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The Guardian
Revealed: Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women (mer., 15 mai 2024)A total of 16 women have accused Copperfield of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior spanning decades. More than half said they were teenagers at the time. Copperfield’s lawyers say the allegations are ‘not only completely false but also entirely implausible’ ‘I honest to God believe I was drugged’: magician David Copperfield’s alleged victims speak out The celebrated American magician David Copperfield has been accused by 16 women of engaging in sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, according to a Guardian US investigation. More than half of the allegations are from women who said they were under 18 at the time of the incidents. Some said they were as young as 15, although he may not have known their ages. Continue reading...
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Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico ‘in life-threatening condition’ after shooting – Europe live (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Robert Fico taken to hospital after four shots reported to have been fired after government meeting in Handlova Prime minister of Slovakia shot and injured Salome Zourabichvili, Georgia’s president, said she spoke with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy. After a delay, the EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, and the neighborhood commissioner, Olivér Várhelyi, issued a statement on Georgia. The adoption of this law negatively impacts Georgia’s progress on the EU path. The choice on the way forward is in Georgia’s hands. We urge the Georgian authorities to withdraw the law, uphold their commitment to the EU path and advance the necessary reforms detailed in the 9 steps. Continue reading...
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JCB built and supplied equipment to Russia months after saying exports had stopped (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Exclusive: Russian customs records suggest firm owned by major Tory donor kept supplying machines after ‘voluntary pause’ The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal. Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia. Continue reading...
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Labour claims Sunak misled MPs when he said dangerous prisoners not included in early release scheme – UK politics live (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Keir Starmer calls early release scheme a ‘get-out-of-jail’ card for dangerous prisoners as Labour calls PM’s claims ‘factually inaccurate’ Labour says the Ministry of Justice’s decision to delay court hearings because of prison overcrowing (see 10.39am) shows that people are “less safe” under the Tories. That’s a very convenient retort to Rishi Sunak, because only two days ago he gave a major speech arguing that security was a key reason why his party deserved to win the election. In a statement, Shabana Mahmood, the shadow justice secretary, said: The Tories continue to make major and unprecedented changes to the justice system without so much as a word to the public. It’s completely unacceptable and the public will be alarmed at this latest panic measures. The government is stalling justice and leaving victims in limbo because of the mess they have created. This comes days after they hid from the public that they’re now letting criminals out of jail earlier than ever before. The government is completely failing [on knife crime]. We’ve had an 80% increase since 2015 and rises all around the country. That’s the first point. On stop and search, that is intelligence lead and evidence-based and is a really important tool. We’ve had, for example, the Inspectorate of Constabulary, an independent organisation, looking at this saying that what’s essential is that it is done in that targeted way. Continue reading...
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Solicitor general to appeal over case of climate activist who held sign on jurors’ rights (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Exclusive: Judge accused Robert Courts of ‘mischaracterising evidence’ against Trudi Warner The government’s most senior law officer is to appeal against a decision not to allow a contempt of court action against climate campaigner Trudi Warner for holding a placard on the rights of jurors outside a British court, the Guardian can reveal. Mr Justice Saini ruled at the high court last month there was no basis to take action against Warner, 69, for holding up the sign informing jurors of their right to acquit a defendant based on their conscience. He said the government’s claim that her behaviour fell into the category of criminal contempt was “fanciful”. Continue reading...
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Woman raped at knifepoint in Portugal gives evidence in Christian Brückner trial (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Main suspect in Madeleine McCann case is accused in Germany of three rapes and two indecent assaults A woman who was raped at knifepoint by a masked man in Portugal 20 years ago has told a German court trying the main suspect in the disappearance of Madeleine McCann how she had feared for her life and had to shut down her emotions to deal with the ordeal. Hazel Behan, 40, described how a man dressed in black had entered her holiday apartment in Praia da Rocha in the Algarve at 3am on 16 June 2004, stood over her bed and called her name before starting the hours-long attack. Delivering a harrowing and graphic account through an interpreter for over 80 minutes, Behan had to pause several times as she became emotional, describing the incident, which occurred while she worked as a 20-year-old holiday representative. Continue reading...
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Gloucestershire teen accused of illegal abortion told police she had stillbirth (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Court told that Sophie Harvey and boyfriend, then 19, bought pills to end 28-week pregnancy in 2018 A teenager accused of taking a pill to illegally abort a baby told police she had reconciled herself to the idea of having the child but suffered a stillbirth, a jury has heard. Sophie Harvey, who was 19 at the time, said she panicked and wrapped the dead baby in a towel, put it in a plastic bag and placed it in a bin at the family home in Gloucestershire. Continue reading...
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Russia-Ukraine war live: Blinken announces $2bn in aid as Russia claims to have taken more settlements and Zelenskiy cancels trips (Wed, 15 May 2024)
US secretary of state says ammunition, armoured vehicles and missiles will be rushed to frontline as Moscow says it has captured more territory Here are some of the latest images from the newswires: Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak dismissed Russian president Vladimir Putin’s comments on possible negotiations over his war in Ukraine as “hypocritical” on Wednesday. Continue reading...
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Royal Mail owner backs £3.5bn takeover offer by Czech billionaire (Wed, 15 May 2024)
New Křetínský bid creates headache for UK government amid growing scrutiny on foreign takeovers of critical infrastructure The owner of Royal Mail has accepted a £3.5bn bid for the postal company from a Czech billionaire after he ramped up the value of the takeover, creating a political headache for the government. Last month, Royal Mail’s parent company, International Distributions Services (IDS), rejected a preliminary offer worth 320p a share, or £3.1bn, from Daniel Křetínský, an energy tycoon whose company, EP Group, is its largest shareholder. Continue reading...
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Devon residents told to boil tap water over risk of parasitic disease (Wed, 15 May 2024)
South West Water has detected ‘small traces’ of parasite in drinking supply that can cause diarrhoea-type disease Boil your tap water before you drink it, residents in Devon have been told, after 22 cases of a parasitic disease were confirmed. South West Water has detected what it calls “small traces” of a parasite that can cause a diarrhoea-type disease in the drinking supply around the town of Brixham. Continue reading...
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‘I honest to God believe I was drugged’: magician David Copperfield’s alleged victims speak out (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The Guardian US investigated claims that the famed entertainer selected girls and women from his audiences and subjected them to sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior. Copperfield’s lawyers say the allegations are ‘false and entirely without foundation’ Revealed: Magician David Copperfield accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women For two 15-year-old girls in the early 1990s, meeting David Copperfield, the world famous magician, seemed like the thrill of a lifetime. Carla* says she remembers the way Copperfield gave her his phone number after a 1991 show in Georgia. About two years later in San Francisco, Lily* says, she felt giddy when the master illusionist picked her to join him on stage for a magic trick. Continue reading...
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Why are there riots in New Caledonia against France’s voting change, and why does it matter? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Deadly clashes have erupted over move to increase number of French nationals eligible to vote in Pacific territory Deadly violence has erupted in New Caledonia, a French overseas territory in the South Pacific, after lawmakers in Paris approved a constitutional amendment to allow recent arrivals to the territory to vote in provincial elections. The amendment, which some local leaders fear will dilute the vote of the Indigenous Kanak people, is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long tussle over France’s role in the island. Continue reading...
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‘No water, food, health care, toilet’: Desperation deepens in Gaza’s camps (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Hundreds of new shelters set up near Khan Younis as Palestinians flee fighting in Rafah Soaring above the rows of tents 10 deep on the dunes stretching back from the Mediterranean sea is a reminder of better times in Gaza: a ferris wheel. Now, the cafes, paths and miniature train of the Asda’a amusement park are obscured by hundreds of shelters, put up by some of the half a million newly displaced people who have made their way to this sandy strip of coastline near the city of Khan Younis to escape fighting in the north and south of the territory. Continue reading...
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Jonathan Yeo’s portrait of Charles III review – a formulaic bit of facile flattery (Wed, 15 May 2024)
A psychedelic sea of lurid reds and a clunking monarch butterfly cannot save this superficially observed and carelessly executed bland banality It’s hard to be objective about an artist you like as a person. I recently met the painter Jonathan Yeo – whose portrait of King Charles has been unveiled in a storm of crimson hype – on a radio show and was instantly charmed. It’s easy to see why famous people enjoy being portrayed by Yeo. He’s intelligent, relaxed, unassuming. We talked about a studio visit. But then I had a look at his works online and cringed. And that was before I saw this right royal banality. Yeo’s portrait of the king is replete with all his vices. It is technically superficial and unfelt. There’s no insight into the king’s personality here, just a weird allegory about a monarch butterfly that Yeo says is a symbol of his metamorphosis from prince to king. Continue reading...
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Why are we so snobby about other people’s weddings? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Weddings are once-in-a-lifetime statements of wealth, taste and social capital. Maybe it’s human nature to want to dissect them A non-exhaustive list of things I have arbitrarily strong feelings about when it comes to weddings: headbands, the number of bridesmaids (more than five is too many), espresso martinis (should be banned), Mr Brightside (argh!), “hats optional” (an edict both stuffy and stressful), any kind of day-after event. I’m hardly alone in my convictions. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of things other people tell me they find tasteless: naked dresses, lab-grown diamonds, wedding hashtags, too many speeches, not enough speeches, asking for a Peloton. Continue reading...
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Emma Barnett on the Today programme review – so chilled John Humphrys will choke on his cornflakes (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Cool, calm and confidently ribbing guests, Barnett will clearly bring a youthful energy to the BBC Radio 4 morning show – even if she did sound like she was on a royal visit to the studio rather than actually working there Although called Today, the 6-9am slot on Radio 4 this morning was really about the network of tomorrow. A few years ago, a senior BBC manager told me that the “future” of the Today programme was Emma Barnett and Amol Rajan co-presenting, though neither at the time was on the programme. This morning, the prophecy was fulfilled. Recent Today debuts have been shadowed. In 2015, Nick Robinson cut short his first week after a heavy cold compromised his voice. Rajan, in 2021, admitted to needing rum to soothe an insomniac “panic attack” before his first dawn. Continue reading...
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From Megadeth to Japanese make-up tutorials: the bizarre life of guitarist Marty Friedman (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The US musician went from homelessness to multiplatinum success with the thrash metallers – and then became a pop cultural icon in Japan. He explains the weirdest portfolio career in rock It’s one of the most perplexing questions in heavy metal history: how does a bullet-wearing guitarist for Megadeth end up critiquing beauty products on Japanese daytime TV? “I started getting addicted to the challenge of: can I really do this?”, laughs Marty Friedman. “And the hardest one was being a judge on a show where these girls were doing makeup makeovers. I can’t think of anything I care less about in the entire world. ‘Well, she looked better with the foundation on after the blush!’” Marty Friedman joined Megadeth in 1990 and helped the thrash band become a platinum-selling mainstream force that decade – one of the genre’s “Big Four” alongside Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax – but he walked away in 2000, and three years later he left the US altogether to start a new life in Japan, where as well as making music as a solo artist, he has established himself as an improbable but sizeable pop-cultural marvel. Continue reading...
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Raspberry Pi: how push for child programming skills inspired a coding generation (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Company’s cheap, simple-to-use durable minicomputer has proved a hit all over the world Tech firm Raspberry Pi readies for London float Raspberry Pi, whose popular minicomputers are sold around the world, has come a long way since its co-founder Jack Lang had to store some of the first batch of single-board devices in his garage more than a decade ago. What started out as a project to reverse the decline in computer science applications at Cambridge University went on to inspire a generation of child programmers by offering them an affordable $35 minicomputer. Now the company is preparing to list on the London Stock Exchange. Continue reading...
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The village that fell into a river: Sim Chi Yin’s best photograph (Wed, 15 May 2024)
‘One woman heard tree branches snapping and jumped out of bed – just in time to see her mattress float away as the back half of her house melted into the darkness’ I started my Shifting Sands series seven years ago to look at how the world is running out of usable sand. It’s the next big resource crisis. I’m from Singapore, the world’s biggest importer of sand per capita, due to the scale of its land reclamation. That was the starting point of what I had initially mapped out as a global project, investigating the extraction of and uses of sand, its consequences and alternatives. I photographed in Singapore, China, Malaysia and Vietnam. The Mekong Delta in Vietnam is experiencing rapid erosion due to large-scale sand mining and China damming the river upstream. I went to a number of villages with researchers. We went to the commune of Hiep Phuoc, southeast of Saigon, where this picture was made, just five days after a number of villagers – including tea-seller Nguyen Thi Hong, 45, who appears in this image – had lost their homes. Continue reading...
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‘Reading her stories is like watching a virtuoso pianist perform’: Alice Munro remembered (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The Ontario-born writer turned the ‘classic New Yorker-style short story’ into the highest form of literature, by taking an obsessively detailed interest in the people who lived in her small Canadian town Alice Munro, Nobel winner and titan of the short story, dies aged 92 Margaret Atwood reads Dance of the Happy Shades by Alice Munro – audio Back in 2006, I visited Alice Munro in Ontario to interview her for the publication of her collection The View from Castle Rock. She had sworn off any future publicity and claimed she didn’t plan on writing much longer – two more collections followed, along with the International Man Booker and the Nobel. She was a mere 74 at that point. The cult of Munro was still something of a members only club then, with writers such as fellow Canadian Margaret Atwood (with whom she was friends for more than 45 years) and the late AS Byatt among her many admirers, along with relative young guns such as Jonathan Franzen and Lorrie Moore. So, I found myself in Goderich (billed as “Canada’s prettiest town”) in a suitably Munrovian mizzle sometime in the autumn. Munro lived in neighbouring Clinton, with her second husband Gerry Fremlin. We met for lunch in a little restaurant called Bailey’s Fine Dining (white tablecloths and tinkly music). She had a regular table by the bar and a key that she produced from her handbag as the staff were clearing up so we could continue chatting over glasses of white wine diluted with water, while poor Fremlin listened to Swan Lake in his truck outside. Continue reading...
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Steve McQueen: Bass review – ‘Like an underground shooting gallery of dub’ (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Dia Beacon, New York State Defying narrative, the artist mixes LED lights and colour with ricocheting music inspired by West Africa, resulting in a throbbing show that sucks the air from your lungs There are neither images nor narrative in Steve McQueen’s newest work, Bass, at the Dia Art Foundation at Beacon, about an hour up the Hudson valley from New York. Nothing but three stacks of speakers standing in the low-lit gloom of a concrete basement, and a grid of 60 flat LED light boxes sitting flush with the ceiling, measuring out the space between the rows of pillars and providing the only illumination in the large, echoing space. The light boxes glow red then tangerine, through yellows and green, blues and magenta and back to red, slowly drifting round the spectrum like a dial being turned. Along with the light, sounds hang in the air. Sometimes the reverb goes right through you, then it’s a ghost. Slick with dulled reflections, the concrete floor is scored with old cracks and worn-away markings. The throb of bass notes ricochet from the walls and pillars, an underground shooting gallery of dub. Aching and surging, tailing off and picking up again, the music creates a space in which riffs and licks come and go are lost in reverb and harmonics, like snatches of language being dragged out of nowhere. Notes pulse like a human heart or a rudder in a current. Enormous tonal weights slide like so much unmoored ballast, blues phrases shimmer in complaint and there’s a constant sense of the impending. At one point a low hollow sound tunnels through the air like disaster looming. Continue reading...
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The UK’s broken refugee policy is delivering scared children into the hands of people smugglers | Alf Dubs (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The government is preventing refugee families being reunited, but adopting one simple proposal could change that Alf Dubs is a Labour peer and patron of the Refugee Council When I was a child, I had to leave my mother behind as I fled the Nazis on the Kindertransport. I still remember the moment my father met me at Liverpool Street station in London. My mother had been refused an exit permit, but at the last minute she managed to escape and joined my father and me in the city. Only then, all together, were we able to start rebuilding our lives. Sadly, many refugee children are torn from their families as they flee war or persecution, or are separated on long and dangerous journeys to safety. Between 2015 and 2019, refugee family reunion was a safe route for families to be reunited in the UK: more than 29,000 people were granted visas, 90% of which were for women and children. But more recently, the government’s immigration rules have been failing refugee children who were previously able to rely on this system to enable them to join family members. Alf Dubs is a member of the House of Lords and patron of the Refugee Council Continue reading...
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Far too many Britons are at the mercy of exploitative private landlords. I have a five-point plan to fix that | Stephen Cowan (Wed, 15 May 2024)
For so many millions, the home-owning dream has died. Labour must protect them, and reconstruct a dysfunctional housing market Stephen Cowan chaired the independent private rented sector commission Sarah faces daily torment. An impending rent rise means she can no longer afford to live in the home she shares with her two children. She has to downsize. That means potentially having to split up her boys. Her youngest is doing his A-levels. Her oldest, just turned 18, is struggling with mental health issues. It is an unenviable problem. “Will I have to say that one son lives elsewhere and one lives with me,” asks Sarah (not her real name). “At best I can try to protect them and say it’s all going to be OK. But I have to say it to myself as well. But we’ve got no stability and could be thrown out in two months’ time.” Stephen Cowan chaired the independent private rented sector commission and is leader of Hammersmith and Fulham council Continue reading...
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‘Israelis go back to Europe?’ Some on the left need to rethink their slogans | Jo-Ann Mort (Wed, 15 May 2024)
A majority of Israel’s Jews today are not descended from Europe, but rather from Arab nations. To expect them to leave Israel is unprecedented, unrealistic and wrong Though not a prevalent catchphrase in the student demonstrations, the slogan “Jews/Israelis go back to Europe” has garnered national, and even international, attention. This phrase, like the much more popular phrase “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” is troubling because it attempts to negate the existence of the Jewish state of Israel. The “Go back to Europe” chant also ignores the fact that the majority of Israelis today don’t come from European backgrounds. Another slogan heard at rallies calls for ending the “75-year occupation”, pointing not to the occupation of the West Bank or Gaza, which dates back to 1967, but rather to the date when Israel was founded as a modern nation. Jo-Ann Mort is co-author of Our Hearts Invented a Place: Can Kibbutzim Survive in Today’s Israel? She writes frequently about Israel for US, UK and Israeli publications. Continue reading...
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Putin’s war machine reshuffle reveals his deepest fear – the rise of Kremlin rivals | Samantha de Bendern (Wed, 15 May 2024)
By moving Sergei Shoigu and promoting key allies, Russia’s leader is shoring up the military-industrial complex that justifies his survival When the Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, was removed from his post and appointed head of the security council this week, there were two big questions on everyone’s mind. What would his successor, Andrei Belousov, bring to the table, and what would happen to the former head of the security council, Nikolai Patrushev – reputed to be the second most powerful man in Russia and seen by many as a potential successor to Vladimir Putin? The second question has a straightforward answer. Patrushev, it seems, is being sidelined. Yesterday, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Patrushev had been appointed to the grand position of presidential aide for shipbuilding – barring any further surprise moves, this is a considerable downgrade in role. Samantha de Bendern is an associate fellow in the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House and a political commentator on LCI television in France Continue reading...
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Can the civil service survive the chaos and incompetence of Team Sunak? Of course we can: we’re optimists | The civil servant (Wed, 15 May 2024)
As this difficult era nears its endgame, we are guided by a belief in good governance – and buoyed up by public support The end-of-season finale is almost here. As the country slides inexorably and eagerly down the greased abattoir chute towards the end of what might be the worst-ever parliamentary session, you might ask if civil servants have become paralysed – either by chronic depression or pathological levels of schadenfreude – due to the spectacle of our leaders’ insistence on prioritising political theatre, the now-doomed Rwanda policy and the war on “diversity and inclusion” over doing the actual day job. The short answer: it’ll take more than that. Yes, civil service staff turnover is worryingly high, and morale has been declining fast. We’ve been persistently attacked for being “remoaning” obstructionists, “activist” saboteurs and Brexit crybabies. We’ve been castigated for showing that working from home actually works, and for daring to raise questions about the legality of arms sales to Israel. This month, we’ve even – for the first time – had to mount a legal challenge over the constitutional jeopardy that ministers have put civil servants in by ramming through their unworkable Rwanda scheme. Last but not least, we’ve had to weather another virtuosic blizzard of “common sense” from Esther McVey about banning “diversity and inclusion” jobs. McVey doesn’t seem to realise that listening to the Tory party sermonise about the perils of diversity and inclusion has the same level of credibility as Dr Crippen giving a Ted talk. The author works for the UK civil service Continue reading...
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Artists shouldn’t be political? Here’s a show that challenges Britain’s creeping censorship | Brian Logan (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art, at the Arcola in London, tackles freedom of expression – with particular focus on Gaza Arts Council England unleashed fury in February when an update to its policies warned arts companies, and those who work for them, against making “overtly political or activist” statements. Here was confirmation of what many in the arts already knew, which is that – whether by scrutineers from the left or the right – limits are being erected around what we can say and do in our work. This week, the Arcola theatre in Dalston, east London, addresses this phenomenon on stage, with Cutting the Tightrope: The Divorce of Politics from Art, a collection of short plays (written in a month, rehearsed in a fortnight) in response to warnings that artists shouldn’t be political. In practice, that response takes two forms. I expected the evening’s focus to be, as billed, on freedom of speech and the artist’s right (obligation?) to be political. Sure enough, that’s the focus of some of the evening’s vignettes. There’s a farcical sketch, spliced between the short plays, about a frantic theatre manager (Joel Samuels) chasing politics off his stage. Two plays show cautious programmers rejecting too-hot-to-handle scripts (“Send me the play: we might have a one-day reading in the basement”). Continue reading...
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Are US campus protests antisemitic? Jewish students weigh in | Panel (Wed, 15 May 2024)
We asked Jewish students at US universities what they think about pro-Palestinian demonstrations. Our panel responds I was in California for Passover when the encampment first came up. I was excited because I want to see an end to what Human Rights Watch calls a system of apartheid, which refers to the fact that there are over 65 laws discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel, roads in the West Bank are segregated, Israelis have civil law while Palestinians have military law, water allotment is unequal and so much more. Theo Goldstine is an undergraduate at New York University studying international politics and computer science Benjamin Kersten is a PhD candidate in art history at UCLA, a fellow at the Leve Center for Jewish Studies and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) at UCLA Continue reading...
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I never thought of myself as shy. But there I was, all wibbly-wobbly in the legs as I waited to go on TV | Adrian Chiles (Wed, 15 May 2024)
I discovered a new side of myself last week. And I didn’t much enjoy it I was given an award last week. It was a grand prix, if you don’t mind, at the Croatian national tourist board’s Golden Pen awards in Dubrovnik. The garland was hung around my neck for a thing I did about the island of Murter on Shaun Keaveny’s BBC Radio 4 series Your Place or Mine. I’ll spare you the humble stuff along the lines of: “Aw, shucks. Me? Really?” This award was richly deserved – less for my contribution to Shaun’s splendid show than for a lifetime spent using my privileged position in the British media to bang on about my mum’s home country. At the ceremony I was asked to appear live on Croatian television. I’d not been so nervous about anything in years. As we waited to go live, the interviewer, alarmed that I was deadly quiet, sweating profusely and all wibbly-wobbly about the legs, asked me if I was all right. Was it that I was more used to radio than television? I explained that I was terrified of making a fool of myself speaking publicly in such poor Croatian. But then the light went on and I babbled and burbled my way through it, and everyone seemed happy. Continue reading...
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The Guardian view on Russia’s new offensive: Ukraine’s allies must renew their focus | Editorial (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Significant advances by Vladimir Putin’s forces in the Kharkiv region must concentrate minds in the west at a critical moment Antony Blinken’s unannounced visit to Kyiv on Tuesday was a welcome and timely show of support. It was the US secretary of state’s first trip to Ukraine since America belatedly signed off on a $61bn aid package last month, allowing a desperately needed supply of new arms to finally flow to troops in the east. As Mr Blinken met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the capital, events continued to underline how urgently such assistance – and much more of the same – is required. The ultimate scope of Russia’s significant offensive in the Kharkiv region is yet to become clear. In part it may be intended to create a buffer zone, protecting Russian territory close to the north-east border. But as thousands of residents are once more displaced, and the prospect looms of a huge artillery assault on the city of Kharkiv, the incursions are also diverting threadbare Ukrainian resources from the eastern front. That may facilitate new Russian breakthroughs in the Donbas region. Continue reading...
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The Guardian view on health spending: a broken promise that voters are unlikely to forget or forgive | Editorial (Tue, 14 May 2024)
The Tories’ record in office undermines their claim at the last election to be the party of the NHS In 2010, the Commons health select committee warned the new Conservative-led government that the NHS in England was facing cuts rather than the promised real-terms increases. The message could not be easily dismissed, as the committee was then chaired by a former Tory cabinet minister. Now, eight health secretaries later, plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The Institute for Fiscal Studies said this week that day-to-day NHS spending had grown by 2.7% a year during the current parliament, well short of the 3.3% annual increases pledged by Boris Johnson in 2019. The Tories claimed at the last election to be the party of the NHS, seeking to capitalise on Brexit’s unfounded claim to be good for the health service. Voters don’t buy that today. Long waiting lists at hospitals for elective operations and frustration over the lack of access to GPs have led to public satisfaction with the health service plummeting to an all-time low. An estimated 250 patients are dying unnecessarily every week in England because of the queues for emergency care. Both the government and NHS England blame industrial action for waiting lists not falling fast enough. But, as the Nuffield Trust health thinktank pointed out last year, it is “unlikely that the lost activity would have been enough to enable waiting lists to come down”. Continue reading...
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Labour should commit to a public housing ministry in its manifesto | Letters (Tue, 14 May 2024)
John Crawley, Paul Karakusevic, Alan Gardiner, David Felton and Warren Brown respond to John Harris’s article on the growing opposition to right to buy My thanks to John Harris for raising this most emblematic Thatcherite policy question (Something is stirring in England: right to buy looks imperilled, and not a moment too soon, 12 May). But he missed three important points. First, in proposing that a replacement policy would devolve decisions to local authorities, he omitted to say that they always had discretionary power to adopt a voluntary sales policy (with any capital cost falling within their housing revenue account). Right to buy nationalised the policy and devolved the costs, financial and social. Labour should go for local empowerment. Second, it was only charitable housing associations that were excluded from right to buy; the stock of all other associations was treated the same as council housing. Continue reading...
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The shocking stupidity of the smart meter system | Letters (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Jim Fleming notes that the European Space Agency can wake up a satellite but his power supplier cannot wake up his smart meters. Plus letters from Andrew Warren and David Redshaw Re your article (British Gas boss says all UK households should be forced to fit smart meters, 8 May), after being harassed by email, text, telephone, letters and finally doorstepping, and being told that we had to get smart meters for safety reasons, we relented and spent a fun day at home with the fitter. The smart meters don’t work; they never worked. Apparently they don’t work in our type of house. The European Space Agency might be able to wake up the satellite Rosetta 673m kilometres away, but our power supplier cannot wake up our smart meters. Sorry, I have to rush, they want another meter reading. You see, they are experiencing a high level of calls so no one can answer the phone. Jim Fleming Edinburgh Continue reading...
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Mohamed Salah and Alisson among Saudi Pro League’s top transfer targets (Wed, 15 May 2024)
SPL hope to improve strength of league with more investment Manchester United’s Casemiro and Varane also linked Clubs in the Saudi Pro League will pursue another wave of big-name transfers this summer in an attempt to increase its profile, with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Alisson among the Premier League players being targeted. It is understood there are also plans to increase competitiveness in the league by attracting private businesses to sponsor clubs who are not backed by the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). Only the Premier League spent more on transfers in the 2023 summer window than the Saudi Pro League, with almost 100 overseas players moving there at a cost of roughly £750m. But while not all of those have been successful, with Jordan Henderson having cut short his stay at Al-Ettifaq after six months, sources in Saudi Arabia have said there is increasing confidence the League can continue to attract the best players from Europe. Continue reading...
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Erik ten Hag 50-50 to remain in Manchester United post (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Manager expected to discover fate in next fortnight Gareth Southgate among those linked with position Erik ten Hag’s future at Manchester United is expected to be decided in the next fortnight, with the chances of the Dutchman keeping his job thought to be 50-50. United’s plan is to decide the manager’s fate after the FA Cup final on 25 May, when they face Manchester City at Wembley. It is understood his hope of remaining in the post are finely balanced. Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the minority owner who now controls United’s football policy, his key lieutenant, Sir Dave Brailsford, Jean Claude-Blanc, the acting chief executive, and the technical director, Jason Wilcox, are leading the assessment of Ten Hag. Continue reading...
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Fifa criticised for lack of mandatory rest periods in new women’s calendar (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Governing body announces new schedule from 2026 Schedule has five windows but same amount games in Europe Fifa has announced a new four-year women’s international match calendar which will come in from 2026 but faces criticism for not including mandatory rest periods and undermining domestic leagues. The new international match calendar, which the global governing body said has a “player-centric focus” and “is backed by extensive research, analysis and consultation” includes a welcome reduction in the number of international windows from six to five. These windows will be placed in February-March, April, May-June, October, and November-December, removing the heavily criticised July and September windows – the former falling well after domestic season’s have ended and the latter disrupting pre-season preparations, for those leagues operating across the winter. Continue reading...
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The Spin | Revisiting England’s overshadowed summer of perfection, 20 years on (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Seven wins from seven Tests and a recasting of the XI set the team on its path to Ashes glory 12 months later The summer of 2005 was, to state the obvious, special for England’s men’s Test side. The Ashes regained after the misery of the 90s, the wild entry of Kevin Pietersen, an open-top bus around Trafalgar Square – a barely believable sight in today’s paywall era. But perfection? That came the summer before with seven wins from seven home Tests, a streak of victories that would end at eight in the winter against South Africa. Stephen Fleming’s New Zealand were swept aside in three, Brian Lara’s West Indies in four. Michael Vaughan’s England appeared ready for Ricky Ponting’s Australia. Continue reading...
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Deadly Haaland makes difference and shows his worth to Manchester City | Barney Ronay (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Forward has been criticised for not carrying his weight but against Spurs he did exactly what he was hired for Well, that’s over anyway. How to describe the emotional energy of this game? For long periods this felt like all the things that football matches usually aren’t. Creepy. Awkward. Uptight. Even as an apparently endless second half stretched out there was a sense around the crowd of some necessary duty being discharged, football reimagined as a trip to Dignitas or a no-fault divorce. There were still moments of drama. Tottenham played really well, and might have drawn the game if they had a sharper edge. The idea that Spurs would ever “chose” to lose to Manchester City’s annihilating title-bulldozer was always bizarre. When did choice ever have anything to do with this? But it was still a strange occasion, as though the banter-buildup, the endless chat about not helping Arsenal to win a league title had undermined the usual dynamic. Continue reading...
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‘We have the right to express our feelings’: Palestine embrace Bohemians friendly (Wed, 15 May 2024)
League of Ireland club welcome women’s national team over for their first match in Europe which carries great significance “We have a reason to tell the people that we are human beings,” says Mira Natour, a defender for the Palestine women’s national team, as she reflects on their friendly against Bohemians in Dublin on Wednesday night. “We have rights the same as you, to play, we have the right to express our feelings, we have the right to be recognised by the world. With this event, we’re telling them we exist.” It will be the first time the Palestine team have played in Europe and their League of Ireland hosts have sold out, with a 4,500 crowd expected at Dalymount Park. Bohemians are fan-owned and their membership’s strong allegiance with the Palestinian cause mirrors a sentiment shared by many in Irish football and the country as a whole. Continue reading...
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How are Ronaldo and other Saudi Pro League stars shaping up for Euros? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
More strength in depth is now apparent after influx of overseas talent but league’s competitiveness is hard to assess England kick off Euro 2024 against Serbia on 16 June and if Jordan Henderson is called up then the former Al-Ettifaq midfielder should be able to give Gareth Southgate an idea of the kind of form that Aleksandar Mitrovic and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic are in. They are two of a growing number of European internationals who will be acting as unofficial ambassadors for the Saudi Pro League (SPL) this summer – especially if they underperform. The two Serbs have played a major part in Al-Hilal becoming champions of the SPL for a 19th time. The deal was sealed on Saturday but it was all a bit of a stroll. Rúben Neves, another standout, will also head to Germany with a league winner’s medal in his suitcase ready to show fellow Portuguese international Cristiano Ronaldo. Continue reading...
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Albon ends Mercedes F1 speculation with long-term deal at Williams (Wed, 15 May 2024)
‘I am confident we can achieve great things in years to come’ Thai driver has signed a multi-year contract extension Alex Albon has committed his long-term future to Williams after signing a “multi-year” contract extension. London-born Thai Albon, 28, had been linked with Mercedes following Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari for 2025 and also a return to Red Bull. Continue reading...
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More than 200 authors renew call for Baillie Gifford to divest from fossil fuel (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Fossil Free Books’ statement also demands that the book festival sponsor stops investing in ‘companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide’ More than 200 authors including Naomi Klein, Sally Rooney and George Monbiot have signed a statement by Fossil Free Books (FFB), which puts increased pressure on investment management firm Baillie Gifford, sponsors of the Baillie Gifford prize for nonfiction. In addition to the reiteration of its previous demands that the company ceases its investments in the fossil fuel industry, the group is asking that Baillie Gifford also divests “from companies that profit from Israeli apartheid, occupation and genocide”, as it believes that “solidarity with Palestine and climate justice are inextricably linked”. Literary organisations that accept sponsorship from Baillie Gifford “can expect escalation, including the expansion of boycotts, increased author withdrawal of labour, and increased disruption until Baillie Gifford divests,” the statement reads. Continue reading...
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Four kids left: The Thai school swallowed by the sea – video (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Ban Khun Samut Chin, a coastal village in Samut Prakan province, Thailand, has been slowly swallowed by the sea over the past few decades. This has led to the relocation of the school and many homes, resulting in a dwindling population. Currently, there are only four students attending the school, often leaving just one in each classroom. The village has experienced severe coastal erosion, causing 1.1-2km (0.5-1.2 miles) of shoreline to disappear since the mid-1950s Continue reading...
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The 1.5C global heating target was always a dream, but its demise doesn't signal doom for climate action | Bill McKibben (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Missing a target doesn’t mean the sense of emergency should fade. What it must do is stop politicians dithering – and fast I remember the first time I heard the 1.5C target. It was in a room at the Copenhagen climate talks in 2009. With the expectation of a binding agreement slipping away and negotiations failing, some of us activists joined delegates from vulnerable African and island nations in chanting “1.5 to stay alive”. It was a frank recognition that the 2C goal the climate diplomats were endlessly talking about – though not pursuing – was insufficient to deal with the increasingly clear realities of climate science. Since then, three things have happened. Bill McKibben is the founder of Third Act, which organizes people over 60 for action on climate and democracy Continue reading...
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MPs and peers urge Sunak to U-turn on oil and gas extraction plans (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Cross-party group of 50 calls on prime minister to appoint climate envoy and back Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance A cross-party group of MPs and peers has urged Rishi Sunak to make a U-turn on his oil and gas extraction plans as part of a broader plea to increase efforts to address the climate crisis. The 50 politicians, including three Conservatives, wrote to the prime minister calling for the UK to regain its international leadership on the crisis by ending the licensing of new oil and gas fields, appointing a climate envoy, and backing the Beyond Oil and Gas Alliance. Continue reading...
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Ministers apologise and return £7,000 in benefits to woman, 93, with dementia (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Exclusive: Elderly woman was allowed to run up debts in ‘disturbing’ case, the latest to emerge in Guardian investigation Government ministers have formally apologised and repaid £7,000 to a 93-year-old woman whom they held responsible for running up benefits overpayment debts even though they were told she had dementia and was unable to manage her affairs. The case, which the minister for disability, Mims Davies, admitted was “disturbing”, was brought to light by the Guardian as part of its investigation into carer’s allowance overpayments. Continue reading...
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Water industry should be brought into public ownership, says MP Clive Lewis (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Labour MP says privatisation is a failure and industry incapable of building infrastructure to deal with effects of climate breakdown The privatisation of the water industry has failed and it should be brought into public ownership, the Labour MP Clive Lewis has said. In an early day motion laid before parliament, Lewis said the industry had proved it was not capable of building the infrastructure required to deal with the impact of climate breakdown, including increased flooding and droughts. Continue reading...
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Curbs on sex education use pupils as ‘political football’, school leaders say (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Conservatives criticised over plans to ban sex and relationship lessons for children under nine in England UK politics live – latest updates School leaders have accused the government of using children as “a political football” over its proposals to restrict sex education lessons by age in England. The guidance, to be announced on Thursday, would outline what topics could be taught to specific age groups, as well as allowing parents access to teaching materials used and further restrict how teachers address gender and sexuality, including transgender and non-binary status, after pressure from Conservative MPs. Continue reading...
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Former British MEP running for election to European parliament in Italy (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Sir Graham Watson says rise of far right has led him to stand for Matteo Renzi’s liberal party Stati Uniti d’Europa Europe live – latest updates A former British MEP is hoping to stage a return to the European parliament in June after being invited to run in Italy by the party led by the country’s former prime minister Matteo Renzi. Sir Graham Watson, a Liberal Democrat, used to represent South West England between 1994 and 2014 and is running with the pro-European coalition Stati Uniti d’Europa (United States of Europe). Continue reading...
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Proteins in blood could provide early cancer warning ‘by more than seven years’ (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Study identifies 618 proteins linked to 19 types of cancer, which could lead to much earlier detection Proteins in the blood could warn people of cancer more than seven years before it is diagnosed, according to research. Scientists at the University of Oxford studied blood samples from more than 44,000 people in the UK Biobank, including over 4,900 people who subsequently had a cancer diagnosis. Continue reading...
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Brexit border IT outages delay import of perishable items to UK by up to 20 hours (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Lorries carrying meat, cheese and cut flowers held up by new checks, with retailers rejecting some orders Lorries carrying perishable food and plants from the EU are being held for up to 20 hours at the UK’s busiest Brexit border post as failures with the government’s IT systems delay imports entering Britain. Businesses have described the government’s new border control checks as a “disaster” after IT outages led to lorries carrying meat, cheese and cut flowers being held for long periods, reducing the shelf life of their goods and prompting retailers to reject some orders. Continue reading...
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HMRC leaves callers on hold ‘for 800 years’, says spending watchdog (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Report suggests time taxpayers spent on phone waiting to speak to adviser has more than doubled The annual total amount of time taxpayers spent on the phone waiting to speak to a HM Revenue and Customs adviser has more than doubled to the equivalent of almost 800 years, according to a report by Whitehall’s spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) found that average call waiting times at HMRC have soared by more than 350% in five years, with increasing numbers of people not getting through in the first place or having their calls terminated, according to an official report that says the public is being “let down”. Continue reading...
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Graffiti-covered door from French revolutionary wars found in Kent (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Markings include public executions and a sailing ship chiselled into door in 1790s by bored English soldiers A scratched wooden door found by chance at the top of a medieval turret has been revealed to be an “astonishing” graffiti-covered relic from the French revolutionary wars, including a carving that could be a fantasy of Napoleon Bonaparte being hanged. Over 50 individual graffiti carvings were chiselled into the door in the 1790s by bored English soldiers stationed at Dover Castle in Kent, when Britain was at war with France in the wake of the French Revolution. Continue reading...
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Cash incentives may help men lose weight, research finds (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Men with obesity offered incentives and sent healthy-eating tips in Game of Stones trial found to have lost most weight Financial incentives of up to £400 alongside text messages could encourage men living with obesity to lose weight, research has found. The research, known as Game of Stones and presented at the European Congress of Obesity, involved a year-long trial involving 585 men living with obesity from Belfast, Bristol and Glasgow. Continue reading...
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Burberry profits slump by 40% as demand for luxury goods slows (Wed, 15 May 2024)
British fashion retailer hit by drop in sales in Asia and Americas, and expects challenging first half of 2025 Business live – latest updates Burberry’s profits have slumped by 40% in a year amid a wider slowdown in demand for luxury goods that has pushed down sales in Asia and the Americas. The high-end UK fashion retailer posted a pre-tax profit of £383m for the year up to 30 March in its preliminary results on Wednesday, a 40% drop on the £634m in the previous 12 months. Global sales fell by 8% in the second half of the year. Continue reading...
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Israel-Gaza war live: Netanyahu says pointless to discuss ‘day after’ until Hamas is destroyed following Blinken call for plan (Wed, 15 May 2024)
US secretary of state warned of ‘vacuum’ and ‘chaos’ in Gaza; Netanyahu claims no ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ has ‘materialised’ in southern Gaza despite charity and UN reports ‘No water, food, health care, toilet’: Desperation deepens in Gaza’s camps The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said it faces “significant disruptions” to its humanitarian operations due to Israel’s recent ground operations in Rafah. In a statement, the organisation said “the closure of the Rafah crossing and a blockade on entry of humanitarian workers and aid, including fuel, [is] critically hindering our ability to deliver essential services and aid to those in desperate need.” Continue reading...
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French prison officers killed in ambush named as hunt for gunmen continues (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Fabrice Moello, 52, and Arnaud Garcia, 34, died in brazen attack on prison convoy during which a dangerous inmate escaped Europe live – latest updates Two French prison officers who were shot dead in an ambush that freed a convict linked to gangland drug killings have been named, as police continued a massive manhunt for the missing fugitive. Fabrice Moello, 52, and Arnaud Garcia, 34, were killed, and three others seriously wounded, in the brazen attack on a prison convoy on Tuesday during which the inmate escaped. They were the first French prison officers to be killed in the line of duty since 1992. Continue reading...
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Trump says he is ‘ready and willing’ to debate Biden; president accepts 27 June CNN debate invite – live (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Biden announces he is willing to debate Trump at CNN-hosted event after predecessor says he agrees to debates Joe Biden’s re-election campaign has started selling T-shirts that read “Free on Wednesdays”. It’s a reference to the day when Donald Trump’s business fraud trial typically takes a break, which the president mentioned in his video announcing his willingness to debate Trump: Continue reading...
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Herd of 170 bison could help store CO2 equivalent of almost 2m cars, researchers say (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Free-roaming animals reintroduced in Romania’s Țarcu mountains are stimulating plant growth and securing carbon stored in the soil while grazing A herd of 170 bison reintroduced to Romania’s Țarcu mountains could help store CO2 emissions equivalent to removing almost 2m cars from the road for a year, research has found, demonstrating how the animals help mitigate the worst effects of the climate crisis. European bison disappeared from Romania more than 200 years ago, but Rewilding Europe and WWF Romania reintroduced the species to the southern Carpathian mountains in 2014. Since then, more than 100 bison have been given new homes in the Țarcu mountains, growing to more than 170 animals today, one of the largest free-roaming populations in Europe. The landscape holds the potential for 350-450 bison. Continue reading...
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Naples pizzeria whose founder cooked for Bill Clinton seized in mafia investigation (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Owner of Dal Presidente and his wife among five arrested on suspicion of business being linked to Camorra’s Contini clan A pizzeria in the heart of Naples that was founded by a man who made a pizza for Bill Clinton has been seized by police in a mafia-related investigation. The owner of Dal Presidente and his wife are among five people arrested on suspicion of the business being linked to the Camorra’s Contini clan. Continue reading...
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Georgia ‘returning to the past’ with foreign agents law, says president (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Salome Zurabishvili says protests in Tbilisi prove Georgians ‘will never return to Russian pressure’ Europe live – latest updates Georgia is “returning to the past” through the new foreign agents law, the president of the former Soviet state has said, as EU ministers urge the government to “take a way out”. Speaking at a press conference with the foreign ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Iceland, Salome Zurabishvili said the governing Georgian Dream party had diverted the country down a “very serious” road. Continue reading...
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Earth-sized planet spotted orbiting small star with 100 times sun’s lifespan (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Speculoos-3b, 55 light years away, is only second planetary system to be found around an ultra-cool red dwarf Astronomers have discovered a new Earth-sized planet orbiting a small, cool star that is expected to shine for 100 times longer than the sun. The rocky world, called Speculoos-3b, is 55 light years from Earth and was detected as it passed in front of its host star, an ultra-cool red dwarf that is half as hot as the sun and 100 times less luminous. Continue reading...
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Antony Blinken’s rock performance in Kyiv bar divides opinion in Ukraine (Wed, 15 May 2024)
US secretary of state took to stage with his guitar to perform Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World Ukraine war – live updates It was an unexpected moment at the end of a long day in Kyiv for Antony Blinken, after numerous high-level meetings and serious pronouncements promising the speedy delivery of US military aid. The secretary of state picked up a guitar and performed a rendition of Neil Young’s Rockin’ in the Free World with a Ukrainian rock band. The images, quickly shared on social media, split opinion in Ukraine, with the performance one of the main topics of discussion in Kyiv on Wednesday. Some hailed Blinken’s turn as a welcome gesture of support, while others questioned the optics of performing in a bar while the situation at the front is so tense. Continue reading...
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Gina Rinehart demands National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait (Wed, 15 May 2024)
NGA rebuffs efforts by billionaire to take down painting by award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast The mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait from an exhibition by the award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira. The image, arguably an unflattering picture of Australia’s richest woman, is one of many portraits unveiled at the Canberra gallery as part of the Archibald prize-winning artist’s first major survey exhibition. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup Continue reading...
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Revealed: Rwanda genocide war crimes tribunal wraps up mission after 29 years (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Exclusive: Last two fugitives are deemed to be dead, ending a remarkable exercise in international justice The war crimes tribunal for Rwanda has accounted for the last remaining fugitives indicted for genocide, bringing to an end the court’s 29-year mission to deliver justice for the 1994 slaughter that killed more than 800,000 Rwandans. The historic moment passed without drama, not with an arrest or the exhumation of a body, but in a video conference on 30 April between the tribunal’s prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, and the two leaders of its fugitive tracking team, dedicated to resolving the cold cases left in the wake of the genocide. Continue reading...
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Super Gran actor Gudrun Ure dies aged 98 (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Ure played role in ITV children’s series of character who had superhuman strength and agility Gudrun Ure, the actor who played Super Gran in the popular 1980s ITV children’s series, has died at the age of 98. According to her niece, Kate McNeill, she died at her home in London. Continue reading...
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Two Tickets to Greece review – insufferable women-on-holiday comedy is no Shirley Valentine (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Even Kristin Scott Thomas can’t save this painful French comedy about two older women heading for the Greek islands for wacky fun Marc Fitoussi, whose directing credits include work on the French TV hit Call My Agent!, has created this excruciatingly sugary French comedy of female friendship in a vacation paradise. It’s a one-note, one-joke, non-Mamma-Mia! the non-musical, with three lead performances that are borderline insufferable. Olivia Côte plays Blandine, a straitlaced, sobersided woman whose life is miserable; she’s divorced from a man who is now marrying someone half his age and her 20-year-old son is moving out. But then she reconnects with an old schoolfriend, the wild and irrepressible Magalie (Laure Calamy) who suggests they do something they once dreamed of as kids: visit the Greek island of Amorgos, because it was featured in Luc Besson’s The Big Blue, their favourite film from those days. So off they go, uptight Blandine and wacky, jokey Magalie; the latter reveals herself to be a bit of a freeloader and scam artist. In another type of film, Blandine’s aghast realisation of her childhood pal’s behaviour might be the basis of a thriller. But here it is just supposed to be the pretext for wacky, chaotic fun. Continue reading...
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Pushing Buttons: Big studios are making big cuts – but indie gems like Animal Well are still out there (Wed, 15 May 2024)
A wave of innovative indie games bring a sense of optimism to an industry in urgent need of a confidence boost • Don’t get Pushing Buttons delivered to your inbox? Sign up here It’s a deeply unhappy time for game developers, as anyone paying attention to the games industry this year will know. Thousands of jobs have fallen victim to corporate cost-cutting, as in-progress games have been cancelled and award-winning studios closed. The mood is furious and despondent. “I feel such despair for the medium I love,” a reader wrote in response to last week’s newsletter. “The layoffs have been so disheartening from the potential that’s being squandered in the name of even more grotesque levels of profit taking, let alone the impact this is having on the people who actually make the games.” He asked: “Do you see a way forward for developers to make great games on a decent budget and pay their staff a living wage? Some hope would be appreciated.” Continue reading...
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Rome, Open City review – Rossellini’s blazingly urgent masterpiece from a city in ruins (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 neorealist drama is unsparing in its depiction of the heavy price of both resistance and collaboration with the Nazi occupation Roberto Rossellini’s 1945 film is a blazingly urgent and painful bulletin from the frontline of Italy’s historical agony: the Axis power that had belatedly turned against the Mussolini fascists only to be humiliatingly occupied by Nazi Germany on whose orders the dictator was reinstalled in the northern Salò puppet state, resplendent in contemptible impotence and pathos, with Rome at its defeated and compromised centre. It was a film that used the so-recently-devastated real streets and people of Rome on location for a project on which Rossellini started script work well before the end of the war, building on ideas by screenwriter Sergio Amidei with dialogue contribution by the young Federico Fellini. Rome, Open City is revived as part of the BFI Southbank’s Chasing the Real season of Italian neorealism, along with the two other movies from his “war” trilogy: the episodic portmanteau film Paisà (1946) and Germany Year Zero (1948). This is the first time I have revisited the film since its rerelease 10 years ago, when the locations seemed as vivid and compelling as the Vienna of Carol Reed’s The Third Man or the (fabricated) Casablanca in Michael Curtiz’s Hollywood classic. Rome was “open” in the sense that that the Allies had agreed not to bomb it in deference to its historic and architectural importance and in return for the Italian authorities’ undertaking not to defend it militarily. In fact, Rome had been bombed before its “open” status was agreed on; one figure asks Anna Magnani’s character here if the Americans really exist, and she shruggingly gestures at the (genuine) bomb damage and says: “Looks like it.” Continue reading...
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Death metal, Schubert, nudity: opera about Ukraine dam destruction premieres in Kyiv (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Gaia-24 explores human and environmental disaster caused by Russian attack on Kakhovka dam Taking a casual glance at the elegant Kyivans queueing outside the lemon-yellow neoclassical theatre perched above Independence Square, an onlooker would have few hints that there was a war on. But the opera that premiered at the International Centre of Culture and Arts last week is inextricably bound up with the deadly events of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...
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UK Israeli film festival to go ahead despite calls for boycott (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Organisers of Seret international film festival say it has been a challenging few months but ‘we are not going to cave’ The organisers of an Israeli film festival that is due to open in the UK on Thursday have pledged to push ahead with the event despite pro-Palestinian artists urging venues to boycott it. The Seret international film festival, now in its 13th year, will run from 16-23 May with a mission to “promote Israeli culture through cinema”. Odelia Haroush, its co-founder, said it had been a “very challenging” few months for organisers. Continue reading...
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Heat pumps: what are they, how do they work, and should you get one? (Mon, 12 Feb 2024)
They’re often described as fridges in reverse … but what exactly is a heat pump? We all want to live in a cosy home but, during the cold winter months, keeping our houses warm can be a challenge. This proves even harder in the cost of living crisis, with many of us hit by higher-than-normal heating bills. Simultaneously, lots of us are thinking more about how our homes and lifestyle are affecting the ever-warming climate. Heat pumps are a clever piece of innovation that can help with both problems – warming our homes while saving money and being better for the environment. An alternative to a traditional boiler, heat pumps keep houses at a comfortable temperature via a process that doesn’t require gas or oil, only electricity, which can be provided by renewable sources. In fact, recent research from the University of Oxford and the Regulatory Assistance Project, an independent, NGO advancing energy policy innovation, found that even at temperatures as cold as -30C, heat pumps outperformed oil and gas heating systems. Continue reading...
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Goodbye to gas: how insulation and a heat pump can make you more energy efficient (Mon, 12 Feb 2024)
When it comes to heating our homes efficiently, the UK is lagging behind our European neighbours, however, there are ways in which we can better insulate and save money Whether it’s squabbles over the office air conditioning or a family member telling you to put on another jumper, heating has always been a hot topic. However, with rising energy costs and the pressing climate crisis at the front of everyone’s mind, how we keep our homes warm is getting even more attention. While we might crave that satisfying feeling of nearly scalding our hand on a radiator when we crank up our central heating, we need to adopt a new mindset. The UK is still very much reliant on fossil fuels for heating our homes. At the same time, reduction of fossil fuel usage is the number one priority when it comes to combating climate change, meaning the way we heat our homes is long overdue for an overhaul. In England, 90% of homes (pdf) have a boiler system with radiators as their main form of heating, while across the UK, 25m gas boilers are in use, which accounts to 16% of the nation’s total greenhouse gas emissions. To put it into perspective, for the UK to meet the government’s net zero target by 2050, about 8m buildings will need to switch from gas boilers to cleaner alternatives by 2035. Continue reading...
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From solar panels needing sun to 21C being ideal: five household heating myths are debunked (Mon, 12 Feb 2024)
When you heat your home efficiently, you can stay cosy and warm without damaging your purse or the environment. However, knowing exactly how to heat your home is key, and here we bust some myths so you can reap the full benefits … Myth 1: The ideal room temperature is 21CWe often keep our homes warmer than necessary. While a few degrees might not sound like much, it makes a big difference in terms of the overall energy output and cost. We might think we need our home to be set to around 21C, but in reality a little lower is more than sufficient. The World Health Organization suggests 18C is the ideal room temperature for healthy and appropriately dressed people, while The Sleep Charity recommends a bedtime temperature between 16C and 18C for optimum sleep. Myth 2: Boilers are the most efficient way to heat your homeWhile in the UK many of us have relied on traditional gas boilers for generations, our European neighbours have been switching to heat pumps. These home heating devices are a modern, low-carbon and economical solution for creating a cosy home. Working much like a fridge or air conditioning unit, they use evaporation and condensation to create heat energy without the need for any fossil fuels. Continue reading...
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From cold martyr to cosy saver: check your approach to warming the home with our heating quiz (Mon, 12 Feb 2024)
Do you keep the entire house at a permanent 30C, or are you a Bear Grylls wannabe with an ‘extreme survival’ approach to turning the heating on? There are many ways to heat our homes and lots of us are doing it totally wrong. Take our quiz and find out if you need to adopt a smarter approach to central heating From heat pumps to insulation, solar panels and more, explore ways the government can support you at gov.uk/energy-efficient-home. Continue reading...
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How to make blondies – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclasss (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The secret to a blondie’s fudgy texture is not to overmix the dough – our resident perfectionist reveals all in a few simple steps Blondie – by which I mean the bake, not the band, though I’m a fan of both – is to brownie as hamburg steaks are to burgers; the original, now far eclipsed by the popularity of its more famous child. Dense, fudgy brownie recipes date from the late 19th century, but it wasn’t until 1906 that cocoa first put in an appearance; until then, all brownies were buttery blondies. Prep 15 min Cook 25 min Makes 1 x 20cm tray Continue reading...
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Cheesy pie and crunchy spuds: Spasia Dinkovski’s Balkan favourites – recipes (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Crunchy potatoes with a punchy pepper cream and a popular Balkan egg-and-cheese filo pie Gibanica (pronounced “geebanitsa”) is the very reason I have a business and a book today – it’s the pie that started it all. It was lovingly made on repeat by my maternal grandmother, recreated by me and now, through my shop Mystic Burek, has many variations. The original “recipe”, if you can call it that (it’s more a scribble in a notebook that was passed down to me), is a testament to skilled hands: just like my mum and my aunties, she felt food between her fingers, with no measurements, no timers – just natural, ancestral cooking. After many tests, this version is the closest I have come to honouring her and all those other women before me. Continue reading...
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iPad Pro M4 review: ludicrously good hardware that’s total overkill for most (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Apple sets new standard in screen and power but Pro model verges away from consumer tablet needs Apple’s latest iPad Pro is thinner and lighter, and has a stupendous new OLED screen, plus oodles of power to do practically anything. But it is no longer just the super-premium iPad – it is also aiming to be an impressive tool for the creative industry. It still looks and acts like an iPad, ready to do regular iPad things such as browse the web, watch TV or chat to your family on the other side of the country. But to do only that with a machine this advanced is total overkill – Apple has many other iPad models suited to that sort of thing. Continue reading...
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A moment that changed me: I survived a terror attack – and found healing through a choir (Wed, 15 May 2024)
After escaping the deadly attack at the Manchester Arena with my son, I suffered with survivors’ guilt. So I decided to do something positive to help The first time the Manchester Survivors Choir sang together – eight months on from the arena bombing in 2017 - it was very emotional. I remember thinking how beautiful we sounded. About 18 of us had come together at a church in the city to sing together – all of us had been impacted by the bombing. It felt very special, as though we were all connected. We were a varied group – there were people like me who had been there on the night and had tried (and failed) to get back on with normal life. Others had been injured or lost loved ones. Singing together felt a bit like mindfulness, something to focus on. It gave us all an opportunity to meet other people and feel as if we were doing something positive. On 22 May 2017, I had taken my then 10-year-old son Jake to see Ariana Grande. It was his first concert, and it was fantastic. I didn’t hear the bomb go off – the suicide bomber detonated it in the main foyer area, and we were leaving by a different exit. I realised something was wrong when people started screaming and running. Even then, my mind didn’t go to a terrorist attack; people were saying maybe a speaker had exploded. Continue reading...
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A festival of music, film and spectacle: the best of Belfast 2024 (Wed, 15 May 2024)
A year-long celebration aims to start a new chapter for Belfast, forging better connections and conversations within communities through creativity and culture Belfast did not have the best of starts to 2024. Never mind the mass public sector strikes, the not-unrelated fact of Northern Ireland being without a functioning government (the government returned, the strikes were settled, or suspended … for now), at the end of January, one of the city’s most respected – revered – publicans, Pedro Donald, who over the years had brought us the John Hewitt, La Boca, the Sunflower and the American Bar, announced that he was leaving for Amsterdam. There may not be bombs and bullets any more, he said, but Belfast was “a dump and derelict”. Indeed, apart from a few good years between the Good Friday agreement and the financial crash, the city was in many ways no further on than when he started in the trade in 1984. Some bridled at the broadside. But walking towards the Sunflower along Royal Avenue, historically the main shopping street, after 6pm sometimes, you would have been hard-pressed to say Pedro had called it wrong. Hard-pressed, too, to say that the people in whose gift was the title of “city of this” or “capital of that” were being entirely unreasonable when they overlooked bids from Belfast in the not-too-distant past. Continue reading...
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UPS won’t accept return of £899 product it delivered (Wed, 15 May 2024)
I needed to send back a projector, but the parcel firm threatened to destroy it because it said the battery made it dangerous Can you help with a bizarre situation I find myself in? I bought a projector online, but it was not suitable so I sent it back. The parcel firm UPS had delivered it, so it seemed sensible to get UPS to return it. How wrong I was. I completed the online booking form, selecting the boxes to show that there was a lithium ion battery in the projector, and paid the fee. Continue reading...
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Tell us: do you have a portrait of King Charles in your workplace? (Wed, 15 May 2024)
We would like to hear from people who have seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how they feel about it Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister, is offering portraits of the king to all Church of England churches, as well as job centres, coastguards, universities and other public institutions, having previously offered them to local authorities, court buildings, schools, police forces and fire and rescue services. Do you have a portrait of the king in your workplace and how do you feel about it? Or have you seen a portrait of the king in a public building and how do you feel about it? Continue reading...
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Tell us your experience of wheelchair access in the UK (Tue, 14 May 2024)
We’d like to find out more about your experience of accessing wheelchairs via the NHS It has been reported that some disabled people across the UK face long delays waiting for a wheelchair from the NHS. We’d like to hear more about your experience. Have you had to wait a long time for a wheelchair from the health service, or has the process been straightforward? If you did face a delay, what reason was given? How did it affect you? Please share your stories with us. Continue reading...
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Tell us: have you bought a house in the UK with your friend? (Wed, 08 May 2024)
We would like to hear from home owners who purchased their property with one or more friends in the UK While house prices have steadied in the first part of 2024, home ownership remains out of reach for many as the average cost of renting continues to increase. This has prompted some to find different ways to get onto the housing ladder. We would like to hear from home owners who bought their house with one or more friends. Why did you choose to pool your resources? What are the pros and cons of sharing your property with someone who is not a significant other? Tell us all about it below. Continue reading...
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UK millennials: have you recently moved back in with your parents? (Fri, 03 May 2024)
We would like to hear from adults in the UK who have recently had to move in with their parents We would like to hear from adults in the UK between the ages 28-42 who have recently had to move in with their parents. Why did you make the move? How has the experience been? Tell us all about it below. Continue reading...
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Putin and Xi’s ‘no-limits’ friendship will be put to the test on state visit to China (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Russia, shunned from the world stage, and China, subject to new US tariffs, want to pivot further from the west Having secured a mandate to extend his rule of Russia to three decades, Vladimir Putin is expected to travel to Beijing on Thursday on a state visit to meet Xi Jinping intended to shore up his most important international relationship. The two men toasted their “no-limits” friendship in February 2022 – meant as a counterweight to the global influence of the US. That partnership has increasingly come under pressure as the Biden administration sought to isolate Russia from its Chinese lifeline after the full-scale invasion in Ukraine, which began later the same month. Continue reading...
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‘We’ve got drone swarms, dirty bombs, radar-jamming’: the fake town where America practises for war (Wed, 15 May 2024)
In the middle of the Mojave desert, the US army has built a huge set to prepare its soldiers for combat, filled with actors, tanks, explosions – and even fake news In the middle of California’s Mojave desert, down a long, bumpy track that winds past barren hills and arid ravines, there is a town like no other. The first unusual sight is a golden onion dome poking up on the horizon, crowning a pale blue minaret. It rises above a cluster of boxy, tan-coloured buildings that form a network of narrow alleyways around a central street where a lively market is in full swing. Some of the buildings are topped with decorative crenellations, others have big plastic water butts on their roofs, some are adorned with plaster columns with a faintly Middle Eastern air. The buildings become simpler as they get farther from the centre of town, fading into blank grey boxes with window-shaped cutouts in the hazy distance. It looks as if it could be a film set for Hollywood’s latest Arabian epic, or a new live-action Disney show, ready for Aladdin to swoop in on his carpet. But this is a theatre of a very different kind. It is not Aladdin but an Apache helicopter that suddenly appears overhead, its blades narrowly missing the minaret as a rapid volley of gunfire echoes through the streets. A tank rumbles around the corner, aiming towards a building on which armed figures patrol the roof. There’s a big bang, and clouds of smoke engulf the street. A human body starts convulsing on the ground, spurting with fake blood. Continue reading...
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I swapped my south LA lawn for a verdant microfarm - now I feed the neighborhood (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Read more from the DIY Climate Changers, a new series on everyday people’s creative solutions to the climate crisis Beverly Lofton’s home in south Los Angeles used to have a water-guzzling grass lawn. Today, it’s a verdant microfarm that uses solar power and recycled water to grow carrots, beets, potatoes and more, with the bounty distributed to her neighbors. The 67-year-old’s switch was a bold move in a city ruled by cars and concrete, and where the impact of extreme heat and water shortages are acutely felt. It’s also a powerful rebuttal to food insecurity and big agriculture, in a neighborhood considered a “food desert”. *** Continue reading...
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Outdated laws stalling progress on women’s rights in 20 countries across Africa – study (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Family law has not kept up with social shifts, with marital rape, child marriage and lack of property and custody rights persistent problems, research finds Discriminatory family laws across parts of Africa are stalling progress on women’s rights in some countries, according to new research. The human rights organisation Equality Now studied family law and practices in 20 African countries and found progress in recent decades, but said inequalities persisted in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance and property laws. Continue reading...
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Andrei Belousov: Putin picks trusted technocrat to run defence ministry (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Loyalist economist who ‘thinks years ahead’ inherits Kremlin’s biggest challenge as it prepares for the long haul in Ukraine In 2014, Russia’s bloc of economic strategists was panicked by Vladimir Putin’s decision to annex Crimea and foment a war in east Ukraine, a move that led to western condemnation and sanctions against Russia that were seen as potentially ruinous. But his adviser Andrei Belousov was a rare economist who publicly stood by his side, calling the damage manageable and western sanctions “insignificant” in terms of the Russian economy. Continue reading...
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India, gangs … or both? Who is behind assassinations of Canadian Sikhs? (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Arrests in killing of Canadian Sikh activist offer glimpse of the nexus of underworld crime and alleged Indian hit squads Less than half an hour after the prominent Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was shot dead outside a temple in British Columbia, Moninder Singh addressed a crowd near the site of the brazen attack. “Make no mistake: this is a political assassination,” Singh told the agitated crowd in June 2023. “And it’s been carried out by India.” Continue reading...
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FAB-U-LOUS! It’s Strictly Come Dancing’s all-time top 20 moments (Wed, 15 May 2024)
It’s two decades since Strictly quickstepped on to our screens. To mark the occasion, we’ve picked the best bits so far – from Ed Balls’s Gangnam Style to Rose and Giovanni’s silent symphony and Bruno falling off his chair. Keep dancing! Happy anniversary, Strictly Come Dancing. Please accept this suspiciously glitterball-shaped gift. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the BBC’s ballroom behemoth, which aired its first episode on 15 May 2004. We’ve celebrated this milestone by hand-picking our 20 most memorable moments from two decades of pro-celebrity hoofing. This sparkly assortment mixes up classic routines with dance disasters, and wardrobe malfunctions with rewind-worthy bloopers. Let us know your own Strictly highlights in the comments below. And, of course, keeeeep dancing! Continue reading...
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‘Breasts are a serious political problem’: one woman’s quest to reclaim her chest (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Sarah Thornton had dismissed them as ‘dumb boobs’ until a double mastectomy changed everything. Her new book, Tits Up, explores what our beliefs about breasts mean – from feeding babies to bra design and Baywatch Throughout her life, Sarah Thornton hadn’t given much thought to her breasts. They were there, of course, and they’d fed two children. But they had also attracted unwanted attention, and latterly they’d become a source of concern – with a history of breast cancer in her family, and after years of vigilance and tests, in 2018 Thornton was about to undergo a preventive double mastectomy. Preparing for the operation, she realised she still hadn’t given them much consideration, nor what it would be like to have “new” breasts in the form of implants. When they turned out to be bigger than expected, she was shocked, “but in the end,” she says, “it wasn’t the aesthetic form as much as the feeling. It was like losing sentience. And it put me on a quest to understand these things that I’d never thought too much about. These things I’d kind of dismissed as dumb boobs.” Thornton’s new book, Tits Up: What Our Beliefs About Breasts Reveal About Life, Love, Sex and Society, is a deep dive into the bosom of our fixation with boobs. Writing the book, she says, has transformed how she views her own breasts. “I really did go from dismissing them as a kind of shallow accessory, to thinking of them as a really important body part – one we wouldn’t have a human species without,” she says. “Our top halves have been invaded by male supremacy and I did not realise how deeply patriarchal even my own view of breasts was. I was dismissing them as dumb boobs, partly because they’re positioned primarily in culture as erotic playthings and I didn’t want to just be an erotic plaything.” Continue reading...
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‘Has this guy ever made a movie before?’ Francis Ford Coppola’s 40-year battle to film Megalopolis (Tue, 14 May 2024)
The director has spent half his life and $120m of his own money to make his sci-fi epic. Just days ahead of its debut in Cannes, some of his crew members are questioning his methods ‘My greatest fear is to make a really shitty, embarrassing, pompous film on an important subject, and I am doing it,” Francis Ford Coppola said in 1978. “I will tell you right straight from the most sincere depths of my heart, the film will not be good.” The film was Apocalypse Now, and it was good, and the rest is history. Part of that history has been Coppola’s reputation as an intrepid adventurer who was prepared to risk everything, to defy the studio suits, to go to the brink of ruin and madness, all for the sake of art. The making of Apocalypse Now cemented that legend – the epic scale, the jungle insanity, the heart attacks, the unbiddable weather and even less biddable actors – all of which was captured by his wife, Eleanor, in the 1991 documentary Hearts of Darkness. Coppola’s anti-establishment approach has produced some of cinema’s greatest triumphs (The Godfather trilogy, The Conversation, Dracula) but also some of its worst failures (One From the Heart, The Cotton Club). Continue reading...
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‘I’m fighting for the right to live’: Liz Carr on acting, friendship and her campaign against assisted dying (Tue, 14 May 2024)
The star of Silent Witness and The Normal Heart was ‘the popular kid’ until an autoimmune condition turned her life upside down. She talks about her lonely childhood, her flourishing career and the battle she can’t abandon It’s a tense time for Liz Carr. “You should be in our house at the moment!” she says. Better Off Dead?, her documentary on assisted dying, is soon to air on BBC One. She is making the case against. “You’re probably thinking that, looking like me, I’d be campaigning for the choice to ask a doctor to put me out of my misery,” she deadpans near the start of the film. Carr has wanted to make this programme for years. In 2011, after the documentary Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die featured the assisted death of a 71-year-old man with motor neurone disease, she wrote to the BBC to say that it was its duty to present the alternative view. Continue reading...
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British surgeon in Gaza speaks out as Israel offensive deepens in Rafah – video (Tue, 14 May 2024)
British surgeon Dr Omar El-Taji has been in Gaza for more than a week with medical nonprofit Fajr Scientific, working in one of Gaza’s largest remaining hospitals as Israel’s invasion of Rafah deepens. The European hospital, which was founded by Unrwa with a grant from the EU, has limited resources and fewer local staff to deal with high numbers of patients being admitted with devastating injuries. ‘These people have gone through this for six to seven months now, they cannot go through this any more,’ says El-Taji, who is currently living at the hospital after the medical team’s safe house was evacuated. The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has so far rejected US pressure to hold off on a full-scale attack, claiming Rafah is the last stronghold of Hamas and that Israel can only achieve its war aims by killing militants and leaders in the city Israeli tanks reach residential areas as IDF pushes further into Rafah Continue reading...
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France prisoner manhunt: witnesses film gunmen ambushing police van – video (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Elite French police are searching for gunmen who attacked a prison van in Normandy, killing at least two prison officers and freeing the high-security inmate they were transporting. A police source said several individuals, who arrived in two vehicles, rammed the police van and fled. Footage circulating on social media shows heavily armed men dressed in black wearing balaclavas Manhunt launched after two French prison guards killed and inmate freed Continue reading...
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Clashes at Georgian parliament as 'foreign agents bill' passes – video (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Georgian protesters opposed to a 'foreign influence' bill picketed the Georgian parliament amid a major police presence during the third, and final reading of the bill. Police attempted to disperse demonstrators and people were seen being detained. The 84-30 vote has cleared the way for the bill to become law. The draft now goes to the president, Salome Zourabichvili, who has said she will veto it, but her decision can be overridden by another vote in parliament, which is controlled by the ruling party and its allies. Government critics and western countries have criticised the new bill as authoritarian and Russian-inspired Georgia parliament approves ‘foreign agent’ bill amid ongoing protests Why are Georgians protesting against a ‘foreign agents’ bill? Continue reading...
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Why genocide is so hard to prove – video (Thu, 09 May 2024)
South Africa's case against Israel over allegations of genocide before the international court of justice has raised a central question of international law: what is genocide and how do you prove it? It is one of three genocide cases being considered by the UN's world court, but since the genocide convention was approved in 1948, only three instances have been legally recognised as genocide. Josh Toussaint-Strauss looks back on these historical cases to find out why the crime is so much harder to prove than other atrocities, and what bearing this has on South Africa's case against Israel and future cases What is the genocide convention and how might it apply to the UK and Israel? ‘Famine is setting in’: UN court orders Israel to unblock Gaza food aid Continue reading...
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‘Cringeworthy’: what people in Dover think of Labour and Keir Starmer – video (Fri, 10 May 2024)
Keir Starmer appeared in Dover and Deal alongside the Labour party’s newest MP, the former Tory Natalie Elphicke, to announce the scrapping of the Rwanda deportation scheme if Labour is elected. The Guardian spoke to people in Dover to get their reaction Continue reading...
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‘Disrupt whenever possible’: police clash with protesters blocking bus to Bibby Stockholm – video (Fri, 03 May 2024)
Hundreds of protesters prevented an attempt to collect asylum seekers from a south London hotel and transfer them to the Bibby Stockholm barge. The Guardian witnessed crowds blocking the bus and the road outside the Best Western hotel in Peckham before police were able to move in and break up the protest. The bus eventually left the area after seven hours, with no asylum seekers onboard London protesters block transfer of asylum seekers to Bibby Stockholm Continue reading...
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'Fed up of politics': the view from Blackpool on byelection day – video (Thu, 02 May 2024)
Ahead of the byelection in Blackpool South, the Guardian takes the temperature in the once prosperous northern coastal town, with many voters expressing complete apathy and disdain for the state of politics. The area is going to the polls because the former Tory MP Scott Benton resigned after being found guilty of breaching standards rules in a lobbying scandal. Labour is hopeful of taking back the seat, which Benton won with a majority of 3,690 in 2019 Polls open in England’s local elections with Tories braced for heavy losse Analysis: Will Tories dump Rishi Sunak if election results worse than expected? Continue reading...
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Manchester City have one hand on trophy and Villa into the Champions League: Football Weekly - podcast (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Jonathan Wilson and Robyn Cowen as Manchester City go top of the Premier League ahead of the final round of fixtures. 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; Manchester City beat Spurs to make sure winning the Premier League is in their hands – they are on the brink of their fourth consecutive title. Will the reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega be remembered as the man who got them there, saving one-on-one against a charging Son Heung-min? Continue reading...
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From the archive: The evolution of Steve Albini: ‘If the dumbest person is on your side, you’re on the wrong side’ – podcast (Wed, 15 May 2024)
We are raiding the Guardian Long Read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2023: Steve Albini was long synonymous with the indie underground, playing in revered bands and recording albums by the Pixies, PJ Harvey and Nirvana. He also often seemed determined to offend as many people as possible. What led him to reassess his past? By Jeremy Gordon Continue reading...
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The 'foreign agents' law that has set off mass protests in Georgia - podcast (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The bill requires any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad to register as being under foreign influence. Daniel Boffey reports On the face of it the bill could sound innocuous: any civil society organisation that receives more than 20% of its funds from abroad must register as an organisation under foreign influence. Yet the new law Georgia’s parliament passed yesterday has sparked outrage and demonstrations in the capital, Tbilisi. Critics claim the bill is “Kremlin-inspired” as Putin passed a similar law in 2012, which they say has had a chilling effect on civil society. Demonstrators think it is a way to redirect Georgia towards Russia. The Guardian’s chief reporter, Daniel Boffey, has been speaking to young protesters – often schoolchildren – about why they are so incensed. Continue reading...
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Aoife Mannion on winning the FA Cup with Manchester United: Women’s Football Weekly - podcast (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion joins Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack to discuss her team’s 4-0 FA Cup final win over Spurs and more A big weekend of football calls for a star guest. This week, Faye Carruthers and Suzanne Wrack are joined by Manchester United’s Aoife Mannion to discuss her team’s 4-0 Wembley win over Tottenham. Then Chris Pauros joins Faye and Suzy to preview the final weekend in the WSL and the league’s record scorer, Vivianne Miedema, saying goodbye to Arsenal. They also look at the England squad announced by Sarina Weigman. To sign up for our bi-weekly women’s football newsletter – all you need to do is search ‘Moving the Goalposts sign up’ or follow that link. Here’s an extract from the latest edition. Continue reading...
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Backstabbing, bluffing and playing dead: has AI learned to deceive? – podcast (Tue, 14 May 2024)
As AI systems have grown in sophistication, so has their capacity for deception, according to a new analysis from researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr Peter Park, an AI existential safety researcher at MIT and author of the research, tells Ian Sample about the different examples of deception he uncovered, and why they will be so difficult to tackle as long as AI remains a black box Listen to the Guardian’s Black Box series all about humans and artificial intelligence Read Hannah Devlin’s article about the MIT study Continue reading...
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The growing tensions over immigration in Ireland (Tue, 14 May 2024)
Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, looks at what is fuelling anti-immigrant anger in the Republic of Ireland Immigration has increasingly become a point of tension in Ireland. Recently, the Irish government said the threat of deportation to Rwanda had partly fuelled a surge in arrivals entering Ireland via the land border with Northern Ireland, a route that it says now accounts for more than 80% of asylum seekers in the republic. The Irish Refugee Council and other advocacy groups have questioned the figure. On Monday a judge in Belfast ruled that large parts of the UK government’s illegal migration act should not apply in Northern Ireland because they breach human rights laws; the UK government has said it will appeal the ruling. Today in Focus host Hannah Moore talks to Rory Carroll, the Guardian’s Ireland correspondent, about immigration policy in Ireland. He tells Hannah that a changing population, a housing crisis and social and economic inequalities have led to rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Ireland. In November, riots broke out after a stabbing in Dublin. Social media commentators outed the alleged assailant as a foreigner – in fact, he was a naturalised Irish citizen, reportedly from Algeria – and a violent protest ensued. Hundreds of people rampaged through central Dublin, targeting property and police. Continue reading...
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Politics Weekly Westminster: Rishi Sunak’s big security pitch - podcast (Mon, 13 May 2024)
The Guardian’s Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey talk about Rishi Sunak’s big speech on security and how he hopes to draw a dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour. And Keir Starmer will meet union bosses on Tuesday but anger is brewing over Natalie Elphicke and rumours about Labour’s plan to water down pledges on workers’ rights 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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A parade in China, Glasgow protests and a New York dog show: photos of the day – Wednesday (Wed, 15 May 2024)
The Guardian’s picture editors select some of the most powerful photos from around the world Continue reading...
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Time traveller: one Senegalese man’s journey to the past – in pictures (Wed, 15 May 2024)
Whether it’s in segregated America or the glory days of postwar France, Omar Victor Diop appears in photographs of worlds he was previously shut out from Continue reading...
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See things differently: the best of Photo London – in pictures (Tue, 14 May 2024)
From naked bathing to restaged expeditions, drunks, drag, poets and horses, these fantastic images light up this year’s photography extravaganza Continue reading...
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Pucker up! Champagne and kisses backstage at the 2024 TV Baftas – in pictures (Mon, 13 May 2024)
Guardian photographer Sarah Lee gets an exclusive look behind the scenes at the 2024 TV Baftas, with Timothy Spall, Floella Benjamin, Jeff Goldblum and … Queen Elizabeth I Continue reading...
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More than meets the eye: Valérie Belin, master of mirage – in pictures (Mon, 13 May 2024)
The French photographer has been crowned Master of Photography at this year’s Photo London thanks to three decades of work exploring femininity and the body Continue reading...
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The big picture: Huck Finn in 1970s New Jersey (Sun, 12 May 2024)
Pioneering Black photographer Ming Smith captures four boys creating rafts from rubbish in New Jersey Ming Smith photographed the four boys on their backdoor rafts on a pond in Hoboken, New Jersey, in 1972. She called the unlikely urban Huck Finn scene Setting Out to Sea, since that’s where one or two of the friends seemed to be aiming for, at least in their heads. Smith was developing big plans of her own at that time. Detroit-born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, she had arrived in New York a year earlier after graduating from Howard University. Her first published pictures appeared in the inaugural, renowned Black Photographers Annual in 1973. The annual, with an introduction by Toni Morrison, featured the work of artists from the Kamoinge Workshop in Harlem, which was a prime mover in the Black Arts movement. Smith had become the first female member of that group. Her biography in the annual read: “New York amateur photographer Ming Smith has been taking pictures for less than a year. She is a self-taught photographer, who was first influenced by her father. ‘My photographs,’ she says, ‘attempt to open the passageway to my understanding of myself.’” Ming Smith: On the Road is at the Nicola Vassell gallery, New York, until 15 June Continue reading...
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