finds himself grounded. But he soon defies the punishment to hit the road with Wade Whipple (Adam Pally), a hapless but sweet-natured deputy sheriff, to help him become a bowling champion. Naturally, as this is a Sonic spin-off there’s also some fighting to be done and Knuckles and Wade find themselves pursued by two former G.U.N agents played by Kid Cudi and British comedian Ellie Taylor. Continue reading...
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The week in classical: Lucia di Lammermoor; Nash Ensemble; Anthony McGill and Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective – review (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Royal Opera House; Wigmore Hall; Milton Court, LondonA fearless central performance anchors Katie Mitchell’s busy yet insightful Donizetti revival. And two chamber concerts serve as a vibrant prelude to this year’s BBC Proms… “Agency” is a current buzzword in opera, well-worn but still valid and usually preceded by “female”. Women, abused, controlled, dying, were long assumed to have no free will. A radical rethink, of history in its entirety, and of opera, has put this expectation in the dock. One of the sharpest cross-questioners, scrutinising every hardened attitude, is the British director Katie Mitchell, whose work has been seen (alternative wording: “has divided audiences”) across Europe since the mid-1990s. Her production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor (1835), as troublesome as it is unnerving and perceptive, has returned to the Royal Opera House for a second revival. The soprano Nadine Sierra excels in the title role (her fellow American Liv Redpath will give three performances). Sierra alone, leading a uniformly strong ensemble, would be a reason to see this show. Giacomo Sagripanti conducted, with chorus and orchestra on passionate form and a notably lovely solo flute obbligato in the celebrated mad scene. Continue reading...
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‘My favourite stories are love stories’: Emily Henry on her enemies-to-lovers relationship with romance fiction (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
With four million copies sold and three books in adaptation, the Beach Read author is riding high. She talks about hope, TikTok tropes and escapism A few weeks after Emily Henry’s second romance novel, You and Me on Vacation, was published in May 2021, she noticed a “giant” spike in sales. Her editor and agent had noticed it too. They were all emailing and texting, trying to figure out what was happening, when someone finally cracked it: “It’s BookTok”. Henry had already made it on to the New York Times bestseller list twice, first with her romance debut, Beach Read, then with You and Me on Vacation. But TikTok videos made by impassioned fans vaulted the American author to a new level of fame. Since then, videos tagged #EmilyHenry have been viewed more than 300m times, and her books have sold more than 4m copies. Three of her five romances are being adapted for film. Continue reading...
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Shardlake: murder mysteries don’t get more fantastically creepy than this (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Set in a spooky Tudor monastery, Arthur Hughes and Sean Bean must solve a fateful crime while all the monks seemingly have secret affairs. It’s fun, knowing TV … I just hope you’ve all done A-level history I have figured out my thing with murder mysteries, after many years of trial and error, and it’s this: stop trying to figure them out. Never once in my murder mystery-watching career – and I was a child raised on Jonathan Creek! I should be good at this! – have I correctly guessed the murderer. Here’s why: you’re not meant to be able to. The whole point about being a storyteller is you’re just making silly tricks up, and that goes triple for a fictional murder mystery. Every time you pin a murder it can be wiggled out of by a sleight-of-hand of story. “Oh, and by the way this woman you’ve never met before actually saw the whole thing” – mmm, useful, thanks. “There was no murder, they fell” – ah yes, very enjoyable way to spend my Sunday evening. Thanks for nothing. The way to enjoy murder mysteries, I have decided, is to turn your brain off entirely and let the nonsense wash over you. It’s just a story. Stop trying to guess. Continue reading...
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TV tonight: the trippy story of Pink Floyd’s lost member Syd Barrett (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
An immersive documentary about the band’s founder, who left the group to live in solitude. Plus: more explosive drama in Traces. Here’s what to watch this evening Continue reading...
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Thousand island blessing: the wonders of Croatia’s sun-soaked shores (Wed, 17 Apr 2024)
With stunning sunsets, one of the most beautiful beaches in the Mediterranean and must-see medieval cities, Croatia’s coast and islands are nothing short of spectacular Once seen, never forgotten. Croatia’s fabulously beautiful coast and islands (1,246 to be precise) – with their rocky coves, iconic beaches, historic towns and gorgeous sunsets, all surrounded by some of the most breathtakingly blue waters imaginable – are places that stay in the mind, and they have a habit of luring you back. Rovinj in Istria is one of the most instantly recognisable towns on the Croatian coast, its narrow streets and colourful facades climbing upwards to a soaring bell tower, modelled on that of St Mark’s Basilica in Venice. Travel north just a little and you’ll reach Poreč, home to Unesco-listed Byzantine mosaics to rival those in Ravenna or Istanbul – or south to Pula, with its magnificently preserved Roman amphitheatre. For a peaceful oasis set among some of the country’s finest vineyards, head just five miles inland from the sea walls of Novigrad to Brtonigla. Continue reading...
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Cultural marveller or foodie explorer – what’s your travel personality type? Take our quiz to find out (Wed, 17 Apr 2024)
Do you enjoy exploring the cobbled streets of historic towns, or is spending long days stretched out on the beach more your thing? Answer these questions to find out your Croatian holiday persona Find out more by visiting croatia.hr Continue reading...
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Festivals, folklore, art and food: Croatia’s unmissable cultural highlights (Wed, 17 Apr 2024)
From baroque music events to medieval architecture and delicious Adriatic cuisine, Croatia has something for everyone Croatia’s fabulous mishmash of cultures – from ancient Greeks to Romans, Venetians, Austrians, Hungarians and Italians – has left a rich legacy all around the country. You’ll see it in the Venetian architecture of Rovinj, Korčula, Dubrovnik and Hvar, the Habsburg townhouses of Zagreb and Opatija, and the ancient Roman ruins of Istria and Dalmatia. You’ll taste it in the delicious cuisine where the Adriatic and central Europe meet and mingle. You’ll hear it when top-flight performers bring their magic to the Dubrovnik Summer Festival, the Split Summer Festival and the baroque music festivals of Korčula and Varaždin. Sultry Dalmatian summer nights echo to the sound of polyphonic klapa singers whose a cappella music makes the skin tingle. The klapa festival in the beautiful Dalmatian coastal town of Omiš every July is one of the summer’s unmissable events. Continue reading...
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From stunning hikes to secluded wild swimming coves: seven reasons why Croatia is a must for adventure lovers (Wed, 17 Apr 2024)
Whether you’re a climbing fanatic or a novice sailor, there’s plenty of outdoor experiences to be found in this amazing Adriatic country With spectacularly diverse landscapes and beautifully unspoilt nature, Croatia offers a wealth of experiences in the great outdoors – from hiking and kayaking, to cycling, climbing and more. So come and take a walk on Croatia’s wild side – or peddle, paddle, swim – and discover just how much outdoor adventure this beautiful Adriatic country has to offer. Continue reading...
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Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for hot sauce doubles with cucumber chutney | The new vegan (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Trini-style soft pillows of fried bread sandwiching spiced chickpeas and served with a punchy cucumber chutney Doubles are a delicious and popular Caribbean street food. They’re made up of two soft, puffy fried breads (or baras), hence the name doubles, stuffed with a filling of tasty chickpeas and eaten with chutney (cucumber, in today’s case). Unless you’ve tried them, however, it’s hard to do them justice – it’s a bit like telling someone who has never heard of Elton John that he’s a great pop star. So may I make a suggestion? Please stop by one of the UK’s many roti shops and order one (some?), then pop back here at a later date to make these. Discover this recipe and over 1,000 more from your favourite cooks on the new Guardian Feast app, with smart features to make everyday cooking easier and more fun Continue reading...
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Blind date: ‘I warned him if he was less than complimentary, my girls would hunt him down’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Trisha, 61, a yoga teacher, meets Neil, 65, a meditation teacher What were you hoping for? Konstantin meets Villanelle. Continue reading...
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T’Pau’s Carol Decker looks back: ‘We went ballistic when we got to No 1. Our screaming annoyed Bryan Adams’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The lead singer on hitting it big, how things fell apart, and the joy of the 1980s revival Born in Liverpool in 1957, Carol Decker is the lead singer of T’Pau. She was fronting Shropshire band the Lazers when she met BT engineer and musician Ronnie Rogers, with whom she would go on to form T’Pau. Together they became one of the biggest-selling groups of the 1980s, with tracks such as China in Your Hand and Heart and Soul. The group split in 1992 but have since had a renaissance as part of 80s nostalgia tours. They perform at Let’s Rock Scotland and Let’s Rock Leeds festivals this summer. T’Pau were on tour in Switzerland when the NME decided to cover us. Their vision for the shoot was: the band are at the height of their success with the world at their feet, but Carol is a pizza girl at heart. Continue reading...
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Meet regularly, invest time – and don’t hold grudges: 10 ways to revitalise flagging friendships (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Staying close to friends isn’t always easy. From calling out flakiness to singing together in a choir, experts share their advice on how to keep the spark alive There is no getting around it, you have to make time to be a good friend. According to Robin Dunbar, professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford and author of Friends: Understanding the Power of our Most Important Relationships, we need to spend the equivalent of nine minutes a day to maintain a healthy relationship with our closest network of friends, which he admits is “barely time to raise your coffee cup to each other”, so one meet-up a week is more realistic. If you fail to do that, “the friendship starts to decay”, says Dunbar. Continue reading...
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UK tax: ‘HMRC harassed me for money I had paid weeks earlier’ (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Simon Hattenstone was sent letters demanding tax he didn’t owe. Then he found other people were in the same situation The letter, dated 18 January 2024, came from a company called Advantis. “Dear Mr Simon Hattenstone,” it said, “Contact us about your unpaid HM Revenue and Customs balance of £1,778.31.” Continue reading...
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Tim Dowling: my banjo is out of tune, and the gig is falling apart (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The band has every type of cock-up pretty much covered, but then things go from bad to worse The band I’m in is playing over the weekend: Birmingham, Gateshead, Kendall. They are all venues we’ve played before, but not for a long while. “Which is good,” says the guitar player as we drive north in the rain. “Because we can re-use all the jokes from last year.” Continue reading...
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Tell us: have you been affected by whooping cough? (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
We’re interested to hear about people’s experiences of whooping cough and how their doctor’s surgery handled it Cases of whooping cough have been rising across England, Wales and Scotland. We’re interested to hear from people who have recently been affected. What were your (or your child’s) symptoms? How did your doctors’ surgery handle it and and how are you feeling now? Had you had it before? Are you aware of other cases within your community? Continue reading...
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Ukrainian men abroad: share your views on Poland and Lithuania’s statements on conscription (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
After Poland and Lithuania said they are prepared to help Ukrainian authorities return men subject to military conscription, we want to hear how you feel about it Poland and Lithuania have pledged to help Ukrainian authorities repatriate men subject to the military draft after Kyiv announced it is ending consular services for such men who are abroad. We would like to speak with Ukrainian men living abroad about their views on this development. Whether you left Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale invasion or years before that, we want to hear how you feel about the statements and Kyiv’s suspension of consular services for émigrés. Continue reading...
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Share your experience of accessing private medical care in the UK (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We would like to hear from those who have undergone an operation, or other medical treatment, privately in the UK We want to learn more about the experiences of people in the UK who have accessed private health treatment for the first time recently. Did you undergo an operation or medical treatment privately? How much did it cost? Why did you decide to do it privately? How was the experience? You can see an article that included respondents to this callout here. You can contribute to open Community callouts here or Share a story here. Continue reading...
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Tell us: what’s your favourite everyday gadget? (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
We would like to hear about your favourite, most useful everyday utensil What’s your favourite, most useful everyday gadget? It could be a much-used kitchen gizmo, a tool for your daily beauty routine that you can’t live without, or a piece of kit that makes your day-to-day life easier: anything small, genuinely useful, and inexpensive to buy (nothing over £20). Continue reading...
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‘Demolishing democracy’: how much danger does Christian nationalism pose? (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Documentary Bad Faith looks at the history of a group trying to affect and corrupt politics under the guise of religion Bad Faith, a new documentary on the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States, opens with an obvious, ominous scene – the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021 – though trained on details drowned out by the deluge of horror and easily recognizable images of chaos. That Paula White, Donald Trump’s faith adviser, led the Save America rally in a prayer to overturn the results for “a free and fair election”. That mixed among Trump flags, American flags and militia symbols were numerous banners with Christian crosses; on the steps of the Capitol, a “JESUS SAVES” sign blares mere feet from “Lock Them UP!” The movement to overturn the 2020 election for Donald Trump was, as the documentary underscores, inextricable from a certain strain of belief in America as a fundamentally Christian nation, separation of church and state be damned. In fact, as Bad Faith argues, Christian nationalism – a political movement to shape the United States according a certain interpretation of evangelical Christianity, by vote or, more recently, by coercion – was the “galvanizing force” behind the attempted hijacking of the democratic process three years ago. Continue reading...
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Trump on Trial: What we learned from David Pecker’s testimony (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
We’ve now finished our first week of testimony in former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial – and have one major witness in the books. Sign up for our free Trump on Trial newsletter We’ve now finished our first week of testimony in former president Donald Trump’s criminal trial – and have one major witness in the books. Continue reading...
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Questions in rocket-hit Sderot over whether IDF can ever destroy Hamas (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
People in city bordering Gaza say Israel will never be safe while Hamas exists – but worry it cannot achieve its objective The two men, faces blurred and voices disguised, are screened by a dense scrub of fig and trailing vine and thorns in northern Gaza as they film themselves loading a rocket launcher. It is daylight and the fighters, wearing civilian clothes, work quickly and calmly, the sound of fighting audible around them as they prepare the weapon in less than a minute. Metal scrapes on metal as four missiles are slotted into tubes and wires connected to a red timer for launch against the nearby Israeli border city of Sderot and neighbouring communities. Continue reading...
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Beetroot and beefless bourguignon as Paris Olympics embraces vegetarian cuisine (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Top chefs say the Games will rebrand French gastronomy as a showcase for plant-based food It will boast the world’s biggest salad bar, offer fans vegetarian hotdogs and bring in up to half a million bananas by boat to meet athletes’ insatiable demand for the fruit while avoiding the carbon footprint of air travel. As part of its efforts to cut carbon emissions, the Paris Olympics will make history by offering more vegetarian cuisine than in any Games. Continue reading...
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Tesla among electric carmakers forced to cut prices as market stalls (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
EV sales have plateaued across the world but the newfound glut of vehicles may just be temporary Elon Musk became the world’s richest man by evangelising about electric cars – and delivering them by the million. Yet in recent months his company, Tesla, has struggled to maintain its momentum: sales have dropped this year, and so has its share price. Those struggles have become emblematic of a broader reckoning facing the electric vehicle (EV) industry. After the soaring demand and valuations of the coronavirus pandemic years, the pace of sales growth has slowed. The industry has entered a new phase, with questions over whether the switch from petrol and diesel to cleaner electric is facing a troublesome stall or a temporary speed bump. Continue reading...
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Four students on why they’re protesting against war in Gaza: ‘Injustice should not be accepted’ (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Students demonstrating and hunger-striking face arrests and hospitalization – but they think they can make a difference Student protesters are demanding universities divest from Israel. What does that mean? The arrests of more than a hundred Columbia University students, who were protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza, shed more light on arguably the most energetic pro-Palestinian movement in the US: the one taking places on college campuses around the country. Since Israel launched its war on Gaza in October, in response to terrorist attacks by Hamas, students have launched protests, sit-ins and, most recently, encampments, in a wave they hope will encourage universities to divest from companies which have ties to Israel’s military. Continue reading...
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Rishi Sunak struggling to smother frenzy of election rumours (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Speculation PM could call election to forestall possible leadership challenge has its own momentum despite No 10 dismissals In a sign of how febrile the atmosphere in Westminster is just now, there were wild rumours flying around on Friday that Rishi Sunak was planning to finally call an election straight after the weekend. The fact that this particular theory appears to have begun with Labour party speculation that the prime minister could announce a date to put an end to questions over his own leadership does not appear to have slowed down its spread. Continue reading...
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‘Why has my uterus fallen into my vagina?’: Emily Oster’s new book demystifies common pregnancy complications (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
The Unexpected, the latest book by the economics professor, examines the uncomfortable and embarrassing parts of pregnancy that no one talks about Emily Oster really hopes you don’t need to buy her new book. The 44-year-old tenured Brown University economics professor and firebrand has published a handful of bestselling titles, all focused on childbearing and child-rearing. “I always say I’m not going to write another book after I write a book because it feels like so much work,” she said. “The first three books really track my own journey, from pregnancy to raising little kids to having older kids.” But the fourth installment in her “ParentData” – also the name of her blog, podcast and newsletter – quartet, The Unexpected, swerves into thornier territory than its predecessors: pregnancies with complications, and the risks inherent in any subsequent pregnancies. For the first time, she is not writing about her own experiences. “I was inspired by the questions that I got from other people rather than the questions that I had myself,” she said. Continue reading...
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‘I felt immense shame’: one man’s experience of a female stalker (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Tom, whose experience echoes that portrayed in Baby Reindeer, talks about the impact on him and the police response Not long after he embarked on an on/off dalliance with a former colleague, Tom began feeling uneasy about her behaviour. He ended things – but that only made matters worse. Lies and gaslighting turned into his ex turning up randomly at places where he hung out and “appearing seemingly everywhere I went”, he said. “That was incredibly hard to deal with. I felt hounded, and I had no idea what to do.” In the UK, the National Stalking Helpline can be reached on 0808 802 0300. Continue reading...
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The evolution of man: how Ryan Gosling changed stardom, cinema and society (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
The actor’s feminist credentials, a wholehearted embrace of comedy and being one of the most memed actors on social media has seen Gosling’s auto-satirising alpha male become white-hot box office in 2024 In Hollywood, there are no accidents. Ryan Gosling’s role in stuntman pic The Fall Guy, hard on the heels of his show-stopping Oscars rendition of I’m Just Ken, is perfectly timed to confirm his ascension to the very top tier of stardom. Not only is it a four-quadrant entertainment turbo boost – covering all audience bases with action, romance, a legacy franchise for the oldies, John Wick-slick for the kids – it is shrink-wrapped to his public persona. His role as stunt veteran Colt Seavers, saving the skin of the idiot megastar he doubles for, caps off the stance Gosling has upheld on talkshows and memes over the last decade: stardom and celebrity as a delectable facade, an in-joke between star and audience to be played with the lightest of ironic touches. But of course Gosling is a bona fide star, one of Hollywood’s most important. His confused, toxic himbo Ken stole the Barbie limelight from Margot Robbie. Tunnelling into classic archetypes of masculinity with modern self-awareness is the on-screen niche he has made his own – giving us a new, uniquely supple male star for the post-#MeToo era. His mainstream roles – getaway drivers, daredevil motorcyclists, venal bankers – have often been ultra-macho, but the actor himself comes with rounded metrosexual edges. Men want to be him, with his debonair cool and inexhaustible supply of swanky jackets (the leather Miami Vice stunt-team number in The Fall Guy being the latest). As far back as 2017, Morwenna Ferrier noted that Gosling clones, sporting a certain “turbo cleanliness”, were now on the loose in cities everywhere. Continue reading...
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Police clash with US students protesting against war in Gaza – video (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Police made arrests after clashing with demonstrators participating in student-led protests against Israel's war in Gaza. The arrests came amid a wave of demonstrations at campuses across the US, which began last week after students at New York’s Columbia University set up encampments calling for the university to divest from weapons manufacturers with ties to Israel. The House speaker, Mike Johnson, jumped into the fray on Wednesday with a visit to Columbia’s campus, where he faced jeers from the pro-Palestinian protesters Police arrest protesters amid crackdown on student rallies across US campuses Continue reading...
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Reports of mass graves at Gaza hospitals 'horrify' UN rights experts – video (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has said it is 'horrified' by reports of mass graves containing hundreds of bodies at two of Gaza’s largest hospitals. Palestinian civil defence teams began exhuming bodies outside the Nasser hospital complex in Khan Younis last week after Israeli troops withdrew. A total of 310 bodies have been found in the past week, Palestinian officials have said. Palestinian rescue teams and several UN observation missions also reported the discovery this month of multiple mass grave sites at al-Shifa hospital compound in Gaza City after an Israeli withdrawal. Officials in Gaza said the bodies at Nasser were people who had died during the siege. Israel’s military on Tuesday rejected allegations of mass burials at the hospital, saying it had exhumed corpses in the hope of finding hostages taken by Hamas in October UN rights chief ‘horrified’ by reports of mass graves at two Gaza hospitals Continue reading...
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What's behind the fight between Elon Musk's X and Australia's eSafety commissioner? – video (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Elon Musk is at war with Australia — in particular Australia's online safety regulator — due to videos that were circulating on his platform after an alleged stabbing at a church in Sydney last week. After the eSafety commissioner requested all social media platforms to remove video of the stabbing from their platforms, X made the videos unavailable to view within Australia, but they're still available to watch both outside of Australia. Now, X and the eSafety commissioner are fighting it out in court, while X's owner Elon Musk continues to fight it out online. Guardian Australia's Josh Taylor explains what's going on behind the tweets Elon Musk’s X v Australia’s online safety regulator: untangling the tweet takedown order Bishop will argue video of his Sydney church stabbing should not be removed from Elon Musk’s X, court hears Continue reading...
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Our lives in the UK asylum system: 'the power of fear' – video (Thu, 28 Mar 2024)
The Guardian has been working with a group of community reporters in Rochdale and Oldham who wanted to highlight the realities for women in the asylum system across Greater Manchester. Supported by the Elephants Trail, the group met women stuck in the asylum backlog, women traumatised by detention and women struggling to find housing. They were all volunteering in their communities, while reckoning with a hostile climate towards refugees and asylum seekers. This film is part of a collaborative video series called Made in Britain Britain's broken welfare system is leaving our community on the brink Continue reading...
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Why Prague's homeless are resorting to poverty tourism – video (Thu, 18 Apr 2024)
Homelessness is on the rise globally, and the Czech Republic has the highest rate in central and eastern Europe. The Guardian visited Prague, for a long time a popular destination for tourists, to see how even this sector caters for the city’s visitors - and to meet the range of people aiming to tackle the causes of homelessness in all its forms. Continue reading...
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How cruise ships became a catastrophe for the planet – video (Thu, 07 Mar 2024)
Cruising is booming – 2023 ticket sales have surpassed historic levels and 2024 has seen the launch of the largest cruise ship ever built. But as cruise tourism's popularity has increased, so have the pollution problems it brings. To customers, it may not be evident that any problems exist, since some cruise line companies claim to be becoming more climate-friendly. But the truth can be quite different. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates what impact the world's biggest ships are having on the planet ‘Biggest, baddest’ – but is it the cleanest? World’s largest cruise ship sets sail ‘A good cruise is one that doesn’t come’: Europe’s ports bear brunt of ship pollution Shipping’s dirty secret: how ‘scrubbers’ clean the air – while contaminating the sea Continue reading...
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Weekend podcast: ‘I was hammered on stage’ – David Harewood on racism and success; John Crace on ‘tetchy’ Rishi; the answer to insomnia hell; and Baby Reindeer fall out (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
Beware of ‘Tetchy Rishi’ – the prime minister struggles to control his anger during the Rwanda bill press briefing (1m24s); David Harewood on acting, racism and mental health (9m08s); Phil Daoust’s surprisingly simple solution to insomnia hell (24m33s); and Stuart Heritage examines the dangerous fallout from Netflix’s Baby Reindeer (42m29s) Continue reading...
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Solidarity and strategy: the forgotten lessons of truly effective protest – podcast (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Organising is a kind of alchemy: it turns alienation into connection, despair into dedication, and oppression into strength. By Astra Taylor and Leah Hunt-Hendrix Continue reading...
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White House correspondents dinner: is there still space for humour? (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
The annual White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner returns this Saturday for a night of comedy ‘roasting’ – where the great and the good are ruthlessly mocked in celebration of the freedom of the press. In recent years, however, the night has taken on a different tone, with the atmosphere of warm self-deprecation and bipartisan bonhomie replaced by something more scathing and serious. This week Jonathan Freedland is joined by Jeff Nussbaum, a former senior speech writer to Joe Biden, to discuss the art of writing gags for presidents and whether there is still space for humour in US politics. Continue reading...
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The US college protests and the crackdown on campuses - podcast (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
Police have arrested dozens of students across US universities this week after a crackdown on pro-Palestine protests on campuses. Erum Salam and Margaret Sullivan report from New York As the Israel-Gaza war grinds on amid a worsening humanitarian crisis, the world’s attention this week was captured by a battle on the campuses of elite US universities. Pro-Palestine student protesters were arrested en masse by New York City police at the prestigious Columbia University, prompting outrage that spread across other college sites. Guardian US reporter Erum Salam tells Michael Safi that the scene on Columbia’s campus was one of orderly drum circles and organised anti-war demonstrations, not the all-out violent chaos that might have been imagined. Continue reading...
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Have Everton dashed Liverpool’s title dreams? – Football Weekly Extra (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Liew and Robyn Cowen as Liverpool lose the Merseyside derby … and maybe more 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: Everton sink Liverpool in a Merseyside derby that could be the end of the Reds’ title hopes, and which may well be enough to secure the Toffees’ Premier League status. Continue reading...
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From birds, to cattle, to … us? Could bird flu be the next pandemic? – podcast (Thu, 25 Apr 2024)
As bird flu is confirmed in 33 cattle herds across eight US states, Ian Sample talks to virologist Dr Ed Hutchinson of Glasgow University about why this development has taken scientists by surprise, and how prepared we are for the possibility it might start spreading among humans Read more Guardian reporting on this topic Continue reading...
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Arsenal thrash Chelsea and a Football League update – Football Weekly (Wed, 24 Apr 2024)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Ben Fisher, Sanny Rudravajhala and George Elek as Arsenal beat Chelsea 5-0 and to run through the EFL as those divisions reach a conclusion in the coming weeks 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; Arsenal keep pace at the top of the Premier League – were they brilliant or are Chelsea inexcusably bad? It’s probably a touch of both. 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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Original Observer Photography (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
From a mural in Birmingham commemorating poet Benjamin Zephaniah to the Observer’s favourite food shops: the best original photographs from the Observer commissioned in April 2024 Continue reading...
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‘There aren’t many fields, so the children play around the pier’: Jelly Febrian’s best phone picture (Sat, 27 Apr 2024)
The photographer documents daily life at Sunda Kelapa harbour in North Jakarta, Indonesia, including the schoolchildren who turn it into their playground After school, many of the children local to the Sunda Kelapa harbour, in North Jakarta, Indonesia, go down to the water to swim and play. Jelly Febrian enjoys shooting the daily activities there whenever the weather is good. Always prepared for the right moment, he carries his phone with him to capture crews loading their boats, people fishing, and boys and girls jumping from the boats, as pictured. “In the maritime villages near here there aren’t many fields, so the children mostly play around the pier. Every boat that docks here has a different owner and purpose, they load and unload basic necessities, and every week they sail to other Indonesian islands, such as Papua, Sumatra and Sulawesi. Continue reading...
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The week around the world in 20 pictures (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
War in Gaza, the election in India, clouds of dust in Athens and the London Marathon: 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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Uncropped: James Hamilton on the decay of alt-journalism and street photography (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
In the Wes Anderson-produced documentary Uncropped, the acclaimed culture photographer discusses his career and a changing landscape The former Village Voice and New York Observer photographer James Hamilton lives in a small Manhattan apartment on University Place that also doubles as his studio. There’s a dark room in the corner, where Hamilton develops his images, using chemical ingredients plucked from a wine cooler. His walls are lined with books and stacks of photos, a treasure trove of portraits and reportage he’s shot over the decades, among them BB King in concert, Liza Minelli at home and Muhammad Ali out in the streets. “This is James Stewart in Rear Window,” says director Wes Anderson, when recalling his first impression of Hamilton, and his apartment, in Uncropped, the documentary he executive-produces. Hamilton wouldn’t argue against the comparison. Rear Window – Hitchcock’s classic about an adventurous newspaper photographer taken off the job by a broken leg, abandoned to spy on his neighbours – is a formative film for the cinephile cameraman. Continue reading...
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D-day veterans and an Indian election: photos of the day – Friday (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...
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Urban flats for sale in Great Britain for less than £500,000 – in pictures (Fri, 26 Apr 2024)
From a modern development in the heart of Edinburgh to a Grade II-listed townhouse in Ramsgate Continue reading...
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