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The Guardian

Calls grow to stop Boris Johnson with tactical voting as race tightens (sam., 07 déc. 2019)
Eleventh-hour appeal to anti-Tory voters as poll shows Conservative majority halved A cross-party alliance of opposition politicians has launched an 11th-hour appeal to anti-Tory voters to consider switching allegiance in Thursday’s general election, amid signs that a late surge of tactical voting in a few swing seats could deprive Boris Johnson of a majority in parliament. The calls from senior Labour, Liberal Democrat and SNP figures come as a major poll suggests Johnson’s likely majority has been cut in half in the last two weeks – from 82 a fortnight ago to just 40 with four days to polling day. Continue reading...
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Patient data from GP surgeries sold to US companies (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Dealings with international pharma raise new fears about American ambitions to access NHS Data about millions of NHS patients has been sold to US and other international pharmaceutical companies for research, the Observer has learned, raising new fears about America’s growing ambitions to access lucrative parts of the health service after Brexit. US drugs giants, including Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Eli Lilly, have paid the Department of Health and Social Care, which holds data derived from GPs’ surgeries, for licences costing up to £330,000 each in return for anonymised data to be used for research. Continue reading...
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China and Taiwan offered us huge bribes, say Solomon Islands MPs (Sun, 08 Dec 2019)
Politicians say they were offered hundreds of thousands of dollars for their support before country switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing Solomon Islands politicians allege both China and Taiwan offered bribes of hundreds of thousands of dollars to gain their support during a diplomatic row that rocked the country earlier this year. In September the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, formally severed ties with Taipei and established relations with Beijing, ending the country’s 36-year relationship with Taiwan. Continue reading...
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Anthony Joshua goes the distance to win world titles back from Andy Ruiz Jr (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• British boxer wins on points after much-improved performance • Two judges scored fight 118-110 for Joshua, third called it 119-109 On the night when rain and wind spat and scudded across Saudi Arabian desert, Anthony Joshua whipped up a minor storm of his own to win back his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles from Andy Ruiz Jr. In their first encounter in June, the Mexican-American had been able to disrupt the validity of boxing’s oldest and most indomitable laws – that a good big fighter usually beats a good smaller one – by stopping Joshua in seven. This time the tables were turned as the Briton used his eight-inch reach advantage and improved footwork to much better effect to claim a wide points victory. Continue reading...
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Defiant protesters back in Baghdad square within an hour of slaughter (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Demonstrators grow ever more determined to force real political change in Iraq despite a bloody crackdown which left over 20 dead The gunshots emptied protesters from Baghdad’s Khilani square in minutes, but as nearby streets filled with the crush of people running for their lives, two men stayed on, waving a vast Shia banner in defiance of the bloodshed around them. The pair must have known they were in the gunmen’s crosshairs, and soon one of them crumpled, hit by a bullet. But their determination to continue was a powerful message to authorities and militias trying to crush Iraq’s popular uprising by force. Continue reading...
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Manchester City investigate alleged racist abuse aimed at Fred and Lingard (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• Video clip online shows fan making gesture at United players • Solskjær: ‘It is an act of ignorance. Why don’t we educate him?’ Ole Gunnar Solskjær said that the Manchester United players Fred and Jesse Lingard were shaken up during the 2-1 derby victory at City by an incident of racist abuse. City have launched an investigation after a video clip appeared to show a home supporter making a monkey gesture. Fred had been hit by an object thrown from the crowd as he went to take a corner midway through the second half and Lingard was also close by. Continue reading...
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Trump impeachment inquiry: House judiciary committee releases report (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Nadler: constitutional situation is ‘Framers’ worst nightmare’ Trump derides ‘witch hunt’ while boosting US economy Opinion: Nancy Pelosi is bungling the impeachment inquiry The House judiciary committee released a report on the constitutional grounds for impeachment on Saturday. Shortly after that, Donald Trump once again insisted the whole thing was a “witch hunt” and “a total hoax”. Related: White House dismisses invitation to take part in key impeachment hearing Continue reading...
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Nobel winner Peter Handke avoids genocide controversy in speech (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Literature laureate accused of supporting Slobodan Milošević gives inaugural lecture The controversial 2019 Nobel literature laureate, Austrian author Peter Handke, gave his inaugural lecture on Saturday night in front of the Swedish Academy and in the face of intense criticism of his selection for the honour. Handke, 77, who is perhaps best known for the novel Wings of Desire, is accused of supporting the genocidal Serbian regime led by Slobodan Milošević and of denying the extent of Serbian terror and killing during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia. Continue reading...
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‘I will die if I have to’: hunger striker leads fight against rape crisis in India (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Government inaction drives Swati Maliwal of Delhi Women’s Commission to take a stand “Stop rape. Stop rape.” The chants rang out over the Samta Sthal memorial as hundreds of women from Delhi and beyond raised their fists in a show of collective rage. Among them sat Leena, 35. “I was six years old when I was raped and I could never speak about it,” she said. “This is India’s worst disease and we need to fix it before even more women are hurt.” The outrage that engulfed India last week began with a brutal rape case in Hyderabad, where a 27-year-old vet was gang-raped by four men on her way home from work and then killed, her body burned in a motorway underpass. But each day since, horrific cases have emerged relentlessly, from a teenager in Bihar who was gang-raped, strangled to death and burned, to a six-year-old in Rajasthan who was raped and killed by a neighbour, and a rape victim in Uttar Pradesh who was set upon and burned alive by her rapists, who were out on bail, on her way to testify against them in court. Doctors said on Saturday that the woman had died of her injuries. Continue reading...
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Revealed: how the Caribbean became a haven for Jews fleeing Nazi tyranny (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Thousands of refugees rebuilt their lives on Trinidad and other islands. Their little-known story is now told in a new book All cemeteries have stories to tell, and the one on Mucurapo Road in Port of Spain, Trinidad, is no exception. Among the names carved on headstones are Irene and Oscar Huth, Erna Marx, Karl Falkenstein, Willi Schwarz and Otto Gumprich. Hebrew inscriptions are adorned with a Star of David. Five years ago, Hans Stecher joined his mother, father and aunt in the Jewish section of Mucurapo cemetery. Aged 90 when he died, he was the last of about 600 Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe who ended up in Trinidad as they sought sanctuary from persecution and violence. Continue reading...
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'Bike not included': Peloton 'wife' in new ad selling gin for Ryan Reynolds (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Actor Monica Ruiz appears in tongue-in-cheek video ad for Aviation American Gin ‘Peloton husband’ misses the whole point An actor who appeared in a widely criticized Christmas ad for the exercise bike maker Peloton has a new role – selling gin for the actor Ryan Reynolds. The tongue-in-cheek video ad for Aviation American Gin, tweeted by Reynolds on Friday, racked up more than 4m views in its first day online. Continue reading...
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The gloves are off in Uxbridge, but Johnson is nowhere to be found (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
While the PM tours the nation his Labour constituency challenger has been working tirelessly to pull off a 5% swing Woody Allen observed that 80% of success is just showing up. Boris Johnson does not subscribe to that particular wisdom. If there is a strategy to his election campaign, it would seem to be that the prime minister does his best work in absentia. Our fearless would-be leader has cancelled bakery visits in Glastonbury and pub meet-and-greets in Rochester (citing security concerns about the five protesters outside). He sent his old man along in his place to the Channel 4 leaders’ climate debate and has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the gauntlet chucked in his direction by Andrew Neil. The Tories began this campaign calling Jeremy Corbyn chicken. They have gone quiet with that taunt now. Continue reading...
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Real-time polling station play The Vote returns for election night (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Catherine Tate, Mark Gatiss and Nina Sosanya star in James Graham and Josie Rourke’s theatrical experiment The play The Vote, a theatrical experiment broadcast live on television on election night in 2015, is to be revived in updated form this week, playwright James Graham and his co-creator and producer, Josie Rourke, have told the Observer. Stars Catherine Tate and Mark Gatiss will be back together on the evening of Thursday’s election to perform Graham’s new version along with a full cast, including Bill Paterson and Nina Sosanya, for one night only at Bush House in central London. Continue reading...
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Tories investigate three candidates over alleged antisemitism (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Labour calls for suspension of Sally-Ann Hart, Lee Anderson and Richard Short The Conservatives are investigating three parliamentary candidates over antisemitism and are facing calls to suspend them before the election. Sally-Ann Hart, standing in the Tory marginal seat of Hastings, shared a video with an image implying that the billionaire George Soros, who is Jewish, controls the EU, and she also liked a Nazi slogan on Facebook. Continue reading...
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England's last roar: Pankaj Mishra on nationalism and the election (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Ideas of Englishness have long failed to adapt to loss of empire and national decline. Will this crucial UK election bring about a post-imperial day of reckoning? “We have got to fight against privilege,” George Orwell exhorted in 1941, “against the notion that a half-witted public schoolboy is better for command than an intelligent mechanic.” England, he wrote, is governed by an “unteachable” ruling class that too frequently escapes into “stupidity”, failing to see “that an economic system in which land, factories, mines and transport are owned privately and operated solely for profit ... does not work.” Only a socialist revolution, he continued, could unleash the “native genius of the English people”. Of course, “the bankers and the larger businessmen, the landowners and dividend-drawers, the officials with their prehensile bottoms, will obstruct for all they are worth”. But, never mind: “if the rich squeal audibly, so much the better”. Continue reading...
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The Flat House review – a home made from hemp that will blow your mind (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Practice Architecture’s house is built from the plant growing in the fields around it. The project addresses a vital issue – the energy consumed and carbon emitted during construction Here’s today’s fun fact: the word “canvas” is derived from “cannabis”. (And imagine if the two words had still been identical this past century or so: literature would speak of cannabis-covered deck shoes, of boy scouts enjoying their life under cannabis, of going cannabissing for your parliamentary candidate.) There is a simple reason for this etymology. Among the many uses of hemp, the plant from which the drug comes – uses that include ropes, clothes, food and medicine – was the fabric for the sails of ships. Once commonplace and useful, and hailed in the 1930s as a “billion-dollar crop”, hemp’s modern promise was cut short by its association with narcotics, which led its production to be taxed and outlawed across the western world. Call it paranoia, call it realism, but there’s a theory that billionaires with interests in plastics and paper pulp successfully lobbied the US government to have their rival product suppressed. A war on drugs, in this account, was whipped up in order to deepen the public’s dependency on petrochemicals. Continue reading...
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Christmas book clinic special – our experts’ gift ideas (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Stuck for a literary stocking filler? From medical memoirs to bittersweet romance, short stories to gay histories, our panel of celebrated writers – Andrew Rawnsley, Konnie Huq and Kit de Waal among them – offer their recommendations Anonymous, thirtysomething, south-east England Continue reading...
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Katrina Karkazis: ‘You can’t use testosterone levels to divide people into male or female’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The cultural anthropologist on why our view of testosterone as the male sex hormone skews both science and society Katrina Karkazis, a senior research fellow at Yale University, is a cultural anthropologist working at the intersection of science, technology, gender studies and bioethics. With Rebecca Jordan-Young, a sociomedical scientist, she has written Testosterone: An Unauthorised Biography. It is a critique of both popular and scientific understandings of the hormone, and how they have been used to explain, or even defend, inequalities of power. You suggest that testosterone is understood as an exclusively male hormone, even though it’s also found in women. But surely no scientist believes this. No, what we’re saying is that the hormone has a century-long biography and identity that continues to be that of a male sex hormone. That language is used by authoritative sources in the US like the National Library of Medicine, but also in many media articles. It’s an argument that has to do with how the hormone is understood, which then shapes the kinds of research questions that get asked, what kinds of research get done or not done. There’s actually almost no research on the relationship between testosterone and aggression in women. That is a consequence of the framing of the hormone as having to do with men, masculinity, behaviours understood and framed as masculine. It’s the idea that because men generally have more testosterone, somehow that makes it more relevant in men. But the truth is we know very little about it. Continue reading...
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Luke Evans: ‘I had to drink Charles Dance’s blood’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The actor and singer on baking with his mum, the joys of a kebab after work and which films have the best on-set catering I remember once spending a Christmas with a friend’s family as our guests and as they arrived the electricity went off in the house. I had to phone the next door neighbour (who’d gone to his parents’ home with his wife and kids) and ask: “Please can I let myself in and cook my turkey in your oven?” In the spirit of things, he said: “Of course.” My very first memory is of Marie biscuits. They were in a green packet, thin and like Rich Tea biscuits but with more writing. We’d always have butter on top. It’s a very Welsh thing, putting butter on your sweet Maries. Continue reading...
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Hobnails, drill and boot camp: secrets of Sam Mendes’s war epic 1917 (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Director tells how getting every detail right was crucial to helping his cast understand emotions of war Wasted youth, random violent death and the folly of armed conflict are the big themes of 1917, Sam Mendes’s orchestral symphony of a first world war film. But for the director and the team who made it alongside him, no detail was too small to consider. “It was very important, the question of historical accuracy,” said Mendes. “We had two very fine historical advisers, Andy Robertshaw and Peter Barton, who are world renowned. And one military adviser, Paul Biddiss, who was also brilliant.” Continue reading...
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The remote Northumberland village that asked the world to help save its beloved pub (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Ridsdale locals need £200,000 to rescue the one community hub that remains – and they’re getting help from as far away as Kansas Having lost its post office, shop, petrol station and garage, the beautifully remote Northumberland village of Ridsdale has a paid a price for the isolation that comes with such sweeping views. But now the community is following a national trend and banding together to save the one thing it has left: the pub. Determined to prevent the Gun Inn from closing after its owners decided to sell up, Ridsdale locals have formed a group with the goal of achieving a community buyout and offering people the chance to become shareholders in the venture. Continue reading...
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Without women the novel would die: discuss (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Women are fiction’s life support system – buying 80% of all novels. But as a major new book argues, their love of an emotional truth has been used to trivialise the genre The narrator of Anna Burns’s Booker prize-winning novel, Milkman, likes to read on her way to work, even as she walks. Her preference is 19th-century novels. She likes to retreat to “the safety of the scroll and papyrus of earlier centuries”. But in her claustrophobic community during Northern Ireland’s Troubles, it marks her out as a threat. Even her best friend sees her habit as “disturbing”, “deviant” and “not public-spirited”. The narrator is confused. “Are you saying it’s okay for him to go around with Semtex but not okay for me to read Jane Eyre in public?” Continue reading...
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‘Felling this forest would be like knocking down a cathedral’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The Woodland Trust, one of the four groups we are supporting in the 2019 charity appeal, provides natural solutions to the climate emergency • Please donate to our appeal here An ornithologist cradles a nuthatch in his hand as the low December sun throws the stark winter canopy of trees into relief. Frost-covered leaves crunch underfoot along a path which meanders through ancient oaks, sycamores and willows. It is fringed with wood piles playing host to multiple types of fungi. Buzzards swoop overhead and birdsong fills the air. Continue reading...
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Election 2019: inside Momentum – podcast (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
Anushka Asthana reports from inside Momentum, the grassroots movement hoping to propel Jeremy Corbyn into Downing Street. And: Rana Foroohar on why we need to regulate big tech Momentum was formed after Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader in 2015. Critics say it is a shadowy operation that is trying to take over the Labour party. But supporters believe its efforts in 2017 – sending hundreds of activists into marginal seats and running a cutting-edge digital campaign – were critical in denying the Tories a majority. This year it has scaled up. Anushka Asthana joins Momentum at its headquarters and out on the road. Continue reading...
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Iran's deadly protests (Thu, 05 Dec 2019)
When Iran’s government announced it was raising the price of fuel by up to three times, thousands of Iranians took to the streets to protest. Michael Safi reports on what happened next. And: Jim Waterson on how social media has changed the way we consume news When the Iranian government announced it was raising the price of fuel by up to three times, it triggered what may have been the largest-scale unrest in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic. Iranian officials this week estimated 200,000 people were involved in protests and riots that led to 7,000 arrests and, by some estimates, the regime’s deadliest-ever response to demonstrations. The Guardian international correspondent Michael Safi talks to Rachel Humphreys about his reporting on Shiraz, a city in south-central Iran which is thought to have had one of the largest protest outbreaks in the country and one of the highest known death tolls. Continue reading...
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Election 2019: could Tory remainers deny Boris Johnson a majority? - podcast (Wed, 04 Dec 2019)
Conservatives who voted remain in the EU referendum are facing a dilemma at this election: a vote for their usual party will mean putting pro-Brexit Boris Johnson back in Downing Street. Anushka Asthana visits Winchester to find out which way Tory remainers are planning to vote next Thursday. Plus: Nina Lakhani on seven men sentenced for the murder of Berta Cáceres Much has been written about the Conservative election strategy of targeting Labour’s “red wall” in the north of England and the Midlands. But just as important if Boris Johnson is to secure a majority government is his party’s ability to hold on to seats that may have traditionally voted Tory but swung to remain in the EU referendum. One of those seats is currently held by the pro-EU Tory Steve Brine, who is battling to fend off the challenge of the Liberal Democrats. Despite his 10,000 vote majority in the 2017 election, Winchester has been identified by pro-EU tactical voting sites as a possible upset, leading the Green party to stand down and back the Lib Dems. Anushka Asthana visited Winchester on the advice of Ben Howlett, a former Conservative MP now lending his support to other “one nation Tories” battling to maintain their voice in the party. She meets the local Tory candidate, Steve Brine, and the Lib Dem challenger, Paula Ferguson. And she hears from voters Alistair and Felice, who are former Tory voters who backed remain and are now grappling with their options at this election. Continue reading...
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Rashford and Martial give Manchester United derby honours against City (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Manchester City’s hopes of winning the Premier League title for a record-equalling third time in succession had felt slim at kick-off but does anybody truly think they can overhaul Liverpool after this? It was hard enough for the City support to see their team dismantled by their crosstown rivals, Manchester United, during what amounted to a first-half counter-attacking masterclass – led by Marcus Rashford, who was close to unplayable. But a glance at the table at the end of it all shows that City now lag 14 points behind Liverpool. Continue reading...
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Liverpool go 11 points clear as Mohamed Salah seals win over Bournemouth (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
This devastating Liverpool machine will take some stopping. For the second successive year Jürgen Klopp’s side will sit top of the tree at Christmas after chewing up and spitting out another innocent opponent to move 11 points clear at the Premier League summit. After being overthrown by Manchester City last season the challenge for a Liverpool team juggling five competitions and a marathon festive period is simply to stay put. In eight of the past 11 seasons the leaders on Christmas Day have gone on to clinch the title but Liverpool, eerily, have been the exception on each of those three occasions. An irresistible performance by a reinvigorated Mohamed Salah, who Klopp declared is again firing at 100%, proved the catalyst as Liverpool extended their unbeaten league record to 33 games. Naby Keïta doubled their advantage following a cool Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain opener before Salah completed the scoring as Liverpool swept aside Bournemouth, who struggled to lay a glove on them. Liverpool queued up in search of a fourth goal but for Klopp the most pleasing takeaways were not needing to call on Sadio Mané and a first clean sheet in 14 matches. Continue reading...
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Munster pile more agony on Saracens thanks to Peter O’Mahony’s try (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• Munster 10-3 Saracens • Saracens earn a vital bonus point The champions are not quite out, but that age-old chestnut about attentions turning to domestic matters might long ago have been applied to Saracens this season. They take a bonus point in defeat from a rain-lashed Thomond Park, where far more experienced outfits than this have suffered many a rude humiliation. A resounding win next week at home to this same Munster outfit would keep them in touch at the top of Pool 4. What manner of line-up will welcome the Irishmen to that? Conditions deteriorated so much that the faithful here had to endure a scoreless second half. Munster relied on a first-half try by that most faithful of all the denizens around here, captain Peter O’Mahony, to secure the points. It was the bare minimum they required to maintain the challenge to Racing 92. Continue reading...
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Son Heung-min’s wonder-goal steals show in Spurs’ 5-0 thrashing of Burnley (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
He was the last player to leave the pitch and rightly so because, if ever somebody deserved to milk the applause of an appreciative crowd, it was Son Heung-min. The South Korean was magnificent here, delivering a display full of skill, craft and intent. On 32 minutes he combined those traits to score a goal they will be talking about on the Seven Sisters Road, in Seoul and elsewhere for some time to come. It came from nowhere. To be specific, it came from a Burnley free-kick that Jan Vertonghen managed to hook clear under pressure from James Tarkowski and which neither he nor anyone else in attendance could have imagined would turn into an assist. But that is what happened as the ball fell to Son just outside Tottenham’s area and he set off, dribbling towards glory. Continue reading...
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Beth England leading Chelsea’s title charge after coming in from the cold (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The forward is flourishing at Chelsea after her two-year loan at Liverpool – and still finds time to work on her law degree Beth England does not seem like a player who would suffer a crisis of confidence. With nine goals this season and a flurry of senior England caps following her first call‑up, the Chelsea striker is continuing the fine form that led her to finish joint-third top scorer in the WSL last season with 12 league goals, 19 in all competitions. Except suffer she did. Inked on her left thigh, one of two tattoos that are visible below the edge of her shorts while playing, is the script: “Life’s a gamble so enjoy the game.” Continue reading...
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Jonny Bairstow’s Test recall raises questions about his role in South Africa (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• Ed Smith says: ‘Bairstow at his best is an asset’ • Mark Wood and Jimmy Anderson also in 17-man squad After England’s expedition to New Zealand proved to be a bit of a shambles – despite winning the first day of the series they lost the first Test and somehow ended up in the second with three unproven batsmen, a rookie wicketkeeper and no spinner in their XI – the touring party for South Africa has been bolstered by some familiar names. Back come Jimmy Anderson, Mark Wood and Jonny Bairstow while Moeen Ali “remains unavailable for Test cricket”. There is clearly a determination not to be caught short this time, especially since this series, unlike the one in New Zealand, counts in the Test Championship. Continue reading...
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Forest Green launch investigation after racial abuse delays Scunthorpe game (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• Club have identified supporter involved in reported incident • Fan will be handed lifetime ban if found guilty of racist abuse Forest Green Rovers have launched an investigation and promised to take stringent action following a reported incident of racial abuse during Saturday’s home game with Scunthorpe. The referee, John Busby, was forced to halt the League Two match midway through the second half after reports of a racist comment directed towards Scunthorpe defender Jordan Clarke. Busby spoke to both managers before an announcement was relayed to the crowd at the New Lawn. Continue reading...
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Ron Saunders, title-winning Aston Villa manager, dies aged 87 (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
• Saunders led Villa to First Division title and two League Cups • Black armbands to be worn for Sunday’s game against Leicester The former Aston Villa manager Ron Saunders, who led the club to the First Division title in 1980-81, has died at the age of 87. Saunders, born in Birkenhead in 1932, also enjoyed a prolific career as a centre-forward, scoring 200 goals combined for Everton, Gillingham, Portsmouth, Watford and Charlton from 1951 to 1967. Continue reading...
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‘This is our last chance to keep the NHS as it was entrusted to us’ | Jeremy Corbyn (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The Labour leader argues that the health service will be sold off piecemeal if the Conservatives are not stopped on Thursday This election is a fight for the survival of our NHS as a free public service that puts patients before profits. Next Thursday, the NHS is on the ballot paper. Millions of people will have a choice about whether to see off the threat posed by Boris Johnson’s Conservatives to their local hospital and GP surgery, already stretched to breaking point by a decade of Tory austerity and privatisation. All of us have the chance to end the intolerable situation where hundreds of thousands of people have been left languishing on trolleys in hospital corridors, and cancer patients wait months in fear for treatment. And next Thursday, voters can stop in its tracks the very real risk of Donald Trump getting his hands on our NHS. Continue reading...
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Melania Trump is no caped crusader for women’s rights. She’s still Donald’s fig leaf | Catherine Bennett (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Casting the first lady as a feminist obviously has its attractions. And yet... The spectacle of Melania Trump at the Nato celebrations, inside an outfit that looked half papal, half gobstopper, was not the neatest fit with older, possibly inaccurate perceptions of pallid misery and a mutinous resolve to reserve a separate identity from the old goat she, however inexplicably, married. Consider the handholding. Previously, she was widely admired for a very relatable reluctance to touch Trump – witnessed in the celebrated Tel Aviv hand-swat. Last week, the couple handheld, practically snuggling their way round the summit, or as much as a gigantic poncho ever allows. At an event that exposed, to the largest of audiences, Donald Trump’s more comical deficiencies, his alleged victim appeared all loyalty. Stockholm syndrome? Or could Mrs Trump, hardly a feminist icon from the start, have long been the object of spurious concern, sympathy, wishful thinking? Continue reading...
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Redemption defines a civilised society. We must not forsake the idea | Kenan Malik (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
A blame game followed the London Bridge killings. Now it’s time for cool heads to look at deradicalisation Can terrorists be deradicalised? Do all offenders, even those who commit the most abhorrent of crimes, deserve a second chance? Those two key questions remain at the heart of the case of Usman Khan, the London Bridge killer. In the immediate aftermath of the recent terror attack, and against the background of the election campaign, the debate centred largely on operational issues. Boris Johnson made much of the early release of Khan, which he blamed on the last Labour government. Labour highlighted cuts in the prison and probation services, which, it suggested, had led to a failure of rehabilitation and of monitoring. Continue reading...
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Friday the 13th: the Boris Johnson remake – cartoon (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
There’s an election afoot and a masked, machete-wielding prowler on the loose… •You can buy your own print of this cartoon Continue reading...
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If Tehran is pushed too far, it may hit out in ways that are disastrous (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Netanyahu warns of impending catastrophe as US officials say short-range ballistic missiles secretly positioned in Iraq The crisis in the Gulf, which took Iran and the US to the brink of war in June, was never resolved – and shows every sign of reigniting. Like antagonists in a school-yard fight who refuse to shake hands and make up, the two sides, backed by regional allies and proxies, are sullenly waiting for it all to kick off again. The next bout could be much worse. In the American camp, alarm bells began ringing in earnest last week. US officials claimed Iran was secretly positioning short-range ballistic missiles in Iraq, within range of Israel and US bases in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Continue reading...
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Millennials’ manners are a defence mechanism against a hostile world | Barbara Ellen (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Young people care more about etiquette online than in real life, research reveals Are millennials selfish and rude or do they just define etiquette differently to older people? And if the latter is true, is that just to stop themselves going mad? A survey, published last week, found that 42% of millennials – people reaching young adulthood in the early 21st century – wouldn’t give up their seat for somebody elderly or pregnant on public transport, while almost one in three would ignore a queuing system. However, more than a third of those surveyed thought it impolite to ignore people on social media, while other objections included texts being read over people’s shoulders and programme spoilers. Continue reading...
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Princess Anne: a sassy, smart royal... or is that just the TV version? | Rebecca Nicholson (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Again and again, she puts her sorry siblings to shame The presence of Princess Anne at the Nato summit has proved to be a choose your own adventure in the style of the Queen’s “EU flag” hat. Standing with the group of world leaders caught chortling along to Justin Trudeau as he smack-talked President Trump, Anne had her first viral moment of the week. The second came when the Queen, while greeting Trump, gestured to her daughter, who then shrugged and pointed behind her. She was, as the internet will have it, a mood. It doesn’t matter that Anne was not heard saying anything about Trump, or that she was not snubbing him, as quickly became clear. Just as people grasped for 12 yellow stars in five feathery flowers on a hat, so we grasped for regal disdain in the direction of the US president. Whether it existed or not was irrelevant, if we could believe that it might be the case for just long enough to share it. Continue reading...
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'Peloton husband' trying to prove he's not sexist misses the whole point (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The actor in the ad that drew backlash is making the controversy about him and bizarrely casting himself as a victim Sign up for The week in patriarchy, a newsletter​ on feminism and sexism sent every Saturday. Continue reading...
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Inside the mission to create an army of Greta Thunbergs – video (Mon, 02 Dec 2019)
Melanie Harwood is an education entrepreneur and self-styled 'disruptor', who has partnered with the United Nations to educate teachers about climate change. The Guardian's Richard Sprenger joined her on a trip to Dubai, to witness her unorthodox approach first hand Continue reading...
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How my near-death experience changed my life – video (Thu, 05 Dec 2019)
After David Ditchfield was dragged under a moving train, the way he looked at death changed. Before his accident he didn’t consider the afterlife, but now Ditchfield says he knows there is nothing to fear after we die. He tells Leah what he saw the day he almost died Continue reading...
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Why Malta is in crisis over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia – video explainer (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
Malta is facing a political and constitutional crisis over its government's handling of the investigation into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, a pioneering investigative journalist who was killed in a car bomb attack in 2017.  A European parliament delegation says the integrity of the murder inquiry is at risk while Joseph Muscat remains as prime minister.  Here is a look back at the main developments in the investigation Suspect in Daphne Caruana Galizia murder says he got tipoffs from official Opinion: Malta’s corruption is not just in the heart of government, it’s the entire body Continue reading...
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Anywhere but Westminster: will Labour's 'red wall' hold in this election? – video (Thu, 05 Dec 2019)
John Harris and John Domokos continue their election road trip, travelling through crucial seats that have traditionally been loyal to Labour but where a majority voted leave and the Tories are now encroaching. What they find defies the usual political cliches: people desperately want change, but there’s a deepening mistrust of national politics, whether red or blue We spent 10 years talking to people. Here's what it taught us about Britain Continue reading...
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Black Pete: why is the Dutch blackface tradition still going strong? – video (Wed, 04 Dec 2019)
Zwarte Piet or Black Pete has been a festive tradition in the Netherlands for generations – which sees thousands of people, who are often white, dress up as the character wearing afro-style wigs, red lipstick and full blackface makeup. There have been attempts to make the holiday character less controversial but the tradition is still widely practiced. We went to the festivities this year to find out if time is nearly up for the tradition Continue reading...
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Middle Earth: the fight to save the Amazon's soul - video (Tue, 03 Dec 2019)
In the heart of the Amazon rainforest, an alternative climate conference is taking place that brings together youth activists, indigenous leaders, scientists and forest dwellers. In a region known as Middle Earth, they are building a new alliance and demonstrating that the rainforest is central to life on Earth, even though Brazil backed out of hosting this year's official UN climate talks after the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president Continue reading...
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Fearless: five years after Delhi gang-rape, has anything changed for women in India? – video (Wed, 07 Feb 2018)
The brutal rape of a 23-year-old student on a bus in Delhi shocked the world. The victim, who became known as Nirbhaya (‘fearless’), succumbed to her injuries two weeks later, but not before giving testimonies against her attackers. Her death provoked outrage and protests across India as people demanded dramatic improvements to women’s rights. But five years on, has anything really changed? We revisit the city to ask women what they think Continue reading...
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South Western Railway strike: delays as action begins during works (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Cancellations take place during busy Christmas shopping weekend Passengers are facing travel problems this weekend as engineering works take place during a strike over rail workers’ long-running dispute regarding guards on trains. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union on South Western Railway (SWR) walked out on Saturday for the sixth time since last Monday as part of 27 days of industrial action. Continue reading...
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Father of London Bridge attack victim calls Johnson a fraud (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
David Merritt says prime minister made political capital out of his son Jack’s death The father of a man killed in the London Bridge attack has accused Boris Johnson of lying and making “political capital” from his son’s death during the BBC leaders’ debate. David Merritt – whose son Jack was stabbed to death by convicted terrorist Usman Khan – called the prime minister a fraud following his appearance on Friday night’s TV debate, six days before polling day. Continue reading...
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Woman’s vital cancer treatment delayed over £150k NHS charge (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Elderly patient from Azerbaijan told to pay upfront despite official guidance on urgent care An elderly woman suffering from two forms of cancer had vital NHS treatment delayed for months because she couldn’t afford a £150,000 upfront charge, the Observer can reveal. The case highlights not just the impact of the government’s upfront charging regime – introduced in 2017 as part of its “hostile environment” towards immigrants – but also the failure of changes to the guidance given to hospitals that were announced in response to previous controversies. Continue reading...
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Retail landlords fall into a new crisis at Christmas (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The suspension of a major M&G retail property fund has raised new questions about the future of shopping centres A smattering of festive lights, a giant gingerbread house and big-name brands offering deep pre-Christmas discounts: the Gracechurch Centre in Sutton Coldfield is ready for retail’s most important time of year. All it needs now is more shoppers – and, ideally, more shops. The 1970s-built scheme in the affluent town north-east of Birmingham has suffered an exodus of big names this year, with Marks & Spencer, Paperchase and Patisserie Valerie closing in the past few months and Argos set to shut for good on Christmas Eve. Next quit last year and the Observer counted at least a dozen vacant units during a visit last Thursday. Continue reading...
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Omani student among three dead in London stabbings in 12 hours (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Araimi, 26, was attacked in Knightsbridge An Omani student has been named as one of three young men killed in a series of unrelated stabbings in London in a little over 12 hours. Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Araimi, 26, was stabbed in a suspected robbery near Harrods in Knightsbridge, west London, as he and a friend made their way home from a nearby restaurant late on Thursday evening. Continue reading...
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Two killed and three seriously injured in West Midlands car crash (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Accident happened on Black Country New Road in Wednesbury on Friday night Two men were killed and three people seriously injured when two cars crashed in the West Midlands. Police have launched an investigation into the collision, which took place on the A41 Black Country New Road in Wednesbury at about 10.30pm on Friday. The crash, which involved a black Jeep Cherokee and a black VW Golf, happened near the Patent Shaft roundabout. Continue reading...
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Katherine Jenkins mugging: 15-year-old girl charged with robbing opera singer (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Teenager charged after Jenkins was mugged in Chelsea while intervening in a street robbery A 15-year-old girl has been charged after opera singer Katherine Jenkins was mugged in south-west London while intervening in a street robbery. Police said the teenager was charged with robbery and assaulting an officer after an incident on Kings Road in Chelsea. Continue reading...
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Christmas shoppers warned of danger of fake toys (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Unsafe toys expected to flood market before Christmas as ‘must-have’ products sell out Christmas shoppers are being warned not to buy fake and potentially dangerous toys, which can contain toxic materials, damage hearing and pose choking or strangulation hazards. The Local Government Association, which represents councils in England and Wales, is warning that counterfeit, unsafe toys typically flood the market in the run-up to Christmas as criminals exploit a surge in demand for “must-have” and sold-out items. Continue reading...
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Santa claws: UK supermarkets sell festive snacks for pets (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Tesco and Sainsbury’s stock own-brand mince pies for dogs, plus ‘Pawsecco’ for cats Pet pampering has gone festive with special turkey-flavoured mince pies among the Christmas treats on sale to dog owners. For the first time, Tesco and Sainsbury’s supermarkets are selling own-brand mince pies for dogs. Conventional recipes are a potential yuletide horror for dogs because raisins and sultanas are toxic for canines, prompting Britain’s two biggest supermarkets to offer dog-friendly alternatives. Tesco has also launched a range of macarons for small breed dogs, filled with mutt-friendly yoghurt. Continue reading...
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Overturned crane closes both directions of the M25 in Essex (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
London orbital motorway is likely to be affected for a considerable time, say police The M25 has been shut after a serious collision involving a crane that overturned and crashed over both sides of the carriageway. The incident happened at junction 27 with the M11 in Essex on Friday evening. It has caused huge tailbacks in both directions including more than 10 miles on the clockwise carriageway of the motorway around London. Continue reading...
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Oceans losing oxygen at unprecedented rate, experts warn (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish at risk from spread of ‘dead zones’, say scientists Oxygen in the oceans is being lost at an unprecedented rate, with “dead zones” proliferating and hundreds more areas showing oxygen dangerously depleted, as a result of the climate emergency and intensive farming, experts have warned. Sharks, tuna, marlin and other large fish species were at particular risk, scientists said, with many vital ecosystems in danger of collapse. Dead zones – where oxygen is effectively absent – have quadrupled in extent in the last half-century, and there are also at least 700 areas where oxygen is at dangerously low levels, up from 45 when research was undertaken in the 1960s. Continue reading...
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North Korea says denuclearization off the table in US talks (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Country’s ambassador to the UN said dialogue sought by US was a ‘time-saving trick’ to suit domestic political agenda North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations said on Saturday denuclearization is already off the negotiating table with the US and lengthy talks with Washington are not needed. Related: I shall taunt you a second time: North Korea threatens Trump ‘dotard’ insults Continue reading...
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US citizen Xiyue Wang released from Iranian jail in prisoner swap (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Chinese-born Princeton student, sentenced to 10 years in prison, exchanged for Iranian scientist Masoud Soleimani A Chinese-born US citizen sentenced to 10 years in prison in Iran on spying charges has been released as part of a prisoner swap. Related: Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe makes tearful appeal to be released from Iran jail Continue reading...
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Donald Trump may get his space force – in deal for federal paid parental leave (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Military and civilian workers could get 12 weeks of paid leave Ivanka Trump hails ‘HUGE’ step but deal not yet done Federal workers in the US seem set to be given 12 weeks of paid parental leave – in return for Donald Trump being given his cherished space force. Related: White House dismisses invitation to take part in key impeachment hearing Continue reading...
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Victoria Falls dries to a trickle after worst drought in a century (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
One of southern Africa’s biggest tourist attractions has seen an unprecedented decline this dry season, fuelling climate change fears For decades Victoria Falls, where southern Africa’s Zambezi river cascades down 100 metres into a gash in the earth, have drawn millions of holidaymakers to Zimbabwe and Zambia for their stunning views. But the worst drought in a century has slowed the waterfalls to a trickle, fuelling fears that climate change could kill one of the region’s biggest tourist attractions. Continue reading...
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Samoa measles outbreak: 100 new cases as anti-vaccination activist charged (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Nation lifts two-day curfew amid rise in mandatory vaccinations and arrest of ‘anti-vaxxer’ Samoa has said nearly 90% of eligible people have been vaccinated against measles as it lifted a two-day curfew imposed amid an outbreak that has killed 65 in recent weeks. There were, however, 103 new cases of measles reported since Friday, Samoa’s health ministry said in a statement on Saturday. Continue reading...
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Australia fires: blazes 'too big to put out' as 140 bushfires rage in NSW and Queensland (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Conditions eased on Sunday morning but bureau forecasts heatwave as fire authorities say dozens of fires will burn across Australia for weeks • How big are the fires burning on the east coast of Australia? • ‘Get the hell out of Dodge’: the fight to save homes from the NSW central coast inferno Dozens of fires will burn across Australia for weeks, fire authorities say, including a “mega-fire”, already the size of greater Sydney, that is too big to put out. As of Saturday night, more than 100 fires were burning across the state of New South Wales, 18 of which potentially threatened lives and homes. More than 40 were burning across Queensland. Continue reading...
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Confederate groups' presence leads to scrapping of Christmas parades (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Two North Carolina towns call off events fearing ‘disruption’ ‘We just absolutely had to err on the side of public safety’ Two Christmas parades in North Carolina have been cancelled within a week after residents protested against the inclusion of a float and participation by a Confederate group. The town of Garner, near Raleigh, announced it had decided to cancel its planned event in case it might be a “target for disruption”, it announced on the city website. The decision followed heated debates on social media about a float from Sons of the Confederate Veterans that might make its way into the parade, the News and Observer reported. Continue reading...
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India rape victim dies after being set alight on her way to court (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Woman suffered 95% burns in latest case of violence against women to cause public outrage A 23-year-old rape victim who was set on fire by a gang of men, which included her alleged rapist, has died in a New Delhi hospital, the doctor treating her said. The woman was on her way to board a train in Unnao district of northern Uttar Pradesh state to attend a court hearing on Thursday over her rape when she was doused with kerosene and set on fire, according to police. Continue reading...
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German group with far-right 'prepper' links trains civilians for combat (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Former soldier behind group recorded saying he wants to build up infantry force A network of elite German combatants with links to far-right “prepper” circles secretly trained civilians in “commando-like structures”, raising fears the group planned to build up a paramilitary fighting unit. Drone footage filmed in June 2018 at a former barracks of the German armed forces in the southern town of Mosbach shows a group of around half a dozen men in military-style gear moving in formation across sandy terrain, holding what appear to be assault rifles in a firing position. Continue reading...
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Waiting for … the reunion of two theatre greats in Beckett triple bill (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Director Trevor Nunn revives The Old Tune and casts Shameless star in a plum role When Sir Trevor Nunn brings Samuel Beckett’s short play The Old Tune to London in January, he will be reviving a forgotten companion piece to Waiting for Godot not seen in the West End since 1968. But for the renowned British stage director the production will also be a reunion with a well-known actor he first helped establish as a leading talent almost as long ago. David Threlfall, most famous for his long-running television role in Shameless, has been cast by Nunn to play alongside Niall Buggy in the two-hander. Thirty-nine years ago, Nunn and Threlfall received extraordinary accolades together when the Royal Shakespeare Company’s sellout production of Charles Dickens’s The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which Nunn co-directed with John Caird, won top awards in London and on Broadway. The epic two-part show is still regularly cited as one of the great theatrical achievements of the modern era. Continue reading...
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Midnight Movie review – pain relief in the demise of others (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Royal Court, London SE1 Ambitious and compelling, this sign-language tale follows two avatars as they get lost in the world of weird online videos Playwright Eve Leigh and director Rachel Bagshaw both strive to tell difficult human stories through high-concept theatre. Bagshaw directed the acclaimed The Shape of the Pain, which used light and sound to express the chronic pain she experiences as a result of a rare medical condition. In Midnight Movie, they explore the idea of escaping from the pain in a physical body into a “digital body”. The play follows two digital bodies, or avatars. One is a deaf woman of colour, played by Nadia Nadarajah, who performs using British Sign Language (BSL), and the other a white man played by Tom Penn. They fall into an internet black hole and become entangled in the strange videos people watch online at night. Continue reading...
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Daisy Ridley: ‘JJ Abrams warned me that Star Wars is a religion’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
She was working in a pub when she was cast in the franchise. Six years and three movies later, is the force still strong? Daisy Ridley’s earliest childhood memory is of a party hosted by her parents at their family home in west London, when she was three, maybe four. She was surrounded by grownups, towering above her, when she abruptly and dramatically declared: “I’m shy!” before running out of the room. “My mum told me I did that, so maybe I’m remembering half an imprint of someone else’s memory,” she says, laughing at the irony of both commanding attention from her audience and then immediately rejecting it. It’s a trait that has somehow stuck. At 27, Ridley finds herself at the centre of the universe. With three Star Wars films under her belt, the actor is adjusting to multiple layers of fame: there’s the gilded A-list Hollywood kind that comes with red carpets, stylists and outfits gifted by the most sought-after designers; then the sort of fame that has tabloids tracking her most mundane moves, breathlessly documenting Ridley’s “brave” trip to the dry cleaner’s (with no makeup!) or strolling through London wearing – gasp – a daisy print skirt. And then, of course, there’s the fierce, cult-like superfan fame, where the force of millions of Star Wars obsessives will always be with her, the legacy of being plucked, as a fresh-faced 21-year-old unknown, by director JJ Abrams to play Rey, the scrappy scavenger mentored by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill). Continue reading...
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Lucy Ellmann: ‘We need to raise the level of discourse’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The author of the prize-winning Ducks, Newburyport on why she prefers books written before Hiroshima and how an ideal, non-patriarchal world would look Lucy Ellmann is the British-American author of eight novels, including Sweet Desserts and Mimi. Her latest, Ducks, Newburyport, is a 1,000 page, one-sentence stream of consciousness, told from inside the mind of an Ohio mother as she worries about everything from gun control to toilet training, from her weak ankles to white supremacy. It was shortlisted for this year’s Booker prize and won the £10,000 Goldsmiths prize, which goes to a book that “opens up new possibilities for the novel form”. When you first started writing Ducks, Newburyport, did you know it would take the shape that it did? No, it doesn’t work to overplan things. My novels are generated by my preoccupations at the time. The principle I stuck to was simply writing the book I wanted to write. There’s no point in writing anything but that. Continue reading...
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Clairo review – a quiet phenomenon (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Electric Ballroom, London The young US singer’s introspective tunes inspire devotion from fans, but her unshowy style is not best suited to the role of indie-rock frontwoman Bedroom-pop star Clairo is a study in shy charm. On the second of two gigs in London – this extra night was added to her UK tour after the first date sold out – the 21-year-old American Claire Cottrill occasionally clasps the hands of the adoring front row. Just as often, she’ll back away from her microphone to lurk in shadow and play guitar. There isn’t even a spotlight to run from: everything is lit only in fuzzy pink or peachy gold. If she says anything meaningful between songs, only the first few rows can hear it. Somewhere inside this diffident contemporary musician, however, is a core of steel and a level of outgoing ambition that allowed her to put songs up on the internet throughout her teenage years. Drill down into Clairo’s SoundCloud and among her embryonic originals, you can find covers of everything from the super-indie Beat Happening to contemporary bard (Sandy) Alex G, via the in-your-face digitals of PC Music’s Hannah Diamond. Last year she toured arenas with Dua Lipa and this summer she guested with Khalid. Next year she supports Tame Impala in the US. For now, she is the unstarry star of her own show, with more than 338.6m combined global streams (as of last August)”. Continue reading...
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Honey Boy review – painful honesty from Shia LaBeouf (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
An effectively raw account of the maverick actor’s dysfunctional upbringing Written by Shia LaBeouf, and based on his own early life, this open-sore autobiography feels like the missing piece in the puzzle of this frequently brilliant, invariably self-jeopardising actor. LaBeouf barrels through the film playing his own loose-cannon father, stringy-haired and strung out, a failed rodeo clown who is determined that his son Otis (played by the remarkable Noah Jupe as a child, and Lucas Hedges as a furious porcupine of a young man) will achieve the success he never achieved. There’s a sweaty, unwashed quality to the cinematography in the flashbacks to Otis’s early life, split between film sets and a flyblown motel hunkered down between a freeway and a junkyard. These are not idealised memories. Documentary film-maker Alma Har’el (Bombay Beach) captures the precarious scramble of life on the periphery with unflinching honesty. The one jarring note in an otherwise persuasive portrait of Otis’s world is the distracting casting of FKA Twigs as a gauche sex worker who befriends him. Continue reading...
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Sister act: how Little Women has come of age on the big screen (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
In Greta Gerwig’s new film of Little Women, the March girls wrestle with sexual politics and creative fulfilment. How true is it to Louisa May Alcott’s vision? Greta Gerwig’s new big-screen adaptation of Little Women, the sixth about the March sisters to be made so far, starts with a scene taken from the middle of Louisa May Alcott’s second volume. Almost all the others have begun with the girls’ childhood, but in Gerwig’s film, we first meet an adult Jo March in the New York offices of the Weekly Volcano, where she hopes to place a story – thus setting it up as a film about writing. Along with all the things we expect from this story (coming of age, sibling relations, the challenge of being good), the film is about the relationship of fiction with life, and the challenges and the rewards of writing as a job. The parallels between Jo and her creator, Alcott, are also drawn out by Gerwig, and this adult Jo co-exists throughout the film with the child Jo, who is learning how to write, how to be a woman and, often, how similar these processes can be. Published in the late 1860s, Little Women, for those for whom mentions of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy do not instantly evoke scenes known since childhood (a book-burning, the shearing of a head of long hair), tells the story of four girls whose father is away, working as a chaplain in the US civil war. They used to be well off, but he was too trusting with his money, and now they are poor; the famed first lines – “‘Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,’ grumbled Jo, lying on the rug” – establish how they feel about it, and some of the ways in which they will be tested. It tells a rather different story depending on whether you read it in the US or in the UK, where the second half is generally hived off as Little Women Wedded, or Good Wives, and often not read at all. Continue reading...
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Emma Thompson’s ludicrous Last Christmas is the perfect Brexit festive movie (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The success of this film says quite a lot about Britain 2019 So I’ve finally seen Last Christmas, the critically panned rom (ummm) com (errrr) written by Emma Thompson and Bryony Kimmings, and the first thing to say is, “Hooo boy.” The second thing is, “Whatever Emma was smoking when she came up with that movie’s plot twist, which has now ruined Wham! for ever, well, I’ll have what she’s having.” Actually, you know what? I’m all right, Emma. Keep it for yourself. Last Christmas is one of those films that is so deranged it feels like a strange fever dream. In this sense, it’s like the 80s comedy Mannequin, a charming romantic comedy about a man finding true love with a plastic doll. Or maybe it’s closer to Soul Man – another movie, like Last Christmas, that ruined a good song by stealing its title – in which a white kid takes a load of tanning pills in order to baggsie a Harvard scholarship for African Americans. Yes, this is a movie that actually exists. Continue reading...
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Take your time and don’t skimp on the wrapping: how to never give a bad gift again (Thu, 28 Nov 2019)
How do you go from disastrous gift-giver to bringer of yuletide joy? Stacey Duguid explains how we can all inject some wonder into our presents I won’t lie, up until very recently, I’ve been monumentally bad at gift giving. I mean, sure, I give gifts, but they were never particularly well thought through or well considered (or well received, for that matter). When it comes to gifting, especially at this time of year, there is nothing I haven’t been through. I’ve oscillated between high praise to raised eyebrows within the space of an hour. One minute I’m basking in the glow of a good gift, recipient cooing, hugs of thanks galore, the next I’m pulling myself out of the slippery muddy hole that is a friend opening officially the World’s Worst Gift Ever. And that, my yuletide friends, is precisely why I’m the perfect person to help you navigate the next few weeks. If I can learn the art of gifting great gifts, anyone can. I’d rate Christmas Eve as one of the most stressful days of my life. The idea of leaving all my Christmas shopping to the day before the big day used to feel like bungee jumping from the roof of Harrods. In fact, forget about going out early, why not have a quick, lunchtime tipple, before joining the throngs of bodies forcing themselves down Oxford Street? And this is how I came to purchase the World’s Worst Gift Ever. I knew my friend Kate, sophisticated, elegant, together, wouldn’t wear (or want) a pair of “duck slippers”. But, hey, when you find yourself careering through Liberty wearing a grimace and a headache at 3pm on Christmas Eve, believe me, the duck slippers were calling my name. But that was the old me. I am now transformed. I am reborn. I am the best gift-giver of all time! Well, not quite. I’m still not convinced my husband has entirely forgiven me for the neon pink wallet he received last year – but I liked it, so … Continue reading...
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Mulling is over if you want it: a guide to festive vodka cocktails (Tue, 19 Nov 2019)
Start new traditions this Christmas and stave off overindulgence with festive vodka cocktails from mixologist Joe McCanta Old habits die hard, especially at Christmas. As a tradition it offers a reassuringly familiar checklist of experiences after a busy and unpredictable year – and, no matter how little sense they make (do we really gain anything from pulling crackers except for a small pile of mess on the dinner table?), we return to our yuletide customs without fail. Festive food and drink is a perfect example of this. The turkey, the stuffing, the Christmas pudding, the mulled wine, the eggnog; each has its own individual merits, of course, but indulging in all of them in one day is ridiculous unless you’re actively trying for indigestion. But each gives us that all-important, indescribable feeling of Christmas, so we persist at our peril. To hit all the positive psychological triggers that festive food and drink provides, without the digestive drawbacks of piling decadence after decadence on your poor stomach, would be a Christmas miracle, and getting creative with drinks, in particular, could be the answer. Continue reading...
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Ignore trends and make real-life connections: eight rules to happiness (Wed, 20 Nov 2019)
Journalist and broadcaster Caryn Franklin talks success, body image and the power of a good outfit … Former fashion editor and TV presenter Caryn Franklin has found herself in some unusual situations over the years – from reporting in battle zones to interviewing fashion heavyweights Yves Saint Laurent and Giorgio Armani. Now a fashion commentator and lecturer, her experiences mean she’s learned plenty over the years. Nobody is judging you, trust meI’ve definitely observed a change over the years in myself – I’m less bothered by what others think. I’ve learned that most people are concerned with their own lives and are too busy thinking about their own stories. When we’re younger we don’t realise that, and that realisation is quite liberating. Continue reading...
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Early afternoon delight: the boundless appeal of brunching (Fri, 20 Sep 2019)
Does the brunch trend show any signs of slowing down? Instagram sensation and foodie Clerkenwell Boy doesn’t think so. In fact, he points out brunch has now encroached well into the afternoon. Sophie Goddard finds out why he’s such a fan … With 197,000 followers, award-winning Instagram foodie Clerkenwell Boy is one man who knows his chorizo from his churros. Famed for his mouth-watering food shots and on-the-money restaurant recommendations (warning, don’t scroll when hungry), who better to talk us through the delights of brunching? Here’s what he has to say… Continue reading...
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'This is small talk purgatory': what Tinder taught me about love (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
When I ended up single in a small town, I turned to a dating app. But finding someone fully and messily human was harder than I thought I did not intend to be single in the rural village where I live. I’d moved there with my fiance after taking a good job at the local university. We’d bought a house with room enough for children. Then the wedding was off and I found myself single in a town where the non-student population is 1,236 people. I briefly considered flirting with the cute local bartender, the cute local mailman – then realised the foolishness of limiting my ability to do things such as get mail or get drunk in a town with only 1,235 other adults. For the first time in my life, I decided to date online. The thing about talking to people on Tinder is that it is boring. I am an obnoxious kind of conversation snob and have a pathologically low threshold for small talk. I love people who fall into the category of Smart Sad People Flaunting Their Intelligence With Panache. I love Shakespeare’s fools and Elizabeth Bennet and Cyrano de Bergerac. I love Gilmore Girls and the West Wing and Rick And Morty. I want a conversation partner who travels through an abundance of interesting material at breakneck speed, shouting over their shoulder at me: Keep up. I want a conversation partner who assumes I am up for the challenge, who assumes the best of me. Continue reading...
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Dreaming of a green Christmas: make your own sustainable tree (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Upcycled bike wheels, shredded magazines and papier-mâché baubles… We challenged three eco-minded creators to design a festive tree – with spectacular results Sustainability and seasonality are two guiding principles in the work of Kent-based stylist Hannah Bullivant. “I don’t want to create pretty things that then end up in landfill. I don’t want to add to that problem,” she explains. Her work – which encompasses event styling, creative workshops and interior styling projects – wholeheartedly embraces the storied and the secondhand. So, when asked to create a sustainable tree, she immediately headed outside. Continue reading...
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Tamal Ray’s alternative Christmas pudding recipe | Tamal Ray (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
A luxuriant, festive dessert with layers of sponge, praline, stewed cherry and hazelnut cream, all covered in a rich ganache and spun sugar Yotam Ottolenghi’s alternative Christmas main course I’ve always enjoyed Christmas pudding piping hot and swimming in cold cream. However, I can appreciate that after a month of mince pies, many of you have had enough of spiced raisins. This is an alternative for those of you seeking new inspiration: a delicate hazelnut mousse within a layer of port-soaked cherries, chocolate sponge, rich ganache and twinkling strands of spun sugar. With several different components to make, this isn’t the quickest of recipes, but it will be a favourite, especially for those who normally disappear at the mention of Christmas pudding. Continue reading...
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We need to learn how to relax, without guilt (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Being busy all the time is part of the way we live. But, whether gardening, reading or spacing out on the sofa, taking time to rest is just as important I’m not very good at resting. When I told friends that after writing books covering emotions, time perception and the psychology of money I had started writing one on rest, their first reaction was usually, “But you’re always working. You never rest!” More generally, if someone asks me how things are going, my stock answer is, “Fine, busy, too busy really.” But while this claim feels true of my life, how much is it also a claim to status? If you say you are busy, then it implies you’re important, you’re in demand. As the time-use researcher Jonathan Gershuny puts it, busyness has become “a badge of honour”. Continue reading...
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Jo Pavey: ‘Tokyo 2020 will be my sixth Olympics’ (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The 10,000m runner, 46, talks about being coached by her husband, jogging down volcanoes, being outsprinted by her kids and meeting the Queen It’s amazing to still be competing at 46. When London was awarded the Olympics in 2005, I remember thinking, “What a shame! I’ll be long retired by 2012.” I’m planning to train hard for Tokyo 2020, which will be my sixth Olympics. I’m very motivated, but it depends if my body can hold up. I didn’t realise I could be an international athlete until after university. I’d won at the English Schools, but I was nowhere near as fast as the seniors. I remember watching others on TV and thinking: “How can they run that fast?” Continue reading...
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'I haven’t seen a healthy version of marriage': children of divorce on the lasting impact (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
First it was taboo, now it’s commonplace: how the Divorce Reform Act has shaped family life over the past 50 years I’ll never forget the day my parents told me that they were getting divorced. It was the late 90s, I was 11, and I had returned from school clutching an oil pastel copy of Picasso’s Woman In A Hat (Olga), 1935, which I had made in art class for reasons now lost to the mists of time. I was excited to show it to them. Instead, they told me I should sit down, and that their marriage was ending. It didn’t seem appropriate to show off my picture after that. Seven years later, I saw the painting in real life at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, learning, in a twist of synchronicity, that Picasso had painted this sad, unflattering portrait of his first wife shortly after their marriage had collapsed. Olga left Picasso, and my mother left my father, though it was Dad who moved out of the family home. It broke my heart. Continue reading...
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Can you ask family to contribute financially at Christmas? (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
My brother and his partner always come to us and we’re wondering if it’s fair to ask them to chip in Every week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper. My brother and his partner (in their early 30s) live in a one-bed flat and never host the family Christmas – they always come to us. We’ve never asked for cash before, but it’s quite a burden, given they eat and drink a lot, and stay for a week or more. How do other people handle this situation? Continue reading...
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'I find it so depressing': readers on UK election news (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
Many of you feel hopeless and in despair, but some have been spurred into action As the general election looms, life can feel saturated by news, with social media morphing into a personalised political battlefield. From the climate crisis to the NHS, few stones remain unturned as politicians compete to offer the most attractive package of policies, and the most damning condemnation of their opponents. Continue reading...
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Tell us about your mobile phone injuries (Thu, 05 Dec 2019)
Have you ever had an accident because of your smartphone? Whether funny or serious, we’d like to hear from you Perhaps you have walked into a lamppost while scrolling on Instagram. Or dropped your phone on your nose while texting in bed. If so, you are not alone – a study shows that mobile-related injuries are increasing. The research, which analyses data from US emergency departments over 20 years, shows the number of accidents has soared in recent years. Continue reading...
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Tell us about your run-down school buildings (Thu, 05 Dec 2019)
We’d like to hear from teachers and parents about school buildings that are no longer fit for purpose. Share your experiences In a survey conducted by the National Education Union last month, 47% of members said the school or college buildings they worked in was not fit for purpose, with 22% reporting that the condition of the buildings was unsafe for pupils and staff. With years of austerity putting school budgets under strain, 65% of members blamed funding cuts for the poor quality of British school buildings. Continue reading...
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Picasso, Lorca, Capa … art reveals fate of exiles who fled Franco’s Spain (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
A huge exhibition in Madrid of sketches, photographs and paintings records the plight of the 500,000 republican refugees after the civil war In a cavernous space off one of Madrid’s main boulevards, a dying Federico García Lorca slumps like an unstrung puppet, a refugee cellist stares down Robert Capa’s lens, and the eyes of a young woman Pablo Picasso sketched 71 years ago meet the public’s gaze for the very first time. The images, carefully arranged among hundreds of photographs, books, flags, paintings and audio archives, herald a belated homecoming. Continue reading...
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Sick of corruption, Haiti looks back to its revolutionary hero for hope (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
As conflict racks the nation and anger at a political scandal grows, Haitians are rallying to the country’s founding father more than 200 years after his assassination On the walls across Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, a stencilled image can be found. Depicting a figure in a Napoleonic-era cocked hat and military frock coat, it first emerged amid the country’s long-running political and security crisis that began last year. The man portrayed is Jean-Jacques Dessalines – Emperor Jacques I of Haiti – the rebel general who defeated French forces at the battle of Vertières to found the state of Haiti in 1804. And it is not only in graffiti that Dessalines’s two centuries-old legacy has been seen in the recent months of political turmoil that has gripped the country. Continue reading...
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The climate crisis is the most urgent threat of our time. Help us fight it | Katharine Viner (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
Urgent policy steps are needed to avoid climate catastrophe, but we as citizens can also support practical, natural solutions Please donate to our appeal here The 2019 Guardian and Observer charity appeal is all about trees: for what they are in themselves, in all their beauty and majesty, and for what they represent. This year, our theme is the climate emergency and our support goes to charities whose work is essential for the renewal of nature and the planet: not just planting new trees but protecting and restoring existing forest, woodland and other natural habitats in the UK and in the Amazon basin of South America. As Guardian and Observer readers, we hope you will have appreciated our comprehensive reporting on the causes of the climate crisis, from fossil-fuel burning and rainforest-clearing to pollution-emitting cars and planes. We’ve tracked the destructive consequences, including forest fires, melting ice caps, extreme weather events such as droughts and flash floods and filthy air. We’ve reported the evolving science of global heating and followed the emergence of a wave of youth-led eco-activism led by Greta Thunberg. We’ve covered the fight of environmental and land rights activists across the planet against ecologically destructive corporate and political interests. Continue reading...
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'Just leave': Delhi, Beijing and Mexico City residents on how to cope with pollution (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
As air quality plummets on the Australian east coast as a result of devastating bush fires, residents of cities clogged with smog share their coping strategies The east coast of Australia is in the grip of a bushfire and air pollution crisis. But plummeting air quality levels are a regular occurrence in cities in India, Latin America and China. Here, residents and experts from Delhi, Beijing and Mexico City explain how they survive the smog. Continue reading...
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The volunteers fighting fires: 'there's always the fear you're not going to come home' (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
The New South Wales Rural Fire Service is made up of mechanics, bakers, students, retirees and young parents. They face a dangerous Australian summer Fire warning signs are pinned to thirsty eucalypts every few kilometres on the highway. The paddocks around central west New South Wales look golden from a distance, but are crispy and brown underfoot. Wind has been howling for days, stirring up red dust on the horizon. Severe fire conditions are looming; it’s only the beginning of summer. Continue reading...
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M&G has bolted the door, but is any property fund safe? (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Nervous investors are wondering which might be the next fund to close to withdrawals. Despite reassuring noises, few are immune to the dire state of British retail When M&G shocked small investors last week by blocking withdrawals from its high-profile £2.5bn property fund, the question ricocheting around the investment industry was: who next? After the 2016 referendum, the property dominoes fell quickly. Standard Life’s £2.9bn fund closed its doors first, to fend off a rush of withdrawals. The next day M&G and Aviva followed suit. Henderson and Columbia Threadneedle were next, and before long £35bn in savers’ money was locked away. Continue reading...
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The dazzling ceilings of Mumbai's taxis – in pictures (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
On her morning commute one day, Mumbai-based journalist Rachel Lopez noticed the ceiling of her taxi was covered in multi-coloured strawberries. “It was ghastly,” she says. “I loved it immediately and wanted to take a shot for fun.” Since then, Lopez has taken more than 500 half-face selfies with the ceiling patterns of Mumbai’s taxis as a backdrop. Continue reading...
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A healing corroboree at the foothills of Mount Gulaga, on Yuin country – in pictures (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
In Australia, as bushfires raged and drought cracked the land open, there was a stirring. On the New South Wales far south coast, cars carrying elders, children, songmen and women made their way off the dusty road that winds into the Central Tilba football ground. Looking over the gathering was Minga Gulaga (Mother Mountain). According to Yuin story, Gulaga is the sacred birthplace of the Yuin people. Indigenous people all over Australia gathered for a nationwide dance to heal the country. Djiringanj elder Warren Ngarrae Foster said it was perfect timing because Minga Gulaga had been crying. ‘She has called her children back to come together at her feet to heal the spirit and country.’ Continue reading...
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20 photographs of the week (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Wildfires in New South Wales, protests in Paris and Santiago, animal rights activists in Barcelona and violence in Mexico – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week Continue reading...
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The Bhopal disaster victims still waiting for justice 35 years on – in pictures (Sat, 07 Dec 2019)
Photographer Judah Passow has documented those were affected by the Bhopal disaster 35 years ago, which killed an estimated 25,000 people ad has left more than 150,000 suffering from chronic medical conditions Judah Passow has waived his fee for this work. Contributions to the Bhopal Medical Appeal can be made at www.bhopal.org Continue reading...
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The week in wildlife – in pictures (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
The pick of the best flora and fauna photos from around the world, including a howling coyote and a baby alligator Continue reading...
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Highlights from the Diversify print sale – in pictures (Fri, 06 Dec 2019)
The Alaskan wilderness, protest at Standing Rock and preparation for a mission to Mars are just some of the prints on sale from Diversify, a group of photographers of colour, available until 9 December. Mainly US-based, the coalition has issued an open call to expand its membership worldwide in 2020 Continue reading...
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