‘I felt like I was a made man’: Stephen Graham on working with his childhood heroes

China unnerved by Russia’s growing ties with North Korea, claims US official

Comments part of debate over whether Beijing backs Kim Jong-un’s decision to send troops to fight in UkraineChina is increasingly uncomfortable about North Korea’s engagement with Russia and finds the growing cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow unnerving, Kurt Campbell, the US deputy secretary of state has said.He was leaning into a growing debate among the US’s security partners in Asia on whether China supports the decision of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un to send 10,000 troops to fight for Russia against Ukraine. It is said the North Korean troops are now inside Russia. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 20:04:46

Cop29 climate finance deal criticised as ‘travesty of justice’ and ‘stage-managed’

Some countries say deal should not have been done and is ‘abysmally poor’ compared with what is neededThe climate finance deal agreed at Cop29 is a “travesty of justice” that should not have been adopted, some countries’ negotiators have said.The climate conference came to a dramatic close early on Sunday morning when negotiators struck an agreement to triple the flow of climate finance to poorer countries. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 15:13:41

Hundreds flee north Gaza as IDF orders more evacuations amid intense airstrikes

Senior Israeli minister says the war is far from over and Israel will stay ‘for years’ in the territoryThe Israeli military has ordered the evacuation of new areas of northern Gaza, setting off a fresh wave of civilian displacements on Sunday as intense airstrikes continued across much of the territory.In Jerusalem, a senior minister said the war in Gaza was far from over and that Israel would stay “for years” in the territory. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 19:01:24

Trump’s eldest son emerges as key voice influencing cabinet picks – report

President-elect has become particularly reliant on Donald Jr for advice, sources tell ReutersDonald Trump Jr has emerged as the family’s most influential adviser of the moment as his father builds the most controversial cabinet in modern US history, sources close to Donald Trump’s eldest son say.Trump Jr has in some cases promoted inexperienced loyalists over more qualified candidates for top positions in president-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 16:14:03

Romania votes in presidential poll with nationalist and leftist vying for runoff

Sunday’s election could lead to a battle between far-right’s George Simion and Marcel Ciolacu of Social DemocratsRomanians are casting ballots on Sunday in the first round of a presidential election that could pit a far-right nationalist against the incumbent leftist prime minister in the runoff.Thirteen candidates are vying for the presidency in the EU and Nato member country and the vote is expected to go to a second round on 8 December. Polls opened at 7am local time (05.00 GMT) and will close at 9pm. Romanians abroad have been able to vote since Friday. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 17:20:26

Angela Merkel ‘tormented’ by Brexit vote and saw it as ‘humiliation’ for EU

Former German chancellor’s book tells how she tried to help David Cameron win over Britain’s EuroscepticsAngela Merkel has said she was “tormented” over the result of the Brexit referendum and viewed it as a “humiliation, a disgrace” for the EU that Britain was leaving.In her autobiography, Freedom, due to be published on Tuesday, the former German chancellor says she was dismayed by the notion that she might have done more to help the then British prime minister, David Cameron, who was keen for the UK to stay in the EU, but that ultimately, she concluded, he only had himself to blame. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 15:26:35

‘He was wedged like an hourglass’: rescuers describe 20-hour ordeal ending with amputation of rafter’s leg

Lithuanian tourist pack rafting on Franklin River still fighting for life in Tasmanian hospitalGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA 69-year-old Lithuanian man has been praised for his “extraordinary resilience” after emergency service workers were forced to amputate his leg during a 20-hour rescue operation in remote south-west Tasmania.The man, who remained in a critical condition in Royal Hobart hospital on Sunday evening, had been travelling with a group of 11 tourists on a multi-day rafting trip on the remote Franklin River. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:22:11

Iranian minister to meet European counterparts after nuclear offer rejected

Meeting comes amid fears Middle East tensions will lead Iran to redouble its efforts to acquire a nuclear weaponIran’s deputy foreign minister, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, will meet his European counterparts in Geneva on Friday after the collapse of a deal last week under which Iran would have limited its uranium enrichment to 60% purity, just below the threshold to make nuclear weapons.The offer was regarded by Iran as a first step to rebuilding confidence between it and the west over what it insists is its civilian nuclear programme. There are growing fears that wider tensions in the Middle East could result in Tehran redoubling efforts to acquire a nuclear weapon and trying to declare it necessary for its national self-defence. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:58:36

Italian police and social workers leave Albania after staffing empty migrant centres

Centres had been open for over a month but received just 24 asylum seekers, whose detention was deemed unlawfulDozens of Italian police officers and social workers deployed by Italy’s far-right government in migrant centres in Albania have returned home, after it emerged that the facilities, praised as a model to reduce refugee arrivals, have been empty for weeks.Just over a month after the much-publicised opening of the multimillion-euro detention centres for asylum seekers in Albania, which were supposed to receive up to 3,000 men a month, more than 50 police officers were moved back to Italy two weeks ago while dozens of social workers have left over the weekend, with their presence in Albania considered “needless”. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 13:51:42

Catholic women urged to strike over ‘betrayal’ on ordination

Pope Francis and cardinals accused of ignoring calls to give women greater leadership rolesCatholic women whose hopes of ordination were dashed at a recent worldwide synod in Rome are being urged to go on strike from church duties in protest at inertia on a reform that many now see as not only just but also inevitable.Catholic Women Strike: Global Witness for Equality was launched this month and is calling on women who are regular churchgoers, who work for the church on a voluntary basis or who have paid jobs with Catholic organisations to withhold their labour through Lent next year (5 March to 20 April). “We believe the time is ripe to demand what is right … Instead of waiting for a papal ‘yes’, we issue forth our ‘no’ to the systems of misogyny, sexism and patriarchy,” says the campaign’s website. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 10:00:09

Biden must Trump-proof US democracy, activists say: ‘There is a sense of urgency’

President can secure civil liberties, accelerate spending on climate and healthcare, and spare death row prisonersThe skies above the White House were cold and grey. Joe Biden greeted the championship winning Boston Celtics basketball team, quipping about his Irish ancestry and tossing a basketball into the crowd. But the US president could not resist drawing a wider lesson.“When we get knocked down, we get back up,” he said. “As my dad would say, ‘Just get up, Joe. Get up.’ Character to keep going and keep the faith, that’s the Celtic way of life. That’s sports. And that’s America.” Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 12:00:11

‘It’s about political will’: is the Foreign Office failing Britons detained abroad?

Relatives and campaigners hope Labour will usher in a step-change in the handling of hostage casesLammy urged to keep promise of envoy to help free Britons held abroadGurpreet Singh Johal is sitting in a London hotel lobby the night before he is due to meet David Lammy.He recalls in his soft Scottish burr that this will be the fifth UK foreign secretary he will have seen in his quest to secure the release of his brother, Jagtar, who has been detained in Indian prisons for seven years, with the case making virtually no progress. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 12:29:36

Remember the global financial crisis? Well, high-risk securities are back

The shadow banking sector is trying its hand at trading in debt-based products such as collateralised loan obligationsWhen Margot Robbie made a surprise cameo in the 2015 film adaptation of Michael Lewis’s book The Big Short, she did more to educate the general population about the risks of securitisation than most financial experts.The Australian actor’s brief monologue, notoriously delivered from a champagne bubble bath, explained how banks were bundling up their growing cache of risky sub-prime mortgages into investable bonds, before slicing them up and selling them off for profit. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 07:00:08

Cop29’s new carbon market rules offer hope after scandal and deadlock

Countries agree on how to create, trade and register credits to meet climate commitmentsIt was once among the most promising ways to funnel climate finance to vulnerable communities and nature conservation. The trading of carbon credits, each equal to a tonne of CO2 that has been reduced or removed from the atmosphere, was meant to target quick, cost-effective wins on climate and biodiversity. In 2022, demand soared as companies made environmental commitments using offsets, with the market surpassing $2bn (£1.6bn) while experiencing exponential growth. But the excitement did not last.Two years later, many carbon markets organisations are clinging on for survival, with several firms losing millions of dollars a year and cutting jobs. Scandals about environmentally worthless credits, an FBI charge against a leading project developer for a $100m fraud, and a lack of clarity about where money from offsets went has caused their market value to plunge by more than half. Predictions that standing rainforests and other carbon-rich ecosystems would become multibillion-dollar assets have not yet come to pass. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 10:03:11

Think the Cop29 climate summit doesn’t matter? Here are five things you should know

Who pays how much to fund the switch from fossil fuels, what to do about nuclear power, and who hosts Cop31 are key questionsThe Cop29 UN climate talks in Azerbaijan, scheduled to finish Friday local time, are dragging into the weekend as delegates from nearly 200 countries struggle to reach a consensus on the key issues being debated: a new global climate finance goal and what needs to be done about fossil fuels.What is happening in Baku is significant, no matter how frustrating a process and inadequate an outcome it may seem. Here are five things worth knowing about it. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 14:08:38

Yes, there is a lot of greenwashing, but Cop summits are our best chance of averting climate breakdown | Ashish Ghadiali

Despite its imperfections the process of tackling the climate crisis will not be derailed, even in the face of US backtrackingIt was never an indication of great things to come when the chief executive of Cop29, Elnur Soltanov, was filmed attempting to broker gas and oil deals for Azerbaijan in the slipstream of the past fortnight’s UN climate summit in Baku.More than 1,700 fossil fuel lobbyists have been operating in and around Cop29, outnumbering delegates from the 10 most climate-vulnerable countries combined. Many, including Greta Thunberg, now argue that the UN climate process has been entirely hijacked by corporate interests, reduced to a global stage for greenwash.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a letter of up to 250 words to be considered for publication, email it to us at [email protected] Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:00:06

Revealed: Saudi Arabia accused of modifying official Cop29 negotiating text

Exclusive: News of changes to usually non-editable document ‘risks placing climate summit in jeopardy'A Saudi Arabian delegate has been accused of directly making changes to an official Cop29 negotiating text, it can be revealed.Cop presidencies usually circulate negotiating texts as non-editable PDF documents to all countries simultaneously, and they are then discussed. Giving one party editing access “risks placing this entire Cop in jeopardy”, one expert said. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 14:49:49

‘Deep in my madness, witches gave me hope’: Elizabeth Sankey on motherhood, depression and witches

While battling through the darkness of severe postpartum anxiety, Elizabeth Sankey saw a light of solidarity in the stories of witchcraftFour years ago, when my son was only one month old, he and I were admitted to a mother and baby unit, a psychiatric ward that cares for people with perinatal mental health issues and their babies. I was diagnosed with severe postpartum anxiety and depression, and placed on medication. I had weekly sessions with the psychiatric team about my progress, and my son and I spent time with the other women on the ward and their babies. Every day, sometimes twice a day, my husband would come and see us and we would walk around Hackney as I tried to remember who I once was, tried to resist the temptation to step in front of a car. Gradually, horrifically, painfully slowly, I got a bit better. After eight weeks we were discharged and we went home.But while I was no longer in a crisis situation, my mental health was extremely fragile. I had weekly calls with an NHS therapist who approached my illness in a methodical, precise way. She explained what was happening to me and why it had happened. I was desperate to put it all down to hormones, I wanted to run away from the corrupt version of myself and never think about her again, wanted to slice her out of my heart, my mind, bury her and spit on her grave. I was so embarrassed and ashamed of her, I hated her. But my therapist gently pushed back – it wasn’t just hormones, and I needed to find a way to accept that. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 11:00:09

The truth about salt: how to avoid one of the world’s biggest hidden killers

Most of us consume far too much, which can lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. But there are some simple ways to retrain your palate and reduce your intakeLast Tuesday, I bought lunch on the go. I fancied something hot, tasty but healthy, so I chose a vegan ramen from the Japanese-inspired chain Wasabi. The soup was packed with turmeric noodles, vegetable gyozas, mushrooms, bean sprouts, pak choi, pickled ginger and sesame seeds, in a soy and miso broth. It was delicious. In fact, it was so delicious, I was suspicious. I checked out its nutritional information online. Only 342 calories, low in saturated fat … Aha! Salt: 5.07g a portion.The World Health Organization recommends that adults eat less than 5g of salt a day. One noodle soup had exceeded my entire daily intake. (The UK limit is a little more generous at 6g, but even that wasn’t far off.) Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:13

The circus that bought a tiny California town: ‘We’re creating our own Disneyland’

Nipton sat neglected for years until Las Vegas’s Spiegelworld turned it into a circus havenFrom 10 miles out, the tiny town of Nipton suddenly appears in the middle distance like a mirage: a huddle of lush eucalyptus trees in an otherwise impossibly vast, barren expanse of the California desert.From closer up, the place still feels dream-like. Old west-style buildings, including the Nipton Trading Post and a five-bed hotel built in the early 1900s, dot the community but are shuttered to the public. Other than the freight trains that regularly slice through the edge of town, Nipton is often completely silent. The unincorporated area is home to only about a dozen people, depending on the season, and spans just 80 acres. (“Blink and you’ll miss it,” one of the town’s caretakers says.) Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 13:00:13

‘I am nothing if not persistent’: Lesley Imgart, winner of our graphic short story prize 2024

It was fifth time lucky for Imgart in this year’s Observer/Faber award for emerging cartoonists, with her spellbinding tale about the life of a young witchRead winner Lesley Imgart’s Witch Way? hereRead runner-up Elly Bazigos’s LANSA Flight 508 hereSpeaking to the winner of the annual Observer/Faber graphic short story prize is always a highlight of my year, but this time around the experience was especially lovely. Lesley Imgart, whose brilliant broomstick-ridden story Witch Way? we publish today, has entered the competition five times in the past six years, and when she talks to me from her home in Edinburgh, she still sounds amazed finally to have triumphed. “It’s unbelievable,” she says. “It was this thing I just did every year… I keep forgetting I’ve won, and then 15 minutes later, I’ll remember, and feel pleased all over again.” Her verdict on herself: “I am nothing if not persistent.”Imgart’s story is about the life of a young witch. First, comes witch school, and the struggle to concentrate on maths when she’d rather be casting spells. Then, university (Contemporary Magic Practice BA Hons at the College of Arcane Arts). But what to do with her life once she graduates? Even witches need to earn a living. While her friends all seem gung-ho (“I’m going to focus on my YouBroom career,” says one, mobile phone already in front of his face), she ends up listening to customers’ complaints in a magical hardware shop (“Your self-stirring spoons stir too fast!”). Her magic is on the back burner, performed only for family and friends, or at weddings and birthdays, mainly because it’s cheaper than buying a present. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 12:00:10

Marble marvel: natural stone takes centre stage in historic Milan

An apartment in the Italian city is transformed into an elegant home and showcase for natural stone interiorsIn the early noughties, Gabriele Salvatori was still enduring a long commute between Tuscany, where Salvatori, the family business was launched, and Milan where the opportunities for growth lay. He was looking for a pied-à-terre and also a showroom for the company, which specialises in stone for interiors. When he saw the first-floor space he was initially hesitant because of the cramped entryway. “I called Piero Lissoni for advice and he said, ‘Are you mad? Take it, you can make it beautiful.’”When such a renowned architect advises you to rent in a building with potential, you do it. So Gabriele took the plunge and also rented the apartment above it. This looked out on to a busy square making it noisy at times. It was also dark because it was north-facing. The location in Milan’s historic centre, however, was optimal, and in time Gabriele would move up another floor into what is now his home. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:13

I’ve written a diary every day since I was 14. What does that say about me?

Reading four decades of entries, I realise ego can take precedence over world events, life is never too dull to record – and I’ve learned not to take myself so seriously“Hello! I said to myself today that if I do five handstands and flip over it will be an excellent year and I did!” Thus, unceremoniously, began the 41-volume (and counting) story of my life. It was 1984 and I was 14, fumbling through adolescence in a scarlet beret. My likes, according to a list on the front page, included jacket potatoes and graveyards. My new year resolutions were to “see how long I can go without cake” and “improve my character.”I haven’t missed a day’s entry since that 1 January. My past crams two bookshelves in rows of page-a-day journals. It’s startling how little four decades seems when it’s represented by slim, stacked spines. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 13:00:11

Democrats search for answers as blue Philadelphia turns towards Trump

Trump grew his support in nearly all of Philadelphia’s wards – what went wrong for Harris in a key Democratic city?When Kamala Harris stopped at the west Philadelphia barber shop Philly Cuts just days before the election, its manager, James Browne, said the vice-president came off “almost like a favorite aunt”.Harris seemed “genuine, kind, nice, very comforting” during the half-hour she spent in the shop while campaigning in the largest city in battleground state Pennsylvania, Browne said. “Meeting her in person was very different than seeing her on TV.” Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 15:00:13

Bill Clinton grapples with his past in memoir – too much, too little, too late

The 42nd president’s latest book is a prolonged stroll down memory lane that never quite reaches a desired destinationIn 1992, Bill Clinton defeated George HW Bush, a sitting Republican president. In 1996, Clinton won re-election over Bob Dole. A former Democratic governor of Arkansas, Clinton had a flair for policy and retail politics. He felt your pain, garnering support from voters without a four-year degree and graduates alike. He played the saxophone, belting out Heartbreak Hotel on late-night TV. Redefining what it meant to be presidential, he told a studio audience he preferred briefs to boxers.He oozed charisma – and more. But his legacy remains deeply stained by allegations of predatory conduct and questionable judgment. He is one of three presidents to be impeached – in his case, for lying under oath about his extra-marital relationship with Monica Lewinsky, a White House intern. Before leaving office, to avoid professional discipline, Clinton surrendered his law license.Citizen is published in the US by Knopf Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 12:00:10

Never write him off: how Max Verstappen overcame ‘undriveable monster’ to win fourth world title

At times the world champion ground it out on will alone but an unforgettable drive in Brazil turned things back his wayMax Verstappen was clear all season he wanted to win the Formula One world title with a dominant car, just as he had the previous two years. Much as he might have enjoyed more of a canter, the fight for his fourth title, secured in Las Vegas, was not only far greater sport but also showed how complete a driver he has matured into.Beating him in future is going to be a fearsome task, as his title rival Lando Norris acknowledged. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:21:09

Manchester United’s joyless incoherence frees Amorim from any illusions | Barney Ronay

Digesting the deathly spirit of this team in the flesh will have emphasised to the coach the complexities of his taskWell, something to work on there then, Ruben. It would be tempting at the end of this decelerating game of semi-football to talk about Ruben Amorim at least realising the scale of the job he faces.Except, given Amorim almost certainly possesses a TV set and is interested in football, he already knows the scale of the job. And the scale is: really very big indeed. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 20:43:44

Jannik Sinner tops off dream year as Italy retain Davis Cup title

World No 1 seals 2-0 triumph over NetherlandsBerrettini beat Van de Zandschulp in first matchThe rise of Italian men’s tennis has been forecast by many for years as a special generation of young, talented players gradually climbed towards the top of the game. It is fair to say that they have arrived. One year on from their second ever triumph in the competition, Italy won the Davis Cup for a second straight year by defeating the Netherlands 2-0 in Malaga.In a rematch of Italy’s group-stage victory in September, Matteo Berrettini opened the tie with a dominant 6-4, 6-2 win over Botic van de Zandschulp, providing the perfect platform for Jannik Sinner, the world No 1. After edging a tough opening set against an impressive Tallon Griekspoor, Sinner opened up his shoulders and marched to a 7-6 (2), 6-2 victory. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 19:11:23

Southampton show signs of hope despite indefensible self-destruction | Simon Burnton

Kamikaze defending aided Liverpool’s win but evolution of Dibling and Harwood-Bellis will be one to witnessFor all that most people would always have considered the result an inevitability, there was little that was predictable about this game. Even once Liverpool took control in the final half-hour there rarely seemed any sense to its shifts in momentum. Like a leaf in a windstorm for long periods it tumbled gently in no particular direction, before zigging and zagging through a series of sudden, unexpected and often inexplicable turns. It was an extraordinary match in a bewildering and often underwhelming way, stuffed with a combination of the surprising and the indefensible.Two goals came from centre-backs giving the ball away, two from the penalty spot, one from an inexplicable handball, one (scored by the goalkeeper’s team) from a goalkeeping fumble, another from the same keeper not so much coming for the ball as going for a stroll in its general direction. Goals are generally considered the high points of a game of football; here, with one wonderful exception, the opposite was true. “My overriding feeling is frustration that the goals were so poor,” Russell Martin said. “If they produce a moment of magic you can maybe accept it a bit more but the quality of the goals was so bad. So bad.” Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 18:44:39

European football: Kylian Mbappé and Jude Bellingham on target as Real cruise

Madrid beat Leganés to move four points off BarcelonaLukaku takes Napoli back to top spot in Serie AKylian Mbappé ended his goal drought and England’s Jude Bellingham scored too as Real Madrid thrashed Leganés 3-0 in La Liga on Sunday.Leganés’ defence kept Real at bay in the first half but the visitors took the lead three minutes before the break when Vinícius Jr teed up Mbappé, who slotted home for seventh league goal this season. Real enjoyed most of the possession in the second half and the Uruguayan midfielder Federico Valverde scored with a powerful low free-kick after Bellingham had been fouled at the 66th minute. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 20:04:37

Leicester sack manager Steve Cooper after five months in charge

Former Forest boss replaced Enzo Maresca in summerFoxes’ 2-1 defeat at home to Chelsea is his last matchLeicester City sacked Steve Cooper as manager on Sunday after just five months in charge. Leicester, promoted last season, are 16th in the Premier League, outside the relegation zone, but the hierarchy have been left unconvinced by performances, with player friction also a factor behind the scenes.Leicester, whose players return to training on Tuesday following a home defeat to former manager Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea on Saturday, intend to make a quick appointment, ideally by the weekend, mindful of a trio of key games against Brentford, West Ham and Brighton across the next fortnight. Cooper leaves them two points above the drop zone after two wins from 12 matches. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 15:58:15

England’s Ellie Kildunne named World Rugby women’s player of the year

Full-back was top try-scorer in last season’s Six NationsSouth Africa’s Pieter-Steph Du Toit wins men’s awardEngland and Harlequins full-back Ellie Kildunne has been named World Rugby women’s player of the year. The 25-year-old was top try-scorer during last season’s Six Nations, when England won the Grand Slam, claiming nine tries and winning player of the championship. And her thrilling attacking style has made her a genuine box-office talent in the women’s game.She becomes the latest England player to win the award, following the likes of Marlie Packer (2023), Zoe Aldcroft (2021), Emily Scarratt (2019) and Sarah Hunter (2016). Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 22:32:53

Eddie Jones calls out ‘clown’ for abusing him at half-time against England

Coach was facing side that sacked him in 2022Jones joked about ‘new book deal’ after Care commentsEddie Jones has alleged he was abused by a “clown” at half-time during England’s emphatic victory over Japan and has claimed that he will respond to Danny Care’s allegations that he oversaw a “dictatorship” by releasing his own book.Jones was making his first visit to Twickenham to coach against England since he was sacked by the Rugby Football Union in December 2022. As was widely expected, Steve Borthwick’s side ran out comfortable winners and while Jones was full of praise for his former side, he explained that his return was marred by an incident with a supporter as he made his way down from the coaching box at half-time. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 20:44:11

Without the EU, the joke is on us if Trump gets his tariffs | William Keegan

Stronger ties with the single market is the only way to stop the president-elect from having the last laugh‘As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and complete narcissistic moron.”Those were the words of the great American journalist HL Mencken (in the Baltimore Evening Sun, 26 July 1920). The impending arrival back at the White House surely fulfils his prophecy. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 07:00:09

Not quite religion, not quite self-help: welcome to the Jordan Peterson age of nonsense

Unintelligible as it is, new book is part of a ‘manifesting’ trend offering the young and spiritually lost an illusion of controlWhat links these two news stories? The first: “manifesting” has been declared Cambridge Dictionary’s word of the year. The self-help practice, based on the magical belief that mental rituals can move the universe in your favour, has exploded in popularity.Having kicked around for years, it surged into the mainstream during the pandemic, when Google searches of the term rose by 600%. Since then, manifesting courses and retreats have sprung up everywhere, and celebrities from Dua Lipa to Simone Biles are now claiming they “manifested” their success. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 06:30:03

An open letter to the microplastics living in my body

If we are forced to house these tiny plastic interlopers, perhaps it’s time we sat down and had a chatDear the microplastics that live in my body, How are you? I hope you are well and enjoying the unseasonable humidity of my lungs, kidneys and blood. I’m writing today because I am likely to have housed many of you for years now and I thought it time to reach out. I just want to talk.And first, let me make something clear, I don’t want to be thought of as a landlord. OK? I’m just a guy, just a normal little guy like you – I’m not some scary flesh monster who’ll evict you for putting up pictures (as long as you don’t leave holes in the stomach wall) or hassle you for rent. I may be human, but I am also humane. Besides, I couldn’t get rid of you even if I tried. Nothing works, haha. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:00:09

Flat-cap Clarkson only wants his nose in the trough | Stewart Lee

The broadcaster thinks if he fires up his farming fanbase they can shield him from his obligation to contribute his fair share to societyI read Andrew Michael Hurley’s new novel, Barrowbeck, in preparation for co-hosting Tales of the Weird, a timely event on the folk horror genre at the British Library earlier this month. I’m not the most informed commentator on this literary subset by any means, but I am, after Mark Gatiss, one of the most famous, and so I am often asked to pontificate about it. That’s the way the world works, I’m afraid. That’s why Hugh Dennis and David Baddiel are presenting a new show for Channel 4 about cycling across France, instead of the cyclist who cycled across France earlier this year and won the Tour de France cycling race, whoever he was.Barrowbeck follows the fortunes of a Yorkshire hamlet, from an itinerant tribe making a pact with their gods 2,000 years ago, in which they promise to honour the land, to the near future of 2041. There, climate change has seen that same land flooded, some inhabitants holding on in hope as a cycle of life that stretched back millennia indisputably ends, as it will for all of us, sooner, it seems, rather than later. And these are the doomed lands our wealthiest farmers are taking to the streets to inherit (at half the inheritance tax anyone else would pay).Stewart Lee tours Stewart Lee vs the Man-Wulf next year, with a Royal Festival Hall run in July. He is also a guest of all-female Fall karaoke act the Fallen Women, at the Lexington, London on 28 December Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 10:00:09

Still hanging on to your old diaries and teenage photos? Chuck them out – and start to live | Nell Frizzell

I’m moving house, which means coming face to face with a lifetime of mementos. I feel a burden lifting with each item I bin, donate or recycleThere is a particular sort of box that lurks in every home, full of “memorabilia” or “mementos”. Baby teeth, divorce certificates, spare keys for locks unknown, your granny’s old Padre Pio fridge magnet, the tenancy agreement for your last flat: the whole thing is rank with association, emotion, nostalgia and pain. That box is my nemesis. That box is doom.Because I decided that turning 40, being pregnant and training for a second career wasn’t enough to be getting on with in a single month, I am also in the lucky position of moving house. Which means opening various drawers, boxes, cupboards and ring binders, only to discover a pit of painful sentimentality or logistical confusion at every turn. But listen to me: you can get rid of these things. Your child’s reception maths book? Put it in the recycling, my friends, and feel that burden lift. A photograph of you, aged 16, at your first festival, wearing a pair of jeans you had turned into flares by stitching two triangles of denim into the ankles? Put it in the bin and never miss it. That second cheese grater given to you by a well-meaning uncle? Take it to the charity shop and delight in the feeling of relief. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:14

When we see others in distress we can suffer too. How do we heal from this collective trauma? | Sara Mussa

The more we identify with those suffering, the more vicarious trauma we may feel. But we can recover and even grow from this experienceThe modern mind is a column where experts discuss mental health issues they are seeing in their workAs I stepped into my office and checked my client list for the day, I was surprised to see a name pop up that hadn’t been there for a while. It was Kareem, a young father of two who had arrived to Australia from war-torn Iraq. During our session, he described that he thought his symptoms were under control and he was recovering well. But suddenly he was transported back to the blast that left him with a traumatic brain injury and months of rehabilitation. “What was the thing that took you back there?” I asked him. He said it was “hearing a song”, the same song that was playing in his car just before the blast hit.In my work with survivors of war, it has become clear that an individual’s sense of safety after a trauma seems particularly difficult to maintain when the trauma occurred during the most mundane tasks. This could be attending university before there was a siege or driving home from work before being stuck in a blockade with rapid fire ahead. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:14

Ministers speaking out against assisted dying ‘are giving false impression’, says peer

Labour’s Charlie Falconer says vocal opponents are leading voters to think government is against change‘Slippery slope’ fears over assisted dying have echoes of abortion debateSenior ministers who have spoken out against assisted dying are giving voters a “false impression” about the government’s position, a leading proponent of changing the law has said.Charlie Falconer, a Labour peer and former justice secretary, said opponents to the change were “getting more coverage” because ministers in favour of legalising assisted dying were “playing by the rules”. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 18:00:18

Thousands of bar staff in England and Wales to be trained to spot spiking

Training for 10,000 hospitality workers announced as Keir Starmer hosts talks on tackling violence against womenThousands of bar staff will be trained to spot and stop spiking in England and Wales as the government steps up efforts to tackle violence against women and girls.About 10,000 hospitality workers will be trained in preventing and dealing with incidents of spiking by spring next year, Downing Street said before a meeting with police and hospitality leaders. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 22:30:22

World will be ‘unable to cope’ with volume of plastic waste in 10 years, warns expert

Countries must curb production now and tackle plastic’s full life cycle, says Norwegian minister Anne Beathe Tvinnereim ahead of key UN talks this weekThe world will be “unable to cope” with the sheer volume of plastic waste a decade from now unless countries agree to curbs on production, the co-chair of a coalition of key countries has warned ahead of crunch talks on curbing global plastic pollution.Speaking before the final, critical round of UN talks on the first global treaty to end plastic waste, in Busan, South Korea, this week, Norway’s minister for international development, Anne Beathe Tvinnereim, acknowledged the split that had developed between plastic-producing countries and others. She represents more than 60 “high ambition” nations, led by Rwanda and Norway, who want plastic pollution tackled over its full life cycle. Crucially, this means clamping down heavily on production. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 09:00:07

‘The Bowie of his era’: new biopic charts wild life of cross-dressing Victorian peer

Madfabulous explores story of flamboyant 19th-century marquess of Anglesey, and offers an ‘overdue celebration’ of his lifeIt’s the costume drama plot with the startlingly up-to-date twist: the fifth marquess of Anglesey, a scandalously extravagant, cross-dressing peer of the realm, who cavorted around north Wales in the late 19th century, now has his own biopic – and it is a tribute he surely would have relished. The makers of Madfabulous, which has just filmed on location in Anglesey (Ynys Môn), believe their starry version of his extraordinary story is an overdue celebration of the non-conforming aristocrat, born Henry Paget and nicknamed “Toppy”.Revealing details of the opulent new film for the first time this weekend, the director Celyn Jones said the germ of the project was the moment when he came across a photograph of the flamboyant Paget dressed in one of his elaborate outfits – and then Jones noticed the date: “I looked at the photo again, checked Henry’s story and thought: hang on this is 1890 – and in Anglesey!” Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 13:00:15

‘It’s been a lot of detective work’: Madame de Pompadour’s £1m wall lights discovered in Yorkshire hotel

Four gilt-bronze sconces that lit up home of Louis XV’s mistress are set to go on sale at Sotheby’s in DecemberFor almost 140 years, four massive gilt-bronze wall lights have hung in the 18th-century drawing room at Swinton Castle in Yorkshire, now an opulent luxury hotel.Guests will almost certainly have noticed the one metre-high rococo appliques with their entwined branches decorated with leaves, berries and cherubim, and passed them off as impressive reproductions of more valuable original works. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 07:00:10

Millions of tourists in UK could be asked to pay local visitor levy

Councils, politicians and campaigners hope a ‘tourist tax’ would raise money to fund services in areas affected by high visitor numbersMillions of tourists to the UK could soon be asked to pay a local visitor levy as cash-strapped councils try to raise money to fund services.Nearly half of Scotland’s local councils are considering a mandatory levy on overnight stays, known as a tourist tax, to help cope with a surge in visitors that has overwhelmed places such as Skye, the Callanish stones on Lewis and Orkney’s neolithic sites. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 18:43:21

Brat banking: Charli xcx takes the stage in Revolut’s push to cleanse its image

Two-day bash in London was part of ‘lifestyle brand’ push to snare younger customersThousands of bank customers braved the wind and rain of Storm Bert on Saturday night, forming queues that snaked through the streets surrounding London’s Tottenham Court Road station.But this was no bank run. In fact, there was not a bank branch in sight. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:12

Enforced return to office leads workers to seek new jobs

Recruitment group says more applicants are turning down offers that do not include hybrid workingRecruiters have received a surge in job applications from disgruntled workers at companies that are removing employees’ flexibility over where they work after a flurry of return-to-office mandates were issued by large companies.Two-thirds of recruiters have seen an increase in applicants looking for new jobs who are working at companies that are mandating five days a week in the office, according to a survey. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 17:00:16

Isaac Newton’s wealth ‘intimately connected’ with slavery, author says

Scientist and banker benefited from gold mined primarily by enslaved Africans in Brazil, book claimsSir Isaac Newton, whose theory of gravity revolutionised science and who later rose to the upper echelons of London’s financial world, had closer financial ties to the transatlantic trade in enslaved people than was previously understood, a new book has claimed.The book, Ricardo’s Dream, covers the life and work of David Ricardo, a pioneer of economic theory and the wealthiest stock trader of his day. It also re-examines Newton’s time as master of the mint at the Royal Mint, where the scientist wielded political influence and amassed vast personal wealth after leaving his academic position in Cambridge. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:00:19

Homeless people to be given cash in first major UK trial to reduce poverty

Led by King’s College London, study will recruit 360 people in England and Wales to explore benefits of schemeResearchers are conducting the UK’s first major scientific trials to establish whether giving homeless people cash is a more effective way of reducing poverty than traditional forms of help.Poverty campaigners have long believed that cash transfers are the most cost-effective way of helping people, but most studies have examined schemes in developing countries. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 06:00:05

Lauren Laverne says she has been given ‘all clear’ after cancer treatment

Presenter of BBC’s The One Show, Desert Island Discs and 6 Music show says she is going ‘back to work’Lauren Laverne, the presenter of Desert Island Discs, has said she has been given the “all clear” after undergoing treatment for cancer.Writing on Instagram on Sunday, the 46-year-old said she would be “back to work” on BBC One’s The One Show on Tuesday after “taking some time off to get better” and thanked the medical staff who had helped her, as well as everyone who had sent her messages of support. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 16:02:01

‘I felt like I was a made man’: Stephen Graham on working with his childhood heroes

One of Britain’s most prolific actors, Stephen Graham is the face of countless hard-to-forget TV and film characters, a regular Scorsese collaborator and good mates with Leo DiCaprio. He talks about living it up in Leicestershire – and why he’s in the shape of his lifeStephen Graham likes to quote that very famous saying in acting, “There are no small parts, only small actors” – though it has nothing to do with the fact that the 51-year-old stands a power-packed 5ft five-and-a-half inches. When in 2020 he set up his own production company, Matriarch Productions, after a storied career as one of our great character performers, he made it one of the company’s founding principles.Graham established Matriarch with his wife, the actor Hannah Walters. Their first project was the 2021 film Boiling Point, which created history as the first British single-take movie. Graham won a Bafta nomination for his portrayal of head chef Andy Jones, whose life unravels in real time during one frenzied service in the kitchen. But he was determined that Boiling Point would be just as radical behind the camera, too. Typically on TV and film productions, each actor is assigned a cast number, which functions as an unspoken hierarchy of their importance on the set. Graham decided he didn’t want that. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 09:00:07

Ignorance and Bliss: On Wanting Not to Know by Mark Lilla review – the enduring power of stupidity

A New York scholar’s study of our long history of acclaiming the fool and ignoring the facts is timely and terrifically wittyThis is at once a wise and wonderfully enjoyable book. Mark Lilla treats weighty matters with a light touch, in an elegant prose style that crackles with dry wit. Almost every one of the short sections into which the narrative is divided – and there is a narrative, cunningly sustained within what seems a relaxed discursiveness – takes careful aim and at the end hits the bullseye with a sure and satisfying aphoristic thwock.The central premise of the book is simply stated: “How is it that we are creatures who want to know and not to know?” Lilla, professor of humanities at Columbia University, New York, and the author of a handful of masterly studies of the terrain where political and intellectual sensibilities collide, is an acute observer of the vagaries of human behaviour and thought in general, and of our tendency to self-delusion in particular. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 16:00:15

Wrestler, film star – and future president? Why we should all take Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson seriously

The WWE icon, already one of Hollywood’s highest-paid film stars, has shown himself to be ‘focus group-proof’It’s proving to be a busy period for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, sometime WWE professional wrestler and Hollywood film star. Well, another one. Red One, a Christmas-themed action movie (Johnson plays Santa Claus’s bodyguard), was released earlier this month. The Disney animation, Moana 2 (for which he voices the tattooed demigod Maui) is about to be released. He is also in the process of filming the new live-action version of Moana, and embarking on another Disney movie, Monster Jam.If anyone is surprised by Johnson’s repeated donning of the cinematic mouse ears, or by his general presence in children’s films, they shouldn’t be. While he is probably still best known for the Fast & Furious film franchise, and other flexes of his big-screen muscle, he has long been a staple in family movies. With his reputed $50m fee for Red One, and with an estimated net worth of about $800m, he has become one of Hollywood’s highest paid stars. Johnson also made the Time magazine 100 list of influential people – not once but twice, in 2016 and 2019. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 11:00:10

The 80s: Photographing Britain review – in your face and to the barricades

Tate Britain, LondonFrom Greenham and Orgreave to Belfast and City slickers, visceral images from a turbulent decade jostle for attention in a show that feels overwhelming in its scale and confusing narrativeThere are several photographs in this exhaustive and exhausting exhibition that could be considered iconic. John Harris’s black-and-white image of a mounted police officer swinging a truncheon at the head of a woman during the miners’ strike is certainly one of them. Another, perhaps not so obvious contender is Paul Graham’s colour photograph of a seemingly ordinary looking traffic roundabout in Belfast, in which you have to look closely to see a British soldier running across the road in the background.One visceral, the other understated, they both say something about a decade that was marked by social discontent, violence and upheaval. They also denote the changes in photographic practice that occurred during that time: in this instance, the shift from monochrome to colour, from photojournalism to a more detached style of documentary. To a degree, too, they distil the curatorial thrust of this sprawling exhibition, which, as its subtitle suggests, is more about photography’s often conceptually based responses to the 1980s than the turbulent nature of the decade itself. As such, though punctuated with some powerful single images as well as several intriguing series, it makes for a dogged viewing experience that confuses as much as it enlightens. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 09:00:07

Richard Linklater: ‘I’ve always had that French new wave notion – that a film should be an extension of your life’

The American director on the 20-year project he is just beginning, how hitmen don’t exist in real life and why his career would not be possible todayThe American director Richard Linklater has one of the great, eclectic film-making CVs: from classics such as Dazed and Confused to School of Rock, Before Sunrise to Boyhood, which was filmed with the same cast over 12 years. That versatility is seen again in his latest movie, Hit Man, released earlier this year to critical and audience acclaim and now on Netflix. A rare foray for him into the comedy-thriller genre, it tells the trueish story of a nondescript college professor (an excellent Glen Powell) who has a side hustle as an undercover operative for the New Orleans police, pretending to be different hitmen in order to illicit arrests. Next year he releases Nouvelle Vague, shot entirely in French. Linklater is 64 and lives in Austin, Texas.There’s a line early on in your latest film: “Hitmen don’t really exist.” You mean that they are, essentially, an invention of Hollywood films. Were you surprised by this fact?No, I’m completely amused and thrilled by it. I’ve known this for 25-plus years: hitmen are like snuff films, they don’t really exist. There’s not one record of a hitman being arrested. This is a myth, but one people believe so thoroughly because of pop culture – movies and TV mostly. [A hitman] is just a great character and we love the idea of them too much – even though shouldn’t we be relieved that there aren’t any? Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 09:30:07

‘Oz as a high-fashion, elitist society’: how Wicked made musicals chic

The high-couture styles of the film version of the hit show reflect a trend of designer daring on the stageMusicals used to be associated with glee club kids more likely to be wearing jazz shoes than anything cutting edge from the catwalks. But with the film version of Wicked – which was released this weekend and was expected to take more than $100m (£80m) at the US box office alone – promoted by global pop star Ariana Grande and actor Cynthia Erivo wearing Vivienne Westwood, Schiaparelli and Louis Vuitton, musicals are having a pitch-perfect style moment.Even before it opened, there was a glut of Wicked collaborations across skincare, haircare and hoodies – more than 400 in total, including Gap, Kipling, Crocs, H&M, Claire’s Accessories and Marks & Spencer. Fancy London department store Liberty, with its tasteful Tudor-beamed building, has teamed up with Universal Pictures to make over its windows Wicked-style. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 12:00:12

Don’t know what to buy your loved ones for Christmas? Just ask ChatGPT

Santa has a new little helper. But can an AI-powered shopping assistant really master the subtle art of gift giving?Some people love buying Christmas presents. Polly Arrowsmith starts making a note of what her friends and family like, then hunts for bargains, slowly and carefully. Vie Portland begins her shopping in January and has a theme each year, from heart mirrors to inspirational books. And Betsy Benn spent so much time thinking about presents, she ended up opening her own online gift business.How would these gift-giving experts react to a trend that is either a timesaving brainwave or an appalling corruption of the Christmas spirit: asking ChatGPT to do it for them? Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:00:11

All scenery and no sweat: an e-biking adventure in the New Forest

The New Forest is a haven for cycling – and whizzing through the trees on an e-bike leaves more time for ice cream and cake breaks‘No one,” says Clare, grinning broadly and handing me a cycle helmet, “comes back sweating from one of our rides.” Looking at the Super Monkey I’m about to clamber on to – a gleaming black machine, modelled rather like a Chopper bike from the 1970s, only with triple-width tyres and the (all-important) powerbox attached to the main stem – I can believe it. Synch ebikes, available to rent from Clare and Lisa at Jaunt-E Bikes, are the last word in effort-free cycling, and the best way to delve into the depths of the New Forest.It’s a grey, drizzly morning when I set off from my Brockenhurst bolthole, Cottage Lodge, cycling gingerly up the busy A337 before turning down a gravel track into the forest. At first the bike feels a bit like being on a horse – raring to go every time I put my foot down – but I soon get used to it, whizzing happily past runners and analogue cyclists, the wide, “comfort” saddle shielding me from the worst of the uneven, gravelly track. Within minutes, I’m immersed in the forest; waves of ferns rippling out beneath towering oak and beech trees. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 11:00:09

The Moon Under Water: from where did George Orwell get the name for his perfect pub?

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhat is the origin of the pub name the Moon Under Water? George Orwell adopted it to describe his “ideal of what a pub should be”, but where did he get it from? Mike Jones, by emailPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:01:12

Like a luxury spa – for £20: where to enjoy Britain’s Turkish baths revival

In 1900, there were 600 Turkish baths in Britain and Ireland. Today, only a handful survive. We enjoy a revived hammam in Newcastle and take a look at 10 more around the countryMy sister and I are lying on slabs like flounders in a fishmonger’s. Instead of a bed of ice, though, we’re stretched out on heated marble. We move between three hot rooms, each resembling little chapels with vaulted ceilings, chatting quietly in the cooler one, applying face and hair masks in the middle one, and simply lying still, sweating, in the hottest one. Later, we will be scrubbed and massaged. In between, we cool off under a rain-mist shower, or retire to a bed in our own private mahogany-panelled booth beneath a glazed dome.It sounds like a luxury spa, with prices to match. In fact, we’re at a century-old public bathhouse. The City Baths in Newcastle reopened in April after an £8m restoration – and a decade-long campaign. A two‑hour Turkish bath session here costs about £20, which includes a swim in the pool upstairs. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 08:00:05

The climate crisis and all the evil in the world drives me to despair

The world will continue to be absurd, but you, with all your passion, can still make your corner of it more bearableThe question I am finding it ever more difficult to be in this nasty world. Everything that I cherish is being destroyed and there is nowhere to go to find solace. I’ve always loved nature – but when I go for a walk now, I see every ash tree dying, I hear the loss of birdsong, I see how few insects there are. When I read the news, I just cannot comprehend how cruel humans are able to be, racism, misogyny, religious hate, cruelty to animals… The list is endless.I work in climate change and am having to pretend every day that there is still a chance we can prevent catastrophic climate change. I find it ever harder to be around people who don’t get just how bad things are. I don’t have kids and am single. I can’t talk to my family about it because they are rightwing, wealthy climate sceptics. They patronise me (despite the fact I’m nearly 60 and a chief executive). Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 06:00:02

Share your experience of lightning strikes in Latin America and the Caribbean

We’d like to hear about the impact of dramatic lightning strikes in the region. How have you been affected?Scientists have warned for years that rising temperatures across the planet are likely to cause more lightning. The Caribbean is among those regions that have experienced an increase in damaging strikes over the past two decades, according to experts.Have you been affected by dramatic lightning strikes in the Caribbean? Do you have experiences or pictures of lightning impact in Jamaica, Belize, Barbados or any other country in the region? Or perhaps in Latin America? Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-20 12:00:05

Cryptocurrency traders: share what got you into crypto, and how you feel about recent developments

We’d like to hear from people who have bought cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, ethereum as well as smaller currencies how they have been faringIt’s been an eventful few days for the cryptocurrency market, with the price of bitcoin having risen above $87,000 for the first time amid traders’ hopes that cryptocurrencies will boom in a favourable regulatory environment when Donald Trump returns to the White House.Bitcoin reached a record high of $87,198, before slipping back slightly on Monday. The price more than doubled from about $37,000 12 months ago. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-13 12:10:42

Tell us your favourite podcast of 2024

We would like to hear about your favourite new podcast you’ve been listening to this year and whyWe would like to hear about your favourite new podcast you’ve been listening to this year and why. Let us know and we’ll run a selection of your recommendations in December. Tell us your favourite using the form below. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-21 12:48:34

Share your thoughts about the collapse of the German coalition government and the snap election

We’re interested to hear how people feel about the collapse of German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government, and which issues may decide their vote at the general electionThe collapse of Germany’s three-party ruling coalition has triggered a snap election that is to take place in February 2025.The German government collapsed after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, unexpectedly sacked his finance minister, Christian Lindner, during a row over the 2025 budget, plunging Europe’s largest economy into political disarray, after months of bitter infighting that has contributed to the administration’s growing unpopularity amid a stagnating German economy. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-13 14:55:48

Trump’s White House is filling with alleged sexual abusers ... led by him

As the far right celebrates a win for their gender, a raft of people accused of misconduct is named for the cabinet Donald Trump was found civilly liable last year for the defamation and sexual abuse of the writer E Jean Carroll - just one of the more than 27 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct. In January 2025, he will again be president of the United States – the first to take office with a court-adjudicated history of sex crimes.And it seems he’s eager to pack the White House with people just like him. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 13:00:13

Trump depends on the EU and UK to act as peacemakers more than he thinks

The US doesn’t need to spend more on Ukraine. Britain can bring funding to the table – and help Trump reboot alliancesWith Donald Trump the very meaning of words is up for negotiation. What does he really mean when he promises to “build a wall”? When he pledges to end the Russo-Ukrainian war in one day?His supporters say they don’t take him literally but seriously – but who decides what “serious” is? The very ambiguity can be part of Trump’s appeal. There’s something exhilarating in the sense one is in an exclusive negotiation with the president to define reality. It’s as if he’s welcoming you backstage from the reality show of politics to the discreet board room where meaning is made. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 05:00:01

Theatrics, hatred and Linda McMahon: how pro wrestling explains Donald Trump

The ex-WWE CEO and likely incoming education secretary doesn’t seem like a threat. That’s what makes her oneDespite her background in professional wrestling, Linda McMahon is not known for bombast. Indeed, she’s terrible at it: in the many years during which the former World Wrestling Entertainment CEO would make occasional appearances in her company’s programming as a version of herself, she was always derided by fans for her lack of charisma and wobbly speaking voice.The most notable thing she did in any of the storylines was pretend to be comatose in a wheelchair while her husband, the vastly more explosive Vince McMahon, sexually harassed one of his female wrestlers in a skit. Linda won’t be winning an Emmy anytime soon. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 16:00:15

Fires, first aid and guns: meet the Finnish women training for war with Russia

Anxious Finns are learning how to survive in the wild in preparation for an invasion by their hostile neighbour It is Friday night on a forested military base in western Finland. A group of women dressed in camouflage with matching purple beanie hats are sat in a dark tent discussing how their perspectives have changed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.“I didn’t think it was a real threat that Russia would attack us,” says Sari, 42, who works in sales and lives in a nearby town. But then, she adds: “They attacked Ukraine. I saw that it is possible that we are next.” Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 20:13:22

‘It’s not drought - it’s looting’: the Spanish villages where people are forced to buy back their own drinking water

Spain is increasingly either parched or flooded – and one group is profiting from these extremes: the water-grabbing multinational companies forcing angry citizens to pay for it in bottlesAfter catastrophic floods engulfed Valencia last month, killing more than 200 people, it might seem counterintuitive to think about water shortages. But as the torrents of filthy water swept through towns and villages, people were left without electricity, food supplies – and drinking water. “It was brutal: cars, chunks of machinery, big stones, even dead bodies were swept along in the water. It gushed into the ground floor of buildings, into little shops, bakeries, hairdressers, the English school, bars: all were destroyed. This was climate change for real, climate change in capital letters,” says Josep de la Rubia of Valencia’s Ecologists in Action, describing the scene in the satellite towns south of the Valencian capital.In the aftermath, hundreds of thousands of people were reliant on emergency tankers of water or donations of bottled water from citizen volunteers. Within a fortnight, the authorities had reconnected the tap water of 90% of the 850,000 people in affected areas, but all were advised to boil it before drinking it or to use bottled water. Across the region, 100 sewage treatment plants were damaged; in some areas, human waste seeped into flood waters, dead animals were swept into rivers and sodden rubbish and debris piled up. Valencia is on the brink of a sanitation crisis. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 11:00:40

Reasons for hope as Democrats prevent Trump-led red wave in state races

Democrats had braced for a disaster but state results show a much more nuanced picture than the party had fearedAfter watching Kamala Harris lose the White House and Republicans wrest back full control of Congress, Democrats were bracing for disaster in state legislatures. With the party defending narrow majorities in several chambers across the country, some Democrats expected that Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential race would allow a red wave to sweep through state legislatures.Yet, when the dust had settled after election day, the results of state legislative elections presented a much more nuanced picture than Democrats had feared. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 12:00:46

Eve Babitz and Joan Didion may be dead. But their feud isn’t

A new book on the Los Angeles authors leaves no petty stone unturned as it explores their fraught friendshipJoan Didion, the original girlboss of American letters, keeps inspiring new takedowns. Critiquing Didion’s racism, the writer Myriam Gurba compared her to an onion: “She’s very white, very crisp, and she makes people cry.” An anonymous woman in a Los Angeles bar called Didion “that lady from Sacramento”. (Didion might have fooled the New York Times, but Angelenos know she wasn’t from Los Angeles.)Eve Babitz’s recent takedown of Didion might be the most extraordinary, though, because it has been issued from beyond the grave. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 13:00:46

The Ukraine missile crisis: Putin’s shadow war against the west finally breaks cover

After Kyiv used Storm Shadow missiles, Russia’s leader asserted his ‘right’ to attack the UK and US. In truth, he has been doing exactly that for two years nowThe unprecedented firing by Ukrainian forces of British-made long-range Storm Shadow missiles at military targets inside Russia last week means the UK, along with the US, is now viewed by Moscow as a legitimate target for punitive, possibly violent retaliation.In a significant escalation in response to the missile launches, Vladimir Putin confirmed that, for the first time in the war, Russia had fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile, targeting the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. Putin also said Russia now believed it had the “right” to attack “military facilities” in countries that supply Kyiv with long-range weapons. Though he did not say so specifically, he clearly meant attacks on the UK and US. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 15:18:19

Wire cutters: how the world’s vital undersea data cables are being targeted

Carrying 99% of the world’s international telecommunications, the vulnerable lines are drawing nefarious interestThe lead-clad telegraphic cable seemed to weigh tons, according to Lt Cameron Winslow of the US navy, and the weather wasn’t helping their attempts to lift it up from the seabed and sever it. “The rough water knocked the heavy boats together, breaking and almost crushing in their planking,” he wrote.Eventually, Winslow’s men managed to cut the cable with hacksaws and disrupt the enemy’s communications by slicing off a 46-metre (150ft) section. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 15:58:17

‘I’ll be making my own’: UK’s most expensive mince pie divides opinion

In the picturesque village of Orford, an ‘incredibly luxurious’ festive treat is thought to have set a record priceOrford, a picturesque pocket of the Suffolk coast, has a storied and rather bizarre history. It is home to an impeccably preserved medieval castle built by Henry II to see off dissenting barons, and for much of the 20th century the rugged seafront was sealed off and used as a top-secret military testing site, prompting rumours about death rays and UFO sightings.Now, the area may have another claim to fame, as home of the UK’s most expensive mince pie. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 12:29:57

Jacob Rees-Mogg on abortion, religion and reality TV; Marina Hyde on Musk vs Trump Jr; inheritance inequity; and teenage love – podcast

Marina Hyde asks us to spare a sob for Don Jr, replaced in Daddy’s affections by Elon Musk. The Bank of Mum and Dad – the unspoken dynamic behind society’s growing inequality of ‘inheritocracy’. ‘I’ve been called worse than a Nazi’: Simon Hattenstone meets Jacob Rees-Mogg. And psychologist Lucy Foulkes on why we should take teenage love more seriously Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 05:00:33

‘You tried to tell yourself I wasn’t real’: what happens when people with acute psychosis meet the voices in their heads? – podcast

In avatar therapy, a clinician gives voice to their patients’ inner demons. For some of the participants in a new trial, the results have been astounding. By Jenny Kleeman Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 05:00:05

James Carville on where he thinks the Democrats went wrong – podcast

Everyone in US politics has an opinion on why the Democrats lost the election, and finger-pointing within the party is rife. As the debate rages, Jonathan Freedland will be speaking to various experts about what the party got wrong – and how it can bounce back.This week, he meets James Carville, the veteran political strategist who helped get Bill Clinton elected twiceArchive: Pennebaker Associates, McEttinger Films, Cyclone Films, CNN, CBS News, MSNBC, PBS Newshour, BBC News Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 05:00:03

Nigel Farage and his ‘historic mission’: on the ground with Reform UK – podcast

Today in Focus presenter Helen Pidd goes out on the road – to Birmingham, Stalybridge and Clacton – to chart Nigel Farage’s bid to transform Reform UK into a modern, professional political partyAt the Reform UK party conference in September, its leader, Nigel Farage, announced a “historic mission” for his party: to professionalise, to modernise and mobilise a “people’s army” to win support all over the country.It came off the back of unprecedented success for Reform at the general election: no populist right party in the UK had ever taken as many as its five seats in July. And they were won despite a campaign marred by racist and Islamophobic remarks from Reform members and candidates. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 03:00:00

An arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu – Today in Focus Extra

The international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the Israeli prime minister, his former defence minister and a Hamas leader. Julian Borger reportsAfter 10 months of deliberation, the international criminal court has issued an arrest warrant for the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former defence minister Yoav Gallant and the Hamas leader Mohammed Deif for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza war.Julian Borger, the Guardian’s senior international correspondent, explains the significance of this moment – the first time a western ally from a modern democracy has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity by a global judicial body. He tells Hannah Moore how allies such as the US and UK are likely to react to the news, and the impact it has had in Israel. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-21 17:42:52

How having babies became so political - video

The pronatalist movement in the US is gathering pace once again, rekindled by Silicon Valley personalities and hard-right conservatives who are becoming increasingly vocal about whether or not women are having enough babies. But it's not just in the US, some governments in other countries have launched marketing campaigns encouraging people to have more children, while others have offered financial incentives. But while many of these policies claim to be about halting population decline, there are other factors at play. Josh Toussaint-Strauss interrogates efforts around the world to boost birth rates, as well as the underlying political motivations, from bodily autonomy to immigrationBirthrates are plummeting worldwide. Can governments turn the tide?When desperate measures to persuade women to have children fail, it’s time for fresh thinking Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-21 12:33:44

Drone footage shows Delhi cloaked in thick haze of toxic smog – video

Pollution levels in the Indian capital have soared to their highest levels this year, forcing schools and offices to close and cloaking the city in thick brown smog. In some parts of the city, a live air quality ranking by IQAir put pollution levels at more than 30 times the maximum level deemed healthy. The catastrophic levels of pollution have led to numerous emergency measures, including most schools being closed and lessons moved online. The smog arrives annually as the weather in the north of India gets colder, trapping toxic pollutants from the tens of millions of cars on the road, as well as from rubbish fires, construction and factory emissions. Experts say the toxic air quality is reducing life expectancy in the city by an average of seven yearsPollution in Delhi hits record high, cloaking city in smog Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 11:51:49

'World's most expensive banana' fetches $US5.2m at auction – video

Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped ‘banana’ artwork fetches US$5.2m at Sotheby’s auction in New York. The artwork, titled Comedian, debuted in 2019 as an edition of three, where its US$120,000 price tag made headlines worldwide. Its new owner has purchased the banana through Sotheby's China office and will receive a banana, a roll of duct tape, a certificate of authenticity and instructions on how to install the work► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTubeMaurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana artwork fetches US$5.2m at New York auction Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-21 01:57:07

Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for the first time?

American and Ukrainian officials have confirmed Kyiv employed US-made Atacms missiles to strike targets within Russia. The Kremlin stated that six missiles were launched at the town of Karachev, with fragments from one reportedly causing a significant explosion.In response, Russia has announced it is adjusting its nuclear doctrine. The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow would interpret any attack against it carried out by a non-nuclear state using weapons supplied by a nuclear state as a joint assault. But what exactly are Atacms, and why has their deployment unsettled Russia so deeply?Atacms: what are the missiles Ukraine has fired into Russia for first time?Russia-Ukraine war live Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-20 16:44:49

Vladimir Shklyarov: a look back at the career of the acclaimed Russian ballet dancer – video

Born in St Petersburg in 1985, Shklyarov joined the Mariinsky Theatre in 2003 and became its principal dancer – the highest-ranking position in a ballet company – in 2011. During his 20-year career, Shklyarov starred in productions of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He performed all over the world, including with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City and the Royal Opera House in London. Shklyarov has died at the age of 39 after falling from the fifth floor of a building, a spokesperson for the Mariinsky Theatre told the news outlet FontankaVladimir Shklyarov, Russian ballet star, dies aged 39 after falling from building Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-18 13:17:09

How the unrest unfolded in Amsterdam – video timeline

Conflicting reports emerged after violence erupted in Amsterdam around a Uefa Europa League football match between the Dutch club Ajax and Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Guardian has analysed footage posted across social media to try to construct a timeline and understand what led to the clashes. For 24 hours, tensions rose across the city in what the mayor, Femke Halsema, called a 'toxic cocktail of antisemitism, football hooliganism and anger over the war in Palestine and Israel and other parts of the Middle East'‘Toxic cocktail’ led to Amsterdam violence, mayor says Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-15 07:25:50

A monkey festival and stormy seas: photos of the weekend

The Guardian’s picture editors select photographs from around the world Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 14:58:10

The big picture: earthbound reality at the International Space Station landing site in Kazakhstan

Andrew McConnell’s shot of a young scrap collector at the remote spot where astronauts return from space captures a curious juxtapositionThe photographer Andrew McConnell first went to Kazakhstan in 2015, to witness what the Earth’s primary space portal looked like on the ground. A particular corner of the remote steppe-land, near a village called Kenjebai-Samai, was where, every three months, astronauts and cosmonauts on the International Space Station fell to earth, having been launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome 400 miles to the south. McConnell had spent much of the previous years working in war zones and was keen to focus on something more life-affirming.He discovered a curious landscape that was both on the frontier of human exploration and unchanged for centuries. Over a dozen visits in the subsequent years, McConnell became used to the rhythm of the landings. He would sleep out on the steppe in a tent with the ground crew of the Russian space agency; on hearing the explosion that heralded the capsule separating in the sky above, they would drive out over the wasteland to meet it as it landed – a vehicle no bigger than a family car.Some Worlds Have Two Suns by Andrew McConnell is published by Gost (£60) Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-24 07:00:04

A nostalgic photographic road trip across Australia – in pictures

When photographer Trent Mitchell was on the road looking for surf all over Australia he’d throw a couple of rolls of film in the bag and snap pictures here and there. He focused on scenes that reminded him of childhood road trips, ones he couldn’t get at home or had a surreal feeling to them.After collating the images into a fun zine-like exhibition catalogue, he realised there was a strong base to work from and the idea to publish a book was born.Maurizio Cattelan’s duct-taped banana artwork fetches US$5.2m at New York auction Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 23:00:06

We love: fashion fixes for the week ahead – in pictures

Upcycled tea towel ties, Helmut Newton’s Berlin and cosy knits Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 23:55:06

We shall satirise him on the beaches… Churchill through the eyes of cartoonists – in pictures

In one wartime image, Winston Churchill is portrayed as a dragonslayer; in another, a gun-toting gangster. Later, he appears old and dejected, overdue for retirement. The cartoons, on show in a new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum London, show a multitude of Churchills, reflecting how he was seen in different countries and at different times, from 1909 onwards. “There was never a consensus view of him,” says curator Kate Clements. “Some of the depictions were heavily critical and even grotesque”, while others “depict his determined nature and portray him as a British figurehead”. Clements hopes the exhibition will “add another layer to our visitors’ understanding of this complex individual” and show “how satirical cartoons played a part in shaping perceptions of Churchill during his lifetime and beyond”.Churchill in Cartoons: Satirising a Statesman is at the Imperial War Museum, London from Friday to 23 February 2025 Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-23 17:00:02

Elegant, quirky and unique: New Zealand architecture awards 2024 – in pictures

Winners were chosen by a panel of architects and are spread across 11 categories, including housing, commercial, heritage, interior and international architecture. Several unusual projects, including a church refurbishment in Wellington and a visitor centre in Nepal, received awards. Continue reading...

Published: 2024-11-22 18:00:19

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